Mo' Bettah Da Kine

My schedule bid for January centered primarily around getting a week off toward the end of the month, so I could go to Kauai for my parents 40th anniversary. Along with my sister and her family, we stayed in a very nice place in Kapaa. It was a very welcome break from the back-to-back standups that I had been doing all month as punishment for getting the week off. I was scheduled to fly in early to LAX from San Luis Obispo and then run over to the American terminal to catch a direct flight to Lihue. This was a gamble because I never have much luck securing a gate early in the morning.

Fortunately for me (and not for the passengers), the flight got canceled, so I had a respectable night's sleep and a surprisingly efficient nonrev process on American. As you will note from my previous posts, the American operation has left much to be desired, but they have made the process infinitely easier. We even got exit row seats and free snacks. Ooh, aah! On our first full day, Anne was fixing to go ziplining, so we left my parents with my sister's young children while we all flew through the foliage of Poipu.

There were 8 separate ziplines and we had the option to ride the traditional way, or like superman as you see Nicole demonstrating in this picture. With the exception of Nicole, it was our first ziplining experience, and a good one indeed. It's an odd sensation after that first step. Now I know what it's like to be a Navy SEAL stealthily zipping into a combat zone. . . especially if the SEALs squeal with childish delight as they are roping in. Pew pew! The following day, we drove around to the north side of the island and played some mini golf. Nicole and I made loco moco for dinner.

The following day, Nicole and I wanted to enjoy the sunshine since we had not seen much of it back in "sunny" California, so we elected not to spend too much time driving around in a car. We lounged around by the beach and I went for a run. It was delightful. For our final day, our flight didn't depart until 3:30pm, so we spent the morning driving to Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau Valley. The last time Nicole and I went to look at the valley, it was socked in with fog, so it was good to see it clearly this time.

We stopped briefly at Waimea Canyon on our way back down and then worked our way back toward the airport. We got some loco moco and then got on the plane, which departed 30 mins ahead of schedule. This was surprising for two reasons -- it was Hawaii and it was American. My parents were able to get on board as well, but their seats were even further toward the back. It may have been just as well since Nicole and I had very loud talkers (and coughers) behind us. All I wanted to do was watch Florence Foster Jenkins and I kept getting whiplashed by the coughing behind me. "Such a smooth landing!," one of them loudly exclaimed as we were still 50 feet above the runway. This is why we need to put more money into education. And on that note, we arrived to LAX in the nick of time. The following day, it was virtually impossible to get in or out of the airport thanks to a hastily implemented and confusing travel ban. Protesters and attorneys flocked to LAX to defend those detained. It took me 45 mins to go one mile on the employee bus. All of this makes me want to do a 180 and go right back to Hawaii. They say ignorance is bliss, but right now I'm at the epicenter as an airline employee.

I'm in Hollywood

As if by miracle, some innocent starry-eyed FO picked up two of my standups to Eugene, Oregon. So instead of deicing the wings and tail at 530am, I found myself sound asleep, attempting to make up for my sleep deficit for the three days prior. I now had nearly five days off in a row, which gave me a chance to finally attempt to get back in shape. Over the last year, Runyon Canyon had been shut down while it underwent some renovations. It used to be a dirt path with ruts and potholes filled with sandbags and dog poop.


These days, Nicole and I don't find many reasons to go to Hollywood since the traffic and parking situation is not terribly hospitable to us. And as a Californian, I am obligated to detail my route to get there. We took Westchester Pkwy to La Tijera to La Cienega and then cut over on Rodeo to La Brea and circled around Hollywood and Franklin until we eventually found a parking spot. We set out on a newly paved Runyon trail. Unfortunately, the dog poop was still there as well as the usual clientele of dog walkers in yoga pants.



Having experienced one of the coldest and wettest winters since I moved to LA, it was nice to have a sunny day with temps around 70 degrees. The rain had turned the side of the hills from brown to green. After our hiking adventures, we ate outside at Chick-fil-a and began our 45 minute drive back to good ol' Playa del Rey. Enroute, we spied a little street art on the side of La Brea. What does it mean? I guess they found Waldo, and he's been up to no good. Anyway, I post it here for my dear father who is a fan of kitsch street art. Then we just took Venice to Culver to Pershing and came back home.

The O-Town Sniffle

Other than my four day trip last month without a functional iphone, I have not had a normal overnight. The most sleep I've received on any given work night has been between 4-5 hours. Sound dangerous? Sound like this should not be allowed by the FAA's rest requirements? Indeed. There's a loophole in the regulations that treat my time in the hotel not as "rest," but as duty period. Therefore, I am paid to be in a hotel bed for four hours, but this comes at a cost. Needless to say, my sleep patterns are a bit screwy, since I sleep for a few hours, fly a plane, nap for a couple hours if I can, and do it all over again that evening.

These flights are called "standups," and I bid for them last month because people say I'm a standup guy. ;) I have done them many times before, but have found that I never did more than two in a row. This month, my schedule was all standups, all the time. This is not desirable unless you have the sleep routine of a raccoon or some other nocturnal animal. At one point in the month, I had five of them on my schedule in a row. zzZZZZZzzzzz       While I am technically given the proper amount of "rest" between duty periods, it comes in the middle of the day when it is sometimes hard to force myself to sleep even when tired.

And this begins to take a toll. I had to make the first fatigued call of my career -- indicating that I did not feel fit for duty based entirely on my demanding schedule. Then I caught a cold. My usually robust immune system had been reduced to the strength of 1 ply toilet paper. While these standups often yielded some nice sunrises or moonsets as you see from these pictures, it also added a lot of stress. My first deicing of the season, flow delays into LAX, occupied gates, diversions due to bad weather. These are things that you don't want to happen when your rest time is limited. And eventually, my body surrendered.

My cold started off fairly tame. Just a little bit of congestion. But as all colds do, it went full force when I had to sit on a 4.5 hour flight across the country...in the jumpseat of a 737. I was relieved when the two pilots chose to take a lavatory break because it gave me an opportunity to stock up on more kleenex. I was dripping like crazy. To my knowledge I have not given my cold to anyone else, including Nicole.

Once in Florida, the warmer air helped it a little bit. I was experiencing very unseasonably cold temperatures in LA along with rain and storms. I could see my own breath one morning while doing the walk-around. This type of thing is unheard of. And despite having a cold, I traipsed into DisneyWorld. By now, I was on the mend.

At Epcot, we stopped briefly in Japan to look at all the HelloKitty merchandise and reflect on how the Japanese food at Epcot bares zero resemblance to the food Nicole and I ate in Japan. We did the usual boat ride around Mexico and noted that the Donald has been made into a piñata -- no doubt a result of recent political tensions.

After Epcot, we walked over to Hollywood Studios. After all, my parents insist on getting me the annual pass every year, so I need to get my money's worth. We watched a few Star Wars events - including one with everyone's favorites walking around in front of various screen projections. Later on there was a laser/fireworks show that was essentially a montage/homage to all the films that was projected onto the Chinese theater.

We did a few rides as well. We went on Toy Story Mania twice, with my score being reported as the "High Score of the Hour." It was 7:01. A minute later, I no longer had the high score, but better to have it for a minute than not at all. We also went on Star Tours. It was a very Star Wars kind of day. Perhaps Disney is going all in on Star Wars and they need to bring it back a bit. As I was finally recovering from my cold, I looked at my schedule with dread -- five days in a row to such hot spots as Reno and Eugene. Then came the prospect of being in the jumpseat again. Miraculously, I got a seat in back for some much needed rest before wondering when I'd have a normal night's rest again.