HOUSTON..... WE HAVE A PROBLEM...... UH...... WE ARE IN VIRGINIA!!!

Something I have wanted to do for a long time here at home is visit the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Dulles,Virginia: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Basically, this is a freakin HUGE hanger with a shit-load of aircraft of all kind including the actual Space Shuttle Enterprise and THE Enola Gay! Not to be confused with the gay enola, the only direct to San Francisco airline ever in existence! LOL! So here is a bunch of pictures and I will refrain from any further jokes due to their bad taste!

This is a fantastic tourist attraction in the DC area, a must see. There is an actual observation tower to watch all of Dulles Internationals flight traffic.

It is absolutly mind-blowing how many craft are displayed in this building!

LOOK JIM....NANA....AVI......MOM & DAD.....

One staple of my trips home is a trip North to see Nana, Mom, Dad, Avi and possibly any other relatives that can make it. This trip was just the above mentioned which is always nice, Nana is doing great at her new home, she really did a complete 180 turnaround since she shacked up at her new place. Lots of friends, a salon to get her hair done and a great staff that seems to be keeping her very happy. Then the riff-raff came into town to visit! LOL!

Nana and the Terror.....Avi!

Avi, myself and Charlie!

Avi sporting a t-shirt Jocelyn designed!

Nana and I...... her favorite!

MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES TO MY ONE OR TWO FOLLOWERS!!!

Well, I have to apologize to those of you who do follow my blog, I have been a bad blogger, bad! I would spank myself but the thought of that is slightly disturbing and........erotic?? Just kidding... No I'm not...... yes I am!!

So I am back home on my first R&R of year 2, I pushed it back so I was almost at the 5 month mark and DAMN! I needed this break. The trip was long but even the travel was a welcome change. I left Baghdad early and arrived in Dubai around noon so I had about 12 hrs til my flight home. The company has us staying at a new hotel, which was more like apartments so we had 4 people to each apartment. The digs were very, very nice. Somewhat strange as the pictures show.....

Here is a 1/2 bath. Well I think it was, there was a shower fixture here next to the toilet but no way to isolate the water from the rest of the room, lol!

SWEET kitchen but.........

Hope you don't need the freezer!!

Overall a nice place to sleep for 10 hours!

The rest of the trip was long but uneventful, I flew through Heathrow and had a 6 hour layover. One of these days I will stay in London and hit Stonehenge where my alien buddies will pick me up and get me the fuck outta dodge!!

A FEW THOUGHTS TO CLOSE 2008 AND LOOK AHEAD TO 2009....

Well, it is 23:14 in Baghdad, thats 11:14 pm to all you non-military people out there. I got this last minute urge to say a few things before the New Year rings in. I have been absent from the blog lately due to a lack of "positive" events to write about. I apologize for this to any loyal followers of the blog...........yeah, you......over there in the corner! I see you! LOL!

Seriously, lately things have been stressed around these parts and for a lack of better verbage...people have been "bitchy". It appears with the new administration getting ready to step in and make waves of change throughout the world, many people over in this part of the globe are fearing change, because change will bring about a loss of jobs in this region. Since the economic downfall in the US began, this place has been a haven of sorts, staying largly unaffected by the financial woes back in the states. The security has been stripped from our jobs with all the talk of change and withdrawl. There is one saving grace on the horizon for those choosing to work in the Middle East......and ...its...................Afghanistan!!! So go West young man! Or East, North?? Hell, i'm American...I have no fucking clue where Afghanistan is compared to Baghdad. I just get on the planes thy tell me to. Long and short of it is most of these jobs will be moving there. BTW Afghanistan is East of Iraq, thank god for google!

So, 2008, what did it mean to me?

Overall I would have to say 2008 was a bad year for me. This year saw a drastic change in my way of life. my pilgrammage to the Middle East was my choice so I will not complain, however, it is a mind-numbing expererience that will change a person. For better or for worse is yet to be seen, I have not been around the people I love enough yet to display any changes. I do feel different, during my short trips home I felt very out of place, almost uncomfortable. It was an odd feeling, mostly because things are so regimented here and while I was home I was not on the "schedule" I follow here. There is very little to occupy your time other than work. Mostly when I get free time I sleep, thats never a problem.

2008 is definitly not a year I would want to forget, I made a lot of friends here in Baghdad and I will always remember that. Overall, it will be remembered in a positive way, but at the same time, I would love to be home.

Looking forward. 2009.

Much of the same seems to be in my future, definitly finish this contract. There is a possibility I will change companies this year while I am here. That could also lead to a position in Afghanistan or Kuwait. The money is better so I really don't care where I am sent, as cocky as it sounds, I've been shot at with rockets and wether it is here or there I have a feeling the experience is the same. So life has taken on a long-term outlook, don't expect any major changes in the next year. If there are you can always visit "Sandland" to find out about them.

I'm now on Facebook, it has really impressed me with how easy it is to catch-up with people you may have lost touch with. I have re-connected with many friends and family. On a sad note I searched for a good friend of mine from whenI first moved to DC, Daria Markowski. She passed away 2+ years ago, after she left the DC area and moved back north, she was from NY state. I was, and still am, astonished and saddened. She was a major factor in my life for a few years, we had so much fun it should have been illegal....matter of fact...well, anyway. I'll never forgive myself for losing touch and in essence, losing her. She was a gem, full of life and vitality. In retrospect i have not REALLY had fun in life since, it has all been pretty humdrum since her. She was that full of life.

So now it is 23:59, or for you non-military people out there reading, its midnight. 2009. Happy New Year to you all. Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

My resolution for 2009..............try to be more optimistic.

TITANIC WATERWORLD II: THE GREAT FLOOD OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES!

Kevin Costner was in rehab for this sequel and Leonardo DiCaprio got a restraining order filed against us when we finally decided to make this "Big-budget Boat movie combo-sequel" in Iraq. Lucky for us Saddam kept a small fleet here on the Victory Base Camp and he is dead so we can do what we want with them. Unless someone with a machine gun tells us not to.....then we can't. Nobody stopped us so here are a few production stills from our new feature film.....enjoy!

This is our soundstage in Baghdad, structural engineers tell us we have 2 to 4 weeks to use it before it collapses into the canal.

OK, I want this to be the big finale, the money shot location!!! Oops, it's not that kind of movie.

Yeah, if those piles on top of the boats look familiar to some of you it is because it is pigeon shit...I think they imported the birds from Manhattan, because the native birds here don't crap enough all over stuff.

TRUE VALUE HARDWARE......FOR ALL YOUR TORTURE CHAMBER IMPROVEMENT NEEDS??

Ah Iraq, a pure and soverign nation, unscathed by the grips of commercialism..........until now! It was only a matter of time we rubbed off on this place.....ok, mind out of the gutter! Although I didn't expect it already, the time is ripe for commerce to rear its greedy head in Baghdad. It started a few months back with the construction of a gas station, complete with lighted signs to entice anyone driving through the desert needing fuel. Now, True Value Hardware is in the neighborhood and I can only assume others will follow..........I'm waiting on COSTCO......if that comes I may never leave!!!!

Mikey and I had an overwhelming need to document this event!

Powerlines are going up everywhere.

SKEE-SKEE!!! THATS FOR JOSH!!

Some of you may remember Josh, way back when he was a FNG, Mikey and I took him along on our excellent adventure to Camp Slayer when he first arrived here in Baghdad. Josh has become a treasured part of our extended family.........I'm forced to say that because he collects guns, knives, bow and arrows, large blunt objects and other weapons of moderate destruction he could hurt me with. I'm kidding of course ( No.....I swear...save me!), Josh is a great kid and a hard worker and he is a valued part of our Station 2 family.

Anyway, Josh had a way of alerting other members of the Firehouse if a respectable looking girl was in the vicinity, he would say "skee-skee!". I'm not really sure what it meant but when Mikey and I visited Saddams former skeet shooting facility, we both said "skee-skee!". It made more sense at the time and it seemed like a good segue into this post...........I swear I'll do better next time! On to the pictures, pictures, pictures!

Go figure, Saddam spent a lot of time in holes in the ground, sound familiar??

No, I'm not really throwing it at the camera. Are you fuckin crazy, thats expensive!

Mikey demonstrating the skeet shooter



Could I have possibly found one of Saddams sandles? Through the wonders and advancement of DNA research, I could create an exact duplicate of him, however, I would manipulate his overwhelming desire for death and repression to an immense passion for fluffy bunnies and puppies!!