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!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
i figure i need to start keeping up with my blogg as so many interesting little things happen and i brush them aside, but they do warrent a bit of publicity. i thought i would try and describe my staff....and what i am learning about them, and from them...cuz we are just one big dysfunctional family after all.
I mean, where else in the Navy do you LIVE in the boxes/trailers with everyone you work with...use the same unisex portopotty down the road when nature calls in the middle of the night--you just NEVER know who you are going to bump into at 2 AM. plus, you get to use the same showers for all the permanent party members on base..which is a healthy jaunt to hike to from my living spaces.
crazy! good thing the clinic is a nice hard structure, as they call it, not a building cuz it can disappear when this base disappears...just like my last one! navistar is NOTHING, just sand. you can't even tell that there was anything there at all.
so, my new plan is to describe the characters that are in my life for the time being.....
i have to say, i had the opportunity to swim yesterday! and TODAY! i went to the big camp to get my hair done by a flamboyant filipino gay man---my hair looks like it was done by just that type of fellow....but beggers can't be choosers, and if is all i got, then i gotta do it. i can't wait to see heather back in hawaii, she is going to be dumbfounded.
another patient from hawaii tagged me yesterday...in the dining facility, she tapped me on the shoulder, i was shocked to see her as she had a bad bad back, but she said she was doing great and is off to iraq....it is tooo funny the people i meet and see in this short experience here....
I mean, where else in the Navy do you LIVE in the boxes/trailers with everyone you work with...use the same unisex portopotty down the road when nature calls in the middle of the night--you just NEVER know who you are going to bump into at 2 AM. plus, you get to use the same showers for all the permanent party members on base..which is a healthy jaunt to hike to from my living spaces.
crazy! good thing the clinic is a nice hard structure, as they call it, not a building cuz it can disappear when this base disappears...just like my last one! navistar is NOTHING, just sand. you can't even tell that there was anything there at all.
so, my new plan is to describe the characters that are in my life for the time being.....
i have to say, i had the opportunity to swim yesterday! and TODAY! i went to the big camp to get my hair done by a flamboyant filipino gay man---my hair looks like it was done by just that type of fellow....but beggers can't be choosers, and if is all i got, then i gotta do it. i can't wait to see heather back in hawaii, she is going to be dumbfounded.
another patient from hawaii tagged me yesterday...in the dining facility, she tapped me on the shoulder, i was shocked to see her as she had a bad bad back, but she said she was doing great and is off to iraq....it is tooo funny the people i meet and see in this short experience here....
Sunday, November 09, 2008
so i managed to get an in with the marines on camp here and got a ticket to the marine corps ball...i also got my good friend at the other camp and her chief one, so we had big plans for sat night. the ball was at the us embassy, so how cool is that. only drawback, we had to be in uniform..DRAT.
so, they came by picked me up and we headed down in our desert cammies and combat boots to the embassy. we attempted to to get dolled up in the car...as you can see tons of makeup and packing heat...now who wouldn't want me to be thier date?
we were able to have a cocktail if we wanted, so i went for the red wine....which was ok. the guests were dressed beautifully, and i was styling in my combat boots! at least my feet were happy.
the dinner was spectacular and it was a great fun time. the token marines came by for photo shoots...
again, the world is tooooo small. as i was chatting with a man from finland and his wife, a member of the consolate came by and we were introduced. long story short: he knows my oldest brother extremely well, graduated from west point with him! in addition, the one navy admiral, supply corps is an avid swimmer and we have too many people and races in common....what a trip.
all in all it was a great opportunity and a break from the base, and feel almost human again. what a treat!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
since annie was passing through, and ann is at the next camp up the road, we had a mini pearl harbor reuinion!
i was having a busy day, but annie and ann had a good time catching up and we got a picture taken in my trauma bay.
not anything like our world in honolulu! but it is great to have home in common.
annie is going back after 9 months in iraq...ann and i still have a few months left, but this is a joke compared to iraq
the other pic is when rose conway, another hawaii MSC officer passed through...it is just like meeting up with family!
yep! i am still alive and not doing much blogging lately, so i figure i should capture the last month....since my last notes, i have had some interesting and fun things going on...which is hard to believe here in the isolated desert. but here it goes:
october has flown by so incredibly fast...i had another friend pass through from my command rose conway..she is on her way to iraq. it was great to spend time and hang out with her as she was here for a good number of days..kind of nice to catch me up on the stuff going on back at pearl harbor. traveled down to arifjan for meetings the first week of sep..spent the night and do my swimming thing which is such a treat, but NOW, i have a new scheme, that i don't have to travel the lond distance to that camp...my PT tech has been going to the next camp over every wed and fri since we got here, he HAS to have someone go with him, as no one can travel solo. it occureed to me, that I CAN GO! i drive him down, he sees his patients, i go to the pool swim, get him get back to my camp by lunch. i get my swim in and the staff likes me better cuz i am not so grumpy... so my NEWEST routine is that i swim 2-3 times a week which is the best part of this deployment so far....being in charge has its perks.
on the 11 we had a navy birthday ball..223 years old is the us navy..and it was great. my staff did such a terrific time putting it all together, i was totally amazed. my entire leadership came up for it and were quite taken by what they put together in this austere environment....and then we had a health fair a two weeks later and again, my staff did some absolutely amazing poster sessions that it would put people back home to shame. again, the leadership was up and ironically, they are having a health fair down there in a few weeks, and want to use the presentations my staff made...i said of course, as long as my staff present them too!
we also sponsored and acls (advance cardiac life support) class up here, and my boss and a few other folks cam e up and stayed and taught the class. (my corpsmen all did awsome and passed, the few that took the class, which is a hard thing to do) i actually got selected to teach the courses if i want to become an instructor, which is always a good thing.
then of course, the latest bash was the halloween party! we were invited to the other navy units halloween bash, so about 12 of us got dressed up and piled into the van (the doctor with 2 heads drove) and literally crashed thier party...it was kind of awkward at first as they were not finished with thier command hail and farewell. so it was wierd, BUT, once they finished, the games began. then we all piled back into the van to zip over to the base halloween party, but had missed the costume contest, so they were so many of us, they did another contest...i came in 4th! what a joke. (i was an indian princess)
one of my staff, who is quite gothic in nature LOVES halloween so he had a fright night movie night last night and we bought pizzas for the enlisted...we all watched halloween, the most recent one...not my scene, but it was fun hanging out with the staff.
so today, sunday, my normal routine is laundry and cleaning...but i had to get up and go cover the medical at the other clinic cuz the doctor there is now on r/r so i said i would see the patients there in the morning and then i also get to swim! always a hidden agenda.
the weather is cooling off and the rainy season is starting..my gawd, it poured and lightening and thundered so much the other night is was raining in one of the corpsmans' room. flooding was biblical...and it will get worst as i remember from my last stint here 2 years ago.
october has flown by so incredibly fast...i had another friend pass through from my command rose conway..she is on her way to iraq. it was great to spend time and hang out with her as she was here for a good number of days..kind of nice to catch me up on the stuff going on back at pearl harbor. traveled down to arifjan for meetings the first week of sep..spent the night and do my swimming thing which is such a treat, but NOW, i have a new scheme, that i don't have to travel the lond distance to that camp...my PT tech has been going to the next camp over every wed and fri since we got here, he HAS to have someone go with him, as no one can travel solo. it occureed to me, that I CAN GO! i drive him down, he sees his patients, i go to the pool swim, get him get back to my camp by lunch. i get my swim in and the staff likes me better cuz i am not so grumpy... so my NEWEST routine is that i swim 2-3 times a week which is the best part of this deployment so far....being in charge has its perks.
on the 11 we had a navy birthday ball..223 years old is the us navy..and it was great. my staff did such a terrific time putting it all together, i was totally amazed. my entire leadership came up for it and were quite taken by what they put together in this austere environment....and then we had a health fair a two weeks later and again, my staff did some absolutely amazing poster sessions that it would put people back home to shame. again, the leadership was up and ironically, they are having a health fair down there in a few weeks, and want to use the presentations my staff made...i said of course, as long as my staff present them too!
we also sponsored and acls (advance cardiac life support) class up here, and my boss and a few other folks cam e up and stayed and taught the class. (my corpsmen all did awsome and passed, the few that took the class, which is a hard thing to do) i actually got selected to teach the courses if i want to become an instructor, which is always a good thing.
then of course, the latest bash was the halloween party! we were invited to the other navy units halloween bash, so about 12 of us got dressed up and piled into the van (the doctor with 2 heads drove) and literally crashed thier party...it was kind of awkward at first as they were not finished with thier command hail and farewell. so it was wierd, BUT, once they finished, the games began. then we all piled back into the van to zip over to the base halloween party, but had missed the costume contest, so they were so many of us, they did another contest...i came in 4th! what a joke. (i was an indian princess)
one of my staff, who is quite gothic in nature LOVES halloween so he had a fright night movie night last night and we bought pizzas for the enlisted...we all watched halloween, the most recent one...not my scene, but it was fun hanging out with the staff.
so today, sunday, my normal routine is laundry and cleaning...but i had to get up and go cover the medical at the other clinic cuz the doctor there is now on r/r so i said i would see the patients there in the morning and then i also get to swim! always a hidden agenda.
the weather is cooling off and the rainy season is starting..my gawd, it poured and lightening and thundered so much the other night is was raining in one of the corpsmans' room. flooding was biblical...and it will get worst as i remember from my last stint here 2 years ago.
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