R&R #2: GET ME A FRIGGIN BEER!!!!!!

Well, R&R is always a good thing. Your second R&R is all the more sweet, it means you are within four months of your EOC (End Of Contract). There is a window of time you can take your R&Rs in, I pushed mine back as far as I could so now I only have about three months to go.

I have figured out, since beginning this venture, I am not a great world traveller. By that I mean physically. It takes roughly 30 hours to travel to and from Baghdad, including layovers, none of it falliing under the category of "Fun". Airports are no fun, while not terribly intrusive, they are large, crowded and at times intimidating. Some of the Middle East security people will walk up behind you, breathing in your ear, seemingly to try to make you feel uncomfortable (which actually works quite well because they are holding automatic weapons with fingers on triggers). It is actually childish and pathetic, but that is to be expected with ignorance.

Once you get past all that it gets easier, I have very much enjoyed my trips on British Airways, there have been no major delays, the staff have been great and I am a big fan of the British accent! Heathrow is enormous! I had a seven hour layover this trip and I was hoping to actually run out and see something "touristy", Stonehenge and/or Avebury in particular, but as it turned out it was too far away to make it in the alloted time. Hopefully during my second year I will be able to take a day or two and go on a photo tour of these incredibly mystical places.

STONEHENGE

AVEBURY

Back to getting home.........I finally made it. Ben picked me up at the airport which is, thankfully, only a short distance from the house. We basically did the same thing as my last trip home, stopped in at the house to see the pups for a while, had a few beers and then headed out to MEIWAH/Larrys for some of the best sushi in the DC area...........and more beer! You do see the re-occuring theme here, right? So when we returned home I tried to relax a bit by opening some of my new comic collectibles that came while I was away. Anyoe who knows me well also knows I collect Sci-Fi, Comic and Fantasy figures/statue. Star Wars and Marvel/DC Comics comprising the majority of the collection seen, in part, below.....

Prior to my arriving home the weather had been pretty nice apparently, wet, but nice. Things were about to change when I hit the ground, apparently in possession of the Middle Easts' heat.......and humidityfrom somewhere else! right off the bat it got hot, humid and rainy. It would have been really nice to have some mild weather but it didn't turn out that way. This weather, combined with some jet-lag made my first few days home pretty uneventful.

Ben had been telling me about the yard, with all the rain it had gone gang-busters! That and a lack of pruning the prior fall made it all look so huge and lush. Like it was on steroids!! There were not too many things in bloom, but man do I wish I were there to see them all pop. Here are a few pics of the Garden/Pool/Patio/Pups.

One of the highlights of this trip home was a party held on my 41st birthday. I have a lot of pictures so I will start a new post to minimize the crowding on here.