Day 174

Bye, bye September. Don't come back, you hear? It's October's turn and the last time I will be in Afghanistan on the 1st day of the month. (insert virtual fist bump) October is going to be GREAT and November even greater.

As for this last day of September, not much to speak of. Fairly busy but of course, the office is ultra-quiet when the boss is traveling. No complaints here! Before lunch, I did go register for the Army 10-Miler shadow run. It's next weekend and I may or may not do it but thought I'd sign up just in case. It's super early on a Sunday...my sleep-in day so it may not be worth it. Plus...the name just doesn't suit me. :-) We'll see. Other than that, just another day checked off.

Back in the room tonight, I watched Mark Wahlberg's "Shooter" which was pretty good. I did verify yesterday's final debt payment and sure enough....balance = ZERO on that last debt! DONE! Pretty awesome. I can't wait to celebrate with Dorothy when I get home.  Anyway, just another day done and time for the weekend. Should be quiet tomorrow followed by another Hail and Farewell late on Sunday afternoon...my turn!

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 173

Well, I won't lie...it's nice and quiet when the boss is out of "town." So is the case with today and for the next few. However, we did have another U.S. Marine colonel here first thing this morning. He just arrived in country and is here to relieve the other Marine colonel that I've written about so many times. Our job was to get him in, put him up for the night, then get him on his helo to his ultimate destination. By 10am, he was on his way. He's a great guy and someone I wouldn't mind working for one bit. What is it with these Marines? Great people! Makes me wish that's all I was working with here. Once we got him moving along his own Yellow Brick Road, we closed the door and got to work. Pretty quiet day yet again but plenty of work to stay busy. (I stumbled on the following quote from former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt in 1945: "The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!")

There was one pretty significant highlight today. I mentioned a few posts back about paying down our debt. Well, today we (Dorothy and I) made our final debt payment! 21 months and we're done. Nothing but the house left. 2 cars, a few credit cards, and the biggest one...our home equity loan..all paid for. We actually haven't had a credit card in over a year. Don't miss it one bit. It's great living to a budget and working together on every dime spent. The stress relief has been way more than I ever expected. Now we start to build our 6 month emergency fund. Basically, we'll just start piling up cash that approximately equates to 6 months of living expenses. We'll throw that in a money market account where it won't earn much, it's readily accessible, but it's not as bad as sitting in a savings account practically losing money. Later on in the day, I received a message from a running friend who read my post online many months ago about the steps to become debt free. He embraced the idea and was messaging me today to tell me he is 100% debt free...mortgage and all. He read it...eyes opened....and acted. You see? You never know who might be listening, watching or reading what you say, do, or write. That made my day...for the 2nd time!

After being in the office until 8pm tonight, we headed on out, grabbed some dinner, and called it a night. Also, since I've told Dorothy this multiple times already, I guess I'll tell you: I can't believe my relief is only about 2 1/2 weeks from showing up. I really AM going to leave this place! Civilian clothes, I cannot wait! Oh yea, a big sloppy kiss for Dorothy, too. More conservative kisses for Tin Man and Scarecrow.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 172

Just counting the days to go home, folks. If my days were ever like Groundhog Day, it's these days right now. Same day in and day out. As all weeks go mid-week, I was busy all day long today until I wrapped up about 11 hours in the office. I made the requisite calls to Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow as well. The girls got their handmade jewelry boxes to school and back safely and clearly, they still really like them. Not much else on the home front except Dorothy is getting a much-needed massage tonight. I'll actually be seeing him (the massage therapist) as well soon after returning HOME. Speaking of which, I should make an appointment! Back in my room tonight, I got a free month of Skype calls in my e-mail. I can call any phone in the world for a month for free. I can't receive calls, though. "Don't worry, Dorothy. I won't call you every 5 minutes. 10 is negotiable, right?!"

I know he doesn't know about my blog, but to my relief in case you're listening: "By this time, you've been issued your M4 rifle and your 9mm. Love them. Hold them tight. Get used to being one with that 9 for a very LONG time! Also enjoy those times you'll get both weapons filled with sand over the next couple of weeks...such a pain to clean. I'm starting to clean out my desk a little bit at a time. It'll be ready for you when you get here. Don't drag your feet getting here, either. I've got my date and there is no changin' that!" Anyway, he can't hear me but it feels good to at least write it.  Call it a guilty pleasure, I suppose.  With that...there's really not much else today!

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 171

I woke up today to an e-mail that Dorothy had just gone to bed 5 minutes prior but I did a little begging and got a 9min Skype call with her. I wanted to hear about her day. Turns out, the package I sent showed up which had gifts for her and my girls inside. I had found these cherry/walnut jewelry boxes that were handmade near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan for the girls. I double-wrapped them in bubble-wrap and they made it home safe and sound and the girls LOVED them. I also sent a few handmade bead bracelets for the girls which they were wearing when I talked to them this afternoon. For Dorothy, I had her name written in Dari, one of the two main languages here over her name in English. This was on a wooden triangle nameplate for her desk. It also has an American flag and Afghanistan flag embedded in the wood on each side of her name. I hope she liked it! Also on the romantic side, I sent home a hand-carved tissue box. Yes...I'm a romantic. So that's how the day started....perfectly.

The day itself was fairly quiet and steadily busy. While I had some alone time in the office today, I turned on some tunes via my iPad, specifically Steven Curtis Chapman's new CD called re:Creation. It has some new songs and a whole lot of his classics mostly with just him and his guitar. It's one of my all-time favorite CDs of his and love the re:Created versions of his classics. One song just kept ringing in my head long after the music stopped: "Not Home Yet" It's clearly not talking about our "home" on earth here and overall, is very uplifting and helps keep your focus on the "prize" that awaits but it also hit home with regards to my earthly home here in "Kansas." It just felt "goooooood." Tonight, I dug up the original from 1997 and have embedded it below. If you're reading this post via e-mail, you can follow this link to watch it. Great song and a great message. I actually met him once back in 2001 and also saw him once in concert. He is one of the few artists who I really want to see again, too.

The day ended up being a super long day and it was 8pm before we finally left. We had a conference call with the new team Stateside (ya know..the one formed because my point paper, etc. got the other one fully removed) and then had one major issue we had to get an answer to before we left for the night. No big deal, though. What else am I going to do? If I'm doing the job I was sent here for then if it's long days and 80 hour weeks that I need to work then so be it. It's temporary, after all.

Once back in the room tonight, I worked on the blog/website for the January 2012 trail race that I help with. I handle the online registration and the website. The site needed freshened up since registration opens this Saturday. Afterwards, the new show "Terra Nova" came on so I watched that and now, here I am. Just as soon as I wrap this up, I'm calling it a night and hittin' the sack. This day went fairly quick and I'm ready to get to hump day and start moving towards the weekend. Speaking of which, I'm sure you now know how we have our "Hail and Farewells" every month to say hello to the newbies and goodbye to those who are leaving before the next "Hail and Farewell." Guess who's getting a "Farewell!" this weekend...  :-))))))

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 170

Day 170 and I'm approaching the 83rd mile! Still numb to the fact it's been nearly 6 months...longest EVER that I've been away from Dorothy in nearly 19 years of marriage. Yes, I spent 10 years on active duty in the Navy but my assignments never put me on a complete sea tour. Who would've thought this sailor would get that tour without seeing one drop of ocean? Not me!

Last night, I was wide awake around 2 or 3am. I actually had fallen asleep with the NASCAR race on and when I woke up, I noticed there were only about 45 laps to go so I stayed up until the finish then went back to sleep. Tony "Smoke" Stewart is one of the drivers I'm a fan of so it was good to see him get his 2nd win in the past 2 weeks. The morning that arrived quickly was like every other Monday morning. Slow, quiet, and not much happening as America sleeps. It did get busy as a massive power generation order came in..the biggest I've accepted since I arrived here. That required a few hours of work to get it ready to send it Stateside. Oh what a gift I delivered to them when they arrived to work today! Well, that's not what they thought, I'm sure, but hey...it's my job! I did get to talk to Tin Man and Scarecrow and catch up on their weekend and talk about the week ahead at school. A package I mailed to them 2 weeks ago still hasn't arrived. It has gifts for both of them and for Dorothy. I sure do hope it arrives today.

Oh yea, while I was watching the final laps of the race, I did register Dorothy and I for a half-marathon within about 48 hours of me arriving HOME. It's held at a winery and after the race (which doesn't even start until a rare 2pm), they'll have a post-race party and all entrants get two glasses of wine. Now how often do you hear of a race like THAT?! A perfect way to celebrate returning home! Pretty romantic, too, I'd say. Maybe that will be my last blog post here. I'll have to end this at some point. I could end it the day before I get home...but that would be mean. :-) Or, I could let it go just a few days after my return then end it. We'll see. One date I will tell you in the future is Veterans Day. I will be home by then. I just finalized plans to spend that morning in Tin Man and Scarecrow's elementary school where I'll talk to K-2nd grade at once then 3rd-5th grades together. I've accumulated over 800 photos now so I'm going to gather the best of the best then spend about 30-45 minutes in front of the kids talking about my entire journey...to Oz and back. That'll probably be the last day I ever wear this Army uniform. I gotta say...it puts a smile on my face to talk about HOME. Slowly but surely it's going to get here. For now, my relief started combat training this morning which is a very good thing. "Enjoy those Army drill sergeants, brother!" hehehe... He's also past drinking his last sip of alcohol. That was last night for him. He can't have any until he does his tour and returns to the States. Something about having possession of a firearm and alcohol that doesn't mix. Hmmm.... Only 4 more days....till October. OCTOBER!

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 169

Seen Paranormal Activity 2? Want to sleep well tonight? Don't! Of course, if you're into the "raw footage" kind of flick and enjoy a movie where you can't turn away from the screen, then this is the one for you. I didn't purposely seek it out. I woke up and it was on. At first, I thought it was a documentary or something. Scare easily? Probably not for you. Dorothy...not for you. :-)

Typical slow Sunday so not much to speak of today. I spent about 8 hours in the office, mostly waiting to make phone calls. No details but I'm definitely in one of my cyclical, bi-polar-like valleys. I hope I come out the other side soon. One thing I posted on Facebook this morning just kind popped in my head: "Focusing on the future is often much easier said than done when living in the present." That pretty much sums things up these days. I do know this...nearly 6 months now is too dang long to be away from home. Too long. Plus, no one better tell me "I can imagine what it was like to be away from your family for that long, a half-world away." Well, unless you HAVE, you can't, so don't act like you can.

Well, I'm not really in the writing mood tonight and I'm still a bit under the weather with a rough throat and cough. At least the beginning of the NASCAR race in New Hampshire is on here. It's pretty late here so I won't watch the race but at least I'll get the pre-race ceremonies and the early miles. I'll take what I can get.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 168

Slow, slow, day. I didn't even walk into 10 new e-mails this morning which tells me most of my counterparts Stateside took Friday off. So many 4-day workweeks over there with 7-day workweeks here doesn't necessarily work so well. So, once lunch had come and gone and our Saturday staff meeting took place, I packed up and called it a day. I was already gone by 3pm which was nice for a change.

Back home, the big local marathon took place today. Dorothy, my youngest brother's wife, and a good friend of mine all ran the 1/2 marathon. Before Dorothy headed to the start, we talked for a few minutes, I wished her luck, and off she went. This is a race I am very involved with each year and normally work at the Expo the day before. I have to admit...it's very strange and almost numbing to be missing all of my favorite races this year. Of course, I can envision the starting areas of them all, the excitement in the air, and every step of the course. It's just very strange. As the race progressed, I was back in my room by that time and I was getting updates throughout, waiting for them all to run their race. In the meantime, I watched Battle: Los Angeles. Not too bad a flick, actually. About the time it ended was when the girls all finished. They all did great! Dorothy's leg has been hurting but today, it did pretty good. Once she got home, we spent at least a half hour on Skype talking about the race and the weekend. We also decided to run a 1/2 marathon together immediately after I return home. It'll be a great way to celebrate finally getting back together again. I hope to register for that before I fall asleep tonight.

Well, sorry there hasn't been much to talk about lately. I've considered taking some more days off but that never happens. Don't worry...it'll get exciting again. Right now, though, things are just pretty quiet around the office and everyone is counting down the days until they go home. None of us leave together but most of us arrived here within a few weeks of each other....so we're all "short."

Goodnight, everyone.