En route

Writing on my 4 hr flight from Houston to Montreal

Are we there yet? It's been a long day, started with 4 back to back (to back to back) teleconferences. Oh, I used this saying already, well I think it is still humorous.

Luckily I was only mildly frustrated at the outcome of one where we are still arguing or debating over our release schedule for drawings. As it has been explained to me, we are a service company that thrives on on time delivery and customer delight. As unrealistic as our customers may be, we need to try to meet their expectations, if we cannot we need to be justified with why we can't. I'm not the design manager or have any experience in building a release schedule which should be something that is handled by the design leads. I don't get why the electrical design lead can figure this out and work to his schedule but mechanical cannot. And who has to face the customer and explain why we can't meet dates, me...

Anyways, I digress. I have had a pretty decent day today. After the 2.5 hrs of meetings this morning, I stepped onto the flight from Tucson to Houston at 10am. Flight was routine but a little delayed as we were over weight so had to get some volunteers to take a different flight. Too bad i have to work tomorrow, that $500 credit would have been nice.

Got into Houston at 2:30 cst. Went for lunch with two guys from bombardier Who are on this flight as well. Nothing fancy, we had 30 mins so just grabbed a sandwich from the sandwich artists.

This flight boarded at 4, same time as departure so we were a bit delayed. The lady working the counter explained that the pilot didn't want us on the plane while they were fuelling. Immediately me and one of the guys from bombardier know this is an excuse. They refuel planes all the time with people on it. There is going to be more to this we figure.

Well, onboard our suspicions turn true. The pilot comes on the pa once everyone is on the plane (side note - open seat beside me, awesome!). It turns out that one of the fuel transfer valves in the wing that allows you to pump fuel into the plane and automatically balance/level the fuel in the two wings, where the fuel is stored, isn't working properly.

Now it makes more sense. They were probably troubleshooting this and didn't
Want to alarm passengers. This isn't a problem so if this happens to you, don't worry. Instead, they had to fuel up the old fashioned way by manually fuelling each wing. Don't worry, no dipstick measuring approach like the Gimli glider, we are about 30 mins out of Montreal, started our initial descent so we will make it.

I was hoping to get some groceries when I got to the apartment but I'm not sure I will be able to if we get in at 9:45. By the time I clear customs, get my bag and catch a cab I'm sure the store will be closed. Don't know what I'm going to do for breakfast tomorrow then, maybe I will grab a bagel in the morning before I leave. Not looking forward to the early morning either, a three hour time difference is a lot to catch up from in 8 hrs.

I'm curious what is growing in my fridge. I think I cleared most things out but I think there was milk and maybe some cheese. Not sure about veggies but there were probably some there three weeks ago. Now, .... Yum.... I also wonder what the plants will look like. I know I watered them before I left but again that was three weeks ago. I was doing so good, watering them about once a week, sometimes twice or more.

Other things I need to do before company arrive:
- get groceries. I have lots of beer so that's not an issue
- sweep my floors
- wash my car, if it is still there. I fear it may have rusted away as there was some, not much, salt on it.
- change tires, maybe. It is supposed to snow Friday so maybe I will hold off for a little bit longer.

Well, only 15 mins longer. Time to turn off the iPad.

Ciao