Mini Holiday Part Deux

I know it doesn't look like much but this is where we stayed.  Its an old Naval base in the Pacific Northwest.  At $45 per night during peak weekends its not all that bad.  Well except that its government run or I should specify MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation) run.  Which means that the money I spend at the Post Exchange pays for the upkeep of this place.  We stayed two nights here and spent $80 due to a discount for an off peak night.

Low tide on Pacific Beach.  J and I decided to go for a walk and look for shells.  Clams were being dug up and even though we could have rented the equipment for the clam digging at the resort we chose not to.  I was quite happy hunting for the elusive intact sand dollars.  Never did find one.  The clam diggers were breaking them in half with their equipment.  But I did take home some rather nice shells, a crab shell, drift wood and some rocks.  I do love rock picking.  Odd I know.

Close up photo of the sand.  I had the dickens of a time getting this photo to come out clearly.  But yes the sand is that pretty.

Photo of J who was also taking pictures of the sand.  He is so sweet humoring me by walking in the cold wind and carrying my bag of ocean vomit.  Well the ocean did spit it up.

This is just how rough and ugly the surf looked when we arrived at Pacific Beach.  Taken just before the tide went out.

This is was our room.  I did say it was run by the MRW right?  Well that means that the heater in our room broke down on our last night at 2100 hrs right in the middle of Downton Abbey.  Yup, we were given a space heater and an apology but no discount for the inconvenience.  At first they were going to put us in another room.  So I packed everything up and lifted the heavy suitcase.  Then they changed their mind.  So I unpacked.  Then they said they'd move us.  So I packed up again. Turns out they had no rooms left so I had to yet again unpack.

This caused me to start bleeding the next morning.  How nice to develop back and pelvic pain then start bleeding because of it.  Thank you Endometriosis for putting a damper on my vacation.  Just when I thought it was safe to have some fun and live a normal life..SMACK in the face pain.

Ocean Side.  Just thought it was a neat picture.  We didn't eat at Sharkeys.  We did eat at the Galaway Pub. J bought me another bead at the gift shop at Galaway Pub.

J was feeding the seagulls.  We kept saltines in the car, a left over from our clam chowder soup.


That's all I have to share for today.  Tomorrow is my WTF appointment and an appointment with my PCM.  Hopefully someone will decide to run some tests on me to find out why I keep losing the embryos.  Maybe I'll get a few answers tomorrow.

Oh and I'll share more news when I get it.  Looks like I'll be taking a break for about 8 months from TTC.  I'll explain why later.

Military Retirement Plan On Chopping Block

Oh great just what I needed to read this morning in my email.  The military is to have their benefits messed with again.  Read here to find out why I'm upset. 

I'm not sure why Congress thinks that we military families can afford to contribute to our own retirement.  Federal employees will still get their entitled retirement benefits without change so why is it that the military will have to suffer yet again?

I guess J and I are "lucky" to not have children on his pay.  If we had children like many of my friends with the same pay grade we'd not be able to contribute a single dime to the proposed changes.  I know of a few families that can barely afford to feed and clothe themselves on their wages.

Just yesterday J comes home from work and tells me that his co-worker is having to sell his wife's engagement ring because money is tight that month due to a bank error.  They are also selling the game systems and anything else they can afford to part with just to make sure that there is food on the table this month and gas in the tank.

So if they are the normal, a family of four or five on the same pay that J gets, how, just tell me how are they supposed to find money to contribute to their retirement fund?

Congress is making a big mistake by messing with the military benefits.  They are going to have a lot of the young troops refusing to stay in the military because its just not worth what they are willing to risk.

I would rather see my commissary and exchange hours cut or possibly disappear than to have to lose the retirement program that is in place right now.  Much as I don't like to shop off post, because shopping at the exchange means that the money I do spend goes to fund MWR projects in my community, I would go off post if it means that the retirement plan would be kept in place.

I have no voice.  My opinion counts for nothing.  Congress and the President will do as they see fit.  But I have yet to see anything good come of this particular presidency.  We are further in debt, our gas prices and food prices are higher and more benefits have been cut.  Foolish spending by our government in the big company bailouts have caused more poverty.

I'm just a handicapped person with no job, no children, and no retirement plan.  I have no voice.

But I'm still pissed.