As a corollary, though, I gotta say...the indoc instructors have been really solid. I'm impressed. There's some laugh-out-loud stuff in the classroom material, as well.

And one instructor's caricature of a clueless pax wandering out to the Brasilia and staring at it in horror as the realization dawns that he must fly on a plane with (gasp!) -- propellers -- was priceless, and brought the house down.

They even fed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Day 1 of indoc. (The CRM instructors -- A and P -- bought us dinner out of their own pockets.) Plus we were fed lunch on Day 2. Certainly very helpful when you get into SLC at 2200 hrs on Sunday night and don't have any time to hit the grocery store.

For guys in the October classes: Make sure you do a grocery store run in your first couple of days. There are no eating options within walking distance of the training center. Even if you have a car, Subway is about the only place you can race to during your :30 lunch break. And the only thing in the vending machines at the training center are candy, chips, and a couple of scary-looking Salisbury steak microwave meals. Fortunately, the hotel offers a grocery run on Tues/Thurs/Sat. We went to Harmon's City Center downtown (using a fellow new-hire's car)...what an awesome supermarket. It puts any organic/ healthy supermarket in San Francisco to shame, which is saying something. So yes, even in SLC, you can munch on kale chips, organic tomatoes, and quinoa snacks, as I am doing now

The one place I haven't found, though, is where I can buy some decent beer or wine. The state store down the street sells 3.2% beer. Seriously?!?

OK, back to MELs, CDLs, NEFs, and OMGs.