To Whom It May Concern

Late Nights At The Operations Center

I took over a couple of weeks ago for the night shift NCO at our company operations center while he goes home for his break, which works out pretty nice for me, considering that I had that lump removed from my back so I’m restricted from wearing the ballistic armor vest until it heals up. So far it’s healing up nicely, initially they thought it would have taken less time but they didn’t realize just how deeply they had cut into my back so I’m working on another 10 days of restricted duty till they can be sure it’s healed up right.

Not a whole lot happens at night, we monitor the different communications devices, drive back and forth from battalion to pick up and deliver paperwork, keep track of who comes around the company motor pool (pretty much no one), and until that stupid pond out in front is gone, we have to clean the water out of the bunker (for some reason the hole they dug to hold the water from the December to February rains ended up tapping into the bunker itself and leaking more than 250 gallons a night into the old operations center, so we’ve moved upstairs until that pond dries out again.)

I did notice something that made me snicker… we purchase a lot of the bootleg movies over here to watch, on DVD, and while some are pretty decent quality, most have some sort of glitches or problems. Well, we were watching one last night and they actually had the anti piracy preview recorded right along with the rest of the movie. “You wouldn’t steal a car, would you?” Yah, that one. I thought that was hilarious. Nothing like being thorough in your dubbing processes, watching the anti-piracy warning on a pirated dvd.

Anyone that is overseas in the military knows about the use of phone cards, DSN lines and all that. Has anyone else noticed how irritating the cards have gotten lately? When did they turn into a 10 minute process of button pushing and irritating advertisements just to make a phone call with a product that you paid for?

“Thank you for using the AT&T US Postal Service phone card. Here at the US Postal Service we are willing to work with all of you…” *I press 1 to cut that off*

“For English press 1, for Espanol…” *1*

“Enter your card number now” *enter the pin number*

“Now you can use your AT&T phone card for local movie listings, restaurant reviews, and…”*1 GRRRR*

For a call within the United States, Canada, or the Caribbean…” *1*

“You may dial now” *dial the phone number, FINALLY*

“Remember the US Postal Service for all your shipping and…” *1 DAMMIT*

“Your phone card has ### minutes remaining, when you hear… *1 GEESH!!!*

“Thank you for all you do to keep the hope and spirit of…” *1, CHRIST ALREADY!!*

“DIALING” *ABOUT DAMN TIME!!*

I do believe that when I get back, I’m going to look up the lady from the phone card and give her the beating of a lifetime, all in the spirit of hope and all the other bullshit she talks about on my phone card : )

I’ve been feeding a new addiction at night now, called “PINBALL”. That’s right folks, it’s the pinball game you can find on most newer computers, and I’ve become addicted to it. Has anyone else? I have spent hours inventing new and more interesting swear words to yell at the computer when it CHEATS and knocks the ball back behind the paddles or right down the middle where I can’t stop it!! Of course this happens during the lonely hours at night out at the operations center. My high score is 9.6 million, I can't seem to get even close to that again haha.

One thing I probably shouldn’t say but I will anyway, that song “Loving you, is easy cuz you’re beautiful…”, yah, well, the guy I work with at night and I were trying to hit the high note, and needless to say, we were at least 4 octaves off, how the hell does she do that? Anyone who has heard that song knows exactly what I’m talking about, “doo en doo en doo oooh, ahhhhhhh”. Yah, don’t ask, we get freaking bored as hell at night sometimes, SO DON’T JUDGE US!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

I was thinking maybe later on,
we could get together for awhile
It’s been such a long time,
and I really do miss your smile.

I’d Really Love To See You Tonite – Barry Manilow