It's a Small World after all

One of the highlights of each day is just following lunch, when I pick up the latest issue of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. Note that I said "latest" rather than "current" because the news is usually a few days old. Today, for example, we got Tuesday's news, a mere 3 days behind schedule. It's a case of deja vu reading the headlines that I saw online a few days ago. Since the paper isn't that useful for keeping up with current events, it does provide some entertainment in the form of comics, especially the Sunday comic insert (which we usually get on Wednesday). The horoscopes are amusing to read, since they were allegedly true three days ago, but apply just as well today, or any day, and for any person, for that matter. Actually, my favorite part is the letters to the editor, where I enjoy the occasional interchanges between people over various subjects of interest to the troops. Much more current, but only coming out on a weekly basis, is The Anaconda Times, put out by the public affairs office on base. I was pleasantly surprised to pick up this week's issue today, open the flap, and read a news story about our unit! Although the online archive linked above is about a month behind, I've linked to an online version of that same story: Navy takes aim at IEDs. The two-page article in the middle of the paper was also of interest. It highlights the opthamology department at the base hospital here, including a brief interview with Lt.Col Nelson, the chief of opthamology. The interesting thing about him is that his mother and my mother were best friends in high school. I remember some childhood visits to his grandparents' house. His mother had recently gotten in touch with my mom and both were surprised to find out their sons were not only in Iraq at the same time, but at the same base. It's a small world. I still need to look him up and see if I can share a meal with him sometime.