Leaving Texas

I've been back in Fresno just over 2 weeks now. I was really stressing about leaving Rockwall because I didn't want to leave Eric there. I guess I better explain that huh?

Eric's Final Journey

You may have noticed that all my adventure's involve my husband, Eric. This man has shown me the world, quite literally. He became ill on Christmas Eve 2013. On his 33rd day in the hospital he peacefully left our world. On the 41st day he was taken off of life support. While I had his hand on my chest as it raced in both fear and heartbreak, I had my hand on his chest as I felt his final heartbeat. The man who had given me enough stories to fill several books had left me.

Road Trip

We left Christmas Eve to go to Florida to pick up Eric's parents and move them in with us. We had some neat stuff planned! Eric booked us a room right on Bourbon street. Beautiful view honestly, but we were both too sick to enjoy it. We slept almost 20 hours before hitting the road again. We did manage to listen to great jazz between naps. Eric said we'll plan on coming back for about 5 days because there's a WWII museum and an aquarium we really want to see. And naturally we have to try the food! So we'll be back once his parents get settled in.

Blizzcon & Family Time

Blizzcon is something Eric and I have wanted to do for 6 years. Every year we queue up to buy tickets. They sell out in less than a second, but you never know until about 20 minutes later whether or not you were fast enough to get some. Well this year Eric was fast enough! While it's true we probably weren't financially ready for a big trip like this, we agree we needed one. It was worth it!

Perot Science Museum

It was a good trip to the Perot Science Museum. We watched "Wildest Weather in the Solar System" and Earth was not on it. Come to think of it, neither was Pluto. I guess dwarf planets aren't good enough. Rude. The first two planets are too hot to survive. One smells like farts, according to my husband, because the air is made up of nitrogen which turns into methane gas and something else for it's weather, and it rains liquid methane. Actually I think that was Titan; Saturn's big moon. Either way... stinky! None of them would be possible to live on, but I guarantee there's some engineers out there working on a way to excavate diamonds off of Neptune. The same way it rains methane on Titan is the same way it rains diamonds on Neptune. Charcoal is in the clouds. The movie made the rain looks so pretty! But ouch painful. I missed a lot of the movie because some lady decided she wanted to sit behind and have a full conversation with her 2 year old. A loud one.

6th Floor Museum

Eric's parents are in town for a visit and we decided to take his parents to the 6th Floor Museum. They both remember where they were when they heard JFK was assassinated. It was very interesting!

Camera's weren't allowed inside which is silly if you ask me. Even the Louvre allowed cameras. They just ask to turn off the flash so it doesn't ruin the paintings and photographs. But oh well. It was still very cool. I was never into history. But if you've been following this blog, you know it's much more interesting to me being in places where history actually took place.

Going through the museum and learning all the facts, then hearing all the conspiracy's was interesting. Especially when we got to the window where Oswald took his shot. Let me tell you, it looks a lot farther on television, and from the street, than standing in the window. Eric and his dad both laughed when they realized how close, and how easy of a shot it would have been. When I stood there I had no doubt in my mind he could have made that shot with the weapon that was used. It's weird to think all this conspiracy comes from people thinking it's not possible. All they need is a rifle and rifle range with 3600 meter targets. The X on the street wasn't even half that distance and you don't need to be a sharpshooter to hit that target. So with Oswald and his history, none of us had doubts. I'm not saying there wasn't another shooter. I'm just saying it's possible he did it himself.

The gift shop had something I thought was crazy interesting. It was data based on both JFK's assassination, and Lincoln's. I later learned that some of the data is flat out incorrect, but it was still interesting at the time.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. 
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. 
The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters. 
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. 
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House. 
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. 
Both were shot in the head. 
Lincoln's secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to the theatre. Kennedy's secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas. 
Both were assassinated by Southerners. 
Both were succeeded by Southerners. 
Both successors were named Johnson. 
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. 
John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939. 
Both assassins were known by their three names. 
Both names are comprised of fifteen letters 
Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse. Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater. 
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

Watching the full video of JFK's assassination was pretty awful. All this time I thought Jackie-O reached back for his hat, I didn't realize it was his head. That's something that would stay in my mind forever. What a strong woman she had to have been.

The in-laws had a great time. It was neat, and sad to hear how it affected everyone at the time. I hope it's something we never have to go through again.

Dealey Plaza

Where the car was when he was shot

From the X to the window. Not that far.

Possible 2nd shooter

Leaving California

Road trip time! So we flew to Dallas last month for a house hunting trip. We found a great one in Rockwall which is right outside Dallas. It's separated by a lake. Ooh pretty!

Fresno Visit

It's been a while since I've written. There's some pretty important details I've missed. We sold our house in New Mexico. Eric's boss moved us to Southern California. Boeing set us up in an extended stay hotel for 30 days in Seal Beach, CA. While we were there I got hooked up with a Web Development Intern job at Boeing. It was an awesome few months. I also started school at Westwood. I figure online school is best since we move so much.

Back to Germany!

Eric left for Germany January 29th. How nice that his company pays for this stuff. I am currently attending classes at NMSU so I will be flying out Feb 9th. I'm in a strange town, in our new house, all alone and with no license! What a strange predicament. I have to take a cab to school which is really only a few miles away. I'll have to take one to the airport in El Paso. I hope it's not too expensive. I don't care and I can't wait.

South Carolina

June 6-24 2005

June 7 Entry
We're in Sumter South Carolina for about 20 days. I'm crazy excited because this is the city my basic training was in. We land at the airport and everything suddenly looks familiar. The last time I was here I was scared out of my mind. I grabbed Eric's hand and pulled him around the corner. I said "I bet the people in the room over here look scared." so we walked by and looked in, sure enough! It's the dreaded room under the stairs where Sergeants come and psych you out before taking you to basic training. When I was sitting in there someone came in and said "Don't freak out, once training is over it all mellows out and I promise you will love it." If that guy hadn't said that to me I might have been a mess like a lot of the other girls in basic. Someone was already there telling them the same thing. Thank God. :)

Our First Home

I can't believe it! I'm 23, Eric's 24 and we're buying our first home. Eric's boss did some persuading. He made a lot of good points. Renting sucks!

So we met up with a real estate agent and started looking. Alamogordo is a very small town. One school and one grocery store. I think the only thing keeping this place alive is the military base. In spite of that, there are a lot of nice houses. A lot of them are new being built only a couple years ago.

Home and Disneyland!

I decided it was finally time for Eric to see MY home. As soon as we get off the plane we notice a strong scent of sour grapes which Eric would tease me about for years to come. My parents were awesome enough to let us stay with them. That is until we all go to Disneyland! Woohoo! I'm always excited for that. It's more than that though. Eric is from Florida so he's only been to Disneyworld. I've also yet to see California Adventure since it opened after I left for the Army.

Fort Huachuca

Sep 13-16 2004

Have I mentioned Eric and his friend/co-worker, Jakan, run this Air Force site by themselves? Eric's the youngest hire. So young in fact he can't even get a rental car since you have to be 25. I'm proud of him. So was his platoon leader in Germany. He bragged all the time about Eric! They work on Holloman Air Force Base. It's by/a part of White Sands Missile Range. Anyway, Ft. Huachuca is in Arizona. It's where all the Military Intelligence people from my unit went to AIT. I was in Georgia. There was only a few of us Signal people.

Rattlesnake Round-up

There's not much to do in this small town of Alamogordo NM besides go to walmart and stare at fish, or go to the zoo and stare at turtles. The zoo also has this adorable sounding bird that sounds like a bicycle horn. I love to feed that little guy!

Honeymooners

We just got back from our wedding / honeymoon. The night of our wedding we celebrated at the Hard Rock Cafe. It's our thing. We've been to a lot of them so far. It took me hours to get the bobby-pins and hairspray out of my hair. I realized I should have left it alone and wore the veil too.

Love and Marriage

This is my first entry as Mrs. Brandi Evans. It's weird giving up my last name. But it's shorter, and it's not so close to the beginning of the alphabet so I can stop being picked first for things. Oh thank heaven!

Burrow's Meet Evans'

January 15-26

Well Eric and I know we're going to get married. We don't know where or when yet, but we do know the parents should meet. The in-laws flew in to El Paso which is about an hour and a half away. Everyone is staying in a hotel since we only have a one room apartment. It's actually still very much a bachelor pad. He spent about 9 months here before I even arrived. A year is a LONG time to be apart! Wow I lost track didn't I?

Last Days as a Soldier

Nov 1st 2003

I haven't written in a while. I guess I have some explaining to do. Sometime in May I went in to see my doctor. They told me I have to go through a medical board and they would decide my fate as a soldier. From that day, until now has been a lot of depression and anxiety filled days. Not really just for me, but for all the soldiers that remain here. There aren't many of us. Maybe 5 now. There's no one left on base. The commissary is closed and the shoppette has hardly any food. Not to mention the terrible heat wave. AC's don't exist here. Shame has gone out the window as everyone has to hang out in the barracks in their underwear. it's unbearable. I know the rest of the unit has it worse. They're in Iraq now. I've only been there for 2 weeks total and not at once, and I can say it's pretty bad, and I don't just mean heat. I can't imagine what they're going through being there for a year almost. I guess that's where some of the depression comes in. We want to be there with them. It's why I signed up. I want/need to be soldier.

Berlin Again

May 24-26

Hey I got a new roommate... and I like her! She actually lived 4 doors down in Parker's room. But Parker plays the same songs over and over. Who wants to live with that? So invited her to my room. We get along pretty great!

After a whole lot of no free time and the serious lack of traveling done by the new guys I decided to take Briere, SGT Strickland and her 2 kiddos to Berlin. We have a holiday coming up anyway. Monaco could fill in for us seeing as how we've been covering for her for oh say... 2 years. pft.

Best Florida Trip Ever!

Feb 7 - Mar 3

WOA BUDDY! I say that for 2 reasons. 1. This might be my best trip to date and 2. People were not happy with me when I got back. HAHA! I don't care!