My last Blog entry in the US

I was packing up last night and this morning and thinking of what to say. I have a lot to say, and so if I ramble, please bear with me.

I decided to make a top ten sort of list. Actually two lists-one of things I will miss while I am gone, and one of things that I will not miss. The lists are longer than 10, but hey, it’s my Blog. So here we go:

Top things I will miss while gone:
1) My Family. Laura and Molly are my life. Laura is the strongest woman I know and Molly has me wrapped like every little girl does to her daddy.
2) Friends. There are so many to list. However, I will mention a few:
a. Toby and Jen and the beer tasting with Dark side of Oz on the TV. Our daughters our great friends. Your dogs are crazy and I love them the same. Jen, your choclate cake is a state secret. I will send my address to you-hint. Toby, I drank my last Alskan Summer ale last night thinking of you and a stoogie at the fire pit. Toby, don’t PCS with out me!
b. JP and Em and the ever changing lives of actually becoming parents. JP, I never thought we would grow up, let alone raise kids. We have come a long way from ECU!
c. Stu and Stacy. Stu, you keep laughing everytime we talk. You have been there since the racquetball thing at 358. Stacy, you are raising two kids, God bless you.
d. Dave and Donna. You guys are my family outside of Laura and Molly. Dave, I couldn’t imagine this world without you. You are very smart, a little right wing, and a wicked bass player. Donna, you are a perfect match for Dave. You have a great little boy, Zack. I can’t wait to see you guys this spring!
3) BBQ. There is so much that will fall into this category. There is North Carolina BBQ like at B’s in Greenville, NC. There is also Kings BBQ in Petersburg, VA. Then there is Eric next door. And of course, my grill. I want to kill a cow when I get back!
4) Poker games. We had a casino night here about a month ago. I miss the games with the Lowders.
5) DVR/TIVO. I will wait and see what kind of TV I will have over there. There is more to life than the Army, and I don’t want to be isolated from the rest of the world.
6) Mt Rainer. I have done a lot of backpacking there in the past two months. I am looking towards the day when I can backpack with Molly and Laura there-not necessarily to the top, but along the wonderland trail and catch the sights.
7) Geocaching. This is an activity with GPS going around and playing scavenger hunts. I will miss this. I do have a travel bug that I will take to Iraq, take a picture of it, and send it home to Laura to put somewhere.
8) The changing color of leaves in Fall. Right now, the leaves are turning wonderful colors and falling here in Washington State. I will miss that. Instead, I will have desert tan for the next year.
9) Taking care of the yard. Normally, I work in an office pushing paperwork and never really seeing and result of it. With yard work, you see the result, and there is nothing like a good looking yard. At Ft Lee, there is the rigged yard of the month competition. Rigged I say because some Bataan Rd resident who lives across from me won third place one month! (I only jest)
10) Busch Gardens in Williamsburg VA. Only 45 min away from our house, and yes we are season pass holders. Some of the best coasters I have ever ridden are there, and it is probably the most beautiful amusement park in the world. If you have never been, you need to go!
11) My Jeep. It is my escape vehicle from the world. I can go anywhere, and with top off, Hannah and Molly look so cute!
12) The civilian lifestyle. I will miss changing into shorts, shirt, and sandals.

Things I will not miss while I am gone:

1) Bi-partisanship. I am talking about the polar divide in our country. I studied Political Science in College, and observed other countries at work as well. Other countries have issues too, but after elections, most bury the hatchet and get to the business of running a Government. Ours officials are constantly trying to prove how the other is wrong, corrupt, or whatever for political gain. This is just me, but I thought our representative are there to do what is right for our country. Instead, there is a system-a machine- where elected officials are constantly trying to get re-elected. Hey, if the people don’t want you there, fine. Don’t fight it. You are a servant for the constituents that elected you.
2) Whiners. Everybody in our great land has the right to complain about whatever. However, if you do not present a realistic solution to the problem, please quite down so others who are trying to work the issue can work.
3) Frivolous law suits. I understand the reasoning behind our legal system. Don’t abuse the system. Ambulance chasers are partially to blame. Our society is the other for allowing it to continue. I work in the medical community, and I see the costs of medical care go up because of it. Medicine is as much art as science. There are something science/ medicine can not correct. There are also things called accidents. They happen. Have you ever dropped a glass on the floor and watch it shatter on you kitchen floor? Are you going to sue the glass maker, the floor maker, your husband who left the puddle of water on the floor that caused the accident? Why would I sue the heck out of someone who, in an accident, caused me to skid off of the road into a ditch and wreck my car? I just want my car repaired. Life happens.
4) Ignorance of our Constitution. Most US citizens have never read the US Constitution. Most don’t realize that the US Constitution is our second form of Government. Our first was the article of Confederation. Once the states realized that it wasn’t working, they started forming the present system. I’m not telling people what to think, but I do tell people to read it. You can find a good version of it, with sub text, at: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
5) To add to the whiners list, I would like to say that if you do not like what are politicians are doing, you can vote them out. Most people do not vote. People in other countries are dying for this right. An argument is that there are no good candidates, fine. You run then. If you don’t vote, or run for office, please be quite, and move to the back of the room. If you do not like the room, the door is located back there as well.
6) We live in a society where you do not have to contribute to the society yet reap the benefits of it. For those of you, I ask that you stop taking the benefits, start contributing, or go with the previous group and find the door. I wear a uniform for those individuals who contribute to society, make it a better place for others, and to defend it. Those who do nothing, I will move out of the way for any incoming Artillery for you. A quick note-you don’t hear the rounds that are going to hit your grid.
7) Celebrities that have something to say. I want them to say something-their lines. Do I care what there view on world peace or global warming? Only if they are an expert on the subject. A celebrity is in the public eye because they can act or look good. Fine. I accept that. Who cares what you think. I would appreciate you doing what you are good at and move along.
8) Censorship. We all have the right to say things as long as they are not against certain laws like slander and national security. Any who feel that they have the right to limit what people say, think, read, listen, etc., should move to one of the following places: N. Korea, China, Cuba, any Islamic country, and any backwater island not claimed by any country. Again, I wear a uniform so you may do this.
9) Those who oppose the military. The military is a tool of the Executive branch of our government. We are here to defend, protect, national disaster clean up, and anything else that our chain of command deems necessary. The military is a necessary evil. Sort of like a landfill. No one wants one in their neighborhood, but we need it. Otherwise, our trash will lye in our streets.
10) Zoolander type phones. You know the ones I’m talking about. The phones that are smaller than half a pack of cigs and it is physical impossible to talk on. What’s the deal with them? They are completely impossible.
11) 20 min previews at movie theaters. People like movies because there are no commercials. If we wanted commercials, we would watch the super bowl. And on the subject of movies, the price. Movie industry folks say that making movies are more expensive so they must charge more. Here’s an idea-don’t pay actors/actresses un-godly amounts of money. Why is someone worth $10 million to work on a film? Really. Do you think our priorities are a little askew on this?


I think I covered everything. I would like to thank the home office in Ft Lee VA for all that they do. I will be OK. I fly here in the next few hours. I will be at my duty station soon enough. Thanks everyone!

Too much time on my hands

Shotgun rules

There I was feeling down...

There I was feeling down. It was a typical Seattle rainy day and the wind was blowing. Laura and Molly had already left for Yakima for their flight Wednesday with my cell phone - so I couldn't even call her for a pick-me-up. I dropped off my Jeep with my father-in-law Frank this morning, so I can't drive off to escape the doldrums. My favorite meeting of the day, where we could laugh and joke and let our hair down, was turned into an all business meeting with no fanfare. I needed to be squeezed in the middle.

I went to the chow hall to grab dinner 10 min before they closed. It smelled good, and I figured since I am there when it closes that I could get some extras. I
go through the headcount and grab my tray before I hit the serving line. I walk up, and see something green. I wasn't sure what it was, until I walked up on it.

I started to laugh, it was stuffed peppers! I was laughing because of a story my brother-in-law Tim was telling us this weekend, about how his mother, Marilyn, would
make stuffed peppers and force him sit at the table for hours until he finished it. He now can't stand green bell peppers! That made me smile, Thanks Tim!

Ticking away, the moments that make up the dog days

Well,
I can check off one of the things I wanted to do before I die-I went to the Laser Floyd show last night. Laura and I went to the Seattle Center last night and saw Laser Floyd Dark side of the Moon show. One word to describe it-->Friggin' Awesome!!

First, you can sit in leaned back chairs, or the preferred method-bring pillows and blankets, and lay down on the floor to look at the screen above and around you. I was in Floyd heaven-with 15,000 watts of sound, and an incredible show projected on a planetarium ceiling. Toby, you should be jeolous.

Second, I was with my honey that I haven't ween in a few months. And it was our anniversary! What a way to celebrate five years. I counldn't have picked a better woman to share my life with.

This weekend, I am visiting family in Seattle. Monday, is our deployment ceremoney, and then I am just waiting for my flight.

I will write more later....

Um, yeah.

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever," --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

I was thinking...

I was in Seattle on Saturday. I went to the Experience Music Project. If you ever get the chance to go, you should. It is a cool inter-active music museum. Anyhow, I spent lots of time in the Jimi Hendrix exhibit. The exhibit is very in depth, starting with his curiosity of music as a child all the way to his death. There was this showcase about his appearance at the Woodstock music festival. They were showing a film of Jimi (with his first group: The Jimi Hendrix Experience) playing his version of the Star Spangled Banner. At first glance, I didn’t think anything about it. I’ve heard this rendition countless times.

As I watched the film, the camera panned through the crowd. Every so often, there would be a young man standing at the position of attention, long hair, no shirt, and covered in dirt and mud. (I'm assuming they were prior military) Some were waving American Flags with the stars replaced with the peace symbol.

It film started to touch me. As I continued to watch the film, they showed Dick Cavett interviewing Jimi about that rendition. Jimi was asked if he thought it was disrespectful of how he played it. He stated: “I thought it was the most beautiful thing I ever played.” That hit me.

Then I continued on in the exhibit and saw Jimi’s second group, Band of Gypsies. His bassist was an old army buddy of Jimi's from Ft. Cambell, and the 101st ABN. Then it dawned on me: America is more than the borders of this country. It is more than what is considered tradition. It is what all of us inside this country that makes it what it is.

It is not defined by certain words or sayings. It is not defined by protocol. It is defined by what we say it is. Yes, some of these opinions might offend others. But I am in a career field that helps guarantee that we all have the oppurtunity to define America in our own way, regardless of what we say or how we do it.

Jimi loved his country. He joined in the ranks and defended it. He was also a part of the counter culture that was emerging throughout the world. Yet, he was America - and a part of our culture. At the time, he was frowned upon by those in power who “defined” what America was.

When I see people on TV claiming that someone else does not love their country, it burns me up. How does one show love for their country? How do you express it? Must you always agree with every decision made by the elected officials to show you love your country? If that was the case, there would never be candidates to run against and we would move from a democracy to a dictatorship.

How would our founding fathers like us to use our right of Freedom of speech. Would they like us to agree with our leaders and officials? What if we didn't agree?

They fought for it then, Jimi fought for it then, and I fight for it now.

What a Party!

Saturday night our unit had a Casino Nite party at one of the civilians houses. We used play money, so you all can get over the gambling thing. There was food, beer, 3 Black Jack tables, 4 Poker tables, a Craps table, Kino, Roulette table, and beer. Did I mention the keg O’Beer? There were dealers and of course waitress, to get you more beer.

We played for two hours - with prizes for the top three money makers. You started with $2000 bucks. I was up by a lot - really I was. I won $1000 on a $20 Kino ticket. Then I was winning $300 hands of Black Jack. But it happened. I lost about 10 hands in a row on Black Jack. So I went to the Roulette wheel. It's my favorite game - but that thrill lasted about 20 min. So I went back to Black Jack and, well, basically, I lost the house, the Jeep, Molly’s College money, and I am pretty sure I filled out an allotment form! (ha)

No, all I lost was the play money. I had a blast though. The top money maker was, get this, the Chaplain! I am not making this up. I don’t think it's fair because of his connections upstairs, if you know what I mean.

It was a great time though. I would love to host a party like that someday with Laura. It was a lot of work to pull it off - especially with the staff and all. I've never thrown a party with a staff. That would be interesting.