Can I Brag A Little?

Well, tonight was graduation night of Airman Leadership School. 192 class room hours, multiple homework assignments, several speeches, a large number of classroom discussions, interactions, learning about leadership, about taking care of your people and basically how to be the best Non Commissioned Office you can be. It was... rough. So many of the nights I spent doing homework or studying and my lovely wife would watch the kids or accommodate me in some way and it's been a bit trying, but I explained to her that this is worth it. This is the first time in my career that I stood up and took control of my CAREER and it wasn't just going along with the flow, or letting others dictate MY action. I stayed up and studied harder than necessary and before the last test, I was more than happy to volunteer my time helping out in study groups all weekend.

To my wife I say thank you because without you there to help me I wouldn't have done as good as I did.

And how good did I do? Well, there are several awards you can win. You can win an academic award which is just top dog for grades only, you can win a distinguished graduate award which is for those in the top 10% of the class that not only showed great academic excellence but also leadership capabilities. You also have the leadership award which is chosen by the school Commandant, and finally the Levitow award which trumps all awards in prestige. The thing about the Levitow though is that if you win it, you can't win anything else.

I was in direct competition with someone and it was mainly out of fun, but we have a bit of a history of rivalry so it was a motivator and in the end, the first award they called was for the academic and it went to me. I was shocked because I'm pretty sure I wasn't the top as far as grades. I was pretty sure I was in second place, but hey, who am I to turn down an award? So I haul myself up to the front and get my very first plaque from the USAF and go sit back down. Oh, there were handshakes from EVERYWHERE and I even got my very first coin handed to me by a commander which was pretty freaking awesome. To get a coin given to you by a person who gets coins ISSUED to them is awesome because they have to inventory all the coins they give out and to whom it was given.

I was pretty happy. Then they called the leadership award and it went to my flight commander and she was more than deserving. She dedicated a ton of personal time to make sure that her flight was taken care of (and she brought in cookies on test days)and there was never a question of whether or not she was there coaching everyone on. The great thing is usually flight commanders don't receive awards because their performance slips because they're too busy helping out their flight members.

Next up was distinguished graduate. They said my squadron and I looked at the only other guy from my squadron there and then they called my name.

My name.

The Colonel that handed me the statue said that what I did was really impressive to her.

I believe it. I was stunned. More handshakes, one more coin. I was super happy.

Then the next DG award (class size dictates how many are given out) was given to my new buddy Sparky who deserved it very much.

Finally the Levitow was given to the Airman with whom I was competing against and before we got our diplomas, I congratulated her and said I was proud of her and she said the same to me. Our flight took ALL the awards and every recipient was sitting next to each other in class too.

But getting the awards were just a small part of the joy, honestly. I felt great that I was now validated. I could look at my supervisor and let them know that their Airman did something that was pretty cool and honestly, I couldn't have done it if I hadn't been groomed by them beforehand. And my mom and her boyfriend was there and that was cool too. I've known Mom's boyfriend since I was ten and he's always been a very strong presence in my life and I'm glad that they could have been there to see it.

Unfortunately Kim wasn't there and to be honest, I missed her very much. I recorded a speech given by a Chief about the importance of spouses, but it would have been cool for her to see me get called up to the front both times. I can't give credit to my supervisors for grooming me without giving credit to my wife for letting me be groomed. She's been more than patient with me in the AF and I only hope that the small tangible things I get can somehow make her proud enough to forget or forgive the long nights alone with the kids while I was busy writing a paper or practicing a speech.

I love you, Kim. More than any amount of words these fingers could ever type. They could pound on keyboard after broken keyboard until the fingers were mere nubs at the end of time and it would still be sorely lacking in telling you the depth and strength of my love for you.

Well, everyone, I think I've bragged enough. Thanks for your time and have a great day!

-Pappy

The Annoying Guy

You know what annoys the crap out me? Return characters that are bad. This applies to both TV, movies and real life, by the way. I hate it when some douche is in your life for some reason or another, then they leave and they're gone for so long that you let out that breath you never realized you were holding. Ah, a rush of relief.

But then that same person comes back in and you just want to scream at him that you were fine without them here. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?" You want to ask. "GET OUT! DON'T COME BACK! LIFE WAS MUCH BETTER WITHOUT YOU AND YOUR INPUT!"

I swear to god it's a like a stray dog you feed once.

So you ignore it and hope it goes away and eventually it does but then some stupid friend of yours drops half of a burger at a BBQ and doesn't clean it up enough and guess who comes back?

It's miserable.

Talk About Light!

I'm in ALS right now. That stands for Airman Leadership School. It's where you go to learn how to be a supervisor and man is it fun. They pack a ton of education, speeches, papers, formulated writing, PT AND homework into a measly amount of time and it is NOT a good time at all.

But it's incredibly beneficial. See, I'm learning a lot, it's just a painful learning process. It doesn't help when there are those unavoidable stressors given to you by family or work but hey, you roll with the punches.

Tonight I was working on my very last brief for the class and then after that I worked on my last two written assignments for the class. In one night I have taken care of three of the six graded assignments and on one hand you would rather have your work, especially GRADED work, to be spread out, but on the other hand, if you knock half of your graded assignments out in one night, what more do you have to worry about?

It's relief.

And it's something else: it's the sign of the end of the time in class. I still have more to be graded on and more time in the class BUT with so much knocked out in one night I feel good.

Yeah.

I feel good.

The Cold Hard Truth About Kids

Make no bones about it, kids are tough, even at the best of times. They cause you to constantly re-evaluate your values and principles and they wear you down like nothing else on this earth can.

They change your entire life.

And at first it is ALL bad. They do nothing but cry, you can't take them anywhere, they don't sleep, things happen naturally and they get sick but you don't know what's wrong with them (with a two year old you ask what hurts and they point to their ear, OK, a possible ear infection). They make everyone in the house tired and miserable which means the company you so desperately want with the other person is soured because they're in a miserable mood which makes you go into a miserable mood and for months life just plain sucks.

But then you start getting things back. Smiles, giggles, coos, and while all that's great, it's when they start being visibly glad to see you that starts making it worth it. There are great things about having kids but for me, they happen way down the line, not in the first few months where you can't talk or even whisper in your own bedroom for fear of waking up jr, or when sometimes everything's fine with the child and then other times he just cries and cries and cries and cries. It makes you think bad thoughts.

But they'll go away.

So.

Handy tips for non-parents. Make a list of everything you want to do in life and do it before you have kids.

Then do it again with kids. Well, some of it. Obviously you don't want to take kids to a GWAR concert.

Weight Watchers

I am back on weight watchers. It's fun this time. Dieting may not SOUND fun but like everything else in life, if you incorporate it with something you like, you'll probably enjoy it a ton more. Like putting a dog's medicine in peanut butter.

And my thing is gadgets. I love them. I downloaded an app for my phone which keeps track of how many points I've eaten per day, has a calculator to figure out points and a favorites list so I don't have to keep inputting the same stuff.

Taking a tip from a review, everything I eat I favorite so eventually everything will be in there. So when someone says let's go to lunch I can ask where and if I've been there, I already have the information and I can say what I want before we even leave. It's awesome.

If I have not eaten there yet, no biggie, I also have an app with nutritional information from a ton of restaurants.

No more having to keep a slide rule with point conversions. No more having to keep a notepad to write in (and then forget to bring with you so lunch doesn't count today).

One makes dieting easy and it keeps me on track and the other makes it possible to make informed decisions, even on the go.

So I started at 171.6 lbs. I'll keep you posted on losses or gains hopefully.

By the way, if anyone out there has an iPod and Nike+, there's a 10K on October 24th at any time of the day. I'll probably be pushing an umbrella stroller with Annie in it, but that's fine. This will be my first 10K. I'm SUPER excited!

-Russ