Chick Trip!!!

Whoo hoo!!!!  Chick Trip!!!!

I am going on a vacation to Tacoma Washington and then to Las Vegas with my sister in law in about 2 weeks and I simply can't wait!  I have never been to Las Vegas, and to be totally honest, I have never even had the desire to go.  I am not a drinker, and I find nothing fun about gambling.  However, we are going to go see Cirque du Soleil (and I KNOW I destroyed the spelling of it, but oh well) and I am really looking forward to that part of it.  I have always been a fan of live theater and I have been wanting to see that show for a long time. 

Work is going great, and I am in a nice groove.  I am a little sad that my current commander is going to be retiring in about 4 months.  Ok, i am VERY sad about that.  I have had a lot of bosses since i have been in the work force, but i can count on one hand the number of really good ones that I have had.  This guy is one of the good ones. 

I must interject a thought here; As i am writing this entry, i am listening to this Deal or No Deal show on the TV, and it's sick.  Oh my, I am not even on the show, and I am sweating.  Gotta tell ya, my stomach couldn't handle a show like that.  I am just not a gambler.

I had PRK vision correction about 2 weeks ago and I am hoping that my eyesight will be better by the time i leave for my chick trip. It's probably about 20/30 right now.  I realize that the difference in immediate results between PRK and LASIK is pretty extreme, but PRK is a much better and safer procedure, and worth the extra healing time it takes to be able to see clearly again.  The procedure itself though, PRK, i mean, was quite painful.  They warned us about the level of discomfort, but man, eye pain sucks. 

I hope that those of you who are reading have a very merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah and if you are in a place that has nova, cream cheese and bagels available, please have some for me!

duh

So this past weekend, I was going to mow my lawn, like I usually do.  I bought this brand spankin' new lawnmower about 6 months ago.  My first one ever!  Of course, this was my first house with a yard so I needed a lawn mower.  I didn't buy the best one, but I didn't buy the worst one either.  It was a middle of the road model.  Craftsman something-or-other. 

Any-hoo-ha...I had noticed that it seemded to be very difficult to start for a brand new lawn mower.  I would have to pull that starter cord thing 15 to 20 times each time I tried to start it.  I would be exhausted before I even started!  And I am not in bad shape, either!   So it had been a couple of weeks since the last time I had to use it becuase it's been dry as a bone here.  We had some rain a couple of weekends ago and my grass finally started growing again.  So out comes my lawnmower and I proceed with my ritualistic cord pulling.  I must have yanked that thing 50 times.  I gave myself a rubbing burn that went right through the glove and onto my thumb (that still hurts now, for criminies sake).  So during the course of the past couple of days, I would complain to random coworkers and colleagues and generally anyone who was willing to listen to me gripe, and each time, the same thing was asked of me..."Well, did you prime the motor first?"  I had no clue what they were talking about.  I expressed as much in the conversations.  Each person told me that there is a little red rubber button thing near or on the motor part that you have to push two or three times to get gas into the thingy and that makes it start easier.  I had never seen such an animal, and I figured that maybe I just didn't get a high end enough lawn mower to have this primer button thing.  So i looked it up online while i was at work, and even the cheapest low end mower had a primer.   I got home today from work, thumb still all raw, icky and throbing, and went out to my shed, looked at my lawnmower, and there it was...in all it's rubber glory...the primer.   It may have been imagined, but I swear I could hear my thumb yelling at me and calling me a dorkess.

A leave cut short!

I was very excited to go on leave last week.  It was my first leave since I came back into the Air Force a year ago.  I went home to South Florida.  It was wonderful eating real food again.  Of course, to me, real food means deli (corned beef, nova on a bagel with cream cheese, etc.) as well as some yummy bakery goods.  Black and white cookies, rugaluch, halavah, etc.  Here, they have never even heard of these things.  They think Krispy Kreme is the creme bruele of the buyou. 

So I got my fill, and then on Wednesday, this little tropical storm, Katrina, formed in the Bahamas.  Much to my dismay, Katrina began to come on shore at my dad's house where I was staying in Delray Beach.  I made a decision after the first feeder band hit to leave right then and drive back to Bossier City.  Who knew that my timing would be perfect?  If I had waited, i wouldn't have gotten home until sometime next week.  All was not lost though, as I had an awesome time and enjoyed the visit with my family. 

So it's back to work for me tomorrow.  Although, i did work some this past saturday just so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed with work when i go back tomorrow. 

On another note, I am dog sitting for one of my co-workers.  Sam, their dog, is a really huge black lab.  He is only 2 years old so his paws and head still look to big for his body.  He and my Macy seem to get along.  More like sibblings who squable occasionally.  When it gets to loud, they both get the boot out the door.  Two big dogs and little ol' me.  What a concept.  It's going to be an interesting week.  :)

has it really been almost a year??

Holy macaroni, I can’t believe it will be a year on the 15th since I came back into the Air Force.  I swear, it seems like only yesterday that I started COT and it has been a year.  I am completely blown away.  It has been a wonderful year.  I have really enjoyed the ride so for and I think that if the remaining years I have left in the air force are any indication, I will enjoy the rest of the time as well. 

 

I just finished my final exam in statistics.  Yucko.  But yahoo for being done with it.  It was one of those classes that you take in college and you realize that it really sucked so bad and nothing ever in life would ever possess you to take a statistics class again.  Then you develop these dammed aspirations and decide you want a MASTERS degree.  Ya know what that means??  It means ANOTHER statistics class.  Hateful. But I made sure to get it out of the way first and foremost.  I was terrified because I really struggled with stats in college, but surprisingly enough, I kicked some backside in this class.  I believe I either ended up with an A or an A-minus at worst.  I will find out sometime next week. 

 

The air force is good to me.  They are paying for my masters degree and practically my entire mortgage.  You really can’t beat those benefits.  A year into this endeavor, and I can truly say that I made the right choice and that I am happy.  Not real happy with Bossier City Louisiana, but they just built a freestanding Starbucks so I am surviving.  J  And, I get to go on leave occasionally, which I am doing in the next couple of weeks.  I am going back to Florida for some real food and family time!   There is a fabulous kennel I take Macy too in Shreveport called Towne South and they take such good care of her that I never worry about her when I travel. 

 

I am going now to eat some dinner and I promise to keep up a little more with my entries! 

July 4th

It's been a while, for sure.  Today is July 4th, and I am here at home around 9pm.  Why am I not out watching fireworks, you ask?  Because I have to be up at 5am to go to work tomorrow. :)  However, there are firecrackers that neighbors and the like are setting off.  They, in turn, are setting off my dog. 

Yes, I adopted a doggy.  Her name is Macy (as in Nordstrom's).  That's her and I in the picture.  She is a wonderful dog.  Her story is a sad one.  Someone found her and her 6 puppies abandoned on the side of the road.  The people who found her took her to an animal rescue and, as the norm would have it, people came to the rescue and adopted the puppies, but no one wanted the mommy.  So I adopted the mommy.  She is amazing.  She was fully trained already.  Sits, stays, rolls over, fetches, HOUSEBROKEN!  That anyone would have simply abandoned her breaks my heart.  She looks like a rottwiller but she is actually half rottweiller and half sheepdog according to my vet. She is my running partner and she can keep up for the entire 2 miles now.  She keeps me safe!

I started my masters program at LA Tech (go bulldogs or something like that).  That has been keeping me very busy along with work.  Of course, work would keep me plenty busy without school, but what can I say, I am a glutton for punishment.  If I play my cards right, I can actually finish this degree in 2 years.  So I will be done before my next assignment.  Whoo hoo!

It is my intention to update more often!  Happy 4th everyone!

my old friend...

Before leaving for the Air Force I had a friend.  Lisa Palazzo.  Or maybe now, since she got married a year ago last month, it's Lisa Jones.  I am really hoping that maybe she will be ego-surfing or something someday and she will type her name into Google or another search engine, see my journal entry, and know that I am thinking of her, and that I miss her.  We had a very close friendship for close to three years, and then she married and moved to North Carolina.  She gave me her phone number there, which I tried to call recently and the number had been disconnected.  I tried to email her, to both email addresses that I had, and the email addresses are no longer good either.  If you're out there, Lisa, all my info is still the same. Cell phone, email, and my name.   I would love to hear from you and hear how everything is going in your life.  I miss my sushi dining partner!

Today, in Bossier City, LA things finally started shaping up.  It was 80 degrees and the sun actually came out around noon time.  I really needed that.  Till now it's been either cold and sunny or cold-lukewarm and raining.  Very depressing.  I was starting to think I would never see the sun again.  I hope it stays this way for awhile. 

Back to normal...sort of

When I started this journal, I was at the begining of a tremendous life change.  I was changing careers, cities, and my life as I had come to know and enjoy it.  I had worked very hard to create the life I lived back in South Florida, and I was content with it.  (Obviously not TOO content or I wouldn't have searched out new and exciting things, right?)

So I have been here in Bossier City, LA for just about 2 months now.  If you put together the total time it has been since I left Florida for the Air Force, it has been closer to 5 and a half months.  In that time, I have had some tremendous experiences and met some extrordinary people.  But now, I find that I am reaching for some sense of routine.  Not that I am necessiarly looking for the life I left behind, because the life I have now is just fine, thank you very much, but I am looking for that sense of familiarity and I find it seems to be more difficult to locate than I had expeceted. 

I suppose the reason why it feels that way only now, and not over the entire 5 months, is because I was prepared for several months of change and movement.  Now, I am here and settled, at least for the next 3 years or so, and to be honest, I think I am experiencing a bit of culture shock.  Bossier City is a far cry from South Florida.  That there are no Bloomingdales or Nordstroms here for me to shop in is one thing.  I can always drive the 3 hours to Dallas to find some decent stores/shopping.  But that aside, the entire culture here is different.  The people move slower, and are more easy going.  There is nothing wrong with that.  As a matter of fact, I find it to be a nice change of pace.  On the other hand, I went to a local Albertson's this evening for some Starbucks hot cocoa (yes, there IS a Starbucks) and when I got in my car to leave, I noticed not one, not two, but three different sets of people getting out of three sets of cars and every one of them spit upon exiting their vehicles. Females included.  I was mortified.  I felt like I was watching a Jeff Foxworthy skit come to life.  Once I got over myself, I actually had to laugh.   I found myself being very thankful that this is only a temporary stop in my life!  

On the other hand, as I suppose with the bad, thereis always some good,  I listen to the radio in the morning on the way into work, and the traffic report always says something pretty close to the following:   "Good morning, Shreveport/Bossier! There are no accidents to report and the roads are all clear, but if ya'll see something, go on and give us a call!"  I gotta tell you, I LOVE THAT!  My commute in south Florida was nothing but an hour and 15 minutes of accidents, bumper to bumper traffic and road rage.  This is a welcome change from that. 

I am sure that as time goes on, I will find I am able to work around those things that I am not used to.   I may even learn how to live like some of the locals do.  Adopt some of the local customs for myself.   But I don't expect I will start sptting when I get out of my car any time soon. 

getting settled in

I have been here in Bossier City, Louisiana for almost a month now.  I miss my classmates and the new friends I met while at COT and HSA, but I am begining to feel settled here in Louisiana. 

I am in my new house, and I really do like it.  It's big, and bright, and I just had tile put in, so now it is just about perfect.  I have a garage which is a nice treat.  Especially since it seems to rain here an awful lot, and I don't like to get wet getting out of my car.  The weather here is, at the very least, wierd.   Get this...two days before Christmas it snowed and got down to 17 degrees for like a week, and this whole week it has been in the 70's.  But on Thursday it's supposed to get back down into the 40's again.  But, on a bright note...I have a FIREPLACE!  Gotta love that.

Work is going well, I am not finished inprocessing yet, but that is mostly because we had the last two weeks of the year filled with holidays and folks out of the office.  So I ended up being scheduled for inprocessing items this week instead of last year.   I am working in Facilities/Logistics at the moment, but as I have learned, that could change in the near future.  I am unsure what the plan is, but I am sure they will let me know, and I suppose, although I am happy where I am right now, that I will have to go to the section they tell me to.

My father and his girfriend are driving out here this coming Friday from Floirda and will be staying with me in my new house for a week.  I am very excited about them coming.  We will go exploring around together and find some new restruants to try, I am sure. 

Anyhoo, I am going to go for a run now.  It's beautiful for going for a run in this area.