Tag Archives: snofest

Larry Conquers Olive Garden (MM)

How, you ask, did Larry conquer Olive Garden?  Because Larry made freakin’ Zuppa Toscana soup, almost exactly like Olive Garden makes it.  I found a recipe online after googling “Olive Garden Toscana recipe”, there it was!  He got the ingredients, and after using his culinary expertise, he rocked the hell out of the soup.  Next thing to conquer – how to make those addictive breadsticks!  “Olive Garden” was Sunday’s dinner; you know what he was able to make on Saturday?  My favorite meal from Chili’s, the Cajun Chicken Pasta!  On the same website, I also found the recipe for that meal too, and amazingly, he made a very good representation of that dish too.  Can I say I am one lucky guy?  Because I am.

Anyway, if you want to endeavor and recreate some classic Chili’s or Olive Garden dishes, here’s the site I got the recipes from.  Not sure how long this site will stick around, so get the recipes fast:

http://secretrecipeworld.com/

The weather here in NYC has been stupid.  It was 56 degrees here today.  What figures is that the 30 Rock maintenance folks can’t turn the heat off, so the heat was on full-crank too, so it was a fuckin’ sauna at work today.  A few times today I thought I must be catching a fever as I got so hot while sitting at my desk.  That can’t be good for you.  What I’ve heard is that by the end of the week, we’ll be back to 20-degree weather and snow.  Yay!

My Colorado Springs friends are going to be having SnoFest this weekend.  :-(  I wanna go.

Other Colorado Springs news:  my previous tenant has been evicted, and after some cleanup, it looks like I once again have a tenant in the house.  Thank God.  It’s not exactly cheap to pay two mortgages all by myself.

Did I tell you that I’m going to be starting guitar lessons next week?  I decided to try something new.  I had already started violin while back in the Azores, and while I think I could have eventually been decent on it, I just don’t have the motivation and discipline for it anymore.  Violin is hard!  I’m sure guitar isn’t super easy either though, but I think it’ll be fun to play an instrument that lends itself to group singalongs.  Because you know I LOVE group singalongs!  🙂

The NYC Half Marathon training plan is going forward still, and I seem to have persevered through the initial leg/calf soreness that usually dissuades me from continuing.  I couldn’t run the 7 miles I was supposed to today, but it is EXTREMELY difficult to run for over 60 minutes in one spot.  I got so bored.  After 5 miles, I was like, Peace out, I’m done.

I’m a Perfect Match for Myself

At least according to Yahoo Personals, which says that I am a total match….to me. <sigh> Is this what it’s come down to???? Just kidding – but I keep chuckling every time I see that when on there.

Hey, guess what? I went back to Colorado Springs and it was awesome. I flew out on Thursday and got in there around 6:30 or so at the airport, and while walking through towards the front of the airport and expecting to see my friends…I saw no one! A little annoyed – to be honest – I look a little bit more around the area out in the lobby area and all of a sudden this crazy woman is running at me from behind a pillar! She’s shrieking in some Xena-Warrior-Princess language when suddenly I realize it’s KD! She attacks/hugs me and then I see Jeff and Susan also emerge, and they reveal that they had decided to hide in the airport lounge and surprise me. I’m sure there were a few nervous airport security personnel, but who cares, it was awesome to get that kind of welcome! And so began a very fun, albeit passing-quickly weekend of fun spent with my best friends in Colorado Springs. That first night back (with Melissa, Eric, and Heather also coming over after we got to Susan’s house) we hung out at Susan’s just hanging out, eating and drinking, while laughing and catching up and telling stories. The next morning on Friday is when we proceeded up to Keystone and the two-point-five hour drive there, which went by easily as Friday isn’t a very busy day on the highways to there especially in the late morning. That first day was great as we ended up skiing at the very end of the daylight part of the ski-day and then we night-ski’d, which is always a blast. Keystone definitely is a lot of fun to ski at because it has ridiculously long runs that you can really get into and not feel like you’re already at the bottom again waiting in line to get back on the lift. That night I passed out pretty early due to a combination of messed-up body clock, altitude adjustment, and just being tired from skiing. The next day, breakfast was consumed and then we were all back out there on the slopes, getting over to the backside of the mountain and eventually chilling at the bottom of Mozart as we tend to do. It’s just a nice place to relax and enjoy the day and watch a lot of crazy skiers. We sort of ended the day early and then headed back to the lodge to chill, which is a definite nice thing to do after a day’s worth of skiing. I ended up wiping out twice (the only time I did wipe out this vacation) one time right after the other at the very end of that day because I was just tired as hell. First fell backwards and slid down the slope….got up, skied about twenty feet, then fell forwards and slid down a bit more, filling up my jacket with a nice layer of snow to keep me frozen…

Even though it was fun to ski, the main attraction for me of this trip was just getting to spend time with my friends. It made me realize how much I’ve missed being around them, that’s for sure. As more time goes by I know it’ll be harder and harder to recapture that energy we all had when we were all there, but for now it’s wonderful to be able to still all get along like we do.

On the last day, I rode with Melissa and Susan back to CS in Melissa’s BMW (nice!) and then after a lunch at Noodles (God I miss that place – of all cities in the world not to have this particular chain of restaurants, why does NYC NOT have these????) they dropped me off right at the airport for my flight to Dallas….which unfortunately I found out got delayed 2.5 hours! I already had a huge layover in Dallas but that layover was actually only 2.5 hours too, so basically I began to realize that my slim chance of making my flight was very very slim indeed. While waiting for my flight to go to Dallas, I kept checking on my iPhone (thank you, iPhone web browser!) the flight status, willing it to show me that the flight in Dallas to Newark would also get delayed – as all I needed was like 20-30 minutes of delay to ensure I had time to get off the plane and run to whatever gate I had to go to for my flight….and about 30 minutes before we left CS, the Delay I hoped for showed up! So I had hope of not spending the night in Dallas…and sho’nuff, when I got to Dallas, I made my flight to Newark….but of course I didn’t get home until about 2:30 in the morning on Monday, and I was going to work that day… and I couldn’t sleep yet, so when I finally passed out at 3:45 I got to wake up about 2.5 hours later to get up for work. Ugh. Monday was a long day.

And so here I am now. I have a slew of pics to put up from work and from my trip back to Colorado Springs, so click away and enjoy!

Jan 23, 2008 - Evonne’s Last Day in our Office

23-Jan-2008 15:15, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:15, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:15, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 295
 
23-Jan-2008 15:16, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:16, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:32, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
23-Jan-2008 15:32, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:32, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:32, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 3.5, 12.523mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
23-Jan-2008 15:33, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 15:34, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 16:49, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
23-Jan-2008 16:50, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 16:50, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
23-Jan-2008 16:50, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 

Jan 24-27, 2008 – Back in Colorado for SnoFest 2008!

Laura as we got to the condo at Keystone - yay snow!
Laura as we got to the condo at Keystone - yay snow!25-Jan-2008 03:46, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.006 sec
Jeff and Laura
Jeff and Laura25-Jan-2008 03:46, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.008 sec
Me and Susan after skiing
Me and Susan after skiing25-Jan-2008 05:41, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
25-Jan-2008 05:41, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
Smiley Susan and hardcore me
Smiley Susan and hardcore me25-Jan-2008 22:03, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
25-Jan-2008 22:03, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
Hardcore Susan and Smiley Me
Hardcore Susan and Smiley Me25-Jan-2008 22:03, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
Don't know what...
Don't know what...25-Jan-2008 22:03, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
KD and Melissa (peeking in the background)
KD and Melissa (peeking in the background)25-Jan-2008 22:04, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 141
 
26-Jan-2008 00:01, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.002 sec
The ever-popular self-shot, this time by Melissa
The ever-popular self-shot, this time by Melissa26-Jan-2008 00:01, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.002 sec
Eric and KD at the Beach area at the bottom of the Keystone back
Eric and KD at the Beach area at the bottom of the Keystone back26-Jan-2008 00:02, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.003 sec
 
Me, Jeff and Melissa
Me, Jeff and Melissa26-Jan-2008 00:02, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.008 sec
26-Jan-2008 00:02, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.002 sec
Hells yeah, bitches
Hells yeah, bitches26-Jan-2008 00:06, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 8.0, 7.7mm, 0.004 sec
 

And that’s pretty much it for the latest. Been back at work and while for some reason I was hesitant to go back, that was needless stress, as it’s great to be back and now I’m on to some new projects! I get to work on translating some aspects of our current 30 Rock automation system (the system that is responsible for making sure that the national shows and commercials make it to the world) from its current SD (standard def) incarnation to the HD1 (high def) one. It will actually be pretty cool and I’ll be learning even more once again!

And oh yeah, if anyone has some other pics from SnoFest this past weekend and of certain other folks (you know who I’m talking about), I would definitely appreciate a copy! 🙂

Black Diamond, Baby! (T-215)

Yep – I conquered one of my ski endeavors this weekend – the Keystone run called DiamondBack was totally my bitch!

I’ve returned from SnoFest! at Keystone without a broken bone or two! Incredible! Anyways, as promised, I have downloaded my pictures from the trip and posted them here. I must provide advance warning: some of the pics are very nice and pretty and blah blah blah – and some of the pictures are straight-up pics taken by and of drunk people. So if you can’t deal with that, bitch don’t care. I’ll expound on that last little phrase next month.

To recap the trip though: Awesomeness squared. There was no drama as potentially expected, everyone had a great time, no one got hurt, and the skiing was outstanding. We took off early Friday morning after combining people into two cars at Kyle’s house. On the way up, just right on Powers, Tom’s Explorer caught the ice wrong and spun out – fortunately that was the beginning and the end of the bad luck for the trip. Luckily he and his passengers weren’t hurt and the car was fine. The trek up to Keystone was uneventful as the weather was frickin’ beautiful. We then got ourselves parked and ready to go skiing, as we couldn’t check into the condo until the evening. And so we skied. And skied some more. Keystone really is a great resort – I didn’t really get to see much of it that first trip I took there last March, and during this trip, I got to see quite a few more runs on the front side of the mountain and take on some of the back side of the mountain, which is pretty advanced. What is cool about Keystone is that the length of the runs is very very long. You literally ski down the whole mountain, and some of the runs are 3 miles long or so. So you get a lot of turns, various steepness, potential for lots of speed, and an entertaining run in before you have to get back on the lifts. I’ve noticed that at Breckenridge, the runs aren’t quite as long as Keystone – but you do have many more to choose from than at Keystone. Regardless, it’s a very fun resort. On the second day of skiing was when I finally built up the courage to try a black diamond run. I had told myself to go for it this trip, but I was very willing to talk myself out of it though. Fortunately, I ended up running into Dave who talked up the DiamondBack trail. So I caught his enthusiasm and Kyle, Dave and I went down the trail. Of course, I had to take photos at the beginning and end of the trail – it’s not everyday you get to break your Black Diamond cherry. I will say that my heart was definitely beating superfast. I imagine that this isn’t the hardest of black diamonds to ski, but it certainly is long and steep. It starts off innocuously enough at the end of a little green bunny slope area (I kid you not) at the top of the mountain, but then you round a bend and see where the run pretty much slopes into the wham-o ‘black-diamond’ part. As you approach it, you can actually see the bottom and you realize that the bottom is VERY far down there and you have to ski to it to reach it. Well, I was there, so no turning around now. I felt pretty good while skiing down the run, especially when I saw other newbies trying to ski down it and who definitely looked a lot more scared than me. Before I knew it, I was down the mountain though, and it was awesome.

Jeremy also came up on Saturday, and we ended up all skiing around that afternoon, eventually meeting up to watch the Cardboard Derby set up for SnoFest. Basically people build various vehicles out of cardboard to race down the bunny slope. You hope to make it all the way to the finish line with an intact vehicle and not having to push it. Most do not meet these goals. But there were some that knocked that goal out of the park, including the NORAD bobsled team (freakin’ Fast!), the Short Yellow Bus, a giant Cricket cell phone, and a Viking warship. Some of these people got very creative. After watching that for a little bit, it was time to Night Ski! That is a definite fun experience, as the trails are much less crowded and the snow is great to ski on, as the iciness is mostly gone. Cheeks (I mean, Jeremy), KD, Eric and I went nightskiing for a while (Jeff went as well, but wanted to knock out more skiing without waiting) together, and of course fun was had by all.

I don’t want to leave out all the ridiculous fun had at night. The first night was pretty mellow, as we were all pretty damn tired, but not too tired to play some Karaoke Revolution! And of course drink. Which I did a lot of. No hangover the next day – woo hoo! Then on Saturday night, after night skiing, Jeremy, KD, Eric and I went out and got some pizza in the Keystone Village area. And of course drank. Then we went next door to Parrot Eyes bar, where we met up with Dave and Dallas, and of course we drank. Not to mention take lots of stupid pictures. As you’ll see below. Some hideous pics are also below. Then we went back to the lodge, and of course continued to drink (our driver, Eric, did NOT drink of course though – we are responsible people here!). That was when Jeremy and I probably should have stopped drinking, but c’est la vie. So even though we were hungover today, it was still lots of fun. The four of us stayed to do some more skiing this last day, but for me, the conditions were too icy; also, I think all the tiredness was catching up to me, I was still a bit hungover, and on one of the blue runs on the back of the mountain, I wiped out once and had to ski the gauntlet (what I call it, as basically you have to ski down this super-steep part of the mountain that everybody at the base is looking up at – so there’s like 200 people watching you ski or fall…) right afterwards. I was done. Everybody else had left in the morning, so I rode with Jeremy back to the Springs. All in all, a great weekend vacation!

And now, the pics:

SnoFest 2007 @ Keystone, Day 1: Friday, 26 Jan 07

Melissa in the car on the way upMelissa in the car on the way up
Melissa in the car on the way up26-Jan-2007 07:46, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
KD tooKD too
KD too26-Jan-2007 07:46, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
Jeff, the fearless driverJeff, the fearless driver
Jeff, the fearless driver26-Jan-2007 07:46, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 50
 
Hobie, the idiotic cameramanHobie, the idiotic cameraman
Hobie, the idiotic cameraman26-Jan-2007 07:47, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
Sleeping MelissaSleeping Melissa
Sleeping Melissa26-Jan-2007 08:06, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
26-Jan-2007 08:06, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
 
KD daresKD dares
KD dares26-Jan-2007 08:07, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
There's Keystone!There's Keystone!
There's Keystone!26-Jan-2007 10:03, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 10.0, 15.4375mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 50
Jeff at the summitJeff at the summit
Jeff at the summit26-Jan-2007 11:16, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50
 
Melissa and KD at the topMelissa and KD at the top
Melissa and KD at the top26-Jan-2007 11:17, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50
There's me, not paying attentionThere's me, not paying attention
There's me, not paying attention26-Jan-2007 11:17, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
Breckenridge, in the distanceBreckenridge, in the distance
Breckenridge, in the distance26-Jan-2007 11:22, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 13.0, 22.21875mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 50
 
26-Jan-2007 11:22, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 11.0, 18.34375mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 50
Jeff and BreckJeff and Breck
Jeff and Breck26-Jan-2007 11:22, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 13.0, 22.21875mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 50
KD and BreckKD and Breck
KD and Breck26-Jan-2007 11:22, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 4.9, 22.21875mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50
 

SnoFest 2007 @ Keystone, Day 2: Saturday, 27 Jan 07

Eric, pro skier and gold medal winner at the racesEric, pro skier and gold medal winner at the races
Eric, pro skier and gold medal winner at the races27-Jan-2007 08:24, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 3.5, 10.8125mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 77
Jeff and Melissa prepare for a long day of lodge livingJeff and Melissa prepare for a long day of lodge living
Jeff and Melissa prepare for a long day of lodge living27-Jan-2007 08:25, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 3.5, 10.8125mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 102
Me before my first-ever Black Diamond run!!!!Me before my first-ever Black Diamond run!!!!
Me before my first-ever Black Diamond run!!!!27-Jan-2007 11:19, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50
 
If I had to die today on the black diamond, that's one helluva viewIf I had to die today on the black diamond, that's one helluva view
If I had to die today on the black diamond, that's one helluva view27-Jan-2007 11:21, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50
Dave and Kyle there to usher me in to the clubDave and Kyle there to usher me in to the club
Dave and Kyle there to usher me in to the club27-Jan-2007 11:21, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50
I survived!I survived!
I survived!27-Jan-2007 11:31, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 7.1, 7.40625mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 50
 
Looking towards Breckenridge and the weather over thereLooking towards Breckenridge and the weather over there
Looking towards Breckenridge and the weather over there27-Jan-2007 14:53, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 10.0, 15.4375mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50
Me tooMe too
Me too27-Jan-2007 14:53, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 10.0, 15.4375mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50
KD, Eric, Melissa, Jeff and Jeremy at the Cardboard DerbyKD, Eric, Melissa, Jeff and Jeremy at the Cardboard Derby
KD, Eric, Melissa, Jeff and Jeremy at the Cardboard Derby27-Jan-2007 16:02, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 50
 
This Bitch Don't CareThis Bitch Don't Care
This Bitch Don't Care27-Jan-2007 16:02, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
Me in the pic this timeMe in the pic this time
Me in the pic this time27-Jan-2007 16:02, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
Not sure what happened hereNot sure what happened here
Not sure what happened here27-Jan-2007 16:03, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
 
The Cardboard derbyThe Cardboard derby
The Cardboard derby27-Jan-2007 16:05, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 4.9, 22.21875mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
The contestants lined upThe contestants lined up
The contestants lined up27-Jan-2007 16:05, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 4.9, 22.21875mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
KD and Eric at the Pizza placeKD and Eric at the Pizza place
KD and Eric at the Pizza place27-Jan-2007 20:03, Canon Canon PowerShot S410, 2.8, 7.40625mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 50
 

Headed to SnoFest (T-219)

6 weekends -> 6 snowstorms. That’s gotta be a record.

Literally, every weekend we get snow – it’s nowhere near as heavy as it was the first two weekends, but without fail, we’ll get a few inches of snow each weekend. Meanwhile, the entire rest of the week is usually sunny and clear, although frickin’ cold. I must say though that it’s nice to see the rest of the midwest and Texas getting all sorts of snow and cold weather too. I’m glad Colorado was able to spread on the wealth to the rest of you guys.

Anyways, yes, it’s been a few weeks or so since I’ve updated and I just wanted to chime in with what has been going on before heading to SnoFest this weekend up at Keystone. SnoFest is this huge weekend party at Keystone resort wherein all the Colorado Springs’ military base personnel get together and take over the mountain (basically). It’s an excuse to give us another day off (yep, we get this Friday off meaning I haven’t worked an actual ‘full’ work week in literally two months) and to go skiing for an entire weekend. It should be good times, and about 9 of us have rented a very nice condo to live and party in – so that should be fun, and here’s hoping for no drama. I’ll post pics (of course) when I return.

So like I said, it’s been pretty much blah at work – so not much to talk about there. Oh wait, I guess there is some interesting news that developed last week that both thrilled and bummed me out. Part I of the information is that in March, the deputy squadron commander is going to be taking sick leave in order to have surgery. In the meantime, I will be stepping in as deputy Squadron CC!! For an entire month. Whoa! Finding out this information was pretty cool news – because it gives me a chance to help get the squadron back on track as the current commander is seriously in need of help. I obviously can’t go into as much as I’d like on this website, as that damn UCMJ is always there with the key to Leavenworth, but let’s just say she’s not doing that great of a job here. So I was stoked about that news. I’ll get my shot at being almost a squadron commander before getting out – sweet. But then the other shoe dropped the next day, as I heard that initial news through unofficial channels. When I was told it officially, I also was told that I would NOT be coming back as flight commander in April when the deputy commander returns. At all. Instead, my current deputy, Melissa, who puts Captain rank on in May, will take over for good once I leave in late February. I’m not thrilled about this news for two main reasons: first, I really like being flight CC – that’s been the only thing that has made this assignment worth having. So not returning to this is kinda shocking, as I wasn’t mentally prepared to have to say goodbye to that post this early. I had figured I’d be flight cc until the summer or so…WRONG! Second, that means I pretty much have no real job from April to the end of August. Allegedly I become ‘Special Project’ officer, basically meaning that whatever the commanders don’t want to deal with, I get to. In my mind, this new job means I come in at 0900 and leave at 1500 (3pm). I’m just sayin’.

So that’s the work fun. I hope the month of March doesn’t suck too much.

In other news, I’ve been spending money like it’s going out of style. Last week I went to Men’s Wearhouse and bought my first-ever suit. I knew I’d need one to interview with and potentially work in depending on the next job I’d get, and I have never owned a true suit before. It’s a pretty sharp suit, and one day when I actually put the whole thing on, I’ll take some pics to show off the new threads. I also bought some sweet shirts and ties as well as a new pair of loafers, and all in all dropped a load of cash on it, but it’s definitely an investment. I then bought an iPod finally after having resisted for soooooo long. I just got tired of how iPod-centric all the electronics are nowadays – everything’s a stereo plus an iPod-dock – but you can never plug in directly any other type of MP3 player. Plus, you really can’t beat how the iPod interface is – it’s such a clean and efficient way to navigate through your music. My Rio Carbon was such a bitch to use because it took forever to get to your music, especially if you had a lot of it. But my new 80GB black iPod is so awesome and I don’t regret finally upgrading. Now I can get all those cool iPod toys too. I also went and bought some new winter clothes up in Denver and down here in the Springs, including a very sweet long black overcoat. Men’s Wearhouse wanted to sell me a cashmere one for $500 (on sale from $800), and while I’d love to have bought it, that was just a bit much for me at the time. So I went to Burlington Coat Factory and bought a wool/cashmere blend for $180 that is still quite comfortable and looks pretty damn good on me. It’s great for being a bit more dressy and especially while wearing a suit. In fact, I ended up wearing it when going with my friends to see Mamma Mia this past Sunday at the Pikes Peak Performing Arts Center. I never get tired of that musical apparently. It really is good, and I was impressed at how good the cast was in this touring company version of it. Everybody else I went with liked it too, which is not a surprise. Afterwards, some folks went home, but Jeremy and Melissa and I stayed out and went drinking at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub just a few steps away. It was a ‘school night’, but I just didn’t care and realized I’d pay the price the next day – so 5 beers later, I was feeling pretty damn good. And amazingly, this Monday I didn’t feel as horrendous as expected. Tired, yes, but not nearly as hungover as I should have been. Yay!

And in one last bit of reporting, I have been working with Bradley-Morris, Inc. What’s Bradley-Morris, Inc. you ask? Well, it’s a company that specializes in placing separating or retiring military officers into corporate America. That’s me! They had a 2-hour seminar last week about just how they work, what you can expect, and to answer any questions people had concerning them. My ‘agent’, Justin, and I have talked a few times since then, and basically I’m stoked about how things are progressing. In June and July, I’ll be headed to some hiring conferences, one in Chicago and one in San Diego. At these conferences, the interviews are already scheduled and planned out, so it’s not as you might be thinking, like a giant convention or something. They have hiring conferences all around the country, but with what I’m interested in doing, Justin seemed to think Chicago and San Diego will be the best bets for successful matches at that time. These are regional conferences, so basically going to Chicago and San Diego means I’m hoping for jobs in those general regions. San Diego would of course be awesome, as it covers all of California and the southwest. Chicago is definitely a region I wasn’t certain about, but thinking about it, I would definitely be up for giving Chicago a try. The unfortunate news I learned though is that Colorado Springs/Denver and San Antonio/Austin are both primarily military/defense-driven economies, and frankly, I don’t want to work in those industries anymore. I’m not shutting myself out of those completely just yet, as if the right opportunity comes up, I will consider it, especially if I can stay here. But that will remain to be seen. So who knows, I may find myself either back in California or perhaps learning a new lifestyle, Chicago-style. That’s a whole lotta speculation in this paragraph, admittedly. In the meantime, I am confronted with the foundation-level tasks of creating a resume, compiling references, creating a ‘Hobie Barnes is wonderful’ book with all my OPRs, decorations, etc in it, and just getting myself competitive to be hired. Which leads to a question to all you out there: if you have some jobs opening up where you work, no matter the industry, hook a Hobie up and let me know!

Oh yeah, on a 24 Note – how freaking good has this season been so far? Jack kills Curtis! A suitcase nuke takes out Valencia (what happened to Six Flags Magic Mountain?)! The ultimate bad-guy overseer from last season was Jack’s Brother! Jack is REALLY pissed at his brother! Wayne Palmer sucks as a president!