Sunday, March 21, 2010

Week in Review 14 to 21 March

Thankfully, my wife made it back to Okinawa on Saturday night. She's glad to be "home," and I'm glad she's here. I think that my kids were growing weary of my cooking, if you can really call it that. My greatest culinary success was probably the night I went to Taco Bell.

My son had two track meets this week. On Friday he ran the 3,000 meter, and Saturday morning he ran the 1,500 and the 800. He did well in all three events. He wasn't first, but he wasn't last. He worked hard, and he improved over his times from last week. It's good to see him getting better.

We had a power outage at work, and I had to move my class to the officer's club for the morning. We set up a projector and screen, and I used my laptop to give a presentation on, of all things, public speaking. By the time I was done with my presentation, it was PT time. Big, big fun.

I took this morning off of work to get some administrative tasks accomplished today. With my personnel office being located on an entirely different base than where I work (or live), it creates some logistical hassles when it comes time to handle such things as travel claims or pay problems. I guess there is a silver lining though: I get to have lunch with my wife today.

How was your week?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Mr. Mom and Week In Review

I guess this is a "two for one special." I didn't update last week, and much has happened. My wife had to fly back Stateside for a family emergency. I am now "Mr. Mom." In addition to missing my wife, I also have the pleasure of trying to do her job; I'm not as good at it as she is.

My son had his first track meet today. I dropped him off at 0800, went and got a cup of coffee at the PX, and got over to the field by about 0900 (when the meet was supposed to start). At 1420, he was finally done with his last event, and I was sufficiently sunburned. Since I was wearing sunglasses, I now have that stupid raccoon look.

My sis had a speaking engagement, and it sounds like she hit it out of the park. Way to go.

I had to drop one of my students for unprofessional conduct. It's disappointing when that happens, but the sheer odds of somebody doing something stupid almost guarantee that it will happen again someday. I hate to say it, but maybe some folks just need to pack their trash and find another line of work. I say that one moment, and then remember how we used to handle such matters several years ago; things have certainly changed.

I took my students on a little "intro run" around the base. Some of them are here from other locations (Korea, main island of Japan, etc), and they are unfamiliar with the layout of the base. I made sure to run by the chapel, the chow hall, the medical clinic, etc. I had my Garmin Forerunner watch on, and when the smoke settled, we had covered 7.1 miles. I felt great and wanted to keep going, but the students were not feeling it. It was good to get them out there and challenge them. Most of them are unaccustomed to running more than about four miles, and this was a good "welcome aboard" moment for them. They can curse me at their leisure.

How was your week(s)?