Josh's Blog

The Best Decision I Ever Made

2012-01-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

My freshman year at Utah State I remember having a conversation with a flight instructor that has stuck with me. After our flight we were reviewing my timeline and progress when my plan to serve a mission came up. He had served a mission and I remember specifically something he said to me. "I won't say it is the best thing I have ever done, but it is the best decision I have ever made."

That comment sort of confused me. Did he have a bad mission experience or was he disappointed with something about it? It is only recently that I figured out what he meant and I totally understand.

I was not pressured at all into serving a mission. In fact, I am sure if I had said I just wanted to go to school my parents would have supported that decision. But the decision was mine and I made it when I was about 17 and a half. When the time finally arrived I was called to serve in the Brasil Porto Alegre South Mission. I will spare you the details of my mission and just say it set the tone for the rest of my life.

Without my mission I never would have developed skills and habits that have shaped my life. But the best decision I ever made led me down the path to the best thing I have ever done. Totally schooling Kirsten into marrying me. My two years in Brasil are not the best two years of my life. They are the most important. I hope I can always say the best two years are the past two and the next best two are the two years to come.

As fate would have it, that flight instructor works now at Skywest with me and we flew together not too long ago. I reminded him of what he said to me 11 years ago and he had no recollection of saying it. Funny how I had wondered for YEARS what he meant and when I finally figured it out and had the chance to tell him, he didn't even know he had said it.

Being an Only Child

2012-01-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

I have heard all of the myths about only children. We are bored, spoiled, anti-social, attention seekers, lonely, selfish, bratty, etc...I want to clear up some misconceptions and share some insight on this unique way to grow up at least as it pertains to me as an only child.

I was anything but bored. Only children still have friends. I think people imagine us in our rooms playing with legos and trying to entertain ourselves all day. I was rarely ever home alone growing up as I had lots of friends to spend lots of time with. I also spent lots of time outside shooting hoops which explains why I am a pro level "horse" player but not much good in a real game.

The most spoiled kids I knew were always the young kids from the biggest families or some kids from just plain rich families. Remember I am the youngest AND the oldest. I don't think most parents plan on having just one so for the most part they are conservative in raising the first. I never felt spoiled at all as I worked all through high school and paid for most everything myself.

We are very close to our parents. My mom is also an only child. My dad has one sister and she has two kids which gives me a grand total of 1 aunt and 2 cousins. So my family is very very small. I talk to my mom and dad each on the phone 2 or 3 times per week. It interested me so much after getting married to see how little Kirsten speaks with her parents. They never talk to one another just to see how things are going. That to me has been the most obvious difference between our own families.

Along with that comes the fact that I know pretty much everything about my mom. I have always known how much money we have, where it all is, how it is invested etc. It seems to me that lots of kids never knew how much money their parents made or where it was kept. I always appreciated this information and it kept things real for me as to how we were doing in life. I think often about how I want to handle this information with my own kids. I am still not sure.

Sometimes I hear of kids who resent their parents for not having more kids. I never felt like this. Just like with my adoption, I never even thought about the fact that I was an only child. I had an awesome childhood full of sports, vacations and other memories. I will say now though, that having married into a HUGE family, that I absolutely love them! I can see now what I missed and I am so appreciative to be a part of this new huge family but I will never regret or be upset by the awesome family and childhood I had. Even so I do hope to break the only child streak in my family :)

P.s. It is nice to have the "only child" disclaimer to fall back on if I ever seem to exhibit any of the aforementioned negative qualities...

Politics 2011

2011-12-15T16:18:00.000-08:00

Back in 2008 both Kirsten and I were very vocal about politics on our blogs. As you may have noticed the issue has not come up yet this year and I think it is safe to say that this is the only post I will do this election year about it. Why? Because it frustrates me.

Obama. I think he is truly a genuine guy and is trying to make good decisions. I gave him a clean slate and unfortunately when I said that his being elected president could have some big repercussions on me personally I was right. He has killed Kirsten and me on taxes. Small business suffers GREATLY with him in office. Kirsten pays over 40% of everything she makes to the government as a small business owner! Do you know what we would love to do? Hire a few employees thus creating jobs but Obama has made this impossible. We cannot afford it. I would love to see the aviation industry rebound but President Obama has chosen to tax both the industry and the consumer buying the tickets heavier than ever before. So in short I do not want him to be my president anymore, but I think he will be for another 5 years.

You probably assume that I am still in favor of Mitt Romney for president. You would be right. But, I am frustrated with his campaign. I think that both he and his campaign have screwed up in a few cases and I have no confidence that he will be the President. I get annoyed with his lack of talking straight and he does flip flop a bit too often. The democrats are also being very smart. They are not attacking Newt at all. They are salivating at the idea of him being the nominee because there is dirt in Newt that goes back for decades. New Gingrich will not win.

So I will back away this year and not let the election take control of me. Good luck to all those involved and to those who sacrifice time and effort into their candidates. I hope it turns out for the best. I hope our leaders can figure out how to stop spending money we don't have but in the end there is no other place I would rather live on earth.

Pearl Harbor and my Uncle Conway

2011-12-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

Pearl Harbor Today

Last month I was flying with a pilot who shared his life's hobby with me. He had a collection of aviation/military history that I cannot begin to describe. He had signatures from every WWII veteran he had ever met. He also had the signatures of the greatest aces from the U.S, Germany, and Japan and almost everyone that was involved in the Doolittle raid including some from men that died before he was ever born. He had a collection of pictures and history that is no doubt worth thousands of dollars but that is invaluable to our country. This pilot spent his days off traveling around the country and world meeting with old chapters of war veterans and writing down their stories. We in aviation, I imagine, will owe a lot to him one day.

As I was flipping through the names of the American veterans he has met I found on his list Conway Benson, USS Tennessee. I smiled as I thought of my amazing uncle Conway who had passed away just a couple of years ago. I said to him,"This man is my uncle." He grabbed his book from me and made a notation of "Uncle to Joshua Krason that I flew with" and told me my name would be going in a book. He then proceeded to get any information out of me about my Uncle Conway that I could remember. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. Uncle Conway was awesome. He was hilarious. He was very proud of his service in the navy and Pearl Harbor. He was head of a chapter of Pearl Harbor veterans. He had a Pearl Harbor survivor sticker on the back of his car. The pilot told me to never ever forget these things about him and to write them down. He said that their biggest fear (WWII veterans) is that they would be forgotten in time.

I know the war changed my Uncle Conway. He left the LDS church after his service and demanded that nobody ever talk religion to him. Until one day about 4 or 5 years before he died when he told my grandma that he had been going to church. He was reactivated, received a calling, became a faithful home teacher and went through the temple all in the last few years of his life. It reminds me that we have no idea where people come from and we cannot judge a thing about them. The effects of the war possibly stayed with him for almost 70 years until he could truly make peace. He came to my wedding and I am so proud that I got to know him a little better then. I wish now I could have sat down with him for hours.

So today I think of my 18 year old Uncle Conway at Pearl Harbor. I hope I never forget what he and the other men and women there went through 70 years ago. Thanks to that pilot for reminding me how important he was to my family and this country.

A Pilot's Wife

2011-11-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Kirsten with me on a trip

I give Kirsten a hard time sometimes for knowing nothing about my job. She usually doesn't know where I am, when I will be home, or really what I am ever doing when I am at work. It seems that she is somewhat different from the other pilot wives.

I fly with many pilots whose wives know where they are at all times and know exactly when they will be to the hotels. Some pilots place their schedules on the refrigerator door with the phone numbers to each hotel they are staying in. I have even flown with pilots whose wives make them check in with them when they get to the hotel. Once when checking in at the front desk of a hotel the pilot said to me, "I bet the phone rings while we are here checking in" and sure enough it did and it was his wife making sure he was where he was supposed to be.

Other wives seem to enjoy dropping their husbands off at the airport and picking them up sparing the pilot the hideousness of getting on the employee bus to the very large employee parking lot to get in a very cold car that has been sitting for days and get that extra 30 minutes with the husband. Kirsten has no interest in doing this :)

Sometimes I am sad that Kirsten has become so numb to me being gone so often but my point of this post it that I am grateful. I am grateful that Kirsten is the way she is. Sooooo many pilots tell me they would rather have the situation that I have. Personally, I sometimes think it would be nice if Kirsten worried about where I was, when I was going to be home, or what I was doing at work. But the fact is that she is a very trusting and independent person who has created an awesome life for herself even when I am gone. Ironically this leads to me wanting to call her each time I get to my hotel, text her in between long flight legs during the day and do a lot of the things that annoy the other pilots.

President Uchtdorf talked about how wonderful it was for him during his career to be married to someone similar to Kirsten. Hopefully she can last another 35 years of me working :)

Kirsten coming with me on a trip. Doesn't happen as often as I would like :)

Airlines 3rd Quarter 2011

2011-11-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

B-787 Dreamliner was delivered last month

Delta = $549 million

United = $653 million

U.S. Airways = $95 million

American = -$162 million

Alaska = $77 million

Southwest = -$140 million

JetBlue = $35 million

Skywest = $0.1 million

The big news this quarter is the loss for Southwest. It has been a very long time since they reported a quarterly loss. The reason they have done so well in the past was their strategy with fuel hedging. They bought years worth of gas and cheaper prices in the 1990s that really helped them when fuel skyrocketed. Well this quarter that strategy finally bit them. Their major fuel hedging ran out last year so when they placed their new hedges they actually ended up paying too much. I wouldn't worry about Southwest though. They have a lot of cash and are well run.

The rest of the results are what was expected for the 3rd quarter. American has been flirting with bankruptcy but somehow finds ways to avoid it. Skywest Inc. just barely turned a profit but at least it is not a loss. I am worried though that we will suffer another loss in the 4th quarter this year. Hopefully passenger demand stays hight through the holidays.

Now lastly. I posted on facebook awhile back about the new tax President Obama wants to hit the airlines and private jet aviation with. Basically he wants to triple the security tax over time and present a new tax of $100 for every flight powered by a jet engine be it commercial or private. This will again cripple this industry and I cannot believe that he is serious about this idea. This cost will only get passed on to the consumer in the form of fair increases and additional fees and for the industry thousands of job losses would occur pushing aviation back solidly into the red while it is just figuring out how to stay in the black. Please tell your representatives to reject these new taxes! http://stopairtaxnow.com/

The Best Student Section in the Country

2011-11-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Deer Hunt - Caution, Mildly Graphic

2011-10-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I went deer hunting with my old roomate and buddy Ky. He is who I went on the elk hunt with last year and I will try and hunt with him every year for the rest of my life. It is an awesome way to reconnect with the primitive side of man and I need this every so often.

The hunt was unique in that we were actually on the general rifle hunt 5 days before everybody else. Ky has a very awesome brother named Chad who has been handicapped since birth. He is now 35 years old but loves sports and loves to hunt. He is given a special hunting tag that lets him go out a week early to hunt without the crowd. So this was Chad's hunt. Although he is not capable of actually shooting he decides if we shoot at the deer or not. It was a special day in itself to spend time with Chad. He is an inspiration to everyone that meets him. You will never meet somebody with a more positive attitude or so appreciative of everything around him.

We went to the Raft River Mountains in the northwestern corner of Utah. There were millions of deer. We tried to count all the deer we saw and came up with a figure of around 60-65 by the end of the day. We had this awesome vehicle to travel in made by Polaris. I felt like I was hunting in a BMW.

It was a VERY cold morning. The last time I remember my face being that cold was when I was a student at Utah State in Logan. The scenery was spectacular. It makes me wonder how many hidden treasure spots are in Utah, or everywhere for that matter, that we don't know about.

The golden leaves looked like a painting. It was unreal. I took lots of pictures of them but this was one of my favorites. We arrived on location before sunrise and hunted until nightfall. The short story of our deer goes like this. We saw a nice 3-point buck early in the morning and Chad was sort of wanting us to shoot it, but we decided to try and find something a little bigger during the rest of the day but if we didn't we would go back to the same spot we saw the deer at night and take it if we had a clear shot.

We hunted all day and saw many deer but none as nice as the one we saw in the morning. We ran into a local guy who was surprised that we even saw a nice 3-point buck on the mountain so that pretty well convinced us that he was a good deer to take. At close to sunrise we went back to the spot and after searching around with binoculars for a little bit I actually spotted him right under our nose about 150 yards away standing dead still. We asked Chad if he wanted us to shoot and and the smile and look on his face was pure excitement! So Ky lined up the sights on his thirty ought six and shot it right behind the left shoulder exactly where he was aiming. The deer ran about seventy yards and of course fell down a gnarly ravine where we found him under a pine tree. After 12 hours of hunting the work was only beginning.

Ky and Chad

I don't know a lot about deer but he seemed like a nice size deer and I was happy that Chad got him. Ky then taught me the inns and outs of cleaning out the deer. It was an awesome experience and went smoothly. We then drug the thing in the pitch black of night out of the ravine and into the ranger and drove home. We hung him in his proper spot to air out back at Ky's parents home to be displayed for all to see.

This picture was taken at about 1:30 a.m. I was home and in bed at 3:00 a.m. Luckily I didn't fly the next day until about 1:00 p.m. If there is every an apocalyptic meltdown on earth come and find me and I think I could at least get us by in the woods for awhile thanks to all the lessons I have learned on the hunt.

Mommy Josh

2011-09-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Meet mommy Josh. My job gives me a very unique schedule in that at times I am home many consecutive days of the week, all day long, in the middle of the week while it seems that the other 99% of working people are Monday-Friday 8:00-5:00ish. This presents me the opportunity to participate in many mommy activities that other dads do not get to enjoy.

Today for example. I went with Kirsten to the library at 10:15 for "story time" (pictured above). I was the only male there over the age of 4. We sang songs, danced, played with toys and read books. I also get to participate in many "play dates" at the parks in our neighborhood during the week with other moms and their kids. I sit right in the middle of the mommy circle and get to hear all the gossip that is going on as well as get updated on the bachelor.

During some of these weekdays that I am home all day Kirsten goes out and meets with clients and I think this gives me a certain element of fatherhood that others miss out on as well. Spending all day with your kid(s) for several days at a time gives you a little appreciation for what mom's do. I fix all the meals, change all the diapers, do the laundry, play a lot of wrestling games, and get him ready for nap time/bed by reading books, taking baths etc...

Now, I do nowhere near the amount of work that Kirsten does as a mom but I am just saying that I have some good mommy stuff going on. Heck, I even blog!!!

Airlines 2nd quarter 2011

2011-08-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

New 747-800 just passed it's final inspection flight

Delta = $198 Million
United = $538 Million
U.S. Airways = $106 Million
American = $-286 Million
Alaska = $84 Million
Southwest = $161 Million
Jetblue = $86 Million
Skywest = $1.6 Million

This quarter was marked again by very high oil prices. Each company mentioned in their quarterly statements the adjustments they had to make to try and remain profitable. Unfortunately, American lost money again in what is typically one of the two profitable quarters for airlines. They have not made money now since 2007. Don't ask me how they stay alive...

My company, Skywest, barely made money which is also unfortunate. Management made a mistake and short staffed our airline this summer which incurred additional costs and the aquisition of ExpressJet from last fall still has lasting effects on the company. Contratulations to everyone else who made money! It used to be impossible to make money with oil above $50 or $60 per barrel but thankfully the industry has adjusted with oil now around $85 per barrel and hopefuly still falling.

Headlines in the industry the last couple of weeks were about the FAA shutdown that occured in late July. The government had been granting temporary extensions of the budget for years while avoiding any negotiations. The issues involved government subsidized service to rural communities as well as policy on how airlines could vote in unions. Finally they decided to try and negotiate but could not come to terms so the FAA went unfunded and the authority of the government to collect taxes on airline tickets vanished. This was a wonderful day for us in the industry. This revenue collecting crisis for the government is now over after a couple of weeks.

Most airlines kept ticket prices the same and pocketed the money that usually would have gone to the government. Some airlines, Spirit, Frontier, and I think one or two others passed the savings on to the consumer and dropped ticket prices by the same percentage they were being taxed. Start cursing me now, but I would have also done what most airlines did and pocketed the money. The more money in our pockets and the less in the government's is always better. Those couple weeks meant a few extra million dollars for the airlines this quarter (3rd quarter) which is always needed to continue to assure profitability and growth. Spirit airlines did report a substantial increase in sales by passing on the saving to you and I am happy for them. They are in a unique market and I am glad it worked but I am also glad the majors took opportunity to make a few extra bucks.

Me Being Ignorant

2011-06-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Provo Canyon

I grew up in Salt Lake City. Other than the weather I think it is a pretty dang good place to live and grow up. I am sick of only having 4 months of good weather each year but that is another story. Something I noticed growing up in SLC is that it was popular to rip on Provo and Utah county in general. We would always say how we would NEVER want to live inside that "bubble" in "happy valley" with all the "zoobies!"

We liked the fact that we had some diversity where we lived. I hear people who live outside of Utah saying this same sort of thing about Utah as a state, especially LDS people. I fly with other pilots who tell me all about how they are weirded out by having all these nice people around them all the time and that there is no exposure to certain elements to give you some challenges and worldly experiences....................really? Is that what you want?

I lived in Provo for a little over a year. We had been living out of state in Orlando, Vegas, and Phoenix for about the previous 3 years so I was a little apprehensive about jumping into Provo. I was proud to be a Utah outsider and found all of these amazing things that Utah didn't have. I will tell you now that if Provo were closer to the Salt Lake airport I would never have left. Provo is fantastic. You should see the teenagers down there. They are all super impressive and light-years ahead of most kids in terms of goals and maturity. The people ARE really are nice and despite what you have heard they are genuine. Provo has much better weather than SLC as well. I don't know why but there was not nearly as much snow and more clear days. There is a ton of recreation in Provo up the canyon and will all the facilities of BYU. Don't forget the lake that we all think is so dirty. Some Provo residents (my former Provo self included now) relish the fact that people tend to stay away from Utah Lake. I have never seen smoother water in Utah at times in the middle of the day. There is crime in Provo, but not much. The high schools have great rivalries and athletics. The airport in Provo now offers commercial service to Denver and I am sure will grow in the coming years.

Now a little more about that "bubble." What are we striving for as a society? I would like to think it is what is inside this bubble. Now that I have a family I want to give us all the best chance we can have to be successful in what we want to achieve in life. I believe the bubble provides many of these things. Less distractions, great examples, a safe and friendly environment, close and caring neighbors are a few of the things I can think of. Oh and a solid ward ball team. Our neighborhood in South Jordan seems like a little bubble and I really like it.

Outside of Provo and Utah there are great youth getting through the challenges of being in the world and I know it is harder. Some say these kids they are stronger people if they can get through growing up in the world but I disagree. I think once you grow up enough to the point where you are making your own decisions and thinking for yourself your level of strength is up to you. It is getting to that point that I would like giving someone the best chance to arrive to successfully.

So when you think of Provo, Utah Valley or Utah don't judge too quickly. This is a great place to live. (other than the weather :)

My Blanket

2011-05-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

I get really hot at night. I usually set my hotel rooms to 65 degrees when I go to sleep. When we lived in Vegas, and it was obviously very hot, I discovered the best way to cure my situation was to sleep with this awesome blanket.

It is the perfect size and keeps my temperature just right without having to turn on the AC. I have recently broken this blanket back out. I just wish Belle was on it.

A Perk

2011-05-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

My job has a really good perk. We fly for free. But did you know about this awesome perk that probably saves me like $20 a year?

Shampoo

Matching Conditioners

Don't forget the soaps, body wash, and lotions

This is my proud collection of hotel hygienic products. I also get the occasional shower cap, mouthwash, shoe buffer cloth, or bottle of toothpaste. This collection is actually very small compared to what I could have. You see, when that big earthquake hit Haiti last year, Kirsten's school was asking for donations of soap or anything that was hygienic so she asked me if I would donate my collection to make kits. Reluctantly :) , I offered my collection which we put in to ziplock backs and shipped to Haiti. So this collection is really less than half of what it should be.

I have become an expert in hair care product. Pantene really is all it is cracked up to be as well as Neutrogena. There are some that smell really good, like this one from hiexpress that smells like cookie dough but leaves my hair feeling empty...

I have come to enjoy the soap that exfoliates the skin and I really like the smell of almonds I guess. As far as lotions, bath and body works takes the cake with its Orange Ginger lotion. In any case, I have not purchased any of these products in 4 years thanks to my extensive hotel stays. If you ever need advice from an expert please do not hesitate to ask.

Airline Results First Quarter 2011

2011-04-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Delta = -$318 million
United = -$136 million
U.S. Airways = -$110 million
American = -$436 million
Alaska = $29.5 million
Southwest = $5 million
Jetblue = $3 million

Crude oil. I hate you.

Today oil speculators have the price of a barrel of oil marked at $112.35. This is the principle reason that the larger major airline carriers in the country are all reporting multi-million dollar losses for the first quarter of 2011. Congratulations to Alaska Airlines for posting the highest profit of the quarter! That is good to see considering my company, Skywest, entered into a flying contract with Alaska beginning in a few weeks.

You can expect ticket prices to increase this summer in the form of a "fuel surcharge." I hate that this is they way airlines choose to market the price increases. I would rather the ticket price just go up without the explanation. Then the airlines could slowly bring the prices back down instead of dropping the extra fee all at once when people don't think they should be paying a fuel surcharge anymore. The problem is airlines should continue to charge extra even if oil prices decrease in order to make up for the huge losses.

I read that President Obama has ordered the U.S. Justice Department to open a probe to examine the role of traders and speculators in oil markets and how they contribute to the skyrocketing fuel prices. It is possible that a few people are dishonestly becoming very rich at everyone else's expense. What many don't understand is the price of a barrel of oil is not how much it is actually costing at this moment. The majority of our oil is priced by "speculation" Gas companies charge more NOW in order to pay for the price of their next delivery of gasoline because SPECULATORS say that the price of a barrel has gone up due to this and that, etc....

I believe the airlines have figured out pretty well how to be profitable at around $100 to $120 per barrel of oil. The first quarter is always the weakest and typically shows a loss. The annual results are made up in the second and third quarters. But if oil creeps over $120 per barrel and stays there that is bad for everybody...

#17 Utah State...Fans

2011-03-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

During the WAC championship game that Utah State won last night, the announcers said that the Utah State fans were maybe the smartest fans in the entire country. The point was made that one of the reasons that Utah State can't seem to improve their strength of schedule is because nobody will agree to come to Logan and play the Aggies at home in the Spectrum. Not even BYU dares to play in Logan even though we will play in Provo. They always demand a neutral site like Salt Lake. It's too big of a risk for powerful schools from the east to risk the embaressment of losing a game to the overlooked Aggies, so they just don't come.

From Wikipedia:
"The crown jewel of Aggie athletics has long been the men's basketball team, which plays in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, which has been called one of the nation's top 5 loudest and toughest places for opposing teams to play. The Spectrum seats 10,270, and features seats for students and other fans that are at court level and extremely close to the players. USU basketball is 157-12 at home during the Stew Morrill era, has received 6 NCAA Tournament berths in the last ten years, and has amassed more wins than any team in the nation except Duke, Kansas, and Gonzaga during that time.^[7] During the 2008-09 season, USU's ranking in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll rose as high as #17 " p.s. We are number #17 again this year...

I am excited that BYU had such a great year and I think Jimmer is unbelievable. Having said that I will always hold true to my opinion that Utah State has the best college basketball team (and fans) in Utah and has ever since Stew Morrill arrived. He is a nice guy by the way...always tipped well when I delivered him pizza :)

Here's to the Scotsman and Go Aggies Go Aggies hey hey hey! Kansas State better watch out...

Canadian Surgeon General's Warning

2011-03-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

This is how cigarettes are labeled in Canada. There were other boxes that were very graphic but this one was the funniest. I would stop smoking if I were you...

Airlines 4th Quarter and Annual Results 2010

2011-02-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

Delta: $158 million 4th quarter/$1.4 billion 2010
United/Continental: $160 million 4th quarter/1.6 billion 2010
American: $-97 million 4th quarter/-$471 million 2010
U.S. Airways: $28 million 4th quarter/$447 million 2010
Southwest: $131 million 4th quarter/$459 million 2010
Jetblue: $9 million 4th quarter/$91 million 2010
Alaska: $47 million 4th quarter/$263 million 2010

This is a very good trend for the year for everyone, even American Airlines with their big loss. In 2009 American had a net loss of 1.5 billion so you can see that there was actually a big improvement. I'm not sure exactly what their problem is, but I do know that they have a VERY old pilot group that will be retiring A LOT of pilots in the next 5-10 years.

These numbers are where we should expect the major airlines to be each year. Delta and United (The two biggest airlines in the world) should be close to a 2 billion dollar profit each year with the other large airlines somewhere from 500 million to around 1 billion. If you think these numbers seem high or greedy consider Wal-mart, Chevron, HP, or GE among others making in the HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars each year. If the economy continues to recover and airlines expand I would hope for larger profits than what I expect above.

Now, we have seen these years happen in the past where it looks as though the industry has things figured out only to see fuel prices, terrorists, or changes in the law cripple them back into the annual multi-billion dollar losses. Let's keep our heads up and stay supportive and optimistic because a profitable, healthy airline industry is better for all of us.

Cockpit view of a twilight landing at LAX

2011-02-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure who made this video but I have been flying this arrival a ton lately into Los Angeles (LAX) and I think this video really captures how cool it is. It's called the SADDE 6 Arrival and you fly it into LAX when coming from the north. Obviously the video is sped up. Pretty good song too.

Dying Blog

2011-01-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

I may be a bit late to the party, but I have been enjoying more facebook lately. This blog may suffer for awhile. Find me there if you what to get the 411 on the life of Josh Krason.

AirTraffic Worldwide

2010-10-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

If the last post bored you maybe you will at least like this cool video of how busy our world air traffic is during the course of a day. If you pay attention you will see the the United States smashes the competition as the busiest airspace in the entire world.

Airlines 3rd Quarter 2010

2010-10-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

The results are in for the 3rd quarter. Just in case you are wondering about my credibility with all of this airline blabber I invite you to check out this post. That was about 2.5 years ago when our airline industry was on life support. Have you seen all of the mergers in the past 2.5 years? Delta and Northwest, United and Continental, Southwest and Airtran, Frontier and Midwest, and a few others that have gone unnoticed. Capacity has also been reduced (flights cut back) a lot in order to increase load factor. Ticket prices have also gone up a bit but the more noticeable increase has been in fees such as checked bags. Thankfully oil has stabilized but not at a very good number (about $80 per barrel). And unfortunately thousands of airlines employees were laid off.

All of this has led to the airlines finally making some money! So please please please don't complain about airlines getting greedy when the media starts talking about big profits! You have to understand how much money these companies have lost. Pilots still have not gotten back the huge paycuts (around 40%) taken in 2002 and probably never will. It is a breath of fresh air to see some black numbers for two consecutive quarters. The airlines are finally figuring out how to make money... for now. This is a very fragile situation. All it would take is another spike in oil and it would fall clear back into the red. So let us aviation empolyees enjoy, at least for the moment, the feeling that most of you other professionals get (or don't even worry about) of making a profit for a year. Here are the numbers for our largest airlines this quarter:

Delta - $363 million
United - $473 million
Continental - $367 million (soon to just be United)
American - $143 million
U.S. Airways - $240 million
Southwest - $205 million
Jetblue - $59 million
Alaska - $118 million

It's nice to see everyone in the black. It's been awhile. My company's results (Skywest) won't be in for a couple more weeks but I expect a profit of around $25 million.

Valuable Things Learned

2010-10-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

If you got my facebook update a few days ago you would know that I was stuck up in Canada for an extra day due to an engine problem. The captain I had been flying with married a Chinese lady about three years ago and still doesn't speak much Chinese. He had expressed that during his time flying he had really enjoyed the LDS pilots for a number of reasons but was especially impressed with our ability to learn languages on our missions. While in Canada we also had another crew with us who had a pilot that had served a mission in Japan. The captain again expressed how impressive it was that this pilot had learned Japanese so quickly. He asked us how the MTC taught us to learn our languages so quickly. You know the answer...It's not one that is easily explained. We told him about the training and all that we believed. There are some other valuable things I learned on my mission. I would like to share one in particular.

Feast your eyes upon this treat.

I ate this marvelous meal many times on my mission and I would like to share with you how to make it.

Ingredients:
- Ramen
- Eggs
- Hot Dogs

Instructions:
Step 1: Boil Water
Step 2: Insert packets of Ramen
Step 3: Crack 2 eggs and insert into water
Step 4: Insert Hot Dogs
Step 5: Drain water after it looks good
Step 6: Consume

The math on the cost of this meal adds up to about 68 cents. This is why it was popular among missionaries. I have been eating this meal ever since and I love it. I don't care what you say. People have given me a hard time about eating this and they think it would be gross but it is awesome. It is a very valuable thing I learned on my mission that I still use today. Go try it out.

BYU Who?

2010-10-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Oh Man! Did USU really just beat BYU in football!!! This game wasn't even as close as the score looks. USU got up 31-3 before BYU started scoring. Luckily we didn't have to worry about Utah State's trend of sucking too much in the 4th quarter thanks to the lead they had built up. This win was a combination of an "okay" Utah State team and a really bad BYU team. Nevertheless, it is awesome to finally beat the cougars in football after 17 years.

When people ask if I bleed blue or red here in Utah I always say blue, but not the blue they are thinking of. I am a USU fan and will always want them to beat any team. But, if it's between UofU and BYU I am a cougar. I wish the Aggies would play Utah this year but no such luck although they do play Boise State the last game of the season in Boise. One of the few things Aggie football fans have to look forward to is the chance of playing spoiler. At 2-3 and with an awesome Nevada team and Boise St. the odds of us winning the conference are to slim to get our hopes up. But ruining somebody elses season is always fun too!

Elk Hunt

2010-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Hilton

Carrying the bow and the Elk head

Last week I went elk hunting (archery) with my buddy Ky. I didn't have a weapon or a tag but I always really enjoy just going along for the ride. I don't think I will ever actually do the hunting, but whenever I can I will be going along. It's a very cool escape but it's hard to describe the pleasure I get out of it.

We stayed in the trailer pictured above. It is known as "the Hilton" for it's may luxurious features. It may look modest but inside there was a tv (flatscreen), dvd player, fridge, microwave, and full power thanks to the generator. I was only able to go up for a couple of days but Ky stayed in this thing for a week straight.

I don't think Ky realizes how foreign the concept of the hunt is to people who have never been. I am now used to him as I have been on a couple hunts and a few hikes to go glassing (looking for animals with binoculars). For example, you wake up before the sun is up to get to where you are going, it is very cold and dark, you are in the middle of nowhere, and you may be hiking for a few miles before you arrive at your destination. Then you start hunting.

The first time I went with Ky I remember we were on this mountain and we weren't having any luck finding anything so he looked across the valley and said," let's go over to the top of that mountain." I didn't think he was serious but I learned quickly he was very serious as we hiked to the top of several mountains throughout that day. In all during a normal hunting day you probably are hiking close to 10 miles. Remember this is mountainous uneven terrain at about 9,000 ft elevation. You have to be at a certain level of fitness to even attempt this kind of hunting.

While I was driving up Ky actually called and told me that he had shot an elk that morning. I was a little dissapointed but was still excited to get into nature and I knew he would need help getting it out. It turned out that after hours of looking we couldn't find the elk he shot and we came up with this theory that it was stolen. As luck would have it was not stolen we did find the dead elk the next day. It had actually gotten up and ran a few hundred yards. When we found it we cut it up and packed it out. Here are some pictures. CAUTION they are a bit graphic.

Yes the black dots are flies...

We actually had to cut quite a bit of it up with my pocket knife. We didn't have the proper tools on us when we found him. It was good proof to me of just how valuable a pocket knife can be! After packing some meat back to camp we returned with the proper equipment. I found the whole experience of cutting up this elk to be very educational. I now feel that if I killed a wild animal I would at least have some idea of where to start and where the meat is. Surprisingly, there is very little blood in the process. It's mostly meat and fat.

This was an awesome hunt. I guess it's a place that it takes people years to draw so they can get their tag and legally hunt. There were elk everywhere! I saw around 5 or 6 different bull elk and heard at least 8-10 bugling in just a couple days. If you are ever invited on a hunt go! Just make sure you realize that it is A LOT of work and the work really begins once you kill the animal but it is the most fun and most beautiful exercise you can get here in Utah. Now I'm waiting anxiously to get some jerky...

6th Street Was My Idea...

2010-09-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

A little over a year ago my wife started this new blog she called a "design blog." It was a place for her to write down her ideas and put into practice some things she was learning at school I guess. After her first couple of posts I thought that it was actually pretty cool. During school she was trying to decide what to do when she graduated and I kept telling her that this new "design blog" would be an awesome way to get her name out and that it could really be an advantage to her but she just never updated it. Of course she didn't listen to me and the blog just sat there with a couple of posts per month or so.

Months later she discovered that there were other design blogs and that she was going to really start trying to update hers often. "What a good idea" I sarcastically thought to myself...Has anybody else noticed with spouses that if you make them think it is their idea then maybe they will listen? Anyway, she had 4 followers ( or something around 4) when she made this announcement to me. If you don't know what a follower is I guess it is when somebody on blogger adds you to their dashboard so that there is easy access to your blog. People do it with their favorite blogs. It's not the same as a visitor. Followers are much harder to obtain. So I asked her how many followers she thought she could get one day. She said 1,000. I said "No way you are nuts." Well, last week it happened. We were there when she refreshed the screen from 999 to 1,000. It took less than a year but her design blog has now reached over 1,000 followers and several thousand visitors each day. Not to mention it has helped her start her own business, get her t.v. spots and various projects as well as advertising income.

I just want the world to know that making that blog awesome was my idea, but that I had absolutely no faith in the vision that Kirsten saw. I also had nothing to do with how successful it has become. That is 100% Kirsten. If anybody else would like me to share my awesome ideas so you can take them and actually do something with them let me know. I have many of them.

10 Year Reunion Skyline High Class of 2000

2010-08-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I went to my 10-year high school reunion. I wasn't planning on going but I ended up not working and since Kirsten was out of town with Jett I really had nothing else to do. I didn't really know what to expect but this is what I found;

#1. We are adults now. I spent more time talking to some people at the reunion that I ever did during all of high school. I even met some of them for the first time. It just shows me that we are not nearly as grown up as we think we are at the age of 17 or 18.

#2. Some things never change. I was talking to a friend while eating dinner looking around the room and we realized we recognized the scene. It looked just like the lunch room in high school. People had naturally gathered together in their familiar groups. The biggest difference was nobody was afraid to go and approach the other tables now.

#3. It wasn't nearly as much of a show as I had thought it would be. For some reason I had always imagined that reunions would be this competition to see how well people had done up to this point but I really didn't get that feeling at all. Everyone seemed genuine and interested in what had happed with everyone else. And nobody seemed "cooler" than anybody else.

Those are the main points. I found myself missing some people that I would have liked to catch up with but I seriously enjoyed talking to the people that were there. There really almost wasn't enough time to catch up with everyone. If I am around I'll probably go to the 20 year as well, which I never thought I would do. So if you are wondering about going to your reunions my advice would be to go. It may surprise you how much fun it is.

Security System

2010-08-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

We had a security system installed in our home today. If anyone tries to break into our house you will be shot in the head by our new system. Just try it. Kirsten and I have debated this for awhile but sometimes you have to give, especially when the argument is protecting your family. Kirsten's brother got us a very good deal through a family member discount that I didn't even have to negotiate. We had a bunch of the sales guys come by our house this summer trying to persuade us but they would never come down enough.

I have always been skeptical of security systems, but after having this one installed I am happy with how it functions. Still, I'm not sold that you need one but if nothing else it will make my family more comfortable on the nights I have to be away. So spread the word that our house is secure, we have a gun inside, and a very mean dog.

Turn Around?

2010-08-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

A quick update from a few posts ago about our airline industry. I posted the 1st quarter financial results from the the biggest airlines in our country. Here is how the 2nd quarter shaped up:

Delta: $467 Million
United: $273 Million
Continental: $233 Million
US Airways: $279 Million
American: $319 Million
Southwest: $112 Million

American Airlines is the only large airline that lost money in the 2nd quarter. In the 1st quarter they all lost money with the exception of Southwest that made $9 million. So what changed? We did. It appears that America thinks our recession is all but over. More passengers flew in the past 3 months than in any other 3 month period in the history of aviation.

These may seem like large quarterly profits, but go look back over the past 10 years and you will see some losses of over $1 billion from a single airline in a single quarter. This isn't something to get hysteric about but it is a good sign. Historically if things are going "normally" airlines earnings typically go like this:

1st quarter = Loss
2nd quarter = Profit
3rd quarter = Profit
4th quarter = Break Even

That should result in a net profit each ear but since 9/11 this has not been the case. Hopefully this trampled industry can make it's way back on its feet for my benefit and yours.

Swearing

2010-07-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

My Friend and former roomate Woody

I grew up saying your basic swear words; he_ _, da_ _ and if I was really mad for some reason I may have dropped an "oh shiz." It was never anything worse than that (although regrettably some of my music was) and I never thought much of it. My friends were basically on par with me and it was just how we spoke.

Then I moved up to Utah State University and was given much holier, awesomer roomates (one of them, Woody, is actually pictured above in this mormonad). They never swore at all and after living with them for a full year of school I had dropped all swearing. Soon after came my mission and all of a sudden I had not said a swear word of any kind for 3 years. The words just left my vocabulary and I am still this way today and I am glad, but it hasn't come easily.

I fly with guys who literally can't go through a conversation without swearing and I mean really swearing the way I never did. I would never want to be like that. Then at times I fly with really good guys who are good family men and strong in their faith who swear the "simple" way if you will and I think it is really funny. I also know from past experience that it is a good way to let out a little bit of steam if you need.

I have often times thought about reverting back in part to the "simple" way but I just can't get my brain to do it. One of the things that also had made me ponder on this decision is that I don't want to come off like a prude. More than once when I have said something like heck, snap, freak, flip, gosh, darn etc... people have asked me why I just don't swear. "It's just a word!" they say and I really do agree with them. I am not at all offended by simple swearing but I just can't do it.

One of the positives that actually results from these conversations is that people I fly with figure out fairly quickly that I am LDS and I almost always get a gospel related conversation out of it. Nothing major. I have definitely not converted anybody I have flown with but I at least get to explain where I come from sometimes and I think that alone is probably reason enough to stay the way I am. But to all of you simple swearers, please don't change because I think it's hilarious when a good swear word at the proper time is spoken.

Take The Booze, We Don't Drink Anyway!

2010-07-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Boozer signed a 5-year deal worth around $80 million this week with the Chicago Bulls blah blah blah...we don't care. The local news went around asking people how they felt about the deal and the overwhelming feeling was good riddance! Boozer was never the favorite player of anyone in Utah. He worked for himself, Boozer Inc, seemingly never thinking much about his team or his fans. He has talent but I don't think he has the ability to win a championship.

I don't know if Millsap is going to be the guy to replace him or not but I do think, in the long term, the Jazz will be a better team without him. We don't really have the money to sign another star until Kirlenko's huge contract is over but I think we have an opportunity to build some chemistry without the distraction of Boozer.

On another note, I don't know how anyone will beat the Miami Heat next year. I was watching the interview live when Lebron James announced his decision to go to Miami and my heart sank for the fans in Cleveland. He was born in Ohio and it just happened that Cleveland was able to draft him right out of high school. Now he has left his hometown for some beachfront property in Miami. I don't really know how to look at this decision yet, but what I do know is that is going to be a really good team.

Welcome Gordon Hayward!

2010-06-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Jazz drafted Gordon Hayward out of Butler tonight. You may best remember him as the guy who missed the long last second three-point shot but just a few inches in the NCAA championship. Also he is a white 6'9" American which is rare for the NBA. I would have like to see a big guy, but Hayward is a good fit for our system. He has good basketball IQ and hustles. He will probably come off the bench in the #3 spot. The Jazz usually do really well in the draft picking guys others don't think about so we should be happy no matter what.

United States Can't Win....The World Cup

2010-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

I became a huge soccer fan during my mission. I was in Brasil in 2002 when the Brasilian team won the World Cup. For Brasil and majority of the world soccer is their sport. There are leagues all over Europe and South America. There is a Champion's Tournament in Europe that takes the best teams from all over Eurpoe and they play in a big tournament to crown the ultimate champion. Imagine it like every country has an NFL and each country takes their top 4 NFL teams and sends them to this massive tournament to crown the champ. This is the Champion's Tournament in Europe. Now look at the World Cup. It is about 1 million times bigger than this tournament for these countries. Soccer is life to them. To us here in the United States it's...soccer.

Kids play soccer right? Then they stop at about age 10 or 12 because soccer is stupid I guess. We just don't care about soccer here. REAL Salt Lake won the MLS (Major League Soccer) championship last year and a lot of people here don't know it. I am a HUGE sports fan and have never even been to a game! My point is I firmly believe that the United States soccer team will never will the world cup because of corruption.

We lead the world in most everything. If we were allowed to win something as emotionally important as the World Cup of soccer it would crush everyone. It may not be politics or business but sports can change the world. Look at how the world viewed the U.S.A. beating Russia in hockey. How about the Jamaican bobsled team? The United States will never win at soccer.

Yesterday team U.S.A. went down 2-0 before halftime. There was a horrible call against one of our players in the first half that gave him a yellow card which would disqualify him from play in the next game. It was ridiculous, but not even close to the worst. In the second half the comeback kids had tied the game 2-2. In the 84th minute (they play 90 minutes) the United States scored an awesome goal off a pass from a penatly kick which the referee took away. Why? Nobody knows. There was no apparent foul anywhere and the ref refuses to say who commited the foul. Can you imagine a ref in the NBA calling a random foul but not assigning it to a particular player? It's crazy! This goal would have given us the win, instead the U.S.A. was awarded an amazing comeback tie.

In the 2002 World Cup a hand ball in the goal by Germany was not called allowing Germany to advace over the United States. It was an obvious call. If the United States ever really does win the World Cup it would be beyond a miracle for this sport. They would have to overcome corruption. I would love to see it happen, but just like I don't see the Jazz ever beating L.A. I just don't believe it will happen. We are a target to be shot down by corrupt officials and World Cup organizers to keep the rest of the world sane.

Jazz New Logo

2010-06-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

The Jazz unveiled their new logo a few days ago. I for one love it. The music note is where it's at and these are good colors. Maybe they will get to wear their green jerseys more often now?

The Second Amendment In My Home

2010-06-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce that I am now exercising my Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms! Without getting into too much detail, I will just say that I have had strong feelings for awhile now that I should be excercising this right. After some research and advice I decided to protect my home with this:

This is a Hi-Point 9mm. It is a reliable hand gun that you can purchase brand new at a very good price. If all you are after is self-defense and home protection this is a good gun. It's not much on looks or frills but that's not what I got it for. Although I hope and pray that I never,ever have to use this gun if any golf club theif decides to enter my home while we are here, he is in for a surprise.

p.s. Do not worry along with my gun I bought a very good safe box which I keep it in at all times. There is no way Jett will get to it. I will also become very familiar with it at the range. At least I have my hunter's safety blue card. : )

Thief!

2010-06-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

There are things in life that make me very happy. One of the top things that makes me happy is golf. A very bad person stole my golf clubs this week out of my garage. The hatred I have for this person is immense. Please read this note below that somebody posted about their missing bike that someone stole. I have very similar feelings about my golf club thief.

A Sad Farewell

2010-05-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Jazz were swept for the first time in team history last night. I have not had the strength to write anything about this series against the Lakers. We should have won game 1. We had a chance in game 2. We should have won game 3. I, like the Jazz, was out of steam by game 4.

Things to look forward to:

- The Jazz have two first round picks this year. We have the Knicks pick which is a top 10 pick.
- I hope we get rid of Boozer. He didn't get it done in the playoffs which for me was his last chance
- We can sign Matthews to a long extension.

Suggestion to Kevin O'Conner: (Jazz GM)

- Get rid of Boozer
- Get more height
- Keep Matthews
- I still think we need a better backup point guard so go get one.

The Jazz season coming to an end has quite an effect on my life. I no longer have to plan things around Jazz games. I don't have to worry about staying up late in hotel rooms to watch the games. My blood pressure gets a break. But I will warn you, about 50% of my available conversation is now over until October of next year. Go Jazz.

Being on Time

2010-05-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

The DOT tracks the on-time arrival statistics of all the U.S. airlines and publishes it for the public. I don't think that this statistic should even be recorded in order to protect the safety of our operations. Here is why.

There are many, many, many things that are involved in a flight. First, let me ask you this; How long do you think it takes to drive from the north end of Los Angeles to the south end? Would your answer be, it depends on traffic, weather, accidents? Good.

Our flight segments are "timed" given perfect conditions. No weather, no traffic delays, no volcano eruptions, etc... This can be a rare occasion. Also, there are lots of switches, wires, nuts and bolts on airplanes and sometimes things break. Not very often but you have to expect a reasonable amount of this. Where my problem lies is that the DOT wants people to think that flying "brand x" will get you to your destination on time because they have the stats to prove it. You know who the number 1 on-time airline is and almost always is? Hawaiian Airlines.

Hawaiian flies to Hawaii :) Hawaiian flights are well known for good weather across the Pacific all the way to the islands. Really how often do you hear about hurricanes (or typhoons) in the Pacific between the U.S. and Hawaii? Another thing about Hawaiian is where their flights originate from. Every one of their flights originates on the West Coast in places like L.A, Vegas, Phoenix, or San Diego etc. How often do you hear of bad weather in those cities? One more point about Hawaiian. They only operate one aircraft type across the ocean which is actually to their credit. This keeps maintenance more on top of things when they only have one kind of plane to worry about taking care of.

For the rest of the U.S. airlines we go most everywhere. For example, Skywest operates hundreds of flights per day out of the two busiest airports in the world. Chicago O'Hare, and Atlanta Hartsfield. We also go to Dallas, Houston, L.A, Newark, etc. Weather can kill us at times. Other airlines have many different kinds of planes that require a lot of maintenance oversight.

Here is the kicker. We are pressured, to a certain extent to get you out on time and to arrive on time. This is not good. You will always here from every airline that safety is the #1 priority and it is. But following in a very close second place is getting you there on time. These goals sort of counteract with each other and guess who will always take the back seat. On time.

When something comes up that doesn't seem right, we don't care what time we get out of the gate until it is fixed. If it looks like we may need more gas to go around some weather, we will take a delay and get more gas. If there is a weirdo on the plane that needs to be removed, we will take the delay and kick him or her off. You see my point?

When you are trying to decide on which airline to fly, and I know $ will determine this 99% of the time, look at the on-time performance with a grain of salt. Take a better look at the safety record of the airline. There are very few times when your plane is late because the airline did something wrong. Oh yeah, and you know how in movies people are always asking to "hold the plane." That doesn't happen. We won't hold the plane for you because you are late. It ruins our public perception to depart late :)

The World's Biggest Airline, Again.

2010-05-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

When Delta and Northwest officially merged on January 1, 2010 it became the world's largest airline. Today it was announced that United and Continental Airlines have officially come to terms with their merge that will make them the world's largest airline. Sorry Delta you could only held the title for a very short while.

United has been looking to merge with another airline for awhile now. You may remember only a few weeks ago talks of United merging with U.S. Airways. To the public it may seem like a quick decision now to go with Continental but it is really far from that. These negotiations with Continental have been underway for a long time. Just go to www.unitedcontinentalmerger.com and see how much info they already have available to the public. The problem in the past boiled down to the worth of United and their stock. In the previous heavy merger conversations Untied was loosing about $300 million per quarter. Since they knocked that number down to only an $82 million loss this quarter I think the shareholders and investors were more positive about the success of the merge today.

So here is what is funny to me if you look up and the new logo and livery. It's United's name, with Continental's brand which I do think was a smart decision. Except they switched to a lowercase "u" which is interesting. I don't know what kind of a message that is supposed to send.

What is means for you: Not much for now based on what I am reading. The press release says that all of the hubs for both airlines with remain hubs and no destinations will be cut yet. Potentially, overlapping routes could be cut reducing competition and slightly raising ticket fairs. That is my hope anyway! Sorry.

What this means for me: The president of Skywest shared a message on our company website this morning outlining the potential ramifications of the merger. He said it could take up to a year to see the impact but there are MANY possibilities. I shared on this blog before there was a quarter last year where we (Skywest) operated more flights as United Airlines than United Airlines operated as itself. So in a sense this is also a merger between Skywest and Continental. Really good things could happen for our company, but there is always potential for the bad. It all depends on which regional airlines the new United wants to keep. There will be consolidation among the 10 or so airlines that have contracts with these two companies. Long term for me this is kind of a bad deal. United has hundreds of furloughed pilots and Continental has some as well. This means that before the new airline hires new pilots, they will have to offer recalls to the furloughed pilots from both airlines slowing attrition from the regionals. Long, long term it's probably good because that will be a lot of pilots retiring from one seniority list some day.

The mergers may not stop here either. Remember, this industry is still trying to figure out how to make a profit so expect crazy things to happen with your tickets and destination until the numbers are in the black.

Back to Jail Thuggets...

2010-05-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Melo's people of Utah do not exist you idiot. We all sent you home because we do not like you. This was the stupidest commercial ever made and you deserved to lose. Michael Jordan really got it handed to him this year with this commercial and his Bobcats getting swept. Jordan should stop making decisions of any kind unless he is on a basketball court.

Denver was rudely sent home by the likes of Paul Millsap (bench) and Wes Matthews (undrafted rookie). Sorry Adrian Dantley but you should be fired. When TNT wired your timeout speeches it was an embarrassment to you. "Come on guys lets go!" "You can do it!" "Play hard play hard!" Uh...how about drawing something on your magic whiteboard or giving some constructive advice?

Utah now goes on to face the Lakers. Here is what the experts are saying about this series:

They don't give Utah a chance. Unfortunately I agree with them but here is hoping for a miracle. Go Jazz!

Why So Many Fees?!!! I'll Tell You Why...

2010-04-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

I hear people, or rather the media, talking about how sick they are of airlines charging fees for services such as checked bags or that all they are getting on planes now is a small bag of peanuts. What has happened is that the industry has fallen into a fundamental problem. What is that problem? Ticket prices.

Let me ask you a question. Just think in your head right now what you would want or expect to pay for a roundtrip flight from say... Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. What is your answer? Maybe $150-$200 dollars? Maybe you're even thinking less? How much would it cost you to drive? I think the price would be about the same in a reasonably fuel-efficient car. By the way $150 is about right. This is the problem. There is no way it should cost you the same amount to drive as it does to fly.

In 1979 the airlines were deregulated. In short, prior to this year the aviation industry was subsidized by the states. The ticket prices were set as were the airline employee salaries. It was essentially a government industry. When deregulation occurred the airlines were then responsible to set their own prices, salaries, etc.

Here is the catch. Do you have any idea how much is cost to run an airline? More than you can imagine. That is why is was a subsidized industry. The airlines have been trying to catch up for 31 years and figure out how to make a profit, but it is almost impossible. Here is an shocking statistic; The aviation industry, as a whole, in it's almost 100 years of existence has made a cumulative LOSS. I have never heard of another industry that can also claim that horrible statistic.

Operating costs in this industry are blazing high. Think of everything involved in your flight. Pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers, gate agents, rampers, customer service, mechanics, maintenance considerations, FUEL, and the list goes on. The actual price of that ticket to L.A. should be closer to $400 per person to cover all of the costs and then maybe the airline can think about making money on that flight. To be honest I don't exactly know where or how the airline ticket prices got so cheap, but I know it started happening about 10 years ago. This was very bad timing because 9/11 happened shortly after, and then fuel starting going up a few years ago. But after people started to see their $59 one way tickets they began to expect it.

The airlines have tried to bring prices back up, but people stop buying the tickets when they see three figures in the price. So the current strategy airlines are experimenting with are these "fees." which actually have some validity. Let me explain a small aerodynamic and economic principle in basic terms. More bags = heavier plane = more expensive to operate. Yes the cost to operate a plane rises exponentially the heavier it gets. Even the balance of the plane determines how efficient it is to operate. It only makes sense to try and make up some revenue by charging passengers based on how much they are actually costing the airline in weight. I would actually support a proposition to determine part of the ticket pricing based on your weight!

So you complain about checked bags or no more dinners. Well even with the fees the airlines are trying to charge let me show you something else:

The airlines in red are showing a loss and the one in black shows a profit. These are the 6 biggest airlines in the country. That is a lot of lost money, even with your fees. So don't go around thinking that the airlines are making all of this money by nickel and diming you. Southwest made a little bit of money but I'll tell you a secret about them. They did something very smart 20 years ago that has put them ahead of the game. They hedged their fuel. This means that they bought 20 years worth of fuel, 20 years ago at the price it cost back then. They gambled on their fuel price and they won big. While other airlines have struggled with rising fuel, Southwest didn't have to worry. But they soon will. Most of their hedging is up this year.

My advice to you is pack light and carry-on all of your bags. I can count on one hand, in fact maybe two fingers, the amount of times I have checked my luggage. You won't have to worry about fees, or wait for your bag at baggage claim, and it will never get lost. Just learn to pack light. It's not hard.

In conclusion, I am against these fees. They look bad and I don't think that they are working but I do not blame the industry for trying. I think what really needs to happen is ticket prices must to go up to where they need to be and people will get used to it. It may take awhile but they will come around. Also, these prices should have nothing to do with the kind of service you are receiving. Customer service agents should be nice as should the flight attendants and pilots. You should always arrive safely and hopefully on time. Being on time is worthy of another blog post entirely. Your flight experience should be a good one no matter what you are paying. I am for the people, but I am also for the industry. I hope your fees go away one day, but not before the day the industry figures out how to match your ticket price with the operational price of your service.

Thuggets

2010-04-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

I do not like this team. They should all be in jail. The Jazz played well but the Thuggs biggest chuck (J.R. Smith) was lucky last night. If we don't win tomorrow in Utah we're done for. But what do I know..? Arrrg.

Turbulence

2010-04-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

I am back from a great cruise vacation and to my surprise the Jazz are up 3-1 on the Nuggets. Since I am looking like an idiot right now counting the Jazz completely out I figure I will give them a break on this blog and talk about something else.

One of the questions I get fairly often when people ask me about flying is, how bad does turbulence have to get before I get scared and is turbulence dangerous? The answer to me getting scared is really almost never. I flew over the Grand Canyon for almost a year and I have NEVER felt turbulence that bad at the airlines. We got to the point in the Canyon where we would just look back and laugh at the passengers after falling a couple hundred feet straight down or watching the tourguide headsets slam against the ceiling.

Honestly you don't ever have to worry about turbulence being so bad that the plane will come apart. The plane can take A LOT of it. What you should worry about is whether or not you are sitting down and your seatbelt is on. Believe it or not that stupid seatbelt sign is very important and we pay attention to it. The majority of the time we can tell when turbulence is coming, so we put the sign on in advance, but there are instances when we run into what is called CAT (clear air turbulence) and if it hasn't been reported by a previous aircraft it can catch us off guard. Keep your belts fastened whenever you are in your seat if it is smooth or not.

We really try our best to avoid all turbulence. As soon as we feel even the slightest bumps we are asking air traffic control how smooth the rides are at alternate altitudes. You would be surprised to know how often we are changing altitudes trying to find the smoothest rides for our passengers, even and the expense of burning extra gas.

Done with you Boozer

2010-04-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

This is a familiar sight to Jazz fans. Boozer sidelined in street clothes. Everything that I said shouldn't happen to the Jazz did. We are now the 5th seed playing Denver and if miraculously we get through that series we play L.A. We don't have home court either. I will still cheer of course, but being realistic our season ended two days ago with a loss to the Suns in Utah.

Boozer is a sissy. I do not doubt that he was in pain and really felt like he could not play effectively but if you are an NBA player you should not get hurt while "attempting to jump." Last year he was out for half the season with an injury he incurred while "attempting to take a step." What kind of an athlete is this. Ron Boone made a good point in that when Stockton and Malone played NOBODY was ever hurt. They couldn't get hurt because for almost 20 years those two played maximum minutes and almost missed zero games combined. The other players couldn't come up with an excuse to sit out.

Without Boozer we had to play against Amare Stoudemire with Kosta Koufos and Big Fez some of the time. This was the result:

I sort of feel the same way about Kirilenko that I do about (B)Loozer, but he plays so much harder than Boozer does that I have to give him some slack. Although Andre is extremely overpaid. I'll be on vacation the first week of the playoffs so he's to hoping we're not down 0-2 when I get home.

Oh and I feel bad for Gail Miller. In case you didn't see it, the Jazz went into halftime down 17 points. This halftime was set apart as a special time to honor the late Jazz owner Larry H. Miller who passed away last year. His wife Gail unveiled Larry's retired #9 ( his favorite softball #) in the rafters and quite emotionally said the Jazz would win the game. My heart sank when I heard her say that because there was no way we were going to win. Oh well, she has more faith than I do and props to her for trying to get us motivated.

Who Said 2nd Place is the First Loser?

2010-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Western Conference Playoff Race

THere is currently a 4-way tie for the #2 seed in the Western Conference. I don't know if this has ever happened with only 5 games left in the regular season. The Jazz hold the tie-breaker with Dallas, Denver holds the tie-breaker over the Jazz, and the series with the Suns is yet to be determined. We could drop from #2 to #6 or #7 this week! The Jazz didn't look great against the Laker's but it was about what I expected. They got some momentum in the second half but it was shattered when Lamar Odom came back in the game. If Andre gets healthy I like our chances at the #2 seed given our remaining schedule.

Hopefully not our High Point

2010-04-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I have to be realistic. I remember a video I saw of Mitt Romney taking a weekend vacation during the election where he was watching a video clip with his family and the newscaster was saying that Mitt was the favorite to represent the GOP. Mitt's response to the clip was, "We better save that video because it may be the high point of the campaign." Unfortunately he was probably right.

Right now the Jazz are in the # 2 spot in the Western Conference. This is really the highest point the Jazz could have wished for during this entire season. Expecting to pass L.A. would have been unrealistic. This #2 position is held by Utah right now only because they hold the tie-breaker with Dallas. Tomorrow night the Jazz play a game against the Lakers, in Los Angeles, which realistically they will lose thus bumping them down in the standings. So we Jazz fans need to take in this moment and realize, that for a brief period in time, we made it to our regular season pinnacle. I am not giving up hope, just learning to enjoy the highlights as they come.

I Hate the Dentist

2010-03-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

I do not like the dentist; therefore, I almost never go. That is the truth. I go about once every two years and it's always the same story. Lots of pain, some money to pay, and no cavities. So why should I go? It's coming up on my two year mark again so I'm thinking about paying a visit but I just don't see a reason why.

The lady I went to two years ago was a very strange person. I don't understand how someone like her could become a dentist, or dental hygienist is what I think she was. She didn't really know how to talk with people, had no sympathy, and was somewhat demeaning. When I was done with my cleaning, which was honestly the most physical pain I have felt in my life, the assistant came in and asked me if I was okay. She even apologized for her hygienist being so "rough" but she said it was her normal routine.

Before her I had a young dentist just out of school who thought he was cool. I remember him holding his cell phone between his ear and his shoulder talking with a friend about his fantasy football draft picks while working in my mouth. He also told me if he fixed 7 more cavities he would have enough money for the new boat he had been saving for.

If anyone out there is a dentist or cares to become one would you please tell me why? I guess the logical answer is they make pretty good money and have good hours but what makes you enjoy working in people's mouths? I don't know what your motivation is. I have heard that dentists have high suicide rates and I understand why. I would hate to be you and I hate you. No offense.

Gotcha!

2010-03-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Jazz have been chasing Denver the entire year and last night they finally caught them. They are now tied for first in the Northwest Division and share a spot for the #3 seed in the Western Conference. The (4) is next to the Jazz because unfortunately Denver has the tiebreaker since they beat us 3 times this year.

So here is what needs to happen:

The Jazz need to finish in either the #2 or #3 spot in the Western Conference. It doesn't matter if it's #2 or #3 as long as Denver finishes #4 or worse. If Dallas finishes #2 and we meet them in the Western Conference semi-finals we have proved we can win big in Dallas, thus I am not too concerned with the #3 seed. This arrangement gives the Jazz home court for at least the first round, and guarantees they wouldn't have to play the Lakers until the Western Conference Finals. Also, we do not want to play Denver in the first round. It would be nice to give somebody else a chance to knock them out.

As far as our match-ups go I've come to the conclusion it doesn't matter who we play in the first round. The entire Western Conference is good and it will be a challenge. We DO, however; need home court to have an advantage in round 1.

So we shouldn't worry about Dallas or L.A. winning. In fact, I would cheer for them to win against other Western Conference teams and of course the Knicks. We are always cheering for the Knicks to lose. We have their draft pick this year and they are going to the lottery. We want the odds in our favor for drawing a high draft slot. I want Evan Turner.

p.s. Jazz rocked last night in Toronto. They led wire to wire so there isn't much to say. Deron Williams was amazing.

Barack-etology 2010

2010-03-19T08:28:00.001-07:00

Every year President Obama does a March Madness bracket. I remember last year that his bracket was a piece of garbage and it made me wonder, along with many other decisions, whether or not his judgment as our president was up to par. We'll see if he has learned anything after his first term in office.

My bracket is going...okay. I was hit hard yesterday by Murray State beating Vanderbelt and Notre Dame and it's star player Harangody letting me down. That was probably a stupid pick now that I think about it. I also bet against BYU. But who could argue with me considering their previous tournament records and they really should have lost! Georgetown was also a pretty big upset but I didn't have them getting too far anyway.

It's sad to think about it now, but the first time Bush 43 ran for president the deciding factor in me voting for him was after watching an interview of him on ESPN. He really knew his sports stuff. Gore was an idiot. Luckily I am now a bit more edumacated.

Happy Birthday Kyle Korver

2010-03-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Win: 122-100

Photos courtesy of espn.com

Recap: The last two games have been no competition. The Jazz played two of the worst teams in the NBA and both games were at home. I was glad to see them blow both teams out. They started out down by 8 points in the first quarter which made us believe that once again the T-Wolves were our achilles heel. It didn't take long until the bench started to contribute and the Jazz steadily pulled away the rest of the game. There were several injury scares to Deron, Andre, and Wes Matthews. Deron Williams and Wes Matthews both returned and played well but Andre called it quits to take care of his sore calf.

Stat of the Night: Kyle Korver is shooting lights out. He is far and away the best 3-point shooter in the NBA shooting almost 58% from 3-point range. The next closest, Daniel Gibson, is shooting 48%. Korver also scored a season high 20 points on his birthday.

Highlight of the Night: Deron Williams slamma-jamma right over the top of Al Jefferson. I love it when Deron dunks. For some reason it's hard to get in your head that he can jump so high.

Final Thoughts: There is a dilema. The Jazz are playing Phoenix three more times this year. These games will give us a better picture of how they match up with them, but one thing I know is that I don't like the Jazz matchup against the Thunder. Kevin Durant scares me, and we have not beaten Oklahoma City yet this year. Right now we are set up to play OKC in the first round with the Phoenix Suns right on their heels. I think I would rather the Jazz play Phoenix, but we still have to beat Phoenix three times which would push them behind the Thunder! You see!

Also, I am wondering how Paul Millsap is feeling right now. His points and minutes are a bit down because Boozer is actually playing well. I still love Millsap and would start him in a minute if Boozer were gone. We'll see how Booz holds up come playoff time. His temper is a bit short lately, and he is prone to really bad games at times.

Who is Skywest?

2010-03-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

I have been missing too many Jazz games lately so my new goal to keep myself updated with Jazz posts is not working out. Having missed the games I figured I would try to keep up with my blog by writing about some other things. For example, who is Skywest?

I work for Skywest but often get raised eyebrows when I tell people that. They usually think I said Southwest because they haven't heard much about Skywest. So I will try and keep this short but hopefully I can direct people to my blog who don't understand what Skywest does.

First, you will almost never see advertising for Skywest because we don't need to advertise. Delta Airlines and United Airlines does all of the advertising which is why we seem like a small airline. In terms of number of flights we are 7th in the country right behind Continental and ahead of airlines like Jetblue, Alaska, and Frontier.

We operate under fee for departure contracts. Skywest is a contractor that works for Delta and United. Those airlines pay us money for every departure we fly under their name and they set the ticket prices and we provide the service.

I remember looking at some of our operating statistics during one particular quarter last year and Skywest actually operated more flights as United Airlines than United Airlines operated for itself. Over 1,000 per day. In Salt Lake City we are easily the largest airline operating the majority of all Delta flights.

We fly almost everywhere in the country and to some destinations in Canada and Mexico using mostly Canadair Regional Jets. They have the capacity to sit anywhere from 50-90 people depending on the model you are on. Our destinations sometimes change based on where our partners want us flying that month.

The best news about Skywest is that the company actually makes money every quarter. It's been down a bit recently but on average they make a net profit of about $25 million per quarter. The majors such and United and Delta haven't had a profit in a very long time. That is why they are trying to nickel and dime you for things like blankets or checked luggage. They just aren't making enough money to survive.

The last thing I will say is in regards to our training. You will here the media say things about regional airlines and their safety records and little experience blah blah blah...Skywest is considered to be a regional airline, but it technically is not. Regionals are airlines which gross less than $1 billion annually and Skywest is above that so it is "technically" a major airline but is never seen that way due to lack of advertising and whatever. Some interesting stats you can compare to other airlines are the following:

- The average Skywest captain has over 12,000 flight hours and 12 years with the company.
- Skywest never lowered it's hiring standards a few years back when everyone else did. Our minimum pilot qualifications are almost identical to United's.
- Check our saftey record. It is almost flawless with no fatal accidents and only a couple very minor ones: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/flying-cheap/airline/OO/
- We have large crew domiciles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Chicago. Smaller domiciles are in Fresno, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Tucson and Colorado Springs.
- Skywest is a homegrown Utah company based in St. George and has been a fortune 500 company.

I think Skywest is a great company. I disagree with things they do at times like most everyone does with their employers, but in general I am very happy and fortunate to be here. Any questions?

I Had to Make a Choice!

2010-03-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

I was laying in my hotel be in Jackson Hole looking at the clock thinking, "If I fall asleep right now, I'll get 7 hours before my long day of flying tomorrow. Good, I am pretty tired." So I turned on the tube just to check the score of the Jazz game and I saw it. The game was still on and the score was 8-7. It had just begun.

What to do! I could stay up for the next 2.5 hours and run off 4.5 hours of sleep and watch, or turn off the game. I chose safety. So do not worry I was well rested with close to 7 hours of sleep before starting this long day of flying today. Therefore, I do not know the details of the Jazz game except that they lost. The only interesting stat I noticed was the Millsap only scored 2 points but was a +16. They Jazz just played well with him out there even though he wasn't scoring.

Jazz vs Pistons: The Harlem Jazz

2010-03-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Win: 115-104

All Photos courtesy of espn.com

Recap: It was a beating. The final score doesn't do this game justice. It looked all too easy for most of the night. The Jazz threw in the towel with about 3 minutes left and let their 19 point lead go so much so that Sloan put Boozer and Williams back in with 1 minute left when they were still up by 12. He didn't like the lack of effort at the end and I don't blame him. The Jazz have this tendency to not deliver the kill shot. They get the lead, but never step on the throats of the other team and end the game. It's not good.

Stat of the night: The Jazz bench was a + 54. The starters were +1. What that stat means is that during the time the Jazz starters were on the floor (individually or collectively) they scored a combined 1 more point than the pistons. The times the bench players were on the floor, the Jazz scored 54 more points than the Pistons! That is an incredible number. Korver and Okur led the way with a + 19 each.

Highlight of the night: Ronnie Price throwing down a dunk on the 6'11" Piston's center plus the foul. No picture available because it's probably too embarrasing that the Jazz backup point guard delivered this facial.

Final thoughts: 7 different players were in double-figures for the second night in a row. There is little argument out there that the Jazz play the best team basketball in the NBA. Highest field goal percentage and assists in the league. They have the exact same record on March 10th this year that they did on March 10th last year. Hopefully our (yes I will be referring to the Jazz as we, us, and our as a possessive, they are MY team) winning ways on the road continue so we don't repeat last year's debacle of stumbling to the 8th seed.

espn.com

New Blog Focus

2010-03-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

My wife is a great blogger. What is funny to me is that I actually sort of enjoy reading her design blog (6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com) but interior design falls somewhere around mold on my list of interesting things. I think the reason for this is that she is so involved with the design stuff, that it becomes interesting to read from somebody who really cares about what they are saying.

So I got to thinking. What do I really care about that I wish I had somewhere to let out feelings regardless if people care to read it and I came up with an answer. The Jazz. I RARELY miss a Jazz game. Really I only miss the games when I am on the road outside of the range of Fox Rocky Mtn. So I think I will try and write something after each Jazz game. There are usually 3 games per week, which is a good goal for trying to keep up with the blog.

This team honestly has a lot of local lovers and haters. There are people here in Utah who think that the Jazz will only ever break their hearts so they refuse to support them or only do when they are winning. Maybe I will end up living the life of a lifelong Cubs fan, but it will be worth it. I will attempt to start my experiment after tonight's game in Detroit. Go Jazz.

Ronnie Brewer to Memphis

2010-02-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

In at least what seemed to be a surprise move to me, the Jazz delt swimgman Ronnie Brewer to the Memphis Grizzlies today just before the 3 pm trade deadline. Brewer had been a member of the Jazz since they drafted him in the first round in 2006.

I loved watching Ronnie Brewer play basketball. He's a sloan type of player who hustles and never goes up soft. You could always count on Brewer for at least one good jam a game. The problem the Jazz had/have is the log jam at his position. C.J. Miles, Wes Mathews, Kyle Korver, and Brewer were all fighting for minutes and as the rookie Mathews has shown his worth Sloan's hand was forced into giving him more minutes. This jam along with the Jazz money issues meant they had to reduce cost to get down as close to the luxury tax as possible, so they delt Brewer for a future draft pick.

I would have rather seen C.J. Miles go but Memphis is smart to have picked up Brewer instead. This leaves a vacancy in the starting rotation now. Who will fill it I wonder? I personally hope it's the rookie Wes Mathews. So we now have to cheer for Memphis to lose as well as the New York Knicks as the betterment of our future is controlled by them winning and losing. I hope Brewer is happy and does well, but honestly I hope he loses every game from here on out. :)

Best of luck Brewer. Utah will miss you.

My WashMate

2010-01-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome vacation in Hawaii this past weekend. There are many highlights to speak of, but this one sticks out particularly in my mind. Behold, the WashMate.

When I walked into our hotel bathroom I said out loud, "what on earth is this?" It was the greatest toilet I had ever seen. It took us awhile to figure out how it worked, but Kirsten was the first to brave one of the settings. She went through the HI PRESSURE/REAR MOVE washing with great courage. I laughed harder than I have in a very long time as she screamed through the process, as it took her awhile to figure out how to shut it off.

Admittedly, I was a bit of a wuss trying the washmate the same way Kirsten did, but eventually I gave in. It was quite an experience. I mean, look at all the settings on this baby! Two different washing positions with 4 power settings, a forward or backward sitting position, water temperature settings (can you think of any reason to leave it cold...) and a dryer with air temperature settings! Unfortunately, we could not get the massage function to operate. What a machine. If for no other reason, I may return to the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel only to experience the WashMate.

My Addiction

2010-01-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

Wolf creek

This game is my vice. www.wgt.com. It was introduced to me over a year ago and I have been addicted ever since. I know that among those I have introduced the game to at least two of them have become addicts.

If you love golf, you won't get enough of this game. It is free and really kills the golf bug during the winter. The game is in high-definition and in my advanced golf expertise, :) , is quite realistic. You can earn points to upgrade clubs, play other people from around the world to steal their points, play or practice on your own, and of course set records.

If you get a chance, create an account, login, and add me as your friend. My two avatars are Rockfall, and GolferJosh. We can play and chat at the same time. Admittedly, I'm on almost every day.

Good luck stopping if you get started.

Fallen Star

2009-12-13T07:36:00.001-08:00

In 1996 Tiger Woods held his first press conference and the first words out of his mouth were, "well hello world I guess." It sounded cute, new, and refreshing. The next day the first Tiger Woods Nike commercial aired and the first words out of his mouth were,"hello world" showing us that way back then he was nothing more than a product of a marketing scheme.

I have admired Tiger since he started playing professional golf and he is in LARGE part the reason I bought golf clubs in 1998. I golfed a bit in high school but more recently got back into the game. Watching golf, especially Tiger, is one of my favorite things to do. As the events have unfolded over the past two weeks I must say I am no longer a Tiger fan, and it kills me.

It's a well known fact that Tiger is very, "foul mouthed" on the golf course and less than professional in his demeanor, but I was always willing to ignore it because he put on such a great show. His true colors have surfaced now and when he returns from his recently announced indefinite hiatus from golf, I will no longer be cheering for him. I am now a Phil Mickelson fan.

In short, Phil Mickelson has been the second best golfer on the PGA tour for awhile now. His true colors also surfaced this summer when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The love and emotion he portrayed for her an his family was inspiring. We were all behind him when he returned to the course for the U.S. Open. He had the lead on the last day of the tournament and was narrowly overtaken to finish in second place. Tiger finished 6th.

My plans this year to go the Tiger Woods invitational have now taken a back seat to....well anything. I don't care now to spend all of that money now to go see Tiger. I'll watch from home and cheer for Phil. We are a forgiving country basically having forgotten the infidelity of others such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Alex Rodriguez so maybe someday for me Tiger can return in part to his prior status.

The media has done a fantastic job over the years portraying Tiger as family man and perfect gentlemen as he walked as a titan among men on the golf course. But there was no way to cover this one up. It is a sad fact that world's first BILLIONAIRE athlete couldn't find joy in all that he had and has risked throwing it all away on a bunch (9 so far) of bimbos.

The Captain

2009-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

If you are numbering them from left to right, top to bottom. I have flown with all of them except #9. He doesn't really exist anymore.

I am back to Safety Josh for the next two months. I really enjoyed the past two months of flying and will miss being behind the yoke, but who can pass up making their own schedule during the holidays.

The courses are still open if anyone wants to golf over the next two months. I can go anytime.

Politics in the Workplace

2009-11-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

I have never been very outspoken at work regarding "the issues" but I am certain that I am one of the most informed pilots at my company regarding benefits, policy, news etc. I have never voiced my opinion much for a few reasons. One of them is I have never been sure if Skywest will be my final career resting place. Making a fuss about things always seemed kind of pointless if I would be leaving here in a relatively short amount of time. Well, things may have changed.

If you look at my left sidebar you can see a couple of my dream jobs. SLC corporate job, and Netjets. Netjets is a great company that many have never heard of. In brief, it is fractional airline owned by Warren Buffet/Berkshire Hathaway where the wealthy buy shares of private jets that are at their disposal at the snap of their fingers. The company has been EXTREMELY successful and has lot of money and airplanes on order. Their pilots are well compensated with outstanding benefits. The bad news is they just announced the furlough (layoff) of 500 pilots in January due to a decline in business.

With hiring stalled in the aviation industry, this means I will be staying here at Skywest for many more years, and possibly forever. Don't get me wrong, I have always considered Skywest as a career but now this may be the most viable option. So my question to all of you dedicated readers of my blog is...

How political are you at work?

When company memos come out about this and that do you let management know how you feel? How about your peers and co-workers? How informed do you keep your family? Here at Skywest MANY big things have happened lately. Severe slashing of medical benefits, stock, and travel privileges to name a few. Also, there has been some good news with new flying contracts and a little growth with potentially more. We are making a good profit as a company as well. The problem is many are seeing our moderate success come at the expense of us, the employees, and there is a push for our pilots to unionize.

Skywest is one of the few airlines left in the country without a union. Our company wants to keep it this way and I believe much of our success has come because we don't have a union. But when does management push it too far? How much difference would a union even make? I personally think a union is just a "grass is greener on the other side" notion but I may be wrong.

I want to hear your opinions about how verbal to be at work and whether or not it has made it a better or worse environment. I am very content being informed, but not outspoken keeping my thoughts and opinions to the private ballots. Although now I may need to rethink this tactic seeing that this may be my lifetime employer and my family and I need to have confidence in being well cared for.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

John Curtis, Provo Mayor

2009-11-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

It was a fun night with a very good ending. John started a bit behind, but that was expected the with the way the precincts report. When the numbers had come even with only the precincts in John's neighborhood left to report we knew he had won.

He worked so hard and if this is any indication of the kind of Mayor he will be Provo is in for a treat. He came from ground zero to defeating a 20 year Utah politician. He managed to keep focused on the issues and run a clean campaign. Congratulations Mayor!

John Curtis Wins Provo Primary!

2009-09-15T21:58:00.001-07:00

My father-in-law, John Curtis, took Provo by storm today and won the Provo primary election for Mayor by 201 votes over his closes opponent. As we watched the precincts lighting up John was slightly behind until the last part of Provo reported and he took the lead.

When I've been out helping him campaign, one of the questions people ask me is,"Why are you helping him?" I give the honest answer first and tell them I am his son-in-law, but then I give my real answer.

"Because I think he is one of the smartest guys in the world"

John really is brilliant with people, business, and he has an instinct for things I have never seen anyone else have. It was a lot of fun to see him be successful tonight and my hope is that he continues strong and wins. Provo would really be missing out if they didn't elect John as Mayor.

With the primary election now over, there are over 1,000 votes out there tonight that neither John nor his opponent, Steve Clark, received. This is going to be a busy six weeks for the John Curtis campaign but nobody will work harder than he does. I guarantee that. Tell everyone you know in Provo to get out and vote for him. It's going to be a very tight race.

He really is the best. I've never been more sure of any politician in my life: http://www.johncurtis.org/

One Reason to Have a Mac. imovie.

2009-09-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the amateur movie I made of Jett's arrival into our lives:

What's in a Name?

2009-08-27T06:53:00.001-07:00

Our First Picture

Jett Joshua. Kirsten loved this name when I told her about a friend who had name his 3rd boy Jett. I liked it too because it met my criterion for a good name. Short, easy to say, and not to be confused with a girl. The jet airplane didn't really even cross my mind although I know the connotation with his name and my job will always exist. Here is some information on the name Jett:

The US keeps track of the most popular 1,000 names each year for boys and girls. Jett last year was #529 sandwiched between Rohan and Kieran. Roughly 2,064 boys were named Jett last year. The word "jet" originates from an ornamental stone mined in east asia that was a very deep black color. That is where the term "jet black" comes from. Hopefully Jett's hair will go dark to match his name. One baby book also had his name meaning as "freedom" which I really liked.

So there you have him. He is awesome. Almost 24 hours old and changing by the minute. As I get to know him more I see us in him. Kirsten's blog will go over more of the details of August 26th. From his father though, there is nothing like it I have ever seen or experienced. What a little stud.

2009-08-22T13:32:00.001-07:00

I start this blog post a bit hesitant because I believe I will offend somebody, but when I come around to my point you will see that I really shouldn't care. I bet there are probably a zillion blog posts about blogging, but I want to make a statement about it. What I love about blogs is the chance to hear something different from somebody. It's somewhere to speak your mind and nobody is there to directly respond to your face. This is what I love about blogs. I like reading peoples thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Very soon we are going to have a baby and I have a fear. I fear that my blog, or Kirsten's, will turn into what I call a "kid" blog. One of those blogs where all you ever read about is the kids. There are pictures of kids, quotes from kids, movies of kids and it goes on. Before you get your motors going let me say I think blogs are a great way to put these pictures and stories out for families to read. There really are people who REALLY want to see updated pictures of the kids and know how they are doing. This is probably the best method of getting that information out there. I want to do this too, but maybe on a "different" blog. The one that maybe we will make "private" so only the chosen people can see my kids and hear about what they are doing.

Blogging is not an every day event for me, or even a monthly event at times. I only blog when I really feel like sharing something and I like it this way. There is no pressure to have to blog or post pictures. It may surprise some of you how often I read your blogs and how much I enjoy hearing your thoughts and ideas. Please, give me more of them. Go outside the box and say something you normally may keep to yourself. I love it.

Safety Josh!

2009-08-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new position this week with Skywest that alternates with my flying. Kirsten came up with a name for me when I found out I was awarded the position. From time to time I am now known in our home as Safety Josh. For the next two months I will be doing safety audits on SkyWest flights. I have a 21 page checklist that goes over each and every one of our procedures for both pilots and I check them off as they go through our routine on each flight. So for all of you out there who think pilots do nothing but watch the plane fly, imagine 21 pages of items I am checking off on each flight.

My schedule will indefinitely alternate from auditing back to flying every two months. I wanted this position for a few good reasons:

#1 - I make my own schedule. Can you imagine this? I literally go to work whenever I want during these two months and just pick random flights to audit as long as I meet my quota of 32 audits in a month. This means I will be home for junior's arrival and will be making my own hours for about a month after he is born. Plus on my rotation I get Christmas off.

#2 - I am a very junior pilot therefore if Skywest had to make any cuts, I am one of the first to go. This fall we will be heavy on staffing so by me not flying for a couple of months I'm helping my own cause by slightly reducing staffing.

#3 - My backup plan in the event that I do ever get laid off is to try and go to work for the FAA (thanks Nic). Who doesn't want a government job with government benefits? Well, I don't but it's a pretty good backup plan. The auditing I will be doing is basically exactly what an FAA safety inspector does full-time so it's a good resume builder.

Here is the kicker. What do you think of when you think of an auditor? Maybe someone like the guy pictured above? I know that when I show up to the plane the pilots will not be happy to see me. This facet of the job (not being liked) will take some getting used to and hopefully I will be able to explain to the pilots that I am auditing our procedures and not so much them.

So wish me luck on my new endeavor. I have no idea how this is going to work out yet. Have no fear, Safety Josh is here.... ;)

A Serious Blog Post: Adoption Part 2

2009-07-17T21:56:00.001-07:00

Okay almost nobody has read my last post (what's new) but I am going to put this up now anyway. They are a speck of my personal thoughts and opinions about being adopted.

I think that these kids on the show were very smart. Much smarter than they looked :) and obviously much smarter than their parents the jailbird and crack-addict. I thought the boy actually had a very good head on his shoulders and supported her well in helping her go through with the brilliant idea of adoption.

Now, here is what I know about my birth parents: Basic medical history, ethnic background, appearance, hobbies, and personalities. I have 1 paragraph on each of them. I have no location, names, birthdays (although I know she was 19 and he was 18) or anything else like that. For me, this was perfect. I grew up knowing my entire life that I am adopted and my parents always made me feel special for it. I have never once felt any different than anyone else.

It would be like someone telling you that you were in a coma the first year of your life. Okay, but you don't remember that and it really has no affect on you now. What difference does it make? What I am getting at is that in this show they made it seem like they had to attach the baby to BOTH families with pictures, letters, etc. Now, I can't imagine what it would be like to be the PARENTS giving the baby up for adoption. That is definitely the more difficult end of this situation. What I know is I am grateful that I didn't have to deal with confusion in my life about who my "REAL" parents are. I know who they are. Marilyn and John, the people who took me home and to whom I was sealed. I will always remember the people that brought me into this world and will draw from their strength. But from my personal experience, I am grateful for a closed adoption.

I'm sure, positive in fact, that others out there who have open adoptions love them. Maybe they can see their birth parents on occasion and get letters and they love that. PERSONALLY, I have NEVER felt the need to know anything other than what I know about my birth parents. I am so grateful they decided to just go with a clean cut. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for them. I think about giving away our dog and it about kills me.

What I am grateful for in this show is that they showed how great adoption is. It will change the new parents lives forever. Their Father in Heaven provided them with their greatest blessing in a way that they never would have expected, just like he did for me. HE can take a mistake two young people made, and turn that life into a blessing.

A Serious Blog Post: Adoption Part 1

2009-07-17T21:39:00.001-07:00

Would never watch this show, but I did

Sitting in my hotel room in Phoenix, Kirsten calls me and tells me I need to watch online the season finale of a show on MTV called "16 and pregnant." I kind of rolled my eyes knowing the kind of shows she likes i.e. John and Kate, bachelor, and here come the newly-weds etc... But she told me this show would be good for me to watch because this young couple were the only teenagers on the show this year that decided to give their baby up for adoption. So I watched it.

If you really want to know about the meat of what I sense my next few blog posts will be about maybe you should watch this show too. MTV.com. - shows - 16 and pregnant with Caitlin and Tyler.

In case you do not know, I am adopted. I was adopted as a baby (11 days old) through LDS social services. Although this seems like a pretty personal subject I have never thought twice about talking about the subject with anyone even though I realize they like to tip-toe around the questions they ask me. Watching this show was the maybe the first time I felt some strong opinions about adoption and it got somewhat personal.

So watch the show if you want while I gather some thoughts on my adoption to share with the world on this blog. I will post more later.

Housing Market Has Hit Bottom

2009-06-16T17:56:00.001-07:00

I am making an official declaration that the bottom of the housing market has arrived. At least in Utah be not mistaken if you are thinking about getting into a home do it quickly. After figuring out that we needed to hire an agent, because we couldn't get to the homes fast enough, we have discovered that even with an agent things have turned.

We have tried to make offers on numerous houses in the last month and all of them have been beat with offers greater than the asking prices. I just sent a list of 6 new homes we were interested in to our agent and she called me back saying they all have offers higher than the asking prices, which puts them out of our price range. Now I know we can still make offers in case the others fall through and we have some out there, but they are just too low.

Interest rates have also come way up in the past month hurting our price range. So if you want to buy here in Utah do it quickly while you can still find something, get a good rate, and take advantage of the incentives while they are here. This is turning into a nightmare for us.

Texting, Get With The Times.

2009-05-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

My phone - enV2 by LG

I was once in the dark. Before we moved to Arizona a couple of years ago, I never sent text messages. I was one of those people that said, why would I text when I can just call? It's stupid! Well, I was stupid and yes to all of my friends out there who are still in the dark you are stupid too and need to start texting.

I was required to text at my job in Az and it changed my life. You can send a few words up to space and back in a few seconds and get a very important message across with no hassle. I can also tell my wife I love her at any second of the day for no particular reason without having to call while we are both at work. Why call when you can just send a quick, "golf tomorrow?" and get a simple,"you bet" or "no can do."

One of the concerns people have is the price. If you don't get unlimited text on your plan than 10 cents per text can add up. Or you just pay $5 per month and you can text without limit to anyone you want on any network. It saves lots of minutes. I also get to use chacha or text in to radio stations when I hear about coupons they will send you in return. Texting is much more of an investment than it is an expense.

I hate texting with a normal keypad so I got one of these fancy flip open phones with a keyboard. It was free like most phones are when you upgrade or get a new plan. Now I don't know how I would live without it. So please, for my sake, and you know who you are get with the times and start texting!

Remember Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Grateful for this day.

Home Away from Home - Hotels

2009-05-01T09:49:00.001-07:00

Many Hotels

With all of my hotel staying experience, I thought I would offer a bit of advice about living life while away from home.

First thing is first. Which hotel do I choose? Most of you will probably say, the cheapest. In this economy I would agree with you. I never pay for my room so I don't know which is cheapest but if price is equal and you really need to choose' here is what I have to say.

There are 3 main hotel companies I will mention. Holiday Inn, Marriott, and Hilton. I won't be covering the Red Lion or Motel 6 or other hotels like them. Each of these three own many different hotel properties that do business under different names so make sure you realize that Crown Plaza is really Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn is really Hilton etc.

Best rewards program goes to....Marriott hands down. The points add up fast and about 1/2 of our hotels let me count Marriott points even though the company is paying and not me. It's a fairly easy system to understand and works well. All 3 hotel companies above have rewards programs.

Best location goes to.... Holiday Inn. They have so many different properties you are sure to find one in the area you are looking for so if you are a frequent hotel sleeper and want convenience of location you may want to dedicate yourself to the Holiday in program.

Best rooms goes to....Hilton. Best beds, bathrooms, tvs, and pillows and overall amenities.

So there are some pros about all 3 but the very best hotel to stay in out of all the properties and sub-properties of the companies is....The Embassy Suites by Hilton. It's like a little palace. They always have an indoor oasis, free cooked to order breakfast and free nachos at night, every room is a very nice suite with a fridge and microwave, nice gym and pool area, and a flat screen big tv. Again, I don't know what the cost is but this place is the best and I have to admit it even though Paris Hilton doesn't deserve any of it.

Embassy Suites, you can't see the other room with another tv

More advice for hotels and things to consider:

- Price, free internet, free breakfast, location, shuttle services, vacancy (how busy is it), refrigerator/freezer, microwave, gym

- Almost always the fancier the hotel, the less amenities you get. Nice Marriotts = no free breakfast no free internet. Cheaper Marriotts like Courtyard usually have free breakfast and free internet. Ironic isn't it.

- Take the shampoo and soap. You can get a nice collection going.

- Push down the valve after you are done taking a shower so the water goes to the bath spout before you try and turn off the water. I have burned myself and frozen myself before in the shower because there are so many stupid ways to turn, push, and pull the knob to turn off the water. If you get it coming out the the bath spout first you won't go through that.

- If you are staying more than a day unpack and use the drawers. There is a lot of space in the rooms surprisingly.

- Lock your door with the dead bolt! Many many times I have had room service come in my room without me knowing they were coming.

- Have a designated place for your room key .

- Use the safe if there is one you never know how dishonest people can be, but don't forget your code.

- Leave the do not disturb sign on your door unless you want it cleaned.

- I Don't know about you but I don't use the robe in the closet...

- Crack a window (if you can) for fresh air even it it's really cold.

- Skip over and do not stop on HBO and Showtime after 9 p.m. It will shock you what may be on. Very bad.

- Don't trust wake-up calls. Set your cell phone and the alarm clock. I don't even get wake-up calls anymore.

- Use the towels. Many of them if you would like that's what they're there for. Don't feel guilty about the conserve water signs. I don't. I like a fresh towel and knowing it is as clean as possible.

- If you are gone a lot, get a laptop with a webcam so you can see your family.

- I don't leave a tip in the room, and don't know anyone that does. I do tip the shuttle driver.

There are many more things I have learned that I know I will think of later. I actually like hotels in general, but one day I imagine I will get sick of them. Please if you have any questions for me about hotels ask. I feel like an expert. Good luck in your travels.

Where Will Amazing Happen? - Deron Williams

2009-04-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

There are only a few people in this world who understand how much the Jazz affect my life. When they win, I can fall asleep easily and enjoy my rest. When they lose, I get so frustrated and really have a hard time sleeping as I think about turnovers and missed foul shots. The Jazz really are a part of me.

They landed the 8 seed this year which is not good. They struggled the last part of the season and slumped all the way to the bottom meaning they will be playing the Lakers in the first round. Not good. Nevertheless, I am excited to watch NBA playoff basketball. I think it's the best entertainment on tv.

If you remember my Jazz post from last year I think I now deserve a spot on the Jazz scouting roster. We still need to lose Boozer and start Millsap! Boozer is worthless to me. Deron Williams is probably now my favorite Jazz player ever, although it's tight with Jeff Hornacek.

These commercials the NBA puts on for the playoffs are incredible. The combo of the slow-mo, music, black and white, and great highlights really gets you excited. I love the D-Will clip. If you want to see the rest just go to Youtube and type in,"where will amazing happen -NBA." The Lebron James clip is probably my favorite but there are a ton of great ones.

We Could Have Had A Mitt...

2009-04-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

My mother-in-law gave me one of life's great experiences today. She invited me to attend with her a small meeting at the Rose Wagner theatre in downtown Salt Lake entitled, "A Conversation about the future" with Senator Bob Bennett and Governor Mitt Romney. Doug Wright, an awesome local radio show host, also emceed the event. There were about 400 or 500 people in the theatre as the two of them simply answered questions regarding the future of our nation.

We sat on the 4th row listening to these two men explain to us what is happening in America, and more particularly in Washington. I didn't know much about Bob Bennett before today, except that he is old and has been in the Senate for a very long time. He sounded very wise to me, and I felt like the things he said taught me a lot. Seeing and listening to Governor Romney was to say the least, inspiring. All of the grief he took from people saying he looks too polished and too"presidential" had some substance behind it to me after he came on stage. The man didn't have a misplaced hair or a wrinkle in his suit and the glare off his shoes was almost blinding. What's so great though is that he is as polished intellectually as he is physically.

Bob Bennett

They talked about taxes, card check, the difference between democrats and republicans, energy in Utah, and if any of them would be running for president in 2012. Mitt did a good job side-stepping that one but my gut said he is definitely considering it. After listening to them for an hour, you wondered, I mean really wondered what America was thinking putting Obama in the White House instead of Mitt Romney. Senator Bennett gave a great explanation as to what our new president's biggest problem is. Experience, basically that he has none. Let me try and paraphrase how he put it.

"Our new president is like the smartest kid in a university class that sits on the front row and takes all the notes and when the lecture is over has the ability to teach it back to the class even better than the professor did. The problem is he has no idea where the information came from, and no real world experience like the professor may have. Garbage in, garbage out. It's obvious his advisers are the ones at the white board telling him what to say, and he comes out and puts into beautiful words what they told him, but it's all wrong an he doesn't know it."

Doug Wright

Despite our current situation, both men were optimistic for the future of our country. Mitt took President Reagan's old saying "It's Morning in America" that our best days are STILL ahead of us. The feeling we all had when the meeting ended was incredible and it just makes no sense that Romney is not our president. Two days after Super Tuesday when Mitt suspended his campaign, Doug Wright said on his radio show that one day we would look back and say, "We could have had a Mitt." After that meeting, I will be thinking about that phrase for a long time. Hopefully in 2012, we still can have a Mitt.

If There Was A Fire, What Would You Grab?

2009-03-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Alex Rodriguez Upper Deck SP rookie card. My most valuable.

My cards. You don't understand how much my baseball cards mean to me. I started my collection when I was 8 years old when my dad bought me my first stack of cards from a flee market. I remember I had a Steve Garvey which was my best card. I rearranged those 50 or so cards over and over and admired them. It became a much bigger deal later on in life.

I collected a bit from ages 8 to about 10 but then I actually got serious around 14. I mean serious. I started looking at cards as investments and I would find card shows all over the state to try and go buy the cards I wanted. When I went to see my dad in California, I would research the baseball card shows in the Sacramento area and we would go to them so I could find my cards. Now I wonder how I did this research without the internet, but I do remember these shows used to be advertised in Becket magazine, and at times in the paper.

Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card. My first negotiated card.

It was at these shows as a 14 year old I first learned to negotiate. The value of the card was determined by Becket, but everything was negotiable. I was so proud of myself when I could knock 10 or 20 dollars off the price of the card from a dealer. I spent every dollar I earned and all birthday and Christmas money on baseball cards for at least a year. I estimate I spent around $1000 and according to Becket had about $4000 worth of cards. Now I could never sell them for that much today, but that's what the book says.

I always thought how much money I would get one day from all of my investing. Sadly, I picked the wrong era to be collecting. For some reason my cards haven't gone up in value like other have in the past, but my boxes and boxes of cards hold much more sentimental value.

Now this. Are you kidding me! I ran across these "cards" when checking out at the store the other day. I really hope people don't buy Obama cards, ever. Hannah Montana cards are cute for little girls I guess but these cards struck a bad cord in me. What kind of stats are shown on the back of the cards? Taxes raised, scandals, experience in the senate, times voted "present"? This guy really is more of a celebrity than a leader...

Funny Video You Must Watch

2009-03-24T18:21:00.001-07:00

As nervous as I am in the world right now with my job, the economy, our new President who I am not very impressed with, and the Jazz, this guy sheds a funny light on what we have. Like he said, "Everything is amazing, nobody is happy."

MAC

2009-03-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading Kirsten's blog, you know about our dilemma. We made a decision and went with Mac. Here is what I have learned so far:

Pros:

This computer is a very cool computer. It has bells, whistles, and gadgets I have never seen before and I am very impressed with them. It's user friendly and I haven't had a lot of trouble learning things. I really like this computer and want it to work for me.

Cons:

It was like a million dollars for starters and I'm learning more and more money needs to be dumped into this computer to set everything up the way you need it. The world has not yet received Mac into open arms. I can't open my old documents, unless of course I buy Microsoft Office for Mac. Correction, I can open them, I just can't change them or save them. Tricky. I can't save anything on my external hard drive, unless I convert it so it works for my Mac. Here is the kicker. I went on my company website to do some online training that is required, and it won't open. I called tech support at my company and they plain said they don't support Mac and have no plans to accommodate Mac users so I cannot use my company website which is a VERY BIG problem. I have been told by a few people that I could probably solve all this if I just put windows on my Mac, which costs $, and by the software so I can go back and forth from windows, more $, and buy a Mac external hard drive, more $. I can't imagine what else I will need to buy down the road. I like the computer, but I'm coming to the end of my rope with it and may have to return it. I have 12 days to make the decision.

Thoughts...

A Side of Josh You May Not Know

2009-03-07T09:22:00.001-08:00

I have compiled a list of words that I really like; professionalism, etiquette, polite, grateful, chivalry, responsible, respectful, formal, considerate, traditional, attentive, reverent, and civil. I am a very big fan of business-like and formal settings. Job interviews for example are exciting for me and I take them very seriously. I also take my job very seriously. When you are expected to do something, you do it right and you do your very best. When somebody does something for you, they should be acknowledged and feel your appreciation. I know one of the reasons I loved my mission so much is because it is an environment that requires you to put forth the very best character traits you posses. I was a rule keeper, and maybe a bit too harsh of one at that. If I could go back, I would relax a little bit on how strict I was to the rules, but not much.

This "trait" comes straight from my mom. She is very etiquette oriented, and she raised me in such an environment where I am comfortable in these situations. I was taught to give a very hard handshake as far back as I can remember and to look people in the eye when I am speaking, or being spoken to. Whenever I received a gift, I was immediately writing the "thank you" note the minute the excitement of the gift wore off. The first wedding reception I went to with my mom she taught me that you NEVER say congratulations to the bride, only the groom because he is to be congratulated for succeeding in his courtship with the bride. Basically he won the prize, and she accepted. The bride is to be given "best wishes" or something along those lines. Somehow though my mom is able to be one of the most fun, energetic people I know with literally hundreds of friends, while at the same time being one of the most respected and successful people I know.

I have always been impressed with oriental people. When I worked flying tours over the Grand Canyon we had a lot of oriental tourists. They were by far the most polite, gracious, and considerate people I have ever met. They would get in their seats right away, pay attention to my safety briefing, and always say thank you when the flight was over. I believe their culture rooted deep in traditions has made them very courteous people. People like being appreciated, even if they won't admit to it.

Sometimes I am afraid that when my kids start growing up I'm going to be too hard on them with things like this and that I won't just let them be kids. My patience often runs fairly thin when working with kids and it's hard for me to believe they can get away with acting the way they do. I do realize though, we are all our own unique people and have our personalities and I'm going to have to grow another layer of skin to get through some situations.

I know there are many of you out there, few of which I'm sure read my blog, that know me as a goof, and I am a goof. I am grateful for those of you that can let me drop my guard and act like an idiot at times. It's a compliment to you and it shows that I am very comfortable around you but in the real world I may be a bit different and you may run into this Josh at some point. Don't be scared I'm still here, but you have been warned.

Check, Double Check, Then Check Again...

2009-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

We went to have our taxes done yesterday and after going over our federal return and 3 state returns (CA, AZ, UT) we owed about $200 in taxes. I couldn't believe it. This was the first time in my life I would have to pay taxes come April 15th! I thought it out over and over how we made so little, Kirsten is a student, we moved from out of state, and we were still paying taxes? Here is the lesson; As I was going through all the forms signing them this morning, I found what I had been looking for. A monster error.

I called our preparer and she deeply apologized. That error turned into about a $2000 swing for us. Now we are getting back a nice return. It's a pretty common phrase in aviation, but just to reiterate it to everything in life; check, double check, then check again. It may save your life, or your bank account.

27 Years Old

2009-02-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

SkyWest Brazilia

I am old. I've come to accept this. My grandmother always told me you are still young until you turn 25, then your body starts to age instead of grow giving me nothing to look forward for all my future birthdays. In my 27 years of life, this was probably the best birthday I have ever had.

Kirsten surprised me by flying us down to St. George on Skywest's Brazilia prop-jet. I've never flown this plane, but it's an amazing machine and would love to possibly fly it one day. The flight to St. George from Salt Lake is about an hour. Once we arrived a very good family friend picked us up at the airport and gave us his car for the day. We drove about 15 minutes from the airport to make our 9:40 tee time at Sunbrook Golf Course. This was the nicest course I had ever played on. The fairways were forest green and the scenery was spectacular.

I golfed 18 holes with a cart, my new birthday golf bag, and new Christmas golf shoes. It had been a couple of months since I had golfed and there was quite a bit of rust to knock off the first 9 holes but things later smoothed out. It was a very pleasant 55-60 degrees under partly cloudy skies. The current weather in Salt Lake was not quite as pleasant. We had an awesome day in St. George and caught a 3:00 flight back to Salt Lake where my awesome day would continue.

My favorite restaurant in the world is Tucano's. If you have been there, or somewhere similiar to it like Rodizio's, then you have had the pleasure of experiencing the type of food I ate for 2 years on my mission in Brasil. Most all of the food you see there comes from southern Brasil where I served. I stuffed myself in the presence of my wife, mom, grandma, and good family friend Dave, the most important people in my life.

view from my suite seat

The last part of my great birthday came as a surprise. Kirsten and I had finished dinner and were driving back to Provo when her friend Marissa called and told us she had a couple of extra free tickets to the Jazz/Mavericks game, in a suite!!! So we did a 180 in Lehi and Headed back for the Jazz game. I sat in this huge suite with food and drinks and watched from my first row/balcony suite seat as the Jazz handely defeated the Mavericks. Deron Willams scored 30 plus points and I was cheering my brains out.

in the suite

Thank you Kirsten for the best birthday of my life. You manged to touch on all the things I love in one very full, awesome day.

Josh Krason (Dad)

2009-02-18T09:05:00.001-08:00

Top = me, not pregnant (surprise): Middle =Kirsten pregnant: Bottom = Kirsten definitely pregnant

I did not believe the test the first time Kirsten took it. I thought it was way to early for her body to know whether or not she was pregnant. So I made here take two more tests the next morning, and I took one just to see that we did it correctly and that it didn't always tell you you're pregnant although the instructions are pretty simple :) To my surprise, I was not pregnant, and Kirsten definitely was.

I sat on the toilet waiting for that last test to flash and when it stopped on "pregnant" my eyes widened and a slew of emotions set it. After sorting them all out what I feel I am left with is I am very, very excited to be a dad. Like Kirsten said in her post there is a lot to describe but the bottom line is we feel like we waited to start our family until it felt "right" to us, and we are going to do our best. Taking care of a very sick wife has been difficult only in that at times there really is nothing I can do to help her. I just have to watch and listen, and dodge box cutters.

Boy or girl, this child will be loved by it's mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and proxy aunts and uncles (friends). I'm thankful to have good friends who are well into parenthood to give me the advice I need. It's funny how much your thinking changes when the reality of a family starts to set in. Certain goals and priorities change, and things that you may have taken for granted become cherished. I can only imagine how much more they will change once the child is born.

Baby Krason waving hello

The Purpose of this Blog

2009-01-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

All the money to the CEOs

When I began this blog only one post came to mind. It's the one you are about to read. If there is anything I wanted the world to read about on my behalf it is this. I have waited until this exact date to write this post. Please, if you have a minute, read this post but feel no pressure to comment. I just want to get this information out to clear up some confusion.

Disclaimer: I love my job. I mean really love it. There is nothing else on earth I can imagine doing. I wake up in the morning excited to go to work. It may not seem that way in the upcoming paragraphs but it's the truth.

For years articles have been published about airline pilots pay and lifestyle. Even today I read an article on MSN that being a pilot is the number one job in the country that gives you the most pay for the least amount of hours working. This is bogus. I was gone working in the month of July 316 hours and many nights and was paid for 86 of them. Read on to learn more.

In the 60s and 70s it was said that if you were a pilot you could buy a Cadillac every week and it was probably true. Pilots made great money then but the difference today is the consumer. In that era flying was a privilege whereas today people think it is a right. They have come to expect cheap fairs and frequent flyer miles. I am okay with this. Let the market work itself out and people will pay what they have to pay. The problem I have, is the airline is not compensating what it needs to its pilots.

Flying in this stuff isn't so fun

Airline pilots are very open about their pay and the reason is it stinks and it's non-negotiable. Let me rephrase that; it stinks for too long and it's non-negotiable. In most jobs you sit down and discuss salary when you are hired. Pilots do not have that liberty. Airline pay is a posted HOURLY number that you have no control over. Yes we are paid by the hour just like you were when you bagged groceries or delivered pizza. It gets worse though. You are only paid for FLIGHT time. You are not paid when you clock in and start checking weather, flow times, maintenance issues, or anything else. You are only paid from the time the plane pushes back from the gate to the time when you stop at the gate at your destination. In other words for example; the pilots get to the plane and during our first tests we find something is wrong. We spend the next 3 hours trying to fix it with maintenance. Guess how much we got paid for all that work. $0.

The average pilot works approximately 80 hours per month. The most we can LEGALLY work is 100 hours in a month. That's about 80 hours less than the average Joe but flying near 100 hours in one month creates a lot of fatigue which makes you less safe. Here is the formula you would find in the book hourly pay for dummies; Take the hourly rate and times it buy the amount of hours worked (flown). So here we go. My first year working at Skywest, flying airplanes capable of holding 90 people flying at altitudes 30,000 ft and higher in the ice, rain, snow, wind, and at night into mountainous areas paid me, looking right at my W2......$17,629.54. I would have made more had I kept working at Pizza Hut full time.

On Strike

Our pay has been fought about for years and years along with other things. We really can never win. Lucky for me Skywest is among the best regional paying airlines after the first year but it's still low. Other airlines stay low for a very long time. You could work for 10 years and stil be around $30,000 anually at some companies. So why do we do it? Like I said before, because we love it. It's the best job in the world. In the past it paid and many wanted to be pilots for the pay alone. Today you better not get into this job for the pay or you will be sorely surprised. The big cuts came right after Sept 11, 2001. After that most pilots took about a 45% pay cut industry wide, and we haven't seen any of it come back.

To become a pilot today it costs between $50,000 and $150,000 depending on how you train to earn all of your flight ratings and aquire the necessary flight time to be qualified for an interview with an airline. This cost does not include any kind of college tuition. If you want a degree in aviation you have to fork out tuition and book money just like any other college program so factor that in. Imagine taking that much money out on loan and then trying to pay it back with the salary I described. Not to mention the intense testing, training and interview process you go through.

The Skywest interview is like most airlines. You start with a 50 question written test including FAA regulation questions, aerodynamics, mechanical aptitude, weather, etc. If you pass your test you take a simulator evaluation where your flying is critiqued and must be held withing certain standards. If you pass your sim ride you get your technical interview with aviation charts and basically anything aviation related is game. This face to face oral evaluation lasts between 30 minutes and and hour and a half. Then you get your human resources interview to finish you off. After all of this you know nothing. They send you home without a smile or a clue. 2 weeks later you get an envelope giving you class date to come to training, or a thanks but no thanks. If you are hired, you then have the next 2 months of training to prove yourself in ground school and simulators with various tests again proving you can keep your job. All this to start out with $17,629.54.

Airplane Simulator

To fight fair I will say that once you UPGRADE from a first officer to a Captain, your pay increases substantially. The biggest problem with that right now is what affects your upgrade time is the ECONOMY. Their needs to be atrition, growth, and job creation for pilots to be given the chance to upgrade and right now there is none of this. I would argue there are few industries in the country affected as much by the state of the economy as aviation. People won't fly when they don't have any spare change. So poor pilots will remain poor pilots until we turn things around in our country.

So remember the next time you get on a plane that the pilot flying you may be supporting their family off of food stamps. It's a sad truth. It's not the consumers fault though. Part of it is even the pilots fault. I mean we agreed to fly for our wages don't we? We just don't have power to ever fight back when we are getting started.

So here's to me. Happy January 28th 2009! The day I left poverty!

U.S. Airways in the Hudson

2009-01-21T08:38:00.002-08:00

I have had quite a few people ask my opinion about what happened with U.S. Airways flight 1549. I think the media has done an excellent job of giving the flight crew the credit that they deserve, and it was a miraculous outcome. I only have a little insight I can provide you with about what this crew did.

Before every takeoff, while still at the gate, the pilot who will be flying that leg gives a safety brief to the other pilot about the action they will take if for any unforseen reason you lose ONE of the engines. Since I have been flying jet aircraft, I have never briefed what to do in the event that we lost BOTH engines. The odds of that happening are so slim, and in many cases there is just about nothing you can do, that briefing it almost seems pointless. This seemed like one of those cases. The point is, the pilots had about 2 minutes to figure out what to do to save 155 people. Captain Sullenberger quickly realized that he couldn't glide the airplane to an airport and that the Hudson River was the best option. While he was gliding the airplane down, the First Officer was desperately trying to restart the engines but they were too damaged. They made their emergency radio calls, ran checklists as best they could, and told the passengers to brace. What I am saying is they kept calm and did EVERYTHING possible that they could and it all worked.

Notice in the picture above how stable the plane looks. It looks like it's coming in for a normal landing. It's not like in movies where airplanes are out of control and come plummeting to earth in a nose dive. This proves that even if an airplane has no power, it can still fly, but you need a great pilot to fly it the way it looks in that picture. Unbelievable.

I am not extremely familiar with the engines on an Airbus A-320 and their certification with bird-strikes, but I bet something will change. To all of you out there that love me, there is no need to worry. The engines on the airplanes that I fly have never quit due to a bird strike. In every known case the birds have just bounced out. The engines on the CRJ200 that I fly are the same engines that are on the the Warthog military aircraft. That plane is basically a flying tank. The other engines on the CRJ700/900 that I fly come from the F-18 fighter jet. Do not worry, when you are on a Delta Connection, or United Express flight no birds will be taking you down.

That entire flight crew did their job and I am glad to see that they are getting the praise they deserve. Your flight attendants really are more than servers, and the pilots don't just read the USA today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN the magazine (my favorite), or anything else while the autopilot flies. Even when the autopilot is flying, you are FLYING the autopilot and we don't usually turn it on until 18,000 ft or so. Thank you to these fine professionals. A look at their crudentials:

- Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, III
Age 58, joined US Airways (PSA Airlines) in 1980. He has a total of 19,663 flights hours

- First officer Jeffrey B. Skiles
Age 49, joined US Airways (USAir) in 1986. He has a total of 15,643 flight hours.

- Flight attendant, Shelia Dail
Age 57, joined US Airways (Piedmont Airlines) in 1980 and has more than 28 years experience with the airline.

- Flight attendant, Doreen Welsh
Age 58, joined US Airways (Allegheny Airlines) in 1970 and has more than 38 years experience with the airline.

- Flight attendant, Donna Dent
Age 51, joined US Airways (Piedmont Airlines) in 1982 and has more than 26 years experience with the airline.

Thank You Mr. President

2009-01-21T08:38:00.001-08:00

I was in the MTC in Sao Paulo on 9/11. I missed a lot of what many of you felt here in America, but I experienced an entirely different feeling being in a foreign country. I was scared and confused, but I felt much comfort that our country was in the hands of President George W. Bush. He made all of us in the MTC proud to be Americans.

When I came home almost 2 years later, I watched many video clips of the attacks as well as speeches by our President. When I saw clips like this one, where he walks out on the mound, not the base of the mound where most throw out the opening pitch from, in New York City to throw the first pitch of the World Series he was saying, I'm not afraid and you shouldn't be either. He delivered a perfect strike and showed us that he would not be intimidated by terroism, and that he would protect us. For the 7 1/2 years that followed he did.

He has said that he is going to write a book now and try to explain the kinds of decisions he had to make during his tenure. I sincerely hope you and I will read his book and see further into President Bush. He may have been a bit of a goof, but I do believe it was providential that he was the man in the Oval office during these past 8 years. He was the man for the job and he did his job well. Thank You Mr. President.

A Reason to Love Canada

2009-01-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

Okay I feel a couple of posts coming on so here is one of them. A reason to like Canada = all you can eat sushi! It seems like sushi has become a fad lately but I must stand up and say that I truely fell in love with sushi many many years ago. My mom used to bring it home to me from Hawaii on her trips when I was a kid. You must understand my mom in this. That may sound strange to you but my mom almost never cooks or eats normal things. How many people do you know that grew up eating potato-leak soup at least once a week? Mom is a very exotic food cooker and eater and luckily it made me that way too. I get frustrated when I see people who won't eat something because they think it looks disgusting or has some sort of a strange ingredient. Grow up and eat it and you WILL actually like it.

So a pilot friend of mine told me about Richmond Sushi located about 15 minutes walking from our hotel in Vancouver. I braved the rain and cold and walked alone (crew wouldn't come eat sushi) to find my heaven at lunch. I got there 30 minutes before the restaurant opened so I walked around in a store called Canadian Tire. What would you imagine this store sells? Nope not tires. I mean maybe they do somewhere but it was more like a Walmart/small Home Depot. I goofed around trying on hockey equipment and playing with hockey sticks, and knocking them over, until I found the baseball section. Baseball in Canada eh. Notice anything strange about this picture? Look carefully.

All of the baseball mitts are for left-handers. I mean 80% of the gloves were lefty gloves. Is everyone in Canada left-handed? I imagine they don't sell many mitts. The sushi restaurant is located in this sort of oriental strip mall which included a grocery store that I wasted some time in as well. They sold some interesting things...

That's squid alright. They had every kind of seafood (most of it alive) you could imagine. Strange but it all looked really good to me. Finally the time arrived when I could eat my sushi. It was more than amazing. It was blissful. I ate all the salmon, tuna, oysters, Alaska rolls, Cali rolls, Top Gun rolls, and everything I could stuff in me for 30 minutes all for $11.95. I love seafood. Now I really look forward to seeing Vancouver on my schedule. I will be there every time. A wonderful picture of an oyster to leave you with.

Dead Blog

2009-01-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

I realize that my blog has become a bore. I figure though that it's better to write nothing at all than to write boring stuff. Politics has taken a back seat to college football, the Jazz, and lots of flying in not so great weather but none of those really seemed that great to blog about. My Christmas was unique and great. I spent it in Reno with my mom. We had a great dinner and went to see 7 pounds. That's possibly the most depressing movie of all time. Good though. When something blog worthy comes up I'll be sure to let you know.

A Great and Unique Turkey Day

2008-12-02T08:25:00.001-08:00

My Thanksgiving Day was one of the most memorable I have ever had. I was actually in the middle of a 4-day trip at work with people that I had never before met. Our trip landed us in Dallas on Thanksgiving at around 1:00 p.m. and we weren't due to leave until the next day at 1:30 p.m. Dallas just so happended to be the home of our other pilot, Captain Paul Geisselman and his girfriend Clarissa. A few days prior to the trip beginning he has sent emails to the entire crew inviting us to spend Thanksgiving at his home in Dallas.

He picked us up at our hotel drove the entire crew (2 flight attendants, myself, and the husband of one of the flight attendants) to his home about 30 minutes from the Dallas airport. They live in a beautiful neighborhood in a home with a lot of character and style. Kirsten would have loved it. The front door was open when we pulled up to the house and I for one was quite amazed at the sight when we walked in. Let me also tell you that his girlfriend is not a home-maker. She is a successful business woman who according to Paul, never really cooks dinner and had never attempted a turkey let alone a Thanksgiving dinner in all her life. What this woman did for us I will never forget.

The previous day she started her work on this meal for 4 complete strangers away from their homes and continued slaving away when we arrived. The house smelled soooooo good as we stepped in. She had made everything you can think of that belongs at a Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, rolls, pumpkin pie, stuffing, etc... We kept asking if there was anything we could do to help but it was obvious she had a good system going in the kitchen and had it all under control. We sat around the living room enjoying football and appetizers while she continued slaving away. When dinner was served it felt like I was back at home. It was DELICIOUS! We had such a good time together and the real spirit of thanksgiving was present. She had given so much time and effort that was neither expected, nor necessary.

We all hung out for a couple hours after cleaning up letting our food digest and playing with their wonderful pets. Paul drove us back to our hotel and for sure was stuck in traffic on the way home due to an accident we saw going the other direction. It was a big sacrifice on his part as well. There are great people all over this world that we don't know. I feel blessed and lucky to have met two more of them this past week. Even though I wasn't with my family, I'll always be thankful for the Thanksgiving I spent in Dallas with 5 complete strangers.

Fotos para Rosane

2008-11-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

Today I ran into an old mission companion who put me back in touch with a special family in Brasil. These pictures are for that family.

Dia do casamento

Eu na Praia

Nas montanhas com a familia

Eu e minha esposa tirando ferias

Tambem o dia que casamos

Familia da minha esposa

Minha esposa e a cachorra

Eu e minha esposa

Rosane - Espero que voce gostou das fotos. Vou esperar suas noticias com paciencia.

"Captain" Dieter Uchtdorf

2008-11-11T12:02:00.001-08:00

Look hard but that's President Uchtdorf - Quite a sharp looking man for his age (68)

A couple of weeks ago I attended a small gathering at the Provo airport in Utah Valley University's aviation hangar. It was advertised as; Guest Speaker: The former Senior Vice President Flight Operations of Lufthansa Airlines, Dieter Uchtdorf. Also known as President Uchtdorf, the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You had to get tickets well in advance and I thank Kirsten's friend and co-worker, Michael, for getting me a ticket.

There were only about 400 or 500 people present, 95% of which were pilots, so it was one of the more intimate experiences you can have with a member of the First Presidency. Dieter Uchtdorf is formerly the Senior Vice President of Flight Operations of Lufthansa Airlines. If you don't know about Luftanza, that's okay. I'll give you a brief summary:

Lufthansa is a Mega-Airline of Europe with it's headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It's our Delta, United, or American Airlines. They fly to 209 destinations in 81 countries. President Uchtdorf said in his talk that the only countries he never flew to were those located in the South Pacific islands. It's airline pilot program is the most difficult in the world. Hundreds and hundreds of pilots apply and they only take a few. This man was the top dog, in terms of pilots and executives, for one of the largest airlines in Europe, and one of the most elite airlines in the world.

We as a crowd didn't really know what to expect from President Uchdorf in this address in the hangar. He came in smiling and excited to be back in his old environment. As a kid he used to ride his bike to the airport and watch the planes takeoff and that he dreamed of flying. He talked about how he thought learning english was impossible until he found out that english is the international language of aviation and in order to be a pilot you must speak fluent english. Still true today. He quickly found the motivation to learn the language and excelled.
He spoke of the importance of aviation to the world and how it connects countries, cultures, and economics. Then he took a sudden religious turn that many of us were wondering if he would take. "As pilots you must be accepting of all people across the world because you have so much contact with them. We are all children of God, and must see them all that way." He was much more religious in his talk that we expected. I know of at least 3 or 4 people that were there that are not LDS, and I only knew about 7 or 8 people that attended. He announced that the missionaries were at the door if you were not LDS, and sure enough 6 Elders were waiting by the exit, and they would be teaching you the discussions on the way out and you will be baptized. We all had a good laugh.

I can't really put into words so that others can understand how great this experience was for me. Honestly, I can hardly remember what he said. But what I won't forget is how much he related to us, and the feelings we felt as we saw a successful and very accomplished man teach us gospel principles through our common love of aviation. Be not mistaken, this is a very intelligent man of God. Living in Utah, or Provo to be specific, may not seem like a great place to live to some people, but these kind of experiences are not so readily available anywhere else on earth and I am grateful for them.

A very neat thing that he did after concluding his speech was open the hangar floor up to questions. About 50 hands went up in the air when he did this, mine included. I was not chosen to ask the question, but my question was asked by someone else and it was answered. His wife actually took the pulpit for a few minutes to answer the question and described how she felt about the family life for a pilot's wife and children. She loved it and spoke of the many benefits and great things the go along with the lifestyle, but she was quick to admit that not all wives or families felt the same way she did. She is a very independent person, and didn't mind at all the times she was alone. She actully said she enjoyed the alone time being able to do whatever she wanted for sometimes weeks at a time, "And when he came home it was like a honymoon all over again." She sounded a bit like someone else I know :) and that gave me a sigh of relief. What an experience.

President Barack Obama

2008-11-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

Congratulations sir. You have earned the trust of the American people and will lead our nation starting January 20th next year. Even without my support, somehow you gained the confidence of the majority of our country. Now I pray that you don't let us down. The good news for you from me, is that you actually have a bit of a clean slate. I mean, what have you ever done? Here is your chance to start and I will give you a real shot. I do believe you can be a great President and help our nation because you do have the ability to get followers and you have the support of America behind you. Now all you have to do is listen to us and make good, correct decisions. Be careful with this war and please don't bring it home to our shores when you withdraw the troops. Be careful when you tax the businesses that you don't cut jobs and inhibit growth and prosperity for employees. Protect the American family and what we stand for. Encourage self-reliance and don't punish the successful for achieving their dreams. I hope you do find many sources of alternative energy, but I hope you consider drilling for the oil that we depend on now. There is a reason that God put it in the earth. Why not use it? Secure our borders and stop illegal immigration. Be wise when you decide to try and sit down with leaders of foreign nations that you take into consideration what these countries have done to us and how they feel about our freedom. You have my support and I wish you luck.

One undeniable fact is that American history was made tonight. 2-Pac was wrong, I guess we are ready to see a black president. It is exciting to see us make progress in this regard, hopefully we will always continue to move forward in important matters and leave any sort of discrimination behind us. Obama being black was never an issue to me and I don't know of anyone that saw it as an issue to them, but we know that progress has been made in our country.

It's been a long election and even though it didn't turn out exactly how I would have liked, I accept our country's decision. We are still the greatest nation on earth and we can stay that way. There was a great quote I heard in church last Sunday that the Lord needs America and she will not fail. American got the change that I guess it was looking for. Hopefully it's the kind of change we need. Obama gave another one of his "great" speeches tonight and hopefully he will show us the meat he has been speaking about for the past 20 months. I suppose we all have to try and be optimistic and support him on some level. Good Luck President Obama.

p.s. A little speech from William Wallace to keep us motivated...this was a speech with some meat on it.

It's That Time of Year Again

2008-11-03T21:56:00.001-08:00

The Jazz are back and in full force. They have started the season 3-0 and that's without Deron Williams. If you remember a blog post from earlier this year, I had a couple of suggestions for the Jazz. One of them being starting Paul Millsap over Carlos Boozer. Well, I'm not sure if he should start over him, but he should start with him or at least play as many minutes as Boozer. Tonight he proved that.

It was a close game going into the 4th quarter when Boozer went out for a breather and Millsap took over. The Jazz went on a tear from that point on embarrassing the Clippers with a 18-4 run. Millsap finished the game 8-12 with 24 points, nine rebounds, a lot of hustle, and the Morgan Jeweler Diamond Play of the Game when he threw a two-handed dunk down over the Clippers center. The bench for the Jazz actually scored more points than the starters did. I love that about this team. I can get excited when nearly every player checks into the game. It will be dangerous when Deron Williams and Matt Harpring return.

This may actually be Sloan's last year so all you Jazz fans that may be lacking faith better start looking for optimism and find a way to support the Jazz to the title. This may be their best chance. Go Jazz!!!

Utah Attorney General - Mark Shurtleff

2008-10-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Kirsten's family is a wonderful family that is very involved in the community as well as in politics. This election season they have hosted in their home several debates between the candidates for Utah State Senate (Curt Bramble and RaDene Hatfield) and the Utah House (Chris Herrod & Claralyn Hill). Many people have come to these debates and have appreciated learning more about the local politicians taking care of Utah.

Two nights ago they invited the Attorney General of Utah to come to their home for simple cottage meeting. This was not a debate, just a get to know you and ask questions to the man who controls our laws. I didn't get to here the whole thing, but what I did hear I was very very impressed with. This guy knows what is going on in Utah and how to take care of our state. He has been Attorney General in Utah for the last 8 years and has done an awesome job. Here are some of the simple things he started in Utah, that many other states have adopted:

-Amber Alerts: You know what these are. They were started in Utah and have saved lives. You can get them sent to your cell phones now
- crimereports.org: You can see on a map where all reported crimes have taken place on a weekly basis
- idtheft.utah.gov: Finally a place to report and try to settle identity theft crimes
- utahkidsregisry.com: register your computer here, anything remotely pornographic cannot come to your computer
- He has protected our kids more than any other A.G. in any other state and he's tough on the criminals that offend them

He explained things about drugs, alcohol, violence, illegal immigration, and gay marriage with excruciating detail and in a captivating way. It was kind of like listening to an Obama speech except he really knows what he is talking about, has a proven record of good judgment, and talks about laws a programs that make sense, and he doesn't want to take your money. He gave a great explanation on the possible ramifications of proposition 8 in California.

If proposition 8 fails to pass, and gay marriage stays legal in California, here is a likely scenario if a certain aforementioned liberal becomes our new president:

A gay couple gets married legally in California, moves back to their home state of Utah or wherever and for some reason down the road wants a divorce and all of the benefits of splitting assets and tax stuff that goes along with it. They go to the Utah courts where we say we don't recognize your marriage whereupon they sue because there is some law out there that says states must recognize legal contracts made in other states. The gay couple loses the case in Utah and in the appeals process it eventually makes it to the U.S. supreme court where our new president has chosen liberal minded judges who rule in favor of the gay divorce in Utah. Now a domino effect occurs where gay marriage and divorce can become legal everywhere. He then brought up this point: It's the same with polygamy. If the gays win, essentially so do the polygamists in Utah. If marriage is no longer defined between one man and one woman, than a polygamist lifestyle will eventually be accepted as legal as well.

What I like about Mark Shurtleff is that his programs have worked, and haven't cost the citizens of Utah a penny. He does not use tax-payer money but instead raises the money in other ways. He gives everyone his cell phone number to call at any time with questions regarding Utah laws. He deports our illegal immigrants who commit crimes, but much like Rudy Giuliani has cut crime in Utah by allowing the illegal immigrants to report crimes and not be punished for doing so, although he recognizes them as criminals as well. He wants a holding facility for the illegal aliens where we can detain them, for up to 48 hours, and then deport them.

Bottom line with Mark, which is a major difference between he and Obama, is that along with the very good gut feeling I got listening to him speak was that his ideas work, have worked, and really make sense. Vote Mark Shurtleff for Attorney General. Check out his sites.

www.shurtleff2008.com
www.utahag.blogspot.com
www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov

It's Finally Over...For Me

2008-10-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

I voted today. This was the earliest you could vote in our county and I took advantage of it because I may have to work on the 4th. I only waited in line for about 15 minutes, and I had plenty of time to look over the candidates and read about the issues we are voting on. This has been a very, very, very, very, very long election for a lot of us. I ran out of steam just before the last two debates. It got to the point in the last debates that I could have answered McCain's or Obama's ANSWERS with 90% accuracy. I felt like I had heard it all over and over and over again.

Here are some of my conclusions:
- I don't like McCain/Palin very much, but it's much much much better than the alternative
- I'm pretty sure McCain/Palin will lose and it's really going to affect me, and you in a bad way
- The media is very liberal and I can't believe I never picked up on it until this election
- I like talk radio, but I do think some of them go overboard at times
- Most democrats really just want to hand things to people, and eventually turn to socialism
- Most of the election was just politics, not solutions
- I need to learn more about my local politics
- We are still the greatest nation on earth
- much more......

Get out there and vote. If you want to go early in Utah go to leaveyourprint.com and find out where you can go, as long as you registered at least 30 days prior to election day. All you need is your Driver's License. Learn about the issues you will be voting on as well, there are 5 or 6 of them. You will be voting on our State Supreme court members too so get to know them. Admittedly, I didn't know anything about them, so I left that part blank.

I'm glad it's pretty much over for me. My part is done and now all I have to do is watch the results which I'm pretty sure I already know, especially here in Utah. It's not a perfect process (Acorn and Obama!) but think of all the people around the world who wish they could do this, or wish they had the choice whether or not to (forced to vote in Brasil). I am thankful that we have the choice.

Your History

2008-10-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of down time last month so I decided to write a rough draft of my life. It's about 50 pages long and needs lot of editing, but I'm glad that it's started. The only real record of my life I have right now is the two years I spent in Brasil on my mission. I wrote in my journal religiously and am very grateful I have all of those moments recorded. Since then I have not really written down anything and I've realized quite a bit has happened before and after my mission.

If you are like me and you feel that maybe you should have something written down about yourself, but you have written down nothing for almost your entire life, let me offer a couple of suggestions I have found helpful. Break it down into sections instead of or along with telling the story from beginning to end. For example. I have chapters titled; Friends, jobs, houses, family, etc... It's much easier to think of these thing on the same plane rather than jumping through your life and having to explain each detail of how you got there. This way you can write specifics about certain things and more detail will come to you.

Along with that I am writing the broader, and probably more boring, beginning to end version. This helps me remember a lot about my life and what and who has influenced me. I can see what times in my life molded me into who I am, and what I think today. I don't have kids yet, but in a way I feel like this is preparing me. For example I think I realized that I wanted to be a money saver instead of a spender when I was 13 years old, and I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up at the age of 14. My kids I'm sure will all be different, but it helps to nail down when these decisions nailed me.

Realistically, I'll probably never keep a good journal again. This blog may be the closest thing, but at least at every life changing event I may have a new chapter to add, and maybe I'll even have something written down someday that may be meaningful to somebody.

My Office View

2008-09-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

I have thought about posting this for awhile but I just kept getting more pictures. All of these pictures were taken with my phone camera (actually a very good camera) from the cockpit of the planes that I fly. I would argue that no other job, except maybe an astronaut, gives you such outlook on the beauty of our earth than that of a pilot. At times there are things to complain about, but once you are up at altitude looking out on these kind of images you realize how lucky you are.

I have always loved geography, which very much compliments my profession. I love to know where every city I have ever here of is located, what it's population is, and what the climate is like. I often ask the shuttle driver what their city is known for. That way when I meet somebody for the first time and ask them where they are from I already can know something about them. I have surprised a few people in these situations when I ask, " Where are you from?" And someone will respond with, "Muskegon, Michigan it's a small town...." and I interrupt them by saying,"....small town just west of Grand Rapids with a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan and your city is famous for its breweries.

Staring out the window for hours at a time really doesn't even bother me. Flying, especially at dusk or night, are some of the most peaceful and insightful times of my life. These are only a few of many pictures I have taken. God really is amazing. I hope you enjoy them.

p.s. You know you are thinking of the "Crane" kick. Go Karate Kid.

Utah State (USU)

2008-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

USU Campus

As I've watched college football over the past few weeks, I must admit that I am very ashamed of the football team that my alma mater has had over the past...forever. At least I don't ever know of a time when they were any good. BYU routed UCLA and Utah is very impressive this year as well. As much as I would love to see the upset come one year against either of these teams, right now it just looks like it will never happen. Basketball is another story. We are usually better than both those schools, and we usually beat them at home or on the road. USU has a great basketball team and I can't imagine a more exciting place to be on a college campus than in the Spectrum in Logan.

Even if their football team doesn't get any love, I thought I would put out a good word or two regarding this fine institution that seems to always fall in the shadow of "The U" and "The Y". To start, I believe the Utah State campus is the most beautiful campus in Utah. Seriously. Just go take a look if you don't believe me. There is nothing like looking down on Cache Valley with Utah State and the Logan Temple in the picture. The valley is smaller that the Salt Lake Valley or Utah County which makes the mountains seem bigger, and the trees seem to have much more color from one end of the valley to the other. It's one of the prettiest places on earth. I know beauty doesn't make a university, a great school, but here are some little known facts that do:

Utah State University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and has been consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the west.
Utah State University's College of Education and Human Services is ranked among the Top 10 in the U.S.
The Business School is one of the oldest in the country, established in 1896.
USU was ranked as the 6th Best Value in the nation for public education by Consumer Digest.
Utah's Carnegie Teacher of the Year has been awarded to USU faculty six of the last eight years.
Black Enterprise's Ranking of the best colleges for African Americans has noted Utah State University as one of the top choices.
Since 1987 Utah State University ranks first on a per-capita basis for its work in international development.
The U.S. Department of Defense lists USU as 6th largest university contractor; National Science Foundation ranks USU 61st among all universities for grants.
Engineering Education journal lists USU as #1 in the nation for research funds generated per faculty member
According to the most recent National Science Foundation statistics, Utah State University ranked first among all universities in the U.S. in funding for aerospace research.
Utah State University's College of Education and Human Services has been ranked 26th nationally by U.S. News and World Report, and ranks 3rd nationally in research funding. The college contains a wide range of disciplines beyond teacher education, including departments in the fields of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Elementary Education, Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Instructional Technology, Psychology, Secondary Education, and Special Education and Rehabilitation.
Washington Monthly ranks Utah State University in the top 25 public colleges in the nation and among the top 50 public or private universities in America.
USU sends more experiments into space than any other university in the world, and has launched more student-run space experiments than any other university worldwide....

USU Aviation Fleet

Now I think that's a pretty dang good resume for my school, and so should you especially if you are interested in aerospace/aviation (yours truely), education, or business which most people are. So even though I close my eyes whenever I see their football team take the field, I must say I am very proud to have graduated from Utah State. Bottom line, it's the most fun I ever had in my life and it gave me all the tools I will need for my career. Oh yeah and don't forget The Howl. You won't find a more rockin Halloween party in Utah. From now on, I think we should refer to USU as "The State" and give it the love it deserves.

RNC

2008-09-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

I am a conservative Republican. Three years ago if you had asked me a question about my political views I may have just said I was a republican because I did not like abortions, which I didn't know meant that I am pro-life. When I got married and the issues felt like they were finally starting to affect me, I started to chime in. I realized I had to worry about health care, taxes, and the economy for starters. Then Mitt Romney joined the scene about a year and a half ago which really got me excited. At this point I still wasn't really sure what kind of political views I had so I figured that I better start discovering them if I was going to vote for the person that I felt would do the most good. I soon realized that my the conservative way of life I had always lived falls pretty much in line with the conservative and or Republican party. Now I actually liked Mitt Romney because I could really support the issues the way he saw them. I agreed with Mitt on about 95% of his ideas. I support the following: Small government, lower taxes (even for the rich and businesses), conservative social issues on things such as abortion and gay marriage, the war in Iraq, 2nd amendment rights, a free market, stopping illegal immigration whatever it takes, drilling on our land for oil, and a slew of other things in line with the conservative way of thought. I don't disagree with the democrats all the time, but most of the time I actually do. I believe there are great people that belong to both parties, but it sure seems to me like conservatives are more willing to work, and less willing to let people run their lives for them.

I really enjoyed the RNC this year. I loved Fred Thompson's speech.
"So unless you own a business, work for a business, or buy things from a business, the taxes Obama are presenting won't affect you."
Where was this guy in the Primaries! I never heard him speak like that! I loved it! Rudy Giuliani gave a great speech as well.
" Our opponents want to reframe the debate. They would have you believe that this election is about 'change versus more of the same.' But that's really a false choice. Because "change" is not a destination ... just as "hope" is not a strategy."
And then my favorite line from his speech about Obama changing his mind on the surge working was what he said about Biden being chosen as his running mate" I hope he got the V.P. thing in writing."

I could go on and on about the speeches from Mitt Romney, Huckabee (who I still don't like very much even though he's a little funny), Sarah Palin whose speech I thought was incredible, and of course McCain's. He may not be the most entertaining speaker, but I did like his message and I believe he is the man for the job. This convention left me enthused and hopeful for our future. I just really hope that we can win it. So take a look for yourself if you haven't already on where you stand with the issues. Do you feel as though you can take responsibility for your own life, or would you rather let the government do it for you and make it easier? You may feel one way or the other but I encourage you to figure it out because more is riding on this election that you may realize. For me personally this election may have HUGE repercussions depending on who gets in. So get out there and cast your vote, even if you live in Utah which McCain will win no doubt but especially if you don't. Obama wants the west this time around and he just might get it if we don't get out there and vote. The decisions we make today will have a huge affect on what happens years from now, just as Bill Clinton's decisions are hurting me, and you, today. Figure out the issues that matter to you, and after some careful thought and some logic, you'll figure out what to do...

Sarah Who????

2008-08-30T09:08:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin that's who. Governor of Alaska. I thought that after Romney lost the primary and if he was not chosen as V.P, I would slowly fade from the excitement of the election, but what a choice McCain has made. Whoever is responsible for this decision should have a big gold star placed on their forehead. This is my kind of politician. Granted, I only started researching her yesterday, so far I am very very impressed and happy. She's a fisherwoman first of all, her husband actually fishes for a living. She's a strong conservative, pro-life, great on energy, wants to drill in her own state, and has more experience than the top of the ticket on the left. If you disagree with that last statement you better get your facts straight on what a Senator does verses a Governor, and a governor with a fantastic approval rating no less.

She brings in votes from the Evangelicals, Catholics, the women, and the hesitant conservative voters such as myself. I am now energized for the election, and especially for the V.P. debate with Byden. I can't help but think in the very long term if McCain and she end up winning the election, if she would be the top of the ticket in 4 or 8 years. That's very theoretical I understand but that's just how much I am beginning to like Governor Palin.

She is a fiscal conservative, so much to the point that when the State of Alaska gave her a corporate jet to fly around in she sold it saying it was an unnecessary luxury. Now I would have loved to have that flying job, but you have to respect someone who is willing to turn down that kind of convenience and lifestyle that I am somewhat familiar with, to give a few dollars back to the citizens. Not only that, but when her state had such a surplus from all the success of oil, she turned around and gave that money right back to the citizens in the form of a $1200 check to each of them. She knows how to govern, and she knows how to fight corruption (even in her own party) and she knows how to lead as an executive which is more that any other candidate can say in this election.

So don't let this hunting, fishing, basketball playing mother of 5 fool you. She is the right woman for the job, and I would take her in the white house over the other side's alternative in an instant.

I am Hillary, Hear me Roar!

2008-08-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton just finished her speech as the keynote speaker at the DNC. She is a good speaker, had the crowd on her side, and sure didn't speak much about Barack Obama. If I were a democrat, I would be pretty concerned. It seemed like she forgot that her campaign is over as she went on and on about everything she believes and how important she is to history, and every now and then throwing in a ,"we need to elect Obama......." for no good reason. She didn't have any real reason for anyone to vote for him other than the fact that he is a democrat.

As I watched I kept thinking to myself how applealing this speech was to Hillary supporters and I watched Michelle Obama's face as she gazed at her waiting for every moment that she heard her husband's name so that she could stand and smile. I also expected a lot more of an attack at McCain. She hardly mentioned the man other that the fact that he is a great american hero, and that he agreed with President Bush on most issues.

There was no mentioning Obama's experience, but there was mentioning of Byden's. There was no mention of Obama's character, or his policy's but there was mention of her's. There was no mention of his qualifications as Commander in Chief, leader of the free world, or the voice of the american people. She said as little as she could about him while fully endorsing herself into history and into another electon in four years.

Make no mistake, at least from the other end on my set, this was a Clinton supporters speech, not a rally for Mr. Obama. She wants another shot four years from now and is hopping that this speech will be played over and over when the campaign comes around and she can go back and say how loyal she is to her party, when in reality she is concered about the Clinton's and Clinton power.

Bass Lake - Celebrating 3 years and 3 days ago

2008-08-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Bass Lake is a place I have spent many camping trips during my summers. It's located smack in the middle of California about 15 miles south of the southern most entrance to Yosemite Valley. I've told Kirsten a lot about Bass Lake during our marriage, but this time she finally was able to experience it first hand in all it's glory.

Bass Lake has my favorite hike in the world called the Falls. The lake is filled by a river from the Sierra Mtn snow runoff so the water is cold and refreshing even though the lake water is very warm. Up towards the top of the hike there are many pools of this fresh water and I absolutely love to jump in them, slide on the rocks, and relax on the natural granite.

Kirsten is also finally meeting some of my family on my dad's side that she's never met. This trip she met my cousin Jeff, my second cousin Danny, and my awesome Aunt Jeanie pictured above with my dad. My Aunt Jeanie is my only real aunt, and I have no uncles. She is hilarious!!! Her sense of humor is unique and addicting. She wrote a list of camp rules that I almost couldn't get through reading I was laughing so hard. i.e. " Pivoting, gyrating or any other types of lewd movements are not permitted in the camp site, such activity with be punished appropriately."

This may have not been Kirsten's dream vacation for our 3 year anniversary, but I think she actually had a good time with the Krason's in the dirt and water for a few days. We had a great dinner our anniversary night, fun fishing experiences, a great night with the bear in our camp, and lot of stars and fresh air.

United States Upset of the Frenchies

2008-08-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

France may be ahead of us in the world of nuclear powerplants, but when someone makes an arrogant remark like Bernard of the the French team by saying, "The Americans? We are going to smash them. That's what we came here to do." The U.S. doesn't often stand idol to such a challenge.

Even with Michael Phelps on the men's 4X100 freestyle relay team, we were not the favorites. Hours before the event began the team still wasn't sure who the 4th teamate would be for the medal race. It just so happens that the four American's fighting for the last spot on the team set a world record for the race. Funny, even our back-ups set world records.

The coach made his decision and in the medal race the four Americans; Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones, Garret Weber-Gale, and Jason Lezak beat the French team in very dramatic fashion as Lezak anchored the team and set a new 100 meter swim record time and passed the Frenchman Bernard in the final stroke of the race for the gold, setting another new world record for the event by almost 4 full seconds.

I was standing on my bed screaming. Who know one could get so into swimming? But when it's your country on the line trying to prove something against Frenchy arrogance you'll find me on the bed cheering for any event.