I'm Still Alive!

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged in a while. I've EXTREMELY busy with my new job. With this job, there are several FAA tests that I must pass and I've been diligently studying for them. I promise that once this is all done I'll blog more often! Sorry for the short post, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive! Hehe!

Travelling here there and everywhere...

Well it has been a while since my last post, sorry for that... I have been so busy with this new job that it has been hard to find time to sit down and write something. This last week I visited Denver, CO and also took a flight to Rochester, MN. So I have been all over the place recently. Well yesterday was Thanksgiving and Les and I came up here to spend the day and we are going back today (Friday). I have to go flying to St. Louis tonight for my new job. Les and I are going to get to listen to the Arkansas Razorbacks game on the way home so maybe that will make the drive seem shorter. We are both hoping that this could possibly be the last 4 quarters that Houston Nutt coaches here at Arkansas!!! Well hope that everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day and was able to survive shopping today as there were probably a couple of pushing and shoving matches at some local stores, kinda sad that, that has to happen isn't it!

Airplane Pics....

Here are some pictures to looks at of the new airplanes that I will be getting to fly at my new job. The picture on top is of a Cessna 340, and the picture on the bottom is of a Cheyenne IIIA which is a turbo-prop airplane (jet engine running a propeller) that description was for Les as that was the easiest way to describe it. I usually have to explain aviation things to her in a max of one sentence or she stops listening to me!!! Well I hope that you guys enjoy the pictures.

New Job...

If you haven't heard by now, the other day I went in for an interview and came out with a new job. I will be working for Airborne Flying Services in Hot Springs starting in the middle of the month. Right now I am using some of my time of from the forestry service to go and do some of the training and riding along with some of their pilots to build up some experience! I am pretty excited about starting to work here because their chief pilot explained to me that after about 100 hours of riding along in their turbine airplanes that they can get me checked out to start flying it which seems like a pretty good deal. Yesterday, today and monday they have me going through a ground school class for these airplanes then on Tuesday we are going to go do some flying in them, I am pretty fired up about that! I felt bad the other day when I had to put in my 2 weeks at forestry and tell everyone that I am leaving!!! It is tough to leave behind a job that has been such a help and where I have alot of friends and go to a new job where things are unknown and new. I think that it will be a rather seemless transition though as some of the pilots that work up here for the company are very nice and seem like that can help a brother out if I needed it! Well sorry that I haven't blogged in a while, Lele got onto me about it, but there has been so much going on right now that I haven't had much free time recently! Hope that someone reads this as most of you don't even check this page anymore! BYE.

Finally got my Xbox back....

Well yesterday I greeted the UPS man as he made me sign to get my Xbox back... I'm so happy! Les on the other hand is probably not... Well everything else is going pretty good here, good week for me, Xbox came in the mail, got new cell phone, Hogs are playing tomorrow... all is well. I also see that no one posted on my blog about Kyle XY, Les said that was because my show is gay. Probably so.

5 a.m. workouts and Kyle XY...

Well today was the first day of Les and my 5 am workouts. All went well I guess, I think that it will take some time for her to adjust to getting up that early! I pretty much hit the ground running in the morning, she on the other hand, not so much!!! Sunday was a pretty boring day, Les and I both stayed home from church as neither one of us felt half-way decent. Les had to catch up on grading some of her kids papers so I had to kill alot of time by myself. Well one of my coworkers told me about a website that you could get on and watch tv shows and movies and I got hooked on a show, "Kyle XY." Well Les gives me a hard time about watching this show, but all is fair, I give her a hard time about watching "Charmed" Well the website had all of the episodes on it except for the last 5, and I really wanted to know how it ended the season. So after sweet talking Les she said to go ahead and purchase the episodes on itunes. Well it was some of the best money spent as it kept boredom at bay for pretty much all day. Well heres to a rain soaked Monday, hope that everyone has a good week.

new cell phone... yay!

I am finally getting a new cell phone after the last one bit the dust! In the words of Chelle... YAY! I think that is what she says but none the less I am pretty stoked about getting a new phone so that I can stop using Les's old hand-me-down phone. Well I know that no one has probably read my blog in a while due to taking a big hiatus but bear with me I will try and be a better blogger in the near future.

stole this from Les...

1. Who is your woman? Leslie
2. How long have you been together? Married just over 3 years.
3. How long dated? 5 years
4. How old is your woman? 28
5. Who eats more? I do.
6. Who said "I love you" first? I did, we were outside of the dorms at Henderson.
7. Who is taller? I am.
8. Who sings better? Its probably a toss up in this category...
9. Who is smarter? Me. I am, but I let her think that she is the brains in the operation.
11. Who does the laundry? I'll wash and dry, but I hate to fold!
12. Who takes out the garbage? That would be me.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.
14. Who pays the bills? I am learning to do the budget at the current time, so it is a joint effort.
15. Who is better with the computer? Les can type better, but that is about it.
16. Who mows the lawn? me
17. Who cooks dinner? Les and cooking usually don't go in the same sentence, so I would say, me.
18. Who drives when you are together? I do.
19. Who pays when you go out? depends whos wallet the credit card comes out of.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? That would probably be me, I am wrong quite a but.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? We see Les's family more often cause they live closer.
23. Who kissed who first? Les kissed me first, actually before I had broken up with the girl I was dating.
24. Who asked who out? Probably me, but don't really remember.
25. Who proposed? I did but she knew it was coming.
26. Who is more sensitive? I am.
27. Who has more friends? I have alot of friends but only a couple of best friends, Les has more close friends then I do.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Both I would say just depends on the issue at hand.

Anniversary...

I would like to let everyone know about my wonderful wife today... Today is our 3 year anniversary and I would like her to know how much she means to me today (don't worry I told her this morning, on the way to work!) I couldn't see myself being with anyone else as she completes me (not in the mushy Jerry Maguire sense) she is just able to help me out in the areas that I lack and vice versa! I love you Les and here is to many more years to come!!!

Football Frustration...

I know that I have not blogged in some time now, but I actually have something to say now. Les and I sat down and watched the Razorbacks game last night and in about 2 minutes or so, joy turned to frustation, and then to anger and disbelief! Well I continued to watch the game as I hoped that my team could rally from about 21 points down, and they did... only to take the lead and then give it right back in a most disappointing loss! Well on one hand I am happy that the Hogs were able to battle back and make it a very close and interesting game. On the other hand it really hurts to overcome so much adversity to lose such a close game. Les was displaying mixed emotions as she really doesn't mind us losing some games, so much as it leads to the firing and naming of a new head coach... well I hope that they learn from this game and get better as the season goes on. I would like to ask for everyone that reads this blog to say a prayer for the Arkansas secondary as they really need some help!!! Well hopefully it won't be to long till I blog again.

Let it rain down...

Well the rain has been coming down pretty heavy for the better part of the day, so I figured it would be as good a time as any to catch everyone up on what has been happening. Well alot of flying up until the last couple of days, then the rain stopped all of that for the time being. All the fellas and I are sitting here in the hanger twiddling our thumbs due to boredom. Alot of the guys are happy about the rain coming, but not me, I wish that it was sunny outside so that we could be out flying! It sure makes the day go by faster... rather then just sitting around "shooting the bull!" Les and I have been doing good, we have been looking at going on a vacation at the beginning of next summer, if anyone has any suggestions please bring them on as we cannot seem to nail down a specific place to visit. I sure hope that everyone has a good, rain filled week!

haven't blogged in a while...

Well I know that I haven't been on here in a while to say much of anything... but I think that I have been too busy with flying to really do much of anything else! Well the other reason to the lack of blogs has been the fact that our internet has been down for about 3 days or so. Hopefully we will get it up and running tonight. Will write more when I have time, just wanted everyone to know that I was alive and well.

DirectTV Represents...

I took off work today to visit with the DirectTV guy that was coming by to fix the neighbors cable... well he fixed it for free! Well not really, the only fee that is left is that on Friday there is going to be a guy that comes out to bury the cable for about 100 dollars. Well that is a small drop in the bucket compared to what I thought that it was going to cost. So today was a good day, took the day off, didn't have to pay anything yet for the repair work on the Dish Sat... all is well. Hope that everyone else had an uneventful Wednesday!

Gonna spend about 300 dollars to save 200...

I don't really know how much my "handy work" is going to cost until Wednesday!!! Handy work refers to the trench that I dug in the yard to bury our Dish Sat. cord. The Dish worker told Les and I that it was going to cost about 200 dollars to bury the cable in the yard, well I thought that I would save the money and dig it myself, bad idea!!! Well I get our cable buried and thought that everything was fine, till Les called me while I was flying yesterday and said that she had a conversation with our next door neighbor about their Dish not getting any signal after I had started my digging! Well I came home and dug up our cord and the next door ladies cord, and I think that I found the problem... I cut her cord when I had jammed my shovel into the ground... well a Dish tech is coming out on Wed. to look her stuff over and Les and I will be paying for the visit it looks like, WOOHOO. Thank goodness that I can fly an airplane, cause manual labor sure doesn't look to be my thing.

I know that arson is unlawful but...

Does anyone want to set some fires for me this weekend??? Not really, I am just real anxious to fly... don't want anyone to go to jail on my behalf, but I sure hope some stuff catches on fire right quick and in a hurry!!! It has been a long last couple of days... I know that everyone that reads this blog puts up with me talking about aviation, but bear with me on this one. This is why the last couple of days have been such a drag... When I get to actually fly the twin-engine airplane at work... I only get to fly if there are any fires that we have to go and put out. No fires, no fly. Well to make matters worse, the trailer, that we are staying in between going out flying on fires has a piss-poor excuse for an air conditioner... it was 91 degrees in there the other day and 90 yesterday! Our supervisor over there, the one that flys with me... won't let us taxi the airplanes over to the actual nice pilots lounge that the have on the other side of the airport!!! Well my boss told me that he was going to make some phone calls to try and get it to where we are sitting inside in the A/C and lounging on recliners, rather then sitting in that sauna of a place that we were staying in. Well hope that everyone else has a cooler weekend then I do...

Finally moved...

Last night we finally took down and moved all of our belongings from the house that we were renting in M-town... thank you Jesus that is finally over and done with. Les ran into some problems yesterday when we were getting Dish Network connected at the house... I have to dig up and bury 100 feet of cable... not really looking forward to that. Well fire season is officially here, have to fly today from 11a.m. to about 6p.m., sure wish that it wasn't 100 deg. outside and our airplanes had some A/C! Well Les and I will be able to blog some more in the near future when we finally get our internet connected.

changed the name of my blog....

I didn't realize that Chelle and I had the same title for our blogs, so I changed mine to Cross-wind Chaos... figured that was a pretty good title for me. I don't know how to change it on other peoples blogs to read "Cross-wind Chaos" so someone will have to help me with that.

Cell phone upgrades and shoe store lost and founds...

Well thank goodness my two years on my current cell phone have come and gone as of the 11th of August!!! It seems that my Sony Ericsson phone has finally given up the ghost, sorry Chelle... I knew that you wanted a phone w/ some Bluetooth! I was getting ready to call Les this afternoon, flipped open the phone, the main screen is white... no info no picture, nothing. Well the phone still makes calls, I just have to remember what button combo does what to pull peoples names up. Well I was pretty depressed about the phone then I got a phone call that the shoe store that Les and I had gone to in Rogers, Ar had found my sunglasses today in the lost and found, so at least that was pretty nice... well hope that everyone had a better day then I did!

All is well now... wait I lost my sunglasses!!!

Well I know that everyone that reads my blog reads my wifes, so here goes... she was right, I was wrong! Well all was well after that brief argument while shopping, then I ended up losing my very expensive Ray-Ban sunglasses! I have no clue what happened to them, they could be anywhere... except for here at the house! Maybe it is best that I don't have a bunch of expensive things as this would happen alot more. Always seems that you lose the things that are the most valuable and the stuff that isn't worth a thing seems to stick around for years! Well hopefully I won't lose anything in the next 48 hours till Les and I get home to Malvern!!!

Long week

This sure has been a long week for both Les and myself. We are in the process of getting things ready to move to Sheridan, which we are both excited about! We just aren't very excited about the actual moving part!!! Well it has been a pretty long week for other reasons too, my favorite baseball team (Texas Rangers) made some pretty big trades at the trade deadline in baseball! That probably doesn't mean anything to you guys, but it is kinda hard these days in professional sports to get comfortable with certain players staying on your fave team for their entire careers. A couple of players this week were inducted into the baseball hall of fame this week (Cal Ripen and Tony Gwynn) that played for the same team for their entire careers! I think that is the way that I would do it, if I would have ever played professional sports. Hope that everyone has had an excellent week...

Getting up early doesn't have any advantages!

Well I got up at my normal time today... 6 a.m. only problem is that everyone else won't be up for a while! Les is crashed out in the bed behind me and everyone else is sawing logs upstairs! I did get up this morning and watch a webcast of "Greek" which is a pretty good show on abcfamily. I don't think that I can wait any longer till all of our shows kick back off in the Fall. You know Heroes (I know Lele watches this one), Lost... who doesn't watch that, October road (Chelle knows what I'm talking about), the Closer (which is on this summer), and Grey's Anatomy. Well everyone have a good weekend, when they wake up!

Two trips to Fayetteville in the same day...

Got a phone call at 6 a.m. this morning to take a trip in the Commander (thats the twin engine airplane at work) up to Fayetteville, we took some of the big wigs from the forestry commission up there for a meeting. Well thats where Les is, only problem is that she can't hang out or even talk that long on her cell due to cheerleading matters. She called me a little while later and asked if I would come up and hang out over the weekend w/ the fam. So I am at the house, cleaning up and packing for the return trip up there this evening! Makes me wish that I owned an airplane... it only took 2 1/2 hours to go from Malvern to Conway to Fayetteville and back! It will take me that long today to get to Russelville via I's 30 & 40! Well all else is well here, hope that everyone else has a good weekend.

Random Questions

1. I’ve come to realize that my last kiss was…earlier today, quick peck w/ Les as she was reading Harry Potter.
2. I am listening to…the air conditioner kick on.
3. I talk…alot and my stories usually contain to many unneeded details.
4. I am dating…no one, probably have to move out if I did that... besides Les said that I have no game.
5. My best friend…Is reading her book... and I am entertaining myself!
6. My car is…I have two vehicles, a truck and a car and they are both old and worn out.
7. I hate it when people ask…dumb questions!
8. Love…is a two way street.
9. Marriage is...very rewarding
10. Somewhere, someone is thinking…hold my beer, watch this. We are in Arkansas.
11. I’m always…happy, very rarely do I get mad at all.
12. I have a secret cheesy crush…on Catherine Zeta Jones, its ok Les knows.
13. My mobile phone…is getting ready to be upgraded next month, kinda excited about that.
14. When I wake up in the morning…I am up, once my feet hit the floor I am ready to start the day.
15. When I go to bed at night…I have to endure Les watching her DVD's of her fave show "Charmed." it helps her go to sleep, probably from boredom as that is show is pretty dumb.
16. Right now I am thinking about…the next word that I have to type, I am not the best typer in the world, I type 3000 words a minute, but its in my own language.
17. Babies are…constantly renamed in my house, Les likes to play the baby name game alot.
18. I get on myspace…every morning and check and see if someone sent me something, but I am to lazy to send other people messages!
19. Today I…hung out by myself as the wife read her book.
20. Tonight I will…probably keep doing the same thing as she looks like she has several pages to go.
21. Tomorrow I will…well the game plan is to get up and go to church, and then come home and watch Les read.
22. I really want…fly jets for a pretty major corporation, thats my dream.
23. Someone that will most likely repost this is…I think that everyone else has done one of these so probably no one.

Aviation the good and the bad...

As some of you know, either from myself or from Les, I have been flying with a friend of mine in Little Rock for about 2 years or so building up some multi-engine flying time and experience. About 6 months ago or so it looked pretty promising that his company was getting ready to need a pilot to fly their airplane due to the fact that both of the pilots that were flying for them were going to be moving on to better things. Well I found out that the possibility of flying for their company kinda went up in smoke as the companies executives have decided to sell all of their airplanes. It made me sad that this job opportunity went away as fast as it had surfaced! But after thinking about it for a minute I realized how bad it could have been if I had started to work there, then the company decided that they no longer needed a plane and a pilot! I know that at least I have job security here flying for the State, cause there is always going to be forest fires! I have a long day ahead of me, have to entertain myself due to the fact Les now has the new Harry Potter book and she said it will be finished in a span of 24 hours, she has till midnight tonight.

Can anyone see this?

Been having some problems making this thing work today...

I wonder what the sun looks like...

It has rained so much this week that it almost makes you forget that this is actually summertime! But I know that the second that I pray and hope for sunnier days... it will be a 100 degrees in the shade and unbearable. Well the wife and I are going to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight, should be a good one. Bye for now and everyone keep an eye on the weather and be careful... lightning struck our hanger again!

My Savior!

I already know my real savior Jesus Christ... this is about one of my co-workers. My Buddy, Jake was sitting at the hanger this morning listening to my series of traumatic events w/ my Xbox and he turns to me and asks if I wanted to just borrow his until mine gets back!!! It seems that he has one and doesn't have any games for it and doesn't use it very much. That pretty much made my day... Hooray for July the 17th and NCAA football 2008.

$500 is alot to spend on a paper weight!

If you spend your hard earned money on something, especially 1/2 a grand or so you would think that it wouldn't cease to operate in a years time, right? As most of you know, I enjoy video games... I am not addicted to them, but they are fun to play and can help me relax after spending sometime up to 6-8 hours in an airplane. Well last night I thought that I would fire up the old Xbox 360 and play a game of baseball... bad idea! All of these red lights were going off on it and I am really suprised that it didn't start to smoke. At that moment all I could think about was that NCAA Football 2008, the football game that I have already paid for comes out in 6 days and my console decides to go haywire. Well I call 1-800-my-xbox-is-screwed or what ever the number is and the lady that sounded like she was in Iran said that my Xbox was going to get fixed for free... woo hoo. Only problem is that since so many of them have been screwing up, it will take 6 weeks for them to fix it! Words cannot describe the anger I felt last night... that was until Les took me to Wendy's and bought me a Vanilla Frosty! Well I was really happy that the 17th of this month was fast approaching so that I could get my new football game... well I guess I can use it as a drink coaster till I get my Xbox back.

30% chance of rain?

Sometimes I wonder how the National Weather Service comes up with their predictions on the weather! Do they have a dart board and a couple of chimps, the chimps throw the darts and what ever numbers they hit they add together to get the rain chances? It has rained so hard here in M-town that there was quite a bit of standing water in our yard, and I think that if it rains anymore... I may need a boat to get back to work! Today is another fun filled day of nothingness at work, to bad outside to go flying, and rain sure doesn't help forest fires burn. Well there were a few lightning strikes around here, one of them hit our hanger... thankfully we had a lightning rod on it! Well everyone should pack a raincoat for tomorrow I think that they are calling for a 40% chance!

Eight Random Things About Me

Well I guess I am playing catch-up on here so since everyone else seems to have done one, here goes!


1. I am not really afraid of many things... except for spiders, needles, and hospitals. I think that I am afraid of spiders because you never can tell if one is poisonous or not till after it bites you! Needles hurt so that pretty much sums that up, and at hospitals they have needles and you usually need to be hurt to go there!

2. Even though I am outgoing to a certain extent.... I am kind of a loner. Being an only child really helps you learn how to entertain yourself growing up! I am not saying I don't like hanging out w/ friends and family... I can just make due on my own as well.

3. I don't like to take off from work! I enjoy going to work, and not just because I get to fly airplanes. I think that in the last 4-5 years I have taken a grand total of 2 sick days off or so. Days just seem to go faster when you are at work.

4. I hate to read books! Les and I were talking about this yesterday. She is really hooked on this set of novels by the guy that wrote "Kiss the girls." I think that she read the fourth book in the series in one evening. I turned in most of my textbooks from college with the plastic wrapping untampered with!!!

5. I am a morning person! I love waking up early! Now I do not wake up as early as my father-in-law, but early enough. Its kinda nice to sit and relax early in the morning.

6. I have Adult ADD... Les swears that I do not, that I rather have A.L.A.S. (Adult Lazy *** Syndrome) which is probably a better description. But sometimes it is hard for me to remember what I was supposed to do and when! It could be that I am unorganized, which Les is not, and that drives her nuts.

7. I love to travel! I have been to alot of states on the east coast as my parents and I used to drive to Pennsylvania every summer when I was growing up. I have been to alot of pretty cool places also w/ a buddy of mine that flys out of Little Rock, probably Ludington, MI was the farthest away that we have gone and it was really beautiful.

8. Last but not least I have a terrific wife... she is my best friend! Sorry Adam and Shannon, but she is the first person that I want to rejoice with or confide in. I am really a lucky man to have her in my life!

Remember back in the day?

Ok, the wife and I went to see Transformers the movie yesterday and I have to say that was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. Les and I sat around last night and talked about all of the cartoons that we used to watch as youngins. I found out that she was traumatized as a youth by a lady that bought the last he-man toy in Dillards when she was about 4 or so years old. This had to be the saddest story that I have ever heard. I wanted to give her all of the He-man toys that I accumulated from my childhood to ease her pain! Being just a step under thirty it was nice to see a movie that reminded me of Saturday mornings growing up, back to the time in life where there weren't any cares in the world, no bills, work... etc. If you haven't seen Transformers yet, you need to go now! Les said she is waiting on the new Jem movie to hit the box office! Just kidding.

About me...

I guess this is a formal introduction post... my name is Matt I am a pilot for the Forestry Service. The reason I now have a blog? My wife has one so now so do I. My wife is a Jr. High english teacher which means that my posts will be edited and returned to me with several red pen marks as I did not usually score exceptionally well in English while in school! She and I are both pretty die-hard sports fans, especially Arkansas Razorbacks fans! I have alot of favorite sports teams and my wife usually gives me a hard time about them all being horrible... she is pretty accurate with this statement, but to be a fan is to remain loyal, is it not? My wife and I have been married for 3 years coming up in September. She and I have been together a total of about 8 years and we can still make each other crack up and laugh which is really amazing after that much time spent together! I will give the one or two people that may stumble on this blog by accident this one piece of advice... if at all possible marry your best friend you can't go wrong, unless your best-friend is of the same sex, that might be a little odd! Well I hope that this been informative, because I have to go mow the lawn as the wife and I are going to Little Rock today to see the movie "Transformers" today.