DaleWilliams.net

It’s about that time of year again, where everyone makes a pact with themselves which will most likely be broken before the end of January. I’d like to think I can follow through on something I’ve committed to, so the following are my new year’s resolutions for 2010:

Develop tastes and opinions on wine

I have an appreciation for good beers and whiskeys, but I have never developed much of a knowledge of wines. Beer began with brewing my own in the dorm freshman year, and my appreciation of whiskey is the result of discovering the one type of alcohol which will never disappear from my room during a house party. Throughout my time at Wittenberg and Ohio State, I have never really had the chance to learn about wine, and much of what I have had is the grape-flavored vinegar “Box-Wine” from having one to many to know better at parties. My goal here is not to become some wine snob, but simply to have an understanding so I can go to a nice restaurant and not look like a jackass.

Cook an actual meal a few times per week

Over the past year, grad school consumed my life; in the past few months, work has done the same. I used to cook very healthy meals for myself once upon a time, but as my free time dwindled, I found myself surviving on a diet of frozen and prepackaged food. Double-stuff Oreo’s, Cheetos and candy are great (if you are 5), but now that I’m actually an adult, I think it is time to stop eating foods that make me feel sick.

Social Life

I need to get out and meet more people my age around town. Free time is a rare commodity: I’ve been working 50-60+ hour work weeks, studying for the CFA exams, trying to exercise for an hour 3-4 times per week, and working on getting the instrument rating for my pilot’s license; there is literally not enough time in the day to have a life. In the months since I’ve moved to Charlotte, I really haven’t met anyone my age outside of work; this needs to change.

Golf Game

I used to have an acceptable golf game, however I don’t get to play nearly as much as I would like. Golf isn’t like riding a bike, if I only play a few times per year I have to re-learn my swing every single time. I want to find a nearby driving range and practice regularly so I can at least keep the ball on the fairway (or setting the bar really low, at least out-drive the girl who has never played before!).

This video was filmed in SC, I wonder if they would let me try it

And, of course, the pride of Kentucky: Turtleman!

Finally, this is just plain weird:

If you read most of the posts on this blog, my life involves basically two things: accounting and flying. Seldom do these two topics go together, but today is an exception, and the result makes me feel like Christmas came early this year.

I’m getting ready to go flying this morning in the Cessna 182RG that I’ve been training in, when my flight instructor tells me he has some good news. He starts telling me about his friend who has a full time job flying around “Some Rich Guy” in a Hawker (it’s a big private jet…), and how SRG bought a brand new Cessna 182 to learn to fly in but then lost interest.

Apparently, the Cessna was purchased through SRG’s corporation and utilized Section 179 depreciation and the other financial methods which allow for the tax benefits to pay for most of the aircraft. Since SRG doesn’t want to fly anymore, the brand new plane just sits around in a hanger. SRG can’t sell the aircraft because he’ll get burned on the depreciation recapture- this is where I enter the picture

I’m the only person who flies a 182, because it is expensive, difficult to fly, and requires special endorsements to a license that most people don’t bother to get. My flight instructor tells me that SRG doesn’t want the plane to just sit around, so it is going to be available for my personal use, since no one else really flies this type of aircraft.

So today is a great day, when I get back from my little winter vacation, if everything works out, I will have a nearly brand new $400,000.00 aircraft as my personal toy. I really think God loves me.

I just got a letter in the mail today offering a Cirrus SR22 Turbo GTS for the bargain price of $598,500. As of right now, I am making around the US median family income by myself (per Wikipedia), so I’m pretty well off, but unless I can find the loan officer who got those cleaning ladies into half-million dollar houses in California during the housing bubble, I’m SOL on this one.

It is a ridiculous price to pay for a toy, but I’ve met people over the last few months around the airport who could easily write a check today and fly off in one. These people have small private jets, who can fly off on a Sunday morning, meet some college buddies halfway across the county for a round of golf, and be back in their own beds Sunday night to get a full night of sleep before heading to the office on Monday morning. I’d like to think that before I’m 40, I’ll be able to do the same- it’s what I think about after the 15th hour of updating spreadsheets to keep me motivated.

Until that day, I’m just going to have to be happy with flying around in the 30+ aircraft I have access to in my flying club- which won’t allow me to jet around the country for a round of golf, but I am able to leave work around 5 on Friday, and catch the tail-end of happy hour three states away

I had plans this past weekend to rent a plane and fly from Charlotte NC to Athens Ohio for a Halloween party. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and I had to cancel my flight- a private pilot’s license requires flying clear of clouds, and it has been a long while since I’ve seen blue sky here in Charlotte. In a few months, I’ll have my instrument rating, meaning my weekend plans won’t be as affected by crappy weather.

Until that time however, when the weather sucks, I have to spend half a day at the airport just like everyone else- and that’s what happened this weekend. When I fly commercially, I always end up sitting next to this:

Yes it’s a whale. You are probably thinking whales don’t fly, but if it weighs a metric ton and smells like low tide at the docks, then I’m open to suggestions on what else it could possibly be.

I should have dressed as Captain Ahab for Halloween…

At the beginning of the summer, Rob Chabot asked me to give a talk on studying for the CPA exam to the new students. Since I knew I would be in Charlotte then, I couldn’t be there physically, so I offered to put this together instead.

MAcc Presentation- Open in New Window

Most things I do, both good and bad, are the result of a few too many beers and Google. Last week’s good idea was to fly a helicopter. Today’s good idea was to learn to fly a glider. I will be starting work next week, and I fully expect to be worked to near death. This last week of free time I consider to be a golden opportunity: to experience some of the amazing, adrenaline pumping activities that are out there. Once I’ve started working, I don’t want to fill my free time with videogames and Netflix. Now that I’ve done this, I will be willing to make the effort to get out and do it again.

The gliderport is a simple grass strip about an hour and a half from downtown Charlotte NC, well outside the crowded airspace around where I live, thankfully I had my GPS, because it truly is in the middle of nowhere. The facilities are nice, with a number of new and old sailplanes.

My first impression upon sitting down into the glider is how basic the controls and instruments are. A glider is a much simpler aircraft than the Cessna 172 airplane I earned my private pilot rating in, and far simpler than the Schweizer 300CB helicopter I recently started training in. In fact, there is no radio, and very few of the gauges I’ve used in the past. There are no navigation instruments, aside from a simple magnetic compass, and no electric switches.

Taking off from the airstrip felt a little unusual, mostly because the thing getting me airborne wasn’t an engine but a piece of rope attached to a crop duster. At this point, it feels about like flying an airplane. The realization came when I pulled the knob to release the tow cable. The crop duster pulls away, and there’s silence. I don’t hear the sound of an engine, only the sound of air around the cockpit. It was at this point I realized:

“There’s no engine here… I’m going to be on the ground one way or another… I would really prefer if I end up on the ground alive.”

Getting over the initial shock, I found that the sailplane handles much like an airplane. The controls are simple, but very responsive. I made a few turns, flew over a few farms and got a feel for the aircraft. Unfortunately, there were few clouds and the air was fairly stable, so there was no way to gain some lift and fly for more than a half hour. I turned back to the airstrip, and the thought of ending up on the ground in a pile of twisted aluminum returned. Fortunately, the flight instructor handled this first landing, after I lined up to the runway and got within 50 feet from the ground. One satisfying thud, the main wheel hit the grass, and we quickly slowed to a stop, alive.

I had a great time today, I will definitely do it again soon.

Ok, I needed to turn my brain off for a while today, so of course I turn on the most mind-rotting crap available… which of course is SpongeBob SquarePants!

So this is the storyline: Mr. Crabs wants to talk to money, so he says he will give anything for that power. Of course the ghost of the Flying Dutchman appears and is willing to grant him his wish in exchange for his eternal soul in the afterlife. Mr. Crabs accepts the offer and starts talking to his money.

After a while, Crabs realizes how incredibly stupid and annoying his wish is, and wants to cancel the contract. Of course the Flying Dutchamn refuses, and wants Crabs’ soul. Mr. Crabs however, had already sold his soul to about a half dozen cartoon ghosts and SpongeBob for being $5 short on payday.

So , all you accounting people: who has claim to Mr. Crabs’ soul given that Bikini Bottom is in a race-notice jurisdiction, with none of the claimants holding a properly perfected security interest?

I got my apartment, and I figured it was only a few more hours to the beach and golf. What else do I have to do? Study for my last CPA exam? Just not feeling that right now.

Level 1: You are burning the midnight oil, sacrificing your friendships, social life, and most of all sleep in achieving your goal, but you press on with caffeine to stay ahead.

Level 2: You are trying to succeed, the ulcers have started to form, but you push on like a dedicated student, working through the pain to reach your goal of becoming a cpa.

Level 3: Your head begins throbbing, you can’t think straight, at this point you can’t tell an operating from a capital lease if it hit you on the head. You need to dull the pain of cramming as the test date looms.

Level 4: It’s Friday night, your friends are playing flip cup and you have turned off your phone to avoid knowing just how much fun everyone you know is having right at this moment. This Bud’s for you.

Level 5: Beer just couldn’t cut it this time, you are done thinking. You are done trying. You don’t want to remember the next 8 hours. Remember to drink water, you have to start your final lecture in the morning.

Level 6: Maybe you just found out you didn’t pass your last test, and the hours you spend and hundreds of dollars invested were for naught. You want to burn it all, but that little voice in the back of your head reminds you that you will just have to buy all the study materials over again. You can’t burn it all, but the symbolism of sending the CD case back to the depths of hell from which it came should suffice.

Level 7: Let’s step back for a second. You don’t want to be here. A day off will do you good. Keep telling yourself that by the time you get out of prison from going postal, (which will be a long time from now because you are broke from exam fees and are stuck with a public defender who really just didn’t ‘get’ law school) all your tests will have lapsed and you will be starting from square one. Save yourself the legal or hospital bills, if you are at this level, take your anger out on something productive (like a dangerous carnivorous watermelon- just be sure to yell “it’s coming right for us” before shooting, it may be a protected species…)