Just Plain Funny

Things I see in airports:

LAX...enjoyong a beer at 0930.

Haven't done that since college...at least not that I can remember.

Cool Pix

Rock La-ahhhhh-ahbster

Where are the B-52s when you need'em? I can't believe it had to rain
today. The bike was ready for Santa Rosa but, not smart for the first
ride to be your first race of the season (and a crit to boot). Maybe
she'll just have to wait another week to go out and play. I can assure
you her first race will not be a rainy Snelling!

Holy City for Sale

Holy Smokes...how much?

Moth Ball 35+ Crit

Marco Fanelli's 35+ write-up.

Nice press guys! A NorCal team goes down south for a little fun in the sun and steals the show. I included the finish thumbnail but click the links to see the full size pictures or just go to Marco's blog.

Oh we are going to have soooooo much fun this year!


35+: This was an incredibly cool race and the VOS team put on a nearly flawless clinic.

From the gun, Dan Martin took off solo and steadily ground out the laps and kept the field at bay. That is really hard to do and the crowd, such as it was, showed their appreciation by cheering him on.

Good ol' Johnny O, break-away rider extraordinaire in the 90's, bridged on up and went pull for pull for a couple laps but his legs weren't up to the task and soon he dropped off.

Blinger taking a turn trying to bring back Martin. Don't feel bad that it was so hard to bring him back... he's a bonafide motor who won the prestigious Cat's Hill Classic last year ...in the Pro/1/2!!

Eventually Dan was brought back, and immediately another group of 12 went this time with both Martin and Hernando and some other very strong riders. Perhaps the break was too big however, because they never got a big gap and with just a couple laps remaining, the field closed in. Hernando launched and quickly gained 20 seconds. A race winning move? It looked good at 1-to-go 'cause Mike had a 15-second cushion and only 1,000 meters of smooth pavement between him and the second VOS victory of the day. But if there's one thing you can count on, it's that SoCal crit riders go fast on bell lap. I mean F'n fast, and as strong as Mike is, he couldn't hold them off, and got swarmed just before the line. His expression is priceless... how many of you kids can dig that deep?!

Not So Bad

Sunny but not so warm (46*) in the foothills. Jeff and I meeting for a
long slow ride. Group shot later.

Escape to Austin

So my job isn't all bad. At least it occasionally affords me the
opportunity to enjoy the sun and some warm weather when we have a
rainy spell at home like we are now.

No upright?

It's bad enough that I have to use a lifebike, but a recumbant, that
sucks!

Next?

Leigh trying to figure out which runs to do after lunch. We made it up
to Truckee last night and on the slopes at Squaw Valley this morning.

Poway to Del Mar

On the road again. Another shitty SoCal day!

Hittin' It In San Diego

Life is good. Fly the Hornet around in the morning. Go for a bike ride
in warm sunny SoCal in the afternoon.

Christmas Dinner

Yum...Christmas dinner!

At the hotel in Oklahoma City.

No room service and no restaurants.

One of the many joys of being an airline pilot....

Multimedia message

Uh! I can barely see to taxi and we're supposed to go fly.

The Big Chicken

Where am I?

Regional airlines lower bar for pilots

Just thought you should know...the below clips are from the article posted at the link.

If you've flown on a regional airline like American Eagle or Atlantic Southeast Airlines with any regularity, you may have noticed that the pilots seem a bit younger.

It's not your imagination. Regional carriers, which operate flights for major airlines like American, Delta and United, have been slashing their minimum hiring requirements in recent years as they grapple with a growing shortage of pilots. The carriers have reduced required flight hours for job applicants by as much as two-thirds, and in a few cases have hired pilots with the minimum experience required by the Federal Aviation Administration for a pilot's license.

Airline executives say recruiting less experienced pilots is necessary because the pool of applicants is shrinking while demand for pilots grows. And many have increased training for new hires and assigned them more time flying with veteran co-pilots.

Traditionally, many pilots began their careers at lower-paying regional airlines with the hope of moving to a major carrier, and a bigger salary, in a few years. Most regional carriers used to require 1,500 total flight hours before an aspiring pilot could apply for a job. A portion of those hours -- usually about 500 -- had to be flown in a multiengine airplane; the rest could be in a single-engine aircraft like a small Cessna 172.

In just the past year, 14 of the 21 regional and commuter airlines tracked by the consulting firm Air Inc. have reduced the hours of experience a pilot must have at the controls of any type of airplane. Trans States briefly lowered its requirement to 250 total hours last summer before raising it to 500, said Kit Darby, the firm's president.

American Eagle has cut its minimum flight hours to 500.

"If you have just a few hundred hours and don't have any jet experience, you're looking at quite a learning hurdle," Rice said.

James Magee, an Eagle pilot and union spokesman, had 2,000 hours of flight time when he was hired in 1999.

"Our new pilots are exceptionally good pilots," Magee said. "But they're flying in very challenging environments, and there's really no replacement for experience."

Airlines are aggressively recruiting on college campuses and offering signing bonuses to new hires who complete their training.

Union leaders say improved compensation and benefits would help more than signing bonuses and lesser requirements for new hires.

"We have to offer them a career path, with pay and work rules, that is going to be attractive," Magee said.

A starting pilot at Trans States, a regional airline that flies for American under the name American Connection, earns $22 a flight hour, with 74 hours guaranteed a month, according to AirlinePilotCentral.com, which tracks pilot salaries. That translates to an annual starting salary of $19,500. A pilot flying 1,000 hours a year -- the most allowed under federal rules -- would earn about $22,000.

Bus Driver
Location: San Francisco, CA 94104
Base Salary $21,692
Bonuses $3,608
401k $1,569
also healthcare, pension, payed time off

Say again all after:

"We have to offer them a career path, with pay and work rules, that is going to be attractive."

Dusky Footed Wood Rat

A view from the new trail at Pulgas Ridge.

The dogs love it!

Home...hmmm, why do I live in San Fran?

I'm Dreaming...

...or, I'm in Indianapolis?

Mountain Lion

You know how they always
post these crazy signs like:

Mountain Lion Habitat

and you think,
yeah right,
someone may have thought
they saw a mountain lion,
or "evidence" of one,
once,
years ago.

But, I've been walking these trails
several times a week for years.

And I've never seen any mountain lion
or evidence of any such creature.

Well, on my way to work yesterday while driving up Edgewood Road,
just meters from the trails I walk with the dogs ALL THE TIME



I SAW
A FREAKIN' MOUNTAIN LION
STANDING THERE
ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!

I haven't been back yet.....

A Windmill for Guatemala

Wanna fund your own windmill? Got $100?

Social entrepreneurship is our unofficial theme this week. If $400 is too much to pay for a laptop, a Guatemalan wind turbine might be more your speed.

I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting the good folks at the San Francisco chapter of Engineers without Borders. Like other things-without-borders themed organizations, EWB is a non-profit professional association that donates its expertise to worthy projects in developing countries.

Phanny and Connor sitting in a tree....

Phanny found a boy friend.