Update

So, here it is. I will be home on the 31st! I am fortunate enough to have the Army to take care of me. Many of you know that I just got out of the service in May. When Soldiers leave the Army it pays for all their household items and vehicle to get back to their home of record, and pays for their plane ticket. While I obviously didn't use mine when I got out, I am within the six month window the Army allotted to use my benefits. So, I take my car to the docks on Thursday, they pack up my house on Friday, and Saturday I am on a plane straight to SLC to arrive Sunday morning, all on the Army's expense. Fabulous. They didn't pay for Foxy (obviously) but the lady booked a flight for me straight from Honolulu to SLC, no layovers, so it would be easier on her. Fabulous again. I am taking her in the cabin with me as a carry on since it is only a six hour flight. (Yes ONLY six, it sure beats the twelve hour flight from Korea!).

So, Sunday morning (the 31st) I fly into SLC and will rent a car at the airport and drive to my mamas home where I will stay for a few days so Foxy is comfortable before I embark on my journey. Then I am going to job hunt, not sure where I will start, probably Utah or Salt Lake County... In about a month my car will be in Los Angeles, so I will have to drop off my rental car at the SLC airport and fly to LA and road trip to Utah. :) I am excited for that, the farthest road trip you can take here is two hours and you will lap the island. :D

All in all things are good. Alan and I are being civil, friends even, and while nobody ever wants to get divorced, I know in my heart that this is right. I have no regrets, and I know that now I am a better person than I was two and a half years ago. I see Alan and I keeping a friendship. It's hard, but I have been through some tough stuff, gotta have the bad times to enjoy the good...

So, here are some random thoughts that didn't seem to fit anywhere in the above post...

In my separation orders, they Army didn't specify my home of record. The guy at the travel office told me that I could have my stuff sent and fly anywhere I wanted. :D I was thinking of taking it down under and going to Australia haha. Wouldn't that be an adventure. :D

Aside from divorce being the reason, I am excited to be able to live in Utah. For the past five years, I have missed 99% of all Thanksgivings, Christmases, Birthdays, Fourth of July's, Weddings, Babies being born, Bridal showers, baby showers, reunions, you name it, I was gone. Well now I can be there for EVERYTHING!!! Just in time to get settled in my house and a job before Thanksgiving! Perfect!

I spent $350 at the Aloha Swap Meet today getting all the stuff I told my self i would get before I left Hawaii, including a Ukulele. Oh yes, I even have a book to learn how to play it. haha. I am a dork I know, but I want to learn! :D

I got my I got my letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs today! (This may not make sense to a lot of you, but bear with me, I don't want to bore you with the details) When I got out of the Army, I filed for compensation from the VA (Dept of Veteran Affairs) for the injuries I sustained while in service. The VA will compensate Veterans monthly for the rest of their lives based on blah blah blah boring.... so, I got my letter, and the VA found me 50% disabled. Sweet. This gives me $799 per month til I die. (I have to go to yearly physicals...) So, I really didn't expect that, but there were several things that each got 10% ratings, and combined, I am half broken. Nice. Kudos to the Army. It's weird though, I don't feel 50% disabled... (yeah yeah insert your smart alec comments here)... Just by looking at me you wouldn't think anything was wrong. That's one of the perks though I guess. The Army has been good to me...

So, that's about it for my ramblings. I hope to see most of you soon, and I am still catching up on email responses. Bear with me. Thanks!!!

Julie

Grateful

So, I just wanted to thank everyone who has emailed me in response to my last post. I am SO grateful to you all, and I am going to sit down and take the time to reply to everyone, but it may be a few days. I just want you to know how much I appreciate it. It is so much easier to deal with the hard times when there are good people around to turn to. Thanks for being my friends!!!

Julie

Help...

So, I had this posted earlier, but somehow it got deleted... hmm... Anyway, this is my story. I really am not one to post too much personal information online, especially rough stuff, but I felt that I should post this email that I sent out to my family. To sum it all up times are rough right now, and I need a little assistance to get back on my feet. I know that through faith and with the Lords help that I will be alright. I know I have some wonderful friends and an awesome family and I thank everyone for your support already.

"So, I have a problem, and I really need some help....

So, to make a long story short, my husband is tired of being a Mormon and wants to be single again and live up the single life. We are getting a divorce. This is especially hard for me because I am across the ocean in Hawaii and cant exactly pack up a U-haul or whatever. So, the Army will ship my vehicle and furniture to Utah and I have enough money saved up to last me a few months, but after that I am in trouble, and I was hoping to pull the family card for help.

I need an apartment that will let me keep my little 8 lb mix breed dog. She is fully house broken, and pretty quiet. I also need a job. My expertise is computer science/computer user support. As you all know, I just got out of the Army after almost five years of service, so I am pretty universal. I have 60 credit hours of college that do not fit into a degree along with various military schools and training. I am currently enrolled in school pursing a Bachelors in Information Technology Management. I realize that I am pretty limited with my lack of education, but I am a quick learner, determined, and adapt very easily. I really just need a job that can give me about $25,000 a year or more. I also need to find a job before I find an apartment for obvious reasons.

I am not picky about where in Utah I live or what the job is, I just want to be in Utah, and be able to keep my dog. My Mom is going to keep Foxy (my dog) at her place while I roam the state trying to get settled, but I may need some places to stay during my travels so I do not have to fork out money on hotels.

I am not sure when I will be flying in, hopefully within the next two weeks or so. I just need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Please, if any of you can help me in anyway I really need it right now.

You can email me back at this address julieb03 [at] yahoo [dot] com Thanks!"

Julie

Where's my personal jet pack?

So, I get bored at work, after I have checked my email a million times and looked at every bodies blogs another million times, I get to thinking (scary I know) and here is what I came up with today...

I am sick and tired of waiting for the personal jet packs we were promised when we were kids! All those black and white films I saw in school of what the future would be like included personal jet packs! It’s years later and even our cars still require that we steer them!!! (also a lie from those films about the future).

The only “big” invention of the future we’ve gotten so far is the segway. It’s just a stupid scooter! They had scooters in the 60’s! “Ooh! You can stand on it!” they say. You can stand on a regular scooter too duh!!! "Yeah, but, it won’t fall over no matter what!” A scooter is only three inches from the ground! Falling over was never my primary concern. I am sick and tired of sitting in traffic four hours! Twenty years after the promise of a personal jet pack that would fly you anywhere in a minute, I am still sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. But, I thought, just hang in there, SOON, they will have personal jet packs, FOR SURE by the year 2005. Now here it is 2008! It’s the twenty first century dude!

To the inventor of the Segway, and Bill Gates who I'm SURE had something to do with it, you should be ashamed of yourselves for trying to create a big stir about the segway before it came out by saying stuff like: It will change the way we live. THAT led me to believe: PERSONAL JET PACK!!!! Never, never, never claim that a scooter will change ANYTHING!!!! When we can fly to work, THAT will change the way I live. When we can eat candy and drink soda and still lose weight, THAT will change the way we live. When I can get a human being on the telephone at the DMV/Cable Company/Bank THAT will change the way I live. -- NOT a scooter! And stop trying to make it seem cool to have a Segway. IT’S NOT.

Dick Tracy (written in the 1930’s) had a flying Jet pack, not a scooter, it FLEW!!! In 1930!!!That’s before we had microwave ovens and penicillin, and organ transplants. 78 years ago! I want my personal jet pack! Where is my personal jet pack??? Everyone, if you email congress and tell them to quit throwing away money on science and funnel it to flying jet pack research, We can make this happen!!!

PERSONAL JET PACK!

Breaking Dawn Disappointment...

So, I finished reading Breaking Dawn yesterday. Overall I was a little disappointed with it. **SPOILER** It seems like after Bella became a vampire she lost her whole Bella "essence", I mean sure some things were obviously going to change (vampire DUH) but it seems like it was a whole new much less interesting character. I don't like the fact that Jacob imprinted on Nessie (weird...), I was very shocked when Bella got pregnant (very weird...) I mean, it seems like Stephenie Meyer was trying too hard to get everything in there and in the right order, get married, then have babies, then live happily every after, it really didn't work so much for me (the girl is only 18...).

So yeah, it was a young adult book, with lots of young readers but it felt like that fact was restricting the story from developing. I was also disappointed with how everything ended up so happily ever after. Everybody got what they wanted, no exceptions. There was no battle at the end, no final stand down, everybody made it out alive (except the snitch, but she was such a fleeting character it was not a big deal). I am just saying a little sacrifice, hard work and suffering would have made it better, THEN the happily ever after. Have the main characters give one final fight to be together, then be happy because they have each other after surviving everything else despite their losses. That is what we have come to expect with the series, and the final book was a let down for me. I do however still LOVE Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. Wish Breaking Dawn could have kept up.

Anyway, any other readers feel free to share your thoughts, I am interested to know your take on it.

Breaking Dawn Release....

So, I am anxiously counting down the milliseconds until Breaking Dawn is released at 12:01 a.m. tonight so that I can rush to the Waikele Borders and buy it as quickly as possible (I have it reserved in two locations :D). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up buying the book at midnight and then staying up reading it cover-to-cover before Alan wakes up at 6:55 a.m.

Admit it! I know a lot of you are doing the same thing!!! You're out there, I know it, I read your blogs :D. (Side note: Can you imagine how insane Borders and Barnes & Noble will be in some parts of the country [read: Utah/Arizona] when Breaking Dawn is released? My conservative estimate is that 143 Borders Associates will be killed and another 815 injured.) If you know any Borders/Barnes & Noble employees, you may want to advise them to increase their short-term disability and their life insurance policies ASAP. It's going to be a blood bath...

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!

Sticking up for Utah

So.... I was browsing through blogs one day, and found one that a guy had written putting up the defense for Utah. I could not resist writing my own "I'm from Utah SO WHAT?!?!"/"Leave Utah Alone Blog" Being Active Duty Army, I have lived a lot of places and met many different kinds of people from just as many places. More often than not when the "Where are you from?" question is asked, my answer if Utah sparks another round of questions, "Are you Mormon?" usually being the first... Some of my favorites are:

-How many wives does your Dad have?

-Do you double the population of Utah when you go on leave?

-Where are your horns?

-Do you use electricity in your house? (for some reason some people associate us with the Amish...)

During my years living outside of Utah, I have endured endless torture :D and have been on the wrong side of several jokes and humor. It is really very frustrating at times, and I can never seen to come up with a good come back at the right moment. So, you all those who have decided to make jokes at my/Utah/Mormons expense, here is your comeback!
I realize that most of you reading my blog are born and raised Utahns, but for those few that aren't let me start with a few points.....

-Most people recognize that Utahans are regular, normal, good people who generally live the gospel, though you will always have a few who do not in a sample size that large.

-Many people have no ill will toward Utah or Utahans, they would simply prefer to live somewhere else.

-A small number of people have very negative perceptions of Utahans and went as far as calling them judgmental, hypocritical, and vain. (Ouch!)

-Several of those people have noted that the people who have labeled Utahans as "judgmental" and "hypocritical" are coming across as...well...pretty judgmental and hypocritical. (It is hard to call somebody judgmental without sounding judgmental. Did that make me sound judgmental? If you said, "yes", please stop being so judgmental.)


I have never really understood why there are some people who lived in Utah and had so many negative experiences with church members. I do not doubt that these experiences were real for the people who lived them. The majority of people who tend to disparage "Utah Mormons", as they see it, are not born-and-bred Utahans. Most of them lived in the state for a few years during college or a for a short job stint and then left for other, more exciting places. You know, like Missouri or Wyoming. While some anti-Utahan comments left me with a bad taste in my mouth, the discussions helped me realize why a small number of people disliked living among the Saints in Utah. It all comes down to one word: Expectations.

Several of the people who were critical of Utah used phrases like, "...and I expected great things...", "...my expectation (of Utahans) would be extremely high...", and "...I was disappointed in people who should have known better." If nothing else, I have learned that non-Utahans have pretty high expectations of Utah church members. While I understand why the expectations are high, my experiences with the Saints in Utah have been generally positive, as have my experiences in Korea, Hawaii, Arizona, Missouri, and Georgia. The Utah ward that I grew up in was comprised of just 900 people and nearly every family was active and sealed in the temple. If I had to guess, I would estimate that the level of active families probably approached 95%. The vast majority of my male high school friends worthily served missions and are married in the temple. Maybe I am naive, but I truly believe that the majority of Utah Saints are great people who do their best to live the gospel. This holds true for members of the church in every other place where I have lived. Are they perfect? Of course not. Those of you who are so critical of Utah, please let me know when you find a religion or a state where everybody does everything right all of the time. It is probably a wonderful place, like Disneyland. But this is just my subjective opinion.

I did a little research to see if there is any objective data to shed some light on Utah, and here is what I found:

-According to WebMd.com, Utah has the lowest reported use of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol consumption, and underage drinking (i.e. they tend to live the Word of Wisdom).

-According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Utah has the lowest rate of unwed mothers, lowest teen birth rate, and highest percentage of married-couple households (i.e. they tend to live the Law of Chastity). Utah also has the highest birth rate and lowest percentage of working mothers in the country.

-According to Forbes.com, Utah is the most generous state in the nation (i.e. people pay their tithes and offerings.)


-According to Adherence.com, Utah is the most Christian state in the nation. (I cannot vouch for the quality of this website, but I thought it might be relevant to include.)

-Regarding member missionary work, I have heard repeatedly that Utah missions baptize more converts than any other missions in the United States but could not find any recent, credible stats to back this up. The most legitimate statement I could find was from Elder Thomas S. Monson in 1977 when he said, "It is not insignificant that the Utah Salt Lake City Mission leads all English-speaking missions in effectiveness and in total convert baptisms." (i.e. Utahans have ample opportunity to share the gospel and appear to do it effectively.)

-According to ESPN.com, BYU's football team has the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games and may have a chance to go undefeated this year and earn a BCS bid. (So what does this have to do with the topic? Nothing. Just thought I would throw that out there.):D

In other words, there may be more people in Utah who live traditional Christian values of morality, temperance, charity, proclaiming the gospel, and sweet college football than any other place in the country! Take that, New Jersey! You too, California! This is obviously debatable, but there is a lot of evidence to support the argument. But still, the key is expectations. Many of you may have read that and said, "Of course Utah ranks high in those areas, it is supposed to!" If you had that thought, there is nothing that can be said that will convince you that Utahans are by and large faithful, good people. Again, are they perfect? Of course not, but who is?

Now, the objective downside of Utah:

-According to Forbes.com, Salt Lake is "America's Vainest City" as measured by the number of cosmetic surgeons per capita. However, the author is quick to note that the number may be high due to the U of U's School of Medicine, which offers residencies in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Just another example of how the U of U is tarnishing Utah's good name! (Kidding. Kidding. Only a joke. Don't send the hate mail.)

-According to the Deseret News, Utah normally ranks among the highest amount of bankruptcies per capita. The article does point out that this may be a function of larger families and lower incomes as mothers stay at home to raise children instead of entering the workforce. (i.e. it's not like most Utahans are declaring bankruptcy because they cannot afford the payments on their Porsche and winter home in Hawaii. :D) As individuals, we are all imperfect whether we are Utahans, North Carolinians, Brazilians or Connecticutters (I made that up, but it sounds good). Because of our universal imperfection, we should be very careful in our judgments of others, whether they be individuals or collective groups of people. We will make our experiences in life, as wonderful and positive or as miserable and mundane as we want them to be regardless of where we live.

So, this concludes my ramblings... I may have gone off on a tangent or two, but hey, I am from Utah, and dang proud!!!

Puppy Update

I know I know, I have been telling everyone for the past week I am going to post puppy pics here, well, I am finally doing it! I put together a slide show...

So, story time. We came up with temporary names for the puppies so we knew which was which. 'The Girl' is the first one born and the only girl. (Update: The Girl has been claimed by a friend who has named her Lola...) 'The Fat One' was the biggest one at birth and came out second. 'The Runt' was the tiniest and came out third, and 'The Fourth One' well, he came out fourth. The Big One and The Fourth One look similar so The Fourth Ones nails are painted red to distinguish the two :D.

So, now it gets confusing. The Big One is now the second smallest, The Runt is the fattest, weighs the most and has white spots. The Fourth One is the second largest and cries a lot, and The Girl is still a girl :D, and now the smallest.... Yup...

It has been so much fun watching them grow. They opened their eyes about a week ago, and can hear now too. They are 'walking' and starting to growl and play with each other.They can climb out of the little kiddie pool I have them in, and this weekend we are going to have to find a more permanent arrangement...

So yup, that's the update. They all have homes now except The Fourth One... We are keeping The Runt, and The Big (small) One, and The Girl have been claimed. Any takers? Rusty and Lala? I KNOW you want one.....