ARGH!

You all ever felt like scooping your eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon? Ya, that's about what I'd rather have done than congratulate all the "cocks" around here this morning. Don't usually shake hands and confess good job to that appendage too often, but they did when. Spurrier, the bane of Georgia's existence. I'll hold out hopes for the Dawgs to beat Tennessee and with luck, Florida. how about my boys from Michigan again. heehee. Go Buckeyes!!!!!!!!!! You know though, with our luck there, Michigan will keep losing and then beat OSU in the one game a year that counts! Don't get me wrong, I'd never wish that on the Buckeyes but irony is in play already with the Dawgs loss to SC. Anyway, good job SC. You've gotten the hang of football. Time to work on literacy, hooah!
I know,that was a low blow but I can't let this slide without expelling some of my pain. You know, talk bad about someone else to cover your own insecurities...blah, blah, blah......Yes, even ortho types remember a little about psychology and emotional stuff. Not that we care....but we remember it. Just like the British medical officer here tells me "Nathan, there's more to life than bones and joints!" My usual response is "Sure, like surgery n stuff!"
Anyway, enough babbling.
Go Dawgs! Keep up the good work and carry on. The integrity in the program with leadership from the likes of Mark Richt keeps me loyal!!! Go Buckeyes! Way to go Michigan, keep up the good work! God bless us all, football's back in town and the passion is thick!!!!!!!!!!

Reflections

I pride myself on screening my blog to minimize the stresses at home about our safety over here and I'll continue to do so but we all know we are at war and men and boys are dieing in and around our area of battle. The British have lost several men since we've been here and mostly you can shuck it off and carry on but lately I've been a little reflective.
I'm so grateful for my wife and daughter and I can't wait to get home to see them. My family and friends have been so supportive that words cannot express my gratitude and not a day goes by that I don't think about all of you for some reason or another.
My father served 21 years in the Air Force. My grandfather was a B17 navigator and POW in Germany during WWII. Now I'm here. I think about all of you that have supported us with prayer, care packages, letters and more prayers and I can't help but reflect on my life and how blessed I've been and how amazing God has been to bless us all so much.
We are hanging low for a few days and I've been mellow on music and searching the net for memories. I clicked on that classmates.com thing to see where some of my classmates were in Florida and then I found myself looking for evidence of my existence in the Philippines. Well, I found this website www.whoa.org that highlights graduates or students and teachers from Wagner High School at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Some of you may know that the base was essentially destroyed when Mt Pinatubo erupted and this website carries on some of the memories for those of us that went to school there.
So, why am I talking about this? Most of you that know me, mostly my wonderful wife, know that I can't be serious too long without throwing something funny into the mix to break the stress. So, go to the web page, click on yearbooks, 88, then Freshman and you'll see my name and get a good laugh at that handsome 14 year old stud. For another laugh, click on seniors and look up my brother, Shane. And Kristin, don't think you'll get away. My wonderful sister-in-law can be found in the Junior section, last name Iverson.
So, I've shared my heart and what God gave me to raise my spirits.
Love you all. Thanks so much.

Thank Yous

Hi all. Got mail today. Thanks to the Buckeye Gang and Scotty for the care packages.
Scotty, thanks for getting the Georgia Bulldogs to autograph the poster. Thanks to you friends in Athens for helping get it done as well. Go DAWGS!!!!! I'll post the poster proudly when I get my room squared away. By the way, please God let them beat South Carolina. It'll be a long 8 months if not.
My lovely Buckeyes, thanks for the mags and food. The reading helps break the monotony. You guys are the best. Thanks for all your support. Love you all. Sorry about the heat wave. Hope it ends soon and some gentle rains fall on your paths. How about Michigan!!!!!!!!!! I thought last year was embarrassing for us. At least UF was actually the best team in the nation last year. That pained me to say being the Dawg I am but I'll give respect to whom its due.

Not much to say

Hi there everyone. It's been a long week without much cool stuff to talk about. We've been back checking on our "people" and same old same old.....
We did find our guy with the monkey however, the monkey is new and improved and looks much less depressed than the last. We couldn't bring ourselves to ask what happened to the last one.
So, this is where I've been depleted to over the last week or so. Here are pics of the new monkey. I picked the monkey up first and he was climbing all over. By the time MAJ Wallace got him the monkey knew where the most comfortable spot was with the best view.

Let me sum it up for you

Hey, are these bottle rockets? Can we play?

Come on. Who is it? Who do they belong to? Oh ya, the proud husbands of Monet and Amanda. You know you love us despite our idiocy! Anyone wanna play with bottle rockets? They only hurt when you repeatedly bang the tips together. Here. Let me show you.........Hey! Where you guys going? Come back!! Don't run its OK, I'm a trained expert!!! Plus, I have plenty of tourniquets........

Back Again!

Alright, here we are in September and the internet its up finally. People, we've had some serious changes around here in the last couple of weeks. MAJ Berry was moved into another management position that he was doing well and then again moved to another position at another base.....close to the Frappe. SGM Allman was robbed from us as well and take close to Frappe Land. Not sure he'd come back if he could. He's got a pretty sweet gig from what I hear. We are still here carrying on with the changes. MAJ Wallace is in charge now and doing a fine job despite the frustrations that have come with the changes. He's a "Razorback" alumni and fan so it can be difficult working with him at times but we give him grace. People from Arkansas need grace you know!
So, we are missing some folks pretty bad but moving on none-the-less. 8 months or so to go.
I'm going to break up this party by ending with some thank yous. I'll put some recent pics together and catch you all up to speed on the viewing pleasure I always try to provide.
My dear wife--------God bless you for the Cappuccino maker/coffee pot. My room has become a social center and coffee usage has doubled.
My brother, Shane------I started with Eraggon. Thanks so much for the snacks and mags. Love you man.
Greg and Billi------One pound down. A true favorite. The candy is on the move as well as the toys. I'll try to stage one of the National Geographic photo ops next time I feel safe enough to bail out of the Hummer. Love you both. Send my love to Jason, Josh and Kristin.

My pic. sometimes you just have to carry your own pain relievers. The other, Sekula and me checking out a CP with underground rooms.