I made it, mostly; part 2

I get in line at American Airlines, fumbling around a bit trying not to bump into to many people, drop my bags or loose my dignity. I am amazed at the advances in airport check-in technology. Years ago, just after people rode around on dinosaurs, just prior to the invention of the wheelie bag, they had only one line at the airport with two people working. Now they have three lines, and kiosks which most of the time are smarter than a person anyways. One line is for print ticket and carry-on bags, another line is for print ticket and we will take your bag and probably lose it for you (this is the line I stumble into most of the time), the other line is for those who have achieved demigod status. The subdivision of lines achieves at least several of its goals: efficiency, creating a caste system in America, and cutting down on waiting time. I only had to spend twenty minutes waiting for the next available kiosk. In that time I managed to find my I.D., military orders, and burn 447 calories, moving through the maze to get the cheese. When I got the front and confused the ingenious kiosk with my simple flight information, the inferior human asked for my paperwork, he looked up and blurted out, "You're not flying on American, your flying United!" I turned around and saw the myriads of people envying my position in line especially because I didn't belong there in the first place. I turned back to the town cryer and said, "can you announce that over the intercom? I think a few people in the back didn't hear you."

I shifted my packs that would cripple a caravan of camels and headed for the United kiosk line...

I made it, mostly; part 1

this is going to have to be broken up into more than one entry...

I made it, mostly. I get dropped off at the airport at about 0615 for my 0841 flight. I like to have plenty of time for things that can go wrong. I see these people who are running through the terminal like crazy people and I do not want to be one of those. If I do run through the terminal like a crazy person, it will be because its fun, not because I am late. I get out of the car and I have two wheely duffels, 1 wheely carry-on, one back pack, a standard backpack, and an unsipped starbucks coffee, not to mention I need to get to the essential documents. I don't know what people did before the wheely bag. I fumbled around for about 4 minutes trying to figure out how to wheel three bags, carry a backpack, and carry a coffee with two hands. This must have been hilarious to see. I think a few people though I was a street performer who picked the wrong items to use during my juggling act. I think somebody threw some change on the ground. I tried not to get frustrated. I tend to get frustrated when I am short on time, I knew I had plenty of time here. I decided to use the shoulder straps on my large duffel, wheel the other large duffel, and front load my backpack.

I get in line at the American Airlines....

My bags are in the trunk

In the morning I am going to Ft. Jackson, SC for 42 days. I am tired. Cassy doesn't want me to be typing this right now. I am tired. I have to go to the airport at about 0530. Sunday I report at about noon. That means one more day with the beard! I tried to pick most of my trash up from around the house so that Cassy won't have to deal with it much. She is having a rough time. She cut her finger tonight making me a special dinner. She went to the ER. I finished cooking my special dinner and tried to enjoy it with the kids while she was getting stitches.
She was quite upset when she got home.

I am really excited that my Dad, mom, sisters and bro in law are all going to be going through Dave Ramsey's FPU. That has very little to do with Chaplain School but if you don't know who Dave Ramsey is or what FPU is you should really google it. Anyway, I think that a lot of these Chaplain types are going to be really goofy. Cassy says that I am too negative. I told her I am jaded. I will try not to be. I need to try to be nice.

Shalom,
Brandon

An Important Job

This morning, being Shabbat, we sleep in around here. By "we" I mean one of the adults, surely we haven't enforced this rule with our children enough. Cassy is the one who works the hardest at keeping up with the house, cooking, cleaning, and getting up with the kids during the night. Therefore, I let her sleep in on Shabbat at least twice a year. Today was one of her days. Gami appeared in our bedroom door proudly proclaiming his new found control over his bladder and that he needed to release the floodgates. So I crawled out of my blanket burrito, brushed off the crumbs from the actual burrito I was eating while in bed last night, and helped him pull his pants down. He has mastered holding his pee, but he has not mastered aiming his pee. He misses the pot even when he is sitting on it. This is proof that some things really are instinctual. It would take hours and hours of training to teach a male how to successfully get all of his pee into the toilet, and that time is much better spent watching football. So, when he was done watering the carpet, we proceeded to make mancakes for breakfast. That's right, mancakes. Mancakes are pancakes that have the distinct mark of man on them. No, that doesn't mean we peed on them, too. It means that all of them are somehow misshaped because Gami and Abba made them with about as much care as we take in aiming our pee. I flip them too early or they have some other deformity. What difference does it make? In four minutes they will be mixing with stomach acids... and in four hours well... let's just say I aim better for what happens then. Anyways, I was trying to explain to Gami how I will be going away soon, to CHBOLC, a very important job for the Army. I said things like, "Abba is going on a trip soon", "Abba has to fly on the airplane", and "Abba is going to miss you." I gave him an quiz on comprehension. I asked, "is Abba going on an airplane?" Gami replied, "yes, and I go on a little airplane with Ima!" I asked, "Is Abba going away soon?" Gami replied, "yes, I'll miss you!" I asked, "Does Abba have an important job to do?" Gami paused for a few seconds, thought, blinked, looked me square in the eyes and exclaimed, ""Make mancakes!" I agree, making mancakes with my son is a much more important job than CHBOLC. Unfortunately the latter pays for the former.

Shalom,
Brandon