When in Rome...

I know some of my friends might take offense to this, but just realize that I am having a great time down here and am meeting some truly nice, honest people.

I had a busy day yesterday. I am trying to immerse myself in the Southern culture and I think I am doing a fine job. I did something for the first time yesterday and I will be doing it again, as I had a wonderful time. I went hunting.

I didn't get to shoot anything.. or even fire the shotgun for that matter, but it was a very pleasant experience. I awoke at 3:30 and met up with a group of people at 5:00. It was cold, like 29 degrees cold. Luckily, I have learned a few things about keeping warm in that type of weather. So, 6 layers of clothing and some hand and toe warmers later, I was ready to hunt.

Yesterday was the first day of dog season. This was a new concept to me. About 6 of the guys had hunting dogs, ranging from Walker Hounds to Blue Ticks. These dogs were ready to go! The guys released the dogs, who would then find deer and chase them, barking and having a great time the whole way. All we had to do was wait for the deer to cross our path. Unfortunately, they ran the exact opposite way of me all day long... of course.

I still had fun and this is more that just a sport down here. It is a way of life. No part of the deer goes to waste apparently. I had home-made venison sausage and jerky. It was really, really good.

I hope to go again over Thanksgiving weekend!

Good friends are hard to find.

Last night, some friends and I went out to eat at a wonderful restaurant named Tien. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, however, the event was bittersweet.

One downside of being in the military is having to move. This Friday, November 7, my friend Jill will be graduating and moving on to Florida. I am sad about this as Jill is one of the most kind, humble and glorious women I have ever met.


I pray that she will be able to visit in Oregon one day so my friends at home can meet her as well!



Here is a picture of me enjoying the Sake Flight... an assortment of 3 different types of Sake, each more delicious than the previous.

A fun night was had by all. I am thankful for the time I get to spend with my friends.

Don't forget, I will be home in December.. be sure to highlight the days on your calendars!

Just stopping by

Hey all,

I am in the midst of a long, long week and I have figured out that I am allergic to my classroom! Yay me! I walk into the class is the morning and immediately my nose stuffs up, my eyes itch, and my poor little bronchioles constrict. Miraculously, an hour after class is out, my symptoms are much better. Luckily, we are only in this room for another week.

Other than that, my life is pretty mundane. I go to school, work out and sleep. In my spare time, I am still volunteering, but I haven't had any more interesting calls. I am pleased that the weather is still nice here. It did rain today, but it is supposed to be sunny and in the 80's just in time for the weekend! I forgot it was October!

If anything interesting happens, you will be the first to know.

Love ... ME!

If it's stupid, but it works... It's not stupid.

As many of you know, I volunteer at a local Fire Department here. Last week we had an interesting call. It happened during our drill night.

We were practicing drafting and shuttling and, of course, as soon as we hook everything up, the tones go off. There is a call for a suspicious smell in an area with a lot of power lines. The person thinks it might be an electrical fire. The area is very close to a local elementary too. So, we suit up and take off. When we get to the address, there is a sign out front that says "Katrina Recovery Efforts -- FEMA -- Army Corps of Engineers... etc etc"

The gate to the compound is locked but there is a distinct odor in the air. It doesn't smell quite electrical, but I can't place my finger on it. Dispatch doesn't have a combination to the lock and we can't get anybody's attention to come and open the gate for us. So, Chief decides to jump the fence. He goes over and radios back that there is a garbage can on fire inside the gates. It's not a big fire though and someone is on the way to unlock the gate so we wait.

The person gets there and informs us that it is not FEMA that owns the compound but the sign is a front for what actually goes on there. It is the County Narcotics Investigation Unit. Nice. The gentlemen informs us not to worry, they are just burning "stuff." Then I realize what the smell is.

The fun never stops.

Keeping in Touch

I am still alive. Yes, I am.

I wish life here was more exciting and I had some great story to tell you all, but I don't. The most exciting thing that has happened to me lately is the Cubs making the playoffs... but we all know how well that is going to pan out.

I don't get to see any Ducks games, although, with the way the season is going, that is probably a good thing. Sigh.

I do get to spend all day with 11 people who are 22 years old and younger. That is great fun. (Did you sense the sarcasm there?)

If anyone wants to drop me a line, feel free. I need some sanity.

I write you, in spite of years of silence

So, here it is. Finally. One would think that having a week off due to Gustav I would have gotten this done sooner, but no. That would be too easy. Instead, I spent the week dwelling on how wonderful life is here. Needless to say, I am very happy to be back in school so my mind can be occupied with stuff other than doubt and worry.

On a brighter note:

We all survived Gustav. (I will be sending t-shirts later.) All of us military-types had to shelter for the duration of the (non-existent) storm. We arrived at the shelter at 1600 on Sunday and left at 0900 on Tuesday. There was power the whole time and we got to watch ESPN. I was glad. I was a bit mad that I didn't get to see the wind and rain. I mean, it was my first hurricane for crying out loud! We were about 15 people to a room. As you can tell by the picture, my friend, Jen, and I made little cubbies for ourselves under desks. We were pretty proud of our hobbit-holes too! At night, when everyone else was watching movies, we could pull the plastic sheets down and lay in total darkness.

The city did not fair as well as we did. There were a lot of downed limbs and debris. This picture shows how the beach looked when I first got here.

Although I still wouldn't swim in the Gulf, it is beautiful and I enjoyed strolling along the beach. Now, there is branches, mattresses, trash and other random bits of junk strewn all up and down the beach. The storm surge extended to past the lane of traffic that you see.


If you want to see a cool website about how Biloxi and Mississippi's Gulf Coast looked pre-Katrina click here. People are still devastated and I can see why. I wish I could have seen this place before. I think it would have been great.

In case you were wondering...

Apparently, there is some sort of hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.  Apparently, this hurricane is named Gustav.  And, apparently, it is supposed to hit land on Monday, which is the 3 year anniversary of Katrina.  It's amazing what information you learn when going to Weather School.

Now, before you all start worrying about me, note that this area has been through this before.  The one thing that worries me is that, after Katrina, everybody who was in charge at Keesler left.  Yes, that's right, we have nobody here who is in charge  who has been through this before.  There are "plans" for what to do in case of  landfall.

1)  Everybody go to a building on base and stay in said building for probably 72 hours.  The civilians get to evacuate.  The military... eh, who cares.

2)  Be sure to bring enough non-perishable items for this 72 hour period as we will not be able to leave said building.

3) If the hurricane is higher than 3, we may evacuate.  This means I am going to be stuck in a long line of cars for a long, long, long time.  

Oh, and it is a 3-day weekend, but we aren't allowed to leave the area, so no getting out early.

Do you feel better now?  I know I do!