Free coffee

The alarm went off at 4:45AM...for the first time in a long time. Time to start my month.

I repacked my overnight bag last night. It's packed for 4 days of being on the road. Not that I think I will use it.

Out the door at 5:15AM. I could have been earlier, but I couldn't find my glasses for the life of me. Had them last night. Gone this morning. Contacts it is .

I parked my car in the employee lot at 5:31AM. Quiet...no departures or arrivals yet. Lot filled with literally hundreds of airport workers. The employee buses are doing the equivalent of quick turns. They stop, quickly load up and go. The buses aren't designed for flight crews. Very little luggage space which is annoying. Sometimes I will flip up a seat for more luggage room.

After walking down the dimly lit hallway I reached the crew room, signed in, grabbed my Zune HD (way better than an Ipod!) and headed to the quiet room to try and sleep.

After finishing my daily dose of Mac OS Ken, I gave up. Can't sleep. Back into the crew room.

Buddy of mine came in from an overnight. We discussed current going on's. The latest rumors. Good times.

His current girlfriend used to be a student of mine when I was at ATP. She is currently at Lynx Aviation (regional for Frontier) but is getting let go along with all the other Lynx pilots. Her dad was with Southwest for, if my memory serves, more than 25+ years. If she can get the turbine PIC she is almost a shoe in (she is a very good pilot). She has inverviews at a few regionals, one with a quick upgrade. The problem is the base is across the country.....long commute. She could simply stay put and get on with our airline, but the upgrade won't come for a while. Tough situation. Tough problem.

While we were sitting there an email came out. Looks like the powers that be decided to not close my small base. Nice. If I decide to stay put I will be the most junior for a long time. I could take the choice to commute to a base and easily hold a line. Choices.

I last had morning airport reserve as a line in February 2009. I am getting back into my routine. A bagel shop has free refills on coffee in another terminal. I used to go there in the morning and tap away on the computer while sucking down coffee. Glad to see it's still here. Gonna be a long month.