Narrowing the "unofficial" list

I have in my hot little hands an unofficial listing of the places that may be available next year when we rotate. Am I totally insane not to jump at the chance to go to Hawaii or St. Thomas (USVI) for 3 years? I am tired of being hot, sweaty and on a rock in the middle of an ocean. For the love of Pete, I want to wear sweaters and mittens again! I want to teach Connor how to make a snow angel before he graduates. I really want to see my boonie dog (born and raised in Guam) high stepping in the snow the first time she steps outside to pee.

I am disappointed that Sturgeon Bay, WI and Massena, NY aren’t on this unofficial list. And we are only looking at the list for DH’s current rank. The list for the Chief cut is expected any freaking day now. But, we aren’t getting our hopes up…he wrote a 21 on the test which is really awesome (21st out of 98-ish people), but then they take into consideration other things like time in service, time in current rank, etc. and he was bumped down to 51. He can’t help it that he is ambitious and is taking the Chief exam after being in only 7 years, and current rank only 2 years. Stinks that it works against him. He is planning on taking the test again next year since advancing more than 50 is highly unlikely. They did 30-something last year.

Anyhoo…we poured over the list tonight, crossing off places that I wouldn’t go to (Miami, Los Angeles, Staten Island, etc.) and places that he didn’t think he would enjoy working at, and this is what is left:

Juneau, AK

Ketchikan, AK

Cape Cod, MA

Charleston, SC

Savannah, GA

Paducah, KY

Duluth, MN

Portland, OR

The main things that we are taking into consideration are the cost of living, the housing market and DH’s commute. If anyone has any insight on these locations, please feel free to comment or drop me a line.

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This weekend was pretty relaxing. We went to the beach today. DH snorkeled and looked for slingstones. Didn’t find any. Did see another blue starfish. Connor made friends with 3 very inquisitve girls. “Who picked out his name?” “He has brown eyes, is his Daddy Chamorro?” “Does he have his Mommy’s last name or his Daddy’s?” “So, is he 100% American?” The one that really made me laugh was, “Where is he going to go to school?” The kid is only 6 months old…we have a while for that. They were cute girls though.

On Saturday, we did more Beautifying of the CNMI. Actually, I kept Connor occupied and Jim did the beautifying. You can see a babelicious photo of the group on Angelo’s blog. I highly recommend clicking on the photo to enlarge it and check out my son. He is looking kinda odd. Actually, we are all looking kinda odd in that photo.

I am such a dork, when we got in the car to go home, I said to DH, “So where was this Latte Stone that we were cleaning up around?” He of course gave me the seriously? look. You know the one with the raised eyebrows and the head cocked to one side. He then answered, “Right where we took the picture in the jungle.” To which I replied, “Oh”, ever so softly.

There are pictures on Cinta’s blog from the other time that we did some beautifying…lots of fun family shots. I love them all, except for the one of Connor in the Moby all crooked and wonky. Cinta is such a kind hearted person, I am glad to have finally met her.

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A final though (said without any Jerry Springer-ish tone)…when you think you are having a bad hair day, be glad that you aren’t our dog, Lady.

DH decided that she was hot, so he cut her hair. The good thing is that she doesn’t shed as much.

Peace