Eagle, CO and The Academy

I managed to stay in San Jose for six short days. The time went so fast and I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get to stay for at least one more week. Everyone was taking about the beautiful redwoods, San Francisco, the ocean. Unfortunately I didn't see any of that or even much of San Jose. I worked five days then spent the last day packing up everything that I just unpacked and trying to figure out my travel arrangements.

Now I'm in Eagle, CO. If you're not from Colorado, you've probably never heard of it. It is a small town near the better known Vail. The airport is often called the Eagle/Vail airport so I thought Vail would be closer, but it is actually about 25 miles away. Eagle seems like a nice town. Not too much for entertainment, except a few small stores and some hiking trails. I should have plenty to do though since I only expect to be here until Aug. 29th. (I'll get to that in a minute.)

First I wanted to share a little about how TSA was jerking me around again. As I said in my last update, I heard almost immediately after arriving at SJC that I might be leaving soon. The story kept on changing from one minute to the next. For awhile, I even thought that I might be going to Mexico to assist in the Hurricane Dean relief efforts. The emailed everyone asking if they had a passport and could speak and understand Spanish. I immediately thought "yes" this would be the perfect opportunity for me to finally use my degree. The NDO put me on extremely short notice for deployment which meant that I should pack my bags because I might have only two hours by the time I got my itinerary. Because Hurricane Dean, slowed down so quickly over land and Mexico wasn't damaged as much as they were predicting, those orders were cancelled not long after I got them.

The next day, Tuesday and my first day off, was not as good as I hoped because I wasted so much time trying to figure out when I was going to be leaving. I got a call in the afternoon telling me to get ready to go, then in the evening I got my itinerary for the next day. The strange part was that I had also received an email asking me to be an assistant coach for the new NDF Academy. Yes, they really call it the "Academy." And that's just one reason I'm not sure if I'm going to like it.

So I read the email saying that I had been specially selected and blah, blah, blah. The letter was pretty lengthy and it wasn't until the very end that it said that we even had a choice. It was very apparent that they expected you to agree and that they wouldn't be happy if you said no. So I agreed, mostly to keep myself off the s*** list.

The NDO came up with this "Academy" idea last fall with their first October class. When I started traveling, the training wasn't quite as intense. I have a friend who was in the first academy and she had some mixed feelings. She became good friends with some of the other new NDF, but said that her coaches were super critical. Just as an example, the training building was really confusing and one time while on break she got lost on her way back to the training room. She was only one minute late and her coach wrote her up for it then picked on her for every little thing for the next 6 weeks of the class. I have a feeling that the Academy will have a real military feel, especially since most (all?) of the bosses are former military. So I'm suppose to be the jerk running around doing all the dirty work for the head honchos. Yay, can you feel my excitement. I'm bursting.

In that email, it said that we would leave on the 29th. We will train 2 classes then on Sept. 22nd we would be sent to a mystery location in the smaller groups we worked most closely with. Since deployments are usually 2 months. I think that might mean that I won't be returning to MSP until late November. I'll try to keep you up to date. That's all for now. Bye!

Hold off on buying a ticket for now...

So far, I've only heard friends and family say that they WISH they could get time off to come out to San Jose while I'm here. Anyone out there seriously considering it? If so, I'd strongly suggest holding off on purchasing a ticket, at least for now.

As usual, TSA is giving me mixed messages, but the last few days have been even worse than normal. Just to give you an idea, here's a couple of examples...

So I got in to San Jose on Wednesday night with no contact except for a phone call telling me to take a taxi to the hotel and an email saying to be at the airport at 1:00 pm on Thursday. No word on how to get there, if anyone else is going, where to meet, etc. So I call my supervisor to ask for more information, but she doesn't know what's gong on. First she tells me to wait, then calls back and tells me to find the rental car keys and drive myself in. How do I get there? She doesn't know. I get directions and eventually find my way. My supervisor comes out to meet me and we have to go park in the employee parking lot. Unfortunately, there aren't any signs and she's never parked there before either (even though this is her home airport). It took us about a 1/2 hr. to find it, but we eventually we got there.

Believe it or not, that whole mess was the easy part. Then there was the question of what my schedule would be, but first they had to see if I passed my testing. Testing?!? My thoughts exactly. I found out that day that the main reason for me coming here was to do my annual re-certification testing. I was clueless about this and caught a little off guard; especially since I was on vacation for 2 weeks and during that time several new procedures went into effect. "So you ready test?" Uh, not really, but what the hell it's only my job, my opportunity for promotion, and a major factor in determining my raise. Anyway long story a little less long, I managed to pass my testing.

Then my supervisor says that I shouldn't get too comfortable because since I passed, I may be leaving Sunday (as in two days from when I tested). Okay, that's news to me. Either way I still need to work Saturday in order to put in my 40 hr. week. During my tour of the airport, my supervisor as already promised 3 different supervisors on opposite shifts that I could work for them. A couple hours pass and it's time for my supervisor to leave while I finish up my eight hour shift doing training. So since I can't be all the places she promised, when should I work? After changing the subject a couple times and blatantly trying to avoid me, she can't put it off any longer. She tells me to come in at 4:00 am. I didn't get home until 8:30 pm so that was a short night, but I made it.

My first regular day at the checkpoint was okay. It always takes a little time to adjust. Tomorrow there is a different supervisor who I've already heard stories about. Should be another interesting day.

The latest rumor is that we are not leaving Sunday, which must be true since I don't have deployment orders. It sounds like I'll be here a week, or maybe two weeks, or maybe until Sept. 10 like my original deployment orders said. It all depends on what minute you ask.

I'll let you know more when/if I get official information. Hope all's well with you. Sorry about the lack of pictures. So far I haven't seen anything other than the airport and a nearby grocery store. And in conclusion...

Congrats to Phill and Courtney who graduated today from PA school at Chathum University in Pittsburgh! Wish I could have been there to celebrate with you.

On the road again

My vacation is almost over and I just heard today that I'll be leaving again. I'm scheduled to leave on Wednesday, Aug. 15th to San Jose, California. I don't have an itinerary yet, so I don't know what time I'll be leaving.

So how did I spend my vacation? Well, I admit to a healthy amount of sitting on the couch and watching TV, but I also spent a lot of time with family and friends. Joey had a good turn out for his 1st birthday. The next weekend, we had a family get-together.

Annika/Synnove(? I can't tell the neighbor twins apart) and Joey on a wagon ride. Nancy and Charlie (my parents) at the family get-together.

In between the weekend parties, I had time to spend the night in Hector, meet up with some friends at Rita and Renee's, and go out for supper with Katie, Tracy, Rita, and Renee.

Marne, Katie, Tracie, Renee, Anna, and Rita at Rita and Renee's for an evening BBQ.