DON'T FALL OVER DEAD OF SHOCK!

Yes...I'm posting again...

I said I'd update at least quarterly. So here it is...

Dad over at Exile in Portales (I'd insert link here, but as often as I blog, I've forgotten how and it is early...read: Not enough coffee in me yet!) reminded me of a particular pet peeve: perfume and after shave.

I've always been of the opinion that there are a lot of things that men just shouldn't do:

Tummy tucks

Ladies'drinks

Cry in public...in fact crying is allowed in very few instances!

Complain...taking note of a situation is allowed, once, repeating the same lament over and over is verboten!

FAIL to take care of their women. This is worthy of another post...hell, of a book, but not now...

So...back to perfume and after-shave...

My lovely wife, perfect as she is, will buy me different colognes from time to time. She gets frustrated with me when I tell her I like to wear the SAME cologne all the time. I believe you should set an expectation for people. When I'm around you will always see a (hopefully!) courteous, well-groomed, attentive man, that will always smell like this. This shouldn't change. So you know that the other things won't change either...

Anyway...

Thanks for reminding me Dad!

The pic above is my new truck...I just put it there to be like my dad and so you would know instantly that I had posted something...nice, huh?

Just a quick update...

I'm back from a couple of TDYs and an unplanned trip to mom's to see what help I could be with her in the hospital.

She's out now and actually headed here...to rest and relax, lest the daily California grind get her down.

I'm headed to Vegas tomorrow...my oldest daughter is 21 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FELICITY!!!

She's actually arriving there as I post this. Her mother, my mother and her brother are anxiously awaiting the birthday girl's arrival in Sin City. A short time later...a trip to the casino is the first order of business for mom and daughter. Good luck to them!

That's all for now...

Will update again...at least quarterly...

:)

Gonna go watch some stuff get blown up today! F-16 strafing run is on tap as well. Can't wait...

Life continues at a breakneck pace...if that's what passes for breakneck around here. Seeing Dad's picture of one of my old F-16s this morning on his blog makes me more homesick than ever...not for Cannon, mind you, but for the flightline.

My turn will come though. One more year of life here at the logistics center and I'll be (hopefully!) on the line again, or someplace really close to it!

Got Dad's old Yamaha running again...some paperwork drills remain and it will shortly become my daily ride. $30 worth of gas into my truck in two days time of just regular driving around, back and forth to work, makes this a very welcome addition to the garage. Thanks again, Dad!!

Anyway...time to get a very quick workout in and then it's off to watch stuff blow up!

I'm TDY...again...

Learning how the air campaign is born. Lots of stuff I never knew but very imformative. Not sure I'll ever actually be put into a situation where I'd have to put into practice the skills I'm acquiring these two weeks, but sometimes just knowing a thing makes you that much smarter. The phrase "big picture" is a recurring theme in this class and "getting down in the weeds" is nearly verboten. So...I'm learning how to supress my natural tendencies to go straight for the tactical level stuff, where I'm very comfortable, and focus on the task of keeping the objective in mind...

Kinda translates well into everyday life...if you want it to.

Air campaigns are planned with each and every task performed tied to a higher level objective, all the way up to the National Security Strategy, outlined by W himself!

I'm thinking there are a lot of "tasks" performed in my day to day life that don't necessarily "tie" to higher objectives in my life. Hmmmm...time for some introspection?

Hope everything is going well in YOUR world...life is great in mine!

I sold my Harley yesterday...VERY mixed emotions! On the one hand, it was the "adult" thing to do...whatever that means...and will help out.
On the other hand, I've not been so attached to a material possession in all my life! It is a beautiful bike...made only more so by the significant number of hours and number of miles I've spent on it. I've got my fair share of stories to accompany the 3+ years I spent with it and I will miss it...dearly.

The current quandry is how to spend the money we made on the sale. It isn't a significant sum, but it does need to be considered. I have a couple of personal debts to pay off, but I'm wrestling with the bulk of the cash and how best to use it. I'm considering, in no particular order, another "cheaper" motorcycle, a boat, a jet-ski, dirt bikes, enhancements to my truck, various little things (new golf clubs, new drumset, trip to Vegas, etc.).

The problem is I know what I should do...and I don't want to. I should take all that money and pay off another bill. It's the "adult" thing to do...but I don't want to...

I guess I'll spend the better part of today thinking about that one...

One last picture of my beloved bike...

It's St. Patrick's Day! And...We're #1!!!

We (F-62, my flight) is the #1 Flickerball flight in SOS class 06C. We defeated the (previously) #1 flight who had 20 points to our 19. We failed to score just one more point in our first operation and ended up with 19 points. Anyway, the epic battle of #1 vs #2 took place and we waxed 'em. They were stunned from the beginning. They had never been challenged before and we actually had them shut out until 4 minutes left in the game and they scored a quick 5 points to finish the game. But it was too late. We had already scored 17 points. It was a thing of beauty. The "team" beat the "athletes." We had a solid game plan and worked it to perfection.

This after our lukewarm showing on our second academic test which left us wondering what the hell had happened. Our flight was previously #4 of 38 in the first academic test. We were #4 of our 8 flights in our squadron after this test. That hurt. But we aren't down. Two points events left and we feel good. The school puts a premium on the top third grads...I think we've all but locked that up. We want to be #1. Don't think we have even a mathematical chance at that, but #2 don't look so bad right now. Lots of IFs running through all our minds right now. 1 more minute spread between 2 tasks and we'd be #1! Yeah, and if worms had machine guns, birds wouldn't @#%$ with them either...

Anyway...stay tuned for the updates...slow as they are...

I know it has been a little while...yeah, a little while...but I've been just a little busy.
I'm currently attending Squadron Officer School in Montgomery AL.
Before coming I had heard many different stories about the experience, with the underlying theme being your flight makes or breaks your experience. Well I'm happy to report my flight is awesome! We've come together very well with common goals and none of the in-fighting I had worried about. The proof is in the pudding: After 2 weeks, we're currently the best flight in our squadron and very near the top of our entire class. We'll see how we do as the course continues...

Alabama weather is a definite improvement over Utah at this point. Sunny and 75ish yesterday as we were finishing up our flickerball victory over another flight. Flickerball is an AF game that is best described as a mix of football, basketball and hockey. Played with a small yellow playground ball the object is to learn the rules better than the other team. This isn't intended to test anyone's athletic ability so much as the ability of the team to build a strategy, follow the rules, execute their strategy, follow the rules, overcome injected adversity, and follow the rules. Getting the drift? If you think the last minute of a close basketball game has a lot of fouls and free throws, you ain't seen nuthin'.

The academic side of SOS has kept me busy as well. The school throws a lot of info at you in a short time and tests you as much on your ability to read the question as your ability to answer it. Simple recall of long lists of information won't get you very far. Understanding at the COMPREHENSION level is the expectation and is what is tested. The average score on the first academic test for 489 college educated Captains was 86%. While that may seem high to some, it really isn't. 15 of those above mentioned Capts failed to score the minimum 70%. Yours truly did ok...scoring a 95% but I shouldn't have missed one of those two questions!

Anyway...this has been the first night I've had in quite a long time to catch up...so I've written just a little bit about the experience so far.

Remember...I said from the beginning...a very hit and miss blog...

Tagged

Dad tagged me so...

4 Jobs You Have Had In Your Life
1. Pizza Maker (First, second and third jobs, actually, in three different states!)
2. Photo-Sensors Electronics Technician (AF enlisted job that most of you have probably seen the results of my personal handiwork...and that's all I'm going to say about that)
3. Trucking company dispatcher (and you think kids can whine???)
4. AF Maintenance Officer (my true calling!)

4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over
1. Star Wars (any of them!)
2. Dangerous Liaisons
3. Highlander
4. Bourne (Identity or Supremacy...I like spy/action movies!)

4 Places You Have Lived
1. RAF Lakenheath, UK (about an hour north of London...great tour!)
2. Lompoc, CA (born and mostly raised there)
3. Portales, NM (almost 25% of my life there, can't NOT mention it)
4. Omaha, NE (salt of the earth people make this place a retirement possibility)


4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. RED WINGS HOCKEY!!!
2. CSI
3. NCIS
4. Any of the Discovery Channel, History Channel or Weather Channel specials on just about anything

5 Places You Have Been On Vacation (I know it's cheating, but I love these 5!)
1. Abu Dhabi, UAE (Not exactly a vacation, but it sure felt like it!)
2. Saas Fee, Switzerland
3. Vegas BABY!
4. Guadalajara, Mexico (Can't beat 12 cent Coronas from the factory!)
5. Edinborough, Scotland (New Year's Eve trip)

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. Exile in Portales
2. Neptunus Lex
3. Fox News
4. AF Link

4 Favorite Foods
1. Large med-rare steak
2. Spaghetti
3. BBQ ribs
4. Any GOOD Mexican!

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Rio de Janeiro (coz I’ve never been)
2. Switzerland (I love to ski, and would love to go back there!)
3. London
4. Torino

4 People to Tag
1. My honey!
2. My Son
3. My daughter Natasha
4. My daughter Felicity

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Making of a hockey fan...

An earlier post showed my family (minus the wife) at a local hockey game where the highlight for me was the Stanley Cup.

Today we moved farther down the road of making my son into a rabid Red Wings fan. Here we are...with my latest online purchase...his first jersey!

I know it's a little big on him now, but you need some room to grow!!

We had a great evening: Pizza, drinks, and the Red Wings on OLN...which is only good because my dad can watch along with us down in P-ville, NM, and we can actually talk about the game instead of me just relaying the action second-hand to him after each goal or significant event.

Alas, the celebration wasn't QUITE what we had hoped for...but it was a good game. After Detroit decided to really test themselves and spot Carolina 3 goals in the first, they came up 1 goal short at the end of the game...

But you can't fault the effort! The NHL's longest reigning Captain, Steve Yzerman, opened the scoring for the Wings on an outstanding individual effort! Zetterberg scored the next one and there were just too many subsequent scoring chances for me to count. It ended with the Wings on the power play and an absolute flurry of activity around Carolina goaltender Gerber and he (unfortunately) was up to the task. He was deservedly the game's first star and the reason the Hurricanes came away winners.

Anyway...the game was a good one (except the outcome) and we spent some quality time together, always a win!