Return to the Old School

Old Missouri, fair Missouri,

Dear old varsity,

Our are hearts that fondly love thee,

Here's a health to thee.

The Blue Suit family packed up and hopped on a plane to Missouri for homecoming at Mizzou. No, not that plane. More like this plane. Blue Suit Little Guy enjoyed the flight out. Boarding the plane, the flight attendant asked if he wanted to talk to the pilots. Blue Suit Little Guy said “Yes,” then peeked into the cockpit. The pilots asked him his name and how old he was. Almost immediately after answering those questions, Blue Suit Little Guy proceeded to tell the pilots how the control stick makes the plane go up and down. One of the pilots looked at me and said, “I don’t want to disappoint him, but we don’t have a control stick like a fighter jet. We only have a yoke.” I said, “Don’t worry. I have plenty of friends who fly bombers, tankers and airlifters who don’t use a control stick.” (Note to self: OK, so the B-1, B-2 and C-17 do have sticks instead of yokes). Blue Suit Little Guy then said “Bye” and we headed to our seats.

Blue Suit Baby Girl, on the other hand, thought we had entered a level of Dante’s Inferno when she entered the door of the plane. We arrived at KCI none too soon for her. All she wanted was a nap, but it was too much to ask for a girl who doesn’t like to sleep unless in a crib. (Ed: Note to Boeing and Airbus - put a crib in the seats, OK?)

We enjoyed our time in KC and got to see several friends including Scader and JD. I always feel like the time is too short when I see them. We also made a visit to the Great-grandparents, who enjoying seeing the little ones. Then we hopped in the cars and headed to Mizzou.

Friday night was the The Rock reunion at Mizzou. Back in our day, The Rock was first known as University Bible Studies (UBS) and then Tiger Christian Life (TCL). The Drages are still there, but several of the old hands are leaving to start a church in Los Angeles. Ed, Beth, Cannon, Korrin, Brian, Ryan, Rachel, Rebecca, Jason G. and Christina were all present. Since Cannon is a Marine (not active but once a Marine, always a Marine), we chatted about the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is the first Marine to serve in that post.

Saturday started with a BBQ at the AFROTC Detachment. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of my classmates there given the current rate of deployments. After the BBQ, it was time to watch the Mizzou-Iowa State game. It was Little Guy and Baby Girl's first live football game. The first 10 minutes of the game was pure excitement as Mizzou's defense scored 14 points. Then it was 3.5 quarters of terrible play by Missouri resulting in 24-14 Iowa State. We left in disgust with 7 minutes left to go see Cannon and Korrin. Upon arriving, we were stunned to find that Mizzou had tied the game and forced overtime. Mizzou won in OT. Although it was a shame to miss the finish, I don't think Blue Suit Baby Girl would have taken much more.

Sunday brought us to Pebble Creek Assembly of God where the kids stole the show, as usual.

On Monday, we hopped on the plane again and flew home. The kids missed Grammy and Pop-Pop but they were glad to get home.

Replace scrolls with electrons

When we lived in Colorado Springs, we attended a church where the pastor's weren't afraid of technology and embraced it in their ministry. Pastors Ted and Rob read scripture from their PDAs during sermons. That made for some humorous battery dying or scrolling-way-too-far past-the-required-verse incidents. Rob, our pastor at SATURDAYNIGHT church, also wrote a blog. To use fighter pilot verbage, New Life is at mil power when it came to technology. But if New Life was at mil power, then our new church is on afterburner. Partly it's because we're a multi-site church. Mostly, it's because Pastor Mark is an early acceptor. Oh, yes, he has a blog. He is also having all the sermons podcasted. I believe I heard over 10,000 people have starting listening to the podcasts since the New York Times did an article on NCC's podcasting (I can't imaging spending $299 on an iPod but that's another story...).

So, I say let's put away the parchment and paraphases (cause we all know Apostle Paul wouldn't use one anyway) and bring out the IE and iPod.

A long way from Mr. George's civics class...

I'm sitting in civics class at Blue Ridge Christian School (henceforth referred to as BRCS in this blog, and all God's people said "Amen") and listening to a lecture on the executive branch of government. It's cool, I guess. I like history, but hey, I'm a teenager and that's, like, stuff for adults. One of the departments of the executive branch is the Department of Defense which is, like, cool since it has airplanes. Mr. George may or may not have pointed out that a department is headed by a secretary who is a member of the president's cabinet. The bell rings and I'm out the door to the next class.

After enough bells and classes, there's a graduation and a diploma. Then there's more school (less bells) and another graduation and a diploma. But this time it's different because there's a commission in the U. S. Air Force after this graduation. A few years later, I'm sent to the Pentagon. This time the civics lessons come live with hands on participation. The teachers are the history-makers. The stakes aren't exams and grades but human lives and democratic principles.

It's really is a long way from civics class and somedays I wish I could go back to being a student at BRCS. But if you look at the picture above, I am glad for one thing: I'm short, which puts me in the front row.

Just outside the Beltway

Well, we moved to DC in July. We left Colorado Springs and left behind some of the most beautiful views in our land (Rachel - except for Pennsylvania; Brett - of course, of course) and traveled to our nation's capital. Actually, we don't live in DC, we live outside of DC. In fact, we live just outside of the Beltway in Fairfax, Virginia. Actually, we just about don't live in Fairfax but almost live in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Air Force determined that I needed to see what's it is like inside the Pentagon. Every year, about 30 Air Force captains are selected for an internship that gives them insight into the highest levels of our military's command. Most of these captains first stop to get a master's degree at George Washington University. However, those who already have Air Force funded graduate education go straight to the Pentagon for a one-year internship. That's what I'm doing and that's why we're here in DC.

Being just outside of the Beltway makes for a long commute. The upside is that the housing is more "affordable" (cough. cough.), Blue Suit Little Guy and Blue Suit Baby Girl have their own yard and the schools are generally better.

So, we're at the start of our journey, just outside the Beltway.

Welcome to Blue Suit Blog!

We're starting this blog to keep friends and family informed of what's going on with the Conner family. We will update the site when our children and employer give us the time to do so. May God bless the words we write and our blog's readers. Enjoy!