New Year's Eve

My wife Sarema's family celebrates Christmas on New Year's, but it's also pretty much an annual family reunion. All her brothers, cousins, aunts, and uncles meet up at her Grandmother's house in Northern California for a couple days of festivities and tradition.
She's up there now with Hunter and I wish I could be with them to share these times. I was also looking forward to seeing her aunt Inky's face when she opened our gift to her. Maybe someone can get a picture.
Have fun ringing in the new year, Sarema! I hope you get lots of Winnie the Pooh gifts... and please don't forget to send me your chocolate letter "S."

Meanwhile, back in the desert, I will ring in the new year by going on a secret mission tonite. I'll write more about it later, but I'm glad to say goodbye to 2005. It's been a rough year and I'm looking forward to reuniting with my family in 2006.

Happy New Year everybody!

Practical Jokes

The Chaplain
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Coop up a bunch of people in a small barracks and the pranksters will usually seek each other out and start a war. Collatoral damage is always a risk, but a risk that is accepted by the pranksters.
Take John toilet-papering two lieutenant colonels' beds last month for example. I wasn't involved, but I do have pictures, of course.
Last night we got punk'd... By the chaplain of all people. (he's pictured here). We were watching TV and the lights had just gone out at 2200. Then there was a horrendous fart from the cube next door. A couple of minutes later, another long and loud fart seemed to come from a cube on the opposite site. The frequency of the farts increased until the members of the Swamp figured out that something was afoot and fanned out to find the culprit.
Turns out it was the chaplain with a remote-controlled fart-sound-maker machine thing that he had hidden under the covers in John's bed.
We laughed our asses off.

Hunter's Christmas

Hunter's grandma is very ahh... "enthusiastic" with the horsey toys she buys for him. Looks like from the photo that Hunter enjoyed himself, though. In case you can't tell, he's blowing raspberries while riding on the stuffed horse. I'm sure Sarema was right off camera ready to catch Hunter when he decided to "dismount."
I'm grateful that Dad and Kim sent pictures, but I still wish I was there to be with him at his first Christmas.

Post Christmas Wrap Up

...no pun intended.
Christmas was similar to most other days here in that it was pretty boring. We did watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve (the darkness concealed most of the guys' tears). On Christmas day, we opened presents and watched '24' until lights out. Jack Bower is the man! What a great show.
Anyhow, my friends and family hooked me up with some great presents. I got homemade candy, a super photo album and a frame with pawprints of all my sons (Hunter, Ranger, and Bear) from Sarema, cordless headphones for my IPOD from my parents, season 1 of Lost and XboX games from Kim, a beer-themed desk calendar from Joan, and a bunch of great photos from Rick. (I apologize if I left anyone out. My Mom says I'd forget my own head if it wasn't attached; and she's right)
Later, Jim and I ended up on the pie-serving station for Xmas dinner. We got to serve dessert to the troops and we had a great time. We have some of the best men and women this country has to offer here in the desert with us. I enjoyed meeting a bunch of them.
Well, back to groundhog day until New Year's this weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas back home.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Hunter Santa
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Talk about cute Christmas oufits...
I might be a little bit biased, but I think this guy is the best looking baby around.
He and his mother are visiting my parents up in Washington and are hopefully having a great holiday so far.
On this side of the planet, the residents of the Swamp are going to take in "It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD tonite and tomorrow we're going to conduct a Season-2 of "24" marathon on our day off.
Merry Christmas, everyone.

The Holiday Season

Saying goodbye again
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

It really doesn't feel like Christmas-time around here. Walking around, there's some Christmas music in the background and I have my USB Christmas Tree on the desk, but mostly it's still Groundhog Day everyday.
It should be a time with family, but it's really just more of keeping our nose to the gridstone and trying to make time pass quicker.
To my friends and family, I wish I could be there with you (especially the kid in the picture). I'll be there next year and it'll mean so much more, having missed out this year.

Sing it, Bing...

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
and presents on the tree.

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.

Drive it like you stole it

Drive it like you stole it
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

"Drive it like you stole it" is the motto here in the middle east. Here's a picture of Ron driving while I was riding with him on R&R. He was careening around round-a-bouts, cutting off other drivers, speeding towards red lights, and just generally driving like a local. I sure hope he doesn't drive the same way now that he's back in the states, 'cause the American cops will haul his butt to jail.
At least he got us to everywhere we went in one piece...

Sushi At Last

Sushi At Last
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Ron and I dined on some fine sushi while I was on R&R. This attempt at eating sushi in a foreign country worked out much better than our last attempt in Mexico.
By the way, Ron is safely back home in the US now, having completed his 4-month tour in the middle east.

My Trips

ahhhh
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

I'm still trying to fight off jet lag, but here's a quick rundown of where I went in early december...
I went down to Qatar for a business meeting and ended up staying there for 4 days of R&R with Ron. In addition to watching the Army/Navy game, I found a nearby hot tub and was able to take in several soaks.
I got a call while in Qatar informing me that I needed to go back to the East Coast for a couple of meetings. I was scheduled to leave for the east coast on the day after I returned from Qatar. The plane was delayed, but I finally made it out of Kuwait and back to Washington DC for the meetings. I was able to see some family while I was there, so that was a blessing, and I got accomplished what I needed to do on the business side. I was in DC for 4 days and then hopped a plane back to here.
That's the quick and dirty version, but I'm still recovering from all that travelling. If I had to do it all over again right now, I would, though. (see the picture to understand part of the reason)

Snow and Desert Camo

Snow and Desert Camo
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Here's a picture from my trip. As you can see, it looks a little weird to stand in snow with desert camoflague on.

Back

I'm back from all my trips. Still trying to recover from jet lag. I flew over 20,000 miles and a total of 16 times zones over the last two weeks.
I returned home to multiple Christmas packages and gifts. It's humbling to have such good friends and family sending their support all the way over here.
I'll write more soon. I'm still trying to catch up on work (and sleep)

Another Trip

I returned on monday from visiting Ron only to turn around 24 hours later and head off on another trip. That's why I didn't get a chance to blog this week.
When I conclude the trip next week, I'll talk more about where I went and what I did.

Lost

Army got smoked last night.
They had a good offense, but just couldn't defend against Navy's rushing game. The Navy had over 500 yards rushing, leading them to a 42-23 victory over Army in the 106th meeting between the service academies.
The game kinda lost it's luster around the end of the second quarter. It was all Navy after that.
Ron and I watched the game at his work on some of the big screens in a briefing room. It was fun to be able to watch the game together on the far side of the world, regardless of the result. We vowed that we'll watch it again next year in the states. Then maybe i can get my $5 back from Ron.

A Taste of Normalcy

The first day I was here, Ron and I joined an RAF pilot named Robbie and a USAF pilot named "Pins" (American pilots all go by their callsigns... It's so "Top Gun") for dinner. We did a quick internet search for the kind of restaturant we were looking for and headed off post to a local swanky hotel. On the first floor, with a view of the marina, we dined on hundreds of dollars worth of sushi. It was so great to feel like a normal person again; eating good food in a real restaurant without plastic utensils and plates like back on my home base in Kuwait.
Yesterday, Ron and I ventured off post again and had lunch at a Turkish restaurant. Those cooks can do incredible things with flatebread, chicken, and spices. We then drove along the coast and stopped at a huge mall near the water. This place was enormous and was as nice (if not nicer) than any mall in the states. In fact, if not for the men in white robes and women covered in black, I'd have thought I was in the Galleria back in LA. There were hundreds of shops, an ice rink, and a game area for kids that took up two floors and 90,000 square feet. We did some shopping and then took in a movie while we were there: the new Zorro flick complete with arabic subtitles and amateur editing-out of the passionate kissing scenes. After the mall we had another great dinner and made our way to Ron's base by way of a British pub.
Tonite is the centerpiece of my trip: the Army Navy game. The series is tied now 49-49-7. Army has won its past four games this season and is poised to kick the snot out of Navy tonite. Regardless of the game's outcome, it's been nice to get away from work and to relax with a good friend who I haven't seen in a long time. The chance to get together 10,000 miles from home has been a truly unique experience.
I seem to have misplaced my USB-to-Flash-Card adapter, but when I find it I will upload some pictures of the goings-on I described above.
GO ARMY - BEAT navy.