The World of a Home Owner

Did you know that I was a H.O.?
That is home owner.

I need to fix "stuff", says my PM (Property Manager). (I thought that was one the reasons I pay him monthly.) He says I don't have enough $$$ but won't tell me how much I need. He tends to be vague in what needs to be done. For some reason, everyone keeps forgetting I am in Iraq.

It is like sure I will go down the road to Home Depot, pick up the widget and fix the problem. What a second, there is no Home Depot in Iraq. In fact, my home in question is 17000 miles from here.

So it looks like I need to put in a carport or garage, the good part is the concrete is already there. Whew! There is something wrong with my irrigation system(the whole property has water lines with spickets every twenty feet or so). An awning is suggested by the PM for the west side(I was previously looking at the north side). My railroad ties that hold some ground need replacing.

My preliminary estimate for this is pretty evil. If I could do the work myself that would help, but then you see the dilemma. I sent out for some estimates, one of the contractors asked me if I really was in Iraq, Which I never said I was but my email address has the country in it. Must be a duh factor. The thing is, my PM has access to money for repairs. The whole purpose for the money is maintenance for the property and he knows that. What am I to do?

I have been overseas pretty much two years in a row now and really haven't had a chance to look the property over in a while. There is other things I would like to do with it, but no one has shown me where the money tree grows yet.

Strength and Honor

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem. ~Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan is always good for quotes. In my lifetime, he is my favorite President. He had a habit of not asking permission from anybody(Congress, UN, etc.) before retaliating for some act by terrorists or countries performing terrorist activities.

That was a different time at home. When men were men and boys were boys and .....something to that effect. Now it seems more of the opposite.

I am talking about BALLS.

Having the gusto, courage, strength, whatever the word you want to use.

In my opinion, I believe that America as a whole is losing its balls. I am hoping I am wrong and we will continue to kick ass, like we have for the last 232 years. (Not a typo.)

If we follow history, the Roman empire had a similar path as us. I believe if we do not look at those mistakes and other great nations and learn from them we may have the same fate.

News Junkie, Part II

As a follow-up to an earlier post about me reading lots of news, I wanted to report to you all that this hasn't changed much.

UBL (the bad guy) in the videos he releases talks, in my opinion, just like a democrat. So logic would dictate, that if you want an Islamic nation you would elect a democrat.

Ollie North has it right in his column about the President during his visit in Iraq. Why is so hard to fathom?

Who really cares about Britney Spears? Let her be, and take care of yourself. I can't believe she was headlined over the missing man from Maryland.

And what the hell is up with Wisconsinites shooting everyone?

The Profile Photo, Part II

I have decided to go with my photo of my print of "Son of Man", by Rene Magritte. It is more me than anything else I have at the moment.

(The print was a gift from my last wife. It is from a time when things seemed be much happier.)

Belly Growth Over Time

I am afraid that my belly growth may not go down. I could live with said illustration but I am a long way away from it as of right now.

No, it not a tumor growing out of the side of my body.

Yes, it is a simple drawing so you all can get an idea that I am getting fatter than I have been. I have gained a little over thirty pounds since January and it is not muscle.

Yes, I am blaming the smoking habit. I have always enjoyed the skinny side while I was a smoker. Yes, the average cost per month was two hundred dollars. No, I can not tell the difference in my pocket.

Post No. 62, A New Wyldth1ng Record

This is post number 62. This is now the most posts I am ever done in one calendar year. This is almost better than the anniversary post.

I hope you all did not waste your time in reading this post. Later or tomorrow all of my writings shall take new form as every other post after this one will be a New Record.

Can you believe it?


(I probably need a vacation.)

Blog-aholic, Part II

There are times I read a blog and think to myself, 'I can give this person some advice.'

Then as I am about to write in my advice I think to myself, ' I really do not have any advice to give.'

This can be a problem, which at times the silly answer to the question or wacky reply to the statement is the outcome of this dilemma.

What can I say?

"It's my party and I will cry if I want to."

Blog-aholic

I am addicted.

The good excuses I have for it is I may not be able to call or write an email, but I can do limited searches of the web on a regular basis.

The posts that I do here, I email and I talked about that earlier. It is all about Google trying to make the world a smaller place for us. (It is a good thing I bought stock.)

My addiction is not too bad, work always comes first. ( I don't have an option.)

The Profile Photo

I can't decide on my profile photo.

Should I use the Sugar Coat poster?

My shadow in front of a Mobile Facility?

Or should I just find an abstract photo?

Cliff Notes for Monday

The Commander in Chief was here today. Didn't get to see him.

The Secretary of State was here as well. Didn't get to see her either.

It was obvious that the President was not going to eat at the chow hall. The food is on repeats. I think this is the third day in a row for brisket.

Who Knew?

Green Bay Packers Tops My List

People keep asking me for specifics on what "I" want.

At the moment, I want to watch the Packer game. I m going to miss the whole season. Can you believe it? (Me either.)

I have been asking for the glow in the dark galaxy since being out here. I guess "they" stopped making those in the eighties.

I have always been a fan of dried fruit, you know, banana chips and such.

Obviously, Twizzlers are my favorite. I know that gets expensive, so I don't expect them.

My really expensive taste is the beef jerky. I truly believe the best comes from this grocery store in School Hill, Wisconsin, but the jerky coming from North Dakota comes in a close second.

(I realize by posting this I am not really asking any "one" person, which in turn means I am not going to get anything that is listed above. It is okay, I can handle rejection.)

Care Packages, Part III

Care Packages, Part II

Some people that do not know me personally think I am am asshole. They are probably right and I will agree. It is easier to be an asshole than it is to be a nice guy.

What a hell of a way to start this post.

I am a point of contact for couple a donators to our unit. Also I received mail from individuals and couples after I write them. I do not email too many people from out here. I write a semi-formal letter expressing my thoughts and feelings about what was sent to me or our unit via me. Most of the things sent are addressed directly to me and probably not originally intended to be shared. Fact is, I share (or give away) about 75 percent of what I receive in the mail. That is a lot in anyone's book. I am not asking for sympathy, gratitude, or even a thanks. I do what I think is a morally sound judgement for the betterment of the men and women in the Marine Corps and our sister services.

Today I received a box addressed to me. The box was a thank you from Jeff Bader about a letter I wrote to his wife.

There is an item in the box that my colleagues have told me is quite valuable, but I do not want it or need it. Tomorrow I will be giving this item to a lucky Lance Corporal or Private First Class or Private. The name is going to be picked at random from a list of names that were submitted be our unit's Staff Non-Commissioned Officers. This was the fairest method I could devise in giving it away.

I will post the results tomorrow.

Thank You for not Helping Me.

I have a job where many people ask for something. Most of the time we help out J.Q. Person, but there are instances everyday when my colleagues and I tell the individual to go away or correct themselves first.

Nifty part is right after we tell them to go away, they say 'Thank You.'

There have individuals that we tell to go away ten times in a night. You would think they would learn or at least be more prepared the following day. No. Not the case here. Some days I just get sick of seeing the same individual tell him to not come back and still they thank me for it. Some shops will send several different people and none are prepared or know any more than the previous person, each one saying thank you as he or she leaves.

(This post has been edited from its original content.)

Moo Cows

Have you ever seen the other type of cow?
You know...the one that is not a Moo Cow.
I think the Moo Cows are the better ones.

I believe it may have been more than a year since I have seen any Moo Cows or smelled one for that matter.

There was a moment today as I was looking at the full moon and I swear I saw a Moo Cow jump over the moon.

Ethni Jamin

(I haven't been to the link above because of limitations of the Internet here, but I am sure it is great.)

It is quite funny how I happened into listening to her music. I went to talk to a colleague and he was listening to Ethni Jamin's "If Dreams" and said I didn't recognize the music. I had told him that I liked the music and he told me that is was a Corporal in a other division. Well, you can imagine the later conversation of disbelief.

Long story short, I asked her for a copy since my colleague didn't know how to make a copy of his and have been listening to it since.

She doesn't need to be here and I hope she leaves the Corps for a prosperous music career.

In a Galaxy Far Far Away...

From what I can tell there is supposed to be a meteor shower here sometime soon. Unfortunately, all the sights that talk about Iraqi sky are not in English or I am not allowed to view the site for whatever reason.

If anyone has information on sky sightings, I would love to here it. I work at night and have a camera. What luck!

Grand Old Party

Let's face it, I lean to the republican side of the force. Maybe it is because I am a cheesehead and I actually know where Ripon is (good cookies). And maybe I know where the party was born. Or maybe I just like to party.

I once voted for a democrat, he was the only one on the ticket. I could have abstained but he was the best candidate for the job.

I just have a hard time voting for a party that believes in adultery. It might be to my past experiences for that. And what is wrong with the Marines? Why does it seem that every democratic president or controlled congress wants to abolish the Marine Corps? We are different, but that is a good thing. I could list hundreds of reasons why, but I will leave that for another post.

I still tend to consider myself independent. I think this way because I am free.

The 10 Percent Rule

Over the years of being in the military I have "lost" many things. Somewhere along the line I discovered it was surprisingly enough to be about 10% of my belongings. There was a year or two in there where it wasn't a material thing, it was social or emotional. ( Heart rippings)

One year it was like 40 CDs out of my 400 CD collection. Another was about 50 DVDs out my 500 DVD collection. Just so you can get an idea.

The material things tend to wind up in someone else's possession because they think they bought it. An example would be "LA Story" one of my favorites movies. I have bought it seven times. I don't know anyone who has bought this movie.

So now, being in this deployment, I was wondering what was going to be lost. It may end up being a combo. Heart rippings, CDs, my truck jack and the tire iron, that is about 10 or so.