USO Surprise - (Korea) Day 302

SPC Mick after receiving his birthday cake from the USO

I had a dentist appointment this morning at 0830. It was only a cleaning, but it was nice to not have to wake up and go in for the early 0730 work call that everyone else had to do. The dentist was a little rough, but still bearable. I'm glad I don't have to go again for a while now.

I arrived at work and did my morning routine of checking my email and such, but was interrupted a few times to do minor things for various people. That seemed to set the tone for the entire day. It seemed like anytime I started anything I was called away to do something else. I tried working on a Windows 7 SkillPort, but couldn't even finish one section the entire day.

I had lunch in my room and video chatted with my wife, then headed back to the office a little early to make sure our conference room was setup for a "brief" from our colonel. This meeting had been setup for a while. Most of the folks knew it wasn't actually a brief, but a surprise for SPC Mick. His parents had worked with the USO here in Korea to help celebrate his birthday. The USO worked with our NCOIC to get everything worked out in advance. Once the conference room was ready, our office, our supply office, a couple from protocol, and our admin office all showed up for the "brief". When the colonel came in he said there would be a special guest speaker…and then came in the USO with a huge cake, balloons, and a bag of USO swag for SPC Mick. He was called up front and everyone sang happy birthday to him. It was pretty funny…especially since he had no clue what was going on until they walked in. What's funny is that the red, white and blue cake turned everyone's mouth and teeth either red, white or blue.

When we finally got back to working, the afternoon went just like the morning. It seemed like I could not get anything done. I started training PV2 Charlie on how to update the events calendar and it must have taken 2 hours because one of us kept getting calls to do something. Everyone except for me and Special K cleaned up and left at 1600. I stayed back and helped Special K study for his promotion board until about 1700.

When I got to my room I ended up not working out…somehow just lost my motivation. I instead went to the food court and ate Taco Bell volcano tacos. I then watched Greys Anatomy & Survivor…I can't help it…I love that show. I then packed my assault pack for a tour I'll be on with the young hawaiian and SPC Mick for the rest of the week. Hyundai gives a couple of tours to soldiers each year and we were all able to get signed up for this one. I'm looking forward to getting out and having some fun away from work. This also means it will be a few days before I update the blog again. I'll be busy taking pictures and soaking in the culture…plus I'm not bringing my laptop.