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Posts tagged CAP
A Major award!
May 16th
Three years ago, I was promoted to Captain. This evening my commander informed me that my promotion to Major was approved. Woot!
Updates and such
Aug 7th
I’m finally back online. My computer decided to give me the BSOD the other day, and then corrupt one of my partitions. Windows was loading sloooooooooowly and freezing, and wasn’t much better after a format/reinstall. So…
I’m now a happy user of Ubuntu Linux. Other than a couple of glitches here and there, things are running like a dream.
Speaking of dreams, or the lack thereof, I haven’t been sleeping well the last couple of nights. My mind just won’t wind down.
This is a busy month, CAP wise. I’m doing public affairs for a large regional fly-in, then my squadron has a HUGE recruiting push this month. There are lots of things to be planned, media contacts to coordinate, and checklists to be checked.
Tonight, a friend and I are headed to see John Mayer in Tampa. This will be my second time seeing him, and I can’t wait.
Happy Saturday!
Jun 16th
I was surfing the net this morning and came across this error message:
Apparently, Firefox isn’t a “normal” browser.
Thursday evening, my squadron did a flag disposal ceremony for a local retirement community in honor of Flag Day. The cadets did such an outstanding job. Here are a few pics. Aren’t they sharp?
I’m about to go do a photo shoot for Suzy. She wants me to take some pictures of her kids for Father’s Day. Should be fun! I want to try to use the time to get my homework assignment done for the photography class I started on Wednesday.
It’s June already?
Jun 4th
I miss my Rusty-bear. I took him to his foster mom last evening, because she’s taking him to be neutered tomorrow. Poor little guy. I’m not sure if dropping him off was harder for him or for me.
We had to take him to the vet over the weekend, but they did some tests and didn’t find anything wrong. They said the “symptoms” (I’m being polite) we’ve noticed are probably just stress from the move. We shall see. His appetite is fine, and he has plenty of energy to attack Apollo, so it can’t be that bad. I think Mike’s having a harder time warming up to the little dude than I am. Rusty is just really high maintenance right now (no manners, not neutered), but he’s going to be a great dog as soon as he gets some “home training.” Heh.
I was supposed to go to the world famous (riiiiight…) Wellborn Blueberry Festival on Saturday, but Tropical Storm Barry had other ideas. It rained and rained and rained, but they said it still didn’t put a dent in our drought.
Yesterday I went to a graduation party for one of my cadets. He’s going into AFROTC at Florida State (booo), and wants to be a fighter pilot. I’ve got full confidence this kid can and will accomplish that goal. His mom asked me to speak and present him with his solo pilot wings, which he earned a couple of weekends ago. I got choked up, talking about the memories we had together. The cadets who were 12 years old when I started CAP are growing up and moving on, and it’s hard. I love the opportunities I have to mentor them and influence their lives, but it is hard letting go. I guess they don’t call me “Captain Mom” for no reason. Sometimes people ask me why I put up with the politics and drama that sometimes accompany my volunteer work, and I tell them… it’s for my cadets. I do it for my “kids.” They’re some of the finest young people I’ve ever known, and I love being able to impact their generation.
And now we’re back to Monday. I’m so glad I have a job I love and not one I dread. That’s more than many people can say.
No, the wildfires haven’t taken us.
May 21st
A week ago (Monday morning), I walked out to my car to discover my front passenger tire was completely flat. Not a good start to the week. Mike jacked up my car (in a good way) and put the donut on for me. I know how to do such things myself, but there’s something very attractive about a man who does such chivalrous things. I didn’t argue. 
Got my car to the tire place and left it there all day. I was fully expecting to have to replace that one tire. I trust this place, so I also asked them to take a look at the tread on all four, and call me if I need to replace them all. They called at about 1 PM. They (thankfully) were able to patch the tire, and said I don’t need to replace the others for a year or so. Great news. $15.00 is much better than $500. (Somehow I got half an Allen wrench stuck in my tire. Weird.)
The remainder of the week was spent getting ready for this past weekend’s CAP event. Our squadron was one of the lead organizations in an all-helicopter air show to honor military, EMS, law enforcement, etc. We marshalled aircraft, sold hot dogs, and raffled a hurricane kit. (If you’re in Florida and would like to buy a ticket, let me know!) I came home SO tired Saturday evening. I was so sore Sunday morning, I could barely move.
Had some weird stuff go on yesterday that I don’t really want to blog about in detail. Basically, strange phone calls and suspicious online activity. Not sure what’s up with it, but I called the police, my credit union, and my cell phone company just in case.
Oh, and the season finale of The Office was the bomb. That is all.
Commander no more.
Jan 30th
As of 9:00 pm yesterday, I’m no longer the commander of my CAP squadron. It was a move I’d been planning for several months. It was just taking up too much of my time, and I’d gotten to the point where it was more of a headache than a joy. I make it a practice to move on when things get to that place. I also have some other things in my life that need attention more than the squadron, and I’d like to focus on those.
At any rate, I’ll still be handling the squadron’s website and such, but devoting waaaay less time than I used to. I want to hang out with girlfriends, help Mensah with the site, do some writing… I want to get back to myself.
It’s a long time coming, I think.
As we go to dear old Sikeston…
Oct 16th
I say this almost every entry, but I really need to get better about blogging. Almost every day something happens and I think, “I need to blog this,” and then time is short and I don’t. Lots and lots going on.
- I started my new job on Sept 28th. I really enjoy it so far. I’m an instructional designer, focused on developing e-learning training materials. The company I’m with has been around for 35 years and is growing like crazy. It’s a very exciting place to be.
- I’m in the process of seriously scaling back my involvement in CAP (if not entirely getting out for a while). Too much of my time is tied up in that organization, and it’s causing me to be stressed and out of balance. I never intended it to be that way. Seems like I’m constantly stressed or frustrated over something, and that’s not good.
- Went to my 10 year high school reunion in Missouri last weekend. I was kind of reluctant to go, but I’m very glad I did. Got to spend some time with old friends… lots of laughing. I also got to see my beautiful godchildren:
They are so gorgeous and so smart. I hate that they live so far away and I’m missing them growing up. Also got to see my “little” sister cheer at a varsity football game. Time flies. - Apollo’s 3rd birthday was yesterday.
Time for bed. More later.
Back to the grind.
May 8th
Had a good time this past weekend. I left at 4:00 PM Friday for Florida Wing Conference in Orlando. It was at the Grosvenor “Resort” in Orlando. Really, this place was like a glorified Holiday Inn. The pool area was nice, but that’s about it. Anyway we took eight cadets down, and several senior members. My cadets competed in a quiz bowl-style academic competition and represented us very well. One of my cadets was on the winning team. The banquet was great too. The commander from the Blackhawk Down incident was the speaker. As far as awards went, my communications officer was awarded Communicator of the Year for the entire Wing. Also, I received a Florida Wing Cadet Programs Circle of Excellence award. I was very surprised and honored. Anyway, got home yesterday at about 2:00 PM. First thing I did was ditch the uniform, put on a t-shirt and flannel pants, and take a nap.
We just lounged on the couch last night and watched a movie. My throat started feeling weird as soon as I got back into town, so I didn’t feel like going out anywhere. I hope I’m not getting another cold. It’s only been like two weeks since I had the last one. Today I’m feeling kind of shivery, and my throat’s scratchy. Ugh. Oh yeah, and there are those lovely cramps too. Thanks, Eve!
So um, yeah. I’ve been AWOL.
Mar 30th
Haven’t posted in FOR-EH-VUR. (Anyone know what movie that’s from? Anyone?)
Stuff has been so hectic with CAP, work, etc. the last few weeks. I believe I’m about to catch my breath and get back to “normal” (whatever that is). We had a huge fundraiser/PR/recruiting/community service event this past weekend where we parked cars for three days straight. I personally worked a total of 24 hours over the weekend. When I got home on Sunday night, I could hardly walk from standing in boots for so long, and my neck/ears/nose were bright red and blistering from the sun. Ugh.
Tonight the squadron’s having an open house, and I’m optimistic that we’ll get several new members out of the deal. There’s a nice article in the local paper today announcing it. We’re planning to start a new recruit training class in the next couple of weeks. The other nerdy thing I’m excited about is that we ordered t-shirts with our new squadron logo and they should be in soon. I also just earned my Grover Loening Award for completion of Level 3 of the professional development program in CAP. In May I’ll be a CAPTAIN. Betta rec’anize.
Apollo is all better now, after three days in the hospital and two weeks of medicine. Poor fella. He’s back to being a little butthead (but a cute butthead, you see).
I apologize for not commenting in everyone’s blogs lately. I’ve been reading off and on but lack of time has precluded more attention. I’ll do better. And in the next couple of days I hope to be back to FreeVerse full force.
Ok I gotta get back to work.
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