Christmas!

Is it really Christmas? It sure doesn't seem like it. 60 degrees outside without a cloud. There is nothing out there that reminds us of what we are used to. The hills with tons of Christmas lights, green trees and family and friends.

We spent the afternoon, early evening hours with the Edelhauser's. Kurt is another controller that is going to the Seattle Center with us. We had a great time. We were very happy to have a great time with a quality family. A few fun games of Scrabble were had. We won't talk about who won both (me) games. We had to cut the third game a bit short as someone's wife, and someone's cousin came to town. Alyssa came to town bearing gifts. Oh, and I love almond roca. So good.

We have been doing alright in class. We just finished a really hard 2 weeks. This is why I haven't been blogging. The past two weeks were pretty demoralizing to some extent. We were doing non-radar stuff. Basically, it's kind of the way they used to do it before radar stuff. Still, some places use this form of controlling. Example, parts of the Rockies are areas that radars just can't reach. People controlling those areas have to use strips to simulate where planes should be. I don't think that I'd like to do that forever, however it was a very interesting and complicated thing to learn. One guy in our class is going to be in the non-radar sector at the Denver Center. Let's just say that he hears about it everyday from someone in our class how bad it sucks.

Monday, we passed our second of three pass/fail tests. Our next and final one is going to be the toughest. In the next month and a half, we will be learning stuff that will lead to our final "PV", performance verification. Essentially, a person from the region comes down here and watches us and decides if we get to continue to the facility. A bit intense? I think so. It's about that time to put it into overdrive and crack skulls. On average, 95% of people do pass the final pv. One class last week had a guy not pass the pv and the retake of the pv. Guess what facility he was going to? Seattle. The other class that pv'd last week had 3 failures. I'm determined to not let it happen to me. I spent the whole day today not doing much. The next three days, I'm going to spend doing atleast 4 hours of studying. Nobody else in the class is going to do that. Why? Every single person in the class, with the exception of the 4 Seattle trainees, went home for Christmas.

Alright, I think I'm going to bed soon. Thanks again for reading. I love you all. I'm finding out more and more that people are actually reading this. Nobody ever comments, so I don't know what to say. I'm glad that I know who some of the people are so that I can censor accordingly. I don't want to offend anyone with my language. I think I have done pretty respectably so far.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Jeff

Yet another update.

Okay, things have been pretty nuts. I'm struggling with things pretty bad. I mean, things make sense, I just can't apply them quite as fast as I'd like to. We are running control problems using on strips. You get about 15 minutes to preplan everything that you can and then the clock starts running. There are a few people that are just rockin', then there is me. Hahaha. It seems like you have to rember 3500 things. Sometimes I get confused and rattled. Then, I get all flustered and stuff. Then it just snowballs. I guess there have been worse, I just don't believe it.

Today we finally talked to someone from the facility. He wasn't really a manager that could answer too many questions but he did his best. We also found out that it looks like we are going to get the day off after Christmas. I suppose that's a good thing. However, I can't really afford to get home. Since we decided to get off the central credit card thing for our apartment, I have been kind of behind on the money situation. We will get paid the same since it will be considered a holiday, so that's good. I just want to be in training if I'm already going to be down here. Who knows? Maybe a 4 day weekend will be a good release.

Well, I don't know if anybody really reads this. Thanks if you have or are just reading for the first time. I'm going to try and keep posting regularly. Just be patient with me. Gracias...

*Short Update*

Okay, I have been trying to stay focused on the task at hand. Therefore, I have neglected my writings. After several people asking me why I haven't been writing much, I decided to give my appologies. I struggled pretty good last section so, I have been trying to do better this time.

We have a map test tomorrow, so I shouldn't be writing too much... I need to draw it one more time tonight and again tomorrow before school. Then, they are giving us an hour to study the map in class yet again. Before lunch we will draw the map out. I did alright on the pretest. Probably a 93% or so. But I want as close to 100% as I can get.

So, this is all I'm writing for now. I'll give a detailed update either tomorrow or Thursday (since Mrs. Hasselback never emailed me about the Hawks tickets in Dallas). Anyways, good night everyone!

Back to it.

After having my computer for more than a week, the guy said he couldn't know what to do. He thought it was my motherboard. So, we went to Best Buy and the guy used a new plug to test it... Yeah, it worked right away. The guy told me he checked it but he's a tool. I'm never going there again, infact, I feel like writing bad stuff about him on the net.

It's our day off because of Veteran's Day. It's been pretty preductive. Alyssa and Sarah are coming down this Friday. Tim is bringing my car down this next weekend. I'm feeling a bit better about the way things are going for now. This last test wasn't as bad. I don't know. We'll see what happens.

I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you again for reading. I'd love to hear how other people are doing...

Jeff

In case you haven't noticed...

I haven't been writing here very much lately. My computer died here, so I'm not able to write anything from home. Instead, I'm having to check everything on a very limited basis. Or, I check stuff from my phone and I can't get to this site from my phone.

Things have been pretty difficult for me the past few days. I'm full of self doubt at this moment, but things will be okay eventually. We'll see what happens. Keep me in your thoughts. Haha

Jeff

Mornings suck

It's 0535 and I'm awake already. I guess not really awake but I'm alive. I've showered and eaten breakfast, now I'm writing instead of studying. I only have 30 minutes til the shuttle comes anyway. Besides, I thought there was a law about studying too early. I'd hate to get in trouble with the homework police.

Anyways, I'm nearly over my cold. This weekend I really didn't do much but watch sports and study. Jon was able to get out of the house a bit, going to a steakhouse and stuff. The guys ended up coming back here afterward so I did get some interaction.

Yesterday, Monday, it was dificult to get back into the swing of things. 5am comes up so early when your used to getting home at 1am and going to bed at 3. Oh well, I suppose it's a sign of things to come over my next 25 years. What helps is that we laugh at this show called "Muy Buenos Dias". It's a spanish version of "The Grind", an old MTV show that had people dancing on the beach. Everything is in spanish and high intensity. Nothing like white guys dancing like retards at high speeds. There's no other reason to watch it... Hahahah right. Goodness...

I finally got my retake back from fridays class. I got a passing score. I'm happy for that. Right now we are working on maps and charts. We just started so we are basically just learning the legends and what everything means. It's okay, just repetitive.

I have never really realized just how much eating something for breakfast impacts your daily life. It has made me lose about 10 pounds just because my motabolism is going starting earlier and stuff. Alright, I'm needing to brush my teeth and get the hell out of dodge.

Another Day.

It's our final night shift for the week. We get done at midnight tonight and have to be back there at 0730 on Monday. Horray for short weekends. Last night our thermostat went out. It was a cold night. In the middle of dreaming I woke and realized that it was probably the curcuit breaker. I put some socks on and went back to bed. I woke up around 9 and tried to find the curcuit breaker. Of course, it was in Jon's room. I walked to the office to let them know that it had happened. When I got back, Jon woke up and we switched it back on. Then it went out again. So, we switched it back on again. It's probably the cheapest breaker box I have ever seen. Instead of getting the normal switch when you have two breakers together, it looks like they put a paper clip to hold them together. It's ridiculous.

I have a full blown cold now. Sniffling and everything. The doctor yesterday gave me amoxicillin and sudafed, but it really hasn't worked. Maybe because I got the flu shot yesterday too. I don't know. I just want my head to stop hurting. I'm going to rest all weekend.

I have to retake yet another test. I don't know why I missed the questions that I did. I got an 80% but I should have gotten 90%. Oh well. I guess it's just review anyway.

Alright, time to get ready and stuff. Have a glorious weekend. (who ever is reading this)

It's been a bit.

I haven't written in a few days. Things have been kind of different for me. Friday was the retake. Again, I didn't get a high enough score for "passing" of it. However, it is basically just a practice test for the comprehensive test on Nov. 14th. If you don't pass that test, then you have a meeting with some FAA people and your facility. That is when you decide if you can go on or not. I would have scored high enough for passing the comp. though.

I have had a sore throat for about 5 days now. I wish it would go away. The soreness, not the throat. I can't really get to a doctor. Everything is so far away from us. I guess I can go in 6 hours early tomorrow on the semi early morning shuttle. (we are on night shift this week 330pm til midnight)

Friday night, Kim and Art, took us out to dinner. We went to Johnny Caruso's. It was a great italian place. We stayed at there place for a few hours watching movies until about 11:30pm. I got a call and I told Jon that we needed to go. We had rented a car so that is how we could leave... Anyways, earlier in the night, a guy from our class called and said that his buddy got sick at the bar. I told Jon that needed to go pick him up. Out the door we went. We headed down Meridian and somehow ended up in the airport. If you head straight down Meridian without turning, this is what happens. I told him that we needed to turn around and that we were just going to take the departures ramp around. Then I saw this pretty girl standing off to the side. I pulled off to the side to talk to her. Jon didn't know what was going on. Alyssa had come down to surprise him. He was kind of in shock and wonderment. It was a good time.

The next day was Jon's Bday. We finally got up and around town about 430. We went to the Oklahoma City bombing site. That was amazing. We only got an hour in the actual museum part. I think we got about half way through in the hour. I'm going to go back one more time before I go.

We walked from the site to Bricktown, basically Pioneer Square in WA. However, there is a canal that runs threw the center of the area. It was pretty cool to sit at the restaurant and watch the people walking around by the water and also riding on the boats that they had.

Sunday was a day of football and studying for me. Jon and Alyssa went to the Cowboy Museum. I didn't know that they were going there but that's okay. I'm going to get there someday. I watched football and played on the internet all day. I'm getting tired of the bloody Seahawks. What a bunch of bums. Oh well, there's always the Sonics... I mean, wait. No, the Thunder.

The last few days have been up at 1000 by pounding at our door. Either houskeeping, a maintanence guy or some one else decides to wake us up at the same time every day. Granted, we get home at 1am and I have had a hard time getting to sleep. So, I haven't been sleeping til 3 or so. Next week is going to suck. We have a short weekend. Get done at midnight on Friday, and return at 730 Monday morning.

We are having a meet and greet today. People from our facilities are going to be at the school to chat with us. I've been kind of nervous all day. We have the second block test tomorrow, the meet and greet is tonight and I have been getting increasingly upset with the apartment. Everything seems to be so.... cheap. The TV already blew. We got a new one that has no inputs to plug the dvd player or Xbox. Granted, I haven't had time to watch it since it blew but still. What TV made since 1992 doesn't have the red, white and yellow inputs? Seriously? The sock washer does nothing but wrinkle and shrink all of our clothes. The dishwasher now has a kink in the drainage tube. All of the silverware is starting to rust. The internet disconnects at a regular basis. The garbage truck comes barreling in at 4 am almost every morning. AND everything is not within 1 mile like they said it was.... We have been here 2 weeks already and I wish it was March. Not because of how hard the class is, but because I don't like staying in this "hotel".

Okay. Enough ranting. On to the eventures of riding the shuttle tonight. They contract out the drivers at night. They are SCARY. I hope we can make it home safely.
Thanks for listening.
-Jeff

We've been here a week...

Today was a day of a lot of book work and a lot of breaks. We would hit the books hard for 50 minutes and get a 15 minute break. My hand cramped from all of the writing the last two days.

Jon and I, thanks to help from Alyssa, got our books printed out. They did a great job helping us out on short notice. Now we won't have to write nearly as much down. Instead we can just highlight the parts we need. Then go make note cards. Or, make note cards as they talk because we will have more time.

My father's friend, Kim and her husband, Art, took us to Office Depot. We waited for a while for the books that weren't nearly complete. So, we decided to go to Applebee's for dinner. They treated us to a nice meal. Thank you again...

After getting our completed books, we were dropped of to our studies. We helped each other study for about an hour and a half. We just finished and I'm in bed. Yes, I have some clothes on. I'm just not going to say how much...

Long day tomorrow. I may not write as we have our first big test on Friday. I think it's on 150 pages of stuff. Tomorrow night is study night. We'll be chatting soon. JDL

Rough day

A relaxing weekend that walks into a fire. Not only did we not review anything, we continued on to the next lesson plan and tested for the previous one. I did some studying during the weekend but not like that. Granted, they aren't really scored until the end of the unit test, this coming Friday at 0700. I was pretty upset at my score. I felt like I'm in over my head.

Then, a lady named Deb came in and taught us all about airports. How to read all the signs and everything else like that. Again, we had a test about what she just talked about. This time I got 100%. I started to feel a bit better. Just when I feel better, it was the end of the day.

We get done at 1530 for now. Our shuttle didn't come until 1350 or so. I wished that I didn't have to wait, but oh well. I then sent all of our text book to Alyssa so that she can print them out for us. Of course, they print some of them out for us to study with while in class. We can't write in the books that we have in class. For now, we have to write anything and everything down in our notepads to bring home to study.

Here I sit, like a pile of mush. I'm wondering if I'm going to survive the upcoming trials. I sure hope so. The good news is the housekeepers came today and gave us full size towels. I can just imagine, even though I really don't want to, Jon drying off with what is like a half towel. Hahaha Now that's funny.

End of the Three Day weekend

I don't want it to end. Does it have to? Huh? Huh? We basically did nothing all weekend but we got paid for it. I mean, we got paid for today equal to a little over $2 an hour. We do get per diem today too, but yeah. I wish they'd pay for ESPN. Instead, we have been stuck watching your normal channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and FOX. Atleast we got the channels that play footbal on Sundays, but not on Monday nights. Doesn't the apartment complex know that I have people playing tonight on my fantasy football teams?

Jon and I worked out on Sunday while the Seahawks were starting play. I'm kind of glad that I didn't have to suffer through that. I did have to suffer through the Cowboys instead. I'm glad they lost. I wish is wasn't against a division rival though. Who would have thunk that the Cardinals would beat the Cowboys. Not me. Getting back on subject, we went to our gym. It's okay. I did 35 minutes on the stair stepper while Jon worked on the treadmill. When done with some cardio, we streched out the limbs and headed downstairs to hit some weights. We focused on legs. Basically both of us maxed out all of the leg machines. We are going to have to work on reps I guess.

Today we basically did nothing. We walked to the store and ate at a gutbomb place called Church's Chicken. When Jon said that there wasn't any flavor, I said, "what else do you expect for a $2.99 meal?" That's definatly how much his meal costed. I stated, while in the place, that I'm never going back there again... I think my stomach will thank me. Instead, I'm not going to walk quite as far. I'm going to stop at Sonic and get a $2.99 Extra long Coney Dog and Tots. A Coney Dog is about a footlong hotdog with chili and cheese. It's sooo much better than the deep fried madness that we had today. Hahaha. Atleast it had flavor.

The rest of the night was the same as the other days. Jon played Call of Duty 4 on his Playstation and I, sat on my duff watching t.v., playing on the computer and finally playing some Xbox 360. We are doing some dishes right now and I'm about to throw some clothes in our washer/dryer. Yeah, it's one unit. I think I can fit a pair of socks in it and it would be full. First, it washes the clothes. Then, it takes 100 minutes for them to dry. I could probably get a straw and blow on the clothes and they would dry faster than 100 minutes. When Jon grabbed his clothes though, I think they could have caught fire a few minutes later. Fricken hot they were.

So here we are. The night before I first full week. I'm kind of nervous. I mean, I know it's going to be tough. I just hope that I can get it. Time will tell. Everything should be fine. I'm going to have to apply myself like no other time in my life. Let's get this thing rolling.

Talk to you all later.

Day Two

*Knock, Knock... "Jeff, are you going to take a shower...?" I look at the clock. "Yes!" It was 0530am. We didn't have to be out to the shuttle until 0610, so I had time. However, Jon also had to shower, so he went first. While waiting I tried to think if my alarm went off. I do remember setting the time, but I don't remember pushing the button to actually turn it on. I got about 10 minutes to shower and stuff but I atleast I wasn't late.



Class started with an introduction to another instructor, Buzz. I can't exactly remember his last name. I think it was Baetz. He is a shorter, portly man and has a voice that booms. Again, he exclaimed his Sooners are the best while wearing a OU polo. He talked about the importance of study groups and that we'd all need each other to get through this.



We all then took a pre-test. Basically, the FAA wants to see what you know before the class starts. At the end, they will compare your scores to see how much you have grown. Needless to say, I don't know too much about it. I played educated guess and process of elimination for most of the 100 question test. Once finished with the test, we got to break until 1000. I think my break was 40 minutes. I went to a cafe and got some biscuits and gravy. They were good but I should have only got one biscuit. Oh well.

After that break, Mike Debbs finished with his "negative stuff'. He is so funny. I wish I could put it into words the things he says that just cracks us all up. He'll start talking and get excited and then just realize that he's off topic and say, 'okay' and get back on subject. One student sat up front the first day. When he came back on the second day, Mr. Debbs asked if he's okay up there. When the guy said yes, Mr. Debbs said, "you're crazy!" We broke for lunch. It was okay. I had lasagna, rice and veggies. Also, banana bread pudding.

Lunch concluded and we started our first lesson plan. Man, did things move fast. I'm going to buckle down even more than I originally expected. It sucks not really knowing much about this stuff before I got here. It seems that everyone else has some small experience.

Class ended at 1530. We arrived home and hung out for a bit. Our housing held a "get together" for the FAA students in the gym. They had sandwiches, cookies, chips and soda. About 10 people showed up during the hour that we were there. Jon and I got back to our place and hung out a bit. Both of us were pretty tired but we stayed up till about 2300. (Incase you don't get that mom, it's military time...) I watched part of Wallstreet, with the Sheen's. I forced myself to fall asleep around 0030.

I got up today at 0930. Played on the net for a bit. We are currently watching the Red River Rivalry: #1 Ranked Oklahoma Sooners against #5 Texas Longhorns. The guy caught it and ran to the half yard line. Oklahoma leads 35-30 with 7:45 left to play in the 4th. I kind of want to see Texas win just because then the instructors won't have too much to talk about anymore. TOUCHDOWN TEXAS...

We have our first three day weekend. We are just going to hang out and stuff. We'll see what happens.

Day One Complete.

What an exciting and interesting day. After concluding the first ever post, Jon and I ventured back out of the apartment to the office. There we met a few other trainees that had already started the program. A short 45 minutes later, and 4 other stops, we sat amongst the other 30 eager people ready to get things going.

The first lady from HR was very nice. Speaking like Harvey Fierstein, not on purpose, she made sure that everyone was taken care of as far as living situations. After everything was settled everyone received our badges and had to drive to the other side of the campus to our new classroom.

A man by the name of George introduced us to our first set of paperwork. Between his instructions he made sure that we knew about the local college football team, the Oklahoma "#1 team in the country" Sooners. George introduced us to several other people threw out the morning block: a lady from the credit union, the director of the program and our instructor, Mike Debb.

Mr. Debb took over for a while speaking about what he calls, "negative stuff". He said after tomorrow he won't have any more "negative stuff" to talk about because he just isn't a negative person. While speaking, several people stated that Mr. Debb had the speach patern of Christopher Walken. I didn't think he did as much but I can see where they could get that. Mr. Debb's final "negative stuff" was about being late. If you are late even one minute after the BB(be back) time, you can be issued a note to go into your file. Then he sent us on our first 10 minute break. We were told to be back at 1015. Everyone was sitting in our seats and waited for the class to start again. The instructors scanned the seats and noticed that one was empty. Some how, Mr. Jon Kroontje, was not in his seat. Mr. Debb lectured about the importance of being on time while George searched for Jon. Mistakingly, Jon had read the time wrong and thought it was lunch time. The break started one hour before the lunch break was supposed to start.

Next, two ladies came into to talk to us. For some reason, both of us don't have a clue about what they talked about. As they finished, we went to lunch. I had some good pork with potatoes and green beans. It was only $3.45 for that but the soft drink I got was something like $2.50. I don't think I'll be getting another one of those. The food was great. The price of soda, not so much...

After lunch, two guys were really late. They didn't get in trouble either but Jon didn't feel as bad. A woman then came in and made sure that our direct deposit information was right. She also talked to us about health insurance. We watched an old VHS tape, because the dvd wouldn't read. There was definitely a cameo by the actor who played Corky on "Live Goes On." All I could think was, Oh bly dee life goes on and this guy name Nick that worked at Nine's with me. Long story. As she left we had another 10 minute break. The break ended to the sexual harrasment lady. Why does the most attractive lady that I saw for the FAA have to teach this class? I think it's kind of funny actually. Family Guy came to mind when the barbershop quartet came in. Hilar!

Almost to the end, our final lady came in and chatted yet again about inappropriate behaviors. She was so funny though. I love it when people have a slight accent and say stuff like, "let me ack you this". It's supposed to be ask by the way. She whipped threw the second half of what we were supposed to do in about 13 minutes. It normally takes 45 minutes I guess.

Next, we took the shuttle back to the apartment. I think it was 1625 or so when we got back. Jon finally got the head lady in charge to come and get his Playstation 3 hooked up to the internet. Then we walked to the nearest store about 1.5 miles away. On the way there of course, we saw a Sonic drive in. Being as we had never eaten at one and they advertise in Seattle all the time, I had to walk the extra 300 yards to eat there. While eating, a friend of my dad's past called me. She lives in OKC. She asked what we were up to and I told her we were going grocery shopping and catching a cab back to our place. She said, "nonsense. Call me when you are about 15 minutes to being done. I'll take you back to your place." What an angel. I think it would have been hard to carry back $208 worth of groceries back to our place. Did I mention it was about 1.5 miles???

All in all, it has been a good day. I'm excited to finally have a job that I don't have to live off of people tips. We are in talks with my dad about possibly bringing my car down. It's just so far away to get anything. This weekend is a 3-day weekend and we are stuck here the whole time. Oh well, I mean, that's what we came here for. Thank you for taking your time in reading what could possibly be the longest thing I have ever written. Thank you for caring about us. Also, keep us in your thoughts. Lots of tough times ahead.

Jeff

Before we start

We started our journey yesterday October 8th, 2008, leaving Sea-Tac airport (SEA) at 5:45am. Including our lay over in Denver, we arrived in Oklahoma City around 2ish, Central time. I listened to the air traffic channel on both flights. It was kind of overwelming personally. Not knowing too much about the field, I'm realizing that it is going to be a long journey.

The part of OKC that we have seen, isn't too much. The place we are staying is alright. The apartment used to be a section 8 property. They new management has now started to make some nice changes. The gym is going to be our second home. There is a 7-11 next door and a Wallgreens about 2 blocks away. We went to Wallgreens and got some essentials that we didn't bring with us. The young lady that works the front desk was going to take us to the store when she got off of work, but she didn't come to our place like she said she was going to. Hopefully we will be able to get to the grocery store tonight.

Here we sit. Waiting for the shuttle before our first day. We were trying to catch the early shuttle, but the security guard informed us that the FAA cancelled the early shuttle two days ago. So, we are going to catch the normal shuttle that will put us there a few minutes early, not the 30 minutes early like they asked us to be.

Keep us in your thoughts. We are in for quite the adventure... Love you all.

Jeff (and Jon whose sitting with me on our only couch... A love seat!)