Snippets Part Deux

Here’s what’s been on our minds the past couple weeks:

1. Caleb had his first check ride in the 38 last Friday and passed with flying colors!  A check ride is kind of like a mid-term.  You go up with a special IP(instructor pilot) that only does check rides and they don’t do anything except add up every tiny thing you do wrong in the plane and every question you answer incorrectly about the components of the electrical system of the jet and fun things like that.   It’s like golf; a low score is good. If you get a certain number of things wrong, or even one important thing wrong, you fail, or in UPT terms “hook” the ride.  The better your check ride scores are, the better chance you have of getting the aircraft you want at assignment night (which, for us, is only three months and three days away but who’s counting? ;-) ).  One check ride down, two to go.

2. Caleb taught me how to dive at the pool here!  If you knew me when I was little, you’d realize what a big deal this is.  I didn’t even learn to swim until I took adult lessons at the Y when I was 18 because I was terrified of water growing up.  Diving headfirst into deep water seemed pretty unthinkable for many years, especially since some people break their necks and die or are quadriplegics for the rest of their life if something goes awry.  This was also my concern about skiing but I did that the winter before last too.  What a daredevil I am!  Anyway, I can now dive pretty well off the side of the pool and even the diving board. :-D

3. We had some friends over for some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and my “Spanish Salad” (romaine, garbanzo beans, and chopped carrots in a salt, oil, and vinegar dressing) last weekend.  I also made chocolate cherry cupcakes, which is chocolate cake mix with a can of cherry pie filling poured on top.  The laziest person in the world could make this dessert but it seems gourmet and is very tasty.  We recently discovered that one of our friends here is familiar with the game “Nertz” aka “Pounce” to my family and similar to “Dutch Blitz” for Caleb’s family.  If you’ve never played it’s basically a fast-paced game of group solitaire.  So I played that with six competitive student pilots in their early twenties and you can guess who had the upper edge.  We also played Apples to Apples and corn hole. A good time was had by all.

4. I’ve recently taken on “Taco Tuesdays” in Caleb’s squadron.  Handed down to us by spouses before us, and spouses before them, Taco Tuesday serves as a fundraiser for whichever class is running it to offset the costs of the graduation banquet.  Basically a few of us get together and cook about ten pounds of ground beef and take it over to the squadron in a crockpot along with tortillas, queso, salsa, cheese, lettuce, jalapenos, rice, black beans, sour cream, hot sauce, tortilla chips and brownies.  Then we sit there for four hours and the students and IPs come through and pay a suggested donation and take two or three tacos or nachos or whatever combination they want and we talk to them.  They absolutely love Taco Tuesday because the tacos are delicious and I think they like looking at people who aren’t wearing flight suits and don’t talk about flying.  We love it because it’s a profitable and easy fundraiser and it’s fun to talk to them and get to know them, too.

And here’s a picture I meant to put up a while ago of my dad and me with Kayla-poo from my last trip home.  

Wedding Sneak Peek

I read in a bridal magazine once that you shouldn’t reveal all of your wedding details to your guests before the event because then they won’t be surprised or impressed or wowed or whatever they’re supposed to be when they get there and see it altogether.  Even though we’ve still got about nine months to go, we have really got a lot of things already taken care of for the wedding!  Probably because I’m not working.  Anyway, I’m really excited about all the things we have planned: we have our sites, decorations, the florist, the photographer, the food, apparel, and my mom and I have been working on the wedding stationery( invites, programs, personalized notecards).  Actually she works on them and sends layouts to me and I get to say what I do and don’t like.  Probably more fun for me than for her but I am loving the results! :-) So as much as I’d like to describe everything in detail, I will just give you a sneak peek of two details that I’m really excited about.

I saw these tissue paper flowers in Martha Stewart Weddings and loved the way they looked but doubted I’d be able to achieve a similar outcome.  So I grabbed our gift tissue paper and gave it a go and guess what?  It actually was really easy.  These were just for practice; I’m ordering a couple gradients of our color for the real deal.  The only problem is now we’re out of tissue paper for gift-wrapping. 

A five-tiered cupcake stand or tower made out of MDF or particle board like this one costs about one hundred dollars online, but I’m telling you this was one of the cheapest and easiest projects ever.  First I bought four orange clay flowerpots for one dollar each and painted them white.  Then I bought a sheet of particle board for twenty dollars(you actually only need a quarter sheet, i.e. a 2’x4’ piece but I had no choice but to buy a whole sheet) and cut 9,11,13,15, and 17 inch circles out of it with a jigsaw(also easier than I thought).  Finally I painted them white and glued ribbon around the edges ( two three yard spools for two dollars each).  Et voila!  Total cost for me: twenty-eight dollars because I already had paint on hand, but if you could buy a quarter sheet of wood and still had to buy paint it would cost less than twenty dollars.  Pretty good. 

And, just for fun, here’s a picture of me harassing Caleb while he works with bubbles left over from that wedding we went to recently.  Hee hee.

 Happy Friday, everyone!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Yesterday I got an email from wallwords.com, who made the stencil that I used to paint the big fancy B on our corn hole set, saying that I was selected as the winner of the photo of the week!  I have no idea how many submissions it was chosen out of, or if it was a random drawing or chosen on merit, but supposedly it will be featured on their website and in their weekly email that goes out to 40,000 people(no word on how many of those people actually open the email).  I signed up for the email so I could see it and haven’t received anything and I’ve also searched their website trying to find my award-winning picture but have not found it.  If nothing else, we did win a $50 gift certificate to wallwords.com! Yay!

Here’s the money maker again, in case you forgot, or failed to notice its inherent winning qualities the first time. ;-)

Our orange, white, and gold-trimmed monogrammed homemade corn hole set.  Well, half of the set. Will be available for play and autographs at the upcoming “wedding”!

Solo Interview

At long last, I was able to sit down with Caleb, who has recently “soloed” (flew alone) in the mighty T-38, and pump him for first-hand information about what it’s like to zoom across the sky at speeds averaging 300 nautical miles per hour all alone.  Here’s what he had to say.

TKB: So you recently had a solo flight in the T-38.  How did it go?

CFB: Very well.  I didn’t break the plane or hurt myself.

TKB: So is this experience more fun or stressful for you?

CFB: Overall it’s a very fun ride; since you have more freedom to enjoy the flight without an instructor critiquing your every move.  However, the absence of an instructor also increases the stress level since you are solely responsible for everything that occurs during the flight.

TKB: What sort of fun things do you do during this one hour flight?

CFB: I get to do all kinds of aerobatics including loops, barrel rolls, cuban eights, Immelmanns, clover leaves, split Ss, and lazy eights.  Afterwards I get to go back to the base to practice my overhead patterns and landings.

TKB: Cool.  I don’t know what most of those maneuvers are exactly but I’m glad you enjoy them.  What is your maximum speed and G’s pulled during this type of flight?

CFB: Many of the maneuvers require entry speeds of 500 mph and pulls in excess of 5 Gs.

TKB: In your centrifuge video, it looked very painful to pull so many Gs.  Would you agree with my observation or would you say you’ve grown accustomed to that kind of strain?

CFB: There’s no real pain involved, it is a stressful condition which requires constant muscle strain and increased focus on breathing.  It does become more natural the more you do it and it’s much easier to control when you are flying as opposed to being spun in a centrifuge. Not unlike when you are driving a car around a sharp turn versus being a passenger going around the same turn.  It also helps to have a G-suit which constricts your legs and abdomen and helmet/mask which provides you with increased levels of oxygen.

TKB: This is serious stuff.  So tell us, Caleb, how does this flight compare with other flights in terms of amount of preparation, content, and the importance of your performance?

CFB: Preparation and content are similar, however there are several maneuvers, such a stall, that you are not allowed to do while flying solo.The solo flights are much nicer, actually, in that the grade is pass/fail which leads to much less pressure on individual maneuvers.  It allows you to enjoy the flight as a whole.

TKB: That’s nice.  Any other comments you’d like to make?

CFB: Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.  I can’t believe that this is my job.

TKB: Me neither.  Okay, thank you for taking the time to talk about your latest and greatest adventures with our readers and me.

CFB:  My pleasure.

*Fun fact*   The T 38 was used by the USAF Thunderbirds from 1974-1981.  I used to think all AF planes were painted like the Thunderbirds, and I wish they were.  Most of them are a dark, matte, gray color.

Wedding

Well we had a fun weekend going to Rome, Georgia, to attend the wedding of one of Caleb’s Academy friends.  On the way there and back we got to stop in Birmingham to do some shopping at a beautiful shopping center(I just can’t even tell you how much I now appreciate nice shopping centers with landscaping and fountains and classical music playing...not to be found within a two hour radius of us).  Here is a picture of us towards the end of the wedding.

I promise the next post will be an in-depth interview with your favorite student pilot about what it’s like to fly around in a jet at up to 500 mph by yourself!  Stay tuned!

The Half-Hearted Foodie

So I am not a person that you would refer to as a “foodie”.  If I could avoid the effort of grocery shopping, cooking, taking the time to eat, and trying to maintain the balance between tasty and healthy by just taking a pill a day that would fulfill all my dietary requirements, I would.  That being said, here are a few recipes that we’ve very much enjoyed in recent months! They make even a non-foodie a little bit of a foodie and they are pretty simple and healthy.  You should try them.  Click on the recipe titles to go to realsimple.com and see the recipes!

Grilled Chicken and Corn Avocado Salad
I’m a big fan any time one recipe includes protein and vegetables.  I left out the avocado because I have very childish taste buds and used the parmesan cheese that comes in a plastic container and it was still amazing!

Chicken Caprese Sandwich
Quick, easy and delicious, especially with all the fantastic summer tomatoes available these days!  I just started branching into eating fresh tomatoes a year or two again but now I’m starting to really like them! 

Rosemary, Lemon, and Garlic Roast Chicken
I love a roast chicken because it makes a great presentation but is actually incredibly easy.  I just follow the directions and it turns out nice and juicy and has great flavor.  Cleaning out the uncooked chicken does make me gag so I have Caleb do that part but roasting chickens are so cheap(I’ve gotten ours for $3-4) and leave enough left over for a few sandwiches that’s it’s worth it.

Tomato Parmesan Basil Rice
Saving the best for last!  I am mildly obsessed with this quick easy and absolutely delicious side dish!  Again, I don’t spring for fresh grated Parmesan and I confess I’ve been using Minute Rice because it’s just so much faster.  Tomato, basil, and parmesan is a flawless combination! 

In other news, Caleb installed an antenna in our attic so we now have access to the major networks and we’ve been enjoying watching America’s Got Talent.  Reminds me of watching American Idol back when it was good with my cousin Jane.  :-)

Also, tomorrow,weather-permitting, Caleb is scheduled for his first solo ride in the T-38!  Maybe I’ll have him vividly describe the experience afterwards.  :-)