Atlanta still.....

360 picture that my phone can take....pretty cool huh?

It snowed over here...and the whole city shut down for 5 days.  Seriously.  At least my sim building is in walking distance.  Atlanta has NO snow removal equipment......so it all just melted a little in tne daytime and then froze into ice.  You can go ice skating on the interstates here.  It makes you appreciate city's public works/streets department.

Congrats Auburn..., next year is LSU's year

Auburn won the National Championship.  GO SEC!!!  But Cam Newton is looking more and more like a criminal.  Shame on you Auburn!

A cutout of one of our engines

All of last week I was going to work (death by Power Point) from 8am till 5pm.  It was awesome!  I felt like corporate America or something...Haha.

Kristen got here on Thursday.  Its really nice that she was close enough to be able to drive over here and hang out for a while.  Some of the dudes that are here with me are from Japan or California and to bring their wives here would be a HUGE task.  So I'm excited that I have Kristen here with me.

We were safe because we were wearing black (no gang colors)

Saturday when I got off of work we went to a laudromat.  It was so funny.  There is no public use machines in my hotel so it was necessary.  We ended up in the ghetto washing clothes.  Haha.  I love life's stories.

After that we went to a nice mall in Buckhead (a nice area).  It was a really nice mall.  But the weirdest thing.  I think that its a huge meeting spot for gay black men.  Yeah..., there were A LOT of them there.  All just hanging out and hugging each other "hello".  Haha.  That kind of stuff doesn't really bother me but it was still awkward in the mall.  Haha.

The good ole' regulars

This is the room with the free drinks

Cheers Mr. Coke inventor

 Sunday was my only day off here in Atlanta.  So Kristen and I made the most of it.  We went to the Coca-Cola factory first.  Atlanta is where Coke was invented.  It was really neat to see a little of the history.  At the end of the tour we were able to taste all of Coke's products.  There are 160 of them.  Kristen and I drank about 60 of them before we started to get sick of it.  Haha.

We rode the worlds largest free standing escalator!

Next we went to CNN headquarters.  It was neat to see that.  We didn't know who the "famous" reporters were at the studio but it was pretty cool anyway.

My simulator

Today I started my simulators.  Yaaayyy!!!  At least I feel like I'm doing something over here.  Except that my start time is at 0230hrs....that 2:30am people!!!  Agghh. That is ridiculous.  I had a lot of fun though today.  The King Air 350 is awesome! Its a dream machine.  I have sims everyday this week and weekend.  My checkride is Sunday.  Wish me luck.

Im in Atlanta!

I did a lot of moving around the country in the past week.

View of New Orleans just after takeoff while turning north over Lake Pontchartrain

I started in New Orleans then from there I went to Baltimore, MD, Dover, DE, Washington D.C., Charlotte, NC and now finally Atlanta, GA.

Back in Delaware!!!

Yes..., there is an Amish community close to the base.

I left New Orleans on 6 Jan (Kristen's birthday) and flew back to Baltimore, MD.  From there I drove back to Dover, DE to get a few things from storage and check back in with my unit.  From there I drove to Washington D.C. and spent the night.  I had intentions of visiting a few of the sights in DC the next morning when I woke up..., but..., sleep felt so much better the next morning when I woke up so I just stayed in bed a while longer.

I love Holiday Inn Expresses

View from my seat while watching the Bayou Bengals win.

From there I drove down to Charlotte, NC for the night.  I watched the LSU spank Texas A&M at the hotel bar.....it was awesome!

Atlanta is HUGE!!!

This was my view while watching the Saints choke.

This guy fell asleep at the bar while watching the Saints.  To funny!

 The next morning I drove to Atlanta.  I checked in my hotel and watched the Saints game....... that sucked.  Oh well, we still have the newest shiniest Superbowl rings and no team can take that from us (yet).

I start my King Air 350ER training tomorrow.  TGhe first week is just classroom stuff and then the next week and a half is all simulators.  Needless to say I'm am prepared to be killed by powerpoint this week....ughh

Kristen might be driving up here to visit me next weekend!!! Yay!!!

Oh..., update....., it's snowing here in Atlanta.....the whole city is practically shut down.  Cars are stopped on the roads (and people just leave them there).  Haha.  The freakin' snow just follows me around the country!

New Years 2011!

Kristen met with her cousins at City Park to take some cousin photos.  It was fun.

Happy New Years!!! 2011 is here! And you know what that means..... We'll all be writing the wrong year on our checks for a few weeks or months.

Kristen and I went to her Aunts house again this year.  We had a good time.  It was family, food and fireworks.....what can go wrong with that.  Oh and this year Wii too!

We all played Michael Jackson Wii game for hours.  It was so much fun! Kristen and I were sore the next day. Haha.

At midnight we popped fireworks and launched a lantern (it was dangerous).

Kristen and I filled up on some Carretta's margarita's with a friend before I left.

It's my birthday today (29) and it's Kristen's birthday tomorrow (28).  We celebrated a little last night by going out to a restaurant and today we just went to the all.... Things change as you get older I guess......  Kristen got a new Coach bag and I got a Polo leisure suit (track suit) and now I know why old people wear these things all the time.... they are comfortable!

I leave for Dover tomorrow just to get in my car and drive to Atlanta.  I have 2 1/2 weeks of simulator training over there then it's back to Dover for a few weeks.  I'm a bit worried because I won't be in friendly territory for the LSU bowl game on Friday, or the Saints playoff game on Saturday..., but I'll have to make it work.  Till next week... see ya'.

Im back "home"!

I flew on another C-5 simulator.  This time it was with a Lt. Col.  He said that it was the closest he's ever been to flying the C-5 solo....Haha.  That's him basically telling me that I don't exist.

It's great to be back familiar surroundings again.

This past week has been a whirlwind of me being all over the place!

I was going crazy my last few days at Dover to get everything done and ready for my deployment.  It's tough to do when half of the base (it seems) is either flying on a mission or already left for Christmas break.  Haha.  It was so funny walking in to empty offices all last week.  Oh well,  I got MOST of the things that I needed done accomplished.

Boy do I have a funny story to tell everyone.  I had a bit of an ordeal when I bought my plane tickets online.  Its hard to explain my screw up in a few words but just know that I got my cities mixed up.  I wanted to leave from Philadelphia to New Orleans, but I actually bought tickets out of Baltimore.

I Dover on the afternoon of Thursday, 23 Dec, to sleep in Philly (where I thought I was catching my plane).  I sent a status update on Facebook telling everyone that I was going to be in Philly for the night and if anyone was around that I wanted to hang out and maybe see some of the sights in Philly the next morning until I had to catch my plane.  My buddy Tom called me up and told me he was in Philly at his parents house.  He told me to come over for dinner and took me to a bar/grill later.  It was real nice and hospitable.  I drove back to the Navy base, where I was staying for the night, took a shower and laid in bed.  I decided to check my email to check the time of my departing flight the next day.  Ha! I saw on the email from Southwest that I booked a plane out of Baltimore and not Philly!  Haha.  I'm an idiot.  I just drove an hour and a half to Philly, partied with a buddy and am now sleeping in a Navy base hotel......., in Philly!  It was to funny!  I had to  cancel our plans for the next day and drive to baltimore instead to catch my flight.

On top of that I had already made parking reservations at the Philly airport and now there was no more parking at Baltimore for "regular" price.  So I basically got price gouged by PARK N FLY.  I think that they're terrorists by the way for doing that to Americans.

I finally made it home and saw Kristen.

Christmas was nice.  We've had a long few days seeing everyone and going to different shindigs...., and it's not over just yet.  But I don't care, it's just nice to see family and friends and hang around my old stomping ground.

We got to hang out with my buddy Julio who is in the Navy and about to leave on a boat for eight months to kill some pirates of the coast of Somolia.  Got get 'em buddy!

I also got to hang out with my buddy Brandon at his bar...., yes his bar.  He owns it.  And Abita Amber is on tap!

Kristen and her cousins on Christmas Day.

I ate dinner with my mom and Bill the next day.

My new *brother (*on 5 May 2012)!

One side of my family.

It's snowing here too!

Well this week has been very productive for me.  I am knocking out a bunch of the classes and qualifications that I have to have done before I deploy.

 I got my new squadron patches on Monday!  They're blue.

I went to the doctors office to give them back some paperwork that I've been holding on to for the past month and they kindly escorted me to the immunization office to get my typhoid, hep b and anthrax shot!  I should have kept a lower profile for sure!

My leave was approved!  So that means I'll be with Kristen, and back home, for Christmas!  I took two weeks off!  How awesome is that.  I had 33 1/2 days of leave, so I figured..., aw what the heck..., I can burn through 14 of them.  Haha.  When I get back from my deployment I am going to have a bunch again anyway.

 It started snowing this week.  I thought that since God put me through a blizzard and then non stop snow for 28 days in a row very recently that he would spare me for a while...., I guess not.  I thought that people in New Orleans sucked at driving in the snow because it only snows there every 10 years or so..., but nope..., they suck here too (including me)!  Haha.

Yesterday, my family had their Christmas get together...........

 Kristen went for us.  I went to the shoppette and bought some of Boston's finest and watched some college football. 

I had another ride in the C-5 sim today.  That thing is awesome!  It's huge and the sim is a full motion sim!  It feels so real!

Monday I'll qualify in the M-9 pistol.
Tuesday I'll qualify in the M-4 rifle..... so that'll be a lot of fun for sure!
Wednesday I I'll take an instruments test
Thursday I'll get a dentist and doctor appointments.
Friday I'm flying home to see Kristen family and friends!

I'm back in Dover!

It doesn't feel quite like home over here...., but it feels a lot more like home than Spakane, WA!

I finished up my two day water survival class there on Friday.  It was pretty intense.  It's amazing how realistic a pool can become.  They really make you think that you're in an airplane crash in Antartica.

It's held in the base pool.  They kick out everyone there and take out the swimming lanes.  They load us in a mock airplane fuselage that can be remotely dunked and rolled in to the pool (which is pretty scary all in itself).  Before they dunk you you get strapped in, they turn out all the lights, they smoke the room, turn on a really loud soundtrack of a thunderstorm and strobe lights for lightning effect.  It is really scary actually!  When we egress the "airplane" we inflate our vests, link up and swim to our 20 man life raft.  Of course the whole the the instructors are firing fire hoses at us.  It basically sucks.  And the instructors half filled our life rafts with ice water (which was probably the worst thing of all).  Then we basically get in and demonstrate that we know how "live and survive" in the ocean environment.  It was really crappy while I was there, but like almost all of my training..., I'm really happy that I received it now that it's all over.

 We also got fake rescued by a helicopter.  Now obviously in the pictures and video you are wondering, why didn't the helo just land?.  Haha.  I was asking the same questions when I was out there.  But we were training on how to use the hoist.  People did it after Katrina with zero training so I'm not so sure that this training was all that necessary.  But it was really fun none the less.

I flew back through Salt Lake City, UT on Saturday.  That place looks really pretty and Kristen and I ned to go back there one day for a little sight seeing!

I am now back in Dover.  I went to work today for the first time.  It's kinda funny calling it "work" because I belong to the 9th Airlift squadron (c-5's) but I don't know how to fly a C-5.  Haha.  I'm the only pilot here on this base that can't fly with my squadron.  So I pretty much don't fit in over here just yet.  I'm part of a new pilot (excuse the pun) program where they send me to my base first..., then send us off for training.  So my squadron does not know what to do with me.  It's so entertaining to talk to people over here.  They're all interested to hear about my situation straight from my mouth.

But, I do still have a lot of stuff to do around here.  I have a long list of pre-deployment stuff that I have to get done so it's not like I'm sitting on my butt.  It's just funny that I really don't report to anyone.  If I didn't show up one day no one would even know.  It's a big boy program over here though and I have a lot of stuff to keep me busy so I HAVE to show up every day.  Also because I'm trying to get done with my pre-deployment stuff before Christmas so that I can take leave and be back in New Orleans for Christmas.

My new start date for my training in Atlanta is 10 Jan.  After that starts its going to be another round of training for a few months before my deployment.  So exciting!

So for now please just say some prayers that I get all my stuff done in time to take off for Christmas.