Summer 09 is lookin' fine

Time for another update! It's been a busy spring so far between work and flying. Thankfully, now I can say that the load has been lightened as I have completed the requirements for my Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane rating. My checkride came up a lot quicker than I expected. I figured that I had at least a couple weeks of flying left to do, but my instructor felt I was ready. I felt a little under prepared, but I knew that just mean I had a lot of studying to do. Fortunately I had Wednesday and Thursday off from work and my checkride was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. I took Wednesday to study the book knowledge that was required of me and Thursday morning I went up with an instructor to just get comfortable in the airplane again. I'm glad I did because the last time I flew was the 11th of May. I even got some actual instrument time (flying in the clouds) on Thursday. Before that, I hadn't flown in actual since December 16, 2006!
After the refresher flight, my instructor helped me get all my paper work in order. I went home for lunch and to grab a couple things before going back out for my checkride. My checkride was conducted by a check instructor from Davenport. He made the trip up to Dubuque because he was testing another student from Dubuque also. It was nice not having to pay to fly down to Davenport. We started with a few questions to test my knowledge. We talked about some instrument procedures and regulations. When he was satisfied with the oral portion we hopped in the plane for the practical portion. The flight consisted of slow flight, stalls, unusual attitudes, a GPS hold, followed by a GPS approach and a ILS approach. Now if you're thinking to yourself, gosh, I wish I knew what he was talking about, shoot me an email or send me a comment. I figured I'd spare the rest of you ALL of the details. And that does it! Afterward, he signed my paperwork and gave me a temporary license. My real one comes in the mail in a couple weeks. For those of you who haven't experienced this before, it doesn't feel official until you have it in plastic. So for now, I try to pay off all that I've spent since my loan money dried up. I also plan to start sending out my resume despite the dismal short term outlook.
This summer I'm looking forward to traveling a little more than I have been recently. Not flying should free up my schedule enough to visit some of the places on my list. Last week, I had the opportunity to go back to Pella for Amanda's graduation. This trip was long awaited because I had not been back since December for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. I left on Friday from work giving myself just enough time to grab a sandwich at the house before the commencement ceremony. I went to a family friend's grad party on Friday night and saw quite a few people that I hadn't talked to in a while. After Amanda's graduation party on Saturday morning, I went golfing with Dad and Grandpa and Grandma Erickson who flew up from Florida. Not my best outing, but I can't expect much when I haven't played in over a year. Saturday night, I got to hang out with Jacob, who I hadn't seen for a while either. We went out to eat at George's. It was a tough decision between that and Pizza Ranch because I had been craving both. I went to early church with Mom before heading out on Sunday morning. So it was a short, but sweet 40 hours in Pella. I left from work and got back just in time to work again on Sunday.