Ouch!!! Wet rates keep going up!

I can't stand it anymore!

To quote Bill Murray (from the movie "Meatballs"): "It just doesn't matter!

Oh...sure...I'd like to have a hanger full of airplane like the other
guys at the field....but I don't.

I work just like Jay and have managed to squeeze out a few dollars to be
a 1/4 owner in a 40+ year old Cessna 172

I whine about the high cost of flying, airplane parts, AvGas,
etc....just like the guy who have a hanger full of airplanes. Pilots whine.

Is Jay rich, poor, broke, working to hard or hardly working?

Is just doesn't matter!

Repeat after me: "It just doesn't matter!"

When I'm cruising over the fields, towns, and mountains in my little
airplane, I'm the richest and luckiest guy around...because I can fly.

I got into this mood this mood today when I watched a video with
Harrison Ford that was posted in the "On the Airwaves" site.

http://www.studiowings.com/video/hfjap.html

Sure, he's really rich, has a bunch of planes, and the time to fly them,
but what he said really struck a chord with me.

He said he was really lucky to be able to fly.

Me too.

So...who cares if Jay is working 24/7 or other people don't think he
works 24/7?

"It just doesn't matter!"

- - -
I'll shut up now.

Al
Just a partner in an old plane
But own the sky when I'm flying it.
SFF Spokane, WA

As for my glorious lifestyle, my last full day off was in July, when I was
sitting on the tarmac in OSH.
That day off was the culmination of several days off, wasn't it?

Game, set, match - Larry!

Yep, OSH was our "big vacation" for the year.

All of our other planned trips were cancelled, due to a myriad of
staffing problems at the inn.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

So...who cares if Jay is working 24/7 or other people don't think he
works 24/7?

Precisely -- and well said! Flying is life, whether you're flying a
powered 'chute, or a Pilatus. Everything we do is only a means to
this end -- and in my world, that end is at 4500 feet over the upper
midwest...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

wrote:
Writing off the expenses may be what they're doing, but another way of
looking at it is putting money they could (should) have taken home from the
business as income into the airplane instead. Nothing wrong with that, but
it of course puts them above the minimum wage. I don't at all begrudge them
their airplane or many wondrous adventures in it. And after spending that
much on the airplane and ploughing so much money back into the hotel it
probably does FEEL like minimum wage or poverty. But there ain't no one
making minimum wage who can afford to fly a private airplane all over the
country.
Scott Wilson
Of course they may currently be making minimum wage and living off $$
from selling a previous business or other investments. If you have $$
in the bank to live off you don't really need to make lots of $$ until
the stuff in the bank runs out (and by that time the hotel should be
making $$) :-).

Margy

Jay Honeck wrote:



Yep, OSH was our "big vacation" for the year.

All of our other planned trips were cancelled, due to a myriad of
staffing problems at the inn.



I sure hope you get what you want in the end but this right here is a
deal killer for me. One lousy 5 day vacation at OSH, with constant
worrying that you may have to go back, is my definition of not having a
life. I need most weekends off from mid September thru the end of March
so we can travel with my oldest and his hockey team. I'm going to need
several weeks in the summer off as well to do regular summer vacation
type stuff. To my mind what good is building a business to sell it for
a huge profit when you're in your 50's or god forbid your 60's? Your
kids are grown up and gone and all you've done is go to OSH every year.
I do not live to work. Work is a necessary evil and I can't wait to
be in a position to not have to work. Or if I do work it will be on my
terms.

"Newps" wrote in message
. ..


Jay Honeck wrote:



Yep, OSH was our "big vacation" for the year.

All of our other planned trips were cancelled, due to a myriad of
staffing problems at the inn.



I sure hope you get what you want in the end but this right here is a
deal killer for me. One lousy 5 day vacation at OSH, with constant
worrying that you may have to go back, is my definition of not having a
life. I need most weekends off from mid September thru the end of March
so we can travel with my oldest and his hockey team. I'm going to need
several weeks in the summer off as well to do regular summer vacation
type stuff. To my mind what good is building a business to sell it for
a huge profit when you're in your 50's or god forbid your 60's? Your
kids are grown up and gone and all you've done is go to OSH every year.
I do not live to work. Work is a necessary evil and I can't wait to
be in a position to not have to work. Or if I do work it will be on my
terms.

The large aerospace company I work for decided usenet was a liability, so
from now on, I'll be using this account to post from.

"50's or god forbid your 60's"??? I've almost got 27 years in, and it
looks like I'll be here another 23+, which will make me at least 71. And I
have 4 rentals, so all my vacation time is used up taking care of them. I
had a two day vacation in 1994, and didn't have another "vacation" until
2004. In those 27 years, I've taken 5 days off in a row once (to clean out
my mother's house when she died), and 3 days off three times, one of them
being after I cut 3 fingers off in a table saw and another to go to OSH in
2004. And I'm not alone, two people I can see from my desk are over 70 and
a half. I wish I could go to OSH every year!

("Al" wrote)
To quote Bill Murray (from the movie "Meatballs"): "It just doesn't
matter!


To quote Bill Murray (from the movie "Ghostbusters"): "Twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week, no job is too big, no fee is too big!"


Montblack :-)

On 30-Sep-2007, Jay Honeck wrote:

That's something over 21 hours in two days -- how's your weekend
going, Scott?

I worked 13 hours this weekend if you must know, and haven't had a day off
in three weeks. It's the end of the fiscal year, and to make our
stockholders happy and make sure the executives get their big bonuses, we
are pushing out as many firetrucks as we can. We've had a bunch of overtime
offered and I volunteer for all I can.
Jay, I never doubted you work a lot of hours and give up having a lot of
free time. I never doubted you aren't getting paid what you're really
worth versus the time you put in. I just say the numbers don't support
your claims of minimum wage.
As we all do at times, you sometimes exaggerate. You very recently said
you spend every waking moment working. If you only put in 21 hours this
weekend, you're slacking, it should have been 32 hours. And I'm writing
that with a smile, I wouldn't expect you to put 32 hours in over two days.
That's simply not realistic.
Someone else in this thread wrote that it just doesn't matter. If people
see your claims of minimum wage as just so much exaggeration while
recognizing you really are underpaid for all the hours, sweat and worries
you put in, I'd agree. I do hope people here, especially those making a
very healthy income, have a thought toward just how difficult it is for
those making minimum wage to survive in this world. As tight as it is for
us with me making $23 an hour plus mucho overtime, and my wife working
part-time for $9 an hour, I can't imagine how people making even twice
minimum wage can get by. Okay, I'm willing to drop this thread and move on
to other things. Best of luck with your hotel, and I do hope we someday
have the chance to stay there again.
Tschuss!
Scott Wilson

Yep, OSH was our "big vacation" for the year.

All of our other planned trips were cancelled, due to a myriad of
staffing problems at the inn.

I sure hope you get what you want in the end but this right here is a
deal killer for me. One lousy 5 day vacation at OSH, with constant
worrying that you may have to go back, is my definition of not having a
life.

Luckily, this has been extraordinarily rare. In fact, this is the
first time since we opened in '02 that we've been unable to find and
keep staff.

The economy is so hot around here, no one can keep anyone. HELP
WANTED signs are in every window, Procter & Gamble has over 100 line
jobs open (starting pay: $18/hour), and there even seem to be fewer
beggars at the stop lights.

Since we returned from OSH, I've done nothing but recruit, hire,
train...and fire. Or, they didn't show up at all. The caliber of
people looking for entry-level work right now is truly appalling, but
we're slowly rebuilding our staff to the point where we can roam the
skies again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"50's or god forbid your 60's"??? I've almost got 27 years in, and it
looks like I'll be here another 23+, which will make me at least 71.

Don't forget, Newps exists in the fantasyland called "Gummint", where
work is optional and brief. Retirement in your 50s -- despite huge
advances in lifespan -- is common, and gummint jobs come with all
sorts of "guarantees" that make you virtually "employed forever",
regardless of performance.

As for working forever, if you're doing what you love, why quit?
Remember, my long hours are spent in a place I have largely created,
interacting with guests from all over the world. It is intensely fun,
and very rewarding, interpersonally.

This coming weekend is a great example of what I'm talking about.
We're hosting an aircraft type fly-in, a reunion of a local rock group
from the 1960s, and an Eagles Club function. We're 100% booked, with
a waiting list for cancellations, and all three groups are going to be
a lot of fun. (Especially the fly-in, of course!)

I've met very few men that have lived very long after they retired.
My German ancestors nailed it when they coined the phrase: "Work makes
life sweet" -- and if you disagree with that statement, you're in the
wrong line of work.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"