Jessica the unsuccessful snow slayer

Soo, Im not sure we use this site anymore, but since we are all snowed in I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to start it up again! Who knew it would snow this much! I guess I shoulda listened to the weather updates last night, yesterday and the past week! ha ha I just uploaded pics to webshots showing my fight against the snow and my unsuccessful attempt to move my car to my covered garage. Check them out here: http://community.webshots.com/user/jla1123

Old story retold

I keep getting asked to repeat the story of my first week in Baghdad...so here it is again...starting the day after I got my (44 in a 30kph) speeding ticket. Yes, its still too recent for me to laugh at...

So, i mentioned the speeding ticket--which, yes i did try and flirt with the MP....even tried to show a tad bit of cleavage. Unfortunately i prob just looked idiotic leaning towards him tugging at my buttoned up polo shirt. That, coupled with me copping a tiny attitude after i realized i couldnt angle my cleavage so he could see it didnt help matters.

Anyways, to punish me for being a speeder and getting this stupid ticket, my 2009 automatic landcruiser was ordered to be taken away and replaced with a manual 1995 landcruiser (poor me).

It was this order that began the terrible chain of events that have thoroughly punished me for my speeding infraction. So....I sheepishly go to a far far away part of the base that is completely industrial to trade in the cars. The whole way there the sky is a bit overcast --but I pay no attention to that as I jam to the radio and cruise (but not speed) all the way there. Im a good 10 miles from my hooch and my place of work when i pick up the stupid old landcruiser when the overcast day turns in to a full on monsoon. Ok, maybe not a monsoon but it was PORING rain. Now I was warned about the mud here--its slippery, it can pull off your shoes, but its sooo much worse than described. Absolutely unbelievable--its like walking on gross slimy (did i mention slippery) ice!! Anyways, its PORING rain and im not familiar with the area AND the windshield seal is not holding up and is dripping heavily on my leg--so im totally distracted by the water that is quickly soaking my pants and I, of course, take a wrong turn.

As soon as I turned i KNEW it was wrong and thought--DANG, I better turn around fast because Im headed off base and I dont want to go past the point of no return (at the clearing barrels)! So I swing wide, off the road a tad to make a U-turn...and i hear the dreaded noise of tires spinning in the mud--and im not moving! So, with my (very) limited knowledge of how to get out of a slippery situation, i wrongfully decide to 'rock' the car back and forth (a tad backwards, then hopefully two tads forward) to get myself out of the mudslick. Well, that was a horrible idea--and i soon found out that 'rocking' was the worst thing possible to do. Anyways, the rocking moved me back further and further from the road where i was even deeper in the mud. However, by some miracle, I FINALLY got a tiny bit of traction! Not wanting to waste my only chance to get free on something stupid, i thought about it and came up with a plan of action that was (in retrospect) idiotic. So, I decided on using my traction on getting the tires on some thick reeds that were on the ground near the front tires. i thought that if i could get on those, the tires could grab them and Id be out. However, as I leaped my truck on to them it completely nosedived in to much deeper mud!!

At this point im buried mid-bumper deep in this nasty, slippery, deep mud--about 10 feet away from the road now and getting further. I cant move the car at all anymore and its STILL poring rain (making more mud). I have no cell phone (I do now). Im wearing a white shirt. Its about a half mile walk to anywhere with a phone. No one is stopping to help, so my only option is to get out and walk. Getting out presented yet another problem--knee deep mud outside every door.

(The picture isnt the EXACT mud I was stuck in, but close)

I had no other options, so i stepped right in. It almost sucked off my tennis shoes and i almost tipped over in it but I eventually made it to the road with both shoes and standing upright. As I got to the road, a very friendly Iraqi stopped to 'try and help'. He didnt speak english, but he wanted me to hop in his car and he would drive me to the nearest phone. (he tells me this in arabic while staring at my soaked white t-shirt). Needless to say, i DID NOT get in the car! I was glad to have a weapon on me, only it was wet, muddy and my mags were under velcro covers, so im not sure i could have used it if I needed to--I def couldnt have used it fast!

While soaked from the top down and muddy from my knees down, I started to walk in the direction of a phone when a tow truck saw me, saw the car and offered to help. He fished out the stupid landcruiser, all the while scowling at me and saying something like 'typical woman' under his breath. I started this adventure at 10am and didnt get back to my hooch for a much needed shower till 5pm. i wanted to stay in my hooch, curl up and sleep for the rest of the day because it was such a rough morning, however I couldnt take the whole day off so off to work I went. :(

Hi all, hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer! Matthew and I wanted to share our pictures with you and encourage you to send us any updated pictures you all have. We feel out of the loop over here so it's a good way to help us feel closer. We just returned from our honeymoon/ 1 year wedding anniversary in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (thanks Dad/ Mom)!

Our travel down there lasted about 8 or 9 hours, including our layover, and it felt like half that time we were going through customs. But, when we finally arrived it was completely worth the wait. The weather was consistently mid-90's with fairly high winds (compliments of Andre) and very sunny : )

The biggest culture shock we experienced wasn't so much the language barrier or the currency conversions as much as it was the psychotic Mexican driving. Where the dotted lines on the road may represent a lane separation to the American eye, it seems to represent a third lane to the Mexican eye. We also discovered that the right of way is not given to the first car arriving at a 4 way "Alto" (stop), but it is given to the largest vehicle nearing the intersection at full speed. Due to the high dependency that we had on transportation (buses/taxis/golf carts) to get around our resort and town, we managed to get a lot of workouts in, including tensing the body's muscles for a period of 10-15 mins, death gripping the nearest object in reach, and extreme butt clenching. At least we didn't have to waste any time at the gym, right?!

The scenery was breathtaking though. We were upgraded to a beautiful suite with a private hot tub, balcony, 2 large bathrooms, a kitchen, and king size bed. We spent most of our time at the resort pools, walking downtown, and in our hot tub. But, we did also manage to go to a romantic sunset dinner with a view of the infamous mexican arch, attend happy hour, play volleyball, and go to the beach. I tried to convince Matthew into the doing the water aerobics with me, but, he declined each time I nagged him...

Please feel free to check out our slideshow of pics: http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/573190833tTjSda

We love and miss you!

Don't let the lizard die!!

I think we should try to keep Jessica's Lizard alive even though its purpose has been served. Since there's always a slim chance that ANYONE will answer their phone when I call, I figured we could all keep in touch at our own convenience, via the JL.

Since I've come back to ol' rainy Seattle, our friends Steve and Sarah got engaged. We planned to go on a scavenger hunt in Seattle to get to know the area and it entailed about 50+ locations with questions to answer on the scavenger sheet. Each question offered a variety of points and at the end of the hunt whomever's team had the highest points would win. Prior to the hunt, Steve and the event coordinator planted a 10'x 3' sign, asking for Sarah's hand in marriage, on a bridge at the University of Washington. The question on the scavenger hunt read, "What does the sign on the W bridge say?" As we walked up to the bridge Sarah started crying and then of course, the waterfalls hit me too. It was sweet, and she said YES. I have a short video and pictures of their visit at: http://family.webshots.com/album/571507095mJZtDu

We also explored the infamous Pike Street Market and saw the "flying fish". While everyone excitedly congregated around the stinky piles of fish I was trying to weave my way out of the crowd to avoid a king salmon slapping me in the face. Ick

Anyways, I'm hoping we can webcam for Mother's Day, so I'm not sure what was planned for mom, but be prepared to talk to me too!

Gross Emails...

EW, that guy was soooo nasty! Matthew came into the room while I was watching it and thought I was really weird. I told him you sent it to me, but he didn't believe me. Then he started watching over my shoulder and he was like, "that guy has some pretty good moves!" Ha.

Oh, Jessica, I made Matthew watch Sex in the City. He was like, "you like this?" And I told him I love it!! He would've never thought I'd get into a show like that. Then I made him pick a character for you, Joey, and me, and the only one he could pick was Charlotte being Joey because she pooped her pants!!! haha. Sorry Joey :(

We can't wait till you get home!! I won't see you, but I'll still be happy knowing you're back. We're going through a lot of retentions at Boeing, so looks like not only did I not get the direct Boeing job, but Matthew and I may both get laid off, as well. And if that's the case, I probably will see you when you get home!! : )

Haven't heard any updates from you in a while. Hope things are going well. Did you get to watch the superbowl? I wasn't that into this year so I only watched bits and pieces, but I know Steve is a happy brother-in-law.

It's almost 8:00 here and I'm already falling asleep. I think even though I'm living on Pacific time, I'm still running on Eastern time!!! We miss you lots, Kitten and Matthew say HI!!!

Funny emails

hey jess,

so u liked the fat liatard dude?? make sure u dont just delete the other emails i forwarded you then. unless their annoying and you dont want them. people always send me funny stuff. who knows where they find it either....usually makes me laugh out loud too. i got my volume working so i listened to it again, i figured it was beyonce by his dance moves.

these 2 guys at work today decided to drink a bottle of "5 hour energy"- when they didn't even need it they just decided to drink it bc they were bored i think- anyway the one guy couldn't stop walking around and the other guy was dancing at his desk and when someone told him he was gay he didnt realize he was dancing. he said he wasnt even affected by it and didnt feel anything. im sure he did bc he was hyper. then the two of them disappeared together and we figured they were in the parking lot playing tag with each other bc they were so hyper.

marx is doing a little better. he is responding to the meds and functioning better than he was before. He is emaciated and weak, but today he was moving more and i found him ontop of an ottoman i put next to the window when i came home so that was very good. although, FeLv is very contagious among cats so I am concerned about puma. i need to get him tested next. im going to try to keep marx as healthy as i can in hopes of him recovering. pray for him! & puma! my poor kitties....=(

The best running dog ever....

ooooooooooohhhhhh good! I'm so glad u like those comfy socks i got you! i actually bought 2 and kept 1! haha...i like em too. we miss you and we are counting down the days till u get home. less than a month away, i know you are excited to take a HOT shower in ur own place. how cold is it there? just wait till u get back here, u'll be in for it! it's supposed to get down to 11 tonight. ugh.

Yesterday, I was running thru the woods in leesylvania and a dog appeared on the trail without a soul around. it was following me all through the trails- it was sooooo cute! it was a border collie, all black. i was trying to keep it with me bc it kept chasing after squirrels and deer and at one point it just didnt come back. i was calling it and tryin to continue my run at the same time, but no dog. finally i stopped running and tried to listen to see if i could hear it anywhere and all a sudden he came flying out of no where and continued to trot right in front of me through the woods. u know i had to cuddle it and call it pet names....but anyway, it had a tag on it's collar and the owner's house was nearby. so i got the dog to follow me back to my car and i called the owner to come pick him up. i started to regret my call bc i felt like i wanted to keep the dog!! it wouldve made the best running dog, plus it was cute and smart! the owner got there and he was like," i should give her a spanking, she always runs away and we are trying to train her with an electric fence...". I was so upset, i immediatly tried to stick up for the dog and say she was very good and smart, and really i just didnt want him to abuse his dog. i was really regretting it at that point. i started to think i couldve given the dog to jessica when she got home with a big red bow around her neck!

i told the owner i would stop by and take it for runs for him (since the dog hates him) i laughed but i kinda meant it. i just hope he didnt mean he was really going to beat it, it was really really boney too. sniffle....
poor lassie.

Happy New Years Everyone!!

Hi all, hope everyone had fun on new years! I missed celebrating with
everyone for sure! For new years, I left work a little before midnight,
ran to the shower (at night you can get a really HOT shower) and I was
in bed by midnight! It was great, I was toasty warm after my shower,
and in some warm PJs and the warm socks Mom/Joey sent out!! Sounds a
tad bit lame, but it was great! I tried to give everyone calls, but I
can never seem to reach anyone! Glad the holidays are over though, I
hope the care packages slow down now! Ive been eating waaay too much
junk--there are piles and piles of junk food...cookies, chocolates and
snacks from all over the world that were sent out here to soldiers.
Darn, my time is out on the internet...i goofed off on my email too
long! Talk to you all soon :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I just wanted to wish you a happy new year over there. did you do anything special? party in al-faw palace?

i emailed you twice this week! i heard you want more mail. does that include email?

xo,
joey