Pop tops

This is me with my hobby that is no more.

Out of sheer boredom and too much time on my hands as well as too many trips to the DFac (Dining Facility) I started to collect the pop tops from soda’s. They don't have the latest bottling machines over here and the soda’s are canned or bottled in Turkey or Jordan, so they still use those old pull tabs. Remember those? Do you remember the chains and curtains that we hippies used to make in the 60’s and 70’s for college dorm rooms? Ahh, well, boredom set in and I started collecting them.

Word got out and people started saving them for me and I had a nice little curtain going that was starting to look pretty good. Very, very cheesy but still fun. I went to the BUA yesterday and the G5 briefed (G5 is Civil-Military Affairs, they meet with the mayor’s of the surrounding communities, they're our liaison’s to them) about a program he’s working back in the states, some organization that will match a dollar amount for every pop top contributed! ACK, I was crushed. Some damn company supporting some greedy little kid with cancer so they can live, the nerve... Now I have to find a new hobby...

Notice the new Mail address to the right if you’d like to send anything. I had to change it because of some bureaucracy over here. I took down Paul’s mail address; it looks like he’ll be rotating back to the U.S. in the not too distant future, Woo hoo to him!

I haven’t been traveling too much, I was going up north to Al Kasik for a visit but the travel wasn’t supported, so that was a bust.

I did get some good news about my leave and it looks like I’ll be visiting Minnesota for a short trip in early April. I don’t have the exact dates yet or how long I’ll be there but I should find out shortly. I’m hoping to see as many people as I can.

Best wishes from Iraq!