Duty calls.

Dan had barracks duty yesterday so it was my first twenty-four hour duty, if you want to call it that, with Ev alone. We managed and came out on the other side in one piece!

Being here by myself is scary, though. I could've been freaking myself out by watching LOST and getting the heebie-jeebies with the black smoke monster but I had to stop watching LOST before I fell asleep so I could continue to be rational and not scare myself into oblivion. I guess you could say I'm easily spooked.

Now that he's home he's upstairs, zonked, as anyone would be if they had to be awake for our 24 hours. I'm downstairs with Ev. She's in her swing, also asleep, and I have resumed my LOST marathon. I decided it would be a good opportunity to get on the blog and write a bit.

I wanted to blog about Dan being on duty yesterday but decided against it, just as I will every time he has duty or has some sort of work obligation. I won't be mentioning anything on the blog until after it has happened bar a long deployment.

Why? For two reasons, both related to safety. When he is gone for a day or two, or seven, I likely won't mention it because let's be frank: we don't know who reads our blogs. Sure, Google Analytics does a good job of logging where your visitors come from but you don't know anything about them beyond the language they are reading in, their network connection and speed, what city they are from, etc. It's creepy how much Google Analytics can log about any reader of yours but the one thing that it can't do is determine your reader's intent.

I've skimmed over some horror stories about military spouses writing on their Facebook wall or the like about how their honey-bunny is away and then there is news that someone came and hurt or murdered the person who shared too many details. I've read more than one story that was similar to that.

I also won't be describing Dan's work in many, if any, detail to protect his safety and the safety of those he works with and for. For instance if Dan was going to Antarctica to do training with highly intelligent snow leopard seals from May 22 until June 3rd, I would not be sharing those details on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site. Dates and reasons for work-related travel should not be discussed on email, either, though I'm at a loss as to how we're supposed to share with loved ones if he has to go somewhere. I'm new to this, too.

This all relates to OPSEC, or Operations Security. It is important for me to be mindful of what I write or talk about but it is also important for Dan's family and friends to be mindful of what they (you!) talk about as well. If Dan does someday end up going to Antarctica to do such and such, it is important for us not to share that he's working with highly intelligent snow leopard seals and that he'll be gone from such and such date to such and such date.

I'm not completely familiar with OPSEC but if anyone would like to do extra reading, you can go here, here, or use your favorite search engine and type in "OPSEC". One of the websites I linked to is a .com (well, two including Wikipedia) but I wouldn't trust a source 100% unless it is from a .mil, .gov, .org, or .edu website.

In non-OPSEC related news, tomorrow we're attending a New Years party tomorrow night with Krissi and her husband. I'm almost certain that Krissi will be my best friend on this island or at least that is how it is seeming to shape up to be.

I'm off to search for a recipe for a chip dip to bring tomorrow. Happy weekend, I hope it is a great last few days of your 2010 year!