FINALLY!

I finally managed to figure out how to get a picture to post in the side bar of this silly blog and now it's official...

I've been web-ring'd! Is that a word? Let's make it one.

(ahem)

web-ring (v): to become a member of a select group of journals which are located in cyberspace, often know as "blogs". Web rings are blogs which have similar subject matters and are usually connected through a banner link somewhere on each page. (past tense: web-ring'd)

Cheesy entry? Yeah, probably, but it's 2 in the morning over here! I'm just waiting for a return phone call from back home about some business we're trying to take care of before we actually get there. Don't these people understand that I don't get a weekend and I need answers?

Anyway, please take a moment to check out the MilBlogs web ring and say "hi" to my new neighbors.

1991 was a very ... year

I got this "meme" from my wife on her blog. I guess the idea is that you can identify with the top 100 songs from the year you graduated high school and really show your age.

Anyway, go to this page and type in your graduation year in the upper right hand corner. When the search page appears the top item should be the list of that year's top 100 songs. Copy and paste the list into your page and mark each song as follows:

Put an asterisk next to the ones you like.*
Bold your favorites.**
Italicize the songs you loathe.
Underline the ones you can’t remember.
Leave it untagged if you’re without an opinion.

Okay, so the marking instructions are a little different, but that's only because for some reason I can't seem to get my text to have that "strike through" effect. Oh well. Here's my list...

1. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Bryan Adams
2. *I Wanna Sex You Up, Color Me Badd
3. Gonna Make You Sweat, C+C Music Factory
4. Rush Rush, Paula Abdul
5. One More Try, Timmy T
6. **Unbelievable, EMF
7. *More Than Words, Extreme
8. *I Like The Way (The Kissing Game), Hi-Five
9. The First Time, Surface
10. *Baby, Baby, Amy Grant - despite the controversy over her divorce, I still like her music.
11. *Motownphilly, Boyz II Men
12. Because I Love You (The Postman Song), Stevie B
13. Someday, Mariah Carey
14. High Enough, Damn Yankees
15. From A Distance, Liette Midler - ICK! YUCK! DON'T EVEN... !
16. All The Man That I Need, Whitney Houston
17. *Right Here, Right Now, Jesus Jones
18. *I Adore Mi Amor, Color Me Badd
19. *Love Will Never Do (Without You), Janet Jackson
20. *Good Vibrations, Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch Featuring Loleatta Holloway
21. *Justify My Love, Madonna
22. Emotions, Mariah Carey
23. Joyride, Roxette
24. Romantic, Karyn White
25. I Don't Wanna Cry, Mariah Carey
26. Hold You Tight, Tara Kemp
27. You're In Love, Wilson Phillips
28. *Every Heartbeat, Amy Grant
29. Sensitivity, Ralph Tresvant
30. Touch Me (All Night Long), Cathy Dennis
31. I've Been Thinking About You, Londonbeat
32. Do Anything, Natural Selection
33. *Losing My Religion, R.E.M.
34. Coming Out Of The Dark. Gloria Estefan
35. *Here We Go. C+C Music Factory
36. It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, Lenny Kravitz
37. Where Does My Heart Beat Now, Celine Dion
38. Summertime, D.J. Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
39. Wind Of Change, Scorpions
40. P.A.S.S.I.O.N., Rhythm Syndicate
41. The Promise Of A New Day, Paula Abdul
42. *I'm Your Baby Tonight, Whitney Houston
43. Love Of A Lifetime, Firehouse
44. Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave), Roxette
45. This House, Tracie Spencer
46. Hole Hearted, Extreme
47. Power Of Love-Love Power, Luther Vandross
48. Impulsive, Wilson Phillips
49. Love Is A Wonderful Thing, Michael Bolton
50. Rhythm Of My Heart, Rod Stewart
51. Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..., C+C Music Factory
52. I Touch Myself, Divinyls
53. Tom's Diner, DMA
54. Iesha, Another Bad Creation
55. *Something To Talk About, Bonnie Raitt
56. After The Rain, Nelson
57. Play That Funky Music, Vanilla Ice
58. Temptation, Corina
59. Can't Stop This Thing We Started, Bryan Adams
60. *I Can't Wait Another Minute, Hi-Five
61. *3 A.M. Eternal, The KLF
62. Time, Love and Tenderness, Michael Bolton
63. Saideness Part I, Enigma
64. *Around The Way Girl, LL Cool J
65. I'll Be There, Escape Club
66. Cream, Prince and The N.P.G.
67. *Now That We Found Love, Heavy D. and The Boyz
68. Show Me The Way, Styx
69. Love Takes Time, Mariah Carey
70. Cry For Help, Rick Astley
71. *The Way You Do The Things You Do, UB40
72. Here I Am (Come and Take Me), UB40
73. Signs, Tesla
74. Too Many Walls, Cathy Dennis
75. Crazy, Seal
76. *I'll Give All My Love To You, Keith Sweat
77. Place In This World, Michael W. Smith
78. Something To Believe In, Poison
79. Wicked Game, Chris Issak
80. Get Here, Oleta Adams
81. Round and Round, Tevin Campbell
82. Silent Lucidity, Queensryche
83. I'm Not In Love, Will To Power
84. Piece Of My Heart, Tara Kemp
85. Real Real Real, Jesus Jones
87. Just Another Dream, Cathy Dennis
88. Everybody Plays The Fool, Aaron Neville
88. Strike It Up, Black Box
89. Rico Suave, Gerardo
90. Disappear, INXS
91. *Groove Is In The Heart, Deee-Lite
92. *All This Time, Sting
93. The One and Only, Chesney Hawkes
94. *O.P.P., Naughty By Nature
95. Freedom 90, George Michael
96. *I Saw Red, Warrant
97. *Miles Away, Winger
98. Do You Want Me, Salt-N-Pepa
99. The Motown Song, Rod Stewart
100. *Shiny Happy People, R.E.M.

Okay, so there it is. I'd love to see what you think. Have a great day!

Monday... Monday

My wife has wisely suggested that since I'm back at my base camp, I should probably update my blog to alleviate any concerns my friends and family may have concerning my well-being. Good point, Princess. Thank you.

So let's see... What's the latest and greatest? I spent the last several days at a different camp counseling the Marines whose contracts are due to expire sometime in the next year. Ideally, I would be spending the next few days processing their requests for reenlistment. That's not as easy as it sounds. The warriors of this battalion have done their bit for "king and country" and now they're looking forward to getting on with their lives back home. I can't blame them for wanting to take a break but some of these guys are prepared to cut off their nose to spite their face so to speak. Don't get me wrong... Some of these guys have developed a carefully thought out transition plan but I've had a couple of Marines look me in the eye and say in all honesty that they don't know what they're going to do. Those counselings take a little longer as we get into life goals, dreams, and long range plans. Fortunately I've heard a lot of these stories before and I can address their concerns and offer guidance. After all, that's why I'm out here in the first place right? My conversations with these guys have managed to produce a couple of requests for retention as long as they can get orders to a particular duty station. Not a problem. That's what I do. Anyway, that's where I've been for the past few days.

I came back "home" to learn that I really didn't miss that much with my absence. Go figure. All I have to say about that is that if anyone needs to talk to me while I'm on my post-deployment leave in a few weeks they can call my cell phone...

And leave a message.

Weekend update

Well, another week has come and gone in this place and I'm at a crossroads of sorts. On the one hand, I couldn't be more elated to know that I'm very near the end of this deployment and I'm almost close enough to my homecoming that we've started making plans for my post-deployment vacation time, welcome home parties and just some good old fashioned chillin'. On the other, we had a memorial last Wednesday for a Marine we lost at the beginning of August. We two more memorials scheduled for later this week and it's starting to wear a little thin to say the least.

At least I'm still in relatively good health and my family seems to be doing well. My wife seems to be in a similar quandry. The more she tries to look forward to our reunion, the more the kids seem to notice that she's not paying attention to them and so they do what kids do best: make themselves the center of attention. Well when I get there I'm going to have my hands full in the chaos that I'm looking forward to of rolling around in the grass with my children and chasing each other all over the yard. Still, we have a way to go and I can't focus on that just yet. We still have a job to do here and we will continue to do it every day until we have been properly relieved by another battalion. I've been reading this blog by a reporter embedded with an Army unit up near Mosul. Although the names are different, the stories are very much the same.

As we near the end of this deployment I would ask for those of you who feel so inclined to please pray for our continued diligence and also to lift up the families of those who have been killed or injured while serving the people of America and the people of Iraq. I've been taking pictures every now and again and as soon as I figure out how to post them to my blog, I will share more of my adventures from the past six months. Have a great week and God bless you all.

Sheesh!

I went to my wife's blog and found a blogthing that I thought I'd try, but alas, I couldn't seem to get the html code to work. Grrrrrr. So, I guess it's up to me to be my usual witty self to brighten your day (or at least let you know that I'm still alive and doing well).

First things first... Football is back! I got a chance to see some of the Falcons/Colts game in Tokyo. I'm sure Jen is absolutely thrilled to know that I'm ready for some football! "Mama says no foos-ball cuz it's of the Devil." (Waterboy)

I just learned that Peter Jennings has passed away. Of the three national anchormen that I grew up watching, I liked him the most, even if he was Canadian. :-)

I watched in nervous anticipation as the space shuttle lifted off last week. They are due home early Monday morning. Our thoughts and prayers for their safe return.

Speaking of thoughts and prayers... our thoughts here at 1/5 go out to the families of our brothers who lost their lives a while ago and those who continue to put it all on the line every day. I saw an article about a mother who went to the President's ranch in Texas to ask him for what noble cause did her son die and all I can say is, "Ma'am, your son (who joined the military voluntarily) gave the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom. For that, the people of Iraq and America owe him and his family a debt that can only be honored... never repaid in full." All I can say to that is that in the worst case scenario that something like that were to happen to me, I would hope that my family would honor my life and the decisions I've made and continue to support a cause I believe in with all my heart.

As a weak segue on the subject of heart, I'm hopeful that the Padres have enough heart to hang on to their lead in the NL West. If they don't then I'm pretty sure they won't make the playoffs. The entire division would be at the basement if all teams from the NL competed on an even basis for playoff spots. It's actually kinda weird that a .500 ball club can win one division while another team that might win 90 or more games might not even make the post season. Well, at least it's a system that's a far cry better than the college BCS.

A blog buddy of mine, Steelcowboy, just went on a little trip that looks like my dream vacation. With horse drawn covered wagons, beautiful scenery and a train ride to boot, I just couldn't imagine a better getaway. Well, I take that back. I've got my own little getaway planned with Jen for as soon as can be arranged upon my return to the States.

There are lots of other things I could comment on, but I think we'll just leave it here for now. Drop me a note and let me know what you think.