VR Is My Friend

Mike and I decided for our ten year anniversary at the end of November that we would go in together on a Virtual Reality system. We purchased the Valve Index after many hours of research on different units. The right choice was certainly made – it’s amazing! I’m a huge Skyrim fan so I was so excited to play the VR version. It is so much better than I even expected – extremely immersive. We also purchased an eleven-in-one sporting game and some archery ones. One of the games in the sporting package is boxing. I used to be in martial arts and would love to get back into it, but for now, I’m going to focus on boxing as a new venture. I purchased Thrill of the Fight and it’s exactly what I was looking for. I played it for over an hour on Christmas Eve (as well as a few other games) and my arms are still very noodley and sore two days later. The workout this game provides is awesome. I’m certainly looking forward to playing it again when my muscles are back to normal!

We’re both going to need to work out more if we keep getting the Big Papa pizza from Rollins Pizza. Holy cow, it’s amazing! Tastes just like a Big Mac:

My mother is baby sitting a kitty for friends of ours. Introducing Santa Daisy:

Christmas was great. It was the first time Mike and I were together on Christmas day, as he is usually with his family and I’m with my little mother. However, due to the COVID numbers being so high still, and the other crap that’s going around, he had to leave his parent’s place early afternoon Sunday before the rest of his family arrived. Jan and I opened pressies that morning then all opened stuff from each other when Mike was home. For dinner, we ordered a pre-cooked huge turkey dinner from Manhattans Restaurant in St. Catharines. Jan and I got our Christmas dinner from there last year, as well and Thanksgiving dinner for all three of us this year. I strongly recommend them. The price is right and the food is amazing. The large family meal feeds around 6 people. It gives the three of us leftovers for days. Yum!

Today’s symptoms: I am so happy to report that I’ve felt quite good over the last few days. I just have some nerve pain going on in my left hand today, plus a worse than usual headache, but my fatigue level is down. I’m off tomorrow as well so I’m hoping for another day of feeling decent and being productive. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Fox By Chocks

A pilot friend of mine recently shared a picture of a fox standing next to wheel chocks in her hangar. What a little cutie:

A few nights ago, I had one of my infamous bouts of insomnia. Around 2:00am, I decided I needed to do something productive, just out of boredom. This is where my whacky brain took me. Please let me introduce Fox with Socks by Chocks:

Fox with Locks by Chocks:

Fox with Pox by Chocks:

And last but not least, Fox with Glocks by Chocks:

I eventually fell asleep closer to 3:00. At least I had some entertainment beforehand!

Today’s symptoms: I slept seemingly well last night, but I’m a bit more fatigued than “normal” today. My headache is worse than it typically is too. I made it through the full work day though! I’m so glad it’s the weekend. Paws crossed for decent weather so I can go for a flight.

Vyctor Got a New ELT!

Vyctor had his annual inspection recently and his ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) test unfortunately failed. Since I had the old style 121.5 ELT and would need to switch over to the 406 by 2025 anyway, I figured I would just update it now. I ordered one from Aircraft Spruce, which has a location in Brantford. I didn’t want to spend $52 in shipping so decided to fly there instead. Makes sense, right? Hehe! Mike and I took last Thursday off to head out there, but the weather wasn’t looking ideal. The clouds were a bit low to the West but still VFR. It was a very windy day so we did share the airspace with many other small planes. The trip to Brantford was against a headwind and took us 52 minutes to get there, averaging around 72 knots (133 km). Once landed and getting Vyctor chocked and his cowl covered, we booted it over to Aircraft Spruce (about a five minute walk). We usually like wandering around the store to look at all the goodies, but wanted to get back in the air as quickly as possible before the snow came in.

With the new ELT safely in the back, we zipped back over to the runway for take-off. With the brisk tailwind, we were doing over 250 km/hr and reached the St. Catharines Airport in 27 minutes.

That was a really great flight. Certainly not smooth at all, which I always enjoy. Next for Vyctor – I need to have his magnetos removed and sent off to somewhere up near Toronto for inspection. I’ll do that once the weather is really cruddy, since I won’t be able to fly for a couple weeks. Paws crossed they don’t find any issues.

I’m hoping to go up again soon and do some aerobatics by myself. Mike and I went up the other day and did some at the end of our flight. This is always a fun orientation to be in:

I think I need to remind everyone how adorable our kitties are. Could Pinky pose and cuter?

Boo and her sister are true pals:

You tired Abby?

Mya has the cutest fuzzy feet. Little pompom paws:

Today’s symptoms: I felt quite good today with a decent amount of energy. Due to the weather, we spent the day inside, puttering around and playing on our new VR system. I shan’t complain too much about my symptoms over the last few days. Just the usual amount of nerve pain, fatigue and headaches, but all have been tolerable.