I am home now for three weeks!

That's exciting! I am on vacation Nov. 5-11, but was able to extend it from Nov. 1 through Nov. 14. I already had the last five days of October off. What a treat! I plan on flying a lot, working on school stuff and painting the house. That will be the biggest project, but it has the lowest priority. Flying and school come first.

Tomorrow Beth's family from Minnesota and Wisconsin are coming into town. There is a cousin getting married in Havasu City (about three hours from here) on Saturday. They all are coming out to our house tomorrow night for Halloween. That should be a lot of fun since none of them have seen the house. They are all very anxious, as I am, too! It will be nice to see them.

My mom is recovering slowly but surely from her sinus surgery last week. The poor thing has her nose completely packed and won't get it removed until Nov. 5. I think she's had enough of it, but is in good spirits. The surgery took place last Monday, so she's been through the worst.

I SOLOED!

Woohoo! I was very nervous, yet confident I had the skills and knowledge required to pull it off without bending any metal, and I did. I can't say the landings were all graceful, but the tower controller told me if I could see into the cab (the top of the tower) I would see all nines and tens. I thought that was pretty neat. I am so excited! Now I can really move forward with my flight training and start cross country and night flying. That will be a lot of fun!

I had another flight lesson this morning and things are progressing well. Yesterday, we worked on landings at an uncontrolled airport and did 8 touch and goes. Today, we worked on landings at my home airport, North Las Vegas, and did 8 more touch and goes. The next lesson we are going to work on reviewing emergency procedures and what I've learned so far. Then, the lesson after that we are going to fly the pattern at my home airport, make sure I am comfortable and then... SOLO! That, currently, is scheduled for next Tuesday. Of course, I'll keep you all updated. To say the least butterflies are flying! But, I am so excited, and feel that by then I will be ready and prepared for my first solo.

I know the links aren't appearing normal down the left column, but I can't figure out why. They work properly, though. The top one is for recipes, the middle one is for the calendar and the bottom one is for links. I hope to get it fixed soon.

One of Beth's co-workers got married yesterday and we attended. The ceremony was Jewish, so it was very interesting since I hadn't ever been to a Jewish wedding before. It was very nice. The ceremony was performed in both English and Hebrew, and the Jewish traditions, like breaking a glass, were neat to watch. While at the wedding, we ran into a college friend whom we haven't seen in over 2 years. Her name is Amanda. She was one of the photographer's shooting the wedding. Talk about a small world! It was nice to see her again.

Well, after several e-mails and a phone call from Jenn, it has come to my attention my website was down. Not much you can do when you're out of the country. However, I called Cox today and for whatever reason, my screen name and all had disappeared, no record of me whatsoever. My cable modem never stopped working and we continued to get our digital cable, but for whatever reason, they erased me from their cyber community. Bastards. So, with no explanation and a weak apology, we're back up, and I'm back home.

I had a nasty pissing match with crew schedule last night. Ater being hung up on (on purpose, he told me he was going to hang up) I called them back and continued to fight my position over the phone. I was put on hold, again, and after several minutes, the scheduler came back on the line and said, "You won't believe it, but due to extenuating circumstances, we've given you the position, even though you're not entitled to it." Was that a pissy way of saying he was wrong and didn't want to admit it? I think so.

I called the union today and told them about what happened, and they told me I was completely in the right. And all of this on my birthday. Between crew schedule, not being around any friends or family, and having my dinner plans with my roommates fall through last night, I was feeling pretty bumbed. I did have the one victory under my belt, but I had to fight and get upset before that happened, so the win was bitter sweet. I feel much better today, and I hope it continues to go that way.

Happy Birthday to me! I graced the world with my presence at 7:59am PST on this day 26 years ago.

Good news! I got my FAA medical certificate in the mail on Friday! I was so excited when Beth called me and told me. Now I can resume the fast pace I was on before with my flight instruction. The FAA told me it could take up to 90-days which would have been the end of November in a worst case scenario, but that didn't happen, and I sure am relieved! Now I have to worry about my first solo!

Apparently, this is the world's funniest joke... I beg to differ:

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"

I think the runner up is a whole lot funnier:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend.

"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes," replies Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"

That one made me laugh!

Well, I guess I am glad Memphis, TN was never on my list of places I wanted to live. It was rated the worst city to live in, according to Self Magazine and reported on the Today Show on NBC. Other worst cities were in expected states, like Texas, Louisianna, Indiana, Michigan and Mississippi. I guess, then, it is no surprise that California had 3 of the top ten places to live in. Also in the top ten were cities in Conneticut, Vermont, Utah, New Jersey (somewhat surprising since its the Nuclear state), New York and Hawaii (this surprises me, too. The costs are outrageous and the traffic is horrible). Who got top honors? Stamford, Conn.

I guess the whole article is a wash for me, since I haven't ever considered living in any one of the top ten or worst ten cities.

Welcome to the new QQflyboy.com! Yep, you got it, you no longer need to type in that big 'ol address...just www.QQflyboy.com! Hope you enjoy!

Another blistery day here in Las Vegas...

Although the winds have died down, our afternoon high so far is only three degrees above our morning low of 52. It's cold here. And considering yesterday before the storm we were in the mid 70s, it has been a dramatic cool down. Today is gray and dreary like you'd expect any winter day to be with some rain mixed in too. The only problem is, I thought we just started Fall? Did I miss a season, or did mother nature?

The weather here this afternoon is downright nasty, with temperatures falling 20 degrees in an hour! We're also experiencing dust blizzards which are reducing visibilty to mere feet. It happened so suddenly, and tonight, they expect the wind to continue along with some rain. So far, the wind has gusted up to 51 mph in our neck of the woods...I thought the roof was going to come off! Check out KLAS for very interesting pix and video of those dust storms.