Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Country Club at Ali Al Salem (aka Military Lite)
Danni (a Corporal in the RAF) and I went over the LSA/AAS to swim on Tuesday (or maybe it was Wednesday, I forget). The pool is beautiful and about the same size as the one at the AJCC . It’s not heated, but my (educated) guess is that the temperature is about 86 degrees. The pool is open 24/6 -- closed on Mondays (my day off) for cleaning and maintenance. There’s an indoor changing room with cubbyholes, flush toilets and showers. Lounge chairs and picnic tables are situated around the deck where people were lying around, socializing and sunbathing. The only things missing were drinks with umbrellas from the bar. I was happy to do 20 laps (about ¼ mile) and sincerely hope I can make a habit of driving over regularly to get in the swim again. (Hope to post pictures soon.)
Friday, May 8, 2009
Inspiration from a Most Unlikely Source
Perkins, one of my TC4ME Marines, often comes in to the USO with his buddies to play video games. When he came in last night he also signed up to use the phone. He said he wanted to call a girl that had contacted him through Facebook. He said he hadn’t seen her for about 4 years, but she had seen his picture on-line and asked him to call her. Perkins said that even when they knew each other she wouldn’t talk to him. I said that she must have seen that he’s a Marine now and suddenly was interested. He said that could be it, although he figures the reason she wouldn’t talk to him before is because at that time he weighed 310 pounds! I was flabbergasted. I asked him why and how he lost so much weight. He said he always wanted to be a Marine so he lost 120 pounds by eating better and exercising; (I’m so sorry; I can’t help myself; I must insert: Duh!) then he lost another 20 pounds after he joined the Marines. To me Perkins is an example of, “If that kid can do it, so can I!” and another incredible case of “Who’da thunk?!?” Good thing he's serious in the picture. If he was smiling he would look really young.Truth is Funnier than Fiction
Last week Danni went over to the beauty shop at LSA to have her hair color touched up. She asked me to help her (since she did mine), but peroxide was involved, so we decided she should have the assistance of someone with a little more experience. Danni said that the whole time she was having her hair done there was an Air Force guy next to her having his chest and back waxed. This was a major event, took a long time, and the guy was obviously in a great deal of pain as all of his hair was being yanked off. Despite his continuing agony, Danni said they had a very pleasant conversation. So pleasant in fact, that as she left the guy asked if she wanted to go out sometime. “Oh, I don’t think so,” she said as the door slammed behind her. “I only date really hairy men.”
Monday, May 4, 2009
The One Where the USO Volunteer Saves a Life
Thought you might be interested in these recent e-mails from Amy Abramson, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Bob Hope Hollywood USO at LAX (and my wonderful and very supportive friend).
From e-mail, April 22, 2009:
I worked yesterday (Tuesday) at the USO and had the wildest night yet. We had around 250 Marines which is about normal for us. But we had a young Marine who had a REALLY BAD staph infection on his leg. I talked to him about it, but he didn't seem too concerned. But luckily, one of our volunteers saw it later on and realized how bad it was (the Marine finally admitted to being hot and cold). We called the paramedics and they took him to the hospital. I saw his upper thigh and there were red lines radiating up his thigh and I heard him say his urine has been really dark all day. GEESH - don't these guys recognize symptoms!!
Then we had the normal Tuesday night drunken Marine who was in the main room talking trash to some of the other Marines. One of our male volunteers talked to him, but it didn't help. He got into a fight a little while later and had a bleeding lip. I had one of the cops check it out, but he was ok.
Then we had the normal Marine whose garment bag was missing. He and his buddies looked all over and couldn't find it so I put all his contact info in our lost and found log. About 10 minutes later he walks in with his garment bag. One of his buddies found it lying on the sidewalk on the way to the terminals. Obviously whoever took it figured out it wasn't his and instead of bringing it back to the USO just threw it on the ground and walked away. GEESH!!! At least it was a happy ending.
From e-mail, April 25, 2009:
An update on our Marine with the staph infection. He is getting better. His mom came out on Thursday so I am sure that made him feel better. I don't remember if I told you, but the doc told him that if he had gotten on the airplane, he probably would have developed a blood clot. He was very lucky.
From e-mail, May 1, 2009:
[The Marine] is back at Pendleton until he is fully healed and they are launching an investigation about why he was allowed to leave. It turned out to be a bug or spider bite that started the staph infection.
From e-mail, April 22, 2009:
I worked yesterday (Tuesday) at the USO and had the wildest night yet. We had around 250 Marines which is about normal for us. But we had a young Marine who had a REALLY BAD staph infection on his leg. I talked to him about it, but he didn't seem too concerned. But luckily, one of our volunteers saw it later on and realized how bad it was (the Marine finally admitted to being hot and cold). We called the paramedics and they took him to the hospital. I saw his upper thigh and there were red lines radiating up his thigh and I heard him say his urine has been really dark all day. GEESH - don't these guys recognize symptoms!!
Then we had the normal Tuesday night drunken Marine who was in the main room talking trash to some of the other Marines. One of our male volunteers talked to him, but it didn't help. He got into a fight a little while later and had a bleeding lip. I had one of the cops check it out, but he was ok.
Then we had the normal Marine whose garment bag was missing. He and his buddies looked all over and couldn't find it so I put all his contact info in our lost and found log. About 10 minutes later he walks in with his garment bag. One of his buddies found it lying on the sidewalk on the way to the terminals. Obviously whoever took it figured out it wasn't his and instead of bringing it back to the USO just threw it on the ground and walked away. GEESH!!! At least it was a happy ending.
From e-mail, April 25, 2009:
An update on our Marine with the staph infection. He is getting better. His mom came out on Thursday so I am sure that made him feel better. I don't remember if I told you, but the doc told him that if he had gotten on the airplane, he probably would have developed a blood clot. He was very lucky.
From e-mail, May 1, 2009:
[The Marine] is back at Pendleton until he is fully healed and they are launching an investigation about why he was allowed to leave. It turned out to be a bug or spider bite that started the staph infection.
Love Fills My Heart
I received this e-mail message last night from one of my TC4ME Marines. He said it was ok to post, although he did blush when I asked him. I'm sharing it not to brag about me, but to show you how wonderful our troops are. If you had any doubt before, now you know why I love it here so much.
Bradley sent you a message.
well hello
Hey Ms.B!! I know your probably tired but im gonna harrass you anyway. It is my job to let you know how thankful that I am for having a person like you working at the best USO ever. Me being the person I am is very observative"is that a word?" I cant help watching what you do here because your so active. I notice that your the Ms. Fix It here. You make sure that everything is organized and ready to go. For example, today you were calling names, bringing in boxes, Refilling the refrigerator with water. It was very difficult for me to keep track of you. I found out why I smile when I look at you, You Always remind me of the ENERGIZER BUNNY! keep GOIN AND GOING. Keep up the good work, I love how you do it. Personality wise your awsome. Keep caring for the military personal and trust me they feel the same way there just not here long enought to let you know that. xoxoxox love ya
Bradley sent you a message.
well hello
Hey Ms.B!! I know your probably tired but im gonna harrass you anyway. It is my job to let you know how thankful that I am for having a person like you working at the best USO ever. Me being the person I am is very observative"is that a word?" I cant help watching what you do here because your so active. I notice that your the Ms. Fix It here. You make sure that everything is organized and ready to go. For example, today you were calling names, bringing in boxes, Refilling the refrigerator with water. It was very difficult for me to keep track of you. I found out why I smile when I look at you, You Always remind me of the ENERGIZER BUNNY! keep GOIN AND GOING. Keep up the good work, I love how you do it. Personality wise your awsome. Keep caring for the military personal and trust me they feel the same way there just not here long enought to let you know that. xoxoxox love ya
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Hydrating and Decorating
Since I've been here over 10 weeks, I figured it was finally time to get a chair so someone/anyone had a place to sit in my room. After much contemplation and finding that I had a choice of one, I finally went to the PX to put down my $10 and pick up a canvas picnic chair. I set it on the counter for Josh to ring up and the PX generator crashed. Obviously he couldn't ring up my purchase. So after all this time, I finally decided to buy a chair and then I had to wait until the next day to pick it up.
The next day I was hanging my murals and I figured that I could not stand on my chair to reach the high spots, so I went outside and "procured" a plastic chair from one of our picnic* areas. After I cleaned the thing up enough to bring in my room, I decided I liked it more than the canvas chair. Then a couple of days after that I saw a cane chair just hanging outside waiting for me. It was free-ninety-nine!! So for ten weeks I had no chair; now I have three. The canvas chair is rolled up in the closet. Although Curious George misses Berry feeding him cereal on the plastic chair (See "Life is Good"), that chair now looks lovely on Bettie's side of the room. George adores his new cane chair.
*For lack of a better description. One of the places with stacked chairs and maybe a table. There are no grills, benches, playgrounds or other amenities.
The next day I was hanging my murals and I figured that I could not stand on my chair to reach the high spots, so I went outside and "procured" a plastic chair from one of our picnic* areas. After I cleaned the thing up enough to bring in my room, I decided I liked it more than the canvas chair. Then a couple of days after that I saw a cane chair just hanging outside waiting for me. It was free-ninety-nine!! So for ten weeks I had no chair; now I have three. The canvas chair is rolled up in the closet. Although Curious George misses Berry feeding him cereal on the plastic chair (See "Life is Good"), that chair now looks lovely on Bettie's side of the room. George adores his new cane chair.
*For lack of a better description. One of the places with stacked chairs and maybe a table. There are no grills, benches, playgrounds or other amenities.
2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2
My back has been giving me trouble since I've been here. Lately it's gotten significantly worse.** I thought it was standing on concrete for 8 hours shifts; I thought it was my bed; I thought it was old age; I thought it was the dry desert air; I thought it was arthritis. Then two days ago my back was fine. I figured out that for that one day I had not brought water into the USO. The water bottles come in boxes and I had been bringing in 8-12 boxes every day to stock the USO refrigerator.^^ About 2 weeks ago we got a new water supplier. The bottles are bigger (.55 litre instead of .500) and there are 28 bottles in each box instead of 24. Also, the boxes are stacked higher. (See picture here and in previous post entitled "Mating Season.") Consequently, the boxes are more difficult to pick up and heavier to carry. So I finally figured out that my back was sore because I was carrying all these cases of water. No more carrying boxes. No more sore back. (Go ahead and say "duh!" It's ok with me.)
**Last night my back hurt so bad that I took 3 Advil and 2 Ambian before I went to sleep. Berry came over. Bettie answered his knock at the door and woke me up. Apparently I had a conversation with Berry. I don't remember any of this. That's the first and last time I take Ambian.
^^Yes, often the troops would see me bringing in water and they would help, but not always.
Significant, It's Not
More of the same around here with a lot more people. Apparently all of the new bunkers were built to accommodate the many, many troops passing through. The DFac doesn't look crowded, camp outside looks basically deserted (is that because it's 100+ degrees?), but the USO is rocking! We've had over 50 people at a time in line to use the phones. That's five people on five phones for 20 minutes each with 50 people waiting for their 20 minutes. I've even offered up my cell phone if it works with a calling card.
A couple of nights ago we were participating in the "Pros v. G.I. Joes" Call to Duty, World at War video game challenge on TV to start at midnight our time. We had more than enough people signed up and itching to play, all five X-box stations reserved, the "World at War" games set aside, back-drop hung, Monsters and near beer for refreshment and tons of people in attendance. The excitement level was peaking just as the telecast was about to start . . . then ppppffffttttt --- our generator conked out. Lights out, AC dies, games off . . .
Don't tell anyone, but I liked it. Almost everyone left and I just chilled with some of our volunteers and my TC4ME Marines. We found a couple of flashlights, hung and talked for awhile. I went home after about an hour (since I was supposed to be off at midnight anyway). The next day someone asked me why the USO was closed at 0400, so I guess the generator did not go back on until later that morning. The next night we were able to participate in the games. You can watch a snippet on http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/38028/pros-vs-gi-joes.html. That's Becerra (very quiet, 20 years old in May) on the left; Hucks is Mr. Personality (and very funny) on the right. Hucks won't admit that he's afraid of Tom Morello on Guitar Hero, but that's another issue.
A couple of nights ago we were participating in the "Pros v. G.I. Joes" Call to Duty, World at War video game challenge on TV to start at midnight our time. We had more than enough people signed up and itching to play, all five X-box stations reserved, the "World at War" games set aside, back-drop hung, Monsters and near beer for refreshment and tons of people in attendance. The excitement level was peaking just as the telecast was about to start . . . then ppppffffttttt --- our generator conked out. Lights out, AC dies, games off . . .
Don't tell anyone, but I liked it. Almost everyone left and I just chilled with some of our volunteers and my TC4ME Marines. We found a couple of flashlights, hung and talked for awhile. I went home after about an hour (since I was supposed to be off at midnight anyway). The next day someone asked me why the USO was closed at 0400, so I guess the generator did not go back on until later that morning. The next night we were able to participate in the games. You can watch a snippet on http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/38028/pros-vs-gi-joes.html. That's Becerra (very quiet, 20 years old in May) on the left; Hucks is Mr. Personality (and very funny) on the right. Hucks won't admit that he's afraid of Tom Morello on Guitar Hero, but that's another issue.
Updated: Hucks did beat out Tom Morello on GH3. I saw it with my own eyes. You rock Ryan -- literally.
Two days ago we received care packages from Amy and USO @ LAX and Beverly and Keesal, Young & Logan. Thank you to everyone for your kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity. As always, the Girl Scout cookies just vaporize. I put out a tray, refill, refill and refill until they're gone. It's usally a couple of hours and ten or more boxes have disappeared. The beef sticks, sour candies. War Heads and Peppermint Paddies are also very popular. We have some really fancy and delicious snacks in care boxes from Harry and David (which is really nice of them to donate so much), but it's the down home stuff that appeals, especially to the guys are in their late teens or very early 20s.
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