The beer I had for breakfast wasn't that bad, so I had one more for dessert. - Kris Kristofferson, Sunday Morning Coming Down

I will only get 3 beers a day on R&R, but 3 still makes me happy!

I've been posting a lot because I have time at work and things are slower on night shift. I've also been very happy lately. I couldn't shift over to night shift sleep schedule very well so I was using ambien. Even with that, I still couldn't sleep well and it just sunk me into a horrible depression/anxiety trip for a week. It was horrible. I didn't feel like myself. I stopped taking the ambien and feel so much better. Plus, I've been sleeping well! ha.

I go on R&R tomorrow! I've been checking the weather and for the next week high will be 75 and low 62. Perfect. I have a new one piece that I hope I can wear. They usually run a water sports trip where you get to ride jet skis and banana boats. I hope they still have it running. I've never been on a jet ski.

I can already feel the weight of Kuwait falling off me and we haven't left yet. I know it's going to feel so good to be crammed into that military plane on jump seats, leaving the hospital behind for a few days. I still can't believe I've been here since July and it's now past Thanksgiving. For those guys having to stay a year or more, it must be worse.

Coll FB:
Florida vs. Florida State. Okay, I would have liked the seminoles to win this one. It would have just been fun, but alas. They were trampled.

Virginia Tech won. Good for them.

Same with Georgia Tech, only they won't get anywhere because of Virginia Tech winning. Still, good game against Georgia.

Looks like USC will be going to the Rose Bowl against Penn State. Man, Penn State had better whoop some a**. Not a fan of USC.

Alabama beat Auburn. Whoopdie doo. I just don't know about them holding up against Florida.

Oregon over Oregon State. Okay. USC has them to thank for their spot in the Rose Bowl.

Then, the Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma state game. Wow. I think that was one of my favorite games of the season. OSU almosttt pulled a win to help Texas Tech out...but NO. Oh well. They stayed right up there with OU for most of the game! Great one to finish the night with. Or morning here...

Okay, so UT, OU, TTU are all tied. I know Tech is out of this race. It was a good season, up until the end. I just wanted the big 12 championship game to end on a good note. Guess that won't happen. Don't even think we'll get a BCS bowl either. That sucks. Well. There's always next year! At least, I hope I can get to a game next year since I won't be in the middle east!

Everybody loves you when you're easy, so don't disappoint them. - Sarah McLachlan, Black And White

My Texas Tech Halftime Report:


WTF?

Forget what your team did all the way up to OU. All that means nothing. The typical Tech team hath reared his ugly head. I can't believe it. I thought we were past this.

Looks like Florida will dominate Florida State, also. Kinda wanted the Seminoles to win this. It would have just made things interesting. They'll go on to win against Alabama in the SEC Championship and then on to the National Championship. Probably against OU or UT.


GOOOOOO NEWS: (putting college football aside)
My parents told me that my car title arrived in the mail and a letter that said "Loan paid in FULL"! How exciting! I got it paid off in 2 1/2 years! Granted, it was a used car, but still. It was my first car to get and pay off entirely. I'm probably going to end up keeping it for a while. I thought it would just be a practice car for a bit, but I love it and it's now paid for. I have no debt besides my school loans, which I hopefully will get the navy to pay for next fall. I'll wait for my next deployment to save up for fun money!

Blow your brains out and do it right, make sure it's on prime time and on Saturday night. - The Kinks, Give The People What They Want

Okay, here's the deal. We just started our game against Baylor. Please, Tech don't humiliate me.

What I don't understand. Why is everyone making a huge deal about Texas winning over NON RANKED A&M?? Even Baylor beat them this year. If we beat Baylor will anyone care? No. Why? Because we're not UT. We don't have Mac Brown opening his trap non stop. Someone please duct tape the man's mouth shut.

I'm just sick of everyone always talking about them like they are the only ones that exist. UT beat A&M by 40 points. Again, and unranked team. OU beat the #2 team (TTU) by 40 points. HELLO??? Man, I just would rather see OU go on than UT.

But! I have to cheer for OSU for Tech to even have a chance. I'm stuck in a weird place. So, if OSU wins, then there is a tie between TTU and UT. Well, TTU beat UT, so you would think Tech would go on to the Big 12 championship. I still am not holding my breath. I think they would still somehow get Texas in there. Then, we'd have to just play phenomenal against Mizzu in order to raise our BCS score to even be considered for the National Championship.

I'm not holding my breath. But I am curious.

Now, off to watch the games.

GO TECH!

He spent all night staring down at the lights on L.A., wondering if he ever could go home. - Bob Seger, Hollywood Nights

Some people here seem to think me odd that I get this into college football and mostly the big 12. Well, you know what. It's home for me. I'm not home. I'm the farthest I've ever been and it's hard. This is my connection. This is my family. Others may think it's strange, but part of my soul is on that field, in those stands, watching on tv, cheering with signs. I'm watching and wishing more than anything that I could be there next to them.

I do get over emotional with it. I am beyond passionate. But, I don't see where that is a fault. Just let me have my fun and get into it. Just because you're not from Texas. You're not from my school. You don't understand the love of the game and the rivalry and the talk, don't stop me from expressing that.

I'm guessing that I'll just have to keep my mouth shut. I'll call my friends back home. They understand. Our hearts beat the same way. Some just don't get it.

I can't believe they could talk all through the UT/A&M game about how "spotless" UT season has been and how perfect Colt McCoy has been. Everyone has just totally shut out our win against them. They had all these signs with the score of their win over OU. Maybe we should do the same. I can only hope that OU loses somehow. That would put UT and TT in a tie. Well, we won against them, so I don't see the struggle. Our amazing season is gone, thanks to that lovely loss to OU. Man, I can't believe it.

But, I digress. Texas Tech is home. For Thanksgiving, I want to think about it.

Dreams are hard to follow, but don't let anyone tear them away. Hold on there will be tomorrow, in time you'll find the way. - Mariah Carey, Hero

My detailer said under no circumstance will I leave Bethesda in the summer due to multiple deployments that our hospital will be sending people for. Djibouti, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and the Comfort is going out too.

I'm actually really okay with this. Good things about leaving for Jax in October:
1. I get another summer in DC. I love the summer in DC. :)
2. I will be moving around the same time as all my other close friends, so I won't have to leave before anyone.
3. It will be the same month that Tanya moves to Jax, so maybe we can just take a trip and move our stuff together and stop and sight see all the way down the east coast.
4. More time to plan it out and go house hunting.

Good things about being in Jax for 3-4 years:
1. I'll really get settled into the city and hospital and feel comfortable.
2. More established in a home....still debating buying vs. renting.
3. More time if I can get to the ICU to get experience.
4. Able to do more online grad courses before I apply to DUINS
5. Possibly another deployment. Most likely this would be Cuba. I've learned a lot on this one and I think I would be able to be more prepared for future ones.
6. More time with Tanya!
7. More time to get a good tan!

This week has been much better.
1. We're under the 50 days left mark...it's now 47.
2. I got my car paid off! Now, I just have my school loans left and this year I can apply for the Navy to pay for them. It won't be until the fall, but still. Something to look forward to. Then, I'd be debt free! Entirely. Awesome.
3. Next week is R&R and I can't wait! (another good thing...I got my new one piece bathing suit and I love it.)
4. Just thinking about Jacksonville.

I can't wait to get there. Warm weather, friendly people, beaches, cute neighborhoods and houses, pet lovers, more real "navy" stuff, smaller hospital, closer to home. Bah. It's going to be great. Some of the homes I've been looking at (really wanting to rent so if I'm deployed I can do the whole storage thing again) have large balconies or patios. I just picture sitting out with patton, relaxing with some iced tea, people watching.

Now, college football time.
What the hell is with UT moving ahead of OU? This disturbs me. There is a small chance that UT could lose to A&M and OU lose to OSU and we'd still be going to the big 12 championship. Actually, we just need OSU to lose to OU, since we beat UT. I can hope. There is always that possibility.

I'm going to call Florida over Alabama, even though their game isn't until next week. Alabama can sometimes choke on big games like we do. I'd like to see Florida and OU. I respect OU more as a team and their coach over UT. Mac Brown is an ass and they think so much of themselves.

Glad Penn State got the Rose Bowl. I'm still sad they lost to Iowa. I would have loved to see Penn State and Texas Tech in the National Championship game. I knew it was far off, but I was hoping.

And USC moving up to 5?? Man, another school I can't stand. Who do they ever play and they always seem to be in the top 10! Granted, they played Ohio State this year, but it was a non conference game and they're not having the best year anyway. Whatever.

I must address our game against OU. As everyone else has been saying. What the HELL happened???? I did tear up a bit after the game. I can't believe it. I was prepared to lose, but not like that! Why did we keep trying to run it up the middle?? It obviously wasn't working the 1st, 2nd, 50th time we tried. We'd get stopped right at the line of scrimmage. It was awful. They were in our heads, just like we were with Texas. Bah. Everytime I pass a tv on a sports show, they instantly switch to the TT vs. OU game and discuss their annihilation. My heart sinks every time.

I could go on and on, but it's time to get to the DFAC!

Don't think twice, it's alright. - Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul, and Mary, Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

Yet again, I have been dealing with mood swings. ha. I'm feeling much better today. I woke up in a panic. I had a dream today where I was stationed overseas and when I woke up, I was afraid I screwed up when I chose my next duty station. Had I missed my chance at going overseas? If I got held up in Florida for 4 years, then I couldn't get on to school and move on. Maybe I should have chose Guam. I called my mom and she helped me think things through. I'll give a call to the detailer on Monday and get some more information. I know God has His hand in all of this and His plan will shine through.

The day had been kinda blah until I saw College Game Day on the tv at the gym after spin class! I was so excited. I kept on everyone's heels to get changed so we could get to the DFAC so I could watch. That instantly cheered me up.

Now, I'm at work, watching 24 and waiting for the game to start in 3 hrs. At least this time I'm on night shift so it works with my schedule.

Sorry my blog is just me going back and forth on my issues with the Navy. I'm just bipolar. It's all the sand. Only 51 more days left here!

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, sometimes I feel like giving up. - Creed, Weathered

Jasmine. She's the oldest pet I had. She died today. I think we got her when I was about 8 or 9. She was a very old kitty.

Anytime I went home she would come running when I called for her. As she got older she could be cranky, but not with me. My mom said the past couple weeks she took her outside and made her comfortable. I'm glad she was there for her. I wasn't.

I'm going to change subjects for a minute. It's the other thing that has been bothering me today. I'm never there for anything. I think I'm going to have to get used to that if I'm going to make the Navy a career. What if something happened to a friend or a family member?

I shouldn't be thinking about this now. I feel like sometimes the dream of what I thought being a Navy nurse isn't what it really is. I just have up and down days and today is a down day. I feel like so many people I should look up to let me down, but I know that would happen outside the navy also. It just seems if you're sacrificing so much that there should be something else.

If I had wanted to make the navy a career, I'm really thinking I should have done something besides medicine. In our corps, a LTJG means nada. On the line side if I were on a ship or something, I'd actually have more seniority. Ah well.

I've seen this happen to my friends and people I knew that were very oohrah. They were all deployed and the wind was taken out of their sails. (so to speak) I think people have just forgotten how to have fun and still get the job done. You can see it beat out of people. I'm refusing. I'm refusing to give in and let it win. I will make a difference. I will try and keep the dream of the nurse corps alive.

Servants to mother machine, nursed by video screens, paradise of insanity, born into a grave of mental slavery. - Kreator, Mental Slavery

Here are some clips from the concert. I went through today and added all my little clips and videos to my youtube page. Most are short and silly, but still fun to look back at. Now, I'm going to get some sleep for my officer of the day watch tonight! Woot!

Life just keeps getting weirder for us every day. - Everclear, Learning How To Smile

Everclear came to Camp Arifjan the other day! I could only remember a few songs of theirs, but at the concert I realized I knew a lot more.

They came by the hospital that afternoon and I jumped up to meet them. The only problem was I was getting report for my patient coming from the OR and as we were all taking pictures, the guy rolled around the corner and I had to run off. The 2 brown haired guys were pretty cute. I'm just being a sucker for rock stars. ;) And not the kind that stay up late and play all night in our lounge. haha.

Later that evening, we all got cleaned up and headed out to the shuttle to go to zone 6. One of my friends got called into work, so he had to go take care of patient stuff. Poor guy. I'd be so upset if I was in his place, but he was pretty cool about it. So, that left 2 of us. We went and got some near beer at the PX to feel like we were really at a concert. We sat down way in the back bleachers at first, but eventually started making our way up and were at the front of the stage at the end. It was such a fun time. The lead singer lost his voice, so it was in and out, but it was still good. Then, the last song they wanted to have a bunch of girls come up and dance on stage, so they started picking girls out in the crowd. He picked me and even winked at me! I don't know if he recognized me from earlier at the hospital or not, but that was cool.

I got up there and then looked around at everyone and really wondered what on earth had possessed me to want to dance on stage in front of everyone. I saw a ton of people from the hospital that I work with and was really embarrassed, but I figured I'd just go with it and have fun. They played a cover of 867-5309 and we all jumped around like idiots. One girl had to stop because she said she wasn't wearing a bra and then this other girl was a skank jumpin around in little white shorts and I don't think she had underwear on. Oh well. I felt a little out of place with some of those girls. They were rubbing all up on him and everything. I'm still kinda embarrassed when I look at the video and stuff, but figured I'd share it and just be proud I had the guts to get up there.

I'm going to try and load a bunch of my old videos on my youtube page. I'll try and keep it updated. Check out the link on the right.

Some balls are held for charity and some for fancy dress, but when they are held for pleasure, they're the balls that I like best. - ACDC, Big Balls

A few months ago I ran into a Chaplain that I knew from Officer Indoc. He later invited me to be his guest at the Marine Corps Birthday ball at the US Embassy in Kuwait City.

I got to go! Not only that...but my CO signed my memo stating that I could participate in the open bar! The down side. For military, the dress was our camis. All the civilian women were wearing beautiful dresses. But, alas.

I ran home from work today, showered and cleaned up real nice. Chaplain picked me up and we grabbed my weapon and then sbux before heading off base. We got to the Embassy and they had a cocktail hour at first. I got to meet all sorts of big wigs and important people. For the civilians that live here, this is THE event of the year. I met so many people that worked for Chevron. It was strange....why a ton of people from Chevron would be at the USMC ball? I got nothing. I also saw some of the navy nurses I knew from my detachments that were sent to different camps.

I met one woman who graduated from Texas Tech's law school back in the day so we talked about that for a while. Who would have known??

Tons of enlisted and higher up officers, but like always, barely any junior officers to meet and greet with. There were a couple. The guys that Chaplain knew were pretty cool and it was neat to be a navy person invited.

I've been to 2 Marine Corps balls in the past, but I was with enlisted guys and I was not in the military. This was totally different! Almost not as fun, but I felt more honor out of it. This time I actually stood at attention when they played our national anthem, had colors, played Anchors Aweigh and Marine Corps Hymn. Very cool.

Good dinner. Good dancing. I had beer! (The first time since July) It was a really great night. I almost felt like I wasn't even in Kuwait...had it not been for me wearing camis. This is going to be a night I will remember for a long time.

Semper Fi and happy birthday Marines! (a little early birthday wish)

Check out more pictures HERE.

Tonight this 'hood will be a pyre, I'm gonna set your house on fire. I'll dance around the pretty flames, such a wonderful game. - Offspring, Burn It

Oh my good lord! We did it! I took some ambien and slept from 4pm-midnight, then woke up and couldn't sleep any more. I "decorated" a fellow nurses' room, who happens to be a Texas alumn. Then, grabbed my monster energy drinks, got dressed in all my Texas Tech stuff and went to the hospital to set up on the quarter deck to watch the game! My stomach was in knots the entire time! Both my friend and I hung our flags up and both prayed God would smile on our teams. I just knew it. It's our time to show the nation what we are capable of!

-first intercollegiate football game: October 3, 1925
-1932, the program joined the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Five years later, the team won its first conference championship and was invited to the Sun Bowl
-1960, Texas Tech was admitted to the Southwest Conference (SWC). The Red Raiders won conference co-championships in 1976 and 1994.[7] The team remained in the SWC until the conference ceased operations 1996. Following the dissolution of the SWC, the university became a charter member of the Big 12 Conference
-The team has the distinction of being the only one in the Big 12 to have a winning season each year since the conference was created in 1996.
-On November 1, 2008, the Red Raiders defeated long time rivals Texas Longhorns in an upset 39-33 Texas Tech; the historical game marked the Red Raiders' 500th win and is currently deemed the "biggest game in Texas Tech History."

(That was all taken from Wikipedia. They already amended it to include the game the other night. Sweet.)

Everyone just jumps on whoever is hot at the time. Everyone would cheer for UT just because the name was out there. So many of the guys that gave me a hard time all week leading up to the game had NO idea what our team was like. They saw it Saturday night. It was great to see their faces. We came out of no where for them. Best feeling in the world.

I seriously can't explain my happiness for the city and school. It's so exciting to be part of a school who is just getting to their prime. Everyone else has had their time. It's our turn!

I really hope we can continue with the next two games. Oklahoma State will be a tough game this week and then we have a bye and then OU. If we can hold out and play the same way with those two teams, this will be the most amazing season of football!

Man, my heart was right there with all the thousands and thousands of black shirt students that ran on the field....3 times...and with the hearts of all Red Raiders watching in bars, at Victory Park in Dallas, overseas locations, deployed military camps. (haha!) When Crabtree caught that pass my heart stopped and I fell down in front of the tv on my knees. Simply amazing.

And the victory bells will ring out!

I believe in you, even though I be outnumbered. - Bob Dylan, I Believe In You

A past patient of mine out here sent me his reasons why Texas Tech will win tonight and I like them!
1. If Tech wins Texas falls in the rankings from #1 and moves up other schools
2. My brother is an A&M alumnae
3. Texas is soooo overated!
4. Texas Tech produces cute female Naval Officers! ;-)

Especially #4. Now, there are tons of people actually backing us up on this. Just google Texas Tech football and you'll get allllllll kinds of news stories.

Hold on to this Tech!

She looks uptown, but she ain't really. She's into football, she likes my chili. - John Anderson, Somebody Slap Me

As his team raced onto the field, he gazed into the stands filled with screaming fans and wondered about the several thousand “cadets” from Texas A.&M. clustered in one end zone. They wear military uniforms and buzz cuts, holler in unison and stand at attention the entire game. “How come they get to pretend they are soldiers?” he asked. “The thing is, they aren’t actually in the military. I ought to have Mike’s Pirate School. The freshmen, all they get is the bandanna. When you’re a senior, you get the sword and skull and crossbones. For homework, we’ll work pirate maneuvers and stuff like that.” ~Mike Leach in 2006.

A great article about Mike Leach


Another one about Mike Leach and picking our new kicker!

All of Lubbock has gone crazy.Hotels are at max capacity for a 100 mile radius around the town. ESPN's GameDay team will be heading and setting up on campus. It's one of the biggest things the town has seen. I'm so excited for them. Lubbock and Tech has grown so much in the past 10 years.

We have a chance tonight. A chance to show the world that we're not just talk. We mean buisness. No one ever will watch our game, but they just hear about us and assume we're mediocre. I don't think that we are this year. Maybe our past hasn't shown how good we can be, but I hope we can show that tonight. It's on. It's going to be vicious. And I hope we don't blow this chance.

What I hate is that it's all or nothing. If we win...I'm sure they'll make excuses for Texas losing. The wind was in our favor, the refs were calling bad calls, the sun was in Colt McCoy's eyes. If we lose, they'll just say, "see. We always knew they were a crap team." Even though we're going up against the #1 team. It's so black and white with our school. I can't wait until people finally start to open their eyes.

Again. I hope we don't blow this chance.

Plus, I really don't want to lose this bet.

Why are you dressed like it's Halloween? - Ministry, Every Day Is Halloween

Every day is Halloween. haha.It was the typical day at work.I got a package from my mom though with cookies so I was sharing with everyone! They loved them!!

Then, ran to the PX to grab a few more things for my thrown together costume. I have to thank Jim and Kristi for this because I wouldn't have had anything for a costume if it weren't for them sending me stuff.

1st stop: Trauma room nursing party! They decorated the trauma room and were showing scary movies all night. I watched part of Blair Witch Project. Oh, memories.

2nd stop: costume contest and party on the quarter deck at the hospital. We mingled and took lots of pictures of me trying to chomp on people's necks. Too bad I couldn't find my camera. I'll try and get some pictures soon.

3rd stop: community center for haunted house and buffet. Good times!

4th stop: back to the quarter deck to hang with some people and watch Ghostbusters for a little bit.

I wish I could have walked around with the blood capsule in my mouth, but I was drooling blood and dripping everywhere. I had to lean over the trash can for these pictures. I did in fact dye my hair black. I needed to dye it again anyway, so I figured I'd do semi permanent and let it rince out over the next month. Everyone loves it though. I just may keep it for a while.

Dreams stay with you like a lover's voice. - Big Country, In A Big Country

From Wikipedia:

The Texas Hill Country is a region of Central Texas, USA, that features rolling, somewhat rugged, hills that consist primarily of limestone but includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite outcropping in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located some thirty miles northwest of Fredericksburg. The Hill Country also reaches into portions of the two major metropolitan areas of Central Texas, especially in San Antonio's northern suburbs and the western half of Travis County, ending just west of downtown Austin.

Several cities were settled at the base of the Balcones Escarpment, including Austin, San Marcos, and New Braunfels, as a result of springs discharging water stored in the Edwards Aquifer.

Several tributaries of the Colorado River of Texas -- including the Llano and Pedernales rivers, which cross the region west to east and join the Colorado as it cuts across the region to the southeast -- drain a large portion of the Hill Country. The Guadalupe, San Antonio, Frio, Medina, and Nueces rivers originate in the Hill Country.

The area is also unique for its fusion of Spanish and Central European (German, Swiss, Austrian, Alsatian, and Czech) influences in food, beer, architecture, and music that form a distinctively "Texan" culture separate from the state's Southern and Southwestern influences. For example, the accordion was popularized in Tejano music in the 19th Century due to cultural exposure to German settlers.

In recent years, the region has emerged as the center of the Texas wine industry.

Frederick Day, a demographer with Texas State University in San Marcos, said that the Hill Country life-style reminds one of the small towns of the recent past. "Like old America . . . [the] cost of living is pretty low. To people who have spent their work life in Houston or Dallas, the Hill Country is very attractive."

I think about this place a lot. It's my dream. I do believe in love at first sight. It's Texas before concrete and noise and cars and exhaust. It's the real Texas. I go back to a time where it was me, my good friend, my boyfriend, his best friend and a couple dogs and we were out on some random road playing in the river. The sunset was gorgeous and life was free. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. I never thought I would miss it all this much. What I took for granted then. All the Texas country singers I missed that always came through Lubbock. Road trips to San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth. What I wouldn't give to risk studying for an exam and run off for the weekend. What I wouldn't give to find a good 'ole Texas boy who wants to take me 2-stepping to Pat Green, Cory Morrow, Randy Rogers band, Robert Earl keen.

I'm thinking more and more about becomming a nurse practitioner instead of a clinical nurse specialist. Then, after I retire from the Navy, moving to the hill country and opening a small clinic and just living peacefully. Having my friends down for a cookout by the river and playing some good music and maybe even sleeping out under the stars.

I started thinking more about being a nurse practitioner after we got a new one here on our detachment. He's been working in the ER and he let me I&D (cut open and drain) an abscess and then basically work up this one patient (who I think has the exertional compartment syndrome that I have). It was a fun day. He was prior enlisted as a MM1 (machinist mate 1st class) nuke. Just the same rate and everything as my brother. He was on a different class of submarines though. Anyway, after his time as a prior enlisted, he went through the nursing program and they paid him for school and everything. He's very knowledgeable with the Navy and nursing, so I hope I can work with him some more and maybe even be able to use him as a reference some day.

It's been going okay out here. I used to go on highs and lows and lately I feel like someone put me on mood stablizers. I just feel blah. I'm battling being sick again and I just had a long week of work. It's my day off today, so I'm laying in bed recuperating. Much needed.

No sign of any guy interests and you know, that's fine with me. I'm just not in a place where I am really ready to open up and start that whole process again. It's just difficult to fit that in with all the things I want to do with my life. I'm going to be moving here, there, etc. I'm holding out for a Texas boy. Especially if he went to Tech. haha.

Now! Speaking of Texas Tech! How 'bout them Red Raiders??? I hope we can stomp all over UT this weekend! Man, I wish I was back in college! Well, another nurse out here went to UT, so we're gonna be up at 3 in the morning watching the game live...I think we might end up betting on it. Not with money. But, thanks to Andrew's idea, the losing person would have to wear the winning team's gear and put that picture on their facebook until the end of the season. I think if that happened, I just might just lose some friends. haha. It kinda makes me scared to think about having to wear her vince young jersey. ::shutters:: But, I have confidence. My red raiders better not let me down!

Okay, I'm going to close out this very long update. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves. Only 2 more months and about 2 weeks and I'll be on my way back from the desert!

I've got this little problem that I cannot control. You put my heart in jail, but now it's on parole. - Prozzak, Infatuation

I got a "get out of jail free" card yesterday! We have planned morale trips every now and then and if you can manage to arrange your day off to fit in with one of the trips, you can go! This was the first one I got to go on. We went to Kuwait City and visited the aquarium and the marina mall.

The aquarium was actually pretty fun. It's right on the water and you can kinda see across to downtown where the Kuwaiti Towers are. It was kinda foggy outside though. They had some interesting animals and some damn good coffee! We sat outside by the water and enjoyed that.

Then, we went to the marina mall. That was pretty fun, I guess. It's just another mall, except more expensive. I did buy a couple long sleeved shirts from H&M here. I don't have anything for when it gets cooler.

We all had to do "rover" and "watch" duties. The rover got to walk around and make sure everyone was behaving and being safe. The watch people had to sit on the bus and watch our weapons. I got lucky and got to rove.

Dr. Saperstein, Dr. Minnich, the Chaplain and I all ate at this really freakin good Lebanese place. We were there a long time. Here, meals are an event and they don't rush you. I really like that.

Back to work today. That was the most I'll get of the outside world for a while...I did enjoy it.

Check out my facebook album for our mass casualty basewide drill and more from the Kuwait City trip! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2276328&l=569ee&id=16706036