was AMAZING!!! Pretty much as expected - the sights, the beaches, the tours, the friends, the dive, the nightlife... I fully endorse Saipan as a great place to visit.
Saipan is about a 45 minute flight from Guam. We arrived Friday afternoon (after a quick "layover" in the Continental President's Club... not bad! I love Continental.). After check-in, we decided to take full advantage of the island drinks and the Pacific Islands Club's (our hotel, the PIC) lazy river. It was awesome. Nothing like floating next to a cooler in the middle of January. Our friend Jamis and I also convinced a Korean tour group to let us play water basketball with them. Turns out basketball is a pretty universal language. Hilarious. Following my team's victory, our group of eight headed out on the town for dinner (Hard Rock Cafe --- we are such tourists), and then hit Godfather bar (pretty laid back) and then big shocker: wound up at Harmony Karoake. I LOVE karaoke. Why is it so fun??? I did my usual lineup, and Chris sang bicycle by Queen. Needless to say, he was the hit of the night. No one... and I mean no one... knew how to top THIS:
Saturday was our big tour day. We hired a Ruskie who has been on the island for 18 years to give us a history lesson and tour of the island. He knew more about Saipan than I know about anything. It was incredible. I had a stack of pictures with me that my Aunt Karen gave me... pictures my grandpa took in Saipan in WWII and pictures he and Gram took some 40 years later (July, 1981) during their trip to Saipan on their 40th Anniversary. Gotta say, it was a little overwhelming finding the exact locations of photos taken. Knowing that my Grandpa fought there, and Gram and Grandpa visited was pretty incredible. There were definitely some tears! It only felt appropriate when it started to rain at our last stop for the day. Man I miss them!!! But (in an effort to cure the tears?) upon return to the hotel, I quickly deposited a $10 bill in the fifty cent game next to the gift shop. I had big plans to either win an animal in the claw game or something fabulous in the arcade game "Stacker." Chris' siblings and I have played Stacker dozens of times and never won a thing. Guess who won an IPOD!?!!?!? ME!!!!! YES!!!! The gift shop worker said she'd been working their 9 years and never seen anyone win. How bout them apples? (Winner's Tip: drink two pina coladas before playing. Your reaction time will be just off enough to win.) Following my big victory, we tried to conquer the PIC's artificial wave, did a few victory laps in the lazy river, and headed out in town for some amazing Thai food and the fire show at the Flair Bar. It was incredible!! The bartenders juggle all sorts of bottles on fire, and cocktail shakers, and all sorts of crazy tricks. It was a blast!
Sunday morning, we linked up with "Axe Murderer Tours" and went to dive the world famous Grotto. It was spectacular! The visibility was unbelievable. It was my first dive as a certified diver, and although I burst into tears when the guide told us we'd be diving down to 115 feet, I did just fine. A couple pics of the "Grotto"
The "swim thru" 
A friendly little starfish liked my get up. Clearly he too was holding on for dear life. 
So pretty!
Following the dive, more lazy river (do you see a theme here?) and dinner at the hotel, it was back to the Flair for one more night of shenanigans, including convincing the bartender to let us try to breathe fire. This was my attempt. Seemed like a good idea, and our good friend Derek can be heard "supporting me" post-fire-breath.
Monday morning we took the ferry over to the island of Tinian to hit the Dynasty Casino. (History buffs: Tinian is where the Enola Gay, the airplane carrying "Little Boy" aka one of US atomic bombs, was launched.) Chris and the gang played Black Jack, and Jenny and I wandered fairly aimlessly after not doing so well on the slots. The casino was more or less a bust - we were the only people there, and it felt like something straight out of Twilight Zone meets a bad After-Prom party. Following the ferry back, we hit up an awesome little taco place for lunch. The highlight of the trip had to be after that. Chris and I escaped to the Hyatt Regency by ourselves, where Gram and Grandpa stayed on their visit. We scoured the grounds for photo re-enactment opportunities, and even had a drink at the bar they surely sat at. I was a little sad to leave Saipan, but before leaving the hotel, went to grab a couple bottles of water and a diet coke. For every birthday, Easter, Halloween, you name it, Gram used to send us a $2 bill. And wouldn't you know, in Saipan of all places, the $12 change I was given from my $20 was a $10 bill and a $2 bill. Incredible.
Some pics from the weekend:
Postcard perfect :)
Gram's 1981 picture of the memorial at Bonzai cliff, and the memorial today.
The memorials at Bonzai cliff, 1981
And the memorials today
The view from Suicide Cliff steps, 1981
And the view in 2010
The Last Command Post, 1981
And 2010. 
The view from Bonzai cliff, 1981
And 2010. 
Gram at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, 1981
And me.... at the Hyatt nearly 30 years later. 
Grandpa at Garapan beach, 1981... standing on the very beach he swam in on, some 40 years before. 
And me, at Garapan beach, nearly 65 years after the battle of Saipan.
At the Hyatt.... it truly felt like they were there.
The end of an amazing trip....
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saipan ....
Thursday, January 21, 2010
A little history lesson... and a LOT of excitement
I am pretty much speechless: some 65 years ago, my grandfather fought in WWII in Saipan. Forty some years later, he took my grandmother there to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Chris and I are going TOMORROW!!
I can't WAIT to post pictures!
Here's a little history lesson on the Battle of Saipan for those so inclined (taken from http://www.navysite.de/ships/lha2about.htm):
The Battle of Saipan
Plans to launch an offensive against the Japanese in the islands of the Pacific were initiated in 1943 at the Quadrant Conference held in Quebec. President Franklin Roosevelt received the proposal that the Allied effort in the Pacific should be directed first toward the Gilbert Islands, then the Marshalls, followed by Wake, the Eastern Carolines, and finally the Marianas. It was at Saipan that American military planners were presented with the problem of how to cope with a dense civilian population, the first to be encountered in the Pacific war. American forces were to be under the overall command of Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The American drive across the Pacific would be two-pronged. While Nimitz fought his way across the central Pacific, General MacArthur would advance across the southwest Pacific to the Philippines. The islands of the central Pacific either succumbed one by one under the sheer weight of American forces or were bombed, neutralized and bypassed. With their supply lines cut, the defenders of by-passed islands were left to starve. After the fall of the Marshall islands, no other island in the central Pacific would be invaded by American ground forces until the American armada reached the waters off the Marianas and the island of Saipan.
American war strategy in the western Pacific was developed around the premise that Japan would never surrender and that the nation would fight to the last man, woman, and child, particularly if the home islands were invaded. It was anticipated that such an invasion, if it were to occur, would result in the loss of one million American lives. In planning for this eventuality, air bases in the Marianas were essential in order to accommodate the new B-29 Superfortress, a U.S. bomber that was just beginning to be mass-produced in early 1944 and which had a flying range equal to the distance from Saipan, Tinian and Guam to Japan and back. The B-29's normal range was 2,850 miles at 358 m.p.h. with a 20,000 ton carrying capacity at 32,000 feet. The capture of the island of Saipan thus became crucial in the preparations for this massive invasion.
The assault on Saipan began on June 15,1944, almost a week after the invasion of Europe. An armada of 535 ships carrying 127,570 U. S. military personnel (two-thirds of whom were Marines of the 2nd and 4th Divisions) converged on the island. The ships of the invasion force carried 40,000 different items to support the assault - everything from toilet paper to government-issue coffins. A single supply ship carried enough food to feed 90,000 troops for one month. Navy tankers transported the gigantic quantity of petroleum products required to support the invasion. Aircraft alone consumed over 8 million gallons of aviation fuel during the battle, while the aircraft carriers burned more than 4 million barrels of fuel.
Seven American battleships and 11 destroyers shelled Saipan and Tinian for 2 days before the landings, firing 15,000 16-inch and 5-inch shells at the islands along with 165,000 other shells of other caliber. To even begin to comprehend the magnitude of this onslaught, one needs to realize that a single 16-inch round weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen Beetle, besides being packed with high explosives. On the second day of the bombardment, this force was joined by 8 more battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and 5 light cruisers. The islands were ringed by American warships with their guns blazing. Shells rained down on the island, its villages, inhabitants, and defenders, gouging huge craters in the sand and coral. The earth trembled under the tremendous explosions of naval bombardment and simultaneous air attacks.
The main invasion force landed along 4 miles of beach at Chalan Kanoa. Twenty-eight U. S. tanks were destroyed the first day alone. The Japanese positioned colored flags in the lagoon to mark the range of the landing force and to register their howitzers on the invaders from locations behind Mount Fina Susu, and their shell fire rained down on the advancing American force every 15 seconds in a deadly cauldron of exploding steel. By nightfall of the first day, the Second Marine Division had sustained 2,000 casualties. The fighting continued until July 9th, when organized resistance on Saipan ceased. When the fighting ended, American losses on Saipan were double those suffered on Guadalcanal. Of the 71,034 U. S. troops landed on Saipan, 3,100 were killed, 13,100 wounded or missing in action. Out of the 31,629 Japanese on Saipan, approximately 29,500 died as a result of the fighting, and only 2,100 prisoners survived. Fighting between the Japanese and the Americans was by no means completely mechanized; while ships, aircraft, artillery, and tanks inflicted the largest amount of damage to the combatants, a great deal of the fighting was hand-to-hand. Besides machine guns, flame throwers, rifles, and pistols, deadly skirmishes were fought with bayonets, swords, bamboo spears, clubs, stones and fists.
The ratio of battle dead was 9.5:1 during the 24 days of fighting. Place names given the rugged Saipan terrain such as Death Valley, Purple Heart Ridge and Harakiri Gulch testified to the bitter fighting. One of the most lamentable events of the battle for Saipan involved the mass suicide of hundreds of families, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the high cliffs at the island's northernmost point. This tragic event could not be stopped, despite efforts by Americans and indigenous Saipanese using loudspeakers to try to convince the Japanese that surrender would be shameless and harmless.
Saipan provided the United States military with its first opportunity to learn about military occupation of enemy territory with a Japanese civilian population. Civilians encountered during the period of the battle and afterward, while emergency conditions still prevailed, were placed in secure camps to keep them out of the way of the fighting. Thus assembled, the U.S. military could better meet their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Schools were established as soon as conditions permitted. In September, 1945, the camps housed 13,954 Japanese, 1,411 Koreans, 2,966 Chamorros and 1,025 Carolinians. Contained within a two square mile area near Lake Susupe, the compounds were primitive and only the bare necessities were available. Weathered boards, tattered tents and battered tin sheets from the island's bombed-out sugar refinery provided the only shelter from the weather. Each hut (han) accommodated from 20 to 55 people. After the fighting, families were released from Camp Susupe during the day to cultivate vegetables, as food was scarce. Food production was increased from 79,469 pounds of produce in September, 1944 to 286,029 pounds in September, 1945. The camp also had a makeshift Buddhist temple, where Shinto religious ceremonies were held. Release from these camps is celebrated as "Liberation Day" by inhabitants of Saipan to this day on the 4th of July. The Japanese on Saipan had a high birth rate - about 300 babies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 45 - and there were many orphans in the camps who were attended and raised by Japanese nurses. Most of these were the children of Japanese parents who had killed themselves during the mass suicide.
After the capture of Saipan, the fighting continued elsewhere in the Pacific for another 13 months. Camps on Tinian were constructed to house 50,000 U.S. troops and 1.2 million pounds of crops were produced, all of which were consumed on the island. On August 6, 1945, an American Superfortress flying from Tinian dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, hastening Japan's capitulation. The war formally ended with Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945. The final surrender on the island of Saipan did not take place, however, until December 1, 1945, when Japanese Army Captain Sakeo Oba, who had continued to hold out in the mountains with 46 men as a guerrilla force, surrendered his Samurai sword to Major Herman Lewis and Colonel Scott, USMC.
About 90 percent of the civilian population on Saipan survived the war. These included Koreans, Okinawans, and Japanese who were subsequently repatriated to their respective homelands. As recorded on December 31, 1949, the indigenous population of Saipan was 6,225. In 1937 23,658 persons had inhabited Saipan (4,145 were indigenous).
Today, what little World War Two equipment remains after being collected and sold for scrap after the war is protected by law because of its historical value. Lying below the surface of a lagoon once congested with landing craft and ships of all type are the coral encrusted tools of war. Rifles, helmets, bullets, tanks, ships and landing craft litter the sandy lagoon floor as if in an underwater time capsule in silent testimony to one of the last battles fought in a pre-nuclear age. More than fifty years after the invasion, unexploded live ordnance still poses a very real danger to the unwary diver or souvenir hunter.
Four Marines received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Battle of Saipan. Each lost his life in the action for which he was honored. The four were: Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard, 4th Tank Battalion; Sergeant Grant F. Timmerman, 2nd Tank Battalion; Private First Class Harold G. Agerholm, 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division; Private First Class Harold G. Epperson, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. Gunnery Sergeant McCard, a native of Syracuse, NY, single-handedly covered the escape of his crew from a disabled tank. He faced the fire of a battery of anti-tank guns with hand grenades and a machine gun. Sergeant Timmerman, who came to the Marine Corps from Americus, KS, threw himself across an open tank hatch to protect his crew from an enemy grenade. PFC Agerholm disregarded heavy enemy fire and personally evacuated 45 wounded Marines during an enemy attack on an artillery position. Agerholm, a native of Racine, WI, was killed by a sniper as he tried to help two other wounded men. PFC Epperson of Akron, OH, threw himself on a hand grenade, which landed in his machine gun position during an enemy attack. His action saved the rest of his gun crew.
(and........... I passed Scuba!)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Outsider-rider
I remember very vividly sitting in my gram's basement, channeling our best Bob Ross and painting mountain scenes (mine had a giant duck in the pond roughly the size of one of my mountains) on canvas with my cousin Jill and sister Bree. We were flipping through channels, and good ole Sesame Street was on, and the song "one of these things is not like the other... one of these things does not belong" came on. It was so appropriate, first, for my poor giant duck, and second for my bastard best friends who happened to be my cousin and Bree (you might remember them from "onesie pajamas.")
The feeling of "one of these kids is not like the other" is very distinct. I've decided (today) that there are three basic categories of the Sesame Street Belonging Song. 1) - The "I clearly don't belong here, but no one cares and everyone is being very nice (i.e. when I went to an all black church in Washington, DC and the priest asked me to stand up so the congregation could welcome all of the new visitors>>> clearly I was new, but everyone was very kind, and actually quite patient when I kept clapping on the wrong beats. Oops). 2) - The "I clearly don't belong here, and someone will make a passive aggressive comment illuminating this fact (i.e. squadron picnic last spring when my husband was one of three people that had to work, so I took his spot on the squadron softball team. It was all active duty, and moi, the sole spouse. No one on the team seemed to mind since I am a) the most competitive person ever, and b) used to pitch for both the Department of Homeland Security AND the General Services Administration's intramural softball teams, but several of the wives made the ole "oh so we're not good enough to play with?" kind of comments... let the record show my very fair defense was that of the 20 wives, something like 72% are pregnant, and maybe 14% have ever played softball and that does not a competitive softball team make..) and 3) - the "what is SHE doing here??" My least favorite. Takes me right back to the eighth grade. We had just moved from Kansas to Colorado (two weeks into the school year) and when I politely refused to make out with a boy (sidenote: I had never been kissed, and certainly didn't intend to waste my first kiss in the parking lot of the King Soopers Grocery Store), the entire eighth grade class (save maybe four girls, one of whom is world-class marathon runner Paige Higgins) called me a lesbian. I'll never forget walking into our eighth grade dance and everyone stopping dancing and staring at me. Note to the kids (graduating class 1996) at St. Mary's: if you cup your hand over your mouth and point at someone, they can STILL HEAR YOU. I transferred back to Kansas the next week, and lived with my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dan for the rest of the year. I went back to Colorado for high school, but miraculously grew 8" and breasts before returning. Suck it.
I digress.
I started Scuba certification yesterday. Today, we did four "confined water" (shallow enough that you can stand up) dives, and two "open water" (self explanatory) dives. I think you all know my complete fear of the ocean. It's still here. In fact, I totally feel like one of these kids is not like the other! The fish just stare at you, as if to say "what the hell are you doing here? This is my home. You do not belong. If you were meant to breathe underwater you'd have gills." It's very unnerving for me. We did see some eels (which led to 20 minutes of me singing Little Mermaid in my head) and then a giant see turtle (which led to 20 minutes of channeling Dori from Finding Nemo and repeating "just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Swimming swimming swimming swimming.) My instructor (Wade Hood, GTDS) rocks and it's looking like I will pass tomorrow. I am doing the three day accelerated course in anticipation for diving "the Grotto" in Saipan this weekend. Oh yeah --- my big news: we're going to Saipan! This weekend! I am SO excited to go. My grandfather (dad's dad) was stationed there during WWII, and he and my Gram returned to Saipan for their 40th wedding anniversary in the early 1980s. Especially since both my grandparents are dead now, I feel a strange pull to Saipan to go "visit" them, in a way. I am so, SO excited. Until then, I have to get through one more day of scuba lessons, plenty of mini-anxiety attacks, some homework, some work, and hanging out with my good friends - the ones who make me feel like I do belong, even on an island 10,000 miles from home :)
WINDY!!! And giant waves. Not safe. At all.
This is our cold front :) 
You guessed it. Back to front - Jill, Bree, me (sing it with me: one of these kids is not like the other... :)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Weighting on me
Two weeks into 2010 and apparently old habits die hard. My sister and cousin have already facebooked me to inform me that it's 2 weeks into January and I've blogged twice. I bought a Women's Health total lean body complete fitness pack on Monday and I haven't opened the box yet. And I'm still eating like I'll never be fed again.... which if I were still marathon training would be okay. But I'm not. So it's not. Why do people make resolutions anyway? I much prefer Lent, where (for you non-Catholics) you give something up for 40 days. End in sight, short-term, perfect. Last year I gave up cursing (which sort of worked. Shit.) Two years ago I gave up fast-food and diet coke (nearly killed me, but I did it!), and once in college I gave up caffeine (started hallucinating around day 3, but around day 8 I made friends with the raccoons I swore I saw in our hallway). Another year in college I gave up alcohol (which was a bit of a challenge since I worked at a bar), and one year I actually tried giving up food. I bought a really nice blender and thought I could live off smoothies. Then I read a study about a guy who did something similar, and when it came time to eat meat again he almost died. So I gave that up around day 4 and switched to giving up restaurants... which while working on a campaign was very similar to giving up food. However, I did bring a family size griddle to the office and made pancakes on Fridays. What a freak. Who does that???
Let's be honest, I'm not a fat kid. It is true that while walking in Adams Morgan one night a few years ago with my good friend Jocelyn, a wasted wanna-be-rapper gentlemen yelled, "DAMN girl, work it! Big girls need lovin too!" Jocelyn is maybe 5'1 with heels on. I assure you, he was talking to me. [Sidenote: Joc and I are exactly one half of the entity we dubbed the FAB FOUR. Laura and Becky (who was my roommate in FL on the campaign when I gave up restaurants) make up the other half. Joc and Beck are now in Dallas doing amazing things and Laura is in law school at UVA- read: stud - and of course I live halfway across the world. When Becky was moving back from DC to Dallas we actually held interviews to replace her, and came up with the chant: "If you (insert ridiculous behavior here, such as "only eat salads"), you NEED NOT APPLY!" We would yell it at bars late in the evening. It was really fun when someone would use improper bathroom etiquette, and Joc would yell, "IF YOU CUT IN LINE IN THE BATHROOM WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS WAITING" we would all pipe in with "NEED NOT APPLY! NEED NOT APPLY!" Shocking that no one ever DID apply. So there's that.]
I digress.
Back to my point: I'm not a fat kid. However, three months post marathon, and I am not doing myself any favors. My sister just bought a treadmill, my mother (who, self proclaimed, stores all of her athletic ability in her pinky) is even going to the gym, and my dad has lost about 40 pounds this year. I am the only one who can't get away with wearing sweaters in January since it's 99 degrees here, and I have the least motivation of them all. Help! So here it is blogfans. My weight loss plan. I assure you this will not become a weight blog since I don't quite care for them, BUT, I remember hearing in one of my psych classes in college right before I fell asleep (or left to get a diet coke, one of the two) that if you write something down you're something like 28x more likely to do it. I could be making that up though. So I'm writing it down: 3x a week with the Women's Health total lean body fitness set. 3x a week cardio of sorts (look for fabulous excuses as to what I'm deeming cardio these days), and I'll work on my fraternity boy eating habits. Goal: Drop and keep 20 pounds off by my brother's wedding (barring pregnancy at which point all bets are off), December 18th. Midterm goal: drop 15 pounds by the time Chris deploys again in May. Let the games begin! Who's with me?
The FAB FOUR - Joc, Laura, Becky, and moi - - margarita night on Capitol Hill, 2006
Monday, January 11, 2010
Moving on out
After what appears to be something along the lines of a 42 day bender, we are finally back to some semblance of normalcy... only because Chris went to work three hours ago, I woke up about 20 minutes ago and have on a giant robe and glasses and am looking forward to an hour from now when I can justify eating a taco bell burrito leftover from yesterday. The glories of a Guam housewife! Actually I have a ton of work to do today - lots of research for my consulting gig, homework for my Institutions of National Security class, and a little promotion ceremony for my husband -- he is making Navy LT today! And, to celebrate, I will be whipping up a little something fabulous for dinner:
Roast Rack of Lamb with Peach Ginger Chutney. I'm quite sure mine will look exactly like this:
We'll see how it goes. The commissary is closed today, so I'll be venturing out to town to try and find lamb... most likely heading all the way down to the navy base's commissary (a solid 20 miles away -- pretty much the entire length of the island), or we might have Subway sandwiches to celebrate. Nothing says "I'm proud of you" like a footlong turkey and ham on Italian.. right? I saw Julie & Julia over the holidays and vowed to cook (and blog) more. I'm sure (note sarcasm) it's just a matter of time before my life is made into a movie... ? Or not. Although, while at lunch at our fave place in the world (Jeff's Pirates Cove) on Saturday one of my "followers" recognized me! How awesome is that? Special shout out to Tarako for a) reading my blog and b) serving the best gyros on the island!! Very fun! I'm still amazed people read this (but of course very grateful :)
In other news, other than my 8 seconds of fame, this weekend was horribly sad. After months of denial, my Guam BFF has actually moved to Rhode Island. Please send sympathy cards and/or coping gifts my way:
Tessa
1054-A Ulithi Blvd
Yigo, GU 96929
They left for the airport early Saturday morning, so we said goodbye late Friday night. I'm not sure I've ever cried so hard, and I'm sure the wine at the Change of Command Dinner didn't help much. We moved all the time growing up (insurance brat) so the concept is not lost on me, but I realized that I have never been left. I'm always the mover, the leaver, the one going on to fantastic adventures... not the one left behind. For the record: uh, this side of things BLOWS. It's rare to find someone who will fly to another continent to ensure you're not alone on your birthday.. and even more rare to have that person live exactly 42 steps away from you. The end of an ERA! I already MISS YOU JOLENE!!!!
Friday night at the Change of Command dinner with Jolene and the outgoing CO and incoming CO.
Time to get to work!! Need to start advertising for new friends :)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
New year - new you?
2009 was a blast. I survived my husband's first deployment, went golfing in Japan, did a night safari in Singapore, bungy jumping in Australia, started working as a consultant, scuba dove the Great Barrier Reef, and... (proudest moment!) ran my first marathon. I'm not sure 2010 (let alone the next decade) will match up to 2009. But here's to trying!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
On the books: it's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas (minus the palm trees)
It's finally feeling like Christmas!! We have a tacky light-up-robotic-bright-pink flamingo wearing a Santa hat on our front porch, we have a Christmas tree (my dad sent me a tree from Wal-mart... how awesome is THAT?), we have all sorts of decorations on the inside, Chris solidified our marriage and watched White Christmas (as you know my fave movie ever) with me last night for the first time (!!!!) and yesterday and today I am bake, bake baking. How very domestic of me. And, as routine for most of you on December 16, I have big plans to lay out today before packing for a whirlwind visit to the states tomorrow. Jealous?
So much has happened in the last week - squadron Christmas parties, Army-Navy football game (complete with 5:30am kickoff in Guam), beach time, and something new and different I'm trying: reading for pleasure. When I first started working in DC, I traveled quite a bit with my then bosses, Dr. M and VT. VT and I would usually sit together on the flights (Dr. M was almost always upgraded), and I quickly decided that Cosmopolitan magazine wasn't quite "appropriate" to be reading next to my 60-something boss (who I affectionately called Grandpa when he would give me a hard time.... he called me Cookie since I sent a giant cookie basket when they hired me... first job out of college, I couldn't pronounce half the words in the position description, but they interviewed me anyway. When asked if I was flexible, I detailed him a Truesdell family vacation, complete with 8 people in one suburban, my mom in tears, my older sister and I dodging shoes my brothers were throwing at each other, my little sisters sitting in carseats screaming, all while my dad blared talk radio to try and muffle White Christmas playing on the giant shoebox of a VCR that he had to secure on the armrest with his right elbow. I thought that adequately explained that I could handle just about anything, and that I was willing to learn the rest - reading anything I could get my hands on. I also explained that I was happy to make coffee if that's all they needed me for. When asked if I would be comfortable briefing the Under Secretary and the senior staff, I explained that having to do a handstand on a platform in a bathing suit in front of the IU men's basketball team and thousands of other people at the Natatorium in Indianapolis (college diving) made everything else look easy. When he asked what my background was with Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Explosives (CBRN-E as we called it), I replied with great honesty that I had googled the hell out of it over the weekend. I was hired on the spot. Incredible boss, fabulous job (that didn't ever require me to make coffee but did require briefings) and he loved me despite my penchant for sarcasm, inability to read mapquest (I once drove us by Pittsburgh 4 times - but in all fairness the exit was NOT clearly marked) poor packing skills (I was known to bring 4 pairs of shoes on a 2 day trip and forget something like a blouse for underneath my business suit -- which really just meant a "shopportunity"), and my unending questions of why we did things the way we did.
I digress.
SO, back to reading: on our first business trip, I made the snap decision at the airport that instead of reading the latest celeb gossip or how to get someone to love you in 20 minutes, I would buy a book, appropriate for reading in front of my big, bad (okay actually he's something like 5'5 and the nicest man ever) government boss -- hence I picked up "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" (Steven Emerson, 2002... great book) and so it began: my non-fiction kick, that has lasted me a solid 5 years. The next government job I took also required traveling with a fabulous boss, which also prompted the continuation of my non-fiction kick. Some great reads from that "era" were: "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10" (Marcus Luttrell... absolutely amazing), "Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence" (Mark Juergensmeyer... that's a book that will stick with you), "A Civil War: Army Vs. Navy: A Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry (John Feinstein... you HAVE to read this one) and "From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest" (T.Z. Lavine... LOVED it). My last plane ride around the world (with no boss looking over my shoulder) had me reading: "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan" (Gary Schroen, also wrote "Jawbreaker" equally as AWESOME), "The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil " (Bob Hamer - totally disturbing but a GREAT read), "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America" ( P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry - very interesting and slightly terrifying) and "Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic" (incredible). I'm a huge fan of non-fiction. Pushing up my black glasses as I say this (seriously, I am - it's only 7:30 a here and I've already dropped a friend off at the airport and am on my 3rd cup of coffee), but I love the idea of learning while you're reading... that after you have dropped a cool $92 at Border's in the Seattle airport (layover in November) you have something more than just a book for the bookshelf - - you have practical, relevant knowledge for something that is going on in the world (or in "Rubicon's" case, something that will invariably come up watching Jeopardy, or maybe as an applicable metaphor at the next cocktail hour-- although for everyone else's sake - let's hope not).
Anyway, a few months ago, a friend of mine let me borrow "My Sister's Keeper" (Jodi Picoult) to read on the plane. I took it with me and didn't even open it. Having finished all of my non-fictions, and having new found time on my hands while waiting for my last two grad school classes to start in January, I decided a few days ago (with an eye roll and a serious attitude) to at least start it. Holy hell. I finished it last night...have you read that?!?! I was BAWLING. Like a 7 year old who got pushed down on the playground. "Muslim Mafia" did not have that effect on me. Amazing. Worth reading. Go get a copy. And some kleenex. Wow.
And that's about all. Heading to Denver tomorrow to spend Christmas with the in-laws (always entertaining) and then on to Kansas City to see my crazy, wonderful fam. I can't say there will be a road trip (and sadly, mom and dad traded in the old 'burb for a newer one with a fold down tv screen in the back a few years ago), but I can promise at least three White Christmas viewings and maybe even a shoe or two thrown...
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