funny headline

Snowstorm squelches climate change protest

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/30/2009 06:36:58 PM MST

A downtown protest of the climate change talks in Copenhagen became a victim of Wednesday's snowstorm.
"Not many people showed up because of the blizzard conditions," said organizer Clea Major, an international studies student at the University of Utah.
It didn't take long for the six friends to pack up a bullhorn and posters they'd planned to use for their "scream-in," an outlet for their frustration about the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks earlier this month to curb the pollution blamed for climate change.
Still, they chatted with a few passers-by during the commuter-hour protest near the Gateway, and explained that, blizzard aside, climate change is expected to bring chaos to the global climate, said Major.
She called Wednesday evening's effort a success and possibly the first in a series. As for the snow, it's not entirely new; a protest she attended last year in Washington, D.C., suffered a similar fate.
"There is always the irony element," Major said.

Happy New Year!

Well, I stayed up to ring in the new year. We spent the night playing spades and drinking virgin margaritas. I heard a couple of cannons fire off to signal the new year. Otherwise nothing too exciting about today. I am measuring my remaining days off of birthdays (Liz, Madeline, and mine). In fact I am going to change my countdown to days until my birthday, because it is approaching faster than my departure date.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year. I cannot wait to see you all again. Peace.




Recent sunset. Just so you know that the sun does actually shine over this austere place.

Recent sunrise. Yes, you can find beauty anywhere.

plywood

It is amazing what can be done with some 2x4’s and plywood. One can find scraps of wood lying around if they are industrious enough. Our chief in particular likes to build things. He secured some tools when we first got out here and started to go to work. Someone (usually me) will say ‘it would be nice to have a bookcase here’ and next thing you know he has recruited a couple of corpsmen and the saw blades come to life out back. He has made a TV stand, bookcases, CD case, porch, haircut booth, and wardrobe closets all from scraps.

The engineers in our unit also do a great job building things. They are working on putting a plywood floor in our BAS and have just completed doing the same at the chapel. Basically the ground gets saturated with water quickly from the rains and it will literally soak through the tent floor leaving puddles everywhere. What they do is take 2x4’s or 2x6’s and build frames with cross supports every 2 feet. They then place plywood on top and tack it down. This raises the floor off the ground and allows for a dryer environment. The floors actually look kind of nice when finished. What do you think of a cheap wood floor alternative Liz?

I have found a poker game over at the British hospital. They play Texas hold ‘em. I figured that since I am the only one who has ever been to Texas that I may have held an advantage. I have played 4 times and won twice. I'm so money! I am thinking Vegas baby, Vegas!






Wrap around desks and TV hutch all from scraps.













Bookcases


















Front porch to Med Ops (code for staff NCO office space)














New church floor. Benches all made from 2x4's

New haircut hut complete with lighting.

I just finished reading the book ‘The 5000 Year Leap’ by Cleon Skousen. This is a book that I have been meaning to read for some time, but have put off because I thought that it was going to require a lot of mental energy. Instead, I found it to be a very insightful and educational page turner. Basically the author goes about explaining the constitution and the founding principles in America through the writings of our founders of this country…Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Adams… It also goes through some of the primary sources for their thinking like John Locke and Cicero… I think that this is an essential resource because, let’s face it, we do not get any proper grounding in our history and our constitution in our current education system. I also fear that most of our politicians do not fully understand the intent of our constitution and through reading this book you will see that our country is going down the road that our founding fathers had warned us against. I highly recommend reading this book. I think that you will appreciate just how thoughtful our founding fathers were in setting up this country for success.

Below I posted some pictures that I have taken over the past few days. I have included the welcome sign to Camp Leatherneck which is currently going under a huge expansion in anticipation of future troops. I have a picture of a couple of Brits dressing up for the day after Christmas. This is called Boxing day (you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day). I have also included a picture of me in a beret I just secured from probably the only Filipino in the British armed forces. He is a nurse and the beret is an officer nurse corps beret.

Cheers

Either me a) mocking a sign b) heart broken that I am away from my love or c) dancing to achy breaky heart

Must see landmark in Afghanistan

Brits on Boxing day. They apparently had raced in this garb earlier in the day

Tucker...Mark Tucker

Merry Christmas

Well it is Christmas here. I just got back from midnight mass (actually at midnight). It is pretty amazing if you think of it. We are in the middle of a backwards country where you would probably be beheaded for being a Christian if it were not for us being in an enclosed compound.

It was an interesting Christmas Eve. I was called away from an officer dinner holiday celebration due to a sailor having shortness of breath and lightheadedness. It turns out that she was having most likely a run of atrial fibrillation secondary to recent supplement that she started (has 3 sympathomimetics in it like caffeine and ephedrine related drugs). The next patient came in during our gift exchange after having a bar with over 200lbs on it fall on his chest during bench press in the gym. He ended up having a disruption of his costochondral joint at the fifth rib.

We were able to have our gift exchange as well as a dirty Santa exchange. I think that it helped with the morale. We are pretty much at the half way point which is exciting, but at the same time you realize that you basically have to repeat the same time span again. Regardless, I am still thankful for what I have. What do I have you ask? I have friends and family like you back home to support me, I have my health, I have my faith and I am doing a job that has a purpose.

Peace be with you all.






Some of the corpsmen.













Christmas Eve dinner.














HM1

















Christmas jester.













Just before Christmas midnight mass. It was a packed house.

frocking

The other day we had a frocking of a couple of our corpsmen. Frocking is a process where someone is promoted in rank such that they can wear the rank and have the responsibility, but they are not yet getting paid in their new rank. Basically, it is a way for the military to get more out of you and delay paying you for your work.

Last week the results came out for the corpsmen as to whether they made rank and 2 of my HM2s got selected to HM1. So we had a frocking ceremony (pic below). Just so you know, they no longer frock Navy officers so I am indeed getting paid as a Commander.

I finished reading David Baldacci’s ‘Divine Justice’. It was the sequel to the last book I read ‘Stone Cold’. I liked both books.

I am also reading 5000 year leap which I think should be required reading for all high school students. It is amazing what the intent of our founding fathers was and how it is being mis-interpreted in our current political process. I came across a proverbs 29:2 quote today ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn’. A lot of mourning going on in the news these days.







Newly Frock HM1s

Who is that handsome devil in the middle?

setback

So I got some bad news today. We have a computer tent for which we can use for personal use and e-mail and such. When we arrived the few headsets and video cameras they had were lousy. Therefore, most of us bought our own through Amazon or had family send them forward. Well now, we are told we can only use the few sets available at the tent. This means that you have to be lucky as to whether a set will be available to you should you want to Skype your family/friends. That is only half of it. You also can no longer use thumb drives or other plug and play devices into the computer. This has been the case for the government computers, but not for the ones for personal use. Unfortunately, many of the computers do not have DVD drives and if they do they often do not work. So now it will be nearly impossible to send pictures back home through the internet.

This is what I had to do to post today’s pictures on my blog. I first downloaded the pictures from my camera to my computer. I then burned them onto a CD. I took the CD to the computer in the BAS and downloaded the images. I then sent an e-mail from my military account to my gmail account with the pictures attached. I then walked to the computer tent, waited for a computer, opened my e-mail, downloaded the pictures and then attached them to my blog. Basically, you will be seeing fewer pictures in the future because this is a pain in the butt.

Yesterday was a nice clear day. The day before was rainy all day. The bad news was that there are big puddles everywhere because this ground does not absorb moisture at all. The good news is the dust is all matted down today and you can see a great distance. I could see more mountains behind the nearest and they were snow capped.

I finished reading 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' by Jon Ronson. He wrote about the use of psychics and other paranormal specialists in the government and the military. Is is surreal to think that any part of this could be true. Entertaining quick read if you want something different.






This is an actual Christmas tree that we procured.

This is an Afghan ambulance. They must have really short patients!