Alive and Well (an update)

Okay, I have not blogged for a long time. I know that. I have a lot of catching up to do so I might as well get started.

Things have been quite crazy for a long time, and many things are still unsettled, but I am working on them as quickly as I can.

My last posting on October 21 was entitled "Family First" which basically make reference to the fact that my senior parents were both ill and needed my attention. Unfortunately, my stepfather died the day before Thanksgiving, and the sad thing is that he wanted to be my first passenger when I got my private pilot's license. A month prior to his death, my mother had a botched medical procedure which rendered her fully disabled. During this whole process I was unable to do my series of cross countries which would have left me with only a little hood time and night flying to reach my requirements before my private pilot check ride.

Since then I have been keeping as current as possible with flight simulator, and hitting the books as much as possible. Okay, that was not being completely honest. I read here and there just to keep my mind somewhat sharp. Unfortunately, I had to take my written exam again since my last written exam expired at the end of January, 2011. Two of my instructors told me that they would sign me off if I would pass online exams within 80% or better which should be no problem.

It's time for me to renew my medical which also expired seven days ago. I am told that I should have not much of a problem to renew my medical even though I have a new diagnosis of Ulcerated Colitis. I was late in renewing my medical due to scheduling with my liver doctor who wanted to wait until after my colonoscopy to do my annual report to the FAA. I have not experienced any side effects from my new medication, and both of my physicians agree that I had to go through the dreaded colonoscopy once a year. Other than that my transplanted kidney and liver are both functioning quite well.

The only flying that I have done was four weeks ago as a passenger in the Skyhawk on a round robin flight to four different airports from Wadsworth, Ohio to as far as Lake Chautauqua, New York. Of course I ended up buying lunch for all four of us which I did not complain about because I wanted to get up in the air. Of course, it was bumpy and I don’t handle turbulence with an empty stomach.

So that is it in a nutshell. I did not buy any new equipment except for a $29 Timex chronograph which was needed because on my cross-country flights my previous watch was too difficult to manipulate between the stopwatch and the normal time.

Hopefully the repairs on my car would not be too expensive and will not delay me too much from getting back in the air. Also, a new pending job offer will help take care of all of my flying expenses. But then again, my last offer to go back to the mortgage business was a bomb and left me months of lost income. Maybe I can not judge job offers.