Flees.net

It seems that lately the only we know about our future is that we don't know much about our future. Everything seems to hinge on whether I get promoted next year, which I will find out about in early March. Based on my last evaluation, the promotion seems like nearly a sure thing, but you never know. I take my test on Dec 1st, then I get to just wait 3 months to find out. If I make the promotion, it is almost certain that Kelley and I will move, and more than likely to the DC/Baltimore area. Thi

I will update this blog as warranted. Last update was 25 Dec 2017.

After a long road of fits and starts, I finally underwent PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), a procedure to fix my vision. I have had bad eyesight since grade school, got glasses in 2nd or 3rd grade but never wore them except when I had to see the chalkboard, and got contacts between 6th and 7th grade. The Air Force first started offering vision correction in the mid-2000s, so I started the process around 2006 or 2

My new pizza blog site, ...And Crustice For All, is now live! The link can be found at the top and bottom of every Flees.net page. This site is a part of my eventual resume package, to show that I am capable of designing and running multiple different types of sites. Next up is Derp Derp Code, a blog site that will be about programming and tech stuff. I am pretty excited to finally be making more progress on these sites. They have been on my to do list for years now. Please let me know what you

I talk about my current job situation a lot. It has not been a great experience. I have hope that there is something else out there that will be a better fit for me. It is scary to look at jobs nation-wide. I do not want to move for a job unless I know it is a match. I will continue at my current job and make the best of the situation as I continue to search.

Lots of updates since I last made a post about website updates. I finished the new layout across the site and added some behind the scenes functionality and pages. I added top 10 lists, though the public link for that is not posted yet, but will be in a matter of days. I upgraded to php 7.0 on the server, which will allow me to make the site more secure, but a side effect is that it totally broke the Awesome Theory. So, I changed the home page of that site to be just a news feed for now unti

The Air Force saw fit to not promote me to Senior Master Sergeant this year (not a huge surprise, honestly - it is a hard rank to make). Thus, we get to stay at Langley Air Force Base for a while longer. The Air Force will not move us again unless I end up getting promoted next year or the year after. The decision now is whether to retire or not, but as long as Kelley is happy enough at her job here, I'll stay in.

There are still challenges, to be sure, but we'll face them and over

I thought that once I hit 20 years in the Air Force, my future would get more certain and I would know what to expect. Turns out I was wrong. I'll find out in 10-12 days if I made Senior Master Sergeant, and if I do, that means we'll probably have to move to the DC area in 8 months or so. If I don't make it, we'll stay here in Virginia. Of course, I could turn down SMSgt and retire in 11 months also. We just don't know what will happen, but 2 weeks from now we should know a lot more.
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In an unfortunate twist of events, I had to go to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Texas for a 1 month training class, from which I just returned. I should have taken care of this training in Korea, but it never worked out, so instead I had to be away form Kelley for yet another month. That rather sucked, but thankfully it is over. As far as I can fathom, that should be our last separation of more than a week or two ever. That is good, because these prolonged separations are hard on both of us. We

We've been in Virginia for a little over 5 weeks now and things are finally starting to settle down a bit, thankfully. My job will get more normal next week and Kelley's job search will ramp up once the holidays are over. The house is basically in order, just a few things remain to be done/organized. Next up is finding a church and hopefully making a few local friends. Starting over somewhere is challenging, but this is the 4th time we've had to do it (Iceland, Nebraska, Georgia), so I know w

My trip home started with a very long day. I set double alarms to ensure I would not oversleep, especially since I was so amped I could not get to sleep at a decent hour. I woke up at 5 am so I could be ready to be picked up at 5:50 am for my ride to the bus station. My bus ended up leaving 20 minutes later than my schedule said, so I waited around the bus station longer than expected, stressing out the whole time about getting to the airport in time to get on my flight, even though I built in a