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Published: March 15th 2009
Officer and a Gentleman
Road trip to New Orleans! Jonathan found Michelle's cover...It seems like each weekend is a challenge to come up with something cool to do. There isn’t much in Pensacola, and after a few months of sitting around here, it gets really old really fast - especially when it’s too cold to go to the beach. There isn’t much within local driving distance, but New Orleans is only 3 hrs away, so off we went for an impromptu trip. It ended up being a big group of us - 8 total I think. We all spent Valentine’s weekend in the Big Easy, alternately drinking, eating awesome food, and gambling. The last time we went was my first time gambling, actually, but I learned that I’m not that into it. I guess it would be great if I was really good and won lots of money, but since I’m not and I didn’t, I was more interested in going back to Bourbon St. This was our second trip within a month, and between the two trips we had almost all the gastronomical musts (with the notable exception of a muffaletta). My short list of favorites would include: beignets from Café du monde (like fried dough covered in powdered sugar); candy apple
Our posse
This was our road trip posse for New Orleans -- we met up with another carload of our friends from Mister Apple; brandy milk punch from Brennan’s (really good bfast place with a very yummy drink - brandy, cream, vanilla, nutmeg, and simple syrup. Awesome!); and of course the classic po’ boy sandwiches that the south is known for (Mothers is best with Johnnys taking a close second). We listened to some mandatory jazz last time at the famous Preservation Hall. Not bad! This time was more conventional - hip hop and karaoke.
We had a great time wandering around town during the day and going out at night. Even though Mardi Gras was on Feb 24, the celebration starts as early as Feb 7 with the first parade. I missed all the parades that weekend, but there were plenty of beads to be had (and earned). We got lucky in that one of the guys we met up with there has connections with some New Orleans society responsible for continuing the tradition (and craziness) of Mardi Gras. They had rented out prime hotel rooms on Bourbon St with great balconies. The rooms were coated in saran wrap and the furniture had been taken out - the perfect party room! There was more booze than a bar, including
Mardi Gras fun
Michelle and Ken a margarita machine, and a huge box of tons of bags of bulk beads. After walking among the commoners along Bourbon St, we were up high looking over it all, holding the power in our hands. It sounds weird, but it was a weird night… While we were on the street, you had to be conscious of your surroundings - flying beads hurt. People will often throw beads from their balcony with little or no provocation - and sometimes their aim isn’t too good. I took one in the toe and it really stung. Those things get flyin fast! Most people are very willing to toss you a necklace, no questions asked. Every now and then you get people with really nice beads (not the cheap ones) who hold out for boobs. It wasn’t as crazy that weekend. There were a few boobs flying, but not a ton. It was really gross - if it looked like a girl was gonna show, there would suddenly be a ring of open space with guys standing around, some with semi-professional recording equipment. Ew. The seediest people you’ve ever seen. And most of the boobs were ones you would ask NOT to see
Double Fistin
3 for 1 beers in the bar! We had to... Bourbon St. on any other night. But hey, that’s the spirit of New Orleans. Anything goes. Up on the balcony, we suddenly had the power. I ran into one of the guys who had asked to see my boobs for beads, and enjoyed the embarrassment he felt at being confronted by the nameless/faceless girl he had just solicited from his vaulted position. And because I know you’re all wondering - no I didn’t show my boobs. None of us did. We didn’t need to - there were plenty of beads going around without that. I may not have gotten the great beads with figures on them and stuff, but hey I can buy them if I really wanted to. Once we were up on the balcony, we couldn’t believe the things people would do for beads! I saw every part of the male anatomy and almost every part of the female anatomy many times over. And all for some cheap plastic beads that you could buy for 10 cents. By the way, an expensive hotel room is not necessary to have a good time at Mardi Gras - many of the bars on Bourbon St have balconies on the second floors.
The street was littered with beads, but reaching down was a gamble. You never knew where those beads have been, and what’s been dripped on them. Ew. Even if I just dropped one that was thrown to me, I hesitated picking it up off the ground. I’ve seen cleaner streets in 3rd world countries. So our night of mayhem was a blast. It was a nice atmosphere of partying and letting loose without too much debauchery. I wouldn’t call it classy, but it was definitely fun. Even though it was getting into Mardi Gras season, it still wasn’t too busy on a Sat night. A nice amount of people. It was my 4th trip there, and it was only slightly more people than I remember seeing before. (Incidentally, my first trip was pre-Katrina, and my other 3 - now 4 - were post-Katrina. Not much difference noted on Bourbon St. Same atmosphere, same people, though some would say it’s not as busy as before). The real craziness would be the next weekend…
But all too soon it’s time to go and get back to life and work. Thankfully, for me “work” isn’t the dreaded curse that it is for
Bourbon St.
From our vaulted position on the balcony all my friends who are in the class ahead of mine (and a couple of months farther in the syllabus). Being in the last phase of training, work for them consists of painful 9-hr days of straight powerpoint lectures, most of which are not helpful and extremely boring. I was a bit disappointed to hear that since I had been looking forward to our academic time back at NAMI with hopes of actually learning some of the nuts and bolts of being a flight surgeon. However, I think through the haze of banal lectures seemingly with the sole purpose of filling time, there do lie some gems. In talking to my friends, they know a lot more about the details of being a flight surgeon than I do yet (of course, nothing interesting - stuff like filling out waivers and medical requirements for flight, etc).
My next week started with a holiday on Mon (President’s Day), then about a week of administrative stuff. After checking out of VT-6 on Tues, I couldn’t check in to HT-28 (my helicopter squadron) until Thurs, then had to come back on Fri to meet with the CO. All in all, I went in
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Eagerly waitin for beads most days of the week, but only for a few hours or less each time. A very short and easy week. On Friday, I booked it back home, threw some clothes in a bag, and headed out to New Orleans again (solo this time) to meet up with a friend from Bethesda who happened to be in town for the weekend. She was there with another friend of hers from Bethesda, and I made the drive out there. When I pulled into the hotel on Friday evening, the valet alerted me to a completely flat tire I had been driving on. Earlier that day I had taken it to the shop for an oil change, inspection, and checking out the tires. Funny, but now it was so flat I was riding on the rim, with no idea how long it’d been that way. What a great start to the weekend. Well, I had 2 days to take care of it. While Hannah got ready for the night, I popped down to St. Charles St to finally catch some parades. It was the only thing I really missed last weekend. I’m not normally a parade person, but I’d heard so much
Bourbon St.
This was Valentine's Day weekend, or the weekend before Mardi Gras about the mardi gras parades and floats that I decided I had to see it. There’s actually a bunch of parades almost every day. They take place everywhere around the greater New Orleans. There’s usually a few on St. Charles St every day. They call them Krewes. I’m not sure what was Fri night, but Sat day was the Krewe of Iris, among others. There are big floats that drive by with people on them tossing out beads, cups, Frisbees, coins, spears, and just about anything else - I even caught some flip flops! Too bad they were size 4 kids. The parades are endless. And when one finishes, just wait around and another will come soon enough. There were TONS of people all weekend at the parades, but no matter where you stand, you’re bound to catch something. The floats are creative and fun - some were politically motivated and featured famous politicians in satirical scenes, while others were organizational (Navy Recruiters!) or by state. In fact, on Sat there was a whole parade of state-based floats. Fri night wasn’t too crazy - a few more people than last week, but still doable. You could walk around freely, get
into bars, order drinks, all without too much trouble. Sat night, however, was insane. I’m surprised there weren’t more fights or problems. It was a packed wall of people in some places. Picture the worst frat party you’ve been to…. And in the middle of that, there were actually a couple of cars who had somehow wandered down to that area and were stuck in the melee trying to get through the intersection. They were literally blocked in with a thick crush of people - most of whom were drunk, and many of whom were leaving their cups (and God knows what else) on their cars. With disinhibition thrown in, there were a lot of short tempers as people yelled at the drivers for their folly. Meanwhile, all the hapless drivers could do was sit there and try to inch forward without running over a drunk person’s foot. I’m sure they regretted their position, but there was nothing anyone could do. There were plenty of cops around at the periphery of the mob, but in a scene like that, there’s not much they can do - and I don’t even think they saw the cars. They were just swallowed right
Breakfast
Bloody Marys for breakfast the day after in New Orleans up by the crowd. And that’s pretty much what Sat night was like. We went up onto the balcony of a bar on Bourbon. I think the normal practice is to go to the parades during the day, collect tons of beads, then throw them/give them to people at night. We happened to be standing right next to some girls who were freely showing their boobs, so we had plenty of beads thrown at us.
It was a late night since the girls were catching an early flight, but I got to sleep in a little bit. I had my 3rd muffaletta of the trip (really only ¼ of a muffaletta each time since they are huge). It is so good it’s making my mouth water just thinking about it. I’d have to rank it up there toward the top of the list of my favorite foods. It involves fantastic bread, salami, some other kind of meat (ham?), provolone, and most importantly the famed olive salad. I think all it is is olives, celery, carrots, cauliflower, capers, and maybe a couple other vegetables, all marinated in olive oil, and mostly having an olive flavor. And none of those crappy
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Venkat and Klaus (the german pilot exchange student) black olives either (I hate those). We’re talking high-quality green and brown olives (at least some were kalamata). It is soooo good! You can buy a jar of it - and I found that just throwing that on a simple roast beef sandwich is a pretty tasty alternative when you don’t have all that other stuff. Wow! Maybe I’m easily impressed… We also had some king cake (of course!). We had bought 2 because Hannah was going to take one home, then not only did we not finish the one we had gotten for us, but she didn’t end up taking it. So I had almost 2 full king cakes to take with me. It was a tough car ride. King Cake is very much like an Entemann’s coffee cake, minus the crumbs. It’s more of a bready cake. It’s shaped like a wreath and, if done right, is actually a braided ring. Then it’s coated with a sugar frosting with colored sugar on top (green, yellow, and purple of course!). Some cakes are filled - we got an apple one - but my favorite is the plain. Hidden inside is a small plastic baby. The tradition is that whoever
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L to R is Matt (already finished flight school in Jan and is stationed in New Orleans), Venkat, Michelle, me, Jonathan. Everyone but me and Matt are in the Sept class (I'm Nov class) finds the baby has to buy the cake for next year. Watch your teeth!
The hotel was nice enough to put my spare tire on for me, and even found the closest tire place (a perk to staying at an expensive hotel!). When I got to the tire place, they were charging a ridiculous amount of money for everything (probably because they’re one of the few open on Sunday). Luckily, someone had tipped me off that Walmart does tires. There happened to be one a few miles away, so I made my way over there. Unfortunately there was a wait, but lucky for me I had a computer, book, and a mall across the street to pass the time. I waited about 4 hours for them to even look at my car. And right when I sit down to get my nails done, they’re finished. Turns out there was nothing wrong with my tire. All that worrying for nothing. All they had to do was reinflate it. They checked it for leaks but it was sound. They said sometimes the seal can get loose, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed that. Crazy. But at least I had a
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Crystal throwin beads from the balcony good tire and didn’t have to buy a new one! Do you know how much a tire costs?! And of course you have to buy 2 so they match - what a racket. And it was a new tire in Oct! Anyway, they hooked me up - even filled my spare for me, which was almost completely flat after sitting in my trunk for 5 years. And all for free! They were my saviors that day. The 30min drive over there going 50mph on the spare on the 70mph highway was scary. I was extremely nervous about having to do that all the way home. Apparently people don’t know what hazard lights mean anymore - they’d get right up my butt then blow their horn at me as they pass. Jerks. What else was I supposed to do? Ride in the shoulder? Blessed Sunday to you too. After spending my entire day in Deliverance Louisiana, I finally made it home that night no worse for wear. And so ended my last trip to New Orleans (for now…)
The next week was consumed with helo ground school. Unlike the T-34s, this ground school was just a snapshot for us. A
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Venkat, Ken, Michelle, and Matt on the balcony class here, a class there, we just got a taste for what they go through. While I could recite the emergency procedures verbatim in the fixed wing, or spout off temperature limitations or torque settings in the fixed wing, I couldn’t tell you squat about the helo. That’s not true - I knew a little, just no where near as much as the fixed wing. By the end of the week we were doing our first CPT. It goes fast! We only did 2 in the helo, and everyone told me not to worry about it since they don’t expect as much from you since you didn’t have as much training. Well, I got the guy who must have been a marine CO before he retired. My second CPT was the most painful experience I’ve had since… hmmm… internship? I can’t even remember being patronized that much. He would’ve made a great surgeon. This guy just laid into me about how I didn’t know enough, should’ve studied (studied what?), and basically how I’m a disgrace to the program. What a jerk. So after that I didn’t’ know what to expect. Oh, and I had come in on a Sat for
Mardi Gras
The best pizza is drunk pizza! Our gang on Bourbon St. that freakin CPT. The idea was that it would speed up the training so I could potentially check out on Friday (turns out I had to wait til Mon anyway). True to the reassurances of my friends, the rest of training was no where near that, and was actually fun. The rest of my weekend was just relaxing and riding. Oh yeah, in January I took the motorcycle safety course and got my license! I don’t have a bike yet, but a friend is letting me borrow his to learn. The weather had been touch and go (cold, rainy, windy, alternating with warm and sunny) but on the good days I tried to take it out to get some time in. I’ve worked up to the point where I can take it on a semi-main road (more than neighborhood but less than main street) and can go 30mph now. Still have trouble shifting, so I’m still lurking around my neighborhood, mostly, wearing a track around my block. It’s fun though! I’ll get there…
The next week was finally flying helos. This was the one thing I had been looking forward to in all my training. I had enjoyed it
Mardi Gras parade
one of the political floats the last time I flew (same time as the T-45s) and thought I’d be leaning toward helos for an assignment. All the flights were great - not even a whisper of air sickness. What I never appreciated before, though, is how hard it is to fly a helicopter. With the plane, you pretty much just point it in the direction and it’ll almost fly itself. The helo is easier once you start going, but hovering, taking off, or landing are all incredibly complicated. So much so that after 5 flights I still couldn’t do it without a lot of help from my instructor. I was taking off and landing the T-34 within 3 practice landings. Though it’s a lot harder to fly, the helo turned out to be the most fun. It’s much like a video game when you’re trying to hover. And flying low-level is much more fun. There’s a lot more to see from 500ft in a helo vs 5000ft in a T34. We flew over my house, flew by the hospitals, over the bay, and all over the area. Fun!
By the end of the week I was more psyched about finishing than ever. I had
Go Navy!
A Navy recruiting float found this amazing fare sale to Ireland for $298 round trip. I knew I was going to have a bunch of time off, so I figured Ireland is as good a destination as any! All I had to do was make it through a few more days and I was on the road again! Unfortunately I couldn’t double up my flights (as I was hoping) so it left me a simulator on Monday, then I could check out the same day. So one more weekend adventure with the crew.
After finishing internship in the Navy (that’s first year of residency), we have the choice of applying to go straight through and finish residency, flight surgery, general medical officer (on a ship or with the marines), or dive medicine. Obviously I chose flight surgery. But it was a tough choice for me between dive and flight. I have a couple of friends who decided on the dive program. It’s extremely rigorous (picture 4 months of intense boot camp) and by the end you look like you’re off the cover of a muscle magazine. And of course you get to dive all the time. The billets later, however, dissuaded me a
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me and Hannah on Fri night little from dive. Many of the new dive officers are stationed in training billets (non-deployable) or in places I just don’t want to be stationed (Panama City, FL). Flight leaves me more options. However, I haven’t ruled it out yet - I may apply for the dive program after I’ve completed my flight surgery tour (2yrs). The program consists of a couple of months in Groton, CT where they push you hard (physically) to prepare you for Panama City. Once in Panama City, you’re getting pushed even harder, often until you puke. That phase lasts 10wks and is when you actually get to start diving. After Panama City, you return to Groton for a couple months of classroom stuff. The program is 6months long and starts in Jan and July. Panama City is only about 2hrs away from Pensacola. One of my former classmates, along with a few other people I know, happened to be down in Panama City. Despite the rigors, they still get weekends off. A couple of friends and I decided to pop over to Panama City on Friday night for a visit. Off we went on another adventure (what would be our last, I think).
And all that jazz...
He was a jazz trombonist who plays with Gladys Knight and Beyoncee. Random... Aside from having trouble finding our friends and getting pulled over (didn’t get a ticket, just a really annoying lecture), we made pretty good time and found them in a german microbrewerey/restaurant. It felt like the movie Beerfest. Rockin out to the live accordion (and he was head banging to it if you can believe that), we enjoyed a few glasses and a boot (yes, a boot. If you don’t know what I mean, you need to go to more German bars). It was a nice, newly built section of the city. And it was spring break. I enjoyed a plate of German deliciousness (schnitzel!), and we set sail for a local spring break club. I’m not really sure why we thought it would be fun to hang out with a bunch of college kids, but we went. Despite the ridiculous cover ($15 for a freakin bar??) we had a good time. We danced, we drank, we caught up on old times. All in all, it was a fantastic night. Most of our friends are staying at the BOQ on base, so we headed back there to crash. The next morning, we headed out early - very important plans at
Flasher
I should've had a pic of it before he flashed -- looks like a regular furry doll, then you pick up the flap... the Mobile Chili Fest awaited us!
We made it back, did a quick turn around, and were on the road again within an hour, heading out to the Mobile Chili Fest. It was the most beautiful Sat you could ask for, after some in and out weather, which had been mostly cold. The Chili Fest is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, so not only was it a fun diversion, but it was for a good cause. A few hours of fun in the sun and all the chili you could want. We met up with a bunch of friends there, so our group yo-yoed from 4 to 12 at different times. By the end of the day, we were full of chili and ready for more beer. We rounded up and headed back to Pensacola.
A couple of our friends live on Pensacola Beach in the most beautiful condos you could imagine. It’s the kind of place that you pay top money to visit for a week on vacation. They’re individually owned units, though, and you some of my classmates had rented them for the 6month period we’re down there. It’s a hefty rent, but is definitely
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Sat night. In the middle of that was a car trying to get through... crazy! luxury. They have something like 8 pools, including a heated lap pool and hot tubs, overlooking the water and the sunset. Poolside bar, restaurant, state-of-the-art gym, and amazing apts (furnished with beautiful furniture, granite countertops, Jacuzzis, big balconies overlooking either the bay or the gulf). The only downside is the commute - they have to cross the long bridge and drive about 30min to work every day. I guess when you think about it it’s not that far, but to go to Whiting would mean over an hour (I can do it in 35min on a good day). So I didn’t live there, but it’s nice to have friends there!
We all met up at Venkat and Rob’s place for some pool time. Even though I forgot my suit (no one said we were swimming!), I borrowed Michelle’s sundress and had a great time anyway. The hot tub was great, the heated pool was great, and the view of the sunset was incredible. After the sun set, we dried off and parted ways, planning to meet up in an hour or so for dinner. The Macaroni Grill was actually pretty good! I haven’t been there in a while, but
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Bourbon St. enjoyed my pasta. We had lofty plans of going out for a big night, but after a day of chili, pool, pasta, and beer all day, all we could muster was a brief appearance at a friend’s girlfriend’s friend’s birthday party at a local bar. 30 min there and we were on our way home for the night.
The next day was gorgeous, but I squandered most of it packing and getting things ready for my upcoming vacay. I was hoping I might be out super early on Mon and just spontaneously hop in the car that day and start driving. Didn’t get everything done in time, though, so had to wait until Tues. On Sunday, Michelle, Jonathan and I went to the Renaissance Fair in Pensacola. It was more by default - it wasn’t quite warm enough to go to the beach and we couldn’t come up with anything else to do. And it was just about as weird as you would think a Renaissance Fair would be. The people attending were quite entertaining though. It made for a fun afternoon.
Monday was my simulator (like a big interactive video game for which you’re inside what feels
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Bourbon St. like a real cockpit and your inputs have real-time reactions. Basically it’s virtual reality). It was fun, but started to mess with my stomach. I’m usually not bad with those videos of roller coasters and things, but suddenly when I have the controls and can roll us with some forceful stick inputs, it’s a little unsettling. I was relieved when the ride was over, and booked my way over to complete my checkout. Even with rushing through the whole process, it was still 11 before I finished everything, and I still had a few things to do before I could leave town. So I resigned to stick it out for another day. What’s one more day when you’re going on leave for 20? (!!!) One last dinner with Michelle (yum sushi!) and I said goodbye to my best friend in Pensacola (and one of my closest friends anywhere). When I get back it’ll by their last week in town. It’s going to be very depressing in Pensacola after they graduate on April 4. I forsee a lot of motorcycle riding, movies, TV, reading, and working out. And with that, I was out Tues morning - beginning my next adventure.
Mardi Gras
Don't look down...
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Marie
non-member comment
PARTY !!!!!
Wow, your having lots of fun. I know you work real hard so you deserve the fun. I do enjoy your adventures, keep the stories coming. Thanks...Love Ya, Marie