On the Road Again

Hello to everyone! As I said, if I could get to an internet connection, I will post whenever possible. So here I am again on the road, or between flights, stopping in at a cafe' to get my internet fix. It's times like these that I think of the movie The Beach and how familiar so many scenes from that movie are to me. In the past 2 years I have found myself traveling to many countries around the world and my only means of viable communication have been checking email when the opportunity presents itself. It's strange because as a kid growing up I never had money, going to a movie was an expense for a birthday and not a common weekend event. Truthfully, growing up I never even imagined leaving the southern US, much less traveling to other countries. If it were not for a very good friend of mine about 4-5 years ago that worked for an airline I don't know if I would have ever left America. Because of his job I was able to fly virtually free and traveled to Mexico and Amsterdam. Without the experiences of these trips I do not believe that I would have ever considered working overseas. I truly count myself fortunate! It never gets dull and I always step back in amazement of the things I get to see and the places I visit. I count myself blessed and it all started with a friend that opened my eyes to the world! Thanks Jerry!

Vacation Grind

Alert! Casper is going on vacation!!!

Unfortunately, I do not have a guest poster for my blog for the next 22 days... I will be traveling A LOT and will not have a chance to post until at least Nov 3rd and will not be able to get back to normal posting until Nov. 9 or 10. I hope that those who have been visiting me as of late will mark me down and again return once I do. I promise to have some interesting stories and nice photos to share!

The past few days have been the vacation grind and I can not even begin to explain all the problems I have had to sort through and the mass travel alterations that have transpired. Not to mention all the wrapping up that it takes at work, so not to leave anything hanging, making sure that all the loose ends are tied. I have had long days and sleepless nights for a full week and it all makes the relaxing days of vacation all that much more worth while!

See everyone in about 3 weeks!!! "Good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy!" (Marvin Zindler - 13 News Houston) LOL! :)

Sometimes It Snows - Even in Iraq

Iraq snow sunset

As unlikely as it may seem for a place that spends its days at 120F+ for the majority of the year, sometimes it snows. For the first time I will spend an Iraqi winter in central Iraq. I don't think it snows here but it does in the North. Either way, just as it cools down, the weather turns from desert heat to wet, slushy, mud up to your knees. Most places in Iraq don't have sand as you would expect. People generally hear sand and they think of the type you find at the beach, oh how nice that would be. Instead, in Iraq the ground is covered with a powder like dirt & dust that gets everywhere and turns to sticky mud at the first signs of moisture. Once it's wet you can grow an extra foot from just walking 10 ft. as the mud builds up on your boots until you can barely lift your feet.

THANK YOU! to Mrs. Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette -Dawn Patrol for the link!

Mosul Iraq -Ruins

AHA

These are some of the Ruins in Mosul that appear to be somewhat ancient! This place had a very different feel, like stepping back into time. An Easter service was held here last year and it was an incredible! Definitely noteworthy in my book and a peaceful little slice of Iraq that could take you away and make you forget you were in the middle of a war zone.

What NO Looters Prefer -Part 2

Hurricane Checklist

Hurricane Katrina Survival Kit:

Mustard.............................................check
Cheetos..............................................check
Toilet Paper........................................check
Bud Light...........................................check
Keystone Ice.......................................check
Budweiser..........................................check
Red Dog.............................................check
Misc. other bottles of alcohol..............check
Piece of plywood or door to float your chick and booze on...check

Next time let's all be a little more prepared.

I received this in email today, and decided it was a good follow up to my post... What NO Looters Prefer I don't mean to rag on people from the south, because I am from the south, but when there are pictures to prove what some folks hold as important for survival, it's just plain funny. Like its so often said, "If you can't laugh at yourself!"

Humanitarian or Soldier?

It struck me quite interesting today that soldiers in Pakistan were willing to put aside their differences, or that of their leaders, and render aid to the enemy. The following statement is from BBC News.

"The Pakistani soldiers invited the Indians to help them rebuild some of their bunkers after sleeping in the open in increasingly cold temperatures." -BBC News

Apparently the differences in Kashmir are that of the extremists and the majority of the people can see past these ideas in this time of crisis. One can only hope that they will see that the war is also a crises and that the people, as a majority, can change the situation and not return to fighting.

Mosul, Iraq -Black Hawk Style!

Flying High

This was one of many flights that I have taken over various cities in Iraq that wane form peaceful to hostile territories with every passing minute. I must admit, it has been quite an adventure and it hasn't ended yet.

I want to take a moment to thank all the visitors/commenters/trackbacks & linkers as my counter hits a monumental 400 visits! I started all this not knowing if I would ever have visitors. What I view as success and my current place in the Blogosphere, has shown me that something as simple as my blog can become more than I ever expected.

A big THANK YOU! to Mrs. Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette -Dawn Patrol for linkage!

The Carnival is in Town, Yeah!

Dave over at Dave's Not Here is hosting the New Blog Showcase Carnival!

This is a collection of new blogs within the past few months.
Dave says, "Welcome to the October 10th, 2005 edition of the New Blog Showcase Carnival! The New Blog Showcase Carnival is intended to bring the blogs of the blogosphere's newest bloggers into the spotlight!"-Dave

On a side note, ya just might find mention of Casper's Calamity....SUPER SWEET, YES! WHooHoo!
-I'm not excited or anything...LOL!

Hope to see everyone there, bet I can ride more rides without throwing up than anyone!

Final Victory!

This is a test of the emergency trackback system. If you believe you have reached this message in error, please place a trackback on this blog...

The auto installer couldn't do it... I couldn't do it (not even with the -less than detailed- instructions on Haloscan) ...nor my tinkering. But Dave of - Dave's Not Here- did it!!! Dave is a typepad user, not blogger/blogspoter and was able to decode what was needed and necessary and put it in all the right places for me.

I was about to give up all together, thanks Dave!

Just Work Haloscan!!!

I hope that the Third time is the charm... If this doesn't work I will have to take back my previous post stating how easy it was to have Haloscan "automagically" post its scripts to my template and it just work! I can only hope that no one else is having such an issue.

Well... No Dice! I must officially state that after having HaloScan add its scripts to my site "3" times, it has now failed to hold for some reason unknown to me!!! Resorting back to manual manipulation...lol

Got Trackback?

Today I made some changes at Casper's Calamity, I signed up with Haloscan for FREE trackback services! If you use Blogger/Blogspot this is the simplest service you will ever add to your Blog! They have an automated system that even inserts the code for Blogger/Blogspot users. I happen to enjoy editing my own code from time to time, but when I did it and previewed I was getting a little white hash at the top of all my posts... so I cleared my changes and decided to let them do it. It worked the first time. Now I just wonder about all my old comments.....hmm, well plenty of room for new ones now!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

OK, Houston... we have a Problem! The next time I edit my blog its GONE! Working the issue now.

Heart of an Angel

Today was an extremely stressful day for me. Without digging to far into my personal life, I would just have to say that unless there is some light at this end of tomorrow's tunnel I'm seriously going to bash my head into a stone wall until I knock myself unconscious.

This is how I felt at the end of my day, until I visited some of the sites on my blogroll. When out of nowhere an act of kindness just blew me away! I was so tense and all of a sudden I wanted to cry. Now all the tension has gone and I can get some sleep. Thanks Princess & Goddess!

Brilliant Bloggers

Cheers! to The Order of Brilliant Bloggers for their hard work and wonderful content! I must admit I enjoyed the nominees as well as the winners on this Blog site.

TOBB -posts "The Best of" Comedy, Serious, Historic, Political etc. even Photo!
Stop on by and give them a look, I'm sure anyone can find something of interest with so many great site links.

Who knows maybe I will get a nomination for my Teaching Iraq! post for the month of October...hehe

Humor in the Blogosphere

Congratulates to Jenn of My Delusional Reality on here nomination by Order of Brilliant Bloggers for "Best Comedic Post and Blogsite." Being from the Houston area I found her post quite funny! Definitely worthy of a Linkage!

Teaching Iraq!

Iraqi Redneck!

I thought I would share this, it gave me a good laugh. Not sure if they picked up this sort of thing from some of the Southern "Good 'Ol Boys" that work here in Iraq or if they have always had these tendencies. Either way it's just funny! It just goes to show, anywhere you go, people are going to find a way to "Get 'er Done!" whether they have the right tool for the job or not!

Blog Recovery!

Finally, I somehow recovered my very first blog from Yahoo! 360. I was a bit upset for awhile because when I began my migration to Blogger I could not access my first post. I don't know what the problem was but it just seemed to be MIA. For some odd reason, today I went into 360 and discovered that my first post was again visible. I have now back posted it to blogger and feel complete. It's an interesting little snippet where I attempt to excuse myself of grammatical follies with a quirky tale from my past.

Where's Waldo?

Anyone Missing a Camel?

I haven't the energy to blog anything that takes thought, but this could be amusing!
If you find Waldo let me know. I just thought this was interesting and would work well for a "one of these things is not like the other," or "Where's Waldo" type picture. I hope I at least made someone look!