nothing original

So, I spoke to my brother the Colonel. He’s on a selection committee to review applicants that have been forwarded to be promoted from Major to Lt. Colonel. How cool is that? He says it’s a once in a career opportunity. It’s amazing. The committee consists of about 30 people and they review about 6,000 files. They give each file 3-4 minutes… and we’re talking paper files.  I was on an interview committee and it took about 15 minutes to go through an application and rate it to see if that person will get an interview. Can you imagine? No wonder he’s the Colonel.

I am heartbroken each time I watch video of the tsunami that decimated the coastal cities in Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures. The people had essentially no warning… less than 10 minutes from the earthquake to the tsunami hitting the coastline. Although there were foreshocks a couple of days before, you don’t know they are foreshocks until the bigger quake hits. Unfortunately, it’s normal to have quakes of 5-6 magnitude in that region. It’s one of the most active areas in the “Ring of Fire.” Having lived in Yokota AFB for 5 years, it was almost desensitizing… almost. But we were trained: if you’re indoors, stay away from brick and glass, and get under a table. If your outside, get away from buildings. We were constantly reminded why we had all those drills.

When the Nisqually earthquake hit our area, I knew in less than a second what was happening. Today, I start thinking of the recent earthquakes: New Zealand, Chile, and China. The Pacific Northwest is supposed to have ours. If Nisqually wasn’t our “big one,” then all we can do is learn from what we see and prepare ourselves.

The old saying goes “___ comes in threes.” I really hope not. I don’t think my bank account can handle any more medical happenstances. First was L’s hospital stay last month. Today was my cat’s turn at the vet hospital for an asthma attack. It’s not the first time, and it’s far in between. Her last attack was two years ago. Still, it’s a lot of money. I need to get a second job… or a better one that pays more. Yeah, that might take a while.

A couple of months ago, we had to get rid of our old mattress foam topper. L’s overnight diaper leaked after crawling into our bed at some awful time of the night. It’s happened a few too many times and it was time to get rid of it. The only problem was: we didn’t have a replacement and the ones in the stores were too expensive. It finally dawned on me to shop online. A lot of stores will give you free shipping. Couple that with points gained through MyPoints, and Overstock.com is 10 points per dollar… I’m ready to shop! I found a nice 3″ foam topper that came with a cover. It came yesterday. I opened the box this morning when I started laundry and let it slowly unfold itself on the bed for most of the day. It took me forever to get the cover over it – it just didn’t want to fit. My friend finally came to the rescue and we made it fit. Okay, so there’s a slight curl at head and foot of the bed. I’m not going to complain… yet. I’m just excited to finally get a good night’s sleep.

I’ll let y’all know tomorrow… maybe… <snore>

Being a state employee has it’s perks. It’s even better if you don’t live in the State of Wisconsin. I received my Explanation of Benefits from my health insurance and the bill from Seattle Children’s Hospital for L’s stay… all I can say is thank goodness I have good medical insurance! Coincide that with a flexible spending account and I think we’ll be able to deal with it pretty smoothly, financially speaking. It’ll definitly take a while to pay off, a lot less than what I was expecting.

There are two things I can’t wait to finish: taxes and paying off my car.