I wanted to say a few words of thanks to the people who have been sending me out some wonderful care packages:
First person on the list is my wonderful wife, I've got a hand written letter from her almost daily and an email, numerous post cards and all sorts of care package goodies that I didn't even think I needed till it arrived in the mail. I sometimes have a hard time believing my good fortune to be married to this amazing girl. She's everything I imagined and more in a partner and I'm very grateful that she's mine. Thank you my beautiful flower, I love you.
Next on my list is a Native Texan who lives in the Oki, Vicky Brown sent out a box full of medium and large tee-shirts saying "CORPSMAN OF MARINES" and a couple other boxes full of goodies, toys and gag gifts. From all of us here, thank you.
Ori Pomerantz sent out a box full of science fiction books and a new copy of The Two-Space War by Dave Grossman which I just got done reading. I don't think I've read more naval history and battle tactics slipped into a science fiction novel before. Dave is a teacher of the psychology and physiology of combat and by reading this novel, you can tell he knows what he's talking about. Good book Dave, have already started on the next one. Ori said if any other deployed folk our here want a copy email him ori at simple-tech.com and he'll be happy to send a copy out. Thanks for the support Ori.
Ariane also sent me a box with 30 or so fantasy books which have swelled our shelves much, I haven't heard back from her so I'm not going to use her full name, thank you very much though!
Both of you made the book readers in our squadron very happy, don't worry, they're being put to good use.
Linda Swinford of Helmetliner sent 300 or so neck coolers that are being used daily by our air crew, thank you very much.
Deb Field of Powell Goldstein LLC in Atlanta GA had a stack of boxes sitting here for all of us when I arrived with lots of good stuff inside, thanks!
I didn't get quite a million letters but I did get a box full that I passed around from www.amillionthanks.org and I wrote to no less then ten people out of the box.
Last but definitely not least, Josh Wright of Downey CA who is a Marine at heart gave many of these folk my name and sent out a couple of boxes of goodies and care packages, thanks!
While reading the news, you might see a decline in support numbers for the President there are still lots of people out there supporting the troops and speaking as a guy on the ground, we do appreciate it. All of you have been great, thank you.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
When stress comes calling...
I really didn't have a reason to be feeling stress, yes it has been a little busier and we're at the 1/3 mark in the deployment. Too much work and not enough play must have been adding up. So tonight when I walked outside of my office and saw the dead camel spider sitting on the ground. A light bulb blazed to life in my head and I swear I heard a devil giggling in my ear. I had found my outlet. The idea was a hodgepodge of blog posts about camel spiders and how I was always talking about grown Marines screaming like little girls. Tonight I will have proof!
So I bent over and picked critter up, pulled my digital camera out of my pocket and started a quest to all of the shops around the squadron. My plan of attack was; I would walk up to people filming and tell them I was making a video to send home about Iraq, ask them their name, how they liked Iraq and what they thought of camel spiders and halfway through that question. I would toss the carcass onto their laps. The numbers that came from the process? Out of 15 subjects tested, 5 did indeed squeal like little girls (one was female though). The squealers as a whole did jump out of their chairs or from where ever they were standing, moving almost faster then the eye could see away from the spider. Two of the subjects started swearing a blue streak and vowing revenge upon my body. One forewarned possible subject saw me approaching his area and started picking at his fingernails with a large knife. I didn't include him in the study.
As soon as I can figure out how to make the quicktime movies from my camera into clips I can use in windows movie maker, I'll put the highlight moments together and post them on line. I'm too tired and sated with mischief to work on it tonight. Sigh, I've opened up a can of worms and I'm sure there will be some sort of payback. At least life will be interesting!
So I bent over and picked critter up, pulled my digital camera out of my pocket and started a quest to all of the shops around the squadron. My plan of attack was; I would walk up to people filming and tell them I was making a video to send home about Iraq, ask them their name, how they liked Iraq and what they thought of camel spiders and halfway through that question. I would toss the carcass onto their laps. The numbers that came from the process? Out of 15 subjects tested, 5 did indeed squeal like little girls (one was female though). The squealers as a whole did jump out of their chairs or from where ever they were standing, moving almost faster then the eye could see away from the spider. Two of the subjects started swearing a blue streak and vowing revenge upon my body. One forewarned possible subject saw me approaching his area and started picking at his fingernails with a large knife. I didn't include him in the study.
As soon as I can figure out how to make the quicktime movies from my camera into clips I can use in windows movie maker, I'll put the highlight moments together and post them on line. I'm too tired and sated with mischief to work on it tonight. Sigh, I've opened up a can of worms and I'm sure there will be some sort of payback. At least life will be interesting!
Sunday, May 21, 2006
when it rains..
I'm still putting together a thank you post for all of the care packages I've received but I wanted to say a few words about safety. If you're a civilian, you wouldn't believe the levels we go to concerning safety programs. We have rules about everything, get on an aircraft you have to wear a cranial and hearing protection, helmet while riding bikes (good idea), every vehicle out here looks like something out of Mad Max, wearing reflective vests after dark and they're even issuing ear plugs for fire fights (about time). Every nut and piece of safety wire in the aircraft has an SOP on how to put it in properly. Each of the Armed services put out well written safety magazines in all of the separate fields with horror stories of bad things that happened to people who weren't paying attention.
Yet..
This week has been a trial of bumps, bruises, cuts and broken bones. For my unit, the biggest enemy isn't insurgents, its accidents. Being in the medical field is like fishing; some weeks you don't get a bite and others you get a flood. That's what this week has been like, bike accidents, sprained ankles, chipped teeth, getting poked with sharp objects, you name it. Not one thing life threatening but the feeling is in the air. Everyone is walking around a bit softly, each injury means a small stack of paperwork about what happened, how medical fixed it and lost man hours which means someone has to take the slack.
Far from sitting around this week being happily bored, I've been sewing, splinting, putting on Band-Aids and dressing non battle wounds. Don't worry about me, I'm paranoid about safety but even paranoia doesn't cover all of the bases. I'm just trying to get all of my Marines to develop the same mindset as I have. Our number one job, before any other job, is to make it back home safe and in one piece.
Yet..
This week has been a trial of bumps, bruises, cuts and broken bones. For my unit, the biggest enemy isn't insurgents, its accidents. Being in the medical field is like fishing; some weeks you don't get a bite and others you get a flood. That's what this week has been like, bike accidents, sprained ankles, chipped teeth, getting poked with sharp objects, you name it. Not one thing life threatening but the feeling is in the air. Everyone is walking around a bit softly, each injury means a small stack of paperwork about what happened, how medical fixed it and lost man hours which means someone has to take the slack.
Far from sitting around this week being happily bored, I've been sewing, splinting, putting on Band-Aids and dressing non battle wounds. Don't worry about me, I'm paranoid about safety but even paranoia doesn't cover all of the bases. I'm just trying to get all of my Marines to develop the same mindset as I have. Our number one job, before any other job, is to make it back home safe and in one piece.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
I've posted pictures
Since I'm slacking this week on my wordsmith skills, I'll use my camera instead, pictures are over here.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Milbloggers Live
Sorry about the lack of posting but I've actually been a bit busy taking courses online and working on a warfare device that I've been slacking off. But enough of me, the great milblog fathers have come together to do a group blog called Milblogs (imagine that!), none of us are quitting our day jobs but we're using this as a forum to toss ideas back and fourth. I've had the honor of being of being invited and have already done a post. Check it out, some good stuff going on. Other then the added work, life out here isn't too bad, still have all of my limbs, my wife writes me daily and the food doesn't give me the runs. What more can you ask for?
Let me catch up on some sleep and I'll post something of substance, take care and have a great week!
PS people who have sent me care packages, Thanks! You guys and gals are the greatest!
Let me catch up on some sleep and I'll post something of substance, take care and have a great week!
PS people who have sent me care packages, Thanks! You guys and gals are the greatest!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Camel spiders, dust storms and acts of god
The camel spiders and scorpions are coming out, every night you can hear cheering coming from one of the maintaince shops as they put their latest contender into battle. You can preach the dangers of playing with poisonous insects but boys will be boys. The scene of Jarhead where they’re fighting scorpions? It’s been relived every night in multiple units out here and probably has back into prehistoric times.
My mom was always a bug squashier and her lessons backfired on me, turning me into a lover of small things creepy, crawly and slithery. I don’t take parts in the fights because I feel guilt for putting these critters in the ring, I catch them and then let them go far away from work. Yeah, I’m a big softie. Growing up in Arizona, I’ve never grown a healthy amount of fear of bugs or snakes. They were just a part of life and I let them go on their way unless they were taking up residence in my house then I would catch them and let them go outside.
We had a sand storm come in this afternoon, it hung over the valley and you could see it creeping across the landscape, swallowing everything. I made a video of it then ran into the exchange for cover. The sky darkened and the dust in the air added a fog like quality which unlike fog, made you cough and seeped sand particles into everything. I was going to the exchange to see this 8mm camcorder they had the day before but it was sold out (ended up not being the model I was looking for anyway, no USB or Firewire plug). So I made my way over to the covered bus stop, taking what shelter that I could from the wind and dust. Without goggles, you’re blind in weather like this.
I had sat down in the shelter from the wind when I noticed that the bus stop across the way had blown over and there was a group of people milling about someone on the ground. Being the corpsman, I rushed out back into the elements to provide assistance. The covered wooden bus stop had blown over and landed on a contractor.
I asked, “Has the ambulance been called?"
“It’s on its way”
An Army 1st Lt had taken charge and was doing an excellent job, I just provided support. We gave the patient C-spine precautions and held that position till the rig arrived a minute or so later, there's no reason in this kind of situation to move the patient any more then you have too. We turned the patient over to the good hands of the paramedics and walked away into the swirling dust.
I went over to my bus stop (after making sure it was anchored) and got on the next bus. The sand was still blowing and lightning started to flash through the clouds of dust and halfway to the squadron, rain started pouring down like god had thrown open the switch. At my stop, I made a mad dash to my building and said whew! Half an hour later, the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and all of the dust had been knocked to the ground. Crazy weather out here, you never know what you’re going to run into when you wake up.
A word of advice, don’t take shelter in anything that isn’t anchored down during a dust or wind storm, on my first trip, one of my warrant officers was in a port-a-john during a dust storm a gust of wind blew the entire row over on their doors into the street. Brown out conditions, you couldn’t see anything ten feet away, he was lucky that a passing humvee saw them lying all over the road and stopped before hitting the pile of them. And even more lucky that noticed that one of the John's was rocking back and forth making panicking sounds. He got out of it with some minor abrasions, a bath in that green stuff and I'm sure a mild case of post traumatic stress having to do with port-a-johns, yuck! Ever since, all of the other port-a-johns at this base have been anchored down.
My mom was always a bug squashier and her lessons backfired on me, turning me into a lover of small things creepy, crawly and slithery. I don’t take parts in the fights because I feel guilt for putting these critters in the ring, I catch them and then let them go far away from work. Yeah, I’m a big softie. Growing up in Arizona, I’ve never grown a healthy amount of fear of bugs or snakes. They were just a part of life and I let them go on their way unless they were taking up residence in my house then I would catch them and let them go outside.
We had a sand storm come in this afternoon, it hung over the valley and you could see it creeping across the landscape, swallowing everything. I made a video of it then ran into the exchange for cover. The sky darkened and the dust in the air added a fog like quality which unlike fog, made you cough and seeped sand particles into everything. I was going to the exchange to see this 8mm camcorder they had the day before but it was sold out (ended up not being the model I was looking for anyway, no USB or Firewire plug). So I made my way over to the covered bus stop, taking what shelter that I could from the wind and dust. Without goggles, you’re blind in weather like this.
I had sat down in the shelter from the wind when I noticed that the bus stop across the way had blown over and there was a group of people milling about someone on the ground. Being the corpsman, I rushed out back into the elements to provide assistance. The covered wooden bus stop had blown over and landed on a contractor.
I asked, “Has the ambulance been called?"
“It’s on its way”
An Army 1st Lt had taken charge and was doing an excellent job, I just provided support. We gave the patient C-spine precautions and held that position till the rig arrived a minute or so later, there's no reason in this kind of situation to move the patient any more then you have too. We turned the patient over to the good hands of the paramedics and walked away into the swirling dust.
I went over to my bus stop (after making sure it was anchored) and got on the next bus. The sand was still blowing and lightning started to flash through the clouds of dust and halfway to the squadron, rain started pouring down like god had thrown open the switch. At my stop, I made a mad dash to my building and said whew! Half an hour later, the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and all of the dust had been knocked to the ground. Crazy weather out here, you never know what you’re going to run into when you wake up.
A word of advice, don’t take shelter in anything that isn’t anchored down during a dust or wind storm, on my first trip, one of my warrant officers was in a port-a-john during a dust storm a gust of wind blew the entire row over on their doors into the street. Brown out conditions, you couldn’t see anything ten feet away, he was lucky that a passing humvee saw them lying all over the road and stopped before hitting the pile of them. And even more lucky that noticed that one of the John's was rocking back and forth making panicking sounds. He got out of it with some minor abrasions, a bath in that green stuff and I'm sure a mild case of post traumatic stress having to do with port-a-johns, yuck! Ever since, all of the other port-a-johns at this base have been anchored down.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Labor of Love
We’ve been at this base a little over 3 years in some form or another and each unit to roll through here has left books behind. Fast forward to the present, our unit has a couple thousand books spread out through a couple different buildings on stacked 3 deep on shelves and in boxes.
Being the reader that I am, it was driving me nuts so I finally got off of my rear and did something about it.
Started off with making some shelves out of the crap we had with the help of Sgt Elka and Sgt Delacruz. Took most of a day to tear everything down then it was time to make order of the chaos. So I started to put everything in alphabetical order, for a week, Marines were coming by ever few minutes, saying “who did you piss off?”, “that’s crazy trying to get all of that in order”, “that’s going to take forever”. I replied with “I’m doing this because I want too”.
I went around to all of the different places we had books stashed, pulled whatever letter I was working on and hauled it back to be put in order.
While I was doing this, several thoughts rose in my head. Why in the heck do people send so many romances? How many copies do we need of this book or that? What happened to all of the good science fiction/fantasy? We definitely had an excess of romances, so I gathered up the cheesiest of them and donated them to the book collection of a fellow unit one night and saved several small stacks to stash in some of the desks of some rather gung-ho Marines. I did leave some but they had to have at least good reviews or be on a best sellers list. I took all of the duplicates and put in a box for later donation to some other in need except for ones that I’ve read and thought were really good, which I let keep two of. Send more S/F/Fantasy!
I separated the books into 5 groups, fiction, non fiction, horror, science fiction/fantasy and hardbacks. Here’s a picture of one of the 3 shelves.
No I haven’t arranged the hard backs yet but the bulk is done. Anyone want to hire a librarian without a master’s degree in library science? I’ve got the love and talent. Take care everyone.
Being the reader that I am, it was driving me nuts so I finally got off of my rear and did something about it.
Started off with making some shelves out of the crap we had with the help of Sgt Elka and Sgt Delacruz. Took most of a day to tear everything down then it was time to make order of the chaos. So I started to put everything in alphabetical order, for a week, Marines were coming by ever few minutes, saying “who did you piss off?”, “that’s crazy trying to get all of that in order”, “that’s going to take forever”. I replied with “I’m doing this because I want too”.
I went around to all of the different places we had books stashed, pulled whatever letter I was working on and hauled it back to be put in order.
While I was doing this, several thoughts rose in my head. Why in the heck do people send so many romances? How many copies do we need of this book or that? What happened to all of the good science fiction/fantasy? We definitely had an excess of romances, so I gathered up the cheesiest of them and donated them to the book collection of a fellow unit one night and saved several small stacks to stash in some of the desks of some rather gung-ho Marines. I did leave some but they had to have at least good reviews or be on a best sellers list. I took all of the duplicates and put in a box for later donation to some other in need except for ones that I’ve read and thought were really good, which I let keep two of. Send more S/F/Fantasy!
I separated the books into 5 groups, fiction, non fiction, horror, science fiction/fantasy and hardbacks. Here’s a picture of one of the 3 shelves.
No I haven’t arranged the hard backs yet but the bulk is done. Anyone want to hire a librarian without a master’s degree in library science? I’ve got the love and talent. Take care everyone.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Dead Like Me?
Being the bad influence I am, I've got two of my coworkers addicted to the Showtime series Dead Like Me, they can't get enough of it. I have yet to tell them that it only goes for 2 seasons before being taken away by some evil reapers and sent to dead TV land. By the way, thank you hun and Lee for hooking me on the series, Sherwin and Stacey thank you too, I haven't started working on Chris yet.
Now that I'm in the middle of watching it the second time, I'm impressed with the cleaver sculpting that went into the script. Definite black comedy that has more to do with life then death that the show is about. It expresses the joys of living, the pain of loss and the path to redemption, how would you choose to live if you had a second chance?
The main character George is played by Ellen Muth, she dies when she gets hit by a toilet seat that fell from the Mir space station and is surprised to find herself looking at the crater of where her body is lying and learning that she's become one of a large contingent of grim reapers. There are reapers for everything, suicide, cancer, old age and the small group she belongs to does accidents which are caused by creepy gremlin looking things called Gravelings.
George still has ties to her living life and can't seem to stop herself from visiting it but along with becoming a reaper, her face has changed so no one recognizes her. Reapers don't get paid so they have to take side jobs (one of them is a meter maid) or steal from the people that they reap. George finds the latter distasteful so she goes back to the job she worked at for a couple hours before she died and reapplies and finds herself in working a cubical like in the comic strip Dilbert under her new name "Millie".
She fills this unlikely role of death to a tee, she's punky, stubborn, lost at times and eventually finds herself over the length of the series. Her "Whatever" attitude is refreshing and the dialog will stay with you long after the show is over.
Now that I'm in the middle of watching it the second time, I'm impressed with the cleaver sculpting that went into the script. Definite black comedy that has more to do with life then death that the show is about. It expresses the joys of living, the pain of loss and the path to redemption, how would you choose to live if you had a second chance?
The main character George is played by Ellen Muth, she dies when she gets hit by a toilet seat that fell from the Mir space station and is surprised to find herself looking at the crater of where her body is lying and learning that she's become one of a large contingent of grim reapers. There are reapers for everything, suicide, cancer, old age and the small group she belongs to does accidents which are caused by creepy gremlin looking things called Gravelings.
George still has ties to her living life and can't seem to stop herself from visiting it but along with becoming a reaper, her face has changed so no one recognizes her. Reapers don't get paid so they have to take side jobs (one of them is a meter maid) or steal from the people that they reap. George finds the latter distasteful so she goes back to the job she worked at for a couple hours before she died and reapplies and finds herself in working a cubical like in the comic strip Dilbert under her new name "Millie".
She fills this unlikely role of death to a tee, she's punky, stubborn, lost at times and eventually finds herself over the length of the series. Her "Whatever" attitude is refreshing and the dialog will stay with you long after the show is over.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Another day in Paradise
First month is over with and most our the bugs have been shaken out. My medical team is all set on their schedule and life doesn’t seem all that bad. I’m working a swing shift so I never get to seem my room with the lights on. My rack is a cave covered with poncho liners that lets in no light (and hopefully bugs too). It has it’s good points and bad, I’m off everyone else’s schedule so I never have to stand in the same lines and it gives me more alone time (which I fill with reading). But it also means I’m off every one else’s schedule so when ever something happens I have to wake up in the middle of my sleep cycle to be there. Most of the time though, I'm just chilling back.
I bought a be happy present for my wife, a black pearl jewelry set, ring, necklace and ear rings, after talking to her tonight, I think she likes them. I look forward to seeing her in them when I get back. Take care everyone and hope you all are doing well.
I bought a be happy present for my wife, a black pearl jewelry set, ring, necklace and ear rings, after talking to her tonight, I think she likes them. I look forward to seeing her in them when I get back. Take care everyone and hope you all are doing well.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Rage against the Machine
Karma must have a strange balance, with all of the good things happening in my life there is also the bad. Since I've gotten out here, all sorts of electronic equipment found an excuse to die in my presence.
First to go was my work thumb drive which survived less then 24 hours in my office. Came in to work one morning and the computer wouldn't read it, it said 0 bites available and wouldn't even let me reformat.
Next was our brand new printer. Had a lightning storm blew out our power and noticed the next morning that the USB plug was blackened and my computer wouldn't turn on. So I opened up the side of printer where the USB plug went and there was a blackened line going across the circuit board and a nice fried electrical smell. Then I pulled out the USB 2.0 card from the side of the laptop and it made a rattling sound when I shook it. Hmm, that doesn't sound healthy. After pulling the card out, the computer started up fine. But the printer had a life span of only 5 sheets of paper and my poor USB 2.0 card, sacrificed its life to save the precious laptop. Sigh!
The next victim on the list of death was my trusty 8mm camcorder which survived two prior trips out here. I put a tape in and a snapping sound came from the inside of the machine. I took the tape out and with it a miscellaneous piece of plastic fell out. What I mean by miscellaneous is, have you ever paid attention to how many small parts are inside of an 8mm camcorder? Lots and lots, it took a mad genius to have figured out how to make it work in the first place, smoke and mirrors I say. I couldn't figure out what the thingee attached to but now the camcorder wouldn't close and every time I tried closing it, it gave an electronic wail so I pulled the battery and put it back in its bag.
This put a major bummer on my side hobby for this little trip. I was going to transfer 100 or so hours of 8mm footage to DVD's, I had brought my mother load of 8mm tapes out here with me with footage all the way back to 1992. Guess that's on the back burner till I get another camcorder.
I came out here with my external hard drive which had back ups for all of my music (21,000 songs) and pictures (25,000 or so) but neglected to bring my power supply. So I called my lovely wife and she ran it to the post office to sent it too me (along with some jasmine rice, homemade cookies, a pink flamingo, a rice maker, other rare yummy treats and odd drinks that you can only find in an Oriental food store, thank you very much hun, all the more reasons to worship you.) I got the package yesterday and could hardly wait to get everything hooked up. Turned on the power and a really large smelly cloud of black smoke came out of the hard drive. Oh brother.
The power supply was rated from 100-250 volts, ready to take anything on the planet. Even so I plugged it into 110. It's a mystery.
Anyway, this is all just a test of my emotional stability, in reality as long as my wife and family are alright, none of this material junk really matters. It's just stuff, I'm sure to pick up lots more of it before my time here is done. I have all of the good pictures of my son and wife backed up on my laptop, home external and fotopage. I've already pulled the music I listen to the most onto my laptop here and MP3 player. The 8mm tapes are still good, just need a camcorder to play them on at a later date. And finally the printer and thumb drive belonged to my Uncle Sam, which means I'll just have to turn them back in an hope for new gear, until then I'll just use the network printer and walk next door. Oh well, such is life and after all it does go on.
First to go was my work thumb drive which survived less then 24 hours in my office. Came in to work one morning and the computer wouldn't read it, it said 0 bites available and wouldn't even let me reformat.
Next was our brand new printer. Had a lightning storm blew out our power and noticed the next morning that the USB plug was blackened and my computer wouldn't turn on. So I opened up the side of printer where the USB plug went and there was a blackened line going across the circuit board and a nice fried electrical smell. Then I pulled out the USB 2.0 card from the side of the laptop and it made a rattling sound when I shook it. Hmm, that doesn't sound healthy. After pulling the card out, the computer started up fine. But the printer had a life span of only 5 sheets of paper and my poor USB 2.0 card, sacrificed its life to save the precious laptop. Sigh!
The next victim on the list of death was my trusty 8mm camcorder which survived two prior trips out here. I put a tape in and a snapping sound came from the inside of the machine. I took the tape out and with it a miscellaneous piece of plastic fell out. What I mean by miscellaneous is, have you ever paid attention to how many small parts are inside of an 8mm camcorder? Lots and lots, it took a mad genius to have figured out how to make it work in the first place, smoke and mirrors I say. I couldn't figure out what the thingee attached to but now the camcorder wouldn't close and every time I tried closing it, it gave an electronic wail so I pulled the battery and put it back in its bag.
This put a major bummer on my side hobby for this little trip. I was going to transfer 100 or so hours of 8mm footage to DVD's, I had brought my mother load of 8mm tapes out here with me with footage all the way back to 1992. Guess that's on the back burner till I get another camcorder.
I came out here with my external hard drive which had back ups for all of my music (21,000 songs) and pictures (25,000 or so) but neglected to bring my power supply. So I called my lovely wife and she ran it to the post office to sent it too me (along with some jasmine rice, homemade cookies, a pink flamingo, a rice maker, other rare yummy treats and odd drinks that you can only find in an Oriental food store, thank you very much hun, all the more reasons to worship you.) I got the package yesterday and could hardly wait to get everything hooked up. Turned on the power and a really large smelly cloud of black smoke came out of the hard drive. Oh brother.
The power supply was rated from 100-250 volts, ready to take anything on the planet. Even so I plugged it into 110. It's a mystery.
Anyway, this is all just a test of my emotional stability, in reality as long as my wife and family are alright, none of this material junk really matters. It's just stuff, I'm sure to pick up lots more of it before my time here is done. I have all of the good pictures of my son and wife backed up on my laptop, home external and fotopage. I've already pulled the music I listen to the most onto my laptop here and MP3 player. The 8mm tapes are still good, just need a camcorder to play them on at a later date. And finally the printer and thumb drive belonged to my Uncle Sam, which means I'll just have to turn them back in an hope for new gear, until then I'll just use the network printer and walk next door. Oh well, such is life and after all it does go on.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Lucky charms and handling the heat
Throughout the history of wars, soldiers have gone in to battle carrying something on their person to bring them luck. Everyone out here has their lucky charms, me being a reading fool, my lucky charm is this picture of my wife which I use as a book mark so I'm looking at her smiling face throughout the day.
It's starting to heat up and some of the people on their first trip out are complaining about the high temperatures. I don't think it's that hot yet but I'm using the secret technique of basking in the sun. You twist your thinking around so it doesn't seem so hot out and imagine lizard thoughts floating around your head. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but it works. That is until something breaks my mental state and I have to rush or am surprised by something and then sweat breaks out. Then I have to rebuild those mental walls and reset my inner temperature to handle the outer.
No, I haven't lost it, after 3 time out here and you pick up habits to help you survive the local conditions. Life is good, I've been receiving care packages from Boatsie's Boxes and Josh Wright has been a great advocate for hooking me up to some great care package deals. I've received a letter almost every day from my wife and have called her nightly. I'm blessed with the support I receive.
It's starting to heat up and some of the people on their first trip out are complaining about the high temperatures. I don't think it's that hot yet but I'm using the secret technique of basking in the sun. You twist your thinking around so it doesn't seem so hot out and imagine lizard thoughts floating around your head. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but it works. That is until something breaks my mental state and I have to rush or am surprised by something and then sweat breaks out. Then I have to rebuild those mental walls and reset my inner temperature to handle the outer.
No, I haven't lost it, after 3 time out here and you pick up habits to help you survive the local conditions. Life is good, I've been receiving care packages from Boatsie's Boxes and Josh Wright has been a great advocate for hooking me up to some great care package deals. I've received a letter almost every day from my wife and have called her nightly. I'm blessed with the support I receive.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Some have had it harder then me
My blogger buddy, American Soldier, has had it tough, out here for only weeks and gets blown up twice and sent home. I've been out here 3 times and have had it easy. He's posted about some of his adjustment troubles. Don't compare my job to what he's had to go through, if I were any more relaxed out here, I would melt into the floor. My biggest fears are for the safety of my wife and the aircrew of the birds we fly. Go ahead, go give him some love.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Easter in Iraq
This is my third Easter in a row in country, altogether just another work day. The only reason I noticed was because the guy on the bus said, "What in the heck are all of those people doing on the bleachers?" and I said, "Oh, it must be Easter Mass."
We're already losing track of the days. I have my outlook calendar send me reminders of when I need to send in reports and such but I'm not crossing off the days as they go. Counting down days till we get back is like watching water boil; I prefer taking the deployment one day at a time. There are good days and bad. If you take the whole deployment at once, you're guaranteed to have more bad ones.
Lately I've been working out and trying to get rid of this small child that I have growing in my midsection. Good thing about being with a Marine unit, there is never a shortage of people that are willing to help you torture your body back into top notch fighting form. So after a few days of running around and checking out the more boring aspects of the base, one step at a time, I am now sore and have been walking with a decidedly stiff manner (thanks Doc!) Give me a couple more days to recover before you start at me with the sticks again.
Maybe by the time we get home, I'll have a lean and hard physique to show off to the beautiful wife.
We're already losing track of the days. I have my outlook calendar send me reminders of when I need to send in reports and such but I'm not crossing off the days as they go. Counting down days till we get back is like watching water boil; I prefer taking the deployment one day at a time. There are good days and bad. If you take the whole deployment at once, you're guaranteed to have more bad ones.
Lately I've been working out and trying to get rid of this small child that I have growing in my midsection. Good thing about being with a Marine unit, there is never a shortage of people that are willing to help you torture your body back into top notch fighting form. So after a few days of running around and checking out the more boring aspects of the base, one step at a time, I am now sore and have been walking with a decidedly stiff manner (thanks Doc!) Give me a couple more days to recover before you start at me with the sticks again.
Maybe by the time we get home, I'll have a lean and hard physique to show off to the beautiful wife.
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