200 and More

I have a couple of things for today's rarest of posts (it's Feb 29th!)

First, today is my 200th day here.  I'm not sure why 200 is more significant than 1 or 22 or even 199, but I do know 200 days is a long time!

Second, it occurred to me that today is a free day of war.  I get the same pay in a 29 day February as I do on a 28 day February so today is "free" from a salary point of view.  I just found that to be interesting, mildly masochistic, but interesting.  The good part about today though was it was a Friday.  Not that any day is much different from another work-wise, but on Fridays they serve Surf and Turf at the DFAC for dinner.  Fried shrimp and crab legs, mmm mmm good!  (They tend to screw up the Turf part so I usually have Surf and Surf on Fridays.)

Cheers, Pearl

P.S. I'm not sure why I'm on such a number-based posting roll lately.  Perhaps it's that one day is pretty much like another but I'll see if I can find something more interesting for my next post.

Sad Day

Well, it was a good run, but my Tigers lost today to #2 Tennessee 62-66, ending the unbeaten Tiger season as well as the nation's longest home winning streak.  It was a hard fought game, but it sure is difficult as a True Blue Tiger fan to lose to the Big Orange!  While Memphis still has the best record in NCAA basketball this year (26-1), I'm sure they'll drop out of their number #1 ranking - how far is up to the capricious voting of the sportswriters and coaches.

The good thing is, this game, while a tough loss, won't affect the Tigers in the C-USA picture, nor will it affect whether they make the NCAA tourney selection.  March Madness is fast approaching and I know the Tigers will be very hungry.

Cheers, Pearl

90

Speaking of milestones, I hit a new one today.

I have 90 days to go!  Whoo hoo!

Cheers, Pearl

2,500!

A new milestone today - 2,500 hits on "Pearl in the Desert!"  Wow!  Thank you all very much for following my observations, rants, and ramblings as I've spent the past seven months with the Army here in Baghdad.  It has certainly been an adventure so far!

If I subtract out the hits from my family, that means about 12 of you have been spending time to see how I'm doing.  Just kidding!  I am humbled by the well-wishes I have received from so many via my blog and I hope I've been able to give back some of that to you, my readers.

Thanks again for all of your support for my fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marine - wherever we may be deployed.

Cheers, Pearl

A week between posts?!

My apologies!  

I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post.  I don't feel like I've been particularly busy, but perhaps it's just that our normal busy days here are just that now - normal.  I don't think anything spectacular happened this week to keep me from posting, but apparently nothing spectacular happened to inspire me to write either!  As a matter of fact, yesterday I had issues with my work computer and it was odd not being able to be truly productive for an entire day.  But I still didn't get around to posting.  Odd.  Anyway...

I think the thing I've noticed most this week is that "life finds a way."  It's gotten warm enough for me to get back into running again and I've noticed during my runs little green patches of grass peeking up here and there.  These small areas beside the road, in the cracks, and around some of the trees certainly aren't "meadows" by any stretch of the imagination, but these little shoots are so verdant, so vibrant, that they look completely out of place against the brown earth.  I'd never given any thought to the brown scrub I'd become so used to during my runs in the summer and fall, but they had to have been last years' growth.  I know they won't last for long, but it certainly is enjoyable to see this new life springing up, however briefly, in this otherwise monochromatic land.

Cheers, Pearl