Abstinence, Bad Food and Forced Sobriety.
April has arrived which is significant. This should be our last full month in the Gulf which means that we’ll be heading for the barn soon. Frankly, I’ve had enough of this place for now. Not that it’s all that bad, I’ve just had enough.
So, since February, we’ve been back to Jebel twice. Nothing to speak of. We brought GLADIS out again, this time we threw a couple thousand pounds of beef tri-tips and Boston butts (pork shoulders) in for a change of pace. Most of the folks on the ship couldn’t tell you what a pork butt is, let alone recall having ever eaten one so they were in for a special treat. The butts came out magnificent. If I can get this thing to post the picture, I’ll add it. Last time I tried it I had no luck. I think it’s a bandwidth issue but what the hell do I know about these things… Anyhow, we burned some meat, drank some beer and saved a few bucks at the same time so it was good.
So, since February, we’ve been back to Jebel twice. Nothing to speak of. We brought GLADIS out again, this time we threw a couple thousand pounds of beef tri-tips and Boston butts (pork shoulders) in for a change of pace. Most of the folks on the ship couldn’t tell you what a pork butt is, let alone recall having ever eaten one so they were in for a special treat. The butts came out magnificent. If I can get this thing to post the picture, I’ll add it. Last time I tried it I had no luck. I think it’s a bandwidth issue but what the hell do I know about these things… Anyhow, we burned some meat, drank some beer and saved a few bucks at the same time so it was good.
The weather is starting to resemble more of the Gulf we’ve all come to know. In other words, it’s getting warm. I think we’ll be gone before it becomes hot, but we’ll see. This is my first winter over here; all other trips have been in the heat of summer (and this place just SUCKS in the summer…)
So that’s the business end. The Revolution is only a couple months off. It feels weird watching all the preparation without actually participating in it. I suppose that none of us are really indispensable when it comes to that. We pulled off a weekend up there without Mom, this time we’ll be doing all the prep work without me, and I would imagine that over time, all of us will wind up missing one here or there. It will make for an interesting homecoming…
Mom’s been getting by at home. She’s come across some new diet plan / pill that seems to be working for her. If nothing else, it has lifted her spirits so I’m happy. She, Martha and Barcode have been walking / jogging almost every day. With PDB and Minute working out of town, the three of them have something in common so it’s all working.
A dear friend of mine has just broken up with he companion of over 10 years. They are keeping things quite amicable, but it’s still difficult to think of them apart. We have been trading a lot of e-mails back and forth and I guess it’s been kind of therapeutic for the both of us. It has brought us a lot closer together as she goes through the separation / transition back to the ‘single’ lifestyle and deals with the impending departure of her ex. (It still feels very strange to refer to her as an ‘ex’) It really is a shame that it takes something like this to bring us closer. She and I have always been close, but it seems that our relationship has deepened over the last few months. I guess you could call it an upside, but it shouldn’t take someone’s personal crisis to bring two people closer.
So by now, you’re probably wondering about the subject line: I weighed 265lbs when I reported here in September. I’m down to 207 these days. When queried today at lunch about my weight loss program, I replied: “I’m doing it the old-fashioned way, Abstinence, Bad Food and Forced Sobriety!” That’s the up-side of deploying and the down-side at the same time. It’s easy enough to take a few pounds off, but at the same time you’re forced to give up a lot of things at the same time. I’ve also been 100 days without a cigarette. I’m not saying I quit just yet; that would imply some sense of permanence, and I’ve been longer than this without a cigarette before. I’m still having 3-4 cigars every week…
Anyhow, that’s what’s new. There is a place in Dubai that sells all sorts of Chinese made crap. It’s called Dragon Mart and it’s a Chinese themed shopping / restaurant / cultural based deal. Some of the guys bought pocket bikes and mini 4-wheelers for their kids last time in. They are rumoured to have 650cc go-karts and if the price is right… Maybe next time I post, I’ll be the owner of a nifty little toy for getting around up at Willie’s.
On-On,
Gopher
So that’s the business end. The Revolution is only a couple months off. It feels weird watching all the preparation without actually participating in it. I suppose that none of us are really indispensable when it comes to that. We pulled off a weekend up there without Mom, this time we’ll be doing all the prep work without me, and I would imagine that over time, all of us will wind up missing one here or there. It will make for an interesting homecoming…
Mom’s been getting by at home. She’s come across some new diet plan / pill that seems to be working for her. If nothing else, it has lifted her spirits so I’m happy. She, Martha and Barcode have been walking / jogging almost every day. With PDB and Minute working out of town, the three of them have something in common so it’s all working.
A dear friend of mine has just broken up with he companion of over 10 years. They are keeping things quite amicable, but it’s still difficult to think of them apart. We have been trading a lot of e-mails back and forth and I guess it’s been kind of therapeutic for the both of us. It has brought us a lot closer together as she goes through the separation / transition back to the ‘single’ lifestyle and deals with the impending departure of her ex. (It still feels very strange to refer to her as an ‘ex’) It really is a shame that it takes something like this to bring us closer. She and I have always been close, but it seems that our relationship has deepened over the last few months. I guess you could call it an upside, but it shouldn’t take someone’s personal crisis to bring two people closer.
So by now, you’re probably wondering about the subject line: I weighed 265lbs when I reported here in September. I’m down to 207 these days. When queried today at lunch about my weight loss program, I replied: “I’m doing it the old-fashioned way, Abstinence, Bad Food and Forced Sobriety!” That’s the up-side of deploying and the down-side at the same time. It’s easy enough to take a few pounds off, but at the same time you’re forced to give up a lot of things at the same time. I’ve also been 100 days without a cigarette. I’m not saying I quit just yet; that would imply some sense of permanence, and I’ve been longer than this without a cigarette before. I’m still having 3-4 cigars every week…
Anyhow, that’s what’s new. There is a place in Dubai that sells all sorts of Chinese made crap. It’s called Dragon Mart and it’s a Chinese themed shopping / restaurant / cultural based deal. Some of the guys bought pocket bikes and mini 4-wheelers for their kids last time in. They are rumoured to have 650cc go-karts and if the price is right… Maybe next time I post, I’ll be the owner of a nifty little toy for getting around up at Willie’s.
On-On,
Gopher
P.S. Looks like the 1's and 0's gods are smiling on me. I got the pic fo GLADIS loaded with meat to load.
posted by Gopher at 4:27 AM
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