Saturday Football ☀️🏈🍁

Ray absolutely loves UC football games. Twice we've sat in complete downpours — literal downpours — watching the Bearcats while covered in trash bags to keep us dry. 

So we were owed some good weather, and Saturday's couldn't have been more perfect for college football. It was a bit chillier than I expected, but that just gave me an excuse to shop. A new winter hat for me and gloves and a pullover for Ray. 

And UC throttled Navy, 42-0. It was never even close. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Navy even showed up. 

Except two Navy pilots did! 

I had a heads-up that there would be a flyover by two Navy F-18 Super Hornets, powered by GE Aviation's F414 engine. Now that I work at GE Aviation, it's my mission to get to know all of our engines, so clearly I needed to see it in action. 

Verdict: It's fast. Lots of thrust. Looks badass on a Navy plane. (The marketing department probably wants to use this in it's copy for the DoD. That's cool.) 

The flyover was courtesy Strike Fighter Squadron 32, the "Fighting Swordsman," based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. Va.

I was so worried about missing it I was practically pushing people out of the way in the bag check line. 

'YOU WANT TO INSPECT A BAG?! HERE, CHECK MINE! IT'S FULL OF TISSUES AND CHAPSTICK. WE GOOD?!' 

We even bypassed the beer booth right by our seats so we could be comfortably situated when they came thundering over. I had assigned Ray to get photos and I was planning to take video so I could I used them on the GE Aviation blog and social channels.

Guess who missed it? Me. 

I was so convinced they'd come from the other direction that when I finally saw them, I got flustered and stopped filming. Amazing. 

Fortunately Ray got some great shots. After they flew past he goes, "Did you get it?!" 

Ummm, who wants a beer? 

Snitches Get Stiches

This was not the scene I anticipated when Ray told me he had to go the doctor to get his stitches out. 

Chuck Norris is a doctor? Who uses a pocket knife and fingernail clippers? 

I'm not saying it's not possible, ok. I'm just saying it was unexpected. 



He did a good job though. Three removed stitches later and some Aquaphor for the itching and we didn't have to go back to scary Urgent Care. 

Ray has been buying old hand planes on eBay, I think mostly because he likes the competition. And then he likes restoring them back to their original beauty. This one, however, nearly sliced his little finger off. 

He thinks it was made between 1910 and 1918, so it's been nearly cutting off fingers for about 100 years.