Decisions Decisions - (Korea) Day 34

The screensaver I stared at for hours today. I took a video of it as well,
but I didn't want to put anyone to sleep while visiting my blog.

Today was a pretty boring day at work. I started at 8:30 and did absolutely nothing until lunch. I sat in a chair and watched a screensaver display "unclassified" across two different screens…over and over again. Since I don't have access to the network yet, I can't do a whole lot…especially if there are no meetings going on. Our sergeant had me check on the status of my access and the sergeant who is working on it was not in yet. Every time I go down there all I hear is that she's working on it.
I ate lunch in my barracks and was able to video chat with my wife for a bit. When I got back to work I watched the Seahawks play and actually win to make it into the playoffs! Unfortunately after football they decided to show golf, so it got boring pretty quickly watching the TV. SPC Short then showed me one of the things I'll be responsible for. He has to check general's calendars every day and some times multiple times a day and update a spreadsheet that shows all the meetings that are going on. It's very labor intensive. It just seems that there should be a very simple solution to this such as the general reserving a conference room as part of the scheduling process. I haven't used Outlook in quite some time in a corporate environment, but I'm pretty sure it's a simple thing to do. It does require and extra step for the person inputting the information on the calendar and I'm sure that is why it's not being done and they have other people scrambling around trying to figure out what's going on.

I asked my sergeant about my next duty station as well. My wife and I had some huge decisions that we discussed over the weekend. I found out that when you get on the list for command sponsorship you wait and time passes, but when you do finally get it your DEROS date (the date you''re leaving Korea) actually gets extended. The whole time we were worried that it wouldn't be worth her getting on a list, waiting and then finally getting here only to turn around and have to leave soon after. Now we had to decide if we should try and get command sponsorship or just wait out the time I have left here. I can't believe I've been here a month already…only eleven more to go. We ended up deciding to not do the command sponsorship and wait out the time. We are going to try and have her come visit at least once or twice and also have me go home to visit when I have a couple of weeks for leave. If I would have known back in AIT what I know now though I would have signed up for command sponsorship back then. It would have been done and we would have been on the waiting list. I would suggest for any married couples not to listen to what they tell you at AIT about your family never making it…they will extend the time you are there and the sooner you get on the list, the sooner you will be with your family. (I could have been on the list for a few months already). It still pisses me off when I think about everything they told me at AIT.

This brings me back to why I went and talked to my sergeant about my next duty station. I've been told that if you go to Korea without your family, that you get to pick your next duty station (depending on availability for your job). My sergeant confirmed that and said he'll get me a list of openings tomorrow. Don't assume anything and always ask questions is the best advice I can give anyone in the army. I'm going to keep following up with this until I get an assignment I want.

We left work at 3:30 to go do PT at the gym. I did some sit-ups and then played a little basketball. I was planning on doing weights, but I was talked into playing basketball instead. LOL…it doesn't take much. I ended up hurting my back though…pulled a muscle I think. Uggghhh…I hope I feel better tomorrow.

I then used Skype with my wife. The new version of the iPhone app now supports video chatting, so she used her iPhone and was able to video chat with me on my computer. Very nice! After that I was able to finish another SkillPort lesson. Our sergeant wanted to see at least a few certificates of completion in the next couple of weeks and I have been able to do some big ones.

I then kicked back and watched a movie called "Old Dogs" that the young hawaiian let me borrow. It has Robin Williams and John Travolta in it. I don't think I ever even saw a preview of it, but I figured with those two it must be good. It's a movie about two best friends that find themselves growing old together. Neither has any kids, or at least that's what they thought. Robin Williams finds out that he has twin 7 year olds and due to circumstances the two buddies end up watching them for two weeks. They get mistaken for grandparents, their old people pills get mixed up with some very funny side effects, and they learn what's important in life. It was a pretty good movie…a little slow and predictable at times, but it had me laughing out loud other times. I had my headphones in so my roommate must've thought I was a little crazy.

the wife

Yes, I agree it feels good to finally make a decision about which direction we'll follow.

Love you baby.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - 09:50 PM