31.5.04

A very good, not so good day...

Well, I dodged a bullet yesterday... a $5000 dollar bullet. Thank God, and Don from the airport for all the help. I'll quote from a post I made at JetThrust.com to make it easier... Man, I'm dumb...

"I don't feel like being bashed, but I thought I'd share a story for the learning aspect of it.

"I went on a nice cross-country flight yesterday, with a couple of friends from my church who happen to be working on their private licenses. We flew to Brampton from Sarnia (my home base), left in the afternoon, about 2:30, and flew a VFR flightplan. The trip there was great, uneventful, and it gave them a chance to hear Toronto Terminal and get a feel for ATC. After landing, I called the flight school to let them know we were there safe and sound, then closed my flightplan with FSS. We spent a couple of hours in Brampton, and about 6:30 we were back at the airport ready to fly back to Sarnia, I called the flight school and left a message that we were leaving (they close up shop about 5:00, but the CFI was going to meet us to put the plane away), filed my flightplan for the return trip (1:45 min.), and we were on our way by 7:00

"The trip back was a little bit stressful because there was a front that was coming towards Sarnia from Michigan that was supposed to bring rain with it, so my mind was on that most of the way back until I saw that it wouldn't be factor (saw the city from about 40 miles away). We landed in Sarnia at 8:25 and taxied in and shutdown... the CFI helped put the plane into the hangar, and we sat around and talked for an hour or so.
I went home, and sat down on the computer and was talking to some friends when, at 10:25, I get a call on the phone. It's the police... they're looking for me. SHIT! I forgot to close my flightplan! (Add in some more expletives that you can imagine). I quickly explained to the officer what had happened, and he gave me a direct number for the London FIC. I called them, and they were glad to hear from me, and mentioned that the SAR weren't in the air yet, but they were getting ready to do a search (SH*T!). So, let this be a lesson to all, including myself... DID YOU CLOSE YOUR FLIGHTPLAN???

"I still can't believe that I did that, and I feel like a total idiot... but, the lesson has been learned. Now lets hope that the CFI and the owner of the flight school don't kill me... Fire away with the snide comments, folks, I deserve it! That's one more mistake I won't make ever, ever again. Anyone have any tricks for making sure they don't forget? I'm thinking about putting a little sticker on the dashboard of my car that says "Closed your flightplan?" "

The end... so now I'm terrified of forgetting again... doubt I will!

18.5.04

Done... now where'd I leave my life?

Well... I'm becoming more adept with these computer thing-a-majigs every day. I just built my second computer, and managed to have to format my hard drive in the process. It's all good... I had some problems getting the processor and motherboard to cooperate, but they're playing nicely now, so all is well with the world. It only took me 3 days!
*sigh!*

Well, I'm sitting here at work, bored out of my mind... I just realised that today is only my first day in... it feels like it should be at least Thursday (I work Tuesday-Saturday). Yuck... I hope I get a new job soon.

I've been thinking I spend way too much time on my computer... I've been neglecting my girlfriend a bit while I was building the new PC. Not good. So I think I'll take a break from the thing while I'm home for a while... except in the morning to check my mail and before bed to check my mail. At work I'll just stick with my laptop and try and get started on some more for my instructor rating. Need... motivation... now...

Later!

16.5.04

People intrigue me...

So, I saw a lady last night driving behind me. Normally I don't notice people driving behind me, but this lady struck me as odd. She was driving this little POS stickshift (rust-bucket would be a good description)... no big deal, right? Well, yeah it was, she was also drinking a slurpee and smoking a cigarette while driving... a stickshift. Amazing.