Swimming...
I'll second what the person right above me said. Wading in the pool, unless it's got it's own pool list, social events and what not (a la SWA) is no fun at all.
I had a similar experience - got furloughed, interviewed with a different airline that would have been about a hundred times better than the one that laid me off -- and I waited...and waited...all the while, classes were going on, but no call for me. I did all the usual things, updated once a month, continued to fly when I could, etc...
At least with a pool like SWA, you know exactly where you are. Other companies don't necessarily follow this course of action. You don't really know where you stand, and you end up drowning, or almost drowning, while you could have been pursuing other avenues.
Perhaps some other CHQ person can correct me, but to my knowledge, the only reason they even have a "pool" per se is they don't schedule their new hire classes months and months in advance. When the classes get set, you get called - I think there's a pool for Purdue folks and/or interns that's a little different, but for off the street guys, unless things really do change industry wide and they cancel a class or something, it's merely a wait until they (CHQ) get the green light to run another class.
Long story short, if CHQ works for you, go and enjoy it. You might be left "swingin' in the breeze" otherwise, without a towel, scuba gear, sunblock, bathing suit...you get the idea.
Take care,
-brew3
