Monthly Archives: March 2008

Making Room for BB

Posted on by

Looks like Lunch has won the baby name poll, followed closely by Suggestion. But we’re not ready to choose just yet, so I posted some more options. Vote now! I also updated the Baby Box page. Over the weekend we finally cleared out a ton of stuff from BB’s room, formerly known as the Pit of Despair since it was our dumping ground for things that didn’t fit anywhere else. We took a nice overstuffed chair to Jenny’s sister Katy and lots of electronics, a bookshelf, a long table, and other items to Jenny’s parents for an upcoming garage sale. Now you can see most of the carpet in there, and we have an idea about how we’ll set up the nursery. We feel better already!

I worked a rare day shift yesterday as overtime. My sector was longhauls from the west to the east, such as LAS-MDW and SAN-AUS. Longhaul desks have fewer flights to plan, but they are obviously in the air longer and require more attention to the route. One factor I check is the upper-level winds and how they line up with the default route that we use. Sometimes a different route provides a better tailwind or weaker headwind, saving time and money even if the actual distance flown is greater. With jet fuel around $3.00/gallon, and our planes burning over 700 gallons per hour, every gallon counts. Yesterday I easily paid my salary for the day in fuel savings just by doing a little extra work on many of the flights.

Rockin’ Out and Standing Up

Posted on by

We have digital cable from Time Warner, which includes over 40 channels of digital music. One station is all 80s music. We had some friends from church over for dinner and played 80s music. It was great! They just played Terrance Trent D’arby’s “Wishing Well”, which I hadn’t heard in a LONG time. I vary the station by my mood. When I’m reading my Bible during breakfast, I like the soothing piano/new age station. In the evening if I’m hanging out alone, I often jam with the smooth jazz station. During the day I might switch to one of the rock, gospel, or bluegrass stations. It’s great!

You might have heard that the FAA has proposed a $10 million fine for Southwest for missing some maintenance inspections on dozens of aircraft and then continuing to fly them for a few days afterward. Yes, we screwed up by missing those inspections, and last March we voluntarily admitted it to the FAA. After realizing this, we worked out a plan with the FAA and Boeing to inspect those aircraft over a 10-day period. For both proactive inspections like these and minor aircraft repairs, it is common to have a short grace period to complete the work, such as a certain number of days or flights. Boeing and our FAA inspectors approved our plan, we inspected the aircraft, and the FAA considered the case closed in April. Apparently a couple of other FAA employees disagreed and took their “story” to an influential Minnesota congressman who is making a huge deal about it. I am very confident in the safety of our aircraft and maintenance program. I’ve dispatched tens of thousands of flights carrying hundreds of thousands of people; sent my wife, family, and friends on our flights; and personally flown Southwest many, many times with full confidence that each aircraft was safe. I hope and expect that the FAA will at least reduce this ridiculous fine if not cancel it once they hear the full story. You can read some of Southwest’s official response on southwest.com.

I had recurrent training this week, which meant 3 days of going in at 7:00am to hear about various topics. Jenny and I carpooled all three days, just like in the old days when I worked in Technology. I enjoy recurrent training because it’s a chance to be with coworkers in a different setting, get refreshed on some things I’ve forgotten, and learn about what’s ahead. Dispatch has a new weather and flight plotting system scheduled for this summer, better access to a high-tech radar system at several airports, and a new type of navigational capability called RNP that should save us time and fuel plus improve safety and reliability. There’s always something brewing, it seems, and I like that.

March Already?

Posted on by

Wow, it’s already March! Jenny is at 18 weeks now, so check the Baby Box page for the latest in his development. And don’t forget to vote for his name. =) I had an unexpectedly busy weekend, working three overtime shifts on the assistant desk at work, a nice surprise. Jenny and Lisa went to Canton on Sunday, where pregnant Lisa apparently devoured an entire store’s supply of fried pies.

We had three CARES events last week. First was Coffee and Pie Night, where we provided 4 different kinds of pie and had great conversations with several of our residents. Our eagerly awaited International Potluck Dinner, a resident’s suggestion, turned out to be a flop when not one person brought a dish and only a few came to eat what we had brought. But we made up for it on Saturday with brunch, aided by an army of volunteers from the Thrive class at IBC. They did a great job cooking and hanging out with the residents and were a huge help. We hope they’ll come back to future events. Around 35 people came, our best turnout in some time. I posted our March events calendar on the CARES page.

Our project for this week is going through our stuff and finding as many items as possible to donate to Jenny’s mom’s upcoming garage sale. BB’s room is currently full of all kinds of stuff – some junk, some good things in need of a good home, such as a nice TV. I also have recurrent training at work Wed-Fri, which means I’m working 7:00-4:00 each day. This might be the last chance Jenny and I have to carpool to Southwest. It’s weird to think that we’re almost at the halfway mark, and in about 5 months Jenny should be retired and home with the baby. We have a lot of work to do!