How I missed Thee
I haven't blogged in a while, for which I sincerely apologize - both to my two readers and myself, because I told myself that I would keep up a blog to record things as they pass. There are really two primary reasons why I've not been blogging a lot lately.
The first reason is that I've finally been talked into setting up a Facebook account, and I've actually been having a lot of fun with it. Facebook is not set up to do a whole lot of things well - for example, it's a horrible platform for blogging, and if you're interested in making your page pretty, it probably isn't a good place to be, either - but what it does do is provide an easy way to keep in touch with people, post photos, and post brief updates and bookmarks. And those things, Facebook does well.
As a result, I've been wasting a whole heck of a lot of time on Facebook. I post random thoughts and brief notes, links to websites I find interesting, and comment on my friends' posts. When I find a funny picture or something else I want to share, I put it on Facebook. I've found some old friends, added my coworkers at the museum, and helped build a Facebook page for the museum, too. It's been fun.
The other reason has been my schedule. Now that I am gone most of the day, everyday, it's a lot harder to find the time to blog, draw, and do a lot of other things I used to do when my schedule was a lot more open.
My current schedule has me getting up just after five in the morning, so that Trueman and I can both be on base by seven. He needs to be there for formation, and I need to be there because we share a ride (and because we only own one car).
I head straight to the gym, which is across the street from his offices, and usually play volleyball between seven and eight. I've found two groups of people who come in for PT every morning and play volleyball, and I've consistently played decently enough not to be chosen last for any games. I'm getting a lot better, too, since starting out. The first two weeks, my arms were all bruised from digging the ball, and I sprained my thumb setting it, but I'm getting used to it now. I make a fair receiver and an okay setter, but I'm pretty useless at the net, being only 5'5", as I can barely even touch the top of the net with my hand when jumping.
After volleyball, I tend to hang out at the front desk for a bit, helping them fold towels, before I head into the weight room for some lifting. I do most of the machines or free weights, depending on how busy it is, and what I feel like concentrating on. The really annoying part is that I've been going for two months now, every weekday morning (save a few), and I've not lost any weight at all.
Around nine-ish, I go shower, change, and then walk over to the museum, which is two streets from the gym and easy to get to. At first, I always ended up sitting outside, waiting for either the curator or one of the WTU soldiers who are assigned to work at the museum to show up with the keys, but now that I have the keys to both the building and the museum, as well as the card for the security system, I can go straight in. Some days I go in early so I can check my email and surf the web a bit - which I probably could during work as well, if it's a slow day (nobody would mind) - but it's hard to type when you've got people talking to you or stuff going on.
Three days a week, I am one of two people in the museum who were background checked to be the mentor to a girl who is participating in the base's "Hired" program, which pairs high school kids with a job that they are interested in. Our high schooler is actually home schooled and while she's a very nice girl, she tends to be a bit annoying as she both talks and sings to herself while working, and likes to take time out of her project to look over my shoulder while I am working on mine.
Around five, I get off work, lock up the museum since I am usually the last one there, and head over to Trueman's office from where we head home. I tend to be in bed by about nine, or I won't get enough sleep to be fully functional the next day.
I will be applying for a different job in the very near future at the recommendation of the museum curator, who wants me to get the other job. Not because he doesn't like me where I am at, but because it will be mutually beneficial to him if I get it. The job I am after is for a graphic designer, and I would be doing things such as creating signs, posters, and the like, for the base. I like to think I'm qualified for it, and they've seen some of my work that I've done for the museum, but it is a job I have no real training or education in, and that I've only ever worked freelance. Hopefully, my references will gush about my work sufficiently to get me hired.
...
Speaking of graphic design, I will be showing either my artwork or my photography (or a little of both) at the Arts and Crafts Center on base in the month of December. I'm very much looking forward to it, because it may give me a chance to sell some of my work after I am done showing it, but I have to put out a fair amount of money to mat and frame my work for it to be hung in the gallery. I guess I will see how that goes.
...
Little Ratchet turned 1 year old on 31 October - he's a Halloween kitty and was originally named "Pumpkin" since he's orange and born around Halloween - and he's getting to be a big snuggle bug. He loves to bother me when I'm on the computer, and he also loves keeping Trueman and I awake at night by chasing after his big brother Finn. Those two have turned out to be a very good match and are always up to no good.
...
On Halloween, we spent most the day getting our shopping done. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to get dressed up, I wore both my dog ears and tail, which got a lot of looks at the different stores we went to, and equally as many smiles. I did make one little kid burst into tears, and another hide behind her mom, yelling, "Oh no, it's a wolf!" As I normally make little kids burst into tears (if I'm within 30 feet of a child, it will throw a tantrum!) I figured that was actually less of a tantrum than I normally provoke.
That night, we headed to one of the local restaurant-bars, Mullin's (that is not a misplaced hyphen - the family's last name is Mullin, not Mullins), for the costume party. Trueman wore one of his vintage Cold War uniforms, and I dug through my closet and wore a mixture of traditional Eastern European and German clothing. To be exact, I wore an embroidered Russian blouse and wool shawl with a German dirndl and apron. It looked pretty nice, actually, authenticity aside.
We had a good time at Mullin's. The owner, Tina, didn't recognize us at first, but once she did, congratulated us on our front-page article in the local newspaper (they did a story on our two Therapy Dogs that Friday) and asked us why we didn't bring the dogs along with us, as they are always welcome at her place.
Shortly thereafter, my Primary Care Provider showed up at the bar, very much in search of a date since he has been "divorced and without a woman for eight months", and asked me to introduce him to any of my female friends (which I don't have...). You'd think it wouldn't be that hard for a doctor to find someone to date. Of course, being a small-town doctor, his pickup line would need to be, "Aren't you one of my patients?" Thing is, he's not nearly as smooth with the ladies as he thinks he is ...
Figuring he would pay me a nice compliment, he told me that I "look so much better with my head covered." (I was wearing a scarf, since my short hair looked odd with the traditional folk costume. I tried to make it look like I had long hair, hidden under a scarf.) Oy. But then again, he is Lebanese and Muslim ... maybe that is a compliment to him.
...
On Sunday, I headed out into the pasture to see the ponies and was greeted by this. Ugh. It takes about three hours just to get those thistles out of their manes and tails, and it requires two people to do it. And the next day, they look just like that again. I ended up leaving them that way. Dirty rotten ponies!
...
We've finally received the settlement letter for our moving claim, which was adjusted through CAT (Claims Adjustment Technology) in California.
I'm not entirely happy with our CAT experience, as their online claims form asks for some information you first have to go hunt down by a series of phone calls, and then does not give you the option to submit a lot of information about the items that were lost or damaged. They did send a fellow out to inspect the damage, and they did ask for a letter of appraisal for what was missed, but really did not want or care for too much information, which was a bit annoying from my point of view, since I wanted them to understand the rarity and difficulty of replacing the items that were lost, as well as the differences in value when it comes to replacing collectible uniforms.
In the end, they settled with the moving company for just under $5,000. I am not sure how they arrived at this number, and some of the items they gave full value for just made me raise an eyebrow. For example, they are giving full value for my desk chair, the legs of which were scratched up, but they are only giving a $160 repair value for the mattress which has four torn corners and a big rip. They're giving nothing for the mirror they lost because it wasn't specifically itemized on the inventory list, although most items were not specifically itemized. So it's anyone's guess how they figured what they would reimburse for and what not.
At any rate, the check is in the mail and we should have it this week.




