Category → TDY
Back From San Antonio
We arrived back home on Thursday evening from our short trip to San Antonio. In the above photo you can see my wife and I in front of the Alamo. Between my son and I we took nearly 400 pictures. Below is a picture of my son standing in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. I think he had a good time as well and we were glad he was able to come with us.
We went on a temporary duty (TDY) for my work to work out some wrinkles with a contractor down there. We had a good time but it was a bit warm. We stayed in a hotel downtown so virtually everything was walking distance. It was a pretty good trip and not likely to be the last.
This evening my wife and I went for a three and a half mile walk and it was nice to enjoy the evening air. I love the cool air in the fall. It was nice to be able to spend some quality time with my wife. I have had a lot of people giving me advice on how to handle the family issues and I appreciate it. I think everyone is right about spending more time in prayer. I think that is good advice to follow so thank you all for.
This weekend I downloaded the new Windows Live Messenger Beta and I have really been impressed with the performance. This new version has some amazing video and audio quality. I am just amazed at how good it works. It is every bit as good as Skype and that is really saying something. I was able to do video conferencing on a full screen for more than two hours and it was incredibly clear and real time. I think I found a new toy to play with. This is great news because many of my friends and family refuse to use anything else. I think Microsoft has really come a long way with voice over internet protocol (VoIP).
I went ahead and re-opened my Facebook account as it gives me more control over the content unlike Friendfeed. I left all the other social networking sites closed. Of all the sites that I really do love to use, I would say Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook. The rain is moving back in today and I love it. I should have been raised in Seattle because it can never rain too much for me. I just found that many of my church members including the Pastor is on Twitter as well. I already had them on Facebook and they use it pretty heavily.
Looks like Obama made a comment yesterday that said something about you being able to put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig. Everyone is saying it was aimed at Sarah Palin and I do believe it was though you could make the argument that since he paused before saying it, that it was a spontaneous thought with no calculation behind it. They fired back and said that McCain had made a similar statement in 2007 when referencing Mrs. Clinton. And the drama continues. There is a reason that I usually turn the TV volume down the moment theys begin discussing politics. Oh well, it is the same thing over and over again. I will certainly be glad when it is over as you know that it will continue after the election regardless of who wins.
I have been attending a class at work and it has two more days. It is called Item Unique Identification (IUID). This is an initiative to assign a unique identification number to every piece of equipment that is either $5,000 or more. Other items can be added if the program manager deems it necessary to keep track of them. They used our government identification cards called the common access cards (CAC) as an example of how each of us has an unique number and no other person has this number. This is reminiscent of Revelation chapter 13, versus 15-18. I know this is not what it is but sure does give you the creeps. The government has put this program into place that all items acquired by the government will have these scannable marks beginning 1 Jaunuary 2004. What gives me the creeps is that never before in history has there been the technology for Revelation 13:15-18 to make sense. The point being is that the technology is here. The next two days of this class we will be doing practical application. I must say this overview class that I went to was easily the most boring class I have ever been to. Razor blades should be issued upon entry for those that just want to end the pain 
. Other than this and school there has not been too much going on.
Hello from San Antonio
Yesterday we left Oklahoma City around 6:30 AM and drove to San Antonio for my work. I decided to bring my family with me so they can see the city while I work. I am participating in building a value stream map (VSM) for a new Air Force program here at the former Kelly AFB. I have to work 10 hours a day though my wife and kids are able to go see some sights. They went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas today and tomorrow they are going downtown. They will go to The Alamo, and the River Walk among other things. I sure wish I could go with them but I have a full slate of work to do. I thought we missed the first 100+ degree day by leaving OKC but it followed us as it was 102 today. We are supposed to have a lot of rain tomorrow and Thursday from Hurricane Dolly.
I am so glad that we invested in a GPS system. We were able to program some sights in there along with our hotel so my wife can find her way around town. My boys seem to be having a good time as well. They say that people here are treating them so much better here than at home. They say that people here have been nice to them everywhere they go. I am glad they are having a good time. I am still suffering from this chest congestion that is making it rough to breathe at times. It has been nearly two weeks and I am ready for it to be over. Well I better get this posted.
Forgive My Grouchy Self
I have been so overloaded on school work that I have had a short fuse as you can see by the tone of some of my previous posts. I am sure most of you have been under a lot of pressure at times and have taken it out on others. I do not like being a grouch but catch myself being that way occasionally. In addition to the school work, I have a potential temporary duty (TDY) to San Antonio coming soon at the worst time. I would love to go but the timing is terrible. Hopefully I can stay in a better mood and not gripe at everyone so if you were one of the targets I apologize.