05 May 2006 19:32
well that was an interesting month and a half. by the time it's fully over it'll've been an interesting two months all told.in late april i flew a plane to virginia to get an engine changed. this was my first experience working my way through US Customs on the general aviation side of things. it was a bit of a let down to discover that customs officials in jamaica are actually more cheerful than their american counterparts. after being ridiculed for not knowing procedures i've never used before (by someone who draws a paycheck from my tax dollars no less) i found a positive outlook difficult to maintain.
ATC was a different story altogether. they're a happy lot generally speaking up there, it was wonderful to be talking to people who are on the ball (Kingston is constantly asking pilots to repeat themselves). on the other hand this meant i had to stay more on the ball myself. the airspace is a LOT more crowded--i saw more planes in the air in half a day than i normally do in a week.
Stephanie knew i was coming, but none of the rest of my family did...surprise! ah well, that was fun. i spent two days in the shop helping out with the engine change. i usually like engine work (much better than digging around in the belly or up behind the instrument panel), so i enjoyed myself despite being inside a cold 50º hangar instead of out in the caribbean breeze and 90º sunshine.
oddly enough, i spent less than six days back on the island before i found myself stateside again (the airplane broke slightly after just three flights). this time there wasn't much for me to do at work so i spent as much time as possible loafing. this included getting checked out in the company's J3 cub (which i get to fly for free {dances joyfully}).
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some time ago I attended a church here in Jamaica where the pastor stood up when it was his part of the service and read I John 4:7 - 5:4. after finishing the reading he paused significantly before saying, "i could just sing the doxology and go home".
the irony is that he then proceded to spend the next forty minutes or so preaching on that passage.
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here's a biography of William Borden that was read in church last sunday. "No Reserves, no Retreats, no Regrets".
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