Monday
Work from home early morning, then went to a couple of doctors appointments mid-morning until mid-afternoon. Returned home for a late afternoon work teleconference.
Tuesday
Work from home.
Wednesday
Work from home most of the day.
Late afternoon drove to the island to drop off my old clip-on sunglasses at the eye doctor. I really like my eye doctor and his associated optical shop. I have used the same style frames for a number of years because: I like the style and it's hard to find large frames these days due to the vagaries of fashion, and, because my clip on sunglasses fit the frames. Unfortunately, the lenses on my clips have become scratched over the years, so this year I was going to break down and purchase a new set. Unfortunately, the manufacturer no long makes or sells the clips, so, I thought I was going to be out of luck. Fortunately, the optical shop had a creative solution: they ordered a set of polarized blanks for a frame that is larger than mine and the edged them to fit my clips - all for $24 vs. new (if they were available) at a minimum of $80.
I then went to the airport to work with one of my airport buddies (Bob) for a while helping him learn his Garmin 696, then went to the local EAA chapter monthly meeting.
Thursday
Work from home.
Friday
Work from home. Late work call.
Saturday
Flew the CAP C-182R. My flying was okay, but I wasn't super happy with it. No major mistakes, just not as precise as I would like.
Went to the monthly EAA hotdog lunch and had a bun (only, since they didn't have any meatless dogs). It was interesting and pleasant.
Went to Advance Auto to buy some new fuel hose for the CAP tug.
Went to Wal*Mart to buy a new battery for my Timex Expedition Digital Compass watch. Paid $5 for one CR1620 battery that I could have bought on e-Bay for $3 shipped - for FIVE!
Went home and installed the new battery which was simple and straight forward.
Drove to Jacksonville to take my mother out to dinner. I was a little concerned that she wouldn't be able to get in and out of the Durango, but we managed. We went to P.F. Chang's China Bistro at St. John's Town Center. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table, but that was less than the "hour to an hour and a half" wait that we had been warned to expect which pleased us. I am a big believer in the "under promise and over deliver" school of customer service. For dinner, we shared an order of pan seared shrimp dumplings that were scrumptious. For entrees, my mother had the VIP duck which she said she enjoyed, but which I thought she was only "okay" with. I think she would have preferred something a bit more traditional. I had the Hot Fish which I have had before and have never been disappointed with. In all, it was a pleasant evening.
Sunday
Went to coffee at the airport. Around 11:00 am, went over to Bob's hangar and we went for a spin in his K35 V-tail Beech Bonanza. Once we were off the ground and clear of the airport, Bob let me fly it from the right seat. This was really exciting for me as this was the model of the plane that my father had when I was a child. I was amazed at how smoothly it handled. The interlinked ailerons and "rudder" allowed me to fly coordinated turns with my feet flat on the floor. I was amazed at how fast the airplane is. At 23 squared, we were burning around 12GPH and traveling at 150 knots! We flew all the way up to St. Simons, gawking at the C210 that had made a wheels up landing on the beach on Cumberland Island. I flew all the way back to Fernandina and flew the plane through the pattern until we were on final when Bob took it back for the landing.
After getting the plane back in the hangar, we went to McDonalds where I bought lunch for Bob and me. Bob's lunch consisted of a regular cheeseburger, two apple pies and a small coffee - cheap date!
We sat and chatted for quite a while, then we went back to his hangar to do some more tutoring on his Garmin GPSMap 696. I had to cut the lesson short, as I needed to get on the road to drive to Savannah to meet the Jeanie, Jamie and the Melvin clan. It was cool - all of Mama and Dad's children and grandchildren were there except for Robby, and Lisa's husband Sonny (who was sick). I left the airport at 2:30 p.m. sharp, stopped by the house to let the dogs out, and was on the road at 3:00 p.m. I made a four minute fuel stop at exit 29 and made it to Tricia and Jay's just before 5:00 p.m. That put me arriving only about ten minutes after Jeanie and Jamie arrived.
I stayed until around 7:00 p.m. when everyone else headed home and got back home myself around 9:00 p.m.
I got involved on the computer searching for this and that. Among my searches, and "finds," I finally was able to confirm that an accident report I had found a couple of years ago was in fact the one for my father's crash of his V-tail Bonanza. The confirmation was a newspaper clipping that I had not seen in my earlier searches. I also think I finally found the telephone number for stepmother #1 - the only one of my father's three wives subsequent to my mother that I really consider a stepmother since I actually lived with her and my dad for a period of time.
I didn't end up going to bed until after 1:00 a.m.
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Posted by David at March 08, 2010 01:00 AM | Categorized under: A day in the life, Flying