October 7, 2006 11:35 pm by Ray Moser.

I spent the last week wondering what I would do during my last “free” weekend home. Technically, this isn’t my last weekend home since I will be here next weekend, but next weekend is Friday the 13th, reporting day! You would think that it would be any other day, but it’s just not so. I kind of feel like the dead guy who wants to live just a little bit longer, to take care of a few more things, or to say that special word to that special person.

But, I digress. This Saturday, I spent some good time with my family. We went to a huge community garage sale in a wealthy, gated community. It was here that I picked up several Tom Clancy books and a genuine US Army duffle bag. My wife, on the other hand, went wild with baby stuff. Our daughter is definitely spoiled rotten.

Then, in the afternoon, I installed the surround sound system that has been sitting in the corner for the last few years. I found out that it is so old, that it is not compatible with the TV, DVD player or anything else that I had. I purchased a new Sony DVD player that upscales the signal to 1080i (High-Definition) and it was also incompatible with the Audio/Visual system. So, I trotted back to Circuit City and bought a Sony A/V system (6.1 channel). I’m not an audiophile and I hate remotes, so this makes an interesting partnership. The TV remote is kind of stupid. I have to plug-in codes to make it operate the DVD player. The DVD remote can control the TV out of the box and the Sony A/V remote will work the DVD player. A big confusing circle jerk. I guess if you have the A/V stereo remote in your hand, you’ll win. This took almost all day.

Who has time on the weekends to do this kind of stuff? With one weekend a month for the reserves, that leaves me a total of six days a month with my family (on four weekends per month). Remember, in my civilian job, I travel and am away from home, so I try not to use my weekend time to make home repairs.

Tomorrow, we will pack up everything and see how it fits. Then, I will pack up most of my stuff and put it in the attic to keep it out of the way and so that I can find it when I return.

The only things left to do is sort out what goes on the plane with me and what will get shipped in the connex container.

I have just about all of my loose personal ends finished thanks to the generosity of my Boss and my Company because they both gave me the time I needed to really take care of everything.

If I get everything packed, perform the storage ritual for my motorcycle and get the garage cleaned up, then I’ll do some flying before I leave. My goal is to break 100 hours before I leave. I have a little over 95 flight hours now.

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October 4, 2006 7:33 am by Ray Moser.

If you know someone in Iraq or Afghanistan or their family members, please forward this info by clicking on the email link below:

Free computers for spouses or parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
Free phone cards.
To sign up for sponsoring soldier care packages for theater
Free shoebox care package
Free cookies
Lowest airfare available.
Free care packages
Free air travel for Emergency Leave, and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical facility

Airline discounts for R & R
Free books, DVD’s, CD’s
Free care packages (your family member signs up to have sent to you)
Free care packages
Get adopted to receive stuff
Free gifts and care packages

Thanks to Mr. Potts for forwarding this over to us.

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