Things are going well...

Well... one of the troubles with blogging.. is that if you put it off for a while... you feel kind of overwhelmed with all of the changes in your life since your last update...  well, at least that’s how I feel after not writing for quite a while.. 

Hmmmmm...  Where to start...  

We sold our house!!  That is great news... We finally had our closing at the beginning of September... so it is great to not be paying a mortgage on a house that is sitting empty...  Things worked out, so we are very thankful for that.

After dropping off the closing paperwork at the UPS store for overnight delivery... my truck died...  I worked with it for the whole month of September, trying to fix it... I kept having electrical issues... and as soon as I thought I had it fixed, I would find something else had gone bad... so I bought a truck... I bought a Chevy, similar to the other Chevy I had.  It’s nice having power steering and power breaks again...  It’s really nice with the 30 miles or so I drive back and forth to work  here..  I do still have my Ford...  I might sell it... but I still feel pretty attached to it...  So we’ll see.. The longer I have it sitting here, the more salt will work on it though.. so I don’t know..   

Family time... It is so nice here... It has really been great being able to be more a part of my family life than I have been able to be in recent years...  It’s great being able to run and exercise with the kids and Traci in the morning...  going to the YMCA here... going fishing... It is all just so nice...  I can’t get over it... I feel like I have a smile on my face all day long...  again... as in the last message I posted... LIFE IS GOOD... 

We have become very active in our Church.  I really like it a lot.  Traci and I started teaching a Sunday School class of 4th and 5th graders today...  Again, I feel so fortunate to have the time to put into all of these different areas of our life.. 

My parents came down for a nice visit.  It was great getting to take a slower pace and just relax... it made me really think of how nice it would be to live closer to them...  just to enjoy the day to day life stuff.. visits... birthdays... holidays... all without a huge travel plan to make it all work... wow... how nice that would be... so if you’ve got it, ENJOY IT!  We had a really nice time... Dad and I got to do some fishing.. so that was fun... We haven’t fished together in a long time...  We went to the beach together for a weekend back in 2002... and got to do some fishing them.. before that.. i don’t think I’ve fished with him since 1995...  crazy...  (It makes me old just to think like that... ha. )  Again, the nice day to day things...  LIFE IS GOOD... 

    OK... there’s a brief re-cap for you... 

    Well, I feel like writing a little bit more about being a Dad... It has been a real adjustment here for me to have so much more free time, and the flexibility to take off whenever I need to take care of things... It has been a big change for me from how busy I have been over the past few years.  I have been feeling guilty about all of the time I have been gone.. and questioned what the long terms effects would be on my family....  

    Now that I’ve been home for a while... and able to really de-stress... Wow... it’s a whole different perspective on life...  I’ve gotten to know my kids so much better than I’ve ever known them before... I used to be there yeah...  discipline them.. yeah..  tell them what to do... what not to do.. yeah...  but I don’t think I spent near enough time with them to really know my kids... to understand what they were capable of... and what they were not capable of...  

    With the kids now... I feel like I finally know them... and wow... it’s great...  It has taken the most time to really warm up to Elijah... he still seems to go to his Mom a lot...  but we’re working on that... there are certain times when we really connect... and wow...  LIFE IS GOOD...  

    I guess I feel like living this fragmented life... of visits home... and deployments... and now getting to relax with a good break...  it really makes me look critically at myself... and ask myself, what do I want to be as a “successful” father...  I feel like when I was gone that it was all about being a provider...  but with more time together... kids don’t really care about “things” all that much..  

    The youth sports programs out there are pretty crazy...  football seems to be especially crazy down here... there are 5 year old kids down here.. playing full contact football..  they practice 4 days a week and have games on Saturday...  I think to myself.. WOW... that’s a lot of time playing football for a 5 year old...  that’s a lot of “go go go” time for Moms and Dads to make all of that happen...  It just seems like a little much to me... am I wrong??  We just aren’t ready for anything like that right now..  I don’t see the need to put kids in that much at such a young age... Again, I just don’t think that’s it either.... 

    When it comes to figuring out what’s important about being a Dad... I think it all comes down to having that genuine connection with your kids... knowing them inside and out...  their likes, dislikes, wants, and fears...  I am so happy to be here and have this opportunity to make up for lost time...    LIFE IS GOOD!

Take care,

Steve 

Living in Florida

        Well, we made it... We moved all of our stuff to Florida at the beginning of June.  I haven’t written because of how busy we have been getting settled in here.  It is really nice here.  We’re pretty happy with our setup here.  The house is really nice.  We have the East Bay River on the back of our property here.. and we have a short 3 mile drive to the Gulf for the beach.  There are still a lot of tourists here, but it is really nice.  

        I forgot how nice it can be to just spend time together with my family.  I didn’t realize it, but by being so busy over the past few years, I have allowed myself to become pretty callused to people and my family.  I think that’s a natural response to being away for a long time.. my natural response to prevent being too emotional about things.. is to stay detached.   Anyways, it has been really nice having the time to spend with Traci and the kids.  I feel like I’m just getting to know the kids all over again.  It has been really nice getting to spend so much time with Traci in conversation too.  It’s hard to have very much deep and meaningful conversation over email or phone calls.  so... LIFE IS GOOD.    

        We have been working to get settled into our house still.  We have most of our boxes unpacked.  We’re still working to find homes for everything though.  This house is the same square footage as our other home, but this house has 3 bedrooms instead of 5... and is laid out a lot different, being a single story home.  We like it though.  I’ve continued to do a lot of work around the house.  I’ve been giving my chainsaw a workout cutting back a lot of overgrown brush that borders our property.  Our neighbor has a tractor with a front end loader.  I’ve enjoyed using that a lot too.  I think i’ll have to plan on having one of them some day... when I’m retired... maybe..   We’ll see.

        My job is really different than anything I’ve done before.  I’m learning a lot.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading and learning about the Air Force and the job.  The Air Force is really very different than the Army.  I’m not saying one is better than the other or anything.. just that things are far different than I had thought they were when I started this job.   I’m sure I’ll go through culture shock all over again when I go back to an Army unit.  For now, I’ll enjoy the laid back environment and enjoy the time with my family.  I also started going to school again.  I’m taking classes towards my Master’s in International relations.  Classes start in September.  I’m looking forward to that starting.

        I’m still driving my Ford.  These discounts and Cash for Clunkers deals have been pretty tempting..  but i really like the truck.. and it’s paid for...  so I’m happy with it.  It still just seems crazy to me to think how expensive new cars are after doing so much work to my truck... and questioning if a new truck is really worth 10 or 15 times the value of my truck.  So, I'm still driving a 46 year old truck.  I put a good coat of wax on it this week.. and wow.. it looks good.. (in my opinion of course.)  I still get different people at various locations wanting to buy my truck though...  There aren’t too many older trucks like that around here.  

        Below are some pictures of the house...  still sorting through stuff.. but you’ll be able to check it out.

Take care,

Steve

About time to Move!

Well... it has been a while since I have written, and we have had a lot going on. Please forgive me for not writing as often.

Let’s see... last time I wrote, I went into great detail describing the transmission work I did on my truck. Ha... I’m sure there are a few of you that really enjoyed that.. ha... Since then, I’ve done some more work on my truck.

1.I took it to a body shop and had the doors adjusted, cab corners painted to match the rest of the truck, top of my cab painted, and the back of my bed painted. It was a pretty good price, since it has been a relatively mild winter here-- body shops are looking for work. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I even had a guy do the door logos over again and re-do the flames on the hood.... hey, don’t laugh.. it adds character. HA!

2.I put a stereo in my truck... so I’ve actually got music now.

3.I changed out of command. It is such a relief to feel like i’ve got a little more free time to relax now- not that I do that too much. Being a battery commander for the past 3+ years has been the most rewarding and demanding job I have had in the Army. I have never felt that I could help and serve others in the way I was able to do so as a Battery Commander. It has really refreshed my spirit and dedication to duty. With that, it has also worn me out a little... makes me want to relax a little bit now. It has been really nice over the past few weeks, being able to do that.

4.I’ve started fishing again, for the first time in what seems like 15 years now. It is really a lot of fun. We bought a few Zebco fishing poles for LeAnn and Elijah too. It has been fun. I really enjoy it and look forward to getting the chance to fish even more when we are in Florida. I’m really excited about getting back into hunting and fishing now that I should have a little more free time. I looked it up online tonight- a year long hunting, salt and freshwater fishing license is only $20 for active duty military in Florida! So I’m looking forward to that.

5.Traci and I are planning to move ourselves to Florida. We were going to use the Army movers, but decided against it for various reasons. We have contracted movers to come transport our stuff to Florida, then we will meet up with our stuff at the house we’ll be renting. We are pretty excited about the house. We still have our house on the market, so we were a little hesitant to jump into another mortgage right now. So, we’re playing it safe. Our new backyard has a dock out onto a river in Navarre, FL, so we are really looking forward to it... fishing with the kids will be fun and a lot easier now :) The picture above is an aerial photo of our future home (The house in the middle).

Well, let’s see.... my thoughts. Life sure is interesting at times...

I feel myself getting older... I feel like I think like an older man. I think it’s from all of the time gone away from home. I feel like I'm frustrated a lot of the time with the way things are now. Let’s see... a few examples to fuel my fire..

Customer service-- I feel like people think you’re asking them to cut off an arm to do their job when you go into a business. I don’t know where it went, but no one seems to put customers first anymore when you go into places... am I wrong??

Money-- I can’t stand the way it seems like half of the commercials you hear on the radio are all about financial aid... trying to help people figure out how to live on their credit cards... Traci and I worked through a lot of Dave Ramsey’s material over the deployment, and I feel like it has done a lot of good for me.. and for our family... but it makes me really take a look at the non-sense we are getting marketed... and it is scarey to me. Then, it is comical how after you hear a financial / debt consolidation / credit counseling commercial- the next ad will be for new stereos and rims for cars. How absurd is all of this?

Technology-- Technology is wonderful. It makes our lives easier... once you figure it all out... But... It seems like the cell phone industry has exploded... and gotten a little out of control. A few years ago we bought an iPhone for Traci to use to organize all of the FRG (Family Readiness Group) phone numbers and email addresses... It really helped make things easier in that respect... After I returned from Iraq and changed out of command, I went looking at these phones again, and WOW! Don’t get me wrong, they are neat... but the digital service fees and all of the other non-sense fees... It just seems ridiculous how much prices have gone up for these kinds of service plans... so I really wonder... do I really need to have a computer at home... at work... and a computer in my pocket, connected the the internet at all times??.. Is all of this really necessary?? I don’t think it is... What do you think?... Sure it is convenient... but wow... Is it worth half a car payment?? I don’t know... It also annoys the hell out of me when you go into a cell phone store and you get assaulted by some 19 year old that tells you how much you NEED this phone... or NEED this service plan... and how he can “pull some strings” to get me a free car charger if I buy the $140 service plan with $400 in new phones.. Is there something wrong with my thinking that all of this is just a little too much??

So, What’s my point??.. I feel like we are living through some tough times... and a real shift in thinking about financial matters today. I feel like our government has taken something from each of us... Personal accountability. The precedent that major corporations will not be allowed to fail can lead an individual to question why he or she is working so diligently to pay all of their bills... struggling to make ends meet. It seems like I see so many people that are using this economic struggle as an excuse to ... “quit”... and walk away from their obligations.. It makes me sick to see this happening. But... the precedent has been set... I certainly hope that personal accountability and responsibility... find some even ground in these strenuous economic times...
To further illustrate my point, take a look at some of the WWII era posters put out by our government to ensure that citizens were good stewards of their resources and were encouraged to save and buy War Bonds.

http://www.google.com/images?q=wwii+war+bond+posters&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source-univ&ei=nF6MTL7KKYWKlwfrwOhq&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=6&ved=0CE0QsAQwBQ&biw=1261&bih=626

Take a good look at these... It’s interesting to look through them. I’m sure none of them would make the cut for modern day use... I’m certainly not implying by these posters that I feel like we need in implement some kind of ration system to get through this economic struggle... or support war funding... but... you can’t help but notice the fundamental change in the thinking of our government... and our people as Americans... We have gone from saving, conserving, and doing without... to “do something patriotic... go spend this stimulus check to boost the economy.” There is something fundamentally wrong with this kind of thinking....

I’m saying that I’m frustrated about the things above mostly because of how disgusted I feel about things... and how “more, more, more”... just never seems like it’s enough. This change in thinking is frustrating to me... because yes... it does make me feel old... to sound like a grandparent complaining about things... ha... but it does seem like this attitude of financial irresponsibility is rubbed in our faces on a daily basis..... and nothing has stopped it... it is very disappointing to me...

What do you think??..

Well... I think I’m going to go to bed... and go fishing with Elijah in the morning. I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Take care,
Steve

Having fun on leave...

Well... Now that we have our house together and on the market... I’ve been putting more time into working on my truck. Ed Cooper has been helping me a lot with letting me use his lift out at his house. It has been a good bit of work, but it is starting to come together.
I’ll try to explain this to you all.. My transmission was slipping pretty badly when I left for Iraq. So, I knew I was planning on replacing it when I got home. After some unlucky issues with shipment, I received my transmission this week. I bought a TCI made Ford C4 transmission to replace the broken C4 that was in my truck. The new transmission was beautiful!... it was so clean when I pulled it out of the crate...
From the pictures, you’ll see that I removed the back half of my exhaust system to pull the old transmission off and put the new transmission up. I used the opportunity to seal up any leaks I saw in the system. It’s good to be home and working on my truck again.
Along with the transmission, I got a new transmission fluid cooler, torque converter, and shifter-- all from JEGS. We’ve had a bit of bad weather here lately, but the project is coming together nicely.
First, we removed the drive shaft from the back of the truck and removed the back half of my exhaust from the headers back. Then I drained all of the fluid out of the transmission and removed all vacuum lines, shifter brackets, and lines for the transmission fluid cooler. The lower plate covering the bell-housing was removed along with the starter next. Then I removed the crossmember supporting the transmission, all of the bolts attaching the motor flywheel to the torque converter, and all of the bolts attaching the bell-housing to the motor. After those bolts were removed, the transmission was carefully lowered and the dipstick was removed.
After the transmission was removed, I took the opportunity to clean up a lot of the parts on the underside of the truck, that you might not see too often... I also put new shocks on my truck. Elijah helped me out with finishing that up today. :) It was fun.
Putting the transmission back together has been the same steps in reverse order... with a lot of cleaning and additional care. I still need to do a few more odds and ends before I can start the truck up and drive it around the block... soon enough though. It’s nice not having to be in too much of a hurry about all of this.
The truck is looking good though. I’m really excited to drive it again after putting so much more work into it now. I’m pretty excited about it. I was really happy to have Elijah enjoy working with me on it tonight with the shocks. He was really excited about helping. It was really fun...
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WOW... that was a lot of detailed stuff in there for you Non-Automotive type people... sorry if I bored you with that technical mumbo jumbo... I am really happy about the work that I’ve been getting done on it though and I thought I would share that with you...
Being home is great. We had another showing on our house today. I hope the people make an offer. I guess we’ll wait and see if we hear anything. Traci and I have a drill pretty well down for showings... clean clean clean... It’s working out pretty well.
I feel a lot better about being home. Things are starting to feel more normal... well.. not with the rest of the world... but with Traci and the kids... things are going well.. It will just take some time to figure out Elijah’s little mannerisms... It’s different now because of how much more his personality has changed since he went to school. We are doing alright though. We got him a fishing pole for his birthday so we have fun doing that now too... (Except when it snows... ) HA!
After having temperatures in the lower 70’s off and on for the past few weeks... it dropped to 5 degrees yesterday after a night of wind and snow... Wow... really cold... It warmed up to 35 today though... so the snow is melting away...
Well.. I just thought I would update this with some pictures from today..

Take care,
Steve