My Very Own Little Tin Tin!

I know, I've been pretty scarce.  Sorry.  I was in quite a funk the 1-2 weeks following Christmas.  Then I spent last week in Nebraska doing some Air Force Reserve work.

Nothing in particular with the funk, I just didn't feel like writing.

I also have been pretty slow with the camera too, I've very few pictures to offer.  I promise that will change next week!

So here's a story for you.

Just before I left for Nebraska two weekends ago, the family went to see The Adventures of Tintin.  What a fantastic movie, by the way!  Certainly isn't just for kids!

The CGI animation of Tintin reminded me SO MUCH of Timmy.  I couldn't help myself...I had to make a comparison, so here it is!  This is a picture of Timmy from our trip to the Santa train about 3 weeks ago.

And yes, as one could guess, Timmy wants to be Tintin for Halloween.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Enjoy some pictures I took of the spectacular fall colors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week.  I was in the area training for my AF Reserve job.  These are too pretty not to share with the world!

You'll notice that I'm in my winter coat (it was in the low 50s) for some of the pictyres but just in a t-shirt for others, those pictures were after a hike up the Laurel Falls trail, about 300' in 1.3 miles.  Got a tad warm.

A few things of note.  First, these are all taken with my iPhone camera.  The coloring was difficult because of the cloudy conditions.  Secondly, the other people in the picture are some of the folks I work with.  Finally, I've captioned some of the plant and flower pictures with their names.

Laurel Falls.  These are the "upper falls", the "lower falls" are forward of my feet (imagine them spilling down off the bottom edge of the photograph).  The trail cuts right across them and I'm standing on the trail, 75' tall total.

This really thick, really tall moss.  Thought it was mystical-looking.

Asters.

This waterfall was set back from the road some.  We tried to cross the river to see it better, but weren't able to.

This flower is called a mountain gentian.

Another aster.

My favorite picture of all of them.  I like that green color in the foreground.

Update and a Product Review: GoPicnic Meals

Today I got home from my two-week AF Reserve tour.  Having to get on a plane and fly to my two-week tour is actually a first for me...unless you count the year I deployed, which I'm not.  I'd have had to fly to that one no matter where Dave was stationed :-)

A tad chilly in Omaha this morning -- they had to de-ice our plane before we took off!

No details about the work I did, it's the same as what I always do, which is challenging work, but rewarding when all's said and done.  I happened to be on night shifts -- which I was two years ago -- and it's seeming like pulling night shifts is getting harder and harder on me.  Perhaps it's the time I'm putting between having to work nights, perhaps it's my getting older?  I don't know.

Dave has back surgery on Monday.  The super-perceptive will start to realize a trend.  For those who haven't been reading for as long, "let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up." (to quote Indigo Montoya).

It's autumn, and it seems it's time for Dave to have surgery again.  His back has been deteriorating pretty quickly this year, in part from the more intensive fitness regime he's had here.  After talking to several peers here who have had successful back procedures, he decided to meet with a neurosurgeon who suggested Dave would be a candidate for a procedure called an AxiaLIF.  It turns out his case made him a candidate so he goes in on Monday, but should be out of the hospital on Tuesday.  If the procedure is successful, Dave's recovery will be quicker than a traditional vertebrae fusion procedure.

This post from 2010 will provide a little more detail on his past surgeries.

I've a couple posts brewing that I'll get up here in between surgery and Halloween updates.  I'll start with this one.

Another shameless pitch...

I came across these products at the little bookstore/sundries store at the airport during this trip.  I bought them for meals while I was working, since I stayed in a hotel with no fridge or microwave.

For about $7 (airport prices) these little meals were organic, well-balanced and sensibly-sized.  The meal on the left is gluten-free: tuna salad, rice crackers, applesauce and dark chocolate.  The meal on the right is salami, processed asiago cheese spread, crackers and trail mix.

These GoPicnic meals are shelf-stable and fit nicely in my backpack for when I went to work.  Each of the meals weren't more than 350 calories.  The clerk at the airport shop told me that the salami meal could go through security, but the tuna meal couldn't because of the larger container of applesauce.  This particular airport store was on the ticketing-side of security.

When you open up the box, you're greeted with individually wrapped parts, and a very fun box:

These were the contents of the meal pictured on the right above.

Fun nutrition facts.

Fun food facts.  I love that peanut butter statistic!

I loved the Sudoku puzzle at the bottom of the box.  I saved it for several days thinking I might have time to work on it, but I didn't...

The final verdict?  I liked everything except for the trail mixes that were included with each of the meals.  The nuts seemed soft, probably because of the lack of preservatives (which is a good thing).  All of the ingredients are top quality, with no artificial flavors, colors, high-fructose corn syrup, trans-fats or MSG!

If you see them at your local airport, I recommend them!

Jane's Addiction @ Pensacola Airport

Dave Navarro, me, Perry Farrell, Steve Perkins, & Chris Chaney.

I've seen other friends do it -- they post pictures on Facebook of celebrities they've seen at airports, or on their flights, or at a store.  The pictures are taken from afar, zoomed in, etc.  I have a couple of Michael Franti from this past summer.

This time, I was waiting this morning for the Pensacola-to-Atlanta leg of my trip for my next AF Reserves trip.  The girl at the Delta counter checking me in said that I had just missed the members of Jane's Addiction checking in ahead of me, and that I'd be able to see them upstairs.  I was excited; I've always enjoyed their music, although I'm not like a super-fan or anything.  I have a few songs on my iTunes library, including a wonderful live version of "Jane Says" with extra steel drums :-)

Eventually they came in as a group into the gate waiting area, and I guess they looked incognito enough that only one other person walked up to them for pictures.  None of them were in makeup, which makes a BIG difference.  After that individual finished, I walked right up to them to say "Hello" and eventually ask for a picture.  I was in uniform, and wondered if they were going to treat me funny because of it.

I said "Hello" and Dave Navarro immediately picked on my camouflage uniform, claiming for about a minute that he heard a voice, but couldn't see anything.  After a few minutes of dialogue about the De Luna Fest concert they played last night, and some inquiries about what I did for the Air Force, we posed for this picture.  The band members (and their managers) were all VERY VERY nice and it was a pleasure talking to them.  They all thanked me for my service (which I always feel funny about hearing from folks).

Well, that was fun, and I'm now back in reality, sitting in the USO in Atlanta Airport among dozens of tired soldiers and Marines getting ready to head back to Afghanistan.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I got home from Air Force Reserve duty Nebraska last Wednesday night.  It was my birthday, and the boys picked me up at the airport and we went out for Korean food at our new favorite Korean restaurant, called Okie Dokie in Fort Walton Beach.  It was a good week in Nebraska but it was nice to be home.  I missed my boys!

I can't believe I took this picture with my very own camera!  My iPhone camera, at that!  Sunset from Navarre Beach, Florida last Friday night.  This is what was awaiting me after 10 days in Nebraska!

It's been very busy since I've been home.  Lots to do in the community: from helping out with the base spouses' club, to writing for GeekMom, to supporting Dave's squadron, to helping with the book fair at Timmy's school, to helping in a new endeavor:

Yep.  That's me in Boy Scout getup.  The pack needed leaders and since the rest of my family was involved, and I tag along on all the events anyway, it really wasn't much more work.  So I'm Timmy's Tiger Cub Den Leader and so far, so good!  The kids and the families are great!

The dynamic duo selling popcorn at our local Walmart last Saturday.  Timmy is destined to be a salesman when he grows up!  Jacob has become more shy in his old age.

I'm due back in Nebraska in about 3 weeks, but there will be plenty to keep me busy between now and then.

Ground Control to Lieutenant Colonel Mom???

No, it isn't working for me either.  I'll keep the title as is, okay?

Greetings from Nebraska.  I've been on Reserve duty for the past week.  I hadn't been here since May, so it was nice to see my colleagues and meet several new faces in my office.

Many of you know this already, but some of you don't:  I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel back in August.  I'd kept quiet about it because I wasn't looking forward to the long...

....long....

....long....

...wait before I'd actually get to wear the rank.  I figured I'd keep mum till I was wearing the rank, I'd take a picture and type "SURPRISE!".  Just ask my Dear Husband, who was notified of his promotion last August and STILL (as of this writing) isn't wearing the rank.  (He'll be officially promoted on October 1st, about 400 days after notification).

As for me, I was excited to receive my promotion news, but was disheartened by the promotion effective date that accompanied the news: 1 September 2012.  I had to put it in my calendar so I wouldn't forget, ha ha!

Yes, that's 2012, that's 374 days after getting notified of the promotion.  I don't even feel like explaining why this is.  Your head will explode.

But there's a provision with type of Reserve promotion I earned that allows me to wear the rank earlier than 1 September 2012 if I can find a position (called a "billet") that's coded for a Lieutenant Colonel.  This is possible with my unit in Nebraska, but not for sure...so there's a chance I can wear my new rank by the end of the year.  I'll let you know.

Why I Fly in my Uniform

Folks find it strange that I travel to and from my Reserve duty in uniform. In this week's case, I didn't have an official appointment as soon as I landed; I didn't have to report to duty as soon as I landed either. Nonetheless, I have found it beneficial in so many ways.

1.) Air Force Airman Battle Uniforms (ABUs) take up a lot of space in a suitcase. Those boots take up the same space as 2-3 pair of civilian shoes! Wear the boots, bring more civilian shoes with me!
2.) Airlines that waive baggage check fees for military members take one look at you in a uniform and don't ask any more questions. Military members don't get charged to check a bag on a lot of carriers (such as Delta). You can produce travel orders and get the waiver even in civilian clothes, but one can just save the time by wearing the uniform.
3.) In the security line, most TSA personnel won't make a military member look foolish by stripping off his/her coat and boots in front of everyone. Unless you have steel-toed boots, but then they ought to let you go through the aircrew line. Again, it saves time.
4.) When the airline loses your luggage and won't deliver it until the following morning, you can report to your first day of duty in a uniform, instead of in the civilian clothing you wore on the flight...and probably slept in that night.
5.) There's nothing to be ashamed of and I'm not wrong in wearing them. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force set guidance in December 2008 allowing official travel on civilian commercial airlines in ABUs. Some don't agree with that guidance for assorted reasons, but since it's allowed, it's just easier for me.

A lot of people thank me for my service during these trips. Folks also say "Welcome Home" to me...assuming I'm coming off a rotator flight or something. I used to REALLY be embarrassed by those statements, particularly before I took my own post-9/11 deployment (albeit a short one). I used to think I didn't deserve those statements, but since folks only see me as a representation of the entire US Air Force, I tend to take it more as their thanking the Armed Forces in general. Now I just say a simple "Thank YOU" back -- since they're paying my salary and all.

Now I Remember Why I Haven't Rented From Avis Lately...

This is what happens when I rent from Avis for the first time in over 10 years!

Greetings from yet another soon-to-be-fun-filled week of Reserve duty :-)

Today has to have been the best flying experience I've had in a very long time.  Perhaps since the trip TO Disneyworld in late 2009.

0.) I fly in my uniform (that's for another blog post) so Delta didn't charge me for a checked suitcase.
1.) Free WiFi at Pensacola Airport.  Worked on my first-ever guest blog post for a friend, which is coming soon!
2.) Despite arriving staring at a 45 minute delay when I arrived at the gate for my Pensacola-to-Memphis leg of my trip, for the first time in my life I experienced an "un-delay" of 30 minutes of that!
3.) I arrived in Memphis at Gate A6, the next leg of my trip was at Gate A7!
4.) I arrived in Omaha 20 minutes early.

So by about 3:30pm I had my suitcase from baggage claim and was at the Avis desk to pick up my rental car.  Everything was as I reserved, but then I was asked to initial this "Fast Fuel" charge clause in my rental contract.

I read the clause.  I don't have the contract with me as I'm writing this (it's in the rental car out in the parking lot), but it reads something like this:

"If you drive fewer than 75 miles, save time and do not refill the tank. Avis will automatically add a $13.99 charge to the rental for fuel."

To NOT get that charge added to your rental costs, you have to present a receipt showing that you filled the car so that the fuel gauge needle isn't at the bottom of "F", it's at the top of the "F" or something like that.

I vented at the poor Avis clerk for a few minutes about the principle of assessing a charge that the customer has to work at to not have charged, i.e. making sure said customer obtains and presents the fuel receipt.  I called the charge "pure evil" and was on my way.  It wasn't her fault.

Apparently this charge started up in September 2007 (back when it was only $10.50), and I know I haven't rented from Avis since then.

I'm sure for those who have rented from Avis routinely, this is old news.  Perhaps you know the routine and present the receipt every time...or you always drive more than 75 miles just to ease the hassle.

Chances are, I won't be driving more than 75 miles, although a trip or two to Trader Joe's might do the trick to put me over the edge...

Watch Out!*

*Yes, this is one of the much-less-creative blog post titles.

I have an awesome watch.  I've had this watch since my college graduation in 1995.  It was a gift from my parents...16 years ago this week.  Yep, that's a now-extinct Nittany Lion statue in the middle of the dial.

Best. Graduation. Gift. Ever!

Being that it's a Seiko, it has performed incredibly for the past 16 years.  About 2 weeks ago, the watch stopped.  This has happened before, and all that means is a new battery.  I typically have to change the battery out every 18 months.

I took it to the mall to replace the battery, but the watch didn't resume working right away.  It played dead for a day or so, then started working.

I wore it for a couple days and all seemed well; then I wore the watch when I took a run last week and it stopped again.  Probably from my sweaty arms (ewwww!).

Back to the jewelry kiosk at the mall.  The gentleman there told me that the watch needs to go to a Seiko authorized repair facility to replace some of the contacts that had gone bad.  So it will operate intermittently until I get it dealt with.

So I will put the watch in the mail (adequately insured, I promise!) this week.

In the meantime, I headed over to Kohl's today for a replacement watch.  I had my supply of coupons and Kohl's cash -- I figured I could pick up an inexpensive basic digital watch with a stopwatch function (this might have come in handy earlier during the soccer season).  So that's what I did:

Yeah, it's gaudy, but I wanted to have a little fun.

Pink.  I was looking for a watch for running and this model had everything I was looking for.  I had a choice between purple, blue, orange and pink.  The blue was a very bright blue, as bold as this pink here.

Being that I have some AF Reserve drill days next week and chances are my Seiko won't be done by then, I'll need to think twice before putting on this new watch with my uniform.  Since it's supposed to be conservative.

What do you think?

My New Commuter Life, Part III: Food, Folks and Fun*

*Wait a second, wasn't that a major fast-food corporation jingle?

While I was in Nebraska, I did make some time to visit with my Pokeno girlfriends, have a nice dinner out with Shannon (who took me in at her house when the Offutt Inn was booked for the week), and enjoy a trip to Trader Joe's!

Several neighborhood Moms in Bellevue get together for a breakfast pot luck once a month, and a dinner potluck and game of Pokeno also once a month (on another separate day).  The girls elected to move Pokeno night around a little so I could join them!  I shipped a box of Mardi Gras decorations to the ladies, and we had a blast dressing up and enjoying Cristi's tater tot casserole.

We have pictures of the Pokeno ladies from every month!

Guess who???

Who else would appear for the world to see on the Internet in Mardi Gras deely-boppers?  If you look closely, you can see the blinky lights...

Shannon and I also had a chance to go out together for dinner. Shannon was my adventure-buddy when I was in Omaha...she braved the 3-hours-each-way drive to the Ashfall Fossil Beds last summer! We also checked out numerous out-of-the-ordinary restaurants together, and this time around we had a hankerin' for Ethiopian food!

Shannon did the research.  She found two places, both in the downtown Omaha vicinity.  One was called "Ethiopian Restaurant" and the other called "Lalibela's".  We chose "Ethiopian Restaurant" because it was closer to the highway and the weather still wasn't great.

The restaurant shares a business space with an Ethiopian grocery, and the grocery side was very full.  The store owner -- a very pretty young lady, probably in her 30s -- came out and told Shannon and me that she was out of food.  What?  On a Friday night at 6pm???  Don't even go there with the irony of it.

We're hoping it was from the weather...we got back in the truck and headed up the street to the 2nd choice (what are the chances of that???  TWO Ethiopian restaurants within about 5 minutes of each other!!!).

The restaurant was rather empty, just two other couples at tables, eating their respective dinners. We ended up talking to one of the other couples, asking about what they were eating and getting some tips of what's good and what's not. Shannon and I each chose one entree and we grazed freely on both of them. I ordered something with seasoned lamb, while Shannon chose a vegetarian combo. I wish we had ordered two of the veggie combos, I didn't care for the meat too much, but the rainbow of lentils (on the left) was awesome!  Learning how to eat the food without utensils was also fun!

There's a basket in front of Shannon filled with injera, a flatbread that you use as your plate and utensil.  Rip off a piece of injera and scoop away!

Finally, even though I was quite tired from my 4-days in a row of work (wow, what happened to me?), I took a trip out to the recently-opened Omaha Trader Joe's and stocked up on the family favorites!

This will last us till my next trip to Omaha!  I hand-carried this home in a single TJ's reusable shopping bag.  I got crap from Jacob for not picking up some Dorothy Lynch salad dressing...sorry!

Thanks to Shannon, Cristi and Laura for helping make my weekend back in Nebraska so great!

My New Commuter Life, Part II: Just Because I Now Live in Florida....

....doesn't mean I never have to see snow again, right?

Or drive in the snow again?

(As promised in my previous post, here's the story of why I'll never buy a Ford Mustang north of the Mason/Dixon line!)

On last weekend's trip to Omaha, I was fortunate to travel in between major winter weather systems.  Temperatures were in the 50s on my first day there, quite nice!

We were forecasting 1-2" of snow on Thursday, February 24th.  We told EVERYONE 1-2", and not just us: the National Weather Service, the television stations, everyone!

What happened was pretty freakish, didn't last that long, and happened right on top of the afternoon/evening commute home.  I only caught one iPhone screen capture of the event's Doppler radar.  I wish I had taken more:

You know how folks talk about great things (or not-so-great things) that happen when "all the stars are aligned?"  Well, in this case, several things "aligned" in the atmosphere to make this nearly-horizontal dark green line form across central Nebraska.  I'm not going to get into the wintertime "convective symmetric instability" here.  That line is HEAVY SNOW, and it dumped about 5" of snow in 3 hours in Bellevue and in areas just south of Offutt AFB.  And the line barely moved for those 3 hours.  It was NUTS!

And I got to drive home in it.  Whee!

I had reported for duty very early that morning, so I figured I'd be heading home around 1:00-1:30pm, but at the last minute I had a meeting that took me to about 3:00pm.  The movement of this line was very slow, and I was itching to leave for the day, so after a few minutes of monitoring a non-moving line, I bit the bullet and left.  If I had left when I thought I'd be leaving, I'd have made it back to where I was staying without incident.  Instead, I fishtailed and skidded all the way back, with heavy snow making things all the worse.

I ending up coming back into my old neighborhood right as my boys' former elementary school was letting out.  The neighborhood is hilly, and there were cars slipping and sliding everywhere.  Since only 1-2" of snow was originally forecast, the salt/silt trucks didn't even come out to prepare the roads.  What a horrific mess!

I couldn't get that #$%  Mustang up the last hill before getting to the house.  I tried several times, but it just wasn't happening.  If there wasn't so much after-school traffic, I might have had the room to roll backwards down the hill, and get enough speed to do it.  But I simply had to abandon the car about a block from where I was staying, and walk in the heavy snowfall, and on unshoveled sidewalks, to the house.  I had my full winter-weather gear, and nice warm boots, at least.  It wasn't a long walk.  Uphill, of course.

About 1/2 hour later, my hostess loaded a few supplies into her Suburban and drove me back over to the car.  With less traffic, I was able to roll backwards back down the hill and tear with full power up the hill to the house.  And here it is right after I got it parked -- POINTING DOWNHILL on the legal side of the street.

How incredibly frustrating -- I'm not a bad winter-weather driver.  I could hold my own in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and South Korea.  Even our 2 1/2 years in Nebraska, we were fine even driving our Toyota Prius.  But with this Mustang, I was dealing with a very lightweight, rear-wheel drive vehicle.  Ugh!

The local National Weather Service office had put out this map of snowfall totals from that one event, note how there was 5+" of snow in a narrow ribbon across south-central eastern Nebraska, but NONE in northern Sarpy and Douglas Counties.  Downtown Omaha saw no snow, but 10 miles to the south was buried in 5-6" of snow that fell in just 3-4 hours.

Image created by the National Weather Service office, Omaha/Valley, Nebraska

There were cold temperatures and snow showers for the next couple days of my stay in the Omaha area, and the snowy weather turned into a freezing rain risk that lasted right up until just a couple hours before my flight out on the 27th.  Since I was heading into work each day at about 4:45am, luckily I could slip and slide around without other cars in the way.  It was nerve-wracking, but I survived.

I'm so glad the next time I head to Nebraska will be well after the winter-weather is done.  I'll only have to worry about tornadoes next time...

Next up, Part III: a happier post about my fun times on this trip: trying out Ethiopian food, enjoying Pokeno with the girls, and shopping at my favorite store, Trader Joe's!

My New Commuter Life, Part I: Getting There is Half the Battle

I might have mentioned it, I might not have, but I kept my Reserve position at Offutt AFB, Nebraska even though I now live in Florida.  I've received dozens (yes, dozens) of inquiries about why I would want to do that.

Three reasons why I kept this position:

1.) There's very little else for me to do in weather in the AF Reserves.  I could switch to something non-weather, which is okay, but I preferred to stay in weather.  Call it the Geek in me!  I expect there will more options if Dave ever gets assigned to the Washington, D.C. area after this.  I'll also only have a couple years left in the AF before I'm retirement-eligible by then. (How time flies!)

2.) This position has a lot of flexibility.  I am known as an "Individual Mobilization Augmentee" type of Reservist (or "IMA" for short).  In other words, I'm like an understudy-type capability to an active duty staff element.  If something were to happen that the active duty element needed more people, I could get called up to help out.  In my previous position in South Carolina, I was a member of a Reserve unit, and I was expected to be present one weekend per month.  As an IMA, I'm presented with times on the schedule that my help would be appreciated, and I balance their schedule with my own...and I'm allowed to stitch together several "one weekend per month" equivalents and not have to travel monthly.

3.) I'd only been in the Nebraska position for about 1 1/2 years.  It took nearly a year to receive all my training for this position, so I was trusted "unsupervised" only since last summer, and I feel that I owe more fruitful time to this position and the team I work with.

Therefore, around Christmastime I worked out with my active duty boss that I could give 4 work days to my shop in late Februrary, and I bought a plane ticket.  For these "one weekend per month" type work periods, I'm expected to supply my own transportation, so YES, I'm eating the transportation costs in this case.  Thank heavens for credit card reward points!

Right after the President's Day long weekend, I kissed my boys goodbye, put them on the school bus and set off for the airport.  Fortunately, there was nothing hindering my trip TO Nebraska, a small snow event was putting itself together for a couple days later.  I picked up my rental car...as usual they were "out" of the super-ultra-mini-sub-compact cars I usually reserve, so I was offered this Ford Mustang.

I've always wanted a Ford Mustang, and this one was a lot of fun to drive...at first.

After I got my rental car arranged, I then went to collect my suitcase. Yes, I checked a suitcase on Delta airlines. But I traveled in uniform, in part so I didn't have to pay to check the bag, no questions asked!

It was a good thing I was in my uniform...my suitcase never showed up. Even though I flew from Fort Walton Beach to Omaha via Memphis, my suitcase flew via Atlanta and hadn't arrived. I filled out the appropriate paperwork, and the luggage office clerk assured me that the suitcase would be delivered that night. So I stayed up till about 12:30am waiting for it, but then it didn't arrive. Boo!

So with my gracious hosts providing me some sleeping clothes, toothpaste and soap, and Delta airlines providing me a cute little toothbrush and a flimsy comb, I had JUST ENOUGH stuff to sleep, clean up and be presentable for work the following morning.

Did I mention my coats were in my suitcase? Uniform yes, coats no. Fortunately, it wasn't that cold, about 35F.

While I was at work, my suitcase was delivered, hooray!

Coming next...Part II: The Ford Mustang...Worst. Winter. Vehicle. Ever.

More Toilet Talk

I haven't done one of these irreverent blogs in a while. This is an accumulation of about 6 months of frustration with automatic flushing toilets when I'm in uniform.

So here is the new Air Force "Airman Battle Uniform". We call them "ABUs" for short.

In fact, let's get up close and personal with that new fabric.

I've a lot of concerns about this new uniform...from not being able to wear Army support combat patches (well, any unit patches for that matter), to the heavy weight of the fabric that made it quite uncomfortable in the Middle East contingency zones. Many of those issues are being addressed, but one of the ones that isn't is a pretty fundamental issue.

The Near IR capability of these uniforms cause problems with automatic-flushing toilets.

Defined by Propper, Inc., the official ABU manufacturer: "Near Infrared (NIR) Signature Management Technology is used by the U.S. Department of Defense to prevent detection by NIR Image Converters. These photocathode devices do not detect temperatures, but rather infrared radiation variances. NIR-compliant uniforms use a special fabric that allows soldiers to appear at the same radiation level as the surrounding terrain, thus making them more difficult to detect. NIR technology also make uniforms less visible in low-light environments by reducing the reflection of light."

I won't argue with the value of this feature, especially at night when enemy forces might be trying to look for Airmen and the protection that NIR capability might be life-saving. I understand that.

I don't have to wear my uniform often, but when I was in Florida for some training last December, the classroom building I was in was outfitted with the automatic flushers. So every time I had to use the ladies' room, in the middle of going, the toilet was flushing. I was annoyed, but it wasn't a hideous mess (I'll get to that later) so I just tolerated it for a bit. I tried to sit extra still, but that wasn't the issue. I guess over time the fabric would fade the heat difference of my sitting in front of the sensor.

The solution? Take off my ABU blouse before using the facilities there.

This didn't come up again for a while -- no automatic flushing toilets in the combat zone. Then I started this new job here at Offutt. The bathrooms in that building also have the IR detector so it happened again last week while I was in uniform. Again, I know now to remove my blouse and again, it wasn't a messy experience when the flush happened -- just loud and water-wasting.

But YESTERDAY. I went over to the Offutt BX after running some work-related errands in uniform and it happened again. Sorry, I don't usually take the time to check, "Hey, is this an IR automatic toilet flusher?" before using it. Like most Americans, I'm not concentrating that much on the actions required to go to the restroom. But this time -- it was a very, um, spirited flush in the middle of doing my business. I got SOAKED...and it was doubtful that was totally clean water that sprayed up all over my backside and the back of my shirt. I was so incredibly grossed out, I cut short the rest of my time at the BX (I had planned to browse for some kids clothes) and came straight home.

I have to admit, for me, having to use the restroom, whether public or private, is usually as second-nature to me as breathing. As more restrooms are equipped with the automatic flushers, and as I'm reporting to work in a new location on a new base, I guess I have to take a moment to check for the flushers.

An Article About the Shaw Reserve Unit I Just Left...

This was just released through USAF Public Affairs channels. Enjoy!

True team effort behind squadron's success

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Friday Night Flights

Neal: What's the flight situation?
Del: Simple. There's no way on earth we're going to get out of here tonight. We'd have more luck playing pickup sticks with our butt-cheeks than we will getting a flight out of here before daybreak.
Neal: I guess we'll find out soon enough.
Del: Yeah, but by the time the airline cancels this flight, which they will sooner or later, you'd have more of a chance to find a three-legged ballerina than you would a hotel room.
Neal: Are you saying I could be *stuck* in Cincinnati?
Del: I'm saying you *are* stuck in Cincinnati

This is what I was faced with on Friday night. I substituted "Cincinnati" for "Wichita", which was the city those guys were really stuck in.

I haven't talked much about my work lately, I guess. Since I came home from the desert, I'd laid low somewhat, taking some drill days in June, and now I'm on this batch of drill days for the first weekend of August. Now that we're in Nebraska, we have to book my flights to and from Shaw AFB for my reserve work. Not easy. Obviously, I can't just hop on a plane from Omaha to Sumter, SC...so booking my flights involves layovers in hub airports and rental cars. This travel adds a day onto each end of my trips to SC. The majority of the time there are delays and I tend to make my flying schedules so tight, and missed connections and maintenance delays translate into missed duty hours, which I make up by paying visits to my unit's troops on their night shifts.

I had quite the time attempting to get from Omaha to Columbia, SC (via Cincinnati) this past Friday, poor weather in Atlanta meant the crew waiting at Atlanta to go to Cincinnati to eventually transport us blew their crew rest -- thus canceling the Delta Airlines flight -- and I ended up having to spend the night in Cincinnati. Thankfully, our awesome unit NCO worked out a hotel room for me at the local Residence Inn and arranged a flight to Charlotte, NC for Saturday morning. Since lunchtime Saturday, I've been working hard, mainly wrapping up loose ends of paperwork and saying goodbye to the people I've served with these past 2 years.

And for those loyalists to my blog (all 2 of you?), yes, I remembered my own tips from last December.

Things are a-changin'!

From when I came home from the desert, I immediately began to ask about job openings closer to home. I'd received several leads. Fortunately, Offutt AFB is a big base with a number of Air Force Reserve opportunities. Unfortunately, most of their positions are filled. But someone who works at my Major Command Headquarters had some inside information about a possible opening at US Strategic Command right there at Offutt. The work is very very very similar to the work I did when I was assigned in Norfolk, VA.

I submitted a resume just after the July 4th holiday, and this past Monday I'd received word that I'd been hired and I could start in September! I'm so happy about how much easier my Reserve work will be now! I just have to drop the boys off at school and head to work...instead of dropping off the boys, driving to the airport, flying on two flights, renting a car, driving to Shaw AFB....then doing the whole thing in reverse 2-4 days later.

I will seriously miss my job in South Carolina. It's among the most rewarding work I've ever done, and I had so much fun! It's personally challenging, especially with the deployment earlier this year. But I will seriously NOT MISS the commute.

Hopefully we can use this saved time to really truly explore the great things the Central Plains States has to offer: Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Yellowstone National Park, skiing in Iowa (yes, IOWA -- 40 minutes away!), etc....

Deployment Reflections

I've been mulling this one for a while...

I've been home about 11 days now.  For the most part, things have been fine.  I've gotten back into the routine...somewhat.  I have to admit, having the new Macbook has been more of a distractor than anything else in terms of keeping to the housework, the kids and a couple of loose ends related to my deployment.

I figured I'd write about some various things on my mind these past couple weeks.  Not everyone who I mention necessarily reads this blog, but perhaps one day if someone Googles a person's name, this post will come up.

First off, I owe a thank you to all of the folks who helped me prepare for this deployment.  This is a varied listing, from MSgts Lehman and Beaupre, who made phone calls and arranged for a lot of my training to be done from Offutt, to MSgt Curtis at Air Force Weather Agency, who made my local arrangements for weapons, chemical/biological warfare training, and answered my questions about medical outprocessing.  These senior non-commissioned officers made magic happen so that I could leave for the deployment from home instead of from South Carolina.  They even arranged it so I could get some drill pay to compensate me for the time spent just doing online training -- about 40 hours worth!  I also need to thank the Veeneman and Anderson families, who provided hours of Timmy babysitting when there wasn't space in the Offutt Child Development Center.

Thanks to everyone who sent me e-mails and care packages while I was gone.  This includes the Goldman, Warlick, Buckler, Vollmer (both the Nebraska and New York Vollmers), Fox, and Gifford families.  You listened to my requests for St. Patrick's Day goodies, 100-Calorie Chessmen, toilet paper,  and single-serve sugar-free drink mix packets.

Thanks also to those who made my deployment experience outstanding while on shift...this could never be done without great people who continued to find a sense a humor, kept things "real" and kept their chins up even when things weren't going hunkey-dorey.  There's no way I'm going to include all the names, but you know who you are.  I learned so much about leadership, officership and military professionalism in general.  I will carry those lessons for the rest of my military career.

To the members of the weather team with whom I had the honor of serving: Maj Matt Hauke, Lt Joey Clevenger, AGC Angel Rossy, MSgt Chris Canarina and SSgt Mike Main.  To Lt Clevenger and SSgt Main in particular, they were my night shift compadres and I don't know how many times they kept me in line -- their seasoned, experienced work in CENTCOM helped keep me looking good!  Thanks!

To my deployment buddies -- those who emerged from my crazy active duty past to cross paths with me halfway around the world: Maj Rose Lathrop, Maj Kasi Traweek and Capt Paul Bryan.  Thanks for taking time out of your schedules so we can get together for Friday coffees and Saturday pizza/gyro lunches.  I was reminded of "Sex and the City" where the gals got together every weekend for lunch at a diner and would talk about anything and everything -- Paul, I know you're not a gal, but you could gossip/chat/emote as well as the rest of us!  Rose and Kasi, congratulations on your engagements, and Paul, congratulations on your new baby -- I owe you a blanket, it's coming this week, I promise!

I owe a special "thank you" to Maj Paul Gifford -- yes, that same Paul you've heard me talk about for quite some time.  He's the one who stepped up with me to divide our 179-day deployment in half.  For this to work, we both had to be medically, physically, and duty qualified.  We were putting an incredible amount of trust in each other and I thank Paul for coming through on his end of the bargain...

Last, but certainly not least, the biggest thank you of all goes to my awesome family:

Dave: if you remember, I got the "invitation" for this trip the same week you were feverishly making edits to your dissertation for that last Dr. Lackmann signature!  This past July.  On top of finishing your dissertation and getting the family ready to move, you cleared your mind enough to give me the chance to press forward with preparing for my trip.  I know you weren't jumping up and down saying "Please go, Patricia!", but you helped me work out the timeline, helped with childcare during preparations and -- most of all -- played SINGLE DAD for 4 months during the worst winter you'd ever experienced.  I wondered if you had a catastrophe-free week: Howie's ACL injury, all 3 of you with colds, flooded basement, van repairs. Getting to talk, via phone, webcam or even IM chat with you was the highlight of my time over there...thank you!

Jacob and Timmy: to my babies!  You two are amazing -- Jacob, you continued to thrive in school and trusted that I would be home in "100 days".  Timmy, I can't believe how much you've grown since I left -- you're now READING and talking so well!  I loved talking and web-chatting with you while I was away, hearing your stories always put such a smile on my face.  Thank you for all the letters and artwork, too.  Jacob, your Groundhog decorated our weather section for about a month, while we celebrated a Groundhog's Day...over...and over...and over.

While I was deployed, I found out there are some limited job opportunities here at Offutt, so I'll be transferring units later this summer.  I love my unit at Shaw, but it's time to move on and minimize these commutes.

I don't plan to volunteer for another deployment.  If I get sent over, I'll serve honorably...but it does lead me to a new question: "What now?"  A couple options have crossed my mind -- at the forefront is looking into becoming a math teacher.  There's a program called "Troops to Teachers" that is supposed to offer some flexibility for getting teacher certifications.

In closing, I was so glad I was able to be part of the Global War on Terror.  I was in grad school on 9/11 and I remember feeling like the most useless member of our military -- I remember trying to donate blood and being told that the Red Cross wouldn't even take my blood because I had spent time along the Korean DMZ.   To be able to see how we're running our war, and seeing how incredibly tough it is to forecast the weather for Iraq and Afghanistan, was an experience I'll never forget.

It's Good to be Home!

Greetings from Detroit! I've two legs down on this journey, three to
go. The flights from Doha to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Detroit
were more or less without incident (save a broken shoe heel from an
overambitious beverage cart that I didn't notice till I had
disembarked).
I'm now getting ready to board my flight to Colmbia, SC where folks
from my unit will meet me at the airport to get some of my equipment
and perhaps have me sign a couple forms.
Then I will continue my journey home from Columbia to Chicago, then
finally homeward bound to Omaha.
I found some wonderful gifts for the boys at the Doha Duty Free shop,
including some European Easter candy that I remember getting at
Eastertime in 1980 in Hong Kong....when I was the same age as Jacob!!!
I can't wait to see my boys again!!!!

Books Read on this Deployment - The Complete List

Books Read on this Deployment
1.) The Marching Season, Daniel Silva: 16 Jan 09
2.) Angels and Demons, Dan Brown: 20 Jan 09
3.) Deception Point, Dan Brown: 25 Jan 09
4.) The Other Boleyn Girl, Phillipa Gregory: 3 Feb 09
5.) Marley & Me, John Grogan: 5 Feb 09
6.) Cruel and Unusual, Patricia Cornwell: 11 Feb 09
7.) Point of Origin, Patricia Cornwell: 21 Feb 09
8.) Black Notice, Patricia Cornwell: 1 Mar 09
9.) Holy Cow, Sarah Macdonald: 7 Mar 09
10.) Blow Fly, Patricia Cornwell, 16 Mar 09
11.) Trace, Patricia Cornwell, 23 Mar 09
12.) Book of the Dead, Patricia Cornwell, 31 Mar 09
13.) The Last Templar, Raymond Khoury, 10 Apr 09

Things I Won't Miss About This Place

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather be here than Bagram or Balad. The trips off base were great and I'm glad I took the risk to venture out there. But this is still a deployed location and I had to do without quite a bit.

Here's a list of things I won't miss about being here...

1.) Wearing reflective belts at night even though the AF Physical Fitness uniform is covered in reflective screen printing.
2.) The dust.
3.) Eating breakfast at dinnertime, and dinner at lunchtime, and lunch at breakfasttime.
4.) The dust.
5.) Having a first sergeant come up to me outside to ask me to tuck in my fitness shirt all the way. Like he was standing there waiting for me to arrive to give him something to do.
6.) The dust.
7.) Wearing reflective belts at night around my uniform, and around my backpack.
8.) The dust.
9.) Trudging home from work in 90 degree temperatures along the roadside while a young Airman whizzes past me in an air conditioned 2009 Ford F-150 with no other passengers.
10.) The dust.
11.) The smell of ASS in the trailers when we weren't able to open the doors periodically. One giant collective fart.
12.) The dust.
13.) The smell of dead animals right outside the entrance to the dining facilities. There's no better way to perk up your appetite.
14.) The dust.
15.) The dining hall main line servers (not military) who always would offer me TWO steaks, TWO pieces of lasagna, TWO Belgian waffles. What, did they think I wasn't fat enough?
16.) The dust.
17.) Having to walk 90 seconds to the latrine if I have to pee in the middle of my sleep time...and having to remember to tuck in my uniform shirt and put on my reflective belt first.
18.) The dust.
19.) Having to reduce my entire life down to the contents of two suitcases.
20.) The dust.

I've Been Taken Off the Line

"Taken off the line?"

Yeah, I guess it's a reference to putting a fighting unit in reserve after serving on the front lines for a while. That's how I feel now. I'm no longer on the work schedule. My mission is to get home safely.

Paul is here, he's fully trained and now has the helm of the weather team's night shift. The training was a very busy time, and not without drama...we have to shoehorn the training here with real-world events and real weather issues. I'm popping in and out of the workcenter, mainly to say "goodbye" to the various people with whom I had the honor of serving alongside, but don't ask me anything about the weather over Iraq or Afghanistan. I don't know!

I also had some non-weather related drama this past week, with lots of troubles scheduling a flight home. I was cleared to leave anytime starting today, and about 6 hours ago I received my flight information. What a relief. I wasn't as concerned with when I'd be headed home as much as simply knowing something to pass on to the family and colleagues. I should be home by the end of this weekend.

I went to my last weekly social tent call this past Tuesday and as is tradition, I put some money on the bar to celebrate it being my last week. It certainly didn't hurt that I had taken 2nd place in the Air Mobility Division's NCAA Bracket contest, much to the chagrin of the 20 other guys who didn't appreciate my "Barbie's Dream Bracket" prediction of UNC v. Michigan State for the championship game. I had predicted Michigan State to take it all, but oh well.

I got a lot of great pictures from Tuesday but here's a sampling I'll share. Working the night shift was awesome, we could be honest with each other and focus on getting the job done without the politics of day-shift issues like pretty Powerpoint slides for the generals.


Here's proof that my replacement did indeed arrive and is doing well. That I didn't kill him during our training! Ha ha! Just kidding! Paul was a great student despite the brutal schedule we gave him!


Me with some of my night shift colleagues. Yes, I'm the only girl in the picture above, but there were other ladies around...


See? That's Sarah on the left (Royal Air Force) and Mel on the right (Royal Australian Air Force).


This is for Jacob. This young man, who goes by "Buddy", flies A-10s in the war and has been temporarily assigned to our unit here for a couple weeks to serve as a liaison between his squadron and the air war planners. His patch is that of the Expeditionary Flying Tigers and I told him about how that's Jacob's favorite airplane, the Flying Tigers A-10! He gave me a unit patch for Jacob!

Now that I'm "off the line", I have been converting my sleep schedule into more of a swing shift schedule, to better match Central Daylight Time. I have the time to work on this blog entry, upload about 50 new pictures, and I also have a chance to work out 1-2 more times before I head to the airport. In fact, I think I'll go to the gym right now!

Just like on my trip here, I'll send a note or two on my trip home, so long as I can pick up WiFi on my layover in Europe, and once I'm back in the states my phone can hop back on the AT&T network and I can write more often!

I absolutely can't wait to see my boys again -- knowing it'll be this weekend some time is such a great feeling!