Weekends

Weekends have really become a lifeline of getting through the week at work, except for the weekends I give to drill. But in the last handful of months i haven't been to concerned about giving them up. Well back to the point, this weekend was a great time, good food, a visit from an old friend, and doing something I have never done before. On saturday morning, I was able to read part of a book, eat a wonderful breakfast and relax. Around 1pm Justin and I decided to go out for lunch, we got in the car planing to head over to Shadeyside, well as soon as we get on liberty st. there is a band playing! We park and decide to go to the pleasure bar and sit outside. We hangout, have a nice lunch and enjoy the band playing called the armodillos, a pittsburgh band. They are a four piece band consisting of a guitar player, a mandolin player, an accordian player, and an upright bass player. We enjoyed them so much we bought the cd!

About 20 minutes after the band quit playing, my friend Brant and his girlfriend Ann, showed up to visit, this was planned! Justin and I showed the both of them two interesting places in the Alleghany cemetery, the winter crypt, and the Jaws shark grave stone, for Lester C. Madden.

. Then we stopped a cool store in Lawrenceville called Wild Card, and looked around! I found an awesome print of the state of PA, this store is so dangerous because I always spend 30-50 bucks on cool things, that I probably do not need. They had an amazing Pittsburgh T-shirt, it was a type writer, that said "Dear Pittsburgh, I love you." They didn't have a small or medium so I could pick one up.

Next stop was the Strip district-we stopped a book store, where I found the second and third book to the Hunger Games, score!

Then we found a distillery, called Wigle, that just opened. We were able to try their Rye and Wheat types of whiskey. Both Whiskeys are not aged in wood, so they are a bit smoother. The place was beautiful, and I walked away with a bottle of whiskey and a cool sign, that will have to eventually get framed.

Wigle let us look at the still equipment to-it was beautiful:

Then onto Primanti Brothers:

The we took a ride on the Incline to MT Washington and saw the view from every overlook:

Then we ended the day with the Duquesne Incline:

today was a good day. I went to Phipps with Kevin Ross and we took a buttload of pictures then we walked through the campus at CMU-while on our way to the lunch trailors we ran into Chuck. So we had a lovely lunch (take out).

I have so much to get done at this house. I am leaving on saturday morning to visit with my friend Steve Barron in Baltimore then heading down to see Mark and jason in DC for the week, I come back for two days then we are off to disney world.

i am no longer in taji, this is amazing.

i am really tired, i should go to bed, but i don't want to.

I set a goal 3 weeks ago to be able to do 3 sets of 5 more reps benching 115, and i did it on Thursday. I believe i can bench press more than Justin.

New Goal, my body weight 145, i can do this by Decemeber with the amount of lifting I am doing, and hope to continue.

new goal to be HOME!

so tomorrow i am going to get my ass up and run 3-4 miles outside, not sure if i will be able to keep up, i have been running 3 times a week on the treadmill.

tonight i added decline bench press to my chest work out, however I was to tired to complete dips, and crap i jammed my wrist a few times, so i didn't do the third set.

i tried to use skype, the connection was pretty good, but people were not home.

today i mailed another box home, and my amazing blanket, 4 hours the lines were incredibly long, it is frustrating.

been packing, moving back to the states. been watching two and half men, almost done. then i will be watching room mates. not sure what tv show i will venture into after these two. I watched Angel, and well i really enjoyed it up to the last season, then it just sucked.

well not much of a story to write about, i just can't wait to get back to the states and go on vacation-before i go back to my wonderful easy life in bloomfield.

Well i really didn't keep up with the blog, because the internet access is shady one moment it works, then it will kick off, so it really piss's you off, and you get frustrated.

Also, the internet at work blocks blog's now, so i can't write or update, so I have ignored it...

There really is nothing to report, I had a bad stomach flu the last two days, it actually put me down one day, my guts were cramped-which brought on a terrible headache, the worst of it's kind. I took two extra strength Tylenol and it didn't help one bit, it sucked.

I am in charge of a movement, it is a lot of paperwork really, and trying to get organized which i am making a lot of mistakes, but everyone is. However, we are all trying to make the best of it, nad have fun. A lot of people have been punched in the knees by me, for bringing out the hate in me.

I have been hitting the gym, lifting 6 days a week. I haven't been doing a lot of cardio, mostly lazy, just lazy. I should do a lot more, but I spend most of my time lifting, about 1.5 to 2 hours a day.

and really that's been about all. I have an iPhone, and I really dig it, cant wait to use the phone and internet part of it when I am back in the states.

I can't wait to come home-and do all the things i have planned with Justin and my dad.

i have taken the last couple days off from the gym,

I was pretty sore, I kicked it pretty hard on thrusday night.

tonight I am heading to the gym and am going to have a long run on the treadmill then work on my abs, eat dinner. then head back and do an arm workout. what a night

Al-Sadr Calls for Million-Man March to Protest U.S. Occupation

Some Stuff that is going on in Iraq

I never knew anything aout Al-Sadr.

Around this time 6 years ago was te fall of Baghdad and Sadum Hussian Regium. So, this guy al-Sadr had a marc to protest againist Colation Frces the other day, in Sadr City about 20,000 people showed up.

The Article is from Fox News.

NAJAF, Iraq — Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr has hinted at retaliation if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government does not immediately stop arresting his followers.

The anti-American cleric says in a statement issued Thursday in Najaf that the government has placed his movement in an impossible situation by demanding that followers stop military and political opposition and ignore the arrests and killings of supporters.

He says he is keen to prevent bloodshed but pointedly offers a reminder that his followers rose in the past against the "oppressors," referring to U.S. forces and last week's clashes against government forces in Basra.

Al-Sadr also called Thursday for a "million-strong" turnout for an anti-American demonstration April 9 to mark five years since the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq began.

The statement said protesters should head to the Shiite holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad waving Iraqi flags "to cement the unity of Iraq and demand its independence." It called on demonstrators to "raise your voices high in the skies of Iraq against the oppressing occupier," a term the Sadrists use to describe U.S.-led forces.

Al-Sadr also offered to help the government rid the army and police of what he says are terrorists and rival militiamen.

Al-Sadr complained in the statement that although he had called on his militia to stop fighting, the army and police were continuing illegal arrests and attacks against his followers.

Al-Sadr blamed the attacks on "corrupt elements" and said if the government could not remove them, "we are ready to cooperate...to purge our army and police of such elements."

Although major fighting in the south eased last weekend, military operations are continuing in the Basra area.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have maintained that the crackdown was directed at criminals and renegade militiamen but not al-Sadr's political movement, which holds 30 of the 275 seats in the national parliament and is a major political force.

But the Sadrists believed the operation was aimed at weakening their movement before provincial elections this fall. Resistance was so fierce that the Iraqis had to call in U.S. jets and British tanks and artillery to help in the battle.

On Thursday, the U.S. military said an American F/A-18 fighter jet fired a missile at a house in Basra the night before after Iraqi soldiers came under small-arms fire. Two militants were killed in the airstrike, the U.S. said.

"Coalition forces are unaware of any civilians killed in the strike but are currently looking into the matter," the military said. Iraqi witnesses and officials said at least three civilians were among the dead.

"While we were preparing for evening prayer, U.S. aircraft bombed this house, we rushed to save survivors but in vain," a neighbor identified only as Haj Juwad told AP Television News. "The father, mother and a young boy were killed and three others were buried under rubble. We evacuated two people and one is still under the rubble."

Hospital officials, who have strong ties to the Sadrists, said three bodies had been received, including two men and an elderly woman, and two women were wounded in the strike. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

In northern Iraq, officials said a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint west of the city late Wednesday, killing seven people, including a woman and a 5-year-old child, and wounding 12, according to the Iraqi army.

The U.S. military confirmed the Mosul attack but put the casualty toll at five dead and 19 wounded.

In Baghdad, one civilian was killed and 10 were wounded in a parked car bombing, while an Iraqi soldier was killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol.

Three Iraqi civilians also were wounded in a U.S. airstrike targeting militants engaged in a gunbattle with U.S. ground forces near the southern Shiite city of Hillah, according to a military statement.