Archive for December, 2009
Happy ChrisHannaKwanzika
After receiving my approved leave papers around 0930 Wednesday, I checked out of my barracks and headed home. I started off with good time (I made it to I-64 around 1000) and got stuck in the usual horrible-Virginia traffic. I was really dreading the drive through Pennsylvania from past experiences, but I must say the drive through the mountains was much more relaxing than Virginia. Since there are no tolls throughout Virginia, it caught me a bit off-guard when I had to shell-out $10 when I got off of Pennsylvania’s turnpike, which I had to use nickles and dimes (who the hell doesn’t take credit cards these days???) thankfully the ticket booth employee was not only in good spirits but had a swell sense of humor. The rest of the drive was quite splendid, even surprisingly smooth throughout Ohio.
The get-together at the pop’s was pretty laid back and simple. He made some chronic Coquito (which I might have to bring a bottle or two back with me), and got me a 6pack of Guiness and a neat little bottle of Jameson. Someone also managed to pull off a really nice car-kit by Armour All (apparently they were unaware of how anal I am about the cleanliness of my car, so it was by far an awesome gift). The old-people’s gathering was nice and relaxed as well, got to see the little cousins (they’re an absolute fucking trip. Should’ve heard him going “He’s Alex the Sailor Man, toot toot!”, it was too fucking adorable), poor sammy couldn’t wear his athletic shorts on account of his over-metabolism (the kids a blessed stick) and joey just could not manage to do anything without his robotic claw.
After watching the game up at Ziggy’s and having a few pints I managed to pull off getting horribly flu-like sick on the way back to my pop’s. Was completely knocked out in excruciating pain all night, but I oddly bounced-back this morning with just a minor ear-ache. Was in well enough shape to make the trip out to my ma’s in Willard (even in the blizzard) to spend one last night and enjoy the little siblings before I have to take the long-trek back to VA Beach (ugh).
Finished with ISM
Finally finished my second c school and right back on holds until the 4th (ugh). Got my PO selectee stuff done and cert’d, now all I need is for the command to quit jerking me around and give me my crow already.
To pass my time i’ve been working on a little application that I hope to have in full-working condition before deployment. I’m dubbing it “RecordKeeper” and currently its still in heavy development stages. Its main reason for being is to allow people like me who use nothing but debit/credit cards to keep track on how much/what they’re spending money on. Its foundation is heavily based on modules (different sub-programs to allow for more functionality and usability of the program), so eventually I’d like to do some really useful additions to the program when the time allows.
Thanksgiving 09
Getting out of class super early Wednesday I go to hang out with Drew a bit before making the truck up to D.C. for some promising home-cooking brought to us by the wonderful Theresa. After a horrible few hours of Virginia traffic (I hate Virginia, the drivers fucking blow, there’s nothing to do here), I made it through alive and ended up parking in a no-parking zone (I found this out later Friday afternoon). After I got there we ordered some of Al’s pizza and munched on that while Theresa prepared the next day’s meal. Thursday was pretty slow up until the gluttonous feasting of the dead animals, baked goods, and spirits. I believe we almost went through a whole 1.75L bottle of Jose Cuervo and a handful of limes, as well as a half bottle of wine during our little James Bond marathon.
The weather finally cleared up a bit and we got the chance to not only stroll around a few of the monuments, but I finally made it to the famous and elusive Ethiopian place to chow down on some exotic and really awesome food. Every time I’ve gone to D.C. since I’ve been stationed in Virginia (this state fucking blows) I have the Ethiopian place at the top of my list, and every time I’ve left (excluding this last time) its the only thing on my list I didn’t get to accomplish. It was well worth the wait though.
I’ve also gone through about 6 weeks of quite a rigorous lifting routine that involves about an hour of power-lifting and a half hour of cardio every day. There’s a super-neat and useful site out there called BodyBuilding.com, that’s kind of like the ultimate fitness-savvy website. I set up a profile on there that I can use to track my progress and attempt to meet my goal of 16% body fat (bf) by the time I ship down to Mayport.