Well, he’s not exactly a kid seeing as how he is even older than me!
I picked up my new employee Dennis from the airport yesterday without a hitch. Traffic was relatively light given that this is a holiday weekend and all. Made it there and back in less than an hour each way. And didn’t get lost this time. Owing mostly to my refusal to listen to my navigator (and Deputy) Corine.
There was a slight problem at the gate getting on post however. See, it is supposed to be with two IDs and a copy of your PCS (permanent change of station) orders you can access the base without being signed on/escorted. It was a no go last night however and that’s something I will address with the Provost Marshall tomorrow. Seems one of the IDs has to be DoD issued. The problem is, you can’t get a DoD ID until you have been in-processed. Which you can’t do until you get on post and the CPAC opens Monday morning. A classic military Catch-22. The work around was signing Dennis on as a guest, but that is a pain in the rear because that’s only good for 24 hours. Which means a Sunday trip to the base. Of course, I delegated that responsibility to my Deputy, but still. The other problem is you are technically required to escort the individual with the guest pass at all times. That’s not really possible in this circumstance unless I spent the night with him at Dragon Hill Lodge. I was pretty pissed about the situation last night as it was quite an embarrassment and not a good first impression of life as an Army civilian for Dennis. Ah well.
Anyway, as is my tradition I took my new arrival out on the town (read: Itaewon). I’ve found that the best way to adjust to the new zone is to stay up late that first night. This tends to get you back in the right sleeping pattern quicker. So, we started with some drinks at Dolce Vita, then headed over to Don Valley for Dennis’ introduction to Korean food. It’s kinda fun to watch and relive the experience of discovering all that Korean goodness. We did samgyapsal and bulgogi and of course Dennis loved it all.
Afterwards we hit the norebang and shared some songs. I do believe Dennis enjoyed himself. I know I did.
And so ends one more mindless post that cannot possibly hold anyone’s interest but my own. But then, that’s what this blog is all about, right?
Hey John,
Good to have you back. Looks like you had a great trip.
Here’s a too-long post for your blog:
As you speak of the long flight across the pond it calls to mind some experiences I had which I will try to share with you.
In my 30 years of active duty I crossed dozens of times but probably the most concentrated flying period, aside from SEA, was when I was assigned to PACAF as the Intel Inspector for the IG. It was a great job but required that we travel almost constantly to bases on the far western rim of the Pacific from Hickam AFB (on Oahu, outside Hono.), and we almost always flew commercial with probably 75 percent of our inspections of locations throughout So. Korea. We usually flew in and out from Seoul IAP by 747 and the flight wasn’t that long, only back to Hawaii, maybe 7 hours or so. We usually traveled back a day or so after we had finished an ORI or MEI or some other inspection during which we had probably worked as many as 18 hours a day doing the inspection and writing the report, then preparing and presenting the findings and the out-brief prior to departure. We were usually quite worn out by the time the end came and usually had little time, a day or two at most, to wind down a little prior to departure. Needless to say at that point whatever free time we had was usually spent in the ‘Ville’ shopping, eating, and most importantly, knocking back a bunch of OB and trying to relax a bit. The problem was that after the long days of the inspection and wrap-up, topped off by one or two ville crawls our immune systems would be at a very low point. So getting on a return flight back to Oahu often resulted in coming down with a substantial head-cold if not a case of the flu a day or two after return. This tended to take much of the fun out of the end of the inspections and put a dampener on the more fun post inspection ville-crawls which of course might compel one to reluctantly have a health night before departure, particularly if we would have a busy schedule upon return. But after about a year of this I figured out, amazingly, how to have that piece of cake and to eat it too.
I made an accidental discovery and what happened was this. Right at the end of an inspection I found that I had I run out of a nasal spray I had been using for a mild head-cold and I wasn’t in a position to get any more before departure, so I took the empty spray bottle and poured in a solution of about 20% Listerine, 80% water in the container (only about an ounce and a half). My plan was to use this until I could get restocked with nasal spray, but as it turned out I was blown away at how well it worked so I kept using it – way better even than the commercial nasal spray. I found that even in my potentially weakened state on the flight home if I used the spray every three or four hours that the antiseptic of the Listerine solution had in-fact killed most all of the cold or flu bugs I would normally breath in so, lo and behold, no more colds or flu. I shared my discovery with my team buddies and even gave a couple of them some of it to try and they almost to a man began to use the system and found that it worked for them too. I still use this technique to this day when I fly anywhere and now I even use it when I return home form any really crowded place such as a movie theater or large gathering of some kind where I will probably be exposed to lots of airborne germs. Since I came upon this technique I’ve found that my colds and flus have reduced to probably less than 10 percent of what they were before and now rarely if ever get one – when I do it is probably 25% as bad as it used to be back in the day – I start using it at first sign of a cold and find that it stops it almost immediately from developing further. A year or two ago I happened to tell my local doctor about it and he responded that it was a ‘brilliant idea’, but added, that most people would be too lazy to bother with it unless it was handed to them and even then pobably wouldn’t seriously try it. Given what I seem to have learned of the human condition I would probably agree with that assessment but it worked well for us when we traveled so much and it still does for me and some friends and family.
So, if you need to and might want to protect yourself during long flights and keep any post-flight miseries at bay give it a thought and perhaps a try if you can. – particularly in this current era and potential of the possible Swine flu pandemic. Your readers might find some value here too. Many of my friends and family have so nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Best regards to your and your new Dennis and welcome home.
Dennis
in Florida
(the other one)
(P.S. Perhaps if you had used something like this preventatively way back a couple years ago you might not have spent those lovely days in the Korean hospital you told us about. Also, if you decide to try this don’t use much more than 20% Listerine – the nasal passages are pretty tender, I’ve found. Also, use Generic Listerine if possible – like a third of the price of the name brand and same stuff and you won’t need more than an ounce or two in the spray bottle – more than that and the spray mechanism won’t work. Once again, HIT.)
I want to come back up there for the drinks/dinner/noraebang triple threat soon. Before you tire of it. With a question mark, marking if you’ll tire of it. But, why would you tire of it? ‘Tis fun. Soon soon soon. I hear there’s a new show – “Heat” (?) or something. Do you want to go?
(How about the wknd after next?)
Jenn: I was just thinkin’ the other day it was about time for you to take a Seoul excursion. I may have a darts event the weekend of the 17th, but we can work around that….
Dennis: Your comments are not “too long” and are always fascinating. Keep ’em comin’. Thanks for the tip on preventative in flight medicine…