So I’ve been neglecting this thing for the millionth time since I’ve had it over the last 5 years.. Oh well. I’m suffering from some insomnia at present so I figured I’d update and clear up what’s been happening in the last few months of my life. It’s been super super busy.

Last time I left you folks, I was unemployed and unable to find any sort of job at all. It was a real pain in the ass and pretty much an insult to get rejected as a Home Depot cashier or Kinko’s employee because you’re “overqualified” (their words, not mine). The whole experience was depressing, insulting, and frustrating all at once, and I could see how it would be incredibly stressful if you actually had something you were responsible for (kids, house, etc). For me, I was able to scrape by on the unemployment checks (about 40% of my airline income, which was under $20k, so it was REALLY fucking tight).

So anyway, in about early November I got a call for an interview at Mesaba Airlines, who operate as Northwest Airlink out of Memphis, Minneapolis, and Detroit (and now Delta out of Atlanta). I flew out to Minneapolis to interview (25 degrees out, versus 80 in Phoenix) and ultimately got the job. It was a big relief. $18,000 a year sucks but it was better than the unemployment check. Was supposed to start on January 5th. About a week later I was called by US Airways for an interview in a management position. I interviewed the day before I was supposed to attend jury duty. The interview went well, and I went to jury duty KNOWING I’d be picked and US would call me to start immediately.

Lo and behold, I was selected for a jury on a two and a half week trial. A few days later, US Air calls and offers me the job. “We would like you to start on Monday” they say. “I’m on jury duty… Sorry.” “Okay, you can start the 29th” . “Well, at least I’ll be able to be a part of this jury and decide this guy’s fate” I justify to myself. WRONG. Got picked as an alternate before the jury went into deliberation. They deliberated for two days and couldn’t figure anything out and the case was decided out of court. So I wasted two and a half weeks of my life for nothing. And it was a fraud case, not even something cool like a train robbery or liquor store holdup.

So ultimately I had a decision to make. I could continue flying airplanes to the tune of $18k/year (for the… third… year) while having to commute from Phoenix to either Atlanta, Memphis, or Detroit (4 hour flight, minimum, not to mention the major league pain in the ass of having to wake up at 5 AM on the east coast does fucking magic to your body when you’re used to Arizona time), have to work weekends and holidays for the next 5 years, and get 11 days off a month, 3-4 of which would be spent commuting to/from work… Or I could give up the flying and sit in a cubicle for 40 hours a week, but be home every night, rarely work weekends or holidays, and have the same travel benefits, while maintaining a regular schedule for my social life…

The choice wasn’t as easy as I made it sound above. The flying was fun and not always a lot of hard work, but there was no merit promotions, short overnights (8 hours from leaving the airplane at night until reboarding in the morning, so 4-5 hours of sleep), shitty pay and a long commute. But I’ll miss the flying, I’m sure. The view, the zen moments of sunrises and sunsets, seeing shitty cities that are more fun that I’d think, and others that are just as boring as I had anticipated… but too many people have told me “You’re too smart to be wasting your time as a pilot” over the last two years that I had to listen to their advice.

The funny thing is, the more time I spend grasping the idea of not being an airline pilot any more, the more content I am. It’s funny to read the petty arguments on the pilot forums about things that matter a lot when you’re actually at the airlines (it is your livelihood, after all) but when you take a step back and look, you realize just ultimately how petty and stupid a lot of the BS is. At least the airline pilot stuff.

For those of you out there who read this and are considering going into “121″ flying, I’d highly discourage it, unless you’re one of those people where “airline pilot is WHO I AM” instead of “Airline pilot is what I do.” There are quite a few people who I went to school with that I beg don’t end up at the airlines for the rest of their life because they don’t realize how bad they have it. If you’re a smart cookie, which a lot of my college friends are, you’re a wasted resource as an airline pilot nowadays. Get into 91 flying or find something else that will make you money, you won’t regret it.

That’s enough of the airplane talk, I apologize, but I had to get that off my chest. I just remember being in college and looking at people who were airline pilots then left and thinking “wow, they couldn’t cut it” when fact of the matter is, they made a smart decision, one that I couldn’t understand at the time.

In other news, the preliminary search for a townhouse has resumed. Trying to find something with a garage and two levels (or one level if it’s not an apartment conversion) that’s in a nice-ish part of town for under $160k. Things will ramp up once paychecks start coming in though. It’d be a great time to buy…

Update on the job situation. Last week I was offered a job by US Airways in pricing. No flying any more for me, but weekends off, holidays off, and a fatter paycheck.

Sounds good to me!