Stuff

Steve and I went out to eat with Kaylee tonight at the Charley Creek Inn. It's in an old fancy hotel in Wabash. We went there many years ago with Kaylee as a celebratory dinner with friends and they had a ton of really good food. We learned that recently they were closed down for a cockroach problem, so now I know my mom just skeeved out, but they were cleared and reopened. It's an upscale restaurant in an upscale building, but they certainly don't have the menu selection they used to. What we had was very good though. I had a spinach artichoke dip, shrimp scampi, warm rolls with butter, and a creme brulet.  Too much food but it was all very good. And we saw no bugs. ;)  

Steve called ahead of time and asked about gluten-free options, and the lady who answered the phone said sure, they had a bunch of them, including pastas. We get there, and they have no gluten free pastas and minimal gluten free foods. Steve was mad. We'd driven 50 minutes to get there on the premise Kaylee had lots of options to eat and she ended up having to get ribs as about the only thing she could eat. We don't know who got on the phone and lied about that one, but not super cool.

The most annoying thing about the meal was the guy at the table behind us who would cough super deep and loudly, all the time. He talked loud, he coughed loud, he laughed loud, he did it all non-stop and it got on both my and Kaylee's last nerve until he left, and even after he left you could hear him clear out in the lobby coughing and yelling and laughing, for like 15 minutes.  Like...go home, my man. And cover your mouth when you cough like that.

I went to Grand Rapids, MI today. Cool, clear morning, and the sun was just coming up as I was driving out there. Easy flying. I landed there, and the line guy said "I remember you, you've been here before!" which is true. I always feel weird when line guys remember me and I don't remember them, because I see a lot more line guys than they apparently see women twin pilots.  But I am impressed every time with their memory regardless.  I got Uber Eats for brunch because the guy I flew up there took the Tesla courtesy car to do his work. We were only there a couple hours, I got fuel, and we came home. It was an easy day. I like the easy days too, it gives you a break after the tough days, the long days, the broken down days. Like Sunday and Monday were.

I told you Steve was having a rough week full of things he doesn't enjoy. Well, today the trend continued where he was supposed to meet with the TSA. Every year they are supposed to come to our flight school, they look over our student records, our CFI records, make sure we did all the required TSA training and that our students all have the appropriate documentation, and they always change how they want it done, and Steve always gets mad and yells at them. Last year a CFI at Logansport Airport told the TSA to get the hell out and not come back, loudly. I don't know if that worked permanently, I kinda doubt it, because, you know, FAA, TSA, big government agencies always win, but it's funny, and it shows you how annoying these people are. So they were supposed to be there between 2-3 pm. By 4:30 they hadn't shown up, so Steve locked up and left without calling anyone, so that they wouldn't show up at the last minute and keep him there later than he wanted to be.  He got out of the TSA meeting today, but we're waiting to hear what happened and when they want to meet again. In the meantime, we both did our required annual TSA online training course tonight and printed off the certificates, so it'll be ready for that inspection. ;)  We do it every time we do our CFI renewals, but that's every TWO years, and the TSA training is required every year. So every other year I always miss it until the TSA guy comes around and wants to see the paperwork again. It's so stupid.  "What do you do if you see someone suspicious"? "Don't let terrorists take your airplanes"  Okay, thanks.

Steve also got his Medicare card in the mail, and his 65th birthday is coming up in 4 days. So he's feeling a little weird about that, because all his other Medicare info was about his Mom, and now he's on it, and trying to navigate those waters.  One thing we do know is that his blood pressure pills went from like $20 to $240, so he's getting into Subpart D and all this other stuff and getting a handle on it as best he can now.  Fun fun.

Steve and I are going to stay down in Florida the 19-22nd. I'm taking Andy and his wife to Marco, and Kevin and his family to Kissimmee, and Steve's going along too, and we're staying down there for a few days. A little birthday celebration for him. The place where you're supposed to stay young forever--Disney. ;) But this is Disney in style, with the (pardon the crudeness) ultra rich people passes where there are no lines, there is free food and drink available all over, secret places to go, etc. I've never experienced Disney not standing for hours in lines, even if you buy a fast pass, so...should be interesting.  My only problem is I need to leave Kissimmee by 9 am to get back to Kokomo in time to be ready to leave with Dustin at 1 pm for Knoxville in the 340 all night.  Long day!

As I was driving to the airport this morning, and the sun was barely up, it was really depressing. Here we go, with the darker mornings and the earlier darker evening. The fields went yellow-ish and are browning now. Trees are changing.  Boom.  Switch.  But as I was driving along the road to Frankfort, I got that feeling I've had before coming up our house street too, like I'm watching a time lapse video. I see that one set of trees in full summer thick greens, and then I see the trees with a riot of color for a few days, and then I see the bare branches and everything brown and black and white, and then I see the first hints of green coming back, all in that exact spot, I can see it all, because I've driven past it so many seasons, over and over and over and over again, and it just feels like as I'm driving by that spot I'm watching a time lapse video going by too fast again, and I can blink and see the next and the next and the next even while this shot is currently here.  I don't know how to describe it, but it made me feel weird and sad and creeped out and morose.  You know...like Fall usually does.  I better dig out my Vitamin D and sun light lamp thing again, I can tell.

Kaylee has a dozen clients now. She's doing some diagnostic stuff, and she likes that the best, the puzzle of it, meeting criteria, etc. She had two clients no show on her today but I said she gets paid on salary no matter who shows up, and she liked that, because of course in private practice, no show means no pay.  lol  She's doing fine, settling in pretty well I think. 

I've got nothing on the schedule for tomorrow. I did have, but he wasn't feeling well so he canceled. It's a perfect day, so I need to think about what I'm going to do with it outside of some stuff like a store run, laundry, etc.  This morning I was up at 6 am. Tomorrow, tomorrow I'd better not wake up before 7:30. ;)