One More Year

I can't download any pics right now since our router is down until Thursday, so I'm using the I-phone! Another year down, it is my birthday today (42), who knows how many more to go. By far the past couple of years have been my best and it's all due to Shayna. I'm in the best shape of my life, both physically and mentally! I was speaking with Mary, Shayna's mom, and I told her that I'm so thankful that I joined the Navy and finally married a fantastic wife, it doesn't get any better than that. The upcoming year will be filled with planning for the future. Maybe a child, maybe another deployment, maybe Shayna moving out to Jacksonville, FL early to start work, maybe buying a home early to take advantage of the low prices and interest rates, etc. Needless to say a lot of "maybes"! Through all of the crap I've been through with moving a lot and two, technically three, ex-wives I've learned that everything works out for the best. Shayna and I are really optimistic for the move back to Jax and I have a couple of hook-ups for jobs. Am I worried, of course, but I know that we are going to have a great life out there.
I have started a new running competition with some guys/gals at work and I'm getting my butt kicked! I have completed about 120 miles in the past couple of weeks and I'm still behind around 50 miles! These guys are beasts. My mileage has definitely increased which is going to help me for the upcoming 1/2 marathon in Disney on 5 SEP and the Army 10-miler in OCT in DC, but I am sore, I guess it has to do with celebrating another birthday! Well you take care and keep in touch.
I wanted to ask everyone to keep praying for the troops still deployed, I have several friends that are out there in danger, so keep the prayers coming because they worked for me!

Dave

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

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

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

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

Celebrating by Shooting

It's been a busy week, and a blast! The first pic is of Shayna and I at Knotts Berry Farm near Los Angeles. We were on the Ghost Rider, a wooden roller coaster, and a rough one at that as you can tell by the terror in Shayna's face! haha. It beat us up pretty bad, but overall a fantastic ride. We spent about six hours or so going from coaster to coaster, the Xcelerator being our favorite. You start out by sitting in the car waiting to be brought to the top of the coaster and it takes off all of the sudden, spinning you to the precipice of the hill. You go from 0-55? mph in under 2 seconds, what a rush! We hit that one a couple of times since there was no line. Shayna's favorite one was the Silver Bullet which is a suspension coaster, and equally fun. If you want to know what is the best time to hit a theme park, it's the week before Memorial Day weekend, no line and not too hot yet.

The next pics are from today when we celebrated Memorial Day by declaring a paintball war on the Dental Department. We played approximately 6 games or so of capture the flag. We burned a lot of calories, which we immediately replaced by having a cookout of teriyaki chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs! What a blast and it increased the morale of both departments ten-fold. We will be trying to put together a challenge every month, I believe the people that played today are on board and I'm sure the word will spread like wild fire throughout the hospital about how fun it was. I foresee many people wanting to take us on in the future, well I hope at least! That's about it for this week, should be a fun one next weekend also, I'll keep you updated.

Take care.

Dave

Getting Muddy!

Marine Corps Mud Run is done! It took our team 1.5 hours to finish a 5 mile run. It was really, really muddy and fun. The above pictures are the before and after shot, I'll be getting a lot more photos and will upload them hopefully by the end of this week. The morning temperature was 45 degrees F, that mixed with mud and water, not a good thing! During the run it was not that bad, we were working really hard to get through the course and burning a lot of calories, so the cold water/mud traps were very welcome at the time. Myself and one other in the group have had hernia surgeries within a couple of months of the race and we did fine. Thank goodness for the advancement of surgical procedures. All and all it was a great time and did wonders to build team morale.

Next weekend is the paintball war versus the Dental Department at the hospital. We drafted a declaration of war against dental and they responded with their own declaration. It has been a fun couple of weeks leading up to the fight, everyone talking trash to each other, should be a really good time. Afterward we are going to have a barbecue and some laughs I'm sure.

Shayna and I are off to Buena Park, CA to go to Knotts Berry Farm. It's an amusement park with some pretty wicked looking coasters. We are adrenaline junkies so it should be a blast. Well that's about it for this week. Look forward to a good post next weekend!

Dave