where to start?

the title says it all. it's been an interesting week. i could go into minute details of the pain involved or do a one of the world view. we got in a week ago sunday late, probably got into bed after midnight and were waking up at 4:30 to start the process of exiting active military service. it was a week of briefings, turning in gear, packing gear, paperwork and exercises in stupidity. it's really quite embarrassing that we've been doing this for five years solid now and the process hasn't been refined any better. a competent crew of people should've been able to reduce the amount of work involved to about 3 days. a great crew should've been able to drop it to one or two.

a good friend of mine tried to buy a truck through a px consessionaire (yup, it's going to be one of those stories...). i looked into buying my new bike through the same group, but chose not to, because they were asking MORE than MSRP on the bike. they go on and on and on about how they're the best deal in town and they are so much cheaper than buying in the states, but i paid almost 2k less through a dealer in co. anyways, my buddy was supposed to be able to pick up the truck as soon as we hit the ground in nc. as soon as he can, he calls and things just go down hill. first they can't find the truck. they think they never received it. then they say they received it, but they must've sold it to someone else. then they've found it, but he can't pick it up unless he comes up with a certified check for $3000. he doesn't bank with a bank that has a branch in nc so he jumps through all sorts of hoops to get a wire transfer. so friday night rolls around and he still doesn't have a truck and we're all looking at flying home on saturday. he was going to drive to chicago and then to wisconsin to see family before returning to co. i decided to change my ticket to stay until today with him.

well, everyone gave me grief about that. "no, you CAN'T stay". "you need to go home with the group!" why? tons of people were starting their leave in nc. "well, he's a grown man, he can take care of himself" well, it wasn't totally selfless service on my part, i wanted to stay and hang out and see nc. and we've stuck together and watched out for one another for so long, what would another day or two hurt? well, good thing i did. we finally got released on friday night and went to get a NICE hotel room. after we get checked in we decided to go to a bar and on the way stopped for cash. atm machine ate his debit/credit card. his only card. his only source of money for the next x many days.

so we went to columbia on saturday, saw some friends there and then slept late on sunday and continued onto the beach at isle of palms. joined a VFW post there and had a great dinner before heading back to nc. we get back to the hotel last night and he realizes he's lost his camera case with about 3k of camera equipment in it. to include a canon eos rebel that's less than a week old. i finally met someone with worse luck than me. so today we wake up insanely early, drive to raleigh where i catch the first leg of my flight home (i'm now in charlotte, waiting hours for my next leg) and he goes to pick up his truck. apparently they've got NO record of his wire transfer. so i feel like i might've left him high and dry. he's got my atm card and my pin number, but he's still got to get out of that black hole that if fayettevile and start traveling home. insanity!

i'm headed home now. started to post the resume and send it out to a couple people. keep your fingers crossed!