Well I hate to blame it on the mac because I am sure it is probably user error, however, it is still really frustrating right now. I set up this great blog on our imac account and was having a lot of fun with it. However, then we tried to switch ownership of it from Tom's account to mine and now it is all messed up... we did the same thing with iphoto and now it won't let me access the pictures to post them on this blog... so anyway, if you have a minute and you want to know what we've been up to go check our the site because I can't get the information to transfer over to here very well. The link is at the right so it's not hard to access, then click on blog. I will get it sorted out in the near future so I can make sure the new posts get on here as well.

Today we had Alyssa's baby blessing and it went really well. The blessing was beautiful, Alyssa looked cute and didn't cry and we were able to have Marnie, Kenn and Barb here to celebrate with us. It's so great to have family here to make these events seem even more special. Plus, it's just fun to hang out together! Life around here is pretty good. I'm getting some sleep (as much as you can really hope for with a 6 week old), Alyssa is getting sweeter by the day and is having fewer fussy days. Danica is hilarious and trying harder each day to communicate. Today she very clearly said bye bye while waving at some people who were leaving... I know this is mastered by most children around 10 months of age but she just loved to smile at people and secretly laugh at us looking ridiculous trying to get her to say it, so we are happy she proved she can say it when she wants to. Hayden is great, you'll have to check out the other blog to get some recent quotes and stories about him.

Hayden loves Alyssa and wants to hug her all the time, it’s really sweet. Today he was playing peek-a-boo with her! It will be great when she is old enough to really respond to it! Danica really loves her too, most of the time. She loves to give her kisses and hugs. Sometimes she licks her... don’t ask me why. Sometimes she rolls her from her front to back, or tries to pick her up which is always scary. She got a new baby doll that cries and makes noises when you squeeze it’s stomach. Sometimes Danica steps on the dolls stomach to make it work, I’ve also caught her doing this to Alyssa! Yikes! She sometimes even tries to burp her doll! She cracks me up!

Okay, I need to go to bed. I will get this all sorted out soon so that I can get the good stories onto this blog as well as the other, but for now, check out the other!

Tracey

Well Everyone, here are our new dogs. Yes some of you may think that we are crazy but they were free and they are awesome pugs. Wazowski (the black pug) has only one eye because he lost his eye from an attack by a bulldog when he was younger. He is 5 years old and is somewhat smaller than Sully. Sully (the fawn pug) is 7 years old and is a little more of a punk when it comes to peeing in the house. They are both house trained but being that they are in a new place, he can't seem to grasp the concept of going out the dog door to pee outside, but we are working on it. He is bigger and his tongue sticks out the side of his mouth all the time. We are all adjusting but they are great dogs so far and we are excited to have them.

Hey Family,

So I figured I should write and tell about the trip that Buffy and I have been on for the last 2 weeks. So as most of you know we have some really good friends that live in Irvine, CA (Chad and Kristen Anselmo). Anyways. we decided to go on a road trip with them. So on the 17th we flew down to CA to their home. Monday, we drove down to S.D. and went to the La Jolla Cove then to dinner at Tom and Tracey's. It was great to see Marnie and the Tom Stinches. On Tuesday we went, of course to Disneyland and had fun there. On Wednsday we left to drive back up to Portland with the Anselmo's. We did not just drive up the I-5, we went the long and beautiful way using the 101 and Highway 1 the whole way.
The first day we made it to the Monteray area with stops at the Hearst Castle and Fisherman's Wharf in Monteray. I have to say that Hearst castle is amazing but Buffy and I agree that it is not very warm feeling. The pools are beatiful though. It was amazing that they worked on it for 28 years and it was never finished.
The stop at Watsonville was an experience the first night. So we made reservations on Expedia for a "Inn" called the Watsonville Inn. Driving up to it we were sketchy right away but we figured we would give it a try. So we checked-in and Chad and I went to the Gas station to fill up and as we were out Buffy calls me and says "We have to get out of here. There are Bugs in the beds, the floors are filthy and the bed covers have burn marks". So we went back and checked out with some agruement with the manager and went to Holiday Inn Express which was great and gave us a suite for the price of a standard because of the situation and they promised me a standard on the phone but did not have one. Its a story we won't forget.
Anyhow the next day we went through SF and stopped at the Golden Gate. Then we proceeded to go through the Redwoods stopped every so often to take pictures. That day ended in Crescent City, CA with no real incident.
The last travel day we drove the Oregon Coast through Newport and Lincoln City and stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory before we headed inland back to home.
The last week we have been showing the Anselmo's the great NW. We went on the Mt Hood loop and saw Multnomah Falls and Timberline lodge. We went to Seattle and saw the Space Needle, Ballard Locks, Aquarium and Pikes Place Market. We were also able to go up to Mt St Helens and go on a boat ride with Mom and Dad down the Willamete into downtown Portland.
The whole trip was amazing and we could not have asked for better weather. It was a trip that we will always remember and to be able to do it with such great friends was wonderful.
Now I get to have my first day at The Sports Authority on Monday and I hope all goes well. Here are also a few picture of the trip that we took.
Take care!!

Tom, the best method I have used personally and during basic training for the Soldiers requires a disciplined routine but it is still pretty easy. First determine how many push-ups you want to do. For the Army, the goal is 82 in 2 minutes. Anyway, I round up to 90 and then divide by 6...so the magic number is 15. So the goal of this routine is to do 15 push ups every 30 seconds for 3 minutes total time (6 sets x 15 reps). But, I would have Soldiers that were still weak in push ups start lower, like 10, and then work up. Anyway, the way it works is to start your watch, get down and knock out that set as fast and with as good as form as possible and get up when the number of reps is complete. Watch your watch and then at :30, 1:00. 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 you repeat. Obviously the faster you go, the more recovery time you get. The key to the PT tests is speed, and this drill teaches you that....we non-medical types call it muscle memory. Get up to 15 as the number and do it once in the morning and once at night for a month prior to a test and you will max it. It takes 6 minutes a day total, you just have to be disciplined enough to do it every day, twice. Other things I have done to improve form: free weight presses, back extensions, and using gymnastic rings hanging from a pull up bar to do push ups. Anyway, good luck.

Life remains largely unchanged since I wrote last. We are still in a pretty nasty area, and we have done our fair share of making some martyrs this Ramadan. I will never understand how a society can become so deluded in these ridiculous ideologies. Satan definitely has skills. It also is apparent that use of young men, really boys, to do their dirty work is as prevalent here as it is in Africa. Did anyone see Blood Diamond? Great movie, if disturbing.

Is spent yesterday back off patrol. My crew and my Stryker needed some refit...so did I. I was just a little nervous to put my XO in charge for the day with everything going on. But all went well out there for the most part. I was extremely lucky, or blessed rather, to receive Halo 3 in the mail yesterday morning on my one day off. So I just sat and played through that for about 5 hours. Very fun, Halo just has that magic feel to it. So far I have not seen any new enemy types, that is my only real disappointment. I love the new graphics and lighting though. Maybe in a few weeks I will get some time to dig deeper and see if they introduce something.

Sounds like Brooke is having her fair share of challenges still. I really wish she would get a break. I know it will be great to be done being pregnant but I can only think a new infant + Ellyn + Sadie "No David" Stinchfield = chaos continued.

Mom, I understand your frustrations with Seminary. That is a tough calling to be sure. It sounds like everyone else is doing fantastic. Have any of you seen The Brothers Solomon yet? I saw most of it yesterday. Hilarious and generally clean up to the point that I got called away. We have a shop here on the FOB that is basically a bunch of pirated movies and TV shows on DVD. Perfectly legal in the "sovereign" nation of Iraq:-) So, every episode of the Simpsons on DVD...check. For 45 bucks they have every Disney movie ever made. And all newly released movies are readily available for 3 bucks, some are in theater filming others are direct digital copies. I luckily found a great copy of Bourne Ultimatum and Die Hard 4. Amazing, but I do not think they will make it through customs. You know I will try. I was able to watch a lot the first couple of weeks, but now it is pretty difficult unless I want to miss sleep.

Well that is the update. I think operationally I can show you this to get a good clue of what my guys are doing well. To show you how tricky the media is, you have to realize there is absolutely no relation between these sentences:

"Twelve people also were injured, and apartments were damaged, including some that caught fire, the source said.
The deaths come at a time when the Iraq government has expressed concern over Iraqi civilians caught in crossfire and killed by coalition forces or U.S. contractors."

and the following sentences:

"The U.S. military said Thursday that coalition forces were investigating an incident Tuesday night that led to the deaths of nine civilians -- five women and four children. Their bodies were found in a village west of Musayyib."

Unbelievable to read these news stories from this side, many of which skew in this way or are totally inaccurate. Maybe if they got their scared little hineys out of the green zone to actually check things out instead of relying on flipping a few bucks to Iraqi "journalists" to feed them the news.

Keep my boys in your prayers...fantastic Americans.

Mike

Well, I've had a hectic day today with getting ready to go to San Diego tomorrow and trying to get the work, preparation for Seminary, other errands...and wash etc done , it seems like the day has just flown by. Fortunately, Dad, Brent, Buffy, Adina and I are going out for dinner tonight while the kids keep themselves entertained here with Dad's Halo 3. It will feel good to sit down and relax. I've had a fairly turbulent week with seminary...I vented a lot with Brooke on Thursday. It's good to have someone to vent to that doesn't have a clue who you are venting about. Keeps me out of trouble!

Anyway, as I was talking to Brooke, she mentioned that she had posted on her blog and was going to try to edit and move it over to ours. However, she was pretty beat so she said that if she hadn't done it before she went to bed ...for me to move it over.... So here it is...

My lap top is not working so I have to come down to the basement to the computer and by the end of the night I am so tired I just crash and burn- for about two hours until I have to get up and waddle to the bathroom and grab a pillow from the sofa to prop my body up so I am not totally strangled by the stomach acid gurgling in the back of my throat.

Things are going pretty well here. Just always busy, which is good I guess. I finally feel like I can be a happy person again. Just don't ask me how I feel from Jan- March. Mike is doing well, staying incredibly busy and doing lots of dangerous stuff that he can't talk about but that makes me worry all the time.

I am so ready to have this baby I could die. I HATE being pregnant. Plus I have this two inch row of stitches on the side of my leg that makes it nearly impossible for me to bend and my back and hips are killing me. But besides that, as I mentioned before, I'm pretty happy. I thought that tonight I would copy a part of the e-mail I sent Mike today. I know, I did this before but it is way easier than writing it twice. Besides, when I only write once a month or so I tend to leave out the day to day and this can give you a little glimpse. So here goes-

First of all, this morning when Jane woke up she described to me what could only be a UTI so I told her if she could, to go to school and I would make a Dr. appt. Then, as she is getting on the bus, Sadie reminds me that I promised to come to lunch this week and could I come today? Since tomorrow is my baby shower- today was the day.

So it is a beautifully gray, wet day where I planned to stay in and do laundry and play with Ellyn and work on the computer and I spent the entire day out and about. Ellyn and I ate lunch with Sadie and then came home so I could clean out the Pilot and load the car seats into the BMW . It wasn't raining at this point and Ellyn is playing in the driveway. Edie from across the street comes over to chat about the new PX and she picks up the Honda keys for me that I had purposely dropped down by the tire. I'm really trying to hurry because I have to get Ellyn back to pre-school and drive clear out to Graf to get Jane for her appt. So I load everything over, brush out the car and go to lock it and I can't find the keys anywhere. I search through both cars, through the garbage, backpacks etc... Finally, I take the Navi out and leave the car unlocked and take Ellie to school. I drop her off and head out to Graf where they have a HUGE line of cars coming back from lunch and this stupid Charging Boar military operation that was supposed to be over and done with is still g+oing on and they are searching just about every other car. I finally get on post and pick up Jane and instead of having an extra 20 minutes we are 20 minutes late for the appt. but they agree to fit us in. However, by the time she does her sample and vitals and all of that it is almost time to pick up Ellyn. I ask if Jane can stay and wait for the Dr. while I get Ellie and the nurse says that we can both go and she will just sign us in to the Dr. when we get back. So we go and get Sadie and Ellyn because I know we won't make it back before the bus. Go back to the clinic- without a stroller or books or anything because it is all in the Pilot, and wait for the Dr. For some reason Sadie is totally crazy. She is all over everything and no amount of threatening or bribing is working. Ellyn keeps wanting to get down and rub her hands on the floor, I'm totally sweating. The Dr. comes in, she is very nice, talks to Jane, gets called away for a few minutes, finally comes back and figures out the dosage for Jane's RX. I'm sure she thought I was totally insane. We go out the door and Dr. Lukezic is in her office with the door open and asks about my leg because the dermatologist knew she would be seeing Sawyer and wanted to give her the heads up??? Then I tell her about Ellyn's lab results with Dr. Fiedler and we leave. I get Ellyn in her carseat and I'm loading Sadie in and Jane asks me "Mom, are we going to pick up my medicine?" Yeah, completely forgot. Load them all back in, get the medicine, say hello to Jen Read who no doubt saw us leave and come back in and thinks I'm a lunatic and then finally left for good. When we get home I look through the whole Pilot once again and there are no keys. I go back over to the garbage can, look through the top pile of trash, look through the bag I had filled with garbage from the car, look into the animal cracker bag that is in the trash bag and there are my keys.

So that was my day, followed by dinner, homework (which Jane had about 3 hours of, working steadily, she was exhausted by bed time), and showers for the little girls. Sadie informed me at dinner that she hopes Sawyer is allergic. Her friend Sophia is allergic to peanut butter and Sadie is downright jealous. She told me that she is not allergic to peanut butter but she is allergic to the dark and to fast rides and not to jelly but she thinks jelly is disgusting (where did we get that child?). We officially broke out the hot chocolate tonight and that was our dessert after dinner. We ate dinner at like 4:55 because we were all starving.

Well, I'd better go make our bed before everyone comes. I thought our agreement was that the last one out of bed would make it but that hasn't happened as of late!!

I love you all,

Mom

It is 92% done! They announced the dedication for February 3rd, 2008 and the open house starts right after christmas. It is going to be great because it is just up the street from our apartment! They said that the sealing room in the temple is the biggest out of all the temples.. kind of amazing! If anybody does plan on visiting between December 29 through January 26 let us know.... we can get tickets for the open house

Mike,
Dave said that you have a method for training for the push up and sit ups test on the personal fitness test. I know that in the end just doing them consistently is the secret, but he said there was a system. If you get a chance and you remember can you let me know what it is? Thanks. I tried to go up and see Sergeant Leon yesterday but he was out. I will try back tomorrow when I get a moment.

Tom

Just thought I'd post Isaac's latest school picture. I really like it - one thing my kids did NOT inherit from me is their photogenic-ness. I'm sure that's a word. Anyway - he really is turning out to be a great young man. He has chosen good friends and we have them over often. He loves being in the youth program and performs his deacon duties well. Does he still occasionally irritate the heck out of me? Absolutely. But we love him anyway.

It's been a while since we've posted, so I'll give you the speed version of our lives:

• The half marathon is only 2 1/2 weeks away and Dave is completely prepared, while I am struggling with a knee injury. I finally caved and got a gym membership so that I could work out without the high impact on my knee, and I'm glad, but I am discouraged. My mind and body want to go 13 miles, but my knee refuses. I'm nursing it and I'm determined to do the half, even if that means I walk some.
• On the running note, Dave and I have secured a spot on a Hood to Coast team next year. I'm actually excited for it, provided I don't get really difficult legs.
• We have made all of our reservations for our trip to Disneyland with the Schickedanz family. We leave on Halloween night, in full costume, and fly down there. We'll spend three days at the parks, then head home on the 4th of November. We'd love any Southern CA residents to join us if you're up to it.
• We have been flirting with a move - we feel ready for a bigger house, but the mere thought of all the hassle of a move has me exhausted. Anyway - we are looking into it and we'll see what happens.

I think that covers it. Love the blogs, Marnie & Tracey, but like Barb, I hope you will continue to blog here - I rarely have time to check the other sites, but love to hear all your news. Congratulations, Anne & Peter. Mike - it's so great to hear from you, despite the many miles between all of us.

Take care.
Adina

Thanks for the reminder to blog here, Mom. I guess I haven't done a proper update blog in a bit...mostly because there isn't much to update on. So let's see......

Work. Going well and staying busy. Everyone in the office is back to biz so work is steady and since the summer is over our clients are back from vacation and ready to be trained. We have two big workshops to train people to become trainers for our work-related and parenting-related programs coming up in the next couple weeks so I have mostly been helping with getting things ready for those. We also have some people from Nepal that are going to be teaching our parenting program there so that is kind of a big deal cause I don't think it has ever been taught there before. I have also been working on finishing up a revision for one of our programs that was started a long time ago and was sent off to longtime trainers for feedback which we are just now getting. Hopefully that will be wrapped-up soon.

Same old, same old at Sport Chalet. I am trying to get Thanksgiving and Christmas off but we'll see how successful I am. I am only asking for one shift off for each holiday but....I'll let you know when I know.

Non-work. Things are coming together at my apartment. Lauren and I started putting up the Halloween decorations, albeit a little early, yesterday and it looks great. I will have to take pictures so you can all envision where it is I reside. Lauren is a great roommate and I think we live well together. We were just commenting yesterday how funny it is that we have known each other for so long that we have so many of the same memories and random thoughts, e.g. we both had thought of the same COMPLETELY random scene and line in the movie "French Kiss" earlier in the week! Great minds think alike, I guess!

I have been enjoying that Fall is rolling in. It really is my favorite time of year. I just put up all the Halloween decorations at work earlier today, so the holiday season has officially begun for me. It is starting to cool down just slightly here (not that it is really that warm) and it was even cool enough for me to wear a jacket to work today! Yippee! I am also very excited that the coming of Fall means that most (except Lost :( ) of my favorite TV shows are coming back! Season Premiere week starts today with Heroes tonight. I am going to try to watch Heroes all season this year since it sorta messed me up to start halfway through the season last year...and then we have The Office, Grey's Anatomy, etc...it'll be great!

And for future plans...this weekend I have been told, Mom and Dad will be traveling down hereabouts to go to Alyssa's blessing so I will see them there. And then Oct. 7th - 14th Dad, Mom and I are off to Hawaii to have lots of fun and lots of relaxing I hope. I am still holding out for that possible LOST set visit.....

I think that is all for me, not too exciting. I am continuing to work on and update my .Mac website and blog so be sure to check it out and leave comments so I know who's looking and what you think! (the link is on the right of this blog) Love you all! :)

We have so many friends that our doing blogs we decided to join the trend. It is a really fun way to keep connected with our friends back in Ohio and Utah. I will usually just put the same posts onto this blog so you don't have to bother with checking both, but just for fun you can check it out if you want. We did it through our .mac account which is pretty cool. You can get to it by the link on the side to our family site and then clicking on the blog option or here's the link:

http://web.mac.com/stinch/Stinchfield_Site/Blog/Blog.html

Right now it has some fun pictures and such that I haven't put on this blog yet simply because I was trying to get the other one started! Check it out!

Tracey

Here is a picture of me and my interpreter after a mission today sitting in my Stryker. We have some great "terps" and they are truly a combat multiplier. Been a tough couple of first weeks here as Brooke as probably told you but we feel very blessed that all our incidents have just been injuries, most minor. It is starting too get cooler now, if you can call 105 cool. It always strikes me driving through B. how beautiful a city it could be. It really is a shame because this could be a resort city. But I guess a lot of warzones have been like that, especially if you think about the Pacific Islands. The boys are doing well. It is nice to come back to these well establshed operating bases after operations. My room is set up pretty nice. I even have wireless internet here in my room, albeit slow. But I can blog! So I really am blessed. Brooke is about to have Sawyer before the due date...that is my prediction. She has been a real champ with our family support group in the middle of all her challenges so I cannot say enough good things about my companion. I miss you guys. Keep the boys in your prayers please.

Mike

Just wanted to share with all of you my experience this afternoon. The past few days I have been nagged with thoughts that I needed to get over to Adele Swift's house. She is my friend from the ward that has been fighting cancer for about three years. I kept getting involved in other things and ran out of time...so today was going to be the day. As I got ready to call her to see whether I could come over, I picked up my messages and one of them was reminding me to take dinner to them...last night!!! Awwk!! So I called to see whether I could bring it over tonight instead and come to visit. Her husband answered the phone and I found out that she passed away at about 12:30 pm today. He is grieving but stopped me as I babbled along with my apologies to tell me the news.

It has really made me reflect how very trivial everything else I was "busy" with was compared to having my last chance to see her on this earth. The Lord was trying to tell me but I thought I could do it on my schedule. Again, I found that my schedule is not the Lord's! I just wanted to pass this on as we all need to be reminded to pay attention when we get those nagging promptings...and do it!

Love,
Mom

CLICK HERE

I strongly believe in Mitt Romney's plan to improve our past and current situations. I am a supporter; he could use your support too. R/ Dad/Kenn

So I have officially given Apple a little bit more of my soul. I got a .Mac account recently and so have started putting together a new website with my new programs. I have published the first draft but will be making changes to it regularly. I have put a link on the right-hand side of the blog for anyone that wants to check it out. I think I will probably merge my movie review blog into the new website but we'll see when I get around to that....

Oh and I have a new email address (my old email is fwding to this one so it's ok if you use the old one). The new address is my first name then a dot then my last name @mac.com.

Anyway - just thought I would let everyone know! Thanks for the old pics, Dave and Adina! They are so fun to see!

Adina, yes I want you to respond, you were there.

Also just send the responses via email....you all should have it

Thanks,
Anne

Everyone,

I am doing a lab for a class of mine and it involves you guys answering questions and recalling stuff from an event in our past. The event I chose was the first trip we made to disneyland when we were moving down to San Diego from Bremerton. Please answer these questions to the fullest degree possible. Thanks...obviously this only applys to those who were actually there at the time.

1. Who was present with us at Disneyland?
2. Did we see a parade? What were your memories of it?
3. What souvenir did you receive?
4. Were there any bad memories of the trip?
5. Were there any specific good memories of the trip?

Thanks alot, also if you could respond by sometime Friday evening that would be greatly appreciated.

-Anne

Well, today is my first day of class and it ended up being on my longest day of classes because of a lab I have to take. So I am just on break until that lab. So far, I am loving my classes. It is so great not to be doing generals anymore and that all my classes actually have something to do with my major.

I am in the same building all day on MWF and TTh I am in a different building for an English class that I do need to take (I put it off... I didn't want to take it). I am taking two Health Ed classes (A LOT of work!), First Aid class, and English. I am also a TA for my Health Education teacher for her Women's Health class. I loved that class when I took it and I am excited to be able to TA for that class.

All I can really say is I am going to be BUSY! The semesters are supposed to be 14 weeks long and for some reason this semester is only 12 1/2 weeks long. We started today and are out on Dec. 14th. We also get a week off for Thanksgiving. It will be great but not great at the same time. I am excited to get closer to graduating though. The Health Ed classes will really help for my Praxis tests that I have to take before my student teaching.

Well, I am officially Customer Service Certified. It was a two week training of 40 hrs per week and we had to take a 50 question test and get above 90% on it to pass. We also had our calls listened to on the last week and were graded on those. I PASSED! So now I get my raise. I really do like Customer Service. It is a lot better than just taking orders. It was so repetitive in taking the orders. Customer Service allows the time to go by faster and I actually get to help the customers more so I do enjoy it.

Melia is getting bigger and smarter by the day. She got all four teeth in a period of two weeks. That was interesting. She is walking all over and I promise we will get the video on here of that. I know Dad has one on his iPhone that I sent him. I just haven't had the time...see above paragraph.

Brooke, I am glad everything has worked out. I did read your post...later...again, see above. We love you and hope everything is going well. I would absolutely love to take a break and visit...doesn't seem to be happening any time soon!

That is really what is going on with us. Treven is still working with Pepsi and may start at Johnny Carino's as a waiter on the weekends and nights for extra money. He doesn't start school until January and since we won't be going anywhere for the holidays, we figure why not?!

Love you all,
Kimberly

It is incredible the emotional feelings that flow through your body and mind when you read the words and see the photos of one of your own children standing in a room full of rubble and contemplating what his next assignment will be. Mike's words cause me to reflect to 1972-73 and my impressions of the political and media arena that tossed our servicemen and women around like a bunch of checker pieces. It causes me to remember the emotions we had when he was in Afghanistan and the tyrants of the same arena at that time. I drive to work daily and read the degrading comments made by individuals whom I do not know. They speak their minds and argue their points and threaten to take away the life-sustaining elements of battle that allow our men and women to do the job they were sent there to do. The hot potato is tossed back and forth from party to party with little resolution to backing the efforts of the commanders "over there". I was quite unimpressed with the seething questioning by some of the congressional elements as they pounded the troop's commander with their idealogical thoughts. War is war. It is about survival. Not only for today, or this year, but for the future. This fly isn't going to go away, but it needs to be pushed back into its black hole. Will it come out again? Certainly. Will our grandsons and beyond have to go to war to beat it down? Certainly. This is not a utopian world. It is full of people who really dislike others. It is not a world of love and peace. It just is not that. It isn't going to be that. Until this world comes to its final end, whenever that is, there will be battles fought on every front. People basking in Bali will still have their rented condos blown apart by someone who does not like the country they represent. These yahoos don't care if your are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or any other party in the United States. However, if you side with their goals, then consider yourself part of the problem. Remember 911. Remember those who have died for what we are trying to do. Try to immerse yourself and your thoughts into that room in Iraq, in Mike's photo, and ask yourself, "should I not support the troops and allow them to do their jobs"? Should I assist the Jihad in its desire to destroy what we all live for here. Get out of your air conditioned homes, plant your body in the middle of Arizona during one of those 120 degree days, with your full suit and tie and get a small realization of how it feels to be running around the streets "over there". Let's just get the job done and let them get home. But, don't take away the instruments and people they need to survive and get home safely. Kenn