Gone fishing

Richard and I have been enjoying the blustery Florida weather. It is so terrific to have a pleasant change of scenery. I will revisit the blog when I return to Afghanistan.

Mustaches

Never fitting on females, and rarely on males. There are exceptions, however. Take Jason, a man whose face is merely a scaffolding, an enabling surface for a mustache. He shaved it soon after the compliments started flooding in, claiming that everyone saw the mustache, not the man. Then there are famous mustaches: Errol Flynn, Tom Selleck, etc. But to me the mustache is strongly associate with Navy Chief types. There is a LCDR whom I have been confusing for an E9, basically because the man has a mustache. He set me straight last night. What can I say? The mustache takes over. I pigeon holed him. I am reminded of Steve P, a contractor pilot type I met in Iraq, who grows a mustache inspired pattern on his face when he is out here working because his wife hates it. It's the only time he can run amok with his hirsute facial adornment. His wife is right on the money.

Pirates held after mistakenly targeting warship

Wow. Did this really happen?

The first cool day

Prior to today the days were very nice, warm and sunny, sometimes clear. Lately the nights have been cooler and now the relentless winds have picked up making today cool. I put on a thermal shirt under my blouse, the only USMC gear I was issued. I think tonight I will need to crack open my sleeping bag and winter gear. The honeymoon is over.

Butter soaked lobster

I was reading in the Star and Stripes today the results of a military-funded study. "The study sought to find out what types of foods were best for pilots if missions restricted when and what they could eat. University of North Dakota researchers tested student pilots and found that those who ate the fattiest foods had the quickest response times in mental tests. They made fewer mistakes when flying in tricky conditions. Those on a high carbohydrate diet came in a close second and high protein dieters were third."

Putting the pieces in place

My upcoming leave to Florida will be part business, part pleasure. The first five days are designed to be pure relaxation. After that, knowing myself, I will start to go mad, so I decided to take care of some training and job interviewing while in Tampa, for a day or so. Later on there are a few job-type engagements, while Richard goes to a business meeting in Miami. We are not sure where we are staying for the latter half of the trip. Either way, there is going to be a fair bit of driving on this adventure.

Reaching out to Jacksonville

I have been feeling a bit run down lately. Many people here have colds, but I won't go down without a fight. One thing that I enjoy about being run down is that my regular operating speed is knocked down a notch, allowing me to be a better observer and listener. I am too tired to move my jaw at its regular frequency.

While at work last night, I went outside to the latrine. For some strange reason, in my state of being slow and needing to go to the bathroom, there was someone standing in my way starting a conversation with me about the fact that I am a Navy person wearing ACUs, and how he had worn them on a previous tour, blah, blah, blah. I considered excusing myself to go to the bathroom. He now wore a flight suit, he explained that he is on a rotation out of Jacksonville... "Did you say Jacksonville?" I asked. Well, then that's very interesting...

I have been considering visiting Jacksonville during my R&R for a couple of reasons. Jacksonville is a big Navy town. In my application for a recall to active duty I listed JAX as one of my places of interest to be stationed. I really didn't want to go up there without having someone to meet... without some intent. Jacksonville can also be a destination for some ADSW orders as a reservist. From an online perspective I was not seeing a lot of civilian jobs offered in JAX, compared to Tampa. Tampa abounds with opportunity. Well, the pilot who was preventing me from going to the bathroom, walked me right over to his work area and made some introductions. I was referred to someone's boss to meet when I travel to JAX.