Good Day Sunshine

Wow, I can't explain exactly why, but I am LOVING this day. The sun is out and it is gorgeous. I've gotten several errands accomplished and I'm looking forward (yep, I said it) to cleaning my house in just a little bit! I got to talk to Mike this morning and he's doing well. He was having some computer problems, but overall he's still doing well and staying positive. I sent him a care package a bit ago and it only took 5 days to get there - isn't that crazy!

I also know that one fellow JCCS1 person is home on R&R and I'm so happy for his girlfriend, Kym, that just the thought of her enjoying time with "her Mike" as we've come to call him puts a smile on my face. It seems like forever ago that "my Mike" was home on his R&R, but the up-side to that is that it makes his eventual homecoming feel closer! One of my other favorite Navy bloggers at The Desert Periscope is getting ready for his homecoming, which I couldn't be happier for him about. This small, unique community of JCCS1 sailors, families and friends has been invaluable to me during this deployment and I feel like their good news is "our" good news as well!

I still haven't chosen my candy bar yet. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can read my last post, though it might not help clarify things. I am leaning toward the Kit Kat however and the 'powers-that-be' are really making it as an enticing of offer an as possible...throwing in a lot of options so it's looking like the KING SIZE version! I told them I'd give them a decision this week, so I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, I just wanted to post and let everyone know Mike is doing well. I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the weekend! If you need a little song to help you, take a verse from The Beatles...

I need to laugh, and when the sun is out

I've got something I can laugh about
I feel good, in a special way
I'm in love and it's a sunny day...

I love you Mike!!

decision making time - hungry anyone?

At my school we are on yearly contracts, so there is no tenure and you just don't necessarily stay in the same position forever. This, I have always thought, is a great thing. It alleviates complacence and allows us to follow our "passions" and remain interested, engaged and up-to-date. This is the time of year when everyone starts thinking about what they will be doing next year. It's a crazy time and brings a lot of stress that I am finding it hard to deal with. I know that my current problem isn't really a "problem" but I'm just having a hard time deciding what to do. I know there are people out there with no options, and I have several and I really do know how lucky I am, but you know how when there are too many options in the vending machine you sometimes just can't decide if you want a Snickers, a Kit Kat or a Butterfinger (yes, Mike, I know you always opt for the Butterfinger...) - well, that's what I'm facing right now.

I could stick with what I'm doing - the Snickers, in this case. It's always good, I always enjoy it and I know what I'm doing. I could opt for the Kit Kat which would have me doing something new and doing several things and not just in my one classroom. Or, I could go with the Butterfinger and take a position I know a lot about and while it's maybe not as "involved" as the Snickers, it still involves significant planning time. My conundrum is this: I have been apart from Mike for a year (or will have been) and I am interested in taking on a position that might offer me more "outside" (quality time, if you will) time to spend with him- so like this weekend that just passed, I would spend it with Mike instead of spending 6 hours planning on Saturday and another 6 on Sunday. The Kit Kat option is new and I fear that, while it would be fun, it would be just as much work and I might miss out on all the extras that come with teaching in a classroom (i.e. peer interaction, working with kids, etc.). There is one layer of the Snickers option that I'm just unhappy with, but it is something I could live with. The Butterfinger option would allow me to teach in my passion area, an area I'm really comfortable with and knowledgeable and excited about, but it comes with a lot of outside work - which is probably less than what the Snickers option has, but still...The other thing is I REALLY need to finish my flippin' dissertation and I think that I'm just going to have to deal with the fact that it is going to take me twice as long working full time (and I don't want to work part-time, but still).

Ok, so maybe I've taken the candy analogy a bit too far, but I'm clearly obsessing and stressing about this and on top of that, now I'm hungry!!!


I love you Mike!

Lest we never forget...

I return to posting today with the somber news that today in Iraq was a particularly harsh one, reaffirming the realities of war that I'm sure have hit home for all who have loved ones serving. I do not have much to say, other than that my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has a family member or friend serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and my unending gratitude goes out to each and every service member who is risking so much for so many.


I love you Mike.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to wish Mike's mom, Mary Lou, a very happy birthday today!

Or, as her students might have said to her today (I think): Bon Anniversaire!!

I hope you enjoy your day!



I love you Mike!

For my Virginia Beach Blogger Friend :)

Kym,

Right back at ya! ;) You're the best!

Go Chargers!!!

I love you Mike!

Yay!

This might seem like an insignificant milestone, but if you look at the counters at the top of the blog you'll notice that now the "Time Left" counter is now LESS THAN the "Time in Sandbox" counter --- we have passed the halfway marker and I couldn't be happier!

We had a staff/planning day today to get ready for our respective intersession courses and our coming semester. My team-teacher/friend Amy and I are holding "High Tech High Iron Chef" as our intersession course. I went over to her house in Coronado last night and her husband taught us both knife skills...and we made homemade pasta and wonderful salads. I learned to brunoise, chiffanode, julienne, chop, mince and dice and I didn't cut myself once! I must say, learning to cook and cooking excellent, beautiful dishes is fantastic fun. I can't wait until Mike comes home and we can cook together!! This week our students will be making sushi (california rolls and such), risotto and homemade breakfast dishes (pancakes from scratch, etc.). Next week they'll be decorating cakes, working on their own knife skills with salads, making homemade ravioli and sauces and having an Iron Chef competition. The downside to this is that we have 40 kids, all day long, with no breaks and no prep periods...so it's going to be a crazy 8 days!!

Our first project of the coming semester is a HTH CSI project where our students will be acting as crime scene investigators, studying fingerprinting, DNA analysis, blood spatter patterns, paint and fiber analysis and criminal psychology. In my class they'll be studying major court cases in the U.S. and the history of detective fiction. We'll be reading several Poe short stories, some Stevenson, Dickens and some current works of mystery and detective fiction. They'll also be writing their own short stories and submitting them to a few writing magazines/journals. This is only and 8 week project and we'll end before spring break, so that'll make it a bit more manageable than our entire semester-long project from the Fall - ugh! Anyway, I'm sure I'll post more on both these things as they proceed.

I've heard from Mike in emails lately and he is doing just great, but still really looking forward to being home. I don't have a whole lot to share about what he's doing...other than the fact that he's had to give up his truck and is now on-foot for the remainder of his time there. I guess they needed it for training of some sort...or someone else needed it whose truck was used for the training, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's about a 1/2 hour walk to and from work every morning...and about a 15 minute walk to where he eats lunch...so he figures he's got a lot of walking ahead of him! He was talking about wanting to work out more while he was there - I guess he got his wish! :) He certainly doesn't need to lose any weight and he looks great, but I think the "fresh air" might be good...maybe? I am sure he'll be wishing for the truck back soon enough!

Well, I hope this post finds everyone doing well.

I love you Mike!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone all the best for 2007!

I love you Mike!!

Day of rest?

Today was certainly not a day of rest, by any stretch of the imagination - though I'm not complaining at all. I am still trying to get laundry done and the house cleaned before heading off to Chicago tomorrow. I'm looking forward to spending a day or so with my best friend from high school and beyond, Kim Mitchell (Begerow) who lives with her husband and daughter in a Chicago suburb. We are going to do some shopping and then Tuesday I'm getting up and heading into Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's about a three hour drive and I'm hoping to leave early enough to miss rush hour in both states...wish me luck! When I was still at Purdue Mike would fly into Chicago and we'd meet up downtown. I've promised him to go and have a drink at Ralph, one of his favorite spots there...it's a little bar inside the Polo store on Michigan Avenue. It has a wonderful hardwood bar and pictures of all the old Rat Packers - it's just tucked in there so it's not busy, but it's a fun place to stop in for. It just won't be the same without him!

Anyway, I'm sure I'll get to post some while I am away, but wanted to make sure I posted at least once before leaving. News on Mike: he's doing well, besides getting a little bit of a cold that he has dubbed "consumption" in one of his latest emails (I'm sure he's exaggerating, just a tad). He's keeping busy with work, trainings and catching up on many, many emails that he got while he was away. He has said that the weather has been colder and rainier since he's gotten back. It seems like maybe that in between stage we call Fall totally missed him and it's gone from blazing hot to really, really chilly. He did bring back a Navy sweatshirt so he'll have that on top of his warm-weather gear. He is, as always, remaining upbeat and positive, but I know that being away from home, family and friends during the holiday is just as hard on him as it is on all of us. If anyone wants and has a free a moment I know he'd love to hear what everyone is/has been up to - he may not have time to reply (he still doesn't have a regular computer on his desk), but I'm sure he'll enjoy hearing from everyone.

Well, I think that's about it for now. My taxi is coming at 5:00 am - yikes! I wish the best to everyone else braving the holiday travel in the next few days!

I love you Mike!

Holiday Spirit

Today has been an interesting day already and I thought I'd share. I had another one of those crazy all-night LAN (local area network) fundraisers to chaperone last night. This all-nighter is after a long week of long days and nights, so needless to say, I'm exhausted! However, I got home this morning at 4:30 and couldn't fall asleep for about a half hour. Mike called at about 6:00am and I honestly have little recollection of speaking to him...and I'm sure he was laughing at me (I have a vague memory that he was) because I was totally incoherent. But, after he called I couldn't really fall back asleep and so, after about 2 hours of sleep I got up. I did some work around the house and then decided it was time to run errands. I went to the store and got a few things and by the time I returned, OB merchants were open. I've spent the last couple of hours walking from the post office, to FedEX, to the bank and several cute shops in my neighborhood...feeling as if I'm getting reacquainted with an old friend. The thing I find most pleasing about this morning is how incredibly nice and happy and cheerful everyone has been - and I mean everyone, everywhere...even those places with long, long lines! It's just nice when things that should always happen, but don't always happen, actually DO happen (does that make sense?). It's crisp in Ocean Beach this morning, and overcast...I guess rain is on the way. The waves are pretty intense and there is a great brisk breeze...and I know it's not a Michigan Christmas, but I think the weather has helped people feel "spirity" - at least it has for me! Anyway, I'm off to run more errands so I hope you all have a great day.

I love you Mike!

I'm back

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been way too long since I've posted. Having Mike home on R&R and then jumping back into a very crazy schedule at work (we are building a museum exhibit...in a museum!!!) has left me little time to write. I have tons to say and want to include lots of detail, so that might have to take place over several blog posts. Right now, I just wanted to say hello to everyone and promise that I will start to blog again more regularly. Mike and I spent a little time in Arizona during his R&R, which was fun but pretty cold, actually. Pictures are on his camera, so I'll post some as soon as sends them to me!

I'll admit that having to say good-bye to Mike again has pretty much been one huge bummer (and that's an understatement!). It was, however, so good to have him here and spend time with him and our families. I hated dropping him off at the airport - totally sucked! I got back in the car and was, honestly, crying really hard. But then something on the radio actually helped. It's a weird coincidence, actually - or at least I think it's maybe karma?? I listen to NPR (something Mike is constantly making fun of me for, by the way) and they were playing a segment with Ben Taylor, James Taylor's son. The song that was on was "Nothing I Can Do" and the words just really, really struck me. The next song, "Digest" also had words that really sunk in and helped calm me down. I started feeling better...not good, but better. Then, after these two songs finished the local radio guy broke in and said he apologized, they had accidentally replayed a show from last week...and took us to the regularly scheduled programming of All Things Considered. I sat there amazed that their mistake was actually a blessing in disguise for me because it honestly calmed me down so much and just lifted all that sadness just enough. I promptly went home and bought those songs on i-tunes. I've shared this silly story with Mike, as well as the two songs. Now, each time I listen to these two songs (which I do daily) I think of Mike and a little smile creeps over my face...and I feel just a little bit better inside. Sorry if that's too cheesy for my blog-return, but it's the truth!

On a totally different note, I've just finished watching an excellent movie that I am going to recommend to everyone out there! It's called Joyeux Noel and was an Academy Award & Golden Globe Nominee for best foreign film...which really doesn't matter because it's just a darn fantastic movie - especially for the time of year we are approaching and all that is going on in our world today. The story is of a 1914 Christmas Eve truce between French, German and Scottish troops during WWI. I can't say enough good things about this film - and the soundtrack is equally powerful. It's a must see and is out on DVD right now.

Anyway, I hope this entry finds everyone doing well.

I love you Mike!

Mike's home on R&R

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you all know Mike made it home safe and sound for his R&R. I was still out on the boat when he came in, but his parents and brother picked him up from the airport...and he's already rearranging the wine refrigerators! :)

I may not post much these next couple of weeks as Mike is home, but will try and update the blog at least a couple of times!

I hope all is well with everyone!

Happy Sunday!

I just walked back from the store where I scored more quarters so that, by the end of the night tonight, I will offically be LAUNDRY FREE!! Yes, that's right, even the beach towels are downy fresh now! Pretty excited about that. I've been cleaning pretty much all weekend. It's like spring cleaning, but in the fall...so, fall cleaning, I guess. I spent most of yesterday organizing and had half of that done before I went to bed last night. I know that normal people probably just clean...but for some reason I can't do that, I must organize first and then clean. It's almost like cleaning twice, but for me, it's way less crazy because I get rid of stuff before cleaning and then really, really clean! Crazy? Probably, but the house looks nice. I go back and forth between loving the fact that we rent and hating it. Today I actually love it, I think mostly because after nearly 6 months, it's finally looking like a house - just in time for Mike to come home! :) There are a few, last minute cleaning things that I'll postpone until just before Mike arrives so that I don't undo what's been done...but other than that, it's down to laundry! Sadly, I don't have much else to talk about. I'm going to start grading now - I think I'd actually continue cleaning but I don't have a choice.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend and has a wonderful start to the work week!

I love you Mike!

I'm a bad blogger

I'm really sorry that I haven't kept up my end of this blogging bargain - blogging every day has gotten a little away from me.

Anyway, just a few more days until Mike is home on R&R and I can't wait! Over the holiday we have a few "busy" days, but the remainder of the time it will be nice to just relax together! I know he's looking forward to being home too...and I know that his family is super excited as well - just a whole lot of excitement going around! :)

I have half of the house ready for Mike's return...the other half is supposed to get done tonight...we'll see about that! I bought a track light system that I want to put up in the kitchen and I bought a dimmer switch (thanks to a helpful phone call to my Dad) for it too, which will be nice I think.

Two big football wins today - ND won and so did Purdue, finally! My sister and her family (hubby Nate and son Curran) were tailgating at the Purdue/MSU game. She called me from the tailgating festivities to rub in how much fun they were having. I got them back though when I reported that at 10:00 in the morning it was about 70 degrees here...she was freezing! :)

This is kinda old news by now, but I thought I'd post the picture Mike sent because he knows a few of these people...kinda cool, even though Mike's not in the picture! He thought it was pretty funny at any rate. We all saw it, I'm sure, before he did because it hit the presses while he was asleep...but anyway, he got a kick out of it!


Well, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend. Take care!

I love you Mike!

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post on this spookie holiday evening! I just got a hilarious card from Mike's parents that made me laugh out loud (thanks, guys!). It wouldn't be as funny if I just told you about it, so I've scanned it in below.


















and then when you open the card up and....





















Isn't that hilarious? I seriously laughed out loud when I opened it up! :)

Things are getting a bit crazy. I'm expecting Mike home for his leave soon (SO excited) and then my parents are also coming out to visit, which will be great, especially over the holiday! I'm trying to get the house ready for both. I can't remember if I mentioned our roof and back porch problem in an earlier blog, but that is still under major construction. I'm hoping it's done within the next week. I'm also trying to organize other parts of the house...lots of work (fun, but work)! We are also getting ready for two exhibitions at school, one for our students' internship and one for our semester-long project. Needless to say, the days aren't long enough to get everything done. Last week I took my car in for an oil change and $400 later, had it back. Today something else went wrong, so now it's back in the shop...go figure! On top of that, I've been dealing with the smog check on Mike's Jeep...totally a pain in the ass (sorry, but it is!). Because I haven't been able to drive both cars as often as I'd like, the Jeep had a dead battery. So, I put my neighbor put a new one in so I could get to the smog check place and evidently you have to drive it around for a couple weeks before a Smog Check...which I learned when our car failed one portion of it...so I bought a new battery, spent an hour and a half in the DMV to get an extension for our plates and will be taking it back to pay for yet another smog check at the end of this week!

Anyway, I'm not really complaining even though it might seem like it. Things are really going well around here...I've got nothing to complain about!! I hope everyone is keeping busy, enjoying the awesome Fall season and taking care.

Also, for those of you who know my Grandma, please keep her in a special place in your thoughts. She's going through a move right now and isn't really feeling her usual, spunky self (she's got a better golf game than most of us!). I wish I could be there to help cheer her up...but maybe sending some happy thoughts her way will help! Love you Grandma!

I love you Mike!

ND v Navy

Wow, what a fun game day for college football! Penn State plays at Purdue but I'm not holding my breath for a Boilermaker win there. Sadly, I'm not going to be able to watch the whole ND vs. Navy game but, once again, I am taping it for Mike, so maybe I'll watch it later (depends on the outcome, I suppose). I didn't realize that Navy hasn't beat ND since 1963! My allegiances are torn today but I hope it's a great game! Enjoy the Saturday everyone!

I love you Mike!

Go Irish...errr...Anchors Away...

Mike's Fun Day

Yesterday we held our one and only battalion Fun Day. It was essentially a sports day geared towards taking a break from work, convoys and the caves everyone migrates to after their days are done. I played on our command staff dodgeball team. We got our asses kicked. Apparently I need to dodge more wrenches. Actually dodging wasn’t my problem. I was put out three times because I got lazy and threw floaters which the other team caught. Otherwise I was zinging them in pretty good, although I didn’t hit anyone in the face, which I was kind of hoping too. I’m glad Dad taught me how to throw a ball, both baseball and football, because some people really look ridiculous throwing anything. So in that sense I made out ok, but my team still got crushed. We were 1-4, but at least we didn’t get shut out completely. That was the only sport I played, which was a good thing because my arm was falling off afterwards. Thank God for Advil. I watched a little bit of volleyball and floor hockey, ate a cheeseburger, and was going to play basketball but a couple of rockets hit somewhere on the other side of base, so as you can imagine the fun was over. At least I got the cheeseburger in beforehand!

The Ziggurat of Ur (from Mike)

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve last posted anything, but I guess I’ve been engrossed in work and really haven’t had much to write about. But, last week I took a tour of the Ziggurat of Ur, which is right outside one of our gates. A ziggurat is a temple, and Ur is the ancient town where Abraham and his family lived for a bit. The ziggurat itself is still standing, but most of the city is in ruins, although much of is has been excavated throughout the years. Our tour guide, who is also the site curator, is a third generation archeologist of Ur. He learned to speak English, as well as a few other languages, from reading the dictionary. Pretty impressive! We got to climb to the top of the ziggurat, which afforded us views of the surrounding countryside. A lot of sand and rocks, as you can imagine. Just beyond visual range is the Euphrates River running north-south down to the Arabian Gulf. Apparently in ancient times the Gulf came up to the shores of Ur. Anyway, after the climb up and down, we walked into the city ruins, stopping first at a small building which contains the oldest standing arch in the world. As far as you know. Inside the city we walked down into a couple of tombs, and also checked out some of the earliest forms of hieroglyphic writing on various bricks throughout the city. That didn’t take too long, as much of the city still lays unearthed. We continued our walk through the back gates of the city out to what was once an area of land in between the city’s inner and outer gates, where Abraham’s house was. Actually his father has built it (can’t remember the name, but I’m sure it’s in the bible) and after he died Abraham and Sarah lived there for awhile. The house and surrounding area has been rebuilt, which is cool in a way that you get to see what it was like, but kind of uncool in a way because it sticks out amongst the other ruins. Ah well. It was rebuilt in anticipation of the Pope visit in 1999, which was subsequently cancelled when Saddam couldn’t guarantee the Pope’s safety. After walking through the house, which was actually more like a large compound, we circled back towards the ziggurat, stopping at the palace which had once stood beside it. The square footage was as big if not bigger than the temple, but unfortunately it hasn’t survived intact like the ziggurat.

So that’s Ur and its ziggurat. I imagine one day Western archeologists will flock to the area once the country is stabilized, as they had in the 20s and 30s, but for now excavation will be slow and of course it will go unheard of while the violence continues.

Thanks for the post Mike. I love you!

Couldn't Resist

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so darn long since I've posted. I was away for a while and then I've been super busy at work. I don't have much to say/post, but couldn't resist sharing this picture with everyone! I'm waiting for more pictures and a couple posts from Mike, but I thought this just could not wait!
Take care everyone!

I love you Mike!

Quick post

Hi everyone! I just wanted to write a quick post to say I won't be posting for several days. I am going on a boat trip, sailing from Long Beach to Catalina in preparation for the same trip we'll be taking the students on in November. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll write more when I return either Sunday or Monday!

I love you Mike!

Apple Cider

Wednesday is market day here in Ocean Beach, I'm not sure if I've posted that before. When Mike is home, one of our favorite things to do is walk up to the market, nibble on some humus samples and generally just walk around and look at what all the vendors are selling. You can get great fresh fruits and vegetables at the market, and we've done that once or twice too. While Mike's been gone, I don't spend as much time up there as we used to, but I still try and go. I try and pick up a little "treat" for myself (a little piece of homemade cheesecake is usually top on my list). I also like to get fresh flowers to liven up the house. Lately, this one stand has had the best selection and so I've gone there for the past few times. However, because of my birthday last week, I had flowers from Mike and my parents and my students so I didn't go to the market. Tonight I went back and the little old vendor was so sweet, he welcomed me back, thanked me for coming and gave me a big hug! It was cute! It's not like I'm his only customer, but it felt like it...and it was nice to be remembered, you know? Anyway, I bought a beautiful bouquet of fall colors, the oranges, yellows, dark reds...they are really pretty!

Tonight I also bought a 1/2 gallon of apple cider. I LOVE apple cider. It might be my favorite thing to drink (other than wine, of course). This cider isn't bad, but it makes me miss home (Grand Rapids), where you can find the BEST apple cider of all time at Robinettes Apple Orchard. Bold statement, I know, but I think it's true. I've tasted cider from several different places and states and have yet to find one that compares to Robinettes - honestly! So, as I am sitting here tonight sipping cider and waiting for the new episode of LOST to air, I find that I am looking forward to my trip home to GR in December during which I will spend some quality time at Robinettes drinking as much cider as I can!