The following posts

Hi! The following posts are the eBlogs that I sent out when the Air Force sent me to "an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia." Feel free to let me know what you think!

Davids eBlog ePisode 6, "TBA"

Welcome back to my eBlog. I have decided to change them from “versions” to ePisodes. I have to keep this fresh and trendy and on the cutting edge. There are many people out there trying to copy me. I am the Rolex, they are the Rolox.
There are many flavors of milk served here: Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana, and spoiled. There are also several flavors of Gatorade: Yellow, Red, Purple, and icky Orange (none of which come spoiled). Why is it that milk is referred to by flavor and Gatorade by color? Is that a diss to Gatorade to identify it by color rather than flavor?

I am still at my “Super-Secret Forward Operating Location.” My time here is almost up. It will be a shame; I will miss the waking up and it already being 100F. I will miss the food that sounds good but doesn’t taste it (including the fries served without salt). I will miss working on a small conference table with 4 other people. Most of all, I will miss the 4AM walk to the bathroom from being required to drink so much water.

So they have poker tournaments and spades tournaments here on base. I ended up getting 4th in the poker last week and 3rd in spades.

Your Monday Morning Fix: So you didn’t get an ePisode of my time of an undisclosed location that is hot as hell in your inbox on Monday morning (duh!). I actually got more emails on Monday asking where it than any other topic, including votes from the poll. I know you love me, but good things come to those who wait.

I am still safe: I know you all love me and are concerned about my safety because of the fighting between Lebanon and Israel. Click here:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/middle_east_pol_2003.jpg
It is a map. You can easily see that Doha is not near either of those countries. Unless like 1000 miles is near.

Fan-e-mail!: I have fan-e-mail! I have questions. I have lots of it too!
“How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?”
-Hungry in Hampton

I remember Mr. Owl on the TV commercial saying 3. I cannot confirm that because they don’t sell them here. They do have Skittles however. It takes 0 bites to shove them down your throat.

“Your eBlog rocks! It is the best writing that I have ever seen!”
-Satisfied in the Springs

I’m glad you like it. I like it too. I like your attitude. I wish that more people would tell me how they really thought.

“I never knew you were such a humorous writer.”
-Smart in St Louis

Now you know. And according to GI Joe, knowing is half the battle.

“I will be Mrs. Maciek Pielorz on Friday July 21st at 1pm. Less than a week left of singledom...”
Congratulations! Another hot blonde is off the market. How do you pronounce your last name?


Fan-snail-mail:Thank you everybody who sent me stuff! I think you are the best! Without naming names, this week I got some cookies from my roommate, some chocolate-peanut butter cookie-cake from the office, some yummy fruit bars from a and some yummy snacks like PB-cereal mix and cheese crackers from a seet lady in Wyoming. You guys rock! You are the elite! J

More cruise ships: This week there were three (yes, 3!) shows that came to Al Udeid. Two (Yes, 2!) of them were country acts. Therefore, on a moral basis (and because I think country music sucks) I did not see them. However, I did see the third one. And it gets my highest rating given yet, 3 cruise ships! I really enjoyed them. It was a variety act from Australia. It started with a cover band, who ironically began the show off by singing “You’re so far away (doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore).” You might think singing that to people who are thousands of miles away from home, most of which are here at least 2 more months, would be a crowd-killer. Ironically, it wasn’t. They then had a comedian. He was funny—when I could understand him through the Australian accent. The last act that night was a guy who placed third on Australian Idol, which is the down under version of American Idol. Can anyone even name what happened to the third place finisher on American Idol? I bet they are out here somewhere wandering the desert. I thought he put on a good hard rock show. Oddly enough, he played the Survivor song, “Eye of the Tiger” to a hard rock beat. Just try to imagine it.

The Package war: See how it shaped up:

Not Me: = = = = = = = = =
Me: = = = = = = = = = =

Yay! Thanks to my loving supporters I managed to squeek out a last minute win! You guys rock. The postcards turned out even better:

Not me: =
Me: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (23)

Postcards to me from:
Missouri/Illinois: + + + + + + + + + + + (11)
Colorado/Utah: +
Florida: +
Kansas: + + + + + + + + + (9)
Italy: +

I am surprised they were able to find 9 different postcards of Kansas. I didn’t think they would have more than one.

The winds change again: The winds of change have happened here again. It was cloudy yesterday. That is the first day we have seen clouds. Unfortunately they were not rain clouds, they were stratus. Those are the kind that cover the sky the whole day. You would think the cloud cover would keep it cooler here. Ironically, it was hotter then hell yesterday. It felt like it was 120F here.

My head is not on the right way: In a previous ePisode I was upset when I couldn’t get a new battery on base and had to wait until my trip into town. I did get my watch fixed. I also managed to lose the watch 3 days later! ARG! I broke down and bought a crappy $15 watch at the gift shop on base. I have to go buy another one that I like when I get home. I suppose I’m lucky I have not lost my head.

My top 10: So in the last ePisode, I promised that I would have part of a top 10 list. Here we go…The top 10 things that I will miss about this Forward Deployed Location.

4. Getting fan mail!
3. CurryDay!

That is all you get. Not because I’m lazy, but because I was hard-pressed to come up with #4 and #3.

Also please don’t send me more stuff at my Forward Deployed Location. I am still accepting yummy cookies and stuff. You may send me yummy things like PB squares, PB cookies, Curry Chicken and postcards at:
3896 Constitution Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80909


More Yay me!: I managed to wreck a nice pair of headphones, (maybe they weren’t so nice if I busted them) but I have now listened to every song on my iPod. That is 800 songs! I believe that if I listened to 15 songs per hour, I had listened to the entire thing in 2.5 days. That is a lot of songs.

What I learned about the desert: You can get a cold in the desert. You can also get the stomach flu. Trust me, I know.

I saw a cat the other day at my Forward Operating . Or the likeness of one. It was this super-skinny orange feline that looked like it’s hair was falling out. I had seen some in Doha that looked as bad. I saw a lizard too. It camouflaged itself right into the desert. Kinda cool. Also the camp attracts a few birds. The hang out around the aptly named building called the “bra.” I tried to catch one to eat it because they look like a fig bird. That is actually all the animals I have seen other than the people here.

Picture of the week: This is me and my arch-rival Karate Gazelle going at it. It is the mascot for the Asian Games in Doha later this year. He beat me the first match (my hair is messed up from him) and I came back and knocked his horn off the second match.

Musings from the Mall: Why do I always end up eating at the mall food court?
There are 2 things I know about fashion. I saw an Arab guy who violates both. Apparently, it is social etiquette here to wear white after Labor Day and socks with sandals.
I also got to go down a 2-story ice slide that ends right in a wall. I’m not kidding. It was cold. I couldn’t make this crap up if I tried.

So after doing this exciting trip, what is next for me?: So after doing this exciting trip, what is next for me? That is a very good question. I’m leaving the desert on Saturday. I have to be at the airport at like 2 am! That means that most of you will still be up. From there I go to Germany, and a nice little trip. (I have to save something for the next ePisode.) Two of my coworkers are getting married the next week. After that I am having Lasik done AGAIN in my left eye. At least this time it will not cost me thousands of dollars.
When I get home, I will set up a blog site for all of these.

Fin: Many people have asked me if I was glad I came. My answer is an astounding yes. Even though I seem to whine bit—and moan, all of which I am extremely good at. It is the adventure; to go out and see the world: different ideas, perspectives and ways of living (even though I still disagree with all of them.). I would term this an “enlightenment.” Would I go again? I don’t know. Maybe. I think it is one of those experiences that you should do at least once. Kinda like hang gliding or base jumping or entering an eating contest. In the next ePisode, I will have some more really cool stuff.

As always, please pass this along to all your friends, your family, people you love, and people you hate. Tell them to email me at dhilburg@yahoo.com. If you want to be added to the mailing list, email me. Until next time, dream about me and my eBlog.

David of the Forward Deployed Operating Location in Southwest Asia

David's eBlog: special eDition

Originally emailed 7/13/06

Welcome to the special eDition! Why is it the special eDition? Because I said so. And not “special” in the way your mom told you that you were at 7!

Secrets: So I got a basewide mass email stating that I am now at an “undisclosed location.” [Don’t worry mom, I haven’t gone to Iraq] I want to buy a T-shirt that says “I went to an undisclosed location and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.” Ironically though, they have a directional sign right outside the AB telling you how to get here. You can also look it up on the internet. Email can still get here too. I wonder how it does that. Go get a map of the middle east. Look for “my base.” It is like “Where’s Waldo?” You know he is there, but you can never find him.

Voting: Last week, I asked if my superstitious readership misses me more today, or will they miss this superbly brilliant literary piece called my eBlog? The results are in:
Me: = = =
eBlog: = = =
Did not vote: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Most of you didn’t vote! Vote here. It doesn’t matter if I sent this to you, your lover sent this to you, or your enemy sent this to you. (maybe your lover-enemy person) If you voted already, vote here. I will announce the votes in the next eDition.

David answers fan mail: I answer questions now. Email me your questions, and I will answer them in the next eDition.

“Yo David-Can you drink there?”
-Waiting for the liquor store to open to get a 40, NYC
Yes. They have bottled water all over the place here.


Dear David of the Desert,

I have a question.... do they have air-conditioning in [location removed because it is undisclosed]? You see... here in Poland it is 90 degrees everyday (I know that doesn't measure up to your 110!, but mind you it isn't a "dry heat" here). My point is that air-conditioning does not seem to have been invented yet in Poland. Houses, buses, trains, trams, cars, taxis, bars, restaurants, offices, and stores are without AC. The only place that has AC is the giant Walmart type place (called a 'hypermarket' in Polish), but you have to take a sweaty smelly un-air-conditioned bus for one hour through traffic to get there in the first place. Being that our apartment is also un-air-conditioned we have to have all the windows open at all times. However, as in all of Europe... there is no such thing as screen windows, which means we constantly have a swarm of bugs here eating us alive....I guess I'm just venting. I'm wondering if you have come across the same problem? I'm thinking not as [location removed because it is undisclosed] is hmmm... just a tad bit more wealthy than Poland.
Anyway... please help me. What should I do?
-Hot and Bothered in the Eastern Bloc
How many Polish people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? What about an A/C unit? 39 Million I figure. (The population of Poland is 38 million.) Actually, every building has A/C here. Even the tents are air conditioned. There are only a few bugs here. They are all super aggressive flys that fly into your eye. Other than that there is no swarm of bugs. They have hypermarts here. They are named especially for me.

The greatest day:I had the best day of my deployment so far! It was wonderful. I got so much mail! (Mail can get find an undisclosed location also) I got 2 packages! One was really really yummy Peanut Butter Squares from my mom. I also got cookies from one of my friends from HS. I also got a postcard of Longs Peak in Colorado. Ironically, the postcard was made in Australia. Even more ironically, it came from my mom who is in St. Louis. I also got a letter which I am waiting until tomorrow to open. I don’t want to overload myself by opening all my mail at once.

I got to wear normal clothes to work today too! It was nice. You ask what I wear normally? Nothing.
Actually, I wear the Desert Camouflage Uniform, aka DCUs. Don’t call them the Desert Camel Uniform or Dessert Camouflage uniform. The former would be a good Halloween costume though. There is an exposé on camels at the bottom. The latter reminds me of Hansel and Gretel and their little house.
.
At 10 we left to go down to the hotel in Doha which does the base laundry. I got the privilege(no) honor(no) punishment of working in a hotel again. For those of you who don’t know I used to work at a hotel. It was crappy, just like the chicken Monday night. They were more expensive and had worse amenities. I never understood why people stayed there.

Anyway, back to the story. I remember it like it was yesterday. Yesterday, I got a tour of their laundry facility. They have washers that hold about 170 pounds of laundry. That is a crapload of laundry. That much laundry must weight about 150 pounds or something. After that we traced the forms as they flow through. I now know why they have a 3-part carbon copy form. However, it does not explain why they have a 4-part carbon copy form. They basically just throw one away. I suppose they work with the government where everything must be filled out in quadruplicate, or in some cases, millionruplicate. I got some really good findings. What was really nice was that I got to work some place that wasn’t covered in dirt everywhere. Can anyone explain why they get black leather chairs on base that turn brown with dirt?

I got to go have lunch at some place other than the DFAC (chow hall). We ate at the food court in the mall. I can’t seem to eat anywhere else (not including the little birdie night) other than the mall. It is just like all my readers-you can’t get away from me. Anyway, I had some kind of chicken, which was yummy. Not as yummy as the PB squares, but yummy. It came with yellow rice and hummus and pita. They have hummus and pita all over the place here. It only costs a dollar too.
That would have been enough to make it the best workday, but it got even better. It was lobster, shrimp & steak night at the DFAC (chow hall). What the heck is a DFAC? I don’t D there, and I definitely don’t FAC. Whatever that means. They should have lobster like every night. They should have a Red Lobster here. It would be a first, a Red Lobster at an undisclosed location.

This is LA: I can’t disclose that I’m not in LA. But I might as well breathe the smog. If you live in a big city (Kansas does not have any big cities) you know the air quality stop light: Green-Yellow-Red-Red Arrow-Dark Red-too icky to see the stoplight.
If they issued it for here, it would have been “too icky to see the stoplight” yesterday. After the dust storm (see eDition 4) it was hanging in the atmosphere blocking out the sun. Last night the humidity rolled in. I could barely breathe. Dust and humidity. Eh!
(cough)
Then something odd happened. I woke up this morning (that is not odd) and all the dust was gone. It was a beautiful day provided 120 makes for beautiful. The one thing I have to say for the dust is that it kept the temperature down to a balmy 110.

Happy CurryDay!: Happy CurryDay to you and your family. May the yummyness of Indian food be shared among you.

You should pay me to be here: For those of you who don’t know what I do, you can call me a “Saver” or a “Protector of Government funds” but just don’t call me late for dinner. (groan)
Anyway, I am an internal auditor for the Air Force. I try to make the AF more efficient and save all of YOU money. Anyway, they are in the process of implementing a process that will save the government $700,000. That is roughly 2.3 cents for every man, woman & child in America. So you should send me 2.1 cents for my work. Consider it as a push to save the government more money. It will make the government better off and me better off. (See your tax professional to determine tax deductibility, but Jimmy the mouse who lives in my office told me that it might be.) Be a trendsetter.

I’m so dirty: I am. I look like I have this tan. Unfortunately it will go away when I shower.

Fin: OK, so the exposé is below. I didn’t write it. I didn’t even read it. I did cut out a large paragraph in the middle. I hope it makes sense still. If you have any comments email shovelboy. Is there anything I should mention in my next eDition?

Only one week and one day left. Yay me.

As always, please pass this along to all your friends, your family, people you love, and people you hate. Tell them to email me at dhilburg@yahoo.com. If you want to be added to the mailing list, email me.
Until next time, dream about me and my eBlog.

David of the Undisclosed Location


Exposé:
A camel is either of two varieties the Dromedary (single hump) and the Bactrian Camel (double hump). [If this was not G-rated…] Both are native to the dry and desert areas of Asia and northern Africa (e.g. Qatar). The average life expectancy of a camel is 30 to 50 years
Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually. The fiber structure is similar to cashmere wool. The down is usually 1-3 inches long. Camel down does not felt easily. The down is spun into yarn for knitting.
Humans first domesticated camels approximately 5,000 years ago. [However, they are still running around Doha like squirrels] The Dromedary and the Bactrian Camel are both still used for milk [mmmm….camel milk]
Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today, the species is all but extinct in the wild, persisting mainly as domesticated animals. There is, however, a substantial feral population estimated at up to 700,000 in central parts of Australia and Qatar, descended from individuals introduced as means of transport in the 19th century and early 20th century. This population is growing at approximately 11% per year and in recent times the state government of South Australia has decided to cull the animals using aerial marksmen, the reason being that the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers.
The Bactrian Camel once had an enormous range, but is now reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, mostly domesticated. It is thought that there are about 1000 wild Bactrian Camels in the Gobi Desert, and small numbers in Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Russia.
On the fun side of life, camel racing is a popular sport in Australia, the Middle East, and Africa. Professional camel racing, like horse racing, is an event for betting and tourist attraction. Camels can run at speeds up to 40 mph/64 km/h in short sprints and they can maintain a speed of 25 mph/40 km/h for an hour. [There is an interesting article on camel racing in Qatar in last months national geography traveler].

David's eBlog, Volume 4, "Things that belong in the Desert: Camels, Sand and Cruise Ships." Plus an exclusive look in my room.

Originally sent 7/11/06

Welcome Back to my wonderful eBlog. It is getting down to the nitty-gritty—Less than 2 weeks left in the desert. The question still remains—does my questionably loving readership miss me more today, or will they miss this superbly brilliant literary piece called my eBlog? It’s a poll! (You are not allowed to vote for Bush in this case. Actually, you all know how I feel about voting for him, and I technically can’t use government email materials to push political means. So take from this what you want, but it does not have an intended meaning. This sentence means even less.)

Quotes from people I don’t know. I got my first quote from somebody who I don’t know! Yay me!
Please add me to your list. I enjoy reading of your adventures. Good luck with the “Cadillac”. From your tales, I thought you might need it.
Enjoy your stay. Thanks for the entertainment.
-One nice lady in Kansas

I now have 25% of the state of Kansas as my readership. Anonymous reader, please pass this to your husband so I can get to 50%! (By the way, I will mention Kansas again. I’m not sure that is a good thing though.) If you are reading this and don’t know me, and let me know what you think. That way I can add you to the next mailer.

Things I forgot to mention: My watch battery died. I can’t buy another battery on base for it and the BX only sells $40 and up watches that cost like $10 at Target. It was very frustrating not having a watch. So I picked up an alarm clock for like $6 and carried it in my backpack.

My iPod: I still have an iPod. It is currently playing “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics. It is song number 709 of 900. Can I finish? Place your bets; it will be a close one!

A Qatari 4th: So the 4th of July was last week. They had free blizzards at the pool at lunchtime, and real BBQ chicken at lunch. It was actually BBQed, not just broiled with BBQ sauce. It was good. Then at happy hour they had chicken wings from the pizza place that is on base. And at night, they had the “Best in Blue” show. That is an Air Force sponsored troupe of people who sing and dance. I give them 1 CS (see ratings scale) based on the fact that it just wasn’t my cup of coffee. They sang a bunch of songs we knew, but they sang them like they were in Fast-Forward.
Ratings Scale
1 CS (Cruise Ship) = I would not go see them on a cruise ship.
2 CS (Cruise Ship) = I would go see them once or twice on a cruise ship.
3 CS (Cruise Ship) = I would go see them every night on a cruise ship.

I opted for the Cruise Ship rating system because it reminded me of the shows that I tried to watch on the Cruise Ships. My grandmother would have really loved them though. One of my coworkers raves of them though. To him, don’t worry, they will be performing in Denver and several nights in the Springs. After the concert ended, and I had left much earlier they had fireworks! Really? No, not really, but it would have been good. I worked that day. What did you do? I bet you were not as productive as me!

A note to my not so loyal followers (this is all of you except for 5): I would like to say that I am currently still disappointed with all but one of my readers. The only piece of mail I got this week was “like a million dollars” from my roommate. So if you have not sent me anything, you still have one (1) day to send me packages. That means that it needs to be sent by Weds the 12th of July. That is tomorrow. I would like to thank my loyal followers who are being named as super heroes by what they sent me (because they are great!): Yummy-Cookie-Chick, the 6 Million dollar lady and Shovel Boy. All of the rest of you are my “not-so-loyal followers.” Except my Mom and Dad. They are still Mom and Dad. They are already named after superheroes.

So actually I didn’t get a million dollars. I could use that still. Somebody find rich uncle pennybags. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that I’m not actually going to get any more packages. However you should send me postcards. Think about it for a minute. I will come back to it.

More Cruise Ships: Last CurryDay, they had a cover band come in from Europe. They were good; they played some recent Top 40, some oldies, and some 80s. They were the best act which has played at Al Udeid. I found it entertaining that they bribed you with free pizza to come see them (not so much a direct bribe; they started giving away pizza 10 mins before they started.) Overall, I enjoyed them. I give them 2 CS. I found them entertaining and with some musical talent, although the jokes they told were worse than any of mine. That must make them pretty bad.

My Weekend: So on “WeekendDay” (aka Sunday), I went into Doha again with some of the other auditors. We went to the Gold Souk first, because some people needed stuff. I picked up a present I special ordered. Then I had my watch fixed. I was so happy to have the watch fixed so that it could tell time! I hate not having clocks around—I could never figure out how much time I was wasting at work without the watch. I then picked up presents for a bunch of people (If you are reading this, this is enough of a present. It is one of the great literary works of this time delivered free to your inbox.)
Then we went to another souk and I picked up a few more things. One of the guys I was with commented how good of a bargainer I was when I got the storekeeper to chase me after I walked out of the shop!

We had gotten a late start and by then it was 12:30 PM so we went to the mall since almost everything else closes in the heat of the day for religious siesta. We heard the Muslim “Call to Prayer” at about 3. It was kind of interesting that they have a state-wide call to prayer a few times a day. It reminds me of like a giant church bell.

One of the auditor-type-chicks wanted to buy some carpets while she was here. I think she spent close to $6,000 buying two carpets. I have a theory on this—You should not spend more than $5,000 on anything unless you can live in it or drive it. For my not-so-loyal followers, there is an exclusion of anything electrical. I can’t imagine spending that much for so little.

Eat Dirt!: According to the Weather Channel Online, the weather for Qatar today is “Dust.” It means blowing dust. Let’s look at what that means.
Blowing: The wind is blowing at like 50-60 knots here according to the AF weather service. I think that is like 150 or 200 miles per hour! When I went to lunch today, I think it took me like 4 times as long to get to the dining hall, because the wind was pushing me backwards. As a homework assignment get in the car going as fast as it can. Then stick the top half of your body out the window (Get somebody else to drive so your foot doesn’t come off the accelerator.). Make sure there are no low tree branches or farm animals or pigs in the way. That is what it was like here. The flagpoles are vibrating in the wind so much that I thought they were going to fly off. It’s like the movie “Twister.” Not only is it really windy, but this place is as boring as Oklahoma or Kansas or wherever that movie takes place.

Dust: Basically it is really fine sand particles. I feel really dirty, although in fact I am really just dusty. It must be really bad for my skin. It is basically really small sand particles.

So I got an email from the warning service:
KQIR WEATHER ADVISORY 07-029
VALID 10/0902Z (10/1202L) TO UFN (UFN)
SEVERE SANDSTORM EXPECTED WITH VISIBILITIES OF LESS THAN 500
CURRENT VISIBILITY AS OF 10/0907Z (10/1207L) IS 100M

100 meters? I can barely see 10 feet! Who writes this warning? We work on the second floor of the base theater and there is this huge vibration from the wind. You can hear the clink-clink-clink of the large dust bits hitting the siding of the building. I’m glad I moved out of the tent because I think I saw one blow away!

A note to my potentially loyal following: Now that you have read my eBlog, send me a postcard. I don’t care where it is from, just send me one. My address is (in case you forgot it or “misplaced it”:

Don’t misplace it again. This is your last chance to become famous and better than your friends. History could remember you kindly, or you can go on as too cheap to send a postcard.

My Room: I am trailer trash. I live in a trailer with me, Jed, Jethro, and Granny Clampett.
Let me tell you a little story about a little place. It is a 7’x7’ long story with a 7’ high ceiling.. It has a bunk bed in it. Why couldn’t I get a bunk bed when I was 9, but I’m get one now? The place is so short that I hit my head when I sat up. I fell out of bed once, and it hurt. 5 feet is a far distance to fall. Actually, I don’t really sleep on the top. I do seem to hit my head on it a lot. I have one good friend that I live with, A See; seems to work all the time though. I also have 2 dressers in my room which look more like shelves from the basement cabinets than dressers. At least they pretend to lock. I also have a little fridge. I haven’t thought of a name for it b/c I don’t want to get attached to it when I leave.

This is a long edition. It just keeps going.

Picture of the week: So I decided that the picture of the week for this week is camels. Here are the camels! Why Camels? Because I saw them just wandering around Doha. What kind of town has camels wondering around??? That and I also forgot my card in the room with the good pictures of me.

Fin: Some might say this eDition isn’t as funny. I’m not a comedian, a funnyman, an actor or a clown. My previewer said this was the second best one. I don’t know. Tell me what you thought.
Anyways, I am pretty darn funny. Next week I will discuss “bittersweet goodbye,” “Working at a Hotel,” and “Optimus Prime” as well as an inclusion of a good picture of me and some part of a top 10 list.

I’m looking for a guest section writer for my next eBlog Volume. Send me your story/note.

As always, please pass this along to all your friends, your family, people you love, and people you hate. Tell them to email me at mailto:david.hilburg@auab.centaf.af.mil. If you want to be added to the mailing list, email me.
Until next time, dream about me and my eBlog.

David

P.S. Shame on Todd for calling it a newsletter. This is not a newsletter. It is a cool & trendy eBlog.

David's eBlog, Volume 3, "Yummy"

Volume 3! I’m back for the Trilogy, the Trifecta, the Triennial, the Coup d'état! I would like to point out that although this might be the greatest eDition of this eBlog thus far, the pinnacle still remains. So the theme for this week’s main edition is “yummy!” I don’t have a dictionary, since I blew my budget (see last weeks weekend e-Dition) and $3.50 per day doesn’t buy much. I bought a smoothie at the coffee shop the other day and spent more than my per diem. But I did scrape together some money for a contest with a really cool prize. Read on below for more details.

I have been wondering the desert for 4 weeks now, and I have eaten manna (if it tastes like the fish sandwich—More on that later). I have yet to find Moses though.

Today is July 4: So today is July 4th. I need to wish a Happy Birthday out. Happy Birthday Mr. B! My cousin turns 21 today and they were off to Vegas for it, hopefully to win millions of dollars. If they do that, I’m sure that they will share it with me. I have always wanted to go back to Vegas. It has been a really long time since I have been there. The first time that I have memories is from when I turned 21. My parents took me, my brother & sister there, along with Gege and Papa (my grandparents). Those of us who could gamble used to sit around and play nickel slots, while those who were not old enough got harassed by the security guards. I remember when we went to the Hard Rock Casino. It was late and we had eaten dinner, and me and my parents and grandparents went to gamble leaving my bro and sis to sit on the outer ring and wait. Anyway, my little sister fell asleep on one of the lobby couches. A security guard came up to her and asked where her parents were and told her that she couldn’t sleep there. It is really funny to imagine that happening yet today. Anyway, happy b-day B.

Today is Independence Day: Happy 4th of July. Some of you are down at the StL riverfront partying it up. Others of you are camping in the mountains of Colorado or barbequing or just relaxing on a nice day off. Me, I’m working. And working is so much more fun than anything else you all are doing. You should all be so jealous of me (I’m not just referring to the fact that because you all are jealous of me being me!) for this fun. Anyway, they have a lot scheduled here—I will tell you all about it in the next eBlog. You have to leave me SOMETHING to talk about next week!

Give me more!: Before I ramble on too much, I wanted to share some feedback I got from all of my millions upon millions of imaginary loyal followers and my incalculable number of real followers. (The names are changed to protect the innocent.)

“You rock! Keep on writing.”
-Anonymous, New York, NY

“You suck. Stop sending me this crap.”
-Imaginary Reader #2674, Springfield, AE

“We are having a BBQ tomorrow night. You are welcome to come over. We will even have beer.”
-Mean Person who now owes me beer, St. Louis, MO

“I love your writing. You are so funny.”
-Todd, His own little world

I need more feedback. Email me and I will quote you next time.


I am off base again: So last Curryday evening, I went off base to go have dinner at somewhere that wasn’t serving dining facility food. Actually anywhere would have been wonderful to go, with the exception of McDonalds [but that is a different story]. I went to the Al Majless Arab Restaurant in beautiful Doha, Qatar. It was so yummy, like the first beer after a hard days of work, or the first sip of water after running 10 miles, or the first sight of that special someone after you have been across the world for 2 months. I had never been to an Arab Restaurant before although I have been to Middle Eastern restaurants and Mid-Western ones. Anyway, we had hummus and baba ganoush appetizers, both served with fresh hot pita. For dinner, we split a bunch of dishes: chicken on a skewer, grilled fish, little crabs, chicken pieces, fig birds and some beef which I didn’t eat. I liked the chicken, it was a little spicy and the other one was very herby. The fish was OK, but it got cold too fast. It was not served like in Chinese, but like typical American style. The crabs were good, but they were so small and had so little meat that it was hardly worth picking at.
The fig birds were interesting. I have never had fig birds before. I know that most of my loyal following knows what fig birds are like, but I will describe it for those who don’t. “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” No. It is about as large as a roll of quarters. They came 5 of them served inside a tortilla like thing. The lady auditor with us thought it was so that she would “not have to see them.” They were OK tasting. They were very sweet tasting, and the meat was hard to get at because it was not gutted all that well, although there wasn’t much meat to begin with. The wing meat tasted a little bit better than the body. Would I get it again? Eh, probably not. They stuffer from the same problem as the crabs; they are a lot of work for very little food. Anyway, all this food was like $18 or so per person with some fresh strawberry fruit juice and some yummy bread-pudding-like stuff for dessert.

I’m answering your question now: So the most commonly asked question is “How is the food?” I could be doing anything and get asked that question. In fact, the first day I got to Germany I was asked how the food was at the dining hall. I think I will be asked this question until I die. The best comparison for the food here is that is almost the exact same haute cuisine that I found in college. And no, Center Court is still not good. For those of you who don’t know, Center Court was the “buffet style” place at Wash U. Anyway, here they have burgers and fries and chicken every day, and a few rotating “grill” items like chili and the mysterious sandwich that claims to be fish. Oddly enough, it looks like the “meat” at a Chinese restaurant. They have a “theme of the day” which follows a weekly rotation. The only really important one is the curry bar, which happens every CurryDay. They also have a not-fully-cooked baked potato bar, a twice-weekly overcooked & wet pasta bar, a taco bar, a gyro bar and a psudo-american-style-chinese bar (which, of course is on OffDay [aka Sunday]). [If you don’t know which day is which, refer to the original eBlog, which was a Newsletter.] They have a soup and salad bar everyday, which is fairly good, except the dressing. They seem to rotate which kind of fat-free dressing they have by weeks. The first week we were here, it was, according to the bottle, Fat Free “French style” dressing; last week was Italian, this week is ranch. What exactly is “French style?” Is it with “Wee Wee?” Oh come on! You know it is funny! You like that potty humor?


Like a ubiquitous meal in the dining hall hanging over you, it’s time for the
iPod update: So last week, I told you that I was trying to make it through every song on my iPod in alphabetical order. There are about 900 songs, and I am on song 503, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” Not like you care anyway. So let’s go on to much more important things.

OK, so nobody listened last time: OK, so I still have yet to receive another package. The bar graph didn’t help. I am now so far behind that it looks like this:
Me: + + (2)
Not Me: = = = = = = = = (8)

This must mean that my loyal following doesn’t really love me like they should. So if I can’t win the package contest, I’m going to cheat. Rather than sending me packages and cookies, which would be really yummy and good, which would have made me love you even more than I already do, send me postcards. Send me them from cool places, places I have never been, places I have been, places I want to go, places I don’t want to go or Colorado Springs. I don’t care, just send me a postcard.

If you send me one, I will send you one back from here. Of all your friends, who can say that they got one from Qatar?!? You can become special! A giant among men, top of the class. And it doesn’t even take much. (This doesn’t mean that I don’t want cookies; I still do.) Mail takes about a week to get here; so the deadline to mail me stuff is the 11th of July (Monday). That way I will be sure to get it.


A really hot contest: So I have yet to get a sunburn. I have come really close to it though. My arms were a little red last week. So here is the contest. Email me entries at dhilburg@yahoo.com with the Subject “Contest”. In the message, guess the date that I will first sunburn, and the place that I will sunburn (on my body). The contest ends either when I sunburn, or July 20th. If nobody wins, then whoever sent me the coolest postcard wins. I am the sole judge of which postcard is the coolest. (The mail takes about a week, so you have a week-ish to put it in the mail.) Postcards previously received don’t count, but I did send you one back. The decision of the judge is final. Don’t enter if you don’t like the small print, but send me a postcard anyway.
(If you don’t receive HTML mail, that wasn’t funny)

Until Next Time: Next time, I will have some interesting stuff on “my room” (if you can call it that), “What I did on my Independence Day,” “The weekend report,” and “Why I am so great!”

As always, please pass this along to all your friends, your family, people you love, and people you hate- If you want to be added to the mailing list, email me.

David of the Desert

David's New eBlog, Volume 2, Issue 2: "This is for the Weekend"

This is my V2I2 originally sent out 6/30/06

Welcome back to Volume 2. “But Wait,” you say, “Last issue was volume 2.” This is volume 2 issue 2, since it is in the same week. You might think that this is the biggest news since the invention of movable type! Welcome to the “weekend e-Dition.” Much more importantly, I have made a change so big, so wonderful, that I blew my project budget reorganizing. You will understand as you read my eBlog. “But what is an ‘eBlog’ ” you say? I can’t post a blog online since it is a blocked site, [Grrrrr] I am sending out this “eBlog.” Please don’t refer to it as an eblog. This is cool and trendy, just like I am [If I wasn’t cool and trendy, you wouldn’t be reading this now]. So that is why it is spelled with the second letter capitalized, just like iPod, eBusiness, or eLephant.

Corrections/Missed items from the last edition: I didn’t have any mistakes pointed to me. However I am would never make a very good televangelist. Last time, I asked for donations, but I forgot to give you my address. My address is:

David Hilburg
3896 CONSTITUTION AVE
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80909

Please don’t put Qatar or Al Udeid on it. If you asked me to buy something pricey for you, and you want to send me money, just wait till I get home. Let me give that to you again, incase you missed it:

David Hilburg
3896 CONSTITUTION AVE
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80909

Does this make me a better televangelist? Or just a eBlogangelist? Send yummy stuff! Peanut Butter Squares are good! Cookies are good! Lemon Chicken nuggets are good, but don’t send them! I would rather not get sick. You can also send not yummy stuff, assuming that it wasn’t meant for eating. Magazines are good! DVDs are good! A million dollars is even better! In fact, if you send me that, I will promise to keep Big Bird on PBS and keep preaching to the choir.

And we learned that the chocolate doesn’t melt too much, so you can send me PB squares with chocolate!
I’m falling behind in the package count. I have received ONLY 2 packages. One was a request of things I forgot [plus a sandbox shovel for digging in the desert], the other was cookies [which are gone]. Look at how many everyone else has gotten! I created a bar graph to illustrate this.

So last time I was discussing the “Cadillac” and I forgot to mention something. I went to take a shower one night and I turned the cold water on, and it was scalding hot! Ouch, -2 “coolness points” for the shower. So I figured maybe it was set-up backwards, like it was backwards day, or somebody-in-particulars washing machine, and I turned it to hot. It was still hot, but it was a little bit cooler. At least it didn’t scald me; I think I got a little 1st degree burn from the “cold” water. So many of you, inclusive of my psychology-major-sister who are not scientifically versed, must wonder what happened. Well here is my hypothesis: the Qataris, who have the highest per capita income in the world, knock large blocks of ice off Antarctica, They then tow it all the way to Doha, where they dump it in a giant tank, and sent it out through the desert. The towboat operators have devised a way to have the heat that would normally melt the ice just build up inside of it so they are floating 100 degree icebergs up the Indian Ocean. That is why the water is hot. If any of you have an “in” with the towboat operators, will you let me know? I would like to prove my theory.

Actually, I think the water is transformed from saltwater to freshwater at a plant in Doha, which is like 45 minutes to the industrial area. From there is must sit around, and sooner or later be sent via a large pipe where it bakes in the sun and the 120 degree heat. I would like to have a day where it is cold enough to prove that. So if you have an “in” with the local Qatari meteorologist, let me know, so he can make it cold one day. Don’t worry about me; I brought my windbreaker (It was in the 50’s in Germany). And if it is too cold, I brought my heavier DCU coat. Only the government would tell you to bring a coat to the desert in the middle of summer! I also brought a pair of gloves, and hat too! (although not a wool hat; they sell them here.)

Ooooh, tell me Hot & Dirty Stuff: So let me tell you a little story about me. ;) To some of you, I am the hottest, dirtiest thing in the desert, but you already knew that. I went over to a different section of the base, and parked. They had issued a wind advisory earlier that day for winds about 40 knots, gusting to 50 with blowing sand. I didn’t really want to get out of the car in the middle of a mini-sandstorm though. I opened the door and it flew open. Luckily it missed the car next to me, because I couldn’t have stopped it. I swear that 30 seconds later, I was covered in dust and sweat. You could see the dust blowing across the parking lot in waves several feet high. At least, I would have seen that if I could have seen. I suppose this is why I brought goggles; it would have been nice if we could get a weather report before the weather started.

Basically the weather here is one of the following things: (Like any good AFAA auditor, I will use bullet format)
The wind blows off the Persian Gulf, bringing in hot, humid air. It is hot and sticky wind a small amount of wind.

The wind blows from the south, which is the large desert of Saudi Arabia. It blows hot dry air with high wind speeds.

The weather here just blows. Period.

I am wanting to see a sandstorm come like they have in the movie “The Mummy.” The face in the sandstorm is optional. The mini-sandstorm just made me dirty and gross. It’s clogging my pores. If I was like 14, I would like, have horrible acne. Like, really! I had to go take a shower right after work and burn my clothes. There was a security guard at the gate, and she was wearing a pair of goggles (like in High School chem lab) and a scarf. I couldn’t see any of her; she kinda reminded me of the Arab women that I saw in town. I only could tell that she was a girl is because she had a higher pitched voice than me, and that would be hard for a guy to do.

The new contest: OK—Using the your home phone and DSN, call a DSN in the middle east. The one who has the best story as deemed by me wins. In the case of there no 1st chance winner, there will be a second chance contest next week. You are not eligible for this contest if “home” is (permanently or temporarily) on a military installation. The winner gets something cool from here, like a box of candied dates.

More Point and Smile: Let me pick up where I started rambling. She wouldn’t tell me that she misses me. So next time you see her, and only the next time, point and smile at her. She will get it.

Fin: And that is it for the short weekend eBlog. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please email me here. I have a goal, and only you, yes you, can help me reach it. I want to have somebody I don’t know write me that they like my eBlog. So forward this to people you know, and even people you don’t know. Hopefully, I will hear back at my email address: mailto:david.hilburg@auab.centaf.af.mil. Please help my good cause and make my goal come true! Also if you would like to be added to my list, let me know. I can’t access my Yahoo! Mail to get my list. So email me and tell me to subscribe you.
In the next eBlog, “David goes to town,” a review of dining facility food, and a piece on “fig birds.” All of this, with less fluff! How much would you pay for all that? $39.99? $29.99? Ha! I beat down the competition. It is yours for a bargain basement price! (And I promise the next one will be Cooler, Funnier, and Grosser!

David in the Desert,
Now serving more than 25 email addresses.

Davids email news, Volume 2, "I had a couple of dates yesterday."

This is the second in my series of eblogs emailed out. 6/26/06

Welcome to my email newsletter, volume 2. Due to popular demand, the number of people signing up has doubled since the last installment of the David in the Desert Saga, or I just sent it to twice as many people. Just so nobody feels left out, I attached the volume 1 newsletter at the bottom of this one. If you haven’t read it yet, scroll down to the end and read it first. And if you have read it scroll down and read it again. It is an instant classic. You know how much the Superman #1 is worth? This could very well be worth just as much! I have just as much potential as Superman! (Disclaimer: An increase in value is not guaranteed by any entity. Also, past performance is no indication of future value. Lastly, some of what I say is sarcastic or not 100% correct, so don’t take it too seriously.)

Corrections from the last letter: OK, so I forgot to name the day previously known as Wednesday. That day is now known as 120day because it hit 120 here the last day before Curryday.

Fog: It was very foggy the other morning. Have you ever been in bad fog where you can see about 20 feet? Has it ever been 90 degrees? Have you ever been covered in a sweaty water from walking through a cloud. That is what it was like here. Typically it is a little drier though, with the high of about 115ish, and the low around 80-85. It is crazy windy today. The building seems like it is shaking sometimes.

Around Camp: So you know what a pain not having “potable” water around? I go to brush my teeth and take a shower before bed, and you have to take a bottle into the “Cadillac” with you. The “Cadillac” is the bathroom trailers around here. The one by the old tent was small; about 3 sinks, 3 urinals, 4 toilets of which no more than 2 were functional at any given time, and 6 showers (all of which worked). However it constantly smelled like people were going all over the floor (I did that once. J [I’m only kidding]) and there was no place to dry off except in the middle of the trailer, which had a 3 foot long bench for all 6 people showering at the same time to use. And it was always crowded. The name “Cadillac” was a definite misnomer for that one. I would consider it more like a “Saturn Ion” or a “Geo Metro.” The one by the trailer is much nicer [re usable] and bigger. Only one or two of the 16 or so toilets are broken at any time. The only problem is that half the shower handles come off in your hand. You would think, in a place that tells you to take really short showers to conserve non-potable water, would have shower handles capable of turning off the showers. Seems like somebody should audit that. Can you just imagine getting screwed over by a “shower handle audit?” I would consider this to be more of a “Plymouth Neon”—It functions and is fine, but it has some small issues.

Anyway, back to my story. Typically, I forget to bring a bottle of water into the “Cadillac” when I go to shower and brush my teeth. Anyway, I went yesterday and I was so intent on brining my bottle of water, that I managed to forget my toothbrush. So I went back to my trailer and got my toothbrush. Then I forgot my towel. How do you forget a towel and a toothbrush when you are only going to take a shower and brush your teeth???

My “Weekend”: I went into Doha yesterday. Now where is Doha, you ask? It is in Qatar.(Duh!) It is the capital city, and 600,000 or the 800,000 people in the country live there. We went to the Souqs, the old-time markets downtown. We started at the Souq Waif. They have all these little narrow (~10 ft) stalls, some indoor, some outdoor that sell all different types of things. It is organized by section: spices, clothes, native crafts, foods, household items & tools. The spices section was so pungent; like something out of a movie, with the spices piled up next to each other. I bought a little egg shaped thing of saffron, that I will have to try to cook with when I get back. It was much cheaper than the $3,00,0000,0/oz at home. I also got a little souvenir with the different colored sands of Qatar. I got some candy too. It was yummy. I would have shared if you were here. But you could have afforded 6 and bought your own too. Then I went to the food section and got some dates. (Ha! I had you fooled.) They were like honey dipped or something, but they were really yummy.

I then went to the electronics Souq, (ah, heaven!) I bought a copy of the DaVinci code, Cars, and Nacho Libre. They were cheaper than you can buy them on the streets of NYC, and the guy in the shop showed me that they work. (DaVinci Code has my mom’s name written all over it.) We then went to the Jewelry Souq. They had the bright gold 22K gold that you don’t see in the US typically.

For lunch I had chicken kabob cooked in middle-eastern style. It was with pita and hummus and the typical vegetable platter: cucumbers, pickled cucumbers, roasted tomatoes and most importantly a very hot pepper (that means a lot coming from me!). Lunch was 20.

Now a year ago, I would have placed money that I would never in my lifetime go in the Persian Gulf. I would have lost that bet yesterday. Between 1 & 4, almost everything but the mall shuts down so we went to the mall. In the evening, we went to the Doha National Museum. You might think it was something great, but it was really nothing. Click here for a link of everything else that there is in Doha to see that we did not see.

So now that I know what they have to bring back, let me know if you would like anything. On the touristy side they have displays with all the sand colors in Qatar, magnets, fancy table cloths, native weavings, sand sculptures, little wood inlaid jewelry boxes, and stone cups. If you want something cheesy touristy, they have little metal camels and little Aladdin’s type lamps. That reminds me that I saw live camels running around. [groan] If I don’t tell you know, you are going to ask me if they had 1 hump or 2. Yes, they did. Anyway, if you have a DVD request, I can attempt to fulfill it. On the yummy side, I can bring back dates for you, unless you are my brother, who is engaged and is no longer having dates. I didn’t find Qataropoly. I did find Barbie clothes that are made in the traditional arab black woman’s dress where only here eyes show. It will go well next to another Barbie in a bikini.

Call for help: In order to continue to publish long newsletters late into the night, I need donations. Money is fine, but is completely unexpected. Better is cookies.[The ones I got today in the mail are yummy! Thank you so much! You rock! How did you know that I love PB?] But the best is PB squares.(sans chocolate) Anything you send me has to be able to not melt when the plane is sitting on 130 degree runways. Oh, and my brother sent me a sandbox shovel and a beachball for the desert. I took the shovel outside and tried to dig up the desert, but I hit a rock. (And the cops were giving me a funny look, wondering why I was trying to tunnel out.)

iPod Update: So last week, I decided that I would listen to all the songs on my iPod in alphabetical order while I am at work. I am currently on 208 of 893. The current song is Don’t Phunk With my Heart, by the Black Eyed Peas. BTW, they seem to serve Black Eyed Peas every other day in the dining halls.

Movie of the Week: This week I am watching The Life Aquatic. It has Bill Murray in it. Let me know how you like it. Don’t give the ending away or else, I will come over there and…do something…I will let you know when I decide.

Picture of the week: I didn’t attach one last week, so you get a treat; 3 this week. One of them is a punishment for me. The first one is the inside of the tent. My bed would be on the far left, the farthest one. It is the one with the bright light coming from the bedpost, which is actually my reflector belt. The second is the outside of the tent. I’m on the left, Matt Henry and Joe Bicknell from W-P are the other two. You might have thought I took that pic, but you would be wrong. The third pic is the fog. You can kind of make out my trailer. I think it looks like snow. (Pictures are resized so that they are email size; let me know if you want the original)
So that is it for Volume 2. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to forward it to everyone you know. In fact, if you don’t forward this someone else, you will receive a miserable, horrible curse where you will no longer be able to solve multivariable calculus or figure out the meaning of life. Send me positive quotes telling me how great my writing is, or anything in particular that you want me to write about. Send complaints to the complaint department. If you don’t want to get the next edition, email me. If you think that somebody didn’t receive this newsletter, which could be possible, cause I couldn’t log into Yahoo Mail to check my contacts (it is blocked, along with MSN homepage(why?)) I tried to set up a blog, but I couldn’t do that either since it was blocked.

Until Next Time—

David in the Desert

Happy Summer!

This was my first in a series of eblogs that I sent out. Sent 6/21/06

Hi!

I bet almost all of you were still asleep, but I had to wish you all a good summer.

Things are going well here in Qatar. It is hot today. I think my ID card holder melted in like 5 minutes, but I did see an egg frying on the sidewalk. I think it is about 120 F today. It has generally been like 105-115 here, but I think it barely broke 100 last Sunday.

When we got here, we were staying in a large 14 bunk-bed tent. It was kind of the thing you would expect at summer camp. However now I am trailer trash. I have my own little 8x8 room in one of the trailers. Each trailer has about 30 rooms. I have a double bed, a large cube fridge, and wall lockers (which seem like filing cabinets). For some reason, all the trailers have 220V British style plugs (flat), and the tents had 110V American. But the BX here only sells the adapters for European style plugs (round). I don’t get it.

They have a indoor basketball court, an outdoor pool, and a fitness center, all of which I pretend to use regularly. They have a library and a rec center with PS2, XBOX, ping-pong and air hockey. They have Bar-Style Texas Hold-Em like 2x a week there, and I came in 4th the other night. And then we have a bar here. The special beer of the week (which they don’t normally have) was Coors Light. It traveled 7000 miles in parallel to me, just to be drunk like it could be back home. I find that ironic.

So we work in the theater on the second floor. We can hear movies going most of the day. It is kind of annoying, but there is one nice thing. (See Tuesday)

I have taken to renaming the days of the week:

Monday is still Monday. It will not change days because Monday sucks everywhere.

Carmel popcorn day is the day formally known as Tuesday. It is yummy and we eat it all day long at work because they serve it in the theater.

The day formally known as Weds is now called
The next day is CurryDay! This is my favorite work day because they serve Indian food in the dining hall. It is yummy and I think I eat 2 days worth of food b/c I miss that many meals cause the food isn’t the same type as I normally eat.

After CurryDay (Yum!) comes RunDay, because everybody is at their desk and we have to get a lot done so that we can submit status reports so it looks like we did a lot of work.

Then comes NotTheWeekendDay, which would be Saturday if I am home.

RideDay is the last day of the week, cause we are always looking for someone to give us a ride to town.

Which reminds me, if you want something, let me know. I can probably find monopoly. I was in AC a few weeks ago, and they put up more monopoly signs. But they do have Camel stuff and Desert stuff and T-shirts and gold, and Indian (the subcontinent) things.

Work is going fine. I am almost done with my audit. J It is on a computer system.

I saw X-Men 3 last week. I was disappointed—it was watchable, but not nearly as good as the first 2 were.

David in the Desert