Christmas Leave

So I know its been a while since I've last even looked at blogger. I must not be a true follower of the blogging arts... Well my life has been quite hectic lately. I have been spending most of my time on the base, adjusting to the new squadron, and just getting used to the idea that I get to see my girl in a couple weeks! Now if thats not awesome, I don't know what is.
Today I have off... not really sure why though. I purchased a card reader online so I could use my military ID with my computer and check my squadron's daily schedule from home and thus keeping me from having to drive in just to see the schedule. It helps out a lot now and I'm sure it will come in quite handy in the years ahead too.
I'm not sure how many people will be reading this because of my non-serious blogging ways, but I've read on my Lala's blog about how I recently worked my butt off to negotiate my changing my Christmas leave. The story behind that goes back to when I first checked in to the squadron...
I showed up on the first day and had it on the tip of my tongue so whenever anyone talked about Christmas leave I would immediately point out that I had set dates that I needed off. The set dates having been set up by Lala and myself back in August as I made the long drive from Florida to Georgia, Georgia to Wisconsin, then finally Wisconsin to Washington State. I remember the very spot I made the reservations with Lala: my transition from I-94 in Montana to Hwy 200 in the town of Glendive. We had a "patchy" conversation at this point because cell phone reception wasn't the greatest throughout Montana but we made do. We purchased our tickets through priceline.com. (Later events prove this to become a major ordeal with flight changes and making sure we had seats next to each other... we'll be buying our tickets together from now on, no matter how much I have to shell out.) Back to my checking in to the squadron... As the topic of Christmas leave came up, I immediately interjected the dates I needed off so it was out there. Well, come to find out, the dates they were giving off for leave were in two separate blocks... one before Christmas and another after by a couple days... and as my luck would have it, I was scheduled for the second block along with the other guys that checked in to the squadron when I did. So to make an already long story short, I have been dealing with 4 different people in the squadron trying to get my individual schedule changed so I can go on the cruise with my girl and her family and then enjoy the holidays with her family in New York and my family in Wisconsin... all of which Lala will be with me! :-) Along with getting the dates changed, I also had to make sure the two squadron watches I was scheduled for during my leave time were covered, which now involves favors and covering other people's watches for them. Whew, lots of work. But, come to think of it, none of it seemed like work while I was doing it and it still really doesn't seem like work looking back because of the reason I did it. Being with her on Christmas is what I want the most. Not so much just Christmas... but the "being with her" part.

One more thing... I thought I would pass this on to everyone, just in case... I am planning on moving my blog. The original will stay here on blogger but I think that it will be easier to put my blog on my website where I can edit it while I am offline during the cruise. We'll see when I actually move it, but for now here is the address: http://www.nfoav8or.com. Hope to see you all there and enjoying yourselves.