Christmas in Afghanistan Revisited
Shortly after my post on sending care packages to our troops, I cam across this article that talks about a soldier that got thumped for using APO mail for charity work.  I guess this means that I need to renege my comment about sending gifts for the troops to give out to the Afghani kids. I would go out on a limb though and say that it’s probably OK in small amounts, as long as the package is primarily for the troops.   The article recommends giving aid packages through the International Red Cross, but this still defeats the purpose, in my mind. Allowing the troops to gi

Math Geek on the Edge…
I travel a lot, which means that I eat out, often fast-food, a lot. I recall one particular trip to the McDowell’s drive through. “$3.79, first window, please.” This particular day, I happened to have a five dollar bill, and a bunch of pennies. I pulled up, and gave the very nice teller five dollars…and four pennies. I think her head almost exploded. <blink, blink> Imagine her surprise (after entering the amount into the cash register) when my change was $

Christmas…In Afghanistan
As hard as it is to believe, Christmas season is banging down our doors and we are all probably thinking about what to get for our family members, friends and co-workers. Today, I’d like to encourage those thoughts to extend to our service-members, especially those that are in distant, often harsh locales. Winter is coming to Afghanistan, and stories from the front indicate that as the weather gets colder, our guys and gals over there can start turning their attention from the duties of war to the duties of peace. The Tali-bad-guys, as it turns out, tend to seek warmth and regroup during the winter months, leaving time to visit with and give aid to the locals. It also

When Pigs Fly…Swine Flu Much?
I can’t be certain, but McKenna was sick last week, and I was convinced it was swine-flu. All I wanted was a Pepsi and she was gonna give me swine-flu. She’s like that. (Just kidding sweetie.) Seriously.  I started to feel ill immediately.  Granted, this is from a guy that gets “food poisoning” when I think about eating a warm tuna sandwich. My brain gets ahead of my body. <gurgle> After reading some news articles, I was planning my trip to the clinic to get a referral to the ICU. Then I looked up what to do if yo

Scotland Revisited, My Top Seven
OK, we’ve been back from Scotland for an entire week today and I am jonesing big-time for some fish and chips and a righteous real-ale.  I got to thinking about some of the things that I would bring back here if only I could.  Seven things to be exact.  Why seven, you ask? Well, the top five list was done perfectly in the movie High Fidelity, so who can compete with that?  Anyway, three’s two few, and I like prime numbers, so seven it is.  (My list, it doesn’t go to 11…) The top seven, in rank order, things I