Winter Olympics trip!

Had an adventure yesterday…

I bought Olympics tickets back last summer–from my computer in Baghdad! What an amazing thing it was to be there and see things in person. Too many lines, too many people, and I’m tremendously glad to be back at home, but I’m totally glad to have done it!

(Now back to the grind with schoolwork… sigh.)

Vancouver Winter Olympics

I was definitely warned…

… But it's still been shocking to be as absolutely slammed with schoolwork as I have been! For my three classes each week, I've been averaging somewhere between 50-60 hours of homework a week. When you add that to the 12 hours of class weekly, it's a pretty impressively large workload. And I'm definitely working.

But let me back up a little. When last we heard from me, I was staying at my parents' house in Tacoma (just south of Seattle), having finally found an apartment that suited me in downtown Seattle, but I wasn't staying there yet because I didn't have any of my household goods. Well, it took a while. I finally got a call that my household goods were on the way, when I was in the middle of first year orientation… and the movers arrived the day before classes started. So I got my stuff in, unpacked the bare minimum (some of my kitchen stuff and a few of my clothes boxes), and started into class… and the above-mentioned workload started nearly immediately.

I made the mistake, early on, of taking one Saturday to do some partial emptying of book boxes… all I got for my effort was a spare room carpeted in a mountain of books, 7 boxes of books to go to charity someday, somehow, and no time since to address it. I suspect that any holiday time I get will be spent unpacking and attempting to get my house in order.

It is my theory that the unusually large apartment I had in Alabama–all 3 bedrooms of it–caused me to commit certain excesses in my accumulation of "stuff". Now I need to downsize, which should be easy, but isn't because I have NO TIME in which to do it!!! High class problems, I grant you… but problems nonetheless. I will feel much more settled once I'm able to actually have an apartment that can be organized. (The six-foot stack of boxes in my bathroom is just one of many such that get in my way on a daily basis!)

And, oh, the math… three years since my last grad school classes and I'd successfully performed a "brain dump" that was quite thorough. So I'm having to navigate the murky waters of estimating equations and maximum likelihood and all sorts of other fun things… not least of which is to program in a completely new language (R) in order to complete my assignments…

I realized early on that I have a problem with my memory where school is concerned… It reminds me of what women say about giving birth… that they forget the pain and anguish of it in the midst of their delight in the new baby. Well, I seem to forget the woe and anguish of school in my delight at being DONE. And then every time I come back I am reminded, "Oh yeah, it's like this. And this isn't too fun!"

But lest I complain too much, I have to say that I'm enjoying myself, in a weird and slightly nerdy kind of way. OK, the cold/flu (a short one, I don't think H1N1) I had a couple weeks ago had me doubting myself and sure that I was going to flunk out, and oh the shame of it all! Now, though I'm certainly not making very good grades on all this homework, I'm holding my own and improving all the time. It's nice to see oneself progressing up the learning curve. As long as this quarter doesn't dig me too far into the "resident dunce" hole, I should do fine!

It's odd, working on a high-level degree in a field that I certainly wouldn't have chosen for my own personal tastes. I recall very clearly that my one statistics class at the undergraduate level had the dubious distinction of being my least-liked class for that entire four years… I think if I'd had my druthers, I'd be studying languages or linguistics or something like that. I can see the use of statistics for my job and in the future, and I think it's a very practical thing to be an expert in, all things considered. It's funny how these career paths tend to channel you in directions you wouldn't have predicted. I definitely wouldn't have thought I would be where I am, if I was asked about it ten years ago.

I'm loving Seattle, rain and all. (Though I do have a query: in a place where it rains so much, why is it that people have such trouble driving when it rains? The commute to school–an easy 15 minutes on clear days–has taken me up to 45 minutes on some of the rainier mornings!) I am lucky enough to have a lovely apartment with an amazing water view, and when I'm not doing homework, I can watch the ferries coming back and forth and the cargo ships being loaded and unloaded at the docks… Sunrises and the pink-tinted harbor have been some of my favorite moments here to date. This is a good place. And it's nice to be so near my family! (Though I really don't get to see them, because–again–I've got all that work to do!)

So there's an update… I'm here, I'm working hard, I'm learning as fast as I can, and it's nice to be in a place where there is cool weather and I can actually wear sweaters again! (After 3 years in the South or the Middle East, an autumn that involves bright foliage and falling leaves feels like I'm living in a Norman Rockwell scene…)

I'll try to get back to blogging again soon, but suspect that it may be somewhat sparse until 1) I've figured more of this stuff out or 2) I've gotten to a stage in my schooling that requires less of my time. (Which is devoutly to be wished, but very unlikely!)

Fruit fresh from the orchard

Sent from my iPhone

Time off

Well, my first two weeks of real vacation have passed by almost effortlessly! I'm here in the cool sunshine of late summer/early autumn in Washington State, and loving it.

Actually, it's weird to have cool weather and see leaves turning, etc., at this point in the year. In Baghdad, cooler weather didn't really happen until November (though nights started to become tolerable in October), and indeed, even in Alabama, fall doesn't really arrive until close to Halloween. This business of September meaning cooler weather is slightly foreign to me, at this point. (In a good way… I really missed fresh, cool air, this past year.)

I have an apartment in Seattle that I'll be moving into over the weekend. Well, "moving into" is a bit of a misnomer… I'll be getting the keys to it, and I'll probably move some of the stuff that I took with me across country (as well as the trunks that I shipped to my parents), but until I can arrange to have my stored personal belongings shipped up here, it's not likely to be home for a bit. Thankfully now that I have an address to ship to, this will be a huge step forward.

The other huge step forward that could come in handy would be, say, actually going to the office to arrange to have my stuff shipped. I've been putting that off, and I suppose if I don't get down to the local Air Force base by Friday, it'll have to wait until after Labor Day. Thankfully, my parents' house is large and I'm not in anyone's way here for the moment. (And I have two weeks before my orientation begins at the university).

Other than that, I've been busy playing with my iPhone for the past week and a half, and talking people's ears off about its wondrousness (they're not usually that interested–I try to restrain myself but it's hard to do, because I'm so enthralled with my new mini-computer!)

I will say that I'm sort of looking forward to having a schedule again… I keep losing track of what day it is, without any solid "landmarks" to judge the week from–in the unending sameness of my Baghdad year, I could chart days by how close I was to my next "half" day (8 hours at work instead of 14+). Now I keep arguing that, no, it's Tuesday, when actually it's Wednesday (and so on). Time off is a good thing, but I can see that there's definitely a chance of getting too much of it!

And that's my life at this juncture. I'll have more interesting things to say once I start school, I think. For now I'll continue to check in sporadically (and probably post pictures from my new phone).

Random Self-Portrait by phone

As you can see, self-portraits via iPhone may be challenging (as is this business of posting from the phone). I’m still figuring it out–if you see awkward posts for the next few days, that’s probably why! (BTW, I LOVE this phone and have been driving my parents crazy because I’m glued to it.)

Made it! (Now what do I do?)

Well, after the excitement of the deer strike and the aftermath of getting a replacement car the next day (Monday), I drove the rest of the way to Tacoma, WA without incident–although I did manage to get lost for half an hour, late at night, in my parents' neighborhood because I didn't remember precisely enough where they lived (they moved up here about a year and a half ago).

Yesterday I turned in the rental car and, with my dad's help, got my luggage from the trip weighed so that I can claim the 320 pounds that I carried with me cross-country (also the reason why I drove rather than flew). The rest of this week includes licensing my car, getting a new cell phone, visiting the apartment complex where I hope to live, and (assuming that I find an apartment that works for me) arranging for my household goods to be taken out of storage and shipped up to me. I think I won't feel completely comfortable until I have my own place again, with my own stuff in it (though I know I do need to do some major decluttering at some point in the near future).

I'm also attending my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary party this weekend, and my brother's family will be staying out here for the event. I'll get to catch up with the family in one fell swoop!

I'll leave you with one last picture of the most memorable part of the trip… here I am with my roadkill (hunting by car… a new passtime?)

Let the pictures do the talking…

I'll be getting a replacement car tomorrow morning. Upside? I'm perfectly fine and I was only 10 miles from the place I'd intended to stop for the evening. I'm probably only a few hours off-course.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

The drama! The red tape!

Actually, drama is lacking but red tape is plentiful, these past couple weeks. I'm in the middle of out-processing from my current base, in Alabama, in order to be able to drive cross-country to Washington State over the weekend (and the beginning of next week–this isn't exactly a short drive). And the red tape abounds.

I'm almost all the way done, except for a report that has to be done by my boss, and signed by the next two levels of bosses, before I leave here. This report is necessary because it is my package for the promotion board that I'll be meeting next year, to be considered for promotion to major. (Right on time–these things happen like clockwork.) So the report is important, and it has to be done within the next couple days (if not I imagine I'll be trying to coordinate via phone and email; and while I'm used to that, from my time in Baghdad, I would prefer not to have to do it that way!)

But I am so glad to be almost complete with this process…

However, even if the past couple weeks have had their annoyances in the form of red tape and redundancy, they've been good, too. I needed a chance to unwind a little bit from the deployment itself and also from the frantic nature of the process of getting home… (It was an insane time–turned out the AF had assumed I was going to be heading home in mid-August instead of at the end of July, because no one had checked my paperwork. Then when they figured out that I was getting dangerously close to my 365 days, boots-on-ground, they freaked out and I was on a plane out of Baghdad within the week. Total chaos. I tried not to mind because I know that military travel is like this… you have to put yourself in sort of a Zen frame of mind and flow with it, not worrying about anything that might come your way. The only thing that made it bearable, though, was the fact that a friend of mine who'd been in the office with me–2 AF captains versus the Army!–was dealing with the same thing, too, because we'd come in on the same plane last August. Anyway, we ended up attached to a unit's chartered flight back to Dyess AFB near Abilene, TX, instead of the more ordinary ports of call, and took commercial flights home from there. I am just glad that it is all over and done!)

It's been good to have a couple weeks where all that I need to do is to get myself processed in and out of the base here, and on the road to Seattle. As of Saturday morning, I'll be starting the three-day (possibly four-day, depending on how it goes) drive… and I'm so ready for it! I'm ready to get an apartment and get my stuff and settle in, already! (Though since my parents live close by it won't be terrible to crash there for a little while until my own apartment is ready to go.)

This is where I'm staying at present…

Rather different from where I lived in Baghdad!

OK, that's my scatterbrained update for the moment. It's weird getting back used to being allowed to access the internet–all of it–again… I keep forgetting that I won't be blocked from the social networking sites!

Back home… I can barely believe it

Well, after a year, I’m finally back from Baghdad–for good this time, I hope–a second time. I’ve barely collected my thoughts and I’m in the midst of trying to in-process on base (back from deployment) and concurrently out-process (moving away from here), so my thoughts are not well-organized at the moment!

I’m truly stunned that I’m back. I don’t think it has really sunk in yet. Taking the weekend off feels somehow wrong, and I keep thinking of the things that I should be doing if I were back in the office in Baghdad. (But have I written to them? No, of course not!) I have a miles-long list of to-do’s and very little time in which to do them, at least while I’m here for approximately 2 weeks in Montgomery, Alabama.

I was accepted into the University of Washington’s Statistics Department! So this fall, I’ll be starting work on a doctorate out in Seattle. The AF gives me three years in which to do it. I think the three years, living almost entirely as a civilian, will be an awfully nice change after this year I just spent in uniform. I have an apartment complex in mind–I’m hoping to live in downtown Seattle–but until I get up there I’m not going to know for sure.

I’ve got a massive dose of culture shock right now… TV, stores, restaurants–they all seem simultaneously bewilderingly foreign and utterly familiar. As I get reconnected (for now, mostly on Facebook), I’m sort of amazed at what changes this year has wrought… people have been married, engaged, had children, been divorced, moved, left the military, and so on…

And all the while I’ve been doing the same thing in the same spot for a year, seemingly frozen in time. I feel a little bit like Rip van Winkle–somehow I fell asleep and woke up a year later. I’m trying to make sense of this new world order but I can see it’s going to take a while. In the interim, I am getting some rest, trying to get all my business taken care of, and working on transitioning to my new life.

Anyhow, it’s good–if a little overwhelming–to be back, and I’m excited about getting this show on the road!

R&R: An update

Hello from the United States! I’m in the Pacific Northwest, wrapping up my 15-day R&R vacation… I thought I’d put in a brief update of what’s happening and where I am.

Work in Baghdad since August has been a matter of getting used to the things I do, and getting better at the job over time. This time through, I’m working with violence data (how many attacks, how many casualties have occurred–that kind of thing), tracking the trends and some of the “special” modes of attack that the people in charge keep an eye on (suicide bombings, for instance).

It’s all fairly interesting stuff, and I’ve found that after 8 months of working on it I’ve got a good head for what’s happening in the country of Iraq, as a whole. As time has gone on I’ve become the person with the longest memory in our office for what has happened before and what we’ve done about it (this is because over time all the people there redeploy, so eventually a year deployer is going to have “seniority”). I find myself fielding a lot of questions from the newer people and telling them, “Oh yeah, we did that three months ago–here’s how we got our answer then.” I like being an expert, so it’s kind of fun to be in that position.

But on a personal note–wow, only 3 more months until I’m going to be redeploying! My replacement is coming into Baghdad around the end of July, and I should be out of there by the first week or so of August.

And then on to… grad school! During my time incommunicado, I’ve been accepted for the Air Force Institute of Technology’s faculty pipeline program. This means that after getting a PhD, I’ll go back to AFIT to teach statistics. They’ve approved me to get a doctorate from a civilian institution (though of course they only gave me the approved 3 years in which to do it–I know it can be done but it always makes professors and other grad students pause and shake their heads mournfully saying, “that’s going to be a LOT of work”). My front-runners are the University of Washington and the University of Colorado, and since I’m up here anyway, I was able to visit the UW yesterday and meet their faculty and hear about what’s going on there. It was a lot at once… but a very pleasant time, too. I kept thinking that I just can’t wait to get finished with the deployment so that I can move on to this. (Besides, living in a pleasant climate would be a nice change…)

Anything else? Not really, since I last checked in. I have a few pictures of my life in Baghdad and such but they’re not here with me and I’ll put those together when I get back at the end of the summer.

Oh–I do have a link for you, if you’re interested in keeping up with me:

My Google Reader shared page

These are articles and items I’ve read that intrigue me in some way–I usually try to put little comments on them about what struck me.

I miss being an active part of the blogosphere! However, I think this time will have allowed me to store up lots of blogworthy ideas to write about over the next year or so.

With that said, I’ll see you again in August sometime!