"What would you say you do here?"

So you're probably wondering what Patrick's been up to.  Here's the lowdown on his recent activities.  Patrick started a new job as an energy engineer with the United States Postal Service in January.  He works on a small team and oversees all things energy for their 33,000 facilities.  He's really enjoying it.  He now dresses like this:

Patrick wakes up at the crack of dawn to enjoy an hour long bus ride to L'Enfant Plaza in downtown D.C.  The kids are still adjusting to having him work outside of the home, but he leaves early in the morning in order to be home for dinner, so it's working out.  You might think that Patrick would use his 2 hrs. a day of bus time to relax, but he's optimizing that commute by continuing to consult for Intercap on the side!

The downside of working for a group whose unofficial creed states "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is that despite the terrible weather they rarely close.  He did get to work from home on one of the worst days though, and did a little multitasking while I suited the big kids up to go outside.  Here is Patrick simultaneously working and snuggling a sick baby to sleep.  He later leapt a tall building in a single bound but I didn't get it on camera.

But wait, there's more!  Patrick is still serving as a reservist out of Norfolk and was recently promoted to Lieutenant Commander.  Now that he's with the USPS he'll be cutting back on the longer trips a bit, but will still be heading down there at least once a month.  Here is a photo from his promotion ceremony, in which the photographer is making fun of the height difference between these two.

Traditionally a promotion is followed by a "wetting down", where the newly promoted sailor spends the difference in his first paycheck to throw a party.  This being reserves, he was working with a smaller pay difference and a bunch of people staying in hotels for the weekend, but Patrick still threw down some Benjamins Hamiltons and treated the unit to Frosties.  They were a hit and morale was high that afternoon.

So, that's Patrick in a nutshell.  He's working hard at three(3) jobs and still coming home to be the best dad and husband!  And for that he at least deserves an all-about-Patrick blogpost! =)