WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WINE?? SERIOUSLY!

While I was home I got to go to a wine festival up in Bel Air, Md with my friends Tim and Emily and their family/friends. It was a great day, I had never been been to one and I enjoyed myself thouroughly. While I tend to be more of a beer-man, I do enjoy red wines from time-to-time. On this particular occassion I enjoyed a lot of wine, red and white, and not too much cheese! LOL! I was f-ed up! It was an absolutly beautiful fall day, a slight chill in the air, barely a cloud in the sky. Here are a few pictures...............

YEAH.....YOU HEARD RIGHT, I'M GOING BACK.

Well, my EOC (end of contract) break was really fun and relaxing. I will post a few more details about that later, for now I just want to cover the trip back to Iraq. I have to admit, over the break I did miss some things about Baghdad, mostly the people I work directly with. I have been fortunate to have a great bunch of people with me up until now. Only a few bad apples....Foley.....maybe asshole is a better description. Either way it has been fun working with them and I am looking forward to a great second year as well.

I was ticketed to return to Houston for in-processing on the 28th of October. It was a very early flight so I got up around 04:00 and Ben drove me to the airport, which is nice and close to the house. I made the flight , no problems, and got to my seat to find I was in the very last one, up against a wall. The seat did not even recline. I also noticed when I sat down that I was completely surrounded by teens, all wearing t-shirts that said something like "Jacksonville Christian Academy".......yes I had been booked to sit with the cast of "High School Musical: Christian Academy".......fuck me runnin! Anyway I mainly kept to myself, a few of the kids said hello to me and I introduced myself as Louie Cypher, hehe! They were cool, on their way to Costa Rica or somewhere like that to build a church. A noble cause I am sure, best of luck to them all.

Houston was uneventful, being a returnee there was not a whole lot for me to do. It is possible that in the next year tyhe company is going to do away with passing through Houston all together. I am sure it is expensive and it would be nice to go directly back to Baghdad if at all possible.

The Trip this year was a little different than last. Last year we flew to Atlanta and boarded a Delta 7 direct to Dubai. This year We went straight to London, Heathrow from Houston. While waiting for our flight, the boarding crew called a few of our names. I was sure, mostly sure, I had not done anything wrong and was pleasently surprised to find that Continental had over-sold coach class and upgraded us to first class! Not a bad deal, I figured it was payback for my trip to Houston on "Christian Airlines". We boarded the plane and immediatly the stewardesses were schlepping drinks to us, food, etc. It was a really great experience, too bad I will never be able to afford it again in my life, lol! I shit you not, we were served an eight course meal for dinner and I must have drank two or three bottles of Merlot. I was fat, happy and comfortably numb at 35 thousand feet!! Here are a few pics. The guy sitting next to me was laughing at me for taking pictures of my meals, he obviously flies 1st class all the time.

A few of the sixteen freaking courses on the flight to London

NANA AT 95!!

Well, this is one Sassy German Matriarch, she is in a new atmosphere and making the most out of life, I sure could take a few hints from her. Her new home is a long-term care facility in the Whiting/Toms River area. It is more of an assisted living home where the tennants have a great deal of freedom. The facilities are top notch, the place is only a couple of years old. She is very fortunate to be there, not five minutes from here old house. Here are a few pics of the visit. I cannot wait to see here again in a couple of weeks!

Me and my Nana!

Avi and Nana

John and.....well, you know by now.

Oh look! Ted Kazinsky stopped by, how nice of the DEA and FBI to let him out of jail!

His Uni-bomber days are behind him!

The New Hampshire Posse!

Well, I look a little ,ean in this picture, but it one one of a few that were clear, LOL!

Avi is my little Star Wars/Spider-man buddy!

Avi loves potato chips.....he really loves them!

Overall, she loves her new home, she quickly became comfortable and made a lot of friends. She also gained a little weight, LOL! Three squares a day will do that to you, I know first hand!

SORRY FOR THE HIATUS......

So, year one in Baghdad has come to an end and I have been home for a few weeks now spending so well deserved time with the family and pack as it is around here, LOL! Aside from a trip to the big apple......which I will write about, I swear!!...I have really just been putzing around the house, working around the yard and not much more.

I headed up to New Jersey to John and Christines condo in Ocean Grove, a small, private community right next to Asbury Park. It is really beautiful , great beach and boardwalk to spend the day on. I got there before Mom, Dad and Avi so John, Christine and I strolled the boardwalk over to Asbury. Checked out the Stone Pony and a few other sights, the whole area was bustling with beachcombers, joggers, shoppers, eaters, bums and anyone else you could imagine.

We headed back to the condo to meet Mom and Dad, they only stopped on their way to nanas. I gave Avi his birthday presents and some other gifts Ben had picked up for him, Jocelyn and Brennan. He loved it all, they packed up and went to Toms River.

We went out for dinner, a few drinks and a late-night stroll on the boardwalk, it was beautiful! Back at the condo, a little "Saturday Night live' rounded out the evening. i don't care if it was a repeat, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin is comedic history, I cannot get enough!!!!!

The next morning I got up early and went on a photo tour of the whole area, I hope you enjoy!

The old Casino building that sits on the boardwalk between ocean Grove and Asbury Park

A new building farther down with restaurants and shops

Avi on the boardwalk

A little Jack named Bruno walking his owner at the beach

John and Avi looking for shells....or hyperdermic needles, LOL!

Avi and I


I love this building

I swear I heard this seagull say "mine."

The pier John and Christine tied the knot on

John got the camera

A beautiful garden outside the "Starving Artist", a beautiful restaurant near John and Christines condo

The area is beautiful, it really makes you want to live in a beach town. The people are friendly and the atmosphere is amazing. I am hoping to head up in two weeks to catch Tesla at the Stone Pony with John and maybe stay a couple of days.

MIKEY SWITCHED TO GEICO!!!!

Oops, that's Gecko, he woke up with a little baby bugger climbing up his wall. Several attempts to liberate this young reptilian only resulted in him jumping higher up on Mikeys arm. So now he is going to stay in Mikes room, probably lots of bugs for him to eat in there as well. Who knows, he may have a few brothers and sisters in there too.

IN THE EVENT WE ARE ALL SWALLOWED BY A BLACK HOLE ON WEDNESDAY.........NICE KNOWING YA!!!!

This coming Wednesday, September 10th 2008 marks the activation of CERNs Large Hadron Collider. This multibillion dollar atom-smasher will finally come online after two decades of planning and production. It will attempt to re-create the big bang, on a considerably smaller scale, to give scientists a better understanding of the make-up of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.

The first beams of protons will be fired around the 17-mile tunnel to test the controlling strength of the world's largest superconducting magnets. It will still be about a month before beams traveling in opposite directions are brought together in collisions that some skeptics fear could create micro "black holes" and endanger the planet.

The project has attracted researchers of 80 nationalities, some 1,200 of them from the United States, which contributed $531 million of the project's price tag of nearly $4 billion.

Once the beam is successfully fired counterclockwise, a clockwise test will follow. Then the scientists will aim the beams at each other so that protons collide, shattering into fragments and releasing energy under the gaze of detectors filling cathedral-sized caverns at points along the tunnel.

CERN dismisses the risk of micro black holes, subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars. So, in the event we are not consumed by black holes there will very likely be some amazing discoveries in our future thanks to this incredible machine!

For further information check out these links:

CERN: http://www.cern.ch/

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory: http://www.fnal.gov/

Large Hadron Rap: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_eu/storytext/big_bang_machine/28998361/SIG=11b8oen0l/*http://www.youtube.com/watch?vf6aU-wFSqt0 , check this out, it is excellent!

Here are some pictures, serious and funny.............

JUST IN TIME FOR MY ARRIVAL HOME.......FANBOYS!!!!!!

September 19, 2008 is a day I have been waiting on for a long, long time. The movie "Fanboys" is finally hitting the bigscreen AND it will be released as originally intended. For those who are not familiar, the plot is basically centered around a group of friends, one who is dying of cancer. They plan to steal a copy of "The Phantom Menace" before it is release to fullfill their friends wish to see the movie before his imminent demise. There was a push by the film company to drop the cancer element of the movie which was aborted due to furious fans and the threat of a boycott if the film did not make it to celluloid as planned. Finally it's time has come and I am sure it will be a fun movie and I cannot wait to see it! Here is the movie poster and a cast picture.

Lots of info on the movie here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboys_(2008_film), check it out!