I am continuing to work my ass off for school. I am trying to get everything done now, even though it isn't due until December 13. I need to be able to focus on the FAA written exam, which is the final in one of my classes. The FAA test is only 60 questions, but those 60 questions are randomly pulled by computer from a test bank of 600 questions. You need to be prepared for all 600! And, you are allowed to retake the test if you do not pass, but not for 30 days. I need to pass the test by December 13, which means I need to pass it on the first try. Ugh! So much to do.

I am continuing my flying among all of this, and I will solo again tomorrow. On the agenda: go to the practice area and practice turns around a point, S-turns and basic flying skills, like holding a heading and maintaining speed and atltitude. I may also brush up on using the VOR. Then, I'll head back to the airport for a few touch and goes, maybe some short field take-offs and landings. Should be fun. To interrupt my day tomorrow, we have our home review at 1pm with a customer service rep from our home builder. They do this just before your one year warranty is up so they can fix anything that's not working or proper. I am glad they do it.

Also on tomorrow's agenda is working on my CD-rom ground school courses. I am needing to finish these as soon as possible so that I can get to the FAA test prep. I am starting to get nervous because the clock is ticking, I will be out of town at least ten days from now until the end of November, and I have no idea what my December schedule will be like. On top of it all, I am on reserve next month which adds even more to the uncertainty of my schedule. I may have to ask for some p-time...personal time off. It's an occurence on my record, but I currently have none and you are allowed three in a 12 month calendar cycle. We'll have to see. Otherwise, I have made great progress with school...there's just so much more! I wanted to do this, right?

And to add to the worries... I am having increasingly significant computer problems... yes, it's the new one. My CD-rom drive has never worked properly, playing some CDs, not others, or playing some and then stopping. It's very bizarre behavior, and eMachines says the problem will be fixed if I completely dump my system, reload it and go from there. Yeah, right. It's very obviously a hardware problem... just replace the damn thing. I am about to go out and buy a new one of my own and install it myself. Also, the monitor has all these wierd lines in it. They only seem to appear when the screen changes, like when you scroll down a webpage or something. I don't think it's a problem with the monitor, but rather a problem with the communication between the CPU and the monitor. Also, my brand new printer doesn't seem to be functioning properly, either. It attempts to print something, and after several minutes of serious thought, it gives up and says "document failed to print." No shit! I would not be surprised if something is wrong with Windows since so much is taking a dump lately, but I know the CD-rom has nothing to do with it. It's all very frustrating and maddening. I just want it to work right, especially since I have so much to do. Fortunately, I still have my old eMachine which is working fine. The problem is it is too slow to play my Cessna CD-roms, so I am screwed there. Free advice is always welcome.