He’s a Historian (FTW!)

This was my first weekend in my new job as the 944th Fighter Wing Historian. This is a huge step up for me. I went from not even having my own desk as a Ground Radio Journeyman to now having 2 desks, 3 chairs, 2 computers, 1 fridge, my own printer, a table, a bunch of cabinets and shelves, a window, and a door in my very own office.

In the picture above you can see most of the aforementioned items. You can also see me. I’m smiling because Sergeant Fine, who was taking my picture, said something funny, but also because I’m happy in my new position.There is a big wall clock strategically placed right above my monitor in case I get so engrossed in writing chronologies that I forget the time. The file folders in the foreground hold source documents for the histories that I’m going to write from Y2K to the present. They’re placed strategically on top of empty blue bins to keep the floods from damaging my documents. My office has been flooded twice in the past. Next to my shoulder is the new Blender Bottle that Tamara gave me for my birthday. It’s a happy orange color. That’s about all there is of interest in that picture.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Look what a good job Tamara did on my birthday. When I got home she had these presents laid out on the table for me (and an ice cream cake). She found the perfect card for a Jack Turner whose birthday is on Talk like a Pirate Day. I really felt like it was my birthday, even though the actual day is on the 19th. After cake, we went to dinner and a concert, where Tamara won an autographed guitar for us! It was a great day.

The Queen

I finally found out why men play chess and most women don’t. Tamara told me that when she’s playing chess, she’s not so concerned about the next move. She’s more worried about how the queen feels standing so close to the bishop, and is she sure that the knight will protect her in her time of need?

Tamara did such a great job planning our menu and preparing our meals for our anniversary camping trip. Pictured are turkey burgers, crook necked squash, zuchinni, onions, eggplant, and carrots.

Ravens

We're no bird experts, but we're pretty sure these huge birds are ravens. The tent doesn't give good perpective, but look at the bird by the chair. They must be almost 2 feet tall. They were very noisy sometimes, so much that I threw a boot at them from the tent one morning, but it was fun to see them trying to scavenge in our camp. They knew from long exposure to humans that leftovers are likely to be in the firepit.

Ladder Ball

When I went on the Fathers and Sons campout this year, one of the guys had brought a game he called Boku Ball or something. Well, I couldn't find on the game on the internet under that name, but I did find Ladder Ball, which is the same game. Wikipedia said that this game goes by many names, but it didn't enumerate them all, so I'm sticking with Ladder Ball.

I thought I would cut all 2 foot lengths and it would turn out just like Brother Hatch's, because his was homemade like mine, and I had measured with my hands and I thought that all of his lengths were 2 feet. Apparently, I didn't look very closely (or think very carefully either) because the game would have turned out 6 feet tall and his were only 3 or 4 feet tall. I ended up testing 18 inch lengths and 14 inch lengths, but I decided to go with 1 foot lengths for verticle bars and 2 foot lenghts for horizontal. It's a good thing I didn't pick longer than a foot too because I thought I had several feet more pipe than I needed, but it turned out to be just barely enough.

Tamara and I had a great time playing our new game.

Lock, Shock and...

Last week I went to the gym with my buddy, James, and as we were going to our lockers he asked me, "Hey, is that your lock on the bench?"

I was fairly sure it wasn't because I always put my lock right back in my gym bag and it had been a few days since I'd been to the gym. Surely someone would have stolen this nice lock with an easily changeable combo by now. So I looked in my gym bag and I looked a little more thoroughly. Sure enough it was my lock. I just couldn't believe it, but it had dents from dropping it on the ground and it was the right size and it was sitting right in front of the locker that I always use.

James still thought it could be someone else's lock, but I was certain it was mine.

A few days later, I was in my car looking for something in the console between the seats and I found my lock again. Now this time I was equally surprised because after a strange event like finding my lock on a bench, I would be sure to stick my lock in its dedicated pocket in my gym bag right away so that I don't risk losing it again. Fortunately I had my gym bag in the back seat, so I pulled it up and checked the pocket, and I found my lock again. ??? I had TWO LOCKS! It turns out that the one in the gym wasn't mine after all. I'll have to give one to the lost & found and if it's not claimed, I can probably keep it.