Day 10 - Magnetos and Mist

Partly cloudy. Twenty percent chance of rain. High temperature - 60 degrees.
Yeah right.
I cursed whoever the Mongoloid was that transcribed that weather forecast. Up underneath the wing of the Beechcraft Baron that I was helping to tie down, it was neither partly cloudy, a warm 60 degrees, nor raining only twenty percent. I shivered as liquid streamed freely down the trailing edge of the wing, and thousands of tiny droplets misted me with relentless fury. Water poured out of the rope I was using to tie the airplane to the ground, dampening my pants and pull-over sweater. I shoulda been a meterologist.
Needless to say, no flying was done today as the rating I'm working toward is performed under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). The simulator flight would be my only conquest for the day, and I was pleased with my own performance. Still far from seemless, but within the parameters for a passing grade on a checkride according to my sensei. You know what they call the guy that finishes dead last at medical school, don't ya?
After a very gratifying experience in the sim, Jeff decided that it was time for lunch. I agreed. He had to FedEx a package anyway, so we decided to treat ourselves and eat out today. Chick-Fil-A it was, so we decided that we would patronize the one inside the town's indoor shopping mall. I volunteered to drive. It was Jeff's first ride in the blessed Blue Goose, and when he saw the siren and light control panel it was all over. Thus, we traveled across the airport tarmac running full emergency traffic at a whopping 20 miles per hour. Jeff gleefully pressed each button and changed the siren tones at random, so much so that it sounded like my car was perhaps having a seizure. When all that was out of his system, we left the airport gates and set off on our mission. I was extremely excited as this would be a great opportunity for me to check out the local scenery, as well as the inhabitants of said scenery. Particularly those inhabitants who happen to be female in persuasion.... hehehehehe :-) But it was not to be. Disappointment was the word of the day. To call the mall a "mall" is truly a stretch. And as for the female population? These are the procreating-est bunch of people I've ever seen. What few targets of opportunity that were visible each came equipped with a wedding ring and a whole passel of kids in tow. Very upsetting.
But the day was not all bad. Not at all. I was extremely fortunate that Dennis (the mechanic) allowed me to observe a magneto replacement on an aircraft engine. He's a very, very nice man, and he took the time to explain to me the function of the device and some other things while he had the cowling off of the engine. I've gotten to where I really look forward to Dennis getting to work, not only because he's genuinely fun to be around, but he's also extremely knowledgeable about aircraft and will take the time to teach you. In Atlanta, pilots were not allowed in the maintenance hangar, or to even speak to the maintenance staff (seriously), so it's a real treat for him to take time with me. He likes to pick on pilots (completely good-natured picking, of course), and I like to let him, so it works out great for the both of us.
After my maintenance lesson for the day, I returned to my bungelow. I decided that it was quiet in here. Too quiet. I needed a TV. There was a very small one in the living room, where I've been spending most of my time, but it was incompatible with the DVD player provided, no cable service is provided, and the TV itself appeared to have possibly come over on the Mayflower, that part's still under investigation. Hmmm.... I could not settle for a small, antequated television and nothing to display on it. Muffy, that would be beneath us. A quick search of the dwelling unearthed a nice 27" flat screen Sanyo that was definitely better suited to a man of my stature. Eureka! A dozen or so miserable steps of lugging the hernia-factory into the living room, one trip to the Wal-Mart for necessary components, a few wires here, an electrical plug there, and BAMMM!!! We're in business. I love it.
All in all, a pretty successful day I do believe! I'm not sure what the weather will be tommorow, and right now Mother Nature is holding all the cards, so we'll just have to play it by ear. I've been able to put some of my fears out of my mind in the interim. I'm trying to convince myself that I have plenty of other things to worry about, so it would be much better focus strictly on the things that I can change.

Heh. So ends theory.


See y'all tommorow.

Joey