She's baaacccckkkk!!!

Yup, I am back in the land of computer connection. I'm sitting in tent city in good old Kuwait waiting for an airplane to give us a ride into Iraq. I will never be able to comprehend the stupidity that is the military deployment travel system. I'm amazed that anyone every gets into Iraq at all!
Tonight was a little morale night... Outback Steakhouse, Carrabas, and a band called "A Verse Unsung" all flew in so we could have dinner and a show. How freaking cool is that. The food was delicious but I was really amazed by the band. It was a group of young kids from Minnesota who flew all the way out here. I was so impressed with them. I guess it just seems that so many people and celebs flaunt this "support the troops" attitude but some of them actually mean it. For a band that isn't well known to want to come out here really freaking rocks. A Verse Unsung rocks! :)

Otherwise everything is just lovely... the sand is pleasant and the wind can't be beat. Hopefully we'll be out of here soon and I can hurry up and settle down. Ooooooh, I take that back... just got the word that we are out like trout in the morning....wooooohoooooo!!!! It's on like donkey kong... no more Kuwait for me!!!!

Let the stress games begin

OK, I'm ready to admit it... this deployment is starting to stress me out. I feel like I've got a hundred things on my list of things to do but the only one I really want to do is doing nothing. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to relax when relaxing is on the list of things to accomplish.

I'm down to two classes left for this stinkin degree. For some bizarre reason, I registered for both of them and they just started today. That was stupid. How in the hell do I think I'm going to complete two classes with a trip to Iraq falling right in the middle of the 8 week semester. Stupid stupid stupid. Of course, I could be working on some of those assignments right now instead of pointlessly blogging, but frankly I just don't feel like doing homework. I'm sure the stress of it will get to me in an hour or so and I'll sit down to try and be studious.

I guess the big part that is really sucking right now is not knowing when I'm leaving. There are so many arrangements that have to be made, but they're all pretty impossible until I have a departure date. Being a single home owner really sucks when you have to deploy all the dang time.

T-mobile must be letting me down

I can't imagine that the "suddenly stop calling-itis" has struck yet another of my beaus, so T-mobile must be to blame... perhaps I should call customer service and unleash all of my anger on some dude in Indian that I can't understand anyway. I'm sure they'd appreciate my woes... ugh boys!

Back to reality... thank jeeebus!!

The last three weeks nearly stripped me of my will to continue breathing... ah, good old Army training. But as I'm sitting here I feel like I have bitched about the experience so much in real life that I hardly want to run through the laundry list of gripes that I have again. So just believe me when I say that Camp Atterbury is no freaking bueno.

Anyway, I actually have no idea what I'm writing about right now... I just wanted to update the old blog since I didn't keep up with it during all this training. I'll be leaving for Iraq again in a couple of weeks but I still have no idea what day exactly. That's one of the things that I love about the Air Force. I try to do the right thing and find out what date range it's acceptable to take leave and this is how the conversation goes:

Me: So I have a month window between training and the date that I have to be in country, when should I expect to be traveling so I can take leave and visit family?

AF Dumb Asses: You know that you could leave at any time.

Me: Of course I understand that concept, but when might I possibly expect that you'll put me on a plane?

AF Dumb Asses: Again, you could leave at any time.

Me: So when might I know something about this departure?

AF Dumb Asses: Well the tickets won't be released until the 17th.

Me: Oh, so can I assume that I probably won't be leaving until the 17th?

AF Dumb Asses: No, you could leave at any moment.

Me: Right... are you saying that if I haven't left by the 17th, that you'll be able to tell me something concrete on the 17th?

AF Dumb Asses: No, that's only when your tickets are available for booking.

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So I leave without any explanation but the sense that I probably shouldn't leave the base for the next 5 weeks, because who knows... at any second I could be expected to be packed and on the plane. Stupid AF.

OK, but it hasn't been all grumpy stuff, I promise :) Randy came to visit during the week between GATOR and CST which was really cool. We did the classic Pikes Peak hike. Everytime I climb that dang thing, I seem to forget how challenging it is within 24 hours... but as soon as I'm back on that mountain the memories come flooding back of what a pain in the butt it is. I think we both kind of wanted to quit at the halfway point, but we made it all the way to the top. It actually even snowed up there. It really was beautiful as always. Here we are at the top together:

He's also been teaching me to rock climb which is a petty humorous adventure. It's great fun and quite the little workout. These are some pics from playing around at Garden of the Gods:

Fun times!! :)

Alabama is hot...

yup, that pretty much covers it... so hot, want to touch the hiney hehehehhehehehe

Kill Your Television

Twenty seconds ago I was curled up in my cozy bed unwinding for the evening. I have just started reading The Assault on Reason by good ol' Al Gore. I haven't even made it through the introduction and I feel compelled to spill my thoughts out and since I live alone and no one wants to be awoken at this hour with a political phone conversation (oh, and I realized that I had forgotten to take my evening fruit salad of pills thanks to undeclared war in Iraq) ... here I am.

I don't mean to steal someone elses words, but - I never really made an active decision that I wouldn't own a television, I've just never had one. It was never meant to be a political statement, but you can't help but make one through the absence of a television.

Gore draws a fascinating connection between the American addiction to television and the utter decay of our democracy. I won't kill you with the details (after all, details are what we don't have time for anymore because we can get all the information we believe we need through a thirty second broadcast), (sorry for the aside) but I found myself really feeling a lot of truth in some of his conclusions. Ironically enough I had my bedroom window open and can hear my neighbor's television blaring a sitcom across the street. I stopped reading and thought about why they had that show on at ten p.m. Here are some of the reasons I came up with:

1) escapism - we believe that watching a fake life or a fake-reality-TV show gives us a chance to breathe from our own stresses.

2) loss of faith in entertaining ourselves - when I go over to a friend's house the first thing that tends to happen is the television is turned on or a movie popped in... I think we do this because we believe that we can't interact in a fun enough way. When really I actually want to spend time with that person. I don't care if it's throwing sticks for the dogs to chase off the deck or playing scrabble or looking at pictures or laughing about gossip or planning out house projects. I think this is also why we watch when we're alone. The "I'm bored" syndrom. There are so many amazing things outside, in your house, visiting with a neighbor, walking around the block, listening to music, cooking, canoodling with someone special (or not special for that matter), conversing with a friend, any of the zillions of hobbies out there... the list goes on and on and on and... but when we come home from work, why do we reach for the zone out box?? Seriously, if you're reading this and have thoughts, please throw them up here!

3) habit - I think this is the most prevalent and scariest reason of all

4) because you actually like the show - yup, there is some funny stuff out there

5) to get the news - fair enough

But in all fairness, if reasons 4 and 5 were how we spent even one third of our television viewing time we would be unbelievably happy and educated. Can you believe that the AVERAGE person watches 4 hours, 30 minutes of television A DAY!!! We have lost our damn minds.

Joy under the Big Sky

I managed to scam some leave out of work and jumped on the plane headed for Montana to see Randy. Really cool little factoid: while fireworks were entirely illegal in Colorado, you could pretty much buy a rocket launcher from a roadside fireworks stand in Montana. Definately an awesome place to spend the Fourth. Ironically, it was the one year anniversary of my departure from Iraq. We flew out at night and it was kind of cool because the perimeter guys were launching illumination rounds which were a cool substitute for fireworks. That was such an emotional departure - glad it was dark inside that C-130 because I couldn't hold back those tears. Guess it's just the immensity of everything that had happpened, the relief at leaving with all my body parts intact and a weird unwillingness to leave. Stupid Iraq. But enough about that... onto fun in the motherland...

The Dirt Bike Project: we had big plans of reconstructing his old dirtbike so that we could go riding together. Unfortunately those things never go together as easily as you'd like... the wrong radiator came in, but we put the rest of the bike together anyway... it was fun getting all greasy and cursing at bike parts when they wouldn't fit right :)

Since we couldn't get the dirtbike back together, we ended up doing a lot of hiking which you know I was stoked about. These pics are from the hike up to Beaverhead Creek. I didn't see any beavers, but I did see a whole buttload of tadpoles.


We also hiked up Mt. Baldy which was amazing. We were the only two on the mountain and a lot of the hike was off-trail so we were just tromping through the woods. The view from up there was breath taking. It was such a beautiful day.

I know it's sideways, just tilt your head to the left!

The marker at the top

Telluride!!

Well I never posted pics from Telluride, so I figured I'd better throw them up here. Mainly I just want to make EVERYONE jealous that wasn't there. It was phenomenal. When I close my eyes and go to my peaceful place that's the first image that shines on my eyelids. Oh, and Ani played... Juni, Randy and I were like in the third row - I loved it so much. I stole all these pics from Juni's Facebook - dude thanks.

So much laughter

Big Fat Fun at the Duhks... freaking cool

Yiesters

Beautiful Telluride

Our Incredible Campground

He totally likes me always making a silly face
Sisters! Can you see the resemblance?

Juni's Graduation

As I was uploading pics for my last entry, I realized that I never posted these pics! What an airhead I can be!

I managed to make it to Juni's college graduation... it was such a cool night. Of course I am super duper proud of her!

Instead of some stuffy choir or school band, they had the local bag pipe troupe open graduation. It was outstanding... it certainly created the right atmosphere.

Unfortunately I don't have any super pictures of Juni on stage because she managed to park her short butt right behind the tallest dude in the school... but these pics are at the reception afterward.

We are the queens of self portraits!!

Awwww!!! He totally has the hots for her!!

The joy of home improvement

I just love being home. As great as all of these trips have been, truly nothing compares to lying down on my own mattress and waking up to turn on my own coffee maker. It is always the small things that make it wonderful. Since I've been home I've been ridiculously productive. Thanks to lots of help and encouragement from the momma, I finally tackled the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately that project started about three weeks ago (actually 5 months ago if you want to be technical) and there is still no final product to take an cool picture of. But seriously, I will totally finish this weekend and then I'll put up a picture of how cool it looks!

I did however finish sodding my yard last weekend. That was a ridiculous project. The guy at the sod yard said, "it's the most untechnical home improvement project you can do...it's easier than tiling or carpeting". So naturally I think, "oh this will be easy. I'll finish up in the morning and be drinking Boone's Farm on my lawn by noon".

Here's what my lawn looked like after I rototilled 4 cubic yards of shit into it...


And this is my lawn arriving...



Holy crap, I'm an idiot. Never have I done anything so exhausting in my life. (that may be a small exaggeration) It took me about eleven hours to do the whole job. Every muscle in my entire body was in pain that night. I really should have dropped the $250 bucks the sod folks asked for to install the stuff. I'm such a cheap ass.

At this point in the project I still think I'm going to be done by lunch...


But here it is all installed... the sun is actually setting at this point.


Chicken is freaked out by it, she avoids walking on it. She'd still rather lay in the dirt along the edges or on the patio.

Keep your fingers crossed that it won't die on me!!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!

hehehehe, just kidding. But really, this year I'm celebrating my new status of motherhood thanks to the Chicken in my life. Last night she got sick and I was really worried about her. She wanted to sleep in the corner of my room so I made a little pallet on the floor and slept next to my sick baby all night. I think that qualifies me as a mommy!

But in serious, it is Moma's Day and frankly the celebration belongs to the crazy lady that's put up with my crap for 27 (yikes) years. Happy Moma's Day Momacita-bugita!!

Mother's Day

It seems especially appropriate that we should reflect on the original meaning of Mother's Day this year...

Original Proclamation of Mother's Day
By Julia Ward Howe, 1870

Arise then...women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts!

Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,

For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,

Will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with

Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor,

Nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

At the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home

For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means

Whereby the great human family can live in peace...

Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

But of God -

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace.

Memorial

T/5 Russel F. Byington, USA
SGT Roland H. Engwall, USA
CSM Jonathan M. Lankford, USA
SSG Joshua P. Mattero, USA
SSgt William J. Callahan, USMC
SSgt Dustin M. Gould, USMC
Sgt Shawn P. Martin, USMC
Sgt Michael E. Tayaotao, USMC
SSgt Stephen J. Wilson, USMC
SSgt Peter Woodall, USMC
EOD2 Curtis R. Hall, USN
EODC Gregory J. Billiter, USN
EOD1 Joseph A. McSween, USN
EODC Patrick L. Wade, USN
EOD1 Jeffrey L. Chaney, USN
EOD1 Kevin R. Bewley, USN
SrA William N. Newman, USAF


This weekend we added 17 names to the EOD Memorial wall in Florida. The ceremony was beautiful. I don't really know what to write about it because there's nothing I can say to really capture everything that was going on. It's been more than a year now but it still hurts the same as it did on the sixth of April. I was so blessed to finally have a chance to grieve with his family though. I love them so much. I wish that I could be more articulate about the whole experience but it's still too sad to try to put into words.


I took these photos the day after the memorial. Before I flew out, I drove out to the school house so I could have a last quiet look at the memorial and try to sort my feelings out. When I arrived I was alone for about thirty minutes. I reflected on all of my friends whose names now reside on that wall and the moments of memories I have of them. The memorial is our place of honor and rememberance. To see those names on the wall was the final statement that they really are gone. While I was there a couple showed up and took a pencil rubbing of a name that was added to the army tablet. Then another guy showed up and stood by me infront of the navy tablet. He stood looking at it and then stepped forward to reach for a name. He ran his finger over Curt's name as though to wipe away any dust, but really more to verify that his name was actually on this wall.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/14166

Holy crap, it is F-ing cold here

That pretty much covers it, I am freezing.

I didn't actually fall off the face of the earth...

...I'm just lazy and inconsistent about keeping up with blogs. So here's my attempt to catch up.

After leaving the delta we flew commercial from Rach Gia to Ho Chi Minh City. HCM is a freaking cool place. It's huge and has everything you could ever ask for. Initially we were going to stay the night there at the Sofitel which I was very excited about but that plan fell through. We ended up only having a few hours of layover before we flew to DaNang, so we went to the most fabulous restaurant ever. It was a Brazillian restaurant that was just incredible. MMMmmm, big skewers of the finest quality meat and pineapples and deep fried bananas... oh I'm salivating right now. This is Bret and I outside the restaurant.


Well my birthday was super duper incredible. My team leader planned out this awesome party for me. We went to the New Phong Doong Club in DaNang. It was an impressively trendy club. The table was covered in beer and a wonderful cake. Vietnam doesn't do much in the way of baked goods except for a bread called "Bhang Mi" which is pronounced Bang Me...hehehehe. So the cake was a wonderful treat. The bar tenders were so awesome, everytime I took a drink of my glass of beer, they immediately filled it to the top again. They even had a techno happy birthday song for me. It was very cool. I think it may have repaired all of the crappy birthday memories from last year. This picture is just a cool statue in DaNang.

At the end of our stay in DaNang, we had a repatriation ceremony for the seven MIAs that our teams were able to find. It was really beautiful. On the DaNang flightline we gave full honors to each one. Of course the remains are very small so they fit in a box about twice the size of a shoe box. Each small box was placed in a casket and then was covered in an American flag. Each flag draped casket was then loaded onto the C-130 while all the American's saluted the fallen. It was just like the ceremony we do for those killed now. It was such an honor to be a part of all this. I'll try to get the pictures of our ceremony to post on here.

After Da Nang, we loaded up onto the C-130 and headed to Pattaya Beach Thailand. Originally, we were supposed to be out of Pattaya in no more than 24 hours... 5 days later we finally managed to find a way out. It was great to be there this time. This is the first glorious Guinness that I had.

Not only was there beer in Pattaya, but we showed up for Songkran which is the big celebration that marks the beginning of the rainy season in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The way they celebrate is by having a massive, week long water fight in every public place. The moment you step onto a sidewalk or get into a taxi bus, you're immediately fair game for being slammed with water. I bought a water cannon which is actually illegal in Thailand but I managed to keep mine hidden from the Thai Fun Police. Annother part of Songkran is dumping baby powder or flour on people and vehicles. I have no idea what the significance of that is, but it sure was fun. Here's pics of Jayme, Bret, my new favorite Canadian - Frank, and myself.


So now I'm on my way home to Colorado. I'm actually sitting in the USO at LAX for my 5 hour layover. I hate air travel so much but it's certainly made better by free pizza, soda and cookies. My time in Hawaii was relaxing but I'm still so glad to be finally going home - yippeee!!

Last night we finally arrived in DaNang. Oh I love the resort that we're staying at so much. It's so beautiful.

Our party was bitter sweet. Here are a whole bunch of photos from the last day.

Randy and his crew


Wong and I

Jayme and I


Anh and I


The girls


Chi Hun and I


Bye Bye!



This might be one of my favorites because it has my three favorite boys... Ka, Wong and Lin.


You can't tell me this isn't a funny picture... and she's an adult!


The coffee shop that sprung up on site



Ame Tim (she's on the left in the pic above) wrote this on my hand and then (in her very best english) whispered it to me when we hugged goodbye. Yup, I may have cried a little bit. I'm such a baby. Helpless is the best way to describe how it felt to leave the delta.


Leaving the delta...