It's My Place: What I Must Suffer Through

Thursday, February 03, 2005

What I Must Suffer Through

Since I extended my time here in Germany to August 2006, I needed to update P's and my ID cards before the middle of February, or we would be banned from all things military (like Chili's, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Subway, Popeye's and the Commissary). I also needed to update our Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stamps for our passports, and I decided to get it done all at once, since the offices were right across the hall from each other. I decided today was the day to embark on this adventure.

I picked P up at after lunch, and we headed to the dreaded ID card section and signed in on both waiting lists (one for ID cards and the other for the Passport dude). There were 2 soldiers ahead of us, so we waited, and I suffered through 4 episodes of The Jetsons. Once we were seen and had new ID cards in hand (P's picture is so cute on her card~I would post a picture of it, but Uncle LeRoy frowns upon things like posting official IDs online, and we don't want to get the Uncle mad), I asked the ID card girl if I just wait in the waiting room for the Passport dude. She told me to have a seat and he would be with me next.

We waited.

And waited.

And watched The Jetsons. Again. And again. And again.

After 1hr 10 minutes, I went to the Passport dude's door with a pseudo question about needed paperwork.

Me: Mr. W, is there any more paperwork needed for the SOFA thing?
Mr. W: I'm sorry, this office is closed after 1300. (1pm to all you non-military folks)
Me: What??? I've been waiting, AND I watched more episodes of The Jetsons than I've watched in my ENTIRE life, and now you are closed??

Why didn't the ID card lady fail to mention that the Passport office was closed?? I think it was a secret attack on my mental state, to see how many episodes of The Jetsons I could tolerate.

Thank goodness Passport dude felt sorry for me and gave us the new stamp, because I was NOT going back there again and waiting. And watch the Jetsons. Ever.

After stopping by McDonalds, where they are giving away Smurf (are they still alive in the US?) figurines in Happy Meals, P and I went back to my office do do a little work.
***************************************************

The first day I set P's computer up, I ghetto rigged the speakers since the electricty here is 220V and the speakers were 110v. The speakers worked for about a day, until I bought a REAL power strip. I plugged my ghetto speaker set-up in the new, EXPENSIVE power strip and turned them on and......

BBBBBUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ

That's the sound they made while ON and OFF. I blew up the nice, new Gateway speakers that came with the computer. Don't worry, I replaced them today.

When it was bedtime the first day P played with the computer, I asked her to let me turn it off.

Me: P it's time for bed. Let me show you how shut down the computer.
P: I'll do it, let me do it.
Me: You don't know how. Just let me show you one time.
P: Let me do it, it's my 'puter. *while having a minor meltdown*
Me: Fine. You try to do it first, then I'll finish it when you mess up. *I've learned to pick my battles*
P: There, it's off. *After successfully shutting the 'puter down~the RIGHT way*
***********************************************

Look at what I got in the mail yesterday:

Only 7 more classes until I get my Bachelor's degree!!!

9:02 PM |

Comments: Post a Comment