Miss a week you miss a lot!!!

So I was gone from the Fairbanks area all last week. I went to Ft. Lewis to conduct training in the flight simulator. It was also my Annual Proficiency and Readiness Test (APART), when we get tested on our instrument flying skills. 

It was a great week and a good break from the regular work, but it had it's repercussions. I went to work early this morning knowing that I would have a lot of work to catch up on, but I had know idea what I was in for....186 EMAILS!!! How can you be gone for five days and have 186 EMAILS!!! I spent the better part of the day sifting through them and finally got finished up and headed home around 830pm. What a day! Oh well tomorrow is my last day of the week, I go to Fargo North Dakota on Wednesday to go to my friend Chris' wedding. Better yet Jeni is going to be there with me!!

Can't wait for Wednesday! 

Our trip to Mt. Aurora

Relaxing on the weekend!

I've found that the best way to relax on the weekend is to get out and do something fun and physical. Skiing seems to fit the bill for me and although I try to use the time to mellow out, I've found that the adrenaline rush for faster runs, steeping hills, deeper powder and bigger jumps are the best part of the experience. 

The following is a reason to go "relax" and the fun the guys and I have trying to do our best to relax.

Thursday was my last day as a Platoon Leader with Bravo Company, something I'm not entirely happy about but I'm looking forward to my new job as the Battalion S4 which I start on Monday. Needles to say getting ready for the transition has been a little stressful, so this weekend was a great chance to get in one more day of skiing with the guys.

Ted, Jerry, Ben and I set off for SkiLand at Mt. Aurora this afternoon and the pictures are all from that interesting experience.

We decided this would be a day to work on some jumps. On the left is me and my "Star Man", on the right is Ted hitting the same jump.

The one on top is Ben, I'm taking the picture from underneath the rock he is jumping. The other one is of me on the first jump of the day. I've never done this one before and it was awesome!

All and all it was a great day with relatively few injuries (aside from Ben's possible concussion and the scratches on my face from a run through the trees.

This is a picture of three of our aircraft taking off to go to Denali, Mt. McKinley to all you lower 48ers. We are conducting a HART mission, High Altitude Rescue Training, it's pretty neat unfortunately they only send the most senior guys that have longevity with the unit down to participat. I am neither so I'm back in Fairbanks still.

We had a pretty interesting past few days though. Who knew coming into my military career that I would ever have to take Volcanic Activity into consideration when designing training plans and schedules. This job never seems to surprise me. In case you haven't heard yet, Mt. Redoubt finally blew it's top on Sunday night of this week. Since then it's blown seven more times sending ash up our way. None of it has reached us yet, the mountain range helps block it, but it does effect some of our training flights. If you go to the Alaska Volcano Observatory you can see some interesting pictures.

Well I hope everyones week is going well and I can't wait to see you all again soon. Hopefully I'll get a chance soon instead of continuing these 80 hour work weeks. Yeah!

I'm engaged!

So I've pretty much told most everyone that would read this that I'm engaged already, but I thought I'd update the blog and let you all in on the big news as well. Friday February 13th, yes Friday the 13th, I took Jeni to Chena Hot Springs, north of Fairbanks. After dinner I asked her to marry me and she said yes.

I know it's still pretty early but the plan for now is to get married in July of 2010. I should be leaving Alaska then so I would get to go back to Ohio with no real problems. It will be a good trip seeing as I'll be going there to pick up my new bride! After that I'm not really sure where we'll be going, most likely Ft. Rucker though for the Captain's Career Course. Oh yeah, I found out last week that I'm officially being promoted to Captain sometime in the next few months. I won't know the official date until a month or so out. Anyway after the Career Course we'll see where the Army takes us.

Thats it for now. I hope everything is going well and hope to see you soon!

Finally Back In Fairbanks!

Well it doesn't seem like I even live in Fairbanks anymore, in fact I think I should be looking at a house in Seattle considering how often I've been down there. For those of you that don't know I've spent the past month at Ft. Lewis Washington, about 45 minutes south of Seattle. I left for Ft. Lewis on the 5th of January, three days after I got back from Christmas. I was supposed to be back in Fairbanks by the 10th but the weather and maintenance issues did not seem to cooperate.

I was getting aircraft that were getting fixed after our deployment and flying them back to Ft. Wainwright here in Fairbanks. It's an awesome experience. I get a lot of flying hours in a short time and get to see some of the most beautiful and unspoiled scenerary in the world.

This is in the Yukon Territory on the Liard River. We saw hundreds of moose as well as a several herds of Caribou, Buffalo and one wolf that didn't appreciate us flying over him.

The flight through Canada and Alaska was great and despite a few days with bad weather and fuel management issues we arrived back in Fairbanks on the 30th. Since I've already gotten to go on two of these flights, I more than likely won't be going back again, but it was definately two missions I will never forget.

Now we are getting geared up for the possibility of providing Volcano relief, thats right volcano relief. Not something I inticipated having to ever do but it might become a reality, google Mt. Redoubt and you'll see what might monopolize my time in the next few months!

Getting to know me!
Getting to know you......I mean me!Here is the latest getting to know me. This one is just your average how well do you know me. I took it from Julie, thanks Julie!
1. What is your occupation right now? 1st Lieutenant, Helicopter Pilot in the US Army
2. What color are your socks right now? Not wearing any
3. What are you listening to right now? Mike Rowe, "Dirty Jobs" is on the TV
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Left over pizza and a Miller Lite
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yep
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Dad
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Sure do!!
8. How old are you today? 25
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Whatever one is on, normally more than one at a time.
10. What is your favorite drink? Sweet Tea
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Nope
12. Favourite food? Whatever is on my plate at the time I'm hungry
13. What is the last movie you watched? Bloody Valentine 3D, movie was so-so but I haven't seen a 3D movie in a long, long time so that was cool
14. Favourite holiday of the year? Christmas
15. How do you vent anger? I hold it in until it goes away at least hold it long enough that I can go to the gym or run
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Matchboxes/Ertl tractors
17. What is your favorite season? Fall
18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Yes
20. Who is the most likely to respond? This doesn't really apply to this one now.
21. Who is least likely to respond? See above.
22. Living arrangements? Me and my two roomates, myself and I, in a bigger apartment than I probably need
23. When was the last time you cried? I guess Grandpa Shryock's funeral
24.What is on the floor of your closet? Laundry basket
25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? Not sending it to anyone
26. What did you do last night? Sat in the hotel room and watched TV
27. What are you most afraid of? Failure/not living up to my potential
28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheeseburger
29. Favourite dog breed? Ideal world - Burmese Mountain Dog or a Kuvas but realistically a Rhodesian Ridgeback, Retreiver or Lab.
30. Favourite day of the week? Saturday
31. How many states have you lived in? 4, five if I stay in Washington much longer
32. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds?
33. What is your favorite flower? The kind you don't have to weed!

Well I haven't posted much on here like I said I was going to and my sisters are making me look bad with their updates, so I'm attempting again.

The holiday season was great, but all too short. I enjoyed seeing my family and getting to catch up face to face. As most of you know I'm terrible at calling, emailing, snail mailing or generally staying in touch in anyway so the time together is a great way to reconnect. While living far away is a hinderance to a lot of things, friendships, relationships, familiy, etc. It does have its perks.

One of which is the travel, I like to travel. Living far from home since 2002 has given me the opportunity to travel quite a bit. One thing I have learned over this time is that the journey can be just as good as the destination if you do things right. I think the airport is a cool place, even if most people wouldn't agree with me. I've come to find plenty of ways to pass the time at an airport. Here is a short list of activities and distractions that I've gathered/used over the years that help to pass the time at the airport. Take from it what you will:

1. Puzzle books: (Sudoku, crossword, word search, etc.) the classic choice for most travelers
2. Books/Magazines(if you just like to look at pictures): If you like to read you can bring your own or every airport has a book store, alot that you can read and return for at least a partial refund.
3. People watch: my goodness, this topic may be a blog post all within itself some day
4. Museums: Yes museums, many ap's have museums or art galleries displaying local art or info about the local area, many of these are geared toward kids which is fun for all ages(Chicago)
5. Watch the planes: If you're an aviation nerd like me you try and name all the different kinds of planes
6. Eat!: While this does get expensive ($3 water=bad) you can try lots of different things and I try to never eat at the same place twice. Unless they have a Qdoba!
7. Talk to people: You can meet all sorts of neat people while traveling, but be aware of body language the worst thing you can do is talk to someone who doesn't want to talk. Also have an escape strategy, sometime you can pick some "different" people to talk to.
8. Help people out: Give that mom with 3 toddlers a hand at the security check, help the elderly lady put her luggage in the overhead compartment, that sort of thing. I get pissed at how many people can't do a little thing like hold open a door for someone.
9. Listen to music/watch a movie: an iPod or computer can be your best friend on the road
10. Nap: A lot of people can't do it, Jeni ; ), but I can sleep pretty much anywhere so I jump in the "time machine" and sleep away the layover.

Well these were my "Top 10" hopefully it will be helpful to some of you, maybe when someone gets a chance to visit me!