Your World As I See It

Just recently, I've had the privilege of reading through Margalit Fox's Talking Hands . I've read quite a few books while I've been over here, some good, some bad, and some that barely make the category of literature. Fox's book is, ostensibly, about her experience observing linguists decoding sign language in a Beduin town in Palestine. What makes the language unique is that unlike most other part of the world, almost everyone speaks sign language in this town. This sign language was born out of necessity; the incidence of deafness in this community is quite high, relative to the worldwide average. Now perhaps you are someone who considers linguistic and academic pursuits to be dull and useless to you; I would certainly encourage you to think again about this book. Because the beautiful thing about it is that Fox has actually created a book that is really three books in one, a rather impressive feat, if I may say so myself. This is, naturally, her description of th...

After a rather long wait, bear witness to the ascension of one Michael Miland from the ranks of underlings to the supreme commander of the allied forces...well, perhaps just to sergeant, but still. Quite the impressive feat, magnified by the abundant examples of epic failure (simple Ken) and professional apathy (me). So good job! Kudos to those who continue to prove that hard work, determination, and intelligence pay off. Also in the congrats column this week: UW's Women's Softball team, winners of the College World Series. Bow down to Washington, and give it up for the ladies! Finally, one of our teams managed to come through! This has been something of a "blah" week...not much to do, as usual, with intermittent mail, terrible weather, and continuing office drama. Here you can get a glimpse of the swirling dusting, obscuring the view of the soccer field (something of a misnomer, for those of us that consider some kind of grass/turf necessary for the designatio...

    Here are some pictures of me at the dental clinic. No, I wasn't there having a cavity drilled-this is actually part of our process for leaving Iraq and active duty. By getting some of these medical procedures done now, we will have much less of a stay in Wisconsin on the way home. That is, obviously, a hand-held dental x-ray in the photos (though it looks like it would be better for ghostbusting than for dental hygiene). And good news from the pearly white front...my teeth are doing fine. And you thought my sonic toothbrush collection wouldn't pay off! And what month would be complete without a fire alarm? This is my office, being visited by the fire department. Naturally, this came about after my not-so-bright coworker Barnes (or "Simple Ken" as we refer to him) was fiddling with a fluorescent tube. There was no actual fire, just a chemical smelling short; however, given the way he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, one would have th...

A few days ago, Michael and I went in for another food adventure, in the name of science, of course.  Our previous experiment of this nature was the “2,000 Calorie Challenge.” The recommended daily intake for average adults is 2,000 calories, so one drill weekend, we decided to attempt to fit all of them into a single meal.  After some menu research, we decided to go with Burger King.  As you might well imagine, the rest of the day was pretty much down the drain, as we were rather sluggish, tired, and bloated.  I would definitely recommend the traditional spreading out of the calories throughout the entire day. This time, we took a liquid approach.  Having noticed that our local cafe advertise the “MOAC” (Mother of all Coffees), we decided to give it a go.  After all, we were ex-patriots of the Mecca of coffee aficionados, Seattle; how could we not? The local baristas were shocked to hear our order (for reasons that are obvious in retrospect, it is a s...

Things are really starting to warm up in this part of the world, and that brings along all kinds of problems.  The air quality around these parts is already low, between the waste disposal methods, the lack emission standards, and all the sand swirling about.  The heat has begun to have an unpleasant greenhouse-like effect of trapping all kinds of pollutants and odors around the camp.  The last few days this has been especially problematic around our little living area of “Microtown.”  The sunny and dust storm-free weather has encouraged most folks to enjoy the outdoors more than usual.  Unfortunately, most of them have also used this opportunity to indulge in lighting up some variation of vile weed.  Walking up and down the rows, you can see groups of soldiers dangling cigarettes, lighting up Cuban cigars, trying out a hookah, and even one or two with a pipe.  The convergence of all these smokers and the heat of the evening was suffocating.  Ev...

One method of marking the time over here is to look at the weekends.  Unlike back home, the weekends don’t just seem short, they actually are short.  Despite the lack of actually work that needs to be done, most of us are lucky to get one day off.  While some government agencies are considering cutting back on their work week, we have to up with another day of clock watching.  On the other hand, there is a certain lack of leisure time activities to be had in Ramadi.  The main use for downtime over here is just the escape from inanity of the office, I suppose.  It certainly does make you realize how much you take even regular weekends back home, not to mention the excitement of three or four day ones.  Sometimes you just have to enjoy those quiet weekend afternoons…take a break, and relax when you can.

As you probably know, my current deployment is an irritant born of shortsighted government policy and some rather unfortunate timing.  I had been scheduled to be done with all this foolishness last August, but was instead shanghai’d into this operation by the infamous policy of “Stop-Loss” (euphemistically named “Involuntary Extension” by the military; derided as a “Back Door Draft” by its Congressional detractors).  This policy, along with other similar ones, such as reserve recall, not only helped bolster unit rolls, but also aided greatly in the reduction of morale.  Naturally, now that the damage is done, both policies are being quietly discarded. Certain lawmakers, realizing the injustices wrought forth in this situation, reacted in typical D.C. fashion: throwing money at it.  They introduced legislation to provide reparations for soldiers so thanklessly pressed again into service.  Their original aims were quite sweeping, proposing a $1500 per month s...

So, here I am, back in Iraq.  Nothing's changed much to say.  Ramadi is still the dusty hell-hole it was when I left.  Naturally, it has begun to heat up a bit over here, so I suppose we have that going for us (though it confirms my belief that not all change is good change!).  Anyway, I know everyone wants to know about my return trip... I knew my trip would be interesting when I couldn't find my boots the morning of my departure.  This certainly had disaster written all over it.  It seems as though SOMEONE had carted off my military footwear to the Goodwill in a case of mistaken identity.  Being the reasonable man I am, I won't disclose the name of the person responsible for such actions, but suffice to say that those of you who know my family well will no doubt realize that there is only one of us who would ever through stuff out with no notice given. Fortunately, there was a reserve pair of boots hanging around the garage, so I didn't have t...

In words and pictures, here is more or less what happened in an all-too-short fifteen days: Dinner with friends and family! Here we are with the Frasers, the Franklins, and the Fraughts, enjoying a nice dinner together. It certainly was good to see everyone again, and Uncle Lloyd seems to be much better than the last time we saw each other. Easter! It was my good fortune to be able to come home during Easter this year. It's always nice to share such special and holy times with one's family, to be sure. Despite the rain, we did have a good time and fellowship. It was good to hear Pastor Paul again on Sunday in person. He certainly looks better after recovering from the heart attack. The rain delayed our steak night, so we had to substitute pizza for Easter dinner (non-traditional, certainly, but hey, it was finally real pizza, which, obviously, I haven't enjoyed for quite some time). Rip City! Last but not least, watching the Blazers in the Rose Garden. Read the post ...

Well, one of the units here on Ramadi has finally finished leaving. Usually I'm not too concerned about such happenings, but it just so happens that this unit contained both my friends at the post office and Michael's aunt Dori. So now I have to get used to dealing with a new group in terms of mail, and Michael is now once again thousands of miles away from his nearest relative. And, perhaps most disconcerting, we now don't get to have any sushi parties or BBQ's over at the medical center. We'll really miss everyone, and, of course, look forward to joining them in returning home. Here are some goodbye pictures: At the Post Office... Picture time? Well, Staff Sergeant Dobison has to look good, so, naturally, a few quick push-ups! "We're all professionals here!" At the farewell BBQ A rather strange, but tasty non-alcoholic malt beverage "barbican" cider.

The sand (and, apparently, thunder) storm season is upon us here in Ramadi. The dense clouds of dust kicked up by the winds around here create a very other-worldly atmosphere. During the day, everything is a sombre orange hue. It certainly doesn't feel like I'm "in Kansas anymore," so to speak. The scene is downright eerie, and definitely makes for an interesting break in the boredom that is life in this camp. The limited visibility affects travel, as one might imagine. Even walking around can be quite the chore-you get the unpleasantness of gritty sand in your mouth, sand scratching your eyes, and the sense that taking a breath would be worse than smoking a pack of unfiltered cigarettes. Thankfully, the dust storm was followed by the thunderstorm, knocking all the annoying particles to the ground. Unfortunately, every time it rains in Ramadi, the place turns into mud city. It's like that old commercial, the one where that English gentleman at the teapart...

As promised “yesterday” here is a little taste of how I’ve been entertained, in terms of movies. First up:  “Slumdog Millionaire” I watched this movie with Michael and Dori during our most recent sushi party.  We all agreed that it was pretty good (and apparently so do other critics, as it is up for quite a few awards this year).  The soundtrack was a source of some amusement, as it featured a few songs by M.I.A., international pop star.  Her style isn’t what I usually go for, but the humorous element is that Michael always had her hit “Paper Planes” on when he gave me rides home on drill weekends.  So that was good for a slight chuckle.  Also funny was the fact that Dori’s television didn’t display the DVD quite right, cutting off both sides.  Such is the risk you take with the off-brand electronics over here.  This was unfortunate, as the director had made the decision to make the subtitles more aesthetically pleasing by placing them in non-...

So, last night we had another sushi party at Dori’s place.  While not having much to celebrate like last time, we figured, “Who needs a reason to have sushi?”.  I mean, simply having a day off is probably a good enough excuse to have a party around these parts. Some of Dori’s friends sent over some quality ingredients and treats, so I did have at least some materials to work with.  She had a small package of what she though was ginger, but on closer inspection turned out to be fish.  Which, naturally, was better for our needs, considering the previous lack of substantive fillings.  She also had some instant yakisoba, which was a tasty complement to the main course. This time I decided to cook two batches of rice, instead of trying to cook one huge one (the small pot is not designed for cooking a lot.  Well, obviously.) like last time when I had rice pushing the lid off the cooker.  Despite the lack of accurate measuring tools, it turned ou...

As you might recall, I had been doing the mail out of a container in the back lot.  The main reason being the massive amounts of mail that we had been receiving.  However, now that the Christmas rush is over, I don’t really need such a big space.  Not only that, but as the temperatures start creeping up into triple digits, the last place anyone would want to be is in a metal box…believe me, I’ve been there before. [Lonely boxes…] Now, in order to move into a more suitable location, a little construction was required.  And as it didn’t seem likely that “Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition” would be doing any shows over here, we had to do it ourselves.  This meant coming to work on Sundays (my one day off!).  Thankfully, Maj Fison did most of the design and power tool work (not saying that I couldn’t have done it myself, but the results would not have been as nice, given my lack of enthusiasm and experience). The first step was to prepare the room fo...

A traditional Ikehara New Years' party requires a little sushi-making.  I did the honors in Ramadi.  Michael & I rung in the New Year with his aunt Dori (coincidently stationed at our medical post) and her friend.  I provided the sushi, Michael brought the entertainment (Wall-E!), Dori provided the room, and "HN1" provided the refreshing beverages.   Michael & his aunt Dori A good time was had by all!  Many thanks to the Fam for sending the rice cooker (which I originally bought and brought over here last time, then gave it to Nate, who used it as a shelf decoration until he moved, at which time I'm sure Mom put it out in the garage before grabbing it out of the "gleaners" pile to send back to me here.  Yes, my rice cooker is a two time Iraqi veteran too!) sushi roller and rice, to the Franklins for the nori, to auntie Flo for some more rice (the amazing microwave rice!) and seasonings.  You guys are the best! Making t...

Ah yes, the "D-FAC" (Dining Facility, Chow Hall, Fred's House of Gastro-intenstinal Distress, call it what you like).  The only thing here saltier than the language is the entre of the day.  They serve items here that I've certainly never heard of.  I'm familiar with chicken wings, but how often to you see "turkey wings" - not Thanksgiving style, but fried drumstick-looking things.  I'm actually not sure what kind of meat it is, to tell you the truth.  It's probably better that way. Sometimes I get assigned to do the "headcount," which consists of watching people scan their ID cards and clicking a little counting device.  I'll admit, there are some worse jobs out there, but this one is right up there on the mind-numbing scale.  Plus, after you get done, you smell like grease.  Ewwwww.

    There I am, shaking hands with the governor!  That's right, Governor Gregoire came by to visit her deployed constituents.  She thanked us again for our service, and took some time to talk about all the snow and flooding problems (sounds like a job for the National Guard!...oh, right, they're in Iraq...).  Ha ha. Anyway, that was pretty neat, getting to meet the governor, although I would have preferred to have done it in Washington, without a rifle slung over my shoulder, and in some classier duds ("Hey, I can't believe we all wore the same outfit to this luncheon!  This is sooooooooo embarrassing!). I've always been a fan of the gov, ever since she helped out with my Wal-Mart issue a few years back (that was when she was still our AG, I do believe).  Maybe she has room on her staff for a lit guy?