Roll on September

Needless to say, this blog thing has not gone very well so far this deployment. It probably has to do more with the lack of writing subjects, but I guess that's not really too much of an excuse as imagination can always be utilized to develop topics.

Well, another month has almost come and gone out here. Only September and October left...well, really part of November as well, but that's where the mind games come into play and we're viewing the days in November that we'll be here as just a few extra days that don't really count as a month. I know, it really is, but we have to do something to make it seem like it really isn't all that long until we return. Can't wait to see color again....and Katie (more her than anything).

So, marathon training has not been going well. I was supposed to do 11 miles last week and only did about 7 because I wanted to split it up and do half outside and half inside (running on the treadmill can be slightly boring). It wasn't all that hot (well, in comparison to what it had been recently) so I thought it was a good idea, but it turned out not to be. It was hot enough and I got dehydrated enough that the 6 miles I did outside were enough that I was never able to recover and feel right again on the treadmill. Now it's got me thinking that maybe I should just knock it back down to a half. I really want to run a full again, but (1) it's probably best if I just focus on halfs for awhile to build a base and speed and (2) I can't stand the thought of having to train again out in this heat. It's just too much for this broken spirit to take. 

Decisions

As if to help break up the mundane around here, there's a couple items that have come up recently requiring me to make a decision and both of which have resulted in a stalemate for awhile now. First off, I cannot for the life of me decide what class I want to take this upcoming semester. There's two that have really captivated my interest and, if I was admitted to the program and not deployed (or at least on the schedule that we're on right now), would consider taking both. The one class is Project Management and the other is Integration Manufacturing Control Systems. Now to be honest, although I am interested in both, the Project Management class is actually more intriguing to me. However, I think it might also be offered during the summer and the other one is not, so it might be more to my advantage to take the Integration class. Then again, they may not offer PM during the summer. Either way, I have to decide soon because classes start in a month from today and I still need to sign up and get books ordered. 

The second item that is causing consternation right now is what marathon I should run upon return. Again, this is all going to be dependent on when exactly our return date is. Again, it's down to two: the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa and the White Rock down in Dallas. Now this might as well be a very easy decision if we are not back before Thanksgiving as that will rule out Tulsa, but I (and Katie as well) have this inkling that we'll be back before Thanksgiving. Tulsa was such a fun race; maybe because it was my first marathon, but the atmosphere was really festive and the race was well organized that it was really enjoyable (well, not including how I felt physically after mile 20). On the other hand, I have already run it and it might be nice to try a different race, such as White Rock. The other advantage to White Rock is it will give me an extra two weeks to train. What I'm leaning towards right now is just plan for Tulsa and if I feel like I need more training, just add the two weeks and run down in Dallas. 

Otherwise, it's just more of the usual right now. We did go off base a few days ago for some driver training. Its refreshing and frustrating all at the same time. Refreshing because I can feel like a normal person and forget I'm deployed for a little bit. But, then I look around and see so many Westerners running around that I get frustrated at how they get all this freedom to experience the culture and city and I'm lucky to get off base twice a month. Honestly, as long as Katie could be with me, I wouldn't mind if we had to live here for a year or two. We'd probably get really tired of the heat and brown/tan surroundings all the time, but that's not really too different from Oklahoma right now anyway. Maybe the Air Force could send us somewhere that involved color and a nice beach.....that's not really too much to ask for, right?

The bad thing about goals....

Is they are so incredibly hard to keep and maintain. Just like my goal of consistently updating my blog......that one hardly lasted two weeks. As Katie pointed out to me, it has been almost 1 month exactly since I last blogged. One nice thing about goals is they are always there and no matter how many times you don't follow through on them, they never really go away; unless, of course, you replace it with another goal. Since Katie is gone camping over the next couple of days, maybe now is a great chance to get back on track.

Anyway, it is has gotten much hotter since mid-June. I don't think the low has gotten below 90 at night, maybe upper 80s at the lowest. Thankfully the humidity has died down some, but it's not exactly fun no matter what time of day you're outside. Plus, there's a camel farm or something hideous nearby that decides to stink only at night making the slight relief from the heat almost pointless because of the odor to puts off.

Flying has been alright, long just like last year. We did have a few days where we had to sit on the jet for 5-6 hours because of various issues; temperatures over 100 plus the inside of an aircraft without a cooling cart isn't very fun. We came back pretty drenched on those days. We're just coming off the end of our duty cycle, so we'll be back to flying here shortly. Duty hasn't been bad at all, just manning a desk for a few hours, pushing a few papers, typing up some flag certificates and catching up on corresponding with people back home.

From the non-work related standpoint, I have finished the book on George Washington and started the Southwest Airlines book which is almost complete as well. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably have all my books finished by the end of August which won't be a bad thing considering class will start in August anyway. I'm still very undecided on what to take, not for lack of interest, but because I can't seem to pick between 2-3 classes. I might consider taking a couple, but I have to be careful with how many I take because I'm not yet admitted into the Industrial Engineering program. Hmmmm, choices.....

Well, I don't want to bore everyone and it's getting late. Plus, I still have yet to email Katie. Due to the lack of electrical power and outlets typically associated with the great outdoors, our talk time is somewhat limited over the next several days. I usually don't realize how much I miss her until we have our talking time cut....and right now I'm missing her alot. But, it's only temporary and I'm glad she's getting to spend some time with her family.....even if she is visiting Maine and eating fresh seafood every day (so jealous). Oh well, tis life I suppose and I still love her all the same.

My deployment library

Just like last deployment, I ended up bringing a nice little collection of books to help pass the time and in an attempt to catch up on some reading that I wasn't able to accomplish while at home. Not that I don't get a chance to read back home, I do, I just tend to be a slightly slow reader mainly because most of reading is done at night and can usually only read a page or two before my eyes can no longer stay open. Thus, it takes me awhile to make it through a book and I have racked up quite a few library fines in the process. So, here's a little preview of what I have read/will be reading during the upcoming months.

I apologize for the pictures on some of these books; some of them had dust jackets (I think that's the proper term) which I ended up leaving at home. The first one here is "The Carrot Principle" which was actually a book I was supposed to read for my master's class last year but only got about a quarter of the way through. It talks about how recognition can and should be used in the work place as a employee motivation tool....something that I noticed the Air Force does a poor job of as I read through it. I just completed this one although I had a head start on it back home.

I have also completed "Pujols" thanks to a nearly 24 hour trek to get over here and lack of in-flight entertainment. It's kind of like a biography, but I could consider it to be more of a testimonial about his upbringing and faith. I thought it was an interesting read and I learned quite a bit about "The Machine" that I didn't know. 

Of course, if I read a book about the greatest Cardinal in recent memory, I have to get a book dedicated to the greatest Cardinal player ever, Stan 'The Man' Musial (definitely not a knock against Pujols, but I think Stan will always be the emeritus #1 in all Cardinal fans' minds). This is the first of the books I haven't read, so stay tuned for a review in the future. 

In an attempt to learn a little more about some of the Civil War battles that I haven't read before, I got this book, "Chancellorsville," by Stephen Sears who also wrote "Landscape Turned Red" that I read last year. He's a really good author, very thorough and descriptive, so I anticipate this book taking some time to read. Maybe I'll save this one for last in hopes that I can read it on the return trip home.

"The Southwest Way" is probably the nerdiest of the books I got. Since I took my first industrial engineering class and had to read "Built to Last" by Jim Collins, I've been intrigued by the business and management related books. I feel there's a lot that the military can learn from the civilian side of business and it should help with any follow-on masters' classes that I take. 

The final book and the one I'm currently reading is "His Excellency" which talks about George Washington. I'm rather ashamed of my lack of knowledge about the founding of our country and the men who helped form it, so George Washington seems to be the perfect place to start. It's been really interesting so far. Joseph Ellis has done a good job of keeping a very unbiased perspective of George Washington. More to follow in the near future once I finish reading this one. 

Feelin' cool at 90 degrees

You know it's hot outside when the forecasted lows are in the 80s and 90 degrees feels slightly refreshing when you walk outside. Although it didn't really matter too much because I still felt hot and slightly overheated after running 4 miles around 9 pm last night. My heat tolerance is somewhat lacking, so I'll have to start building it back up (as if you can ever get use to the heat here).

Besides from slightly cooler temperature, it's also been extremely windy although I would still consider Oklahoma to be windier. Now, this may not always sounds like a bad thing and at night it isn't, but during the day it feels someone turned on a huge blow dryer. Furthermore, all of the sand and dust gets kicked up. I wouldn't call them actual sand storms, but objects in the distance do get a little hazy and you can see the sand being blown occasionally.

I know this is slightly belated, but I do have a few pictures to share from the trip over. I wasn't able to get any at Gander, Newfoundland because it was the middle of the night, but Ireland and Romania turned out really nice though.

This is the coast of the Emerald Isle as we finished our flight across the Atlantic. 

Just like you might expect, it was very green and there were a ton of these hedgerows all over the place....and sheep just about everywhere too.

I'm not for sure what town this is, but I'm pretty sure it's Shannon because we passed it and then turned back towards it. I definitely want to go to Ireland at some point and get to experience it more....maybe next year's spring break trip?

These next few are of Romania. Also a very pretty countryside, but the majority of the structures still had that Cold War feel to it. As we were taxiing in, there were quite a few empty airliners just sitting around and the terminal had this old, smokey smell to it. Interesting still, but I don't know if we'll be making any trips back.

I thought it was interesting the way their fields were kept. Like when you fly over the farmland here in the US, it's kind of divided up into great big squares and rectangles (or massive circles if you're flying over Colorado). Whereas in Romania, the fields were shaped more like long narrow strips. I wish I had thought to take a picture of what they looked like on the hills, but that's what the imagination is for, huh?

Getting it in gear.

Well, I'm basically on the verge of breaking my one goal of updating this regularly. There's still plenty of time to work on that. It's almost a little hard to believe we've already made it to the end of the first week, although flying every other day does tend to help the time fly (pardon the pun).

So, over the past month I've basically fallen off with running and have no semblance of a training plan going right now. Ben (ran the Tulsa full with me and is out here as well right now) and I ran an inaugural 2nd deployment 3 mile loop the other night which marked the first time since the OKC Half on 1 May that I've actually run. Needless to say, my fitness is a bit lacking right now. Well, what better way to get back into shape than a workout led by Jillian Michaels (the trainer from the Biggest Loser).

She's currently on a USO tour and stopped here for a couple days. Of course, you had to know that she would lead a workout or two. Oh man, I'm still hurting from it. I was expecting it to be a little 20-30 minute workout after which she would talk to us all some.....no, not really. It lasted about 50 minutes and was basically non-stop the entire time; it was not at all what I expected. But, it was really enjoyable all the same and it was really funny to hear her yell, in person, at people instead of on the tv. She and the other tour participants stayed around afterwards for pictures. The guy on the right, Marco I'veforgottenhislastname, is another trainer who co-led the workout with her.

They were both really nice people and it's great that they were willing to come out and visit everyone. Thank goodness for the USO too; Katie and I have used the airport USOs plenty of times during long layovers and we've never been disappointed or had a bad experience with it or any of the volunteers.

Stay tuned.......

Pre-flight

Hopefully by now everyone has had a chance to catch up on the last couple of posts. It's been going well here so far. I've been able to sleep the first couple of nights without a problem, which is really great because it took a good week last year just to get a decent night's sleep. We haven't really been too busy, just trying to get things signed off for in-processing and attending some briefs. 

The base is basically the same way we left it only 8 months ago....hard to believe it hasn't been that long. They've made adjustments to the menu, for example, tonight I had crab cakes which weren't all that bad and I saw a New England broiled dinner on the calendar for later on in the month. Mongolian night is, however, still on the menu....that night may involve Pizza Hut instead for me (bad memories with that meal). 

There are a few more fitness and morale events that are being offered than last year. The chapel also has more worship services and a couple more Bible studies, so I might look at getting involved with one of those. Outside of not being home right now, there's not really a whole lot I can complain about.

We have our first couple of flights this week which will be nice because it will help better establish a schedule. Plus, it'll start making the days go by faster. 

Sorry this post is rather uninteresting tonight. I'll try to post a few pictures within the next couple of days. I was able to finish one book on the way over, so book review #1 should be in the works soon. 

Mid-Flight

Well, considering this journey has begun to stretch into the second calendar day, it might be time for another posting. Plus, I’m slightly bored right now and I’m trying to conserve the battery some, so this is about the only thing I can do. At least I’m starting off on a good note with this blog. (Note: I’m actually typing all these posts on a word document right now, so you’ll have to use your imagination a little as you read them).

Even though it’s only been 24 hours since Katie and I said goodbye, it feels like such a long time ago. I can’t wait to fire up Skype when we get there and see her face again. That was such a relief last year when I saw her.

Honestly, I’m struggling quite a bit with coming to terms with this deployment. There’s not really one issue, probably just a combination of the length, timing and the memories that are still lingering from the last one. Katie made a really good and motivating point in her “farewell letter.” She said that I should make the best of the situation and I can either choose to take this time to learn more and practice what I have learned or just wait for it to be over by sitting and letting the time pass. That’s basically what I needed to hear right now and it was such an encouragement and reinvigorating comment. Have I mentioned recently what an awesome wife I have?

So far we have stopped in Gander, Newfoundland and Shannon, Ireland. I’ve already been to Gander so it wasn’t really anything new, but I was very impressed with Ireland. It was really green (obviously) and quaint-looking. Definitely worth a trip at some point in the future when we can travel on our own terms. Only one more stop between here and the desert, so I’m stopping every so often to look out the window and soak in the colorful landscape. I am, however, having a hard time trying to keep my eyes open. A nap is probably in order at this time. 

The Inaugural Post

So, yes, I have decided to start a blog. The same guy who begrudgingly has a Twitter account (that I never use, by the way) and rarely updates his Facebook status except for big events (like Christmas or my anniversary), has decided to willingly publish his thoughts on a forum for everyone to read. Not to say that I haven’t had a blog before….anyone remember Xanga…..but that was in college and so long ago that I don’t know for sure if it really counts. Besides, what I was writing about then was probably pretty insignificant and immature anyway, so it’s high time to start anew. I really can’t say what compelled me, other than Katie saying there wasn’t really a reason I shouldn’t have one and it might be a way to make this deployment go by faster.

Ah, yes, that’s why…..the deployment. The one thing I was at least hoping to avoid until September and now find myself willingly on a plane going to a place I’ve already been to and don’t want to go back to. But, that’s neither here nor there at this point. I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone fairly up-to-date on what daily happenings (or close to it as because let’s face it, I’m not always the most consistent of people) at our little deployed location. But, I do hope that it will be something that continues on well past whenever I get back. Thinking about it, in a way the advent of online blogging is just a form of the modern day diary. While it is true that a diary is considered more personal and private, just look at how many memoirs have been published so you might as well just go ahead and get out what you’re thinking because there’s a good possibility that it’ll be made public at some point anyway.

That being said, this blog needs a purpose, both temporary and permanent. For the short term, it will be about this deployment…..or my stay in a minimum security prison as I like to term it sometimes. But, I don’t want to just bore everyone with the mundane day-to-day so I also intend to use this to discuss the books I’m reading, any races that I’m training for and the training itself and conversations/situations that arise that I find interesting and feel deserve further discussion. On a more long term basis, I plan on writing about much of the same (minus the deployment aspect) but will try to incorporate projects and cooking experiments into the mix.  Most importantly, though for the long and short term, I want to write about the love and friendship I share with my darling wife, Katie, and my relationship with Christ.

As I write this, there are tears welling up in my eyes and threating to start streaming down for it was slightly more than 12 hours ago that I gave one last hug and planted one last kiss on the best friend I have here on this earth and watched her board a plane. No matter how many we say, the goodbyes never get any easier and I almost always end up breaking down like a little kid. The deployment ones are always the worst because there is nothing better in this world than being next to Katie and experiencing life with her and I have to say farewell to all of that for awhile. I know the duration isn’t as long as others have experienced and I’m not fearful that it will harm our relationship, but it’s so painful all the same. If I haven’t said so already, she’s the absolute best.

I realize that not everyone may be familiar with our story, so this might be a good way to kick off this inaugural post. We met at Cedarville during my senior, her sophomore, year through an AWANA ministry team. This itself is an excellent example of how awesome God’s match making abilities are as I had always wanted to get involved on the team but couldn’t because of classes and Katie had just “happened” to see a post on Cedarville’s ad website about the team and decided to try it out. There wasn’t exactly a romantic connection right away because I was interested in and pursuing another girl at the time, but there was a friendship that slowly began to grow and deepen. It was rare that we didn’t spend a night chatting away on AIM (I did spend time studying though, honestly) and we started to become each other’s confidant. Eventually I did tell Katie about my feelings for this other girl and, despite her own feelings for me, she listened to it all and even gave me advice. So, things didn’t really end up working out with this girl, but me being the stubborn person that I am chose not to give up and move on. This continued on for a portion of the fall and most of the spring semester. During that time, however, my friendship with Katie continued to grow and deepen and we started spending more time together. As the end of the semester came to a close, somehow it got through my stubbornness that it was not meant to be with this girl. However, I had my own feelings for Katie and noticed that I was becoming attracted to her. As we entered finals week, there still wasn’t an actual relationship established, but we were spending as much time as possible with each other. It wasn’t until nearly a week after graduation that we brought up the possibility of starting a relationship and officially started dating. And, here we are today.

Now you might be wondering why I didn’t realize all of this sooner in college and started a relationship there instead of after graduation, making it a long-distance relationship. Frankly, I don’t know why either, other than (1) I was stubborn and (2) maybe God planned it for us to build a strong friendship first before we started dating. I’m so thankful for that time we spent as friends because I think it only served to make us better communicators with each other and allow us to see one another as we truly are before becoming romantically involved.

Well, according to the count on Word, I’m over a thousand words so far for this post and have probably lost the majority of you due to boredom. I should probably try to sleep some, though that’s proving to be slightly difficult right now. There’s still many more miles left to travel, so I’ll pound out some more thoughts later on.