Blog initiation

I admit, for a long time I was opposed to blogging.  I dunno...seemed unprofessional.  I can honestly say, however, that times do change and time can heal some biases.

For those who choose to sneak a peek at someone else's journal, here's one opportunity for you :)  This blog is going to function as an unwind of sorts for me.

"JA" stands for "Judge Advocate."  If you've ever seen or heard of the TV show "JAG," it's the same thing except for real in my case.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look up a synopsis online.  Hollywood sometimes explains the basic jist of things more quickly.  My wife has been accepted and is presently undergoing training as a JA officer for the US Army.  Why blog about this?  Because our lives have gotten so crazy, loaded with adventures, and flat out exciting now that we are starting this new chapter in our lives that it's kind of hard for me NOT to write it down.  

Just as a brief orientation, my wife and I got married this past May.  She got accepted as a JA in July.  She quit her job and started training in October on the east coast, and is still there now.  Mind you, she didn't just get accepted in a manner of days, or weeks, or actually even months.  It took about a year and a half between submission of the application to actual acceptance.  They're pretty picky, accepting only about 6% of their applicants, so make sure you're ready for it if you do apply.

We still text and call each other, but we very much look forward to being with each other again, which brings me to the next part.  When she's done with her training, she gets stationed on the western border of Germany and I get to go along!  We'll be there for roughly 3 years.  They have not told us that, mind you.  We're guessing based upon other people we've talked to who have been stationed there in similar circumstances.  Being as large as the military is...and it is HUGE...the information is there, but you have to know where to look.

Fast forward to present.  Here is where I'll start weekly to daily posts about my day's activities.  Why is this relevant?  Being a newly married husband who is around 1,500 miles away from his absolutely wonderful wife, there is a lot of hurry-up-and-wait we both have to deal with in order to complete this transition into a new life together.  New jobs for both of us, new part of the world to live in, and a new family...it is a rare opportunity of almost a completely new start.  Being in my young 30's, I never imagined that I would have such a chance as this!  Also, I'm a little old school.  I actually hand-wrote fountain-ink pen and wax-sealed letters to my wife on a daily basis, but she asked me to stop as her final phase of training is about to start and she doesn't know if she'll get them there.  So, I'll blog instead.  Also, when we leave the country, this will be my little Harry Potter owl letter back stateside.

Today, with the 5th clue for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt posted, I still believe that the medallion is actually hidden in the park 1/2 mile away from my house this year.  

Here are the clues thus far...

Clue 5:

If it's treasure you're trackin'

Stop chattin'. Get crackin'.

As the sun will lighten up your day,

This clue will brighten up your way.

Clue 4:

"Woof" says the dog. "Babble" says the brook,
And here is wisdom on which to make book:
When in Rome you should do
Exactly as a Roman should do

Clue 3:

Crack the nut and find the treasure.
There's a place to cook and a place for leisure.
A road there is that's interfacial.
Bag the treasure if you are able.

Clue 2:

It's time to get this off our chest: 
Mix treasured lore into your quest. 
Triple score provides a clue; 
So do the colors red and blue.

Clue 1:

The time has come around again
For using all your cunning and ken
To unravel Boreas' befuddling clues
Circulated in the PiPress news.

Within our realm explore and search. 
No private properties besmirch.
The treasure rests in a public park.
On a course for golf, please leave no mark.

Having done this a few years, I translate it as the following...

Clue 1: It's in a public park with a golf course. It's not on the golf course. "PiP..." may be a code for something.

Clue 2: Ignore it for the most part.  It's describing this year's custom emblem on the medallion.

Clue 3: It's hidden where there are trees, grills, and park benches.  "Cook" may also be in reference to the street.

Clue 4: Dogs can be around.  There is a small brook nearby. There is also an amphitheater nearby.

Clue 5: The writer is getting frustrated with the people chatting on the discussion boards about the clues and not actually looking for the medallion. (People often complain about how they can't find it, and yes, this happens every year.) "Crack" comes up a second time, which leads me to believe the medallion is in some sort of crevice.

I took our dog, Etsy, along as I knew she would need the exercise and I could use the company seeing as how I could only go after work when it would be dark outside.  No luck, as expected.

Coming home, I made another loaf of bread for lunch at work tomorrow.  I also put taxes aside to work on moving paperwork.  The military will move all of the stuff in our house to Germany for us for free unless we exceed weight restrictions, but we have to have the paperwork filled out first.  The goal is to get our stuff out of the house by mid-February.  The fun part is that I don't know what I'll do with myself once nearly all of our stuff is gone.  While cataloging everything to be shipped, I'll have to sort out what I'll be keeping behind for the next month or so.  We won't leave for Germany until mid-March at the absolute earliest.  She's due to report early April, so that would be the latest.  Fortunately, work's being flexible with me through all of this, so I'll be able to work up until the day I leave.  That makes things a little easier.

Etsy has been pretty antsy and needy today.  Being half-collie, she is sensitive to changes in the weather...and today was very unusually warm (~40F, norm is usually 18F) with the first clear skies in weeks.  She also may be missing the cats.  We can only bring two pets at most to Germany, so we chose to leave the Cornish-Rex cats with my wife's mother.  I'm not much of a cat person, but those kinds of cats really almost act like dogs.  They have grown on me, and I will miss them.  When we're stateside again, I'll try to get them back with the family.  I have also gone on the record of supporting getting another Cornish-Rex if my wife should so desire.  I think Etsy misses their shenanigans now too.  They have only been gone for two weeks now.

Tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment and I'll try to start cataloging items for "The Move."  Oh boy, this will certainly take a while.  Even with my sister-in-law's help on Saturday, I still don't think we'll get it all done by the end of the weekend.  I, however, will try nonetheless.

For future posts, I will try to include pictures.  It's my first blog post...cut me some slack :)