Last Day

It's my last day as a weather forecaster, hoo-fuckin-rah. Writing my last forecasts now, with some added flair for good measure. We're having a going away on Saturday, at which my old boss is planning on getting me royally hammered. I'm not looking forward to Sunday morning (and I know Sarah's not looking forward to Saturday night). It feels great to be getting out of here, though, that's for damn sure.

Still a little scary to be leaving the paycheck, but I'm not too concerned. I've never been unable to find a job, and I'll probably end up back at Starbucks since they have to give me my old job back and any raises that I would have had. That should be a pretty decent paycheck, the only concern is how long it takes for the GI Bill, grants and loans to start flowing in. The first little while might be touch and go, but we'll manage.

Well, I should finish these last forecasts. As we say in weather "LAST NO AMDS"

Whoa

So I'm looking into all of the information about being an actuary. Pretty intense. There's actually two good actuarial programs in Illinois, but of course, neither of them are in Chicago. That would be way too easy. So I'm sticking with getting a degree in statistics down at UIC and then just bullying my way through the tests. Illinois State has exam preparation seminars, so once I've brushed up on my calculus I'll probably head down there and take the first one. Ideally I should be done with the first 2 tests by the time I'm done with my bachelor's, 3 years from now at the latest. That would definitely have me set up to get a very good job. I'm working on finishing the first test by the end of this year, or early next year and trying to get an internship/entry=level position at that point, though that'll be pretty difficult.

I had a Quizno's salad for lunch today. Very tasty, very filling. I highly recommend. I'm just basking in the glory that is only 5 more days of work. Beautiful, isn't it? Then a whirlwind of getting all of my "outprocessing" done and packing up and shipping out. It'll be a wonderful thing. I can't wait to be off this base forever. They say the most beautiful part of serving at Shaw AFB is watching it in the rear view mirror as you leave for the last time.

Yay

Well, we maybe have a place to live. Nixed the whole rent-to-own deal, just getting an apartment. Yay. Now I just have to get a job. Or Sarah does. Somebody has to work, though it'd be nice if we didn't have to.

Hmm, what else is happening? Not much, just biding my time. Figuring out my leave nonsense, I think my last day in the Air Force will officially be April 1st. Debating on whether or not it's worth moving ourselves back home for the extra dough. If we do, we'll probably profit somewhere between $2-3k. It's just the whole hassle of actually moving ourselves that I'm afraid of doing. Of course, the last time we let them move us they broke an ungodly amount of stuff, so I don't really want to let them move us again. Blech. Whatever, We're Coming Home!!!

Goddammit

So the whole current plan these days is to get my degree in mathematics and try to get a job as an actuary. It's a pretty hard job to get into, with a series of exams that you have to pass and some specific education you have to get. So, I'm thinking, go to UIC, get a degree in math/statistics, I'll be golden. Well, there's 3 specific sets of courses you have to complete, applied statistics, economics and corporate finance. There's approved courses throughout the nation that ou can take for this. Does UIC have classes to fill all of them? Of course not. That's just fabulous. So now I have to figure out how to take the one stinking class that UIC doesn't have. Blah. Of course, I have a while, but nonetheless, just more complications.

On the bright side, there's been a few promising leads on finding a decent job when we get home. Sweet. Housing? Still working on that end. We may be shacking up in a nice tent for a while.

HOMEWARD HO!!!!

Day off

I actually wound up with an extra day off. I'm working for my old boss for a little while and he's really good about getting us a day here or there. They used to give us comp days for the federal holidays, since we're never closed, but somebody bitched because they didn't get one so that went away. My new boss, well, he's just special. So it was nice to be back at work with a guy who takes care of his people.

Since we're out on May 3rd and I have about 30 days vacation, we'll be home in less than a month. I don't have a clue what we're going to do about where to live. We're thinking about doing a rent to own deal, but it takes 30-45 days to get into the house. I'm sending my parents out house hunting and hopefully everything goes quickly, but we're going to be hurting for a little while. I'm not entirely sure where we're going to stay during the interim. It's terribly exciting, knowing that we'll be home so soon.

Adios all.