McBlog

Nykolai’s home again at last – two months in Argentina visiting family in Buenos Aires and going to school there. He had a great time but was missing us very much (so I’m told). Arrived back today after a long flight in – fortunately some friends of the family were flight attendants on the aircraft from Buenos Aires to Auckland, so they got bumped to business class (lucky buggers). Had to wait a few hours in Auckland ‘cos their QANTAS aircraft was delayed, but they got here eventually.

So good to have him back :)

Amazing – it’s been a whole week since we last flew the balloons. Every day this week has been foggy, ranging from haze (about 4k to 5k visibility & 80% to 100% cloud cover around 300′ to 500′) through to the complete pea-soup variety (100 to 200 meter vis and 100% cloud cover at 100′).

We tried on Monday as it looked like the fog wasn’t going to roll in – hah – part way through inflation it rolled in and we had to cancel, packing up everything and heading home. Since then, it’s been like living in a hazy white pingpong ball. Even in the afternoon it’s still been hazy with only about 6k to 8k visibility.

At least now it looks like we’re done with the fog – no fog predicted for tomorrow. Nope – no fog – the high winds and rain are driving it away…

*sigh*

7 days without flying – wonder if I’ll remember what to do when we launch next… :)

I’ve been wondering how I’ll manage to pay the bills during Winter when we’re not doing as many balloon flights. Well, totally out of the blue I wind up working with Destra Media doing some project management on a few sites they’re developing. I got a call asking if I could help out – hell yes :)

I’ve been there about three weeks now and it’s a lot of fun, even when the pressure’s on. We’ll see how it goes as it’s consulting work so they could decide to end it at any time. Meanwhile, on we go and I’m able to pay my bills, clear some debt and get through winter with a smile :)