rain o'er me

As we were sitting there finishing our lunch, several loud booms shook the dining facility, which got suddenly quiet. A couple people I was eating with glanced around nervously until I said "Relax guys. It's just thunder." They both laughed disbelievingly. After all, we hadn't seen anything other then blue skies and sun since we got here in late April. Sure enough, though, when we walked outside it was actually raining. I was almost giddy with excitement and I rushed to stand in the rain-drops. My excitement lasted all of about 2 minutes, about the time it took for us to walk away from the building and through mud that stuck to us like glue. Figures, I thought. Even something as pure and refreshing as rain gets ruined over here. Still, it was nice to not see the sun for a little bit.

We are finally putting together a plan to transition this place over to Iraqi control. After 5 months and being the 3rd rotation through here, ya'd have thought that was done already. Nope. It's going to be tough to get alot of the tasks accomplished during our rotation, though. As rough as these Iraqi's have it because of the situation here and the constant danger their families are in, they sure have some sweet work arrangements. Get this - they get two weeks of vacation every month. That's right - they work 2 weeks, then take 2 weeks off. That works out to roughly 26 weeks of vacation per year. On top of that, they work from about 7:30am to 11:30am, take 3 and half hours for lunch, and then work from about 3pm to 5 pm. That's right - a 6 hour work day with a 3 and half hour lunch. WOW. Sign me up! (just kidding Rache, take a deep breath). But they work 7 days a week, right? Nope. Friday's are off. So who picks up the slack? You guessed it - the coalition troops here. That's going to have to change if we ever want to transition this place. Unfortunately, my favorite senior advisor seems to be allowing them more time off, as their commander continues to get what he wants and laugh all the way to the bank.

On a random note, Vegas called me. They want to know when I will be watching any Philadelphia sports team play so they can adjust the line. Seriously - I'm 0-6 when watching a game. I initially thought the Eagles were just off to a bad start, but then the one game I don't see they go off and score 56 points. The very next game, as I watch helplessly, McNabb gets sacked 12 times and they lose ugly to the Giants. To make matters worse, my unluckiness was passed onto the Phillies, as I got to see all 3 of their losses to the Rockies. What's going on here? I know I have bad luck, but can it really be that bad? The Phils averaged 5.5 runs per game in the regular season, yet in the 3 games I actually get to see they score a total of 8. I guess I can't complain too much - when I was in Afghanistan I got to see one game all year (a playoff loss by the Eagles - go figure). That's enough for today - I have to go take a slash now anyways.**

** Aussie phrase of the day!