Pilot Chatter

In October of 2004, a commuter airplane in Kirksville, MO crashed, sparking a new furvor over pilot chatter, which may have an impact on their ability to maintain concentration while in command of a human-filled tube hurtling through the air at great velocity.

From the article:

"The transcript of the cockpit voice recorder showed the pilots joking,
swearing and yawning as the plane descended below 10,000 feet -- the point
at which the sterile-cockpit rule-comes into play."

Now, I'm not an expert on plane safety (though I know how to fasten my seatbelt, duck between my legs and kiss my ass goodbye, and how to use the person next to me as a floatation device, in the event of a controlled flight into terrain). However, I know from enough driving experience that when you're yawning, you're tired enough to lose concentration. Whenever it happens to me, I feel I concentrate more when I have someone to talk to, helping my mind stay lucid and my body awake.

So perhaps it's more due to the

"...incorrect airport charts given to the pilots, the lack of information about
recent runway construction and taxiway changes, and the fact that only one air
traffic controller was on duty that morning."

I think the real safety issue with cockpit chatter is that if it's required to prevent falling asleep, more pilots and copilots are needed to overlap the burden of responsibility, similar to the precautions taken for air traffic controllers, especially on long flights.

"So, we're doing onesies-twosies now?"

Apparently I bothered someone this morning when I got off the train. There were two cars exiting from one exit. I accidently stepped out of turn in front of a man, and he sneered about it as we got onto the platform:

"So, we're doing onesies-twosies now?"

Now, the following conversation is, in my opinion, sparked by not only what he said, but how he said it. If he had nicely said "Excuse me, I was next." I probably would have just said "Sorry, wasn't paying attention." But it sounded to me like he wanted to be an asshole and prove himself right about a trivial matter. I thought about it going up the escalator. He took the stairs.

When I was up into the station, I was in the middle of thinking how strange he was to have made a big enough deal to say something about it when I looked at him coming out the stairwell doorway.

"Don't give me a dirty look, I'm not the one that doesn't understand common courtesy."

'I wasn't paying attention, you don't have to be an asshole about it.'

"You're the one that did onesies-twosies."

'Sorry I ruined your morning.'

"Oh I'm ok, now you know how to do it..."

'I just wasn't paying attention.'

"...and I accept your apology."

So congratulations, wherever you are, you were right, I didn't follow common courtesy. I hope it makes you feel a lot better about yourself. I think I've learned by now how to share and take turns in my 20+ years since kindergarten. Next time I'm half awake after sleeping on the train I'll make it a point to count each person one by one as we get off so I don't accidently make someone one second later to work.

Besides, if people were that worried about getting to work faster, they wouldn't walk at a snails pace after they get off the train, or consistently block both sides of the escalator, or walk slow through every doorway, or stop in the middle of every aisle to look at the train arrivals and departures screen.

But I digress. People are so touchy. I'm not even paying enough attention to care if someone else twosies me.

I can almost taste it...

I almost have an apartment. Two bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, new appliances, and a black-on-brown kitchen (ie. no garish white appliances on cheap white cabinets) with faux granite (laminate) countertops. Lots of windows. Looks like it might get the morning sun.

The best thing though, is the commute. I can go from 2+ hours each way to work, to a half-hour. Do you know what I can DO with 3 more hours a day? If nothing else, I can put in a full day's work, put in an hour of overtime, and still have an hour or more of time left over every day!

I would have preferred a one-bedroom, but it's still affordable; it's not like we won't find someway to enjoy the extra space. It's on the third floor (vaulted ceilings), so a little exercise is upon us, but it won't kill us.

All in all, a good deal.

Junk Email

I'm tired of junk email. Please, do me a favor, and stop giving me good or bad luck, memorials of patriotism, virus warnings, blessings, pictures of pet owners scarring their pets psychologically, pills, lewdness, or e-cards.

Honestly, I don't get a "connection" with someone every time I receive email. I'm also smart enough to avoid suspicious mail, and my luck is doing just fine without you. I've never felt the hand of God upon me and don't expect to anytime soon. I don't need to be told what patriotism is about because I usually say whatever I feel and I've already volunteered myself to my country. I have had pets and while it's sometimes cute to put reindeer antlers on them, it's not enough so to put them on the internet too. I'm savvy enough to find pictures on the internet myself and I'm not old enough to need pills to enjoy them. I don't put much importance on other people telling me they recognize what time of year it is, or if I'm another year older. I'm not about to forget either of those until I'm at least 70 anyway.

There are too many people on the internet. Just like everywhere else in the world, the culture of rumor and gossip has taken over, and it's hard to just be on the internet without having everything else intrude upon it.

Thinking With a Purpose

For all of the jobs I've had across my career, I can definitively point out the major dislike of all of them. While it seems to be a highly technical job, drafting is largely a regurgitation of basic ideas and techniques.

Take, for instance, CAD drafting. There are a variety of commands to input, repitition of keystrokes or mouse clicks that get things done. There's even a geometric ability required to figure out not only how to draw certain objects, but how to "CAD" them in the fastest possible way. A drafting style, if you will. Now, while I may be fast, none of these things require me to think beyond a certain level. It's all done automagically. I'm familiar enough with ways of drawing lines, modifying them, measuring distances, converting distances or what have you, that it comes second nature. The ability to sketch out what something will look like from a different angle is not really difficult, only time consuming to figure out what will be seen, not seen, or be seen beyond the current section.

At the moment, my current job is at the same time the most basic (sketching out already designed ideas) and the most lucrative I've ever had. It involves nearly no design work, very little interaction with ongoing problems in the real world or communication with those outside using the products I create. I've had more complex jobs before, with lesser timetables and lesser pay.

What should seem obvious by now, is that I've been bored. And have been for quite some time.

And now I'm back to the same question of what do I do, and where do I go, from here? Can I ever afford to go back to school to enable me to do something more complex? What should I go for? Maybe I should be in an artistic field, with somewhat free reign to do what I want. I don't think I would be happy with the complexity without freedom that engineering (while lucrative and technical) would provide. I can similarly see issues with computer programming or system management.

Maybe I should ask my dad. He'll probably tell me he knows me better than I know myself, and knew I was on the right track 5 years ago (going to college), but didn't have the ambition at the time. I've certainly grown since then, and yet feel stagnated.

I wish I had the time to sort it all out.