hmmmm
It occurs to me that I have not updated (especially in a public post) for some time now. Well, here be the news:
Mandy and I were married on the 10th :) We just did the basic state sponsored 'paperwork plus ceremony at the courthouse' package for now. It was not much as far as wedding ceremonies go, but it was a lot to me. I got a little bit of eyeball sweat and whatnot going on there saying my vows. I think somebody might have released some CS in the ventilation or something - knew I should have brought the gas mask in with me.
It looks like I will be taking a medical separation from the Marine Corps. This is for a number of reasons, and it was a difficult decision to reach. What it sort of boils down to is this (stolen from jennytheonly who stole it from phreddiva): "53) Settling for half of what you want hurts a lot more than walking away from it altogether.". The odds of me successfully doing what I want to do without causing significantly more damage to my knee are very slim. Even if I were to complete ARS, it's been pointed out to me (in a non judgmental way) by my 1stSgt as well as some operators on the teams, that ARS would have a good chance of destroying my knee. The 1stSgt took it from a stand point of, "What could you offer the community at that point,' while the operators took it from the standpoint of, "It's not worth it for you, man; yeah it's a little bit of bragging rights, but hell, just to do this crap for two more years? get out of here and get on with life." My Gunnery Sergeant was very much of the view that serving in the Marine Corps is not worth doing permanent damage to your body, and this from a lifer, so take that for what it's worth. I refuse to go through the ordeal of sustaining further training injuries and getting stuck behind a desk again for another two years. In that case, the half for which I settled would be largely the crappier half. There was a point where I thought that achieving my goals were worth any risk and any effort, but I've come to the conclusion that a) no they aren't, and (partly due to) b) my priorities have shifted.
Mandy has the opportunity to accept orders for NAS Whidbey Island, WA from September 2006 until March 2009 when her enlistment is completed. Her other alternatives are much less appealing to both of us, so that's where we will likely go. I must admit there's a part of me that is jealous that she is going to Iraq for a few months and will complete her enlistment contract. Upon further evaluation, I consider that perhaps it is not jealousy, but wounded pride, and that is certainly something with which I can cope and easily overcome.
Other than that bit of military drama, I have never been happier. When I realised that she was the one, I felt an amazing sense of joy and wonder, followed by a jolt of panic that she might not realise it too :P Now that we have been wed, prior sensations of joy and wonder have resumed :)
As for my near and mid-range goals, I am going to try to get some decent IT work for a year or so and at some point get back to school. Depending on how things go, the school part might come right away, maybe after a couple of years, or perhaps interspersed in between by way of part time and/or on-line classes. Anyone have any vis on whether or not tech certs are worth anything these days? I haven't done any IT work since 2004, and nothing challenging since probably 2002 (other than maybe a weird issue here or there when I was doing the consluting thing). With that gap in IT work, I thought it might be a good idea to try and get the 2003 MCSE stuff done, either Red Hat or Solaris cert, and maybe CCNA? For those who don't know, I did phone based tech support for a year, followed by two and a half doing mostly WinNT network administration with some linux stuff thrown into the mix, then two years as a consultant for hotels and country clubs doing everything from basic NT administration, some odd SCO trouble shooting for a POS system, POS printer issues, and cable monkey work until mid 2004 when I enlisted.
Any comments on IT employment would be highly appreciated.
Mandy and I were married on the 10th :) We just did the basic state sponsored 'paperwork plus ceremony at the courthouse' package for now. It was not much as far as wedding ceremonies go, but it was a lot to me. I got a little bit of eyeball sweat and whatnot going on there saying my vows. I think somebody might have released some CS in the ventilation or something - knew I should have brought the gas mask in with me.
It looks like I will be taking a medical separation from the Marine Corps. This is for a number of reasons, and it was a difficult decision to reach. What it sort of boils down to is this (stolen from jennytheonly who stole it from phreddiva): "53) Settling for half of what you want hurts a lot more than walking away from it altogether.". The odds of me successfully doing what I want to do without causing significantly more damage to my knee are very slim. Even if I were to complete ARS, it's been pointed out to me (in a non judgmental way) by my 1stSgt as well as some operators on the teams, that ARS would have a good chance of destroying my knee. The 1stSgt took it from a stand point of, "What could you offer the community at that point,' while the operators took it from the standpoint of, "It's not worth it for you, man; yeah it's a little bit of bragging rights, but hell, just to do this crap for two more years? get out of here and get on with life." My Gunnery Sergeant was very much of the view that serving in the Marine Corps is not worth doing permanent damage to your body, and this from a lifer, so take that for what it's worth. I refuse to go through the ordeal of sustaining further training injuries and getting stuck behind a desk again for another two years. In that case, the half for which I settled would be largely the crappier half. There was a point where I thought that achieving my goals were worth any risk and any effort, but I've come to the conclusion that a) no they aren't, and (partly due to) b) my priorities have shifted.
Mandy has the opportunity to accept orders for NAS Whidbey Island, WA from September 2006 until March 2009 when her enlistment is completed. Her other alternatives are much less appealing to both of us, so that's where we will likely go. I must admit there's a part of me that is jealous that she is going to Iraq for a few months and will complete her enlistment contract. Upon further evaluation, I consider that perhaps it is not jealousy, but wounded pride, and that is certainly something with which I can cope and easily overcome.
Other than that bit of military drama, I have never been happier. When I realised that she was the one, I felt an amazing sense of joy and wonder, followed by a jolt of panic that she might not realise it too :P Now that we have been wed, prior sensations of joy and wonder have resumed :)
As for my near and mid-range goals, I am going to try to get some decent IT work for a year or so and at some point get back to school. Depending on how things go, the school part might come right away, maybe after a couple of years, or perhaps interspersed in between by way of part time and/or on-line classes. Anyone have any vis on whether or not tech certs are worth anything these days? I haven't done any IT work since 2004, and nothing challenging since probably 2002 (other than maybe a weird issue here or there when I was doing the consluting thing). With that gap in IT work, I thought it might be a good idea to try and get the 2003 MCSE stuff done, either Red Hat or Solaris cert, and maybe CCNA? For those who don't know, I did phone based tech support for a year, followed by two and a half doing mostly WinNT network administration with some linux stuff thrown into the mix, then two years as a consultant for hotels and country clubs doing everything from basic NT administration, some odd SCO trouble shooting for a POS system, POS printer issues, and cable monkey work until mid 2004 when I enlisted.
Any comments on IT employment would be highly appreciated.