Dragging On.

I'm sure this is typical of any military wife in the home-stretch of a deployment, but O-M-G, could time be moving any slower!? I'm having to look at the number of days, not the months/weeks. Even though my husband will be home before (so this is technically not a violation of OPSEC), there are FORTY EIGHT days until I see his handsome face for the first time since early September! It's just dragging out for both of us. His days there are relatively quiet now, which, while a good thing as far as getting rest goes, definitely makes the days go by slower too. You would think with teaching full time, my days would be flying, but I think I feel like they're flying, then I look at my calendar and it's been shorter than I thought, then that's just discouraging. David has decided not to look at the date on his phone anymore to help the days go by faster. I just wish I could do that, too!

I sent our car off to Hawaii this past Friday. The process was almost easy. Besides not getting very good directions on what paperwork to bring, we ran into a few roadblocks. I knew I had to have 1/4 tank of gas or less, so I only brought it up to 1/2 tank before we left for an hour and 45 min. trip to Portsmouth. My 80 minute commute to and from work each day uses about a 1/4 tank, so I figured I would be fine. I didn't consider that I'd be driving highway miles east (downhill) towards sea level. So, I got to Portsmouth and had to go to an auto shop to have my gas siphoned from my vehicle to my aunt's. That took 45 minutes. Then, I got to the POV shipment place and began my paperwork (the wait wasn't long at 10am). I'm half-way through when the woman goes to look for my registration in the stack of paperwork I brought her when she says, "I don't see your registration." And I'm like "Well, I know I brought it. It was attached to the insurance card copies (which I didn't need), which are right here. So it must have fallen out if it's not here." She double checks by flipping through all my paperwork to not find it again. So, then I'm driving 20 minutes to go to the nearest DMV when I decide to check my paperwork stack behind her. The lady stapled my registration to the back of our orders, so of course she passed over them! So then, we turned around and drove BACK to the POV shipment place, and I completed the process, including an inspection where I found out ON THE WAY THERE (because it wasn't there before), a rock hit my front bumper and chipped the paint! Thankfully, it's small--a little smaller than a dime. Then we went to Applebee's in Suffolk on the way home and had the worst service ever, but that's another story for another time.

As far as the deployment goes, my husband is featured in a 25 minute long documentary on Al Jazeera. It can be found here: The Winter War. It's a really intriguing video. It shows the 18-day mission my husband went on during Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, it shows the OP taking incoming and then returning the favor--but I'd like to think a little more successfully! Here's a screen shot of him (front-right) in the video:

So handsome <3

This video is by the same filmmaker that made the 25 minute video, but this is of Checkpoint 2.5, where my husband has spent about half of his deployment in 3-4 day trips every week.

So that's about it. Other interesting tidbits: I have my first scrimmage in just six days. I'm nervous! Student-teaching is going great. My workout life is pretty excellent. I haven't lost any weight, but I'm looking much better. I really don't care about the number though. I can tell a huge difference in my muscle tone. I "deleted" Facebook in that I came to a compromise with my Mom and Aunt and kept Facebook, but deleted everyone who was not a blood relative. Their argument is that they want to see pictures and stuff from Hawaii, and that Facebook is easier than pulling up my blog. So now, my Facebook exists for the sole purpose of filling in my family on life in Hawaii. I really just wanted to delete it, but this way, everyone is happy--at least as close to it as possible. I'll be happy when we move back home and I delete the whole dang thing.

But anywho, off to watching Cupcake Wars and writing my reflection for last week's student-teaching!

Phasing Out Facebook

Today I went to teach at Buckingham High School, where I'll be teaching this semester on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Talking with my cooperating teacher about students and how they want to be your friends, etc. made me think I should get going on phasing out my Facebook page. Everyone hears the horrible stories on the news where a teacher is fired over a misconception on her Facebook. Although my Facebook is clean (I don't really drink, dress conservatively, etc.), I just don't want to run that risk of something being misconstrued or taken out of context. Plus, Facebook is changing all the time and become about as annoying as MySpace. So, until David gets back, I have kept the people I actually chat/message with on there as "my friends" on Facebook. I just went from 200+ friends to 84! So liberating! As soon as David and I get to Hawaii and get internet hooked up, I will delete it and message everyone the link to this blog. A fun fact:

I told David that I wanted to delete my Facebook when he gets back. He didn't believe that I would do it, so I made a bet with him. I told him that if I don't delete Facebook a week after we get to Hawaii, that he can get an Xbox 360. So, you can see another reason why I'm upholding my end of the bet ;)

UPDATE on October 1st, 2011: This bet has since been terminated--or should I say lost by my husband. He will be on the island for a month before I can get there, so he told me today that because he's going to be so lonely and bored by himself, that he must get a PS3. I told him when I get there, if he gives it more attention than he does me, that I'm throwing it out the window. I'm not sure whether I'm kidding or not. So, our bet is off because he is a spoiled husband!