Falling into a routine...

I think that I have finally found my routine here in Afghanistan.  I think it is making the time seem like it is flying by.  When I think about the fact that I have already been here for a whole month, it seems like it is moving fast. Everyone said that the first 30 always go by quick and now I believe them.  But then there are also times that it seems to be going by pretty slow.  These are usually the times where I am missing my husband and wish that I could just go home to him at the end of the work day.

One of my goals for the year was to lose about 30 (which quickly became 40 after the holidays) pounds while I am deployed.  Unfortunately, when I weighed myself not too long ago, the scale was going in the opposite direction.  I think that I am going to blame it on the Altitude (I have nothing to back up that claim, but that's what I am going with).  The good news is that when I weighed myself today, I lost 6 pounds from the last time that I weighed myself.  So that was a welcome sight to see.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking that it was probably that the scale was off.  But it was the same scale, so I am taking the 6 pound weight loss and running with it!  One of my all time favorite things to do, is to weigh myself on the scale at the NATO gym.  I like this scale because you can switch it to kilograms, and in kilograms, my weight is only double digits!

Things have really picked up at work, and more work just keeps finding me.  I am currently working on 2 courts-martial, one which if the CG (commanding general) accepts the offer to plead will be completed rather quickly with a guilty plea.  The other one is going to a General Court-Martial and there is about zero chance of a guilty plea as the defense counsel doesn't believe that she make her client provident (meaning that when he gets up and says that he is guilty and what he did to the judge, the judge actually has to believe him).  It should still be a pretty easy case, as there are confessions and multiple witnesses.

Then I have another case that I'm about to prefer charges on, which the command tried to sneak by me.  In the military we have what is called an Article 15 or non-judicial punishment.  It is a way of punishing Soldiers for minor offenses that they committed without going through a court-martial.  The standard of proof is still the same, they still have to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, only it's not by a judge or panel (jury) it is by a commander who looks at the evidence and decides.  This case I didn't feel, nor did I think the Brigade Commander would feel, it was appropriate to dispose of with a company grade Article 15.  The guy tried to steal $6,000 from the Government, I just don't think it is unreasonable to think that it shouldn't be dealt with at the same level as the guy who shows up late for work.  But that just may be my inner prosecutor speaking...Well it turns out I was right, and we will be preferring charges on that case pretty soon.

So as of right now, I have 3 pending courts-martial, an officer elimination board of inquiry, and a flight evaluation board (where we permanently ground aviators and take their wings) pending.  Somehow my jurisdiction got all crazy on me now that we are down range.  I spent 6 months with this unit in Hawaii and nothing, and after 1 month down range, I'm busy.  At least it makes the time go by quickly....

Everything is ok

For those of you who may be worried about my safety with the recent events, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am OK.  The shootings did not take place at Kandahar where I am located.  So far, there haven't been any up roars at my FOB.  So don't worry.  And if you have no idea what I am talking about, then continue on and don't worry yourself, as I am fine :)

A Milestone...

I have officially been in Afghanistan for 30 days now.  I didn't really realize this as I am not counting the days.  Some people are counting the days, but I feel like at this point when we are still talking high triple digits, that is just demoralizing.  So, like I said, I'm not counting.  The reason I know it has been exactly 30 days, is because when I tried to log onto my internet in my RLB, it wouldn't let me.  So that meant that the plan I bought ran out and I bought a 30 day plan.  So thank you internet for reminding me that I already have a month down!

One month down means I have 4 more until I get to see Michael!  I will be taking my R&R in June, and I can't wait.  It gives me something to look forward to that is not a date in 2013.  Which again is better for the morale. Unfortunately, with the window I got for my R&R we will not be able to take the Mediterranean cruise that we wanted to take.  But, we are still going to go to Europe.  We are going to go to Barcelona, Paris, and Venice.  Spending roughly 5 nights in each.  A positive to doing the trip on our own, as opposed to a cruise, is that we can do whatever we want, when we want.  It also means that I can now fill my days when I have nothing to do with planning a magnificent European vacation.  I almost have it all planned out, but I haven't booked anything yet.  I keep almost booking, but then I decide to keep researching because I don't want to end up in a bad hotel.  But, I pretty much have it narrowed down to what I think we will be going with so sometime soon it will be booked!

I will also be experiencing another milestone tomorrow.  After 30 days, I will finally get to sleep in tomorrow!  I won't be taking the day off, because that really isn't possible, but I do not have to be to the office early in the morning as I have been every day since I've been here.  We normally have an opsync first thing in the morning, every morning.  Somebody finally got the GREAT idea of not having these on Sunday any more.  I am a big fan of this idea, and I hope it sticks around.

Just because you work in a shack in Afghanistan doesn't mean it can't be nice....

Just in case you have forgotten, I work in an office with plywood walls.  It's really nothing fancy, and I am ok with that.  It really is what I was expecting when I deployed to Afghanistan.  I have put up a few decorations, but I understand that those are really kind of like putting lipstick on a pig.  But that's just me, I'm not high maintenance when it comes to things like that.  Now, my BJA (Brigade Judge Advocate or my boss) doesn't see it that way.  

Below is a picture of his office, which is now out of date, because the artwork that he has been waiting on has finally arrived.  But you can get the point from this picture.  In the back right corner is a pretty nice espresso machine (sitting on top of a refrigerator on top of an end table) that only takes whole beans as it grinds it for you without any mess whatsoever.  On the left side of his desk, is a water feature (fountain).  That thing is solid slate and copper.  He had purchased a much smaller fountain and that just didn't cut it, so he had to upgrade.  That meant that I was lucky recipient of the smaller fountain, so I have a fountain in my office too!  It's unfortunate that he can't do anything about the walls, although I haven't counted out the possibility that he may pay someone to come in and dry wall them.

I was able to spruce up my office a little, although my taste just isn't as refined as his and I think my future in decorating Afghan offices isn't as bright.  I did hang a big ol' Longhorns flag in my office and an Eiffel Tower poster that my mother in law sent me.  I also have 2 picture frames of pics of Michael and I (which I think is better than any art you can buy).  And of course, now I have a fountain (which if you look at a previous post of the picture of Michael's goodies that he sent me, it made a cameo appearance).  But I now also have milk crates!  Now, I know what your saying.  Milk crates cannot possibly compare to an espresso machine. But I am pretty happy with my milk crates.  As I have told you many times, my office floods.  Sometimes I have several inches of water on the floor of my office.  My predecessor in the office that a good way to combat having things sitting in water was to stack it on top of boxes of water.  Cardboard boxes.  If you have half a brain, you already see the problem with that.  Cardboard is not waterproof.  In fact, cardboard actually gets pretty gross when soaked in water for any amount of time, and eventually deteriorates.  For the sake of my lungs, I decided that I probably shouldn't be breathing in moldy cardboard for a year.  Plus it was really gross to look at!  So, I got myself a pack of 4 milk crates right off of Amazon for $12!  Best $12 I have spent since I got here.  Below is the finished product.  Fortunately for you, I didn't take a before, it was really gross!

And just for good measure, below is a picture of my BJA's RLB.  It's pretty amazing what can be done with a metal box.  I told him if the lawyer thing doesn't work out, he maybe should open up his own design firm designing small spaces.  Just in case you can't tell, the 2 little painting on the right are a Van Gogh and a Renoir.  And just for a little context.  The only thing that came with the room, was the bed and that black little lamp peaking up from the back of the bed.

And finally, we finally got a little flair around the BDE HQ, so I thought I would stop and pose for a picture with it.  This is a giant version of the 25th Infantry Division patch.  It is the patch that we all wear on our sleeve.  It is a taro leave with a lightning bolt in it.  After all, we are the tropic lightning division.

It might be time to build an ark...

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating with my description of the flooding around here, I thought I would post some pictures for you.  I can assure you that the owners of the these vehicles did not try and drive in a river, they were in fact on a road.

A Canoe would come in handy!

Well it has been raining for the past 2 days now, and when it rains in Kandahar it floods.  The roads flood, my office floods, and pretty much everything else floods.  Luckily my "house" doesn't flood.  What is amazing to me is that we have been in Afghanistan forever and we have not bothered to pave the roads at Kandahar Airfield.  This is crazy!  Because they aren't paved, when they flood they wash out.  Then comes the huge pot holes.  I'm talking pot holes the size that your car gets stuck in.

Yesterday I had to be at the office at 0630 for a resiliency meeting.  This is basically a meeting with myself, the Doc, the chaplain, the psych, and the DCO (deputy commanding officer) where we sit around and think up ways to help Soldiers be more resilient.  It is supposed to be preventative, so we can keep as many people out of trouble and "in the fight", so to speak, as possible.  Getting to work at 0630 was quite a challenge as it had been raining through the night and almost every road was washed out or flooded.  At one point, I came to a road that if you didn't know it was a road, you would have thought you were at a river bank.  The tricky part is getting across.  A lot of times I feel like I am in a real life game of Frogger and I am the frog.  Yesterday, the frog almost fell off the lily pads multiple times.

The flooding in my office was at all time high yesterday as well.  Normally, the water is at a level that doesn't come up passed the rubber on my boots.  But yesterday, it was up and over the rubber.  So we all sat around with cold wet feet for the day.  Me and my paralegal are getting really handy with a shop-vac!

Today, was a really good day as I got 2 packages (I love mail!).  One was from Michael and it made my whole week.  Although it really made me miss him even more.  But one of the things in the package was some of my picture frames with pictures of us in them.  So now I can look at him whenever I want!  Little things like that help, but make me miss him even more at the same time.  My other package was from Teavana, so that was exciting as well, as I got a cool new tumbler that I can make tea in as well as some really good tea.

I have a board of inquiry coming up for a warrant officer who was identified by HRC (human resources command) to show cause for why he shouldn't be eliminated from service.  Basically he got a DUI 2 years ago and got a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand and an Article 15 (nonjudicial punishment).  Both of those were filed in his OMPF (official military personnel file) and HRC decided that because of that he should be eliminated.  So now I have to do a board and convince them that he should be given the boot.  The Soldier doesn't really even belong to my unit, but falls under us for purposes of jurisdiction.  It should be a pretty easy board, as it's really just a paper case for me.  As I will not be trying to track down the witnesses to his DUI from 2 years ago while he was in Korea.  Plus he was already found guilty of it beyond a reasonable doubt and the standard at a board of inquiry is a preponderance of the evidence, so I really just need to come up with an argument as to why this misconduct should prevent him from further serving.  Shouldn't be too difficult, although I do have to wonder why his command at the time didn't initiate elimination and instead just gave him a referred (bad) OER (officer evaluation report) which only added another reason why HRC initiated elimination against him.  Oh well, it will all be settled soon.

Here are some pictures....

Is it a road or a river?

Stopping to pose by the river/road

The goodies Michael sent me!

My cool new double walled Tea tumbler that you can see through

Transfer from Thunder to Lightning

Today the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade officially took over from the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade.  It was a transfer from thunder to lightning.  159 was Task Force Thunder.  While our Task Force is Task Force Wings, we are part of the 25th Infantry Division which is also known as Tropic Lightning and we at the CAB are Wings of Lightning.  All this talk about Thunder and Lightning has caused the song "Knock on Wood" to be stuck in my head....

Me and the roommate at the TOA

159th's Commander and CSM about to case their colors

The Casing of 159th's Colors

25th CAB's Colors about to be uncased

COL Tate and CSM Ruiz uncasing the colors

The 25th CAB's colors are flying in Kandahar

s

DCG of RC(S) giving a speech

Dave in his normal stance checking his iphone

Apparently, the person who made this cake didn't speak English and had a hard time understanding what our "Wings of Lightning" logo was supposed to look like.  You can tell that's a taro leaf with wings, right?

It is raining again in Kandahar, so that means that I spent most of my day underwater in my office.  We vacuumed up most of the water, but that was really a lesson in futility as the water just came right back.  The care package that Mother sent 17 days ago finally made it to me today, so that was a good thing.  A lot of mail for people in the 25th CAB has been getting routed to the wrong FOB (Forward Operating Base).  The CAB that we replaced had a battalion under it that was named Task Force Wings, so I guess that is where it was all getting forwarded.  Unfortunately, the mail person didn't also read the 25th CAB part and that it didn't say 159th CAB.  I know it got routed to another FOB because someone had written in big letters "return to KAF".  So thank you incompetent mail person who, can't read, for delaying my package for 9 days.  I really appreciate it!

Care package from my MOM

In Afghanistan, Friday means nothing

Most people work for the weekends.  They spend their whole week waiting for Friday to get there and dread Mondays because it starts all over again.  When you work 7 days a week, Friday loses all special meaning.  But the bright side is that in Afghanistan you don't dread Mondays.  When you don't really take a day off, all the days start to run together and you lose track of what day it is.  Yesterday, I spent the day thinking that it was Tuesday, when in reality it was Wednesday.  I would have bet money that it was Tuesday, and its a good thing I didn't because I would have lost.

Tonight my office went to the T.G.I.Fridays that we have here in Kandahar.  The last paralegal from the office that we are replacing is leaving tomorrow, so we took her out for a farewell dinner.  I must say that it was quite weird to be eating at a Fridays in Afghanistan.  From the inside, if you didn't sit by a window, you would have had no idea that you were in Afghanistan.  The walls were decorated with all the "flair" that one in the States would be.  The menu was pretty much the same.  Now as far as the food goes, for Afghanistan it was pretty good....although I'm not sure this Fridays would stay in business anywhere else.  All in all, it was an enjoyable time.  Here are some pictures.

SFC Blackall and PFC Fitzgerald perusing the menu

Dave has decided that he will have a cheeseburger

Living it up in Afghanistan

The world's largest booth without a table

My dinner, the bruschetta chicken pasta

Tomorrow is our Brigade's TOA (transfer of authority).  That means that we officially take over from the unit that we are replacing.  All of our battalions have already TOA'd, so now all that is left is for HHC (headquarters, headquarters company) to take over.  I'm am definitely attending this tomorrow, as it will be something different to add in to my schedule and break up the monotony.  Also, it will be good opportunity to take some pictures of something half way interesting, so I can post them to the blog.  Lastly, and most importantly, I never miss an opportunity to eat cake!

This space intentionally left blank....

No witty title today as there isn't really anything in this post that lends itself to a good title...but, that being said, read it anyway :)

Things are starting to pick up a little in the legal office.  I'm getting more and more calls from commanders about "incidents".  Apparently it is pretty common for a certain amount of Soldiers to lose their mind shortly into a deployment.  Now I don't mean lose their mind, in a crazy way (although we have had that as well), but instead I mean that Soldiers get themselves into trouble.  I think they are testing their limits in the new environment, as though the command would give them some leeway because we are in Afghanistan.

I keep meaning to take more pictures, but nothing exciting has really happened so it would just be a picture of me sitting at my desk.  I do have one picture that I took today on the way back from the DFAC at lunch.

 
I look at this mountain everyday, and sometimes when I do, I like to squint my eyes really small and sometimes pretend that I am back in Hawaii.  Usually about that time, some bus drives by me (much like the one coming into the frame) and brings me back to reality with a cloud of dust and diesel fumes.  But for the few seconds, it's a glorious thought...

If it's not poop, then it's diesel....

Warning: A lot of this post deals with poop.  If you find this disgusting, you should probably stop reading.....also NEVER plan a trip to Kandahar!

I'm sure that to anyone who has never spent anytime at Kandahar the title of this post is rather strange, but that pretty much sums up what it is like to live in Kandahar.  Remember way back to the post when I first got here, and I said that the smell from the poo pond wasn't too bad?  Well, I was wrong! (and for those of you who know me well, you know I hate saying those 3 words)  I have never been sooooo wrong in my entire life.  It is horrible.  And it is still pretty cold here...I can't imagine what it will be like once it warms up.  I could go on and on about the poo pond, but I will save that for another post.  One day I will write a post dedicated solely to the poo pond, and I will have pictures as it has been decorated.  I just have to get the nerve up to go over close to it.  Maybe that gas mask I had to pack will actually come in handy....

The first part of the title is actually from 2 sources.  The other source being porta-potties.  I despise porta-potties.  I really envy males in their ability to zip in and out of a porta-potty within seconds.  Males don't even have to open the lid in the porta-potty most of the time as they have a nifty little urinal to pee in without ever having to come face to face (so to speak) with "deposits" that others have made.  Unfortunately for me, if I have to go to the bathroom during the day it has to be in a porta-potty.  The building that I work in, along with most buildings in Kandahar, does not have running water.  So porta-potties it is.  I do my best to hold it as long as I can, so that when I go and suffer inside the stench chamber I really make it count.  I'd like to say that this method leads to less trips, but in reality, I don't think it actually does.  But I am getting really good at the pee dance...

The last part of the title is diesel.  Pretty much everything in Kandahar runs on diesel, and something tells me that vehicles do not have to pass yearly emissions tests.  As I have mentioned before, there is a generator right outside my office that I'm pretty sure is used to power something really important.  That puppy puts out a lot of fumes!  And when I'm not in my office, I'm usually walking to my "house" or to a DFAC and as cars pass, they put out just as much diesel fumes as that darn generator.  Although, there is a section of my walk to work that when the wind is blowing in a certain direction the stench from the poo pond is overwhelming that I all I can do is pray for some diesel fumes....

Nothing of Interest

Absolutely nothing of interest happened to me today.  I got up and went to work.  Went to a meeting, in which I listened to other people talk for over an hour and then when it was my turn to brief, I said "nothing for the group."  It's nice being legal, as most everything I deal with on a daily basis is not stuff that I can brief in an open setting.  So, meetings for me are usually time to zone out and then say "nothing for the group" when it's my turn.

After the meeting, I had a couple hard boiled eggs for breakfast, as those are the safest things to eat around here.  I spent the rest of day at my desk bored.  I did solve the Rubik's cube like 5 times.  Each time I solved it, I just messed it back up so I could solve it again, as I had nothing else to do.  The only other thing that happened to me out of the ordinary, was that at dinner my sandwich got stuck to the panini press and caused quite a mess in which I ended up with only half a sandwich left.

Sorry for such a boring post, but around here, boring days are a good thing...

A Little Excitement in Afghanistan

As I said before, a lot of people live for mail around here.  I have been getting mail pretty much every day for the past 3-5 days.  But, the mail I had been getting, while still exciting, was no comparison for the mail I received today!  Up until today, all the mail I had been receiving was stuff that I purchased on the internet.  Today, I received 3 care packages, and there is a HUGE difference between the two.

With care packages, it's like Christmas morning, because you have no idea what you are going to get.  When you get something that you ordered online, you already know what is in the box, so while still fun to get, the experience completely pales in comparison.

Things are picking up at work.  Since we have been in country a lot of commanders are going a little crazy with stupid policies.  This is making my life hell.  As they all think they have the best ideas, but in reality what they are trying to do is not legal.  Sometimes, they still want to go ahead with the policy anyway.  I try to explain to them that it is a horrible idea to have a policy that can't be enforced legally.  For one, the first time somebody violates it and nothing happens to them, it shows others Soldiers that it is open season to violate that policy.  Second, it also puts all the policies that are actually legal in doubt with all the Soldiers.  Both of these things essentially undermine the command, and isn't the ideal situation.  Usually after I explain that to them, they see my side of things, and take my advice.

The zombie issue (because it just keeps coming up and won't die) that I keep having to deal with, is the searching of mail.  Now, in the military commanders have a pretty broad authority to search Soldiers belongings.  It's not like in the civilian world where the police have to get a warrant if they want to search a persons belongings.  In the military, if a commander has probable cause, he can order a search.  And even if the commander doesn't have probable cause, he can inspect his Soldier and their belongings for the health and welfare of his unit.  There is certain criteria that have to be followed so that it is a true inspection and not just a way to get around having probable cause.  But, this isn't really a legal lesson, just trying to give you a little context.  All that being said, "mail" is a special thing, and it cannot be searched without a warrant.  Of course it is only mail while it is in the mail system.  Once it has been delivered to the Soldier, it simply becomes the Soldier's personal property, which as I said, is always subject to inspection by a command.  So of course, every commander wants to do a mail inspection policy.

Now that I have put you to sleep with search/inspection mumbo jumbo, here's some pictures....

I had to buy myself a Longhorns flag...Hook'em Horns!

There is a wall with a bunch of drawings from children, I thought this was one was pretty cute

Care Package!  Thanks Mike and Jody!

Memory Foam Mattress Pad.  Thanks Ann & Richard!

I Love the Eiffel Tower.  Thanks Ann & Richard!

Superbowl Monday...

Today I got up at 0245 took a shower (a hot one!) and set out on the walk for the office at 0330.  We arrived at the office right before 0400 just in time for the coin toss.  It is very strange watching the Superbowl at 4 o'clock in the morning.  To add to the weirdness, when you watch the Superbowl in Afghanistan, you watch it on AFN (Armed Forces Network) and they do not show any of the Superbowl commercials.  They have commercials, but they had ones made by high-schoolers in Germany...Let's just say, they were funny, but not intentionally.  After the Superbowl, it was only a little before 0800, so it wasn't really even time to open the office.  So, we went to the DFAC and had some breakfast.  For lunch today, we went to the Boardwalk and had Nathan's hotdogs.  They were good, but it really could have used some relish.

This may have been a really boring post, but that is the story of my life at the moment...complete boredom.  Oh, there was a little excitement at mail time when I had not one but two packages!  I had ordered a new pair of tennis shoes, so that I can start going to the NATO gym (or as it is referred to around here, the "2 shoe gym").  You have to have 2 pairs of shoes to go in, as they are trying to keep it clean so you have to carry a pair of clean shoes and those are the ones that you work out in.  I plan on trying it out tomorrow!  My other package was from drugstore.com, and it was deodorant as the PX doesn't have anything even remotely close to what I use.  As boring as those packages seem, I was pretty excited.  Most people around here live for mail time, and then after mail time passes, you just look forward to mail time tomorrow.  I imagine it is very similar to a drug addict.  I get so excited when I see that I have mail, and then once the thrill of opening it and seeing what it is wears off, you just look forward to the prospect of getting more mail tomorrow....

Anyway, here are some more pics...because I promised lots of pics, and I wouldn't want to dissapoint. (Sorry they're in a weird order, but I'm too tired to fix it)

My NCOIC getting promoted to SFC

Waiting for the promotion ceremony to start

SGT Kalfman watching a little Superbowl with his PT belt on on....Safety first!

SFC Blackall checking out the trash talking on Facebook

Trying not to look like a zombie at 0400

SFC Blackall on the edge of his of seat

My Hotdog and fries from Nathan's

Enjoying a hotdog in the sun...it was still cold!

This is how we entertain ourselves sometimes....

My home for the next year...the back is mine

Waiting on the Commander to show up to SFC Blackall's promotion

After the promotion ceremony

My bed, with my new hot pink shoes!

My Burnt Orange rug...Go Longhorns!

Bazaar thoughts, and other random things...

Yesterday we went to the bazaar, which was an experience in and of itself!  The Afghani street vendors can be very intimidating.  One guy kept trying to grab my hand and ended up trying to chase me down when I didn't want to pay $30 for a rug.  I don't think that I am built for haggling.  I did end up getting a rug for $18, and it was burnt orange too!  Now before you think that I am a good haggler, the guy started at $20, I said $15, he said $18, and I said sold.  He was very low pressure, and I appreciated him not trying to assault me, so I was fine paying $18.  My roommate was much better at it than me.  She got her rug for $10.  A Master Sergeant that went out with us, got his for $6.  So, like I said, I don't think I'm built for haggling....

When I got to my office yesterday, it was under a few inches of water because it had rained, and by now you should remember that my office floods.  So we spent a good hour or so sucking up the water.  Luckily we were able to find a shop-vac that actually worked.

Today, my whole office went up to the 82nd Airborne Division's Headquarters (the division we fall under while in Afghanistan) to meet the SJA (Staff Judge Advocate or the head lawyer at KAF).  It was a good visit, mainly because one of my very good friends is currently deployed with the 82nd and I finally got to see her today.  Hopefully we will be able to meet up more often, because it sure helps seeing a friend while you are downrange.  Unfortunately, sometimes it is logistically hard to meet up because there is a policy that females are not supposed to walk places by themselves after dark, which hinders my ability to meet her for dinner if I can't find someone to go with me.

Speaking of that policy, I understand that it is for the safety of all females, as I guess there have been quite a few sexual assaults.  But I do find it rather funny that I can't walk by myself when I am carrying a weapon and a magazine full of ammo.  If I needed to, I think I could take care of myself.  They also issue female Soldiers rape whistles....I'm pretty sure my M-16 would be more of deterrent than the rape whistle.

Here are some random pictures that I took yesterday and today.  Sorry there aren't that many of them.

Sucking up the water

My roommate

This is the reason I prefer to walk over taking the bus...apparently this is a common occurrence.

Well, that's it for now as I have to get up at 0245 to see if I can get a hot shower before heading into the office to catch the Superbowl at 0400...