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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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