Holy F_cking Sh_t

Computers are going to be the death of me. This last week I was entrusted with setting up a network all by myself I was so proud because when I was hired the boss told me that I will be doing set ups by myself in about a year. There I was doing it by myself on my third month with the company. I had EVERYTHING ready and had checked everything more times that I can count. I had all in the information in my laptop and I was ready to go, there were about 10 people working for me at the time and they think I know about everything there is to know about computers. YES!!! Something went wrong. Once I had everything ready to go I checked my computer and it had a black screen with "No local drive found. Re-insert the drive and restart the computer. After I screamed like a three year old girl I restarted the computer and it told me the same thing. I was about to kill that piece of crap but I remember that I paid a lot of money for that. So I have to do the install this coming Monday. My boss said that "that happens with computers."
Have a great WEEKEND!!!!!

Back to the memories

I was reading some words from Soldiers, Marines and Sailors that have served in Iraq
http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/
There are great pieces there and I have had a flow of memories by just reading those words. There is one about two officers packing the personal effects of a soldier KIA in Iraq.
I also remember my jail there and found out a couple days ago that about 1/2 of the Iraqis that were working with us back then have been killed by terrorists.
I remember a conversation I had with another soldier right before we were to leave Balad for Kuwait. I was telling him that we were in a jail, getting one hot meal a day and just being a target for the mortars. He responded "You were indoors?" It seems that this soldier's unit had been living out of their trucks for their whole time there and found odd that I was complaining about living indoors, they had also lost a bunch of people and were just glad that it was over for a while, so I bought him an ice cream cone and went to watch a movie. Most of them knew then that they were returning to Iraq in 15 months.

I hope that all those responsible for this war end up in jail. I can say this: IRAQ WAS A BETTER PLACE UNDER HUSSEIN THAN WHAT IT HAS BECOME UNDER US.
Good night.

TJ's Memorial Garden and Casino.

Life at home is normal as ever. The day After TJ died we built the "TJ memorial garden and Casino." TJ loved to play with a toy that my little girls had, it was a roulette and he would go crazy with that thing, so I decided to name the garden so I could smile every time I tell the story about a great friend.
Work is work, and I have to kiss my wife's beautiful butt for the next century or so. This last weekend we went on a camping trip, it was great and we had a great time. That was my first time in the woods EVER, I have been out there in the field 1/2 of my military life playing soldier, but NEVER camping with the family. It was great and the girls were able to get out of the house and the memories of TJ for a while.
My wife was working and had to meet us at the camping site. We had the Circle of friends from the base, we had a big fire going and after a while the wife came in to join the party. We had a tent and we slept on the floor, my kids didn't say anything about sleeping on the floor, they just went to sleep. I slept very well and felt great next morning. Every time I went to the field to play soldier I slept two to three hours at night and were moving all the time, the only time that we rested was when chow got on site, drank coffee and kept moving. I used to come home from the field and my wife would not let me in until I was naked, leaving all my clothes on a laundry bag outside and then going to the washer. I went straight to the shower to clean my butt and then eat and go to sleep. This time was different but I felt so energized that everybody asked me to go get more wood for the fire, when I got back the coffee was already made and started to cook the breakfast. When we strated to pack to go home my wife was ready to pack the truck when I told her IN PRIVATE that she looked a COUPLE pounds heavier. It has been a long couple days at the home front. The rest of the week don't look good for the home team either. She looks great, just the fact that she has gained a couple of pounds. Long time ago she asked me that if she ever gained a couple pounds to tell her. I did and now she feels ugly and fat. SHE IS NOT!!!!!! So now I am thinking of holding up a bank so I can buy that freaking big ass diamond to say I am sorry.

I almost slept on the TJ Memorial Garden and Casino last night.

Goodbye TJ.

Last night my wife and I had to take TJ, our cat, to the vet, it was to say goodbye to a great friend. TJ was with us for about four years, he was the house owner and would wake us up every morning by jumping in bed with us right before the alarms went off. Two months ago TJ started to vomit, we thought that he was running outside and eating grass, after a few days we took him to the vet and after many tests I was told that TJ had liver failure. The vet told me that it was a long shot but we could give him some vitamins and antibiotics. After a few days he improved and was eating a lot more and trying to go outside. The whole family took turns and took him outside trying to make him feel better. After a week or so, he stopped eating and turned yellow (jaundice) so we had to force him to eat. Every morning and after work I would give him baby food and the vitamins with a syringe, the vitamins were of a very dark color and smelled bad. My girls would help me and we tried to make him feel loved. Yesterday after work, I came home and saw TJ on the floor and was about gone. My wife and I took him to the vet and asked them to do something for him. The vet came in with a syringe full of a black liquid that we thought were more vitamins for TJ, but it was TJ's urine. His kidneys were dead, his liver was dead and the only thing to do was to end his misery. The reason was that TJ was a very nervous cat and we had moved three times in a year, plus my return from Iraq was too much for him and became a nervous wreck becoming almost 25 pounds. Before the vet did his thing my wife and I were able to say goodbye, we kissed him and with tears in our eyes we said "we will see you again."
I have seen men killed in combat, I have seen friends wounded in combat, but it is hard to say goodbye to a good friend, even if this friend was a furry one.
I enclose a picture of TJ in his prime, when he was king of the house.

WTF?????

Last week was the best political news week we have had in a long time. (Sorry for the school shootings, I can not imagine the sadness those parents feel). First came out the book "State of Denial," by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward strongly suggesting the Administration has mislead the public about the Iraq War and then came confirmation of what Mr. Woodward was saying and what others have said about this administration with the new biography from GEN Powell. The public has NO idea of the level of violence that we face in Iraq. We have NO idea what is going on in Iraq. ERIK WAS RIGHT!!!! The then Chief of Staff for the Army, GEM Erik Shinseki warned the whole administration that it would take more than 300K troops to control Iraq. Rumsfeld fired him (Yes, he did) for what he said and even some democrats went against the General. The biggest drum for war in the media was Rush Limbaugh calling the General a paper tiger and such. I just want to remind you that Rush avoided service in Viet Nam by claiming he had a cyst on his ass. The people that make policy have been ignorant BY CHOICE of what is going on in the world today. Then a congressional report linking the White House to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and showing many more contacts with him than the White House had admitted. If that was not enough to make the Republican party poop their pants by the end of the week Mr. Foley from Florida quits the House of Representatives because he sent very bad emails to young boys that had been working at the Capitol.
People in office will face justice for what they have done to the country and their soldiers. It has come to the point that if you are not a Christian you are against America, Apple pie and Mom. Republicans have done that to the country, if you support evolution you are against God and country. Those people have brought the country to a religious civil war. Remember that those christian freaks believe in a talking snake. I rather believe that the creator took all 4 billion years to come up with the perfect place for humans to coexist with the whole creation.
We have created religion to explain something we couldn't understand before. The creator has given us reason and the ability to use that reason to understand the gratest gift off all; LIFE. Now we are fighting Satan (christianity, islam, other religions) because we have created them, we have created our own "book of revelation" and with a bit of understanding about human nature, we can predict that religion will be the doom of all human life on this earth. That was in the minds of the our founding fathers when they came up with NO RELIGION IN GOVERNMENT. You can be as religious as you want but remember that NOT all of us believe in the same crap that you do!!!! So don't bring the belief of a talking snake to my home.
For those who believe that the bible has no contradiction, errors and/or stupidity in it; I have one example of many; in Matthew 2 it says that the wise men came from the east following an eastenr star. After 22 years in the military I can read a freaking map and what Matthew says is wrong.
Just a short note to tell you that the Republicans and some Democrats will pay for the mistakes and crimes of the Iraqi war.