Running a Marathon

53 days!  I  just checked the Air Force Marathon page (http://www.usafmarathon.com) and that's all I have before I do what I signed up to do...run 26.2 miles!!  

I'm starting to get a bit nervous, because I have not been able to train as much as I want to.  I have been very busy, but it's no excuse...I need to get off my butt and just run!  And I will!  Right now though, I feel the worst I've felt physically in several months...due to poor diet and exercise habits recently.  I want to blame many things for this, but I won't...too easy to do that, and I don't want to be someone that just makes excuses.

Along with my physical health, my emotional one has taken a roller coaster ride the past month.  One month ago, the Waldo Canyon Fire started (cause still under investigation), and though it's 100% contained now, it's still not out, actually...but it is under control.  I won't get into the details, but it did devastate my beautiful city of Colorado Springs, and was deadly.  Please see this amazing video if you haven't had a chance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBA7eHY022k.  It's long (16 min) but truly a must watch - dangerously beautiful.  Although I was fortunate enough not to have to evacuate, and has not been directly affected, I know some folks that have had to, and it has affected me mentally...I have felt sad for what people have had to deal with.  I am encouraged by the strength and perseverance of those affected, though.  The community has gotten closer, and we will rebuild.  I so admire the heroism of all the firefighters and emergency responders.  

Then there was the recent shooting at the Aurora Town Center movie theaters.  Just a shock, and took me several hours to decompress what happened on Friday, 20 July.  I grew up in Littleton (Denver suburb), have lived in COS for many years now, and have been to ATC many times (formerly called Aurora Mall), even watching a couple movies there.  I'm so glad all of my friends were not hurt, however there was one person I did know from my Reserve Wing who died, unfortunately.  I was not friends with him, because I hardly knew him, but it is still shocking.  Also, last year (one year ago on 3 Aug) one captain, also in my wing, was killed by a careless driver (ran a red light) near Schriever AFB.  I did know her...we talked several times on base while dealing with work issues (we were in different squadrons), and she volunteered to read with me during Asian-American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month to the base Child Development Center pre-schoolers.  She was a very nice person.  Very sad.  The whole shootings reminded me of the Columbine shootings in Littleton, 1999.  I graduated from Heritage High School in Littleton, but had some friends at Columbine...they weren't there anymore, as we were all past high school at that point, but it's another time when I remembered where I was when I heard the news  broke....sitting in a business class at Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO).  It also reminded me of another death...one of my squadron members at Eglin AFB died in 1996 from a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia.  We didn't know it at the time, but that was really a forerunner to more terrorist attacks against the U.S. and our allies in that region, and to this day.

Also, eight days ago was the 20th anniversary of my Dad's death.  It was a bittersweet day, as I remembered it just like yesterday.  I miss him dearly, but I just try to remember all the good times we had.     

I'm realizing this has kind of gotten off track from talking about the upcoming marathon, but I'm just starting to get in the groove in the blogging business.  Sometimes I may stray away from the subject.  Though in this particular case, I feel I am also running life's marathon.  There are so many ways I want to improve myself, and be a good Christian and person.  My life's marathon hasn't been easy (more blogs to follow in the days/weeks/months) ahead, and I've fell a few times.  I have gotten back up though, and have realized the Christians' race is not a competitive event, but an endurance run.  My main goal in life is live it as fully as I can, and go to Heaven.  Then I will patiently wait to see my family go there once they leave.  I leave you with this passage:

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." 

   - Philippians 3:14 (NIV)

God Bless,

Easy

Need...more...time!!!

So I'm quickly finding out that being a consistent blogger will take a lot of effort.  Okay, I really knew that...but still, it just seems like I can't find a good 20-30 minutes or so to just sit down and blog.  If I can't, I'll just literally take 2 minutes here and there over the course of the day to write, and then review later.  I started this blog early yesterday (Jul 17), but should finish today (Jul 18 - written in case I don't actually finish today and it's not published).  I see future blogs sometimes taking several days or more from start to finish, but I'm going to try to add it onto my schedule to just do, which is already full.  It's a bit challenging, because I don't have a regular schedule though, working different shifts all the time.  Regarding how long it takes me to blog, I'm finding out I can type a lot, but after previewing, I end up editing and taking out a lot of stuff that I feel didn't come out right.  It kind of feels like a waste of time when I do that, but in reality a finished product isn't a waste of time if it's written exactly the way you want it, or close enough, right?  Every writer/blogger goes through it too, I guess.  So today's first topic will be about time.  Everybody has 24 hours in a day....but not everyone has the same amount of time.  Get it?

Some people are busy with their jobs, their families, or both.  Then there's some on fb who update their status every 5 minutes.  To me, it means they have way too much time on their hands.  Some admit it by simply saying "I'm boredddddd...." on their updates!  I'm not judging but oh how I wish I could have that problem, as I'm rarely bored.  I definitely feel stressed at times with my full-time civilian job, Air Force Reserves job, and being a husband and father.  Now, the AF job is just as a Traditional Reservist (TR), which means one weekend a month.  So, on paper it doesn't look bad.  However, we also have to do at least two weeks a year, with many doing more than that when extra "man days" (active duty days or training days) are available.  These 2 weeks could be 14 consecutive days (including weekends), or spread out (one, two, or more days here and there).  The squadron prefers it spread out to take care of the "hot project" of the week or month.  I spread mine out, so in reality I do at least an extra day or two in the month, in addition to the weekend...so 3-4 extra days a month overall on top of my regular job.  I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say it can be rough at stretches when working many days in a row with civilian/Air Force jobs combined.  Then there's all the duties/responsibilities of being a flight commander for my AF job which is very time consuming....much more than the days I come in for the job itself.  This is one of the drawbacks of technology...you can work 24/7 now with a computer or smart phone!  Taskers/suspenses  (usually on the AF side) are what gets on my nerves the most...getting a call or checking your email to see a tasker is due NLT today, or NLT tomorrow.  Then I'm in rush mode.  The civilian job too gets extremely busy sometimes, as it's space operations....but I usually don't have to take work home, unlike the AF job. 

My situation is not unique, as many people work hard, and believe me, I'm not complaining about it.  I'm very happy to have a job, and I love both my jobs...it just gets to be too much at times, and I get exhausted.  However, I usually can motivate myself to "Just Do It" as the old Nike slogan goes.  Usually I just think about providing the best I can for the family, for one thing.  And honoring God by doing the best I can, and having a life of purpose.  I feel I'm doing a lot of good supporting the war fighters around the world with my GPS (civilian) job.

Sometimes my civilian and Reserves schedule conflict with each other, and I have to re-juggle the schedule through the schedulers, which can be a pain in the arse, because my civilian schedule is a "crew" schedule, and one person changing things can affect many more on crew.  So I'll end up making up for the civilian job shifts I missed later in the month, or take PTO (paid time off) for that...which usually doesn't give me a chance to build up many days off for a real break.  And that's what I need...a real break, or vacation!  Haven't had a break away from here since spring break 2011, when we went to Walt Disney World.  I've been on some short day trips, and a couple of TDYs (Temporary Duty Assignments), around the state and in Washington, DC...but no real break!  :\ 

Anyway, my hat's off to the hard working man and woman in this country and around the world...whether they're married, single, in a relationship...it don't matter, I know all can be truly busy in whatever they do.  However, I do want to give a special kudos to the married men and women who work hard while raising and supporting their family.  That includes men and women who don't work outside the home, but are stay-at-home moms/dads...that's the toughest job out there, IMO.

One last thing - I do always make time for God, even if it's just 2 minutes.  We all have a quick 2 minutes.  Usually I'll just say a quick prayer to thank Him for my blessings, and if things aren't going well, for His help and guidance.  Sometimes I may ask Him to just give me energy for the day, and He does, by making me make coffee for myself.  :)  Anyway, have a great morning/afternoon/evening!  (I think I may conclude each blog with that, since some of my readers are from around the world and thus, in different time zones!).

Cheers,
Easy

Ready to Blog, Finally!

I like this quote.

So, I’m ready to begin my blogging journey.  Part of me has always wanted to be a writer, and this gives me a wonderful opportunity to do so.  Maybe not professionally, but that's okay, as I don’t want to be a pro.  I just want to write and share my feelings sometimes.

With that in mind, I honestly don’t know how much I am willing to share at this point, or if I can even handle the limits I’m stuck with regarding the sharing of my thoughts.  I’m in the Air Force Reserves…so being in the military there’s certain things you just do not talk about…based on rules/guidance, or just protocol.

One example is politics.  I have to be careful about speaking my mind about that, especially involving the POTUS.  FYI, this doesn't mean I like or dislike our POTUS.  So I’ll probably just throw a general comment here and there, but nothing that would get me into trouble.  There are also other things I need to keep in mind, such as talking about work.  I can talk about general things, but being in the operations world, I can’t talk too much.  *By the way, I may throw in acronyms or abbreviations in future blogs.  My military comrades should get them, but I'll try to spell out uncommon ones for all.  If you don't know, feel free to ask, and don't be ashamed! :)

Then there are other things that I won’t talk about because it’s very personal.  I feel I’ve gone through a lot of things in life, but I don’t want to back track too much to talk about that…just starting fresh today.  I’ll refer to things in my past life now and then, but not so much.  It’s about the here and now.  I kind of wish I started earlier, so I can share some of the life lessons I learned “real time”, but I didn’t.  Also, even though I’m opening this up to my friends, some of you are close to me, and some not so close…so how much I write in the open will depend on how close I am to the “least close” reader/subscriber.  I hope you get what I’m saying.

Anyway, starting tomorrow or later this week I’ll jump into my thoughts for the day (or time being).  Not sure how often I will blog, as I’m very busy, but I plan on once or twice a week.   Some days may be serious, and some days not.  Most of the time will probably be in between.  I don’t really care too much about what people may think about my blogs, but I don’t want to offend anyone either.  Please let me know if there’s something that offends you…it may be just a misunderstanding/misperception of what I wrote.  Also, my grammar may not be the best…feel free to point out spelling/grammar mistakes, as I may not have time to proof as good as I want to.  I hope you enjoy what you read…please feel free to provide feedback any time. 

Cheers!

- Easy (call sign/nickname, and “pen” name I will close out each blog with)