Super Man Returns

Well I have returned... well to be honest I have been back for a while, but I haven't had much opportunity to release the inner super man, physically speaking that is. Capt Cue-Ball and I went for a run. I decided to run with a 25 pound pack on my back. Why, because I can. That's why.

We ran 2.5 miles to the gym and at the gym played ultimate football for an hour, think ultimate frisbee but with a football. For an hour we ran up and down a basketball court playing continuous football. I scored 6 touchdowns, threw 4 TDs and had several strong defensive blocks. And after the hour of continuous running on the court, we got to run all the way back to work. In total we ran 5 miles on the street (with a pack) and probably 2 mile playing football. Oh yeah, did I mention it was pouring rain in central Florida today? That's right, when most people stay indoors and avoid getting wet, we continue to live life out loud. A very wet, fun run... never to be forgotten.

Carlos, the international terrorist...

Well my name is Carlos, but I am an international terrorist. That is if you ask the fine people of Qatar (commonly pronounced "cutter" or "cut-tar"). So, I am finally in Kuwait on my way back to the states from Awesome-stan (which is now less awesome because I left) and I went through Qatar to get to Kuwait. Why? Don't ask. Anyways, I get there and land on a US military base. By the way, I flew there on like the biggest airplane ever. You could play football inside this plane. It was totally empty which added to the ginormousness of the C-17. Anyways... so we land in Qatar on a US military base. I stress that it was a US base for a reason. Follow along.

So we land and we have to get out bags checked and go through customs. A bit odd I thinks to myself since I am still on a US base, but whatever. I get this brief telling me no weapons are allowed in this country, no alcohol, no tobacco, no porn (to include muscle and fitness magazines) and an array of other prohibited items. Wait... did that guy say no weapons? What about this loaded pistol on my hip? Good question. Before I go through customs I have to turn my pistol into the base armory and retrieve it when I am about to leave. Again...odd but whatever.

So I turn in my pistol and my loaded magazines (magazine = thing that holds the bullets in the gun) and go trough customs. There was this navy dude and we had been traveling from the same place going to the same place and we became travel buddies. We watched each other's stuff when someone went pee and we always made sure the other guy didn't get lost. So as we are carrying our bags through customs my travel buddy gets stopped for having unloaded M16 magazines. What? Yeah, the US Air Force guy there helping the Hadji customs agents tells us they confiscate magazines (not the reading ones). I think this is stupid and only applies to carry on bags (I have 8 magazines in my sea bag but it is locked up) as it would in the states. Since mine are in my checked baggage I figure I am good. Travel buddy takes him magazines back over to the armory and turns them in, but forgot to suggest the same to me; thanks travel "buddy". I go put my bags on the x-ray machine and go for it. Of course hadji customs agents see the magazines in my bag, make me open up my bag, take out the magazines and turn them over to them. What? Yes, that's right on a US Military base I got empty magazines to a high powered assault rifle confiscated. Now, I would expect this at a regular airport if I had them in my carry on. This isn't something most TSA agents run across daily, but I am a US Marine Officer on a US military base returning from a combat deployment in Afghanistan...what do they expect me to have marshmallow bullets that pop out of a pez dispenser? To make it worse, the jack ass ch-Air Force idiot comes over and tells me it was my fault for having magazines and that if this had occurred a month from now I would have been arrested. ARRESTED?? I try to hold my tongue because profanity and disrespect can get you deported from this country (and being deported = not making my flight out of Kuwait back home). So I hold my tongue this entire time as Hadji guy steals my magazine but when ch-Air Force idiot tells me I should be arrested for being a terrorist I can't hold on anymore... I ask him "isn't this an AMERICAN MILITARY BASE? How can they (referring to the Hadji patrol) arrest ME?" He replies (get this) "they wouldn't arrest you, we would." OMFG!! I am seriously about to punch this guy in the face and start shooting people (but again, that would only be a short term solution and would derail me from getting home...but boy would it have felt good to do) but I just shut my mouth and tried to get out of customs as fast as I could before I got deported.

So my own country was going to arrest me for being an international terrorist in Qatar? I mean, I don't mind if other countries classify me as an international terrorist (I probably am in their eyes) but my own country assisted in me being classified as an international terrorist and labeled as such in Qatar. I had to sign some forms before they finally let me leave. And of course the forms were in arabic and they wouldn't tell me what they said. So I think I signed an admission of guilt to being a terrorist in Qatar. I doubt they will ever let me return... sorry wifey, I guess we have to cancel that dream vacation of ours to wonderful Qatar; turns out I am an international terrorist.

To make the situation even weirder (is that a word?) also in my sea bag (next to the empty magazines) i have a 14 inch K-Bar knife and a Holy Bible. I can do a lot more damage with a 14 inch knife than 8 empty high capacity magazines and a Bible is WAY more offensive to these Hadjis that anything I might have wanted to say.

Well, the situation is over. I made it out of the beautiful and prosperous country of Qatar without going to jail, killing anyone or committing other various crimes against allah (although I did eat a ham sandwich - don't tell) and am here in Kuwait, ku-waiting for my flight home tomorrow. What a day. At least I had a smooth, clean shaven face in which to commit terrorist crimes against the state of Qatar, right?

What's in a name, really?

So as I am preparing to depart from Afghanistan my beloved electric razor died. Well sort of died. It doesn't work anymore. So I have to switch back to the good "old fashioned" super razors and shave gel. There is a product out there, the mach three. Advertised as "triple blades provide the closest shave possible". What is doesn't advertise is that it is strictly for dudes. Sorry ladies, no mach three for you. But what did the manufacturer do...they made a lady version. It is called the "venus trio" or something lame. Well, when old faithful died I went to the very small shoppette here to buy a new razor. My choices?... one of those multi packs of "cut your face to shreds" disposable razors or... that's right... the venus trio. At first I protest. They HAVE to have other razors, right? No. So I buy the "slice your own face beyond recognition" disposable ones and use them exactly once. After almost bleeding to death (and refusing to shave my jugular) I went pack to the shoppette and admitted defeat.

I fought it for a while as I stood in the shoppette but finally sink into the fact that I have to buy a lady razor to shave my face. My life sucks...(not really, but buying a lady razor isn't a high point). I finally convince myself that the venus trio is just the same as the mach three but slightly different... yeah, slightly for GIRLS!!! My manhood just died a bit as I went to the check out counter and paid $7.40 for the lady razor. Not only do I now have to use a lady razor to shave...I had to pay for it... and pay way more than I should.

But what's really in a name? So THEY (whoever THEY are anyways) calls this razor the "venus". So what. A venus fly trap is pretty cool, right? It eats bugs. That's kind of manly. Sort of. Ok, now I am just trying to make myself feel better, but I am still shaving with a razor designed for girl's legs and underarms.

A sad day for men everywhere...

When Zad…ohh Now Zad.

Well what has been going on here… other than the death count rising not a whole lot. I was out traveling earlier about two weeks ago. I went to visit Now Zad. Now Zad is an interesting town. A little history lesson… around 2006 the British held a small base on the west side (west side!) of the town and the Taliban held positions on the east side. The british had a pretty successful attack on the Taliban one day and the Taliban responded with 18 attacks on the Brit base in 23 days. Well the local populace of Now Zad said, “I’m outta here” (but they said it is Pashto) and they abandoned the city. Since then there have virtually been no civilians left in the city.

Today the Marines hold the small base on the west and the Taliban live in the woods that line the river on the east side. The rule of thumb (when looking at Now Zad) is that the Talibans hold everything that is green (living trees), the Marines hold all the built up areas (the abandoned town) and everything that is brown (dead or dying vegetation) is no man’s land. The Taliban have reinforced fighting positions, rank structure, a chain of command, guard post and training areas. They are a “legitimate” and “organized” enemy force. I am pretty sure that what is going on in Now Zad has not been seen by any military in a very long time; we have our side, you have yours and we meet in the middle to fight. The Taliban have so many mines buried in and around their area that when a new Taliban fighter shows up to the area they physically tie a rope around the new guy and connect it to an older, more experienced fighter. The new guy has to follow the experienced guy around so he won’t blow himself up, although this does happen often.

The Marine unit there has had 5 or 6 double amputees (legs) resulting from land mines. Every Marine that goes out brings two tourniquets with him. Some even put the tourniquets on their legs, just not very tight in anticipation of needing them soon. Some of the amputees didn’t live long with both legs blown off but some make it back to the US where they now have prosthetic legs and are undergoing rehab to learn to walk. There is a board up on the Marine base showing the amputee Marines back stateside using their new legs and smiling for the camera at their buddies back in Now Zad. The Marines that are still in Now Zad find comfort knowing that their buddies are being taken care of back home.

The Marines in Now Zad sleep 1000 meter (or yards if it is easier) from known Taliban fighting positions with around 100 Taliban fighters. And you think you didn’t sleep well last night? So why would I go somewhere so dangerous? Let me explain something I didn’t emphasize enough…there are like 200 Marine Corp Infantrymen at the Marine Base. So, yes I was 1000 meters away from 100 Taliban fighters while I slept, but I was surrounded by 200 other Marine Grunts… I could not have been any safer. Trust me. Sitting here at Camp Bastion is just as safe as Now Zad, unless you go for an afternoon walk through the countryside… then you may need to wear a tourniquet (or two) around your legs.

I must also admit that my trip to Now Zad made me a cheater… I am sorry Cali but I couldn’t resist another cute, blonde that liked to kiss (maybe I should apologize to the wifey). They have bomb sniffing dogs out with the infantry units and the one I met there was named Corporal Clay. Now Corporal Clay is a highly trained bomb smelling dog, but due to factors I won’t go into, these bomb sniffing dogs are worthless. They are not even used on patrols, they are essentially morale boosters and platoon mascots. So for the third deployment out of four, I have come across another Canine Mascot. Libo was our Haji dog mascot in Iraq, Genius and DBIED (doggie born IED) were our Hadji dog mascots in Kuwait and now we have Cpl Clay, an honest to goodness American Lab. I guess I saved the best for last. Nothing compares to an American dog… third world Hadji dogs are just not the same. Not nearly as awesome as a USA dog. Not nearly as awesome as my American dog, Cali; AKA Super Dog!

We had continued to have a rough time with casualties the past few weeks. Please keep the men fighting on the front line in your thoughts and prayers. They don’t do this for the money or the recognition, and I can’t explain why they do it, but they are doing the tough job each and everyday.

And don’t ask me why we don’t just bomb the Taliban side to hell… don’t even get me started people.

Random Fact of the Day…
Holland is the only country with a national dog… so I guess dogs in Holland might be cool too. But I doubt they are as cool as Super Dog and Cpl Clay.

Now Zad and Cpl Clay (dog) pictures

The most fun I have had on this deployment (so far)

Another long one... you may want to sit down for this...

Let me explain something to you all, incase you aren’t aware. There is a digital revolution going on in America and the young people (how old do I sound saying “young people”) are leading the revolution. Say goodbye to CDs, DVDs and live television… no I’m not talking about IPods and Tivo, I mean gone are the days of movies and music being on a disk and TV shows being only on your TV. Everything you can watch and listen to is available digitally and can be shared with thumb drives, even passed via blogs. I came out here with an empty 250MB external hard drive (if you are already confused about what I am talking about find the nearest person under 30 and have them translate) that is now almost completely filled. Filled with what… um almost every good movie ever made, every good TV show that comes on, and thousands of songs. It is common practice for Marines (who are continually linked to the latest batch of 18 year old high school graduates) to swap out hard drives and copy the good stuff from one hard drive to another.

Now, while I watch movies and TV shows every so often, I consider myself to be musically inclined and somewhat a walking music anthology. You like 80’s rap, I got it. You like classical, I got you covered. You want the latest cool bands not on the radio, easy. You want music from when my parents were kids, I got that too (assuming you like big band from the roaring 20’s).

Recently I was going through a co-workers hard drive and I saw a folder the contained the Billboard top 100 songs for every year from 1970 until 2007. Think about this for a second. Each decade has 1000 songs. So I got the top 3700 songs from 1970 and on. Not only that this guy had the Rolling Stone (magazine not band) top 500 Rock and Roll Songs of all time as of 2007. What a music find!

Not I added them all to my ITunes, but I am too OCD to just let the song title, artist, album title and genre be filled in by the last guy. I consider the song Fame (which was song 66 in 1980) to be 80’s pop while others would consider it 80’s soundtrack or just soundtrack. I can’t have that kind of mislabeling going on. Some songs don’t even copy the title and artist into ITunes. So for the past two weeks or so (when I wasn't reading or working) I have been going song by song putting in the correct title, artist, album, and genre for each song; and I am deleting songs I already have as to avoid having duplicates. Now while this sounds on the verge of dysfunctional and tedious the fun part has been remembering songs I might not have heard in like 15 years. While that in itself is fun, the fun part has been having crazy flashbacks to days of old in my life. And since the songs are arranged by year, I am slowly going back in time. Prime example… if you asked me what girl I had a crush on in the 4th grade I would not have been able to tell you. I probably wouldn’t have even remembered having a crush back then. Girls probably still had cooties. I would have denied the whole thing. BUT, when the song “1,2,3,4" by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine came on… I was instantly back in my elementary school auditorium for the school talent show. A girl (a 6th grader at that, ooh scandalous) and her musical partridge family-like siblings performed that song. She was the lead singer of the family which was why her family was allowed to enter the talent show-like event. I don’t think it was actually a talent show but not the point. Bam! Just like that I time traveled to the 4th grade (btw that song was song number 62 in 1988) and when I was 7 years old. It took a few mins but I was even able to remember the girl’s name. I don’t remember anything from 1988 except the LA Dodgers won the world series when Orel Hershiser pitched and Kirk Gibson hit that home run where he pumped his arm the whole way around the bases to win the series for LA. Hey, that was a big event in the life of a 7 year old boy in LA. Other than that I can hardly tell you who my teacher was in 4th grade yet alone anything else. There have been other fun moments traveling down memory lane but I will save those for some other time. The flash backs have been fun, but not enough to go back to my high school reunion. While I think it is fun to remember days of old and the silly stupid things young boys do, I like being able to cut my stroll down memory lane off when I choose to.

Now for those of you thinking “ohh, I want to know who you had a crush on in 4th grade” get over it. I’m taking it to my grave. And for those of you thinking “ohh, what does wifey think about your 4th grade crush?” Get over it. She had a boy name their pig after her when she was younger in an effort to win her affection. So when it comes to old stupid crushes from like a million years ago, I got her beat hands down. What? Was that too personal? Sorry.

Now, while the list of my past crushes is short (but growing) it is all in the past and just silly now. The whole point here was just how much fun I have had listening to the chart toping bands/songs such as:

- Sisqo’s Thong song - #14 of 2000
- Miami by Will Smith - #53 of 1999
- All For One by Sting, Bryan Adams and Rod Stweart (from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves) - #12 from 1994
- Now and Forever by Richard Marx - #23 from 1994 (memory lane story – I was in Jr High 7th grade and during his speech for Student Body President one candidate (9th grader) brought his buddy on stage and they performed this song playing their guitars. Not sure what else he said in his speech but he won. It also took a while to remember his name but I finally did it - Steve Chung. He ended up being class president at the high school too I think.)
- Nothing my love can’t fix by Joey Lawrence (whoa) - #83 from 1993 (yes that guy from Blossom made a CD and happened to make the top 100. Let’s just say 1993 was a weak year for good music, that or the power of the teenage girl was realized once again.)
- All I Want Is by Toad the Wet Sprocket - #65 from 1992 (memory lane story – this CD was the first CD I ever owned. I got a new gismo called a CD player for Christmas and got this CD and the CD from the TV show “The Heights”. You may remember their song “How to You Talk to an Angel”.)
- C’est La Vie by Robbie Nevil - #16 from 1987 (oddly enough I heard this song on the British radio station just this morning. I think the last time this song was on the radio was 1987... even in England.)
- Borderline by the then young and pre-karbala Madonna - #35 from 1984
- Who Can it Be Now by Men At Work - #30 from 1982 (oddly enough this is the ring tone my Mexican Marine friend has as his ringtone on his cell phone)
- And the number 1 song from the year I was born – 1981…
Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes… some of you probably remember that song when it came out in 1981. And to those who can remember this song I say – you're old.

I will have all these files available to any of you to copy when I get home. So you can have your own fun down musical memory lane.

And I finaly got to the 7's music and I must say the 70's had crappy music. I realize that since I wasn't around to fully "appreciate" the times I may not fully "appreciate" the music. I am sure PO will have the same thoughts on music from the 80's and 90's but I won't let him utter the words "the 80'd had crappy music". A person could get beat up for something like that. Bands like Bananarama and Culture Club are timeless.

With that I'm out.

What have I been up to lately...

I have been reading… stand by this is a long list.


I think the last book I reviewed was “The Great Gatsby” which means the next book I read was “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Housseini. Let’s see here a book written by an Afghani author about the recent history (last 80 years) of Afghan history… hmmm I think this might just be a winner. Ok, not really. The book was about two women (although they both started off as girls) who end up married to the same man. And what starts off as a bitter rivalry between two wives turns into a story of two women that are both victimized by the same man and together they find power and eventually turn on their husband. When the husband starts beating one of the wives the other ones ends up killing him. The murderous wife gets caught but not before the other wife manages to escape and lives a long and free life in Iran… (although I think that is where the fiction really begins) and the other wife ends up being executed by Taliban justice in a soccer stadium while the whole town cheers. Oops did I just ruin the ending for you all, darn. Don’t waste your time. Life sucks over here for these people, but they still haven’t learned how to use toilet paper, so they probably deserve what they get.


After that heart warming feel good book, I turned to “How to Kill A Mockingbird”. This is the wifey’s favorite book. I was a bit disappointed. After reading the title I thought the book would be more of a “How To” than a fictional drama set up in a racially charged era in small town Alabama. I was expecting to learn some tips on how to kill mockingbirds instead I learned of a touching story Jem and Scout Finch and how good always triumphs bad. Ho-hum. I guess expectation management would have really helped. If I knew I was getting into a fiction story I might not have been so disappointed. But, I learned nothing of how to kill mocking birds. So those birds remain on my “not sure how to kill it” list and may stay there until I can find a REAL book on how to kill a mocking bird.


After the disappointment of the 1950’s racial biased era, I felt the need to no be disappointed again. So I picked up a John Grisham book and made sure to read the back of the book so I knew what to expect. This one was called “The Broker”. This is the story of a power hungry lobbyist lawyer who was representing clients that “discovered” a secret satellite surveillance system. When his clients end up dead and his multi-million dollar deal goes south he finds himself landed him in Federal Prison. The CIA convinces the outgoing President pardoned him and banish him from the USA; living a life incognito. That is until the CIA leaks his location to the Chinese, Israeli, Russian, and Saudi intelligence agencies and then watches to see which agency kills him first. But they forgot they were dealing with “The Broker” who turns out to out smart every major intelligence agency in the world and their highly trained assassins. In the end “The Broker” outsmarts the bad guys, convinces the CIA and the Washington Power Elite to help him and returns to Italy to the arms of the woman he fell in love with but never even knew his real name. Yeah, I see that working out. Way to start a relationship on about a thousand lies. Uh huh. Ok, this guy got out of Federal Prison, escaped a dozen of so assassins, got the secret satellite info back into the USA where he continued to outsmart assassins… and the part I find hart to believe is that he actually has a shot at love with the female lead character… wow. I guess if Tila Tequila can have a shot of love (or 3) then this guy should get the chance too.
And I read that book in 24 hours. I found myself stranded at a different base with nothing to do but read. So I did, and I read the entire book in one day. I didn’t mean to there was just nothing else to do.

Anyways after that book I read one my in-laws sent me. Now I have to credit my mother-in-law with the book since it was her name on the return label of the package it was in. But let me tell you the book started off with two strikes against it. When I opened the package I started digging through the box like it was Christmas morning and at the bottom of the box was a book. But all I could see of the book was the “Oprah’s Book Club” logo stamped on the cover. I was immediately deflated and I rolled my eyes. You know how most people complain about their crazy in-laws? Well while the wifey actually has valid reasons to complain I have been very fortunate not to have any “crazy in-law” movements. But when I saw the Oprah’s Book Club logo, I thought to myself “what kind of ‘get in touch with my feminie side’ crap is this crazy woman sending me?” Now to be fair and up front I will admit before I go any further in this story that I was wrong. She didn’t send me any “get in touch with my feminine side” crap and she isn’t crazy. But you can’t blame me from thinking that. It is just the Oprah thing threw me. I mean Oprah was able to convince Dr Phil to completely sell out his own kind, emasculate himself daily on his show “Oprah part II”, and she has convince him to almost completely neutered himself. She has some sort of evil witch power over him and I didn’t want any of that evil on me. Anyways… That was strike one on the book. Strike two was, the book is a thousand pages long. Let me simplify that: 1,000 pages!!! Seriously, 1,000 pages. I pretty much max out at like 250. And books with that many pages have to have pictures in them. This book… no pictures. OMG! Seriously. Oprah endorsed the book AND there are a million pages!?! I had no chance or winning. But utter boredom finally won out and I started reading. The book is “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett. It is set in the 1100s and although it takes place in the 1100s the characters don’t talk like it is 1100 in England. The cuss using words we use today. And they talk about things probably not talked about back then. I think one character even said “as if”. Like she was a valley girl or something. I thought that the modern language helped. I didn’t get tied up with sentences like “Does thou thither and whom doust thou thither unto?” What does that even mean? Anyways… The story spans like 80 years and each section has years associated with it and a section may fast forward several years from the last section. The first 1/3 of the book is character development and none of the characters tie in together. Chapter 5 has nothing to do with Chapter 7, and none of them were connected to Chapter 1. But as most stories go, all the characters end up connected at least at one point in time and the story quickly builds to that point. Slowly character X runs into character Y and character B crosses path with character G. At the end all the characters are tied together and the aftermath of their encounters are nicely tied up. All in all, this book was one of the best books I ever read in my life. Good recommendation Papa-Bull and Mama-Bull. If any of you have the chance (say a summer vacation or a ten days in the seventh ring of hell (I mean Louisiana) and need a book to read, read this one. You probably wont finish the book as quickly as I did (I read 378 pages one day) but it will be a good read.
But for those that do read the book here is a discussion topic:
With all the characters in the book I ask the question of “who is the main character?” Who is the story really about?
I have my ideas but I will await to hear from you on your thoughts. And I do realize this could take like years to wait for people to get through a billion page book like this but I am patient. I will wait and discuss this later. Did you notice how I never told you anything about the story, I just talked (at length) about the book itself. Now you are curious; maybe even curious enough to read it yourself? Hmmm?


After reading a zillion page book, I took a break. But I succumbed to boredom again, and I read one my dad sent me. “The Last Patriot” by Brad Thor. Just the right book at the right time. A Grisham-like book that villianizes the muslim religion and sets the stage for a counter terrorism fight that started with Thomas Jefferson and the Marines fighting the (muslim) Barbary Pirates in Tripoli. Apparently, Tom Jefferson (or Tom Jeffy as he liked to be called) had found evidence that the Prophet Mohammed had a final peaceful revelation from Allah saying no more religious wars (jihad) and was then executed by his closest friends after he told them about this revelation. Tom Jeffy found evidence that could revolutionize the muslim religion but (much like the DaVinci Code) Tom Jeffy used riddles, codes and code machines to protect this information from falling into the wrong hands. And in the end, the good buy wins and the dirty muslims die. Ok, they didn’t but the good guys (USA) still won. Score one more point for the patriot act! Suck it ACLU!! Bo-yah!
But after reading the book I wondered what would happen if this book became as big as the DaVinci Code. Cause we know how much the Catholic Church loved the DaVinci Code. I think the Pope personally did 100 “hail Marrys” each day damning Dan Brown to hell. So I am sure the muslim world would love this book. If only someone would make a movie about it. Cause the Catholics are too lazy to really do anything about a book twisting the history of their religion but the muslims nation… they are just looking for a reason to put a Jihad on someone. As if Britney Spears and The Real World weren’t reason enough to hate us, let’s make a movie twisting the truth about their most revered leader. I mean, it isn’t like these animals would kill anyone over a fiction book, right?

After that book, I started to read another one my dad gave me, something about human psychology and the different mindsets we have (the child, the adult and the something else). This book was way too much for me. Way too technical and I finally put it down with no intentions of picking it up again. Sorry dad, I tried.

I am also reading the “Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. Another book the Catholic priest gave me. So far so good. Not much of a story, but I will wait until I finish it to review it.

Anyways, That is enough for one day, I’m out.

A bit of perspective for your day…

I could write about how things are going. I could tell you all that my tent is now without A/C and how hot it is here. I could tell you that my LSAT prep course is going well. I could tell you about the books I have read recently. I could tell you about my daily activities but I will save all of that for another day. Today I want to give you a bit of perspective as I see things.

As I write this two Marines are sitting in the hospital here after they had both of their legs blown off. A Marine was killed a few days ago, and another one lost his eye.

Also, there is a woman waking her children up preparing them for another day doing what most average American mother does on a daily basis. She is living her life as she has done every day, except today she lives out the fourth anniversary of the death of her husband. Four years ago her world came crashing down around her. Her husband was serving with me in Ramadi back when it was a bad place to be. He was killed during combat operations and he died leading his men. But, that was four years ago and to most of the world it is just any other day, like any other. But to some of us, this day is a reminder of priority, or perspective, and a reminder about focus…
To this woman, this day is about re-opening the wounds she has tried to heal for four years. She tried to carry on day by day by herself. I have no idea how she finds the strength each morning to even get out of bed, but she is a strong and courageous woman who lives her life for her children and in her husband’s memory. I have no idea, how she manages to carry on with her life, but like I said, she is strong. I wish I was that strong and that brave.

But her husband was not the only husband/father to be killed four years ago. On that same day, another good man was killed. And so today, another woman is out there struggling to make it through the next 24 hours. She too will struggle with how to raise her children without her helper and partner. She struggles with knowing that her children will never know their father. They will never know that man he was. They will never be tucked in at night by him, they will never hear another bed time story from him. She struggles with the questions from these youngsters of “where’s daddy”, “why isn’t daddy coming home” and the dreaded “daddy who?”.

It tears me up inside to think that some how for some unknown reason my life was spared and these men’s lives were not. How many times was my life in the crosshairs and why is it that I made it back alive. Why was I so fortunate enough to get to see my beautiful wife face again, to see my family again, to get to be given this gift of life…

While I have no answer to these questions, I try not to let these questions go too far from my mind. I try NOT to forget about these two women who have gone these past four years hurting. I try not to forget about those Marines that are awakening this morning to the realization that it wasn’t just a bad dream; they don’t have legs anymore. I try not to forget that you don’t have to be in a combat zone to remember that each day you wake up is a glorious day, a day to be lived vigorously, a day to smile and a day to thank God for.

I am not sure what is going on in your life or what struggle you face each day. I know times are hard and anyone’s future is uncertain. But no matter how shitty your day is, I suggest you get down on your knees and thank your God you still have knees to get down on. You thank your God that you are alive and privileged enough to have shitty days. The sun is shining or the sky is dark and dreary, either way you are alive to experience it and there are many people I used to know personally that no longer have that privilege. Remember these men and these women today. Take a few moments to hug and kiss your children more than you normally do. Call your parents and tell them you love them. Don’t let the sun go down today without telling everyone important in your life that they are important in your life. You may not be lucky enough to get tomorrow. Or worse they might not be lucky enough.

Now some of you may be thinking that the story of those two women sound familiar but a newer version than the story you remember. You may be thinking I know a woman like that, or maybe you are thinking I know children like that. For those of you who know this pain on a personal level let me just say I admire your strength. I admire your ability to have gotten past those dark days. I admire your courage to go on. I do not know how you did it or how you continue to do it today. You are a stronger person than I am, and I am humbled by you.

Let me close this with this:
Wifey… I love you so much. I am a horrible husband to you and I am utterly selfish. You deserve so much better in life but never forget that I love you and I consider myself blessed to have you in my life. You are the greatest gift I have ever received. It will be October before you know it. Stay strong. I love you.

Mom and Dad, I love you and I am sorry for being a punk ass kid (even still).

Kat and Lu - you are my people. I love you both as my sisters and my friends. I have learned so much from both of you and am eternally grateful to be your little brother.

To everyone else, family and friends - I love you all. Never forget that and never doubt it.

To anyone else who might have just stumbled across my blog, know that there are people out here manning the wall who care enough about you to put their lives on the line. Never forget the sacrifice that we are making for you. You don’t have to agree with the politics of war, but never miss an opportunity to thank the men fighting this war and the loved one staying strong back home. You owe us more than you can ever repay, but you can begin with your gratitude.

This isn’t a goodbye any means, I am still here and will still continue to be. Don’t worry about me as I am still safe and will continue to be smart. I now have a rifle and ammo, in addition to the pistol I sleep with at night.

This isn't goodbye just simply a reminder that life is bigger than we can comprehend. It is too big and too valuable to fathom. I wanted to remind you of how precious life is and to remind you to be grateful for this day and for the next. Get down on your knees in gratitude and live this day like it was your last.

I love you all...
ARSM

Part two...

Ah yes, the guitar came in. I am not much of a guitar player and only play around. I’m no rock star except when it comes to rock band then I am awesome. But I know how most people seem to play a little and seem to enjoy guitars. So I went online to find the cheapest guitar I could find. My plan was to buy a guitar put it in my guitar case and mail it out to Afghanistan, take it out of the case, mail the empty case home and the guitar will stay here forever. I am planning on giving it away when it comes time for me to leave here. As few guitars there are in country, I figured it would be a good thing to leave here once/if I finally got it here. Well when it came in the mail to our house in FL, it was packaged so good that I decided to leave it in the box, cross out the label and have the wifey mail it in the box. Well once I figured out what my mailing address was, she mailed it out here and it finally arrived. Yeah. I have it hanging up in the office here and when people see it, they light up and ask if it is mine. It is with pride that I tell them yes and they are amazed that I was able to get one over here. But, for the right price you can get anything over here. Well for around $200 I got a guitar, strings, a tuner and a soft sided case shipped all the way to Afghanistan. Not a bad deal, for not too bad a guitar. A very fun treat and I have told people the guitar is community property, so sometimes while I am working I can hear someone in the back of the tent strumming away at some song. I am sure they sound good in their own mind, just as I do.

No more t-shirts…There is an ongoing debate amongst the Infantry side of the house between the junior officers and the senior enlisted. I believe there to be a rule saying a Marine must wear an undershirt under their cammie top, but many junior officers think it is cooler (temperature wise) to not wear a t-shirt, so they don’t. This only serves to upset the senior enlisted Marines even more. Well with the raising heat index I thought I would try it out. So I stopped wearing the under shirt and put the cammie top on by itself. What a difference it made. Now a breeze or an A/C vent blows directly on my skin and feels great. When there is no air flow or A/C vent I just sweat which is no different than when I did wear a t-shirt. I now change my cammies more regularly and I have fallen in love with gold bond powder. There is no place gold bond powder doesn’t go. I bathe in it. Head to toe;, the stuff is powdered gold. I have bought some at the PX, but got most of my supply of the addictive white powder from the Chaplain’s office. I guess many churches have mailed in toiletries for distribution by the Chaplain’s office. Bonus for me.

My new pet peeve… ok picture if you will porta johns being the better alternative for bathroom facilities as compared to the bathrooms with plumbing. The porta johns are bigger (size wise) and if you go at night much cooler (temperature). The “indoor” plumbing toilets here are cramped. I’m not that big of a guy but my knees hit the wall when I sit on the toilet. And I have to change my clothes before I go into the bathroom because there is not enough room in the tiny stall to bother with unnecessary clothing. So I have to go to my tent, put on shorts and a t-shirt and then go to the bathroom. So trust me, the porta johns are the better choice. Anyways, the pet peeve is when people don’t put the toilet lid down after using the facilities. I drink 8 liters of water a day (yes, that’s four 2 liter bottles) and subsequently have to pee often. How much worse is a porta john when someone leaves the lid up. I am in there to pee and I must confront the mystery blue water of death. Why can’t people just put the lid down. Now don’t confuse this with the age long debate of putting the toilet SEAT down. No this is more. The toilet lid keeps odors and other things at a minimum…putting the seat down would do nothing for me in my battle against offenders of the porta john rules. Just like in a normal bathroom there is etiquette for guys on which urinal to use and how to use it. Never use a urinal next to another man and NEVER look at the guy next to you and talk only if absolutely necessary. Examples of necessary conversation include but not limited to: you are on fire, there is a guy with a chain saw and a hockey mask behind you, and the earth is about to get hit by a giant asteroid unless Ben Afleck can save the day…run for your life. No where in there is: what time is, nice day we’re having, so how bout that Obama guy… these type of conversation starters must be saved for the hand washing station. But I digress… Put the toilet lid down in a porta john. It is just common courtesy people!

ARSM out

Part one of a series

Well so much to report on and so little time. Well since my last post I read 2 more books, met Toby Keith, took the LSAT, moved tents, ran into my 1/5 buddies, got my guitar in, I stopped wearing t-shirts and I have a new pet peeve. Where to begin…

Well I guess I will start with the books. No pictures in them either (so disappointed). The first was called “The Immoralist”. The Catholic Priest gave it to me (was he trying to tell me something?). Anyways, it was written in 1902 and the thing I liked most about the book was just how our society (not just American society) has changed since 1902. The way I figure to be considered an “immoralist” one must really be immoral. I mean, not just your avg person is an immoralist. True we are immoral but to be an immoralist, to me, means you are completely consumed by immorality. No spec of goodness left in you, is my definition of an immoralist. Well the guy in the book is the immoralist and I’ll be honest…I didn’t think he was that bad of a guy. Not that I would hang out with him, but I wouldn’t classify much of what he did as immoral until the very end when he cheated on his dying wife. I realize that sounds really bad, and it is…but that happened at the very end. It was the point I think he really crossed into immoral. Before that point he was just a selfish person. He didn’t care about others, he lied, he didn’t love his wife enough, he had no backbone to take responsibility for his actions, he was selfish, he was a fair weather friend and left his “friends” high and dry. Now don’t confuse this, I’m not saying he was a good person, it just strikes me as funny as to what was considered immoral over 100 years ago. I mean, lets be honest… I don’t care enough about others, I lie, I don’t love my wife like she deserves, I have not taken responsibility for my own actions at times, I am selfish, I have been a fair weather friend and have probably left friends high and dry sometimes… does that make me an immoralist? I don’t think so. I think you can get a better picture of today’s “immoralist” by turning on MTV around 1000/1100 at night. Or even turn on your evening news and take a look what’s going on in the world and in your area. That to me is the 2009 standard of an immoralist… very different from the 1902 standard.

The second book I read was the Great Gatsby… I have said is before that I am just not as quick as most people in this world. Most things take me more effort to understand or grasp than most. I didn’t get the book The Great Gatsby when I was forced to read it in High School. I had a hard time understanding what was going on and found it difficult to read. This time though, I actually liked the story. I was able to stay interested and keep up with what was going on. Now, I can’t tell you honestly the deeper meaning of the story, talk to you about the metaphors the author used or write a five paragraph essay on who was more the tragic hero in the story like I could back in high school, but I can tell you I liked the book unlike in high school.
So those were the books, what was next...

Toby Keith… so he came to Afghanistan as part of the USO tour. I guess he was the only part that came here but regardless. This was known for some time now and I didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go to the concert, yet alone try to meet him. Well the day he was here I was out and about, “making the rounds” we call it, talking to people, trying to solve problems, (way too many commas in this sentence) when around the corner Toby Keith and his entourage walk up. Toby walked right up to the guy I was talking to stuck out his hand and said “hello warriors”. So I shook his hand back and gave him a lout and motivated “oo-rah!”. Just kidding, I don’t think I even said anything. I just shook his hand and maybe said hello, I honestly don’t remember. I was so surprised to 1. see him and 2. have him walk up and shake my hand. So after meeting the guy I figured I had to go to the concert. The few days before he showed up here at Leatherneck he was out visiting the smaller bases none of you have ever heard of doing smaller performances. He didn’t bring his whole band to the smaller bases, just him and his buddy that play the guitar. But at Leatherneck it was the full band. He only played for like 50 mins which I thought was crap, but afterwards he signed autographs and took pics with people, which was pretty cool. Early the next morning he took off on a C-130 and was gone.
The concert FYI was pretty good. I was glad I went.

My sister, Lu (the one that was jealous I went to the NKOTB concert and she didn’t), got me an LSAT prep book for my birthday. I know, what a lame gift giver she is. So I took the assessment test and did ok on it. I got better as the test went on. It was just getting back into the “how to take standardized test” frame of mind. The first section I would read the question, sort of read the answers and select on that sounded good. I was very worried about running out of time. I ended up finishing with plenty of time, and plenty of wrong answers. By the last section (of 4) I only missed a few. So I think if I were to take it again I would do much better. Not going to say what the score was, because it sucked and was in no way good enough to get into anywhere decent. But it was an assessment test, so I left answers blank because I didn’t want to accidentally guess a right answer. I wanted to get questions wrong that I didn’t know how to do, so I can work on them. What good is getting lucky on an assessment test? Now with that out of the way, I can begin my studying portion. The book calls for a five week study program where you cover something everyday. I think I am braking mine down into a 5 month study program where I cover things on a weekly basis. If I finish in five weeks with a prefect score, it won’t do me any good out here in Afghanistan.

The tent I was living in had no A/C. The A/C was perpetually broken and would only stay fixed for one day a week. The thing it did have going for it was that it still blew air, just not cold air. But the air flow through the tent helped some. At night the tent would cool off so that it was comfortable, but in the day you could die. If you took off all your clothes and just went around in your underwear, it was manageable mostly do to the air flow, but the tent was not a place to be in the day time. After complaining long enough we finally got moved to a tent that has A/C. It isn’t great, but the A/C works. Now the days are better and the nights are cold. Which works well for me.

The other day (two weeks ago) I was walking out of the G-4 (MEB logistics) tent and I looi up and I see one of my buddies from 1/5. We were Lts together and he picked up Capt now too. He is the Logistics Officer for the Battalion. We can call him Capt Jamaica. He is from Jamaica and has a cool accent. So Capt Jamaica was here with the other big important guys from 1/5 but none of them made it to Camp Bastion where I am. There were off somewhere else so I never got to see them. Then two days ago as I am walking back from the chow hall a truck pulls up next to me and stops and I look over and the truck is full of some more of my old buddies from 1/5. Different guys, all were still Lts but I know all of them from at least the last deployment I did. They are here on the 1/5 advanced group to show up. The Bn XO is here and I talked to him for a long while last about what (if anything) I could do to help them out. It is good seeing them not just because the are my friends but it helps now doing a lame desk job knowing that I am directly helping the guys that pull triggers. You can always tell yourself you are doing something for some purpose, but until the fruits of your efforts can be seen directly impacting that purpose it doesn’t really hit home. So now when these guys have a problem I can actually help them, unlike my old job in O-town where I was helping no one. So not all of my buddies are out here yet, they are scheduled to be here in a little while, but in the mean time the sun shines a bit brighter and the days aren’t so bad…

Well the sun actually shines a bit hotter and the days still suck, but my friends are here.

As I only get 30 mins of internet at a time, I write the blog when I am able then copy and paste. So I will finish this post next time.

I thought there would be more pictures...

Well I have been able to read while I have been here. I guess with no tv as a distraction I can allocate a bit of each day to reading. This is the latest book I finished. Very good read, but only if you like history. The only down side to the book, it is titled 1776, but the war started before then and kept on going after 1776. So it is like a 12 month look into a war that was much bigger than 12 months. But still a good book.
I'm out, time ran out for the computer access. See you all in a few days...
ARSM

New Family Rule...

For those that know the Super Man and might be on his short list of people to call I am implementing a new rule. It is pretty simple and easy to follow. The rule is this:
When the super man is deployed...answer every single phone call you receive (regardless of what caller ID says) and always have your phone on and near you.
Doesn't sound that difficult but you would be surprised the difficulty in having people answer.
I was going to write more and banter on about nothing really important, but I have decided to let this post be short. Then death of a family member (ok so not my immediate family) has left me speechless and a bit reflective. Just know I that I love you goesonruns (all of you) and will keep you in my prayers.
So, from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan
take care and God bless
ARSM

I’m up, up and away

Ok, no more Superman references…I have a hard enough time explaining I am a super man, two words without adding to the confusion. 

So I’m not sure if Leatherneck will have good connectivity, or at least as good as Kuwait and Kandahar but we will soon enough find out.  I will be there very soon, how soon I can’t say but this may be my last blog at least for a while. I will still email the wifey (and few select few) so check her blog if you are looking for some super man enjoyment… not that she’s a man but she is super.

Anyways, I have the strong desire to change yesterday’s title…it sounds a bit gay…not that there’s anything wrong with that.  So if you are reading this and there is a reference about a dreamy surfer boy in my last blog, then it means I was too lazy to edit it. If you are reading this and my last blog title is only about Canadians (there’s that auto correct again) then don’t pay any attention to my mention of dreamy surfer boys.  Dang it, now this post is starting to sound gay too. Maybe I should edit this one too.  But you know I figure, I did write like 9 posts about my going to the new kids on the block concert (and by the way I never mentioned my middle sister (do you hear the violins playing sad, dramatic music) Lu was so jealous I got to go and she didn’t.  She was so envious that she didn’t go, she may never stop being green…that’s right I said it. bitch!) And by the way I didn’t just call my sister a bitch…I merely said the word directly after a comment made to her, you just inferred I was talking to her.  Shame on you. 

And I was saying… if talking about the NKOTB wasn’t too gay then how would talking about a dreamy surfer boy be gay…even if the surfer boy is French.  Wow, auto correct at work again.  French. France. Like I would capitalize the F, seriously.  I dislike the French too much, kinda like the canadians… I guess I would really dislike the French canadians then, huh?? 

But I digress… how do you know if you actually have A.D.D?  I mean by reading this you probably have a reasonable concern that I am ADD but how to prove this? 
Anyways… Kandahar has been interesting. I went to a local bazaar.  It was bazaar.  It was on base and it was pretty much local Afghan gypsies selling local gypsy crap.  I was going to buy a few things but it was a cash only society and I don’t really believe in case anymore.  I spend it too easily and without regard to where it went once I run out.  So no gypsy crap for me…although I was going to buy DVDs made illegally (probably) so it wasn’t like a total waste of my unborn child’s college fund.  I mean a 22 DVD collection of James Bond movies (to include the most recent ones) for $22 is NOT a waste of money.  I call that an investment. That was I can teach Po what cool is…it is a valuable lesson and investment. Don’t judge me people!

Well, like I said before, I don’t think this Camp Leatherneck will have good connectivity for personal use and this could be my last blog. So take care my peeps (when in reality only three people read this: oldest sister, mom, and wifey) and I will be home before you realize it.

Take Care, God bless….i’m out!

By the way for those of you that know my relationship with my boss in Fl (the Col) I have to tell you I sent a very funny email to him. He apparently was worried since I haven't called or emailed him yet (why would I? he doesn't like me).  So I emailed him and sent him my best regards from Afghanistan...he can't actually fire me, right? And if does that means I get to go home, right?

Oh those crazy canadians…and the dreamy sufer boy

So let me start off by saying that I am in Kandahar right now at the coalition air base.  And this place is unlike anything I have ever seen. I said it was a coalition base right, good because there is no one country in charge of anything here.  There are like 16 different flags flying everywhere.  A country puts a flag up on or near a building so you know who owns what buildings… And no country has buildings next to each other…so there are flags of countries all over the place. Even more fun than flags…there are people from all these different countries all over the place. Now I have been to bases that were U.S. that had a few foreign troops there, but not like this place.  Hundreds of German, Italian, British, Canadian, Australian, other random countries I can’t figure out… so fun.  And their uniforms are fun… the british have a plume in their caps… yeah I said plume – like Jr high school marching band – plumes.  They are short and red but very silly looking.  The Aussies apparently have no regulation when it comes to appearance and  military look.  There is one Australian that looks like a stereotypical blonde surfer dude.  I mean go to surf city, USA and grab a dude off his surfboard and put him in a uniform…same thing.  One Aussie had longer hair than the girl next to him.  Now my sister Lu and I like to pretend we’re british and speak with an accent (hers isn’t very good but I let her play along) but let me tell you…when REAL british people talk, you have no idea what they are saying.  Their accent is SO thick it is like they are speaking gibberish… you mean to tell me we speak the SAME language as them?? You wouldn’t know it listening to them.   Anyways… those crazy Canadians…

Has anyone ever been to Canada?  Pop Quiz then…name the coffee company that is the Canadian equivalent to starbucks?  I know the rest of you “non-canadian-visiting-people” are thinking “who cares? Canada sucks”. You are right but I am playing a meaningless game of trivia, so let me be.  That should have given you “Canadian-visiting-people” enough time to think…the answer: Tim Horton’s…  and with the line of people lined up outside their coffee stand at ALL hours of the day/night, you would think they were giving away drugs.  No joke, a 10 min wait to order a cup of coffee, when every person here probably has their own coffee maker.  So what is so darn special about this coffee? No idea. I’m not drinking that crap.

I just saw a midget.  He is in the Army.  The US Army. He is a warrant officer, which I think means he flies army helicopters.  No joke, he was like waist high. I wish I had been standing up so I could tell you exactly how tall he was. I mean that guy was like midget size…not that there’s anything wrong with that…I’m just saying…he was a midget.

But I digress… Canadians…how much cooler would my story about crazy Canadians be if the midget had been Canadian…so much funnier but alas I can’t lie. 

Focus! Canadians… I find it weird that Microsoft word has pre-programmed into the auto correct feature to change canadians into Canadians.  I can spell british and all I get is a red-squilligly line. Why would bill gates fix this error for me, without my asking…?  He is Canadian. That is my only guess. 

Ahhhh!!! The Aussie with the surfer hair is here… I need to get a picture of him, you won’t believe this.  Like long locks of flowing sunshine…he’s so dreamy… FOCUS!!

Seriously…A.D.D. or what?!?

So the Canadians…in the middle of this crapy NATO base, in the middle of Afghanistan (where it’s like freaking hot) they have a hockey rink built.  Right now, directly behind me there are dudes wearing those giant hockey jerseys with the Canadian leaf on it playing hockey, with hockey sticks. The goalies have pads and a mask and everything.  This was no accidental “pickup” game of hockey.  Ok, so that wasn’t nearly as funny as it is in real life.  I mean, there are grown men running around a hockey rink in the middle of Afghanistan….hockey sucks?!  The hockey rink has that red lead all over the rink, just in case someone forgets whose rink it is.  Who else gives a crap about hockey? NO ONE!! No soccer is the universal sport. I don’t like soccer but I get that it is huge.

Ok, so the Aussie surfer dude could possibly not be Australian… I am listening to some of him and his buddies talk… and they ain’t speaking English…could be Bulgarian…like I know what Bulgarian sounds like…silly boy. They have a flag on their uniform: three vertical stripes red, white, and blue… I could google this but I have a better idea…new game… first person to comment on what country this mystery country is, wins a prize.  Really? No.  Like I have some prize I could give you. Seriously. I am in Afghanistan.  Think about it.

Anyways, I will close my play be play narrative on what I see going on here at Kandahar (or KAF if your cool).  This place is like the wild west and I am sitting in the center of the town at high noon (but with the sun already having set). Everyone walking around, hanging out and carrying guns. There is no common uniform and people are flocking in groups.  Except unlike the wild west, we are supposedly on the same team, fighting together.  But I could easily see a huge brawl breaking out putting country on country in a battle royal. Ok, so my imagination gets away from me, deal with it. But this place is weird.  You have to see it to really get the total weirdness of it…but don’t go and add “visit Kandahar” on your bucket list or anything. It’s not that cool. 

Anyways, I will try to blog again before I move to Camp Leatherneck… it is in the Helmend province and is in Southern Afghanistan about 100 miles west of Kandahar. I will let you know if that place is as crazy as this one.

Take care and to all my peeps that send me a cool birthday message, you guys rock. Sorry if I didn’t reply to any of you, I have been busy. See you all soon

ARSM out.

I love you wifey…

And I'm Off...

Well for my birthday this year, and yes I was going to finally celebrate it, the Marine Corps decided to give me a six-month all expenses paid vacation. I thought, "sweet!", I could use a vacation after all the hard work I do normally....wait, that's not true. I don't work hard.  

Anyways for my birthday they are sending me on this really cool vacation. Too bad I couldn't bring the wifey, but I sure she doesn't mind.  So my flight to my "mystery destination" leaves this evening...and I am sure it will be some really cool, exotic destination.  

Ok, while most of that was total crap the main point being I fly out tonight (my tonight, not yours) to Kandahar. I made sure to spell that out so people like my dad would know how to spell it.  Even though I think it spells like it sounds, I realize I might be in the minority.  It could also be spelled Quandahar in case you try to look it up at weather.com.  

Anyways, not sure if I will be able to blog and stuff while I am there, but here is to hoping. 

 Today's WTF moment: did you know copy right laws prohibit streaming media from playing outside the USA?  That's right, so I am unable to watch The Unit or The Office because they won't stream the episodes outside the USA.  Lame.  Also, Pandora.com (is like a personalized radio station) won't broadcast to me since I am outside the USA. I think there should be a deployed service member override code. That way I could still see The Unit and The Office.  The best shows on TV. 

Ok, so that wasn't that big a deal....so I can't watch tv on my computer in Kuwait. Get over it dude.

Hurry up and Kuwait even more...

Well it took 3 days but I finished reading a book.  Yeah. So when I say I am bored I mean I AM BORED! Hurry up and Kuwait... so I lay in my bed (a plastic covered mattress with a sleeping bad on top of it) probably 20 hours a day and I spend around 12 of those hours reading.  At first I picked up this book because my mom (Marmie, death to mimi) bought tickets for the wifey and I to go see that play. I must admit the play was quite good. My oldest sister said the book was dark, but that description doesn't mean much to mean. I get dark like a color. The sky is dark. But dark being a description for a book? I said "oh yeah, dark" like I knew what she was talking about.  Anyways... the book was really good. It was not like the play, rather the play was not like the book.  Some of it was similar but different enough, you know.  There were some adult themes in the book, but I didn't really understand most of them.  A few bad words here and there but I use a few bad words every now and then so I didn't mind.  I would say if you took all the inappropriate parts of the book and put them together, all in all there were probably about 4 pages in total.  Of a book 400 something pages long, 4 total pages isn't bad.  I think the story was very clever and tangents I found myself being bored with eventually ties together and made the plot even more imaginative.  Overall a good read. 

As I sit and kill time in Kuwait I have been able to skype with the wifey.  No, that isn't anything gross. Skype is a free webcam service that is a lot more user friendly than a lot of the IM programs most of us have used before in the past (AOL, MSN, Yahoo!).  Anyways, ask the wifey if you want my skype name but keep in mind I may not have time to talk to you. Nothing personal it is just internet time can be hard to come by and mins talking to you are mins I am not talking to the wifey.  Just something to consider. I can't skype with everyone. But if you want to try go for it.

 Today's WTF moment is this: How long would you think it takes to fly from Kuwait City, Kuwait to Kandahar, Afghanistan??  If you said 2 days you win.  Seriously, it takes 2 days to fly 1024 miles?? I guess if you are the United State Air Force it does.  

Wait, wait a kuwait some more

Well I have made it to Kuwait.  This place sucks.  Just as crapy as I remember it, somethings never change.  Anyways I am now waiting for a plane out of here so I can get on to Afghanistan and find a new country to hate...I am tired of visiting places I already hate.  

I don't have much more to say than that, but I wanted to let you all know that I made it here safely.  

This past week

I now find myself falling into the category of Capt and Mrs Cueball where I blog rarely and when I do post it is simply a wrap up of my doings... It no longer consists of any actual insight or introspection (learned that word on Kat's blog btw) not that I really had much insight anyways... moving right along...

The wifey and I went to visit the Fam in Texas last week.  Oddly enough the Tejas visit was planned before I found out I was deploying, amazing timing.  We went back to see her parents and a friend of the wifey's from high school was getting married.  It was a good time. We got to break the pregnancy news to people which was SO MUCH FUN.  Well not the actual telling part but the toying with your emotions was fun.  April Fools day is my favorite day of the year now. Ok, maybe not of the entire year but still...

Anyways at the wedding. Let me preface this with there are a lot of small towns in Texas.  The wifey is from such a town and going back to visit brings up such fun filled and amazingly odd experiences for me.  Now before I go and call this a redneck wedding (and I wouldn't do that since there is a chance now that I am linked to the wifey's blog and the bride or close friends could see this and calling them redneck might not be so nice) let me just say that people from small towns are very good people.  They can be a bit country, but I call that more country casual.  Whereas in San Diego, CA casual meant shorts, flip flops and t-shirt optional depending on if the sun was out.  When I heard the wedding in "no-where's-ville" Texas was casual I thought flip flops and shorts.  Apparently I was wrong.  Redneck or country casual means you can wear the same boots you milk a cow in and you can wear your cowboy hat for the entire ceremony.  It means one of the groomsmen is allowed to dip during the ceremony.  Oh yeah, and ball caps (not baseball caps mind you) are allowed for the entirety of the wedding and reception, but only if the hat is: 1. camouflage 2. at least 10 years old, beat up, has sweat rings, and dip stains 3. Is worn not actually on your head but cocked back so the bill points upward and the front of your forehead and bangs show for at least 25mins of every hour, and 4. has either a "bass pro shop" logo on it, UT/A&M/other random texas college logo, or the local auto-body shop logo on it.   Those are the rules people, I am sorry... I didn't make them, I just enforce them.  If you want to complain write your congressman, Willie Nelson, or G Dub (George W. Bush).  

Anyways back to Super Man's Big Country Adventure (I mean the wedding)... so we drive for like 45 mins down "roads" that would hardly be called roads in Iraq yet in America, but trust me they have road signs and street names, they just aren't paved, groomed, or maintained at all. But that's not an issue when you have your father-in-law's car (sorry, I tried to drive nicely but the rocks kept kicking up)... anyways.  We finally get to a very nice house that was built by the groom (very Abe Lincoln-ish if you ask me, I mean the dude built his own house...seriously?) out in the middle of nowhere. I mean you could seriously shoot guns in any direction and 1. no one would hear you and 2. you wouldn't have to worry about hitting anyone.  Again, really nice people.  Anyways the icing on the cake, good cake there, was the golf cart they had.  That's right, when you live a million miles away from anything you need your own golf cart!  The golf cart was no regular golf cart...it was modified. It had a gun rack in it.  I kid you not. A freaking gun rack in the golf cart... Do I need to say it again to drive home the point?  And even more fun... there was a rifle in the gun rack on the golf cart, at the house the groom built, in the middle of nowhere Texas.  So much fun!  And I am mad at myself for not taking a picture of the golf cart when it had the rifle in it. I guess someone decided to remove the loaded weapon when small children started playing on the golf cart unsupervised.  Only then did I realize I missed this golden moment but took a picture of the gun racked golf cart minus the rifle-in-rack moment.  I could have shot myself in the foot for not getting a picture earlier, but someone had taken away the loaded rifle before the kids and I could get our hands on it.   

Very nice people, and we had a good time.  For those of you upset that I have not and probably will not mention "PO aka Plus One" often then please direct your attention to the right side of this page ----------------------> where you will see a link to a blog titled "PO." It is there you will get all you latest and greatest PO info.  (Note: that last sentence sounds so much funnier if you say it was a ghetto accent.)(is accent the right word? Do people have a "ghetto accent?" I mean you can have a French accent or New York accent... but can you have a ghetto accent? I think you can in europe...? that doesn't even make sense. Stop with the movie quotes).  Anyways, at the wifey's blog you will find pictures and almost a day to day account of the weird peanut alien growing inside her belly.  Why don't I write about PO, I can hardly keep up with my own day to day ongoings yet alone an ever growing and changing alien peanut.  I will leave that to the belly that it is growing inside of.

Anyways, today's WTF moment...

Seriously how do you get a gun rack in a golf cart?  Do you buy it like that? Is that a special redneck, um I mean Country special upgrade package?  Do you install/attach it yourself?  Wait... is that a CD player and speakers on that thing?!?  Seriously? seriously? no, seriously?

Drumroll please...

Sorry to make you all wait but we were loving your agony...
But we were kidding about kidding. Plus One is scheduled to be here October 15th. Wifey is almost 12 weeks along and feel free to check out her baby blog here. She wanted me to warn you that the blog isn't interesting but then again neither is mine yet you seem to find yourself reading anyways. So, it wasn't an April Fools Joke, but we are some April fools.
ARSM

Are we some April Fools or what??

Seriously... April Fools?!????

And today...

Congrats to Capt Cue ball and Mrs Cue ball as they found out recently that they are expecting their third child.  They already have a boy and a girl and now an alien growing in mama Cue ball's tummy.  She is like 5 or 6 weeks, I think she said. I am not sure if that is good or not but it is what it is.

Is that how you spell tummy? I guess so.

And congrats to Capt Cue ball who beat me on a run this afternoon.  I wasn't really planning on running (in fact the last time I ran was the triathlon from hell) and then I find myself in a 3 mile race.  He beat me by 15 seconds, which is a long distance.  He looked like a little ant he was so far ahead of me.  Ok, not really but he still did a good job.

This past weekend we had wifey's brother in law in town and we also had friends from San Diego visiting. They were attending a wedding in Winter Park of all place.  This week my cousin from Baton Rouge is visiting Disney World so we will probably see them this week too.  I think I am taking Thursday and Friday off from work so that the wifey and I can go to Disney World ourselves. It has been on our "to do" list for a while and why not now.  Poppop (my day) will be in town this weekend and Marmie (death to mimi, my mom) will also be in town but at separate times. 

Wow, what a whirl wind of people and the madness is only partly over.  I am already tired thinking about all the visitors.

Anyways, that is about all I got for today.  

Anniversary weekend...

Ok, I am so out of order now... we (the wifey and I) have been quite busy and in my efforts to blog I have been blogging my life out of order.  So here is the blog about the wifey and me's 5 year anniversary.  our anniversary was the same day as the new kids concert, and the next day she had a anniversary adventure surprise for me.

Well the wifey surprised me on Saturday with an anniversary adventure. She didn't tell me what we were doing and even when we got there I didn't exactly know. We ended up going zip lining or zipping. It is essentially where you get connected to a cable 50ft in the air and zipline from one tower to another of speeds between 15 and 25 mph.  

Here are some pics...

I know...I look so cool in protective head gear.

WTF of the day...

How many medals did the USA Olympic Gymnastics Team win (men and women, individual and team combined)?

Answer: none. Not one.  WTF? How did the we (the USA) put together an olympic team and NOT WIN A SINGLE MEDAL?  Ok, I know this happened 9 years ago, but I just learned this fact.  How did we screw that one up so badly? Seriously?