29 April 08 'Baseball been bery bery good'

29 April 08 'Baseball been bery bery good'
Today the dust was still hanging around and so no running for today.
The Tobey Keith concert went off
without a hitch last night (no mortars) and the band is probably now
at Mosul. One of the nice things
about the dust is that the temperature is genuinely cooler. Today it
was only about 99F so that's not bad
at all. We've had some 'hot' days so far but fortunately no 'hot hot'
days. A 'hot hot' day would be
oh..118F or higher. Most of the units/command here also have a
baseball team. I've attached several pics
of the last game here. The Army also has a fairly liberal attitude
toward team names. For example, the
name of the Army team in the pics....'Rub One Out' (LOL)
R/Chris

28 April 08 Dust storm gone, the Tobey Keith concert is on.

28 April 08 Dust storm gone, the Tobey Keith concert is on.

Today the dust has somewhat subdued. I really do not like the dust
storms because the storm provides
cover to those who fire mortar rounds at us and right on que, we got
hit last night. There were no big
explosions where I was but the 'incoming' siren went off and since I
was on my way 'home' (to the hooch) I
just kept riding my bike hoping it wasn't my 'time' yet. The dust is
also simply not good for ones
health. Just think of crap and other stuff that is on the ground that
is now blowing around. Fortunately
(again) I don't think I caught anything. Coming to Iraq one gets a
bunch of shots and I know from talking
to medical personnel that the Tigrus river tests positive for typhoid,
diptheria and all sorts of bad
stuff. When I'm back in the states I'm ineligible as a blood doner
based on where I've been in the last
12 months. But being 'over' here I now CAN give blood. Crazy huh?
The Tobey Keith concert (a big USO concert) was also supposed to take
place last night but because of the
dust its been postponed until tonight. It'll be a good show but
there'll be no/minimal lights. (For
obvious reasons.) The show starts at 8 PM and I'll listen to it
outside the stadium....while over at the
gym....with my headphones on....playing 'good' music LOUDLY! LOL
anyway, below are few pics of what the
'stadium' looks like. The pics are from the USO christmas show and
though you can't tell, Robin Williams
is on the stage behind Santa. And if you look closely, Santa is packing.
R/Chris

27 Apr 08

27 Apr 08

Today started out warm and sunny and clear. By 3 PM though it was terribly dusty and proceeded to get

worse.  The battalion has a softball team that plays every sunday and we went over to watch and I'll post

some pics soon but by 4:30 the game was called off due to visibility (specifically, lack of it).  Now a

duststorm isn't as bad as a sandstorm and they are different. Today is bad though, the worst I've seen for

a duststorm. Ya gotta wonder why people have 'willingly' lived in this God foresaken part of the world

BEFORE there was oil. 
R/Chris

25 Apr 08

25 Apr 08

I'm going to try to start blogging again.  There are a few things that have happened in the last month and people actually DO check in to

see what (my) life is like in Iraq.  Right now while it's SNOWING in parts of the states it's warm and sunny and GREAT running weather in Iraq (or at least at Balad, Iraq.)  The grasss is green and tall and needs mowing at least once a week (as you can see in the pic)  There does seem to be something missing from the lawn....perhaps some PINK FLAMINGOs!!  I hope to change that soon.

 

Today is 06 Apr 08 and I'll be taking a hiatus from this blog for a bit. My internet access is changing and I'm not sure when/if I'll be getting access again. As it is the speed is pretty slow and it takes nearly an hour to just post 4 pics. I'm sure when I get access in the future I'll update the pics on the 'lawn'. If you read this blog you will recall that there was a big knife fight here at Balad and after about 5 months the Army has decided to prosecute the guy under UCMJ (military justice). This may or may not fly. Again, much of life here in Iraq is the 'wild west' with literally no rules.