once upon a time...

Once upon a time, we had an orange day. Now, I've been told they get a lot more orange, but it was still a little bit eerie walking outside into it. It wasn't really windy...but it was like the sand was gently settling and created an orange filter from the sun.











THEN...our connex showed up once upon a time...and I got all of my pretty things for my room. It's starting to feel a little more homey and I love my room. It's complete with 19inch tv/dvd player I inherited, a microwave, a coffee maker, a digital picture frame, my guitar and hanging guitar stand, and a lot more things. It's just like home...and not too bad. Thanks ma and pa and family for sending me all these goodies!! I'm loving it and how it reminds me of home. Also, mom, I got a metal poster that says "blue moon" that reminds me of the timeless "Blue Moon" song you play oh so beautifully! Pictures to follow, I'm sure!

And THEN once upon a time...we had a pleasant visit from the Rams cheerleaders...very pleasant. hehe. I only say this because...how do I say this? They, before their show asked us for a power converter/generator. We were short-handed and very very busy at the moment. So needless to say, we were scrambling to find an un-used power device. The only one we could find was supporting an important-to-our-mission computer. So being the understanding, generous people that we are, we unplugged the computer to get them this converter. So, we thought, "good! now they can have a beautiful production to increase the moral of our troops." About 5 minutes later we were told, "oh it was for their blow dryers."

uh...

very pleasant visit indeed. That request apparently came AFTER they blew up 10 blow dryers because they didn't realize 110 can't be plugged into 220 voltage. Now, I don't claim to be smart with electronics, but I DO know I would've stopped trying to run blow driers after about 2 blew up. I'm not saying...I'm just saying...it's kinda common sense. :D
It was a fun visit overall, though and they were nice enough to come visit me in my shop and take a picture with me. They were bored, though after about 10 minutes of us explaining to them what we do. haha...it's alright, cheerleaders, can't win 'em all.

Interesting way to wake up...

So...I just got to laugh about this, and it'd be a shame if nobody knew so I'm gonna let you know how I woke up the other day.

It all started with my loving family sending me two cd's of church sermons from my amazing church at home. The church is Grace Community and I miss going there so much. My family got two sermons recorded and sent them to me. When I got them I was SO excited to listen to them, but that night I didn't have the time to. I had set the 2 cds on my desk so that I could watch them the next day. Now, apparently I was a little more excited to watch them than I had anticipated. Or quite possibly it was because it made me think of home so much and made me miss my life with my family...whatever the reason, I woke up in the morning...rolled over...felt something in my bed. I grabbed it from underneath me...and that's right...it was the 2 cds. I had gotten up in the middle of the night, grabbed the sermons and brought them back to my bed. I have a little stuffed animal dog that my mom got me to remind me of our dog back home. I named him Piggy. I admit, I sleep with Piggy at night. But that night I didn't want to sleep with Piggy...I wanted to sleep with the sermons! Haha! Now I don't care who you are...that there's funny :D haha...oh sometimes I wonder...what goes on in our brains at night??

National Anthem

This here clip is from the changeover ceremony we had when our unit first took over responsibility here at FOB Grizzly. This is held in front of our workplace and in the crowd is a one star general, a full bird colnel, 2-3 LTC, and a handfull of sergeant majors. And of course with a crowd like that, I just so happened to have a hefty cold that day. But, I got a couple of coins for it so it must not have been too horrible :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ijisK9ZE8s

Comedians!

These funny ha-ha people came all the way from the U.S. to help us break out of desert mindset and helped us just sit back to have a good laugh. The guy on the left has been to Iraq 30+ times to do these shows for soldiers. One guy has been on HBO doing stand up comedy and another has been on MTV stand up comedy. So it was fun to shake hands and talk a little bit with these guys. Oh and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.

So, you gotta be resourceful in Iraq

Oh, the times that make me laugh, and make this tour so much fun. Let me just share a couple with you...and don't laugh too much. I KNOW you would do these things too...or maybe not :D


ahh...what do we do when we step on cords, pull on cords so that the insulation rips and all the wires are exposed? That's right, we cover it up with some handy dandy electrical tape...OOORRR, we just stop using it or get a new one. Nope. Not here. This picture was taken of a welding device that was currently...IN USE. Notice the bare wires? Yup. The guy wasn't wearing gloves or eye protection either. haha...what can you do but laugh...and run away. Far away.




Then...of course ya gotta keep the sand off the sidewalks...in the desert. Hey, I give 'em props for trying at least. These home-made brooms can only be found in the lovely city of Ashraf. Made with love from palm tree branches and tenderly tied with string by the hard-working people. Hey, I'd use 'em. I love resourceful people.



Now, resourceful? I don't know...I just liked the spray-painted "IP" design on this police....bus? haha This is an Iraqi Police bus, complete with flashing lights and possibly a non-working siren. They use what they can get...and I'm proud of them :D



Ahem...now, for my favorite one. This happens to be one of our own...yes. Our own, being very...resourceful. See what happened was...we needed a hole drilled through this very THICK wall completely of wood in order to run cables from the satellite to a tv. Easy enough? Not when he was given a bunch of half-dead batteries. So he went through battery after battery, each time making it a little bit further through the wood. Now, when the last battery died...did he give up? NO. Did he let the mission die? AbsoLUTely not! No, instead that drill bit got DRIVEN into the wall with a hammer...the rest of the way. It was fine...it was great. But then, it wouldn't come back out. HAHA. Oh we laughed so hard. I was proud of his accomplishment...so I had him take a picture of his handy work. Just so you know, he did end up prying it out of the wall with only a slight bend in the bit...and the mission was successfully complete. Two thumbs up for resourcefulness.

Just a little peak

THESE...are taken right outside of where I work. See? There is GRASS! I know...and would you believe it when I say we even have a lawn mower for that cute little patch :D I just wanted to prove that this place isn't as bad as I had imagined. The green thing off to the side is a bunker that is further enforced by sandbags. We use those if we were to ever get attacked. Right now they have just been for looks...thank goodness. Right now most of the plants are still dead from the winter. I just gotta wait a couple months till the flowers start a bloomin and you'll get to see the prettier parts of our FOB! ...but I wouldn't hold your breath.