Perhaps it is a bit presumptuous of me, but I wanted to start this page with a quick descruption of where I am in my flight training, and how I got here. This may be a multi-part story.
Imagine, if you will, that you just turned 30. At the top of your game, you are basically where you dreamed you would be as a child. Very good at what you do, you are known for your ability to have the right answer, and for being smart enough to know when you don't know. On the cusp of meeting the income goal you set as a teenager (six figueres, right?), you have few goals left unaccomlished from your childhood. One stands out, though. Flight. Still, flight school is expensive, and while you make quite a bit of money, you have quite a bit of debt from your 20's. Between the divorce, the failed relationships, and the job hopping to get ahead, you find that you have precious little liquid money, and most of what you get, you throw at bills acrued while climbing the ladder.
Still, it could be worse. Much, much worse. You just need to get ahead of the debt, and all will be well.
Your company sends you to VM World, and, boy howdy, was that an experience. You fly on an ERJ or CRJ from KBTV to KEWR, and then you take an A320 from KEWR to KSFO. Fun thing about this flight, though, is that there is moderate to severe thunder storms covering the midwest. The airline flies north, into Canda, then west, and then south to San Francisco. It is very turbulent, at least, it seems that way as a passgenger. Not dangerous, but not awesome.
You land, hop into an Uber, and make it to your hotel. This is where you find out that you accidentally booked yourself in a youth hostel across from the UN Plaza. A youth hostel is not a great place for a business man, but whatever. Not the best view from your room, though. You look out directly at the water tower on the roof of the building beside you. Screw it.
You kick off your boots, put down your gear, change into some sweat pants, and hop into bed.
A few hours later, you hear an incredibly loud clanging noise. You jump to your feet, turn on the light, put on your boots to run, and look back out the window. The water tower just outside your window is ringing like a church bell, as your building shakes back and forth.
Welcome to San Francisco.
So far, this trip is really shaping up well, you think. It'll be a great story someday, but right now, this sucks.
Still, you sit through hours of seminars. Some good. Some not so good. And you randomly put your business card in a box, just to get some mints. Time slowly passes, Starbucks is consumed, as well as food from What's Up Dog. Eventually, the event ends, and you hop back into an Airbus to head home. You put your iPhone in airplane mode, and drift off. Waking up as your second flight lands in Burlington, you sneak your phone on during the taxi back to the gate, and you hear a staccato sound. Something has happened on twitter, and it takes you a few minutes to make heads or tails of what you are reading:
And the WINNER of the 2015 McLaren is @NabilAlanbar !! CONGRATULATIONS!
— HPE_SimpliVity (@HPE_SimpliVity) August 27, 2014