Scattered Thoughts

Hi All,

I’ve heard from several of you that you’ve written comments to some of my posts but then those comments were never posted. Sorry about that!

Here’s the deal… I typically get about 100 comments a day. Most of these are spam and that’s why they need to be moderated. Until the other day my internet connection was so flaky I couldn’t check the comments on a daily basis to see if any were valid. When I did get online there would be 200-300 comments for me to look at. Basically I just quickly scrolled through the comments and did a mass delete for all the spam ones. As I found valid comments I approved them on an individual basis.

Apparently I missed some valid comments and deleted them by mistake.

I do apologize for this. I appreciate that you’re reading and commenting on the happenings here in Mississippi. Now that my internet connection is fixed (I got a new modem in my room), comments won’t pile up like they were and it will be easier to review them.

So please keep posting your comments and I’ll pay closer attention to them and approve them more quickly.

Hugs,

–Donna

Although I know that I’m here in Mississippi to learn a new job skill… sometimes the last thing I want to do is study. So today I exercised my right to avoid studying. (We won’t mention the fact that this was a three day weekend and I didn’t study on either Friday or Saturday.)

So if you want to avoid studying… here are five fun-filled and exciting activities you can do instead:

1. Do your laundry.
2. Run for 30-45 minutes.
3. Shave your legs (unless you’re a guy… then just shave your face)
4. Update your blog.
5. Eat fistfuls of chocolate chips.

By participating in activity #5, you actually get a bonus study-avoidance opportunity. If you push the limit of your chocolate endurance, you may make yourself nauseous enough that you need to rest and recover before you can focus on studying. And for those of you that are wondering why you can’t snack on chocolate chips while studying… pul-ease… we wouldn’t want to leave chocolate smudges on our textbooks, would we??

Unfortunately, the guilt finally kicks in and the studying must be done. Perhaps “guilt” is the wrong word. Perhaps “panic” is better. When you realize how much material there is to review with still more new material to be covered/learned on Monday and the BIG test taking place on Wednesday…

Yeah… you see what I’m getting at. Eventually you reach the point where you know you can’t put off the studying any longer.

I haven’t quite reached that point yet.

I have gotten started though by reviewing the first two units. It’s familiar and makes sense. It seems like some of the stuff was learned weeks or years ago though. I look at it now and think, “What? I just learned this 6 days ago? How is that possible?”

Tomorrow we’ll be taking another appraisal or two as well as a progress check on patching. Not sure what that is or what it entails at this point. But I’m confident that SSgt Traficante will explain it well. He really is a great teacher.

Okay… I should get back to studying now. But thanks for giving me the chance to avoid studying for a little while. It helps to take a break every now and then.

Hugs,

–Donna

Sometimes it pays to complain. I hate to do it, but sometimes it’s the only way to get satisfaction.

What do I have to complain about? Nothing, really… Except…

The internet connection in my room.

You’ve noticed that I’ve stopped complaining about getting up at 4:30 a.m. I’ve even gotten better about having to wear blues on Mondays. But one thing that has been ticking me off is the lack of a reliable internet connection in my room.

And in the grand scheme of things I know that this is a small thing and not worthy of harping on… but doggone it… I like my internet!

Rather than bore you with the details as I usually do… I’ll just tell you that I finally got a new modem in my room and things are working beautifully now. I haven’t had to repair or disable/enable my connection once since the modem was replaced on Friday. You can’t imagine the joy I felt when I opened my web browser and my home page *miraculously* appeared. It was a beautiful thing, my friends. Here… let me wipe a tear of joy from eye even as I remember that warm feeling I got upon seeing that beautiful Google screen.

Now I’ll be checking my e-mail daily and should have some clue of what’s going on in Hollywood once again. What *have* Britney, Paris, and Lindsey been up to these past weeks?

Okay, enough of that…

It was a three-day weekend for me. It was pretty good, pretty uneventful except for the top of the ratings news I already shared with you above.

On Friday I got up early to watch the Drill Down competition between the training squadrons. This is an opportunity for the airmen who came here directly from Basic Training to show off their marching skills. It’s all volunteer based so some squads were larger than others. Each squadron had two drill teams. One did basic marching commands and the other used the rifles for a bit of razzle dazzle. My training squadron did pretty well. We took 2nd place in basic marching, 3rd place in the rifles event, and then 3rd place overall.

On Friday I also spent time with Travis. We are on the countdown to watching the TV series Jericho. We started watching shortly after we met, then took a break to watch all of season 1 of Lost. Now we have some catching up to do. Travis leaves in just over a week so we don’t have much time to watch the rest of the show. I don’t know if we’ll get through the whole thing or not.

Saturday was also spent with Travis watching Jericho. We took a break to watch Treasure Planet, an animated movie like Treasure Island with a dash of Peter Pan in it. It was pretty cute. Then because he had access to a vehicle we went to see a double feature at the movies. We saw the new James Bond movie (excellent) and Eagle Eye (also excellent).

We saw the James Bond movie with a man and his wife that are in Travis’ class. This is actually the man that let Travis borrow his car. So that was nice. They didn’t want to see the second movie (well, Dawn, the wife did, but Rob couldn’t deal with sitting down for another 2 hours). So we agreed to meet up later to go out for dinner. We headed back to The Shed. I can’t believe I keep going back to the place. Luckily the food never disappoints. ha ha

It was pretty cold out (relatively speaking) so they had a fire going outside. My clothes got a bit smoky though but the alternative was turning into a Donna-sycle which wouldn’t be a good thing.

The band was excellent and we actually stayed for the whole show. I got home at around 10:30 p.m. I was pretty pooped. My feet were pretty well frozen, so I wrapped them in a blanket and wore socks to bed trying to get them warm. Oh Gerry, what I wouldn’t have given to have that electric blanket down here with me.

This morning I woke up with the intention of going for a long run. Yeah… well, I stepped outside to see what the temperature was and decided it was too cold to run before the sun came up. I climbed back into bed (yes, my feet had finally warmed up) and went back to sleep. Forgot to reset my alarm clock and barely had enough time to get ready for chapel.

Chapel and the socializing afterward were great as usual. I got home at around 10:30 or so and knew I should open my school books to do some studying. But then I remembered that I needed to go pay my room fees and get another book from the library. So I did those things and now I should eat some lunch.

I’ll study this afternoon.

Hugs,

–Donna

12 Nov 2008 / Block 3 / Day 5 of 9

What day is it… Wednesday?

I’m so confused…

This lack of connectivity (internet) is driving me bonkers. I feel so cut off from the world. Some days the connection in my room works, some days it doesn’t. I do have the option to go to the library, but sometimes that just isn’t convenient.

I just posted my entry for my Saturday road trip. I haven’t written anything since then so I’m not sure what I’ve done. One thing I haven’t done is run (much). I skipped my long run this weekend. I ran for an hour on Monday after school. I also ran today (Wednesday) for about 30 minutes.

===================

Sunday… Sunday… what did I do on Sunday?

I think I sat around my room all day eating Bon Bons and watching TV. Nothing else really comes to mind for that day.

Monday… School… blues… Need I say more? Okay, I’ll check my notes to see if I wrote down anything of interest…

Nope… We did a progress check on configuring a piece of equipment. Progress checks are just a pass or fail thing. Everyone in my class passed. Then we learned about modems and DSU/CSUs. Yeah… I don’t know what they are either.

I still had the rental car so I went off base to get a pizza for dinner. Yum yum… I got a BBQ chicken and bacon and pineapple. Also got an order of garlic parmesan bread. Did I mention yum? Did I also mention that I’m going to need to run a gazillion miles to burn off that one meal?

===================

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day! No school! Thanks to all our Veterans! We live in a great country and we wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for our military folk (and their supportive families).

I watched Lost for most of the day. I opted to turn in my rental car early to save myself some money. I was going to go to a movie, but nothing really appealed to me. So I just hung around base (and ate pizza for dinner).

I was in such a “zone” of nothingness (I also took a nap) that I almost forgot to call home.
Oops!

==================

Wednesday

School… Day 5 of 9…

Here are the highlights…

When I first arrived my instructor told me went to a Game Stop store yesterday and saw a very cool looking $100 World of Warcraft computer mouse. He even took a picture of it to show me. ha ha ha

On Monday he was answering questions in class and just randomly said, “I can’t believe Sergeant Doyon is a gamer.” It was so funny.

I do have to admit that I don’t feel worthy of that title though. I’m such a casual gamer that it just doesn’t seem right to bestow that lofty title upon me. But then again, female gamers are not that common, and older female gamers are even more rare… so I guess I should just wear it with pride.

In the morning, after taking a progress check on the FCD-1L (everyone passed), we talked about my instructor’s fear of spiders. I don’t recall how we got on the subject but everyone seems to have spider stories. Hearing these stories made me long for home. After all, we don’t have black widow spiders up there. But I’ll still de-spider the winter boots before I put them on!

After school I went for a short run. It was very humid and I wanted time to catch up on my blog entries. My in-room internet has been driving me crazy as usual, but it’s getting the job done. I’m trying to get the modem box swapped out but no one from guest services is returning my calls.

And yes, while it’s extremely frustrating, I also don’t have too too much time to be online so that’s one of the reasons I haven’t really pitched a fit so far. But I think that as the days get shorter and cooler I’ll be in my room more in the afternoons and on the weekends, so I’ll definitely want the internet to be working better.

Well, that’s it for my news. I hope all is well with you!

Hugs,

–Donna

12 Nov 2008 / Block 3 / Day 5 of 9

What day is it… Wednesday?

I’m so confused…

This lack of connectivity (internet) is driving me bonkers. I feel so cut off from the world. Some days the connection in my room works, some days it doesn’t. I do have the option to go to the library, but sometimes that just isn’t convenient.

I just posted my entry for my Saturday road trip. I haven’t written anything since then so I’m not sure what I’ve done. One thing I haven’t done is run (much). I skipped my long run this weekend. I ran for an hour on Monday after school. I also ran today (Wednesday) for about 30 minutes.

===================

Sunday… Sunday… what did I do on Sunday?

I think I sat around my room all day eating Bon Bons and watching TV. Nothing else really comes to mind for that day.

Monday… School… blues… Need I say more? Okay, I’ll check my notes to see if I wrote down anything of interest…

Nope… We did a progress check on configuring a piece of equipment. Progress checks are just a pass or fail thing. Everyone in my class passed. Then we learned about modems and DSU/CSUs. Yeah… I don’t know what they are either.

I still had the rental car so I went off base to get a pizza for dinner. Yum yum… I got a BBQ chicken and bacon and pineapple. Also got an order of garlic parmesan bread. Did I mention yum? Did I also mention that I’m going to need to run a gazillion miles to burn off that one meal?

===================

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day! No school! Thanks to all our Veterans! We live in a great country and we wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for our military folk (and their supportive families).

I watched Lost for most of the day. I opted to turn in my rental car early to save myself some money. I was going to go to a movie, but nothing really appealed to me. So I just hung around base (and ate pizza for dinner).

I was in such a “zone” of nothingness (I also took a nap) that I almost forgot to call home.
Oops!

==================

Wednesday

School… Day 5 of 9…

Here are the highlights…

When I first arrived my instructor told me went to a Game Stop store yesterday and saw a very cool looking $100 World of Warcraft computer mouse. He even took a picture of it to show me. ha ha ha

On Monday he was answering questions in class and just randomly said, “I can’t believe Sergeant Doyon is a gamer.” It was so funny.

I do have to admit that I don’t feel worthy of that title though. I’m such a casual gamer that it just doesn’t seem right to bestow that lofty title upon me. But then again, female gamers are not that common, and older female gamers are even more rare… so I guess I should just wear it with pride.

In the morning, after taking a progress check on the FCD-1L (everyone passed), we talked about my instructor’s fear of spiders. I don’t recall how we got on the subject but everyone seems to have spider stories. Hearing these stories made me long for home. After all, we don’t have black widow spiders up there. But I’ll still de-spider the winter boots before I put them on!

After school I went for a short run. It was very humid and I wanted time to catch up on my blog entries. My in-room internet has been driving me crazy as usual, but it’s getting the job done. I’m trying to get the modem box swapped out but no one from guest services is returning my calls.

And yes, while it’s extremely frustrating, I also don’t have too too much time to be online so that’s one of the reasons I haven’t really pitched a fit so far. But I think that as the days get shorter and cooler I’ll be in my room more in the afternoons and on the weekends, so I’ll definitely want the internet to be working better.

Well, that’s it for my news. I hope all is well with you!

Hugs,

–Donna

10 Nov 2008 / Saturday

What do you do on a beautiful fall day in Mississippi? Two words… ROAD TRIP!!!

Yes, I rented a car (it felt so weird to be behind the wheel after a month of hoofing it) for the weekend. It was a bare bones Chevy Cobalt. Power nothing… it might just as well have been a Ferrari for all the power I felt sitting behind the wheel.

I picked it up at lunch time on Friday and planned to leave for Pensacola, Florida early on Saturday. Why Pensacol? People have told me the beaches there are amazing. The sand is white. The water is emerald green. I thought a Florida beach would be a good destination. Who cares if it would take me about 2.5 hours to get there. What else did I have to do on a Saturday?

My plan was to go alone… you know… me… myself… and I… I figured the three of us would have a wonderful time together.

But sometimes things just don’t work out the way you planned. Do you want the long or short version? The long one? Sweet!

Here goes…

On Friday afternoon I dropped by my friend Travis’ room. He’s the man from Washington state that I hang out with quite often. I knew his class had a block test that day so I wanted to see how they all did (they all passed). He told me that it had been a really stressful week for them all. He’d also been sick last weekend and that misery hung on throughout the week.

We talked about our plans for the weekend (his were to stay in his room, play games, and watch Star Trek DVDs). I told him I planned to drive to Florida. His eyes lit up a bit. He was one of the ones that told me how great Pensacola is. He’d been stationed there for a few years when he was active duty.

So… knowing he’d had a rough week, I asked if he wanted to go to Florida with me. He said yes, so I had a traveling companion.

We left at around 9 a.m. on Saturday morning (no, I didn’t do my long run that morning). We stopped in Mobile, Alabama (didn’t know we’d even crossed into Alabama since I missed the big “Welcome to” sign) to see a couple of IMAX movies at a kiddie exploration museum. I’ve never seen an IMAX movie before. They were both pretty cool. Bigger than big screen, that’s for sure. If you haven’t seen an IMAX movie, give it a try. It’s definitely a new experience.

It was fun wandering around the kiddie science museum too. They had hands on displays like a harp with no strings, only beams of light that when broken played notes (this was my favorite activity). I had a hard time with the right brain / left brain (no brain) activities like tracing a star pattern using its reflection in a mirror.

We went to Subway between IMAX movies (each lasted about an hour) and ate our sandwiches in a park. We wondered what the park turned in to after dark… looked like it had a lot of possibilities for illicit activities. But during the day it was very pretty and inviting. There were about a gazillion squirrels running around. I have never seen so many squirrels in one place before. Of course I shared my Freetos with them. One put his paws on the park bench trying to get the bag. They certainly have no fear of humans.

We continued driving to Florida (I did see the Welcome to Florida sign). Rather than stopping in Pensacola, we drove a bit further (farther?) east to Destin, Florida. This is where Travis was stationed and he knew of a beautiful beach for me to see. It was supposed to be open to military folk only.

We got there at around 3 p.m. and the sun was low on the horizon. I took my shoes off to walk the beach and loved the feel of the very fine sand between my gnome toes. I took a few steps and then stopped. I listened. I took a few more steps… stopped… listened. I looked at Travis and laughed.

“Is the sand squeaking?” I asked.

He laughed at me. Yes, he really laughed at me. Didn’t he know who was giving him a ride back to Mississippi???

I walked a few more steps, twisting my feet in the sand and then did some foot dragging and heel walking to see how squeaky the sand really was. It was amazing! I ran a bit like a little kid and then I’d stop and giggle. How cool is squeaky sand??

Okay, you may have experienced the childlike delight of squeaky sand and now you know that I have. So I’ll move on to the water…

It was gorgeous… clear… green… warm… I waded into the water up to my knees and wished I’d brought a suit so I could go swimming. Oh well… I really didn’t think the water or day would be warm enough for that so I wasn’t prepared. Next time.

There were these cute little birds walking on the beaches. I asked Travis if he knew what type of birds they were. He paused just a beat too long before saying, “It’s a walkabeacha bird.”

Ha ha ha ha

Later we saw some larger birds that we called runabeacha birds. We probably should have called them sitabeacha birds since most of them were sitting on this strip of sand that reached out into the water. They were all facing the setting sun. It was picture perfect. Unfortunately it’s a picture I’ll have to keep in my memory since I didn’t have my camera phone with me (dingy me… I left it in the car.).

We hung out at the beach for about 2 hours before heading back to the car.

Travis knew of a good Irish pub not far from the beach so we went there for dinner. The place was called McGuires Irish Pub. To say that it had flavor, is an understatement. First, the smokehouse for their meats is out in front of the restaurant.

Once inside the restaurant you immediately get the sense that you are standing beneath a Chia pet. Perhaps a Chia restaurant. You see there are $1 bills hanging from the ceiling. Everywhere. It’s estimated that there is about 1/2 million dollars there. The tradition started when the owner tacked her first $1 tip to the ceiling and friends and customers have been adding to the decor ever since.

Yes, I put a dollar on the wall. The wait staff even has a Sharpie marker for people to use. I wrote my trademark “Imagine. Believe. Become.” on my dollar.

This restaurant is full of puns and funnies. For instance… when you go to the restroom, the sign says Ladies… but does it really?? The biggest word is “Ladies” but if you read the small print you’ll see something like “I know you like the LADIES, but this is the mens room.” The sign on the ladies room is similar. When I went to the ladies room, Travis paused or hesitated or something because my guard was up but I didn’t know for what. I started for the Ladies (actually Mens) room. Our waitress stopped me and pointed me in the right direction.

She laughed and said she wasn’t supposed to tell customers but that she liked me. Ha ha ha I told her that my appreciation would be reflected in her tip. Yup… I coughed up a 30 percent tip for that one. I should mention that there are two entry doors to the restrooms. Inside the first one (wrong label) is another one that says “Stop! This is the XX room.” But to be honest, I probably would have just blown past it because I really needed to pee!

After dinner we began the long drive home. Travis helped me find the way to Rte 10 and then he fell asleep for the next 2+ hours. Once again I missed the state of Alabama. I’m going to have to make a special trip just to see the sign. I woke Travis up as we neared Biloxi so that he could help me find my way back to the base. He drifted off again and so I missed the turn I needed to take. Oh well. We finally got back at around 9:30 p.m.

All in all it was a fantastic day!

One thing I forgot to mention… I saw antlers mounted on the back of a motorcycle. Travis reminded me that I am in the south. If I had any doubts, that confirmed it. ha ha

Hugs,

–Donna

6 November 2008 / Block 3 / Day 2 of 9

Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’ve not grumbled about the insanely early hour that my alarm clock rings off each morning. Perhaps you thought it was because I was tired of complaining about it. Or perhaps you thought I cared that you were tired of my whining about it.

In fact, none of those things are true. Dare I even write that I seem to have become a morning person? I know this is blasphemous language. I understand that I’ve totally lost the respect and admiration of many of you by confessing this change of heart and lifestyle. My past philosophy that mornings were best enjoyed at the end of the day has been replaced. Yes, I’ve become a kinder, gentler person when it comes to admiring the beauty of God’s world before the sun rises.

Let me go further and unburden the true depth of my conversion. Let me confess… I’ve actually been setting my alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. to give myself an extra 15 minutes of peace before heading off to school. There… I said it… forgive me… and please don’t hold this against me.

Ahhhh… it feels so much better to unburden your soul.

On to news of the day…

We took two appraisals first thing this morning. I missed one question each. Not too bad.

One thing I didn’t mention yesterday was that SSgt Traficante is sick. He shared way too much information about the pounding sinuses, phlegm levels, and snot build-up. He held up a roll of industrial paper towels and assured us that he’d finish the roll before the end of the day. I am happy to say that he fell short on that promise, but today he did mention several times how raw his nose felt. Duh! I wonder why? Hasn’t he heard of tissues before?

Anyway… many of us in class are dealing with minor symptoms of colds. I have a bit of a sniffle but I brought tissues to class to protect my delicate nose.

I realized I left out some important information on my new instructor, SSgt Traficante (yes, besides the levels of green bodily fluids)… he worked in this career field for 9 years before becoming an instructor so he has some real world stories to share with us.

He also shared some tech control philosophies that are important for us to know, remember, and honor. Here are a few of them:

1) We are “Water Walkers” (our logo shows Snoopy walking on a wave). There is a reason for this. Do not let other people forget it.

2) The problem is always at the distant end (not our fault… even if it is).

3) When there is no other explanation, blame it on solar flares.

4) We are geeks and proud of it.

5) Tech controllers only hang around with tech controllers because we are better than everyone else (not because we are geeks and no one wants to hang around us).

SSgt Traficante struts and shows true pride in this career field. And I have to say… the tech controllers back in Maine show the same pride (and cockiness?). I think I’m gonna like it.

One other thing that happened yesterday was that SSgt Traficante asked if any of us were gamers. The entire class turned and looked at me! SSgt Traficante looked at me and smiled. “Really?”

I shrugged and nodded (and yes, blushed, I’m sure).

It’s not like I’m a hard core gamer. I’m very casual in my playing time, effort, and skills. Gerry buys armor for my gaming characters because I never think to do it. But I guess I’m such a novelty in that way, that a little means a lot. I can bluff my way through a conversation because I know enough gamer lingo since I heard Gerry, Beth and Sean use it.

So…

Would you like to know what we learned today? We learned about the importance of timing and synchronization in communications circuits.

What is timing and synchronization you ask? Amazingly, I just happen to know the answer to that question!

“Timing is the regular rhythmic reocurrence of a clocking pulse at a predetermined rate.”

“Synchronization is what occurs when the receive equipment can find its place in the data bit stream.”

You may be wondering how I came to learn this information. First, SSgt Traficante told us the definitions. Then he told us where we’d find them in our books. Then he asked all nine students to repeat the definitions. Then, as he moved on to other new material, he would occasionally stop speaking, call out a student’s name and say, “What is the definition of timing and synchronization.”

So yes, we’ve all learned what timing and synchronization are. It’s an important thing to remember when doing this job. Timing may be everything, but without synchronization, it’s nothing.

After school I came back to my room with the intention of going for a run. You know what they say about good intentions… we’ll just leave it at that.

My internet has been working a bit today, but I feel like I’m being teased. It works for a bit then the connection fails again. I restore it, and it works for a bit, then it’s gone. If it was completely gone I would have packed up and headed over to the library. But it’s just enough to keep me hanging on. Rather like when you’re in a bad relationship and you’re ready to dump the guy, then he does something “sweet” like bring you a bouquet of flowers he grabbed after someone’s funeral.

~sigh~

So I guess I’ll just stay in and record Survivor and watch some Stargate SG-1. I’ve got most of my studying done for the night so I should be able to just relax. I’ll probably finish reading John Grisham’s The Broker tonight. The next book I’ll be reading for relaxation is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I may have read it before (or I’m pretty sure Gerry has).

Well, I guess that’s all I have to say about anything for today.

I hope you are well!

Hugs,

–Donna

Wednesday, 5 November 2008, Block 3 / Day 1 of 9

Before I forget… yesterday I received a wonderful package from home. It had COOKIES!!! Thanks, Ger, for baking me such a yummy treat. I had three last night and will make the rest last as long as possible. But since my freezer is about the size of a box of marshmellow pies, I just don’t have much room to keep them long term. Guess I’ll have to eat them quickly after all.

Today I started Block 3. You know what this means, don’t you? I’m more than 25 percent through this course. Yeah! It amazes me how quickly the time has passed. I left Maine one month ago today. Wow. Can’t believe it’s been that long already.

Anyway… back to school… we have a new teacher for this block. His name is SSgt Traficante. Yes, apparently his name means drug dealer in Spanish. He is actually a very funny and fun man. I wasn’t sure what to expect of him because of the following incident:

I was walking up the hall to the classroom. An airmen politely asked me if I could help him. He and about a dozen other young airmen were starting their first day of school (which means that our class is no longer responsible for trash duty! Woot!). They didn’t know where to go.

Having been in that same situation just a month ago, I knew how they were feeling. I didn’t know where they needed to go, so I told them I’d find out. I stepped into my classroom and asked SSgt Traficante if he could help. He strolled out into the hallway, sized up the situation and said…

“Airmen! That wall survived Hurricane Katrina so it surely doesn’t need you to hold it up. Get off my wall or get out of my schoolhouse!”

YIKES! I wanted to scurry back into my classroom with my tail between my legs. So I did.

I closed the door behind me and said to the my airmen, “Guys, just a warning…” and I told them what had happened.

When SSgt Traficante walked back into our classroom a few minutes later he looked like the Cheshire Cat. He was pretty amused. He’d chewed up an airmen and spat him out (all over that very sturdy, wall).

We spent the first 30-45 minutes learning about him and introducing ourselves. He was voluntold to be a tech control instructor. He didn’t want to do it, but when Uncle Sam wants you to do something, you do it. It was funny to learn that SSgt Traficante actually had to put in a job request packet (resume, qualifications, etc.) to try to “win” the job he was told to do.

Overall I think he will be a great teacher. His teaching style is this… he tells us something then he has everyone repeat it… usually from the front of the classroom. For instance, he drew out a diagram showing the process of establishing a new comm circuit. Then one by one each of us had to go up to the board to draw the diagram and explain it to the class. It’s time consuming, but after hearing the same thing 10 times, you start to get it.

Mr. Hunter, our teacher for Blocks 1 and 2, is auditing this class with us. It’s weird to see him sitting in a student’s chair. He will be a great resource during the course of the block, I’m sure.

After school I had an awesome conversation with Sean. We talked about the election results and then went off on some wonderful tangents. I do miss my chats with the kids and Gerry. Telephone access is great, but it just isn’t the same.

Because I spent so much time chatting with Sean (and I wouldn’t change that for the world) I was later heading out the door to the pool than I’d planned/hoped. But I still managed to get 30 minutes of swimming time in and still got back on base before it got too dark.

I spent most of the evening studying and watching Stargate SG-1. Thanks, Sunshine, for sending me those DVDs. They are awesome! I also did some laundry which is always exciting.

One funny thing did happen when I was switching my clothes from the washer to the dryer. Well, okay, it wasn’t funny and the funny part didn’t actually happen til later… but here’s what happened… I walked into the laundry room and saw a man with a pile of clean (I assume) clothes on the counter. He’s very very very neatly folding them into squares. Like 8 inch squares. I’ve never seen anything like it. I took my time transferring my clothes from the washer to the dryer because I was so fascinated. AND he was placing them gently and evenly,
into a suitcase.

Finally I had to say something.

“I’ve never seen anyone fold clothes like that before,” I said.

“It’s the only way I know how,” he replied.

“Really? I prefer the ball up and stuff method,” I said. “Would you like me to demonstrate it?”

I can’t even imagine what he was thinking because the expression on his face froze into one of absolute horror. He stared at me as if I’d grown horns out of my head and had a spiked tail wagging behind me. I put my final handful of wet clothes in the dryer, turned the dials to start it, and turned to say “Goodbye” to him and he was still staring at me. I wanted to laugh, but I think it might have made him cry.

Later… I went to collect my laundry (using the old ball and stuff method to put the clean clothes into the clean laundry bag). As I put my keycard into my door slot I noticed someone come out of a room a few doors up. I jumped when the person said, “So… it that the ball and stuff method you were talking about?”

“Huh?”

It actually took me a minute before I knew what he was talking about. Yes, it was the same man. Apparently he lives a few doors up from me. I laughed and told him that “Yes, it was. And it only took me a few seconds to do it compared to his method.”

We both laughed and he went on his way.

I stayed up later than usual… til about 10 p.m. but it was a pretty good day, all in all.

Hugs,

–Donna

Tuesday, 4 November 2008, Block 2 / Day 9 of 9
Election Day!

First, I hope you all voted! I am glad I was able to vote before I left Maine. Many of the airmen and NCOs that are here never received their absentee ballots or didn’t take the time to fill them out and mail them back to their home states.

Today was our Block 2 test. Most of us were feeling pretty jittery this morning. I certainly was. I woke up at around 2:30 a.m. and had a tough time getting back to sleep. I finally did though and the alarm startled me when it rang off at 4:30 a.m. For the first time I actually fumbled it onto the floor. The battery popped out and everything. Oops.

We studied until after the 7:30 a.m. break then took the test. It consisted of 40 multiple choice questions. We have one hour to complete it. After we finish the test we have to leave the room until everyone is done.

At 9:10 (after our 9 o’clock break) we were back in the classroom learning the results. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Class average: 89.1
Highest grade: 100
My grade: 98
Sad news: 1 airman failed. 8-(

The airman that failed (the young woman in my class) received a letter of counseling for failing the test (not a good thing) and will have to repeat the block of information. She can’t just retake the test. Unfortunately, there was a gap in class starting dates and so she will have to wait until the end of November to have a class to join. Typically, there is another class that starts as soon as a class finishes a course block. But another class didn’t start right after ours, they will start tomorrow. So AB Larkee will have to wait while they go through Block 1, and then she can join them for Block 2.

The rest of the school day was long and boring. We had to clean the room; complete a survey about the course materials and instructor; and then just sit around until 2:50 p.m.

After school I had PT (fitness). It was a pretty short group session so I continued running til I did about 40 minutes total. I went back to my room to shower and change.

Now I’m at the library because once again the internet in my room is goofed up. Oh well.

Tonight will be a pretty lazy evening. I’ll probably look over the first section of Block 3’s book just to get a heads up on the material. I’ve heard that Block 3 is pretty tough and has a high failure rate. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll put in the time to study and I’m confident that I’ll do fine.

Okay, my belly is grumbling so it must be dinner time.

Have a great day, my friends!

Hugs,

–Donna

Monday, 3 November 2008 - Block 2 / Day 8 of 9

I will say that I’m grateful that the powers that be decided to force us to wear these uncomfortable uniforms on Monday. After all, we already hate Mondays so why not add one more reason, right? Imagine how horrid it would have been if they had picked Friday as blues day. Can you imagine? Hating Fridays? What??

No… it’s better this way… Blues Monday works best… sigh…

By the way… I forgot to have someone take my picture so I did the old “capture the reflection in the mirror” trick. I don’t have my service cap on because I’m inside… and it looks dorky.

School was a pleasant surprise today. I was feeling a bit stressed when I headed out the door this morning. I knew that we had to do one appraisal; a progress check; and review for our Block 2 test tomorrow.

Even though I did spend quite a bit of time studying over the three day weekend (don’t laugh! I really did crack the books quite a bit!), I hadn’t been able to memorize the names of the five digital modulation methods that we’d learned on Friday. I understood how they worked, but since they were all alphabet soup (DM, CVSD, ADCPM, CPM, and CDI) I just couldn’t remember their names. The appraisals mostly consist of nitpicky questions that need exact answers.

For about the first 30 minutes we just talked about our weekends. Then Mr. Hunter said, “This is how today is going to work. First, we’ll take the appraisal over digital modulation. Then we’ll go over multimeters (techno toys!!). Then we’ll take an appraisal on multimeteres (what? A second appraisal today? Didn’t know about that!). Then after lunch we’ll do a progress check on multimeters. And if there’s time at the end of the day, we’ll review the entire block of information.”

After he outlined the day for us, Mr. Hunter said, “If it feels like I’m rushing through the information on multimeters, it’s because I am. We have a lot to do today.”

Oh bother… the only good thing for me was that I really hate classtime reviews. Why? Because it’s usually in the format of being in the hotseat and getting asked a question. I really hate that teaching/learning style.

Appraisal 1: Digital Modulation techniques… I scored 19/20. Not everyone passed. 8-(

Multimeters: This is a toy (er… tool) that measures circuit resistance, voltage (in both AC and DC forms), and current. If there’s a problem with electronic components or cables, a multimeter can help you identify the problem so that it can be fixed. I’ve seen multimeters before (in my auto repair class), but I’ve never used one. Today I got to play! Weeeee….

The school has these boxes that mimic a cable. There is no cable, but this metal box has 2 connectors on it with 9 pins/holes. Think of the cables that might connect your computer to the printer or something like that. These “training” boxes also have switches in the back so you can mimic various types of faults in the cable. For instance: shorts, opens, grounds, and shunts.

Okay, that probably means nothing to you and you’re thinking, “Okay, Donna, move on, already.”

So I will…

At first I really didn’t get how this contraption (the multimeter) worked. I didn’t understand the pin configuration of the connectors and my hands were shaking so I kept hitting the wrong pins. A reading would show on the multimeters digital screen but I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Yikes! I was totally clueless.

My partner in crime, SSgt Young, was equally befuddled. He’s used multimeters in the past, but never the digital model so he didn’t know what the numbers meant either. Finally we called Mr. Hunter over and he confused us even more. Drats! I hate it when teachers do that.

Finally, SSgt Young and I got back into our books and figured things out. Then he flipped a switch to create a fault in the cable and I had to find it. Yeah! I did it! Then I created the fault and he had to find it. Yes! Success!

A few minutes later we take the appraisal on multimeters. Woot! I scored 15/15. Several people in the class failed it. Bummer for them. Mr. Hunter offered to stay after class to help anyone that wanted extra study time and access to him before tomorrow’s test. It was nice of him. Several people that had failed various appraisals during the block were pretty much told that they had to stay. I’d passed them all so I was able to leave on time.

After the appraisal we did “board work.” I hate board work. This is when we divide the class into two teams and one person from each team goes up to the board to work out a problem. Ugh. The first two airmen (Butler and Benoit) had to solve a problem. They could work at it at their desks but then had to put their answers on the board. The first one to get it right scored a point. A1C Benoit (my team) was the first one to the board.

Oh no! What’s this? His answers were different from mine. Moral dilemma… do I hope that he’s right so that the team scores a point (the moral high ground) or do I hope that he’s wrong so that there’s a chance that I know what I’m doing?? As I’m suffering through this internal debate, AB Butler goes up to the board. The first two parts of his answer match mine. Oh no! Am I rooting for the opposing team? What kind of leader am I??

But then… phew… AB Butler has a different answer for the remainder of the problem. Now we have to wait and see… did either of these airmen get it right? And more importantly… Did I get it wrong?!?

The expression on Mr. Hunter’s face said it all. Then his words confirmed it. “People. You’re killing me!”

He asked if anyone else had a different answer. I was the only one so I went up to the white board and wrote out my calculations. The great teacher smiled upon me. “It’s good to know I taught someone something, SSgt Doyon.” Score one point for my team!

Mr. Hunter put another problem on the board. He put it out to the entire class to solve and the first one to get it right would score a point. I did my calculations, double checked them… waited for someone else to go up to the board… no one did so I slowly went forward and wrote out my answers. Yes! I scored again. Woot! Woot!

Then we were back to the one-on-one challenges again. I think I was at the board 5 or 6 times and I only missed one. My answer was correct, the other person just finished writing before I did. And for the record… the other team won. 8-(

After school I did a few errands then went on a run. It was a beautiful day for it. Warm, sunny, but just a bit humid. I ran for 45 minutes then had to stop when Retreat sounded. Yeah. That just kills me. Huffing and puffing during the National Anthem just doesn’t seem right. I was close enough to my dorm that I just walked the rest of the way home.

After showering I sat down to work on this blog entry. The internet is not working again for me, so I probably won’t get to post it til tomorrow. I’ve taken a few breaks to make phone calls, eat, and watch Stargate SG-1. Now I guess it’s time to buckle down and do some serious studying.

Ugh… I don’t wanna study… don’t make me study…

Sometimes we’ve just gotta do what we’ve gotta do…

Hugs,

–Donna