Coming Home

Well, the time has finally come to start leaving this country. In the next few days we will be leaving COS Hammer for good! The trip home will still take some time as we will have to catch multiple flights along the way, but at least it's the beginning of the end. I really can say that I won't miss this place one bit. It's hard to believe sometimes that I spent nearly the last year of my life in this area.
The past few weeks have actually been very very slow. I basically shut down clinic operations about 3 weeks ago. We officially signed everything over to the small company replacing us over a week ago. So for the past two weeks my schedule has been pretty boring. My daily schedule has gone something like this: Wake up around 0730, look at the clock then go back to sleep for another hour. Upon getting out of bed I usually spend another 1/2 hour getting moving. Then I head to the gym for my morning lift. Following that there is about an hour before lunch which is filled with some internet surfing. Then lunch, always exciting. It's getting difficult finding something that is appetizing anymore. Following lunch it's off to play Ping Pong for an hour or so. I'm actually getting pretty good. I'm sure it's a talent that will come in handy in the future! After that I usually spend about 3 hours in my room either watching movies or doing more web surfing. Around 1600 I head to the gym for my afternoon cardio workout. I've been trying to get my running back in shape and start preparing for a triathlon. Of course I can't swim here but I ride the bike then run. After a good workout it's off to dinner to try again to find something appetizing. Then maybe pick up some laundry and head to my room for another few hours of movies and web surfing until bed time. And then start the whole thing again the next day! I have to say I've read more news in the past 3 weeks then possibly in my whole life previously. Gives me a lot of time to do on line shopping and research a whole host of other things. The latest thing I've been researching has been a MBA. I don't know exactly what jolted me into this thought, but I've been thinking about doing a distance learning MBA basically preparing for possible private practice in the future. You'd be amazed how easy it is to get accepted to some of these programs. The program I am really interested in doesn't even require me to take the GRE again or the GMAT. I can apply for a waiver due to my other degree. I guess a big part of looking into this has to do with the fact that my ideas about my future career have changed a little in the past week or so. Before I was really planning on continuing in the Army trying to do the PhD program. That still is probably my number 1 option at this time, but circumstances have made me see that I should probably start looking at some alternatives in the event that I decide to get out. The Army has been pretty good to me so far, but I have been on the short end of the stick on many occassions as well. There are some serious organizational issues that have just recently begun to bother me. Oh well, we'll see how it goes. None the less I think it is important to open some other doors as well. Plus, you know me, I get bored pretty quickly and find I need to go back to school every few years. Well on my way to becoming the perpetual student.
So hopefully inside 2 weeks I should be back state side. This deployment has definately made me more grateful for the simple things in the U.S. like green grass and trees. Cars, central air, mild climates, high speed internet, pretty much everything. Looking forward to the "heat waves" on the east coast (I think in the upper 80's and low 90's in Watertown) compared to the average 120-130 that it is every day here!
Well, the next time I post I'll probably be back home.