Hey, it's time for the what' ive been up to lately update:

School: I just started work on my Master's degree. MBA in Information Technology. Not used to the format of the school, but adapt and overcome and maybe just maybe i'll learn something. If you're looking for a place to get your master's degree i'll let you know my thoughts on TUI university after this semester. most of my classmates are military members or related to the military in some way, i suppose thats expected since we can't exactly attend physical classes normally. not with my weird schedule anyway.

Work: Some of you know i went through another evaluation, for whatever reason the training leading up to it was rather smooth but come game day it was anything but. We were set up for success and couldn't produce optimally, and i think the biggest factor came down to confidence. Everyone gets scared when they're being closely monitored for mistakes, but its when you make one that you lose sight of the big picture and start thinking about that mistake while you make additional ones. For me it started with a tiny lack of knowledge, i knew the concept, i knew how i would have reacted in an operational setting, but for whatever reason i couldn't justify why i would do what i would, so we did it a bit differently. That excuse applies more often than not in my life, i knew what was supposed to happen, i knew how it should have worked, but i get lost in the tiny details that make it work. I think thats what experience is. Which reminds me of a great Murphyism i saw, "Field Experience is something you don't gain until just after you need it". So i know what I did wrong, i know why, and i know how to fix it. The next step is to try and find other little gaps of knowledge, and work on those.
 Aside from that, they're looking at upgrading me sometime next spring to my next job. Which is the same job, just more responsibility.

Social: i don't know why i include this, it usually devolves into drinking and video games. which is AWESOME.

Vacation: I went to Colorado last month to an empty house... somewhat. I actually was culturally overloaded for it being my first time back home in like a year or two, and only because i'm getting used to not having access to what i would have called 10 years ago "normal things". For instance Chipotle (how that isn't in Minot i'll never know, but i love that South Park acknowledged the wonderfulness that is a chipotle burrito), or Adventure Golf, or chili's, 3 margaritas, One major sports team, Many major sports teams within 30 minutes, music stores, Macy's, a Mall that takes a while to walk across, a Theater thats not attached to a mall, the color green, the smell of fall, people that are not pale white from being stuck indoors for half the year. It was all wonderful, and apparently "my batteries are recharged" which i don't quite like hearing. A. I could stand to use way more charging, B. it's funny that just being here somehow counteracts the amount of happiness one sustains away, and C. I didn't even do that much, there is so much more i missed/didn't want to spend a lot of money on. Not to mention how many people bailed on hanging out with me. That was pretty lame, they normally show military members on tv/movies returning home after being sent to unpleasant places to a large welcome and parties and hanging out, but i got home and it was just me. Everyone i planned to hang out with would cancel at the last minute or go radio silent until it was too late. That's a bit depressing, so i'm glad there was so much else to do to keep me happy, and i have a pretty good idea where i stand with the people i thought were friends. I guess they either experience seeing their friends so often its not a big deal, or what i do in the military isn't worth getting all excited over when i do make it back home. Either way the lesson i learned was to do whatever it is I want, make no plans with other people, but allow them to join you if they wish. So instead of saying "we should see a movie on tuesday", i now say "i'm going to see a movie tuesday, want to come?", oddly enough this actually works better.

Alrighty, since i'm just getting back from work today i'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow i've got some homework to catch up on, but i'm always relatively free to chat/respond to emails. Catch ya later internet.