Stone Mountain and Nothing

Yesterday Robbie stayed with Kati, the German wife of one of my coworkers. She’s really nice and Robbie did well at her house. The reason for that was that Ryan is out of town for a living history event this weekend and I had a concert in Stone Mountain, GA, – about 3 hours away. The bus ride there was pretty uneventful and the concert itself went really well. The crowd wasn’t really into it, but at least we sounded good! Stone Mountain Park is a beautiful place, and I want to go back some Saturday with Ryan and Robbie and see everything there. I slept most of the way back as my throat was REALLY hurting after playing the whole concert. I even sat out one song (1SG covered my part for me) because it was hurting so much. We got back to post a little before midnight and got the truck unloaded. Then I went and picked Robbie up and came home. I finally got to bed about 2:30, but I don’t think I slept very well.

This morning I took Robbie to the ER with me because my throat was still hurting bad and Robbie’s runny nose had turned from clear to yellow/green. We hardly had to wait at all, which is amazing for the ER on post. Usually you have to wait for 2-3 hours before you get seen. The doctor that saw us was really nice and he went into the computer system to find out my lab results. They all came back negative, so that’s a good thing. Basically Robbie and I just have pretty bad colds. He prescribed some medicine for each of us and also gave me a “no-blow” profile for 3 days. That means I can’t play my horn. Because of that, I couldn’t do the Red, White, & Blue Ceremony this evening and I won’t be playing in the ceremony Monday morning. I got more reading done for my class today, and also some stitching. I’ll be off to bed in a little bit now.

Quarters

Well, I was on quarters yesterday afternoon and today. I’ve had a sore throat for a few days and went to the doctor yesterday. He tested for strep, mono, and one other thing and said he would call me today with the lab results. Well, he never called, so I don’t know what (if anything) I have. It still hurts to swallow.
I did enjoy my day home with Robbie though. We even napped together this morning – on the floor in the living room. I was laying on the floor while he was playing and pretty soon he came and snuggled next to me and went to sleep. I was able to reach a blanket that was nearby and covered both of us up and I went to sleep too. Woke up about an hour and a half later with two big blue eyes peering at me! We had some lunch after that (oh, that was his second nap of the morning) and then played for a while. Then he was getting sleepy again so I put him in his crib and he napped for another 2 hours. During his naps when I wasn’t sleeping, I read a little of my textbook for my class and got some stitching done.
When Ryan got home from work, he played with Robbie while I made dinner (grilled cheese and fries). Then it was bath time and bedtime for Robbie and then I got a little more stitching done. I’m off to bed now. . .

Organizational Behavior

Well, my first night of class was last night. I’m taking Organizational Behavior. The course catalog description says: Course provides an introduction to the evolution of theories of human behavior in organizations with emphasis on modern concepts of organization and behavior of individuals, groups and the organization in the global business environment.
I didn’t have my textbook yet, but there were others in the same boat as I. Pretty much everything we discussed went right over my head as I hadn’t read the materials yet, but I took notes and our instructor also posts her power point presentation on the website we have (it’s called Blackboard), so I printed that out. When I sit down to read everything tomorrow I think it will make more sense. It was pretty interesting despite being over my head. We did form our small groups that we’ll be working in throughout the term for several assignments including our research project. There are 5 people in my group – 3 black females, a white male, and myself. All 4 of them have taken at least one class already, so I’m in a good group. Our instructor made sure that all the “first-termers” were in groups with some of the “older” students.
Speaking of “older”, there really isn’t any older, older students in my class. Most seem to be in their 20’s and 30’s. There may be a couple that are older, but I don’t know for sure. There are 29 registered for the class, but I think only about 24 or 25 were there last night. Our instructor is really nice, and she’s also my degree adviser. I think we’re split about 50/50 male/female. I don’t really know for sure – I sat up front and I don’t have eyes in the back of my head.

I’ll be sure and keep you updated over the next 8 weeks. . .

A Day Off!

Robbie and I got to spend the day together today. I had a comp day for working on Saturday. It sure was nice having a day off to spend with my son. We had a great day! It started off by sleeping in until about 7 – I even got a shower before Robbie woke up. After he got up and had his breakfast, he played happily on the floor and I checked my e-mail and cross stitch message boards. Then we went “bye-bye”. I had a few places to go, so we went for a car ride – to the cross stitch store, the used book store (to get my text book for my class that starts tomorrow but they had to order the book from another store and it won’t be here until Wednesday), the gym to cancel our membership, and the day care center to bring a check to pay for the week. Robbie giggled and talked most of the way – until the end when he was getting sleepy and took short naps in between stops. After we got home, we had lunch and played for a while. Then he went down for a nap and I got some computer work done (a letter and the minutes from our last neighborhood association meeting) as well as some stitching. He woke up around 3:15 or so and had his afternoon snack and then we played until Ryan got home from work. Then we went to the Post Office to mail a couple of packages and then home again. I got dinner (meatloaf) started while Ryan played with Robbie. After dinner was bathtime for Robbie – so much fun to watch!! And then bedtime. Ryan and I watched some Tivo and I stitched and he read the newspaper. Just about time for bed now, and then it’s back to work tomorrow.

Oops – PT Test – Forgot to tell about it

I took a diagnostic PT test Tuesday morning and did very well on it. I improved in each event from my last test, and in HUGE ways! I did 43 pushups (up from 35), 65 situps (up from 60), and ran the 2 miles in 17:20 (down from 19:38). My total score went from a 220 to a 260. The reason I had another test so soon is because I’ve been scheduled for the Basic Noncommissioned Officers Course and I have to take a diagnostic test monthly until I go. I plan on taking a record next month and hopefully get my 270 so I’ll be on the incentive program and not have to go in the mornings if I don’t want to.

Back to Jackson. . .

Yesterday was our joint concert with the Ft. Jackson (SC) Band, and it was at Ft. Jackson as part of their Armed Forces’ Day celebration. Ryan was there with his living history group as well, and Emily stayed with Robbie. It was really nice being back at Ft. Jackson – that was my first duty station. The band hall has changed some, but it’s still pretty much the same. And the post itself hasn’t changed all that much. I didn’t get to see a whole lot of it, but it was good to be back at my old “home” for a little while. The concert went really well even though there wasn’t much of an audience – maybe 50 or 75 people. It was nice playing with a 60 piece band for a change, instead of our usual about 30. We even got a free lunch before the concert. The Ft. Jackson band did a BBQ and invited us and any of our family members that had come along (about half our band drove to the gig, including me) to eat with them! That was really nice of them. I’d like to see us do joint concerts more often with them.

We missed church today. There was a joint service at 10:30 due to our spring congregational meeting, but we didn’t remember that it was at 10:30 until we were getting ready to go for 11, when our normal service is. We still went out and got our weekly grocery shopping done, though. And then in the afternoon I went to a baby shower for Melody, the wife of one of my co-workers who had a BIG (9 pounds, 14 ounces) baby boy on Mother’s Day. That was a lot of fun, but everyone else that was there asked where my guys were. They were invited too, but they stayed home. Robbie was napping when I left. It was a lot of fun, and I even won the one game that we played! Once I got home from there, Ryan and I watched the NASCAR race that we had Tivo’ed last night because we were too tired to watch it then and I got a bunch of stitching done.

Travis Tritt

Ryan and I went out on a date tonight. Emily from church babysat Robbie. We went to the Hot Southern Night concert here in Augusta and saw Shooter Jennings, Jimmie Wayne, and Travis Tritt. It was a pretty good concert (not that I have any to compare it to) despite the rain today. Things got started about 1/2 hour or so late because they were still doing sound check because of rain earlier and they couldn’t get the stuff set up. The best part was that our tickets were free thanks to me winning them from our local country radio station last week!!

Other than that, this has been a pretty blah week. We went to Ft. Jackson on Wednesday and Thursday for joint rehearsals with them. That was neat being back at my old stomping ground – Ft. Jackson was my first duty station. A lot of things in the band hall have changed since I was there, but change is good most of the time.

Well, I’m tired – been up since a little after 4 this morning because a certain young’un of mine decided to wake up and be hungry. We went back to sleep for a little bit, but not much. I’ll be back tomorrow night to report on the joint concert.

Back to School

Well, I registered for my first class for my Masters Degree today. I’ll be taking Organizational Behavior. It will be meeting on Tuesday evenings, beginning next week and going through the middle of July. The degree I’m working towards is Master of Science in Management with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness. How’s that for a mouthful? I’ll be getting my degree from Troy University.

That was about the highlight of my day. We had drill band (marching band) this morning because our commander didn’t think we sounded or looked very good for our parade on Saturday. We disagreed, but who are we to argue with the commander? After that was done, we had time to work in our offices or practice. I did some of each. Then after lunch (which I spent with Robbie, as usual), we went over the results of an in-house survey we took last week – one to see how the climate of the unit was. Everything seems to be going well, and the commander has some idea now of our feelings and thoughts. Then I went to register for my class. After Ryan got home and changed, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was ok, but I think we’ll stick to the Olive Garden when we want Italian. I’m eating some watermelon now and I’ll be going to be shortly.

Caller Number 9

As I was driving downtown to a job this afternoon (we had the job rehearsal this morning and then were off until the job that I decided to drive directly to instead of going all the way out to Post first), I was listening to the local country station as I always do in my car. Well, the dj said that if you were caller number 9 you would win a pair of tickets to Hot Southern Nights – a country concert that will be in town next Friday night. So on a whim (I can NEVER get through to this radio station) I tried calling. The station’s phone number is speed dial 40 on my phone, so it was pretty easy. It RANG! I got a message that said “You are caller number 4. Please hang up and try again.” Ok, so I hang up and wait a few seconds and called again. It rang AGAIN! And a live person answered and said “Congratulations! You are called number9!” HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! I won tickets to a concert! So Ryan and I will be having a date night next Friday evening and Robbie will have a babysitter – one of the girls from church.

Other than that, my week was pretty uneventful. We had rehearsals (joint one with the Ft. Jackson Band on Tuesday) and I practiced in the afternoons and worked in my training and/or reenlistment offices. Today’s gig was the first one all week that I had to do – there were a couple Brass Quintet or Jazz Combo gigs, but I’m not in those groups.

Robbie is doing great at day care. He had a first today, but you’ll have to go to his webpage to read about it. Ryan’s still working hard and not getting paid nearly enough for the amount of work he does. But at least it’s a second income.

I guess that’s it for today. I’m tired and heading off to bed.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

I had a wonderful day. My guys let me sleep in this morning. Ryan got up with Robbie about 7 and I slept until 8. Yay! And then when I came out of the bedroom, Robbie all but dove at me saying “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma”!!! What a great way to wake up. Church was nice and I got 2 red carnations from the youth group. Grocery shopping was. . . We do that every week after church. I called my Grandma and my Mom and chatted with each for a while (and got to talk to my Dad, too). Ryan was going to grill hamburgers for dinner, but our grill was out of gas so he did them in my electric frying pan instead. They were still pretty good! He had fries with his and I had some steamed broccoli with cheese. Once Robbie went to bed, I sat down and got some stitching done. Lunches for tomorrow are made and I’m doing my last e-mail and message board check before heading off to bed.