New Stuff Going on

Started working full time with the guard again. Doing what I was doing prior to deployment. Got called about an interview today. Found out I did not get the job, but I scored high in the interview process. I will keep on keeping on and try harder to get a full time guard job. Oh and sorry it was so long between blogs.

Dave

Combat Stache Gone

Well I shaved off my stache. Probably a good thing I got more jokes having it than I did not having it. The funny thing everyone noticed when I was growing the funny thing is no one noticed it was gone. Well a couple people did and I do not work with them everyday I see them around. It is also how one get use to things. I use to having it after a little over a month I may do it again after I get home. I am going to have some leave time built up so I think I am not going shave at all for a month yeah I know itchy all over my face. Well I am going to get going I have to inventory my 2 duffel bags and my tough box for the connex. Getting ready to come home. Wooo Hoooo yeah I am so happy to be leaving again. See you all when I get home. I am sure I will post again sometime soon before I leave.

Before I go sorry I did not post more still trying to get use to telling people how I feel usually I keep to myself. I will work on it.

Love you all

Dave.

Combat Stache update

Okay so here is an update on the combat stache. Yep I still got it. I think this is week 3 three for this. It is amazing how many people notice changes in your appearance. It is also funny how many people tease someone about growing a stache. So far so good though. I have had to trim it already and will have to do it again soon. yeah I have wild hair too. I apologize for the pictures I took them myself and had to turn the flash on. so that is why my eyes are closed.
I was wanting to update every week but I think I will post anew on in a couple of weeks. Oh and I think I have grey in my stache already oh well.

Talk to you all later.

Stuff

Well I read that Gayle and Gavin would not be able to pick up the newest member of the family. Princess Isabella Fluffyface Hannan, yeah that's going to have to be shortened a bit. I hope they can get her soon. I finished my class today, I was in a CompTIA Network + class. I am not certified yet but I think when I get home I should be able to go to a testing center and get my certification. I am actually going to try for A+ and security + too. Along with a couple of CISCO certifications. I am eventually going to need them for my Military job skill so why not.

I went to several movies while I was in Kuwait. The first was "The Spirit". Yeah It was okay I enjoyed it and would see it again. I went and saw the new "Street Fighter" movie. Yeah, Don't waste your money unless you like movies like this one. Kind of campy and weird even for me. And tonight I went and saw "The Watchmen", wow DO NOT take the kids to go see it. There is a lot of violence and other things little ones need not see. definitely earned its R rating.

Well I better get going I have an early day tomorrow. I will write again soon bye.

Combat Stache Day 6

Okay so I decided to grow a mustache. Here they are called Combat Stache's. I basically decided to do this to see how I would look in a moustache. I am going to let it grow out till I get home. Yeah I know Gayle doesn't like them, which is why I will shave it when I get home, but for right now I am growing it out. The photos are of day Six (6). I will try to update the combat stache every week If I can remember to do it. I hope everyone enjoys this little adventure cause so far I am. Oh and I am letting my hair grow out too. I am going to try and keep it this way for a while. See you all later. Oh and I am not going to be able to check e-mails very often because I am in Kuwait going to a class. The class I am attending is CompTIA Network + so far the class is interesting. Some of it I already knew which is weird for me. So I sit in class and take notes on stuff I do not know. Okay I am going now hope you enjoy the Combat stache.
I know I do :)

Close up of Day 6 in the Combat Stache Project

Long on top nothing on sides hair do- also Combat Stache Day 6.
(Just a little note on the photos they are self portraits of the Combat Stache.)

I am finally back

Sorry for the long break in posts. I am sorry about that. Um I guess I have some good pictures from the beginning of the mission here in Balad. So here are few from some of the hard work we have done.


Bitter Sergeant Sergeant in a half Shell? Oh yeah turtles unite

The first one to much Gatorade in the water. and well the last two. Eh someone had to carry the cover to the case. The bottom part is the heavy part so we left it. Actually we left teh base there because we had to. Not because we wanted too. Yeah thats me walking with out being able to see no wonder I fall a lot. Hmm gonna have to rethink this walking without being able to see thing again.

Well by for now.
D

Pictures of desert trip

From behind the driver which is where I happened to have been sitting. Hope this shows how fast we were going. The spedometer did not work so yeah no idea ho fast we were really going.

The speeds seemed insane. Like driving in the winter time back home in MN. Where you get in your car and just go and dont let anything stop you. That is how they drove. of course back home you have accidents here they do too. They were in complete control. at least I like to think they were. It felt like we were going close to 60 miles per hour through the desert. Yep thats another picture of the Persian Gulf. And yes the water was still cold when swimming in it.

Driving through wet sand. that was a low laying area. you can clearly see that the water table is fairly high here and the sand dunes had tire tracks all over them. The track were form people driving up and down them all day. I think it was sorta a resort area.

these two pictures I took when we stopped to get out and look around. this was on top of a dune that went what seemed to be forty feet. There are some dunes out there that were bigger.

some of these photos ended up out of sequence, but oh well. The last one is proof that I was near and in the Persian Gulf. Well write you all later. don't know when I will post again, so see you later for now.

D

My desert trip.

Okay I do have pictures from my trip to through the desert but that's not what his post is for. This is for the adventure of getting to the desert. Okay so I thought I was someone to be reckoned with on the road back home in the big freeze known as MN. Well I was wrong. Over here yeah they make their way and block and drive insanely over here. we got stuck in a Traffic jam and went to the shoulder of the road. Wow, the shoulder of the road. Yeah well we also found out what happened they use round abouts over here. and they go through them fast. Anyways there was an 18 Wheeler that had broke down and was blocking the roundabout. Traffic was blocked for a long ways. Well we continued on and we were driving I believe what had to be like 85 -90 miles and hours weaving in and out of traffic. Yeah it was fun and exciting yet scary at the same time. I was actually like awe (insert explicative here), yeah I do swear and yeah I swore a lot either to myself or out loud several times. Once we got to where the road ends and the desert starts. yeah the drivers got out and let air out of their tires. so that the tread was wider and you get better traction. You would do the same to drive through mud and snow. Then we went through the desert to the picnic area. But that is an adventure all its own with pictures.

Okay so the reason why I am posting is because I have stuff to post. Back up north where I am stationed it is boring and nothing really happened like this. So I don't post as much. I could make something up but that's not a nice thing to do. Oh yeah and my room is clean now too.

Alright well tomorrow seeing as I am not going anywhere exciting I will post the pictures and the adventure of the journey through the desert to the picnic on the Persian Gulf somewhere. Yeah I did swim again and yes the water is still cold. brrrrr.





Bye for now. till next time.

Water Sports Trip on a Dhow

Museum of Islam Museum of Islam Just a really tall cool looking tower
Well I went on a water sports venue (trip/ tour). I was very interesting. I was looking at the architecture of the boat and it looks like it has not changed from the past boats they used long ago. had modern amenities like a flushing toilet right out the back to the water below. So don't swim behind the boat. Why you may ask is because you could hit something that floats. eww I know. On this little adventure I go to swim in the Persian Gulf. Woo ho, so now that I add it all up I have swam in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and now the Persian Gulf. I also got to ride a jet ski which was a blast. then I was talked into going out on the speed boat which was pulling the banana float/ tube. Yeah there were three of us on it and we went in the water twice. Oh did I mention that the temp was maybe 20 -30 degrees cooler than it was outside the water. yeah oh and salt water no matter where it is taste like salt water. icky. Then we ate lunch on the boat followed by more fun in the water. Yes it was worth the money spent and I got to see a lot of the cool architecture of Qatar. there are a lot of really tall buildings. I have a ton of pictures of the cool buildings. If asked i can send them out but I am going to only post a few pictures. Tomorrow in the Inland Sea Tour. We will get to go drive through the sand dunes out in the desert. I will let you all know how things go tomorrow on that.

Shipwreck and dock? Sky Line from the Dhow Me sitting at the front of the Dhow
This is what ours looked like.
A Parked Dhow (I believe this one uses sails ours used an engine)
Still it was cool to be riding on something like this boat

Hope you enjoyed this little adventure I have shared with you.
Dave

Photos at the Villagio

Here are the three photos i took at the Villagio. They are odd pictures but they are some of the interesting things I had seen there. The top one is a moutsin bike made by yep that's rigth Mercedes-Benz. The secodn one is of a rotunda type area with the glass dome topping it off. the last one is of a car made completely of carbon fiber. Looks really expensive which is why i beleive it is in a glass shell. I think I will be makinf another trek back out to the Villagio mall before I leave, if I do I will take more pictures than I did. Well look for my next blog with my water sports trip I took.

Yes that's right twice in one day

Well I experienced something I never thought I would ever in my life do. I went to a mall (yeah that's right a mall). This place was huge. it is called the Villagio. it is modeled after the Venusian in Las Vegas. with all of its stores and the ceiling painted so that it looked like the sky. It had Gondola rides, an ice skating rink, giant blow up slide and many, many stores. There was one in the mall that was comparable to a Wal-Mart at home. Not just any Wal-Mart but a Super Wal-Mart.
I know what you are thinking why did you fly 9,000 miles to end up going to a mall in a foreign country. Well all I have to say to that is this what else am I going to do stay on base and sleep all day. Nope I am going to go out and experience the area I am in.
I did take a few pictures. this mall is makes the MOA look like an outhouse. Tomorrow I go on the boat ride. we'll see how that goes. All right guess its time to get going. I have been up since 345 this morning my time.

Love to everyone.

Dave

On Pass

Well I am on pass while I am here. They sent down to a country known as Qatar (pronounced Cutter). So far it has been fun. I have meet several new people and we hung out together and we will be hanging out together today. If I can take photos while I am here I will try to. If not you'll just have to here about it. Oh yeah I also had my first beer in like almost forever. I now know why I don't drink it. Tastes weird. maybe I will try some Guinness while I am here. who knows I may like it. Life is about trying new things right well I am gonna close out this post and go wait for Gayle so we can chat. write y'all later.

Dave

Update

First Id like to say happy birthday to Gavin and Aiden. Sorry I couldn't be there to help celebrate.

This is of the head of my bed. The TV is the one Andrew left here for me. my computer is in here too.




These two are of my bed and back wall. Yes I know its messy. Had a hard time trying to find a place to put stuff.




Here is my wall locker. yep I have those hooky thingys that stick to the holding up my stuff. on top of the wall locker is a radio, a box, my ruck sack, my HULK hands and a camp chair. Alright see you all next time I blog.

Sooooo Cold

Well I awoke this morning to 18 degree temps in Iraq. Who knew it cold get so cold in the desert. I don't think it even got this cold on my last tour over here. Of course I was a little further south than I am now. Yeah it's MN cold to be able to see your breathe during the day. My new year has been good so far. Everyday is another day closer to going home. I hope the couch Gayle is getting fits in the house. She tried to explain it to me and I got confused. Guess I have to see it. I trust that she'll get the old one out and the new one in. Well its getting late for me and I gotta get going. Later gators.