Day 114

I don't know the official diagnosis of bi-polar, but I would guess it is characterized by lots of erratic lows and highs with not much control over it. If I'm right, my bet is that you might consider me bi-polar. I'm not, of course, but when I say this deployment is characterized by very low lows and moderate highs, I'm not kidding. It is every day for itself without fail. Today was a better day than most and I can't really tell you why. I woke up and stared it straight in the eye like every other so who knows. The normal banter between myself and the others in the office was back to normal again. I will say that it helped that the U.S. Marine colonel (the boss of our organization for the entire country) called very early on in the day needing "my" help and praised me pretty heavily for being the expert in what I'm handling over here. That was pretty cool to get that kind of feedback from an O-6 to an O-2. Little 'ol Navy Reservist me...from an active-duty Marine commanding officer. Yea, that was pretty darn cool that what I'm doing is being noticed. I suppose the best part is what he was calling about. It was regarding that point paper I wrote a few weeks ago about a major problem I saw and the solution I see, clear as day right in front of me. He was prepping for a call he was going to have tonight with the higher-ups back in the States and my point paper was the ammo in the barrel. We'll see how that call went when I get in tomorrow. I hope he got somewhere with it.

As the day wound down and the East Coast awoke, I made a round of calls back home. I hadn't talked to Tin Man and Scarecrow in quite some time so I finally got to talk to them...always a blessing to say "LUMU!" to them! A very quick chat with Dorothy as well. I also finally got in touch with my aunt who is in the hospital and should be released in a few days. If I were in the hospital, I'd think a call from Afghanistan would be pretty cool and so did she! After that and 3 attempts, I finally got a hold of my only remaining grandparent. She's 86 years young. I think the call from here was a little bit more "shaking" than to my aunt. She really didn't see it coming and didn't expect to hear from me until I was face-to-face with her. That really was a priceless conversation and I'm glad she finally answered. As the night wore on, my boss and I called it a night and headed on back to our rooms. It was Mongolian BBQ at the dining facility so I had a pretty satisfying meal tonight.

Back in my room, it was more and more e-mails and messages with my many friends were ran or volunteered at the 100-mile race back home in "Kansas." I swear...I just can't get enough of it. Again, the true colors of a great so many friends shown through. I'm very thankful to be a part of that community. Afterward, a quick sweep of my room and clean-up, a shower,and here I am...listening to some classical music streaming through my iPad. That portable WiFi hotspot I set up is barely hanging on but it works. Talk about a smart investment that was a total shot in the dark before I left "Kansas." I had no idea what to bring with me but that little Apple Airport Express has been THE creature comfort that no one else has and let's me best enjoy the few hours I get alone each night.

Oh yea...no more July. Hello August. :-)

Goodnight, everyone.