There is such a thing as a free lunch

I've been looking at buying Rosetta Stone for a while, but I've been putting it off for months because the price is so high to purchase the entire program for a language. The lowest price is around $600 (including tax and shipping) for three courses to learn one language. I'm not made of money.

But I'm glad I've been putting it off for so long, because just a couple weeks ago the Marine Corps made Rosetta Stone available FOR FREE! Outstanding. If we do end up going to Iraq instead of Afghanistan, I'll have seven months of sitting around to do. The terrorists have gone to Afghanistan, we've stolen all the oil, and blinding dogs with lasers gets old, so what better opportunity is there to get mahself educated?

Speaking of work, I'm off leave and back in North Carolina. If they really wanted me to reenlist, they'd stop letting me go home. Every time I go home, I think to myself that I would be perfectly happy not reenlisting. It's definitely tempting when they're waving a $90,000 carrot in front of my face, but the catch is taking the carrot and getting trapped in a box for four more years, doing something that my heart isn't really into anymore. That is the best metaphor I've ever come up with.