Anaconda 24/7

Another week down, and I haven't bothered to open the spreadsheet to check how far along I am. I know it's a while until the next milestone and I don't want to depress myself with lack of progress. On the bright side, it really doesn't seem like it's been a week since I last checked. I joined in on another Saturday night poker game. No gambling, of course, but you can really get some high quality chex mix with what everyone pitches in. One of my luckier nights, chip-wise. We branched out from Texas Hold 'Em to do a few "dealer's choice" games. Given our current location at a base named "Anaconda," I occasionally dealt the poker game by that name. The Sergeant Major hadn't heard of it before and got a kick out of the fact that an alternate name for Anaconda is "Pass the Trash." Very much an Army way of thinking, I've learned. I finally got issued a handheld radio today. The good news is that it's a great status symbol. You must be important if people need to get a hold of you 24/7. Of course, the bad news is that people can now get a hold of you 24/7. Fortunately, the batteries don't work very well, so there's always a ready excuse for why you didn't answer. And honestly, I don't actually get that many calls.