Pilots and Unions

It wasn't too long ago when someone said "teamsters" that you immediately conjured up images of Jimmy Hoffa being buried under a football? stadium. Turns out these days Teamsters actually represents airline pilots, along with ALPA (Air Line Pilot Association). So what am I getting at? The company dh works for just voted in Teamsters to represent the pilot group. I am one of those pilot wives who knows (I think) dh's agreement better than him, and in general I'm super interested in most aspects of aviation (aside from actually flying, of which I am convinced is PFM). So I have been watching what has happened with the teamsters drive religiously.

Now when dh was at XJT they were ALPA (and no ALPA is not "the best ever" ) then when he went to work at his new company it was non-union. Which (as far as I can tell) worked great (for a while) and management and the pilots played nice together for a number of years. Of course, since we have gotten there it hasn't been quite so copasetic. We personally have run into a few issues such as trip trades going though only to find a week later they said "oops" our bad, and switched the trips back AFTER we had gotten plane tickets to go see family already. Not giving back days off, more instances of screwing with schedules things like that.

Wait! I know you're going to say those things happen at other places (like XJT) too, and it's true they do hence the phrase "fly now grieve later." The only difference is at other places there is a recourse you have "grieve it" weather it accomplishes anything or not is always up for debate BUT at least it is something. I came into the airline industry knowing NOTHING about Unions (good or bad) but what I have determined (at least in the airline industry) is they are a necessary evil.

As with most things there are postive and negative aspects about Unions. On the good side they (management) will actually be required, by law, to sit down with the pilots (reps) and talk about issues (whatever it may be tdy, overnights, ect) this was actually (in my opinion) one of the biggest problems they were having. Management would say "sure we will get together with you" and then never show. Another plus of the union is the legal team you get, in case (god forbid) you would ever need it. And of course wait for it.....my favorite....medical coverage. There is a pretty solid rumor (I don't know for sure hence the word rumor) that teamsters because of its size, can offer better medical coverage than what we have at a cheaper cost to the company, so of course this is a big one for me since the company so kindly last year chopped our health insurance to pieces. Of course there are downfalls to Unions as well, see the "fly now grieve later" sentence above. And they do cost $$$ (nothing in life is free right?).

Since no one has yet invented a crystal ball that actually works, I have no way of knowing if Teamsters will be beneficial or not.....In the great words of Jimmy Buffett "Only Time Will Tell."

* These are MY thoughts on the union(s) not my dh's though he may agree with some I didn't ask him before writing this.

Easy Lunchboxes

So lately I have been having a huge problem trying to figure out what to eat. I like to cook but I always make too much, lets face it most recipes aren't made for 1! So in my quest to like and understand pinterest I have spent hours on there weeding through what I can only call (mostly) crap. I have manged to find a few gems and I think this might be one :) This lunchbox site while much to my annoyance, shows only pictures and not exactly whats in them I can pretty much figure it out.

A Sad Pirate

So I've been on hiatus for a while while I was bumming it in Florida, with a big thanks to my mom for watching the herd while I was down there for almost 3 weeks! That being said I've got tons of pictures and stories I'll put up here in the next few weeks, but this is my favorite!

So since we have our annual passes to Disney we decided to hop over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours at night to bum around. We hadn't been on Pirates of the Caribbean in a while and there was basically NO line so we decided why not? We hop on a boat with a family behind us and some (at the time) annoying teenagers in the front. So we go through the ride uneventfully and are 3-4 boats from the end, I can SEE the unloading dock, for those of you who know Pirates well, we were at the end where the dog is holding the keys and the pirates are trying to get out of jail. So at this point we see the people get off the boat at the dock then wait...and wait....and wait....then they start with the announcements "please remain seated the ride will continue in a minute." Ok I figure they are loading someone on that was slow or something, fine. So we sit there for what 10 minutes? At which point I figure something is wrong..........Then another announcement something about powering down and powering up, at which point I figure they are hitting the crlt+alt+dlt of the Pirates ride.

Another 5 minutes they try the restart of pirates again....Another 5 minutes they do it again. At which point they finally turn the music off and bring up the house lights so to speak. That is, of course, when I took the picture of John in the boat. So another 20 minutes goes by...no announcements, no people walking around, nothing except all of us in the boat taking pictures and being loud. So finally we hear an announcement "All available pirates to door 4." So we look behind us and all the boats that were piled up behind us are gone!

So finally we see people come out from behind the scenes carrying something that looks like a bridge!!! Finally!!! So someone who looks like a higher up and a peon stand there and look at the bridge for about 5 minutes I'm not kidding. So of course in this time we're all still bored and in the boat taking pictures. The higher up personal person Freaks out in the most undisney fashion I have ever seen it was kind of funny, apparently they didn't brain wash her enough. So we're taking pictures (the lady behind me had a video camera)and she starts yelling "That is not appropriate don't take pictures we don't need these on the internet." I'm thinking really? We've been sitting here for 45min do you think it's not already there?

So then after looking at the bridge for 5 min they move it AWAY!! At which one of the teenagers starts yelling "That is not appropriate." It was hysterical! For the rest of the time we sat there everyone in the boat keep saying "That is not appropriate."

So after another 10 min they send some guy out in waders who jumps in the water and pushes our boat back to the unloading spot, come to find out we were the second to last boat to get unloaded! So after we get out (in the town scene by the bridge with the pirate on it) we are led backstage and out a back door, that lands us in the behind the scenes Disney. We walk out where they are starting to line up the floats for the light parade it was pretty cool to see! All in all it wasn't too bad our adventure only took about an hour and a half from start to finish. Apparently someone forgot to say Good Night/Good Morning to George!

The difference a year or two can make.....

So I am going to try my best to post this exactly on April 11 but forgive me if I miss by a day or two since I'm traveling..... So now lets flashback two years

April 11, 2010 - Dh gets released from the hospital after having back surgery, still currently employed though obviously not flying for XJT.

April 11, 2011- Dh starts first day of class at AAY!

April 11, 2012- 2nd year pay.... Thank god!!!

Looking back who could have ever guessed in 2010 that he would be back at work much less working for a new company in a years time??? That was a wild, quick, and unexpected plunge into first year pay and qol. And of course the famous question; Was it worth good seniority, benefits, and pay to make the change?

As we start into the second year at AAY and our checkbook happily looks at second year pay, our health insurance does not, this is by far my biggest disappointment/complaint with changing jobs. When Dh first started at AAY we had a ppo it wasn't great but still it was ppo. Now we have some kind of hsa crap, in which all the gains of our second year pay will be eaten up with health insurance costs.

Of course our qol has taken a hit starting at the bottom of any company will do that, so by that standards it's "normal". Dh hasn't been home much but that was expected (even though I complain about it). And I would be unfair if I didn't mention our qol would be great if we lived in base since he is doing all day trips. He has been fairly lucky to get a line 5 months after completing training, and he also (so far, knock on wood) got hired at the right time as there are now about 40 people under him. This may not seem like such a big number but in a company of less than 400 it is a decent amount.

It's still far to early in the game to know if this was the right move, in fact one of our ex-twa neighbors correctly said "you won't know if you picked right until the day you retire." This is so true given how volatile the airline industry these days.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" is probably the best quote I can use for right now. We knew what we were dealing with at XJT but we also knew its limits. Starting on second year pay this year Dh will be within $10 an hour of what he was making at XJT as a 10 year captain. Is it the highest in the industry? No. Is it better than what he was making? Well not second year but it will be, and in far less than ten years, try three. Is its good as it could be? No it could always be better. And maybe that sentiment is why we chose to take this "leap of faith" AAY has the potential to be better than XJT was.


Now that the first year is over I'd cant say for sure that the move was a good thing, but I also cant say it was bad, and I think in the airline industry thats as good as it gets.
Sent from my iPad

The difference a year or two can make

The difference year or two can make....

So I am going to try my best to post this exactly on April 11 but forgive me if I miss by a day or two since I'm traveling..... So now lets flashback two years

April 11, 2010 - Dh gets released from the hospital after having back surgery, still currently employed though obviously not flying for XJT.

April 11, 2011- Dh starts first day of class at AAY!

April 11, 2012- 2nd year pay.... Thank god!!!

Looking back who could have ever guessed in 2010 that he would be back at work much less working for a new company in a years time??? That was a wild, quick, and unexpected plunge into first year pay and qol. And of course the famous question; Was it worth good seniority, benefits, and pay to make the change?

As we start into the second year at AAY and our checkbook happily looks at second year pay, our health insurance does not, this is by far my biggest disappointment/complaint with changing jobs. When Dh first started at AAY we had a ppo it wasn't great but still it was ppo. Now we have some kind of hsa crap, in which all the gains of our second year pay will be eaten up with health insurance costs.

Of course our qol has taken a hit starting at the bottom of any company will do that, so by that standards it's "normal". Dh hasn't been home much but that was expected (even though I complain about it). And I would be unfair if I didn't mention our qol would be great if we lived in base since he is doing all day trips. He has been fairly lucky to get a line 5 months after completing training,and he also (so far, knock on wood) got hired at the right time as there are now about 40 people under him. This may not seem like such a big number but in a company of less than 400 it is a decent amount.

It's still far to early in the game to know if this was the right move, in fact one of our ex-twa neighbors correctly said "you won't know if you picked right until the day you retire." This is so true given how volatile the airline industry these days.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" is probably the best quote I can use for right now. We knew what we were dealing with at XJT but we also knew its limits. Starting on second year pay this year Dh will be within $10 an hour of what he was making at XJT as a 10 year captain. Is it the highest in the industry? No. Is it better than what he was making? Well not second year but it will be, and in far less than ten years, try three. Is its good as it could be? No it could always be better. And maybe that sentiment is why we chose to take this "leap of faith" AAY has the potential to be better than XJT was.


Now that the first year is over I'd can't say for sure that the move was a good thing, but I also can't say it was bad, and I think in the airline industry that is as good as it gets.

The difference a year or two can make........

The difference year or two can make....

So I am going to try my best to post this exactly on April 11th, but forgive me if I miss by a day or two since I'm traveling..... So now lets flashback two years

April 11, 2010 - Dh gets released from the hospital after having back surgery, still currently employed though obviously not flying for XJT.

April 11, 2011 - Dh starts first day of class at AAY!

April 11, 2012 - 2nd year pay.... Thank god!!!

Looking back who could have ever guessed in 2010 that he would be back at work much less working for a new company in a years time??? That was a wild, quick, and unexpected plunge into first year pay and qol. And of course the famous question; Was it worth good seniority, benefits, and pay to make the change?

As we start into the second year at AAY and our checkbook happily looks at second year pay, our health insurance does not, this is by far my biggest disappointment/complaint with changing jobs. When Dh first started at AAY we had a ppo it wasn't great but still it was ppo. Now we have some kind of hsa crap, in which all the gains of our second year pay will be eaten up with health insurance costs.

Of course our qol has taken a hit, starting at the bottom of any company will do that, so by that standards it's "normal". Dh hasn't been home much but that was expected (even though I complain about it). And I would be unfair if I didn't mention our qol would be great if we lived in base since he is doing all day trips. He has been fairly lucky to get a line 5 months after completing training,and he also (so far, knock on wood) got hired at the right time as there are now about 40 people under him. This may not seem like such a big number but in a company of less than 400 it is a decent amount.

It's still far to early in the game to know if this was the right move, in fact one of our ex-twa neighbors correctly said "you won't know if you picked right until the day you retire." This is so true given how volatile the airline industry these days.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" is probably the best quote I can use for right now. We knew what we were dealing with at XJT but we also knew its limits. Starting on second year pay this year Dh will be within $10 an hour of what he was making at XJT as a 10 year captain. Is it the highest in the industry? No. Is it better than what he was making? Well not second year but it will be, and in far less than ten years, try three. Is it as good as it could be? No, it could always be better. And maybe that sentiment is why we chose to take this "leap of faith" AAY has the potential to be better than XJT was.


Now that the first year is over I'd can't say for sure that the move was a good thing, but I also can't say it was bad, and I think in the airline industry that is as good as it gets.

My Husband The Five Year Old

So normally when dh has anything less than 3 days off he stays in FL and plays golf with his dad and hangs out. We mutually agreed (because of the hellish commute) it was a complete PITA to get home for less than 3 days.....So flash forward to this week, he only had 2 days off, and I had something come up that if it happened I would Absolutely need him home for. This would have entailed him coming home Monday night, and leaving Wednesday at O-dark-thirty. So last week when I told him something came up and I *may* need him to come home for Tuesday the conversation went like this....

Me: "I might need you to come home for Tuesday to help me out, I'll let you know for sure in a day or two but I wanted to give you some warning."

Him: "What? But I'm playing golf with my dad those days, and we have things planned. If I have to come home and help out then YOU have to call my dad and tell him I won't be there."

Hmmm...Say What? For one thing it's not as if this is the ONLY time he'll have gotten to play golf with his dad...he does it once a week to once a month depending on his schedule, remember he doesn't come home unless he has more than 3 days off, so he's had plenty of time to play golf. And really? really? You are going to whine about coming home and helping me? Excuse me? And then you want ME to call your dad and talk to him (don't get me wrong I love his dad) but REALLY?

Well it turns out I didn't need him to come home and got everything figured out myself...because god forbid we inconvenience the pilot!

Do other people Get It?

Amazing how often dh and I will talk about something and it's the same (type) of conversation that is going on at one of the pilot wife websites I visit.

Most recently on one of the websites someone was talking about how their friends didn't understand when she said her husband was gone for 12 days (or so) that he was really GONE. Not just that he was working 12 days in a row, and coming home every night. It really is hard to explain to people who have a 9-5 job.

On the flip side it's hard for me to tolerate people who complain about their husbands/wives being gone for 4 days a month. Now I know that this is probably a dramatic event for them, but really don't complain to me about it and expect to get much sympathy. In the same respect I wouldn't go on a military spouse forum and complain about my husband being gone for 10 days, they'd laugh me out of there (as they should) their spouses are gone for WAY longer!

The consensus of the discussion was that unless people actually have to live it they don't really Get It. I would have to say that's mostly true, though I do have a great group of friends who know how much dh is gone and really understand that when he's gone for 10 days, he's Gone!

Endometriosis Awareness Month

I love this quote and how it was paired with the yellow awareness ribbon, I wish I knew how to do pictures like this! I snagged this one from somewhere on facebook.


Since March is Endometriosis awareness month I thought it would be a nice idea to highlight some good Endo blogs throughout the month, starting with this one

No Internet or TV??

So I come home last Friday after having a fantastic dinner out with some friends, hop on the elliptical, turn on the TV so I can entertain myself on the elliptical and....NOTHING.....ummm.....

So my wonderful husband has a universal remote that sometimes (I admit) I screw up and hit the wrong button then spend the rest of the time he's gone switching between the TV remote, stereo remote, tivo remote...you get the picture. So I assume I have some how caused great distress to the universal remote again, grab the TV remote....Nothing....at this point it's almost crisis mode. While some of you may think I'm being a wimp about this, I've been working 6 days a week sometimes 9 hours a day until they hire someone else which can't come soon enough! But that being said I have about 2 hours a day at home that I watch TV and hop on the elliptical, sorry but I want to watch TV for that time.

Also and perhaps even worse at this point was that the Internet was down as well as having no TV (by no TV I mean I can't even watch DVD's). That actually qualified this AS a Crisis. So I call my happy husband at midnight his time (no, he didn't have to work the next day, unless you consider playing golf "work") much to his dismay. His first question was "did you look to see if everything is plugged in?" Well I did, but how would I know? The entire area behind the TV is a giant mess of wires and cords which is impossible for anyone but him to navigate. I didn't see anything clearly wrong and politely told him so.

His next solution is clearly the best "I don't know what's wrong with it from here, wait until Monday when I come home and I'll fix it."

WHAT? Sorry that's not an acceptable answer. No Internet or TV for 3 days?! I could do without one or the other but not both! So I again politely told him to shove it, and that if I couldn't fix it I'd call someone that could.....which of course he was unhappy about. I finally figured out (after much arguing) that one of our cats had decided to go crawling through the jungle of cords (in search of god knows what) and had stepped on the power cord and flipped the whole thing off! Problem Solved......AND I didn't have to wait until Monday!

Chapstick

So I was thinking of one "accessory" I could not live without (esp here in the desert at 6,000 feet)....and that is chapstick. This has to be the single most important/used item I have next to hand cream. I have about a million tubes of chapstick floating around and almost every time I go to the store I buy more! I'm not really sure what brought this on, I think it was because on one of the hysterectomy sites I am on someone wanted an idea of what to bring for a hospital stay. Some of these people go crazy making lists I have only 2 things, my glasses and of course chapstick. I am pretty sure chapstick makes the world turn!

Pinterest

So I am now a member of pinterest thanks to one of my jetgirl friends. There are a few things I like about it, mostly some of the recipes I have gotten from it, one in particular it's a great recipe
for tomato-basil parmesan soup. This is one of the only soups I have made that actually tastes good!

However, other than the recipes I'm not sure I understand the concept of pinterest....I feel a little like I am missing something. I just don't get the concept of trolling the internet looking for clothes you like then putting it on your board, I guess I am just confused....Are you going to buy that shirt? Do you have that shirt? If you like it and want it just go buy it? Now that's not to say I never use pinterest I do like the recipes, and a few of the quotes but that's it.

I know a few people who say it's addictive, I just don't know if I am truly missing something....OR if I'm not missing something, and just don't care much for it?

6 Days a Week

Pumpkin looks how I feel..............Since the one girl quit at my work I am now working 6 days a week!! Which btw sucks!! I work in the mornings which require me to get up at 5:45 this is my version of hell, as I am not a morning person. The fun part really is when the girl who works in the afternoon buys a new truck so she can't be there. This means I get to work from 7:15 in the morning go home for 2-3 hours around lunch then go back until at least 6:15!! This makes for an awful long day. This also means I have literally been doing NOTHING besides working. So this means I will spend my ONE day off this week cleaning the house, since of course John comes home on Monday, if it weren't for that fact I wouldn't even bother!!

Valentines Day...Sans the Pilot

So my pilot falls somewhere between the two camps of "If I'm not there for a holiday it doesn't happen." And "If I don't do Something she may kill me."

So he got me flowers the other day (Friday) and basically a pair of socks with a monkey on them. There were a few other things in the bag, but they were things I had already bought, oh and a card. I am sure this is the extent of anything that will be considered "For Valentines Day."

Now in all fairness I actually got him nothing (so far) not even a card. This may also have something to do with the fact that he's (optionally) staying in FL on this set of days off to hang out with his dad and play golf. Don't get me wrong I'm not a Valentine Day Freak, I'm not mad that he didn't come home because it's V-Day (I did in fact tell him it was fine if he stayed down there) however I do wish that he would have thought "Geee it would be nice to be home for three days, instead of hang out with my dad and play golf."

So this Valentines Day I will be hanging out with my neighbor and eating Chinese!

Pilot's Concept of Time

So I am not sure if it's just my pilot, or if it's all pilot's, but mine has NO concept of time. Oh apparently he has a good grasp of time at work, but not at home. He's on time for his shows, and for his commute flights (as long as he's not running to take one home) his watch/phone appears to hold accurate time when he's at work, it's when he's home that's the problem.

If I for instance tell him I want to leave in half an hour, this will go unnoticed and seemingly ignored; instead he will finish whatever he was doing, then get ready, be it on time (shockingly rare) or more likely about 15min late.

Oh I have learned through the years that if he's working on a car or an airplane or really anything, if he says "It will take 45min." What he really means is "I don't know, but if I don't tell you something that sounds like a reasonable time your liable to get ticked, so in reality this will take me at Least 2 hours."

He is particularly bad about time in airports. I am the type of person who would rather get to the airport 2 hours early, go through security, then sit there and read my book or play on the computer. My husband....not so much. He forgets that I can't (depends on the airport and TSA) go through the crew line, so he constantly pushes for us to get to the airport an hour before the flight. When I say get to the airport I mean driving into the park and shuttle, then still taking another 10-15min to GET to the airport. Now in his defense if I non-rev there is no reason to get there that early as I won't know until the last minute if I make it or not anyway, but since I usually buy a ticket I don't want to miss my flight! I have learned this and accepted it, so I occasionally alter my times to jive with his "concept of time."


So I have started combating this issue by simply telling him my plane (or whatever I want him on time for) is earlier than it really is. One of the last times I flew with him he caught onto this though, and was annoyed that I had told him the flight left 20min earlier than it really did. Really your going to throw a hissy fit over 20min, when you tell me 45min and mean 2 hours? Since he knows how to use a clock at work, maybe I should get him a talking watch for when he's home?

What the Flight Attendent Button is REALLY for....

So John and went to Houston for a short two days last week to go see my dr. As you may remember I hate nonreving. So of course I bought tickets. All went well on the way down there I (of course) got on the flight with my happy paid for ticket, and John did as well jump seating.

However on the way back...not so much....I had planned the ticket perfectly so I had just enough time to get in and pick up the dogs on the way home, perfect timing right? Well it was until one of the flights through DAL (which is where I was connecting) was cancelled, which then led to an overflow on my flight, which of course wasn't a problem for me, since I paid for a ticket. However, this didn't work so well for John who was jumping. John was at this point "gate surfing" which means he's hanging out waiting to see if he can get on. I pass him when I get on and say "If you don't make this flight at least get the truck keys to me." We love each other a lot right? So I'm happily sitting on the plane in the front (only have 30min connect), when I hear the FA say "Christy? can you ring the FA call button."

My first thought was crap they're going to take me off the plane, oh wait I paid for this ticket so I'm good there, just my luck there's something wrong with my ticket? Why did they let me on then? So I reach up and hit the bell (first time Ever)...the FA walks back holding (guess what??) my truck keys!!! And says "your husband said to give you these, he won't make it on."

Perfect! So that meant I had to go pick up the dogs, drive them home, feed the horses, then drive BACK into town to pick up John later that night....but now I finally know what the FA call button is for.......