It's hard to believe today is day 30 of this trip! Only about 160 more to go! I noticed last night that the moon is starting to get bigger. Each full moon, as one friend pointed out, means another month has passed. The moon was full when I arrived in Qatar; so, I only have five more to go...counting this one!
Finished up chatting with Meagan and headed over to the testing center to take my second Course 14 test. I feel confident, as it is about writing and speaking; two areas I'm not horrible at...in my opinion. So, I'm hopeful that I will score well!
Wow! I didn't think the test was too hard, but I sure thought I did better than 81%! I missed 10 out of 54 questions on the test, so I'm not sure why I did that bad. Some things were worded in the "Air Force Testing" way, so I guess I'll be happy that I didn't fail! That gives me an 86% average over two tests, so hopefully the next three will help pull my average up. I'm now ready to jump into the third module!
I went to the BX and picked up a few flags. I'm looking at seven or eight total to fly while I'm over here. I was hoping to finish up the certificates and mail them from here, but it looks like that task may be better left to after I get home. Packing and shipping supplies are scarce here and, while I thought they would fit, the flag boxes are too big for the boxes my care packages have come in. The first one, a HUGE box from Meagan, will probably work. I will just have to cut it down to make a custom box. Regardless, I cannot find certificate-quality paper here and our color printer is on the fritz. Therefore, I may have to wait until March to ship these out...we'll see! I also think I have finalized my certificate. I changed "Presented To" to "In Honor Of" since I won't actually be presenting most of these. The rest of it, I am happy with.Got into work, checked some email, sent some email, then went to lunch. Lunch wasn't too bad. I had ham, picadilla, red beans and rice, cucumber salad, and a cookie. It's hard to pass up a Otis Spunkmeyer white chocolate macadamia nut cookie! Washed it down with a Coke Zero.
At some point, I'm going to collect a bunch of cans, rinse them out, and send them to Lynn, my father-in-law. For those who don't know, he takes the cans and sticks them to the ceiling of his garage. I can't remember if I sent him any from Iraq in '06-'07, but I have a German Coke Zero can I saved from my flight over. Here, they have Coke Zero, Sprite, Sprite Lite, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta (orange and strawberry), and 7-Up. The only non-Afghan canned sodas are Dr. Pepper and A&W Root Beer, for some unknown reason. Anyway, I have plenty of time to collect one of each for him...
I got back to work and set up a radar with one of the guys to ops check it. Basically, just to ensure it works if and when we need to send it out. Some questions pop into my head as I do this stuff. Mainly, why hasn't this stuff, which has been here MUCH longer than me, been ops checked and inventoried before? Fair enough...I'll get it done. I don't mind being outside and out from behind the desk anyway; but, it is a question. So, as we're setting up the radar, there are no cables with it. We are both thinking, "Where the heck (that's the clean version) are the cables? So, my assistant NCOIC (I hate that term...I mean, I could consider myself the assistant NCOIC of OL-A in Florida...) arrives at work and I ask him, "Where are the cables for the radar?" I am told they are in the case. No, they certainly are not. "Well, there are like seven cases with the system." Yes, I am aware of that fact... "Did you look in all of them?" Yes, yes I did. "And you didn't find them?" No, I did not. "Oh. Well, then maybe they are in another location. Or, perhaps they are the ones we are using now and we just didn't disconnect them." So, I think to myself, "Why in the world would the cables NOT be with the system!?!" So, I just let it go. I got the sense that, perhaps, he wanted to me do it all again and find the other cables. However, ops checking a radar is hard enough for two people; I'm certainly not going to do it myself...
I really miss the family...a month away from home. I'm not really sad, per se, but I do miss them. On the computer I'm sitting at for the time being, I have the pictures I took of Meagan, me and Taylor, and me and Emma at the airport the day I left. We were all smiles in that turbulent time, even though I know Meagan and I were on the verge of tears. I even wept a little sitting there... Ok, I need to drop this subject, because I will make myself sad...
I watched the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother on AFN this afternoon. I'm not sure if it is a real German word or not, but the guy on the show was talking about a German word that meant everything you've ever wanted...and I thought about Meagan. Nothing needs changed, I love her for all she is! She has always been and will always be perfect for me! <3
Tonight, before one of our telecons, we decided to go over and check out the new tower for the radar we have here. It's a pretty nice tower; but, as we found out; we're going to need something to hoist it up on the tower. There is NO way the radome is going to fit through the hatch on the roof...NO WAY! While we were up there, we figured we'd take some photos of ourselves. Here is "home sweet home" in the background.After the telecon, we went to dinner. Nothing looked really appealing to me, so I had my one cheeseburger ration for the week. Topped it with jalapenos, ketchup, mustard, and a couple of onion rings. Beans and coleslaw and it's almost like being at home!
After dinner, back to work for a little while longer to sit in on another telecon. Provided some input on the system I worked on last week...so, at least I got to do something! :)
Off of work and have to be in EARLY tomorrow...for me anyway. I'm usually not thinking about work at 0800, but tomorrow is my first early shift. I don't mind though, as it gives one of the guys a much well-deserved day off. I headed over to the USO to call and talk to my love. I haven't actually spoken with her in a few days, so I just wanted to hear her voice! We may get on and chat later, but we're waiting until Wednesday night (there) to get the kids on. They're all busy this week!
Well, I'm all showered up and ready for bed. Gotta get up early in the morning and hopefully catch Meagan before work. Night all...God bless!
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