Possible TShirts

found some fun shirts today.  I think im gonna order one or two and mail to blanco to be a nice surprise for me when i get home.

Beards, they grow on you
BeardVember 2009
Real men grow beards
Beard Types

First Day Off

I had my first day off this last wed.  slept in, went on base to get lunch and mail, my computer monitor finally came in and wasn't broke, which was nice, but something else on my computer broke.   It started raining while driving to the base, it stopped a minute later.  The next day it rained for another 2 minutes.  Thats like half the raining season here.  Went to church with greg and becca.  it was a nice service, small, but seemingly had a really close, family like feel.  I think im gonna enjoy being a part of it.

Game Night

last night i hung out with becca and greg, we had tacos (christina, i hope you've been practicing because becca made some great tortillas, you've got considerable competition), which were great, then played a game and talked for awhile.  overall a great night.

news on the mail front, or lack there of i should say, is that 3 of my boxes have yet to arrive.  while my recruiter was very helpful and very friendly, giving me the wrong zip code has caused a big headache.  this sucks mostly because one has my computer monitor. considering the state of the boxes i have received, im preparing to receive a broken monitor and looking for the best replacement monitor to get.  tomorrow is my first day off since being here, so im gonna get my phone, and maybe an aircard to get internet in my apt. 

yesterday i overslept 30 minutes and didn't make it outside to catch a ride to work until 5:30, my current alarm clock is a little speaker plugged into my ipod.  the volume is hardly loud enough to overcome the awesome power and peacefulness of my fan.  i fixed that problem yesterday by stopping by the PX (its the 'store' in the military, they have food, electronics, cloths, and other stuff, the bigger the base, the bigger the PX, the more stuff they have)  i looked for the cheapest ipod speaker setup (i have one of these at home, but i left it because i didn't want to worry about getting a power adapter for it)   the cheapest one turned out to be pretty nice.  2 built in alarm clocks, and aux input so i can plug my computer into it and dont have to worry about buying computer speakers now.  it also can handle 110V and 220V so i can bring it back to the states without issue.

Getting Lost: 101

It was recommended to me by a co-worker that the best way to learn how to navigate a new area was to just drive around and get lost.  You then try to find your way back.  I guess if you have all day and a full tank of gas, thats not a bad idea, but i dont recommend doing it with small back roads.  I pulled into a parking lot hoping to find a decent fan in a home furnishing store.  It was a 4 story place with a lot of good stuff but no fan.  Oh yea, did i mention parking spots aren't always marked? This block had a 50' by 30' plaza like bricked off area on the corner, if your car can make it on the curve, its fair parking.  I generally dont prefer one way streets, but sometimes you just get stuck in them.  After spending 5 minutes driving about 30 yards down one street, and 15 yards down another street,  i see a store with some electronics and a appliance like store next to it, and guess what, there was a spot open so i pull in.  No fan, but i did find a place to buy xbox 360 games for about $3, and a hacked xbox 360 for about $375.  I walked around the shops for a while and was reminded of vacations south of texas. you ever go to mexico and find a long alley with a bunch of little shops packed full of fake stuff?  it had that feeling. I finally find an electronics store with a fan so i try to head back.  After about 25 minutes of driving through horrible traffic spanning a few small one way streets, i find myself on a bigger road but have a very slim idea about where i am since the back roads turned a few times and didn't spit me out on the same road.  After about 15 minutes of driving down different streets, i see the persian gulf and know where i am.  Overall i was gone for an hour and a half, got a fan, found a few neat little shops so it was a good evening.  Big Guy, Mom, if you have any souvenir requests (shirt, coffee mug, shot glass, hookah, tea set,..) just let me know or there's no telling what you're gonna get. 

Got some Mail

So i got eleven of my boxes in today.  Based on the condition of most of them, im thankful most of my boxes have a lot of cloths in them, lots of good padding.  I will hopefully be putting my computer together tonight, but either way, i will be unpacking until i go to bed.  When I get my residency ID card, i will be able to get the internet at my place and will be able to post pictures.  Dont worry, im taking a bunch, but can't post any yet.   

interesting side note, if i watched TV for 4 hours a day, changing the channel every 30 minutes, it would take me 162 days to watch every channel i have access to at least once.   Granted, only like 10 of the 1300 channels i have available are in English,  there are still a lot of channels.  

CRC Day 4 & 5

CRC Day 4
Meet at 9am
....wait till 10am
take bus to med shed
....wait 4 hours
get processed, 30 minutes
...wait 1.5 hours
bus to CCTF, get another shot
....wait one hour
what a day.

CRC Day 5
Meet at 6am
Classes start at 6:30
lunch from 11-12, chicken pesto MRE (not as bad as it sounds, yet i still can only eat 5 bites, not that starving yet)
Classes from 12-6:30
buy a 6-pack of Killians Irish Red ($4.55, what a deal)
go to day room and watch the last 10 minutes of The Proposal hoping to stay or a few hours watching movies, drinking my beer, and snacking on chesse-its, but they put "Drag Me to Hell" on the TV, so no movie for the next 97 minutes.
hopefully something better will be on later.

CRC

its day 3 at CRC (dont ask me what it stands for, i've seen so many acronyms lately i cant keep track)


days 1 and 2 weren't terrible. there is a lot of waiting in lines for an hour or two, then doing one minute of something (sign something, try on something, get tested for something)


I've finish "The Peace Child" by Don Richardson, not a bod book, will post more when i dont have a 30 min comp limit


I started "A million miles in a thousand years" by Donald Miller and will post more on it when i have more time.


I turned 26 today, not a very eventful day, but i prefer it to the day i turned 22 or 23 (sometime in college) and found out i bombed a test i thought i did well on, and had 3 quizes.

With day three over, I'm going to get a 6pack of Killians Irish Red (for $4.55!!!) but dont worry, im only gonna drink a few of them.

Tomorrow is health check day where im pretty sure i have to get the 14 shot smallpox vaccination. Then i get my bullet proof vest, jacket, sleeping system and bags. Likely to finish reading a million miles in a thousand years and start another book. there is going to be a lot of waiting in lines.

i'll post more when i can.