Strong Work

It's 0147, and I'm at the clinic standing duty. There are some things to hit on the blog, first round of March Madness playing on the TV here, and a good duty crew to be working with.

Let's kick off with the NCAA basketball tournament. This is the first year I think since high school I actually put money on my bracket. The way the first round has gone so far, I think it's a sign to never bet on sports again. About half my picks are busted. I should just go back to the days of filling out a bracket for fun and ALWAYS (unless they're playing the Badgers of course) pull for the underdog no matter what I have on paper. All this complaining aside, there have been some very exciting games so far. I wish I had TV at my apartment so I could watch the games at home. Oh well, that's what the Internet is for, right?!

Earlier this week was St. Patrick's Day. I had a glass of wine. I've taken a liking to shiraz, and one glass an evening. Makes me feel more responsible and mature! Sounds weird, but I think I see myself when I'm older, much further down the road listening to the jazz station in the car. Having a glass of wine a night, sitting in front of the fire in a den, reading a book is a place where I want to be someday in my life. For now though, it's at my counter where the computer is set-up, or my writing desk.

Also, on St. Paddy's day, I cooked Hamburger Helper for the first time in my life! You could say I'm very proud of this accomplishment. In fact I called my Mom when she was at work to tell her about it. She asked if "I'm a master of the craft, or the craft is a master of me." I love my mother, as we all know, and she can whip up some "dog food" without looking at the instructions with her eyes closed. Not me, I was definitely a novice, and still in a student-status. It is an art to be perfected, and I took mental notes along the way. So in other words, I'm starting to actually cook and use my stove, and it's all very motivating.

Believe it or not, but a girl asked for my phone number! She is off one of the ships, and we have been kinda flirting for her past couple of visits. I won't go into the details, but her name is Nicole, and she reminds me of Kirsten Dunst. Who knows, but it pretty much made my day. These things don't happen that often anymore.

Time to explain my post title. Here in the Hurt Locker, aka pharmacy, the enlisted side keeps up morale anytime we can. This is where/why everything is "motivating" derived from. Well, we also have certain phrases/nicknames for officers, needy patients, and awesome patients. For example, when our pharmacist had his son, in the card that the clinic sent him, a doctor, LT Doyle, wrote "strong work," and none of us knew what the Hell she meant/heard that phrase before. Well, that phrase caught on like wild fire, and it's now used the all the time around the clinic, but especially the pharmacy. LT Doyle is awesome now that we are on the subject. She is from Oxford, Mississippi, and a true southerner. Her heart is made of gold, a true nice person. Her other catch-phrase is "bless your heart." Whenever patients can't remember the name of the doctor they just saw (which is something I always find sad and embarrassing), we ask them, "did they bless your heart?" If they reply "yes" then we know who they are talking about.

LT Doyle isn't the only provider who is known for her lines. LT Margraf has a couple of legend himself. He calls everybody "partner" if he likes them. Again if the patient can't remember the name of who they just saw, we ask, "was your doctor, short, balding, glasses, called you partner?" After they process what we asked, they usually go, "yeah...yeah he did call me partner." If they tell us he didn't call them partner, that generally means they'll be prescribed motrin and flexeril. Dr. Margraf is also called "the good lieutenant." He is the former Army Ranger who I've written semi-extensively in previous posts, and he is a total badass. His legend could deserve its own post. Someday I'll post a picture of him.

We also have a Colombian-born doctor, Dr. Gomez-Sanchez, whom is known at "the dirty dirty" in the Hurt Locker. Our LCPO is known as "The Good Chief." OIC is "Big Mike", nurses are called by their first name, and if you are not liked or hated then you will have "fearless" put in front of your title, and you don't get a name. For example, our LPO is simply known as "our fearless LPO," and it is known throughout the pharmacy and other ancillary department who we are referring to. Our pharmacist is a little different. He is an anomoly. Some days he is known by his first name, others as LT, some situations he has "fearless" in front of his name, but most of the time we just call him "Quach" (his last name).

Some patients are legendary. There was this patient who was seemingly waiting in the pharmacy waiting area/lobby for 3 straight days. By the third day obtained the title of "Keeper of the lobby" and he was into it! He facilitated who was next in line and really ran the show. We would ask, "Keeper! Who we got next?" This guy would actually tell us who was due to be seen by us. No numbers were taken when The Keeper was in town. After he left his legend just exploded, whenever asshole patients were being difficult, or some sort of other situation arose, we would joke that we will just have to send the Keeper on them to set them straight. Same thing with our OIC, Commander Service, aka Big Mike. We are confident there is nothing he can't do, and has more power than paygrades above him.

That is about it for now when it comes to patients. There is one customer who we nicknamed "Bozo the Clown" of how he looks, and a patient is named "Deathrage" because her name is Deathridge" and she looks like she could destroy anyone in the pharmacy if she put her mind to it. Oldenburg literally feels scared when she comes to the window. Of course these are patients who we see often and know by name. Usually it's for medications that could be bought over-the-counter at the store, but they insist they be seen by a doctor, aka wastes valuable appointment time. Then there are those patients that individually irk the techs for one reason or another. They are our personal favorites and we call them "your boy." When this one LT is spotted in the pharmacy, the other techs always tell me that "my boy" is here, and it is known they're talking about a certain person. That goes for other patients with the other techs as well. As I said to begin this conversation, we will do anything to keep our morale up, and labeling individuals is one of those things.

HM2 Oldenburg is back from leave, and we are happy about this. It's nice to have our leader back and takes some stress off our shoulders. While he was gone LT Quach had a bad problem of micro-managing us, but also forced him to trust Garcia and I a little more. I think we impressed him cause I will be working in Hario by myself for the first time in a month or so this coming Monday. Either way, when the 3 of us are together (Garcia, Oldenburg, and myself) are working together is when the Hurt Locker is running the smoothest. All 3 of us have our strengths and weaknesses, but we also all 3 compliment those so well. I will go out on limb and say this is my favorite working team I've been apart of.

Garcia had his mock PRT last Friday, and to say he failed his run is an understatement. He really mucked it up. This causes problems. Not only is he a junior rank to me, but he is also in my department. Because I'm a more gifted PT-er than him (aka I work at my fitness a lot more than the average bear) I feel obligated to take him under my wing and give him the proper guidance needed to pass his PRT. Let's not beat around the bush, Garcia's run time has been the laughing stock of the Command Fitness Leaders (CFLs), and I take that a little personal since Garcia is my boy. So Garcia and I have been running during the week, but Garcia likes to go up to Fukuoka and party on the weekends. Those habits during the those trips really add up, and he needs to readjust his priorities. The trouble is Garcia isn't seeing the seriousness of his situation. I don't want to, but I think I'm going to have to play hardball with him and ORDER him not to go to Fuk on the weekends. It's not like I'm not out there running with him (after he gets done with his run, then I go out and do my PT). He will not like this, but I'm doing this for his own good. Hopefully he will see the light in May when he passes his PRT and doesn't put his career in jeapordy. I just wish he dedicates himself to passing first, and partying later. I have my own goals and career plans I need to work on myself, but I'm taking time away from those plans to help him, and I hope he sees that. Luckily I have the support of my chain of command, especially the Good Chief and Oldenburg.

I did back-to-back PRTs in consecutive Fridays. The first Friday I swam the PRT and scored an outstanding-high with a time of 6:19. The second Friday I wanted to see what my run was, and I set a personal best at 10:43. This past Friday I finised 6th in the clinic 3km run at 13:20. I think things are coming along for my April 1st PST with the EOD locker. Either put-out or get-out, right?

Last weekend I picked up recliner from the pharmacy's first class, HM1 Martinez. Since the chair has been in my home, I have sat in it once for about 30 minutes. I've been that busy. When I get home during the week, I'm maybe awake for an hour, but during that time I'm making dinner, at my computer, and making the next day's lunch.

A blog post would not be complete without an update on the swim team. I have made a bet with one of the parents. I will have to get our swim caps in faster than she can get the swim-suits in. If I lose the bet, I will have to give a powerpoint presentation to the command at our next training day on how to use perfume properly, and if Tara loses, she will have to swim with the team for a practice. On my side at least, we are making some real progress with the swim caps. More to come on that.

Oh, took the 2nd class advancement exam. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be more adminstration, but it wasn't. Results come out in May. There is wishful thinking on this one, but the reality is I have no award points, no time in rate, and only a MP evaluation to go with my test.

That's it for now. It's been real, and I'll holler back another time. Morale is high and I sign off now. HM3 sends.