Marketing Lithuania: How about name change?
Officials say they may seek something easier to pronounce in English

Might I suggest Awesomestan? Or woo the young crowd with Republic of McLovin.

The ridiculousness just writes itself.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:07 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 HA! Awesomestan, Republic of McLovin! Excellent.

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at January 26, 2008 05:40 PM (K0acE)

2 Unpronouncilvania! Then we'll have someplace to use when that Egyptian town can't be mentioned.

Posted by: Ted at January 27, 2008 07:56 AM (yRolC)

3 Americans have trouble with Arkansas.

Posted by: David Boxenhorn at January 28, 2008 01:21 AM (LKLcc)

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This article on the truth behind the Jena Six is just so depressing. But the part that stands out to me is this:

Bean's narrative, though, contained an interesting factual error: It stated that there had been three nooses, not two, hung from the tree at Jena High School. The error was not material, and the truth did not exonerate the perpetrators (one noose would have been too many), but to an observer examining the numerous stories about the Jena Six that flooded newspapers, radio, television, and blogs, the three nooses, which appear again and again, are a kind of journalistic dye-marker signaling a tendency on the part of the reporters to rely on Bean's narrative, his handpicked sources, and the reporting of Witt--whose frequent stories appeared nationwide in Tribune Co.-owned papers like the Los Angeles Times--instead of doing their own legwork by consulting court records and other documents, or even the Alexandria Town Talk, which accurately reported the number of nooses from the very beginning.

Some guy makes a bunch of "facts" up, and the news sources copy and disseminate it. Good heavens, are they even trustworthy at all?

And remember this the next time you read a report out of Iraq. If journalists don't even bother to interview someone in Jena to get the real story, how much of what we hear from Iraq is verified?

Posted by: Sarah at 10:12 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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See, I told you, I freaking hate dolphins.

Killer dolphins baffle marine experts

It's not really the dolphins' fault; it's dolphin love that I hate. It's the tattoos and the t-shirts and the "healing dolphin therapy" crap.

The smarter a species is, the more it can manipulate its surroundings. Enter murder. Lo and behold, humans aren't the only creature with the brain power and time on their hands to kill for no reason.

Those darling dolphins do it too.

Watching the films, Aberdeen marina biologist Dr Ben Wilson explains yet another shocking phenomenon - that the dolphins use their incredible ultra sound abilties to home in on the vital organs of their victims that will cause most damage.

"The blows are carefully targeted," says Dr Wilson, who is a member of the Scottish Association for Marine Science. "And the attacks are sustained, sometimes up to 30 minutes.

So they intentionally cause maximum damage when they're killing for fun. How quaint. But at least they don't waterboard their prey; that's torture.

God, I freaking hate dolphin love.

Posted by: Sarah at 09:30 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Pictures of Tucker!

I realized I am freaking out like no one has ever had a baby before, but Erin is honestly my very first close friend to ever have a baby. That seems so funny to say, but it's true. I couldn't be happier if it were my own.

And I realized, as I typed that last sentence, that it is true.

UPDATE:

I realized I ought to clarify this post, lest I hurt the feelings of everyone else in my life who's ever had a baby. Many of my friends already had their kids when we met. Some of them had babies in the meantime, but usually after we'd PCSed away from each other and weren't in constant contact. None of my or my husband's siblings have ever had children, and I don't live near my aunts and cousins.

But Erin called me repeatedly from the hospital, and called me before she even called her dad to tell him the news. I am so honored that she shared her special day with me.

Also, I want to say how strong she's been. Her husband deploys in the next few weeks or so, but I haven't yet heard her complain at all. Heck, he leaves tomorrow for a week of training, and she is taking it in stride.

She has fully grokked how special it is that she now has a little baby to call her own. Nothing else matters, and nothing else is worth complaining about.

I hope someday I can be as mature as she is.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:45 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Holy cow, this is exciting. Erin just called me from her car on the way to the hospital; Tucker's birth mother is going into labor!

Stay tuned!

UPDATE:

Holy heck, I want to have a delivery like that! He's already here!

And I burst into tears as soon as she told me.
I am so happy for them...

Posted by: Sarah at 09:35 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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My husband and I were trying to figure out how we could put our "stimulus refund" to good use while still showing our contempt for it.
Eureka: we're buying a handgun.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:04 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Ha! We'll probably buy him an ACOG for his rifle, because he's not being issued one. I'm equally contempuous of the "stimulus refund".

Posted by: Sis B at January 25, 2008 07:09 AM (uahf1)

2 Weird. This is what we were just talking about the other day. Won't help the economy much, but we can support one of the more ailing amendments. =) Sig

Posted by: Sig at January 25, 2008 07:35 AM (815Xj)

3 Sounds like a perfectly reasonable purchase to me

Posted by: Ann M. at January 25, 2008 07:54 AM (HFUBt)

4 bwwwah!!!

Posted by: awtm at January 25, 2008 10:01 AM (b8z4b)

5 Sounds good. However, I've heard that even if Pres. Bush signs the Bill next week, nobody will see the cash until August. Anyways, even if you don't like the idea, just spend it, spend it all. Give it to the wounded warriors project, the injured marine semper fi fund, whatever... My 2 cents.

Posted by: tim at January 25, 2008 11:12 AM (nno0f)

6 Great idea! Mine won't be spent...it's off to savings.

Posted by: Vonn at January 25, 2008 11:45 AM (L56+J)

7 I could expect NO less!!! DO NOT (I repeat, DO NOT) tell my husband..........he'll do the same.....

Posted by: debey at January 26, 2008 10:13 AM (83TNL)

8 I mentioned your idea to my wife, and she's seriously considering it! Thanks for the idea.

Posted by: Ted at January 27, 2008 08:04 AM (yRolC)

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Erin should change her blog name to Erin Raves About Sarah...and I'll change mine to Trying To Be Humble And Not Link Every Time Erin Raves About Sarah.

But she got her baby gifts...

Incidentally, I was thinking about Tucker while I was knitting. But that's a lot of knitting, and I was definitely also spending some time thinking about the episode of South Park where they burn a cross on Will Smith's yard but say that they're burning the letter T. I kept repeating the line as I knit -- "T, for 'time to leave'" -- until my husband was about to go batty from hearing the same lame joke for two weeks.

Also I was thinking about what a bonehead I am for making a burnt orange blanket with an f-ing T on it to send to a family stationed in Texas. Of all the dumb moves. I was 2/3 through the blanket before I realized that everyone is going to think they're University of Texas alums.

And yes, my sewing machine tried to murder me.

Round three of Erin's presents will be on the way shortly, hopefully before the baby is born. One more week!

Posted by: Sarah at 04:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I am mostly finished with this round of baby knitting, so I have thrown myself into crocheting squares for Hand-Crafted Comfort. Some of the ladies from my preemie knitting group donated yarn to me, and it all seemed to be red and blue. I threw some white in, and voilà:

I made 35 of these new patriotic squares. Coupled with the 16 for my autumn-themed blanket, that means I'll ship at least 51 squares to Heather soon.

Hey, 51.

But Heather's in the process of moving -- her hubs is returning from Iraq soon! -- so who knows how many I'll have by the time she gets an address. I still have a lot of that red and blue left, and I love the freeing feeling I get when I'm using up extra yarn that's been sitting around for a decade.

(Yes, I have yarn that's been sitting around for a decade. If by "sitting around" you mean PCSing with us five times and being dragged across the Atlantic.)

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I was popping in on people's MySpaces and came across this...

Have you ever tried to philosophize about life, as I am trying right now? I was on one of the three interstates (H-1) on Oahu the other day in bumper-to-bumper traffic while the other side of the road was packed with rush hour cars zooming by.... I thought to myself, "Life is like a highway." ...A few minutes of silence went by in my car... "You know, maybe life isn't like a highway." (end thought)

And for whatever reason, it just got to me. And made me laugh.

Sometimes I think we try too hard to make sense of things when, usually, they just are what they are. There's not much point to trying to make them deeper or more significant. And most metaphors suck.

I had my last round of bloodwork this week.
I'm finally not pregnant again.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:26 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My husband got his score on his oral exam today. He got a 3. No one else in the entire language program, in any of the languages, even Spanish, got a 3. He was the only one to score so high.

He is embarrassed that I am posting this, but I am tickled pink. Now let's just hope he can do as well on the written exam in two weeks.

And tomorrow he jumps out of an airplane. What a life he leads!

Posted by: Sarah at 02:52 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Holy Moly! That is impressive! Will he qualify for FLP pay? I hope so.

Posted by: R1 at January 23, 2008 05:33 PM (y1Xat)

2 The result sure came in quickly. Congratulations again! Was that a 3 on the DLI scale? http://www.dlielc.org/testing/opi_examinees.html "Level '3' speakers can converse in formal and informal situations, resolve problem situations, deal with unfamiliar topics, provide explanations, describe in detail, offer supported opinions, and hypothesize. Speakers at this level use complex sentence structures with frequency and facility, and their broad vocabulary includes many abstract nouns. Their pronunciation and communication errors almost never interfere with a native speaker's understanding and listening comfort." Going from zero to that in a short time is no easy task, particularly in a non-European language requiring more time to learn: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wbaxter/howhard.html I'm impressed. Hope he gets to use this new skill!

Posted by: Amritas at January 23, 2008 08:45 PM (uJSNW)

3 In case anyone is interested, here's a more detailed description of the DLI OPI scale going from 0 to 5: http://www.dlielc.org/testing/opi_levels.html 4 looks like native-speaker level, and 5 is for nonnatives who can beat most natives at their own game. According to Baxter's site, a Farsi learner requires 50% more time than a Spanish learner to reach level 2. I would guess that the gap doesn't narrow much at the higher levels, since higher-level Persian has more Arabic which is still alien to an English speaker, whereas higher-level European vocabulary becomes more recognizable since it's largely shared with English. And the gap is also cultural. Understanding a non-European culture is harder than understanding a Western one. But I'm still impressed by second-language English speakers from Europe who have somehow learned seemingly every nuance of American culture - who can watch FAMILY GUY or SOUTH PARK and get most of the references.

Posted by: Amritas at January 23, 2008 09:03 PM (uJSNW)

4 *clap clap clap*

Posted by: airforcewife at January 24, 2008 01:58 AM (mIbWn)

5 WOW

Posted by: awtm at January 24, 2008 03:27 AM (b8z4b)

6 CONGRATS! He is going to destroy the rest of the test. Awesome!

Posted by: deltasierra at January 24, 2008 08:56 AM (woXks)

7 Holy cow! Congratulations to him! I'm glad Amritas put the entire explanation up - that's mind blowing.

Posted by: Teresa at January 24, 2008 05:03 PM (rVIv9)

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I looked smart today, thanks to AWTM.
Someone actually asked me if I knew that Nebraska has a unicameral legislative system.
I stared at her incredulously for a moment before replying, "Actually, I just learned that the other day."
Thanks to AWTM...

No, seriously, that really happened today.

UPDATE:

Sorry, Tim, I fixed the link!

Posted by: Sarah at 08:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I was in the shower and realized that I had something stuck in my head. Was it a song? What was it? Then I realized that I was just chanting one sentence over and over; I was saying "My name is Sarah" in Farsi. Which is remarkable, because I didn't ever learn to say that. Apparently I have learned some Farsi just by being around it.

My husband took his oral exam yesterday. The proctor said he was one of the best students he's ever seen. I am beaming with pride.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:32 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Parting thoughts from a Fred Thompson staffer:

Personally, IÂ’m hoping that he does not accept one of the political appointments, which he shall surely be offered. Ultimately, the reason that his ideas couldnÂ’t overcome the advantages of organization is that ideas still do not count for as much as they should in the 21st century. Fred, however, is in a better position today to spread and explain those ideas than he ever has been; sort of a Newt Gingrich without the baggage.

If you were a Fred guy, read the whole thing.

I remain disappointed that you have to lust after the presidency in order to be considered a serious candidate.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:51 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Hey, rednecks...your shenanigans are not amusing.

I was driving home from grocery shopping today when I saw what appeared to be a man injured or dead lying in someone's front yard. I immediately turned around to go back to help.

OK, so maybe I've watched too much CSI, but your pair of jeans stuffed with leaves to make it look like a body, that's not funny. It makes sense around Halloween, but in January I just get ticked off that I turned around on a major thoroughfare to try to help some non-existent victim.

Yeah, fake dead body jokes...not so funny.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:48 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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In October, I got interviewed for a Military Spouse Magazine article on how deployments mess with family planning. We had just found out that I was finally pregnant, so I had a triumphant story to tell: we had wasted most of our safe year, but it had worked out in the end.

The article just got published. So much for happy endings.
It's pretty surreal to see your happiness immortalized in a magazine after everything has gone to crap.

I've had a couple of people suggest that I try to get paid to write for a publication, but this is a prime example of why I don't have much interest in such endeavors. Talk about old media; so much has happened in the three months it took for the article to go to print that the story isn't even remotely accurate anymore.

So I'll keep writing my drivel here for free.

UPDATE:

Son of a gun...I just found this interview that I gave, dang, like last summer. Tee hee, it's about Erin!

Posted by: Sarah at 03:37 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We had one day to spend in the nation's capital. We went out to a celebratory breakfast for AirForceSon's birthday and then took him to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. We got to see the Enola Gay, which is much bigger than I imagined, for some reason. I guess it makes sense -- Little Boy was pretty darned big -- but for some dumb reason, I always imagined the Enola Gay to be the size of the Spirit of St. Louis!

Afterwards, my husband and I made the two hour trip (ugh) into downtown. We went to see the WWII memorial (which hadn't been built the last time we were in town, for our honeymoon), took those ridiculous pictures, and then hoofed it to the opposite end of the mall to go to the, um, Air and Space Museum. AirForceGuy looked at us incredulously when we returned, saying, "You mean you didn't get enough Air and Space this morning?"

There is no such thing as too much Air and Space.

What we didn't know was that the Smithsonians close at 1730, and we arrived brokenhearted at 1710. There was only enough time to run and see the one thing that made it all worthwhile.

And then we turned around and returned to AirForceHouse for pizza and birthday cupcakes.

One day in DC is highly inadequate, but at least I got to see some of the coolest stuff, like the lunar module and Jay Irwin's spacesuit covered in moon dust. I didn't make it to Arlington to pay respects to Grissom and Chaffee, but I guess that just means I'll have to go back.

Now, if I could just go to the moon itself...

Posted by: Sarah at 04:08 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Husband, let's try to take a picture of ourselves with the Washington Monument in the background.

Oh, hmm, I have really bad hat hair and you are not smiling at all. OK, um, let's try another one.

Well, that's better, but can we try to take one where the Washington Monument isn't sticking out of the top of my head?

Eh, still sticking out of my head.

Um, no, honey...like can you angle it so that the monument is over to the side of us?

Can't you just be satisfied with that one, Sarah?

No, honey, now you're angling the camera the wrong direction.
Woman, I am going to choke you.

That's perfect! That's exactly what I want. But, um, you look like you'd rather be single. Can we do that exact same thing again, but this time with you smiling?

Derp!

DERP!

OK, I am going to pee my pants! Just do it right!
Woman, I am going to kill you.

HAHAHAHA! No, that's totally wrong! Now it's coming out of your head! And I have a flag coming out of mine!

You are the worst picture taker ever!
Well, why don't you do it, woman?
My arm isn't long enough to hold the camera. Come on, do it again.
Grrrrrrr.....

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Great angle, except, um, you chopped the top of the...
Aw, screw it.

This is so going on the blog.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:40 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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If you were placing money on who'd be the biggest troublemaker of the weekend, who would you choose: the pit bull who got rescued from a life of dogfighting or the fluffy, angelic Tibetan terrier?

I mean really. I felt sorry for AirForceDog; Charlie was egging him on the entire time. Poor AirForceDog kept looking up at his owners all weekend with a look on his face like "I promise I am trying to be good!"

Charlie also went after AirForceKid like she was made of ham.

The dogs got along great, the kids were really good, and we adults had a blast. Oh, and AirForceWife can knit socks now.

Good weekend.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:03 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Erin and her husband are all ready for this adoption. They've gotten fingerprinted, had a background check, had a home study from social services, gotten vaccinations for the dogs, answered awkward questions about their personal business, gotten friends and families to fill out forms to vouch for them, and paid a lot of money. Now they're just waiting for the baby to be born so they can take him home.

And I was thinking last night: Don't you wish every child who came into this world would be guaranteed the same things? That every family would've put time and energy into providing the perfect home?

Erin's baby is lucky; he is 100% wanted and will always know that his parents specifically chose him to be a part of their life.

I can't wait for him to come home...

Posted by: Sarah at 02:33 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 That would be an ideal scenario for certain. I don't even know Erin, but I'm anxiously awaiting her baby's arrival too. I'm hoping for a smooth transition for all. So exciting.

Posted by: Guard Wife at January 18, 2008 09:50 AM (20Lnu)

2 It's so nice to have you be one of my biggest fans (along with all the other people online that have been sending encouragement my way). Thank you for that. I seriously doubt our baby will have the perfect home, but you're right when you say that he is 100% wanted by us. I just hope he grows up KNOWING that, instead of THINKING he was 0% wanted by his birth parents.

Posted by: Erin at January 18, 2008 11:47 AM (y67l2)

3 I really do wish every child who came into the world was as wanted as those whose parents have to go through all sorts of obstacles to get them. There would be way less child abuse, that's for sure. Also, I just saw this link on BoingBoing and thought of you. Have you made it up to Raleigh to the fancy yarn store yet? They're all expensive but sooooooo nice.

Posted by: Sis B at January 18, 2008 04:15 PM (uahf1)

4 Oops, forgot to close my link.

Posted by: Sis B at January 18, 2008 04:16 PM (uahf1)

5 O.M.G. I screwed it up again. Here, dangit: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/18/nyc-taxi-babybooties.html You'd think I was drinking tonight but seriously, it was just tea!

Posted by: Sis B at January 18, 2008 04:19 PM (uahf1)

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Seriously, how could Charlie not make the list of top dog breeds? How can you deny this face?

We are heading on a roadtrip this weekend to visit AirForceFamily, where Charlie will meet his first pit bull. We keep telling him he'd better behave, because a pit bull ain't nothin' to mess around with. I wanna see AirForceDog lay a smackdown on Charlie. Heh.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:46 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Aw. What a sweetie. I have to protect Pit Bulls from my Chihuahua.

Posted by: stuffed at January 16, 2008 04:05 PM (oI9wm)

2 Dang, I miss that dog.

Posted by: Erin at January 16, 2008 05:11 PM (y67l2)

3 Sarah, I went on an appointment recently, and the people had a pit bull. I was a little hesitant at first, but that dog kept "kissing" me and knudging me to massage him. He was really a good dog! They should do fine together as social as Charlie (Mr. Social Butterfly)is. If Charlie can put up with Toby's crankiness, he can deal with anybody! Have a good time. Love all three of you! Love, Mama

Posted by: Nancy at January 16, 2008 05:16 PM (m84zM)

4 Ike's not on the list, either! As if! We just can't wait for you guys to get here! #2 is convinced that your husband can teach her another language in one weekend.

Posted by: airforcewife at January 17, 2008 03:30 AM (mIbWn)

5 Dog? what dog? There is a dog in this picture? Is this one of those things, where I have to stare for 15 minutes, and then shut an eye and back up 15 feet? I see a chair, a tan chair. Is this a joke?

Posted by: awtm at January 17, 2008 03:56 AM (b8z4b)

6 When should we break the news to AWTM that there has been a weimeriner named Mo living at her house for the last eight years, happily panting and playing with her kids in 9/10 of the photos she takes?

Posted by: airforcewife at January 17, 2008 04:46 AM (mIbWn)

7 I've always loved golden retrievers and have wanted one for years. After I got my wish, however, I realized that what I really love are most dogs (I say most because there are a few I don't think I could handle). Dogs are just the best.

Posted by: Nicole at January 17, 2008 04:09 PM (jyFmj)

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