Long story short...., I never left Del Rio this weekend.

Monday I went on my checkride.  The ride got dut short because on my first landing I had a display malfunction that would not allow me to read my torque setting.  Which is pretty important.  So my IP, the check pilot, called off the ride and we landed.  It was to late in the day already for me to reschedule on that day.  Tuesday was weather canceled all day.  So on Wednesday it was looking like it was really going to happen....  Well, it did.  I flew nice.  I had a great flight.  It was a bit windy but I compensated for the winds and flew nice.  I was pumped up!  Well..., that is just half of the check ride.  The other half is a ground evaluation (questions).  I answered a few of the first questions wrong..... And once you do that..... they just dig deeper and make you look worse.  It sucks.  Also, I misspoke on one of my boldface items.  If you have never heard of boldface....IT IS IMPORTANT!  You must say it VERBATIM! Well, I didn't.  And I hooked my checkride.  So that means I had to go to an 89 ride.  An 89 ride is a big picture ride that you go on with the squadron commander to see if you are able to learn and can finish the program.  It is not fun.  If you hook that ride then you are done with pilot training.  Scary stuff!  I am the third person in my flight to go on an 89 ride so far.  Tomorrow someone else is going up for their 89.  Only one person has been washed out so far due to an 89.  Long week.  It was scary! On Thursday night I went to a night time ride.That was fun.  On Friday I had an instrument ride.  I passed. Thank God.  But since I didn't have all of my required flights done I couldn't go on my cross country.  Oh well.., there is always next week.  And this coming weekend I WILL BE GOING.

 KRISTEN AND DALLAS GOT BACK!!!! And yes that is a man on a horse at the Julio's drive through.

I have food again and Abita Amber and Abita Strawberry harvest <---Best beer!!!!

Kristen brought home some king cakes.  One for us, two for my class and one for a few guys over here from LSU who know all about king cakes and wanted one.

 For history of the king cake go here---->  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake . But basically, its a cinnamon like bread in the shape of an oval covered in colored and flavored icing and there is a small plastic baby hidden in the cake somewhere. The person who gets the trinket (baby) is declared the King or Queen of the day. The king or queen is usually obligated to supply the next king cake or host the next party or both. King cake parties may be held at the homes of people who live on or near the routes of Carnival.  It is a common practice in elementary and secondary schools to have king cake parties, usually on a Friday. The person who receives the trinket is required to bring the cake the following week.  In some workplaces, a variation on this tradition is simplified so that workers share a king cake at lunch or during the day, with the person receiving the trinket bringing the cake for the next workday.

We had a great idea in my flight.  We decided to put money on who we wanted to shave their head.  And if that person didn't want their head to be shaved then they could match the money to buy themselves out of it. And all of the money would go to the Red Cross for the Haiti relief effort.  It was a great idea!  We raised over $500 between the 33 of us.  Pretty cool.  Then of course we had a party planned for that Friday to celebrate and shave a head.  Oh.., this was the weekend after the Superbowl so it was supposed to be a sports themed party.  It was a blast!

Mustache march is starting up tomorrow!  This is my fourth year doing this now.  As far as I can tell its an Air Force pilot thing.  Basically during the last day of February you shave completely, and the month of March you grow your "stache" out to its full potential.  It is so funny to see people growing out their stache.... especially the ones who can barely grow one.  Anyway, this was the poster I saw today above the urinal in my squadron.  And let the games begin.

Kristen said that she'll be making a blog post soon so be looking out for that.