Drain Bamaged

I am indeed back in business with Steve's old cell phone, and my biggest problem now is that I have no contacts in there and am having a hard time figuring out parts of this phone and reading the tiny little numbers/letters on the buttons to plug things in appropriately. I got three names in, found that one of them I didn't save appropriately, and gave up because I'm too busy to mess with a phone right now. So I can't really send texts or call people whose contact information I only had in the phone, but at least people can reach me now if need be.

Nathan took the T-6 up today and reported that grass and dirt were the only things that flew around the inside of the airplane upon being turned upside down and shaken. ;) So, my guess is that a field somewhere is the new recipient of a very nice LG Voyager Titanium phone. *sigh*

I've been working on end of the month billing entries again, returning work phone calls, and studying up. This weekend is a formation clinic nearby that I'm going to attend, and there's a lot of stuff to learn ahead of time. It's certainly not the first time I've read through this stuff, but...let's just say I really miss the days when I used to read something once and have it memorized. These days after awhile I find my brain's gears slipping on say what to do in the finger right formation when #1 wants #4 to do a diamond so he has to signal to #3 who passes it on to #4, but if you're in an echelon right formation and want to switch to an echelon left, then #1 has to...and what is a speed break? I can tell you what the signal is, but I haven't found the description of what you're actually supposed to do on it yet. There's Joker Fuel and Bingo Fuel and "terminate" and "knock it off". There's HEFOE and pitchouts and rendezvous and vic and under-runs which are also over-shoots (and very bad). And so on for many pages worth of materials. Those that have done this stuff for a long time find it pretty self-explanatory. Those of us just joining the game (older than 30) find it to be a lot of information. A good amount of it is in my brain at the moment, but they'd better hurry up and have this thing so I can cement it in before it all leaks back out. ;) Hey, all you have to do is remember all that stuff while you're 3 feet away or so from another airplane trying to stick to them like glue smoothly instead of flailing around like a 3-year-old trying to learn to swim, watching three different areas on the airplane so you know you are in the correct position while staring at the lead pilot so you don't miss any of those hand signals and can act instantly on them. No sweat, right? Okay, I admit it, that is just too much fun.

I do dislike having to go into something as the only person who is new to it, but since I don't happen to have four T-6s and 3 other T-6 FAST qualified pilots to drag along with me for awhile, we'll all just have to deal with it. ;) I do look forward to finally getting a chance to do a clinic and getting some practice in and learning as much as possible. Then I'll look to hit another one or two in the Spring and see if I qualify then for my FAST card. If weather and life permits, I'll also do the Bonanza guys' formation clinic in the Spring too, with the Baron. The practice won't hurt, it's right here at home base so I don't have all the travel expenses, and it's a nice group of guys who are professional and yet have a good time with it...

Ted Kennedy died. I'm sure you didn't miss that fact. You know, I haven't been watching my tv since before Oshkosh. For one thing, when you are gone for 10 days with no tv, and you come home to reruns and continuing non-stop coverage of Michael Jackson, it just feels inane, reminds you that there are more important things to do. This morning I was reminded of that as I flipped through all the channels and found nothing on but what a wonderful, loving man Ted was, passing the torch to Obama as the last Kennedy brother, etc. Amazing how death turns everyone into an earth angel...

Kaylee made a volcano in school today, and said her job was to pour the vinegar. She commented that she got vinegar on her hands, which smelled like "...dead fish guts to me. That was very unappetizing." Ha.

I need to set up "Aviation Day" at the airport for Kaylee's class this or next week as they are doing "Aviation Week" in school right now. I just don't know that I can pull it off for Friday morning with everything else going on.

Steve is flying again until 8-9 p.m., and today was my day off of instructing so I could get some of this other stuff done. Since I still have a ways to go, I'd better get back to it.

I just saw this and it made me laugh:

Confidence: The feeling you have before you fully understand the situation.