Kristen came to visit!

Another beautiful day at Bonita Lakes here in Meridian, MS

 I flew the MC-12 three times this week! It was awesome.

My first ride was on Monday and we flew to Downtown Mobile Airport and did touch and go's.  That was pretty cool because we have some pretty neat stuff on our plane.  It looks just like a civilian plane except we have a cool paint job and a bunch of weird stuff sticking out of it.  It felt like everyone around the airport was looking at us like "what/who is that"? Haha.  It was pretty cool.

So my first flight went well and my IP was really cool too.  It was weird while in the plane because even though I was flying with an instructor, since I have my wings now I feel like I am more friends with the instuctor rather than being evaluated.  Which could be bad I guess, but it really let me relax and fly a good jet.

On Monday night I found out that I wan not on the schedule for Tuesday.  And it just so happened that Mardi Gras was the next day in close by hometown New Orleans!!!  Hummmm.... So what was I to do........ I went of course! 

Nice beads

Mardi Gras was nice to go to.  I missed it last year while in pilot training (That was a funny story all in itself when I showed up on Fat Tuesday in my flight room all depressed last year thinking.....this just isn't right).  But not this year!  Kristen and I met up with our good friends Tori and Mike (who just got done with Meridian) in Metairie, LA (just outside of New Orleans) for a "quiter" Mardi Gras.  It was probably good that we did because the weather was bad.  It rained on us a few times.  But I saw a few old friends and had a good time so that was nice.

Each stack has 10 letters in it!!!!!!!!!!!

I picked up mail that was sent to my house when I went home.  One of my packages was a bunch of letters.  150 letters to be exact.  My uncle asked if his son, my cousin's class could write me while I was deployed.  I said yes of course because I thought that would be cool.  But I got A LOT of letters.  Not only from my cousins class (7th grade), but 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd!  Wow!  It was a little more than I was expecting.  There is no way that I can write all 150 students back individually so I am writing one letter back to the teacher, and she can read it to them all.  I hope that's OK...?

I had my second flight on Thursday where we just did stalls and stuff like that.  I HATE almost stalling an aircraft that has no ejection seat..., it just dosen't seem right.  But I think that might be my last time doing it for real because I'm sure in the C-5 we just do it in the simulator.  Wheeeeeew.  There was a funny moment in the flight though..., the other student had to pee and the toilet wasn't working in the plane (standard).  He asked if we could land, taxi back and he could run in.  Our instructor wasn't to pumped up about it and suddenly I remembered....I have a piddle pack!  Haha.  I have never used a piddle pack before, nor have I ever even seen one until I got here.  And for those who don't know what a piddle pack is it's a small thick plastic bag with some type of crystals in it.  You are supposed to pee in it and the the crystals turn into a gel substance.  It's freekin' sweet!  Haha.  Well, I remembered I had one and offered it up. The other student used it.  Maybe this is a gross story..., I thought it was cool.

Kristen got here on Saturday!  Yaaay!  I didn't fly.  Which was OK because we got to spend some QT together (That's a military acronym for Quality Time) at B-Dub's (That's a civilian acronym for Buffalo Wild Wing's).  Haha.

I flew today again, Sunday.  It was my first semi-real-simulated mission. We got to take the plane up and not worry about doing stalls and falls or a million touch and go's.  We started to learn how to fly it like we'll be flying it in the sand box.  We got paired up with one of the back seaters who I'll be doing the rest of my training with.  He seems cool.  Which is good because we'll be paired up for the next three weeks or so.

After bragging last week about how my mom always calls me on Sunday and keeps my weekly clock updated she she called me this week to tell me that she loved reading that.  One problem..........., she called me on Saturday.  It was so funny.

Tonight Kristen and I went and bought sheets and towels for my deployment (sigh).  It's getting close.  My good friend Mike is leaving tomorrow for the sand box.  He's going to a different location than I am so I won't see him till we both are mission qualified on our own planes living in Dover.  That seems like a lifetime away but in a year from now I'll be back from the sand box, mission qualified in another airplane (C-5 Galaxy) and living in Dover, DE!  Awesome!

Mustache march is in full effect right now.  For those that don't know it's a tradition in the Air Force flying community to grow a mustache for the month of March.  At the end of the month you see how crazy, long, ugly, funny but mostly creepy it looks.  It's really funny to see people walking around here with mustaches on their face.  I'll save a picture of my face for next blog.  I have to shave mine off this coming Saturday for a wedding on Saturday night.  But I'll take a picture to show how awesome it looks.

By the way, my small pox shot is looking a lot better.  No picture of it either this week.  I'll have one next week for yall (Last week I got a few messages from people that the photos were gross anyway).

Where am I?

I'm asking myself that question sometimes when I wake up these days.

Getting fitted for my gas mask

My mom calls me on every Sunday.  That helps me keep my weeks straight. It's funny when she starts every conversation with "So where are you at right now?"

Bye bye stuff

Bye bye truck

This week my class here in Meridian, MS started on Tuesday.  I told my base that but they didn't believe me.  They were going by some official document that said it started on Friday. So on Tuesday afternoon when some of my classmates called me asking me where I was for class and that some of the higher ups were pissed because I was a no show/no call......I got a little scared.  It was to late to go tell them on my base that day so the next morning I went there and told them I was late.  They told me..., "Oh well, just get there tomorrow and be two days late".  Haha.  I called to Meridian and told them that and they said, "no way"!  They want me here "by the end of the day"!  Wha!  It was 10am already.  I had to pack my stuff, check out of the hotel, put all extra clothing in permanent storage, buy new plane tickets, get a ride to the airport (hour and a half away).  Wheeeew.  Needless to say.......exhausting day!

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Also, I got boo koo (a lot) shots!  I am immune from everything.....seriously....., try me!  I am still treating my small pox shot.  It takes 28 days to heal fully.  I'm on day 12 today.

I wear desert tan flight suits now.  They're way cooler than the green ones.  One problem.... all four of mine that I have here are to small!  Haha. I never tried them on.  I just figured that they'd be the same size from one color to the next.  No one told me but....., they don't.  Haha.  I called and they're supposed to be sending me some that fit. That would suck if I had to small uniforms for the next 6-9 months. But seriously..., the tan does look good.

I was supposed to have my first flight yesterday but the weather was crappy.  We need almost perfect weather to do our flying here so even if its cloudy its no good for us.  I'm on the schedule to fly tomorrow again though and the weather looks beautiful so it looks like I'll get up for sure.  It's been sooooooo long since I've flown now (late Sep/ 24 weeks).  Maybe the AF forgot...., I"M A PILOT!!!  That's what I'm paid to do!  Haha.

I'm a little nervous actually.  But I've been studying and getting ready so I'll be alright.  Basically once I start flying I'll fly every other day it seems like so I should be done in 30 days or so. Wow.  That's making this deployment seem really close all of the sudden.  But don't get it twisted......I"M PUMPED UP!  I am so excited to do the damn J-O-B.

Well, next week I should finally have some good AF stories again on this blog.  It's been a while since I could talk about flying related stuff.

Kristen is still in New Orleans hanging out with her parents this week.  And why shouldn't she be....it freekin' Mardi Gras' this Tuesday! I'm really missing her.  We talk everyday but I can't wait to see her again.  Hoping it's sooner than later.  I'm trying to get off on Tuesday so I can go and spend the day in New Orleans......, but the chances are looking slim.

Dallas misses me

Till next week.

No pictures this week

Not to much to talk about this week.

I have been working 100mph during the duty day to get done pre-deployment stuff.  They pushed back my date to be back in Mississppi until this Thursday.  So that gave me two extra days over here to get stuff done....and I needed it!  My final out-processing appointment is Tuesday afternoon and then I'll pack all of my deployment gear that night.  It's a lot of stuff!

Kristen flew back to New Orleans today.  It was awesome to be able to have her here with me the past few weeks.  I'll see her either this weekend for Endymion and Bacchus (parades) if I can get away.  Or she'll come to see me in Mississippi after Mardi Gras is over.

Maybe by next blog I'll have actually flown a plane (first time since September of last year)!!! Yaaayyyy!!!!!!!

Nations Capitol

 Tonight I'm typing our blog from Andrews AFB in our nations capitol.  We're here on a mini vacation while I am driving back towards Dover AFB, DE and Kristen is able to tag along with me.  It's been real nice.  I finished up my academic portion of MC-12 training on Wednesday and Kristen and I headed up here.  The days worked out perfect with a weekend and Presidents Day falling on a Sunday giving us a three day weekend and an impromptu vacation!

The Metro is confusing at first

Chipotle was packed!

We got here on Friday and went straight to the Metro (subway) to go into town.  We went straight to Chipoltle for some burritos.  I know I know...., we're ridiculous.

Us on the Metro

360 of the Washington DC Mall

The next morning we went back in to town and went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  It was Kristen's first time there.  I've gone there every time I've visited DC in the past, but this was my first since getting my wings so it was kinda special to me.  I liked showing Kristen new things that she hasn't seen before.

 We stopped for lunch at Potbelly's and then had our first designer cupcake experience from a cupcake bakery.  No, that's not a typo, and yes they are $3.50 a piece!  Haha. Yea.....so...., $7 and two cupcakes later we headed over to Arlington Cemetery.

Coolest dude.  Ever.

We went to Arlington to visit my old Detachment Commander and hero, Lt. Col. Wendell Lee Collins grave.  It was really nice to finally see/visit his grave site.  It's my first time here since he's been buried.   There was a blue flower there and that's a Det.320 coin at his grave site.  It's really remarkable that the coin is still there.  A friend and fellow Det.320 dude put it on top of his grave over a year ago!  I'm now going to make it a point to visit the site every time I visit the area.  If you don't know Col. Collins came to our detachment my senior year.  He was the first pilot I really got to know in the Air Force.  Before him I kinda thought that everyone here was nerdy.  He made the Air Force cool to me and especially being a pilot in the Air Force cool.  He was instrumental in me getting into flight school in the Air Force (trust me, it was an on again off again sort of thing for me and pilot training for a while and I believe that he was the reason that I got in).  He had an awesome career as a jet pilot in the Air Force and then switched over to the dark side, helicopters, for a while where he was in Special Ops and did some really cool stuff.  He commissioned me.  Shorty thereafter I moved to Del Rio for pilot training and Col. Collins got his civilian ratings for instructor pilot.  He had been in the Air Force for a while and he was coming up on his retirement.  He decided that he was going to be a civilian instructor and work for a local college back at his home in North Carolina where his wife and two children were already living.  On 23 Aug 09 he was an instructor on a small home built plane for a guy who owned it and needed his bi-annual checkride given by the FAA.  He hired Col. Collins to go up with him early one day and give him a once over..., like a pretend checkride to get ready for the FAA checkride the next day.  There was never a real conclusion or reason given, but the plane went off the side of the runway before ever taking off running into trees nearby killing both of them inside of the plane.  It hit me really hard when I got the phone call.  I just talked to hm two days earlier.  I usually called him once a week just to catch up and BS with him.  He was my hero.  I keep the coin that he gave me on my commissioning day in my flight suit at all times.  I don't know if it's good luck or not but I did make it through pilot training with it.  He was was a big history buff so between being buried around all those famous generals and being buried right next to an Army Major who happened to be a helicopter pilot..,and I'm sure he loves his spot.  It ended up being my favorite part of the trip.

Then we took the official tour and saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.  Those guys are pretty awesome.  Our country kicks ass!

That night we wanted Mexican food!  We saw this small Mexican restaurant while we were walking.  We looked at the menu from the window and decided that it looked descent and the prices seemed reasonable or even cheap.  It looked packed also so that was another good sign.  We walked in and put our name on the list.......an hour and fourty five minute wait they told us! Ha!..... But as we were walking away they told us that there is two empty seats at the sushi bar if we want to be seated right away. Wha?  A sushi bar in a Mexican restaurant?  That's where the weirdness started. Then the waiter came to our table and asked if we want sparkling or flat water?  Uhmmmmmm....OK.  I've never been in a restaurant like this before.  Kristen said flat and I asked for a tea (I didn't know if this was some kind if trick to make us pay for water when I really wanted a tea anyway).  Haha.  When we got down to reading the menu it was weird.  Pig pats on tacos, cow tongue in enchiladas and even some sort of gland on a burrito or something.  This place was weird.  Then for the best part........  The appetizers and entrees are supposed to be just 3 to four bites.  That's it!  So the prices we saw are just three to four bite prices!  Haha.  By this point we were all in though.  They got us.  We ordered four servings of chicken tacos (just 4 small tacos), two orders of chips and salsa and an order of queso and chorizo.  It was good food.  We probably burned off most of the calories laughing at ourselves and the situation on the Metro ride back.  Good times.

National Cathedral

$600,000.00 6' wide house

House from 1717 in Georgetown with no closets

Bahrain protest

Us in front of my bosses house

Washington Monument

WWII Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Korean Memorial

View from up top the Lincoln Memorial at the no water reflecting pond

Lincoln himself

Where MLK stood

The next day we bought tickets on a guided trolley tour.  It took us everywhere.  We drove past our nations national cathedral towards Georgetown.  We got out at Georgetown and walked/toured/shopped for a few hours.  The price of realty of ridiculously expensive.  For instance..., the small light purple house with a pink door is six feet wide.  It just sold for $600,000.00!!! Wha?!  Crazy!  We also saw the oldest hose there still standing.  It was built in 1717!  The house didn't have any closets in it because the government used to tax closets!  Haha.  Now that's a crazy tax.  You start to understand why people were in arms and had the Boston Tea party on later years.  Haha, I love those quirky stories in history.  This protest was, I guess Bahrainians, with signs and a loud speaker in the White House backyard yelling that they wanted our president to back away from Bahrain and they wanted their two leaders to step down.  Free speech!  Awesomeness!!!

Next we walked to the Washington Monument, World war II Monument, "reflecting pond" (that was empty!), Vietnam Memorial Wall, Korean Memorial and finally Lincoln Memorial (and where Martin Luther King made his "I have a dream" speech)....Wow.  A lot of walking!

Ruby slippers

Stephen Colbert

11 brews on tap!

From there we went to the Smithsonian American History Museum.  Mostly to see the ruby slippers that Judy garland wore in the original Wizard of Oz' but we ended up seeing some other cool memorabilia and nostalgic items from our country's past including a painting of Stephen Colbert. We stayed there till close and then went to dinner.  Good times.  We ate dinner at a brewery.  We got work done on that beer!  I should have been thinking about my PT test on Wednesday though.  Tomorrow I'll start my diet.

Happy Valentines Day!

Well Kristen and I are officially living out of hotel rooms once again.  It's so funny.

Dallas in the back seat on the way up to Mississippi

Dallas in the front seat (where she thinks she belongs)

Kristen brought dallas up to Mississippi because our hotel is dog friendly...... but as it turns out our dog is not hotel friendly.....yeah.  The first night Kristen got there with Dallas we tried to go out to eat.  As soon as we closed the hotel door behind us Dallas started crying, yelping and barking.  It was loud and ridiculous! So she won and we went and got her out of the room.  We were going to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings with our friends and we didn't want to let Dallas be the reason why we couldn't....so...... we put her in the car and parked it outside of the restaurant.  I know... we're horrible!

Fire pit at The Bulldog on Magazine St.

Us at The Bulldog on a pretty day

This was just to awesome!  A van ran through the side of a building.  Classic!

So officially Dallas won that battle and I had to ask to go back to New Orleans the next day to bring Dallas back home.  But it turned out Ok because Tori and Mike came along for the ride this time and we were able to see more of New Orleans and hang out.  And the weather was beautiful!

Ice Ice Baby

Our reflections in the glass while it was snowing.

The rental got it bad

The cold weather followed me once again!  It snowed in Mississippi! It iced (if that is actually a weather phenomenon) for two days, then it snowed!  Freekin' ridiculous!

You can see my shadow and Kristen looking at the lake....it's really nice out there.

Kristen and I found this great lake in Mississippi real close to our hotel that has a paved track along the banks and a bunch of hiking trails. It's so pretty.  So we'll probably be spending some time there for the next couple of months.

I'm 2 or 14!

Proud parents

Dog safe ice cream

I'll give you a hint...it squeaks

Long day

Dallas had her 2nd birthday two weeks ago.  She had her fiends over for cake, ice cream and to watch her open her presents.  She was tired by the end of the party.  Next year we'll have a keg party since she can drink by then.

Happy Valentines Day!

I am off today, Valentine's Day, I have class tomorrow and Wednesday.  Kristen and I will leave Mississippi on Thursday morning to drive towards Dover AFB.  But we'll stop in Washington DC for a few days for a mini vacation along the way.  It ought to be fun!  We'll take pictures of everything.  See ya next time.