My first time watch standing.

Hello all,

Today was my first day standing watch at school. There are multiple roles a watch stander will have during a normal day, and today I experienced three. First I stood "Pad Watch" basically controlling access to the building, second I was an escort, where I escorted around the building a vending machine guy who filled the empty machines, and third cleaning lady, cleaning windows. This was also my first time I have worn my working white uniform.

Standing watch is OK, but it is boring and I have to report to work at 0520 in the morning, blah... I've gotten used to sleeping in until 0700ish for the last month, but it appears that is over for the near future or so, where there will be plenty of watch standing on my plate, I would say at least all of next week, then hopefully back out with the DNR boys working in the woods.

My beloved Detroit Red Wings are hopefully back on track after last nights 4-2 victory, which leaves the series tied at 2. Strength and honor boys and bring home the Cup.

Have a nice weekend.

-Jason

I forgot to put this on my post...GO WINGS!!! KEEP ON KICKING BUTT!!!

Long time no talk!!

Hey guys it's Lisa. I've been busy with work and stuff so I haven't written in a while....well today was really nice, Jason and I went to the mall and did some shopping...Oh how I love to shop! Oh, about that mystery game....it is so much fun, we play the part of "Micheal" and we have just moved into this creepy old house...I'm not gonna give anymore details just in case you guys might want to buy the game and play yourselves. Anyway, the game is really fun and scary, I love being scared...I don't know why it is just fun. Well, I talked to one of my Aunts today, she just called out of the blue...it was nice. Well guys it was nice chatting but I'm gonna go work out n stuff...later

Take your wife to work day

Well Lisa had Friday off so I decided to take her to work with me. You may ask how I managed to get Lisa out of bed early on her day off, and the answer is simple, bribe her with food. We went to Hardee's for Breakfast and Pizza Hut for Lunch. She helped level some dirt that we were bringing in to fill the trails we made for bike riders. She said it was ok, but she didn't like the bugs, so she only put in a half of day.

Well well well, what I've been waiting for for almost two years....NHL playoffs, yeah!!!! And the first game lived up to playoffs, double OT, with the Wings pulling it out. Good job guys keep the winning going.

On the schedule for today is, shopping for food / clothes (maybe a new pair of boots for me), washing the car, and playing video games with Lisa. I successfully have Lisa addicted to playing mystery games, where you have to go through the game and find clues and put the together to solve a mystery. Here is the advertisement for the game we our currently playing:

"Dark legends surround the old abandoned Blackwood House secluded far away in the northern wastelands.

For writer Michael Arthate, this cold, solitary atmosphere is fodder for his restless imagination. But Michael soon becomes distracted by the mysteries offered up, as he follows a trail exploring and delving into the secrets of the past. As he is drawn deeper in the story, his sleep is shattered by mysterious noises, and he is plagued by nightmares that cross into reality.

Whose shadows lurk in the dark corners? Is that lonely house inhabited by restless spirits of the past, of something more sinister? What is that sound that chills to the very bone... scratching?

Join Michael in a suspenseful adventure, as you explore beautiful and chilling environments. Prowl dark corners and solve puzzles leading to the solution of a tale begun with obsession, and ending with madness and murder."

Anyway we both very much like this game and it is really starting to get good, the game has both given us "chills".

Well have a nice weekend and Go Wings!!!!!

-Jason

Monday

Happy Monday everyone,

Well our weekend was great, my mom and Ken came out for a day, we went out to eat in Charleston and went walking around downtown. My mom said it was some of the best seafood she has ever had, although being from Detroit not sure if that says a lot or not. We took them down by the Charleston Harbor, which is right near the Atlantic Ocean for you geographically challenged people. Anyway we couldn't asked for a nicer couple of days either, about 90 and blue skies. We also played some mahjong, where I can proudly say I won the first hand, but after that didn't do much of anything except lose. Well today more digging and lugging around railroad ties, I think we accomplished more work today then any other day so far, I also have become a little more independent down there, taking on some small projects by my self. Well I have to go clean before the warden gets home, otherwise there will be trouble.

-Jason

Surprise, Surprise.

Well another crappy day.

First the document that I had sent, invalid, wasn't the right one, it was issued to me instead of the Navy. To make things worse it was due today, no chance at getting another one until next week, but if I have learned anything in the Navy it is that rules and deadlines are just guidelines, so hopefully I'll be ok.

Second - my little water problem, worse, I have to wait at least until Monday to resolve the issue, apparently housing sucks even more than I thought, instead of calling public works to come out and shut of the water at the main before they started working, which by the way wasn't until 1400ish, they decided to spend almost 3 hours out here working and then say, well we can't do anymore until public works comes out and that won't be until Monday.

I don't think I am even mad anymore, it's comical now, how much more can go wrong?

-Jason

What ever happened to the customer is always right?

Well my day started pretty good yesterday; had a pretty easy day and even got off of work early. Then I got home. I was expecting an express package from a company that delivers packages and letters everyday to your house, well Lisa was home all day yesterday watching TV and I get home and I find a package slip saying there was an attempted delivery. So I'm upset because Lisa was home all day how could they miss that? On top of that our main bathroom that we seldom use has a leaky faucet that was supposed to be fixed while I was at work, so I got in the house and asked Lisa is she went anywhere today and she said no, so I knew at that point there was no attempted delivery just a lazy worker who didn't want to check, that upset me. Then I asked Lisa did they guy fix the leak, nope he told here it wasn't leaking and left. I didn't have time to deal with that because of the package situation, I run over to the office of the place where my package may be and they guy isn't back from his route so they take my number and say they'll call me when he gets back. So I go home and call the housing place and ask them how my faucet could be dripping water for 4 months and not be leaking. so they send the guy back out. While I'm waiting for this idiot to come back and try to bs me, I get a phone call from the manager of the package place, Sir we have your package but the worker said he left you a slip yesterday and rang the bell today. I go and pick up my package and ask for a refund of the postage where I was told he left a slip yesterday and rang the bell today there would be no refund. I'm thinking to myself they think I'm lying for 15 dollars, this is ridiculous, if that happened at Mr. Pita no questions asked customer gets his money back, even if I know he is lying. So I sent a complaint form in on their website we will see what happens, I'll keep you updated. Then I get home and still no sign of this maintenance guy, so I call and they say another30 mins or so.

So he finally gets here and it's the same guy as before that told Lisa the faucet wasn't leaking, and he tried to tell me the faucet wasn't leaking, I was like you're kidding right? That faucet isn't leaking? We don't use it and water comes out and gets all moldy and it's not leaking? Fix it buddy, "Oh well I'm sorry I misunderstood" that translates to "I'm sorry sir I was just being lazy and didn't want to deal with the hassle of changing the valve and usually if I just tell people that a problem is normal I don't have to do my job." Well I don't know what kind of service I should have expected after these encounters but I can assure you my day got worse.

3 hours later and 2 other maintenance guys, faucet still has problems and now they tell me I'm not gonna have running water until public works gets out here tomorrow. So they eventually got the faucet fixed I think, we'll give that another day or two to and see if it is still fixed, and they rigged the water to work by "stealing" it from my neighbor, basically run a house from they're water faucet outside to ours.

All in all my day sucked yesterday, I realized housing maintenance sucks and they are lazy, and when ever you have to send a package I would recommend UPS. FEDEX, DHL, they 11 year old kid on a bicycle, but NO ON ELSE.

-Jason

Hello All

Well last night Lisa wasn't feeling well so we went to bed early, about 1900, well she didn't get up until 0930 this morning, I wish I could sleep that long, I got up around 0600, not to shabby, but it pales in comparison to Lisa's 14.5 hours of sleep. Yesterday we did some shopping and got the oil changed in the car. Today we are going to go grocery shopping and I'll probably cut the grass, and go for a jog.

Well gotta run

-Jason

hey, how you doin' !

Hey it's Lisa....what's up? Not too much going on here except 80 degree weather, it is really nice down here :) It is not even summer yet and it's that warm, I hear that the summer time down here is unbearable though. As much as I hate being cold, I hate being really really hot. At least at this house we have air conditioning, at our house back home we just had a window unit for our bedroom. We do have a beach close by and myrtle beach is only a couple hours away so that is nice. Ya know I have been getting headaches more frequently here than back home. I think it has to do with the change of weather. Well as you guys know by now, Jason graduated A school and was the only one in his class to received the "Personal Excellence Award". Hooray! :) I can't tell you how proud of him I was when they called his name....Jason looked kind-of surprised, I wanted to cry but then thought about how messy my make-up would look, needles to say I didn't cry, anyway, I was (and still am) so proud of him, my first thought when I saw him up there receiving that award was: "All of his hard work, going in to study when he didn't have to, not seeing each other as much as we'd like.... it payed off, He did it! My husband was recognized by those above him for the hard work and dedication that he brought forth, God I'm so proud of you Jay, you so deserve it! I love you!" talk to you guys later.....Lisa

P.S. for those of you who will/might be visiting soon "We can't wait to see ya!"

T-Track

Hi again. Well today was my first day on T-Track, and well it has it Pro's and Con's. Pro's: No stress, I get out after at the most 8 hours (that is including my 1 + hour for lunch), I don't have to sit in a class room all day. Now for the Con's: I worked with some idiots today, I cleaned all day, and I had to dig through trash for an hour to make sure there was no pop cans or white paper in the normal trash. Over all I think I will like T-Track, that no stress part is a big plus.

On Friday we had our graduation, I have some good news and some bad. I'll start with the bad, I missed graduating with distinction by 3.75 points out of a total possible 1540, about as close as you can get without actually getting the recognition, now for the good news: I was awarded the Commanding Officer's "Personal Excellence Award" for my class. Basically it is awarded to the "The Student in each class who has exhibited the greatest degree of professionalism". I received a letter signed by the Captain of NNPTC and a Coin. As far as I can tell coins in the Navy are almost a badge of honor so to speak, I think that when a group of shipmates that goes out drinking the one with the best coin drinks on the other guys or something.

On a side note, I am starting to consider maybe butting in a officer packet, basically a resume of such to a board that selects people to go from enlisted to officer. I'm kinda wishy - washy on that though, so I don't think I will, but I am starting to think about it. I'll have to talk with Lisa more about that.

Today is the first day that on my base the official uniform changed from Working Blues (winter) to working Whites (summer), needless to say Lisa was very excited (she likes my Whites better even though she has only seen them the hanger). I'll have her take some pictures when I wear them for the first time and post, may not be for a while because there will be no reason for me to wear them as long as I am taking out trash, so until I get put on a watch bill, utilities for me.

Lisa and I are very excited due to the fact that we are going to have our first visitors in our home in Goose Creek, SC. My mom and Ken are coming down around Easter and plan on making a stop by.

Well I gotta get going, early day tomorrow, PT at 0600.

-MM3 Jones

We're Back!

Hey everybody, Jason and I just got back this afternoon form St Simon's Island, Georgia. We attended a marriage retreat provided by the Navy. It was very nice spending time together and learning things that help our relationship grow. One thing we both learned is that we are completely different people, but we now better understand how to work together. Sometimes when I'm upset about something and just want to be left alone Jason will come in and automatically want to "fix" what ever is bothering me....and when I ask him to leave me alone and say I'll talk to him when I'm ready, well he just doesn't accept that as an answer, he needs closure right then and there. He continues to pester me until I talk to him (which only makes me more upset). The thing we have learned on how to deal with situations like this in the future is for me to give him a time limit, like "give me 20 min. to myself and then come back and we can talk". That gives me some time alone and him knowing that he will have closure on the situation relieves stress. I would love to tell you more about our personality types and how we are so different but that is going to have to wait till tomorrow, I'm going to bed...goodnight! Lisa