Slow Week

Not a lot to report this week. I spent much of the week doing menial tasks for the 435th. The fact the tasks were menial, didn’t mean they weren’t uneventful. I managed to cut my thumb with a razor blade and it bled all over the inside of a trash can until I could get it bandaged up. However, in that time I managed to change my status from “flying under the radar” to being the bright, blinking spot on the radar. I was able to attract the Commander, DO (second in charge to the Commander), and a bunch of my future instructors who were all quick to pass judgment. I quickly became known as the “officer who wants to fly multi-million dollar fighter jets, but can’t even operate a box cutter correctly.” I somehow think I haven’t heard the last of this one and it may just come back around in the form of a call sign.

Other than these tasks, we didn’t get to do too much. We are waiting on paper work to “sandbag” with these guys, but we did manage to get some simulator flying in during the week. It isn’t very realistic for what we need to be practicing, but it is better than nothing.

In other news, Candi had a doctor’s appointment this week and we found out that the bump on her front side was more than donuts and Twinkies. We actually knew that before, but we did find out all was going well. The doctor scheduled us to get a new stereo in our car, which must be a Southern thing because a lot of cars “bump” around here. However, I think ours is going to be better than there’s since the doctor said it was going to be an “ultrasound.” And some how this new stereo is connected to my Levi’s? Candi says it is to see if my jeans messed up the baby…??? I am not sure about all of this since it is my first baby, but this is what they tell me.

Since it was a slower week, Candi and I decided to do one of the “touristy” things and we went to Sea World. We went Friday afternoon and we practically had the place to ourselves. We were able to get right on the rides without waiting in any lines and they had some pretty cool rides. I find that “rides” aren’t quite the same when you get to go on jet “rides” at work, but they were still fun. We got to go to all the shows and Candi got to see the Holstein whales for the first time. The shows were highlighted by a baby killer whale that just followed his mom around and would do some of the tricks randomly throughout the show. It wasn’t trained, but it was just copying its mother, which made it really cute. And yes, a guy that is training to be a fighter pilot just said “cute.”

We also got a lot of practice at cleaning carpets this week. I think our animals got into something and we had all four of our animals puking all over the house at one time or another. One huge mess by Zoe took six times of cleaning (trying a new product and procedure each time) and we still have the sweet scent of dog vomit in the air. However, Candi's cat has decided to top all of that and has decided to not use the litterbox for urinating any more. I am a huge cat lover, so this doesn't make me upset in the least. It doesn't make me sit up at night thinking of ways to muffle the sound of my Glock or make me drive around looking for places to drop a cat corpse or anything. I am totally fine with having all my clothes smell like I live in a house with 89 cats. You see, since we left all our furniture in Idaho, we have our clothes on shelves, which apparently look like a better option than a box full of sand. Anyway, if you have always wanted a cat or two, please let me know. I think I can hook you up...and it may even be alive if you contact me soon enough.

A Great Week

Spirits are high here in the Hampton's (if you don't know, we live in the ghetto subdivision called North Hampton) and it is mostly due to the fact that our air conditioner was fixed this past Tuesday. Gone are the nights of sweating on top of the sheets, fighting dogs and wife for window air conditioner time, and out staying our welcome at restaurants just to take advantage of their A/C... long after they quit giving us refills.

And as a bonus, I finished up my first phase of training on Wednesday. My roommate, Aaron, and I finished up with five flights in three days to finish right on time. We were hoping they would string the last several flights out and extend past our finish date, since we don't start the next class until the 8th of July. However, we weren't so lucky...or maybe we were...only time will tell.

I say that last part because we were told to move on to our new squadron, the 435th Fighter Training Squadron. I am now a part of the "Deadly Black Eagles." It comes with lots of anxiety, because these are the guys that are going to crush us over the next three months. We didn't really want to start the kicks to the mid section any earlier than we had to, but so far they have treated us decently. They appear to be waiting until the class actually starts to commence with the hazing, which is alright with me. However, we will see this week if the "decent behavior" continues because we will start flying "sandbag" rides and give them an opportunity to let their true colors show. We have met a bunch of the guys in the 435th and they are really nice dudes, but they have to play the part for training. It does make it a bit easier to take when you know the guys are cool, they are just doing their jobs. Not that you care, but we had to get new patches because we are not worthy of wearing our home unit patches yet... although we had been worthy for the last sixteen months.

The change in classes has given me a chance to breathe and not study every waking hour. I originally thought we would literally be sandbagging every other day and not have much to do, so Candi and I had planned on doing all our "tourist activities" during this time. It looks like our plans may not work out so well with me going to this new squadron and Candi has seen an increase in work load. Candi all of a sudden got swamped and is working so much, that she now has to set an alarm and get up in the mornings. And by mornings, I am pushing it at best. Let's just say, McDonald's doesn't serve breakfast at the times she calls "mornings."

Candi continues to be great with child. She has her 16 week doctor appointment this next Wed. I am finding out that I should have been studying about pregnancy, rather than how to shoot down bandits. Trying to figure out how to answer, "Do you think I look pregnant?" is way more difficult than figuring out turn circles and aspect angles of opposing jets. And if you don't figure out the latter, at least you don't have to live in the same house with the person after they yell at you, like the former.

I did manage to beat the chickens up on Saturday and score a round of golf before Candi started her "morning." Then we went to a minor league baseball game on Saturday night, which was cool.

Of course, we sat right by "that guy" who had too many drinks and too little restraint on his yelling. Thank goodness for security that finally removed this guy, but they were about seven innings too late. I tried to tell him that he wouldn't like it if the baseball players went down to Burger King and yelled at him for not holding the pickles on their Whopper, but that still didn't deter him. Here he is yelling at the opposing batter that he would bet his weekly pay check (his words & yes, he was holding up a $20) that he won't hit the ball.

Other than that, Candi and I haven't been doing a whole lot. We are pretty bored most of the time (mainly weekends) and we are continually searching for things to do around here. We are trying not to do all the "touristy" items during the weekends to reduce our standing in line time and hopefully we can get to some of them during this time between training. We don't really have anyone to do anything with and you really don't want to do too much outdoors during the day because of the heat and humidity...so we really have limited things to do. If I had dime for every time Candi or I said, "what is there to do?" we would be able to pay in full for that answer, if we ever found it. However, we do have the community urine deposit, I mean pool, that we frequent often. It's quite refreshing when it's mid to high 90s...

Who Cares About Flying, We Need A/C

I know I didn't waste much time getting to the complaining part of my post, since I started my plea for tear shedding in the title, but it is HOT. I am seriously sitting in a 86 degree house at 10 o'clock at night. As I mentioned last week, our A/C is out and our homo-wner is out of the country. The bad part is this week was the hottest week yet with many days in the mid to high 90s. The good part is that I finally get to use my phrase, "It is Africa hot" and mean it. A guy from Africa said this last week that this Texas heat was more than he was used to!

We had someone come out and check the A/C, just to find they needed authorization to do any more by the owner... unless we wanted to cough up the $2,000+ for a new compressor. I have visions of getting stuck with this bill, since this guy didn't really do anything to the house if it was going to cost him money. So we wait for next week when he shall return. Then there will probably be a second opinion, followed by a back ordered compressor, and a backed up A/C man (nothing to do with his low bathroom attendance) and we may be still playing this violin next week. I think the dogs and cats are starting to rally together and Candi and I are fearing a riot. If it weren't for the linoleum, fans, and window A/C we bought, I think they would have already staged a coup d'etat (and yes, I did have to Google that word). These are pictures I posted on Twitter/Facebook, but they weren't staged and it shows you that I am not kidding.

We have been eating out quite a bit, since #1) we can't stand the heat and #2) cooking makes the house even warmer. This no A/C thing is costing us big time. We have been spending money by going to A/C facilities for eating, shopping, and just plain old loitering. Ok, I think I have complained enough for a minute or two, let's get on to what everyone wants to know...what did I have for dinner? No, that isn't what everyone wants to know about? Well, it has to be something about me, since I am self absorbed enough to know there isn't much else to care about.

I mean, we told our parents last week that we were going to have a baby and they didn't even act like they cared. It isn't like Candi's mom and my mom didn't set a new world record by telling 3,416 people in less than a day that they were going to be grandparents...without the aid of Facebook and Twitter. It isn't like they thumbed their noses at social media and made a mockery of Facebook by reaching more people with their rotary phones in an hour than that website could! It isn't like we already received two pairs of baby shoes, baby books, and baby toys for a blob of goo that will someday (but not in the immediate future) be a baby. It isn't like people all of a sudden remembered that the Presley's indeed were still alive and actually sent emails and messages to us!

OK, it is like all of that! And I tell you what, we would have had a lot of kids and had them a whole lot earlier, if we would have known the kind of response we would get. People actually called us and emailed us! Thank you to everyone who did; we really needed the encouragement and just to hear from people at home. I think I am going to announce this kind of thing once a month or so, just so you can actually contact us! If you are thinking, well I didn't call or email them...what kind of bigger announcement do you need? As I told someone this past week, "do you know your phone can still call someone, even if they don't live in your same town anymore?"

Ok, I know you are getting to the point where you are looking for the incentive to keep on reading since I only either complain to you or criticize you, so here is the incentive. If you keep reading and being our friend, we will let you babysit when we get home. And that goes for everyone, we won't exclude anyone!

Candi is doing well...make that well-done...and enjoys having to take breaks from her work to take cold showers. I have been spending a lot more time at the base, since it is air conditioned. I am very considerate of my pregnant wife though and call her often to make sure she is still conscious and hasn't had a heat stroke in the house.

My flying continues to be up and down (pun not intended). I have four flights left and would have been only a flight away from being done, but I had three flights this last week cancelled due to weather. I flew three times and two were good and one wasn't so much. I am scheduled for two on Monday, so that means I could be done as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. I really don't feel like I am ready for IFF (the next class- Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals), but then I don't think too many people ever feel ready for a kick to the mid-section. I am told I have the skills to make it through, but not the mind set. They say I am not intense enough, aggressive enough, or competitive enough. I have never been told that before on anything, so I think there is a whole new level I will have to push myself to in the upcoming weeks. I have often thought that I was pushing it about as hard as I could, so we will see where this new level comes from.

Well, I think that about does it for me. I am off to have a cold shower to lower my core temperature, so that I won't wake up with so much sweat on the sheets that it makes me wonder if I still have my bladder under full control at age 32. One last thing, I had a huge breakthrough on the whole issue of there being a lot of bigger people down here and in the South in general. I realized when it is this hot, no one does anything outdoors, especially something strenuous, but the one thing you can do is EAT because it is indoors! And to prove it, I have put on five pounds this past week, but man were those restaurants nice and cold!

I Have An Announcement

Well, another interesting week. More of the same...ups and downs. I failed my first flight and I also had my best flight. The flying is starting to go better, with little mistakes (ok, some big ones) getting less and less. I really only have a week or so left of flying, depending on how they schedule everything, so I still feel very unprepared for the next phase. But, it is what it is. Here is a picture from a sandbag flight I had this last week. This is "route" formation and is a more relaxed formation than other pictures you have seen in other posts. We also fly a lot of formation at quite a greater distance, but it is very hard to see in pictures and the only time the other jets get close is when we are turning into each other and well, if you have two jets going 400MPH and passing each other, you can do the math at closer rates, but "long story short" you have to be pretty quick on the camera draw.

It is getting pretty hot and humid down here, which makes it a great time for our air conditioning to go out at our house. It is mid 80s in the house and we are dying. We are hoping to get someone out here Monday to check it out, because the homeowner is in Costa Rica until the middle of the month. We have found some places that have free air conditioning, like the mall...but then you all know me and my shopping...it turns out that the air conditioning costs are very similar to four shirts, three shorts, and a pair of shoes. Oh, and I let Candi buy a hair clip. It wasn't the one she wanted, but it was on sale. She can't just spend money like it grows on trees.

Other than that, we haven't been doing too much. We have started cooling off in our neighborhood (emphasis on the "hood" part) pool, which is a life saver with our AC inop. We mowed our weeds this weekend, which is a whole saga in itself. We have to rent a lawn mower and weed eater from the base and it is like them giving us a rusty butter knife and a piece of twine to slap at the weeds with at approximately one revolution every minute. Their equipment doesn't quite run at full speed...or even half speed for that matter. I think somewhere in between me devising a pulley system to get the stupid mower up our steep backyard and me putting down the weed eater and just pulling all the weeds by hand, I realized that for another $10 I could give the whole fun over to a teenager that needs the money.

Candi continues to work and things are well. She is really enjoying the sweating while sitting and watching TV and is really hoping for a hot few days until they get our AC fixed. Other than that, not much new news here. See you next time!

Oh, and the announcement is that we are going to be having a baby. No big deal.