B-minus-1: Madly trying to finish pending work

It's Friday, the day before departure, and I'm madly trying to catch up with work that needs to get done before I dive into the language training. I've had so much work lately I haven't been able to keep up my Rosetta Stone sessions. I keep telling myself I'll catch up on the plane, but I know that won't last. I'll have to get some sleep. What I've done so far will have to suffice as beginner's training.

Then again, I can read Portuguese fairly well now without the help of Google Translate, and the words I don't immediately recognize make sense once I apply the mental rules I've devised to work out those meanings. I'm still using the translation service to draft letters to customers in Brazil, but I always have to edit them because the translations are not perfect. The fact that the recipients are not sending back replies questioning what in the world I am talking about tells me I must be doing something right.

I've worked through the majority of my pre-departure checklist items, including travel insurance covering medical and AD&D, washed all my clothes and now just need to pack everything.

And most importantly, I manage to arrive in time for my son's Senior Prom. It was dicey they for a while when the American Airlines 737 broke down in Caracas and had to pull back into the gate. I talked to the pilot and he told me the problem -- a ground sensing switch light was coming on, which meant the aircraft could not tell if it was in the air or on the ground. That blows me away -- how about just paying attention to the pilot? I'm usually pretty good at telling if my wheels are on the ground or somewhere above it. Reminds me of the day the Airbus 300 prototype crashed into trees because the computer thought the pilot wanted to land the aircraft and the pilot could not convince it otherwise. I'm a pilot and a computer programmer too, and I never let the programmer side tell the pilot side what to do!

Anyway, when the pilot said the last time that happened it took three days to fix it I went ballistic and immediately decided to take the next flight to Miami. I hate having to do layovers in Miami,. but I didn't have a choice -- it was the only way to ensure I would arrive home in time for the big party. And what a party it was! We had a great time with our dance at one end of the El San Juan Hotel and the Gipsy Kings at the other end, in the lobby!

I better get back to the things I need to finish before I leave. Stay tuned, there will be much more to come as I make my way through this training program in Brazil.