One of three

Today was a pretty boring day. We talked about various aspects of Strategic Airlift stuff today. It was all stuff that we talked about in my Airload Planner Course a couple of months ago. It was a good review, but I probably could have missed today and not missed a thing. Well, they did post our exam scores and overall averages so far. I’m one of three left that still has a 100% average for the course! I stitched at lunch for about a half hour and then I took a 20 minute nap. It was a sleepy day. We were done with class about 1415 and I changed into my running clothes and went for a 5 mile run at the Calcium Trail. It was hot again. Why do I always run on the hot days? It did feel good to run, though. Then it was off to pick Robbie up from day care and then to the grocery store to buy stuff for supper. We had chef salads since it was too hot to cook. We had lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, ham, turkey, and cheese, and Robbie and I also added alfalfa sprouts and mushrooms. They were good. We played outside for a while after supper, and then when Robbie was in bed, I took a shower and then crocheted a pair of flip flops.

High: 83
Low: 61

Rail Operations

My morning started off rushed yet again as I slept through my “go run” alarm yet again. I woke up at 0700 yet again. But I managed to get Robbie to daycare and me to class on time. We met at the classroom and then headed to the rail yard for some hands-on experience. We loaded 2 trucks onto a rail car and got to practice tying them down. They’re tied down with chains and it’s not really that hard – just lots of work. I can’t imagine doing several hundred vehicles. Once we got the vehicles untied and off the car, we headed back to the classroom for a review and then our 3rd exam. This one gave me problems, and I took the whole hour that we were given. There was one question that I just could not find the answer to, but I made a logical guess and I ended up being right. I got another 100% on it, so out of 400 possible points for the course, I have 300 so far! One test to go on Thursday. We were done after the test – about 1:15, so I came home for a while and got some stuff done on the computer – e-mails sent, message boards checked, etc. Then I went and got Robbie from daycare and headed to the chiropractor. Then it was a stop at Burger King for supper on our way home. Once home, we went out and drew all over the sidewalks with chalk. That was a lot of fun! Once Robbie was in bed, I chatted with my brother for a bit online and then stitched and watched TV.

Off to bed now. I WILL GET UP AND RUN IN THE MORNING. . .

High: 81
Low: 56

Where did the weekend go?

Well, it’s Sunday evening again. And once again my weekend was way too short. We slept in until about 8:30 this morning and then got ready and headed to church. After church we went to Staples so Ryan could a fax and then it was a quick stop at the grocery store and then home for lunch. While Robbie was napping this afternoon, I read some newspapers and stitched some. After Robbie woke up, we played. I made french toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage for supper, and then we went for our weekly walk to the ice cream place. Their vanilla soft serve was REALLY soft tonight, so we got dishes instead of cones. It was almost nicer that way! Then we walked home and played for a bit more before Robbie went to bed. After folding a batch of laundry, I sat down with my stitching and called Mom & Dad, as I do every Sunday evening.

High: 80
Low: 63

New windshield, another county fair, and pictures

I sooooooooooo slept through my alarm this morning, so I didn’t get my 15 mile run in. I’d say this week was pretty much a bust for training, but I’ve still got a little over 3 months until the marathon. I’ll just adjust my schedule a little, and do 15 next week instead of 20 and then 20 the week after. I really need to start getting to bed earlier. I finally woke up about 9 and we had to rush a little to get ready in time. We needed to leave about 9:45 for my 10:30 van appointment in Watertown to get my windshield replaced. Several days ago a construction dump truck kicked a pretty good sized rock onto my windshield and it left a spider crack about the size of a half dollar. I already had 3 tiny rock dings, so I decided it was time to replace it. I have windshield replacement through my insurance company, and no deductible on it so we didn’t have to pay anything.

Once we were done at the glass place, we decided to head out to Gouverneur and go to the Gouvernour & St. Lawrence County Fair. It was about a 45+ minute drive out there, but I had my stitching. We stopped at KFC for lunch on our way. The fair was pretty nice, but the home crafts section didn’t have much of anything. One cross stitch piece and one crochet piece, some knitting, and some quilts. It was still nice to look at though. They did have a lot of animals – sheep, goats, bunnies, chickens, ducks, a goose, and cows. We even got to see part of the showing of the cows. And Robbie got to watch a cow being milked (not by hand, just a portable milking machine). That was pretty neat.

Then we headed home and when we got here, Ryan inflated (we bought a little pump) and filled Robbie’s new pool. He and I went out and played for a while despite COLD water. Robbie had a lot of fun! We’ll get a few small pool toys soon. While we were out there, I also took some pics of him by his “garden”.

Here he is by his corn and peas. . . (the corn was tickling him)

And his tomatoes and more peas. . .

And his sunflowers!

After supper we played for a while and then after Robbie was in bed, I stitched. I might finish the project I’ve been working on tomorrow!

High: 79
Low: 63

Exam 2

After dropping Robbie off at daycare, I headed to class for our 2nd exam. Again it was open-book/open notes and pretty easy. We had an hour and fifteen minutes for this one, and I was the first one done after about 30-40 minutes. I ended up with another 100%! We went to lunch at 1100 and came back at 1230 and then we discussed Rail Operations all afternoon – safety, the different types of rail cars, loading, tying down, etc. Monday morning will be hands-on with that at the Ft. Drum rail yard. After we were done with class, I headed to get gas and then to the MP station to get a new sticker for my window since I’m getting my windshielf replaced tomorrow. I picked Robbie up from daycare and we headed home, planning on going outside and coloring with his chalk. Mother Nature had other plans, though, and we had some thunderstorms and rain. It didn’t rain much, but it did rain pretty hard for a little while. So we played in the house instead and we colored with his “magic” finger paints. They’re a special kind from Crayola, and the paint is clear until applied to the special paper. Robbie thought that was pretty neat, and we made a few paintings. Oh, and we had pizza for supper – Ryan was out golfing with our friend MW. Robbie had a bath and after he was in bed, I stitched and watched Tivo. Ryan got home a little after 8:30 and he and MW had a great time golfing! Off to bed now – 15 miles in the morning. . .

High: 84
Low: 70 (current temp)

Convoy Calculations and 8 miles

Thursdays are garbage days for us, so Robbie and I brought the garbage to the street before we headed out today. I dropped him off at daycare and headed out to my class. We had a convoy operations practical exercise to do – filling out a couple of forms, and lots of calculations. The instructors said it would take us 2-3 hours to complete, and that was all we were doing this morning. I finished mine in a little over an hour. So I picked up my book and started reading, and one of the instructors came up to me and asked if I were finished. I said I was and he said to go to lunch and be back at 1300. So I got almost 2 1/2 hours for lunch – I came home and got to chat with a Canadian friend for a while and did some other things on the computer. After lunch we went over the practical exercises and then talked about TC-ACCIS and TC-AIMS II (TC-ACCIS is the program that is being phased out and being replaced by TC-AIMS II). Ok, so I just sat through 2 weeks of TC-AIMS II, and now I just got another 45 minute “overview” of it. Yay. Once we were done wtih that, we were done for the day – shortly after 1400. So I went and got my running clothes from the car and changed in the bathroom. I went out to the Calcium Trail (a 2 mile marked trail in Calcium, NY – about 2 miles from post) to run 8 miles. It was nice running on something other than pavement or concrete for a change – the Trail is crushed gravel and packed dirt. It was also nice seeing each 1/4 mile and check splits and stuff. I ran in 1:35:55 – a 12 minute per mile pace, but I started out too fast for the amount of heat. Today’s high of 84 was when I was running.

I picked Robbie up on my way home and we played for a little bit before Ryan got home. Then when he got home, we decided to go to the Unicorn for supper. I wasn’t feeling super good and didn’t feel like cooking in the heat. We ordered our usual there – grilled cheese and fries for the guys and egg salad with chips for me. Some day we’re going to walk in there and they’ll just put our order in before they even come to the table. LOL Once we got back from eating, Robbie tried out his new polka-dot chalk that Gramma & Grampa sent him. He made our sidewalk all kinds of colorful! But it was only polka-dot on the outside – it was normal chalk with a “coat” of polka-dots. But it was still fun! Then it was off to bed for him and a shower for me finally. That sure felt good. Then I stitched and watched a Triathlon that I had Tivo’ed.

High: 84
Low: 66

Eyes & Exam 1 & Math

It was an early morning for me and Robbie. We were out of the house before 6 and I dropped him off at daycare on my way to post. I had to drop some paperwork by my office at work on my way, and then I went to Optometry sick call for my 90-day post op checkup. I couldn’t make an appointment like is normally done due to my classes. My right eye is just about at 20/15 and my left eye at about 20/20, so everything is really good. I have a little bit of scarring in my left eye, but it doesn’t really affect my vision at all. I was done by 0715, so I came home for a while and did some stuff on the computer before going back for class at 0900.

We started our day off with our first exam. It was 25 question multiple choice and we had an hour to complete it. And it was open book/open notes. I took the time to look up every answer and was still the 3rd or 4th one done. Once everyone was done, we went over it in class, and I got 100% on it. 19 of the 27 in our class got 100%. How do you not get 100% on an open-book test?? The rest of the day was spent talking about convoys and the paperwork that comes along with them. There’s some math involved in figuring different things, and that’s pretty much what we did all afternoon. It’s not really hard, especially since we can use calculators. The one exercise we did in class took me about 1/2 the time of most everyone else, and I got them all right.

After class, I went to the PX to get new boot blousers for my uniform. Just a note, they’re only a QUARTER a pair at the PX. . . Then I stopped by the supply office at work because I had gotten a phone call from one of the supply guys that he had something for me. It was the frame for my MOLLE – my original one had gotten cracked during our flight home. I also found out that I will most likely be moving to working in Supply when I get done with my classes. They need people in there that will actually work. That’s fine with me – I’ll actually do more good there than I am in Ops since I just do Ops for BQ gigs and we’ve had like 3 since January.

Then it was off to pick Robbie up from daycare and head out to the chiropractors. Ryan met us there like he does now with his new job, and then after we stopped at Taco Bell for supper on our way home. Robbie had mail and he opened it and loved what was in it. He got new jammies from Gramma! Once he was in bed, I finished crocheting one dishcloth and started another one. Time for bed now. . .

High: 84 (summer came back!)
Low: 58

P.S. – Welcome back to the U.S. from a year in Korea PB!!

Day 2 of Boring

Today was another day. Just another day. Nothing spectacular. LOL I dropped Robbie off at daycare on my way to class. At least today wasn’t quite as boring as yesterday – we actually had some practical exercises to work on. The one we did just before lunch must have been hard for most of the class. It was about 11:20 and our instructors said to go to lunch and then we’d get about 10 minutes after lunch to finish up. I finished up the last two questions and got up and left. One other guy left with me and said, “They did say to go to lunch, right?” I said yes, they did. Nobody else in the class left. I always go to the parking lot and eat in my car, and I’d been out there about 10-15 minutes before others started trickling out of the building. I think there were a few that didn’t even go to lunch. The PE wasn’t that hard – just looking stuff up in the reference book we have. So after lunch, I think they gave them more like 15 minutes and then we went over the PE and had a couple more lessons for the rest of the day. Once we were done, I left to go get Robbie and we came home and played outside for about an hour and a half until Ryan got home. Then I made supper and we played a little more and then after Robbie was in bed I crocheted on a dishcloth. Off to bed early tonight – must get more sleep!

High: 71 (I thought this was summer??)
Low: 63

Unit Movement Officer

Today was the start of my Unit Movement Officer course. In this course we’ll learn the how’s and why’s of being a Unit Movement Officer. Hopefully I won’t have to use what I learn in the course; if I do, it means we’re deploying because that’s when UMO comes into play. Today was rather boring. The PowerPoint slide show the instructors have is in our books that we have that we get to keep. I’ve highlighted a few things, but other than that, I didn’t really do anything in class other than try to stay awake. There will be days when we get out of the classroom and do actual hands-on stuff, so that’ll be nice. We did get out at 3 instead of 5, and I ran back into Carthage to meet with a company that made a donation toward my fundraising. They wanted to present the check to me in person, and also do a little article for their company newsletter. I thought that was pretty cool! Then it was off to get Robbie and head out to the chriopractor’s. Ryan met us there. After it was supper at Wendy’s and then home. After Robbie was in bed, I stitched and we finished watching the 2nd Harry Potter movie (we started it last night).

High: 75
Low: 54

14 Miles, Can-Am, Fireworks?, and today – Happy Birthday Ryan!

Yesterday morning I started the day off with a 14 mile run. FOURTEEN miles. That’s farther than I’ve ever run at once before. I got a little slow at the end, but I made it. After a quick shower and grabbing food for in the car, we headed to Sackets Harbor for the Can-Am Festival. The day started with a parade at 11, and what a parade! There were 7 marching bands (including one from Canada), 2 steel drum bands on the back of trucks, and a bagpipe “band”. There were floats and cars and politicians and horses. And firetrucks. All three of us really enjoyed it. After the parade we went and walked down by the boats and there was even one we could go on and walk around the deck. Robbie liked that. They had a craft show, so we went and looked at that, too – lots of jewelry and stuff like that. Our chiropractors had a tent/booth set up as well, so we talked to them for a little bit, too. Then we had hotdogs and nachos for lunch and then headed home. Robbie napped and I felt like napping, too, but I hadn’t been on my computer yet so I checked e-mail and message boards instead. After Robbie woke up, we went to the Golden Unicorn for supper and then back to Sackets Harbor for their fireworks. Out of the 4 we’ve seen (well, 3 for Ryan) this summer, these were at the bottom of the list. First off, they were too far away and the boom was WAY after the firework. And then there were some people standing right near the water – in front of us – so we couldn’t really see them. Even Robbie was bored. The finale was pretty good, though. Robbie and I both fell asleep in the van on the way home, and Ryan carried Robbie up to bed, and I went right upstairs as well.

This morning I got to sleep in until 8:30!! No more Sunday runs for me until marathon day. It sure was nice getting a little extra sleep. We went to church, and had signed up for altar flowers for today in honor of Ryan’s birthday. We got to take them with us after the service. We went to Walmart for a few things and then to Texas Roadhouse for Ryan’s birthday lunch. Of course, I had to tell our server that it was his birthday, so after we were done eating, they brought the saddle over and he had to sit on it and our server announced to the whole place that it was his birthday, and then he got a big “Yeehaw”. On our way home, we stopped at the highrise here in town (don’t remember if it’s assisted living or just really low income housing for older people or like a nursing home or what) and I brought the flowers in for the residents to enjoy. It turned out they were having a birthday party so they were appreciated. During Robbie’s naptime, I got my registration form for the Kickin’ Cancer 5K done (click the link if you would like to see it) and then I went grocery shopping.

I made spaghetti for supper – both my guys really liked that – and then we did our weekly walk to the ice cream place. Oh, before we ate supper, Ryan opened his birthday presents and cards. After we got home from ice cream, we got Robbie to bed and then folded clothes. Then I called home to Mom & Dad and I stitched some. Off to bed now – back to school tomorrow.

High: 78
Low: 53