TC the Terrible NOW Saber Squelch

The big race was today, and alas all did not go as planned. 

THE BOY got off to a brilliant start as he placed first and second in the first two heats.  From there it was down hill.  He finished third and forth in the final two heats.  Pissed does not begin to describe how he felt.  It was much deeper than that.

He acted out a bit on the way home.  Fortunately (for him) he didn’t take it out on his mother.  Instead he took it out on the Army.  THE WOMAN told me his entire tirade was about how evil the Army is for not letting me be there today.  All they had to do it seems was to let me come home today and he would have been a winner.

Guess that’s his way of saying that he needs me.

So far so good today. 

The overture to Tommy is blaring in my SkullCandy ear buds and my minions are all out on routine missions.  Nobody’s hair is on fire today.  And that’s a good thing.

I think the freezing rain that moved in overnight has knocked down most of my daily gremlins.  Either that or Jesus finally got to me on his to-do list.  Whatever the case, I’ll take it.

The tasking are starting to slow down a bit as we settle into our battle rhythm.  Our twice a week ruck march helps as it gives us all a chance to decompress for an hour or so.  Decompression is a valuable thing when there are no days off – and every day is 14 hours long.  But the plan is starting to come together. 

The core of the team is starting to gel and it’s going to be a good one.  We’ve got the typical absent minded professor, a couple of grumpy old men, a fresh young kid that looks like he’s never even stood close to a razor and little ole’ me leading the marching band down the road.  Yep, this has some real potential.

Saber Squelch Out.

As sappy as it sounds, I miss the Pinewood Derby.  One of the highlights of my year is helping THE BOY build his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts.  This is the second year in a row that I’m missing that event. 

Yeah, I helped him cut the car out and pour the melted weights into it.  But we didn’t get a chance to paint it, or put on the wheels.  And any fool can tell you that getting the wheels right is the biggest issue when building a quality Pinewood Derby racer.

But it might work out after all.  This time last year we got the car built before I pushed out to Saudi, but the wheels were all jacked up.  One of the other dads helped out and got his wheels right the night before the race.  And he went all the way to District with that car – finishing one spot out of qualifying for state.  His best car ever.

Let’s hope he can repeat that performance again.

Saber Squelch Out.

It’s the third day after my H1N1 Pig Flu shot and my Small Pox shot.  Which is to say that today’s the day when I start to feel like Hell warmed over. 

My left arm is itching all to be damned and I’ve got the world’s worst low grade fever.  Throw in a sore throat and achy back and you’ve got an idea of what I’m dealing with.  So of course the network has to crash this morning.

Not that I had a team on it until well past midnight last night just to make sure it’d be up today.  Nah, I’m not that well prepared or anything.  It took six hours longer than I had expected to get it back on line, but at least the Old Man can talk now.  Plus he got to go out and play cowboy today, so he’s in a good enough mood for now.

And one last thing, if this war were being fought with PowerPoint we’d won years ago.  Our Army is the best in the world and cranking out slides.

Later.

MAJ TC