Blacked out again!

Yes, we've spent a little more than the last 24 hours blacked out, but the internet is back. Evidently there was an American KIA in the 209th corps area yesterday. I spoke with a soldier with whom I serve a lot of guard duty and he asked me to call his grandparents if anything happened to him, rather than them having to hear it from someone impersonal in the National Guard.

It's funny. Some people accept that a blackout is going to happen, as long as it only lasts for 24 hours. But with apologies to Alan Keyes, it's not how much of your internet they control, it's that you have to justify your access to them at all. The worst part is that, some day soon, we'll move into actual barracks, and have to pay for internet access there, but will still be subject to blackouts. If we had our own satellite internet, it wouldn't be as fast as DSL, but we would have more control over it, ostensibly.

Ah, well. Such are the trials of being a soldier. It could be a LOT worse, obviously, so while I'm griping a little, don't take this as being a life-and-death or even gravely serious situation. It's more of an inconvenience now.

Also, we went to the bazaar yesterday. I'm pretty confident that I'll buy my wife a nice jewelry box next time I go. I didn't want to buy anything yesterday because I wanted to be sure what I was looking for and get a feel for how much I should pay. I'm also looking at possibly buying a large piece of Lapis, especially if I can figure out how (and to whom) to sell it when I get it back in the states. I saw a fairly good quality piece yesterday that weighed about 10lbs (3.7 Kg), and the vendor wanted $220 for it. I think maybe if I got it for about $50, I could make some money off of it, but I'm not entirely sure.

Anderson and I have been talking more about our faith. He is constantly telling me about his girlfriend and how great she is, and I spend hours telling him how fantastic, wonderful, and gorgeous my wife is. It helps pass the time.