One Week!

One week down and a paycheck in my pocket. Actually, I already took it to the bank, cuz it doesn't do me any good to hang on to it. Nonetheless, today was payday and our station in Dubuque has now been open for a full week and things are on the up and up. Everyone seems to be getting the routine down. I've been working quite a bit with two of our colleagues still in training. They will return this weekend and begin immediately which will take some hours off my hands. I'm looking forward to a couple days off next week especially with the upcoming holiday. My only tentative plans at this point are to entertain a visit from my good friend Jacob who also has time off from work. I'm not sure what Dubuque has for Fourth of July festivities, but I'm sure we'll take in some fireworks.

I've been doing my best to keep up with running, but with so many odd hours, I'm usually exhausted when I get home and working split shifts would require a shower be taken before returning. I have been getting my lifting in though. Loading and unloading bags is a workout, but is becoming second nature. I also have become used to carrying sandbags a short distance to the aircraft to secure it for the overnight stay. Having an aircraft remain over night (RON) means we have to search it for foreign objects and clean it for the next day's service. I've pretty much become a cleaning lady. When I work the afternoon shift, I do get more of the aviation experience I crave.

I'm still waiting to hear back about the availability of an instructor to conduct my CFI training. Until then, it's back and forth to the airport strictly for work.

In other news, a replacement antenna for my car arrived today. I've been without a radio for more than a year now because my power antenna wouldn't extend. Thanks to the power of eBay, I should be back in business as soon as I get a chance to install the new one.

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Mesaba Airlines Opening

For those of you who don't know, Northwest Airlines recently returned service to the Dubuque Regional Airport. After graduation, I was hired as a Customer Service Agent by Mesaba Airlines who is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest and operates under the Northwest brand name. So you can call us Mesaba, Northwest, or Northwest Airlink; any is correct. We're still working out a few bugs in Dubuque, but other than that things are running smoothly and passenger loads are increasing. Yesterday, I took half of the day to go up to Minneapolis and go to Northwest's stopover store. There, employees can buy extra uniform pieces, luggage, t-shirts, and other souveniers. I got a pin for my badge lanyard and a hat for when it begins to get cold. I also had to stop and get a pair of sunglasses that I left a couple weeks ago after training. I hung out most of the day with my ramp instructor who took me around the airport. We met the load planners, and several other people from the operations department and took a vehicle around the airport to look at some of the bigger aircraft in Northwest's fleet. Among those were a 747, an A330 and numerous A319's, A320's, DC-9's, 757's CRJ-900's, CRJ-200's, and SAAB 340's. Sometimes it's fun just being an aviation nerd. I flew back on the 1:45 flight so that I could be back for work at 9pm. At night we have to clean the plane and make sure there are no weapons or other unauthorized foreign objects on board before sealing up the doors. I'm getting a lot of hours until the our final two staff members are trained, so I stay pretty busy. However, once it settles down this summer, I will be working on my flight instructor rating so I can teach at the University of Dubuque. Visitors are always welcome in Dubuque. Just give me a day or two notice so I can clean up!

There are a lot more cool pictures that I couldn't fit in this post. Take a look at my Mesaba album on Photobucket.com to see the rest.

First Post

Hey everyone,
Welcome to my blog. I really liked Kyle's blog that he kept as a dairy while he studied in Wales this past semester. I thought this would be a good way to keep you up to date with what's happening in Dubuque. I chose to do this in leiu of emails for the ease of posting the pictures and to cut down on the email traffic. If you need help subscribing to my blog or have problems with any of the pictures, let me know. I'm new at this too so we'll see how it goes. I hope to update at least once a week or whenever anything exiting happens. Thanks for reading!