It's nearing the end of my time in the US, and things are starting to get frantic in my mind. There's sooo much to do in sooo little time. Fortunately I'm not deploying to OIF or OEF so I will have the ability to ship things and have some down time for play and Karly visiting. I do so enjoy the prospect of the next few years of my career which will likely all be overseas. I also sincerely hope that friends and family take advantage of the opportunity to visit some of the places which I will be experiencing.
Anyway, there isn't much to say for my class right now. We have been working on Preventive Medicine Operations which includes air, water and soil sampling and environmental surveys. It has been new and interesting info but fairly simple and if you can read the directions it's pretty simple.
Last weekend was great. Mom, Dad and Helen all converged on San Antonio for their first visit to the town. It took some convincing that the area had hills and I'm not sure we entirely succeeded but we tried and next time will hopefully be longer and allow more fun stuff like SeaWorld... We had a good time even though Helen got a little under the weather. I hope she goes to see a doc soon, I think she needs some good medicine. I can not stress enough how wonderful it is to have family visit while we have these opportunities available. It's good for us and a great opportunity to have your vacation at a lower cost (other than the price of getting there).
Till later

Alrighty then, time for a little update. Again I reiterate that I will be a whole lot more functional on typing blog posts starting in January. However, for now things are pretty crazy to say the least. We are very inhibited in our abilities to accomplish many things due to a geographic separation from our stuff. On the other hand, the opportunities granted to us by being here in San Antonio together far outweigh any detriment which may have resulted due to our separation.
Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit Corpus Christi, TX. It's a lovely town on the Gulf coast. The water temperature was 85 and the beach was warm which is good since we were camping on it. However, we bore the brunt of a great wind off of the sea which caused all of our gear to be salty/sandy. We did have a lull in the wind on Monday affording time to clean our gear just in time to depart.
We spent quite a bit of time on the beach and playing in the ocean. Karly has been continuously getting more comfortable with the water and her swimming abilities due to our having a swimming pool for daily use at the Staybridge in SA. So as a result, she too spent some time in the surf. We had a great time exploring the area and visiting the small town of Port Aransas where the Coast Guard station was nice enough to show us around and take us out on a boat to see some dolphins in the wake of an oil tanker in the channel. That wasn't the actual purpose of the boat ride but it was a highlight. We also had the opportunity to enjoy the Port Aransas ferry which we rode a few times to cross the channel with our truck. It was most excellent.
Another fun opportunity which was afforded was the USS Lexington. A WWII model aircraft carrier which has now become a permanent docked museum of Naval/aviation history. This was a fun experience and Karly got to add the BGB to a list of things military which she has now at least somewhat experienced.
Lastly, you might want to know how things are going with my class. After all it is the reason we get to play down here for this time. Actually it certainly is not play. We have a fairly rigorous schedule which we adhere to in order to fulfill the requirements of graduate level education which we as of now may or may not receive for the course. Currently we are nothing but guinea pigs with the new curriculum during the bidding to get credit for the course. However, it does make for a greater dissemination of knowledge which should ultimately be beneficial for those of us in on the ground floor of having a better military education.

That is all for now. I'll catch yaw'll next time I think of typing.

North Dakota is cool!!!
Literally
It's about 65 degrees outside.
Yesterday afternoon about 3:30 we left Grand Forks AFB to head to Devils Lake for my business trip. About 20 minutes into the trip we got a rude welcome with some rather nasty looking weather. As the weather was heading east and we were heading west I figured as usual that it would be better and less harmful to keep going and bear less insult on the vehicle even if it meant going 20 mph. So we hit a heavy patch of rain and it seemed ok but then a few seconds later it was all out hail. I will never forget the sounds I heard in that vehicle as golf ball sized hail pelted our vehicle. I was watching the road while Karly was praying that the already slightly cracked windshield wouldn't break out under the insult. Anyway, we made it through safe and about a minute after entering the hail, we were out of it and into clear sunny skies for the remainder of the trip.
This afternoon after I got done with business Karly and I headed out to Grahams Island State Park where we decided to do our daily PT. It ended up going faster than expected because we were chased off the biathalon trail by a bunch of mad crazed giant mosquitoes. This was amazing because we were literally coated with DEET but it seems up here they grow them big, juicy and downright scary.

So this coming week we're off to cooler weather. I've never been to North Dakota before so I'm looking forward to the trip. We'll take lots of pictures and Karly will take months to not post them and then I will subsequently start posting some and then forget to send more out.
Anyway, I won't rant on any of my current hot boxes right now but I assure you I am in the process of writing some good stuff.
That is all

LAST WEEK!

Here's a little low down on the crazy week that was last.
It all started Friday morning with the previous post. The tree demolished the windshield and the hood.
After lunch that day I was erroniously informed that my computer would once again be wiped and reloaded. This caused a panic and I made a flying trip to the computer guys to play like Jesus with the tax collectors. Fortunately our primary contact Doug smoothed things over and I left satisfied.
That night I received a call at 3 in the morning regarding a personnel issue which was extremely bad and very pertinent.
Monday morning I received word of a seperate personnel issue which would require my first written order, and I must say it was a dang good piece of writing but I can't post it here.
Tuesday was normal.
Wednesday we discovered inadvertently that garrison and installation command had wanted us to enforce an installation policy which didn't exist yet. So for a few hours there we were chasing ghosts attempting to make a short deadline on a topic which was impossible to solve short of contacting the CG and getting a policy written and then implementing it. Regardless that would not have happened by the end of our fuse. It was however gratifying and honorable for a high ranking NCO to call and apologize for putting us on a wild goose chase allowing us the honor of knowing we were the unit to put them on track of this pertinent oversight.
Thursday all hell broke loose (pardon the French). Early morning was fine followed by a dog in the Stray facility coming up positive for Parvo. The resulting chaos and revelation has led to a massive public affairs and media frenzy mostly for the purpose of educating civilians on and off post, soldiers, NCO's, and officers about Parvo and how to aid in the prevention of it.
It's now Thursday, one week later and the issue is still ongoing as the neighbors of one of the positive dogs, dogs came up positive yesterday despite being vaccinated. So we're currently working hard to find out the root of the issue and fix it.
More to come on the outbreak.

Happy Friday the 13th!!!
This was a great way to start the day and how about coincidence that it was the morning of Friday the 13th. I showed up for work and look at the parking lot and am puzzled by what I see. Then I look again and much to my surprise our GOV seems to have been injured during the previous evening's thunderstorms. I thought I'd post the picture for everyones amusement.

A rash of posts!!
Part two:
These are very old burial urns. In Okinawan tradition (maybe Japanese too) the body decays until only the bones are left and then the bones are placed into one of these urns. The urn is then placed in the family tomb.

While we were therre the season of the cherry blossoms began. We initially went to Nago where we thought there was a festival on one of the weekends however we found out after a little while that that festival was the next weekend after we would be gone. So we headed west to another festival which was happening that weekend. It was done on a mountain trail and in a park which was nestled into the mountains.
\
This is the pineapple winery. Nothing special and we discovered that unsweetened pineapple wine tastes more to both of us like rotten pineapple than anything. We did bring back a bottle of the sweet stuff though. Karly also had the opportunity to try a couple of different sake types and reaffirm how much we aren't real fans of the stuff. I was driving so I didn't drink.

This is just a funny picture. It is on the southern tip of the island. If you read closely it say's "quasi" national park. I'm not exactly sure how a national park can be quasi but much of the english we encountered left a lot to be desired so we chalked it up to interpretation.

OOPS!!
I think I may have killed a plant.
I don't do that often but this time I did. There is a little green left so I may yet be able to save it. It is not for lack of water. I put fertilizer on it the other day to help it grow but instead it started turning brown. Some of it's leaves got bright green though so I thought it was doing fine but this morning it looks mostly brown so I cleaned off what fertilizer granules I could find, cleared away the new mulch and watered the snot out of it. I hope that helps. My poor, poor purple flox.
All of our other plants outside are doing wonderful though.

So here goes with pictures again. Since Karly hasn't posted any of the pictures from Japan yet I figured that I needed to start. Here's the first sampling. Picture number 1 is a very very very long stairway which leads to a shrine of some sort in Nago. All of the trees in the canopy are Sakura Yoshimo Cherries. they are just starting to bloom.

The second photo is from a pergola type thing at the Ocean Expo Park west of Nago. The park lays claim for having the 2nd larges aquarium in the world. We did visit the aquarium but have no pictures as we didn't want to carry the camera.

The third picture is another of the clear and wonderful days (of which there were only a handful). It is at the Okuma Beach resort for US DOD only. Have I mentioned I love the Army.
Picture 4 is again at the Ocean expo park. the silouetted statues are Shisa. They are on pillars at the entrance to the park and are there to ward off evil people and evil spirits. The Shisa or Shi Shi are unique to Okinawa. Many people mistake these as "foo dogs" which are totally different in design and symbolism not to mention foo dogs are chinese not Japanese. They serve a similar purpose though. Actually Shisa are generally not even Japanese the legend of the Shisa and the production of these lion dogs is unique to Okinawa.

LEAVE!!!
Our first leave because we wanted to. Actually we're taking a couple of extra days in Normiington because I need to accomplish some things but it is good to be away for a reason other than death in the family. So today we are in Springfield IL and will be leaving soon to head elsewhere. My cousin Jesse is getting married this weekend so that should be fun too. I really hope we fry a goat for their reception. Karly and I are on a quest. We have two objectives, one is to geocache in yet another state and the second is to find 51. We know they sell it in IL but have to spend a little time to find it.
On a seperate note it is a great thing to have my sister living an hour and a half closer to our house than my parents. It would be even nicer if she lived in Hannibal or thereabouts but I'll take the alternative.
We are also bringing our little piece of Kansas to Illinois. As you may know limestone is the primary building material in the flint hills (other than wood) so when a local building was torn down and the stone offered for free we took them up on it and brought a whole bunch to our house. Thus gradually we are bringing the stone to my parents house to leave a permanent monument to our time in Kansas. Let me tell you though when you load the truck with stone the gas mileage certainly goes down.
Till later.

One post per month is not adequate. Therefore you should yell at me to get it done more often.
Since last post there has been some good news. No Karly doesn't have a job in MT yet and we haven't made a million dollars but the good news is worth a lot.

On the First of June I took another loooong test (5 hours worth). This test was from the American Society for Quality to become a Certified Quality Auditor. I passed which is great. ASQ CQA's are hired across the nation to run quality programs and audit programs in the corporate industry. I'm not leaving the Army yet though. Starting out with this qualification in big industry I would be making about what I am now.

Other fun stuff. Right now we are enjoying a stay down at McConnell. Their lodging is very nice and at times I feel like we're not high class enough for what they offer but I can't complain. I'm down here doing audits of two companies and taking care of some veteriary buisness at the clinic here. Karly's spending time honing her skills on MT and getting ready to start the job hunt. I'm hoping she get's the bug in her bonnett to start looking by the end of June or mid July.

O, since I'm getting in the habit of starting paragraphs with O I think I shall continue.

Over the last year of our live's I've been serving our great nation in the Army. It wasn't long ago that I finally looked at my statements and they went from 0 years of service to 1 year. I was elated by this especially with the realization that 1 year=5% of a military retirement. Wow time files though. I also did a calculation and found out that I spent approximately 200 nights in hotels between Feb 1, 2006 and Feb 1, 2007. That's just crazy but I must be thankful that it wasn't a contiguous 450 days.

OK so that is all I have for now. I have a lot more I could say but I should probably post more often so I don't ramble as much.

I apologize for the longetivity between my posts. Unfortunately, the US Government in particular the Army Medical Department will not let me use blog programs during the day. I can't say I blame them because in the name of operation security too much information is given out on a daily basis.

Anyway on a better note. I'm here now and I have good news. We did not all drown or blow away in KS over the weekend. The town of Greenburg is gone. The pastor of our church decided we should take a collection for the Greenburg Lutheran church which was undoubdtedly been destroyed. If you feel like contributing send your contributions to Calvary Lutheran Church Council Grove, KS. If you don't feel like donating just send prayers.

This morning we had a flooded basement. Fortunately is wasn't too bad. It only took about an hour to clean it up. The vet clinic had a flooded basement as well and if you didn't read about it a Union Pacific train derailed on post after the trussels had weakend from flood waters. I've never seen the rivers and creeks around here run soo deep but then I haven't been here all that long. We're supposed to have some more rain soon though.

We keep working on the house and traveling and geocacheing... Life is very busy but we've only begun.

If you want more frequent updates watch Karly's blog. I wish I could promise more but it's just not possible.

It's been way too long since i posted. I'm not going to write much now either but I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive.
Next week is my PT test, wish me luck.

Quotes from Okinawa
These quotes are in reference to our trip to southern Okinawa.
We know exactly where we are and have no idea how to get where we're going.
Followed by: A multitude of maps and no direction. - yours truly
I wish i had the pictures or that Karly would post some but we'll get there.

Today I feel REALLY OLD!!!
In the mail which was piled high after our month and a half hiatus from White City, I received a letter which made me feel quite old. It read simply as follows:

Our records show that you haven't yet registered for the benefits of AARP membership, even though you are fully eligible...
WOW, what can I say. I thought dad started receiving these letters early when he started getting them at about 35 (I think) but this is rediculus. I've got another 23+ years before I'm even eligible. Perhaps though this is telling me something. Maybe it's foreshadowing my future and that I will retire early. I certainly hope so.
In other news, our return from Japan was uneventful. Upon the return instead of me heading to San Antonio for a week of fun in the sun for our Junior Officers Conference, I was told by my chain of command that I was to report to my family for some time to remorse over the loss of Grandpa. I thank my Regional and District Commanders greatly for allowing that time. I returned to work on Friday and was greeted by yet another promotion within my command. This was a big one from Sgt. to SSG which is a big move in the 68R MOS. If I can get her to stay in I think our new SSG will go far.
The cats are back to their usual playful selves, and we just finished setting up our new exercise equipment so I should be able to keep in shape and Karly can work on toning her cute little self. Soon we will be taking on the dining room walls and ceiling but first we have to be able to afford a bucket of Kilz (donations will be excepted).
That is all.

Imagineering:
Linguistics according to my mother:
The new word of the day is 'stoderbopuss'
We are currently attempting to determine the actual definition of this new word but it certainly will be a part of the American language in the near future (or perhaps just the family language).

We truely haven't posted enough of our adventures here in Okinawa. I can't break the trend and Karly's got all the pictures so all I can do is type. To make things short, we've made it to the northern tip and seen both the Pacific and the East China Sea at the same time, we've made it to the west and seen an extremely large aquarium and a Japanese dolphin show which was cool even though we had no idea what was being said, we made it to the east and found really good sea food both in a restaurant called Sam's and at the market where we brought home a parrot fish and some scallops to eat, and tomorrow we go to the south where the battle of Okinawa was ended and a peace monument was erected. We've become acustomed to not being able to read the language and it is somewhat peaceful just driving and not caring what the buildings say because it doesn't really matter, it's kind of surreal. And soon Karly will get to have the true feeling of culture shock which happens when you return home.
Life is good!

NEW POST!!

GO BEARS!!!!
Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears breath, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears, Da Bears...

Tooo much rice!

Sushi is a high carb diet. I'm excersizing a whole bunch but haven't lost a pound, why, I blame rice.

In other news, yesterday was rainy but it let up for just long enough so that we could ride the really big ferris wheel in the american village (aka shopping district).
Saturday we went up to a cherry blossom festival at Mt. Yae. It was fun and we experienced all kinds of Japanese fair food. Then drove on a narrow road with many walkers and two way traffic up the mountain. The road was lined with cherry trees all the way to the top. It was great.

More to come.

Last weekend:
Thursday night: Rental car, learn to drive on left
Friday: Drive off base for first time, go to castle ruins with lots of steep stairs and bum at base, go to Pacific (other side of island) visit Awase fish market, eat at Korean restaurant with no english speakers, go back across island to American village(20min drive), find funny stores, dinner at O club followed by fried Okinawan pirana.
Saturday: Rainy walk to branch office, Late Captain no car until 11, drive on slick coral streets off post, lunch at McDonalds (Teriyaki McBurger (yum)) Get to Okuma late afternoon, Japanese festival with music and strange stage performance, Okuma again, dinner at Okuma restaurant get stuffed with Mongolian BBQ.
More to Come

It's really hard being 6000 miles away.
Yesterday morning my Grandfather passed away.
He was a great man and a wonderful friend.
The world has lost one of its brightest gems but heaven has received a new bright and shiny star.
I will never forget all that I was taught by my grandfather.
That is all I can type right now without shorting out the keyboard.
I give my love to all of my family in this time of loss. I wish I could be there.

Short post from Okinawa Japan.

Fun trip getting here (read Karly's blog for details).

The vet clinic is really busy but reality is that it's a break from what I have to deal with at Riley. I actually had a little time to read some of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The clinic is well managed and the vet's truly only see the cases that need veterinary help.
Of course on my first day I got squirted by an anal sac from one of the Marine Mascots. So I stunk all afternoon but that's ok.

It's been fun trying to figure out the language and culture of the Japanese/Okinawans. It's really hard when you can't even sound out the language because it's pictoral instead of letters. Even Russian was easy comparably. But I have aquired some of the basic words like Yes, No, Hello, Goodbye, Goodnight, What time is it, Do you speak English and a couple of other words.

Three fun words Japanese Fire Alarm (seek Karly's site for details).