Kuwait Stinks!

Seriously. It smells terrible. Hard to describe other than reporting the need to breathe through the mouth.

Anyway, today we got a visit from some former football players. It was quite the motley crew. The group seemed to be comprised mostly of great college players that somewhat flopped in the NFL. The tour is officially called The Tostitos Salute to the Troops Bowl tour.

They were split of in groups of 2-3. I set out to get some autographs and maybe a couple pictures. I was wearing my Eagles t-shirt.

The first table I came to was Brain "The Boz" Bosworth and Tony Casillas. Tony, from the Cowboys, immediately began to blast on me for the Eagles shirt, and spoke of how Dallas was going to smash the Eagles next weekend. The Boz seemed kind of weird. He was talking about "we" gotta get paybacks for last year. I thought he only played for the Seahawks, but I might be wrong, so I just nodded and smiled. He was pretty intimidating sitting down with a smile, so I can just imagine how he was on the field. The guy behind me in line had 3 pictures of The Boz getting trucked by Bo Jackson, he wanted him to sign. If you know the circumstances of that, you'd know why I didn't hang around to see how it went.

The next table was Tommy Bowden and Bruce Smith. They were both pretty quiet, didn't say a whole lot. Little bit of small talk. Bruce Smith, by far the best NFl'er there, was sure to remind everybody that he was the odd man out in this crew by wearing his Canton Ohio polo shirt.

The third table was Joe Washington and Barry Switzer. Joe Washington played with the Skins, and Switzer coached the Cowboys, so again, I caught a bunch of crap from those two. Coach Switzer just looked at me, and then turned to Joe and said "God I hated the Vet". Joe agreed and talked about how one time he saw the Redskins mascot get beat up by Philly fans. He also asked if it was true about the judge in the basement. Switzer said it was the most intimidating place he ever went. Joe said he was living in Baltimore now and asked where I lived. I told him Delaware, and he asked me if I had ever heard of W.L. Gore. I told him that my Mom worked there. He talked about how impressed he was with the company as he had done some work with them in the past. He also noted that they made him the best pair of football spikes he had ever played in.

The last table was Tee Martin, Rocket Ismail and Ty Detmer. Ty, the lone Eagles fan out of the group welcomed me with open arms. He quarterbacked for the Eagles for a few years, and for the most part did pretty well. I told him about the crap I was catching from the other players, and so he told me to ask coach Switzer about the 1996 game when the Eagles beat the Cowboys, ending a 5 years drought vs. the Cowboys. Switzer was fired the next season. Switzer didn't hear us, but it was fun anyway. Ty said he loves watching the tape of the interception at the end of the game that Troy Vincent ran back for a touchdown. He said he loves when they pan to Jerry Jones. He said the look on his face is priceless.

The Rocket and Tee Martin didn't really say much, but were both pleasant.

Overall it was pretty cool. As I guess most experience when meeting celebrities, I wish I was able to hang around and talk to them a little more, but it was good just to see they were taking the time out to come here for a visit.

The lone rogue post

Yes, this has what the blog has evolved into. Lone rogue posts. Whether it be lack of motivation or excitement, I just haven't had much to write about I guess. Things here are good. We are now considering ourselves on the "home stretch" as we near the last 70-80 days left here. The consensus around here, for the most part, has been "can't wait to get out of here". Believe it or not, there is actually a waiting list of guys who came out here with me, who would like to stay another year. I think the economy plays a part in most of those guys decision to extend another year. Maybe they don't have a job to go back to, or this one pays a little more, either way, to each his own I guess. Not this guy though. Actually, I'm the only guy on this mission that didn't volunteer for it. I guess technically, by joining the Navy I did, but everyone else said, "Please send me on this mission", while I was the recipient of "You are hereby ordered". So yeah, no extensions for me.

The weather continues to be the same over the last month and a half. Low 50's with the occasional shower. It may dip into the 40's before I leaves here, and I'm sure we'll get some more rain as well. I'm sure none of you in the states feel bad considering the snow and what not.

College is going. I have 2 research papers due next week. 5-8 pages each. One is on Learning Environments, and the other on the Tokyo Sarin gas attacks a few years back. I can't procrastinate on those like I have on most of my other assignments. Overall the classes are going great though. Once those papers are in the classes will be done. I haven't looked into next semester yet.

I got to talk to my Mom on Skype the other day. It seemed like she enjoyed it. She happened to stop by my house while I was talking to Christina. You know I snapped a picture right:



I'm pretty sure my Mom wont be as "excited" as Christina was about me posting her picture on the blog, but at least I didn't put it next to some creepy guy like I did Christina's.

Updates!

Once again I find myself apologizing for the sporatic posts. It's just that boring out here, that there isn't much to report. I will take this oppurtunity to update some of my previous posts. More or less answer the questions my Mom asks when I call home.

Dave and Brian
Brian's funeral was last Saturday. There was quite a bit of local news coverage in the Scranton area. Using google you can find articles and newscasts if you wish to read more. He was buried next to his Mother who coincidentally died in auto accident at the same age as Brian, 37.

Dave has been in Bethesda since the Sunday after the accident. His parents have been there since then as well. A few days ago he was finally taken off life support and is now breathing on his own. Family reports he has attempted to squeeze their hands. While these are good signs, he is still unconscious and the nuerologist cautions not to get too excited as full recovery from his type of brain injury will take a miracle. A group on facebook has been started called "Voices of Dave Morgan". The woman who started it is a family friend who has been taking care of Daves 4 year old daughter while he was here. The group is a place for people to leave messages for Dave, and she in turn reads them to him when she visits.

College
The online courses have been moving along. It's more work than I hoped it would be. I have a research paper due this week, and two more 3 weeks later. Hopefully I can find the motivation to crank them out for a decent grade. Other than that, nothing really exciting about school.

Losing weight
Not a whole lot has changed in this category either. I'm down to 185lbs from the 220lbs when I left Delaware. The last month and a half / last 5-10lbs are being quite difficult. I have 3 months left out here, so I guess I need to kick it in to high gear down the home stretch if I want to reach my goal.

That about wraps this installment up. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgivng!