Been a while; time to update.
Over jittery/ worn out from having the bright idea to go for a run at 9pm.
last week of active duty for this deployment and then back on regular Reserve status. They're making full use of us here at the end. Working from 4am until 4pm on Saturday at a half marathon/ toy drive for Toys for Tots.
Can't wait to get home. For the last couple of years, I've kept putting off getting a new mattress and have been making do with my old full sized futon mattress plus pillow top thing on my quees sized bed, especially since I was going to be away for a year. Now that I'm back I've made my first post-deployment splurge and bought a new memory foam mattress. It's already at my house and my roommates have it unpacked and sitting on the frame to let the foamy smell dissipate. Can't wait to get home and try it and see if I can sleep through a whole night and not wake up with back stiffness.
next splurges...probably a new computer and lasik. maybe some travel, but I'm still figuring that one out.
Had a good Thanksgiving, but glad that it's done with.
Over jittery/ worn out from having the bright idea to go for a run at 9pm.
last week of active duty for this deployment and then back on regular Reserve status. They're making full use of us here at the end. Working from 4am until 4pm on Saturday at a half marathon/ toy drive for Toys for Tots.
Can't wait to get home. For the last couple of years, I've kept putting off getting a new mattress and have been making do with my old full sized futon mattress plus pillow top thing on my quees sized bed, especially since I was going to be away for a year. Now that I'm back I've made my first post-deployment splurge and bought a new memory foam mattress. It's already at my house and my roommates have it unpacked and sitting on the frame to let the foamy smell dissipate. Can't wait to get home and try it and see if I can sleep through a whole night and not wake up with back stiffness.
next splurges...probably a new computer and lasik. maybe some travel, but I'm still figuring that one out.
Had a good Thanksgiving, but glad that it's done with.
Things have been going pretty well. Still on active duty. One month left and there's three short work weeks of the four because of Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. Ready to get off active duty; just not sure exactly what is next. have a lot to do to get back into school. I've been dragging my feet a little. Time to get really working on it. Need to get all my old transcripts together and figure out if I can even register for January.
This weekend was my unit's formal Marine Corps Birthday Ball. I got assigned to M.C. the event for the fourth time in a row which I was really hoping NOT to do, but it still ended up being the most fun that I've ever had at the Ball.
Got all fancified and dressed up in my Blues.
supposed to wear a plain white T-shirt under the uniform, but I wasn't havin' that.
This weekend was my unit's formal Marine Corps Birthday Ball. I got assigned to M.C. the event for the fourth time in a row which I was really hoping NOT to do, but it still ended up being the most fun that I've ever had at the Ball.
Got all fancified and dressed up in my Blues.
supposed to wear a plain white T-shirt under the uniform, but I wasn't havin' that.
did my speaking gig and the ceremony went off well. Sat at a table with some guys who had gone on the NATO mission with me (most of my unit spent most of this year guarding Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province while I got sent out to train Afghan Security Forces)
also had some of the Military Police that went to the NATO mission with us. They drove down all the way from Minnesota just to hang out and celebrate the year that we had.
These guys are crazy. Fun enough just to have their Minnesotan/North Dakotan accents in a room full of Texans and their accents! We headed out from the hotel to 6th street in downtown Austin. Stopped to get gas and do the "Wiggle" at cars passing by. We actually did the Wiggle quite a bit over the course of the evening.
What is the Wiggle?
Well:
Youtube link
yeah.... a lot of that. in Dress Blues. Had a great time out on 6th. We were warned that it might not be the best atmosphere downtown with UT having a home game against Tech and they were expecting a lot of rowdiness downtown, but it actually turned out to a great time. Lots of shots and drinks were bought. Some for us, which is always kind of weird, but awesome.
I had more to drink than I've had since I've been back. I am not entirely sure how we made it back to the hotel, but we did. Paying for it today, but I feel mostly recovered, and anyway it was totally worth it.
so yeah. good times. enjoying Austin. still it's going to be nice to get back home next weekend to hang with the roomies and my little ewok-faced friend.
also: 2 more comments and I hit 13,000! wooo! I am a comment posting MACHEEN!
Had a great weekend full of all kinds of fun with my friends.
Took a motorcycle ride down the back roads on the motorcycle. Got to visit my favorite road between here and there.
Had a good group of my roommates' friends over Friday night from when they used to work at and hang out at a karaoke bar and they sang through the night until the sun came up. Got a late start on Saturday cause of that but we had another late night staying up with friends playing Quelf. That is a FUN game. Great for just being ridiculous with your friends.
Got up early this morning and headed out with my roommates and their friend and her teenage boys to meet go to a range and teach them how to shoot and get some trigger time on some pistols and rifles. We had a 9mm, a couple of 1911 style .45s and a few AR platforms, including a full auto rig with a suppressor. Was fun and interesting to be teaching that kind of stuff again.
Headed back up to Austin and my friends came up with me and we had part two of our "Zombie Apocalypse Training"
and went to the haunted house at the House of Torment
now sitting in my hotel room going over stuff for work tomorrow, but feeling like I made the most of my weekend. Hope you all had a good one too!
Beware of Zombie Pirates...
Took a motorcycle ride down the back roads on the motorcycle. Got to visit my favorite road between here and there.
Had a good group of my roommates' friends over Friday night from when they used to work at and hang out at a karaoke bar and they sang through the night until the sun came up. Got a late start on Saturday cause of that but we had another late night staying up with friends playing Quelf. That is a FUN game. Great for just being ridiculous with your friends.
Got up early this morning and headed out with my roommates and their friend and her teenage boys to meet go to a range and teach them how to shoot and get some trigger time on some pistols and rifles. We had a 9mm, a couple of 1911 style .45s and a few AR platforms, including a full auto rig with a suppressor. Was fun and interesting to be teaching that kind of stuff again.
Headed back up to Austin and my friends came up with me and we had part two of our "Zombie Apocalypse Training"
and went to the haunted house at the House of Tormentnow sitting in my hotel room going over stuff for work tomorrow, but feeling like I made the most of my weekend. Hope you all had a good one too!
Beware of Zombie Pirates...
Had a great week off now that we are back in Texas.
Got detached from the NATO mission and reattached with my company and flew back into Austin. They had a contingent of Austin Police and Freedom Guard of locals on Harleys and Hondas and a few other bikes to escort the buses back to base.
The Police cleared the highway the whole way back to base and we pulled in to a bunch of family and friends waiting for us.
They dismissed us pretty quickly and a good friend of mine picked me up to drive me back to San Antonio for a week to relax. Had Grrr sitting on the dashboard while I changed out of my uniform in the car. :p
Spent most of the week hanging out with my roommates and being lazy.
We went down to the lake to get some sun with the dogs.
We went out for good food and drinks.
We stayed in for drinks!
I went and caught a college football game downtown. University of Texas, San Antonio is having their first ever season of football and it was a fun game even though they lost in double overtime.
Went out to a club Saturday night and got crazy with a bunch of friends and then spent most of Sunday being lazy and recovering.
But now it's back to work. Drove the motorcycle back up to Austin in the rain on Sunday afternoon. And now it's back to work. Things are mostly administrative with random bullshit thrown in for fun. Sooo back to my "home" for the next couple months. It's cozy....
but it's missing something.
Got detached from the NATO mission and reattached with my company and flew back into Austin. They had a contingent of Austin Police and Freedom Guard of locals on Harleys and Hondas and a few other bikes to escort the buses back to base.
The Police cleared the highway the whole way back to base and we pulled in to a bunch of family and friends waiting for us.
They dismissed us pretty quickly and a good friend of mine picked me up to drive me back to San Antonio for a week to relax. Had Grrr sitting on the dashboard while I changed out of my uniform in the car. :p
Spent most of the week hanging out with my roommates and being lazy.
We went down to the lake to get some sun with the dogs.
We went out for good food and drinks.
We stayed in for drinks!
I went and caught a college football game downtown. University of Texas, San Antonio is having their first ever season of football and it was a fun game even though they lost in double overtime.
Went out to a club Saturday night and got crazy with a bunch of friends and then spent most of Sunday being lazy and recovering.
But now it's back to work. Drove the motorcycle back up to Austin in the rain on Sunday afternoon. And now it's back to work. Things are mostly administrative with random bullshit thrown in for fun. Sooo back to my "home" for the next couple months. It's cozy....
but it's missing something.
from early yesterday morning:
So home. And so glad for it! Spending the next few days unpacking and visiting with family and just taking it easy before I go back into work next week for admin stuff. Going to hang around on active duty and get that paycheck for the rest of the year and then we'll see from there.
So home. And so glad for it! Spending the next few days unpacking and visiting with family and just taking it easy before I go back into work next week for admin stuff. Going to hang around on active duty and get that paycheck for the rest of the year and then we'll see from there.
One more insane week of getting everybody thru all the administrative hoops and on a plane back to Texas. Will have the last group of our guys back in the US by the end of the weekend. Then back to Texas with some time off and then doing I don't know what until my active time is up. For the time being I'm mostly hanging out in a squad bay, working out, doing all manner of weapons and gear inventories, and watching a lot of Scrubs.
A wild weekend spent driving up to LA with some other Sergeants to watch the University of Texas play UCLA at the Rose Bowl. The plan was to head back to base after the game. Yeeeeeeeaaaah...that didnt happen. Ended up in Old Town Pasadena until 2am and somehow managed to make it into a hotel room on the 12th floor of the Wilshire downtown. UT won, we had a LOT to drink and some good crazy times at Barney's....now I just need to recover from all the behaving badly. 
Back at work after an awesome Labor Day weekend up in the Bay Area visiting good friends. Spent good time with datsun and her new little family. Her little monkey is adorable and it was great to meet the guy.
Had a lot of fun hanging out with her and her partner and the extended family, watching goofy movies, watching lil dude, and just generally making a lazy weekend of it.
Also got to hang out with Throttlebitch and z3nbyte at their amazing house. It was mind blowing to see all the work that's put into it. Good times and non-work appropriate conversation!
Oh and the food...my gods...the FOOD! No matter where I was, I was well fed. My body might be in San Diego for now, but my heart and my stomach are still firmly in San Francisco!
everything from fresh grilled lamb to steak cooked over a campfire to z3nbyte's incredible apple pie with mini cinnamon buns on top of it!!! to the freshest of fresh cooked breakfasts. and sushi dinner with datsun and her girl and lil guy that last night in town. mmmmmmmm! I also got a day to walk around in San Francisco. Had breakfast at the new Rudie Can't Fail in downtown Oakland and then BART'd over to wander down Market and over to my favorite park in the city, Buena Vista. It's just up Haight from Golden Gate and it goes up the side of a huge hill for great views (hence the name!) over the city and bay.
ok....PICTURES!
