Day 129

I think I was in bed around 9:30pm or so last night...and am trying to meet that again tonight...gonna be a close one! However, even though I was in bed and quickly asleep after 9:30pm, the unwelcome alarm clock of "Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!" was blaring across the speakers at 10:30pm. Yea...another rocket attack. I never did find out where it was or if anything came from it. I'm convinced that those who thought things would simmer down during Ramadan were very wrong. I've been watching the intel briefs each day and there are a LOT of insurgent attacks happening throughout the country that don't make it to the U.S. media. They are more concerned with Iowa presidential debates and the stock market. My thoughts are that the Taliban are trying to get as much fighting in as they can before the cold season hits and they retreat back into hiding under the blanket of protection called Pakistan.

"Scarecrow"

Today was a busy but good day. There really isn't much to report but that's a good thing. Do you recall me mentioning the custom Converse shoes I designed and ordered for Tin Man and Scarecrow yesterday on Day 128? They arrived over the weekend but the girls didn't open them up until yesterday. "Dorothy" sent me photos today of the girls holding them. They look pretty similar at first glance. On the top photo, you're looking at the instep of the shoe. The outer side is blue and white stars. The tongue is yellow and the laces are green. Red piping around the rubber sole. The inner liner is cupcakes. Her initials are on the heel, too. On the bottom one (Tin Man), the inner and outer panels are flipped from Scarecrow's (ie: stars on the inside), the tongue is green (vs. yellow), the laces are yellow (vs. green) and the piping around the rubber sole is blue. The inner liner is soccer balls since she loves to play soccer. Just like Scarecrow's, her initials are on the heel. Pretty cool, eh?!  From everything I can tell, they really like them.

"Tin Man"

After I got back to the room tonight, I quickly headed out for another 8 miles around the base followed by a shrimp and veggie Mongolian BBQ I stopped by and picked up after I left the office and put in the fridge for post-run. It was a great post-run meal.

Well, it's time to call it a day and get to bed. I'm going to try something pretty cool in the early morning hours. I'm going to set my alarm for a few minutes before 3am and Skype in to my church's Mens' Bible Study which is taking place at 6:30pm EST. I've really been missing everything back there so this is well worth waking up early for. There's also a conference call at 9pm EST that is Navy-related that I'd like to call into using the Skype 800-number service. I'm guessing that by the time most of you read this, both of these things will already be done. I can also see that I'm going to crash-n-burn tomorrow night. Perhaps I can squeeze a nap in somewhere.

With that, friends and family, I'll call it a night. Another 10-day stretch done and Day 130 is knockin'.

Goodnight, everyone.