I'll cut right to the chase here- I GOT A JOB! After what seems like a million interviews, but was probably more, its such a relief to finally be hired for a permanent position (especially since my current temp job is slowly sucking my soul).  I'll be working at the front end at a local doctor's office, specializing in spinal pain, and there seems to be a few opportunities for me to expand on that position. 

So come Monday morning I'll be pulling up to my new job, in my new CAR! Lance surprised me by getting a car I had test driven and loved in OKC while I was away in California last weekend.  Its a 2009 Pontiac Vibe, aptly named the TARDIS for its lovely blue color.   

I realize it seems like I'm bragging a lot in this post, and I'll be the first to admit that I am- but after a 3 month long unemployment stint in the MiddleofnowhereAmerica, I think I deserve it!

Things hadn't been so bad pre-car and job, I mentioned earlier that I made a trip home to California.  It was great to see my family and friends, I've missed them so much! The highlight of my weekend was just spending time with everyone, but getting some good food was a definite perk.  Between breakfast in Napa, Taco's Jalisco for lunch, In n' Out for dinner, an Irish brunch, and drinks with Megan (not all on the same day!) I was one happy girl. 



After only being gone for 3 days, I felt like such a weenie for missing Lance so much- especially since we've gone a lot longer without seeing eachother! We had a relaxing weekend at home, enjoying the last few weeks where he has a chill academics schedule.  He hits the flight line again next week, and with that comes 4:30 showtimes; I'm definitely glad that I've got a job since he'll be so busy!

Since Lance finished his last part of training early, he had a lot of free time these last 2 weeks, so last weekend we took a trip to Wichita! On the way there we stopped in Pond Creek to try some of their infamously good barbecue; it definitely lived up to the hype, I told Lance I'd make the 45 minute trek just for the potato salad!

Wichita was surprisingly really cool.  Like in Dallas, we did a lot of research on where to stay so that we would be close by to a lot of things to do- in Wichita that meant staying in "Old Town"- which sort of reminded me of Old Town Sacramento, with bricked streets, etc.  There were a lot of neat shops and a particularly cool theater that served a full menu of items and brought them right to our seats as we watched a movie! Saturday was a great highlight of our trip; we visited the Tanganyika Wildlife Park just outside of town.  It was unlike any zoo I've ever been though, we could get SO close to the animals! They even had an island where you could play with lemurs!  My favorite part was meeting Henry, the Indian Rhino:

We went out for dinner Saturday night at a restaurant near a large plaza area where there was live entertainment, they ALSO gave out FREE ice cream! Needless to say that sealed our approval of Wichita!

Wednesday was an exciting day.  Lance has now finished Phases 1 and 2 of UPT and his instructor pilots put together a nice ceremony to announce what planes each student would be flying next.  For some people this is a very stressful occasion and it can drastically alter the trajectory of their careers, it was sad to see some of our friends not getting what they had hoped for.  Thankfully Lance is set on flying heavier aircraft, and that track is less competitive than the fighter/bomber so there were no surprises for us!

There were all sorts of other activities going on that day, I for one had been going on and on for weeks about how excited I was to fly a simulator!  I think Lance was hoping it would be an eye opening experience for me about how difficult it is to fly a plane- but I didn't think it was so hard at all! I got to fly loops, barrel rolls, and 'buzz' the command tower on base- and the instructor pilot said I was awesome.



I'm still looking for a job and have a hard time not getting discouraged every time I get a call back after a great interview saying that I'm not going to be here long enough to be worth hiring.  Happily, though, we'll be on to new places in a few months- knock on wood but it can't be toooo much worse than Enid, America.
Lance's new classes seem to be going well, it helps that he already has the fundamentals down.  We got together at the home of one of his new classmates from Whiting Field last weekend for a class party and had a lot of fun! Its nicer now that I know more people and they know me, despite me arriving so late in the game here at Vance.  Lance's class sure is filled with a lot of characters!