Information Zulu

215 Hospital Hours

2012-01-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

More, more, more hospital fun. Pretty much have running the gift shop register down pat...what I don't have down yet is how to get the TB test out of the way, that should be done soon though, yaaay persistence :/ Welcome to Lake Regional Hospital.

211 Hospital Hours (from the iPad)

2012-01-24T22:46:00.001-08:00

Ok, so now I have a blogger proggie for the iPad...keeping a better journal would be an advantage so I jumped through all the google authenticator hoops to get Blogger+ to actually speak bloggish and here we go :) Just a normal hospital day today, except sales was absolutely dismal. Made one tiny sale today, really a little sad as far as sales go. I hope that just means there isn`t a whole lot of people in the hospital. Probably true because in the off season there really isn`t a lot of people in Osage Beach. Oh well, yaaay off season. At least I got to practice gin rummy face to face. There is still something to be said for real interaction as apposed to everything being online.

199 Hospital Hours

2012-01-03T20:54:00.001-08:00

I`ve always joked that I`d probably hit 200 hours before I get my 100 hours patch. It looks like that is going to happen next week. Many of the people that were there when I started aren`t there anymore but at least there are a few left. Hello Donna the hospital lunch lady! Pretty much the same old story on the hospital front. 1) open register 2) courteous service 3) lunch time 4) more courteous service 5) close register. wokka wokka wokka

New Toys

2011-12-20T23:41:00.001-08:00

Gettting the iPad was pretty cool indeed, and this just kicks it up a notch. Picked up a bluetooth keyboard to go with iPad :) Now it`s really like a little laptop but all kicked up to the 21st century. I can make substantial blog posts, surf the web with a vengeance, and explore writing programs (or at least web scripts) very nicely now. Yaay me :} And for those keeping track at home 191 hospital hours. Pretty much the same story on that front, just waiting for the next volunteer luncheon.

187 Hospital Hours

2011-12-13T21:51:00.001-08:00

And I got me a Christmas pickle to hide in the tree, oh the things you can pick up at lake regional's gift shop

155 hospital hours

2011-10-25T19:21:00.001-07:00

Pretty much a regular hospital day. But I do get to post about it from the iPad :)

? wal mart hours

2011-09-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I don't get the same warm fuzzies at wal mart that I get at the hospital, but on the plus side this job pays...saving up for the ipad, saving up for the ipad :) 8 hours of welcome to wal mart and thank goodness that blasted secrets of the mountain commercial is gone...pretty well a normal day today, nothing super amazing or exciting to speak of, but I did get to drive the jeep :) Now I'm gonna munch on some cheesy poofs :)

123 Hospital Hours

2011-09-22T19:18:00.001-07:00

Still rockin' the hospital road. They tell me I do a good job there and the timing isn't as regimented as wal-mart. Still waiting for the next luncheon, still waiting for the next luncheon... oh well, I'm thinking it's mario galaxy time :)

103 Hospital Hours

2011-09-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

And now I'm waiting for the next volunteer lunch to get my 100 hours patch, they only happen quarterly though so it's gonna be a little bit :/ At least I can enjoy the achievement, and I do get to drive the Jeep to it :) Yaaay CD changer!

91 Hospital Hours

2011-08-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, this blog is pretty well turning into a mirror of my hospital tweets. Running the gift shop register, running the gift shop register...weee. Didn't really sell much today, oh well. Come on 100 hours!

87 Hospital Hours

2011-08-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well it didn't take long to get the hospital volunteer patch sewn on to the uniform and the flag was soon to follow, but now I'm coming up to a real achievement patch. 100 hours is coming, 100 hours is coming (teehee) Solving sudoku and kenken puzzles seems to be a good passer of time for now, I wonder what the next fad will be and if I'll just keep with sudoku (prolly)

43 hospital hours

2011-05-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Steadily working on my 100 hours patch, but looking forward to Wonderland camp :)

Hospital Volunteer Day 1

2011-03-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of volunteering at Lake Regional hospital. Yeah, I was kinda tired of the hospital after seeing the patient scene for about a trillion years, but it's only the gift shop so it's cool, and I'm doing a good deed so yay me. The parking lot is kinda huge when compared to wal-mart, so I'm super glad I have the Take Me to My Car program for the iPhone :) Recommended for all, brain injury or not, it's just handy. Spent most of the time behind the cash register, learning how it operates and which buttons to push. Don't remember seeing anyone there for unfortunate reasons, the only one I remember is a birth, so good news there :) Also I received an evening meal as compensation for being there. All in all a pleasant experience and a decent day.

I'm not dead yet!

2009-08-12T15:16:00.001-07:00

Goin out fer birthday dinner soon, so I got alls cleaned up n stuff...gettin kinda hungry, come on dinner time, hurry up!

wiiide awake

2009-04-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

Been up since about 5:30, for some unknown reason....just got the food pantry today. Guess I could work the legos, but not really into that right now. Come on mr sun, sun, mr golden sun...yeah, looks like i'm back in 5th grade again :/

Random Lines from Marilyn Manson

2009-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

GOD IS JUST A STATISTIC
GOD IS JUST A STATISTIC

woot woot

2009-02-25T20:42:00.001-08:00

up 35 days, 11:11

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Legos, Legos, Legos

2009-02-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

Been keeping occupied building different things with lego sets, started out with a plane...of course, then did a helicopter, and just finished darth vader's TIE fighter. Whas next? A lego buddha would rock.

Fortune cookie goodness

2009-02-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

So I went out with my buddy/counselor/brain injury helpy guy and we stopped at a chinese place fer lunch...yeah, thaat's a surprise. And I got probably the best fortune in my fortune cookie that I've ever gotten. "You will obtain your goal if you maintain your course." Good fortune, ja? So just keep it up, and I will be an ATP in California, and watch for me on the big screen 'cause I do plan on taking Hollywood.

teehee, more uppy

2009-02-13T22:12:00.001-08:00

up 23 days, 12:40

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uppy uppy...uppp

2009-02-09T09:46:00.001-08:00

up 19 days, 14 mins

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more random quotage

2009-02-09T08:40:00.001-08:00

To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - Carl Sagan

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be up mooore

2009-02-09T08:28:00.001-08:00

up 16 days, 12:48

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Liberating Prayer

2009-02-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

O Blessed One, Shakyamuni Buddha,
Precious treasury of compassion,
Bestower of supreme inner peace,

You, who love all beings without exception,
Are the source of happiness and goodness;
And you guide us to the liberating path

Your body is a wishfulfilling jewel,
Your speech is supreme, purifying nectar,
And your mind is refuge for all living beings.

With folded hands I turn to you,
Supreme unchanging friend,
I request from the depths of my heart:

Please give me the light of your wisdom
To dispel the darkness of my mind
And to heal my mental continuum.

Please nourish me with your goodness,
That I in turn may nourish all beings
With an unceasing banquet of delight.

Through your compassionate intention,
Your blessings and virtuous deeds,
And my strong wish to rely upon you,

May all suffering quickly cease
And all happiness and joy be fulfilled;
And may holy Dharma flourish for evermore.

Peanut butter n barbeque sauce

2008-12-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

Lunch time came and it was time to make somethin, so out came the bread and peanut butter...came up negative on the jelly only thing I could find was BBQ sauce. Hrm... Ok, worth a shot I suppose and it's actually not that bad :)

random notes from nowhere

2008-11-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional

utterz post

2008-10-13T13:10:00.001-07:00

14:59 up 3 days, 18:07, 3 users, load averages: 3.10 3.31 3.22

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2008-09-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.

-John Wanamaker

Another Birthday :)

2008-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me, another year...weeeee

You died, losing 5 experience points.

2008-08-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Just got this message from mobwars, well this does seem like a disadvantage.

Temporary Error (502)

2008-08-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

eh, no mail reading fo me, what else will break :/

Galations 2:20

2008-08-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Just in case you were wondering... and by-chance all calendars have vanished

2008-08-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

http://isittuesday.com/ :)

oh man, the dumb things that are available online

Wisdom from kadampa.org

2008-08-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

See all living beings as your father and mother, and love them as if you were their child

blah blah blah

2008-08-01T10:09:00.001-07:00

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2008-07-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

Mmm, outside

haha, oh the things you can find online

2008-07-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

www.structuredprocrastination.com Here's a little essay about doing nothing. There are a couple of points :) My coffee is empty :/

Wisdom from the Dale

2008-07-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car its the one who refuses to lose. (Dale Earnhardt)

Happy 4th to every

2008-07-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Just got done with the orientation shenanigans associated with starting a jeorb at wally world. I'm gonna unload schtuph, that'll be...um, a job i suppose. oh well, let's hear it for steps :)

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

2008-07-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

The best way to avoid committing negative actions is to practise consideration for others.

fail better

2008-05-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.
- Jack Lemmon

study group

2008-01-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

this evening i met with a few peeps from class for dinner, and we did the study group thing. mmm, stuudy group...makes me feel all fuzzy just thinkin it...fuuuzzy

back to skool

2008-01-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

today was the orientation and initial testing phase of going back to skool... yay! more tests! now i have a book and i'll probably meet people and make...friends? oh my, the concept is a little disturbing but ok, it works i suppose :P

mmm, boooks

2007-12-13T13:59:00.001-08:00

12-13-07_1539.jpg
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu

um, k

blogging aboot nothin

2007-12-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

bored, waaay kinda bored. since the skype chat kinda died there's not really a lot to do. one of my to dos is to write some accounting scripties, guess iCould do sumodat, cause that would be kinda useful if i had those...meh. Does the little Buddha have anything to add? not now? hrm, k

Bowling bowling bowling

2007-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

This evening was another visit to the bowling lanes, I hear I pretty much bowled my average, so i guess I count that as a good thing, certainly better than a dramatic turn south. I have no clue really as to what level my average would compare with in a competition but I don't really suppose that's all that important. Big balls go down the lanes and knock pins over...guess it's a guy thing, i probably should be better at guy things but oh well, it was good time with family at least.

Crazy Socks Achieved

2007-10-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

Crazy Socks
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu

I gots them sockies :)

Crazy Socks

2007-10-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

There was probably a nugget or two of more useful brain bits that came out of the conference, but I think what made the most impact on my grey matter was the concept of crazy socks. There was one speaker who presented the idea of wearing the brightest socks you can possibly find in the most outlandish patterns as a way to lift your spirits. I have to say that the idea made an impact on me and I plan to visit the store soon and find the craziest socks around. Yeah some constructive info was there too, but crap I gotta find me some CRAZY SOCKS!

Brain Injury Conference

2007-10-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well I've been at the brain injury conference for a little over a day now...I'm still waiting for that hard hitting revelation that will change everything. Yeah, those are high expectations, but I can hope right? There was one part about the military and brain injury, but it was about people who had gotten brain injured while being *in* the military, not people who already have brain injury trying to join the navy, oh well...at least I can run around and collect conference trinkets like a 5 year old...weee, i'm never gonna grow up!

very angry with God for not existing

2007-09-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

I've always been a C.S. Lewis fan, although I can't specifically remember having ever read the complete Chronicles of Narnia, I know I've read parts and probably will eventually read the whole thing. While playing around on wikipedia I stumbled on to the quote that became the title of this post. It's worded perfectly and it resonates inside. I seriously doubt I can add to it with this post, but blogs are supposed to be an avenue of expression and I'm expressing, not adding...so there.

Tao

2007-08-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Meeeee

2007-08-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm old, it's my birthday so today I'm a little older. Not really sure what to do with the rest of the day but a walk is sounding more and more like a possibility. I can at least be thankful I'm back on known streets and I prolly won't get the call from the parents saying the therapist called them worried I might be lost because she saw me out on the road. And now that I've mentioned the walk, I pretty much wanna do that so I'll not sit here typing...

Late night randomness

2007-08-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, I still don't have a job, kinda bites when even an attempt to join the navy gets shot down by a recent hospital visit. Sorta thought that would be a done deal but the navy docs said nope, try again in a year. So I put it on my calendar to try again in six months, docs always overshoot these things. So I guess I still need to find something to do for 6 months...erm, ok. Got a blood donation ad here, that looks clonetastic but I've NEVER been the Fox Mulder type...;) Somewhere in the back corner of my mind is a gasping hope that the casino will call me up with something to do, but that's kinda dying out, I'll keep in touch with friends there but that may be all. I do have an instrument ground instructor cert, but the school said if they put me on the schedule, I could be scheduled on actual planes...doh. oh well, time to try the sleep thing again I suppose.

No More Drugs

2007-06-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

today is the last day of the prescription madness, i figured since i posted about the begin of the night medication i'd post about the end of all medication. so, weee i'm all kinds of drugless again :)

putting life back in place

2007-05-22T15:33:00.001-07:00

well i've made it home, now it's time to make some real income. i've got the uberlist of people to talk to about possible employment and i've already been to a couple of them. looks like pretty soon i'll be makin a paycheck with real work again :)

Going Home

2007-05-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

This evening I start on my road trip home, and fortunately I can help with the drive :) There are a couple of places I'll probably stop by along route 66 so I'm hoping for a few pictures worth posting but we'll see. Looking forward to seeing places and people I know again!!

MAH FEETS!

2007-05-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

if my mom doesn't have your email address then you don't know about this yet...I can drive!! :) I passed my driver's evaluation on try #2 so YAY!!! :D

What was lost, now is found

2007-04-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Someone turned in my phone at the theme park where I lost it and it came in the mail today. Now there's some good news :) Of course the battery is used up, so now it's on the charger, but at least its back in my possesion

Lost my Phone

2007-04-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

arg, the fun never starts around here...somehow i seem to have lost my phone, so if i don't answer that's why...:(

What do you learn when playing with google?

2007-04-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

So I haven't had much to do lately, so i typed kit into google and found this.

One of these days, I'll have more to do.

death by little numbers

2007-02-02T17:05:00.001-08:00

sudoku
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

oh the amount of sudoku that was hurled in my direction around christmastime. i suppose i should be thankful for something to do with my time

Beautiful sightseeing day

2007-01-18T15:52:00.001-08:00

mm.png
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

ok, yeah. i know i have problems

what do ya do?

2006-12-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

12-07-06_1937.jpg
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

so i'm sittin here playin with clay. sometimes i really feel like i'm back in kindergarden. I'm sure there's a really important element of the FAR/AIM that i could study, but this works for now

2006-12-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

First thing this morning I slammed my finger in the rv door. At this point I'm hearing that remembering that I did that is progress, ok I see the advantage of pointing out progress, but I find it humorous that such happiness would not have occurred if I hadn't inflicted pain on myself.

After therapy we stopped at a local airport. I was hoping for a pilot store so I could pick up a local chart with radio frequencies to listen to, but we struck out there. Then we stopped to return a wench and I paid the expected amount of attention to that riveting activity.

In other ground shaking news, today we went back to a house my aunt was looking at a while ago. it is nice that i remember both visits, but i've never been big on looking at buildings. Happily the house hasn't fallen over, I was worried about that too.

I'm still looking for a good way to make the phone, palm, and ibook play nicely together so i could upload pictures to the blog and other stuff to help my brains heal and help remember right but otherwise there might be pictures on this thing. I know, it makes me sad too.

2006-12-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

well since my memory doesn't seem to work great, i'm posting yet another entry from the palm. it would be kinda good if i could remember yesterday, that's getting better, but still needs help. i'm supposedly going to therapy to improve that, but looks like the magic pill is time...aaaaarg

2006-12-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

this is a test post from the palm :)

snow? what's snow?

2006-12-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

Picture 018.jpg
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

not used to seein sights like this as i grew up in san diego, it's pretty, but brrr

Begin of new medication

2006-11-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Since the doc didn't think I was swallowing enough pills, I have another round to keep track of now. Yep, today marks the beginning of evening medication. sweet, one more thing to try and remember.

Stark Opposition

2006-11-11T05:07:00.000-08:00

In contrast to how I felt last night, I woke up all out of sorts. More than frustrated with not being home, above the point of tired of waiting. Reading my post from last night helped a little but I'm running out of this thing called patience. I do really want to be on my way.

Career Paths

2006-11-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

Not sure really why, but today I went rummaging through my flight bag looking for my Instrument Ground Instructor certificate. I found it and since then I've felt a little at ease. Not sure why, the cert itself was just a matter of a written test, but when I think about it, I feel more and more really at home inside in contrast to how I've been feeling, so out of my element in the woods. Yeah, I'm still frustrated with not knowing when I can go home, but it's weird how the easiest certificate I've earned thus far has brought some comfort.

morbid intelligence

2006-11-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Definitions of morbid on the Web:

suggesting an unhealthy mental state; "morbid interest in death"; "morbid curiosity"
ghoulish: suggesting the horror of death and decay; "morbid details"
diseased: caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology; "diseased tonsils"; "a morbid growth"; "pathologic tissue"; "pathological bodily processes"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Studio releases
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbid
Pertaining to disease, illness, increased risk of death
www.weightlosssurgery.com.au/index.php
A higher offer
www.realnurse.net/humour/dictionary.shtml
or pathological anatomy deals with the anatomy of diseased tissues.
kosmoi.com/Life/Health/Medicine/Anatomy/about.shtml
Gloomy; gruesome; not sound and healthful; relating to disease.
www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/AreaCodes/801_Mormons/Mormon_English.htm

ok, trying to reconcile this with the psycologist's verdict of "morbidly intelligent"...um, wha? any help would be appreciated

soul cleansing flame

2006-11-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

today i went out and burned the trash, i had to chuckle a little about someone with brain injury going out to play with fire...teehee

row, walk++, mail

2006-11-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

part of the recovery process has been a daily exercise routine that's come to be termed as row, walk, mail. so after sitting at the rowing machine for a little while or so, i go for a walk and finish up by grabbing the day's mail. today's walk was the supersized version I've been trying to do for a while and kept giving up but today's walk was a success :) i made it all the way around without directional assistance, that is I needed no help navigating, but I did accept a ride for a little way from a kind hearted gentleman who's name is a mystery (mom'll read that and flip). With his help, I can finally check that item off my list of things...um, yeah. Wish I would've had the gps so I could say how long the journey was...oh well, make up a number if you need one.

who the, what the, huh?

2006-11-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

i really do wanna blog more, about more stuff, but since the accident it's been a struggle to keep things in my head for long enough to blog about them. I'm still trying to hammer down when i'll be back home because the answer to that has always been "when you're better"....um, ok, since i have no way to get my own damn self home i guess i'll have to find the speck or two of patience that i have left, and just wait more...aaaarg!

ragga fragga foul mouthed sayings here

2006-10-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

well, fortunately i've had the pleasure of spending what seems like an atrocious amount of time getting signed into this thing (wee) and of course i've lost what it was i was going to type about. eh, oh well, what i should do probably is go ahead and jot notes in the palm to be transferred to blog after...meh

speaking of jotted notes, here's some of em

walked to the fire station - furthest i've walked yet
went out and got ice cream w/ mom
on the way mom pointed out a coffee shop in walking distance
tried to sign in to blogger, couldn't get password

so those are from yesterday, the 23rd. i've got a few of those that i'll go ahead and sprinkle in

ow, ow, owee

2006-10-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

okay so i don't remember so well after the motorcycle accident, but things have been improving and i at least have a vague suggestion for when i may be back home...i've been clued in to where i might go for java so trying that soon sounds like a good plan for the near future. so far i've walked down to the little airport near my parent's house (yes, walked, it's close) and got the unicom frequency, but so far i haven't caught anything. so for a little while i'm staring at nothing and listening to one over the radio...weee

oh yeah, the new camera didn't do so well in the accident...doh

What's Kit Been Doing?

2006-06-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Answer: tons, but not a lot of flying. I guess I needed to just step back and take a little summer vacation from flying school as well as greatly simplify the work situation. I've slimmed down to probably 1.2 jobs as compared to the 2 or 3 I was working before. The drawback there is that I'm slightly less in touch with the aviation side of things.

New digital camera means more flickr posts! I did some housesitting for my uncle last week and this is what the drive from job #1 to the house looks like at night.

78
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

First pic from the new cam!

I'm hoping to squeeze into the schedule at school for the Seneca and a multi engine instructor so I can get to work on my Private MEL certificate, but there's only one Seneca, one instructor and another student hogging all the time. I think there will have to be words between the me and the school.

Wait for me guys!!!

2006-05-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Wait for me guys!!!
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

Why this guy keeps parking his bicycle here, I don't know.

1.0 MEL

2006-05-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

People keep asking me, "so now that you have your instrument rating, what's next?" or something to that effect. There are a couple of options at this point, but I've elected to go for multiengine add-on to my private pilot certificate. This allows the several long cross countries that are part of the commercial syllabus to be logged as PIC in a multi, generally considered good to have in your logbook.

The instructor walked me through the preflight on the Seneca I. Nothing terribly complicated there just a couple of new things to check - as well as having an additional engine to look over, this is my first retractable gear airplane. My least favorite part about Piper aircraft is the need to get into the pilot's seat by entering through the copilot's side and clambering across the copilot's seat and the center controls, but soon we were strapped in and beginning the engine(s) start procedure.

Imagine to yourself (or for that matter, to anyone around you as well) driving a mid to small sized automobile for several months and then jumping into a largish van. Now give the van wings, two engines and significantly smaller tires and not only do you have a freaky mental picture of a flying van in your head but you may also understand what it's like to go from a Cessna 172 to a Piper Seneca. The haze was pretty nasty, but I could see enough to notice that we were getting out to the practice area in short order.

We started with steep turns, I did alright but the haze gave me a crappy horizon and very few good ground reference points. My instructor encouraged me to fly to commercial standards (50 degrees of bank) right away and with that done, we proceeded to stalls.

I've never liked stalls. I understand the logic behind teaching and practicing them, but I still don't like them. Stalls in new airplanes make me nervous, and I especially remember being nervous practicing them under the hood during my instrument training. This may or may not go back to the time I inadvertantly got to practice spin recovery during some solo practice while working on my private certificate. In any case, stalls proved to be no scary thing. The Seneca is a very solid feeling, stable aircraft.

On the way back in, my ears were in constant need of a pressure equalization procedure. I've been spending a lot of time at 3,000 feet and we got to 6,500 and above. After putting my first hour of multi time in my logbook, I felt reasonably upbeat.

Later I got the news that I may not fit in the budget at my current position. Right now I'm helping out at the programming position I had before beginning this whole pilot adventure and I was really under the impression that I'd be able to stay here for at least 3 months and probably longer. Now it looks like I may be hunting down other prospects for income. Talk about a buzzkill.

My iPod is Naked!

2006-05-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

Just some post exam randomness today. Yesterday, I went out and picked up an iDJ for doing dj and podcast stuff. Of course that meant I needed another iPod for the second side, so to bring the total tally to three I bought a 1 gig nano. Just enough to hold a few songs so I can fade back and forth between the nano and my venerable 40 gig iPod Photo (ipod #3 is the shuffle). Tested it out last night and it is pretty cool. Though I did find out that the case I'd been keeping the iPod photo (dubbed fliPod) in would not fit in the dock connector of the iDJ so away it went. Kinda lame 'cause now the fliPod has no belt clip, however I did get a little case for the nano which is probably better suited for belt clippage. Mmmm... clippage.

Um, what's the word? Oh yeah...

2006-05-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO!!

I'm instrument rated :) The recheck went - fairly smooth. Only had to do one coupled VOR approach, of course the autopilot seemed to have it's own ideas of what to do.

The departure from 27R as published is a right 270 to 165 (mentioned that before I think) and we're cleared to climb up to 3000 feet. After getting the heading bug on the correct side of the heading indicator, I engaged my supposed electronic helper to allow it to finish the turn. It seemed to be a little confused for a moment and didn't exactly keep smooth progress toward the desired heading. By some miracle, I ended up with the nose pointed the right direction. I started the approach check, NAV1 - check, NAV2 - check, COM 1 set to ATIS on primary and tower on standby. Shaping up to be a pretty good approach so...why are we at 3300 feet?

Otto the copilot seems to be on vacation, time to disengange and try again. SoCal clears me for the approach and I reset the autopilot - which in addition to having trouble with the altitudes also can't seem to intercept a VOR radial. I hear about it from SoCal and go back to heading mode for a while. This would be easier hand flown at this point but the examiner needs to see this approach coupled.

Finally nav and approach mode seem to be cooperating and there is at least a chance of getting the vertical speed and altitude modes to work.

Crossing Poggi at 1220 on the nose, the examiner tells me we can cancel IFR and depart the Brown class D airspace to the north. He also asks if I mind handing over the controls for him to take us home. This I've learned is not a bad sign and I relax while he takes us back VFR.

Time to go find a nice cloud to crash through :)

The Longest Checkride

2006-04-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

I didn't think that any ride could take longer that my private pilot practical. Today, I proved myself wrong. Last Friday (the 21st) was the original scheduling of my instrument ride. Even though I wasn't sure I did that great a job, the examiner seemed very pleased with the oral portion of the exam. Ok, vast improvement over the private ride where I got a letter of disapproval before climbing into the aircraft - the rest should be cake. After all, I was more worried about the oral than anything.

The weather last week was solidly overcast and we figured that because of heavy IFR traffic, we probably wouldn't be able to do practice approaches. This means sitting on the ground idling while we wait for our next clearance. That combined with an airshow at my home airport prompted the decision to discontinue and do the flight portion in a week.

Yesterday was the first flight. Again, I didn't think I did that great but the examiner had many kind words. I never got down to the minimum decent altitude on the VOR-A approach into Oceanside (KOKB) and I almost flew the holding pattern backwards. We did get stuck on the ground at Palomar (KCRQ), but only for 15 minutes. Being unable to carve out a section of VMC space to do unusual attitudes and a DME arc, the examiner opted to go back and do just one more flight to mop up the one goofy approach, the arc and unusual attitudes. I made quite a few mistakes, but caught most of them before the examiner had to say anything.

That supposedly final flight was today. One autopilot coupled approach into Brown (KSDM) and the other things and we would've been done. Except that I boneheaded just about every altitude I could have. On departure, the instruction from SoCal was to climb to 2600 feet, which I acknowledged and promptly levelled off at 1600. Of course, the examiner is sitting there waiting for me to realize what I'd done and I get the call from SoCal. "Cessna 290 verify you are climbing to 2600". I take another look at the altimiter and figure it out, acknowledge the call and resume climbing - oops.

The VOR-A approach to Brown has a stepdown fix from 2400 to the MDA of 1220 at FINLE intersection, 4.4 DME from Poggi VORTAC. We joined the approach course between HAILE and FINLE. After getting established on the approach course, what I should have done is decend to 2400 until reaching FINLE. What I did was cross FINLE at 2600. Ok, no real big deal there, I still have 4.4 miles to get to 1220 except that I don't realize yet what I've done wrong. I do catch that I should be going down so I level off at 2400 and cross the VOR (which on this approach is the missed approach point) at 2400 instead of the MDA - oops.

We do the arc and unusual attitudes to check them off the list and land at Gillespie. The debrief goes about as expected, I get my letter of disapproval and have to tell everyone who asks that no, I don't quite have that instrument rating yet. Of course, I'm working dispatch this afternoon so plenty of people are asking.

Now I have to go up one more time with the chief instructor so he can re-endorse me for the retake. And for those keeping score at home, yes this will be the 4th time I see the examiner. The good news is he's a real nice guy and a true professional. If I could just shake these checkride jitters and not make boneheaded mistakes, I might just survive getting this rating.

Some Photography

2006-04-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Cycle VI
Originally uploaded by InformationZulu.

It's been raining a little here and I came home to something that stirred my inner photographer. This one comes from a love of black and white, but there are some color shots too. Be sure to see the rest of the set on flickr.

FAA Wings

2006-04-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Wings level 1 is complete and the paperwork is now at the San Diego FSDO (flight standards district office, pronounced fizdo). I can't wait for my little bronze pin thingy. I did and plan to continue to participate in this program for three (3) reasons.

To be a safer pilot

To put it on my resume

To be a safer pilot

It's really only been a few months since passing my private pilot checkride and I was suprised how rusty some of those skills were. I also learned a couple of things that never got covered in my initial training thus reinforcing the opinion that you really should fly with a few different instructors.

If you are a US pilot, I highly recommend checking out the wings program. There is no such thing as too much training :)

Checkride Jitters

2006-04-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Tests make me nervous. Checkrides aren't any better. There's always the nagging thought that something got missed. What question is he going to ask me in the oral that I'm just not going to remember? Do I still remember how to do a DME arc? Holding pattern? Which approaches am I going to have to do? Will I remember to get all the right radios tuned on all the right frequencies? GPS? Autopilot? As you can see the question marks are not in short supply.

My IFR ride is scheduled for Friday the 21st and there's the optimistic part of me that knows I've been doing maneuvers and approaches over and over these past few months and the cheif pilot seems to think it's time to schedule the ride. Then of course there's the nervous side that is always wondering what pitfall I will catch. I made sure to get the afternoon slot instead of the morning one to avoid the embarrasing episode of waking up waay too late and showing up late for the test (not the best first impression on the examiner) and so that I'll have some time for last minute review before the actual oral exam begins (eek!).

Hopefully I'll be able to keep my confident foot forward.

Blog Switch Madness

2006-04-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ok. I was gonna go with wordpress or movable type and host my own blog. But, it would seem that I just don't have the time to hack my own blog together. So here I be on blogger. I do wish blogger had tags, or categories, or something like that but at least this way mah peeps can comment if they wanna tell me not to kill myself (hi greybeard and bliv). Incidently, I did go to the California motorcycle safety class and got my class M1 license. The bike runs beautifully :)

Part of me wants to consolidate all the old posts (available at http://www.dailydrivel.net/blog) onto this blog, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

Yesterday, I completed flight 2 of the FAA Wings safety program. Did lots of emergency practice with an instructor with whom I've never flown before. It was good practice and I'm one more hour away from my wingies :)

I'm out, comment and let me know yer still here :D