Saturday, January 1, 2011

Has It Been 9 Months?

The Annual "New Year's Day Introspection" entry where I realize it's been 9 months since my last post. My friend Chuck said it best--it is much easier to type out a quick snarky status than to work up a blog post. To get the synapses to fire in sequence for more than 5 minutes at a time is becoming more and more a challenge, I guess

The year that was 2010 was pretty good, all-in-all. My Squadron's moved forward. We had a very successful deployment to Qatar from May to September. I went back for my 20 year Citadel reunion and got to see great friends from High School and my old stomping grounds in Columbia.

The year that will be 2011 holds much promise. I'll find out in February if I made Colonel. That will drive what happens next: Stay here in the Pacific NW another year or off to some other crazy place. I'll relinquish command to my replacement in July. It'll be tough to hand my command over, but the idea of not having to constantly check the Blackberry holds much appeal, I must admit. My oldest boy starts his Senior year of High School. That'll make you feel old, let me tell you. It is exciting listening to him contemplate where he'd like to go to college. He's leaning towards the Naval Academy (my savings account votes for that one), but he's taken a recent interest in Texas A&M (close to our potential retirement locale). My middle son William starts High School this year, entering the 10th grade. The whole world is open to this young man. Benjamin has given up his dream of becoming a Jedi--"No future in it." Clever...clever, though apropos considering it all happened "...a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Isabella still wants to be a princess, though she will be 9 going on 16 this year.

So, a good year with hopes of an even better one this year. Happy New Year to all!

5 comments:

Chuck said...

Full Bird!? Or LtC?

Man, either way super congratulations. I cannot believe you have been in so long.What an achievement you have had in the USAF.

And to your youngest son, we need more Jedi. Only, the cool Luke Skywalker kind, not the lame boring Prequel Jedi.

We also need some Bladerunners. I here that Taps has a few Skin Jobs working there.

Alan said...

Congratulations Sir. Now you are in the company of greats like Colonel Sanders or Colonel Klink (German though he was). Seriously, quite a status my man. Even I, a mere civilian, salute you.

James said...

Eagerly awaiting your January 2012 post!

James said...

Now it's been six months.

Valtitude said...

This is kind of off the wall, but I've seen your posts off to the side of Tighty Whitey's blog for a number of years. He always lists various Code Words for Tour de France contests every year ... I've watched the Tour de France since 1999, so I visit TW's blog every July. Ha!

I've wanted to say hello to you during previous years' visits and intended to write to you before. I was hesitant because you don't know me, it's the Internet etc ... Then I saw in your Jan 1 post that your current posting was likely to change, so thought I'd better write while I could.

I worked on the C-17 pilot training proposal for FlightSafety Services Corporation in Denver in the late 1980s. We didn't win that contract. At the time, McDonnell-Douglas was in trouble with the aircraft (way, way over budget and schedule) with lots of problems needing to be worked out. McDoug (our nickname for the company) was determined they were going to keep pilot training in-house. Then Boeing bought McDoug.

My husband, Indy, has done flight management software work on the C-17 at Boeing Long Beach. He's an avionics/ flight management systems software engineer. He writes software for autopilot, various parts of flight management systems, simulation and modeling. The C-17 is a beautiful aircraft!

Indy's beside himself with excitement about the new C-5. It's too bad the work is being done in Atlanta. Indy's been getting work in Phoenix, Portland and Seattle (Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Boeing) in recent years and we're not geared toward Atlanta right now. FINALLY some aerospace work is opening up again - after Honeywell seemingly sent all avionics engineering work to India in 2007. The rest of the industry continued to die down to nothing through 2009. Since 2009, Indy's had great difficulty finding anything but piecemeal work ... we're hoping this is changing, but overall the U.S. financial outlook is terrible and frightening!

Indy (short for Indulis) has worked on Gulfstream business jets, Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft as well as USAF cargo planes C-5, C-17 and C-141. Indy was Principal Engineer on the C-5 pilot training for Air National Guard that began about two years before the Gulf War. We always thought that was far less than coincidence.

A dear friend of ours serves in the Canadian Forces - Air Force. He was in Afghanistan for awhile and was in a vehicle that hit an IED. He's fine physically, and doing better as time goes along. He's a pretty happy guy to begin with, which helps.

Be safe wherever you go! Thank you for your service to our crumbling country!

You can find Indy and me on Facebook, Indy on LinkedIn if you feel like corresponding.


Val
Valerie Gloss Krumins
Indy Krumins (Indulis)
Highlands Ranch, Colorado