Study, study, fly, study. It rules.

And There Was Much Arm-Twisting

2006-09-04T14:02:00.000-05:00

My excuse for not updating is that my roommate's dog chewed through the power cable on my laptop. I have two perfectly good dead batteries sitting around. Waiting for the replacement to make it's journey through the mail. Using her computer to do this now.

Have completed the initial stage of training. Passed my checkride and soloed several times. Did several aerobatic flights. Quite fun. Loops, barrel rolls, etc. Took a weather class, did well on that test. I'll be starting formation flight tomorrow. Actually heading out to study with my forms partner (wingman) here shortly.

Seriously considering ordering the NFL Sunday Ticket so I can watch the Seahawks games. Gonna be a big hassle, and slightly more expensive, but worth it I'm sure. I'll hate myself if I don't. =P Not too much else new. Just plugging along. Love ya'll.

A day off? Wierd..

2006-07-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

Took the safe for solo test today. Turned out to be 20 questions, and easier than I thought. Have the whole day to do laundry and study. Going boating with a bunch of friends this weekend. Should be fun. Doing basic instrument flights now. I was supposed to do them after the sims, but scheduling screwed up and put me back into contact flights. For BI's I sit in the back seat with the hood up and fly off the instruments. Little lower stress than fllights from the front seat. Anyway, not too much to say.

Oh yeah, it's official now. Ben's a celebrity. Sweet.

Little flying update

2006-06-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

So, not flying today. I got all the way out to the runup, was ready to taxi for takeoff when the word on the weather came down, so we taxied back to the line and hung it up. This is good news though. It means lots of time for me to study today. Yay. First things first, I'm going to take a nap. Studied til 12:00 pm last night and had to get up at 4:30 am to make my 6:15 brief for the flight, so a few more hours oughta help.

Flown twice so far. It moves fast. Have to think faster. The plane is pretty responsive. Yanks and banks pretty well. Military flying is a hoot. Not very Top Gunnish, though. Checklists, procedures, rules, more rules, secondary rules, auxiliary rules, you get the idea. I have checklists for my checklists. Not kidding. Anyway, nap time.

Happy birthday to me

2006-06-11T16:56:00.000-05:00

Check this out. Ben sent me a unit t-shirt (which is in the laundry) and this sweet AK-47 bayonette with "Infidel Brother" engraved on it in English and Arabic. Pretty sweet birthday present. I think I already know what he's getting. ;-)

Cry me a @#$%in' river...

2006-06-11T01:29:00.000-05:00

Check out the headline on this article...

Taking A Second To Breathe

2006-06-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

Thursday night. 1o:04pm, I should be sleeping, but thought I'd drop a quick lil note here before bed. Let me just start by saying......WOW! Flight training is a LOT of work. I didn't expect it to be easy, but let me tell ya; if this wasn't something you loved doin, right about now would be the point a person would have to start lining up a new job. Those that I've talked to will remember my beautiful lacadaisical schedule from a couple weeks ago. Wake up 9ish, call in to let 'em know I'm alive and congratulations, you're done for the day. Hah. This is a sample of my schedule for the last two weeks. Sunday through Friday.

0515 - Wake up
0700 - First class on (Aircraft systems, course rules (airspace stuff), etc.)
0930 - Second class for the morning
1100 - 1300 - Studying for a today's sim ride / test
...a word about sim rides. The Navy employs roughly 40ish McDonald Douglas (I think...or Raytheon, something like that) civilian contractors. Almost all are retired pilots with many years experience. They know their stuff. So we have a syllabus. Each sim ride has specific procedures we need to know COLD. You screw up, make a fool of yourself and it's bad news. So anyway, back to the schedule.
1300 - 1430 - Sim ride for the day
1430 - 1700ish - Back in the sims with a buddy learning the new procedures for tomorrow's sim ride.
1700ish - bed - Food, blogging, and of course...more studying. Then wakin up and doin the same thing all over again.

This is pretty accurate. No exaggeration or anything. I could probably get away with fewer hours, but not if I want to place highly in my class. Hmm...tryin to think if there's anything else interesting. This won't be my schedule for the entire time I'm here. It will change once I get into the air to a certain degree. Flights will replace sims, but the word is they only come 3 or 4 a week. I better throw a picture or two in here so it's not all blah text. Talk to ya later.

P.S. I couldn't find any other interesting pictures, so I figure'd I'd put this one up as a Public Service Announcement. This, boys and girls, is my friend Derrick. I know...he looks dumb, but that's the point. Derrick, by conventional standards is a very intelligent young man. He has a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, and performed well enough in air force pilot training to earn a spot flying F-16's - one of the most coveted planes out there. I've gone through the trouble of establishing his bona fides simply to provide a little context for the stupid look on his face and the torrent of blood flowing from that nasty gash on his head. Our hero was "walking" into his apartment after an evening out on the town in beautiful Del Rio, TX (I think). Derrick being a big guy, bout 6' 5", his girlfriend apparently thought it would be a good plan to run up behind him, leap into the air and get to enjoying a non-consensual piggy-back ride. As I'm sure you've already guessed, Derrick went *timber*...right onto the sidewalk. Under normal circumstances, I'm sure he'd be more upset than he appears in this picture, but...well, you know...he was in a *cheerful* mood. So, I guess this was supposed to be a public service announcement, wasn't it. Hmm, well. I think it's clear that the lesson to be learned here is don't let people run and jump on your back when you're not prepared for it. A noteworthy lesson for us all.

Studying

2006-05-29T23:46:00.000-05:00

Promised I'd post tonight, but haven't finished studying and I need to be up in about 6 hours, so I'm afraid it'll have to wait til tomorrow. Back to the books. =(

Goodbye life

2006-05-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

That's right, everyone wave goodbye to Rob's life. A mugger named pilot training came by and murdered the heck out of it. If I'm not in a sim, in a class, doing computer-based training or flying...I'm studying for one of them. Finishing up first week. Test tomorrow. Imagine trying to learn how every part of your car works, where they all are and how they work together and then imagine your car is an airplane -- in a week. It sucks. Anyway, here's a couple pics. I have to start studying. =P Holler if ya want more.

Random Stuff

2006-05-05T16:08:00.000-05:00

Aloha, ya'll. Or maybe I should say, "Hola, como estas?" given that it's cinco de mayo weekend. Don't ask me what cinco de mayo is supposed to be celebrating. My best guess is that it's an American excuse to party - much like St. Patty's. As such, I say with all the craziness and stress in the world, I approve (with the standard air force caveat of, "just don't be stupid"). Personally, I'll only get in half of a cinco de mayo celebration. Tomorrow I'll be drivin about 8 hrs. north into Georgia or something, to spend a few days hiking the Appalachian trail with my buddy Wes. The two of us are going to hike for 4 days and 3 nights. Doin about 25 miles or something. I'm really looking forward to it, should be a good time. I went out the other day and got a long distance hiking pack and a sleeping bag and some gear. Should be all set.

I was thinking on the drive home from work today (at 0830, eat your heart out) that I missed Mom. I don't think too much about her most of the time, but I have been more often lately. I wish she could be around to see her family. I think between the work Dad is doing with the church, Ben being deployed, Katie & Ben making a little Bradley and me progressing through pilot training that Mom would be pretty contentedly proud of all of us.

Re: pilot training, the word is I'll start flying on 22 May. Two weeks of academics re: the specific airplane and then it's "know-your-stuff-or-put-your-head-between-your-knees-and...well, you know the rest" time. Anyway, can't think of anything else at the moment. Drop me a line if there's something I oughta talk about.

This is Pilot Training - not Fun Training

2006-04-24T13:20:00.001-05:00

As you've probably already guessed, those are not my words. Those words were spoken this morning by my friendly VT-5 (don't ask me what that stands for) indoc briefer. That's right, I wrapped up API (the strictly academic portion) on Friday, and reported to Whiting Field for airplane time today. As the Navy is operating at their usual peak efficiency, I won't actually start the curriculum until approx 22 May. In the interim I have to muster every morning before 1000. Before "muster" meant drive for 30 mins. to show my mug before immediately getting in my truck and driving home. Now, muster means calling a phone number and letting them know I'm alive. I'm liking this training more already.

Figured it wouldn't hurt to get ahead of the game a lil bit, so I went and picked up all my books and pubs that I'll be needing, so I have about a month to go over them before things kick off. This is them. Yes, that's right, they forced me to put away my beloved flight suit for the day and get back into the blue monkey suit. The look on my face is there for two reasons: 1. The massive stack of stuff I have to memorize. 2. The uniform is putting into doubt any future possibility of more little Bradleys running around. I have several other pictures that have nothing to do with pilot training, but I had them on mycamera and thought they were post-worthy. Remember that whole stupid mustache game? Well, I took a snap for posterity's sake and here that one is. Last couple of pics are kind of funny. Right outside my apt. is a tennis court. This tennis court has about a 12' high chain-link fence on the ends to keep balls from flying around (punch yourself if you just giggled). Somehow or another, Super-Duck made it ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. Now if you've ever taken a look at a duck's feet, they're not really designed for standing on top of wires and poles and such like a bird with long toes and claws. I think Super-Duck was stuck, cause he stayed up there for at least an hour. I tried to outlast him to see his descent, but gave up eventually. The first pic is a wide shot for scale's sake. The second is a close-up of our hero in action.

I Love My Job

2006-04-17T10:44:00.000-05:00

Monday morning, have to show up at 0730 for another day of water survival training. Get a quick lecture, change into loaner flight gear to include: flight suit, helmet, gloves, flotation vest (looks like a parachute rig), and an actual parachute rig. First excercise, I get up onto a platform by the pool with a cable running above it from one wall to the other. I'm strapped into the zip cord harness by my chute rig and dragged off the platform. My job is to get out of the parachute rig in the proper way. Next evolution is similar. This time I'm on a tall platform and going downhill along a cable until I hit the water. Same procedures, only this simulates a normal water bailout, whereas the first simulates a bailout with limited float time. End the day with one more simulated helicopter hoist and seeya later, thanks for playing. My posterior is firmly affixed to my favorite chair at home at 1030. I'll say it again, I love my job.

Me + Chlorine = Ugh

2006-04-15T07:03:00.001-05:00

Yes, if it's true that 70%ish of the body is made up of water than I'm now mostly chlorinated. The last week we've been taking survival classes. The majority of these classes are geared towards water survival (being that the Navy is doing the training). We went out into the bay off base and learned how to get into and out of the various life rafts in the Navy's collection. Then, yesterday we spent the morning going through egress training. That's your, "Oh @#$%, the helicoptor/plane's gonna crash," training. The Navy has this huge building with a massive pool inside where they do their aviator water survival training. We showed up there at 0700, got several hours of death-by-powerpoint, changed into our loaner flight gear and lined up by the pool. The first excercise was a simulated helicoptor lift out of the ocean. They dropped a cable with a hook and floaty assembly down and we strapped ourselves in and were hoisted. Tougher than it sounds in full flight gear with the simulated prop wash and stress. After that was a chair assembly. You strapped into the chair, which simulated a cockpit chair, that sat inches above the water. On the signal, the instructors invert the chair. You then, unlatch your harness and belt and make your way along the cage assembly approx. 15' down to the hatch. You unlatch the hatch and make your way out. You do this three times, the third time blindfolded. The final exercise is the full helicopter dunker simulation. It's a full-sized helicoptor cabin that's suspended from the ceiling by cables. You take a seat in the bird, strap in and hold on. They drop the bird into the pool and flip it over. Once it stops moving you unstrap and make your way to the assigned exit point using the procedures you're taught. Same as the chair, three rides on this one. Third is blacked out. You have to hold your breath and you can't waste any blowing the water out of your nose, so my sinuses are pretty well chlorinated today - spending most of yesterday morning upside down and 10ish feet underwater. Anyway, fingers are about to fall off. More to come after parasailing on Mon/Tues.

Inventory

2006-04-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

Got my super duper equipment issue the other day. As requested, here is a list of all the goodies:

4x 44L olive green flight suits
1x pair nomex flight gloves
1x olive green flight jacket
6x pairs wool socks
1x pair silver rimmed aviator sunglasses
1x metal flight computer/plotter
1x pair speed-lace black flight boots
1x pair hearing protection ear muffs
1x switchblade (used for cutting parachute cord)
1x digital watch
1x digital stopwatch

Items not issued due to supply shortages:

1x flight helmet
1x helmet bag
1x flight bag

I believe this about sums it up. In other news, passed Navigation this morning. 1 test to go and I graduate API and get to have a life again (at least until flying starts). Yay.

Danger: Moustache Zone Ahead

2006-04-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

That's right...Moustache Watch: Day 1. My little API classmates decided it would be a good idea to grow those hideously bad military regulation moustaches until we graduate (about two weeks). Also have a roommate now. Girl I met through an air force buddy of mine. She's from North Carolina. Flight suits tomorrow - hallelujah. Bed time now. Buh-bye.

Make that 3 readers!

2006-03-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

It turns out my throng of ravenous blog-junkies, clawing at their eyes for an update include not two, but THREE whole people. Simply amazing. Here is an excerpt from one of their messages:

Including me, you have at least 3 readers. Of course I just read your posts cuz you are my brother-in-law, and wouldn't want you to start crying cuz you felt left out... but I do still count, don't I???!

The words speak for themselves. I don't know if I can even imagine a more resounding affirmation of my literary prowess and keyboard kung-fu. In the interest of privacy, I've taken great lengths to ensure that the insightful reader who posted this shall remain anonymous.

Unfortunately for both of us, I have an Aerodynamics exam at 6:00 AM tomorrow, for which I am as yet, unprepared. While blogging is fulfilling and enjoyable, it in no way serves to prepare me for the aforementioned exam which takes place in 18 hours. Much to my abhorrence, the only way to prepare is to read and reread the "enabling objectives" (Navy-speak for important stuff you'll see on the test). To this end, I bid you good afternoon. Turkeys.

Army Recruiting

2006-03-24T18:22:00.000-05:00

Surfin around, saw this. Makes me glad I'm in the Chair Force.

Official Army Coloring Book?!

Found on the official army site. Hooah.

Gettin caught up

2006-03-24T16:43:00.000-05:00

Due to overwhelming reader request (okay, 2 readers) I've decided to man up and start posting regularly again. I'll catch ya up to date with where I'm at nowadays. Just wrapped up week 2 of API. That's aviation preflight indoctrination for you dirt monkeys. That's what we call you non-flyers. Actually I just made that up, I don't know what we call you cause I'm not really one of "we" yet. So, as you may have guessed, there's no flying involved in API; much to my chagrin. I've taken two tests so far, Basic Aerodynamics and Aviation Weather. 4 more to go and THEN I get into a cockpit. Learning this stuff is like (to use the oft-repeated expression) trying to drink through a firehose. I think the cumulative study time and mental effort I've put into this so far probably outstrips that of my senior year at school--my last senior year. Hey, I enjoyed school.

Monday is test 3. Basic Aerodynamics 2. Then Thursday is Engines. Friday is my one screw-off night of the week, and I fully intend to take advantage. I've been scheming up ways to act like an idiot all day, and the time now being 3:59...I guess, being in the military I'm supposed to say 155niner, but it's the Air Force. We tend to go full throttle...idle...full throttle...idle, and as you may have guessed, I'm rapidly approaching idle right now. Anyway, got way off course. The time now being 3:59, my idiot scheming is ramping up pretty good. I know, I'm sposed to say pretty well. It's a blog, sue me. =) I could go on for quite a lengthy while, but then I wouldn't have anything interesting to post tomorrow. 2 weeks til I get out of blues and into a sexy sexy green flight suit. More cool lingo for ya, we call em "bags". In conclusion, I'll repeat the punchline from a bumpersticker I saw in this store called Wings And Things.

The average pilot, despite his somewhat swaggering exterior is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring. These feelings just don't involve anyone else.

Okay, have you regained your composure from the copious amount of achingly side-splitting laughter you just experienced? Here's a few more in no particular order since they seem to be popping into my head. Not much of a conclusion, is this?

How do you know if you're sitting next to a pilot at the bar? Oh, don't worry...he'll tell you.

What's the difference between a pilot and God? God doesn't think he's a pilot. (Apologies if this comes across as blasphemous. Didn't strike me as such)

Back

2006-03-17T01:49:00.000-05:00

Due to overwhelming demand (okay, it was one person) I'm posting again. Not too much has happened since I bought furniture. I've started API (aviation preflight indoctrination) which is pretty much the weed-out course for pilots. If you can't study 4 - 6 hours a day and 6 - 10 hours on the weekends you probably won't make it through. Believe it or not I've rediscovered my smart-Rob roots, and have had a pretty good time learning all about basic aerodynamics and airplane associated physics. If anyone needs to know about the coefficient of lift, or parasite drag, or the equation describing thrust available and excess thrust, I'm your man. More to follow, bed time.

Furnizziture!

2006-02-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

That's right. No more livin on the floor for yours truly. This is my newly fabulous living room. Gonna put a tree in the corner to hide the speaker wires and some crap on the walls. Not the kind monkeys throw mind you. The kinda people put on the walls to take up space. Had to rent a Ryder van to get the couch home. Only $25, not bad. My fingertips are numb from guitarring. Yes, I verbed it. Muster was at 0730 this morning, as usual, only today rather than signing in and going running we met up at the base chapel. The navy did their thing, while MSgt Lucas informed myself and my blue clad compatriots that there was "No news." No news, of course, being the very best news we could all hope to hear. Life will go on being cushy for another week barring any unforseen circumstances - although, as I think about it, this IS the military so unforseen circumstances requiring more work is almost a certainty.

*Updated the pic with some more goodies.

What is that gawdawful noise?!

2006-02-07T18:19:00.000-05:00

That's Rob screeching away on his new gee-tar! That's right, I took the first step on my way towards playing whiny songs and thinking I have some deep bit of wisdom to impart to the normal people. Not really...it just seemed like something fun to learn. Friends have said it's relaxing too. So I bought this baby. 100 or so bucks at Targét. That's Target for you unwashed masses. That little green abomination next to my gee-tar is my homage to St. Patty's Day. I don't think I have any Irish in me, but I figured, "Hey...everyone else has a history month. This might as well be Irish-American history month." And thus, my aforementioned little green abomination is a first pandering attempt to celebrate Irish history. More details about that to follow this weekend. I'm afraid however, that those details won't be made available for public consumption. I on the other hand, will be consuming...the details.

Something other than football

2006-02-06T18:31:00.000-05:00

This is the view out my front door. To the left is the walkway to my parking lot.
This is the view out my deck area.
This is the rental car I'm cruisin around in.

More stuff to follow. Back to cookin fajitas.

If the national media doesn't cover this...

2006-02-06T00:39:00.000-05:00

...it will be a @#$%(ng travesty. I thought because of my Seahawks bias I may have been blowing the officiating out of proportion, but after this ESPN thread I think not. Someone said in here, and I agree...I would rather Seattle had lost by 14 legitimately than have the game influenced that much by the referees. Here is an ongoing collection of links about the officiating or lack thereof:

Miami Herald
PatsFans.com
Fox Sports
ESPN.com (of all people)
Washington Post
Kansas City Star
ESPN Fan Poll at the bottom of the page. 59% think refs changed the outcome of the game.
ESPN Fan Poll Dealing with the refs specifically
Skip Bayless of all people

Goodbye air mattress

2006-02-03T16:32:00.000-05:00

...hello sweet @$$ bed! I sold a kidney the other day and used the money to buy my first real piece of furniture. Next is a couch. Til then I'm rockin my brand new bed. Here's a sexy picture of it.

This...is...priceless

2006-02-02T01:40:00.000-05:00

Click here, click here! Hahaha!! Oh, Dad - there's some makin fun of Christians at 5:00 mins to 7:40. Rest of it is good to go.

Spread em...

2006-02-02T01:18:00.000-05:00

That's right, I had the pleasure today of rising at 0500 to have various parts of my body inspected by a crack Naval medical team. Crack...funny word choice considering. For those of ya that haven't caught on, here's the doctor's eye view...delightful, no? In other physical news, I also did the hearing test. I swear I guessed on half of the beeps. I couldn't hear a thing. =P Not that my hearing is bad, it's fine. It's just that the booth wasn't sound proof. I think I heard a mouse fart outside while I was straining to hear the #@%$ beeps. Tomorrow it's helmet fitting time. This one shouldn't be too bad. Then muster on Friday morning and I'm home free til next week.

Gettin a routine down

2006-01-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

I'm still furniture-less. I have my office chair, which doubles as a couch, and a blow up bed. Looking forward to getting paid tomorrow and buying some furniture. Have a nice lil route for running. Been goin in the afternoons. It still gets dark too early. Bout 1730 or so. Gonna be nice when it's 70 degrees at night and the sun's stayin up forever.

Started earning my pay today

2006-01-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

So, in-processing began at 0900. I showed up in blues, which after several months in a flight suit feels like walking around in one of those halloween cardboard box knight in armor suits - only without the fun factor. This blue monstrosity will be my daily wear for longer than I'd prefer. I mean, look at this thing... If you're wondering why he looks so uncomfortable it's because he is. He's literally sweeping the floor - without his hands - savvy? That almost fully illustrates the level of discomfort he's experiencing. Buuut, I digress.

I in-processed (that means signed my name, social, etc over and over and over) for about an hour and change with a really helpful MSgt. After that I got to pick up my textbooks for API. API is the academic course you do before you get into actual flying. I'll stick a picture of those books on here too. I stuck a quarter beside the stack of books just for a reference on how much space they take up. It's a lot of material, and evidently I need to learn it well enough that I can more or less reproduce it sight unseen. Gonna be an arse-kicker, but it's what I've gotta do. Picture should be clickable for a better view.

Once I got my books it was off to the Captain's office for what I thought was going to be a "Come to Jesus" speech, but turned out to be a "Don't be an idiot" speech. Kind of a funny thing about the military. There are a set number of speeches or "one-sided conversations" that ya need to know. Then you just change up the details to fit the particulars of the situation. Went over to the NEX (Naval Exchange) after that and picked up 3 API PT t-shirts, and I was on my way home by 1130. I'm a free man til Tuesday. Didn't do anything tonight, but I'll make this weekend worth it.

Math is fun...no, really.

2006-01-26T03:31:00.000-05:00

What in God's blue earth am I doing up at 0200 when I have work at 0900? Taxes, of course. For the past couple years I've been using H&R Block's free online tax figure(er)-outter program. Not sure when I have to actually file this thing. To be honest, I'm not sure what about 90% of that stuff is about. I just click the Next button over and over and it tells me how big the check they'll send me is at the end. I wish I could take back the hour.5 I spent in high school watching the oh-so-fascinating video, produced in the early '80's mind you, where Jeff shags Louise and you follow the little spermie chase-cam on his perilous journey to the new world. Louise gets the 9 month flu, and then the thrilling climax! I'll give you the short version: *plop!* Waah! Waah! *snip* "Aww" Waah! Thrilling, no? But I digress. I wish I could have that hour.5 back and have something useful taught to me like wth a deduction and refund are and how they work etc. So I finished (I hope), figuring the stuff out and it looks like I'll make a cool 800ish. Let's see...what can I buy with $800.00?

I can have this guy heal me over the internet 13.33~ times. I sh#t you not

Amusingly enough, I can also get 13.33~ Bedwetting Alarms

.0000003636~ of a B-2 Spirit bomber(I actually did the math)

So many choices...

Welcome to La Casa de Rob...Rob

2006-01-24T23:43:00.000-05:00

Started movin in today to the new apartment. Pretty nice place. I really need to get paid so I can buy some furniture. Looks really lonely all bare. Celebrated by cookin up a delicious steak and some veggies. I think once I post this I'm going to drag my butt over to the Living Room 15' x 12' and hook up the PS2 to the TV. Hopefully the PS2 still works. Turns out my tarps weren't as effective as I would've liked and half my junk got wet. It's all good though, most of the good stuff was in the back seat. Comin down with a cold I think. Always seems to happen when I go from an dry area to a humid area. Kinda funny, but it seems like Ben always has a lot more profound things to say on bandit. Seems like I tend to prattle on about what I did that particular day. For those that are interested, and you know who you are, I didn't see any rampaging elephants today. I'm "borrowing" the neighbor's wireless right now, so I better wrap it up before I lose signal.

Ho-ly @%$#...

2006-01-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

Maury Povich is on T.V. with "Telia" The little byline at the bottom of the screen says, "36 men tested...I'll prove you're the father today." That's right...36 D.N.A. tests. Here comes the real daddy. Of course, the crowd boos him and cheers for the momma when she talks about bein a good parent. HAHAHA, he's not the father. She's lyin on the floor crying and he's jumpin around like he won the lottery. Priceless. She's carryin on and Maury's milkin it for all its worth. Couldn't write this stuff.

Suck it ESPN

2006-01-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm still delerious after that game. Radio and TV out here...Steelers this, Steelers that. Only time they talk about Seattle it's in reference to their past failures. I don't imagine ESPN will ever jump on the wagon. Got the ball rolling with in-processing. Showed up at 0900 this morning, made some copies, turned over some paperwork and at 0930 I was done for the day. More to come on Thursday at 0900. Kinda sounds like things will be going that way for a while. Big backups in the pipeline, so I may be an old man before I'm flying.

Bunch Goin On

2006-01-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

Man, as the title would indicate, I've got a bunch goin on. Finally made it down here to sunny, 60 degree Pensacola. My initial in-processing briefing is tomorrow morning. Have an apartment lined up that's rediculously nice. I'll post some pictures of the place once I'm actually movin in. I'm going to be driving one of...shoot, I can't remeber if it's Enterprise or National rent-a-car's fine *cough* vehicles here in a few days once the truck goes into the shop. And I guess that brings us to today and the Seahawks. I am about to go bonkers waiting for this game to start. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it if the Hawks win - or lose. Antsy, antsy, nervous. I'll probably get on here and either gloat or cry. Ahh, went to Enterprise's site to check out what they have. Insurance is payin $30.00 a day. If that puts me in a Kia Rio I'm pretty flippin sure I'll pony up the extra bucks for one of these babies. Nothin special, but hey...it's not a Kia Rio. At least it looks like it goes fast. I think a final thought to wrap this up would have to be, "Man, I hope Matt Hasslebeck doesn't decide to grow a beard. Plummer and Rothlesburger look like Janitors (I apologize for lumping janitors in there with those two sasquatches, but I couldn't think of a more apt description)."

St. Louis = Rain

2006-01-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

Every time I come through this place it's pouring. Drove 6.5 hours today. Didn't kill anything - losing my touch I guess. Local commercials make my eyes bleed. Took some pictures of the truck right after I nailed the deer. I wish pizza would order itself. Anway, here are the pics.

Happy MLK day. Says something

2006-01-16T12:07:00.000-05:00

Happy MLK day. Says something about the country when the man and his principles go from criminal to celebrated in 40 years. Drivin to St Lou.

No animal slayings today. Made

2006-01-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

No animal slayings today. Made it to Omaha, NE. Sittin in a classy chop house across from my classy hotel room. Life's rough. TY Uncle Sam.

Rob - 1 Bambi -

2006-01-15T12:08:00.000-05:00

Rob - 1 Bambi - 0. That's right, last night I killed Bambi 2 miles out of Sheridan, WY. To his credit he dinged up my truck pretty good.

12 hours til game time!

2006-01-14T04:21:00.000-05:00

Startin the countdown just a lil early. I'm gonna go on record now and guess the final will be 24 - 10 Seattle over the Skins. Anyone have a different guess?

WTF am I doing up at 0700?

2006-01-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

I think it was the wind whipping by Dad's third story apt at Ludicrous Speed and the answering maching going *beep* every 30 seconds. Regardless, it gives me time to clear my head and think. Lately thinking has felt like trying to see through a sandstorm and every grain is another detail I need to hold on to and consider. PCSing for the first time sucks.