Go sell crazy some place else...

A kid came to the door today selling crazy, I politely told him to go some place else, we're all stocked up!

We got home last night from my final T-6 flight and walked right into a punch in the nose!  The realization that the storage movers were coming the next morning drove home just how far behind we were!  We'd been putting stuff out for weeks, but that ended up being only about 25% of what needed to be put out.  The biggest pain in the butt is the washer and dryer leaving!  So it was a mad dash to do all the laundry before the morning!  I know that last statement sounded like I helped with the laundry, but we all know that it was mostly Amie, I helped fold and said I was sorry multiple times and promised her that everything would be alright.

So the late night turned into an early morning as I woke up at 4:30, mind racing because I still haven't written my CoC speech!  Yes I know it is in a couple of days!  The good news is that I got it done!  Amie even likes it.  Evidently when everyone else is still sleeping, except Harrison, he was at swim practice, it is possible to get some work done.  

The packers are here, rapidly getting our stuff into boxes and onto the truck.  The day so far has turned into a cold rainy day of running errands, dealing with emails from my sponsor and watching Amie get through on-line anti-terrorism training.  The email from the sponsor listed all the stuff I'll be doing over the next few months.  I guess I won't be able to hang in the Navy Lodge while we wait for a house, I'll have to work...darn the luck.  Amie was pretty funny with the training.  Once she got over the idea that Common Sense is not a common virtue, she rolled right through it.  She is definitely the type that will look to counter-attack.  During the hostage scenario, she looked for the "shoot the hostage" option! 

Final Flight

Yesterday was relatively easy, helo fam flight in the morning with the CO of HT-18.  It was a ton of fun...Thanks Rob White!  Then I flew my final flight in the T-6B as the CO of VT-3.  Kind of a bummer, but it was a great flight, definitely made the most of it, with one of the new IPs in the squadron.  Amie and the kids met me at the plane along with a bunch of the IPs for the obligatory dousing of champagne and toss in the pool, followed by a couple of beers in the bar.  Not the kids of course, they had soda and candy bars in my office, yah, I'm a great dad!

Like I said, it was a fun flight.  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  I think Lila has the best opinion...

"This S*&% just got real!"

Well I think we've been avoiding the daunting challenge that lies ahead by hiding behind near term vacations, trips and projects.  Now that the Disney trip is over, and it was great, and we've spent Thanksgiving with family in Greenville South Carolina, another great trip, all that remains is the process of getting out of town.  Of course with a little Change of Command ceremony in the middle of it!

A conversation with Amie sums it up...
Amie: "We're moving to Japan!"
Phil: "Uh, yes we are."
Amie: "This shit just got real!"

For those who don't know, Amie is...let's call it, much better off if things are specifically planned out.  I wouldn't use the phrase 'control freak' because she doesn't have to be in control so to speak, she just has to know that things are laid out with specific detail as to how they are going to go.  Oh, and I would never call her a freak.  So amid the various piles of our stuff laid around the house, and the ever growing lists of lists, we are riding the fine line between just about all ready and chaos.

Here's our timeline for the next couple of weeks:
Monday, 26 Nov - Express shipment/Final Flight for me in the T-6.
Tuesday, 27 Nov - Storage shipment, more shots at the hospital.
Wednesday, 28 Nov - Family starts to arrive.  Need to buy booze. (Completely unrelated, just need to buy booze for the weekend...I swear.)
Thursday, 29 Nov - More family arrives, guest speaker arrives, rehearsal, final selectors ceremony.  Still gotta figure out where we'll feed our guests.  Either at a restaurant or in our half empty house.  Did I mention that half our stuff will be gone because of the storage move?  Remember we are moving from 2600 sq feet to about 1500 sq feet.
Friday, 30 Nov - Change of Command.
Saturday to Tuesday - Family guests, final preps or house to rent.
Wednesday 5, Dec - Final movers, we start hotel living!

Then the flights begin!  I am sure there will be a separate post about those...how couldn't there be?  The Brock's getting on a flight from Pensacola to Japan with a stop in Seattle for just about 24 hours.  Everything will be just fine.

Travel details and prepping the house

Well we finally received our details for travel to Japan.  After multiple phone calls and emails we got exactly what we were hoping NOT to get.  Oh well.  On the up side, we'll still get to Japan it'll just be on the rotator via Seattle vice a small lay over in Hawaii.  Almost as frustrating was the folks at PSD who continued to screw up the paperwork...leaving someone off the message, or misspelling a name, or getting a name wrong all together.  I didn't expect much better, that is the nature of PSD.  Unfortunately, now-a-days, it has to be done via the phone with extremely rude, impersonal contractors who I believe don't care about the customer, only completing paper, no matter how inaccurate it is.  I actually had one lady, I use that term begrudgingly, tell me that I shouldn't be calling her.  The preferred method was to speak to a different person and then have to run to this witches desk with the questions...ultimate efficiency.  Evidently customer satisfaction isn't a consideration at PSD.  A fine example of when you are the only business in town you can treat your customers like crap.

Thankfully, the people I have working the VT-3 Admin shop are true experts and got us through the ordeal.  Thank you Sue and Tina!  You truly are the best.

On the home front, the house is roughly divided into three piles...storage, going and trash/goodwill/recycling.  If you are a burglar, go for the middle room, it is the storage stuff, things I am certain will be lost over the next three years, so I have resigned myself to losing them.

Of course, now is the time that all the little things in the house need to be fixed.  I didn't remember the cabinet in the kitchen being broken and this week was the perfect time for the boys to break their closet door.  I actually had a couple of seconds of free time, thankfully they filled that void with a trip to Lowes.

Overall it is coming along.  We had a great trip to Disney World last week so the chores ahead of us seem daunting after having a carefree trip.  Eye on the prize, we'll eventually get to Japan...I just hope we all still like each other by then.

Where to begin?

(Actually wrote this a week ago, but didn't post it correctly.)

Well about 3 months ago we were notified of our pending PCS move to Japan.  We probably should have started this blog then to account for all the hurdles you have to jump through to get everything in order. We are glad we didn't, that would have been a boring bunch of posts expressing at times frustration and doubt.  Now we have most of those hurdles behind us and are in the final countdown to Change of Command and heading overseas and are very excited!  The one big lesson to pass on all the prep work is...start early, if you can.

As we enter the final weeks we still have to sort out the travel.  The mighty efficient (Italics for sarcasm) bureaucracy of PSD takes weeks to decide what I could have done on Expedia in an hour.  Needless to say we are still waiting on our final plans.

The good news is we are heading to Disney World one last time, not because of the Mayans, stupid calendar, but for one last trip prior to Japan.  What's funny is how everyone I tell, who knows Amie, that we are going to Japan, feels the need to remind me that there is a Tokyo Disney!  Following Disney, there's the Change of Command Party, then a short week for Thanksgiving, then the CoC.  Holy crap that's fast.