Slow Week and Busy Weekend

God did not want me to fly much this week, so he made the weather such that we were not able to navigate/fly in it. The weather has been less than beautiful the past few weeks, but we are dealing with it. I only had one flight, one sim, and one class this past week, so it was rather slow. I have two flights on Monday, the weather permitting, so my checkride should be on Tuesday. I am still ahead on the timeline, so I am ok with the slow down as long as it doesn't last too long.

Some of the Laughlin gang saddled up their horses and came down to Corpus this weekend. It was good times as usual at our hotel. I felt like a 1,000 square foot house in my home town that was busted with 83 illegal aliens living inside. Although most had their green cards (even the two Portuguese renegades), there was still limited floor space at night.

Buffalo Wild Wing Restaurant

The Beach

I learned to surf a little more, but the biggest news is that I am now an official surfer...yep, got the scar to prove it. One of my bros from Del Rio had acquainted himself with some random female beach goers and one of them agreed to give me some tips. All went well for a while and I learned some good techniques, then as we were paddling out to the lineup (lineup is a word us professional surfers call where the waves are breaking) and she got bucked of by a twenty...er...fifteen...er...ten...er...couple foot wave. As I was getting ready to duck under the wave I saw her board, with no driver, coming right for me with its fins sticking out like a cat's claws right before it goes medieval on you. With my heightened senses and quick reflexes...I took it right on the head. It felt kind of like getting hit with a two by four while being churned in the wash cycle of a washing machine. When I surfaced, spitting sea water, I noticed the water was a bit red and I already had a bump on my head.

Luckily, I realized that using sea water to soak up my blood isn't always the best idea. I hear blood is like catnip for sharks. By then my reflexes had kicked in and I started moving and moving rather quickly before the sharks sharpened their teeth with my femur bone. Here is a picture of the devastation that led to much emotional anguish. It is said that a camera adds 10 pounds and it is also said that it reduces cuts by two to three inches...so you can imagine what it really looks like.

Now that I have no one's sympathy, in my defense it was a head wound and they do bleed a lot...hence the three other groups that came by with first-aid supplies, but fortunately we had some of our own.

Well, that is about it. All of my friends stayed out of jail and the cops only yelled at one of them...of course it was my boy Strube. I am off to cleaning the hotel before my beautiful wife gets back tomorrow and wonders why she didn't see the hurricane on the news that looked like it blew through just our piece of the local community. I am very excited to get my wife back, I really have missed her. I honestly don't know how I made it in Laughlin without her.

An Easy Week...But A Lonely One

The past week was a much appreciated week...except that I lost my wife. My flights got cancelled on Thursday and I was not scheduled for anything on Friday. I think I was the only one in my class that had not experienced a cancellation or been left off the schedule, but I got them both in one week. I did my best to take advantage of the four day weekend, even if I couldn't spend it with my beautiful bride.

Friday saw me embarrassing roosters because I got up so early...just to play golf and escape some of this south Texas heat. I probably should have stayed in bed because I had one of the worst rounds in a long time. The horrendous play wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't coupled it with my gambling vice. Long story short, I had to buy my roommate lunch for the beating that he administered to my backside.

After that, I decided to redeem myself by learning to surf. I further crushed my ego with that endeavour. Peaches and I rented surfboards (I am still trying to see if I want to buy one) from a local surf shop and decided to see what the hype was all about. I didn't think it looked that hard, besides I can ride a wakeboard. I found out that the riding isn't the hard part, it is the getting out to the point where you can ride that is the hard part. Paddling through waves to get to other waves proved to be the most difficult part of the whole experience. Children, girls, and fatties were all paddling past me like they had motors on their boards while I sat there thrashing the water like a baby in a bassinet (you thought that word would never make my blog...I can't believe I used it either...had to use spell check). Anyway, it was one of the most frustrating things I have ever done. You spend your entire time just trying to get out to the waves, just to catch one for a maximum of fifteen seconds and then spend the next twenty minutes getting back out there. I think we found a little fun in the whole activity, but we have a ways to go before we hit the tour in Hawaii.

Saturday I took a road trip with my other roommate and one of his buddies from pilot training. They allowed me to ride with them, even though my bike doesn't make a lot of noise and help old men overcome a midlife crisis. We went to Robstown, which is home to the legendary Joe Cotten's BBQ. It may be one of George W. Bush's favorites, but I didn't think it was that great.

Saturday night, the same posse, plus Peaches and a few other people went to the Corpus Christi Sharks arena football game. It was a real good time and we got to see the Sharks win...which isn't something that a lot of people get to say. Corpus Christi isn't know for being a power house in the sporting world, but the two games we have attended (one baseball, one football) have all been won.

Well, that along with crying because my wife left is how I spent the week. I really miss her and she has helped out around the house so much, I know I am not the only one that is missing her around here. Candi is back home in Idaho for her step sister's wedding and to see other family and friends. So far she has been having a good time and all the traveling has gone smoothly. I pray that continues and she has a safe and quick trip back next Monday.

That is all I have for now. I am scheduled to fly twice on Monday and then I will be one flight away from my second checkride. If all goes as I think, I will probably have that checkride this week, so any extra prayers would be appreciated. Talk to you all next week and thanks for the comments and e-mails the past few weeks...I knew somebody cared.

The past week was a little more busy than the past few. The weather was bad for most of the week and we got a bit of precipitation. In fact, we got so much rain that I started gathering some gopher wood just in case the water rose a little more and an ark would have been in order. We got TWENTY-ONE inches of water (more dense than snow) in three days. Twenty-one inches of snow is a lot, but pure rain water...we are still a little wet.

The water falling from the heavens dampened the festive mood of the July 4th celebrators. The city cancelled their fireworks, but we got to see every other person and their dog, light off their fireworks in the rain. There was a lot of fireworks considering everything is prohibited inside the city limits. You can't even have "snakes"...yeah, just a bit constrictive. Those snakes can get out of hand and burn down the sand and oceans. But, on a positive note, the city postponed the fireworks to Thursday night and the weather broke enough to enjoy them. Candi and myself, along with my roommates, went to a minor league baseball game of the Corpus Christi Hooks on Thursday night. We got to watch the baseball game and see the fireworks which were shot off just a few blocks away. It was a great seat for the fireworks, not to mention the baseball game. The stadium is very nice and the whole experience is just as good as a pro game...minus the stars and player's names that you know.

Other than that, we have mostly been couped up in the house due to the weather. The weather broke for a few hours this weekend, so we spent a few hours at the beach before the weather got bad again. The beach is nice, but I have noticed there is a distinct relationship between clothes and skin. It is an indirect relationship. For every square inch of skin people have, they seem to have less clothes on. I don't think it is just that a pair of "large" shorts looks smaller on a fatter person than a skinny person...I think there must be some rule that I haven't heard about. It seems as the skin area available to be covered by clothes goes up, the actual clothes used to cover them up goes down. I have seen things that will make a grown man cry. Some "pleasantly plump" individuals like to show off the fact that their bodies look like they have been beaten with a sock full of quarters. Sorry for the little soap box, but I think there is a real problem here.

So I guess people would like to know how the flying is going, too. Well, the flying is going well and I have started instruments. It has been awhile since I have flown by them exclusively, but it is starting to come back to me.

Finally, I am going to be baching it for a few weeks. Candi is leaving me this week. She is going back to Boise for her sister's wedding and to see friends and family. I will probably be able to survive, but I am going to have to start asking my male roommates if my shirts match my shorts and if both of them go with my shoes. I will miss Candi greatly, but I am glad she will be coming back soon. I will have to break out some of my old recipes and...go out to eat a lot.

Sorry for the lack of new pictures...I know if you are anything like me, you only look at the pictures and occasionally read captions. I always try to have pictures so a few of you will at least look at the blog.