A month?

January 25, 2009,
Wow...has it really been a month since my last post? I didn't realize I have been putting it off for so long. I guess it's kind of a good thing that time is going by like that. Well first off I'll start just by wishing everyone a belated "Happy New Year" and also send out a huge Thank You to everyone who has been writing me and sending me packages, cards etc. in the mail. It has been a big help. It's always fun going down to the mail room and seeing my name on the list. It's just like Christmas. So many things to talk about...don't know where to begin. I suppose I could go through what a normal day for Spc. Evans is like here in Kandahar. My day begins by getting up anywhere from 5:45 to 6:15...that all depends on how many times I hit the snooze button on the alarm clock. Who doesn't do that. So once I finally decide it's time to roll out of my nice warm blanket that my awesome wife sent me(thank you so much sweetie)I stroll down the hall to the bathroom to splash some much needed cold water on my face. There is no way I would be able to function without that initial shock in the morning. After that exciting ordeal I get dressed, put on my 15 layers of clothes cause it's always freezing in the morning, throw on my boots, grab my weapon and head out the door. I can pretty much base how my day is going to be by what the weather is like in the morning. For the most part, just like anyone back home, nice sunny day with a little breeze is going to be a nice one, cloudy and windy equals I hate thie place and don't want to do any work what so ever and, rain is just I wish I could go back to bed. The weather here is very unique. I woke up one morning and everything pointed to a not so bad kind of day. When I got to work and was launching out the first team I was greeted by a little sprinkle from a lonely dark cloud in the sky, not too bad, but within a few minutes that cloud unleashed with pouring rain and believe it or not....HAIL. That pretty much shot the possibility down for a good day. Starting out getting soaking wet and pelted by hail...not fun. Anywhos. I would say it's about a ten minute walk to our work area. Not bad at all. It's just enough to wake you up. Once I get to work the first thing I look at is the flight schedule. When we have a lot of flights going on for the day it is usually nice and relaxed because you can't really do any maintenance on a helicopter that is out flying around Afghanistan. Who would have thought. From there it turns into getting what work we can done and waiting for the clock to strike 7. When the next crew gets there we do our little change over meeting so they can know what we got done and what needs to get done. Then it's off to the Hooch, army term for room. Depending on what kind of day it was determines if I am in the mood for going to the gym. Long hard days I usually just relax and chill in my room, talk to my wife, watch a movie or just browse around on the internet. Days where we kind of just sat around because there wasn't a whole lot to do I usually hit the gym for about hour. Once i'm done getting my swell on(hopefully you are reading this george barry)I head back to my room, hop in the shower, and it's not too much longer that that when i'm curling up in bed and heading off to dream land. There you have it. One day I plan on taking my camera on "A day in the life of Spc Evans." I think that would be pretty neat. It's kind of hard to walk around recording everything without getting in trouble or breaking or whatever else bad could happen. I guess we will just have to wait and see if it ever happens. Well enough boring stuff for a few minutes. Today was my day off for the week. definitely the most looked forward to day of the week. It's nice to just be able to sleep in, not too much or you throw your body out of whack, take care of the stuff you need to take care of ie laundry, PX, mail etc. On to a different subject. This may sound weird but boy do I miss blacktop. What I would give to have these roads around here paved. When they are dry the dust is insane, when it rains the mud is out of control. The ground here doesn't like to soak up water either. It will stay wet for at least four days after it rains. Not fun at all. Well...thats all I can think to write for now so until next time............