Picture Perfect...

Heading home soon. Just thought this was a great pic of the Pilatus PC-12 (the Aircraft that I fly). I'll have to take some more pics so that I can finally start showing all you people what the heck I do during my adventures.

In just about 6hrs I'll be cruising home! Not in one of our Pilatus' but one of Westjet's '37s.

Tick tock, tick tock. Time can't go by fast enough here........................

Vancouver Trip DELAYED!

Grrrrrr.... I'm not too pleased about this one. But the company is in a bind.

The other night shift guy got violently ill last night on a flight back from Colorado. He was puking in the plane non-stop with passengers on board. Anywho, I was here in the office when they landed and he looked like death walking. I had a funny suspicion that perhaps he wouldn't be coherent enough to make it for the shift tomorrow night.

I was supposed to be heading home tomorrow (Saturday) but now I'm pushed back a day to cover his Saturday night shift.

I will now be arriving in Vancouver at 08:28 Sunday morning and departing Thursday at 19:45.

So some fun will have to be rescheduled.

Man... this irks me! This is the second set in a row where I've had to work 6 nights in a row, and I had a reduced time off period in between too. Oh, and did I mention that I flew this morning too!? Edmonton and back. Don't get me started. The trip home is exactly what I need. And I need it bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See you all soon... HOPEFULLY.

The Final Stretch...

Well.. I'm in the middle of my first night in a series of 5 before my return back to the lowermainland!

I can't wait to head home and not have to worry about the possibilities of "losing the trip" or having to rush back to the airport at any moment due to client preferences.

A nice slot of 5 days to spend however I chose back home. Ahhhh... should be great. Lets just hope the weather cooperates. I'm now trying to contemplate what jacket(s) to bring home. Will it be warm/wet/sunny!? I haven't had to deal with rain in Calgary in months!

An update on how life in Calgary has been affected as the result of my roommate losing his job with my employer. It appears this was a blessing in disguise. All things considered, everyone is much happier. There is essentially no talk of work at home and my roommate has decided to go to work the pipelines with another buddy of ours for a few months to make some good money. These jobs pay so well based on the fact that they're in the middle of nowhere usually and the job isn't very prestigious and sometimes downright dangerous. You can easily make a sizable yearly income in a 1/4 of the time as someone working a full year!

So things aren't half bad. There aren't any hard feelings or disgruntled people, so all in all, it was probably a good thing this happened now rather than being dragged on any further.

If things stay on track I should be seeing my movement up the company ladder within a couple of weeks after they hire someone else to take over for my night shifts. That will leave me to just work daytime weekend shifts and allows for me to be available all week to fly. It'll be something else to be on a normal sleep schedule again. Can't wait.

Anyways. What I'm still most excited about is my return home. Which is only 5 days away!

Black Tuesday

A lot has happened today that will affect my immediate and long term future here in Calgary.

First off, without getting into details, 2 people were fired today and another was demoted. 1 of the ppl to get fired was my roommate. The guy that is letting me stay in his house. The same guy that got me this job in the first place. It wasn't a total shock that it was coming, and he was aware, but still, not a good day.

This now posses a new problem with me and my other roommate who also works for this company. From the sounds of things we are still going to be able to live at his house, and hopefully he'll stay in Calgary. Because he's got this great house, the basement will finally be finished in a week or so (carpet guys will come and install shortly), we all enjoy each others company and the rent is very affordable.

The company however isn't too pleased that me and my other roommate live there. They feel that it could be very awkward living conditions. But hopefully things will be ok and the company will feel ok about it. Because it will be very traumatic if we have to move out.

Time will tell here in the near future.

Although all this horribleness had happened today, it does provide a little glimmer (as unfortunate the circumstances may be). Everyone is moving up a little in the company. I'll probably be seeing the end of the night shifts in the near future as I transition to weekends. Which means I'll have more days available to fly. It also means that I'll be next to go full time flying, which could be any time.

So some really crappy stuff happened, but I think everyone will benefit, even my roommate that was let go. I think it was time for him to move on and be happier somewhere else. Hopefully that is still in Calgary.

And just a reminder, I'm enroute home shortly! Make sure the weather is good for my return and be prepared to have some fun while I'm home! I'll need to take my mind off of everything that's been going on.

Vancouver Bound!

Yup! For those of you that don't know I'm on my way home!

5 days in YVR. I arrive in the afternoon of the 29th and I'll be leaving in the evening Feb 2nd.

So, start clearing your calendars... Matty's coming home. There will have to be some dinners, POKER of course, maybe an outing to RiverRock even...

I've been given a few days off to go home and "re-charge". Should be good. At least this time I can spend more than 45mins at home and see everyone.

One side note though, I will have just finished a night shift on the night of the 28th and so I will slightly tired as I transition to days on the 29th. But fear not, I'll be up for a good time. Caffeine is my friend.

It was bound to happen... cough.. cough..

I've become sick with this nasty cold that has been circulating around the company. I managed to fend it off for quite some time, but eventually it was inevitable. Especially considering both my roommates have had it.

I have returned from my 5 days in Winnipeg. It was less that thrilling there, we had copious amounts of snow falling from the sky while I was there. Completely burying the sidewalks, so it was impossible to walk anywhere, and the hotel wasn't really close to anything. So I was pretty much held up in the hotel for all 5 days. I was going a little stir crazy by the end of it, but not a bad little trip.

My New Year's celebration was non-existent. I actually slept thru it! I meant just to have a nap and woke up at 1:30am Winnipeg time. What a let down! Oh well...

On the Monday the other captain met me in Winnipeg and we flew to Kenora, ON to pick up our clients and fly them back into Calgary. I tried to take pictures the whole time we were there, but we were pretty rushed. There was quite a bit of snow around those parts too. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures of the flight home. Nothing special as the sun was setting quickly.

Now back in the office in the middle of my 5 nights. Quite busy in here too.

Today Robin Williams arrived at the Calgary Airport and used the same facilities we do. I wasn't here at the time but quite a few people were able to see him and joke around with him. A very stand up individual from what I hear. He was very generous with the tipping and insisting on loading his own luggage into his waiting towncar. =D

Well, back to the grind for me. Gotta try and get over this sore throat too... it's killing me!