I went flying!

So I had an opportunity to jump seat on one of our trips yesterday. Since I don't have a passport, I can't go on most of our trips, since we do a lot of international flights. This one was Laredo, Texas to Lansing, MI. With the freight dropping off so close to home base, I was sure to get home.

Laredo was HOT! It was 41*C, about 105*F. And the weight of the freight, in addition to the heat, there was a concern that we wouldn't be able to leave. As with most engines, aircraft engines like the cold more than heat. Therefore they perform better in the cold, and don't do as well in the heat. The hotter it is, the less weight the engines can handle. Thankfully, we didn't have as much freight weight as possible and we could work within tolerances. If we turned off "packs" it takes a little more stress from the engines, so we could take off. (I was worried for a minute.)

There was so much that I knew, but didn't really apply to an actual flight. Like, I knew it was REALLY cold way up there, but didn't realize that the aircraft regularly goes from -50 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. That is a solid 100 degree difference that happens pretty regularly. That explains a lot of wear and tear on the aircraft and therefore one of the many reasons that they have such strict maintenance requirements.

I now understand turbulence. I've not really flown much, so this phenomenon was all theory to me. In reality it's like a bumpy car ride. It didn't really get horrible, but there was an obvious difference between the smooth section and the rough winds.

Taking off and landing was the most interesting part of the flight (of course) because there was so much going on. They ran checklists while they were descending and kept in contact with the tower all while lining up and preparing to land. Taking off was similar, except we had to position so that we were going the right way.

Overall, I had a blast and I would love to do this again!
By the way, all photos are copyrighted by me, so please abide by copyright laws, thank you!

Fiat!!

So yesterday, Dale and I ended up near the Fiat dealer. I'd priced them out and they are on the list of possible cars we wanted to check out.

Well, it was about eight o'clock in the evening, so we wandered over with no thought of any salespeople. After we looked around for a few minutes, Dale mentioned "I guess they are still open." I turned around and there was a salesman walking toward us.

We went into the showroom to check out the floor models and they really are nifty little cars. We ended up taking one for a test drive... Let's just say that they are definitely still on the list of possibilities.

Admittedly, the back seat was a little cramped, but we don't take passengers too often and we would still have another vehicle available if we did want to take people. The rear seats fold down, so we can still put groceries or car parts in there if we want to. They also have that LATCH thing for car seats in case I end up having to take Bella somewhere when I visit Jess.

Overall, it's a cute little gas-sipper. Can you imagine me driving a Fiat 500 instead of my truck? Wow.

Oops, I did it again!

Speeding, that is.

I have been so good since my last ticket. The other day I was on my way home from visiting Dale at work... First time driving my truck in a while and I was preoccupied with trying to figure out how I'm going to pay my bills. Then I saw the nice officer in the median and looked down... 80 in a 70 zone.

Here I'm thinking "Please don't, please don't, please don't, oh, crap." So I pulled over as soon as I possibly could. I was cooperative and all and hoped he would go easy on me. He totally wrote me a ticket. Actually, printed out a citation for me. It is a printout from the officer's mobile computer! Ah, technology.

Now I have another bill to worry about and it's due the day before I get paid. I see my scant saving evaporating already. Joy.

Always a bridesmaid...

...Well, not really. But in a few months I am going to be a bridesmaid! I'm so excited! I'm even being useful!

Let's start from the beginning...
My friend Erika is getting married! She asked for my address in order to send the invitation and I readily told her the info. A few days later, I get a cute little yellow envelope in the mail from her. I excitedly rip it open to find inside a cute little card asking me to be her bridesmaid. Of course, I called to to tell her "hell yes" I would be her bridesmaid and we got to chatting...

Of course we chatted about all sorts of her wedding plans and I told her to pretty please let me know if she needed help with anything. Later that evening, while attempting to reach the end of the internet, I found all sorts of fun ideas for wedding favors. So I took all the links, rolled them up into an e-mail and sent them on.

I know how much work and money that a wedding requires and I know that I only helped out a little, but every little bit helps. I'm SO excited for this wedding and I'm so glad Erika and John found each other. Erika's like another sister to me and I wish her all the best this world has to offer. (Go Navy, E!)

Los Poconos!

This past weekend, I went to the Poconos to visit my brother and his family. His eldest son was getting confirmed and his newest baby girl was getting baptized. It was a very busy, but fun, weekend!
I haven't seen this family in years, and they have all changed so much! Chase is a teenager now. Cecilia is growing up as such a wonderful, friendly girl. Declan is even getting big and he adores his little sister. And baby Rosie is adorable and only cries when she's hungry and only fusses a little bit otherwise.
It was a great weekend! I felt right at home for the whole weekend and I was SO glad to have taken the time to take this trip. I didn't realize exactly how much I missed everyone and I loved being with them.

Fast Five

So tonight Dale, Bridget and I went to see the movie "Fast Five" at the theater. It was great!! I was afraid that this series had run out of new, exciting tricks. As it turns out, they have not. There were a few twists and turns that I did not see coming.

At one point in the movie there is a fight between Vin Diesel and "the Rock" and Bridget and I were trying to guess who would win. She said the bald one would win. My vote was on the one with large biceps. We both turned out to be right!

I am very excited about this movie. I really enjoyed watching it and I hope to see it again soon. If I don't see it again in theaters, I will find it when it comes out on DVD.

Greatest birthday celebration!

So this past few days I've been celebrating my birthday. It has been great! I've been able to see a lot of people I've been missing.

Let's start with Sunday...
I was scheduled to work until 7am. At 6:40, I got a call from my relief saying that his car wouldn't start and he'd be late. I finally got out of there at 8:15. I hurried home, took a nap then got ready and hit the road. When I got to my parents' house, I took another nap.
When I got up we met at grandma's to head to Donatos for pizza. I've missed Donatos pizza! We had some great pizza and chatted for a while. Afterward, my sister, brother and I went to Friendly's and picked up a Moose Tracks ice cream cake. We took that back to grandma's and served it up! With that and birthday presents for dad and I it was pretty fun.
This concluded Sunday. I went home and happily went to bed.

Monday.
I woke up and got ready for a ride-along with NRPD (my hometown police department.) Patrolman Neff and I patrolled the city for a few hours. We didn't do a whole lot of major enforcement, but it being a Monday morning, I wasn't surprised. While I was at the station I got to see many officers that I haven't seen in over five years. It was a great blast from the past.
After I was done with my ride-along, I picked up Bridget and we went to Lakewood to pick up Jessey and Bella. We all then wandered off to Dave and Busters for some game time. Through the evening we were joined by a few others... Allison, Jamie, Alex, Moe and Julie all ended up there at some point in the evening. I haven't seen many of these people for at least a few months. Julie came in after work and ended up taking a nap on Tom after having dinner.
Everyone ended up leaving with some awesome prizes and we all played some cool games. It was a great night.

Tuesday.
Bridget, mom and I all woke up early (it wasn't fun) and started a surprise attack. We went to grandma's church and since we were a little late, we snuck in the back. ("God understands, Father... not so much") At communion we slipped into the pew in front of grandma. She was quite surprised to see us there. After mass we went to breakfast and chatted with grandma and her breakfast group. It was rather entertaining.
Afterward Bridget and I went home, packed up and hit the road.
When we got back to Michigan we started up our Fast and Furious marathon. We had just finished the third movie and realized that we didn't have the fourth ready. We went to the movie store and rented the fourth one (on got snacks, of course) then got settled back in and watched the last installment. After that, I went to bed... I was sleepy.

Wednesday
Dale had to work at ten, so I ended up getting up around nine and hanging out with him for a bit. After he left for work I woke Bridget and we got out the door for the day's adventure.
We went to Somerset Collection to wander around for a bit and see what we could afford.
We started out searching for the "right" parking garage. I wanted the one by the food court and we couldn't seem to find the right one. In the meantime, we wandered and took pictures of the scenery. Mostly the photo subjects were clouds and cars, but one crazy bird adventure also made it.
When we finally found where I wanted to be, we grabbed a bite to eat and watched the valets who were working so hard. (The Maserati was a gorgeous thing to stare at.) We ended up hitting up the Sweet Factory, The Detroit Shoppe, and the Lego Store.

After this adventure, we went back to the apartment to relax for a minute before heading out to Dave and Busters. This time the group ended up being decidedly smaller but we still had lots of fun. I ended up turning a bunch (almost all) of my tickets for a HUGE stuffed gorilla. (It's a toy, not a real gorilla. Don't want any confusion.)
After we left Dave and Buster's we wandered over to National Coney Island for some grub. After a couple of 99 cent coneys, we called it a night and I headed off to work. Work was pretty slow, but with the upcoming trip to PA, I couldn't afford to miss any time.

I had a great birthday celebration and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many people that I haven't seen in a while and playing at Dave and Buster's was such a blast. I see why Bridget takes people there every week or so.

27!!!

Well, my birthday is officially over, but the celebration has just begun!
I have tons of plans for the whole next week. I'm going to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while and it's going to be great!
I don't have much else to say right now except that I have had this feeling for a while that 27 will be great!!