Saturday, February 12, 2011

My Letter to God...

Dear God,

I don't normally write to you, since I often have conversations with you, in which your replies are either thru scripture or undeniable circumstances, only you could be responsible for; however, I watched an inspiring movie last night, which prompts me to write down this conversation to you. Most will see this as a one sided conversation, others will understand that altho it may look as if it is one-sided, it is just like your Footprints in the Sand, and I will never be alone in your love and or presence.

Thank you for the life I have, the life I live and the love I have been able to experience in my short years. Thank you for the journeys and adventures I have experienced, my family and of course, my friends. I have been blessed many times over, and sometimes forgot those blessings came from you. I know, with you, all things happen for a reason, with the BIG picture in mind - and altho I may not understand it, or may feel as if you are not hearing me, you always prove me wrong, and show me that you are ALWAYS here, and always listening.

I thank you for my blessings and the continual guidance you provide, especially when I am in need of it; especially, when I am crying out to you for help. I have learned that with you, just saying your name in my heart, will ease whatever pain may lie within. I have counted on that, and on you moreso in the last year and a half, than ever - I often feel guilty for that, but I know that you understand and know that I, as well as you, altho may not be obviously present in my daily life, are always present in my heart...even when I am not speaking to you as regularly as I should.

I pray in my heart and in my mind and ask that you watch over me, provide me guidance and keep my family safe while I am away. I also ask that in times of confusion, you provide me with some clarity and light the path in which you have laid out for me. In your name I pray, Amen.

Friday, February 11, 2011

For my Grandmother... and the crappy CONTRACTOR work...





























PLEASE GO TO MY PROFILE PAGE ON FB TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND LINK:

Tanya Zinn

This is on behalf of my Grandmother! To all that read this... Please take the pic's of Kuhn Mechanical Inc. Arkansas City, Kansas, and pass them around so people can see what kind of work they do so they can't do this to anyone else. Now, they are threatening to sue her for slander. If they don't want bad publicity, maybe they should FIX THEIR WORK!! Pass this around, please.

Kuhn Mechanical Inc. Arkansas City, Kansas
Look what this company did to my Mother's bathroom. Leaving gaps for the cold air in the worst storms they've had in 50 yrs. Costing her an extra $1700.00 to fix it. She has a 2 inch gap at the top of the door. They promised her a new shower and a shelf at the end, but never put it in writing...

Tanya Zinn His Email to my Grandma after seeing these posted:

Mell H KuhnFebruary 10, 2011 at 11:06am

Subject: Your bathroom

Marilyn from USDA inspected our work job verifying that we had fulfilled our contract (the plumbing). You have been told many tim...es that the people who paid for your new shower (Friends of man, United Way, USDA, Rural Development and KUHN Mechanical Inc [who did this job for cost]) are sending a carpenter to do his part. You are looking a gift horse in the mouth. We will seek damages if you don’t stop these misleading and slanderous accusations.
Mell H KuhnSee

Tanya Zinn My Grandma's Reply: (with some grammatical fixes)

Kuhn, you did not hear what Lonnie told me, he said he would build me shelves at the end of my shower, he did not tell me it would be an unfished job. You knew this job was going to be paid ...by rural development. I begged you to come out and look at how they tore up my bathroom, you said you were not coming to Cedarvile. I said they left big holes in my bathroom floor, you still said you would not come out. I told you Im afraid of snakes coming up through the holes, you said you guarantee if snakes come they wont bite you, your men did $1050.00 in damages to my bathroom, that I have to pay out of my pocket, three carpenters came out to my house, and said, "Have you paid them yet, I should get a lawyer, no one should have tore your bathroom up like that." The bathroom was so cold, I had to put sheets down through the holes that you left in my floor, Lonnie didn't tell me I would have to hire someone to clean up his mess, until he was ready to walk out the door. I said, "I cant live with that mess" he said, "I would have to hire a carpenter to clean up his mess." I have proof of the damage they have done. I mailed you $1030.00 check yesterday. I told you I have to be satisfied with the work that you do, you laughed and said you don't have anything to do with me getting paid. Now go on my facebook and take a LOOK at my shower there are two sets to look at!
Patty Osland
Tanya Zinn: If anyone knows of anyone we can call to help her, that would be great. She is on a fixed income can NOT afford this, as well as trying to find an attorney. Any help would be appreciated, even if it is just sending this on to someone that could help!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 3, 4 & 5 Germany Trip




Day 3/4 – 30/31 January 2011 Sunday/Monday

George’s Arrival..

I think I woke up very early.. anticipation.. excitement..
For those of you that don’t know, George and I had not spoke in about 3 years (until last summer). We went our separate ways about 4 years ago. Although we had been speaking and getting along great via email and chat throughout the last 9 months or so, I was still unsure how it would feel to have him here.. yet excited, because I know this would be great fun, with him!

He was due to arrive at about 1300, so like any nervous person, I was ready by 10 am.. LOL I went and sat in the lobby.. then down at the front gate.. 1300 came and went, and no sign of George. Now, the bad thing is, his cell phone doesn’t work over here.. so there would have been no way for him to contact me, should something have gone wrong, short of a TMOBILE phone at the airport which charges $42.00 per minute.. yes.. $42. That is not a typo.

So – I sit at the front gate, for about an hour.. and then decide to come back to the room, after letting the gate know to call me when he arrives..
Fortunately, it was within an hour or so, when I received the call and COULD NOT get to the gate fast enough.. as I was walking down and saw him there.. he was just as I had remember (only a little grayer..LOL)

All feelings of anxiousness and uneasiness disappeared and we picked up, just where we left off.. as if no time had passed.

I got him back here to the Resort, we got him settled in, and then went down for dinner. He had a pretty long day of travels.. and train debacles.. I told you – it is confusing until you get used to it.. LOL). He fell asleep pretty early.. and slept most of the next day.. which was fine, because there was nothing going on the next day – no tours planned.. as I figured he may be jet lagged..
It was good.. he slept most of Monday and then it gave us time to talk, clear the air, deal with the emotional baggage we had both carried with us for the last 4 years.. it was a very emotional evening, but a much needed, and rewarding one, at that.

Monday Night we got a phone call saying that the tour we had booked for the following day was cancelled.. so we did some research and decided to set out on our own.. risk the trains.. and find the castle ourselves… Yet, another adventure..

Day 5 – 1 February 2011 / Tuesday

Linderhof Castle on our own

So, we figured out how to get to the Castle.. we think.. so we headed out of the Resort, caught a taxi to the train station and then checked out the bus schedule. We had to take a couple busses, but, fortunately, with little confusion, we made it to the castle. It was definitely an adventure, but exciting as well. We toured Linderhof Castle. The Castle was beautiful inside, a little gaudy in some rooms, but honestly, pics were not allowed to be taken inside.. I just happen to click a few off, inadvertently…

After the tour we sat and drank some Coffee with Baileys at their little CafĂ©, before heading back to the bus stop and catching a bus back. We were going to explore a little in the town, but we were cautious – as the sun was going down, and we didn’t want to be stranded in an unfamiliar location. Not understanding the bus schedule didn’t help. We were fortunate that all our busses arrived and departed within minutes of each other and we made it back to the Garmisch Train station safely. There is a little Cantina located there, so we decided to eat some Mexican food..

I know.. I know.. go all the way to Germany to get Mexican?? Okay.. give me a break.. I haven’t had real Mexican food in 9 months.. (and this was no where close to what I was craving, ultimately). One thing we have discovered is that Germany is VERY DOG friendly. Their dogs are allowed to go EVERYWHERE with you.. including restaurants. Yes.. they are even in the restaurants. Pretty neat.

After dinner, we made our way back to the resort to collapse from the long day. The following day we were scheduled to go to Walt Disney’s Castle..

Day 1 & 2 - Germany


Night 1 - 28 January 2011

Because I was early, my Junior Suite was not ready, so they put me in a temporary single room.. Which, at this point – did not matter. Seriously.. I was soo excited to be here… so exhausted from traveling that I just wanted to get in a room.. (The anal retentive side of me wanted to get in MY room and unpack…) but, I pushed that aside and enjoyed the temporary room. I took my bags to my room (which BTW – one of them alone weighed more than 60 lbs.. and let me tell you.. 60lbs is A LOT when you drop it on your toe (on the train)… Anyhow, I got sidetracked.. I went downstairs to the buffet and had a real meal…and a glass of wine – (which, BTW – did not really get me as buzzed as I thought it would..) got my belly full, then went back to my room.. and took a LONG HOT SHOWER.. with no flip flops on.. in a regular bathroom.. all to myself..

Seriously people.. it is the little things.
I went to bed after my shower and slept til about 7am the next morning!


Day 2 – 29 January 2011
I woke up early.. considering the travels I had just experienced.. but I didn’t want to sleep away my time here..  (Besides.. I can sleep when I’m dead… LOL..) sorry.. probably bad joke.. but you get the point.. “I don’t want to miss a thing!”
I took a wake up shower.. got dressed and then walked the 5 minute walk to the German base to get a few things from the PX.. yes.. because I forgot to tell you that SATO screwed me on my luggage. I was supposed to have authorized 2 bags.. max weight of 50 lbs each.. NO.. when I got to the Kuwait counter.. they told me my itinerary only authorized me 50 lbs TOTAL.. HA!! My ONE bag was 60 lbs (as I eluded to earlier)… so the 2nd bag, which was supposed to be checked.. was not.. and guess what.. yea.. that was my toiletry bag.. uuh huh.. you see where this is going??? Yes.. I was able to get thru Kuwait airport carrying on said bag.. but when I arrived in Frankfort and had to go thru security there, all my toiletries.. (more than $60.00 worth of hair products, lotions, etc.. were thrown out by security).. I wanted to cry.. I had to have all that stuff SENT to me in Afghanistan by Drugstore.com.. because they just don’t sell it there.. so not only did I lose the products and their values.. but just the fact that I had to order it, wait for it to arrive.. and it was good, expensive stuff..LOL)

Sorry.. sidetracked again.. anyhow.. SO – I had no toiletries.. no hair products for my naturally curly hair which gets really frizzy and AFROish if I don’t put some kind of product in it.. so – to the PX I went.
I bought some new stuff.. and probably a few things more than what I really needed.. but.. it felt good to shop in a real store again.. LOL

After my shopping excursion, I walked back to the Resort and checked at the counter to see if my room was ready.. fortunately, it was.. so I packed up my stuff.. and moved rooms..

I spent the rest of the day tooling around the Resort, unpacking, and chilling out in my room..




















Wednesday, February 9, 2011

25-28 January 2011 - The journey to Germany

28 January 2011


I’m not sure what day of the week it is, or even the time for that matter....I'm pretty sure it's Friday, because my birthday falls on a Saturday this year, and today is the 28th.

I started this journey about 1400 on Tuesday, the 25th of January, from NKC in Kabul... I left there and headed to ISAF, where I awaited a helo ride to Bagram. I sat there for about an hour and a half when I was finally picked up.

After a short ride in a helo, I arrived at Bagram with a young marine, enroute to redeploy. We arrived at the helo terminal and fortunately Jessica came and picked us up to take us to the passenger terminal for our outbound flights.

Once checking in at Bagram Counter for my trip, at about 1600, I was told to be back at midnight for a brief. I went to the USO and sat and watched TV and waited for Trisha to come in.  (She was coming in as I was leaving!)  At midnight Trisha came in, from her trip so my brief was delayed...now it was set to 0100..

So we caught up a little and then I went to my brief...by the time it was over we were told to be back for roll call at 0500 to palletize our bags, we were headed to Kuwait on a 0700 flight...

So I stayed in the terminal waiting...0600 came and, we palletized our bags, now we were ready; there about 150 of us...unfortunately our flight was delayed for hours; we really didn't leave till about 1200 noon time but we had been on lock down, so we were all a bit tired and hungry. The plane we were on was big...very big...and fortunately they put seats up and we weren't just on the nets..

We did ride to Kuwait with human remains, so once we arrived at our location, we all had to disembark and pay tribute doing a ramp ceremony. Then we all re-boarded and continued on for another 20 minutes or so to Kuwait military side. This flight as a whole, was so long, we were so tired. Most of us slept the whole time

We arrived in Kuwait about 1600, where we had to attend 3 more briefs, processing our paperwork.. Finally at 2100 we were released, with tents to sleep in...and told to check back the next day after 1000...

It seems thats what the military is good at..brief after brief..and causing a lack of sleep for us..

After stuffing. Myself with McDonalds for the first time in 8 months, I called home and then got some much needed sleep.

I woke up and started tossing and turning about 4 and finally gave up about 7. You would figure that after the lack of sleep..I would have slept for like 12 hours..

I left Kuwait about 1730 on a bus to international airport. I transferred to another bus a while later, which then brought me (and about 6 other personnel flying overseas) to the Kuwait international airport. We arrived about 1900, and check-in wasn’t until 2130. We wouldn’t even board until about 0045, so we sat at a coffee shop, and killed time. We all arrived in Frankfort about 0600, where I then transferred to a flight to Innsbrook, Austria.

Once I arrived in Innsbrook, I had to take the train (The Europe Train System is an Awesome thing, but sooo very confusing at first). Because I was unfamiliar with the train system, Isat on the train and passed my stop. Which then led me to going all the way to Munich and then back tracking to Garmisch. In all, I spent an extra 2-3 hours on the train… great learning experience.. but miserable after traveling for 4 days with 2 big suit cases in tote. The good thing is, I was really in no hurry per se. So, knowing I was lost, had a dead cell phone battery and NO internet reception – I just sat back, and enjoyed the view, knowing I would eventually get there.

Today it was a little cold..The scenery was that out of a book, postcards you would buy and send home of snow covered alps, and beautiful quaint little towns..

I passed thru Austria in to Germany and finally arrived in Garmisch. I took a taxi from the Train station to Eidelweiss, and was definitely ready for this journey to continue!

More to follow...