First time for everything

I did it, I actually did it. Man I can't believe this, for the first time in my life I just bought something off of EBAY. It wasn't just through the "buy it now" function either. I put a bid out there and actually fought for this product. Okay so it wasn't just one bid either, it was several bids and it was down to the last second. It was about midnight for me and I just wanted to go to bed but the suspense of winning or losing was just too much that my body felt like I had just slammed a Red Bull and was full of forced energy. I was exhausted but my body just kept going. "How much time is left? 6 minutes, come on. Now, how much time is left? 5 minutes and 42 seconds? Aghh, I can't take this." This went on until the very last second where I finally threw out my high bid and found out that I won it. It was all mine, I AM THE VICTOR!! The best part of it all is that what I won wasn't even for me, it was for my amazing wife Megan. She emailed me the other day so sad that her CHI hair straightner had broke. She wanted to just run out and instantly but a new one for 100 bucks. I said no of course because I'm a "meany head" like that and because I had a plan of my own. I was going to go against the standard of just going and buying something, I wanted to check out other routes and EBAY just happened to be it. I was able to get a freakin' CHI hair straightner for... ready for this, $66 bucks. Wait, no I take that back, it wasn't just a CHI hair straighter it was a CHI Turbo. Do you know what this thing can do? It can heat up in 6 seconds plus it just looks cool. I'm not really sure as to what makes it more that just a CHI but I do know that it heats up in 6 seconds and that's pretty amazing. That means that both the CHI and I have something in common, Megan can turn us on and we're both hot after just 6 seconds. That was just for your benefit babe, I love you. Really though it's true;)- Well I think that I'm must contine my EBAY adventures because the rush of not losing to a bunch of other, I dare say, LOSERS was amazing. I slept so well after that. If any of you have any fun EBAY adventures let me know, we can be buddies. Until then, keep on bidding.

Who wears short shorts?

Lately, I've kind of been trying to get myself back into the swing of things. Actually I guess that I'm trying to get back to the point that I was when I first joined the Army, 163 lbs. Now I know that unless I dedicate 100 percent of my time, body and mind to it than it's probably not going to happen, so I'll settle for... let's say 175 lbs. I've been hitting the gym everyday, except Sundays, sometimes even twice a day. Plus every night before I go to bed I bust out 40 pushups, 50 supermans, and try and hold the plank as long as I can trying to hold it for 2:00. Well the main point of this post is that I've been catching a lot of flack lately because of my new workout shorts. People have even gone so far as to say that it looks like my sexual preferance when I wear the shorts is aimed towards men. So I'll let you decide. Remember I just got back from the gym so I'm looking pretty ragged. Plus I'm including a blast from the past for you to see what I'm aiming for. Again enjoy the pics and I'll post ya later.

P.S. I don't like men, I do like my wife (who is a female) though. Wait, actually I freakin love her.

What, Birthday!?

As some of you may know, or may not know, my Birthday was on the 6th of July. It actually sucked. A couple of friends did however try and make it at least somewhat fun. We got some pizzas and watched a pirated copy of 21. It wasn't too bad, but it still was just lame. Anyways I got a package in the mail form my lovely wife and my amazing in-laws that kind of make it a little better. So thank you to all of you who remembered and tried to make it a special day. You did great. So here's a couple of pics of the sweet shirts that I got. Hope that you enjoy. I mean I guess that it's kind of hard not to when you're checking me out. Lol.

Three of three, the begining... or maybe the end

Now this is one that you can laugh at. A couple of days ago we went to another Afghan Police headquarters and checked up on them to see how they were doing. While we were there a bunch of kids started to crowd around on the other side of the fence and ask us for water. So of course we gave them some. Than one of our guys started to make different poses at the kids and they started to copy him. So another guy got on top of out HMMWV and started to do the YMCA movements and again they started to copy him. Than we got them to finally do the Karate Kid pose and of course they did it. In this case pictures speak louder than words. So take a gander and enjoy.

Two of three, AKA: the middle

This one isn't really a funny one but it is still one that I'll always remember. About two days ago I had the chance to go and drop off some humanitarian aid items to an orphanage. It was probably one of the saddest thing that I've ever seen. When we first arrived I went into the orphanage with a couple of others to talk to the headmaster and see what we could do to help them out but when we first opened up the gate to walk in that kind of became second on the list. Instantly we were swarmed by just kid after kid. They all had the biggest brightest smiles on their faces even though they had dirty worn down clothes on their bodies. They all even had their heads shaved because of the hygiene issues. Every kid did their best to try and grab you and hold your hand. They would just look and you and say hello mister. Trying to get through the crowd of kids was a slow task but worth it. At that moment I was really able to take a look at my life and see what I really had. I stopped to make sure that I was able to say hello to every kid that wanted to say hello to me. It was a great feeling, knowing that we were there to see what we could do to help these kids. We finally made it though the kids and into the building that they had they unfortunate situation of calling it a home. The building was nothing more than a couple of windows and walls to protect them from the elements. We went to the headmasters office and sat down to see what they needed and the simple answer was, "Everything". The headmaster told us that they had approximately 130 children in the orphanage and every single one needed anything that they could get. The people that I went with told him that they would arrange for approximately 130 new mattresses, sheets and blankets. They also told him that they would get a bunch of hygiene items and clothes for the kids. The headmaster than took us for a walk through of the building. We went into the rooms that the children lived in and saw what they had to deal with. All of the beds were lined up head to toe with mattresses that weren't even as thick as some of the blankets that we have at home and every kid had a locker that was about 10" x 10" x 12". It was just enough space to place what few clothes they had and any other personal items they had. The carpet was just plane gone, completely trashed and dirty, or torn to shreds. I kind of felt bad because I loaded my HMMWV up with a bunch of items for the kids like sandals, back packs and soccer balls but I only took enough for about 30 kids. So instead of just handing them out to all of the kids I just gave them all to the headmaster to hand out to the kids. I said good bye to the headmaster and wished him the best of luck with taking care of the kids. I loaded back up in my HMMWV and drove off. It really sucked seeing the kids in that kind of a situation. The headmaster told us that most of the kids were in there because the Taliban had killed their parents. It was hard to go knowing that they needed help but we did what we could do for them at the time. Hopefully soon enough the whole country can see a new way of life. Not one that's torn apart because of those who control by fear. So when you go to bed tonight make sure that you let your loved ones know how much you love them and care for them and let them know how grateful you are to have them in your life. Things can change in just a blink of an eye and I see that now that I had the chance to meet those kids. I'm now going to just let all of you know how much I love you and miss you. I really am so glad to have the family and friends in my life that I do. I am grateful for the life that I have and will never complain about the extras and amenities of my life. I'm just glad that I have the people I have to share my life with. Thank you.

One of three, in reverse

Okay, I've kind of come to realize that I'm kind of long winded when it comes to telling my stories. I'm going to tone it down now though. I know that most of you probably don't like spending forever just reading about my excursions, so I'm now going to just keep it brief and make them shorter. With that I now offer my first story to you.

Every Friday we have a bazaar on base, bazaar is just the word for market, it's where a bunch of vendors come and sell things. In other words it's nothing more than just tourist trap that is brought on base. I went just for the purpose of looking for a leather/fur blanket like what Danny and Mindi have. So I went down and actually found like 10 different vendors that sell these blankets. So I stopped at one and started the whole "traditional" negotiations. I pointed out the blanket that I was interested in and let the bidding war begin. Now the standard for negotiating is that the first to offer a price is already considered the loser of the deal, I was not the loser (well in that context anyways). I asked and demanded an answer from the man on how much he wanted for the blanket and he replied "$120". Sorry but I couldn't help but to start laughing. The guy was out of his mind. 120 bucks, no way was that blanket worth that so I rebuted 35 dollars. Of course he said no but I was just testing his prices. He than responded that he would go down to $80. That still wasn't going to cut it so yet again I fired back with 40 bucks. He shot me down one more time and he asked me "mister, final price how much for this blanket?" I told him that $45 was my final offer. I wasn't going to go more because the blanket wasn't really all that great. The guy of course turned down my offer so I thanked him and walked into his rival blanket sellers tent, they're right next door to each other. I went in and found the rug that I wanted and again asked how much for the rug, even he started out at $120. These guys are good, they talk and find out what the others are trying to sell for. Well, nothing new happend with this guy other than I finally told the guy that I wouldn't go any more than $50 bucks. He said no and again I left to find another blanket stand. I got about half way down the row of shops when all of a sudden I hear some one behind me yell, "mister, wait!!!" I turned to look and see who it was and it was the shop keep that I was just talking to was running after me waiving his hands in the air. "Okay, 50 dollars! I'll take 50 for the blanket" I agreed and walked back with him. The funny thing happened when I got back to his little shop. He started just throwing my blanket around while he was folding it and kept saying to himself, "No profit for me today. No profit for me." I didn't really care, business is business and if 50 bucks wasn't good enough for him I'm sure that he wouldn't have chased me down. So after he got my blanket all bagged he turned to and said to himself, "First sale of the day, I guess I'll just have to try harder." I guess so buddy, good luck with that whole $120 thing. I'm sure it's going to work out great. Now the good thing about the story is that I'm sure the guy still made a good deal off of my 50 dollars. I'm not to worried and that I was able to get it for about 20-30 dollars cheaper than one of my buddies just a few weeks ago. In the end though, I was able to get a really nice, queen sized, supposed "seal" fur blanket for just 50 bucks. That's what I said I'd pay and that's what I wound up paying. It all worked out.