25 June 2007 2317 EDT
22 June 2007 2342 EDT
What exactly did I take care of? Well, by the time I pulled away, I really only had about three hours left before I would grab dinner with Anna...so I made the best of my time. I spent $400. Here's a list of the bounty:
12 GB Ultra Portable USB Drive ($150) - it was too pretty to resist
Running Shoes w/insoles ($95) - umm...they're kinda exactly like my last pair...but new
Adjusted the wristband of my awesome new solar-powered watch that Anna gave me w/extra time zone and slide rule feature
6 months of razors ($30) and shaving products ($10)
5 toothbrushes ($10)
Toilet paper and paper towels ($5)
4 pairs new underwear ($20) and 6 pairs new socks ($12)
Not bad, huh? Anyway, I came home after that and did a little more work...check that. I never really stopped working as I was fielding phone calls during my entire shopping spree. Then I came home to send a few e-mails before walking the dog with the gf and going out to dinner at the Roadhouse where I split a rack of ribs with the gf and had some cheese fries and awesome bread rolls. In the end, I guess there are worse ways to spend a day off. Who knows. I may just get one more before it's all said and done.
OH! OH! Last thing. I did finally get a hold of FCPS and I got put on military leave for the next year. I know I shouldn't have procrastinated on that, but I got it fixed. That's all I have to say about that.
19 June 2007 2142 EDT
But let's not talk about that. Let's start with the weekend. It was pretty fun. Ben's female friend Julia came over to join Thuy, Jane, Ian, gf, and me watch Knocked Up. But before we drove off for dinner and then the movie, we stuck around and played maybe a half dozen rounds of Boggle. You see, Ben has been losing to this girl over and over and even wagered that this girl would be able to beat me...at Boggle! Of all things!!! Anyway, I had like 15 points in the first round while just about everyone else was in the single digits. Considering that I don't like losing, the whole situation worked out well for me. As for the movie, it was pretty entertaining. Kinda long for my tastes, but full of laugh-out-loud moments. Not quite Blades of Glory, but still fun and enjoyable. Oh, and Ian made up for the lack of pre-movie trivia by coming up with a few questions of his own.
Sunday ended up being family time this week with the parents gone on Saturday due to Toastmasters. So lunch at the parents ended up being followed by nap time which was then followed with dinner at Lenny and Steph's. That was a lot of fun...kind of a housewarming mixed in with Eliana's 100 day birthday. We just ate chinese takeout and had cheesecake. Then we followed that up with teaching mahjong to the cousins and the gf. We played a few rounds and it was like old times again. I can't remember the last time I'd actually played.
Anyway, I'd write more about work since it's all that I seem to have time to do these days...but I'll have time enough to do that over the next year or so. So instead, it's lasagna time. Signing off...
14 June 2007 2223 EDT
Considering that I stayed at work so late today, I treated myself to a huge $7.03 GTC combo meal. I'm pretty stuffed right now. I haven't even tried the egg roll or the fortune cookie yet. I even ran into one of the old soldiers in my unit when I stopped by the Food Lion for some water and iced tea. He's mentioned that he'd filmed the fight in Afghanistan and wanted to know if I wanted a copy. That was cool. I like being reminded of that fight. It's one of those things that really stands out.
Anyway, I guess it can't hurt to recap the last week or so. After leaving Pickett last time, I hung out with the gf all weekend celebrating her birthday. Her sister ended up coming over and staying from Sunday through Tuesday, too. So that was cool...we did a lot of karaoke and a lot of movie-watching this weekend, things I'm always up for.
This coming weekend will be packed though. It doesn't help that it's father's day, so there's a lot to do. Plus it's pretty much my last weekend home and I've still got all of my packing to do. I'll be making my rounds, but all I'll really want to be doing is napping. Oh well...there'll always be time for that later, right? Hmmm...speaking of which, I think it's time for bed. I think I'll upload this and then check out what my fortune is. Cross your fingers, okay?
06 June 2007 2057 EDT
So tonight, I've decided I would take a few minutes to take out my frustrations and blog...then follow that up with shaving my beret, maybe think of something creative for the gf's birthday, and then get a good night's sleep. There's plenty for me to do tomorrow, so I won't cry too much over this.
Other than that, the last few days have been pretty nice. To get ready for the deployment, I've been having little sparring sessions with the gf with the boxing gloves. And last night, I went over to Lenny's new place (also known as my old place) to see how the move-in went. Things look really nice there...nicer than it ever was when I lived there. So yeah, that's cool. The weekend with the family was pretty fun, too, and Sunday night was spent with Ben and Thuy watching Species II while the gf was on the sofa trying to work through some of her CS homework. So yeah, good times...it doesn't get much better than this.
02 June 2007 1049 EDT
It's weird being in my position. You get to see so many different cases come through the office...all the hardships that soldiers go through leading up to a deployment (as well as all of the hardships some soldiers claim to go through). And it's tough because it's hard to compare one person's situation with another's. Maybe it'd be different if I owned my own business or if I'd just had a baby or if someone close to me was dying and only had a little time to live. Some people have legitimate hardships and try to stay home to take care of these things. I can't really blame those people for trying. But at the same time, you have some extraordinary soldiers who have these types of hardships and don't even say a thing. They take their duty to their country so seriously and they just take their marching orders, pack up their things, and report for duty.
For this deployment, I was in the fortunate position of being unemployed and going through school. Granted, my grades took a bit of a hit (B-, F, and incomplete for my semester grades), but I really don't have anything to complain about (the gf might have a different opinion). I don't know...I think I've been better about spending time with my family and friends before the deployment this time. The first time was horrible as I was working up until about 15 minutes before the trucks pulled out and barely had time to say good-bye to the family. I remember jumping in the back of the humvee on the way out just so I could crash and sleep on my way down to Fort Bragg. For most soldiers, it gets easier once you leave home. Then you can completely divorce yourself from living that dual life as a citizen soldier. You just become a soldier then. You can concentrate on one thing instead of worrying about balancing two. I guess it's still different if you have your own family. I don't quite have that perspective yet. But still, once you're away, it becomes a thousand times easier. No more commutes to and from work. No more paying for food. No more having to pick out what to wear every day. All that stuff.
Anyway, enough Army stuff. I had an awesome weekend last weekend. Ben threw a little bash and a lot of my friends showed up to play board games and stuff. I, of course, won all the games I remember playing. Then the following night, we kinda rocked out and sang karaoke for a few hours. It's nice having a long weekend...or even a regular weekend without work sometimes. Yesterday, I hung out with John, Ben, Thuy and the gf. We ended up going to University Mall to watch Blades of Glory...hilarious movie, btw. Oh, and we completely rocked the trivia beforehand. I think Anna was kind of embarrassed by the way we yell out the answers and stuff. But seriously, there were only like five other people in the theater, and trivia is like the best part of going out to the movies. Without trivia, it's just like watching a movie at home. Note to self: keep trivia pursuit set by the DVD player for future home movie-watching experience.
Oh well...good times. I need to get ready for lunch over at the parents' though. MTF
26 May 2007 1632 EDT
And I guess you can take that either of two ways. Some might be of the opinion that this shows how insignificant we are...that no matter what we do, the world continues on, oblivious of our actions. But I guess I take it a different way. There's almost a poetic beauty to it all. The world isn't oblivious, but all of us play a role and each affects one another. For the people closest to you, you have a larger affect and less for the rest of the population as a whole.
I guess I'll go with the whole stream of consciousness thing today and hope that I don't get too emo. I didn't realize that I was down to just ten days until I started to count on my fingers today. Ben's throwing a little party over at his place and a bunch of my sibs/cousins/friends will be there. That'll be fun. I just plan on eating a lot...to include some awesome cake/cupcake stuff the gf is making, some GTC pizza co-invented by myself and my friends, and whatever else is going to be over there. Oh, and we're going to be playing board games and stuff. I'm sure I'll win most of the time.
Yesterday, I was walking the dogs with the gf, and I thought we did something pretty cute. You see, first, she has these really big feet. Not freakishly big, but we have pretty much the same size feet, plus or minus half a size. Anyway, her sandals were giving her a blister from all of the miles and miles of walking we'd done over the last few days, and so I offered to switch shoes with her. Wasn't that thoughtful of me? It was a little weird, especially with people staring at us do this while parked at the red light on Stone Road. But still, it's kinda neat.
21 May 2007 2212 EDT
Tonight was one of those semi-relaxing nights. I got home just a little after 8:00. It was late enough that I didn't really have time to go visit the gf or the fam. So instead, I just kinda stayed home and worked on a mix CD for the gf. I'd put some thought into it previously, but I didn't really put it all together until tonight. I thought I was going to wrap it up in about a half hour or so before starting my workout. But making a mix CD is difficult work, you know? You have to get the right balance between your favorite songs and the songs that convey the special message you want...and then you have to work all of the transitions, in tempo and in theme. So two hours later and I think I'm almost at the finished product. I'll have to burn it to disc and try it out on my ride in to work tomorrow. Oh, and umm...if Ian is reading this, I kinda still have your CDRs from the last time I "borrowed" them.
17 May 2007 2135 EDT
There were three issues that were finally resolved today; and I was able to give the good news to the soldiers involved. That felt really good. And in the last hour (it amazes me that anyone else is still up and working at this time) I worked out some things for three more soldiers. In the big scheme of things, it's all minor; but I can't help but feel like I did something good to help all of these guys out...something that someone else in my position might not have gone the extra mile to do. There are times when the payoff is small - you saved a guy a few hours driving or a few hundred dollars. And then there are times when you look at the big picture and you realize that you may have saved a person's life or a person's marriage or family. On one end of it, I know it's all just paperwork; but I can't help but feel like I'm making a really big difference here.
Hehe...okay with all of the sappy stuff. I'm about to either a) crash and sleep for the next nine hours or b) take a little break, relax, maybe squeeze in a haircut and/or workout before calling it a night. In either case, I'm not staying here in the armory for much longer. I hope all is well at home.
13 May 2007 2142 EDT
Today was spent shopping and doing laundry and...hmmm, that's about it. I'm importing the new Avril CD right now...the gf picked it up at Best Buy today. I can't even remember what I wasted my money on today, but oh well. We ended up trying out this barbecue place on Williard too...it wasn't fancy, but it tasted good. We went there on the recommendation from my boss.
Anyway, you'd think after being gone for a week, I'd have more to talk about, but I can already feel how boring this entry is. I'll have more in the next few days.
04 May 2007 1552 EDT
Then yesterday, Heath stopped by my office and dropped off this article he said might be interesting for me to read. I almost disregarded it, but I held on to the 6-page article in case I had some time. Enter this morning. As I went off to the latrine, I ended up grabbing the article for something to read. The article was from killology.com and talked about sheep and wolves and sheepdogs. Some might think it to be kinda silly, but it was pretty inspiring. I'm glad I took a little break to read it.
29 April 2007 0851 EDT
Oh yeah, I fell asleep a few times during the crappy movies because I got up around 0445h yesterday morning to head down to Richmond for the officer conference. It didn't turn out being that great of a conference this year because a lot of people were absent ahead of the deployment. However, there was a key event that occurred down there. A young lieutenant was promoted to captain to lead off the second session of business. Pretty cool, huh? It was a little weird hearing people call me Captain Louie, but I'm not going to complain. I caught myself on the phone calling myself LT Louie still though. It'll take me a while before I stop that and it'll take a while to figure out what to call people now. When you're a lieutenant, it's kinda easy because you just call everyone sir (unless it's one of your fellow lieutenants...whom you'd call L-T).
Oh well...I've actually got a whole Sunday free now. I'll start with a nice workout this morning and hopefully clean out the rest of my DVR recordings before hanging out with the gf. I'll have some laundry done in the background, too, and try to multi-task my day away. MTF