Online Diary...

This Blogging thing is becoming almost like an online diary, huh? I'm like McDonald's...I'm lovin' it!

The climate here in Bahrain is becoming a little more strained as those whom have a problem with the American occupation in Iraq are becoming less tolerant of our presence here, as well. With multiple bomb threats in the past month to my place of employment, citing our occupation in Iraq as their main motivation for their actions. Scary? YES! The unpredictable-ness of it all is what's most scary. Anytime, anywhere, and any one.

These people really need to get jobs and occupy their time with more productivity. If only those "Have's" could extend their hands to the "Have-Not's" then maybe there would be some peace.

We'll see what happens...

Patience.........

Some people were born with patience, and others were not. Maybe, patience is developed over time, maybe it's not. I do know one thing, since I've joined the military, my patience level has risen 10 fold. It's sort of mandatory for a person's patience level to increase as the military is full of procrastinators and red-tape.
When I was stationed on the ship, I had to wait an hour and a half to eat lunch. That was a daily occurrence for four months while out to sea. Wow, was that stupid. Inefficiency at its best. The thing about it was the food wasn't even good.

HA!

Today is a new day...

I swear, you guys reading my writing about me must think I'm some sort of nut. However, on the contrary, maybe I'm just that guy who speaks his mind because nobody else does. I believe there is a lot of mis-communication that is not said...meaning to say that people have the urge to speak their minds but either lack the confidence or don't have the medium to which to "post" it. I say, Blogs are quite helpful in understanding oneself and reading past posts to get an idea of how, on a daily basis, emotions change like the temperature in a thermometer.

What I'm really trying to say is that unless you're true to yourself, being happy is unreachable.

Curve Balls...

It's funny how people don't see the writing on the wall because they're so focused on "what they want" and a few years down the road that writing on the wall becomes a palm-slap to the forehead. And then, in those few years, accumulation starts to set it...accumulation of feelings, dogs, jewelry, and the like. Nothing is ever easy.
What I don't like about myself is that I know what the right answer is, but then that part of my brain shuts off and I go do what makes me happy. Selfish? I thought that doing what makes you happy is what it's all about. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...that's the way it's supposed to be. I don't like checking in, questions, and the constant reminder that I have to be home at a certain time. I did not know this about myself before I got married...

It's getting hot over here...

As you all know, the desert is known for it's heat. Well, Bahrain adds just a little more spice to the ambiance...Humidity. YUCK! Imagine being entirely too hot and sticky. Too hot = over 140 degrees and 75% humidity. That's what it will be come July and August...Just nasty!

Good luck to me!

Crunch-Time...

The fourth week is approaching and the group project is coming due. I certainly wish the best for all in the class. I know my group is well prepared and ahead of the game. I would like to take the time to thank them all for being so cool and professional throughout this entire (almost) month.

One more week!

Week 3 Assignment

Jamie Rodriguez was my partner this week and she was fantastic! Thank you once again for being so cool!

Jamie played the employee whom had a beef with the fact that she has never been given any more than a 3% raise despite being a top-notch performer and achieving nothing but results for as long as she's been with the company. She brought up the fact that inflation has risen every year at a 3% clip every year, and thought that just breaking even wasn't going to be something she was going to tolerate.
The only thing I could say was you're right and you will be seeing an annual raise of 6%. I loved the way she presented the facts about her never receiving any kind of letter of reprimand or anything like that. She gave me the impression as if coming to me was her last resort and that I, as her boss, had failed her. I found that to be quite interesting the way she did that.

Great job, Jamie!

Getting car parts...

Well, I have no excuse. I slammed my right front tire into a curb and now I have to get all the parts from the United States. It's not impossible, just time consuming since the Toyota dealership over here only deals with whatever cars they sell at the time. Apparently my car isn't here yet so they are telling me to get my own parts and they will pay me back. We'll see.

Experience's so far...

Well, I love this class. Everybody seems to be cool to get along with and open to accomplishing assignments. Since there really hasn't been any conflict to deal with, assessing how my classmates deal with it isn't possible. Thank you!
My group is cool! We are collaborating nicely! We have a leader and everybody else knows their role. That makes for a smooth experience.

A Few Good Men...

I was unable to score a copy of "A Few Good Men", but I do remember portions of the movie. So, Dr. D, please forgive me.

What I remember as one of the main confrontations was when Tom Cruise and Demi Moore went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to interview the Colonel of the base, Jack Nicholson, and Jack insulted Tom Cruise's white Navy uniform. It was quite evident that Cruise wanted to choke Jack, but Demi was the cooler head among all involved and provided a diversion to take the attention off the insult. The problem definitely seemed realistic as I have personally seen Marine officers with a serious mental-deficiency when referring to anything Navy. Since I f tend to put my foot in my mouth on a regular basis, and don't adhere to the P.C. lifestyle, I would have spoken my mind and let the Colonel know that at one time in the near future he was going to have to get out of the military and get a "real job" where "real" people wouldn't care how important you think you are. The only people that utilized proper negotiation skills were the lawyers Demi and Tom. Jack gave himself entirely too much credit thinking that because he was who he was, he need not utilize any decorum.
I'm not totally sure alternative dispute resolution would have been a beneficial. Jack played a role of an individual with no room for error nor any desire to compromise. Jack laid his cards on the table way before the litigation team touchdown in Cuba as a "Hard-Head". If anybody would have any advice as to deal with someone like that, please disseminate that information over this way.

Week 2 Phone Assignment..

Thank you Lynnette!!! She was patient enough with me to finish the assignment having to put up with my logistical nightmare I have going on over here.

The assignment....

I was the one with the problem and Lynnette was the HR person. I advised her of an issue that, as an accountant in the company, I was privileged to information regarding a high-ranking official's spending habits. I asked her if I were to tell her the facts, would I suffer reprisal? Lynnette, very professionally, advised me, due to the circumstances, there would need to be more people involved however, my name would not come up at any time due to confidentiality. She also told me to document everything, meaning make copies and scan any documents I may deem prudent to the case. At the end, she said that she would have the pleasure of confronting the individual in question... lucky Lynnette!

Thank you again for being patient with me and for being my partner, Lynnette!

Great Job!

The whole movie watching task this week...

You know, there's not a Blockbuster here for me to rent one of the required movies this week. Downloading a movie off the Internet over here is like pouring a jar of honey out until every drop of it is out of the bottle... SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!

It's OK. There are bigger problems in the world and I will adapt and overcome!

Good luck to me!

Week 2's Self Assessment

WOW! That self assessment was quite eye-opening. Basically, I'm an insecure introvert that who is emotionally poor. I would say it's pretty accurate. So my emotional intelligence is poor. Hmmmmmm....I don't know if that's something I should be concerned about or not?

I realize that my emotions aren't all-that "normal". So, maybe I should take a step back and get a firm grip on what the issues are and deal with them head-on, one at a time.

Living overseas...

What's interesting is that living here in Bahrain creates a bit of a logistical cramp when it comes to finding partners for assignments and coordinating with them to complete the assignment. It's not impossible, I just feel bad for my partner who has to endure my problems and consequently my problems become their problems. It just makes things a little more interesting.

Thank goodness for variety...

LuLu...

Lulu is my new dog and she has a personality all-her-own. For whatever reason, she refuses to eat only dry food as opposed to the mixture of both wet and dry food. Dry food has been sitting in her dish for over a day now and she had nothing to do with it. As soon as I put some wet food and some olive oil in it, she couldn't be stopped. Literally! My other dog, Porky, he's just as picky. Without some sort of enhancer, like olive oil, then he won't go near his dish.

Picky dogs!

Hoops...

In the military, there are so many hoops to jump through just to get what you want. For instance, in order for me to get stationed at Ft. Meade, MD, I have to do what's called a Flag Screening. What this entails is a medical check-up, dental check-up, financial counseling, security clearance verification, and then it needs to be signed by seven different people before it's approved. WOW! All this needs to be done within a ten day period or less to be considered valid. Talk about pressure. Flag means an O-7 and above is my boss. An O-7 is an Admiral (Navy) and or a General (Marines, Air Force, Army). Anyway, I have been approved since late February since I was going to Drill Instructor Duty in Great Lakes, IL. So, the hard part was already finished. But, now there has to be a Naval Message sent out stating that I'm "Officially" qualified.

And people wonder why nothing gets done in the government.

Hoops...

In the military, there are so many hoops to jump through just to get what you want. For instance, in order for me to get stationed at Ft. Meade, MD, I have to do what's called a Flag Screening. What this entails is a medical check-up, dental check-up, financial counseling, security clearance verification, and then it needs to be signed by seven different people before it's approved. WOW! All this needs to be done within a ten day period or less to be considered valid. Talk about pressure. Flag means an O-7 and above is my boss. An O-7 is an Admiral (Navy) and or a General (Marines, Air Force, Army). Anyway, I have been approved since late February since I was going to Drill Instructor Duty in Great Lakes, IL. So, the hard part was already finished. But, now there has to be a Naval Message sent out stating that I'm "Officially" qualified.

And people wonder why nothing gets done in the government.

Hoops...

In the military, there are so many hoops to jump through just to get what you want. For instance, in order for me to get stationed at Ft. Meade, MD, I have to do what's called a Flag Screening. What this entails is a medical check-up, dental check-up, financial counseling, security clearance verification, and then it needs to be signed by seven different people before it's approved. WOW! All this needs to be done within a ten day period or less to be considered valid. Talk about pressure. Flag means an O-7 and above is my boss. An O-7 is an Admiral (Navy) and or a General (Marines, Air Force, Army). Anyway, I have been approved since late February since I was going to Drill Instructor Duty in Great Lakes, IL. So, the hard part was already finished. But, now there has to be a Naval Message sent out stating that I'm "Officially" qualified.

And people wonder why nothing gets done in the government.

Getting in Shape...

So, is it harder to get in shape or stay in shape? I think it's harder to get in shape. This is because as soon as you get where you want to be, you understand what it took to get there and to back and do it all over again would be silly.

They say that eating what tastes good is exactly what you should avoid when trying to get in shape. I say, that really sucks, but it works!

Partner Assignment...

Thanks to Jess Walton, he made me realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. He and I shared pretty much the exact experiences and I would like to take this time to thank him for taking the time to correspond with me.

Here is a copy of what J.Walton wrote on his blog...I didn't see a point in trying to re-invent the wheel:

Jess' challenge: I am being sent to Louisiana this summer and I was concerned that I wouldn't be as marketable as some of the individuals who were at larger units. I intend on applying for Warrant Officer, and I believed that the others may have the upper-hand because of where they worked.Anthony's recommendations: 1. Reassurance to focus on oneself and those in my immediate command. 2. Stay focused and maintain self concept and confidence. 3. Concentrate on what I "WANT" and go for it, regardless of competition. 4. Do not try to take on too much responsibility.

My challenge: After completing ten years of service in the Navy and armed with a bachelor degree, I may choose to exit the military for a civilian position. My spouse wants me to exit so I'm not away most of the time, but other important figures like my Father want me to remain in the Navy for ten more years when I'm retirement eligible. I'm contemplating the security of the military or taking a chance as a civilian. Jess' recommendations: 1. Volunteer for an internship in the field he wants to pursue a career in before he exits the military. 2. Consider choosing another military service that would keep him closer to home, he could retain his years toward retirement, and maintain security with pay/benefits.

It's funny how two different people have/had the same dilemma in their lives. It's great to hear someone whom has gone through it and can speak with intelligence.

Thanks Jess!

Results...

My personal work style is heavy in the "D" portion of the D.I.S.C. test. I'm really disappointed that George Bush is in one of the pics describing a "D" work style. Maybe I should work on it.

My conflict management style is a Competing/Forceful Shark. That's not so surprising as I have been accused of the once or twice before. The next "lowest" score was for a Collaborative Owl. I wonder if that's a contradiction? lol!!

My NLP Style is Kinesthetic.

So, to sum all of this up, I'm a Forceful Shark that dominates with feelings...

What?

My TAPT results were I.S.T.J.

So, I'm an Introverted Senser who Thinks before he Judges.

Hmmmmm...

You know what's funny about the military... It's that there are so many different people within this organization from literally all parts of the world and we are expected to understand each other and respect each other and ultimately die for each other. That requires a lot of caring and understanding that I'm not used to giving somebody I met five minutes ago. So now that I've been in the Navy for almost 10 years, this July, I wonder to myself, would this person actually die for me?

I really can't explain why I'm writing this down. Obviously, I'm writing this because it's part of class, but this seems a bit personal and a little out of my comfort-zone.

I guess we all have these kind of days, eh?

Interesting developments...

Well, I just found out that I'm a "Shark". Now,it's probably not ok with most people who work for me, so I will attempt to be a bit more compromising.

The only problem with compromising is that most people take advantage of that and walk all over you.

They say the largest room in the world is the room for improvement...

I have a lot of work to do yet...

Hi Tatum,
The puppy sounds cute. Love the name LuLu.

New dog...

I just bought a new dog and wow, is she cute. She is a Shi-Tzu...watch your mouth! ;-) Her name is Lulu and she is brown and white. Very cool!

First time...

Please bear with me as this is my first post to a blog.