Stuck in Knoxville

We got into Knoxville this morning about 6:30 and I checked my afternoon American flights home...all was well. Talked the hotel van driver into letting me hitch a ride to the airport @ 12:30 when he was going to pick up a Delta crew (the van doesn't normally take hotel guests to the airport). Took a nap. Woke up to find a message from American saying they had cancelled the DFW-ABQ flight and re-booked me for a 6:00 am departure from Knoxville Sunday morning, getting me home at 10:00 am. I frantically got online to find any other flights that would work to find that there were only three-legger death marches available on Delata or US Air that would cost hundreds out of pocket and arrive in ABQ very late. If I had known about this early this morning, I could have taken the Fedex 727 jumpseat back to Memphis and then the Airbus home through Lubbock. Alas, there is nothing left at this point, so I'll spend the (hot) day in Knoxville and try to get some studying done for training in two weeks. Bleh.

Venus and Jupiter at dawn

These two planets have been greeting us each morning with the sunrise. Just thought I'd get a picture out the front window of the cockpit at 29,000' (note the time). Venus is the brighter of the two with Jupiter above it.

Feelin Hot Hot Hot

It was 105 degrees in Knoxville today. I walked over to Calhoun's on the river on the advice of my FO and had some excellent barbeque topped off with a slice of key lime pie. This fine meal combined with the extreme heat made the hill back up to the hotel even more difficult than the picture (looking back down) appears. I watched some guys waterski on the river and it brought back memories being a ski instructor for a few summers in Florida when I was in college. An afternoon nap in the cool air conditioning ensued and all my thoughts of studying for the upcoming training evaporated in blissful slumber. Tonight, I fly to Memphis and back and then deadhead home tomorrow to join the mob scene gathered for the fourth.

Knoxville part deaux

Another Knoxville Indy week and some random pictures. Walking around the UT campus in the low-rent student housing section I came upon a very sad sight. An old upright piano soundboard pretty much destroyed and left on the curb. As a piano player, this was a very poignant thing to see. I promise never to let this happen to my pianos! The Henley Street Bridge construction picture over the Tennessee River is significant b/c a third worker was killed on this project just a few days ago, according to my FO whose family lives here. 

The week of flying has been ok so far, but I had to write up two flight safety reports; one dealing with the main cargo door operation and one about the dangerous goods can. 

Tonight, open time is released for July. This is significant b/c I am hoping to massage my schedule, and this will be my earliest opportunity to do so. Wish me luck!

Cockpit Dynamics

My FO this week, who was an F-15 pilot in the airforce, sent this to me. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen, but may require some inside knowledge. Enjoy (click the link, not the picture):

http://www.xtranormal.com/xtraplayr/13404616/meet-the-new-fo

Cartoon Buffoonery

CLICK THE IMAGE TO MAKE IT BIGGER and more readable

I found an even bigger fountain today, looking even more like summer! The cartoon at the top has been around a long time, and is currently posted in the Indy crewroom. It has to do with different perceptions of a Captain...how his crew, his wife, etc, see him, as well as how he sees himself. It just dawned on me this morning at 3:00 am that it now applies to me. What a drag it is getting old.

Sights around Knoxville

The very definition of summer!

Market Square 

Dude, you're never going to get anywhere in life like that!

Smell the magnolias

No rain today, so I finally got to walk around downtown Knoxville. Market Square is where all the hip restaurants are, and I had lunch at Tomato Head, watching the kids play in the fountain. I also went up in the Sunsphere, which is located at the site of the 1982 World's Fair. The view from the observation floor is above. Nice town!

Lack of sleep increases stroke risk

From USA Today, today. Unfair!!!

The 30% of working adults who routinely sleep less than six hours a night are four times more likely to suffer a stroke, says a new study.
The findings are the first to link insufficient sleep to stroke; they're also the first to apply even to adults who keep off extra pounds and have no other risk factors for stroke, says Megan Ruiter, lead author of the report. It will be presented Monday at the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Boston.

"People know how important diet and exercise are in preventing strokes," says Ruiter, of the University of Alabama in Birmingham. "The public is less aware of the impact of insufficient amounts of sleep. Sleep is important — the body is stressed when it doesn't get the right amount."

The number of people who report eight or more hours of sleep a night has dropped from 38% in 2001 to 28%, says the National Sleep Foundation. A government study in May found 30% of working adults get six hours or less. Experts recommend seven to nine.

Previous research has shown that sustained partial sleep deprivation leads to modestly increased risk for cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks. But the new study focuses on people of normal weight, says Reena Pande, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

 

"This makes you scratch your head and say it's not just the known factors," says Pande. "Less sleep is clearly linked to many harmful changes in the cardiovascular system."

The three-year study of 5,666 adults found that stroke risk was four times higher with less than six hours a night, vs. seven to eight. That applied to those whose body mass index (BMI) — a number based on height and weight — was normal and who were at low risk for sleep apnea.

Sleep study participants had no history of stroke, no symptoms and were not at high risk for sleep apnea. They self-reported sleep duration and any stroke symptoms at six-month intervals.

Strokes occur when blood to the brain is restricted or cut off. Stroke is still the fourth-leading cause of death in the USA. Smoking, being overweight and inactivity are key risk factors.

http://usat.ly/Kel6ox

Knoxville Indy This Week

My neighbor's room

Dreary day at TYS

I arrived in Knoxville late last night on American, deadheading on Sunday night instead of Monday morning as scheduled. I had stayed at the airport hotel before and thought they were one of the properties that check us in the night before we are scheduled to arrive. NOT SO! I had to pay for the room, but it's worth the reduced stress, especially with the weather kinda questionable this morning. When I got to my room around midnight, the party was just beginning for a group of teenagers. The top picture is definitely NOT what you want to see when you get near your room! We'll be in a downtown hotel the rest of the week so hopefully the urchins will stay here.

Pampered pool tree

My big challenge for today is to try and figure out how to juggle my bid for next month, which has way too many variables, including annual training and several family events. Then it's time to start studying for training in July.