A Nice Quiet Sunday

Not much happening today. No game last night but I did spend 3 hours at the hospital. Derrick wasn't feeling well. He's had pericarditis before and thought he was having a relapse. So, off to the hospital we went.  He's ok now.

Hopefully there'll be a game tonight, I'm bored.

I've spent the last 2 days configuring and reconfiguring two new laptops. They are for Tab and Mike and the factory install comes with a bunch of crap they don't need. So, I'm tweeking them. That's about it for today.

Mark 1:22

Holy Straight Flush, Batman!

Oh man!! Can you say, "Unbeatable Hand?"

I've got the 9, 10 of Diamonds in the pocket. On the flop comes the J, Q and K of Diamonds. I have the unbeatable hand. I'm just praying that someone flopped the nut Flush and a high two pair. They did. I'm trying not to pee all over myself and I can feel myself blushing so I just put my head down and call the bets. "M" has the nut flush, "G" gets the Q's over K's Full House on the Turn. Chad had pocket A's, and I am in perfect positon, betting behind all of them. So, the river comes up, big bet from "M", raise from "G" and I go, "All in." Two calls. The rest is history. I spanked  a little behind.

I rule.

Proverbs 27:17

"Move it on over and gimmee a slice..."

Not poker game tonight so, I've been relegated to my CHU and ST: Voyager. Not that it's all bad but I'd rather play for a few hours before being trapped in my CHU until Noon or so tomorrow.

I'm trying to lap myself. We'll see how it goes. I went to sleep today around Noon and got up at 1600hrs, been up since. Hopefully I can get myself back on track... Just in time to go home on R&R and get all screwed up again. Nice, huh?

We must have had a large flock of birds fly over about an hour ago. The "Incoming" alarm sounded but there were no booms. Nothing, just the cool night air. It's down to about 64 degrees and there are no clouds to be found. It's a nice, quiet Mosul night.

So, here I sit... Fake beer in one hand and my keyboard in the other (figuratively speaking) and jamming some Clutch, at the moment. It's about time to start the next episode of Voyager.

Luke 17:10

Other peoples kids...

I just finished a conversation with Chad. We were talking baseball. Keep in mind he's 23. He didn't know who Johnny Bench was. Freakin' kids...

Had Chicken Stir-Fry for chow tonight. It's not sitting well. I may be excusing myself from the poker game tonight, more than once.

The days and nights are running together for me right now. It's bad when you wake up and don't know what day it is... Everyday!

49 days, 49 days 49 days... etc...

Mark 6:46

Another day, another dollar

Today was like any other day. The most exciting part of the day was getting my hair cut... and I almost fell asleep in the chair.

The PX got more food in and so I picked up some stuff there. Then it was over to the laundry point to pick up my things. All was well at the TOC and so I returned to my hooch. About an hour or so later, a poker game started. Go figure.

I've been watching Voyager while waiting for the blog to pop up so I could update it. It only took three episodes. Stupid internet.

I know that some of you have been watching the news and have heard some things about Mosul. Yes, insurgent activity here is more prevalent than most of the rest of Iraq but, the media always paints a worse picture. As far as we (the folks on the FOB) are concerned it's pretty much status quo. Our boys and girls outside the wire are a little busier so pray for them. We "Fobbits" are ok here at the Shire.

Proverbs 27:6

"Mama always said, 'You better come home'..."

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Especially the mother of my two boys and the one that brought me into this world.

Proverbs 18:22

Psalm 139:13

 

"If too shallow then dig it more deep, if too narrow then dig it more wide..."

Leave it to the "Chow" Hall...

Ok, so we finally get real eggs. Real ones, not that fake powdered crap. And what does our lovely chow hall do? They overcook them to the point that they look, feel and taste like rubber. Figures...

I haven't gone to sleep yet but I'm considering doing so soon. It's 1025hrs over here now and I've got to cook around 1600hrs. So, I may try and knock out a few hours in the rack, we'll see how that goes.

Have I mentioned that our internet sucks lately? No? Well guess what... It does. The other company was supposed to hook us up last week but now it's gonna take at least another month. Figures...

The weather is the only bright spot. Warm, mild days and very cool nights. It actually got down to 57 degrees the other night with a nice breeze. I'm sure we'll all be hating life though soon enough. June is around the corner and July and August are fast approaching as well.

And now I'll leave yall with some words from "Mr. Floyd":

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the American way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say..."

 

Numbers 20:10

"Most regular people would say, it's hard..."

Yet another Saturday, gone.

I took Justin to the PAX this fine Mosul morning and will pick him up in about a week (providing that the weather holds).

Chad and I had supper at the chow hall this evening around 1800hrs. Burger, chicken nuggets w/hot sauce and cheese fries. Nom,nom,nom...

The PX actually had some food today so, I went "grocery shopping." Got some burgers, which I plan to grill tomorrow/later today (depending on your time zone).

I'm up to the middle of Season 3 of ST: Voyager.

Exodus 33:15

Addendums II and III

Addendum III

"The" Chad was the main man tonight. He finally took an old man's advice and it worked out well for him. Finally. Now if Derrick and T would just listen...

The Dude is taking a field trip in the AM and I'll be carrying his sorry carcass over to the PAX at 0800hrs. No sleep for me.
All else is status quo.

1 Corinthians 10:24  -  Think about this one. If you need help, ask.

Addendum II 

Go back to the main page and click on "OIF Pics."

"Cradled in ivy, we will allow, the moss to prosper upon our brows."
Nice day today (so far). We're expecting a thunderstorm at some point, peachy. Cool breeze and it's in the high 80's (so far).

Poker last night was... Early. We started early and finished early. Dude walked away with the lion's share of the chips last night. It's amazing what he can do when he doesn't get all pissy and just plays a level-headed game. Yeah, I said it, sucka (he reads this too, in case yall didn't know).

OH!!! And get THIS!! Dude has never been bowling. N-E-V-E-R. B-E-E-N. B-O-W-L-I-N-G. Holee crap!! There is something so wrong with that...

John 5:19-20

Mittwoch

We've been under "blackout" for a while; we lost another soldier. Please pray for him and his family.

Well the skies finally cleared and the wind has settled down. It was a nice last two days. Mild temps and blue skies. It's been in the low 60's at night here, very nice.

Poker is as poker does. We took a break last night but played tonight. After two previous "off-nights", Daddy is back on top. Either way, I have fun and that's what it's all about. I'd rather have a bad night of poker instead of a "good" night stuck in my hooch, ya know?

The only thing out of the norm today was that my "little brother" Matt asked me to mail a big-@$$ package for him (he was unable to make it to the post office because of a scheduled flight). That was about as exciting as it got today.

Deuteronomy 1:21

Yesterday and Today
My Great-Aunt Wanda passed away yesterday, the 5th of May. She was a sweetheart of a woman and I spent as much time with her growing up as I did my own Grandmother. Of course when your Great-Uncle and Great-Aunt live right across the street from your grandparents that makes it pretty easy. Their grandkids (my cousins) Lisa and Lori were the same age as Rachel and I and MawMaw & Aunt Wanda would take the four of us to the movies and the playground pretty regularly. God bless and keep her. John 14:1-4


Today is PawPaw's 82nd birthday so, Happy Birthday PawPaw. Providing I have internet tomorrow/today, I'll give you a call.

More wind and sand today. Flights are being cancelled left and right. Visibility is crap. You can stare right at the sun and not worry, that's how much dust/sand is in the air. It's like God took a giant bottle of brown baby powder and just dumped it into the wind.

Exodus 5:21

One year ago today...

I was in Fairbanks, Alaska and decided to start a blog. Here it is a year later and I'm in Iraq. Man! Time flies when you're having fun. Seriously, it doesn't seem like it's been a year or even that I've been away from Houston now for 3 years. Weird. And speaking of Houston... 

Shout outs to the following folks; Darlene (thanks for the advertising) and the rest of my Bayshore Brethren.

Today has been uneventful. I got approval from my S6 to take leave from the 1st through the 15th of July. Once I get final approval from my boss at Ft Hood, I'll be counting down the days. It's 58 from today (not that I have started counting already).

Feliz Cinco de Mayo to all of my Hispanic friends (that means you too, Lopez).

Well, I better post this before the internet takes a vacation again... Laters.

Exodus 3:14

 

Sunday Afternoon

Getting ready to grill up some bratwurst and drink cold, fake beer. Only in Iraq...

The internet has been especially screwed up these past few days, hence no updated blog. Well after an hour I finally got logged in so, here you are.

Poker. Sandstorm. High Winds. Poker. Empty PX. Poker. 60's at night. Poker. 100's during the day. Poker.

There's your three day update.

Exodus 19:4

TWICE!!

You ain't gonna believe this... Derrick pulled another... ANOTHER Straight Flush tonight. 4-8 of Hearts. That's three total in less than a week. The odds are, for lack of a better word, astronomical. He got his name on the board twice.

That was as exciting as it got tonight. I couldn't get a decent pocket to save my life and when I did finally get pocket Mop-Squeezers, nothing came up to help them out. Ah well...

Tomorrow (technically today) should be thrilling. We're cleaning the "Poker CHU." It needs it. We're gonna pull everything out, sweep, mop and rearrange.

I'm going to attempt to go to bed soon. Key word = "attempt."

John 17:12

Yesterday and Today

Below is what my post would have read last night if, right during the middle of the post, we had not gone into "blackout." We lost a soldier yesterday; please pray for him and his family.

Original Post Title: Home on the Range

Weapons Range, that is.

Justin and I squeezed into our body armor this morning and took off down to the range. My "little brother" was running a small arms range for the S6 section. I took plenty of pictures and video and was going to get to shoot as well but, the CO showed up and nixed that. I understand his reasoning and he's a by-the-book type guy so, it was cool. I just shot some more pictures instead of bullets.

Gonna watch ST:Voyager tonight and go to sleep early, I think (hope). I'm tired.

Colossians 1:24

This would have been the Addendum:

So, much for a quiet night of Voyager and an early bedtime. Three guesses as to what happened and the first two don't count.

Congratulations to Derrick. On the board sits a 4, 5, 7 and 8 of diamonds along with I think a club or something. Justin has the "nut flush" with the Ace, Chad has the next high one with the King, or so they thought. Justin goes "all-in" (which to his credit is the right call when there's that many chips already in the pot and you know you've got the highest flush. Chad calls the "all-in" with the King, thinking Justin had something smaller. Derrick (who is trying to stop shaking) calls the "all-in" as well. Justin turns the Ace, Chad turns the King and Derrick turns the 6. The 6 of Diamonds. Straight Flush. Two of them in the past 3 days. Awesome.

Here's today's report:

"Blackout" was lifted about an hour ago. Not much happening today. PFC's Moser and Trekkle are being promoted to SPC so, I'll probably head over there and take some pictures at the ceremony. Other than that, I REALLY HOPE I GET TO JUST WATCH VOYAGER TONIGHT...

John 13:14

If you're scratching your head over that one, it simply means, we are to treat our friends, not as they treat us, but as Christ loves us. Think about it.

 

Wow...

No poker game.

I hung out with Chad tonight and we watched The Departed. Ho.Lee. Crap. This is a dang good movie. Did you like The Godfather? Yes? Then you'll like The Departed. Especially if you have an ounce of Irish blood in you (I happen to have 2). Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Alec Baldwin. Granted, I'm not a big fan of the last two mentioned but, the movie rocked.

Just woke up from my midnight nap and here I sit. Eating a sammich and chips and drinking a frosty fake beer. Gotta love it.

I distributed a bunch of Free Texas books today. The Regimental Commander and CSM, their secretaries, 1SG Brown and my brother, SSG Blakemore all got their signed copies today. The CDR and CSM were outside the wire today so I don't know what they thought. But the secretaries loved it and so did SSG Blakemore and 1SG Brown.

Colossians 1:28

Addendum to Monday...

Can't a guy just sit in his room and jam some PE without someone showing up, banging on his door and asking for a poker game? Not in Mosul, obviously. 

Foxy and I spanked that behind.

With 2 exceptions (no names... to protect the shamed), everyone did well. Jacob and Justin have hit their stride and are doing well too. Of course Jacob was only paying 1/2 attention tonight as he folded 2 Straights and a Full House... ON THE BOARD!!! Geez...

Here's a picture of our busted up tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 30:21

It's Always Monday, in Iraq...

This is especially true on actual Mondays. Not much to report today other than the storm that blew through last night blew through HARD.

One of our trees was blown over last night and barely missed Jacob's truck. That would have been a tough one to try and write in a report. It also blew over our wireless link to our innarweb people so, at 0430hrs I was on the roof of our "office" building trying to manually realign the transceiver. After a few minutes of fiddling with the alignment I finally got a blinking link light and locked it in place. About a minute later I got the solid link light and decended from the roof. The internet was still patchy but it was now due to the fact that the main station, about 1km away, was having issues because of the same storm.

So, here I sit, jamming to some old school PE...

 

 

 "Fight the Power!"

 

John 10:9

Dust Storm From Hell

The skies are a nice brown today. Lovely.

I was gonna write more but a poker game just broke out. Gotta run...

 John 14:6