August 28
Another Sunday which mean another week down and 20ish weeks left. I made another trip to the bizarre today. I decided to pick up a few Christmas presents and fill a request for something that is Afghanistan-like. I think I may have to avoid going back, because I love to wheel and deal and it is actually in their culture to haggle. In fact it is very rude to not try to talk them down. Our house appears to have survived the hurricane with the exception of a power outage. Our friends that housesit for us definitely hold up their end of the bargain. Today was filled with recovery from my late night (it’s sad that staying up to 1230 requires a recovery day), shopping, laundry, and relaxing. I have a lot of reading to do for my course, so I’ll be forcing myself to study. I want to take my next test around September 7. Let’s hope this next week goes by as fast as this one did.
August 29
I’m starting to realize the end of each month is going to bore me to death. It’s nice to have a job where you know what you have to do each month and having a deadline of the 25th of each month to do it. The good news of that is you can work your own schedule as long as you get the job done. Of course the negative about it is that there is a natural dead space between the 25th and the 1st. It does give me time to take care of little odds and ends and to study my military course.
I finally went to the corpsman about my shoulder. It has been bothering me for about three weeks. I was trying to just rest it but that didn’t work. When I walked in the first question he asked me was “How long has it been bothering you?” My reply of three weeks got a good rolling of the eyes and being told I should have come in early. When I answered that I was scared he would tell me I couldn’t work out his reply was simply that was a possibility. After examining me it was determined that I either strained a muscle in my shoulder or tore my rotator cuff. He gave me some Motrin (like any good military doctor), an ice/heat pack, and told me to come back in a few days when the Motrin runs out. Funny thing is that the gel ice/heat pack only works if you have a refrigerator or microwave and I have neither. I was told I could still workout, but no shoulders and don’t do anything that hurts. Most of us in the military joke about always being prescribed Motrin, but for the most part the pain has gone away. That is apparently a good sign that I only strained it and the inflammation was subsiding. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Fitness Update: I waited for a couple days before I said it out loud, but I am finally under 200 lbs. I’m 198 to be exact which means I have lost 17 pounds since I got here. I don’t think I look much different, but a couple people said I looked like I dropped a couple. I hit a plateau at 205 before I took my binge week at Bagram. After reading a couple fitness sites I found out that if you are really working out hard and stop losing that time off can help because your body can actually recover. Maybe that’s what I needed.
August 30
Nothing really to talk about today. Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.
August 31
Last night or early this morning I woke up to an unusual sound. It was the sound of rain. I hadn’t seen more than a faint drizzle since I have been here. Apparently it rained pretty hard last night and that was the first rain in over four months. It was such a nice feeling to walk outside and have that crisp feel in the air after a rain. It also cut the dust way down and cooled the place off. It was a nice morning and day to be outside.
I spent a lot of today getting ready for the month of September. I’ll have a pretty busy first half of the month, but if all goes well my end of the month shouldn’t be too bad. I have my audits to do and need to get ready for a visit from one of our DCMA North Afghanistan leadership later this month. Nothing too major to be ready for that visit besides making sure a room is ready for her.
As I look at my watch I see that today is August 31. I have been gone from home for exactly two months. It has been a difficult two months, but between Skype, receiving pictures and videos, and talking to Jenn it hasn’t been nearly as bad as it could be. Emma is getting so big and strong. I’ve watched her eat her first solid food. She has really started to interact with me over the computer and I think that helps me in a big way. Jenn is preparing to go to Florida and will be there the rest of the year. Although I know we have good friends and she has a great support system in Massachusetts, I think I’ll feel even more comfortable with her in Florida. Emma will get to spend all kinds of time with her three living grandparents and one of her great grandmothers. I’m sure Emma will get all kinds of spoiled while she is there. I guess I’ll have to come home and break all the bad habits she forms while she is there. I think the long visit will be good for everyone involved. Two months down and a little over four months to go.
September 1
Today was a rainy, wet, and chilly day. It’s very unusual to see mud puddles all over the ground. The ground is so dry and hard that the water doesn’t absorb into the ground. I was able to overcome the laziness that a day like this brings. I got some work done and had a pretty good workout. The tent that holds all the cardio equipment was super humid. It felt like I was running through a hot, humid Florida swamp.
Today at dinner three of us were sitting around talking about how we met our wives. Two of us are married and the third guy was curious about when we knew we were going to marry our wives. A conversation like that really makes me feel lucky to have met Jenn. I can’t think of one thing I would change about her or us. We are a perfect match. I’m lucky that we had a mutual friend that knew we would click. And click we did.
August 2 & 3
I skipped writing about August 2, because all I would have done is mentioned that it was steak and lobster for dinner which means another week is over. As for August 3, the big addition was the start of college football season. I’m not a big college football fan, because the start of their season really just means one more week until the NFL season. That being said it’s nice to have something else to help this place feel like home. Of course the time change makes it a little difficult to enjoy. Games didn’t really start until almost 9pm here. Just like with the NFL games, I’ll get to see the beginning of the early games and the end of the latest games. I’ll have to adjust my sleep schedule when certain teams (Buccaneers) and games are on TV. I know Jenn is super excited because her Seminoles are playing. She has threatened to dress my poor innocent daughter in an FSU cheerleading outfit. I hope my baby doesn’t have to suffer through that.
August 4
It’s official. I am 33% done with my deployment. Being a third done is a nice milestone. My day was productive filled with actual work along with doing laundry. I worked out as usual, but am definitely still feeling the pain in my shoulder. I go back to the doctor tomorrow, so we’ll see what he says. I’m worried the answer will be not working out which means I could lose a lot of the progress I have made since I arrived. If they think it’s a rotator cuff issue then I’ll probably get sent to someone else. I guess I should have gone to the doctor for it a few weeks ago when it happened. I’ll never learn.
Nineteen weeks until I’m home and will be with my lovely wife and beautiful daughter. To me I thought that sounded like a short time. Jenn pointed out that she was on bedrest for 20 weeks and it felt like forever. Now the race to 50%!
Jenn did dress my poor Emma in Seminole outfits for the first day of college football season. Although it sickened me a little, my little girl was as cute as she could be.
FITNESS UPDATE: I think I need to be happy with being 200lbs. As soon as I told everyone I got under 200, I went back to 202lbs. I feel good and way stronger, so I can live with that. A friend of mine asked me what my fitness goal was and it’s simply being a good example for Emma. I want her to grow up healthy and active and that won’t happen if her parents don’t show her how.
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