Eagle, Colorado...Skiing, Christmas Eve party, etc.

It’s after Christmas already and time for another update. In case you haven’t heard, I’m back in Eagle, Colorado. I was here last August, but only for 5 or 6 days. With the end of the year right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to look back on 2007 and share some pictures that I haven’t already posted on my blog.

I’ve been thinking about family a lot lately so of course I have to post a couple shots of my favorite photography victim, Joey. He’s almost 17 months now and he’s changed a lot in the last year. The picture on the left was from last year when he was only 4 ½ months old and the one on the right was taken less than three weeks ago just before I left for Eagle. He’s growing up so fast. Running all over and playing with his toys. By the time I return to Minnesota, he’ll probably be talking a lot more too.

During my travels, I usually don’t get to work with the same NDF that I’ve worked with in the past, but there are several familiar faces here in Eagle. Of the 45 NDF here for the winter, about half just went through the Academy in September. I didn’t know most of their names because each class was only there for a week and there were a total of 200 new recruits. They remembered me though because I was one of the assistant coaches and I taught some of the classes. It’s always a little uncomfortable when someone comes up to you, calls you by name, and you can’t even place their face. I think I’ve got everyone’s name down now, but sometimes I still draw a blank. One name I’ll probably never forget…Bennie. Do I need to explain why?

As you might have guessed by the picture, he’s a little high strung. It’s amusing to watch people who don’t know him react to the crazy things he says. I took this picture at Sylvan State Park. He was taking pictures of himself and kept running back and forth like a crazy person.

There’s also another NDF here that is not new to life on the road. Patty worked with me in Key West last December. Meeting up again was like a little reunion. We had a good time reminiscing about where we were a year ago and talking about the others who where there with us. Patty was the one who picked me up when my bike broke down when I was stuck on the other side of the island. She also bailed me out when my credit card didn’t work at the grocery store. Here’s a picture of her (center) at Kelly's in Key West. I don't have one of her at Eagle yet but I'm sure I'll get one sometime while I'm here.

About a week ago, I tried out Colorado skiing for the first time. It was a lot different from skiing in Minnesota. We skied for about 4 1/2 hours and only went down 5 times. That's how long it took and there weren't any lines. The lift was probably 10-15 minutes alone. Then I took the green (easiest) path which crossed back and forth across the more difficult slopes.

One of the other NDF, Gary, was the one that encouraged me to go skiing. I was a little nervous because I've never been very good, but he promised that I wouldn't break my neck on a tree. I only fell one time and it happened after I ran right into Gary. He thought I was ready for one of the blue slopes and was showing me how to control my speed better by crisscrossing my way down. I was doing good at first then I accidentally cut a corner short just as he turned to see where I was. I plowed right into him. It was pretty funny and no one was hurt. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the crash, but here's one of us on the long ride up.

The most recent event was our Christmas Eve party. We decided to get together for a potluck since we were all away from our family and friends. Some danced (Sonia and Jaime are pictured below) and we all ate too much. Wouldn't be Christmas without the over eating, right? With dancing there has to be music. Harry provided that. It was a good time.

I think that's enough for now. Please keep checking in for more updates and pictures. I expect to be in Colorado until March 5^th, but as always that is subject to change. I’ll keep you posted and don't be afraid to send me an update in return. Happy holidays!

Love,

Tracie

Seattle pics, C in CC, and Cooking Baking

Okay, time for a real update. There of been a lot of gatherings lately so I'll go in chronological order. First off, here's a couple of my favorite pictures from Seattle. I took the first one on the ferry on our way back from Bainbridge which is across the Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. The second picture is from the famous Pike's Place Market. I was a little disappointed that they weren't throwing fish like they did in the FISH video, but it was winter so I guess I'll give them a break.

Now, unto the more recent events. Last weekend I went to Gustavus, my alma mater, for Christmas in Christ Chapel. This is something my family has done every year for probably the last 10 or more years and it was a good time as usual. Unfortunately, it was also the night of our first snow storm so that made things interesting. Thankfully everyone made it there and back safely. Here's a some pictures from that night. The first is of Courtney taking her first ever bite of lutefisk. She is pretty brave. I had a bite too and one was more than enough. Fish and jello are both good on their own but fish shouldn't taste like jello. The second pic of the Christ Chapel Choir (one of three choirs that participate in the program). It was the only pic I took during the performance because apparently taking pictures is "distracting to the performers as well as other members of the audience." Whatever. I waited until the very end so if they decided to kick me out I wouldn't be missing anything. I also circled Jill. She is my roommate's, Katie's, sister. And last, but not least is a group picture of my family minus Jeff, who was unable to attend. For those who don't know my brother Phill, this is an amazing picture because he rarely smiles especially when a camera is in sight. He has a reputation of being mean and is proud of it so this might cause him to lose his title as a mean, cold jerk. He maintains that he is not smiling in this picture, but that he was laughing at the fact that my dad and sister kept insisting that they needed to squat down during the picture in order for Phill to be seen. Phill said that he was amused by their foolishness and that his "smile" was malicious. I still say that a smile is a smile and that that is the biggest smile I have ever seen on Phill's evil face.

Back row: Nancy, Phill, Chris, and Courtney Front row: Charlie, Jess, and Tracie

On Sunday, the day after Christmas in Christ Chapel, we had our 8th annual cookie baking. There was a small hitch in the plans. Rita and Renee planned on hosting the gathering at their house, but on Saturday night while doing a self-cleaning the glass window in their oven broke. We couldn't bake cookies without the oven so we had to move the location to our place. The only problem was that we didn't get home until midnight and we had cleaning and grocery shopping to do. It was a short night for Katie and I, but we made it. Here's a picture of the broken oven, courtesy of Rita. Next is a pic of Rita with Katie's cat, Shay, before she left. And finally, a picture of the cookie bakers and all our goodies minus Rita.

Renee, Tracy, Katie, and Tracie.

Not feeling it...

Some people (Renee) are on my case again about not updating my blog. I know it's been a long time since I've updated and I'm a bad person, but I'm feeling especially lazy and unmotivated at the moment so here's my update...

I was home then I went to Seattle for a week now I'm home again. On December 9th, I'm going to Eagle, Colorado. I expect to be there until March 5th.

Visit from a Skunk on Halloween Night

Just wanted to share some pics from Jess and Joey's visit on Halloween night. They were our only trick-or-treaters, but if we're only going to get two they'd be the two I'd wish for. Joey loved chasing Katie's cats, Rory and Shay, all around the house and they loved running from him. If the cats could speak they might not say "loved", but they can't so whatever. Joey also crammed his mouth full of animal crackers then held them in his mouth for a good 20 minutes before choking and spitting them out on the stairs. Is he cute or what?

We were expecting the skunk to stop by a little earlier, but Joey didn't make it until about 9:00pm. He got behind schedule at his grandparents' house, but he was well worth the wait. As always, there are more pictures on Snapfish. If you'd like to check them out, email me or leave a comment and I'll send you an invitation.

My Mom's Graduation and My Birthday Supper

Just a quick update for those who aren't keeping up with the latest Stewart family news. My mom officially graduated with an Associate degree of Applied Science in Medical Assisting on Saturday. Here's my favorite picture from that day. I took some pictures of the indoor ceremony as well, but they didn't turn out as good.
On Sunday, some friends and family got together at India Palace for supper. I wasn't sure what others would think about Indian cuisine, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I'm not sure if I'd order the milk balls soaking in syrup again, but the curry was good. Here's the only picture I have from that night with Katie, me, Renee, Katie and Rita. My dad took a lot more pics so I'll try to pass those on after he sends them out.

Balloon Fiesta at ABQ

What I hoped to see...What I actually saw...Okay, I know I've been bad about updating lately. I blame that partially on the fact that I accidentally messed up something on my computer when I was trying to clean things up. I can’t sign in to my blog when using Internet Explorer anymore, but I found out that Firefox works.

So since my last update I said that I wasn't expecting any deployments until November. But the NDO is pretty unpredictable and I've learned to expect the unexpected. Last Friday, I was sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a short deployment. We came to help out during the Balloon Fiesta.

It’s now Wednesday, October 17^th and I’m returning to Minnesota. Or should I say I’m trying to return? My flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30 this morning, but there were mechanical difficulties. We boarded and taxied then the pilot announced that they were having trouble with the #1 engine. Obviously that’s never good. So we taxied back to the gate and sat for 45 minutes. Then I stood in line for at least an hour and a half waiting for Northwest to tell me basically nothing.

Now it is 11:45 a.m. and the meal vouchers that have been “on the way” for the last hour still have not arrived. I’m starting to think that it’s not worth the wait which I’m sure Northwest would be perfectly happy to know. It’s probably going to be a whole $5.00 voucher, if we even get one. Did I mention that I don’t really care for Northwest. It’s kind of like United and O’Hare. Always a problem and never a good solution. I just hope I get home in time to go out to supper with my family like I planned.

While in Albuquerque, we worked every day for 10 ½ hours. All the balloon activities took place in the morning while I worked so only saw what they showed on the news. So those of you who were concerned about me falling out of a balloon had absolutely nothing to worry about. We tried to go to a thing they called the Glowdeo, but after sitting in traffic for 1 ½ hours, it was cancelled due to high wind.

I took one picture of the Noah’s Ark balloon. It was the only one on site by the time we got there. We also went to Old Town Albuquerque to shop around and have supper. I included a couple pics here and I’ll post more on Snapfish. If you want an invite (which is necessary to see the pics) and I overlooked you for some reason just let me know and I'll send you one ASAP. Hope to see you soon!

Anna's Shower

I got back to Minnesota just in time to attend Anna’s baby shower. We got together on Sunday at Julie’s apartment. It was nice to get together and see everyone again. With all of our different schedules, it doesn’t happen nearly often enough. I got a picture of the group minus Marie. She had to leave earlier. I’m on the left, Rita’s next to me wearing nothing but an orange necklace (I thought that was strange too, but it was pretty warm), then Renee, Jen, Anna, Katie, and Julie. Sorry, Julie. You were right. Your eyes were partially closed.

The Last 3 Weeks

Hey all! Let me just start off with an apology for not updating for a whole month. I did go to the Academy as mentioned in my previous update, but the NDO let me go home and repack my bags first. Once I got home, I worked for a couple days until they sent me to Lansdowne, VA on Labor Day. As usual, nobody could give me a definite answer when I asked what was happening after the Academy so I had to pack as if I would be going directly to another deployment.

After arriving at the Academy, I got word that we would all probably be going home on the 22nd. The NDO wants to send out the teams that trained together on deployment, but October is typically a slow travel month and airports aren’t in need of our support at the moment. Rumor is that I will probably be home all of October and possibly into late November. Of course, I could get deployment orders at any time but until then I’ll be working at MSP.

The Academy was a good experience overall. It wasn’t quite as military as I expected. There were two classes of about 100 recruits each. The classes were divided into twelve teams so each week I worked with a team of nine recruits and the coach, Larry O. I was the Asst. Coach.

Before the recruits arrived, we had five days to prepare but it was disorganized and I wasted time because I didn’t know what to expect or how to prepare for it. The day before the recruits came, I was singled out as the quiet one and forced to do a 15 minute presentation on the NDO Responsibilities and Expectations. I think their judgment of me being the "quiet one" was a little off-base and unfair since many of them worked together in the past and I only knew 2 other people there. But there was no point in arguing. It was obvious that the organizer, Larry C., wasn’t changing his mind and rather enjoyed putting people on the spot and watching them squirm. So I decide to pretend like it was no big deal when in reality I really didn’t want to be a presenter.

Little did I know that that 15 minute speech would be minor in comparison to what was coming up. The NDO hired Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to teach our online timecards (WebTA) and travel voucher submittals. These two things are extremely important because this is how we get paid and each individual has to do his/her own. Well, my team was in the first WebTA class and it was an absolute disaster. I don’t think these SMEs have ever taught anyone anything because the class was a mess. The SMEs obviously knew the material, but they didn’t present in a way that was specific to the NDO and they also had no control of the classroom. After the class, the recruits had to take a quiz on the material and the scores averaged below 60%. This was obviously not good.

Since I have a lot of experience with WebTA, I was chosen to prepare a NDO specific remedial class for that evening. I spent all day on it then made more improvements as time allowed for the remaining WebTA classes. In the end, the NDO was pretty impressed with my ability to prepare and present on such short notice. I returned to MSP on the 22nd, leaving behind a good impression and with faces to go with the names of the people who are organizing the NDO. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will send me to Hawaii this winter, but one can always hope.

Here are a couple pictures from the Academy. The first one is my team from week # 1 and the second is from week # 2. The last picture is of Gwena, Karen, me, and Peggy. We were all coaches or asst. coaches. I became closest with Karen and Peggy. During the little free time we had, I taught them how to play Shanghai Rummy and we also went on several evening walks.

Eagle, CO and The Academy

I managed to stay in San Jose for six short days. The time went so fast and I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get to stay for at least one more week. Everyone was taking about the beautiful redwoods, San Francisco, the ocean. Unfortunately I didn't see any of that or even much of San Jose. I worked five days then spent the last day packing up everything that I just unpacked and trying to figure out my travel arrangements.

Now I'm in Eagle, CO. If you're not from Colorado, you've probably never heard of it. It is a small town near the better known Vail. The airport is often called the Eagle/Vail airport so I thought Vail would be closer, but it is actually about 25 miles away. Eagle seems like a nice town. Not too much for entertainment, except a few small stores and some hiking trails. I should have plenty to do though since I only expect to be here until Aug. 29th. (I'll get to that in a minute.)

First I wanted to share a little about how TSA was jerking me around again. As I said in my last update, I heard almost immediately after arriving at SJC that I might be leaving soon. The story kept on changing from one minute to the next. For awhile, I even thought that I might be going to Mexico to assist in the Hurricane Dean relief efforts. The emailed everyone asking if they had a passport and could speak and understand Spanish. I immediately thought "yes" this would be the perfect opportunity for me to finally use my degree. The NDO put me on extremely short notice for deployment which meant that I should pack my bags because I might have only two hours by the time I got my itinerary. Because Hurricane Dean, slowed down so quickly over land and Mexico wasn't damaged as much as they were predicting, those orders were cancelled not long after I got them.

The next day, Tuesday and my first day off, was not as good as I hoped because I wasted so much time trying to figure out when I was going to be leaving. I got a call in the afternoon telling me to get ready to go, then in the evening I got my itinerary for the next day. The strange part was that I had also received an email asking me to be an assistant coach for the new NDF Academy. Yes, they really call it the "Academy." And that's just one reason I'm not sure if I'm going to like it.

So I read the email saying that I had been specially selected and blah, blah, blah. The letter was pretty lengthy and it wasn't until the very end that it said that we even had a choice. It was very apparent that they expected you to agree and that they wouldn't be happy if you said no. So I agreed, mostly to keep myself off the s*** list.

The NDO came up with this "Academy" idea last fall with their first October class. When I started traveling, the training wasn't quite as intense. I have a friend who was in the first academy and she had some mixed feelings. She became good friends with some of the other new NDF, but said that her coaches were super critical. Just as an example, the training building was really confusing and one time while on break she got lost on her way back to the training room. She was only one minute late and her coach wrote her up for it then picked on her for every little thing for the next 6 weeks of the class. I have a feeling that the Academy will have a real military feel, especially since most (all?) of the bosses are former military. So I'm suppose to be the jerk running around doing all the dirty work for the head honchos. Yay, can you feel my excitement. I'm bursting.

In that email, it said that we would leave on the 29th. We will train 2 classes then on Sept. 22nd we would be sent to a mystery location in the smaller groups we worked most closely with. Since deployments are usually 2 months. I think that might mean that I won't be returning to MSP until late November. I'll try to keep you up to date. That's all for now. Bye!

Hold off on buying a ticket for now...

So far, I've only heard friends and family say that they WISH they could get time off to come out to San Jose while I'm here. Anyone out there seriously considering it? If so, I'd strongly suggest holding off on purchasing a ticket, at least for now.

As usual, TSA is giving me mixed messages, but the last few days have been even worse than normal. Just to give you an idea, here's a couple of examples...

So I got in to San Jose on Wednesday night with no contact except for a phone call telling me to take a taxi to the hotel and an email saying to be at the airport at 1:00 pm on Thursday. No word on how to get there, if anyone else is going, where to meet, etc. So I call my supervisor to ask for more information, but she doesn't know what's gong on. First she tells me to wait, then calls back and tells me to find the rental car keys and drive myself in. How do I get there? She doesn't know. I get directions and eventually find my way. My supervisor comes out to meet me and we have to go park in the employee parking lot. Unfortunately, there aren't any signs and she's never parked there before either (even though this is her home airport). It took us about a 1/2 hr. to find it, but we eventually we got there.

Believe it or not, that whole mess was the easy part. Then there was the question of what my schedule would be, but first they had to see if I passed my testing. Testing?!? My thoughts exactly. I found out that day that the main reason for me coming here was to do my annual re-certification testing. I was clueless about this and caught a little off guard; especially since I was on vacation for 2 weeks and during that time several new procedures went into effect. "So you ready test?" Uh, not really, but what the hell it's only my job, my opportunity for promotion, and a major factor in determining my raise. Anyway long story a little less long, I managed to pass my testing.

Then my supervisor says that I shouldn't get too comfortable because since I passed, I may be leaving Sunday (as in two days from when I tested). Okay, that's news to me. Either way I still need to work Saturday in order to put in my 40 hr. week. During my tour of the airport, my supervisor as already promised 3 different supervisors on opposite shifts that I could work for them. A couple hours pass and it's time for my supervisor to leave while I finish up my eight hour shift doing training. So since I can't be all the places she promised, when should I work? After changing the subject a couple times and blatantly trying to avoid me, she can't put it off any longer. She tells me to come in at 4:00 am. I didn't get home until 8:30 pm so that was a short night, but I made it.

My first regular day at the checkpoint was okay. It always takes a little time to adjust. Tomorrow there is a different supervisor who I've already heard stories about. Should be another interesting day.

The latest rumor is that we are not leaving Sunday, which must be true since I don't have deployment orders. It sounds like I'll be here a week, or maybe two weeks, or maybe until Sept. 10 like my original deployment orders said. It all depends on what minute you ask.

I'll let you know more when/if I get official information. Hope all's well with you. Sorry about the lack of pictures. So far I haven't seen anything other than the airport and a nearby grocery store. And in conclusion...

Congrats to Phill and Courtney who graduated today from PA school at Chathum University in Pittsburgh! Wish I could have been there to celebrate with you.

On the road again

My vacation is almost over and I just heard today that I'll be leaving again. I'm scheduled to leave on Wednesday, Aug. 15th to San Jose, California. I don't have an itinerary yet, so I don't know what time I'll be leaving.

So how did I spend my vacation? Well, I admit to a healthy amount of sitting on the couch and watching TV, but I also spent a lot of time with family and friends. Joey had a good turn out for his 1st birthday. The next weekend, we had a family get-together.

Annika/Synnove(? I can't tell the neighbor twins apart) and Joey on a wagon ride. Nancy and Charlie (my parents) at the family get-together.

In between the weekend parties, I had time to spend the night in Hector, meet up with some friends at Rita and Renee's, and go out for supper with Katie, Tracy, Rita, and Renee.

Marne, Katie, Tracie, Renee, Anna, and Rita at Rita and Renee's for an evening BBQ.

More celeb. sightings...

Well, if all goes as planned I'll be leaving Aspen in about 4 hours. I'm pretty much packed up except for the last minute things so now I'm just wasting time. I was trying to decide whether I should go to sleep for couple hours or just pull an all-nighter. It was a tough decision, but I just asked myself, "WWRD?" That's What Would Renee Do for those who aren't down with the lingo. So of course I decided to say up.

Unfortunately, there's nothing on TV, but I'm actually getting an internet signal so I thought you'd I'll like to hear about my latest celebrity viewings. This week I saw Don Johnson, Stone Phillips, and Judge Joe Brown! Stone Philips seemed kind of cranky. A co-worker claims he's no longer working for NBC Dateline so maybe he's still not over whatever happened with that gig. Judge Joe Brown on the other hand seemed to be looking for a little attention. He was wearing a backpack that said "Judge Joe."

Don Johnson was the most entertaining. He came through the checkpoint with the whole Johnson clan (wife, 3 kids, and nanny). They apparently were not familiar with the liquids rule so they had to throw away some beverages. The kids (all pretty young) were running around like maniacs. And Don alarmed twice going through the walk-through metal detector so he had to go through additional screening. A couple of us were busy doing bag checks and it was pretty chaotic. Then his wife gets a phone call and apparently whoever was calling had to talk to Don. So Don's in the middle of being hand-wanded and his wife is trying to pass the cell phone to him over the wall. All I could think was, "Uh, do we have to tell you that you can't do that?"

That's all the news I have for now. Looking forward to seeing all of you soon. It sounds like a lot of you will be at Joey's birthday party. Yay, for vacation! Bye (for now).

Coming home soon

My anonymous fan is requesting more once again so I thought I'd give a quick update. I haven't seen any more famous people, but Marne was able to make a short visit last Monday. We had lunch together and walked around Aspen. It was great to see her, but I felt bad that she drove so long and wasn't able to stay overnight.

On Sunday, a group from the morning crew invited me to join them on a hike up to Hanging Lake. It was fairly challenging. I had to stop and rest several times, but I finally made it to the top in about an hour and ten minutes. It was well worth the climb and the trip down was much easier, but I could definitely feel the strain on my knees.

Now for the biggest news...My vacation was approved and I have my itinerary already so that means I'll definitely be coming home. I'm flying on Delta via Salt Lake City. If there aren't any delays, I should be home at 1:40 pm on July, 27th. Can't wait to see everyone!

Da Da Da..........SUPERMAN!

That's right. I finally saw my first movie star since I arrived in Aspen. Dean Cain came through the checkpoint yesterday with his son Christopher (who looks nothing like him in case you were wondering). To be honest, I didn't even realize that it was the Dean Cain at first. He's shorter than I expected and nobody was making a big scene. Plus he was wearing a baseball cap. Just thought I'd share since before I even got here, everyone was telling me about all the stars that vacation in Aspen. I haven't exactly been tripping over them, but I think that is partly because the extremely rich have their own private jets. They land at the airport, but don't come inside or go through any security. Also, summer is the off season here so we really haven't been that busy. Hope to talk to you all soon!

Happy 4th of July!

Hey all,

I saw both Tracy and Chris updated their blogs so I thought I better get a move on. Not much new here, just regular old work.

Plans for the 4th of July weren't exactly well thought out. I had to work until 8:30 then afterwards a group of us planned to watch the Aspen fireworks from a nearby place called Buttermilk. Fireworks were at 9:15 so we went there right after work and attempted to have a BBQ. The only problem was we didn't have a real grill. One of the guys bought 2 cheap "grills" from Target that basically consisted of foil pans with charcoal and a grill on top. Not exactly great for cooking burgers, but the chips and potato salad were good.

I took a few pictures of the fireworks. They would have turned out better with a tripod, but oh well. The show only lasted about 20 minutes, but seemed much longer with the kids right behind us yelling, "Was that the FIN-AL-E?" after each and every firework. They were kind of cute at first, but trust me, it got old.

Not much new from Aspen

Hello All,

Just checking in in hopes to avoid comments about me not updating regularly. There is not much new here other than I change in my schedule. I still have Sundays and Mondays off, but now I work the p.m. shift from 12:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The good news with that schedule is that I'll probably be getting more sleep. But I can tell you from experience that I won't be doing much of anything else. When I've worked similar schedules in the past, I found that I often end up sleeping in and getting very little accomplished. Unfortunately, they decided that they needed another lead on the p.m. shift and I had the lowest seniority so I had to change.

For those who haven't seen my Snapfish pictures, I also have been doing more hiking. The most challenging climb was to the top of the mountain that we are staying on. I've tried to do some research with limited success. So far I've determined that we climbed either Daly Peak or Capitol Peak. I wanted to find out the elevation, but I haven't had any luck so far. I guess I'll just have to be satisfied knowing that it took 2 hours to get to the top and it was hard.

I also did some more hiking in the Maroon Bells Recreation Area. This time we took the trail to Crater Lake. It was somewhat challenging, but nothing like my climb up the mountain. I only had to stop to catch my breath 3 or 4 times instead of every 15 steps. Hope to hear from you all soon. You are all still welcome to come for a visit me anytime before the end of July. Bye!

Welcome to Aspen!

It's only been a week so I haven't had much time to explore yet, but Aspen is a beautiful area. Lots of trees and mountains. I'm actually staying in a place called Snowmass Village about 15 minutes from the airport. I have a whole condo all to myself so if anyone wants to come and visit they are welcome to stay with me. It's a little lonely having all this space to myself. There's a whole extra bedroom with two twin beds as well as a pull out couch.

I work the morning shift from 04:30 am to 1:00 pm with Sundays and Mondays off. I'm scheduled to be here until July 29th so if you are able to come, make sure to make plans between now and then.

Below are some pictures from Aspen, Castle Creek, and Maroon Creek. Hopefully they will be inspiration for some visitors. There's lots of opportunity for hiking, biking, fishing, etc. My co-worker, Dave, and I plan on going hiking after work today. The trail looks pretty challenging so we'll see how that goes. Don't worry. I'll drink plenty of water and bring my camera.

That was quick

Well, I've been home for 5 days and I already have orders for my next deployment. I'm leaving for Aspen, CO on Wednesday, June 6th. No itinerary yet so I don't know an exact time, but it's coming up fast. I have Sunday and Monday off and I'm going to do my best to get Tuesday off as well. Hopefully, I'll get leave approved for that day so I can make the most of the next 4 days. I know it's not much time and it's short notice, but I hope to see as many friends and family as possible. Let me know if you're available.

My deployment report has me scheduled in Aspen until 7/29. Anyone dieing for a Colorado vacation. Marne, are you out there? I'll definitely be giving you a call. I'll let you know my hotel arrangements when I find out.

CALL ME!

Leaving Bethel

Okay, I know I haven't been very good about updating, but there really isn't much to tell, at least until now. I just got notification that I'll be returning home. I leave Bethel at 3:42 pm on Sunday, 5/27 and arrive at MSP at 11:30 am on Monday. Since I am coming home, I really wish I could have made it in time to go to the BWCAW with my family. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

And note just for "anonymous," if you're so desperate for an update, why don't you pick up the phone and give me a call? I will admit, however, that your theories about my true location were very entertaining. I took a picture of the hospital just for you, but it's not yellow. Hope you're not too disappointed. I also included a picture from Bethel of my co-workers, Wake, and me. Is this sufficient proof?