So I got a notification that I had a gift enroute on the 13th and that it was from Amazon. Being the impatient person I am, I went through my Amazon wish list to figure out what it may be. My Santa was better than that though and bought me something based on my interest and I couldn't be happier!

UPS showed up at the house and handed my wife a large, heavy box. I had no clue what it could be but I was super excited! First, Stampy the Cat would need to do his safety checks. He'd notify me if it wasn't safe by puking on the floor, but thankfully we were puke-free and I got to open the box. :-P

So I see two books first. The first one I picked up was Babylon's Ashes from The Expanse Series! I'm currently on Cibola Burn and Babylon's Ashes is the newest novel to come out. I will have to pick up the pace because I usually read these via ebook and I'm so excited to have a real book to read! If you haven't heard of these books, I highly recommend them. It's truly great sci-fi that is based in hard science. If you're not a reader, the first book has been made into a SciFy channel series and the second season starts pretty soon.

The next book was The Martian! Man, what a good book! I read this book about a year before the movie came out and I was completely enthralled the entire time. Once again though, I only have this via ebook, so now I get to revisit the story and hopefully my 13 year old son can share it with me. If you only saw the movie, I'd read the book. It's a modern day adventure story filled with science.

Underneath the two books was the reason my box was so heavy. I was so excited I almost couldn't get it out of the box! It was an ASA COMPLETE PRIVATE PILOT KIT!!! (Sorry for yelling, I'm still super excited) This kit has everything I need to start my lessons to become a private pilot. Included in the kit is a FAR/AIM (I'll actually use this as an air traffic controller as well since some of our rules are governed by this), Oral Exam prep book, Practical Test Standards, The Complete Private Pilot Textbook and Syllabus, Visualized Flight Maneuvers handbook, Student Pilot Guide, A flight computer and plotter, a logbook and a case to hold it all! I felt like a little kid again, I was so excited! Included was a nice little note that said: "From an Air Force Navigator to a soon to be Navy Retiree, enjoy flying. May your landings always equal your take-offs. Merry Christmas!"

Secret Santa, I don't know who you are but you have completely made my week. I honestly had been having a pretty bad week but I just learned that I was getting moved up to a Tower Branch Chief job so I thought that was going to be the highlight of my week. Man was I wrong! I can't wait to start my private pilot lessons and I can't thank you enough for getting me started!