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Well, now that our commander is back from a range he was at for a few days, obnoxiousness is back. He put out this rule for no good reason that essentially says we can't do anything fun (sleep, read a non-military book, or use civilian electronics) until 1900 every day. And since there's not really anything work-related to do, that basically means making up stuff to do, or managing to escape. Thankfully, coming to the internet cafe is a safe thing to do, and I actually got in without waiting. This place's computer's keep going down lately, and so they just pull the network cables out and make them laptop spots. Thank heavens for shoddily-made cheap computers!

On a similar note, I finally hooked my Xbox up yesterday to see if it survived the flight, and it seems to be working properly. Thank heavens for Microoft and their unceasing devotion to quality! Now all it has to do is survive the trip up to Iraq and I'll be golden. I'm hoping the rumors I hear are true, and that people who are on their way out sell things like TVs and refrigerators dirt cheap since they can't ship them home. Otherwise, I'll have to hit the PX (think Wal-Mart/Target) for one. It's actually surprising how much stuff they bring out here by this point in the game. There's a Taco Bell, Baskin-Robbins, two Subways, a Burger King, a Pizza Inn(Hut), and other stuff I haven't even got around to seeing. Lines are obnoxious, though. I think it's a little overcrowded right now. Hopefully that will change soon as people start to leave. We waited almost 45 minutes just to order a pizza last night, and counted ourselves lucky after comparing it to the hour plus long line into the DFAC (Dining FACility). Granted, last night was steak, lobster, and shrimp night, so I guess there was good reason for that one to be long. I heard the lobster was terrible though, so I don't feel too bad.

As far as sending books and DVDs and stuff, that would be great. I packed about 50 books, but who knows how many I'm going to still want to read. And something new is always appreciated. Definitely make sure whatever you send is throwaway, though, because I can't promise anything will make it back. One thing I could use that would be awesome is music. I've got a lot of basic stuff through my Napster account, but mix CDs or whatever of cool stuff that I'm too out of touch to know about would be fantastic. Oh, and e-mail me pictures! (nyasara@hotmail.com) Group pictures especially! You may have to leave a comment on one of my entries here letting me know you sent them, because I tend to just delete pretty much everything in my inbox that isn't from a contact or a company I recently bought something from.

I hope everything is going well with all of you folks. I don't really have the time or bandwidth here to follow everyone's journals, though I may try to use Slogger to grab them and read some as I can.

And oh yes, I do not specifically reccomend Pepsi. In fact, I'm a Coke guy myself. But I think we can all agree that Pepsi, far better than Coke, speaks for our generation. Every ad and marketing ploy they use just speaks right to my soul in a way that nothing else can. Truly, they are the prophets of our times.

Out here,
Nathan