Well, still no baby yet. I'm not worried, he'll come eventually, but I really want him to come soon. So does Kim. She wants it to be natural, the whole she's doing something and then oh god, time to go to the hospital thing.
I'm cool with waiting for that too. It's just that right now there will be at least two days in the beginning of August where I won't be there all day, one day to shoot and one day to fly, both to maintain currencies (I'm not a guy that enjoys shooting very much so it wouldn't count as a hobby) for work and all so I can go to ALS.
For those not in the know, ALS stands for Airman Leadership School and there are a couple of ways you get put in it. You can either make Staff Sergeant and need the class (you have to graduate before you can sew on your rank) OR you have to be in the AF for more than four years and be a Senior Airman. That's the route I took.
Honestly it's best to knock this out now anyway, even with a baby hot from the oven. Later on family will be coming down, then more family, then I'll deploy, and then I'll be trying to cross train into a different job so when else does it look like I can dedicate weeks to studying?
Anyhoo, the baby can come whenever he wants, I'm not worried. I don't have to take all of the days the AF will give me off work at once, so it'll work out.
Annie is a recent convert to the world of George of the Jungle from 1967. Hilarious show. I used to watch it as a kid and now I still enjoy watching it.
Anyway, here we sit with fingers crossed. I hope the baby comes soon.
-Russ
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
7.23.09
I don’t understand why companies release exclusive stuff and keep it exclusive.
Consider this: a company releases something REALLY cool, but only in limited numbers. Then the collectability of the thing goes up and resale value is huge. Does this do ANYTHING for the company? No. This only positively impacts the buyer who is now the seller because he makes more money.
Look at Beanie Babies. They had a few rare ones and the collectability was huge and there was a gargantuan market for these little bean bags and the company did what? They made more of the rare ones. Makes sense. There is no reason someone should be making more on a company’s product than the company, right?
I’m all for releasing something exclusively at first, but then just go ahead and release it. DVDs documenting the construction of custom guitars that only come with the custom multi-thousand dollar guitar. Just go ahead and release it. I bet at 15-20.00 it would sell and the company could see that maybe there’s a small market for this kind of thing. Yep Roc’s cover CD of Reverend Horton Heat songs is an exclusive only included in a fifty dollar limited edition package for the Rev’s new CD. It’s just not practical for me to buy it because 1) I need a real CD case and 2) I DON’T need a shot glass. It just doesn’t make any sense.
I’m bummed though because I DO want to listen to that cover CD.
Anyhoo, it’s silly guys. Stop it. You underestimate the pack rat’s mentality and over estimate their self control.
-Russ
Consider this: a company releases something REALLY cool, but only in limited numbers. Then the collectability of the thing goes up and resale value is huge. Does this do ANYTHING for the company? No. This only positively impacts the buyer who is now the seller because he makes more money.
Look at Beanie Babies. They had a few rare ones and the collectability was huge and there was a gargantuan market for these little bean bags and the company did what? They made more of the rare ones. Makes sense. There is no reason someone should be making more on a company’s product than the company, right?
I’m all for releasing something exclusively at first, but then just go ahead and release it. DVDs documenting the construction of custom guitars that only come with the custom multi-thousand dollar guitar. Just go ahead and release it. I bet at 15-20.00 it would sell and the company could see that maybe there’s a small market for this kind of thing. Yep Roc’s cover CD of Reverend Horton Heat songs is an exclusive only included in a fifty dollar limited edition package for the Rev’s new CD. It’s just not practical for me to buy it because 1) I need a real CD case and 2) I DON’T need a shot glass. It just doesn’t make any sense.
I’m bummed though because I DO want to listen to that cover CD.
Anyhoo, it’s silly guys. Stop it. You underestimate the pack rat’s mentality and over estimate their self control.
-Russ
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
7.21.09
Man, what an opportune/inopportune time for Kim to have a baby!
I mean, I guessed the baby would come closer to the 23rd, Kim said SHE thought the baby would come closer to the 3rd. There’s money on who’s date is closest (both post and past, not Price is Right rules). And I feel… I feel like I need a break from work.
Let me clarify: I don’t think I need a BREAK, because looking after a two year old while going back and forth to the hospital to check on Kim and see the new baby and make sure everything is fine on two, maybe three fronts if work decides to get in my business, that’s not a break.
But the AF is absolutely amazing when it comes to family time and I doubt they would do anything more than come over to visit, see the baby, make sure everything is fine, that kind of thing. It’s pretty awesome that the boss would do that, by the way.
However, I am sick. Annie is sick. I’m not lying on the floor dying, but I am sick and I wonder if the doc would say “you stay back. I don’t need your baby to come out only to get a cold and die.”
If that could happen, I mean.
Yesterday a co worker who I look up to had his going-away lunch. I feel wicked bad but I couldn’t go. I was tied up at work. How lame of an excuse is that? Well, it happened anyway. So I felt bad and went to the BX where they have greeting cards and they were all sold out of going-away cards. What a bummer. So I ended up getting a blank card and writing a note.
I feel pretty bad that he’s going away, honestly. There are so few people in the world and in the military in particular that are smart and compassionate and professional. He’s what I want to end up being in the military.
So anyway, I went home and wrote the note as I’m eating a delicious peanut butter and apple jelly sandwich and Kim is looking at me kind of smiling and she says she thinks she’s going into labor but she doesn’t know for sure. She thinks she’s going into back labor. I had never heard the term, but apparently you can have wicked pain in your back that blocks the knowledge of contractions and when they come and go. How about that? The back is a curious thing though what with all the nerves clustered at the base. When you have a kidney stone, you have absolutely no idea what’s wrong with you because EVERYTHING seems to be wrong with you. You think you need to pee, to poop, the stand up, lie down, sit up, walk, stop. Nothing helps and in the end the pain that can show up in places like your stomach, your side (obviously your side), your genitals, all of that pain can build up to such agony that you say OK! Nuts to this, I’M going to the hospital.
So I didn’t doubt that she was in labor. To be fair she did say she wasn’t sure. I called work who gave me the rest of the day off just in case and after Annie went down for a nap, Kim relaxed and the pain went away. So we figured we would try to induce with a walk. Kim wanted to walk in the AC so we walked through Home Deopt a couple of times and then took Annie to a park and nothing happened.
I don’t feel bad that nothing happened though, I’m just excited to get this ball rolling and get Kim in the hospital, the baby out, and Kim and the baby back in the house separately.
Anyhoo, that was MY day.
-Russ
I mean, I guessed the baby would come closer to the 23rd, Kim said SHE thought the baby would come closer to the 3rd. There’s money on who’s date is closest (both post and past, not Price is Right rules). And I feel… I feel like I need a break from work.
Let me clarify: I don’t think I need a BREAK, because looking after a two year old while going back and forth to the hospital to check on Kim and see the new baby and make sure everything is fine on two, maybe three fronts if work decides to get in my business, that’s not a break.
But the AF is absolutely amazing when it comes to family time and I doubt they would do anything more than come over to visit, see the baby, make sure everything is fine, that kind of thing. It’s pretty awesome that the boss would do that, by the way.
However, I am sick. Annie is sick. I’m not lying on the floor dying, but I am sick and I wonder if the doc would say “you stay back. I don’t need your baby to come out only to get a cold and die.”
If that could happen, I mean.
Yesterday a co worker who I look up to had his going-away lunch. I feel wicked bad but I couldn’t go. I was tied up at work. How lame of an excuse is that? Well, it happened anyway. So I felt bad and went to the BX where they have greeting cards and they were all sold out of going-away cards. What a bummer. So I ended up getting a blank card and writing a note.
I feel pretty bad that he’s going away, honestly. There are so few people in the world and in the military in particular that are smart and compassionate and professional. He’s what I want to end up being in the military.
So anyway, I went home and wrote the note as I’m eating a delicious peanut butter and apple jelly sandwich and Kim is looking at me kind of smiling and she says she thinks she’s going into labor but she doesn’t know for sure. She thinks she’s going into back labor. I had never heard the term, but apparently you can have wicked pain in your back that blocks the knowledge of contractions and when they come and go. How about that? The back is a curious thing though what with all the nerves clustered at the base. When you have a kidney stone, you have absolutely no idea what’s wrong with you because EVERYTHING seems to be wrong with you. You think you need to pee, to poop, the stand up, lie down, sit up, walk, stop. Nothing helps and in the end the pain that can show up in places like your stomach, your side (obviously your side), your genitals, all of that pain can build up to such agony that you say OK! Nuts to this, I’M going to the hospital.
So I didn’t doubt that she was in labor. To be fair she did say she wasn’t sure. I called work who gave me the rest of the day off just in case and after Annie went down for a nap, Kim relaxed and the pain went away. So we figured we would try to induce with a walk. Kim wanted to walk in the AC so we walked through Home Deopt a couple of times and then took Annie to a park and nothing happened.
I don’t feel bad that nothing happened though, I’m just excited to get this ball rolling and get Kim in the hospital, the baby out, and Kim and the baby back in the house separately.
Anyhoo, that was MY day.
-Russ
Thursday, July 16, 2009
7.16.09
I like to Google old schools occasionally. I don’t know why, really, but I do. I like to see how the buildings have changed or if the grounds have been altered.
I always start with Roydvale Primary school which was the first school I went to when I moved to New Zealand. I loved it there, though the other kids weren’t always the friendliest. I understand though. I’m not your average bear in any way so I could see how I didn’t fit in exactly with the other kids. I’m not worried about that, and it doesn’t hinder the fact that the kids and staff were amazingly nice for the most part and that New Zealand is the most beautiful place in the world.
It is.
I’ve checked.
They have new pictures up and the buildings are the same, they still have the same tree standing that I used to eat under. They changed the park and added a new one for the smaller kids. The uniform is the same.
The staff doesn’t look familiar at all, but why would they? I went there about fifteen years ago, so why anyone would still be kicking around would be beyond me.
It’s bittersweet in ways that I can’t really describe. Not that I’m holding back or anything, I’m not. I don’t like the idea of putting out less than everything (that’s the extremist in me). I really can’t describe it. Maybe I ache for the days when there was so little to worry about and I know those days will never be back again.
Maybe I just miss the surroundings and nice folks.
Maybe I miss reading during lunch.
I don’t know. I just look at these pictures and think of the times I had.
And before anyone starts thinking bad about me, this isn’t really different than dragging out a dusty photo album to stroll down memory lane.
I really wish I could put Annie and the baby in that school. It’s a good one. I learned a ton from that school and did a LOT of things under adult supervision that most American parents would flip out about.
We read a book for three hours straight and took care of math the next day.
We make miniature hot air balloons and filled the basket with ethanol spirits as fuel. Let me repeat: we were in fourth grade.
Ah, youth. I miss it.
Sometimes I’m tempted to email back and see if someone can get me a phone number or email (preferably email) for one of the teachers from there that taught me, but I don’t. I’m not kidding, I didn’t fit in as a kid. I don’t even know what made me so weird, but I was nonetheless. I don’t think anyone really liked me.
Oh well. There are still some memories from there that I really liked. Going to the parks, going to movies, playing cricket. I definitely miss playing cricket.
-Russ
I always start with Roydvale Primary school which was the first school I went to when I moved to New Zealand. I loved it there, though the other kids weren’t always the friendliest. I understand though. I’m not your average bear in any way so I could see how I didn’t fit in exactly with the other kids. I’m not worried about that, and it doesn’t hinder the fact that the kids and staff were amazingly nice for the most part and that New Zealand is the most beautiful place in the world.
It is.
I’ve checked.
They have new pictures up and the buildings are the same, they still have the same tree standing that I used to eat under. They changed the park and added a new one for the smaller kids. The uniform is the same.
The staff doesn’t look familiar at all, but why would they? I went there about fifteen years ago, so why anyone would still be kicking around would be beyond me.
It’s bittersweet in ways that I can’t really describe. Not that I’m holding back or anything, I’m not. I don’t like the idea of putting out less than everything (that’s the extremist in me). I really can’t describe it. Maybe I ache for the days when there was so little to worry about and I know those days will never be back again.
Maybe I just miss the surroundings and nice folks.
Maybe I miss reading during lunch.
I don’t know. I just look at these pictures and think of the times I had.
And before anyone starts thinking bad about me, this isn’t really different than dragging out a dusty photo album to stroll down memory lane.
I really wish I could put Annie and the baby in that school. It’s a good one. I learned a ton from that school and did a LOT of things under adult supervision that most American parents would flip out about.
We read a book for three hours straight and took care of math the next day.
We make miniature hot air balloons and filled the basket with ethanol spirits as fuel. Let me repeat: we were in fourth grade.
Ah, youth. I miss it.
Sometimes I’m tempted to email back and see if someone can get me a phone number or email (preferably email) for one of the teachers from there that taught me, but I don’t. I’m not kidding, I didn’t fit in as a kid. I don’t even know what made me so weird, but I was nonetheless. I don’t think anyone really liked me.
Oh well. There are still some memories from there that I really liked. Going to the parks, going to movies, playing cricket. I definitely miss playing cricket.
-Russ
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
7.15.09
This morning I woke up and decided that today was the day that I got to work calibrating my Nike + system. For those of you who don’t know, Nike + is a glorified pedometer that takes the amount of steps you’ve taken and equates that into distance so you know you’ve run half a mile or whatever, all while keeping the time and giving you vocal reminders. This is going on while you listen to your iPod. The music will fade out and you’ll hear a woman say “half mile completed” or something like that, then the music will rise back up.
It’s a pretty sweet thing.
When it works right.
But on Friday I walked/ran for an hour and it said I only went 1.62 miles which is slower than a slow stroll. That was completely bogus. I got in my car and found out I really went a little over three miles and THAT means there’s a BIG problem. Especially if you’re looking at my little avatar off to the left that says how many times I’ve worked out and how far I’ve gone.
It’s not that the distance is what’s bugging me but it is a big thing.
My thing is this: for years I’ve had an injured hip, I hurt it on duty my first year in and since then I’ve had problems running. So much so that I have taken the walk test where you walk three miles as fast as you can for the past three years. Twelve laps is a bummer and I have future hopes of getting jobs that require you to be able to run 1.5 miles.
So I’ve begun my own rehabilitation. I walk and for the last one minute, I’ll run. Then the next week I’ll run the last two minutes. The next three minutes and so on and so on until I can run 1.5 miles after warming up a little.
I’m using the Nike + system as a stopwatch more than anything in this regard but I want to know when I’ve hit 1.5 miles and when I’ve hit 3 miles. If I can get my walking to a point where I don’t need to run and still go 1.5 miles in a good time, then hey, no need to run and no worries about my hip. I can just work on walking from then on.
So this morning I went out and went to the school next to my house. Every gate was locked though (it is summer time after all) so I hopped the fence and went to the track. I started the system and started walking and after a quarter of a mile it said I had walked .01 miles. But this is why I’m calibrating right? I end the calibration after the quarter mile and (surprise) it says I did not walk a quarter of a mile. It won’t let me say “yes I did” and reset itself to that, either.
What a bummer!
I’m going to have to wait until the middle of the night and get in my car and drive to the 1.5 mile mark on my path and spray paint a little line so I’ll know to look at my timer, then the three mile mark too.
So I came home a little upset and went in and decided to upload a bunch of Led Zeppelin a friend had burned for me. I’ve always wanted to check them out a little more in depth and the last few days I’ve been working myself up into a frenzy to do this. But I also want to spend time with Kim so I don’t get on long enough to upload it all.
Since she was still asleep though I could. So I started and iTunes would only take certain songs and claim an error with others. Then iTunes would crash. It took me an hour to get most of their stuff on and I’ve figured out how to upload the rest though it seems to create a huge strain on iTunes.
Then I forgot to drag it into the playlist my phone syncs to and now I don’t have my Zepp for the day.
Bummer!
On the plus side, I did order Kim’s anniversary present. She should be pretty stoked when she gets all that smell-good stuff. I really hope she likes it.
That’s all for now.
-Russ
It’s a pretty sweet thing.
When it works right.
But on Friday I walked/ran for an hour and it said I only went 1.62 miles which is slower than a slow stroll. That was completely bogus. I got in my car and found out I really went a little over three miles and THAT means there’s a BIG problem. Especially if you’re looking at my little avatar off to the left that says how many times I’ve worked out and how far I’ve gone.
It’s not that the distance is what’s bugging me but it is a big thing.
My thing is this: for years I’ve had an injured hip, I hurt it on duty my first year in and since then I’ve had problems running. So much so that I have taken the walk test where you walk three miles as fast as you can for the past three years. Twelve laps is a bummer and I have future hopes of getting jobs that require you to be able to run 1.5 miles.
So I’ve begun my own rehabilitation. I walk and for the last one minute, I’ll run. Then the next week I’ll run the last two minutes. The next three minutes and so on and so on until I can run 1.5 miles after warming up a little.
I’m using the Nike + system as a stopwatch more than anything in this regard but I want to know when I’ve hit 1.5 miles and when I’ve hit 3 miles. If I can get my walking to a point where I don’t need to run and still go 1.5 miles in a good time, then hey, no need to run and no worries about my hip. I can just work on walking from then on.
So this morning I went out and went to the school next to my house. Every gate was locked though (it is summer time after all) so I hopped the fence and went to the track. I started the system and started walking and after a quarter of a mile it said I had walked .01 miles. But this is why I’m calibrating right? I end the calibration after the quarter mile and (surprise) it says I did not walk a quarter of a mile. It won’t let me say “yes I did” and reset itself to that, either.
What a bummer!
I’m going to have to wait until the middle of the night and get in my car and drive to the 1.5 mile mark on my path and spray paint a little line so I’ll know to look at my timer, then the three mile mark too.
So I came home a little upset and went in and decided to upload a bunch of Led Zeppelin a friend had burned for me. I’ve always wanted to check them out a little more in depth and the last few days I’ve been working myself up into a frenzy to do this. But I also want to spend time with Kim so I don’t get on long enough to upload it all.
Since she was still asleep though I could. So I started and iTunes would only take certain songs and claim an error with others. Then iTunes would crash. It took me an hour to get most of their stuff on and I’ve figured out how to upload the rest though it seems to create a huge strain on iTunes.
Then I forgot to drag it into the playlist my phone syncs to and now I don’t have my Zepp for the day.
Bummer!
On the plus side, I did order Kim’s anniversary present. She should be pretty stoked when she gets all that smell-good stuff. I really hope she likes it.
That’s all for now.
-Russ
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
7.14.2009
Annie decided to wake up at four in the morning today. I wasn't so worried. She'll eventuall go back to sleep I said. Except she wasn't doing what she normally does when she wakes up which is talk to herself, playing with the assorted dolls in her crib. There was some consitsant banging which may or may not be coming from her room (certainly was coming over the monitor though) and Kim was getting worried. What if she was choking, her neck wrapped by a five inch cord tethering a magnetic pen to a magnadoodle. Maybe someone was trying to break the window to kidnap her.
Well, like I said I wasn't worried, but I did what any good husband would and went to check on her.
To say she was awake was an understatement.
She was AWAKE.
She popped up when I opened the door and insisted on me picking her up and I figured that since Mommy was so worried about her, I should bring her in to our room so she can see her with her own eyes.
I did and Annie bounced around on our bed until Kim got sick enough of her constant moving at 4 in the morning that she picked her up and put her to bed in the most soothing possible way which just pissed Annie off and she screamed bloody murder. Then, within minutes, she quieted down again and went back to drawing on her magna doodle (which is one of the greatest inventions ever) before going back to sleep.
The morning is starting off well.
I will say a shining moment so far is that Kim updated the iTunes account and I bought two apps, a countdown app because I need to know stuff like that, and a post card app where I can take pictures and send them in a "post card" complete with message and fake stamp. I'm pretty excited about them.
I was thinking about getting the famous fourtrack app but it's ten bucks and I want to try something out first which is just using the voice memo feature. It isn't four tracks, but I may like it just as much.
Well, like I said I wasn't worried, but I did what any good husband would and went to check on her.
To say she was awake was an understatement.
She was AWAKE.
She popped up when I opened the door and insisted on me picking her up and I figured that since Mommy was so worried about her, I should bring her in to our room so she can see her with her own eyes.
I did and Annie bounced around on our bed until Kim got sick enough of her constant moving at 4 in the morning that she picked her up and put her to bed in the most soothing possible way which just pissed Annie off and she screamed bloody murder. Then, within minutes, she quieted down again and went back to drawing on her magna doodle (which is one of the greatest inventions ever) before going back to sleep.
The morning is starting off well.
I will say a shining moment so far is that Kim updated the iTunes account and I bought two apps, a countdown app because I need to know stuff like that, and a post card app where I can take pictures and send them in a "post card" complete with message and fake stamp. I'm pretty excited about them.
I was thinking about getting the famous fourtrack app but it's ten bucks and I want to try something out first which is just using the voice memo feature. It isn't four tracks, but I may like it just as much.
Blue Monday #1
Wearing blues on Monday sucks. It just does. They’re uncomfortable and you never have a pen. Well, almost never. As a flyer, I keep my pens on my sleeve in handy pen pockets. They are always there. If you do not have pens in those pockets, you fail as a flyer. That’s like not bringing beer to a check ride.
On Monday though, those pens are still in your flight suit and you are in your blues. Your itchy, non-breathing blues. It sucks getting into them anyway but that first time when you need to write/sign something and reach for your pen only to realize it’s at home is a horrible moment.
Because since everyone keeps pens ON them, there are NO pens in the office. They have a way of growing legs if you know what I mean. Several people I know label their pens “Stolen from XXXXXX.”
Today though, was especially sweet because it was starting to rain on my way out to the car. I’m not worried about a little rain though it’s obvious it’s a great idea to get the raincoat out and hang it up to get the wrinkles out. And buy some new rank for it (it still has one stripe after all while I have three).
I got to work and the rain had slowed from drizzle to nothing and went in unscathed. However I went in the wrong door and entered oven by mistake. Apparently the air conditioning for the building broke over the weekend and it didn’t send out an alert to someone to come fix it. Instead the ever growing volume of complaints from flyers (who like to complain anyway) that are wearing blues (so they’re already in a bad mood) apparently woke up someone and a repairman was sent out.
I wanted to get out of the office though and a suggestion was brought to me that a group of us should go out to Target and buy soda for the squadron bar.
OK.
No problem.
The A/C sure was nice in the car. And in Target. And back in the car. But then an idea came to me that all this soda would need to be brought up to the second floor and put in the fridge in the bar that is now fittingly a Furnace (it’s called the Furnace officially, by the way).
And yeah, it sucked all right. I was there, loading up all these sodas into the fridge sweating through my blues thinking that life is pretty awful right now. After a while though, it was done.
I was on my way back to my office and someone popped up from NOWHERE and said that I looked like I was really hot. I was. Well, he needed help unloading his car because he had a similar idea and went to get food for the bar. So back downstairs, get the food, bring it upstairs and load it up.
On the way to lunch the A/C was pushed to the max on unsympathetic passengers.
-Russ
On Monday though, those pens are still in your flight suit and you are in your blues. Your itchy, non-breathing blues. It sucks getting into them anyway but that first time when you need to write/sign something and reach for your pen only to realize it’s at home is a horrible moment.
Because since everyone keeps pens ON them, there are NO pens in the office. They have a way of growing legs if you know what I mean. Several people I know label their pens “Stolen from XXXXXX.”
Today though, was especially sweet because it was starting to rain on my way out to the car. I’m not worried about a little rain though it’s obvious it’s a great idea to get the raincoat out and hang it up to get the wrinkles out. And buy some new rank for it (it still has one stripe after all while I have three).
I got to work and the rain had slowed from drizzle to nothing and went in unscathed. However I went in the wrong door and entered oven by mistake. Apparently the air conditioning for the building broke over the weekend and it didn’t send out an alert to someone to come fix it. Instead the ever growing volume of complaints from flyers (who like to complain anyway) that are wearing blues (so they’re already in a bad mood) apparently woke up someone and a repairman was sent out.
I wanted to get out of the office though and a suggestion was brought to me that a group of us should go out to Target and buy soda for the squadron bar.
OK.
No problem.
The A/C sure was nice in the car. And in Target. And back in the car. But then an idea came to me that all this soda would need to be brought up to the second floor and put in the fridge in the bar that is now fittingly a Furnace (it’s called the Furnace officially, by the way).
And yeah, it sucked all right. I was there, loading up all these sodas into the fridge sweating through my blues thinking that life is pretty awful right now. After a while though, it was done.
I was on my way back to my office and someone popped up from NOWHERE and said that I looked like I was really hot. I was. Well, he needed help unloading his car because he had a similar idea and went to get food for the bar. So back downstairs, get the food, bring it upstairs and load it up.
On the way to lunch the A/C was pushed to the max on unsympathetic passengers.
-Russ
Saturday, July 11, 2009
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
In conversation, I often mention that I'm putting paperwork to cross train into a different career field. It isn't that m job is awful, it's just not for me. People fly and love to fly. I love to fly commercially as a passenger, but I'm not so keen on the added responsibilities that flyer's have. That's just me though.
So when I say this people often ask me what job I want to cross train into. Well, there's a few. Mainly they are the ones on the ground that wear their blues often, but there are some that stand out.
I do plan on auditioning for AFN (or Armed Forces Network) hopefully as a radio personality. TV's fine, but I don't feel it is where I would excel. I also want to put in to be a journalist for the Air Force.
These are both dream jobs, sure, but I've been told all my life that I have a vivid personality that would work for entertainment but a face that demands to be seen on the radio. I've also been told from a young age that I am excellent in writing and over the time that I have been writing, especially things like the 5th Fret, I feel like I've been honing my style into something that is both unique and awesome.
I'm not trying to brag or anything. I've read a ton of official or semi-official documents and they are dry as dirt. Who would WANT to read that? And I'm not even trying to write official documents, but articles for base newspapers or magazines. I think my conversational style of writing would come across well.
At least, since writing for the 5th Fret I haven't received any hate mail saying that my writing is crap.
However, recently I've begun to doubt my writing ability. I can't help but feel passed over when something else gets more attention. I'm sure there's a childhood psychological reason to this, but it makes me feel that perhaps I'm not good enough.
After all, tons of people tell other people that they are great singers - amazing singers and if they went on American Idol they would win for sure. The people then go to the audition and find out they aren't good at all and that their friends were just being nice.
It's hard to take that pill. I write and think I'm good at it, other people say I'm good at it, it feels good to be behind the keyboard, typing away, sometimes just watching my fingers FLY and think to myself this is fun. Because it is. It's fun and it seems to be a talent.
I'm not complaining too loud about a particular event or anything because it isn't just ONE event, but it definitely does feel like I'm being ignored and maybe it IS because I'm not good enough.
And if I'm not good at something that I genuinely think I'm talented at, how good am I at anything else?
Ah well. Dont' worry about me, I'll bounce back. I always do. And I'll probably write even more when I do. Maybe if I'm not good enough now, I just need more practice. Charles Schulz was of that mind and look where he ended up. I just need to keep working at it and keep putting things out there.
Until then it's nice to have this seperate space to vent when things aren't going all that well. Charles Schulz didn't have that. He ended up going a little nuts because of it.
-Russ
So when I say this people often ask me what job I want to cross train into. Well, there's a few. Mainly they are the ones on the ground that wear their blues often, but there are some that stand out.
I do plan on auditioning for AFN (or Armed Forces Network) hopefully as a radio personality. TV's fine, but I don't feel it is where I would excel. I also want to put in to be a journalist for the Air Force.
These are both dream jobs, sure, but I've been told all my life that I have a vivid personality that would work for entertainment but a face that demands to be seen on the radio. I've also been told from a young age that I am excellent in writing and over the time that I have been writing, especially things like the 5th Fret, I feel like I've been honing my style into something that is both unique and awesome.
I'm not trying to brag or anything. I've read a ton of official or semi-official documents and they are dry as dirt. Who would WANT to read that? And I'm not even trying to write official documents, but articles for base newspapers or magazines. I think my conversational style of writing would come across well.
At least, since writing for the 5th Fret I haven't received any hate mail saying that my writing is crap.
However, recently I've begun to doubt my writing ability. I can't help but feel passed over when something else gets more attention. I'm sure there's a childhood psychological reason to this, but it makes me feel that perhaps I'm not good enough.
After all, tons of people tell other people that they are great singers - amazing singers and if they went on American Idol they would win for sure. The people then go to the audition and find out they aren't good at all and that their friends were just being nice.
It's hard to take that pill. I write and think I'm good at it, other people say I'm good at it, it feels good to be behind the keyboard, typing away, sometimes just watching my fingers FLY and think to myself this is fun. Because it is. It's fun and it seems to be a talent.
I'm not complaining too loud about a particular event or anything because it isn't just ONE event, but it definitely does feel like I'm being ignored and maybe it IS because I'm not good enough.
And if I'm not good at something that I genuinely think I'm talented at, how good am I at anything else?
Ah well. Dont' worry about me, I'll bounce back. I always do. And I'll probably write even more when I do. Maybe if I'm not good enough now, I just need more practice. Charles Schulz was of that mind and look where he ended up. I just need to keep working at it and keep putting things out there.
Until then it's nice to have this seperate space to vent when things aren't going all that well. Charles Schulz didn't have that. He ended up going a little nuts because of it.
-Russ
Friday, July 3, 2009
Sometimes
Sometimes I feel pretty great abotu what I do. There are a lot of perks to being a flyer. You get to wear the flight suit, you get to wear wings, you get to know you are part of less than 1.5% of the enlisted AF and most of the other jobs either exist to directly or indrectly serve you (meaing to get you in the air and keep you there, not serve YOU specifically). Whenever there are check rides there is check ride beer and in very few other jobs would you finish with a mission and sit around and talk about it while you drink FREE beer (unless it's your check ride, then you're buying the beer).
My AF coin, a thing every AF member is supposed to have on them at all times for the coin chellenge game (someone throws down their coin with an audible slap and everyone has to produce a military coin of their own. If they do NOT have a coin, they buy the next round. If they DO have a coin, YOU buy the next round. This can make for a fun time) is a bottle opener with my wings on it.
We're a very proud people.
But flying jobs are limited both to aircrafts and to bases. My particular plane is INCREDIBY limited and as a result you see a lot of folks stay at a base for far longer than a non-flying enlisted AF member (some people stay upwards of TEN years before moving, some even SIXTEEN meaning they would go ONE other place and probably retire). I joined the AF to see the world and pay the bills and hopefully have a lot of fun along the way and while I AM having fun (now more than ever in my career), I am about to turn in my cross training paperwork to ground myself and get a different job.
Part of me is bummed about it. I know a lot of people are going to ask why I wanted to LEAVE flying when so many people are trying to get into the fields, and the wings are permanently attached to my uniform (it's a rule) so I'll always be open to those questions, but I want to go more places and see more things. I want to go back to Tucson, and go overseas. I don't want to be limited.
That's pretty much it. I don't want to be limited.
So while flying is awesome for some people, and is something that I would probably enjoy if I weren't surveillance (perhaps a boom operator, or load master), I'll be leaving it (hopefully) soon.
Meanwhile, let me tell you about this morning:
We woke up, and took Annie to the Air Museum because she loves planes. It's odd to see her love things that we don't really expose her to, but she comes to naturally. I think the thing she loves more than anything in the world is trains. All the time, if she sees a train, she's happy and she wants to touch it or play with it. She loves trains. She loves planes too. And cars. She's very tomboy.
Of course she loves guitars too...
Anyway, after the museum we went to Cracker Barrel and ate, then went to Target and picked up some assorted chemicals and the movie Cars for Annie.
It doesn't SOUND like a lot, but to a two year old it is. She went down for a nap and she really went DOWN. I think she was asleep within five minutes of closing the door.
Awesome.
My AF coin, a thing every AF member is supposed to have on them at all times for the coin chellenge game (someone throws down their coin with an audible slap and everyone has to produce a military coin of their own. If they do NOT have a coin, they buy the next round. If they DO have a coin, YOU buy the next round. This can make for a fun time) is a bottle opener with my wings on it.
We're a very proud people.
But flying jobs are limited both to aircrafts and to bases. My particular plane is INCREDIBY limited and as a result you see a lot of folks stay at a base for far longer than a non-flying enlisted AF member (some people stay upwards of TEN years before moving, some even SIXTEEN meaning they would go ONE other place and probably retire). I joined the AF to see the world and pay the bills and hopefully have a lot of fun along the way and while I AM having fun (now more than ever in my career), I am about to turn in my cross training paperwork to ground myself and get a different job.
Part of me is bummed about it. I know a lot of people are going to ask why I wanted to LEAVE flying when so many people are trying to get into the fields, and the wings are permanently attached to my uniform (it's a rule) so I'll always be open to those questions, but I want to go more places and see more things. I want to go back to Tucson, and go overseas. I don't want to be limited.
That's pretty much it. I don't want to be limited.
So while flying is awesome for some people, and is something that I would probably enjoy if I weren't surveillance (perhaps a boom operator, or load master), I'll be leaving it (hopefully) soon.
Meanwhile, let me tell you about this morning:
We woke up, and took Annie to the Air Museum because she loves planes. It's odd to see her love things that we don't really expose her to, but she comes to naturally. I think the thing she loves more than anything in the world is trains. All the time, if she sees a train, she's happy and she wants to touch it or play with it. She loves trains. She loves planes too. And cars. She's very tomboy.
Of course she loves guitars too...
Anyway, after the museum we went to Cracker Barrel and ate, then went to Target and picked up some assorted chemicals and the movie Cars for Annie.
It doesn't SOUND like a lot, but to a two year old it is. She went down for a nap and she really went DOWN. I think she was asleep within five minutes of closing the door.
Awesome.
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