Well, today was definitely NOT one for the books. Or maybe it was. it started off well enough, got up at 7:30 or so and jumped in the shower and was ready to go before 8. Sadly, that's where the "good" part ended.

When we bought the house, over 2 years ago, the water heater was bad. No biggie, the guy we bought the house from bought a new one and was having it installed. One problem. The fuckin' thing is outside. Apparently, this isn't an oddity in South Florida home designs. Ok, fine. I can live with it. Well, unfortunately the guys who came to install it couldn't. They wouldn't install the water heater since it was out in the open. It needed to be enclosed. So, my father-in-law and I spent 3 days building a little "house" for it. After it was done, they put the water heater in and everything was cool. They told me not to put the front on the enclosure because someone from city coding was supposed to come by and inspect it. Fine. Well, after a week of no one showing up, I went ahead and put the front on it.

Now, 2 years later the city sends someone by and lo and behold, it's closed up. Well, apparently, you don't have to be too bright to work for the city because I guess he didn't see the 4 screws that held it on. No, instead he asked the wife "How is it attached?" She'd never seen it, she didn't know. Well, he tells us that we have to get it open so it can be inspected or else we're going to have to go to court and it'll cost us a bunch of money. FINE. At 8:30 this morning, instead of leaving to go flying like I wanted, I'm outside with a phillips screwdriver, trying to take these screws out that have been in the same place for the better part of 2 years. Needless to say, it wasn't easy.

So, all hot and sweaty, and running late. I take off for the airport.

End of the weird day, right? Not even by half. I get to the airport to fly and it's pretty windy. It's actually probably too windy. My instructor has put a wind restriction on me for flying solo. Basically, if the winds get above a certain speed, I can't fly. Well, after scratching yesterday, I decided, "fuck it", I'm going. I preflight, call my instructor and leave a message telling him that I'm flying, what time it is, and how much fuel I have. I take off and things seem to be fine. Good.

Of course, like everything else so far, that doesn't last. As I turn on the base leg of the pattern (perpendicular to the runway) I start feeling the crosswind. Coming in on final it doesn't seem too bad, that is until I land. Soon as I land, I relax, big mistake. I should have been paying atention to the crosswind and correcting for it. A gust of wind catches the right wing and lifts the right wheel off he runway. I'm basically rolling down the runway on one wheel. Well, this scares the shit out of me and I correct quickly and get the wheel down. Ok, I'm safe. But, it's not over.

The wind has picked up dramatically so I have to call it a day. I taxi back the the ramp and to the parking space and am turning the plane into the space when BAM I blow the right brake caliper seal. I've completely lost the brakes on the right wheel. Normally, this wouldn't be to bad, but on this plane, the brakes are how you steer. Now I have no way of controlling the plane. Luckily, I was in the parking spot so I didn't have to worry about maneuvering anymore.

And all of this is before 10:30 AM!!!!!!

Needless to say, the rest of the day didn't fare much better, but it's not really worth talking about here.

Well, I'm going to go an count all my new gray hairs. Till next entry.

"Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?"

Icebear

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