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...

well... look who's back

Okay... the kids are in bed and my Love is out with her friends for chit-chat and scrapbooking. I've got "The Empire Strikes Back" on Spike TV and a drink so I figured I'd jump on the computer and update some stuff. First stop: blog.

So we went back to Verizon the Sunday after Valentine's only to learn that the sale we were looking for had ended ON Valentine's Day. Now they wanted $130 for the phone we wanted... No thanks. We checke the Target flyer that afternoon and found the exact same phone for $19.99. That was even better than we were expecting so we went out and grabbed a couple. Within a week I had used up the available memory space on the phone so I bought a couple of memory cards: one for me one for J. Well, as I was going home I thought she might have preferred a blue-tooth instead so I kept the receipt... I took her memory card back and got her a blue-tooth the next day as she requested. (man, I'm good)

Fast Forward to March...

(Back story follows) When I got back from Iraq last year I was told that I'd be transferring to Georgia in March. I really (really... REALLY) didn't want to do that so I pitched a fit and got my orders changed. Now we're not moving until this summer and we're not going to Georgia. (back story ends)

My replacement has already checked in and taken over the office so I am pretty much out of a job right now. I don't really mind because I'm taking advantage of the time to hit the gym every day and get caught up on my medical care... parrallel but opposing objectives. See, when I was deployed last year I went through the training in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program to upgrade to green belt (level 3). Unfortunately I damaged my shoulder with all of the throws and arm bars and to skip to today, I have a torn shoulder muscle (revealed by MRI) and an appointment with Balboa's orthopedics dept next week. Ironically enough, that's the day I was SUPPOSED to check in to the career course at the academy to remedy a deficiency in my training jacket. But when the doctor said I would risk permanent damage, I decided that maybe I'll retire as an E-6 but have use of both my arms. Anyway, I've been assigned as the Equal Opportunity Representative for the CG's inspection coming up which meant I had to go through training last week. If I end up in the HR field as a civilian, being trained for EO should look good on my resume.

So that's pretty much where we are right now. Since this is now updated, I'm going to hit my togetherweserved profile and update that as well. Jen wants me to get a wastebook page, but I already have a mywaste page, so I don't know if that will happen.

Sorry it's taken so long to update this. I know I probably don't have any readers, but I wanted to post anyway... more for myself I suppose.

Where have I been?

Wow.

I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize it's been over three months since I last posted. Let's see... what have I been up to?

Well, let's start with the holidays.

I got a nice thick robe for Christmas which I first thought was going to be too warm for me, but it's actually perfect. There are times when I will wear one of my hoodies instead, but that's usually because it has better freedom of movement. I also got a pair of "real" slippers to offset my novelty Ohio State Happy Feet slippers. The kids did well also. We went with the concept of one big gift and a few smaller but related gifts. There was one huge down side... We got the girl a doll house and a few rooms of furniture for her house. When I went to put the house together it was broken. I took it back to Wally World and learned that it had been a seasonal special purchase. Translation: "we don't sell that any more." D'oh! So we looked online and it's not available there either. So that sucked. The boy got some cool Hot Wheels and a track to launch them on. It's a loop that goes into a jump. It starts on a raised level, drops into a loop and that feeds right into a launch ramp. It's pretty cool except one of the cars that came with it is too light and can't get around the loop... it keeps falling. Jen got a new camera and all the toys that come with it. She wanted it. She shopped for it online. I went out and bought it. I have to admit that she made it easy for me, but I kind of feel like I was jipped (sp?) out of the holiday experience of figuring out what to get her and then rushing all over town trying to find it... on Christmas Eve. (jk)

New Year's was fun. Grandma took the kids for a sleep over and we had a couple of friends come to the house. We ate. We drank. We played games like "Boxers or Briefs" and we drank and ate some more. At some point we turned on the TV and watched the tape delayed celebration in New York as the ball dropped and 2009 began. We ate and drank some more and then I crashed. I was the first one to go down and that wasn't until 2:30. That was pretty good considering I'd been up since before 7. I woke up just before 8 on Jan 1 and made it downstairs to turn on the TV and watch the Tournament of Roses Parade. Every year on Jan 1 I like to watch the parade while I'm still in my 'jamas and drinking my coffee. When the Marine band comes marching down the street I look for people that I might know and then I laugh because I didn't have to get up at 3 and march the 5 miles while carrying a 35 pound Sousaphone and playing "The Marine's Hymn" and "Semper Fidelis" over and over. Don't misunderstand me, the five times that I did it were fun, but that's a young man's game. There's nothing like hearing thousands of people cheering just because you came down the street with 100 of your closest friends and wearing the world's most recognizable uniform. Plus, we always got a burger from In-N-Out at the end of the parade. =)

Anyway, that's how the holidays went and the new year got started.

My MIL and I have our birthdays only two days apart so we had combined them up until last year. Last year was a milestone birthday for her so we did a special party and this year she offered to take the kids for another sleep over. We accepted.

Now, it's the day after Valentine's Day and the kids are at Grandma's again. That was my doing. I set it up for her to take them so we didn't have to worry about picking them up on our way home from dinner. We went to our favorite place and had a nice dinner. We had to go because they may not be in business by the time our anniversary rolls around. We'd been invited to hook up with some friends for desert and drinks, but they cancelled so we just added desert to our dinner and enjoyed the time to ourselves. We were going to go look at new phones after dinner, but the store closed at 8. D'oh! So, we'll probably try again after church this morning.

Anyway, that's about it. I have some other stuff to tell, but those stories aren't realy "holiday" specific, so I'll post again later... Hopefully not too much later.

Have a great week!