Defiantone.com

Ok, so I still haven’t done what I set out to do on my day off but I’m getting closer to it with each passing week. I have extremely little free time on a daily basis as I have scheduled only enough time to plow through my routine. There is no extra time for anything else unless I want to cut into my sleep schedule. I do well on 6 hours of sleep but 7 is better. Unfortunately, I don’t move fast enough when I wake up and that extra hour is imperative. Jessica, on the other hand, wants 10 hours of sleep a night. I have no idea how she sleeps that much and still has enough time to do everything. Even when I am bored and have little to do sleep is always a last option for me - she is down for a nap at almost anytime of the day. Often she insists that I join her - (more…)

I meant to spent my evening doing something for the greater good but the water shortage deterred me doing it. I had intended to spend a few hours at the hospital doing whatever they needed to do - I didn’t want to go over there smelling like I do. Its been a few days since I’ve last showered and I’m starting to smell myself. I’m sure everyone else can smell me too.

If was in the comic strip Peanuts I would probably walking around with a dusty stink cloud around me. Then again, I think there are quite a few of us in the same situation.

This post hasn’t been made without some extreme effort. Yesterday, a schmuck accidentally cut a few fiber optic cables north of Egypt. I can’t say for sure that our internet is routed through those cables but the timing of our EXTREME connectivity problems is a bit dubious. Yesterday it took me over 20 minutes to get into my email. It was dreadfully slow - things have picked up a bit as the signals get rerouted but its a tedious experience. It reminds me of the days when I was rocking the 56k modem. Its a shame that most websites (including mine) are designed for people with some sort of broadband connection.

I don’t have much else planned for my day off - I think I’ll go watch a movie that I’ve already seen and read some more of my book. If I get really froggy I might go back to the gym for another hour or so - it gives me something productive to do and I feel better about myself after I’m done. Its my primary method of relaxing - yes - working out calms me down.

Stink? If you guessed stink you would have the correct answer! Good for you!

The water provided to our base comes via a canal. A few days ago some Iraqis started maintenance on the canal upstream from us. As a result of the maintenance, the water dropped below acceptable levels. Initially we were put on restrictions like combat showers (3 min showers) and reduced laundry service. Some people blatantly ignored the rules and took 30 min showers. These individuals should be either flogged, humiliated, or put into the stocks in public.

We were told that they had a contingency plan and that it should resolve the problem in a few days. Unfortunately for us, the plan hasn’t gone into effect yet and the water was at a lower level than they had anticipated. As a result, we no longer have access to the showers nor do we have any laundry service.

I was thinking about doing a two bottle of water shower (one to wash and one to rinse) but they physically nailed a board across the door to each shower unit effectively blocking access to the entire building. I guess they had a feeling that if they didn’t go to extremes that people would cheat the system (as they had before).

So, because I share genetic traits with my father I am prone to sweating. I know that it does not make a difference if I exercise or not - I’m going to stink after a day or two. I decided to not let the water situation deter my daily activities (save for showering) and I went to the gym as planned. I have about 6-7 days of laundry before I start recycling dirty clothes. Lets hope that they get it all squared away before that point in time. Until that happens, people will suffer - and there is little that I can to prevent it.

Oh well - such is life

Unfortunately, it could get worse. If the water levels continue to drop they will block access to the chow halls due to the inability to provide enough water for us to wash our hands. As a result, we will be given MREs (meals ready to eat). They are edible - but, its better than starving.

I just have to remember that there are people at FOBs (forward operating bases) who have no showers or chow halls. Typically, their only hot meal and shower comes when they can visit a major base. I don’t have it bad - I just have it worse than normal.

The forecast calls for rain tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. It rained a week or two ago and we probably had no more than half and inch of rain. The dirt here has a tendency to turn into creamy peanut butter whenever the rain hits it. You’re probably thinking that it doesn’t really turn into peanut butter - well, if you emptied out a jar of creamy peanut butter on the floor and stepped into it you would find the same consistency I have found here. It doesn’t help that its just as sticky - where is a 50,000 gallon glass of milk when you need it? It doesn’t take a whole lot of rain to do it but the entire place turns into a quagmire of mud and puddles. Whenever the ground is muddy we go into “two shoe” policy. In order to enter most of the public buildings we are required to change out of one pair of shoes (the ones we wore on the way there) to a clean pair of shoes. Its not that its hard to do its just one more thing to bother you. The ground seems to retain most of the water in the top 3 inches so the last time it rained we experienced mud for at least four days. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain more - how much more I’m not really sure. All I know is that I’m not looking forward to fighting my shoes, boots, and vehicles whenever they inevitably get stuck in the muck.

Its so hard to stay conveniently occupied and entertained and keep money in the bank account. As it stands now I’m on the edge of broke; but, I’m not completely broke so I still have a little bit of breathing room. The new job is going to help out a bunch and I may catch an extra couple of shifts much to the chagrin of Jessica. I need this money and I need to get ahead of things. If I work as little as 20 hours a week I’ll net a few hundred extra a month and it gets me out of hot water immediately. I’m not late on anything right now but if I went another month this way I’d be forced to start doing something drastic like selling plasma or becoming a male prostitute. I really don’t want to become a male prostitute for a few reasons (who else has time to think this out? ) - the clientèle I would draw would be much like the women that Rob Schneider attracted in Deuce Biggalo, the STD’s would be a huge drawback, the military would probably imprison me for trying (thus exacerbating the lack of income), and it would drive Jessica away (again, another bad thing). I could start selling my plasma to make a few bucks here and there but it freakin hurts. I had a friend in HS whose sole source of income was from the plasma he harvested from his body. I’m waiting to go to the desert because I can stop paying for a two giant money killers: rent and food. Both are paid for in the desert and I can take that cash and throw it on a bill. Hopefully, I’ll be down one credit card by the time I get back. If I’m good I’ll be able to get one partially gone before I leave.

It sucks being broke but its nobody’s fault but my own. I’m stupid for doing it and I hope to hell I’ll figure out how dumb I’ve been and never repeat my mistake.

Boredom is synonymous with a lack of creativity and lack of cash flow. There are very few things I can do that take absolutely no money. Think about it - if you want to go somewhere you’ve got to drive and use gas - even if you spend nothing while there you’re out the gas. Unfortunately if you’re gone for long enough you’ll need to bring some food. Sure, you’ve got some stuff in your house that you can bring with you but thats the stuff you bought for lunches during the week. The other option is to eat on the road and spend cash that you didn’t want to spend in the first place.

So, if you’ve got some extremely low cost ideas on how to spend your off duty time let me know - you can only watch TV and goof around on the internet so much - both of which cost money - before you’ve run the gamut and need to find something else to do.

Gee - this was quite a long rambling post - it saved me from boredom for a few minutes but its a solo activity and left out somebody thats sitting on the couch begging for my attention

There are many things in life that you cannot count. You may wish that you could but deep in your soul you know that you can never expect it to happen. Some things, however, are always there for you in a time of need. No matter what is going on in your life it will be there for you. You can be in any part of the world and it can be going to hell around you and these constants will be true. So, today I’m writing about one constant in particular. I’m not writing about it because it’s of particular merit but because it’s the only thing I have to write about: the weather.

I haven’t relegated myself to a porch with two other old codgers debating about the changing of the weather. I don’t do this mostly because I don’t possess a trick knee that swells or have any other weather related abnormalities. The weather here isn’t bad; it’s just… different than it has been since I’ve lived here. I know that I’ll be in for a harsh shock in a few weeks when I return to the place where I was born. Humidity will be at ridiculous levels and I will not know how to handle it. I will probably want to spend the majority of my time indoors in air conditioning like sane people do. Insane people work road construction during the middle of the day and ignore the high temperatures and the adverse conditions. Incredibly insane people do this job in Qatar or Kuwait. They work throughout the day covered in protective clothing that prevents their skin from bursting into flames. They look absolutely miserable but it is their existence. They do the job because it is theirs - they must do it to survive.

I’m not facing terrible weather - it’s in the low 90’s and the humidity is low. I have access to water and shade when I need it. I don’t have overlords whipping my back when I take an extra second to move a box. They don’t scream and yell at me for my incompetence and then give me lashings. I haven’t been forced to work in cotton fields and call someone else “massa”. Its just a little warmer outside today than it has been and I don’t have anything else to write about.

When I’m unsure or uncomfortable about a particular situation I am oft reluctant to write about it or anything else for that matter. I’ve logged in five or six times in the past week and started to write only to delete it all and leave my computer with no new information. I’m not sure if I am more worried about the information being out in the open, something that rarely effects my judgment, or knowing that as soon as I write it all down I admit to it and must own up to it and all of the reprecussions associated with it. I do have a hard time finding something to write about most days as I live a mundane and simple life… lets face it, I’m no movie star and I’m not saving small villages from evil global corporations. I’ve never been in an arm wrestling contest and little I have done in my life would be worthy of a montage. I do wonder, if I were to have a montage, what the music might be. Think back to all of the terrible montages that littered movies throughout the 1980’s. I feel a little cheated by them in some aspects because well, its just freakin lazy. Rather than take the time to clearly explain all of the details you get some cut scenes with some relatively corny music. Sure, at the time you don’t think much of it but if you watch it years later you’ll discover that it is absolutely awful.

It appears I don’t have writers block after all.

I started back on the “diet” in an effort to make my pants fit comfortably again. I only get carbs for breakfast and lunch and almost none after that. My body complains like its in a constant state of hunger but I know better than that… its just lazy and I need to push it to do more. Never have I been able to look inside myself and find the motivation to complete a task, at almost all times (well its not really never but I don’t care) I need to look to another person for inspiration. I wonder what might happen if I were alone and had no other person to look to. Would I stop living or would I toughen up?

I had a strange dream last night. There was a man that was walking along a balance beam that was over the top of a swamp that had a large gator inhabiting it. The gator was trying to bite at the man as he struggled to make it across. He threw out a large piece of pizza that he happened to be carrying and it distracted the gator for a few seconds. The gator quickly chomped down the pizza and began pursuing him yet again. He lost his balance at that point and fell in the water. Quickly standing up from his fall, he put his foot out (barefoot of course) in an effort to ward the gator away. The gator approached with his mouth open. The man put his foot in the gators mouth to try to stop him when the gator bit and rolled the man in the water tearing off the lower portion of his leg. Somebody told me to help him so I grabbed a folding chair, jumped into the water, and began to beat the gator on his head. I grabbed the main and pulled him to safety.

I walked away and the man bled to death as the other people watched and failed to react. They didn’t have a clue as to how to save him. I guess I didn’t know or I didn’t care.

There should be more later if I find the words…

On the 5th Anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in US history Americans were asked if we are more safe than we were before the attacks. I was surprised to find that 42% of people felt that we are more safe than we were before the attacks. For reference, two years ago Americans were asked the same question and only 41% though we were more safe than before the attacks. I’ve talked to others about it before and I still believe that we are under a false illusion of security. We have given up much for the illusion that things are actually better off than they were before. We now face a long and intrusive searches before we are allowed to board airplanes. Many of the things they search for are not a physical threat but rather a threat that is percieved by others (think of the liquid explosives threat that is really not a threat at all). Sure, I can agree with searching for guns and knives but banning items like fingernail clippers and water is simply ludicrous.

I’d rather not give up anything else because I don’t think I would really be living if I was constantly worried about security and was willing to give up more freedom to be “more safe.” I think that if America was educated (properly) on the threats that we face that we could be a more vigilent and productive nation. It would take all of us to look out for eachother without leading to hysteria to do it. Our government may believe that its not possible so thats probably why they created the wholly ineffective Dept of Homeland Security.

On a related note, don’t forget about what happened to those people that died 5 years ago, but don’t let that loss let the government legislate away your freedoms.

Want to read more on this? Check out the original editiorial at MSNBC

The bumps are quite minor and are nothing more than inconveniences but they are things I can deal with and get over. My largest problem is that the bed in my room is from the mid 70’s. It should have been retired a LONG time ago but they decided that whoever rents that time share should suffer. I’ve been sleeping on the floor for the past few days and it is better than the bed. I’m going to wally world to get an air mattress so my problem should be solved.

We had a “tropical storm” last night and I couldn’t tell that there was anything to be worried about. I’ve seen thunderstorms do WAY more damage and recieve WAY less attention from the media. The water at the beach did surge by about 10 feet but it was way below any point where one might worry. When I get internet in my room I’ll edit a few video clips together and show you what I saw… from my room.

Work has been slow so far… we’ll get busy in the future. There isn’t much more that I can say on that.

Iowa state won… in an insane game the other night. I’m glad I’ve got Sportscenter in the morning before work to watch all of the highlights. I miss some of the minor things many people take for granted when they live in the US. You don’t know how good you’ve got it until you don’t have it anymore.