|
derubino
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Derek
Country: United States
State: Washington
Metro: Bremerton
Birthday: 7/6/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: Bands:
Muse, Coldplay, Radiohead, The Shins, Something Corporate/Jack's Mannequin, Keane, The Killers, Jimmy Eat World, Jars of Clay, The Ataris, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bloc Party, Bush, Nickel Creek, Michael W. Smith, Goo Goo Dolls, Elton John, Eve 6, Falling Up, Ray Charles, Josh Groban, MercyMe, The Used, The Darkness, Our Lady Peace, Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service, David Gray, Third Eye Blind, U2, Snow Patrol, Shawn McDonald, Matchbox Twenty, Blindside, Panic! At the Disco, Cursive, The Faint, Lovedrug, The Strokes, Relient K, The Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, The White Stripes, We Are Scientists, Rock Kills Kid, Augustana, Hot Hot Heat, Green Day, All-American Rejects, Franz Ferdinand, Johnny Cash, Oasis, REM, Ben Folds, Arctic Monkeys, Hot Hot Heat, Dishwalla, Interpol, Damien Rice, The Verve, The Editors, Smashing Pumpkins, Shiny Toy Guns, and Audioslave.
Hobbies:
Baseball, basketball, football, singing, politics, Air Force ROTC, concerts,
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
AIM:  derubino
Member Since:
1/4/2005
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Just got back to Idaho after my fun trip home for Thanksgiving. Good to
eat momma's food and get some rest, and see Holly of course. I had a
pretty bad ankle injury a week and a half ago and have been in a brace
and on crutches since then. I took advantage off the special services
the airport has to offer though, so that made the trip nice. I don't
know what life is like in the civilian world, but work during the
holiday season is pretty weird. Seems like the base is empty with
people taking leave, we get breaks every other week, we split the
manning, and I don't see how anything is gonna get done till
mid-January, which happens to be when I leave for tech school. I'm
trying to take care of little things around there, but that seems to be
all I'm even allowed to do. Mostly just putting together award packages
and taking care of administrative things. The nice thing is how low key
it is. Not a lot of pressure. I'm still left in wonder that I've now
been active for 6 months and 21 days and have yet to remotely get in
any trouble from anyone. 
| | |
| Rest In Peace, My Dear Skippy and Custer, I'm sorry I didn't clean your
bowl in time. I promise you I was gonna do it tomorrow. You were good
goldfish. You never barked and I never had to walk you. Along with that
crisp Dr. Pepper I bought when I was thirsty at the rest area, you
might be the best 50 cents I've ever spent.
| | |
| So is two months too long between posts? Yeah, probably. Problem is
that the more time you take between posts the more there is to say,
which makes posting a daunting task.
So life is moving along fairly well right now. I'm settled in a nice
little duplex in a nice little neighborhood. Halloween just passed by
and I got really excited to hand out candy to the kids, but only twelve
came, so that was a let down. But I've managed to do some fun things as
well. I've made a few friends on base and I've hung out with my sister
in Boise. Gone to two Boise State football games, had a visit from Evan
and Dewey, seen a Relient K concert, visited the Malad Gorge, climbed
the largest sand dunes in North America, gone out to dinner, watched
World Series with friends, and went to a Halloween party. So there's
been some fun lately, which makes it nice.
Work is turning slowly into work. My period of complete stupidity, and
thus complete leeway, is over. I've started to learn the job pretty
well and am getting to the point where I don't need to always be told
what to do. Now I know what needs to be done and I can get my troops to
do it. And my troops are amazing. My main enlisted guy is Gonzo and
he's just a great guy and hilarious. He's new too, so it makes it more
comfortable for both of us cause we learn together and don't have to
feel embarrassed. But so far I can't say anything too negative. I feel
like I'm picking it up fast and surprising people. I haven't gotten in
trouble once even, but I've managed to have my share of successes. I
work for and with great people in my flight, and when I look at other
flights it's easy to see I wouldn't be happy in every place on this
base. I'm really starting to find my niche though, and I feel
comfortable being me around there. I don't fake anything and I don't
need to. Today I drew a nasty profile sketch of the top civilian in my
flight and hung it on his door, which he then hung on his wall. It
became a top conversation topic and point of amusement. I'm just glad I
can do stuff like that.
I spend most my money on place tickets so that Holly can visit. That's
my priority right now. The wedding plans are going along just fine,
even if Holly doesn't think so. I miss her a lot and the hardest
part is figuring out where I want to be until she gets here. I work all
day looking forward to going home, but when I go home to no one I just
wait to go back to work. Kind of an endless loop. The weekends are the
relief cause I get football, but Nebraska and Seattle seem to want to
do everything they can to ruin my weekends. I've found a nice little
church in town. The music is loud and not well-sung, but the pastor is
great and the people are a perfect mix of friendly, but not
over-bearing.
This is Holly and I right before a Boise State game with her, my mom, and my sister:
This is Malad Gorge, about 30 minutes away:
Holly I forgot what holiday it was at the Halloween party:
My NCOIC, Sgt Gonzalez, and I. We run my office together.
This is me with my boss Capt Hodges, who's been great so far:
Oh, and I cooked this. It's an Angus steak with melted garlic herb
feta, baked potato, fresh sourdough bread, and a salad topped with
buttermilk ranch 
Our little tag team on base. Jenny was my sponsor and Holly is the other new logistics LT.
Mike is my housemate, golfing partner, and fellow baseball fan.
Alright, that's enough bombardment for now. I'll try to be better about posting. Miss you all and hopefully see you April 12!
| | |
| My first mission took off today. That was pretty cool. Strange series
of events happened early cause the #1 Installation Deployment Officer
(IDO) left to Alabama, the #2 was late, and I was the #3, making me the
#1 for an hour and a half. No big deal till the Troop Leader wanted to
know who was "in charge". Heh heh. I think it went really well though.
My first mission of 164 troops deployed to the Middle East today and
they were even able to leave an hour and a half early, which apparently
was quite an accomplishment. Pretty nice feeling to see that huge KC-10
take off with all our troops on it after weeks of work and meetings
leading up to that moment.
| | |
|
