I am rather giddy right nowFollow

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Most of you know that I am a pilot for an EMS company out here in California. What you may not know is that the helicopter industry is chock full of Vietnam era pilots who are becoming too old and frail to fly anymore, thus are increasingly likely to lose their medical license for protracted periods of time.

This very true at the location where I work. At 46 I am the young buck at my organization where the typical age is 60-ish. The problem is these older guys are continually getting sick, breaking hips, or suffering occasionally from dementia or what appears to be Alzheimers. Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad, but all the same they tend to go down for longer and more frequent lengths of time.

All of which brings me to my point. Of the eight guys we have here three have been out for anywhere between one to three months, which means the rest of us have to cover their shifts in order to keep the aircraft in service. No workee, no money. No money, no base-ee and then I might have to move to Iowa or something and fly there. So here I am on the last day of 23 days in a row and I am positively giddy at the thought of turning off my phone and forgetting I even am employed.

So here's my question to you, my Asylumite family: After a very healthy tax refund check and a huge paycheck from working so many extra shifts I have a sizable chunk of money in my bank account. How shall I spend my week away from work? Allow me to list a few of the options available to Mrs. Totem and myself.

1) San Diego. However, it's going to only get about 61* there this next week. Kinda cold.

2) A B&B in San Francisco. A lighthouse to be specific, off the point at San Pablo. Kinda small, we'd be stuck on an island 50 yards wide and long for the weekend.

3) Drive down the coast to LA. We could take our time, stay where we want, as long as we want until Thursday. Not too bad of an option.

4) Hawaii. The biggest issue is cost. Airline tickets this late will mean big $$$. However, this being our 25th anniversary year, that isn't that big of a deal to me.

5) Europe. I have no particular preference as to where in Europe. After all, the problem with Europe is that it is largely filled with Europeans. ;) Ok, just kidding. I think my choice would Italy since it'd be a bit warmer, but Paris would be ok too. I'd go to jolly olde England, but this time of the year I'd just as soon head to Minnesota for as warm as London would be.

6) The Mexican Riviera. Toasty warm, sunny, fairly cost efficient. Nice beaches.

7) A cruise. This would prolly take us down to the Mexican Riviera also, but we could do Cozumel or the Yucatan too. The only one I won't do is the drunk-barge, the Carnival cruise to Ensenada. We did that a couple of years ago and it sucked. The Catalina islands are nice, but everything else was gak.

8) Seattle. Cold, but very nice for the culture. Meh. I'm still pissed about the SuperSonics maybe going to Hickville, Oklahoma.

9) Florida. Maybe Miami, but my son is going to be stationed at Tyndale AFb in a month. so we'd likely be going there soon enough.

And last but not least, 10) Stay at home in our newly finished backyard. The pool is warming up and the motorcycling season is at its peak right now. I wouldn't have to get a dog sitter for the poodles and I can scratch my a$$ in private.

Any suggestions? As of 7:00 PM Pacific today I am free to do any of those options or something else entirely. Gimme your ideas! By-the-way, 23 days (mostly nights actually) in a row really suck. Avoid it if you can.

Totem

San Diego has actually been pretty warm. By 11 in the morning, it's been in the low 80s.

But I say stay home and **** your brains out.

Redistribute your wealth among those less fortunate than you, duh.

You should have an adventure; go skydiving or spelunking....or hike down into the grand canyon.

You won't accept a personal check? I'm hurt.
:(

Totem

Boy, I wish I had Totem's problems right about now. =)

depending on the extra cash flow you have i would vote:

4) Hawaii. The biggest issue is cost. Airline tickets this late will mean big $$$. However, this being our 25th anniversary year, that isn't that big of a deal to me.

unless you have been there several times in the past 10 years. then maybe someplace you have NOT been.

what is this with the sonics maybe leaving seattle?

oh not good.

You should donate it to help the war effort.

This sounds lovely and romantic.

Ireland?

My backyard is quite pleasant this time of year..

Hurry up! Kettle's on!

Yeah, San Diego is nice today and tomorrow, but by Saturday it's supposed to get chilly due to a frontal passage

On the plus side, I imagine you could pay for your trip if you took "punch Gbaji in the *******" donations from the forum. It'd only be like 5 minutes out of your way....

Doood,, Yo, Baltimore Privateer's Day this Saturday at Fells!!! You can make it!

http://www.fellspointdevelopment.com/privateerday.html



I'm so there with the $70 Tri-Corn hat that I bought the last Ren-fest


LOL
Aw snap, I'll have to leave the 1911 at home

Edited, Apr 17th 2008 6:24pm by Kelvyquayo

Paris is lovely in the spring, it's by far the best time to go. And judging by the frequent impersonations of a Frenchman in your posts, you already know the intonations perfectly, if not quite the language yet.

If I had that money, I'd go to Argentina. It's still really cheap, it's gorgeous, they have the best steaks in the world. And as an added bonus, Buenos Aires is a little bit of Europe in Latin America, so its almost like going to Spain too.