Sand Gets In Every Crack

Everyone keeps asking about the sandstorms and what it is like or what they look like, so here are some photos that I hope with answer most of your questions.

Now, like I have posted before sandstorms do not only happen during the day, they also happen at night. The big difference is at night there is no warning. It just happens. And pictures don't turn out like these did.

Side note: Bicycles do not like sand either. Bad sand. Bad. Bad.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

I love a PB & J sandwiches. A key ingredient is bread. I hate healthy bread. When someone offers a PB & J sandwich with healthy bread I take it and eat like I would normally, but I really enjoy it with white bread. I have had a jar of peanut butter and jar of grape jelly for about five months now. Every now and then I take a spoonfull of each and savor it. It would have been great to make a sandwich. I have no way to store bread for any length of time and there is no bakery down the hill so it isn't even a request that I can entertain. Just sometimes, I wish I could have a PB & J.

Clock

Same clock, same place.

Is it strange that it changed or that I took a picture?

Nerd

Originally saw this at IdentityMixed's blog and figured what the hell. Who knew?

Preferred Mode of Travel

This is my mode of travel throughout most of the base here. The headlamp and reflective belt are mandatory items for night riders such as myself. The rear lamp in my opinion is a must for night riders. Your day gets progressively worse if you are run over by a convoy of 7-tons (big truck that weighs seven tons empty and with no armor) or water trucks.

The next souls to occupy the base will need to buy some new bikes. I have been through eight front wheels, three frames, four back tires (repacked the bearings twice), six pedals, and two seats. Parts have become hard to come by. I have modified a few parts to get me to the end of this deployment and I would be happy to get five bucks out of it by the time I leave. Rear tires are the scarce piece, so if you would be coming this way I would bring two back tires from a junk yard, so you could keep one for yourself and trade the other for the rest of the bike.

I am sure I look funny when riding down the boulevard with my interceptor vest(the "bullet proof" thingy) and Kevlar (helmet). There are few of us that travel with bikes.

Christmas for Everyone

If in the giving mood to a soldier, Sailor, airman, or Marine please consider donating to one of the charities on my sidebar.

USO (United Service Organizations)
Soldiers' Angels
Operation Gratitude
Any Marine

There are many more but I am partial to these, since these are the ones that brought home to me and my Marines while we have been deployed.

12 Days of Christmas

I had some down time today, so being the curious person I am, I researched what are the twelve days of Christmas are and what was so special about it that someone wrote a song about it.
Well, turns out there is a lot of stuff going on about it. I know all of you can look it up for yourselves via Snopes.com or HowStuffWorks.com or Wikipedia and find all sorts of stuff. I am including what I thought was interesting, the symbolism of each day. Enjoy.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree - Jesus Christ
Two Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments
Three French Hens - The three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
Four Calling/Collie Birds - Four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Five Golden Rings - First five books of the Old Testament
Six Geese-a-Laying - Six days of creation before God's rest on the seventh day
Seven Swans-a-Swimming - Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Eight Maids-a-Milking - Eight Beatitudes
Nine Ladies Dancing - Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
Ten Lords-a-Leaping - Ten Commandments
Eleven Pipers Piping - Eleven faithful disciples
Twelve Drummers Drumming -Twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed

Hypothetical Solution to Everything

I have solved the problem with government. Selective service. Everyone 18 or older will be put in a hat, then once every two years a new name gets picked for each respective position.
The beauty is everyone gets to fuck up the country, an equal opportunity environment. I figure there is no difference with what we have now and since opinions are like assholes this will work well. The people who say 'you can't let so and so run the country' there is an opposite person named so and so who also say the same thing about the first people. A + B = C and B + A = C

Think about it like this, the person who is a president for a village board for some town in middle America has what qualifications. Probably has a steady job and once a month meets with others like him who were elected to "run" this town for like an extra two grand a year. Probably not a lawyer and most of the people in this town probably don't even know what he looks like. This guy doesn't do it for the money, he does it because he thinks he can make a difference in making lives in that small town better for everyone.

Why is "big" government not this way?

Power Curve

While I write about little things in life that are not always important and I throw my humor into almost everything I write, I always feel I am behind the power curve somehow.

The world I live in has free people, they are walking around everywhere. And you've guess it men and women. You could say it is a lottery winner bonanza. Everyone here has won.

Okay, so you are saying the world has free people in it? I am saying Americans are free, so not to confuse the audience, in this post I am referring to the good ol' American public. So now that is out of the way let us continue.

In the area I work in, there are lots of tough times that require some tough calls. Nothing is personal but feelings can get hurt if you are not a thick skinned individual. I grew up in a world of sarcasms, so if you would meet me and I come off as an asshole, I probably am. I didn't join to make friends.

Often while viewing others thoughts via the web I get an impression that that I don't live in a free society and then I feel bad. Why would I, the asshole, feel bad you may say. Well my job is directly related to the free America.

I have been trying really hard to "enjoy" the holiday season, but it seems when looking to the states for news and encouragement, all I get is resentment and distaste.

RevGals Friday Five: Rejoice

Mother Laura for RevGals writes, Can you believe that in two days we'll be halfway through Advent? Gaudete Sunday: pink candle on the advent wreath, rose vestments for those who have them, concerts and pageants in many congregations. Time to rejoice!
Rejoice in the nearness of Christ's coming, yes, but also in the many gifts of the pregnant waiting time when the world (in the northern hemisphere, at least) spins ever deeper into sweet, fertile darkness.

(Side note: I have no idea what Mother Laura is talking about I just go with the flow on these.) (Side note to the side note: I may have a little idea, but my knowledge on these matters has lots of cobwebs.) (Side note to the side note of the original the side note: I have cleaned up most of the cobwebs by regualr field day but I am not the expert.)

What makes you rejoice about:
(Let me do a word game with this, I am going to put down the first word or phrase that comes to mind.)

1. Waiting?
Really?, How about...Surprise!

2. Darkness?
Peaceful

3. Winter?
Calming

4. Advent?
Billboards
(I still have no idea about advent, I would have to say that since I have researched it and have read some explainations, none of them have really stuck in my head.) (Heathen.)

5. Jesus' coming?
1975 and going strong.
(Don't expect anyone to get this, but if you do your brain probably works like mine.)

Belly Growth, Part III

Part of the belly growth can be attributed to Cow Tales. I received a box with them inside and they are very good. There was also Junga Bunga, never had it before but basically it is like injecting my body with sugar.

~

My Cow Tales were carmel apple and my Junga Bunga was Safari Strawberry. Slightly different.

Christmas Three - A Meme

PS tagged Jan who tagged me for this Christmas Three meme, and she also "gave" Jan a picture !

What are your three favorite Christmas songs and who sings them?
Does "Did you see the Thirty Pointer?" by Da Yoopers count?
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer written by Randy Brooks. Sang by everybody.
Frosty the Snowman by Gene Autry

What are your three favorite Christmas foods?
I am cheating on this one go here.

What are three Christmas Secrets?
Mistletoes are poisonous.
Santa was made up as a marketing ploy in New York in the early 1900s.
Christmas trees were originally part of the German Christmas celebrations.

What are your three favorite Christmas movies?
Again I cheating on this one, go here.

This is where I tag someone, but since everyone that I have been tagging lately is upset at the extra typing required since this is a busy time of year or something like that, so I won't but if you do feel the urge to do this meme put a link in your comment so others can enjoy in your meme expressiveness.

Fun with Navy Medicine, Part II

I am basically falling apart. My left wrist has been in constant pain for about seven weeks now. Today finally like the an epiphany came over the corpsman they say lets get some x-rays. "We" do not have any cool do-dads or gizmos, I have to go over to the Army get my x-rays and I have to say they do have some nifty stuff. Didn't stop the Army soldier from contorting my wrist in funny positions though.

According to the radiologist report nothing is bad. So that is good. The problem lies with the pain factor. Navy medicine only has Motrin, I have been taking Motrin for seven weeks and guess what the pain is still there. This should come as no surprise to anyone who actually knows what Motrin is used for. I and yes, it is not healthy to take Motrin for that long. It would have been better for them to give me a sugar pill and telling me it was Vicadin.

On a side note, the above picture is a copy of my x-rays from this morning.

The Good Book, Part IV

The good book is my autobiography so I will take criticism on the title I am okay with it. I am sure you are thinking 4? how can you be on four already? One, two, three and now four. The thing is what i have been struggling with lately is how to separate all this junk I can my life. I already figure the chapters I call "wife one, two and three," will be popular one way or another. I am thinking about grouping idea together instead of by time. Like religion is one topic and women a completely different one. No matter how I end up doing it, the fluidity will be an issue.

Why Are Not You Happy?

You. This is defined as the person reading this post.

You are here
~a) by accident
~b) purposely
~~ i) by conscience choice
~~ ii) by way of links of another post elsewhere on the web
~~ iii) by way curiosity

So no matter which way you may be here for, why is it when I have good news you can not be happy?

Is your life so bad that you cannot even fathom what it would be like to happy?

Being happy is why I must finish writing my book, because I have learned over the years when I talk about my life everyone else feels happy. (Usually because their life is so much better.)

Permanent Progress

For whatever reason most bloggers seemed to have missed this report. I knew about here and then saw it reciprocated by Fox News.

Major General Gaskin said: "I think that the positive trends are permanent."

That says it all. I am happy I have had hot showers everyday for almost five months now. If that doesn't say progress, I don't know what does.

Money, Part II (a) - Death and Taxes

When Ben coined the phrase who knew it it would be so true today? Appartently the fact that I don't pay taxes in a combat zone upsets people. Who knew? ( I think it is funny that the money I made in my first year in service didn't throw up red flags.)

So if you want to read it from the IRS click here. Other wise here is my explanation.

Public Law authorizes Combat Zone Tax Exclusion for all Service Members receiving Hostile Fire Pay in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Service Member who is present, however brief, in this area, including airspace, and is on official duty qualifies for Combat Zone Tax Exclusion for that month. All pay for both enlisted personnel and warrant officers is tax exempt for the months spent in the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion area.

The cool part is the death gratuity was raised to $100,000.00. When I first entered into service this was six grand. So what is a death gratuity? It is a lump sum gratuitous payment made by the military to eligible beneficiaries of a member who dies on Active Duty. Nifty, huh?

The death gratuity payment is $12,420, and is non-taxable. For those whose death is as a result of hostile actions and occurred in a designated combat operation or combat zone or while training for combat or performing hazardous duty, the
payment is $100,000.

So if I had died in '96 my folks would have been lucky to have bought a tombstone with that money, but now they could definitely buy the tombstone, casket, plot and some flowers.

Money, Part II

I did an earlier post about how much I make and wanted to know a some comparisons. Kind of like for shits and giggles. When ever I have a bad day, like today, sometimes the money thing makes me feel better. Like I get paid to get my ass chewed, type feeling. I know doesn't sound good does it? Well, it looks like I was right on the money(ha ha) when I said a I was going to make about 37 thousand this year. Because I was feeling not myself, I looked up my first year, I made seven thousand eight hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-seven cents. So if you did the math in a little more than a decade my pay increased by more than 500 percent! I am trying to make myself feel better can you tell? The key to high pay is I am not getting taxed this year. The number would be much lower if I was and my first year total is the gross as well.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

I don't know what it is called so I will give an example and rant from there.

Scenario #1
When the senior says "I am going to go home for the day" and you ,the junior, says "don't worry I have it." Then later when someone comes looking for the senior, the junior says "he doing blah and blah," not mentioning he's at home and then calling or letting him know so and so is looking for him. What is that called?

Scenario #2
When the senior says "I am going to go home for the day" and you ,the junior, says "don't worry I have it." Then later when someone comes looking for the senior, the junior says "he's at home since this morning" and not doing anything extra . What is that called?


I call scenario number two, throwing someone under the bus or dropping dimes on someone. Either way the senior man is going to be in trouble later.

Some similar to the second example happened to me earlier in the day, so tomorrow morning I will be standing in front of the "boss" explaining why I wasn't where he had liked me to be. The job was still getting done, I was just not in the capacity to answer questions at the moment to the "boss" directly. It pisses me off when the junior guy completely lied to me about having control. (The junior guy is just junior to me, he has a bunch of rank.) The crappy part is not even fifteen minutes later I was back in the workplace, but the boss had already left for the day.

Flicker, Part III

I want to make a set. Seems simple enough. Maybe I am behind too many firewalls. I can not get to "OrganizR" it just says it is loading.

This where I am thinking about deleting the whole thing again. Remember, box of rocks. Not shiny.