Donate to my college fund!! pleasepleaseplease??

Kay, before anyone gets annoyed with my new “Donation” button on the right, let me explain. I am starting college in January at the University of Missouri – Columbia and the military will help me out with some of the costs of my first year but after that I’m on my own. I read a neat story about a college kid in Boston back in the 90’s who got a short piece in the Boston Globe. He asked everyone in the city to donate a penny to his college fund. He got a bit of publicity from the paper and the local news station did a small piece on him. Well a bunch of people sent him pennies and more. He was able to pay for college and even had enough extra to donate to the local Boys and Girls club. Now I don’t know if I can get that much publicity but I do know that if everyone who reads my blog can take a minute to donate anything (a penny, a quarter, a dollar) then it really can help a lot with the costs of college. I also thought it would be an easy way for family and friends to help me do something good for myself. So I am hereby asking everyone to consider not giving me traditional birthday presents or Christmas gifts. Instead, pleasepleaseplease take just a minute to donate to my college fund instead. It’s through Paypal, one of the most secure online payment methods. It’s easy to do with a credit card and only takes like 2 minutes. I really appreciate anything anyone can spare…even just a penny. You can also check out my college blog and see how everything goes!

My laptop is back!!

You know, we’ve settled into such a routine that I never feel like I have anything newsworthy to write about. I work at the Press Desk which means I’m in on all the latest happenings in Iraq, unfortunately because I’m privy to so much information I don’t feel comfortable talking about it in a personal blog. Hopefully I’ll soon have more to write about since we should start getting ready to go home. The new unit will be here soon, with any luck after we will train them we can spend a little downtime at the pool before we leave, that’d be nice.

Oh! By the way…

An anonymous someone accidentally broke my laptop screen a month ago and I was looking at having to send it back to the manufacturer, Hewlett Packard, and paying over $800 to have them replace the screen. Fortunately I happened upon an online news article raving about a company in Texas that repairs laptop screens and doesn’t charge too much. I did some research and saw nothing but good things about ScreenTek so I sent my precious laptop to them. Within just a couple days they had finished and it was on the way back. I am so happy with the service and the job they did, all for $390!! I can’t tell you enough how pleased I am with this company, I highly recommend them.

Happy 25th birthday!

I know I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I hate to admit it but there just hasn’t been much to talk about till now. Up until this past week I have been living a very routine life…I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary. Work, eat, watch TV, read, sleep. I even lost my motivation to exercise; I’ve been so lazy lately. Thankfully I just enjoyed a 4 day pass, my 25th birthday and dinner with the General! Finally, something I can blog about!!

The 4 day pass was lovely and uneventful. I didn’t have a phone or laptop and was essentially cut off completely: a first for me. I read a lot, watched TV, hit the pool, and cleaned my room. Mostly I slept. That was the best part…getting to sleep anytime and as long as I wanted. Beautiful. Lately I’ve been sleeping about 5 hours a night so this was much needed.

Turning 25 was also much anticipated - now my car insurance goes down! I’ve been waiting for this for years! It was a good birthday, I had emails cards, calls, and care packages from everyone and I really appreciate all the love. I got some really cool books, some fun toys (sand toys from Mom, a slinky from Rachel) and some very sweet cards. Thank you everyone!

I also got a “happy birthday” from Major General Bill Caldwell (our big boss, the one who ives weekly press conferences on TV) and got to have dinner with him. It was pretty cool. He started a program, “Dinner with Soldiers” and once a week he sits down with two lower enlisted. It just happened that my turn came up on my birthday, lucky me. At first I was a little disappointed that I had to get into uniform on my first pass day but then I realized that this was a good thing, a birthday present from the General even. It was a great opportunity to talk to him about the things that are messed up with this organization. Maybe things will be better for the new unit that comes in?