Another try at this blogging thing...

Another try at this blogging thing, seems I just got bored with the last one. I have a feeling this blog will be a mixture of things going on in my life, hence the word salad title. A mixture of what's going on in my life - nearing the end of my time here in Kuwait, returning to 'normal' life with Emily, my obsession with personal finance blogs, my 20 year college degree, and random other happenings in my life.

Kuwait - Hard to believe it's less than 80 days now until I return to the States. I don't know about everyone else, but the time has really flown by for me. A year has passed and words can't express how ready I am to 'unpause' my life. This has been an interesting experience to say the least, both personally and professionally, learned alot about myself and others. Some things I knew and forgot, some were things I learned for the first time.

Normal life - Still have no idea where we'll end up when I return to the States. As of right now (for those of you that are curious), I have a short list of 5 places that I'm considering. I would consider other places depending on the opportunity...

The current list is:
Shreveport/Bossier City, LA
DFW area
San Antonio, TX
Tampa, FL
Colorado Springs, CO

The list isn't as random as it seems as all of them (minus DFW) have a large military installation that usually have a large number of jobs that are in my career field. Each have their pros/cons, the biggest one for 3 of them being the distance from family. I have decided that I will apply to all of those locations for jobs that are a fit for me and I will end up with the job that I'm meant to have..so we'll see.

My obsession with personal finance blogs~ For some reason I could read them constantly. It's very interesting to see how people save money, do more with less, and some of them manage spend next to nothing and still walk out of a store with a cart full of stuff. It passes some of my idle time here and is more educational that playing online games (they are still trying to get me hooked on World of Warcraft here).

School~I am currently taking Programming Fundamentals..Translation: I hate java programming and I just need to pass this course. I am not a programmer, have no desire to be and just need this course for my degree. If I can manage to stay on track this time, I should FINALLY have my Bachelor's degree at the end of the year...just about 8 or so years later that I should have. But better late than never, right? In addition to the class, I'm also studying for one of the "big" computer certifications, which is a completely different challenge, but oddly enough will probably be easier than the programming class.

Things are pretty quiet around here. I've been working nightshift since I got back from my visit to the States in December. It's nice to be on nights so I can actually get some work done instead of all the 'drive-by' taskings that seem to occur doing the day. It also gives me a chance to talk with Emily more since I'm awake when you guys in the States are awake now.

As a random sidenote: It's easiest to catch me via email, facebook, or IM. I do have a phone here, but I don't like the phone any more than I liked it in the States so it doesn't get much use (usuallly just calling Emily). I don't know why people expected this to change, but they did. Who knows?!?