HQ

I went to an office building for a presentation this past week that was supposed to be one hour long. Seven hours later, we were finally leaving having talked to everyone we wanted to talk to. That was a really good thing because the people we were presenting to really liked hearing about what we were doing in our building at work. Now I think they have a good grasp as to what we do when we go out on a mission somewhere in response to a problem that has come up. If nothing else, more people know about the squadrons here and understand what they can offer.

The temperature here has been pretty consistent: hot. The little weather widget on my BlackBerry says it is supposed to be “awfully hot” for the next seven days at least and probably longer. It’s kind of bizarre to see seven days in a row where the high is above 102 every day. You kind of get used to the drive home being sweltering, but that doesn’t mean it’s enjoyable per se. I’ve been driving with the top off and all the windows open and the breeze that comes off the road feels like someone opened an oven door right in front of the car. It’s not refreshing in the slightest, it’s just air motion.

Other than the oppressive temperatures, we’re having a blast here! The job is a lot of fun and the people I work with make it exciting to go to work each day. I know my job isn’t the dream job for everyone, but I really enjoy it and can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing! Let’s hear it for things working out the way they should!

Palm Pre

The Palm Pre has come out for Sprint and the initial results are really good. Everyone seems to have the same gripes (battery life is not the best, the keyboard could be a little bigger) and the new webOS is an innovative step in the right direction of cell phone design. I don’t know that I want one because it’s first gen hardware and that usually takes at least one more revision before it’s vetted for normal life. My parents and relatives think I’m always changing cell phones, but I would like to point out I’ve had the same phone for coming up on two years now. I’m thinking of ditching my BlackBerry simply because I no longer need the capabilities of the BB on my phone but I don’t see another Sprint phone that I really want. Come on Android!

My brother and sister-in-law were in town for the weekend because there was a wedding here they were attending and it was great to see them and my niece again. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen them and it was a lot of fun having them here. We didn’t get to hang out too incredibly much because of all the various events they had to attend, but we still got to do a couple things together and I’m glad they were able to stay at my place for the weekend.

Sorry for the delays and here is a warning in advance. I may be late posting for the next few weeks but I promise I’ll get things put on this page eventually. After all, I’m a weekly blog which requires weekly updates by very definition.

Visitors

This week has been a lot of fun. There is something going around at work, but that hasn’t put a damper on any of the good times we’ve had! Let me recap some really important things.

We went tubing again on the river. I got tube rash on the inside of my arms (from paddling the tube to get past some of the huge groups) but I did NOT get sunburned. That was great because last time we went out, I got fried. I only used SPF 10 and my friends made fun of me because they thought that wasn’t near enough. They all slathered on SPF 50 that was about the consistency of Elmer’s Glue and rubbed in about as well. They looked ridiculous, I looked cool.

I finally figured out my DVR. Because I had to switch from TiVo to a box from my cable provider, I had to learn a whole new way to record and watch shows on TV. It’s been a little trying to get the season passes set up how I want them to record and keep the shows as long as I need them to be there. Because I travel a lot, I need to make sure I have all the shows I wanted to watch while I was gone waiting for me when I get home.

Finally, I have some family members coming into town this week. That should be pretty great to have them around because the last time I had seen them was around Christmas time.

Clutch

I had a new clutch unit put in my car which means shifting gears is about a thousand times smoother than it used to be.  It’s funny because I got used to shifting the way my car used to shift and now it’s like driving a whole new car.  I haven’t stalled or even come close, but it isn’t anything like it used to be.  It’s kind of nice!

There came a point this past week where there were only two people in our flight.  That was pretty funny because we didn’t really know what to do.  I had plenty of work to keep myself going, but it felt weird not to have anyone come and chat with us or entertain us with stories about the crazy things they did the other day.  I found I am no more productive with no one there, I just have a chance to work on a single project for a little longer length of time than usual.

It became evident I need an ironing board this past week when I almost melted my pants to the top of my dresser.  I’ve been using the floor and the top of my dresser since I moved in here which has been working well.  It turns out that if you starch some pants on both sides and then try to iron them on a wood dresser, you’ll get the pants stuck to the top of the dresser and you’ll have to rip it off and spend about ten minutes scraping wood bits off the pant legs.  It’s not much fun.  Since then I’ve been using the floor and I’ll stick to that until I get to WalMart and buy a new ironing board.  That will just have to wait until I have time!