Defiantone.com

Billy Madison said it best “Back to school! Back to school, to prove to Dad that I’m not a fool! I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don’t get in a fight! Ohhhh, back to school! Back to school! Back to school! Well, here goes nothing!”

Jessica is done with classes and I have no pending deployments so it’s time to head back to school. I took a DANTES test today on world religions and I’ll find out in a few weeks how bad I failed. When I do fail it will reaffirm the need to take a humanities course and one math course to get my associates degree.

I registered for a US History class today and I’ll start the online portion of that as soon as my book arrives in the mail. If that goes well, I’ll register for some actual sit in a seat and stare at a professor class that will start in the middle of Oct. I’m looking at taking “The Problem of Evil” and “Business and Society.” I want to work on an economics degree but the most convenient school only offers it as a minor. If I really want to make it work I can always go to UW and transfer the needed credits. Why business and economics in light of our poorly performing financial sector? They obviously suck at what they are doing and it might be time for some fresh input or… the title of your degree really doesn’t matter it just means that you won’t get cut in the first round of resume sorting.

The interesting bit of my education is that I won’t be getting my credits from one institution. I’m going to try and knock out prerequisite and some general education all online at school “A” while I take classes that actually interest me in front of a real live talking person at school “B.” We live in a wired society and its all possible now. They’ll probably keep me on midshift for a while so I know that I’ll have adequate time to do my schoolwork. Even if they shift me to days I’ll still have ample time to work. I need to keep the distractions minimal - I need to moderate goofing off. Its all good if it comes in the right sized doses.

Jessica and I have been trying to study this past week but distractions are slowing down our efforts. She has got a few days left of school and she is cramming to get it done. She pulled her first late night session of trying to get it all done - I told her that that almost made her a real college student. If we had cans of natty ice sitting around the house she would could complete the college experience.

I’m studying for a test that I take Thursday morning. If I do well enough I get promoted. If I don’t, I take the test again next year. Its my first time testing so I’ve got to make most of the points from the test - the bar is set at 69.5% on each test - a fact that I know simply because I’m testing out of cycle. You would think that I should be able to attain my goal - but - these tests are hard and they cover a large range of material. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Friday I’m going to “volunteer” to help out for the airshow that I won’t be watching. Someone above me either mandated or volunteered six people from my flight to help. There are really only six of us. I knew that I was going to be on leave at the time but I feel obligated to help out. This situation highlights what we’re facing at work - we are always short manned while constantly being farmed out to additional duties. We’re behind at work but the additional extra-curricular taskers never seem to slow.

When my “volunteer” work is complete on base we’re off to the ocean for two days of camping. Jeff and Leanne (Jessica’s sister and brother-in-law) will be joining us. It should be a fun and hopefully relaxing time. I want to wear a custom screen printed shirt with “Voluntold” simply written on the back - most would look and think volunteer - I want them to know the real story. I don’t think it would be appropriate but it would be comical.

I’ve got projects around the house that I need to do - I’m not quite sure when I’m going to work them in. Maybe next week? Only time will tell.

For the next few months I’m going to be the designated person that is going to work nightshift. I’m the only one working but I think I’ll be able to keep myself motivated and on task (well, aside from a random blog post here or there). I’ve got an important test coming up in a few weeks and this should give me ample time to study. There are few other distractions on this shift so I should be able to get quite a bit accomplished. No one will actually see what I am doing but they’ll see the finished work. I will act like a ninja for the next couple of months. My stealth and cunning will see me through my work. It should be fun -

Jessica (obviously) does not like this arrangement as I will not be at home with her all of the time. Luckily, I will be awake when she is awake but we will be sleeping at different times. They did have me slated to work swingshift (3pm-11pm) which would have led to great frustration - she would have only been able to see me during the week if she stayed up late. I was able to swap with someone else so this isn’t that bad of a deal. I’ll be on this shift until I take leave in September. After that, I have no idea where I’m going to end up.

The weekends are going to be strange as I’ll want to sleep from 8AM-2PM - we’ll see how it plays out

I’m mere hours away from a respite away from work and away from responsibility. I don’t mind work, in fact, I actually like what I do but I really enjoy my time away from the office. Weekends and leave fantastic because they are generally unstructured. We always have something happening but there is so much free time I don’t know how someone wouldn’t like it. Leanne’s birthday is this weekend - I think she is turning the big three-o so we’re going to spend some time in the “Roy” area on Saturday and we’ve got a little cleaning to do but aside from that it’s all free time. I can smell the weekend and it puts a smile on my face.

This is going to be a taxing weekend. I get out of work early to eat dinner with Jessica’s family (who recently joked that I might as well call them in-laws - you can draw whatever conclusion you wish from that remark) prior to her graduation ceremony from Bates (technical school) where she is working on a Biotechnology associates degree. She gets to walk today but she still has about 6 weeks left of school. She should be done with the biology portion in the next week or two but she has a few other classes to finish up the degree. I’ve been quite unhappy with the way she describes how the program is ran. I often feel that they are just jerking the students around and delaying classes and projects so they can eek out more tuition. She hasn’t been paying the tuition but her parents have - and I’m sure they hope it reaps large dividends.

Directly - and I mean directly - after her graduation she’s off to the edge of Ranier National park for Jenny’s (her best friend) wedding. She’ll play the role of bridesmaid for the event. She’ll miss the rehearsal but she’s had some experience in the role so I’m sure she’ll be fine winging it. I’ll leave Saturday afternoon to head to the ceremony. I’ll have to leave afterwards as I am on standby on this three day weekend. Why a three day weekend? My base (home of the 62AW) has recently gone 62 days without a DUI and Monday has been declared a “down” day. It’s not really a down day because they’ve scheduled work for the flight line and I have a part to deliver so that it can get done. So, its not a three day weekend for everyone.

Sunday will probably spent at her parents house for fathers day. They’ve (her parents) tried to coerce her into preparing dinner - she’s thinking about ribs - and I’m thinking that it sounds like an excellent idea.

The next two weekends are surprisingly empty of plans but after that we’ve got the 4th, then two weeks of nothing, and then a camping trip to somewhere near a massive salty body of water. Its going to be a busy summer and this weekend is going to be one of the busiest.

We started with two dogs and traded one back in - she wasn’t a bad dog - she was just ridiculously lazy. We’re back to two of them and I forgot how much I missed having dogs. I moved away from my parents house years ago and that was the last time I had really spent any length of time around a dog. My last pet was a bit of a nut job and was banished to an outdoor existence after tearing the house apart for the last time - certain members of my family did not want to put the dog outside or place it in a kennel when we left home. She had a “bit” of separation anxiety and proceeded to destroy anything she could find - you know - dads shoes, any scrap of paper she can grab, the Christmas tree.

Our dogs live in a massive backyard and have plenty of room to roam. Violet, the dog we got in the trade deal, is a little skittish (still) and won’t roam far from the kennel area. She’ll get used to it in time but its a change of environment. She has a unique and disgusting habit - she burgles turds. Yes, after she or the other dog leaves uhh… waste behind she will collect it and place it in her dog house. Apparently, she has been doing this for years. I really don’t know why a dog would collect turds aside from eating them which is a bit odd - dogs normally go for cat crap, horse crap, pig crap, cow crap, and well - essentially any other crap but their own. You may not notice it when you look at the dogs in this picture but Duke and Violet are trouble - I just don’t know how much trouble they are going to be - yet.

I’ve got a few videos of the two dogs in action and they may only be interesting if you really like dogs. You may want to check them out because you can see the scale of the yard that I get the “opportunity” to mow.

Then again, you may just watch the videos if you’re bored and you’ve got a high speed internet connection. Whatever reason - here they are.

I’ve been having a difficult time dealing with other people during my last few weeks here. My behavior to their actions remains the same but I have been unable to contain my frustration lately. Yesterday I drug a 6500 pound trailer 200 yards - by myself. I probably could have pulled it a half a mile because I was getting a little bit cranked.

Whats my problem with him? He is using the “buddy” system, he is lazy, he loves to brown nose, and he spends most of his time trying to look important while doing nothing at all. As you can imagine, it can get on your nerves. I just want to go down to the building, do the work required, and come back.

He wants to hang out with his buddies and play cards. While he is playing cards I get to do the work - he isn’t moving from his chair. When new people show up he is all “show” - when superiors show up he is also all “show”. Frankly, I’m tired of it and look forward to not working with this individual again.

When I’m not at work I’m a happy care free guy - well, as long as the power is working. Its almost like a 180 degree difference. Its not a 108 degree difference, but, it was that warm outside today. Yes, I say warm because the worst is yet to come. Sorry for the tangent - my mind is wandering. Making this person change their habits is probably impossible because the other guy that outranks me has the same problem. We’re fighting the valiant fight and neither of us are winning. Most people can blow off their steam - I just need to blow off some energy. I could also spend time away from work - and it seems all better. Its a shame I have to go back - oh well, only 9 more days turning wrenches.

Sorry about the unreadable page - I made a mistake. Hopefully it should work as designed - if it doesn’t, please let me know.

I’ve been hobbling around like a cripple for a week due to an ankle sprain. Its nothing major but we walk everywhere here and it just takes a little bit away from your day. You can have a great day but if it hurts to go everywhere how great was it?

I go to the gym constantly here - its good for my health and it gives me something to do for 60-90 minutes a day. The ankle problem isn’t helping my cause - I’ve been unable to do any cardio for a week. Needless to say, I just wish the damn thing would heal up. I’ve been told to go to physical therapy but they have “banker hours”. I work night shift and I refuse to wake up in the middle of my night to go get checked out. Yes, I know that nobody will suffer but me but it’s not that big of a deal.

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I was virtually indestructible. Now I work on rehabbing my shoulder every day (I injured it two years ago), now I worry about re-injuring my ankles and getting fractures again, now I worry about re-aggravating my sprained ankle. Oh well - I guess this is supposed to happen with age. Damn you age!

Work has been slow as of late - work makes the time go by quickly - without work the days are beginning to drag. We stay busy by killing people - sure, its not the flashiest or the most humane type of work but it keeps food on the table. When we aren’t killing people - it tends to get boring. I wish they could just go do some random goat or camel target practice - sure, its bomb they drop costs upwards of $20k but it would be good for my morale and well being.

Ok, so I still haven’t done what I set out to do on my day off but I’m getting closer to it with each passing week. I have extremely little free time on a daily basis as I have scheduled only enough time to plow through my routine. There is no extra time for anything else unless I want to cut into my sleep schedule. I do well on 6 hours of sleep but 7 is better. Unfortunately, I don’t move fast enough when I wake up and that extra hour is imperative. Jessica, on the other hand, wants 10 hours of sleep a night. I have no idea how she sleeps that much and still has enough time to do everything. Even when I am bored and have little to do sleep is always a last option for me - she is down for a nap at almost anytime of the day. Often she insists that I join her - (more…)