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My book is out! Click the link below to buy it! Residential Aliens Anthology : Volume I Edited by Lyn Perry 5 October 2008: Aren't you excited? Hello, hello, hello and a thousand times HELLO! It's been AGES since I've taken the time to write a nice long e-mail to everyone. This is, of course, very bad. However! I'm here now with another promise to get better about it in the future. Also know that when I deploy I will resume the weekly updates, under a new name that I may let you guys pick. Lots and lots of things have happened since we last talked, most of which I don't remember, so bear with me as I bring you up to date! First and foremost in my mind right now is Jamie's surgery, which will be tomorrow October 6th. She's having the <a href="http://www.webmd.com/diet/weight-loss-surgery/what-is-gastric-bypass-surgery">Gastric Bypass</a> to help her lose weight. And she's already started! Just this month she has lost over thirty pounds on the pre-surgery diet. Let me tell you, that diet is a real killer! Protein shakes, steamed veggies, and salad: That's all she's allowed to have right now. Next week, it will be nothing but the shakes, the clear ones, and various broths. It will not be easy, but it is so worth it. I am obsessed with getting Jamie healthy and keeping her that way. She has to outlive me, and I plan to live a very long time. Obviously, please include her in your prayers over the next year or so for that. She'll be able to eat "normal food" in about six to eight weeks depending on her body and how well it heals. Also, my unit was kind enough to let me go for Monday and Tuesday so that I can be with her throughout the ordeal. Thank God for a good chain of command! This past month I have been at the National Training Center in Ft Irwin, Ca training to be a good soldier when I grow up, whenever that may be. As far as deployments go, it wasn't bad. We got there on September fourth and spent most of our time them getting everything ready to go: signing for laser tag equipment, getting similar equipment installed on all the vehicles, and repacking my bag for the zillionth time. I also over paid for a lot of food and ate a whole bunch of free Army fare... I can't say which was better really. On the sixteenth, we moved out into "the box", which is where the main simulation begins. Basically, we went from "Kuwait", Ft Irwin main post, to "Iraq", or "the box". I won't lie, everything was pretty crude, but the training was still great! I spent the first six days inside our little FOB answering radios and trying various experiments with Solaris, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Fedora via the VirtualBox software produced by Sun. On the seventh and eighth days in the box... I was sent out on patrol. My platoon sergeant, or "Smoke" in artillery terms, stuck me in the gunner's hatch of an m1151, or up armored humvee. Yeah... real fun. These humvees have gotten heavier since last I rode in one, so it tried its darndest to beat me up between our FOB and out destination. After performing a brief escort mission, we were placed on an eight hour patrol/guard where we walked around our little village and sat in our humvee alternatively. During our last walk around the village: BOOM! fizzzzz.... two simulate 155mm artillery shells went off right next to all four of us. The IED was well concealed and happened to be about one quarter the size of a real 155mm. None the less, we were blown into simulated smithereens and brought back to camp... after I was dropped a few times of course. Then, we were dumped, with all our gear, into the "morgue", which lacked any kind of refrigeration whatsoever. You can imagine what four corpses begin to smell like after a while in a hot tent. Of course, we weren't really dead, but we did begin to stink, trust me. Later on that evening we went back to our own FOB and, with the help of two voodoo priests and a Mexican, we were brought back to life. Yay! Of course, we went straight back onto patrol all the way into the next day when we were supposed to close up and head home. We did.... but much later than we were supposed to, and no one knows why. *Sigh* Ah well, they say that NTC isn't really for vet.s, but for new privates and commanders. That is very, very true. All in all, I'd say that I had a good rotation and that I am as prepared as possible to go to Iraq... on the Army side of things. I'm still not looking forward to going. I get home, open my in-box, and find that I have been blog tagged. And when tagged in such a way, one has to respond. First, I have to post the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random thoughts about yourself
4. Tag six or so people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted First thing's first: I was tagged by published author and aspiring public speaker <a href=http://robiley.blogspot.com/> Roberta Ley </a> . She easily one of my favorite people out there in the bloggosphere, so check her out. And now I have to write six random thoughts about myself: 1) I am a very random person 2) I love cats 3) I've always loved writing 4) My Dad's wanting to get into writing too (YAY!) 5) My favorite food is Pizza 6) I can't normally count this high, but the rules were numbered, so I cheated. So here are some tags! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/id/A13E2WDYSRUWRV/ref=cm_blog_blog/103-0301913-3814252"> Caprice Hokstad </a> She's recently released her second book, "Nor Iron Bars A Cage". <a href="http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/user_id/kouter"> Kouter </a> One of those folks who will make it big, and soon I think <a href="http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/user_id/kouter"> Art Allen </a> Ft Hood Navigator and a wonderful friend. Call me lazy or what you will... I just don't know all that many people who blog, and the blogs I do read, I don't really know the person, so these are the best I can do, and really, Art's not so much a blogger, but I figure he ought to if he doesn't(I know, I'm mean :D) I'll be letting them know here in just a minute which will complete my tag, or incomplete it since I don't know that many folks.
In other news: Marcher Lord Press launched! I'm almost as excited about this as Jeff Gerke, the founder of MP and WhereTheMapEnds.com. MLP is the first publisher, however small, that is devoted to Christian Speculative Fiction and I pray that it does as well as I think it will, if not better. Check it out at MarcherLordPress.com ! Over the past few months, a lot has been going on, but to summarize it all here would take an already long e-mail and turn it into a full fledge novel of 400,000 words or more. Rather than doom you all to trying to read such a thing, I'll just hope that everyone didn't do as I did and followed the events of the world going on around us. I truly hope that everyone is doing well, and I pray that God would bless you all. Until next time -- Glyn 8 June 2008: I've edited the story, so if you've read it, READ IT AGAIN! Oh, and give some feedback while you're there. 6 June 2008: Okay! A little bit late, but here it is! Check out my new story in the SS area! I would call the last week and a half "The Chronicles of the House Husband." That's what I've been, after all.
This last month and a half, so much has happened that this e-mail threatens to be long before I even start. I'll talk a little bit about my eyes. I'll discuss Jamie's recent surgery, and I'll take some time to discuss happenings with my unit and so on.
So first up, let's talk about me. My eyes, which I should have coverred in the previous missal, were operated on May 6th to correct my vision. So far, I'm doing pretty good. I can see well enough, not 20/20 yet, but getting there. I am still somewhat sensitive to sunlight, but that is fading too.
Now on to Jamie's surgery. On May 27th, Jamie went under the knife to fix her bunioned foot. It was to the point that she wouldn't be able to walk much longer, and the doctor jumped the date up from July 15th to then to make sure the surgery would be successful. When the doctor got in there, the bone was soft. Very, very soft, but by then, the procedure was too far ahead to stop. After his cuts, he went to secure the bones with a screw. The bone fractured!
Dismayed, he stopped and x-rayed. Sure enough, fine cracks could be seen around the screw. With four pins he secured that site and started another screw, but that started to soften up, too! So he set four more pins and closed up. By that time, I was beginning to worry.
When the doctor came out to me, he was still in his surgical gown, gloves, and so on. His eyes were wide and his speech was fast and difficult to follow, yet his hand were completely steady. He told all that happened, and that she would be out of recovery in moments. Actually, she was already out of recovery by time we finished talking. She was very awake, general anesthetic and all.
What the doctor told both of us was that her healing time was lengthened by months. He didn't ANY pressure to be on that foot EVER, for any reason. Also, he wanted to order tests to see if all her bones were like that, or just that foot, and why. For obvious reasons, he was concerned, and so am I.
So, I pestered them for a new letter to my unit. This one needed to say all that the doctor told us and then some. It had to be some letter, for it had to convince my unit to keep me on leave for four more weeks on top of the two they already gave me. To keep this short, it failed. My unit was only willing to extend my leave till the next Monday. After that, I'm supposed to be able to go home whenever I needed to care for my family. Erm... yeah. I think anyone can see the problem with that: HELLO! She can't do anything at all for herself! ANYTHING. AGH! I just couldn't seem to get this across to them, so there I am: stuck.
Now, before we go hating on my unit, I should remind everyone, including myself, that they did grant my leave in the first place, and even extended it a bit so that I could care for my beloved. Technically, they didn't have to do that. Now, it may be painful, but at least we're through the worst of it. She's down to two pain pills a day, and can hop and wheel around the house somewhat without help. I just pray that she can get along okay without me when the time comes.
So here is what I need! I need everyone to pray that God would heal her foot. I mean speed healing people. Seriously, stop what your doing and pray! Pray hard! Beg if necessary. Oh, and while you're at it, head over to prisoneralert.com and pray for those folks, and then go to the anomaly and check out those prayer requests too. Oh! And check out my own PR page and see what's there.
Speaking of which, I'm posting a new story on my site. It's about 1200 words long, so it's really short. Hopefully, I'll have some new pics to put up soon, too. I want everyone to see my new house and the even newer floors we just installed.
So until next time, let God guide you in all that you do, and may His grace and love illuminate your path and fill your heart with His love. God bless you all. Good night!
30 May 2008: Just updated some PRs. I'll be sending out an update soon! 22 April 2008: I've ogtten lazy and just sent out the last update on E-mail, please e-mail me if you want a copy. As for the site, I've uploaded the Wedding photos taken by Crystal Godin. Check them out! 13 April 2008: (It seems that I am getting these out about once a month) Greetings friends and family!
The planets have finally aligned in such a way as writing would be fortuitous. Okay, so I don't believe in all that either, but I had to have some excuse, right? So this time, I'll be giving everyone an update on my life. This includes, but is not limited to some details about our church life, website updates, and the usual insanities that you have all come to know and tolerate ... er ... love.
The first thing we need to do is apologize to all of you for not being more communicative. We're still adjusting to our new life together and it seems that by time we're done with everything we need to do each day, it is already time to collapse into bed and begin the day anew. As far as excuses go, this isn't a good one, but it is all we have.
Next up we wanted to make something official. Ever since our departure from the Single's group, we've become less and less satisfied with First Baptist's style of worship and the Sunday school lessons presented. So, just to try something new, we went to the memorial chapel On-Post. To call it a world of difference would not do it justice. The next Sunday we went back and had a similar experience, but with a different chaplain preaching. We've been going there for weeks now, and we've already seen a marked improvement in our spiritual lives, not to mention we've been able to get some family member to go with us. Some of these hadn't been to church in years. Whether this will be our permanent home or not we are not sure, yet, but I doubt we will return to FBC. Especially with the church about to undergo the flux of moving.
Now on to a lighter subject! Yesterday, we finally got our wedding pictures! They were great, and I should be posting some of them to the site later on today. In the mean time, Jamie posted some on our myspace. Chances are, we'll end up posting many of the same photos, but not all. Let me know what you think!
The dogs are doing well. Jackson is growing by leaps and bounds, and we've had to switch them to a twice a day feeding schedule to keep up with it. We've also had to install a doggy gate to keep the dogs out of the bathroom with the "Buffet" in it. By buffet Ind mean litter box, but from a canine perspective, it is a buffet. This does not mean that they don't still get in there, oh no, but it makes it less convenient. At least my house doesn't smell like buffet anymore.
We've also gotten a new fence put in. It's a beautiful privacy fence. Unfortunately, it has lots of lovely gaps so that Shelby and Jackson can get out of the fence. So we've had to... modify it. At least until the ground settles. Then it won't be an issue. I tried to get Jamie to let me get an auto-tracking .50 cal, for security purposes mind you, but she said no. Instead we installed some garden pavers at the low spots with steaks to keep them upright.
So, you're up to date! Once again, we apologize for our lack of contact. This especially goes out to Thomas, Sephanie, Curtis, and Candi. Take care and God bless you all. -- G. Glyn Shull Jr.
18 March 2008: Greetings! What follows is an irregular update on my life. By reading the following, you are admitting to be interested to some degree.
So, the wedding ceremony went off without a hitch, excuse the pun, and we are doing fine. The week after the ceremony Jamie and I closed on our beautiful house. It's off of Ft Hood St/ 195, just past the Stan Schluetter Loop. The area is mostly brand new. In fact, most of the houses around us are still under construction.
The animals are adjusting well; although, without a fence, life hasn't been too easy for the dogs. Good thing Cheyenne and Jackson don't need leashes. The only time I have to tie them up is if I'm going to leave them out there for a few minutes. Shelby on the other hand, still likes to run off without me. So yeah... she gets the leash.
Work is already picking back up. We've begun the usual training blitz. None of us have done our jobs in over a year, not all of it anyway, so we're trying to train back up. Here's the kicker though: we don't have our vehicles, yet. So we've been studying manuals and such that detail our job and how to do it.
I've also put in paperwork in an attempt to get lasik eye surgery, or PRK, through the Army. Don't cringe, they've been doing it for years now, and no one has ever complained... now whether this is due to the casualty rate or there being nothing to complain about I'll leave to you.
The Anomaly, of which I speak rather often, is booming. This brings me much happiness and joy. As this group grows, so does my support group for writing. If you haven't been by there, then I highly recommend that you go. Even if it is just for a visit. To get there, just walk off the map...
This e-mail has gotten long enough, so I'll send you all off with my fervent blessing. I hope to send out another here soon, not to mention some frequent web site updates. That said, God bless you all and may His joy inundate your very soul.
In His name -- Geary Glyn
27 February 2008: The Wedding pics are up! Check them out in my Pictures section. I also plan to send out an upate here in a day or two, so stay tuned! 19 February 2008: I had forgotten to mention that the Wedding will be at 5:00... All plans are proceeding on schedule, so I'll see you there! 18 February 2008: This week is going to be very, very busy. Wednesday, Jamie is going to walk through the house with the builder and I have Staff Duty. Staff Duty is a 24 hour watch, but I get the next day off to sleep. Thursday we close on the house. Friday people start arriving, and we have our rehearsal dinner... at my house. And Saturday is the Big Event! Wow... it is hard to believe that it is finally here.
Now for some information about the ceremony. Its location has changed to my Sister in-law's house. If you need to address, just call or e-mail and I will get it to you.
And... we have a new puppy. His name is Jackson, Jack for short, and he is an eleven week old springer spaniel. If I had to describe him using one word, it would be cute. If you gave me another, I would say... whiney. The latter, we are taking care of. Slowly but surely. The former is already good.
This brings you up to date as far as I know. Should something change, I'll post it on the site.
14 February 2008: This week just gets better and better doesn't it? Yesterday, Jamie suffered a TIA, or Mini-stroke. She is more or less recovered, but your prayers would be appreciated. When she goes to teh doctor to follow from the ER, she's going to ask to see a cardiologist because her heart was larger than it should have been. Gee, Jamie, always knew you had a big heart... The good enws is that the house is going as planned, and it looks like we will be able to close on the 21st as scheduled. Also, My site hits are doubled from what they were last week, which means that someone has figured out that I'm updating more often. Yay! Indeed, I'll try to update almost every day as weather and time permit. Finally, PR has been updated, and I'l send out an e-mail this weekend to bring everyone up to date, 11 February 2008: Over the weekend, Jamie's uncle Doug passed. Herfather will be flying to Florida on Wednesday to attend the funeral. Please pray for him and the family as they all struggle with their grief and travel. Also, yesterday Jamie's great-uncle(on her mother's side) passed away. Although no one was very close to him, he was still family. Yesterday evening we get a call from Jamie's friend Michael. He had gotten ino a motorcycle accident over the week end and might lose his leg. So....yeah... I think we can safely call this a bad weekend. The good news is that I did get my equipment inventoried. Of three pages of stuff, I'm missing 11. It sounds like a lot, but most of it is gloves or things that I will never have to turn in. 9 February 2008: Well, the builder has signed the contract, and we are on the road towards home ownership. There are some hurdles yet to cross, mostly the limited time frame. We are set to close on the 21st of February. We should be squared away and ready to go on time, but it will be close, very close. 8 February 2008: The builder says that he's going to sign the contract and begin the process of selling us the house this morning. He was supposed to do it yesterday, but I guess he never even went to his office. Please pray for us. Also, I plan to start updating this site more frequently. Whether it be new material, or more blogs, something will be added several times a week. Speaking of which, I've added to my Prayer Request list, so please check that out. Once I have the house for sure, I'll try to post some pics of it, too. 7 February 2008: If you've read my recent update, you know that my wife and I are looking for a house. Well, we found one last week... and let it go. It had too many problems with it, most of which sprung from the home "repairs" and "upgrades" the previous owners had done. I wish them luck in selling that house, they need it. So now, we've found another one. This one is brand new, still in the package even. Any problems we find with the place are warrantied for a year, and the foundation for ten years, so even if we do find a problem, they'll fix it. Needless to say, we're hyped. Besides being newer, and a little costlier, it's also much, much bigger. 4 BR, 2 BA, a master bath to die for, and a living room that seats twenty. Okay, not twenty, but it's huge. The kitchen is great and it has a little dining room/nook off of the kitchen. So there ya go! If you missed the update, or just want a copy, drop me a line and I'll send it to you. 29 Jan 2008: Okay, I've updated my PR page and converted the WD for storage. Please take a look and pray. Thanks! 28 Jan 2008: Eeek! Has it really been this long? Okay, well, I'm going to be sending out an e-mail with all the updates on it, so I'll leave that for now. I also plan to start a regular routine with sending those out, just not on a weekly basis. I'll explain more when I get the e-mail out. Till then, I now have a button for my book! Please click it and buy one. It'll really make my day! Residential Aliens Anthology : Volume I Edited by Lyn Perry Look! A link to the anomaly!  C'mon, click it. You know you want to. |
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