Desert SUV

This week was pretty fun and I had something going on every night. Monday I worked out with a couple co-workers. I always appreciate the extra motivation to work out and it makes it a little easier when you have someone to visit with! On Tuesday I played some volleyball. Tuesday and Thursdays have become our standard 'lets play volleyball' nights. Wednesday I played some racquetball against two co-workers. They both eventually found their game, but I still beat them. I hope they will want to play with me again! It was a lot of fun to play and I was definitely feeling it on Friday (it takes me two days to feel sore after using muscles I haven’t used in a while!). Starting on Thursday there was a 4 vs 4 volleyball tournament that I was asked to play in. Our team consisted of two guys and two girls. We got there on Thursday and learned that we didn’t even have a game. We had a bye that day, so we made the trek for nothing. Friday night we headed out to play again and this time we did get to play. We lost the first game which meant our second game (double elimination) wasn’t until 10:30pm! We also lost the second game (it was super close though) so we were out of the tournament. I didn’t get home until Midnight and by the time I went to bed I had a nice 4 hour nap before it was time to get up and head to work. Saturday after work the same people I played in the volleyball tournament with invited me to join them for a movie. We watched Pink Panther 2- what a dumb movie! That is one I will definitely not waste my time on again, but is was really nice to simply relax. Okay, so I did some research and found the perfect desert SUV:

It is an automatic...

It has leather seats.... Power steering.... A/C.... All terrain... Great horsepower... and Gets great milage... What do you think? They had camel rides the other day, but the line to ride was super long. I got my picture with the camel, but its not the cutest of pictures, so just picture me standing near it. They are pretty ornery creatures and this one really did not want to be sitting … he got a bit feisty at one point and the caretaker had to do a little convincing to get it settled down again… I wish I had taken a video - it would have been awesome! Oh, and speaking of video… the parade video is way too huge, so I have given up on trying to post that. SORRY! Hope everyone has a great week! Laters

Week Review

My life is starting to be busy again… just what I am used to! This week I played some pool, played some volleyball, played some tennis, and played the stock market- Good times! Work is still busy, but I prefer it that way… makes the days fly by. Anyway, a group of us from work have gotten together a couple times to play some sand volleyball. Now you would think that there would be some good sand here, but oh no, it is like playing on gravel, so I definitely play with my shoes on! I got to play some tennis yesterday with a co-worker- it was nice to be on a court, but it was not much of a game. I’m just happy someone plays! I also ventured into the world of the stock market this week- it is pretty fun actually! I had a goal, and I would have reached that goal had I known how to set it up to automatically sell when it hits the specified dollar value. I would have doubled my money in two days… if only, if only!

I discovered that I can watch Music and the Spoken Word here on TV. I find that kind of ironic actually considering that I could not watch it while in Denver, but one of the networks I get here allows me to see it. I also find it ironic that Utah reducing their strict liquor laws is big time news. I heard it on BBC while I was driving to work.

Perhaps the most exciting thing of the week was the opportunity to meet a General and to be presented with a medal and a coin. All the civilians got recognized for their service and support of the war effort. Not very often does something like that happen, so it was pretty special.

BG Nichols and LTC Kiser

We hit 100 degrees here last week and I didn’t even know it! In my mind it was still the beautiful 70 degree weather that I would expect had I still been in Denver. That is one way to beat the heat I guess, by convincing yourself that it is only 70 degrees year round!!! Well, that was about the extent of my week. I keep trying to post video to the previous Blog entry, but it is still not cooperating- sorry!

Parade

Okay, I have a video... a really long video....about 7 minutes long which blogger will not let me post. It shows the parade (definitely a different type of parade then we are used to) and the craziness surrounding the Independence Day here (25 February). It is a big thing to get foam and spray everyone you see and if your car windows are down... yep, you're going to get foamed! It is all in good fun, I guess, but I'm definitely glad I didn't have to be a part of that. I don't live anywhere near all the craziness so, it didn't effect me at all. I love how people are dancing in the middle of the street- too funny! Well, the long video would not post, so I tried posting another shorter video, but that wouldn't post either- SORRY! I'll keep trying so you will have an idea of what a "Parade" is like here! Its been a good week. I got to play volleyball twice this week. We played on the sand, but it is more like playing on gravel. So, the second night we played, I wore my shoes! It was nice to be outside and enjoy the beautiful weather here! Last night I got to enjoy some good pizza from the restaurant Peppes Pizza. I also found a Cinnamonster so I was able to finally get my cinnamon roll which I enjoyed for breakfast this morning. I've only been craving a good cinnamon roll since December. It was delicious!

Almost Lost -Twice!

Well, another week gone by. My blog is not going to be nearly as exciting as last week’s recap, but hopefully I can get you to smile with a couple stories… So, a couple weeks ago I had to drive a co-worker to the dentist which happens to be near my house. This worked out well for me since I got to go home and relax for a couple hours during the middle of the work day- Nice! Anyway, the dentist office told me to take an exit that was past the exit I take to get home. No worries, we’ll find it. Well, the more I am here the more I appreciate signs and well marked exits that you find in the U.S. As I passed an unmarked exit and several bus stops I knew we must be getting close to the exit we needed to take. So, the next exit we came to I took a chance and exited and I guessed right! The funny thing is you can’t see the exit number until you actually exit! It made me laugh so as I was heading past this same exit to go to Karina’s I took a couple pictures.

The exit number is on the second sign way up on the hill!

The exit # is on the far blue sign

Every day heading home I have to do a U-Turn on the freeway to get heading in the right direction. Well, coming home one night this past week I discovered some construction on freeway. This normally would be no big deal, except for the construction blocked me from doing the U-turn in my usual spot. Again, no big deal since a figured there would be another U-Turn in a couple hundred feet down the road. Well, about 5 minutes later there was a spot to turn around- great! Now I was heading in the right direction and on my merry way. Well, in about 5 minutes I was expecting to see the construction and to my surprise there was no construction… what road am I on? Come to find out the two main freeways, that run parallel here, actually merge and when I did my U-Turn I ended up on the freeway that I wasn’t at all familiar with. An adventure! I knew I was heading in the right direction, but I didn’t know which exit to take from that freeway. I took an exit that I recognized the number and hoped for the best (hoped that it let me go the direction I needed to, hoped it went through to the road I needed, and I hoped it put me in a place where I recognized where I was). Traffic was pretty slow moving, but it did get me to a semi-familiar area and I was able to get home with no other mishaps. It took me an extra 30 minutes to get home that night, but everything worked out! Blogger would not let me post a couple videos last week, but it worked today. One is of crazy traffic that you see a van off-roadin' and the other is of the baby camel who gave it’s Mom a hug!

People like to go camping here, but it is not like going camping in the mountains! They like to stay in these tents during the cooler months. You'll see these type tents dotting the countryside. Doesn't really look too appealing to me, but to each their own, right?

Other then filing my taxes… nothing too exciting is going on. I did go running outside the other day and enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather here, but other than that, I am just trying to keep my head above water with the amount of work I have to do! I can tell you that the days and weeks absolutely fly by when you stay busy!

Here’s hoping everyone has a great week! Love ya!