Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Call Me Maybe, Army Style

A friend of mine on Facebook shared this video this morning, the latest in a fad of people shooting their own videos lip synching to Carly Rae Jepsen's song "Call Me Maybe."  Only this time, it was performed by deployed U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.


I kind of love it!  I love seeing the guys enjoy themselves and just acting goofy.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Halfway!

As of this morning's workout, I am officially halfway through C25K!  Four weeks down and four to go!


This week was rather brutal on me, and I think it may just keep getting tougher when looking at the days ahead if I cannot make a change.  I've had plenty of energy and drive for all of my workouts, and I have good form during the running portions.  My problem is breathing properly and making sure I get deep enough breaths in order to keep going and avoid side stitches.  Here's hoping a little more conscious effort on my part will help me improve even more over these last four weeks!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

A Long and Tiring Week

This has been one of those weeks where the days at work are incredibly long and I am left so tired and frustrated by the time I get home that I want nothing else than to unwind in front of the TV with a big ole plate of pasta and a glass full of wine.  In fact, that is exactly what I am doing this evening!

Monday was the first day of fall semester at the university, so everything in town has become absolutely crazy with increased traffic this entire week.  Yesterday, I had to go to the pet store after work to pick up a new bag of dog food, and it took me 30 minutes to drive to the pet store that is all of 2.5 miles away from my office!  It was insane!

Today at work, I spent about 90% of my 8-hour day using and staring at Word and a handbook I'm currently working on completely redoing, as the original document I was reviewing for accuracy was driving me crazy with its lack of consistency with regards to its formatting (headings, spacing, etc.).  At one point when the handbook was first created, I imagine it was decently formatted, albeit simple with no table of contents.  And then over the years as various people have edited it, they just randomly typed in however they saw fit in the moment and consistency went right out the window.

For most of the week, it has felt like each day is one day later than it actually is... I spent most of yesterday reminding myself it was just Wednesday and not yet Thursday.

Thankfully tomorrow is Friday!  The only downside to the day is it will be two hours longer than usual for me as I have to attend a meeting that doesn't begin until just after I'm usually out of the office for the day.  But at least it will be Friday!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Winding Down

We're finally hitting that point in my husband's deployment where the end is starting to come into sight.  I have to say, I'm more than excited about his return home, as I'm sure you can all understand.  Last night I had a very real feeling dream in which he was finally back with me again, and in it I didn't want to let go of him.  We're one of those couples who usually holds hands most of the time when we're out walking together, and in my dream I was pretty much attached to his arm, not wanting to leave his side.  After all of the time we've spent apart over this last year, I'm fairly sure I will actually be like that when he returns and we're finally together for an extended period of time, at least for the first couple weeks or so back together.

We know his estimated return time-frame based on when he left and the number of days the deployment is set to last, but currently he hasn't been told any date as far as when they're definitely going to try and get him out of there (not that I could share it if I knew in respect of OPSEC).  And knowing how many attempts it took for him to get in, "boots on the ground" and all to officially begin the deployment, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes several days from when they say he's coming home to actually get him out of there depending on weather & safety conditions.

With the deployment quickly coming to an end, that also means that my time at my job is nearing an end as well since we'll finally be PCSing after hubby returns.  Starting today, I'm beginning the process at work of passing on many of my duties and training my co-workers on how to do many of the things I'm currently responsible for.  Because of the way things tend to work at the university, replacements for positions typically cannot be hired until after the incumbent has left the position, so I will not be able to actually train my replacement and have to teach/refresh people who currently work in my office well enough so that they will then be able to train my replacement when he/she is eventually hired.

One of the biggest items I'm passing on are my payroll & personnel duties.  Right after I began working in my current office, we switched over to a new payroll system for all of our hourly employees, so no one else here (not even our business manager who trained me on our old payroll system) truly knows all of the ins and outs on how to use the system.  Even though I still have several more weeks left at my job, I'm starting that training process now in order to give the guy who is taking over that aspect of my job a few pay periods of experience using the system before I leave so I'm easily accessible for any questions he may have.

I have a feeling that during my last two or three weeks here, my days at work are going to be pretty long and boring, as at that point I will have passed on pretty much everything I do on a daily basis.  But I know I will certainly be able to fill much of that time with continuing my house & job hunting searches.  Plus I'm sure I'll be making daily lists of things to do to prep for the move/hubby's homecoming.  One thing's for certain, I'll most definitely be bouncing off the walls of my office with excitement over my husband coming home!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today... my husband began his military career.

One year ago today... I drove to Ft. Gillem in Atlanta to go to MEPS to see my husband swear in and get a final little bit of time with him before seeing him off.

One year ago today... I had to say the hardest goodbye of my life (as of that date... the deployment goodybe in April was MUCH more difficult) as he loaded the bus that would take him to the airport to catch his flight that would ultimately result in his arrival at Ft. Leonard Wood to begin BCT.

One year ago today... both of our lives changed significantly.

One year down, twenty-nine years to go!
(At least if my husband's current military career aspirations pan out - it's always subject to change, depending on effects on our relationship and quality of life with future children)