An Update

So, it's been a while since I've posted on here. We've been pretty busy.

Steven just finished Joint Fires Observer Class (JFO) and passed! So proud of him! It was the last cycle of the class here on the island, and we knew if he didn't pass he would be sent to Oklahoma for 2 weeks. They were talking about sending him to Oklahoma for 2 weeks for the class, but then said, oops, never mind, it's on island! YAY!!

Since he finished and passed this course he was moved to a battery! And now has an actual job! He is very excited about this, as I am too, because we are just one step closer to 1st LT and him going forward in his career! I have gotten to know the FRG leaders in all batteries and they are all great! I think 3-7 is VERY lucky in the FRG leader department! I went to a farewell coffee for one of the ladies last night and it was full of lovely ladies whose husbands work side by side in 3-7! So many laughs, and lots of Margaritas were enjoyed! Next thing you know it's 10pm! You know it's a good time when you lose track of time! Another big thing is that Steven is no longer the Junior Officer (JO), which makes him VERY happy! He was getting so discouraged about being the JO and hating it, but it is something that EVERY officer has to do, at some point, so I just had to remind him that he was suppose to be there for a reason, and that it won't last long, and that everyone has been JO before!

Steven is stuck at the Brigade all night! Even though today was a DONSA (Day of No Scheduled Activity) he had to go in at 9am and will be there until 9am tomorrow! BOO! Then we have an Easter party tomorrow for the Battalion, it should be fun, I think Steven said the guys from on battery are going to be the bunny, and there will be tons of food, and Easter Egg Hunts for all the kids! And after that, I'm sure Steven'll come home and PASS OUT! Which is ok with me, since he'll have been up for way more than 24 hours! Yuck!

They are going to be super busy training and stuff. Always preparing for a deployment, never sure when it'll happen. We've got some dates for training off island for him, but nothing is set in stone, so we're not going to tell people until closer to the dates, so as not to worry family and friends. I hope everyone understands the need for privacy and safety in that. I'm going to link ya'll to some stuff that will help you better understand the need for not telling everyone, everything.

OPSEC
OPSEC in the Information Age

Daylight Saving Time

On Sunday almost everyone on the mainland had to change their clocks ahead 1 hour. Hawaii, along with Arizona (except some Indian Reservations), Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa*, do not do this, so now instead of being 5 hours behind our families in Tenn/Georiga/Virginia we are now 6 hours behind. It will be this way until November, when they move their clocks back 1 hour.

I read an article about Daylight Saving Time, it explains it is "Saving" not "Savings" -- and the saying "Spring Forward, Fall Back" was coined to help us remember what to do with our clocks the second Sunday in March and first Sunday in November. Before 2007 the time change took place in April and October. The change took place because of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was implamented to help save 10,000 barrels of oil each day by reducing the power used by businesses during the daylight hours. The article says that it more than likely hasn't done that, and there is really no way to find out. Daylight Saving Time is suppose to help us use less energy by lighting our homes, by having later and longer daylight hours.

The start of Daylight Saving Time was during WWI to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later daylight hours in April through October. Again during WWII they decided to do this again, for the same reasons, I would think. The government didn't start inforcing this until 1966, except for when it was being done during the Wars. The states were allowed to decide if they wanted to participate in it or not, until 1966 when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act standardizing how long it would last.

So, if you were every wondering why we practice Daylight Saving Time, I hope this helped. It always messed up my schedule, and I figured it wouldn't now, since we don't participate, but it has made it a little hard to get ahold of family now that they are 6 hours ahead. And I thought I was behind on finding things out on Facebook and Blogger because of the time difference, man, that hour longer difference makes it very hard! HA!

*(This choice does make sense for the areas closer to the equator because the days are more consistent in length throughout the year.)

Wordless Wednesday - Rainbow