Since I have posted an update onto the site. I have been very busy these last ten days, what with getting our stuff set up in the house and trying to get everything organized and just all around cleaning and keeping busy. I have discovered some new things that might just appease the masses though. I have discovered this exciting new game, well new to me, called League of Legends. It's an online PvP game that has swept up my some of my time. For those who don't know, PvP stands for Player vs. Player in the realm of video games. This game takes a little while to download initially, but once you get it downloaded and set up your profile, it has to be one of the greatest FREE games I have ever played. Yes, that is correct, I said FREE!! Most people know the phrase, "If it's free, it's for me." So if you haven't had the chance to download it, go out and download it and let your gaming experience commence. It is fairly easy to learn and quite fun once you get the hang of it. Just remember that when you play with the other real people, they have to ability to honor you or report you. Be careful with your actions because the game will ban you if you get reported too often. It's only a few days and you will get to play again, but it is what it is. They rotate weekly with free champions that you can battle with and after every battle you gain experience points and IP, which is currency to purchase new champions and runes and other neat stuff.
On to other stories, my wife is now looking for a job to make things easier on us money wise. I do hope that she gets a job because then there will be plenty of time to go out and do things. We plan on visiting Seattle as often as possible and we are trying to be as social as possible because we have been nothing but hermits since we left Washington almost three years ago. Of course money is tight once you get done moving, but once we get situated and back into a routine, then everything should balance itself out and we will be back to normal. I have been spending way too much time on the Facebook playing those games and looking at funny stuff and pretty much trying to avoid work. My wife has not allowed me to really miss an opportunity to do chores and I have been helping around the house quite often, which for those that know me, is not normal for me. I'm used to doing the bare minimum of chores and she takes care of everything else and now that I am on leave and going to shore duty, she is expecting a lot more out of me. I'm actually not opposed to this little arrangement that is happening because I will be spending a lot of time at home. According to the people that I have spoken to from work, they spend an amazing amount of time at home instead of at work. Being the liberty hound that I am, I am of course, enjoying the reports that I am getting. That means I will pretty much be a "stay at home dad" and I will be able to do work at home and spend very little time at work. Although, it looks like I will be doing a swing shift, which kind of sucks, but kind of doesn't. I'm not opposed to going to work at 2 in the afternoon and coming home around dinner time because most boats won't do work after dinner unless it is critical items. So it looks like I will be home for dinner every night. The duty rotation will be awesome because it looks like once I qualify a watch to stand, I will stand it once every 50 to 60 days. Ten section duty rotation with 20 to 30 people in a duty section and only three watches to man?? Yeah, this next three years is going to be phreaking awesome!!!
Advancement exam results came out today and for those that have been following know that I am up for E-6, which is a First Class Petty Officer. Well out of the 254 people that took the same exam that I did, only 25 of us made it. Yes, that is only 10 percent and I bet you can't guess which part of the percentage that I ended up in. That's right, I didn't make it, but then again, this was only my first time taking that exam and I wasn't really expecting to make it in the first place because I haven't been in as long as most people taking that exam. It's okay, I'm not depressed, disappointed maybe, but I'm also realistic about my chances of making rate.
Today has been a very wet and grey day. I'm looking out the back window of the house now and all I see is grey skies and watch the rain fall. It just happens to be one of those days where staying inside, perusing the movie collection and sitting under a blanket and enjoying some company are on the top of the list. So check your forecast, do your thing, and enjoy your life while smiling often.
Later Daze
Wickid
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Emergency Room
I had to visit the emergency room yet again last night. I have a recurring cyst right in front of my left ear. Last night, after it has been swelling for the last five days or so, I decided that it was time to visit the doctor to see if I could get it taken care of. The triage nurse asked me why I didn't take care of it Friday morning while I was there getting my leg looked at. I told her at the time, I was more concerned about my leg and the fact of being able to walk and such. It seemed more important at the time, you know?
Anyways, they take me back and grab my vitals and I sit in the waiting room for about twenty minutes tops. The doctor comes in and asks what is going on and between my wife and I, we were able to give him a pretty detailed account of what has been going on with my ears for about the last decade. It seems funny to most people because you would think that one surgery would take care of the problem, but no sir, this thing has been around since before I turned 18. It has been a huge pain in my ass and I am getting sick and tired of having to go under the knife to get it taken care of. Well, after he explained about the numbing medicine and the possibility of it not working, we decided to go ahead with the lancing procedure. I asked him to give me a stronger dose of the numbing medicine because the simple numbing medicine that they give me just wasn't enough to dull the pain. He was nice enough to get me a stronger form and man it worked a lot better than the other stuff. He was even nice enough to explain to me that it probably wouldn't work because the cyst is actually an infection of sorts and the medicine usually doesn't have much effect. It was nice knowing the reason why it might not work instead of the doctor just telling me to get over it and not to worry about it.
It was shortly after that, that he and his assistant came in to commence the procedure. My face went numb pretty much instantly after he administered the numbing medicine and I didn't really feel much of anything until after he sliced down the scar on my face to open it up. He had to squeeze a bunch of pus out of it and then proceeded to pack the area with this iodine gauze that is supposed to help with the infection. Needless to say, I was near tears because it isn't very comfortable when I have this done. All I feel is this massive pressure against my head and it leaves me with these horrible headaches. Two vicodan pills later and it starts to go numb again. I had about an 8 day beard that I needed to shave, which I probably should have shaved prior to going to the emergency room. I learned that the hard way because I went home right afterwards and shaved my face.
It was really weird though because I am used to going to the pharmacy and then picking up my medicine that they prescribed to me in the emergency room. Since we have been gone they have changed a lot of things that go on in the hospital. Now, instead of going down to the pharmacy, they have you sign the discharge paperwork and then sit you in this little waiting area until the pharmacy brings up the medication. It's not something we are used to, but we made due and then my wife had to help me get back to the van so that she could take me home. Hell, I had to have her show the nurse how to properly tape the gauze to my ear because my wife has found a nice easy way to do it that makes it so the tape doesn't hurt when she pulls it off. They even gave me a referral to the ENT clinic in the hospital so that I can talk to the specialist about getting the actual surgery done.
Being in transit really doesn't help my situation because I have no one to answer to while I am on leave. The good thing is is that the house is just down the road from the hospital, so nobody has to wait too terribly long while we drive to the ER. It is about a five minute drive total. I'm not a huge fan of narcotic pain medication because I don't like being loopy and I don't like being in front of the children while I am loopy. I like the children to not see me that way because when I am sober, I make better decisions. I like it that way and I really don't want to give them a bad example to follow.
So today I have pretty much done nothing except play on Facebook because I took some of the narcotics this morning to help with the pain and I have been in bed away from the children. Don't worry because there has been someone to look after the kids even when my wife left to go do some more laundry. I'm even on the verge of taking a little nap because now all of a sudden my eyelids are getting droopy and I'm feeling really tired. I feel bad because my wife is the one that told me to get back in bed. I hate not being able to help her do anything when I feel this bad. Maybe I will take some time when I feel better to let her relax and do some work while she sits and does nothing. That would make me feel better too. It's my way of repaying her.
Sorry that this edition was so somber and littered with my rant about going to see the emergency room doctors yet again. The next edition that comes will be a lot happier.
Later Daze
Wickid
Anyways, they take me back and grab my vitals and I sit in the waiting room for about twenty minutes tops. The doctor comes in and asks what is going on and between my wife and I, we were able to give him a pretty detailed account of what has been going on with my ears for about the last decade. It seems funny to most people because you would think that one surgery would take care of the problem, but no sir, this thing has been around since before I turned 18. It has been a huge pain in my ass and I am getting sick and tired of having to go under the knife to get it taken care of. Well, after he explained about the numbing medicine and the possibility of it not working, we decided to go ahead with the lancing procedure. I asked him to give me a stronger dose of the numbing medicine because the simple numbing medicine that they give me just wasn't enough to dull the pain. He was nice enough to get me a stronger form and man it worked a lot better than the other stuff. He was even nice enough to explain to me that it probably wouldn't work because the cyst is actually an infection of sorts and the medicine usually doesn't have much effect. It was nice knowing the reason why it might not work instead of the doctor just telling me to get over it and not to worry about it.
It was shortly after that, that he and his assistant came in to commence the procedure. My face went numb pretty much instantly after he administered the numbing medicine and I didn't really feel much of anything until after he sliced down the scar on my face to open it up. He had to squeeze a bunch of pus out of it and then proceeded to pack the area with this iodine gauze that is supposed to help with the infection. Needless to say, I was near tears because it isn't very comfortable when I have this done. All I feel is this massive pressure against my head and it leaves me with these horrible headaches. Two vicodan pills later and it starts to go numb again. I had about an 8 day beard that I needed to shave, which I probably should have shaved prior to going to the emergency room. I learned that the hard way because I went home right afterwards and shaved my face.
It was really weird though because I am used to going to the pharmacy and then picking up my medicine that they prescribed to me in the emergency room. Since we have been gone they have changed a lot of things that go on in the hospital. Now, instead of going down to the pharmacy, they have you sign the discharge paperwork and then sit you in this little waiting area until the pharmacy brings up the medication. It's not something we are used to, but we made due and then my wife had to help me get back to the van so that she could take me home. Hell, I had to have her show the nurse how to properly tape the gauze to my ear because my wife has found a nice easy way to do it that makes it so the tape doesn't hurt when she pulls it off. They even gave me a referral to the ENT clinic in the hospital so that I can talk to the specialist about getting the actual surgery done.
Being in transit really doesn't help my situation because I have no one to answer to while I am on leave. The good thing is is that the house is just down the road from the hospital, so nobody has to wait too terribly long while we drive to the ER. It is about a five minute drive total. I'm not a huge fan of narcotic pain medication because I don't like being loopy and I don't like being in front of the children while I am loopy. I like the children to not see me that way because when I am sober, I make better decisions. I like it that way and I really don't want to give them a bad example to follow.
So today I have pretty much done nothing except play on Facebook because I took some of the narcotics this morning to help with the pain and I have been in bed away from the children. Don't worry because there has been someone to look after the kids even when my wife left to go do some more laundry. I'm even on the verge of taking a little nap because now all of a sudden my eyelids are getting droopy and I'm feeling really tired. I feel bad because my wife is the one that told me to get back in bed. I hate not being able to help her do anything when I feel this bad. Maybe I will take some time when I feel better to let her relax and do some work while she sits and does nothing. That would make me feel better too. It's my way of repaying her.
Sorry that this edition was so somber and littered with my rant about going to see the emergency room doctors yet again. The next edition that comes will be a lot happier.
Later Daze
Wickid
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Longest Week of my life.....
It has been probably the longest seven days in the history of man and I have been very busy in the last week. Last Friday, my family and I packed up both cars and commenced our very long trip across the country and we visited many places. After getting off to a late start because of a certain somebody that will remain nameless deciding to show up all late and shit and ruining my plans, we made it to Kingsport, Tennessee late Friday night. It was a lot of driving and a lot of stops for potty breaks, but damn it we made it none the less. It was really fun driving through the mountains during the night with rain coming down in sheets. My wife piloted through the mountains like a champion. I was oh so very proud of her. I didn't think she could do it, but she proved me wrong. After a short interlude to sleep, roughly seven hours or so, we were up and at it again heading to Appleton City, Missouri. We didn't quite make it to our destination because I was getting really sleepy and I was having issues because I was in the car by myself. My wife was in her van with someone to talk to and children to keep her awake. I made the decision to stop because of safety reasons for everyone involved. I'm the dad and I can do that.
So after a nice restful stop in Springfield, Missouri we continued on to Appleton City and visited my wife's Uncle Sam. Second coolest dude I have met in my life. Okay, let me rephrase, 3rd coolest dude I've met in my life. My favorite two Uncles are the coolest people I have met. We spent about an hour or so there visiting because it had been a long time since everyone had seen each other that I didn't mind them catching up. Once we left it was off to Mitchell, South Dakota for the night. We even made it at a reasonable hour. It was around 5 pm when we stopped for supper at this little restaurant. We had such great service that we tipped the guy a 20 dollar bill. We usually don't have that great a service from anybody, but this guy blew us away. My wife's diet coke never went dry and my mother in-law's water remained filled to the brim, with no ice I might add. His name was Seth, I believe, and he was a new hire for that restaurant. The manager even spoke with us because he was just such a good guy that we had to tell other people about him. Anyways, about an hour after supper, we ended up in Mitchell at a nice Hampton Inn. It was right next to a Comfort Inn that had its own indoor water slide. Yes, its own indoor water slide. I tried to talk my old lady into going there, but she wasn't budging. We got a nice sleep in that night. We woke up, had breakfast and we hit the ground running that Monday morning. We had a nice sunny day and very little traffic ahead of us. We stopped in Wyoming, which happened to be the first state sign that my mother in-law finally got a picture of. We were shooting for Billings, Montana and then we were going to evaluate our time and see how much further we could go before we decided to quit for the night. We made such good time coming across that day that we decided to stop in Butte, Montana for the night. We even got there around 8 pm and still had time to relax and have some down time before we made the kids go to bed and got settled in ourselves.
Well, 615 rolls around and my wife starts shaking me awake saying that we need to get a move on because the elephants that were sleeping upstairs were awake and making a huge racket. I didn't mind because I was just tossing and turning anyways. So we got everybody up and got going again after a quick breakfast. We traipsed through the mountains and went over the Continental Divide at about 6300 feet and went right on into Idaho. That was a very short trip through that state if I do say so myself. I made a few phone calls to inform my new command that I would be in Washington that evening. We stopped for about an hour or so to visit my youngest sister in-law Katey at her college and had lunch with her and a few of her friends. Then my wife and I packed up the boys in the van and continued our adventure towards the Seattle ferry. If it wasn't for the fact that I got pulled over for speeding just a little bit down the pass, we would have had more time in Seattle to enjoy the view. We did make the ferry that we wanted to make and by Bob it was good to be home. It is an hour ferry ride from Seattle to Bremerton. The boys had a blast on the ferry. Damen loved it a little too much because he cried the minute we told him that we had to get in the car and get ready to depart. He was not a happy camper and he is looking forward to going on his pirate ship to set sail to pirate island. He is a huge fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates kid show. If you haven't seen it, it's about these three friends who have adventures with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. For those of you who are old enough to remember these names, then you know the book about Peter Pan. So, he calls the ferry his pirate ship and we don't stop him. The kid has an imagination and who am I to squish it?
The next day we met with the housing people and got some houses opened up for us to walk through and decide what we wanted to choose. It took us until the third house to finally decide what we wanted. Thursday we got the keys to our new place and started moving in everything that we had in the vehicles and got those unloaded and ready to be cleaned. We got both of the cars washed. My mother in-law did laundry and I stayed at home with the boys. Friday brought pain and anguish as I decided to trip and let my wife's van seat beat me up. I ended up going to the emergency room because I dropped the damn chair on my left shin. It was pretty painful and it just so happened to be me being injured first. Not only did I get pulled over within six hours of crossing the state line, I went and hurt myself trying to help my wife out. I didn't break anything so you can all sit back in your seats and breathe a sigh of relief. I did too when the doctor came in after the x-rays to ask me how I was feeling. I'm fine and able to walk just fine without crutches or anything. It actually felt a lot better after two Tylenol and some walking on it. It will be bruised and a little sore, but nothing I can't handle. Apparently, all I got was a contusion on my shin.
Now we make it to Saturday where we have just spent the day doing loads of fun stuff like going out to breakfast and some shopping for the house and then spending a few hours at the park in Silverdale doing a picnic style dinner on the grills out there. We had a few friends come by and visit and say hello. I made it home just in time to hear the last hour or so of +Chuck Bisbee's radio station that he runs every Saturday. I miss him and +tim kimbrough like crazy and I have only been on the West Coast for a few days now.
It is time for me to head out and end this edition of the arena. I hope you liked it and are on the edge of your seats waiting for the next edition to come out on a computer near you.
Later Daze
Wickid
So after a nice restful stop in Springfield, Missouri we continued on to Appleton City and visited my wife's Uncle Sam. Second coolest dude I have met in my life. Okay, let me rephrase, 3rd coolest dude I've met in my life. My favorite two Uncles are the coolest people I have met. We spent about an hour or so there visiting because it had been a long time since everyone had seen each other that I didn't mind them catching up. Once we left it was off to Mitchell, South Dakota for the night. We even made it at a reasonable hour. It was around 5 pm when we stopped for supper at this little restaurant. We had such great service that we tipped the guy a 20 dollar bill. We usually don't have that great a service from anybody, but this guy blew us away. My wife's diet coke never went dry and my mother in-law's water remained filled to the brim, with no ice I might add. His name was Seth, I believe, and he was a new hire for that restaurant. The manager even spoke with us because he was just such a good guy that we had to tell other people about him. Anyways, about an hour after supper, we ended up in Mitchell at a nice Hampton Inn. It was right next to a Comfort Inn that had its own indoor water slide. Yes, its own indoor water slide. I tried to talk my old lady into going there, but she wasn't budging. We got a nice sleep in that night. We woke up, had breakfast and we hit the ground running that Monday morning. We had a nice sunny day and very little traffic ahead of us. We stopped in Wyoming, which happened to be the first state sign that my mother in-law finally got a picture of. We were shooting for Billings, Montana and then we were going to evaluate our time and see how much further we could go before we decided to quit for the night. We made such good time coming across that day that we decided to stop in Butte, Montana for the night. We even got there around 8 pm and still had time to relax and have some down time before we made the kids go to bed and got settled in ourselves.
Well, 615 rolls around and my wife starts shaking me awake saying that we need to get a move on because the elephants that were sleeping upstairs were awake and making a huge racket. I didn't mind because I was just tossing and turning anyways. So we got everybody up and got going again after a quick breakfast. We traipsed through the mountains and went over the Continental Divide at about 6300 feet and went right on into Idaho. That was a very short trip through that state if I do say so myself. I made a few phone calls to inform my new command that I would be in Washington that evening. We stopped for about an hour or so to visit my youngest sister in-law Katey at her college and had lunch with her and a few of her friends. Then my wife and I packed up the boys in the van and continued our adventure towards the Seattle ferry. If it wasn't for the fact that I got pulled over for speeding just a little bit down the pass, we would have had more time in Seattle to enjoy the view. We did make the ferry that we wanted to make and by Bob it was good to be home. It is an hour ferry ride from Seattle to Bremerton. The boys had a blast on the ferry. Damen loved it a little too much because he cried the minute we told him that we had to get in the car and get ready to depart. He was not a happy camper and he is looking forward to going on his pirate ship to set sail to pirate island. He is a huge fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates kid show. If you haven't seen it, it's about these three friends who have adventures with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. For those of you who are old enough to remember these names, then you know the book about Peter Pan. So, he calls the ferry his pirate ship and we don't stop him. The kid has an imagination and who am I to squish it?
The next day we met with the housing people and got some houses opened up for us to walk through and decide what we wanted to choose. It took us until the third house to finally decide what we wanted. Thursday we got the keys to our new place and started moving in everything that we had in the vehicles and got those unloaded and ready to be cleaned. We got both of the cars washed. My mother in-law did laundry and I stayed at home with the boys. Friday brought pain and anguish as I decided to trip and let my wife's van seat beat me up. I ended up going to the emergency room because I dropped the damn chair on my left shin. It was pretty painful and it just so happened to be me being injured first. Not only did I get pulled over within six hours of crossing the state line, I went and hurt myself trying to help my wife out. I didn't break anything so you can all sit back in your seats and breathe a sigh of relief. I did too when the doctor came in after the x-rays to ask me how I was feeling. I'm fine and able to walk just fine without crutches or anything. It actually felt a lot better after two Tylenol and some walking on it. It will be bruised and a little sore, but nothing I can't handle. Apparently, all I got was a contusion on my shin.
Now we make it to Saturday where we have just spent the day doing loads of fun stuff like going out to breakfast and some shopping for the house and then spending a few hours at the park in Silverdale doing a picnic style dinner on the grills out there. We had a few friends come by and visit and say hello. I made it home just in time to hear the last hour or so of +Chuck Bisbee's radio station that he runs every Saturday. I miss him and +tim kimbrough like crazy and I have only been on the West Coast for a few days now.
It is time for me to head out and end this edition of the arena. I hope you liked it and are on the edge of your seats waiting for the next edition to come out on a computer near you.
Later Daze
Wickid
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