3 beautiful things for today:
1. chocolate flavoured coffeee---if I can't eat it at least I can drink it
2. white v neck tee shirts---i love them
3. babies---everyone I know is having babies and they just make me smile
Thursday, June 28, 2007
3 Beautiful Things for Today
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Colours and the Military Wife
The other day I had to go to the base to pick up George after he had duty (every three days he has to spend the night on the ship standing watches usually from 12am-8am and then if it's a weekday, work a full day). I was still sleepy as it was 8am on a Sunday morning. I pulled in, got out my ID and rolled down the window and nearly ran over the MA (Master at Arms-military police) standing in the middle of the road with his hand out. It was still a bit dark and with his cammies on, I nearly missed seeing him. I screetched to a halt and was confused by all the cars pulled over to the side of the road and men standing outside them with their hats against their chests. My first though: something very bad happened. When I noticed the men at the gate with the machine guns standing at attention facing away from the gate I realized that it wasn't an accident or attack. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. Old Glory was being raised. Quietly at first, the sound of Reveille filled my car. This is called Colors. At 8am and 8pm every day on every US Military base worldwise, the American Flag is raised or lowered, Reveille played and every person on the base is to stand whever they are, face the flag and observe a moment of respect. And then, being a Canadian something very strange happened. My eyes filled with tears and my heart swelled with pride as I thought; I am a military spouse.
Now, my husband does not foward deploy to the front lines. My husband does not come home with battle scars or bullet holes. But my husband does serve in the US Navy. And he makes me proud. I am proud of the sacrifce we make so that he can serve. I am proud of the commitment he has made to his country. I am proud that he is helping make our world and the world of our future children a better place.
It's hard to remember this pride when he spends months and months away from home. It's hard to remember this pride when I wait for weeks to get a 3 line email. It's really hard to remember this pride when faced with the daunting task of moving us to another duty station across the country...alone. But the pride is always there nonetheless. It keeps me going day to day when he's gone and it helps me encourage him when he's home.
Being in the military is not an easy lifestyle. You are faced with birthdays, holidays and months spent apart. I am still shocked how many wives I know that have given birth with their spouse deployed overseas. I know of husbands and wives who watch their children grow up through photographs. Even when they are home, there are often long hours, with no overtime. There are times when he can't talk about what goes on at work. Being a military spouse is not for the faint of heart.
A few weeks ago we celebrated military spouse appreication day. It was a bittersweet day for me as again, my husband was somewhere on the sea. It was nice to have people recognize my sacrifice for once because as on tv, all you see are the soilders and not his waiting family. You don't see the wife who has to be Mom and Dad. You don't see her fixing the oil pan in the car or playing catch in the yard. It's a joke among the navy spouses that we're married to the military; but it's a true story. We went to Seaworld a few weeks ago and before the big Shamu show one of the divers came out and asked that all Military service members and their families to stand. We did so and thus received a huge fanfare from the entire crowd. Those moments matter. With tears in my eyes I remember smiling at these people who took a few moments to thank us for what we go through. While my neighbours might not realize how lucky they are for everyday they get to spend together; I for one cherish every single moment that my husband is able to spend with me. I saw a bumper sticker today while I waited in line to get on to the base to drop my husband off for yet another 6 week to 6 month deployment and it read "Navy Wife, hardest job in the military" and I thought to myself...that couldn't be more accurate.
Kelsey's Back...for good, I hope.
well I know, it's been awhile. things have been hectic. George is gone again, this time for six weeks to six months, they haven't given us a definite time frame yet. I miss him like never before. I can't believe how much more I've fallen for him. I thought, ya I love this man and that I could never possibly love him anymore than I did and it just grows and grows.
which makes me feel bad, I've been a super fucking bitch lately. I don't know what has gotten into me. I just am constantly irritated. About anything and everything it seems. The only time I feel good is when we're laying down and he's holding me. Which is weird for me as I'm pretty naturally a happy girl. I am sure it has something to do with this gallbladder removal and my subsequent illness. I'm starting herbalife again tomorrow in hopes of normalicy.
texas doesn't suck as bad as I thought before. It's warm, food is good, people are pretty nice. Sometimes stooopid but otherwise nice. They are bad drivers but I grew up next to alberta so I'm used to that. The weather has been super shit box lately though with all the rain and storms and it's supposed to be a bad hurricane season but eh...such as life I guess. I am more and more realizing that I think I want to live in a smaller centre than my original idea of San Diego. I like being able to go places and know people and feel like a part of a community. Little Texas is just like home, just devoid of the fun young people. But being a navy spouse that does carry somewhat of a reputation. If your husband is deployed, you're out "trolling" for men and if he's home, well then you should be home catering to him. George and I aren't like that. We're both faithful...and well we like to go out too and have fun. I think it's just getting to the point where we need to start expanding our family...*big smile*
And career wise, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. I can't stop thinking about how I would really enjoy something in the salon industry. I mean, ya I'm smart but I'd rather work with people than behind a desk everyday. Besides that, I would be able to work anywhere we moved and I love doing glamour. *sigh* I just don't know.
Okay, time for me to get back to work. I'll be posting more from now on, I promise. I have a rather heartfelt story to write in fact about the military.
3 Beautiful Things for Today
1. Last night I got my teddy bear from back home in Canada, my sleepness nights are already better.
2. I also got 3 new bottles of perfume for my birthday...what could be better?
3. George is deployed...Stateside instead of overseas.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Americans are really scared....of Canadians
WASHINGTON - An odd-looking Canadian quarter with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a false espionage warning from the Defense Department about mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.
The harmless "poppy quarter" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.
The silver-colored 25-cent piece features the red image of a poppy — Canada's flower of remembrance — inlaid over a maple leaf. The unorthodox quarter is identical to the coins pictured and described as suspicious in the contractors' accounts.
The supposed nano-technology on the coin actually was a protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red color from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.
"It did not appear to be electronic (analog) in nature or have a power source," wrote one U.S. contractor, who discovered the coin in the cup holder of a rental car. "Under high power microscope, it appeared to be complex consisting of several layers of clear, but different material, with a wire-like mesh suspended on top."
The confidential accounts led to a sensational warning from the Defense Security Service, an agency of the Defense Department, that mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.
"We'll have a good laugh over it," said John Regitko, who writes a newsletter for a leading coin-collecting organization, the Canadian Numismatic Association. "We never suspected there was such a thing (as spy coins) anyway."
Regitko predicted the quarter will become especially popular among collectors because of its infamy as the culprit behind the spy warning, despite the quarter's wide availability. "Everybody has some in their drawer at home," he said.
One contractor believed someone had placed two of the quarters in an outer coat pocket after the contractor had emptied the pocket hours earlier. "Coat pockets were empty that morning and I was keeping all of my coins in a plastic bag in my inner coat pocket," the contractor wrote.
The Defense Department subsequently acknowledged it could never substantiate the espionage warning, but until now it has never disclosed the details behind the embarrassing episode.
In Canada, senior intelligence officials had expressed annoyance with the American spy-coin warnings as they tried to learn more about the oddball claims.
"That story about Canadians planting coins in the pockets of defense contractors will not go away," Luc Portelance, now deputy director for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, wrote in a January e-mail to a subordinate. "Could someone tell me more? Where do we stand and what's the story on this?"
Others in Canada's spy service also were searching for answers. "We would be very interested in any more detail you may have on the validity of the comment related to the use of Canadian coins in this manner," another intelligence official wrote in an e-mail. "If it is accurate, are they talking industrial or state espionage? If the latter, who?" The identity of the e-mail's recipient was censored.
Intelligence and technology experts were flabbergasted over the warning when it was first publicized earlier this year. The warning suggested that such transmitters could be used surreptitiously to track the movements of people carrying the coins.
"I thought the whole thing was preposterous, to think you could tag an individual with a coin and think they wouldn't give it away or spend it," said H. Keith Melton, a leading intelligence historian.
But Melton said the Army contractors properly reported their suspicions. "You want contractors or any government personnel to report anything suspicious," he said. "You can't have the potential target evaluating whether this was an organized attack or a fluke."
The Defense Security Service disavowed its warning about spy coins after an international furor. The U.S. said it never substantiated the contractors' claims and performed an internal review to determine how the false information was included in a 29-page published report about espionage concerns.
The Defense Security Service never examined the suspicious coins, spokeswoman Cindy McGovern said. "We know where we made the mistake," she said. "The information wasn't properly vetted. While these coins aroused suspicion, there ultimately was nothing there."
A numismatist consulted by the AP, Dennis Pike of Canadian Coin & Currency near Toronto, quickly matched a grainy image and physical descriptions of the suspect coins in the contractors' confidential accounts to the 25-cent poppy piece.
"It's not uncommon at all," Pike said. He added that the coin's protective coating glows peculiarly under ultraviolet light. "That may have been a little bit suspicious," he said.
Some of the U.S. documents the AP obtained were classified "Secret/Noforn," meaning they were never supposed to be viewed by foreigners, even America's closest allies. The government censored parts of the files, citing national security reasons, before turning over copies under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
Nothing in the documents — except the reference to nanotechnology — explained how the contractors' accounts evolved into a full-blown warning about spy coins with radio frequency transmitters. Many passages were censored, including the names of contractors and details about where they worked and their projects.
But there were indications the accounts should have been taken lightly. Next to one blacked-out sentence was this warning: "This has not been confirmed as of yet."
The Canadian intelligence documents, which also were censored, were turned over to the AP for $5 under that country's Access to Information Act. Canada cited rules for protecting against subversive or hostile activities to explain why it censored the papers.
The harmless "poppy quarter" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.
The silver-colored 25-cent piece features the red image of a poppy — Canada's flower of remembrance — inlaid over a maple leaf. The unorthodox quarter is identical to the coins pictured and described as suspicious in the contractors' accounts.
The supposed nano-technology on the coin actually was a protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red color from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.
"It did not appear to be electronic (analog) in nature or have a power source," wrote one U.S. contractor, who discovered the coin in the cup holder of a rental car. "Under high power microscope, it appeared to be complex consisting of several layers of clear, but different material, with a wire-like mesh suspended on top."
The confidential accounts led to a sensational warning from the Defense Security Service, an agency of the Defense Department, that mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.
"We'll have a good laugh over it," said John Regitko, who writes a newsletter for a leading coin-collecting organization, the Canadian Numismatic Association. "We never suspected there was such a thing (as spy coins) anyway."
Regitko predicted the quarter will become especially popular among collectors because of its infamy as the culprit behind the spy warning, despite the quarter's wide availability. "Everybody has some in their drawer at home," he said.
One contractor believed someone had placed two of the quarters in an outer coat pocket after the contractor had emptied the pocket hours earlier. "Coat pockets were empty that morning and I was keeping all of my coins in a plastic bag in my inner coat pocket," the contractor wrote.
The Defense Department subsequently acknowledged it could never substantiate the espionage warning, but until now it has never disclosed the details behind the embarrassing episode.
In Canada, senior intelligence officials had expressed annoyance with the American spy-coin warnings as they tried to learn more about the oddball claims.
"That story about Canadians planting coins in the pockets of defense contractors will not go away," Luc Portelance, now deputy director for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, wrote in a January e-mail to a subordinate. "Could someone tell me more? Where do we stand and what's the story on this?"
Others in Canada's spy service also were searching for answers. "We would be very interested in any more detail you may have on the validity of the comment related to the use of Canadian coins in this manner," another intelligence official wrote in an e-mail. "If it is accurate, are they talking industrial or state espionage? If the latter, who?" The identity of the e-mail's recipient was censored.
Intelligence and technology experts were flabbergasted over the warning when it was first publicized earlier this year. The warning suggested that such transmitters could be used surreptitiously to track the movements of people carrying the coins.
"I thought the whole thing was preposterous, to think you could tag an individual with a coin and think they wouldn't give it away or spend it," said H. Keith Melton, a leading intelligence historian.
But Melton said the Army contractors properly reported their suspicions. "You want contractors or any government personnel to report anything suspicious," he said. "You can't have the potential target evaluating whether this was an organized attack or a fluke."
The Defense Security Service disavowed its warning about spy coins after an international furor. The U.S. said it never substantiated the contractors' claims and performed an internal review to determine how the false information was included in a 29-page published report about espionage concerns.
The Defense Security Service never examined the suspicious coins, spokeswoman Cindy McGovern said. "We know where we made the mistake," she said. "The information wasn't properly vetted. While these coins aroused suspicion, there ultimately was nothing there."
A numismatist consulted by the AP, Dennis Pike of Canadian Coin & Currency near Toronto, quickly matched a grainy image and physical descriptions of the suspect coins in the contractors' confidential accounts to the 25-cent poppy piece.
"It's not uncommon at all," Pike said. He added that the coin's protective coating glows peculiarly under ultraviolet light. "That may have been a little bit suspicious," he said.
Some of the U.S. documents the AP obtained were classified "Secret/Noforn," meaning they were never supposed to be viewed by foreigners, even America's closest allies. The government censored parts of the files, citing national security reasons, before turning over copies under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
Nothing in the documents — except the reference to nanotechnology — explained how the contractors' accounts evolved into a full-blown warning about spy coins with radio frequency transmitters. Many passages were censored, including the names of contractors and details about where they worked and their projects.
But there were indications the accounts should have been taken lightly. Next to one blacked-out sentence was this warning: "This has not been confirmed as of yet."
The Canadian intelligence documents, which also were censored, were turned over to the AP for $5 under that country's Access to Information Act. Canada cited rules for protecting against subversive or hostile activities to explain why it censored the papers.
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