Thank You For Your Support

Howdy all, whats happening?

One more week down and closer to coming home. Time does go by faster here than when I was in Ft Sill. I guess its because I keep busy here with work and corresponding with all of the people that supports me and the rest of my unit. I have written more letters and cards than I have ever and I love doing it. My handwriting is not the best so I have done a few with the computer so I can use spell check and make it look good. Over all I just want to say thanks and I will try to respond to everyone s fast as I can if you send me a letter or care package (I do like care packages :-)). It is just amazing the support that we get for doing our job for our country. Thank you!!

Now the good stuff. This week I started my Christmas shopping for people back home. I am not going to tell you what I bought but the items I have bought are cool I think. I am trying to get it done early here because selection can be limited around the holiday time I have herd so I start now so there is a selection. My mother-in-law would be so proud of me. She starts shopping for the holidays the day after Christmas and we are never allowed in the part of the basement where she hides them. The one thing I don't have to do is hide them, I'm in Iraq.....Hello!!

I hope everyone has had a great week and I will post again next week with more from Iraq and the life of a man called Zirbes.

Till Later,

Dan

Here I am Again

I'm back and ready to BLOG again.

I want to thank Sarah for keeping everyone updated in my internet absence. As you all know I am an internet junky and I am so happy to have internet finally. Now down to the business of blogging.

I have been in country now for 1 month and the time has actually gone by fast. I work a 6 on 1 off 10 hour day schedule that keeps me busy most of the time. On my days off I have gone to the PX and to the Turkish Cafe here on post. It is more like a room that has a window that you order food from and it is Turkish food. It is better that a kick in the pants though. I have also decked out my room with fun lights that Sarah has sent me. I have beer mug, Hawaiian shirts, chili pepper, flip flop, margarita, and bobber lights lighting my room. It makes it a little more fun to be in. My roommate and I call it "Club J-Dan". People like to come over because it is cooler than their rooms. Well, as you can tell I have internet now and that was no fun to set up. You have to have a degree from MIT to figure it all out, but we got it up and running and now I can communicate with the world again. I missed all of you.

Now I have received some mail from some of you. I got a letter from my Grandma. She is so cute and I love hearing from her. She is not on the computer so she gets to read my crappy hand writing. That's ok though because I love writing her. I also got a letter from my Aunt Dee Dee, my Mother-in-Law Pat, and friend Christina. I do love mail call and seeing my name on the board. I have also received packages form my Parents and The Lions club in Mound. A co-worker of Sarah's, Jewel, gave them my name and they sent me a very nice box of treats and other items that I shared with the members of my platoon. It was cool to have other people take notice that I haven’t met but cared enough to send something.

I just want to say thank you for all of the support and prayers that I have received since I’ve been deployed. My step-mom Kathryn says that they say my name every Sunday at their church and that makes me feel good and at the same time I feel that they shouldn't make a big deal of it because I just doing what I signed up to do. Either way I'm glad that there is such great support of all of the troops including me. I'm just shy you know......NOT!

This is the most I've typed in a while and my fingers are getting tired so I will end it here. Monday is my reset day so I will use that day to update you on all of my news and happenings of the week. Take care and I will talk to all of you later.

Dan

Fun in the Sun?

Dan still doesn't have his own internet access. We've ordered the satellite dish and it's on its way from the UK to Dan. (Shipping was $700.00!!!) It should arrive any day now. We've talked almost every day on the phone. He likes to hear about what is happening back here. He has called his room there home a few times, and it makes me a little sad since home is back here with all of us, but really, what else can you call it when you're going to be there for at least a year?

He's gone shopping at the bazaar on post and bought a few movies. He's been shopping at the post exchange, and ordered a few things online. He's enjoyed having ice cream from Baskin and Robbins.

He says his bike ride to work is about 10 minutes. For security reasons, he can't talk about what he does each day, but there are lots of other things to chat about. My mom got a chance to talk to him over Labor Day weekend and she really enjoyed it. The connection was good and had fun asking him questions about life over there.

He has enjoyed getting mail from all of you, so keep sending him letters! Hopefully the next entry will be from Dan.