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Name: Josiah
Country: United States
State: Georgia
Metro: Valdosta
Birthday: 11/22/1988
Gender: Male


Interests: Really, anything nerdy enough to catch my attention.
Expertise: Many and varied.
Occupation: Airman First Class
Industry: U.S. Air Force


Message: message me
AIM: Yoshiyahu
MSN: Yoshiyahoo@hotmail.com
Yahoo: Yoshiahoo
ICQ: 312015052


Member Since: 6/13/2005

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Monday, November 02, 2009

Currently
Star Wars 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel
By Karen Traviss
see related

Meet Lord Mirdalan

 IMG_0207B

Or "Mird," for short. He's our new tabby kitten, named after the Lord Mirdalan of Karen Traviss' invention. However, that wasn't necessarily our plan from the start. It took us some time before we finally settled on the name Mird. Here's a list of cat names in no particular order that were considered (some more than others) but were for one reason or another rejected:

  • Mephistopholes
  • Faust
  • Dog
  • Sex Cat
  • Kitler
  • Panzer

IMG_0200B


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Currently
Tom Clancy's HAWX
By Ubisoft
see related

FTAC

"First Term Airman Center."

Or, five days of sitting in an auditorium and being treated like I was still in tech school while I'm given briefings, inprocessing, and CBT's that I've taken care of on my own weeks ago.

Oh, and a tour of the Lowndes County Jail. That was fun.

I've spent most of this week waiting for this week to be over. Apart from that, I'm spending most of my time getting moved in, waiting for finance to fix issues that should have been resolved weeks ago (when I finally got my orders fixed... which involved getting new orders entirely) and trying to get as much done as I can in the real Air Force during my fifty minute lunch break.

It seems trite to say that I have better things to do, but, I really do. In the time I'm spending here, I could have completely finished my block training, taken three CLEP tests, and gotten updates on my finance issues. We have to arrive so early, and leave so late, that we really don't have time to take care of actual needs like going to Finance or MPF. It's not just unpractical, it's ridiculous. Next week I've got more inprocessing and block training to get taken care of, and then hopefully I can finally get started on MQT and get back to flying again. I said more pictures would be forthcoming, but I haven't had a chance to upload them yet, since I've spent most of my time eating, sleeping, and surviving Death By Powerpoint.

Well, one more day to go after today. That's one bright spot. Then it's back to actually getting things done.


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Currently
Star Wars: Rogue Planet
By Greg Bear
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I'm Not Dead Yet

IMG_0021

But it has been way too long since I've had a chance to update. I blame AT&T, personally. When we ordered DSL (before you vomit, let me explain that it was the only high speed internet available here) they told us that we could get online as soon as our modem arrived. When the modem arrived (three days after they said it would arrive) there was a note saying that it would be available after 6:00 PM the day it arrived. When we tried activating it after 6:00 PM, nothing happened, and a phone call to AT&T revealed that it wouldn't be available until the following day after 6:00 PM. The following day, when the internet still was not turned on, yet another phone call informed us that it wouldn't be available until still the next day.

That said, I've been busy getting moved in (to my awesome on-base house) and situated. Inprocessing at Moody has become a much larger task than it at first seemed, and a paperwork battle with Lackland has complicated matters. Apparently, not only did they assign me to the wrong squadron, and change SERE dates to incorrect ones when they ammended my report no later than date, but they also messed the dates up even worse when an email was sent requesting them to fix it. The situation's gotten so bad that Lackland is now in the process of creating completely new orders for me. All this so I can file a travel voucher.

Apart from that relatively minor (ha!) snag, everything else has been going rather well. There were no two bedroom houses available when Jessica and I applied for base housing, so the housing office decided to give us a two story, three bedroom house that's just been renovated on the inside. Nice doesn't begin to describe it. We're certainly blessed.

DSC_0278

Wedding photos will be forthcoming shortly.

Not that it matters, of course, since you've undoubtedly already viewed any pertinent photos on Jessica's Facebook, and it's highly doubtful that you'll read this anyway. I hate Facebook. Maybe my next entry will be about that.


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Currently
Star Wars: The Approaching Storm
By Alan Dean Foster
see related

Well, I'm Married.

Didn't see that one coming.


Monday, September 14, 2009

Currently
The Brothers Karamazov
By Fyodor Dostoevsky
see related

Delta Airlines

My sordid tale begins on that fateful day in September, as I prepared myself to leave Kirtland...

The day started off well enough. I woke up, changed, packed the last few things left in my room, and got ready to head out. As the driver was approaching the gate, however, he realized that he left his wallet and ID in his room, meaning that he had to return to the dorm to pick it up if he wanted to get back on base. After that setback of fifteen minutes or so, I was on my way.

Or so I thought.

I arrived at the airport, and after making my way to the ticket counter, ran into my first troubles of the day. As I was trying to check myself in with my ticket numbers, the screen told me that I needed to speak to an attendant. So I did. After trying in vain for a few exasperating minutes, the attendant informed me that I was "not flying today" because there was no record of me or my tickets in the system.

Great.

So after a few moments, an attendant who I can only assume had more experience pressed a few keys and told me that they had a seat for me. They proceeded to print out a boarding pass. To Atlanta. Now, I understand that part of my trip requires a layover in Atlanta, but they didn't give me a boarding pass to get on the airplane from Atlanta to St. Louis. They told me to pick it up there in Atlanta.

My small allotment of time that I had built in as a buffer in the event of a delay now dwindling dangerously thin, I dropped my checked bags off at the ticket counter and proceeded to hurry my way over to security for carryon screening.

This immediately became a problem when I saw the line, which was atrocious. I manage to make it into a line that was moving at least somewhat compared to the others, and after abandoning several chemlights and a tube of toothpaste (apparently the stuff IED's are made of, based on the way TSA people act) I managed to make it through (relatively) unscathed.

This of course, left me with ten minutes before my plane was due to depart.

Running through the terminal as fast as I could manage with my backpack, paperwork, and other assorted articles, I finally managed to make it to the gate, which just so happened to be at the farthest end of the terminal. My relief, however, was shortlived due in no small part to the Albuquerque police officer who was awaiting me at the gate.

"Are you Joshua?"

"I'm Josiah."

"Well, there were smoke grenades in your luggage. We've had to remove them."

"What? No, there were no smoke grenades! Those were just empty canisters."

"Well, by nature of what they are, you can't fly with them."

"So what happens to them?"

"They've been confiscated."

Great. Just great. Not only do they freak out at two cardboard tubes in my checked baggage, but because they happened to be labeled "smoke grenade," but they cut the lock on my bag, rifle through my belongings, and dump the contents of these oh-so-dangerous toilet paper tubes in order to confiscate them. Yeah, it's totally the ones in uniform who are going to hijack and/or blow up your airplanes.

I'm the last passenger to board the aircraft, and after quickly situating myself, I was off to Atlanta.

I land in Atlanta, and get off the aircraft with roughly twenty minutes before my next plane takes off. Also, I don't have a ticket. I manage to navigate my way through the Atlanta Airport, and make it to my gate with a few minutes to spare. After a somewhat confused series of questions, they took my boarding pass from my last flight, and gave me one to board the flight to St. Louis. I'm not even sure what they did- I'm just thankful I managed to get on.

The rest of the flight was rather uneventful. I did see an ad in the back of a magazine that disturbed me, though. In an aircraft based out of Atlanta, there's a page that says: "He was a simple farmboy. She was an Italian supermodel. He knew he only had one chance to impress her." The ad was targeted, I suppose, at "hardworking farmboys" who are trying to snare themselves an "Italian supermodel." The fact that the ad was so cliché and blatantly aimed at "farmboy" types is unsettling. Georgia scares me.

So, somehow, I managed to make it back to St. Louis. It's good to be back.



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