Victory Palace

Howdy Ya'll,

You'll have to be patient with me. This is a new thing here at the Pooh Blog. Pictures!

To start things off, I thought this would be a good introduction to Baghdad. This is only one of Sadam's palaces here at the the camp. This picture was taken before our invasion, and is a stock photo from somewhere.

Now, I don't plan on going picture crazy on the site, because that is sure to cause a slowdown on your download time, so I will keep it minimal and make the pictures count. I hope that you will all enjoy this new aspect, as I think it will provoke me to more frequent updates of some sort. Whether it be a full blog, and short blurb, or even just a picture as they come along.

The Victory Palace at Night. Unfortunately I don't live in it.

-Pooh out.

Screen Test

Howdy Ya'll,

Short and sweet today. Testing a new picture aspect for the blog. Hopefully we'll bring a new aspect to this page.

-Pooh out.

Nonsense And Such

Howdy Ya'll,

Seems like there's a whole lot of news these days, and non of it of much important to the grand scheme of things. Jacko trial. Blake trial. What's his face trial. Schiavo case. Probably a pile of other things that I can't think of at the moment.

Don't get me wrong. These are all news worthy, in so far as news is about ratings and advertisers. Human interest is always a good seller. I also don't want to discount the personal tragedy of the individuals directly related to all these stories. There's is a true struggle. The country's fascination over the events is not.

It is what makes us human though. We aren't cold and thoughtless to the plight of others. Or perhaps, on a more cynical perspective, we thrive on the plight of others to validate our own lives. I suppose it is more properly a bit of both. I am as guilty as the next, so don't accuse me of preaching. I'm just pointing out our flaws.

I'm tired. I'm sure we all are. We don't need to be 6000 miles from home to be tired of all this. We can be in our offices, or the gas station, or filing taxes, or at the grocery store. Don't we all just want to be able to relax with family and friends? I'm sure I could expound upon my thoughts on this, but I'm not trying to elicit pity, just for everyone to remember what they have. In many cases I have it better over here. At least I have a darn good reason for not being home with my wife. It's a big ocean between us. For those of you spending way too much time at work, or out and about worrying on life, go home and take the dog for a walk. Kiss your spouse. Build something in the backyard. Read a good book. Go watch cartoons. Go buy some crayons and color a picture. Enjoy it, and enjoy it with someone.

Heck, I'm not roughing it out here. I've got a TV. I have the internet. I have a mini-fridge with Diet Coke. I'm good. All of it though would be a good trade for just a little bit of time with my wife, and some dinner with friends.

Okay, I suppose you have figured out by this point that I really didn't have a planned topic this time around. I was just up, and I needed an outlet. I know that I haven't said it recently, but for those of you who patiently check in with this thing to see updates, and read through my ranting, I really do appreciate it. I know that enough people read this thing to keep me coming back. It's nice to know that there are people ready to listen to me, even if I don't make any sense half the time. At least I'm missed.

I promise that next time I'll be in a better mood. If you're really lucky, I'll discuss this great book on String Theory that I've been reading. It's good stuff for all you closet quantum physicists.

-Pooh out.

Fashion TV

Howdy Ya'll,

Okay, for those of you who may believe that you have a sense of style, understand fashion trends, are a snazzy dresser, or have even a remotely positive sense of self image, have I got the answer to all your problems.

Fashion TV not only dispels any understanding of fashion or taste that you may currently hold, but it will also help to get rid of any nagging sense of attractiveness you may hold about yourself. We are all poorly dressed, tasteless, ugly, overweight, overage, and generally unattractive. In all, we should go hide in caves to prevent detracting from the fashionably conscious of the world.

All this on Fashion TV!

-Pooh out.

Old Times & Old Folks

Howdy Ya'll,

Okay, so nostalgia is a regular part of life around here. When you are this far away from home, sometimes the thing that keeps you going is the memory of back home and days gone by. In addition, there are those who have many more years worth of memories on which to keep quiet reflection, than I. This reason I bring this up is two fold. Let's see where I'm going with this.

First off, in recent events it was discovered that a woman purportedly to have turned 125 this year, lives down in Brazil. The Brazilian government is verifying her birth certificate, but it seems to be a valid claim. She was born in 1880, and has outlived all but 3 of her 14 children. Surprisingly she has much still retains good memory and energy. This is a woman with some life worth remembering, I would imagine. I cannot even begin to imagine what someone almost 5 times my age could experience. Perhaps it's a life of child rearing and working. Perhaps she has travels around the globe. It could even be that she has lived a tremendously uneventful, albeit long, life. Whatever the case may be, the anecdotal fodder of 125 years has to be worth something.

The second point was brought up whilst I reflected upon this woman's tremendous life possibilities. I was flipping through channels and came upon Fox And The Hound. For any of you Disney nuts, you know what I mean. Now, I'm not normally an emotional guy (stop laughing), but this movie knows how to pull at the heart strings. I thought back on the many times I had seen that movie, and how many more memories it brings to the surface. It was then I realized that I had some awesome nostalgia myself.

The sum of this epiphany is that it's not the length of life that matters, but rather what you make of the time.

Okay, so that's not new or original. Nor was it an unheard of concept to me before now, but it received another level of meaning. This woman has had 125 years to make the most of it, but what has she done? Does she think it's worth it? At first thought, anyone might assume as such, but is it really the case? Likewise, if you were to die tomorrow, do you have enough life behind you that you can't imagine what else could possibly make it better had you lived to 125? Think on this and if the answer is no, then go get some memories. I know I am.

-Pooh out.