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I am back in Seattle and things are not to bad. Life has been pretty good as of late (injury non withstanding) so it’s about time to knuckle down and get back to reality.. Right?

Well not just yet, even though I just got back from Hong Kong on Wednesday, I am off to LAX tomorrow.  Only a day trip down and back to enjoy the usual sights and sounds that is Los Angeles airport. The only reason J am heading down is a friend is in the states and I promised I would go to LAX to go spotting with him. So I’ve barely been home 72 hours and I am in the air again.

Good to be back though, I am slowly getting through all the stuff from the trip and have barely scratched the surface, I will need some serious time tl really do everything I have planned. Right nowy focus is getting the photos from the trip up so I can get the trip report out and then I can get started on the AirlineReporter.com articles. I am still 3 weeks behind in spotting phptps as well so that will take up some of my time.

Right now I need some more coffee as I cruise to work on the bus, trying to catch up work wise. I don’t intend on any more traveling till at least late July for my trip to Oshkosh which will be more like a semi vacation. Right now I need to knuckle down, focus and gety butt in gear. Lots of work ahead, plenty to keep me busy.

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I can’t tell if I am coming or going right now. I just got back from Vancouver yesterday, and it was good to be back. Managed to skirt all the I5 traffic issues thankfully. But I am back at work and need to knuckle down and focus… well at least for the next few days.

You see I am only back at work till mid Friday afternoon and then I am back in the air again. I can’t tell if I am coming or going right now. I have had my head in the laptop the last few days with a heap of Airline Reporter articles to finish, the trip report from the weekend to get done. Paying bills, doing stuff like that, planning stuff for this trip and also planning articles that will be upcoming with AR. I did manage to get all the photos up from the weekend but I am still way behind in aviation photos.

Who knows what this next weekend will bring but I am looking forward to some of these flights, though I am spending more time off work, I can work remotely (though I will try NOT to work to much, but there are times when I will need to do, and with some downtime I can do it easily).

One thing I am REALLY looking forward to is my flight on Friday. I am flying Southwest for the first time. This is going to be an interesting experience purely because this kind of flight service isn’t on offer in Australia so it’s not as if I have had this before. I will need to do some planning so if anyone has some tips on a first time Southwest flyer I would be more than happy to here them. Who knows.. it may even make a web article!

But this is going to be a pretty full on couple of days. As of Friday I will be back in the tweeting and foursquaring everything game. Make sure you follow #ANASJC as that’s the hashtag I will be using once I set off in the truck to SeaTac on Friday afternoon. Till then I still have to keep my mind firmly grounded rather than up in the clouds.

Memorial Day Firsts

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Each year I try to set myself some goals to achieve in 2012 and this year was no different. I set one goal, tick off as many things on my bucket list as possible.

Here is what I managed to complete:

* Fly a Plane
* Cook a Meal for the people in my life who i cherish the most
* Move out of home
* Run on an Airport runway
* Take a Shower, Mid Flight
* Get a flight in a War Bird – Double points if its a B17 (ended up with a B17)

I also really got stuck into this one:

* Read “The Clasics”

So that’s not bad in my opinion for the last 12 months. Moving over here to the USA was a big achievement for me and that was one of my biggest moments in 2012. I did have some pretty amazing other moments as well when looking back, things that aren’t worthy of a bucket list item but still awesome none the less.

* I took my first ever real mileage run and that took me from Brisbane to Mackay & Rockhampton via Sydney and Brisbane again. Along with another one to Canbera via Sydney & Melbourne.
* Bought my truck after moving over here, a dream I have had for quite some time
* I flew down and did some spotting at LAX just for the hell of it on two seperate occasions, along with another one north to Vancouver just for spotting.
* Traveled all the way out to Ohio to see one specific Aircraft the XB-70 and then also getting a chance to touch the YF-12 at the same time.
* Visited my first real US Air Show and got to see a B2 and then an F-22 Raptor at another show.
* Saw both the Blue Angels & the Thunderbirds on seperate occasions
* Stepped foot on my first 787
* Saw my first 747-8 take off and was as giddy as a school girl
* Started doing a bit more blogging and photography on the side
* Got me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer (sad yes I know but I love it!)
* Got to see a Patriots football game

So much else has happened in the last 12 months but to be honest, you probably don’t care.. but one thing I have enjoyed over the last 12 months has just been the challenges and how I have managed to work through them in the last 12 months. No matter what curve ball was thrown at me, I took it in stride and kept on going. It has been a great year looking back at all the things I have done and places I have visited, people I have met and things I have done.

Next year brings a whole new set of challenges and goals. Looking forward to it!

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It is totally crazy when events like Yesterday happen. Now when I moved over here, a few of the sales reps back home who looked after the USA, knew I was heading over and knew to say hi when they came over for an office visit. But then there was going to be times of those who looked after the USA and i didn’t know about it.

Like yesterday. Our Hamilton Island rep came into the office, I haven’t seen her in a while and all of a sudden shes in our office. She didn’t know I was working over here, I didn’t know she was our rep. I gave her the shock of her life and it was great to see a familiar face from back home! Even got the comment “how come we don’t get a greeting like that”

To be honest, the last few days have been rough, its my mum’s birthday so a bit of homesickness involved and seeing a familiar face or chatting to a familiar voice back home totally helps, makes things all the much better.

I don’t regret anything from over here, its just a matter of dealing with those little bouts of home sickness, dealing with the times that I would normally have a network of people to fall back on. Cause there are going to be struggle moments and its the little things that count!

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Well the last of my days in Brisbane are coming fast. The last week though was pretty full on with the trip to Sydney and the final few days at work.

Was so happy with how the last few days went. I didn’t want a big deal made of things, it’s just not who I am anymore. I would rather slip away, quietly, with as little fuss as possible. This is what happened so that made me happy. I left a number of things at work, donated you could say, to the team. An old stereo, my old cheap coffee machine, my old disgustingly dirty keyboard. These things will be better used there than me carting over the other side of the world.

One thing that did annoy me was that it was super busy last night and since I was expected to work till the very last minute of my shift, didn’t give me much chance to say farewell to some people, ah the joys of working in a call centre.

Today though, Brisbane really turned on the weather for my going away :/ Thanks so much Brisbane! Guess you’ve decided to prep me for the time ahead. Didn’t bother me all to much though because my going away was indoors at the London Club in Teneriffe. It was great to get a final catch up with so many people and I am going to enjoy my next few days off. Got a few catch ups with people and no work till I begin my first day at the new job on the 7th.

4 sleeps till the big day.. Am I excited? Heck yes. Am I scared? Hell yes! This is a big move but I am up for it. A new challenge, a new life, a new adventure. Bring it on!

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The one thought going through my head right now is why the hell am I doing this to myself. After the last few days I am totally on struggle street. The weekend was totally cruise, no hassles at all (other than the usual). I road along the area where I came off my bike last time and managed not to injure myself (always a good thing) but for some reason skipped my treat for the week (brain elsewhere) so ended up being down 2kg from last week putting me 4kg under where I should be, not happy!

Back to the regular work week yesterday and like today the mornings are nice and relaxed in the office. Calls aren’t rushed or anything but by the time lunch rolls around the shite has hit the fan and all he’ll breaks lose. But Meh what can you do!

Totally run down and Out of it right now, the only thing getting me through is telling myself I am doing this for a good reason. Right now it’s time to read some more of my latest book to tune my worldly problems out and then pass out when I get home.

1 more day, that’s all it will take, I can do it, it will be easy!

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Yep I am doing it to myself again. 6 days straight, but again I have some crazy reason behind this. Last time it was to secure extra days off. This time similar reasons. I’ll still be getting the same amount of days off just all consecutively. Managed to score Easter off as a whole (will talk about my Easter plans shortly) but I will now have 5 days off straight. From Thursday all the way through to return to work Tuesday. Score!

So yesterday was a pretty good day, found out when I should be heading overseas (again stay tuned would rather wait till I have a confirmed date) and had the annual Avis launch party at work. Although I bailed a little early (later than planned though due to making the finals in barefoot bowls) it was a good night and apparently the team won Best dressed team prize (but I didn’t put much effort in or stick around till then so in my opinion I don’t deserve a share in the prize) and but for when I was there it was a good night and it was better than expected.

This morning though a bit annoyed at my bike as the chain came off half way up a hill just as I was getting a good groove on this morning so that just did not help. Back on the bike tomorrow and see how things pan out.

Here is to an uneventful day at work (I hope)

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I was going to make a post about my Easter Travel plans this morning, but that will be put to the way side for a few more days. I got home from the Gym this morning to some truly epic news that just made my day (although I am sure once I get to work that excitement will die. But either way I am over the moon right now. This process I have hidden from most people for a while now, keeping it kind of quiet. But now that the first lot of hurdles are over, and the process is moving forward, its time to reveal all.

Back in September on my way home from my round the world trip, I ran into the owner of the company I work for. We got to chatting about my travelling and my time off and I had said how much I loved the USA and was a touch dissapointed I never got my Green Card through the lottery. At that point I had just gotten the thoughts of working in the USA out of my head and also the temptations of working in Canada and had decided I would be staying in Aus, settling down, getting some surgery done (thats a whole other story). To which he countered with “If you want a job in the US, all you have to do is ask and I can set it up”.

Now he has done an epic amount of things for me in the past, you all know how much he has helped me, how much I admire this man. But that was like a dream come true/tease all in one. I had to put some serious thought into that. We decided to discuss it a few weeks later when I would see him again on a work trip, and to be honest, It was all I could think about for weeks. But I made up my mind… It was full steam ahead… lets go!

Little did I know, that decision would change things and that little meeting would make things different. I was given an offer to help out with the office I would be working for in Seattle for a week late last october (a lot of people would of seen me blogging/tweeting from over there but wondering what was going on) and I got to meet my new employers, the staff and it felt right. I love Seattle. The weather although not like Qld is still awesome, the food is amazing and to be honest, It is Aviation Porn Central with 2 Boeing Factories (Renton & Everett). What more could I want.

Will since then they have been helping me out, we have been back and forth trying to work on my options for my Work Visa. It has been a very convuluted process. I have been through dozens of rewrites of resumes, references, employment histories and just general mind numbing stuff. I had held most of this back as it all weighed on one bit of data. I had to have the equivalent of a US Degree. As I never went to Uni, this would make things so much easier for me.

Well this morning that Equivalency was approved. Third times a charm! I couldn’t believe it! So now, it’s all real. I will be leaving Aus. Who knows how long for, who knows when (next few months I would say) and ticking some more stuff off my bucket list I am sure. But to say I am excited… well.. Thats an understatement.

So on the right I have added a new category… I’ve called it “Expat” cause thats essentially what I will be. An Aussie Expat… living in the USA!

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Is it a Cheeseburger? Or is it a cake… you decide…

Well it’s both.. kinda. My friend Clare sent me a link a while ago to this and I just wanted to do it ever since. Work was having a birthday tomorrow, figured what the hell. I was baking for my dad for his birthday so what the hell. I usually torture Dad on my birthday, well this time, I would let him make the choice and truth be told, I was up for whatever he had to throw at me. He tried to play it off and just said “just a cake” and I pushed back. Asked him what his favourite was and I knew he liked some old school stuff. Finally got it out of him. 2 things he has always liked. Vanilla Slice & Cherry Ripe Slice. Well he got his wish!

Today i spent the day pretty much in the Kitchen from 9am till 4pm making a whole load of mess. I made everything! The cup cakes, the frosting, the custard for the vanilla slice, the icings, the whole shebang. The frosting was something I had not tried before and it was a “7 minute frosting” which took like 30 minutes really. IT was a french style (i think) frosting that was meringue and sugar syrup (or is that italian style, i don’t remember).

I tell you what though, it was fun decorating those cup cakes. Here is a is a link to all the photos from the afternoons efforts… Absolutely enjoyable day (Cept for my waistline).

Random Baking 2012