Cleaning Day

Wow, my apartment is cleaner than its ever been! My friend Jeff came over today just to help me wash my PILE of dirty dishes, but when those were done and we went out for dinner afterwords, we came back here and just kept cleaning. The living room is spotless, the fridge is emptied out, and I found the floor in my bedroom! It's amazing, I just hope I can keep it this clean, I don't know how many more times I'm going to be able to afford to take Jeff out to dinner for him helping me clean.

Anyhow other than that not much new has been going on around here. This will thankfully be my last month on night shift for a while. Working nights has seriously messed up my body, getting a little sleep at work, sometimes getting a little more sleep at home during the day, my body doesn't know when to try to be awake and when to try to sleep. When I try to sleep at night on my nights off the only way I can do it is with sleeping pills. Oh well, hopefully once I get back onto day shift this will all get sorted out.

Barfola!

The past couple of weeks have found me in almost constant agony. It started one morning with a tinge of a sore throat and just progressed from there. Even progressed to the point where I broke down and went to the doctor, and oh how I hate going to the doctor. Anywho, after the first doctor appointment they diagnosed me with a pretty bad case of Strep throat. Of course the penicillin and pain killers she put me on did nothing. Unable to eat, and with an increasing fever I ended up going back to the doctor two more times, and after a few more needles, and an IV I was finally STARTING to feel a little better.
Anywho I finally got to the point where I thought I could try eating something again. Well let me warn you, the breaded fish tv-dinners from Stouffers... Just avoid them at all cost! I managed to get the tv-dinner down with no problem, got all ready and settled into bed... Next thing I know, I'm barfing like crazy, all over myself, all over my bed... It was horrendous, there was no warning! So instead of going to bed and getting a wonderful night of sleep, I was up cleaning and doing laundry for the next two or three hours.
In case you were wondering I am feeling much more gooder now. Eating solid foods again and all!
Ugh, I hope that's my first and final illness for this winter!

Recovery and Protests

So Wednesday afternoon I decided go to out for a little run. After I passed the sign that says "Welcome to Silver Spring, MD" I decided I should probably turn around and head home. By the time I hobbled back home I'd run almost 14 miles, granted I have to admit that I walked the last mile or two because I was so dehydrated and my knees were screaming in pain from the abuse I'd just put them through. So I spent the rest of Wednesday, and all of Thursday trying to recover to the point where I could walk again and not be in pain. Last night and today I managed to walk again without limping in pain.

Then this morning I realized I live way too close to the Chinese embassy. There was another "Free Tibet" protest going on just down the street from my apartment. This one much louder than any previous protests. So of course I got curious and went down and watched the protest for a little while. It would just be nice to think that what these people are doing will actually make a difference somewhere. But they found a way to get their message out, and they're using it. Good for them, and I'll just deal with a little less sleep from time to time. I do have to say it was rather humorous to see the uniformed secret service officers guarding the front doors to the embassy. Which you'll see below in one of the pictures I snapped.

I sure am glad I got that turkey leg

Yesterday "Beef Stew" aka SGT Cole and I went to 6 Flags for the beginning of October Fright Fest. If it weren't for the fact that it gets cold and signals the start of fall and winter, I would love October. Halloween is always such a fun holiday and time of year.
Well I think between the hours of 1pm and 10pm we rode EVERY major ride/roller coaster in that park! Such a great day, I have to admit that most of the rollercoasters there don't hold a candle to the ones at Kings Dominion down by Richmond. But, I really can't remember waiting in line for anything for more than 10-15 minutes. Especially after the sun went down and the two BIG rollercoasters re-opened after being closed for "repairs" all day. Yes, that made me a little nervous, but after standing back and watching it run a couple of times and seeing everyone get off the ride just as alive as they were when they boarded it helped alleviate my fears. I do have to say that I still have no fear of heights and no fear of the dark, but for goodness sake, combine those two and I'm a little scardey-cat. Of course that didn't stop me from hopping on a couple of the largest coasters after a little prodding from Beef Stew.
Oh yea... uumm... we got STUCK halfway up the incline of the "bat-wing." After about 5 minutes of just sitting there trying not to freak out we finally heard a park employee hiking up the stairs to explain to us that some ABSOLUTE FRACKING MORON had hopped the fence and was running around on the ground underneath the rollercoaster so they had to stop us for the safety of the idiot. *sigh*
Oh well, either way it was such a great day. Definitely gotta hang out witih Beef Stew more often.

Mom minus 60

This is my mother, 60 pounds lighter. I'm glad she sent this, I was beginning to worry that the next time I get home I wouldn't be able to recognize her. In this picture alone my mom looks so much better than the last time I saw her, I'm just so happy she's making such good progress. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll be able to get her to go out on a run with me!

In other news I have the "enlisted person of the quarter" board to go to tomorrow. I went to one last week, which proved to me how much I hate those situations. Sitting and trying to remember army regulations and forms and all kinds of other stuff in front of E7's, E8's and E9's is intimidating. I don't know what it is... I don't have any problem talking in front of large groups of people, but put me in front of those four people and all my saliva decides to go on vacation, I start to sweat like crazy, and I can't remember how to form a proper sentence. *bangs head on wall*

I'm a nerd and proud of it

Run run run... All day long!

Wow, I really have nothing to write about anymore. I seem to have worked myself into a rut already. On the bright side, I got about a 10 mile run in the other day, granted it wasn't on purpose. All I wanted to do was go out run from my apartment, up to the naval observatory, do a lap around there and come home. Well once I got to the backside of nav-obs I got myself lost. I somehow ended up in north Georgetown. Obviously I was able to find my way home, and my knees are finally starting to heal up from such a long run. I think it'll be a while before I try to run that far again, plus its getting cold out... I don't know what I'm going to do. I found I like running... But I know how much I hate the cold... And the thought of running on a treadmill is not appealing at all. Oh well, perhaps I'll just suck it up and deal with the frostbite and frozen lungs from running in the cold.

ROLLERCOASTERS!!

I feel like I've been working non-stop for the past couple of weeks. Finally had a bit of free time, so I ended up going down to Kings Dominion in VA with a couple of friends. I think there was maybe one rollercoaster in the park we didn't ride. Kings Dominion has some amazing coasters as well, three of my favorites are the ones that feature compressed air launch, or linear induction motor-launch systems, where the only thing you can do is try to remember to breathe as you get launched from 0-however freeking fast that coaster will go in... oh... about... less than a second.... By the way, if you get a chance to ride one of those coasters, do what the little signs tell you, and keep your head back, because once you get launched, you don't have a choice anyhow.

In other news I got a new couch this week. One of my co-workers was getting a new one and wanted to get rid of the old one. So after convincing one of my other co-workers (who happened to own a large truck) to be kind enough to lend me a hand in moving this to my apartment. Needless to say moving a three piece sectional black leather couch is a pain in the ass. Thankfully we managed to get it up here and into the apartment.

Well I'm finally going to take some time to relax, watch some TV, and do as little as possible until I have to go back to work in a couple of days.

Tropical Depression Ernesto

Well, I went for a run in my very first tropical depression today. Just a day or two ago it was sunny and hot outside. Not anymore, I walked outside today to go for a run and it was damn near fridgid. While I like running in the rain, this was just cold and nasty. Once I got up on the berm along the river, it was nearly impossible to keep running. Being pelted in the face by the tiny hail, and dealing with 30-40mph winds, just wasn't working for me.
Anywho, maybe this weather will clear up and it will get hot again and I'll be happy.
Well I'm going to go brave the rain, and wander up to 7/11 for some tasty 7/11 type dinner! woohoo!

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

CUBS!!

Well I can't be disappointed when I never expected the Cubs to win to begin with. I went to the Cubs vs. Nats game this afternoon, and I couldn't have asked for a better day for a baseball game. It was a nice sunny afternoon, temps in the low 80's and a nice breeze. The Cubs did manage to get one run in, which was suprisingly after I mentioned to my friend that I would be so happy if they just get one run in. Perhaps I should have wished for more.
Oh well, I'm tired and sunburnt now. I slathered on plenty of sunscreen before the game, then at the end of the game realized that I wore shorts and forgot to put the sunscreen on my knees. Ouch.

Hot and Muggy... Blah!

The heat in Arizona was always so much bearable than it is here. Upper 90's with high humidity, I don't want to leave the apartment.

In the grips of quite a heat and crime wave here in the greater DC area. The most recent murder happened a little too close to home for my tastes. Just a couple nights ago someone was stabbed to death just two blocks away from my apartment, I wondered why there were so many TV crews out while Steven and I were getting dinner in Adams Morgan on Saturday night. Of course the candidates for Mayor of this wretched city had to come and use the poor kids death to try to get votes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that no matter where I turn I can't get away from politicians in this town.

Anyhow I hope both of these waves come to an end very soon, I want to be able to go out for a run around the city again.

day off?? nay-nay!!

It's getting to the point where I can't remember the last time I had more than one day in a row off. Today is my day off, almost 3pm, and I've finished 5 loads of laundry, eaten lunch, and ankle deep into Star Trek as usual. The 4th of July was wonderful, I had to work all day, but G4 TV was having a Star Trek marathon. Thankfully I was working with the one and only other "trekkie" in our office, so we sat and tortured everyone else in the office with the marathon and our re-enactments of the office under attack.

OMEN

Okay, so I went and saw The Omen yesterday, and its been a while since I've seen the original, but from what I remember it appears they barely even bothered to rewrite the script. It was still a good scary movie, but I mean come on, if you're standing on a chair three flights up and you have to reach for something, listen for the ominous music. If you hear ominous music playing in the background, get down off the chair, I mean come on... really...

Whelp time for me to crawl into bed, had two days off, didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but it was nice not to have to go to work.

high school flashback

Nothing new going on around here. Had a mini high school reunion earlier this week. Aaron was in town before he takes off with the Peace Corps, so he and I went and walked around the zoo all day on Monday. It was so disappointing, not a single animal popped for us! No masturbating monkeys, no feces throwing orangutan, what a waste of a day! Okay okay, the zoo was actually really nice, those panda's were beautiful, sitting in the shade chowin down on their bamboo.
After a long day of walking around the zoo, Matt met up with us at my apartment and we all went and got some dinner downtown. Some amazing restaurants around here, but wow they can be expensive.

On another bright note should be having date #5 or #6 soon, things seem to be going quite nicely, I hope they continue this way.

Just 12 hours?

Oh goodness, I had today off work, which was a blessing. These 12 hour shifts are really taking it out of me. Although I feel like I spent most of my day off working. Woke up this morning and drove my car out to the Saturn dealership in Alexandria, she needed an oil change, and I wanted them to try to fix that poor driver side window. You wouldn't believe what a hassle it is to have to open the door and stick your ID out that way every time you go on post, or through one of these check points I drive through 5 times a day.

Actually did a little bit of cleaning around the apartment today. Basically took all of my networking equipment and relocated it. I now have two servers, three routers, and a switch sitting under my couch (more like old POS futon). I think the stuff will probably end up getting better airflow under there than crammed up against the wall where it was.

The weather here is becoming dreadfully muggy. I guess its not "hot" out yet, but that humidity sucks. As I think I have said before, I miss the desert. And NO I do not mean the damned middle east... I miss Arizona, the mountians, and the nice dry air. But DC does have its appeal, I mean I dropped off my car in Virginia today, and haven't missed it yet, made it kinda nice not to have to deal with the headache of trying to find a parking space!

Headaches of the city

Well, not a whole lot has happened since the last time I wrote, with the exception of two parking tickets, fighting with the DC vehicle inspection facility, getting rear-ended at a stoplight, fishing the drivers window out of the door with four hands and a cork screw, and a most wonderful 2nd date, undoubtedly the highlight of my week.

buttcrack of dawn

Well, its been almost a month since my last post. I've started "shift work" which is prooving to be quite interesting. Somehow I've managed to get three days off in a row, I think I'm going to spend most of it being "domestic" trying to get this apartment straightened up, oh how I hate washing dishes...
On a brighter note, I had another first date a couple of days ago. Yes, I'm getting my hopes up again, but everything went so wonderfully. We had such a charming dinner at this quaint Italian resturant a couple blocks from my apartment. We then strolled around the neighborhood for a while and ended up back at my apartment just sitting and talking about everything. I was hoping the night would never end, but alas, I had to work at the buttcrack of dawn the next day. So we decided to see eachother again quite soon. We shall see how things progress. :)

brain dribblings

Oh yea, just another blah boring week. Work is work, as always, lots of studying, all kinds of other wonderful stuff that makes it feel as though my brain is going to dribble out of my ear by the end of the day.
Social life... I guess I kinda have one, still don't have many friends out here, really only three or four people I consider real friends. One of my best friends from high school will be moving out here in a few weeks, maybe that'll make this place feel a little more like home.

Frustration

So so sick of this, I guess it was STUPID of me to get excited that I might have actually met someone nice. Well, needless to say that phone call never came. Why should I be suprised? Why should my feelings be hurt? I should be used to this kinda shit by now. Plenty of wonderful 1st dates, but the 2nd never materializes...

Happy Days

Oh what a day... what a day.... :)

Met someone very nice today. So refreshing, went and had a lovely walk around the mall, all the cherry blossoms in bloom, just having such nice, casual conversation the whole time. I think I've had this quirky smile on my face ever since.

Hopefully I'll get the phone call for a 2nd "date" if you want to call it that. We shall see what happens.

BLAH

The past couple of days have found me in a rather "blah" mood. Haven't figured out why yet... I love where I work, but the job I'm being stuck into is just not for me, it's going to drive me insane in no time. Where as the job that I would excel in is just beyond my reach. Of course do you think there is anything that I can do about this? Nope, I've already tried.

Anywhoo, spent some time this evening cleaning up the apartment. Of course it's going to be a work in progress probably until its time for me to move out. Perhaps I just need to hire a cleaning service.

Oh yeah, the wonderful amazing weekend I told you about, only lasted for about three or four days, then it got cold again. I'm glad I did get out to do my sightseeing when I did. I was able to walk from my apartment, down to the White House, over to the National Mall, where I wandered around the WWII memorial, down along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln memorial, Korea, then Vietnam. Then finally managed to wander back home. By the time I got home I had probably walked almost 10 miles. I slept well that night, and I'm still looking forward to more weather that nice again.

Crappy to happy weather

Within the last two days the weather here in DC went from cold and nasty to downright beautiful. Friday I had to take the metro in to work, and on my walk from the metro station to the navy base I broke a sweat. My boss was nice enough to give me almost the whole day off after I got there and finished up a little bit of paperwork for all my inprocessing.

Friday night one of my friends and I went and ate dinner at a little outdoor cafe a few blocks from where I live. After dinner, we walked a couple more blocks and found a nice little place for a few drinks. All in all this is looking to be a very nice weekend. Tomorrow I'm planning on finally getting out and doing all my "touristy" sightseeing stuff.

Well, 4pm, it feels like naptime... It's a Saturday so I think it's allowed.

Its a Friday night, 9pm, and I'm already in bed. After going out and drinking way too much the past two nights, I'm exhuasted, I need a day or three to recover. I think I'm getting old. Oh well, like I said, I'm tired, I'm going to bed. Going to be a short post, maybe I'll actually keep this updated now days. We'll see.

MOVING DAY!!!

Well kinda. The movers came on Wednesday and packed up all my worldly belongings save my laptop, cable modem, and whatever I was able to cram in my car to keep them from packing away without my knowledge. But yes, this afternoon I should be hitting the road for the long journey back to Illinois. I've come to hate that drive, but I think this time it might be a little different, knowing that it is the last time I should have to make the nearly cross-country drive from southern Arizona to northern Illinois. Then after a couple brief weeks hanging out, relaxing in Illinois it's off to Washington DC with one of my best friends from High School who has offered to take that portion of the journey with me. I really wish I could have found someone to come with me for the drive from AZ to IL, but oh well, all the times I've driven it in the past I've been alone, and made it there or back with no problems. So wish me luck!

To all my friends in Arizona who may read this, I'd like to thank all of you for being such good friends to me, I hope we are able to keep in touch, you are what has made the past three and a half years zip by. Anyone and everyone in Illinois and Iowa, I can't wait to see you all again and catch up on old times.

Farewell Arizona....

Well after a good three and a half year run living here in southern Arizona it's time to move on. It's odd, I've gotten very used to Arizona, all the quirky weather of this messed up state. I'd even begun to think of it as home. I've made a lot of good friends here, friends I hope I will be able to keep in touch with long after I'm out on the east coast, enjoying the life in the big city again.
Oh, by the way, all the babble a few posts down... From several months back while I was in Egypt... Ignore it... I did re-enlist (you may pick your jaws up off the floor now). It all came down to the Army offered me something that I could not pass up. It's an opportunity of a lifetime. I am still dissapointed that my Army career counselor wasn't able to get me a slot in Jedi school as a re-enlistment option, but I'll have to make due.