... And now some more updating

Here's the latest on what's going on with my edumacation. (Yeah, I know.) I took the FAA written test today, which is one of the three tests I need to pass in order to obtain my private pilot certificate. Actually "written test" is a bit of a misnomer, since it's all computerized. In reality, I sat in a little room in front of a computer (with 4 cameras watching me from different angles), and clicked on the answers to 60 multiple choice questions. I only missed 3, earning me a 95%. Sweet! One test down, 2 to go.

After the test, I was fortunate enough to catch Darren in his office. He told me he'd been talking to Erin about my training, and he seems to have a better understanding of exactly what I was asking of him last week. He's booked solid during weekdays, but he's got nights and weekends open, and is basically willing to give me his free time to finish my training. We're going to fly local dual tomorrow night, sort of my intro to night flying. Then, probably sometime this week, we'll fly a dual night cross-country to Tucson and do some landings there. Then, at some point this weekend, we'll fly a dual day cross-country to Tucson, Safford, and back here. I had feared that whichever instructor I wound up with would just say something like, "I'll be here at this time; be ready to go," and not really give me any ground instruction or anything. What I really appreciate about Darren is that he's cool with sitting down after class this afternoon to answer some of my cross-country planning questions and make sure I'm confident planning a cross-country flight. He's also going to teach me some more about ATC and hopefully give me some confidence in flying into and out of towered airports. Thank God!

Jen and I have been married 2 years today. Go us!

We're officially heading back to Michigan for Christmas. In fact, we're heading to Michigan for about 13 days in December (16th - 29th). I bought our airline tickets yesterday. Anyone who might want to bask in the radiant glow of our presence during that 13-day period should leave a comment on this blog post, and we'll try to work out a day/time. Also, if anyone should want to take us out to dinner during that period, we've formulated a pretty extensive list of restaurants we really miss and want to eat at. List available upon request. Note: requests for the list will be considered invitations to dinner, at the expense of the requestee.

I'm kinda geeked by the fact that Weird Al's new album is called "Straight Outta Lynwood". Granted, my hometown is spelling Linwood, but still. It's only one letter.

Oh, and finally, I took a couple pictures of the campus while I was flying a local solo last week. They were taken from the downwind leg of my traffic pattern, at about 900 feet above the ground. I blew one of them up a bit for greater detail. And you can see the leading edge of my left wing in the other one. That's kinda cool for the ground-bound, I guess. Enjoy!