Happy New Year!!!

I know it isn't the new year yet, but I wanted to get a post in before this year technically ended. The Kuwaitis are celebrating now, and the roads are mad crazy, yeah that's right I said mad crazy :) People here in Kuwait do not care how they drive, or where they drive or even what they drive. I've seen it all here.

Back to topic. It is going to be 2005 here shortly, and I wanted to say that 2004...whew I'm glad you're in the books. Not that it was all bad, there are parts I love about you. My daughter's birthday for one. My marriage to Shanon for one :) and my deployment for two. I say the deployment only because it is out of the way now, and I am not at home wondering...could it be this year...I have fulfilled my committment to the Navy in a lot of people's eyes. I can't wait to get home soon, as we now begin the downward trend into redeployment (going home). FWD Charlie you have your orders, and if you don't then they're waiting for you at your reserve center :)

I am looking forward to 2005, my 1 year anniversary to Shanon for one, and my daughter's birthday for one :) and my 4th year at Aon for two. Yes those of you who work for Aon who read my blog, I will return :)

Anyhow, I hope everyone is well. Email me if you have time. I am going to bed now, and will get up at midnight to call my wife :) So honey if you're reading this, that's why I haven't called yet :)

Take care,
john

Life disconnected...

Yesterday I had a chance to unplug from the internet. It was down due to some satellite hardware misconfiguration. So I decided to once muster was over to venture out to the camp. I watched a couple movies at the MWR room. Called and talked to my wife an extra long time yesterday which was nice. I finished clearing the shipyard level on Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox. Which by the way took a long time... I don't think I could make it as a special operator :)

Yesterday we practiced changing a tire on the Tahoe as a traveling team. It wasn't as easy as it first sounded, when we had to figure out how to get the spare off the bottom of the Tahoe. Once we found the english user's manual it was ok, and we got it finished in less than 10 minutes.

Not much going on here today. I am going to workout today...Surprise surprise. I've lost enough weight just doing the normal walking and eating healthy since I've been here I think it is time to start doing some rebuilding and endurance training :) Gonna show a shipmate how to work the elliptical machine so you can set it to your workout liking.

Take care everyone.

john

p.s. Shanon says her toe is feeling much better :)

Getting Closer...

Today was a beautiful day out. It started rather cold then warmed up. I spent most of the day cleaning up from Christmas aftermath. I had received a couple of care packages, one from my Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona. The other from a Naperville IL based troop support operation. Operation Support our Troops. It's always nice to get packages. I look forward to the packages that my wife sends, because she always includes little notes on each item. It's like she sends a part of herself in the box to take care of me. She always does look out for me. I talked to her today, and she thinks she might have broken her toe. She's going to take it easy hopefully it will heal up, right now it hurts pretty bad she said. I also forgot to mention that I talked to my family over Christmas, they had a bustling household that day many people coming to visit. Next year I will be there :)

We're just under ## days :) Can't wait. The days seem to fly by, I wonder where they all went. Someone was looking through their journal and saw their entry from September 1st, at that point there were ## days. Glad those days are over :)

Take care,
john

Reggie White 1961-2004

Not sure what to say. Reggie White was a great football player, and a great role model for every Christian on how to live your life in the public eye. When my wife told me about this, I couldn't believe it. He is in heaven now. Rest in peace gentle warrior.

SI.com - NFL - 'Minister of Defense' Reggie White dies at 43 - Monday December 27, 2004 12:25PM

Day after Christmas

We got back to work today, or atleast I had gone back to work after a long time off. We were able to get a lot accomplished as our first day, as the new Day Shift. I got to work in the Status Center. Where we keep track of all the equipment numbers and do reporting to the TOC (Terminal Operations Center) it was fun. I really enjoyed it. It was a nice day out as well. I love working the day shift. Now if I could only get back to sleeping at night :)

Take care,
john

Spiderman's at it again

This guy is crazy, if you have ever heard of him, he's pretty popular. I remember when he visited Chicago and climbed Sears Tower without permission. Lots of airtime for him.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com. Spiderman to scale worlds tallest building

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

To all those who read this blog. Merry Christmas!!!! Over Christmas eve, and Christmas Day we had a series of thunderstorms. It was pretty wicked about 0430 this morning when I went to start my laundry, unfortunately there was no water. No laundry. I was able to start it later today which is a good thing. FWD Bravo Master Chief, and Port Element Master Chief came by about midnight and dropped off Christmas presents. Then after that one of the Chiefs from Port Element came by and dropped off anothe gift for the each of us from all the Chiefs here. I was able to talk to Shanon for a little bit this morning. I'll get to see her and Lauren tonight, Fox News is sponsoring a Video Teleconference with some of the people from Chicago CHB7. It will be good to see her and Lauren. Shanon posted some pictures from Christmas Eve with her and Lauren, mostly Lauren. She's getting so big, and has so much personality already, she's so cute. Then again I am biased she's my kid :) I miss not being there for her fist christmas, but she's getting pretty spoiled by everyone so it's ok. I'll get to see her tonight. Shanon takes lots of pictures so we'll always have the memories. If you would like to see pictures of her go here Lauren Christmas Pictures.

Being here though makes this Christmas memorable, because of all the work that has been done to make it a special time of year for us. It could be just another day in Kuwait, but today we took a group photo, yes in the rain. Our MWR building has Christmas music playing and goodies to snack on. There is a Christmas Tree and all the decorations. We'll have food cooking later on, some turkey and other side dishes. Each of us has gotten Christmas cards from people back home. Some of those we know and some of those we don't know. The American People in general have supported us greatly with numerous care packages, and have kept us well supplied. I am amazed at what you are able to continually send us. It says a lot about those back home. We have bags of cookies, and snacks, and toiletries, and candy, and games etc. We're collecting our extras and dispersing them to troops who don't have as much, and to those who are in need here. I received a box of cookies that, not the one from my mom, but one from someone else who I didn't know. I have shared that with my tentmates. I also shared with the Foreign Nationals who work around the base. They appreciated it.

This Christmas will be one of the most memorable for me. I do wish to be home for this time of year, but this Christmas has been special in its own right.

Take care, Merry Christmas!!!
john

Electoral College support

After the election there was again talk of abolishing our "archaic" system of the Electoral college. I've always been a proponent of it, saying that our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they set it up. That a one person one vote direct election would not be a good thing. That the minority of people in any election would have no power and be forced to suffer under the power of the majority. I found this document rather interesting. It shows that one vote actually has more power under our current system mathematically than it would say under a one person one vote direct election system with no Electoral College. You decide for yourself. There is a lot of technical stuff in here but the author makes it very easy to understand, in my opinion. Check it out.

Merry Christmas everyone.
john

Will Hively, Math Against Tyranny, Discover Magazine, November, 1996

Another day in Kuwait

It was a rather beautiful day outside. Warm but not to warm, with a slight breeze. No clouds. I thought a lot about what I wanted to post today. I've decided against much of it. I am continually irritated by the Stars and Stripes news paper that I have discontinued reading it, except for the small article that lists the names of soldiers and Marines that have been killed in combat. I check it each day hoping never to find any of the names of the people that I know there, and hoping that it says "No combat deaths reported" .

Tomorrow is Christmas, I can't wait to open my presents. I have a christmas newsletter that was sent out to family and friends through Christmas cards. I will be emailing the electronic version to many people I know on Christmas day so if you haven't gotten your copy through the mail don't despair. If I have your email you will get a copy of it :)

That's pretty much it for today.
Merry Christmas
john

To my wonderful wife... :)

Honey,

I wanted you to get this right away, so I am posting it here. I received your cards in the mail today. I want to thank you for sending me such wonderful packages and cards, all the time. They never seem to stop coming. As I looked at the pictures, especially of the one of Grandpa Brost, and Lauren sleeping, I thought of all the wonderful things that you have done for me. I'm not the best communicator. I don't send letters and cards out like I should. They don't have any cards here which really is a downer. I miss you so much, and I cannot wait to get home to you and Lauren. I am so excited that I will be able to see you in a few days. I can't wait until Christmas, when I get to open the gifts you've sent me. I love you honey, very much. I will talk to you soon.

your husband
john

PGP

Hey everyone,

There's nothing like being forward deployed to make you feel like being under a microscope. Everything here is monitored. Phone calls, DSN and Cell phones. Emails etc. Everyone has a right to privacy, PGP helps that. You can download a freeware version of PGP available at PGP Freeware. Download it and read the instructional manual it is fairly straight forward. This tool allows you to encrypt your email so that only the recipient can read it. As far as PGP knows, no one has been able to beat its encryption, not even the government. I will be posting my public key here so that you can send me encrypted emails in the future if you so choose to.

Take care
john

Training for Eternity

No doubt you have heard of the tragedy in northern Camp Marez Mosul, Iraq. Where a Dining Facility (DFAC) was hit by a mortar round. The last I heard 14 soldiers were killed, along with a few contractors, and foreign nationals. Such a horrific event at such a special time of the year for all of us. Please remember the families of those who were killed or wounded here in your prayers. Below is a link to a blog from the chaplain who is at Camp Marez.

The post about the attack is somewhat graphic just so you know.
Training for Eternity

take care,
john

Zombies

Hey everyone,
Just checking in. We're on a holiday schedule around here now, which means I should try to be up during the day, and I am. It is so weird for the last few months all I've seen is the dark side :), and slept during the day. So now being up during the day i don't know what to do with myself. My natural tendencies here are to fall asleep and stay in my tent, but with my Halo 2 borrowed out, and the tent camp internet not working. I've decided to venture out, for the most part things are pretty normal during the day, everyone works so i don't see many people that I know except for the night shift zombies who mull about between the smoke shacks and the CDO office.

I'm also getting agitated with the little things around here. I'm sick of wearing windpants.!!! but the only pair of regular pants I have are the nice white cargo pants I am supposed to wear on the way home :( so I am going to the exchange to see if they have any decent pair of jeans for cheap, otherwise I'll just wear the nice white ones. I've also dug out my black work boots that we were advised to bring with us, and this is the first time I've worn them. What a great idea that was...anyhow I'm sick of wearing running shoes, so I'm wearing the black boots :) Lots of lessons learned here, that if I ever have to come back, I will totally disregard whatever the command says to bring as extra stuff. I'll pack my seabag like I'm supposed to but, most definitely will bring more off time clothes.

I was also made aware of the fact that of those who have served in CHB7 we are the first ones to be mobilized as an entire batallion. Sure there have been individual augmentees at some point in time, but this is the first time that the entire batallion has been mobilized. During the Gulf War they were put on alert but never sent, so we have secured a place in CHB7 history atleast of being the first ones mobilized. I wonder how the new people at 7 feel about this, the fact that it is more than likely they will be mobilized with some future reincarnation of NAVELSF Forward.

Anyhow, take care folks 3 days until Christmas.
john

Holiday Season

Hello Everyone,

The internet access hasn't been that great lately, and I haven't posted. I apologize for that. Things are going well here. We've had some time off and will have some more time off over the Christmas Holiday. We had our Christmas dinner and monthly meeting yesterday. The Kuwaitis were nice enough to let use use their enlisted dining facility. The CDO office and MWR staff put on a great feast for us. We had real Butterball turkey and all the fixings the Chief's served dinner for us which was great. Thanks to CS1 Parsons and her band of volunteers.

I've got my Christmas Tree up and a few presents under it for opening on Christmas Day. Something to help with the passing of the holiday. The weather here is cold, so it feels like Christmas, but without snow. A couple of nights ago the temperature got down to 22 degrees.

Shanon sent more pictures of Lauren. She's getting so big. She's 24 1/2 inches long and 12lbs 3 ounces. She is getting stronger, she holds her head up, and is looks around at things. She concentrates on the toys on her bouncy chair. She likes to put things in her mouth...and can grab onto things. We have to keep stuff out of her reach other than her pacifier because she'll try and put those in her mouth. She gets to eat baby rice cereal now too.

Shanon is doing well she keeps busy with her friends and sending me packages. We talk a lot, and she's looking forward to me coming home. I am looking forward to coming home too. I'm starting to feel like I've been here long enough, but I know that some people have been here longer. I'm not complaining but I am missing out on stuff at home and it is my right to feel like that :) I enjoy the camaraderie that we have here, and the team I work with. It keeps me busy enough to keep my mind off of being at home. It's when I don't work that I find myself trying to fill the time up and my mind wanders towards home.

Anyhow Happy Holiday's folks. I will try to post more often. I know I've said it before...bear with me.

Take care
john

Time's Person of the Year

Love him or hate him, but George W Bush has been chosen as Time's "Person of the Year".

Top News Article | Reuters.com

Its Snowing....

No not here in Kuwait.... here on my blog :) I found this neat little script to make it snow :). I think I will keep it until after the holidays. Now I get to see snow happening :) even if it is just digital. Hope everyone is doing well. I put up the Christmas tree yesterday :) . I have pictures will share soon. Thanks to everyone who sent packages recently. I have received one almost every day this week. You will be hearing from me more soon.

Take care
john

Next Question

I thought this was an interesting article. Journalism is not a crime, nor are the people who become Journalists criminals. However I feel that in certain outlets Journalism has become tainted beyond reporting facts from both sides. We all know that presidential press conferences are scripted. It is interesting to see from the vantage point of a Journalist how the questions get asked, and who asks the questions.


Yahoo! News - Next Question