Well well well

Here I am, finally able to post and yet I haven't put any thought into what to write. Such is life.

I've been on duty all week, as I've mentioned. It's generally said that even duty gets old eventually, because time ticks by so slowly and it's awfully boring. Well, not this duty. This has been just a real treat, let me tell you. Not once this week did I mind even a minute of duty, and if anything it made the week fly by. I've been keeping myself terribly busy between reading the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, which I finished, and watching assorted movies and especially watching Lost. I watched fourteen episodes in a day and two the next night and have been waiting for the next disc. Well, now I've got it and my computer lost its mind; it appears that the battery may be failing badly, or there's some wacky short circuit somewhere else. And even when it does stay on, it freezes up whenever I try to do much of anything. I have been considering taking my laptop out back and shooting it.

We finally had a lance corporal promoted to a corporal. It was Cox, somebody I've never mentioned on here before, a five-year arty lance corporal, which is usually the mark of death because arty is basically closed out for promotions Corps-wide. He's a good Marine though and he's been a solid lance for so long that I guess they took pity on him and just gave it to him. He deserves it, and it's encouraging to see them actually promote one of the lance corporals. We've had a staff sergeant become a gunny, a sergeant become a staff sergeant, and about six corporals become sergeants, so it's about time one of the lance corporals picked up.

I put together an Excel spreadsheet that automatically calculates the days, hours, minutes and seconds left. The other day I checked it and noticed that we have less than a thousand hours left. That's some pretty good stuff. I can't wait to get back to you all, unlimited internet, good steak, beautiful women, and beer (not necessarily in that order).

I really don't know what else there is to say. I'm not terribly eager to get back to the missions once I get off duty tomorrow, but I guess it'll make time pass quickly and keep me on my toes. I hope everything's going terrifically well back home for everybody, and I can't wait to see everyone again.