R&R Day One

No alarm clock to wake me up this morning is what I was dreaming about as I laid in bed this morning oblivious to what time it was. I finally checked my watch and it was 0850 which was a nice way to start day one! I headed over to grab a Mocha (not as good as the ones back at Sun) a muffin and off to the swimming pool to rest, relax, knock off a few chapters of Laura Ingrahams "Shut up and Sing" and actually maybe even go in the pool and get my hair wet. I found a reclining chair and made sure I got most of it under the shade so I wouldn't get burned. So I put the usual SPF 45 on my face, legs and shoulders just in case I decided to go into the pool. It was nice and reminded me of Spain except there were no topless women around! ;>) Actually the female Soldiers can't wear a two piece suit unless they have a t-shirt on and us guys can't wear speedos!

I have always known that a high percentage of Soldiers tend to have tatoos, but what I saw today really blew me away. I think that average guy had 3-4 tatoos, the female Soldiers weren't too far behind either. Out of the 25 Soldiers there today, maybe 5 or 6 of us didn't have any tatoos! You name it they had it, eagles, Chineese symbols, flowers, barb wire, dragons and the best one was the guy who had the American flag tatooed on his arm. Each time he walked by I didn't know if I should stand up and salute old glory!

It was so nice to lay down and just relax and read, I did go swimming a couple of times and yest Ascension I did get my hair wet! The music on the PA system wasn't too bad, there could have been more twang but as long as I can understand the lyrics and the music isn't bad I don't mind. Unfortunately there was a 45 minute period of rap and I thought I was going to die, I couldn't understand much except the four letter words that seem to come out every sentence or so and the references to the female gender starting with the letter H.

I headed back to my room and got ready for the 1400 hrs signup which is where we have to go and signup for the next days activities. As previously mentioned with Ramadan all but two activities were cancelled. I really don't feel like going to an inland beach in SUV's through sand dunes to swim in very warm water with jelly fishes and have a BBQ in the hot sun. So it came down to going to the malls. If you would have told me last year that I would be looking forward to going to a mall I would have said that you were crazy. But yes I do want to go to a mall, not so much to go shopping but to link up with my buddy Ziad and spend the time at the mall with him and enjoy dinner. So tomorrow night I will be going to the Hyatt Plaza Mall.

I spent some time watching the movie Borat at the MWR site and then headed back to change to sign up for the sponsorship program, which is where a Soldier or Airman based here signs out one-three Soldiers and takes them to where they want to go for the evening. With Ramadan you have to be wearing long sleeves, long pants, no earrings for guys and closed toed shoes. When I got back to my room to change I realized that my stomach was sore, I took off my shirt and I was redder that a lobster. Putting one plus one together I realized that the shading they had at the pool provided shade but didn't keep out the UV rays, so I was burned below the area where I put suntan lotion on my shoulders and neck and face. Not good, although I have been putting moisturing cream on I will be sore tomorrow.

At the end even though I signed up not enough people left post so I stayed here and read, went to Chiles for dinner and am hear at the wireless area drinking a few beers and listening to the folks try Karaoke! Right now two guys are making Garth Brooks cry with their rendition of "Friends in Low Places", such a great song massacred!

That's it for now, time to give Carmen a call and see how things are back at home, then it's off to bed, as the sun and humidity have taken it's toll on me.

The Colonel