Sand Storms and Scorpions

Observances for the New Year

2008-01-07T20:30:00.000+03:00

Halloween

We have made this an evening of Trick or Treat where children dress up as creatures of myth and fantasy, Vampires and Princesses, Zombies and Swashbucklers, and run from door to door throughout their neighborhoods gathering candy and sweets from everyone who participates. It is an evening where people dress in costumes and go out to parties to show off their outfits to everyone willing to look. Two decades ago, when I was a teenager, the normal costumes at the time were things like Zombies and Witches. My friends and I would dress as the walking dead and try to make ourselves appear as damaged as possible by adding in gashes and fake blood. The teenage girls would dress in black satin dresses and wear tall black pointy hats, or put on some ballerina or princess gown or the like. Now I see costumes in stores and magazines that are for teenage girls, and these have less material to them than most skimpy lingerie. Parents are allowing their young daughters to go outside dressed in the barest of costumes, showing the maximum amount of skin, and they don’t even bat an eyelash. This is no longer a Holiday (Holy Day), this day has reverted back to its pagan customs and rituals. The original holiday for Halloween was called “All Hallows Eve” which had rituals steeped in dark magic, because according to legends, that day is a nexus of power. Rituals included human sacrifices, animal sacrifices and sexual rituals which I will not go into here. Many decades ago the name All Hallows Eve was bastardized through the English language and the people who never truly learn to speak it properly into Hallow e’en, and then further into Halloween which we currently use today. As a Christian, I find the “Holiday” Halloween reprehensible. It is a return to Sodom and Gammora at the most basic of levels. It is an “acceptable” thing for women to publicly wear the skimpiest of outfits, and for our children to act on their greed for candy.

Thanksgiving

When we look at the first thanksgiving, we see how truly detestable this so called holiday is. The Pilgrims who had come to the shores of America to escape religious persecution in Europe essentially persecuted the native Americans who were already living off the land for their different religious beliefs. If not for the native Americans, the original settlers would have starved to death because they did not know how to live off the lands. Most of the crops that the pilgrims planted failed due to the different soil types and different climates that the crops were used to growing in, and if not for the natives giving most of the food to the settlers during that first winter, we would not be here as we are today. Since that time, the Native Americans have been pushed from location to location, and were attacked on sight for the most part because of their “savage ways”. This day that we celebrate as our day for giving thanks for this new and bountiful land essentially preceeded an extermination of many different peoples. I will not give thanks for the death this day had caused throughout the history of the Americas.

Christmas

This holiday is basically good at the heart of it, but there is where the goodness ends. This day is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior and Messiah of the Christian faiths. Jesus was born in the summer. How is it then that we celebrate his birth in the winter? Hundreds of years ago, in her many efforts to enfold pagan religions under her cloak, the Catholic Church made a concession to the pagan worshipers of one of the druidic religions of northern Europe. The Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year was remade into a Christian holiday. This day is the day to which the Pope changed the birth of Christ. This was done to appease people who did not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, but who believed in the power of the sun and moon, and who believed in the worship of Gaea, or Mother Earth. This is not the only reason this holiday is corrupt and has no true religious significance, not by a long shot. The worst part about this holiday is the capitalization of it. Jesus taught peace and harmony. Jesus taught love and compassion. This holiday teaches greed and self-gratification. This holiday teaches that we should go out and buy presents and gifts for everyone. The giving of gifts isn’t a bad thing, but when we start teaching our children to say “I Want” we then start to let that slip into “Gimme”, and there starts the greed.

These three Holidays teach some of the worst things to our children, and we as a society don’t see it because we have had blinders put on us by the corporations who profit from them. These Holidays are about profit margins and overhead costs, not about God. We should seek in ourselves to attain a spiritual relationship with God and with Jesus, and in so doing we will start to grow in our ability to relate to those we love. We will no longer need a Holiday to give to those we care about, we will give to them because it is good and it is right. We will be able to teach our children the value of what they have, and we will be able to teach them that it is not about us, but about God. I have seen some very wealthy people, and for all their possessions and money, they were miserable. I have also seen some of the poorest people on earth, and even though they make less than $20 US each day, they are happy because of the love they have in their families and friends. All of us have greatness locked away within ourselves, we only need the key to unlock it, and God is that key.

Faith will make us strong.
Strength will let us persevere.
Perseverance will let us accomplish our goals.

~Ralek Talen (7 January 2008)

Remembrance Day....

2007-11-12T03:06:00.000+03:00

November in Canada:

November is poppy month, the time of the year when by the wearing of a simple emblem, a red poppy, we salute the memory of those who sacrificed their health, their strength, even their lives, that we might live in a free country.

Long known as the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) because it flourishes as a weed in grain fields, the Flanders poppy as it is now usually called, grew profusely in the trenches and craters of the war zone. Artillery shells and shrapnel stirred up the earth and exposed the seeds to the light they needed to germinate.

Today the poppy is worn on Remembrance Day, the 11th of November. At 11 o’clock on that day, everyone is asked to be silent for just one minute. The silence is a chance to remember all those who have died in wars and to be glad that we are not at war today.

11th November 1919 The First Two Minute Silence in London:

The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect.

The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition.

Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all.

Let us Pray:

- We remember Lord, we remember: we remember ships tossed in the air by explosions, we remember men, our friends, falling beside us.... we remember telegrams coming to the doors of our neighbours, husbands taken from our arms never to return; sons whom we feared for every day. We remember a lot, we remember....

- Loving Father - help us in our memories - ease us in the pain of them, without causing us to forget.

- Lord God - we remember the costs, remind us too of the victory - of what was won by our comrades and by fellow countrymen;

- And finally Lord God - be with all those who are facing war this day - our men and woman at sea and on land and in the air in the mid-east; and be with the rulers of this world and all the world's citizens, that we may learn and live the way of peace with justice, we ask it Jesus' name - AMEN

The Red Flanders Poppy:

The red Flanders’ poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918), who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical Officer with the first Canadian Contingent.

At the second battle of Ypres in 1915, when in charge of a small first-aid post, he wrote in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders field the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

~~By Major John McCrae, May 1915.~~

For someone very special

2007-10-02T18:27:00.000+03:00

Here I am, floating in this arid dustbowl, doing my duty and biding my time until I can return home to the ones I love, and all of a sudden it strikes me that today is a very special day.

I begin to reminisce about the recent events of the past week.

Walking to work every day I hear the faint rat-a-tat of rifle fire off in the distance, as patrols going out test fire their weapons.

At some randomly predetermined time in each day, there are always a series of loud deep percussive BOOM's as the EOD guys blow up some explosives that they found.

Bright sunlight burning down on the scorched earth evaporates my sweat even before it can trickle down my back.

The ever-present weight of my rifle pulling on my shoulder muscles as I move around whichever compound I am currently working in.

The never-ending stream of "How do I..." questions that I get every day from one person or another.

Amidst all of these ever-present weights and burdens, I have a moment of complete understanding and all the weight lifts from my shoulders and my mind.

Everything comes to crystal clarity as I remember one of the most important things that has ever happened to me.

Several years ago, I was blessed with something wonderful, and it happened on this very day.

October 2nd has a meaning above most everything else.

This is the day that I was blessed with my first born child.

Today is the birthday of my Daughter.

Happy Birthday!

2007-09-26T09:18:00.000+04:00

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace"

I Corinthians 14:33

We Are

2007-09-24T18:08:00.001+04:00

Why is it that a civilian who pretty much sits in an office and processes data here in Iraq makes 4-10 times as much as a Uniformed Soldier who risks his or her life every day to go out on patrols?

How is it that someone who is not subject to Military Jurisdiction has more say in military proceedures than someone who mans a guard tower and has to watch for insurgents out in the surrounding cityscape?

How is it that someone can make policy, and then not be subject to it?

Why do the people who take the most risks get paid the least? Get the least benefit? Get the worst jobs? Get no say in their own lives?

When did we incorporate the U.S. Military?

Will someone PLEASE start a petition to get the civilians OUT of the military's pockets?

If someone has a say in the way something works, then isn't it customary for that person to also be effected by the same things that they are putting in place?

The Clinton Administration cut back the military from an effective fighting force because it wanted to cut military costs. Well, to be honest it failed miserably. The Army went from using Specialists and Leiutenants (Average pay of $2500 per month) to using an equal number of civilian employees do do the same jobs (average pay of $3500 per month).

The Army started using civilian contractors to do the testing and maintenance of newer weapon systems and communications who not only draw their salary from the government, but they also get a Maintenance contract which ends up costing the government an even more exorbitant amount of money.

How does this save the government money?

Because the military was cut back in personnel so much, the U.S. Government was then forced to resort to using companies like BlackWater to provide personal security for the diplomats and government personnel who were required to travel to hostile locations. BlackWater charges an absolute FORTUNE for a single crew, and they have Dozens of these crews currently in theater.

Now if you look at the news stories of the past few days, you will notice that BlackWater is currently under investigation by some agency because of claims of excessive force and unjustified killings. The Military is then burdened with the reputation that these contract thugs then leave in their wake.

I don't understand how the people can stand for this injustice and the outright lies that are being told about government cost-cutting. Oh, yeah, that's because they don't know about it. Every president we have had in the past 20 years has just helped to run this country into the ground.

Gone are the days of "American Made."

Gone are the days of Patriotism for the sake of Patriotism.

Gone are the days when the military was granted a homecoming parade through New York or San Diego or Chicago.

Now we get scorn and spite flung at us at every turn.

WE are the ones who feel the hatred of the nation when it should be directed at the government.

WE are the ones who feel the sting of the slap that should be swung at congress.

WE are the ones who struggle to keep our home free and safe.

WE are the ones who fight for ALL people to be free.

WE are the ones who think about our families back home before going into the Valley of Death.

WE are the ones who feel the pain of loss, but we are not given the time to grieve.

WE are the ones who suffer and die.

WE are the ones who bleed RED, WHITE and BLUE.

We are the Soldiers.

I Hate Politics

2007-09-20T08:47:00.000+04:00

I sit down this morning to read the world news on Reuters, Ananova and The Register, and What to my wondering does appear, but some article talking about how the Republicans blocked something that would benefit Military Morale.

Huh?

Throughout the 20th century the Republican party has been instrumental in giving the U.S. Military what it rightly deserves. Pay increases which are behind by approximately 50 years, benefit adjustments which have been desperately needed, housing benefits which allow married military members to live in decent quarters instead of some back-alley projects.

Usually it is the Democrats who attempt to put a stop to the betterment of the U.S. Military. Liberals are generally a "peace-loving passive bunch of hippies", which have a tendency to press poor views of the Military on the voting population. We uniformed servants of freedom and justice get labled as "baby-killers", "warmongers", "rapists", "oppressors" and many other "liberal honorifics". I have no love for Democrats because of the way that Bill Clinton made the White House seem like some kind of Day-Time Soap Opera gone bad.

Since George W. Bush became President (HUGE mistake...the White House is not a Family business) I have been getting the same opinion of the Bush administration as I had of the Clinton Administration. Here is a man who appears to be using the presidency for his own gains, and it truly irritates me. His decisions are putting more american lives in jeopardy, yet there is no real plan of action for the "search for bin-Laden" or the return of Iraq to her own elected government.

Now, with all the deployments and re-deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Active Duty soldiers are spending more time with "boots on ground" than they are back home in the arms of their loved ones. The Senate Democrats placed a bill on the table to essentially force the government to have military members who spend 15 months in theater, spend the following 15 months at home, giving them a concrete length of time to rest and recuperate from the stresses of combat.

Senate Republicans shot down this bill.

"The plan was strongly opposed by the Bush administration -- Pentagon Secretary Robert Gates called it a backdoor attempt to pull troops off the battlefield in the unpopular Iraq war, and said he would recommend Bush veto it if it passed." (comment copied from Reuters.com)

That may be the case, but we are losing more and more soldiers to combat stress than is acceptible at this point. This is in HUGE part due to the lack of recuperation and relaxation time that Soldiers are getting between deployments.

I have seen the results of PTSD in friends of mine over the past few weeks. All of us here are stressed and need breaks, but we do not have the opportunity or the luxury to take many breaks while in theater. With that information, the best remedy for this situation is more "down time" between combat tours.

I pose this compromise to Pentagon secretary Robert Gates and every member of the Senate who voted AGAINST this bill...

You get off your fat asses and do back to back combat tours, then tell us that you think we shouldn't have extended recuperation time between tours.

Oh, that's right, the reason you got into politics is because the only thing you are good at is...ummm...wait, it'll come to me...hang on, I've almost got it...crap, I can't think of anything you are good at.

Politicians need to EARN their positions, not just sweet talk their way into them.

That sounds too much like right. Can't do that.

Whatever.

I hate politics.

Whistle While You Work

2007-09-17T16:26:00.001+04:00

I am not entirely sure how to go about talking about this subject, but I feel that it needs to be broached.

Combat Zone Stress.

I sit in an office in the center of Baghdad, Iraq and work on a computer network. I know this doesn't sound harsh or dangerous or anything like that, which it really shouldn't, but the harsh reality is this...

I am in a Combat Zone.

There is no getting around that fact. Every one of us hear stories from the war zone about some roadside bomb killing U.S. Soldiers, or some rocket killing some Iraqi Civilians. Each of you there in North America are frightfully aware of the losses of Americans and other Soldiers from other Nations. What some consider stressful, others can shrug off and continue their day, and visa-versa.

I understand the value of human life more than many of you, specifically due to the tentative grasp on life that everyone around me holds on to due to our circumstances. At any time, some disaster could happen, or some random bullet could fall on any one of the people interred here at this base, thus bringing to a close that individual spark of life and vitality.

I am hoping that every one of you are fully understanding of the implications of what I am talking about as to what may happen while I am here. Conviction of belief is what is allowing me to stay here and be as calm as I am about the situation, and I know that if anything were to happen which were to take me away from any of you, YOU would be the ones left with the burden of that loss, but I know that all of you have the strength of conviction that I have as well.

Pastor BooBoo is fully cognizant of this feeling, as his time in the military was during the Viet Nam war, and most of you have had friends who lost loved ones during that conflict as well.

This conflict is for my generation.

This conflict is my cross to bear.

I bear it willingly and with no regret, because the people here have been in desperation for generations, and to just see the look of gratitude on ONE of their faces has made this all worth while. I have been trying to think of a way to talk about it, but until now, words have eluded me.

I was on a detail not too long ago where I was an "L.N. Escort". L.N. means Local National, or in this case, Iraqi citizen. I met a very caring man named "Liman" (I do not know exactly how to spell his name, so that is as close as I can get) and it was my duty on this occasion to escort him around the Base while he did his work.

Now Liman does Septic Work, which is to say that he drives around in a big yellow "short tank" truck and siphons out the septic systems before they overflow, which NONE of us would care for, but he does this job with enthusiasm. His english is very broken, and my arabic is even worse, so we had a lot of difficulty in communication, but we ended up making due.

He and I talked about our families, and we even had a short discussion on religion. My job on this day was essentially to make sure that Liman didn't wander off and start "getting into things" that he shouldn't be getting into, and to protect the installation from him. What I found amazing was this man's profound respect that he has for the U.S. Military. His view of us is so high and exalted that he almost views us as messiah's of a sort, sent to deliver him from the torment that his life was.

This wonderful human being sang happily as he worked, songs of praise and glory in his native language, but which ended up leaving me with a pervading feeling of overall peace and happiness. This is a man who wakes up every morning to go to a job where he cleans up feces, and he is EXTATIC to do the job. Could any of us do the same if we had to clean a septic tank? Could any of us look into the eyes of some complete stranger with a rifle and thank them for being there?

Our lives do not hang in the balance like his does. He comes to work on a U.S. Military installation, and loves working for us, when there is the chance that if his neighbors find out what he does for a living, he could be dragged out of his home and executed by the remnants of the Hussein Regime or the terrorist organizations that the Coalition forces are here to stop. What could be worse than that? Oh, here's something else that the terrorists have been doing. Instead of going after the people who are helping us, they go after their families. He could come home to a note from terrorists telling him that if he doesn't help them, he'll get pieces of his family back.

I wish I had more time with Liman, because he was so wonderful to be around, someone who is living his life to the fullest while making the best of every situation that comes his way. This man is taking risks with his life and family every day, yet he has the strength to smile at everything that happens to him during the day.

Our country is lacking this strength.

Americans are getting lax in their lives.

If the Voting public and elected officials had a fraction of this man's struggles, they would collapse in tears and run away.

Americans lack character and value, and they put more stock in their possessions and personal comfort than in the strife and struggle of those less fortunate than them.

I challenge everyone to sacrifice some personal comfort for a week, and see if they can do this without complaint.

Perhaps we will hear more singing while we are working, and maybe we will even shock ourselves to find that WE are the ones who are singing.

Page Adjustments

2007-09-16T15:19:00.000+04:00

I made some site adjustments today, and just wanted to make sure that everyone knew. Also with the requests from everyone to "just say hi" I am going against my nature and just tap tap tapping away so that people know I am still here and not ignoring them.

Feel free to peruse the links to the right of the page and also you can click on the news links at the bottom of the page to get the latest headlines from a couple of different news sites.

I am trying to get permission to put links to other sites on my blog, but until then we will have to deal with what is currently here.

I will update the content as time goes on, and as I find new sites to read and enjoy.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and I hope everyone is having fun.

Until the next episode....

The Day The West United

2007-09-13T19:09:00.000+04:00

~8:00 AM September 11th 2001

the phone rings in the kitchen of the place I am currently living.

"Jay, turn on the television."

"Which channel?" I respond.

"Doesn't matter, just turn it on."

"Ok, gimme a min..."

"...just crashed into the north tower of the world trade center," the newsman says on whatever channel I am currently watching.

I stare dumbfounded at the television as I watch smoke pour out of the top floors of one of the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Unable to take my eyes from the television, I back up and go to sit down on the couch, yet miss completely and flop down onto the floor instead. "I'll call you back", I say into the telephone before I hang it up.

Completely stuned and aghast at what I am witnessing on the television, wondering if this is some national hoax the likes of which W.C. Fields would be proud to call ingenious, I sit transfixed. Not sure what to think, I wonder what kind of grevious error could have been made by the pilot and air traffic controller to have caused such an accident, when from nowhere, on live national television, a second airliner seemingly enters into the side of the South Tower of the world trade center only to emerge from the other side as a bright orange ball of flame and mangled detritus.

Without realizing it, I shout out, "Oh My God!!" as I move closer to the television to inspect this seemingly incredulous footage of destruction. The newsman is saying things like "please god, no" and "this can not be happening", but I barely hear him as my mind races and rages at this insane image which I am purvey to.

I am completely unaware of the time as I sit staring at this box which is bringing me these horrific images of smoke and flame, and as I stare, something new happens...

something unexpected...

something which shocks the world.

The Towers begin to collapse. With amazing clarity I watch this spectacle of unimagined destruction as the towers inexorably deteriorate and disintegrate from te top down. The collapse has a sick yet seductive grace as they fall in on themselves, turning these structures of unyeilding steel and stone into piles of twisted metal and jagged rubble.

Sitting in the living room on the floor, I finally realize, well after these twin behemoths have crumpled to dust and ash, that I have been crying. Tears fall freely from my face like raindrops from a spring shower.

~8:00 AM September 11, 2007

Six years later here I am sitting in front of a computer, working on some network problem which has been eluding my grasp for the better part of a week, when I realize exactly what day it is and sit back and remember the events of years gone by.

Today I am in Baghdad, serving my country in it's endeavors to stop Terrorism throughout the world, and I am reminiscent of those heroes of September 11th 2001. The Firefighters and Police Officers of New York put their lives on the line that day in a way which none of them ever should have had to, and they did it without hesitation.

The civilized nations of the Earth banded together that day in one voice which cried out into the night saying, "We are not afraid of you who use fear as a weapon"

These are the people we should remember on this day, as it is them who protect us on our own soil.

We should also never forget those we have lost in this global fight for freedom and justice in this battle against tyrany and terror, for it is the military who have given us the rights we so often take for granted in this wonderful country we lovingly call home.

I for one am proud of who and what I am.

I am proud to put on a uniform and serve my country and her people.

I am proud to take up arms and place myself "in harms way" so that other people may have the right to live their lives in peace and freedom.

I am proud to serve next to the thousands of brothers and sisters I have nearby who put on the same uniform as I.

I am proud to call myself an American Soldier.

//Please forgive this post for being 2 days late from the day I am talking about, but I have been having what I consider a writers block, and I believe I have finally overcome it.//

Feisty & Frantic?

2007-08-02T00:01:00.000+04:00

I somehow managed to fix my camera yesterday yeay!! Rampage knocked it off my desk a couple weeks ago and it would only turn on in one direction and immediately turn off as soon as it was tilted. Took it apart almost completely and kept fiddling with pieces and put it back together and that did the trick woohoo!

Bandit was nice enough to let me take a couple pics of her little ones today. I haven't named either of them yet because I don't want to get too attached since we might be finding homes for both. Bandit hasn't attacked me since I got home from Canada Saturday afternoon but I am still very leery of her. She definitely is in need of a home with no other pets or children just to be safe. I'm really hoping and praying they don't put her down. I'm going to wait until the kittens are at least 6 weeks old and then have Bandit spayed. Hopefully it will change her disposition and she will become a loving and sane kitty but the chances are slim because she's almost 5 years old.

As for her kittens, for now they're nicknames are Feisty & Frantic from Red's suggestion to match the pack heehe! The one on the left so far I think is a girl and the one on the right so far I think is a boy. They are still really young for me to be 100% certain and I'm not very good at determining it - poor Rampage and Bandit can attest to that! We rescued Bandit when she was 4 weeks old and the vets told us she was a boy and from the veterinary handbook Elizabeth lent me I thought Rampage was a boy until about 3 weeks ago!

I already know which one wants to be called Feisty because "he" has already hissed at me 3 or 4 times now. Wonder who he got that from! Frantic likes to explore and Feisty seems to want to stay close to Bandit and walk in her footsteps - uh oh!! To top it off, Feisty was born July Friday the 13th and Frantic was born 2 days later on the Sunday. So far my vote is to keep both! But someone might not be too happy with me. Ideally I'd like to find someone who will take both if I can't convince Jason to let me keep them both. I am way too attached to Rampage and am torn in having to pull the kittens apart.

They both were born pitch black but Feisty is lightening up a whole lot to more of a grey. Feisty came out a lot smaller than Frantic did, but he is catching up to her quickly in weight. They are tuxedo looking in many ways except that it seems they will be medium haired cats. Their bellies are completely white and so are their entire back legs and the paw part of their front legs.

One thing is for certain though - Bandit sure is a good mama!

It was raining

2007-07-25T13:29:00.000+04:00

Ok, before reading on, I want everyone to know that I wrote the following in about 30 minutes while sitting at work. I have a fantasy style of writing, and usually have to add a bit of a twist into my work, so this one has a darker feel than it starts off. the biggest reason I started off like I did was because I really miss the rain, and I believe that when I get back home, I will be very happy to sit outside and listen to the rain as it falls from the sky.

Now this short story started off innocently, but took on a life of its own and it turned back on itself at some point more than likely because of the pain that fills the air here. It's not always at the forefront, but it is there none the less.

Ok, enough of a foreward, on to the writing.

Ralek

It was raining. Fat droplets of water splashed all around him in the cool marble courtyard, each droplet creating its own unique sound as it struck the smooth surface of the marble. He was aware of each one. His senses reeled from the sheer beauty of the rain, and as each droplet struck the ground, he felt the anguish of loss. Each droplet gave itself to the earth, and in so doing, was shattered into dozens of miniature copies of itself, each of which, in turn, gave themselves to the cold earth in a dance-macabre of harsh reality.

Trickles of rain water streamed down his face and arms mingling with his sweat, which dripped from his body, each one ending with the same fate of the individual rain droplets. The salt filled rain from his body mixed rapidly with the water pooling on the ground, leaving nothing to distinguish itself from its cleaner cousins from the sky.

Slowly his surroundings start to clear to his senses, and he begins to notice sights other than the translucent globules of water falling from the sky in their descent of self destruction. Small rivulets of clear rainwater stream past his feet and into larger pools of water. The slightly pink tinge of one stream stands out on the pristine white marble surface, and his senses follow it back toward himself, then past his feet and on behind him.

Turning slowly he takes in his surroundings in the courtyard of white polished stone, and he begins to realize where he is. “The Academy,” the name intrudes itself into his mind unbidden, shattering the void of thought that had permeated his mind in what can only be described as mental agony. His eyes take in the tall spiral towers that climb into the low storm clouds, only to have their highest reaches obscured to his vision.

Tall bronze statues surround the courtyard, each of some “Hero of Old” whose names he knows, but recognition somehow eludes him. Each Hero appears to be glaring at him with fear and suspicion and he can not maintain eye contact with the seemingly alive statues.

His eyes, still following the faintly pink tinged streamlet, notice how the color continues to deepen until it is almost crimson in color. As he searches for the source of the disruption to the pristinely clear water, his scan stops abruptly, his mind searching for a hiding place from itself. His world crashes in on itself as a gut wrenching scream involuntarily rips itself from his throat.

Unable to stand any longer from the anguish in his heart, he falls to his knees and buries his face in his hands. As new clear droplets of water filled with sorrow and pain stream from his eyes and down his face to fall to the ground, a single thought fills his mind with resonating clarity. “Brother…”

A Quick Response

2007-07-21T08:16:00.001+04:00

This is in response to the questions in the comments from the last few blogs...

Mom,
No, I do not have Hamlet's FULL soliloquy memorized, but I do remember the beginning portion of,

"To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause."

The rest I found and copied fromthe manuscript.

Favorite Aunt,

Are you still feeding the squirrels that were cared for by your father for so long? Of course I know who you are :oP

Prom Date,

You don't have to worry about anything regarding your pseudonym, I told Julie that I would have happily taken you to my prom, but YOU are the one who finally backed out! tee hee
(You did tell David about our "little secret" didn't you? :oP )

I thank everyone who posts here and reads this blog for your comments and support, it is refreshing to be able to communicate to everyone so readily.

If I can find them, my next blog will be one of my short stories that I used to send to Julie....that is if I can find them.

Well, until the next time!

/(bb|[^b]{2})/

2007-07-20T07:57:00.000+04:00

Yesterday was a surprisingly light day for me, with several very interesting experiences.

Most of you will already know that I am DEFINATELY not shy about talking to new people that I meet. Well Yesterday is no exception. I had an appointment with one of the heads of the IT section over at the Palace, but I failed to call ahead to confirm time. Needless to say I arrived just after he had departed for lunch. Well, here I am, I really don't want to head back to the office in the mid-day heat of around 115 degrees, and there wasn't anything to really do in the Palace, so I decided to walk around and look at the architecture.

The interior is absolutely beautiful with beautifully polished black marble pillars surrounding a central chamber with a gigantic crystal chandalier in the center. Painted relief mosaic's were all over the walls and ceiling, creating a wonderfully elegant appearance of intricately detailed vinework intertwined with large patterned flowers in a myriad of colors. Hand carved doors abounded throughout the building, each one different in appearance, but each one looking like some ancient aztec's rendition of a human.

The only problem is that I can not get into every nook and crevice of the building as some are being utilized as offices. My tour of the three balconies surrounding the central chamber lasts for all of about 30 minutes, and I know that the person am here to see is not yet back from lunch. With a sigh I walk over to the IT helpdesk and just randomly start a conversation with one of the three people sitting behind it.

The woman who continues my conversation is named Mena, and I notice a strange tattoo-like pattern on the back of her left hand. This "tattoo" goes from the back of her fingers all the way up to about 3 inches onto her forearm. Now during the conversation, I tell Mena about my Julie, and how she is my strength and how she is what I think of when I go to sleep at night, and when I wake up in the morning, and every waking moment in between, and she in turn tells me about her husband. Our conversation turns from friends and family to hometowns, and I ask her how long she had been in country. Mena and her husband have been here for 4 years, working in the Palace, and they had only been home for a total of around 2 months in those 4 years.

I don't understand the strength and determination it must take to VOLUNTEER to stay here for 4 years, doing everything you can to help out the Military and the people of this country. Our conversation continues on, spanning many subjects, until I finally ask about the markings on the back of her hand. It is an Arabic body paint that women here paint on their hands during festive occasions like weddings and births and such, it is also used during the more upsetting occasion of a funeral, but the painting is different. It is a dye that slowly washes off of the skin over the space of a week, and women also use it to dye their hair.

Mena tells me that she has ordered new patterns to try out, and that it is a good thing to use if you are unsure if you want a tattoo, this gives you the opportunity to try out the tattoo so to speak before actually getting it. We chat about our jobs and the people we work with. We were pulling other people into the conversation as they came up to ask questions and we had a generally good conversation.

A good conversation can brighten anyone's day. Human interaction is a key to sanity in a place like this, and by the sound of it, Mena was starting to run out of people to talk to. During her 4 years she had so many friends come and go, the only real constant is her husband, and this year he is working in another camp, so their contact is limited. It looks like I have made a friend for my time here, and I am looking forward to our future conversations.

Now, it is not that often I have conversations like this with people other than close friends and family, and one conversation like this is more than enough for one day, but the day is not yet over.

I head out to dinner later and sit down with our Chaplain. He has always been a very friendly and caring individual, and as such he is easy to talk to. Until this moment I had not realized exactly how understanding and non-judgemental he truly was. Out of the blue he asks me about how Julie's paperwork is coming along, and I tell him what I know so far. I talk of what happened that day, and what Julie and I talk about in our emails and when I have the chance to call her, and he does the same, telling me what he thinks about when he talks to his wife and children. The pure openness of our conversation was refreshing among military personnel, and I was truly grateful for the experience. I definately look forward to more conversations with these two intelligent and marvelous people who are a part of my life while I am here.

In reflection upon the events that transpired yesterday, I now have a slightly brighter outlook on "people." I now will no longer say that "People Suck", but I will clarify that with "MOST People Suck!"

p.s. In case you haven't figured out the title yet, it is the mathematical formulae for Shakespeare's "To Be or Not to Be"
"To Be or Not To Be, That is the Question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against the sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes, when he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action. - Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remember'd." ~William Shakespeare(1564-1616), Hamlet Act III Scene 1

A Day in the Life

2007-07-17T08:02:00.000+04:00

Well, since I have had a few questions about what there is to do here, I'll give an overview of life here.

I woke up and went out of my trailer room to the shower trailer to take a shower and it was a nice cool 86 degrees with a slight easterly breeze of about 5 mph. A slight haze hung in the air, but the bright morning sun felt warm and clean upon my face. In this environment, turning a shower on hot is tantamount to boiling yourself, so placing the temperature somewhere about cool I took a refreshingly hot shower. (If this were a shower where any of you are, the water temp would have been something like 70 degrees, but here it was close to 100)

Clean body, clean teeth, clean shaven, I head back to my trailer to get dressed for the day ahead. My roommate is up and about, so we exchange morning pleasantries (kind of like a cross between a grunt and an ugh…sounds like “uhrnff.”) After getting dressed and downing a liter of water, I grab my rifle and head out for work.

I walk across open fields of brown dirt and light tan sand interspersed occasionally with reed grass, thorny scrub brush and some decent sized date Palms, on my way to a small complex of trailers that are what most of us call “The Green Bean Complex”.

Green Beans is a world wide coffee house that has set up a shop here on our complex, and I take about an hour there every day to wake up with a nice hot cup of coffee and to get my brain functioning in the right direction. With a medium coffee in my hand, I sit down with a few friends and we chat about what we already have scheduled for the day.

Today, I had to leave a bit early from Green Beans because it’s laundry pick-up day for me. Turn in up to 20 items at a time and it takes 3 days to get them back, but they are clean and I don’t have to do the washing.

Laundry in hand, I head off for the office. I grab an energy bar from the dining facility on the way and go to work. The morning progresses slowly with a few cable repairs and some minor login issues, but so far so good. It is a relatively uneventful day so to speak.

Around 10 am I start getting the usual calls for assistance regarding the network being down, and go over and explain that disconnecting the cable from the computer is what causes that. When I get the question, “Well, can’t you do anything to stop that from happening?” I resist the temptation to sling harsh insults and only respond with, “Just stop unplugging it, and it will be fine.”

At noon I head out to lunch for a nice meal of Beef Marsala and Rice, relaxing in the dining facility with a few friends. After feasting, I head back to the office and start getting some more of the usual calls. Just to get away from the phone, I head outside to tidy up some of the loose cables and clean up the cabling nightmare that was left for us from years before. Working in the hot midday sun, with temperatures around 110 to 115 degrees, people tend to get thirsty fast. I am no exception to that policy. About 2 hours and 4 liters of water later, I have had enough of the heat and sun, and head back inside.

The phone is ringing, and I recognize the number as one of my “problem children” and I immediately turn around and head out of the office and walk over to another office that has been waiting on my assistance to help them reconfigure their workstations. About 30 minutes later, I wander back up to the office and sit down at my desk.

I go through the daily afternoon routine of updating my boss on what I have done today, and then head off to one of the Palaces to turn in a few new user account requests.

Now the Palace is definitely a sight to see. Mother of Pearl, Gold Inlaid Marble, Immense Crystal Chandeliers, Beautiful wall sconces and carvings, this place is a work of art. I wonder at the thought processes of a tyrant who can do horrendous things to people and yet have something so beautiful created.

My day almost done, I head back to the office before dinner, and relax for a few minutes while we go over the plan for tomorrow. With dinner at 6 pm, then taking the time to drop my laundry back off in my room and change, I will be free to do what I want from around 7 or 7:30 pm. Now, what to do in my free time…

Let’s see, I could go to the Green Bean Complex and maybe get a sub or a pizza, but that wouldn’t be a good idea saying that I just ate and will be going to sleep in the next 2 hours. That kills that idea. I am too tired to go to the gym and work out, so that one is out of the question. Some of the other camps randomly have themed events like Salsa Night (not gonna go there), and reggae night, but they are a bus ride away, and that takes some time. Once a week there is a Karaoke night here on my camp, but I really don’t like singing in public, so that one is out. Looks like I am going to go back to my room and either play a game on my laptop or read a book.

That is a day in my life in a nutshell. As long as I have a good book or a fun game, I will get along swimmingly until it is time for me to come home. Don’t get me wrong, I see interesting things every day, and meet many people of different cultures every day as well. I just don’t seem to have the energy to do much of anything after work because I have so much to do during the day and the heat is no help either.

I will start enjoying the area more when I start having days off, but until then I am just gonna spend my time as a semi-hermit.

Until the next time

People Suck

2007-07-16T09:44:00.000+04:00

My head hurts.

I spent another Sunday fixing PEBKAC issues and running cable.

"Oh, I wanted to move my computer from that side of my desk, over to THIS side of my desk, so I unpluged everything and now it doesn't work. Can you fix it?"

Stupidity should be painful.

"I don't like the color of the cable coming from the wall to my computer, can I get a new one?"

Feng Shue, anyone?(I probably spelled it wrong, but anywho)

I'm standing on a ladder 20 feet in the air, and I get the following comments:

"Can you hurry up, you're blocking my light"...show me the electric bill in your name

"Are you almost done, I want to go out and have a smoke, and your ladder is in the way"...use the OTHER door, idiot.

Things like this tell me of the self importance of so many people. It is VERY disturbing to me every time I prove that I am smarter and have more common sense than those who are higher ranking than me.

One of my favorite questions that I get around here is, "can you install this streaming video player so I can watch tv on my computer while I work?" I love that "while I work" part, talk about a blatant lie. How can you work while you are watching TV? Usually one precludes the other, and the reverse is true as well, for while one's attention is turned to the TV, one can not work. Herein lies the problem.

Well, I am in need of closing this out, for my brief period of inactivity is now at an end. In closing my friends....

People Suck.

The life of an IT Geek

2007-07-09T08:13:00.000+04:00

Sunday.

Most people consider Sunday a day of rest. A day off. A day to take for themselves to clear their heads.

Yeah. Right.

This is a typical day when surrounded by "users".

6:30 I hit the showers. Clean and refreshed, I look up and notice a slight overcast, but a generally pleasant morning.

7:00 Green Beans Coffee. Little did I know at the time, but this turned out to be the highlight of my day. Hot Coffee, semi-cool morning breeze, I feel at peace, and relaxed. The Proverbial Calm before the Storm.

8:00 Show up at the office to a few emails. A couple of minor computer issues, and an equipment pick up, but nothing major.

8:30 One person's computer won't turn on, so I plug it in. Please tell me this won't be the norm for the day......

8:35 Have to track down a second power strip because someone plugged too many systems into one and is overloading it. Looks like my request for a change to the norm didn't get processed.....

8:45 Install a printer on someone elses system because the system the printer was on got renamed because it got moved to a different switch port.

8:50, 9:00, 9:10 Same as above...... Someone please beat me unconcious......

9:20 Leave to pick up equipment. Not even at work for 90 minutes and I am glad for the reprieve.

10:20 Returned from the equipment pick up to about a dozen messages on my desk about no email

10:30 Find out the exchange server is having issues, contact LAN services and let them know...They are "Working On It". Yeah. Right.

10:45 Seven more phone calls later about the exchange server being down, three from the same person, I am ready to unplug my phone.

10:50 Adjust some personnel information in Active Directory. short break from the insanity.

11:00 My boss tells me to take a break and go to the store and see if there is anything for a Karaoke machine there.

12:00 Lunch Time!!!

12:45 Someone's AutoCAD is giving them issues....repair doesn't take, reinstall doesn't take, uninstall and reinstall makes it work, but Oh My Word, that machine was SLOW!!

2:15 Back to the office, notice the personnel section decided to rearrange their office during that time, and brace myself for the nightmare which is about to ensue.

2:30 Hard drive failure on another system. Prep it for turn in on Monday.

3:00 Instruce a couple people how to set up network drives and use shared folders.

3:45 Come back to the office again to Chaos. Five Systems inthe Personnel office are no longer functioning....How did I know that was gonna happen?

8:30 PM Local Time....Just walking out of the office, covered in two year old dirt and dust. Total work tally for the Personnel office:
3 Computer Relocations
5 Traced lines with toner
2 Traced lines by crawling around in the attic
3 Moved CUBICLES to reach the LAN drops
4 Printer reinstalls
2 Scanner installs
1 Copier reset(not a little one, a big Xerox beast)
7 new cables
23 computer restarts
and 2 new power strips

I have a new TLA(Three Letter Acronym) for stuff like this... It's called the SUQ(Aptly spelled if you ask me, because all of them Suck) It Stands for "Stupid User Questions"

Well, it's Monday Morning, and I have to get back to some more SUQ's and PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) issues.

Hopefully today won't be as insane as Yesterday.

Yeah. Right.

Happy Independance Day!

2007-07-05T02:28:00.001+04:00

"Where would we be today without the brave hearts who have served,
So we can wave our flags, so our voices can be heard.

And what would life be like today without the many soldiers,
Who walked into the jaws of death with guns upon their shoulders.

Life would not be as great today, with freedom in our halls,
And we'd live in oppression and great fear would grip us all.

So when you see a soldier you should thank your God above,
For here's someone who represents the greatest gift of love".

Holiday in Cambodia!

2007-07-04T09:09:00.000+04:00

I figured the title of a Dead Kennedy's song would be quite appropriate for today's Blog.

Well, It's the 4th of July, American Independence Day, and here I am in Iraq working to help the Iraqi's fight for their Independence from tyranny and oppression. Kind of resembles exactly what We, as Americans did over 230 years ago when the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence!

I woke up this morning to a beautiful new day. The sun was rising just over the tops of the buildings as I exited my hooch(2 man room of a trailer), allowing the morning light to sparkle off the sand crystals which cover approximately 80% of the surface of pretty much everything. I walked over to Green Beans Coffee House for a refreshing cup of freshly brewed coffee and met up with my boss and the people we are replacing here. Laughing at some stories of exciting experiences over the past year, we relaxed in the early morning sun while the ambient temperature slowly began to climb. By the time we headed off for breakfast at 8am, it was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The dining facility was decorated in a spattering of red white and blue with streamers full of stars and stripes adorning most of the support columns. Conversation ranged from IT issues all the way through Facilities Maintenance, but all in all this morning has been quite pleasant.

And now here I sit, tap-tap-tapping away on this keyboard preparing myself for the days ahead while thinking about what it means to be fighting for freedom for a people who have known nothing but fear for more than a millenia. In a world of greed and animosity, there are many here who stand up against those who will try to oppress the freedoms and rights of those who can not, or do not know how to protect themselves, and I can proudly say that I am standing here with them.

We who struggle are not properly represented. We are labeled as killers, murderers, power hungry, and even oppressors, but this is not the case. We Soldiers die for the freedoms of others. We have died for the American people to tell these stories about us, no matter how slanderous and fictitious they are. If not for the American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, those who freely spread the hate about us would not have the ability to speak freely!

As you sit there and read what I write today, reflect on the freedoms that you take for granted every day, and remember that we are here to help another people to get those same freedoms!

Happy Independence Day!

Rules for Postings

2007-07-01T10:36:00.000+04:00

OK, here are some rules for posting on this blog.

1. No Locations. (This includes addresses, business names, cities, States or Counties.)
2. No Full Names. (First Names are cool, but as you can see, I am using an alias.)
3. No Dates in reference to travel plans. (Posting AFTER the travel has occurred is acceptable, but no future plans.)

These three rules apply to everyone, if anyone posts any of the above mentioned information, then I will delete this blog page and not post here again.

I place these rules here for reasons of security of EVERYONE who will be posting here. Not only that, but if you post the above information, then I can get in SERIOUS trouble, and I really don't need any of that.

Please adhere to the rules posted above, and this will work out perfectly for all of us.

Gotta run,

You Know Who

The Beginning

2007-06-30T18:29:00.000+04:00

Looks like I am finally setting up my blog site. I never really thought I would do this, but circumstances dictate that I set up something that I can use to let everyone know what is going on with me without having to email everyone. I'd probably miss some people with emails anyway, and that wouldn't be very nice of me, so it looks like I won't be emailing ANY OF YOU!!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

I'm not sure if I will update this every day, but I will update every chance I can.

short and sweet, just the way I like em.