FLYING THROUGH A CONTRAIL

Here's a neat shot of what it looks like to fly through another planes contrail several minutes after the plane has passed by. Usually a contrail will fall approximately 3-500 feet or so, but this contrail held its altitude pretty well. We were flying at FL370 (flight level 370 or roughly 37,000 feet above the earth's surface) when I snapped this shot. Every now and then while flying through a contrail like this, we'll experience a nice "bump" or jolt in the ride. Ahhhh......all in a days work! Well, tomorrow I'm off to work for four days. I'll be back on the 6th........so see you then!

SANDBLASTED IN ST MAARTEN

While Maria and I were having lunch in St. Maarten last week (SXM), the daily KLM B747-400 was getting ready to depart. As you can see through the trees, our hotel (the Sonesta Maho) is VERY close to the end of the runway. That's one of the neat things about this place........location, location and location (the famous real estate saying). A minute after taxiing into position for takeoff, the throttles come up and the windstorm starts. Check out all those "daring" tourists getting the sandblasting of their life...................(we've all done it once just to experience it). And once is all they'll ever do it.....because it hurts like the dickens, and you'll be cleaning sand out of every crevice and cranny on your body for the next month. LOL Click on the photo to get the "big picture".

SUNSET VIEW OF SXM

Sooooo............here's a view from our room in St. Maarten last week. Arnoldo (a front desk manager at the Maho), took care of us and put Maria and I in a great room with a FABULOUS view. I've attached a few other shots so you can get an idea of just how neat being in SXM is. (I've included a shot of Maria on the balcony so her mom and dad can see how great she looks!!!) Now you know why I want to retire there!!! How cool is this????? The sunset speaks for itself. Click on the photos to enlarge them. More tomorrow. ;-)

SORRY ABOUT THAT EVERYONE

Hey everyone, sorry about being out of touch for so long, but I've been on the road and pretty busy over the Thanksgiving day holiday week. Of course I have the privilege of working Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Years......the holiday trifecta............and on top of that I'm getting ready to start moving into a new place...........so hang in there with me and I'll get some new stuff out in a day or so. Thanks for checking in.... karl

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES PIZZA

Well everyone, I just got back for ONE DAY of rest and recuperation, and then head back to work for the next seven days, so here's my "one" new post. On my last trip to St. Maarten, I noticed a menu that had pizzas named for different airlines. First on the list was Continental Airlines pizza. Pretty basic pizza if you ask me. Luckily, my job seems to have a lot of the toppings I need. :-) I want to take a moment to thank everyone for stopping in and reading my blog. I'll try to do better at getting more posts up, but for now it looks like it'll be eight or nine days before I get the opportunity to post again. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!