Darrell's weblog

I just finished my first week at my new job in Florida. The work isn’t harder than I expected, but it is a lot harder than my previous job. That’s probably because I’m not just the new guy at the new job, I’m also way behind the power curve with regards to my skills and knowledge. I’m not used to being behind the curve like this, it’s very frustrating and gives me a great deal of anxiety. On the bright side, I love the company so far, and I’m having a lot of fun working. In a way, it’s like I never left the aviation business. Many things at work just feel familiar, so it’s sort of like coming home. I already feel like I’ve been here for a lot longer than just a week (well, two weeks if you include the “move in” week).

On the personal side, everything is pretty much taken care of. We still have a ton of boxes to unpack, but I suppose that’s normal. The cable company here sucks. Comcast is the big carrier here, but my apartment complaex has some smaller company for cable and they are just horrible. The fastest Internet speeds I’ve gotten are around 512 kb/sec, but it’s usually much, much slower. I may end up just switching to DSL, but we’ll see. I have my new license (feels weird not to have a Texas license) and I already have my new license plates (goodbye Nazgul!).

My next big hurdle is to get my Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic’s license. It was very unusual for me to get hired without it, but now I’m here, and I’m reminded almost daily of how much I really need to have it. This is my single largest point of anxiety for me right now. Since I don’t have my A&P yet, they don’t even want me to work on the helicopters (for which I was originally hired). Instead, they have me working on a smaller fixed wing aircraft. Its not because they don’t trust me, but the A&P test covers fixed wing aircraft and piston engines, so it will help me to start by working on those until I get my license. Once I get my license, I’ll hopefully move to helicopters.