Peace Day and Super Taco Fridays

August 8th was Peace Day, a local holiday. I'm celebrating Peace Day today. I figured up I have 21 more "Super Taco Fridays" to go til I'm out of here. The DFAC (dining facility for you folks not familiar with military terminology) does Tacos on Fridays, in addition to the regular choices of a "normal" type meal, and the usual cheeseburgers, wraps, stir fry, and healthy bar. One of the men in the Air Force commented when I first met him that they had a certain number of "Super Taco Fridays" to go before it was time for them to go home, and I've decided that is a good way to keep track of how long I have to go, before I leave. It doesn't sound near as long as four and a half months, and definitely doesn't sound as long as 145 days! I've been in Iraq for 296 days now, and it has been it has been 328 days since I last flew my hang glider! I had thought about doing an R&R in mid October, but have decided against it, as it would cut the income earning potential available between now and January 3, 2009. I've decided January 3, 2009 is my last day here, and I will return to Salt Lake City, and go back to school to complete the study and training for my FAA Airframe and Power plant rating. If I don't leave then, it will be another year before I could pick up where I left off. I figure I need as much cash on hand as possible when I leave here, so I need to "make hay while the sun is shining."

I had applied for some other jobs, and did phone interviews for two of them. One of the interviews, didn't go well for me, and the other went well, I thought. I have one more interview to go, if I get picked for an interview, that is. Haven't heard anything on either of the two for which I interviewed. The jobs I applied for, would be a pay increase for me, and I would like to have the extra money, as it would give me a little more cushion for when I start back to school. I'd like to have an additional glider, but I don't think I will have enough reserve cash to get one, so I will continue to fly the one I have, when I get back. It flies well, but isn't much of a cross country machine, which is what I would like to do. There are pilots who could easily fly my glider 100 miles, but I'm not one of them (yet). I figure I should make a 100 miler, so I can top the cross country flight I have done in one of the balloons I had. I flew 97 statute miles on one flight, and landed in 30 plus mile per hour wind. The landing was interesting, to say the least.

The stress level at work has eased off considerably, with the current supervisor, who unfortunately will be leaving in two or three weeks. He was in the reserves, and has been called up to go back to active duty. He is the number six supervisor we have had,, since I arrived here at Speicher with the post office, since the end of January, not including one of our current personnel who was acting supervisor for nearly a week.. The supervisor before this one, was sent here a week before he was supposed to go on R&R. He was not one of my favorite people. I think he wanted to be a "gangsta." He was from The Bronx, or at least that is where I think he was from, and sort of carried himself like a "gangsta wannabe." He had the "jailhouse tats" or at least they looked like "jailhouse tats," and wore his pants fairly low, like the gangstas and "gangsta wannabe" dudes. I've never been into tattoos, partially because there are so many that are poorly done, and partly because I can't think of any artwork that I want to put anywhere on my body that I will have to look at for the rest of my life.

I had sent a letter to Logan and Duncan (my step grandchildren) and used one of my "Hang Glide Iraq" postage stamps on it. Linda told me she had talked to Joey (my step daughter) and Joey had said the boys really liked the postage stamp. Linda is sending some colored pencils so I can get creative in color with the stamps, which should be fun. When I was on the day shift, I had been doing parcel inspections, and one of the soldiers had a letter he was wanting to mail. I suggested to him that he make up a stamp design of his own, since it was an option, and told him about my Hang Glide Iraq stamps. He drew a blank on a design of his own, and asked me to do one of mine on his letter, as he thought the person he was sending the letter to would get a kick out of it. Naturally, being the helpful person I am, I obliged. If anyone isn't familiar with what I am talking about on the parcel inspections, I will attempt to explain. The Department of Defense has decide the personnel here in Iraq are not disciplined enough to self police themselves about things they send in the mail. There is a long list of "non-mailable" items, and we have to inspect every parcel to be sure no one is mailing any non-mailable items. I describe the list, as "anything that can, will, might, could have, or did go bang, any hazardous chemicals, and anything listed on the list of items forbidden by General Order Number One. GO # 1, lists forbidden items, such as porn, drugs, and a bunch of other stuff.

This is all I can think of to post for now. Long Flights, Smooth Air, and Soft Landings, from GliderMike