Oh Look, A Kitty!

Hey There Obama

2009-08-20T10:02:00.001-06:00

This speaks for itself. Enjoy!

Ted Nugent Has It Right

2009-08-03T11:05:00.003-06:00

What do you think about the Second Amendment? I think this clip just about sums it up (though it only mentions self-defense against criminals, and not against a criminal government which was the other basis for the 2nd Amendment).

History Channel Documentary Validates Chemtrails and Weather Warfare

2009-07-24T21:50:00.001-06:00

Only 10 minutes long, but informative - especially if you aren't already aware of the spectre of chemical warfare in our skies.

Red Explains Their Tatts

2009-07-24T11:32:00.001-06:00

One of my husband's favorite bands is Red - and I'll admit myself they rock hardcore. Awesome messages in their music, and the "Death of Me" video is intense.

Here, they talk about the messages behind their ink.

Imagine the Potential; Astronaut

2009-07-17T09:27:00.001-06:00

How many children aspire to be astronauts these days? (It was one of mine in 2nd grade, by the way). How many will get the chance to even have that dream?

The Final Push for World Government

2009-05-15T20:47:00.001-06:00

There are many who believe this NWO coming to fruition is the one-world government of the Antichrist predicted so long ago in the book of Revelation. I highly encourage anyone interested in what's going on today to get a Bible (preferably a New King James or Geneva Bible) and study Revelation and some of the Old Testament prophetical books; Daniel, Zechariah, et. al. Also google El Shaddai ministries; they have some great insights on what is going on right now in regards to biblical prophecy and the timing of the Jewish feasts and observances.

Feeling Icky

2009-04-29T09:21:00.000-06:00

Bear with me - I'm sick (I've been for about a week now, unfortunately) so I'm feeling a bit negative right now. Just skip over if you don't need to hear my crap. ;P I promise to write a feel-good post sometime soon. Promise! :)

I haven't written anything in a while, so it's time for another rambling post. We've had a lot of ups and downs recently, in regards to things working and more often - not. Ironically, I did a wordle recently with my blog as the url input, and one of the biggest words that showed up was "bathroom". (Incidentally, if anyone knows how to get two words to stay together in a wordle - like "Jelly Belly" - I'd appreciate if you'd share. I made another wordle later, using quotes to see if I could get the phrase to show up together and was less than satisfied.)

The reason it's ironic about the bathroom, is because once again one of our biggest issues with our new place is the plumbing. I don't remember if I wrote about this yet in my plumbing/toilet post, but we have had several incidences (incidents?) of flooding in our big main bathroom. This isn't the typical, plugged-toilet-overflow issue; rather, this is a water-bubbling-up-out-of-the-holes-in-the-floor-where-the-toilet-is-bolted-down problem.

Wha? Yeah. I think the place we're living used to be all one house; and the piping would seem to prove that. Not to mention our water heater supplies the *entire* building; that's fun, trying to take a warm shower in between other people's laundry loads and such. I should've known or asked when we moved in, because our water heater was so luxuriously large; but it wasn't till I did try to take a shower and had nearly 5 minutes of warm (not hot) water before it ran out that I began to suspect. When I got out (freezing!) and discovered the upstairs people were doing their laundry (you can hear it quite clearly through our back door - which opens to the inside back of the building where their machines are located). Given that I hadn't used *any* hot water up to that point, it was the only explanation. Talk about a huge frustrating let-down. *sigh* I got it confirmed when the plumber was here finally fixing our flooding issue; more about that now.

So when we moved in, the bathtub was filthy. Ew. I cleaned it out, and gave the girls a bath (whereupon I found out the bathtub holds water like a sieve) and within a couple days, suddenly the bathroom floor was wet and the tub had something nasty in it. Later that day, I heard water running, went in, and found it literally bubbling up through the holes where the toilet was bolted down. Yikes! I couldn't shut it off; even with the water to the toilet off, it was still flowing up and out all over the floor. I could hear the water coming through the pipes in the ceiling and wall, and could see it coming in up through the drain in the tub too. Great!

So I told the guy who heads the maintenance for our rental-management company, and he said he'd have someone come look at it. Didn't happen. :/ No phone call, nothing. So, I waited. Cleaned up the bathroom, of course, and hoped it wouldn't happen again. Well - it happened again - several times. I finally called him one evening last week, after it happened several times in one day - and he promised he'd have someone come the next morning. Then, days go by, the weekend comes... nothing. I found out later, the plumber was vacationing in Cali with his family. That's totally cool - but to not hear anything at all - I was unhappy about that. I was almost panicking, to be honest. My girls' room is on the other side of the bathroom, and they have to walk through there to get out of their room. Not knowing the next time it might flood, and getting tired of cleaning it up, I didn't know what to do. Then I get a letter from a property management company, saying they were taking over management of our unit. Huh? I hadn't heard a word of this from our current landlord.

So with this change looming, and several issues still unresolved with regards to where we live, I figured I'd better fire off an email. Besides the bathroom, our shed/storage area leaks like... well - it just leaks. Apparently the whole structure is full of cracks (we *didn't* know this when we moved in) and the water pools like crazy in there (something else we didn't know. Lot of good storage will do us with all our stuff getting wet and possibly ruined - I just hope everything else in there doesn't get all moldy!) We were told they were going to do something about the leakage once it dried out - which it was for a good couple weeks-ish - as in, paint the roof to seal it somehow. The other thing is the pile of broken-up concrete, bricks, wood, and other crap in our front yard. They came and tore out the old sidewalk and put in an awesome new one - worked really hard on it - but they left all the rubble behind! Even a soda can that one of the workers drank out of - just crumpled on top. :/

Well, the response I got was that he'd forward my maintenance issues to the new company. Oh. Ok...

So, with me being sick the last few days (not just icky but lay-in-bed, don't-want-to-move kind of sick) I thought, well - at least I don't have to worry about anyone showing up to my house. I mean, I wanted the stuff taken care of, but at the moment I just wanted to sleep. Of course, with 5 kids, that's not really an option. But a girl can dream, right? ;)

So guess who shows up right before 5pm? Without calling or any forewarning? Apparently, he'd been working allllll day, and only found out right before that we were having this bathroom issue. I know it's not his fault. But geez - where is the communication here? It's apparently non-existent.

He took a look, but couldn't do anything because it was too late in the day. So he and his assistant came back yesterday and spent a good while trying to fix the problem. They had to take the toilet out, and use a snake - but it wasn't big enough, apparently. So they had to go get a bigger one. They snaked that thing all *through* the house. I could hear it working at the complete other end, in the pipes. They were finally able to shove whatever the blockage was out to the city pipes, but wow. I don't have a clue what it was, but it sure gave them trouble. I just hope it never happens again. :/ And they did a great job re-attaching the toilet. This time they sealed it down, and put covers on the bolts and everything. It looks a whole lot better. And we'll actually be able to use that bathroom again!

I don't know what's going to happen with the piles of crap in the front yard, or the wet storage shed, but at least we won't have a wet bathroom floor anymore...

And now, to counter all the negative in my post; I'll leave you with what I *do* like about the house; I think we should always end on a positive note. :) So... it's big enough for all of us. It's affordable. It has lots of windows; I love natural light. Our kitty loves the window sills too; and so do the hyacinths and tulips I bought right before Easter. :) It has two bathrooms (an absolute essential when you have this many people in the house ;) and they will now both work properly! It has lots of wall space for my pictures - when I finally get them unpacked and/or framed. I did buy a couple cute wooden wall plaques already - some distressed-looking veggie ones for the kitchen, and seashell ones for the small bathroom. I love seashells, sailboats, ocean glass, surfboards; all types of coastal stuff. And living in a land-locked state, I'll take any seashore-type imagery I can get. ;) Unfortunately, our seashell and surfboard bathroom rugs got ruined at our last place. :( But anyway...

And even though we have a small kitchen, with no diswasher or garbage disposal; it does have awesome light and a window looking out on the back yard. :)

Ok, my head is getting fuzzy again. I have to get out and get some baby supplies and lunch stuff, because - being at the end of the pay period, we're getting low on some things - so I need to stop now. I have other things I want to write about, but not now. I haven't even done any photography for several days; no taking pictures, no editing, no posting... and I've not commented on anyone's either. I'm so horrible. *sigh*

Oh - one last thing. It was snowing this morning. Snowing!!!

And Monday is my 7th wedding anniversary. I won't even get to spend it with my husband except a few hours in the evening, because he has to work (though I've asked him to see if he can get it off... but we'll see.) We were talking last night about taking a trip to my mom's over in WA - it should only take about 12.5 hours if we drive straight through - maybe 14.5 with feeding the baby a couple times (we'd drive overnight) - and I thought this weekend would be a great time to pack up and go - but we'll see about that too. *shrug*

The 'New' Flu

2009-04-26T16:11:00.000-06:00

So, all of a sudden there's this "new" flu going around; a never-before-seen hybrid/mutant swine/bird/human influenza virus. How this flu came into being is (almost) anybody's guess; I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes this could be a manufactured pandemic-in-the-making.

Either way, you can keep from getting the flu, and you can treat it if you *do* get it. "Conventional wisdom" says you treat the flu with medication, try to get the fever down and control the symptoms. Yet we know that those symptoms are actually the body's immune system response designed to kill the virus and rid the body of it. I read an article today, written a year ago when the avian flu was the most-feared possible cause of a new pandemic; it is at least just as relevant today with this new possible outbreak happening.

Anyway, here is the article: How to Beat and Prevent the Avian Flu and Other Influenzas. It's a long but very worthwhile read.

Random ramblings. Pretty much. Yeah.

2009-02-27T17:27:00.000-07:00

This post really doesn't have much of a point. I just felt like blogging, because sometimes I just need to let stuff out and I guess blogging is the easiest way to do it. I can just kind of open up and let loose all the random stuff I'm tired of keeping inside my head all the time. Not that it'll make much sense, especially given how hard it is for me to keep my thoughts straight when I get interrupted often (one of the hazards of having kids ;) but it's about their bedtime anyway, and I figured I'd give it a shot while I have a couple minutes to myself. The baby will be waking up soon, and she's quite taken with the keyboard, which makes it extremely hard to type anything coherent - given she'll lunge forward and start hitting the spacebar and all kinds of other keys while I'm trying to do anything. Try to edit photos sometime while entertaining a 7.5mo at the same time. RGB levels start going all over the place. ;)

So the latest DVD to send me down memory lane lately was one I found at Wal-Mart last night. It was a 4-DVD set of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Weird huh? Totally unexpected to find that there. It's so funny how many things from my childhood are making an appearance on store shelves. Some things haven't come back that I wish would (Glo-Bugs for one... I *loved* Glo-Bugs and I know my kids would too) but it's amazing now that DVDs are the standard viewing device, how many old shows you can find. Netflix has a ton of them - my kids have seen Thundercats (something we won't be doing again - I totally forgot about that wicked evil scary skeleton-demon bad guy - oops) and Gummi Bears (that old Disney cartoon where they drink Gummi Berry juice and go bouncing around while the bumbling gargoyles do their nefarious deeds for that poor bad guy that you almost had to pity, he was so pathetic) and now Mario Bros. Oh wait - we also have Duck Tales, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. :)

My favorite show from when I was a kid though, or at least it ranks right up there at the top, has to be The Tick. And for those of you who are thinking the live-action one (I didn't even *know* there was a live-action one till I searched for the animated one) that's not it. What is it about the Tick that is so appealing? I think it's a combination of his innocent child-like naïvete and his wildly random and weird humorous musings. (I think I know when I've been on flickr too long, when I start spelling "humor," "humour". Anywayz...) Wow, it's getting hard to type. The heater has been a bit finicky lately and when the blower turns off, it gets cold fast. Plus I think I'm starting to come down with something... Probably the same thing my 2yo has been coughing in my face the last couple days. Hm. You know how some people call themselves existentialists? I'm a tangentalist.

Back to the Tick. I am so glad they finally came out with it on DVD. When I first started looking for it, all I could find was some ripped-off-TV version on ebay. I didn't know how bad it was until I ordered it though. Half the episodes didn't work (I tried contacting the seller but he was completely unresponsive to my emails - jerk) and the other half had the TV network's logo in the bottom corner the entire time. Plus the quality was laughably horrible. But, it kept me company on many long lonely nights while I was home by myself (well, with the kids of course) while the husband was out to sea. I used to sit there and watch them while eating hot wings (Foster Farms makes killer ones) and ice cream, and then fall asleep on the couch. Even now whenever I watch the Tick I get cravings for hot wings. ;) One of my all-time favorite episodes is the Tick vs. Santa. I don't know what tickles my funny bone about it so much - but I especially love the end when the Tick swims up the river of Santa clones - and later when they're disposing of the santa clones with static electricity. They go grab a santa, start rubbing, and say some silly typical Christmas phrase, then "pop!" santa disappears. And always at the end, Tick has some profound knowledge to share that he gained during his adventure...

One of my other favorites is The Tick vs. Science. Can you get any funnier than a bunch of superheroes, supervillains, and innocent bystanders (including "Tongue-Tongue", a disgusting huge slobbery walking tongue) getting their minds switched around into random other characters' bodies? At one point, Arthur and Tongue-tongue switch places, which makes for some pretty hilarious dialogue. Tongue-tongue (in Arthur's body) cries forlornly with his tongue hanging out of his face, while Dr. MungMung laments "He weeps for he has but one small tongue with which to taste the whole world." while Arthur (in Tongue-Tongue's body) is freaking out because, "I can taste the floor! I can taste everything!"

Classic. :)

Well I guess I should end the ramblings for now. The kids are all ready for bed, and the girls are playing a little too rambunctiously in their room. I look forward to when we can separate the 2yo from her older sisters again. *sigh*

Disorder

2009-02-26T12:15:00.001-07:00

Like, omygosh! 2 posts in one day, how can that be?!?

Ever have one of those days where everything seems to spin out of control? When it seems like the harder you try to hold it all together, the more it flies apart? One where as soon as you get done cleaning something up, you turn around to find an even bigger mess somewhere else. And you have so much that needs to be done, that you can't do, because you're doing so much just to try to catch up to what you needed to do before.

I'm having one of those days.

Toilets Hate Me

2009-02-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

Kind of an odd title, I know. I thought about getting a photo of one to illustrate this post, but first I thought that would be kind of crude; and then the thought of what might come up in my search for a cc-licensed photo to post with this scared me. So, no pic. Just a bunch of words that hopefully make sense in my pre-coffee ramblings.

I'm not kidding though; I think they have it out for me. Since moving out and getting married, I've only lived in one place that had a properly-functioning toilet. We lived there for about a year-ish; and it had these industrial-type toilets with a push-button rather than a lever - that could've sucked a small child down into its vortex, it was so powerful. It was odd too, the shape of the seat and bowl. All elongated and narrow. Really weird. But I digress.

I honestly don't know what it is. We can't seem to find a place that doesn't have something wrong with its piping. The very first place I lived after I moved out and got married was this pathetic apartment in Silverdale, WA. First of all, it wasn't the apartment we were supposed to have. The one we were going to rent, the tenant changed her mind and decided not to move out. So we got a different one, sight-unseen (as many Military wives will attest, most places you end up moving into are sight-unseen. And that is reeeealllllly unfortunate, given the condition of some of the places you end up. I can regale you with stories of the places we lived growing up, when my dad was in the Navy... especially Virginia. *shudder*) Turns out this place was infested with black mold. The entire bathroom wall was covered in it. In fact by the time we moved out several months later, the mold had come through the wall to the bedroom that was on the other side. I truly believe I'm lucky to have survived living there... though I didn't know why, my asthma was so horrendous that I literally was gasping for breath almost all the time. I had to suck on my inhaler after climbing up the flight of stairs to the main level where our car was parked, just to keep from passing out. I was also pregnant at the time, and my blood pressure was sky-high (I normally have very low blood pressure - think 90 over 55) and I was always exhausted. My poor son who was only 3 1/2 also had to deal with it. I am so glad we didn't live there any longer than we did. You wouldn't believe how many of our possessions had mold on them after living there.

But I've completely gone off on a tangent. Heh. :) The toilet. Yes, the toilet. (Sorry, my kids are watching "Flushed Away" for the first time, and it's just kind of ironic; here I am getting distracted again.) Again, as many Military wives will attest, everything goes ka-boom when husband leaves. The first day he left with the sub for a week and a half for some exercises, my poor child went to flush and *WHOOOSH* the toilet overflowed. 'Kay, not just a little bit. It *flooded* the bathroom. I had never had a toilet overflow before, and I panicked. My brain finally kicked in and I shut off the water, but not before there was at least an inch of standing water in the bathroom. (I'm sure that helped the mold problem, right?) I soaked it up with a bunch of towels, which I then put in the bathtub, and decided to go to my mom's house. And of course, on the way, got pulled over by a cop with an attitude for having a headlight out. Just what I needed, right? :)

The next place we lived had the super-suction toilets, so I didn't have to deal with any plumbing problems at all. No, just having some unknown person looking in my window at night when I was home all alone with my new baby and my son. That was exciting. Thankfully, I had good friends for neighbors who were very aware (they were the ones who noticed the guy looking in), and the husband came over and gave me some dowels to put in the window frames. Talk about a completely freaky feeling. Our back window looked into the woods after about 10 yards of grass, so it's not like someone couldn't just hide out there and sneak up whenever he wanted. I was on edge for pretty much the rest of the time we lived there. In fact one day, it was all bright and sunny, and I was walking past my window and noticed someone out of the corner of my eye. I gasped and froze, and then realized it was just a landscaper. But it nearly gave me a heart attack.

After we moved from there, we lived in another place on base... and at the moment I can't think of a whole lot of problems with the plumbing. No, wait. The kids' bathroom. We had 3 bathrooms in that place (3!!! I think my entire growing-up life we never had more than one) and for some reason, the kids' toilet never seemed to work right. It never overflowed, but it would never flush right either. I spent more time plunging that thing... It got to where the kids just weren't allowed to use it. Period.

Fast-forward to a whole bunch of stuff happening to where we got transferred across the Sound to the Everett area (north of Seattle). I don't know what the deal was at Carroll's Creek Landing... but lemme tell you, they must think that because they have a "captive" population, they don't have to keep the place up to standard. They're part of the public-private venture the Navy decided to undertake in regards to housing, and IMO it's failed miserably. Anyway - I don't think one toilet worked right in that house. As soon as we'd get one working again, another would stop. We couldn't use the bathtub in the kids' upstairs bathroom either. Whomever lived there before had somehow allowed so much water to accumulate on the floor that it had soaked in to the linoleum and caused it to start peeling up around the edges. When we first moved in, I said something about water damage on the ceiling of the living room. We weren't able to be there when the maintenance people showed up (I had to finish cleaning the other place we were moving out of) so I couldn't point it out and demand something be done about it. When we came back, the maintenance sheet said it was a "bad patch job" and had something to do with a sliding door. (In the middle of the living room?!?) I never pursued it, but I wish I had. Because all it took was one time for my son to splash enough water out of the tub by accident to cause water to suddenly start dripping from the ceiling. You know in the Secret of Nimh where the animal's house is being submerged in mud, and it's starting to drip in? (At least that's how I remember the scene... something that has given me a life-long morbid phobia of mudslides and being buried alive) Well, it was reminiscent of that, though on a much smaller scale. I know it sounds almost humorous to compare the two, but you didn't see my oldest daughter's reaction. She was *freaking* out. She thought the house was going to be flooded and the ceiling was going to cave in. Finally, the water damage on the ceiling made sense. When I investigated further, I found the entire edge of the floor in the bathroom was actually sunken, and there was a crack running up the wall in the hallway that matched up with the edge of the bathroom wall. Just so happened, that this part of the floor was right above the living room, and the cracked wall looked over our stairwell.

Though I again said something to the management, they didn't do anything about it, and we even got charged after we moved out to replace the damaged linoleum. I sincerely hope whomever is living there now doesn't get a bathtub in their living room one day.

Have you figured out yet I have a hard time sticking to one subject? ;) Ok back to the glorious main subject. ;P Would you care to guess how many times the toilet (the single only toilet in our one bathroom we have now) here has overflowed? Just the other night, when the idea to rant about it in my blog first hit me, I spent a good half-hour trying to fix the stupid thing. We don't know where our nice heavy-duty plunger (that we got so much use out of at our last place) is at the mo., so we've had to use the old fashioned, wooden-handled plunger the last residents so generously left behind. I can tell you, by the time I got that stupid thing working again, my arms were sore and my hands were nearly raw.

Besides a big kitchen, a dishwasher, and lots of windows... if we ever buy a house, my major prerequisite is that it have working toilets.

Chem/Bio-warfare, or Blown-up Jellies?

2009-02-05T13:29:00.001-07:00

Freaky stuff.

And people say there's nothing nefarious happening in our skies?

Heh.

My 9 in '09

2009-01-29T11:26:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

On flickr, there's a meme going around where you tag someone and then that person lists 9 things about him/herself and posts it with a photo. Here's mine:

1. I am a total introvert. In social situations, I am the last person to go up to someone I don't know and start a conversation. Even if I knew someone, unless we were good friends it's a good bet I would wait for them to notice me before saying hello.

2. I love being onstage. I could live my entire life in a theater and be perfectly happy.

3. I hate preppy and love punk. Yet I married a man who was voted "best dressed" in high school and had no tatts or piercings when I met him. (He now has one tatt I bought him for our anniversary.) I also swore I'd never marry a submariner. Guess what? ;) Love does strange things.

4. I can't stand cheerleaders. 'Nuff said.

5. I am hopelessly addicted to coffee, and am extremely particular when it comes to espresso drinks. I especially love white chocolate mochas (not too sweet) with peppermint or coconut.

6. I am a Jelly Belly connoisseur. I have tried nearly every flavor they've made since I was a kid (except for the Harry Potter Bertie Botts ones) and I don't need some little booklet to tell me which flavor is which. ;) My favorites are cream soda, strawberry daquiri, tangerine, and Dr. Pepper. I don't like bubble gum (or the ones with similar flavor), peach, or pear.

7. I am frequently pre-judged by my outward appearance. Apparently, having pink hair and facial piercings automatically makes me an ultra-left wing radical liberal (nothing could be further from the truth). Or just a freak. Either way, when people get to know me, they tell me I'm completely different than what they assumed.

8. I rarely wear matching socks. On purpose. :)

9. I love India. I'd live there in a heartbeat. I love the people (some of the most generous and warm people I've ever met), the clothes (what gorgeous colors and fabrics! And sarees are so beautiful), and the food. Especially naan, masala balls (like Cheetos Cheese balls but spicy instead of cheesy), murgh tari, samosas, black tea with milk and sugar... and ice cream. :)

Imagine the Potential

2009-01-22T12:43:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Through the Veil for directing me to this incredible video. It literally gave me goosebumps...

America's Holocaust

2009-01-22T09:49:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision making abortion legal for any reason, even as a method of birth control.

Since that ruling, over 50 million babies have been aborted.

Most people who claim the "pro-choice" moniker have no idea how the modern abortion movement started. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a virulent racist and radical feminist who believed in eugenics, and promoted abortion as a way to reduce the "unfit" and "bad strains" of our population. Many in the Planned Parenthood organization are more than willing to continue her legacy. Even the medical community still practices a form of eugenics when they recommend abortion for children with Down's Syndrome.

Why does this barbaric and dangerous practice continue, in a supposedly civilized society, when it is so traumatic and there are so many other options? I believe ignorance and fear are the two biggest reasons. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I had a teen pregnancy, too. But I made the decision to keep my child. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I couldn't imagine my life without him. He's 10 years old now, and is such a blessing.

I will continue to stand up for the rights of the unborn, and to educate people about the truth as long as abortion is an accepted and tolerated practice. They have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, too. But it means nothing if they don't first get their right to life.

Catching up

2009-01-16T12:11:00.001-07:00

Ok, wow - seriously, I am so bad at this. I just don't have time to sit and write long things; I barely have time to write a few paragraphs on a photo on flickr. But there were a few things I just had to blog about. So here goes. :)

First of all, I didn't realize that I hadn't updated on my husband's military status. I thought I'd blogged about the latest happenings, and when I visited my blog this morning found out that I hadn't. Oops. :)

(text below copied/pasted from what I wrote under the photo on flickr)

His Next-To-Last Day as a Sailor

Yep, you read that right. We couldn't believe it either. He arrived home Sunday, April 20, still without a discharge date (that we knew of). Closest we knew was either July 30 (his LES still had that as his ETS date) or May 31 (for some reason, that was the date given on his flight-home orders). He was told before leaving the ship that he was to start TAP (Transition Assistance Program - something every Sailor goes through before discharge to give him information and help transitioning to civilian life) class that Monday. I was upset and confused - they recommended (stressed strenuously) that spouses should go with their Sailor because so much information is presented, and the spouse might have questions, so we were planning on attending one sometime in the middle of this month (May). But they just dropped him in one the day after he got back, and we had no clue why. But he had no choice, so he went without me. It was only four days long, so Friday he reported to the Yeoman Chief on base for his TAD assignment. But there he was told he wasn't reporting to supply, but to TPU (Transient Personnel Unit) which is supposed to basically be for people just arriving to (like from boot camp) or departing (as in, the process of being discharged from) their duty station. The chief thought somehow there must have been a screw-up, but we'd figure it all out the next Monday.

Well, it got all figured out. Heh. He was told Monday that his check-out (as in, completely checking out of the Navy) was Tuesday. Thanks for a little warning, huh?!? :)

So... next day, after running to UPS store to get his medical and dental records copied (he doesn't get to keep the originals - they're shipped off to a vault somewhere), we drive on base for the last time; get the proper forms to get copies of the kids' and my records, drop him at PSD for his check out... and a few minutes later he walks out sans ID card... the newest former Nuke EM/Missile Tech/Storekeeper US Navy Sailor.

So um... what are we doing now? Well, thanks to our tax return and the half-separation pay we received, we have money to live on until he finds a job. Though we are now paying the (astronomically high) civilian rent rate - given that it's privatized-Military housing, they obviously want to get our place opened up asap, so rent is stinking ridiculous and they're seriously pressuring us to get a notice-to-vacate turned in. However, the fact we still don't have a place to move to, nor a job to go to, hinders that for us a *little*. Thankfully, as I said, we have enough to live on for a while, and we have up to 6 mos. to use the last Navy/FISC move we get (God forbid we have to be here that long) - though we don't have any medical/dental coverage right now, of course. We're praying and trusting God (and Greg is doing all kinds of job searches, looking high and low, online and off) for a house and a job - and in the meantime we're trying to pack up what we can and then when the time comes, we'll just have the movers come and pack out the rest and move us to our "final" destination.

I was going to list his training/experience/qualifications here, but if anyone's interested to know, they can flickrmail/email me and I'll get my husband in touch to discuss specifics. I will say he's looking in the electronics technician field, the security field, and the mission field. :) Yes, we both feel called to be missionaries, and have a heart for young people especially - they are the future after all, and they are the special target of those who would corrupt our society and lead it into eventual destruction. (Speaking of... I just finished reading "The Marketing of Evil" by David Kupelian, and what an eye-opening book it is. If you ever wanted to get at the heart of the matter, and see things from "behind enemy lines" I highly and heartily recommend this book.) I've always felt called to Africa, though I loved India when I was there - but right now we both feel a great urgency for our own nation - the USA. But I'll talk more about that later on.

Anyway, so that's what's new with us. Things here have just been too busy for me to be on flickr - last Sunday was our 6th anniversary so we went up to our favorite local getaway (well, local to where we used to live), Morgan Hill Retreat in Poulsbo, while my mom watched the kids - and just had time to ourselves. Talking, praying, seeking God's will for our future, and enjoying each others' company (and enjoying my anniversary present/investment for the photog business - I'll talk about that later. :) Most of the time here at home Greg spends looking for a job, trying to find a house, and trying to get ready to move when he finds them. :) I do hope to catch up a bit on my flickring, but I won't be up to speed for a while, I'm sure. Hopefully everything falls into place quickly! In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying some spring weather!

My 2yo is putting her dolls and multiple stuffed animals on my lap. See, I just don't ever get more than about a minute to sit down and do anything. ;) Which is why I have a Twitter account. My updates are protected, first of all for privacy reasons, and second-of-all because I got sick of spammers and weirdo/pervos following me. Yeah... But if you're not a spammer or weirdo or just collecting names on your following list, just request and I'll probably accept/follow you. I've found some really cool ppl on Twitter, and I love that I can just check in really quick and see what everyone's up to, and jot down what I'm doing at the mo. or add a link to something I found online that I want to share.

Speaking of, you have to watch/listen to these next couple videos. I don't necessarily agree with everything the Health Ranger (Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com) has to say - he's into some New Age stuff and seems a bit caught up in the "man-created global warming crisis" thing - but other than that, this guy is awesome. I read Natural News pretty religiously, and get the email updates and everything. I am so thankful that websites like this are out there - if only more people read them! Anyway, he's now made two hip-hop songs which he's licensed for non-commercial use. I'll post the videos below (please watch! :) and the links to the pages he's posted more info on (he also has links where you can download the songs and ringtones.)

I Want My Bailout Money! **Language Warning: There is one descriptive obscenity in the song**

It's humorous, but in a sad way. Sad, because he speaks the truth. Thankfully he does it in a way that will hopefully get some people's attention, and maybe spread the word. ;)

SSRIs - S.S.R.Lies

This one, while still being entertaining (in the sense that it has a great beat, and he is a surpisingly good rap artist) is much heavier. This time the truth isn't about our economy, but our very lives and those of our children. I wish more parents were wise to the facts. :( Please visit Natural News and read up on how to keep healthy in these chemically-saturated times.

On that note, have you done any reading on chemtrails? Sometimes called chaff (depending on their contents) they are part of an aerosol assault on our air and environment. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not an environmentalist in the usual sense of the word, but what is happening right above our heads is a travesty and people need to wake up and start looking up. We no longer have the clear blue skies and fluffy clouds I remember from my childhood. Unfortunately, most people are so absorbed in their personal electronic devices that they rarely look each other in the eye, much less pay attention to what's happening over their heads. Check out my Watch the Skies set for photos and more information (plus links to other websites that I highly recommend keeping tabs on).

Ok, well my 2yo needs some diaper attention, so I'd better end this for now. I'll be writing again soon - I hope. ;)

I'm So Sick of This... [Follow-up to "Missing Daddy"]

2008-04-16T12:57:00.001-06:00

Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

You know... as much money as we pay in rent, you'd think they'd come up with a solution for their garbage problem. This really makes me mad. To be honest, right now there are a lot of things about the Navy that I'm pissed about - but for the moment, I'll focus on this "little" issue.

The Navy has a "partnership" with a private company, and they lease out the townhomes in our neighborhood to Military families, who then pay rent to the company based on how much BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) we get. BAH is based on rank and location - though location of what, I'm not sure - because ours is based on a zip-code that neither my husband works in nor we live in. Go figure.

Anyway - so our little slice of heaven *cough cough* is out in the middle of a marshland. A place that literally looks like they found a tiny piece of property and decided to see how many "houses" (8-plexes, really - or whatever you call them) they could cram in that one area. The streets are so narrow, you're not allowed to park on them (heck, they're barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other). In fact, you are only allowed to park in your driveway or garage - the garage which barely fits your vehicle (you can't open the back of our van with the garage door closed, when it's parked in there), and the driveway which is large enough for the minivan if you park within a couple inches of hitting the garage door - and even then your bumper is just about over the sidewalk. There are a few "guest" parking spots scattered around the neighborhood, but they're just about always full, and it's a common sight to see cars, trucks, what-have-you parked half on the sidewalk or grass and half in the street; just because there's nowhere to park!

Oh, and did I mention that it is over 8 miles from here to the Navy base where (I'd assume) the majority of the Military members living in this housing work? That may not seem like much (unless you are like us who were used to actually living on base, or within 3 miles of it) except you have to take I-5 to get there. So those 8 1/2 miles take you 30-50 minutes depending on traffic. And if one of the bridges you have to cross to get there is closed, well, count on another 20 minutes of waiting. And, it just so happens that to call anywhere except (literally) down the road, is long distance. That means, to call my husband on the ship, or any office that I might need to call on base, or - well - pretty much anywhere, I have to pay either for monthly long distance service, and fees, or have a phone card that I have to keep recharging. And that may seem petty and silly to complain about; but when you have no choice, it's pretty darn frustrating. I guess I'm a little more upset about it than maybe others who didn't come from living on base - but let me tell you, the money the Navy gives us for housing does *not* go nearly far enough.

Anyway, back to this little issue. There's only one way into the neighborhood. And this eyesore sits right at the entrance/exit (well, once you drive down the long street that eventually gets you here). Looks pretty ghetto, doesn't it? Well this is what happens when you cram a huge amount of Navy/Military families into a tiny piece of property, and then tell them that the only place to throw away their garbage is in this little compactor that sits behind the fence. So they have two dumpsters you can put your cardboard in. Big deal! How fast do you think this thing fills up? I mean, it's ridiculous. I have 3 bags of garbage sitting in my house waiting to be taken out, because I'm not going to go throw them on the pile. Instead, I have to put them in my garage just to get them out of sight. And in order to throw them away, I have to either hope for a sunny day so we can put the garbage in the wagon and take my four kids for a walk down here, or put everybody in the van and throw the garbage bags in the back and drive them down. We don't have a garbage can, because when we lived on base they provided them for us, and actually came and *picked up* the garbage like a regular civilized neighborhood. Heck - we wouldn't have room to keep a garbage can anyway! And get this - there is a regular garbage truck that drives down the long road that leads here, and actually picks up the garbage of the regular people who live in regular houses on the regular street. But for us... we get the overflowing garbage compactor; that has an opening that is neck-high for me, and you have to heave the garbage up, over, and into. A 6 1/2mo. pregnant woman heaving a filled garbage bag over her head to get it into the compactor... I bet that's an interesting sight! (It also means that I can't just send my son down here to throw the garbage out, like I could if we had a regular dumpster like when we lived in our first apartment.)

It's really just ridiculous how many issues there are with this company... Oh, did I tell you they towed my husband's car a couple weeks ago??? Apparently because it had a flat. My husband's car, which I can't drive anywhere with four kids (it's a Corolla) and he's on deployment so what was I supposed to do? He had it parked on base for the longest time, but brought it home the one Sunday he had before going back on restriction for refusing the anthrax vaccine and then being deployed. I didn't really have a chance to check on it, but the tire wasn't flat when he drove it home obviously (I assume that was the reason because when I picked it up the tire was completely flat). I got a notice in the mail from the towing company, but it was almost a week after it had been towed, because - like the garbage compactor - our mailboxes are all at the entrance and the kids and I had all been very sick all week and hardly able to get out of bed. When I did find out, it was a Friday night, so I had to wait and talk to the manager the next Monday morning. He was very kind and when I had explained the circumstances he cut the amount that I'd have to pay to retrieve it by over $100. Even still, I had no clue how the heck I was going to pick it up from the impound - but my mother graciously came up on short notice and helped me go get the car and get everything taken care of.

As it was though, it ate a big hole in our paycheck. What with that and groceries, and rent... I literally had nothing left. I haven't paid a single bill yet this month (except my insurance which comes out automatically) - and get this, our next paycheck is supposedly only going to be about $126.

I am not kidding.

Back when he refused the vaccine, my husband was threatened with a reduction in rank and a docking of 1/2 months' pay for two months. When he went for his second CO's mast, he was told that the threat was now reality - he was no longer a second class but was reduced to third class, and the fine would be instituted. He tried to get documentation for me to give the manager of our neighborhood to prove his reduction in rank, because that would affect the amount of BAH we were given and also our rent amount. Nobody could find the paperwork anywhere. (Leave it to the Navy to screw up essential paperwork...) I still don't have the paperwork, in fact.

Well, we kept waiting for the fine to show up, and everything pay-wise continued as it was before. Until a few days ago, when I checked his LES. I don't have to tell you that my jaw about hit the floor. Now, first of all, when they fine you it is in the instruction that the fine is supposed to be worded in whole dollar amounts - not fractions of pay like "1/2 of one month's pay for two months". Yet that is exactly how it was worded in the documents we have (the fraction). So right off, that's not right. How am I supposed to budget when I have no idea how much he's going to be getting paid? Do I have to go research what an E4 with his time in service gets paid and then deduct half and figure out the taxes and all myself? And as far as I knew, they're supposed to only take half a paycheck at a time. Not pay you a full check (which is one-half months' pay, since we get paid in the middle and at the end of the month) and then nothing. Or next to nothing. Except that's the problem - according to what my husband found out, the paycheck after that is going to be something like $8 and change. What??? So my husband, along with all his other duties on board ship, is now trying to figure out how and what this is all about, and get it fixed. And I in the meantime am sitting here trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to pay any of my bills, let alone buy basic necessities for the next month.

Oh, and I didn't mention that they're flying him home very soon. Yep, he already signed his discharge papers (can you believe it, they're giving him an Honorable!!! With all the rest of this crap, that is one big shining piece of awesome news!!!) and he'll be home in time for our anniversary! Of course, I have to figure out how I'm going to have enough gas to get him from the airport, and then to work, etc. etc. etc...

One of the other big things about the pay issue is they're not supposed to be allowed to touch our allotments. Things such as BAH. That is something not considered "basic pay" and so isn't supposed to be figured in to the amount being taken. So why and how are they *not* paying us??? Leave it to PSD and they'll screw it up big time. I can't tell you the number of times they've screwed up our pay through the almost 6 years of our marriage... and it always ends up biting us in the rear. Let me tell you, I'd just like to get a hold of the ear of the person who did this and give him/her a piece of my mind. When it comes to something as vital as pay, you'd think the Navy would try to be a little more conscientious and careful - but they screw that up more than anything else that I can think of. We're far from the only ones to have had issues with pay...

Oh, and to top it all off. My husband was told, point blank, that at his check out with the CO, he was "not allowed to mention anything religious i.e God, Jesus or any religious topics."

Excuse me??? Is someone forgetting that the whole reason my husband refused the vaccine was because it violates his religious beliefs??? What country is this my husband dedicated 9 1/2 years to serving???

Flickr Launches Video!!!

2008-04-09T02:07:00.000-06:00

When I first heard flickr was thinking about launching video, I was less than impressed. Like many others, I was afeared they would turn it into another incarnation of YouTube; or that the hordes who already upload *ahem* restricted content as "safe and public" would suddenly find a new playground for their less-than-family friendly video content. I was actually dreading it.

Then over time, the idea started to appeal to me more. A place I could upload the short videos I take (not very often, granted) of my kids outside or whatever. And then I got invited to take part in the secret beta testing phase and I was hooked. I've already found a ton of videos from the others who tested that I adore. And the idea that my husband (who is currently on deployment on a ship out in the Pacific somewhere) would get to watch videos of his children while he's gone - it was a dream come true.

Then I find out today he can't get flash player on the ship's computers, so bummer. :(

But anyway, now everyone *else* can see the videos, including his grandparents and other family members who live across the country, or my mom who lives across the water, or whomever I want to share them with!

Naturally there is a pretty big outcry going on in the Forum, where all sorts of things are being said, faster than I can keep up with. The regular doomsayers and "I'm leaving flickr right now as soon as I get my money back!!!" type of posts of course... but there are at least some sane people in there too. Not all of them are thrilled but at least they've got enough common sense to try to calm the hysteria of the others... though I don't know if it's exactly working. You know, when someone thinks the sky is falling...

Anyway, here is the very first video I uploaded to flickr. I hope you enjoy. :) It isn't very good quality, taken with my P&S back in '05. My daughter and husband having a "conversation" at Chuck E. Cheese's:

And a couple of my other favorite videos from around the flickrsphere:

Narcoleptic Cat - I think this is fast becoming the number 1 most popular flickr video so far. :D

I have a recorder! - a super cool pairing of lightplay, an adorable little one, and awesome editing. :)

Chicken - it's hilarity is it's pointlessness; I mean, it's just funny. Period. Ha!

No Chips For Me

2008-03-29T13:25:00.001-06:00

For the longest time, "chipping" people has been touted as a "safety measure" but I've never bought into that idea. There's been much talk about privacy concerns over the RFID system - which has been used in everything from US Passports, to clothing tags sold in stores; in gas station cards and the FastPay system. And it's exactly the same technology they want to insert into people's bodies, and are already doing so - under the guise of security.

Please.

Winter Soldier II

2008-03-13T14:56:00.001-06:00

Missing Daddy

2008-03-08T21:31:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

Greg left for another at-sea period back in early January. He came home the night of Feb. 14, and went on leave the next day - 13 wonderful days of having him at home all day and night. So obviously I was spending my time with him and the kids rather than on flickr. ;) We got a lot done around here - it was awesome to be able to enjoy the sunshine we had for most of the time he was home, and we got some spring cleaning done, and took the kids out to the park, and just enjoyed actually being together again. Knowing once he went back to work... it would probably be a very very long time till we saw him again.

Because last week, he checked off leave, and onto restriction. See, the day after he reported back, he had his Captain's Mast. For refusing the anthrax vaccine. Not for the usual reasons - most cases we've found have been for objections to the validity of the vaccine, the inherent dangers of the vaccine and the documented side effects, et. al. While we are fully aware of *all* of the controversy surrounding the anthrax vaccine (and other vaccines as well - I read a book back in October, after he had rather unwillingly gotten the small pox one, entitled Vaccinations - Deception and Tragedy and I strongly urge you to read it, especially if you have kids) the reason my husband refused (as well as refusing the flu vaccine) was for religious reasons. To be honest, he felt strongly convicted to refuse the small pox vaccine - he waffled over it and argued with himself over it, but ended up receiving it - and had a very severe reaction. I have yet to find out if the doc Chief used the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to document my husband's problems with it. Starting about a week after he received the vaccine, he began experiencing extreme headaches and nausea. He developed chills and vomiting, and ended up Sick in Quarters for a full day, and in sick bay early the next morning when he nearly passed out in the "head" (ship's bathroom) after taking a shower. His fever nearly reached 104, and he was put on an IV. They nearly medevac'd him off the ship. Kind of a confirmation for him that God had been trying to tell him something. Well, it got his attention.

So as a result of his "disobeying a direct order" to receive the anthrax vaccine, he was put on 10 days restriction and concurrent extra duty, as well as fined 1/2 mos. pay for 2 mos. and reduced one rank. The fine and reduction in rank was suspended for two weeks, presumably to give him time to "reconsider". Which they've been trying to get him to do for weeks and weeks. He told them up front when he refused the flu vaccine that he'd be refusing the anthrax one as well. And of course, using threats and cajoling and whatever means "necessary" they are determined that he will get the vaccine. Even though he submitted a statement outlining his religious First Amendment rights to freedom of expression of religion, stating it was a sincerely held religious belief, etc. etc. etc. But in the Navy, there apparently is no room for religious belief - when it comes to certain agendas. They grant medical exemptions if necessary - but my husband couldn't find one way of even requesting a religious exemption. They tried to find a different excuse to pin this on him - wondering if he were trying to get out of deployment or if he is "afraid" to get the shot.

I can assure you neither is the case. My husband always wanted to get to go over to the Middle East... always wanted to be part of that mission. When he was a submariner, and his brother was serving in the Army in Iraq, that was my husband's biggest regret - that he couldn't be over there as well, helping "do something". Obviously it sucks to go away for months at a time, especially when I'm going to have this baby right in the middle of it all - but he has always wanted to feel a part of the bigger picture and we were fully prepared for him to go on this deployment. As far as being afraid - well I can tell you my husband has no fear about this. What have we to fear? It's not like being in the Navy isn't dangerous anyway. It's not like he's never faced risk - he was a nuke for a few years, and then worked on ICBMs for 5 years, and made several strategic deterrence patrols, as a Missile Tech for heaven's sake! Afraid of a shot? He knows where he'll end up if anything happens to him. I know if anything happens I'll see him again when this is all over, up there. We're not afraid of death or pain or disease or a needle prick.

We are however, afraid of a mighty God who has convicted my husband (and myself) that taking the shot would be wrong. How can he be asked to violate his conscience? Because he took one shot when he knew he shouldn't, even though he asked God's forgiveness, and vowed to not disobey God's voice in the future? How can he violate his own Constitutional right, that he swore to uphold and defend, to the death if necessary? He is risking his life defending everyone else's rights - well he has some too! And he's taking a stand.

Regardless, the Navy is also taking a stand. He signed his second order to receive the shot, today. He is required to get the shot Monday morning, or face another CO Mast. I can guarantee you what his decision will be, come Monday. (Like it's changed.) And he'll possibly be reduced in rate again and eventually discharged under "Other than Honorable" conditions.

Well, if that's what has to happen, that's the risk my husband is willing to take. Because he believes in the Constitution; he believes in his God-given right to follow his conscience and the will of God for him; and we stand with him. They allow people to be conscientious objectors, but they don't allow people to refuse a vaccine based on a religious belief, even though he has a high work standard, has served honorably for over 9 years, and loves his country and is devoted to his duties as a Navy Sailor.

There is something seriously wrong here.

Even through all of the anger and frustration with the whole process that we are going through - it's amazing what God is doing at the same time. We have always wanted and prayed to be people who "live by faith". Yet the Navy has always been our "provider" - both of us were Navy brats; then he joined the Navy right out of high school, and I married him only a year after I lost my dependency status from my father (who was retired by then). So here we are now, not having a clue what is really going to happen - when or if he'll be kicked out, what he's going to do for a job when that happens (even if he's kept in, which might happen, his contract is up next March) and what we're going to do to get through the next couple months. Yet God is faithful, and every single day God confirms in one way or another to both of us (in separate ways) that He is here, watching over us; that we made the right decision, and that He *will* take care of us. I've always admired Hudson Taylor and George Müller for their lives of extreme faith. I've always wanted to have that full dependence upon God. Well, here's our chance! God makes it obvious every day that He is leading us; and while we don't know where to, we are excited for what *will* be. How do you know how strong your faith is? How does your faith get stronger? Only through tests and tribulations - when you're *forced* to rely on God, and only God. People go through it in many different ways - well, this is ours. While we are fighting this battle against the order to receive the vaccine, we also realize that it is in God's hands. And we can only do what we can do, and leave the rest to God. He is ultimately in control, and just like he led the Israelites through the desert while providing them protection and food and water, he will lead us through this.

But I will say it *totally sucks* to have him stuck on the ship while they're in port, and very near deployment. His 10 days will be up Sunday (though somehow the command has it in their minds that it goes *through* Sunday, but somebody counted wrong - I guess they forgot it was leap year?) so he will get to come home and go to church one last time before he presumably gets restricted again on Monday and then leaves sometime later for deployment. If they somehow refuse (which I don't see how they can) to allow him to have his ID card back and leave the ship, we will at least be allowed to see him on the ship - they allow families of those restricted to visit on Sunday. That's when I took this shot - last Sunday when we visited. We were all so happy to spend some time together... even if it's in a tiny ventilated space that smells like diesel and "the ship" (when you've been on one, you'll know what smell I'm talking about. But at least it's not amine - Oooooh amine. The wonderful *cough* smell unique to submarines... that infiltrates everything and never quite goes away...)

There is one other question we have - given that apparently you can't go in "high risk" areas without the vaccine, and my husband really has no choice but to steadfastly refuse it - how can they restrict him to the ship even during that time that they are in those areas? I don't think they can, honestly. Every case I've found they've processed the person off the ship. So who knows. Maybe they won't have him make the entire deployment after all. I don't have a clue. I just know, God has him where he is for a purpose - and he'll be there until that purpose, whatever it is, is fulfilled. And then we'll just follow God's leading wherever He takes us - and we'll do it knowing he did the right thing, he obeyed God when it counted - with no regrets.

Edit: UPDATE:

Monday he had his second CO mast where he was reduced in rank and fined and restricted to the ship for 45 days. Of course, they're deploying much much sooner than that. We have no idea what is going to happen either way; we just know he's not allowed to get off the ship at any point when they're in port during Westpac (unless it's to fly home I guess). And no idea what kind of discharge he'll get either. The Military is just not the Military it used to be, I'll say that. I read a story about a guy in the Coast Guard who refused a vaccine because it was made from a cell line from an aborted baby (you'd be amazed how many vaccines are made this way!) and he was told that his religious belief wasn't sufficient reason to refuse the vaccine. Story here. It's absolutely ridiculous the way the Military treats its servicemembers when it comes to a Christian belief... but the lengths they go to, to accomodate people of other beliefs... it's infuriating.

Silly Southern Song

2008-02-11T13:00:00.002-07:00

Someone on flickr linked to this - it's hilarious, but you probably don't want to listen while you're eating. ;) The quality of the video isn't the best, of course.

Greatly Loved

2007-12-28T00:45:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

Sadly, my parents' boxer Solomon passed on yesterday. He was a part of our lives for many years - since my son was barely talking. He was a rescue dog; someone found him running along a highway when he was about a year old, with a chain dragging behind him. Apparently, he had been continually chained up outside (anyone who knows Boxers knows they're not outside dogs) and escaped more than once. Finally someone called the Boxer Rescue who came and got him before he was run over. It was soon thereafter that he arrived to live with us (I was still living at my mom's at the time).

He was an incredibly sweet dog with a heart full of love to give. Pawing at your leg for a rub, or sliming your jeans while he enthusiastically greeted you, he was always ready to give and get some attention. He loved to play, loved to wrestle, loved to eat, and loved people.

He will be greatly missed.

A Shocking Job

2007-10-22T23:51:00.001-06:00

This is sooo crazy! I don't remember who originally sent me this link, but I love watching the video. I definitely don't recommend this kind of job for those scared of heights... or electricity.

glumbert - High Power Job

One Life, Multiplied

2007-10-21T21:29:00.001-06:00

My husband sent this video to me, after seeing it on ESPN, and after watching it I had to post it here. Make sure to grab the Kleenex.

The Silent Ranks

2007-10-21T14:08:00.001-06:00

I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens.
But I am in the Military in the ranks rarely seen.
I have no rank upon my shoulders. Salutes I do not give.
But the Military world is the place where I live.

I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get.
But my husband is the one who does, this I cannot forget.
I'm not the one who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the line.
But my job is just as tough. I'm the one that's left behind.

My husband is a patriot, a brave and prideful man
And the call to serve his country, not all can understand.
Behind the lines I see the things needed to keep this country free.
My husband makes the sacrifice, but so do our kids and me.

I love the man I married. The Navy is his life.
But I stand among the silent ranks known as the Military Wife.
~Author Unknown

I just want to dedicate this to all the wonderful women I've come to know throughout the Military, who've stood behind and beside their husbands though heartache, separation, good times and bad. It takes strength, fortitude, an amazing amount of patience and grace to do what you do. Together we help each other get through the tough times, and we rejoice together when our men come home. We know the struggles, we laugh at the mishaps (after-the-fact, of course), we give each other advice and a shoulder to lean on. We all know what it's like to have everything fall apart the day our guys leave. Heck, the first time my husband left, my toilet overflowed, a headlight on my car burnt out (and I was stopped by the cops because of it), and a huge spider made it's appearance in our apartment. It never fails - ask any wife. As soon as our guys are on their way, the house falls apart, the kids get sick (every time my husband went out on deployment, my kids came down with something horrible the day before), the car breaks down...

But we live with it, because we have to. We deal with it, because it's our job, our duty. We love our husbands, we support them, we do what we can to make them successful and able to focus on the job they have to do. It's hard and lonesome, but the reunions are more joyful than you can describe. There's nothing like the feeling of seeing your man walking towards you for the first time in so many months. That first kiss... seeing your kids jump into his arms... and knowing that once again, he's made it safely back to you.

So this is to you, the Military Wife. Cheers!

The Military Wife

2007-10-21T00:53:00.001-06:00

The Good Lord was creating a model for Military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said," Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"

The Lord replied," Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both mother and father, be a perfect hostess for four to 40 with an hour notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head. "Six pairs of hands? No way!"

The Lord continued. "Don't worry, we will make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husbands achievements, sustain the pain of separation, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say, "I understand" when she doesn't and "I love you" regardless.

"Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently, "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow."

"I can't stop now," Said the Lord. "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave good-bye to her husband from a pier, a runway or a depot, and understand why it's important that he leave."

The angel circled the model of the Military wife, looked at it closely and sighed.

"It looks fine, but it's too soft."

"She may look soft," replied the Lord, "but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation. "There's a leak," she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. I'm not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model."

The Lord appeared offended at the angel's lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak," he said. "It's a tear."

"A tear? What is it there for?" asked the angel.

The Lord replied, "It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear."

"You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel.

The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn't put it there."

~Author Unknown

A Familiar Sight

2007-10-11T00:58:00.001-06:00

Taken by my husband from the deck of the USS SHOUP, currently in San Francisco for Fleet Week.

That is Treasure Island. No, not that big lump of land on the right. That's YBI, or Yerba Buena Island. It's more to the left... if you squint... kinda see it yet? It's a little flat. ;) That's because Treasure Island is built on landfill. An island of landfill? In the middle of the bay? In an area laced with faults and prone to earthquakes?

Yeah. Not the smartest idea. As they found out in October of 1989. October 17, to be exact. Weird to think we're coming up on 20 years since then!!! Oh wow, do I feel old all of a sudden. Ok, so in a week it will have been 18 years. Since the largest earthquake I've ever personally experienced. Something none of us in the Loma Prieta earthquake will ever forget.

Living on an island made of landfill in an earthquake is an unsettling experience (pardon the pun). Try being stranded in the middle of a body of water for two weeks. With your streets flooded with raw sewage. The air reeking of natural gas. Statues and old building foundations emerging through the ground, long buried from the 1939 World's Fair. No water. No electricity. Cracked walls. Sinking floors.

Scary? Um, yeah. You could say that.

Eventually the sewage was cleaned up. We had lye sprinkled on the streets and sidewalks for weeks after that. My cat ran away, and was gone until almost Halloween. Thankfully, she did come home - almost starved-to-death. They anchored an aircraft carrier out in the bay to provide us with electricity. They brought in porta-potties (one per court... for the occupants of the approx. 24 housing units surrounding that court to use) and water buffaloes, and eventually set up an army tent so we could get showers. They alternated men's days/hours with womens' days/hours. Very odd experience, that.

I lived on Naval Station Treasure Island from Aug. of '89 until late-1995, when they were in the process of closing down the Military bases in the Bay Area. Presidio had already been turned into a park. Oaknoll Naval Hospital was closed. Ships were slowly being transferred from Naval Air Station Alameda to various other ports. My dad was on the Abe Lincoln when it changed homeports to PSNS-Bremerton (now NBK-Bremerton. Though the Lincoln isn't there anymore; it's now stationed at the same base as my husband's ship, in Everett). So right before my 16th birthday, we moved away.

It's so sad to go visit the island now. We were down there a couple years ago to visit my family in the area, and we made a quick stop to drive around the island. It was so weird. No gate guard, for one. Well, there was someone there, but I'm not really sure what his job was. BLDG 1, what used to be the Admin. building, and housed the Treasure Island museum (not to mention was featured as the Nazi airport in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - they hand-painted those Third Reich banners on the celluloid after-the-fact, as the Navy would not allow them to hang Nazi symbols on their building, of course) was completely empty. Well, except for a small SF police office, and the dozens of teenagers in formal wear streaming out of one of the doors.

Most of the houses were fenced off, with strange signs warning people to keep out. Someone was living in my old house. As we drove past, I looked at the trees out back and remembered all the times I'd sat up in those branches, just looking down on the world. Thinking about the time my kitty first started climbing the tree - poor thing, it took her a while to get the hang of it. She actually fell out of it a couple times at first. She was ok. :)

The old NEX was still there, though all boarded up and closed. The fields where we'd had carnivals set up multiple years in a row, were all occupied by tractor-trailers and mobiles.

The old elementary school, where I'd spent so much time rollerblading (I was homeschooled when we moved onto the island, so I'd never gone to school there) was completely dark. No lights on anywhere. The gym, where they filmed a scene from Copycat (and shut it down for a month to do so - which didn't go over too well with the residents) was shut up... and the theater where we'd had our town meetings after the earthquake, gone to USO shows, and seen countless movies... in complete disrepair.

A lot went on those years I lived there. Some good. A lot of bad. But I'll always remember it for what I loved about it. Driving around YBI and over the "pearly bridge" at night, all lit up and leading into one of the most beautiful skylines in the USA. (You know that typical "calendar shot" of the SF-side of the Bay Bridge, shot looking over it into SF? Yeah - that was shot from YBI. I saw that view every time we came home.) Seeing the Embarcadero buildings lit up at Christmastime, looking like huge harmonicas. Driving down the Avenue of the Palms, watching them sway in the ocean breeze blowing in through the Gate - I always said we had the most beautiful driveway in the world. Waking up to the fog so thick you couldn't see the light in your court, or even the wall of the house right outside your front door.

I could go on forever about memories I have of that place. :) Someday, maybe I'll write them all down - just so I can pass them on to my kids, and let them know what it was like before everything changed, and everyone left.

There's only one other person I still keep in touch with, outside my family, who lived there at the same time and watched it all happen. Our next-door neighbor on the island - even though she moved away long after we did (they couldn't kick everybody out at once ;) she only lives a few hours away from us now; so she comes up to visit every once in a while. :)

I know everything changes in life. Nothing can stay the same. But when you're a Navy brat, change is a constant. You're always moving, always making new friends and leaving the old. You don't get a chance to put down roots. You never know what's going to happen next, so you try to hold on to any steady thing you can. For me, as ironic as it seems, it was this flat patch of landfill out in the middle of the bay.

Wish I Could Be There With You...

2007-10-09T00:45:00.001-06:00

For my husband:

This time it's a little harder than it usually is. This time, you're in my old stomping grounds, and I'm not there to share it with you. You floated in through the Gate, underneath that great golden bridge, and into the Bay where I spent some of the most formative years of my life. But I wasn't there to see it. You sailed right past my old home where I had so many different experiences - being in a major earthquake, watching my dad sail by on his way to sea and Somalia, and much more ... but today I wasn't there to wave as you passed.

And when you tied up at the pier, just a few streets down from my favorite place to go as a kid, I wasn't there to greet you.

Many others will get to see you; they will walk around with you inside your ship, see the inner workings of where you spend most of your waking hours, and learn about the day-to-day life of a Navy Sailor. But I won't be in the crowd listening to you speak.

I will be here at home, doing what I do. Loving you, praying for you, taking care of the kids and house, and waiting for you to come home. And wishing I could be there with you...

Sketchy

2007-10-05T11:45:00.001-06:00

Sketchy
Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

This was done at one of those "photobooths" at Chuck E. Cheese's. It's my hubby and me. (He's so hawt.)

I just had to share this old Chuck E. Cheese training video which Todd so kindly directed me to. Kinda scary, but interesting nonetheless. I have to imagine the approach is a little different nowadays.

Gone all Friends & Family

2007-10-01T19:30:00.000-06:00

Yep, I've decided to completely turn all photos of my kids on flickr, to friends/family only. :( Unfortunately, hundreds of stolen-from-flickr photos of kids are showing up in various places 'round the net, most notably on Orkut (google's own social-networking site) and also on MySpace. I'm not as popular as some of the other people who've had photos stolen, but there's also some new to flickr who've had photos taken. The majority of my kids' photos have been f/f for a while now, mostly to protect them from viewing by less-than-savory people, but I've shared some of them with the public; not anymore. To be honest, I'd been considering it anyway. Some of them had showed up in Explore, and been extremely popular - and ended up being misused and reposted by people pulling them through the API. Even though I've had downloading turned off for non-contacts, and 3rd-party API searches turned off, direct feeds were still pulling them and occasionally I'd find them on some odd site I never heard of before. I got major crap from one person after I asked him to remove my photos and let him know he was violating many of the API's TOS, so from now on, I just share with those I trust. Sad, but what else can I do?

Aye, Even Flickr Talks Like the Brethren...

2007-09-19T13:43:00.001-06:00

Aye, Even Flickr Talks Like the Brethren...
Originally uploaded by Look alive swabs! 'Tis FlyButtafly!

Arr! Ahoy scallywags, swabs, and bilge rats - it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day this very day! Aye, all ye scupperly dogs and lubbers watch out or ye might find yersel' keelhauled or kissing the gunner's daughter... if ye're lucky!

Yay! Good News!

2007-09-01T21:32:00.001-06:00

Self-Portrait
Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly

I haven't taken any new SPs for a while, so I decided to use this one from a while ago to share my fun news. :)

When I joined flickr almost three years ago, I would never have expected to be where I am now, as far as photography is concerned. I only joined because I had just started a blog, (sadly not updated very often nowadays - too much time on flickr ;) and it said I could post my photos from flickr to the blog. It didn't take long till I was hooked, and then a few months later I got my first digital camera. Then I learned about Camera Tossing, and posted my very first attempt. It was one of my most popular images on flickr ever - still is in fact - and it was my very first paid-for published photo. (I was interviewed for and it was published in a story about camera tossing in the Washington Post.)

I was also contacted by Jim Dever of Evening Magazine (a local entertainment/news show), to do a segment on my camera tossing. That was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I don't have the video (so kindly recorded for me by KnowWonNose) uploaded anywhere on the 'net - maybe when flickr goes video. ;)

I've also licensed 8 different images for use on ExperienceWA.com, Washington State's tourism website.

And now, I'm gearing up (literally - I have some serious gear to buy) for a wedding this winter! My sister's best friend has asked me to shoot her wedding this December. This will be the first time I've been hired to do photography, and I am so excited. I've long wanted to do photography professionally, and I'm slowly, finally, seeing my dream come to fruition.

Of course, I had to decide on a name for my business, if in fact I wanted to have a business. I wracked my brain, trying to come up with something memorable, pretty, and representative of me in some way. And something that wasn't already in use, obviously. I originally was thinking something like DownyThistle Imagery - I love thistles; the color, the way they look, and they represent my Scottish heritage. But it just didn't seem quite right. Well, one morning, I was driving home from taking my husband to work, and I saw the mist from the Snohomish River hanging in the air over the water and the nearby strawberry fields. Strawberries are a big crop where I live. (I have yet to find a suitable place to pull off I-5 and take a photo of the magical sight; but I'm determined one of these days, before the clouds set in for the next 7 mos., to do so.) As I looked at the scene before me, the name StrawberryMist Photography came to me. So I've decided to go with it.

Of course, without my husband's support and patience, and my kids' tolerance of my camera constantly in their faces, I'd never have gotten this far.

But now, who knows where I'll go from here? :)

"Empire of Blue Water"

2007-05-23T23:54:00.001-06:00

Tall Ship 2
Originally uploaded by Yogi.

I just finished reading a great book by Stephan Talty, so I thought (since I've been meaning to write book reviews every so often and have yet to do one) I'd write some thoughts on it, share my opinion and maybe encourage someone else to read it. Especially with the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies over the past few years, this book should pique some curiosity.

The book's tagline states what it's about:

Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign

It's the true story of the pirates of the Caribbean, and even though I haven't seen one of the movies, I've always been interested in pirate lore and this book does not disappoint. When I bought it, I wanted to be sure this was a historical work, not merely another romanticized novel about pirates and pillaging and burning. I was greatly pleased to find out it is purely historical - but told with the flair of a novelist. The writing style is flowing and captivating, with enough information to make you cringe as the images come to life through his words, but not so graphic that it is unsuitable for older children who might like to know the history of the Brethren of the Coast, and its most famous leader.

Mr. Talty begins his tale by taking you to modern-day Jamaica, away from the tourist spots and directly to the remains of Port Royal, once considered the "Sodom" of the mid-17th century. He intrigues you with his description of the streets that once were busy thoroughfares, now completely underwater; the possibility that Spanish treasure could be lurking just under the silt, for those lucky enough to find it; and the hint of a disaster that in the Brethren's later years, befell that wicked and rich city, and brought it to destruction.

As he tells of young Morgan and how he worked his ranks up to Capt. and then Admiral, he also includes the history of the Hapsburg family of Spain, and weaves information about the war between England and Spain expertly with the happenings half a world away in the waters of Jamaica, Hispaniola, and South America. He creates a character, Roderick, as sort of an amalgum of pirate types, and uses him to illustrate what life was like for the typical sailor/soldier-turned-privateer. Life was raucous and rough for these men; filled with bursts of bloodthirsty violence, torture (common for just about everyone in those days), and raiding; only to head back to Port Royal with riches and glory, and spend their days wiling it away on women of ill repute and various types of alcohol - "Kill Devil" made with molasses, said to be so potent it could do away with Lucifer himself; rumpunchen; fine wines; whatever money could buy. Sooner or later their money would be used up, and they would be ready to go on another raid.

It is incredible some of the feats that Morgan and his men were able to pull off; his brilliance, combined with their savagery and the Spanish time after time underestimating the ability of the Brethren to strategize and adapt to different situations (and being rigidly unable to adapt, themselves), is really what spelled success for the greatly outnumbered privateers. Time after time, the Brethren outsmarted and outfought the Spanish, and conquered city after city, until Morgan's reputation became an almost mystical thing.

His life took many twists and turns, especially throughout his days as Admiral, while Spain and England were trying to negotiate peace. But in the end, he retired a wealthy plantation owner on the island of Jamaica. Unfortunately, his rough life had affected his health, and he became extremely ill and died at a relatively young age. He left everything to his wife, whom he loved dearly, and after her death, to his nephew - as he did not have any heirs of his own.

It was not long after his death, that the city that he had helped to build, was lost... in an event so catastrophic, that I wonder I hadn't known about it before now. And I leave it to you to find out, when you read the book. A very excellent book it is, and I highly recommend it.

Bye, JPG!

2007-05-15T15:32:00.001-06:00

Bye, JPG!
Originally uploaded by FlyButtafly.

Recently, JPG Magazine went through an overhaul. Apparently, Paul, one of the partners at JPGmag, decided to abandon what made it so successful to begin with - along with the magazine's founders Derek and Heather, and the first 6 issues - and rewrote (or more appropriately, erased) the history of the magazine.

I think it's galling, and I can not conceive any rational reason for doing so. There are so many people who've been a part of it from the beginning, and completely disregarding and dishonoring those of us who contributed and were part of a once-great community is going to do nothing but harm the magazine we loved. Good bye JPG, sorry to see you do this to yourself. But if this is how you wanna play, then good riddance.

The real story of JPG
Heather's post
What the 'About' page used to say
The new 'About' page
8020 Publishing's post

I'm just thankful I was able to be a part of the group and magazine way back when - before it decided to sacrifice its parents and feed on itself. I even had a photo published in issue 6, "Oops!" - before they switched gears and went downhill. I guess all I have to say now, is Bye!

Time for a new post? Heh

2007-02-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so part of the reason why I haven't blogged for so long is merely the fact I'd forgotten my password. And then I'd get too busy to blog. And then my flickr account was out of sync with my blog (how the heck did that happen?) and on and on...

So now here I am again, after almost a year, picking up the blog again. I've got so much to write about and so much to share that has happened since April of last year. I have a beautiful new baby girl (who is almost 2 months old, already!) and my husband has orders to a Destroyer, which will be going out to sea in a couple months. He's in school right now, but once he gets home we'll have to move somehow in 15 days. I don't have a clue how this is going to happen, and to be honest, I'm kinda freaking out. Our house is a mess, we have so much stuff that we need to go through and get rid of, and I don't have a clue how to do this. I took a moving class once, when we moved from in-town to on-base, but that was 4 years ago, and we did it ourselves then. We've never had actual movers come and do it. (Well, I did when I was a kid, growing up a Navy brat and all, but not as an adult and a Navy wife!)

So honestly, right now I should be cleaning instead of writing. See, there's always something else I should be doing, which is why my poor blog has been neglected so much. Well, that and I spend way too much time on flickr as well, though even that has gone waaaaaayyyyy down in the last few (well, several) months. During my pregnancy, I was just too tired to get on for long once my husband was done with the computer (he's really into fantasy sports, and sports in general, so the internet is how he keeps up with the lastest info.)... that or I wanted to spend time with him instead. Mostly I'd be on for a little while, while he played Xbox, but even then I had little energy to comment on others' pics. I feel really horrible for neglecting my friends/contacts so much. I don't know why I'm so bad at keeping in touch. I don't hardly email, I don't like talking on the phone (unless it's to my husband), and I don't know... I just - I love having friends, I really like the ones I've made on flickr and all... it's just hard to keep up with everyone. I have only so much energy, and the kids get most of it during the day. At night when I'm not busy with them, I'm usually wanting to just sit and watch something or look around flickr and see if there are any new developments in my groups or such. I haven't even been hardly uploading photos; only very sporadically at best. *sigh*

Well, I'd better get going. I have a dishwasher to empty/fill, and so much other stuff to do. Plus I wanted to have some ice cream tonight. I bought some vanilla/chocolate with chocolate-covered peanuts and ice cream cone pieces, but now I'm craving something minty. Maybe I'll make a milkshake and put some pillow-mints in it. I dunno. Oh wait, we're out of milk. Have to go to Central Market tomorrow. Darnit.

Oh, and tomorrow's the super bowl, too. Bears vs. Indy. Wonder who'll win? I'm not really rooting for either team. Neither are my team. So I'll just watch, and hopefully see some cool commercials (the quality/creativity of those have seemingly gone down as the years have passed though - or maybe we're just so used to all the special effects/computer animation that nothing grabs us anymore. Oh well. What a bunch of jaded people, huh?

Well, I'm off. Hopefully I'll get some rest tonight and be able to get up earlier tomorrow. G'night! (I'll post some pics later; flickr is offline for some server upgrades or something).

He is Risen! (Matthew 28:1-20)

2006-04-17T12:32:00.000-06:00

Photo by FlyButtafly.

Just wanted to wish a Happy Easter to everyone. :) I hope you all had a blessed day. I know it's a day late for this post (and a while since my last posting) but when your hope is in the Lord, you celebrate Easter every day! :D

I've yet to upload the pics from yesterday; we went to my mom's house for lunch, and the kids did little Easter egg hunts around her house. It was a lot of fun. And no arguments! (a minor miracle) ;)

Anyway, we (husband and I) have been planning on watching The Passion since Saturday night, in remembrance of the crucifixion/celebration of Easter, and we've yet to do it; tonight finally I think we will. It's a hard thing to watch - I always end up soaked with tears at the end... but that's not a bad thing. For me, having grown up in the faith and knowing the story since I can remember, watching that movie has brought the pain and reality of His sacrifice home to me more than anything else. Seeing it reenacted like it is in the movie is just so incredibly powerful... and I sit there thinking, He did this for me?!? That's how much *I* mean to Him??? How is that possible? I know I'm not worthy of that kind of Love... and yet He gives it freely! Isn't that amazing?? And it's for everyone! The parts that strike me the most in the deepest part of my heart (and what makes it *so* painful especially) are the parts where He interacts with His mother - and when she sees Him stumble as He carries the cross, and remembers Him falling as a child... I'm tearing up now, thinking about it. I can't imagine a more horrible thing to go through as a mother, than seeing your child in pain... and when there's nothing you can do it's even worse. How did she stand it? My heart is ripped out just thinking of it. And His pain... not just the unbearable physical pain, but the emotional pain He must have been going through as well. Seeing His mother, His friends, everyone who was mourning - He must have hurt for their pain as well. And the pain of knowing that their hope was fading; that they didn't understand that this wasn't the end... but merely the Beginning! Their blindness to the reality of what had to happen and the joy that was to come... and then the ultimate suffering - when the full weight of Sin came to bear upon His shoulders, and with that, the breaking of communion with God - the separation, the abandonment of His Father... being made desolate, completely forsaken - in that instant, He took *my* place and stood in for *me* so that I would no longer be separated from that relationship with God. When Jesus died, He took the weight of the world's sin with Him... and when He was laid in the tomb, it was also buried - for good.

Of course, none of this would mean anything if Jesus had not gloriously arisen those 3 days later! But He did - and He left the sin and separation and pain behind in the earth. Which means we don't have to carry it with us anymore! It's already been paid for. We've been redeemed from death!! We will never be forsaken, because Jesus already was *for* us. Now we can have the same relationship with God that Jesus does, because we come to Him in Jesus' name. Isn't that amazing?? We can be called the children of GOD!! Not acquaintances, or even friends - but children. That means we are part of His family. We get all the benefits that comes with being an heir - to His Kingdom! I know phrases can get tired, after being used so often - but if you just stop and think what significance that phrase really holds... being "joint heirs" with Christ... it's mind-blowing. We get the same priveleges - we can talk directly to God - we don't have to go through ceremonies or cleansings or through other people. We don't have to chant or do any sort of ritual, we don't have to be perfect or sinless or even "good" - we can come to God, and speak directly to Him *as we are, right now* - and the best part is, He loves us *as we are, right now* - we don't have to do anything to earn that. He already loves us. No matter what. How can you refuse a Love like that? People let you down all the time. They're unfaithful, changeable, liars, cheaters, deceivers, gossipers, backstabbers... and even your closest friends hurt you and disappoint you and don't always understand or can be there for you. But that's not true with God. He is *always* there, He understands, and He will never let you down. He is faithful and trustworthy and He is the only being that is capable of (and offers freely) true unconditional love. All He asks is that you accept His Love. It says in the Bible, that He stands at the door and knocks. All you do is let Him in. Sometimes it seems hard to open that door; there might be things you don't want Him to see... but you know, He already sees it; and He loves you anyway. He's still there, waiting to be asked in. He didn't come to condemn you, (John 3:17) but to save you from unnecessary suffering - He already went through the pain and separation and abandonment so you don't ever have to be alone again!! Won't you take His offer? He loves each of us more than we could even fathom. I know how much I love my children... and He loves us like that; only inconceivably more so! Incredible, isn't it?

Camera-Tossing for the (TV) Camera

2006-03-18T13:15:00.001-07:00

Photo by FlyButtafly (formerly TaGurit).

So if you're thinking what I think you might be thinking ;) - yeah, that's Jim Dever from Evening Magazine. Ok, well you're probably only thinking it if you happen to live in WA (western Washington at that) and tune in to channel 5 at 7pm on weeknights.
Edit: I just realized it also airs on NW Cable News at 9pm on weeknights - I don't have cable, so I didn't know. I apologize. :)

Anyway, it's a great show, and Jim usually does the more entertaining bits - whether it's breakdancing or bobsledding or anything in between. Well, he contacted me recently to help with a story on camera tossing. (Ok, well - an interview anyway, and to throw the cameras around.) We met up the 14th (of this month) in Evergreen Park in Bremerton, and he did a filmed interview with me and then we did some tossing.

How'd the interview go? Well, I'll just say I do much better when I'm scripted and on-stage. *Acting* as someone else in front of people is so much easier than just being myself and thinking on my feet. ;) I'll never be one of those impromptu actors who ad lib all over the place and are complete geniuses when they do so (not to imply I was acting... but it's just to illustrate the fact that I have to sit and think to come up with *good* stuff usually). I can write stuff, and I can recite stuff, and I can come up with sarcastic one-liners and stuff like that... but when it comes to just being me in front of a camera, I geek it all up. I just know when this airs I'm going to be just shaking my head at myself, going - did I have to say it that way? Oh it would've been so much better if I'd done/said this rather than that... and on and on. We're always our own worst critics though, aren't we? ;)

Jim was really cool though, and I never felt ill at ease. He seems like a regular guy (albeit one on TV every weeknight ;) who just has a really fun job and a hilarious sense of humor (and of course, he is one of those who can just come up with stuff right off the top of his head. Gosh I hope I didn't screw any footage up for him...)

As far as the tossing goes - we had a lot of fun with that. :) I tossed it for a while, while they shot from all different angles (well, Jim didn't shoot it obviously - Tim, the camera-man did all of that) and I tossed a couple different cameras. Got my first-ever injury (minus the bumps on the head from my little dearly-deceased P&S that I used to bounce around in the van while we were on the road) that day:

A camera that I was borrowing has little metal triangle-ish shaped loops on the sides for a strap. Well, I never toss with a strap (it gets in the way) and anyway, I somehow got sliced with one of the loops when I caught it. I hadn't even noticed until I was picking up my stuff so they could shoot in a different part of the park - I looked down and saw blood on my hand, and it was all over the pocket of my jeans too. Ouch! It's still there (on my hand, that is) and still sore, too. *Recommendation: Don't toss cameras that have little metal protruding things.*

Jim did great for a first-time tosser (I already know about the whole British slang term, so don't even go there ;) and only dropped it, um... a *few* times.

I even dropped mine (oops!) once... but only in the tanbark, so it was all good.*Recommendation: Until you're used to the way your camera handles in the air, practice tossing over soft surfaces!*

I had my new camera with me, and used it for the first tosses, but unfortunately I only have a 32mb memory card, so I wasn't able to get many images (I used to have a 512mb card... Goshdurnit, I just can't find it anywhere!) Here's a few I got:

Not spectacular, but the lighting conditions were unfortunately not the best for tossing that day. And I still hadn't gotten used to my camera, (I hadn't even read the manual yet!) so, well... And no, I'm not just making excuses! ;) (Seriously, lighting has a big role in how tosses come out. Too much light, and the shutter shuts too fast, or the image picks up too much light and it's all washed out.) Oh well. :) I did recently upload some tosses from my archives (I've got over 600 on my hard drive) that were from my old P&S though. Here's a sampling:

(click on any photo to see it in larger size)

I'll be posting a tutorial later, for those interested in trying themselves, along with a review for each of the cameras I've used so far. (Just so you know, I've only used Olympus - I just love their usability, versatility, ergonomics and - heck, everything!) :)

disclaimer: Please don't think I'm overstating my importance. I know it's just going to be a short piece, and everything - but heck, I'm still excited. :) And I know I'll enjoy it, however they put it together.
Thanks Jim, for the fun time and the opportunity to spread the word in WA about camera tossing. ;)

Alive

2006-03-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Photo by wrhowell (cc)BY-SA.

You know how you see those "Click-it or Ticket" signs everywhere, or the "Buckle up. It could save your life" slogans... and you kind of roll your eyes going Yeah yeah, I know...

And you still drive on, seatbelt hanging loosely beside you. It won't happen to me you think. I'm a safe driver, or whatever other excuse you use not to buckle up. C'mon, I know you're out there; I've seen you! Driving around while your kids are climbing all over the backseat... the baby sitting on someone's lap... the dog sitting with his paws on the steering wheel... Seriously - what are you thinking???

Well thankfully, the people who were in the car above weren't like that. They played it safe - and because of it, they're alive today to tell about it. (click on the photo to read their story) You know, wrecks do happen to good drivers through no fault of their own. You never know when someone's going to swerve into oncoming traffic right in front of you... or when something's going to fall off a truck and slam into your windshield... or any number of other scenarios. But when it happens, will you be ready? Will your children be secured? Or will everybody be thrown around the inside of the car like a bunch of rag dolls, possibly even ejected through a solid glass window to land on the median or even be crushed by the car as it rolls over on top of them? It's not inconceivable you know. It happens every day. According to CarAccidents.net, "Car accidents are currently the number one killer of people ages 1 to 37. About 1 in 30 young drivers will be injured in an accident each year. Young drivers are four times more likely to die in car accidents and are much more prone to speed, drive recklessly, not wear their seat belts and drink and drive than middle-aged drivers." And when they're speeding and drinking and driving, don't think they won't encounter you on the road minding your own business, driving along to your mother-in-laws house for dinner... or as you go to work in the morning, you won't meet the exhausted night-shift worker on his way home, who just happened to nod off for a brief moment before drifting directly into your path of travel...

Some more info. from CarAccidents.net:

-About 26% of drivers have been involved in a car crash in the last five years.

-There were 17,419 alcohol-related fatalities in 2002.

-More than half the fatalities reported --59%--were not wearing seatbelts.

-Deaths from rollover crashes totaled 82%.

Meet Shannon's Jeep. Or what's left of it I should say. Looks pretty bad, doesn't it. Wanna know what caused something so horrific-looking? It was this:

A sofa. Not much left of it is there? Fell off the back of a truck... and caused the accident you see above. But guess what? She was wearing her seatbelt. And she's still alive. You can bet those photos wouldn't be telling the same story if she'd not decided to buckle up, like so many other people...

Why all of a sudden did I decide to write about wearing your seatbelt? Did I know any of the people involved in the accidents above? Do I ever *not* buckle my seatbelt? Nope... none of those. Actually, what got me thinking was an email my husband got from the Executive Officer (XO) of his command (SWFPAC). It's being passed around the Naval community and beyond - but it was written by the Commanding Officer of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, GA. Because, lo and behold, he got into an accident recently. And his car flipped. And he was wearing his seatbelt... and it saved his life. Here's the email (I've left the forwards intact so you can see how it's making its way around the Navy (additional messages in italics, original message in bold):

"-----Original Message-----
From: Armstrong, Thomas CDR
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 7:23 AM
To: SPB All Civilians; SPB All Military
Subject: FW: SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES

Pls take a moment and read Captain McKinnon's (CO Subase Kings Bay) email below. It can happen anytime, be safe.

r/

CDR Tom Armstrong
SWFPAC Executive Officer
INVICTUS MANEO

-----Original Message-----
From: Tomlinson, David L CW04 NAVSAFECEN, 41
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 6:58 AM
Subject: FW: SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES

FWDing... Happens everyday! Keep alert!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mayer, George E RADM NAVSAFECEN, 00
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 8:31
To: NRFK_SAFE_All_Hands
Subject: FW: SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES

All,
Take a couple of minutes to read the email below. Feel free to fwd to your families, friends, and contacts.
R,
RADM Mayer

-----Original Message-----
From: Boensel, Mark S RDML CNRSE
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 16:38
To: Mayer, George E RADM NAVSAFECEN, 00
Cc: Conway, Bob T VADM CNIC; Cohoon, John CAPT CNI HQ
Subject: FW: SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES

Admiral,
Below just came in from CAPT Mike Mckinnon, CO of NSB Kings Bay - an incredible but true story of part of his day today. Thankfully, he
practiced what we all preach about using our seat belts. Great object lesson on being ready, because you never know what's going to happen.
I'm pretty certain that he doesn't mind me sharing his experience.
V/R, Benz

-----Original Message-----
From: Mckinnon, Mike Capt SUBASE CM
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 15:53
Subject: SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES

All,

Just want to pass this along. If you think nothing will ever happen to you, think again.

At 12:06 this afternoon I was driving down GA state highway 15 returning from my trip in Athens, GA. What a beautiful day, perfect visibility, perfect road conditions. At this point, the road is two lane (one lane north, one lane south) with the speed limit 55 mph.

I'm minding my own business, driving south about 60 mph, traveling in my Saturn. A white truck, 80s model, is heading north. Less than a tenth of a mile away, the truck runs into his shoulder and overcorrects. He is now in the southbound lane. I'm braking hard (fortunately, the brakesI didn't lock). I'm certainly not moving into his lane because I know that is where he will be trying to go, so I go into the shoulder on my side of the road. Fortunately we pass, but just as that happens, my
car starts spinning in the grass as I was continuing to brake. At this point the cars gets sideways and re-enters the road. Tires just don't work well when the car is traveling perpendicular to the way a tire is
supposed to roll! As a result, the car flips over one to two times and settles on the driver's side over in the northbound shoulder.

I'm alive (getting very sore now) because I had my seat belt on. Remember the video I sent to all of you about the guy who fell asleep and then lost control of the car. As the car rolled he ended in the
back seat partially out of the window....crushed from the car. You've seen it during our safety stand-downs. Everything in my front seat was
in the back seat except me!

Some people say you see your life flash before your eyes when stuff like this happens. I'm confident of what will happen in my afterlife so I didn't see my life play over in fast forward. I just saw that video
being played over in my mind and simply thought, "Lord, I hope the seat belt does the trick!" I'll let you decide if it was answered prayer, the seatbelt or both!

Well, I'm looking at my totaled car at the body shop while my wonderful wife is on the way to pick me up. I know one reason that I'm alive is because I had my seatbelt on. There were no increased risk factors that led to this accident (alcohol, late at night, tired, excessive speed, car in poor condition, etc.). It just happened.....sometimes bad things
happen without explanation. I'd like to think that because I walk the talk with what we've preached to you day-in, day-out, about driving safety, I'm walking away from this accident today.

Folks that stopped thought this was going to be real ugly....they were amazed....no cuts, no problem walking.....many told me that they thought I'd be dead....that I was lucky to be alive.

I have much to be thankful for!

Skipper

PS - the guy in the truck who ran me off the road didn't stop....the two folks behind me who saw it happen did and helped me out of the passenger
side window. Fortunately the car didn't go up in flames...it was still running when it stopped rolling and I realized I was OK!

BUCKLE UP!!!!! It really makes a difference!
Mike McKinnon
CAPT, USN
Commanding Officer
SUBASE Kings Bay

-------

Reading that email really hit me. I've always been an advocate of seat belt use, and been amazed when I see people so blatantly ignoring one of the easiest ways to prevent/minimize injury in an accident. You are not invincible! You can get hurt! And so can your kids/friends/coworkers... even your pets! Forget whether it's the law or not. Forget whether it's inconvenient, or uncomfortable (and if it's uncomfortable, you're probably wearing it wrong anyway!) or you're just in too much of a hurry. Do you think any of that is going to matter when you're in a halo, with screws in your head to keep you from moving? Or when your kids are in a coma with wires and tubes sticking out of their bodies and a machine keeping them alive? Or when you're at your friend's funeral, or they're at yours? It happens people!!! Wake up - and Buckle up! It could be you, next!

Jeep and sofa photos: ©happysq (used with permission)

Craziness

2006-02-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Photo by FlyButtafly (formerly TaGurit).

I loved going to the destruction derby last year. We only made it to the finale (one of those things where you keep saying you'll make it to one, and before you know it, there's only one left...) but man was it awesome. My kids loved it, and so did I.

This was a shot from one of the Rollovers. I uploaded a set specifically meant to be viewed as a slideshow - so you can get kind of an idea of what it was like. (Set it to 1 second - that's the fastest it can go - and a tip, it works better the second time through, due to caching. Also, I haven't uploaded - as of this post - all the rollovers yet, but I'm in the process of adding to the set. So check back in periodically.)

My son absolutely loved everything about the "redneck rodeo" - from the rollovers (he screamed and laughed every time one of the cars flipped) to the races themselves:

It's definitely an experience if you've never been to one before. The adrenaline starts flowing as soon as you hear the engines roaring, and doesn't stop till hours after you've left and gone home. I was a bit unprepared for the dirt clods that came flying up at us during various parts; that mesh fence all the photos are taken through was supposed to protect you from that... but some made it over anyhow; and some big ones at that! By the time we left, we had dirt clumps in our hair, on our clothes, and the grandstands were covered too. We didn't get to stay for the entire thing; we had our girls with us too, and they were getting tired. I can't wait until the next season starts in May!

Memories of California

2005-12-04T17:04:00.001-07:00

Photo by TaGurit(SS/NB) ><>.

Wow, this was a long time ago. Hard to believe it was 6 1/2 years ago. I was only 19 here (that's me, sitting front and center) and a new mom. My cousins (going counter-clockwise from the left) were 16, 16, and I think 14. You wouldn't know it just from looking... the gals in my family always look older than they are as teenagers... then we seem to get stuck there as we get older. I'm 26 now, but people still think I'm in high school at times... or more commonly just out. You wouldn't believe the way people treat me or the things they say to me when they don't know how old I really am. And then they find out and boy, are they surprised. I think that's why the doctors I take my children to also treat me like a young näive girl who doesn't know much about health care. Little do they know how much or how long I've read up on medical advances, general information, or issues pertaining to my family's particular medical history/problems. I could go on a rant about that itself for hours... but I'll save it for later. Got a pizza in the oven right now, husband's watching the Chiefs and Broncos game (go Chiefs!) and girls need a nap. Poor son is trying to interact with daddy, but *someone* gets really absorbed while the game is on... so I need to get off the computer and find something for him to do until the pizza's done.

Some other photos from when I was younger...

I was 15 here, I think. At the Alameda County fair with my sister and cousins.

I know I was 15 here. A friend of mine, his name was Jerry Ehlers, took this without my knowledge. I was helping him with a project for his photography class, and he said he needed me to stand there so he could get the right focus. Well, he took this surreptitiously while looking through the viewfinder. I was utterly surprised when he presented us with the 8x10 print.

Tthis one was taken during the same trip as the Gun-toting Girl Gang one. The border is hideous, I know. My mom had Microsoft PicureIt! Publishing, and it was a horrible program. Plus, I had horrible skills - so it came out horribly. ;) But man - we had fun. We'd gone to Raging Waters, and we were sunburned and tired.

Man - this is what I looked like 8mos. after having my son. I didn't look like this after having my daughter. It sure makes a difference when you're working as a lifeguard, in the water for at least 2 hours a day, working for around 35 hours a week... vs. being a stay-at-home mom, in a mold-infested apartment where you struggle just to take a full breath. (The apartment we moved into after I got married, had black mold all over the inside of the bathroom - and it spread over the entire apartment. When we moved out, we found black mold had completely grown through our bathroom wall into our bedroom [they had a common wall] and we had to throw out a bunch of stuff - and use rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide on a bunch of others - because mold had grown on them. Wherever anything had been up against a wall, the wall was moldy and the back of the furniture had mold on it. The entire time I lived there, which was when I got married in May '04 and got pregnant, till the end of Dec. '04, I had severe asthma problems. I lived off of my inhaler - and didn't take a deep breath the entire 8 mos. I was constantly wheezing, and couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time. My blood pressure was sky high the whole pregnancy - about 30pts higher than normal [and even when I was pregnant with my other 2 it's been low.] That place was horrible. Oh, it was the Outlook Apartments on Ridgetop in Silverdale, if you were wondering. DON'T RENT THERE - EVER!!!)

This one was when my daughter - that I'd had the hard pregnancy with - was 5mos. old, on my first trip to Cali since I was 19. Look a bit different, huh. :) The photo is with my beautiful Great-Grandma Foster. She is the sweetest, funniest, fun-loving woman I've ever known. Most of our family is crazy - but she's just a whole lotta fun.

And how do I look now?

;P

Baby, it's Cold Outside!!

2005-12-01T01:42:00.001-07:00

Lately we have had some cold weather!! The other night, when I took this, everything was frozen over. I walked outside to get some photos, and the entire ground was covered in tiny sparkles, like it had been sprinkled with glitter or diamond dust. It was so cold, the air was almost painful to breathe.

I wish I could show how everything glittered. There was a thick white coating over everything, and the edges of leaves and blades of grass looked like they had been frosted. One of my flickrite friends who lives in Western WA also, took this amazing macro of a leaf he found:

I've been hoping for some winter weather; we were supposed to get a bunch of snow the other night according to the National Weather Service's Seattle office... and it did actually snow a little. I went out and took some photos while I could; like this one, using a long exposure and flash

and this one looking straight up at the sky with my flash.

I have more, but they're still sitting on my computer waiting for me to go through them.

I really wish we'd get some good winter weather now. It's been nice to get all snuggly in warm coats and scarves and hats. After a long, hot summer, I was actually looking forward to this. Even though there are parts of winter I dislike (mostly after it's been around for a good while, and especially when it consists of nothing more than grey skies and rain) there are many things I love about winter. I love when it snows. I mean, how fun is it to watch the soft white flakes fall from the sky? If you sit there long enough, you can almost get dizzy from it. And the snow covers everything like a soft blanket, hiding the ugliness of the earth and mud and smoothing the jagged edges of rocks and sticks. Kind of like what God does for us, when we come to Him... smoothes out our rough edges, and covers up our ugliness with His beauty.

I can't wait to see what we get tomorrow. According (once again) to the NWS-Seattle we've got a "Winter Storm Watch" for Thursday. Doesn't sound like much though:
"...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM PST THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING..

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE PUGET SOUND AREA FROM 7 AM PST THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING.

RAIN AND SNOW WILL BEGIN THURSDAY MORNING AND CHANGE TO MOSTLY SNOW BY AFTERNOON. ONE TO THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE
DAY...WITH ANOTHER INCH OR SO POSSIBLE THURSDAY EVENING. SOUTH WIND IN THE EVENING WILL WARM THE AIR ENOUGH TO CHANGE ANY
PRECIPITATION TO RAIN.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SEVERE WINTER WEATHER."

We had a Severe Winter Weather (or something like that) warning for the other night, and it only snowed for a couple hours... and then a bit more in the morning when my husband left for work. By the time I got up though, all the snow was melted, and it was clear and sunny all that day. (Which, I think, was yesterday. ;) So who knows. I've heard that the chance the forecast is accurate is something like 48% (or maybe it's 52%) - so it's not like I'm holding my breath. But I can still hope, right? ;)

You can be sure if we do get snow, I'll be right there with my camera, snapping away! And hopefully this time my kids'll get to play in it. They were really looking forward to building a snowman... this time, I hope they can.

My first video post - here's hoping!

2005-11-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to try vimeo.com, since I've not figured out how else to upload clips to my blog. If anyone can help me there (with the whole uploading thing - or maybe I should just do a search on blogger ;) I'd so appreciate it!

Anyways, I'll consider this my test-post. We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for my son's 7th birthday last night (it wasn't his birthday last night, but we weren't able to go the day of) and my youngest and husband were goofing around. Here is the evidence of their goofiness. ;)

edit: Anyone able to see the video? I sure can't. I wasn't able to earlier either, here or on vimeo. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with them, since it appears that nothing works over there right now... if I can figure out how to delete my account over there maybe I'll check back in with them in a couple years. :) I'll give it another day, to see if the video appears (their forum has a topic on this very issue dating back 3 weeks with no response from the creator. A second thread about the same issue stated it had been fixed about 12 days ago.. but since then, nothing. Who knows?) but I'm not planning on sticking it out very long. I'm way too busy managing my photos on flickr (which btw is having a massage right now, since something broke big time over there, it seems!!) and taking photos, and everything. Plus, now that I've sorta figured out one way of loading my clips into my iMac, I'll be trying out iMovie and see what I come up with. Or at least, iDVD and create some fun stuff. Oh well...

edit#2: I deleted the video and the info. on my profile, and I'm trying to decide whether to email the creator "Jakob" or just forget the whole thing, period. It never worked for me, and the help just doesn't cut it. I understand they're in their early stages, but I guess right now I just don't have the patience to deal with it. What's the point, if I can't even use it, at all?? So, forget vimeo. If anything, I'll just look elsewhere. Or see if .Mac allows videos...

Camera-Toss: 1st Attempt

2005-10-21T12:21:00.000-06:00

Yes, I've joined the ranks of Camera Tossers. :) Funny, I don't remember how I came across the group, but a couple days after I joined, they got FlickrBlogged and apparently popularity has just skyrocketed. Funny, I still hadn't tossed my camera yet... until about 5 days ago. All of a sudden, I thought - hey, why not just "do it" - so I did, in my living room. Turned the setting to "Night Shots" (long exposure) and turned off the flash, then just started hitting the button and tossing the cam. This was a shot from among my first attempts.

I cannot believe how popular this shot is. In the 4 days since I've posted it, it has surpassed my previously most-viewed photo (below) by almost 1000 views!!

And it has been faved almost as many times! I am so continually amazed. I mean, I like the shot too... but I never expected this to be so popular, considering the rest of my photostream photos stay around the low hundreds at most. But the rest of my CameraToss photos have also surpassed that mark within a couple days. Maybe it's just the idea of someone tossing their camera being such a novelty? Who knows. But I don't mind. :) It's sure alot of fun... as long as you don't drop the camera on its' way down!

More Waterful stuff, and Six Word Stories

2005-10-05T14:07:00.001-06:00

I finally decided to try out some more high-speed shots of water - and look what I got! I'm so proud of this one. It was pretty hard to get it just right - but I love how the entire stream was captured in the frame, with that little droplet on the end. :) Check out the other photos in my Waterful set for some other shots I'm really proud of. :)

Another fun thing I've been doing lately is Six Word Story which is a whole lotta fun! Trying to come up with some kind of title or caption containing only 6 words, and tellling some kind of story about/within the photograph is quite a creative challenge. So far, I've only done 2 - this one ("In defense, the fish spewed venom") and another one

Oh no! We're having another earthquake!!"

I need to go through some of my old pics and see what I can come up with - both of those are new, but I'm sure I can find some old goodies and add something! At least, I hope so!

My Squircle Obsession

2005-09-29T02:27:00.000-06:00

Photo by formerly TaGurit.

Yes, I admit, I am a Squircaholic. WHAT?? you say. Yes, I'm addicted to squircling. SQUIRCLING?? you ask. What the heck is a squircle?

In short, it's a squared circle. :) Now, before we get off on an existential tangent trying to figure out just what "squared circle" really means, I'll tell you. It is simply, a perfect circle, contained within/framed by a perfect square. That's all.

At first, I thought - ok, what's the big deal? I totally didn't get why so many people were obsessed with this whole squircle thing. A circle in a square? C'mon! How difficult could that be? And how boring and common the shots probably are. Right? Well, partly. Yes, it's easy to create a squircle (though you'd be amazed at how many people in the group post photos that are nowhere near the stated guidelines) and yes, there are tons of manhole covers, mirrors, bowls, and balls but there's also all kinds of great unusual creative ones in there too! To be honest, it really just kind of hit me one day. I began to notice circles all around me, thinking "Hey, I bet that'd make a cool squircle" and stuff like that. And so began my obsession.

Now, I won't say it's an everyday thing - I'm not constantly taking photos of everything circular to crop a square around it. Nor am I particularly scouting for things which could fit the criteria (though I did for a little while at the beginning) - but there are times when the inspiration hits and I begin once again to see potential squircles all around me. Is there help for someone like me? Would I want/need help? Just because I go around snapping 10-15 shots of the same thing to get the circle "just right" does that mean I need intervention? ;) Nah... I'm not even close to the level some have reached - like the submissions by Leo L30: 2378 in all - and I bet he's got even more lurking on his home computer :) Now, that's impressive! I don't think I'll ever reach a spot in the top posters, but that's ok. I'm happy in my obscurity. I do it cuz I like it. And that's the way it should be. :)

At the Fair

2005-09-21T15:08:00.001-06:00

Well, the Puyallup Fair's been going on for a while, and we just went this past weekend (on Sat. and again on Monday - the ride braceletes weren't for sale on the weekend, and we'd promised the kids rides - at $17.50 for a bracelet, that's less than 5 rides-worth [$4 just for a kiddie ride??? That's insane!!] so it pays for itself pretty quick.)

It was alot of fun. Saturday we just walked around mostly. We looked at the animals, and I took the kids in the petting area. There were pygmy goats (whose coats are extremely soft!!!) and sheep, and a little tiny baby bunny only 2 (or was it 6? I don't remember ;) weeks old. So soft you could barely feel it. So sweet. My 2yr old loved it. We took them on one ride each that day; Greg went on the bears (you sit inside them and they spin... I get all nauseated nowadays on those - after being pregnant with my oldest girl, my equilibrium seems all messed up - I can't even swing on swings for very long!) with our oldest girl, and I went on the swings with the son. Gregoreo (my nickname for the hubs) took the kids on the train - it winds around the kiddie area, and goes thru a short tunnel - the kids absolutely loved it! He took some great shots too, but I've yet to upload them... will soon. He was reluctant to take them (he's not big on non-thrill rides) but I convinced him that their enjoyment of it would be the rewarding part... and when they came back, he had a big ol' smile on his face and said that he'd had fun. I was so glad.

So Monday was a rough day in general, but we did have fun at the fair. 'Specially the kids. The 2yr old went down the Giant slide for the first time (in between my legs of course - you can't hold them on your lap; it's a safety issue) and the son went down by himself for the first time. What a big boy he's getting to be! Almost 7yrs old... and over 4ft tall!! I got to take them on the train that night (I'd gotten a bracelet too - Greg wanted me to rather than him... he had fun with the baby though :) and the kids went on all sorts of other stuff. Near the end of the night, Bryant reeeeally wanted to go on the huge Ferris Wheel; pictured here. He's asked to go every year - and so this time we actually got to go! I'm not fond of big slow-moving high rides that you're not exactly strapped into (this one you sit in a basket that hangs underneath the arm) - I prefer fast high scary thrill rides (the scary part is tolerable because you're strapped in and it moves so fast you don't really have time to ponder how high you really are - except at the beginning... whereas the slow ones are scary because you know exactly how high you are the entire time)

Bryant loved it though... and after a minute or two I enjoyed it as well. I'm really glad for him that he got to go... :)

After that, we ran to the swings before the bracelet expired, and flew around in the cold night air... then found my hubs and the girls - and went home. Fun, fun.

Finally, Again!

2005-09-20T14:08:00.001-06:00

Well I finally dyed my hair again. I first dyed it when I was 19; using the Special Effects brand, Atomic Pink color. Man I loved it. I did it the night I went to a Battle of the Bands, on Bainbridge Island; to support a friend's band (no longer in existence, sadly - the band I mean. It was called Dred.) It was so much fun...

Anywayz, I've dyed it a few times since then, mostly darker colors (burgundy, dark/bright red) but I've always wanted to go back to pink. Except Hot Topic didn't carry the Atomic pink anymore.. only a couple lighter pinks and one more of a purple color. But when I went in a little while ago, I found it!!! So I snapped it up, and a few nights ago finally took the time to bleach (but ran out- I've got so much hair!! So the blonde is a little uneven) and color. The only problem is... my hair grows so fast, i'm already seeing a tiny bit of roots!!! Ack! And the unfortunate thing is, the pink is only a semi-permanent... so it washes out with every shampoo (and turns the entire shower pink!) But it's fun while it lasts... and I've got a huge bottle of the stuff, so when it does start to fade, I can re-do it easily.

I just love having pink hair! I feel like "myself." :)

What's my sister doing?

2005-09-09T17:11:00.000-06:00

Photo by formerly TaGurit.

What a sweet big sister she is. My oldest daughter just loves to play with her sister, and she loves to be a big girl. The other day, we went to the park, and while I was helping my mom get Aidan into his swing (he's my little brother - 8 mos. younger than my youngest) I turned and saw Rose getting ready to push Carlon. She did a good job too! They had alot of fun, and I am so glad I captured it on "film." It's definitely something I want to remember.

I'd Say So!

2005-09-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

Photo by Katie Bug.

Yep, pretty much sums it up! Craziness no? 'Round here it's still 'bout $2.89/gal for the basic 87 octane, but I heard it's closer to $5/gal in Atlanta - and elsewhere over $3. My mom was saying something about prices going up 65¢ by this weekend - if that happens, Greg's gonna hafta start taking the bus to work - and we won't be making any long-distance drives in the near future. Too bad we have to drive to get anywhere in town - one disadvantage of living on an enclosed base. Ah well. Funny though, you'd think gas would be cheaper here on-base... but it's just as expensive as out in town, and 13¢ more than at Costco! Thank goodness for Costco.

Anyway, I just love this shot. Says it all, huh? I don't really know whether to laugh or cry at the irony. Maybe both. Heh.

The Newest Coolest Thing

2005-09-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

So recently on flickr, fd created this really cool new app for creating "magazine covers" with a flickr photo! Omygosh I am so loving it! I've always loved writing and photography, and I've wanted to take journalism courses and create my own publication for just about ever. I've thought about creating a family newsletter just for my family to keep up with each other (we're spread out everywhere!) and all sorts of different things. Well, now I can "pretend" to have my own magazine; or at least create fun covers with silly article titles. My first creation was for the Catchy Colors group. !efatima created the group, and admins it beautifully (it's alot of fun!) and she started a thread specifically asking for Catchy Colors magazine covers. Omygosh the creativity and fun some of those covers showcase - I think it's one of my fave threads in any of the groups. She even publishes them all on the Catchy Colors Publications blog. This was my first contribution:

Isn't that fun? ;) This app creates so many different opportunities for fun. I got all excited about the different ideas/issues you could create, and started an actual "magazine" of my own. ;) Actually, it started out as just a tribute. One of my contacts, thehomsar is a soldier stationed in Iraq, (actually alot of my contacts are Military, mostly stationed in Iraq or previously have served there) and his face was a perfect cover-photo for the magazine. I get so tired of all the anti-USA/anti-Military crap that is all over flickr unfortunately (I've actually been very surprised and appalled at the things people have said... I seriously can't believe there are people so ignorant, hateful, and venomous! No wait, I take it back. I can believe it, but I'd never personally come into contact with it before) and I wanted to do something, in my own little way, to try to combat the images the anti-Military people try to flout around the web. Our men and women need encouragement, support, and respect. Not the stuff they get from the majority of media and especially the left-wingnut ignoramuses all over the place on flickr. Some of those people are completely crazy! I am not kidding. It's like they have no rational brain cells anywhere in their head! Try to carry on a conversation, a rational discussion of some topic or other - and all they can do is rant and rave and call people names and go on about this and that (stuff I don't want to repeat) and spout their lies, propaganda and hyperbole. *sigh... There was one group I absolutely loved - called Delete me! - where all the sarcasm that lies beneath my calm exterior was allowed, encouraged, and prodded to come out. Granted, there's alot of users who use pretty foul language - almost burns my eyes! - but other than that, it was a whole lotta fun. I was one of the "gang" and really enjoyed the rapport I developed with some of the members. The goal of the group was basically trash each others' photos with as sarcasm, wit, and creativity as possible... while sometimes offering a tidbit of actual critique thrown in amongst the withering comments. It was the one place I could vent all the pent-up tension of the day, and have others enjoy it - and some of the comments I read other people making absolutely would have me bent-over laughing my head off. Or at least shaking my head. (By now you're probably going "what the heck does this have to do with that new magazine?") Well, there was this one particular user in there who would take every single opportunity (and even create some) to trash the US and our Military and the war in Iraq and G.W.B. et al. It made me so sick. And then he got all upset because someone made a negative comment on a photo of his (ok, I can understand getting upset about someone negatively commenting on a photo of yourself - but the content/context of the photo was what really was causing the comment) - apparently he'd gone to some sort of anti-war protest, with a strip of cloth around his head that apparently said "Hamas" in arabic - and he wore a button on his shirt that said "We are all Palestinians." The kind of comments this guy was throwing around completely made me sick to my stomach and heartsick as well. I never said anything, because I know confronting people like that only inflames them and creates a huge flamewar - plus I didn't want the group to be all about politics just 'cuz one person had that agenda. So I did my best to get along with him and the other members of the group (although one person there I completely made no effort to get along with - after he personally attacked my views of the USA and the country in general, I'd had enough and made a very adamant reply back (it all happened on this photo.) Anyways, I just couldn't stand it anymore, so I left the group. But those couple people are only the tiniest snowflake on the tip of the iceberg. That mentality (that the military is over there "occupying" and warring against the people, and a whole load of other crap) is all over flickr - (there are tons of awesome people on too, and pro-Military, patriotic groups and people, I'm just focusing on why I wanted to actually start the mag itself ;)

So anyways, I'm totally all for showing the truth about what our Military men and women are really like, what it is they're really doing every day (in our country and 'round the world) to better the lives of US citizens and other countries' people, and to have some fun and drum up support and enhance morale of the fighting men and women of the Armed Forces. (I'm so tired right now, plus I've been trying to get this written for some hours now, in between taking care of the kids/house/etc. I feel like I'm all disconnected and rambling somewhat...) Anyways, here was the result:

I even went so far as to create a group for the creation/collaboration effort (my goal/dream would be to get a new issue done weekly; with input, articles, photos etc. contributed by a bunch of people - though if it doesn't end up happening, I'm still going to do what I can on my own) and created a Freedom Fighter blog where the issues will be posted along with the articles and stuff. I'm really excited about it. In fact, if you want to help out, I'd love to have the help! Leave a comment, and I'll get back to you; or better yet, join the group on flickr! ;)

Well, I'm finally ending this post. I promised my daughter I'd read her some books, and it's time to do that. Later on, I'll post some of the other mag covers I've run across that I absolutely love! ;)

Life, life, life

2005-07-27T01:07:00.000-06:00

So, now that the iMac is virtually new again, I'm able to once more post on my poor neglected blog. Third repair in less than a year - not just any repair... first we had the midplane replaced earlier this year. Then in the beginning of July our house took on a curious acrid smell... like melting plastic. It got worse and worse - chokingly bad. We finally figured out it was coming from the back of the computer. Which is the monitor, on a G5. Which is the problem, I'm beginning to figure out. Took it in, and took those "genuises" over a week to replace a little ol' fan. Then what happens? I take it home and plug it in... within minutes the air is filled with the same - yet somehow worse - smell of burnt plastic, and this time I hear an odd hissing sound... like when something liquid is dripping onto something hot and sizzling. Hmm... need to investigate this. Listen, move around, listen more - discover the sound is coming from the right bottom corner of the monitor. Not only that, but the same area is so hot I almost burn my fingers when I touch it. Bad sign. Turn it off before it explodes... and calmly call Apple the next day, wanting to actually scream at someone in frustration. But I keep my cool, even laugh about it... and tell them to call me when the part gets in, and then I'll take it in to get repaired. Of course, I get a call past 6:30 pm to let me know it's in, Thursday. Did I mention I live almost 2 hours away from the Apple store? Oh, and try getting 3 kids in the car for that ride, in the blaring, glaring hot sun (it's been awesome summer weather for lying by a pool lately - over 80deg. - too bad we don't have a pool to lie out by ;) and then getting back in the car to go back home - 3 times in a week. I don't think so. So we went and dropped it off, but thank goodness for my mom watching the kids for me when I went back to pick it up. It was sooo hot, and of course I wasn't thinking when I put on my black jeans and black Harley tank top that morning... whew! In an ol' '80 Buick Regal, no a/c, and only one working window (other handle broken due to someone's outburst a while back - we won't go there) Thank heavens it was my window that rolled-down. Even still, that traffic... omygosh. My kids would never have lasted. I've filled my gas tank 3 times in the past week it seems.

Anyways, so now the computer has basically had its insides completely replaced. And if anything goes wrong again... well, supposedly we get a new one. Though I'd rather just have this one up and working if it's all the same. :)

And there's other stuff going on too. Stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about, but I just want to say that stress sucks. I have hardly been able to eat or sleep for the last few weeks. My stomach has been in knots constantly... and just trying to get through the day and function has been a task. The kids are doing ok, we're managing and everything alright. I'm leaning so heavily on God right now that if He weren't there I'd literally be on my face in the mud. I don't know where anything is leading to, all I can do is pray for direction and guidance and wisdom. And more than anything, that His perfect Will be accomplished - in my own and my family's life. If you want to pray for me, I would so appreciate it. Things are really hard right now. We will get through, and we will be stronger, but it will take who-knows how long and it's probably going to get harder before it gets easier. All I can do is read the Bible and pray continually and go one day at a time. My heart is totally breaking every day. But God is good. I stand on His promises, and take to heart the verses in Romans that I feel God has given me:

Romans 8:18: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I know it's talking about martrydom and suffering for Christ, but I believe other sufferings which are out of your control can also be applied here, if you take them to God and use them for His Glory.

8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." How many times I've just cried, and not even known what to pray... and yet the Spirit prays for me in those times when I cannot even form an intelligible sound, nor a single complete thought. Groanings which cannot be uttered... but you feel them deep within.

8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." This is an oft-quoted verse, for good reason. It does well to remember this; because it doesn't matter how dire or dreadful the circumstances seem - somehow, someway, someday it will turn for our benefit. Even if we could never imagine how.

8:35, 37-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine or nakedness, or peril or sword?...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

15:13 "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Too long between posts! (Too much flickr? Nah...)

2005-05-12T17:13:00.001-06:00

Ok, so it's been forever since I've posted here... I really hate that! It just seems that I don't have much time to write... or maybe I'm just not taking the time. I've spent most of my time on flickr and I just get so absorbed, I stay there too long to have time left over to post here! *Sigh... Flickr is totally my addiction. I've loved photography since I was little... it gives you a glimpse into a world you otherwise might never experience. Not only that, but it's just fun! I've never really been able to decide what I wanted to photograph - I've always been amazed by wildlife photography, and would soooo love to travel to remote places and get beautiful shots of wild animals - preferably in the African savannahs or the rainforests around the world. I'm not big into woodland creatures... sure, they're cute and all - but who hasn't seen tons of squirrels and deer and what-have-you in their lifetime... booooring! In my opinion at least... What I especially love is the vibrant warm colors so prevalent in the Savannahs, and the gorgeous patterns on the animals there - God's creation continually amazes me with it's complexity and beauty! What an Artist! And the rainforests are so cool and green (but not the mossy green so common up here in the Pacific Northwest... I mean the vibrant emerald and chartreuse colors in the leaves and ferns and such) and the animals so bright and varied... what an experience that would be! Just once to catch a photo of a Toucan in flight, or a closeup of a Macaw - what a dream!

And with flickr, it gives me a chance to find photos like that, because there is such a varied community of people, that it's practically guaranteed you'll find at least one photo close to what you're looking for. Plus the talent is so amazing, I just keep finding more photos that inspire me and push me to try new things! I've so enjoyed finding new ways to look at my environment and photograph ordinary objects in extraordinary ways - one photo with a surprisingly positive response was my Spring Shower photo:

It was just a moment of inspiration - that's all I can say about it. I was getting ready to take a shower, and I'd had some success with previous photos of water in motion (I have a great camera with a super-bright flash, and a super-fast shutter speed, so I was able to capture some really cool shots of water splashing on the edge of my daughter's little bathtub) and wanted to see what else I could get. So I hopped in, pointed my camera up at the stream (thank goodness for weatherproofing! My camera has little gaskets to protect it from splashes - it's not waterproof for underwater shots, but spray won't damage it) and snapped a few photos. Afterwards, I chose the best one, and tweaked the contrast levels a bit. I was totally pleased with how it came out - but didn't expect the overwhelmingly positive response it received within the first couple days. It's already becoming one of my most-favorited photos!

Not only that, but flickr has given me the opportunity to share my photos with other like-minded photography-obsessed (or maybe just impassioned) flickrites, and the feedback is amazing... it's part of what keeps me clicking the shutter button. To know that my photographs have put smiles on others' faces, or impacted them in some way, or inspired them to try something new - what more could you ask for? (except maybe an offer to get published or something ;) Especially when it seems that I'm the only one in my family who understands the passion photographers have for their hobby/art/profession. It was very hurtful recently, when I was asking someone in my family if he'd seen my pictures lately, and another person near and dear told me I sounded like a salesperson. Just because I'm proud of my "art" and would appreciate if my family actually provided some feedback on this pursuit of mine... of course I would like them to look at my pictures and tell me what they think. Doesn't everyone want approval from the people closest to them? Especially when it's so personally meaningful? But to hear that insensitive comment... comparing me to someone who - in my mind, is usually classified as pushy, rude, and only looking out for their own interests (i.e. making the sale and getting more money) - it was one of the most hurtful things said to me in recent memory. Especially from one who claims to support me in my pursuit of photography. Of course, this same person has no clue why flickr is so important to me either... it doesn't matter what I tell him about it - if it's something he's not interested in personally, or something he doesn't "understand" then, well, it doesn't matter. He'd just rather not hear about it. It honestly makes me want to cry...

Well, it seems flickr is back up now... and my taquitos are waiting to be popped into the toaster oven... so I'm off! I hope to write more soon. There's alot going on right now, and so much to write about! Ok, well, ta-ta!

Flickr being Yahoo!'ed

2005-03-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

GRRR! I have to be honest, even with all the massages and everything, I really really would rather have flickr stay exactly the way it is right now, than to sell out to Yahoo! I have no idea how much hard work they do at flickr (though I know it's alot) but selling to Yahoo!?? NOOOoooo.....

I have never liked Yahoo. A few years back, my USS Nevada (blue) family support group had a yahoo group, and to be a part of it you had to sign up with Yahoo. I thought, ok that's alright. But to sign up, you had to input your existing email address as an alternative, and after that the spam started FLOODING in!! I ended up getting so fed up, I started a new email. I've never gone back. I can't stand Yahoo! As alot of other flickrite bloggers have expressed, what's going to happen to our photos and groups? How much is flickr going to be infiltrated? Will I now get Yahoo spam to my email address I had to provide for flickr? If so, I'm outta there before you can sneeze! I have 2 email addys on my flickr account... what is Yahoo's privacy policy for that? Are they going to now provide those to outside companies? You know Yahoo, anything to make another buck in the fight to gain ground and catch up with Google (I so wish Google would've acquired flickr... they started up as just a little company too... they know where flickr is coming from and I think would work harder to keep the integrity and vision of Ludicorp than Yahoo will...) Please tell me this is a bad dream that I'll wake up from tomorrow...

If not... *sniff sniff :( .... I'll be watching sooo closely. They better not become Yahoor...

And what about my beloved Daily Zeitgeist? Will that now have Yahoo ads as well? *sigh... all the questions....

I'm freezing, Mt. St. Helens Erupted, and other stuff

2005-03-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

It is freezing!! After setting record highs today now it's so cold! That's the paradox of the Puget Sound. I still fondly remember weather in Cali, where it's warm during the day, and cool at night... here it gets warm at times, but the clear sky is like an open window that just lets all the heat escape when it gets dark. I almost hope for clouds just to keep the heat in! And lately I've been praying for rain. We haven't seen a drop of precipitation since it snowed during the Pats game. That was ultracool. Too bad my husband was/is out to sea and missed it. The Pats are his team. While my Niners sucked hard core (who knows what the future holds, but more promise than the dismal past with Dennis "I ruin every team I coach" Erickson) Greg got me hooked on NE. Funny, I never thought I'd like an east coast team... AFC at that. Whatever, they're an awesome team, and I'm officially a fan. Can't say that about Boston per se, although it was superduper that they finally won the Series... my hubby was ecstatic! He ran around the house yelling "Go BoSox!" and had to call up his family to cheer the win. Such a cutie. I remember the last time my team was in the series (the SF Giants)... funny how no matter how bad they do, I've never given up on them... I always believe, I always hope, I keep the faith. They say Giants fans are among the most loyal in baseball. Well, I'm a testament to that! The fact is, I know they can make it, I know they can win! Just because I haven't seen it happen...
----- So back to the original topic, today. I had to turn the heater up and throw an extra shirt on just cuz our house isn't sealed up so well. My poor bird, she must be freezing. I really should go close the laundry room door; that's where most of the cold air comes in (somehow, it goes thru the dryer hose, and emanates from there throughout the house) You can almost feel a breeze... What I should really do is laundry, period. I've got a loveseat full of clothes to fold, a washer of clothes to dry, and a basket full to wash. So why the heck am I sitting here? Who knows... I guess I get a bit lonely at night, sitting on my comp (usually flickring) and listening to the TV in the background. I don't feel like doing anything, even though I need to. Ever have times when you just really really feel like cleaning... and you do it for hours, and feel so good afterwards? Well, now isn't one of those times. I'm exhausted. Staying up till 4am cuz you just can't fall asleep really sux. Bryant's at my mom's tonight, so that's nice. A little break. I'm looking forward to next week, when I finally get some more (adult) human contact. Being around 3 small children all day, and not much chance to hang out with (what) friends, I feel like my social skills are deteriorating rapidly. I haven't made it to the Nevada's family support group meetings at all this deployment. Next week though... oh shoot!! Well, my friends (ok, I have 2) Carrie and Jessica were gonna come over Tues. and have a movie night after our kids were in bed (well, Jessica doesn't have any; Carrie's got 2, that her hubby will be home with) but that's my very last FSG mtg. This is our last patrol with the Nevada (thank God) and I've met some great women over the last few years. I really don't want to miss the last meeting. Durnit. I'll hafta call my friends and cancel. Hmm. Maybe another night... Oh, and our GRNN dinner is coming up too... the last event b4 the guys come home. (Should I say what it stands for? ;) That's always fun. I've decided not to buy tix this time for first hug/kiss. We won first hug last time, and I spent so much $ ... I don't need to do it again. Let somebody else get that priviledge... 'tho it'd be sick to get to ride on the boat back thru the canal. My hubby's not a chief, so lemme guess... not gonna happen. But a girl can dream...
------- Wow, it's gotten really late... but before I go, Mt. St. Helens... it erupted again... well more like a really big burp. No lava, rocks, or anything, just a huge ash cloud. Went up 36,000 ft. And they don't have a clue what this means. Will there be another eruption? Is it likely to mirror the one in 1980? Well, they don't seem to think so... right. Did they think the '80 one was gonna be so big? *sigh... I'll do a bit more research on this when I'm not so tired. I promise I'll start blogging more, so there aren't these circuitous entries that kind of just ramble on about nothing. I sure hope to get an email soon though... my husband sent one but I received it about 6 times today. That's submarine email... sporadic, unreliable... it's like they've taken your emotions on a ride with the boat, up and down with the swells of anticipation and the troughs of disappointment. They're not coming home when they're supposed to... that sucked to tell the kids. Add more hearts to the whiteboard... well, we've at least erased the ones we added, and a couple more by now. And was supposed to be getting a call soon... not gonna happen. Their only break taken away due to the uncertainties of the job... such is navy life. Well, we can always take a trip ourselves later... hopefully.-------For now, I'm going to bed. Still need to fold clothes too....

Up Late... or Early?

2005-03-05T04:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's past 3 am, and I'm still awake... again. It's so hard to sleep when my husband's out to sea. Thank God this is his last patrol... at least for a while. We're not sure if we'll do the obliserve or not...

So I can't believe how long it's been since I've visited my own blog. I found an awesome website/photo-sharing community called flickr. That's now where I've been spending most of my online time. Wow, it sure is fun, but sucks up alot of time. I've gotten some of my friends and fam. to join, but I never know if they actually visit, or anything because I've only ever gotten 2 comments on any of my photos (one from my mom, one from my dad) and nobody has uploaded any photos! Makes me feel a bit lonely... I know my father-in-law looked once, and my hubby's grandpa has looked, but I have no idea how often they do. His family is all on the east coast, so I figured it'd be a great way to show them the latest photos of the kids, and keep in touch. Well, it was a good idea anyway. And the pics are there, whenever they decide to see them again. :)

So this summer, I'll be going back east for the first time since I moved away when I was 7. It'll be the first time to New England and poss. Florida. Anheiser Busch is giving away tix to their theme parks for military families, and Greg's grandparents live in FL, so it might just work out perfectly. The kids have never been to Sea World. I used to live in so. Cali when I was little, and it was my fave place to be. I especially loved the dolphin tank. And everyone loves Shamu... even though there's been... who knows how many? :) I would love to take them for the day. I'm sure Greg's grandparents would love to come along too. But whether we do that or not, we'll def. be visiting the rest of Greg's fam. in New England. I've heard so much about there from him, but never seen it... and only glimpses in pics from his childhood. I'm a little apprehensive. Oh, it has nothing to do with his family, I love them all and they're so nice and welcoming. His mom is the sweetest woman I've ever met. And I can't wait to see his little sisters again. His father is so funny and corny, and his step-mom is really helpful and fun. They're all great to talk to. But it'll be wierd going to his "home" seeing where he grew up and all. I mean, cool... but I guess because I've never known what it was like to grow up in one place. I guess you could say I'm worried about being jealous? Not envious, but well, it may sound pathetic, but whenever he talks about all his great childhood memories, and his friends and stuff... I dunno. I'm glad he has such great memories... but so many are tied up in someone else, and experiences I want to share with him he's already done with someone else. Or should I say, A someone else. And I think that's what most frightens me... the chance of meeting that someone else. Ok, frighten is a bad word. Dreading, maybe? Not sure why, I guess there's a few reasons. Well, first of all, how many people want to meet their spouse's "highschool sweetheart?" I mean, they only dated for a short time his sr. year, but he didn't date anyone after her, so that's what he considers her. And you always hear those stories of someone down the line getting divorced and finding love again, with their "old flame." Do I think that could happen? Well... things happen. All I can say is I really really hope not. I hope that Greg and I can work out our differences, that we can start to work together and be like a married couple should be. I def. know I don't want to go back east if our lives continue the way it has been going.

So what really scares ... I mean, worries me about meeting her? I guess one thing is, I'll have a face to put with the name. I really don't want that face haunting me. I have a name, I have stories. I don't need a face to put with them. The thing is, they stopped talking not too long before he met me. He claims to have been completely over her, but he used to talk about her all the time. Now, he has apologized for that, he apparently didn't realize he talked about her so much. Which worried me even more... that it was so natural to just talk about her. The funny thing is, she was totally using him. She didn't really care about him, and when he tells me all the things that happened between them, and how she snubbed him so many times (I mean, the whole reason they broke up in high school was cuz she wanted to date someone else) in some ways I feel bad for him, and in some ways I just want to say "HELLO!!" I mean, he still doesn't get what was going on. But he's a guy. They are pretty much clueless when it comes to the communication part of relationships, or the subtlety of blowing someone off. Well, she didn't so much blow him off as lead him on. I mean, she wasn't very clear. I can see where she was stringing him along. And I know she knows it too (probably flattered her that he was so into her, and she didn't want to let it go completely) but I don't think he ever will. Maybe it would just be too painful. Or maybe he just doesn't want to admit it.
Anyways, I really don't want to meet her. I don't want that awkward "I'm the first one he thought might be the one" and "Hi, I'm the one he did marry" moment. Just me, but I'd rather not see the girl he was so close to emotionally. Sometimes I thought (when we were dating, and first married) that he was still closer to her in his heart than he was to me. That's a hard place to be in.
So hopefully that meeting won't happen, and I'll just have happiness and joy at seeing where my husband grew up and went camping, and running, and everything. At the very least, I'll get to see his family again, and the kids will get to see their grandparents that they haven't seen since the wedding and Rose's birth.

Let's just pray that we get a minivan before summer...

Does "Niner" stand for 9 wins? (in 2 seasons?!)

2005-01-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

So, they did it. They got rid of Dennis Erickson (did I spell his last name right?). They did it the day after I posted my "Down with Dennis" entry... not that THAT had anything to do with it of course... I'm not sure anyone's even actually read my blog entries, other than my husband... cuz I asked him to. But that's neither here nor there, other than to point out that I've been remiss in keeping up with 'Niner news on here. But they did it! Dennis is HIStory! When I heard the news, WOOHOO! I was ecstatic... and shocked to hear he'd been their coach for 2 whole stinkin' years?! See, told you it's hard to keep up on stuff going on in Cali, up here in sucky mucky washington. Of course, I guess if I actually got the paper here, it'd be a little easier... or maybe if I started using the internet to keep up on stuff... now that we have it. We've only had it here at home like a week, (only because of... well, I won't get off track here). So 2 years!!! No wonder every time they played the Seachickens they got "beat like they stole something!" (to put it in the words of Cheryl from Remember the Titans) Wow, 9 and 23. What a record. I'd just like to know why the heck they got him in the first place. I mean, c'mon! Like did someone say, "Hey why don't we get one of the worst coaches in the NFL, so we can suck really bad, lose our loyal fans, make ourselves a laughingstock... and get the top draft pick"? And now there's talk about getting another coach that doesn't have the best record as an NFL coach... what's going on? Seriously.
Up here, in the Puget Sound, they keep saying Mike Holmgren would be a great fit in SF. I agree. But it makes me wonder, what, is Seattle so fickle that they're already giving up on him? Hey, if Mike Holmgren went back to SF, do you think he could convince Jerry Rice to come back too? Hehe, as they say, "If wishes were horses..." I always thought Rice would retire in SF, I mean he started out in SF, played there 20 years or so... it really sucks he decided to leave. I don't blame him for leaving Oakland, I mean when someone says you're too old and tries to put you out to pasture, whaddya gonna do? But you can imagine my shock when he ended up here! First (that I can remember) was Merton Hanks... one of my fave SF guys... not just for his disjointed victory "dance" either. Seeing him in a Seattle uniform was a little disconcerting. Then Miracle Mike comes to Seattle ... from Green Bay, but once he was in SF as well. And now, the best wide receiver ever, EVER! is here, in blue and green.... weird. Playing with ... the Seahawks. I'm glad they're actually utilizing him, but to be honest, this was the stuff of my nightmares (well, sports-themed ones anyway).
So now, Seattle is doing better than I can remember (ok they lost the playoff game... how much can you expect.. it IS still Seattle remember?) and there's talk of Holmgren going back to SF. Hmmm. Well, I think it would be the smartest decision the 49ERS have made in a while... SOMEONE rescue them!!! Puh-lease!! It's not just Candlestick park sinking in the quicksand over there... and yes, I will always call it Candlestick. That's what it is... 3COMM or no 3COMM or whoever the heck the latest sponsor is. I'm sorry, -no, wait, I'm not- I don't think sponsors should get naming rights to stadiums. Not the whole thing, anyways, geez! Thank goodness at least at PacBell park (which I'm sorta okay with, because of the fact that they're like THE major phone provider in Cali... when I was younger I didn't know there WERE other phone companies... haha) they have McCovey field. But I know alot of people agree that commercialism in the sports industry is way out of hand. Name the seats. Name the entrances! Name the parking lot! But not the flippin stadium! I mean, what used to be the Oakland coliseum (the name makes sense, after all it is in Oakland) is now the Network Associates coliseum. Say WHAT? Talk about a mouthful. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Next thing you know, it'll be like NASCAR, with players running around with sponsor's stickers all over their uniforms. Free Agent will take on a whole new meaning.
Ok so I've gotten waaayyyy off track here, but hey, then it wouldn't be random would it? (I'm at least staying in the same realm of thought). So I'm no authority when it comes to the Niners anymore, like I said, but I know enough that somebody needs to get their head out of the sand underneath Candlestick and start making some good decisions... or they're not going to have anybody coming to their games unless they're cheering for the other team. Seriously. I know I'm not going to another SF/Seattle game unil they've got something to show for themselves. There's only so much a young team can do with a horrid coach. They've made the first step in the right direction. Now let's hope the fog stays in the bay and outta their heads, and they find a coach who can actually make something of this team. I have a dream, of a SuperBowl contender.... they once were and they can be again... I believe!

A Day in My Life

2005-01-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well, today was interesting. It all started about 3 am when I woke up to my older daughter crying in her room... usually I wait a minute or 2 to see if she just goes back to sleep, but I guess she had some urgency in her voice because all I remember is getting up to get her. She was really upset, and I think I smelled something in her bed, so I took her to my room. She definitely had gotten sick, I could smell it once I was back in my room. So I wiped her with some baby wipes, and I think I fell asleep for a few mins... cuz next thing I know she's getting sick all over me. I felt so bad for her, I don't think she's gotten sick like this before!
Once she was finished, we got into the shower to get washed up, and I woke up my husband long enough to be able to get the sheet off the bed. I don't think he even remembers what was going on. He's funny when he's sleepy; he tends to say things that make you go "huh?" and start talking about the most off the wall things... and he doesn't remember any of it. Frustrating sometimes, but mostly funny. At least I was able (after a bit of shaking) to wake him up; sometimes he's so out it's like he's unconscious. Or if he wakes up he practically jumps out of his skin. That kinda freaks me out.
Anyways, so Rose wanted to snuggle with Greg but couldn't get comfortable. And he was so out, that he didn't realize she was trying to lie down with him. She kept trying to get comfy but we stayed awake for at least another 2 hours... during which time she got sick twice more. Thankfully I'd gotten smart and kept a bowl nearby, but she hated that. Of course, getting sick was no fun either, poor girl was so shaky and upset.
Then Greg has to get up, to catch his ride. He's got duty today so one of his buddies picked him up. Duty days suck, he's gotta be outta the house about 6am to get to the boat in time. And knowing us, we never get to bed before midnight... although he's wont to fall asleep on the couch sometimes at 9pm or so. :) I try to get him to go up to bed but he says he'd rather be asleep on the couch to be near me... so sweet huh? Sucks too cuz I feel like I hardly saw him yesterday; he got home after 4:30 and the way things went... well, the way they've been going lately.
So he got up and Rose started again... but nothing. So once she was calmed down again, we finally fell asleep. Until Bryant woke up at 7:30 and we all got up. We went downstairs and everyone (but Rose) was hungry, so I put in a VeggieTale video for the kids, gave Bryant a yogurt smoothie (the ones by Stonyfield Farms are so yummy, and totally organic) and a baggie of Life, and fed Carlon. Rose kept asking me to hold her, so when I was done w/the baby and put her back in bed, I picked up Rose and we fell asleep to The Toy that Saved Christmas.
The rest of the day pretty much consisted of me alternately holding Rose, feeding Carlon, and telling Bryant to get dressed (he sat in his room for like 2 hours today, just looking at books and stuff... I'd have gotten more on his case- that usually doesn't happen- but for Rose and all). Thankfully my mom went ahead and took Bryant for the night, so that he could get some one-on-one, and I could manage Rose and Carlon. Not that I can't otherwise, but it's just nice for Bryant to get to be with my mom- they're really close- when Rose is really needy.
And Rose finally took a nap today, she was asleep this afternoon when my mom picked up Bryant. Then I finished with Carlon, and Rose woke up. That's kind of how it goes, see-saw with the girls alot.
Now they're playing on the floor, I think Rose needs to be changed, and it's definitely time for her to go to bed. She didn't eat much today (obviously) but tonight she had a couple crackers, a banana, and some juice. I haven't heard from Greg yet, he usually calls sometime on his duty day. Usually right before he goes to bed, so I don't get to really talk to him alot. Oh well. Such is life. I'm not sure how it's going to be this time with him gone. Things have been a little weird between us lately. Not sure if it's the stress of the Navy or what. At least now we have internet here so I don't have to go to my mom's anymore. That will help with her and my relationship. :) And I can check email more often... even though it's pretty sporadic with the silent service.
We had a really fun time the other night though, Greg and I. It started snowing Friday night, and I was hoping it'd continue all night, cuz it was really coming down. He had duty Sat. and I was (selfishly) hoping that the snow would prevent him from getting to the boat. It happens... though not very often. They were gone last year when the base got shut down for a few days. I remember hearing people in the middle of the night out playing in the snow (though technically "quiet time" is at 10pm on weekdays) and wishing he could be here to enjoy the snow with me. We've never really been in a snow together. So when it was coming down Friday, I took advantage and asked him to play in the snow with me. I tried to videotape a bit, but the batt. went dead... so I just have the video of my memory.
It was sweet, Greg being just like a little boy. His snowball aim though is dead-on. He always says he should be a sharpshooter because of his 20-10 vision.. well if his aim was like it was with snowballs... he 'bout knocked my glasses off! My right eyesocket was sore for ... well, it's still sore actually!
So we tossed a couple snowballs at each other, and threw this little foam football back and forth, and he threw some snowballs onto the carport, just to watch them get bigger as they rolled off (hehe, just another example of how guys and girls think so differently!) and we had fun. It was also really romantic... we kinda forgot all the other stuff that's been going on, and were able to be completely in the moment... it was nice. The kind of memories you revisit over and over when you're up late at night, and missing each other... and wishing for better days. I hope we can get things straight again. After this patrol, there'll be 3 yrs of shore duty. We'll see how things go when we no longer have duty every 3 days, and he gets off in the early afternoon every day. Oughta' be interesting...

Dangerous highchair needs to be recalled!! (Is someone trying to keep this a secret?)

2005-01-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever heard of J. Mason, or MTS Products? Do you know someone who owns a J.Mason highchair (available at Target stores as well as elsewhere)? Then you need to read this!!!

*To see the highchair in question, you can go to www.jmason.com/highchair.htm
It's the Deluxe model (mine is with the Ellie design)

I bought a J.Mason highchair in June '04. The kind you have to assemble. It comes in 3 pieces (well 4, counting the removable tray): the main piece consisting of the seat, the arms, and the upper portion of the legs; and the 2 lower portions of the legs- the front and the back. The legs are tubular steel, the bottom portions shaped kinda like a "u", and they have a small piece of metal protuding from the ends which fit inside the upper part of the legs. I'm not really sure what purpose this metal piece is supposed to serve... unless... well, first things first.

Everything was fine, sorta'... till November. I had noticed for a while that the legs didn't stay together all that well. They seemed to somehow work themselves apart, so that I would have to push the pieces back together before putting my daughter in. They didn't seem to separate all that much (sometimes up to an inch; the lower piece fits inside the upper piece about 3 inches or so, not including the other piece of metal attatched to the lower legs), so other than thinking "what the heck", I didn't do too much about it. My mistake. I just figured that with the way the legs are shaped that they just didn't fit together all that well. I never would've guessed that that particular feature would end up endangering my child.

I have 3 children (as referred to in my profile); 2 are under 2 yrs. old. My older daughter was (thankfully) the one in the highchair when the incident happened. Had it been my infant daughter (who was about 5 1/2 mos. old at the time... the same age as many babies who sit in highchairs and have started solid foods), she undoubtedly would've been seriously injured, or worse. Then I would be telling a much different story.

So my older daughter was 21 mos. at the time, about 24 lbs. or so, a normal weight for that age. It was lunchtime, and so I went to put her in the highchair. As she was sitting in it, I went to get her food... "CRASH!!!" and crying!!! I ran over to my daughter, and found her on the floor with the chair on top of her! I rushed to pick her up, and checked her over for any injuries. She was terrified of course, but seemed (thankfully) to be more shaken up than anything else. I looked at the highchair to figure out what happened and, lo and behold, the lower portion of the front legs had completely separated from the seat part! She had not been doing anything in the chair, other than sitting, when this happened.

The other thing I'm grateful for, is that it was the front, rather than the back, legs. Being that she fell forward, she was able to somewhat brace herself. Just think if she had fallen backwards... well, I'd rather not thank you. But I can guess I'd have been treated differently by the company in question... but read on.
Of course, I notified the company right away, by calling the number on the chair itself. I got the voicemail and left a msg... not to hear from them for a few days, when finally Joselle called to "follow up". She informed me that she was staying late to call me about this issue (oh, the inconvenience she must've been experiencing). Of course, the first thing she asked was whether or not Rose had been injured (read: Do we have a lawsuit on our hands?). Then she informed me that the legs were supposed to "click together" to keep them from coming apart, and mine must be defective. She offered to send me a new one, and asked if I would send mine back for examination (by whom? She didn't say).

Now here's where it starts to smell a little funny. She took down my address (after I had to tell her a few times... mostly that the "E" in my address did not stand for "east" but was part of our house #) and said that they would call with a tracking number for me. Ok, but then I don't hear from them... for 2 weeks or so. And so, I call. And then begins my nightmare.

Once again, somehow, Joselle was the one who picked up the phone. (Eventually I got the idea that she is the only one who actually answers the phone when you ask for the "juvenile products" division. She must be pretty busy!) So basically I asked why I hadn't gotten a new highchair yet... that I'd been expecting a phone call, blah blah blah... and that's exactly what I got back from her: "blah blah blah." Well, that and the information she apparently forgot to tell me before: that they wouldn't send a new highchair unless they had received the old one! (And what did they expect ME to do in the meantime?? Go rent one or something?) So she re-took my address, to see why I hadn't received a box yet... and, lo and behold!!! The address was WRONG!!! Big surprise. Hmm... I remember telling her before, explicitly, that the "E" in our address was NOT FOR "EAST" but was "just 'e'" as part of the house number. Whew!

So somehow she extrapolated that it was FedEx's fault that the box hadn't reached me (don't know who's fault it was that J.Mason, or more correctly Joselle, had never called me with the tracking # in the first place!!) So she promised that "the box" would arrive Friday (this was like, Tuesday) and went ahead and so generously "ordered" me a new highchair. (Why use quotation marks? Just wait). Well, what a surprise. Friday, I see the FedEx truck go by, whoosh!, and then it was gone! No box.

Here comes Monday. Here comes a box! For a completely different highchair. A smaller highchair. So I called them back (cue Twilight Zone theme music) and *gasp! Joselle! Of course, she didn't identify herself at first (and yet, working at Albertson's you could practically get fired for not identifying yourself when you answered the phone) but I knew it was her. I immediately asked for a supervisor. *Gasp! again, when she identified herself as such!!! And just to make sure, I asked her name, and yeah. Dead on. So I asked for her supervisor. And some guy named Jeff got on the phone. It's too bad, because I really like that name. My best friend growing up had that name (though he spelled it Geoph for a while... pretty koo). Anyhoo, it was about this time that I got the idea that I wasn't talking to Americans. In fact, I'm pretty sure the call center is in the philippines (just for the record, I don't have proof... just an inkling). If you wonder how I came to that conclusion... well, let's just say I've spent most of my life living on Navy bases. And if that makes no sense to you, well... never mind.
So of course, I explain the whole thing to him. (I apologize if this story seems particularly long and drawn out... try actually being the one to go through it! Better yet, don't!) So he tells me that it's "standard procedure" to not order a highchair for replacement till they have the other one back. (I should've just taken it back to Target! I would've gotten less run-around!) But he reassures me one is ordered "anyway" and should be there within days. His solution for the box problem? "Send a piece of the chair fabric back to us." And that solves the problem, how? Do they have some kind of seers that can peer into the fabric and tell you what went wrong with the chair? If it's actually defective or a problem with the actual design??? Whatever.
So basically I ask him what that would solve. And he puts me on hold. *Gasp! *Choke! NOOOooooo!! Joselle!!! How did she get back on the phone?! She tells me that ("poor me") whenever they send out the wrong box, she's the one that hears about it from the customers. (Um, excuse me, but is that not PART of the job of being a "supervisor"?) So she says they'll send another box. Ok whatever.
So I finally got the replacement, a chair that you didn't have to assemble - the legs are one solid piece. Kinda funny though (here's one for the Consumer Report's "Selling It" page) on the box it said "No Assembly Needed!" and then elsewhere on the box it said "Must be assembled by an adult only". Just an interesting observation. Another observation; my mom also has a J.Mason highchair (similar to the one I bought)... but it is all one piece, yet comes with the removable seat pad. But it isn't listed on the J.Mason website. Hmm... why don't they just sell those instead of the ones that come apart? Makes more sense to me. Legs that are one-piece obviously have no chance of coming apart!
And the missing box? Oh yeah, coupla weeks after I got the replacement highchair, I did get another box... for a SWING.
And just FYI I also did call the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) and notified them of the problem. I have the report that they sent me, and I have to send it back so they can know whether or not they can release my name to the mfr., (I said yes) but it also says on the cover letter that they receive so many complaints about products, that they can only investigate a handful. So they usually just send the report to the mfr. and let them decide what to do about the issue. Considering what I've listed here, as far as J.Mason goes, I don't think they're too eager to do anything about it. Also the fact that the highchair in question is still listed on the website. Hmm....
Well, I couldn't just let it go, so I did also call the local Target where I bought it, and let a manager (Melissa) know exactly what happened. And that's why I'm writing this. That hopefully, someone, (if they're able to stand reading through the whole morbid ordeal) will bring this to the attention of someone who can do something. Or at the VERY least, that it will prevent someone else's child from being injured, or worse, by a similar incident. I don't think my highchair was defective, I think it's a faulty design. They can sell their lower-end compact highchairs as "Deluxe" models by adding the seat pad and the mesh bag (that hangs on the back). And then the whole issue would be moot.

My Niners Suck! -or- Down With Dennis!

2005-01-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

So I don't know how many 49er fans there are, but I used to be the "Die Hardest" of them all... at least that's what I thought. I mean, I'm a very loyal person. I've stuck with the SF Giants through the years, never losing faith in them, and you know I was ecstatic when they made it to the World Series a few years back. Finally a chance to show the world that the whole '89 series loss was a fluke, you know, being flustered from the earthquake and all. (I was there when it happened too, right on the Bay Bridge!!)
And you know, even living in a completely different state, where I hardly get to see my teams play, I still stuck by them, loved them, cheered them on (Not a cheerleader... I can't stand cheerleaders... ok anywayz), and wore their "stuff". Borrowed my son's Terrell Owens jersey (hey, it fit!) to see the niners play the Seahawks (yuk)... and for a while, even when they kept going downhill, I didn't give up. Hey, they were my team!!!
Now, call me ignorant or whatever, but remember I don't get much news about my team up here in WA... but when I found out at the beginning of this season who exactly the Niners head coach was.... Remember how the seahawks used to totally suck? Like hardcore? My husband calls them the seachickens... anyways, so who do they have - Mike Holmgren, of course, and who did he USED to be with? My Niners. Just on a sidenote, how many Niners have eventually ended up here? Merton Hanks, now Jerry Rice, and I'm too tired right now to think of others but I know there were more. Back to the point... I don't remember a seahawk ever going to SF. Who used to coach Seattle when they sucked hardcore??? Who sucks hardcore now??? Think there could be a parallel??? My big question is, WHAT THE HECK IS DENNIS ERICKSON DOING IN SF??? Until they get rid of him, I have given up on the niners. I have been disenfranchised!!! They need to disenfranchise the big loser! I mean, really, what possessed whoever to hire the worst NFL coach in recent (and possibly not so recent) history??? Am I alone in thinking this? *sigh, for the good ol' days of George Seifert (I hope I spelled that right), and Steve Mariucci (I hope I spelled that right too). I am despondent. They were dead last this year. Surprise surprise. All I can say is, I hope they get their heads back where they belong, and do something different next year (I mean the front office). I just honestly can't believe it. They coulda' been contenders...

What about the Submarines?

2005-01-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, so first of all, I just watched this armed forces tribute that my father forwarded to me, and now I'm sitting here with tears on my cheeks. *sigh Those things always get me... by the way the url is www.armedforcestribute.com it's pretty cool. I know there's alot of different good ones out there. I so appreciate all the support the military gets from civilians and others who may not actually be a part of the service, but know how important it is that they're out there doing their jobs.
Now, this is something I've been wondering for a while... ok well not really wondering, because... I already know, but it still irks me a little. What about the submariners? Well, Navy in general, but especially subs. Have you noticed that every where you look, (well, where I am anyway, surrounded by military bases in the Puget Sound) there are "support our troops" signs, magnets, etc.... but do you ever see "support our sailors"? Now this is not to downplay our soldiers at all - my bro-in-law is in Iraq as we speak, in an especially volatile area. But how often do you see our boys in blue mentioned? Maybe I'm a little more sensitive to this issue, being that my dad is retired Navy (he served onboard aircraft carriers) and that my husband is a submariner. But sailors are not "troops" and they're out there just the same. As far as the surface guys and fast-attack subsailors go, they're out there patrolling and doing ops in dangerous waters too. They face dangerous tasks and jobs everyday. Not just the pilots either. And their families are suffering just as much when they're gone. I know that whenever my dad went to sea, you didn't know what was going to happen, and unfortunately they always seemed to come home a few hands short. But how often do you hear about the sailors and what they're doing?
And especially the trident sub sailors, like my husband. I know they're the "Silent Service", which is why there's no fanfare, no publicity, or anything else like that. For good reason... the whole point of their patrols is "strategic deterrence", meaning they're out there, no one knows where, and that in itself is a deterrent. And I guess in some ways, for those men (a very special breed... who else could go out in a 500ft long metal tube and stay underwater for weeks at a time??? Not me!) the glory and honor comes, not in the public's eye and the people's appreciation, but in knowing how important their job really is, and doing it well.
But for them, peacetime or wartime, nothing changes. They still have to go out, patrol the deep, and keep us safe. Living side-by-side with weapons, underwater, for months... and doing it with no recognition, save in the sub community itself. And us wives, who never know when we might hear from them, when they'll be home (we only get approximations that we naturally aren't allowed to speak about)... our children go without any contact from daddy as well. Email is sporadic, phone calls are rare... and without being able to speak about it, you become very lonely. Only other sub wives have any idea what you go through. Sub and surface are very different worlds. I've been a part of both. They both have pros and cons... but back to my basic point. I think it would be nice if finally someone would recognize the huge contribution the navy makes to the wartime effort, and the submariners make every day, war or peacetime. My husband's job involves working on the weapons themselves. Every day. And you can't exactly "bail out" of a sub when there's a problem at sea. (I actually swore when I was younger that I'd never marry a submariner... God had other ideas) So next time you see something that says "Support our Troops", please remember the ones who aren't mentioned as often... those brave men of the sea.