kanjimonkey

Break

2010-12-28T05:22:00.003+10:00

It has been a while and a lot has happened. We moved from Guam and that was pretty successful! We purchased a house in Southern California, had most of it painted and are settled in!

School is going very well and I have been crazy busy!

Ronnie was promoted and is getting ready to leave on deployment.

That sums up the last 6 months. Hopefully I will keep up this time but vacation is almost over!

Pack

2010-04-04T12:00:00.004+10:00

Tomorrow strangers will enter my home and box up 95% of my belongings. I have been through this 3 times already and hate it as much as the first. I normally have everything nice and organized like a week prior but nothing seems ready. I have to pull everything off of the walls and seperate the things that I plan to keep until we fly home....I have a busy night ahead of me!

Guam

2010-03-10T19:19:00.003+10:00

As my time here dwindles down, I am starting to get sad. I only have 27 working days left and 51 calender days left. Ronnie ships the Jeep out this week and then juggling getting us back and forth to work starts....(not going to be fun). The first week in April we pack out all of our stuff. Shelly will get a few packages to hold for us!

We will live out of suitcases and seabags until..... Not sure when. This is our tricky part. We have been looking for a house to buy in San Diego (which scares the hell out of me). Everyone that we have seen that we like has been sold and of course the market is now started to bounce back. As if the San Diego market is not high enough!

I am starting to get sad about leaving. This is one of the difficult yet exciting parts of the military. You go somewhere and get settled in and comfortable then you have to move to a new location and start over. It is difficult because it takes the average person 6-12 months to truly settle and get comfortable. The you pick up other tasking and 'expand' your scope of responsibility/involvements. Shortly thereafter, you get orders to a new location and begin preping for the move. The exciting part is looking back and noticing the impact you have made on people and getting to go somewhere new. Starting over just stinks!

I have issues when it comes time to pack out my stuff. I get all girly and call my aunt who has been through this process and I act like a big baby. I don't know what it is but it just gets to me to watch someone pack up all of my stuff and haul it away on a truck. Hopefully it will not be so hard this time with Ronnie here.

Change

2010-02-14T14:54:00.002+10:00

The Navy is in the middle of a huge uniform change. We are changing our everyday uniform as well as our working uniform. Since we are moving this is a great time to purge out our old uniforms. It is also the best time to spring clean. We got rid of 3 huge trash bags of old uniforms and clothes that no longer fit or that we no longer wear!

I am trying to get motivated to go into the computer room to scan in old documents and paperwork in order to get rid of "paper" prior to us leaving. I also want to com up with a way to better organize our electronic manuals for all of the crap that we own. Slowly, we are going to move through all of our rooms and get rid of stuff that we no longer need or use. Who knows what we are going to find.

Count Down

2010-02-11T18:27:00.002+10:00

Where has the time gone? It seems like just last month we were moving from one house to the one we are currently in. I does not seem like we have been on Guam for 3 years. I have been walking around for the last few days thinking that I had 90 days left here. Really, it is only 79! That is only like 60 working days! Wow.....we have tons of stuff to do. Luckily for us, the military has check lists that we can use to keep us on a good time line.

We will be home soon!

Jelly Fish Lake

2010-02-05T08:01:00.010+10:00

Our trip was wonderful. Here is some footage:

Tragedy

2010-02-04T10:00:00.000+10:00

One month ago we lost a member of the family. It is something that I still have trouble with and was/is very painful for me. When we return home, we will be a family of 3. Bear is no longer with us. A time will come when I am ready to talk details, but that time is not now.

Cell Phone

2010-02-03T13:59:00.000+10:00

Ronnie received orders and mine are on the way. I should have them soon after we get back from Palau. It looks like we will leave in early May!
Ronnie decided that 4 months out, he just could not wait another day to get cell phones (that we won't use for 4 months). So he ordered them and send them to his sister. The irony is how I found out.
2 weekends ago I hear him say some thing to Shelly while they were on the phone about him ordering phones before we left and having them sent to her house. Last week I asked him when he planned on doing this. (Mind you, I told him that I did not want to pick a cell phone company until we returned to the states and I was not sure who I was going with. He KNEW he was going with Verizon and nothing in this world would change that.) He told me that he already had.
(Delete the shit hitting the fan.)
After several choice words (see caption directly above) I called Verizon and asked about canceling/suspending the plans (Ronnie "had" already done this and told me we had no options). "Of course we can suspend the plans", the agent told me. Then he told me how to do it.
Today, the phones came in. We added all of our numbers to them and I promptly suspended them. Verizon considers Guam to be an international location even though it is a US territory. They want $0.60 per minute for phone calls, $0.50 per outgoing text and $0.05 for incoming text messages. CRAZY!
Anyway, we have them and we will call you all prior to leaving Guam/upon arrival to the states with our new numbers. I find it funny that Ronnie did this, but my phone is the primary on the account!!!! Karma....what a wonderful thing.

Trip

2010-02-01T13:52:00.004+10:00

Our last big adventure in Guam will start in about 4 hours. We are going to Palau! This is a dive trip. We will do two dives at Jellyfish Lake and 3 other dives depending on the conditions of the locations and what the dive shop already has planned. The last day is kayaking around the Rock Islands. We are so excited.
Our dive trip was either going to be the Great Beerier Reef or Palau. It did not take much to convince us that Palau is the better trip.

China Silk

2010-01-06T13:57:00.001+10:00

This was cool!

Dog VS Helo

2010-01-03T12:29:00.003+10:00

Some people may find this cruel, but we thought it was funny as hell!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-05T09:14:00.003+10:00

Well tons of staff happened over the last two months. Ronnie was selected for orders. We went to China. I started an intensive recreational dive program. I reenlisted in a very special way. Our lives were planned for us from January 2011 to August 2012 and we don't like it.

It took us a while to get Ronnie his orders. His detailer wanted us to request to be located together. The problem with that is that I was going to school. So Ronnie needed orders to San Diego and we need to request to get stationed together when I am about to graduate school. This will get me assigned to where ever he is.
This kinda creates a problem that I will get into later.

China was a nice trip and a good getaway for us. We needed it. The one thing that bit us in the ass was Jack Frost. After being in 85 degree weather year round for 2.5 years we have grown quite accustomed to it as anyone would. In China, it was in the low 40's. Talk about shock. I had a beanie and gloves packed up with my winter clothes from Everett but Ronnie had none (that we could find). We ended up buying him a beanie!

This past summer Ronnie decided he was going to take some really advanced dive classes. Neither one of us really know what we want to do when we retire in 10 years. This class is the beginning of the professional side of diving that leads to becoming an instructor. I gave him shit about it because it is expensive and we are planning on buying a house and new furniture (that we now know may go unused....more about this in another entry) when we get back to the states. I am now in that class. Like Ronnie I have a desire to go ahead and go instructor because right now we have the time and it is a bit cheaper here in Guam. It is still too expensive to go instructor....like in the thousands each.

With my funny looking mask and refound love for being under water, I reenlisted.....underwater! I do have pics but they have not been down loaded yet. Where I work, you have to do this in uniform. I decided to do this in my whites and this was the last time I will wear them. For a very few select people in this world......screw you....this time they were blue....blue and green as a matter of fact.

Lovin' It

2009-09-16T19:32:00.006+10:00

I went diving again this past weekend. I am very glad that I started again. I am also kicking my self in the ass for not doing for the first 2 years we were here on the island. We had a good time.
The first dive was cool. The reef was very active. We planned on taking a lot of pictures so we did not move very fast or very far. While we did spend a bit of time on each place we stopped, we missed the coolest part of the dive....an area of reef with several sea anemeonies. Oh well. I know better for next time. One thing that was not soo cool was my bad judgement. As I attempted to move a starfish, I hit my hand on something and it stung. Well, it still hurts. I hope it clears up in the next few days!
After we were all in the boat, we noticed that we had a group of dolphins haning out. We sat around and watched them for a little bit and then drove to the next dive site.

This place was also cool. We saw several crown of thorn starfish and ended the dive with an eel.

Labor Day

2009-09-08T20:11:00.010+10:00

This past weekend, I planned on diving. Diving, diving, diving. The only problem is that we have had a storm off of the coast. We had storm advisories for the weekend. Friday it was scheduled to go until Monday morning. Sunday we checked the water conditions and they were a little rough but not too bad at one spot. We tried it. When we got out ou could not see any thing. We swam back in.
Sunday night I checked the forcast and the warning had been extended to Tuedsay night. I was very bumbed. I ended up driving around the south side of the island and took pictures of the waves:

Trip

2009-09-08T19:57:00.003+10:00

Ronnie arrived safely at his destination. He is board out of his mind. So am I. I terribly miss him. I am not sure what we are going to do when one of us deploys for an extended period of time.
The two days prior to him leaving were busy. I took my advance dive class. I did 5 dives in 2 days. Ronnie did 3 of them with me. We were expecting him to be my buddy. (When you dive, you must have a buddy. Ronnie was also going through a program where he had to complete a certain number of dives and assist in teaching.) Due to my ear problems we were expecting him to be assigned to me. I ended up getting assigned someone else. At first, I was kinda upset but she understood my problems. Her son has ear problems when diving also so she knew what I was going through. She ended up being a great instructor. I really enjoyed diving with her. She noticed things that I would have never noticed like this awesome star fish. I can not find a picture of it, but it was cool. If you picture a regular star fish and imagine it puffed up like the difference between a Cheeto and a Cheese Puff. You could not really tell the difference between the arms but if you flipped it over you could see the individual arms. It was COOL.
Ronnie still does not have orders. He is going to make a phone call in the morning and try to find out what is going on. This is so frustrating! I hope he can get this fixed soon.

I Can Do It!

2009-08-23T19:45:00.004+10:00

I did two dives today. I have not tried it in 7 years since my trip to the Kerama Islands when I was in Okinawa. Next weekend I am taking a class that requires me to do 3 dives in one day and 2 the next. I have been worried that my ears would not allow me but I was fine today.
I also got us a dive camera. We are still working on learning how to use it!

Rain

2009-08-16T08:18:00.002+10:00

We have not been doing much lately. It has been raining much more that I remember from the last 2 years. Two weeks ago the main road on the island was completely flooded at 530 in the morning. It was horrible. I passed 3 stalled cars and 2 wrecks on my way to work. 10 minutes later the number of stalled cars had tripled!

School is going well. Ronnie is not going this semester but my Oceanography class is kinda interesting. I am looking forward to the Anatomy and Physiology class I will take next semester in preparation for my year long school.

We are having trouble getting Ronnie orders. He applied for orders and was told that he was "a perfect fit" but the orders could not be granted because we had not submitted our spousal collocation. We have attempted to submit our paperwork, but I have been told that it will not be approved because I am going to school. He needs to have orders cut and I will request to be assigned where ever he is once my school is over. Once again we have 2 people telling us 2 different things. (DEEP BREATH to prevent me from screeming......EXHALE.) So, here we go on this wild ride! I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.....again.

Training

2009-08-07T05:40:00.002+10:00

I found out this morning that I have been accepted to IDC school. This is a military school where I will learn how to manage basic medical conditions and run programs. We will leave Guam in May?!??? I won't get my official orders to transfer until February but my class starts in June.

Later

2009-07-22T17:32:00.004+10:00

One thing that is difficult about the military is that you move every 2-3 years....and so does everyone else. In the last year, we have said, "See ya later" to several families and it does not gett any easier. The only good thing about this is the more people we see off, the closer we are to returning to the states!

Warly this week I submitted my package for school. Hopefully we will know in 2-4 weeks if I was accepted. I have no clue when we will be leaving Guam (should be April or May). It will take another 8-12 weeks or so to before we get to pick our date to move back.

We have also started looking for a house in Californina. Not a pretty situation but it is what we will have to deal with.

Now We Know

2009-07-06T16:49:00.003+10:00

Our court date was not too bad. We have to pay for damaged carpet, door draft guards (that were not even damaged), and a handle for the sliding glass door. I am a little upset about not getting everything back by default of the home owner not following the lease, but we are getting something back.
If I ever rent again, I have learned my lesson. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. No matter what it is.

Who Knows

2009-07-02T18:31:00.000+10:00

We were contacted a few days after we moved out of our house by the realator that our land lord used to pick up the recommendations from the final inspection. Our security deposit was over 3K and the final inspection exceded that.
To back track a bit, we had always had issues with the home owner. Phone calls not returned. Repairs not completed. We would have to call several times to get things done. It was just not a good situation all the way around. When I told him that we would be moving out, I told him that I wanted a preliminary walk through to get an estimate for the return of the security deposit. He told me that he would do a walk through, but not to expect a return on the security deposit because he wanted to repaint the interior of the home. I told him that I was not going to pay for things that we did not damage and it was not my responsibility to pay for the inside of the house to be repainted. Ronnie asked 2 times for a preliminary walk through and the home owner never showed!
After picking up the final inspection paper work, I sought legal advice. I was told that my best bet was to send a certified letter requesting the return of my deposit due to non compliance with the lease. I sent the letter and waited. Once the letter was returned uncollected after 2 notifications, I returned to legal advice.
Now, we are going to small claims court. What a pain in the astrick. I have had to take 3 days off of work to take care of this crap andnot I have to take more time off. We do have a court date, but that may change. I am just so frustrated with this situation. It would be different if we trashed the place, but we took very good care of it. Compaired to the tenants that Shelly had, we were like angels. We just hope that we do not have to reschedule the court date and we can get this over with.

Legs

2009-06-01T17:34:00.002+10:00

Bear seems to be doing better. Only 2 days after we started him on his meds, he started chasing Ares around the back yard again. He has completed his supplements that are designed to lubricate his joint. He is now taking daily pain meds. Fortunately for us, he likes them and we are not wrapping them in cheese or some other yummy food.

Court

2009-06-01T17:33:00.003+10:00

So, I wrote a rather long story about having to go to court and then decided not to post it because it was legal. We went to court for the first time last week and we have to return in 2 weeks. Hope things work out in our favor. This entire situation just makes me nausiated. I can't wait until it is over.

Doggies

2009-05-16T15:56:00.002+10:00

We took Ares and Bear to the vet on Friday to get their teeth cleaned. I told Ronnie to have them look at Bear's hips because he seemed to have trouble getting up after he had been sitting for a long time. I got off of work early on Friday so I was able to pick them up on my way home. I guess Bear had his teeth done first because Ares was still a little drugged up when I got there.
I got out bill (that was VERY large) and medicine for Bear. This told me that we had a problem. The vet brought me into an exam room and showed me Bear's x-ray. I actually teared up. This left thigh bone is messed up. Ever notice the piece of cartilage on the top of a chicken leg when you pull the meaty part off? Well, Bear is missing a piece of bone that is similar to that. His leg bone has some thing called a neck and a head to it. (So do you.) The head of the leg bone sits in side the pelvic bone and when he walks, it is suppose to be a nice smooth motion. (This a ball and socket joint just like on cars.) He is missing the head.
The Vet told me that he was probably born this way and right now there is not too much to worry about. I told her that he does not limp and pretty much the only time I notice it is when he has been sitting for a while or when we go up the stairs. She (the Vet) thinks that his is not in much pain but is probably just sore.
The treatment-herbal ligament meds 2 times a day until the bottle is gone and pain meds for 3 days. Then we only need to give him the pain meds an hour or so before we go swimming or to the dog park. She is also getting us some other med but she had to order it from the states.

Sun

2009-05-14T19:46:00.003+10:00

Last weekend, we brought the 4 wheelers out and rode with our ridding group for about 4 hours. I forgot to grab my long sleeved shirt so I was applying sunscreen like crazy. We had a great time and I am glad that we got out of the house and went. I did happen to misread the e-mail and we were an hour late. Lucky for us, other people were late also.
Sunday we took the dogs to the beach. They had a good time. For some reason, Ares does not want to get into the water any more. He will walk in up to his 'elbows' and then he runs back out. He did get a good work out running up and down the beach.
Tomorrow, we are getting the dogs' teeth cleaned. I am not looking forward to it, but Ares' teeth look bad and I am sure Bear's need some love. We are also going have Bear's hips looked at. He seems to struggle a bit to get up when he has been laying down for a long time.
Saturday we are going on another trail ride. I am really looking forward to this one. We went on a ride in this area when we first got here. It was our 2 4 wheelers and 2 Jeeps. I think we are going on a different path this time but I am hoping to be able to get some really good pictures.

Weekend

2009-04-27T17:39:00.003+10:00

We have had house guests for the past week! Chuck, CeCe, and Axona (sorry about the spellings) came to visit. They flew in on Tuesday night and Ronnie had been home sick all day with the shickies (contact a member from the Lincoln for a definition) so I picked them up from the airport. We just hung around the house and did a little of this and a little of that. Ronnie had Friday and Monday off so he and Chuck did a bit of diving.
We did not do much of anything this weekend. I worked for 24 hours on Friday (and everyone else went out again) so I slept until 1 pm on Saturday. We went to Gab Gab so Ronnie and Chuck could dive. Sunday, they dove again so I sat home and did the last 3 assignments for my college course! Yeah......3 week break and then American History to 1877 starts!
Today was just a rough day at work. My office is FULL of shredded paper and copies of records and stuff. It has just been crazy.

School

2009-04-20T18:48:00.004+10:00

I keep saying that I am going to get better at blogging, but I seem to be getting worse!
We have been pretty busy with work and school lately, but we have managed to get out of the house for the past few weekends.
About a month ago we took the 4 wheelers to channel 10 for the morning. We had another quad and a dune buggy out there with us. It was a good time. We cooked out and just hung for a while.
The following weekend, we went to the beach for a few hours. Ares and Bear were tired as heck, but they had a good time. We just sat around and hung out. A friend of mine and I snorkeled for a little bit and found a very pretty blue starfish. We brought it back to the shore to get some pictures of it. Bare decided he wanted to play with it. He picked it up and tried to walk away with it. Surprisingly, he was very gentle with it!
Last weekend we went to Smokin' Wheels. Saturday we helped prep the drag strip for the night races. (We did not stay because I was really tired and it was hot out.) We also hung out with our ATV riding club for a little bit. Ronnie was asked to ride one of the quads for the next day's 2 hour enduro race, but he had duty and would not be able to get there in time. We did go back on Sunday and watch the end of the race and the beginning of the motorcycle enduro.

Dance

2009-03-22T15:04:00.004+10:00

We all know that I can not dance. This past weekend a few friends made us get off of our butts and go to the Chammoro Heritage Festivl. A very nice young lady taught me how to dance. Despite her best effort, there was very little improvement!

Phone

2009-03-03T16:05:00.002+10:00

We have our phone and internet hooked up now. It was a nightmare. Maybe later I will post about it. Our new number is the same as our old number except you replace 649 with 564.

A Little Walk

2009-02-12T17:04:00.008+10:00

A month or so ago, we went on a Boonie Stop. This is what the locals here call hikes. We chose a route that was all beach with a few coral barriers that we had to climb over. It was a good time, but the dogs required a little assistance.
Here is a crab!

Bare checking out the pond.

Jason and Ronnie

On our way back:

I would like to do these more often, but I am so damn lazy! If John could find more super easy ones like this, I would get up and do 'em!

Yeah

2009-01-23T16:42:00.001+10:00

I got my Associate Degree in the mail today! Yeah. I guess now I have to start on my Bachelors!

The List

2008-12-26T14:37:00.002+10:00

Ronnie is horrible at Christmas. As soon as a box goes under the tree, he loses his mind. "What is it, when can I have it, ......." This year, I made a deal with him. I gave him a gift early so that I did not have to hear it this year. I got us a PS3 but he got it early.

Christmas morning I woke up about 3 am. I could not sleep. I got up about 530 and took the dogs out. When I came back up stairs, Ronnie was up. We waited until Ares and Bear woke the guys up and trashing the living room began. Ronnie scored seasons 3-11 of the Simpsons, Batman The Dark Knight, Lego Batman, some Blu Ray movies and a Camcorder with bag and stuff. I got the Eragon books on hardback, CSI season 1-3, candles, and a new Canon 40D camera with a bag and memory card.

Rock Out

2008-12-26T14:28:00.006+10:00

If you have spent time at our house-nothing else needs to be said.

2+3=4?

2008-12-21T21:08:00.001+10:00

I finnished my last class for my Associates Degree last week. I checked my score online and was sad that it was 0.4 short of a B. So I double checked my scores and noticed that I was missing 5 points. I e-mailed the instructor and she told me that she was not finished with the scores and I would get my points.

I checked two days later and my points were there-20 of them. My grade went DOWN 0.2 points to make me 0.6 away from a B! I don't understand. I e-mailed the instructor again but have not gotten a reply. Hopefully, there was a misscalculation and it will go UP instead of DOWN.

More inportantly, I only needed a C to graduate! I should get the paperwork in about 6 weeks!

Ares' Puppy

2008-12-21T20:50:00.000+10:00

Ares' first puppy dog was this brightly colored puppy that squeaked. He was pink, blue, and yellow. Ares ate it. I sewed it back together. Ares ate it and I sewed it back together. He ate it again and we took it away. After a few months, I stuffed it again and sewed it back together. It did not last for too long, and he had it totally destroyed. We threw it away at this point.

While Ronnie was TAD, I had to buy some dog food. I happened to walk down the dog toy isle and there was the puppy dog. I got one for Ares and the bunny for Bear.

I tired to get them to sit by each other, and Ares just wanted to play. Here is Bear:

Little Change

2008-12-13T22:38:00.000+10:00

In November I noticed a very small increase in my pay. I figured it was just a fluctuation in our COLA (Cost Of Living Allowance-money we get to suppliment us in high cost areas). I decided to look at my LES (Leave and Earnings Statement-the equivalent to a civilian pay check stub) and noticed that I was already getting paid for E6!

Anyone who has military friends in multiple branches knows that the Navy is differnt in many aspects. One of them is the way we are promoted. 2 times a year we take a test. Our test scores are combined with several other performance areas and we are given a final score called a Final Multiple. If your Final Multiple is higher than the predetermined Final Multiple required for advancement (this is what we call promotions), then you are advanced.

The Navy then does a Frocking Ceremony. This is like a presentation of your new rank. You put this new rank on, but you don't get paid until much later. People who are frocked get paid in incriments. (I still don't know how they are configured!) All I can tell you is that I have always been frocked in late May or early June and I don't get paid until December. I was very suprised that I got paid a month early this time!

November

2008-12-10T16:58:00.000+10:00

Where did it go? I have been really busy with school (my last class for my associate degree) and getting ready for the holidays.

We did our traditional HUGE Thanksgiving here at the house. A good time was had by all. We even played Rock Band just like last year. Not much else to say about our turkey day except Ronnie made the best damn turkey I have ever eaten! It was only his 3rd one ever and it was GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDD.

My nephew Damon will be home soon. He was born premature a few months ago and is almost at a point where he is healthy enough to leave the hospital. (Nichole I am so proud of you! I am sorry that I could not be there to help but I love you and miss you tons.)

Ronnie left Sunday to go to Sweden for 3 days. He should be back soon. I don't know what the heck I am going to do when he leaves me for 6+ months or I leave him for 6+ months.

Long weekend

2008-10-13T15:19:00.000+10:00

Friday we went to a hospital staff dinner. It was pretty cool. A retired Marine open a War in the Pacific Museum here in Guam. This was the second annual appreciation diner he has hosted for us. It was quite nice.

Saturday we took some friends out on the 4 wheelers and then came back to the house and played Rock Band til 2 am!

Sunday we took the dogs to the beach and slept the rest of the day. (At least I did.)

I also submitted my last paper for my English class. One more class to go!

Saved

2008-10-02T18:01:00.000+10:00

Our external hard drive is okay. The USB port went out so we had to get a firewire! I am so glad. If I would have lost them all I don't know what I would have done.

Lost

2008-09-23T20:46:00.000+10:00

Several things have happened this month. I found out I was getting a new job. I trained my replacement. Ronnie has settled into his new job. We rearranged the living room. We hooked up our external hard drive and it no longer worked!

The external hard drive has everything on it. Documents for work and pictures. ALL OF MY PICTURES. Now it does not work. I brought it to the computer repair center on base and they told me that the USB port went bad. I came home and looked around for the firewire cable, but could not find it. I am going to lose my mind if all of my pictures are lost.

Bear

2008-08-16T20:03:00.000+10:00

We took Ares and Bear swimming the other day.
He is part of the family now. Ares and he constantly play and drive us crazy. With Ares, sometimes we could sleep in til 8 on the weekends. This morning they woke me up at 530. Bear will sit on one side of us on the couch and Ares will sit on the other.

Things I Forget

2008-07-13T17:32:00.000+10:00

I often forget many things, but a big thing that happened was my iPod got stolen. Right out of our garage!
4th of July, had a few drinks, went to bed. I got up about 130 Saturday afternoon (I know, remember that I was out in the hot sun all day on the 4th) and Ronnie had cleaned all the house except the floors. I went outside to get my iPod and it was gone! The case was still there. The iPod Dock was still there, but the iPod was gone! What a horrible thing. I did get a new one and waited a week to open it, the old one never turned up.
Yesterday I noticed that the weather had destroyed part of our garden. Today I went out side and tried to doctor it up a little bit. The Cheyenne peppers now have a tomato cage for support. The Tomatoes were all pulled up. Ronnie had pulled all of the mushrooms yesterday. I pulled the broken tomato plant roots out of the garden. I also noticed these little white bugs. They look like rollie-pollies on steroids. They are about 10 or so times the size of the little gray bug I played with as a child and I can not help but wonder if they were killing my garden.

4th

2008-07-12T22:26:00.000+10:00

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I worked for 7 hours and Ronnie started the party at the house. It was kinda cool to come home to a house full of people, but once again, Ronnie had to do everything by him self and I know that sucks.

Monday the 7th, I geniously sliced my thumb and pointer finger open. Yeah.....it hurt.

Nothing else interesting else happening here except the 5 days of rain that pretty much destroyed the garden.

Saipan

2008-06-20T20:59:00.000+10:00

Well, Ronnie ended up not going to Malaysia. Here are a few pics from Saipan. It was nice to get away, but the island is really small and 3 days and 2 nights would have been perfect for us.
This is the scooter we rode for 4 days:

Sunset out of our window:

Bird Island where the battery on our camera died:

One of Many

2008-06-20T20:39:00.000+10:00

I tend to stay pretty active with things at work. I am however very picky about the things that I get involved with. I only do the things that really enjoy. I don't do them to make the Navy or myself look good.
There is a very large military retiree population here in the Marians Islands. One of the many things that Veterans can get is a military burial. 3 commands here take turns providing this very important service. This year happens to be the hospital.
It is a very strange feeling to render last military honors for someone and have the wife or husband, son or daughter standing behind you crying as you slowly and respectfully fold a flag. I am damn proud to do it!

Sometimes the midnight phone call is good.

2008-05-24T22:34:00.001+10:00

Thursday night, out phone rang at 11 p.m. We did not move. I heard the message and refused to get up. At some time later in the night, the phone rang again and again. The second two calls were at 1 a.m. and about 2 or 3 a.m. I again did not move. Ronnie got out of bed and did what the 3 people who had called us advised us to do about 4 a.m.
He came back to bed and told me that he missed promotion by 6 points and that I needed to get up and go check. About 430 I did. Yes, I made HM1! by 6 points.

Mini Vacation

2008-05-02T15:22:00.000+10:00

I am taking a few days off in May to finish up some school. I thought it would be kinda cool for me and Ronnie to go do something on this island one of those days becuase we would actually be able too. As it is now, he gets home about an hour before I do and is 'napping' or I am just not in the mood to do anything.
Well, he is going on a little mini working vacation the same week I took off. I is going somewhere in Malaysia for a few days or so. Now, I am going to be sitting at home looking up what I want him to go SHOPPING for!

When I Grow Up

2008-04-09T18:09:00.000+10:00

I have always had a passion for the Medical field. There is NO better feeling to me than someone being sick and in a matter of minutes or hours you can get them feeling better and they look at you and say, "Thanks".
The best memory I have of this is when I was in Okinawa, Japan. A patient came into the clinic and and been throwing up. She was not able to hold down water or food. I ran the tests on her and determined that she was dehydrated and needed fluids (an IV) and medication to stop her from throwing up. I explained to her what I was going to do (give her an IV with the medication already added), how it was going to make her feel (right now-sleepy, and later in the day-groggy and incoherent), and what she needed to do to continue to get better. After I started her IV, I called for some one to come and get her and give her a ride back home. I soon covered her up with a blanket (IV fluids can make you very cold). After the IV was done, she slept for about an hour and was awoken once her ride arrived. I repeated her instructions to get better to her and her ride home. She looked at me as I was walking them to the door and told me that in her 8 years in the military no one had ever taken the time to explain things the way I did or to make sure she understood what was causing her to feel so badly. This is what I love.
I am currently working on my Associates Degree and am taking courses in Human Services. I have never had a desire for knowledge in the Mental Health aspect of the medical field and I am not really sure if I do now, but I am really enjoying the class. I don't think I want to go into counseling, but I think that I may really enjoy social work when I grow up.

No Suprise

2008-03-23T11:59:00.000+10:00

Ronnie's birthday is on Easter. I decided last weekend to throw him a suprise pary on Saturday. The suprise was ruined. Everyone still came over. The birthday cake had to be the only cake Ronnie would eat.....yellow with chocolete frosting. One of the guys decided to make it an 'off road' cake. The plan was to use hot wheels. Great idea.....it turned out the be the best and worst cake I have ever seen!

Detour

2008-03-23T11:11:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, we were invited to a wedding. I had duty and could not go but Ronnie and some friends went. As they were driving across the island on Cross Island Road, someone (who will not be named) decided it would be a good idea to check out a mud pit. So they did and got stuck! Here is a picture of the place about 7 months ago.

Here is what Ronnie's jeep looked like after last weekend.

They were obviously late for the wedding, but they did make it!

Damage is Done

2008-03-12T18:59:00.000+10:00

Our desk top computer decided to stop working last week, kinda. We could log on to it and work for about 10 minutes. Then, our screen would go blank and the computer would shut off.....all by it's self.
We decided to get a new one. We spoke to several friends to get advice on what we should get and look for. I built a laptop on line and had a few people look over it see if it was a good system for the things that we were planning on using it for. A few minor adjustmets were made and it was discovered that this particular laptop would take about 6 weeks to get here (yet another company that does not ship to military addresses). So I meet Ronnie at the store and we looked. The only laptop they had that compared to the one I built was the same price. It had some features we did not need and was lacking quite a few that we did need. Needless to say, we had a disagreement in the store and left.
This last Saturday we decided to go back. A friend met us there and helped us compare what was available. The one Ronnie wanted was the only one that was a real option for us. I was stil upset about the missing programs. I decided to go ahead and get it. So, we have a new laptop (it is more like a portable CPU...it is big)!
Later Saturday afternoon, we found out what might be the problem with our CPU. The fan on the processor had stopped working. Yesterday Ronnie and I went to a local computer company and they had the part and were able to install it right away! We spend a signigicant amount on the laptop and the cost to fix the CPU that is now working fine.......$35!

Better Left Unsaid

2008-03-12T18:36:00.000+10:00

Many times in life we are faced with tough obsticles. Some times we make the right choice and sometimes we make one that is not soo good. No matter what, when you explain these choices, somethings are better left unsaid, or do we really want to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
A popular military movie stated that, "You can't handle the truth". I have always been one to put all of the cards on the table and expected others to do the same. Sometimes this is hard to dish out and hard to swallow. It is said that you should not ask the question if you are not willing to accept the answer.
I struggle very frequently with my occupation. I often ask myself if I can really do this for another 10 years, 10 months and 24 days. Things are ofter not done in the way that I like or appove of and that makes it difficult at times.
This month our annual evaluations were perfomed. These evaluations are used for everything from promotions so further education opertunities, to duty station assignments. I have been in a leadership position for a long time so I understand very well how this process is suppose to work. Everyone provides imput on the last 12 months, this imput is put into a specified format, and everyone who is being evaluated gets 'compared' to each other and is ranked 1-whatever. This is where the problem comes it. I feel and interpret the manuals for this process to be: He who is the best IS THE BEST. Not everyone feels this way. Many people take other things in concideration that are really not relevent to job performance and the many other standards that military members are held to. One example is time in location. I don't care if someone has been in a job for 3 years or 1. Who is the best performer? Who gets the most done and gets it done correctly.
We also get an annual evaluation halfway through the year that tells us what we need to work on as an individual. This is not ranked and is just guidance. When we get our annual evaluation, questions often follow. When you are getting debriefed on your evaluation sometimes things are brought to light that are not located on your evaluation. Way to often I hear of people being told, "You are the number one at this command, but Joe Smo has been here longer. I lost hours of sleep over this choice and it was debated and revisited several times. Sorry". WHAT THE HELL.
I have seen this situation and many very close to it and it discusts me that we are expected to die for our country but can not get the credit we deserve for the hard work and dedication that we provide. I can not decide if I would rather hear the truth in this situation, of if it is something that truly is better left unsaid.

Other Side of the World

2008-03-12T17:58:00.000+10:00

With all of the technology the world has today you would think that it is easy to keep up on EVERYTHING and for the most part. Log onto the Internet or turn on CNN. You will see things that are going on right now. You can log in to various messenger services, hook up a web cam and see people 5,000 miles away from you. You can use satellite programs and zoom in on your childhood home. Yet, it is not the same as seeing your newborn nephew or your sister graduate from high school.
I have been in the Navy for nine years and have spent 4 of them out side of the United States and I have missed many things. We planned to go home in October of this year (half way through our tour on a remote island in the Pacific) and participate in some important events. Ronnie's sister had a baby last October and is getting married this October. One of Ronnie's best friends just moved half way across the country. Ronnie has never been to New Orleans nor has he experienced the rich history of the South. We planned on spending 25 days catching up, celebrating, and traveling (something we love to do but really can't on an island that you can drive around in 3 hours).
After careful budget analysis and debates, it is just not feasible. Plane tickets are 2 grand a piece. A rental car and gas for 25 days is about 2 grand and 5 nights in hotels makes a grand total of 7 thousand dollars! This does not include food, shopping, visiting Plantations that line HWY 90 in South-east Louisiana or anything else we come across that we decide to do.
You would think that with the technology that we have, it would not cost this much, but we were both surprised when we realized what we were about to commit ourselves to. I hope that everyone back home anticipating our trip is not too disappointed and realizes that we are both bumbed about this painful decision, but we just can't do it. We will however, take advantage of the technology more. My goal is to make at least one entry a week (instead of 5 in one day once a month). We do plan on taking a much smaller (and affordable) vacation soon and will take lots of pictures for all to enjoy.
For those of you planning or wishing to come visit, our door is open and we would love to share our experiences of the island and culture with you on the other side of the world!

The Smell

2008-03-12T17:15:00.000+10:00

Our home is a frequent for a few of Ronnie's co-workers. They come over, hang out, eat, drink, play video games, play with Ares, and pass out. I get up the next morning (usually about 7), and cook breakfast.
For the last few weeks, one of our friends from the ship has been staying with us because he moved here and had to wait until his house was ready to move in. A few weekends ago one of the guys stayed over and was sitting on the living room couch. Our house guest was upstairs. Ronnie and I were in the kitchen getting breakfast together. We hear this strange noise and some yelling. Ronnie practicaly runs me over getting out of the kitchen and into the hall way. There was this smell that hit me as he ran past. As I got to the hall way I saw I sight that I can not fully remember or describe. Our house guest was standing about 4 steps up from the bottom of the stairs, the couch guy was at the bottom of the stairs, and Ronnie was squatting while holding Ares in his hands.
Ares had apparently walked around our living room table, stepped on a plastic bag, got scared and ran straight. If you assumed that the stairs were straight in front of him, than you are correct! (Keep in mind that the lower level of our house is tile.) As Ares tried to stop on the tile floor he slid. Right in between the rails of our stairs!
Ares is fighting the stair case and Ronnie to get out with no luck. Ronnie gets him to calm down and as I approach them, this smell gets stronger. I tried to turn his head and get him out, but we could not. The two guys tried to but some stress on the rails to help get Ares out but that did not work either. While they tried to do a few more things, I noticed that there were a few deposits on the floor under Ronnie right about the time he put his foot down. His immediate verbal expression of frustration describded the deposits on the floor! I tried to clean this up while the guys continued to free Ares' head from the vicious stairwell. At this point I started looking for something to cut the railing. We have the bread knife, the electric knife, a machete. Nothing seemed like a good idea. Ronnie then told me to grab his Leatherman because it had a saw on it.
This worked and freed Ares. Now, we have burnt biscuts for breakfast and a pile of poop on the floor that Ronnie is trying not to spread. Ares wanted nothing to do with the stairs for about 2 hours. He also had a cut on each side of his face (minor) and a few scratches on his paws and legs from trying to get out.
The thing that amazes me most in all of this is not the wonder of how he fit his head through the bars and we could not get them back out, rather how I am 27 and still gag at the thought of cleaning up poop! It is amazing that I have been in health care for 12 years and it still gets to me. I do not know how people can change baby diapers and not gag. I can tell you that I have smelled two things that I will never forget. Burning flesh and Scared-out-of-you defication.

What happened to February

2008-03-12T16:57:00.000+10:00

It came and it went. I don't even remember what all happened. It was here and it was gone. I am not sure where it went. Ronnie told me that we were not going to do anything except go out to eat. I come home and he has 2 card on the kitchen counter. The first one was from Ronnie that said some thing about giving me jewlrey and it had a button on the inside that said "Worlds Greatest Wife". The second was from Ares. It said, "I lick my feet, I lick your feet. I lick my leg, I lick your leg. I lick my arm, I lick your arm. I lick my butt, I lick your face"! It was really cute.

Drive

2008-01-19T14:57:00.000+10:00

Have you ever been driving and had a thought that was totally shocking? I did 3 days ago. I thought to my self, "Screw this. I don't need this. I can get out in November and get a job where I don't have to worry if people pay thier bills or drink too much or any of this other crap. Civilian jobs don't give a shit if you don't get you flu shot. WHY THE HELL AM I DOING THIS?" Then I realized that other than the above mentioned and a few other ideosecraseas, I love my job. Everything has it's good and it's bad.

True Holiday Kick-off

2007-12-09T17:03:00.000+10:00

Being duel-military like we are has its ups and downs. One of the ups and downs happened this weekend. Up-We get two command 'Holiday Celebrations' (formaly known as the Christmas Party). Down-Just so happened they were the same weekend this year. Down-And I had to work mine. Not serious work, but I had some things I had to do becase I was on the planning committee. Up for him, Down for me-I was the DD Friday night at Ronnie's Party. Up-His command is very small and they got a gift for everyone! Ronnie got a back massager for the car and I got an iPOD dock that I am going to take to work. Up-With his command being so small, they can "Tell it like it is", and to me it was a true Sailors party. Down-Saturday I was the first one there to get everything set up for the registration table and door prizes. Up-I had a 'SMOKIN' red dress on. Up-Ronnie won a $50 gift certificate.

I guess having 2 semi-formal Christmas Parties in one weekend is a true 'Holiday Kick-off'!

Holiday Season

2007-11-24T17:09:00.000+10:00

We had Thanksgiving at out house for about 20 of our friends. It consisted of Rock Band, Rock Band, and more Rock Band. Ronnie cooked his first ever turkey and it was good. We had a friend fry a turkey and I really miss home!

Today we went and got our Christmas tree and that fun stuff. Not much else going on except that I sent a Christmas card to a total stranger!

Life in Guam

2007-11-04T08:11:00.000+10:00

We have been busy working. And work. And work. That is why I have not put anything on the blog. By the time I get home from work I don't want to do anything. Ronnie got Guitar Hero III last weekend and we got the rest of the system in my truck! It is nice.

Ares is getting big and spoiled. He totally destroyed his first puppy dog! I have sewn it back together several times but he ate the body of this time. Ronnie refuses to throw it away.

Yesterday we went looking for Christmas decorations. We looked for an angel for the top of the tree and have not been able to find one. I did find a singing and dancing Christmas tree. It sings 'Rockin Around the Christmas Tree'. That is all for now.

Taga'chang Beach Park

2007-11-04T07:37:00.000+10:00

We found this really cool beach/park a few months ago when we were invited to a party. I wanted to take Ares there to play so we have gone there 2 or 3 times now. It is absolutly beautiful. Here are some pictures of a wave crashing:

Celebrate

2007-11-04T07:24:00.000+10:00

For my birthday, we tried a new restaurant. IT SUCKED. It happens. I did however get a few surprising phone calls. Both of my sisters called, and so did my mom. Dad shot me an e-mail.

Three days later, we celebrated the Navy's birthday at a great hotel. Here is a picture from one of the rooms:

Stuff

2007-10-09T17:22:00.000+10:00

Alot of stuff has been going on. I have a new job, gifts, house cleaning, iPOD stuff. Yada, yada, yada.

I am now in a management position! It is pretty cool, but I have to get use to it. Tons of work and stuff has not been done that is due so I have a lot of catch up going on.

Ronnie and I exchange anniversary gifts early. Not only did he give me my B-day gift a month early, I have my anniversary gift now too....kinda. Ronnie decided to put a system in my truck. Most of it was installed, but my speaker box did not come in yet. Ronnie got a surround sound. He likes it. I do too.

I fixed some stuff on the iPOD! Our music now goes directly to the external hard drive. We still had to re-import all of our music, but oh well!

Ronnie got his Open water recreational dive qualification the other day! We tried to dive on Sunday, but my left ear would not clear, so I hit 10 feet and went back up. I will try again this weekend.

Computer Illiterate

2007-09-23T13:26:00.000+10:00

I am horrible when it comes to computers. I can do some things I can also teach myself to do somethings that I need to do. Somethings I just have no clue about.

4 nights ago I dumped our entire itunes library.....GONE. So, here I am sitting at the computer importing our CD's (again for the second time) while Ronnie is watching Lost. It sucks.

Boring

2007-09-23T07:52:00.000+10:00

We have not been up to much. Just work and watching Lost. Getting ready for the holidays becuase we have to send gifts back like a month early. Here are some more pictures of the beach and Ares.

I think this is a sand crab. This little guys are fast!

The weather here changes in 10 seconds. This is what it looks like.

Carpet

2007-09-07T19:08:00.001+10:00

We decided to leave Ares out last Friday because Ronnie only worked for 4 hours. I come home from work and asked him what had happened. He just looked at me and said that it was going to cost us 300-600 dollars. I went upstairs and Ares had pulled up the carpet under the door. The little poo-head even caught the carpet in the hall way. This is what it looks like now:

Can you see the ridges. I wanted to choke him. $611.

Birthday

2007-09-07T19:01:00.000+10:00

Ronnie is horrible. He can't save any supprises. Here is my birthday present......32 days early:

Dog Hair

2007-08-29T11:46:00.001+10:00

So Ronnie made me cave into getting a dog. Ares is great. He is spoiled and all that good stuff. I have issues with hair. Like one of the crepiest feelings is sliding you feet under the covers and a piece of hair run between your toes. So, the dog does not sleep in the bed with us. He has a little doggie pillow and sleeps on it. The other night Ares jumped on the bed. Ronnie is now trying to talk me into letting him sleep in the bed. NOT happening.

Hate

2007-08-10T17:35:00.000+10:00

There are a few things in life that I hate. I hate wanting and needing to say something but not being able to because it would cause harm to other people. Screw other people! What about when you just can't find the right words or you say what you think you mean, but you still don't get your point across. Or, when you just want to scream at someone or if you want that person to scream back and THEY DON'T!

Here are some situations when I feel this way:
1. Someone is in my bubble.....you know, that personal space that we have....AND I DON'T WANT THEM THERE, but they won't fuc@!#$ move!
2. Someone I don't like is around me.
3. Someone I do like is around me but someone who does not like them is around me too (this only BLOWS when I am more partial to person #2.)
4. I have to deal with STUPID people at work.
5. When you can't have what you really want because you already have what you really want and now you don't f$%^ing know what the hell you want but you can't find the right person to scream at and even if you did, you don't know what the hell to say! (That was a mouth full, even for me.)

Turn Around

2007-08-01T19:40:00.000+10:00

We did it, we bought a 360. I wanted to wait until next year (even though I secretly have been craving Halo), but someone Ronnie works with was getting rid of one for like a fourth of the price so I could not refuse the deal. Of course, that is all we will do for like the next month. At least we will be occupied!

HP # 7

2007-07-23T17:17:00.000+10:00

Yeah, I stayed up until 11 last night reading it. I am glad it is over, but it was good! It was great.
It sold 8.3 million copies the first day that is 5,000 copies a minute. People were lined up for 3 days to get the book.

Time

2007-07-23T17:11:00.000+10:00

Where does time come from and why does it leave us so fast? I don't know what happens to it. It just seems to leave. I look up and it is gone. The end of the day is here and I have accomplished half if not a third of what I wanted to do.
I took a week off of work to finish up my college class. I had a list of stuff to do and hardly got any of them done. This entry was on my list and I am just now getting to it and I still do not know where time goes.

First Swim

2007-07-12T10:18:00.001+10:00

Checking things out!

First dip in the water.

I am swimming!

Jumping over the wave.

Shake it.

Beach Coast.

Palm Tree

Running down the beach.

Could I be cuter?

Dehydration

2007-07-12T10:14:00.000+10:00

No matter how much water I drink I can not get hydrated. I have drank water and Gatorade and more water. I don't know what else to do. I am tired of walking up the stairs and feeling like my heart is going to pump out of my chest.

Flowers in Guam

2007-07-11T14:55:00.000+10:00

The Bandwagons or (Brooms) We Get On

2007-07-11T14:28:00.000+10:00

Ronnie started it about 2 months after we startend dating. His room mates had gone movie shopping and I laughted at 3 of the movies they bought. Now, I am hooked. We watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that night and I am watching it right now as I do some (much needed) updates to the blog and download music to my computer only 15 nimutes after takeing a Midrin. (DAMN my head hurts.)

I use to be a Harry Hater like there was no tomorrow. Then Ronnie made me watch the movies. During our last deployment between planning the wedding and working my butt off, I ordered the 'box set' of books one through five! I read one through 3 before we got home. Four was read while we were on vacation in Vegas and Phoenix. Ronnie bought me book six in a grocery store because it was on sale.

I, like everyone else that is a Potter-addict, pre-ordered. I pre-ordered from Borders while I was in the states. I get to Guam and find out that the exchange will be selling them so I cancel Borders and pre-order here on base. (It would have taken me 3 weeks to get it in the mail, and I have waited 10 months, I am not waiting a minute longer than I have too.)

I have taken this week off of work and have been looking up Harry and the gang in light of the movie and the book. I am very sad that I can not be in the states with all the crazed fans to go to Borders and experience the 'beginning of the end' of Harry.

Ronnie told me about 3 weeks ago that we would have to make a few trips to the movie theater soon. I asked him why and he told me that we had to see Transformers and the following week we would see Harry Potter. I looked at the man that introduced me to Harry and said, "You are telling ME that we have to go see the movie"? He looked at me and said, "How got you hooked"?

When we saw Transformers, I noticed that the theater we were at was pre-sailing tickets for Potter. I looked online today and noticed that it was already relased! All ready released. I thought it would come out on the 14th. Guess I was wronge.

Doors

2007-06-30T18:48:00.000+10:00

We have 4 doors at our house. No big deal for most American families, right? I am from southern Louisiana and we had 2. A front door and a back door. Period. I now have a front door, patio door, back garage door and balcony door. The garage and balcony doors will let you open them even if they are locked. (from the inside). Ronnie and I have locked ourselves out on the balcony more than once, but never at the same time, until a few weeks ago. We had a few friends over and decided to go to the balcony. We closed the door so bugs would not get into the house and I decided to go check on the computer. (I was defraging it.) I grab the handle, and it does not budge. I attempt to open windows and they are all locked. The guys decide that someone has to jump. Lets just say that I really wish I had my camera. Two of them layed on the roof and the other wiggled himself down their arms. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time!

Road Trip

2007-06-17T14:01:00.000+10:00

We went on a road trip to take some pictures and see Guam. It was not much of a 'road trip', but it was a good time. We stopped to take pictures of Cocos Island.

Inlet north of Cocos

Spanish Bridge:

Then we stopped at Fort Soledad.

Next was a pricey but cool lunch at Jeff's Pirate Cove.

Then to the Talofofo Falls. It is 20 bucks per person but we got 'The Discount' so it was only 10 per person. It started with the pigs:

Then we went into the ghost house:

Next was the lift that had NO ventilation:

We arrived at the falls. Ronnie and one of the guys decide they are going to walk over to the falls.....No signs were posted so I stayed back to take pictures:

We made it:

I wanna take a dip:

Little slippery:

Suspension bridge:

In 1972 a Japanese soldier .was found living in the mountains. It was a little bit of a walk from where we were, but we made it:

Then another suspension bridge to the upper falls:

Back on the lift where Ronnie decided to 'let one go'. Remember the ventilation....it was bad!

We get home and the guys hang out. About 2 am I went to bed. I woke up to the phone ringing. I have no clue what time it was, but buy the time I got out of bed it was 10! Made breakfast, watched a movie, doing laundry and next, I have to study!

Softball

2007-06-13T17:23:00.000+10:00

Things have been a little busy around here. Saturday we had a softball game at 8 am. Sunday we had another. We went to a local's house for some BBQ then back to the fields. We ended up not getting home until 930 that night! Monday I had to work late....real late. I got home at 11pm! Tonight, Ronnie has another softball game. More later. Gotta get ready.

Puke puke puke puke

2007-06-03T16:44:00.000+10:00

That is the number of times Ares puked when we tried to go off roading after he was tourchered by the vet. We don't think it was from the vet or from the off roading, we just think he gets car sick. Too bad when we get back to the states becuase I am not sitting in the back seat so Ares can sit up front. NO WAY.

Adam's truck.

Sometimes, the view here is awsome.

Wash, wash, wash

2007-06-03T16:24:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, we decided to wash the vehicles. Well, Ronnie wanted to wash his which meant he had to wash mine!!!! I went out an vaccumed and other stuff. Ares decided he wanted to drink the water out of the hose. It was so cute.

We found out that Ares is scared of the railing around the stairs. So Ronnie sat on the landing and Ares up top and he barked and barked and barked and groweled and groweled. It was funny. Right now Ronnie is givneing me shit becuase I put 'and barked' like 5 times. Why dear god did I do it?

Then, this week I came home and he was chillin in the room with me. I told him to get his puppy dog. (This brightly colored squeaky toy that has not been totally destroyed yet.) And he brought it to me!

135 dollar shot

2007-06-03T16:10:00.000+10:00

Friday I came home and let Ares out. There were these 2 little white smashed pieces of rice in his #2. Or so I thought. They moved! I am medical staff so you would think not much would make my tummy turn, but on the contrary. As the Vet explained to me that they were egg pouches of tapeworms, I got a sick. Then she begins to tell us about the OTHER digestional parasite he has that crawls into the intestinal cells and multiplies until the cells burst causing diarrhea. UGH GROSS. Next, we found out that he may have a mild skin infection around his pepe. So, 135 bucks later, we have 3 weeks worth of antibiotics and a puppy who is tired and has been violated!

First Blood

2007-05-31T17:33:00.000+10:00

Ares drew blood for the first time on the 29th. It was on Ronnie and from the screams I heard across the house, it hurt!

BOOBS

2007-05-22T20:11:00.001+10:00

We have like NO pictures with me in them because this is what I get when Ronnie gets the camera:

I know I am not the subject of this picture, but this is the ONLY one I am in.

Then, we see what the 2 men in my life do.....so much fun.

Sweaty balls

2007-05-22T19:45:00.000+10:00

Got your attention, did I. No, I don't have sweaty balls (so to speak), but sweaty boobs just does not sound right! Let's get back to the balls, shall we?

When we hang out with people, Ronnie sometimes gives me a hard time. Someone will ask him something and he will look at me and say something like, "I may be wearing pants, but she has my balls!". So I look at him and say, "Your damn right I do". It is just kinda the way we work. Then I look at other people and they are like REALLY like that. The guy has to ask the girl if he can sneeze or the other way around. What is up with that.

We have our limits. If he says something needs to be done that is manly like change the oil in the Dodge, then I do it. If he wants a 4 hundred dollar hitch....he as to talk me into it, but I do it (OKAY, I got him the damn thing, but we have a really nice couch! Love ya Shelly). If he wants to go to a strip club to look at nasty rotten whoo whoo with a group of friends then he asks with a scared look on his face. I don't do nasty whoo whoo so if it is a group of couples or whatever and we don't have anything going on and I really don't care, then I tell him I don't care. When I first got here, this situation happened. We were on base at a comedy show (kinda) and a few guys were there from work. One of the wives came by to pick them up and the guys wanted to go to the strip club. Ronnie asked if we could go. I was still adjusting to the time change (and I don't do nasty whoo whoo) so I told him, "I would rather you not, but if you want to, go ahead just don't be too late". One of the guys said something like, "You better go home because that is woman for 'Hell no you can't go the the f-ing strip club".

I guess what I am trying to say in a round about way (and I have NO idea how this all came from 'Sweaty balls') is that I am lucky. I love the butt head. He is my cutie and even though we don't see eye to eye (partly because I am like 9 inches shorter) I think we have it good. Not that anyone reads my blog, but if he does one day I want him to know that I love him even when he buys a $400 TV and tries to hide it (why would you try.....that is like a kid trying to hide a puppy....mommy always finds out.), is drooling on himself drunk or trying to warm a cheese burger on the central AC/heater vent! AND if I ever do any of these things, I hope he still loves me too!

Shower anyone

2007-05-21T17:37:00.001+10:00

When we first moved in we were excited about everything. About 4 days later we were alot less excited about our little shower. It is nice and all, but it is little. We had company over one night and as we were showing the upstairs, we noticed that the floor was wet. Not a good thing but it explained the 'musty' smell upstairs. So we called the property manager and they sent someone over to check it out. A small hole was noticed in the tile and patched up.

About a week ago the shower door started leaking. Ronnie tried to fix it but could not. We tried calling the home owner 3 times and could not get in touch with him. I finally did last Wednesday.

Saturday during the party we noticed that the carpet in the hall outside the shower was wet again. Today I called the home owner and he told me to call a plumber and take it out of the rent. (This house is 3 months old and none of the doors are level. The front door's tunge gets stuck all the time and you have to screw with the knob to get it to close all the way.) I am not happy! I asked him if there was anyone in particular he would like us to call and he took my number and called me right back. He gave me the number to the guy that built the house. (Whom he had tried to call and has been unable.) I called the guy and left a message. I assume he is not going to call me back either.

History

2007-05-21T17:03:00.000+10:00

So, Friday afternoon (18May) I was cleaning my truck and I saw blond hair and a BIG (compared to Ares) dog. I looked at the owner and it is someone I work with! We started talking about the neigborhood. She rents from the same guy we do!

We have like 6 people from the hospital that live here......One of them had thier house broken into 2 times when they first moved in.....not a good thing.

Oh well, we are here and I am NOT moving unless something really bad happens.

Mail

2007-05-20T20:29:00.000+10:00

When we moved in, we had to change all of the utilities our of the home owners name and into ours. No big deal. When I did this, we had to give a mailing address. The way our military FPO-AP works is that it goes to a central location in the states and then is sorted from there. IT is an address somewhere in San Francisco (that is why priority mail is pretty much useless with our addys......once it gets to California, it enters the military postal system and is untrackable). It would be crazy to give them our military address, because it would take us 3 months to get the bill. So I give them the address to the house. WHAT was I thinking?!

I had asked our realitor several times how to get mail here and it was...'I'll get back to you'. I kept forgetting about it. I ended up asking the property manager and found out that in Guam it takes a LONG time to get mail at a new resedence. This sub-division had been open for 8 months before we moved in and it still did not have mail. I called them back like 2 weeks ago and the Govenor of Guam wants to change the name of our road so it is still not done. What a pain. So, we get no mail unless it goes to work...that takes like 2 months!

Long Hours

2007-05-20T19:40:00.001+10:00

I was excited to get off of the ship. No more deployments, fast cruise, 2hour commutes or dog duty weekend. (Where you have to work all week, stay on the ship all weekend, and then work another full week. Yeah, it is that bad.) Here I am, missing the ship and working just as crappy hours (on occasion).

Last weekend I had duty from Friday to Monday morning. No big deal. We had a bird comming in for a patient Saturday night, so I knew I had to work a little. Well, I had a bad headache Friday so I came home and slept while Ronnie did stuff on the computer. My duty phone rang at 6, then 730, then 8! About 7, Ronnie ran over to Wendy's to get supper. We then played the PS2 for a while. About 9 I layed down and told him to wake me at 10 so I could call home. The next thing I notice is my duty phone is ringing again, I am on the couch alone, it is hot as balls and it is 130 am! I ended up having to go to work. I got there about 2 and did not get back home until 130 pm Saturday! Ronnie and I had dinner plans. He was getting ready to leave me and I talked him into letting me sleep for 1.5 hours. So he woke my up at 3 and off we went. We got home about 1030 or so. I had to get up at 2 to go back to the hospital to bring patients to the flight line on the Air Force base. Got back home about 830. That weekend shot!

This week, I worked late on Monday or Tuesday. Then I had duty on Thursday and got another patient about 2 pm that had to be processed. I left work about 430 and went to the little store we have to buy some OJ for Hurricanes this weekend. As I am standing in the check out line with my 3 packages of Little Smokies, bottle of Parrett Bay, and half gallon of OJ....You got it, duty phone rings. "HM2, we need you to find someone else to go on this trip. The medical attendent has to be the same sex as the patient". So, back to my office I go and I make my phone calls, fix it, and leave back for home. Now, I work 10 minutes from the house and it is only like 3-4 miles. I was 1 red light away from our street and....DUN DUN DUN....phone rings. "HM2, I am about to ruin your night, but only for an hour or so". (Let it be known, those words, however honest, ARE NOT GOOD!) So, I went home put up the food I bought and told Ronnie I had to go back to work. (Ronnie=NOT HAPPY. He had cleaned the entire yard at this point and needed some help with stuff around the house which he rightfully deserved. He had been a good little house bit#$ with all the late days I have had recently.) I figured out that I could do what I needed to do from home! YEAH!

Friday, May 18! Party day is here, almost. I get off of work early so I can run some errands and pay the bills. I get home, help with stuff around the house and we have a guest for a little while. About 750 we left to meet some friends for supper at the Sharaton...... We get home about midnight. I check the caller ID and notice that my duty phone called about 8 and the hopital called about 10. I called my office and had to go to work. Good thing I was the DD! I got home about 730 Saturday morning......

Came home, kissed Ronnie, went to bed, Ronnie woke me at noon. The end of a long night and start of a LOOOOOOOOONG day! Ronnie had done almost every thing....what a sweety! My little smokies were in the crook pot with 2 bottles of BBQ sauce and a can of beer. The water and beer were in the coolers on ice already and he even changed the bottle for the Glade plug-in upstairs! I was impressed. (If you know Ronnie you are too!) We had decided that we were going to make pizza dough in the bread maker for the pigs-in-the-blanket. It came out too gooey somehow so we used cresants. Let me tell you.....they were the shi^. We had like 150 of them and they went pretty fast! (I had my fingers crossed for left overs; next time I will make more.) It was a long night with about 35 people at the house. Ares had fun and seemed to enjoy the love everyone gave him. Last person left about noon today! Party ended about 130 this morning and Ronnie was slobering all over himself....it was funny.

The Suprised

2007-05-15T18:49:00.000+10:00

So, if you noticed that Ronnie has an entry on my blog. Our blog....whatever. He wanted to go a map like mine of everywhere he has been. I thought he wanted to do a blog...how funny.

Where has RONNIE been all this time

2007-05-10T18:41:00.001+10:00

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Half-way around the world

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.
State side

where have I been all this time?

2007-05-10T18:36:00.001+10:00

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Around The World

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

US Travels

ARES

2007-04-30T12:46:00.000+10:00

We got a puppy. He came home on Tuesday the 24th and slept because he was drugged up from surgery. At 930 when we were ready to do to bed, he decided he wanted to play. Night night time. He cried all night long.

The next night, he played catch. He actually went and picked up the tennis ball and brought it back to me. It was cool. We went outside and he just waked around the yard. He is real good about not walking on the concrete at all so far. I am sure it won't last long and he will be all over the place. When we went back inside I scratched his back on both sides at the same time and he barked at me! It was not a full grown dog bark, but it was not one of those little wimpy puppy barks either. We were both so surprised. We went to bed and he cried all night long again.

By the time we went to bed last night, he was able to find (and sit in front of) both doors to go out side, (not that he does it every time, but he is doing better than any other puppy I have had) walk up and down the stairs, puke in my truck, walk around the block, and super dive off of the couch. He is no longer scared of the hallway down stairs!

CAVE

2007-04-24T11:52:00.000+10:00

I don't know how the butt head does it, but he has a way of making me cave when he wants something. Sunday we ate breakfast and decided to go look at puppies. Ronnie wanted a female. I just wanted one that is not going to shead all over the place. As we were on our way there. I tried to discurage him by reminding him how much the pet deposit was, and a kennel, and food, and shots, and getting a puppy fixed.

We get to G.A.I.N. (Guam Animals In Need) and look around. I did not see any thing that jumped at me and said "Take me home, I am so cute." There was this one little guy with a really cut face but he just kinda sat there and did not move. Ronnie came over to look at him and held him for a while. To my suprise he liked him and wanted him.

So, we put in an application then headed to the store to buy supplies. 200 bucks later we were on our way home.

Yesterday, G.A.I.N. called Ronnie and told him that we were approved and that he had to make the appointment get the pup snipped then come to the office to pay the adoption fee. Another 200 bucks later, his second set of shots, deworming, monthly heartworm meds, and flea treatments are ours for the taking once he gets picked up.

Today, Ronnie has to pick him up at 4. We have a puppy!

Free is good

2007-04-24T11:42:00.000+10:00

Friday, Ronnie e-mailed me and told me that he had scored us a FREE 6 piece dining room set plus a hutch. This is all he knew about it......I asked. By the end of the day he found out that it was like 10 years old.

We decided that we were going to go grocery shopping Saturday morning about 9 because the guy giving us the table was coming over around noon. One of Ronnie's friends was coming with and he was going to stay and hang out. Ronnie decided he wanted to grill some ribs so that is what we bought. We get home about 1045 or so and Adam had called twice for directions. When Ronnie called him back, they were loading it all up. I put up the food and swept the floor and stuff. The set is GREAT. We both really like it. You can tell it is a 'seasoned' style, but it is perfect. Ronnie loved the color and the hutch is great for pictures and stuff.

Ronnie and Adam proceeded to grill and drink. We ended up eating about 730. Then played Nintendo. Yes, Nintendo...from like 1985. It is not nearly as entertaining as I remember, but we had a good time. This lasted till midnight!

I got up Sunday morning and swept and mopped the floors again but as I was walking towards the dining room, the table caught my eye and I realised....'This is my home. It is not a building I rent and throw my stuff in....it IS home.' It was a nice feeling. I like it.

Believe it or not, we actually sit at the table for supper. A little strange. It is kinda unheard of these days. It is nice. If you don't do it, you should try!

Yet another long time

2007-04-24T11:03:00.000+10:00

On the 21st of March, we moved into our house. It is nice. It is too big. I hate cleaning it. It is a 2 story 3 bedroom/2.5 bathroom with a 2 car garage and a BIG kitchen. The selling points were: 1-RONNIE WANTED IT (and apparently nothing else needs to be said), 2-2 car garage.....(4 wheelers), 3-3 BIG kitchen. I like the house. It is big though and I don't think we need this much.

After the packers left and boxes were pretty much everywhere I attempted to washig dishes while Ronnie worked on washing sheets for the bed. The dish washer had run throught 2 cycles and I was drying stuff off. I noticed however, that there was NO HOT WATER in the faucet. We noticed that the dryer was not getting hot either. Suddenly, like a 1/2 ton of bricks.....WE HAVE NO GAS!

We go talk to the real estate agent and he told us that we should have a full tank. So he called the property manager and they told him that we have to pay for it. So frustrated (for the 1st time) me pays 127 dollars for 100 pounds of propaine. They deliver that day! We now have hot water.

Ronnie goes back to work the next day and I am on leave still so I clean and unpack and put things away followed by cleaning, unpacking, and putting things away. So much fun.

We went to this home expo and paid the trash people. They charge 30 bucks a month to come a pick up our trash......whatever....it has to be done. They tell us the tote-a-cart will be dropped off on Monday. Tuesday at lunch roles around and no cart. So I go to thier office. I now find out that trash should be covered in the rent and the property owner has might have already taken care of it. This took 2 trips to the trash office to find out becuase no one seemed to know what was the deal. The cart will be dropped off today or tomorrow. Wednesday about 1 comes around....NO CART. Frustrated (for the second time) me goes back to the office. They give me a refund for the month we paid for becuase the property owner did infact take care of the trash. The cart was dropped off....why did I not get it. So I tell them that I will go and LOOK for this cart and they want me to take it from the house where they dropped it off and bring it to it's correct home. I did not see the cart. So I called them and they found it and brought it over. Should the PROPERTY MANAGER be taking care of all of this?

Ronnie had a phone in the barracks. We transfered the line to the house. We had to change the number. No problem. We were told about 3 days. 5 days later....we called them. There are no phone lines to the HOUSE! They have to 'run' them from the box to the house which we have to pay for. Then they have to come and run the lines though the house because the contractors were lazy cheap bastards that could not spend the 50 dollars on a spool of line that they probably could have done 3 or 4 houses with. They come to run the lines 3 weeks after we move in. The contractors miss labeled the boxes out side for the phone and cable. The phone guys run the phone lines through the house anyway because it is not that big of a deal and the contractors are working on a house like half a block away. The phone guys leave to find the 'box' with the 'switch' to turn on the phone. They tell the contractor to come to the house and fix the box that is labeled wronge. The contractor does not speack or understand english. Him and Ronnie argue for about 20 minutes becuase he is telling us that the phone guys did it wrong. The contractor then CUTS all the lines the phone guys ran through the house. Phone guys come back, get mad, like the frustrated (for the third time) me, re-run the lines, turn on the phone and leave. We now have a phone.

Long Time

2007-03-11T04:58:00.000+10:00

I have been bad. No one reads my blog anyway, but I have not posted in over 2 months. So, here is what has been going on: After road trip #2, Ronnie left for Guam so I was stuck in the states for 2 months with out him to drive crazy. It was rough! Fortunately they have good phone plans and we were able to talk every night.

On February 12th or so, it was announced that I had made Junior Sailor of the Year! (I can't believe it either). I then went back to boot camp and Chicago had a -30 (with the wind chill) cold snap. NOT FOR ME! Had a great time there, but TOO cold. We then drove down to Springfield and went to the Abe Lincoln Museum which was actually pretty cool!

All of my stuff got packed. My truck got shipped.

I did go home for 3 days and then flew to Guam.......LONG flight. I did not get through customs and to the base until like 0240. Long day. Now, I have jetlag and it sucks. I have slept a little longer each night but not last night. It was less and I was up this morning at 4 am. Wanted to go back to sleep, tried to go back to sleep, obviously......still awake!

The island however, is wonderful (so far). There is a volcano that has erupted about 200 miles north or so and it has smog covering the island right now but it started to clear up some yesterday.

I went to Navy College Office and I am only 4 classes short of my Assosicates......yeah. I might just get edumicated after all.

Hopefully soon we will be in a house and I can blog like a some what normal person.....once a week or so, but this has been one of my typical brief updates!

Road Trip number 2

2007-01-06T06:18:00.000+10:00

To put it short, Ronnie left for Utah on 6 December. He hung out with family and stuff. Then, on the 21st he started his drive to Houston, Tx to pick me up. This took 2 days. I flew out of Seattle on the 22 at like 7 pm and landed in Houston at 6am on the 23. We stayed in Louisiana for Christmas and then drove to Arizona. Stayed there a few days and then drove to Utah. Stayed there a day and then back to Washington.

He flew out of Washington for Guam on the 4th. I miss him already!

Turkey Day

2006-11-24T05:42:00.000+10:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I had to work last night so I came home and cooked garlic mashed potatoes! Of course it is still raining here. We have supposed the state 'official record' for most rain and we are now working on the unofficial record. Yeah us!

Not 6, but 5 years old

2006-11-14T11:00:00.000+10:00

So, Sunday Ronnie had duty until 4 pm. I decided to go shopping at about 1100. I ran to a sporting goods store and picked up 2 gifts that Ronnie is totally not expecting. Then I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some gift boxes, a few gifts (not for Ronnie), and 3 seasons of Friends. Best buy was the next stop. (I had not yet bought Guitar Hero II because I had not had the chance but was going to.) I got there and asked for the military discount. The chick got really snooty, turned up her nose and said, "We don't have a MILITARY DISCOUNT, who told you we had a military discount?". I told her that the Everett store had one and she informed ME that HER store did not. So I left!

I ended up driving all the way back to Everett (this is 25 miles from my house and 50-60 miles from the Best Buy I was currently at). So I stop at the mall to get Taylor and Alexys a gift and I ended up betting my sisters something and I got a BUNCH of cool free stuff. (Yeah FREE STUFF.) Then to Best Buy. I got the game and drove home with only one and a half hours to wrap Ronnie's stuff before he got home.

So, I got all of his stuff wrapped and started on everything else. He walked in the front door and started grabbing boxes. Now, he apparently does this every year and next year, I am not getting him shit because Christmas is not about what you get or how much you spend. He attempted to tell me what was in every package but two. He only got 2 out of the 6 correct! This really bugs me because that is not how I grew up and it really irritates me that he can not act like an adult and leave well enough alone. (He just got a leather jacket.) All day he whinned and begged for the Guitar. NO was the answer. He eventually stooped so low as to say, "I did not want it for a Christmas present. I wanted it to play. You can either let me have it now or I am going to buy it and you can bring this one back".

I don't even know how to respond to this. My 15 year old sister did not even act like this. Someone wanna help out the newlywed?

0 kids to a 6 year old

2006-11-14T09:28:00.000+10:00

Saturday morning I got off of work and made it home about 1100 or so. I got home cleaned up, changed and turned on the PS2 to relax a little and Ronnie started pouting and stuff. So I asked him what was wrong and he said he wanted to go shopping. I did not want to go because it is not yet Thanksgiving and I know how my holiday shopping goes.

We ended up shopping. I planned on going to the outlet mall and then to the Everett Mall. Well, we never left the outlet mall. We got books for us and the nieces (I have nieces now!), then clothes, kitchen items, more clothes, and then Ronnie an early Christmas present....leather jacket.

We went home, cleaned, went to the Everett Mall and then to Best Buy. At Best Buy we walked by the display of Guitar Hero II and watched for a little bit. (Have you seen Blue Collar Comedy Tour? Remember Jeff talking about bringing his kids down the cereal isle?) Ronnie went into a childhood flashback on me! I was truly waiting for him to lay on the floor and start kicking and screaming! The conversation went like this:
Ronnie: I am going to get it.
Me: No, you don't need it.
Ronnie: I am going to get it, I want it, you get it for me or I am going to get it on my way home from work.
Me: No, you don't need it.
Ronnie: Yes I do. I am going to have nothing to do for a month so I want it.
Me: Is this really something that you want to get into a huge fight over? Is it really worth it?
Ronnie: (about the time we are walking out of the store) Nothing to fight about I am going to go home and roll up change when we get home and go buy it.
Me: (After we walked out) I already bought you the damn thing.
Ronnie: Oh (Gets a huge grin, gives me a hug, and opens the door.) I love you.

So, we go to diner and then go home.