The Sunset

Here is the sunset. I have't seen it for myself yet but these pictures are pretty nice. I can't wait until I do see it. Today I didn't do to much. I had the day off and I moved rooms today. I will have a whole new set of roomates. its just another sign that ROTO 2 is leaving, and I am sad. Today it was really nice out. I sat outside and read a book and got a tan. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. If its this warm now I can just imagine what the summer will bring.

31 Hours

Well what a day! 31 hours of straight work. If you think that you ever feel tired and think that you get the giggles.......I don't think that you have ever giggled as much as us. Thank Goddness that Green Beans coffee house is 24 hours. We went to get an expresso around 400am and I think that we made their day, they were like CUSTOMERS!!!!

right now my eyes are burning out of my head and my skin feels like its going to peel from being so warm. The OR was super warm to make sure the patient was at the right temperature. I think that must have lost about 6 pounds in that time. ( but gained 2 from the triple expresso)

The experience was super but i tell ya, after the 7 surgery you wonder if you can still function properly but everyone gets the job done and to the best of their abililities. Think of the surgeons who are still at work right now becuase specialits can't just leave their patients in ICU or in critical condition. These pictures are both taken at 500 am and thats when we were the most giddy. The surgeons were laughing at us and asked us if we were ever unhappy. They told all of us that we made their jobs easier with just our smiles and attitides

that makes it all worth it to get recanized for the job that we do and we are appriecated. I am going to bed now. it sucks because it is beautiful out but i need some rest. talk to you all soon

The Full Monty

alright everyone here it is. THE FULL MONTY I call it. This is me at the range. We had to go and shoot to make sure that our weapons are zeroed. Meaning that we are actually shooting on target. YES I am still a sniper. The range officer asked what was I doing in the Medical field and I told him. Well if I was anything else I would have to wear this get up more often. He just laughed and said that I really was COOL. like I haven't heard that before.

Ok here is a little backround. What I am wearing is called your PPE. Personal proctection equipment. My first layer is my combats, the second is my frag vest, to you normal folk its a bullet proof vest. There are 2 plates in it one in the front and one in the back. It weighs about 35 pounds. Then on top of that i have my Tac fest. it has all kind of pockets for my ammunition and all other sort of things. along with that you have your weapon, which i have 2 a c7 and a pistol and your helmet AKA the bucket your balistic eye wear that is shatter proof, ear plugs........................... and if you con't feel like The Stay Puff Marshmellow man and you are walking normal then chances are you forgot something.

Just Picture this......................our troops outside the wire wear all this gear and then some. our medical staff that go outside still have a 40 pound medical bag to carry. CRAZY eh NOW PICTURE THIS......................WEARING THAT IS when its 50 degrees out. That is dedication. I had a hard enough time to get it on and out the door. God forbid you have to go to the bathroom. although this morning I forgot that my wallet was in the first layer and there was no way I was getting at that so all that meant was.............NO TIM"S for me LOL maybe later. Now i am showered and off to the hospital where I will continue the work that I like to do. We have a heavy load today but we have the tunes and the surgeons so we are all good

Talk to you all later. SCRUBS ARE THE WAY TO GO!!!!!

Ping Pong

Ok so this is Ping Pong, a way to have a little fun over here. if you see that this picture is cloudy its because of the sand and dust. you can't get rid of it.
things have been busy since then. it was about 10 minutes after this picture was taken that my pager went off and off to the OR. It has been steady going. mostly locals. we had 4 surgeries today and i was lucky if i had lunch and supper. we finished tonight really late and now I am getting ready to go on the range tomorrow. sorry for such a short one

Pete I love you and I am sorry that I haven't been able to write or call but it gets hectic sometimes........I am thinking of you always and will call when i get the chance I LOVE YOU

Tims Horton's (The taste of Home)

Well..........here it is. The place where I start my day. My morning routine is to go to breakfast with they OR team, have some laughs over Lucky Charms. YES they have LUCKY CHARMS. Then we make our way to this lovely place. TIM'S. The line up is usually insane but we all know what it is like back home. You always wait for a good cup of coffee. the only difference is I am not in the drive through. The coffee tastes pretty similar but brace yourself.......The milk here has an expiration date of a year so I don't think I really want to know where it comes from or what they put in it to make is stay good for that long. The chocolate milk tastes like Bailey's which is not bad but that too I don't drink too much of it. Today I have the day off, so I remembered my camera and went for my morning coffee. Last night we were paged at 930 at night and had a local shot in the leg with a fractured femur. We were in surgery until 230am so Tim Horton's tasted really good this morning.
Green Bean coffee house is super nice too and it is close than Tim's so I will get pictures of that too. I went there first today but they were out of milk.........at least someone likes the milk around here.
anyway until the next blog.

the ROTO 2 Team

Here are the people that have trained me so far in Afghanistan. They are super funny. Today at work we had an "OLD SCHOOL" day. We downloaded all kinds of old school music like Run
DMC and so on. We had a dance off in the CSR which mean the Central Sterilization Room. It was so fun and I filmed it all. I have laughed so much in the past 2 weeks. Does everyone remember the CowBell skit from Saturday night live? Well Joe (The one who even looks like Kris Kattan) played the song and recreated the skit.I almost peed in my pants it was so funny. Everyone tells us that we are too happy all the time and well "They are not Wrong" thats what Joe says and it cracks you up "YOUR NOT WRONG" and everyday at least once the words " I HAVE A FEVER...................AND THE PRESCRIPTION IS MORE COWBELL" he then brakes out the cowbell.
So up to date I have been having a blast. My crew is coming in sometime next week. I am really going to miss these guys, but I am looking forward to my new crew. Tonight is movie night in the boys room and I think that we are all going to watch Wedding Crashers or Old School. We seem to have a Will Farrell theme. Last night was Night at the Roxberry.
Anyway that is it for today and tonight i am hoping to get some pictures of the coffee places for you guys. I seem to always for get my camera when i go for coffee

Oh Yeah Pete..... The other night they had a hockey skills compition. They have an outside arena. i will send you pictures of that too.
LOVE YOU ALL

People you meet old and new

Being in Afghanistan you meet so many people both old and new. In the first picture is Adam Houghtaling. We completed Basic Training together along with Warnie in 2000. We spent time together when I first got here and then we are running into each other all the time. Last time I seen him was here at the Market. Its good to see those people again and it makes you realize how small the world really is.
The New...........The British Oral Surgeon. He is a wonderful man, very well mannered and I tell ya he knows his shit. Facial trauma is nothing to him. He was very patient with me the first time we worked together.What I would call a scalpel or a 15 blade he calls a knife. Mosquito forceps to me are snappers to him. Its really interesting that instruments are called so many different names so that will take some adjusting to.....There is a retactor that he just called a tongue retactor but us Canadians call it a sweetheart retactor..............He is taking that name back home with him.
So all in all we both learn from each other and that is an experience of a lifetime. I am really enjoying the ability to work with different nations and take a little bit from everyone and share it with my home.
Peace out