From a Couch in Georgia

Z has hacked out an impromptu wireless network here, and has spent the entire day working on Work. Good for him.

The trip down ( summary: maiden voyage into the American South )

We've mostly just been lazing about in Katy and Adam's lovely house. They live on a golf course. Their back yard looks out onto the tenth tee, and also onto the water hazard. It's quite pretty. The weather has been cold, but "cold" here is 33 at night and 65 during the day, so I'm not complaining.
We did visit Ft. Stewart this morning, which is the fort where both Katy and Adam work. People don't realize, Mom was saying, that Katy being back from Iraq doesn't mean she's done with the Army. It is their full-time job. Although they are both leaving the Army in June or so, Adam to work while Katy goes back to school. I don't know their plans specifically. Most of their friends will be returning to Iraq in the future, although the Army is no longer deploying units by Division-- they'll be sending bits and pieces of Divisions (brigades, I think).
I am planning on asking Katy (and Adam) more detailed questions about all of this, and I do think I will write it down at least for here-- I might try to write something more ambitious, though.
( Bits from Fort Stewart )

A couple of photos:( no cute dogness: flags and tanks. Cute dogness later. )

Much bustle is going on around me, here and there-- Scout is puttering, Dad and Katy are working to repair the attic fan, Adam is cooking dinner, Mom is baking brownies. It is cold here-- 45 today and cloudy. I have more observations to make, but am still on a bit of a sleep deficit that isn't helping my nascent ADD... So I'll post this and go on with my business, and come back to you, my dear Internet, later.

v. brief

Following a pitcher of appletinis* and two or three glasses of wine, I have the following brief tales of Iraq and Army life to share.

So Adam is an MP. That means Military Police. A lot of his duties involved planning training for Iraqi forces. Some of his duties involved dealing with Iraqi prisoners. (Interestingly, most of the gear the insurgents use against US forces is straight out of Iran to the point that it pretty much still has "Made in Tehran" stickers on it. So, I mean, much as I hate to say it, a lot of the sabre-rattling against Iran is because, well, they are the ones killing our guys, pretty damned directly. The shape charge [a new variety of improvised explosive device that can penetrate US armor] that killed Gurbitz and Yancey was probably either manufactured in Iran or made from parts sent from Iran.)

So they had tasers, to deal with these prisoners.
So they had to be trained to use these tasers.

So... one day, they all tasered each other. It was inevitable, right? (Actually, it was a mandated training procedure.)
I think maybe you know where I'm going with this.

( The Worst Five Seconds Of Your Life )

(Apparently, Hug Your Inmates Day was Thursdays. Burn Lindy England In Effigy Day was Wednesdays.)


I am still hoping that Katy will find the CD where she has this. I have not heard my brother-in-law screaming like a little girl in a while now.

______
* quick-n-dirty appletini recipe: I had no sour mix. Convenience store up the street had no sour mix. I despaired, briefly. Then I realized: Sour mix is basically lemon and lime juice, combined one to one. Katy's kitchen has a big basket of fruit in it, with like a dozen each of lemons and limes. (Adam cooks with both, a lot.) So I made sour mix out of lemon and lime juice.
So the recipe:
1.5 oz vanilla vodka (optional: this is the "bonus shot" because they had vanilla vodka)
8 oz regular vodka
4 oz Pucker (sour-apple schnapps)
2-4 oz lemon-lime/sour mix
Pour over ice. Strain into chilled glasses. Drink.
Serves 4. Please don't drink this whole thing by yourself and then sue me when you die.