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!

Time off = Time out

My parents are awesome grandparents. I got home from Iraq in late October and they came out to see "me" on the 1st of November. Actually, I think they came out to see the grandkids, but my homecoming was a good excuse. :-) Like I mentioned in my last entry, I think they ended up spending more time with the little ones than I did, but that's cool. They stayed with them for a couple of days in the middle of the week so we could go to Glen Ivy for an overnight trip. That was very much needed. We spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing. We sat in the hot tub a few times, visited Club Mud, and even tried out the Grotto toward the end of the afternoon.

(coffee break)

That was actually the second day we were gone. We got a late start on Wednesday, so we took our time getting up there and stopped along the way to shop and grab some lunch. We saw "Fireproof" that night and went out for dinner. While we were out shopping, I ended up with an entire new outfit from Old Navy. It should look pretty good. I'll probably wear it when the weather gets a little cooler. Jen bought some stuff for herself as well. All in all, it was a good getaway. We got home Thursday evening and met my folks (and kids) for dinner. They said the kids had a great time and they were glad to be able to help. We would've asked my MIL, but she's still working so she wasn't available for a mid-week outing like that.

My sister arrived on Saturday morning. Since my Dad had my car, I didn't have to get up early to go get her at the airport. =) Our birthday ball was that evening, which I addressed in my last post. We took family portraits on Sunday and went to Knott's Berry Farm on Tuesday to take advantage of their Veteran's Day special prices for military. Jen and I got in for free and everyone else got tickets for only $15 apiece. That's a great deal. We spent the whole day there and left after dark in search of dinner at Claim Jumper. We headed home after that and the kids and my sister did not make it all the way home without falling asleep. The next morning (Wednesday) I got up super early (4:30) to make coffee and to be ready to drive. My dad had said they might come over as early as 5:00 to be taken back up to LAX for their flight home. They didn't make it. We left the house just before 6 and I managed to get them up there by 8:15 or so. My sister sent me a text message from Indianapolis, so I guess they made their 9:15 flight. Anyway, that's a brief rundown of the last two weeks. I've been off of work the whole time and I have to go back on Monday. =( Still, it's been a decent two weeks and I'm very much glad to be home. If there's a bright spot to having to go back to work, I picked up my pass for the Coaster so I'll be able to ride the rails when I go to work.

Have a great weekend!

... annnnd we're back

Alllrighty then... let's try to get caught up a bit. Let me start with last night and I'll work my way backwards. Last night was our Birthday Ball. For those of you not familiar with what that means, let me 'splain.

The Marine Corps was founded by a resolution of the Continental Congress on 10 November 1775. In 1921 General John A. LeJeune (13th Commandant of the Marine Corps) directed that all commands commemorate the birthday of the Corps with a special meal and a cake cutting ceremony. Over the years, that tradition has evolved into the Marine Corps ball.

Last night the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing upheld tradition and threw a ball at the Sheraton on Harbor Drive (near the airport). We attended and even brought another couple as our guests. Since it was the Wing HQ's ball, the entire 3rd MAW Band was there and they performed a motivating set before the actual ceremony started. The ceremony itself was just as I remembered all the ones I played in and the ones I've attended since leaving the band field. I saw a few of the bandsmen who were deployed with us this year and they all seem to be doing well. The guest of honor told two stories as preludes to his speech, which he never gave. He said the point of the ball wasn't to listen to some retired 3-star run his suck for 20 minutes, but to commemorate who we are and what we do. So we did.

After dinner the music got really loud so the four of us took a walk down by the harbor and talked for a bit until it got too cold and we returned to the hotel and ballroom. We managed to get in a couple of dances and left around 11. It was not a bad evening and our friends seemed to have a good time. Of course, the last time we took a civilian couple they ended up leaving for another job location and I haven't spoken to them since. I hope that doesn't happen this time.

I know what you're saying. "Wait a second. I thought they had two little kids. What happened to them?" Well, my parents have been in town for a week and they stayed with the kids for us. They've actually stayed with the kids probably more than I have during this time off from work, but that's where I'll start my next entry. Until then, have a great week and Happy Birthday, Chesty (wherever you are)!

Oops, I did (not) do it again.

Well, it looks like I have some work to do when I get home. I have been horrible about keeping up with my blog during this deployment. If you have stuck around, thank you and I apologize for my lameness. If you've left, well, I could say something but you wouldn't read it anyway. =) Still, I intend to go back and "back brief" you all on some of the highlights of this deployment when I get home. Fortunately, that is very soon and I should have something for you as early as next weekend (not this coming, but the next). In the mean time, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and if you don't mind, please ask for clear weather and working aircraft for the next week or so.

Take care and I will write again soon.

Summer's over... and I missed it!

Well, it's almost September. I suppose that means summer vacation is over and it's time to get back to work. Oh, that's right... I've been at work all summer and missed my kids' vacation time.

The Boy started 1st grade last week. Who'd ever think that I'd be mature enough (okay, old enough) to have a 1st grader living in my house? His sister starts back to pre-school next week. This will be her second year there and then she should be in Kindergarten next year. Even though they're about the same age difference as my sister and me, they'll only be two years apart in school because of when they were born. We kept the boy in pre-school an extra year to help his social skills (with the encouragement of the pre-school staff) and it seems to have really paid off. His sister is right in the middle of the bell curve on just about everything, so she'll be on the younger side of her classmates. That's all good. She'll get her DL during summer break and I think she'll only be 17 when she graduates. (Jen, help me out with the math?)

So, let's see... "What did I do on my summer vacation?"

I mentioned that I started on-line school. I passed the class with a C. I guess that's the best you can expect when you don't turn in the final paper. Still, I passed it so now I can move on to classes that I want to take. I just need to figure out what those may be. Right now I'm listed as a Business Admin major. I'm going to wait until I get home to take my next class.

I've been pretty good with my PT. I did the training to upgrade to green belt in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, but it came at a price. I have an appointment later this week with a physical therapist to look at my shoulder for possible "bicipital tendonitis" which means the tendon that holds my bicep to my shoulder joint is inflamed and possibly damaged. If it sounds like that hurts, don't worry... it does.

I did get a new bass this summer. I'll have to go into more details about it when I have a picture or two to post. It's pretty nice and I bought a case and a shoulder strap for it from musiciansfriend.com and I'll be shipping it home in late September.

I missed the summer holidays like my wife's birthday, Memorial Day, my daughter's birthday, Flag Day, 4th of July, my anniversary, and this weekend is Labor Day. Other than that, it's been pretty quiet and almost boring out here. Isn't that the point though? This entry isn't really leaning toward a political soap box, so I won't say any more here.

That's about it from this neck of the woods. I hope you all had a good summer and are ready to get back to work. Oh, that only applies to kids in school. Adults have to work all the time. Why? Who says the country can't take a summer vacation?

Time keeps on slipping...

I didn't realize it had been a while since I last posted to my blog. Thanks, Andrea, for keeping me on my toes!

It's been interesting out here. By that I mean that we seem to have at least one sand storm every week and even though it's mid-May, the weather flags have just started to make their appearance. "Hey, what's a 'weather flag' anyway?" I'm glad you asked. The heat index can cause serious damage to the human body if you exert yourself incorrectly. It's kind of like the exact opposite of the wind chill factor, I think. Anyway, the USMC, in colusion with the medical side of the US Navy, has developed a series of flags to quickly alert personnel of the heat index factor. Since this base is very similar to being at home (except my roommate's a bald Sailor and not a gorgeous California girl) they use this system. Please don't ask me what the actual scale is because I've never bothered to memorize it. I've seen it several times, but I just do the "Jarhead" thing and pay attention to the pretty colors.

Green: All levels of activity permitted
Yellow: Strenuous activity for personnel not acclimated should be monitored
Red: All strenous activity (like PT) should be curtailed or closely monitored
Black: Outdoor activity should be kept to a minimum to reduce heat casualties.

I know, pretty basic right?

Anyway, I've been running in the gym on a treadmill so the flags don't really mean that much to me. Still, it's interesting to see them. They weren't being used at my location the last time I was here. I guess this really is a garrison base.

Let's see... what else? I've started my on-line education. That should please my wife and my mother at the same time. I'm taking a pretty dumb class about how we learn and why we learn and blah, blah, blah. In fact, the chapter I just read talks about this concept called "whole-body learing" where the author espouses the benefits of listening to your gut and going with your heart. She writes that your body knows what to do because of whole-body learning. That's why when the doctor taps your knee, the signal doesn't go all the way to your brain. Your leg already knows what to do. That's odd, I thought that was called a 'reflex' or in her other example she went on about how your body 'knows' how to ride a bike. I thought that was called 'training' or 'muscle-memory' or something like that. But what do I know, right? Still, it is interesting to read some of the other student's posts about learning styles. I told one that I'm thinking my son may be a kinetic learner as well because he always has to touch stuff for it to be real to him. Hmmmm...

One of the chaplains is going home soon and he'll be missed. He just wrapped up a series on Jonah and it was very good. I'm still playing bass for the morning service and I lead the singing for the evening service. Wow, it's almost like I'm back in the church where I grew up. The only thing missing is a Wednesday evening dinner and class. Oh, wait! We have a men's group that meets over dinner on Wednesdays! We just finished the "Purpose Driven Life" and starting tomorrow I'm leading a study on the book of Joshua. It should be interesting.

The softball team is tied for third in the league. We're 9-3-1. It's fun to get out there and play ball. I figure it keeps me in game shape for the church team back home.

As you can see, there's a lot on my plate. Still, I do manage to find time to do the job the Corps pays me to do, so I guess that's good. The ironic thing about that is that I could probably do a better job if I was still at home, but since I've been here for 68 days now, I need to stay for at least another 112 so I get credit for a full deployment. Hey, that might be worth a ticker!

Weekend wrap-up

I had a pretty good week this week. We had another dust storm come in a couple days ago and it looked like it was going to be a doozy. Well, it lasted for about 24 hours and then moved on. It did have the effect of keeping temperatures down for a bit, so for that I'm thankful.

We only had three men at our weekly meeting for the "The Purpose Driven Life" instead of the 8 or 9 we had a couple weeks ago. I hope that was because the others simply couldn't get away in time and not because they've lost interest. Speaking of church stuff, I'll be leading the singing this Sunday evening again. We only have a guitar player who's on an acoustic, so adding a bass to that doesn't make much sense. If there was a keyboard player, then I'd play to make a trio out of it. Oh well. I'll play for the morning service and I may even be playing a new bass! The man who is going to give it to me said he received it after playing some Irish tunes at the St. Patrick's Day "festival" here in March. Since he doesn't play bass he said I could have it! I'll play it while I'm here and if the new bass that was ordered by the chapel staff doesn't arrive by the time I get ready to go home, I'll leave it here. I hope I get to take it home though.

I'm looking into what classes I'm going to take from AMU when I finish this "e-learning 101" I have to take. It's apparently just a course on how to use their online library and other online college applications. I want to breeze through the class to get my GPA started off on the right track (can you say four point oh?) and then get on to my other core classes. The school has deemed me worthy of receiving transfer credits for 48 units. I think that makes me a sophomore. I wonder which fraternity I'll pledge? I think I'll stick with Epsilon Gamma Alpha for now. Anyway, I'm looking at either finishing my English requirement or even knocking out the literature class. Wish me luck!

I got to talk (actually talk) to the family last weekend. I'll call again later today to see if anything new has transpired. It's good to hear my wife and kids' voices from time to time. She is definitely doing better at coping this time. We think it's a combination of having been through it so much recently and also the fact that the boy can help by taking care of himself has relieved much of her burden. Thank God for the eventual passage of time. I just wish I'd be home for his musical and for my daughter's dance recital. Guess it's a good thing we have a video camera.

We won our softball game this morning and we have another one tomorrow morning. Fortunately I have not had to miss a ball game yet for church. It's just worked out that way by the schedule. Hopefully it continues, but I've already decided that if there is a conflict then I won't be playing ball that day. It's all about priorities. Since the kids do movie night on Fridays, I thought I would join them and I used the big screen here to watch a movie last night. I think I'll just start doing that every Friday. I had a couple other guys join me to watch "Transformers" last night. (My wife was not surprised.)

Well, I think that pretty much sums up my week. Yes, I did do some actual work, but that's nothing anyone back home wants to read about. Have a great weekend and drop me a line or leave me a comment.