Monday
Flew with one of the CAP Instructor Pilots (IP) to prepare for my Form 5 in the morning. We didn't get to launch as early as I had hoped, as one of my team members scheduled a team call for 9:00 AM even though I had told her that I had something personal to do in the morning. It worked out okay though, as the sky was overcast and the ceilings were low early, and didn't start lifting and breaking up until around 10:30. I had gotten quite frustrated that my Form 5 had expired in September and I hadn't been able to renew it due to either me not being at home, the weather being bad, not having a CAP aircraft available locally, or not having an IP available. But, fortunately, the stars aligned, and I was able to fly my prep. In the afternoon, I did normal work from home stuff.
Tuesday
Normal work from home day.
Wednesday
Normal work from home day, until our Internet access died late in the afternoon. See this post and this post.
Thursday
Tried to get the Internet issues resolved and tried to work. Thank goodness for my cellular modem. Jeanie took mom to the hospital for the implantation of her neural stimulator that will hopefully relieve most of the pain she is still experiencing due to her back problems. In the evening, I affixed the various required items (leather name badge, CAP patch, American flag and rank bars) to the flight suit a really generous and nice CAP member had given me when I had gone to the Craig Composite Squadron a number of months ago to help them with some training. I also took my on-line annual Form 5 test, and completed the other paperwork for my Form 5 evaluation.
Friday
Took and passed my Form 5. Had fun, even though the check pilot worked me hard.
In the afternoon, went with Jeanie to pick mom up from the hospital after the implantation of her neural stimulator and took her back to her place. Jeanie and I ended up having dinner at the Chipotle Grill at St. Johns Town Center. We had tried three other Mexican restaurants, but we couldn't find the first two even though we had Jeanie's GPS (our guess is they had recently gone out of business) and the third - Cantina Laredo - looked much too expensive. After dinner, we returned the 2Wire Gateway to the Best Buy and then went to Costco to return a couple of books and pick up a few items. While we are at Costco, I looked at watches and found an Invicta (Speedway model) that was nice looking, but it was very heavy so I didn't purchase it.
Saturday
Attended the CAP monthly squadron meeting. Afterward, went to look at the club plane with another club member to address a squawk that had been reported. Went home and changed and then went to Shuckers Oyster Bar for lunch. Jeanie and I shared a seafood combo consisting of fried shrimp, fried grouper fingers and deviled crab, french fries, coleslaw and a hushpuppy; and two appetizers: fried squash and fried okra. The food arrived hot and tasty overall. The best by far was the grouper. The shrimp were fine - large and not overcooked, but a bit heavily breaded, the deviled crab was okay, but not as good as some I've had. The french fries weren't as crisp as we would have preferred, the okra were standard frozen okra and the squash was a bit oily. After lunch, went to Staples to purchase a new DSL Gateway - a Netgear DG834G. I used the Staples Rewards money I received as a rebate from the purchase of my new Sharper Image rolling backpack briefcase a few months ago. We returned home and watched some TV, and then after Jeanie went to bed, I set up the new gateway.
Sunday
Jeanie and I went to the Jacksonville Sea & Sky Spectacular in Jacksonville Beach. Left the house around 9:30, stopped at the Parkway Grille to get some takeout breakfast, then took Heckscher into Jacksonville. I should have taken the ferry, but didn't so we ended up having to drive the long way. Paid $20 to park in a church parking lot about four blocks from the beach, which was a lot better than paying $20 to park at TPC and then having to take a bus. Got to the beach around 11:30. Found a good spot to set up our backpack beach chairs, not too far from show center, which was the pier at 5th street. It was crowded, but not claustrophobically so. Missed the first few acts, but did get to see a lot of cool stuff including an A-10 Warthog demonstration, a B2 fly-by and of course the Blue Angels. The precision of the Blue Angels pilots is awe inspiring. Even though the Blue Angels were fantastic, the highlight of the show might have been the Red Bull helicopter. It did loops and rolls and all sorts of other things that I don't think helicopters are supposed to be able to do. Absolutely amazing! After the show, we took some side streets north, then jumped onto A1A and took the ferry home. It's a short ferry ride, but I always enjoy it anyway.
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Posted by David at November 10, 2009 05:15 AM | Categorized under: A day in the life, Flying