Ibiza. What do you eat with that?

Back when I was a young aviation pup, 6 years ago or so, I had a professor who flew for NetJets, a company who flies around pretty people. We had the opportunity to go see one of their downed craft over at McCarren, on the side where all the pretty peoples' pretty jets sit (and where I was mere minutes away from seeing Brad Pitt at one point in time). Anyway, the jet this "professor" flew was a Gulfstream IV, hereby known as a G-IV, aka, my baby. It was propped up on jacks but it was there, waiting for me to exhale. He instructed us so each take a few minutes, climb in and check it out. I was amazed and felt blessed upon. As I lowered myself into the very cozy but somewhat militaristic seat, cogs were turning and dreams being made (as a cloud building, if you will). That was for you Beck.

That was thee very first corporate jet I ever sat in, and was nearly my last until by some divine happening brought me back into the game. Ever since that moment, I have been in love with my baby, and have aspired to one day fly it. I always have had trouble identifying when some thing would be enough, you know, when I 'made it". But in this world, flying that jet would be it for me. I could at that moment die truly happy.

Throughout the day and from some conversations that took place, my motivation has been renewed, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have real hope that one day I too could push a button and fly the plane. Opportunities are coming, and hard work may just pay off.

I see jets often, big ones, little ones, ones that make me drool. I'll look at a seemingly size able and capable jet and think its big. But this morning when there was a very sizable and capable one on the tarmac sitting next to my baby, there was no comparison, the G-IV is a monster. I judge jets by engine size and whether I could sleep in the engine compartment, usually a single sleeper.

I deduced this morning my baby could sleep a family of four and a half. Dog included.

... and that little winglet is about as tall as I am.

You just can't trust rookie photographers...

Anything that cruises at 450kts and can put me up to 8 miles above mother earth, I'm down. And VIPs, with that new job and all, you guys could easily afford $36mil, right? Ibiza, here we come!

BTW, Blanding, UT
Durango, CO
Monument Valley, AZ

Misplaced paragraphs, I don't care.

Snow days snow days!

There is something serene about the lights of Vegas at midnight, even if it was captured on a cell phone. Anyway, we desperately needed to go to Vegas before the "storm" hit, so the night before it's arrival we fled, as bumpy as it was. After being denied into Mccarren, we ended up in Northtown, we flirted with the idea of hitting Nellis AFB, but at this point I just wanted to go home.

Thankfully on the way back, we had an awesome tailwind, which bumped our ground speed up to 168 knots, that's 193 MPH for you groundies. You never get that in any normal conditions with the can I fly, we usually average 100, 110 knots on a GOOD day. Which should tell you how fast the winds were, cold front pushing it's way through. Oh, and never mind the blur, cell phone and turbulence.

Anywho, since that first initial storm last Saturday, every other day we get a gorgeous dump of new powder, usually around 4 inches. I made a snow angel before work yesterday and plan to make another in the morn. Ah, gotta love global warming, eh? If I haven't said it enough, this storm is awesome! They closed Vegas airports for a bit and diverted them up to SLC, we had an emergency divert come in to Cedar on their way to Northtown due to low fuel, ceilings were dropping fast, they made it just in time. Good times. Oh and they canceled school in St. George because Vegas is having the worst snow fall in 30 years (3 inches so far), they're just anticipating. I do love it, it's so exciting.

In case anyone was serious about my new VLJ (my toy, very light jet), the Eclipse. You can pick them up for around $1.2 mil, not bad considering they are worth $2.6. I'm just saying (clearance sale, they filed Chapter 11). But if you're REALLY REALLY serious, I'll take a Gulfstream, $20 mil on a good day, or a little cruiser Cirrus for $400,000. I'm pretty picky about colors too. I'll give you a ride, for free. Just pay for fuel. Ha ha.

Enjoy your holidays folks.