Read this superbowl poster--the game starts at 2:30 AM! That is crazy, especially since we don't even have real beer here. They are serving hamburgers too, but I don't know if I can eat a burger at 4AM. Don't you feel sorry for us, having to stay up and party all night? ha-ha. I will let you know how it goes.
I thought you would all get a chuckle out of this speed bumps sign. And, no, I was not the one who decorated the sign.
Well, keep in touch. Miss you all. sending love.....

Counting down

Here is a picture of the snow on the BBQ that belongs to our neighbors. Our neighbors are 6 Airborne guys who have BBQ's and parties on occasion. Some Rangers live next door to them. Sunday weather was warmer and we played volleyball again. Sunday night was the Patriot's game, and there are a lot of Patriot's fans here in our group. Most of the TV we get here is delayed broadcasting, but occasionally we get things live, like playoff games. Unfortunately, when thePatriots game was live here, it meant it didn't start until 11pm. So we had a football party in the clinic waiting room Sunday night on the big screen TV. The Packers game followed, at 3am--only a few brave souls stayed up all night for both games. I guess the Superbowl will start in the middle of the night sometime.
Here is a picture of the 5 CRNA's here. We sent in this picture to the AANA website for deployed CRNA's. The two women are my CHU'mates, and all 4 of them are terrific to work with. I am glad to have met and worked with them.
I got brave and went swimming in the pool here. It's indoors, but it isn't heated. The water temperature was 68 degrees. It was cold, and without a wetsuit, I didn't last long. It was still enjoyable. It is a very nice pool. It would be nice in the 140 degree summer, but the water temp gets up into the 80's in the summer.
Thanks to everyone for warm wishes. Love you all.

Sunday Volleyball

Hello everyone. Here are some pictures of us playing volleyball. We got a few of us out to play, despite the bitter cold. Everyone who played had fun, and we will try it again next Sunday. It has been cold here, and it actually snowed a skiff last week--see the bottom picture. It turned the fine powdery sand into thick, clay-like mud that sticks to your shoes like cement. Yeesh!
We had a mass casualty drill yesterday at the CSH. They are practicing
their hazmat/decon plan for radiation exposure too. It was your typical army-style Charlie-Foxtrot (C.F.) We had such a fun time, we get to do it again next week!
Well, we are all whining about the cold here. It seems colder here than at home, although the temperature is the same. Might be the dry wind that is always blowing, or perhaps that we have to walk everywhere that makes it seem colder. I thought I would get to miss winter by being here, but apparently not. At least we are not here when it is 140 degrees. The cold is definitely better, plus no camel spiders.
Down to a few more weeks to go, 3+ I think. I hope to be home in about a month. Hard to believe the time has passed so quickly. Thanks again to everyone for checking on my family. Thanks for comments on the blog--I love to read them. Love ya'll

More pictures

Hi there. I thought I would put up some more pictures so you all had something to see. Nothing really new here. I did three OR cases yesterday, and today we had four. We see some trauma, but most is extremity injuries. Had a hot appy the other day, which is always exciting. I miss my boys like crazy, and they have lots of snow. It's cold here, but no snow. I posted the weather for Baghdad, but we are a little colder than them. So, on to pictures. This first one is a picture of me in a Cobra helicopter, the day we went to the flightline. The second picture
was taken New Year's Eve, as we huddled outside and watched the Eagles in concert on a laptop outside. It was cold, so we didn't last too long. The last one is just scenery. I took this at sunrise, as the moon was setting, it looked pretty. Funny how my definition of "pretty scenery" has morphed over time, when all I have to view here is flat, brown, and sandy.


I tried to make the text of this posting cooperate, but it insists on jumping in between these pictures. So I apologize for the choppy presentation. :-)
Please write, love to all
-ali

Monday Blahs

It's Monday, which really doesn't matter here because it's like Groundhog Day everyday--it's all the same. Sundays are the only day we get to sleep in, and they offer a "late riser's breakfast", so we can eat waffles and powdered eggs at noon. I can't wait to get home and have real eggs. There are no real eggs here, no egg salad, no hard boiled eggs, only fake-eggs. They do have Baskin-Robbins ice cream, so it's a good thing we go to the gym a lot. Other than Sunday, every day seems the same. On Sundays at home, Dillon makes me eggs and brings me coffee and the newspaper in bed. I sure miss my boys. I keep asking my CHU-mates to bring me the paper and coffee in bed, but they haven't complied yet.
We rotate call, so every 5th day I am number 1. Today I am 3, tomorrow 2, and so on. We have been doing more cases lately, but nothing very exciting. Iraqi's keep shooting themselves in their legs--I heard a rumor that they get some financial benefit from us. Duh, maybe if we quit paying them, they will quit inflicting GSW's upon themselves. It is cold here now, 20 in the morning and 40's during the day. It actually rained for about an hour the other day. Only the 3rd time we have seen rain since we got here--and this is the "rainy season"!
Well, nothing else is news. We hear our replacements should be here in a month. Keep reading and emailing me. Thanks again for everyone who sends wishes. Love, ali

Happy New Year

Hello, and happy new year. All is well here. Just counting down the days. Not much longer here, and it is really surprising how quickly it has gone. We had four OR cases today, and things have been busier--still extremely slow compared to normal life, but busier than we have been. I have been reading a lot, sitting in the sunshine in the afternoons, although it is a lot colder than it was a month ago. We watch a lot of movies together, and still go to the gym and dance lessons. The pool is not heated, so I haven't dared swim, although they offer water aerobics several times a week. We went to the flight line last week and had a tour of the Cobra and Huey helicopters. We all got to climb into the Cobra and take pictures. We tried our best to party on New Years Eve, with our fake beer and real cuban cigars. Kind of ironic, since if we were home we would have real beer and fake cigars. My family is back from Mexico, which is a relief, as I was worried about them. ( More irony: I am in the war zone feeling perfectly safe, yet I worry about my family traveling to Mexico for Christmas. )
Well, I will keep writing, if you all keep reading. Hope you all had nice holidays. Write to me when you can. love, ali