Flees.net

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

Just 26 more days until I leave South Korea and head home to the best wife ever. It has been a very trying year for both of us, and the end of it cannot come soon enough. In about 2 weeks it will start getting very busy for me, with out processing, packing, moving out of my apartment, and getting some last minute traveling in. Most of the time the days seem like they are just crawling by. I can't explain how excited I am to get back to Kelley in the US and start our adventure in moving to Virgin

I've made a lot of progress over the last few days fixing user id bugs, updating pages to the new layout, and just making a bunch of random updates/fixes. The new layout will be over the whole site soon, then I can fully remove all of the old, no longer used files and clean up the organization a lot. Then, I'll be adding a few new features. It is nice to really be working on the website again.

We are so excited to share that DJ's ticket to return to the states is set. It now allows us to start really preparing for our move to Virginia. Kelley is trying to find a job. We will look for a house to rent. The hope is that we prepare as much as possible to make the transition the least stressful as possible. We are both super looking forward to a change. Things can be always be worse, but we're both ready to get out of our current living situation.

Alas, my sojourn to the US has ended, but what a magnificent 30 days it was, thanks to my wonderful wife, Kelley. Being with her again after 6 months was sublime and I savored every moment of it. We had a great time and took a bunch of trips, including to Cincinnati (Newport Aquarium, King's Island, and Cincinnati Reds 10K), Columbus (RadioU 5K), Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Cedar Point, and Bentonville, Arkansas (Walmart shareholder meeting with my sister). Best part? Being able