Fruits and Nuts

2010-09-02T21:13:00.001-05:00

(loud sigh). I'm leaving to go on the road again. Here I come, Cleveland. Then here I come Pittsburgh. The farm will be happy to see me when I get back.

Dear Mom...

2010-07-20T10:43:00.002-05:00

Dearest old (and I use that word STRICTLY in the endearing sense...you are not actually old) Mom,

I had a realization today...a revelation of sorts. I realized that I have been modeled and molded directly by you. Yeah, yeah, people are a product of their total environments, and the influences that shape a person are a collective effort of many sources. This is true to some extent, but for me, I see you when I look in the mirror. I kind of see Dad, like my ears and my tallness, and my eyes I think, but the total package...mostly you. I do these funny things that you would do, such as separate all the trash and recycle and get excited about composting. I make my bed most of the time, and about once a month or so I make a "mini resolution" to make my bed all of the time, which lasts about a week, then I don't make it and the train derails. I'm not a parent, but I imagine that if I was, I would do things like make chore lists for them, make them wear hand-me-downs, tell them fantastic bedtime stories, read to them incessantly, and brow-beat them into learning the piano, for which they would thank me profusely later in life. By the way, profuse thanks for your outrageous amount of stubbornness and dedication to ensuring that I learned how to play the piano, whether I liked it or not. Most of all Mom, thanks for teaching me how to be a good person. Thanks for teaching me that it's ok to get mad, say some stuff, then cry and apologize. Thanks for teaching me that womanly strength goes beyond being handy in the kitchen and knowing how to handle a vacuum cleaner...it is bearing, loving, raising, and being a true friend to nine kids, giving up so much of your own early adulthood to bring us into the world. Thanks for teaching me how to wash dishes by hand (I never use the dishwasher), how to make jam and can stuff, how to make lists, how to eat for really cheap. Thanks for loving me in spite of my teenage antics, and being willing to laugh about them later.

I'm lucky to have a Mom like you.

Love, Rach

I'm a Grown Up Now!!! I Have a Mortgage!!

2010-07-01T06:07:00.002-05:00

I own a house! Well, actually the bank owns it, they're just letting me live there and pay utilities.

2010-05-03T18:24:00.002-05:00

Spring is here! Stuff is growing!!!

2010-04-08T12:27:00.003-05:00

Spring is in full swing. And it happened overnight...we went to Montgomery, AL for a weekend and came back and Winter had flown the coop. We had 8 days straight of high 70s to mid 80s, even spiking up to the 90s Sunday and Monday. Baby green leaves are pushing themselves out of branches everywhere, and the air is thick with pollen (thanks mom and dad for good genes and no allergies). The best part...the dogwoods and the sycamore in the backyard. I cannot look at a sycamore tree without thinking of my dear old dad and the dead stick that almost met its untimely demise, only to be planted in a corner in the backyard in blind faith! The huge sycamore right outside my back deck is now a green mist of tiny velvety green leaves. The dogwoods of course remind me of the undergrowth in the redwoods, with their delicate pink and white flowers. Too bad the flowers don't last a little longer. Well, out with me to the backyard where Brandie and I are slaving away building a stone patio.

2010-01-21T17:29:00.002-05:00

Funny conversation I heard this past weekend while waiting in line to see Avatar:

Little girl about 6 years old: "Daddy, you have TWO chins! Are you gonna stay like that forever?"

Daddy: (says nothing and looks at mom, mom rolls eyes)

Little girl: "Daddy?"

2009-12-30T23:00:00.003-05:00

So I had to take a motorcycle safety class this week to get a special sticker for my bike that says I am legal to drive my motorcycle on the Army Post. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and I learned a lot. We did look like a bunch of dorks though...driving around tiny cones in an empty parking lot in circles for hours. I learned a lot about proper technique for riding in corners, and slow-speed maneuvers for parking lots and tight spaces. The worst part was that it was so cold riding in to class in the morning. Monday wasn't so bad...about 40 or so. But Tuesday. Oh geez. It was about 35. Plus the wind chill. And windshields look really dorky on a Harley so guess what I DON'T have. Yeah, a windshield. The last time I remember being that cold was when I worked at Brighton. It was so funny though because the other people on the road would look at me like what the HECK is wrong with that chick she's straight up CRAZY.

2009-12-13T19:26:00.002-05:00

Thanks Dad. Thanks for letting us fiddle with your tools and make an absolute disaster zone of the garage and your life. Thanks for just sighing and looking at the ground, then shrugging when we ransacked your toolbox and spread nuts, bolts, nails, wood scraps, and sawdust all over the yard. Thanks for teaching us how to use tools and put things together. Thanks for teaching us, all the while knowing full well you were giving us just enough knowledge to be dangerous to what could have been your neatly organized, kid-free workshop had you kept us out of there. But the memories we gained from those good times are worth more than all the brand new tools in all the Home Depots in America!!!

Thanks to you, I actually fixed a leak in our sink BY MYSELF!! I figured out where the leak was (the gasket and putty around the strainer), researched on the internet what type of tools and materials I would need, went to Home Depot and got the parts without having to ask for any help, came home and fixed it!!!

Thanks Dad. Love ya!!

2009-12-09T20:30:00.002-05:00

If today was your last day on earth and you could only do ONE more thing before you died...MAKE THESE POTATOES!!! I made them tonight for dinner and I almost died of happiness when they hit my tongue. They aren't really low-fat though...

Here's the link:

http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/potatoes-au-gratin-recipe/

This is one of my new favorite websites, great recipes for home cooking and some crazy veggies I've never even heard of before. Love it!!!

2009-12-04T14:24:00.002-05:00

Finally! First time since I've been in the Army that I actually have a Christmas Tree!! I'm sure our neighbors wondered about us as they watched us hack at this thing for about 45 minutes to get it to fit in the stand. As you can see, Grace (the dog) is slightly bored, as the amusement wore off after 20 minutes or so! In the end, we were successful and the tree now stands adorned with lights in the living room. Slightly traumatized, but standing nonetheless.

2009-11-29T00:48:00.002-05:00

Shows I like:

Project Runway
Supernanny
Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Desperate Housewives
The Office

2009-11-29T00:45:00.002-05:00

My friend says that I'm a communist because I like cottage cheese. Weird. But I also like cabbage. Does that make me socialist? What if I like powdered sugar? Is that fascist? I'm so confused.

2009-08-19T20:57:00.002-05:00

Yes, I own a Harley. Hard to believe, I know. I weigh as much as the front tire, and I have to hold on extra hard when I go faster than 45 mph, cause I feel like I'm going to get blown off. But I have a leather jacket and a belt buckle with a skull on it. Now I can wear my Harley shirts and nobody can call me a poser!! Don't worry mom and dad, I will ride safe.

2009-06-25T11:16:00.002-05:00

If I could make one plea to "them" (whoever "they" are...you know, the ones who decide which spots are handicapped parking and decreed that shoes and a shirt are essential equipment when buying a snickers bar), it would be this:

PLEASE OUTLAW THE AUTOMATIC SELF-FLUSHING TOILET.

The automatic toilet provides neither extra comfort nor ease for the user. To illustrate this point, let me describe for you in detail my experience in the women's restroom in the C concourse at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Before you read further, be warned that even reading this from the comfort of your own home may cause you frustration and anxiety, and even a tenth of which the actual experience caused could drive a person to lash out uncontrollably toward public restroom fixtures everywhere.

The feeling is all too familiar...leg starts shaking, a little pressure in the lower stomach, trouble concentrating, then within ten minutes or so comes an absolute inability to think of anything else except finding a restroom. An airport is actually a fairly convenient place to experience these sensations, since restrooms are located at convenient intervals throughout each terminal. Although at times painful, the last leg of that walk toward the restroom once one is found is usually euphoric, in my opinion due to the anticipationof the feeling of relief that one is sure to attain in the immediate future.

There is no more welcomed sight to a person in the throes of bladder control than a row of bathroom stalls, all doors ajar. The austere, impersonal design of a public restroom has no effect whatsoever on the mood of the user, overcome with anticipation and hell-bent on unleashing the fury of Niagra Falls into Chicago's public waterways (add "number two" to this equation and the story gets a LOT more interesting, but in the interest of keeping this story rated PG, let's stick with "number one").

At roughly 1053 on June 25th, 2009 I found myself in this precise situation.

I duck quickly into one of the stalls. Third one from the wall since I like odd numbers. A quick glance at the toilet paper dispenser to confirm that my project will not be interrupted by the absence of a critical element. Check. As I begin to unzip my jumpsuit (yes, I am in my flight suit uniform since I am traveling on official orders for the Army), I bend slightly at the waist to inspect the toilet seat for any droplets of liquid. In a public restroom, it doesn't have to be yellow to be NOT ok, so all fluids must be eliminated from the seat surface before operations can commence. A tiny drop is visible. I grab a piece of TP and VERY carefully wipe the droplet away without touching any part of the seat and drop it in the bowl. I take off the top of my flight suit, careful not to let the sleeves fall below my waist and touch the floor. I tie them in a little knot and sort of tuck them down one leg of my suit, holding my knees apart a bit to keep the whole suit, now around my thighs, from dropping to my ankles and touching the floor. I grab a toilet seat cover and gingerly place it on the seat, making sure every centimeter is covered and there will be NO skin-to-plastic contact. Then I see it. The red blinking light on the wall directly above the commode! Oh no!! The toilet thinks that I sat down and stood up already!! When I bent over to cover the seat, the sensor could not differentiate between my forehead and my butt!! In a split second the seat cover is gone...sucked into oblivion with the quickness of those little vacuum tubes the drive-through bank uses. Ok, no problem, my pants are around my knees, now there are more drops on the seat from the recent flush, and I'm back at square one, only now I'm 90 seconds closer to a crisis bladder level. I grab another seat cover, this time approaching the toilet from the side, averting the heartless eye in the wall, praying it doesn't blink red. AH, success! I sit down on the seat, enjoying the clean, comforting feeling of crinkly paper between my cheeks and the plastic that who knows how many backsides have caressed. Then the climax of relief rushes over me as my bladder safely empties itself. As the flow comes to an end, and the anxiety leaves with the slow trickle, I lean forward with a sigh of relief, completely satisfied. In this moment of peace, I forget about the eye. My state of near-enlightenment is shattered by a click...followed by a hiss, and with only a fraction of a second to spare, jump up just in time to dodge the splashing drops created by the voracious vortex of the self-flushing toilet. The yellow water turns clear, and in an amazing stroke of luck, the seat cover has emerged the incident unscathed, and in the post-storm calm still protects the ivory rim. I sit down again, and pick up where I left off. Toilet paper. The manufacturer of industrial-sized toilet paper rolls has an internal communications problem. The department that decides how thick the paper should be is NOT talking to the department that decides how much paper goes on one roll (which would determine the amount of strength needed to pull a length of paper off of a full roll in a dispenser). The reason I know this is because the tensile strength of industrial toilet paper is only so very slightly LESS than the amount of tension required to spin the roll while it is in the dispenser. This unfortunate miscalculation results in a handful of three to four-inch shreds, obtained in an awkward process peppered with expletives, since the paper dispenser is always placed roughly 6 inches too far away to reach comfortably from a sitting position. As I begin to wipe with my handful of confetti, I am once again forced to perform an emergency egress from the seat because once again, the eye, in all its infinite wisdom, was unaware of my struggle with the toilet paper dispenser (becuase I had to lean over to reach it), and thought simply that I had completed my task and was ready to have my contributions whisked away. I manage to finish wiping, but alas, not in time to get the toilet paper into the toilet in time to go out to sea with that flush. After I toss it in, I carefully redress, amazed that I was somehow able to keep all parts of my flight suit uncontaminated, despite the rain dance I just did in a 4-foot by 6-foot stall. As I zip up, I realize that the last little bit of paper is still in the toilet, which is no problem, because I can just wave my hand in front of the eye and it will flush right down. Wave. Wave again. WAVE HARDER. Are you kidding me? Nothing!! I reluctantly push the small black button and flush the toilet the old fashioned way, like God intended, by the strength of my own hand!

So in closing, I guess my point is this: in my opinion, the self-flushing toilet is quite possibly the greatest insult to modern human intelligence. This is the message that the creators of this pillar of cleanliness and convenience send to me: By putting toilets in public restrooms, we assume that you have the wherewithall to get yourself to a place where you can relieve yourself safely, but we do NOT think you can be relied on to flush the toilet on your own.

In the meantime, the toilet flushes about 4 times per person...that's a waste of water!

Next time: The anguish of automatic faucets...standing in front of a sink waving your soapy hands around like an idiot looking for the sweet spot so the sensor will turn the water on.

2009-06-24T22:20:00.001-05:00

This is me flying the smoke chain in Davenport, IA. Behind me taking aerial photos is Noah, our camera guy.

2009-06-24T22:18:00.001-05:00

Yet another place in the United States that I fell in love with. Lake Superior in the summer is absolutely beautiful...but I think in the winter it would not be as nice!

2009-05-20T14:00:00.001-05:00

If you want to see me at work, go to this youTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU2okG_IB98

That's me coming in to land with the POW flag then me narrating the whole show, so you can hear my cheesy announcer's voice!

Hope you like it.

2009-05-18T20:55:00.001-05:00

Actually, the emergency exits are always open in our plane! This is me getting out to fly in the POW flag and narrate the airshow at Andrews Air Force base...home of Air Force One!! Under canopy I could actually see the Air Force One hangar and all the snipers hanging out on top of it! All went well and for the record that is NOT fear on my face...it's concern.

Weather...

2009-03-26T15:09:00.001-05:00

We are scheduled to jump into the Tyndall Air Force Base Air Show. There is a tornado watch in effect. Hmmmmmmmm.

2009-03-11T11:27:00.005-05:00

12:05 pm Wednesday:
Awesome! RC airplanes! They look so fun and so fast! Let's go outside and fly 'em...I only spent two days fixing them up after all the wrecks I've had, let's go see what happens! Oh, wait, there's nobody else around so I'll just go by myself, I can launch em with one hand...

12:17 pm Wednesday:
Man, that did not take as long as I thought it would to destroy both airplanes. On takeoff the big one popped off one of the rubber bands that holds the wing on, which caught in the prop and brought her down. Then I forgot to pull the antenna out of the controller so the engine cut out and she crashed again. The final crash was a fence that got in the way and tore the tail off. No problem, I got the other one...problem is it was too windy and the little guy met the same fence head-on. It was then that I realized that I was standing in an anthill. Ow. Better luck next time.

2009-02-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

YEEAAAAHHHHH California!!!!!

2009-02-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

A rear view of the C-17 aircraft that we got to do fun jumps out of all day Sunday. This thing is HUGE. Over 100 jumpers can fit in it, plus several military vehicles inside. They can even put a tank in there!

Just gives a little more perspective of the sheer size of the thing!

It's amazing it can actually get off the ground, and it actually looks pretty graceful once it's in the air.

Oh the sun!! The green grass!! My job is so rough!!!

2009-02-20T21:04:00.002-05:00

I flew my RC airplane for about 30 seconds and was doing fine. Then I piled it in and the prop took a chunk out of the wing. I tweaked the wing back, put some pieces back together...good as new. Flying time was over, and as I put the plane back up on it's little storage spot on top of the TV, I misjudged the balance point and the whole thing just came crashing down and the tail broke off. OFF. Like it's not attached to the plane anymore!! So back to the drawing board.

If I Had Known...

2009-02-09T15:55:00.002-05:00

As a child, I was intrigued by the sky. My mom obsessed about the sea, my dad about the mountains...but for me it was the sky that held the mysteries of the universe that begged to be unlocked and understood. Always changing, no defined beginning or end, answers to no one and nothing, fickle, fierce, austere, serene, deadly, and beautiful. Why is it blue? Where does it end? Why is there wind? Why are the clouds red? Where does it meet the sea? What are the clouds made of? Who knew that the sky and wind would become such an integral part of my living and my leisure? There is no element to which I am more beholden and dependent, and which dictates whether I work or not. I always wondered what the world looked like from up there, what the air feels like 12,000 feet up. I never dreamed in a million years I would be falling out of the same sky I looked up at as a kid!!

2009-02-08T20:11:00.002-05:00

My activities for this weekend included:

- Laying out in the sun on the basketball court behind our barracks

- Painting my toenails

- Watching the History Channel

- Waiting for my mouth to stop hurting, taking vicodin in the meantime

- Buying a new pair of shoes

- Ironing my summer dress

- Playing the guitar

- Hanging out with Brandie having "girl talk"

I love my job!!

I love my life!!!

In Jose's Memory...

2009-02-04T18:34:00.003-05:00

On February 6th, 1994, two members of the Golden Knights Black Demonstration team (of which I am a member) were performing the Diamond Track maneuver over the desert of Yuma, Arizona. In their fervor to get a close cross, in a split second and a few feet too close, they collided at about 360 miles per hour about 3000 feet above the ground. Dana Bowman lost both his legs and Jose Aguillon lost his life. Jose fell the rest of the way to earth and came to rest near a tree on Yuma Proving Grounds, not far from the green baseball field we land on several times a day. This evening our team will take a walk to that tree, pay our respects, and have a drink and a toast in his memory. Life is fleeting. Drink it in, treasure it, live it, love it.

2009-01-29T19:17:00.001-05:00

While the snow, rain, sleet, and wind pummel the rest of the country, I am enjoying the beautiful blue skies of Yuma...

Sunny Arizona...

2009-01-26T18:58:00.002-05:00

Okay okay. I finally got the internet up and running in my room so now I can continue my NY resolution.

I am in Yuma, AZ training for the upcoming show season. My day consists of: get up, take a brisk walk or a run (in SHORTS AND T-SHIRT!!!), shower, walk 100 yards over a beautifully groomed, vibrant green baseball field that is our drop zone, set up the equipment, don gear, ride the bus 10 minutes to the airfield, get on our super-cool black and gold airplane, zoom around for a while, then bail out! Then fly my parachute around above the vast and endless expanse of desert, aiming for a tiny bright green patch of grass. Land safely, pack up, and do it all again!! And I get PAID. It's my JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are other things interspersed in there, such as practicing narration on the microphone, breaking and prepping smoke cans, and trying to wolf down a sandwich or snacks. The field is surrounded by 60-foot palm trees, and the sky is always blue. It's about 70 all day, dipping down to mid-40s at night. A breeze blows and rustles the palms, and all the old people gather up mid-morning to cheer us on and request endless autographs. All the old guys want to tell all their war stories from WWII and 'Nam, and they all love it that there's GIRLS doing it, can you believe GIRLS can be affected by gravity just like BOYS, and they are also able to use a parachute to thwart gravity, IT'S AMAZING!!! Freedom of the genders!! We can vote and wear pants too, YAY!!

A couple of the guys brought their road bikes too so I've been doing a bit of cycling here and there, and my roommate and teammate Brandie and I bought a cheap RC airplane and are trying to learn how to fly it. I crashed it in about 30 seconds...but at least I had the foresight to yell, "I'm gonna CRASH!!!" about 10 seconds before I dive-bombed a tree and busted the top of the battery cover off. Pretty resilient little thing though...she's ready to fly again once the winds die down. I can't wait to get good enough to chase the birds around the baseball field and scare them.

I should have some pics to post soon...problem is I lost my camera in the snow the other day in NC and I have to wait til I get a new one to take some pics. Typical.

2009-01-13T18:20:00.002-05:00

Ok, I think I am pushing it by waiting this long to post again...I'll try not to let it happen again. Life is good here in NC. It's cold, then warm, then cold again. The sunsets are amazing...dramatic, almost violent sometimes in the way the colors contrast. Deep blue behind flames of reddish-orange...with streaks of pink clouds whisping all the way from one end of the sky to the other. The most amazing thing is that it comes and goes so quickly. It would take man years to paint something even one-tenth as breathtaking, and nature flings it out in a matter of minutes, then takes it away just as quickly with nothing but a memory to describe it. Crazy. I love nature!!!

What Skydivers Do When They Are Bored.

2009-01-04T23:09:00.003-05:00

Today:

I learned how to fire a pistol and shot a baseball with it, then I shot up the baseball with a 22cal rifle, then learned how to spin donuts in the mud, then watched my friends fly a radio controlled airplane and successfully land it three times without the engine running, then learned how to set off a firecracker with wire and a battery. Then I practiced cutting hair and ate macaroni while watching a documentary about Rommel. It was all very, very safe with absolutely NO risk whatsoever to any persons involved. Actually, jumping from planes is probably safer...I'll stick to that. Now the workweek is starting so I will be distracted during the day. Rest easy, mom and dad!!

New Year's Un-Resolution

2009-01-01T23:44:00.002-05:00

OK. New Year's resolution. Some say they are for idealists, procrastinators, disorganized people, people with short attention spans, people who like to start things, people who like to think that by some miracle this...THIS will be the year that it will all change. Suddenly I will pay all my bills on time, I will not forget a birthday, I'll keep all my receipts, never overdraw my bank account, quit coffee, call my mom every day, call my mother-in-law every day, limit myself to one new pair of shoes a month, loose the belly pooch, get some little biceps, moisturize, and finally wax my armpits.

Sigh.
Sniff.
Sigh again.

Sadly, no.

I am apologizing in advance for all the birthdays I will not remember. Happy birthday everyone! There, that should do it. If you don't love me enough to read my blog, then it's ok if I forget your birthday anyway, so I'm covered.

I can't even keep track of my car keys...keeping receipts is out of the question.

Quit coffee...I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!!

Call my mom every day, well, I think that would drive her crazy...she has enough going on with Isaac's Boy Scout adventures, Bethany's Facebook addiction, Tammy's scripture memorizing, and Dad's mid-life surfing crisis.

Call my mother-in-law every day, well actually I should do that she would love it.

Kevin would love it if I limited myself to one pair of shoes a month!

The belly pooch is hereditary and is NEVER leaving...thanks mom! Me getting biceps is like Big Bird trying to tone his legs...just not in the cards.

I would have to get up two minutes earlier to moisturize and that is just not worth the pain. And in order to wax my armpits, that would mean I have to let the hair grow first and that's just gross.

Well, I actually am an idealist, I procrastinate a LOT, I am disorganized, I have a short attention span, I love to start things, and this year, like every other year, I like to think that by some miracle this...THIS will be the year that it will all change. But I know myself well enough by now to know that making all sorts of crazy resolutions is emotional suicide. Setting myself up for utter and complete failure...a crash and burn that happens the third week of January every single year when I kick my shoes off, throw caution to the wind, and go running down the beach flinging those pesky resolutions into the churning surf like skipping stones.

Well, maybe this year will be different. 31st time's the charm?

I'll try this: I'll keep it simple.

My one resolution this year will be: I will write in my blog. I'm not saying any more...like how often or what about or how many words per entry. That would be too many rules. Just this: I will document my whirlwind of an existence as best I can. This is a good start, so here goes!! Stay tuned!!

I am the T-shirt Master!!!!!

2008-09-06T15:39:00.002-05:00

I really am happy I promise! For real though, I'm having a blast and I'm going to get in great shape while learning how to fly a school bus into a 10-meter target while wearing a banana suit. YEAH!!!!!!! It's just the beginning, so I'll have more stories later...

Florida Nonsense and Shenanigans

2008-08-10T14:24:00.002-05:00

Naomi, Miriam and I. I guess I smell really bad cause they didn't want to get close to me.

Once again...growing up is not on my agenda at all. Good thing Gracie was bringing up the rear...

Yes. You CAN fit a 9-foot surfboard in a Honda mini-van...photographic proof right here.

Road trips with lots of kids are no problem as long as you sit in the front seat out of reach of flying snacks.

If the kid cries, you just cry back and scare her, then she'll stop. I'm going to be a GREAT mom.

I do NOT want to grow up!!

2008-08-10T14:21:00.003-05:00

...well there's no danger of that.

I am a Model of Productivity

2008-08-03T09:32:00.005-05:00

This is what my weekends are like: I fall asleep on the futon watching a movie. Then I wake up at roughly 2am to pee and then move up to the top bunk where my bed actually is. I just sleep on top of the covers with a throw blanket cause I don't want to have to make the bed in the morning. I wake up to the sound of a plane taking off about 100 meters away and the first thought in my mind is "...must. eat. pancakes." Then it takes me a couple hours to get dressed. I have to mentally prepare for the brightness that I will have to deal with outside. I have to find my sunglasses...oh crap, they're in the glove box of the Bug, so I have to go 10 feet without them. I purposely DON'T look in the mirror because then I'll be scared to go outside the house, so I just go on my merry way thinking that I look fine, but really my eyes are all puffy and my hair is crazy, and I haven't shaved my legs in a while, which really doesn't matter because if I don't wear my glasses I can't see that kind of detail from that distance. I just have to be careful not to look to closely! Then I mess around on the internet for a while, maybe write a blog about something super profound and life-changing, then I get the keys and go for pancakes.

2008-08-02T21:23:00.001-05:00

This picture needs no explanation. My face says it all...I'm SOOOO happy!!! I love Kevin!!! He is so funny!!! He is so handsome and smart and cool! I am so lucky!!!

2008-07-28T15:25:00.002-05:00

I am now totally comfortable with fueling up the VW...that is no longer a dramatic event.

The weather has been great here in NC the past couple of days. It's humid, of course, but it's sunny and warm, and it just reminds you of another time...like being in a time warp kind of. There was a wasp in the house today and woah!...talk about a dramatic event!! I had to cleverly open up the window without getting too close, then wait for him to figure out how to go outside...I didn't want to swat at him and make him mad...my house is VERY small and he would have no trouble chasing me down and stinging me to death. I just sat on the couch and watched his antics...it took him 30 minutes to figure out that the glass didn't cover the whole window. That was so annoying. That was the most exciting thing that happened to me all day besides polishing the VW hubcaps.

2008-07-25T14:09:00.002-05:00

Here she is! She finally arrived! I have decided that she is a girl car because guys hardly ever look this good at her age (no offense, dad!!). As you can see she fits in perfectly with the natural hippie atmosphere of my little abode.

In case you all ever wondered, the fuel tank is not easy to find. In fact, it may take a reasonably intelligent person up to 10 minutes to figure out where the heck you put the gas in. Well I'll save you all some time and let you know that it is under the front hood. That bit of trivia is borne of 10 painful, embarrassing minutes at the Shell station in shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops surrounded by rednecks in trucks four times the size of the bug. Then when I finally found it (after my VW-mechanic-turned-cop dad wouldn't answer his phone), it took ANOTHER 10 minutes to put 6.5 gallons of gas in the thing. See, it's not like those new-fangled cars that have the fancy little valve-cover-thingy that shield you from the fumes...oh no. This is just an oversized lawn mower gas tank. So I had to squint with one eye and let the gas trickle in to make sure I didn't overflow it, all the while hacking and gagging from the lovely aroma. Long story short, I filled her up with gas and it only cost me 25 bucks.

Well, that is about all my adventures from this part of the country. Just been riding my bike a lot and eating and playing outside. I am a big kid.

2008-07-21T20:59:00.003-05:00

My bum hurts. That is the first thing that comes to mind when I see this little number. She's the newest addition to Rachel's collection of toys that cause some level of discomfort and cause sweating. In the same group are an extensive collection of running shoes, some cute little purple and pink weights, and yoga materials (mat, blocks, and DVDs). But seriously, I have found a great new activity: road cycling!!! I bought the bike, and Kevin had a nice, gentle suggestion that I take it for a test ride before I attempt the 16-mile ride to work. PSHAW!! That's crazy talk! Of course, I rode it to work Friday. My legs were a little shaky all day and I was hungry as a horse pretty much the whole day. After the weekend off, I figured, gee if I can ride it one way, both ways should be a snap! The way in wasn't bad, cause it's 5am and it's cool out. The way back was BRUTAL. The sun was beating down, it's about as humid as the arcata pool times ten, it's 95 degrees but feels like 110, plus I took a slightly different route that wound up adding 4 miles to the ride. When I finally did limp up my front stairs I was so hungry I thought my stomach was eating itself so I made a snack...two types of crackers, cheese slices, cheese cubes, cream cheese, cut-up strawberries, some grapes, a yogurt, a piece of toast, some water, and five cookies. Then I went to sleep, duh!!! As I sit here, I feel like I was hit by a truck at some point today, and everything aches. Needless to say I'm driving in to work tomorrow...I guess I should start slow...yeah good idea. Geez, Kev!! Why didn't you say something earlier!

2008-07-06T15:04:00.005-05:00

My new car.

Well I don't really know where to start cause it's been a while...but I'm back from Iraq and SOOOO glad!! I'm home in NC, Kevin is here visiting, we're about to go to Jersey next week so I can meet his crazy family, and I'm getting used to the east coast humidity. My car got really sick while I was gone and is on its death-bed, so Kevin and I are still agonizing over the decision as to whether we should pull the plug and send her to greener pastures. In the meantime, she's been replaced...with my dream car! I bought a 1965 Volkswagon Beetle from a nice man in San Jose, CA. The car should arrive sometime later this month...in the meantime I am salivating over the photos and driving Kevin NUTS talking about how cute it is and how cute I will look in it and how nostalgic it is! I will be writing more now that I am home...there will be some journal entries from Iraq from time to time, and real-time news as well. Go ahead...DROOL over the pictures!!

2008-04-22T09:07:00.003-05:00

The pain associated with the items in this picture cannot be overstated.
I ran a marathon. It was not easy. It was right up there with the 24 hour epic ascent of Half Dome. It brought memories of insane 16 mile days with a 50 pound backpack in the High Sierras, wondering if your body is capable of one more step. But, we are Medleys: that ability to force one more step, one more mile, one more hill...it's in our blood!!!

2008-04-21T23:14:00.004-05:00

Classic Medley pose...this one goes out to Jared. You're the man, Bro!!

Every Thursday some of the ER docs give a class to local Iraqi physicians. They are VERY intrigued by women medics...they get a kick out of having a picture with us every week. It's very entertaining!!

This picture is a little old, but I decided to put it in anyway...it's on the way back to Tallil after leave. This is the Japanese C-130 that took us from Kuwait to Tallil.

This is my best effort to look mysterious, sultry, smart, and functional. What this pic does not show is the towel that I tripped over about a half second later!

This guy had bursitis in his elbow and I'm about to drain it. He is scared!!

I am getting mad skills while in Iraq. They will come in handy someday, I just KNOW it...

2008-04-02T10:20:00.002-05:00

It's been so long!!! Things are heating up over here, as anyone can see on the news. It makes for some very interesting training in the ER, what with everyone trying to kill each other and all. The weather is heating up to boot, and the dust never stops. Time is flying though. What's funny to me is that this is right up there with the longest time I've every spent in one place without moving away...almost a year!!! It's scarily beginning to feel like home. I'm sure I'll miss it for a whole minute and a half as our plane flies out of here for good. My mind is somewhat blank right now so there's not really much else to say. The fact that I just worked out and ran five miles probably doesn't help my mental quickness!!!!!

2008-02-11T11:23:00.000-05:00

Well, the return journey has begun. After several hours of late-night, last-minute catching up conversations and only three hours of sleep, Isaac and Dad took me to the airport at 5 this morning. On the way, we reminisced about how much the town and times have changed since I was in high school here...more buildings, parking lots, wider roads. Isaac was pretty quiet in the back seat...I think he was tired! They dropped me off in plenty of time, we said our goodbyes, and I headed to the plane. After sitting on the plane about 30 minutes, the intercom said that there was a mechanical problem and we would be deplaning. They kindly advised us to see a ticket agent to reschedule. Duh. So here I am, still in Eureka in a blanket of fog, waiting to see if I'll make this flight so I can connect in San Fransisco to make it to Dallas...otherwise I may find myself spending another peaceful and refreshing night on the west coast. Not that I'm bummed about that...I'm fine with taking a bath, watching a little TV, talking on the phone to Kevin, and getting some restful sleep before the half-way-around-the-world marathon! I just keep telling myself, "I love to travel, I love to travel, I love to travel."

2008-02-08T23:06:00.001-05:00

This photo is a testament of my brother's ability with a camera...not bad if I say so myself. This was taken at my Grandma's house last night at dinner. This picture also illustrates how happy I am to be on leave!!

2008-02-05T01:01:00.001-05:00

Here's some pictures that we took at home tonight for my sister's class. It wasn't too bad putting on the old uniform...I just changed as QUICKLY as I could afterward! Thanks to Bethany and Isaac for holding the flag.

I have reached superhero status. I have super powers. I can point at stuff.

Mom and Dad and I.

Not quite professional quality...but working on it!

2008-02-02T18:03:00.001-05:00

Okay, ignore the fact that I am wearing camo (it's ok...it's Volcom). These roses were delivered today, February 2nd for our anniversary. One whole year of marriage already! They say the first year is the most difficult...and we made it without one single argument. We are destined to be happy together forever...we just have to get together first!!

2008-02-02T17:57:00.001-05:00

There was a big storm going on when I arrived in Eureka, so my mom and I went up to the beach to check out the aftermath. The waves were still pretty big and had washed up a lot of driftwood.

2008-02-01T07:27:00.000-05:00

I look forward with childlike longing and wonder to a time in my life when I go a long stretch with no "goodbye" or "see you soon" or "I'll miss you" or "I'll be back soon" or "I don't want to go".

It just seems like all the things in my life that I love and treasure are only given to me in small doses...kind of like methadone is given to recovering heroin addicts: it's just enough to make you remember that you still want it more than anything! (Not that I put my family and loved ones in the same category as heroin, but you know what I mean.)

I hope that I don't get so used to leaving that I don't cry anymore when I have to go, or that I stop getting that little sting in my eye and ache in my chest that makes its way up my throat and makes me purse my lips. I hope that I NEVER get used to saying goodbye, so that when I don't have to say it anymore, I will cherish its absence every day until I have to say it again.

Maybe this is my Creator's way of grinding into this unbelievably thick skull of mine that I am incredibly lucky to be related to my relatives. I am a fern among giant redwoods...an ant among elephants...a single-celled organism among more complicated, multi-celled ones!! Ok, that's going a little far, but seriously, I think I am paying back all the teenage Karma that I so mercilessly flung at my parents during the 17th year of my life (I add a disclaimer of two years on either side of the year mentioned for any and all isolated incidents leading up to and following that memorable year.)

So, the end of all this rambling is that, yet again, I have said goodbye to my family. I'm so bad at it. I just hope that this familiar feeling becomes unfamiliar later in life. I don't think I can bear to see Mo Haddon get misty-eyed very many more times before I just say, "Screw it..I'm going home and I'm staying there!"

Well, I'm on the home-stretch now, the countdown, the last round, the light at the end of the tunnel is in view, the day is dawning, and all other cliches that relate to that concept. I will be back home soon!!

2008-02-01T00:41:00.001-05:00

YEEEEAAAAHHHH! I still got it! I went to visit a violin maker in Welchs, Oregon today and played some really fantastic violins. This is me playing a prelude on my favorite violin with my friend Sandra as accompanist. I felt like a bit of a dwarf, though, with the violin maker and his wife as an audience and a concert pianist at the piano! Thanks mom, for the hours of practice you forced me to do. It pays off.

2008-01-31T11:48:00.001-05:00

I have succeeded!! I have shed the gun-toting, road-blazing, red-eyed killer and taken on a more fitting persona...feminine, cultured, and calm. I recycle, I drink Starbucks, I'm a lover of animals (obviously), I wear jewelry made from rocks, and I don't eat fast food. If all that happened in only two weeks of leave, I'd be Jackie O if they'd let me stay home for a month!!!

2008-01-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd had long, drawn-out travel experiences, but after this little jaunt I've had getting from Iraq to Eureka, all those previous trips are child's play. It all started on Jan 16th, when I left Tallil, Iraq at 2200. One hour flight on a C-17...smooth sailing. Got to Kuwait. One hour briefing ended at midnight, had to come back at 0130. slept about 30 minutes, ate, then came back for another brief and to get my itinerary. Be back at 0730 for the final brief and outprocessing. get a couple hours of sleep, then go back at 0730. short brief, then come back at 1245 for customs brief and inspection, the flight is supposed to leave at midnight that night. 1245 is cancelled, now be back at 1800. So at 1800 they tell us it's pushed back again, so come back at 2145. I come back at 2145 and we start the briefs. All 350 of us have every single bag dumped out and inspected THOROUGHLY by Navy customs, finall finish at 4am. now we are on lockdown in the customs yard with tents and a coffee shop. they tell us the push time to take buses to the airport is 1300. great. i doze off intermittently on a couch in one of the tents while a bunch of guys watch Top Gun about four times. 1300 comes and they say the plane is broken, we're not leaving till 1800. so they let us out of lockdown to go eat chow. we come back and I doze off again, this time to the soothing sounds of Black Hawk Down. FINALLY at 1800 we form up and count off to get on the buses. Somewhere there is an extra person so we spend 2 hours trying to figure it out with endless roll calls and counts. Finally we find some civilian that was trying to sneak on the flight and we run him off. Now we drive 2 hours to the Kuwait City International Airport. It takes about 30 minutes to load the plane, and we embark on the 6 hour flight to Germany. We land there and get off for about 45 minutes while the plane refuels. Now we're off on a 10 hour flight to Atlanta. Finally get to Atlanta and half the people get off there to go to their destinations and we clear customs and recheck our bags and set off to Dallas. Two hour flight to Dallas and we get off the plane and wait about 1 hour in line to get our leave forms processed. Then I grab my bags, run to the ticket counter to catch my flight to San Francisco. At the counter they tell me that the flight that I'm supposed to connect to from SFO to Eureka is oversold and it's the last flight out that day. I think to myself, well, maybe I can rush off the plane, grab my checked bags, rush back to the ticket counter and beg to be put on standby for that flight. problem is there's only a 45 minute window in which to do all that. So I take the 4 hour flight to Frisco, rush to the ticket counter, only to be rudely and incompassionately shut down by the lady at the counter. so the next flight is at 730 the next morning. I find the USO, and the guy there helps me find a hotel. Meanwhile I have been lugging my bags all over SFO and am ready to set fire to them on the mezzanine I am so sick of carrying them!!! So the hotel says we'll send a cab for you at no charge. I go outside and can't see their cab, so I take any old cab, assuming that it will be free of charge. As the meter approaches 15 bucks, I don't worry about the fact that I have no cash, since the hotel is going to pay for it. I get to the hotel and the cabbie comes inside with me to get paid. The lady at the counter informs me that it's only one cab company that they have a contract with and that I will have to pay for the cab, which the fare is now close to 20 bucks. No problem, I say, I'm so tired and want a bath so bad I'll pay 100 bucks for a cab if I have to. I pull out my bank card and the cabbie kindly informs me that he does not take cards. So I leave my bags there at the hotel and the cabbie gives me a ride down the street to find an ATM. In a stroke of luck that has somehow evaded me the ENTIRE trip, it's a Bank of America ATM at which I won't have to pay a fee. I take out 100 bucks and the guy takes me back to the hotel. I tip him, cause he was pretty nice. I get my room and throw down my bags with all the frustration of miles of walking carrying them through 20 airports across the globe. I wash my uniform in the bathtub, then clean the bathtub and take a hot bath while I watch something mindless on TV. Never had a bath that nice in my LIFE. I sleep like a little baby all night, and get up at 5am to do my hair, iron my uniform, and pack. I get the cab (complimentary this time!) to the airport early and check in. I make my way to the gate and have a seat. Some tunes seem like just the thing to relax and wait for the flight. I put in the headphones and jam out. Meanwhile, unbenownst to me, they are calling my name repeatedly on the intercom because my flight is about to leave without me. All the while I am jamming out to ACDC and lose complete track of time. about 10 minutes after my flight left, I suddenly have the wits to check my watch and realize with horror that I've missed the flight. I go over to the counter and the lady is like OH!! You're Haddon! we were looking everywhere for you! So I go to customer service and get on the next flight to Eureka, an hour later. So now I am sitting at the gate waiting for the flight, this time WITHOUT the headphones in. Now I can say that home never sounded so good!!! Lessons learned: Pack as light as possible when coming home from Iraq on leave. Don't put headphones in while waiting for your flight unless you ask someone next to you to let you know when the flight is leaving. Bring at least one extra uniform in case it takes you more than three days to get home and the one you are wearing can stand up and walk on its own. The flight is boarding...gotta go!!! :)

2008-01-11T11:54:00.001-05:00

Wow!! Bad me, again. Here I am, two months after my last post. I'm ashamed, I have to admit. Well, the war has gotten neither better nor worse...in fact I see very little of the war at all, if you want to call it that. I am coming home on leave in FIVE days so even if there was a war raging all around me I would still just be looking at my watch counting down the days!!! Well, if all goes as planned I will see a whole lot of people who I love very much and will spend 18 days being happy.

Top 10 things to do at home:

1. Eat mom's homemade bread with grandma's jam
2. NOT wear my uniform at ALL
3. Go to church with the fam
4. Eat Kevin's dad's homemade Thai food
5. Ride in my Volvo, preferably with me driving
6. Play my violin (probably very badly)
7. Play the piano (also, probably very badly)
8. Swim and the Arcata pool
9. Go to Los Bagels
10. Wear my hair down

There are so many more to list it's ridiculous...I could go on forever!!! I'm really looking forward to coming home. The countdown begins!!!

2007-11-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

There is an advantage to being puny. If you're even slightly stronger or faster than other puny people your same size, people get scared cause they think you're a ninja or know judo or something. I like to fly under the radar and act meek, then whip the PANTS off my friends at thumb wrestling. It is SO exhilarating!!! Or bust out a crossword puzzle and watch grown men cry. Hee hee.

2007-11-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

What an odd juxtaposition my life is right now. I walk around with a semi-automatic assault rifle slung across my shoulder and a backpack with textbooks and poetry books on my back. Wierd. So much for the pen is mightier than the sword. At least I haven't had to use it...I mean not for anything more than just to define my cleavage...as if the Army uniform is not flattering enough, they give you a strap right down the center of your chest. Move along. Nothing to see here. What's the matter...never seen a skinny girl in glasses carrying a rifle?

2007-10-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

I am so lucky. I have the best husband I could have ever found. I feel like an old, crusty miner that has been wandering them thar hills...round and round, crossing the same stream, having given up finding gold long ago. Just ambling along...stopping to admire the bushes, trying to find something to eat, and deciding that there's really no such thing as gold...it's just something one of the other guys made up to see how many old crusty guys they could get to run for the hills looking for it. Then on like the billionth day of wandering around, I trip over this huge, hulking boulder in the middle of the trail where there was no boulder before, and I look down and turns out I've stubbed my toe on a gold nugget the size of a volkswagon bug!!!! I'm rich!!! I'm set for the rest of my life! Happiness is mine!!!

Seriously...what are the chances of that happening. Not huge. Not even little. Just a little insight on how incredibly, unbelievably, perfectly, happily, fortunately, and utterly ecstatically lucky I am.

Ok, time to go to bed and dream about my gold nugget!

2007-10-26T12:25:00.001-05:00

From a time when men were men, and war was war:

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made so and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

The war going on between good and evil in the souls of men is, to me, the most desperate conflict that exists today. The decayed and degraded state of moral feeling, and the selfish and unfeeling disregard that man has for his fellow man is what will destroy our race...not physically, for the earth continues to be populated at an alarming rate...but spiritually. As compassion, tolerance, understanding, selflessness, and a love of peace are wrenched from the hearts of men by generations of war and killing, man becomes less like the God who created him and more like the devil who seeks to destroy him. This fight for good amongst evil that rages in a sea of angry, hopeless youths can only be won by clinging to the threads of humanity that are still left. Although at times it is easy to assume that God has left this land; this place where men fight to the death in His name kill their neighbor whilst calling on His name, no person with a soul left in him could deny that he has not. For all the suffering and grief these people have endured for generations, they are still here. There is no way Satan would fight so hard to keep a hold on their hearts if they did not have some vital part in the big plan. They fight a desperate battle, but the fact that they are still fighting makes me think that there is a reason they are still here.

2007-10-23T13:46:00.000-05:00

Rrrrrrrrr. I hate it that my blog has taken a back burner, but alas, it has. I am so busy that I have to schedule trips to pee. I'm learning time management...the problem is that no matter how well you manage it, there's never any more of it than when you started...it's just crammed more full of stuff, which makes it seem like you actually have less of it. See, people who are organized enough to actually manage their time are the same type that can't stand to not be busy, so all the time they're freeing up with their wonderful time management skills is filled up with amazing efficiency. Oh, the vicious circle of workaholism.

I can say this about my experiences this past week:

I will never, ever, ever, no matter how wrapped up I get in my life, how overwhelming my problems seem or how pathetic or dire my situation seems at the time, ever complain again. If I do slip up, which I will, it will never be without thinking of what I experienced this last Sunday. I spent the entire day (4am to 7pm) treating everyone, or what seemed like everyone, within a 50 mile radius of a tiny village school in rural Iraq. I witnessed more grief, suffering, sadness, hopelessness, poverty, filth, desperation, and pain than I have ever seen in my nearly 30 years. It made South Africa and Mozambique seem like merely a hazy, muddled dream of such things. Sunday hit me like a ton of wet bricks from a three story building: fast and hard. I can imagine that a person who was hit by a ton of wet bricks from three stories would likely never forget such an experience...as I will never forget those 10 hours in the midst of dusty, sweaty burqas and crying children, bare feet, flies, and sheep. What plan God has for these people and this land are beyond me...how he could allow such suffering and not just swoop down and stop it is beyond my simple mortal reasoning. I can only trust that there is something in store for them or some plan for them. No child should be robbed of the chance to run, play, laugh, and grow by an angry, misdirected bullet that found it's way through her tiny shoulderblade and shattered her fragile spine. No babe should learn so early the pain of hunger and the ravages of malnutrition. No mother should have to hold in her arms her blind child who's sight could have been saved by just a few simple vitamins during the first months of pregnancy...the same vitamins that collect dust on supermarket shelves all across America. Yes, this is the only life they know. Fear, hunger, anger, despair, hate. And the children...that is the hardest thing to see is the children. They suffer so for the greed of men! Poor babies. Robbed of their innocence, their childhood, the joy of a life free of cares. It's very hard to see good here, in the midst of all the grief, but there must be some somewhere, but the war hides it so well. I hope I find at least a bit of it before I leave this place, or it may haunt me forever.

2007-10-13T06:17:00.000-05:00

Bad Rachel!!!!!

Ok, yeah, I've been mad busy so I haven't posted in a while. School is really kicking my butt right now! Takin' it day by day, looking at the positive side of things, and trying to roll with the punches.

Later!

2007-10-04T01:15:00.000-05:00

Nnnnnnkay. Slacking a little. I was so traumatized by my recent close call with death by juice that I had to take a couple of days off from blogging. So I'm going to do my monthly "this is what I did last month" recap.

1. I went to the NCO (Noncomissioned Officer) of the Quarter Board and won. Jury is still out on whether that was because I'm good or the other guys were bad.

2. I cleaned my room so I could take a picture of it for my blog.

3. I finally got to talk to Kevin with a webacam!!!!!! It was really great to see his face after all these months.

4. I got new running shoes.

5. I went from being a student in the spin class to being the teacher...now I get a much better workout because everyone can see me and I can't slack.

6. As a result of #5, I now have a little bump on my calf that I am hoping is the little sprout of an actual calf muscle...a rare phenomemon among the Medley family (my brother used to say, "Hey Rach, Big Bird called...he says he wants his legs back.").

7. I'm off coffee completely, and only drink an average of two sugar-free Red Bulls a week. By the end of October I should be off caffeine for good!

8. Treated a real gunshot wound, and learned how to suture. Thank goodness there's no malpractice suits in the military...so we get to do all sorts of stuff that we couldn't even think about touching as a civilian. It's great!

Wow, I didn't even get to 10...I'll try to have a more interesting month in October.

2007-09-29T03:05:00.000-05:00

This snapshot serves as a glimpse into the risks I take on an everyday basis in a war zone. First, as you can see, the danger of being photographed in an extremely unflattering position looms constantly. The arid desert air has a way of warping camera lenses so as to make a person's slim midsection appear swollen and pudgy. Things printed with a camoflauge pattern jump out at you at every turn, sneaking up behind you when you least expect it. But besides all this, it is perhaps the boxed juices that strike the greatest fear in the hearts of noble fighting men...that little drop of juice that projects itself with deadly precision into the eye of the parched prospective partaker. As you can see from the photo above, I barely escaped alive, having looked death in the face. Heaven only knows what adventures await in the coming months...wish me luck!!!!!

2007-09-28T00:03:00.000-05:00

Sort of an odd juxtaposition, but at the same time, a poignant reminder that human needs and joys are universal...regardless of color, creed, or religion. We all need to love and be loved, to nurture, to give, and to receive. If only the innocence of this moment could somehow permeate every soul in this cruel world. If all the prejudice, anger, and resentment would melt away and the eyes of the human race could suddenly see througha filterless lens...clear, crisp, and free of judgement and hate. But there is good on this earth...and the only way to conquer evil is with good.

2007-09-26T01:13:00.000-05:00

I saw my first actual real-life gunshot wound yesterday! I stopped by the ER to say hi and the place was happenin'! All the beds were full...one head laceration that needed stitches, one uncontrolled high blood pressure, one possible heart attack, and an Iraqi man with a gunshot wound to the buttocks. The bullet entered from the left side, just behind his hip, went through the left cheek, just missed the important opening...ahem...and reentered the right cheek, lodging in about the middle of the muscle. It was a 5.56mm round (that means it came from us), which is designed to tumble and bounce off all the bones upon entry, but by some miracle it broke nothing! There was a decent amount of muscle damage, but we pumped him full of antibiotics and sewed up the holes. It was very interesting, especially to see firsthand the stuff they talk about in the textbook...the entry wound was small, and the edges were cauterized from the heat of the bullet, the exit wounds were bigger and the edges were more serated, making them harder to stitch up. I mean, I felt bad for the guy...no one likes to get shot in the bum...but he was really lucky that it didn't break his pelvis, hip, or femur. Well, that's one for the books!

Rach

2007-09-25T13:16:00.000-05:00

Best recipe ever for people who don't have kitchens:

In a rice cooker, put one cup of organic long grain brown rice. Pour in two cups of water. Put two little table packets of salt (about 1/2 tsp). Put in one little butter packet (about 1/2 tsp). Throw in about 2 Tbsp of salted peanuts and 1 Tbsp salted cashews. Press the "cook" button and goof off for 50 minutes. You can play on the internet, take a shower, read a running magazine, or pluck your eyebrows. Then eat the rest of the bag of cashews because the rice is taking so long that you're ready to eat the rice cooker you're so hungry. When the button pops up, don't "wait 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork"...that's for people who snack alot and have time for that stuff. Put a handful of dried cranberries in it and lightly mix the rice around, put a little salt on it, and eat it ALL. It is SOOOOO good!! Of course, this recipe is for use only in the dire situation where Mom's unmatched cooking is available. This is a last resort!!!

2007-09-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

This is my room! My bed is up on posts...they are old commo poles for setting up antennas...but they didn't need them, or at least they didn't need them badly enough to come looking for them when they went missing. Don't know anything about that. The pics are stuff I brought from home, stuff the Haddons and Medleys sent me, stuff Kev sent me, and stuff I cut out of magazines. I built the desk out of wood from the motorpool and the desktop is the top of of a wooden humvee parts carton. It's great for studying and using the internet, and scrapbooking. The little chest of drawers came from one of the trash bins around base...I rescued it of course. The room is in a rare state of total organization, so I thought I should take a pic!!

2007-09-23T08:47:00.000-05:00

Well, here's a picture of our door. There are all sorts of inspirational sayings to make us want to work out, and be better runners. At the bottom is a chart where we keep track of all our workouts. It's the same material as a dry-erase board, so we can write on it with water markers and erase it with baby wipes.

2007-09-23T01:04:00.000-05:00

I enjoy the finer things in life...and there's nothing finer than an intense game of Scrabble in the solitude of a portable living unit in the middle of the desert with an official Scrabble Player's Dictionary and Shostakovich's 8th Symphony. Ahh, the thrill! I don't know what's more disturbing...the fact that I am actually able to play against myself or the fact that I really enjoy it!!! Well, it's better than drinking alone, and as far as I know there's no "Scrabble-olics Anonymos" so I think I'm safe.

2007-09-04T04:02:00.000-05:00

Wow! It's been a month already since the last time I posted...I really wish I was better about that. Anyway, periodic postings are better than none at all...right? The month in review:

1. I ran 10 kilometers in 52 minutes on August 4th.

2. My online algebra class started on August 1st and my online psychology and nutrition classes started on the 27th.

3. I worked on my scrapbook. I completed two pages: one of all the naked baby pictures of me and one with my old Brownie picture.

4. I started riding the stationary bicycle 45 minutes 6 days a week. I've never seen such noticeable improvement in my cardio fitness as I have in the past three weeks. It feels awesome!

5. I learned how to stitch a wound. I gave a British guy 5 stitches in the ER. He cut his forearm picking up pieces of a windshield after a vehicle rollover outside the base.

6. I watched Cinema Paradiso...it made me cry. I LOVE that movie!

7. I went to the Non-Commisioned Officer of the Quarter board and won. By the way, I'm not good at singing the 82nd Airborne Division Song.

Well, now that I try to recap this month, I am realizing that my life is pretty boring right now. Safe, but boring. I don't mind it so much, but I wish I could see my husband!!

The month ahead promises to be just as exciting: cycling, running, sweating, living in a box, walking what seems like miles in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Ahhh, this is the life!

More to come as events unfold.....

Rach

2007-07-30T05:45:00.000-05:00

30 July 2007:

They say August is the hottest month here...and that's no lie. It reached 135 yesterday, and it's been between 120 and 127 every day the past week. HOT!!

It's so crazy how when your environment changes, all of a sudden things that seemed simple and insignificant become like the "holy graille", like you'd do ANYTHING to get them. For instance, I would not hesitate for one second to jump off a 20 foot platform into brisk water, despite my incredible fear of jumping off tall stuff into water, just to feel the shock and rush of being enveloped by crystal clear, cool water...covering every square inch of me. I would welcome heartily the stinging force of water up my nose and all in my sinuses, I would revel in the coughing, gagging fit that would ensue. I would enjoy fully the gasping spasm that comes from jumping into frigid norcal river water. It's weird how things that used to scare you become the stuff of sweet daydreams! Things that meant little more than a task become unattainable luxuries...like baths, toast, real cars, kitchens, milkshakes...or just milk for that matter, sushi, fresh fruits and veggies, gardens...or just flowers in a vase, berries off the vine, hikes, trees, things that crawl but don't sting or bite, shivering, not sweating, cool breeze instead of hot blast, beach sand instead of desert dust, not squinting, getting a tan, wearing flipflops outside, sleeping in, bowling, not having a weapon hanging on the bedpost, I could go on, and on, and on, and on. I can't wait to go home!!

2007-07-30T05:43:00.000-05:00

29 July 2007:

Jess. Dude. I got a tv. It's only for watching DVDs...I REFUSE to hook up the cable. SGT Battles and Le were like, oh now you have to get an xbox and I was like get out of my room RIGHT NOW!!!!! It' the same tv as the one I have in my room, a little bigger. I got a dvd player and some speakers too. I am such a retard. I went to the px to get a tv and some speakers. I don't know what the hell i'm looking at so I get the only lcd tv they had, and the dvd player and spekers that were right there next to it. Dropped about 800 bucks altogether, but I was like, well I guess that's how much stuff like that costs, and I know we'll take good care of it and I can just sell it when we leave. SoI got them, and I thought wow, the box of speakers seem kinda big. So I bring it back and Sgt Battles comes out to the vehicle to help me carry it and he's like laughing so hard and I'm like what! what's so funny! and he's like, dude, you bought a surround sound system! I guess what I thought was just a dvd player and two speakers ended up being some home theater surround sound bullcrap. It took me three hours to set it up. I put two speakers up in the corners and a couple on top of the ac. I put the fridge between my locker and my bed, and the field desk where the fridge used to be and the tv and dvd player on top of that. I made a cover for the tv out of an old pillowcase to keep the dust off. Our room actually looks bigger now, cause I put my plastic drawers in my locker. I put the trunk for our IBAs under my bed next to the fridge. The dvd player has a hookup for an mp3 plyer so you can listen to music without the tv on. It's awesome. I never would have bought it f I knew what it was, but after I set it up I was like this is awesome! I actually like it better for the music than anything else. Anyways, that's what you get for leaving me...I buy stuff that we don't need!

2007-07-30T05:40:00.000-05:00

29 July 2007:

We've had a few incidences, all from IEDs, concussions, shrapnel, and one amputated hand, but nothing life-threatening so far. I've gone out on three missions, all disabled vehicle recovery missions. They were all at night, lasted about 8-12 hours, and were all within 50 kilometers of the base. Nothing happened, just a few vehicles got too close to our convoy and we shot flares at them and they backed off. I did get scared once though. It was about 3 in the morning on the way back and I was in the lead vehicle with 3 other people...driver, truck commander, and gunner. We weren't seeing much, just lots of foxes and crickets. No hostile action or anyting. Well we had to pass by these big pillars where at one point they were going to build an overpass but abandoned it. It's a prime place to place an IED. About 300 meters out we saw a vehicle coming toward us. It stopped at the pillars for about 30 seconds, then when we got about 150 meters away, they flipped a u-turn and sped out across the desert on a dirt road hauling ass. We could see them through the night vision, but we were too far away to make out what they were doing. We slowed up when we got close to the pillars. Our truck commander said that they could have dropped or emplaced something there before they sped away. Man, I've never been that tense! As we were creeping along between the pillars, all the spotlights blaring...it seemed like everything was a bomb!! Dirt clods, tire shreds, pieces of trash. It was crazy. it seemed like it took an hour to pass those 10 meters through the pillars. There was nothing there. I swear it took a year off my life, my heart pounding like that!! I was just filling in for someone, so I'm back at my desk full time now. Good thing...I dont' know how much adrenaline I can handle!!

2007-07-30T05:24:00.000-05:00

Just now getting around to posting, so I'm doing some retroactive stuff. This one's from 18 July 2007:

Jess is my roommate. I'm really lucky to have such a friend as she, I think I would go crazy if she wasn't here. She goes out on convoys for about 4 days at a time, then she's home for two days, then goes back out. I miss her when she's gone, but it actually is the perfect balance, because I still get my alone time to relax and be by myself in my own space, and then when she's here it's like a slumber party!!

I built our desk!! It's HUGE. It fills up the whole length between our beds, about an inch taller than the old one, and about 6 inches or so deeper. I put the bookshelf that was on the floor up on the desk between my bed and the window, and plugged the power converter in next to her bed and put a power strip from that to the middle of the desk, so we each have a couple outlets for our computer, etc. The speakers are plugged into the outlet on my side of the window, with a small speaker on each side of the desk. All the dictionaries and grammar books are on the top shelf, all the novels and religious books on the bottom shelf, and all the texts and medical books are between the end of the shelf and the bedpost. I put the field desk right next to my locker, and the plastic drawers on top of that. I put all the medical stuff in two boxes on top of my locker, all personal hygiene and cleaning stuff is in the field desk. My nightstand is under the desk between our two chairs, and my scrapbook stuff is on top of it under the desk. I jacked a bench from the back of the legal office, it's where the old one was outside next to our steps it looks awesome.

2007-06-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

1 day down, 454 to go.

I can say that I've truly seen the desert. It is flat, dusty, desolate, very windy, and EXTREMELY hot. It's a dry heat but it's unlike anything I've ever felt. The wind doesn't help! Just imagine getting into a dry sauna, getting the temp up to 120f (it was actually a cool 114 today), then getting an industrial strength blow dryer and blasting it right in your face on the "extra hot" setting. Not pleasant but could be worse.

I am in Kuwait now. We left Bragg Monday night and flew to Maine, where a very zealous group of "Troop Greeters" enthusiastically met us as we deplaned. We hung out there for about an hour, then got back on the plane and took off for Ramstein, Germany...about a 7 hour flight. We deplaned there for fuel and a stretch, then took the last leg of our flight, which was 4 1/2 hours to Kuwait City Intl Airport. We got off the plane with all our weapons and everything and were hurried onto charter buses. We had to sit there with the lights off and the curtains down for a two hour ride across dirt roads escorted by gun trucks to Camp Buehring. Here we are just acclimating, doing medical classes, going to the range, the gym, and just prepping for Iraq. This place is seriously out in the middle of nowhere...like they just drove around the desert for a few days and then all of a sudden said this looks good, lets make a camp here. There's nothing really beautiful about this place...it's flat, hot, hazy, bright, and it smells bad. They feed us well, though, and I actually am able to find things to eat that don't contain meat.

We should be here for about two weeks. We are scheduled to fly to Iraq on the 21st of this month.

FAQs:
1. Where are you? Kuwait.
2. Is it hot there? YES.
2.5 What time is it there? It's west coast time plus 10 hours, so at your midnight it's 10 am here.
3. How long will you be there? about two weeks.
4. What types of things do you do? We eat, do classes, work at the aid station, go to the range, and sleep alot.
5. Is it dangerous? The only real danger here is the heat. Dehydration can kill in such a severe climate.
6. Are there scorpions and stuff? Yes, there are snakes, scorpions, and camel spiders, none of which I've seen yet, but they do exist here.
7. Do you carry weapons? Yes, everywhere we go. Isleep with it, eat with it, and bring it in the bathroom with me, and when I take a shower it hangs on the towel rack.
8. Do you have internet and phone? Yes. there are very good facilities here, in fact I am using my own laptop to type this email. It costs about 5 bucks an hour for the internet and I can use a phone card at the call center.
9. Will you have phone and internet in Iraq? I'm sure there will be some type of internet and phone access, but there's no way to tell yet. When I get there I'll know, and as soon as I can I'll write when I get there. In the interim here in Kuwait I should be able to write alot.
10. Do you have a mailing address? Not yet.
11. Will you have a mailing address in Iraq? Yes. It will be an APO address, which means you send it to an army post office and they collect it all up and fly it here to us.
12. What types of things can you get in the mail? Anything but porn, booze, and drugs. It's not too wise to send cash or very expensive things, since there are locals that handle the mail at times and thigs have been known to disappear.
13. What is your address is Iraq? I don't know yet, we have to get there first. They will tell us as soon as we get there.
14. How long will you be there? As of right now our tour is 15 months. Can't tell you any more than that...things change, so it could be less, it could be more.
15. Do you get to come home for leave? Yes, we get two weeks of mid-tour leave. It will be sometime between October 07 toAugust 08. I have no idea yet when mine will be.
16. Do you get to see your husband? No, he will be deployed in the Phillipines during my window for leave, so I won't see him till our tour is over.
17. Are you nervous? Ummm...yeah, a little!

They have Starbucks here, thank GOODNESS!!!!!

1 day down, 454 to go.

2007-04-04T18:47:00.000-05:00

I like being by myself. Maybe it was all those years of being crammed in a tiny house with the best friends a kid could ever ask for! I just value my quiet time alone so much. It's nice to just chill in the house with no noise from the tv, just with some music and a book, just make something to eat and chill out. I'll miss that so much in Iraq. I feel like an old lady!!!

2007-03-25T20:08:00.000-05:00

Just had a nostalgic moment...did you ever see two people who matched so well? I might be a bit partial...:-) I hope so much that we can relive this moment again in May when Kev comes to see me...can't wait!!!!

2007-03-25T20:03:00.000-05:00

Home Sweet Home!

I never thought a one-and-a-half room, tiny, cozy little cramped nook that I call home could feel like such a mansion!!! Oh the joy of having to pee and actually going without bringing a weapon and a hat and safety glasses to the porta-potty. Oh, and I'm wearing REAL CLOTHES!!! I just spent a month in Louisiana at beautiful (ahem, ha ha!!) Fort Polk doing a training exercise in preparation for our deployment to Iraq in June. It actually wasn't that bad. The only thing that truly sucked was missing Kevin, and I miss him really bad at home, too, so no change there. I ate tuna fish and crackers, lots of salad, and even choked down a few MREs when I had to. I lost a couple pounds, probably mostly due to the fact that there was no Starbucks with Mocha Frappucinos at our field site. It was actually a perfect opportunity to kick my coffee habit. From now on it'll just be a now and then thing. I did a lot of PT...ran alot and worked out on the stairs of the unused air traffic control tower that was next to the dirt landing strip on our base. I learned a lot about how stuff works on a deployment, although something tells me things will be a lot different over there.

I read three books: A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, and Medic! The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War by Ben Sherman. All of which I HIGHLY recommend, especially Five People and Medic!. They both really affected me, I shed tears while reading both. I read them each in one day...both easy reads, but definitely very hard to put down. I also read a great National Geographic article about Ivory Poaching that still goes on in Nigeria, and a chilling Rolling Stone article about the corruption and murder that happened in a private contracting company in Iraq. Pretty crazy both of them.

I also watched the movie "Blood Diamond" about the illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone in the 90s. Wow, hard to watch. Pretty decent film, but left nothing to the imagination when it came to depicting the brutal murder of thousands of civilians and refugees by child soldiers. Chilling.

Well the coming weeks will be extremely busy...pretty much packed until the day we leave. I have to pack my office and my personal stuff, go to Leadership school for two weeks, go home and visit family in three places for a couple weeks, come back to NC and see Kev for (I hope) a week at least, then it's off to the desert!! Looking forward to the challenge, but not looking forward to the stress headaches I know are coming!!!

2007-03-17T04:07:00.000-05:00

I finally got away from my desk!! Yes, I'm sorry to say that I have a desk job...but I am still a Medic at heart, so yesterday I went out on a convoy to go fill the water truck and drop off medical supplies at another base camp. It was so cool...all the things I've learned about convoys kicked in. I was in the lead vehicle operating the radio, and we had to look out for IEDs and ambushes and stuff. When we got to the other base camp, we dropped of the supplies and as we were staging to leave their gate, they took small arms fire and two people got shot (all pretend, of course, but they use blanks and stuff...it's pretty realistic) and I was the only medic around! So I jumped off the gun truck with my aid bag and went through the mud to where the first casualty was, treated him for an abdominal wound and then ran to the other one, gunshot wound to the buttocks (not funny!:-) treated him, then by that time the patrol had gone out and cleared the road for us. We stopped at the water point on the way back and had to guard the water truck with the gun trucks, which are Humvees with 50cal machine guns mounted on them. The fittings on the water truck weren't working, so the gunner from our truck had to go help them, so I had to put my rifle down and man the 50cal...it was a truly comical sight. That's a big gun, and I'm not so big, and it looked really funny. I wish I had a picture! Anyway, no one attacked us, and we made it back fine. It's really good training for Iraq, even though over there I'll probably never even leave the wire. I'm going out on a foot patrol as the medic today which should be pretty fun...hiking around in the mud with a bunch of guys, with a big aid bag on, looking for the place from where the enemy has been shooting mortars at us. It's almost over, only two more days of the exercise, then just pack up and go home!!! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed.

2007-03-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

For a sobering read, get on the internet on Google or Wikipedia and search "The Battle of Hurtgen Forest". It was by far the biggest loss of US lives in one single battle during WWII. About 33,000 soldiers died.

Also, look up the Battle of Stalingrad, read about it, then listen to Shostakovich's 8th symphony...which Stalin requested Shostakovich write as a "victory symphony", but was banned because Shostakovich wrote it as a tragic commentary on the death and destruction that Stalin had inflicted on his people through his blatant disregard for human life as he send millions of his young men to die at the hands of the invading germans. The symphony revealed Shostakovich's bitterness towards the opression that weighed so heavily on the russian people. It speaks volumes of his opinion that the Russian "victory" at Stalingrad, although in principle a victory because the Germans were driven out of the city, was actually a tragic loss never to be forgotten, by virtue of its crippling loss of human life and widespread destruction of the city.

Sad.

2007-03-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Still in Louisiana. For the first good bit we were here we didn't have the internet yet, so I started writing blogs in MS Word so that when we got the internet I could post them...well, we got it now. I didn't write as many posts as I would have liked, but I did write a few in the beginning...it's been pretty busy here with a lot of training, so I'll try to catch up in the next few days if I can. Here's the one from the first day we were here...

01 March 2007: We made it to Louisiana…oh yeah, up till now I’ve been misspelling it. Sorry to all you Louisianans. It actually wasn’t too bad getting here. We waited around a lot, for about four hours in the pack shed lying around on the concrete floor taking naps while they loaded our duffels and rucksacks. We took a commercial plane, but it was a military charter, so we all got to pile on and pick our own seats (just imagine the chaos) and the coolest part was that we got to take our weapons!! Knives, rifles, pistols, liquids…you name it, we carried it on. It was fantastic. It was a really smooth flight, beautiful scenery. The flight was only two hours. When I got off the plane I was immediately slapped in the face by a wall of humidity. It was warm with a slight breeze…kind of a relief after the cold of NC. It was a beautiful night…dusk was just falling as we waited to get on the bus…the sky was really clear dark blue overhead, gradually gong to lighter blue and finally orange right on the horizon. It was a really interesting juxtaposition…the huge 737 parked on the tarmac of a small, rural runway next to a rundown hangar, out in the country…it just seemed so out of place. As we drove away, crammed on a bus with our stuff, I quietly shed some tears…as night fell down all the way and the stars started to show, I thought of Kevin, and how far away he is, and how badly I miss him. There weren’t too many tears…just a few, then I fell asleep with my head on my backpack. It was rough taking our bags off the truck, then finding a spot to sleep…I felt so alone crammed in the middle of so many people, and no one knowing how lonely I felt. I snuck away again before bed and cried a little, it made me feel better. It’s weird, it’s not like a sad, weak kind of crying, and it doesn’t last long…just a few tears and deep breaths, like a release of the emotion and then it goes back inside and I keep it in my heart for a while again. I slept well, tired from the trip, stressed from the lack of personal space. It was easier the next day. We did a company run with our weapons, got really smoked, then did some classes, and ran again that evening. Of course they have a VERY limited selection of vegetarian fare at the Dining Facility, so I just eat peas, potatoes, rice, and some gravy if they have it and salad. I’m learning to love my cot…when I put my therma-rest pad on it it feels like a real bed! Our containers came with all our stuff in them, so we could set up our headquarters and my office, so at least now I have a space of my own. We set up our projector and a bunch of chairs, and I brought all 6 seasons of CSI Vegas, so we are having a marathon. We were going to watch only one episode a night, but it’s only the first night and they’ve already watched 6 episodes, so you can imagine how long it’s going to take to finish all the seasons…not as long as we thought! So that brings us to the present. I’m sitting here typing, putting off making the radio guard schedule, I need to floss my teeth, I’d like to take a shower, and I’ve had gas all day from these dumb MREs. There are only three vegetarian ones and I’m getting bored quickly. Spicy penne pasta, vegetable manicotti, and cheese tortellini. Sounds good, but trust me, they’re not even good in small doses!!!

2007-02-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

Part of me hates it that I'm gong to Louisianna, and another part is glad. Sad because I love the coziness and hominess (if it's a word) of my little pad...glad because It will make the days pass more quickly till I get to come back home, go to Iraq, come back, get the job I want, and count the days till my true love comes back across the sea to me.

2007-02-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

I like to think that I could write a book, then every time I start one, I quickly come to the disappointing realization that I can't, and I don't know if it's that I just lack the discipline to keep writing till it's done, or that I don't have enough experiences yet to make a story that means something. Then I get to thinking: maybe every person who has ever written anything worth reading had the same feelings of inadequacy and inability in the beginning, but whatever was inside of them was so strong and so determined to get out that their self-percieved shortcomings could no longer hold it in. Hmmmm.

2007-02-23T18:05:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting at my computer desk with the window right in front of me but slightly to the left, so I see a beautiful sunset above a gravel driveway, the runway, a field, some trees, and the sky. There are striated clouds that are still lightish yellow, starting to turn pink. It reminds me of the last night Kevin and I had together, sitting outside on the balcony of the Marriot in Okinawa, watching the sun sink lower and lower behind the trees, the vibrant blue water of the Pacific, and the islands in the distance, under a blanket and the whole time thinking that there was absolutely NOTHING I wouldn't give to just stop time for a little while, to stop the sun from sinking, stop the earth from spinning, please, stop everything, so we could just sit there and love each other for a while without the dusk creeping up on one side and the hands of time sneaking up on the other side, hauntingly reminding me that time stops for nothing and that that last bit of daylight with my true love would have to last me many months ahead of heat, sweat, sand, tears, maybe blood, and lonliness till I see him again. But in the same way that time waits for no one, and the same way that he plays no favorites, by the same natural laws he cannot keep true lovers apart, no matter how much the earth spins and no matter how much space is between us...one thing that time cannot do is stretch the miles. The six-thousand some-odd miles will not grow no matter how long we have to be apart. I love Kevin Haddon, and I will love him more every day for the rest of my life and beyond, beyond time, beyond space and distance, beyond mountains and deserts, and most especially, beyond the sea.

I love you Kevin.

-Rach

2007-02-18T16:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, ok, I'm SORRY!!! I really was going to try to keep this blog going, I kinda dropped the ball. BUT, things should go a little smoother now...I have my own computer now. Wow, I got a computer and a husband all in the same month...what a lucky girl! I plan to stay much more in touch now that I don't have to stay after at work just to email my family and friends...don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I love coming home too. I won't get a digi camera till after the computer gets paid off, so for a while it'll be words, no pics...sorry non-readers!

Our schedule for work is insane...the iminent deployment is really causing the pace to quicken. We're off to Fort Polk, LA for training for a month, then back to Bragg to pack the rest of our stuff and get ready for Iraq...block leave to go home and see families, then to the desert in June. Not crazy about the idea, but trying to see the positive in it, since I really don't have a choice!!

Being married is great...the only downside being that he is over 6000 miles away and I miss him like CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! For those of you that don't know him...he's perfect. Every girl's dream, and I got lucky and caught him! We match perfectly in every way.

Just counting the days till it starts getting warm again, it's f-f-f-f-fre-ee-ee-eez-z-z-ing-ing-ing!!!! I'll be complaining soon enough about the heat and the sand.

2007-01-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

I work alot. I mean ALOT!!! But I love my job. We are getting ready to go to Iraq so the pace has really quickened and it seems like the hours get longer and longer. That's why I didn't write for a while. Well, my life is going to change in more ways than one in the next year, my future is starting to come into focus and I'm realizing more and more about what I want and where my life will take me. It helps when you have the most awesome partner in crime ever!!!!!!!

2007-01-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Life is good. I'm finally starting to get somewhat back to the local time...I still wake up at 2am and can't go back to sleep...I don't think it's ever taken me this long to get off jet lag!

Great movies I've seen recently:

Take The Lead, Lucky Number Slevin (EXCELLENT), and Syriana (sad).

I totally want to learn how to ballroom dance.

2007-01-01T08:45:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness...I have that overwhelmed, "where the heck do I start" feeling right now. I'm starting a Blog, but it's kind of like trying to jump on a high speed train from a standstill...how do you do it? Well, my life is going at high speed, so I'm going to try to keep up with it in a blog. Right. Good one. Key word: TRY.

Brief synposis: Born in 1977, teased alot in school, lots of siblings, big ears, these two teeth that do their own thing, always wanted long hair never had it, didn't watch alot of TV and did alot of chores (or spent alot of time getting out of doing chores and then getting in trouble for not doing them). Played outside ALOT. Barely graduated, bloomed late. Got married, got divorced, learned heaps. Learned to sail, snowboard, ski, skydive, and climb. Always been a big reader. Drove across the country coast to coast three times. Lived in Cali, Utah, NYC. Been to 4 continents (roughly 14 countries). Went to college, joined the Army, quit eating meat (except fish). Ran fast, messed up, fell down hard, got up again many times. Been chasing something, never could quite figure out what it was...finally I found it. He's one inch shorter than me but in every way my perfect match...had to fly 12,000 miles just to make sure...roughly 3 gallons of tears later there's no doubt he's the only one for me.

My daily routine: get up, work out, shower, put on my uniform, go to work (LOVE MY JOB!!!!), work very hard, go home, listen to Shostakovitch, Fitzgerald, Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, or the Beatles, eat sushi, read myself into a stupor and fall asleep (I'm one of the most interesting people I know ha ha).

What makes me tick: my family, music, the power of words, the awe of nature, and true love.

I'm going to try my best to keep this thing up...like a journal I can just sneak off to at least a few times a week to put a few blurbs.

Rach