a wonderful day in ... Kansas?
yes that's right. kansas is not the most exciting state (there is more to do in oklahoma!). but my trip was incredible! okay well the first day was just a meeting. it was good to hear some status updates and find out what's going on with the program. it definately was not as bad as everyone told me it would be. then there was the dinner and drinks, free thanks to a lovely thing called a corporate credit card. dinner was fun it was at a pub kinda place and we had a room rented out that had a few pool tables, a dart board, a couple arcade games. it was a good time. minus being sleepy all night, having a few drinks, being politely told to get my tab at 9pm then not leaving the restaurant until 10pm because my ride was sitting around talking to someone. i wouldn't have been so bitter if it had been someone from wichita or omaha, but it was a guy from tinker that they see at least once a week. then the next morning made me a little bitter too. we had to get up early because one person with a car (three of us drove together then a manager drove separately) wanted to go in at 7am to work on another project he was helping with and the other was planning on going to a small meeting at 8am. we were going to leave around 745 so we would meet at 715 for breakfast. allen and i were in the lobby eating breakfast and around 730 i was starting to wonder what happened to jim. he finally came down and said, 'i decided i'm not going to go to the 8am meeting. it was going to be in a small crowded room, and it wasn't mandatory and they were expecting a too many people already. so take your time with breakfast. we can just go in a little earlier and i'll introduce you to people.' grrrr.. i could have slept an extra hour and a half! i definately could have used that. ah well. none of that took away from the incredible morning i had! i finally got to see my airplane. not only see it, but crawl into every space i could. let me tell you, you can not be claustrophobic to have some jobs on that plane. it was amazing! i got to see everything in there, including all the top secret areas that i just can't tell you about. unfortunately its still in maintenace and they didn't want any problems so i didn't get to see the lovely new plasma tvs turned on. i did get to sit in the cockpit which was pretty sweet. it was hard not to play with everything, but i would have been in big trouble if i messed something up. i got to check out a bunch of stuff that i've been working on which was cool. i also got to sit in rumsfeld's chair at his own personal desk. that was pretty cool because not too many people can say they've done that. plus they were getting ready to change out one of the engines. so it was all open up and they had taken out a couple things. it was pretty cool to see everything inside it. 747 engines are HUGE! and it was really cool to see them up close. and to see the inside of one up close. it was an incredible tour! i wish it could have lasted longer. i'm pretty sure i will get to go back up to wichita again soon when the next plane goes in for maintenance. then i can see the plane after its been all stripped down. it will look just like any other stripped out 747 but it will help with all the structural stuff. it will especially be helpful since i'm responsible for almost all of the structural, fuselage and wing stuff at work. i am definately looking forward to my next visit!