Wednesday, November 4, 2009

More waiting...

Hey all,
No real change in my status, and really, no a whole lot going on.  We've collectively decided that our current location can be considered a kind of purgatory.  Not so much because it's painful or particularly hot at the moment, but we all feel we're kind of stuck waiting here until we can move on to our final destination.  I've had a few random training events, but for the most part there's been alot of time for reading and free time.  Thankfully, there's enough on post to keep myself and all the other soldiers busy.
I've been spending alot of time in the gym (which as I previously mentioned is much nicer than the Army gyms in CONUS).  Also, we've started tapping into some of the other resources available on post.  MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation... the army's fun department) has a number of tents set up to keep us all occupied.  One is a free movie theater.  I saw Land of the Lost a few days ago (not a great movie, but it made me laugh some) and watched Funny People last night (a much better movie, despite some raunchy jokes).  They've also got other tents set up with some TV's where you can check out and watch DVD's, as well as a bunch of video game terminals (I haven't really hit up either of those yet, I figure the younger soldiers are going to keep those tied up).  The USO's also got stuff set up here with a tent with free phone calls and internet (if  you don't mind an hour or so wait), as well as some other odds and ends to include some board games and a guitar that you can check out (I've already taken advantage of that a few times as I'd let my guitar playing lapse these last few months.) 
My favorite amenity by far though is the United Through Reading Program at the USO tent.  This is a really cool program where they've got a couple of sound proof rooms rigged up with video cameras.  Service members can go in with a children's book and they film themselves reading the story for their kids and then the USO will send a DVD of the recording, along with a copy of the book you read, back to your kids in the states.  I did my first reading yesterday, so hopefully Drew and Cristin will be getting the video in a few weeks.  It definitely brought to the surface how much I was missing them, but hopefully the DVD will be something that Drew can watch to have a little more "contact" with me while I'm gone.
Otherwise, not much else going on here.  I'm sitting in Starbucks at the moment (yes, they even have a Starbucks here, right next to the KFC) taking advantage of their more stable internet connection.  I may go hit the gym later and then it's one more day down before I start doing some real work.  Talk to everybody later.

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