Went to look at a new plane in Springfield IL

Jeff (my boss) and I went out to Springfield IL to look at a new plane to add to our fleet. The plane came from the Tatta company in India and I gotta say, they don't take care of the interior of planes like we do over here. It was a wreck. The good thing is that they just spent 1 million dollars on an inspection that has the majority of the plane disassembled, inspected, and put back together.. Other than the asthetics of the interior, the plane is in excellent shape. If our client decides on this plane, we have given him info on a complete restoration of the interior which will include broadband internet and many many other upgrades from the planes I am flying now. I have my fingers crossed, because this thing is awesome.. It even has a heads up display like the military fighter jets..cool huh! Here are a couple pics of the same type of plane, it's called a Falcon 2000.

Quick trip to Washington

I flew up to Washington for a few days to help Jim plant some trees in his yard and visit with some friends. It is always fun to head up there and get a quick dose of WA. After living down in the bay area for a while now, I'm definitely starting to feel much more at home here that up there. Now I just gotta figure out how to get everyone to move down my way. I had a lot of fun one night at Mom and Jeff's visiting with Jon, Brittany and the kids Delaney and Adelyn. It was funny, Mom kept looking at me and saying No! because I was getting the kids so wound up. At one point I was singing online karaoke kids songs with Delaney..She was a little nervous around me at first but quickly warmed up...Good times

Found a hot tub

I found a nice used hot tub the other day. I've wired it underground to the house but need to have an electrician come out to do the hooking up, don't need a DIY disaster. I figured it would be better to start with a used one to see if I will use it that much. I'm planning on the bamboo curtains on a couple sides for privacy. I'm also going to build steps with the same wood as the deck. Still trying to figure out what bushes to put over by the fence and around the deck. I have also found a place to buy rock though it's hard to decide what type with so many choices.. We'll see, I'm being a little indecisive about all that right now.

The Pergola and deck are done!

I just have to do some landscaping around it and find the perfect hot tub. I'm thinking of some climbing plants for the corners, Jim mentioned grapes... We'll see. These projects have given me such a feeling of accomplishment once they are complete. I was just telling Rob that it looks like a professional built it, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm a pro at this point...Haha. The sun is here so all of you up in WA better start planning trips to come down south and make a stop at my place.

The sun is back!

Work hasn't been super busy these days so I've decided to build a pergola and deck in my back yard, for an eventual hot tub. I started in on this project thinking it would be fairly simple. All I'd have to do is level the ground and build it. Well, easier said than done but I've enjoyed every minute of it. The first picture shows the the area I had to dig to make it only one step onto the deck from ground level. Probably would have been nice to have a bulldozer since it seems like that was the amount of dirt I ended up moving with the shovel and wheel barrel. Once I had it all leveled out, I placed the blocks and started building. It's taken about three days to get to the stage I'm at in time for the delivery of all the wood. This project also gave me an excuse to go buy a couple more man tools :-). I have a little more sanding, constructing and staining until it is finished, but so far I'm very happy with how it is turning out. Thank goodness for youtube, there were a couple videos that really helped me out. I'll post a few pics of the finished product, but for now I'm gonna have to take a break. I have a trip to the Bahamas with the owner of the airplane.. They aren't letting us stay out there with the plane this time so I'll be airlining back and forth for this one, all part of the cost cutting.

Quick Day Trip to Seattle

I had a day trip to Seattle and had lunch with Rob, Julie, Jeff and my Mom. My dad met us back at the plane to say hello too. Mom says I was lucky to have visited on such a nice day since it has been cloudy most days up there. It was convenient to have the coporate jet so I could fly a few boxes back down now that I have storage space in my garage.

Little more work on the house

After a trip up to Calgary and Pittsburgh, I came home to put the baseboards and moldings in. A couple friends let me borrow a saw and nail gun to attempt this new project on my own. I am very happy with how it all turned out. I have also found a new roommate, her name is Liz and she works in Atlanta from Monday to Thursday. I'm probably going to take a break on the house project situation for a little bit, and start saving up to furnish the place since it is a little empty.

The floors are finished!

I have been working most of the month and have only had a few days to work on the house before moving in on Monday. The one thing that needed to get done before the move was the hardwood floors in all three bedrooms, the living room, hallway and entry. I started in on the floors near the beginning of the month by tearing up the old carpeting and pulling what seemed to be thousands of staples out of the wood. I then had a few trips throughout the month which gave me plenty of time to read up on how to tackle this job. I got a few great tips, but nothing quite prepared me for what I was in for. The floors looked shiny before I started which I thought was a good thing and uh, not really. The wood had many clear coats that needed to be sanded through. I rented a sander that was not overly aggressive which made for sanding a total of about 24 hours. I couldn't believe the machine could handle that much work. 5 hours the first night then 15 hours the next day followed by 4 more hours the next morning for final touch ups. Needless to say, the machine wasn't made to strip old hardwoods that had years of layers put on. I vacuumed the whole house and ran tack cloth over the floor which is a sticky damp cloth that picks up dust. It was time to lay down the finish. I initially wanted a darker floor so I was going to stain, but after all that sanding, my test spot showed some fine swirls left behind by the sander which most people wouldn't have been able to see but I would always know. I opted to go natural which is better to hide the carpeting and sanding blemishes. I coated the raw wood with a product called Varathane. It took about an hour to lay down a clear coat and then I had to wait two hours between each. I put down four coats and headed back to the apartment at about 3 a.m. All together I put about 34 hours of work and $600 into the floor in about two and a half days... Today I went back to see how the floor was setting up and snapped a couple pics with my phone. I also replaced many of the old outlets with updated ones and bought a leaf blower and cleaned up the yard. I think I'll sleep well tonight because tomorrow I need to pack up my apartment and have everything ready for the movers on Monday. Busy busy few days!

Got the Keys!!!

Well I'm officially a home owner! I have already done some painting and am working on refinishing the hardwoods before the end of the month in order to move in. I have had a few trips this month which is gonna make things close, but if I need to I'll just move everything into the garage so I'll have time not to rush through anything and make it all look perfect. Here are some pics; one of me getting the keys from my agent Steve, one of me painting on the second day, a pic from me sitting on the stairs looking across the street at the neighborhood and the hills, and where I had first pulled back some of the carpet to see what samples of baseboard and molding looked good with the floors. I'll post more pics soon. I went to the Nursery down the street to get some rose food for my bushes and it seemed the older ladies really liked helping a young confused guy out with that kind of stuff.. It was funny.

Latest trip

Jeff and I just returned from a trip to West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and ending in Yakutat, Alaska. We had a great time bouncing around. I tried to straighten up my golf game a little in Atlanta, in preparation for a professional course I'll be playing in Texas next month with the bosses. Our last four days in Alaska went pretty quickly. We drove to Portage glacier where we took an ice breaking boat out on the lake that the glacier spills into. Our last day was also exciting when a pilot flew us out to land on the beach which was cool on those big tundra tires.

Buying my first house!

I've been enjoying time down here in the bay area. I've met some great new people and am having a lot of fun flying with the guys at SP. I have a trip in a few days to Alaska which is cool since it is the only state I have not yet visited. I do have quite a bit of time on my hands lately, so I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a house and put some work into it. I found a small 3 bedroom 2 bath in the hills north of Oakland in a very homey, secluded neighborhood called May Valley. It is a one owner home and in very good condition, just a little dated. My closing date is at the end of May...I'll keep you posted!

My '66

Well I bought an airport car that I'm gonna start to restore. It's a 1966 Beetle, which is in very good condition for the price I paid. It will be fun to have a project car that I can also drive around. I plan on putting an aftermarket, replica sliding rag top on it which is probably a sin in the VW world but I wanna make it right for me. I'll post more pics when I do anything significant to it in the future.

Left Washington and headed back down to Cali

I left home a couple days after Christmas to relocate back to the bay area just in time to get ready for New Years. It only takes about fifteen minutes to take the train to the city from where I'm at in Alameda. I met up with some new friends Natalie and Heather for New Years Eve. New Years day, I had my first trip back with SP Aviation to Puerto Vallarta. After all the moving around, it was a nice relaxing break to hang out in MX for a few days.

Back Home in Washington

I've been back for a few days and am enjoying being on American soil. I went to fly the Boeing 757 Sim for Costco which went very well, I've always wanted to see what it would be like to fly one of the big planes. Unfortunately I received a call a few days later and let me know that they are going to hire a woman for the position, which of course was another huge surprise being that I came off my contract early and thought I already had the job. I asked them if there was anything I could have done differently, to which they replied no and they'll see me in another position there when one becomes available in the future. All of this was very confusing to me. Anyway, I have accepted a position with SP in Hayward, CA and am very happy with their offer. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas... These pics are from the Murphy Christmas Party. Their was a Mexican theme and by the end of the night we were getting into Chris's stash of funny coats.

Flying around the middle east.

We have primarily been flying around Saudi Arabia and to Dubai. Our plane has had a number of issue's therefore we have been here in Dubai for about five days again. One night we could not find rooms anywhere and ended up at an unbelievable hotel called Raffles. It resembles a pyramid and may be one of the nicest rooms I've stayed in on this trip. I should be heading back around the 12th.

A few days in Dubai

We have been here in Dubai for about ten days now and I think we are all ready to start working again. Fortunately for Jim, his brother has been here vacationing the whole time we have been here. The first night, I went out to dinner with Jim and his family at a great restaurant and then up to the lounge at the top of the Burj Al Arab hotel, the self proclaimed only seven star hotel in the world. Chanel has a few friends here also. I was able to hang out with her crowd with dancing, BBQ, and live music. We are heading to Saudi for a couple days, then to London and then on to Geneva. I can't upload pics for some reason in Dubai so I'll do it when I get to Saudi.

Pyramids of Giza

We made it out to the Pyramids of Giza yesterday and had a great time! When we arrived in Cairo we had another flat tire. The problem has been diagnosed to the anti-skid system which is holding pressure on the brakes when we release them. Anyway, we decided to make use of our time on the ground and did the tourist thing. On our way to the Pyramids we crossed the Nile River then met with a man that arranged for a tour guide named Mohamed and a boy named Ali to lead us around the site on horses. I am so glad we got the horses, I've ridden before but not for this amount of time. I named mine Harold, he was a good horse and liked it when I scratched him behind his ear. The first thing I noticed about the Pyramids is how close they are to the city. I have always felt that they would be a bit away from the city. I snapped a shot from the car that may give you a little perspective. Mohamed let us know that if we wanted to buy anything we should tell him since we would be overrun by the merchants if we started pulling money out of our pockets. We first rode near some under ground structures on our way to the three largest pyramids, (The great Pyramid of Khufu, Pyramid of Kafhre, and the Pyramid of Menkaura). The guide wanted us to touch the great pyramid so we got off our horses and took a couple pics. We then rode to a vista point where we could see the pyramids from a distance. On our way Mohamed had each of us speed our horses up to a gallop. At first I was riding wrong (bouncing up and down) and my butt is feeling it today. After that we headed down to the Sphinx. I gotta say, it was an unbelievable day of site seeing. In the afternoon we headed to the airport to receive our new wheel/tire assembly and then flew the plane to Dubai to be repaired. We should now be here in Dubai for a few days which is cool because a large Airshow has come to town and will be performing. On another note, Costco has told me that they really liked me but I need a little more time before I can work with them, therefore I have accepted a great offer from my old company and will be heading back down to the bay area at the beginning of the new year.