ok, i figure i would re-start my blog! now it seems i may have a little bit more time...easy to do when i was deployed, but i would get so bored and the days were monotonous, it grew a bit tedious.
so today, i have the day off, because i worked on saturday...yesterday we did the LONG distance paddling race from Hawaii Kai to Wainae...32 miles and wild seas! our canoe hullied (aka flipped) while racing....i was in the support boat at the time but jumped in to get the bailers to the girls and hats and other items that were scattered. we did well overall I think, we caught up and passed the boats that passed us, but we could have done better overall if we did not flip!
Needless to say, today i hurt. my shoulder is REally hurting me, although it feels better today than last night. ICE rest...
i think i will start focusing on biking for a while!

2.5 weeks left...until i am FREE! i turned over my clinic several weeks ago, and spent a few weeks in qatar covering for the arcent surgeon doc who was going house hunting in hawaii..he is doing a psych fellowship via the army...he and his wife are animal lovers and bringing 11 cats and a dog with them!
i met some really great folks in qatar...contract PA's and nurses who i really had fun hanging out with...
NOW, i am back to kuwait, living in open bay ward with 150 other women transients like me all ranks and services...and sad to say, it really doesn't seem to bother me a bit. i mean there is INDOOR PLUMBING for goodness sake, i can't ask for more. i don't have to go outside to pee, or walk several blocks in the freezing cold to shower..everything is inside..i am still thrilled about it. my gawd, what has become of me? no privacy, loud noisy people..lights out at ten, whisper...but i am so delighted about the indoor plumbing piece, i can't get over it.
they(the powers that be) wasted NO time in putting me back to work...so i am busting my butt seeing 18+ patients a day..but all i can think of is i am almost out of here!
the new group showed up yesterday...which really means we are really getting to the end of this stint in the desert...and i can put it all behind me.
just loook to the future!
although, i am starting to stress a bit, my new orders to san diego have not been processed, so i am getting nervous that the navy may have different plans for me...scarey.
so, here i lie in my bed lower bunk with blankets all around as a fort for my privacy...it is like building a tent inside.
all i can say, is that i have been so demoralized that the indoor plumbing makes me happy!

ok, i am not great about updating my blogg this go around....so, i just noticed it has been just about a month when i last wrote, and michele made a note to me to update my blogg, so I AM!

christmas was actually nice for being deployed, christmas eve we sent the staff on a wild scavenger hunt --they had to wear santa's hats and have pictures taken for proof...which were hysterical when all was said and done....they were running around the base getting crazy pictures for example: eating french fries at mcdonalds (we do have a mcdonalds, believe it or not); with the command commander, saving a life on the ambulance, on the fire truck, in the dry cleaners with certain people, a picture with ANWAR, who works at taco bell....inside starbucks --which had not opened yet (YES, they put a starbucks on my way out)
while they were running around, i bought a stocking for everyone and ordered chocolate coal to put in as a joke....we stuffed them with other odds and ends....later we did secret santa followed by a white elephant...then off to church for early service. not much on christmas day. we did serve the troops again, note the picture!!

the best part of the holidays, was susan my replacement showed up teh 27 and i started turnover with her! so we did just that...meanwhile i moved to a really crappy place to live with toilets and showers even farther away than my last home! UUUGGGHH, i hate having to go to the toilet in the middle of the night in the COLD 30 degree desert. so after that painful ordeal, they move me to camp cupcake, arifjan, where i get to live in an open bay ward with 150 other women....boy the army sure knows how to take care of senior officers! they navy would not treat an 05 like this at all....but, to be honest, i don't care because, THERE IS INDOOR PLUMBING...and i can walk to the end of the ward and there is showers and toilets...no complaining here. now i find myself jobless, and homeless, and THEY won't let me go home....so i managed to get to go back to qatar to cover for the arcent surgeon while he is house hunting in hawaii...and yes, this is where i am today.
not much to do. BUT i do get to swim! i did swim at camp arifjan last week, but in this country of plenty of oil, they don't have enough to heat the pool so the temp was 62 degrees, JUST like la jolla cove! although, i am not prepared for that, and after 40 minutes i was done and hypothermic i passed out early.....i am hoping they have fuel to heat the pool or NO more swimming for me in kuwait, rumor is it is 57 now...way tooo cold.
SO, here i am just swam in qatar, the weather is like san diego, so i am loving it. the funny thing is that conrad kress, the pa from hawaii who was here and passed through camp virginia 2 months ago is here now on some secret squirrel mission he has alot of hair...it is funny running into him as much on this deployment.
anyway, just biding my time till i get home in LESS than 30 days. i hope.
i will try to update this thing more frequently....how do you like that michele?

the past few weeks were chaotic...doing administrative stuff...awards, evaluations and such, kept me busy adminstratively that i was on the fence on whether or not to take my little R/R to Qatar as i did last time i was here. i know what to expect, so i didn't feel the NEED to go...it is just another army base in another arabic country...but i won't be working, so i decided to take the painful process of getting there and back, via military aircraft..and, as i expected, totally painful....the flight left at 0215..arrived at qatar on c17 at 0330, then a long wait to get off the plane...as i was freezing by the way, then another LONGER wait in the freezing cold tent in the hanger..then the painful wait at the gate to get onto the base..Yikes.

i started with a 2 mile swim, because the pool is nice. then a lot of hanging out and planning at tour the next day, to the inland sea picnic, which included a long ride to the sand dunes which we traveled in a suv to the beach where we hung out and yes, i swam. jumped in and took off...scaring the tour guides cuz they had no idea where i went! the arabian sea was somewhat clear, but no sea life, except a dead sting ray.

i also went on the doha city tour which was a lotta fun, and went to a few malls--which i don't really care for, but the villagio is just like the venitian in vegas, so that is cool, especially with all the men in man dresses running around...too funny.

i did get quite a few swims in here and there, and a 3 miler straight on sunday to see if i could do it...how boring in a pool.

then the horrific flight home! YUCK. battle rattle on cuz we are stopping in iraq...after a 16 hour ordeal, i made it back yesterday and slept the day away...

NOW, it is time to pack up..my relief, and good friend susan is coming to take MY PLACE, NEXT WEEK! do you think they would let me go home with the first wave...not on your life. so, after i turn over my job, and home and everything else, i will be a transient, living out of a suitcase till mid feb...doesn't that sound like a great way to finish up the deployment????
the only good thing, other than being homeless and jobless--my name is on the list to go cover for a PA in qatar for 2 weeks in january...sounds too good to be true--just waiting to hear the verdict, if not...i will be living in open bay transient berthing out of a suitcase and working in a TMC down at AJ--at least i can swim.....

now that the weather is cooling off dramatically, yes, i am wearing sweatshirts/pants and my black fleece coat..noa said we should get together one night and cook smore's....
the problem, getting marshmallows....i mentioned it to the post office guy, who lives out in town, and "poof" i had 5 huge bags of marshmallows on my desk the next day.
since we live next door to the fire department, we got a permit and a fire pit, and sat night we had a raging fire, roasted marshmallows and at smore's. i sat by the fire, while the guys either played volleyball or threw the football around....
a rather nice way to celebrate a holiday weekend.
i think we will try to do this more frequently...definitely new years!

another deployed thanksgiving for me!
unfortunately i had a lot of work to do and spent most of the day in the clinic.

i did get the opportunity to serve the troops in the dining facility which was fun, but they canned us after 30 minutes cuz we were toooo slow. we ate as a group, my staff--the ones that stayed behind as all the girls went to a spa/dinner at the hilton.
the dining facility was decorated like you would not believe...they made a life size crocodile out of pine apples...very creative stuff they did with food.

the best part of the day, was the swim i did that afternoon... 2 miles and tried to work off that turkey. nothing like mom's.

so today, i did my ritual wed/fri routine if i am not bothered by leadership demands...and escorted my PT Tech to the other camp (with the pool) and while he sees patients..i SWIM! i try and go 1-2 times a week, some days more some days less.

after getting back today, i was eating lunch and i see conrad ..a seal/physician assistant that i work with in hawaii...who deployed about a month before i did...HE IS MY HOOKUP IN QATAR, so i asked him what is his deal...apparently he is off to do some black ops stuff and won't be in qatar when i go there!! darn..my plans are foiled.

anyway, it was great catching up with him and it looks like we are going to be getting home around the same date whenever that is...he is a swimmer and a paddler as well..and in qatar he swims every day!! drat.

he gave me a name of someone to look up when i get to qatar...the key in getting out in town...so hopefully i can follow through on that.

it is soooo fun to see familiar faces!

i can't believe it...i am living the same situation i did last time i was here..OK, not the same situation, but similar.

I found out i have a replacement..my dear good friend susan is coming to take over my clinic! yippee! a name and it is someone i know, even better.

the downer...she is coming NEXT month--COOL, right. Perhaps because she is coming here, they would send me home with the first group.

NOPE! they are moving my happy a-- down to the big camp to work there for a month before i leave.....do ya think that burns me up or what.

now if they would let me set up MY SMART clinic...then I would be all about staying...hhhhmmm.