Welcome to Denver(?)

Okay, so July was an 'interesting' month. Fortunately I spent the whole month on leave so I could concentrate on getting the family moved. Allied sent a three person crew to our house on the 13th to pack everything up and get us ready for the actual movers. They were there pretty much all day and even worked through lunch but by the time they left just about everything was in boxes and ready for the movers to pick up the next day. I say 'just about everything' because they missed our drawer of cooking utensils and they weren't allowed to pack up our chemical cleaning supplies, but other than that, they got it all. The movers showed up the next morning with a HUGE truck and a five man crew. I gave them a quick tour of the house and they got right to work. They did take a break for lunch, but not a very long one and they loaded just about everything and drove off with our stuff around 4. I say 'just about everything' because I forgot to take a mirror off the wall and there was a medicine cabinet type item behind the door of the bathroom that no one saw. Still, it was pretty impressive (and scary) how much stuff we got onto the truck. In fact, the foreman/driver said he thinks we have more than 11,000 pounds of stuff, which is our limit as far as the Gov't is concerned. I don't know what that means as far as money, but I guess we'll find out. For the rest of the week, the four of us slept on the floor in the family room (too hot upstairs) and Jennie and I cleaned while the kids were at church camp (aka VBS). We got that all done and our landlords came down with their new RPM guy to look the house over on Friday. Since they agreed to change out the carpet before putting it back on the market, I cancelled our appointment with Stanley Steemer... Why pay $300 to clean carpet that's going to get ripped up, right? I also fixed the hole in the wall put there by my son in a classic AFV clip. He had the treadmill up too fast and fell and... well, you get the idea. We got everything cleaned up and ended up leaving the keys in the lock box provided by the RPM agent. Jen had taken the kids to church Saturday evening to "graduate" from VBS so. I didn't go because I was waiting for the landlords to come back (they never did) and I was pretty nasty from working all day. After church was over we all moved in with Jen's mom and had a camp out! Actually, we all went to Souplantation for dinner and had a pleasant visit before we all crashed out. The cats had spent the whole week at Grandma's and were very happy to see Jen again. =) So that was July week 2...

July week three was spent up at Forest Home, on Mt. San Bernadino. It's a family camp and the week is spent getting closer to God and leaving technology behind for a week. The whole camp is very similar to Ridgecrest or Glorieta, but more primitive. The camp's construction tries to minimize the impact on the the woods around it so there are trees used as pillars and supports for beams. It's actually pretty cool. There were a couple of reasons we chose this particular week to go. For starters, with moving out and trying to time our departure for CO, this was the best week to go. Also, since we got to prorate our rent for the month, we could use the money to pay for our camp fees. We went to FH a couple years ago and the speaker was just amazing so we picked the week that he was scheduled to preach. Lastly, we figured we needed to have a good family week to draw closer together because Jen and I figured we'd get on each others nerves living in a hotel for an extended period of time. So, we got home from FH after hearing an awesome series on the Wisdom of God from Proverbs by Dennis Keating, pastor of Emmanuel Faith Baptist in Escondido. Jen and I had a good time with our friends from church, Kelly and Sheryl and our kids had a blast with their programs and our CCA (Child-Care-Assistant) who happened to be the daughter of one of our small group members. I think that's probably the coolest thing about FH. They will provide you a babysitter for the evening so you can spend time with adults and you can even bring your own 'sitter if you desire. Week 3 three was a much needed calm before the storm.

When we got home from FH, we moved into the new South Mesa Lodge on Camp Pendleton for the weekend. I originally had reservations at the old Ward Lodging up on main side, but for just a few bucks more I was able to give my beach bunny wife a view of the ocean for our last couple of days. I figured I had to. =) Anyway, we did laundry and got ready to leave again. On Monday the 27th I got to spend the day at the garage. I took the Ford in for an oil change and asked them to check on why the battery light was on. Half an hour later I'm told that I have a bad alternator. (AutoZone had already tested my battery and alternator and told me both were good to go.) He put in a new one and then told me that it was putting out the same amps as the first one. His thought was not that there was nothing wrong, but that he'd gotten a bad part. So he put in a brand new alternator (we're after lunch by now) and told me... same test results. (Grrrr...) So, he put the original alternator back in and sent me on my way. I paid $13 and my entire day for an oil change and tire rotation. (Did I say "Grrrr..." yet?) Oh! And to top it all off, I had to push back our dinner reservations by an hour. Did I forget to mention that Monday was our anniversary? We went to dinner at Donovan's and had a wonderful dinner experience. It didn't completely make up for the rest of the day, but it was a great dinner. The next morning I got up early and ran out to U-Haul to pick up an auto transport that I had reserved. (I borrowed the mechanic's car to run out to the U-haul dealer to sign paperwork while he had my Expedition on the lift.) I grabbed it and went back to the base. Our friends Kelly and Sheryl allowed us to keep my Saturn at their house while we were at FH and I went there to load up. That was actually the easiest part of the day. I got back to the hotel and rearranged stuff to keep the back of the Ford open for the cats. I loaded up the Saturn and put some stuff on top of the Ford. I had planned/wanted to get on the road by 8 because we were planning to drive for about 11 hours on day 1 and I wanted to get going. We were on the road a little before 11... just a bit late. :-P
Well, I was accurate in my estimate of how long we would be on the road. We got to Beaver, UT right around 10 after a very long day. We checked in and got to our room. I would highly recommend that anyone stopping in Beaver for the night that you find a different hotel than the Paradise Inn Best Western. There were bugs all over the place! We got out of there in the morning after a decent breakfast at the restaurant right there and got back on the road. We got to Eagle, CO later that evening and had a MUCH better experience at the Best Western Eagle Lodge there. Since I'd signed up for their members club when I made the reservation they bumped us up to a deluxe room and we were right next to the pool. After dinner the kids and I took to the pool for about 45 minutes which allowed the kids to burn off some energy. Since we only had a few hours scheduled for Thursday, we took advantage of the full breakfast bar and then the kids jumped back in the pool while Jen took a shower and packed up. We checked out right at 11 and headed for the pass. The weather was very wet and quite chilly. I don't care who you are... 40 degrees is chilly! We got into the Denver area around 2:00 and got into an accident at 2:10... seriously. I was slowing down for an interchange... it was crowded... the road was wet... the car in front of me stopped short and I ran out of room... HOWEVER, Jen had taken a picture of the interchange sign for scrapbooking and you can see the car in front of us. More importantly, you can clearly see that her tail light and bumper already have damage. I took a picture of her car right after the accident and the pictures look virtually identical. I made two calls right after the 'wreck' one to 911 to get a cop out to us and the 2nd to our insurance. The agent advised me to take the 'after' pictures and Jen found the 'before' picture as she scrolled through her camera later that evening. Unfortunately, I now owe the city of Denver $110 and I'm going to have 2 points on my DL. Yep, I was cited for "following too closely" and found at fault. The officer was apologetic and wished us luck, but that's a heck of a way to announce our arrival in Denver. Anyway, we finished the last 15 minutes of the trip and got checked into our Extended Stay Hotel, which we'll call 'home' for at least a month. We called our realtor and she met us yesterday. My dad had called her to get us connected. Thanks, Dad. We spent a few minutes at her office just talking about the plan for the day and then we got into her car and started driving. We looked at 5 or 6 houses (I can't remember which) and then went back to her office to pull up a few more and make a plan for today. I liked the 2nd house, but the lot is odd shaped and there's a long shared 'drive-way' that we'd have to either back up or down (or use the neighbor's driveway to turn around). Still, it's a solid possibility. We saw one house that is way over-priced for us and we didn't like it anyway. It's not ready for showing in my opinion... Nevermind, we scratched that one pretty quick. The last house we saw also had some possibility, but it would take more work than the 2nd one. After lunch we drove past a few more houses and called Wendy back to set up some more viewings for this afternoon. These would be much closer to the base where I'll be working so that's a plus. They're a little less expensive so that's another positive. There's one that we both have high hopes for. It's at the end of the street, which is a cul-de-sac. There's a paved path from the end of the street to the community center on the other side and it's in a good school district. I'll post more on FBook this afternoon after we get to see inside. I have high hopes and I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to find something we can make an offer on maybe even before I check into my new unit on Friday.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We're tired of living in a hotel and even if we make an accepted offer tomorrow, we'll still be here for at least a month while we close.

Here's the latest...

Okay, for those of you keeping score here's the latest on the 'haps' at the house.

We've been packing and sorting for a while now but not with the intensity you would expect of a family getting ready to move out of the state. Why? Well, quite simply, since the military has contracted a moving company to move our stuff, we just don't feel the burden of having to get everything done by any deadline. We've gone through old clothes and had a couple of garage sales. We've sorted stuff that we still have that we don't want and Babe has a plan to donate that stuff to charity. In short, we've done just about all we can think to do. The big exception to that is the laundry. However, I'm not allowed to do the laundry, so I don't feel any pressure about that. I can tell you that I'm planning to pack my uniforms tomorrow and load my seabag into my car. Since that's going on a trailer, I will have everything I need when we get there. We'll probably pack our suitcases this weekend and have them out of the way when the movers show up on Tuesday. That will give us clothes for the rest of 'vacation' and to get settled in with when we get there. We need to put aside a couple weeks worth of clothes so we're not too limited when we go shopping for housing, churches, etc...

We've been 'pre-approved' for funding for a house. Now we just need to find a house. We tried to get the kids registered for school where we're looking to buy, but the school district says we need to actually be in the district physically before we move. I guess they don't understand the military up there, but I'm going to call the school liaison and see if she can help us out.

I'm glad we were pre-approved before I took the car into the dealer. Now that I have a new computer in the vehicle I should be good for at least another 90K miles, right? That's what I'm hoping at least... especially since it's not even paid off yet. Ugh!

I did manage to get reservations at a nice steak house that we've talked about visiting pretty much since we got married. Since it's our anniversary and our last night in town, we figured we were pretty much out of excuses. Looking forward to dinner at Donovan's but I'm pretty much not looking forward to the next morning. I'm sure there will be tears all around and I anticipate that even I will have a knot in my throat... very different to the last time I left CA.

We had a nice send-off picnic with friends from church last night. Thanks to those of you who put that together for us.

My Honey is out with her friend for their quasi-weekly coffee talk and I'm listening to the "Fairy Oddparents" in the other room. The kids had their first official swim lesson today and did really well. Now that we're leaving the beach scene, we figure it's time they learn how to swim. We'll probably take skiing lessons as a family the week before we come back home after I retire. That's just how we roll.

Have a great week!

Father's Day 2009

It's Father's Day today. What does that mean, really? Is Father's Day a "Hallmark Holiday" created to balance out Mother's Day? Why in June? Is it to remind students who it is that will most likely be paying for their college next year? Is it at the beginning of summer to provide an excuse to cook meat over fire to celebrate being a man? I dunno.

I can tell you this much: I love being a father. I have two wonderful children (well, wonderful much of the time) and I get to watch them grow up cared for by a beautiful California girl. (Thanks, Babe.) I never thought I'd actually look forward to a day like this, but watching my children at their dance recital last night touched something in my soul. I want to take today and redevote myself to their care and up-bringing.

Even with God's help I know this is not an easy task. I have missed birthdays and school events, soccer games and days at the beach because I took an oath to "obey the orders of the President of the United States and all officers appointed over me, in accordance with regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice." Sometimes those orders could be written to read, "For the next six to eight months you will leave your family behind while you travel to some of the most inhospitable places in the world. While you are there you will do the same job that you do back in San Diego, but you will be less efficient due to the intermittent internet connections. To compensate for this, you will be afforded the opportunity to work 24/7 because the people you interact with will remain in the States and continue to take weekends and holidays off." However, I can say that during deployments I do have a tendency to pursue my relationship with God more and I also seem to 'find' more time to hit the gym and catch up on my reading. I guess it's just a matter of priorities.

I have learned over the years by watching other dads that it's not always about the quantity of time so much as it is the quality of time. At least, that's how some view their family obligation. Unfortunately, those who believe this seem to also allow the quality of time to suffer.

God, thank you for blessing me with the title of "Dad." Thank you for my father and the example of living a godly life that he has shown me. Grant me satisfaction in my career to be thankful for having a job that allows me time to spend with my family. Even if I never get promoted again, the Corps has been pretty good to me. Even if You never bless me again, You have done more for me as my heavenly Father than I could ever even attempt to do for myself. You sent your own Son to take my punishment and die in my place. Looking at Trey, I realize that is something I could never do. Thank you for all You have done and thank you in advance for all that You will do for me and my family. Give me the strength to protect and defend those You have entrusted to my care and watch over them when the demands of the service require me to leave them behind. Show me your way for my life and give me the courage to walk that path. Amen.

June-teenth

The second garage sale was not as well trafficked as the first, but we still managed to move some stuff (mostly clothes) and raise a few more bucks. Probably going to get that laptop we've been looking for... okay, Jen's been looking for. That will become our main computer while we're in transition.

So, our mortgage guy seems to have flaked out on us. He's not returning calls and I can't even leave him a message anymore. I contacted our financial advisor and he gave me a new number, but haven't heard back from them either. Hmmm...

Jen's out with g/f for the evening. I've got the kids and we had a good day together. The 'baby' (who just turned 5!) is sleeping on the couch and her brother is playing Mario Kart. I'm going to go show him how to drive...

Later!

Too much to do... not enough time to "git-r-dun!"

Wow... I never realized how much work it is to get everything done when you have to relocate the entire family in one fell swoop. We're making progress though and I think we'll be okay by the time M day comes...

We had a huge garage sale yesterday. It threatened to rain all day, but never actually did. In fact, the sun finally broke through the "May Gray" just as we were moving everything back into the garage. (Whew!) We had a good turnout and more important than making money: we moved a lot of stuff we didn't want to move. Most of what went was baby related, and since we're done with that phase of our lives (knock on wood) then we offered up clothes and strollers and toys to other families who might need some of it.

Let me tell you... I didn't ask directly, but advertising WORKS! We had an add in the paper that ran Thurs-Sat and although only one guy specifically stated, "Your ad said..." I'm sure others at least stopped by to see what we had based on that.

We'll do it all again next weekend, then DAV will probably get a call to come pick stuff up. If not them, there's Operation Homefront, GoodWill, Salvation Army, and others who will make good use of stuff that is just taking up space in our garage.

So that's moving... I'm so far behind in my current class that I seriously doubt I'll be able to get a passing grade. That sucks because then I'll have to repay the tuition assistance and this is not a good time for that.

The summer season is typically "moving season" for the military and our unit is no different. We just got a new SgtMaj. We're getting a new CO and XO later and there's such a huge turnover going on that it wouldn't surprise me if I get skipped. The last plaque I received was the last time I was in the band... That was 10 years ago! (I'm not bitter... just annoyed.)

Well, I can hear the kids moving and we have to get ready for church this morning, so I guess that's all the time I have for now. It's a good thing I can type so fast or else I'd never get a word in edge wise. =) Have a great length of time and I'll try to update more regularly. I'll just add that to the list...

it's the weekend... or is it the week-beginning?

Well, it's Saturday... What does that mean? It means that I have a lot of stuff to do today, especially since I'm scheduled to be on duty tomorrow. It's ironic, don't you think, that the guy who makes up the duty schedule hasn't put himself on the roster for three months now and there are people senior to him who are on the schedule. I also find it curious that even though I've mentioned it many times that I attend church with my family every weekend that I've been assigned the Sunday duty this week. Seriously? I know for a fact that there are at LEAST four people in the building who don't attend church at all. Why not put one of them on for Sunday? On the plus side, I do have my Saturday available to clean the garage, take recyclables in for $$, and enjoy the San Diego weather. We'll adapt by going to the evening service tonight and then Jen will have the day to herself tomorrow. Also, since I'll just be coming off of duty on Monday morning, it won't be a big deal when I go home after my appointment to set up TMO... and that's scheduled for 9:30. :-) This will also give me a chance to get caught up on some of my homework for my literature class. I'm way behind... I still owe an essay from two weeks ago and I've already missed two quizzes. I'll jump ahead to where everyone is now and then go back and try to fill in the gaps. Should be interesting.

What are you up to? I had to engage comment moderation because some jerk used my comment space to post his (or her) entire blog from January to now. Seriously? Get your own blog, you moron.

100 days... that's it?

Twelve billion dollars a DAY... that's how much the new administration has cost the American taxpayer. That's two dollars for every person on the PLANET. When the American people voted for change, I'd be willing to bet 8.5% of the working population were not thinking that they'd be looking for change as in, "Hey, Buddy, got a quarter?" We have been blessed in this current downturn because of my current occupation which guarantees a paycheck, albeit a modest one, for the next few years. Am I upset about taxes targeting the "rich" people? Well, yeah! I hope to be one of those people some day and I don't want to pay any more taxes than I have to. Here's a thought... everyone pays a flat 10% on gross income and a flat 5% sales tax. If you require emergency services such as fire or EMT assistance, then the responding department will charge your insurance to recover their costs. That would have the impact of rewarding those of us who are careful and encourage more people to be responsible for their action.

So, did anyone watch the press conference last night? I didn't and there's really one simple reason... he's on TV all the time. When the POTUS is on TV and/or radio every day there's nothing special about it. It's like living in San Diego. When I can wake up most every morning to a gorgeous SoCal day with awesome weather, I tend to take it for granted. When I KNOW the President is going to make a press release of some sort, then I no longer bother to watch. Doesn't he have a spokesperson, or did all of his candidates have to bow out because they "forgot" to pay their taxes?

It's been 100 days and I have a hangover...