Saturday evening at the Kern house. We had a late supper and Deb has been on the phone most of the evening with family working out details of our Christmas holiday/vacation.She and I went out for some shopping this afternoon and I am glad I don't have get out in the madness very often; Deb is so organized that we don't have to do a lot of last minute panic stuff for the holiday. I do not really like all the commertialization of this special time of year but I know the US/World economy pivots around Christmas. I just wish the hearts of people were focused on the Reason instead of the Retail.

I had a good week. The next one will be very interesting. The Falcon Jet Engineering Re-Organization is the most complicated thing we have ever tackled in the 27 years I have been in LR. I have been working on Job Descriptions and Org Charts for days and weeks and I am still not sure who all will be in my group(s). The Dassault (French) manager they sent here to help us get organized seems to rely on me a lot and has implemented lots of changes that cause me to have in the end over 160 people working in my dept. I should have two Deputy Directors helping me and at least 6 Managers heading up my teams. I just learned yesterday that one of the Potential Deputies (the young man who was originally intended by the VP to get the job I now have) is probably NOT going to be put in place as one of my "R/H guys" because he is so universally disliked by nearly everyone in the DFJ organization. This came as quite a surprise to me since this piece of news was accompanied by the info that my best Protoges (Brian,a young man I hired and trained and who has said he wants to grow up just like me) will actually be allowed to take this Deputy job instead of the first guy. This news has given me new hope that the job I have now may actually get to be a little more pleasant with this new guy on my team. I do not want to get my hopes up but it is actually an answer to prayer because Deb really likes Brian and knows how much he can help me without me having to worry about what he is doing and/or saying behind my back. Deb and I have had lots of late night conversations about this whole situation and I am kind of sad for the first guy but am excited about the future knowing I have a trusted guy on my team that can be relied upon. We'll see what happens.

About 5pm Friday night I got to take a 45 minute hop on one of our Falcon 2000EX aircraft. This one is going to Enterprise Rent-a-Car and this was its last quick flight before the customer takes delivery. There was at least one empty seat available and I told the chief pilot that I would like to go and observe the operational characteristics of a couple of the new options installed on this plane and he said welcome aboard so I went. We took off to the north and turned over Little Rock headed NW toward Fayetteville with the city lights below us. It was a beautiful calm evening and quickly we were at about 35000 feet over I-40 at approx Russellville. We could see the lights of Fort Smith, Tulsa, Joplin and Springfield so clearly that it looked like we could have gotten out and walked over to them. It was amazing and so beautiful. The sun had disappeared below the horizon but there was a red, then an orange and then a blue band of color that was just breathtaking compared to the darkness of the sky above. We could not actually see stars but the city lights were so clear it was amazing!!! We turned to the east over Fayettevill then went to Walnut Ridge AR where we turned SW and went back to LR. It was a neat experience and there were several people on the flight who had never before flown on a Falcon. I had the opportunity to show them around and explain many of the features of the aircraft. They were really interested and told me later how much they enjoyed the tour of a cool aircraft. It was as if it was our aircraft there for a little while and it was nice.

Deb and I went out to eat with Dick and Rosie. We visited and laughed like old times. We never get to see them enough and they are our best friends. What would we do without them? It is time for bed on Sat evening so I will close. I am looking forward to our holiday time with the extended fam in OK. Can't wait and it just makes me/us miss everyone more. I enjoy so much the photos and notes from the kids (I know you are not actually kids anymore but I can't help it). I will try to attach a airplane photo to this posting so you guys can see what keeps me busy.  Love you,  gk the airplane guy

Monday night & I am not watching football. Instead did some Christmas shopping online; isn't a home PC wonderful?! Boy are we thankful to be safe at home under our cozy roof instead of out on the road in the middle of tornadoes like last night. It was amazing. Sounds like OK is also afflicted with amazing phenomenon associated with the chemical reaction of FIRE! YIKES! I understand that the event made national news but we didn't see any of it. I am glad everyone is safe.

Spent Saturday evening/night installing a cheap WallyWorld AM/FM/CD player in Kim's jeep. Her old one was not working well at all (cass tape player only) and I had told her I might get her a Christmas present early and she was all excited about that. So we ventured out and purchased the item then spent approx 5 hrs elapsed time getting it to fit in the dash. OH Well, she is worth it and after all it is a part of her Christmas gift anyway. She says she loves it and I am happy to accomplish something with my own two hands.

Maradee made it safely home to Alexandria and we already can't wait until Christmas holiday to see her again.

I told my family the story (from the long ago when I was just a sprout) about the little ol' lady in LG who lived up by the Nursing Home across from Dad's housing addition that spent her day(s) in a wooden chair. I tried to describe how she scooted around in the house bouncing the kattykorner legs to motivate back and forth. In my memories, she did not want (maybe could not afford) a wheel chair so this was the best way she knew how to get around. There were times that we took her to church and I think  that we took her chair so she get around on her own. Does anyone else  remember this story and the lady's name?? My family does not believe the story; I think I lost them when I told the part about how I remembered we put her in the back of the pickup sitting in her seat. Maybe I was wrong about this but I still couldn't get my story back on track after they laughed at that image of the little ol' lady sitting in the back of the p'up like Grannie Clampett. IF anyone can put more accurate details (LES?) to my story I will appreciate it. gk, ovr

Currently Reading Raney By Clyde Edgerton see related

We are having a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving Holiday. Maradee is home and Kim stayed over a couple of nights. Velma and the dog are here too. We all went to see "Walk the Line" last night and had an enjoyable evening. Stayed up late playing Mexican Train Dominoes. Melissa and Kim got sleepy at about 12am but we played till it was over; Deb won.

More news to follow.  gk