What's done is done

Well, as I said in my last post today is the day that the test results for Staff Sergeant came out. I set my alarm so I would get out of bed when the list was made public so I could find out for myself rather than have someone tell me if I made SSgt. So I get up and got right on the computer (and thinking about that now makes me even more confused because I was acting like someone that was really excited to find out even though I didn't want to make it.) Well, I am officially a Staff Sergeant select. Basically that means that I made SSgt and have a line number to put it on. Based on the number of people the Air Force is promoting this year and what my line number is I estimate that I will sew on SSgt either 1 December, 1 January, or 1 February; so anywhere from 4-6 months. I'm still not sure if I should be excited or upset. I mean, I'm going to be an NCO and that means about a $200/month raise and it's something that will really help me out in the military and civilian world (because now I will be a supervisor) but like I've already said...school will be put on hold because of ALS. That, and because of deployments, I'm looking at not actually finishing the few classes that I need now for probably another year or so...fun stuff. But since there's nothing that I can do about having made Staff I just gotta roll with the punches...and just "deal" I guess.

So I just got back from Washington, and aside from the usual head cold/allergies that I get when I go home for some reason *cough* lots of little kids jumping on me *cough* this trip only resulted in learning that I suck at golf, getting filthy while camping, and a boating experience that resulted in an attempt to sink the boat in the Columbia River. Actually, this trip home was the best I've had in a good number of years. Some of that has to do with the fact that it is summer rather than winter, so people are inclined to actually do something other than sit in a house and watch TV.

But while playing golf the few times that I did while at home I found out that I'm probably one of the worst golfers...ever...in all the history of the world...PERIOD. It's not because I make stupid choices, it's because when I hit the ball it has a very strong tendency to curve to the right rather than go straight. I'm not sure why I can't hit the ball straight but I have a better chance of hitting my ball onto the fairway running next to me than I do hitting my current fairway, so that makes for a very long day and a TON of strokes. Oh, and I end up spending a lot of money to play just because I'm always replacing my balls. Don't be perverted!

So we decided that boating on the Columbia River would be an entertaining thing to do; and since we'd never done it and since there are fish out there it became a great idea...in theory. So we drove down to Vantage and put in Jeremie's boat there (and his boat isn't the biggest thing either.) Now, for those of you who have never been to Vantage, WA let me paint a picture for you: the Columbia River, where Vantage is, has cut it's way through the land to produce a canyon that's a few hundred feet deep (to the river's surface) and about 1 mile across. The river in the middle is over 100 feet deep so there are some pretty strong currents in the water and the wind blows through the canyon constantly and at a fairly swift velocity. Well, we got out on the river and on our trip out to where we decided to fish was filled with splashing water from the boat breaking through the 2-4 foot waves on the river. Well, after drifting from the middle of the river to the far side (about 1/2 mile or more) and not getting a single bite, we decided to head back. Well, as we turned into the wind (which seemed to have picked up cause the waves were now about 3-5 feet I would guess) the little motor on Jeremie's boat had a hard time moving us through the water. A lot of this was due to the fact that every time the bow of the boat went down the back side of one wave another came over the nose and into the boat, soaking everything. By the time we got out of the roughest part of the river and closer to the side opposite the boat launch there was about 3-5 inches of standing water in the bottom of the boat. Jeremie and I were laughing about the whole situation while his wife and kids and KayDe were screaming and/or crying out of fright and irritation. Well, I started pumping the water out of the boat and it took almost the entire trip of 1-2 miles of slow boating to get it (for the most part) out. I don't think I'm going to go boating on the Columbia River in Jeremie's boat again anytime soon. For those of you who have no clue what this area is like here's a picture that I found that shows the river where we were at. This is on the East side looking South.