You can take your personal laptop to war. It's a whole new world.

I sympathize so much with your friend. A close friend's national guard unit was called up and saw combat in Iraq, and his wife was a complete wreck. The fear is just so strong.

SA, that is a very cool topic. It so different today even from when I was in the Navy. In the mid-80s there weren't cell phones galore, the innertubes, any of that good stuff. Stationed in the Indian Ocean all we had was a wireless communication network that charged us $5 a minute. The same when I got to Spain. When I first got there, if you wanted to call out, all they had was two overseas landlines that you had to put your name on a waiting list for, typical wait 45-60 minutes. And, again, about $5 a minute. They finally got a wireless set-up with 8-10 booths at some point, but it didn't get any cheaper. At least my parents could call in where I worked, but we weren't allowed to call out. Had to use the "public" lines for that. And lest your wonder why I couldn't get a phone out in town, there was a 2 year wait for a phone line. Not much point in trying to get one if you barely get it right before you transfer home.

The maintenance man in my building is angry and depressed. He's fixing a leak in the unit above and over from mine, and he keeps loudly saying stuff like, "I'm fucking sick of this shit!"

In his defense the building is almost 100 years old and the landlord's a cheapskate so he keeps on having to fix broken old stuff that should be replaced.

Did I mention the front door to my section of the building can be forced open from the outside when it's locked? The landlord won't pay to replace the door or the locking mechanism so the maintenance guy keeps trying to get it so it'll stay locked, but the repairs fail after a few weeks.

It so different today even from when I was in the Navy. In the mid-80s there weren't cell phones galore, the innertubes, any of that good stuff.

Yes! Absolutely--thanks for sharing your experience. And when you compare the Gulf War with the OEF/OIF wars, that ten years' difference represented a cultural shift that the military is still only just grasping. It's an incredible progression of communication and autobiographical accounting.

When my brother was in Macedonia in the late 90s (Kosovo,) he could call from certain pay phone phones set up at US domestic rates. I think they were satellite based, as there was a 3 second lag we got very adept at. He was flying drones, so. Occasionally, some contractor would try to pull a fast one and it would be international rates but since he was calling collect & it also announced the rate, so I'd warn him as I refused the call.

He destroyed several of those phones for that. As was the custom, apparently. One preferred method was when disposing of ordinance. Oh, and then return the 'defective' equipment to the contractors.

He also could email me. I have a folder of printed out correspondence from him (thank god, I lost all my email from that era in an epic hard drive meltdown.)

It so different today even from when I was in the Navy.

It's amazing to me that my brother could Skype with the kids while he was in Afghanistan. On the other hand, my dad was stationed in Scotland in '65 and '66, and I guess he and my mom relied on letters.

Oh, and then return the 'defective' equipment to the contractors.

HA.

Sara and I just made a successful chocolate mug cake. This could be dangerous.

Wow, SA, that's so interesting! Go you.

Couple of my co-workers took me out to dinner and it was just delightful. I got to take people I like to a new restaurant I like and have them be amazed at how good the food was, and eat delicious food myself. A whole bunch of wins all around.

Did I mention the chocolate-filled beignets last time I had them? So good. And now I've had candy cap mushroom bread pudding, which is unbelievable.

And I feel like I've been out scandalously late because I walked home in the dark, but primetime hasn't even started. Time, man. So weird.