religious ponderings

we are over halfway through Ramadan now, and the forecasted upswing in violence has yet to occur.  i’m looking forward to seeing what happens on the Night of Power and the last day, the Eid.  apparently the last day of Ramadan initiates a two-day feast to celebrate the ending of the fast.  (yoder, i can hear you drooling.  i’m sure they have plenty of saltines and jam on hand).  at times, Islam appears to just be one big ceremony, with days of religious festivities sprinkled pretty much throughout the entire year. 

i wonder if there are areas where the religious events have been commercialized and transformed in the same way Christmas has with the Christian faith…although in a religion where representations of Mohammed (PBUH) are taboo, i don’t think the greeting card industry would ever get off the ground…eliana, any thoughts?

learned how to say “sarcastic” in arabic today, a word that will come in very handy (and not just when describing myself) – muktarrak.

the ratio of crossword-puzzles-completed to people-i-like-working-with-here remains high.

no new pictures today, apologies.  although glen’s strange fetish for taking pictures of me and kevin while we’re sitting at our desks continues.  i think he is working on a calendar of “disgruntled office workers of CPATT”. 

for those of you concerned with the welfare of the sea-monkeys on kevin’s desk, they are thriving, even though kevin has apparently decided they are required to observe Ramadan, and has not fed them for a week.  i think for the end of Ramadan we’ll just put a steak into the tank and see what happens.

before i descend into further absurdity, i’ll head home.  the rhino is impatient, and wants to leave. 

cheers.

phillie phanatic

OK, seriously…am i the only person to ever become a phillies fan based solely on their mascot?  somehow i doubt it.  there’s just something about the phanatic that makes me happy.  i’ve never been to philadelphia, but just the chance of seeing the phanatic would be enough to motivate me.

  how can you not love that?  in fact, i love it so much that it is now posted above my desk for inspiration. 

 see top right…and to the right of the phillie phanatic is the aforementioned clipboard with the Status of Pants, which continues to hinder our efforts to rebuild Iraqi society.

so this is what my world looks like most of the day.  for a change, i will sometimes stand up and walk to the edge of our world…

 my desk would be on the left.

for those of you who think the army is glamorous…you’re right.  if you’re dilbert.

i’m afraid there’s not much to ramble about today, sorry to disappoint.

thanks to everyone for the birthday well-wishes.  i am working on a list of the top ten “realizations of a 28-year-old”, hopefully for the next post.   

rusty, good to hear from you, tell the men’s team good luck, i like bragging that i once sat the bench for SCU…

cheers.

birthday ruminations

at the behest of my older sister, who will soon be 29, i will share some thoughts, most of which are completely unrelated to the highly uneventful occasion of my 28th birthday.

tom (who works in the logistics cell) and I have noticed an alarming shortage of pants in iraq lately.  as it is the single most limiting factor in our equipping operations, we have created a tracker, and are carefully cataloging the pants shortage.  we also never miss an opportunity to tell someone in a very loud voice that we have no pants.  (and on a birthday-related note, if you haven’t grown out of this sort of thing by the time you’re 28, what are the odds you ever will?  anybody?)

the sea monkeys on kevin’s desk are slowly shuffling off this mortal coil, and long before they are big enough for us to barbecue, like kevin promised.  very disappointing.

word to the wise: Luzianne Coffee & Chicory is high-yeild coffee.  choose quantity you put in the filter accordingly.  (i overlook my usual disdain for capital letters in this instance because of the serious subject matter: failure to heed this advice may result in an entire coffeepot full of tar, which then leads to unrestrained ridicule of one’s coffee-making abilities)

ramadan started the other day, and i must admit, the discipline required has an attractive spirituality to it, even though it comes hand-in-hand with blind faith, like every other religion.  this is the part of islam that makes the most sense to me.  which has me pondering a personal ramadan sometime in the future.

ok, that’s it, i’m sure all of you have noticed the deepened maturity with which this post has been imbued.  yeah, i said imbued.  deal with it.

 cheers.

the daily grind

if you want to get anything done in this world, you need a general on your side.  it’s true.  you can battle, cajole, persuade, demand, plead, and even get naked, but at the end of the day, if nobody with a star on his shirt buys into it, you’re in big trouble.  (and not just because you got naked)

there.  that’s my frustrated soap box for the day.  i will climb down from said soap box now. 

on the “learning arabic” front, today i learned how to say “bathroom” and “alcohol”.  happily, the two words were already inextricably linked through cause and effect in my mind, which should make them easy to remember.

in other news, kevin is away from home, which means i can now turn around in my room without any sort of homoerotic contact. 

glen is still making lots of powerpoint slides, and is still asian.  i promise to report any changes in his job related duties, or his ethnicity.

otherwise, things are the same, should start cooling down a bit soon.  oh, and a big shout-out to Muqtada Al-Sadr, for deciding not to have his minions kill any completely innocent people for 6 months.  good work, fellas, you’re back on the christmas card list. 

enough political bitterness, i am going home to enjoy one more night of having enough space to do my needlepoint.  just kidding.  but not really.

cheers.