2008 Going away Party & Memorial Day

Well it has come and gone...a bitter sweet feeling. The anxiety before the party was driving me crazy, I needed to be a lone for a while before the party to energize for the big event, after all, I am a Rock Star...

The party kicked off at 1400, with a few guests showing up shortly after; of course the bulk of my family was already there!!

I walked up to the White Front from my parents, we'll I attempted to twice, but forgot a couple of things so I needed to turn around twice, by the last time, mom was back at the house to pick up something, so I just caught a ride with her...when I did arrive, I was in the zone and ready to party!! This is what I saw when I walked in:
(Thanks to Niener and Budweiser!)

The food was already out and kept multiplying...it was all delicious!! Niener did an awesome job and Thank you to everyone else who contributed, lots of positive comments!

The night could have not went any better, all my friends showed up, even those that I never thought would venture to Montgomery.

Even though I got there at 1400, I told myself I could not start drinking until 1800, and of course I held myself to the standard. Once 1800 hit, I had a Bacardi Lemon Coke and 2 shots of Patron.

I put my best friend Tim in charge of making sure I consumed water at the same rate that I consumed alcohol…he did his job because I remember having at least 2 glasses of water every time I had a drink in my hand. The only problem is that after so many shots of tequila, I can’t remember much of what went on unless somebody would say. “ Do you remember” then I could reminisce. I need to find that balance... I will continue to research!

Of all that I can remember is that, I am a rock star; and that I rocked the Microphone all night long. Speaking of Rock Stars, all I know is that my next T-Shirt I make will say on the front, "I'm a Rock Star" and on the back it will say, "Just ask me!"

I will eventually publish my address in Iraq to this page, I know many of you have been asking for it...I can't wait to see what goodies from HOME I will get!.

Thanks to everyone who came out and showed their support. Enjoy the pictures and see you all again in 400 days for the “Welcome Home” fiesta!!

Thanks,
Chris.

Vegas - Baby

My time here in the USA is growing shorter, so I need to take advantage of vacations and hanging with family and friends. No better thing to do, but combine the both and head to Vegas. I went to visit Heidi, my cousin and hang with some friends who live in Vegas and traveled with me. I left on 23 FEB and returned on 27 FEB.

We partied hard the first night. First we met up with Shawn, Brooke, Darcy and Brandon downtown on Fremont Street. Apparently Brooke had just gotten married last weekend to her mother's surprise.

We had a couple of drinks then made our way to RumRunner. Heidi and her roomy, Jill, have some connections there so we were able to bypass the ridiculous line and march right on in. The club was OK, but spendy, $10 per drink. The dance floor was respectably busy, but not obnoxiously packed which I like - although I never made it on the floor. On our way out we caught the last few seconds of the trapeze act - then we busted outa there.

Next stop Coyote Ugly. Again our connections got us right in without having to wait in line. Once in we got hooked up with drinks and begun to get our groove on. Lots of ladies dancing on the bar, how can you not like it. Not too many single ladies out on the dance floor - well at least I could not single any out!! My crew, we just kicked it, Heidi, Jill, Tim, Holly, Tom and Shawn - we had fun!

So much fun I don't even remember taking this picture. The thing I remember quite vividly about that night was the end because I ended up puking my guts out. Heidi had to come rescue me...but I am glad I did, because I felt just fine the next morning.

Sunday's highlight was a comedy show at Hooters featuring Bobby Slaten, outstanding, that kind is down right dirty and hilarious. After the show we made it to the Hard Rock Cafe where I started playing my favorite game - Craps! I was lucky to get on a hot table and met some cool people from Germany and Tehran. We were on fire, I almost pissed my pants because I did not want to leave because the dice were so hot. After all was said and done, I was up $135!! Tim on the other hand got to catch a couple doing the hibbadibady in the men's room and was solicited by a hooker - I call that a successful night!

Monday was poker night, Tom, Holly, Tim and I took our chances on a $40 buy in game, I took second place, not too bad. We were downtown and decided to just stay down there and gamble. We tried Pia Gao, Black Jack, and finally craps. We had beginners luck on our side as Tim and I got on a hot role and were able to win back some of the money we lost playing the other games.

Tuesday morning I woke up and went for a run. I only wanted it to go for 40 minutes, but it turned out to be about 80 minutes because, this is hard to admit, I got lost. Good news was I had my cell phone and Heidi was able to rescue me again - Hey! I was only a block away!

We all got ready for another day on the strip. This time we stared a little earlier. First Heidi, Tom and I grabbed lunch at Chipotle, my favorite, before hitting the strip. We met up with Tim and Holly at their room, they stayed at the MGM, had a couple beers them went to NY NY to ride the Roller Coaster. Boy I wish I had a camera with to take a picture of Tim, let's just say he DOES NOT like Roller Coasters. After the ride, we went to gamble a little bit at the MGM, Craps of course, this time the house took back a good chunk of their money, fortunately I was able to walk away with some money still in my pocket! I headed back to Tim and Holly's room to have some more beverages and wait for Heidi to come get us so we could get ready to go out for our last night in Vegas.

We were planning to go out to Planet Hollywood. On our way to get ready we stopped at the Olive Garden for dinner, this was at 2100 hrs. By the time we were done eating, we all kind of look at each other and Heidi says, maybe we should just go chill and watch a movie...I think we were all glad to hear that because no one wanted to be the one to "cash" out...so everyone kind of at once said "yeah" or that's a "good idea." I think no later than 5 minutes after hitting the couch, we were all out cold!

Wednesday morning came early, Tom and my flight left at 0910. Heidi got us to the airport safe and on time. We said our good byes - and off into the sunset we went...hence the next adventure starts, the ride home.

Check in was smooth. While standing in line, I initiated conversation with this rather charming looking young lady. She happened to be there on business. After Tom and I made it through security, quite the long line, we found out Lindsay was on our flight. The flight was not full, so I made the move to go sit with Lindsay. We had a good time chatting it up, so much so that we apparently were annoying the elder couple ahead of us. The flight attendant came to us and asked if we could take it down a notch. We did our best, however, I think it wasn't good enough.

When we finally landed, the old lady ahead of us, stood up and with a sneering face, said, "Did you get it all talked out?" I made a comment and they were on their way. All through the airport this old lady would give us dirty looks, funny, ha ha I think.

We said our good byes, Tim came to get Tom and my friend Kelly came to pick me up and thus ends my Vegas vacation.

Getting Started

In preparation of my next big adventure, I decided to set up this blog site instead of sending out monthly Word attachments to everyone's email address. I am sending this link out to you all to have if you want to hear/see/learn about my adventures, or to delete if you could careless; makes no difference to me.

Nothing to exciting going on right now, still finishing up all my home station training, I don't expect to go on to active duty orders until end of MAR when I start my Annual Training.

One thing to note is that I am planning a going away party for 24MAY, down in Montgomery, the town in which I grew up in. It is tentatively set up to be at the Whitefront Bar from 2-6pm, with follow on partying through out the evening, of course everyone is invited, there will be free food and beer from 2-6pm!! I will post updates to this site as I finalize my plans.

That's all for now, just trying this Blog thingy out.

Later.