Seeking Education

Today is one of those days where I had to look down to make sure I remembered to put on my pants while I was walking to work.  I am tired, in need of a day off, and some night time sleep!  Thank goodness this is my last night shift until further notice!  That is correct, I am moving to day shift.  No more interrupted sleep by useless construction projects, rude neighbors, or phone calls from work!  How exciting!  The only downfall to this switch is that I will be working with the XO more, but I think I am wearing him down and that he finally thinks of me as a person.  When he comes in for his coffee in the morning, we actually engage in conversation!  This is a big step for someone who avoided me at all costs and yelled at me during any interaction.  Other downfalls of day shift are less time for personal matters and when the time comes to switch back to night shift, a 24 hour shift. 

Last night, while I had copious amounts of downtime, I was studying to take the GRE.  I realized that studying for the GRE is like a slap in the face education style.  I don’t think my inadequacies are a fault of mine but rather a lack of education.  Odd coming from a college graduate of a highly accredited college (Forbes ranked it the #1 college in the USA in 2009, the year I graduated), so the real reason must be with the standardized test system. 

I have always hated standardized tests.  It seems like a big game of memorize as much as you can to brain dump it later.  Perhaps if we used the vocabulary and math skills tested on a regular basis, the test would seem more relevant.  However, the material tested is not used in the workplace, in society, or in whatever graduate class for which you want to enroll.  Now that I successfully feel inadequate with what education I retained, I have decided to start using the vocabulary exercised in this test on a daily basis.  I have yet to figure out how to integrate the math section in my everyday life, but when I do…beware!

What has summoned this salient verdict to study for the Graduate Record Examination?  The benevolent XO importuned this opportunistic time and I could not repudiate.  Why adulterate my next unit with my obsolete education? 

These blogs are going to be diminutive if I continue this tendency. 

The Bathsheba Syndrome

Following yesterdays article, I decided to look further into my e-mails and see if the DCO sent out any other interesting reads.  In light of the current focus of the news, no, not the “Fiscal Cliff,” but the news of Generals with fidelity issues, the DCO sent out an article debating the topic surrounding the “Ethical Failure of Successful Leaders.” 

This is quite an interesting read.  Since multiple Generals in the Army have been exposed for their lack of devotion to his spouse, we, members of the volunteer Army, are being mandated to conduct/train on ethics.  This makes sense in my career.  We often see the results of one person’s bad decisions in the form of a class to the rest of us. 

This article challenges the idea of ethics training and instead replaces it with training in preparedness in dealing with personal and organizational success. 

This article does not focus on the military.  It offers grand examples of powerful people with a strong, admirable base in ethics rising to positions of power and committing acts that are out of character according to their friends and family.  CEO’s, religious leaders, Mayors, and a division president were all shocking instances depicting strong morals and ethics prior to their rise to greatness.  Some were Eagle scouts, student models, and missionary workers achieving success and eventually falling off the moral path and into positions of shame.

These once great leaders are compared to the story of David and Bathsheba.  David was a great leader with a humble past, a dramatic and rapid rise to power, strong organizational skills, a charismatic personality, an eclectic approach to problem solving, a strategic vision for his people, and a man of high moral character.  He was a king with all he could ever ask for, power, influence, wealth, physical comforts, loyal servants, a strong army, and a growing prosperous country.  Despite all this, he was still unable to avoid the downward spiral of unethical decisions that ultimately created grave consequences for both his personal life and the organization he was called upon to lead and protect.  His fall included an affair, corruption, deception, abuse of alcohol, murder, the loss of innocent lives, and a “greater than thou” attitude when he thought his cover up was absolute and he was free of persecution.  All this drama because he could not control his desire for Bathsheba, a young beautiful female married to one of his officers away in battle.

This downfall, like the downfall of many others, stems from four things:

1-success causes leaders to become complacent and lose focus

2-success grants privileged access to information, people, or objects

3-an unrestrained control of resources

4-a belief that he/she has the ability to manipulate outcomes

Therefore, this article suggests giving a course on success and maintaining ethics rather than a course on ethics.  It also labels the inability to cope with and respond to the by-products of success as “the Bathsheba Syndrome”  in reference to the story of King David, which really is fascinating if you care to google and read it.

I completely agree with this article.  I have witnessed the “greater than thou” attitude develop as Soldiers rise in the ranks and are given more power rather than responsibility.  I have also seen people throw themselves at power in the form of a person and have often asked what the attraction is for the person on the receiving end.  “Not having to work for the affection,” was the answer.  Which begs the question, “Isn’t anything worth having worth the effort of gaining?”

What do you think?

Energy Vampires!

One of my many bosses shared an article with us for optional professional development.  Meaning, he found an article he thought interesting and emailed it to all the officers he oversees.  Sometimes I read them and other times, I do not.  Today, I decided I was bored enough to open the article and read it. 

The article was actually very interesting.  It talked about energy vampires (EV), or people who are so negative, they drain the energy out of you and/or the room.  If you are anything like me, you are currently thinking of all the people you suspect are EV’s. 

This article details how to change EV’s from Negative Nancy’s to Positive Peggy’s.  If this change cannot occur, then the EV might leave the situation, the room, or even the job.  This is all good though because no one wants someone around that is dragging down the team. 

An EV may not know he is an EV.  Remember, Energy Vampires cannot see their own reflection.  If you choose to assist an EV, because he/she is a friend or co-worker, with advice and positivity, tread cautiously and show that you care.  If you do not want to deal with an EV, just run away.  If an excuse is necessary, I think you left something in the oven, your mom is on the phone, or you are late for a very important date.

The key to all this is to remain positive around an EV.  No one wants to be a Debby Downer and there is likely a reason behind the negativity.  Welcome the EV into your happy environment, encourage conversation, and show understanding. 

Our First Sergeant took this to heart and put a sign on his door that says, “Energy Vampires Welcome.”                

Another approach is at the cultural level, meaning, create an environment that encourages positivity.  There was a football coach that took this approach.  He painted a wall with a picture of an EV and captioned it, “Energy Vampires.”  When a player was categorized as an EV during practice, his picture would appear on the wall.  No player wanted his picture on the wall, so it motivated the players to remain positive.

A third approach is to create such a positive working environment that EV’s feel uncomfortable being negative and they will either transform or leave.  I like this approach.  I may not be in a leadership position, but I can create a positive environment.  The rule for this approach is, “Your positive energy must be greater than all the negativity.”  Challenge accepted.

An iPad, the Bengals, and a Thong

I am discovering that my iPad is amazing, distracting, and fun to explore.  My plan for today was to workout after my shift and go to sleep right after, but that schedule was quickly adjusted when I arrived at my room.  My roommates were awake and I was anxious to share with them the news of my iPad.  I began to change into my PTs when one of my roommates started asking me about the features on my iPad.  I had some questions for her as well because both my roommates own iPads and are familiar with Apple technology.  I brought my iPad out of hiding and was quickly distracted from my workout.

Most of my questions revolved around the Face Time application and the messaging.  I didn’t think I was selecting the right buttons or entering the right information to call anyone, but suddenly I heard a ringtone as though I was making a call.  After a minute of no one answering, I concluded that I wasn’t doing it right and hit the “END” button.  I decided to cruise the market instead when my dad’s name started flashing on the screen.   “It’s my daddy!”  I exclaimed and hit the button to connect.  My roommates got excited with me and when it finally connected everyone said hello to my family.  Starring into my dad’s iPad was my mom, dad, sister, and her husband.  My parents were going to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in Georgia and check on my house in Alabama after the holiday, but the plans quickly changed upon my grandfathers passing.  The day after the funeral, my parents left Ohio for my house with the intentions of switching the air conditioning to heat and make sure it was still standing.  After a night, they continued on to my sister’s house where they were now starring at my face on Dad’s iPad.

After a great conversation filled with laughs, room tours, and updates, we all decided it was time for them to go to bed and time for me to hit the gym. 

Now, back at work, flipping through TV channels, I stumble upon the Bengals v Raiders game from a few nights ago on the Armed Forces Network.  This is exciting to me on so many levels!  Not just because they are the Bengals, but Dad records and sends Bengals games when he is able.  After checking the scores Saturday night, I informed him that I could not wait to see this game when he sends it.  He responded with, “Me too!  It was blacked out and we were on the road traveling to your house.”  I was disheartened by this news because this was a big game.  The Bengals old quarterback, Carson Palmer, who quit the Bengals to play for the Raiders, was playing in a place he swore he would never play again, Paul Brown Stadium, the home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Lucky me, I am watching it now!  While it takes some excitement away knowing the Bengals crushed the Raiders, the unusual and unpredictable content of this game adds the excitement that was missing and more.  This game has everything, bad officiating, a huge fight, and a Bengals win!!  Wow, what a game!

According to a public service announcement surrounding this game, the Armed Forces has a special contract with the NFL to air certain football games because we are the only ones able to see this game outside those people freezing in the stands.

WHO-DEY!

Sleeping Day

Today was a sleeping day.  I made it to my room after work to immediately curl up with the Avengers and woke up in time to set up my iPad, download my first app (NYTimes), shower, and rush off to work.  This is actually a pretty early wake up for me because the internet in our rooms is quite slow.  Why did I wake up so early?  For starters, one of my roommates, it has yet to be discovered which one, left her watch in the room with an alarm set to go off forty minutes before my alarm is set to sound.  Not only was she not in the room to shut it off, but I didn’t want to get out of bed to search for it. 

That’s fine.  I waited for it to silence itself, rolled over, and went back to sleep.  Ten minutes later, there was loud music walking up and down the hallway.  I gave up on sleeping and decided to hit the showers instead.  As the hot, steamy water melted away my disappointment of an early wake-up, the music entered the bathroom.  I danced a little as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair.  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?  As I was washing my face, I heard a shout from a person.  I couldn’t understand what she was asking or saying or singing, so I ignored it and continued with my shower. 

Shortly thereafter, I heard the plastic cover on the fan switch close and realized the fan vents had just been shut off.  Then the music exited the bathroom.  I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What was the point of that?  Did she think I wanted it to get all steamy in here?  Maybe she is going to come back to enjoy the steam.”  No such luck.  I didn’t understand her actions, but as I left the bathroom, I turned the fan back on.  No use making others uncomfortable or risking mold growth.

Back in my nice warm room, I started setting up my iPad.  I got so into it that I forgot about the time and was late leaving for work.  The great thing about my job is that no one noticed I was late, and if they did, I highly doubt they would have said anything. 

Surprise!

Today has been a relatively great day.  I got a fantastic workout at the gym, I managed to run for 40 minutes today.  When I returned to the room, I found it empty and decided to continue my workout with sit-ups, crunches, and, my favorite, supine bicycles. 

Once I was sufficiently worked out and showered, I decided to calm my body down with a movie.  I have three folders on my external hard drive labeled new movies, movies, and series.  I hadn’t checked out the series folder yet so I opened it and saw that it contained two television series: “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Modern Family”. 

“The Big Bang Theory” is a TV series that I am very familiar with and find it hilarious.  It revolves around four highly intelligent geeks and a blond female neighbor that all but one geek wants to date.  These geeks are a socially dysfunctional group of friends trying to fit in with today’s societal norms.  I highly recommend it! 

I was not familiar with “The Modern Family” TV series.  I opened the folder to find three seasons awaiting my viewing.  I started with the first season and the Pilot episode to find that this series is based on a family and the families within it.  We follow the father and his new family (divorced and remarried to a much younger female and her young son), his daughter and her traditional family of five, and his son with a live-in boyfriend and their adopted Vietnamese baby girl.  I guess this show is detailing how the Traditional American Family has changed.  Anyway, it is a funny show and if you can get over the non-traditional aspect of family, I would recommend it.

After a five hour nap, I returned to work to find a package had arrived for me.  I wonder what it could be!!!

I got my iPad today!  How exciting! I cannot wait to explore it, send messages, get some face time in with friends and family, and download an app!  I didn’t know it had to connect to WiFi to set up, so I will have to set it up when I get off work. 

This is where you all get to help me out!  How do I send messages and do face time?  Who else has an iPad?

Talk To Strangers!

As I was walking back to my room from work today, I came across something wonderful that my mother always warned me against, talking to strangers. 

Most of you who know me, know that I only like talking with strangers when the mood strikes me.  This happens at bars, when I am lost, frustrated, or just having a really fantastic day.  Never on the phone, I hate talking to strangers on the phone, even if it is just to order a pizza.

Today, I was walking back to my room by myself.  My NCO realized at shift change that he had forgotten to call his wife to tell her “Happy Thanksgiving,” and decided to stay late to call her.  As I left, I thought about what route I wanted to take back to the housing area. 

On a normal day, I cut through two parking lots and the boardwalk.  Lately, not wanting to interact with people, I have been walking around the boardwalk taking a dark, less used dirt pathway that is closer to the road.  In the morning, the boardwalk is almost bare of people.  The shops are still closed, with the exception of the “Open 24 hours” food stops, there are a few people running on the track in the middle of the boardwalk, and those on the actual boardwalk are there to observe, drink coffee, or check out the events board. 

I decided to cut through the boardwalk this morning.  It made sense since it kept my current anti-socializing self satisfied and it was the shortest route.

As I was walking along the boardwalk, I noticed the shop owners cleaning and setting up their store fronts, the group of Soldiers conducting PT, and a few people hanging around just checking out the boardwalk as though it was their first time seeing it.  As I was about to exit the boardwalk, I passed the latter staring at a menu posted on the wall.  I could compare him to Santa Claus.  He was obviously a civilian contractor by his appearance.  He was slightly overweight showing a beer gut through his suspenders.  On his face was a white and brown goatee.  He was wearing a baseball cap, an unbuttoned red plaid flannel shirt, and khaki pants.  As I was passing him, he called out to me, “Excuse me, can you help me for a second?”  I took a few more steps, not really lost in thought but debating whether or not to ignore this plea for assistance.  That part of me that cannot resist an opportunity to aid an individual in need could not be kept silent and I turned around to greet him. 

Not saying a word, I walked up to him and just waited for him to speak.  He obliged saying, “I am not trying anything funny here, but do you Skype?” 

“He must not know about my struggle with technology,” I thought but politely responded with, “Oh no, I don’t, sorry.” 

Preparing to walk away from him, I hesitated as he asked another question, “Do you call home with phone cards?”

“Yes, I do, when I have them,” thinking about the minutes I purchase for my cell phone and the AT&T building that steals minutes from you for just dialing a number.

He then reaches into his flannel shirt pocket.  “Great, I meet the only scalper in country who wants to try and sell me a phone card,” was my first thought.  I wondered about his true intentions for a moment when he pulls out a tiny green pouch.   It was made of felt and had a reindeer made of felt patches on it with a little felt handle.  Inside was a phone card for 300 minutes.  He handed it to me and said, “Happy Holidays.”

A big smile came across my face as I thanked him and chuckled at my previous thoughts.  Amazing how I didn’t even want to stop and help this man, when all he wanted to do was help me.

All I could think of then was “Pass it forward.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been an unusual day for sure!  It started out with a strange battle with the treadmill at the gym.  I warmed up at a slow pace for five minutes trying to work out a strange cramp in my shin.  I was unsuccessful so I just went faster...and then faster…and then a little faster.  After twenty minutes of this, my left leg from hip to shin was in so much pain, I had to hit the cool down button.  I conducted the entire cool down and came to a stop.  My leg no longer hurting, and me not feeling like I got a decent workout in, decided to try again.  Same style workout only this time, I was able to run for twenty minutes straight without pain.  It doesn’t make sense to me either, but I got four miles in today!

As I headed back to my room, I decided to do laundry.  I fell a lot last night, and falling on our plywood floors is like falling into a large freshly swept pile of dirt.  Why was I falling a lot?  I am clumsy and I am wearing in a new pair of boots that seem quite stiff and clunky.  Our Multi-Cam uniforms act like Swiffer sweeper clothes and attract/collect all the dirt/dust.  It makes for a clean floor, but doesn’t do the uniform justice.  It kind of reminds me of those baby mop outfits, but for grownups and cooler looking. 

The showers were crowded with people who work during the day, so I decided to do my laundry first.  In the laundry facility, I ran into a guy who was washing either everything he owned or everyone’s laundry that resided in his building.  Much to say, he was using almost every machine in the facility.  That was fine with me though, because every time I needed a machine, he was done with one, and held it for me to use.  Crazy how perfect that worked out!

Two hours later, my clothes are clean and it is time for a shower!  I am horribly gross from my workout and looking forward to a nice hot shower followed by some rack time.  Fully prepared for my de-nastifying, I pull the knob to turn on the shower.  As I race to pull my hand back so as not to get my robe sleeve wet, I notice there is no water.  I try all the showers with no success.  I try the sinks and there is nothing.  I look at the toilets, but figure it is pointless because it isn’t like I am going to bathe in a toilet.  Disappointed and still gross, I head back to my room.  I put on my sweatpants, long sleeve PT shirt, socks, and my issued fleece cap because I do not want my nastiness touching anything.

 I decided to continue schooling myself in the world of movies.  I turn on my computer and click on “The Expendables 2.”  This movie is rather entertaining.  It seems like a bunch of old actor bad-asses got together and had an enjoyable time making fun of their past movie characters while producing a film that is comprehensible and action packed.  Even Chuck Norris was there playing off on his own jokes.  If you like puns and insane combat action, you will like this movie.

After being fully entertained with this movie, I tried the showers again.  There is still no water.  I start frantically looking for signs.  There is no sign about a water outage.  When is this going to end?  I direct my anger towards my favorite German woman and wonder if this is going to last until after I leave for work, similar to the last time the bathroom was closed due to horrible painting in progress.  Thankfully, she is nowhere in sight.  I head back to my room reminding myself there are still six hours until I had to get ready for work. 

I decide to try my best at taking a nap.  Still bundled up to keep my nastiness to myself, I lay a towel on my pillow, I throw my robe on top of me, and I try to sleep.  Two hours later, it is 2pm and I can’t sleep because I am still nasty! I walk to the bathroom in my fuzzy bear feet and test the water…IT WORKS!!! Haha! I do a little skip back to my room and prepare to make myself presentable to the world once again. 

Best shower ever and I am so grateful for it!

Dragon Please

I couldn’t sleep today.  Something about being too tired and having a lot on my mind was keeping me awake.  I decided to catch up on my movie watching.  I am very well known for being that person who says, “I’ve never seen that movie,” anytime anyone mentions or quotes a movie.  My mood is sensitive right now, and I am tired of crying, so I chose a movie that sounded light-hearted, “How to Train Your Dragon.”  It is a cute movie with the voices of Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, and Jonah Hill.  It was not a sad movie and the Night Fury dragon was really cute.  I almost called the wealthy man I have yet to meet to ask for a dragon, but then I remembered that I don’t like falling from heights or putting myself in situations that have the potential for me to fall from heights and therefore concluded that it was for the best that I do not have a dragon.

Still not tired after that movie, and seeing that I still had more than half the battery power remaining on my Netbook, I started watching “Dear John.”  I know that movie was known to be a tear jerker, but I honestly did not find it too terribly sad.  His experiences were rough, but he knew how to continue living and never gave up.  I do not want to spoil the movie for you, but I found sweet justice in his ability to force the Dear John letter writer to give him an answer to his question of “Why” and admired his strength to say good bye to her. 

Still awake, I started the movie, “Get Him to the Greek.”  I fell asleep during this movie, so I can’t tell you if I liked it or not.  The fact that I fell asleep may tell you something, but then again I had been up for about 20 hours at this point.

As I predicted, when my alarm went off, I didn’t want to get up and my face felt swollen.  Ok, I didn’t predict the face swelling, but what do you honestly expect when you have cried so much?  After a hot shower, I was back in my routine and off to work.  Tonight has been a busy night, regrettably, I cannot indulge you with tonight’s activities, but it has snapped me out of my fog and back into reality.

Play-Doh

It is amazing how something as simple as Play-Doh can be absolutely relaxing.  The soft squish in your hands, the cool rubbery feel, and the plastic dough smell filling your nostrils reminding you of childhood as you close your eyes and squeeze the dough between your fingers.  You can absentmindedly play with it in your hands and let your mind wander, go blank, or focus on work.  You can roll it into a ball and remember the singing clay balls with red lips that aired on “Sesame Street.”  You can sit and recall how your mother always warned you to put it away before it dried out.  That memory only makes me wonder how long it takes for it to actually dry out, but I am not willing to lose my freshly delivered entertainment in the name of science to prove to my mom that it would take three days for my Play-Doh to dry out.  Although this isn’t Play-doh, it is Dough Pate, maybe there is a difference and my experiment is now useless. 

Ode To My G'PA

I can remember most of my visits with my Gpa Meyer.  He had a rough exterior but a soft center that I didn’t open my eyes to see until later in life.  I was always scared of him when I was little.  He was an ex-marine, stood tall with his chest out and his shoulders back, had a gruff voice, and piercing blue eyes.  I resisted sitting next to him unless harshly prompted by my mother during the holidays and when we took road trips together, I sat as quietly and as still as possible in the back seat so as to avoid gaining his attention.  He never said much during our random family visits, just observed, asked a few questions, and snuck us kid’s candy or quarters as we were leaving in exchange for hugs. 

I have a picture posted on my refrigerator of one such visit.  It was Christmas time and my whole family plus all my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins are gathered at my Gpa Meyer’s house to celebrate.  These were crowded parties considering my mom is the oldest of nine siblings.  The party consisted of gift exchanging, cookie eating, and the placing of baby Jesus in the multitude of Nativity scenes scattered around the house.  In this picture, my mother, father, brother, sister, and I are all huddled in the corner by the piano.  Dad, mom and my sister, Rosemarie, are focused on the camera, smiling.  My brother, Will, and I are focused on where Gpa is in the room.

As Gpa aged, he maintained his stubborn pride, his piercing eyes, and his gruff voice, but gave up some of his height.  We saw a softer side of him as we sat together and watched Gma, his wife, slowly slip away from us.  He would laugh at her hallucinations in the nursing home and share with us that she thought we were giving her a party and it was making her upset because she didn’t want a party, asking if we would tell everyone to go home.  It was nice to see him laugh but sad to see her go. 

I warmed up to him the most when I was at a family Christmas party and he sought me out to introduce me to one of his friends.  I heard the pride in his voice when he told his friend I was in the military.  I took a moment to re-evaluate our relationship because when I announced I was joining the military in 2001, all I got was a grunt out of him.  I had assumed he disagreed with my decision just like my Gpa Staun, although Gpa Staun had been a little more vocal about it. 

His stubborn pride still intact, but his body aging quicker than he wanted, Gpa refused to use walkers, wheelchairs, or canes even after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and lost feeling in his legs.  When I saw him, he always tried his best to stand tall and look me in the eye with those piercing blue eyes.  He put on a big show about not wanting help from anyone, but would always take my arm or my hand and walk with me.  I often found him next to me at family functions asking how I was doing.  He still wasn’t the best conversation starter, but there was a comfort in just having him sit next to you.  His hearing wasn’t the best and I think this contributed to his lack of speech, the less he asked, the less he had to try to hear your response. 

My greatest surprise was when I wrote him a card to say “Happy Birthday.”  I off-handedly included in my note that if he was ever feeling up to traveling, that he was always welcome in my home.  My Aunts did not appreciate my offer because as soon as he read this, he demanded a map and wanted to see where I lived in Alabama.  He started planning the 9 hour trip and asking who was going to take him to Alabama.  He made such a fuss about coming down to see me that I took a leave of absence to see him instead.

As I sit here thinking of him and his family, I can’t help but compare myself to him.  We are both weakened by a relentless sweet tooth, have rough exteriors, are always cold, and are insanely stubborn with piercing blue eyes.  We both have thick blood; this was proven not only from his multiple blood clots, but by my own blood clot in March of 2011.  We are both awkward in social situations.  I can understand and appreciate his quiet observations because I am the same way.  When I don’t know what to say or how to act, I just sit back and observe, much like Gpa did during the holidays. 

I wasn’t around much due to military obligations and school, but I do remember the times I shared with my Gpa.  They were equally special no matter the occasion or lack thereof.  I love you Gpa and may you rest in peace.

The Day I Met An Indian

When I got back to my room after work, I was shocked to find the room was chilly.  My roommates were still in bed and everything started to make sense when I looked at the climate control unit and saw an error code on the screen.  This typically happens when it is set too hot.  Usually, if you turn the unit off, wait a minute, turn it back on and turn it to a lower setting, it will work again. 

With my usual apathy towards the temperature in the room, I changed and crawled under the covers.  As I warmed up and started to doze, my roommates started pushing buttons on the remote to get the heat going again, “Beep, beep, beep.”  I guess the unit had enough of the temperature changing nonsense and refused to spew anything but cold air.  I was chuckling to myself as my roommates start discussing their frustrations with the temperature of the room.  They conclude that a work order must be submitted to the billeting office, but someone has to be present to let the workers into the room.  That is where I piped in, “I got that part covered.  I’ll be here all day.”  I guess working nights can come in handy sometimes. 

My roommates head off to work.  I am left alone to my thoughts and they are not conducive to sleep.  I lay there anyway starring at the bunk above me begging for sleep and repeating the word “nothing” to chase my thoughts away.  Somewhere between that time and one thirty, I dosed off to be awakened by a knock on my door.  I slipped on my bear feet slippers and went to the door to be greeted by two workers ready to fix the climate control unit.

Like vampires, they asked permission to enter the room.  I hesitated wondering how they were going to fix the unit if they didn’t enter the room.  I shook the sleep from my head and replied, “Yes, please come in.”  I began to describe the problem, and sat on my bed while they talked in a language I did not understand.  One walked to the outside unit and the other stayed inside to test the unit opening the window so they could communicate.  As the guy outside was taking the cover off the outside unit, the guy inside started saying, “Compression fan?” wondering if it was the compression fan that was the problem.   It took me a minute to figure out he was speaking English again and I think the same happened to the guy outside because he said, “Huh?” a couple of times.    The guy inside with me started talking to me.  I always get the same questions, “Are you married? Do you have kids?”  I say no to both, no use lying to a stranger, and ask him the same.  He is single, from a touristy part of India, is only 25 yrs old, and has been here for a week because he just got back from vacation at home.  He misses his village and says the weather here is never agreeable.  It is dusty all the time, always too hot or too cold, never rains, but he likes his job.  As he is telling me all this, a voice from outside starts speaking in a language I still can’t understand and my new friend stops talking to me.  He quietly tells me I am lucky because the repair will only take 20 minutes, whereas most repairs like this take two hours because they have to replace the whole system.  I only need a new wire. 

They are now done with the repair.  The indoor guy tests the system and sees that it is set to 30 (86F).  He looks at me and says, “30 is too high.”  I nodded, “Yes, 30 is too much.”  I take a mental note of this part of the conversation because it is a good way to get my roommate to stop heating the room to 90 degrees.  I sign his work order form, he says, “Good bye my friend,” and they are gone.

As the room starts to heat up, I start to get tired again.  I must have dozed off because I was again awakened to a knocking at the door.  It was about four thirty now.  I opened the door, later realizing I looked a mess, to be greeted by my favorite German woman (sarcasm) and two workers.  The German woman states, “I have work order for your room.”  I smile sweetly wanting to ask where her sign is, and instead reply that the unit has already been fixed.  One of the workers hands me a work order form for my signature.  I sign it, hand it back to him, again I smile sweetly at my best friend and wish them a wonderful day. 

As I was leaving for work, I found her sign.  Posted on the door is a sign that they will be working in the bathroom tomorrow.  Good thing I didn’t ask where her sign was posted. 

Stepping into the 21st Century

Apparently Evanescence is the music that allows the treadmill and I to get along.  It really is an interesting genre of music although officially classified as rock.  It is calming in sound yet angry in word making it motivational.  I actually managed to get a 3 mile workout in plus a warm up and a cool down without continuously changing the settings or becoming so frustrated with the darn machine that I just wanted to quit. 

You would also be proud to hear that I have decided to take a step in to the 21^st century.  You read it correctly, I am going to put my differences with technology away for a bit and see where it takes me.  If you are not familiar with my history with technology, allow me to give you a glimpse.  I blame my mother, as all good children and psychologists do, but this case is not a mental blame but a physical blame.  You see, my mother cannot wear a regular watch.  Well, she can, but after a day, the battery will be dead and the watch will not function.  She relies on hard-to-find watches that one must wind daily.  I think I inherited this gene thus contributing to my curse with technology. 

Not trying to dip too deep into the past, I will start with January of 2010.  I reported to my unit in Fort Benning anxious to learn my role.  Two weeks and eight computers later, I finally found a computer that would turn on, stay on, charge, save, and work for more than a day without spontaneously shutting down.  This is unfortunately no exaggeration.  A more recent example occurred in this very office.  As you are aware from previous blog posts, there is a gross amount of phones in this plywood box.  For the past week, I am the only one that is unable to communicate on these phones.  Our higher headquarters calls and I cannot hear them on the other line, but when I ask my NCO to talk with them, the phone magically works again.  I can’t make this up people.  I can hardly believe it myself.  If you are still not convinced, I have more examples, just ask.

So, what did I do to step into this technological era?  I purchased an iPad.  Hopefully it works.  My hope is that Apple is immune to me seeing as they are the least prone to most viruses and hackers.  I will have to keep you updated, but keep your fingers crossed!

Great Day!

Wow, today has truly been an amazing day! 

I got off work, got a ride back to my room, popped in a movie, and was asleep within fifteen minutes!  The amazing part is that I slept until my alarm sounded!  Haha, I remembered to set my alarm! Not wanting to get out of bed, I sat up and threw my feet off the edge of the bed where they landed on my bear slippers.  A smile hit my face as I remember the wonderful warmth of my bear feet slippers.  I slide my feet in and walk to the door to turn on the lights.  With the lights on and my eyes still closed, I made my way back to my bed and sat down.  Feeling the need to stretch, I notice that I am actually sore from my workout yesterday.  Another smile hits my face as I think, “Yes! I actually did get a good workout in yesterday!”  Oddly it feels good to be sore from working out. 

I went to shower and the showers were sparkling clean once again.  I just can’t help but smile when I find myself confronted with a clean shower, especially when I didn’t have to clean it!  The water is hot and feels good on my muscles.  I was able to take my time to get ready for work instead of rushing because I either forgot to turn on my alarm or because I laid in bed too long wishing I didn’t have to go to work.  I turned on some music and actually enjoyed getting ready for the day. 

Bag packed, TSA pat down complete, I left for work.  My muscles (particularly my quadriceps) are becoming increasingly sore as the time passes which is a good feeling to me until I arrived at the steps of the boardwalk.  If you have ever had muscle soreness from a good workout, you know exactly what I mean.  I not only had to climb eight stairs, but I also had to step down two stairs.  This is not an easy feat nor does it feel very good.  Mission accomplished and I am still feeling good!

I have made it to work where a K-cup of Starbucks coffee and a K-cup of Swiss Miss hot chocolate have definitely set me up for a great night.  Not to mention, there was a package waiting for me as well!

The Little Things

Isn’t it amazing how the little things in life can perk you up even when everything around you seems to want to drag you down?  My day has been full of finding the small things. 

I got off work at seven, as usual, and went to the gym to see what kind of a workout I could get in prior to hibernating until my next shift.  The treadmill and I still have yet to figure out how to get along, so after twenty minutes of fighting, I ended the program I was using.  I intended to leave, but I was too frustrated to just walk away.  I sped it up as fast as I could go and sprinted for ten minutes until the anger was gone and I was sufficiently tired.  Still frustrated and feeling defeated be a treadmill, I left.  Entering the gym as I walked out was a man with one leg and one prosthetic.  The anger dissipated as I became grateful I had two legs and didn’t have to go through the pain he went through both physically and mentally to get to where he was today, in Afghanistan going to the gym with one leg.  When I was sitting in my room, listening to music, I started to smile as I realized what a good workout I ended up with and was then motivated to get in a good abdominal workout as well. 

The showers were disgusting today, as they usually are when I use them in the morning after working out.  Prime shower hours are 0700-0800 and the cleaning ladies don’t arrive until 0915.  There was hair all over the place and a drain that wasn’t draining.  I think these ladies have forgotten that their mothers aren’t here to clean up after them.  I like showering in the afternoon because the showers are sparkling after the cleaning ladies hit it. As I am turning up my nose to these shower conditions, the woman whom I assisted with laundry the other day walked in and I couldn’t help but smile and ask how she was doing.  It was then that I became grateful I had an indoor shower facility and that I was the only one needing to use it at the time.

I went back to my room feeling refreshed and ready to block out the world with sleep.  Except that I was no longer tired.  I took my sleep aid and in the meantime watched a movie.  Instead of being frustrated that I could not sleep, I was thankful that I had friends to borrow movies from, the means to watch movies, and roommates who were at work so I didn’t have to use headphones.  As per my usual, I fell asleep during the movie.  Anyone who knows me knows this always happens.  I am not bored with the movie; I just get so relaxed I pass out.  I can never sleep when it is too quiet. 

I woke up just in time to sit for ten minutes and dwell on how much I did not want to go to work today.  I got dressed anyway and performed my TSA pat down prior to leaving to ensure I had everything I needed for the night. 

As I got to work, I was greeted by smiling faces begging for my attention.  I couldn’t help but smile.  One Soldier wanted to tell me about her busy day and another Soldier wanted to let me know she was unable to gain access to a website in which we were both working a monthly project that tends to become a pain in one’s ass…mainly mine.  It is called the Unit Status Report (USR).  I told her to just send me the information she needed to input and I would ensure it was submitted.  I have to smile at these instances because it makes me feel irreplaceable and important.  Ask anyone else in the unit what USR is and you will get a blank stare.  This report is not to be ignored because it goes directly to the big wigs of the Army. 

A fellow LT approached me and told me he had something to show me that will “make my night.”  He is a good guy and highly religious, so my curiosity overwhelms my anxiety to report to work on time.  I follow him to the doorway of his office and he pulls out his iPad.  He and Chief have been working on creating a sitcom similar to “The Office” and he wanted to show me the start of episode one.  How creative!

I get to my office for shift change and am sitting there for a bit when the COL walks in with a box of goodies.  He received a package today from his girlfriend and he is anxious to share.  He hands a bag of cookies to his faithful night time driver (my NCO) complete with a note thanking him for his service and some caramel popcorn for me.  Mmmm, delicious!

I am now happy that I have come to work today.  Amazing how something small as basic awareness or someone wanting to share an idea or a snack with you can turn your day around.

How has someone or something brightened your day today?

I'm a Libra

If everyone wants it their way and no one is willing to give in, the only possible outcome is disappointment on all fronts.  Tolerance is an underrated virtue and one that keeps people together.

The above statement was my horoscope for today.  Now before we get ahead of ourselves, I would like to clarify that I am not one of those people that puts everything into horoscopes.  I am just interested to see what they have to say.  They are more a source of entertainment than a warning of how to live my life.  I do not habitually search for horoscopes, but today I stumbled upon the horoscope section of the “Stars and Stripes” newspaper we receive here daily. 

This is unlike any horoscope I have ever read. I am used to horoscopes telling me I am going to have a bad day, a bad relationship, or warning me to be tight with money.  This one is thought provoking.

My Thoughts:

I am a very tolerant person.  To a point that is, I know I have been described as feisty, but I choose my battles wisely.  For an example see the “Temperature Control” blog.  The tolerance I demonstrate for my roommates and their thermostat habits is unappreciated and unobserved.  However, if a stubborn battle ensued over the thermostat in this example then no one is going to be happy.  We will just sit and let our anger fester and think of ways to change the temperature or hide the remote when the other isn’t looking.  Until tolerance, or compromise, come into play, the room will never be peaceful. 

What I read is: Stubborn people arguing (I think we can all relate to that) is only going to result in disappointment.  Compromise is the solution.

What do you think?

Curtains!

While I was snoozing away today, my office hung curtains!  I know this doesn’t seem like much, but considering we do not have windows, I can now imagine that we do.  Yes, that sounds silly, but when you work in a building without windows, this is a big step.

My office is a 15 x 20 foot plywood box with six desks and shelf that travels along 3/4ths of the walls.  We have maps in almost every available space detailing where our assets are and their capabilities.  We also conduct our flight tracking on a whiteboard placed for all to view.  Any non-US military personnel are unauthorized to view any of this information.  Therefore, when we had local workers in our building to place additional outlets in our offices, we had to create a quick way to “sterilize” the office or cover up anything that could compromise US Forces through intelligence gathering (seeing our maps and flights).  I hope that all made sense, if not, what an excellent question for Mama Turtle!

To quickly cover up our walls, we hung 550 cord over our maps and whiteboards followed by the placing of curtains made of various colors of bed sheets over the 550 cord.  When the locals were done with their work, the curtains were neatly tied to the side of our maps and boards.

This seems as though it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is!  Now, when I am sitting here working or filling in the time, I can close the curtains, zone out on my work, and imagine there are windows!  If nothing else, it adds a dash of color to this plywood box. 

Picture this, I was sitting at my desk, leaned back in my chair, feet up on the desk (like any good officer), coffee within reach, working on my cross stitching, when my NCO walks in and greets me with, “Hey Grandma.”  I guess I got too into feeling like I was at home.  If only I had reading glasses on, I would have peered over them and told him to get off my lawn, but only after offering him some freshly baked cookies. 

Look what I made!

Cross Walk Pullover

As I was relieved from work this morning, I pulled on my backpack and prepared to walk alone back to my room.  My NCO was toting around a newly arrived Soldier with his four duffle bags, trying to acquire a room and make contact with our company commander.  He was busy working, and I was not…that is the normal around here. 

The walk back to my room is usually pretty quiet.   My NCO and I are tired from being up all night, tired of talking with each other, and focused on the walk over gravel and dirt paths.  Everyone that passes us seems to be in the same situation, focused on the walk, except tired from having just woken up.

Today was different.  Every person I passed smiled and said good morning to me.  To which I returned the smile and said good morning back.  “This is odd,” I thought, “This never happens when my NCO is walking with me.”  This was awesome!  I loved heading home passing people who were smiling and saying good morning!  Such a simple little thing, and yet so amazing.  I started wondering why this morning was different than other mornings.  Perhaps when I am walking with my NCO we are so focused on the ground that people do not feel the desire to greet us, or maybe everyone had coffee prior to their walk to work today. 

As I approached a crosswalk, I stopped to watch for traffic before crossing.  Here, most people see the white stripes leading across the road and just step out into traffic causing unusually large vehicles to slam on their brakes to avoid a tragic end to an unknowing person.  Our speed limits are slow and pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks, completely marked with white lines and yellow blinking signs, but that does not give reason to cross a road without looking.  This morning, it was good that I got my head out of the clouds prior to crossing because there was a truck approaching from my left at a rate not conducive to stopping in time for me to cross. 

I stopped and waited for the truck to pass, standing under a flashing yellow “Pedestrian Crossing” sign at the start of the white crossing lines.  Once the truck passed, I began to cross the road hopping on the white lines as though I was not in a combat zone.  Once I got to the gravel on the other side of the road, red and blue flashing lights turned on.   I froze.  Crap, I didn’t know only stepping on the white lines was against the rules…or maybe it was the hopping.  I did a quick check of myself, weapon…check, reflective belt…check, eye protection…check, crosswalk…check.  What the hell?

I looked up in time to see the FOB police pulling over the truck that just passed me as I waited to cross the road.  Apparently, the police were approaching from my right as the truck approached from the left.  I had to chuckle a bit because as I continued my walk, I noticed the Security Force Soldier pointing to me and then to the crosswalk.  Homeboy just got pulled over for not stopping to let me cross the street.  HAHAHA!

Temperature Control

When living with multiple people, you have to make sacrifices on temperature control.  In many situations, the temperature is chosen by someone not living in the building.  Here, we have remotes to change the temperature to whatever our hearts desire, but when you are crammed in a small room with others we have to compromise on thermostat adjustments.  In my room, I have decided to just deal with whatever temperature my roommates set, until they leave.

When I lived in barracks, the temperature was controlled by maintenance.  If it was too hot in your room, you opened a window.  If it was too cold, you bundled up as best you could.  When I was living in the new barracks in New Jersey, we had thermostats in our rooms.  We could choose our temperature until management announced the system could not handle the various temperatures and locked our thermostats.

Here, each room has its own climate control system complete with remote.  Our thermostat reads in Degrees Celsius and at first it was hard to judge to what temperature we were actually setting the system. 

It is amazing to see how people make adjustments to the thermostat when not living in their own home.  For example, depending on how one of my roommates is feeling, our temperature changes.  If she has just completed the long walk back from work and is hot from the trip, she will walk in and turn air conditioner on.  If she is cold, she will turn the heat on to 38 (100F).  My other roommate is somewhat passive on room temperature, but if it is too hot or cold for her she will make small adjustments to the temperature, not drastic changes like the other roommate.  On multiple occasions I will walk into the room and the thermostat is set on heat to 27 (80F).  The room feels like it is on fire, but I crawl under my covers and wait until they leave to turn it to 21 (70F).  My thoughts are that they wouldn’t be doing all this drastic temperature changing in their homes…or would they?

What brings this up is that I was snuggly sleeping with the thermostat on 21 today when my roommate shows up and changes it to 17 (62F) and walks out of the room.  I woke up when she changed it because the system beeps when you push the remote buttons.  When she left, I peeked to see where she set it and a look of shock came to my face.  I quickly changed it back to 21 before she got back, and I don’t think she ever noticed.  I don’t think she really cared because when she came back she gathered some items and left again to grab lunch with her friends. 

At work, I usually turn off the climate control system around 11pm and turn it back on around 6am when shift change is close to arriving.  I like the temperature warm, but I don’t want to make it too warm for my NCO.  The day crew runs the air conditioner all day, but there are a lot of people in this small office and the sun warms the building, so it is understandable.  At night, the cold seeps through the plywood walls quite effectively, but not enough to encourage me to turn on the heat.  In time, we will have to turn on the heat, but today is not that day. 

My Trip To The Gym!

I finally made it to the gym today!  This is not my first trip to the gym since arriving in Afghanistan, but I did allow a significant amount of time to pass between visits.  I have never liked the gym environment; it stems from an ongoing battle with social anxiety.  Working nights, all I want to do after work is curl up in bed and stay there as long as possible.  Waking up to go to the gym is not an easy task and does not allow for maximum sleep between shifts.  Therefore, I decided it was best to workout after work.

My schedule prior to this change consisted of leaving work around 7am, walking back to my room, and catching up with my roommates.  Out of respect for my roommates and their schedule, I don’t lay down until they leave for work around 845am.  Today, I left work around 7am, walked back to my room, changed into my physical training uniform (PTs) while catching up with my roommates, and went to the gym. 

The closest gym is about two city blocks away from where I reside.  Two very dusty city blocks away, crossing four roads and walking along a concrete side walk to reach the entrance of what my roommate calls Jail Gym.  I have yet to figure out why it has this nickname, but I think it’s because it’s not as nice as the NATO funded gym.  I would compare and contrast the two gyms for you, but I haven’t made it to the NATO gym yet.  All I know is that you have to change your shoes upon entry. 

The Jail Gym is run by the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) organization which is Army funded.  It has all the basics of a gym in multiples.  You walk in the door, flash your military ID, sign in on the roster and you are good to workout!  To the immediate left there is a help desk to sign out lifting equipment or to just grab a small pink sweat towel.  Once you pass the desk, there is a door that leads to a padded workout room on your right complete with inflated rubber balls for abdominal workouts.  Continuing past this room, on the left is free weights, benches, pull up stations, and various machines with a mirror lined wall.  On the right are three rows of cardiovascular equipment.  The back row is made up of 17 treadmills, in front of that row the elliptical machines take up residence, and the front row contains stair climbers of every variety.  This equipment faces the mirror lined wall and all sorts of weight lifting equipment.  At the very end of the building is a little table.  This table caused me quite a fuss my first day in the gym.

I did not know this table was where you signed for a treadmill.  The treadmills are the only piece of equipment you have to sign a clipboard to use.  My first visit to the gym, I signed in, took a quick gander around the gym, and walked straight to the treadmills.  I strategically chose one, turned on my iPod, and quickly became confused as to why this machine was not working.  The guy on the treadmill next to me was nice enough to tell me I had to sign for an emergency stop button that magnetically connected to the machine.  I thanked him and walked along the behind the treadmills in the direction he pointed until I ran into someone I thought worked at this gym.  I was wrong, but he walked me to this little table. 

Knowing this valuable information, I walked into the gym, grabbed a little pink towel and walked straight to the treadmill table.  The guy sitting at the table handing out the magnetic buttons was reading a newspaper.  I asked him if there was anything good in it today.  I think our language barrier interfered because he pointed to the hanging magnets on the wall behind him and said, “Which one is the good one?”  I replied with a smile and simply said, “Yes” leaving him in just as much confusion as I felt appropriate for such a misinterpretation.  He handed me button number 11 and I was on my way. 

Treadmills and I don’t exactly get along.  Some days are better than others, though I prefer to run outdoors.  Today was not a good day for me and the treadmill.  I started off feeling great, so I gradually increased the speed until I was comfortable.  My workout music blasting in my ears, I was off to a great workout.  I started running into the bar that guards you from running into the computer board, so I increased my speed some more, smiling that I was doing so well.  Then I thought I was going to fall off the back of the treadmill, so I slowed the speed a little.  Again, I was running into the bar, so I increased the speed.  I started feeling the effects of not working out in a while, so I made a small goal to make it to a certain time.  I made it to that time and decided to pause the workout for a quick gulp of water.  I pressed the pause button and the machine slowed to a stop.

I grabbed my water bottle, took a sip and searched the machine for the “enter” button to get right back to where I was in my work out.  I guess I took too long because the machine shut off.  Disgruntled, I restarted my workout.  I decided to add some incline and work at the slower speed thinking this would give me a good workout without running into the bar.  My thinking was successful; however, increasing the incline adds more of a workout for different muscles.  I decided to power through and gave myself a new time oriented goal. 

With my best angry face, I focused on the TV along the mirrored wall and zoned out.  In my peripheral vision, I noticed a shiny bald head walking the path between the workout equipment and the cardiovascular machines.  I looked over to see that my COL was this shiny bald head.  All of a sudden my angry face turned into a clown face.  Eyebrows raised high with a big goofy grin on my face and finalized with a big wave, I grabbed the attention of my COL.  He politely smiled, gave me a small wave and continued on his tour of the gym.  He was most likely looking for a workout partner, and thankfully, I was not this person.  But my initial thought after this performance was, “What the hell was that?”  I had to look pretty goofy going from an angry face to a clown face, and for what?  I don’t even know the answer.

I got back from the gym in time for my roommates to leave, caught a shower and was curled up sleeping by 9am, turning wasted time into productivity.  Perfect.