Retirement Countdown

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Run and Shoot

Paintball game again yesterday, still a lot of fun. Maybe I should have been in the infantry instead of medical! I'm sure it's a little different having live rounds being fired at you as opposed to paint. haha. The video below is a little taste of what it's like. I bought a new paintball gun yesterday, it will pay for itself after 10 games or so. The one I purchased is semi-auto and also has the ability to go fully automatic. We had a couple of guys with us yesterday that had fully auto weapons, they looked like the guys from the LA bank robbery years back, just walking slowly and painting everything is sight, pretty impressive. The normal price for the Tippman X7 was $400-$600, I got it for $180 off of Ebay, not a bad deal. Can't wait to play again, everyone had a really good time again.
Running has been a chore the past two weeks. I've completed 91 miles and my legs are feeling it, the left Achilles tendon to be exact. Hopefully I'll be able to get it enough rest to be able to run on Tuesday, we'll see. We started the new running competition and I have been talking sooo much garbage at work that I now have to back it up with many, many miles. I am a very competitive person which makes me want to run more to possibly win the competition, at the same time it is helping me get in great shape for the upcoming 1/2 marathon in Anaheim, CA in September. I believe I'm ready now! haha.
Take care and keep in touch,
Dave



Saturday, June 19, 2010

Almost There

Almost there. "There" meaning a couple of things. First of which is posted above, it is a picture of my request for retirement from the Navy, almost there. Some funny person put the "denied" sticky note over the request, actually I thought that it was really funny. The second "almost there" is what I'm going to be saying for the next 400+ miles of running. We started a new running competition called "The Lew Chase" on Nike+, first to 500 miles in a year. Lew is our general surgeon and he is a running machine. We started the challenge this week and I've been almost there, meaning passing Lews total miles, several times but just can't get there. I've completed 51 miles so far this week and Lew is over 60. Of course I was shooting my mouth off on Thursday at work telling him that I was going to pass him by Monday. I ran 13.1 miles yesterday to take the lead, only to wake up this morning to see that I'm 22 miles behind again. I ran 5 more miles this morning and planning on doing a long one again tomorrow, in hopes that I'll be able to at least catch him! The camaraderie that the competition creates is fantastic, also the motivation is increased to run further which is always good for weight loss. This week has basically flown by with all the competitiveness going on at work, next weekend is another round of paintball, hopefully I'll have some good photos from that. Take care.

Dave

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Starting A New....

Starting a new running competition this week, it's called "The Lew Chase" on Nike+. We decided to call it that after Dr. Diulus who is a running machine and we'll all be chasing him throughout the duration of the challenge! It should be a lot of fun and increase morale a bit more. Shayna is adding another part to her already extensive training program, she received her Trek bike from her sister and brother-in-law for her birthday. Great bike! She is also going to dabble in a bit of "Skinny Girl Margaritas"! Shayna loves to watch the Real Housewife series, thus the interest in the alcohol! I don't know if she'll like it or not, I'll let you know after the test run, she does not drink at all, should be interesting! haha. That's about it for this week, short entry for a "normal" week. Take care.
Dave

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Burnin' it up!




My first attempt at a BBQ for a larger group failed miserably, as you can see by the picture above! The ones that came out that were edible were really good, these little guys unfortunately made it past the edible stage. I had a surprise party/BBQ for Shayna's birthday which is on the 7th. She was caught completely by surprise. She had her comprehensive exam for HR for graduate school and then went swimming afterward which afforded me plenty of time to get the house cleaned up a little, wrap the present, grocery shop and get the people in the house. I knew that it was going to be a little problem with her returning after a stressful test and a 1.5 mile swim, but she was very happy. Shayna had mentioned to me a couple months back that she really liked paintings by Grace Slick (formerly with the band Jefferson Airplane). I bought the painting called "Crossroads", it was number 280 of 300 painted. The reaction I got from her when she opened it was worth all the stress about buying it! All in all it was a fantastic day.

The next two weeks we will be without Jane our PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit) nurse and we will definitely feel the pressure. Jane will be sorely missed. Her replacement, Melody, will be working a couple of days each of the coming two weeks and then be on full time. I hope Melody will be able to fill the hole that will be left by Jane's departure. Needless to say, Jane if you are reading this we're going to miss you and have fun in Germany!

Well that about does it. The next big thing we'll be doing is another paintball war on the 26th of this month, should be a blast again.

Take care,
Dave