Random Thoughts Thursday 464
- I had my first post-40 mammogram Tuesday. The only other time I had one (2016) I blacked out, so I was concerned it would be incredibly uncomfortable, but it wasn’t at all. And the radiology technologist was super nice. And most importantly, my results came back all good!
- I got this wood engraving for Steven to commemorate getting his private pilot certification. I should have gone bigger. Derp. I will when he gets his instrument rating.
- Does this seem like a good place to leave the package that engraving came in? Sigh.
- I started listening to the Part Time Pilot Audio Ground School Podcast and I’m really enjoying it. There’s so much going on in the plane, but some of the systems and mechanics are so freaking basic it kind of blows my mind.
- I love love love Goodr sunglasses, and they had a 20% off sale for Labor Day, so that seemed like a really good reason to get some. I mean, I need more Aviator options for flying! Obviously!
- Edited to add – we kind of figured out why Starbuck hasn’t been eating – we’ve found plastic all around the house she’s been eating. So her stomach is probably full of plastic. Ugh.
- Mani from last week!
Anniversary date
We got to do our Chicago skyline flight last night (on our anniversary, aww)!
[This is the part of the flight recap where I talk about the uncertainty of the flight happening or not] The previous night, I noticed we had a beach hazards statement (a warning about life threatening waves and currents at Lake Michigan) in effect until the end of the day today, and I wondered if our flight would happen – when we get a warning like that, it usually means it’s going to be quite windy. Steven watched the weather most of the day, and at the time of our flight it looked okay – the wind was coming almost straight down the runway, which is better than a crosswind (for takeoff and landing purposes) and we were able to go. Yay! [/end uncertainty portion of recap]
Our reservation was from 5-7 pm. We got to Skill (where Steven went to school/we rent the plane), picked up the flight binder (we flew ES this time), downloaded the flight briefing from ForeFlight, did preflight (Steven showed me how to do the exterior inspection of the plane), did runup, and took off at 5:47.
My job for this flight was to watch for traffic (that’s always the passenger’s job!), let Steven know when we were below certain shelves of the Class Bravo airspace, and to let him know when we got close to the TFR (temporary flight restriction) around Guaranteed Rate Field.
What is Class Bravo airspace? Airspace classes are categorized by the type of air traffic control (ATC). Class B (Bravo) is controlled airspace around the busiest airports, like ORD (Chicago), where we live. The airspace is designed in layers, that get wider as you go up. Imagine an upside down tiered wedding cake – the first layer goes all the way to the ground, and you can’t fly through that (without special permission, go ahead and bother ATC for that, ha). The next layer is wider, but doesn’t go to the ground, so you can go below that, and the next layer is even wider, and you can fly below that and next to the previous layer. So basically, we stayed low for the entire flight, but I let Steven know when we were entering certain shelves and the maximum height he could fly. And not to confuse things, but if we had kept going south we would have entered a special Class C airspace around Midway airport. But we didn’t go that far because of the TFR.
What’s a TFR? I’m glad you asked! It’s a temporary flight restriction. I’m gonna copy this one straight from Google AI, because it’s accurate – a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is an area of airspace that is restricted to air travel for a limited time. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues TFRs for safety or security reasons, and they are communicated to pilots through Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs). When we did our flight briefing we saw there was an active TFR around Guaranteed Rate Field, where the Sox lose, and there was a future TFR around Wrigley, where the Cubs play, starting September 2. We turned around before we got to the active TFR.
I absolutely love maps and love helping with navigation.
Okay, phew, I kind of exhausted myself typing all that stuff. The flight was fun and uneventful. Not a lot of traffic – we saw two other planes around our elevation coming and going, and two circling around the city (and some jets way above us). The city was beautiful, as always!
When we got closer to our home airport (UGN) I entered it into the Garmin GNS 430 so we could get distance estimates. Steven listened to ATIS (automatic terminal information service) about 15 miles out to get the weather conditions, and called ATC 10 miles out and they told him to contact them again at 2 miles out for a right base for runway 5. I didn’t know what right base meant (other than it was the type of approach to the runway) and told Steven I needed him to explain that later (he did, over dinner at El Famous. I won’t subject you all to that, today, anyway).
And we had a nice landing on runway 5 (winds were 04008KTG15KT, meaning they were coming from 40° at 8 knots, gusting at 15). You want to takeoff and land into a headwind (because it increases the airflow over the wings, and allows the plane to achieve lift earlier and at lower speeds, and requires less runway when you land), and the runway numbers correlate to the compass bearing, so 5 is 50°, the closest you can get to the 40° winds. ANYWAY.
We did postflight. I did one of the tie downs and gave myself rope burn on my pinky. Note to self, remove fingers from rope before securing. Duh.
This was a lot of fun, especially to do on our anniversary! Val is visiting next week and we plan to do this tour with her (this was kind of our test flight for that!).
If you made it this far, congratulations! And thanks for reading all my flying mumbo jumbo. I’ll likely post about each flight until I get sick of it. You likely already ARE sick of it, so again, thanks if you made it this far.
Reading Update (2024 #52-54)
[52] The Teacher by Freida McFadden
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, gift from Dunja, paperback
Synopsis: Addie is miserable. She was involved in a scandal with a teacher during her sophomore year. Now it’s her junior year and she’s being ostracized. The only joy in her day is English class with dreamy Mr. Bennett. Mrs. Bennett also works at the school, has Addie in her math class, and is also miserable. Everyone thinks her husband is gorgeous and amazing, but he’ll only have sex with her once a month and cares more about the students than her.
Review: My synopsis and the synopsis online make you wonder what the heck this book is even about. But yeah, it’s basically about a miserable student and teacher, and the bad things they get up to. I flew through this because the pacing was so fast, and I wanted to see what happened to these characters. Not because I like them – they are all horrible – but because I wanted to see them get in trouble. I enjoyed the book and it was nice to read something outside of romance (which has been my jam for a minute)!
TW: Inappropriate student/teacher relationships
Recommend? If the TW does not bother you, yes
[53] Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer
Fiction / Literary, green light from Knox on The Popcast, audio
Synopsis: Dan and Mara are on a tropical vacation at a new resort when the sun explodes. Now the have to figure out how to survive, along with the occupants of the other buildings on the resort. One building quickly steals all the food and medicine to claim it for themselves, and puts the other buildings to work. Dan must decide whether to follow along or fight back.
Review: I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really struggle with storylines around people fighting over resources, and hoarding. I also get that this book is supposed to make me have feelings about that. So hey, look at me, feeling something. This storyline is compelling though, I mean, the sun exploding? This sounds like sci fi. It’s not though. And it’s actually pretty obvious what’s going on. And Dan is pretty unlikeable. He struggles throughout most of the book with not living up to the expectations he’s set for himself, wanting to be remembered (because they are surely going to die), but also somehow being seen as a rebel by other people at the resort, but not wanting to be a leader. This is going to sound insensitive, but are people really that hung up over leaving a mark on the world and being remembered? Get over yourself, Dan. Just be kind, like your girlfriend, Mara. Mara is great. Dan describes her as being completely genuine, and 100% herself around everyone. That’s how I’d like to be described, but I still struggle a bit with it. Anyway.
I make it sound like I hate this book. I didn’t. I just disliked Dan and how obvious it was what was going on. And disliked one group of people taking more resources and not distributing them evenly (the base of much conflict irl – what can I say – I read to escape).
Recommend? Sure, if you don’t think the things that bugged me would bug you! It was well written.
[54] Heartless (Chestnut Springs #2) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, #2 in series, Kindle
Synopsis: Cade needs a nanny for his 5 year-old so he can work long days at the ranch. Willa has the summer off and nothing to do. She visits the ranch to see her best friend Summer (from the first book) and finds herself with the job. Cade’s broody and grumpy personality is a complete contrast to Willa’s bright and fun one, but hey, you know what they say about opposites attract…
Review: I loved this story and Cade and Willa’s chemistry! What a fun read. The ending made me roll my eyes a bit, but I still loved it.
Recommend? Yes
First flight!
Yesterday Steven did his first flight as a private pilot and I got to ride in the front!
Ha. You guys. I’ve been wanting to ride in the front for a long time. I’ve really wanted to see what you have to do to fly a plane. There’s like a zillion gauges, and the yoke, and pedals, and comms, and etc. etc. I’m determined to learn what all this s-word is!
Plus I wanted to see the view. Turns out I needed to make my seat higher and the windshield needed to be cleaned. Next time.
ANYWAY! We were originally planning to fly down the lakeshore to see the Chicago skyline but the low clouds were not conducive to that. So we flew from Waukegan (UGN, our home airport) to Burlington, WI (BUU) and back. I’m glad we still got to fly at all! I was waiting ALLLLLLL week for this.
The entire time Steven was learning to fly he used analog maps (called sectional charts) and the GPS in the plane. Yesterday though, he brought the iPad and we connected ForeFlight (a flight planning, traffic, weather, etc. app) to the WiFi on the plane so we could see traffic. I realized I was watching that too closely on the way to Burlington and Steven was like “I’ve flown this entire time without it, don’t stare at it.” Ha, I needed that reminder, and didn’t look at it much on the way back. (It’s pretty handy though, it tells you which frequencies airports use, how much runway you have left, traffic, weather, if traffic is close to you, etc. etc.)
I had a lot of fun, looking at the view, trying to follow what ATC (air traffic control) was telling us, trying to decipher what ATIS (automatic terminal information service) was saying, paying attention to what Steven was doing. I can’t wait to go again (maybe tomorrow!)!
Seventeen
I was scrolling through our wedding photos to pick one out to post to socials on Sunday (that’s our anniversary), and remembered something funny (?) that (maybe?) I didn’t blog about last year.
Our wedding photographer was a classmate of Steven’s from high school, and we saw her in Kansas City in December, and one of the first things she said to us was to apologize for how our wedding photos turned out. She was saying how our 2007 wedding was the end of a photography style that she stopped using shortly thereafter and she would NEVER edit photos that way now.
Basically, I think she looks at our photos and feels embarrassed. Ha.
But they don’t bother us at all. Yeah, they are kind of the “photojournalism” style of the time, but don’t all wedding photos look aged at some point? We told her all this. I think she still offered to take our photos for free. Then complimented me on still looking so young, which is nice, but I don’t look THIS young:
Also, is that brown my real hair color? It wasn’t dyed so it must be!
I look at our wedding photos and think:
- Holy cow we (us and everyone else) look young
- I don’t talk to a lot of these people anymore
- Too many of these people are deceased
- What a fun day that was
- How lucky I am to have met Steven so young, awww. Happy anniversary to us!
Random Thoughts Thursday 463
- I’m so excited – our German friend Dunja booked a trip with her entire family to our area of the US next summer! We had such a great time together in Belgium and we cannot wait to meet everyone and show them our part of the US!
- I put a damp washcloth in a ziploc bag this week and had this core memory flashback of how my mom’s mom was always whipping a damp washcloth out of a baggie to wipe us up when we were on the go with her. This memory obviously predates disposable wipes. (I was putting one in a bag to use after my massage – I DESPISE the way the massage oil feels on my legs once I leave, especially on a hot day. The worst.)
- Last Friday was color + cut day! Still rocking the blond.
- The cats are making me so freaking nuts lately – Starbuck refusing to eat, Apollo pooping outside of the box, Ned scaring everyone off at mealtime, Ned scratching at carpet, more throw-up from everyone lately because their dry food formula seems to have changed. Ugh. Calm down, Kim.
Roast my IG
Have you seen that ChatGPT “roast my IG” trend? You take a screenshot of your Instagram, upload it to ChatGPT, and ask it to roast you based off of the image. I did it for my rock account and thought it was hilarious, and decided to do it for my personal account:
From ChatGPT: Let’s see what we’ve got here:
- Planes, Planes, Planes: If it has wings, it’s on your feed. Are you secretly trying to outdo the Wright brothers? Or maybe you’re just waiting for someone to mistake you for a pilot at the airport.
- Aviation Enthusiast Level 100: Between the cockpit selfies and the runway shots, you might as well get a pilot’s license—oh wait, you did. Congrats! Now, how about mixing in a few non-airborne activities?
- Sunset Strolls: That sunset shot is giving me major “deep in thought” vibes. Were you pondering life’s mysteries or just thinking about your next flight?
- Beachy Vibes: You love hanging out by the water, but I’m starting to wonder—are you just waiting for the chance to take off and fly across it?
- Workout Warriors: You’ve got more workout pics than a fitness influencer. Between flying planes and lifting weights, when do you sleep? Or are you powered by pure adrenaline?
- Family Fun: I see a lot of smiles and sunglasses. You’ve got the “cool parent” look down, but we all know the sunglasses are there to hide the exhaustion from chasing kids all day.
- Squad Goals: You’ve got a solid crew—whether they’re friends, family, or fellow aviation addicts. But are you recruiting them for your own private air force?
In summary, your IG feed is a mix of soaring through the skies, flexing at the gym, and soaking up good times with loved ones. It’s like you’re trying to live out every action movie ever made, all while making it look easy. Keep those engines—and those smiles—running! /endChatGPT
“How about mixing in a few non-airborne activities?” Buah ha ha. I did take a screenshot after a few airplane heavy weeks.
Anyway, that was fun because it was nice, gentle roasting with sweet little compliments that made me feel good. I asked it to roast Val and Tiff’s rock accounts for them and it was not gentle at all! So if you do this, proceed with caution! (You can always ask it to be nicer, like I did)
Private pilot!
Steven is officially a private pilot! He took his oral exam and did his checkride this Saturday, and passed! Ahh! I’m so proud of him! Congratulations, Steven!!!
He didn’t have much warning his test was coming up. He’d been hearing it wouldn’t be until the end of September! But then his instructor said they were going to try to schedule it for this week, then they actually booked time with the airplane, then he got his scenario on Thursday, and knew it would be happening, if the weather was decent.
So to be repetitive, after all that waiting, it happened really fast.
Here’s what happens at your final exam and flight, at least where he went to school – you get grilled with an oral exam for 1-3 hours (his was about 3, starting at 9:30 am). If you’re doing well in a topic, they move on. If you’re struggling, they dig in. After you’re exhausted from that, you do preflight and start out flying the “scenario.” The scenario Steven received was taking two friends to La Crosse to see a dying family member. Morbid much?
You leave on that heading, then once they see you know what the f*ck you’re doing with following a straight heading, they start throwing emergency scenarios at you to see how you react. Steven’s flight looked like this on radar:
I had sent a few friends his tracking and both Bobbi and Courtney commented on this maneuver:
I could actually tell what most of the maneuvers were from what he’s been sharing with me about his lessons.
Oh! The most exciting part (for me!) is that he flew right over the house when he left! I filmed him going by. I won’t subject you to that, but here’s a cropped screengrab:
Penny was excited to join me.
His flight was from 1:34 pm – 3:02 pm. All I had heard from him so far since he left for the day was two emoji face reactions after his oral, but he texted me at 3:21 “Passed.”
Then I immediately told like 10 people and posted it on Instagram stories. A lot of people were checking in with me to see how it was going. He had so much support!
He got home at 4:00 and gave me the complete debrief on it all. What an intense, long day. But he’s a private pilot now! I’m so proud of him!
No, I haven’t flown with him yet, just the two of us. Hopefully, this week!
Where’d that come from?
Last weekend my mom and snis both asked me how I got a bruise on my tricep. No clue. I’m running into stuff all the time, and I don’t keep track of where these bruises come from.
A few days later, as I was getting frustrated for tripping over and bumping into things* around the house, I thought “I should keep track of this stuff so I know where all my battle wounds are from.”
I didn’t do a great job, but I can tell you:
- I ran into something Thursday right before we left for the movies, and it cut the back of my right leg
- I jammed my right elbow into my tumbler straw in the car Friday, and it cut it up
- I grabbed my deodorant to put it on Friday night not realizing I grabbed the one with the cap still on it, and scratched up my armpit
- I kicked my painting supplies toolbox so hard with my right baby toe last night that it immediately started bleeding and throbbing
Put me in a bubble, please.
No related photo, but since I mentioned her, it’s my snister’s birthday! Happy birthday, snis!
*Not random things sitting out, things like walls, bathtubs, counters, the dishwasher, etc. Things that are always in the same place.
Reading Update (2024 #49-51)
[49] Natural Selection: A Short Story by Elin Hilderbrand
Free on Amazon First Reads, Kindle
Synopsis: Sophia and her boyfriend are going on a trip to the Galapagos Islands when he gets an urgent call right as they’re boarding the plane and has to leave, telling Sophia to go on the trip on her own.
Review: This book was SO obvious, and therefore, mostly boring. Sophia was pretty unlikeable too, so that didn’t help.
Recommend: No
[50] One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, saw in MKE airport, Audio
Synopsis: Natalie and Rob’s best friends marry each other, and at first the two of them kinda get along, until Natalie writes a book and realizes Rob wrote a one-star review of it. They connect with each other throughout the years through events circling around their friends.
Review: Natalie’s selfish, possessive, immature character ruins most of this book. I actually agree with Rob and why he was upset about the book Natalie wrote. The premise of this book is interesting, checking in on them at significant life events for their friends, and there were some interesting plot points and diversions, but Natalie just freaking ruined it. Ugh.
Recommend: No
[51] Flawless (Chestnut Springs #1) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle
Synopsis: Summer works for her dad’s talent agency, and has been assigned with babysitting bull rider Rhett to keep him out of trouble while the agency tries to fix his public image. Summer had a poster of Rhett on her wall growing up, but pushes that crush aside and tries to keep it professional, especially since Rhett seems to think she is uptight and no fun.
Review: This was a fun (of course, unrealistic) story that checked a lot of romance tropes, sort of enemies to lovers, forced proximity, shared bed, etc. etc. And there was some serious drama going on with Summer and her family. Whoa. I enjoyed it and will read more of the series. It helped that Summer and Rhett were actually likeable after the last two books I read. (Random: I was cautious about reading this book because of the bull riding stuff and me being an animal rights vegan and all that. Thankfully, it didn’t get too into it, and I skimmed a few sections.)
Recommend? Yes
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and am employed by the federal government. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
