in: Boojums; Boojums > 2008-07-04;
| # Posted 2008-07-05 06:09:14 | |
| cmpbllv: | Needs of the Air Force? Where else might they send you (if you are at liberty to speculate)? |
| # Posted 2008-07-05 09:05:18 | |
| Boojums: | I could probably speculate, but it's just really uncertain and then I'll feel dumb for being really wrong. These things always change. And I'm going away for three weeks, so there's not much digging and begging that I can do... I'm just not going to think about it too much. Fortunately, I don't think we're looking at something like a 365 to Iraq. Compared to that nothing will seem like a bad deal. And there is a chance (though very small) that this could end up a good deal. Stay tuned!
Was that vague enough? |
| # Posted 2008-07-05 21:44:52 | |
| triple-double: | Hmmm... well these are concerning (and unexpected! ) news. Keep us posted. |
| # Posted 2008-07-05 22:01:11 | |
| Boojums: | I think the worst part about this is just the unexpected uprooting. I have some hope that I can turn this into an opportunity. I don't particularly want to move to some place like Clovis, NM, but again, if that's the worst thing that can happen then it's not so bad. |
| # Posted 2008-07-06 03:06:14 | |
| cmpbllv: | Gee, we may be doing a high-five with you in 365...we're both due for our own trip to sandy places, and I don't think there will be a lot of orienteering there. Well, there will be, but it's a little different when you have to worry about your convoy battle drills and monitoring the radio.
I think one of the things I hate the most is the uncertainty factor in times like this. I've had soldiers deployed out from under me three times, and each time I remember wanting so badly to go with them and being so frustrated by the long string of "maybes." I'm glad you'll be out of the net for 3 weeks doing something you love - hopefully they'll have something figured out for real by the time you get back. Then again, I don't know about the AF, but that would be WAY too efficient for the Army...;-) |
| # Posted 2008-07-06 16:26:55 | |
| Boojums: | Nah, there won't be anything figured out by then. And I'm sure that unexpected changes in Army assignments are a whole different category than AF changes. We're just a bunch of whiny nerds. |
| # Posted 2008-07-06 16:37:55 | |
| chitownclark: | ...the unexpected uprooting...
Well, speaking from 67 years of perspective, my four years in the USN in the '60's were pretty exciting, after I requested a reassignment from my cushy teaching job in the States to a little combat ship bouncing around the So China Sea: Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Guam, Vietnam, Midway Id, Mexico, Southern California, etc. But those years didn't hold a candle to the feelings of homelessness I acquired during my subsequent 12 years rising through the corporate world, where I lived in 28 places around the world for 3-months or longer. Just wait... |
| # Posted 2008-07-06 17:08:55 | |
| Boojums: | Okay, this is totally not as serious as I seem to have let on. So I might have to move in the spring, big frickin' deal. It's a bummer, since I really like Tucson, but it might even be to someplace really cool. The biggest effect is that the motivation to do things like, oh, build connections in Tucson, make improvements to the house, etc, are a little lower knowing that I might have to move soon. That's all. |
| # Posted 2008-07-08 06:41:18 | |
| cmpbllv: | Well, I guess that's the military life...;-) |
| # Posted 2008-07-08 08:23:15 | |
| eddie: | I wasn't far from Clovis last week. Its not so bad. Or rather, its close to places that aren't so bad (and maybe even some that are pretty good). |
| # Posted 2008-07-08 08:30:01 | |
| eddie: | I'm still at Dulles. Flight is officially late now. Expecting to be 1.5 hrs late.
I have 3hrs at Heathrow, sooooo, who knows if my luggage (or I) will make the connection. Took me 6hrs by public transit to get from my apt to Dulles today. Baltimore decided to shut down the north half of the light rail today unannounced. In 12 years of living in B'more I've never known it to be shut down, so of course it would happen on the one day I needed it to get to CZE. Took an extra 1.5 hrs on a surface bus to get back on track, including a crash on that route that we had to go around, two broken fare boxes on buses (saved me $4.60), and a late express bus at BWI. Why don't more Americans use public transit? Perhaps this is one reason. |
| # Posted 2008-07-08 17:06:59 | |
| triple-double: | Hi Eddie, I hope that you will make it to your destination ok and that all the adventures are over for the trip. |
| # Posted 2008-07-09 01:17:13 | |
| walk: | Hey Eddie - Remember - the hardest part of O can sometimes be getting to the Start (or even to the site)! Have a good trip and enjoy CZ. |
| # Posted 2008-07-09 04:21:39 | |
| chitownclark: | ..Why don't more Americans use public transit?...
Well for 50-80 years public transit in the US has been neglected: no maintenance, no funding, no support - either from taxpayers or their elected representatives. And now there's a surge of transit riders who suddenly expect to occupy a seat that, presumably, has been running vacant for 30 years, just waiting for them to try transit. Well, the system is broken, just like much of our other infrastructure. Most Third World countries have better public transit than we do, let alone the EU and the First World. But their transit subsidies would choke a Congressman. And as you'll notice, the tickets ain't cheap either. While you're over there, you might ponder why, if we're such a "rich" country, that nothing seems to work here as well as it does there. And that the quality of life, for most Europeans, is better in most respects: education, transportation, healthcare, livable cities, land use and planning, care of the indigent and crime, support of sporting programs, available orienteering areas, etc, etc. And when you get home, you might at least feel motivated to fire off a letter to your elected representatives, asking them to support more funding for mass transit immediately, perhaps by raising taxes on gasoline to pay for it. |
| # Posted 2008-07-10 02:43:30 | |
| peggyd: | You're right on, Clark, about public transportation -- & infrastructure definitely fits that same model -- but a gas tax right now would be political suicide. We'll have to figure out some other way to do it.
Hi Cristina! Hope you're having a good time orienteering & hanging out :-) sorry for adding to the hijacking of your log. |
| # Posted 2008-07-10 02:53:49 | |
| Boojums: | Logs are supposed to be hijacked!
(Hi Peggy!) |
| # Posted 2008-07-10 03:18:22 | |
| bbrooke: | While you're over there, you might ponder why, if we're such a "rich" country, that nothing seems to work here as well as it does there.
Because everyone here in the US wants something for nothing -- more police patrols, faster fire / ambulance response times, smaller classroom sizes, shorter lines at the DMV, better public transportation, safer roads and bridges, etc. All those things cost money, but anyone who suggests higher taxes is, as peggyd says, committing political suicide. Not to say that existing state and federal bureaucracies couldn't be more efficient with the money they already have... |
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