A Modest Reward

There's a long tradition in the Army of a certain apprehension when one is getting "short" on a deployment or in a combat zone: you've made it this far, it would really suck to buy it in the last week.

Similarly, but not quite at the same life-and-death level of seriousness, I felt a real sense of relief as I got up for my last watch of a 28-day hitch: so far, I hadn't dented the boat or gotten anyone hurt.

And then: one more run.

And that one went okay too.

So, as a small pat on the back to myself, and a welcome home, and because my dermatologist gave me a clean bill of health at a post-skin cancer checkup (and Academy was right next door) and because it will be useful when making notations in the log or for when I begin my HIIT workouts on the boat (yeah, right ...), I took a cue from my old fishing buddy Fil Spencer, IFA Kayak Angler of the Year and now timepiece model for Academy Sports and Outdoors.

I picked-up a Freestyle Mariner for less than $70.

All I can say so far is that the numbers are big, the backlight is cool and it's comfortable on the wrist. It looks enough like the old Timex that the wife hasn't noticed yet that I have a new watch (the 2-year-old did ... but he's observant that way).

Anyhow, we'll see how it holds up.