Monthly Archives: June 2010

Today was good! I woke up (the first time) around 10:30am to a text message from a co-worker. It said not to even bother going into work because the airfield was closed for the day, sooo…that made my day 100% better from the get-go! I fell back asleep until about 1pm when I finally got my ass out of bed. I went to Hardee’s for lunch, and yet again, forgot to pick up my package that’s been sitting at the post office now for about 2 weeks. They really hate it when you forget to pick things up there, so today they left me a nice little “get your package or else” note in my mailbox. Yeah yeah yeah, in time!

Tonight I’ve been listening to a program called “interactive Saturday” on KRBE out of Houston. It’s pretty much just a remix show featuring Top 40 hits and some throwbacks, but I love it! I’m a sucker for anything music…for the most part – I’m not talking about friggin’ 1930′s “doo dee doo wop” crap.

I’ve been thinking more and more each day now about my trip back home this Summer! I can’t wait, I just wish I knew if my leave will be alright for the dates I want to go back. Right now I have it in for August 5th – August 17th, but the final word about that being approved should be coming down sometime in the near future…I hope.

I know I hinted towards this quite a bit in my last post, but this past week has brought me back about 3 years. I don’t know how to really even explain what I’m trying to say, so this might sound odd, but I feel like I’ve taken a few years off my life. Maybe it’s because Summer is here, maybe it’s because I just had a Birthday, maybe it’s because of other things I have yet to realize, but my energy level, happiness, and overall personality and attitude have gone back to where they were before I came out here. In some ways it’s good, and in other ways it’s bad, but either way it’s me.

I really hate getting all sappy and stuff in my entries, but hey – blogs are to write about whatever is on your mind at that very moment in life, right? That’s my justification!

I’ve also decided, once and for all, that this blog NEEDS to be updated a hell of a lot more than I currently update it. I’m going back to writing every night. I leave so much out when I wait a week between entries, because I forget most of it!

Alright, now this post was more like it! I’m proud of myself for being me! LOL!

This has been an amazing week so far! I don’t care about how much I have to work, or about how little time I get to spend elsewhere outside of work. I’m thankful that I have such a great career and amazing friends both here and back home. There’s not much I am wanting at the moment – I have everything I could possibly want out of life.

Wednesday, I turned 25. There were times leading up to that day that I thought I would dread it. Everyone says 30 and 40 are the “uh oh” ages, but every day that goes by, I realize more and more that it’s just a number. When I woke up on Wednesday, I was in a wonderful mood. It carried over into today, and I’m sure it won’t go away anytime soon, mostly because In a little over a month I’ll be going back home again to see everyone that I miss more than anything.

Basic Training Graduation

I have my health, great friends, a great career, and I’ve done more in the last couple of years than most people I know will do in the next 50 years. People who know me well, know that I love to brag, and my theory is: It’s ok to brag. Accomplishments should be highlighted, and as long as the bragging doesn’t lead to greed, it’s harmless and should motivate others to strive for what they want in life.

It’s an important day for my blog as well! This post is #501 – so here’s to opening two chapters; my next 25 years, and the next 500 posts documenting it.

…You don’t watch the news.

I’m so sick of people not keeping up with current events and being completely numb to the world around them. I just don’t understand it. I’m not saying everyone needs to watch it 24/7, or sleep with a newspaper under their pillow at night – but I am saying people need to at least be somewhat aware of what’s going on – enough to understand the basics.

“I don’t like to watch it because I hate seeing all the bad war stuff…in…whatever that country is over there.”

Seriously? It’s statements like this one that really piss me off. It’s real life and you’re just going to have to get over it, unless of course, you do something to change it. What do I mean? Obviously, I’ve said many times in the past that I’m a big supporter of the current war, and that hasn’t changed. I also understand other people may not be. So, change it! Turn on the news, watch some footage of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and use it to your advantage to change whatever it is you think needs to be changed! Get out and lobby for things you believe in! If you turn on the TV and see that troops aren’t being given the right equipment – lobby for better equipment! If you turn on the TV and see that troops are dying left and right, which they are, then write your Senator, Congress, or shit – even the White House, and be heard!

“I don’t bother to write because nothing ever gets changed anyway…”

Bullshit. The White House READS most all letters that are sent to them – and sometimes they even respond. Now, of course, if only one or two letters trickle in about a particular subject, it probably won’t be acted upon. However, when hundreds or thousands of letters start to trickle in regarding one subject, yes, they do consider what is being criticized. And, even if your topic isn’t changed, so what? At least you were heard, and sometimes that’s all that matters…

Anyway, on a brighter note – this is the 500th post on Your Captain Speaks! 500 posts since December 14, 2007 – and still going strong!

I was browsing my website stats earlier tonight, and nothing was really sticking out as out of the ordinary for the most part. I went through it all; who visits, how often they visit, where they are from, what they click on, and all that good stuff, but then I got to a section called “search engine terms.” This section tells me what people type into search engines to find my post. For example, some people type my name, or “Kyle’s Blog,” among other terms, but one stood out as odd…

Funny Dogs?

108 people have typed “funny dogs” into search engines and found my website in the listings…

Don’t worry, I don’t plan on stooping quite that low anytime soon. I’ll stick to being overly opinionated…

…for now.

I’m not going to lie – I just got through my busiest week ever. I enjoyed every minute of it! The work week was as busy as it has ever been up here in a long time, and I can’t wait for it to be like this again. A long story short, we made it through a major inspection, but we did well. I ended up earning a coin for being a “superior performer” during the inspection, so that made me feel pretty good. It’s moments like this that make me want to stay in the military, which is the goal I would like to achieve both short-term and long-term.

I also landed a position writing professionally for a company called “Demand Studios.” The company purchases articles their employees write, then they go through the editing process, then are sold out to magazines, the media, and other organizations that are willing to purchase them and publish them. Each article is given a dollar value that I make when Demand Studios passes it through the editing department. I love it so far, but I’ve only just now finished my first article. They hired me as a Nutrition and Wellness writer, which is perfect with my new certification and all of that.

Things are going extremely well. I’m looking into going back to Maine sometime around August 5-17, but don’t hold your breath for it yet. It might end up being pushed back a month or so, but it’s not a big deal if it is.

God, it’s been too long since my last update. Sorry about that!

I don’t even know where to begin – so much has happened over the last couple of weeks! Jessica and I are doing well! We went tonight to see “The Losers” which was playing here on base. I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t heard too much about it going in to it, but it turned out to be a pretty good movie overall. I think she enjoyed it as well, which is all that matters, haha!

Work has been mad crazy lately, which is refreshing actually. We’ve been preparing for an upcoming inspection, and just overall the base has been busier over the last few weeks because of several different things going on. I won’t bore you with the details, but my time here is winding down…probably another year or so and I’ll be on my way out and heading somewhere else. In February I’ll be eligible to re-enlist, which right now I think I want to do. My mind changes so much when it comes to staying in the service or not, but there really is no better alternative at the moment. With the economy and the job outlook – it doesn’t look good in the civilian world…

I always tell my friends, “I can’t wait to go to my high school reunion and see what everyone else has done with their lives!” It’s true though; out of the 220 or so of us who graduated, I’m sure 5-10 have gone to jail, 50-100 are unemployed, most have kids they can’t support (with the exception of a few who can – don’t get me wrong there!), and a select few may actually have good, solid, steady CAREERS (not just jobs).  And by a steady career, I don’t mean a 20-year position at Burger King – I mean careers like; law, medical, etc. But, as everything usually goes, we’ll see what happens…

On a bright(er) note…my car insurance goes down later this month! I’m turning 25 on the June 23rd…and of course, me being an old dust bucket now, my car insurance is going down by about $78 over a six-month period. I guess it’s a good thing, but damn, can’t the getting older thing stop?!?!