My brother is home!!! It is so good to see him after 10 months in Iraq. I respect him so much; he has given up so much of daily life and sacrificed to help re-build the education/culture of N. Iraq.
With only being back for a few hours, I can attest that J is in huge culture shock. He feels like he has been gone 10 years vs. 10 months. One of his first comments was the amount of obese people in Nashville compared to never seeing anyone obese in the Middle East. There have been a huge lists of firsts so far that he has not done in the past 10 months:
+ Talking on a cell phone around people w/o them thinking you are setting off a bomb.
+ Beer
+ Pizza
+ TV with a remote
+ Feather pillow and bed (compliments of Hilton)
+ Coffee - they drink tea over there
+ Country Music
+ Wal-Mart and shopping for toiletries (his luggage got lost between customs, Chicago O'Hare and Nashville)
+ The cost of a gallon of gas @ 2.11. To fill a car in Iraq, it costs about $2.11 total.
It has also been interesting to see him listen to the news about Iraq and hear his view point. All very interesting.
In other news, B from Hertz called today.....there might be hope for him to help me with my bill.
Just when I thought that maybe that the Hertz situation was not going to be a big deal, I got a letter in the mail on Thursday night saying that I owed them $1,600. USAA is also telling me that there is $800 damage on the car that I hit - that I find hard to believe b/c there was not one scrath or dent on the bumper. The driver, herself, said that she did not see anything wrong with her car.
I don't know what is going to happen, I have a call into someone I met in an airport who works for Hertz and told me to call him if they gave me grief. USAA is telling me that my work insurance should cover this; work insurance is telling me that my credit card insurance should cover this. Sigh......
Today my brother, J, is coming home from Iraq. We have not seen him since August and it is strange of all the things that we have missed out in each others lives. We will have a short 20 hours together in Nashville before he flies out to some conference on middle east culture/economy in Colorado for a week; I don't think that we will be able to cram the past 10 months of our lives when I pick him up in the airport tonight to when he leaves tommorow.
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I did pick up some new books to read, this weekend, at B&N. I think if I have $1,000 to spend in any store, hands down B&N would be at the top of my list.
Winning by Jack Welch
Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner
Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone by Rowling
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
I already have read 1/2 of HP by the pool yesterday and picked it up out of interest. A lot of my adult friends have been reading them and loved them. I know that there is some controversy around them, but I am fascinated with the imagination of Rowling and her strory behind these books.
There is one book that I really want to buy/read, but it will need to wait:
The World is Flat by Friedman
I must say that this has been a great week, despite my tylenol hangover and my mouth in great pain from my orthodonist moving my teeth as much as he can before Monday.
A few interesting tidbits that took place this week:
+ I paid $3.07 for a bottle water in the New Orleans Airport! My jaw almost hit the floor when I paid it.
+ When I told a homeless man on Canal Street (New Orleans) that I did not have any cash, his reply was, "I also take credit cards." Huh?
+ Shreveport has to be one of the most desolate cities I have seen and traveled to.
+ S got through surgery fine and is recovering.
+ A is here for the rest of the week visiting friends in Memphis. It is good to have house guests and some companionship.
+ I finished reading Cold Sassy Tree. It has been on my list to read for several years; I really appreciate it. The author, Olive Ann Burns, did a wonderful job of characterization and the perspetive of a young boy in the earli 1900's of his familiy was well done.
+ I plan to read Freakonomics. I saw it in B&N last week and then saw the authors on the Today Show this morning. I can't wait to start it and will probably go pick it up this weekend!
Next week, I am here in Memphis. I can't really believe it; it is the first week in 2005 that I will not be traveling. I can't wait to have a full week in my own bed and a break on my credit card.
From taking TWO Tylenol PM last night. My mouth was hurting so much and I wanted a good nights sleep, so I took them at 11pm only to have to wake up by 5 am. Not a pretty sight. I have to say that at least with having a real hangover, I am usually pretty good by the late morning, but this has dragged on all day!!
Word of advice: Don't take Tylenol PM so late at night and don't take 2. I have not been able to function or think clearly all day.
Mondays are always interesting. A start to a week and I can usually tell by 8:30 what the week will look like - how many emails do I have waiting for me, what meetings lie ahead of me, how many airports will I travel through, and so forth.
Today, I had the best Monday morning that I could even imagine. I saw Cooper (a.k.a. my orthodontist) and he surprised me by telling me that the time had come. What time......time for me to get another orthodontist, time to gear up for the next stage of braces, time for me to go with him to Mexico for his missions trip - sorry for the sarcasam. He proceeded taking off the braces - not the most pleasant of things to do. I was scarred that he was going to break or chip my teeth. Only six brackets came off, but guess what, I have teeth - they are white and are smooth; I still can't believe it. I have some sort of rubber band contraption on them to move them as close as they come; then the plan is for them ALL to come off on Monday. Wahoo!!
It is about one month away from having braces for 3 years. It has been quite the expereince - I have had total of 2 orthodontists; 3 oral surgeon referalls/confirmations; 1 oral surgeon; 2 oral surgeon residents and a lot of bills. I figured that my mouth is worth about $40k. Can I take a loan on my mouth?
But, my excitement changed by 4 pm. S is having surgery on Wednesday. Nothing major, but it is surgery, nevertheless. I am worried and I wish that I was there with her to take care of her and be with J while he waits for her during surgery.
I have fallen in love with reading again. After college, I think I went for a few years without really picking up a book and reading. Most of it was due to burn out and being an English major. I started to read again in the last few years, but this year has been such a joy picking up and reading. I have also started reading more non-fiction and, to my surprise, I really love it. I never thought that I would, which probably comes from my love for the art of the novel, hence being an English major.
I must give some good props to Oprah Winfrey. I am not really a fan of hers for several reasons, but she has picked some pretty decent modern literature (not fiction - there is a difference between literature vs. fiction). My recent novel was Cane River, which followed the heritage of three women, all related, and slaves on a plantation. It was fascinating and I learned things about slavery that I did not even know. It has prompted me to try to re-read a lot of our early American history, which I have forgotten. I will be perusing Barnes and Noble later tonight for some good history reads. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
Lastly, I just finsihed reading The Tipping Point, which is from the same author as Blink. READ IT!!! It is fascinating and you won't put it down. The author really takes a look at how phenonemns occur; hence the title, Tipping Point. It had a lot to do with statistics and how people will relate to things, and then taking it to a business perspective. I drool over things like this. Yes, I know; I am a geek.
By the way, you have probably already noticed, but I have moved to Memphis Blogs with Pablo.
Today is S's birthday. It is truely amazing to think on your best freindships; S is one of them. We met at Covenant and have been great friend since through many, many things: weddings, moves, jobs, sickness, dogs, trips, families, in-laws, etc. And, I really think that this past year has been the best year of our freindship. They are in the process of moving and I don't know where; hopefully, it will be closer to Memphis.
To commemorate, I thought that I would put together a top 10 list of our friendship. This may not matter to any of you, but it will bring much laughs to both of us.
1. Being my best friend for 8+ years!!
2. Daily phone calls about everything
3. Trying to get others to understand our friendship
4. Snorting Laughs
5. Getting our ass kicked with running
6. Cigars & Beer
7. Ketchen & Stiles
8. Thinking someone broke in my parents house in CA and calling 911
9. Holding our breath on your wedding day
10. Grunion run in San Diego