Aaron Baillio’s Blog

Hey everyone!  I am coming for a week in April.  I am attending the Information Warfare College at Maxwell AFB for one week April 9-13.  Of course, it is in Alabama which is no where close to anyone else, but hey, I’ll be thinking of you.  The course is pretty cool and is one of those resume building blocks.  It is funded through the PALACE Acquire program, so I don’t have to pay anything!  That is nice! 

Here is the official course description: “The objective is to provide students with a broad understanding of Information Operations Doctrine and insight into how Information Operations are applied across the full spectrum of conflict from peace to war.”

Anyway, everything else is going well for us.  We did find out that the baby turned!!!  So, no need for a c-section.  That is good news.  We are almost all the way unpacked…mostly the smaller rooms and pictures and stuff.  We still need to buy a rug and some stuff like that, but it’ll come.  Hopefully DSL will come by the end of the week.  I am anxious to have it so we can get back in touch with the world!!!  Anyway, talk to ya’ll soon!

well, like I said in my post, we got a new car…and as you can probably guess…this car displayed above is a good representation of what we purchased however stylized it may look in the photo.  It was pretty cool..it was just released in March and there is a dealership here called Pentagon Car Sales and they sell American specification cars…well, just BMW cars with American specs so you can drive a German car but take it home when you are done. 

So anyway, we started off with a loan of about $5000 for a really, really used car…just something to get me to work and back.  We initially thought we would spend upwards around $10K for a used car, but it just didn’t make a lot of sense, especially if we would have to sell it again in a couple years.  So, we went to this car show where they were test driving the new MINIs.  I actually went alone and for the test drive and they just give you a car for 30 minutes.  It was pretty suite.  Instead of a key, they have this disk you insert into a slot and push an iginition button.  It is all fancy and stuff inside.  Since I had it for so long, I took the car over to the hotel and Kristin and Will hopped in the back (She just held him) and we drove back to the dealership.  It handles really well…it is a stick though.  Automatics weren’t coming till May and we can’t wait that long.  So, we drove it back and said, “We ain’t got money but it wsa fun.”  Well, we went to the bank and asked if since we got this small loan, maybe they would give us a big new car loan.  Well, they did which was a big shock to us.  We don’t have great credit (n fact I would say bad credit) but since we unloaded the mortgage and our old car payment, I guess they let us have it.  So, we decided to go for it!  Well, we did get a great interest rate as well, so it made sense, it wasn’t a ridiculous rate that would kill us.

So, we are getting a new car.  After I saw how much it was going to cost and then how much it was going to cost to insure it (since Germany has stricter insurance laws) I was certainly experiencing a little buyers remorse.  Not to mention I don’t even have the car yet!  Because it is a US Spec car and I am American I get it tax free but it has to go through customs and an inspection.  Plus, I have to go down to another Air Station and pick up the license plates that have to be made (I am getting the European style to fit in more) and all that.  So, it will be earliest next Wednesday, latest will be the 20th of March.  So, not quite the same as driving off the lot in the states and having the satisfaction of actually having your car, but we are getting a really good deal and it’ll be fun. 

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well.  I still haven’t gotten a hold of Megan and Adam…this weekend I promise to call!