Well here it is ....almost Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is my ALL TIME FAVORITE HOLIDAY! As it happens, our shift is off on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just luck of the draw, I guess.



We will celebrate Thanksgiving down at Larry and Sandy's (my in-laws). Sandy always puts on a great spread of food, and my brother-in-law, Curtis will be up with his family....

I was down at Food City this afternoon, and I ran into my old friend, 'Birdie' Travis Carrier. I used to work with him at the E.P.D. What a great guy. He went to J.C.P.D. and then to Iraq as a contractor. After he got back, he went to work for the Dept. of Energy. He told me that he runs into my bro-in-law, Curtis, often, down there in Oak Ridge. He also told me that he now has 4 kids...wow! He was a great Officer, and a good friend. I was glad to see him.

There will be some changes at the Airport in January. Every year they do the shift change thing. If any poor, pitiful Night Shift guys wanna work Dayshift, that is the time. I love working straight night shifts. However, it looks like, due to defections from shift 4 to day shift, that I will be moving to shift 4. I will prolly be '403' which will be the absolute height of irony, being that was my last call-sign at the Elizabethton Police Dept.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, All, Especially my Lovely Wife, Rusti....I sure do love you, honey. You are the one that I am thankful for!!!

Well, today, Rusti and I got back from the Smokey Mountain Criminal Justice Conference, Hosted by the East Tenneessee Human Resources Agency, in Gatlinburg. What a week. We both dreaded going, and leaving our home, and our little Boston Terrier, Tommie Girl.

The Conference, and, the week, passed by pretty quickly. We got to hang out a little bit, had some good food, and did some shopping. We stayed at the 'Conference' Hotel, the Edgewater Inn, in Gatlinburg.

http://www.edgewater-hotel.com/

Believe me, folks, this is the hotel from Hell. Too many horror stories about the hotel to even go into here, but suffice it to say, this is not even a 1 star resort. We got it done, and we are both sooo glad to be back in our wonderful little home. Anyway, hope all is well with all.

Feist - 1 2 3 4

Coach's that Suck Square Dancing

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Kid Rock - So Hott

You gotta love 'The Kid'! Posting several videos lately, but, you gotta admit, they all kick ass!

Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down

Awesome Video!

Sarah Silverman - (8) German Cars*

Just another quickie. Here is the B-24 that was at the Tri. Number 18 off the production line out of almost 19,000.

You just never know what you will see at KTRI. I saw a Bariev flying boat the other night on the General Aviation ramp. Unreal. I am still loving it out here. Probably the best job that I ever had. Law Enforcement + Aviation. Doesn't get much better than that. I still feel sorry for all of the guys stuck at the Carter Co. Sheriff's Office under the new Management Team. It seems that there are 2 camps....the sucks (sell-outs), and those that are trying to hang onto their jobs. Pathetic. Too bad that it had to come to this.

I just wanted to post a quickie, to congratulate Appy State on their victory over Michigan (formally Div. 1 # 5 in the nation). Most sports outlets are calling it the "Upset of the Century"!

This game will be talked about for years. Not to 'jump on the bandwagon', or anything, but you can count me in the number of Mountaineer fans.

My beloved Vols lost to Cal. Not the end of the world, but our problems simply will not go away without a MAJOR shake-up in Knoxville! 'Nuff said about that.

It's been awile since I've updated. I just wanted to post a quick update of some goings-on at the Tri. We shipped out another batch (6) of Bell Jet Ranger Helicopters to the Columbian Air Force. The Jet Rangers were 'finished' in Piney Flats. How bizzare is that?

We were also paid a visit, recently by one of only 2 fly-able B-24's left in the world. It was restored and operated by the Commenrative Air Force out of Texas. They used to be called the 'Confederate Air Force', but had to change their name, in the name of Political Correctness. The B-24 was the backbone of the 8th Air Force, during the daylight bombing campaign of Germany, during World War 2. The B-17 (one of my favorite aircraft) got most of the glory, being a better looking plane, however, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator could carry a heavier payload, had more range, and could fly higher. It was a thrill to get to see a B-24 in real life, and climb aboard her. I got to hear her start her massive radial engines, and got to observe a take-off. It was fantastic. The particular B-24 that was at the Tri, was 18th off the production line (remember almost 19,000 were produced during the war) and was delivered to the Army Air Forces in 1941.

This was my long week-end off, however, I had to work over Saturday, due to the Nascar Race. Everyone who knows me, knows my disdain for Nascar. I guess everyone has their own thing. My passion is U.T. Football. I just for the life of me, can't understand the fascination with watching cars go around in a circle. If anyone thinks Nascar is blue-collar, you should have seen the BILLIONS of dollars in private jets at the Tri, and the non-stop helicopter flights to the track. Unreal. Yet some poor slob living in a hollow somewhere will spend 3 or 4 months salary to go root for these 'American Royalty'. In my mind, the old joke holds true: NASCAR = Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks. lol.

In other news, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and his big-boobed, fat trashy wife passed through the Tri recently. It seems that Dog was going to speak at the Fountain of Life (Biker) Church in Johnson City. Apparently, Beth (the wife) was somewhat un-happy that one of her bags received a minor scratch, and made a big scene, cursing the workers at U.S. Airways. That's nice. Speaking at a church, and cussing low-level ramp workers. Life is funny sometimes, ain't it!

Anyway, more later.