Today was my first flight here in North Dakota in the UND Cessna 172. I had been scheduled to fly this Monday but the blizzard conditions cancled the flight. I don't think my face could have told the difference from the blizzard and the negative temps and gusty winds tonight. It was kind of comical, my instructor Alyssa trying to run through all the pre-flight checklists with me for the first time, and the both of us chattering teeth trying to get it over with and back into the plane. Well we got in and got it started, anxiously awaiting the heat to kick in. One thing I learned about the 172 is that the seat belt has an airbag on it. Alyssa told me to be sure that the seam end was facing out, so that in the unlikely chance that we'd need it it would not deploy into my chest. (yikes) Note: she said that these airbags saved one of the China Air student's life.
The controller rattled off our clearance and we were off on a standard taxi to runway 35L. A new term to me around here is breaking action. This basically indicates how much you're going to slide on the ice at that time. (I thought driving on ice was a challenge)
We took off and made a practice approach to the municipal airport in Crookston MN, just a short jump across the river (30 nautical miles). The Cessna is much more responsive to control inputs than the Warrior I'm used to. It also has a glass cockpit. Which is an LCD screen representation of all the flight instruments, run by this supercomputer. This Garmin g1000, its called, does just about everything except make you a cup of hot cocoa.
After our practice approach we came back to Grand Forks airport and got radar vectors (controller directions) to the VOR approach for runway 35L.
We made the approach and transitions to landing. I made a bit of an error in closing the throttle too much over the end of the runway. It made Alyssa a bit nervous, as she took over the controls. Apparently the Cessna sinks a bit to much with the throttle fully closed, and can't be handled the same way as the Warrior.
I do feel overwhelmed having changed near everything I was used to: the plane, the airport, the instructor, the type of flights. However, a good challenge is always the way to grow and develop more piloting skill and experience.
My aviation safety instructor asked the class a good question. It was along the lines, "do you have 100 hrs. of experience, or 10 hrs. of experience doing the same thing ten times?" Lesson learned- its good to get out of the routine and be challenged with something a bit unfamiliar.
Overall it was a good flight, and motivation to make myself more prepared for the next one. It's amazing how much more you pick up on the second and third time around.
January 27, 2010
January 20, 2010
A happier, catch up post with pictures...
So, I decided to find all the random pictures we've taken thus far and blog about those...so here goes.
On the last day of moving out here, Steven ran out of socks. Well he had socks, somewhere but they were buried. So he had to wear mine. I laughed a lot.
We don't know if we mentioned or not, but our apartment is newly remodeled. The last idiot who lived here got drunk and lit the garbage can on fire...and eventually most of the apartment caught on fire. Good news for us because everything is pretty much new. Our first weekend here, we vacuumed...just our teeny tiny living room...and it filled up our vacuum with the carpet fibers and sawdust...it was gross and weird all at the same time.
One night before we left AZ, I decided I wanted to make some good Chinese food. I found a great recipe for lemon chicken. In AZ, I just used the frozen breaded chicken we already had to pour it on. Well here in ND, I went to make the recipe again. But this time, I only had dinosaur chicken nuggets....so we used those. It turned out fine and Steven made enough fried rice to feed a third world country. Tell me he doesn't look Asian in this picture?
PS This was the first Sunday dinner we EVER had to make for ourselves...in 2+ years, we never made Sunday dinner for ourselves...it was weird!
Orientation- Steven already blogged about orientation, but here is the picture. By the way, it just so happens that no one comments on the blogs that he writes. I told him it was just random, he thinks it's a conspiracy and does not want to blog anymore...help me out here folks!
The "First Day of School Picture"--he was almost late to class. He said nothing interesting happened the whole first week. Which I think is true. Most of his classes got out in 10-20 minutes and he has gaps placed in his schedule so he can do his homework at school. He did start to figure out the University shuttle bus though...
Last week, we had a small miracle. The temperature rose from negative 15 to positive 20-30!! It was MARVELOUS!!! It even got up to about 40 a few times. Also, because there is like no daylight here, it doesn't drop that much when it gets dark. It was nice for the sun to visit. Unfortunately, we convinced ourselves that winter was over and the temperatures would only go up...we were wrong and woke up to a frosted winter wonderland around us on Monday morning. It was pretty, but very disheartening.
Steven's Aviation school spoils their students...in lots of ways. One such way is because they have skywalks between the 3 buildings so the students don't have to walk outside. This is a cool shot Steven took in one of them.
All in all, we are keeping busy and finding out many new interesting things about this awful new place.
On the last day of moving out here, Steven ran out of socks. Well he had socks, somewhere but they were buried. So he had to wear mine. I laughed a lot.
We don't know if we mentioned or not, but our apartment is newly remodeled. The last idiot who lived here got drunk and lit the garbage can on fire...and eventually most of the apartment caught on fire. Good news for us because everything is pretty much new. Our first weekend here, we vacuumed...just our teeny tiny living room...and it filled up our vacuum with the carpet fibers and sawdust...it was gross and weird all at the same time.
One night before we left AZ, I decided I wanted to make some good Chinese food. I found a great recipe for lemon chicken. In AZ, I just used the frozen breaded chicken we already had to pour it on. Well here in ND, I went to make the recipe again. But this time, I only had dinosaur chicken nuggets....so we used those. It turned out fine and Steven made enough fried rice to feed a third world country. Tell me he doesn't look Asian in this picture?
PS This was the first Sunday dinner we EVER had to make for ourselves...in 2+ years, we never made Sunday dinner for ourselves...it was weird!
Orientation- Steven already blogged about orientation, but here is the picture. By the way, it just so happens that no one comments on the blogs that he writes. I told him it was just random, he thinks it's a conspiracy and does not want to blog anymore...help me out here folks!
The "First Day of School Picture"--he was almost late to class. He said nothing interesting happened the whole first week. Which I think is true. Most of his classes got out in 10-20 minutes and he has gaps placed in his schedule so he can do his homework at school. He did start to figure out the University shuttle bus though...
Last week, we had a small miracle. The temperature rose from negative 15 to positive 20-30!! It was MARVELOUS!!! It even got up to about 40 a few times. Also, because there is like no daylight here, it doesn't drop that much when it gets dark. It was nice for the sun to visit. Unfortunately, we convinced ourselves that winter was over and the temperatures would only go up...we were wrong and woke up to a frosted winter wonderland around us on Monday morning. It was pretty, but very disheartening.
Steven's Aviation school spoils their students...in lots of ways. One such way is because they have skywalks between the 3 buildings so the students don't have to walk outside. This is a cool shot Steven took in one of them.
All in all, we are keeping busy and finding out many new interesting things about this awful new place.
January 16, 2010
I have no friends here.
I just thought I'd let you all know that I have NO friends in this state, or in any of the surrounding areas. I figured out that my closest friends are Tom in Ohio and Katie (& Gabe) in Kentucky. After that, I'm pretty sure it's my sister in Idaho and Kurt in Texas (but he is actually stationed in Iraq right now).
My friends furthest away are still Jenni in France and I guess now it's everyone else in California or Arizona.
This wouldn't be so bad if I ever left my house to make new friends. But alas, no. No nearby friends. I desperately need a girls night.
PS I know that Steven is my best friend...ya ya ya. He's still not able to have girls night with me and he is not much fun to shop with...
My friends furthest away are still Jenni in France and I guess now it's everyone else in California or Arizona.
This wouldn't be so bad if I ever left my house to make new friends. But alas, no. No nearby friends. I desperately need a girls night.
PS I know that Steven is my best friend...ya ya ya. He's still not able to have girls night with me and he is not much fun to shop with...
January 13, 2010
"First Day" Orientation
So Im a little behind but I'm still just a reformed blog hater so I'll keep this simple. This Monday the 11th was the "first" day of school at UND. Really it was just orientation day, you only have classes if they start after four o'clock. So I went to the new student welcome day, and I have to admit I was a bit worried it would be a dedicated frosh event and I'd be the looser transfer student. Truth be told I was motivated to go because I saw that they already charged me 20 bucks and I wanted to get my lunch out of it. It wasn't too bad though. We saw the Dean of the School and several other important figures who all promoted their services and made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside about your decision to attend the University of North Dakota. I even made a friend, its nice being around a bunch of people who love aviation, you can strike up a conversation with anyone in the aerospace dept.
The motivation, lunch, was pretty good. They had pizza, subs, chips, soda, and even the complimentary candy bar. We (me and my new friend Drake) sat by an adult student who had the same motive-to get his moneys worth. He enlightened us on the things to do in the great metropolis (wink,wink) of Grand Forks, ND. He told us that mens hockey at UND is the big event in this time of year. He also told us about this Minute Man Missile control facility that they made into a museum. I always wanted to go to the one in Tucson so I'll have to check this one out. Supposedly at the height of the cold war the state of North Dakota alone had a nuke stockpile comparable to the USSR.
Anyway orientation went well. I got lots of to do's done like: turn in forms, found out about bus routes, and found out where my math class was.
That was orientation I'll talk about school later....so later
-Steve
PS We couldn't get the picture uploaded, so we'll put it on the next blog...
The motivation, lunch, was pretty good. They had pizza, subs, chips, soda, and even the complimentary candy bar. We (me and my new friend Drake) sat by an adult student who had the same motive-to get his moneys worth. He enlightened us on the things to do in the great metropolis (wink,wink) of Grand Forks, ND. He told us that mens hockey at UND is the big event in this time of year. He also told us about this Minute Man Missile control facility that they made into a museum. I always wanted to go to the one in Tucson so I'll have to check this one out. Supposedly at the height of the cold war the state of North Dakota alone had a nuke stockpile comparable to the USSR.
Anyway orientation went well. I got lots of to do's done like: turn in forms, found out about bus routes, and found out where my math class was.
That was orientation I'll talk about school later....so later
-Steve
PS We couldn't get the picture uploaded, so we'll put it on the next blog...
Desperation
Now that Steven is back in school (stay tuned for more details, he's promised to blog about it), I've gone to pretty desperate measures. I'll tell you about my day today so that you'll understand what I mean.
After taking Steven to school and coming home to get ready and get the laundry all packed up, I headed out to run errands. First stop was the post office. the closest post office is just across the bridge in East GF. It is a small place, and all the parking is the same...for the Mail trucks, and the public, and the workers---all intermixed. Also, the LLV's (mail trucks) all have to be plugged in (Dad Dorn- I'll take a picture for you next time I go there). Anyways, I go into the post office (which is probably like 100 years old-everything is a historical building here in the downtown area). I start making friends with the woman at the desk...kind of. All that changes when an old man (probably 75-80) walks in and goes right to the desk. In Phoenix, he would stand 5 or 6 feet behind me tethered off in the rope things and never say a word to me. In GF? Well of course he started a conversation. We talked about the CDs I was mailing (of family pictures). I taught him that you could put a CD in a DVD player and the pictures would probably scroll through. He told me he finally broke down and bought a CD Player this last year...but then he said it was because his sister bought him some old Johnny Cash tapes he wanted to listen too---I think he meant CDs. He told me a DVD came with the set, but he gave it away because it wouldn't work in the CD Player...sensing a trend? Then he went on to tell me that he had 3 phonographs (spelling?) so that at least one at a time would work. He also defined what they were for me...because 'old youngin's like ya probably never seen one'. Then he told me about some of his classic albums that he had. He told me he gave a phonograph to the lady at Amazing Grain (a local bread store) that bakes for him. Then he proceeded to give her a stack of records *this high* in the past year or so. The post office clerk told him he should have sold them on eBay. He didn't understand and she looked at me and said, ya, the baker probably sold them on eBay. ANYWAYS...the point of this story? That old man was the highlight of my morning.
But that's not all! My next errand was to find the laundromat Steven told me about...Well at one point I ended up at a stoplight that was on the side of the road, like where a stop sign would normally be. When I almost died slamming on my breaks, the man who wanted to turn in front of me wanted to go. Then, I realized the light was green and started going, almost hitting the other guy waiting to turn (luckily he knew what was going on) I was visibly getting very frustrated, I about wanted to bang my head on the steering wheel and shaking my head. The man just waved to me and mouthed, "it's Ok"--a new friend.
Next, I ended up in a random place on a two way street that turned into a one way street with no notice (or the notice was covered by snow). I was able to turn through the neighborhoods and eventually found the laundromat...but I couldn't figure out where to park and gave up after seeing it surrounded by piles of snow. I went to the original laundromat from last week.
After getting my laundry into washers, I met my third friend of the day. Another 80+ year old man. I'm pretty sure he was a widower because he carried his laundry in, in a box...and I'm not sure if he had soap. We exchanged friendly hellos. Then when I was switching my laundry to the dryers, he asked me what time it was...told me his watch was fast. Then he asked me if his was done because he couldn't hear it. While mine was finally drying and his was about done washing, he came to the front where I was sitting. He looked out all of the magazines (they have AVON, visitor's guides to the city, and a bunch of random city newspapers, etc). He asked me if any of them were new...told me they should put some new ones out, did a double take at the top AVON magazine, and ended up taking one or two *new* ones. He then looked at me and said, "You're sure a nice *pause* person. Have a good day" And left...without drying his clothes. At least friend number 3 of the day made me smile :)
And, for friend #4- While I was folding the last bit of my laundry I met friend #4. Another old man probably only 65 or so this time. He stopped off to the side of the road in front of the laundromat. At first, I thought it was friend #3 coming to dry his clothes. But no, friend #4 came in, stuck his wet clothes (which were in a laundry basket) into the dryer, popped some quarters in it, started it, said, "have a good day" and walked out to his car (that he left running and unlocked outside) and drove off.
I told Steven I met a man at the laundromat today (not intentionally to worry him, it just came out that way) and he dropped his pen and looked up from his homework.
Now you see, my desperation. I need a friend and/or a job that gets me out of the house regularly.
After taking Steven to school and coming home to get ready and get the laundry all packed up, I headed out to run errands. First stop was the post office. the closest post office is just across the bridge in East GF. It is a small place, and all the parking is the same...for the Mail trucks, and the public, and the workers---all intermixed. Also, the LLV's (mail trucks) all have to be plugged in (Dad Dorn- I'll take a picture for you next time I go there). Anyways, I go into the post office (which is probably like 100 years old-everything is a historical building here in the downtown area). I start making friends with the woman at the desk...kind of. All that changes when an old man (probably 75-80) walks in and goes right to the desk. In Phoenix, he would stand 5 or 6 feet behind me tethered off in the rope things and never say a word to me. In GF? Well of course he started a conversation. We talked about the CDs I was mailing (of family pictures). I taught him that you could put a CD in a DVD player and the pictures would probably scroll through. He told me he finally broke down and bought a CD Player this last year...but then he said it was because his sister bought him some old Johnny Cash tapes he wanted to listen too---I think he meant CDs. He told me a DVD came with the set, but he gave it away because it wouldn't work in the CD Player...sensing a trend? Then he went on to tell me that he had 3 phonographs (spelling?) so that at least one at a time would work. He also defined what they were for me...because 'old youngin's like ya probably never seen one'. Then he told me about some of his classic albums that he had. He told me he gave a phonograph to the lady at Amazing Grain (a local bread store) that bakes for him. Then he proceeded to give her a stack of records *this high* in the past year or so. The post office clerk told him he should have sold them on eBay. He didn't understand and she looked at me and said, ya, the baker probably sold them on eBay. ANYWAYS...the point of this story? That old man was the highlight of my morning.
But that's not all! My next errand was to find the laundromat Steven told me about...Well at one point I ended up at a stoplight that was on the side of the road, like where a stop sign would normally be. When I almost died slamming on my breaks, the man who wanted to turn in front of me wanted to go. Then, I realized the light was green and started going, almost hitting the other guy waiting to turn (luckily he knew what was going on) I was visibly getting very frustrated, I about wanted to bang my head on the steering wheel and shaking my head. The man just waved to me and mouthed, "it's Ok"--a new friend.
Next, I ended up in a random place on a two way street that turned into a one way street with no notice (or the notice was covered by snow). I was able to turn through the neighborhoods and eventually found the laundromat...but I couldn't figure out where to park and gave up after seeing it surrounded by piles of snow. I went to the original laundromat from last week.
After getting my laundry into washers, I met my third friend of the day. Another 80+ year old man. I'm pretty sure he was a widower because he carried his laundry in, in a box...and I'm not sure if he had soap. We exchanged friendly hellos. Then when I was switching my laundry to the dryers, he asked me what time it was...told me his watch was fast. Then he asked me if his was done because he couldn't hear it. While mine was finally drying and his was about done washing, he came to the front where I was sitting. He looked out all of the magazines (they have AVON, visitor's guides to the city, and a bunch of random city newspapers, etc). He asked me if any of them were new...told me they should put some new ones out, did a double take at the top AVON magazine, and ended up taking one or two *new* ones. He then looked at me and said, "You're sure a nice *pause* person. Have a good day" And left...without drying his clothes. At least friend number 3 of the day made me smile :)
And, for friend #4- While I was folding the last bit of my laundry I met friend #4. Another old man probably only 65 or so this time. He stopped off to the side of the road in front of the laundromat. At first, I thought it was friend #3 coming to dry his clothes. But no, friend #4 came in, stuck his wet clothes (which were in a laundry basket) into the dryer, popped some quarters in it, started it, said, "have a good day" and walked out to his car (that he left running and unlocked outside) and drove off.
I told Steven I met a man at the laundromat today (not intentionally to worry him, it just came out that way) and he dropped his pen and looked up from his homework.
Now you see, my desperation. I need a friend and/or a job that gets me out of the house regularly.
January 8, 2010
Throw up and a sense of urgency?
Last night, someone got drunk and spewed their pretzels and peanuts in vomit form all over the landing by our mailboxes. How did we figure that out you might ask? Well, at about 1 am last night some weird alarm starting going off in our building. We went outside into the hall to make sure it wasn't the fire alarm. But, none of the fire alarms were blinking...and it was not a typical noise. It lasted for probably 5 minutes. It was -20 outside or we maybe would have thought about evacuating. Several people opened their doors and glared at us like we did it and then went back inside. So, who knows what the alarm was for...hopefully not a tornado warning. And that is when we found the throw up.
We were inside most of the morning but when we opened our door to go run errands, we could smell the puke. So, I called maintenance. After explaining the situation to the woman (who was dry heaving on the phone after I told her what had happened) she assured me that she would send maintenance right over to take care of it. She apologized profusely and we left thinking that it would be taken care of very soon and we wouldn't have to smell it. She had said that I was the only one to call and complain so far and if she had known, it would have been urgently taken care of.
After 4 hours of many errands (boots for Steven, more thermals & long sleeves, etc.) we came home. To our great dismay, the throw up is still there. In my book, having barf less than 10 feet away from your apartment door is an urgent matter. Aparently, if you're not living by it, smelling it all the time, it's not urgent? Can someone explain that to me?
The worst parts (besides the smell and chunks of regurgitated food by our mailbox and apartment door) are first that the drunk person who heaved all over doesn't remember it I'm sure and no one gets fined or anything exciting....AND people who don't realize what it is are tracking it away from the mailboxes down the hall.
Do you feel like gagging now? Welcome to our life today!
Hey, we had to post about something...
We were inside most of the morning but when we opened our door to go run errands, we could smell the puke. So, I called maintenance. After explaining the situation to the woman (who was dry heaving on the phone after I told her what had happened) she assured me that she would send maintenance right over to take care of it. She apologized profusely and we left thinking that it would be taken care of very soon and we wouldn't have to smell it. She had said that I was the only one to call and complain so far and if she had known, it would have been urgently taken care of.
After 4 hours of many errands (boots for Steven, more thermals & long sleeves, etc.) we came home. To our great dismay, the throw up is still there. In my book, having barf less than 10 feet away from your apartment door is an urgent matter. Aparently, if you're not living by it, smelling it all the time, it's not urgent? Can someone explain that to me?
The worst parts (besides the smell and chunks of regurgitated food by our mailbox and apartment door) are first that the drunk person who heaved all over doesn't remember it I'm sure and no one gets fined or anything exciting....AND people who don't realize what it is are tracking it away from the mailboxes down the hall.
Do you feel like gagging now? Welcome to our life today!
Hey, we had to post about something...
January 7, 2010
Our Own Personal Brand of Cocaine.
We have a problem. A problem that we were hoping wouldn't start this early. Our problem? We moved next to Widman's Chocolate Factory. A chocolate factory that is REALLY good, and is close enough to walk to even in the cold (as long as it's sunny outside which is fine because they're only open 930-530). We thought we would be safe because it's far enough down we don't smell the chocolate being made...but we know how it tastes! It also reminds us of Cerreta's in Downtown Glendale which may be why we're so drawn to it, we love that place too!
It's one of those nostalgic places, old fashioned, and just neat. They also happen to be home of the Chocolate Covered Potato Chip, called a chipper. Not only do they have chocolate covered potato chips (which are really good by the way), they also have chocolate covered cinnamon bears. I LOVE cinnamon bears by themselves so chocolate covered is even better! Besides those two things (our favorites so far) they have TONS of other things that we can't wait to try. And they make everything in milk chocolate and dark chocolate. I love both kinds so I have twice the selection!
We have been there 2 times in 3 days. We are addicted. We bought three bags of chocolate there today (don't judge us, they were small bags). We didn't eat all of it one sitting though- we know we should eat dinner too. And after dinner, we will eat more! I can't wait. It's great motivation to get dinner cooked fast!
SO if you see some extra poundage on us in the coming months, blame Widman's Chocolate Company.
It's one of those nostalgic places, old fashioned, and just neat. They also happen to be home of the Chocolate Covered Potato Chip, called a chipper. Not only do they have chocolate covered potato chips (which are really good by the way), they also have chocolate covered cinnamon bears. I LOVE cinnamon bears by themselves so chocolate covered is even better! Besides those two things (our favorites so far) they have TONS of other things that we can't wait to try. And they make everything in milk chocolate and dark chocolate. I love both kinds so I have twice the selection!
We have been there 2 times in 3 days. We are addicted. We bought three bags of chocolate there today (don't judge us, they were small bags). We didn't eat all of it one sitting though- we know we should eat dinner too. And after dinner, we will eat more! I can't wait. It's great motivation to get dinner cooked fast!
SO if you see some extra poundage on us in the coming months, blame Widman's Chocolate Company.
Admitting it is the first step to recovery, right?
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