…here’s Dave.
I’m almost home, dear! You’re doing great!
So…here I am on my 2-weeks tour. No, not in the picture above, I’ll discuss that soon. For all intents and purposes, I’m a member of the 28th Operational Weather Squadron during this tour. I follow their schedule, meaning I go to their staff meetings, weather shift change discussions, briefing about sexual assault (which was this morning) and I attend their physical fitness sessions…otherwise known as “PT”, which is the USAF abbreviation for “physical training”.
So here’s a generic picture above of what I had in mind when I imagined squadron “PT”. By the way, this is a picture of a Warrior Run at Minot AFB from last summer…I have to admit that looks a lot like Shaw AFB now. This picture has no connection to my unit or my base, but it’s a good representation of what USAF PT looks like these days.
Monday’s was a good time–the squadron commander led the calisthenics session and I’m still sore in my legs from the flutter kicks! Then we did a 2 mile run…not quite as in-formation as pictured above, but the group of us did start out together. We ran at our own pace…so over time we spread out.
Today, however, we had a different leader for calisthenics who led us in a billion push ups and many core ab exercises! I know I’ll feel it in my tummy and chest tomorrow!
Then I was surprised when we divided into two teams and a Frisbee was produced. Time for Ultimate Frisbee!
Oh no.
I’m lousy at team sports. Remember, I like to run. I also enjoy swimming. I last played Ultimate in 1993 or 1994 and I was lousy then, too. It was a requirement for AFROTC Field Training, so as a Cadet I played it routinely. It’s hard to digest at first, but over the years I’ve accepted that I’m not good at this and if I’m called upon to play, my best contribution is to merely not throw the disc.
I guess I’m just not that aggressive. But I’m also really really bad at throwing the frisbee. So after the first few plays where I proved that assertion, my teammates took my advice (I was pointing to my teammates who were open and could also catch the disc).
But I’m a good defender…I enjoyed getting in the faces of those on the opposing team who are looking for someone to throw the disc to. I can get quite annoying and I think I was able to affect some pretty good distractions.
I caught two passes in the end zone, which resulted in scores…so long as I don’t have to throw it afterwards, I don’t think I’m bad at catching.
I definitely got a really good workout!
Our friends Suzy and Andy alerted us this afternoon that the Secretary of the Air Force’s AIM Points web page points to a Shreveport Times article about Air Force Cybercommand being featured as the first “Above All” commercial. It then launches into an interview with the Deputy Director of Public Affairs about how the blogosphere is paying attention to the new ad campaign.
Read the article and enjoy! I really truly didn’t expect this!
…you buy ice cream and your freezer freezes is SO hard you can’t enjoy it?
Yesterday I bought a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream at the commissary. It’s VERY rare for me to do this — I last had this over a year ago! So put it in the freezer, and I fell asleep last evening before I remembered that I had it.
So tonight after my microwave lasagna dinner I figured I’d have some.
Hard as a rock.
Pleh.
Greetings from my Annual Tour at Shaw AFB, SC!!! For two weeks out of the year I’m put on orders to work in my “real” job — the position that I’m trained to do should I get activated full time.
For these two weeks, I put on an “active duty” hat and work on Director-of-Operation tasks with the full-time active duty Director of Operations for the weather squadron my unit supports. I’ve been gainfully employed on various tasks that I could manage in my two week stint…nothing too long-term, which is nice. I got to talk on the phone with someone in Egypt this morning 🙂
This week was also the launch of the US Air Force’s newest ad campaign: “Above All.”
They mean “Above All Adversaries”, by the way, not “Above All Other U.S. Armed Services”.
I’ve already seen the commercials on Foxnews and the USA Network: “Meet SSgt Jones of the Air Force CYBER-COMMAND!” I guess if I wanted to sell the Air Force to a young man who really enjoys, say, playing his Wii, showing someone fighting our cyber-enemies will do it!
Based on what I’ve read about the campaign, we can expect to see ads aimed towards parents and other adults who influence kids’ lives…similar to those Army Strong commercials where the announcer is saying, “Parents, if your child wants to discuss opportunities in the Army, please listen.”
If anyone is reading this who has a kid considering service in the Armed Forces, please do listen. We need good people.
This morning, while Jake was eating his pancakes, the tooth simply fell out. Quick, painless. Without incident. It’s TINY!
Here’s our happy guy. He had reported the tooth loose on Tuesday.
 |
| From 2008 02 24 Ja… |
So thanks to those who took part in our latest poll — he’ll get a dollar under his pillow tonight from the Tooth Fairy!
Okay everyone, put on your black ties, full-length gowns and diamonds, it’s Oscar night ladies and gentlemen!
I LOVE watching the Oscars. Sure, you could make several arguments about the political messages infused into the monologues and that perhaps the awards themselves are fixed. I don’t care about all that. I tend to feel that the actors/actresses that are nominated are deserving enough, and that the films nominated are worth watching, too.
My favorite part? The ladies in the BEAUTIFUL DRESSES and the guys dressed to the nines. There’s just something about those dresses that puts a smile on my face, no matter what.
So there.
Pioneer Woman had posted this recipe for a chocolate pie right before Valentine’s Day, and I had briefly pointed out her latest posting, but didn’t get around to actually trying the pie until tonight.
I’m improving from my bout with the flu, and had enough energy to catch up on chores (laundry, vacuuming, general straightening of the house). I made arrangements to start my 2-weeks tour on Tuesday instead of Monday, which bought me another day to pack and prepare some meals for the boys in my absence.
I came across a spare ball of pie dough from when I was planning to make two quiches for my Stampin’ Up party last Thursday. Since turnout was pretty small, I opted to just make one quiche. So I blind-baked the pie crust and went forth to make the PW Chocolate Pie filling. I took PW’s advice and used the raw eggs, blending each one for 4-5 minutes before adding the next.
 |
| From 2008 02 24 PW… |
 |
| From 2008 02 24 PW… |
 |
| From 2008 02 24 PW… |
This was a resounding success! Using pure baking chocolate with sugar made such a RICH chocolate flavor. I couldn’t even finish my sliver-of-a-piece…it was most delicious, so rich.
“Wait just one doggone minute! It’s mid-February! Spring isn’t for another month!”
(At least, that’s what the Groundhog said!)
Well, someone needs to tell my flowers about that, since my crocuses and daffodils are opening up, just like all over the rest of central North Carolina. Seriously confused, they are.
I didn’t mind the pretty pictures I was able to take, nonetheless. These were from Monday. Click on the photos to access the entire album. Enjoy!
 |
| From 2008 02 18 Da… |
 |
| From 2008 02 18 Da… |
Today was slightly improved from yesterday, but I have to tell you about these awesome tissues I found at Walgreens! Puff’s Plus with Vick’s Vapo-rub. To quote Tony the Tiger: “They’re GRRRRREAT!”
My runny nose kicked in today, and my regular BJ’s-brand tissues, which work well for occasional nose-blowing, started ripping up my nose. So I went to Walgreen’s for some more Nyquil and decided to pick up some Puff’s Plus — you know, the kind with the lotion.
I got a box of Puff’s Plus, but also saw these ones infused with Vick’s Vaporub. They’re so nice!
So there’s my pitch — no, Vick’s isn’t giving me any money for this. Neither is whatever company owns Puff’s….ah yes, Proctor and Gamble. I remember that man-in-the-moon on the back of my parents’ bottle of “Prell” shampoo.
Recent Comments