Pitter Patter

There are some things in life that just put a smile on your face. It doesnt matter how bad your day is going, if you think one little thought, it'll put that smile right back on your face. The other morning, I had something happen that's been putting a smile on my face for a few weeks.

The wife and I run our "divorced" schedule as we call it. I typically work 3-4 days trips over the weekend to maximize the time the kids are at home. Erin has an 8-5 job, so she has to get up early in the morning to get to work. With our current living conditions, Micah's crib is in our room. When Erin gets up in the morning to go to work, she will put Micah in bed with me. Usually he is awake and wants to play, but this one particular morning, we both stayed peacefully at sleep. I didnt even know he was in bed with me. It was when Micah woke up and decided it was play time that I had my smile moment. I was dead asleep on my stomach somewhere in dreamland when I felt a little pitter patter on my left shoulder. Micah had woken up and decided to wake me up. He didnt cry, didnt make any noise, just rolled over and woke me up by tapping me on the shoulder. I rolled over and saw a his big smile and bright blue eyes just begging me to wake up and play. I cannot think of a better way to wake up.

Decisions Decisions

If you are into making snap decisions in a hurry, applying for a federal job is not for you. If you like to take months to make a decision, you have found the right place. The nice thing about taking your time, is you get the chance to think things all the way through before you make a decision. The government being its normal self has given me an additional 6 months to decide if I really want to jump ship on this flying gig and head on over to Air Traffic Control. I was recently hired for a Tracon in an area near where I'm from. They set a tentative class date several months from now, so I have plenty of time to decide if I really want to take the job.

I like flying. I am very good at it. But over the last few months, flying has turned into work. There's the old saying "If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life" I think my love of flying is dying off. My company has been draining my enthusiasm for coming to work in equal proportion to my draining bank account. For example, last week I had recurrent training. It cost me money to come to work. I had to commute in a day early, get a hotel for 2 nights, pay for all my own food and pay for 2 days of daycare. I got paid 3.75hrs of pay for each day of 9 hours of work. So that was worth about $180. Hotel was $45, daycare $130, food $30 for a total of $205 for a net loss of $25. Worth it??? Not any more. I know what I'm worth and its not $24 per flight hour.

So, do I stick it out with this crumbling career and declining profession? Or do I jump ship? I'm leaning twords getting out.