Friday, December 22, 2006

It's easy for me to get overwhelmed right now by new people and by people i haven't been around for awhile, which is not unusual for returning solders. I've also spent 100% of my time surrounded by people in iraq for a year with very little personal time or space to relax. As result seclusion in nature actually sounds quite nice at the moment.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Achilles Tendonitis

Last week going into this week I was rather stupid and bumped up my running mileage too fast.  I ran 27 miles in four consecutive days starting Tuesday, with 12 of those miles occurring on Friday (in 2-3 runs that day), and then only taking one day off before running 6 more miles on Sunday. This past Monday I didn’t run, but that evening my right Achilles tendon started to hurt a bit.  I tried to ignore it and went for a 4.75 mile run Tuesday evening hoping that the pain would go away.  Although that may sound stupid, a few weeks ago (around the PT test time) my right hip was hurting when I walked/ran, but after a few days of it hurting I decided to run and push through the pain.  Mid-run the pain went away and hasn’t returned since.  I was hoping that would occur with the pain in my Achilles tendon.  No such luck.  Yesterday it still hurt when I walked and so I went to the PX and bought some bengay and some cushy insoles for my boots.  I also started taking some ibuprofen and the pain eased up a bit in the afternoon.  Last night I had planned to run approximately 8 miles, broken up into 8 min run/ 1 min walk segments. I started off slow for the first segment and the pain seemed to ease up a bit after a few min.  At 8 min I stopped to stretch, making sure to pay extra attention to the Achilles tendon.  After stretching for a few min I started running again, but found the pain worse than ever before.  Each time my right heel hit the ground I felt a stabbing pain in the tendon.  After less than a min I stopped running and tried walking, but it ended up being more of a limp.  I tried slowly jogging again, but the stabbing pain returned.  In the end I sadly went to the gym and did 40 min on the bike.  The pain is still there today, so I’ll probably head over to the medical clinic to see if they have any suggestions of exercises to do to help the tendon heal. 

Monday, November 13, 2006

It Is the Soldier

It Is the Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Poem by Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army

 

.

 

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Peanut Butter

I am addicted to peanut butter.  I realized this today when for dinner I sat at my desk and used a little packet of peanut butter as a dip for my 94% fat free kettle corn.  I also love to eat both fresh fruit and dried fruit with peanut butter, with one of my favorite snacks/desserts being sliced bananas on a peanut butter covered graham cracker.   I am not sure why I have developed a taste for peanut butter, because although it has always been something I’ve tolerated, I can’t recall ever having a passion for the food.  Also, it is only actual peanut butter or peanuts that I have a taste for right now, not peanut butter flavored things such as cookies. I think I shall jot it down as a weird quirk of mine, ranking right up there with my love of gravy during BEAST, especially on a piece of bread, as well as my love of a rice-tuna-cottage cheese-Texas Pete combination for dinner during crew season.  Later on I’ve gone back and tried those foods and didn’t find them nearly as appetizing.  

 

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Less Than A Month

In less than a month from now I will be sitting in my new apartment in Texas enjoying the little luxuries of life such as:  seeing my familyJ; a fully stocked grocery store right down the road; the ability to drive my Jeep when and where I want; wearing my hair down with civilian clothes, earrings, and makeup; being able to cook my own healthy meals; no rifle to carry around all the time; no wondering if the latest boom was a controlled detonation or an indirect fire strike; weekends J; a place to live that has a real kitchen, indoor flush toilet and shower with hot water; a washing machine and dryer to use when I want/need; wearing contacts again (or maybe getting laser eye surgery); being many time zones closer to my family and friends; being able to spend time with my friends while wearing civilian clothes in a setting other than the DFAC; being able to go home in the evening and get away from the military world for a bit, or at least the majority of it;  clean drinking water from the tap; the ability to have an alcoholic drink if I want to, although I still don’t like the taste of alcohol very much; no longer wondering if this week might finally be a week where we don’t go on commo blackout; the ability to use the internet without having a time limit or waiting in line; a really cool cell phone (I have one picked out already that I want to get); being able to tithe right away; bookstores; going clothes shopping; not having to wear ballistic eye protection every time I go outside; baking from scratch with both a sink and even a dishwasher nearby; and finally, being home from Iraq!!!  

 

 

Monday, November 06, 2006

It's a Boy!

Congratulations to Meghan and Anthony on the birth of their son, Gavin James, on 03 October J 

He looks very cute in the picture of him on his birth announcement.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

1st In A While

23OCT: Where to start?  I have not sat down to write in quite a while, mainly due to the fact that I do not know if/when I will post what I write.  The nicest birthday present I received was that commo went green on Saturday night and I was able to call home.  16 hours later commo went black again and we are still on it at this moment, which means that I can not post this entry until some later date.  I have a lot of pent up emotion related to all of the commo-blackouts, but have not found a suitable time, place, or group to release it. Last night some of my friends joined me outside my trailer to make s’mores and celebrate my birthday.  A few times our conversation turned to the recent events.  Although it is a very sad topic, talking about it helped.  A few days ago I made a list starting on 21 August of the dates and number of people for whom we’ve been on commo-blackout.  Dean called the list morbid, and it is very depressing, but everything was blurring together and I wanted to see if I was exaggerating everything in my mind.  I wasn’t.   

Yesterday I ran about 8 miles, but did it in 6 min chunks with a minute of walking in-between.  I’ve been trying to run more in the past few weeks because I tend to snack a ton at my desk.  Two Sundays ago I ran 11 miles, but did it in 4 min segments with a minute of walking.  I feel a lot better after I run, but then I go and eat a ton of unhealthy food and feel miserable again.  Those two runs are the longest I’ve gone on.  Usually I try for 3.5 to 5 miles a few days a week. 

 

Monday, September 18, 2006

Well Done; Be Thou At Peace

The event that everyone in my class has dreaded, but knew would eventually come, came to pass last Tuesday evening.   We lost our first classmate, 2LT Emily Perez, the night of 12 September 2006, to an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq.  She was a member of 204th SB, 2BCT, 4ID (M). 

I heard the news from another classmate of mine, Abby, while in the DFAC for lunch on Friday.  The news of Emily’s death came as a surprise, especially because she is the first one of us to go.  Last year I was told about the supposed death of a ’04 grad, but from everything I’ve gathered it was a false rumor.  I didn’t want to repeat the news of her death to any of my classmates until I heard something more official, so when I got back to my desk I started looking up the reports from that day.  At first I couldn’t find the report and gave up my search thinking that it was a bad rumor, but later that day after receiving word from another of my classmates about her death, I started looking again.  This time I found the report and the news finally sunk in.  The rest of the night I was in a slight state of shock. 

            I didn’t know Emily very well while we were at West Point, but it would be hard to not have a few memories of her when there were only 191 other females who entered West Point in my class, and even fewer who graduated.  We may have been paired together plebe year in Combatives, but I am not certain.  Most of my memories of her are from Firstie year when she was the Brigade CSM.  Though we were not close, she will be missed. Her family, friends, and unit are in my prayers. 

           

           

 

More Pictures From Iraq

Required "Sitting In Saddam's Big Chair" photo. (Seem's like almost everybody has one of these).


Trying to demonstrate that concrete on concrete slides....but it was on asphalt.

Pictures From Iraq

Standing in front of a palace in Baghdad.
Enjoying the afternoon 110+ heat.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Why I Did Poorly in Enlish Classes

I really do not feel like writing at the moment.  I know I wrote that but a moment ago, but when I wrote that first sentence a question popped into my mind.  Do I over-use and miss-use the word “really”?  And if so, is it common problem found in the American use of the English language?  To figure out the answer, or at least hopefully figure out the answer, I am going to use the one of the great technological assets of the 21st century…Google.  

My search on Google, titled “define: really,” lead me to the highly reputable (sarcasm) source of Google definitions: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&defl=en&q=define:really&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

It was at this site that I learned my usage of the word “really,” while not grammatically incorrect, is to be avoided since I used it as a vague intensifier. I now feel more educated; however, I am also beginning to question my grammar and usage of a long list of words in this entry. 

I have opened a can of worms on myself.  To being with, I have written in passive voice, as shown in this very sentence. 

Is my usage of the word “very” in the previous sentence yet another attempt by myself to use a vague intensifier?  What about my comma usage?  Should that be “use” or “usage”?  Should the quotations go before or after the question mark? 

Oh dear, this is getting out of control.  Time to change subjects. 

Yes, the previous sentence is not a sentence at all, but a sentence fragment.  Poor grammar, I know.

So much for changing subjects.  

That was another sentence fragment.

I promise, this time I will change subjects. 

On a side note, I almost used the word “really” in the above sentence, but edited out before I wrote the sentence.

Does that constitute a new subject?  I hope so, but it most likely does not.

 

_______________Official Change Of Subject Line________________

 

Throughout the day I often find myself running into situations where I am on one topic and it leads to a new question and/or train of thought, and before I know it I have completely digressed from my original subject of interest of study.  My total digression most often occurs when I am sitting at the computer because I have the ability to immediately gratify my desire for insight into whatever subject or topic arises by researching it on the internet.  If I do not happen to have a computer easily accessible when a questions arises, then I more often than not have my interest peaked for a moment but completely forget about whatever it was before I am able to research the question or topic.  This week I started writing down key words in a little notebook I carry around so that I can go back at a later time to find the more information on the topic. 

            A few of the reminder notes I jotted down were “Dorcas,” “Plass other writings,” “butterfly metamorphosis,” and “Zoroastrians.”

 Dorcas arose from an email one of my friends sent me where she began the email, “Hey Dorko.”  Her greeting reminded me of a similar name that one of my sisters calls me; that being Dorkiss.  I then remembered that in the Bible there is a woman named Dorcas, which led to me wondering what the name Dorcas means.  It turns out that Dorcas is Greek for gazelle. 

I would go into the significance of all of the other words and how they ended up being jotted down in my notebook, but that discussion would take far too long and be quite boring.  My head is beginning to hurt from thinking to much and too hard about something that, in the grand scheme of things, is of no importance whatsoever, and so I am going to step outside for a breath of fresh air. 

 

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Violin, S'mores, and OPSEC

(04/05SEP) I will not be able to post this entry for another day or so, but I figure I may as well continue to write and then post it later.  I do not really feel like writing at the moment, but I am telling myself that by writing when I don’t want to write I am actually exercising my mind more because I have to think harder to come up with something to write.  My logic is most likely completely wrong, but at least I feel better.

            Yesterday morning the chaplain came over to my desk and asked if I had any pictures that I wanted to include in a slide-show that will play in the background while I play violin at the upcoming concert.  Though I do remember agreeing to perform in another concert and knew at the time that the concert would be in September, September was always so far in the future that I pushed the thought of it to the back-burner of my mind and only occasionally allowed it to resurface for a brief moment before I once again banished it to the “Task for sometime in the future but not soon enough to care about” list.  The chaplain’s request caught me completely off guard and I suddenly had to dive into the far reaches of my mind to quickly brush the dust off the event.  I have spent the past day trying to think up a piece to play, but I can not think of anything.  Perhaps I will resort to the same measures I used last time and enlist the help of my friend Rob.  I wish I could email him right away and ask if he has any ideas and/or if we could meet up to brainstorm together, but the commo blackout is preventing me from reaching him.    

            The s’more making party was a success on Sunday evening.  Seven people ended up coming, which turned out to be the perfect number because there were exactly enough seats for everyone.  There are still some marshmallows and plenty of chocolate and graham crackers left over, so there will most likely be a second s’more gathering.

            Yesterday CPT P pointed out that I do not talk a lot about my family on my blog.  I know first hand how easily information about a person and their family members can be found on the internet without any cost, having produced an OPSEC example for the commanders just a few weeks ago. I can only guess how much more information can be obtained through payment and so my lack of talking a lot about my family and mentioning last names of people is my feeble attempt to protect their privacy.  Of course, my attempt is most likely futile because if someone really wanted to know then they could still put the different pieces together and figure everything out.  

            My writing 1000 words a day seems to have developed into writing 1000 words every-other day due to time constraints.  I sit down and write when I have a spare moment, but then a task arises that I have to attend to and so I do not get around to writing again until the following day. 

            This morning I got up for a run and when I stepped outside I was pleasantly surprised to find that for a split-second I was actually almost cold.  The weather was perfect for running, although my run yesterday morning was better than today’s run.  On Sunday I ate lunch with one of the people on the praise team and we got on the topic of running.  I mentioned how I am not very fond of running and have never been extremely good at it.  He suggested the same thing that my Dad has been telling me for years, which is that I should try running for a few minutes and then take a walk break and continue this process throughout the course of my run.  Walking and running utilize different muscle groups and so I will be able to run further and for a longer time before tiring.  Although I do sprint intervals occasionally, I have not made a habit of going on runs where I take walk-breaks.  Yesterday morning I tried the technique for the first time and found that I enjoyed my run more and actually ran faster when I was running, though I only had time for a 50 min run.  At one point when I was passing a group of runners one of them called out to me that I was running at a fairly fast speed, whereupon I had to turn my head back and admit that I was only running for two minutes intervals and then walking for a minute.  It still felt good passing people. 

 

 

Saturday, September 02, 2006

More Pointless Ramblings

Currently I am sitting at my desk trying to stay awake.  Last night I was the staff duty officer and my attempt to condense my inspections of the battalion area and my inspection of two soldiers going out on a mission miserably failed.  Due to the failure of my plan to do the two inspections in quick succession (there was quite a long time gap while I waited for the soldiers) I’ve been awake since 3:30am after having gone to bed last night around 11:45pm. I shouldn’t complain though because I was able to get four hours of sleep, which should be sufficient for one day, although I wouldn’t recommend making it a habit. 

            Usually I treat myself to a caramel frappacino from Cinnabon the morning after I have staff duty, but last night my friend Derrick made me guacamole and I proceeded to eat a good portion of it at dinner and even more around 4am.  Since my caloric and fat intake must already be off the charts for the day I opted to forgo the frappaciono and instead picked up some sugar free Rip-It energy drinks from the DFAC. 

            Happy September and Happy Labor Day Weekend. I am trying to think back to what I did last year for Labor Day weekend, but I can not seem to remember.  I know that I was in Fort Huachuca, AZ going through OBC, but can not come up with the specifics about the weekend.  The year before last, when I was a Firstie, Anne and I went camping in upstate New York over Labor Day.  I really miss Anne, camping, and upstate New York. This year Labor Day weekend is pretty similar to every other weekend during the past 9 months, but in order to try and make it a little different I’ve organized a s’more making get together with some friends for Sunday evening.  Not only will it be a way to celebrate Labor Day, but also a celebration of being a month closer to going home.  I already had the marshmallows, and yesterday I went to the PX and bought some chocolate bars, graham crackers, and a grill.  Today or tomorrow I’ll have to go back and pick up some charcoal.  Having an actual bonfire is not feasible since it is of course a fire hazard.  Plus, there is not nearly enough wood here to build one anyway. 

            It is much 8pm now and I am still at work, but that is because I noticed that the Michigan vs. Vanderbilt game is on TV.  I didn’t think I’d be able to see a Michigan game at all this year, but now I can say that I was able to see them score at least one touch-down this season.  I’ll rack it up to another thing I didn’t think I would do in Iraq.  My list of those things is becoming quite long (play violin, bake, knit, learn sign language, etc…). 

            Yesterday I didn’t accomplish writing 1000 words, but today I think I just may with the help of a loop hole.  I was tasked to write a short paper on the BN history and so I am counting what I wrote for that as part of my 1000 words, though it will not be posted anywhere. 

 

Thursday, August 31, 2006

1,035

1000 words.  If I sat down every day, could I write 1000 words by the end of the day?  How long is 1000 words?  I’ve only been out of school for a little over a year and I have already forgotten the amount of time and space it takes to write 1000 words.  Before, if given an assignment of a certain word length, say 2500 words, I could immediately think of the number of pages of either single or double-space type that it would take to fill 2500 words.  Having forgotten that months ago I am now typing without a clue as to how long I’ll be typing. 

            Why am I writing 1000 words a day, you may ask?  Is there a certain end purpose to this all?  Well….not really.  I seem to jump from interest to interest every week or so.  One week its practicing violin, the next week its working out, followed by a week of studying for the GRE, after which comes a week full of baking.  More recently, a few weeks ago I was quite taken with pondering the topic of love, and then last week I took up learning sign language. My devotion to an activity usually only lasts between a few days and two weeks, and then after that I’ll take up a new activity though I will occasionally come back to my previous interests.  For example, I don’t practice my violin more than a couple of times a week now because the other evenings I’m either at the gym, baking, attending a briefing, or at a Bible study.  I suppose in the end I could argue that I am a more well-rounded person, though I hardly lack much of a depth of knowledge or expertise on anything.  Writing 1000 words a day just happens to be my latest ploy to make the time go by and keep myself, especially my mind active and busy.  

            319 words done, assuming that I don’t go back and revise or delete anything that I have previously written.  Will I allow myself to do such things as revise? I don’t know.  I pondered the question for a few minutes as I walked back from lunch and wondered if I should set any ground rules for myself, but the thought of rules seemed to hinder the freedom to think and write, so I dismissed the idea.  What will I write about?  I don’t know.  There are many things I don’t know at the moment. 

            This morning I went for a jog at 5:30am.  Although I don’t like waking up early and I am still not a huge fan of running, if I do have to run I would rather run when it is cool outside. At 5am the temperature outside was 81 degrees, and by 7am it had dropped to 77 degrees.  I do believe that is the first time I’ve seen the temperature in the 70s in what seems like a very long time.  The temperature is now once again up past 100 degrees, but the highs for the past couple of days have been below 110, which is another new thing. 

            524 words.  Perhaps over the next few days I’ll drop the required number of words down to 500…and then 200…and in the end grow tired of sitting down to write and forget about the whole idea. 

            My mind has gone blank at the moment and I can’t think of what else to write.  College football season starts this coming weekend, which also happens to be Labor Day weekend.  Normally I don’t care a whole lot about college football, but this year I am a tiny bit interested in the whole thing since it will make the time go by faster, though the only teams I care about are Army and Michigan

A couple of weeks ago I received a package in the mail from my friend Anne, who happens to be in Cambridge, England at the moment getting her masters degree.  The package was full of delicious food ranging from candy bars and short cake to dried fruit, but it also contained a book called “Jesus, Safe Tender Extreme.”  In the letter that she included with the package she wrote that she was sending the book along because she found it to be a refreshing and useful look at Christian life written in a common matter without the holier-than-thou and above-this-world attitude that many Christian writers tend to end up taking.  Though I’ve only made it to page 100 due to limited reading time, most of it done while eating lunch in the DFAC, I must say that I agree with Anne’s assessment.  The author, Adrian Plass, writes in a manner that elicits in me a feeling as though I’ve found someone who’s thought structure is the same as my own.  Not only is what he writing of interest to me, but I also enjoy the way he writes.  He’s genuine in his mannerisms, not trying to put on a front or pretend to be something that he’s not.  In particular I’ve enjoyed his description of a near drowning he once experienced and description of, “The little man with a notebook who lives at the back of my head scribbled busily away, noting with interest the various nuances of panic and fear, the exact sensations that accompany drowning, and the emotions evoked by the imminent loss of those whom you love.  He was just on the point of starting a new piece under the heading ‘First Encounters with God’ when I managed to struggle free from my trap.”  I often feel as though I myself has a little man in my head jotting down notes on whatever is going on in my life as to record them for later use.  Of course, I do not often get to writing, especially lately, so most of those notes go the way of my notes in real life and end up set aside to be forgotten.

I must admit that I cheated a bit with today’s 1000 words.  I wrote the previous paragraph, totaling 362 words, yesterday.  The commo blackout is finally over and so I may post this entry on my blog.  1,035.

 

Thursday, August 17, 2006

August Update

Right now I’m sitting at my desk and writing in my blog instead of making corrections to people’s security clearance packets.  The packets are a constant source of frustration for me.  It’d be nice if I had received some prior training on security clearance procedures, but MIOBC didn’t touch on the subject and when I arrived at my unit everything was focused on the deployment. The person who was responsible for the whole procedure before I arrived in the BN is no longer in the Army, so my assistant S2 and I are stuck trying to figure out the process ourselves.  Since I haven’t received any training I’ve had to search out advice from other battalions, brigade, and the people who I turn the packets into back at Fort Hood.  Everybody has a slightly different version of what is required.  Putting together the security clearance packets isn’t a high priority for the other BN’s and BDE due to the fact that we are in Iraq and busy enough with daily combat operations.   

 

Yesterday I baked my second batch of brownies in the toaster oven my parents sent me.  These were chocolate caramel brownies with m&m’s on top.  Very high calorie, but well liked by the people in my BN.  The lack of a well-stocked grocery store makes baking from scratch a near impossibility, so I’ve resorted to using mixes and adding in my own touch.  The PX has carried brownie mix for a month or two, but of course by the time my toaster oven arrived the PX had run out of the mix.  Fortunately, I’ve grown used to the unpredictability of the PX inventory and so I bought a couple of boxes of brownie mix a few weeks ago.  The sad part is that I am now out of all of my mixes and will have to wait a few weeks before my small order from netgrocer.com arrives in the mail with a couple more boxes of brownie mix and a bread mix.  In the meantime I’ll have look at my toaster oven longingly and dream about when I’ll next be able to bake. 

 

A few days ago I was able to talk to both of my sisters on the phone.  I was very proud of my sister Heidi when she mentioned that she’s started to do 10 modified push-ups a day and has noticed and increase in her arm muscle.  She inspired me to work on my push-ups, because that is an area that I’ve never been very good at and usually try and avoid except for when I have to take an APFT.

 

My smiling while typing on the computer and fixing my hair has led some of the people I work with to believe that there is a guy that I like and am conversing with online.  I’ve tried to explain to them that I have communicated with some friends occasionally (hence the smiles because I like to hear from my friends) and that I fix my hair because it’s against regulations to have my hair flying all over the place, but my explanations have fallen on deaf ears.  The assistant S-3 went so far as to try and figure out who the guy is and concluded that he’s a 1LT in the aviation brigade.  He’s only about 8 months off with his conclusion.  The truth is that there aren’t any guys at the moment I’m particularly interested in, though I do enjoy talking to and spending time with my friends. 

 

Woohoo! It’s supposed to get down to 115 on Saturday.  Actually, that’s not much different than right now because it’s been 115-118 degrees the past few days, but still it’s on the cooler side of really hot J

 

Okay, I’ve wasted enough time and should get back to work. 

 

 

 

Friday, July 07, 2006

Mail = Milk ... I hope

The past couple of afternoons I’ve come back from lunch and SSG D and SPC L have asked me if we’ll get mail that day.  Since there’s been no milk at the DFAC at lunch I told them that there wouldn’t be any mail, but today there was still no milk at lunch and we got mail later in the afternoon. Thanks for the package Mom J  Everyone loves the rice crispy treats you made.  I’m saving the brownies for tomorrow. 

 

It sounds a bit weird, but I think there is a correlation between the availability of milk and the mail delivery.  We hadn’t had mail delivered to Camp Taji for almost a week until today and I also noticed that the DFAC’s been out of milk, juice, fresh fruit, and some other food items for a few days.  Surprisingly, there was still lettuce at the salad buffet at lunch.  The disappearance of lettuce is usually the first indicator that the supply convoy wasn’t able to make it here for whatever reason.  My hypothesis is that if the supply convoy wasn’t able to reach Camp Taji, the mail delivery convoy (or whatever method is used to bring mail here) wasn’t able to make it either.  Therefore, no milk =  no mail, and vice versa.  Perhaps I’ll pop my head in at dinner to see if my hypothesis is correct. 

 

I’ve stopped going to dinner at the DFAC and instead taken up eating crackers and peanut butter after the afternoon briefing.  I snack a lot during the day, but when I go to the DFAC for dinner I still eat my normal amount of food even though I don’t need to eat that much.  Plus, I’ve started working out in the evenings because I’ve found I’m in a better mood and more awake during the day when I sleep in later instead of getting up between 4:30-5am to work out.  If I eat dinner in the DFAC it cuts into my evening work out time since I usually eat dinner after 7pm.  The downside of working out in the evening instead of the morning is that it’s hotter outside, but I’m slowly adjusting to the heat.  At least it’s not humid.

 

Happy Birthday tomorrow Heidi J

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Night

A few weeks ago my BN Chaplain asked me to play violin at gospel concert originally scheduled for 01 July.  I had no clue what to play and when I told my friend Rob about it he suggested a doing a medley of a few songs and offered some suggestions for the pieces.  I practiced the medley a little, but wasn’t sure about the order and flow, so I was glad when the concert got pushed back to 08 July because it gave me more time to practice. The concert has been pushed back again to the 21st  since there’s now a memorial service on the 8th for a soldier from 1-66 AR who was killed on Sunday.

 

On Monday I mentioned to Rob that I was wasn’t sure about the songs in the medley. He offered to help me with it so the next day I left him a note telling him that I’d be at the Chapel practicing on Wednesday and if he could stop by it’d be a big help, but I understood if he couldn’t make it. Everyone’s schedule can change at a moments notice.  When I arrived at the Chapel on Wednesday I found my friend Derrick there leading a gospel choir practice.  After the gospel choir rehearsal finished Derrick stayed around.  He wanted to accompany me by singing while I played violin, which is usually what we do, but I told him that I wanted to play alone that night.  It had been a long day and I wasn’t in a very talkative mood, which I think he took as me not wanting him to be there at all (which wasn’t the case) and so he left a short time later. I wasn’t sure if Rob was going to show and had realized that what I really wanted to do that evening was play hymns on my violin as a way to worship a bit that way without having to worry about the key or if I was in time with the other person. 

 

A little after 10 pm I decided play one more song before I packing up for the evening.  As with each song I had played the words of the hymns repeated in my mind and I became solely focused on worshiping God during the song.  When the hymn ended I turned around and was startled to see Rob sitting there looking like he had been enjoying the music.  I had no idea how long he’d been there and when I asked him all he would say was “long enough,” although I did manage to get it out of him that he’d been there before I started the last song, which is weird because I didn’t hear him come in or sit down.  We worked on my medley for a bit and then called it a night.   

 

When Rob and I were leaving the CH on duty noticed that I didn’t have my bike and told Rob, who did have a bike, to ensure that I made it back to my room safely since women aren’t supposed to walk alone at night.  Usually I ride my bike, but a strange thing happened that evening.  I’ve been more careful about locking up my bike ever since I had one stolen and on Sunday I bought a new bike lock.  The bike lock comes with a pair of identical keys and I hadn’t had any trouble with key until Wednesday evening when I went to unlock my bike to ride it to the chapel. Neither key would budge in the lock.  Eventually I gave up trying and walked to the chapel.  By the time Rob and I left it was late and it was a bit of an imposition for him to escort me back to my room since he lives in the opposite direction, but he was nice enough not to complain. I told him the story about the lock and when we reached my room I got the keys to the lock to show him how it didn’t work.  The first key didn’t budge in the lock, but the second key worked without any trouble.  Since then I haven’t had any trouble with the lock. 

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Happy Independance Day Weekend

I can't believe it's July already. The month of June flew by, which is something you won't find me complaining about.

It's 4th of July weekend, which means it's a four day weekend. My plans for the weekend are to sleep in late and then head out to the lake with friends and family to get some water-skiing and tubing in followed by a good bbq. Then, once it's dark out we'll all go and watch the fireworks.

Shoot...I just remembered something: I'm in Iraq...There go my plans.

I am very grateful that I get my usual day of rest tomorrow, which is more than a lot of people get out here. That's about as close as I'll get to any four day weekend. On the actual 4th of July the DFAC (Dining Facility) will probably serve up BBQ/picnic type foods for lunch and dinner.

The weather has cooled off a bit the past few days. At night it gets down to about 81 or 82 degrees and mid-day it's only 105-110 degrees out. When I was going to lunch I saw a cloud in the sky. I think it was the first cloud that I've seen in over a month. The cloud was very tiny, but I wanted to take a picture of it. After lunch I noticed that there were a few more clouds scattered around. Each was fairly small, but it was a bit of variety.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to give my first violin lessons. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Congrat's to all you '03 grads who were promoted to Captain today :)

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day Dad! And Happy Fathers day to all the other fathers out there.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Thank You For Your Sacrifice

On Saturday the class of 2006 graduated from West Point. The day brought a lot of emotion for me as I remembered my graduation and also wondered what lay ahead for the most recent members of the Long Grey Line. Will they look at the pictures and hear the stories of the cadets still at West Point and find it hard to believe that they themselves actually attended the Academy, let alone graduated? Will they look back fondly on the friendships and memories they forged during their four, sometimes five, years and both miss the time spent there and at the same time offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God that they one of the ones who were able to walk away with a diploma and commission in hand? Will members of the class of 2006 find themselves, like many of my classmates, deployed to Iraq of Afghanistan in less then six-and-a-half months?

I most likely will not come away from this deployment with any war stories to tell, but this Memorial Day I’ve realized that I will go home with much more respect for my fellow soldiers who serve and those who have served before me. The closest I get to any combat are reports and pictures of the attacks. While some of the pictures are very graphic, I have yet to come close to tears over what I’ve seen. Instead, my emotions threaten to overwhelm me when strangers back home show their thanks and support for the troops serving our country.

Growing up I didn’t see Memorial Day as anything more than the last four day weekend before school ended for the summer. Somewhere in my mind I knew it was a day to honor those who had served our country, but thoughts of playing outside with friends, going camping, or the first trip to the pool, were at the forefront of my thoughts. Today marks the first Memorial Day where I have actually spent time remembering those who serve both now, and those who served before me.

My sacrifice over here is nothing compared to what some of my fellow soldiers go through. When those back home offer their thanks and support for those serving our country I think of soldiers like the two who were in front of me in line at the PX the other day. I could tell from their dust covered hands and faces and the grim on their uniforms that they were just passing through and had not had a chance to relax on a camp in a while. They were not complaining about the heat, the danger, of their lack of comfort, but instead seemed happy to be able to have a short break and pick up a few items before headed back outside the wire on their mission. They are who are out there day in and day out risking their lives over here. They are the ones who deserve the thanks. Memorial Day is not a day to argue about the politics of war, and it is not just a reason for a four day weekend from school or work. It is a day to honor and remember soldiers like the two in the PX who have served throughout the decades making many sacrifices, and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice, for our country and our freedom.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

You Are My All In All

This song has kept me going today.
 
You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
 
Written by Dennis Jernigan

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Almost Back

My 15 days home have come to and end and I am now back in Iraq. I still have one leg of the journey back left before I reach my camp. The temp is now in the 90's here, but there was a nice breeze today so it didn't feel too bad. I'm trying not to think too much about how hot it'll get in the months ahead.

One thing I found out yesterday is that the Harvest Bars (made by Power Bar) that they supply us with here have a Best Eaten By date of June 2005. That made me wonder if any of the other food we get is expired.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Settling Down...I wish

My time at home is quickly drawing to an end, and with the end comes the sadness of having to leave once again. Being back in the states and at home has made me all the more wish that I had a place (ie. apartment or house), of my own to call home. That and I'm finding out about more and more of my classmates, and now people in '06, who are engaged or married. I should count myself lucky for the living situation I've ended up with in Iraq, but it still doesn't quite compare to my own place where I can unpack my boxes and trunks which are currently under the basement stairs in my parent's house.

I guess what I really want is a chance to settle down a bit. I've spent the past year moving every few months all over the United States and world. I have a good chunk of time left in Iraq, but I don't consider being there really settling down and feeling at home.

Many of my classmates are in the same situation that I am in, that being we haven't had a chance to really experiance what it's like to live in the real world. The upside is that I am saving a ton of money by not having any bills to pay this year.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Happy Easter!

Jesus is risen! Happy Easter!

I haven't written in quite a while mainly because I haven't felt like writing. I'm finding that I'm writing more in my prayer journal or not writing at all rather than writing on here.

Currently I'm at home on leave, although I'll be starting my trip back to Iraq in just a few short days. I've enjoyed being home, and although nothing has changed from the other times I've been home this time I haven't found myself feeling at all bored and wishing I were back in the place I just came from.

It's rather late and I must get up somewhat early for Church tomorrow,er, today. Good night.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Vague Post

I want to ask why, but I'm tired of asking why.  I want to just accept and be at peace, but can't seem to allow that to happen because so many questions and doubts arise in my mind.  I feel so confused.  Have I made too much out of it, or is there actually something there? 
 
Still waiting on the email from Heidi.  It'd be very,  very, very helpful at the moment. 

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Johnny Appleseed

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

-The Johnny Appleseed Song

This was the song that I used to sing for grace before my apple juice and graham crackers in the church nursery and later in preschool. For some reason I remember those graham crackers tasting better than any other ones I’ve had elsewhere, but that is besides the point. The song popped into my head today after I realized that I once again was in a bad mood, most likely feeling sorry for myself, and needed an attitude change. Funny how those days tend to coincide with the days where I choose to sleep in rather than work out, which leads to me sleeping in later than planned and having to rush through my morning prayer time, if I actually get up in time to have a prayer time. If only my work out partner (who will remain nameless, but who’s name starts with a J and ends with an O-R-D-A-N), and I weren’t so good at convincing one another that we should go back to bed and sleep some days. Okay, so it’s not really Jordan’s fault that I don’t get in a good prayer time, but it’s
so much easier to lay the blame on someone else besides myself. The point is that when I don’t start the day by spending time, quality time that is, with God, it’s usually not a great day for me. Back to the song, I started singing it while thinking of the things I have to be thankful about. As I thanked God for different things my attitude did start to change. Once again I learned a lesson about being thankful in all circumstances.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Package From Home :)

Thank you so much for the package Mom and Dad :) The beef jerky is the perfect kind, and the brownies are being eaten by my TOC. I gave up sweets for Lent but had two brownies today anyway. One of the NCOs knew I gave up sweets for Lent and he caught me eating the brownie and harped on me about it. It was a good lesson for me to learn.

I also recieved a letter from Adam today. I feel like such a schmuck. He's going through Ranger school right now and still managed to write and send a letter to me, and I haven't written to him at all. My excuse was that by the time the letter reached him he'd be in the next phase and so the address would no longer be any good. That excuse was shot today. Tonight I think I'll try and write a letter and send it off tomorrow. I wonder if Charlie has started Ranger school yet. If not, he should be soon.

Yesterday I had another day of rest, and as usual it was awesome. God is really at work here.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Somebody Shared

My TOC likes to share with each other. When somebody gets a package containing food, especially candy or cookies, they usually open it up for anyone to have some. In fact, there is a whole drawer set aside for food, although most of it is candy. It used to be right by my desk, but I moved it yesterday to across the TOC so that I wouldn't be as tempted to eat it all the time. One other thing someone in the TOC shared with me, or at least I assume it was someone in the TOC because they are the people I am around all the time, is a cold. I woke up this morning ready to get out of bed and go for a run with Jordan, and then realized that I was feeling under the weather. I ended up not getting up until around 0610, which ment that after I got showered and dressed I had to rush my prayer time in order to make it to breakfast. My best days are days that I start out with a good workout/run and a focused prayer time that is not rushed. Hopefully today won't be too bad.

The weather is warming up. The temp now ranges from the high 50s at night to the high 70s/low 80s during the day. I'm looking forward to going home for 2 weeks and experiancing a bit of real winter/spring.

Something I do like about Iraq are the sunrises and sunsets. They are amazing.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Giving Thanks

The more I hearfrom my friends in other units, especially fellow MI Lieutenants, and the things they were doing, the more I've started to envy them them. Last night as I was riding my bike back to my trailer after yet another day feeling like I wasn’t doing enough and grumbling in my mind, a verse from 1 Thessalonians popped into my head. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)." My first reaction was of course, "No! I don’t want to give thanks. Why should I give thanks? Other people are doing cool and interesting things, but I’m stuck in an office feeling like a robot could do just as good of a job as I’m doing."

1 Thessalonians kept repeated in my head all the way back to my room, but my attitude hadn’t changed. I knew I was in the wrong, and that God has specifically placed me where I am for a reason, although I may not know that reason, but I still didn’t want to give thanks.
Since misery loves company I decided to see if one of my friends was in her trailer so that I could go vent to her about my job. She wasn’t there, and that probably turned out to be a good thing. I know that she isn’t too happy in her job, and so my telling her about my problems would most likely only serve to get us both complaining. Starting a complaining session the opposite of what Paul said to do in Ephesians 4:29 when he wrote, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

After having not succeeded in talking to my friend, I went back to my room and decided to hash it out with God, which is what I should’ve done in the first place. It started out as a one sided conversation with me telling him why I was unhappy. Two things came to mind in the midst of my talking to Him: Repent and give thanks, so that is what I did. I repented for my grumbling, for comparing myself to others and being envious of them and their job, and also seeking an escape in things (sleep, the growing candy stash in the TOC, and complaining to friends) instead of turning to God. Next I asked God to change me or change my job. It’s a simple prayer, but has a lot of power. Finally I started to give thanks. It was still hard to do at first, so I decided to find a few verses about being thankful:

-Colossians 3:17, 23
- Daniel 6:10
- Philippians 2:14

Once I started thanking God for my job I started to see it in a new light. Right now I have periods where I am very busy, but also periods where I don’t have much to do in the TOC. During those less active periods I am able to read the Bible and other books that help me grow in my faith and relationship with Christ. One more thing to be thankful about is that I have the opportunity to be a witness specifically to those I work with through how I live out my faith in daily life. Early on they noticed that I don’t swear and don’t join in with crude jokes. They also noticed I was, as one of the NCO put it, "very religious." I don’t know if it because I am the only female in the TOC, or if it is because I am a Christian, but I’ve heard it said more than once, "it’s a good thing you’re in here ma’am, because otherwise the language would be a lot worse." My witness may be small, but at least it’s a start and something to be thankful about.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

It Works!

It's amazing, the internet in my room is working and it is relatively fast. This is very unusual.

Today I recieved my combat patch. Still kinda weird to think that I graduated west point less than a year ago and graduated OBC 29 days before I deployed. Some more of my classmates are in Iraq. I just saw Jordan at lunch, but only got to say hi to her briefly. My OBC class has been keeping in touch with each other. Hearing some of the stuff other people are doing makes me wonder how much I'm realy doing. I wish I could get out there more, but don't know if that's going to happen.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! My family, I love and miss you all. Last week I got a valentines day card from Aunt Kathy and today I got a card and fun size thing of peanut m&ms from a couple who sent them to everyone in the BN.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Running the Race

Yesterday I had another day of rest. Once again it was very nice. I really felt God speaking to me at each of the services I attended. I have to say I didn't really want to hear some of the stuff He was saying because He was asking me to go outside my nice Christianity comfort zone and step out in faith. At the 1230 protestant service during the first portion, which is singing, the songs were great songs, Rob was doing a great job leading, but it seemed like pulling peoples teeth to get them to worship God. The congreation just wasn't joining in. I felt God asking me to step out in faith and play along on the bongo drums, but I balked and made up the excuse that I had never played them before and didn't want to sound horrible. He wasn't buying my excuse, but I never did pick up the bongo drums. I was afraid to step out, to go outside my Christianity comfort zone and actually let God use me and lead me. I actually ended up getting down on my knees during the singing and
started praying for God help me surrender everything to Him and to trust Him to lead me when I am outside my comfort zone and have only Him to look to.

I think God was really speaking to me, because then the message during the service was on Joshua 3-4, about how God commanded the Israelites to build a memorial after crossing the Jordan. When they had crossed the Red Sea it signified their first coming to Christ, kind of like the first time someone accepts Jesus as their savior. They had the pillar of clouds or the pillar of fire leading them. Then, after wandering aroudn the desert for 40 years they were crossing the Jordan, but this time they was not a pillar of clouds or column of fire mentioned, but isntead the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them. They were crossing into the unknown, knowing that they were finally headed tot he promised land, but that there were most likely enemies they would encouter along the way. The crossing the Jordan marked the end of their wandering around in the desert and accepting God completely. The chaplain used it as an analogy as someone going from accepting Chris
t as their savior, to them accepting him as their Lord and Savior and turning everything over to Him. It seemed to fit what I had just experianced. I've asked God to help me turn everything over to Him before, but over time I've slowly reached back to try and gain control. I'm at that spot again where I need to hand everything over and be willing to go and do whatever God asks me no matter the cost. Perhaps I'll be playing bongo drums next Sunday.

On another topic, tomorrow is Valentines Day. Happy Valentines Day! While listenting to people tell about what Valentines day gifts they are sending to their wives and girlfriends back home it's easy to get caught up in feeling sorry for myself in being single, but there are two things that keep coming to mind. One is the Joe Bear episode I made last Valentines Day. As silly as it may be, it serves as a good reminder to me about what is really important. The other thing that keeps coming to mind last year, which is that the way to seek a spouse is to run towards Christ with every ounce of your being and then look to your right and left and see who can keep up. In the past I've found myself be in a relationship where the other person is moving at more of a slow walk, if that. I'm through slowing down for anyone or anything, I'm looking for someone who is also running towards Christ with everything they've got. I don't say spriting though because spriting implies you go
really fast, but it's only for a short time and eventually you either slow down a lot, or stop.

Enough of my somewhat deep thoughts.

One last note. I showed Christy the Joe Bear site and she wants to help out on a new episode. Now I just have to think of the story line and figure out how to ensure there are no OPSEC violations in making it.

Mondays

Even though every day is just like every other day, Mondays are still the worst. On Mondays I have to prepare an short intel presentation on the routes we've traveled or are going to travel recently. It really shouldn't be that hard to prepare, but for some reason it puts me in a rather bad mood. My head usually hurst by the end of the day after preparing the briefing, and it's not because I've been doing too much analysis. In fact, I hardely get a chance to do much analysis at all because I'm focused on making sure I have all the times and placements correct and that I'm not missing any Sigacts. Ah well, it is my job so I shouldn't complain.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Not So Far Away

The other day I was walking back from lunch with some of the other lieutenants when I spotted a smooth rock on the ground next to a large puddle of water. As I reached down to pick the rock up we were suddenly transported back to the states standing by the edge of a smooth lake skipping rocks. We watched as the rock hopped across the top of the water creating little ripples as it went, and with each ripple our thoughts went back to our family and friends back in the states. For a moment home didn’t seem so far away. The magic ended as the rock sank to the bottom and we were once again in Iraq, standing beside a puddle, heading back to work.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Past Week

Recently I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying, but haven't really felt in the mood to write. I still don't feel much like writing, but perhaps I will once I start going.

I had a day of rest on Sunday, which was wonderful. I slept in and then read in bed for a bit. On my way to the 10am Mass I stopped by the phones and called home. After Mass I quickly popped my head in the TOC to make sure everything was fine. I then met up with Christy and Dan and went to lunch which was followed by going to the Protestant Contemporary service. After the service I went back to my room, watched 24, and finally guilted myself into getting up and heading to the gym for a bit. The day was very relaxing and I'm really looking forward to my next day of rest.

I received two DVDs from Heidi last week:) So far I've made it halfway through Cheaper By The Dozen. This version of the movie is much more true to the book than the new movie with that name, but the book, in both cases, is still my favorite.

My bike arrived a few days ago and I had help assembling it yesterday. I've only ridden it once so far because we're supposed to be getting rain tonight and tomorrow.

The deployment hasn't cured my book addiction. I purchased four more books on Amazon.com today and should get them in a week or two. Finding a bookcase, or some way to make a makeshift bookcase, is becoming a neccessity. Although I've started a new book collection I haven't been reading nearly as much as usual because each night I choose between watching 24 and reading, and so far 24 has won out more often then not.

Not much else is new here. Every day is groundhogs day. I have trouble distinguishing past days from one another.

It looks like I may have my 2 weeks home in March, but I'm not sure. It'd be nice to be home for my Dad's birthday if that is the month I'm going home. However, I'd most likely miss the Founders Day celebration that I've heard some people are putting together.

Jordan should be here soon. Yay:) I may not be able to see her very often because we're in different battalions and work different shifts, but it'll still be nice to know that at least one of my good friends from school/obc is here. Perhaps it'll work out that we can go to Church together. It's too bad though that she wasn't able to get in the same brigade as her husband.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Opposite of Previous Post

Holy Fire, burn away my desire for anything that is that is not of You and is of me...

Over the past few days it's come to my attention in a few ways that I have certain areas of my future all planned out. They are good plans in which I am trying to love and serve God, but they are plans of my own making and not Gods. I've gotten so stuck on trying to fit my life and future into my plans that I may be closing my eyes to what God has for me. When I realized I was doing this I had to sit down and give everything back over to Him. I asked him to destroy my plans if they are not from Him. Destroy sounds a bit extreme, but Id rather have what God has for me than what I think I want for myself. Its hard to do though. I find myself falling back into thinking about how I want things to turn out instead of turning it over to God. Yes, its okay to have dreams, hopes, wishes, and plans, but not to the point where I am blinded to where God is leading me.

Strong Reaction

This aftenoon I walked to lunch with one of the NCOs that I work with. Along the way he mentioned that a docotor told him that he has a tumor or cyst in his neck and it is the cause of some physical aliments he's experianced. As he went on about it I suddenly wanted to run away from the conversation. He didn't mention cancer or hygdkins disease, but him combining the words tumor and neck was enough to bring back thoughts of my mom, sisters, and cousin and their dealings with tumors in their neck.

I don't understand my reaction. My mom and sisters all beat cancer, and and far as I know my cousin is doing well, so why does even the mention of a possible tumor in the neck, in a totally unrelated thing, bring about such a strong reaction in me? I think it's because I'm left to my imagination about a lot of things. I was far to young to remember my mom having cancer, and I was a plebe at West Point when Heidi had cancer, and then a Firstie when Betsy went through it, and now I'm off in the Army while Erick goes through it. All I saw was the physical change in appreance as well as significant decrease in energy level/appitite caused by the radiation/chemo. As much as I try and rememeber the good things that have come about, I can't get over the people I love the most having cancer and dealing having to deal with the effects of it. Plus, in the back of my mind I wonder if I'll be the next to find a lump in my neck. I'm not worried about it, but more sick of not knowing. Part of me is certain I'll never have it, but the other intel part of me is looking at the pattern analysis and the time frames of when everybody else was diagnosed. I don't hate many things in this world, but I hate cancer. Is that wrong?

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Title?

I'm still alive and well, but life has been a lot more hectic the past few days. Last week we worked out a day-off plan, and it's supposed to be approved 1 FEB, so I may be able to have a day off in the near future. It'll be nice to be able to sleep in, work out longer, and try once again to go to daily mass.

On Sunday I missed my usual Church serivice because I was doing last minute preperations for a briefing I had, but I was able to make it to the Protestant Contemporary Service. I really liked the service, praising God with other Christians, and the fellowship, although I definetly missed the sacrements. When the service ended I longed to stay there and pray, but had to get back to work. Later on after my shift ended I tried to go to evening Mass, but found that that is only on Saturday and not on Sunday. The past few days I've been reading the religious service schedule all wrong and showing up on the wrong days. I think next Sunday that I'll try and attend the PCS again, but also try and make it to Mass.

My roommate arrived yesterday. It turns out we had met before back at Hood and actually gone together to the range shortly before I deployed. Having a roommate now forces me to actually get up the first time my alarm goes off instead of pushing snooze a few times. We went to the gym together this morning and I lifted weights for the first time since crew season. Up until now I've just been doing cardio, abs, and push-ups. Truth be told, I was a bit nervous and intimidated started out again on the weights because standing next to me were guys lifting ten times as much. (slight exageration). It was a short weight work-out, but still felt good. Goodness, I'm turining into one of the guys and talking all about weight-lifting.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

OCF'ers

Last night I kept thinking about OCF and I really missed OCF at West Point. I met such amazing, God-fearing, people through OCF and learned and grew so much. One thing I really miss is the Christian fellowship.

This morning I finally had a chance to go to daily Mass at 11am, which is something I've been wanting to attend ever since I found out about it. When I got to the Chapel I found there wasn't anybody else there except the Chaplain and one other person up at the front of the Chapel preparing something. I assumed he was the Chaplain's assistant, but when I went up to him to ask if there was still the service today I realized that it was actually a guy named Rob who was an '04 grad, at least I think he was '04. He may have been '03. He lead the OCF praise and worship team while at West Point. Apparently he now leads the Protestant contemporary service on Sundays. Just seeing someone familar from West Point and OCF, especially someone who has such a heart for Christ, really brightened my day. I wanted to stay and talk to him, but since I hadn't really known him all that well and he looked a bit busy I didn't want to keep him from anything he was doing. We talked for a few minutes and I mentioned that Jordan was on her way out here because he knew her, although he was suprised to find out that she'd gotten married. I'm glad to know that there are people like Rob here. Charlsey is also here. She was another '04 grad who was really active in OCF at West Point. We were able to talk a bit in Kuwait, but I've only run into her occasionally in passing at the DFAC here in Iraq. I hope I run into more people like Rob and Charlsey and am able to spend more time with them.

Oh, and it turns out that on Saturdays there is no 1100 Mass. It's at 2000.

On a different note, the Test message from a couple days ago was actually me testing if a posting method actually worked. Not really that exciting, although recently I have felt a bit tested in patience and restraint.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Just Another Day

I was just looking at some posts from back in October. OBC seems like so long ago even thought it was only just a few months. I miss being able to bake and bringing in the baked goods for my class.

I don't know why, but I feel rather emotionally drained at the moment. Perhaps it is in part due to having to figure out how to start over with my analysis and going back to the old fashion map and pin method. I don't think that is the only reason, but I really am not sure what the other reason would be. Actually, now that I think about yet (yes, I'm thinking again which probably isn't that good of a thing). I've been doing more deep thinking about things in my life the past few days, and that is probably in part what is wearing me out.

One reason that I am drawn to Catholicism is because it is deeply rooted and it challenges me intellectually. Now I'm not the brightest light bulb in the room, but the more I learn about the theology the more it makes sense. Now I may not even be properly explaining what I'm trying to say, as I said, I'm not the brightest bulb, but my point is that a lot of stuff with Catholicism makes sense and I see more meaning in certain things than I did before. I certainly haven't gone indepth on my thoughts here, but that's the jist of my thoughts.

No Good, Very Bad Day

In elementary school I read a book called <i>The No Good, Very Bad Day,</i> or something akin to that title. Today was a day like that. It actually started started out okay with a light workout, but as the day progressed it went downhill. My morning prayer time was shorter than I would have liked. Well, I suppose it's that way every morning, but today it was even shorter than usual. I had small lull in work and so I pulled out the Catechism of the Catholic Church and started reading some more of it. The fact that I was reading was noticed and it was then determined that if I had enough time to read then my work load should increase. That was when my day really started to go downhill. When I went to check up on the incidents going on in the area of operations the program I use the most decided to erase all of my data and not let me load any new data. I tried installing it on another computer, and the same thing happened. When I tried unistalling it and then reinstall
ing it the program would not even open for me. I've emailed the creator of the program and am praying he is able to fix the problem, because otherwise I won't be able to do half as much analysis as quickly and effectively as I have been able to do so far. That was the big bummer of my day.

Hmm, windows media player keeps freezing on my and won't let me play my DVD. I've finished the second season of 24, but am waiting a few days before I start the third season.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Rachel, and today I got a card in the mail from Adam. Both things were very nice to get. The package Rachel sent me had chocolate-caramel brownies that she had baked (and they survived the trip without getting stale, although she wrapped them in serane wrap and then double bagged them), two pictures of me with some friends, a book, and fruit cups. It was a great package to get :)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

25 JAN

I walked to lunch with two of the people in the S2/S3 section, but in the DFAC I saw Christy and Shawna and ate with them instead. I despretly needed a break from being surrounded by guys. There are also times like today when I wish I wasn't the only girl working in the TOC. At times it's very obvious to me that I'm in the minority. I should be used to it by now after having been in the female minority for some time, but at times such as today it gets to me and I just need to get away for a bit.

I'm really looking forward to Jordan getting here. It will be really nice to actually have someone here that I didn't just meet in the past month and be able to discuss things related to God, life here, relationships, and other stuff. I really miss the conversations that I used to have both with Charlie and with Anne. I wonder if Charlie has started Ranger school yet. Anne sent me a Christmas present and I got a Christmas card in the mail from her mom. Her mom also offered to start looking for publishers for me. She is very interested in getting the Joe Bear stories published. That would be cool, but I don't think they are good enough for that. I'll let her look if she wants to though.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Internet:)

Whoohoo! I'm using internet in my room right now. I should be sleeping at the moment because I only got 2 or so hours last night, but I can't sleep at the moment.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

ON HIS PLAN FOR YOUR SPOUSE

ON HIS PLAN FOR YOUR SPOUSE

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone to have a deep soul relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly, and exclusively.

But God, to a Christian, says,

"No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled and content with being loved by me, with giving yourself totally and unreservedly to me, to having an intensely personal and unique relationship with me alone, discovering that only in me is your satisfaction to be found,
will you be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you.

You will never be suited with another until you are united with me exclusive of any other desires or longings. I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow me to give you the most thrilling plan existing, one that you cannot imagine. I want you to have the best. Please allow me to bring it to you. You just keep watching me, expecting the greatest things, keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am. Keep listening and learning the things I tell you. You just wait. That's all.

Don't be anxious.
Don't worry.
Don't look around at the things others have gotten or that I've given them.
Don't look at the things you think you want.
You just keep looking off and away up to me, or you'll miss what I want to show you.

And, when you're ready
I'll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any you would dream.
You see, until you are ready, (I am working even this moment to have both of you ready at the same time) until you are both satisfied exclusively with me
and the life I prepared for you, you won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with me, and is thus the perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love.
I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with me, and enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection, and love that I offer you.
Believe it and be satisfied."
Author Unknown

Just Another Day

Good news, it's a four day weekend....back in the states. Here it's work work work as usual. I average a 12.5 hour work day, not including PT. I'm slowly getting adjusted to what I am supposed to do. Usually I have long periods of sitting at a computer trying to look productive followed by frantic work on a requirement that just came up, such as getting intel on a convoy route and preparing to brief it.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters and packages. I haven't recieved any of them yet, but I'm told they are on their way and I'm looking forward to getting them. Jordan M. found out that she's in the same Brigade Combat Team as me, so she may end up deploying to the same camp. I really hope if she does deploy she does come here, although it's too bad that she isn't in the same BCT as her husband Zack.

I've become addicted to the show 24. Each night I usually end up watching an episode before bed. I bought the first episode before I got here, finished it up on the trip from Kuwait to Iraq, and bought the next two episodes here in Iraq at the PX.

The food here is pretty good, although it's already starting to seem like the DFAC serves the same meal every other day. I also think they try to figure out the least healthy way to prepare the food, such as frying everything.

Just said by one of the NCOs I work with, "Anybody find it ironicaly funny that there is bird flu in Turkey?"

Thursday, January 12, 2006

It's over.

I think I'm inept at relationships and going to remain single for the rest of my life.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Short Update

Time for a quick update. I decided not to get internet in my trailer room because I'd rather save the money. I did decide to buy a bike off someone leaving. Having a bike here makes life so much easier. The weather has been in the low 70s during the day nad the low 40s at night. So far it hasn't rained. The DFAC (where we eat) is amazing. There is also burger king, subway, cinabon, and a few other fast food places, as well as free baskin robbins in the DFAC.

Nick and I are at the same camp, but have only seen each other twice here in Iraq due to different schedules.

I'd write more, but my time is up on the computer.