Trying to Find Something to Write About

I really didn't know what to write about today, since my mind is fairly blank... so as I often do I just started typing and basically let my "fingers do the talking".  I woke up for my morning Skype date with Anne Marie at 4:45 this morning.  We seemed to not have a lot to say to one another, though, for whatever reason.  I know we were both pretty tired, but it just seemed that the conversation wasn't flowing at all.  :(  I'm sure everyone has those days, though.  She wasn't feeling very well, and she was very sleepy, so I won't think about it too much.  There's always tomorrow. :)

 

I stocked my room with some breakfast foods this morning... and plan on stocking it some more in the days to come.  Not only will it give me the option of not going to the dining hall if I don't feel like it... it is also an option to eat those items for DINNER as well.  Yogurt and cereal make very good snacks in a pinch, and they're pretty good for you on top of it!  :)  I just figure it better to have a small stock rather than have to remember to take it with me at whatever meal time or what not. 

 

It's been a decent morning for a Wednesday, though.  I really can't complain too much.  I'm starting to get tired, though, and then I have to sit my shift in just under 3 hours from now.

 

And... I have sat my shifts... both Wed. and Thurs. now... and I'm back here on Thurs. afternoon to finish this up!  :) 

 

So... I am still a bit blank on what to write... my mind has been drawing a blank for a few days now.  I have been wondering how my cats are doing, though.  I haven't heard anything about them since my first month here.  I hope they're doing well.  I miss them bunches and can't wait to get them back home with me!  Soon after all 4 of our cats between us will be integrated into one household of CAT-A-RIFIC proportions!  See... I just invented a new word!  :)   

 

There are really only a handful of things I'm looking forward to when I get out of Iraq and back to the comfort of life in the U.S.  Seeing my cats is one of them, of course, but really the number one is seeing my dear wifey,  I really hope she's able to be there when I get off the plane.  There are no guarantees considering we never really know the exact times and days and such very long beforehand.  That makes it rather difficult to plan a flight out from NY to Idaho that would need to be purchased several days or weeks in advance.  But... I will keep my fingers crossed that it's able to work out that way! 

 

I am really looking forward to having time off... and with that... SLEEP!  LOTS OF SLEEP!  I have a sleep debt built up here that most certainly exceed 150 hours, as I blogged about the other day.  When I leave it will be over 200 hours.  Obviously, a few weeks or even a month off of work isn't going to make that up, but it sure might put a bit of a dent in it and leave me refreshed for a change.  Even now I don't feel refreshed even on my day off or my late morning, the 2 days a week that I'm able to get some extra sleep.  It's bound to happen when you're going at it for this long, though, even when the days are flying by at an unbelievably rapid pace. 

 

The next thing I'm looking forward to is freedom to roam... that's something we don't have here at all nor do I want to experience it here.  I have no desire to go outside the wire and have the "opportunity" to be shot at... or to run over an IED.  NO THANK YOU!  I'll gladly stay inside the base where it's reasonably safe from things like that.  The freedom I'm talking about is being able to get in MY car and drive somewhere... ANYWHERE... at my leisure and have no other responsibilities for that particular time otherwise.  I do miss that.  It could be anything... going out for wings and beers... going to a casino... going for a run on the greenbelt... or even just going for a nice drive with no destination in particular. 

 

I'm looking forward to having all of my own things back again and my own place.  A "pod" is definitely not home by any means.  I can't wait to have the luxuries of home available once again.  It's a very nice thought... one that is not too far from being reality again.  The moving part will suck for the most part, but it will be more than worth it!  In fact, it's about time I start trying to get my next apartment lined up... time is running short!

 

Finally, I really am looking forward to visiting with family.  Having missed the holidays made me miss everyone that much more.  I can't remember missing a Christmas at home in the last probably 15 years.  I also don't plan on missing another one anytime soon.  I know they missed having me there just as much as I missed being there... and by family I mean BOTH my family and Anne Marie's family.  I will get to visit everyone soon, though, and for that I'm grateful.  It can't get here soon enough! :)

 

I guess I found something to write about didn't I???  :)  Have an awesome Thursday everyone!!!!  Under 60 days to go... and they are FLYING by! 

 

Peace, Love, and Poker

Another tired morning...

It's funny how that works... you get a morning you're able to sleep in... and you even want to sleep beyond that sleep in time... so you do.  You hit snooze a bazillion times and then finally drag your butt out of bed at 9:24.  That's plenty of time to get to work by 10:30, so there are no worries there.  There's just one... well... two small problems.  The first is that you're more tired even than the day before when you slept 6 hours or even a little less than that.  The second is that you awaken with a splitting headache that almost 2 hours later ibuprofen has failed to kill.

You get up... you stumble to the restroom and the coffee shop on in the 40 degree chilling fog... barely moving at all.  The warm coffee feels good in your hands on the minute and a half walk back to your room, though, and you're not so cold anymore.  You already had breakfast in your room stocked for this day knowing you'd never get up by 8 on a Tuesday morning.  Well... actually you DID get up at 4:45... but following the Skype date you relocated back to your bed for more precious Z's.  The sleep feels so good you just want it to last forever... the whole day even perhaps!  This is a telling sign that you have a MASSIVE sleep debt you've built up, and it's one that won't be erased anytime soon... not by a day off... not by a late morning... not by sleeping an entire day even!  No... this sleep debt must be widdled away just like paying down a credit card... a little at a time each week.  Unfortunately, over here you don't get to pay off any of it very often.  Throughout the week it accumulates... probably around 2 hours a day... until you get your day off where you might make 2 of those hours back.  On the late morning you might make 1 or 2 of them back as well.  So that still leaves you 6 in the hole at best.  It's really greater than that... over the 18 week period, though, since for the first 8 weeks there were no days off.  There was, for awhile, only one late day as well.  You accumulated 10-14 hours of debt those weeks.  How much is estimated as of today one might ask?  My best guess is somewhere between 150-200 hours! 

Therein lies the question of the day.  What are the health impacts of our time over here in the desert?  If I'm feeling this way certainly there are MANY others who are feeling this way as well.  Nobody really knows what the long term impacts are of losing this much sleep over an extended period of time.  Sure there are studies done, but none are iron clad conclusive save one thing... your immune system WILL be weakened.  Perhaps this is why my body was unable to fight off the infection I'm currently still fighting.  There's no definitive proof of any such thing.  Maybe I was going to get it either way, but you have to wonder... what if? 

There are thousands of military members who come home from deployments that are really never the same as they were before they left.  Granted that has a lot to do with seeing death and/or causing death (since outside the confines of the safety of the base environment it's generally kill or be killed).  There are other impacts, however, that tend to go unnoticed.  There are impacts on people's families during every long separation.  People are creatures of habit for the most part, and part of that habit changes for both the ones who leave and the ones who stay behind.  Sometimes those changes are so great that famililes and marriages disintegrate... at times even before the member has a chance to get home to save it.  Some thrive on it, but that is a rather small percentage of people considering humans have an innate need for social interaction. 

I'm not even talking about the serious stuff here... like PTSD or TBIs.  Those are things that are well beyond the scope of anything "every day" that happens.  I'm talking about the spouse who becomes so independent while the other is away that he or she is unable to adapt once they return.  I'm talking about missing 6 months of your little baby boy or girl growing up during the time that they change the most.  I'm still talking about the loss of months worth of vital sleep as well.

I don't have any ideas on a solution because we simply do the job we set out to do professionally, and we do it well.  I suppose one could simply do nothing at all during their 6 months of deployment and accumulate little or no sleep debt by going to bed right after work and/or the evening meal and sleeping in till the latest possible time.  That, however, is not living, and then you have the mental impacts of that to deal with along with the fact that you didn't communicate with ANYONE back home for 6 months in that scenario.  It's a vicious circle.  We are all each other's support system here along with all of our friends and families back home, and we take care of each other the best we can throughout our time here. 

The job we do is a good one... and we have done it extremely well since day one of setting foot here in this foreign land!  That is something to take with you when it's time to go from here in just 8 1/2 short weeks.  This is the middle of week 19, and although the time is still flying by, it's doing so at a much more tiring and pace.  Just the thought of sitting on an airplane for 12 hours straight actually sounds GOOD!  There are no responsibilities there... no alarm clocks... no deadlines... if you want to sleep (and if you're able) there's ample time to do it.  When that day comes it will be a welcome one for all of us, and then we will have to work our way back into the grind of daily life back in Idaho.  Of course, that doesn't sound all that bad. :)

Peace, Love, and Poker

Surviving Rather than Thriving

It might sound a little cliche, but it's something I think we all do sometimes even if we don't realize it.  You get into a rut... and at the same time you get sort of comfortable within that rut.  It doesn't matter what it is.  It can be a mundane schedule of daily events.  It can be something that's not even truly a negative thing.  Just the same it's still there.  The question is when you're there how do you go about changing it?

 

Well... I've done it many times in the past... and I've been well below the surviving level of living many times as well.  Is it necessarily "bad" to be in what I call survival mode?  Not always.  There are times that it will pull you through, and it's much better than the alternative.  However, the longer you stay there the closer you get to being utterly depressed.  Therein lies the trouble.  I'm in one of those "ruts" right now... and have been for awhile.  I also haven't really felt like doing anything to change it mainly because I'm completely exhausted.  BUT... am I exhausted and tired BECAUSE of the rut???  That's the real question here.  Lack of sleep... sure... I've had plenty of it.  I don't even sleep exceeding long on the mornings when I have my day off on Saturdays.  I prefer to get a good tasty breakfast on those mornings, so I have to get there prior to the dining facility closing at 8:30.  That, I believe falls under the "thriving" category.  If I were sleeping till noon and wasting my days off then I'm probably not even surviving at that point.

 

So how did I thrive this week on my day off... and how did I simply survive?  I have examples of each, and it starts with Friday night.  I left work on Friday evening a little later than usual.  I skipped dinner, too.  I wasn't hungry... not in the least.  Skipping the evening meal is definitely not thriving.  I considered doing my laundry on Friday night instead of having to do it on my day off... I eventually chose not to and put it off till the morning.  Again... simply surviving.  I stayed up late on Friday night and finished reading my book, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."  This particular item is in the thriving category. 

 

Then we come to Saturday morning... I got up and did my usual routine... weighed myself at the gym (gained just under a pound this week... definitely not thriving there!)  then went to breakfast.  I totally enjoyed my breakfast meal and felt better afterward... moodwise that is.  I proceeded to do my laundry... all of it... bedding and everything.  However, I don't consider it thriving, since it's the same thing I do every Saturday knowing I could have gotten it out of the way Friday evening instead, which would have freed up those 2 hours for something more enjoyable.  While sitting in the laundry room with my laptop I wrote a blog.  Thrive category.  The previous hour there, though, I was feeling pretty down and just kinda BLAH... survive category.  After I got all the laundry out of the way, I decided to go sit outside the coffee shop and play some online poker... something I've only done 3 times since my arrival in Iraq.  Thrive category once more.  I went and got my pizza later than usual after a trip to the doctor for the infection on my head.  Following my dinner... I added some extra distance to my walk back to make it an even 30 minute walk... Thrive!  The remainder of the day/evening was spent not doing much until it was Skype time with Anne Marie and then the rest spent getting ready for bed.

 

What's the point of all this you might ask?  For me... it's important to recognize these little things because it's very easy to just slide into the survival rut.  I'm there now... especially at work.  My motivation to do things has decreased immensely.  My moods are mostly down in the dumps, and I feel like busting out crying at any given moment.  It's actually very hard to explain... even in a blog, where you can explain it rather easily.  I shouldn't say it's hard to "explain"... that's the wrong word choice.  It's hard to "talk about".  That's more accurate in my case. 

 

The problem is there is still 2 months to go here, and I can't afford to lose my edge now... after doing so well for the first 4 months.  I know not being able to work out has a lot to do with it.  It's mostly my issue... the docs have said doing some cardio is perfectly fine, but I can't get past the fact that I know if I sweat... even ever so slightly... the bandage on the back of my head will immediately fall off, and my open infection wound will be exposed.  I just can't do it... so until I lose the bandages and the wound closes (which will be a couple more days at least) I am not going to be doing any gym workouts.  A walk outside each day is certainly a viable option, though, and it will make up a good many of the calories I need to be burning in order to be successful in my weight loss. 

 

As many people have said... this too shall pass... and I'm sure it will... but until it does... I'm definitely not going to be myself.  I haven't been for 2 weeks now.  Hopefully I will be able to change that very very soon because it's not a fun place to be.  And yes... I'm still exhausted.

 

Peace, Love, and Poker

Another day off... and another week done...

This one hasn't started off all that great... hopefully I have nowhere to go but up!  I've been sitting here in the laundry room miserably thinking about the past week and how crappy it's been.  Alas, however, it is another week in the books with only 9 left to go.  Yes... single digits!!!!  63 days!  Those are good numbers when you think about 18 weeks have passed since the day I set foot on Iraqi soil (sand).  To think that the day I stepped on the plane to leave Idaho it was 6 AM on the 7th of September.  That sounds like eons ago... but yet it still seems like yesterday. 

So what have I actually ACCOMPLISHED in 4 months here?  Honestly, I can't think of much other than the daily job I do.  I haven't done really anything else beside work and work out.  That's about it.  I refuse to do anything that has to do with work on my one day off per week.  It's truly the only time that is mine, and I plan to continue to be selfish on my last 9 Saturdays off as well.  I didn't take any classes... and I'm not going to unfortunately.  I may, however, try and do a couple CLEPs before I leave instead.  I have a few in mind that I think I can pass that will apply nicely to my degree program at Boise State.  Besides, who wouldn't want to have the chance to skip micro- and macro- economics if given the chance??? :)  Those are not fun courses... real sleepers in fact!  I'm ready to get into the meat of the courses... accounting... finance... business stats... etc.  Those are where I'm headed come this fall. 

You could say I've accomplished becoming a fairly regular blogger over here, but I still haven't touched on even 5% of what I could write about... not just in my own life... but fictional work as well.  I haven't written any of my military story in over 2 months, and I do plan on continuing that at some point soon when time permits.  I certainly have not forgotten about it.  It's only a snippet of what I plan to turn into a full on book someday, so consider it a "preview" of sorts. :)

I have read several books since I've been here... some of the titles are... Everlost, The Midnight Road, Weep No More My Lady, False Memory, American Gods (which I just finished yesterday), and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (also finished yesterday).  What does that mean?  Well... it means I'm doing something productive.  I believe reading books keeps your mind sharp.  It's something that I enjoy that I had lost sight of for a few years.  We tend to get so caught up in the internet with email, chat, web browsing, etc... that we forget the simple things in life are still there and still relevant. 

There's something relaxing about sitting in bed with a nice cup of hot tea at 10 PM at night reading a good book.  You really don't get that feeling from very many other places.  Sure, there are several things you could substitute in there for the book, but you get the idea.  Life has become so virtual at times that the lines tend to get blurred between what's reality and what's not.  Here's a good example... and I'm sure we both realize we do this... my wife and I talk on Skype daily.  While we talk we actually IM each other in the Skype window during the conversation as well!  Why do we feel the need to do that when we can just SAY anything we want right then???  It's because that form of communication has become so natural you do it autonomously without even thinking about it.  I typed something to my sister last week when we were talking on Skype, and she asked me why in the world I did that.  See... some people still get it. :)

Now the laundry is done... it's still morning here on this Saturday in the desert... for another 40 minutes or so.  I'm truly debating whether I want the usual Italian meal today or to just skip it.  We'll see how I feel in a couple hours.  Breakfast was delicious this morning... better than usual.  It was one of the better omelets I've had here.  :)  Lunch... well... I'm not quite ready for that yet.  I may take up with some poker online later today.  It's been awhile since I've played, and I do miss it.  We'll have to see where the day leads won't we?

Peace, Love, and Poker

A couple unfinished blogs from the recent archives...

No... I'm not going to finish them... but I thought I'd at least share where my thoughts were headed on those 2 particular days.  I do plan on posting today as well. :)

Title - Another Groundhog Day Almost Complete!

 

What is significant about today???  Well, it's Tuesday, December 21st, 2010.  This being the actual first day of winter and also the 3 1/2 month point of my deployment to the desert!  :)  I have been doing mostly the same things in what has become a rather rigid routine, especially for me, Mr. Spontaneity.  I am not much of a person for planning... routines... etc.  I prefer to add several "spur of the moment" type things into my days.  Here, however, it's tough to do, and those things tend to cause stress rather than help.  I mean... if I didn't stick to a certain workout time each day I would probably end up not going at all.  So, that makes the routine a necessity for that to happen!  I would be lost without knowing that at 11:30-12:00 I was going to go get lunch on Monday afternoon... or that come 8 o'clock on Sunday evening I would be going to Skype with Anne Marie for an hour or so.  Those parts of the routine help me get through my days, and for some odd reason they seem to make them pass by that much faster!!!

 

Title -- Down in the dumps...

 

Happy New Year everyone... and this is how I feel today, the 2nd day of 2011... BLAH!  I've been in pain with this thing on the back of my neck/head for over a week now (4 days since I had it sliced and diced).  So... ironically enough this is the 4th day of not working out, and that's depressing me in a major way!  If that's not bad enough in 20 minutes I have to go sit on scope for 6 hours.  :(  I had a terrible night of sleep... the worst in a very long time... I would say in YEARS even.  The way I see it I may have gotten at the very most 2 hours of sleep total.  I just kept tossing and turning... wincing in pain throughout the night.  So now I'm extremely tired here... and the time for my shift is closing in fast.  I don't know how I'm going to stay awake and/or focused today.  I haven't been too effective yet that's for sure.  I'm more like a zombie here today. 

 

Overall, my day off was pretty decent, though.  The only thing that sucks is this pain and infected thing that won't go away.  I'm probably looking at a return trip to the doctor's office tomorrow afternoon after lunch, which in turn will make 5 consecutive days without a workout.  If I feel like I do today... I surely won't be working out again tomorrow.  I was thinking about doing a WALK on the treadmill possibly with some incline involved in order to do SOMETHING in the workout department.  I'm just afraid of how the sweat will react with my "injured area" so to speak.  That's my main concern... not letting any more germs in there than I have to if I can help it.  It needs a chance to heal.  Anyway, I did get a decent amount of walking in yesterday when I went to get my pizza at Ciano's.  It was delicious, too!!!! :) 

 

Ok... I hate to leave this unfinished... but it's time for me to go to work.  I'll be back to write more later (I hope)...  ***and I didn't write more "later" obviously***

 

See you all soon!

 

Peace, Love, and Poker

A new day... in a new year...

This is perhaps late to some... being it's Jan. 4th and all, but this is the first time I've actually felt well enough to write anything in several days.  I've been in some pretty intense pain, and now that I've gotten the proper treatment I needed the pain level has decreased significantly. :)

Tuesday afternoon... just a short half hour until my shift begins today. Then another "Groundhog Day" will be complete.  It's crazy how fast these long days pass you by.  You would think working this much would have the exact opposite effect, but it is seriously like being in some sort of time capsule.  It's not a place frozen in time, though.  In fact, it's anything but that.  It's more like there's never a time where you are frozen in time.  Even though every day of each week is strikingly similar... you start to wonder how 14... 15... 16... 17 weeks' worth of them have passed in what seems like the blink of an eye.  It truly feels like New Years Day was yesterday!  No joke, either!  It was THREE DAYS AGO!  In fact, Tuesday being close to its end means that it will then effectively be Wednesday tomorrow and getting very close to yet another day off.  Again... passing by very quickly!

I wanted to make sure I talked to the all important New Years Resolutions that I see so many people making year in and year out.  These are possibly the dumbest things I've ever heard of.  I, myself, do not believe in making New Years resolutions.  Why, you might ask?  Isn't changing for the betterment of the self a worthy cause to pursue?  The thing about it is this... why are you only going to change at the FIRST of the year when if you're doing whatever it was you were doing ALL YEAR ROUND you wouldn't need to make a resolution, which in the end only amounts to anywhere from 10 minutes to a month on average.  Yes... some never even get started on theirs.  So why do people do it?  Psychologically speaking, they do it for a few reasons. 

The #1 reason is that in some way it makes them feel better about themselves just to say, "Hey Joe, I'm really going to work out and lose some of these extra pounds this year... I think that'll be my New Years resolution!"  How long does Joe's friend actually go to a gym for if at all???  Probably about 4 days.  Then all of the old habits kick right back in.  I mean, sure, it sounds great at the time doesn't it?  The problem is... words are just that... words.  If the individual actually WANTED to do those things they would have been doing them BEFORE New Years Day!  Have you ever gone into a gym just after the first of the year?  Good Lord!!!  Get off of my treadmills!!!!  Go back on the 10th and tell me what you see....

The #2 reason... everyone else is doing it... if I don't have a resolution then there must be something wrong with me.  So... at the last minute... most likely while rather intoxicated... the person's list of New Years resolutions come to be.  When you woke up on January 1st did you even remember what you pledged to do for 2011?

The last reason... at least this is my opinion anyway... is that somehow by making a deal with yourself you are actually going to force your hand in making the current (new) year better than the one before it.  Of course, that doesn't work because so many things happen througout the course of a year that are very much out of our control.  Once again, these aren't really promises that there are any grand rewards to keeping.  The fact of the matter is that if you don't already interalize the things you "want to do" then you probably won't be doing them regardless of a December 31st promise you made with.... well... yourself. 

My advice... DO IT ALL YEAR LONG!  When you get to the end of 2011... don't measure yourself by how you fulfilled or failed to fulfill your resolution(s).  Measure yourself by what you did throughout the year in a positive way and let it continue into 2012... without the need or desire to make that empty December 31st promise that so many do year in and year out.

Peace, Love, and Poker

Happy New Year... It's 2011!!!!

Goodbye 2010... you were a pretty good year I must say.  When 2010 initially kicked off I was with my dear sweet now wife at Vernon Downs in Vernon, NY.  If I recall we took a break from playing the slots to celebrate, and they passed out champagne, too. :)  That was the 2nd New Years Eve in a row we spent there (I don't think it was 3... but maybe).  In fact, this was the first NYE I can recall in several years that HASN'T been celebrated in a casino!  I didn't even stay awake until midnight.  I turned in at 10:45 PM and could have probably gone to sleep much earlier even.  However, I did wake up just a little earlier than usual to watch the ball drop in Times Square this morning.  :)

So... back to 2010... following my trip home and to NY to visit with Anne Marie it was back to the old grind for awhile.  Nothing too exciting through the winter months, although we did get in a very nice trip to Portland, Oregon, in the middle of February which was very nice.  I had several casino trips in there to Jackpot, Nevada, about one a month roughly.  It's a nice little getaway for a day or two, and it's a MUCH shorter drive than to Reno or Vegas.  Then we didn't get to see each other for quite some time... it was pretty tough, but we made it!  I traveled to the Utica, NY area in mid-June, and we were ready... for our WEDDING!  June 19th was a grand occasion, and I really don't think it could have gone any better for us and all of our guests.  A wonderful time was had by all.  That's going to really put 2011 to the test if it thinks it's going to surpass 2010 isn't it???  Well... there are ways... but I'm not quite sure either of us is ready to enter that realm yet.  ;)  Following the wedding weekend it was back to work for the both of us.  Yes... that meant flying home again and being alone for a short while.  It was only 2 weeks, though, before the honeymoon! 

On the 3rd of July I hit the road for beautiful (and HOT) Las Vegas!  The first night for me on the road was actually spent in Jackpot, but I awoke very early the next day and put the pedal to the metal.  I arrived in Vegas just after noon pacific time following about a 6 hour drive.  It was only about 108 outside.  Cool for the 4th of July weekend I suppose. :)  I did a small amount of gambling and got checked into the Golden Nugget for our first two nights.  Anne Marie was arriving late in the evening, and I was there to meet her in plenty of time. The first day we hit the pool... and many days after that as well!  We have her father to thank for a fine meal at the Pasta Pirate along with a very good one at another sports bar/restaurant as well.  The Fremont Street experience is interesting to say the least, but we'd had enough of downtown LV by the end of day 2.   

Our next week would be spent in our timeshare, which was very nice I might add!  We took in the pool every day along with the discounts on all the shows.  We saw several shows during our 10 days in Vegas.  The Lion King, Jersey Boys, Tournament of Kings, and Frank Caliendo.  All were good... the Jersey Boys being my personal favorite of the 4.  There was much fun to be had during the honeymoon as you can see...



It was a wondeful time... We definitely enjoyed and savored every moment of our honeymoon. :)

There are many more pictures I could include here... and at some point I will... possibly in a different blog post.  My internet is just too slow over here to add them efficiently.  It takes FOREVER just to upload one pic... imagine how long it took me to upload 2 of them!!!!

It's now Jan 4th... I've been on a few day hiatus of pain and torture, but I'm feeling significantly better today! So I'm finishing this New Year's Day post finally! 

After the honeymoon it was time to start getting ready for DEPLOYMENT!  Our deployment training lasted the better part of 3 weeks.  Once that was done then it was time for a little more vacation time.  I went to visit Anne Marie... and then not long after she came back out to visit me again up until she had to leave to go back to work.  We worked feverishly to pack up my apartment and prepare it for a move out date at the beginning of September.  The storage unit was packed up... car included... and I was ready to take off for Iraq. 

Almost 4 months have passed since stepping on that plane the morning of September 7th.  It seems like yesterday to be honest.  I know the time flies here, but could it possibly go by that fast???  I remember when it was 115 degrees outside here.  Today's high = 57.  It's a vast contrast from what it was in the midst of late summer/early fall heat here in one of the hottest places on earth.  I've seen rain several times now, which although it feels good, it's really something we could do without here.  All it does is make a muddy mess of the place... and I mean EVERYWHERE!  Somewhere in between there I had a birthday as well... number 38 to be exact.  I hit my 18 year mark of service as well.  I won a karaoke machine on Christmas night in a free raffle.  I have eaten ice cream on Sunday now for 17 consecutive Sundays. :) 

What does 2011 hold in store?  Only time will tell.  I know that it will be strikingly similar to the last for months of 2010 until I leave Iraq in the middle of March.  After that... a new chapter will begin in this journey we call life....

Peace, Love, and Poker