11 Days to "Black Friday"

 

Hello all and happy Veterans Day.

This week, I turned to my retail side and did the rest of my Christmas shopping. The post office here says that if we don't mail everything out by the 10th of December, that it will not get here for Christmas. It's not the same shopping here as back home as you may already know. It is still in the 80's and 90's for highs and the sun is always out and bright. It's hard to get into the spirit when I'm used to cold weather and running my store with bustling shoppers looking for that perfect gift to give someone. That's why I reference "Black Friday" in the title. Call me crazy but, it is one of my favorite days of the year. I loved seeing the lines of people to get into my store and the energy that my employees had because of the fast pace. One year, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited, just ask Sarah. Retail is in my blood, and in 11 days I'll be missing the most exciting day in retail. Well, I could always pull guard duty, that could be exciting!! (Don't worry Sarah, I wont do that)

Also, today is a day to remember all of the soldiers that have fought for our country and allow us to live in the freedom that we have today. Yesterday,some of the guys and I were saying "Hay, we are vets now, we can join the local VFW." And one of them said "That's why we go to war every 10 or 20 years, so that they can get younger members into the VFW.". We had a good laugh at that one. Seriously though, Being here, doing what the the Army has trained me to do, makes me think about everyone over here. All of us are needed here to fight the fight. Weather you are a cook, mechanic, pilot, or ground pounder----every job is important. On days when I am not so busy, I think about that and realize that even though I was not needed today, I am here for when they do need me to get a bird back up into the air to "Fight the Fight". I guess what I'm am trying to say is-----hug a Vet today, because all of us in the armed forces are here for you and to make sure America is safe and free for the next generation.

Off my soap box now. Time for........."Mug at War" update. The screening was this last week and it is better than I even thought. It made me laugh, It made me cry. It is an epic for our time. I believe that it is Oscar worthy. Right up there with, the Dirty Dozen and Platoon. I'll post another movie poster below. I hope all of you Cargillians are spreading  the word. Getting the buzz out around the office.

That's it for now. I'll leave you with this........"The early bird gets the worm but, the second mouse gets the cheese." Think about that and enjoy the rest of your week.

Dan

Is It November Aready?

Hello everybody and welcome.

First a word from our sponsor, The US Army.........

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Sounds great.......maybe I'll join up and.....oh.....wait....I'm already in the Army. That’s why we all dress alike here. I get it now.......LOL.

This week went by quite quickly for me because I was busy most of the week with maintenance as you can see in the photo above. I do like keeping busy and learning as I go. I try to learn something new every day. The only problem with that is I probably forget something when I gain the new knowledge. One of these days I will learn a new thing and forget how to walk or something strange like that.

Sarah and I also booked our holiday trip.....to Mexico. I'm so excited. Fun in the sun without wearing my ACU's. Can you say Mai Tai? Then we will be back in time for Mark and Jill's wedding. That will be quite the event also. Can you say open bar? Well, I don’t know if it open bar but I won't care because we will be dancing and having fun at the reception with family and friends. So all of this is happening in December, then back here for the final 7 months of my deployment.

"Mug at War" Update........Still in editing because we (me and a friend are putting it together) keep coming up with new ideas and things but it should be done real soon. It will be out for the big holiday push. Oscar material if you ask me. Great acting and the mug is brilliant in the roll of "Mug" the Cargill mug. I'll put a preview picture down below so you can post it up around the house it preparation.

That’s all I have this week. In the coming weeks I'll get into my Christmas shopping and getting ready for leave so stay tuned........

Take care all and I'll talk to you all later.

Dan

BOO!

Happy Halloween!

Hope I didn't scare you all too bad but I wanted to get everybody in the spirit. Sarah sent me some decorations to hang up in the shop and everybody loves them. Halloween here in Iraq will be a little different. No trick-or-treaters but they are having a costume contest at the MWR for prizes. I don't know where people are getting costumes but I plan on going as a army guy. I know it will be a stretch for me but I bet I can pull it off. I always liked Halloween at home and handing out the candy to the kids. All of the different costumes are great to see. All I had was a football helmet and a Vikings shirt and voila, I was a football player (One of my moms favorite pictures of me as a kid). Now they look straight out of a movie with all of the stuff you can buy. It's cool. Just to let you know, you know you're a Minnesotan when you design a Halloween outfit to fit over a snowsuit. '91 Halloween blizzard comes to mind with that one.

Nothing else exciting has happened to me this week, which is good when you are in a war zone. Final editing is happening to the movie "Mug at War". It should be a blockbuster hit for the Christmas season. Ebert and Roper have given it "2 Thumbs Up". The Anaconda Times say that it is " one of the bet war films this month" and the paper Stars and Stripes go as far as saying "It doesn't stink that bad". When it is done, I'll have Sarah post it on the BLOG here so everyone can see it after the special viewing at Cargill happens.

Now I am taking this time to say some public congrats. Congrats to Rory for getting a gig at Marty's once a month. Everyone go on that Friday and support him in his karaoke show. Congrats to my boss at Eddie Bauer who is now my ex-boss because she is going to be a district director for Ann Taylor. Marilisa, you will do a great job and I want to than you publicly for the opportunity you gave me at EB. Good Luck to you. And a final congrats to Matt, my wife's cousin, for joining the Army. I am very proud of him and now we are brothers-in-arms in the Army. He is in basic as we speak, and then of to AIT to be a supply specialist. Way to go young man and the next time I'll see you, your hair will be as short as mine (hehe).

That's all I got this week. Everyone have a great Halloween and I'll talk with you all later

Dan

This One Time, At Anaconda.......

Well, another week has gone by and I'm one more week closer to coming home on leave. Sarah and I are planing to take a short trip when I come home so we can have time together, just the 2 of us. We don't know what to do so any suggestions would be nice. you can leave them here on the BLOG and that way people can see your ideas and maybe want to go where you suggested also.

Now on with our show..........This week our hero was quite busy at work. In fact, I guess you could say I was the most popular guy in the company for a couple of days. I had a lot of engine work between me and my other 2 guys. We were very efficient and got the work done fast and correctly, which is important when you are dealing with helicopters. One thing about what I do for the Army is that it all seems to break at the same time so ether we are not doing anything or everything breaks at the same time, like what happened this week. All in all, it was fun to work at such a up-tempo pace and also stick to all of the standards put in place for safety. Now it's back to waiting fr the next time it all breaks, which is a good think because that means that they are flying and completing their mission.

I have received quite abit of e-mail and letters/packages this week. I just want to say thank you all for your continuing support and that we would be nothing without all of you standing behind us back home. We have received treats for people supporting us on Anysoldier.com and also from our families. My step-mother, Kathryn, sent a whole box of cookies and they were gone by the next day (by the way Kathryn, the peanut butter w/recess pieces was a big hit). Other faves have been the Nutter Butters from Wendy, one of the wonderful people from Anysoldier, Ritz and Easy Cheese from Kathie, Anysoldier supporter, and the coffee that my wife's aunt Sharron sent us (We do love our coffee here). Thank you all again, and if I don't get back to you right away, don't worry, I will.

For all of you Cargillians out there that reed my little BLOG, I am working on my movie "Mug at War" and it should be in Sarah's pretty little hands by the beginning of next month. Production is about wrapped up and now it is on to editing. For those of you who don't know, I have a Cargill coffee mug that I take everywhere. Now he has gone off and done his part in fighting terrorism in the movie "Mug at War". It is good (I Hope), and if you want to see it when it is done I'll try to put it on You Tube or something after Sarah is done with it.

I have carried on long enough, time to get back to all of my e-mail/letters. For those of you who have received letters from me, sorry about my handwriting, I know it is like chicken-scratch but at least I give your eyes a workout trying to reed it.....lol. Everyone take care and I will post again next week.

Later

Dan

View From My Bed

Papa Got A Brand New Camara

I am the all and powerful OZ!!!!

OK, I'm not , but I am in the land of OZ ...... I mean Iraq.......where am I again?

Back to reality. Time for the weekly update in the life of.....SGT Zirbes, soldier to the stars. (Don't ask me why I'm so goofy today. It must be the air or something.) This week went by pretty fast. I had a class on the environment on Friday. It was all about how we can take care of all of our waste products and leave Iraq better than we found it. You don't realize how must waste people produce till you see it first hand. The people involved are doing a tremendous job with the recycling and removal of all of the waste from the base. I'm now in charge of our hazmat program to get us into specs. I'd tell you more but I'd have to kill you with a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Speaking of Chuck Norris. Did you know the helicopter was invented when he was observed doing 10 roundhouse kicks in a row and lifted off the ground. Bet you didn't know that. That is what I call a Chuck Norris Fact.

On to other things.......I want to say thank you for all of the mail and support from everyone. I signed up my platoon on anysoldier.com and the response has been tremendous. We get at least one "something" everyday. All of my troops love the treats and letters we get. The food doesn't last long with 15 guys eating it, that's for sure. So again I say thank you everybody.

Now I bet you are wondering why I named this one what I did. It's because my camera's LED screen cracked on it and I needed to buy a new camera. The old one served me well. I took around 1200 pictures with it and I only had It 10 months. I have my mothers camera bug I guess because I had to buy a new one right away so I don't miss a thing. It is a little nicer than my other one. It has more features and is smaller so I shouldn't break this one (I hope). The picture at the top of this I took with the new camera. I think it looks nice.

I've rambled on long enough. I'll let you get back to your lives for another week. I will have more misadventures of.....SGT Zirbes next week for you all.

Take care,

Dan

Poison ROCKS!

Hello all and welcome back

This week went by fast. That's a good thing because it meant that things are moving along and next thing I know, I'll be home. In a nutshell, I worked, went to the bazaar on my day off, and played cards on Saturday with some of my buddies. Oh , I forgot to mention, Bret Michales from Poison performed here on Friday!!!!! It ROCKED!!

I know what you are all thinking, Dan has It so good and he gets to go to concerts and do all of this fun stuff in Iraq, I wish I was him. It is tough being me but somebody has to do it. I went to the other side of the base to the theater with 4 other people and got to sit 4 rows back for the show. He performed for about 1 1/4 hours and had a "meet-and-greet" afterwords. He played some Poison Hits and some covers like "Sweet Home Alabama". All in all, it was cool that he came all this way to perform for us. I got to shake his hand and thank him for coming and he thanks us for our service. I was a big love fest and it was a fun night. The next day I was off balance all day because of the music being so loud. I had that feeling of car sickness most of the day but it was worth it.

I'll post some more pictures down below so be sure to check them out. I plan on updating on Mondays every week but do not hesitate to e-mail me if you want some one-on-one time with me. I am pretty good at responding so feel free to contact me thru e-mail. I also like regular mail, so if you want to go low tech you can do that also. You can get my address from me via e-mail or ask Sarah for it.

Everybody have a good week and I'll talk to you all later,

Dan