New News? No...

What I've learned thus far on deployment:
-Contacts and dust storms are a bad idea. There is a reason they make you bring 2 sets of glasses. In my defense, however, the one BIG dust storm we've had since I've been here started after I was already out of the CHU for the night. Yep, that's right. They seem to happen mostly at night. Perhaps this is only because I work at night, so I don't really see what goes on during the day… but I'm going to say it's because they happen mostly at night. The great thing about dust storms: it's hot. You have a choice. If you're going to be inside, you can turn off the AC and deal more with the heat and less with the dust or you can leave the AC on and just breathe in a pound of dust. And yes, once again, these are dust storms, not sand storms. What we see here is not really sand – at least not sand like normally thought of—beachy sand. No, sir! Sandy dirt – same as Baghdad.
- Hydrate enough during a dust storm and you can skip chow cuz you just ate mud. Ok, this hasn't exactly been proved; it just seems to be the case to me.
-There is an ice cream truck on the COB. No, I have not seen it, but I heard about it at a very reliable meeting. Yep, and ice cream truck in 100-something degrees. Figure it out.
-Days fly by. It's unbelievable that it's August already! (OK, I didn't really learn this – I learned it on my last deployment)
-Thursday night is rib night, Friday night is Mexican night, Sunday night is steak night (in all honesty, midnight chow is different and I don't go to dinner chow so this is hearsay)
-People here really will look out for you, even if they try to brush it off or say they won't (jokingly)
-Water is not exciting. One can only drink so much…
-Speicher is called the Cupcake (or some other snack product) because there are so few attacks – ever.
-Making friends is super helpful to maintaining some semblance of sanity (haha)! Caveat for any/all work people reading this: no I'm not actually going insane, nor do I need an EAP consult.
-That I love Speicher. Interacting with people, whether service members or civilians of some sort, is something that I thoroughly enjoy.
-Perhaps I shouldn't blog when it's bedtime.

Headline News (hopefully CNN or whatever station doesn't have a patent on that name):
A friend of mine took me for a ride around the COB to "see the sights" or something like that. It was actually very interesting and informative. He is also a water plant inspector and a guard tower inspector in addition to his actual job, so he told me about how the wells are dug and what the water bottles are made out of and how the water is bottled. He also explained some things about the guard towers to me… such as how it's sometimes necessary to take a break halfway up when it's hot because the stairs just become overwhelming.
I bought a bike. Yep, I asked one of my friends to go with me to help me pick out a bike (a Bike Guru, as it were), and now I have a bike. Granted, I can't ride it yet, but the initial action is completed. Said Bike Guru is going to be adjusting it (handlebars, seat, etc) for me today so that I have the ability to ride it (ok, I just bought it yesterday… and I'm honestly not that tall…). I'll keep you updated as developments occur.
I started my own version of quilting. Ok, I'm just cutting squares (of very colorful fabric that I brought with me, might I add) and sewing the pieces together to make a pillowcase. I don't really know what quantifies quilting, so I'll just say I'm making a pillowcase… but it requires a needle, thread, and material. Thus far my little sewing kit has sufficed, amusing as that may be.

AND NOW: the answer to the question you've all asked: Is it really that hot over there?
Yes. Yes, it is. Is it as bad as the really humid hot that we can get in the States? Not to my thinking. I'll let you know more if I actually leave my bed during daylight hours.