Scattered Thoughts

Day 4 of School

Morning came earlier than expected… the woman in the next room (we share a bathroom) was up early today and woke me up. I think it was around 4:15 when I heard her alarm go off… and off… and off… I wasn’t even sure it was an alarm clock til she finally turned it off and I heard her moving around in her room.

Once I heard her finish in the bathroom I decided to just get my day started. But of course it wasn’t that simple.

She had left the bathroom door to my room locked, so I couldn’t get in there.

For those of you that have never had this type of room set up, let me explain how it works. Two separate rooms share a bathroom. Each door has a lock on the bedroom side that keeps anyone from coming into the room from the bathroom. Each door also has a lock on the bathroom side that keeps anyone from coming in from the bedroom (that’s a surprise no one wants to experience!).

When Nicole finished in the bathroom this morning she didn’t unlock my door. Oh bother… I tried knocking on my bathroom door to see if she’d hear me, but she didn’t. So I ended up having to call her room. She was all apologies and quickly unlocked me door. My bladder was greatful.

Fast forward to school… nothing exciting to report there. Death by Powerpoint is my existence for the next few weeks until we start playing with… er… training on the equipment.

We did have another assessment and I aced this one. Woot!

I did experience a couple of humorous oh-my-goodness-I’m-old moments in school today.

The first was when the instructor was talking about IBM Selectric typewriters. These were the ones that used the changeable ball to swap out fonts. The students in class looked confused by the concept. I was grinning like a fool because I not only remember the Selectric typewriters, I worked hard to become a good enough typist to be able to actually use one in high school! We had one Selectric typewriter and a dozen less sophisticated ones. So students had to earn the priviledge of using it!

The other I’m-old incident happened this afternoon when we learning about securing information and equipment from our enemies. We watched an old Navy training video that focused on the John Walker Family Spy ring. Do you remember this one? He approached the KGB in 1968 and offered to sell secrets to them. He did this for 17 years before being caught. If you do the math, you’ll see that this case broke in 1985. Yup… I was active duty Air Force, stationed in Germany at the time.

The instructor asked if any of us had seen that video before. I laughed and said that I’d seen the breaking news stories about it. ha ha

Watching the video was like a flashback… I saw equipment and supplies that we used to do our job back them… tape readers, data cards, data reels. And the glasses these people wore! Huge. Gynormous! Yes, I remember wearing glasses that covered my entire face. Some changes are for the better.

After school I called home then went in search of solutions to my internet problem. I went to the base library which is located a short distance from my room. I had copies yesterday’s entry onto my flash drive and was ready to post it to my blog. The only problem was that I’d forgotten to write down my user name and password.

D’oh!

I tried my usual ones but nothing worked. Oh bother. I did write a few e-mails to the people whose addresses I know by heart, then logged off the computer. I also checked out a book to read for pleasure this weekend, and two DVDs.

Finally I’ll have time to watch the Lord of the Rings movies! I could probably watch all three of them this weekend if I wanted to. But I must save some excitement for next weekend which is another three day weekend.

Oh… score!! I called the internet company and told them I’ve had problems with my connection for days and she said she’d “escalate” my support request. Just checked and it looks like it’s working! Let’s hope I can get these two day’s worth of entries posted.

I do hope it’s fixed. I feel so out of touch without my internet!

Hugs,

–Donna

Day 3 of School

Yes, it was an early start to the day. You knew that, didn’t you?

Unfortunately I didn’t sleep well last night. My cold is hanging on and I felt a bit congested last night so breathing was hard. I’ll spare you all the gory details about phlegm and snot and stuff like that.

When I arrived at school there were sheets of paper at my desk. I glanced around… no one else got special notes from the teacher! This is what it means to be class leader. I get special notes. Ugh.

One of the notes was to let me know that the other two prior service students and I need to attend a meeting ext
Wednesday with the first sergeant. Another note was a form stating the rules for computer usage that I needed to
read and sign. Then of course, because I’m class leader (yippee!), I had to make sure everyone else signed it too. The final paper was for me alone. It was from the instructor supervisor that gave our orientation the first morning. This note was really special. It outlined my responsibilities as class leader and the consequences of leading a bunch of misbehaving monkeys. No soup for me! (Sorry… just had a Jerry Seinfeld flashback of the Soup Nazi episode). Yes, I had to sign and date this form. Sorry Beth… if I fail as class leader, the US Air Force gets claim your for their own! What? They already do?? Sweet! I’m in the clear!

School was good. We learned more stuff. The airmen ate more food. Lots and lots of food. At the 9 o’clock break they actually ate pizza! Okay, I can’t sneer too much at that… I’ve been known to each pizza for breakfast, too. Apparently every Thursday is “Pizza Day!”

We took another assessment test. I scored 11/12. Everyone in the class passed. Five of the nine students scored 11 or 12 out of 12. Not too shabby.

Oh… one of my goals for my time here in Mississippi is to be a bit more daring with my food. As most of you know, I’m a self-proclaimed and dedicated “meat and potatoes” woman. I don’t like to experiment where food is concerned (I’m sure this has something to do with all the starting kids in China when I was growing up… don’t waste food. If you don’t like it, don’t take it.)

So anyway… today I had fried catfish for lunch. It was crunchy. Tasted like chicken.

After school I came back to my room and called home. Gerry is my hero! He managed to find a good work around or my e-mail problems. What a guy! I wouldn’t be half the geek I am if it wasn’t for him!

After talking with both Gerry and Sean I changed into my running clothes and piled my dirty clothes into my laundry bag. I started a load of wash then ran off to explore another part of the base.

I hit pay dirt! (Does anyone know where that saying comes from? Did I even get it right?)

I ran toward the weather training school… (Hey Erin… it’s a nice place! Bet you want to come visit it again!) turned right and followed the road. I discovered a wonderful stretch of running path that winds down near the water. It was lovely. Almost like running along Baxter Boulevard. There were other runners and walkers which as
nice.

Oh… oh… as I was running one woman said the funniest thing to me… she was running toward me… and she said, are you ready? She said, “Someday I want to run that fast.”

Huh? “Are you talking to me?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“You think I run fast? You just made my day.” Then I laughed. Laughing definitely affected my stride and running pace but it felt good. I’m sure that woman thought I was loony.

What a delight that someone thinks I run fast. Reminds me of all the times I was running around the boulevard watching the women that approached or passed me and wondering if I’d ever run as fast as them.

So I ran for 30 minutes, put my clothes in the dryer and came back to the room to shower. I sat outside and read for pleasure for a little while until my clothes were dry. Now I’m back in my room… I guess I’ll toss something in the microwave for dinner. Do I want lasagna or pizza? Hmmmm…

I have to watch the clock to remember that Survivor will start at 7 p.m. here.

And then I’ll start studying… We have another assessment test tomorrow.

School would be great if only we weren’t expected to learn anything. Some things just don’t seem fair.

Hugs,

–Donna

Day 2 of School

Let’s see… where does one start describing a day that goes by in a blur?

The obvious answer of course is at the beginning. So let’s do that.

You may get tired of me writing it, but I don’t know that I’ll get tired of typing it… 5 a.m. is too dang early
for civilized people to get out of bed in the morning. For those of you that love these early hours, God bless
you. He made them just for you. And when you talk with the Big Guy? Would you put in a special request to
have my tech school hours changed from 6 a.m. - 3 p.m. to 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.? Appreciate it!

School is a blur. We learned stuff. We took breaks. The pipeline students (these are students who come to tech
school directly from Basic Military Training School) ate. Boy did they eat. I can really see how people gain
weight at tech school. We have 4 breaks over the course of the day, not including lunch. At every break they eat.

I am trying to control my interest in the various vending machines and not so healthy snack choices. Would I
like to eat a candy bar at 7:30 a.m.? Heck yes! Even if I was just crawling out of bed (which is what I’ll be
doing when the Big Guy changes my school hours) I’d want a candy bar!

One cool thing happened today… we saw a class graduate. Students lined the hallway and as each graduating
student’s name and base assignment was called, he/she ran down the hallway to receive their certificate of
completion. It was pretty cool. I saw an airman from my home unit graduate which was cool. I’ve never met him
before because he was at Basic Training and Tech School.

We had another assessment today and I scored 33/34. Not too shabby. Unfortunately the Air Force just loves acronyms
and I feel like my head is going to explode from trying to learn them. Perhaps I just need another dose of
Comtrex.

Yesterday and today I ate lunch in the Azalea Dining Facility. Sounds pretty, huh? The food is pretty decent and
very cheap. Today I had a turkey sandwich on a whole wheat roll (see? I could have had it on white which is what
I really wanted, but I’m trying to eat healthy). I did have chips with my sandwich and you can’t expect me to
resist chocolate milk. Sorry, can’t do it. Huh uh.

After school I came back to the room and called home. Talking with Sean about his day is so important to me. It
was one of the things I knew I’d miss and I made him promise that he’d keep telling me about his day even over the
phone. It isn’t the same as being there, but it’s better than nothing.

Gerry has been awesome trying to help me resolve my internet and e-mail issues. We’ve got a work-around for my
e-mail which is better than nothing.

Hmmmm… better than nothing… is that getting to be a theme?

Let’s see if I can find a third “better than nothing” to satisfy the three items needed on a list principle…

Got one!

Eating regular Yoplait yogurt (when I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Yoplait Whips version) is better than nothing!

Okay… let’s continue with my day…

Wandered around base (there really isn’t much more wandering to do. Not sure what I’ll do for the next 3+
months) some more. Found the BX (Base Exchange… sort of like a small military Wal-Mart). Bought a new
Ethernet cable for my laptop AND an umbrella. Now I don’t have to worry about it raining. Yeah!

Now it’s time to study and see if I can find America’s Next Top Model on TV. I’ll be recording my favorite
TV shows during the week and I’ll watch them on the weekend.

I hope you are doing great!

Hugs,

–Donna

Here’s my mailing address:

SSgt Donna Doyon
140 Phantom Street, #17314
Keesler AFB, MS 39534

I even managed to figure out the combo lock on it (first try, too!). So if you send something, I should be able to get it. ha ha

Hugs,

–Donna

Hi All,

One of the challenges with my internet connections is that I may write a blog/journal entry but not be able
to post it the day it was written.

What I’m going to try to do is change the date/time stamp on the posts to reflect when they were written, not necessarily when they got posted. So you may check today and not see anything new. But then check tomorrow and discover there was an update posted yesterday after all.

If there are time lags, that’s why.

Hugs,

–Donna

Day 1 of School

Where to begin… where to begin…

I guess at the beginning, but knowing me, I’ll still skip around. My head is spinning with all that’s happened
in the last 12 hours or so.

Let’s start with alarm clock anxiety. Have you ever experienced it? It’s when you are so worried that you won’t
wake up at the right time… that the alarm clock will fail to go off… that you mistakenly set the alarm for
PM instead of AM… you get the idea.

Yes, I suffered alarm clock anxiety last night. I was asleep pretty early… around 8:30 p.m. I woke up at 2:30
a.m. Ugh. I wanted to sleep til 4:45 a.m. I did manage to drift back to sleep but from 2:30 til 4:30 it wasn’t
good sleep.

I crawled out of bed at 4:30 a.m. Did I say “ugh”? If I didn’t, I should have. Because 4:30 a.m. is definitely
an “ugh” time of the day.

I showered, dressed, ate peanut butter toast for breakfast and waited til it was time to walk to school. The good
Lord was smiling on me because it was not raining like I had feared. One benefit of getting up so early was that
I was able to give Gerry a quick, surprise call before he left for work. I was careful to not talk too long
because he keeps to a very timely schedule and I didn’t want to throw off his day.

The school building, Thomson Hall, is about a half mile from where I’m staying. It was pretty humid at 5:30 a.m.
I arrived without incident and waited til just before 6 a.m. (my reporting time) to ask someone where I was
supposed to go. I thought someone would meet the new students to direct them or something, but that didn’t
happen. No worries, I got where I needed to be on time.

There were 17 or 18 students, but we learned we’d be divided into two classes. I am in “A” class. I am also the
class leader. The class leader basically keeps the class in order when the teacher is out of the room. It’s been
a joke between Gerry and I since I enlisted because I assured him that a technical sergeant (TSgt–one rank
higher than me) was going to be in my class so I would not have to be class leader.

Amazingly, it was almost true. This morning when we took role call, there was a technical sergeant assigned to
“A” class. Sweet, I thought. Ha ha Gerry. Told you so… told you so…

The only problem with my silent gloating was that TSgt Joseph was not present. We didn’t know where he was, but
I was hoping he’d show up. And he did show up just after 7 a.m. Yeah for me!! I wouldn’t have to be the class
leader!

But there was another problem. When TSgt Joseph walked into the room, he only had 4 stripes on his sleeve
(the number of stripes indicates your rank… the more stripes, the higher the rank). What?? Found out afterwards
that Staff Sergeant Joseph (equal rank to me) was a higher rank in the Army, but when he transferred to the
Air Force he lost a pay grade. Sucks for him. Sucks for me also because it meant I’d have to serve as class
leader.

D’oh!

The morning was spent listening to one of the instructor supervisor blather on and on about military protocol,
respectful treatment of each other, blah, blah, blah. He also gave an overview of the course material and I have
to say it was rather intimidating… or overwhelming is probably a better word. I had a few moments of near
panic thinking, “I can’t do this!” but then I thought of that dang swim in the triathlon a few weeks ago and
I thought: “This is school stuff… intellectual stuff… geek stuff… I can do this.”

All in all it was a good first day of school. We covered a great deal of very dry material. The first block (unit)
of information is all boring stuff. But it’s important stuff to know, too. So we’ll get through it.

After school I went to get a PO Box (I’ll post that note in a separate entry) and ran for 30 minutes. Not sure
how far I went, but it felt pretty good. My cold is still hanging on and it was fairly humid out, but I kept
huffing and puffing until I didn’t feel like huffing and puffing anymore.

Now I’m back in my room for a few minutes before heading out to the commissary (grocery store) to pick up a few
more things.

But before I go, I’ll leave you with three things I’ve learned today:

1) Tech school students think they are squirrels. They eat sunflower seeds and leave the shells just lying around.
For that reason we are not allowed to eat sunflower seeds in class.

2) When exercising on a military base, be aware of what time “Retreat” (signals the end of the military day… by
the playing of the National Anthem over loud speakers. People, cars, all activity stops.) plays. I was fortunate
today because I’d dropped to a walk for my cooldown just seconds before “Retreat” sounded. My heart rate dropped about 20 beats per minute while standing at attention. (Note: Thanks Erin (active duty Air Force airman who cares about these things) for correcting/mocking me because I mistakenly called “Retreat” “Taps.”)

3) When pitting a rabbit against a snake… don’t always bet on the snake. Rabbit and the Snake video.

Hugs,

–Donna

P.S. While Gerry was in tech school, Iraq, and other shorter periods away from home, I loved reading his daily updates. Oftentimes he’d mention how long it took him to write them. Hey Ger… I feel your pain and TRULY understand what you went through.

One of the benefits of free internet service here at Keesler is that it’s free.

One of the problems is that it doesn’t always work.

Right now I’m sometimes able to receive e-mail, but so far haven’t had much luck sending. So bear with me if you are waitng for a response. If I don’t get things resolved soon, I’ll set up a web-based e-mail to use while I’m here.

Hugs,

–Donna

I have arrived. Five months of anticipation is coming to fruition. Tomorrow will be the next big day in this new adventure. Let me share with you my day…

First off… I don’t care what anyone says… three a.m. is much too early to wake up. But wake up I did. Gerry and I left the house a few minutes after 4 a.m. The Portland Jetport isn’t far from our house so we arrived in plenty of time to check in.

I was truly blessed this morning because the woman at the Delta Airlines counter gave Gerry a gate pass (sometimes they will make this allowance for military members). This meant that he could go through security and wait with me at the boarding gate until my flight left. It was nice to have his calming presence with me. He’s an amazing man!

My flight was stuffed to capacity but I sat next to a nice, quiet woman. I felt bad because I was coughing, sneezing, and sniffling. Yes, I picked the perfect time of year to catch a cold. ~sigh~

Usually when my plane lands (not that I’m a frequent flyer or anything) I just wait for everyone else to get off. I hate standing in the aisle, fidgeting, and waiting for the flight and ground crews to get the door open. But today I had about 30 minutes to catch a connecting flight. So I stood right up and started moving toward my carry on bag which was several overhead compartments in front of me.

Although I really had to go pee, I opted to race through the airport and get to my departing gate rather than make that pit stop. As Murphy’s Law would decree… when you have a very short layover between flights, the two planes will be as far apart at the airport as possible. And yes, Murphy was with me today.

If you are familiar with the Atlanta airport, you know that there are four concourses with a bazillion gates on each one. I landed at concourse D. Not sure of the gate, but it was near the end of the line. My connecting flight was leaving out of concourse A, gate 31.

I had to rush up concourse D to reach the tram that would take me to concourse A. Then I had to rush up concourse A to my gate. No time to pee, little lady, no time at all.

The plane to Gulfport, Mississippi was much bigger than the plane to Atlanta. It was also fairly empty. Yes, I finally got to pee.

Arrived in Mississippi and found transportation to Keesler Air Force Base. The driver was a nice man who recognized my Maine/New England accent because he’s lived most of his life in New Hampshire.

I got my room and fired up my computer. Now lest you think I’m a total geek, which we all know to be true, I had a reason for doing this… Gerry warned me that when he was down here he unpacked all his stuff, then hooked up his computer, and discovered that the internet connection didn’t work. So he had to repack and change rooms.

Like Gerry I had problems with getting the internet up and running. Unlike Gerry my problem was me and not the equipment in the room. But Gerry was able to help me fix things and here I am… on line again.

Hmmm… do you think Willie Nelson would do a song… “On line again… I just can’t wait to get online again…” Okay, maybe not.

I took a mini tour of the base, with my trusty map in hand. I found the building where I need to go for school in the morning. Did I mention that school starts at 6 a.m. and that that is much too early for people to be awake, never mind trying to learn anything??

After my mini tour I came back to my room, called home (I miss them all so much already), and unpacked. Then I went out to the grocery store to buy some milk, bread, peanut butter and jelly. You know… the important things. I also bought some cookies. But don’t tell anyone.

The dining facility opens for dinner at 5 p.m. so I’ll be heading off to find that in just a little while.

It’s very odd being here by myself. There’s a tv in the room and it hasn’t been turned on. That never happens when we stay in a hotel as a family.

I’ve intentionally not mentioned the weather… but I decided that I should since some of you are probably wondering. I’ll try to keep future weather updates to a minimum. Today it was warm/hottish. It was also humid which will make many of you feel better.

I sure hope my sniffling, sneezy, achy body doesn’t keep me from getting the rest I need tonight. I’m pretty doggone pooped.

Hugs,

–Donna

Once a year, we in the Air National Guard, need to do a fitness test. It involves running 1.5 miles, getting our waistlines measured, and doing as many push-ups and sit-ups as we can in one-minute (each).

If you remember (or in case you didn’t know)… when I started seriously considering reenlisting in the Air National Guard one of my goals was to be able to run 1.5 miles in 15 minutes. That would earn 40 points on the fitness test. I also knew that if I lost the weight I planned to that my waistline measurement would earn me another 25-30 points.

Sit-ups are challenging, but I was confident I could do the 15-20 needed to earn 7 points. I hoped I could do the 6-7 push-ups needed to earn 5 or 6 points. I was confident I could comfortably pass the test with a score of 83 - 85.

Today was my day to test.

We started with the push-ups.

I dreaded it. This was my worst part of the test. I’ve been working on my upper body strength, but hadn’t had much success with push-ups. By the way… these are manly push-ups… up on the toes, board straight back, no knees on the floor.

We started in the up position. Down. Up. Down. Up.

I confess that a few times my butt sagged enough for my thighs to brush the floor, but I quickly returned to proper form.

My final count? 18 push-ups. Can you say, “Sweet!”? I earned the full 10 points for this effort. Cool!

Next were sit-ups. Now these aren’t the crunches of today in which you barely lift your shoulders from the floor and focus on working your abdominal muscles. These were the sit-ups of old in which you crossed your arms over your chest and needed to touch any part of your thighs on the up-movement.

My final count? 36 sit-ups. Can you say, “Know the fitness expectations so you know when to stop?” Turns out I did 2 more sit-ups than I needed. The fitness program manager told me he’ll hold those two extra sit-ups for next year.

Next, the five of us who were taking the test, and the two people monitoring us, piled into the mini-van and drove to Portland’s Baxter Boulevard/Back Bay walking path. We were able to run 1.5 miles along this path rather than having to do laps around a high school or college track. This was wonderful news for me. I love running at the Back Bay.

When we started, two younger airmen really took off fast. Two 30-something (give or take) men took off a bit faster than me, but always stayed within sight.

I checked my watch at the 1/4 mile mark and I was at 2:08. Yikes. If I kept up that pace I’d burn out and would have to drop to a walk. I tried to slow myself down. But the next 1/4 mile was at the same pace. I felt pretty good so I figured that adrenaline was moving me so quickly.

I did manage to catch up to one of the men about 1.25 miles into the 1.5 mile run. But my energy was flagging and I ended up dropping back. He also had a nice little end of run kick. He finished about 8 seconds ahead of me.

Want to know what my final time was? Sure you do!

My official run time was 13:14. Woot! A personal best.

My final fitness score was 93.5. I was so happy. I’ve worked hard to get into shape over the past year and it was nice to see excellent results on this fitness test.

Years ago when I was active duty and then Air National Guard I always dreaded the annual fitness test. I would stress over it and barely pass it each year. This was the first time I was confident about my ability to successfully complete it without totally embarrassing or killing myself.

If I hadn’t already treated myself to a Dairy Queen ice cream cone (chocolate dipped in chocolate) the past two days in a row… I’d be tempted to go out and buy one. But no worries. I have a chocolate whoopie pie that will surely satisfy my sweet celebratory tooth.

What have you done lately (or could prepare to do) to reflect excellence in your attitude or behavior?

Hugs,

–Donna

P.S. In case you’re wondering… the fitness standards are different for men and woman. The standards are also adjusted based on age.

Edited on 10/5/08: I am anal enough to wonder how much difference my age made in the expectations for fitness and how my scores would be adjusted if I was younger. I started by applying my results to the 30-34 age group. My score would have been an 88.5. Higher than I expected. I applied my results to the 25 and under age group and I would have scored an 85.5. Either the Air Force needs to rework their fitness expectations or I’m really in good shape!

Do you believe in ghosts?

I do. Not many people know that about me and many are probably surprised to learn it. But it’s true. Although I’ve never had a ghostly experience myself, I have several friends that have.

Last night, in fact, when I was visiting my mother-in-law for the last time before I go to Mississippi (I leave on Monday. Yikes!), we got on the subject of ghosts. My brother-in-law was there as well and I learned that the house my husband grew up in was haunted. How cool is that!

I also learned that the house my mother-in-law now lives in (which was her childhood home) is also haunted.

Hmmmm… since I was sitting in that home when I learned this, it wasn’t quite as cool as learning that Gerry’s childhood home had been haunted.

Ronny and Mom told me stories of different things that have happened to them both in the two homes. Pretty spooky, hair-raising, skin-tingling stuff.

Of course this was not a bright, sunny, afternoon visit. This was a late afternoon into evening… er… nighttime visit. It was almost 10 p.m. when I left. Ronny challenged me to look into the downstairs window (which led into Gerry’s late grandmother’s apartment) to see if I could see Meme waving.

Like that’s going to happen (me looking, that is… there was no doubt in my mind that I’d see her waving!)

I walked very quickly to my car, unlocked it, and backed out of the driveway without turning my head toward the first floor windows. Yikes, it was creepy!

For the entire drive home I laughed at myself (while also checking the rearview mirror for unexpected travelers in the back seat). I knew my mother and brother-in-law were laughing at me too.

When I finally got to ask Gerry about his haunted childhood home he shrugged and said, “I vaguely remember something about that.”

Hmmmm… I suppose some people are more attuned to these supernatural experiences.

Whether ghosts really exist or not, it sure is fun imagining the possibilities. It makes for good conversation, amusing stories, and many laughs. As my brother-in-law says, “It’s all goo-ood.”

So Mom, Ronny… thanks for a memorable evening. I had a blast!

Hugs,

–Donna

P.S. If you like ghost stories, rent the movie The Others with Nicole Kidman. It’s goo-ood.