Sorry, I have been slacking...

...actually, I have been so caught up in the Anna Nicole Smith drama that I haven't had time for much else. I quit pilot training just to keep up on dead people and their stuff. And thanks to my mother for making my site a "connections" web site. Mom, he is married and way too young! Maybe try what worked for the dead lady, give the old blue hairs a shot. If anyone knows of good men for a lady with the best/coolest/most beautiful/smartest son ever, hook her up.

So last weekend I went to Corpus Christi with some bros to check out some cribs...and they are cribs. They are just a slight bit better than the ghetto apartments, where just this week I was awakened at 1:00 AM to a drunken neighbor needing $5 or a ride to a girl's house so he could cheat on his wife. I love it here (huge lie), but those places where awesome.

The area is really pretty and different. Not that I am a little ball of hate, but it was nice to see white, non-military people. It was also different to have nice places to eat and things to do. We actually had more than the two choices here...Chili's or Crapplebees.

We spent most of the time trying to find a place. We all want to be on the water, but I still wanted some room for my dog, when my wife gets down here. (HINT, HINT) All the houses we looked at were on Padre Island, which is where most of all the studs live. The majority of the houses have canal/waterfront access or views. There is a little stud housing on base, but most studs live on the island for the experience, not to mention it is only for a short time. Besides, when the studs get their wings and live in the desert, they will want something nice to think about when they are sleeping on cots in tents...wait, we are in the Air Force, never mind. The places are nice, but I think we will just have to wait until we get there to make a final decision. Not to mention that our other roommate won't be decided upon until we know who is all going down to the carbon copy (CC...get it?) after track select on March 8. March 8 and we are doneski...can you believe it?

Formation is going alright. It is a lot harder than just trying to keep next to someone. It is about seeing angles while inverted and trying to anticipate what lead is going to do. I have to say when you are upside down chasing a jet 10,000 feet above the ground and seeing them then pull up and barrel roll over you, is pretty cool. It is hard and I hope is starts clicking soon. I got lucky at the beginning and did pretty well for my ability, but not wanting to change from what I am use to, I started sucking like a Hoover lately. I am improving and hopefully soon I will be able to stay 10' away while at 90 degrees of bank...as opposed to screaming like a young school girl and pulling away while the IP cusses and yells for me to "get back in there." I am only a couple of rides from my form solo, now that is scary.

I also got to ride my new bike for the first time, while paying my respects to dead presidents. One good thing about being in the military (or government jobs) is they take days off for everyone. I wish a few more famous people would kick the bucket...maybe in the future we will have a day for ANS...and I complain about how much attention she gets and I am just as guilty as the cable channel doing a story on whether or not the media was spending too much time on Anna Nicole Smith. Anyway, the bike was awesome and I can't wait to get more time to ride it. Unfortunately, they tell me I am here to fly, not ride.

Roswell wanted a shout out, so here you go buddy. "So are yall hungry?" That was all I heard from the Georgia peach all weekend. SEE YA!

Four Weeks Left in Phase II

Well, I am on to formation flying now. It is the last and final block of training and it is also one of the coolest things to be 10 feet from another jet. I don't stay there for very long on my own right now...a few seconds before the IP takes control. Supposedly, by the another few rides I will be able to stay there a lot longer. It is also awesome to do what is called extended trail and it is basically trying to follow the leader. At the core it is basic fighter maneuvering, trying to find the right angle that will put you right behind them and in a good position to follow their next move. It gets crazy when you are inverted and trying to roll out and catch them. It is really a straight out of the movies kind of thing.

Other than that, that is about it on the flying side. Candi came down on Thursday and is leaving Monday morning. It was so awesome having her here, although it is only for a short time. I hope to have her with me longer next time...hopefully living with me. So if you wouldn't mind, pressure her to go live with her husband. Well, don't want to waste anymore of the precious time we have together...SEE YA!

Oh, and I got my bike. Ain't she a beaut?

Just in case you were wondering

All the prayers worked, I did very well. Don't know why I couldn't have done that before, but somehow I got a good alignment job. It was a God thing because I flew the best I had ever flown. Now it is on to this...YIPEE!

Thanks to everyone for their support! See ya!

Once a hooker, always a hooker!

Well, I was back to old tricks and hooked my instrument checkride. The things I was super worried about, weren't even a factor and things I never thought about bit me in the behind. I encountered icing which made us terminate in the middle of an approach, I couldn't hold an altitude en route, and when I got back to base their equipment was broken and I couldn't fly a precision approach. I don't expect you to understand much of all that, but let me equate it to driving. You leave your driveway on a bright sun shiny day and you go to a nearby neighbors house that has a cloud above their house. You start to turn into their culdesac an the road is so icy from that one little cloud that you can't make it two houses down to their driveway, so you turn around and go back home. On the way back your car is out of alignment and pulls to the right. At a point you are looking out the window at the kids playing in their yard and when you look up, you are on the curb. The back seat driver yells at you and you get back on the road. Finally you get home to your gated community and the gate code doesn't work, so you have to go around to the construction entrance. Once you get inside your own house, someone quizzes you all about your drive, your car, how to drive, and what to do if you get into an accident on the road. You end up answering all the questions and what to do in an emergency situation very well, but because you ran up on the curb and the because you didn't tell your backseat driver that the gate was broken and you were using the construction entrance, you failed the whole drive.

Now do you understand? I did a lot of things well, but I did some stupid things, too. Overall I failed and now I have to fly with the big boss to see if I am really cut out to be a pilot in the Untied States Air Force. Not a good thing! I would appreciate everyone remembering me Monday, although it is a very big picture ride. The big boss is looking at if I have the ability to be a pilot, not just fly a few select maneuvers. I am told not to worry about it, but it is kind of only my career. Others in my class have had this ride and it was pretty uneventful, but I would like to keep it that way.

Other than that, the week went well. I flew eight times and did very well on most of them, except when it counted most. I guess things like this happen to keep me humble...it works! I will talk to you next week and hopefully I will still be "crossed over into the blue." (Air Force slogan, which is supposedly changing to the redneck saying of, "getter dun" and that I am not kidding)

My bike is still en route, burros aren't use to this sub-fifties weather and are moving slowly. My wife is coming here on Thursday, so life isn't all bad. I can't wait to see her, although I am only worth four days of her time. I guess four days is better than nothing. See ya!