Being kept in the dark.....life of a freight dog

Hailing from another S. Texas oasis.....

2005-10-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Well yet again in my career I find myself in a hotel within spitting distance of the US/Mexico border. When you're a kid and have dreams of being a pilot, you think of cities like New York, Boston, Paris, Miami....

Well I have been to some of those, but the ones you don't think about are: Toledo, Ypsilanti, Laredo, El Paso, and Saltillo....

I'm not complaining, I just find it very amusing....:)

Anywho...I bought a new digital camera so I plan to be taking some more photos on the road. We shall see what the next two weeks bring.

Adios!

Im baaaaaaaaaaaack!

2005-10-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

Well I can't ignore this thing forever! So I'll post a little.

I've been off for a couple weeks now, really haven't done much of anything. I got kinda bored, so I went and did some fill-in work at my old company in the Shorts, I also had to take a checkride in it to stay current. Thaaat was a fun experience. Going from the 727 back to the Shorts is a bit of a shock, but it's funny how I was able to fall into old habits and give the checkairman a decent performance. Then I did some charter trips...one was Nashville-Indianapolis-Kitchener, ON-Detroit. The other was Detroit-Greenvile, SC-Charleston, WV-Toronto, ON-Detroit. It may seem like alot, but the weather was absolutely fantastic, and I had a great F/O. Really a pleasurable couple days of flying.

I got home just in time for Tropical Storm "Fuck My Weekend" to show up in Atlanta. I stepped off a DC-8 on Thursday morning only to be greeted by winds and a heavy downpour. It's now just finally stopped raining. I had plans to play golf with the old man, but we're going to move those a few days so we don't have to go play in the mud.

I go back to the real job on the 17th, which I'm looking foward to. The great part about my job is that even if the rotation ends up being 30 days like last month, they give us plenty of time to recoup. So when I go back, I'll be more than rested and ready.

I opened a magazine the other day that my roomate bought called "Airways". Basically an airline hobby mag. I was flipping through it and found something that brought back some memories. On this page about the glory days of being a pilot, was a picture of a book that I read almost constantly from age 8-12. It was titled "A week in the life of an Airline Pilot". On the cover is a grey-haired Pan Am 747 Captain, wearing hos jacket and white hat. I remember how I used to read this book over and over. It really solidified how much I really wanted to be a pilot. Even if the airline itself is now defunct. So I did a bit of searching, and found a used copy for 6 bucks online! I bought it....should be here any day. I can't wait to give it another read, even if it is a children's book.

Well, thats enough for now...I'll be sure to update more....

Home...

2005-09-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally home, feels so great to sleep in my own bed. Being on the road for 33 days gives you an appreciation for the little things in life that some people take for granted. I don't know how guys with famalies do this. I even think my couch is pissed at me when I get home because I've been gone so long.

Oh well, LIVING THE DREAM!!!

I'm just waiting to wake up from it....

Toledo sweet Toledo...

2005-09-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

Never would I have thought that I would be happy to be back in Toledo. But I am so glad to be out of Mexico. It wouldn't have been so bad if I spoke Spanish. Nothing beats trying to order with nothing but hand signals and terrible half-assed highschool Spanish. Instead of ordering a cheeseburger I was probably asking them to milk my grandfather's goat for 50 pesos.

Anyhow, I'm finally going to go sleep on a bed that's not harder than concrete.

G'Night! err... Day!

Houston.....we have internet...

2005-09-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I am posting this from Guadalajara, MX on a 4-day layover. I just now was able to wrangle me up some Internet so I could update this thing and get some world events news in a language other than Spanish. (Which by the way I need to learn) Also I needed my Flightinfo fix as well, it's a nasty addiction.

I've been flying alot lately...this next two weeks my line is to fly Toledo-Salitllo, MX-Guadalajara, MX (Where we layover). Then fly from Guadalajara to Monterrey, MX and then back to Toledo. Do that a couple times a week, mix in some Negro Modelo beer and you have an ineresting couple weeks of flying. I can't wait to get back home though. I have a new apartment to move into and I am looking foward to buying some new furniture. (I threw all my old hand-me-downs out). Plus I just want to veg out a bit with no real goal whatsoever... :) I also need to school the old-man at some golf....I only beat him by a very slim margin last time. Too close for comfort.

Anyhow...I hope this appeases a certain New Boston resident who nags me about updating this thing....It probably won't...because it's not in a blue box and covered in platinum and diamonds. ;)

Good night all...

Reserve Yourself

2005-08-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

Well I made it to work....took my nap...only to find out they have changed my line. Now, instead of going to Raleigh-Durham and Ft. Lauderdale, I now get to sit reserve! So here I am...it's 5:50AM and I sit in the crewroom with no assignment. Our company keeps one reserve airplane and crew to cover any extra cargo or broken airplanes until most of the flights depart thier intermediate stops. So I get to sit here hoping to fly until 8:00AM, then I return to the hotel. Only to get to come out and do it again the next night at 8PM! What a wonderful life. But this does beat sitting bored at home. I had pretty much done everything there was to do, so I'm ready to be back. Got to see most of my good friends from work tonight which is always good. My new-hire class had a real good group, alot of real stand-up guys who are easy to get along with. Again, still happy to be where I am. Just another day at the office.

Until next time.....

Back to work....

2005-08-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the severe amount of time off I have had this past month is coming to an end. Tomorrow I get to go to work for 2-weeks. YEA! I really can't complain much, whereas at other jobs I have had, the first day of work meant the chore of commuting... You know the deal, getting all gussied up in the uniform and fending for the jumpseat. Well this place buys me a ticket to work, a perk that I cannot speak highly enough of. It rules so much... Now I show up for my commute in shorts and sandals...no need to look all purdy for the gate agent and crew. I'm a paying passenger! No need to feel guilt for asking for a bit more soda and mabye a second bag of snack mix!

Although I don't have to do the non-revenue passenger thing to get to work, I still use the privledge to get to see me friends on my time off. The couple of times I have had periods of unemployment in aviation, I miss that perk immedately. It is amazing how sometimes I might have taken the fact that I can get almost anywhere for free at anytime for granted. Yes, sometimes it can be a pain in the ass, but it is worth the trouble almost always.

Anyway...the blog updates should be a bit more exciting now that I'm gonna go back to work....I'll take some pictures and entertain you with stories of me taming the 3-holed beast...(more like it taming me)

Seeya!

The DMV Sucks

2005-08-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Another fun part about moving is going to the DMV and getting a new drivers liscense. You get to sit there with everyone in the free world and wait for your number to be called...much like a Deli....but a deli that serves thinly sliced crap...

It took me 2 and 1/2 hours do accomplish what took the people behind the desk 5 minutes. In that time I saw one of my old high school teachers, 5 inmates walking freely through the parking lot, and about 500 failed parallel parking attempts. But the thing that pissed me off most was the group of teenagers in front of me in the waiting area....a young girl, probably 18 or 19 is there to get her liscense back. What did she loose it for you ask? DUI!!! And she is laughing and carrying on about how "stupid" her DUI arrest was and how funny it was that she got no jail time.

How sad....where are this girls parents....but unfortunately when I grew up in the south, very few parents would take the time to teach thier kids about some of theese things...

I remember in highschool, one of my classmates was killed....a sad day....what did he do? He got drunk at a party, climbed in a car with 3 of his friends and played chicken with a street sweeper.

The street sweeper won.

There were candlelight vigils, memorials...the whole 9 yards. In my opinion all the public did was glorify the absolute stupidity of the situation. There were no speeches about alcahol awareness and not driving drunk. WTF...

Oh well, rant over....

After much harassment....

2005-08-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well after some harassment from a certain US Airways CSA in training, I'm updating the blog. I'm writing this on my brand spanking new Apple iBook G4! Purchased just today! And this thing rocks....

I am now no longer a resident of South Carolina, finally moved all my stuff out of Myrtle Beach and drove here to Atlanta. I'm reliving 1999 and living with the 'rents for a week. I head back out for a 2-week stint at work on the 16th, hitting exciting destinations like El Paso and Harlingen, Texas. When I come back I get to move into my new digs in Peachtree City, and spend more of my hard earned money on furniture. When I started the moving process I decided to trash all the old hand-me-down furniture I had been travelling the country with. I kinda think this will enable me to really feel settled down for the first time in a long while. I have no intent on moving from the area anytime in the immediate future.

Feeling stable is a good thing, I'm happy with my job and where I live for the first time.

Man that got almost touchy-feely....um....Fuck the world!!!

Ahhh...thats better :)

Living the dream!!!!

2005-08-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

My plans were formulating nicely..... Now, they change.....AGAIN

To my benefit? LOL NO!!!

Now the airplane here in Wilmington should be fixed by 2AM. At which time me and my co-worker will fly it to Louisville, KY pick up UPS cargo, then fly to Huntsville, AL! WTF?!

Then I get to go home (after not having slept mind you) to my apartment in which there are no beds or couches left, pack my car and drive to Atlanta!! I might just have to get a hotel in Myrtle, this is getting borderline rediculous.

Bondo quote of the day?

"Nice guys finish last....and get a bucket of feces dumped on them...."

Words to live by kids....

Pimpin' in the square plane....

2005-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday, as I neared my planned packing and moving to Atlanta....the phone rang....it was my old employer whom I still work part time for in the Shorts 330/360 and Falcon 20. Well they were desperate to get me on an airplane to Milwaukee, WI to go pick up a Shorts 330 (The sexy beast depicted below), fly it to Marion, IL, then fly it to Wilmington, OH on a scheduled DHL run. A long night.

Being the nice guy that I am (contrary to poular belief) I accepted and they bought me a ticket from Myrtle Beach to Milwaukee on United. I threw a bag together and headed for the airport. Sure enough, when a last-minute one way ticket is bought, I get selected for extra-TSA bullshit at the security checkpoint. After my bag has completed it's raping....I continued on to the gate. Finally arrived at Mili-Wau-Kay (Algonquin for..."The Good Land") about an hour late after fantabulous ground delays at O'Hare. Never stopped walking...van was waiting for me...hopped on the airplane and off we went on a 2-hour trip to Marion. (Yes, flying the length of Illinois in a Shorts takes 2 hours....stop laughing...STOP LAUGHING!)

Once we arrive in Marion we quick turn and fly to Wilmington...another One hour 45 minute journey. Then my day is done....now, here I sit in scenic Wilmington, Ohio waiting for some other broke-ass plane to get fixed so I can fly it back to Marion and go home.

Good Times...

Welcome...the beatings will commence momentarily

2005-08-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well you have chosen to visit my blog....which means you actually know me, or have happened to come across this in an internet search gone horribly wrong. For this, I apologize. For what follows is nothing more than the insane ramblings of a being that works in the dark, and who's mind generally dwells there too. I am a Freight Dog, a rare, nocturnal species that only comes out at night to fly the world's cargo from Point A to Point Z and beyond. Currently my trusty steed is the Boeing 727-200. (See picture below...of my own taking) I fly it for a relatively small cargo operator based in Toledo, Ohio. (Yes...the Toledo, Ohio...City of Magic)

My job is great, I actually enjoy going to work. I work with alot of friends who are all as wierd as I am. The best part of the job is the flying...the 727 flys like a dream. Ok, the landings take some getting used to...but then again there are no hoardes of spectators to impress at 3:00am anyway.

Anyhow, to those brave enough to continue....enjoy....