One time, at Vet Tech Camp...

So yeah... this is me gettin' my hold on at work. This little guy was about to go into surgery to have some unnecessary bits removed... aka his BALLS!! He was a sport about it though...

Me undoubtedly asking Chelsea yet anoter question since I had no clue what I was doing...

Our new doc. Captain Baskerville looking a little squeemish... and we hadn't even started cutting yet!!

Me in the back doing some monitoring... which I hate! No one wants to have a little furry life in their hands...

So yeah, these are about all the decent pics of me from the conference... just another day at the office!

Some pics from Maeda

So here we have Michael on the edge of the reef. I like this pic because it shows just how small we are in relation to how big the ocean can be. I wasn't that far up above Mike, but this makes it look like he could just fall forever into the abyss... it's cool how we just kinda float around and can be on the edge of a huge cliff without falling to our deaths, ya know... haha

And of course here are my beloved clownfish... I just think they are adorable!

And look, we actuallt ran into someone on the ocean floor who was nice enough to take our picture for us... random, huh?

Wow... I have been such a slacker

Ok everyone, I am so sorry about the lack of fun posts going on here lately. I am ashamed of myself and feel like a total failure for letting you down. I hope you all can accept my apology and I promise for here on out I will TRY to be better about getting stuff up here for all of you faithful followers...

On that note... this is what's been going on since my last post...

First of all, I have attempted to join a women's softball league. So far, not so good. I made it to one practice before a major disaster hit... and no, I did not break anything. This brings me to the second major thing that's happened... not one, but BOTH of our cars crapped out in a record-setting 36 hours.

My Surf died in the parking lot of MakeMan and then the following day our poor little Cube crapped out at the pet store... needless to say, one new battery, a new alternator, and almost 600 dollars later, ONE of the cars is fixed. We've got the surf up and running, but the poor cubie is gonna have to wait a little longer. Cash flow is tight and we're supposed to go to Tokyo in a couple of days for our fake anniversary. (For all of you who know us well, we really eloped in December, but had out "re-wed" on 9/1).

Next item for discussion, TOKYO!! Yeah for something good happening and getting off this island!! We'll be spending the long weekend there with the Gregory fam and I am pretty excited. We're gonna hit up the Tokyo zoo, some fun museums and shrines, and of course, Tokyo DISNEY!! WOOT WOOT!!

Next, work... ah yes, my lovely job. Needless to say it's a damn good thing I really like what I do because the place is a total drama-filled madhouse!! You put 40 married women in one very tiny clinic, and drama is bound to pop up here and there... and everywhere. Yes, I know, I have a bit of a strong personality, I get it from my dad... but seriously, I don't put up with (pardon my french) bitchy bullshit and some people I work with just thrive off of it... so yeah, I guess I rubbed some people the wrong way, oh well. I am here for almost 3 more years, they are outta here... well soon, but not quite soon enough... Ok, enough of the bitching... on to better things!

As far as school goes, the Military has offered spouses a FREE scholarship to go back to school to attain a "portable" career. Basically they feel bad that military spouses will never get the opportunity to actually have a real career where you stay at one company for more than three years due to PCSing, so they are dishing out pity cash. That's right, they have given me $6,000 to do what I please with, educationally that is. So, I have taken that money and invested it in going back to school at Penn Foster (via the web, not many colleges for americans here) and I am going to get my Associates in Veterinary Technology. Basically when all is said and done I will not just be a vet tech, but a REGISTERED one... oooooh, aaaaaah... Many of you are probably like, but she already has a degree... why do this? Well honestly, social work is not for me... never was, never will be... so I am gonna do what I enjoy and get paid to do it! So, I am currently working on that right now, which is easy since I already work at the vet clinic anyway!

Hmmm... what else... oh yeah, after 5 months of living in our little house here in Oki, my darling hubby FINALLY finished our fence. I know that may not sound exciting to all of you, but to us it's life-changing! We can just shove the kids out the back door instead of having to walk them out in the blistering heat and humidity! This is a very good thing, folks, and I will definately get some pics of it up here soon!

In other news, we still Scuba almost every weekend. We didn't this week because I had the creepy crud that's been going around the island. Some people call it the summer bug, others say it's swine flu... I just call it a pain in the ass. My nostrils have been playing musical side... ya know, when one is stuffed and the other is all clear, then for no reason whatsoever it switches... yeah, it's been glorious. Not to mention the aches, coughing fits that seem to only happen in the middle of the night, and the stuffies... yeah, I have been a real peach to live with the last week. I am feeling much better today though, which is good since we're traveling in a a couple of days.

Um... in puppy news... we're been debating getting another puppy. I'm shooting for something small like a weiner dog. I think I almost have Mike convinced since it would be little and we now have a fence. We'll have to see what pops up on the shelter page, we both refuse to buy a puppy store pet or pay half a months paycheck for one. I'm leaning towards a little boy and I want to name him Gus... we'll see though. Now that I work at the clinic, get cheap medical care for the puppies, and know all the rule about hving more than 2 pets, Mike is having a very hard time coming up with reasons why we shouldn't do it... he just needs to learn I am an only child and I get what I want :-P HAHA

Um... that's pretty much it for now. I have some pics of Scuba diving and the vet conference that I am gonna post sometime soon. I promise I will try to be better about keeping up so you all don't have to read one giant rant any more. I'll be better about breaking up my bitching into mini-posts...

Oh my gosh, one more major thing! So Mike is getting DEPLOYED!! I know, crazy, right!?!?! He's heading to Iraq of all place next April through like October or November... so if someone wants to start taking up a collection to support the "Bring Kristie Home" fund, it would be appreciated. I am debating coming home maybe mid-july to mid-august or so... but definately plan on coming home at some point while he's away. Luckily my friend Sarah's hubby is leaving around the same time so we'll be alone and miserable together... actually, that's a total lie. We're already planning on hiking Mt. Fuji that summer, and perhaps a shopping trip to Taiwan or Hone Kong! It'll be okay, but boring being alone. If anyone wants to visit, I recommend coming then so I can have some company!!

Ok, that's really all for now... hope everyone is doing well and pics are coming soon!!

Military Working Dog Demo

So yet another reason why I love my job...

As some of you know, I spent the last week in a Technician Conference held here on Okinawa for all the civilian and military tech/doctors in the Pacific Air Force region, or PACAF as they call it. For the most part we spent time in the class room getting Power-Pointed to death, then the next couple of days we practiced techniques on some patients, scrubbed in on some surgeries, and the best part was this... the military working dog demo!

We all piled into a couple cars and drove out in the weather (mind you we were getting brushed by a typhoon at this point and had wind gusts that almost knocked us over) and we watched the Marines get the workin' doggies all fired up.

The first pic is the super-duper padded jacket they use for arm bit training, as you can see it's very think but good boyscouts always come prepared and they had the first-aid kit out just in case... but actually, it was for the dogs in case they got hurt, not us!!

We had the instructor show us how to confront and challenge the dog, then gave us the okay to give it a whirl. I myself am a huge wuss and opted out of the demo as soon as the first girl came out of the jacket (which was supposed to be uber-padded) with teeth marks on her forearm... no thanks, I'm good with both my arms staying attached!

The dog in all the pics is named Aaron, and he's apparently the nastiest of the whole dog crew. He was so squirrley, he had to stand the length of the field away from us until the demo started and he bagan to "work." He was freaking nuts. He was only about 80 lbs, but like most marines, he was also intimidating!

So yeah, there is actually more to my job then givving vaccine shots and cutting out reproductive parts! If anyone out there is dying to see more of my conference group getting tackled and attacked, I have more pics... just ask!

Naha's Festival of 10,000 Eisa Dancers

So, this past weekend we went braved the scorching heat and rediculous parking in Naha to attend the one-day only 10,000 Eisa Dancer Festival!! Let me tell you, it was BALLS hot there. Picture this... it's at least 100 in the shade and NO breeze whatsoever, with about 110% humidity... needless to say, I hope you really enjoy these pictures because there was a lot of sweat and almost some tears by the end of this very hot day...

Ok, enough of the bitching... more about the pics...

So Eisa dancing, according to Wikipedia, is a form of dancing that includes chanting, music, and of course dancing. The groups are often distinguishable by the way they are dressed and represent a different territory here on Okinawa. They have brightly-colored headpieces, often turban-like, and women wear ribbons or other headbands. They play three different drums of varying size from small, medium, to large, and the children will often spin little miniature batons... it's very cute. They apparently do these dances in celebration of Obon, or the celebration of the dead during the summer. If you want to know more than than, google it!

So anywho, we went to Kokosai street in Naha, which is about 20 miles south of Okinawa City, where we live. We took one expressway, one monorail, and walked a few blocks, and there we were. We had an awesome lunch at Halo's brewery, tucked ourselves in front of Starbucks, and watched.

The dancers perfored each of their dance routines at all of the major interesections along the road, which if you can imagine, is like a longer, cleaner, and wider Bourbon Street. It's got tons of trinket and knick-knack shops... a tourists heaven. I felt bad for the little ones that were performing, they were doused with cups of water thrown at them from an adult with a water jug following them... poor little things. And on top of it, at the corner we were standing on, there was a sort of japanese mime dancing along with all of them and making them mess up a little... it was cute.

So I have a video of them but I don't think it will let me post it on here... so I will make a new post with it and just keep an eye out for it!!