So I no longer require the assistance of a brain.

It smells like updawg in here.

Modesty

You learn a lot during your time, but there is so much stuff I don't know that just amazes me. I don't know how big a billion is. I know it is a big number, I know that I am composed of billions of cells, atoms, and the such, but I still can't put a grip on a billion. I don't know how the universe works, or how gravity works, or why I am so damn tall. Now I say all this, but these are just relative terms. I do know what a billion is, how gravity works, why I'm tall, but aside reading about them in books, writing papers on how stuff works, how big things are, I still look at the simplest things and am constantly amazed. The simplicity of getting something is never just as easy as turning a switch, opening a gate, flipping the page. I'm enveloped in a society that takes so much for granted and is so naïve when it comes to the minuteness of what an atom is, how big one billion is, how gravity works.

I couldn't be as presumptuous to say that I think about electricity every time I turn on a light or perform some other menial task as such, but I can be just amazed at a plastic bottle, or looking at the stars, or staring at my hand. The reality of being around people that are like that, that think, that are constantly switched on, just drives me to absorb as much information as I can from them. Being around as many people as I am on a daily basis, and just being to engage in a conversation about anything other than the direct topic at hand is so thrilling to me.

I've had the unfortunate experience of not being in environments like that and I feel no motivation to know anything, to challenge myself, to become a different breed. I look at the art of science, and the feebleness of people, and just wish there was something I could do to intrigue them, to get them to live for themselves, and to discover things for themselves. I love my job and being able to help others to develop those abilities, to think, to want to know, and when I leave at the end of the day, I am motivated and encouraged to want to know more. And then I get out in the populace and am just sickened with how knowledge and character take a back-seat to plainness. Triteness. How a room of people flock instead of being an individual, happy with their own self.

Perhaps I've got the wrong notion - I've never been one to be around people, to just be in a room with people, but I say that in fear of sounding elitist. My whole rambling has nothing to do with my job, I love my job, I look forward to going in everyday, and being one-on-one with someone and just getting to know them, but that same characteristic is by the wayside when I'm not at work. I am encouraged everyday that people persevere, want to know, love the challenge, and then I get home and am simply depressed when I get out of that bubble. I just can't wait to get out of here. I want to be in place where generalities, boringness doesn't exist. Where do I go?

Let me tell you a story about a man named...

So, there I was, in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and nothing to say. I was curious what made the world go around, so in a meek effort to spark conversation, I began to speak with a small man aged 82. His name was Elon. I think that he was of European descent, though I can't be more specific specifically because I don't know and didn't think to ask at the time. After moments of tense dialogue, "Hello my name is...," our conversation finally took off.

After about an hour of pointless chatter, we really got to the meat of what I'd began speaking with him for. He told me that back in his home town of some unpronounceable European locale, that he'd been working as a professor at a very well-known university. Curiously enough, I can't remember the name of the place that he had worked at, but I do know that it was definitely something that you would be familiar with. He spoke of the sun, our sun Sol. He said that its gravity and the mass of our planet coupled with the rotation of the Earth on its axis positioned our little planet at just the right place away from Sol that would keep our little planet from being attracted to the centre of the Sun, or being flung out into deep space. Or something like that. I don't know.

On a lighter note, I keep trying to think of ways to advance my knowledge or certification on a cost-competitive basis. I've really been considering taking some classes online to get some degrees, but am hesitant to do that simply because I don't know if I really have the time to devote to that. I can't stand paying so much money for something that I can't completely devote myself to, but I also need to be able to pay for going back to school as well. I would love to get an engineering degree, perhaps in aerospace or some other related field, and would love to get a degree in Physics, maybe classical or theoretical. My main problem though is how to afford all of this stuff. I know that I will have to take some loans or come up with some wonderful way to pay for all of this education that I want to do, but am hesitant to do that too. What should I do?

I think in all reality, I will probably take some online courses soon and see how they go. I really want to relocate mid next year, so in all probability, I will take classes after I get to Australia. It will be expensive to get there, but I think that if I am frugal and continue to be hell-bent on going, I will get there next year.

Cheers,

--R.

Back at the Airport

I miss Hawai'i, but it's nice to be back to work. I've relocated my office next door, since there is now a huge twin sim in there. But no worries, as I'm just next door. Chill, chill. There is haze all in the air, and there have been ozone warnings ever since I got back, so I don't know when I will ever get to fly, but I am excited about getting back in the air in the front of the plane.

The day I left from my vacation was great. I went to the beach, and thinking that since the sun wasn't out much and we were only going to be there for less than an hour, I didn't put on sunscreen. I didn't get burned, but I did get red and now itch like a mother. It's funny. Hopefully I will get a nice tan out of it, but that just goes to show how long it's been since I've been out of the sun. I had a great flight back, Northwest First Class is phenomenal. I had the disadvantage of flying Delta on the way over, and it was nice, but not Northwest nice. The seats didn't fully recline and turn into sleepers. We didn't have crystal-ware for beverage service, the movies and entertainment weren't on-demand, the pitch of the seats wasn't enough for me to stretch fully out. The purser and attendants were nice, but it was just not as classy as Northwest was. I was so amazed and happy when I flew back, that all I wanted to do was stay awake and watch new movies, play with the seat, and move around in the roomy cabin. When I go back I am totally flying First again.

Jessica wants to go see the new Bourne Ultimatum that comes out tonight. I am kind of excited, but I don't really know what to expect. I'm sure it will be as good as the second one was, but I am curious to see what new action they can come up with. I am supposed to have a poker night at my house this Saturday, and am curious to see how that gets on. I don't know how many people are going to show up, or what to expect when they get there, but I am sure it will be an interesting experience.

I recently exploded a bottle of water. It was quite intriguing. Just think of the power of a box of Alka-Seltzer and a plastic vessel. You could send something to the moon with that type of explosive power.

It's nice to be back in my job. I see some of the most unique decision-making ever. Today, for example, the visibility on the surface is probably around 4 statute miles. Not very much, to say the least. I would think that someone that has to demonstrate their flying abilities would like to have everything in their advantage. Curiously, however, I still had people that wanted to go and take on the added anxiety of flying in conditions they never have before, as well as doing a test, and other associated anxieties that come with flying. Two. That's right, I had two people that wanted to go up and attempt the check. I couldn't believe it. Sometimes you have to wonder if common sense takes a backseat when these decisions have to be made. But like I said, it is interesting to see the variety of different excuses, reasons, questions, etc., that arise when difficult decisions have to be made, and when there is no one to rely on other than yourself. It's easy to make decisions when someone is spoon-feeding you information, but when that rug is pulled out from under you, it gets interesting.

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Cheers peeps,

--R.

Hawai'i

It's been a long time, a long time since I've blogged. Now I'm on vacation and have heaps of free time. It's glorious. No responsibility, no job, no bills (yet) no car, no get up at this time. I have over a week left of this nothing to do stuff, and I intend to enjoy it.

I am excited about my time here. I sincerely think that the weather, experience, etc., is like what I am expecting in Australia. I remember it being a lot like it is here, the whole experience and all, and only hope that I get to make it back in December to kind of look for where it is I want to move to. The time is fast approaching, and I know I need to be getting ready to leave.

I am having such a great time on this vacation. I'm staying with Michele and Chuck, and Catie is here as well, so I've got them to play with. Michele and Chuck both work, but Catie is not right now, so when I'm not with the parents, I go with her and do stuff. The parents are staying downtown at Waikiki, so they're a few minutes away by car. We've done some touristy stuff, but for the most part we've been hanging out on the west-side where it's more residential.

I might go down to Waikiki and spend the night there a couple of times, but I don't know. I like it out here. They live on the side of a mountain, there is no air con and the wind is always blowing the perfect temperature. The windows are louvered, and open so the breeze is welcome. The clouds are always moving, and it is great.

More later,

--R.

Bloody Rain

I find it unfortunate that the weather has not been co-operating for the last two weeks. It is entirely unbelievable. The complexity of these storms that come through and dumped massive amounts of rain are something that I may never understand, but that does not decrease the level of "go away and come again another day" I feel for them. It would be a much better situation not only for my pocketbook, but also for my easily bruised psyche if the weather would only lift for a few days, or students would take the opportunity to fly on these marginal days. I must admit, however, that I have been terribly busy with oodles of administration work that I've needed to catch up on for some time now.

In other news, that Educational Psychology that I was blogging of late last week has had a chance to steep and is now rich in antioxidants. I highly encourage you to read into EdPsych as quickly as possible. It's very interesting the way my conversational skills have morphed into a meaningless pile of banana peels. Not literally, of course. But it is interesting the way that my time has changed in the last few weeks from complex, detailed conversations about how a particular flight proceeded to more simplistic, but highly concentrated talks about what was actually accomplished with the flight, and what I noticed during the flight, etc.

That makes absolutely no sense. But it fills up page space, so when you get to this paragraph, continue reading as though I didn't just waste one and a half minutes of your valuable time. You might just find a tasty morsel of information that could serve you very well in the future, or in some alternate universe where intellectual property is freely distributed, as it belongs not to an individual, but to intellectuals. Get it?

Back to the weather. There is a cold front that is supposed to move into the area later this week and bring not only rain, but the potential for severe weather. It is moving fairly fast, so I only hope that there is not like a day in between the weather system that is in the area now and the cold front that will be moving in shortly. The likelihood of there being one or two days of nice weather in between the transit is low, but I hope that there is no such period. It would waste time. Nine inches of rain have fallen since the beginning of this month. That is entirely too much!!

Stay dry,

--R.

The Nuances of Educational Psychology

Everyone learns differently. The secret to effective learning is to understand what is the most effective medium for any given student. I find from more of the evaluative side of my job that most will make some very creative errors because of fear, peer pressure, and dinner the night before. As my responsibilities shift more towards evaluation and safety assessments, I have the benefit of flying with almost everyone at the school. I find it curious just how simplistic the concepts of flight are, and how exceedingly difficult said concepts are to teach. As our school grows and develops, I've had the unique position of constantly providing feedback to most of the instructors here about trends that I see with students. The level of learning has developed into great understanding, application and correlation instead of naive regurgitation of facts and paragraphs.

The most difficult part of any evaluation is developing an effective way to involve the student throughout the discussion after a decision has been made to incomplete the evaluation. It is not always advantageous to have consistent feedback from the student after that decision has been made because of the saturation of defence mechanisms in the dialogue. What I find most curious is the misunderstanding of what the student is doing when told of their approach to the debrief. Using those responses to guide the discussion in the direction of the teacher or evaluator is exceptionally easy if the student has no awareness.

Chomp on that one and get back with me...

More to come.

--R.

Winter weather brings out the nuts

I just so happen to live in that unfortunate part of the Midwest that was a participant in the ice storm last week. I knew crazy people existed, just not in the numbers that I had heard about. Sure you hear stuff on the news that is so 100% true that you start telling your friends about, who then start telling their friends, and so on, until the next thing you know Cher is doing QVC selling Tupperware and Donald and Rosie are getting along. Well, suffice it to say that when the news said no one was out on the streets, everyone was tucked safely away at home in Nevernever land, I thought I'd go out and buy a few winter storm staples; floss, Ziploc bags, and ready-to-eat toast. Let me just say that I experienced creative driving while I was out.

I've yet to figure out how people can get so upset when others drive fast in this weather, when all you see when you go out in it is loonies. People were going ass-slow on the cleared streets and crazy-fast on the 2" solid ice sheets. As a sane person, ( I have the documentation to prove it ) I must say that this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable. To all you crazy people out there: A little bit of consideration to all the other people on the road who aren't crazy would be so nice. Keep your KitKats and duct tape in the backseat until you make it safely home.

In other news, I recently read Machiavelli's The Prince, and not living in a Renaissance period, let me say Whoa! it's striking how applicable it is in the Modern world today. Why aren't school children required to read prose such as that?

Cheers,

--R.

Night flying

Night flying is such an enjoyable experience. Normally, depending on the weather and all, it presents a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. But don't select quiet and relaxed as the time to be complacent....

Remember the regs...

Cheers,

--R.

The responsibility of time

I'm frustrated at the complacency of time. It never wants to try anything new, speed up or slow down, only tick. That's it. How boring. Why not just use one time for the WORLD. Oh, that's right, that would mean everyone would be on the same time and it would be easy for people to say, "Hey Joel, I know you're in Latvia this week, so let's plan a teleconference at 7 AM your time, which would make it 4 PM my time, which means I can't go to the dentist at 3." Everyone knows the outcome of trying something as worldly as a teleconference. Invariably you or your conferencee phones three hours before or 2 after the proposed time. And who the hell came up with this cheeky daylight savings time? What difference does it make if you've got to watch Oprah at 4 or 3? "Charlotte, if we say it's 3 PM when in reality it's 4 PM this coming Thursday, we will successfully confuse the hell out of each other and leave poor Trevor at kinder-care." I mean, come on. Daylight savings time is almost as pointless as double parking. Who cares if you're three hours ahead? Oooh, you're so much cooler than I am. I wish I could be three hours ahead.

Time needs to get its act in order and be the same everywhere. I mean, come on, this is time we're talking about. It's been around for a while now, and I would hope that it knows its shit. But I continually forget that some vastly more intelligent person, like totally way more intelligent than time, thinks he can just start sequestering a chunk of earth and slap something as ridiculous as a time zone on it and proudly proclaim, "I am the dominant life form here!" Really, a time zone? That's like a speed zone, only slightly more ridiculous. "Time will progress the same throughout the globe, save this region, where it will be one hour slower, then catch up up there at that imaginary line right there, oops, I mean right there."

Perhaps I'm being facetious.

--R.