It seems my pursuit of A&P certificates is on hold temporarily–I’ll be in temporary training for Boeing for 30-60 days (?) followed by temporary assignment in Moses Lake for about a year.

I’ve already taken two of my three written exams–General and Airframe–and still need to take the Powerplant written. Fortunately, there’s a PSI test location in Moses so I can take that pending exam. That leaves taking the O&P for each, airframe and powerplant. There are two DMEs in Moses so I can see about taking Orals and Practicals for both airframe and powerplant as time allows.

I just hope that I can retain the knowledge long enough to do well on each O&P.

This appears to be some strange new variety of the color black with which I was previously unfamiliar:

Alternative Douglas Adams reference: “Every time you try to operate on of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you’ve done it.”

Having a look at the maintenance manual to order a repair part for a pressure washer. Stumbled across this gem in its troubleshooting section:

Problem: water stream starts and stops by itself. Possible cause: ghost in machine. Resolution: persuade the ghost to leave.

Or, put another way, two to the power of one hundred twenty-eight.

2 ¹²⁸

“So, Mister Smarty-Pants, how much is that?”

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456

Or, if you like it written out, it’s [takes deep breath]…

Three hundred forty undecillion two hundred eighty-two decillion three hundred sixty-six nonillion nine hundred twenty octillion nine hundred thirty-eight septillion four hundred sixty-three sextillion four hundred sixty-three quintillion three hundred seventy-four quadrillion six hundred seven trillion four hundred thirty-one billion [gasps for air] seven hundred sixty-eight million two hundred eleven thousand four hundred fifty-six.

How much is that again?

That’s how many unique objects can be theoretically addressed on the internet.

I’ll stick to non-routable IPv4 on my private network, thanks.

I’m still annoyed, but the offer from a prospective employer was sustained, not retracted — they’re still quite happy to have me and, frankly, I’m quite happy to contribute.

In fact, they’ll be happy to have me and a few classmates from the SCC AMT program even without our full certifications* yet.

As my own story continues to unfold into the next chapter in life, here’s how it goes so far:

I met briefly with a recruiter (for about 15 minutes, TBH) for Boeing Aircraft who extended an offer on the spot to for an aircraft maintenance role.

I accepted.

Of course, Boeing management countered with a number of contingencies. Work history, criminal background, credit, education, drug screen, etc.

Contingencies were all met.

And, as of this morning, I can officially tell the world that I’ll be assuming a maintenance and inspection role in Moses Lake after a month of Boeing process training in Seattle.

Oh! I have so many things to get sorted in the next four weeks.

—

*The role with Boeing Aircraft doesn’t require an A&P certification, but none of us is prepared to forego our certifications. The whole point of putting in the time was to gain our certs.