Countdown begins

16 Days until the ban is temporarily lifted...Can't say what the ban is on, not until afterwards.  But it is good.

Just got a strange email...apparently they want to move me to a Wet CHU.  For those of you new to the game...that would be a Containerized Housing Unit with a shared bathroom between two rooms.  They are reserved for Sergeants Major and LTCs and above.  HEY, I'm a LTC!  Maybe that is why they want me to move into one.  I just am not sure that I want to move.  I do like the idea of not having to go outside to go to the bathroom.  What I don't like is the moving of my stuff in 110 degree heat.  I also don't want to move too far away from my gang of fools, here at my Pod.  I kind of have them all right here.  I think that I may tell them I will only move if one of my contractors can have my room.  I have two people living together like Oscar and Felix...only it is NOT working out s well!  We shall see what the powers that be say about it.

I guess the only thing that would really be hard is pulling down my speakers that are wired in...not too much work.  The real hard work would be moving from point a to b in the freaking heat.

Why does Jack Bauer get to point a gun at people and not face any consequences?

Why does Jack Bauer get to shoot people that he knows and not have them get pissed off at him?

Why do all of these people keep getting full presidential immunity?  I have never even heard of that, and it would never occur for me to ask for it...I think that I am going to ask for it the next time I have a run-in with Johnny Law!

These are from my continuing list of questions about 24...

That picture of me was taken this week with one of my IA counterparts.  We were in a briefing with one of our Generals and someone from out West somewhere.  Pretty good day on Thursday.

Not much else going on right now...will have to keep everyone up-to-date on if I will move or not.

Later.

Watch out for Crystal Light...

So much for my day off.  Only about 100 emails to answer...but that's ok.  Been working on a VIP brief for when visitors will come to our school, and trust me, they will come.  Seems like Generals, both Iraqi and American, like bright shiny objects...and ours seems to be the brightest and shiniest in Iraq right now!

Watching a Marathon session of 24 all day, almost to episode 16 of season 8...then NOTHING!  I hope that I can acquire the other 8 episodes soon.  I have a line on a guy who has them, so I shouldn't go too crazy.  I still am having a hard time believing that a pistol can shoot through body armor and kevlar helmets, and that someone in a secure facility can talk, repeatedly, on a cell phone without drawing attention to themselves.  And the big one...that there are things in our government called "Protocols" that EVERYONE knows...these are government employees, they are doing way too much work for the little pay we give our civil servants.  These people just don't exist.  I work with them, they are some of the most non-working people I know.  Some are great, and I am not talking about those guys, but for the most part, they all operate like people that can't be fired no matter what (and most of the time they are right).

Got some Crystal Light in a package yesterday.  It was raspberry.  I LOVE Raspberry!  The only container that I have to put the stuff in is a 1.5 litre plastic water bottle.  These were the tub-type containers.  So, needless to say, I got a lot of it on my hands.  What is in this stuff?  Sharpie marker dye?  Am I actually coating my stomach with some colored permanent dye packs?  My hands are now covered with red dye, or whatever is doubling as red dye in that raspberry Crystal Light.  I guess I never really thought about how badly it coats our tongues before, and the powder, when it gets a little bit wet, is even worse.  So tonight I get to play Rabbi.  I hope I don't get caught doing it...then I would get caught playing Rabbi, red-handed.  I know, I know, it was a long way to go for a stupid joke...but I do have red hands, that hasn't changed.

O.k., episode 16 just started.  I better pay attention since it may be my last for a while.  Until next time people!

Later...

Something HAS to go wrong...

The world is too right right now.  Let's see, I just received a 5 pound bag of Gummi Bears, I just got word that one of my NCOs that I thought I was losing is getting to stay, the Cubs are NOT mathematically eliminated (as I was thinking about two weeks ago), the Blackhawks are in THE STANLEY CUP FINALS, and I bought yet ANOTHER complete set of all 8 seasons of 24.  Of course, season 8 wasn't complete, but at least it had the first 16 episodes.  That at least gives me time to download or get friends to download and send me the last 8 episodes (hint, hint).  Then, of course, things with the disk can go wrong.  I would like that as the THING that has to go wrong, since all of the other things that could go wrong are just downright unacceptable.

First of all, there is no way that the Cubs can lose another game...or, maybe they can lose another game, just not after they lost the prior one.  The Blackhawks have got to win a Stanley Cup..eventually, don't they?  Why not the year I can't celebrate the big win with beer, a LOT of it.  And the other is just unthinkable and involves bodily harm, namely my body.  That would be that I get a hangnail or something (I bet that you guys thought I was going to say that I got shot or something!).  I did, however, take a mighty spill on the rugby field  last Sunday.  So maybe that was it...still have the dirt embedded in my hand to prove it.  So maybe that was the thing that HAD to go wrong.  And my toe still hurts from the fall.  That's close to a hangnail, right?

Seriously folks, it looks like the Army has their hooks in me until January now.  Who knows, it all could change in a few minutes?  It's an Army thing.  I get to have a lot of visitors tomorrow.  Kinda like being on a prison island as a celebrity...everyone wants to come see me, but I rarely get to leave.

There is this Iraqi Soldier that we have, lets call him "Yuck Mouth."  His teeth were a bio-terror weapon waiting for a place to bite down.  My parents have been sending a lot of toothpaste out from the family business, and I have, in turn, been handing it out to our Iraqi Soldiers.  Today I had a conversation with Yuck Mouth...and I have to say, it wasn't AS yucky.  He must actually be using the stuff!  I gave him a toothbrush, too.  Maybe that was the problem all along?  Anyway, thanks to the family Biz, at least a few Iraqi Army dudes have much cleaner teeth these days!  Thanks Mom and Dad!

I miss everyone, especially Susie and T.J.!

Love to all, much love, indeed!

Never get on the Colonel's Bird...

Hello people!  Been a few days.  Been on Auto-pilot for the last few days, and with all of the great Hockey news coming out of Chicago, I just kind of let time get away from me.  I got the first 16 episodes of season 8 of 24.  That is about the best I could do here in Iraq.  I see that they finally figured out that they used the word "protocol" too much.  Now they over-use the word "Package."  I guess they have to do something to make it all seem "Official."  And who has a "Digital" briefing package, anyway?  I work for the most technologically advanced government in the world, and we still don't have the cool things that they have on this show...So what government ARE they working for...certainly not MINE.

Yesterday I had to travel to Baghdad.  Weather was a problem.  Apparently helicopters don't like to fly in dusty conditions.  Anyway, I was on weather hold on the way there AND on the way home.  On the way home I had to fly all over the place, just to get about 10 minutes up the road.  We stopped for refuel at one of the locations and the co-pilot had gotten out to to something.  When he got back, I noticed that it was the BDE commander...yes, that's right.  It was the Colonel that is their commander.  And from the look of things, he wasn't that familiar with where the controls were on this new version of the Blackhawk.  I just knew that this was not going to be a good ride home.  The landings were rough, and he was flying fast to keep up with the Chinook that we were flying with.  But we got in...about 2 hours later.   It looked like he was doing a monthly check ride or something.  He could have been evaluating one of his pilots, but it didn't look that way. I am safe and home now, but still a little tired.

More tomorrow, I promise.

Later taters!

Words of Wisdom to My Son as He Goes off to College...

Take time to enjoy the good years, but remember the lean years, too,  so you stay grounded.

Don’t let academics get in the way of your education.

'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988).

Don’t sit back and watch life go by, get out there and experience it.

Participate in sports for the rest of your life, individual sports are nice, but team sports are better.  Men look up to athletes, and as they get older they will live their lives vicariously through the men that STAY athletes - it will open up friendships and doors that otherwise would not be there.

When you discover that you’re riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

Do what you must do, then split!

Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

Find a cause and champion it…but don’t let it consume your life.

When in charge, lead…from the front; set the example.

Lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way.

Stay away from poisonous people.

Nothing that most people say or do will ever amount to a hill of beans in this world; be someone who does.

Life is always fun when you are on a Roller Coaster.

There is no better feeling than a job well done.

Learn how to enjoy a cigar from time to time, it will open up doors.

You don’t have to actually be good at golf to be a good golfer; be a good golfer and you will be asked to play – a lot.  More open doors.

Find your balance between work and play for yourself…don’t try to keep up with everyone, or let anyone hold you back.

Don’t believe what you see on TV, ask questions and verify the answers…then form your own opinions.

There is no grand conspiracy within the government, no matter what Jack Bauer, or anyone else for that matter, might think.  Even if there were, you would go crazy worrying all time if you let it consume you.

Always plan for contingencies, your backpack may be heavier, but you will always be prepared.  The ability to contingency plan is one of the best skills that you can ever possess.

Still nothing...

Well, I still have no clue what the Army is going to do with us...I am fairly certain that all of the members of my team will go home before the 1st of August, but I still have no clue when they will send me home.  I am not too worried about it, though.  The camel races are on, so at least I have some peace and tranquility!  How something so chaotic and stupid can make me forget all my troubles and worries is beyond me.  The funny thing is that the guy calling it is doing so in Arabic.  And I pretty much understand it.  Which leads me to believe that the idiots that call the horse races in English could do so in gibberish and we would still understand them.

My son graduates from High School this weekend, and of course, I will miss it.  He also got into RPI, so I guess that means that he is not going to Alabama...I guess now I am going to have to look for a new place to stay if I want to watch football games.  RPI is really an awesome school, and you can't imagine the pride I have that he even got in.  Hopefully, he will get to play soccer while he is there.

Son, I have piece of advice as you head off to college:  "Don't let Academics get in the way of your Education!"  Kind of guided me through my days.  Straight A's are nice, but unless you are MENSA-Boy, it is just way too much work, and you miss out on life.

I will write more later, but for now I send my best to the entire family that has descended upon The Lodge at Deer Creek to celebrate TJ's graduation.  I hope allof you have a wonderful time, and that the Alabama weather cooperates.  I miss you all, and hope to be home sometime in the future to see everyone again.

Until Next time...

My Philosophy on Cricket...

Well, it is looking a lot like I may get to come home sooner, rather than later.  Not sure 100% yet, but odds are I shall be home before October, anyway.  If they make me stay, I am prepared to, but I just won't fill anything out to stay.  If the Army has taught me anything, it is "Never Volunteer for Nothing!"  So I won't.  Now I just have to wait and see.

There is only so much that a person can watch soccer.  Soccer is on every channel every day, all day, and it is always the same freaking games.  So when the Camel races are not on I tend to watch Ten Sports, which is ALL CRICKET, ALL THE TIME.  At least trying to figure out what the heck was going on was fun.  That took me about a week.  There are all kinds of weird rules, but the one that I had the hardest time figuring out was the LBW law.  Leg before wicket.  I finally figured out that if the ball hits your body and it would  have, otherwise, hit the wicket, you are out anyway.  How exciting, right?  I have figured out a few things why we don't play cricket much in the states.  I will bore you with those thoughts now.

1.  Cricket is way to BORING!  I thought that Baseball, when you really have no interest in the teams, was boring, but they actually have lunch and tea breaks in Cricket.  That should clue the spectator in a bit...if they players need to stop (even before an innings is over) for a break, that the sport probably is not moving too quickly.

2.  The don't use Mitts.  They have this ball about the size of a Lacrosse ball, and looks about as hard, too.  I just don't think that it would feel very good on our Mitt-trained hands.  There is a guy who acts like a catcher, but he wears these gloves that look like they got them out of Aquaman's garbage can.  Notice the Aqua Man gloves in the picture.
3.  These guys DO NOT know how to celebrate.  The only real celebrations that go on are by the bowler when he gets a guy out by knocking over the wickets or by the aforementioned LBW, or by the catcher dude when he catches what we would call a foul tip...only there is no foul territory.  These celebrations fall into two categories.  The first being the gay trot after the wicket, the second being the extremely high ball toss after the foul tip with the Aquaman gloves.  Totally stupid looking on both accounts.

4.  You have to bat and run wearing goalie equipment.  This is the funniest thing I have ever seen.  These guys dressed like hockey goalies have to run back and forth to score runs.  I think that you can get either runner out by knocking over the wickets before they get their body or their bat over the line...and you can over run the area.
5.  You can't wear your hat while "Bowling."  Apparently they don't let you wear your hat while you are the bowler.  I see them hand it to the referee dude, so he must be temporarily confiscating it or something.  I don't know if this is an official rule, but I will choose not to find out to maintain some sort of "Mystery" to the game.
6.  The game looks EASY.  I swear that if the worst baseball player in single-A ball where to done the goalie equipment and grab a bat he would be the greatest Cricketer of ALL TIME.  So far I have yet to see a serious athlete play this game.  I think that there is a reason that India, Pakistan, and Sri-Lanka love this game...they put all their best athletes into it (which are the equivalent of little-leaguers), and it is all they got.  The Aussies and the Kiwis are about the only exception, but all their real athletes are playing Rugby and Soccer...so they probably get the people that we send to Basketball or ping pong, or something meaningless like that.
7.  You have to know math to figure this stuff out.  Their rules are complex, and there is an end to this game.  If you are ahead and get 10 wickets, the game is over.  If you don't get 10 wickets, you can end the game by running out of overs (an over, I have found out, is 6 balls).  I think that some games have limited overs (one day matches) and some don't, not sure, have not stuck around for a 5 day marathon session to verify, and I am too lazy to read that far.  SO in these limited over matches, you have to maintain a certain run production per over in order to ensure victory.  They even have some strange variation in the case of rain where they predict what you need based upon what the other team would have gotten had the rain not spoiled their fun-in-the-sun.

Enough of my Cricket ramblings...you get the point.

How about them Hawks?  Awesome game last night.  Glad I stayed up and watched it.  Now that the Cubs are pretty much mathematically eliminated, the hopes and dreams of every Chicagoan resides in them.  I think that they can do it if they get past the Sharks.

I need to get to dinner.  I bet I have a dream about Aqua Man getting caught in a hockey net tonight...

Later

It's Dusty Out There!

See that Dot in the middle of the picture?  That is the sun!  Completely blocked out by dust.  It wasn't even that bad a day, either.  Just about 110 degrees and dusty air.  Oh, how great it was to breathe, though!

Good news, though.  It appears I may be home by the end of August!  Not official yet, but pretty sure that anything I say will change, so don't get your hopes up too much for my early return...I'm not.  It seems like our headquarters is a day early on planning all the time, and their headquarters is a day behind on issuing guidance all the time.  Makes for lots of circular planning and wasted effort - not to mention getting everyones hopes up along the way.  I don't know what they could be doing differently, but it does make for some entertaining (not to mention colorful) conversations around the cigar-smoking circle.  At least I can say that I made some good friends here...mostly some good cigar buddies.  We inherited an awesome back porch behind my CHU, and we sit out there every evening smoking cigars and drinking our near-beer.  I finally settled on Becks Non-alcoholic.  Not that it is any good, but it tastes the most like REAL beer.  It is really weird to drink a beer and not feel anything.  Really weird.

I finally got to a gym to do some work on the elliptical runner.  It felt good to sweat, if even for a few minutes.  There was air conditioning there, so the sweat actually becomes visible.  It is so hot here that when you sweat it evaporates almost immediately, so you don't even realize that you are, indeed, sweating.  It is not even that unpleasant in this heat.  It is definitely worse to be in 90 degree Alabama heat with 100% humidity!

I just thought that this picture was funny.  Thought that I would share it.  Sometimes we all kind of feel like we are riding a "Dead Horse."  Just remember, that when working with the government, No Horse is EVER too Dead to Beat!

Later...

From Mudhole to Dustbowl

Another Friday, and another day off that won't really be a day off.  Lots of work to do.  And decisions to be made.  Like, do I want to stay beyond 31 Aug for 30 or 90 days?  I guess that the decision needs to be made today.  I don't think that I am going to do anything positive to stay (like fill out some silly paperwork).  If they force me, so be it.  How do you justify being able to come home early to your family and then doing something to stay?  You can't, especially as we draw down to the point that things will just get more and more dangerous.  We should not be drawing down our forces right now...quite possibly the worst military decision I have ever heard of.  Just wait for it...time will prove me right.

When it rains here at Club Taji, everything turns to sticky mud and mush.  When it doesn't rain, the stuff blows EVERYWHERE!  It gets in your eyes, your ears, your nose, mouth, and hair.  It blows through cracks in your walls that you didn't even know that you had.  It can't be good for the air conditioners that we depend upon...anyway, I played cards last night through a mild dust storm, the cards were forever getting more and more coated in dust.  If I left my phone out, it would be unreadable in minutes from the layer of dust that would attach to its screen...must have been some sort of electrical attraction.  Just going to the latrine and washing your hands you could see the dirt in the sink, usually after only about 15 minutes outside.

Well, I need to get back to work.  Break's over, back on my head!

Later

Up Early Again...

I am up early again watching the Hawks' game.  Got up and showered at 0400 so I could watch the game uninterrupted.  So 22 minutes into the game they are tied 0-0.  By 23 minutes into it they are up 2-0.  What a turn-around!  Then they add a short-handed goal to go up 3-0.  Niemi is on FIRE!  All they need to do is play a stingy 3rd period and they should win it.

We are getting a visitor today, so I have everyone assembling earlier than normal.  Only problem is, I hope the game is over before then.  I have spent the better part of the morning fending off flies and mosquitoes.  These things are BOLD!  They will land right on you...I think that I even heard one of them laughing.  And these Mosquitoes somehow leave these bites that stay around for weeks.  I still have a scar on my arm from one last month.  I swear these things have door gunners that get you without even landing on you.  And the flies won't leave you alone.  They love to land on your nose, ears, arms, legs, hair, you name, they land on it...except, of course, if you have your fly swatter in hand.  They seem to hide when that happens.  Why is that?  They can't be that smart.  They haven't been alive that long.  What is their lifespan, like 48 hours or something?  As far as I can tell, the only thing the fly is good for is to solve crimes on CSI with their larva.

That picture of me was taken a few days ago in front of our new school sign.  It says "Marqez al-Tedrib al-Mushtareq.  In English it is roughly Joint Training Center.  Not sure what that means yet as far as what we will be doing.  Time will tell, I suppose.

Third period is starting, must concentrate concern-rays on the Hawks.

Until next time...

The World is right again!

Yesterday I finally got the DVDs I ordered...none other than seasons 5 and 6 of 24!  I cannot believe that I bought all of season 5 JUST to watch the last 1 and 1/2 hours of the season.  At least the commercially produced DVDs a.) work, and b.) have the prequel to the next season.  So the world is now right...I have completed season 5 and I am working on season 6.  And my disk did, actually, work for season 6 (because I tested it) but it was missing the whole last episode...so before I even got myself hooked I just decided to spend the money and get season 6.  Seasons 7 and 8 are good, I checked them already, and they were not done with the same amount of compression.  So the world will continue to be right.

Now for last night's "Not quite Right."  Why can the Hawks not win at home?  4-1?  OK, 3-1, I hate...let me repeat HATE when coaches pull their goalies with a two goal deficit.  Does anyone out there know the amount of times that a team has come from behind by two goals by pulling there goalie?  I have never, personally witnessed it.  I have seen teams come from two goals down by NOT pulling their goalie, though.  But who am I?  And for the Cubs...is it too early to say, "Wait until next year?"  They just need something to get them going, like a 20 game winning streak or something.

And while I am commenting on 24... where in LA are these yayhoos, anyway, that can get from point a to point b in under an hour?  I DON'T THINK SO!

I need to get back to episode 2 of season 6 now.

Later all...

I'm UP! Stop trying to wake me...

I got to take a trip to Camp Liberty this weekend.  It is nice to see how the other half lives...by that, I mean the privileged few that get to live on the Victory Base Complex (VBC).  There are actually things to do there.  Also, there are several bases within the complex.  Funny thing, though, since the place is so big, some people that work long hours actually don't even get a real feel for all that the complex has to offer.  I kind of understand.  If someone was to ask me if a Bus went somewhere here on Taji, I wouldn't have a clue.  When you have a vehicle, you don't bother to take buses anywhere, you just drive.  So you wouldn't know where a bus stop was, or what its schedule was.  Such are the woes of the visitors to VBC.  It seems that a preponderance of the Bus riders are non-English speakers, low ranking soldiers (who are way too nervous to give directions to a LTC like me), and visitors who are as clueless as you are.  We were trying to go to a Mediterranean restaurant somewhere on that place, and no one, I mean NO ONE at the unit that we were visiting seemed to know what Bus would take us there.  So we took a Bus as far as we thought we could, and then walked the rest of the way (about a mile).  When we get there, we spy a Bus stop right there where we were going.  It was a different bus line than we were originally on, but it would have changed where we got off in the first place.  So I guess a bus does go there, you just have to wait a half-hour for every bus there.  Buses stop every half hour at the various stops.  The problem is, if you miss a bus, it is only about 20 minutes to walk anywhere...so why wait?  Because it's HOT, THAT'S WHY!  Only we didn't wait, we walked, BOTH WAYS.  Then one of the guys that was staying near me couldn't find where we were staying, so we walked an EXTRA two miles.  And, because we were traveling, I had my leg holster on.  I had a very bad "Heat" injury to a sensitive region by the time I returned to my CHU.  Thank Heavens for Gold Bond.

So I set my Alarm for about 0230 so I can shower and watch the Hawks game.  It starts at 0300.  My alarm goes off and I decide that I can shower at the first intermission.  But I don't want to reset my alarm for 0300, so I hit snooze (which only goes for 10 minutes).  Has anyone ever fallen back into a great sleep in like 3 minutes...just to get woken to that $#%$# snoozed alarm?  Damned the thing...like 4 times.  Then the game doesn't start right at 0300, so I keep going down this path until it does start. All the while becoming more and more annoyed and more and more tired as time goes on.  Anyway, the Hawks aren't getting the thing in the net tonight, so I guess we are going to game 6 on Tuesday.  What is it about 1st game at home?  The Hawks are just not winning their home games, especially the first one after being on the road.  I am afraid that if they don't win it in Vancouver, we may be in for a little trouble.  There are about 8 minutes left, so maybe they can at least leave on a high note and score a few goals.

It was Mother's day yesterday.  I was so busy traveling that I almost forgot.  Good thing that my end of day, is the states start of day...Mom and Wife successfully called.  I love you both.  Hope that you enjoyed (are enjoying) your day.

Time to send my full concern rays to the Hawks.

Later...

Hello World...

It has been a while since I last posted anything.  Mainly because I just haven't felt all that great.  Looks like everyone is going home early...except for me.  I have to somehow get this school up and running all by my self now.  It actually may be a good thing, since now I will have to do just about everything, so I will be aware of everything that is going on...that is unless I figure out how not to share the things I do with myself.

I had my weekly wine rations tonight.  I got a hold of my local chaplain and finally squared things away.  Looks like we may get a few more soldiers in to services as well.  The wine was those little bottles of Chardonnay that they give you on the plane trips...I am sure it will get better at some point.

Have to get up early and watch the Hawks game again.  It comes on at 0430 here.  I get to go on a little trip tomorrow...can't say where or when, but I should be back by Sunday.  May get to hook with one of the LTs that was stationed at Ft Ord with me.  Will know more tomorrow.

Not much else is going on, just trying to figure out what is going to happen with our school.  Got to play a little Euchre and a little cribbage last night.  It was fun.  There was some female NCO that was dressed up as Foxy Cleopatra...honestly, where does one pack an outfit like that?  What would possess an individual to pack something like that to a war zone?  I am not complaining, just trying to figure out the motivation.  I know that there has to be some consumption going on at these parties, but I can honestly say that I have not witnessed any, which is a good thing for plausible deny ability.  That is just judging by the rowdiness of the soldiers that are at these parties.  I have seen some people there that are definitely from our group, so I guess that word is getting around.  Too bad that most of these people will all be going home in about two months or so.

Must go to sleep now.  Hope that Randolph beat Indian Springs today.

Later...

The ABC's of Judaism

The ABC's of Judaism

Not too bad a philosophy. I am looking for some places that I can help some of the other Tribe Members here at "Club Taji" learn about their heritage. Seems like I am the only one here at the moment that grew up in a religious environment. I am glad, thanks to my Mom and Dad, that I had that.

Congress, where 44 percent are millionaires, freezes pay - Yahoo! News

Congress, where 44 percent are millionaires, freezes pay - Yahoo! News

At least congress is starting to "Get it!" IF they really want to get paid more money, they shouldn't become Congressmen...They still make more than every soldier that is putting their life on the line for their country. Are any of our Congressmen willing to do that? Some would, I am sure. But most, doubt it.

But they are white guys?!?

Decided to write this before heading to dinner.  I did have lunch over on the Iraqi side, but on our compound that I used to live at/  Lunch was pretty good, but has anyone, EVER, heard of Texas Corned Beef?  Basically corned beef with bbq sauce on it.  Not that good, but not that bad either.  Better than some of the stuff that I get over here.  I wanted to write something down here before I head to dinner, since I may not really feel up to it after dinner, and I am watching a rugby match.

Japan vs Korea in Rugby.  Only most of the guys on the Japanese team are white!  I guess since we have Japanese Americans they can have American Japanese?  The Korean teams seems to have some national integrity, from what I can tell.  Japan is basically killing them.

Had to Chauffeur around one of the Izzy's today.  Good thing, too, since he had never been to my school, and he is one of the guys that I have to justify my manning roster to.  He kept forgetting stuff, so we were running around all over the place looking for his Body Armor and computer bag.  That was fun.  So I got in a little extra work.  Anyway, not much else is going on here.  I am headed to eat.

Much Love...

Whatever it is, my stomach misses it!

I haven't eaten in the dining facility since Thursday at lunch.  My stomach has been killing me.  No Iraqi food, no Blue Monsters, nothing too out of the ordinary.  Thursday for dinner I got a Pizza from Pizza Hut.  Nothing special, just a stuffed crust deluxe.  I only had two pieces for dinner, so I ate it all day on Friday.  Well, I almost didn't go to Friday night services because my stomach hurt.  It must be that darned American food!  I didn't get this reaction to the Iraqi food last time I ate it.  So I have been existing on Salami Sticks and Salami with crackers.  I am not talking "GIVE ME MORPHINE" hurting, not like last time.  This has just been a low level, I am not really motivated to be that far away from the latrine to go to the mess hall kind of hurting.  Enough of my stomach woes...something far WORSE has crept into my life.

So I am watching Episode 23 of Season 5 of 24.  About 19 minutes into the episode, the disk quits.  Now I am not really mad at the total lack of quality control on the disks...after all, I only spent 10 bucks on all 8 seasons.  What I am pissed off at, is how out of control I feel because I can't watch the final 60 minutes!  I am like a drug addict looking for a fix right now of 24 season 5.  I tried to just jump to season 6, but my heart really wasn't into it, and too much must have happened in that last hour or so.  There are no commercials, so each episode, although covering an hour in time, is only about 44 minutes long.  I think that the problem is that they try to shove way too much data onto one disk.  I would gladly pay full price at this point to watch the damn show.  Curses!  Its not like I don't have the money.  I am getting on Amazon an ordering the damn things.

Watching the Cubs game tonight.  How about the Hawks?  Watched every painful goal that the freaking Canucks scored.  I hate those guys.  Always have.  I used to love to go to the Hawks games when they played those guys...always guaranteed a good fight.  They didn't even do that last night.

Anyway, sorry for not writing in a while...wasn't really into it with the tum-tum on the fritz.  I promise to do better.

Later.