Adios Enero!

It is Tuesday, the last day of January. A rather unremarkable day except for one fact: I found out today that my commissioning documents are in Denver! I have tentatively scheduled my swearing-in ceremony for next Friday at 15:30. Strangely enough, next Friday will be three days shy of the third anniversary of my swearing-in as a chaplain candidate. (My permanent date of record is 11 November 2002–Veteran’s Day). If you had asked me three years ago whether or not I would actually be doing this chaplaincy thing...well, I’m not sure how I would have answered. All I know is that seminary sure flew by fast! Now I’m excited to begin the next significant stage of my life’s journey.

In the meantime, I have to deal with the realities of work. I stayed at the sign shop until 8:00 last night finishing up a job that was severely overdue. I could’ve used some help from the other people in my department, but I was able to get the job done, so no worries. However, I ended up missing my daily run as a result (bad Peter!). Today was much better. I got home at roughly my normal time and went for a nice little turn about the park. I felt really aggressive as I pounded the pavement. I feel like I’m slowly rounding into shape–transforming from a jogger into a runner.

I’m also finally beginning to lose a few pounds. At both my weigh-ins today I discovered that the scale read 193.0, a nice number to see as I make my way down to 180. Of course, I never should’ve let myself get this flabby and out-of-shape in the first place! While I managed to avoid the Freshman 15 in college, I ran smack-dab into the Seminary 20. That said, the Navy is a wonderful motivator for getting my lazy bum into gear.

Well, not much going on in my life. As usual, I’ve spent a quiet evening with my wife. We did catch the State of the Union address, which I found to be very upbeat and positive. I don’t think Melissa cared as much as I did. I am more of a political animal than she is. Even so, I think she will make a gracious First Lady one day...

Of course, we also watched I Love Lucy and The Simpsons. We have but one episode left of the first year of I Love Lucy. I think that we’re going to take a break from the Ricardo family and tear into the Andy Griffith Show next. As for now, it is officially bedtime!

Gee, isn’t my life exciting! :-)

Love,
Peter Nathaniel Ott