Greetings

    How are you today?  I hope you are doing well.  I just went out to smoke a cigarette.  I left Max inside this time.  Sometimes, I leave Max inside when I go out.  This away he understands that when I bring him outside, I am not trying to abandon him.  I just do not want him stuck in the house, or I want him to go to the bathroom.  

    After I came back inside I began writing.  I think that today is going to be a nice day with the weather.  It is warm, but not as hot as it could be.  Over in California it is getting record temperatures.  The same is up in Washington where it is reaching triple digits of the weather.  They are having there third heat wave in a row.  

    On top of this, I read an article from Q13Fox, where the wildlife biologists captured a mother grizzly bear.  They put a collar on the bear to track her, and the movement of her cubs.  This is the first siting of a female grizzly bear in forty years, the article said.  

https://www.q13fox.com/news

    I guess that is the bear.  They found her last month, and then recently captured her and released her with a collar.  According to Q13Fox, the grizzly bears, which roam Idaho, northeastern Washington, and British Columbia, were almost wiped out.  But lately, there population has been growing, at 3% each year.  

    My drama with the Rodeo battery dying is at an end.  My dad installed a new alternator.  It seems to be working.  The battery stayed up.  He installed before I had to go to work at 2 PM.  My Dad has a knack for fixing cars, it seems.  It still seems strange to see the driveway without the Audi.  Like something is missing.  But that is a good thing, because it is no longer taking up a spot in the driveway.  

    I worked from 2PM to 8 PM.  The timeclock was down, so I had to fillout a punch card instead.  It seemed odd to do this.  But I went ahead and took a lunch when they gave me one.  I worked until 8PM, but the time went by fast.  There were not as many visitors as they normally have had.  It gives the sense that things are going back to normal.  But I think that remains to be seen.  A lot of restaurants are still closed.  Around I-20 the restaurants are open.  But as I drive within the interior of Arlington, fewer restaurants are open.  After the shutdown, things are slowly returning to normal.  As a Courtesy Clerk at Albertsons I am not sure how I feel about that.  

    They no longer have sanitation, so it is up to the Courtesy Clerks to clean the restrooms, again.  That is how it was when I first started at Albertson's.  Once the lockdown began on March 13, 2020, everything seemed so strange to me.  I wonder why we didn't shutdown in December of 2019.  That is how COVID-19 became COVID-19.  The first case was reported that year.  Now, they have a new strain of the virus called, "Delta" so everything is about the Delta variant now.  I continue to wear a mask.  I also social distance.  

    Yesterday, at about 7:30 PM Master Chief Bass from the Navy sent me a text.  They wanted me to call them.  So, as soon as I got off work, and headed home I gave him a call.  We talked about my medical retention review board, that is potentially happening.  This is because I began taking medicine through the VA.  Right before the lockdown I notified medical I was taking the medications.  Incase I deployed, they would know what kind of medicine I needed.  Well, during the lockdown they sent me a notification of a MRR which I now know means Medical Retention Review.  He suggested he might call and see what he could find out.  I am totally confused.  I am in a non-drilling status, and I cannot even go to the NOSC (Navy Operational Support Center).  He asked for my point of contact, I told him the Chief at Medical.  Thats all I know.  Apparently, the non-drilling status comes directly from the Commanding Officer.

    Then, we talked about my clearance.  I submitted my paperwork, and also had my interview.  The person who conducted my interview was Miss Andrea Stephens.  Master Chief Bass said that my clearance is at DONCAF(Department of the Navy Central Adjudication Facility).  I asked Mr. Bass if I could add him as a contact.  I did so because maybe I can call him again and get some direction of who to be contacting.  I do want to drill.  I was just hoping to go Active Duty again.  I feel terrible about the whole thing really.  I hoped to give the Navy a full package where I return with a degree, and Security+.  But now, that I am taking the medicine I am not so sure that will happen.  I am concerned.  Well, I suppose that is all for now.  

References:

1. https://www.q13fox.com/news/1st-female-grizzly-in-40-years-collared-in-washington-state?utm_campaign=trueAnthem&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3Yxutp1ieTLf-UYhT8qpB5QkNPzBdnxT8M829VaLhnj20RdsrbZELyndY
2. https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrma/installations/ns_newport/about/tenant_commands/navy_operational_support_center.html 

3. Acronym Finder. S.v. "DONCAF." Retrieved July 16 2021 from https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/DONCAF