the new ride:)

 

Her's and His in the driveway- too yuppie?

 

Me with my pride and joy:)

 

So, I got a new truck! Robyn was awesome about helping out with the 6 hour negotiation at the dealership, but I felt it was important that we do our part to help out the economy:) Yes, I am horribly contributing to the downward spiraling environment...but it's a really nice truck and we got a great deal!:)

Chilling in Kuwait again!

Hi again from me in Kuwait. I just wanted to pass on to you that I'm excited to be less than a week away from seeing my beautiful family! I can honestly say that this deployment has flown by...at least the part that I've been deployed for...the rear-d part of it definitely went wayyyyy slower and was way more hectic. I was waiting until it was done, but I can say with unequivocal surety that being the Rear-D commander was much worse than being deployed. Even with the multiple rocket attacks on our FOB, I would rather hunker in a bunker a couple times a month than deal with the chaos of emotions and drama of Rear-D. Anyways, I'm looking forward to several things when I get back...Robyn, Porter, the girls (Hannah and Annabelle our dogs), and of course...going shopping for my new truck!:) That along with the little Christmas that Robyn and I are planning on doing on the 24th is going to be wonderful. I'm going to get going so some other folks can use the internet now, but I hope you all are doing well and thanks for the support!:)

Good friends

I just want to say how nice it is to have good friends at home that I know are watching out for my lovely family. Robyn has been very thankful, and rightly so, that she has been able to have folks like Rachel and Megan and Casey and Nicole to hang out with back there on the regular. Rachel...I don't have your email address, or I would ask you for some help with Robyn's Christmas presents...you have mine though! joe.mroszczyk@us.army.mil. I hope that I get to see Avery in Kuwait when we're there. I look forward to playing some Rock Band with everyone! I will probably have to catch up on my skills since I don't have it here to play like Avery does:) Things here on the FOB have been pretty chillaxing (my own word...) since the new unit has been here taking over. I don't have much responsibility for anything right now, so I'm just catching up on some movie watching and book reading before we roll out:) I have the entire series of the Sapranos on my hard drive so I think I'm going to start watching that and see how far I get by the time I get home. I'm going to have to start planning my 10 year high school reunion and figuring out everything for that for this summer. I've been thinking about trying to do like a nice dinner/banquet thing somewhere on like a Saturday night and then having a cookout type get together on Sunday afternoon in like June/July. Any thoughts?

Truck plans

So, I just wanted to write to say that things are going well and I'm still planning on getting my new truck when I get back home. I can't wait to go looking around with Robyn in a couple weeks! I guess the new incentives from Chevy should come out tomorrow, so I'm hoping that the prices went down and/or the incentives went up so I can get the truck I really want for the money. This truck should be the vehicle that I use for the next several years, so I want to make sure that it's the right one and that I don't scrimp on some things that I'll end up wishing I had gotten. At the same time, I don't want to break the bank on a bunch of unnecessary stuff either. I just want the basic truck, with crew cab, 4WD, and a towing package in a darker color....preferably blue. Not too bad, right? We'll see what they offer when the time comes. It will help a lot with the move up to Ft. Sill that we'll be doing in the beginning of March too. Then, after that, if we go somewhere like Ft. Drum like we're hoping then the 4WD will be handy. That's the logic behind needing that, anyways. I know we won't need it in Texas or Oklahoma, but probably shortly thereafter. I have other plans that will encompass the towing package later on...but we'll save those for later.:) For now, it's off to the gym to get a good workout after a nice talk with my lovely wife. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you again soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone:) It's 2009 where I am...still 2008 there for another 6 or 7 hours. I hope you all have as nice a time for your New Year's eve celebration as I have. I was planning to go to the gym after my shift, but Robyn convinced me to hang out with the other officers that were doing "cigar and movie" night. We all sat outside around a computer and smoked cigars and drank 'near-beer' and laughed at the movie, "The Big Lebowski". Major Frawley I think spoke it true when he said, "Well gents, if I can't be with my family tonight, there's no other group I'd rather spend this new year's with. Happy New Year." We all toasted to that, and then went on to watch the movie. It's neat the way that the Army and the guys we end up working with become a sort of second family. I think it's something most folks can't understand unless they're a part of it. It's just another one of the reasons that I plan to stay in the Army for a long time to come. I'm off to bed and I hope you all have a great 2009!

'tis the season

Merry Christmas all! I just wanted to post quick to say that and I hope you all had a great holiday. Mine was very humble and I was able to have a nice talk with Robyn for a little bit on the phone while she opened my present for her. She also sent me a few pictures of Porter opening presents and it was so cool to see:) Only a few days left in 2008! Time to sprint to the finish and get home to spend some good quality time.

The days before Christmas

Hi all and Merry Christmas!

I know it's still a few days away, but as it rapidly approaches I just wanted to take the time to reflect a little bit on the joy of the season. I know you might be thinking, "joy of the season...but you're in Iraq!" However, my ability to keep a jolly spirit doesn't change just cause I'm not with my loved ones this holiday. As a matter of fact, I find it easier to appreciate Christmas and the wonderful things we're normally able to do and share with one another more than I normally would. It's amazing to me, that in a Muslim majority country like this, our DFAC is covered with our American normal Christmas icons. They have pictures of St. Nick and a 15' Christmas tree right in the middle of the DFAC complete with wrapped presents underneath it. Along the front of my battle captain desk there are battery powered lights that someone got in the mail, and better yet, I opened yet another of 25 presents that Robyn individually wrapped, numbered by day, and sent to me in the mail for Christmas. This morning's present was especially wonderful and brought a smile to my face. I had been waiting to see which DVD it was, because due to the shape of the wrapped object, I pretty much knew it was a DVD. Would you believe my surprise and appreciation when I unwrapped a SpongeBob Squarepants DVD!? :) Truly awesome and a stroke of genius by Robyn. I probably would have appreciated getting a newer release DVD of some violent movie or something, but because it reminded me of being at home watching Spongebob with Porter and Robyn on the couch, that DVD was the most special and perfect DVD she possibly could have gotten me. Might sound wierd, I guess, but that's us. Anyways, my day has been great and I'm thankful to have such a thoughtful wife and a wonderful little guy at home. I stayed up last night for a little while just thinking about how cool it will be to have Porter run up to me in January yelling, "Daddy!"