Low for the day: 80 degrees

I always seem to stumble on words as soon as I am about to write. During the week I always think of things that I want to talk about, but then when I get to the computer I forget everything.

I wish that I could say that I have had a time to relax and possibly get a day off but things haven't changed. We are stretched so thin on people that our same group of people go to work everyday together and as you can imagine tensions begin to run high. Being in a leadership postition is not all that it's cracked up to be.

The only saving grace about my job is the personal interaction that I have had with the local people here. It is my fortune that I can stop and talk and even share tea with the people that have called this area home for generations (yes they drink chai here even when it's 113 degrees!) Of course I must talk through an interpreter but the rapport that I now have with the interpreters allow me hold a conversation that doesn't lay idle. Of course there are always the people that don't want to talk to you, but I haven't encountered many of them.

Ok, so I know that I promised to give a little insight into what it is that I am actually doing here and I will . . . eventually. I will put up some pictures that I hope will at least provide a different view of the landscape other than my whining about the sand.

Next goal: get new pictures up for everyone to see.

Nick

P.S.- Haven't had ice cream since last Sunday.

What flavor would you like sir?

It is the question that I am asked when I begin to approach what some would call a guilty pleasure, "What flavor would you like sir?". It was a bad idea first when they decided to have a ice cream bar everyday at every meal here and second when they allowed me to see it. The man behind the counter patiently waits for my sometimes catious reponse as I think about and weigh the important decision. One scoop or two? Chocolate or Cookies and Cream? Both? This past week I decided to cut down my ice cream intake to once a week, down from the maybe three or four that times a week I have been doing. I checked my body fat percentage and I registered 13.5%. Not too bad, but I think I can get it down to ten but only if I start to limit my intake on the "good bads" (an oxymoron that I think I just made up, hence the "quotes").

As some of you may be able to tell, my mood is up slightly from the last few posts. I finally had a day off the other day and so I feel slightly refreshed although I don't know when the next day off will be. I am working the same hours and the same job but I don't know for how long it will last. Things are always changing.

Say for instance my two weeks leave plan. The person that was planning on going on two weeks leave to Europe with me has decided that he is going to go home. Some people just want to go home and see their families and their families want to see them. Although I know my family would love for me to come home for leave I decided from the begining that I wanted to spend mine in Europe. I have always loved traveling and the deployment gave me the perfect opportunity. The Army is already sending me there so all I have to do is get out of the plane and start traveling the countryside. But now I must find people to go with or I am not quite sure I will travel it alone. If anyone is interested in coming to Europe for a week or two, drop me a note.

I did some interesting things the other day, but I will wait for another day to tell everyone. I enjoy being secretive and all but I would much rather be able to tell you all what it is that I am actually doing over here. I'll share a little bit next post.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Nick

P.S.- I didn't check my grammar or spelling this time and I don't care! Hah, I am so bold.

Did you get that memo about the TPS reports?

Dom: Hello, Peter. What's happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports.
Peter: Yeah. The coversheet. I know, I know. Uh, Bill talked to me about it.
Dom: Yeah. Uh, did you get that memo?
Peter: Yeah. I got the memo. And I understand the policy. The problem is, I just forgot this one time. And I've already taken care of it so it's not even a problem anymore.
Dom: Yeah. It's just that we're putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports before they go out now. So if you could just remember to do that from now on, that'd be great. All right!

This quote, coming from the1999 classic pop. cult. movie Office Space, seems to really emphasize what some of my days are like. You know the kind. When you go to work and somebody says so and so is looking for you and it's usually somebody above you. Then you talk to your boss and they point out something you did wrong and how to remedy it but of course you already know what to do but you say "yes sir" or "right away sir". As you walk away to get to work someone else above you pulls you aside and repeats everything your boss just told you. Then co-workers start hearing the buzz and they ask you about it and by this time all you want to do is pull the words out of the dictionary and never hear them again. This happened to me today which isn't all together surprising because we know that people love to talk about other people and their business. Anyone who has seen the above movie knows completely what I am getting at. If you haven't seen the movie, where have you been?

Let's see what else? My blog has seen over 6,000 visits since I started writing last September. Blogging is of course a journal for me, It's like leaving your diary on a bus stop for any stranger passing by to read. My original intention was to make this a virtual bulletin board so that people at home could know that I am still alive and well. Now I find that I am writing this for myself and I look forward to the next time I can put up a post. Anyways, I really appreciate all the comments that I have been recieving because it makes writing so much better when you know that people are still there to read what you put up.

Ahhhhh......funny. Anyone who has been in the military knows about the concept about the Armed Forces Network right? They have a few channels on the television at the chow hall or the internet cafe here that show things like sports, movies, and news. The real joy of watching comes when they take out all the commercials and put in their own messages i.e. , safety messages, recruting messages, and altogther comical skits. The other day however, I actually saw a real advertisement that they missed and it was just one of those things that makes you rememeber what life is really like. It would be much the equivalent if I were to walk outside and find a patch of grass outside the door of my living container here in the desert. (I am laughing out loud right now and people always look at me funny but I don't care). I also just realized that it was like being an Orwellian novel where the people don't know the truth about the "real world" or something.

Working on those coversheets,
Nick

Food for thought: Are you one of those people who reread your writings and check grammar and spelling even on something as informal as this? I guess I am, but I always miss something.

Has anyone seen my sanity laying around anywhere?

Hello everyone.

Lack of motivation is setting in and I find it difficult to even think about what I will write today. The hours are still long and the temperatures have nowhere to go but up. Even eating food is a chore because of my body and mind's sole interest in taking in fluid to replace what I have lost. In other words I am eating less, sleeping less, and drinking more water. Oh well, you aren't here to have a life, you are here to work. End of discussion.

If I haven't already said earlier I have moved into the permanent housing for the duration of this tour. They look like trailer homes save for the fact that they have three rooms with two individuals in each. They are they best we have had since we started this deployment last fall yet they are smaller than my first dormroom in freshman year. You would not believe the difference a real bed makes! After sleeping on cots for the past whatever time, a bed with a matress is the highlight of one's day.

I miss home. I really don' t think about it a whole lot during the day but I just wrote a letter to my Father and I realized just how much I miss being in Minnesota and having a life. I miss the seasons and I miss the miserable winters and humid summers. I miss the stress of having to prepare for finals week at Gustavus which is what all my fellow Gusties are doing right now. I miss seing my friends and family and the time I had to do whatever I felt like. I miss driving down the road without a care in the world because I knew that nobody wanted to harm me.

I am very adapt to stress. I have dealt with it all my life and I have shouldered most of it on my own. The stress that people encounter here is a very different stress from the kind that they felt at home, even I feel myself losing grip and I wonder if I will get up the next day to go to work. Of course I do get up, and of course I go to work, and when the job is done I go to sleep so that I can do it again the next day. That really is the life of a soldier.

I wish my best to everybody at home,
Nick

On the brighter side of things!

CONGRATULATIONS, IT'S A BOY: Congratulate Dan and Angela on the new member to their family: Ryan Willard born on the 9th of May in Detroit Lakes with all eyes, ears and fingers (as far as I know). Congratulations you two!

The Weekend Update. . ."Give me. . .[air conditioning] or give me death!"

Have you ever. . . . Been so hot that you thought you had died and gone to hell? If hell is as hot as it is when I put my battle gear on an go out at the peak of the desert heat then it is my only goal in life to go to heaven.

The power went out in the tent this morning. Luckily I was just getting up but some people were still asleep, well not for long because without A/C you can't survive. I had to go out again today and I think the temperature hit 109 degrees. Add the fact that I had all of my body armor on, I was packed into a humvee with and engine that stuggles to stay cool, and the beautiful sun was out and shining, and you can imagine the destruction to a man of European heritage such as myself. I urinated twice today. For informational purposes, I drink two Gatorades at every meal and two to four liters of water between meals. Where does the water go? Yeah, I stink. Forget about clean uniforms, I have given up. My whole top uniform is sopping wet to the point of being wrung out for salt water after every outing. But enough about this, you have heard enough.

We got released slightly earlier today which was much needed as our crews are starting to get worn out, tired, and cranky which is the last thing a leader wants when they need something from them. Supposedly we get to move into our "cans"tomorrow, which of course I found out randomly from people when I got off shift (doesn't matter, I will be at work of course). There could be a nuclear explosion in our tent area and I wouldn't know because I am never around nor do I see all the other people running missions.

I really enjoyed the responses on my last post. Who knew random thoughts could stir up such a public response.

I wish I learned Arabic before I came to Iraq. The fortunate thing for me is that I can have a translator with me all day and I ask him how to say certain formalities to talk to the locals. The second word I wanted to know after 'hello' was 'hot'. I have some key phrases down but that lasts a whole minute and then they invariably think I know Arabic. I will get better and by the end of this thing I had better be able to hold an informal conversation! I must go, the Gym awaits. Yeah, it's 1:22 am but at least nobody is in there to judge me right?

Still wishing I could tell you more,
Nick

A Late Night Scribble

It's 2:30 in the morning. My legs trembled feeling like rubber as Sean and I walked from the gymnasium to the chow hall, tripping over rocks and dragging through the sand and mud. We made it to the midnight chow at 1:39, nine minutes late. Much to our dismay they actually closed at 1:00 am and so we couldn't even get a banana. So we sauntered to the internet cafe because I demanded that Sean call home for the first time since we have been in Iraq. We casually laugh at the thought that we are preparing for "beach season" as we work out after work every day.

It has been over a month now since I have been overseas. The time is actually going by fast now and I couldn't even tell you what month it is, or year for that matter. Time is really awkward here. The lights are almost always out in our tent because everyone is working and sleeping at different hours. As you can tell I am working whenever I have to and so my hours seem to keep changing, Semper Gumby I guess.

So recent thoughts going through my head include:

1. "What in the am I going to do when I get home?"
2. "Are my arms bigger? They look bigger."
3. "Am I becoming more neurotic with every day that passes?"
4. "How did I get here in my life?"
5. "Seriously, I think I have at least a five pack now, just can't get that last one."
6. "I miss chemistry. I think I will draw out the molecular structure of 1,1,1,2-tetraflouroethane" And I did. It was the propellant in some compressed air I found.

Valete mi amici! Is that right? Anyone?
Nick

The Weekend Update (updated)

Ok, so it has been a while since I last posted which can only mean on thing. . . .I have started working on our mission.

The days have been long with little time off, basically twelve hours a day with no days off. The only reason I can't work today is because some of our equipment is broken and so we are wating on parts to arrive. We run the mission by ourselves now so we are in control and on our own.

Th 'E' button on this kyboard is annoyingly stuck so I am trying to avoid words with that lttr.

I have some good pictures to put up but I don't have time so I will do it later. Sorry about the short post I will update when I can, maybe I will leave an audio post or something.

Nick

UPDATE!!!!!!!

This is what our tents look like during a small sandstorm in the middle of the day.

This is a picture of a boy with medical problems that we looked at on a mission the other day.

That is all for now, have a great week!