299!!

As Jerry Reed put it so eloquently - We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there. I definitely have a long way to go, but I can't put the pedal to the metal and speed this up. Regardless, this is a good day! I have broken the 3xx days remaining countdown, and am into the 200's. It isn't anything more than one day closer than yesterday, but its a mental thing! Every milestone counts.

This week, as I wrote last time, has been a tad boring, but we did have a couple interesting conversations with our interpreters. Steve and I were trying to describe the restaurant Hooters, and the double entendre that it is. Needless to say they don't have anything like it here, and when they finally got the concept, you could see the shame on their faces. Then we sorta moved into other restaurants, and since it was Thursday here, and Friday is a day off, we started talking about TGI Fridays. Which, means absolutely nothing to them, one because Friday to them is called Juma, and two, they have that Allah guy. So, to them it would be Thank Allah it's Juma. TAI Juma. Not quite the same ring.

We also talked a bit about religion, which is a very touchy thing here. We were told EMPHATICALLY not to try any conversions. HA. I am not sure who would be coming here attempting to convert, but good luck to them. We actually discussed the differences between Sunni and Shiites. Both of our interpreters who were there at the time were Sunni (Saddam's chosen sect BTW), and started talking about some of the reasons they don't like the other side. One of the main reasons revolved around the fact that Mohammad had 4 sub? Prophets, and the Sunni's follow all of their teachings, but the Shiites only follow one. They both follow Mohammad mind you. They also mentioned how many times a day they pray, and the fact that they don't wash as much. To me, I couldn't find any substantive reason to dislike the other side, considering at the root of it, they are following the same teachings. I tried to explain that I being Catholic, followed almost NOTHING they did, I don't pray but once a day, and really don't care about Mohammad. I guess showering daily scores me points. Either way, I tried to get them to explain why they didn't hate me (maybe they do), but they really couldn't do it without laughing. I think at the root of all this, they have been told for so long to dislike the other side, its just part of them. Sad really. Can you imagine me jacking up a Baptist due to his showering habits? I am so glad I live in the US.

On a more serious note, I saved a life today. I don't know who's, or when they were going to die, but I am telling you, chalk one up for Gary. I was going around this month helping the Sgt in S-6 learn how to update the virus scanners, which by the way, he picked up really fast. We found the security company office, and when I walked in, I noticed that they had instead of a plug for their UPS, two wires just jammed into the wall socket. 220 through very thin wires. Nice. So, I went to supply guy for us, and asked him to get me a power strip, and he was nice enough to acquire one quickly. We went back in and unhooked the monstrosity that was their power cord, and I started dismantling the setup. What they actually had done was wrap 2 pieces of wire onto an American grounded plug through the holes in the end, and then wrapped that entire mess in a walmart blue plastic bag. It was a fire or electrocution ready to happen. Gary 1, Death 0. Take that Death! My other concern is that now that I have fixed this problem, I have a feeling they will take the power strip, sell it downtown and go back to the old way. I had to explain to the Lieutenant that was in there that if I came back and it was back to the old way, I would take their computer. He seemed to get it, we'll see.

That's about it for now, take care.