Preparing your Electronics for Upcoming Deployment

No one really likes to think about an upcoming deployment. When a deployment is looming on the schedule, it means lots of extra work for the crew. Getting a ship ready for a deployment is an enormous amount of work. Sometimes as the family who stays home, we tend to think that we have the worst end being at home, but the extended hours and extended work really do take a toll on our sailors. 


While all of these wonderful things are going on 6-12 months prior to a deployment, we often forget little things that we can do ahead of time, and everything gets made "last minute". 


I'm going to write a few tips about things dealing with your personal electronics that can be done ahead of time. 


 - Cell Service. Who doesn't have a cell phone today? Well most are not just a phone, but are also a smart phone. Typically, before when the sailor left he would just turn in his phone or suspend his line, now carriers are making things more reasonable. 
          - Contact the carrier and find out about international cards or international as needed service. It may or may not work with your budget. 
          - Some carriers will sell or allow cards to be purchased that will allow the phone to work internationally. 


 - Cell Phones aren't just phones! Since most phones are smart phones, you have the options to add contacts, calendars, music, photos, etc to the phone. Even if you have cut off service to the phone, it will still work as a MP3 player, calendar and some will get Wifi. Use the time before he leaves to beef up these features. Go through the contacts and make sure you not only have everyone's phone number, but address as well. Mom would love a post card or 2 while you are gone. Use the phone as your personal calendar and electronic contacts. Make sure important dates like birthdays and anniversaries are all in the calendar so there is no excuse to forget. 


 - Don't forget Wifi! Most newer phones have the ability to work on Wifi for places that a cell signal is not available. If your current phone doesn't have this, look for it if you upgrade. Wifi on the phone means that even with no service, the phone could be used for email if it is on Wifi. Install an app like SKYPE and you can make calls when on Wifi. Granted, not every one, or every job has access to Wifi, so some will not have a benefit from this at all. 


-Make sure for any electronics that he will be take with him, you have the item registered with the manufacturer and you have the serial number recorded. Especially things like MP3 players, and tablets. Hopefully, nothing becomes lost or stolen while he is gone. But if you have recorded the serial numbers, it will make it easier to report. Take pictures of everything as well. 


It is always easy to say, oh nothing will happen. 
But trust me, electronics are lost and stolen everyday Be Prepared!

Veterans Day Challenge

As if dealing with 3 chronic pain diseases, a full time job, a part time job, and trying to have a life isn't enough going on, I've taken on a ridiculous challenge.
I decided that I was going to make Veterans Day cards for those Veterans in the hospital here at Portsmouth Naval and the VA Hospital in Hampton.
At first I was thinking I would make about 100, but it has grown to my goal of 1,111. Veterans Day is 11-11. 


I've started the first few steps. I've let most of the people around me know what is going on and I am trying to recruit as much help as possible. The biggest part of the project is what I am working on now which is pretty much cutting out all of the individual cards, and the decorations for the cards. 


So now I am in phase one, which is cutting out the pieces and the cards. This weekend while my wonderful sailor is in NYC for fleet week, having a wonderful time, I will be covered in glue, ink, and paper cuts while I work on making cards. 

Cuts and Promotions

Normally, I try to avoid politics and the non-stop yapping of Military Wives with a passion. I've learned that those who have the most to say are usually the quiet ones. Those who only want to inflate themselves, and their service member are usually the ones who do all the talking. 
I try to be funny, and be real. Life sucks, PERIOD Whether you are military, civilian, single parent, no kids, Jewish, Christian, whatever. Unless you are rolling around in money like the Romney's, your life sucks, and feel free to bitch about it. 


What I wanted to write about today was the venom. Most know, the E4-E6 promotion lists from March are due out this time of year. Normally the NAC releases them right around Memorial Day weekend. The quotas for the advancement are released and then normally a total number of those who will advance is released, then FINALLY the actual results are released and those who will promote are notified. 


Well me being the nosey person that I am, I can't wait for him to just call me and say yes or not. I like reading the lists and seeing if there is anyone on there that I know, so I have been following the posts from the NAC and the Navy Times to see if I can figure out when the results will be released. 
Yesterday, I ran into a situation that I was un-prepared for. When the overall number of how many E4-E6 was released, several Navy Wives completely went off and lost it. Their husbands were cut by the ERB and claim that their husband losing his job is what caused so many promotions. 
Well I do not agree at all. 


Honestly, it is clear to me that those complaining have never really had a real job at a real company and have no clue what it is like to really have a job. People loose their jobs EVERYDAY. They should be extremely thankful that the Navy does give them a severance package and they have notice to begin looking for other work. It could have been a scenario like many others have faced where you go in to work one day and it just gets announced that hey we are closing this office, so pack your desk. 
If other employers are allowed to re-organize and determine where they need to make staff cuts in order to maintain a profit margin, I do not understand why its suddenly evil that the military does it.
Yes I understand, you sign a contract for a specific period of time, make financial commitments based on that contract and level of guaranteed income. I completely understand the concept that if they shoe was on the other foot, the Navy would not let YOU break your contract. So why do they get to?


What I do not understand is those who are all upset, all in arms, and all pissed off, Saying that the promotions came on the backs of the ERB. 
The Navy is promoting 29,000 which is a high number. But I honestly think that if the promotions were related to the ERB there would BE LESS. 
The Navy shoots itself in the foot repeatedly by allowing rates to get overmanned. Basically they have certain rates that require MANY E4 and below but require very very few E5 and above. They Navy banks on those E4 and below never making the Navy a career or a long term commitment. They assume they will do their 4, get their GI Bill and get out. Then when the younger ones decide that it isn't so bad after all compared to the job market in the real world, they decide to stay a bit longer, and longer and then the next thing you know, the Navy is overmanned with mid career people in certain rates. 


I understand it sucks and the Navy should see the problem coming and basically that is what the PTS is for. But it doesn't always work that way. 


Anyway, I understand the ERB. I just do not understand Navy Wives flipping out, calling those NOT cut by ERB nasty names and saying that it is THEIR FAULT their husband got cut. 


If when anyone I am related to gets promoted, It will be a long over due, well deserved promotion. 


It will NOT be because someone else got cut on the ERB. 

How to Simulate Life in the Navy

How to Simulate Life in the Navy

1. Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.

2. Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the

walls.

3. Pump 10 inches of nasty, crappy water into your basement, then pump it

out, clean up, and paint the basement "deck gray."

4. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the

scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay

$10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.

5. Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.

6. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays turn your water temperature up to

200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees. On

Saturdays, and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too

much water during the week, so all showering is secured.

7. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

8. Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 5am, and blow a

whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout "Reveille,

Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up".

9. Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the

following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6am and

read it to you.

10. Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight,

then lock yourself out of the bathroom for 12 hours, and hang a sign

On the door that reads "Secured-contact OA division at X-3053."

11. Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's OK for you

to leave your house before 3pm.

12. Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up

all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months. After the 6

months is up, take down the boards, wave at your friends and family

through the front window of your home...you can't leave until the next

day you have duty.

13. Shower with above-mentioned friends.

14. Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home

(i.e., Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc).

15. Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15

minutes.

16. Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This

is to ensure your engine is properly "lighted off."

17. Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3

times a day, whether they need it or not. (Now sweepers, start your

brooms, clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all trashcans over the

fantail)

18. Repaint your entire house once a month.

19. Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning

you can get your hands on.

20. Use eighteen scoops of budget coffee grounds per pot, and allow each

pot to sit 5 hours before drinking.

21. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your

magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item.

22. Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN

and the Weather Channel.

23. Avoid watching TV with the exception of movies which are played in the

middle of the night. Have the family vote on which movie to watch

and then show a different one.

24. Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.

25. Sew back pockets to the front of your pants.

26. Spend 2 weeks in the red-light districts of Europe, and call it "world

travel."

27. Attempt to spend 5 years working at McDonalds, and NOT get promoted.

28. Ensure that any promotions you do get are from stepping on the dead

bodies of your coworkers.

29. Needle gun the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have

gone to bed.

30. When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone,

and shout at the top of your lungs that your home is under attack, and

order them to man their battle stations. ("General quarters, general

quarters, all hands man your battle stations")

31. Make your family menu a week ahead of time and do so without checking

the pantry and refrigerator.

32. Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you

are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an

hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of

steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't

pay attention to the menu any more so they just ask for hot dogs.

33. When baking a cake, prop up one side of the pan while it is in the

oven. Spread icing on real thick to level it off.

34. In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway.

Have you family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.

35. Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. Then tell

them that at the end of the 6th week you're going to take them to

Disneyland for "weekend liberty." When the end of the 6th week rolls

around, inform them that Disneyland has been canceled due to the fact that

they need to get ready for Engineering-certification, and that it will be

another week before they can leave the house.

36. In your grim, gray dumpster (refer to #1), with 200 of your

not-so-closest friend (cite par. 12) regardless of gender, suffer through

PMS!

37. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a

curtain. Have you wife whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you

go to sleep. She should then shine a flashlight in your eyes and mumble

"Sorry, wrong rack."

38. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your

bathtub, move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make

sure you shut off the water while you soap down.

39. When there is a thunderstorm in your area, find a wobbly rocking chair

and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. have a supply of

stale crackers in your shirt pocket.

40. Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.

41. For ex-engineering types: leave the lawn mower running in your living

room eight hours a day.

42. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.

43. Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind

carries the soot onto your neighbors house. Ignore his complaints.

44. Every other month buy green or red marine primer and put it in a paint

sprayer. Spray it over the roof of your house onto your neighbors

car. Ignore his complaints.

45. Lock wire the lug nuts on your car.

46. Buy a trash compactor, but use it only once a week. Store the garbage

on the other side of your bathtub.

47. Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly

sandwich on stale bread.

48. Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night, jump up and

get dressed as fast as you can making sure you button up the top

button on your shirt, stuff you pants into your socks. Run out into the

backyard and uncoil the garden hose.

49. Once a month, take every major appliance apart and put them back

together again.

50. Install a fluorescent lamp under the coffee table and then get under

it and read books.

51. Raise the thresholds and lower the top sills of your front and back

doors so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass

through one of them.

52. Every so often, throw the cat in the pool and shout "Man overboard,

starboard side" Then run into the house and sweep all the pots and

dishes off the counter. Yell at the wife and kids for not having the

kitchen "stowed for sea."

53. Put on the headphones from your stereo set, but don't plug them in.

Hang a paper cup around your neck with string. Go stand in front of your

stove. Say ... to no one in particular "Stove manned and ready" Stand

there for three or four hours. And say again to no one in particular

"stove secured." Roll up your headphones and paper cup and place them in a

box.

Fun on Duty Day

Sometimes being stuck at home alone on Duty Day can really stink. Yes it is nice to have a day to yourself to do what you want, but some times having to handle things that require another person on duty day is pretty annoying. 
So instead of being upset that it is duty day, I suggest to have some fun with it. Here are some ways to make duty day fun.


-- You don't have to shave your legs! It is always good to prevent a blood letting.


-- The kids will love having pop tarts for dinner!


-- You will discover this thing called "the remote". This item is normally captured and held on to all night. 


-- Once you discover "the remote" you will find that despite what he tells you, it WILL find chic flicks, OWN, Lifetime, ION, and TLC. Amazing, but there will be NO men's shows on tv on duty night. 


-- Inform your children that they have all been granted "leave". Insist they all go outside. Lock the front door. Inform them they are not allowed back in until their "leave period" is up. 


-- Lay in the middle of the bed and make a snow angel with the covers. This is the one night where you will not be clinging to the edge. 


-- Seize the opportunity to something Girl like. Maybe enjoy a pedicure or just a night free of farting.


-- Do all of the things your husband is completely confused by. Like changing the toilet paper roll or starting the dishwasher. Or you can just leave it for him to ignore yet another day.


Duty days can stink, but the best part of Duty Day is that it is ONLY ONE DAY and they will be home the next day. 

It could be worse, it could be deployment .... 

Milblog

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ZIP IT!

Family Members: 


I know that you are ridiculously proud of your service member and I would love to shout it from the rooftops what he does, where he works, and how awesome he is. 


But Don't.


Unfortunately, there are crazy people in this world.


If someone contacts you online, be skeptical. Even if they seem to know credible information about people, places and events, be skeptical. 


Online life is a major part of every day and every one in 2012. We see a profile of a person and assume everything is the truth. It may be, but then again, it may not be. 
I am the type that always hesitates to give out information or say certain things just because I assume everyone is a terrorist. Probably the wrong thing to assume, but I do. 


Recently, I had a scenario where someone who has no knowledge of me or G contact me and claim to be some position associated with the ship. If she was or she wasn't, that is not the point. The point is, she could have been contacting a terrorist. She doesn't know me, doesn't know anything about me. But yet, she presented herself as someone associated with the ship. She got my name from another wife, who I was very suspicious of. She randomly contacts me and I do not refer to the ship with its real name, I use the nick name. When I referred to the nick name, she didn't know what I was talking about. So that put me on red alert. The nick name is on the ship's website and painted on the wall of their mess deck. So clearly she has never been on the website, and never been on the mess deck. 
I just did not really appreciate the person who supposedly was connected with the ship contacting me. I never say what ship G is on, I never say certain things because of security reasons. Luckily this person was talking to a real person, but what if she presented herself as a ship's rep and then she was talking to a terrorist?


My advice, always err on the side of caution. No matter what, act like you do not know anything. You don't know when, where, how of anything that is going on. 
Don't give anyone that you do not know any information at all. 


It is MUCH better to piss off someone's Wife or Mom for not giving out enough information than to risk the safety of ONE single serviceman!

Write away your deployment

We all hate it when the deployment dates are looming near on a calendar, but it is a fact that military life cannot change. There will be times when duty comes first and the family back home faces a long deployment.


With technology today, they can jump on a computer and send a quick email back home, copy it to wife, mom, aunt and grandma and BOOM the entire family knows that I am OK and I need more Gatorade packets. 


Somehow the art of honest letter writing has been lost. To me, even for quick trips or training schools, I have not hesitated to send letters and cards. The most important thing for me is for my sailor to have a visual reminder of how much I love him and how much I am thinking about him. 


I write the occasional letter, but mostly I just send the cards from the dollar store. Yes, I admit, I send him cheap cards. There are several reasons, one being you don't really know if he will get it ever or not. Why spend money on expensive cards when the odds are he wont get it any time soon. The second reason is the cheaper they are, the more I can send!


When he was up in Great Lakes for C School, I got him to send me the address there where I could send him mail. He got a letter and a card I sent to him but there were 3 cards that he never got. I just chalked it up to the lovely mail service. After C School, he went on a deployment. When he returned home after the deployment, about a month later, he gets my cards. The training center in Great Lakes had refused the mail. So they forwarded them to a ship he was on more than 4 yrs ago. The Haleyburton gets them and is like what the heck? By some miracle, someone, somewhere was able to look up his name and then forward the mail to his current ship. It took at least 6 months for him to get those cards! But he got them.

Even though we had that whole issue on the Great Lake Adventure, I continue to send him stuff when he is gone for a long time. 
I will hand make him cards every once in awhile, but usually I just get an 8 pack of blank note cards from the good old dollar store and send those. 


They are small and I can carry them with me whenever. I pre-address and pre-stamp them and keep at least one in my purse all of the time. If I am out somewhere and something happens and I want to tell him about it, I just write it down in the notecard and drop it in the mail. 


Sure, by the time he gets the card, I have already told him either over the phone or via email. But I just like feeling like I am telling him right then.


It makes me feel better. I need more things in my life to make me feel better as far as that is concerned. I am always worried about his personal safety, even though he tells me not to worry. I am always worried about him getting enough to eat and getting enough sleep. I love him, what can I say?
I worry about him when he is home and I worry about him when he is deployed.  He has a very scary job and I am just always afraid something will happen. 


Believe it or not, He saves EVERYTHING I send him! He has a drawer in the bedroom with all of my cards and letters I have ever sent him. Occasionally I will open it and glance through. Its funny to see what I wrote 4 years ago when we had first just started dating. I need to dig up my stuff and compare it. You would see that in the beginning he was head over heels for me and I was trying to take it slow. 4 years later, everything has changed but I wouldn't change it for the world. 
Our love grows stronger all the time. 
I wonder if it has anything to do with the letters?

Hokey Pokey

I realize that the Navy life involves the Sea. But I don't like it when it involves unnecessary torture. 


Right now, his ship is out on a Fleet Week Tour. Everyone who has ever been associated with Navy life knows what that means.


So he is out now, scheduled to be gone for a several weeks. Well after stop #1 was complete, his ship has to come by VA to get to their next stop. They have plenty of time, so the ship puts out a vote to see if they pull in for the night, or not. 
We all know they are not really going to pull in. The fuel costs are astronomical for a pull in and pull out. Why waste that money when the ship needs other things. 
I got that part, but why get everyone's hopes up that they may get to go home and sleep in their bed for one night?
To me that is just mean. 


Due to my health issues, I have a lot going on right now, and it is just not a good time for him to be away from me. So the fact that the Navy was teasing his whole ship that they may get to go home for a day was just MEAN!  

Living with IC

Awhile back I officially announced that I had Lupus. Before that, I had announced that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Today, I get to announce yet another problem, Interstitial Cystitist. I’m sure I’m not spelling it right but I will try to fix that later.

IC is a painful bladder disorder that has no cure. IC is a chronic pain disease that causes pain on a constant basis. Not only does it cause my bladder to be in constant pain, it causes me to have to constantly feel like I need to go. All the time, 24/7 I feel like I need to go. The symptoms started back in Dec, so I am not really sure what it feels like anymore to not have to go to the bathroom.

Not only do I always feel like I really need to go, but I have constant pressure on my bladder. Anyone who has ever been pregnant has the feeling that the baby is sitting on her bladder. Ok well imagine your 10 yr old sitting on your bladder, all day, and no matter what you do, you 10 yr old will not get up. That’s me. Constantly it feels like there is something pushing on my bladder.

I know that this sounds completely ridiculous. I mean seriously, of all places to have problems, My Bladder? It seems like such a gross but function organ. You rarely hear of people with bladder problems. Well now I have a serious one.

There are many other problems with IC, but since I am sure that no one really wants to read any more details about my ability or lack of ability to pee, I will just say there is more.

In January, February and March I had ultrasounds to see what was going on and eventually I went to a urologist. Now this is an experience all to itself. The normal patient for a urologist is an older gentleman having prostate issues. I looked weird being the only under 40 female in the room, but oh well.

A couple weeks ago I was in the hospital having some procedures done to determine how far long this case of IC is and another procedure to determine if there was anything they could do to help. The bladder stretching did help the pain some after I recovered from the pain of the actual procedure.

Now comes the fun part. For those patients with severe cases of IC, a strict IC diet must be followed to the letter. Luckily I do not have a severe case, I am in the medium range, but I do not want to get any worse. So it is now my time to see what is on my daily list of foods and drinks that I really should eliminate or at least severely reduce.

My number one offender on the list is diet soda. I love Diet Coke. There is just something about the harshness and the bubbles that I just love. Well my love of the bubbles has been part of what is bothering me. So now I am working on a plan to slowly eliminate the foods on the IC list that are known to cause bladder pain. Rome wasn’t built in a day and there is no way that I can just wake up and give up everything that I have been eating and drinking. I will take my time and go through everything that is a part of my life and see if it does bother me or not. If it does bother me, then I will eliminate it.

My first big task before I work on elimination anything else is going to be to get rid of the diet coke in my life. My goal was to get down to one a day at home and one a day at work. Which compared to the normal 12 a day, that is a miracle.

I used to be super big into drinking tea so I am going to use that as my way to get out of soda. Once I am confident that I no longer crave soda at all, then I will move on to another item that is causing me problems.

I don’t know what items will definitely cause pain and what definitely won’t in my bladder, but I am going to have to just keep experimenting and get it right.

Thank goodness that the drug that I am on for Lupus and RA does not have any interaction with the drug that I am on for IC. The drug that I am on for Lupus and RA is actually working a little right now, although I am not really expected much relief until it has been in my system for 2 months. 

Sea Duty means on the SEA

I get so annoyed when I hear wives complain about how much their sailor is gone on SEA DUTY. Seriously? What part did you not understand? The SEA or the DUTY???
Its not called "Land Duty" or "Home everyday by 4pm duty" It is called SEA DUTY. He's a sailor, he is meant to be on the sea. 


If you want your sailor home with you every night and always up your ass because you are so afraid he is going to fart and you won't get to smell it, tell him to join the Navy band or the Air Force. 


I understand that no one likes having to take care of everything by themselves for a long period of time. But what would you being doing if you were single?
Would you be bitching and moaning that you have to do everything by yourself?
No, you would just do it. 


Instead of your non-stop childish bitching and moaning that he isn't with you every second of the day, why not just be thankful you have him?


How many single moms are out there doing it all, with absolutely zero support from anyone else?


Before you open your mouth to bitch that he isn't home, and his head is not crammed up your ass 24/7, Stop and think. 


In a flash, he could be gone. 


That is literally all it takes.


Before you start bitching he's not home, thank God above that your situation is not different. 


Be thankful that you can email him or talk to him on the phone. 


There are widows that would give anything just to have 5 more minutes. 


So stop bitching. He's in the Navy, let him sail the seas while you sit home alone and cash his paychecks and bitch about how he's not there. 


Stop Bitching, At least YOU HAVE HIM.

Revolving Door

I am going to submit a request to the US Navy that they install a revolving door in the house for free. 


Men say that women can't make up their mind, Men say it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind. 


I've learned this is also the case with the Navy. At least the USS IDontKnowWTFI'mdoing that G is on anyways.


I'm leaving, no I'm staying.
We are coming home on the 1st, the 18th, the 25th, the 32nd, Hell I dont know when we are coming home. I will just call you if I need a ride home. 


Should he leave the car on base? Should he leave the car at home?
Should he pay for extended parking? Should he leave it in a regular spot?


No One Knows.


When he left recently for the Navy Fleet Weeks Tours, his schedule was to be home in June for a week, then return back out until July. (Can't say exact dates obviously)


However, now he tells me they are making a quick 3 day trip home, one of the 3 days he has duty of course. Then the are heading back out.


Well of course, one of the 3 days he will be home is a day where I have bought tickets to a seated sports event. This particular event is being thrown by someone else, so I had to turn in a list of names and seat count weeks ago. 
Of course, I DID NOT get him a ticket, because he was not scheduled to be home. 


So now, what do I do? I can scratch the whole event and just stay home.
I can buy him a ticket, but he will be sitting someplace else, and not invited to the pre-event dinner. 
I can give the tickets away after I pick them up.
I can leave him at home, alone. 
Luckily, I was able to call the coordinator of the event and get him on the list as the final tickets have not been sent out. 
But this will not always be the case that I can add him on. 


I don't know if I should just always assume he will be home, or just always assume he won't. Either way, it never seems to work out right when there is money being spent involved.