This is a very personal post for me to write.
Some of you may or may not know, I am working as a substitute teacher to finance myself here in Boston. People think that you need a teaching degree or certificate to do this, but in my district and the districts around, one does not need a teaching degree. Honestly, I am perfectly capable and at ease teaching anything k-8th grade. I'd be a little more nervous trying to teach Chemistry or BC Calculus on a high school level, but apparently subs are rarely used at the High School in my district. Either way, teachers usually leave INCREDIBLY detailed lesson plans that tell one exactly what to do.
Some people who know me may be shocked that this is what I do for work now. Some may know that children can (and do) irritate me. I often have very little patience with them. Some of you have probably heard me express a wish to just skip that whole part of my life entirely (having kids). However, most of my jobs prior to the age of 22 were actually teaching children. I substitute taught, I taught swimming, and I even worked as a "party motivator" - teaching 13 year olds how to dance at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Long story short, I do eventually want to have children.
Now I'm back to teaching. I am sometimes shocked at what I hear from kids, and their abilities when it comes to math and reading. However, I never attribute it to laziness on their part...I'm more curious and saddened about what is going on at home that their parents somehow aren't supporting their learning. When I can explain something to a child, and connect with them as a teacher, it feels great. I had actually thought about teaching instead of joining Air Force. And I think that I might use the GI Bill to get a masters in teaching. Or tax. I haven't decided yet.
If I am a pilot, I will finish my commitment in about 2025-ish. That means I will be 40. If I do CSO, I will finish in 2021-ish. That means I'll be 36. It's not concrete, but I guess I thought I'd have kids starting at 30-ish. I don't know who with, but I do hope that I will be married and have kids by the time I have finished my Air Force commitment. Of course, if I "re-up" I get a RIDICULOUS bonus every year for the 5 years that I re-sign up for, but that's something to worry about way later. In the past couple of years, I have been in serious relationships, with a kind of certainty and comfort that I care about someone who could potentially be my partner. One of the reasons I moved to the U.S. was actually for a guy I care about very much. Air Force doesn't completely axe all of those relationships, but it is a world of it's own. As I've said before, this is something I'm doing solely as a career choice. It is something that I know will challenge me and it's something that I know I will love. Relationships are no where on the radar in this decision. It's scary. I've never done something like this before. And I'm really just throwing my personal life to the wind and hoping that it shakes out in a good way somehow someday.
I've asked. I'm not going to commit 10 years unless I know EXACTLY what happens when I decide to get pregnant and have kids. There is a wonderful Captain who has been beyond sweet in answering my random questions like this. To be honest though, I'm not afraid to ask these questions, because if one commits many years to a "company" I think one is entitled to know what benefits or restrictions will be placed on them when life hits. So here's the deal. Apparently, when I am definitely pregnant, I will placed on restricted duty, and I will not be allowed to fly. As the Captain said "they don't want to put any more stress on the baby than they have to." Understandable. Kind of a bummer because flying is SO AWESOME AND FUN. Also, I think I'd rather have the 10 months off AFTER I have the baby than before. Anyway. I'm trying to figure out what exactly "restricted duty" means, but it clearly means NOT doing what I'm trained to do (fly). So...I guess I'd hang out with my wing and...help? I don't know. I know that I DON'T want to do nothing for the 9 months that I'm pregnant. I think if that happens I would be very bored. And very fat. I don't like.
Fortunately, I know that post-childbirth will be great. Air Force is super supportive for families. They help you move, they have child care support, and they'll pay for your kids education too (you can pass on the GI bill to your kids if you want). The one last thing I have to figure out is if the 9 months I'm not flying I have to "make up" later. I feel like I would have to, but maybe not. If I'm making up the 9 months of pregnancy, I might as well stay in for the 20 years that guarantees me a pension. Because if I have 2 kids that I have to make up time for, that's another year and a half, making my total time in (post Officer Training) 14 years.
Anyway. Some stuff I've been thinking about. It's not deterring me from doing Air Force, and it's not stirring any strong emotions, but it's something in the back of my mind. We shall see...
Monday, 26 March 2012
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Baby Steps
So...I hit a bit of a slump this weekend. It was a little difficult to see the big picture and I slacked off on my weekend work outs.
However, on Thursday when I do my shoulder and back work out, one of my items is to do pull ups until I can't anymore. When I first started this, I couldn't do any. On Thursday, I did two. The second one had a bit of swing in it for help, so maybe I'd call that a "half" pull up. Either way, it's silly, but it made me super happy. I like seeing results, and this was an incredibly clear indication of a RESULT. I've been a little...decadent in my diet (good cheese, nice wine...) so I don't think I LOOK better than before, but I am definitely stronger than before.
In the Air Force, there are fitness tests where the highest score is 100. To pass, I need to get at least a 75. The requirements for 75 are 16.22 minutes for running a mile and half, 35.5 inches waist circumference, 18 pushups in a minute, and 38 situps in a minute. To get 100, it's 10:23 or less for a mile and half, less than 30 inches waist circumference, more than 46 pushups a minute, and more than 53 situps a minute. I will continue working pullups, but I'm going to try to factor in the situps and pushups too. It'd be nice to get 100 on everything. And before you ask, these ARE specifications for females under the age of 30. There are different specs for guys and different specs for different ages too.
Speaking of more results, when I went flying on Friday, Mike said "I'm so impressed at how well you're keeping altitude and straight and level flight!" We actually worked on more controlled stalls. It's so creepy because when you stall in a plane, it shakes, kind of like a car does when it's about to stall. Then the nose drops, and if you have the flaps in, you lose so much lift and have so much drag that the nose REALLY drops. It's like a roller coaster. That YOU'RE in charge of. It's scary, but I f'ing love it. Both Mike and Pete are starting to see why I want to do this and why piloting might be really good for me...One of the things that I need to work on in stalls is keeping the nose level. On some of the stalls I did, the nose started going to the side, which will make the plane spin. I think at one point I will purposely put my plane in a spin and learn how to get out of it. I can only imagine how crazy that is going to be....Today, I didn't even go fly because the clouds were too low...Instead, I learned all about how to read weather reports. They look something like this:
KACK 252253Z 03011KT 2SM BR OVC004 07/07 A2970 RMK AO2 RAE32 SLP058 P0000 T00720067
However, on Thursday when I do my shoulder and back work out, one of my items is to do pull ups until I can't anymore. When I first started this, I couldn't do any. On Thursday, I did two. The second one had a bit of swing in it for help, so maybe I'd call that a "half" pull up. Either way, it's silly, but it made me super happy. I like seeing results, and this was an incredibly clear indication of a RESULT. I've been a little...decadent in my diet (good cheese, nice wine...) so I don't think I LOOK better than before, but I am definitely stronger than before.
In the Air Force, there are fitness tests where the highest score is 100. To pass, I need to get at least a 75. The requirements for 75 are 16.22 minutes for running a mile and half, 35.5 inches waist circumference, 18 pushups in a minute, and 38 situps in a minute. To get 100, it's 10:23 or less for a mile and half, less than 30 inches waist circumference, more than 46 pushups a minute, and more than 53 situps a minute. I will continue working pullups, but I'm going to try to factor in the situps and pushups too. It'd be nice to get 100 on everything. And before you ask, these ARE specifications for females under the age of 30. There are different specs for guys and different specs for different ages too.
Speaking of more results, when I went flying on Friday, Mike said "I'm so impressed at how well you're keeping altitude and straight and level flight!" We actually worked on more controlled stalls. It's so creepy because when you stall in a plane, it shakes, kind of like a car does when it's about to stall. Then the nose drops, and if you have the flaps in, you lose so much lift and have so much drag that the nose REALLY drops. It's like a roller coaster. That YOU'RE in charge of. It's scary, but I f'ing love it. Both Mike and Pete are starting to see why I want to do this and why piloting might be really good for me...One of the things that I need to work on in stalls is keeping the nose level. On some of the stalls I did, the nose started going to the side, which will make the plane spin. I think at one point I will purposely put my plane in a spin and learn how to get out of it. I can only imagine how crazy that is going to be....Today, I didn't even go fly because the clouds were too low...Instead, I learned all about how to read weather reports. They look something like this:
KACK 252253Z 03011KT 2SM BR OVC004 07/07 A2970 RMK AO2 RAE32 SLP058 P0000 T00720067
KACK 252120Z 2521/2618 02012KT 3SM BR OVC006
FM260400 02008KT 2SM BR OVC007
FM260500 01009KT 1SM BR OVC005
FM260900 35009KT 4SM BR BKN015
FM261400 34016G25KT P6SM SCT025
FM261700 35021G31KT P6SM FEW050
Whaaaaa?
I know, it's crazy! But, like all new languages, it takes time and practice to get it right. And I can already tell you pretty much everything that this is saying.
First of all, "KACK" is the airport (Nantucket). Then, "25" is the day of the month. Everyone knows it's March 2012, so that is omitted from the weather
report. Which, by the way, is called the METAR (Meteorological Actual Reports)
After that is the time that this report was made (2120Z) "Z" (Zulu) means Greenwich Mean Time, so since it's Daylight Savings now, we subtract 4.
That means that this report was published at 17:20 (5:20pm). After that, it says the wind is coming from "03" at "011" knots.
Directions are given in coordinates where 0 corresponds with North, 180 corresponds with South, 90 corresponds with East, and 270 corresponds with
West. However, the zero is dropped, so "03" is really "30". That means that the wind is coming from a north easterly direction. After that, "2SM" means
visibility in front of you is 2 statute miles (as opposed to Nautical miles). "BR" means mist (Mike told me to think of it as "Baby Rain"
and "OVC006" means "overcast" with a cloud ceiling of 600 feet. I haven't learned all the acronyms yet, but "FG" is fog, "RA" is rain, "SCT" is scattered
showers, etc.
The bit below tells you what the weather forecast is. The first part, "KACK" is again the airport. 252120Z is the date and time it was posted, and 2521/2618
tells you when this forecast is valid from (March 25, 21h to March 26, 18h) however, remember that it's in Greenwich mean time, so it's really 17h to
March 26 14h. Then, all the "FM"s are details for that time segment. "FM260400" means "From March 26 at 4h" "02008KT" is again the wind: coming from
20 degrees (North eastish) at 8 knots.
After that, visibility at 2 statute miles, with mist and a cloud ceiling at 700 feet. The ceiling is important for me, because I can't fly above the ceiling. I fly "VFR"
which is "Visual Flight Reference" meaning that I have to use the ground as reference when I fly. If I'm above the cloud ceiling, I have no clue where the F I'm
going. So I have to stay below it. If I fly "IFR" which is "Instrument Flight Reference" I fly using instruments, and I can pretty much fly whenever. However,
I need to get an additional certification for that. Which I will not do on my own. The Air Force will teach me that. So you might be able to see that the wind
changes from North East, to North, which paints the picture of a low front moving north. Oh by the way, when you have a "G" in the
forecast, that stands for "Gusts".
I was also incredibly touched at one point today. Mike and I were at the pilot lounge computers at Hanscom discussing the weather reports. He was teaching me,
I was reading back to him and answering his questions.
There was a woman in the lounge, and when she got up to go, she came over to me and said "good luck!". It was clear to Mike (and me) that she was wishing me
luck on getting my pilot license and continuing on my path.
I feel like I've harped on it a lot, but I am so appreciative and grateful of the support I've gotten from (mostly) men and women who are helping me along this path
and ESPECIALLY encouraging and pushing me to chase
the dream as a female.
Another "homework" that I need to do is listen to tower chatter so that I get used to the lingo and understanding what is going on. Currently I'm listening to the
tower chatter at Boston Logan Airport. The site is here, and I'm listening to "KBOS Twr East/West". It's funny, because all this aviation info is out there on the
internet and it's public domain, but I bet
no one would ever think to
randomly listen to it :)
For a fun conclusion....! All of the Boston Sports teams fly out of Hanscom (Bruins, Patriots, Celtics....) And when they do, they leave their cars in the parking lot at Hanscom.
So every time I park and walk to the terminal where my lessons are, I see all these GORGEOUS cars in the lot. Mike was telling me today how he parked next to Seguins Maserati today.
My favorite car I've seen is the one I've posted underneath....it's called a Fisker Karma, and it's a plug in hybrid luxury sports sedan! The top model retails at $116,000.
Enjoy
Monday, 19 March 2012
Flying is Fun
Hello!
I'm sorry I've been so terrible about updating the blog. I actually started working, so now my days are much less free. I have to finance my flying lessons somehow, so I work as a substitute teacher, and fortunately, I've been busy essentially every day of the week. After I finish teaching, I either go work out, go fly, or go run some other errands. When I get home, I study the FAA Pilot Manual. Which is what I'm supposed to be doing now. Except it's so dry and REPETITIVE that I had to take a break. Seriously, 20 pages could explain the 46 pages in the chapter that I'm now in.
Additionally, I'm taking notes on all this information in a notebook, so reading takes extra long. Much of this information I've already studied in a cursory manner for the AFOQT. However, this is way more in depth.
So that I won't bore you all with studying stories, I'll talk more about flying...My instructor Mike was away for a week and a half, so to get practice time in, I booked some hours with another instructor, Pete. Pete is great. Interesting back story, a fairly nascent flight instructor, he's awesome.
The first day we flew was grey and cloudy - which I've learned, is the greatest weather for flying! It was probably the best day I've ever had for lessons. There was no crosswind, and Pete decided that we should practice take offs and landings. This is something called "touch and go" landings. It's when you touch down, cut the engine as if you were about to taxi, and then you pull the engine to full throttle and take off again. So I've realized that taking off is super easy. Not to mention fun :-)
Landing is SUPER hard. However, on the first day we were together, I actually had 3 out of 4 good landings. I felt great about it! Additionally, Pete kept complimenting me! "Great level turns" he said. "You have great stick and rudder skills...I think you might be one of those pilots that gets their license in just about 40 hours." was next. "I can tell you have very good motor skills for flying". My favorite: "It seems like you already have this attitude, but don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't or shouldn't do something because you're a girl."
*smile*
This was SO different from Mike, the last time we flew: "You're losing altitude, and you'd be about to fail if you were actually taking the test!" Mike said. "Why do you keep turning right?!? Stop over controlling!" was after that. "Straight and level, c'mon, you know how to do this!" Now, I'm SURE Mike is doing this because he wants me to focus and perfect EVERYTHING. And I'd MUCH rather that, than a laissez faire, always complimentary teacher. I am a hyper perfectionist and if something is not perfect, it's not good enough for me. However, I have to admit it was kind of nice to hear from Pete.
Of course, this all went down hill the next day. The next day was gorgeous. Blue skies, sun shining, PERFECT. I am the biggest sun bunny ever, and when it's nice out, I would need to be bribed to heaven and back to NOT sit in the sun and tan. However, on Sunday (the beautiful day) I realized that flying was a much bigger priority over sitting in the sun. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted to be in my little sweatbox plane SO badly, it wasn't even funny. It turns out though, that hot beautiful days are kind of crap for flying. First of all, there was a crosswind, which totally shot my landings to sh*t. Second, there are these things called "flares" which are hot pockets of air that shoot up. If you fly over one of these, your plane does a little jumpy dance. Picture "turbulence" in a big passenger plane. Apparently this is totally the norm for hot days. As I mentioned before, I've been flying a tiny 2 seater called a Piper Tomahawk. When I was in the Air Clubs office the other day, someone said, "Oh, I hear you're flying the TRAUMA-hawk". Apparently "Traumahawk" is the nick name of the plane I fly. As Pete said,
"It's like an old lady. If you treat her nicely, she'll play cards with you and be nice to you, but if you push her, she'll go crazy, snap back at you and make you wish you were dead."
Oh joy :-)
I can't wait for my next lesson. I am drunk on the love and challenge of flying. I wish I could do it every day. I've realized that it's a bit of a community too. Yesterday (Sunday) I helped take my plane to the Hangar for inspection and I got to close the hangar doors and pull the plane in (yes, I can lift my planes nose and pull it too). On our way to the hangar we passed some old Navy EA-6Bs (prowlers). They were just so f'ing cool.
On top of that, I've been back and forth to Winthrop a couple of times where my friend lives. The cool thing about Winthrop is that it's on the flight path of planes flying into Boston Logan Airport. So I see commercial airlines landing all the time. They're always "nose up" which is how you have to land when you're flying a heavy plane. Ah, there are so many more things I wish I could tell you all about flying (especially landing, since it's been my nemesis for the past two days...) but I will have to save it for another post. Must get back to studying now. To end, here are some pictures of my little kingdom of Boston, and some planes taking off/landing:
Look carefully above the skyscrapers and you can see the plane taking off in this next one:
I'm sorry I've been so terrible about updating the blog. I actually started working, so now my days are much less free. I have to finance my flying lessons somehow, so I work as a substitute teacher, and fortunately, I've been busy essentially every day of the week. After I finish teaching, I either go work out, go fly, or go run some other errands. When I get home, I study the FAA Pilot Manual. Which is what I'm supposed to be doing now. Except it's so dry and REPETITIVE that I had to take a break. Seriously, 20 pages could explain the 46 pages in the chapter that I'm now in.
Additionally, I'm taking notes on all this information in a notebook, so reading takes extra long. Much of this information I've already studied in a cursory manner for the AFOQT. However, this is way more in depth.
So that I won't bore you all with studying stories, I'll talk more about flying...My instructor Mike was away for a week and a half, so to get practice time in, I booked some hours with another instructor, Pete. Pete is great. Interesting back story, a fairly nascent flight instructor, he's awesome.
The first day we flew was grey and cloudy - which I've learned, is the greatest weather for flying! It was probably the best day I've ever had for lessons. There was no crosswind, and Pete decided that we should practice take offs and landings. This is something called "touch and go" landings. It's when you touch down, cut the engine as if you were about to taxi, and then you pull the engine to full throttle and take off again. So I've realized that taking off is super easy. Not to mention fun :-)
Landing is SUPER hard. However, on the first day we were together, I actually had 3 out of 4 good landings. I felt great about it! Additionally, Pete kept complimenting me! "Great level turns" he said. "You have great stick and rudder skills...I think you might be one of those pilots that gets their license in just about 40 hours." was next. "I can tell you have very good motor skills for flying". My favorite: "It seems like you already have this attitude, but don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't or shouldn't do something because you're a girl."
*smile*
This was SO different from Mike, the last time we flew: "You're losing altitude, and you'd be about to fail if you were actually taking the test!" Mike said. "Why do you keep turning right?!? Stop over controlling!" was after that. "Straight and level, c'mon, you know how to do this!" Now, I'm SURE Mike is doing this because he wants me to focus and perfect EVERYTHING. And I'd MUCH rather that, than a laissez faire, always complimentary teacher. I am a hyper perfectionist and if something is not perfect, it's not good enough for me. However, I have to admit it was kind of nice to hear from Pete.
Of course, this all went down hill the next day. The next day was gorgeous. Blue skies, sun shining, PERFECT. I am the biggest sun bunny ever, and when it's nice out, I would need to be bribed to heaven and back to NOT sit in the sun and tan. However, on Sunday (the beautiful day) I realized that flying was a much bigger priority over sitting in the sun. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted to be in my little sweatbox plane SO badly, it wasn't even funny. It turns out though, that hot beautiful days are kind of crap for flying. First of all, there was a crosswind, which totally shot my landings to sh*t. Second, there are these things called "flares" which are hot pockets of air that shoot up. If you fly over one of these, your plane does a little jumpy dance. Picture "turbulence" in a big passenger plane. Apparently this is totally the norm for hot days. As I mentioned before, I've been flying a tiny 2 seater called a Piper Tomahawk. When I was in the Air Clubs office the other day, someone said, "Oh, I hear you're flying the TRAUMA-hawk". Apparently "Traumahawk" is the nick name of the plane I fly. As Pete said,
"It's like an old lady. If you treat her nicely, she'll play cards with you and be nice to you, but if you push her, she'll go crazy, snap back at you and make you wish you were dead."
Oh joy :-)
I can't wait for my next lesson. I am drunk on the love and challenge of flying. I wish I could do it every day. I've realized that it's a bit of a community too. Yesterday (Sunday) I helped take my plane to the Hangar for inspection and I got to close the hangar doors and pull the plane in (yes, I can lift my planes nose and pull it too). On our way to the hangar we passed some old Navy EA-6Bs (prowlers). They were just so f'ing cool.
On top of that, I've been back and forth to Winthrop a couple of times where my friend lives. The cool thing about Winthrop is that it's on the flight path of planes flying into Boston Logan Airport. So I see commercial airlines landing all the time. They're always "nose up" which is how you have to land when you're flying a heavy plane. Ah, there are so many more things I wish I could tell you all about flying (especially landing, since it's been my nemesis for the past two days...) but I will have to save it for another post. Must get back to studying now. To end, here are some pictures of my little kingdom of Boston, and some planes taking off/landing:
Look carefully above the skyscrapers and you can see the plane taking off in this next one:
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Flying is hard
Maybe I could get some reader feedback on this...I'm not sure how much y'all want to learn about flying an airplane. I'll write this post, and maybe you can let me know if it's too boring, too technical, not enough information, or just right.
I knew when I started that learning to fly would be kind of difficult, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations.
Knowledge: For anyone that has taken a drivers ed test, especially in Massachusetts, you know it's pretty easy. One can just read over the 60-70 page manual about rules of the road a couple of times, and as long as you answer 80% right, you're good. My practical test was also a joke. I had to do a three point turn and stop at a stop sign. Flying is no where like that. First of all, I need to know aerodynamics. Physics. Bernoullis principle. Different density measurements. Different pressure measurements. Newton. I hated physics when I took it my freshman year in high school (1999). Since then, I know my learning style a bit more, and I know that if I can apply something to the real world, I learn it SO much better. Theoretical esoteric concepts just don't grab my attention. So that means, I actually like physics now. I like being able to know the how and why of why my plane is acting the way it is and what I need to do to control it.
Following that, I need to know about my plane. I need to know how much gas it holds, ALL about the engine, minimum oil needed, what the fuel level is when the liquid meets the tabs, what the fuel should look like, different appropriate velocities, performance stats, ideal rate of climb, etc. To be honest, I almost wish that everyone had to know that stuff about cars when they got their license.
I also need to know how to talk to the tower (harder than one might think). When you first get into a plane, you tune into the information channel, which loops information about where to set your altimeter, the temperature, weather, etc. It finishes by saying "This is information X" Where X is a letter of the alphabet but said in the NATO phonetic alphabet. For example, yesterday the loop said "This is information Alpha [information A]" It's called the ATI (Air Traffic Information)
So before I even get to taxi, I need to contact the ground, identify myself, tell them where I am and where I want to go, and what information I have. Additionally, according to Mike, I will sound like a rookie if I'm too verbose, so I need to keep it short and sweet. So yesterday, I was flying a Tomahawk with the number 9182A. My contact with ground control went like this: "Hanscom Ground, this is Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha, West Ramp, taxi with Alpha"And then they answer back at you, and then you have to repeat what they say. So they said "Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha taxi Juliet Echo" That means that I use taxi way J and E to get to the runway. I said back "Juliet Echo, nine one eight two Alpha"
It's almost like learning another language, right?
Last and not least, I obviously need to know the rules of the air (always pass on the right) etc.
All of these things that I have to know are BEFORE I EVEN START TO FLY. :) And I will be quizzed on them. On paper, when I take the FAA test, and in person, when I have my practical test.
So let me get to more detail about actual flying. I think I mentioned in a previous post that on the ground (and in the air too) one has to steer with the rudder pedals. Good news, I'm actually getting much better at this. During take off, due to the way the propeller turns, the plane has a tendency to veer to the left, so one needs to apply much more right rudder and no left. This is not too bad when it's calm out. But Sunday was super windy and there was a cross wind coming from my left. So I applied a ton of right rudder on the ground before take off, but once I got myself in the air, the cross wind and my foot on the rudder pedal veered me to the right WAY too much. In case you didn't know, you're supposed to stay over the runway even when you're in the air taking off. I was not doing this very well. Yesterday (Monday) I was much better at it. Also because there wasn't any cross wind yesterday :)
When flying, the plane has a constant tendency to nose up. So I need to keep the nose at the appropriate level for what I'm doing. If I'm climbing, it needs to be on the horizon. If I'm flying level, it needs to be about four finger widths below the horizon. And when you turn, you have a tendency to lose altitude, so a turn requires not only turning, but also keeping the nose up so you don't lose altitude. And when you come out of a turn, pushing the nose down ensures you don't climb. It's an obvious fact, but flying is a three dimensional exercise, which is WAY harder than driving a car. On Sunday I practiced level, climbing and diving turns. It was so hard. I think that the last time I did it, Mike was helping me more than he said. Mike and I also went to Fitchburg: In Fitchburg, there is a runway and place where private pilots park their planes. But there is no tower. So you have to tune to the appropriate Fitchburg frequency, and essentially announce what you're doing all the time. Mike did this for me.
We landed in Fitchburg, and I did a little practice rudder steering on the rampways, which was so helpful. We then took off again. It is so beautiful and peaceful up in the air. It was a stark contrast to how I felt: frustrated and confused. There is just so much learning and doing that it can get very overwhelming at times, but in a good way. I adore learning all of these things, but I wish I could remember it...better, so that I could do it perfectly the second time instead of the fourth :) But...I know that is not going to happen.
So this weekend my instructor isn't going to be around. So I will actually be flying with another instructor this weekend to get the hours and the practice in. I'm definitely curious to see what other instructors are like. I don't know ANYONES name at the flight school apart from the secretary and Mike, my instructor. I am curious to see if other instructors are as good/laid back as Mike. However, I think that they all know me at this point. I'm "the cute girl" who's learning to fly. Seriously, in the entire time I've been there, I've only seen one other girl getting flight lessons (out of about 30 students total). Oh! On that note, Mike told me that the female Air Force pilot who he will make an introduction for me with was also an accountant. He also mentioned that a lot of the female pilots he knows either studied accounting or were accountants. Interesting! It kind of makes sense to me...as I said before, one of the reasons I am tackling this is from doing ridiculously difficult tax returns. Additionally, I found out yesterday that the FAA test questions are from a huge bank of 700 questions that one can buy and practice on. I've heard from people who aced the CPA exam say that they studied off a question bank as well. Hmmmm.
That's all for now, more updates later...
I knew when I started that learning to fly would be kind of difficult, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations.
Knowledge: For anyone that has taken a drivers ed test, especially in Massachusetts, you know it's pretty easy. One can just read over the 60-70 page manual about rules of the road a couple of times, and as long as you answer 80% right, you're good. My practical test was also a joke. I had to do a three point turn and stop at a stop sign. Flying is no where like that. First of all, I need to know aerodynamics. Physics. Bernoullis principle. Different density measurements. Different pressure measurements. Newton. I hated physics when I took it my freshman year in high school (1999). Since then, I know my learning style a bit more, and I know that if I can apply something to the real world, I learn it SO much better. Theoretical esoteric concepts just don't grab my attention. So that means, I actually like physics now. I like being able to know the how and why of why my plane is acting the way it is and what I need to do to control it.
Following that, I need to know about my plane. I need to know how much gas it holds, ALL about the engine, minimum oil needed, what the fuel level is when the liquid meets the tabs, what the fuel should look like, different appropriate velocities, performance stats, ideal rate of climb, etc. To be honest, I almost wish that everyone had to know that stuff about cars when they got their license.
I also need to know how to talk to the tower (harder than one might think). When you first get into a plane, you tune into the information channel, which loops information about where to set your altimeter, the temperature, weather, etc. It finishes by saying "This is information X" Where X is a letter of the alphabet but said in the NATO phonetic alphabet. For example, yesterday the loop said "This is information Alpha [information A]" It's called the ATI (Air Traffic Information)
So before I even get to taxi, I need to contact the ground, identify myself, tell them where I am and where I want to go, and what information I have. Additionally, according to Mike, I will sound like a rookie if I'm too verbose, so I need to keep it short and sweet. So yesterday, I was flying a Tomahawk with the number 9182A. My contact with ground control went like this: "Hanscom Ground, this is Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha, West Ramp, taxi with Alpha"And then they answer back at you, and then you have to repeat what they say. So they said "Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha taxi Juliet Echo" That means that I use taxi way J and E to get to the runway. I said back "Juliet Echo, nine one eight two Alpha"
It's almost like learning another language, right?
Last and not least, I obviously need to know the rules of the air (always pass on the right) etc.
All of these things that I have to know are BEFORE I EVEN START TO FLY. :) And I will be quizzed on them. On paper, when I take the FAA test, and in person, when I have my practical test.
So let me get to more detail about actual flying. I think I mentioned in a previous post that on the ground (and in the air too) one has to steer with the rudder pedals. Good news, I'm actually getting much better at this. During take off, due to the way the propeller turns, the plane has a tendency to veer to the left, so one needs to apply much more right rudder and no left. This is not too bad when it's calm out. But Sunday was super windy and there was a cross wind coming from my left. So I applied a ton of right rudder on the ground before take off, but once I got myself in the air, the cross wind and my foot on the rudder pedal veered me to the right WAY too much. In case you didn't know, you're supposed to stay over the runway even when you're in the air taking off. I was not doing this very well. Yesterday (Monday) I was much better at it. Also because there wasn't any cross wind yesterday :)
When flying, the plane has a constant tendency to nose up. So I need to keep the nose at the appropriate level for what I'm doing. If I'm climbing, it needs to be on the horizon. If I'm flying level, it needs to be about four finger widths below the horizon. And when you turn, you have a tendency to lose altitude, so a turn requires not only turning, but also keeping the nose up so you don't lose altitude. And when you come out of a turn, pushing the nose down ensures you don't climb. It's an obvious fact, but flying is a three dimensional exercise, which is WAY harder than driving a car. On Sunday I practiced level, climbing and diving turns. It was so hard. I think that the last time I did it, Mike was helping me more than he said. Mike and I also went to Fitchburg: In Fitchburg, there is a runway and place where private pilots park their planes. But there is no tower. So you have to tune to the appropriate Fitchburg frequency, and essentially announce what you're doing all the time. Mike did this for me.
We landed in Fitchburg, and I did a little practice rudder steering on the rampways, which was so helpful. We then took off again. It is so beautiful and peaceful up in the air. It was a stark contrast to how I felt: frustrated and confused. There is just so much learning and doing that it can get very overwhelming at times, but in a good way. I adore learning all of these things, but I wish I could remember it...better, so that I could do it perfectly the second time instead of the fourth :) But...I know that is not going to happen.
So this weekend my instructor isn't going to be around. So I will actually be flying with another instructor this weekend to get the hours and the practice in. I'm definitely curious to see what other instructors are like. I don't know ANYONES name at the flight school apart from the secretary and Mike, my instructor. I am curious to see if other instructors are as good/laid back as Mike. However, I think that they all know me at this point. I'm "the cute girl" who's learning to fly. Seriously, in the entire time I've been there, I've only seen one other girl getting flight lessons (out of about 30 students total). Oh! On that note, Mike told me that the female Air Force pilot who he will make an introduction for me with was also an accountant. He also mentioned that a lot of the female pilots he knows either studied accounting or were accountants. Interesting! It kind of makes sense to me...as I said before, one of the reasons I am tackling this is from doing ridiculously difficult tax returns. Additionally, I found out yesterday that the FAA test questions are from a huge bank of 700 questions that one can buy and practice on. I've heard from people who aced the CPA exam say that they studied off a question bank as well. Hmmmm.
That's all for now, more updates later...
Monday, 12 March 2012
Frustration with Video Games
It's been a while since I wrote (sorry)
The last time I wrote, things had been looking pretty good. I flew for the first time, I was working out, etc. I'm still working out, but I do not like my new gyms cardio apparati (apparatuses?). I also have been failing to run. I played video games twice this past week. Additionally, I wasn't able to fly last Thursday because of the weather, and my flight lesson on Sunday was...frustrating.
The thing is...I KNOW that this is the beginning, and I KNOW that I'm not going to be good at anything I do - video games, running every day, flying. I've already noticed an improvement in my flying. I have not REALLY noticed an improvement in my video gaming skills. Running will have to be saved for another post later.
With flying, I'm aware that it is an exponential learning curve. I know that I'm at the very beginning of that curve. Same with video games. However, it's so frustrating to be at that place with TWO things that I'm trying to excel at. I know that practice makes perfect, and I'm trying to practice as much as I can.
Video Games. My incredibly wonderful friend CE who I've known for years was (and still is) a whiz at video games. He's been teaching me Grand Theft Auto and mostly Call of Duty. I love Grand Theft Auto because I can take my time, drive some fun cars, and do all sorts of stuff. I do NOT like Call of Duty for many reasons. First, when we play, we play with a split screen, so I can only see what's going on in my half. CE is phenomenal at gauging, anticipating, and striking. I'm awful. I want peripheral vision. I think that even if I had a whole screen view I would still suck. Call of Duty also has "enemies" coming at you whether you like it or not: Suicide Bombers, Terrorists, dogs, even helicopters. I know where to look to see where enemies are coming at me, but I still can't SEE them. Not to mention the movement. I need to run, duck, look in all directions, fire a gun....IT IS SERIOUSLY SO HARD!!!!
I can see how someone would get very attached to video games, and at the same time, I wonder about the people who do play a lot of video games. So much time and effort has to be put into even MOVING AROUND the right way. I just barely can move my character around and I've played for over 8 hours. People who have that kind of dedication and commitment to a TOY amaze me. And also make me wonder...If they weren't putting that focus into video games, what might they be doing instead? I feel like a lot of people who play these games for hours and days and months might have been phenomenal scientists, drone pilots, and general researchers. I mean, all I wanted to do was give up and throw the controller in the air at first. But I knew I had to persist so I did. I think a lot of my time here in Boston is going to be spent getting my hand eye coordination on a stellar level, and moving a joystick with finesse.
I know that I could have played Grand Theft Auto instead of Call of Duty, but I know that Call of Duty is going to help my joystick skills, hand eye coordination, and reaction time WAY more. So I chose to play Call of Duty. I first played it on Friday for about 5 hours. Then I played again on Saturday for 3 hours. That is still not enough time to even remotely do well. If he lets me, I need to make a set schedule and stick to it for video games with CE. *sigh* I AM super appreciative though that I not only have a place to play video games, but I have a phenomenal tutor as well. Hopefully within several weeks I will be a video game guru.
And this is the interesting part...after today, I've spent about 5 hours in plane. And I would venture to say that I feel more comfortable flying a plane than I do playing video games.
If any of you know a video game fanatic (especially Call of Duty) see if you can get them to change tack to something a bit more....productive. The world needs focused individuals.
The last time I wrote, things had been looking pretty good. I flew for the first time, I was working out, etc. I'm still working out, but I do not like my new gyms cardio apparati (apparatuses?). I also have been failing to run. I played video games twice this past week. Additionally, I wasn't able to fly last Thursday because of the weather, and my flight lesson on Sunday was...frustrating.
The thing is...I KNOW that this is the beginning, and I KNOW that I'm not going to be good at anything I do - video games, running every day, flying. I've already noticed an improvement in my flying. I have not REALLY noticed an improvement in my video gaming skills. Running will have to be saved for another post later.
With flying, I'm aware that it is an exponential learning curve. I know that I'm at the very beginning of that curve. Same with video games. However, it's so frustrating to be at that place with TWO things that I'm trying to excel at. I know that practice makes perfect, and I'm trying to practice as much as I can.
Video Games. My incredibly wonderful friend CE who I've known for years was (and still is) a whiz at video games. He's been teaching me Grand Theft Auto and mostly Call of Duty. I love Grand Theft Auto because I can take my time, drive some fun cars, and do all sorts of stuff. I do NOT like Call of Duty for many reasons. First, when we play, we play with a split screen, so I can only see what's going on in my half. CE is phenomenal at gauging, anticipating, and striking. I'm awful. I want peripheral vision. I think that even if I had a whole screen view I would still suck. Call of Duty also has "enemies" coming at you whether you like it or not: Suicide Bombers, Terrorists, dogs, even helicopters. I know where to look to see where enemies are coming at me, but I still can't SEE them. Not to mention the movement. I need to run, duck, look in all directions, fire a gun....IT IS SERIOUSLY SO HARD!!!!
I can see how someone would get very attached to video games, and at the same time, I wonder about the people who do play a lot of video games. So much time and effort has to be put into even MOVING AROUND the right way. I just barely can move my character around and I've played for over 8 hours. People who have that kind of dedication and commitment to a TOY amaze me. And also make me wonder...If they weren't putting that focus into video games, what might they be doing instead? I feel like a lot of people who play these games for hours and days and months might have been phenomenal scientists, drone pilots, and general researchers. I mean, all I wanted to do was give up and throw the controller in the air at first. But I knew I had to persist so I did. I think a lot of my time here in Boston is going to be spent getting my hand eye coordination on a stellar level, and moving a joystick with finesse.
I know that I could have played Grand Theft Auto instead of Call of Duty, but I know that Call of Duty is going to help my joystick skills, hand eye coordination, and reaction time WAY more. So I chose to play Call of Duty. I first played it on Friday for about 5 hours. Then I played again on Saturday for 3 hours. That is still not enough time to even remotely do well. If he lets me, I need to make a set schedule and stick to it for video games with CE. *sigh* I AM super appreciative though that I not only have a place to play video games, but I have a phenomenal tutor as well. Hopefully within several weeks I will be a video game guru.
And this is the interesting part...after today, I've spent about 5 hours in plane. And I would venture to say that I feel more comfortable flying a plane than I do playing video games.
If any of you know a video game fanatic (especially Call of Duty) see if you can get them to change tack to something a bit more....productive. The world needs focused individuals.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
I Flew
I had a fantastic day yesterday (Sunday).
I woke up late.
Then I hung out with my mom. We had a nice morning, and then drove to visit my mom's friend who lives in a western suburb of Boston. I had already decided that I was going to go for a little run, so I brought all my running stuff with me. I had a gorgeous run through Lincoln (the suburb). It's a bit hilly, so that was different from my usual flat Ohio run, but it was great. I ran by a horse farm, then, I ran by a community farming project thing. The farm was quite cute...there were all sorts of seed beds, and on all the trees around the farm were buckets collecting sap for maple syrup! The only thing that made me kind of sad was that most of the buckets were filled and over flowing. When I was in fourth grade, we tapped trees for sap, and then boiled it down and made Maple Syrup. I think it's something like 40 gallons of sap makes one gallon of syrup. I didn't like seeing the waste. Nevertheless, the run as a whole was bucolic and lovely.
Sap Buckets on a tree.There is a bike path alongside the road I was running on which would have been great. Would have been great apart from the fact that it had snow and ice all over it.
Running on snow and ice is kind of hellish. It's like jogging through sand. I'm not a fan. I think (hope) that OTS in Alabama will have neither snow nor sand. Though come to think of it, maybe I should practice running on non-pavement surfaces so that I can handle whatever they might throw at me. My pace on pavement was about 9 minutes a mile . My pace once I hit the snow was over 10 minutes a mile. Yikes. I have these fantastic things called Yak Trax that my dad got me for running in wintry weather, but they are unfortunately stuck in a box in Columbus, Ohio, and won't be back in my hands til next weekend. I'm sure if I had them, I would have been able to run much faster. They look like this:
Yak Trax
So then I went to fly! The End.
Just kidding :) I went to Hanscom Air Field, and met my instructor, Mike. He's very nice, and actually a music professor. Instructing flying is his part time job. I played piano for many many years, so I thoroughly enjoy being around other musicians. We had a chat about my goals, and he said he would teach me as if I were going to get my private pilot license and we'd go from there. His schedule seemed pretty flexible too, so that's a bonus. He was very kind, and even knows a retired Air Force pilot who is female, so I asked if he might be able to arrange an email or personal meeting. He has logged a lot of flight hours, loves flying, and comes from a family of pilots.
So at the place that I went to fly (East Coast Aero Club), one can rent from a variety of planes. I chose the most inexpensive one, because...it was the most inexpensive. It also means that this plane is the tiniest. It's a two seater, propeller driven plane called a Tomahawk. Mike said "this is a great plane to learn on. If you can learn how to fly this, you can learn how to fly pretty much anything." Great. So I got a binder for my Tomahawk, and in the front is a big checklist. The first part is all things that you do pre-flight, which I knew would've made my mom and dad happy. We literally checked EVERYTHING on the plane. We checked to make sure all the bolts were secure, we checked the functioning of the ailerons, rudder, and flaps, we checked the fuel gauge inside the plane, and then visually checked the fuel in the tanks on the plane. We took samples of the fuel in three different places to make sure it didn't have air bubbles or was contaminated, we checked the lights on the wing tips and the landing light. We checked the brakes, and lifted up the cowling to check the engine too. Apparently airplane engines are a little redundant: they have 2 spark plugs for every cylinder, two fuel tanks, and two electrical contacts. The reason for this is in case something fails in the air, the other one will kick in and everything will work normally. As Mike said, "When you're in a plane, you can't exactly pull over on the side of the road and fix something."
So then we got in, buckled our seatbelts, put on our head phones and started up the plane. The interior looked exactly like my AFOQT study guide said it would, which was actually kind of nice and comforting.
On the ground, one steers an airplane solely with their feet on the rudder pedals (it moves the back of the tail and thus the nose from side to side). It definitely took me a little time to get used to it, and I'm not even going to pretend I'm proficient in it. I can't wait to practice more. After a bunch of pre flight checks, we went to the runway and took off. Taking off, as you might imagine, is pretty fun. We put the throttle on about 1600 RPMs, which makes the plane move very fast down the runway. Then, we pulled back on the steering column and were up!
I practiced a bit of climbing, level flight, turns, etc. Turns are interesting because when you put a plane in a turn, it just stays there. You need to counteract the turn by "turning" in the opposite direction to fly level again. I feel like I'm not describing this too eloquently, but hopefully with more practice I will. We did a stall, and Mike showed me how one can still fly an airplane even with the engine cut out. He did a bunch of steep diving turns to see how I handled it, and it was fine. It felt like the plunge on a roller coaster or a dive. I actually like that feeling very much, I kind of wanted to do it more :)
It was beautiful up there. Since it was about 4pm, the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous. We could see Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire and Mt. Wachusett in Massachusetts. When we turned around to land again, I could see the city of Boston bathed in golden sunlight. We even flew through a teeny patch of snow which was pretty cool. Seeing the snow on the ground was very beautiful as well.
I have a LOT to learn still. My first homework is to learn the NATO Phonetic alphabet so that I can talk to the Air Control tower.
This is the alphabet.I also have to read the first 3 chapters of an FAA book, which is fortunately available online for free, so that's great. Alright, I'll wrap up this post with a photo of me in front of the teeny plane I flew. Yay!
Ahhhhhh...I work out!
In case you didn't get it, that title is in reference to This Video. A great song for the start of a run or workout. Really gets one motivated :)
So before I started this new work out plan that I'm doing, I was a total cardio monster at the gym. Since I had a desk job, all I did was cardio every morning. I felt it was the only time that I could get my legs moving. While I love cardio, I know that I need to do weights and build up strength elsewhere, or OTS is going to kick my A-S-S.
So on Thursday, I did this:
Lat pull down
Squats
Row
Dead lift
One leg squat
Dumbbell row
Hamstring curl
Leg extension
Pull up: as many as you can do (if you can't do a pull up just keep pulling until your muscles fail) <--- Although I did this on an assisted pull up machine. 5 with 10 lbs of assistance
Finish with abs and some sort of cardio for at least 30min
I wrote that I could have pushed myself harder...NOT on my legs. I don't often work out my legs because I always felt cardio was enough, and I also didn't want my legs to get bulky. But I did the one leg squats holding 10 lbs in each hand, and then I did the squats on a bosu ball also holding 10 lbs in each hand. OUCH. My legs still feel a little gummy. It's a GOOD sore, but still...I want it to go away so that I can walk normally :) By the way, a BOSU Ball is this:
One can do ALL sorts of exercises with this. It's SO good for maintaining balance and stability. Doing almost any exercise while standing on this automatically makes that exercise a mini core workout as well. I highly recommend. I've also done pushups holding this (with the ball side on the ground) I think it made my abs hurt more than my arms. On Monday, when I do my bicep and shoulder work out, I put the blue part on the ground, and step up on the black part (you NEED good balance) and I do 3 way shoulders standing on this. I'll explain 3 way shoulders later.
So yesterday, my weight workout was this:
Flat bench
I did all of it with dumbbells. So if one my readers is reading this, and thinks "great workout, I'll do it too." Word of advice: don't use machines. I (personally) do not like the machines at the gym that simulate these exercises. I mean, they're good if you have no idea what you're doing, but doing exercises with free weights is just so much more productive and I personally find I get much better results when using free weights. If you're a female and reading this, I will teach you if you want. Or, ask a guy you know to teach you and tell him to drop the sexist attitude while he's at it :)
Yesterday when I was working out, I saw 2 girls also working out, benching and whatnot. It made me very very happy. I can't stand when guys stare at girls working out with weights. Why can't we do it too? When I was a diver, guys and girls both lifted. My first year, I thought it was kind of stupid, so I skipped it all the time. My second year though, I went to all the lifting sessions, and lo and behold, I dove SO much better and suffered zero injuries (the year before I had issues with my ankle and shoulder). I wish more females would get into the weight room. Contrary to popular belief, it will NOT bulk you up. Just do lower weight and more repetitions. Some of the skinniest girls I've ever seen lifted weights (at my old gym in Columbus) and did very little cardio. I know guys stare at me and give me weird looks when I'm using weights, but I've trained myself to just ignore it, smile, and keep lifting.
Now that I'm ranting about things that irritate me at the gym, let me continue along that path.
I. HATE. THIS.
Do you see those two benches there? The flat and the incline? Do you see how there's 45 lb weights on each end of each bar? Do you know how many people were using these benches?
ZERO.
People who don't re-rack weights when they're done should be banned from the gym. If you're one of those people, do us all a favor and ban yourself from the gym. It's not that I can't lift a 45 lb weight, it's just that I DON'T WANT TO. When I'm at the gym, I am working out, not cleaning up after someone else. When I bench, I usually put 10 - 15 lbs on each side, but I clean up after myself. I ALWAYS re rack my weights because I KNOW how annoying it is to have to do it after someone.
And...I also hate this because I think it's a passive way of blocking females from using benches. I think most females COULD take off a 45 lb weight, but it's kind of this implicit barrier that seems to say, "Only Men are allowed to use THESE." If I were an in-shape female coming into a fairly empty gym, and thought "Oh, maybe I'm going to step it up and try benching the bar today" I would be immediately intimidated and deterred by the picture above.
Anyway. I think I'm done ranting. I'm going flying today for the first time! Yay! Then I might go play video games. I was supposed to play video games last night, but my friend M and I ended up drinking wine and watching movies instead. Ah well.
So before I started this new work out plan that I'm doing, I was a total cardio monster at the gym. Since I had a desk job, all I did was cardio every morning. I felt it was the only time that I could get my legs moving. While I love cardio, I know that I need to do weights and build up strength elsewhere, or OTS is going to kick my A-S-S.
So on Thursday, I did this:
Lat pull down
Squats
Row
Dead lift
One leg squat
Dumbbell row
Hamstring curl
Leg extension
Pull up: as many as you can do (if you can't do a pull up just keep pulling until your muscles fail) <--- Although I did this on an assisted pull up machine. 5 with 10 lbs of assistance
Finish with abs and some sort of cardio for at least 30min
I wrote that I could have pushed myself harder...NOT on my legs. I don't often work out my legs because I always felt cardio was enough, and I also didn't want my legs to get bulky. But I did the one leg squats holding 10 lbs in each hand, and then I did the squats on a bosu ball also holding 10 lbs in each hand. OUCH. My legs still feel a little gummy. It's a GOOD sore, but still...I want it to go away so that I can walk normally :) By the way, a BOSU Ball is this:
One can do ALL sorts of exercises with this. It's SO good for maintaining balance and stability. Doing almost any exercise while standing on this automatically makes that exercise a mini core workout as well. I highly recommend. I've also done pushups holding this (with the ball side on the ground) I think it made my abs hurt more than my arms. On Monday, when I do my bicep and shoulder work out, I put the blue part on the ground, and step up on the black part (you NEED good balance) and I do 3 way shoulders standing on this. I'll explain 3 way shoulders later.So yesterday, my weight workout was this:
Flat bench
Pull down (rope)
Incline Bench
Tri extension
Decline Bench
Close in bench (hands approx 2-3" apart)
Flys
Dips
I did all of it with dumbbells. So if one my readers is reading this, and thinks "great workout, I'll do it too." Word of advice: don't use machines. I (personally) do not like the machines at the gym that simulate these exercises. I mean, they're good if you have no idea what you're doing, but doing exercises with free weights is just so much more productive and I personally find I get much better results when using free weights. If you're a female and reading this, I will teach you if you want. Or, ask a guy you know to teach you and tell him to drop the sexist attitude while he's at it :)
Yesterday when I was working out, I saw 2 girls also working out, benching and whatnot. It made me very very happy. I can't stand when guys stare at girls working out with weights. Why can't we do it too? When I was a diver, guys and girls both lifted. My first year, I thought it was kind of stupid, so I skipped it all the time. My second year though, I went to all the lifting sessions, and lo and behold, I dove SO much better and suffered zero injuries (the year before I had issues with my ankle and shoulder). I wish more females would get into the weight room. Contrary to popular belief, it will NOT bulk you up. Just do lower weight and more repetitions. Some of the skinniest girls I've ever seen lifted weights (at my old gym in Columbus) and did very little cardio. I know guys stare at me and give me weird looks when I'm using weights, but I've trained myself to just ignore it, smile, and keep lifting.
Now that I'm ranting about things that irritate me at the gym, let me continue along that path.
I. HATE. THIS.
Do you see those two benches there? The flat and the incline? Do you see how there's 45 lb weights on each end of each bar? Do you know how many people were using these benches?ZERO.
People who don't re-rack weights when they're done should be banned from the gym. If you're one of those people, do us all a favor and ban yourself from the gym. It's not that I can't lift a 45 lb weight, it's just that I DON'T WANT TO. When I'm at the gym, I am working out, not cleaning up after someone else. When I bench, I usually put 10 - 15 lbs on each side, but I clean up after myself. I ALWAYS re rack my weights because I KNOW how annoying it is to have to do it after someone.
And...I also hate this because I think it's a passive way of blocking females from using benches. I think most females COULD take off a 45 lb weight, but it's kind of this implicit barrier that seems to say, "Only Men are allowed to use THESE." If I were an in-shape female coming into a fairly empty gym, and thought "Oh, maybe I'm going to step it up and try benching the bar today" I would be immediately intimidated and deterred by the picture above.
Anyway. I think I'm done ranting. I'm going flying today for the first time! Yay! Then I might go play video games. I was supposed to play video games last night, but my friend M and I ended up drinking wine and watching movies instead. Ah well.
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