So, good news! Michelle and I have officially found our apartment. It's close by and with easy access to the Metro and West Ox Road make it beneficial for the both of us at the moment. We also got it at a fairly decent price. I'd list it but all the out-of-towners reading this would just gawk and say we're out of our minds for paying that much. Unfortunately, this is the town we live in.

Couple of things, first off recreationally I have three things I would highly recommend. First is the book The Alienist. It was recommended to me by Hannah and it's an incredible read. No, it has nothing to do with aliens or UFO's or anything really with science fiction. It has to do with the United States' first (fictional) serial killer. The title of the book comes from what they used to call psychiatrists at the time. I'm almost done with it, and I almost can't put it down. If you're interested in things like that it's worth every violent, gut-wrenching page.

Second, PS2 games. I'm re-hashing two pseudo-new games that came out within the last year. I recently began replaying the game God of War. Once again if blood and carnage is your forte then this is truly the game for you. What's interesting is the many different ways in which you must sacrifice your victims to appease the Greek Gods of Olympus. I'm currently in Pandora's temple looking for the infamous Box so that I may destroy Ares, the God of War. Awesome blend of greek mythology with Quentin Tarantino style blood and violence. The "cinematic" scenes are also done quite nice and the graphics are absolutely gorgeous. Nate gives this game 5 out of 5 stars.

Next game, newer than the previous, Shadow of the Colossus. Absolutely gorgeous music and while the graphics are not up to the standards of God of War, the beauty and detail that goes into each of the Colossus must are certainly impressive. The story of this game will more likely appeace to more people as well. Apparently, "my" love has died and it is now up to me to restore her soul back to her body. I do this by climbing up giant beasts and destroying them, effectively sucking (?) their life force out to restore that of my love. In either case, climbing up the beasts are an incredible challenge mentally and I've appreciated all 3 hours of the game I've currently spent. I have a feeling I'll be spending much more time with it.

Now to more serious things. Walter Reed currently has an opening for a pharmacy tech position. It's a GS-6 position which would be a substantial pay raise not to mention the benefits from receiving said position would be incredible. However, this does have many down sides to it. For starters, the commute is ridiculously long. I would also have to work at Walter Reed for a minimum of 1 year before I could even dream of transferring out to another outlying clinic. It's also an inpatient position, which I actually have mixed feelings about. I worked Inpatient when I was stationed at Womack and I loved the work. Now, though, I do supply and logistics and while I don't prefer one over the other I certainly don't want to give up the job I have now. Also, their metro stop (Walter Reed's) is notorious for it's shooting, stabbings, rapes, and other sorts of pleasant activities. I know that if I hold out, I'm almost guaranteed a GS position with either Radar Clinic at the pentagon, or at Dewitt on Ft Belvoir. I'm just not sure if I should wait that long.
I think what I'm going to do instead if talk to my supervisor and see if she can re-write my job description. Currently, my job description states that all I should be doing is filling and dispensing medications for the pharmacists. Instead, I've been placed in control of a budget that runs into the millions, I've had to rearrange the pharmacy, I've done all the order and supply, while also helping out with administrative work. Oh, I also order the drugs for the immunization clinic located in our facility, though we're not supposed to since we receive no money or credit for it. So, anyway I think if I can get them to re-write my job description to that of a Supply Pharmacy Technician instead of just a regular Pharmacy Tech, I might also be able to ask if I could receive a small pay raise. I wouldn't ask for much, but I would let my supervisor know that Walter Reed is reviewing my resume and that they would be offering me slightly more than what I'm willing to settle for with the clinic I'm at now. I just don't know how to say this without sounding arrogant. Damn my arrogance! So, I plan on trying to put that into action tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I don't know if I'm going to post again before Sunday, so let me just shout out to all the other Steelers fans out there.....this is our time! We have waited too long for this, and don't let anybody else steal our time in the light. For all you people out there who aren't Steelers fans yet, just jump on the band wagon. We'll forgive you this time. GO STEELERS!!!!

Good night, all.