Introduction

Hello. I've finally claimed my own little piece of the WEB. So, naturally, my first post will be a little about me and what I hope to get out of this whole thing.

My name is Amanda and I relocated myself from Michigan to New York City in 2000 without a home or a job. Fresh out of college, naive, and looking to live the big city life. Looking back I probably would not recommend that method, however, I had a great support structure from day 1. Those first few years of raman noodles, hot dogs, and hand-me-downs were great. It took us a year to find a permanent home. Around the same time I found an entry level position with a small IT consulting firm. I am now a manager with 6 project managers reporting to me with the corporation that acquired that small consulting firm.

Taking a step back... I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, a small town in Michigan's lower peninsula. Of course, that small town is not so small anymore thanks to the growing population of Central Michigan University and the growth of the Soaring Eagle Casino. I have a younger sister and younger brother, who, btw, is getting married in March 2010! I sometimes miss being home, but what I miss the most??? Cedar Point!!!! So, while I am definitely a big city girl at heart, I still try to live by the small town values taught to us by our parents.

So, fast forward to NYC and I got to play with my crazy chicas, Michelle and Nic. We definitely had some great "you had to be there" moments just trying to survive in this crazy city. We had some great trips to Atlantic City, Boston, and even Omaha! That is, until Ms Nicole abandoned us for greener pasteurs in L.A. But we still love her anyway :)

In 2005, I met my soldier on Match.com. He had only been back in the city about a month from an 11 month deployment at Ft. Lewis (WA). It turned out we only lived 12 blocks away from each other. In NYC, 20 city blocks is 1 mile. We were engaged in May 2007 and married October 25, 2008. We currently rent a house in Brooklyn with our three fur-babies: C-Lo, Hadley, and Harley. Freddy has been in the service 18 years and is currently with the Army National Guard here in New York and just renewed his contract for 6 more years. I've received the question a couple of times if I was upset that he re-upped. My response: "He'll be in until they force him out."

So, here I sit... at home... alone with my putties while my DH is away at another training course (this time in Fort Lee, VA). Granted, it does make it easier to get some work done :) Of course I had to deal with his monthly drills and AT while we were dating, now that we have to start talking about beneficiaries, emergency contacts, and updating wills it seems more real. Now I'm digging through web sites and manuals trying to navigate through benefits, procedures, schedules, locations, and all those damn acronyms! I finally just figured out what PCS means!

I recently read the following excerpt in the May/June 2009 issue of Foundations: "At a Family dinner once, I asked my husband this question: If he had to choose between the military or me, which would he choose? My father, the wise man that he is, leaned toward me and said, 'Honey, some things you don't ask, if you don't really want to know the answers.' " How true... how true. BTW, I call my DH Captain America because even though his BNCO school last year satisfied his AT requirements he still volunteered to do the AT in addition to volunteering for early entry for just about every monthly drill.

So, I start my blog to share my stories and rantings. And, believe me, I have a lot of rantings! Many will probably not even be military related but will give you insight into life in the big city. Please feel free to leave any comments, questions, or suggestions.

~AKO

p.s. yes, my married initials are AKO :) which I recently found out stands for Army Knowledge Online.