Ramblings from Iraq

I haven't really updated in a while, and part of it is definitely due to lack of time. I haven't read too many books since I've gotten here, but there are about three that I could post on. For the most part, I have a good routine down, although I wish there was more time in the day: to sleep, to read, to watch DVDs of TV shows, to go the gym. Basically, the way things are going right now, I only have time to really two to three of those things (sleeping, exercising, reading in order of time spent on each activity daily).

The thing is that while on occasion being on a twelve hour shift kind of sucks, I actually quite enjoy what I'm doing. I like the responsibility, I like feeling like I actually know what's going on etc. And honestly, I've mostly developed a pretty good schedule. It's just I've seriously been dragging the last few days, and I have no idea why. I've also been getting headaches whenever I run which may be a result of something I did while doing deadlifts on Thursday (is it possible to pop a blood vessel from straining too much - I may have been using a heavier weight than I was ready for). I've gone to bed at the usual time lately, but I've been so tired at work that I've made the guys I usually go to meals with stop at the coffee shop afterwards so I could get double shots of espresso. It worked out well today, though the fact that I waited till after dinner to do this last night may have been part of my problem today . . . I slept last night but maybe not quite as soundly as usual.

For people that are still commenting on my blog, thank you and I am sorry I haven't responded. I can check my email at work, so I see the comments, but the site itself is blocked so I can't actually respond, and I'm really too busy to do much non-work related stuff beyond having my email account open. The internet in my room is touch and go - sometimes it's almost normal, other times, especially in the evenings, it takes forever for pages to load. It probably doesn't help that I usually get back from the gym around 10ish which is when everyone seems to be online, leading to a slow connection.

I've been good about going to the gym after work (as long as I get off work somewhat on time . . . generally, if I stay more than an hour late, the gym doesn't happen, but fortunately, a lot of deadlines have been moved up in the past month so my regular reports are due during the day, and I don't have to wait around too much after my shift to finish them up) but I really was hoping that by this time in the deployment I would be going twice a day . . . or to be more precise, that I would be doing cardio twice a day - I go twice a day a few times a week since I've been lifting over lunch three times a week, but I cannot get myself up in the mornings to go to the gym. For some crazy reason, I thought that maybe I could wean myself off sleep some as the deployment progressed but that doesn't seem to be an option. I would also like to say that all those magazines that say that exercising gives you more energy are full of shit . . . I still need as much sleep when I exercise regularly as when I don't.

I have received some good news in the past day, though. Actually, I guess it was Friday and Sunday that I was exhausted - yesterday, I was actually in a really good mood - maybe I simply used up all my energy for the week on Saturday :p . . . anyway, I found out that I will be moving to a new position in the next few months, and taking a command. I knew I was going to get a command with this unit at some point, and I was hoping I would get one in the spring, but based on some courses of actions I'd heard being considered, I thought I probably wouldn't get one until later on. Now, it's happening sooner than I expected or hoped for, so I'm really happy about that. This may mean longer hours than I already have but I also think it will mean slightly more flexibility in some ways. I'm definitely happy about it, though, and honestly, my current position was really a great way to prepare me for the demanding hours of command. I admit, I'd had it a bit easy for the previous year as far as actual work schedule was concerned (I got so lucky last deployment - we put in a lot of hours pre-deployment but once we were in Taji, it really wasn't too bad). Anyway, things are actually going very well professionally, and I am enjoying myself. If only I didn't feel so attached to sleep . . .