Watched tv from the treadmill tonight. For the first time in weeks it didn’t automatically turn itself off after 20 minutes. Here’s hoping whatever was up with it before is now fixed!

I has a dream that the LOLcat fairy will bless me with a reduction in pant size x2 by the time Drew comes home. It’s all about losing inches or so I’m going to keep telling myself. Thus the tv viewing from the treadmill this evening. And hopefully every day between now and “Friday”.

Got some reading done for class. Had to throw that in for mommy R and Dr. D. Apparently I’m so busy writing about my fine procrastination skills that my co-workers are beginning to wonder if I ever manage to do my homework. Granted if they followed me on Twitter they’d know I babble about my reading assignments as I’m doing them all the time. *thupppttt*

More reading on deck for the next hour. To do list seems to be getting longer each evening.

Vacation plans are starting to shore up and I’m quite excited. We’re not actually going anywhere until the middle of summer but it’s nice to know things are starting to fall into place. Plane and ComicCon tickets are purchased. Pet sitters are already identified and ready to pamper all of the beasties.

When I was first starting to plan the trip I sent an email to a US military friend of ours re: military lodging at bases in the area.  I’ve got some contact information for locations in San Diego so once we’ve firmed up when we want to be in SD vs. when we want to be at Disney, etc., I’ll call around to see if they have any rooms available and what the going rate is.  The cost of accommodations during ComicCon appears to be through the roof so any way we can make a portion of the trip more affordable will be very welcome news. While we’re at it we may be crashing at his place for a few days which will also play a part in decreasing overall costs and might bankroll a car rental and trip up the coast to L.A or San Fransisco. Or east to Tucson.  South to Mexico.  Or north east to Vegas. The possibilities are endless at the moment.

The early planning stages are pretty fun since other than a few days of the trip (specifically the dates of ComicCon and our flight dates) everything is still open to negotiation.  Where we go.  For how long we’re staying in each city. What we do and who we do it with.

As long as I get to volunteer with the SoCal Browncoats I’ll be in vacation heaven.  I think Drew feels the same way about breakfast with Mickey…

Enough about ComicCon and vacation planning for the moment.  On to other events that I’m hoping someone somewhere will plan… Specifically, I’m hoping someone in the Edm. area will step up to lead the hosting of a CSTS screening.  I don’t have the organizational skills to manage trying to lead a project like this while juggling school and work but I’m more than willing to volunteer if someone else is at the helm.  I can follow orders real good.

I know of a few people who have been considering taking on the project lead but last I checked no one has stepped up to the plate yet. You’d think the home town of  Captain Tightpants would have a packed screening every year – however, that doesn’t appear to be the case.  There wasn’t one anywhere in Alberta in 2008.

Perhaps this year…

Thanatos/Grendel – the male pilot as opposed to the cats – says “Hi Drew” and is looking forward to seeing you in July.  You two can talk shop while I bask in the sun. Wait a minute.  I’m not lizard boy. You two can talk while I complain about the heat, my sunburn and associated peeling skin (likely nose), and beg for liquid refreshment of the iced variety.

Talked to Drew tonight and he sounds super tired. His shift has changed at work so he’s now working longer hours, 7 days a week. Lots of yawning and quiet inside voices tonight.

He says he’s doing well and doesn’t need anything other than letters for the moment. His bunk and office are stocked with snacks and he’s shared out quite a bit with his co-workers. He’s got a good selection of books to read and those too will join the Canada House “library” for others to enjoy at some point.

Apparently I didn’t do something correctly in the home video recording/transfer process as the CD I sent didn’t seem to have anything on it. Or so Drew claims. I know I tested it to make sure the videos woud play so we suspect that I mailed a blank CD instead of the one I burned. I’ll have to check the CDs in the office to see if that’s the case. I know they all play in Windows Media Player and he has that installed so that doesn’t appear to be the problem. If I can’t find the original CD I made here I’ll create a new one and send it off soon.

Still no firm idea when he’s coming home. Definitely before the trip to San Diego. More than that isn’t know at this time.

I was supposed to spend the weekend doing school work. I haven’t accomplished as much in that arena as I should have. I did get my weekly assignment (due Mondays) in on Saturday afternoon and got some bits of cleaning done around the house. However, there’s a tonne of reading I need to have completed by the end of the week that I was hoping to finish early that was never touched. I guess I know what I’ll be doing each evening after work next week.

Instead of studying, I spent the afternoon at Costco and Safeway grocery shopping with my neighbour J. When we got home with our goodies L helped cart it al inside. Comes in handy does our L. Especially when I need to get 50 lb boxes of cat litter from the truck into the basement. I know it seems a bit ridiculous to buy such huge amounts of cat litter when I’m out at Costco but, getting it into the house aside, it is far more convenient. The humongous box lasts just over a month what with two cats in the house. The smaller bags/boxes at grocery stores and Zellers don’t last half as long and cost significantly more.

I’ll need his help soon with dog and cat food. As with the cat litter, The monster bags of food are pretty heavy. Getting them into the truck isn’t too hard since they have stock people at the vet supply place who are always willing to help. The challenge, as always, is getting it out of the truck and into the basement when I arrive home. I think I’ve got about a month left in the current stock Drew picked up before he left for KAF. I knew I should have asked him to pick up more than two bags of each.

Nothing much else to report on the home front. Drew mentioned the change back to my black and grey blog theme so I know he’s still popping by to read and check in with “local” news. I thought it might be nice if I opened up the comments for messages intended for Drew to read. He’ll see them the next time he has access to the Internet an drops by the blog. So, get commenting :). If we’re lucky, perhaps we’ll see a few replied from him as well.

Earlier this week I got a package in the mail with generic deployment information. One of the booklets in the package was titled “preparing for deployment stress”. A bit like closing the barn door after the horses get out. Drew has been gone for over a month now.

This isn’t his first deployment. Prior to that I’d already spent months on end away from home working in the US and India. Temporary separations are pretty much the norm for us. I know we’re an oddity in some sections of the military community because of it. Usually it’s just the serving member who’s gone and always the spouse left at home. Not at our house. I’ve spent far more time away from home due to work over the years than Drew has.

So, while I miss him when he’s not here, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself and the fur babies while he’s away. With occassional spurts of whining injected into my conversation and blog posts.

I’m certain that the services offers by the MFRC for remaining spouses or families are very useful for some people. Personally, I’m not a fan. On his last deployment I found their continual “check in” calls a bigger source of stress than Drew’s absence. Some woman called me repeatedly at work trying to convince me to take days off to attend coffee sessions and gatherings with other wives during the day. Despite my repeated requests for her to stop calling and my refusals to attend daytime events, the woman wouldn’t stop calling me at work and home. Drove me bonkers.

This time round they are holding events on evenings and weekends along with the daytime activities. This I know because I’m receiving an event list via email. Nothing on the list has interested me to date. Mostly because I don’t like being put into situations with groups of strangers. Especially if the only thing we have in common is that our spouses are deployed.

Want to increase my deployment stress to the point where I cease to function? Make me attend MFRC events.

This trip Drew had the option to refuse to provide the MFRC with my contact info and for that I am incredibly grateful.

Everyone else – the rear party, chaplain, etc. – all know how to get in touch with me if necessary. Thus the occassional email, package, or phone message left on voice mail. But unlike before – the calls are infrequent and there’s no pressure to skip work to attend their events.

I have a great support network. Friends and former co-workers. My awesome neighbours. People who I spend time with socially at least once a month when Drew is home. That’s continued since he’s been gone. Add to that work, school and blogging and I barely have time left to breathe.

Who needs to prepare for deployment stress? At this point – not me!

Boo, Loxley and I went out to see STOMP! last night.  Loxley and Boo went last year and had a great time.  Apparently they also had front row seats and ringing in the ears for a few days… Our seats weren’t that good – but they were still pretty fabulous. I’d never seen STOMP! live before so I really enjoyed the visual and auditory feast. The audience participation in clapping exercises proves an interesting case study in social pressure to conform and operant conditioning. Oh, and it was fun too.  Although my hands hurt A LOT after the near 2 hour show. I can’t imagine how the cast members spend multiple hours a day (multiple shows a week), banging, slapping and clapping away with their hands. The callouses must be deep.

This year, Loxley bought my ticket as a Christmas present. We shared the cost for Boo’s despite her recent track record of being sick nearly every time we’ve tried to get together over the last 5 months. We were brimming with optimism and all that.  Besides, who’s going to turn down a Christmas present ticket to see the cute bald guy in the black wife beater clapping and jumping around stage while banging on things?  Yummy!

Poor Loxley and Boo had to listen to me babble  “you know, that’s what Drew looked like when he was in the Army.  Before the re-muster to the Air Force. Same build.” a bazillion times at the end of the show.  It would have been a bazillion and one but Loxley had lost her cell phone and I was busy calling Boston Pizza (where Boo treated us to dinner earlier in the evening) trying to track it down. Very cool how you can surf the Internet in order to look up a phone number, click the link the iPhone generates, and be talking to someone at that number in a manner of seconds.

A good time was had by all and we ended the evening with our usual promises to make our gatherings a monthly event. Pending Boo’s health, my school work, and Loxley’s access to a running vehicle of course.

‘Twas a very long day at work today.  More accurately, it’s been a long week at work. I’ve got to stop working OT for free.  Each year I tell myself this and yet I still find myself sitting at a desk in the office trying to get one more thing accomplished before I go home. You’d think going to school part-time would have cured me of this.  I know I certainly thought it would.  I really need to learn how to walk away at the end of a work day since I’ve started putting other students learning ahead of my own.

So once again I am three hours late getting home, no desire to do my readings for class, no interest in making anything to eat, and will be back at work first thing tomorrow morning trying to get someone else’s class fixed up and online.

Perhaps, instead of taking Psych classes, I should be seeing a shrink!  I have lots of work related and guilt issues that need to be worked through.

Today in my spam filter there was a comment advising me that I needed a new wordpress theme and to go to their dull generic site and buy/download one of theirs.  Now, why would I do that when I have a series of 6 different custom made themes for my blog to choose from.  Perhaps the commenter has a point.  I have been bright and shiny blue for a few weeks now – mostly because it’s my winter theme – and it has been a while since you’ve seen my locked in the basement theme.  You know.  The one that’s been frequently appearing on my blog as I desperately try to catch up on my homework for classes.  So, out with the blue and in with the black.  Thanks for the inspiration annoying spam/commenter guy!