Sorry for no updates!

Hi friends! so I am still living in CP for the next few years at the least (I figure if mom and dad don't make me pay rent then I shall live for free). Which is lovely because working two jobs doesn't leave much time to enjoy actually being at home. I am still at Freihofers and Borders for the time being but hopefully by January (or whenever the state passes their budget) I will be working in Albany at ZLS publishing creating book covers and illustrating children's books. It is the perfect job and I cannot wait to start. I am one of their first hires so I am lucky to have this position. And it also means I get to work one job from 9-5 Monday-Friday. What will I do with all this free time?! I'm pumped! Other than that not much else is new. I am just working all the time and when I'm not working I'm up in Ballston Spa at my boyfriend's apt or hanging with Suzy. nothing too exciting. I just bought three computers from Best Buy so I am giving the laptop to my parents (I figure if I'm living for free then spending money on them is allowable lol) And I bought a new digital camera so once I buy a memory card I will definitely update with pictures :) So when everyone is home please let me know because I am around (but probably working!) And CAT AND GREG--- I am hoping to come visit soon because Stephen's best friend goes to school in Hartford! (came to this realization the other night yay!) Ok I love you all and I will try to be better with updating! xoxo Nicki

A Short Photo Update

I don't have much time to write, so I'm just going to post a few pictures with some captions. I should be able to get to a longer post after Thanksgiving is over and I get some downtime. However, I will be back in CP from Thanksgiving day afternoon to Saturday midday, so if anyone wants to do something Friday night or get breakfast or lunch on Saturday before I fly out, give me a call.

This is Oklahoma. Pictured in the background are Oklahoma's only mountains.

Yes, that is a pie plate in which the burger is sitting. Welcome to the South, specifically Meers, OK.

This is me, on my daily commute. I ride to a range, shoot some things, then ride back.

More Oklahoma, as seen from the back of the truck I'm riding in.

In case it doesn't seem like I'm enjoying myself, I love my job. I get paid to lead soldiers, blow things up and shoot things. More to follow.

Kellen

Hello!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post.. I was waiting for something exciting to happen to me but it never did so I may as well get on with it. Though I do warn you in advance, I suck at posting in blogs (as any of the girls will attest to..)

I am in my last semester at McGill and it is flyingggggggg by. I cannot believe that I only have 2 weeks of class left- yikes! I have so much to finish before I am done.. I don't know how it is going to happen haha. But I would be lying if I said it hasn't been fun. I really like my classes, which is a great way to finish my undergrad. I went on a field trip to some wetlands in Quebec at the beginning of the semester, which was awesome! Above left is a bog we visited (we were trying to channel the bog people..) and to the right is my prof in a salt marsh, which I nearly lost a boot in lol. We also went to a swamp but that was not nearly as exciting haha.

Since that little field trip, it has really been nothing but school.. lame, I know. I have crashed a few earth and planetary science parties (not as dorky as it sounds), but that is about it. I would say about 80% of my friends have graduated and left so my roommate and I just bum around watching movies alot. We did manage to get out for Halloween though- I was a penguin!

This is Lisa, my roommate (the flamingo), and I. And we also made a really yummy (early) Thanksgiving dinner for our friends- turkey, stuffing, the whole 9 yards. It was my first time actually cooking the turkey, but it turned out great (no food poisoning, thank god) so that was fun :-)

Not much else is new with me.. I sadly won't be home for Thanksgiving this year, but I should be home in December after finals for an indefinite amount of time.. lol. If anyone knows of anyone looking to hire a map-maker, please let me know :-\

Hope everyone is well! See you in December :-)

Jinna <3

Elfter

So the secret santa site is set up so everyone will be assigned a random name on the Nov 28th. Thats also the last day you have to sign up for it. If you're name isn't in by then, you won't be in the draw and won't get a name either. So too bad if you miss it. I figured its enough time to check your email, so there's no real excuse. I mean if Greg's on there then everyone should be on there by next weekish haha.
The spending limit is $50 but you don't have to spend that much. It's just a max the site makes you set. If someone isn't going to be home for the week of Christmas I would suggest you let the group know fairly far in advance so that who ever got that person can mail out the gift, or get it to them early or something.

You can also make a wish list and add a link to the site so people know exactly what you're talking about. I made mine a while back (my family is doing a gift exchange too) and it carried over. And I noticed Katie didn't waste any time getting her goodies up there. I say who ever gets her gives her coal, just to see the look on her face. (Good thing she doesn't read the blog).
As of right now we have 11 people, so were pretty good to go if no one else joins. We still need to set a place for the exchange. Kellen said he might be able to have something at his place in CP, but it would be nice to have some other options in that falls through. I looked up some places to rent out a room or something, and they can get pretty steep in price. I figured we would keep it cheap since we are all paying bills and junk now. As Levine put it, we're grown ups now. If you guys have any ideas/suggestions just throw em out there.

Anyway, see you guys next week. I'll be getting into CP Tues morning and staying at Alan's till Claire gets home. Then I take off Sat morning.

R.diz

Greg and Cat here!

So our lives haven't changed too much. Pretty boring. Cat started working at Gap again woo hoo. No real job yet. We just wanted to pop in and say hi! Come visit us! We won't be home too long for Thanksgiving, probably Tuesday through Thursday night. Cat has to work Black Friday.

What's going on with elfster? How does it work? Is it going to assign me a person? When? I could probably read all of this on the website, but I will let Rob explain it to me.

Blue Devils!

Here's some pictures from back in Aug. To sum up the day as a Blue Devil I'd go with...

Half naked blue people yelling, shouting, terrorizing, singing, drinking, stealing free public transportation, throwing baby powder at people, giant parade party crashing etc.

Make plans to join us next year!!!

Blue Devil Mas

Rob C. McRae
Post Sales Support Group
Rogers Communications Inc.
857 York Mills Rd,
Toronto, ON  M3B 1Z1
Email: rob.mcrae@rci.rogers.com

Odyssey

I think my next year could be summed up best in an outline:

- 28OCT2009 to 19DEC2009 – Fort Sill, OK – Basic Officer Leadership Course II – Shooting, running, crawling, suffering

- 19DEC2009 to 03JAN2010 – Home

- 03JAN2010 to APR2010 – Fort Leonard Wood, MO – Engineer Basic Officer Leadership Course –Building and blowing stuff up

- APR2010 to ???? – Southeast USA - Ranger/Sapper School – PAIN, priceless education

- ???? to ???? – Fort Lewis, WA/Overseas – 14^th Combat Engineer Battalion – Leading a platoon of combat engineers

In other recent news, I ran the Hartford Marathon in October and went to D.C. to cheer my Dad on while he ran the Marine Corps Marathon. On October 28^th, I started my 4 day driving journey to Oklahoma with two of my Army buddies from school. We stopped in Niagara Falls, Chicago, Springfield, Missouri, and Oklahoma City. It was quite the adventure (14 hour driving days on occasion) and I apologize for anyone I didn’t stop in to see along the way. I was on Army time, so I couldn’t really go off course.

Eder, myself, and McAdams at Niagara Falls, after two failed photos by Japanese and Russian tourists.

I’ll post more along with some images of my training as I progress further here. I will definitely be home for Christmas and New Years, from 20 December to 3 January. I'll be flying in and out of St. Louis, so I will be borrowing my parent's vehicles while I am home. My contact information as far as a mailing address changes frequently, but will always be listed in my Facebook profile. Make sure you let me know if you’re sending anything though, as I may not be at that address. I should have email and phone contact on a weekly basis though. Hope to see you all soon.

Kellen