Working the New Job

I've obviously set the blogging aside for a while. I've been busy with the new job in Fort Myers. It looks like this will work out to be a normal working hours kind of thing once I get established but I've been putting in a lot of extra time trying to climb the various learning curves and get things set up. Also I've been trying to get myself personally "established." I hesitate to use the word "settled" as I'm in temporary quarters so it doesn't lend to feeling settled exactly. But it is very nice, to be sure. Kind of like being in a very large and very nice hotel suite. Fabulous, but you just don't feel like really unpacking or hanging pictures on the wall. Why put your socks in the drawer when you know you're going right out the door soon? But at least it's a LARGE temporary space. I'm going up to Orlando tomorrow to rent a truck and fetch all my stuff in storage there. Another long day doing something I hope not to have to do again for a good long time. So, look forward to another gap in blog posting.

Beauty on the Wing

The new job has been going well. I've been busy with it and dealing with my new life here, getting things together so I can get along in my temporary quarters for a while. I've also done a good bit of Google Earth research and driving around to get a feel for the area. There are some really nice places in this corner of Florida.

I happened upon a few pictures of the exact Sea Rey I flew on August 27. Isn't she a pretty thing? I figured out later that it was brand new and being such it had to be flown for 40 hours in the immediate area of it's initial FAA sign off. The factory was highly involved in this particular airplane's assembly and the 40 hours had to be logged locally before the new owner could come fly it home to Georgia or wherever. So, my flight helped burn some of that time.

There is a saying that "looks good flies good." Or, as I am fond of saying, an airplane is the ultimate in form-follows-function beauty. There are a few ugly airplanes that fly well and a few pretty ones that don't, but generally "looks good flies good" holds true. There are many great looking airplanes but I think this Sea Rey is just spectacularly attractive. From most angles that is. There are a few that are not flattering. It's the same with even the most attractive of people. And some are photogenic but look plain in real life and for some it's the opposite. The difference between 2-D and 3-D can send the advantage either way. In a photo or with bare eyes, to me the Sea Rey is a looker.

There are many wonderfully beautiful things in this world, the most exquisite made directly by God's hands. As for things made by human hands, for me airplanes edge out even fine art. Maybe it's because of the additional beauty their form allows one to experience as well as see. Sculptures and paintings can be fantastic, but they can't pick you up and take you to the clouds.