criplomats

Decked out in Kevlar

John and I got to go on an outing to McGregor Range yesterday, along with 6 of our co-workers. McGregor is part of Fort Bliss in El Paso, and a lot of it is set up to train soldiers going to Iraq and Afghanistan. We visited three main sites, and learned about IED detection, guard training for detainees, and how to clear “close quarters” – basically, how they train soldiers to enter a building and clear it of bad guys. It was a lot of fun, but more than that, really pointed out the seriousness of the Army’s training for those going to combat. Much of the site is set up like an Iraqi village, complete with Arabic graffiti and people hired to dress and act like terrorists. In the desert landscape here, it’s pretty convincing!

To give us a true experience, our hosts even opened a box of MRE’s for lunch, which was fun for novelty’s sake, but unfortunately was loaded with calories fit for a working soldier – oh, well!

Last night, we went to a great neighborhood dinner at Michael and Teresa’s – they made an excellent salmon with a little soy and brown sugar glaze. And Friday night, Caroline and Harold had us over for a delicious Jägerschnitzel dinner – unbreaded pork schnitzel with a mushroom sauce. So, aside from the MRE’s, we’ve eaten well this week!

On the home front, we watched the last Presidential debate on Wednesday night. Thursday, we trekked over to El Paso after work to buy a new laptop.

I also wanted to give you an update on the grass – John has done a wonderful job with it this summer!

John at the Redondo Beach Pier

We had a great time visiting Aunt Bonnie and Kohlie in California last weekend. We flew home on Monday, and luckily had Tuesday off from work. That gave us time for “re-entry,” as John calls it – i.e., time to relax, get caught up and visit with Flavia.

We watched a couple more episodes of “The Wire” this week, plus the “Sex & the City” movie finally arrived from Netflix.

It was a short, but busy, week at work. I was responsible for the logistics of a visiting computer guy, so I went to the airport on Wednesday to get him and have worked with him over the weekend doing helping him do some testing. (So much for a 3-day weekend…oh well.) I got to visit the new Consulate building – wow – it’s really big. John’s been working out there a lot and had been telling me about it, but it was pretty amazing to see. We’re scheduled to move next month.

On the social front, we had dinner out with the (new) visiting TDYers on Thursday night, then went to a surprise going-away dinner for a friend on Friday night who’s moving to Africa.

 With Kohlie

With a few of the local staff from the Consulate: Claudia, Missy and Martha – all dolls

John and I flew to Los Angeles on Friday – me to visit with Aunt Bonnie and John to attend a brainiac conference at CalTech (origins of the universe, anyone?). Aunt Bonnie, Kohlie the Poodle and I drove him up there Friday afternoon.

Kohlie and I have gotten lots of good walks in. Manhattan Beach is a great neighborhood for walking, and the weather has been fantastic.

We drove up this morning to get John, after breakfasting with the Elks Club group. John and I drove down to the Redondo Beach pier to walk around – I hadn’t been down there in ages. We sat outside to have a drink and listen to the waves crash.

The week leading up to our mini-vacation was pretty busy. Monday night was book club at our house – we read Amy Chua’s “World on Fire” and had a good discussion.

Tuesday night we had a cookout at our house for a new entry-level officer who we were sponsoring. Wednesday night I took my TDYer friend Cathy from Nuevo Laredo out for dinner at a little Italian place, then Thursday night was a happy hour. Glad I’d had a cocktail before the VP debate…

John and I went bowling together for the first time yesterday and had a blast. It was an organized Consulate event, and we had about 45 people – lots of fun, but we are sore today! The name of the bowling alley here is “Bol Bol,” appropriately enough. (I wished I had had my thrift store bowling shirt that I wore throughout college that had the slogan above on it.)

We did several things with the TDYers this week. Last Sunday, Cathy and I went to lunch in El Paso, then shopped at the outlet mall. Mid-week, we went to dinner at Frida’s (where we were happy to see more fellow diners than during our previous visit – maybe due to the fact that the parking lot guards are now armed?), and then wrapped up Friday afternoon with an early dinner with them at Los Bichis before the (yawn) presidential debate.

We also had an impromptu neighborhood happy hour at our house last Sunday night to welcome our newest addition, Meghan. She’s quite fun and interesting, and we look forward to having her in the ‘hood.

John and I watched several episodes of “The Wire” this week and liked it. We have the next set of episodes in our Netflix queue.

I spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend looking for our camera (including going through the dirty clothes hamper at 2AM this morning). It seemed to have disappeared into thin air, but I finally found it in a drawer with some blouses I had unpacked after my trip to Hot Springs. I was just glad it wasn’t in the refrigerator…where I found the ClingWrap a few weeks ago.

The weather here is fabulous right now – John and I had our coffee outside this morning and it was almost chilly. (Speaking of, he is roasting really incredible coffee, and I am totally dependent on his lattes every day!) The only sad thing about the change in the weather is that it looks like the hummingbirds have gone south – we haven’t seen any in a couple of days. We really enjoyed their near-constant company this summer.

Wow! Yesterday John and I joined about 35 other Consulate employees and their families and went to Carlsbad Caverns – it was so wonderful, and really exceeded my expectations. I loved walking around in the cool (literally) underground and seeing the beautiful formations.

We stayed until sunset and watched the hundreds of thousands of bats come out of their cave – supercool!

It was a long day – we left the house at 6:45 AM to go pick up the visiting TDYers, and didn’t get home until 11 PM or so, but it was definitely worth it.

I flew back from Hot Springs on Tuesday (after finally getting a haircut at Mike’s before I left). After the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through, the weather was wonderful – nice, dry and cool. I had a really good massage at Sun Bay Resort while I was there – I hadn’t had one in ages and my shoulder and neck are really stiff. She did a great job and I felt tons better afterwards.

I had a fun lunch with Mary last Sunday at Rolando’s for Equadorian food – I had goat cheese and chicken quesadillas – yummy. Mom and I got to visit with Alison over dinner that night, and ran into Julie and Jack while we were out. I also got to have lunch with Leslie in Little Rock before I caught my plane on Tuesday.

I picked up the Volvo from the mechanic’s on the way back to Juarez Tuesday night – he did a tune up, replaced the brakes, etc., so the car seems to be good to go!

It was back to work on Wednesday – I’m re-assigned to the non-immigrant visa section again, so that’s a change of pace.

Friday afternoon, we brought our friend Cathy, a TDYer, home with us for happy hour on the patio and dinner. Always good to catch up with friends.