Moved to freebie hosting

It seems like a lifetime ago that we lived on the east coast, thousands of miles and a few timezones away from family. It was a time when staying in touch with family required real effort; the tools to keep in touch were primitive and slow. By dim candlelight I would play sysadmin at home and dutifully pay for and maintain a humble private server that hosted teetering.org's mail, photos, and blog posts, endlessly configuring and upgrading countless settings and options while seated at my crude wooden computer and chalkboard monitor.

But now we're back on the west coast, and technology has moved well beyond the venerable smoke-billowing computing machines of yore. Today I play sysadmin for far more time consuming projects, and the free image, mail, and blog hosting from The Google do a far better job keeping their systems up to date and secure than I could ever do in my spare time, responding to vulnerabilities faster than you can type "apt-get upgrade".

Moreover, social networks like Orkut (yeah! Orkut rocks!) and facebook (which is trash) do a better job of informing family about important events like how many cavities Aly's dentist found last week than long rambling blog entries, that -- despite their banality -- require a considerable amount of effort to keep up to date.

What a year for the 129th!

If you know me, you were aware that I was pretty busy with my job this year. (I'm the public affairs officer for the 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard.) This video montage showcases 129th Rescue Wing missions from 2008, which include water bucket drops over the Northern California wildfires, long-range over water rescues, and rescue support during Hurricane Ike. The video is synced with the U.S. Air Force Airman's Creed too. Enjoy!

Day of Service: Jan 19

Did you know that MLK Day is a national day of service? This was mandated by Congress in 1994, but since then it hasn't been publicized much. I was truly inspired when I watched Colin Powell's speech last week about the renewed focus on MLK Day being a national day of service. I promptly went to the Web site, usaservice.org, to look for volunteer events in my area. This line from the Web site gives me the warm fuzzy:

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens. We are one nation.

That's right - be responsible and do what's best for our collective needs, not just what's best for ourselves. It'll be great if this day will help jumpstart a spirit of sacrifice and service. It's just what our country needs!

Teeters spread out again

First off, I'd like to send a shout out to Madi - she turned two on Wednesday! Happy Birthday, sweetie.

Earlier this month the Calica's bid adieu to the Pacific Northwest. Roy had orders in hand to PCS to Hawaii, where he'll return to Military Police duties. It was a tough three-year assignment in recruiting, but I'm sure Roy came away with lessons that will carry him through his career and make him a better Marine. By the way, the Calicas are stationed at the Marine Corps Base, Kaneohe Bay, which is located on the windward side of Oahu, approximately 12 miles northeast of Honolulu. So far the Calicas are digging the locale, as you can imagine. We can't wait to visit (especially Ma and Pa Teeter - they miss the boys).

A few days after the Calicas departed, KC flew from Wisconsin, where he'd been going through deployment spin-up training, to the Middle East. By the end of the month his unit will be working from a forward operating base near Mosul, Iraq. I'm for sure going to spoil my brother while he's gone! I love putting together care packages... Please keep KC, Steph and Madison in your thoughts and prayers.

Posted thesis online

Thank you to Michelle Anaya for compiling my monstrous thesis into one pdf doc (due to pagination issues, it used to be three Word docs). I went ahead and posted it online here. If you don't want to take the time to read the whole thing, skip to the last chapter.

Argh, I miss school! I'm such a nerd.