The Family Letter

Sometimes the news isn’t all bad, sometimes it can really make you LOL!

10 humor sites sure to make you LOL – CNN.com

I didn’t think “Garfield without Garfield” would be all that funny, but it really is.

T-minus two days to California!  And I’m already a good way along with packing.  I’m not sure if that says something good about me or not…

Since people have heard that I’m headed east this fall, several have stated something along the lines of : “Oh!  You’ll be away from home for the holidays!  Too bad!”  They generally get a blank stare, then my brain finally computes and I’ll reply, “Oh, that’s no biggie.”

This is definitely one advantage to being single in the military.  First off, while there’s the “home town” definition of “home,” over the years “home” has come to mean “the place I’ve been lying down to sleep for the past few days.”  I’ve caught myself any number of times referring to a hotel room I’ve been in for less than a week as “home.”

Then there’s where I normally spend the holidays.  While out in the Pacific I generally spent Christmas, at least, at home, alone with the feline.  The tradition has become doing church on Christmas Eve, coming home and opening presents[1], staying up late, and then sleeping in on Christmas Day.  I even managed that here this past year since the protestants didn’t want a Christmas Day service.

And here’s where the blank stare comes in:  I enjoy this routine.  I’m an introvert.  While I don’t mind being with and around people, I recharge by being in very small groups or alone.  And by the end of December there’s been a lot of people time, so some alone time is the perfect present.

That all said, the other part of the blank stare is this:  I’m looking forward to spending the two major fall holidays deployed.  By that point I’ll be referring to the small room I’m staying in as “home,” and the folks I’m serving with will definitely be a family of sorts.  Plus it will be really neat to be a part of these celebrations with people who are separated from husbands, wives, and children, helping to kindle the holiday spirit far from their homes.

And who knows, Christmas has twelve days, I might yet make it home to Oklahoma before the season is liturgically over.  And yes, I plan on spending several days not interacting with another human!

1. While said feline plays with the wrapping paper.  She’s easy to shop for. [<--]

So, one week ago today I passed the Air Force Physical Fitness Test once again.  I definitely did not do as well as last year, so have some improving to do over the next six months, but I was still above 80, so I’ll take it.

I also came closer to heat exhaustion than I’ve ever done before.  In part it was just that warm at 0800.  In part because I was supposed to start the test at 0700 but spent an hour looking for someone with the official ability to record the scores.  My original tester was a no-show due to an exercise[1].  By the time we found someone an hour had passed and, even though I’d been hydrating, I’d stopped drinking at 0645 so as not to have a stomach full of fluid when I ran.  That run, even though it was 1.5 miles, was exhausting with not enough fluid!

I also weigh more than I normally do, but apparently still well within regulations.  I think I’ll work on getting that down a bit this summer, back into my comfort zone.  Unless, of course, the extra weight is muscle from all the running… Yeah, right.

And no, you didn’t misread up above, I said six months.  Starting in January the Air Force is testing twice a year.  As far as I’m concerned that’s a good thing, since it is far more motivating, especially for people who lack a lot of motivation to run, do push-ups and sit-ups.  Like me.

I gather they’re also loosening (pun intended) the waist measurement.  That should add a few points for just about everyone.

Well, gotta run… No, not literally.  To work!

1. Of the “training” sort. [<--]

The blog interface is working again!  I edited the php.ini file to expand the maximum amount of memory that PHP scripts are allowed to access.  No, I really have no idea why that worked or, truly, what that means.  But the web site I found said to do it, so I did it, and here we are.

I can’t really explain the dual nature of Christ or the Trinity either, so I’m content.  Some things you just cannot fully know.

At any rate, as I said in the previous post, I’m tinkering with the random header images to make them reflect my present geography/interests.  Some will remain from other places, but my goal is to make them closer in time if not in space.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything, I include up there from this fall.  Not that I’ll have the time or ability to mess with them.  I may end up just posting basic text, which would be okay too.

What’s up with me? Well…  I’ve got a few days of work this week before I head out on TDY to General Convention and meeting up with my fellow chaplains.  Then back here to prep for deployment, with a short bit of leave to go back to PA in August.  Then places East.

If the interface keeps working I’ll post more in the days to come.  I know there have been news items I’ve meant to put up here, and I’ll try to do better about that.  When, of course, all the news stops being Michael Jackson focused.

Later!

I did, finally, get around to updating some of the banner images, with more to come later. So if you view the site via RSS or haven’t been around in a while[1] you should check out the banner.

To see all the images, reload the page. It’ll cycle through “randomly.”

Enjoy.

(Incidentally no, that is not my cat Zoe. That photo came with the frame[2] so to speak. But it could be Zoe’s long-lost twin sister, so I kept the image. Zoe’s an indoor cat, so that shot is very, very unlikely. The only time she has been out she panicked completely rather than lounging in the grass.)

1. Yes, I know… You’d come more often but the dude never posts! Well, that’s two in two days bub. [<--]
2. Blog theme. [<--]