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Well, I made it to Maryland for 8 whole days. As of last night, I’m already back in St. Louis for a few days. I’ve only been to work out in Pax for 2 days so far.

Things are going pretty well. I really like working on base. I’m based out of 2 different hangars (about a mile walk between), so I’m getting a lot of exercise in. Plan on starting to get the bikes out this week, when I get back.

But for now, I’m in St. Louis, waiting for the weather to clear to support one more flight. Then I’m back to Maryland and the aircraft will be out there shortly. Can’t wait for that to happen, it’s a hell of a commute to come out here for flights.

Things have been so so busy here I just haven’t had a chance to write. I’m only writing this now because I’m sitting in our hotel in St. Louis getting ready for bed. We’re picking the dogs up from the dogsitter in the morning and with any luck, we’ll be in MD tomorrow evening late.

The house is all packed up. They did that yesterday. It was loaded on the truck and the driver should be about half way there if he had his way. His home is in Baltimore, so he’s hauling ass to get back there for the holiday weekend. Good news is, we’re getting our goods delivered Tuesday instead of the company’s quote of next Saturday. So we’re crashing in a hotel here and the dogs are off visiting their friends.

Another bit of good news, I was surprised Tuesday night when my karate instructor decided to award me my brown belt. I was almost certain I’d missed it by about 4 weeks. I really needed another month to prepare for the test. I was still a little hesitant on some of the unarmed defense against oppenents with knives, but otherwise made it thru without much trouble. The worst part was the fighting at the end. After 30 minutes of working out solo, followed by my weekly 30 min. private lesson and a 1.5 hour class, I had to finish the test with the sparring. Basically, they formed a 7-man circle around me and I had to fight each of them in turn for 1 minute each. By 5 minutes, I was completely worn out and that’s when the 2 black belts each got to start attacking me. Still, I managed to keep my guard up and even left them with a few shots to remember me by, but my face was pretty swollen by the time I made it home Tuesday night and I’m still hurting a bit from all the body shots..

But after 3 years of studying, I do have my brown belt and I’m incredibly happy.

So that’s it. Next post will be from Maryland.

In just over 3 weeks, we’ll be on our way to Maryland. We’re working on finalizing our lease right now, the condo we picked up out there is awesome. Plenty of room for us and the puppies.

Here in St. Louis, things haven’t been moving very fast on our house. Our realtor wasn’t doing a lot to advertise our house. We switched realtors and realty companies this week and the new realtor seems much more promising. She’s actually advertising the house and trying to get people in to see it. Here’s hoping something moves on it fairly soon.

At least it’s finally raining here. It’s been a dry, hot summer so far. Hopefully, we’ll get some more rain and things will begin to green up some. Living in the desert was one thing, but it seems so sad to see all the large lawns sitting brown and burned.

9 days until Mica’s birthday. ;) I get hourly reminders.

We’re off house-hunting in Maryland this weekend. Got a whole slew of appointments with various apartments and stuff. And plans to have great seafood, yeah.

Anyway, I’ll be bringing my camera out this time, so expect some photos up when we get back.

7 nights at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort in Aruba next April. I’m looking forward to it.

Another reason I don’t have any free time: World of Warcraft… Even worse, I’ve got Mica hooked too, so she’s a nerd too.

Oh yeah, that’d be me.

Things are busy here. Really busy at times. Work has been incredibly busy and I can’t really post here when I’m working on the flight ramp (which is about 98% of the time now). I’m enjoying working on the plane, but our schedule has been incredibly full lately. Today’s got the potential to be about 17 hours (minus 3 I’m taking off to go to karate).

I’m really looking forward to first flight soon though. Then it’s only a few more weeks until we move. Our relo department here is being incredibly slow in contacting us, but I plan on going out to Pax in a couple weeks with Mica to look for a place to stay.

For now, it’s back to work. Almost time to start playing on the aircraft again.

Enjoy!

Update: Couple more for fun: 1 2

After a crazy week last week and working a 12 hour day Sunday, things are a bit slower so far this week. The aircraft is going thru fuel calibration and engine checks this week, so I don’t have a lot of avionics work going on right now. The break is nice, I’ve been putting a lot of 12 hour days in (including last Sunday). It’ll pick back up later this week, early next week though. At least the OT is nice.

Relo process is going very slow. My manager isn’t getting the forms filled out that he needs to. Keeps having questions and wants someone else to show him how to do it. The house hasn’t been shown for almost 3 weeks. That’s not a good thing. Things are very slow on the market right now. Here’s hoping it changes very soon.

On the bright side, despite the incredible hours I’ve been working, I’m really enjoying the work. It’s so much more rewarding actually working on the aircraft. I’ve been crawling all over it, getting to know the avionics, flight controls, cooling systems, etc. I was there when the seats and canopy were installed, and all of the new avionics. It’s a lot to learn but it’s fun to be out on the ramp working with the plane. Definitely going to be an interesting couple of years.

Work’s been absolutely hectic the last week. Doesn’t look like this new job is going to give me much free time. I’m posting this from the flight ramp where the aircraft is being modded. Only have a chance to post right now because the shop guys had to take a book I need for a few minutes.

Anyway, for now, check out the pictures of Mica’s new haircut.