23 November 2007 2010 GMT
I was also very successful as fighting off the crazy spending spree I almost went on. I had an external hard drive, a 22" LCD monitor, and a new digital camera in my shopping cart last night, but I resisted. I ended up with just a small purchase which is being sent to the parents' place for the white elephant this year...hopefully, they have it. It was such a good bargain, I couldn't pass it up. What can I say?
Disappointment of the day goes to the Apple store. I'm so mad, I'm not even posting a link. They had this banner up the whole last week for their huuge thanksgiving sale, and they don't even discount the iPhone. Plus, the discount on everything else in the store is less than the teacher discount that I already get and you can't combine. So yeah...I guess I don't ever have to wait for sales there anymore. I just wish I didn't waste all of my time stalking their page and reloading over and over...since they didn't start their sale until midnight PST!
Oh well...tomorrow is the Tech/UVa game. I actually had a dream the other night. I was in trouble because I was wearing a hokie jersey and civilian clothes aren't allowed around here. And then I got into more trouble because I realized that I wasn't wearing any pants. What does that mean? I think it means that the hokies are going to win. No doubt.
22 November 2007 1820 GMT
I guess I should back up to the beginning. I woke up already proud of myself because I went all of yesterday only cracking three knuckles...a far cry from the 100+ times I would usually do it. Today, I am down to one...for the whole day?! I know. It bothers me a lot because my hands are just crying out to me, wanting to be cracked. But I've been holding strong. Anyway, back to the point. I started into work and was pretty much the only one around for a while. I got caught up on a few things, sent out a couple of e-mails and then went over to the DFAC to do a little T-day thing. You see, all of the commanders and staff took shifts serving T-day lunch. So I spent an hour repeating, "Happy Thanksgiving...beef, turkey, ham? Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes?" I think I did an awesome job and held the line for the whole hour.
After lunch I circled back to the office for a few minutes before going down for a nap...sooo nice. Then I popped back into the office for a little bit, doing more online shopping than work before T-Day dinner. Of course, I had to scarf everything down in about 15 minutes - making good conversation, however - before running over to the football field.
That's when Thankgiving was almost ruined. You see, it's dark already by 1800 and we used to have these light sets around the football field. Today, though, they were all moved over to another area where a whole bunch of people were playing softball. Everyone just stood around thinking of ideas or whether or not they wanted to give up on the Thanksgiving day tradition. But I wouldn't stand for it. After playing around with a couple of light sets that we couldn't get going enough to light the field, I came up with the idea of using the Kuwaiti gym a few hundred meters away and playing arena-style indoors. We had a blast and went at it for about an hour and a half before everyone was tired and sweaty. It didn't help that there was no air conditioning or ventilation inside. We had fun, though, and that's what mattered. The end. Happy Thankgiving!
20 November 2007 2049 GMT
So anyway, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't crack my thumb today, partly so that it'd heal up for a possible Thanksgiving day football game and partly because I may end up joining a team for the dodge ball tourney this week. Anyway, I ended up going the whole day. I mean, I cracked all of my other knuckles, but I laid off of my left thumb. You should be proud of me.
19 November 2007 1855 GMT
Oh yeah...after being called a nerd or dork - I forget which - I had my gf take the Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test, which I ended up getting a rating of 69% Nerd, 26% Geek, and 30% Dork. According to the quiz, she is "normal," but I think she probably lied on some of the responses. Eh. Oh yeah...warning if you take the quiz, there's like 60 questions and a bunch of verification stuff at the end. Oh...and I think it's some sort of dating site, but whatever. If you're reading this page, you are such a nerd/geek/dork, you probably can't resist clicking on the link and taking the test yourself.
18 November 2007 1217 GMT
I'd like to think that I do a pretty good job playing the political game. But I'm often reminded, either through an e-mail or through a new policy letter, that there are many others who are much better at it than I am. I've had to have my NCOIC proofread my last few e-mails for me, as I've found that I've been getting a little emotional with some of the things I'm saying. He's already picked out a few digs that I ended up having to take out of the messages. It's difficult not to get frustrated sometimes, but we'll see how it turns out. Too bad I can't blame it on being a young, inexperienced lieutenant any more.
15 November 2007 1925 GMT
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I ran across an 8 oz. carton of chocolate flavored soy milk earlier this week in the DFAC. I jumped at it immediately and slowly switched my liquid diet. In the last few days since then, I've been able to clear out my collection of 1.5 liter bottles, both in my office and in my room. Exciting stuff, huh? Yeah, I know. Sadly, I couldn't really think of anything else to write about today.
14 November 2007 2027 GMT
Where did this all come from, you probably ask. It's been gnawing at me since our command and staff meeting this evening. There were just a couple of issues that were addressed that I couldn't give a good answer to. I didn't like that feeling. That's not to diminish all of the good work we've done up through this point, but that's also not a good reason not to keep pushing forward. Anyway, as much as I wanted to address it tonight, I think a few of our guys are a little burned out and it wouldn't hurt to ease up a little on some things and start prioritizing a little more. Like I said, though, we'll regroup tomorrow and attack this from another angle tomorrow. Hehe...attack. The penis mightier, right?
Last thing...I saw this link on Jane's page, but I couldn't help but read up on this afterwards. I guess the "One Laptop Per Child" thing has been in the works for a while now, but I read all about it today and must say that I was impressed. I'm tempted to buy one, but I won't be able to play with it for a while. Does anyone want a $200 laptop for like 6-8 months while I'm gone?
12 November 2007 1907 GMT
Some other weekend-type things that happened...football helped pass the time as usual, except I ended up losing to Jane in fantasy this week. Boo that. Oh, there's real football too. We played our first playoff game today and lost again. I got a little banged up, too, getting a small cut above my right eye and bending my glasses in a collision while playing some awesome defense. I also have a slightly sprained left thumb to go with my jammed right ring finger. I'll be fine when the season ends tomorrow with our last game.
I also started playing a little more poker with some of the other guys around here...not for money or anything like that. Just for fun...kinda like what Ben, Thuy, and I used to do before going out sometimes. Then we had a ceremony on Sunday that was scheduled a half hour before the hold'em tourney here. Unfortunately, the ceremony went like 45 minutes, and the three or four of us who were signed up ended up missing out.
That's okay, though, because that gave me an opportunity to catch a little nap on Sunday. I might try doing that a little more.
Other than that, the mail has been pretty awesome. I've been getting letters and postcards from the gf and the fam all the time. The gf made me a few dozen cookies, too...which I should share. But usually, I just squirrel them away and eat them all by myself when I'm in my room. Anyway, I feel kinda bad for now writing as much these days, but I do appreciate all of the stuff you guys have been sending. The group letters, especially, usually bring a pretty big smile to my face because I can just picture those weekend lunches.
Anyway, I'm thinking about heading to bed early tonight. What do you think about that?
08 November 2007 2105 GMT
The second game, the guys on the team asked for me to QB hoping that it'd turn things around. Hmmm...not the best idea in retrospect. I think I threw three picks...maybe more. Again, I lost count. We lost by about the same score, I think...to the Air Force team, sadly.
Fortunately for me, everyone else was still motivated after the two losses to go ahead and scrimmage amongst ourselves. We had a lot of fun there, and that ended up salvaging the night for me.
Besides that, work isn't worth writing about for a little bit. We really have hit a pretty decent routine and it's getting to the Groundhog Day effect where every days starts feeling the same. The only things that really break it up are our PT days, fantasy football and poker on Sundays...oh, and I don't get to talk to the gf as much on the weekends because she's not on AIM at work. Oh well, other than that, NSTR.
07 November 2007 2059 GMT
Aside from that, things are about the same over here. It's been especially busy as we've been pushing some pretty significant issues and even making a little bit of progress on some. I've kind of gotten my second wind with my PT, too. I went three miles on the elliptical this morning, and the flag football has been giving me a lot of extra cardio work in the evenings. I even got up to do some lifting the other morning even though my body was saying no. It's tough to get motivated sometimes, especially when you're not getting enough sleep.
Other than that, I'm starting to fall behind in the Purpose-driven Life, but I'm within an evening of wrapping up my other book. Soon enough, I'll be checking out amazon again or visiting to the post library. Strangely enough, I packed my Fairfax County Public Libraries library card, but I don't think that's going to help me out much over here. Go figure.
04 November 2007 2037 GMT
Today, I ended up taking some time to do some laundry on my own. Because I only have one set of sheets (given to me by the gf, of course), I can't turn them in to the laundry guys. So I brought my laptop and my copy of Transformers over to the facilities to watch while I waited. It...was awesome! I can't believe it took me that long to see that movie, but it was definitely worth the wait. I saw that they were planning on a second one in a year or two. I'll be on the lookout for that one.
Anyway, it's pretty much the usually Sunday routine from here on out. I'll do some reading and watch the early games on the internet until I get tired and go to bed. As much as I'd like to stay up to watch the Colts and Patriots, I'll probably skip it tonight to get up for PT in the morning. I hope everyone else back home enjoyed their extra hour. Now, we're eight hours apart.
02 November 2007 2017 GMT
I'm tired, though, and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night because I was e-mailing a lot of stuff back and forth to State. I guess that's one of the good things about the weekends. I get a small break from our higher headquarters during weekends and stuff. Oh well. Off to bed.
31 October 2007 2107 GMT
The good news? Well, we now have a two game win streak in flag football. Granted, both wins came from forfeits because our opponents couldn't muster enough players. But we'll take it. The team we play tomorrow is going to be tough. I think they won both of their last two games by like 50 points each.
Anyway, I'm still pretty bummed about the skype thing, so I'm going to take a quick shower and do a little reading while I mope around the room. MTF
30 October 2007 2052 GMT
OH!!! I know what else. I rediscovered Skype. I was having trouble getting in touch with the gf some days, so I thought I'd try going on Skype to see what new features they had. Anyway, for like 30 bucks, I got myself a 703 phone number that I can use through my computer now. So around noon until about 5:00 PM Eastern time (soon to shift with Daylight saving) I can be reached at (703)531-8669. Pretty catchy, huh? Hopefully, I can remember my phone number soon. That's the worst...when people ask you your phone number and you just stand there going, "uhh...ummm...I never call myself."
Anyway, I just got back from our football game a little while ago. We won for the second time...by forfeit. So we're now 2-2. We have a bunch of games coming up, too. I think we have two more this week and three next week. Cool, huh? To add to that, we're running a preview of the Veteran's Day 5K tomorrow as a section, we have a PT test on Friday, and then we have the real 5K a week later. Oh, and there's karaoke night on Saturday and another hold'em tournament on Sunday...so much stuff to look forward to. Almost makes you not want to leave. Almost...
27 October 2007 2204 GMT
As for the rest of this weekend, I think I'm going to end up working out and reading a little more since there isn't a hold'em tournament to keep me occupied. I may even watch some more of the DVDs I got for my birthday, too, like Transformers and Rise of the Silver Surfer. We'll see how it goes.
26 October 2007 1946 GMT
The rest of the day went relatively well, though. I got my second wind after sitting down with both of my bosses yesterday for my initial counseling. There were some long-standing tasks (more on a personal level) that I'd been putting off since the deployment, and he encouraged me to tie up some of those loose ends. Among the things I addressed today were:
- $1000+ travel voucher resubmission for the Afghanistan deployment.
- $3000+ pay issue from pre-deployment
- Jury duty questionnaire for Fairfax County (would you believe that I'm exempt?)
Hmm...I know that there were a few more things, but I don't have my list in front of me right now. I've got them listed in my outlook task tracker, though, and I have some intermediate hit dates that I've set for myself. With some luck, I'll be done procrastinating by mid-November.
The other thing I was happy about today was that I plunged back into my spreadsheets again, and spent about three or four hours working on a spreadsheet and e-mail to all of our units to track the million+ dollars worth of (re)enlistment bonuses that are due to be paid some time in the next year or two or three. You know, just taking some early steps to head off any possible problems.
Other than that, it was your typical Friday which wrapped up with the Purpose-Driven Life at the chapel tonight. I think I'm going to spend the rest of the night doing some reading before heading to bed. Until then...
25 October 2007 1820 GMT
Other than that and the half a dozen or so birthday greetings I received over e-mail throughout the afternoon, it was a pretty routine day. I ran the usual three miles on the treadmill in the morning and even took an extra half hour to do some weightlifting before heading off to clean up and go to breakfast.
After dinner, we circled back to the office to watch an episode of Band of Brothers or "Bob" as we like to refer to it, and then I spent some more time in front of the computer watching Who killed the electric car?...very good, btw. Oh yeah...the reason I had the extra time was because our flag football game was postponed until next week.
Anyway, it's amazing how much time you actually have to yourself when you don't spend all of your time in the office. That's what I've been slowly realizing this last month. We've cut it down to the point where we're really only working half-days. Well, that's what I like to call them...since you're only working half of the day. Even with 12 hours to yourself, that's a lot if you only sleep 6-8 hours. That leaves 4-6 hours of playing football, researching fantasy, talking to the gf on AIM, shopping online...whatever. I don't know. It seems like a nice enough gig.
23 October 2007 1838 GMT
In other news, I lost my first fantasy game in my family league yesterday/this morning, falling to 6-1. I lost to Doug by like 0.21 points, which I could blame on any of a number of things, but I won't. I guess my luck just kinda ran out, you know? Anyway, I've been down for the last two days with that looming over me, but I'm doing better now. That's what I get for being so proud.
I'm also halfway through my other relationship book by Willard Harley. It's kind of in the same vein of the His Needs, Her Needs series, and I've been enjoying it. I like getting new ideas to help keep everything fresh and exciting, among other things.
Anyway, other than that, it's the usual routine in the shop. We're trying to plan the rest of the deployment out so that we can hit all of the big deadlines along the way. Plus, we're planning out classes to help everyone else meet the deadlines. We're getting pretty ambitious, but it should work out as long as I can keep everyone on track. We'll see how it goes. MTF
22 October 2007 2031 GMT
The rest of the day was pretty average...oh, except we got a big birthday cake made for the colonel today since he was turning 40-something, and we got the staff together in the DFAC to sing him happy birthday. It was kinda funny because we thought he was close and lit all of the candles. But then he got delayed and we had to blow them out before they sank down too low. Then we posted a lookout and got them relit about five minutes later when he finally showed up. It was pretty cool. I think he was really surprised...plus we sang really well.
Oh...and happy belated birthday to Lenny. I tried calling during family lunch yesterday, but I guess it was changed to family dinner. I hope everyone had fun.
20 October 2007 2134 GMT
Hehe...I know how this sounds. Believe me. I actually do work every once in a while. I just haven't been completely obsessed with work this time around. So instead of doing three people's jobs, I'm just doing mine and taking advantage of some of the down time for more personal pursuits. I've already finished one book, and I'm working on two more right now. I've been keeping my room clean, too, making my bed every day, and even showering. On top of that, I've been spending much more time with the gf than I thought I would be, on AIM and on the phone...not a bad thing, just not what I had expected going into it. It's been a pleasant surprise though...you know, definitely something I'd do on the next deployment.
19 October 2007 0541 GMT
Anyway, not too much else exciting going on. I did open some early birthday presents yesterday though. The gf sent some cookies (mmm) and Season 1 of Heroes as well as Rise of the Silver Surfer. Her sister sent me a couple of Ernest movies, too. That was funny. Thanks! I think I'll have time to start watching them once the football season is over. For now, I'm so busy kicking everyone's butts. Hehe...and there's another hold'em tournament going on this Sunday. What can I say?
17 October 2007 2237 GMT
Oh, so I finished up the Five Love Languages yesterday and I wrapped up by taking the test to identify my preferences. I also had the gf take the test online to see what her preferences were, too. I was pleasantly surprised. My order of preference was: physical touch, words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, and acts of service. For her, it was: quality time, words of affirmation, and a three-way tie for service, touch, and gifts. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with this newfound knowledge yet, but it'll come in handy soon enough, I'm sure.
This morning, we went on our 20-minute treadmill run in the gym in preparation for our next diagnostic PT test on Friday. I was still a little sore from diving all over the field for flags during our loss on Monday, but I powered through it all. I started off on a 9 MPH pace and maintained for about a mile and a half, finishing two miles around 13:30 and three miles in just a tad under 22:00. I'm almost at where I want to be, but we'll see how hard I push myself when the ground I don't have a machine controlling my pace.
15 October 2007 2220 GMT
Back it off to the beginning of the day, and it was pretty routine. We did our usual Monday morning group run, and I went to my usual Monday meeting...oh, which reminds me. I need to get up early tomorrow to get ready for another big meeting. Sleeping would be bad at this one (it's actually bad at all of them, but I can't help that I'm narcoleptic). Anyway, it won't hurt to get a good night's sleep, so that's exactly what I'm doing. Until then...
14 October 2007 2000 GMT
Then on the way back from lunch, we saw that there was another hold'em tournament. So I jumped in there with a couple of my guys. It was a smaller crowd this time, maybe 25 players in all. I played pretty tight this time, and finished off in fourth place. Of course, first, second, and third each won gift cards. Me, I just won fourth place. One of my guys ended winning the whole tourney, though...almost two hours after I ducked out. I guess it was worth it though. Top prize was $75 to spend at the PX.
Anyway, from there, I went to the gym to get a nice upper-body workout in before taking a shower and heading to chow. I really need to start cutting down on my carbs. I've cut out the cake and cookies for dessert, but I'm probably still taking in somewhere around 3KCals per day. Dinner tonight was spaghetti and meatsauce with a little side salad and chicken strips drenched in honey mustard.
I circled back to the room after that to read some more of my book. But then I got tired and took a half hour nap before the skins game. I called home for a little bit after that, hoping to catch everyone at the parents' house. That worked out well, and I got to talk to everyone except for Yenny, Steph, and Elie. The gf was talking about how she (the baby) can do a few signs already, so I'm kinda excited about that. I mean, talking at seven months...that's pretty impressive.
Anyway, that's all I've got. I think I'm gonna waste a little more time watching football before calling it week and starting over again in the morning with a 2-3 mile run with the guys. MTF
13 October 2007 2044 GMT
Okay, now with the setlist. It was pretty long for me today. I stuck with mostly safe songs, but I took a few chances here and there. First was Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da and then I rolled right in to Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. It was funny because one of the LTs in my unit walked into the tent in the middle of the song and I noticed him in the back. It's definitely a different feel when the whole audience is full of strangers. So I stumbled a bit when I recognized him, and then it got a little more fun after that. The S4 and the XO stopped by for a few minutes, too, but they didn't stay long. I think they listened as I did Build Me Up, Buttercup again. You see, the KJ remembered me from last time, and went ahead and programmed the song in for me when it got quiet. *smile* Yeah, I like to think I'm that good. I followed that up with Teddy Bear by Elvis, which I think I rocked out and then I bombed a little bit with my version of Teenage Dirtbag. I'll blame a little bit of it on the system, though, as they were playing around with it a lot and the music was covering up my vocals. Hehe...honestly! Then right as I was about to leave, this guy who'd seen me at Bingo night the other week was reaching for the book and mentioned Sweet Caroline. Yeah, I know. I had to stay after that, and we did a little duet. I had no idea who the guy was, but he had no problems with playing it up a little and serenading each other during the song in a way that would have made Neil Diamond proud, heterosexually, of course. Anyway, when we finished the song, guess what our score was. Wait for it...wait for it...100!!! That's right, baby. We got a perfect score, and I'd have to say we earned it. So with that, I made my exit after a pleasant two-hour diversion. Good times...
Hmm...did I mention that I'm getting combat pay?
12 October 2007 2138 GMT
I finished the third and fourth love languages yesterday and I was supposed to work on number five (Physical touch) today, but I'm pretty darned tired right now. I'll get up in the morning to get a little workout in before heading in to work. But I think I can save the rest of the book for tomorrow night. So how tired was I tonight? I even skipped bingo night. *gasp* Yes, I know. There's always next week, right?
I don't know. Again, I feel a little guilty when I write about working 10-14 hour days, but that's still pretty hard, right? I mean, compared to the last deployment, I've had so much extra time to take care of more personal needs and desires. But I shouldn't have to feel guilty for that, right? I mean, there's always going to be work to do, so I don't know. I'll ponder this internal struggle with my eyelids closed now. MTF
11 October 2007 2020 GMT
The rest of today was pretty average. I forced myself out of bed this morning after nodding off reading about "Quality time" in bed last night. I'm supposed to get through two more chapters tonight, but we'll see how that goes. Morning always come faster than I'd hope. It's tough when you interact with people back in the States, whether it's work or pleasure. I mean, we're like 7 hours apart and soon to be 8 when the daylight saving thing kicks in. But yeah, this morning was just some weight-lifting. Tomorrow morning, we run 2+ miles around the track, beginning at 0530h. Why do we always have to get up so early. Hmm...oh, yeah. I'm in charge. Maybe I should rethink that once the sun starts coming up later and the weather cools down.
Yesterday, I got a little scolding from our flag football coach for not showing up for practice. I forgot about that. I haven't mentioned that yet, have I? They're having a little competition here the next few weeks, and I got drafted by one of the guys in the HHC platoon. There's like a group of players from the infantry guys and a group of players from the staff who'll come together to play against everyone else on post. I'm somewhat optimistic because of my skills, but we'll see how things turn out. A lot of guys around here have nothing to do but work out...which is to say that there are some guys who get into pretty darned good shape. Don't worry, though. I'll be one of those guys soon enough.
Anyway, I should wrap up if I'm going to get any reading done and still get some good sleep. Today is "Receiving gifts" and "Acts of service."
10 October 2007 2046 GMT
This morning, we did our section PT at the gym on the cardio machines. I hate hate hate treadmills, but I did it today because we need to work on pacing ourselves. That was very apparent after the 5K on Monday. So today, we brought everyone to the gym and set the treadmills to various speeds to help train the guys to go 6, 7, 8 miles per hour at a constant rate. We went for 20 minutes, and I can't help but think that I would have done better if I hadn't left my shuffle in my room. I ended up going pretty hard, though...finishing my first mile in about 6:40, my second in about 7:30, and my last one at a tad under 8:00. Oh, and I started off on an incline, too, thinking that I was all hard and stuff. After about two minutes, I went back to level ground.
The rest of the day was cake after that. I got a couple of slide presentations together for what ended up being our 2-hour brief this afternoon. I put together a bunch of stuff for a SITREP (SITuation REPort) back to Virginia, and sent a bunch of e-mails to coordinate with various important people. Exciting, huh? I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow because I'm supposed to get a couple of big spreadsheets to process. We'll see how long that excitement lasts, but I'm optimistic for the time being.
I'm listening to Italian Leather Sofa by Cake while IMing with the gf right now, trying to decide whether or not I want to hit the gym and grab midnight chow before heading to bed tonight. I've all but written that off, opting to wake up in the morning to do so weight-lifting before breakfast tomorrow. That'll give me time to read about "Quality Time" and "Receiving Gifts" today. Those are the next two love languages for me to tackle.