Scoop: Nepal Trip

Unfortunately, I do not know a ton about my upcoming trip yet. I wish I did! I am itching for more info. Here is what I do know:

This mission is not with Medical Teams International, as it was when I went to Cambodia. Humanitarian organizations only serve certain countries, and since I had my heart set on going to Nepal, I had to find a group that serves there. Introducing Global Dental Expeditions.

I leave April 16th and will be gone for 3 weeks. (I promise I will blog as much as I can!)

We will spend 2 weeks doing dentistry in the capital city of Kathmandu, then we will fly up into the Himalaya and go trekking. We will trek the Mt. Everest trail. We won't make it all the way into base camp, but we will at least get to see the mountain.

I do not know my team or how big it will be. I won't meet them until I get there.

That's it! Frustrating, huh?! I will post more as I learn more.

Seattle-to-Portland 2011

Because the opportunity to create friction sores that bleed through spandex is an opportunity that Dale and I cannot pass up, we signed up for the Seattle-to-Portland bicycle classic this coming July.

If you remember, we participated in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, Dale spent the summer focusing on climbing Mt. Rainier (after the avalanche he attempted it again and was successful...still on my to-do list of blog posts), and I spent the summer not riding a bicycle. How did I spend my summer? I don't know. It's kind of a blur. But I do remember the weekend of the STP, and the two of us were bummed knowing it was going on without us.

So, the next question on everyone's mind is, will we ride it in one day or two? If you ask Dale, he'd tell you we'd do it in one day. But we'd stop half way, climb Mt. Rainier, then finish up the ride. He'd be all, what? WE TOTALLY COULD.

Brittany's Senior Pics

Back a few months ago (so sad is my lack of blogging that now my posts begin with back a few months ago...) Anyway, a few months ago my Cambodia team met up for another reunion, and a couple days before our party I got an email from Brittany. Little refresher: Brittany is Franklin's daughter...Franklin was our team leader and Brittany came along as his assistant. That was like a year ago, I know.

So this email was basically one brief question. Hey Jessica, if you are going to bring your camera to the party, do you think you could take a picture of me so I could use it in the yearbook?

And I was all, um, no. Brittany, dear, let's do this right. So we came up with a plan to meet a few hours beforehand and do a real photo shoot. When I picked her up, I was all DAMN GIRL, YOU CLEAN UP GOOD! We shot at Oregon Health Sciences University, and didn't exactly have weather or daylight on our side, so we worked quickly.

We both fell in love with the same image, and this is the official yearbook picture. She is leaning up against the dental building here, which seems appropriate since she wants to follow in her father's footsteps. This is one of those photos that is equally beautiful in black and white as it is in color.

Bells

I think I'll keep her.

Random Story #314

I have no idea what has possessed me to share this story, but it popped into my mind this morning and well, here we are.

I was in Las Vegas with my office for a dental convention. It was 2006, and I was 6 months pregnant with Rowan. It was really hot, as it is there most of the year, and I was laying out by the pool by myself. I don't remember why I was alone...oh wait, yes I do...we only had like 2 hours before we were all to meet to head to the airport, and most of my coworkers wanted to head down the strip to shop and see some of the other casinos. Well, I'd been to Vegas several times before this, and I knew how time and distance seems to escape people there, and I wasn't about to join them and risk missing my flight on my boss' dime. No way. So there I was, sunbathing alone amongst strangers at the MGM pool.

I was at the point in my pregnancy where I definitely looked pregnant, but I wasn't big and waddly and swollen. I thought I looked cute. I had confidence. I rocked a hot pink bikini.

In the sweltering upper 90 degree desert heat, I decided a smoothie was just what the baby needed. I wrapped a sarong under my belly, tied it into a knot at my hip, and made my way to the outdoor bar.

I got a few sideways glances from passersby for being pregnant and bare-bellied, but I didn't think too much of it. I was was standing in line behind a middle-eastern man. He turned around and looked right at me, lowered his eyes to my abdomen, looked me dead in the eye again, then turned back around. This man wasn't Indian, he wasn't Hispanic, He was a Muslim, and probably had ties to Al-Qaeda. Women in his culture don't even show much of their veiled faces or any of their bodies, lest their pregnant bellies. I was an infidel of the worst kind. I'd had sex with my husband, and there I was, brazenly showing the world the result. This man, I was sure, was furiously praying to Allah to strike me down. I wanted to bolt from the line to the safety of my hotel room. Surely the Taliban would soon be on the hunt for me.

The man turned around again. He was smiling and had kindness in his eyes. In perfect English, he said, "You're pregnant. That's great! I deliver babies for a living, I'm an OB-GYN. It's a beautiful thing. Well...good luck to you."

The moral of the story?

Don't stereotype people.

Frosty Outside...Frosty Inside

With lots of concern on my Facebook page, I thought I'd share the full story how our furnace picked a fine time to leave us.

We woke up Jan 1st to 2011 and an awfully chilly house. Dale checked the thermostat, bumped up the heat, and went about making coffee and breakfast.

But the heat never came on.

So, being Mr. Handyman Troubleshooter, he tore into it. The motor, he found, had taken a poop. Great timing, considering we are in the middle of a COLD SNAP!! And there is frost on the ground that has no intentions of going away any time soon. In fact, it may even snow later this week!



Yesterday, we drove all over Olympia from one industrial parts store to another. This, we soon discovered, was a tall order. Finding a store that was A) open on a holiday, and B) carried precisely what we needed...needless to say we returned empty handed to a very cold home.

But don't worry about the Ackleys! Dale ordered said part online and by Wednesday our house should warm with the cozy hum of a working furnace. In the mean time, in addition to wearing down coats to battle the inside temp of 47 degrees, we have a fireplace downstairs. It is extremely inefficient at heating this big, old house, but it's better than nothing.



The real saving grace, though, is Rowan's room. The first few years living in this house, we discovered that that particular bedroom, with three exterior walls, was impossible to heat in the winter. So Dale installed a heater into the wall. Here is the sleeping arrangement:



I find it kind of funny that we all congregate to Rowan's room to seek relief from the cold. In the summertime, our bedroom is the only place in the house that has air conditioning. When the really hot spells hit, we all sleep in there, like weary little refugees.

If You Can Figure This Out, I'll Think You're the Coolest Person Ever

There is something that has me completely baffled.

See, since signing up for my mission to Nepal, I have been doing my homework. I have to know what to expect about the place, such as, the climate, the currency, the local customs, and will there be a Starbucks along the Everest trail? (Actually, yes.)

So the other day I pull up the world clock app on my iPod to see the time difference between Seattle and Kathmandu. I think it's pretty well known that if it is, say, 2:38 here it is 11:38 somewhere else and 6:38 somewhere else, but it would never be 2:38 here and 12:52 somewhere else. No, it would never be like that.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

My iPod read something completely wacky, like Seattle 6:00, Kathmandu 8:45. And I was all, This damn thing is broken! Later on, I investigated this matter further by pulling up an online world clock. Sure enough...check this out. Look at all the other time zones. They are all normal. They play by the rules. Kathmandu is clearly the black sheep. It flicks it's cigarette and says, Don't tell me what to do.

Seriously, folks. WHY IS THIS?? Does anyone know?

I'll Serve My Next Mission In...

Hello From Lake Tahoe

Happy to be in Lake Tahoe...Sad my camera's battery read full when we left the house, but now, for some unknown reason, it is dead. (I'd only shot five pictures.)

Happy to be here during a full blown snow storm...Sad all routes out of here require us crossing very high passes where the snow is measured in feet. (The news says stay put if you can.)

Happy to be able to see many great friends all together in one place this morning...Sad to watch a friend of nineteen years be put into the ground today. (Sharon, your kids carefully chose your plot with a view of the lake.)

Exciting News! (No, I'm Not Pregnant)

I was going through my hard drive last night and came across this photo, taken my last day in Cambodia while we were touring the Angkor Wat temple.



If you read my blog, you may remember I was planning a return trip to Cambodia to attend my friend Ratha's wedding. That would have been at the end of August.

I ended up cancelling that trip. I also cancelled a mini-triathlon I was training for around that time. I rescheduled photo shoots, stopped blogging, and basically dropped out of life for a few months. I took that time to simplify my life. I was exhausted from always living life at full speed, doing things that weren't always best for me, but for others. I got over my fear of disappointing others and saying no. I spent less time on the computer and more with my kids. I reconnected with my husband and realized that a strong marriage must come before EVERYTHING else. Yes, that's a biggie.

One thing that will always be important to me is going on missions. Water, food, shelter, my husband and family, a good job, and humanitarian work...see, it ranks right up there on top.

With that said, my gypsy feet have been itching to travel again. So a few months ago, I signed up to serve another dental mission. This trip will be for 3 weeks, leaving mid-April. Words cannot express how excited I am to go again.

Guess how mean I am? I am not even telling you where I am going! Not yet!! I am cruelly going to make you guess, and I'll divulge the location later on.

Leave a comment and tell me where you think I'll be going. And you can't guess if I've already told you! Here are three hints:

1. It is in Asia
2. It is not Cambodia
3. I'll need a warm coat and trekkiing poles

Halloween Pictures

Wow. It's been so long since I have blogged I can barely remember the HTML code to post pictures. I'd love to share the last four months with y'all...

Anyway.

Here are some pictures from Halloween last night.

Another Check on Life's List

Congratulations, Dale. At 8:01 this morning you reached the summit of Mt. Rainier. I am so proud of you. Way to not give up! I will see you soon.

Don't Waste Your Money on Therapy and Antidepressants, Just Visit the Third World

I came back from Cambodia in January a different person. The experience changed my values, my relationships with my husband and kids, my view of money, my view of my own country and it's government and it's definition of poverty, and most of all, it changed my thoughts. I returned home feeling like the luckiest person in the whole world.

Stuff just didn't bug me anymore like it used to. I saw the positive side of every situation. For months, I rode that high. It was the best feeling ever (well, one of the best, heh). I saw the world through new eyes. I was grateful for everything. Knowing my children have access to education, opportunities, health care, food, and clean water. And hope. I'll never have to endure the helpless feeling of watching my children starve or die from treatable diseases. I'll never have to make the unthinkable decision of abandoning them or giving them up with the tiniest bit of hope that they will find a better life. They'll never loose a limb to a landmine, or sleep under a mosquito net, or be forced into slavery, or prostitution, or work for pennies in sweatshops so Old Navy provide us with the latest styles.

I was thankful for my home that provides me warmth, safety, security, and protection. I don't have to grill rats on the railroad tracks directly behind my shack built of sticks, right next to the bushes where I defecate. No, I don't have to do any of those things, and I knew I was lucky.

I was thankful that I have a good job. And a nice car. And a president who wants the best for my country. And freedom.

Seriously, you guys, I'd stand in my closet and think to myself, I'm so lucky to have shoes.

Do you know what it's like going through life feeling like you've struck gold? It's a feeling you never, ever want to loose.

But as I feared, I am starting to loose it.

I am starting to get hung up on stupid, trivial shit like I used to. The other day, I was in the drive-thru at my favorite coffee shop. And it was a Sunday, and it was taking forever. Why do they only employ one gal on Sundays when the rest of the week there's always two girls working? Why not spend a couple extra bucks for the second employee so the line can clip along like it usually does?? Ugh, so annoying.

Yesterday I sat down to do some photo editing, so I opened up Photoshop, and what's this? My format couldn't be recognized? As it turns out, because I have a new camera but a two-year-old version of Photoshop (I know! So ancient!) my RAW files cannot be edited. There's no way around it. Wait- there is. Upgrade from Photoshop CS3 to CS5 for a couple hundred bucks. The world heard a steady stream of expletives over that one. I was SO mad. Fuming. Pissed. Furious. Why can't life be fair!?? Why does stuff like this always have to happen??

I read a comment on an Adobe forum over this exact problem that contained the line "If you can afford the 5D Mark II, than you can afford to upgrade your software." That just made me more pissed!! I wanted to tell that guy, Look! I finally saved enough for that camera! You know, good old fashioned SAVING!! Not on credit, not borrowed, not given from mommy and daddy, but saved!! And I didn't buy it until I had enough! And I don't want to drop a few hundred more because Adobe changed the system!

The old me would have instantly thought...It's not the end of the world. I have the jpeg files as a back up. Jennifer Skog encouraged us to not bother shooting in RAW anyway. Shooting strictly in jpeg from here on out will actually improve my photography skills, since I won't rely on RAW to save my images. ...And how lucky am I to have access to such technology?

I miss the old me.

Sorry for the rant. Where was I, again?

Oh yes, Cambodia.

I can't wait to go back to Cambodia...so I can again have the feeling, every moment of everyday, that I've won the lottery.

I Could Not Think of a Title for This Post. I Really Couldn't.

This is Darold. Remember him? From my mission?



Yes, I know that was MONTHS ago, but still. I think the moment he met me he decided that it'd be his life's mission to torture me. On our trip, there wasn't a minute that passed between us when there wasn't some form of teasing, fun-making, ridicule, or joking.

The first few days in Cambodia my ankles swelled to unbelievable proportions. It must have been caused by the flight that lasted longer than the Bush Administration, then made all the worse buy the stifling heat. This was simply delightful to Darold, as it provided him with all the more to tease me about. One time he said, "Ya know, Jess....I'm trying really hard to picture you with normal sized ankles. I just can't. Maybe someday when they return to normal, you could send me a picture?" And so I actually did. A few weeks after the trip I sent him the following email and picture:

Hi Darold. I tried to take a picture of my own ankles. As one could imagine, that is a difficult shot to capture, since you have to contort your body into unnatural positions. I drew a picture of my ankles instead. They have slimmed down quite a bit, as you can see. Love you.

Anyway, I endured this harassment then entire length of the trip. Sometimes I'd get fed up and say, "Can't you be nice? Can't you JUST TRY???" Then Darold would look off in the distance, squinting his eyes as though deep in thought, wait a few moments, then look back at me and say no. Then the torment would continue on.

In other words, we got along great.

Each day after eating our lunch, a few of us would go for a walk around the neighborhood of dirt roads surrounding the orphanage (remember the alligator pit??) One day towards the very end of the mission, I was walking along with Jim (who is Darold's partner). I don't remember what led up to this, but out of the blue Jim says, "Darold is putting Ratha through school, you know." I didn't know that. But in an instant it did make perfect sense. I mean, realistically, how would an orphan have the resources to go to dental school? He wouldn't.

Here I'd spent almost two full weeks with these people and it was the first I'd heard of this. As it turns out, Darold has done this Cambodia dental trip several times and met Ratha years ago when he served at Ratha's orphanage in Phnom Penh. I don't know all the details or timeline of how this all went down, but either way, it doesn't really matter. This whole thing is just right up my alley. Maybe it's because I've always cheered for life's underdog.

Later that day I confronted Darold about what Jim had told me. Honestly, one could really brag about this. Darold could've be all Why yes, it is quite noble of me to do this, you're right, but he wasn't. When I brought it up, he was pretty nonchalant about it. What he said was along the lines of "Well..you know Ratha is just such a great kid..." He simply passed along the compliment. While I do think Darold is fat, ugly, and stupid...there's a tiny part of me that thinks he's pretty awesome. Sometimes.

And Ratha IS a great kid. I call him a kid, probably because of his stature, but he's actually 24. He is the kind of person that the moment you meet him, you just want to tuck him safely under your wing and protect him from the perils of life. He has had, buy American standards, a pretty crappy life. But like he told me, he knew how lucky he was to be given up to the orphanage at age 11 because it saved him from child prostitution. Ratha is always laughing and smiling. Always. The second day we knew each other he said, very matter-of-factly, "You are my sister." And that's what he calls me. To me he is wise beyond his years. One day we were riding along in the truck and I was wearing flip-flops. I have this little patch of spider veins along the inside of my foot that was caused by my two pregnancies. I am a little self conscious of this, so when Ratha pointed to it, for a brief moment I braced myself to be teased. "Sister," he says. "This happened because you are a mother." In his emails he writes things like, "Thank you for coming to my country with your love, skill, and kindness."

Recently Ratha shared some very exciting news. He is getting married! And he said, "Sister, I love for you to come to my wedding. But I know this very hard for you."

He's right. It would be very hard for me. I mean, go all the way to Cambodia for a wedding? Who does he think I am? That's just crazy!!

Crazy.

There is this lens that I have been saving for. It's the Canon 70-200 2.8 with Image Stabilization. Do have ANY idea the beauty I could create with a lens like that? It is HAW-SOME. And I have wanted one since I was about 12.

But lately I've been thinking...I mean...like...how bad do I really need that lens anyway? I've survived so far without it, and I can always buy it later. Someday, when I reflect back on my life, will I even think about it? In my dying moments, as my life flashes before my eyes, will I see a picture of the UPS man on my front porch with a box in his hands from B&H Photo? (Although it is entirely possible. That lens IS pretty fantastic.)

But isn't life about living? Isn't it more about the people we love...our friends, our family, our experiences, our adventures, our memories, and less about our stuff?

I made my travel arrangements yesterday.

Haley's Garden Cake

Our office threw a baby shower for Haley last week (#3! Finally a boy!) and I happily accepted the job of Cake Lady (come to think of it, though, I've been Cake Lady for all our office get togethers for the past several years). Anyhoo, I chose to do a garden cake instead of something actually baby related. The garden would represent Haley's family. I even stuck a little "wooden" sign in the garden that read:

Haley's Garden

Watch it Grow

See? It is a metaphor for her adding another child to her family. Look at me, thinking all deep! Did you know I had that side to me?