Archive for October, 2007

Tomorrow we’ve got a test on all of the boring stuff so far. If I pass it, I get to start systems class on Monday. If I flunk it, I get to pack my bags and go home.

I’m not terribly worried, though certainly anxious. This’ll be brief because it’s 10pm, and class is early tomorrow at 10am, and I don’t plan on staying up too late. I’ve been keeping up with the studying so far, assuming I’m reading the signals right about what’s going to be tested.

From talking to folks who have been around awhile, there’s a huge backlog of students waiting for the simulators. So, assuming I pass the test tomorrow, and another one in three weeks, and pass an oral exam after that, I could have a couple months off. Paid, with flight benefits. One guy just started the sims this week and had finished ground school in July. He said, “Yup, just been flying around the world. I get up in the morning, hop on an empty plane.” Not a bad gig if you can get it.

The serious down side to all this time, is that the simulator portion of the training is where most people wash out, and it’s substantially harder after a long break from ground school. Without using it, all that information goes away, even if you try to study.

So, if I pass my tests and you live in an interesting place somewhere near an airport with any sort of airplane I can ride on (and I’ll be able to ride on anything, including FedEx and UPS), you might be hearing from me:)

We finally got started today. At 3pm, which is just weird. The rumor is that we’re likely to switch back to 6am once we start aircraft systems, but who knows. The sort of stuff we covered is immensely boring, and some of the folks in class are amazingly dense. Nothing we’re learning involves concepts that are hard to grasp, it’s just endless memorization. We’re learning about things we’re required to carry, currency requirements, hazardous material we can’t carry (all of it), 5487 exemptions (should you lose your certificates), duty limits, required rest periods. Blech. Boring stuff. I’m pretty anxious to get into the airplane, though we’re going to have 3 weeks for that, I should probably relax and wait for it.

He let us go to dinner at 6:30pm. I went with a different guy this time who wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant, but I managed to talk him into Mexican instead so Sarah wouldn’t get excited. Got some pretty good huevos ala mexicana for cheap. Another few hours, included a video from that looked to be from the 1970’s on hazardous cargo during which we were told, “I have to show you this. I suggest studying something else while it’s playing.”

He let us go at about 10:30, which was good, because I was trying to figure out how I was going to make it another hour or so. And now I’m pooped. Hopefully I’ll have enough time to study in the morning.

I managed to sleep in until 9am yesterday, and then headed down to the Chinese grocery to buy some Dr. Pepper. I read less than half of the very dense General Operations Manual before class. We got to the classroom before 3pm, eager to get started. Just after 3pm, a young guy rolled in on a wheelchair. He didn’t say anything at first, and pecked around at computer on a desk in the corner. It became obvious he didn’t have any use of his fingers, but he seemed pretty adept at holding his wrist just right to get his fingers to do things.

After a few minutes, he introduced himself and gave us a half-hour personal history. He’s been working for Mesa for 15 years, got hired initially as a first officer in the Beech 1900. After a couple years of service, he made captain by age 26, being the youngest captain ever. He made check airman at 29 and was busy working in the training department as a check pilot when he skied into a tree in Winter Park, CO. He liked deep powder, and would apparently go ski through the trees in an attempt to find the stuff that wasn’t packed down. He hit a tree he never saw and broke his neck. After 6 months of rehab, Mesa took good care of him, and he’s been working as a ground instructor ever since.

After giving us his history, he talked about the company awhile, then we spent another 45 minutes or so giving him our histories. I still can’t get over the diversity in our class. We have folks originally from England, France, Netherlands, Ghana, Kenya… At some point our instructor from the day before walked in and said, “Tom?” “Yes?” “You been, uhh…” and pantomimed smoking a joint. We all looked pretty wide-eyed at the instructor who started laughing at himself pretty loudly. “Just kidding, but we haven’t gotten your drug testing results back, so you’re gonna have to wait outside until they’re done.” So, Chad, our quadriplegic instructor, sent us off to dinner in hopes that Tom’s drug testing results would come back by the time we returned. I hopped in a car with my roommate (who isn’t living with me) and we went to a chinese place for dinner. When we got back to the classroom, Chad said he wasn’t feeling great and Tom’s drug test results still weren’t in, so he was just going to put off class until tomorrow and sent us home.

Fortunately, before he did, he left us with a huge study guide, which I’ve been trying to get through. It’s big, long, and is just the questions with no answers– which is useful. I’ve been typing up the answers, which is more industrious study than I think I’ve engaged in in a very long time.

I think I’m going to head out to the pool so the entropy fairy can work her magic on my room.

There’s a Chinese strip mall just across the street from my hotel. I ate dinner at the Golden Buddha, since a Chinese restaurant with the same name in Douglasville is my favorite Chinese place of all time. This place wasn’t as good, though pretty expensive and not bad.

I only ate half of my General Tso’s and got the rest in a box to take home, even though there’s no refrigerator. Probably still be okay for lunch tomorrow.

When I left, I roamed around the rest of the area and was astonished to find a grocery store. I walked in, and realized immediately that while it was a grocery store, it was a CHINESE grocery store. I felt like I’d fallen in a trap door and wound up on the other side of the world.

Not you’re average little Asian market, oh no. This place is the size of a large grocery store, and has all of the bits of a grocery store you’d expect. The meat section, the seafood section, the beverage section, the rice aisle, the soy sauce aisle, the bean curd aisle. Lots of jars without any engrish on them at all, and ones with just enough english to be scary. “sliced cooked dried fried pork product.” Really.

I wasn’t going to buy anything, but I saw a bottle labeled “Dumpling Sauce”. I’ve often asked waiters what the heck the sauce they bring with dumplings is, and they always answer, “It is dumpling sauce.” Up until now, that’s seemed less than helpful. So I bought a bottle. Then I saw a bottle labeled “Shanghai Worcestershire Sauce (No Fermented Flavoring)” and, how could you pass that up? I also bought some hot peppered beef jerky, and then saw the alcohol aisle.

So I bought a random bottle imported from china. About $7 for .75 L. Should have been a tip-off there.

I got back to the hotel and poured a little of the bottle into a glass and drank a sip. Alcoholy, and ugh, oh, nasty! Nasty! Ahhh! I took a second sip to make sure, and yup, that’s nasty, but only the aftertaste. While it’s still in your mouth, it only tastes like drinking fire, and isn’t too unpleasant. Then you swallow it, and you feel like some unidentified reptile vomitted in your mouth. I even tried a third sip a little while later thinking, “I bought a whole bottle, can I drink it?” And uh, no. I can’t. I can however, get a headache from just a few measly sips. Nasty, nasty.

After trying to figure out what this stuff is on the web, I still have no idea.

The sum total of English on the bottle, which I didn’t read too closely beforehand:

RED STAR ER GUO TOU JIU
DISTILLED SPIRIT FROM SORGHUM 750ML. ALC.56% BY VOL
PRODUCED BY THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
ISO9001

With the Chinese reputation of late, it’s probably got something like gasoline, rat poison, or lead in it.