Conversion

Okay, it's driving Roger crazy, so I figured it might be driving others crazy as well. So I converted the Sprint triathlon distances to miles for anyone who wants to know but is too lazy to convert it themselves.

Sprint Distance: 750 meter Swim, 16.9K Bike and 5K Run
Sprint Distance: .46 mile Swim, 10.5 miles Bike and 3.1 miles Run

There you have it, all standardized for you.

I met a 70 year old woman yesterday who did her first triathlon last Sunday and at the same place as the triathlon I'm doing in September. She works a couple days a week at my local Jo-Ann's which is next door to my H-E-B therefore I stop in there a lot. I wanted to ask her more technical questions about the course especially if the bike course was flat or hilly, how many times we have to loop, what kind of bike she used, road or mountain, and what was the temperature of the water, but she was busy checking people out at the register and I didn't want to bother her. She looked great and didn't seem like most 70 year olds I know who have an excuse for not being active or every ailment in the book. I hope I'm still doing triathlons at 70 years old. I was really surprised she was 70 years old. I would have guessed 50, at the top 60. And she won her division and received a trophy! Mainly because she was the only person in her division. That's the way to go. Keep competing until there's no one left in your age group!

Roger's working today. I know, on a Saturday. And this is his 13th day in a row to work since last weekend they had the server meltdown. Today they tested their emergency back-up generator and some kind of cabling/wiring project. He had to be there at 4:15 a.m. So he's going to be tired again. Another weekend pretty much ruined. I'm still hoping we can get a ride in tomorrow morning. I'm spending the day working on some sewing projects. I'll have to fill you all in on a major sewing project I have going on right now. It's a sewing project that I hope will last for years and years. Details to come...

Sign of things to come?

I showed up at WRAMC for my 0900 appointment with my Social Worker and guess what? My SW has been out all week. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come… When I went back to the building where all the Case Managers were, they were all gone to some ceremony. Seems to me that at least one should stay behind – they all just up and left. I checked in to see if my orders assigning me to WRAMC came in yet and they hadn’t. And my promotion orders didn’t come in either. I poked my head in the housing office to see if I could at least get my room, but that person was out too. My day was really beginning to feel like a downer. I checked into my platoon’s office and checked my email and such. I decided to look in the housing office one more time and success! I got a room assigned and went off to check it out. It is in what appears to be a recently renovated building because it sure didn’t look old. My room is on the third floor and will do nicely for a few months. I’ll have more details on the room when I move in after Friday. The only issue I have is that the last person didn’t do a very good job of cleaning it. So, before I move in I’ll be giving it a good scrub down to make it meet my standards.

When I was checking out my room, my Case Manager called me to see if I was still in the area. I was and went by the office to drop off some paperwork and found out that I have an appointment with my new Primary Care Manager (PCM) tomorrow at 1530. So, I’m going to go to my work in the morning to turn in my pager and badge, finally sign my NCOER and if the orders come in, get my E-7 pinned on (or velcro’d on) and grab some lunch. Then I’ll make my way to WRAMC for my appointment. Tomorrow night I have to gather everything up again to prepare to relocate. If you’re free and want to hang, give me a shout – I might be able to use a little help and it’d be nice to not be alone.

Allison picked me up tonight and we had dinner with a bunch of friends who live together from the church. They really did a great job of cooking! They do it every Wednesday night, so I might make this a regular thing. Thanks to all of you at the community house for dinner! And thanks to Kezia for the ride home. Another long day tomorrow – off to bed with me. BTW: I am feeling much better on my meds. I think the extra rest I’ve gotten over the past few days has helped, but my tummy is still a little uncomfortable. That should pass in time though… I hope!

Easy Day Today, Unknown In Store Tomorrow

Not a whole lot to report today. I had a hard time going to sleep again last night. This morning I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out where my evaluation was. Even though my NCOER was reportedly signed by everyone except for me, there must have been some kind of change or it got lost, because the completed NCOER is apparently now on somebody’s desk to be reviewed... again. Soooo…. when the powers that be finish reviewing it, everyone will sign it - and someone is supposed to call or page me to let me know that I can come by to sign it.

With that all figured out, I was finally able to call Tamra to pick me up and we made our way back down to Fort Belvoir. I made it through every step of the medical checklist except for the review with the doctor. They only do these out-processing reviews Mon thru Wed and Fri from 1300-1400 and Thu from 0700-0830. Well, tomorrow is Thu – so guess what that means? By bootie has to get up extra early because Tamra will be here at 0700 to pick me up. Tamra has to be at WRAMC in the afternoon, so we are hoping that we can finish up at Fort Belvoir pretty early and then make our way to WRAMC where I expect I’ll need to go next to continue the process. I really don’t know what’s going to happen when I talk to the doctor. I know that they’re going to see that I need to be put on medical hold, but I have no idea how they’re going to do it. I’ll have all the details on how that goes tomorrow. And hopefully my work calls to say that my NCOER is ready to be signed, so that we can stop there on the way to WRAMC and finally cross that off the list.

After getting back to the apartment, I had to tend to some more emails and also worked on a paperwork issue related to my pending promotion. I’m hoping that I’ll be promoted soon! I went to a farewell this evening for dear friend Erika, who is going to San Antonio for a few months for some military training. She’s a good friend of mine and Holly’s, so she and Holly might get together since she’ll only be about 80 miles away. In fact, she’s going to a school at a location that I’ve been to – so I know for sure it is a quick drive.

Okay – I’m heading off to bed now. I need to get up around 0530. Goodnight.

Big Three-Two, Thank GOD!

Today is my thirty-second birthday. I feel blessed to be able to celebrate the passing of another year. I didn’t do a whole lot of celebrating though. In fact, I think today was the lowest key birthday I have ever had.

I started the day off late. I just couldn’t get out of bed. It wasn’t that I could hear my bones creaking or anything, I just didn’t want to get up. I woke up in the middle of the night around 4:30am and saw that it was lightly snowing. I went back to bed, but when my alarm went off I could hear the sound of cars driving through sloppy wet streets. The snow had turned to rain. So, I just wasn’t eager to get out of bed. Finally, I did. Both Holly and I got a late start. By the time I left for work, it was snowing steadily and I descended down into the metro for the long ride to work.

The ride itself was uneventful, but when I got to the last station on my commute, where the shuttle bus takes over, I had to wait… and wait… in the cold… and in the snow. Luckily, there was an overhang that provided me some shelter from the elements. The bus took so long to come that my Team Lead even called to see if I was still alive. I called back and assured him I was.

Finally, the bus came – and after waiting a few more minutes for more passengers from later trains, we were off. I had a feeling it was going to be a short day – the weather just seemed to be getting worse. Sleet and freezing rain were in the forecast – the worst kind of weather any big city can expect. I didn’t even wear my uniform because I figured it would be a waste of time to get into it and then back out again.

When I arrived at work, I took care of a few things and fit in a quick lunch with my friend Julia. She even bought me lunch – that was so nice of her. I treated myself to some fried chicken and a Dr. Pepper. This was a real treat, because Holly and I have been trying to eat healthier food these days. And fried chicken and sugar laden soda aren’t exactly on the menu!

I got back to work and managed to get a few more things done when the word came out that the Federal Government was closing up shop at 2:00pm (except for essential personnel – which I am not.) We got notice at about 1:40pm and I only had a few minutes to finish what I was doing before gathering my things to head out. It was important for me to head out ASAP because 5,000 people leaving a building at the same time and hundreds more leaving the base, and maybe half of them also using the metro, meant only one thing – MEGA traffic.

I made my way outside and onto a shuttle bus that only had standing room in the back – but we were told that we could not stand. So, off the bus I came and waited in the cold, and in the sleet, for another bus. Finally, one came, and I made sure I was getting a seat, which I did. The bus was packed and every seat was taken. There were hordes of people waiting for shuttle buses, so this driver said people could stand (wha?!?) The bus pulled away from the shelters, around the parking lot, out of the gate and onto the road… we were on our way! Or so we thought. Now we could see the disaster that lay before us… traffic – not even moving – brake lights as far as the eye can see. So we sat, and sat. Five minutes went by… then ten. Some people decided to walk the mile to the metro station in the sleet – they got off of the bus. I wasn’t going to risk walking in the icy cold with an unsteady right leg. So, I waited. The bus moved in feet – one at a time. It was unbearable. More people got off the bus. I convinced myself that I wasn’t in a hurry. But after waiting for half an hour and moving only – I’m not kidding here – only fifty feet or so – I began to grow impatient. The line of cars to the north gate was clearly over a mile long. The line to the south gate was meeting up with the line to the north gate! The south gate was over a mile away.

I then remembered that when I first started working there, I used to take the metro bus to and from work sometimes. The nearest bus stop to the metro rail was just outside the main gate, but the gate was under construction. I asked a few people if the gate was open to pedestrian traffic and they said it was. I whipped out my Windows Mobile Smartphone and went to the metro mobile website. I tapped in my starting point and the station as the ending point. Bingo! The W4 bus would be at a stop in fifteen minutes. I gathered my belongings, asked the bus driver to let me off, told the others on the bus of my plan and asked if anyone wanted to join me, but nobody did (boy was that a mistake for them.) I walked ten minutes over some pretty slippery stuff but made it to the stop with time to spare. The bus came early and I was at the station waiting for a train in five minutes. While waiting, I saw some very wet and cold people that got off of my shuttle bus earlier and walked the whole way. I felt sorry for them because they walked, but it’s not my fault that I am such a technically advanced problem solver, is it? Ha!

Anyway, I was home in thirty minutes. I just wish I had just walked to the bus stop to begin with. I wonder how long it took the shuttle bus to round the corner and make the mile long bumper to bumper trek to the station. My guess is that it took another hour.

Holly and I just came back from a nice birthday dinner at a seafood restaurant called Market Inn in DC. They’ve been in the same place since 1959. They had a piano player that has been performing there for over 27 years! The food was good, but slightly overpriced for the quality. Their broiled lump crab cake was pretty good though. But I don’t think I’d ever go there again. After dinner, we came home and now we’re going to bed. Like I said, it was an uneventful day. I actually think I spent most of it commuting! We are expecting more freezing rain tonight – in fact, I can hear sleet hitting the window as I type this. It is 25 degrees F right now and the temp is not expected to rise above freezing until Thursday, so tomorrow should be a nasty day. I’m personally hoping for a day off or at least a delayed opening.

By the way, I did have a big birthday party bash on Saturday. I hope to have pics from that up soon. Stay warm, wherever you are.