I'm back!

So, after a month long hiatus, I'm finally back posting on the blog.  I've really got no excuse, as I've just been working around camp, doing the same work as always. I just haven't had an inspiration to post in a while.
For the most part, things are going well here, and I'm into a pretty good routine.  I've been working on slowly extending my running distance to get better endurance.  My record so far is a 15 mile run.  Unfortunately, my knees are starting to catch up to me, as I'm starting to develop Iliotibial Band Syndrome on my right side.  (Of course, I should have known this was going to happen.  It's not uncommon for me to see patients in clinic here with what our orthopedist has dubbed "Iraq Syndrome", which is what happens when previously physically inactive soldiers injure themselves by working out 3 hours a day and attempting to turn themselves into olympic athletes durng the extra spare time on their deployment.)  I had initially been hoping to run in a marathon that was scheduled over here.  Unfortunately, due to some schedule changes, I don't think that's going to happen.  Either way, I'm taking a break from running this week to give my body a chance to recover.
The weather here's taken a turn for the cold the last week.  Now, I'm sure folks reading this back in Illinois and Missouri may be a little underwhelmed, but it was down in the low 40's two nights ago.  I made the mistake of falling asleep with my window open and woke up freezing.  Again, compared to snow and ice-storms back home, not too  big a deal, but I had to break out some of the cold weather gear.
On the homefront, I still get to talk to or Skype with Cristin and Drew most days. I really think that Cristin ended up with the harder job on this deployment, as she's got Drew to look after in addition to the household responsibilities and her job at GLWACH. Drew's continuing to grow like a weed. Now, when we Skype he's aware enough to watch me on the computer screen and respond to my voice, and is starting to develop his own personality, which seems to be pretty happy most of the time.

 He's starting on solid foods this weekend, which should be an exciting experience to hear about. 
Well, for now, that's all I've got.  So, talk to you all later.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everybody!  It seems like I'm only doing posts on major holidays now... definitely going to have to work on that and post more often.  Otherwise, you might not hear from me again until Valentine's day.
New Year's here was pretty low key.  I didn't manage to stay up past midnight last night, I ended opting to watch a movie for a while and then crash out early.  This morning I started the year off with a bang.  I woke up at 5:00 and went out to run a 10-mile race that had been set up on post by some of the Minnesota folks.  The T-shirts we got from it said Twin Cities 10-miler, so I'm guessing it was meant to coincide with a race back in the Twin Cities... or they could have been leftovers from the earlier Twin Cities marathon and 10-miler they had in November, I don't know.  Either way, I did pretty well. I got 90 minutes flat for my time, which is alot better than I could have run a few months ago. 
I missed the midnight celebration here due to my desire for sleep, but I still managed to catch the Times Square celebration on TV.  Thanks to the time difference, it was on CNN while I ate breakfast after the race this morning. 
Otherwise, I've more or less got the day off, which is pretty nice.  I dealt with some medical stuff in the morning, and now I can relax, write a few letters, and catch up on some cleaning around my CHU.
That's all I've got for now, talk to you all later.