Forecast: Seasonal Winds

I don't know if I have mentioned in any of my posts that our room has some, uh, issues. In my corner where the walls meet up the roof doesn't quite fit. It took w ahile for me to notice. In fact I didn't notice until I finally got a day off and slept in. I woke up and notice that even though it was dark in our room that there was light entering from that corner of the room.

So why do I mention this now? Well, with the wind kicking up and the dust blowing I cam back to my room to find a fine layer of dust all over everything. It was just a thin layer, there are other people here that had it much worse then I.

But then again, isn't there always dust on everything?

Four Down, Two to Go

Anthrax shots that is. I had my fourth one in a six shot series. After the sixth one it is just a yearly(?) booster (or just maybe when you deploy, I'm not really sure about that one).

Quarter to eleven at night and I am just barely getting back to my room from the office. I swung by the DFAC (short for Dining Facility) and got a to-go plate and take it back to the office. I got a roast beef sandwich with provalone. It made me a little bit homesick. I think of my kids everyday and I have pictures up in the office but the boys absolutely love roast beef sandwiches.

I've actually had alot to post about lately but have been really busy so maybe I'll get around to some of it and maybe I'll just forget about the other stuff.

Signing out and going to bed.....

Whacked Out Sleep Schedule

Ever since Monday night when we played soccer I have had a whacked out sleep schedule which prevents blogging, sort of. Tuesday and Wednesday nights after work I have gone to the room taken off my boots and sat down on my bunk to read or watch a moving only to fall asleep by 8PM. Which sounds great but it also means I have woken up from my "nap" about 11PM and been up for 2 or 3 hours before I get back to sleep. I skipped my run this morning and I also stayed at work later than usual today hoping that I would be able to get my self back onto my routine. The plan is to go to bed shortly and (hopefully) sleep the whole night and then get up and do my run.

PS - this is my 300th post.

Our Field

Our field here is made of dirt. not the nice solid dirt that is good for playing on but the fine dust that gets kicked up in the air. We have a goal on each end but only one net and that has holes in it and only sometimes stops the ball. The field is marked with orange cones and engineer tape. On nights like tonight we haul over lights with generators and we play.

We call it soccer but everyone else knows it as football. We have been playing on Saturdays and Sundays but tonight we played. We had a challenge from the Ugandans who work on base here. So we set a match up for 8 PM. As it turns out they had a meeting and were going to be a bit late. We strolled out there at 8 thinking that we would just work on some basic skills and who should be there trying to take advantage of the lights? Some local nationals (known as LN's, meaning they are Iraqis). So we played them for an hour until the Ugandans showed up and then we played for another hour or so.

I may have a hard time getting up in the morning to go for my run. If I make it up I am sure it will be a slow one. About 2 minutes into the second match I went shin against shin with an opposing player. I thought for a minute I might have broke it. So that is why they wear shin guards.

Most of us have never played. A few of the guys have played and one guy has even coached before. It was fun an I am sure that this will become a regular event.

Welcome Back

Junior is back. I'm a realist. The Mariners were bad last year. Really bad. This doesn't solve all of the issues that they had. It does give them a club house leader and someone who is capable of hitting 20-25 homeruns (30 if he has a real good year). I am excited. My main reason? I hope to be able to take my family to see him. I think it will be neat to explain to my kids that this is someone who their Dad (me!) used to go see. Kind of a way to connect the past, the present and the future. Kind of a "pass on the love of America's past time" that I have for baseball to my kids. The boys have enjoyed going and watching the single A short season team but this is completely different. MY OH MY!

HALFWAY

Today, for the first time, I am closer to going home than I am to leaving. 6 months ago we were mobilized and 6 months from now we'll be done (or so they say). I have the opportunity to put in a request to attend a school for the Army. It is one that I need and will eventually have to go to. If I don't go my promotions will eventually be held up. It is a 4 month school and I wouldn't get home until towards the end of October. As I was typing my memorandum I thought to myself "why am I going to be gone ONE SECOND longer than I have too?" I so stopped typing up the letter and a couple of days later finished it. I changed what I had originally been requesting and requested just phase I of the school which is only 2 weeks long and will not get me home any later.

On a side note that is only kind of related, the unit that is replacing us has sent some of thier staff get briefed on operations here. So there is light at the end of the tunnel.

My Day of Action

Last year before my deployment to Iraq we took a family vacation. We stayed at Bogachiel State Park. It is 6 miles south of Forks and ideally located to set up camp and explore the whole western side of the Olympic Peninsula.

Since the economy is starting to decline government agencies are starting to have to trim budgets. This is true in Washington State. They have proposed transfering Bogacheil SP along with 12 others to "other government or non-profit operators". I'm not sure that this park should be one of the 13 choosen.

What started out to be a email to the Washington State Parks Commision ended up being a letter to the Governor, the Senator and 2 Congressmen for District 9 where I live and a letter to the Parks Commision. I am not completely done but I imagine that they will be done in time to go out in the mail one Wednesday. This is the first time I have ever done anything like this but I thought that if I didn't take the time to be involved politically and write these letters then I would regret it at some point. I mean hey, what's the point of living in a country that allows participation by it's people if you don't take advantage of it.

Do I think that this will end up changing anything? No, not really. That would take a huge effort by someone local with time to devote to a cause. I am not in a postion to do such, but I did what I could at the time.

Have You Ever Done Anything Political Other than Vote?

I haven't but I'm about to......More to follow......

10K (6.2 Miles)

Every month they hold a race here on the base. Usually it is a 5K but this month it was a 10K. I was going to try and get a good nights sleep Friday night but I ended up working late to finish a product for the nest morning and I also barely made it to the chow hall before it closed. The race started and about a mile and a half into it it started sprinkling. Luckily that only lasted for a few minutes. That would have made it pretty miserable. I noticed that there were not as many people for the 10K as normally show up for the 5K. Infact, about half the people for twice the distance I would say. I had been toying witht the idea of running the post marathon in April but after this 10K (which is just short of a quarter marathon) that is a BIG FAT NO! I realized that something like that would take more training and besides I fully expect it to be pretty hot here by the time April rolls around.

One good thing that came out of the race is that everyone who finished got a AT&T 10 minute phone card. Guess I'll be calling home soon! If you even the times out over the whole course I ran a 8:36 mile pace. Thats not too shabby I think. I had a goal to finish under an hour and made it with pleanty of time to spare.

Ongoings Here

This article from the Stars and Stripes talks a little bit about what is going on here. For those of you who don't want to read the article I will highlight just a few parts of the article:

"It is inconceivable to me that al-Qaida would ever get a foothold back here in Anbar. They’re so distrusted by the people,"said Maj. Gen. John F. Kelly, who relinquished command of Multi National Force-West on Monday to Maj. Gen. R.T. Tryon during a ceremony at Al Asad Air Base.

U.S. troops took down 400 checkpoints between February and April 2008 during Operation Rudy Giuliani, named after the former New York City mayor’s effort to curb crime by getting rid of visible signs of criminal activity, like graffiti. When Marines disassembled one of the largest checkpoints between Ramadi and Fallujah, a thousand Iraqis showed up to watch the barbed wire go down, he said.
"I think that’s when they began to understand, this thing is won," Kelly said.

I'm not going to say anything else at this point but I definately have opinions about those quotes. I guess it will be interesting to see what happens with the new administration in the US and possible exit strategies.

Internet has been spotty due to high winds and blowing dust. I've been told that this isn't even all that bad....yet. My plan was to run outside in the mornings instead of on the treadmill now that it is not all that cold during the early mornings but that will have to wait. The monthly base run is this weekend and as long as it isn't raining or muddy I plan to do it. Usually it is a 5K but htis month it is a 10K. There goes another hour of my life.

Been super busy at work. Since I am new at this and basically had to stand up the section by myself I really needed to see some of what was being done. This week one of the guys brought me a sample product and asked if I could do one like it but for a different area. With an example I was able to run with it and produce a mapbook for an area.

I had way more things to post about but it seems over the past 2 days or so I have forgotten what they were. If I remember them I will write about them later.

Signing off til next time.....

What think Ye?

I stumbled across ESPN's Mt Rushmore of sports for each state (and DC and Puerto Rico). Please take a look at the link - http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportscenter/news/story?id=3835240 to take a look at Washington State. I grew up watching and following sports there and have continued to do so throughout my life. I have no problem with the four that were picked but it's maybe not how I would have done it. So lets recap:

• Ken Griffey Jr. - Absolutely, 100%
• Steve Largent - Best reciever in football and held all sorts of records until some guy named Jerry Rice came along.
• Edgar Martinez - EEEEEEEDDDDDDDGGGGAAAARRRRR! Need I say more?
• Don James - The Dog Father. OK, so going 0-12 this past year for the UW might have cemented what everybody was thinking. We got to get back to being a national power house of the late 80's and early 90's

So it's tough. Who would I take off and who would I add?

• Gary Payton - this would be maybe one of my picks. I am not going to hold it against him that the NBA allowed some thieving Oklahoman to steal our team. He should be on it I think. This probably bumps Edgar. Of course, GP made it for Oregon so maybe it's OK that he was snubbed for Washington State.
• Brandon Roy - uh, how did he not even make it to the standout list. UW just retired his number, NBA Rookie of the Year etc, etc.... I say we vote again in 10 years and I bet he is on the mountain. This might be the guy that bumps Don James.

After that I might go with Ryne Sandberg edging John Stockton. It was a tough call but John Stockton is immortalized on a Mt Rushmore in Utah. Does Mark Brunell get mentioned anywhere? I think he should at least be mentioned?

Oh and one last thought. I didn't read all the states in depth but isn't Kentucky going to look sill with a Mt Rushmore with 3 people and a horse's head?

For My Wife

I couldn't post about my home state and not say anything about where my wife grew up. So follow this link - http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportscenter/news/story?id=3836204 and find out who is on Alaska's Mt Rushmore of sports.

Wrestling then and now

Our oldest started wrestling last week. He has a friend from school that does it and he wanted to do it also. Last winter we sat him down and explained that since he wanted to do basketball and wrestling that he would have to choose. We try and let our children make decision like that so that they get used to making choices and accepting the aftermath. Last year he picked basketball. This year he picked wrestling. I wrestled back in high school. I actually started in middle school, in the 8th grade.

I was poking around online looking at wrestling sites and saw some pictures of kids wrestling. All of a sudden I realized why my Mom went to one of my matches in middle school and then never went back to one again.

It.

Looked.

Painful.

My Dad made it to most of my matches. Not all but I can't really remember a time he didn't but since we had tournaments on the weekends and he had to work the 1st weekend of every month I am sure he missed one or two. But I also remember him driving to some tournaments that were pretty far. A couple of hours at least. I mostly remember him just being there.

I worked hard at it. I cut weight. My senior year in high school was when I cut the most. I started the season weighing about 124. So what were my options at that weight? Cut to the 122 lb weight class? That wouldn't work since people were cutting to get down to 122. Cut to 115? Well, I guess I could have but our team captain was cutting to that weight and I new I couldn't beat him. Cut to 108? Yup.

I never had a winning season until my senior year. I worked hard for my 16-14 record (or whatever it was). We wanted 2 wrestlers at that weight class to get into the district tournament and so the coach put our JV wrestler in the seed where he knew that the wrestler would get in and I wrestled the JV slot. He figured that I could wrestle my way into the tournament. It ended up that I didn't have to, I had a bye. The bad news was that I was seeded 8th and had to wrestle the number 1 seed. This was a wrestler who had placed in state the year before and was the favorite to win state this year (1993). There is no happy ending here. I wrestled as best I could. My coach said it was the best he had ever seen me wrestle. I was actually beating him for about a round and a half, but then the better wrestler won.

My second match at district ended in disappoinment also. It was a close match but I could not get any offense going. I lost by a score of 3-0. I really believe that I could have beat him. After that match I went and sat against the wall just outside the gym and cried. I wasn't crying because I was hurt or because I had lost. I was crying because it was over. Deep down I knew that I probably was never going to wrestle again. No more cutting weight, long practices, extra time in the weight room or long trips for tournaments.

I didn't think our oldest would like wrestling. I have always tried not to be that Dad who tries to live out his dreams through his kids. I was prepared to have him quit after the first practice. It would have been OK. It turns out that he likes it.

Maybe by starting wrestling (and soccer and any other sport) early our kids will be able to contribute to a winning team someday. Maybe the will be competitive, not like their old man. But if they aren't I hope they enjoy it just the same. I know I did.

PS - I will probably post more about my wrestling day later on thoughout his season.

Update

I don't post much about what is going on here. So if anyone was curious as to what is going on where I am at they might look at this newspaper article. I have a general distrust of the media but this article is a pretty fair representation of the current situation.

Whirlwind Weekend

I'm so tired right now. Some of it is my own doing. Friday night at work we wrapped up about the same time as usual. It had felt like a Saturday all day long which is weird since every day is the same here. The next day came and it was unusaully quiet for having an election here in Iraq. It was decided that our mission would require us tocome in on Sunday morning. That threw a monkey wrench in my plans because I wanted to stay up and watch the University of Washington Basketball game against Arizona State. So instead of staying up I went to bed and got up at 1 AM. The game lasted until after 3 AM but it was good to see them win. Back to bed and up the next morning.

After lunch on Sunday I decided to take a quick cat nap while some of the guys played on the softball team and I would go back to work in about an hour. Four and a half hours later I woke up. I missed dinner and just barely had time to shower and get ready for church. I had planned to take a nap until 2 AM and then get up for the Super Bowl. Instead I ended up going into work watching Lost and working until 2 AM. I watched until half time and knew I needed to get some sleep, so I crewled into bed about 4 AM or so. Back up the next morning.

Tonight we had a Superbowl BBQ. Yes I know it was already over but there was an exception to policy and they allowed beer for the Super Bowl. The catch is my coworkers had to have 8 hours after drinking it before they go to work so obviously drinking it at 2 AM wasn't going to work. Hence the evening BBQ when most people were off. The Ravens played (remeber the band from New Years Eve?). Then there was Karaoke. As one of the songs was ending for one of the guys he started giving "shout outs".

The first one was "a shout out to the Air Force for flying us over and bringing all our sh#t". The next one surprised me because " a shout out to the mormon who allowed us to have more beer". So because I didn't drink they got more. I guess it's nice to be recognized for something. I raised my hand in acknowledgement.

So that's the last 3 days or so. I find it extremely appropriate that this post is on ground hogs day because I try and explain that it is very much like the movie "Ground Hog's Day" with Bill Murry here. Every day is the same. That is why posts are sometimes few and far between.