Punch out at 1845. Hustle from Terminal A to the Main Terminal and out through baggage claim. Jump on an employee bus for the ride to the North Lot. Sprint to my airport car, jump in and drive the 10 minute journey back to the crashpad. 1905, stuff my rollerboard collect my gear and race it out to the car reverse course. Wait for bus and climb in at 1922. Cruise through security at 1930 and ride the tram back to my departure gate by 1935 just in time to board the 2000 flight home. Whew!
All posts by cs
sometime i crack myself up
Worn out cogs and rollers or a SNAFU with the paper tray, my briefing packet held a blank page sandwiched in amongst the other sheets with the data. I rifle through them as I advise my crew of the pertinent particulars until I reach the blank. With a perplexed look, I slide it out and wonder out loud if there was supposed to be something important printed there. Their minds race for few seconds but get traction when they figure out that I’m just messin’.
war story
She apologized profusely, profoundly embarrassed. Stale pot of coffee in one hand, with the intention of disposing down the lav, the FA swung the door wide to expose one of our pax relieving himself. I told her such an event has happened at least once to nearly (all newbies) everyone. She won’t visit the “aft cabin” now without an instant replay in her head, I’ll bet.
to see list
I discovered a great URL for Movie and TV titles. The IMDb is a searchable database and I’ve reached in and probed my memory and come out with a favorite list of classics and mini series that I’ve previously enjoyed and may now begin to catalog. Here is a partial random sample: Captain Ron (1992), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Goodbye Charlie (1964)… Seen this one? The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) or: Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, The (1982)
Another great internet visit is the PBS.org site and its A to Z archive list. I’ve harvested a grand catalog of Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! episodes that I have watched or wish to.
leaving a mark
The Wikipedia is a Wiki. This tool allows you or I or anyone knowledgeable about any given subject or topic the means to add or edit content — In this case to the world’s free encyclopedia on the web. The Wikipedia has umpteen thousands of pages currently posted on topics. Even so, If you search Wikipedia for a given item and come up empty handed then write about it and save it to the site. Who knows, other collaborators might jump in and help you to flesh it out. Kind of like leaving your initials carved into the picnic table. Here is a contribution: The Mercedes-Benz 220SE. I’m not an expert authority but I do come from a generation that remembers the era. Go ahead! Jump in!
flyi media
In case your VCR fast forwards through the commercials… You may have missed these: The Business Trip Spot. Or, this one? Terminal Madness. Here’s a 60 sec. radio ad: Airport Bar.
shake it out
Fixing one thing can make something else worse (If it ain’t broke don’t fix it?). B.O.U.R.Girl, in attempt to keep her car free of hair and paw prints, spread a garage blanket in the tailgate of the Pacifica so dawg could ride along. As she laid this out there sprang from the security of the folds a mighty cock-roach who stunned by the bright of day lingered for a moment and then made a bee line for the louvers of our car’s return air vent. The creature was irretrievably slurped from view to lurk from somewhere amongst the inner environmental workings. “Where does that vent go?” she asked disgustedly. “Directly to the driver’s seat!”, not resisting an obvious tease. I suppose I could have put on a proper show and emptied a can of roach motel down that vent. Too late in hind sight. That critter has surely made his way to the front vents by now.
milestone
Google beat Microsoft to the punch on this one. Finally, a fast ( .5 seconds ) way to search for stuff on your pc. The Google Desktop beta brings order to your local machine by indexing the 8,074 emails, 9,731 documents, and 5,332 viewed pages in my browser cache. Stealing the thunder.
Careful though… There is a potential privacy issue, should a guest access your machine. There should be a means to enable / disable the search function and password protect. What if you use a public computer that has this tool?
lost in translation
I’ve cracked the books to learn the following new values:
167,329
166,447
137,787
128,969
Rote memorization. These mangled numbers are max weights for zero fuel, landing, takeoff and, ramp. Too bad we are not on the same page as the Europeans. These weights were nice (easy) round numbers at the Hamburg DaimlerChrysler Aerospace plant with Airbus using kilograms. Onward and upward: max certificated cruising altitude – 39,100 feet – wingspan 111 feet 10 inches…
Spacely Sprockets and Cogsley Cogs
Fearless Leader (CEO) poked his head into the crew shack to catch me totally off guard cooling my jets and immersed in a scrap of day old newspaper. “Here’s a hug” he has a bag of Hershey’s chocolate. “It’s the only one that you’ll get from me today”, he quipped. There goes my promotion… I should have been doing something useful like throwing bags or line busting rather then getting caught chewing gum.