The Beginning of a New Year

Happy New Year!! 2008 is gone and now we have 2009. We'll see how this one stacks up since the last one was very difficult for me. In review of the year. I finished out my time in Oman. I worked really hard to make a difference and to withstand the stupidity that I had to endure everyday from the Omani Air Force. No matter how hard I tried to convince them of the correct way to maintain their airplanes, (after all we did design and build them in addition to flying them safely for 40 years) they wanted to do things their way without actually doing any work, they were wasting money even having us there. So in the end when the new bidding came out my company lost and we wound up leaving. DynCorp International won, and came in without much excitement or fanfare. I had a few of my people cross over to their company. I won't miss the fear of camel spiders, the long drives to Salalah, the fine talcum powder dust, or the British refugees that seem to have their own agenda. Oman could be a very cool place and has some of the most beautiful beaches and water I have ever seen. Just wish the people would try to pull themselves into the 21st century.

Kaylynn came over to visit, as I had mentioned in my earlier blogs. I have posted new pictures of our time in Jerusalem, visiting the Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, and seeing the Garden tomb, which I am convinced is the burial place of Jesus Christ. So check out the pictures below. I have a whole paper on why I believe this is the place. After Israel, Kaylynn and I went to Egypt, and I caught a stomach bug and gave it to Kaylynn, so we were both sick there, but I did get to see some very cool things like the Pyramids of Giza, and the Temples of Luxor & Karnak. We went home on a wing and a prayer I miscalculated our return time and missed our flight out of Jordan, so I had to beg onto a First Class flight costing me a lot of money. We did get back to Oman and Kaylynn left and I followed two weeks later. The whole experience was that, an experience. I learned about a new culture and what the other side thinks. Very insightful.

I came home without a job. (The contracts I might have run have been postponed.) I did find a position in Utah, which was a blessing, because it was not something that usually comes up. The position was the same as in Oman except more people, and not on the operations side, but more the logistics side of things. I really feel like a fish out of water. I am still trying to get used to it as it is very challenging. The technical aspect is nothing new for these guys who have been doing it longer than me. I don't know a lot about supply, but I am learning. I am working on being more interactive, and trying to gain all the knowledge I can about what we do. I love working for Lockheed Martin.

So here we are in our house in Layton. Kaylynn and I have callings in our ward, and we are talking about renovating our home because of Beth and the girls, and Doug coming home this year from his mission. With them and Matt and Tori, our house is going to be FULL!! So we need a bigger home, and I am not sure how that will work out for us. I am enjoying my time off, and Monday, I am back to work and rolling up my sleeves and ready to learn.