Chris' Blog

"A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything." -Laurence Sterne

Sunday, September 18, 2005

R&R Pictures

It was hard to choose which ones to post. We did so much and took so many pictures... here is just a little sample.

Also: Heather, Dad, and whoever else has got some pictures, could you please email them to me?


Julia and I taking a break from biking in Duluth. Posted by Picasa


"The Pianoman" at Andy and Katie's wedding. The guy in the middle was pretending to take pictures, but I think he just wanted attention. Posted by Picasa


I have mittens like Ed Viesturs. Not too handy right now, but they will be.... they will be. Posted by Picasa


Kyle roping up to climb while Heather belays. Posted by Picasa


Waiting for our Margaritas while overlooking Lake Superior. Posted by Picasa


A beautiful day on the lake. Lots of fun and family. Posted by Picasa


Julia and I saw giraffes at the Como Zoo. We were lucky that fence was there because Julia kept taunting them. I can't take her anywhere. Posted by Picasa


I got to visit my cousin Isaac a little bit in the Twin Cities. Right before this photo was taken we thumb wrestled. Isaac is displaying his superior weaponry. Posted by Picasa

Some More Time Off

I was only back a day and a half from leave when I got evacuated via Blackhawk helicopter to an Air Force hospital. I was evac-ed for a severe sudden-onset headache with no known cause. They did a CT scan and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) with normal results and I was given some pain meds and discharged.

The following day I was supposed to convoy back to camp, but started having terrible back, neck, and head pains. I went back to the hospital and they diagnosed it as "spinal headaches" that were due to the spinal tap.

Apparently these headaches aren't an uncommon occurrence in patients that have a spinal or an epidural done (about 1 in 4 get them), but they are painful and fairly debilitating. As a result, I spent the last week lying in bed.

No problem though. I watched some excellent movies that I may not have otherwise. I saw the The Godfather parts I and II (awesome), Lords of Dogtown (pirated version of course, excellent movie), The Wedding Date (yeah yeah, quiet down...), and The Recruit to name a few. I also got some reading done, but that was pretty difficult and I had to take a lot of breaks.

Anyway, I'm back at camp and hard at work. I'm still working on getting R&R pictures up, but those should be on the blog this evening or tomorrow.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Back in Iraq

I just got done with an awesome 15 days of R&R and now I'm back on base. Getting back here was not nearly as easy as it was to get home. It involved 19+ hours on a plane and almost five days in Kuwait waiting to get on another one.

I've got some great pictures of my time at home, the majority of them taken by my personal photographer, Julia. I will post some of these as soon as I get things organized and get settled in. I had a great time in Brainerd at Katie and Andy's wedding, on Lake Ida with Aunt Kay, in Duluth with Heather and Kyle and friends, at the Regatta, and down in the Twin Cities. In all, there was a lot of ground covered and I was very happy to so many friends and so much family.

I came back to a very changed camp. While I was away a new clinic was built and moved into. Not only that, but my beloved tent was taken down and my things were relocated to a housing unit (trailer). There is a good deal more room in the new clinic than the old, and far less in my new room than my old tent. After I get the pictures from leave posted I will post some of the changes around here.

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. Enjoy Autumn and I'll see you this winter!