The dollar ride dollar

It is customary in IFS/UPT to give your initial IP a personalized dollar as a "tip" when they take you up for your first flight in a new plane.  Matt made his initial IFS instructor a super-hero style dollar (perhaps for tolerating--and then triumphing over--a huge amount of motion sickness).  Unfortunately, no picture of that one.  Matt recently showed me his film footage of IFS...mostly hallways and windowless dorm rooms.  No planes/flying, lol.

For his initial T-6 ride, Matt went all out.  On a side note, I am pleased with how widespread and accepted Facebook stalking has become, as I no longer feel the need to hide my own tendencies.  He looked up his IP's profile (who is not on his "Friends" list due to professional boundaries).  Fortunately, he did not block his photo albums.  Matt was able to obtain a pic of his IP's put, who he speaks of about as much (perhaps more) as Matt talks about our kids.  He found a store on Ebay that specializes in altering the faces of dollar bills, while still keeping them as legal tender and ordered this:

It was a hit!  And reaffirms my longstanding belief that just about everything you can think up is on the internet somewhere.  :o)

Dollar ride!

Matt's dollar ride went splendidly.  To start, he flew during sunset, so the view must have been spectacular--although he didn't mention it, noting only that he needed to be landed before dark as night flying had not yet been tackled in his intimidating syllabus yet.  The best part is that he did not get airsick!!  Considering everyone else in his class did, this is some strong evidence of the Barany chair's capabilities.  He said that he "dry heaved" a bit at the end, but the episode was mild enough to be classified merely as what is "typical" of one's first flight in a jet.

I am thankful I got some pix of another guy's dollar ride yesterday, because I really did not capture Matt's well.  I had the zoom lens ready to go, but I have yet to figure out how to take good pictures when both lights and motion are combined and the aircraft lighting really blurred up every pic.  Photos aside, I am thrilled Matt's first flight was in the late afternoon, so the girls and I could enjoy it together.  There were about 5 planes up in the air at that time, so I didn't know exactly which one was his, but I went with my gut and picked one, telling the girls, "That's your daddy up there...flying!"  They were both extremely excited and giggly about this.  Such a different feel in saying that and actually letting them see him in the air, as opposed to just talking about it.  I know they will be beside themselves (as will I) in a few short weeks when we get to observe his first solo from the flight tower!

Dollar ride?

Although Matt did not get to complete his dollar ride today, due to some scheduling problems in the computer lab (he has some forms he needs to sign off on before he flies), he did get to watch all but 3 of his buddies take flight.  And every single one of them got airsick.  Which does not bode well for his evening ("evening", as in "after two meals") flight tomorrow.  On the upside, since it is in the 5-6pm timeframe, the girls will be home from school and I will be done with work--so we will all be able to hang out in the yard and try to guess which plane is his.  Provided he does not get too sick in the air, he will actually get to land the plane (the remainder of the flight is ride-along).

To help prepare for tomorrow, the girls and I took him for a late-night spin in the Barany chair and I fixed up some blandish meals for his lunch (roast beef, spinach, and onion dressing on a gluten free bun & gluten free spaghetti with seaweed, green beans, and tamari sauce).  He got a taste of what he is in for stress-wise today (not as bad as expected) and is grateful to have about 10 spins under his belt prior to his dollar ride (many guys with known airsickness still enter the program not having spun at all).

The non-student side of base was having some sort of exercise (simulated threat/emergency) today, which I got caught up in at work.  I had left the building briefly to go to Security Forces to turn in some paperwork so that one of these weeks I can gain computer access--and returned to find the clinic on lockdown, trapping me outside for about 25 minutes.  This lockout corresponded exactly to Matt's originally-scheduled flight time, so I took a ton of pictures of some other student's dollar ride (didn't find out about Matt's rescheduling until after the fact).

Need to make sure I have the zoom lens for tomorrow, lol!

We both got some much-needed sleep last night and are feeling much more optimistic about what lies ahead.  A brief convo with my oldest's teacher today about her progress in reading (she has just moved up to the hardest series in her kindergarten class--and read 10 pages on her own!) reaffirmed our choice in offering the kids a Montessori education.  The public school on base boasts rave reviews, and I know many folks whose children are very happy and successful there.  But it is hard to imagine my two thriving to this degree elsewhere.  The personalized emphasis of the Montessori child-paced teaching method and the intensive student-teacher interaction really pave the foundation for learning at exactly the right level and both girls are very very happy there.  I believe it offers the benefits of a homeschool environment in terms of personalization--with all the social/cultural-development benefits of a traditional school.

On another note, Tunia and I were chased on our walk tonight by something that looks exactly like this:

on our walk tonight!!  Naked mole rats are not native to this area, but whatever it was, it was hairless, with a short tail and buck teeth.  And it was chasing us.

ANYWAY, looking forward to watching and hearing about Matt's flight tomorrow!!