I can't believe it. I just found out today that The Princess Bride is 20 years old! It is one of my all time favorite "classics". So many great quotes and dry humor!

Who can forget the impressive clergyman?
Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv.

or:
Murdered by pirates is good...
As you wish.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die.
You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

Another great scene is the rhyming on the boat. Anybody want a peanut?

I think I need to get my copy out and watch it again in honor of the anniversary!

I have also read the bookby William Goldman. The movie is pretty close to the book with a few exceptions. Shrieking sharks instead of shrieking eels. And they it into further detail about [use your raspy voice here] "The Pit of Despair" There are probably others, but I'll bet it's been about 20 years since I read the book. I'm getting old & my memory is failing...now what was I talking about again?

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Asan Beach - I loved walking here and listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack on my iPod. I could just imagine a big pirate ship coming up over the horizon!


Pictures do not do justice to the sunsets on the ocean! You have to see them in person!














Crystal & I went snorkeling one afternoon and I shot this video of the little fishies in the ocean!

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Today I went to my favorite store - Target! Unfortunately, their clearance was no good today. I only found one good gift item that I won't mention here in case it's for you! :-)

Here are the other good deals I found on sale items using coupons -
4 boxes Stove Top stuffing
2 bags Cheetos
4 bags M&Ms (one 11 oz & three 14 oz)
1 Polly Pocket set
Grand total? $4.16!

I don't know what the "normal" regular prices for all these things was because they were on sale, but without using coupons, my total would have been $20.15. Overall savings of 79%! I wish I knew what the regular prices were...

4 boxes of Stove Top stuffing for one person you say? Believe it or not it would have cost me more to buy one box! They were on sale for .79. I had Target coupons for .50 off. I also had a manufacturer coupon for $1 off 4 boxes. So it ended up costing me .16 for all 4 boxes!

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With people gearing up to travel for the holidays, I thought I'd post some of my favorite travel resources.

SeatGuru- This site will show you the good bad and ugly of your airline seat choices. I always refer to this when choosing my airline seats!

Packing cubes from eBags - (click on the picture to go to the site for more info.) These help keep your suitcase organized. When I arrive at my destination, my clothes aren't a jumbled mess. I confess. I own a lot of eBags items - packing cubes, suitcase, laptop bag, luggage locks, toiletry bag, shoe bag, the list goes on! They produce quality and functional items. They also sell many other brands, but if I have a choice, eBags wins out hands down! (After seeing my packing cubes, several of my friends are now converts. One of my friends uses a different color for each family member.)


TSA (Transportation Security Administration) - Traveler information including prohibited items, carry-on policy, etc.

Sleeping in Airports - Yes, I have done this a few times! Not because I didn't want to get a hotel, but because of a long layover on international flights & I just couldn't stay awake any longer!

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I did hear from Nu Era Group on November 14th. The lady I spoke with was quite nice. She actually remembered seeing my case awhile back and was wondering why nothing had been done yet. (Me too!) Anyway, they are going to credit my account within the next few days. We'll see how that goes.

This is what they submitted to the BBB:
On November 14, 2007, the business provided the following information:
After researching this complaint, we have determined that the customer is due a full refund. This refund amount has been turned over to our accounting department today, November 14th, and our customer should see a credit on their account in the next few days. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, as we did have some difficulties with a system conversion that occurred during this time.

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In July of 2006, I placed an order with Nu-Era Group for some store fixtures. They were plastic and not packed well at all. They arrived at my parents' broken and missing pieces. (I was living on Guam at the time.) Since 08-16-06, I have sent 4 emails and called 6 times. At one point I did talk to someone and they had to check on how to return the items (apparently they were shipped direct from the manufacturer & she didn't know if they wanted them back or would just give us credit.) I never heard back from her. I also got an email once that apologized for the delay & their customer service department was very busy handling customer requests and they would contact me soon. Yeah, well they've started contacting me - sending me PAST DUE notices and threatening to take action! (For some reason they never charged my credit card for these parts, but they did for the ones we kept.) I contacted the Better Business Bureau for help. Seriously, I have tried to resolve this! Finally on the last notice, they included an extension number, so I decided to give them one more chance and called that. Know what the lady told me? They wouldn't do anything because I've had the product more than 30 days! Can you believe it!? I explained to the lady I had been trying since we received them, but no one will get back with me. I asked to speak to her manager. He was "in a meeting". She said he would call me back. That was on 11/05. I also mentioned I have documentation of my attempts and have already reported them to the BBB. I still haven't heard back from them. They have until the 14th and the BBB will pursue it further. We'll see what happens.

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I bought 6lbs of chicken, cooking oil, conditioner, liquid coffee creamer and 2 packages of yeast. Total spent - $14.40! I saved $26.52! A savings of 54%

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This post is long overdue! I have been incredibly busy with work, Heather's wedding, spending 3 weeks with family & trying to get resettled in Greenville again!

My apology goes to Chad. After years of mocking you for your "USB network", I finally had too many things plugged in to my laptop & docking station that I had to unplug something in order to download picts from my camera! :-) (I'm not quite ready to buy a hub though!)

I left for Heather's wedding on September 11th. It's such a small world. I ran into a couple at the Greenville airport that know the missionary I stayed with in Japan for a few days last November! I had a great time catching up with people at Northland! Heather & I stayed with the Ollilas and Charlene made me a milkshake for breakfast one morning. (It's a long story!) I realized I had forgotten my camera charger & we searched all over Iron Mountain for one to no avail. Thus, I wasn't able to take any pictures. :-( Heather & Jon got married on September 15th. We woke up to frost that morning, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day! Chris took a ton of pictures & Heather just sent me a copy of the CD, so here are some picts for those of you that have been asking!

After the wedding, I headed to Iowa with my parents. I stayed there for 2 weeks. Had a great time visiting with family, spoiling Aayla, hanging with cousins for Uncle Gary's retirement and Steve's 30th birthday. We got a little shopping in as well, but not nearly as much as previous trips home!

Mom and Dad brought me back to Greenville so they could see where I live and go to IKEA for some furniture! On the way down, we stopped at several Target Stores along the way. (It was for work.) I think we counted up about 15 or 16 we hit in a 3 week span! Good thing I love Target!

We did some sightseeing on the trip as well. On the way to Greenville, we stopped in Asheville, NC and toured the Biltmore mansion. It was very impressive! I could not imagine living in a house that big! (If you ever go for a visit, I highly recommend purchasing the self-guided audio tour.)

In Atlanta, we went to The New World of Coca Cola. They had a cook 4D theater and we were able to taste different drinks from around the world. Some are definitely an acquired taste! Unfortunately, the bottling line was down while we were there so we didn't get to see that.

What'll ya have??? Next it was on to The Varsity. Dad had seen a show about this on TV and wanted to try it. He loves unique hot dog restaurants, so we went! (I think the funniest named one he took us to several years ago was "The Flying Wienie"!) I had a "Slaw Dog". Your basic hot dog topped with cole slaw. Sounds kind of gross, but really wasn't too bad!

Next it was on to IKEA. It was kind of a bad experience. They were out of stock on just about everything I wanted. I changed my mind multiple times to be able to buy something in stock! We finally found a table & chairs that would work. The quest was over! Only to have our hopes dashed when we went to pick it up. They really were out of stock on that too! Ugh! Back to the drawing board. I ended up with a table, bookcase, chair (Alme natural) & stools that I'm using for end tables and extra seating at the table when needed. I don't have room in my apartment to store extra chairs, so we thought this would be a good way to get double use and not take up additional space! We didn't get any chairs because we couldn't find any in stock. They had a few floor models they'd sell us, but they were scratched up and they'd only take a couple dollars off. Not worth it. It was a long day & I even talked to the store manager about buying some off a display that were up high and looked like they were in good shape. It's company policy to not sell them & they wouldn't budge. We ended up with no chairs and we'd try to order them online.

The next day we were putting the bookcase together and the top piece was smashed in 2 places. Not good. We took a vote and as much as we didn't like paying full price for damaged goods, you wouldn't be able to see it and we didn't want to drive all the way back to Atlanta! However, when we opened box #2 of 3, it didn't contain the right parts. Guess we're going back to Atlanta! On the plus side, we were able to get chairs as well! We also found out they have an area where you can open all your boxes to check the contents and tape it all back up. We used it this time! :-) Needless to say, if this had been my first experience with IKEA, I would have been very disappointed and probably never go back. I stuck it out because I like their stuff - it's well made, reasonably priced and different from the norm.

The bookcase forms a partial wall to section off my office space. Eventually I'd like to get a curtain hung between it and the wall to hide my desk & stuff. For now though, it has lots of cubbies to store things! It's hard to visualize without pictures (those will come later!), but we put part of it in the kitchen and part in the living room. That helped give me extra storage space in the kitchen for my cookbooks and some of my kitchen things that are nice enough to display.

I've been able to cook a few "real" meals lately now that I have all my belongings back! It's nice being able to do that again after 5 months! I made Pollo a la Crema the other night for supper and had Guacachips with it. (I love Guacachips and searched high and low for a place that carried them here. Almost had to have my friends from Guam send me some! I finally found them at World Market!)

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The crate has finally arrived in Greenville! It's going to be like Christmas! After many phone calls back & forth to the shipper & Customs, I learned it was cleared and we are free to go pick it up! Now we just have to get the truck lined up & we're on our way to get it!

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I met J.J. a couple weeks after I arrived in Greenville. Here are some stats:

He's about 4 years older than me.
He's originally from Texas.
He's shorter than me.
We've been spending a lot of time together.
The first time we really did anything together, we went to Olive Garden with a group of friends after church.
We've been numerous other places too...Starbucks, Target (my favorite store!), downtown to the Reedy River bridge, shopping and numerous other errands.

Click here to see a picture and to read more about J.J.

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I got a call tonight saying my crate has been delayed again. Now it isn't going to be here until September 4th. How sad. I was kind of looking forward to having the weekend to unpack. Oh well. Maybe I'll work over the weekend and take time off next week. That's the beauty of being self-employed! :-)

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I got word the other day my crate cleared Customs, made it to Chicago and should be here on August 30th or 31st! Woo hoo! After 3 months without my stuff and almost 4 with most of it packed up, I'm ready to see it all again!

I've been getting pretty creative cooking with limited utensils and equipment! I have a pizza stone, crock pot, blender and a borrowed sauce pan. One must remember to buy only cans with pull-top lids since the can opener is not here yet! :-)

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My business website is finally up and running! You can check it out at www.progressivesynergy.com

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Jaime keeps hollering at me that I haven't updated my blog in awhile. Let me fill you in on the last few months!

On June 28th, I left Guam. sniff..sniff.. I arrived in Chicago on June 28th (I gained a day crossing the dateline). My best friend, Heather, picked me up & we did some shopping. Boy, did I miss Wal-Mart & Target! We spent the night in Chicago and I didn't have any problem with jet lag! That might be attributed to staying up for 48 hours straight and sleeping almost the entire trip, but that's another story! We did more shopping the next day, then continued on to Indianapolis, IN. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Union Station downtown. It was a really cool hotel!


We continued on our journey and arrived in Greenville late at night on June 30th. We were tired & there was no furniture in my apartment yet, so we crashed at some friends, who graciously let us stay at their house while they were gone. For the next couple weeks, we ran all over Greenville & even up to NC one day to look for things I needed for my apartment. We got to see Chad & Kelly a couple days while they were here. (Funny stories & good times!) On July 13th, Heather dropped me off at the airport to fly home to Iowa for Uncle Gary's 60th & Aayla's first birthday.

From July 13th thru the 28th, I was at my parents. We did some shopping, but not as much as last time I was home! :-) For Aayla's birthday we went to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. Aayla LOVES animals and really enjoyed it. Mike borrowed a Nintendo Wii from a friend and my parents got hooked! They bought one last week. It was good to be home. I'm looking forward to doing it again in September!

I've been back in Greenville for about 2 weeks now. I'm pretty much settled except none of my stuff from Guam is here yet. :-( It was supposed to arrive in LA on August 8th. It takes 3-8 days to clear Customs, then 2 more weeks by train. Hopefully I see it all again soon!

Life has been pretty busy. I'm keeping up with work and finishing up my website (should be up early next week). I don't have a car right now, so I've had to be creative with my transportation. My bike is on the crate along with the rest of my stuff. I have gotten rides to church with friends, walk to a nearby grocery store. I've walked to Wal-Mart and Office Depot. Today I walked to the mall. I had planned to walk part way then hop a bus, but Greenville's public transportation isn't exactly the most user friendly for a first time user. Maybe I'll try again next week. I've gotten some good exercise out of this! Last week I logged about 12 miles. This week I think I did 13. On my walk today I felt like a camel. I drank 60 ounces of water and 20 ounces of Gatorade!

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After countless hours of thinking, researching, meeting with the graphic designer, getting input, and going back to the drawing board, we finally got it all put together today & I have a logo! Thanks to everyone who had input and took part in the voting!

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My birthday was actually on June 3rd, but I'm without internet connection at home right now, so I don't have as much time to do updates. You can see pictures of the celebration on Filipiak's blog.

Kelly made little cakes just for Brenna and I. Brenna's was decorated with fish & mine had a sea turtle. They were pretty cool. Thanks, Kelly!

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In the last several months as I prepare to move, I have seen God provide in many ways - my best friend just moved from Greenville last week and she left me some things she has duplicate of! Most of the money for my plane ticket was provided. I paid only a couple hundred dollars out of pocket. I have a buyer for my car and can keep driving it until I leave. Over the last week or so I have received a little extra money that I wasn't expecting and it will help with purchasing things I need when I get to the States. The biggest blessing so far was on Memorial Day & the day after.

Kelly called & asked if I wanted to go on a hike to Pagat Cave with them & Colliers then have a cookout afterwards. I had to run and fill out paperwork & pay for the shipping of my crate. While I was out, I needed to pick up some things for the hike & cookout. After leaving the shipping company, I turned onto the busiest road on island. (Would you believe we have a 6 lane road here!?) Right after I made the turn, my car started shuddering & I had no idea why. I quickly turned into the gas station driveway and it died. Thankfully I was not on Marine Corp Drive blocking a lane of traffic! The driveway was big enough that people were easily able to get around me. I called Chad, but he wasn't able to help right then. He told me to stay put & he'd call me back in a little bit. He got 3 guys from Harvest to come push my car into a parking space. They said they'd come back in the evening to tow it when traffic was lighter. Kelly came to pick me up & run to KMart to get the stuff I needed. We stopped at their house & I took her car home to get the things I needed for the hike. I got home & realized I did not have my keys. I search her car & my purse, but they weren't there. I knew I had given only the car key to Joe for when he towed it. That meant my keys were for some reason in my car or at KMart. Groan! My roommate was home, so I was able to get in the house. We went on our hike & had a great time! After we got back, I ran to see if my keys were still in my car. (I had a spare key with me so I could get in!) They had fallen down between the seats! Praise the Lord!

Cliff & Joe towed the car back. Originally, they thought maybe it was the fuel pump, which would be around $300. Groan! On Tuesday, a couple guys worked on it & determined it wasn't the fuel pump, but possibly a $600 part. Ugh, this is sounding worse! They had one more thing to try. It ended up being only the rotor that is on the $600 part. Grand total? $16.10! Praise the Lord!

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Whew! We made it through the last few weeks of school! I've pulled a lot of late nights since we had something going on almost every night & I had ordering for the container to finish, packing, cleaning my apartment for white glove. (We were the only one that passed the first time around! Woo hoo!) Makes me tired thinking about it! Thank goodness for the 3 day weekend we have now!

Today is the big event - I'm "packing out" this afternoon. Amazingly enough it all got packed on time! I'm actually updating while I'm waiting for the movers to arrive. All my stuff will sit in a warehouse here until the ship leaves. After that it will take 7-8 weeks for it to reach Greenville.

I'm getting close to having a logo done. I got the rough draft a little over a week ago & we're going to make some modifications with it & see where we're at then.

The movers are here now. Guess I better go.

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I wanted to get something to remember my time on Guam. I have a necklace, ring & bracelet with the Guam seal, but I wanted something a little different. Here's a picture:












In case you're wondering, it's not real. Actually my Mom bought it at the SPAM museum & sent it to me. I got some good laughs out of it at work the other day! Thanks, Mom! Guam is the #1 consumer of SPAM per capita. You can even get it at McDonald's & Denny's!

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I've been slowly packing what I can over the last few months so I don't have a mad rush at the end! At this time, I'm trying to arrange a crate to ship my stuff, but the guy that does the quotes is off island. :-(

Anyway, I decided not to pack the dead gecko that I found. My roommate asked me what I had done with him. I said, "Put it in your bed!" :-) She was not amused & said she might have to hurt me! Well, OK...I gave him a proper burial. I mean, I dumped it into the trash can. I like live geckos, but not dead ones. Yuck.

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A couple weeks ago at the grocery store, I scored a great deal! General Mills cereals are typically about $5.50 per box. I hit a sale - 2/$5. I had a coupon for $1 off two. 2 boxes of cereal for $4! Woo hoo!

On the business front, I am almost finished with the paperwork to register in South Carolina. My logo is in the process of being designed. I have a Greenville phone number now as well. (It's a little early, but I needed one to fill out paperwork.)

I am working with the principals here to save money on their order for school supplies for next fall. I went over last year's order and can save them over $2400! (That is assuming they buy the same quantities of items. We're still working through and refining the order.)

I have rented an apartment in Greenville. I'm working on getting furniture.

My plane ticket has been purchased. I leave here June 28th & arrive in Chicago June 28th (I gain a day crossing the dateline.) Heather and I are going to road trip to Greenville.

I am looking into shipping a crate with my belongings instead of mailing each box separately. I decided to do this for various reasons, but it potentially could be cheaper for me in the long run vs. mailing what I can and replacing what I don't ship.

I was really tired last night & fell asleep around 6:30pm, I think! A friend called me around 8pm & I fell back asleep before she called me about 20 minutes later. I fell asleep again, then she called again another 20 minutes after that! (It's OK. She was looking for something at the store for me & I didn't expect to keep falling asleep!) I got up for awhile, then went to bed about 8:45pm.

The Amazing Race was filming on Guam in December. The episode finally aired this weekend. I had planned to watch it last night (Everything airs a day late here.) Because I was so tired, I really didn't care. I don't really like the show, but wanted to see it since they were here. My friends recorded it for me, so I'll watch it later. Some people said it wasn't very good. It basically took place on the Air Force Base, Navy Base and Fort Soledad. It didn't really show the true Guam. My next door neighbor gave directions to one couple & he thought he was going to be on TV, but they got eliminated a couple weeks ago. The racers have to keep racing even after they've been eliminated!

Recently at the store, I saw Sugar Free Peeps. I thought that was funny! If you want to see some funny Peeps experiments done by some people that had too much time on their hands, click here. My favorite is Medical Miracle!

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Wednesday afternoon I was heading to the stairs for the hike up to my office on third floor. At the bottom of the stairs a bunch of kids were lined up & all the sudden one of the kiddos comes flying at me & gives me a big hug! It was Gaby. She's 5 & we give each other big hugs whenever we see each other. She calls me Auntie Jenni.

Before church, I watched Brenna for about a half an hour, then we headed to the nursery. (She'll be 2 at the end of May.) I had nursery duty so I stayed with her in the toddler room. They ended up needing me on the baby side & asked me to switch. Brenna was playing fine, but I told them if she got upset that I was gone, they could send her over because there were only 3 babies & 11 toddlers. A little while later she figured out I was gone. I heard from the other side of the door a little voice saying "Je-NEE!". They opened the door & she ran over & fell into my lap. She had been wandering around the toddler room saying "My Je-Nee", "My Je-Nee". When the toddlers went outside she decided to go too. Soon I hear a little voice on the other side of the door, "Je-NEE!" It was so cute!

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Life is busy as usual. The other night I packed another box to move. I'm slowly packing up stuff I can live without until I get back to the States. That way I don't feel so overwhelmed with doing it all at the end.

I went to the Harvest 7-12 grade art show tonight. One of the seniors had asked me to go. We have some talented kids in our school! I was amazed! All I can draw is stick figures!

Later tonight I worked on paperwork for starting my business. Ugh! One step forward & two back. Someone needs to write a "Starting a Business in SC for Dummies" book! I am registering as an LLC, which requires more paperwork, more steps and a "Registered Agent". Now, you're probably asking just like I did, "What in the world is that?" That is another company who you pay money to so if the state sends you registered and/or legal documents, they accept them on your behalf and forward them to you. I can't do it myself because a registered agent must be available at all times during normal business hours. Seems like a racket to me. I pay a company in case the government needs to serve me with legal papers at any time! One company I found is about $200/year! I shot off an email to the Greenville chapter of SCORE to get some help with this. Sole proprietorship is sounding much easier all the time! (There are various benefits to being an LLC, so that is why I want to go that route .)

Tonight I am staying up a little late to talk with some vendors in the States. I have called both of the ones I need to & neither one is in right now. I hate leaving voice mails because then they may try to call me back in the middle of the night! So I will stay up later and hope to catch them!

Friday night I'm going to Filipiaks' to help clean and put furniture back. They had some problems with their tile and have pulled it up & are carpeting the bedrooms. Removing the tile left a fine dust EVERYWHERE and all their bedroom furniture is currently in the living room. You can read more and see pictures on their site.

Saturday morning I am going to walk in the Harvest 5K. I'm not sure what I was thinking signing up to go walking at 6am on a Saturday! I have never done it before and decided I'd give it a try. Maybe I'll win the trip to Saipan!

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I finally am getting around to posting the pictures from our boat trip. I know, I'm a slacker. We had an awesome time. As usual, the food was delicious! Nothing beats BBQ short ribs!

Some of us enjoyed jumping off the top deck of the boat. I did it a couple times too! This is a picture of Pastor & Bryn jumping.


This video shows some of the dolphins we saw. There were probably around 2o of them total! (And yes, the water really is that blue!)

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

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Let me preface this post with a few things. First, I have occasionally been called a "geek". I take that as compliment. Second, I am starting my own business as an independent research/purchasing agent (my nickname "ertlnet" was given to me by a friend because I can find almost anything on the web). This post shows both my "geekness" and just what I can dig up when I go hunting!

My last post was about the mega yacht, the Octopus. Three days later, I got a hit on my site from a Google blog search for "Paul Allen". No big deal, right? Well... that hit came from a host name with the word "portable" in it. That got me thinking... portable? as in "on a yacht"? That led me to the ISP of the host name. Guess who owns that particular ISP? You guessed it- Paul Allen! Along the way I also discovered a connection to a fixed orbit satellite, thereby making me wonder if my blog was hit by Paul Allen himself or someone aboard his yacht! Now that would be pretty cool!

Paul, if that was you and you're reading this post also, thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you enjoyed your time on Guam! Did you have a chance to go diving? And thanks for the adventure of tracking down all this information on who hit my blog. It was fun!

And if it wasn't Paul and didn't happen via the route I mapped out above, well, I can dream big, can't I? ;-) I did track down enough solid information to be pretty sure that it at least came from someone with a close connection to Paul Allen!

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Friday afternoon, we took 2 boats (about 45 people each) out for a BBQ and snorkeling. On our way out, we passed a HUGE yacht called the Octopus. Not the typical boat you see around here. I joked that it was probably Bill Gates' boat. I was close. It actually belongs to Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.

This boat cost $200 million to build and has an annual operating budget of $20 million! (And Paul owns 3 of these big yachts!)

It has 2 helicopters, a pool, a sub, several boats & jet skis and a full time crew of 60. It was an amazing boat to see! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy to take a picture of it & we didn't realize whose boat this actually was until a couple days later.

You can read more about this incredible boat here. And see some additional pictures here.

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Spring Break has been great! I was hoping to go to Japan for the week, but it didn't work out. That's OK though. I've been able to rest and get a lot of things accomplished here. Right now I'm sitting at the Coffee Beanery relaxing and enjoying the change of scenery. This week I've worked on a website for my business. It's not up & running yet. I still have a lot to do, but it's coming along. This is the first time I've started a website from scratch. I'm learning Joomla! as I go. It's fairly simple.

Monday - I went for a walk at Asan Beach for some exercise & fresh air. Later I went to dinner with a Bob & his brother who is here visiting for the week. We tried a new pizza place. I thought the pizza was good, but the service & atmosphere were lousy. We won't be going back.
Tuesday - hung out with Filipiaks late afternoon, then we all went to McKinzie's to watch Facing the Giants. It was a great movie!
Wednesday - Jeremy's 12th birthday. We went bowling with the Colliers, then to the Food Court at the mall for lunch. In the evening was Watchcare Group at Paulins. Then the Paulins & I went to Subway to grab dinner. I stayed at their house for awhile, then stopped off at Filipiak's to snag a piece of leftover birthday cake since I wasn't able to be there when they had it. Chocolate cake with chocolate chips & chocolate frosting. Jeremy knows how to pick a good cake!
Thursday - got some things done at home in the morning, then headed to Coffee Beanery to work on my website. I not sure what I'm doing tonight. Probably making cookies for tomorrow.
Friday - I'm going on a boat trip in the afternoon. We have 90 people going on 2 boats! We'll have dinner on the boat, go snorkeling, etc.

I have had to put in some time in at work this week, but I've been able to do it all remotely from home! I think I'm going to like having a 2 second commute! I can do laundry while I'm working & if I need a break, I can stop and do housework for a change of pace!

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Friday morning I opened the door to leave for work & was greeted with the unpleasant smell of rotten eggs. Yuck! A volcano about 200 miles north of us is emitting gas. The wind is blowing this way, so we can smell it.

Since I'm moving in a few months, I am trying to use up some of my non-perishable food in the cupboards. Last night I made granola in my crock-pot using stuff I had on hand. It is really good! I'll definitely be making it again!

A few weeks ago I made spaghetti sauce. It was really good! I've been looking for a recipe for a tomato cream sauce & found one the other day, so I thought I'd try it. It wasn't so good. I think I'll dump the rest in the jungle behind my apartment!

Today I went for a walk on the beach at "War in the Pacific National Historical Park". I've been there a few times, but hadn't stopped to read all the informational signs around the park. In the late 1800's, the area housed a leper colony. After it was destroyed by a typhoon, it became a prison camp, then a Marine camp. In 1931, the US military left Guam. Ten years later, Japan took over the island. In 1944, US troops invaded to take it from the Japanese. 55,000 troops landed on the island and about 1747 (or 2124 according to another source) died. It was sobering to walk around the park and think of all the men who gave their lives to free Guam. Thank you to all the servicemen and women serving around the world today to protect our freedoms! You can read more about the park and the liberation of Guam here and here.

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Temperatures here on Guam are about 85 degrees year round. Typically it is pretty humid too unless there are tradewinds. The last several days have been very unusual with the temps aroudn 75-78. I've had the windows open and the air con off for 4 days now and it's colder in the apartment than we normally keep it! It's been very rainy too. Reminds me of a warm fall or spring day in the States! However, because the temperatures are down about 10 degrees from what our thin blood is used to, we are donning jackets, socks and warmer clothes! Who would have thought?!

Yesterday I went for some x-rays at the clinic. My hip has been bothering me for quite some time - walking up stairs, sitting, sleeping... and it just didn't seem to be getting better. Last week my chiropractor ordered some picts. I'm not a doctor, but I could immediately see what was wrong! Just above my hips, my spine starts to curve. (I think the last time I had a full spine x-ray was about 10 years ago & it apparently didn't show up then.) I went to the chiropractor today and he looked at the x-rays and confirmed my findings. (And my hips are out by about 6mm too!) He's not worried about the curve and is pretty sure he can correct it & get me back to normal! Hooray!

Monday we had the day off for Discovery Day. Thank you Magellan for discovering Guam! I slept in and that was great! I did some cooking for a party later in the evening. Went to get x-rays taken. Came back home & collected the stuff I needed to take to the party & headed out. We had a great time. Chad smoked a beef brisket. We had SO much food! John entertained us with stories from his recent trip to a convention in the States. It was good to relax and hang out with friends.

Kelly is sick today. I hope I don't catch it from her. I dropped Luke off after school and went in to check on her & she was sleeping. Probably a good thing!

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It's been hazy here the last few days. Today I couldn't see the ocean from my office and the nearby mountain was very hazy as well. Normally that only happens when it's rainy. What was the cause of all this gloominess? It depends on your news source! The newspaper says it is smog from Russia, China and Japan. The TV news says it is dust from the Gobi Desert in China. Funny thing - they both site the National Weather Service (NWS) as their source!

You can read the official release from NWS here. Homeland Security also issued an advisory. One of the symptoms is general lack of energy. I think I'll call in "haze sick" tomorrow! In fact, I think I have a permanent case of haze! :-)

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Several years ago, my best friend talked me into buying a down pillow (no feathers, just down!). They're kind of expensive, but I have decided it is well worth it! Well, it was time for a new pillow. The only place here on island I've seen them is Macy's. They start around $140 and go up to $280! I figured I wouldn't be buying my pillow at Macy's! Last week they ran a sale - Buy one, get one for $1 (I had a friend that maybe wanted one & we could split the cost, but that was still too expensive!) Friday night I stopped in and the pillows were all 40% off. Still too expensive. Then I spied the clearance bin. It was full of pillows! However, there were no clearance stickers on them & they were $220. Ouch! I figured they were just using the bin to hold their extra stock & they probably weren't on clearance. I decided to check anyway, but didn't get my hopes up. It rang up at $55! That was 75% off! Hooray! I am now the happy owner of a new pillow & got a good night's sleep last night!

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I got my taxes filed last night. It only took about 30 minutes. I am getting back about 1/2 of what I did last year. Bummer. But on Guam, it is years before you see your refund anyway, so I guess it's not a huge deal! :-)

While we're on the subject of money, here are some local prices for you:
8 oz block of cheese $3.50
gallon of gas $2.93
gallon of milk $7.10
yogurt $0.99 (I only buy this on clearance when it's 25 to 50 cents!)
12 cans Diet Coke $4.29 (this is at KMart. the grocery store is $5.15!)
pound of bacon $4.89
box of Jell-o (4 serving size) $0.89
8 oz cream cheese $1.99 (on sale. I think regularly it's around $2.45)

Things are expensive here & you learn to bite the bullet and pay it or watch for good sales & stock up! Sales here aren't quite like they are in the States. Some things never go on sale. :-(

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I grew up in Iowa - the tall corn state. When I lived in Wisconsin my mom would sometimes find a way to send fresh corn up for me. I LOVE Iowa corn! (Wisconsin corn is nasty. But their cheese is good!) Well, due to customs restrictions and the time it takes to get packages here, I resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't get any good corn unless I was back in Iowa. Guam is not known for their produce. It's pretty difficult to grow crops here. However, there is a local guy that grows corn & it is in season now. I bit the bullet & bought some today. $5 for a 1/2 dozen. It is really pretty good for not coming from the tall corn state! :-)

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This morning at 5:30am, it felt like a large dog jumped out of my bed. Then I remembered I didn't have a dog! I realized it was an earthquake! It was a 5.2 about 40 miles NE of us. You can see the stats here.

I didn't feel the one to the east of Saipan. It was too far away.

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Last night I couldn't function & went to bed at 9:15 pm. (I forced myself to stay up that late!)

Tonight I decided I was going to work on my taxes. It doesn't take long. My taxes are easy, so it's just a matter of setting aside the time to do it. (Next year will be another story!) I got my paperwork, booted up the computer, headed to the Guam Rev & Tax website... the website is down! Oh well, I guess they'll wait for another day. Do I at least get points for trying?

I guess I'll go to bed early again! :-)

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The last one and a half years of my life have taken place on a small island of Guam in the South Pacific. It has been an awesome experience- scuba diving, traveling internationally, learning about different cultures, driving along the beach while running errands, 85 degree weather year round, eating new foods (including beef tongue and squid), meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones…

This June, I will be moving to Greenville, South Carolina to start my own business. It is still unnamed, but the best way to describe what I will be doing would be “independent research/purchasing agent”. For many years, I have enjoyed researching products and prices in order to get the best pricing available for a product. Clients will contract with me to do research and find the lowest price for the items they need. In many cases, the amount of money saved will more than make up for the fees I charge. For example, I saved over $800 on a project that I would have charged a client about $40. That’s a savings of $760 they wouldn’t have saved otherwise. (And three very busy people had already spent a good chunk of time trying to find this product at a better price & I did it in a fraction of the time it took them. So there will be a time savings as well!) Depending on the product I can sometimes save 50% or more off the list price!

There will be various facets to my business: research only, price research and purchasing and combinations of all of them and probably a few other things as well. Churches, ministries and other non-profits will be my target market, but not necessarily my sole clients. I have worked in ministries for 9 years and understand the staffing and budget problems most of them face and have a burden to help. My goal is to save them as much money as I can on anything from as small as office supplies to purchasing furniture and equipment.

I have done this “officially” for several years already and it is now time to go out on my own and make this available to others. Unofficially, I have tried to get the best deal for as long as I can remember! I HATE spending more money than I have to!

It is a bittersweet time for me. I am excited about the new adventures ahead, but sad to be leaving Guam. I did consider starting the business on Guam because I love it here, but the cost of living and the time difference between here and the States would make it too difficult. To talk with vendors, I have to stay up really late or get up really early. I guess I’ll just have to come back for vacation occasionally! :-)

Harvest is 100% behind me in this move and excited they will have a permanent contact in the States to help them coordinate research, purchasing and shipping. When I approached my boss about this, he thought it was a great idea and a wonderful use of my gifts and talents.

Stay tuned for more information and updates as I proceed in this new endeavor!

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I finally got to go diving again today! Andrew, Crystal, Chad, Luke, Lee (Lee has over 3000 dive hours!) and I went diving today. It was great! We did two dives. (Andrew & Luke didn't go on the second one, they kayaked instead.) Crystal's parents are here visiting and they walked the beach and collected shells.

We got to our destination and as we were unloading our gear, I dropped 6 pounds of weights on my toes. That HURT!!! We suited up & headed out. I scraped my knee on the coral a little in the shallow water. I had troubles going down and they added more weights. I ended up with a total of 12 extra pounds!

Once I got down and was able to stay there, I did well and had a great time. I did fall on the reef a few times and get scraped up. It stings!

Crystal's parents left early and went to our apartment and started dinner. We had ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls. Andrew, Matt & Megan came over for dinner as well. I told them if they keep cooking like this for us, they can stay longer than two weeks! :-)

I was so wiped that I took a 30 minute power nap after dinner while the others played games.

Click here for pictures of our dive. Click on each of the pictures for a larger view.

p.s. Mom, I didn't see any sharks. (But Lee said we might see some little black or white tipped reef sharks, but they're harmless.)

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A tan! :-) I spent Christmas Day on the beach with friends. We ate, talked & I played in the water with Brenna (she's 1 1/2). At first she didn't want to have anything to do with the water, but by the end of the day, she was putting her face in and having a great time! (you can see pictures of Christmas Eve & Christmas Day on Chad's photo page. In case you were going to ask, I can swim. The floaty I'm using in one of the pictures is to make it easier to just float around with Brenna!) At the end of the day, we watched the sun set over the ocean. Pictures do NOT do it justice! They are so much more beautiful in person.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Collier's house for dinner & gift exchange. We played games and I even got to try out their Nintendo Wii. That was a lot of fun! The adults played baseball, bowling, and even tennis doubles. After that, I went to Filipiak's to see what was in our stockings and we exchanged our gifts for each other.

On Christmas Day, I slept in, packed my stuff for the beach and headed to Filipiak's. I hooked up my computer & webcammed with my family so we could see each other open gifts. After that we headed to the beach & spent the day there. I tried something new with my burger. It was good! I marinated it in a teriyaki type sauce and added grilled pineapple, cheese & mayo. MMmmmm...

Today I slept in again, webcammed with my family again since the extended family was over, went to work for awhile & now I'm just being a bum because it's Christmas break! :-)

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This post is for Jamie P. She was hollering at me today because I haven't updated my blog in quite awhile. True. I have been incredibly busy lately getting my Christmas shopping done, packages shipped out, working, Christmas cantata, Jeremy & Luke's Christmas concerts, Christmas parties...

We had an 4.5 earthquake yesterday afternoon. Just a baby one.

Speaking of baby, I saw Aayla on the webcam yesterday. She's getting big! And she smiled at Aunt Jenni! She's such a cutie! If you want to see recent pictures of her, check them out here: ertls.blogspot.com

It's Christmas break now - hooray!

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I got home this afternoon, did a little unpacking then headed to church. After church we had a pie & ice cream social. I came home and started laundry & worked on a couple other things. Now it's time to get the laundry out & head to bed. I'm beat.

Hard to believe that I was in Japan just this morning. Seems like forever ago already. HopefullyI can post some pictures soon.

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We headed out Saturday morning to try to get on the Navy base. (Ann has access.) Due to some paperwork problems we weren't able to. Oh well. We headed out for CostCo. I think we spent 3 hours there because Ethel only gets to go every few months.

After that we went to Queens Square in Yokohama and did a little shopping and had dinner. Around 9 pm, we headed back to Ethel's. It's a 4+ hour drive, so it was late by the time we got back. We unpacked the car then packed up our suitcases and headed to bed for a few hours shut-eye before heading out to the airport.

Ann has Elite status, so her ticket was automatically upgraded to Business Class. I wimped out & upgraded with miles. It will be worth it though! I'm pretty tired & it will be more comfortable for sleeping. Coach is pretty booked up for the return trip, so there probably wouldn't have been much chance of me snagging an extra seat for sleeping room.

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We drove about 4 hours to Yokohama today. We saw Mt Fuji on the drive. That was cool! We took lots of pictures in the car and stopped and took more at a rest area.

I learned a new word today - toilet. That's an important one to know! I also recognize the Kanji for Exit.

Dinner in Chinatown in Yokohama. We wandered around there for a little bit, then headed out to meet the missionaries in Yokosuka. We found out Mark & Stephanie are working with the church Leo & Rosie used to be at! It's a small world!

After dinner we went to the 100 Yen store. It's like an American dollar store. They have some really nice stuff there!

We're at Mark & Stephanie's house now. It's a traditional Japanese house. We're staying in their extra apartment off the back.

Tomorrow more shopping in Yokohama, then back to Ethel's. Sunday morning we head back.

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We SLEPT IN today! (Of course, we stayed up late, so I'm not sure I got a whole lot of extra sleep!) Ethel made waffles and bacon for breakfast. Mmm.... We stopped at the convenience store to grab lunch on the way to Ethel's community choir practice. I had a teriyaki burger and warm lemonade. (Sounds gross, but it's good!) The choir sang Strauss songs (originally in German) in Japanese. I recognized "The Laughing Song", but I know it in French. The choir members were very nice and many of them greeted us in English and we carried on some short conversations. One lady even gave us candy.

After practice, we hit the mall. I picked up a few gifts there and saw some cool stuff. (Especially in the Technology area! Japan is a great place for a geek like me!) After the mall, it was off to supper. We ate at a yakiniku restaurant (cook your own meat over a grill built into the table). I even tried cow tongue. It really wasn't bad!

I've learned a couple Japanese words - "yes" and "thank you"

I'll have to post pictures when I get back. The comptuer I'm using doesn't like my digital camera. :-(

Driving on the left hand side of the road of the road is messing with my head!

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We arrived in Japan last night about 7pm. Hwajeong and her mom were on the same flight as us. We were surprised to see each other! We're also flying back on the same flight on Sunday!

We went to Denny's for a late supper. Denny's in Japan is nothing like Denny's in the States. (Or even Guam) I didn't see any cheesburgers on the menu. (Come to think of it, the sign outside said they served them, but I missed that on the menu!) I wasn't very hungry, so I had a cup of corn soup and a roll. It was good!

Ethel lives in a little town outside Nagoya. Today I think we're going into Nagoya to see some sites and shop, go to choir practice with Ethel and whatever else we feel like doing! We'll eat Thanksgiving dinner out somewhere. (Dad- today is a Thanksgiving holiday here too! It's called Labor Thanksgiving Day. They give thanks for all the work done throughout the year.)

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I'm going to Japan for Thanksgiving! An opportunity came up for me to go to Japan with a friend & stay with a missionary in Nagoya. I was able to get a free ticket using airline miles, which made the trip affordable! (otherwise it would have been about $450) We're going to go to Tokyo for a couple days while we're there. I can't wait!

I checked weather.com and the average temperatures there are 60/42 during that time. Brrr...

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Today I took Bryn to lunch for her birthday (it was actually on Friday). We went to T.G.I.Friday's to eat (Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard and fries), then on to Cold Stone for ice cream! She got Italian Lemon Ice Sorbet with marshmallows!

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Yesterday I made it down to Tumon Bay in time to catch the last few heats of the Outrigger Canoe Tournament. On the way back to my car I stopped to watch a few people windsurfing. That looks like fun & I'd like to try it sometime!

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I can't wait to watch this next week! (Monday at 8pm here on Guam, though!) This house was built for the Kibe family and is in a town not too far from where my parents live. I went to school K-5th grade with Shawn Kibe and know at least one person who got to help with the house!

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Work keeps me busy! I'm back mostly working in Computers again. I've had a couple big projects to work on since coming back. Lots of thinking "outside the box", research, orders and other things. Thursday the power was down for 5 hours. No big deal, we have generators. Oh wait, our internet service provider doesn't have backup power. No internet for 5 hours! Aaaack!!! A lot of the work I needed to do that day required internet. Oh well...I just shifted and did everything I could without internet connection then when it came back up, did all my online research.

I helped Luke and Chad get their blogs started a couple weeks ago. They both picked it up quickly and set photo albums up as well.

I'm having Aayla withdrawls. :-(

Monday I went for a walk on the beach. Due to some storms out in the ocean, the water was high and a little rougher than usual. No big deal. So I thought. Heading back to my car, I was walking along a narrow strip between the ocean and a wall. A wave came from nowhere and was up to my knees. Still no big deal. For about 1 second! Then the water hit the wall and came up over me. My whole left side was soaked and my hair even got a little wet!

Tuesday we had a ladies' meeting. We had snacks, sang songs, heard a testimony and had a prayer time.

Wednesday night I had nursery at church. We had 5 babies and they were all quiet! Two of them even slept. It was an easy night!

Thursday night I watched Jeremy & Luke. Mostly to help Jeremy study for a test. I hope he did well! I even learned a few new things along the way.

I tried a new food - Nutella. I had seen it in grocery stores for years, but never tried it. A friend I eat lunch with kept bringing a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich in her lunch. I was intrigued and took the plunge. It is delicious! It's a hazelnut/chocolate combination. It reminds me of a Hazelnut Snickers bar. (I've only seen those in Japan.)

Today was Saturday, so I slept in! Hooray! I was a bum most of the day, then decided I needed to tackle my "to do" list. I've gotten quite a bit of it accomplished. That's a good feeling! Still more to do, but updating my blog is something I wanted to get done, so here I am...

Next week we are having a church summit with Jerry Sivnksty. He'll be doing meetings Sunday through Thursday, so it's going to be another busy week! But it will be good!

Oh, we had a couple days of sunshine this week! It's rainy season, so it's been quite cloudy/rainy since I've been back. I read today that Guam averages 80 inches of rainfall per year. Iowa average rainfall is 35". Guam average temperature is 81 degrees. Iowa average temperature is 48.5 degrees. (brrrr.....!)

Well...I need to get back to my "to do" list, so I'm signing off for now.

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When I booked my ticket using frequent flyer miles, the only seat I could get from Japan to Guam was a World Business Class seat. It was NICE! Larger seat, footrest, real blanket, my own video monitor with choices of what to watch, food on real plates with real silverware...this is the life! Oh yeah, I booked upper deck too, so there were only 12 seats in my section!

My seat was in the red section of this plane. First window above the last "T" in Northwest, but on the other side of the plane. See my photo album for more pictures.

Because I was on an international World Business Class ticket, I got to go in the World Business Club in Narita. That was nice too! US power outlets, so I could use my laptop. Cappuccino machine, pop machine, snacks, etc! All free! I only had about 20 minutes there. My plane was delayed, so I could have stayed longer, but I didn't know until I got to the gate. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted!

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I stayed at the Holiday Inn again in Narita. The hotel I had planned on staying at was $600/night when I went to book it! (If someone wants to donate to the cause, I'll stay there next time. Email me!)

This warning sticker was on the tub. It was so funny, I had to take a picture of it! I think most of the English meaning was lost in translation!

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To readjust myself back to Guam time, I tried to stay awake most of the flight to Japan. I napped for only a couple hours of the 12 hour flight. I read a book, listened to my ipod, watched a dumb movie. So dumb I don't remember the title was or what it was about! As we neared Japan, we hit some good turbulence! I had my seatbelt on, but came up out of my seat a little. It happened twice in a row and people started screaming. One of the stewardesses later said she had gone up about 3 feet! That was the extent of our turbulence other than just a little bumpiness here and there.

Oops! This somehow got stuck as a draft & didn't actually get posted!

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Early Friday morning we headed to Johnson's Bakery for doughnuts on our way out of town to Chicago. Heather & I slept part of the way. (I think my trip can be summed up by these three words: Eating, Sleeping & Shopping! If you want to alliterate it - Supping, Sleeping & Shopping!)

We really didn't go into downtown Chicago, but stayed in the Schaumburg/Wheaton area. Again, we shopped & ate! We went to Wheaton to visit Steve, Yoko & Aya. That was fun! My aunt and uncle stayed at their house, so we all went out to breakfast one morning. Ask mom about the bunny! ;-) We did more shopping at Woodfield Mall (and had to go to the basement at Macy's for awhile because of a tornado warning!), IKEA, Streets of Woodfield, Lands' End, the Container Store... Before we left, we ate at Macaroni Grill. Heather & I split a Tuscan Chicken Pizza. They accidentally made a different kind, so we got our pizza free! :-)

On the trip back, we wanted to eat at Fuddrucker's in Davenport, but it was closed by the time we got there. We ate at Red Robin.

Monday, Heather and I shopped more! Then we had to pack. :-(

Tuesday, my family all came to say goodbye to both of us at the airport. It was hard, as usual! Heather and I got on the plane and headed to Minneapolis again. We parted ways with tears in Minneapolis.

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I think Heather & I slept and talked on the trip back to Minneapolis. It was mostly uneventful until we got to MSP. I ran into a guy I knew at our gate. We caught up on life & what his family and some other mutual friends were up to. (BTW, his wife got to work on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house I wanted to go see!)

As we were waiting for our plane, they announced the flight was overbooked asked for 2 volunteers to wait for the next plane. Heather & I jumped at the chance! That is kind of a long, comical story, but they couldn't count and we were able to get on. As we get on, the stewardess said she miscounted again. Only one of us could get on. We opted to both stay, but one take the free ticket. So we got off. Again, they had miscounted and we both ended up with free tickets! Hooray! (BTW, they let 2 guys on that wanted to fly standby & gave us free tickets! We didn't care, but it did make us go "hmmm....") I had my laptop with me, so we rented a movie and headed to a gate that was closed for construction. (The construction was outside, so we could go sit in the empty gate.)

We made it home safe and sound a few hours later!

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Early Monday morning I headed out to Greenville, SC to stay with Heather and get some shopping done for Harvest while she was at work. I got on the plane & they told us we were overweight and 7 people had to get off. (Was that a FAT joke?) ;-) Turned out to be a paperwork error and we could all stay on. (I was hoping for a voucher for another flight!)

I arrived at the Minneapolis airport safe and sound. Just as we were about to pull up to the jetway, the plane stopped. We had a malfunction and had to be towed to the jetway. Better on the ground than in the air! (As one of my pilot friends says, "If you walked away from it, it was a good landing") I had some time to kill, so I wandered around the airport, then headed to my gate & took a nap!

I got on the plane to Memphis and slept most of the way. I'm pretty sure they pump sleeping gas into the cabin. I slept on just about every flight! I had an hour layover in Memphis. I checked the board to see if there was an earlier flight I could get standby to Greenville. There was one leaving in just a few minutes, so I headed to the gate. It was at the other end of the terminal, of course! I had an hour to kill, so I started walking anyway. As I got closer, I heard "Last call for Greenville!" I figured I'd never make it, but I kept going anyway. The next announcement, they were paging ME for the flight! That was my original flight. I never did figure out what happened. I guess my plane from Minneapolis got in late, but they didn't announce it when we got off. And when I checked the board & added up the time to Greenville, it was earlier. I forgot about the time change. But it still doesn't explain the hour layover that turned into just a few minutes! ;-)

The flight from Memphis to Greenville was uneventful. I slept again!

It was SO good to see Heather again. We're such good friends that we haven't seen each other in almost a year and half, but that doesn't matter...we just pick up and keep going as if we were never apart! We went to dinner that night with the Woods and Aunt Shirley. It was good to see them again and meet Aunt Shirley. I had talked to her on the phone several times, but never met her in person before.

While Heather was at work, I did some shopping for Harvest. Things we need, but _________ (can't get, don't have selection, too expensive...fill in the blank) At my first stop at Target, I filled 3 carts to overflowing! I also went to Wal-Mart and two other Targets! It was great fun! After Heather got off work, we did some more running and a quick sightseeing trip.

On Wednesday, I went to BJU to have lunch with Heather. She gave me a tour of the Dining Common where she works. It's huge! It's the 2nd largest in the United States. We had lunch & I ran into a few people that I knew. Later that day I went and saw Dan Wooster. He teaches computer classes at BJU. I met him & his family when we came to Guam at the same time for a missions trip.

Wednesday night we went to the brand new Red Robin. Long story short, it was training night, but they let us in anyway! We got $30 worth of food for free! I think dessert was included too, however, we were too stuffed to eat it, so we left! The only thing better than going to one of your favorite restaurants, is getting your meal free too!

We left early Thursday morning to head back to Iowa. The trip to Greenville was too short! I'll have to stay longer next time.

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Well, I've been back on island almost a week and a half. It's been busy & I haven't had a chance to update with much about my trip. So here's the start!

Thursday Mom, Dad, Mike, Kris, Aayla & I went to the local fair. I haven't done that in YEARS! Mom had entered a couple things she made for Aayla. She won a blue ribbon and a red ribbon! Go Mom! We went to the rodeo that night. Aayla slept through most of it.

It was a great trip! On Saturday we got together with both sides of the family at Doughy Joey's Peetza Joynt. (At least the ones that live in town or close enough to make the drive!) Then everyone came over to Mom & Dad's for dessert. We had some good laughs and it was nice to catch up with everyone, see how the kids have grown and meet some of them for the first time even!

Sunday we went to church, then went to Aunt Louise & Uncle Gary's for lunch. It was nice to relax and hang with the cousins.

Early Monday morning I headed out to Greenville, SC. Check the next post for that trip!

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It has been raining since I got back. (Actually Kelly told me it started awhile before that.) I've seen the sun shine for a short time one day, I think. Friday morning I was getting ready for work & realized it was pouring down rain and blowing sideways! I had left my umbrella at work, so I got out the poncho. At least part of me stayed dry!

Today Kelly & I ran to the grocery store. It was raining when we left, but not too hard. By the time we were leaving the store, it was a torrential downpour! We tried to wait it out, but it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. We made a mad dash for the car. After the short run, the bottom of my pants were soaked about six inches up from all the puddles!

We met Chad & the boys for dinner at KFC and we all froze because we were so wet and the air con was running. We turned the heat on in the car for the trip home! :-)

After dinner, Kelly, Jeremy & I ran a few errands & got even wetter. As we drove home, we saw a police car blocking off the middle lane of our side of the road. We couldn't figure out why until we got closer. A manhole cover had come off and water was gushing out of it! The next one we passed was still intact, but water was gushing out of it as well. I guess it's been raining a lot!

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I arrived back on Guam safe and sound. I had a great trip to Iowa/South Carolina/Illinois! It was VERY busy, but fun! I'll hopefully post more about my adventures soon! Aayla is cute and I had to spoil her rotten while I was there since I probably won't see her for another year. (Although she's only 2 months, I don't think she realized I was spoiling her!)

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The flight from Japan was long, but fortunately, I slept for most of it! There were 2 empty seats between me and another passenger, so I put my bag in the seat next to me and my pillow on top of that. That made it semi-comfortable for sleeping!

I arrived in Minneapolis about noon, cleared customs and checked my bags back in. My flight didn't leave for 5 more hours, so I checked about getting on the next flight home that was leaving in about 45 minutes. I was told I wouldn't be able to make it. I went through security again, then decided to check the departure board and see what gate the next flight was at. I found it and headed that direction. I checked at the gate about getting on and they said "no problem!" Hooray! I called my family and told them I'd be home in a little over an hour and boarded the plane in about 10-15 minutes.

My parents, my aunt, Kris and Aayla all came out to meet me at the airport. (Mike had to work.) Since I switched planes at the last minute, my luggage didn't make it on my flight. Aayla is adorable!

We went to Texas Roadhouse for supper and then did some shopping at a REAL mall! We stopped by the airport and picked up my luggage. Both bags made it!

Jet lag hasn't been too bad. I was tired, but stayed up until about 11:30, so I'd hopefully sleep all night. It worked! I slept all night and woke up at 9am, when my alarm went off. The room I sleep in is pitch black, so I knew I'd never get up if I didn't set an alarm!

Today I think we're going to do some more shopping. Shopping is going to be the theme of my trip! ;-) We're also going to the fair this afternoon and the rodeo tonight.

Hopefully on Saturday we're going to the "reveal" of an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in a nearby town. I went to school with the guy that the house is being built for! I thought it would be kind of neat to see & when I mentioned it to my family, they thought it would be neat to see too!

The weather has been nice. I thought I would freeze to death, but it hasn't been that bad. I just make sure to keep my jacket with me at all times. Or hold Aayla. She keeps me nice and warm.

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I have arrived safely in Narita! I had the whole row to myself, so I slept most of the way on the plane. I woke up for breakfast. Fried rice and something they said was beef. It wasn't too bad.

5 hours to kill in the airport here, so I came to one of my favorite spots - Yahoo! Internet Cafe. Free computer acces. The one drawback is that a lot of the web pages show up in Japanese, so I either have to go by memory or guess! The keyboard layout is slightly different as well, so that slows me down some, but hey, at least I won't go into withdrawals without internet!

Now I'm heading out to kill more time - get a massage, wander around the terminal, find the observation deck and go outside and see how cold it feels to me! It's 68 degrees. I have been living in 85 degree weather for almost a year and a half now, so it's going to feel cold!

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In 5 more hours, I'll be heading to the airport! I checked in my bags tonight. I love checking in the night before! No lines and it saves time in the morning! (I just hope I didn't pack something I'll need in the morning!)

From the time my plane leaves until the time I touch down in Iowa, I will have been traveling for almost 27 hours! Whew! I'm tired already.

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So far I'm leaning toward PC, which I suppose could also stand for "Pet Critter" ;-) That name wasn't suggested on the blog, but Heather thought of it while we were webcamming the other day.

I stopped by my desk for a few minutes yesterday (I spend more time away from it than at it!) and good thing I looked before sitting in my chair! I would have sat on PC! I tried to get him to crawl on my hand, but he just sat there. Scared I suppose.

5 more days, then I leave for the States! Look out Texas Roadhouse and the shopping malls!

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This is my new friend. The baby gecko lives on my desk & the windowsill of my new office in the server room. He needs a name. I've thought about calling him IP. Does anyone else have a creative "geek" name for my gecko?

This picture of him next to my cell phone shows how tiny he really is.

Every once in awhile he darts out from behind something or jumps from the window to my desk and startles me!

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This is the view from my new office. You really can't see it in this picture, but I can see the ocean from my window! 

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I ran across this article today in the NY Times about a new ring tone teens are using. The premise behind it is the tone is so high pitched that older people can't hear it & they can get text messages in class.

I listened to the tone and it is ANNOYING! Guess I'm not old yet though because I can hear it! :-) I can also tell if a TV is on down the hall even if the volume is off because it emits a high pitched noise as well. http://tinyurl.com/qvgx2 Below the picture is a link to hear the tone and a chart to see if your ears are "younger" than you!

Leave me a comment and let me know if you can hear it or not!

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A nice little bug has been passed around the staff the last several days. I was the lucky recipient today. Ugh! I didn't sleep well last night & didn't feel "up to par" this morning, but figured it was lack of sleep. I worked for a few hours, then had some time I felt I could take to get away and try to sleep so I didn't get sick. It didn't work. Maintenance was at my house replacing our ceiling fans, so I went to my friends house and napped on the couch. I didn't feel any better after a 1 1/2 hour nap, so I called & said I wasn't coming back in to work. I stayed up for a little while, then napped again. Woke up from my nap and well...I'll spare you the details! Let's just say I felt really bad bringing a bug to their house, so I disinfected everything I had touched!

I don't know when the last time I had the flu was! So long ago, I think it might have been in elementary school! Must be new germs out here!

On a positive note - for anyone counting it's 28/33!

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The governor has declared a Condition of Readiness 4, which means everything is back to "normal". Still cloudy & rainy, but the storm has passed!

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We've moved up to a Condition of Readiness (COR) 2! Campus is secured. The storm still hasn't been named, so it's not a typhoon yet. Here are some links to watch the storm.

http://www.hbcguam.net/radio/weather.html (Watch our webcam until it gets blown off the building or the internet connection goes down!)
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamvs.html (If you have Java installed, you can see this one. Click on the Start button.)
http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html - Click on the blue links to the right of TC Warning Graphic & 3 Hour Updated Position Graphic
http://www.guamhs.org/main/ Department of Homeland Security

Tomorrow is supposed to be 35-40mph winds. If you're reading any of the stuff on links above and care to convert knots to MPH, 1 knot = 1.15077945 mph

Just as I tried to post this, the power flickered for a few seconds and knocked my DSL out for awhile. Since then, the storm has been named. That makes it an "official" storm. It has been named "Saomai". That is the Vietnamese word for Venus.

As I'm writing, we moved up to a COR 1. It's still not a typhoon, but a tropical storm. Lots of wind & rain.

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My last post was titled "Bring on the rain!" So...today we are in Condition Readiness 3 for a tropical storm! We have to batten down the hatches and we're expecting up to 6" of rain and very high winds over the next couple days.

Going to go start working on preparations. Filling up water, do a load of laundy( in case power goes out for awhile), close typhoon shutters, eat all the ice cream in the freezer (bummer, I don't have any!)

Mom- just in case you're worried...it's not a typhoon yet! We get everything ready just in case! I've been through this once already since I've been here.

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Tonight after work I did some work on my car. Nothing major, just stuff I hadn't been able to get to in awhile. I put on my registration sticker and changed my wiper blades. Bring on the rain! I want to try them out! :-)

Today was sweltering! As soon as you stepped outside, you were dripping with sweat! Ugh! Thank goodness for air con!

Still no uniforms today. :-( Keep praying!

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New pictures of Aayla are posted on my brother's website. Follow the link on the right-hand side of the page. She's a cutie! (BTW, Mike & Kris- you need to post MORE pictures! Or we need to webcam soon!)

Work has been busy. School starts in 1 1/2 weeks. More things came in yesterday on the container, so we were busy putting school supplies on the shelves and everything that goes with that. Many hands made light work & we got a lot accomplished yesterday & today! I have a great staff working for me! Unfortunately, we don't have the new stock for our uniforms yet. There have been some holdups and they're not here! Please pray about that! We are completely out of stock on a lot of things! (It's a really, really long story. Don't ask! The short version - the vendor promised them to us a week and a half ago, but they're still not here!)

Staff inservice started today. My former boss, Bobby Wood and his dad will be here doing sessions. Looking forward to seeing both of them again! (To the rest of the fam - have fun with Grandma Flash!)

41 days until I go see Aayla (and the rest of my family)! I booked my ticket to South Carolina last weekend. I'm going to spend a few days in Greenville with Heather, then we are flying back to Iowa together. I was having a very hard time finding the same flight she had booked awhile ago. (I wasn't able to book at the same time as her.) That meant we were going to fly to Memphis separately (planes leaving 5 minutes apart) or she could try to get standby on my flight. I called her to check on a couple other details and her flight had been changed to the only one I saw available! We were able to book seats with each other on all our flights! Hooray!

I'm a total geek! I love technology. Heather tells me she's not sure if I would be able to survive without a computer, pda or phone. Probably not. Over the weekend I did something pretty cool. I hooked up a cordless (bluetooth) headset to my computer and called Heather's cell phone from my computer (which was wireless as well)! It was weird to think that this little piece of plastic and electronics was able to hook up to my computer, which dialed a phone in the States! What would Alexander Graham Bell think!?

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Aayla and the doll Grandma made for her.

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I am now officially an auntie!

Aayla Olivia Ertl
July 21, 2006
1:15 PM CST
8lbs 10 oz 20 1/2" long

I am eagerly awaiting pictures! Congratulations Mike & Kris!

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Robin said the kiddos might forget their "aunt Jenni" if they didn't see any pictures of me, so this one is for them! Give them hugs & kisses for me!

Just for the record, I don't sit on the beach all day! But this is the beach where I go walking. I start before the palm tree and walk all the way around to a hotel behind the tree. (Almost to the one to the left of it, but that is up on a cliff.) It's about 4 miles round trip - a good workout!

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It was great! I had to get past the mental part of diving - your brain tells you that you can't breathe underwater. I was breathing and relaxed, but my head kept telling me to surface and breathe "real" air. First you work on skills in shallow water that you can stand in. While the instructor was testing the others, I kept working on getting over the mental part. Eventually it just "clicked". (I had done a one day "discover diving" course a couple years ago as an intro & had the same problem, so I knew I'd eventually be fine!)

Once we finished practicing our skills in the shallow water, we headed out into deeper waters. We dove about 20 feet down. It is an awesome experience. You are basically weightless and you see a whole different world underwater. We saw parrotfish, puffer fish (but it didn't puff), flounder, picasso triggerfish, lizardfish, butterfly fish, and other ones I don't know the names of yet! No, I didn't find Nemo yet, but I'll keep ya posted! ;-) It's like swimming in an aquarium!

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A few of my friends and I are taking diving lessons. We did all our class work a week ago and tomorrow we're getting in the water! We were supposed to do it last week, but the weather in the morning was nasty - raining buckets and very windy! Which I was just slightly grateful for - I was SUPER exhausted last week and we got to go back to bed & get more sleep! I'll have to post tomorrow after lessons!

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Tennis shoes.....$50
iPod....................$275
Walk on the beach at sunset for exercise.......priceless!

Last night I went for a walk on the beach. It's a 10 minute drive to get there and the view is great! All the hotels there have outdoor restaurants and it was suppertime, so it smelled great too! I was racing the sun hoping I could finish my walk before the sun set. I did! I watched the sun set, the silhouetted paddlers in their outrigger canoes, people walking their dogs, kids playing in the sand, fishermen on their cellphones, snorkelers, tourists, locals... It was great exercise and you can't beat the view!

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Some friends and I were supposed to head to the ocean today. Got up early at 6:45am. (On a Saturday! Ugh!) It was pouring buckets and pretty windy too. We checked the weather and it was supposed to continue all day. Bummer. We cancelled our plans and went back to sleep for another 3 1/2 hours. Guess I needed it! It was a pretty lazy day today, then a friend called & was having trouble with her wireless connection at home. I walked her through several things, but nothing was working. I told her I'd be over in awhile to take a look & see if my computer would connect. It takes about 20 minutes to get there. Last time I was there was about a year ago, in the dark and someone else was driving! I found the house. (Just as I was going to call them for directions!) Thanks Dad, for your sense of direction & ability to remember places we've only been once! :-) After much trial and error and testing, the wireless still didn't work. I finally resorted to completely resetting the access point. It worked! After that I headed to Filipiak's house. Grandma & Grandpa (Kelly's parents) left this morning :-( I enjoyed seeing them again! Kelly made potato soup for supper. It was delish! It's kind of funny. On the way over I was thinking that a nice warm bowl of soup sounded good! After supper we had more laziness and watching some HGTV and Food Network. Then some ice cream with strawbabies. (Strawberries, but when Luke was little, he called them strawbabies.) Now I'm home & should go to bed now! Good night!

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I'm feeling better now. Still get somewhat tired, but was back to work on Thursday and Friday. This morning my friend Christina, my roommate Crystal and I went to Ypao Beach and did some snorkeling. I took some pictures and a video. (I have to figure out how to post the video later.) They're not the greatest, but they're the best I have so far. For some reason, I just can't get the fish to pose for me. They kept moving around!

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