Rollercoaster Start to 2010

2010 has started off pretty nice for the two of us. We spent New Year's Eve in Houston with Daniel's grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and some of their friends. His aunt and uncle's house is right on Lake Houston, so it was really neat to see the fireworks going off all around the lake. The boys were setting off their own fireworks as well in the backyard since his uncle had bought a lot of really good ones. An hour before midnight we went back to his grandparents house and played Mexican Train (a really fun dominoes game) and sipped wine. Just before midnight we stepped outside to watch all of the fireworks go off around the neighborhood as the page turned to 2010. It was a great way to spend the start of the new year with family, and I don't think we could have had a better time.

Holidays are gone now, though, and life moves on. Daniel's dream to fly has began as he is working on getting his private pilot's license this semester while being a full time student. He will do great in both as he is being very good with his time management. I no longer have to hear him tell me every day, "I wanna go flyyyyyy", because now he is able to. As soon as his tuition reimbursement was put into our account, he scheduled the doctor's appointment to get his FAA flight physical done. Of course, though, the FAA website was down that day, so they weren't able to print off his certificate until they were pretty much closed, so we had to get it the next day. He was a little bummed because he wanted to be able to fly that day. His first flight was supposed to be this last Wednesday but was cancelled on account of weather, so his first actual flight was on Thursday.

Daniel- I got to the airport around 2:40 and grabbed the pilot handbook for my plane, a Cessna 172, and headed out to the flight line to run through the pre-flight checklist. First order of business was to check all the equipment inside- make sure we've got all the legal documents in place, turn on the battery and check the gauges, and finally lower the flaps so we can check them during the walk-around. I started checking the aircraft exterior from my side of the plane first: took a fuel sample to check for dirt and water, check the ailerons, flaps, leading edge or the wing, the tires, brakes, down the fuselage, the tail, the rudder, all the way back around. And don't forget to take the tennis ball off the pitot tube. All done. I went back inside to meet with my instructor and go over today's flight which will be simple: taxi and takeoff, head west and climb to 3500 ft. Practice coordinated turns, then come back in for touch-and-gos. I got to taxi the plane out to today's runway, Runway 34, then pull off to the run-up area at the end. We turned into the wind and revved up the engine to test all the systems- everything was in the green, so we got our takeoff clearance from Easterwood tower, turned onto 34, and away we went! At 55 kts, I pulled back on the yoke and the little Cessna started to climb. I did a good job holding the plane at climb attitude and airspeed, right at 78 kts. Then we banked left for a turn to the west, heading 2-7-0. I leveled off at 3500', reduced power for cruise (2300 rpm) and adjusted the trim so we'll fly straight and level. Over the practice area, to the north of Lake Somerville, I made shallow turns, then steeper ones, working on keeping the nose level using the rudders to keep the plane from 'sliding'. After about 15 minutes, we headed back to Easterwood. My instructor would make the first trip through the pattern, and the next would be my turn. As we came in, the little College Station  airport was buzzing with activity. Two aircraft were waiting on the ramp for takeoff, a twin-engine Beechjet was coming in to land, and off in the distance a Colgan Air Saab 340 was approaching. The tower squeezed us into the pattern, my instructor had to make S-turns to buy some time as the last aircraft took-off. We touched down, put the flaps up, and went back up into the traffic pattern. This time I got to bring it around, came on in and put it right on the centerline- flaps up, full throttle, pull back on the yoke and up into the sky again. Now we will make a full-stop landing. As we came in, the tower told us he wants us to 'land long'- further down the runway, so we can turn off onto the taxiway sooner because an American Eagle ERJ-140 was coming in. It was weird aiming for the middle of the runway! Touchdown, apply the brakes, and take the exit ramp.  We stopped once we crossed the hold line, got taxi clearance to park, and the flight was over. Logbook time: 0.9 hours. Instructor's comments: relax!!!

Back to me, Amanda: Anyways, you can tell how excited he is, and I've really loved being able to see him do something he's wanted to do his whole life. I'm so happy for him. Anyways, as far as things are going with me, I'm still searching for a full-time job. This past Monday I had an interview for a nanny job, and then, on Tuesday received a call saying that the job was mine if I wanted it. Well, of course I accepted it, but on Thursday evening, I got another call from them saying that one of their moms offered to do it for free. Thus, no job for me. This really upset me because I had been so excited thinking that my job search of two months was finally over with. It was like a mean trick was played on me. I am grateful for the part-time that I've been working for about a month and a half, and that is willing to let me work there while I'm searching for a full-time job. The job is good experience for me in sales, customer service, and some finance stuff. It's at a boot store called Haix, which sells firefighter, law enforcement, ems, and some military and hunting boots. It's not a difficult job at all, and it's great for what I need right now.

So, that about wraps up what we've been through so far this year. We look forward to all that this year has in store for us.