TONY: MY RESERVE M.O.

Here's my "COG" (Call-Out line G) modus operandi:

I treat a duty day like a regular job work day.  I have everything ready to be "at the office" at 1100...right down to putting on "work underwear" rather than "play underwear".  My uniform is set aside, ready to go.  I have some "travel food" portioned out in the fridge.  Then, I put on jeans and a t-shirt and go on my merry way, mindful to have the phone un-muted.  I consider myself "at work" from 1100-1900 but free to "goof off", within limits.

Today, I feel a little "looser" than I did yesterday and am in approximately the same spot on FIFO (buried in the middle of the 2nd page).  It's my 2nd duty period of 6 in a row and my biggest exposure of the month.  I have preferenced RMF (Request Minimum Flying) for this 6 day stretch and plan to try the other options later in the month (RNP:  Request No Preferece, RTF:  Request To Fly and AAA:  Airport Alert).

If I'm not called for anything today, I will put my plan to hold COG to the test.  On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, I participate in high-intensity aerobic workouts which challenge me more and more as I age.  In my 20s and 30s, it was no problem to do such workouts, then turn around and fly to Guam or the Mainland from my Hawaii base of the time.  Since I've gotten older, I've been more careful to allow myself recovery time before flying a 8+ hour leg.  So February is an experiment in more ways than one!

Things are working out nicely, so far.  Our gas clothes dryer developed a leak over the weekend and you KNOW what it's like to get a service call, "well, we can probably come out sometime Wednesday."  This morning, the technician called to provide a "precise time":  between 1100 and 1300.  Philip got in from Rio this morning and is snoring away, so I hope to get the dryer sorted about before CS gets any BIG IDEAS.

I have a regularly schedule dental appointment tomorrow (made back in September or October).  I called the office to see if they'd like me to re-schedule.  Upon explaining my current "situation", they said, "Oh, that sounds like fun.  No, don't worry about it.  Just call when you know something if you can't make it."

Who knew that being on Reserve and yapping about it should/could/would be fun?  (I guess the whole idea of a 53 year-old man sitting Reserve is pretty funny...even to those who only have the vaguest idea what that means.)