cranky

I have been cranky lately. Part of it is the fact that I am mentally getting tired, and part of it is my boss' boss screwing with us.

You are always going to have ups and downs in a deployment, and sometimes its easier than other times to be happy and productive. At this point in the game, its a grind. I will work my way out of it, but for now, it is what it is.

Adding to the problem is the aforementioned boss. We as a group had a goal when we got here, that involved teaching the ANA vice doing for them. We tell them NO a lot. They have to learn to do things and use the system in place if they ever hope to advance beyond where they are. Be that as it may, we have succeeded in many areas and they have shown the growth we anticipated. Because of that, we try to let them work on their own, make mistakes and learn from them. We are slowly removing ourselves from the mentoring picture and seeing how they react. As a whole, we are happy with how its going. Our boss on the other hand is wanting us to mentor more and do more things with and for them. In our opinion, that will hinder their progress which in retrospect is real and significant. It's just causing friction.

It can't decide if it's winter or spring here. Some days its just gorgeous, others it gets down in the low teens. At some point I imagine spring will win out and I can start mailing home winter clothes!

Oh, for all the Catholics in the crowd, next week starts Lent. We have all sorta discussed what we are giving up and I am in need of assistance. One of my typical choices - soda - I have pretty much given that up already, so that would be too easy. Alcohol...nope, thats forced upon us. I can't workout anymore than I already do, and I think I am down to snack food which is really my only outlet. Hmm. I could give up swearing, but let's be honest...it's supposed to be something you can actually do. Anyway, ideas are welcome.

Gary