Astro Jet

Cool retro American "Astrojet" I saw in DFW on the way home.

Milwaukee Riverwalk

The weather finally allowed me to do the modest riverwalk today. Along the way I encountered the "Bronze Fonz," a resolute mother mallard and about a dozen Irish Pubs. The little one in the picture may not be long for the program though, and it looks like the crane will attempt to hoist it to another location ;-o Heading home tomorrow for a week off, then back to Minneapolis.

A Day for Daly's

Finally, a break in the weather in Brewtown!

Last night was an ugly one. It sleeted all day in Milwaukee and a very nasty front moved through Indy just as we took off. We actually had to deice in Indy on the outbound this morning. Finally, the clouds have parted right before sunset, and I briefly saw the sun for the first time this week!

Because the weather has been so miserable, I've been confined to the habitrails during the layovers. I first noticed a little shop along the walk back in January, but never thought to go in. It's called Daly's Pen Shop and deals exclusively in--you guessed it--pens! Today I finally went in out of curiosity, and met the proprietor Judy. Daly's is, in fact, America's oldest pen shop, started in 1924! The original store was one floor down from the current location. Judy began working there over 30 years ago as a "favor" to her aunt, and is now the boss. We had a delightful conversation, and I chose a LAMY pen to use when signing all the paperwork in the cockpit. The visit was well timed b/c my cheapo plastic pen leaked all over my hand last night (fortunately not on my white shirt). Anyway, here's the website:  http://dalyspenshop.com/home/

The official Capt Kells pen...LAMY dialog 1

Back in Milwaukee again

This month's odd week of flying is Milwaukee to Indy. After less than two days at home, Michelle drove me to the airport for my deadhead up north. I was thinking things were looking up b/c American took the RJ off of the DFW-MKE trip and replaced it with an MD-80. And, I finally reached Gold elite level, so I was getting upgraded to first class. However, the 300 lb guy found me even in first class! You would think I would still have room for my elbows, but this guy needed a seatbelt extension, and I think they upgraded him b/c he wouldn't have fit in a normal coach seat. On top of that, he was obnoxious, so much so that the one flight attendant he had been picking on while on the ground told him to "give a hard time" to the first class flight attendant, just to get away from him...and this guy took it seriously! He was merciless. I tried to discourage him from interacting with me, but he was too big to get his tray table down, so he used mine! It was over 2 hours of hell. And then, when we got to Milwaukee, it snowed! In mid April! I'm earning my vacation next month.

I Won at Bidding!

I got my first choice for the May bid month. It will enable me to protect the carryover week from April (ie: not lose money), work a very short second week, and have the rest of the month off. I was able to slide the remaining days into June, so I should get at least the first week of June off as well. To celebrate, I explored the habitrails here in downtown Minneapolis. It's one of the best connected systems of pedestrian walkways I've seen anywhere. Nice today, since the weather is turning cold. All of the red lines in the map above are elevated walkways connecting various buildings. Bad weather looms over the nation's midsection tonight and it looks like we'll have to pick our way around it to get to Ft Worth and back.

Bid time

So far it's been a pretty easy week flying between Minneapolis and Alliance Field (Fort Worth). I haven't been back to Alliance in many years, but it's always a pleasure. In the 90's, Fedex put in a major automated sort facility there, and the thought was that it would become like Indy, a major hub...maybe even a pilot domicile. Since we were living in Texas at the time, a pilot base at AFW would have been a great thing. Unfortunately, the idea fizzled as the business model changed. We now only have 15 flights a night turn through there, so it's very under-utilized, but always a pleasure compared to the hustle and bustle of Memphis or Indy. The flight time is a little longer than I've been accustomed to lately at about 2 hours. We were the first (and only) 757 in there on Monday night, but I believe the 757 is taking over the Ontario (California) to Alliance run next month from the 727.

I worked on my monthly bid for May during the layover. The picture is BID-X, the software created by one of our pilots that many of us use to accomplish this monthly task. I've got to balance several factors next month including a long carryover week of flying from April and vacation in May. It's always a challenge, but especially so when you start throwing in extracurricular activities. Wish me luck! Additionally, our first seat movement bid for this year just closed. It's a big one with lots of training coming. I'm staying where I am, and getting a little more senior as more guys are bidding in behind me than in front. When it all shakes out, I'll be bidding at about 23% for my seat. Not bad. Seniority, of course, is everything: it determines your place in the pecking order for monthly bidding, vacation bidding, and seat movement.

Long time no see. I had two nice weeks off to plant 100 trees and finish up the garage wiring and lift. Now I'm in Minneapolis on day two of this week's flying. I only saw Michelle briefly in DFW as I was flying out and she was flying in from an Atlanta conference. We met at my gate for a minute, and we only got to see each other b/c her flight to ABQ was cancelled. Such is love and marriage in the new age of working spouses.
Last night, for the first live leg of this week, I did the thing I always feared...I was late for the hotel pickup. The First Officer lives here, so he was already at the Fedex ramp. The limo driver got tired of waiting for me and called her dispatch, who called Fedex Global Operations Center (GOC), who called the FO. He advised that they should call the hotel desk (duh). They called my room and let me know the limo was waiting out front. At first, I argued that my pickup time was still 30 minutes away, then realized I had the hour wrong. So, now the rush began. Fortunately, I was mostly ready. I was very grateful that the limo driver waited for me, and tipped her well. I signed the release online using my smartphone on the way to the airport, and called the FO to let him know I was on the way. We still pushed early, so all was forgiven. It's not so bad being late if you're the Captain!

Today the weather in Minnie is gorgeous, so I got a Jimmy Johns sandwich and had a picnic in this little downtown park. Rain tomorrow, snow by Friday.