Changes

What to do, what to do.

Sometimes things move fast in life. You get a bee in your bonnet and you need to do something...anything...to break out of a rut. To change your downward spiral. To effect positive change in your life.

I have allowed myself to acknowledge that I have PTSD. I have been through two phases of a Trauma Recovery Program with the VA. I had an interview this morning for the next phase. A 10-20 week intense one-on-one program. The closer I came to the VA on the drive into Atlanta this morning, the more anxious I became. I become emotional over some issues. I don't talk about my issues, at least to more than 2 or 3 folks. After some coaching with my old team lead, which I have mentioned somewhere on here before I believe, I decided to get help.

There are perceived road blocks to obtaining help through the VA. Some are there due to the bureaucracy of government, some are due to individuals who are at their job for no other reason that to pull a better-than-average paycheck, some for the power trip, and many just do not care if you get help at all. I have seen those that will smile, laugh and be helpful with those of their own ethnicity right in front of you, change to an attitude of disdain when you come forward as the next in line, and go back to being nice with the next ethnic customer. They make no bones about it, and know that you can do not effectively report them nor cause them any problems. They relish this and even flaunt it.

I believe that I have broken through that on the PTSD front. I have finally reached the professionals. They do not encourage me to take drugs, nor do they penalize me for not doing so. They may recommend something in the coming weeks, but I will deal with that on an individual basis. I am no longer worried that my rights, particularly my gun rights, will be in jeopardy. That was taken up as an option when BO first came into office, but was met with such condemnation, even by Dems, that it was dropped. It was a good plan though. Who would be the most apt to stand up to tyrants, but those that took an oath, and believe in it even after their term has ended?

I also went to get the "combat eligible" designation put onto my VA records while I was there today. I was informed by a Psychiatrist that I had seen last year, that it was not there and needed to be. It would "help" in the process, she had stated. I had read online that it was a booger to get that done, due to the implications of responsibility for the fedgov/VA to actually do their jobs. I went up to eligibility and sat down with the full intention of being a total jackass by the time it was completed. The clerk asked for my DD-214 and any information I had. In the interest of being prepared, I had put all of my awards and certificates in my shoulder bag last night. I thought I would try for the least amount of paperwork first. I handed him my DD-214 and my Bronze Star paperwork. Less than a minute later, he said "OK, you are good to go." I must have just looked at him in shock. He cracked a smile (maybe a little on the smirky side). I said, does that mean you are done, or will I hear from someone, or...? He said, "Nope, nothing else needs to be done, your records now reflect your former combat status." HOLY SHIT!!

It was a good day at the VA. I hope I am able to say that again in the future.

I have plateaued again with the weight loss. I am still hovering around 218 lbs. I need to break through this and get my weight heading south again. I think I will add some juicing. It will insure that I am eating vegetables and fruits, and it gets into the system more fully. I will be sticking with fruits and veggies that fall under the hunter-gatherer realm of course, but maybe it will help me "eat" more of them.

I need to get out and do more videos as well. I just need to be outside more, in general.

Today was shorts and boots. I almost wore a kilt to the VA, but I chickened out. I didn't think it would be a good thing, going into an interview of that magnitude and having the interviewer think I was trying to mock them, or anything else of that nature.

-Woody

Movie Sunday

Today was a lazy day. I packed up the weekend's orders for Bushcraft Outfitters tonight, but earlier in the day was movie time.

The first movie was actually a documentary by National Geographic. It is called Inside Special Forces. It gives a history of SF and goes into their recent and current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was pretty cool and shows the human side instead of being anti-military.

The documentary led me to Green Berets with John Wayne. Now, I have never seen this whole movie before, and it has been years since I have seen any of it. I was impressed with the details they stuck to, such as always accounting for your personal weapon at all times. I thought it was stressed more than any other movie of that genre.

The last movie was Law Abiding Citizen. That was a good movie right until the end. Great planning on the antagonist's part. I thought it was well written and portrayed.

As you can tell, I am not a movie critic. I just like them, or I don't. Netflix is the shit! I never had to get out of pj's.

All day in jammies.

-Woody

Weigh-In

As of today, I am down to 218 lbs.

I have been here for a couple of weeks, and seem to have plateaued again. I will continue to work on it of course. The goal is to get back down to 200, or even less if that is where I end up. I guess I was at my best shape around 190 lbs.

I am putting off buying new clothes. My shorts and such fall off if I do not wear a belt. I have put two more holes in my favorite everyday belt. This is keeping things tightened up pretty good, but I will literally WALK out of my shorts without a belt, in about 20 steps.

I wore a pair of my swim trunks, that I have had for years, last weekend when I went swimming. I had gotten big enough that they did not fit me...not even close. They now have to be cinched up and tied, or they will come off with just a regular breast stroke. It does make me feel good that I have come so far.

I purchased a used stove today. A family I know has had some financial trouble, and they no longer had a working stove. Between yesterday and today, I went to 7 different places, from used appliance stores to individuals that advertised in the local paper. About 1 pm I found a good 3 year old one for a fair price. I took it to their house and found out that the plug on the stove would not work. It is a newer stove, going into an older residence. I had to go to the nearest self-help store to get a 4 prong model, in another county. Anyway, I hooked up the new cord and they are all set now.

Sometimes you just feel compelled to help.

-Woody

Google+

I was recently invited to join Google+ by an old friend. This their answer for Facebook. It looks pretty good so far and has a few apps for the iPhone. I am still playing with it and will give a review sometime in the future.

On other fronts, I did a little bush-hogging last night. I also changed the filter pack on an HVAC unit for a friend. Today was spent driving around and looking at used stoves, to buy a family in need. I didn't find one for a fair price so I will be looking in the newspaper to pick one up tomorrow.

I also took 7 packages to the PO today for shipment. Sent another one to Scotland. I also received an inquiry about shipment to South Africa. If they pull the trigger on an order, it will be my first shipment to the continent of Africa. That will only leave Antarctica as the only one I haven't shipped to.

Shirts and flip-flops again.

-Woody

Bush-hogging and the iPhone

After sending off 36 packages today for customers at Bushcraft Outfitters, I decided to go do a little bush-hogging for a friend.

I managed to get 4 pastures completed by slightly after dark and was pretty happy with my accomplishment on that front. I went up to the house to tell them I was leaving and to retrieve my iPhone. The iPhone does not work out there and I had it in their house, so I thought I had left it there. It wasn't in my nifty, $52 holster made by Otter. Tough, strong and great retention. Of course, it wasn't there.

I looked on the tractor, under the seat, etc. I had my EDC bag on the tractor. I had put it in my truck prior to going into the house, so I went there to look. Nope, not in the bag either.

I turned around and looked into the darkness, towards the pastures I had been cutting and said "oh, shit." I thought about it and realized that I had gotten off of the tractor to open gates and thought that was the logical place to look. The owner went into one pasture with a flashlight to take a look, and I went into another. Nothing. So, I decided to look at the gate areas as I originally should have. I found it at the furthest gate of course. I almost turned around and left because I could not see it, but I caught the glint from the apple image that is viewable through a cutout in the Otter case, as I was turning to leave.

It ended up well, but I will have to make sure that it is secured in the future. The Otter case has a strong docking into the Otter holster it comes with. I use two hands to pry it out if I am not using a pretty sturdy belt. I guess I just did not clip it in good. Very lucky with that one.

I wonder if the news will start dealing with real issues now that the Casey Anthony trial has completed. I certainly hope so. I am tired of the drama. I cannot believe that Fox News covered it so much. Her family dynamics makes my family look like the Cleaver's. That is pretty sad.

Today was shorts and flip-flops...even on the tractor.

-Woody

Stormy Weather

Today, I was supposed to do some bush-hogging at the farm. The first part of the afternoon was spent with admin duties on the forum and store. Then my daughter called with more of her mother's Mama Drama. I will be glad when she gets everything squared away for the service. She will be away from that crap.

The storm was pretty intense. Lots of lightning and strong wind gusts. Pine branches are down along the road and the front sweetgum tree lost the top 40 percent of it's trunk. It was severed pretty cleanly. The power has been off for about two hours now. It will be interesting to see how long it will be out this time.

iPhone Blogging

I am going to try to start my blog back up, in case anyone is still reading it. I purchased an iPhone recently and have been looking at the apps a available, when I came across BloggerPlus. I had tried a couple of others that did not work for various reasons. I think I have now found a winner.

Things have been moving along pretty well I reckon. The store is doing good with new items being added slowly but surely.

I finished up a 4 week trauma recovering program at the VA. I think they just try to wear you down. We had one guy quit and another couple only came twice. If you do not come every day then you do not "pass" the course and get dropped from the program. The next phase is 13 weeks and is individualized. I will reserve judgement on that until I start it.

The DAV is not returning phone calls. They handled my appeal, but were also supposed to deal with unresolved issues. So far, no luck with any correspondence or requests for over two months.