And there I was, without my laptop

While I was in Kuwait, I managed to blow out the AC adapter on my dell inspiron. I had it plugged into a power converter and then plugged into a 220 wall socket, unfortunately there was a voltage spike and that managed to blow out *just* my adapter. So, I went about 1 month without my laptop. So there you have it. I made it into Iraq, minus 1 laptop.

Since then I've been able to order/procure another of the same make and model so I'm back up to speed. Since our sister unit rotated out, I've been able to get a lot of work/video game time in, much to the neglect of my enormous book collection.

I've started up again with East of Eden, it's still spectacular, I can't believe I put the book down in favor of text books. For those of you who remember or didn't know, I started reading the book back in my Junior year as part of a poor attempt at coming to peace with all of the stress I was encountering in the various facets of my life. Unfortunately the call of my keyboard ended up pulling me away from this book so, I promised myself that once I made it into Iraq, I'd knock it out first thing.

It really is an amazing novel. Probably one of the best I've read in the past 2 years.

Hmm. In other news, I managed to discover a John Coltrane novel while out here - it was about 18 bucks but the tunes are so right on. We're talking a 30 minute renditions of some of his best. I also discovered the new PX on post - they have *the* DVD assortment to kill any boredom from a soldier's heart.

I just need to find time to get out there!

Halloween wasn't too horrible. A unit on post held a costume party and another did a Hawaiian festival. I missed out b/c we had some network issues. So, I donned my vampire disguise kit and had SGT Cameron, my partner in crime, slap some fake blood on my cheeks as I popped fangs into my mouth.

I got a couple of great reactions from people around here. So, I'd like to think the comic relief paid off and brightened everyone's day.

I've ran into a fellow signal guy from my training school last winter, it was great seeing him and he's already out and out. It was one of those 'hey man how-ya doing' in the PX line (Ok I made it there 1 time this past week) - I found out his family is well, has a kid on the way, and he left for CONUS the day after we ran into each other. Boy, it's a small army.

In anycase, I'm going to be out of the loop for about a week or so - I'll be busy getting some work knocked out. So, thanks again everyone for the mail and the packages, I really appreciate everything all of you are doing for me!

Chris