Dave's Not Here Man!

Too Big...For Their Britches

2009-02-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

01 March 2009

So now the big cry from the conservative side is against nationalization. Well folks, hate to tell you, but it is already here. The only difference is that the Federal Government is letting the new owners of these banks, brokerages and dens of thievery (you and me) continue to be poked in the eye by the little rich kids who haven’t been told that their not rich anymore and who think their crap don’t stink and allowing them to continue to do whatever they want to. Who are WE to question THEM? Well, I guess we’re only the ones who put up how many billions to bail their butts out of bankruptcy, that’s all!

“I’m too big to fail and you can’t do anything about me taking my bonus', my vacations with the company jets, throwing lavish parties (but I already bought my new gown a month before the bailout, so it must be okay to still throw the party!!) and I’ll make a bigger pain in the ass of myself if you don’t play the financial game just like I want to have it played.” Not to mention continuing the same management style (and attitudes) that brought on the problems being dealt with right now.

Well, wait a minute…wasn’t it by the generosity of American tax dollars that you were saved from the brink of bankruptcy.

“Yes, but you still haven’t gotten the clue-bomb that I’m too big to fail. So you can’t touch me or I’ll tell Mom on you.”

If I remember right, someone being on the brink of bankruptcy hasn’t stopped you guys from hounding about 2% of the population with mortgages that are currently unable to make their mortgage. It certainly hasn’t stopped the calls to their homes when these same taxpayers have missed credit card payments. Why is this any different?

“Aren’t you listening!!!! I told you already, we’re too big to fail. We’re too big to touch. So there!” (this is the part where they stick out their tongue at the news cameras and give us raspberries.)

But I certainly don’t recall in 1990 the government offering to bail out my Dad when he lost his corporation and house to bankruptcy….Oh, that’s right. He ISN’T big enough for the government to allow not to fail. Different rules, different game….or is it?

The new game needs to be that if you don’t want nationalization while you’re still at the reigns of your company…don’t take government “bailout” cash. None. Zero, Zilch... Nada! You say you’ll go bankrupt? Good, declare bankruptcy already and stop draining the taxpayer pockets with your piss-poor mismanagement and all the other frivolities that WE keep having to pay for.

Believe it or not, you are not too big to fail. So stop taking the funds or just calmly move over and let Uncle Sam step in and guarantee the funds they have spoken for. Then Uncle Sam can finally evaluate and acquire all your assets for the Resolution Trust Fund 2 to reorganize and sell at the appropriate time.

No golden parachutes, no fun parties with cool bands, no corporate jets flying to Washington to plead your case, no whining, no crying, no more of your gross mismanagement of funds and policy, no more fleecing of the taxpayer, no more “too big to fail.” Amen

August 2010

2009-02-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

I guess it is almost like getting marching orders. Now all we wait for are the details. After having contracted here since January of 2004, it is a bit surreal to have a date attached to the words, “end of contract.”

As I said, we have no specifics. We could be relocated to work this job from another location for all I know. Now we just wait to find out what the firm date means to us. Am I done with contracting? I hope not. I kind of like the flexibility and the opportunities this has allowed me. Once you get to traveling the world, it kind of gets in your blood. I can’t even guess if forced to settle down in a 8-5, how I’d fair!

We had a saying in Antarctica…The first time you go down for the adventure. The second contract, you go down for the cash. The third and subsequent contracts you go down because you don’t fit in anywhere else! I hope it’s not true…although I’ve been told that I’m a freak before. :p

I’ve mentioned before that it has become much quieter here in the last year or so. I think there is still resistance, especially to the patrols that are still out humping in the streets and cities. But as far as the base goes, things are quieter here in Iraq. Looks like all the evil talent with any skill has gone east to Afghanistan to keep their terrorism skills sharpened. Doesn’t mean there aren’t bad guys here, just fewer of them.

The recent elections seemed to indicate that as well. No violence during the elections and better overall participation from the population.

Drama Alert!!!

2009-01-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

26 January 2009

What a day! All drama, all day and it was ALL about the LT (pronounced el tee for all you non-military types.) Let me introduce her to you for starters. She is a very nice, petite Italian-American 23 year old former Miss Unnamed-Small-East-Coast-State that I’ll leave unnamed for now and has been in the Army for three years. I’d be the first to admit that professionally she has her act together, but as a young woman it is ALL about her…and today was no exception.

So when I came into work this morning, I’ll concede that she was a bit stuffed-up sounding in the nasal passages, but the oh-woe-is-me sighs every fifteen minutes with that little groany moan was overdoing it just a little bit. But...then came the explanation of why she was stuffy.

“Well, this morning I was like out running out by the General’s quarters and two helo’s came in low and like purposely kicked up dust as they were like landing on the pads across from the General’s quarters. Well! All that dust just has me like so stuffed up now, I just can’t breath and like my face feels swollen and my sinuses are like just so clogged up, and I just feel so miserable (and I hope you’re feeling as miserable or worse listening to me, as I feel). But when I got up to the pad, like I saw that I knew the pilots and they just thought it was so funny to kick up all that dust since they knew me and recognized me running.”

And she didn’t just tell me, she proceeded to tell every object living and not that passed the desk, so I got to hear the story about thirty times over about five hours. But then, disaster struck again. Upon returning in the truck from building 17, she realized that she had just lost her new preppy reading glasses. Admittedly, they were stylish, but she loses things all the time, so it really wasn’t something that I’d consider a national catastrophe that she’s misplaced or lost these glasses that she’d only had two days.

Then if we (I use the collective term, because when SHE is miserable, we all have to be miserable and having a “bad day”), disaster struck yet again. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, lightening can strike twice in the same place! OMG, Miss Chicklette Teeth has split one of the beautiful stick-on teeth that Donald Trump supposedly paid for when she entered into the Miss America Pageant having won the Miss Unnamed-Small-East-Coast-State.

I will have you know that it was at this point in the afternoon, the clocks all stopped. Former Miss Unnamed-Small-East-Coast-State about had a meltdown that her sparkly-white Chicklette tooth was split in half! I mean, OMG, she hadn’t even received the replacement crown that came loose only a month ago that she ended up swallowing when she tripped over a curb while chewing gum!

Now I’m sure that I don’t need to even tell you the fun we had with that one. Someone asked if she was monitoring her “output” to retain the crown to have it put back in. You just don’t want to know the horror on her face at THAT suggestion…or the tears in our eyes as we discussed the possibility of a one-toothed Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo, coming out with one big-old “teefer” and singing All I Want For Christmas Is My One Front Tooth!

So now we have the LT holding and covering with her little finger like Mike Meyers in Goldfinger to protect our possibly-horror-filled eyes from the sight of the dangling Chicklette which has split in two, rushing around and trying to find someone with a vehicle to take her to the dentist to have her Humpty-Dumpty broken stick-on-tooth pasted back onto her real tooth which we can only speculate was probably discolored from tea, coffee and blueberry pie as a child…long before her participating as Miss Unnamed-Small-East-Coast-State in the Miss America Pageant.

Senior Chief (Navy Sr Chief—we work in a blended office since we operate in a Joint Forces Environment) volunteers to take her with their vehicle, “but I want to see it! Can I see it?!” Her almost-Shakespearean response is,” No, no one may see it. (Woe is me, I’m doomed!) I just have to get to the dentist, NOW!” What, are we going to turn to stone if we catch a glimpse of her damaged grill?! Gimme a break.

As sweet as she is, you’ll have to admit that she is rather “high maintenance” so to speak. Okay, she might be compared to say Zsa Zsa Gabor without the bitch-slapping of the cop incident, because the LT knows how to get her way and respects authority.

So it was a fun day all in all. Where else could we get so much entertainment squeezed into a 12-hour day? Well, this was just one full day of drama and I am absolutely beat. Sitting next to that woman will do you in. She is admittedly cute, sweet, infectious, but very high-maintenance and will one day make some lucky guy a very miserable and hen-pecked wretch, now won’t she?

KWI-ICN-PHX-ORD-LHR-KWI

2009-01-13T05:26:00.001-08:00

13 January 2009

Or for those not familiar with the airport three letter designators, Kuwait City (KWI) - Seoul, South Korea (Inchon - ICN) - Phoenix (Sky Harbor - PHX) - Chicago O'Hare (formerly Orchard Airfield, thus ORD) - London Heathrow (LHR) - Kuwait City (KWI)

A belated Happy New Year. Sorry that I wasn't able to keep up with the blog over last month. So what I'm gonna do is give you the rundown as pulled from various emails and "notes to self" along the way. The itinerary looked something like this...

Dec 2 - 9 Seoul, Korea and sites around Seoul to include Itaewon, DMZ, Suwon, Insa-dong, Ichon
Dec 9 In transit from Seoul to Tokyo, Tokyo to Seattle, Seattle to Phoenix
Dec 10 - 16 Phoenix/Mesa, Cottonwood/Sedona/Jerome and back to Chandler/Mesa
Dec 16 - Dec 30 Back home outside of Chicago and back to Baghdad via London

In all my travels, this is my first circum-navigation of the globe.

04 December 2008 2230pm

Just a quick email to let you know I arrived in Seoul in one piece. Nearly missed my connection in Dubai! We got stuck circling in the air and then the transfer bus got lost on the way to the terminal....Duh!

So I arrived very sleep deprived and hadn't slept in like 24 hours. Good thing I had the chance to recharge in Kuwait those couple of days. We went out to eat and what do you think my first meal here is??? General Tso's Chicken! Forks weren't even on the table. Guess it's good I know how to use chopsticks.

Slept like a baby last night, but up early today (it's now 0645 and we're headed out the door) to go on the DMZ tour. My phone doesn't work here, so I will just have to make do with email.

All else good. Just wanted to drop you a quick one to let you know I arrived and I'm okay.

05 December 2008 1030am

Yeoboseyo!

Or phonetically you might pronounce it as 'yo bo say oh'...hello in Korean. I was told they only use this to answer the phone, but I've heard it in all the shops I've gone in too.

Having a great time since I got in late yesterday afternoon. Today we went on the DMZ tour and also took the tour of the North Korean tunnel #3 that was secretly drilled into South Korea in the 70's or so. Very interesting, but I love history and I've always been a self-proclaimed "M*A*S*H-a-holic" to boot. The tours were a whole day event from 0700 until about 1630. Then when we got back, the three of us went out to a Korean place for dinner.

We arrived at the restaurant and took our shoes off and put them into cubby holes at the entrance. I learned that this is very normal in Korea. It is very bad manners to NOT take your shoes off when you enter a home or restaurant. They may cut you some slack if you’re a westerner the first time or two, but expect to wear out your welcome fast if you don't conform!

So we are seated on the heated floor at a table sitting about two feet off the floor and in the center of the table is a hole with a gas cooker with a metal cooking top that allows you to cook your own food at your table. The restaurant brings out a marinated skirt steak, the side dishes and such and then you cut the meat into strips and cook it on the cooker with garlic and veggies. Lots of garlic. The Koreans LOVE garlic. Everything is eaten by everyone off the same plate and same dishes of sides (which takes a bit of getting used to if you've never experienced it before). Everyone at the table just kind of reaches in with their chopsticks and eats communally together. I was filled in while we were eating that when a very traditional family eats, the oldest male will eat first before anyone else digs in.

Up until this dinner, I had successfully avoided kimche during my first 24 hours in country, but broke down and had to have some at dinner. Not bad, and I like the spicy stuff anyway. But still, I don't plan on making a steady diet of it! ;) Chopsticks...no problem. It's almost like I came out of the womb with them! Although I will say that the stainless steel chopsticks I used today were far superior to the big clunky black lacquered ones I used last night.

So, you might ask about my first impressions of South Korea. Well, after spending so much time in the Middle East, I'd have to say that Korea is much cleaner and more westernized than I expected. But these false expectations might have been given to me by people that have been there but probably weren't in Korea since the 90's. Things change. I found that Korea is a like any other westernized city (oriental or occidental) in the world. I also noticed the lack of obvious societal divisions on the level that I've seen in the Middle East. One other thing I noticed is that the Koreans are very much "First Adopters" when it comes to technological gadgets. (A marketer's wet dream, if you will) If it is new, they have GOT to have it....NOW!!!

06 December 2008 1430pm

Sorry that I haven't called home at all. I figured the email would be enough for all of you right now. As I said earlier, my phone doesn't work here. I'll talk with my gracious hosts about using their phone and try to call this morning (your this morning, my tonight!) before I go to bed. I can't dial direct from their home phone, but I've got my AT&T calling card, so I just need to find out how to access their system here in Korea. It's kind of a pain that we are like 15 hours ahead of you, so the time schedule is really a pain in the butt to remember what time it is back there.

We went to see the fortress at Suwon today (about 1-1/2 hours south in bumper to bumper traffic). The trip to Suwon was nice but the weather here is like Chicago in January....very windy and very cold....snot-cicle cold! Standing up at the guard tower #3 at the DMZ yesterday on top of a mountain with 40 mile an hour winds and temps at 20 was a bit chilly and today wasn't any warmer at Suwon.

The fortress at Suwon is a UNESCO Heritage site. After WWII and the Korean War, the city was pretty devastated. Fortunately, the town had the original plans stashed away and pulled them out in the 80's or 90's to rebuild the fortress and city back to its original glory.

From Suwon, we went over to Osan AB for shopping. Nice base. I finished up my Christmas shopping for all but one gift. The weather here has been as cold and bitter as by you guys in Chicago! It's a good thing you sent the hat, coat and gloves or I'd be really freezing my butt off.

I decided to get a few mink blankets and will give a couple of them as gifts. They are really warm and nice feeling. I have a small one on my bed in Baghdad, but it isn't as nice as these are. They are microfiber and are warm to the touch. I ended up having to buy a suitcase for all the blankets I bought! At only $20 a piece, it is a steal. Also found a nice set of stainless chopsticks with matching spoons for the brother-in-law. Him having been stationed in Korea before he wanted a nice set for home. Normally the Koreans eat with the chopsticks and these spoons a little larger than tablespoons with long handles like Ice tea spoons. So you eat your ramen with the chopsticks and drink the soup with the spoon.

Also got necklaces for the girls. Found a nice white jade, a beautiful teardrop shaped purple amethyst and a nice smoky gray tiger's eye. I think the only gift left to buy now is the Celadon pot or vase for Cheryl (and a nice vase for me for the entry at home) and some hand painted fans for the girls stockings. And I'm done! Wooo-hooo. But you know what a bore shopping is for me!!!! ;) You can get up off the floor now!

07 December 2008 2100pm

Good morning! I slept in this morning to wake up to snow! Believe it or not, we have done so much walking that I'm sore. Even though back in Baghdad I've been running 4 and 6 milers the past two months, I don't get the uphill/downhill workout that I do in this place. My calves and quads are feeling the hills! Been doing a bunch of uphill/downhill walking like down into the North Korean tunnel that was dug into the south side and walking up the mountain above Suwon at the fortress. Well, that and just walking locally. The steepness of all the inclines here in Itaewon remind me so much of walking in San Francisco...not quite as scenic as San Fran, but just as steep.

Well, got to hop in the shower and then off for another day of fun. We are staying local today and just taking the subway around. Today we're supposed to be heading out to shop in the Insa-dong area. Lots of local crafts, furniture, wood carving, pottery and such. If I didn't do enough shopping outside of Osan, I'll make up for it today!

Had my first taste of soju. I had been forewarned not to do more than two. For some reason, rice grain alcohol and kool-aid have a delayed effect on the body and you don't realize how much you've consumed until you try to get out of your chair! But I only had one and then onto the strip to have a few beers. The weather was cold tonight and I'm still sore from all the uphill walking around here. I will look forward to a nice bath or two to relax my weary bones when we get to the hotels in AZ and home by next week this time.

08 December 2008

Trip to Ichon. One of the trips I knew that I wanted to make was down to Ichon to the place where the Celadon pottery is made. I had seen some beautiful Celadon when I was in Kuwait (including one pot with cranes on it that I liked) but I wasn't going to pay the $300 they wanted. Same pot in Ichon only cost me about $125! We looked around at a strip mall of shops to get an idea what was available and then broke for lunch. Can't buy pottery on an empty stomach.

We go into the restaurant just down the block a bit from the shops, take off our shoes and sit down on the nicely warm and heated floor in front of a table in the main restaurant. They don't speak English and my host speaks some Korean. No problem, we will be adventurous. If he can eat all this stuff and is still standing, I'll give it a shot too! First they brought out this soup. One taste and I was in L-O-V-E! This had to have been the absolute best pumpkin soup I've ever had in my life! Fresh pumpkins (should have figured since they had bunches of them in the entry and in the restaurant as decoration too) and probably fresh cream. I'd of had her write down the recipe if I could speak and read Korean.

Then on to the main course. The waitress wheels out a cart and just starts filling the table we are sitting at with all kinds of bowls and plates. It was a regular Korean smorgasbord for lunch! I didn't much care for the fish, but the pork and beef were great....and noooo, I didn't order ANY kagogi...that I know of (you know, woof, woof, woof or probably yap, yap, yap). I was forewarned on that. Then again, how would I know whether it was on the menu when I don't read or speak Korean? The lunch specials menu probably read, "Lunch Special: All You Can Eat Kagogi! Finger-licking Good and Good For You" and I wouldn't have known the difference, now would I? Hmmm, of course, they could have snuck it in somewhere in that smorgasbord of mystery food and who'd of been the worst for the wear?! Well then, if they did, it tasted like chicken, or beef...or pork...and I liked it! It was good...so there!

After we were sufficiently stuffed, we put our shoes back on, paid the nice people about $8 a piece (for all that food! can you believe it?) and got on with the job of pottery shopping. I think I only spent about 200,000 won (about $165-175 all total) on pottery. They had these great Celadon pill boxes that were great for stocking stuffers for the nieces too. Good thing I didn't bring my whole bankroll of won, because I saw this monstrous pot that an adult could have hidden in that I would have bought. I have no idea where it would have lived at home, but it was a great buy! Spoken like a true shopper.

09 December 2008 0500am

I can't believe how fast the time is going. Sorry I haven't called. It kinda sucks that my phone doesn't work here...I’m about lost without it! Anyway, just finishing up packing and we will be out of here in a couple of minutes to the airport. See you in a few hours...well a few hours according to my itinerary!

I'm sitting in Seoul airport right now at a free internet site, so I thought I'd send off a message. I'm tired but anxious to get to AZ now that I'm this far. I'm just waiting on my flights to Tokyo-Seattle-Phoenix. A few connections this time around. Even with 18 hours of flight and some wait-time in terminals in Tokyo and Seattle, I still will end up arriving in Phoenix three hours after I leave Seoul!

09 December 2008 2130pm

Arrived back in the US on Tuesday the 9th. As posted in the itinerary, I arrived in Seattle two hours after I left. I'm not quite fully understanding this whole international date line stuff, but it seems to work somehow!

I left Seoul in a light rainstorm and my first leg had me changing planes in Tokyo. I finally was hungry and decided to catch a Sapporo (Japanese beer) and some chips, so I got in line at a little shop at the airport. Looking up at the menu, I suddenly...saw stars! The Korean woman in front of me had bumped her suitcase and the upright handle happened to slam down the weight of her steamer-trunk-sized suitcase into my crotch. Owww!

"Are you okay?" (Hmmmm, what the heck are you supposed to say to that?!) Well, after I got over my initial shock, I was actually okay. I smiled awkwardly and said yes and then just started laughing. The military makes us wear a flak vest and helmet when we leave Baghdad, but of all things to happen at the airport, that probably isn't one of the situations you'd expect or plan for...otherwise I'd of worn a catcher's cup when I left home! She was rather red-faced at the whole situation and started apologizing all over the place.

Which reminds me of a funny joke I received recently...

Golfing dilemma

Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole. The ball hit one of the men. He immediately clasped his hands together at his groin, fell to the ground and proceeded to roll around in agony.

The woman rushed down to the man, and immediately began to apologize. 'Please allow me to help. I'm a Physical Therapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you’d allow me, she told him. 'Oh, no, I'll be all right. I'll be fine in a few minutes,' the man replied.

He was in obvious agony, lying in the fetal position, still clasping his hands at his groin. At her persistence, however, he finally allowed her to help.

She gently took his hands away and laid the man to the side, loosened his pants and put her hands inside. She administered tender and artful massage for several long moments and asked, 'How does that feel?'

He replied, 'It feels great, but I still think my thumb's broken.

Thankfully, the rest of my stay in the Tokyo airport was full of no other surprises. While I was sitting enjoying my beer and chips, an American woman about my age walked up and asked if she could join me. She had just finally gotten out of Bangkok, Thailand after being inconveniently stuck in paradise an extra eight days. But seriously, her story had a silver lining. She was from Seattle but was waiting on the Tokyo/Portland flight which left near the same time as my Tokyo/Seattle flight.

She had been staying at the Ramada in Pattaya which was a government sanctioned hotel. The hotel let her know when this whole little revolution party started that the government was going to be picking up her whole hotel bill and food bill for as many days as she would be inconvenienced in Thailand. (I should ever be so lucky!) That and she was just laid-off from her job before she left. So it wasn't like she needed to get right back home on a set schedule. See, I told you it had a silver lining.

Got out of Tokyo to Seattle and had a few hour layover before moving on to Phoenix via our friends at Alaska Air. During my few hours layover in Seattle, I called my buddy in Chicago. First words out of his mouth are, "Have you seen the news this morning?"

Looking up from the phone, I could see CNN running a story on Blagojevich (our Illinois governor) and the police leading him off in a car.

"Yeah, so they've just arrested Blagojevich. Big deal. He hasn't done anything they'll be able to prove (without spending no less than $6 mil to investigate and such) and even if they do jail him, he'll just end up in the governor's wing of the prison at Illinois' version of Camp Cupcake with former Gov Ryan." Really, what is the point in wasting taxpayer money on another three-ringed political circus. The state's budget is already strained, why do we need another boondoggle for the lawyers? Chicago politics have always been a circus. Why the hell would one expect it to be anything but that when on election days, the precincts with the highest turnouts are the ones with the largest and highest number of cemeteries! Lesson to be learned is that if you don't like Chicago politics, sell your vote to someone who has the stomach for it or move to Florida...oh, that's right. They have their own little voting issues, now don't they?

10 December 2008 0800am

So here we are in Phoenix/Mesa this morning after a very restful night at the Courtyard. My sister and brother-in-law are going to meet us in a little bit here and then we will all head up to Sedona. We're going to start off with a train ride through the mountains in the Verde Canyon around the Sedona area in an old-fashioned 40's style train. It's the "Santa Express" with a guest appearance by you-know-who...Santa Claus! Wooo-hooo! I'm about so excited I could just pee my pants. I still don't know how old Santa makes it back and forth from Camp Victory over to Verde Canyon every Wednesday and Saturday until Christmas! I did see him in line at the chow hall on Thanksgiving Day with his helpful little elves giving out candy canes, so I'll find out more and write you later...

11 December 2008 1910pm

Got your call yesterday afternoon, but we were in and out of phone service on that train ride in the mountains from Cottonwood to Clarksdale and back. By the time I got back, we were at dinner and then the jetlag body-slammed me. It was 9pm when I thought of calling, and I knew you'd be in bed by then, so I figured I would try to catch up with you today.

Oh, and just so that you know, Santa and the elves were quaffing eggnog in the last car of the train after their visit with us on the "Santa Express" through Verde Canyon! Maybe we were such a stiff crowd they all needed a belt to loosen up with afterward to put them back in the "spirit" of things. They thought that we didn't notice, but you just never know what elves are capable of once they let their hair down.

The Adobe Grand Villas, the B&B we stayed at in Sedona was great. With the room "themes", the B&B chef and the Jacuzzi tubs and walk-in showers the rooms were worth whatever they wanted to charge us! We stayed in the "Tuscany" room while my brother-in-law and sister stayed in the Wild West room...complete with the wagon wheel waterfall on the door! Their bed is a Conestoga wagon and the bathroom sinks have old hand pump spigots where the water dispenses. Not to mention the spiral walk in showers. No need for a shower curtain they are so huge. The Jacuzzi soaking tubs don't suck either with their fireplaces in front! Also have fireplaces in front of the beds. I don't know who their decorator was, but they deserve a medal for their work. Talk about attention to detail! In our room, the tiling and everything are just beautiful. And it does remind me so much of Italy.

If you've never been to Sedona, you are going to have to come out to this place. Besides the beautiful red mountains, hiking trails (a lot like Garden of the Gods in Colo Springs) this place also has "New Age" feel and shops here. The Adobe Grand Villas are probably the nicest hotel or B&B I have ever been at...and that has been a bunch around the world! We have been taking mental notes on everything since we both love the Tuscan style. We have taken plenty of pics of our rooms, but Tripadvisor.com does a great job of promoting it too.

Took a quick side-trip over to Jerome. Interesting place, full of art shops and stuff related to the old mining town that it once was. The town has its own flair and charm. Would have liked to have stayed at the haunted hotel on the hill too which used to be a hospital when the town was young and wild. Maybe next time we're in the Sedona area. You can't visit Sedona once and not be drawn back by its beauty and peacefulness.

12 December 2008 2200pm

Sadly, we left Sedona today. It really is a great place. Arrived at our hotel here in Chandler. We are staying at the Wild Horses Resort. Too bad I don't golf as they are supposed to have a very nice course here. Hopefully, we will get to Rawhide for a steak or two although the restaurants in the hotel are top notch too. Maybe we'll even stop by the casino if there is time. Being so close to the 202 and the 10, it is a pretty good location to get anywhere in the Valley.

17 December 2008
Spent the rest of the week in Phoenix area, but I'll be damned if I wrote anything down. It is so much like home that I never really think to jot anything down when I'm there! Anyway, arrived back in Chicago on the 16th as planned, but as we were getting ready to land and passing over 294, you could see the snow on the highways and the bumper-to-bumper traffic.

We called the limo when we got in, but he said he was hoping to make it there in an hour! Took us an hour to get to Phil's parents house about 10 miles from the airport. So we ended up staying there for the night. By later Wed morning, the roads were clear and we made our way back home. This was to be only the first of a few snowstorms while I was home.

22 December 2008 0700am

-4F Feels like -29F! Holy shnikies it is cold here! Yes, it is 9pm and a minus 4 with a steady wind of 23 mph giving us a balmy wind chill of -29F! The high today here in Sycamore was a minus 2 with 20 mph winds steady and blowing and drifting snow. There are still blizzard warnings in the western counties (including ours, DeKalb). Not that I'm complaining about being home, but I guess I am. Why can't Christmas take place about mid July and in Hawaii? I have to say, Arizona was so nice...even on the days it rained. To think we went from complaining about rain and 55F degree weather to this!

I have skipped the whole idea of Christmas cards this year. Just too stinkin much going on right now. I feel like I'm rushed to do a million things...so much so that I'm not really feeling like I'm relaxing at all this time around. About as much relaxing as I've done this vacation was the three days in Sedona. It is really heaven up there. I'd love to move up there, but unless you're an artist or a clairvoyant, you are going to have quite a time finding a job!

Other than that, just going crazy here. Ordered the fresh turkey for Tuesday afternoon pickup. Did all the food shopping today. With the extreme cold you'd think people would stay home, but they were all out in full force. Well, gotta get moving here. I've got cheesecakes to be bakin!

Planned traditional Christmas Eve Feast:

To be served in formal dining room, with tablecloth, candles, proper Christmas floral pieces for the dining and dessert tables, china and crystal goblets.

Stuffed 21lb. fresh Turkey (HoKa Turkey from HoKa Turkey Farms in Waterman, Illinois purchased at Inboden Meats on First St in DeKalb)
Dressing w/chopped walnuts, chopped onion & celery, chicken broth and butter (from bird and from oven)
Heinz turkey gravy
Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberries
Mashed potatoes (boiled in chicken broth with one yellow onion to sweeten them up and mashed with butter and sour cream)
asparagus with Hollandaise sauce
Nibletts corn (who doesn't like Green Giant?)
fresh green beans with hickory smoked bacon and chopped onions sautéed in the bacon grease
fresh baked sweet potatoes in the shell
mixed salad with scallions, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled egg
biscuits
wine

To finish (after gift unwrapping) with your choice of (home baked from scratch) regular sour-cream topped cheesecake or eggnog cheesecake and coffee

Eggnog Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup eggnog
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum
1 pinch ground nutmeg
DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a food processor combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 45 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

25 December 2008 1915pm

A very Merry Christmas to you all. This vacation has been a lesson in patience and a reminder of the flakiness of the Chicago weather. Could have been worse. Just watched the news on TV showing people who were stranded at O'Hare over the holiday. We had 3 snowstorms in six days. As soon as we'd get a break, we had to brace for the next one. We've only had about 12 inches of snow overall, but living out in the farms like I do, the roads are slow to get cleared and drifting has been a big issue. With the single digit temps we've been having, the salt didn't really start to work on the ice until the temps warmed up on Christmas Eve to the lower 30's.

I was actually afraid that my sister, brother-in-law and nephews and niece wouldn't be able to make it out because of the weather, but at the last minute the weather broke and warmed up enough for the roads to get cleared. I was imagining gettting stuck with a fresh 21 pound turkey, two home-made cheesecakes (one regular and the other an eggnog cheesecake) and all the assorted food for a dinner to feed 10 (we all like leftovers, so I always cook too much! Who doesn't like turkey sandwiches slathered in Miracle Whip?) Wasn't worried about being stranded with all the liquor to accompany said dinner!

All in all, it has been nice to be home. But at the same time, I think being home any other time of the year is probably better since you get so caught up in the hype of the holidays. Now that the holiday stuff is over, I can get back to packing a few boxes of supplies to send back. Please let me know if there is anything I can ship out for anyone.

Just remember you are all in our thoughts and prayers over the holidays. You're never far from any of our hearts. A very blessed and Merry Christmas to all of you. See all of you again soon.

28 December 2008 2000pm

Just a quick hello to let you know that I'm nearly packed and ready to come back. I need to come back to rest up from this crazy, whirlwind trip. Hope all is going along alright there for you guys. If it makes you feel any better, I've been thinking about you all while I've been home...all good thoughts, don't worry. Have you received any of my other emails? I hadn't heard a peep back from you and am wondering if maybe hotmail has been down again.

It has been nice coming home again (as expected) but things at home are so hectic. I feel like I just rush from one place to another without really relaxing any...especially with the holidays and the interesting weather we've had here.

Just to round off the three snowstorms we've had over the past 10 days, yesterday it warmed up to 50 and it rained about 1-1/2 inches, along with fog as thick as pea soup! Such crazy weather. Lots of flooded roads from the 12 inches of now-melted snow from last week. At least we had the dreamed of "white Christmas". Today is a bit more normal at about 28F this morning and expected high of 38F.

Today I go to see my AFS kid. He is a sophomore in college and is visiting his old American family and bringing his brother. His brother is coming over next school year as an exchange student too. We will see if he speaks better English than his brother did when he arrived! So I am going over there to visit them for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then over to my friend and his family (who I'm godfather to their daughter) to celebrate Christmas.

If there is anything anybody would like while I'm home, please email me and let me know so I can mail it off on Mon or Tues when I go to the post office.

30 December 2008 1600pm

Just a quick one to let you know that I'm leaving home in about two hours for the airport. It is the longer flight via London, but I'll be getting into Kuwait on New Year's Day.

On a sadder note, we ended up having to put our 12-1/2 year old Husky, Cayenne down. We found a lump the size of my fist under her right front leg and the doc said that she had another one starting under the left leg too. She said it was a very fast growing and possibly cancerous tumor and the best thing we could do was put her down now before she was unable to walk and feeling pain. At her age, there is no way that we'd put her through another operation. The Doc said that the lump wasn't there last month when she was at the vet for a checkup and that this was looking like a very aggressive tumor. She said that Cay may have gone another two or three weeks, but it would have become more painful for her the longer we waited. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to walk or get up.

Poor old Cayenne had already started to have balance problems and was very slow getting up and sitting/laying down and even negotiating the one step down onto the patio from the kitchen. Although I know it was the humane thing to do, it still doesn't erase my selfish feelings of wanting her around longer. I'm just very sad right now and it is kind of difficult for me to concentrate on leaving when I'm still so overwhelmed with sadness. She was like a kid to me and I'm really feeling her loss.

The doc reminded us that Cayenne had a very good life with us. She said that Cay never forgot the tough first seven months of her life before she was rescued by Husky Rescue and we got her. Before she came to live with us her life consisted only of abuse, constant exposure to the cold, worms (hooks and whips), giardia (intestinal parasites), ear mites (with red crust crumbling out of her ears) and starvation. She really had so much love to give and was always so sweet and so kind. In all reality, I know it was us who were lucky to have had her come into our lives. I already miss her kisses and her howls and tail-wagging when you'd pull out the lead for a walk or offer her a pig's ear or for her piece of cheese in the morning.

My supervisor Lance wrote me such a nice email when I told him about Cay, it made me cry my eyes out...again! I think he is right.

"I know how you feel. And it is never the same when you go back home and he/she is not there. But remembering the great years together and the pictures of her will help keep her in your memories. She is much better off now. Can you imagine how you would have felt if she was going to be in pain and you weren't there - God made sure you were home for her last days."

Well, I'm on my way out the door in an hour.

Arrived in Seoul

2008-12-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

05 December 2008

I arrived in Seoul in one piece. Nearly missed my connection in Dubai! We got stuck circling in the air and then the transfer bus got lost on the way to the terminal....Duh!

So I arrived very sleep deprived and hadn't slept in like 24 hours. Good thing I had the chance to recharge in Kuwait those couple of days. Went out to eat and what do you think my first meal here is??? General Tso's Chicken! Forks weren't even on the table. Guess it's good I know how to use chopsticks. It's almost like I came out of the womb with them! (Thanks Jasmine! Jaz was a Chinese/German/American translator friend of ours when I was stationed back in Germany in the 1980's. Our group would cruise the countryside on weekends near
Kalkar/s' Herrenburg/Nijmegen/Emmerich area for Chinese restaurants. She declared that if we were going to make a habit of Chinese Restaurants, we all needed to learn to eat with chopsticks.)

Slept like a babey (an intentional mispelling due to an infiltration of advertisements!) last night, but up early today (it's now 0645 and we're headed out the door) to go on the DMZ tour. More later...

Relaxing in Kuwait

2008-12-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

02 December 2008

Just got into Kuwait yesterday and got my passport back tonight. Went up to the airport to see if I could move up my tickets and Emirates said that they are booked both tonight and tomorrow from Dubai to Seoul. I can't even go to Dubai and wait till Wed because of the way my ticket was booked. Damned Expedia. They get you good prices, but don't try changing anything!

So I'm holding up in the Kuwait Hilton right now. I've been here before, but this is only the second time. I usually go to the Crown Plaza, but I like the Hilton here a bit better and decided to treat myself since I couldn't get out. Got a room facing the water and will probably do a massage and haircut and get the string treatment on the brows. Tryin to keep the uni-brow under control! So far about as much as I've accomplished today was breakfast.

Back off to the Blue Elephant Thai restaurant for dinner. I wanted to have dessert yesterday, but was too full. They have a coconut flan that I was dying for but was ready to bust last night, so I'm going to have to save room tonight!

03 December 2008

It's Wed afternoon about 1pm and I'm about ready to go. I was able to get a late checkout till 5pm. My flight to Dubai isn't until 1050pm, so I'll be spending some time at the airport. Of course that is nothing new. Like all the airports in the Middle East, it is like a huge shopping mall, so there is plenty to look at and window shop if nothing else.

In Kuwait…finally

2008-12-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

30 November 2008

I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get out of Baghdad. All day Saturday, it rained cats and dogs. Fortunately, there seems to finally be enough rock down in most of the places that count so that the mud is somewhat reduced…except in the streets. Even the suggestion of liquid coming down from the sky turns the fine dust in the streets turn into a soupy pea soup slurry.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they had sidewalks all over the base, but they’ve yet to put sidewalks along the most traveled pedestrian areas, ie the very pedestrian crowded streets leading to the Green Bean coffee shop where the all the shops are and additionally along a busy street leading to the Medical clinic. (Go figure. If you’re not in bad enough shape to require an ambulance to get to medical help, you will be when you’re hit by some Humvee driven by Sgt Mario Andretti. Don’t laugh, it happened last year. The poor soldier ended up with a broken pelvis. And we joke in Chicago that if you’re going to “buy the farm” let it be by a Bentley and not a cab! Imagine the stigma of being run down by a Humvee. Oh the humanity!)

Add to that the issue of the MP’s only pulling over civilians because it is too much hassle to ticket Sgt Snuffy for going over the speed limits…that and the fact that turn signals are completely optional for the military but required for civilians.) But the military certainly have had plenty of concrete the last two years to pave parking lots all over creation here on Victory.

I’m finally beginning to understand that success in winning the war on terrorism is only measured and truly accomplished by the amount of concrete parking lots you can lay down in Iraq.

More on the subject of pains in my ass…

The flight desk told me on Saturday evening that my call-time for my flight was at 1330 Sunday afternoon. Got there with plenty of time to spare and all they say then is..."oh, the flight has been pushed back 6 hours." That’s when you know it’s going to be a long one!

So we end up sitting on our thumbs for six hours, only to find out the plane landed in Baghdad, but wasn't going to take "Leg 1"…neither was it going to take us ("Leg 2") to Kuwait where it was headed back to because of mechanical problems. Now we know this is not looking good. Okay, it’s time to start wondering if they are going to cancel the flight.

The C17 flew back to Kuwait, they repaired the front landing gear, flew back to Baghdad, took Leg 1 and arrived back in Baghdad at 0245am this morning to take us...Leg 2 to Kuwait. Fortunately, the crew got permission to run a complete mission back to Kuwait and we boarded finally at 0300...arriving in Kuwait at 0400.

But the baggage people were slow, so it took our luggage until 0530 to get to Ali As Salem. Yep, I'm kinda tired. I slept from 0630 till about 1100am and am now finishing up shopping and wondering around Ali As Salem before trying to catch a few more zzzz's. This is the part about traveling out of Baghdad that is in the realm identified as a pain in the butt! More later.

Gettelfinger gives US the Middle-finger

2008-11-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

17 November 2008

Ron Gettelfinger Pres of the UAW says his UAW workers have already made too many concessions to the auto industry and won't stand for any more. Well Ron, maybe you had best wake the hell up and realize you are no longer in the driver seat of this situation in an economy disguised as a semi truck careening downhill through the mountains at a precipitous speed.

So far you, your lobbyists and your UAW workers should consider yourselves damned lucky to have retained all of your high salary jobs this long. It's time now for the UAW to ante up. But don't you worry, Big Ronny. If you don't make concessions now, you may not ever need to again because the Big 3 will be done. Done; as in "stick a fork in them" done.

Done, Done, Done.

Then the Japanese, Germans and Koreans can reopen the more profitable American auto factories with their name on them, rehiring your former UAW (now) non-union members producing quality cars with a different name but without a union label. And guess what? They are going to take those jobs for significantly less than their former union salary. I say that because according to unemployment forecasters, the US very well may have an 8-9% unemployment rate by the middle of next year. People are going to take the jobs so they can feed their families and so they can have a normal life again. All thanks to you and your lobbyists, Ron.

As I have suggested before, you have milked the cow dry. So when will you realize that NOW it is time to be part of the solution. Time for the UAW to dig deep into their pockets and help bail out the Big 3. The federal government didn't break the US auto industry, you Ron, broke it. If you and your workers want to retain what you have, you WILL make concessions. If you don't, then you must be willing to accept the consequences. Joe Q Public is not responsible for your boneheaded stubborn attitude or for the UAW not allowing the US auto industry to build vehicles that are competitive in the world market. A quick $25 bil injection isn't going to cure this problem like penicillin to a minor infection.

This problem is far deeper and more serious than that. And Ron, you know it better than anyone else. If you can't be competitive in your markets, time to give it up and do something you can be competitive in.

And Comrade Pelosi, please understand that you can not force the American public to pay for and buy the crap that US autoworkers are putting out when it isn't competitive in a World Marketplace and isn't what the American public wants. We are still a market economy. This IS still the United States of America.

But that could change and we could be forced to buy the American version of Mother Russia's Lada if Comrade Pelosi gets her way. But let's hope that the "lame duck Republican congress" can hold tough against this infringement of free enterprise/free market and NOT give into Pelosi's charms!

Does Life Always Have To Be A "Pisser"?

2008-11-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

12 November 2008

One of my coworkers came in two days ago and is ever-so-slightly disgusted with his living situation. Now, life in trailers with no bathrooms can be a pain in the bladder at times, but you deal with the, what feels like a mile, walk to either the nearest porta-pottie or to the bathroom trailers about a 1/4 mile away from the trailer. But there are always those few disgusting slobs who urinate in bottles in their trailers or will just relieve themselves on the side of the trailer. Worse yet are the ones that collect the urine bottles and store them under their beds.

And before you defend their adopted third-country mentality, no, this place is nothing like camping in the forest! The world is not your urinal. Trailers are placed fairly close together and other people have to deal with the smell of your urine as is dries and stinks to high heaven. Let alone waking up at 3am to the sound of your roommate about three feet away from you relieving himself into a bottle.

His description of waking up in the middle of the night to hearing water running and think it was raining inside the trailer only further cements the fact that there are a lot of lazy crap-for-brains people that can only be described as sub-human here. I guess CRC is unable to screen that trait out of the eligible work candidates they send here.

So coworker goes to KBR to complain and request a move. KBR in all their wonderful sensitivity to the biohaz waste being stored in a rubbermaid container by coworker's roommate, stealthely turn the problem back to coworker and tell him to confront the roommate and have him stop or move. That is KBR dealing with issues head-on. All that after the mayor's cell on base has specifically threatened to put people dumping biowaste into the trash cans back into tents if they are caught. Well who the heck (short of Allen Funk and Candid Camera) are going to catch the low-lifes peeing in a bottle. Do you want that burned in YOUR brain. I'll pass.

Well, coworker decides to work it the other way and write a letter to KBR stating the obvious and advising he will take it to the highest levels at our company and the military unit he works for. Problem solved. He has now become a bigger pain in their ass than the roommate pissing in the bottle. Talk about reverse psychology in action! The "KBR Realtor" took him around to several trailers so he has his choice of where he wants to move to...while the Pisser gets to stay in the trailer continuing to stockpile aging bottles of urine under his bed. Am I the only one thinking that something is wrong with this picture?

AIG and other bone-headed industries with their hands out...

2008-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

11 November 2008

Just to vent some. Don't know if you have heard any of the news today, but AIG is at it again. Of course, the $350,000 was spent probably in Snottsdale, so you guys aren't complaining if you're in AZ! But I gotta tell you, I feel a blog coming on in my bones!!! (or maybe just a "Dave's Rave" coming on!)

This AIG $350,000 weekend outing (after they have already taken how many million from the gov't?) is really pissin' me off! I just told one of my coworkers that I think the only solution to this is to bring back Sarah Palin to administer live on all three major networks and FOX, Monday morning televised bare-bottomed spankings of all the officers and all members of AIG's board of directors. This will be a great warning for anyone else lining up for government cash that they may be chosen for personal public humiliation if they make any greedy bone-headed moves and try to pull any shenanigans in the future!

What really needs to happen is AIG needs to be dissolved and broken up into pieces under a government charter of some sort. You want the govt to bail you out? You become property of the government. Then the government can sell you off at a later date to the highest bidder when the market recovers. If you're going to nationalize all suffering industries, then anyone taking money should realize the possible implications...along with the possible jail time associated with business mismanagement and of course, the public bare-bottomed spankings!

Same with the auto makers. For years the unions have held down the U.S. automakers and kept them from being competitive. In their greed, they demanded more, more, more. Naturally, this prevented the American auto industry from competing with the Japanese and Koreans. Well, time for the unions to give back. Consider it a "loan" or whatever, but it is time for the unions to reach into their pockets and bail out the auto makers. They drove them into the proverbial ditch, so if they want jobs for their members, cough up the cash you greedy morons! Otherwise, Ford, GMC, Chrysler can be left to go the way of Daewoo. Da-who? That's right, that old Korean dinosaur that the South Korean government wouldn't even touch with a ten foot pole that went bankrupt. Just like in the early 80's...if you can't compete in that industry, time to find something you CAN compete in.

Survival of the fittest here, baby. Darwin had to have known that it applies to business too. So there. Could I have said it any clearer?!

Nights to Swings

2008-10-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

29 October 2008

Hard to believe that October is almost over. I just switched over to swing shift this last week and am still trying to adjust. Since I got back from Kuwait, we've been on six ten hour shifts. Kinda nice actually. A bit more time to relax between the shifts. But the transfer over to shifts has been hell. How do you change your body clock from working mids to swings in 26 hours? You don't...without a somewhat exhausting transition. But I'm there now.

My last mid, I hardly slept. Got woken up by a group of 10 KBR knuckleheads carrying on loudly outside my door about 2pm (that'd be 2am your time). Thirty minutes later, the Big Voice went off warning of incoming, so I found myself on the floor of my trailer for about five minutes until the all clear was given. First mortar in quite some time too. I guess it hit over at Slayer. Finally when I thought I was going to go back to sleep until 5pm, there is a knock on the door for "accountability". I pretty much gave up the idea of sleep at that point.

Been having quite a bit of rain here all this week. Rainy season has started and along with that, all the mud. Still, I've been able to run between the cloudbursts. It has been great to get out and run again. I've been putting in 4 milers about 5 times a week. Maybe I'll finally take off the rest of that weight I put on in Kuwait! With the temps in the 70's and sometimes low 80's, it's been great weather to be out in. The only gripe might be the 90% humidity, but that we can deal with.

Now that I'm working a somewhat normal schedule, it has been unusual dealing with life among the living. Everything is so crowded during the day. Can't go anywhere without lines, people and traffic. Now I know what I haven't been missing. Being around in daylight has also exposed to me all the changes around the base. This place is growing and changing again. Actual electric poles and new lines being strung all over the place. All we need now is a few more sidewalks. Boy, if this is all I got to write about, my life is seriously boring! Good thing vacation is around the corner in a month.

30 And Counting

2008-10-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

22 October 2008

I've been back from Kuwait for two weeks now and hardly know where the time has gone to. Well, maybe I do. Been adjusting back to a midnights schedule. Now that I'm back on my night sched, I'm getting switched to a swing shift starting Sunday. Just goes to show ya, "if it's not one thing, it's another!"

Missed my 30th High School Reunion. I was actually a bit indifferent about going to it until the last month before. One of our classmates set up a server interconnecting all of our emails. So a message sent up to the server was copied to all the classmates who had their email addresses on the list. What started out as a few people chatting via email ended up a flurry of about 2000 messages over a three week period. It was kind of wild to see all the different memories flying across the email and the responses to said email. It probably is one of the primary reasons that this reunion ended up such a success too.

It gave people a chance to start thinking about things and change their mind about going. For some, a chance to relive the past, for many others to rekindle or start new friendships. Some may not have had much in common in high school at times, but after 30 years, we still share some of the same values, memories, ideas or are willing to accept the different ideas and views of our former classmates.

The 10th, I had no interest in going to at all. I had a good excuse not to attend too...I was enroute to Palmer Station, Anarctica. The 15th, I was still a bit stand-offish about attending and ended up having to work a night shift downtown at the Federal Reserve for the telecom company I worked for. But the 20th, I would say that by the 20th, people's attitudes have changed. A few might still have a chip on their shoulder, but for the most part, people have matured enough to look at one another from the inside instead of from the outside. Same with the 25th.

And now by the 30th, it is just great to get together with people who you have more in common with than you ever thought you could have...and all gathered in one place! Wooo-hoo! People who actually understand you, unlike your new trophy wife. I mean, who at work could ever possibly understand the story of your tearing up one day on your afternoon commute home in the car on the expressway when you hear that "oldie" by Alice Cooper, "Dream On"???? And no...it wasn't from bong smoke getting in my eyes either! Dream On! I'm sounding a little like That 70's Show, aren't I???

Anyway, wish I would have been there for this reunion. But, I did get to reconnect with a number of people via email and facebook. Hoping to see a few of them too for drinks/lunch/dinner when I go home for Christmas this year.

Was on my way to get coffee last night when I hear a huge ka-boom. Sounded like an incoming mortar, but I didn't hear any swooosh sound and the Big Voice didn't go off. Thought nothing of it and then two minutes later, another. EOD (ordinance disposal team) doesn't really make announcements anymore when they're going to blow stuff up, so I guess if we hear anything going "BOOM" in the night, the Big Voice will tell us when to worry and take cover.

We've also had rain this week. I guess one downpour on Sunday which I slept through at 2pm and then it spit a little out last night around midnight. I am sure hoping that we aren't going to get payback for the lack of rain last year. That would suck. They put down all this stone all over last year and into the spring, but the vehicle traffic in the living areas has kind of moved the stone around, so we could end up, up to our behinds in mud this year. Gotta love it.

Love Iraq or leave it...I'm guessing that is what the Iraqi's are saying right now too. The new SoFA (Status of Forces Agreement) agreement is causing quite a stir now. The Iraqi's are in nearly unanimous agreement that they want the US troops out ASAP. Not too surprising. The people here are feeling safer again and things have changed significantly in the last five years.

So I guess we will wait till the new year and see what comes of that. I wouldn't be surprised to see a gradual drawdown throughout next year and 2010. But whoever comes out of here will probably be restaffed in Afghanistan where a new "surge" really does need to take place. With UN welching on their deal to send more troops, something has to be done. Wouldn't be too hard for us to relocate troops and resources from this front to Afghanistan. I know what you're thinking..."What budget crisis???"

Ahh well, it is 0830am, my eyes are tired and about time for bed. Pleasant dreams.

Top Ten Reasons I Need To Go Back To Baghdad

2008-10-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

06 October 2008

Been here at Camp Arifjan for two weeks now and starting into the third and last week of training. Believe it or not, I’m about ready to go back “home” to Camp Victory already. Not that I’m living in luxury or out of my suitcase or anything, just ready to get back into my routine again.

So here are my top 10 reasons for needing to go back to Baghdad….

Number 10:
The bathroom trailers at Camp Victory are heaven compared with Arifjan’s solar-powered wet “hot boxes” with no A/C.

Number 9:
Because I’ve become a complete “vidiot” and watched more video’s these last two weeks than in the last year at Camp Victory.

Number 8:
I’m getting sentimental about living in a tent again here on Arifjan.

Number 7:
The PX here has just about everything you could ever want.

Number 6:
My bank account is screaming Uncle about now! (see Number 7)

Number 5:
Way too many fast food offerings here.

Number 4:
About 8 lbs since I’ve not been running! (see number 5)

Number 3:
My constant state of over-caffeination due to the Starbuck’s here on base.

Number 2:
The food at Arifjan is missing curry…even the ice cream. How wrong is that?

And the Number 1 reason I need to go back to Baghdad:
My most frequent pleasure as of late has been to go to the Big PX and purchase things I don’t need just to see the 65 year old Indian cashier with the really bad and really tall Elvis look-alike toupee…and challenge myself to keep composed and NOT roflmao! (I am probably going to hell for saying that, aren't I?)

Wall Street's Not Dead Yet....(give it time)

2008-10-01T02:11:00.001-07:00

01 October 2008

Wamu...well do we need to say anything more of that beached whale. Wachovia...how many more vultures need circle to declare it carrion? Not even dead yet and the preditors are calling dibs on the good parts. Okay, who's next up on the dinner plate for the market to chew up and spit out?

That Congress denied the Bailout shouldn't be too surprising. What is surprising to me is all the Repubs against it. 2/3rds of the party voted against it. Poor Mr. Bush (you remember him, don't you? Seems that the Repub party turned him loose already and conceded his lame duck status) is getting NO love from his counterparts in Congress or anywhere. He is a leper looking for a place to hang till his end. Molokai may be appropriate. Plus the weather is nice in Hawaii this time of year.

I think I've passed the final stage of grieving here and am ready to accept that the Bailout is a necessary thing. I just don't know how much pork needs to be added to this thing to accomplish what it needs to accomplish. I do agree with the Repubs on that. (stop smirking, I told you I've always been an issues-guy/fence sitter) And to some extent, I think we have to let some of this run its' course. The strong and carefully planned companies will rise above this mess they've created. The weaker will go down. Just wondering if after it all shakes out whether the consumer will be better treated or continue to be fleeced with charges.

I'm not as connected to the news as usual as I've been in Kuwait the past couple weeks. Classes are going well, but I definitely see the difference here over being north in Iraq. As I've emailed a couple of friends back home, I'm not used to all the non-activity here in Kuwait. At Victory, every day you have vehicles and soldiers on the road out to run missions, firefights and gunshot in the background and the constant sound of helo's overhead.

I've gotten so that when I'm home (in the States) it is hard to sleep without the sound of helo's nearly strafing their landing gear over the tops of the trailers, they fly so low! You learn to sleep through it. Kuwait is a whole different environment. No sense of urgency or mission like up north. Maybe that's my new problem...must have become an adrenalin junky since I've been here.

With the Eid al-Fitr celebration started and Ramadan over, I wonder for how long the quiet will last. Guess time will tell.

Wall Street's On Sale, Baby!

2008-09-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

17 September 2008

Oh, poor, poor CEO of AIG. He has only been in the position for a few months and is forced into the ranks of the unemployed...with his Golden Parachute of $5 million. I sure wish my unemployment check had been that paltry back in 2003. How is he EVER going to make his house payment, car payment, credit card payments AND his health care COBRA payment now that he is out of work on that paltry $5 mil???? Boo-hooo!

Big question is whether he would he have been collecting that check if the Fed (with your children's future dollars) hadn't bailed AIG out of bankruptcy to the tune of $85 BILLION!?? Where does it stop. Used to be that people were held responsible for their gross negligence. Now, corporate failure begets Fed bailout. Oops, it was a mistake. No one to blame. Clear out folks, nothing to look at here! Fat cats save the skin of fat cats and all you other schmoe's that are losing your houses because of the sub prime issue and your retirement investments due to funds mismanagement are SOL. The curse of being born a peasant. But we need to just take our medicine since McCain and camp have declared us to be "a nation of whiners"!

Hard to believe that it was just this last weekend, Merrill Lynch stumbled only to be scooped up at the fire sale by BofA, and then Lehman Bros went tits up. Good thing the Fed is there to make good on all those paper promises by mortgaging the futures of your kids great-grand kids at this point. It just keeps getting better and better. I just don't know what we'd do without John McCain here to reassure us that "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

At the root of things he may be correct, but the sting of mortgaging generations into future decades is making that remark a rather hard sell to the average American...six weeks prior to the election. Americans don't want to listen to a used car salesman at this point but want acknowledgment of what they already know (Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus AND yes, we ARE in a recession) and a detailed plan to change the direction things are currently going. Right now that isn't easy. Especially when the bailout of Wamu is probably next in line later this week or early next week.

Bottom line really is that the Fed and Washington are too focused on mitigating the pain for Wall Street but don't give a rat's ass about mitigating the pain on Main Street. Some sort of assistance for the middle class caught up in the sub prime issue has languished on the back-burner. Hmmmm, elite helping the elite. These CEOs of all these failed, slipping Wall Street giants should be ashamed to be taking the Golden Parachutes when you see the worker bees losing all their investment in the companies they used to work for from lost 401K bennies, lost health care bennies and lost jobs and soon, lost cars and homes.

But take heart, due to the recent bankruptcy laws change pushed through by lobbyists and the Republicans, the every day broke-ass middle class schlub will be held accountable for every penny of debt they incurred for years after their bankruptcy case is discharged in the court. YEAH! AND they will be hounded for years into their retirement until they make good on all those odds and ends they purchased thirty years ago, but thought would be discharged and forgiven when they filed for bankruptcy protection twenty years ago (even though it was written off as "bad debt" by the credit card company twenty-five years ago) Another fine law improved upon under this President's watch.

But don't blame him, he was only watching out for his elite buddies in the banking industry that needed protection from those middle class cheats trying to avoid paying for their purchases by having their debt discharged. Debt they were convinced by the banking industry to incur anyway. Guess that Starbuck's latte and those Chinese do-dads you bought with your credit card five years ago AREN'T as "priceless" as MasterCard led you to believe they were!

Meanwhile, back at the Treasury, Bernanke is giving Paulson a hand, putting in extra hours in the basement printing presses printing up more bills for the impending bailout of Wamu and whoever is next on that list. Their biggest worry is whether they have waited long enough to let the ink dry before cutting and stacking the piles of new bills at Treasury. Wouldn't want any ink smudges on those new bills, now would we? Uncle Sam and the Fed are on a spending spree! Woo-hoo!! Wall Street's on Sale, baby!! Nationalize it all! Socialism and Communism is great when you paint it blue and call it "free market." You can bet that those huevos on that big bull statue on Broadway and Wall have been cut off, put on a plaque and are now hanging in Bernanke's office on the wall behind him!

Election Year Rave

2008-09-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

12 September 2008

Sorry that i haven't been writing much. I just have been "in a mood" and haven't done much emailing or writing lately. Some of it has to do with my schedule. The past five weeks, I've been doing 7X12's. I don't have a social life anyway, so I don't worry about that, but it might be nice to sleep in one day soon. Just got notice that I'm going to Kuwait for three weeks of classes...CCNA and Promina (Cisco classes and mux classes). Maybe I'll finally be able to test on that CCNA. Looking forward to taking off for vacation in December. It will be nice to finally be home for Christmas. The first one in four years.

The hot, hot weather just broke here in Baghdad yesterday. We had our first rainstorm today since March! I got woken up by the thunder about 1230pm. We had a wicked sandstorm two nights ago and yesterday morning before all the rain. I ran yesterday morning and had fine dust sandblasting my face the whole time. When I showered and took Q-tips in my ears, they came out brown! Yech! :P But when I woke up at 6pm yesterday, the temps were only 95F when they are usually around 102-106! Tonight it must have been around 85...it's almost chilly out! :)

Got a nice email from one of my friends at Lucent. She is worried. Lucent is going to have yet another lay-off. Starship Lucent is slowly breaking up in pieces. The job market back home isn't getting any better, but noone at home can seem to understand why I keep a good-paying job here! Go figure...hmmmm, pay the mortgage or let it go into forclosure. No-brainer! I don't understand how people can even think of giving the Republicans four more years of a pissy economy, higher inflation, higher fuel costs and more bank failures. Yeah, sign me up for four more years of THAT!

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Disclaimer: I am usually not one to talk politics with people and go out of my way in the office to avoid it at all costs. I'd just as soon cut off my right hand as talk politics at work. Like religion, way too volatile! But since this is my blog, I will speak freely! Speaking of religion, I'm not anti-Christian...you'd probably find me more rabidly Lutheran.
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Been keeping up with politics too. Among all our system monitors, we keep CNN/Fox News up on one. So who am I voting for? No question...Obama. I'm having a hard time with McCain and his former (but not reformed) lobbyist wife....What do you call a busload of lobbyists careening over a cliff? A GOOD START!!!! And I find Palin downright scary. We don't need any televangalist eventually running the country. Has nothing to do with her being a woman cuz I was all set to vote for Clinton had she won the ticket. I still feel she and Obama would have been a stronger ticket, but that's past now. McCain has lots of room to talk about Obama being a celebrity, when he and his team set out to make sure they got their own!

It certainly has caused a stir, but how long until the public finds out that they're looking at Oral Roberts in a skirt? If I remember correctly, we have a separation of church and government. Increasingly over the last 8 years, government policy has been and is being dictated by church values without regard to the impact on all American's rights. And the reason for all the concern of the Repub's vice choice is that McCain would be the oldest elected president on record if elected. Figure the odds and extrapolate a future under a Palin-led government.

So how ridiculous is it that I'm here at work at 0630am on the 12th watching Sarah arrive in Anchorage at about 630pm Anchorage time on the 11th? Sounds like the whole city of Anchorage is crazy-nutso about The Wicked Witch of the North returning home. You'd think she just walked on the moon or something! Sheez! What a big to- do about nothing. It's not like the Repub's have let her speak anything unscripted to date. How many days did it take to install that chip in her head anyway? They have cloistered her away and monitored her every move up till today. They should save some of that celebration for the troops who should be returning home...until they get diverted to Afghanistan. You know that's what is going to happen.

This week, one of my friends asked me what I thought of Sarah? I sent her this little montage of editorial comics that I think fairly represents my opinion on the matter. On my Yahoo page, I have a few editorial cartoons that I regularly subscribe to by comics writers Ben Sargent, Pat Olifant and Tom Toles who are my personal faves. I've always been a big editorial comic fan ever since my college years at Southern Illinois University! It's not that I'm NOT progressive (and my nickname for some reason around here is Hippy!), but I don't know if we're quite ready yet for "Todd, the First Dude!"...Sarah's phrase, not mine! Almost sounds presumptuous...like she is already burying that dinosaur McCain and having "Todd the First Dude" picking out new White House china! Doesn't Noritake have a new Northwest-motif moose and polar bear pattern?

When I sent one of my friends in Alaska the comics, his instant response was "Leave Sarah be!!" His response was almost reminiscent of the "Leave Brittany alone!" video on Youtube, don't you think? Although I'm sure he wasn't as teary-eyed (nor does he wear mascara to have it running down his face...that I know of, at least) as the creator of that video, when he typed that message to me! Ha!!

If she wanted us to leave her be, she very well can still crawl back in her cave and take her flying monkeys with her!!! But I don't think that is going to happen. Actually, I have a lot of respect for her and kind of like her spunky attitude. She has the 'moxie' for the VP job, I just don't like her mix of religion and politics. But how do we keep her from taking any hunting tips from Cheney? It is going to be a very interesting 7 weeks to come.

Getting down to brass tacks, it is supposed to be about issues. For the record, I personally would never want an abortion, but we were raised in a home that believed that some people want that choice. I remember being told by Mom that Great, great Aunt Annie had an abortion in the 1930's and that was why she and Uncle Tom couldn't have kids. I'll never know now if that is true because all the family members that could verify the story are dead, but it certainly gave us something to think about when were were growing up.

If you criminalize it, you lose control of it at all stages and send it back to the back-alley. You make a criminal out of someone who is only trying to make ends meet or stigmatize someone who has chosen not to procreate for various reasons...usually financial. (Read Ilse Eichinger's, Spieglegeschichte - Mirror Story...don't know if an English translation from German is available, but after having to translate this short story in German class my Junior year in high school, it solidified my belief that allowing "choice" is better than the painful death of a botched back-alley abortion)

If you read Freakonomics, the author specifically suggests that the lull in crime now is because more women 30 years ago to present, chose abortion. Fewer unwanted children were brought into the world and left to a poor upbringing so fewer criminals were spawned. May sound a bit far fetched, but it's an interesting hypothesis. I'm sure the Pope doesn't like planned procreation, but he doesn't get to vote here. Sure we will all have to answer to the Higher Being at some point, but that is a very personal one-on-one meeting and I'm sure She will hear us out and let us know what we need to improve on in our next iteration! (How "hippy' did THAT just sound???!! I think I need to chill out and get me a cup of hemp tea!)

At any rate, Palin is WAY, WAY too right-wing for me. Restricting rights, ignoring rights or taking rights away from people does not make the issues disappear. Abortion, stem cell research, gay rights/gay marriage, Medical care, senior car, Rx drug packages and social programs all are issues that should be left to the determination of the States anyway. I'm a foaming-at-the-mouth "States rights" advocate. The Federal govt is way too involved in issues that should be left to and should have been left to the individual State's discretion. The founding fathers are rolling in their graves right now! This country was founded on less federal government and not sticking their noses into issues that should be dealt with at the State level whenever possible.

While I'm on a roll here, Carl, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this whole Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae bailout. I've come to the conclusion that at this point in this banking and housing crisis, we are no better than a communist regime painted blue instead of red. If the federal govt now owns/or is "conservator" over more than 50% of the loans covering property in the US... that pretty much means the U.S. government and Uncle George own our behinds. (And it's the IRS that wants to screw our behinds! One stop shopping now for ol' Uncle Sugar)

Then add in the fact that the Fed (since Uncle Ben took the reigns) allows itself to summon trillions of dollars for any "emergency" bailout of ANY financial organization under ANY circumstances that have chosen to practice unethical methods of investment and give out unverified loans without even batting an eyelash!! Which means the bonehead CEO's of these rescued corporations get their Golden Parachutes and noone is held accountable for bad accounting, massive losses and skirted law. Ethics is no longer enforced, considered or permitted. Why worry? The Fed will bail you out provided you have gifted enough payola to your lobbyists in your corner!

Now add to this, billions of tax dollars being given back to taxpayers to try and stimulate a lackluster ecomony, leaving yet more deficits for us and future generations to deal with later...all the while festering with more interest like yeast in a loaf of bread dough rising in a warm place in the kitchen.

Bush came into the presidency with a relatively balanced budget handed to him and wrapped in a gold bow but is somehow now leaving us hundreds of millions in the red. I think that is called f-ing up a one-car parade! Add to that red ink, millions of dollars per day spent on my salary and that of over 150,000 contractors and 145,000 military members and all the equipment, food and other resources necessary to maintain this civilian and military occupation of the Middle East for nearly five years. We sound more and more like a failed communist super-power by the hour. Yep, we need four more years of this, now don't we?

Beatniks vs. Hippies

2008-08-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

26 August 2008

A Supermarket In California by Allen Ginsberg

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whit-
man, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees
with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

(Bongo beat here)

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images,
I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of
your enumerations!

(more Bongo beats)

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole fam-
ilies shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives
in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you,
Garcнa Lorca, what were you doing down by the
watermelons?

(bongo beat)

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old
grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator
and eyeing the grocery boys.
I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed
the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my
Angel?

(Triple bongo beat)

I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of
cans following you, and followed in my imagination
by the store detective.

(bongo beat)

We strode down the open corridors together in
our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every
frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors
close in an hour. Which way does your beard point
tonight?

(bongo beat)

(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)
Will we walk all night through solitary streets?
The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses,
we'll both be lonely.
Will we stroll dreaming ofthe lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent
cottage?

(bongo beat)

Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-
teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit
poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank
and stood watching the boat disappear on the black
waters of Lethe?

(triple bongo beat and crowd breaks out in raucous finger snapping (beatnik applause)!)

This little Beatnik interlude was brought to you by Mr. Ginsberg. All because I was caught in the middle of a discussion this week and had to ‘splain the difference between Beatniks and Hippies. Granted, I'm not quite old enough to remember the Beat Culture, but I do remember some of the Hippy stuff. And, just for the record, I was never a Menard G. Krebs fan…I was more a Gilligan fan. Now, Bob Denver is someone who clearly made the smooth bridge from Beatnik to Hippie, but let me back up a bit here.

Dillar is one of our Sergents that provides a shift brief for his section every so often. Following his brief he always imparts us with a famous thought or quote. Well, the ASI group (the fun-loving punsters that they are) broke into a raucous snapping applause reminiscent of something out of a “Beat” scene in some coffee house in 1962 or something out of Peggy Sue Got Married or Rebel Without a Cause. Not that I would know, but from some of the classic movies I’ve seen, I thought that I got catapulted back in time into the early 1960’s! All they were missing were the black beret’s.

Well, along the way here, I’ve somewhat, somehow aquired the nickname hippie (although how the hell can I be a hippie when my hair is barely an inch long, I don’t own one stitch of tie-dyed clothing and wouldn’t be caught DEAD wearing sandles (with OR without black knee socks!!) Damned college reputations don’t ever stay buried, do they????

But to the best of my ability as a child of the 70’s, I explained to the “yung-ins” the difference. But it also brought back memories of my undergrad Lit class. I had a great prof who really inspired me and got me interested in all different types of writing that I would never have raised an eyebrow at before. I’d of just as soon taken cyanide as to read any poetry and then have to translate whatever twisted ideas were in the authors mind when they wrote it! I didn't even like translating German poetry back in High School, let alone screwed-up-in-the-head Beatniks with caffeine and cigarette adictions! But Mrs. Lewinsky changed that. (no, not THAT Lewinsky...my Lit Prof! I'm losing you here, aren't I?)

Hence, the Ginsburg poem above. I specifically remembered only ONE line…”wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes.” What a comical thought…maybe like babies in the lettuce patch or something hatching out! Who knows what Ginsburg was thinking (or smoking) when he wrote this? Maybe being a “Beat” writer, he was just a wee bit over-caffinated! (Sorry Jeremy, borrowed your book title, didn't I? But you might have made a very prosperous Beatnik now that I think about you and your poetry!)

Either way, I had to dig back in my memory to try to explain to them what the differences between the two were. I guess ultimately, both movements involved change in the way American youth rebelled against a staid and idealistic but not realistic culture at those two distinct junctures in time. Beatniks probably came about after the shattered idealistic issues of the 50’s; the Korean “Conflict”, unemployment, voice in the democratic government, but probably more to blame were Ozzie and Harriet!

The Hippy movement seems to have been a more severe reaction brought on by a combo of things like the MLK movement and his death, Mrs. Parks, Bobby Kennedy's death, Women's Rights, Roe V Wade, the Vietnam War, AND June Cleaver! Her alone wearing pearls to cook dinner should have been enough to start the whole female population burning bras!

I don’t know. Both movements seem to have had so many different influences on a social level, on a musical level, on the familial level; including challenging all societal American norms and expectations. We didn’t get that deep into it, but it certainly makes me think about what a comparison/contrast paper that might have made when I was still in school!

Hope that little trip in the Way-Back Machine didn't mess up your hair too badly!

Meanwhile, back in Iraq…

My Mundane Existence

2008-08-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

06 August 2008

Okay, so it isn’t THAT bad, but these dog days of summer all seem to run together this time of year. Things on the Middle Eastern Front are quieter than they have been at any time I can remember here since 2004. (But don't worry, Ramadan is just around the corner!!)

I’m keeping up with my running around Lost Lake even in the 95+ degree weather by the time I hit the road at 0930am. The old Elbogen is all healed and a little touchy at times, but nearly back to normal. All in all, there isn’t much to write about so I thought I’d tell you a bit about the ordinary stuff of our existence here.

Visitors arrived yesterday to our building, so we were instructed to perform a massive clean up of our work areas to show them that we really aren’t the pigs we really are. Reasonable desk chairs are still hard to come by…or the ones that you might be able to pull a 12 hour shift in without needing traction for weeks after a shift in them. So the Fancy Desk Chair Shuffle was in full force. You almost require those electric cart mules they use at Walmart to move the good chairs down the hall to the big conference room so that the DV’s (distinguished vegetables) will be able to sit comfortably for some PowerPoint Presentation from Hell that they didn’t want to see anyway without ending their visit in traction. They only came to visit because they heard we had the good coffee anyway!

Well it was a good thing that they didn’t have to go to the bathroom, cuz that would have given them a good scare. We have these bathroom trailers that are nothing more than indoor outhouses that are always malfunctioning. The women’s is always pristine (from what I’ve heard), but the men’s is always nasty.

I always thought that having a urinal in the bathroom at home one day would be stylish, (and I’m sure it is in a home as I saw one in a house in a friend of mine in Netherlands when I was there in 2002). But with all the fat bastards we have here that haven’t seen their toes since high school, it is truly amazing that they don’t piss on their shoes! They certainly can’t hit a big old white porcelain mini-sink mounted on the wall, let alone remember to flush it! How the heck are the urinal mints supposed to do their job if they never get wet cuz the guys that can’t see past their belly-buttons never hit the damned things!!???

Let’s not even go into describing the four stalls with the funky shaped toilets. Okay, let's...the toilets aren’t as funky as the ones we had in Germany that looked like you were supposed to front-mount to do your business. Those had these interesting shelves inside the toilet to poop on like you were supposed to inspect your BM before you sent it away with a rush of water! I guess it might be convenient if you had kids at home that kept swallowing pocket change, but otherwise I honestly can’t think of any reason for pooping on a shelf for self-inspection. But back to our indoor outhouses…Signs were even posted above the dainty narrow little toilets reminding you to use the brush after you’re done. Some smart alek hung a toothbrush with a sign that complained that it tasted funny when they brushed!

Yep, if we didn’t have bathroom humor here, we’d be pretty hard up for entertainment.
Trailer life is but trailer life. I got a bit worried two days ago when my A/C stopped working. It just took a bit of a break. I don’t set it to Arctic setting, but for some reason it froze up on me. So when I went to the shower, I turned it to fan and it thawed out. I left it on fan overnight while at work and by the next morning, it was working again. A/C’s are our life-blood here and it takes forever to get KBR to fix or replace them when they go bad. The maintenance guys were just here a few weeks back to wash the filters, so you’d figure you have no worries. You just never know.

My biggest gripe right now is that the PX is all out of peanut butter. After living at a GSU (Geographically Separated Unit) for three years in Germany, you’d think I’d be a little better at squirreling things away. Should have bought two or three when they had it. How soon we forget how shortages are. Who knows? Next week, the PX will have shelf-loads of the stuff. It is always hit and miss around here like it is now with Jelly. Friggin boatloads of jelly and not a jar of peanut butter to be had.

A Month Back

2008-07-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

21 July 2008

Hard to believe that I’ve already been back nearly one month. Vacation at home as you might guess, didn’t suck. Maybe a couple things not fully related to the trip sucked, but being home didn’t.

One of the chores I had to undertake was taking care of back taxes. The knucklehead accountant I HAD that was based in Phoenix (that supposedly was versed in overseas tax issues but didn’t know her butt from a hole in the ground) ended up costing me a fine sum. First thing on the list of things to take care of was to get tax filings from the last two years reaccomplished by my capable accountant in Illinois and then pay the back taxes and penalties that SHE caused. Whether or not it is actually worth filing a suit against her for the costs of her mistakes, I’m considering. But that is for a later date. Live and learn.

I did schedule and attend the ICND1 course in Schaumburg. My feelings about the class were that it helped to clarify some things that I was still trying to get my hands around when I was studying the book on my own. I’m reviewing the stuff again now and will take the first test in August at Baghdad University – the Army’s education extension here on Camp Victory…not anything downtown!

Another nice thing about being home was being able to get my fingers in the dirt again. We lost the little weeping locust in the front garden. I hear that this was a wicked winter in Chicago with many freezes and thaws and the poor little thing just couldn’t do it after five winters. Had it replaced with a weeping elm so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it will do alright in this location on the northeast corner. DeKalb/Sycamore winters with the winter snow and winds blowing across the open corn and soybean fields take few prisoners. Time will tell.

I also got to move around some perennials (moving taller stuff to the back due to some plantings being more prolific than I had anticipated) and add to the garden a few more plants. Tried to add stuff for the butterflies and the bees. With the whole bee colony collapse thing going on, they need all the bastions of kindness they can find. Lucky for me, I got the green thumb in the family!

Had a nice quick visit to my sister and Gram in Phoenix too. I know…how crazy am I to go from 105F degree weather in Baghdad to the same in Phoenix? Duh! But I hadn’t visited my Gram when I was last home in October, so I promised her and my sister that I’d make the trip out when I came home this time. I enjoy Phoenix any time of the year anyway. If they’d just get the last section of the 202 loop open now! Deb told me that the last portion of the 202 opens next week…wooo-hoooo!

But all good things must come to an end. The trip back was looking to be a fiasco until I got to Washington on the way to Kuwait. I got out of the limo at O’Hare and didn’t remember that my phone was in the limo until I was in line at the airport for 30 minutes! If that wasn’t bad enough, I ended up with a rude butthole at the United counter who should be working in baggage because he was completely void of customer service skills. Maybe that is United Airlines way of convincing customers to fly American Airlines, KLM/Northwest or anyone but them. I’ve had mostly good experiences on British Air and American, so maybe my carrier of choice needs to be reconsidered for future flights.

Fortunately, I was able to upgrade with miles to Business class on my trip from Washington to Kuwait. That 12 hour flight is best taken in Business or Economy Plus for so many hours. Once in Kuwait I got the passport back from the Embassy in 20 hours (since I arrived after 7pm), got stamped out of country and signed up for a Space R flight out to Baghdad. Never telling how long it will take for a flight to Baghdad since the weather was like when I left…sandstorms and hazy. Temps were supposed to have been 117, but I took a nap in the middle of the day so I couldn’t confirm or deny that it was hot as an oven out. Nothing better to do but sleep when you're in a holding pattern at Ali As Salem.

Got back to Baghdad from Kuwait to enjoy more of the same hot and dusty 115F temps mixed with sandstorms on and off. It has been so hazy some nights that the moon is a dull orange orb in the sky. With my roomy on vacation too, opening the door to the trailer was like walking into an undiscovered catacomb in an Indiana Jones movie! An inch of fine amber desert dust all over everything including the walls and the bed and pillows. I had to vacuum the bed and floors and shake out the pillows and covers before I could even go to bed.

Only thing going on now is my recovery from a staph infection I got two weeks ago! Infections are for some reason fairly common here. I don’t recall being bit by anything, but you never know. It all started when I banged my elbow on the door frame on Friday morning and it swelled up while I slept. Friday night, I banged it lightly again on a door at work. On Saturday while I slept, it blew up like a balloon. Finally by Monday morning after a couple of my coworkers were freaked out by the swelling, I went to the TMC (medical clinic).

The docs ended up draining the fluid from my elbow and put me on Keflex for a staph infection. They believe that I burst one of the bursa's (a fluid sac to cushion the elbow joint) in the elbow and somehow it got infected. It is a form of bursitis due to trauma of whacking my elbow. The infection spread down my arm, but they said the Keflex should take care of the bacterial infection. The doc wanted to see me back on Thursday. They will put me on 3 weeks of antibiotics once they knew that this antibiotic was working for me. They also cultured some of the infection they sucked out with the syringe to determine the family of staph infection it is.

By Thursday morning after being on the Keflex for 72 hours, the elbow was still hot. Some of the swelling went down, but overall, my forearm felt like a sausage in a tight casing. I had my appointment with the docs at the TMC the morning after work. The results were to be in on the cultures they took from the infection when they drained it on Monday.

The good news was that my BP was back down to normal 116/65. The bad news was that when the doc saw me, he was not particularly pleased with the way the arm looked. He could see the swelling and could see that there was still fluid build-up in the forearm. He pulled the culture results and that spoke volumes.

This printout from the labs listed all the meds possible to treat this infection with and next to them R's (resistant) and S's (sensitive). The staph infection I have had an "R" next to Keflex, meaning that my infection is resistant to that antibiotic. My staph infection has been listed as MRSA. But he reassured me that it isn't that bad and they could get it taken care of with a different med. Then he just looked down the list and evaluated which antibiotic with an S would best suit the situation. So now I'm on Clindamycin.

By last Friday night I had only taken three pills and there was a big difference. He said that there should be a marked difference relatively soon and he was right. At dinner, the elbow was still burning up, but by Friday midnight, things were looking and feeling better.

The doctor did warn me that there might be side-effects from this med. He said that I should get back to him if I experience diarrhea. My only comment was that with how some of this chow hall food rips us up normally, how would I notice any gastric disturbances out of the ordinary from the meds? It’s sad when the med tech just shakes his head in agreement!

Now a week later, the elbow is still swollen with a nasty bruise on the tip of the elbow, but the infection seems to be gone. Still it is hard not to bump the elbow with how big it is. And I still don’t know if I got bit by anything but it looks like everything is under control now. I hear over and over again from everyone, “slow down!” As long as I can remember I've always heard that...all the way back to my Great Gram begging me as a kid, “Don’t Run! Don’t Run!” (just before I ran face-first into the pole in the basement and got the knot-from-hell on my forehead at age 6!!)...But I guess that it’s just me and who I am. I like my sister Deb’s take on it,” At least we know you're a Gallas through and through ... always moving at Mach 1!”

Blasted Sandstorms!

2008-06-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

11 June 2008

All rested up and comfy here at the Crowne Plaza in Kuwait City. Yeah, yeah, I know. I was hoping to have hopped an earlier flight back to reality but THAT didn't happen! I called United from Ali Al Salem and they said that they couldn't change my flight but to go to the airport at 8:30 pm and they could get me on standby. He reassured me that they always have overbookings and I should probably have no probs getting on the Tues flight versus the Wed flight.

Get there and get put on the list and get told to come back at 10:20 once they have a better idea the number of seats available. Got to Starbucks for a coffee, get back and find that the flight has been cancelled. I wasn't as upset or worried at the guy with 15 suitcases and four kids was! But what can you say? Sandstorms for the past two days with wind gusts probably over 50 mph and a plane still stuck in Washington DC and there you go. Unless you're pooping out 777's, what are ya gonna do?

I was actually shocked that I even got out of Baghdad on Monday. You know you're in trouble when you look out your door at 5pm and the air is an amber color. Does air, per se, actually HAVE a color??? Sandstorms do funky and psychedelic things with the color spectrum of light! Anyway, BIAP had no flights in or out on Sat and Sun due to visibility caused by the sandstorms. Monday was better in the morning, but the haze and winds started kicking up by 10am. They were flying some helo ops, so I guess visibility was only restricted at the low altitudes. Still with so much sand and wind, the conditions were less than perfect. But we got out of there.

As soon as we heard that the flight was cancelled, we got down to the hotel counter to get a ride and room. As I've said before, the Crowne Plaza isn't as nice (location wise) as maybe the Hilton, but being only 5-10 minutes from the airport is pretty sweet. They also have two good restaurants and a nice pool and gym. Not a long stay, so it is very acceptable. Nothing makes you sleep like a brick like having 1/2 pound of medium rare dead cow in your stomach at 11:30pm before bed!

Good thing is that I've got a seat all paid for with my name on it on this flight tonight. United said that they were running our flight first at 10:45pm and then the flight from last night at 01:00am. The guy I am hanging with here at the Crowne Plaza is trying for standby again so he will have two opportunities to get out earlier than his Friday night flight.

All for now.

Time For An Update

2008-06-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! I hadn't realized that I haven't written in six weeks. Well, here I am in Ali Al Salem, Kuwait going on leave again. Yeah, again. I decided to take a Cisco class (ICND1) and catch a break at home too. Not much interesting has been happening in Iraq, so not too much to write about. It is summer, not much rain and a few more sandstorms than usual, but that's it.

I've been working 72 and 84 hour weeks the past six weeks, so my attention has not exactly been on blogging. But the past few weeks have been back to only 6X12's, so I'd been slowly gaining some sanity back...along with a day off once a week. I've been keeping up with running, even though by the time I'm off at 9am and hit the road at 930am, it's usually at least 92F. Better than waiting to run till when I wake up at 5pm when it's over 100F. My body is acclimated though, so it isn't always as bad as it sounds. It just reduces my mileage to only 2.5 miles instead of the 4.5 I'd like to do.

I'm also planning on a three day trip to AZ to see my Gram and my sister. I didn't go last time I was home in Feb/Mar, so I figured I better go this time. Gram isn't getting any younger at nearly 93, plus I always enjoy my trips to AZ. I'm planning on leaving the day after the class finishes on Sat 20th and coming home on Tuesday. So this trip home is going to be a real whirl-wind tour!

The other thing that has drawn my attention from the blog is that a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with colon cancer three weeks ago. She is only 45 and was pretty devestated. She became a good friend of mine when I was in my freshman year in college and she was a junior in high school. She was a friend of a friend from the church group I hung with. I introduced her to my friend Bob who I grew up with since I was 10 and he was 9. The two have been married for 20-some years and have three kids. She had surgery and then she had complications. The stapler perforated the colon after they removed 14 inches of colon and they had to go back in since she was leaking into her body cavity.

They were saying it was a bit disconcerting to have the hospital room marked as "Toxic" until they got the leak fixed! The docs put a colostomy bag on her for now and she will have to wear it for about 4 months till the colon heals and then they'll remove the bag. The good thing is that when I spoke to her this week and she sounds like herself again. She started back to work this week and was climbing the walls all last week itching to get back to work.

As far as things here in Iraq, it's been rather quiet since Al Sadr called his temporary truce. No telling how long it will last this time. Probably until they can get all their resources in one place for the next attack. Not being funny, only realistic.

I'll try to keep the blog updated more regularly, but when not much happens, it is hard to find stuff to write about. Life around here just seems to just creep along like Groundhog Day or else when things to pop up, everything happens all at once!

…And We Had to Walk 5 Miles Uphill Both Ways

2008-04-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

29 April 2008

...to school...in the snow...barefoot! Yada, yada, yada. Like Baghdad never, ever had a friggin sandstorm before the American press arrived here to report on it! Sheez!

According to the news about two weeks ago, we had the “worst sandstorm in 100 years!” Have you ever heard so much hooey from such a bunch of dunderheads in all your life?! Okay kids, in case you didn’t notice, this is Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq has lots of sand and gets hot in the summer. Hmmm, let’s see, it’s about as elementary as saying Phoenix gets hot and has sandstorms. We stay a little warmer than Phoenix in the winter and get a little hotter than Phoenix in the summer, but otherwise our climate is very much like Phoenix. Get over it. It isn’t newsworthy, even on a slow news day. It’s weather. Whoopty doo!

What is noteworthy is that the Green Zone and Embassy are still getting slammed with rockets. In case you have any question, they are all supplied compliments of Uncle Ahmed in Tehran...you know, the guy who thinks 9/11 was an inside job! With the way the sandstorm has hung around the last few days, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more stuff in the sky. I’m guessing that the Green Zone makes a bigger impression in the news. Even the insurgents have gone Hollywood. Only out for face-time on the news!

Saturday when I got up at one point I could hardly see 150 feet in front of me. The sand in the air was as dense as fog. Then Sunday morning about 8am, it lifted only to come back during the day by evening again. Maybe the fact that we had less rain this Spring is going to make up for that in sandstorms this summer.

Saturday night, I was walking to work in the dark. Since I was headed north, through the fog of sand, I got a real good view of what I thought was C-ram testing going on at Liberty (which used to be known as North Victory way-back-when.) I saw the red tracers chase one another in a row toward the north-east but then they culminated in a white flash with a serious of boomlets, as usual. I didn’t think anything more of it. Once I got into work, Kevin mentioned to us all that he got to see two incoming into Liberty get shot down. Guess it wasn’t a test.

Toby Keith was performing here two nights ago…that same night at Liberty. One of the guys I work with went to the concert and said that he made mention of the C-ram display. He didn’t seem too fazed by it. He said that he had been in Kandahar (Afghanistan) during a mortar attack during one of his recent concerts there. I guess they paused the concert, took cover till the mortaring was done and continued after the incoming stopped! That is about how life works here. Just a blip on the screen and then carry on where you left off.

He is quite an entertainer and an avid supporter of the troops over here. He has been doing shows in Southwest Asia for the past six years. Now that is a real hero; he and Charlie Daniels Band and all the professional cheerleaders and so many other entertainers (including the Professional Wrestlers) who risk life and limb to come here and perform for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

…Unlike a certain Mr Stallone who said it was “too dangerous” here for him to bring his plastic face and liposuctioned body over to Iraq. Call the whaaa-mbulance for big old Sly. You'd think tough old Rambo would jump at the chance to meet with the soldiers here. Sorry to disappoint you, but he is nothing but a wimp! The cheerleaders (Redskins and Dallas Cheerleaders) got it all OVER him! Hopefully it's no insult them by saying that Sly isn’t even worthy of a Dallas Cheerleader skirt to wear!

240, 241, Whatever It Takes…

2008-04-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

07 April 2008

“Incoming!!! Incoming!!! Incoming!!! Pause…Incoming!!! Incoming!!! Incoming!!!

As is the routine again, we hit the deck and get under the tables. Lance and I had just gotten to the chow hall and sat down when the Big Voice blared the warning. In the background we heard the familiar sound of the ripping sound of the C-Ram’s working to knock out the incoming missiles on their way into Camp Victory.

Funny though, the chow halls are covered with a special Kevlar sheeting over the roof that is made to (and has in a couple of instances) repel incoming rockets or mortars like a sausage bouncing off a trampoline...okay maybe a little exaggeration...to protect the people inside from shrapnel from the impact. But the sausage bouncing visual is kind of priceless!

We heard and felt an explosion, but know that the C-Ram’s got at least one or two of the four coming in. And no, the fact that we had a slight sandstorm made no difference. That is usually the time “they” like to launch attacks because the believe it is harder for our blimps with the cameras to locate and follow them...or so they think.

The knuckleheads must have used up this week’s allowance from Uncle Ahmed in Iran because last week it was 240's (mm) and this week it was 120's (mm). Even though Al Sadr has called for a moratorium, it is starting to look like rogue groups are more and more behind the attacks that we’ve been seeing the last few weeks. Embassy and the Green Zone have been taking a beating, although I think Basrah has been getting some slack. It is just us and the other smaller sites that are seeing action now.

Just remember kids; if you hear something flying in overhead that sounds like big bottle rockets, IT AIN’T! Get flat on the ground. We’ve had people get hit by shrapnel because they felt that they needed to see where it was going to impact and only went down on one knee. Good way to add to that metal collection you have in that thick head of yours…or great way to start a new collection of your own. Something to also consider is that you may not always here Mr. Big Voice when the crap starts hitting the fan!

Blissful Sleep

2008-04-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

31 March 2008

First, a rather long-winded (if I must say so myself) commentary about the wonderful visit we had last week from our reps over in Colorado Springs . They came with the full dog-and-pony power-point show (nothing more than a re-run from last year with the year updated.) Sadly or maybe not so sadly I did actually learn one particularly good lesson from my old old girlfriend Ann way back in 1980-1982…when you arrive, arrive late and make a grande entrade! But seriously, I overslept, the alarm didn’t go off and it was completely unintentional…officially, that is. Okay, so it got me a raised eyebrow out of the PM, but I was already outdone before I ever got there.

Earlier in the day, Embassy started taking incoming and took something like 20 rounds of incoming rockets and mortars…and we aren’t talking little stuff. We’re talking the “Made with Love especially for you in Iran ” 240mm rocket stuff! Let’s for argument sake say that they are about as big as, oh, I don’t know…maybe six feet long by about 2.5 feet wide in the center. Anyway, one packs a punch that left a hole in our asphalt last year nearly three feet deep by six foot round. Now multiply that by twenty and you’re talking one hell of a party favor.

One of the guys I work with has two brothers working over there…or by now had two brothers working there. One of the brothers decided right then and there to leave when one landed on his trailer. That was his sign to skeedaddle on back home. The other brother will shortly follow. So anyway when R comes into the meeting, I guess he was beside himself worried because he hadn’t heard back from his brother yet. So he comes into the meeting nearly breathless and explaining the situation without any punctuation, and put on quite an emotional show for the guests.

Well as rumor has it, our HR rep is whispering over to the other parent company rep something to the effect of that maybe they need to get-the-hell-outta-dodge before all living hell finishes breaking out! I hear that as R was telling all the hairy details of his story, their eyebrows about met up with their hairline, eyes as big as dinner plates and their hair stood on end! I wish I could have been there at that moment to see that. Those are the moments we live for here…to see how fast the uninitiated run. I’m sure they’d of about passed out on the spot if they’d ever experienced the “blue kiss” from the porta potties!

I ran into the assistant station manager this weekend (who used to be here with the 72nd back two years ago and is now retired Army) and told him the story! ‘Course he got a yuck out of it as did we. I also asked him that next time he spoke to those weenies down south all safe and sound (and drunk) in Kuwait, to just remind them that it is only dangerous 40 hours out of our 60 hours on duty during the week! (We only get paid danger pay for 40 of the 60 hours we are scheduled for...and 0 hours of danger pay for the anywhere from 12 to 24 hours of overtime we put in every week.)

So you can imagine our relief when Al Sadr called for a halt of attacks on Saturday morning. Too bad his fighters are freelance. As expected Embassy took more incoming on Saturday and on Sunday. We did too. Imagine my surprise at about 5pm (remember, I work mids) when the C Ram’s go off. At first, I thought that it was just another test. Seems like they test them every week or so. Initially, I thought nothing of it. Oh, btw, C Ram is the anti-missile system that is supposed to shoot stuff down as it approaches…kind of a weapons version of “meet and greet” if you will.

So I’m blissfully sleeping with one more hour till the alarm goes off and RIIIIIIIIIPPPPP (imagine maybe a (really really loud) weed whacker but ear-shatteringly loud), the thud of something falling and the earth shaking a bit with the impact. Till then, I was asleep, but wasn't a bit concerned until I heard and felt the thud. Then another incoming that didn’t get hit landed. My heart raced a little faster as I just rolled over and fell back to sleep. Just remember, as long as you heard it and felt it, you got nothing to worry about…this time. My thought is that I’m safer in my trailer which is surrounded by 12 foot concrete barrier t-walls than I would be running around outside the trailer like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find an empty concrete shelter and getting taken out by shrapnel.

Not that these 12 or 14 foot concrete t-walls are rocket proof, but if your number comes up, St Peter ain’t taking any excuses. During a rocket or mortar attack, you may *think* that you have time to react. And in spite of what the movies may have you believe, rocket attacks do NOT happen in slow motion. About all you have time to think about is what you’d like on your Tombstone ! (Make mine a veggie supreme, please)

So much for Al Sadr’s all-reaching leadership. Maybe it was a communication breakdown. Maybe his French-born-European-raised-and-funded-fanatical-Islamist-buddies fresh from training in Syria didn’t understand enough Arabic to know he had agreed or asked for a stop to the attacks. Who knows. At times all you can do is shake your head and keep it down.

I just finished Bruce Brawer’s, “While Europe Slept” which describes the rather fast approaching Islamisation of Europe. Within the next 15 years we should fully expect at least one if not two small Western European nations to be converted to Sharia law. With birth rates of their immigrants far outpacing their indigenous populations, the intense wave of immigrants of Muslim background and European hyper-sensitivity to Islamic views and the basic pacification of Europe to their immigrant demands and generous government funding continuing to pour heaps of money into mosques all over Europe, it may even come quicker than that. Very interesting book. Hopefully, not too correct in determining the future, but we won't have too long to wait and see when it becomes a reality, will we?

T'was The Day Before Easter…

2008-03-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

22 March 2008

T'was the day before Easter and who should we run into this morning in the chow hall, but Santa Claus!! So now you’re saying, “Yeah, right! And tomorrow the chow hall will probably have a special visit by the Easter Bunny?”!!!

But seriously, two weeks ago I ran into the big red guy back at Ali As Salem and he told me that he was headed back to Camp Victory. (Who would think that Santa would spend his summers in Baghdad, of all places!!!) It was a bit shocking, but as always a pleasant surprise to see him again…especially so soon and in the off-season.

So when I mentioned to the guys I was sitting with at the chow hall at breakfast that I just saw Santa walk into the chow hall, they were certain that I was pulling their legs or hallucinating. Once he got his breakfast and as he was walking toward the area where we were in the chow hall, I caught Santa's eye. Of course I waved to him (I'm still a little boy at heart when it comes to the big red-suited man!) and he came right over. (He was eating a little lighter these days)

“Hey Santa, good to see you again! These guys want to know what to do to get on your “Nice” list this year,” I told him.

“Just be good,” he replied with a smile and a wink. I then asked him to show them his ID card (because the guys I was with still had but a twinge of doubt about the true identity of the guy before us) which has him all decked out in full seasonal red regalia (minus the reindeer, of course!)

I am pretty sure they’re now convinced that he’s the real deal. I think Steve is still in shock at meeting Santa Claus and I know you skeptics out there are still doubting me, but that is your burden…I’m not taking any chances. ;)

But in all seriousness, I met Santa (Mike) back in 2004 when he worked for Antion and I worked for ITT. We worked for the 54th back then in the same building. With his pure white hair, white beard, cherry (and cheery) red cheeks, round "Santa" glasses and the round belly, someone had made the comment (more than once, I’m sure) that he looked just like…”Yeah, I know, I hear it all the time. In fact, I do the Santa thing every year no matter where I’m at.”

Going back to Ali As Salem on my way back here two weeks ago; just after I arrived in Kuwait, I got my tent assignment and was just exhausted and ready to get into the tent and catch a few zzzz's. I muscled my suitcase through the door and into tent Q6...and who "to my wondering eyes should I see, but Santa" sitting there right in the first bunk!

He looked at me and recognized me right away with a smile and I remembered him too. Funny how often we run into people here that come back or are still here making the rounds of the different stations in theater. There is always a feeling of family when you run into old acquaintances over here. So there you have it, my Easter Story for 2008.

Ho, Ho, Ho! A Merry Easter to all and to all a Good Night!

Berlin, Chicago, Kuwait and Iraq in a Blink

2008-03-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

19 March 2008

Wow, hard to believe it's already the 19th of March. I didn't even make the updates I thought I'd make while on vacation. Part of the problem was just being busy on vacation, but then I had a difficult time getting computer time in Kuwait on the way back. The Rip-off Zone ($5 per hour) was down and the wait at MWR was over an hour to get a machine. Then once back in Iraq, I kind of hit the ground running and this is my first time since I got back that I could hit the MWR on Victory to get access to the blog. The mil network is restrictive as to what sites we can access, so I have to go to MWR to access the blog...but at least all the upper echelon officer-types have their access to Facebook and tons of streaming video for their Mommy-calls, etc! (Yes, that was a snotty, snide remark!)

In a nut shell, here are the only two emails home from Berlin:

27 Feb 2008

Berlin is wearing my feet OUT! These dogs are barking. I arrived Monday morning and walked around a bit to get familiar with the city and my location. The Swissotel is beautiful and in a great location too a half-block and around the corner from the K'dam. I had to buy clothes since all I have is jeans and running shoes, a down jacket and a jean jacket. Talk about standing out in the crowd. The only other way I could not remove any doubt of my being an "Ami" might be to eat my french fries with my fingers in public with ketchup instead of mayo!!!

The weather has been mostly cooperative. mid 50's on Monday. Near 60 or just above today but it drizzled in the pm. Tonight has been in the low 60's and tomorrow is supposed to be overcast and about 60 also.

I have to admit that my first official meal in Berlin was to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and do the touristy stuff right away. I must say that I had a hankerin for some medium-rare dead cow in my stomach and a cold clear Kristal Weissbier!

Today I went to Checkpoint Charlie. They have a museum that has all the info you could ever want to know about concerning all the escape attempts; successful and not. An altered VW Bug sits in the museum with a dummy in the front trunk showing how 18 people were able to escape with a false cover over where the spare used to be but was altered enough to allow a person to fit in this very small space. I also bought my piece of the Berlin Wall at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

I had never done Berlin when I was stationed in Germany due to the time required for permission to travel (since I had a clearance) and the time required to ride the troop train there and back. I must say that this probably makes it more difficult for me to imagine where the wall actually stood at one time. In the areas I have been in, it is hard to even see where the wall may have been.

Wed I'm going to the museum and to see the Brandenburg Gate. Not getting anywhere what I wanted to get done and seen, but still having a good time. The food is outrageously great and the beer goes without saying! My German is getting a workout...my vocabulary is coming back, but my grammar is hopeless! But...I am still able to get my point across without a game of charades!

I'm sending pics of the Wilhelm Memorial Church (also known as the Hollow Tooth since the spire was bombed off during the war) and of the very modern new church that rises up like a modern black tower next to the old one. Also sending pics of the Swissotel and of Checkpoint Charlie. Hope you enjoy the pics and I'll send more tomorrow night.

28 Feb 2008

Another really busy day and my feet are aching again! Started off the day by getting up early and got breakfast. Germany got me started on 2 minute eggs in the shell and it is something not many Ami's can stomach. Truth be told, I won't touch runny eggs otherwise, but go figure. Then got a bus/train ticket for the day and took the bus up to the Brandenburg Gate area which was right near the Reichstag German Parliament Building. I was going to go in, but the crowds were too much and the wait would have been too long. So I took pics of both Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag Building and then headed over to the Pergamon Museum.

The Pergamon is a collection of Middle Eastern pieces and of Ancient Roman and Greek pieces. Not just pieces though, whole friggin temples are set up in this museum! I mostly wanted to go to see the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. It was unearthed by German archaeologists between 1897 and 1914. They have set up in lifesize fashion, the small Ishtar Gate and two sides of tiles that were along the road leading into Babylon. Really a beautiful display. The lions in the tiles lining the streets into Babylon were supposed to intimidate potential conquerors of the city.

But what turned out to be even more blinding to me was the complete setup of the Pergamon Alter with as many of the friezes of all the lower walls of the temple. The temple tells of all kinds of mythical stories in Frieze fashion and is gargantuan! It must be about a city block long and three or four stories tall! The whole middle of the museum is dedicated to this monument of Grecian history. I thought I was impressed by the Egyptian room with the one temple in the Met in New York, but this has it waaaaayyy beat!

After the Pergamon, I had passed the 12 Apostles under the railroad tracks on the way to the museum. So I took the opportunity to have lunch there since it was recommended by 10best.com. I had an authentic Italian thin-crackly crusted pizza (the closest thing to an authentic real-live Italian pizza I've had since my trip to Italy in 2002) and a tall weissbier for under 11 Euro. They have lunch specials with pizzas only 7 Euro, so what the heck.

Got back to the hotel about 1330 and dropped everything and just relaxed for about 15 minutes before going out and shopping for some clothes for the trip home. I didn't have much to wear here, so I have been kind of forced to shop for my clothes every day. Good thing I'm only here for three days! Oh, I did manage to expand my old German 80's music collection while I've been here. I'm constantly working on replacing those old LP's with CD's of all my ancient musical tastes from way-back when I was here in 1984-1987! Add to the acquired list: Modern Talking, Muenchner Freiheit and Nena.

I'm including pics of the Brandenburg Gate which was on the West side when the Wall was put up. The Wall was put up within probably 100 feet of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. I've also included the crosses which still stand as dedication in remembrance to those who lost their lives trying to escape East Germany/East Berlin to the West side. You might even notice that the last guy to lose his life did so only a few months before the Wall came down and reunification started.

Also including a pic of the Reichstag. It was restored in the 1950's, but the West German government was not allowed to conduct any government business in it while the two Germany's were divided. The building wasn't officially opened for Government functions until 1990 after the government Capital was moved from Bonn back to Berlin after nearly 50 years.

Back to 19 March in Iraq:
Sorry I didn't write more down while I was there. As expected, the trip home was very nice. The only problems faced were with the doggie. She got into something and a huge clump of hair came out of the top of her back. Took her to the vet and they shaved it to find a rash or large infected area. They still suggest that she was bitten by something, but we don't have anything around for her to be bit by...no raccoons, squirrels or critters I can think of.

Then when we spoke with our neighbor (over cocktails, of course!), she said that their dog cornered an opossum under their porch. Maybe Cayenne cornered the same one in the pine trees and it bit her?! Who knows. But a week after I am back here, the infection has healed and the biopsies taken to make sure it wasn't a cancerous sore will have the stitches out on Friday. She is like a kid to me, so I still worry!

Nothing else goin on at this end.

HR to KWI

2008-02-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

24 February 2008

Finally made it to Kuwait. There were plenty of flights posted, but when it came right down to it, maintenance issues kept the birds in Kuwait at least a few hours longer than anticipated. At least they were there (one did turn around and return to the nest in Kuwait) where all the parts are available. My primary worry was making it to Kuwait earlier enough so that there would be time to process my passport. Used to be it only took 8-12 hours to process, but now it is every bit of 24 hours.

Since I handed in my passport at 1930, I am hoping it comes back about that time...although the guy behind the counter is saying come back at 2100. If the bus for the airport leaves at 2130, that might be pulling things a bit close. But, for $50, I could always take a cab from Ali As Salem. We'll just have to wait and see.

I arrived completely washed-out. I only napped last night for two hours since I've been on mids and slept the whole day before. So with all the waiting at BIAP and by the time the plane lands and we're bussed over and process and drop off IBA (vest and helmet for storage...cuz I ain't draggin that crap around the world!) and catch a bite, I was hardly standing by the time 8pm rolled around.

I met up with one of my coworkers, Kevin. He left the day before me from BIAP. We did dinner and then he picked up his passport for departure back to the States last night. He was mentioning that they had a rather solemn flight. Their departure was delayed by about an hour for a special passenger. The folks at BIAP first asked all the group that was flying if they had reservations about flying with HR. Working over here, that is always a possibility on flights back to Kuwait. Of course no one spoke up. After all, how could you? As sad as it sounds, it should be considered an honor, given the circumstances.

Because of their special passenger, Kev said that instead of flying to the military end of the airport, they flew to the International side first. Then they had a military ceremony for the passenger's de-planing and transfer to another flight going Stateside. After the ceremony was completed, the pilots fired the engines up and took the C130 in a circle around the airport from the international airport and landed on the military side of the house to drop off the remaining passengers on the flight.

In case you aren't familiar with their special HR passenger, their passenger rode in the back cargo space of the C130 in constant view of the passengers...draped in the Stars and Stripes. HR stands for Human Remains. Godspeed and God Bless that soldier for his or her sacrifice.

Another Fun-filled Day in the Sandbox

2008-02-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

19 February 2008

When I got into work yesterday, I'd seen an article about it on yahoo news and thought I'd better send at least a little something out to let everyone know everything is alright.

Compliments of our wonderful neighbor (indirectly, of course) Uncle Ahmadinejad, we had 16 incoming assorted mortars and rockets Monday afternoon. They hit over about a 15 in period. I wasn't too worried though because my trailer is now surrounded by 12 foot concrete barriers they finished putting in last week. But I'm surprised the "big voice" isn't horse after all that! In case you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, the big voice is the alarm that screams "Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!"

It just kept screaming, over and over and over like some broken record, "Incoming, Incoming, Incoming". That and the booms finally woke me out of my ever-so-restful sleep cuz the walls were breathing from the impacts. It's been awhile since we've had so many at once falling out of the sky.

Not that I was worried, cuz I rolled over and went back to sleep after the noise was over. Didn't even walk outside to look for smoke! My sister says I've been here too long if I could roll over and go back to sleep and not even check outside for smoke. But what's the worry? At this point, if you're alive to hear the booms, everything is okay. It's the one you don't hear that gets you and then it's all done but the cremation pyre...well, that and facing St Peter. When your number's called, you can't exactly hit the snooze button for those five more minutes!

21 February 2008

We had quite a sandstorm here yesterday that finally seems to have let up some. It started out like fog and just kind of hung around for 36 hours or so. The skies are bright blue this morning and planes are flying again after the sand in the air cleared last night. Now I'm hoping it hasn't set back the schedule of people leaving too much to impact my hopeful departure for vacation.

Can you tell I'm anxious to leave for vacation? With lots of luck, I'm leaving on Saturday for Kuwait and then have to give the Kuwaiti's 3 dinar for the pleasure of hanging out there till the passport is processed. After my 3 dinar goes into the Emir's pocket and my passport is stamped in, then I can leave for Berlin on an 0200 flight Monday morning.

Of course, now that I'm reading more about Berlin, three days won't be enough, but at least it will be a chance to see the city since I've never been there before. But I'm certainly planning what I'll see in the three short days I'll be there. I had my down winter jacket, a hat and gloves shipped from home since the weather is still winter there. Only to look this morning on weather.com and find that in the 10 day forecast, it is supposed to be 60F the day I arrive and in the upper 50's the other days.

Oh well, not like I was going to make a trip to the Kit Kat Club (http://www.kitkatclub.de)(think the likes of Liza in Cabaret) walking down the street in my ass-less chaps and chest harness (don't laugh...it could happen!) for their fetish night full of partying...But alas my dreams of partying down a the Kit Kat Club are already dashed since it is only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Making a trip to Berlin in the middle of the week is a complete buzz-kill if you're thinking of a trip to Berlin for the clubbing at all the trendy places!

I guess I'll just have to settle for the more ordinary style of sight-seeing. I am strongly thinking of the Pergamon Museum to see the elaborate Middle Eastern collection which includes temples and such like Ishtar - the Great Gate of Babylon among other wonders. I'm also hoping to see the Reichstag, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (just down the street from where I'm staying at the Swissotel), the Brandenberg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie among other places high on my list.

I wanted to do the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen and also would love to see Sanssouci in Charlottenburg as well as Spandau, but there are only so many hours in a day. I was afraid that three days would only be a tease, but at least I'll get a taste of Berlin that will hopefully leave me wanting to come back again soon.

But honestly, it is all about some fresh Weissbier, unbelievable German cuisine and the chance to refamiliarize that thick tongue of mine with the German language. The good German beer always has a way of breaking down the barriers and helping me remember my German. I'm sure I'll somehow get by with my Ami-dialected Deutsch.

More later once I'm enroute. Gotta go to bed right now. I'm about spent and needing some sleep. These 72 and 84 hour work-weeks are killing me lately. What I wouldn't give for two extra hours of sleep! Soonly...

NIU DeKalb

2008-02-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

16 February 2008

I've been busy in thought and working on a blog about this whole NIU thing in my head. As you may or may not know, NIU is in my "backyard" at home. I did some undergrad there and it is my graduate alma mater. So this hits way too close to home. Thank you everyone for the email and such over the past couple of days. And you think it is so dangerous here compared to home...at least with mortars landing in my backyard here (although just as random) fewer people have been killed per event. Wondering if Iraq isn't safer after all... We have more people with weapons exposed, mind you) and fewer incidents of shootings! Go figure.

Maybe the solution is to give instructors and teachers loaded firearms and the permission to use them liberally! Tenure and promotions based on the number of total rounds spent per semester! I'm just imagining one of my marketing profs ( a little petite thing about 5' 2" who is also a marthoner ) with a 357 Magnum strapped to her leg?! Or just for "emphasis," one of my other marketing profs firing off a round into the ceiling to emphasize "Marketing is everything and everything is marketing, damn it!"

But honestly, I'm wondering if the press doesn't glorify this all by even printing the names and personal details of these wanna-be famous mass killers. The focus which should be on those wronged has become so much overshadowed by the potential promised infamy of the killer. I can't help but to wonder if mass murder movies like Friday 13th or Freddy along with video games don't promote this type of acting-out of thoughts as being acceptable. In the end, doesn't this cheapen the value and sanctity of human life? How can we teach current and future generations to embrace all the sanctity, beauty and fragility of life when all these other outside influences glorify and promote the taking of life? The more theatrical the better.

Maybe I'm just an "old soul," but I've never taken any pleasure in watching movies with the purposeful theme of killing. It is too difficult for me to justify watching for entertainment the taking of life in the depths of my head. Maybe having grown up with two sets of great-Grandparents helped me to appreciate and celebrate life...not rally around the creative depiction of snuffing out something so precious as life. I don't know. But these problems are rooted at a societal level. Unless you can alter the current mind-set of what is just, right, humane and news-worthy, there is no hope that this will or ever can change for the better. How can we change the mindset of our population when the press gleefully glorifies the horrors of violent killing and rejoices and considers it "news" when people are senselessly murdered in ANY situation.

Take for example something as mundane as Brittany being sprung from the loony bin. Remember the helicopter shots of the paparazzi swarming the car she is in like flies on shit? Every time the car moved, the flies flew away only to land on and swarm again on the car (poop) once it stopped moving. Is this actually "news?" Men killing their 8 and 9 month nearly full-term pregnant girlfriends! Not just one, but two in the news in a one month period. And now a meat cleaver killer in NY! How can we ever expect our future generations to treasure every breath, appreciate and nurture the feelings of ourselves and others, or even marvel at the beauty of nature and actually celebrate life when it is the killing of life and destruction of civilized things that are considered the new deities of our self-described, news-informed, educated, lawful "civilization?" This plastered all over the screens in our home everyday reassuring people that if you want to be famous, this is how to do it.

I don't know that drugs are killing our society as quickly as the press putting on a pedestal, heinous criminal behavior and video games promoting the elimination of pseudo humans who are keeping us from our "prize". I know...I've gone off the deep end, haven't I? So many sad thoughts going through my head. Granted I didn't know anyone shot or killed at NIU yesterday. But still it is horrific and it has happened so close to my home. Unimaginable for me. My Alma mater. Where I once had classes. My neighborhood. My neighbors. Too close. Not like I live in some rough neighborhood in the inner-city of Chicago. This is De Kalb. The most exciting (and wholesome) thing happening is supposed to be Cornfest every August. The whole county is a sleepy little, neighborly place to just..."be."

In a military action like Iraq, you expect death and unthinkable human violence. And while I've been here, I've continually thought about and imagined the safety and security of "home." You know, ruby slippers, click your heels, "no place like home" and all that happy horseshit. What if that's just not true? What if "safe" and "United States" don't belong in the same sentence? What if Dorothy decided NOT to go back to Kansas? What if the Wizard convinced her to hang out for awhile in Oz?

"Stay in Oz, Dorothy!!! Kick back and chill, girlfriend. Bask a little while in your glory! For crying out loud, baby, you just killed the Wicked Witch of the West. It doesn't get any better than this!"

See, there we go again...glorifying killing. The WWW didn't get off with a month in jail and three years of parole. She didn't do any community service...she was KILLED. Maybe death at the hands of others is just an ingrained thing in our society...more than we'd like to admit.

Well, what started out as just thinking about a blog write-up has about written itself. I know I'll visit the campus while I'm home on leave. I get home back on 28Feb. Until then, my thoughts and prayers are with NIU.

Fabio and George Clooney in My Sister's Kitchen!

2008-02-05T23:02:00.000-08:00

Warning: most of the following situation was a figment of my sick, demented and very bored imagination! I need a vacation...

My sister sent her husband out this week to buy a new dishwasher since their old one bought the farm. I tried to convince her to get the Fischer-Pykal with the dual drawers that operate independently. We bought that one when we replaced old Bertha (our old GE dishwasher that was contractor crap) and the Fischer-Pykal is fantastic, the only way to go. But she is looking for something more functional and less pricey.

I asked her what she was going to name it. "What?!" she asked. Well, in our family we name cars, why wouldn't you name your dishwasher?

I told her to tell her husband that she is going to name their new dishwasher Fabio. When he asks you why, you can tell him, "That way I will always have a stud in the kitchen when I need one!"

And you know her friend Rose will appreciate that, unless of course Rose's husband Scott is installing and "adjusting" Fabio for her. Yikes! Talk about things that make you say, hmmmm.

My next email to my sister Deb is asking if Fabio is all installed, adjusted and ready to rock 'n roll? "Not yet. But I still have reservations about calling my dishwasher Fabio. It's just kind of weird."

Oh, come on, no sense of humor whatsoever! With hair like his, I should think he would be the king of "a quick wash and rinse!" What better name can you possibly come up with???? Besides, you certainly don't want to call a dishwasher George Clooney. All he does is just get drunk and give you lip...Just ask Fabio.

You did hear about when Clooney was all sloppy drunk in a restaurant, made a major fool of himself and insulted a bunch of models because some photographers were snapping pics? Old Boy and his ego got all tweaked at the photographers for taking pictures (he thought) of him...only to find out that the photographers were for Fabio and the models doing some Benefit! Ooops!

Fabio had to set old drunk Georgie in his place that night! So now you understand why the only thing in the kitchen worth naming George Clooney might be the garbage disposal since it somewhat resembles that situation. You know...lots of noise, spitting and spewing of half chewed-up food and obscenities at you until Fabio steps in and cleans things up!!!!!

Now when you buy that nice fancy Viking oven, the only name appropriate for a Viking oven would be(no brainer, of course) Emeril! BAM!!!!! (I really kill me sometimes)

But what the heck does one name a microwave then???? Somehow, Old Sparky just doesn't seem fitting. That was the name of her last microwave (may it rest in peace) that her house-sitter fried with the aluminum foil her last trip out of town! Doh!

Getting Over New Year’s Resolutions

2008-01-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

A very belated Happy New Year. A long enough break that you AND I have successfully blown any chance of keeping our New Year’s Resolutions … you know, like promising myself that I’d go back to weekly blog entries! Ha! I’m sure resolutions are only made to make one’s self feel relieved when you finally have broken them and are free of that yoke to go out and live your life renewed inside, that at least you’ve made a resolution to start with, broken it and ready to carry on with life again. Wow, what a run-on sentence! But it’s the thought that counts … or so I’m told.

Well, in my little break here, some good things have actually come about with the bringing in of the New Year. I’ve been given back my fangs and cape and am back on night shift. Wooo-hoooo! I’m oh so much more at ease with life when I’m on nights. Waayyyy too many self-important boobs running around with their entourages during the day.

But along with the shift change, comes the inevitable “jet lag” of getting the old bod back to that schedule. And no, as a matter of fact, I haven’t been running, but thanks for noticing. It has been damned cold here lately. I just don’t have the spandex outfits and gloves for this type of cold weather! :) Truth be told, AAFES has quite the racket going as they are only stocking some friggin warrior gloves at $85-$95 a pop.

“We go where you go” is their motto because they know they got you by the short ones with lack of selection and inflated prices! A marketer’s wet dream (sorry Laura and Tanuja!) Make ‘em pay till they hurt! I’ll take frostbite rather than pay those AAFES thieves. It’s just the principle of it. They are supposed to be here FOR the soldiers but in their eyes, they are here to take the soldiers for all they’re worth then brag on how good they are to the community by “giving back” millions of ill-gotten dollars for pet MWR projects back in Europe.

As I was saying about the weather here, we better get ready for the end of the world cuz I think Hell froze over last week when we had copious amounts of white fluffy snowflakes flying through the air here. Although the news claims that this was the first time in 100 years, I seem to remember seeing a couple flurries back in Jan of 2006. No, I was not hallucinating and no, my mind isn’t failing me. The greater Baghdad area probably didn’t see them like we did on this side of town. Unlike last week where it was coming down pretty darned good. I’m not talking a Chicago or Buffalo type snowfall, but enough in the air to amaze the locals. Not anything that made you want to drop on the ground and make snow/sand angels or anything of that sort.

Also in the last week, Lance and I were walking to evening chow when overhead I heard a whoooosh, then a boom! Hummm, that was a bit closer than we’re comfortable with, wasn’t it? Gotta admit that the old boy beat me to the prone position on the asphalt. He might be over 50, but he still has the reflexes of a cat! The big voice must have had its mouth full, cuz there wasn’t any warning of “Incoming” on that one. Once we got into the hand washing stations at the chow hall, THEN the big voice went off again as another one flew overhead in a suicide clash with a concrete T-wall on base.

The weather has still been unseasonably cold for Baghdad. I guess I can’t complain as we’ve also had a bunch less rain than usual too. We had a good full day of rain last week that still has mud sitting around here. Funny thing is that the night temps are below freezing, but the puddles of mud don’t freeze up. I guess the ground here gets warm enough during the day to prevent it.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped KBR from ripping up all the stones they put down earlier in the season to prevent us from having to walk in the mud. They have cranes all over the place swinging 14 foot tall T-walls into place in all the living quarters. They can’t do this stuff when the soil is hard as a rock and there is no mud around. Wait till it is muddy as hell and you can rip things up all the better! KBR is always challenging themselves to be the civilian oxymoron of “military intelligence”!

I’ve been occupying myself lately on a reading binge. Got done with Wicked. Much different from the Broadway play. In fact, a nearly complete rewrite of the story. Guess now I’ll want to read Son Of A Witch next, but not right away. I have such a freaking library here already I’m wondering how I’ll get through them before retirement. Also just finished this week Maartin Troost’s, Getting Stoned With Savages. What a roar! I love his writing style and the way he tells a story. The guy is someone whose style that if I ever can get my sh*t together from my Antarctic and Iraq experiences, I would love to emulate.

I’ve just started Catcher in the Rye. It hasn’t been too torturous yet, but I’m getting that feeling that I may tire of it soon. I read ten pages of My ‘Dam Life by Sean Condon, but wasn’t in the mood for another “uproot my life and move to a completely different society on the other side of the earth” type book just yet, so I picked up Catcher in the Rye. I may be sorry for that one. And this week I also received a belated Christmas present book from my buddy in Korea. He sent me Ken Follett’s World Without End. Another 1000 pager by Mr Follett. I’m thinking that might be for my trip home in Feb/Mar.

Speaking of which, the cruise to Cabo has been postponed. I’m disappointed, but not. I was seriously thinking of waiting to go home until April, but now that the thought of going home at the end of Feb was already bouncing around in my head, I’m thinking about going home anyway … but just not spending a fortune while I’m home. Alright, ALRIGHT already, you can pick yourself off the floor now. So I like to shop a little bit when I’m home. Someone has to keep the economy going … you all certainly aren’t doing your share from the news I’m reading back home! At least I have that excuse of pent-up consumerism from being away from the real world to use. ‘Course with gas at $3.40 per gallon back home, that might hurt the pocket book a tad bit.

Contractor “Unappreciation” Night

2007-12-28T21:45:00.000-08:00

28 December 2007

At 1640 yesterday night, I made the mistake of telling SSgt Tami that I really was very disinterested in going to this “Contractor Appreciation Ceremony” slash cookout slash awards presentation. Her response was that it was a good thing I reminded her because it was told to them early in the week that attendance was mandatory. The only way I could have possibly gotten out of going with her was if my hair had been cut so short she couldn’t have pulled me out of the building by it! Let the records reflect that said contractor, from here on to be known as “Dave,” did not want to attend this poor excuse for a gathering.

Okay, let me go back to when I first got into the office on the morning of the 27th. I’m reading through my email messages and came across an invite to a “Contractor Appreciation Ceremony” for *today* December 27th that was just sent out this morning! One might infer this to mean that the XXth may have had no actual intention of honoring us or our efforts with them over the past 15 months. We were only an after-thought. Could it be that they couldn’t come up with any other better reason to throw a getting-the-frick-out-of-Iraq party and decided that if they threw it under the guise of some appreciation statement, they could at least smile nicely and it may not even kill them to feign sincerity!

So it should be no wonder that by the time SSgt Tami and I arrive on the scene that the Colonel is calling out names to be recognized and Stewart is standing there as they stack the frames with the faux certificates in his arms because not one of us is there to accept it in person! Well, DUH!!!! If you wait till 9am to send out the message, how do you expect your honorees to attend at 1630 if they are off that day let alone get news out to the night shifters?! Another kick in the pants was that all the pop (soda, cokes, whatever they heck you want to call it, Sid!) and food were gone by 1650! And this was a unit function. Very sad and disappointing, indeed!

I have to say that even SSgt Carnely’s impromtu BBQ’s on the weekends got better press than this! He always went out of his way to make sure there was plenty of food and spread the word sometimes not till that day that he was going to be grilling, if anyone (civilian or military) wanted to join in. There is the difference right there! SINCERITY. Carnely has it, our management and the XXth management wouldn’t know what sincerity was if it came up and bit ‘em on the ass, now would they?

We stepped up just as my name happened to be called. I graciously accepted my color certificate of faux recognition in a frame, shook the Colonel’s hand and walked back by some people I knew. Then proceeded to take my certificate (they did spell my name correctly) out of the frame. On the way back to Bldg XX, I tossed the frame in the garbage and then ran the certificate through the shredder since I don’t leave anything with my name in the garbage. I have enough meaningless crap without collecting something that wasn’t even printed or given in earnest (although I am earnestly a pack rat!)

Apparently, the XXth is sure that they can do it without civilians and had few qualms treating us that way. Someone needs to send a clue up ladder to the powers in charge in Kuwait and wake them up that we’re not needed. It appears that we’ve become just placeholders for use-it-or-lose-it money being poured into Iraq and into ITT coffers compliments of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney.

I always said I would stay as long as I felt our presence was making a difference…maybe now is the time when we’re not making a difference. I’m smelling the cheese folks and I think it’s smelling old! (Reference "Who Moved My Cheese," Spencer and Johnson)

Joyeux Noel, Froehe Weihnachten, Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

25 December 2007

Greetings came in this year from all over the world. I heard from two of the three AFS kids I liaised from Italy and France, friends in Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, not to forget all my family and friends back home scattered to the winds in Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Maryland. Even my doggie Cayenne wrote me a card this year! What a sweet old Girl! Thank you again to all those at Salem Lutheran Church in Peoria, my congregation away from home. I am certainly blessed to have so many people keeping me in their prayers and thinking of me over here over the holidays.

Yet another Christmas in Iraq. This makes number 4. I called my old friend Eve and we did lunch together at the Sports Oasis Chow Hall for the big day. We ended up running into Jocelyn there too, so that made three of us old “NOSCer’s” having Christmas lunch together. Eve started in Oct of ’03, Joc in Kuwait in Oct of ’03 then over to Victory in March of ‘04 and me in Feb of ’04. There are still a few of us old farts running around here who remember what it was like in the old days at Victory with the old trailer chow hall, no sidewalks, no Hesco barriers or concrete T-walls, no ID checks to get into the PX or the chow halls. Days of shortages of everything at one point or another. If you see it in the PX, better hoard it…you never know when of if you’ll ever see it again! Boy how the years pass so quickly.

Typical Christmas feast…shrimp and sauce in the center table surrounded by carved melons and veggies, turkey, stuffing, yams, corn, carrots, the works! Table cloths and fine paper napkins with Christmassy paper place mats and paper holiday trees on the tables. I bit kitchy, but the mood was there.

My afternoon off (my normal day off, not for the holiday per se) I decided to watch a movie my sister sent me…Santa Claus 3. I had just watched SC2 the day before, so that worked out well. I have been watching the classics over the past couple of weeks. You know, two different versions of Scrooge, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, Call Me Claus (Whoopie Goldberg is a Scrooge-like QVC exec who hates Christmas and becomes Claus), Drummer Boy and of course, Elf!

I had almost dropped off for a nap late in the afternoon, but woke up to the Big Voice screaming, “Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!” “Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!” Which is my cue to get on the floor. With no protective barriers at the one corner of my trailer, it would really spoil my week if I got hit by shrapnel coming through that unprotected corner. Better to be safe than sorry. Do the 60 count laying on the floor and usually the Big Voice comes back saying, “All Clear, All Clear, All Clear. This is the Command Post, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Basically, an “As you were; go about your normal mundane existence here.”

I think that something landed somewhere cuz I saw a plume of smoke off north of here. Of course that might be the burn pile over on Liberty on fire again, but who knows. The compressor for my A/C slash heater clunks on and off so loudly that you never know if something landed, if someone knocked on the door or if incoming just impacted!

I scored pretty big this year on the Christmas scene. Both my sisters, my Gram and my Aunt and Uncle sent stuff this year. Not to mention that Phil’s Mom and her evil-wonderful six tins of homemade Christmas cookies helped me pack on about six pounds! I did manage to share a bunch of what was sent…once or should I say if, I got it out the door! I shared stuff with my coworkers, but also with the Indian and Nepalese coffee guys at the Green Bean and with the Filipino laundry people too. AFFES and KBR don’t pay them squat and they really appreciate when you share with them. They have to work 7 day weeks too, they aren’t on our five day schedule. AAFES and KBR can be real stingy when it comes to unskilled workers and pay.

Well, time for bed. Christmas is almost over and I’m about ready for bed. No nightmares of sugar plums, please! I don’t want to choke on my vomit in my sleep! A Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night.

Wicked!

2007-12-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

21 December 2007

I got switched from midnights to days last week. It is almost as bad as jetlag when all you get is 18 hours to change your body chemistry from being a night worker to being a day worker. So far in my short stint back on days, I’m inclined to declare that daylight is highly overrated. I’m ready anytime they want me to go back and pull the old fangs and cape out of retirement and go back to mids. There are just too many self-important boobs running around during the day with “their hair on fire and asses a catchin!” Besides, trying to find a seat in the DFac (chow hall, dining facility, etc) is nearly impossible. Although I have found that days are your best chance at getting a piece of that carrot cake that I love.

The other night, I was walking out of building 9 and Lance looks at me and mentions that it looks like rain. To me, even though it was dark out, it looked more like dust. Sure enough, I’d only gotten about a block up the road and the wind started whipping up and blowing dirt all over the place. Visibility was probably about 300 feet and the winds were blowing dirt and crap all over the place. I got back to my trailer and had to clean out my ears.

I’ve never hoarded as much dirt in my ear canals in my life as I have here in Iraq! How the heck are you supposed to clean the dirt out of your ears if your Mom always told you not to put anything bigger than your elbow in your ears?! Should I just ignore it and walk around with crap in my ears? Although I can remember when I was growing up, my parents would ask me specifically if I had crap in my ears. I guess now I’d be able to answer honestly and say, “Well, yes. As a matter of fact I DO have crap in my ears!”

Robin Williams was supposed to appear on stage at Camp Slayer across the highway from us that night too. But the windstorm kind of delayed that show. I haven’t heard whether or when it is rescheduled for. I generally don’t pay much attention to the shows although we really do get quite an assortment of singers, cheerleaders and notable people entertaining here. Working mids, your sched doesn’t usually align with the performance times.

My AZ sister and I purchased tickets to Wicked for my niece to go and see when she got back to Chicago this week. She decided to take her Mom (our other sister) and two of her friends. They all had a great time at the matinee on Wednesday. As expected, they loved it. I told them that after I saw Wicked in London, I was sure that they would enjoy it. For both my sister and niece, it was their first Broadway musical. Probably one of the guaranteed hits for anyone to attend with its mass appeal. Not to mention that it is written to fit together with the story from the Wizard of Oz. Hating anything attached to Wizard of Oz would be pretty much Un-American.

The one comment my sister made that cracked me up (because I thought the same thing) was that she was sure that Glinda must have gone to high school at Hinsdale Central! I’m pretty sure she lived in Oak Brook…probably in Ginger Creek. She is like so many of the “rah-rah’s” we knew…you know, the world revolved around them. Okay, so I’m generalizing a bit…but not too much if you went to Old HTH in the 1970’s (and ‘80’s according to my other sister who graduated in ‘88.) Anyway, Glinda truly steals parts of the show.

Then they followed-up the show with a walk to see the Christmas decorations in the windows on State Street. Then off to Harry Carey’s for dinner. I have to say that I’m so envious. I have always loved being in downtown Chicago anytime of the year. It’s not New York or LA or San Fran or Phoenix. Chicago is big enough to hold its own but it skips the attitude of NY or LA. Guess I’m biased being a fourth generation local Chicago-born son. I’ll always be a Chicagoan no matter where I live. I’ve been told that my Midwestern dialect gives me away every time. Guess all I can say to that is, “Da Bears!”

What Would Chuck Norris Do?

2007-12-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

14 December 2007

The days just keep plodding along here. Caught my yearly Christmas cold complete with blowing green stuff out of my nose! (Sorry for the graphic description) Like everything else around here...it will pass. Some group from the States had sent small one foot tall Christmas trees to the units here and the Chaplain was passing them off to anyone willing to adopt one. So I am now the proud owner of a live, one-foot Christmas tree complete with battery powered lights. I think I'll call it Fred. Has a ring to it, Fred the Christmas Tree. Ain't much, but it's the most Christmas cheer I've managed to muster to date. Okay, so I have watched Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolf and Scrooge already.

It's getting more and more difficult to post onto my blog anymore. With our very limited and ever-increasingly restricted monitored and "blue coated" internet access, soon the only thing we will be able to bring up on the web will be the Communist News Network (CNN) and web searches that will be restricted exclusively to Extremist Evangelical Christian services. Even a military awards site is blocked! Google will probably be banned as a subversive liberal right-wing site allowing access to information too subversive which is set to poison minds too. I believe that we are fast approaching "1984" or "Fahrenheit 451" aren't we?

Although, I must admit that I'm quite enjoying the slow and brutal implosion of the Republican's latest miscreant...er, darling for President (at least in Iowa and NH.) I'm normally not vehemenly against someone running on either side, but in this case he is so far over the edge, I'm stunned. I'm sure that if Huckabee were to have his way, the United States would soon to be renamed the United Evangelical Socialist States and Controlled Territories of America!

I think he may have put the last of the nails in the coffin though with his latest..."Huckabee Agrees That Wives Should 'Submit Graciously' to Their Husbands." This was published today in Newsweek on msnbc.com's site by author Andrew Romano. The comments someone left at the bottom are equally tickling..."Huckabee makes Bush appear sane."

I don't care if he *was* interviewed recently sitting next to Chuck Norris on O'Reily's show, it is hard to sell that kind of propaganda to an educated audience. But, I'm pretty sure the entertainment value of this one is good for another week or two. Maybe it was only a cardboard cutout of Chuck. Hmmmm...What *would* Chuck Norris do?

“Are You Not Aware…

2007-12-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

05 December 2007

...That I Get Farty And Bloated With A Foamy Latte?” Not really, but these random subject lines that you can pull up on yahoo! for your messages are a real hoot. My niece told me about them and I had never known that. Just click on the yahoo subject box and it will fill in a cutsey non-sensical phrase. Yes, very desperate for entertainment.

Although the Redskins Cheerleaders were here last week for a show, we thought the dancing and kicking were part of their act on stage…but it was just the bullets skipping across the stage that night of the gunfight last week! Okay, so I embellish a bit. The firefight was before the show, but they really did get a good scare from the shells skipping across the parking lot in front of their tent before the show.

And guess who else is here? Yep, Jeraldo!!! He must of heard there was a gunfight in town and secrets to be blown on TV...I don't think Saddam left any other treasure in any locked safes here. Actually, saw him on TV interviewing General Petreaus. Gen P, I might add, was pictured this last month in Maxim. A rising star and a really interesting guy. One of the Navy LT’s I work with is telling us to mark his word that THIS guy is someone to watch in the future. I tend to agree. We’ll see him on the Joint Chiefs of Staff sometime in the future if we’re lucky. Very smart guy. Might I even suggest looking him up at http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/commander.asp

This week we had rain for the first time since...hmmmm I don't actually remember the last time we had rain! Lots of lightening and thunder and a few downpours with small hail. I was looking for Moses out there and fire to start coming from the hail!

But I have to say that I'm not as "verklempt" as I was the last couple of years. KBR in all their wonderment decided to put down some rock trails in our trailer area. Woooo-hooo! So now the mud is pretty much down to a minimum as long as I stay on the rock trail and not go wandering off into the mud. Must be a base for the Yellow Brick Road they'll put in next year.

Meanwhile, back in the rock quarry, I was finally feeling like I was settling back into work and the job after my vacation when I got pulled for another job. I'm still doing my same job, but with a few twists added. (No, I’m not a bartender now.) Just trying to remember..."change is good". Although it is hard to forget that office politics are inevitable!

Did you ever read, "Who Moved My Cheese"? You really should. It is an interesting management book It was first recommended to me when I was at Lucent and then again in my MBA class. Very interesting reading/concepts and will only take about an hour to read. Know when your cheese is getting stale, people!

Speaking of stale…I went to use the bathroom today and some unfortunate soul apparently had an ass explosion. For some reason, he left his boxers in the stall. To say the least I didn’t use that one! It’s a good thing that KBR is now using potable water in the bathrooms and showers starting this week. Imagine the gastro-intestinal issues we might suffer from using the non-potable water we’ve been brushing our teeth, washing our faces and showering with for the past three years! I think his system just hasn’t adjusted to the potable water yet, or maybe *he* had that foamy latte from the Green Bean Coffee Shop.

Over the Wall?

2007-12-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

28 November 2007

Still working midnights, it didn’t help any that my start time was slipping up earlier from 2100 up to 1900. Then I didn’t get into bed until noon and had trouble falling asleep. When the alarm went off at 1700, allowing me my normal routine of shower, coffee and walking to work, it took everything within me not to roll over and fall back to sleep.

Rolled out of bed, made the bed, laid out clothes and off to the showers which is probably a 150 yards away, which by the way feels like miles when you really have to hit the head in a hurry! Just as I was walking out the door is really when I noticed the shooting. It was still light, so who knows? Maybe it was just late range shooting for all I know. Slayer has a range, but that is on the northwest side not the northeast where all the noise was coming from. Oh well, anything is possible? Normally, I’m still fast asleep at this hour.

But you know what? These shots are sounding awfully close…like maybe another firefight at the highway. Considering we are only about 1/3 of a mile from the highway (separated by a wall of course) it wouldn’t be the first time we have heard gunfire from the highway. It wasn’t all that long ago last year that the trailer walls were breathing from the impact of a couple of car/truck bombs.

As I was walking to the shower, the gunfire was becoming increasingly heavier. In twenty minutes after the shower, on the walk back, the gunfire was without doubt a full-fledged gunfight. A couple of times, the loudness of the shots I was hearing made me wonder if more than a couple of the shots weren’t originating on this side of the wall. I ducked into my trailer and figured if it was *that* bad, we’d see and hear more support from our side come to their assistance. Plus, my trailer has 12 foot T-walls on the south side which is the highway side so with any luck, I’d not have anything come through the trailer on the east or south side.

I dressed and gathered my book and backpack to get over to the coffee shop. My 20 minutes or so at the coffee shop is my chance to read and get caffeinated up before facing people and work. I was staying on schedule so far and without a second thought, bolted out the door over to get my coffee fix. The need for caffeine must dull any common sense brain cells! By this time, constant volleys of gunfire were ringing off in the direction of the highway. What I didn’t know was that while I was in my caffeine-deprived stupor, people over by the Palace were running for cover from rounds skipping off the lake toward the Palace.

A couple of the guys over there had to hit the deck in the Palace parking lot behind the cover of parked vehicles because the air was fairly populated with flying metal coming in from the highway firefight. People crossing the bridge to and from the Palace were making a mad dash across hoping not to get hit by all the flying metal. At one point, the giant 20 foot tall doors to the Palace were shut and locked in case of attack. Hard to believe the rounds would travel that far, but take my word for it, they do! What goes up must come down.

To my relief, me and my coffee-deprived brain made it to the coffee shop still rather oblivious of the seriousness of the goings-on over at the highway and the Palace. Sitting outside at the coffee shop area there were others there having coffee and others eating their food from Subway and Pizza Hut, so I really didn’t feel like I was in danger. Although maybe “the blonde” in me might have gotten a clue when I started hearing repeated rounds of automatic gunfire. “Helloooo…McFly!” Certainly not anything like hearing a few shots in the distance during dear hunting season.

I looked up from the pages of my book as an ambulance went past. I followed the screaming green vehicle with my eyes figuring that it would turn right out to the south entrance to the gunfight, but it went straight ahead to the medical clinic up the road. That could only mean that someone had been hit on the base by something from all this stuff going on.

It wasn’t until I was at work that I’d found out that someone had been hit from the stray rounds. Rest of paragraph omitted for the time being…

By the time I finished my coffee, things quieted down some on the southern front. Ended as quickly as it started. The last time I can remember an assault on the south side with this much gunfire inside the camp was back three years ago when we’d heard that five or six slipped over the wall and were gunned down before they hit the ground. Sounds like this was a pretty organized attack but details are still sketchy at best...and will remain so unless we can get Jeraldo to blurt them out on TV!

The Unnamed Blog

2007-11-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

18 November 2007

Don’t know how much of this blog will be up for print. Maybe in a week or two I’ll post it, but I need to evaluate my feelings about it later.

Another volley of mortars yesterday afternoon at 1730. Normally, I set my alarm for about 1815, but I was off today, so I thought I’d sleep in after not getting to bed until after 12 noon.

I heard the “swoosh” overhead as the mortars passed over Dodge South. I remember hearing at least three pass overhead, but there were four impacts. They weren’t too near, but they were close enough to feel the impact and hear the explosion. As soon as I heard the swooshes overhead, I rolled out of bed to the floor and hit the deck. My roomy was still in his half-awake state and was up watching something on his computer. With his headphones on, he didn’t hear the mortars pass overhead, nor did he seem to have heard the impact.

I called his name as I hit the floor and he got out of bed and ran to the window to see if the damage was near! Like a firefly to light. To this day, I’ll never figure that out. I guess that by the time he arrived on site, Victory was taking more rockets than mortars. Rockets normally are sent over in onesies-twosies, so maybe he has always figured that once you hear the impact, it’s done and over with. Mortars however, have always been sent in groups of three to five. We old folks that have been here awhile are still in practice of “duck and cover.” Stay on the floor and count to sixty to make sure nothing more is falling out of the sky. The lower to the ground you are, the more likely any shrapnel spray will pass over you.

One of the mortars landed outside of the one chow hall. Put a small hole in the road and chipped up the blast barriers some, but otherwise, nothing noteworthy. It’s kind of funny though; they fix the hole and make a nice new square of concrete where the impact was, but no one walks over it or stands on it. Kind of like a gravesite of sorts. Not like you’re stepping on a crack and gonna’ break your mother’s back or anything.

One of my translator friends is leaving to go back home today. Met up with him and some of his other friends out by the coffee shop last night. He and I will stay in touch. He’s just one of those people who you enjoy being around. Although when I got back from my leave, he kind of spooked me. He was a bit unnerving as he was telling me that he was sure that we were going to be hit with mortars or rockets last week. The intensity of his words convinced me that he felt certain of what he spoke. But as it panned out, he was only partially correct. We didn’t get it; Liberty got it; not one, but about three volleys of mortar rounds.

It was after this that I realized that he actually needs to go back home…now. He needs decompression time and time to put his thoughts together. I think everyone here at some point reaches that boil-over point. I’ve been fortunate since I’ve had my time between contracts and then the medical leave to clear the mind and settle back into “real life” at home for an extended period of time before coming back for more abuse.

Speaking of which, PTSD seems to be on everyone’s lips around here lately. I think that is actually a good thing...the acknowledgement by the medical/military community, not PTSD itself! At least now like no other time in history, the military may be finally realizing the side-effects and end-effects of combat to include the emotional combat inside soldier and civilian heads that takes place in this type of situation. I’ll admit that I even had my bout with something or another after that trip in January coming home when the C130 was nearly shot down. Maybe it was the Vicodin afterwards! Things that make you go, “hmmmm.”

Another incident that made me think about PTSD was when I was on my way back two weeks ago. I’m sitting in one of the laundry trailers at Ali As Salem, Kuwait (waiting for my visa/passport to come back so that I could manifest for my return trip to Baghdad) and after me walked in a few soldiers who also had laundry to do. Two guys and two girls none of them above the age of 22 were on their way home. Their different Guard units had completed their time in Iraq north of here.

I was mostly a bystander in their conversations, but their stories were really captivating. All I can still think of is how sad it is that these youngsters (boy, am I dating myself now!! But I’m old enough to be their, um, Uncle. Yeah, that’s it, their Uncle!) should have had to experience all the death, blood and gore that they saw in that long long year they were in Fallujah, Samara, and other surrounding places. While all their friends back home tell of stories of parties and their love lives gone bad, these kids tell of the guys whose innards and brains they saw splattered in the streets after they tried to set up an IED for them…but failed. Or the death and bloodshed of their fellow soldiers. All this and more at the ripe old age of 21.

To hear all four of them openly discuss that they were afraid to turn their backs on nearly all of the IP’s and IA (Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army) with a few exceptions, because these boneheads would just as soon sell out their American soldier friends to the highest bidder as fight with them. One minute they are IP or IA, the next minute they are local sympathizers selling out the US Army. The one female openly admitted that she’d of just as soon slit this one guy’s throat as to turn her back on him. She didn’t fear him and she certainly didn’t trust him to watch her back.

Are these the kinds of stories that we want to hear from our sons, daughters, nephews and nieces? Stories that they lament about among themselves; stories of other soldiers whose benevolent acts and conscientious actions resulted in their deaths at the hands of sell-out IP’s. To have acted otherwise would have resulted in their court martial. It sucks ass that these kids are forced into such life-impacting situations and our government crucifies them when they do the right thing for the safety of the unit. But then when they play and follow the rules, the government rewards them posthumously for having passively let their guard down only to taken advantage of by the turncoat dirty bastards have sold them out for a few dinar.

Honestly starting now (screw the holidays…we don’t get them with our families), we need to stop imbedding journalists and start imbedding Congressmen/women and Senators. And not just for weekend jaunts or snapshot opportunities, but for two or three month stints. If they really want to serve their constituents and they want to keep this little party going, then by God, bring your happy asses over here and really find out why the soldiers need body armor, vehicle armor, supplies, decent meals, decent places to stay, etc. Find out why if you pulled all the civilians out right now, this occupation would be a disaster.

After speaking with a number of Iraqi/Americans here, the Iraqi’s biggest horror show brought to reality, is that the Americans are in fact, another occupying force as totalitarian as the British forces were in the early 1900’s. You at home say no-way, but take into consideration a couple of things. As I’m hearing it, one of the major reservations of the Iraq government is that the US government demands the new Iraq government basically sign over land ownership of drill locations along with high percentages of oil contracts and revenues to American companies.

After their memories of the former British conquerors/occupiers of the early 1900’s, they aren’t too eager to repeat history. They are considering American demands as a sort of capitulation and our extended stay as an American occupation. In their minds, this huge influx of our U.S. Civilian Corps is so similar to the Brit Occupation, how can they not be skeptical of our intentions? Ahhh, I hear you say as you finally understand. It IS all about the O-I-L. Bet your bottom Dinar it is! Oil and “What’s in it for me?” Then again, to the winner the spoils. Mr. Bush did declare the war won back in 2004, didn’t he?

You might ask how I can work over here. To that I ask you to remember back when you were in the military. If you’ve never been, it may be a stretch. But, you don’t always agree with your military authorities or their approach, but you honor their orders and put forth the best job that you can. Our soldiers here need us to do our jobs for them so we can both be successful in our missions. That and I like what I do. For me to give any less of myself would not be fair to them. As long as I feel I can make a difference for them, I’ll be here…or at least through next contract.

At some point and time, changes will happen to our military approach here. I may not like the way things are going here sometimes, but I still support the Army because I am patriotic. I know it sounds sappy, but that is just me. I am an American. Maybe this is my way of giving back to society. Yes, there is money involved, but I can certainly name any number of people back home that would not even take double what I make to work here. Fewer people than you think have ANY tolerance for the danger, separation from loved ones or lack of conveniences along with the wherewithal to follow through. So if you want to flip me shit for not being altruistic enough, bring your happy behinds here for a year or three and we’ll talk about it...and not over a beer either!

Back From the “Real World”

2007-11-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

10 November 2007

Talk about a whirlwind tour! I thought that I had better reassure you all that I didn’t get hopelessly lost in an eternal loop on the “Coffee Houses of Amsterdam Tour.” Nor did I have the opportunity to lose all track of the time. I can hardly believe that a month ago I wrote from Kuwait. I think my waylaid stop in Kuwait was all for the better. I didn’t realize how much I needed the rest, breath of fresh air and the necessary mental break required before starting out on my “vacation.”

I only came back out of the need to get back into my routine and to get a vacation from my vacation. Who would think all that visiting, good-eating, and good-drinking (fresh Heineken, Moet-Chandon Nectar Imperial, rum and cokes, Glen Morangie scotch, and fresh-muddled raspberry-chili martinis to name a few) would ruin me?

On October 10th, I arrived in Amsterdam and checked into the Seven Bridges B&B in the eastern canal area on Reguliersgracht. Perfect location for being near Dam Square, Rembrandt Square, Leiden Square, Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and even the Heineken Brewery. Amsterdam is pretty compact anyway, so the view of the seven bridges and living in a row house on the canals for a week is the perfect way to feel like a real Amsterdammer.

I met Phil at Schiphol Airport the next morning at 11am. To say he was fit to be tied was an understatement! He had to pass through and catch a connecting flight out of London Heathrow…which has totally outlawed smoking in all parts of the airport. No time to go outside because he’d of had to go through security and customs again. Connections in London are less-than-convenient if you need a smoke between flights! So Mr. Pleasant was unable to smoke for 14 hours! He was almost approachable after consuming (double-chain-smoking) a half-pack about 20 minutes later. If it would have helped, I nearly considered helping him smoke a few of them too.

Since I’d bought a strip card for the Tram, we trained and trammed it back from the airport. Transport through the city is so easy. Phil quickly found out that you must watch your step when crossing the street since the bike traffic is quite unlike anything he’d ever seen in the States. He commented that he’d read that there are like 16 million Dutch and about 20 million bikes, but he never realized that you’re probably more likely to be run down by a bike than a bus in Netherlands! Even your 90-year old granny is out on her bike every day. If she rings her bell at you, you’d best move it! Those marks etched on her handlebars are her tally of witless American pedestrians.

We got back to our apartment at the B&B and he got his second Dutch surprise. As I opened the front door, he looked at the front steps and started laughing. To describe these stairs, one might say they are similar to a carpeted ladder in angle and step width. One false step in your socks and you probably won’t remember a thing as you end up at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck!

“How the heck do they get furniture up these steps?!” Well, back in “the day,” houses were taxed on frontage. A wide staircase is going to take up too much space in the house. So a nice narrow staircase takes up less space. Then you put an arm out from the top of the home with a pulley and hoist furniture up and through the middle window, and give the front of the home a lean slightly forward so you don’t bang up the furniture on the house. Beats busting your butt winding a big bureau up steps and dinging the walls all the way up!

We met up with my friend Angelique and her daughter Ilke on Saturday morning. Roland was off to India for a shooting competition. I’ve known the two of them since they were high-school sweet-hearts when I was stationed at Kalkar back in 1985-87. So anytime I have an excuse to visit Netherlands, I always look forward to visiting them. Anyway, Angelique and Ilke drove into Utrecht to the stadium and then took the train in to Centraal Station. No one with any common sense drives in A’dam! Then off to lunch at a great little place in the Jordaan area. Her brother has a weekend apartment in the Jordaan, so she knew just the places to go on that side of town.

We walked around the city some and ended up power-shopping at Magna Plaza behind Dam Square, on Kirkstraat and also at Bijenkorf. Then did the canal tour in the glass boat. We were very fortunate with the weather too. Normally, October in A’dam is like 55 and rainy. Our whole stay we had one day of rain and temps were in the upper 60’s and 70’s. This allowed us to relax some in the Rebrandtplein at a café more than once for refreshments and snacks.

Sunday, we walked down to Rembrandt Square and ended up buying three paintings at the Artists Sale in the square. You do know that art is cheap…it is the framing that will break your bank once you get the art home…like double the cost of the art. So it better be dear to you if you’re going to frame it! The little old lady we bought them from was very pleased to sell three at once. I’m sure she was partying that night.

We got a great recommendation for a restaurant near the Rembrandtplein on one of our excursions. The Castillo on Reguliersdwarsstraat is a great little Argentine Beef place if you are voracious carnivores like us. Also noteworthy is lunch at the café in the Magna Plaza. I wish Phil enjoyed Thai and Indonesian because the Netherlands with all their history in the Dutch Indies have some great restaurants.

Monday morning as we were heading out on one of our adventures, I think to the Van Gogh Museum and an older woman and her son walked by us. Being somewhat capable in Dutch, I greeted them with the typical “Moi Dag.” Next thing I know she is telling me in her fastest Dutch what a nice day it is and how great the weather has been and what a great Fall it is turning out to be, blah, blah, blah!

Phil is just looking at me in his best “I know she’s talking to *you* cuz I don’t speak Dutch!” look. Well, I’m catching most of it, but she is speaking in overdrive and how does one politely interrupt at this stage in the game? Once she finally paused (ever so shortly) for a breath, I told her that I understood most of what she said, en dat ik kaan een beetche Nederlands spreeke, ( never said my Dutch spelling was any good) but that I’m American. She was so sweet as she switched to English without missing a beat and said that we looked so much like Dutchmen, then a few more words and she continued on her way. So typical Dutch. I love the Netherlanders.

Phil also insisted that I had to take him to see the Red Light District. His first comments about that were, “The women are so beautiful. Are you sure they are hookers?” He expected that they’d be out on the street hustling John’s, not in pretty little window store fronts with pink and purple lighting, wearing only teddies while painting or filing their nails, watching TV and occasionally using hand gestures in the window to spark your interest. I had to explain to him that if the drapes are pulled, they are busy and that their beds are right behind them.

One note of interest…the oldest church in Amsterdam the Oude Kerk built in 1275, is interestingly squeezed between the Red Light District on one side and the Gay District on the other side. How’s that for Dutch tolerance?

Before we knew it, our visit to Amsterdam was done and we headed back to Chicago. I spent five days home…just long enough to get over the jet lag and then headed out to Phoenix to see my Gram, sister, brother-in-law and niece. Of course, that was a great visit too. Since they already have a houseful, I stayed in a hotel nearby. Our family is funny about our need for personal space. It also gives me the chance to relax and not have them worry about waking me, feeding me, etc.

Three days in Phoenix is definitely not enough time. Not to mention that nearly a day is spent in transit back to Chicago since you have a two hour time difference and a three hour flight! Still, worth the trip to see family. Maybe one day I’ll be tempted to get me a nice little condo there so that I will always have a place nearby for those quick weekend get-aways. Back to Chicago for anther 8 days or so.

Visited my alma mater at NIU while I was home. My timing must have been off because Ann and Harry wrangled me into an MBA luncheon on Wednesday. Actually, it turned out to be very interesting. The speakers were motivational speakers and are the new NIU basketball coach (who just arrived from Colorado), the Associate VP and Director of Athletics (who also lives in Sycamore) and the head of the department. So it wasn’t so bad after all.

The luncheon gave me the opportunity to see a couple of my old MBA buddies and meet a couple of new people too. Greetings to Ryan from the External Affairs Intercollegiate Athletics office at NIU. We sat next to one another over lunch and found out that we only live a couple of streets apart in Sycamore and we’re both runners. So on Thursday, I took him on a mid-day 4 miler down past the soy bean and corn fields east on Mt Hunger Road. I dogged out the young buck 20 years younger than me. Although, he probably could have hurt me if he really wanted since he has the longer legs and youth on his side. But let me dream already, will ya?

Next thing you know, I’m off to London on my east-bound trek back on Friday. I planned a four day stop in London since an old friend of mine was there on business. He was able to work in a couple of days more in London and we painted London-town red…although the cost of the paint was more than double! In case you haven’t been told yet, London is prohibitively expensive for all but the very financially brave. Still, you gotta do what you gotta do.

We stayed at the Westbury Mayfair just off of Bond Street down the block from Oxford Street. Nice 5 Star and in a great area. The staff was fantastic too.

Right out of the gate, we headed to Piccadilly Square to get tickets for Wicked. That was one heck of a show. I’d venture to say that even if you have never done a Broadway show, you’d still enjoy Wicked. What’s it about? Well, let’s just say it is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West as told from her side of the story. Much more accurate than the dressed up version as told in the Wizard of Oz! Glenda the “Good” Witch is really a high-maintenance, whiney, squeaky voiced, spoiled brat and (cover your tender eyes) a Bitch! As we’re told in this story, Elphaba’s biggest sin is that she is completely “misunderstood.” Being green has nothing to do with it.

I gotta say that probably my favorite line in the whole thing is after Elphie’s sister Nessarose (aka Wicked Witch of the North) is killed by a house falling on her. You all know, of course that Dorothy steals the ruby slippers she was wearing. Elbie is pissed because she wants the shoes back. Glenda (a shoe-whore of far worse proportions than Imelda Marcos ever dreamed of being, who, mind you, had in her and Elphaba’s dorm room an 8 foot tall bookshelf filled with glittery shoes) says to Elbie, “Elbie, get over it. They’re just shoes!” The delivery was just classic.

Anyway, might not sound like a riot, but go see it for yourself. I rate Wicked better than Phantom (which I saw two nights later and was quite disappointed) and as good as Les Mis which I also saw in London a couple of years ago.

Sunday, everything was closed, so I was searching through my guidebook from three years ago and remembered that I had dog-eared the page for Vinopolis. Vinopolis was open and I didn’t get there either of my last two trips to London. Good move! When Brian lived in San Fran, he took me out to Napa Valley for a bit of wine tasting. In a stroke of genius, I remembered his avid appreciation of wine. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

The neat thing about this place is that it is located next to an old Roman wine cellar location near the Hays Galleria and the London Dungeon vacinity. So the history of the area and the current use of the location are quite historically similar. Vinopolis has wine tasting of wines from all around the world, Champaign tasting, whiskey (scotch) tasting and the Sapphire Vodka Bar. Amanda our American West Coast hostess was really knowledgeable and sweet. She introduced us to the place and taught us how to taste. Let’s just say that a good tasting experience was had by all…except for that nasty old port that I had to spit out!

Other Eats and Drinks of Interest: Our first dinner was at a mediocre Italian place called La Locanda on Heddon Street off Regent Street. The food wasn’t bad, but authentic Italian. My favorite place for food and atmosphere was The Wolseley at 160 Piccadilly. The food was nothing short of fantastic although a bit pricey. But, if you want to eat cheap, don’t come to London or you could go to Burger King. Our bill came to 131 pounds including the 44 pound bottle of Chianti. Still, in a nice restaurant in London, I don’t think 50 pounds per person minus the wine is that unreasonable. Brian doesn’t bat an eyelash at those prices because he has been in New York City far too long!

Monday we went down to Canary Warf. Ended up eating a very typical English dish of Lamb Goulash at the Cat & Canary along with a couple of local beers. That was a bit more reasonably priced but still the bill came to 35 pounds.

My All-Time-Favorite Drink: Raspberry-Chili Martini at the bar at the Westbury Hotel Bar. Damn, that was one killer (okay two killer) martinis! Fresh muddled raspberries in a bit of vodka then mixed with ice, chili-infused vodka strained into the chilled martini glass. Great taste of raspberry with the bite of the chili to sting the lips!

I did get a chance to taste Brian’s fresh Mojito. Fresh limes and mint muddled with some rum, combined into the shaker with ice and rum. Strained into a chilled tall glass with ice and sprigs of mint. These were not drinks, but were an experience in and of themselves…at the tall price of 11 pounds per drink. If you want beer prices, go down to your redneck bar down the street…this is London, ladies and gentlemen.

Tuesday night Brian headed to NY and I headed to Kuwait. Got in at 0630, but missed the bus to Ali As Salem, so had to hang around till the 1030 bus. Which then meant that my visa wasn’t going to be ready till Thurs morning. No passport/exit visa, no trip to Baghdad.

Thursday morning I checked in at 0730 and my passport was in so I was able to manifest on a space R for Baghdad. I had 15 minutes to get my stuff out of the tent and over to the departure tent. Before you know it, I was on a C130 and landing in Baghdad at noon. Honestly, it almost never goes that smooth, so I must have used up some points with someone on this trip!

So after all this, I am back. As much to restock the bank account as to get back my routine.

Crowne Plaza, Kuwait City…Take 2

2007-10-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

09 October 2007

Woke up again at 6am and convinced my body to stay in bed till 0730. I just stayed in last night and watched a couple of movies and some news. I did have the ribeye steak at the Ribeye Restaurant here. It was alright, but not as great as you might expect for 8KD – somewhere between $24 and $32 US. I’ve cooked better at home.

Ate a nice breakfast and then caught up with my email and laid around for a bit. Finally decided that I needed some physical activity, so I put on my gym shorts and went over to the gym to do some elliptical. That was pretty good and the machines are better kept than at the Balley’s I used to go to back home. Also took in a little steam, so I was all relaxed by the time I hit the shower.

With Ramadan going on now, I almost feel guilty if I even think of lunch, so I skipped it. If you don’t know, during Ramadan the Muslims aren’t allowed to eat, drink (even water) or chew gum from sunrise to sunset. Nothing is supposed to pass their lips. Americans have gotten scolded and berated for even drinking water in their cars on the highway during Ramadan. Best to adapt to the culture and try to understand where they are coming from. You actually can eat as a non-Muslim, just not in public. It is considered inconsiderate, ignorant and very bad manners to do otherwise.

Went down to the lobby to read for an hour this afternoon while housekeeping cleaned up the room. Then came back up to grab my book and swimsuit and head down to the pool for a bit. Not trying to get burned, but just a little bit of sun to maybe try to blend in this “farmer’s tan” I’ve got from running. I’m all tanned in the face, neck and arms up to the sleeves, but white as a ghost everywhere else! I’m thinking I won’t even get close to blending it in till it fades some this winter and I go on the cruise in Feb/March.

The hotel is nice enough and everyone that you speak to in Baghdad really talks it up, but I think I enjoyed my stay at the Hilton more. There were more shops, a bigger area to just wander, nice spa and it is located on the beach. The only real advantage the Crowne Plaza has is that it is within 20 minutes of the airport. The pool is nice and they have two nice restaurants plus the house restaurant, but it isn’t as posh as you might expect for the money or for Kuwait. The Hilton’s facilities, I thought were a bit better. Just my opinion, but should I have the opportunity to have to stay in Kuwait longer again, it will be at the Hilton.

Just got done with dinner. I decided on sushi tonight to boost my bored attitude. Worth every penny. They had a buffet open for the first hour. That and a mixed plate of grilled beef, chicken, fish and vegetables and I was in pig heaven. I ended up spending about $38 which was more than last night, but at least I felt like I got my moneys worth and I enjoyed it.

Got to talking to another American there after I heard him say he worked in southern Iraq. Turns out he has worked for several companies over there for the past few years. It isn’t too unusual for contractors to jump around between contracts. After all, as much BS as the company will spew about their dedication to Mom, apple pie and Chevrolet, it all comes down to the money. If you got a heartbeat (and a clean rap sheet) you’re good to go. Contracting companies are more concerned about having something with a heartbeat in country so they get paid for that day for that warm body. That’s why they don’t allow us to do LWOP (leave without pay). No warm body, no green in pocket for that body.

Anyway, had a very nice conversation. He just got back from a tour of Oktoberfest at Munich and then Amsterdam. He also had to convince a buddy of his from the States to make the trip to Europe. He wanted to go to Thailand, but his buddy could only be convinced with Europe. So we got to chatting all about Munich and A’dam.

Well, all repacked, checked in and ready to go. All done but getting out of bed in the morning.

Resting (and Restless) In Kuwait

2007-10-09T03:44:00.000-07:00

08 October 2007

Just a quick blog to let you know that I made it to Kuwait on Sunday night. Hadn't slept in over 24 hours, so I was pretty wiped out. Thankfully, the flight was uneventful this time too. I managed to eat some KFC before crashing hard.

I ended up assigned to a tent that was packed to the gills with people and only upper bunks available, so I cheated and slipped into a different tent that was intended only for L3 translators. Got woke up about 3am to screaming Iraqi/American interpreters "talking" to one another. This culture is too weird sometimes. These people always scream at each other and sound like their pissed off at one another and wanna rip each other’s heads off, when in fact, they are just being social and just over-exuberant in voicing their emotions! I’ve seen this even in the chow hall, so it shouldn’t be *that* much of a shock to me.

Woke up at 0600 with all my jetlag still going on (jetlag from working mids all this time and not sleeping for 24 hours. My poor old corpse doesn’t know what time or day it is!) Showered and went over to the chow hall for some breakfast and had the chance to catch some of the football scores. The Bears actually surprised me. I saw Favre's speach to the media and he looked like he was gonna cry. I kinda teared up myself just watchin him at breakfast. :( Chargers walked all over Denver. Saw a couple of other scores, but didn't see any games.

The visa only took 12 hours and 3 KD (Kuwaiti Dinar) to process. Called British Air to see if they could put me on an earlier flight out to A'dam, but they said that my ticket is a non-refundable/non-changeable ticket. If I'd known that, I'd of not booked on BA. Never had any problems with Lufthansa/United. I'll have to watch that in the future since with the reliability of flights out of Baghdad, you never know when you’ll have to push flights back or make changes.

I'm sure that you're probably surprised to hear that I had had enough of that living like a friggin "nomad in a tent" crap for one night to last me a lifetime and checked into the Crowne Plaza just outside of the airport. I can't change my flight, so that means that I'm here till my flight to A'dam on Wed morning. And since I had my passport and approved visa, I was free to leave the base. Nice hotel. I'm just getting ready now to have a nice steak dinner. I was thinking about sushi, but I may do that tomorrow night.

I did lay out at the pool for an hour and read too this afternoon. I'll say that it is a whole lot more humid here on the Gulf than up in Baghdad. 100 degrees with 80% humidity is hot after Baghdad's mild 99 with 30% humidity.

May go out to the souks (pronounced sooks like boots) tomorrow since I have time on my hands tomorrow. Don't worry, no more rugs for now...unless it is a really really really good deal. Maybe I can finally get a picture of that sheep's head at the butcher that has been skinned but they've left the eyes in with the teeth and gums all showing like some horror flick promo. Really gross, but a pretty captivating thing to remember.

In Kuwait Again

2007-10-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

08 October 2007

Well, in Kuwait again. I'm enroute to meet Phil in Amsterdam and then home to Chicago for a couple of weeks. I wasn't expecting to take so many days, but when I found out that I had days left from last year that were not charged as vacation and as medical leave (which all of it should have been charged as medical leave!) I figured I need to burn up some days or lose them.

Can you think up any better way of burning up days than in Amsterdam and then at home? I sure can't. I've got big plans for the next 30 days. But first, a commercial interlude in Kuwait to get jacked around by their new visa system which involves contractors coming into and out of the country to now part with 12 bucks each way to their treasury. The U.S. Government isn't paying them enough for the pleasure of us to be here. They now have to squeeze more money out of us for the pleasure of acting as a visiting force in their country. So I now have the luxury of lazing around for a day or so while the Kuwaiti's screw around with my visa to verify I'm not a migrant Indian roadworker in their country illegally!

We ought to just pull out of Kuwait and do everything through Qatar and eventually our NATO allies...Turkey. Once the UN thing gets going, flights from Qatar or Turkey would be much easier and cheaper than this clusterf*** of a mess we have here in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti's haven't been all that accomodating as of late and seem to be tiring of our extended stay. Who can blame them? We pushed out the Iraqi's over how many years ago. How much longer are we going to remind them that we gave them back their country? When is the debt paid back to us? Kind of like Danny Kaye reminding Bing Crosby of saving his life in White Christmas. How many times can you milk it to make them feel guilty and allow you to have your way with their country?

Couldn't get a flight out of Baghdad on Monday, so I left on Sunday and will try to get an earlier flight to Amsterdam if possible before my scheduled flt on on Wed if the visa comes back early. Usually, Brit Air flights are overbooked, so I am still debating whether to get a hotel room in Kuwait City for a night or continue my wonderful stay in the tents at the LSA (Logistical Support Area) at Ali As Salem until my departure. Kind of nasty though living in a transitory tent with ten or twelve others on bunks that are old and ratty and the lights are on 7X24 with god-knows how many sand flees living in the tent with us and how much drool from how many people who have occupied those bunks and NOT put down sheets. Not the Hilton by any stretch of the imagination.

Phil has never been to A'dam (hell, I just got him to Munich last year and London the year before) so I figure six days should be a good start. I already told him that we have to go to the Van Gogh Museum and to the Hard Rock. As many times as I've been in A'dam, I've never been to either one. I have to take him to the Heiniken "Experience" as well. We'll be staying in a very nice B&B (Bead and Breakfast) called the Seven Bridges Hotel. This place is nicely appointed in antiques and Oriental rugs in a nice canal house location in the Eastern Canal area. http://www.sevenbridgeshotel.nl/ Tripadvisor.com and the Top 10 Amsterdam book make special mention of this place, so I have high expectations.

I'm hoping to pay a visit to my Dutch friends in Arnhem, but R in India at a shooting competition with the Dutch Army and A has a badmitton tournament that weekend. Might just take the train out for a quick visit as it is only a 45 min train ride. Their daughter is a real riot and I love her just as much as my own nephews and nieces. She actually reminds me of her uncle (R's little brother) when he was that age, so we know where she gets it from!

After that, we will just wing it on what else to do. I'm thinking I would like to do a dinner show at the comedy club Chicago Boom, also well written about. And of course, we will have to see the Red Light District and take in some of the clubs. Also have to take him to the Bull Dog; one of the most popular "Coffee Shops". He still can't believe that they actually have shops that are so open with the soft drugs...with a menu, mind you! Not that we'll partake, but speak up if you want a t-shirt. Who wouldn't want to be sportin a t-shirt from the Bull Dog?

We arrive back home on the 16th, and I'll be in Phoenix from Mon-Thurs the next week. So I'm open Oct 17th-21st and then from Oct 26th-Nov 1st. I leave for London on the night of Nov 2nd. I'm meeting my buddy that I grew up with who now lives in NY, in London for the weekend. He is in London for a budget meeting that week, so he will stay over in London till Tuesday and fly back to NY when I fly to Kuwait. I'm pretty sure we can find something to keep us busy in London!

BBC news had an article about the Chinese Teracotta soldiers being on display at the British Museum while I'll be there, so I would really like to give a go at getting tickets to that. Wouldn't mind catching a show either. One place I will absolutley force Brian into is the Texas Embassy. Great TexMex food and drinks right next to the Canadian Embassy in Trafalgar Square! It is a required stop in my book.

That's all for now. I'll let you all know if the plans actually worked out as the vacation progresses.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2007-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

28 Sep 2007

What the heck happened to the summer here? While it has still been hot here, I guess I thought that I was still on summer vacation from the blog. I wrote an email to some friends of mine yesterday and got an email back, “I would hate to see how long this email would have been if you were not bored with life and writing.”

So I guess I can’t use the excuse that I’ve been bored with life here and writing!

Guess the best way to catch you all up would be exerpts from my emails home over the last few months. I will say that while life has been so boring here in Iraq, at times I’ve been living vicariously through others back home.

Let’s pick things up from 28 June:

7/6/07
I had been keeping in touch with Miss Z about my bicep reattachment. She contacted me after reading the blog and had a number of questions about my recovery, etc. prior to his operation. Her boyfriend/fiancé ended up having to have the same operation after his bicep blow-out. He is doing well and will start phys therapy soon. I’m sure all is going well by now.

The other two AFS kids that I liaisoned have shipped out and back home. I’m sad to not be there to see them off, but with email and the way I travel around the world, I may see them sometime in the near future. Great kids with great futures. You have to remember that these kids are the cream of the crop to start with. I wish that the US took seriously how important learning a foreign language is to our future international relations and business. The world is so much smaller now than when we grew up. The AFS program really prepares these kids for a future in the real world. If you’re interested, check out http://www.afs.org

7/12/07

Hey guys,

Hope all is going well at your end. Things are going alright here...hot as hell, but about normal this time of year. Been back to running the past six weeks and have lost some weight and a few belt loops. Can you believe we're almost half-way to August already?

My niece moved out to AZ last week. All drama, all the time on that front! You'd think she was moving to Greenland or something. And no, I haven't done Greenland...yet!

Well, I'm off to breakfast. It's almost 9pm by you, but its 6 am here. Time for a some yogurt and an English muffin with peanut butter. Hoping that they have bananas, haven't seen any in about four days. Take care and I'll talk to you again soon.

7/18/07
Back in touch with my second cousin who works for P&G in Frankfurt. We lost touch for a few years there after the funeral in Chicago of my great Aunt.

Summer still the same in Baghdad…hot and dusty. At least I’m working nights, so I sleep thought the worst of the heat in the afternoon.

You can tell that I’m at the end of my workday, can't you? I'm getting psyched to get outta here today and go running. 12 hour shifts can really be a drag 5-6 times a week. Running has really helped me to relax and leave that all behind before I head off to bed at around 1030am...gotta love night shift. Still trips me out when I wake up at 4:30 pm and wonder why it is so bright out through the curtains this early in the morning! Duh!

7/23/07

Tony and Ang are working on adopting number 3 from China.

Congrats to Carl’s cousin on his recent wedding. Carl and family headed out to Washington State for the festivities. “We attended my cousin’s very, very earthy (environmentally friendly, vegetarian, clothing optional at times, and decidedly un-Lutheran) wedding retreat while there, which was interesting to see and also interesting to see how my Aunt, Uncle and parents handled it.”

We want to see wedding party pics at the next group meeting. Okay, I'll just blurt it out...so did you and your wife end up doing the buff thing for the wedding...She should have been easy to convince…since it wouldn't have required all the shopping and such of looking for shoes and a bag to match the dress! ;)

I’m thinking that *this* would have been the wedding event of the summer to attend! I’m sure the bride saved a bundle on the wedding dress. Just a few properly placed bows and some body paint and things are all in order! Why don’t I have relatives like that?

7/24/07

Re: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Lots (maybe up to 3/4 gallon) if you live in a trailer at the other end of the trailer park (because we don't have private individual "wet" trailers) from the bathroom trailers and are too lazy to walk, thus filling up previous used water or Gatorade bottles. Do I get a prize for properly answering that one? We had army people counseled for throwing the full bottles of urine in the dumpster in the morning because it is considered haz waste!

One of the medical guys I know here was telling me about two nurses that were hit by a mortar round on their way from the gym at the Embassy Green Zone last week. They never knew what hit them. Guess if you have to go, better to be quickly like that. They have always said that if you heard the boom, you've got nothing to worry about. It's the one you don't hear that completes your closing of and "buying of the farm."

Nothing too interesting goin on here otherwise. I've just been studying, running, working and sleeping. What an existence, huh? I wish the weight came off as easy as it went on. I wonder if the blood pressure meds haven't slowed down my metabolism too. It is a real job trying to undo all that ice cream I ate last year! I must say though, I enjoy my runs around Lost Lake. It is a great way to unwind after the day...even if it is at 930am when it is 90 degrees. It is that or wait till 1730 when it is 100. The joys of working nights. The only good thing is that two days of the week when I'm off, I can run at 0530 when it is nice out.

7/25/07

Sorry about not keeping up the blog. Not too much going on and when there is, it isn't exactly stuff that I can post up on the blog in any timely fashion. With the very negative mood of the public and press back home, I'm not going to risk getting shut down for something I've written, if you catch my drift.

Caught another cold that has been doing the rounds here. My head is pretty stuffed up tonight. I still felt okay yesterday, so I ran yesterday morning, but tonight is complete head cold stuffiness. Oh well, what can you do? It doesn't feel like it is as severe as the one I got when I first got back, but an annoyance all the same

The new HP book was supposed to arrive at the PX on the 21st, but never made it. So no, I don't have the book and no hope of getting it in the near future unless you buy it for me and send it....hint, hint. But don't pass me down yours, I want my own hardcover. And I did finish To Kill A Mockingbird. It was a surprisingly good book.

Learned a new phrase today. Don’t know if it’s origin comes from Lucent-talk or not, but the new term of the week is “UPAMs ( as in; unknown persons above me). Apparently, these UPAM’s “are making decisions about my business, and since I don't know who they are, I can't communicate with them to understand where all the disconnects are and how their decisions are going to impact the US telecom business. Every day is a new adventure in misunderstanding and confusion.” Thanks to Cheryl and the completely dysfunctional business environment at Alcatel-Lucent for this enlightening new acronym. Probably the oldest corporation (Lucent being the brain-fart of the Ma Bell breakup) with more acronyms than the US military.

7/29/07

Although you guys have always made fun of my eating/chewing habits (you know, counting my chews...which I really don't do!) I can’t help it, I’m a slow eater. I like the taste of my food!! Anyway, MSNBC.com had an article about “Chewing too Little” After all, we're not talking about how many licks it takes to get to the chewy center of a tootsie roll pop...which, if you remember the commercial, is 3...according to the wise old owl!

This cold I have has been a wimpy one. Mostly has been just minor congestion and sniffles from going from A/C to the 120 degree heat. I've been running in the morning when I get off at 930 and it has been around 95 out and I don't have any congestion then. Only when I go into the a/c do I get stuffy. Strange.

Looking forward to getting the HP7. I'm reading a book right now called Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin. He grew up in Rhodesia in the 1960's before it became independent Zimbawbwe. With all the stupid crap Mugabe has been doing over the past five years ("repatrization" of land from white farmers (with no compensation) to black indigenous Zimbabwians and only those of his political party who don't know shit about farming), all he has done is bankrupt the country, cause 60% or greater unemployment of his black indigenous countrymen and cause 5000% inflation and shortages of all goods. Very sad to go from the richest country in Africa to one of the poorest.

8/5/07

I just had coffee for the last time with my old friend from Kalkar. He left today back to the States. It had been 20 years since I was stationed with him in Germany and we've been having coffee mostly every week since I got back, catching up with each other like 20 years was a couple of weeks! With him it was less of a surprise because I received an email first from him telling me that he got to Victory while I was back home with my operations.

On that note…So I'm at the chow hall tonight. I'd just woken up an hour or so ago since I work mids. The damned chow hall as usual doesn't have crap worth eating and they don't have my regular salad dressing out. So I'm not exactly in a pleasant mood to start with. Out of the blue, some clean-cut looking Asian guy in a major's Army uniform walks up to me and says, "Dave, how ya doing?" like he's known me my whole life or something. But you know what? I have no idea who this is...I was clueless (okay, more clueless than usual) and left speechless (and that doesn't happen too often either!)

Well, he reintroduces himself...you know, John from Tellabs. Oh, now I am vaguely starting to remember him. That's right, he worked in the 5500 maintenance side and his cubicle was on the other side of mine and Bryan’s. His reserve unit is deployed here. Don't know for how long, but I looked him up on my local email global list and sent him off a message. Asked him if he wanted to meet for coffee. How strange is that?!

I've lost probably 15 pounds and was told by one of the seargents that I needed to get some clothes that fit me. He said that I've lost so much weight that the ones I have look like a potato sack on me! I guess the running and watching what I'm eating is paying off. While I was down with my back pain, I really couldn't do too much of anything but eat. So I really packed on the pounds. I'd say I'm back around 187 now and into 33’s.

One inch and about 10 more pounds to go. I've been running nearly every day and am comfortable doing 4.5 miles probably two or three times a week depending on how hot it is and whether there is a breeze or not. The shoes I have had made a difference too. I'm wearing a very light Reebok shoe. Just enough support but light enough that I don't feel like I'm running in boots!

Got an email from my niece today. She was asking about how to choose a mango at the grocery store. How does one tell their 19 year old niece that the best thing about mangos is having them fed to you! Sticky, sweet and much better than strawberries and whipped cream! I had never had a mango until I was 29 years old. I feel so naive and sheltered!

8/8/07

Lots of rain back home. We haven’t had even a sprinkle here in months. Not that I’m beggin for it either. The rain usually starts around November with some occasional showers here and there in October. Rain=mud. Sun good…rain and mud, bad!

8/15/07

Gotta love Courtney!

In are recent interview, Courtney Love (former wife of Curt Cobain and former drug poppin, "drink till your bathed in vomit" bad-girl of the band Hole who by the way was all insulted when someone suggested that she did heroin while pregnant...to which she responded something like, "jees, it isn't like I did it in the last trimester or anything!") discusses how she cleans up and "cleans out"....

"My daughter and I were kind of going for it because the dessert's fantastic," the former Hole frontwoman said of the macrobiotic diet she was following beforehand. "I put on 30 pounds and I put on another 15 out of emotional depression. Then I finally get an Italian Vogue cover, and I'm 182 pounds."

While she still indulges in macrobiotic edibles, the now 139-pound Love balances it out with fish and two meal replacement shakes per day. She also fasts several times a year and visits a clinic for those figure-friendly colonics.
"By the way, I hate reading magazines where the actresses are saying, 'Broccoli and fish, broccoli and fish,'" said Love, who appears on the Harper's cover clad in only a hat, shoes and strategically placed jewelry. "You liars. You bulimic liars."
Now *that’s* class!

8/21/07

Joke of the Day:

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him. She says hello. He's rather taken aback because he can't place where he knows her from.

So he says, "Do you know me?" To which she replies, "I think you're the father of one of my kids."

Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, "My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching while your partner whipped my butt with a riding crop???"

She looks into his eyes and says calmly, "No, I'm your son's teacher!"

8/31/07

So I’ve decided to waylay the CCNA for now. They are changing the test in Nov and I don’t know that I can accomplish the second part before the deadline. I’ll come home for now and order the new books and start back at the books again when I get back in November. This of course, will open up my schedule some for lunch dates while I’m home. I actually look forward to catching up with a bunch of my friends that way.

I have continued to run about six days a week, roughly 4 miles each time...unless I'm feeling lazy, then I'll only do 2-3/4 miles or 3-1/4 miles. The heat even at 0930 in the morning prevents me from putting in any more mileage than that. Once it gets cooler in late September, I may be able to make one more circle around Lost Lake which would add another 2 miles onto the two laps (4 miles) I currently do. I have managed to drop about 1.5 inches off my waist and about 15 lbs, so I'm feeling better.

I guess people can see it in my face too, although I don't notice it much. I do notice that clothes are fitting better. The bicep and the back are both doing great too. It is hard to believe how much pain I was tolerating with the back for so long. I can truly say that I am again taking for granted, not living with pain every day.

The mood here is sketchy. Some days, more booms than I'd like to hear. But most days are fairly quiet. I don't think our presence here is all that welcome. At some point a realistic decision has to be drafted as to reducing by significant numbers the amount of soldiers and foreign civilians here in Iraq. I suspect that those decisions won't be made till after the next election. Bush is pretty adamant on that point in spite of public opinion.

I think we need a change but none of the candidates to date are exactly impressing too many either. I wish Colin Powell would reconsider. Now there is a man how knew the score and knew how to lead. Bush should have fell in line with him but was too busy grinding the ax for his father's failures in the Middle East.

9/12/07

Imagine my shock when I saw an article in MSNBC.com on a scientist that I’d worked with when I was at Palmer Station, Antarctica! Bill is still doing penguin studies there through Univ of Montana. Great article if you are interested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19918376/

And here is the article from MSNBC today about the rocket that landed in our backyard on the 11th. If we made a big deal about everything that flew through the air here, we'd never get anything accomplished in the day! Although, this one did break a bunch of windows with the concussion of the explosion and it was confirmed to be a 240mm imported from Iran. Rocked me out of bed. One of those that made the walls of the trailer "breathe".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20754571/

9/28/07

Back to where we started. So there you have it…What I Did On My Summer Vacation!

Dusting Off the Blog

2007-06-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

28 June 2007

I received an email from Cheryl this week questioning whether I was alright. She said it was time to brush the dust off the old blog and make an update! Now how the heck she ever could have known that we have been have all these dust storms covering everything with dust is beyond me. Premonition, maybe.

Sorry for the long break. I’ve been keeping myself busy with work, reading, studying and running. My running and diet are coming along fine…in fact, I’ve dropped an inch and about ten pounds. Must be the heat and sweating! Been reading a whole lot too. Additionally, in the last month, I finally broke out the books and started studying the CCNA books. I’d like to prepare for an October testing, but I have to say that this stuff can be daunting! Like drinking from a fire hose. But if you take one day at a time and concentrate on one chapter at a time, it is do-able. Jack the guy who sits behind me in the one office I work at, reminds me…”How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”

I hesitate at times to mention how things are outside our wall of protection here. With all the raids taking place in Baghdad, it seems like the insurgents are like kids who are about to get caught with fireworks…better to use them up than have them taken away! Lots of fire fights and booms at all hours. They make for very rude and noisy neighbors at times.

Since I haven’t been writing too much, I’ve failed to mention that since I’ve been back, I’ve been enjoying coffee about once a week with an old friend from Kalkar. As usual with so many of my old friends, it is like picking up where you left off even after 20 years. Our lives have taken a few unplanned exits along the way, but Ron Southern and I have been catching up. Or maybe I’ve been catching up with him since he has been keeping up with my blog since I started writing it. It’s an odd feeling when you realize that someone knows you better than you know them. Like when he is actually following my train of thought on something we’re discussing and he quotes something back to me from my writing. Gives you that exposed, open and airy feeling the emperor must have felt after realizing that he actually WAS naked!

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news lately, the six time Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Champion might possibly be sidelined from the July 4th contest due to an arthritic jaw! (Okay! Let’s not even go there…even though the possibilities for jokes are endless!) Maybe they could puree his hot dogs and see if he could suck 58-3/4 hot dogs through a straw. Sounds like preparations for the Senior Olympics. I’m gonna leave this whole thing alone since it is only going downhill fast.

Expectations Adjustment

2007-06-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

11 June 2007

It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been back over a month already. I know too that I should have been writing more. I had promised myself that I’d make postings every two weeks at the minimum. Well, reality and everyday life take over and resolutions and expectations tend to fall to the wayside.

It hasn’t helped any that I ended up catching a summer cold about 12 days ago. This thing just keeps on hanging on! Started out as a sore throat and once the sore throat went away, the congestion started. Just making my excuse as to why I haven’t written anything over the last two weeks. Along with being sick and congested, I stopped running because I was too busy hacking up a lung and running wasn’t going to help that any.

Life is alright lately. Kind of cyclical when I put things into perspective. It took KBR about three weeks to fill in with stone the 2x2x2 deep hole that a mortar left about 125 yards from my trailer in the dirt a week or so before I got back. Usually they are better at covering up the remnants of that kind of stuff. The neighbors three trailers over were out having a smoke the other day and took three bullet rounds into their trailer about a foot above their head. Not all the trailers have the 12 foot barriers around them. Like all the other KBR projects around here, they start something and then lose interest in finishing them.

The past week has been a week in hell trying to sleep during the day. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m on a KBR rant today! KBR in all their wondrous glory, has been working on connecting a generator to Dodge South. They can’t seem to work on the power when the temps are in the 80’s during the night for some reason. Don’t you know that you can only work on power when the temps outside are 110-118 degrees out?

Seems they can’t get it right and had the electric out for 8 hours last Monday, 10 hours last Wednesday, 2 hours Friday, 12 hours Saturday, 2 hours on Sunday and two hours today. It’s all well and good, but for us day sleepers/night workers, it is no fun trying to sleep in a trailer that is heated up to 110 degrees because the boneheads don’t know how electric works. Haven’t heard the loud popping sound yet of them pulling their heads out of their asses, so I’m sure there are more power outages in store.

Add to this the current chow hall situation. No deliveries for the past four days means no fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, yogurt. Thank goodness I can have my milk since it is UHT (ultra high temp treated for long shelf life and doesn’t have to be refrigerated until you want to drink it cold.) We used that stuff in the Antarctic and I used to get the chocolate UHT in Germany for a change of pace every so often. Otherwise, if it ain’t frozen, freeze dried or canned, it ain’t here.

The last time pickin’s were so slim was back in the summer of 2005 when the convoys were being blown up by the insurgents. I have a pic from back then of a trailer with a mortar mark through it on both sides. The mortar went through the trailer completely without hitting the goods inside! Except now the issue isn’t KBR. The only excuse is that the 3rd ID doesn’t know how to operate a chow hall and order proper supplies.

Reading what I’ve just wrote, you’d think that I was in a bad mood. Actually, I’m in a good mood, I just have to readjust my expectations and stop being such a pansy-ass whiner about things. Been through all this before but I got spoiled along the way as life got more comfortable. I guess it could be worse; we could be on water restrictions too!

Although, I’ve been through water restrictions during the austral winter of 1989 when the iceberg did a little dance on the sea-water intake pipe at Palmer Station, Antarctica. One one-minute shower three times a week. South Pole actually has stiffer restrictions on water use allowing one one-minute shower once a week! Fortunately for us at Palmer during the austral summer we had the luxury of extra water from the glacial melt pond. In the austral winter we had to make all of our own water through reverse osmosis and desal. Once the RO was down, we were restricted on water use for a couple of weeks until the divers went down and removed the squashed part of the intake pipe.

Oops, sorry for that little unannounced trip in the way-back machine. We’re back in 2007, so you can release your lap belts, feel free to use electronic devices and adjust your hair at this time. Although that little way-back trip still has a little Level 42 (Something About You) playing in my head, I feel better now. Just needed an attitude adjustment and to put all things into perspective. I’ll stop whining for now!

Cliff's Notes

2007-05-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

16 May 2007

Well, I’m back. Sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve updated things. The main reason for my not writing is adusing to now being on mids, jet lag and being in a personal funk lately. After I arrived back, I found out that someone that I considered a friend when I left back in January has treated my friendship like spam. I don’t like feeling played-off and back-stabbed, amazingly by the same hypocrite that said to watch out for “users”!!

Well, guess I won’t have to worry since my “friend” (and I’m using the term loosely) has moved on. One of the other sure things of working in a contractor/military environment: If you’ve got a gripe with someone, don’t hang onto it too long. Either you or they will move on at some point in the near future.

Aside from that, I’ve pretty much jumped right back into things from the day I arrived. So here are the Cliff’s Notes (not available yet on their website) of what’s been going on for me:

1) My new digs. I’m into a trailer. I didn’t fall off the list since I was out on medical leave. Great thing about it is that my roomie is one of my coworkers. Better someone you know than a stranger. I’ve been that route before and it was unnerving and explosive at best!

2) My new routine. Being down with my bad back, I’ve put on about 15 lbs over the last year. Now that I got my "new and improved back" (Disk 2.0, I think), my new resolution is to get fit again. I miss my 4 and 6 milers! Now I’m watching what I eat and back to running. After so long having not run, you can’t believe how much the old corpse aches from just a mile! But I’m loving every minute of it….Hey, wasn’t that a lyric from a bad 80’s hair-band song by Loverboy?!!!

3) Unfortunately, one of the outcomes of my new regiment are the new blisters on the little toes! Right now, I’d venture to say that my left little toe swelled slightly resembling little bangers! If you don’t know what bangers are, they are little plumpish English breakfast sausages. The right one has gotten better, but the left one is still a bit tender after the swelling went down!

4) The Green Bean Coffee Shop is still alive and operating on Victory. In fact, my first night back, I walked up to get a cup of coffee and don’t you know, there are people dancing naked around the picnic tables! In all their jubilation and dancing, it was explained to me that they were celebrating the arrival of chocolate and white chocolate powder that has been out of stock for six or so weeks and they could now have their Chocolate Lattes and Chocolate Frappes.

Okay, maybe they weren’t dancing naked but there was definitely some raucous celebration happening in observance of this commodity becoming available again! Mark my word: Coffee is serious business here since there is no drinking allowed!

A Good Time for a Koelsch

2007-05-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

7 May 2007

It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that my real second home isn’t Iraq, isn’t Antarctica, certainly isn’t Kuwait…it’s Germany!

I made sure to tuck one more stop into my itinerary to visit my friend Bill in Germany before heading back to Iraq. I’m already this far and have been away from Iraq for this long, what’s a few days waylayed in Germany, right?

Before I’d made my final plans to go back, I emailed Bill, who I hadn’t corresponded with for some time to see if he had time for an old friend passing through. He emailed back that his schedule would be clear whenever I wanted to stop in.

But first, a real coincidence! We were at our neighbor’s house the Saturday before I was to leave and my neighbor Al, was in town from his o/s job in Dubai for his son’s first communion. We got to talking about our return trips to the Middle East and low and behold, we are flying out the same day on the same airline…but not on the same flight or same time. So I ran home, called United and fortunately, they were able to put me on his flight for later that day. It is always nicer to travel with someone you know, even if it was only half the journey. And Al, I still owe you a beer or two…thanks for the ride!

So when my plane rolls into Frankfurt, Bill was there waiting and we promptly took off for Cologne, about a 2.5 hour drive north from Frankfurt. Bill has always been one to sightsee about all of Europe in his two year tour there and he’d only been to Cologne once before, so off we were to Koeln.

I couldn’t get a room at my favorite standby, the Intercontinental, so we made do with the Hyatt Regency just across the Rhein from the Dom and Bahnhof, cathedral and train station. Still very close to nearly everything you want to see and do in Cologne.

One of the first things we did was climb the spires of the Dom…some 177 steps or something ridiculous like that. Also made a stop at the Starbuck’s and I had to get my magnets at the Hard Rock Café. My sisters and I have been taken in by collecting these guitar-shaped bottle-opener Hard Rock Café refrigerator magnets. I know, more kitsch and junk, but so far we’ve got about a dozen or so of these things, so I just HAD to obtain some from Cologne. They were out of them the last time I was there.

One of the great things of this trip was the food and the restaurants! I thought that I knew Cologne well, but Bill and I stumbled upon the riverfront of pubs and restaurants in the Neumarkt district that I had not remembered was there. I had been in that area in about 1986 when my friend Cynthia and whatever flavor-of-the-year-boyfriend she traveled there with met me there, but I had completely not seen this area in all the times that I’ve recently been back to the city.

It was during this time that I felt compelled to introduce Bill to the wonderful world of Koelsch bier. Koelsch is only brewed in Cologne and is served up cold in tall and thin 0.2 liter glasses so the bier is always fresh and cold. Whipping around the tables with his little handled tray/holder that conveniently must hold about 20 of these little glasses, nearly as soon as the waiter sees your little .2 liter glass down to empty, like an eagle hunting prey, in one fell swoop he is spiriting off your empty glass, dropping a fresh one and marking your deckle (coaster) faster than the eye can blink! So Friday day/night and Saturday morning and afternoon were spent in Cologne eating and drinking well, thank you very much!

Too soon, we had to part with my adopted home away from home, Cologne, but not before I bought my Cologne Starbuck’s mug for the mug tree in the kitchen. I’m such a tourist sometimes! We had an invite to a birthday party about 30 minutes from Frankfurt in Bad Nauheim to attend. Bill’s friend Christine was celebrating her 30th and I was invited to attend with him.

No matter how confident other people perceive you to be with a second language, you always have the inner concern that you’re still being judged on your speaking as an outsider. Maybe that comes from all the language training back in high school and college…think word order (verb last), conjugations, consistent tenses, proper grammar, colloquialisms, ugggggh! I guess it is true that you are your own worst critic. I consider my German passable, but am always striving to pass it off to the Germans as fluent! Well, tonight was my chance to prove myself again.

If you weren’t aware of it, the two biggest hobbies of the Germans are drinking beer and talking world politics…and that might be considered by them as one hobby since it tends to go hand in hand! Or maybe it fits more into the category of Sport! This I learned a long, long time ago and tonight was going to be no exception. Fortunately for me, the Germans aren’t particularly critical of your political point of view, they only want to convince you of theirs!

So yes, my German got a workout. But I also had the opportunity to ask questions about the war (WWII) and them to me about our current skirmish in Iraq, and had the opportunity to learn more about their current culture. The political and even the cultural climate in Germany has really changed since the wall fell in ’89 as well as with the adoption of the Euro in ‘02.

To say that I enjoyed talking with Christine’s family is probably the understatement of the century. I didn’t find out until the evening was over that her one Uncle that I spent quite some time talking with, is a local judge! That kind of flipped me out. And as I said, they were not any bit critical of me or of our policy, only curious to discuss our thinking and approach of different situations.

Ulli, one of my German friends in Kalkar commented to me when I was leaving back in ‘87 that he was going to really miss me because I was one of the only Americans that could and would actually talk politics…in German. Maybe beer and politics are as much my Sport as theirs. Or maybe during those three years in Kalkar, Ulli trained me to be more German than I ever realized!

I finally crawled into bed at 0300. Bill took off ahead of me but we were getting up at 0830 for breakfast before he was to take me to the airport. My quick weekend in Germany had already come to an end. I had a great time and this will be the last time that I see Bill for awhile because he is PCSing (Permanent Change of Station) out to the Far East in three weeks.

The nice thing about friends overseas is you always have someone somewhere to go visit. The hard thing about friends overseas is that you never know how long it will be till you see them again. Aufwiedersehen Germany, aufwiedersehen Bill…until we meet again.

"Portrait of a Soldier"

2007-05-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

02 May 2007

Yesterday in my flurry of trying to see people on my list of people to visit before I leave to go back to Camp Victory, I stopped by NIU (Northern Illinois University in DeKalb). I did get in to see Ann, but Harry was as elusive as ever. I also wanted to stop by and see one of my old marketing profs, Tanuja.

While waiting in the waiting area for her, I was scanning through the university paper, the Northern Star. On page three, I saw an article by Carlene Eck about “Dead soldiers honored, remembered at HSC” (Holmes Student Center on the campus.) After reading the article, I knew that I’d have to view this memorial after my visit with Tanuja.

“Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn visited NIU Monday morning to unveil “Portrait of a Soldier,” a memorial showcasing 150 Illinois men and women who have died while serving in the military since Sept. 11.”

“The portraits were hand-drawn by Cameron Schilling, 24, of Mattoon, as a gift to the families who have lost loved ones in the Iraq war.”

Our local DeKalb, Daily Chronicle also featured this memorial on the front page in an article written by Dana Herra. In it, Dana notes that “Sketches of dead Americans go ‘right to your heart’”…a point which I will not argue, especially after seeing it.

The pencil sketches are almost lifelike and are arranged with personal histories of each Soldier, Marine, Sailor and Airman. About half-way through however, I was overcome with emotion as Dana Herra describes the reason for my getting all choked up. “A piece of pink notepaper is stuck to the sketch of Lance Cpl. Sean Maher, a 19-year old Marine. ‘Sean Patrick, I love and miss you very much,’ the note reads. It’s signed, ‘Your loving sister.’”

I have been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, but didn’t connect to the emotion attached to that rock by so many I saw there. Prior to my experiences in Iraq how could I fully understand the personal impact of the casualties of war? It is the hand-written notes of people still emotionally connected to their loved ones that now helps me understand and connect with their loss.

These men and women depicted in the life-like poses with their steel-faced determination appeared to me as troops in formation ready for combat until I reached that pink hand-written note. Someone’s personal reminder of their loss. That cold reminder that these men and woman will be forever remembered as Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen. Names forever etched in marble or steel on their tombstones, honored and remembered in front of their county courthouses on veteran remembrance statues and obelisks. God willing, they will also be remembered for the honor with which they served their country and for their ultimate sacrifice in the name of Freedom.

Joan Crawford Eyebrows

2007-03-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

25 March 2007

Spring has seemed to have sprung here in Chicago. A few cold days here and there, but typical Chicago weather for spring. We hit 78 out here in the sticks today! For someone recovering and just "hanging around", you wouldn't believe the schedule I keep now!

I had physical therapy on Monday and confirmed my meeting with my General Practitioner for Thurs. I started giving the high BP more thought and have decided to consult a Preventative Cardiologist. Edward Hospital in Naperville has a great cardiology department and with my Dad checking out at 58 and Gramp at 74, I think maybe some preventative medicine is just what I need right now. I just want another opinion of someone where this is their primary concern and practice.

Tuesday I had to be home for the yard guys because we had the yard aerated and dethatched.

Wednesday, I met with my buddy Bob and the accountant about some possible new opportunities. Also on Wednesday, more arm physical therapy. I have great range of motion and flexibility, and the therapist is starting to work with the resistance training more now. In a couple more weeks, he will begin strength training and then I'll feel like I'm in the home stretch. I still have some pain in the arm or in the wrist at times and this crazy humid weather kind of frustrates things.

Thursday morning, I met with my GP. Believe it or not, the bp was 118/80! He was as surprised as I was. The only thing I can chalk up the other readings to would be a reaction to the pain from the arm and back. I'm still intending on seeing the preventive doc and told my doc that I put more than my share into the cookie jar, and I intend to get something back out of Uncle Sugar! In other words, I want to be around a few years into retirement. Also made follow-up calls to corporate in Colo Springs today to get duplicate W2's. They sent mine to Victory and no one forwarded them onto me...can you say, DUH! My accountant can't submit my taxes without them.

From there to the physical therapist for the back. I'm officially four weeks out from surgery and can start physical therapy on the back. My therapist, Jason, I had during the summer when I had problems this summer after doing too much in the yard and threw out my back again. I like him because he isn't afraid to touch. So many physical therapists would rather don a rubber suit and gas mask than touch their patients. I think physical therapy is all about touch for healing. How can you determine what I need if you are only on the outside of your protective bubble looking in? You have to have a rapport with your patient and have to listen and touch to find out what is going on. So I wanted to go back to him. He actually listens to me when I tell him how it hurts and what is going on with me.

Thursday I also had (drum roll please!) my first pedicure and facial. We have a men’s shop in St. Charles called the Men's Groom Room. Since this whole back/disk thing has been going on my feet have not gotten the care they deserve. It’s just been too hard to bend over to regularly cut and clean the nails and such. Every time I’d bend over to put on socks and shoes, the herniated disk would push into the sciatic nerve more. So I said, "to heck with it" and decided to have it all done.

You can't believe the difference it makes. The feet feel great. I had never had anyone touch my feet before, mostly because they are too ticklish, but also because they are even disgusting to me! And my reason for not going sooner was this recurring nightmare I have about people touching my feet. In my nightmare, I was imagining poor Ellen oil and salt scrubbing my feet and to my imagined horror, ending up feeling tickled and gently applying the heel of my foot in a light backward pushing motion to her forehead, sending her (arms and legs flailing helplessly around)careening across the floor. “Ooops, sorry,” is all I say apologetically in this nightmare of mine! But all that worry was for naught! She said that by using the correct pressure on the toes, it really isn’t as bad as you might think…and you know what? She was right.

Then Ellen performed the dreaded eyebrow wax. She damned near trimmed down what looked like Andy Rooney’s eyebrow-mustaches/unibrow from above my eyes and then applied the hot wax to shape my new and improved eyebrows! I must say that waxing is a bit more painful than the threading of the eyebrows done at the Hilton in Kuwait back in May, but it is also a cleaner look too. In several “light tugs” (more like pulling friggin salt water taffy if you ask me how it felt!) she removed the dried wax around my new eyebrows.

Next, the facial. Ellen donned her welder’s mask and metal grinder to perform a wonderfully peaceful light microderm abrasion. Sparks flying and her screaming over the handheld metal grinder, "Pores, who needs stinkin’ pores?!" Then after that, some hot towels to open the pores to slather over my face like cream cheese on a bagel, an ever-so-thin coat of very nice smelling wall spackle with a refreshing alcohol base to make you “feel the burn!” After all this work you can only imagine that my face is taut, expressionless and a beautiful pasty white…not to mention my new and improved, beautiful "Joan Crawford" eyebrows....not! (Although, I don’t remember seeing any wire hangers on the coat rack)

But truthfully, the whole experience was so relaxing and felt so great that I'm looking forward to doing it all again next month. I never understood my sister talking about getting the facial and pedicure till I did it for myself. Furthermore, I went back on Friday to have the hair cut too. Laurie did a great job on my hair. I think it helped too that I liked the way she cut her previous customer and so I was able to point and grunt that I liked what she did with the last one! Boy, I'm really sounding like I looked like that Geico Caveman, aren't I?

My barber in town here in Sycamore must have drank his lunch last week when he cut my hair, because I looked like an experiment…everyone was just too polite to say anything. Anyway, the other problem I've had with barbers back home is that they're too afraid to use a #2 blade and cut the sides shorter like the Pakistani's back at the barber shop at Victory. So I finally feel human again with this new haircut.

Friday morning I met with the electrician about a quote to put up the new lighting and to add some circuits in the basement. Keep tripping breakers because we have too many gadgets sucking juice off one circuit.

Then off to a great lunch with my friend Cheryl who I used to work with at Lucent and another friend Renee. Renee is a friend of Cheryl's that I got to know since she was already in the NIU MBA program when I was registering for it. She was the one I turned to for questions about the MBA program and we overlapped a year in school.

The three of us had a great lunch at this little Thai place on Randall Road in South Elgin where we were just getting caught up. When we first ordered, the English-speaking woman wasn't in so it was an interesting ordeal ordering lunch and iced tea! The tea was very interesting. It was like a green tea served with cream on the top and to our surprise tasted pretty good. When the bill came, the English-speaking one was there, so we were able to read the bill. Unfortunately, I missed out on my fortune because I ate it! The fortune cookies they served were rolled up and I didn’t look to see the scroll was rolled up in the center. Duh!

One week in the life of the gimp! I know it sounds hectic, but in all seriousness, I’m about ready to come back to work. I'm needing to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. I only feel right now like I'm keeping a full schedule to occupy my time and nothing more. I know that I’m making progress but not as fast as I want. Oh well, more next week.

“Fill Me In!”

2007-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

18 March 2007

Sorry for the very long hiatus. I received an email from a friend of mine that was titled “Fill Me In!” and that reminded me that I hadn’t written any updates on my situation back home in quite some time. So to make my job easier, I’m going to cut and paste parts of emails that I’ve sent out recently to others to catch you up or “fill you in.”

27 February 2007

Well, when I got this email last night, I was feeling pretty good. However, I just got the mail today and there is a bill for $7500 for a bicep reattachment that should have been taken care of by Workman's Comp! I'll get it straightened away. Left messages for the doc's office and for workman's comp too.

I finally got the alc test back about the blood sugar...negative/no pre-diabetes. Yes, it is a relief about the diabetes thing.

I was able to take a shower today and take off the bandage they had over the cut in my back where the herniated disk was removed. It is held together now with surgi-strips...they didn't even stitch it! So far, so good. No problems at all. A bit of soreness around the muscles that were cut to get to the disk, but that is healing well. My major fear has been overdoing things. I am not going to herniate this disk again! So naturally, I'm bored because I AM taking it easy like the doc told me to.

I've been a good boy and haven't done any weight lifting or extreme bending/stretching, blah, blah, blah. I start physical therapy for the bicep on Thursday and have my post op meeting with the back doc on Friday. So for the next 6-8 weeks, that will be my life. I guess that now I'm in a pattern of recovery.

The arm is causing me more pain right now, but I start phys therapy this week...finally. Still have pain in the wrist and at the back of the upper forearm. I'm sure these are the areas that the phys therapist will be working on to strengthen. I'm driving to the doc tomorrow for that and then on Friday to the post op for the back. I will be 7 days out tomorrow, so I'm good to go.

As you can see, things are finally feeling like they're going well and the time home has been going by fast. I felt so ancient last week and like I was falling apart and this week I am ready to go and conquer the world...slowly. Now I'm just bored. I catagorized and cataloged all my pogs, so now what should I do?

05 March 2007

Had my first meeting with the physical therapist last Thursday. I have my sched for the next four weeks of pt for the bicep. He commented that I'm doing well with my progress, mobility and range of motion so far. Still have some pain in the wrist and in the upper forearm, but as I do more of the stretching exercises for the elbow, arm and wrist, things seem to hurt less.

Most of the exercises are more isometric in nature and then I have to rub cream into the scar to help soften the scar tissue and to help make the scar less stiff. The scar under the forearm is barely noticable, but the one in the crotch of the arm is a bit ugly looking. Only time and my masochistic physical therapist rubbing and pinching the scar tissue between his thumbs will soften that one out.

Was supposed to have met with my back doc for the post-op on Friday, but we had another snowstorm here. Didn't have but an inch of snow, but with 40 mph winds blowing out here, there were periods of white-out conditions during the day on the toll way between Sycamore and Aurora. Phil called me twice from work to convince me to cancel and change the appointment, so I did.

I had my meeting with Dr. McGivney today and he was very pleased with the progress I'm making. He and Wayne his nurse reminded me to still not do any serious bending, lifting, stretching and nothing over 10 lbs because the scar tissue has not formed yet where they removed the disk material and it could still blow out again if I'm not careful.

I reminded my back doc that I still am on lifting restrictions from the bicep, so maybe that is my blessing in disguise if that is possible in this kind of situation. The doc did comment once more about how badly ruptured my disk was. He said that the way it ruptured and migrated down, it had also calcified and was pushing up against the sciatic nerve so closely that I shouldn't have been able to walk without pain. I told him that I like leather and just know how to take it like a man...just kidding! :)

Now that I've got a sched and phys therapy started, I feel like I have something to do during the week. Felt like a potted plant, sitting around here all day long! I need to run again! I miss sorting through things in my head on a good 4 or 6 miler.

11 March 2007

I'm actually hoping that my physical therapy for the back isn't going to be 8 weeks, but it is starting to look like it. That puts me out to mid May before I'm back in Baghdad. We will see. At least the bicep phys therapy is going well. Both the doc and the therapist are very happy with my flexibility and my range of motion, but still no strength training for the wrist, forearm and bicep till after April 3rd. The outer cut is healed, but the inner tendons and all aren’t healed enough to stand the stress of any strength building.

I'm "working" in the basement right now putting away Christmas ornaments so at least I've found something to keep me busy. Drop a line and let me know if the coffee at the Green Bean is still as bad as I remember it to be!

16 March 2007

I wasn't ignoring you, just lazy on answering email lately.

I'm sure you're looking forward to your cruise and vacation. The weather in Chicago is anything but lately. We had a day on Monday that broke the records of 74 and then right back down to 41! Not exactly a pleasure cruise.

Physical therapy is going well. The doc and the therapist say that my outer wound is healing good, but we still aren't able to start strength training on the forearm, wrist and bicep till the end of March/beginning of April. With the phys therapy on the back and arm ongoing, I'll be shocked if I get release for 01May. I am pushing for 15May at the latest. Believe me, my bank account wants me to be back there working too!

Not to worry though, I will keep you notified as soon as I have any word from them. Otherwise, I'm just healing here, and bored silly.

Recovery Period

2007-02-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

25 February 2007

Well, I'm into that recovery period from both surgeries. I've been keeping up emails with people, but just haven't kept up my blog with my progress. So I figured that I could cut and paste my status over the last few weeks into a blog posting. This should give you an idea of where I was at and where I'm at now. My first surgery for my bicep repair was on 30 Jan. You'll notice that I was using lower case as I was a one-handed typist for a few weeks after the surgery.

Friday 2/2/07
today is friday and the arm is feeling good, albeit itchy from being wrapped since tues. i have an appt on monday for the doc to unwrap and chk it over. from there, probably phys therapy. then in two weeks, the back.

Tuesday 2/6/07
saw the doc today. they took off the soft cast, which was basically a splint system with wrapping to keep my arm from moving around too much. had some irritation which they aren't sure if it is the beginning of an infection, so i'm now on 10 days of antibiotics. also told me to stop the motrin i was taking...seems to slow the healing down in tendon repairs.

so now the splint/cast is off and i just wear a bandage wrap to cover the stitches along with the sling. the arm and even the wrist are very sore, but doc says that's cuz they were bending, stretching and pulling the arm and tendons in all different directions...and it feels like it right now! doc also gave me exercises to work on 3x per day. also said that he wants my back operation pushed out one more week, so that won't be till three weeks from now.

hoping to be able to drive again after he pulls the stitches next tues.

that's all from this end except that i'm missing some of my friends there more than you might imagine. probly just need a good hug or a good cup of coffee. real starbuck's kind of gives me some kind of warm feeling, but it just leaves me sweaty and jittery afterward. :) maybe it has something to do with the temps the past few nights. sat nite -2, sun nite -8, and tonight is to be -10!!! wtf, over???

Wednesday 02/07/07

Trying to type with two hands, but the backspacing and caps are kiilling me! I have much better movement in my wrist and arm, but pain still. pronate motion is difficult like typing, but i will struggle thru. i'm a stubborn cuss like both my parents...we don't take hand-outs easily. we were always taught to struggle and that the payoff was far better even if less tangible, because you work hard for it. what a line of crock! well maybe not so much, but sounds good. Phil is here and helps me wash my hair and the left arm and pit and put on deoderant, but I can do most of it myself...even shaving left handed!

got a call from the back doc's office today. back surgery is on the 22nd. pre op appointment is the 19th, stitches out of my arm next week on the 13th. I just have a full sched now, don't I? still have swelling in my arm and have been staying away from the vino and rum & cokes because of the vicodins and antibiotics.

Forgot to tell you earlier. I said something in recovery that had the anastisiologist and nurse rolling, but didn't remember till I was in the car on the way home. I was just waking up and the nurse says to me, " this may hurt a bit" as she is ripping the sticky pads off my hairy chest and pulling up hairs with them. I then remembered telling her that in three weeks maybe she could put those over my nipples so that at least I could enjoy it when she ripped them off! I know, I'm a sick puppy, aren't I? But, I guess they've heard about everything in recovery though, huh?

Saturday 02/10/07

Nothing new going on here either. Just been healing and hurting. Still have that dull ache in my wrist, forearm and elbow from the doc threading the bicep/tendon through the lower arm. Don't know the details, but it still hurts like hell. I AM back to typing and writing. Typing really tries my pain threshold.

One of the good things of my stay at home is that I'm catching up again with the AFS program...foreign exchange (high school) age kids. I was a liaison to two kids before I left and helped to work out differences for the Italian girl who stayed just before I left. I went to her girls basketball game on Fri night. It was great to see her again. Tomorrow I go to the soccer game of the Chilean boy that I was also a liaison to. These kids are adjusting to the language and culture great. Giulia in fact, made the honor roll this last quarter. How's that for attitude! Two snaps to that Italian girl in the Prada shoes!

Tuesday, (if the weather holds, we may get a snowstorm) my stitches are to come out...finally. I'm tired of sponge baths...unless I had more attentive assistance...definitely would love to have a bit more hands on in this matter! Also Tues night, I'm supposed to go up to Huntley to interview an AFS kid (French) and see check in with him.

Friday I have my pre-op checkup for my back operation and then next Thurs (22nd), is the back operation. Still working with Workman's Comp to get the paperwork all straightened away for this bicep thing. More paperwork to fill out tomorrow for Monday mailing.

Honestly, I wish I were there. I'm bored silly and at least there, I had something to look forward to every so often, like cookouts at Ba Ba’s.

Thursday 02/15/07

I did get to the doc on Tues and had the stitches removed. I made Phil drive me 40 miles in a snowstorm! The storm was predicted, but when we got up in the morning it wasn't too bad. Some blowing snow over the tollway, but not bad. By the time we left the doc's office, it had started to come down pretty good. The stitches were itchy and ready to come out.

Doc strongly reminded me not to lift ANYTHING! He reminded me that I could rip out the repair that he did by lifting. He has me working on straightening out the arm more which can be a bit uncomfortable, but everyday I seem to be getting more movement and flexibility. Phys therapy should start next week just after the back surgery.

Tomorrow I'll go for the blood test that my regular doc wants. I have to fast for 12 hours prior which is proving very difficult for me. I'm eating everything in sight and am anxious to get back to running. I'm the same weight I was last year, but lost the muscle and put it on in the waist.

Everyone at the doc's office has said that it will be a good recovery for this type of back surgery. No, I'm not scared actually. I was more afraid of my recovery with the bicep surgery than the back surgery. I guess that I've spoken to enough people there and here that I just am not fearing this next week. As far as the sitting part, when my sciatica was acting up, the whole sitting thing is a big problem. It is hard to find a comfortable chair or position to sit for any length of time. So I'm sure the surgery is going to help that out.

Not too much happening around here. Now that the stitches are out, I'm allowed to drive and am going to get out of here for a bit today. You get to feeling trapped at some point when you don't have that mobility you're used to.

Friday 02/16/07

First off, before any grand thoughts of having me return on light duty are entertained, keep in mind that I am still on restriction and can not carry anything at all. I have little strength in my right arm and the bicep is still healing. The doctor is the one that determines light duty and what stress will be inflicted on my repaired bicep to make the required trip back to Baghdad...not HR.

The doc has already warned me that any weight on this arm could rip out the sutures and would result in the doc having to rip open the cut and reattach the bicep. I had 9 stitches under the forearm and 10 stitches in an L-shape in the crotch of my arm where the doc reached in and yanked the retracted bicep and torn nerve down. Good drugs, cuz I didn't feel a thing!

Secondly, my bicep has not healed to the point that they can begin physical therapy without causing damage. I think it is absolutely stupid that HR doesn't realize the seriousness of this situation. Hell, we can't even get a doc at Victory that knows squat about the true damage caused by the fall (60% actual loss of strength in the right arm vs. the 10% projected loss the doc on duty said the day of the fall!) let alone trying to have someone perform proper physical therapy in Iraq.

If HR (or any other management type for that matter) have any further suggestions and are still insistant on using their newly minted PHD’s in Orthopedics to further suggest treatment for this, please have them confer with my doctor...who will kindly tell them nothing due to privacy laws. Right now the biggest problem to coming back on even "light duty" is the inavailability of qualified physical therapy facilities. And those boneheads should realize that.

Hopefully, I'm not sounding too bitchy...which I'll blame on the Vicodin, Cephalexin and blood pressure meds that aren't working! Rest assured, I'm so bored to tears right now and I'd love to be back at work if I could. Believe me, I hate Judge Judy and Oprah and haven't yet been tempted to stoop that low, but this is trying my sanity!

Tuesday 02/20/07

I have been mostly just spending my time recuperating. Had my blood test last Friday and the doc doesn't like the glucose levels. So yesterday, the doc has requested an alc test. I may be pre-diabetic at this point too. Doesn't surprise me too much. My Mom was diagnosed at about my age now. Doc is also going to increase my Norvasc to try to bring the lower BP number down. The 2.5 mg did nothing. PT for the bicep will begin after the second week of the back surgery. Had the pre-op yesterday for the back surgery. Mostly just warnings of what probably won't happen but could. And a warning that about 10% of people who have removal of herniated disk parts have a new herniation within 4 weeks of operation due to overdoing it. Good warning and I will try to behave!

Thursday 02/22/07 (written in morning before going to surgery)

In my last, I wasn't meaning to be grumpy...per se. My wrist and forearm are still aching. I am off the pain killers, and will start physical therapy March 2nd, I think. Doc wants to make sure enough scar tissue has formed before working the muscles. He already hollered at me last week and said that he didn't want me ripping out his work and that if I did, he'd have to open it up again and reattach it! I never realized how interconnected all the arm, wrist and hand muscles are.

From what he was saying my last visit, I don't expect him to release me until mid to late April at this point. He wants six to eight weeks of physical therapy. The good news is that when I was in the office this week, they were happy with the healing progress that I've made so far.

I also found out that he is a highly respected orthopedic in arms and shoulders...so much so that he has the respect and counsel of other doctors in the Chicago area. He has been highly regarded by everyone I've mentioned his name, so I guess I was lucky to "stumble" upon him...so to speak. Wish I had better news for you. As I said before, I am bored silly and would rather be working than not. Catching up and having lunch with friends is nice, but I'm anxious to be working again.

And I will have to take you up on the arm wrestling, but it will have to be southpaw!

Friday 02/23/07 (written day after back surgery)

Just thought that I should drop you an email and let you know that the back surgery yesterday went well. I felt better right away as the doc had said. What they ended up doing was a microdecompression lumbar mircodiskectomy of L4-L5. I arrived at the surgicenter at 7:15, gassed at 8:00, in recovery at 10:30 and in the car on the way home at 11:30!

He made about a 1 to 1 1/2 inch incision on the left side of the spine and they removed a portion of bone in the spine maybe ¼ of the size of your little finger nail and then had access to remove the herniated portion of the disk that was pressing against the sciatic nerve. Doc told Phil that it with as much contact as this herniation had with the sciatic nerve, it was amazing that I was even walking. Maybe that's why I felt like crap all of October and November and half of December!

Basically, slice em, dice em, stitch em up and get the frick outta here! After the anastesia wore off, I felt great. Still have to take it easy for the next four weeks because they don't want me to herniate the disk again. Hard thing to do for me. If I feel good, I want to be active again. But I will try hard to behave. It might kill me!

Phys therapy for the arm begins next Thurs, see the back doc for post op follow-up on Fri and phys therapy the following week starts for the back. Then give me eight weeks and I'm ready to hit the road again. Maybe even hit the road with running shoes! Wooo-hooo! Yes, I'm feeling good again. I was a bit depressed before the operation...feeling like I was old and past fixing, but now I am feeling young again. What a difference a day makes, huh?

Surgery...2 for 1

2007-02-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

01 February 2007

i hadn't made mention of why i was coming home till now. with as bad as my back was bothering me in oct and nov, i decided that it was time to have an mri and repairs, if necessary. back at the end of nov i made an appointment with my orthopedic doc to get an mri. all i had to do after that was make it home in one piece...which i almost didn't do!

Had my MRI on Friday the 19th,and heard back on the following monday from the doc's office. The mri tech said that it wasn't good...well, duh! But I told him that I knew that and that was why I came back when I did. I squeezed some info out of him, but I've got an appointment with the doc on Friday. Sounds like it isn't going to require fusing, but something up the line of a diskectomy (don't know if I spelled that corrrectly!) Anyway, when I asked how long till I could go back to work after something like that, he suggested 6-8 weeks!

got into the doc's office last fri, one week after the mri to discuss with him my options. He looked over the MRI pics and asked if I had taken another fall. He believed that he was seeing a hemotoma on my spine at L4L5. But when I told him no new falls other that at Christmas, he looked over the pics again and discovered that my herniated disk had not only herniated, but now has migrated down the spinal column, so it's L-shaped. Guess I know now why the sciatica has been giving me so much hell.

So we got to talking about what, when and how the diskectomy would be done and I brought up the tear in my bicep. I told him that the docs at the TMC didn't seem too worried about it, but I'd like him to have a look at it. He took one look at it and his eyes got big. You know you're in bad shape when an orthopedic's eyes get big! Supposedly he's seen it all, right? He then tells me to wait right there and promptly gets on the phone with their arm/shoulder associate. Both insisted that I go see the arm/shoulder orthopedic doc that afternoon.

Dr Saleem took a look and layed out all the options. The first was to leave it and deal with the 60% loss of strength in my right arm. That isn't an option. The TMC doc only said probably 10% loss of strength! Second option is to hopefully, cut an S-shape into the arm and pull the bicep back and reattach it. Unfortunately, with four weeks of scar tissue, that may be tough. His other option for repair is that if there is too much scar tissue to pull the bicep back into place, to reattach it to the existing muscle as far down as possible. At least I will get most of my strength back and it will look normal again instead of being bunched up at the top part of the arm.

Not good options, but I have to do it. The back doc will cut me in three weeks after I heal some with my arm. So I am in a real mess. Today, I had to go to my regular doc to get a pre-surgery check up. I caught this nasty head cold/cough thing in Kuwait on the way back and it is getting better, but I'm still coughing up a lung every so often. This visit with the doc also gave us the chance to talk about what to do with my BP. I'm just falling apart all at once here, aren't I?!!

surgery went well. dr saleem was able to make the repair as he described in his optimistic scenario. the whole arm is sore since the doc cut on the inside of the elbow, reached in and grabbed the retracted tendon down. then he cut under the forearm just below the elbow to stretch/reattached the bicep/torn tendon. my whole arm hurts, and the vicodin only gives so much relief.

first night wasn't bad since i had a nerve block going on. wednesday was all about vicodin. started on the motrin last night and am cutting back on the vic's today. feeling better, but still getting used to being a one-armed south-paw. more later.

No, It’s Duck Season!

2007-01-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

17 January 2007

I had a late call-time for my flight this time around. Didn’t have to report in till after 2130. In some ways that is good, but it is bad in that you know you won’t get into Kuwait until the wee hours of the morning. That meant that I’d probably just stay in Ali As Salem until I catch the bus to Kuwait Intl Wednesday night for my early Thursday morning.

It has been unseasonably cold in Baghdad and Kuwait this winter. It was a cold wait, but the C130 came in and we boarded. Not a completely full flight and only half a pallet of luggage. Another guy who was leaving out of Slayer and I were fortunate enough to be on the end of the row, meaning we’d have some leg room to the side and not be knee to knee for the 1-1/2 hour flight to Kuwait.

Take off went smoothly enough. Nothing too noteworthy considering the firefights we heard before we left BIAP. After getting out of the general Baghdad area you kind of breathe a sigh of relief and drift off into a cat-nap dream state. We’re already thirty minutes into our flight and soon we’ll be in Kuwait.

Bam! Flash! Bam! I saw sparks out of the small round window on the rear starboard side and then more of the same noise and flash reflecting on the inside starboard wall of the plane across from the port side window about ten feet down from where I was sitting. I’ve made this flight so many times before, my initial thought and reaction is that it is just the plane releasing flares as a decoy against possible enemy rockets.

But this time is different…very different. We’re being rocketed from the insurgents on the ground! Another bam, flashes and sparks! Bam, more flashes and more sparks. I look at the guy across from me and his eyes are big as dinner plates. Those of us that don’t have our helmets on are scurrying to get them on. Holding on as the plane rocks to the left and then to the right and drops altitude. One of the flight airmen eyeing the rockets coming at us through the little round window at the rear of the plane is shouting into his mike, “Left!! Left!!” Then yet another bam and once again, bam! More flashes and sparks.

The pilot’s fast responses cause the plane to rock yet again and then we lose altitude again. Like a roller coaster, we drop suddenly, level out and then another surprise drop until the pilot levels us out again. Before you can think about the events that just happened, you’re trying to pop your ears to relieve the pressure from the drastic drops in altitude. Then you get your inner composure together, sit and wonder if there will be another attack launched at you in the air. There are no windows for us passengers, so we can’t see if anything is launched at us until it explodes in the sky.

In all the three years I’ve been in the Middle East, this is the first time I can admit that I was scared. I’ve been through rocket and mortar attacks, but you’re on the ground and there are places to take cover. Having the plane you’re flying in attacked with rockets is completely different. There is no cover. As Daffy Duck and Bugs might say it, “It’s Duck season!” And you’re how many thousands of feet up in the sky?!

At that point, all you can ask yourself is how long will it take for help to arrive? Will the plane make it to a safe airbase? Will we survive a crash? Am I in a good part of the plane to survive a crash? My only solace is to pray. Now staring reality in the eye, I realize that from the moment I boarded the C130 I had no control over the situation. Control is completely in the hands of the skilled pilots and crew and in His hands.

After ten minutes or so, the flight crew in the rear of the plane asks us if we’re alright. It looks like we didn’t take any damage at this point. All indications are that we are good to go and won’t need to go back or head to Al Asad for any kind of an emergency landing. We all nod and I ask him if he’s okay. He was pretty surprised and commented that the rockets exploded way too close to the plane for his comfort. This was the closest call this airman had ever seen and he isn’t soon to forget it either. If you hadn’t guessed, I have paraphrased his comments!

As I ponder the experience from last night, I’m thinking that fear is an awful lot like loss and grieving. The overwhelming intensity grabs you and seems to pull at every emotion and nerve you think is hidden and locked safely away inside you. Then in a flash it is like some survival mechanism is triggered. After the “event” is over, you realize you’ve made it through, but as much as you might want to forget the rawness of the experience, you won’t and can’t forget.

But the up side is that time has a way of wearing down the sharpness and the impact of that memory. I don’t think it is intended for us to forget what has happened, only to make us appreciate what is right and good in life and maybe what we still need to achieve in our short time here on earth. In my case, reminding me that I haven’t yet accomplished what I’ve been sent here to accomplish.

Nesting

2007-01-07T23:43:00.000-08:00

06 January 2007

Poor TSgt Hunter who had bathroom cleanup yesterday. She came breathless into the shop to announce to everyone that “it” was thoroughly disgusting. I thought we were going to have to break out the smelling salts! The experience completely straightened out the braids she had in her hair and today her hair was completely straight.

“Attention everyone on the floor! We have a “ male nester” here! If you are the culprit, you need to take your nesting habits out to the porta john. That is all!”

And we ain’t talking about Less Nester from WKRP, either.

Today we thought that the above-said “nester” was captured. A slide slipped into the shift change slideshow today had a picture of Big Bird coming out of the men’s bathroom trailer. Alas, this diabolical and evil nester is still on the loose. This nester pads his nest with a half a roll of toilet paper hanging off all ends of the round opening to keep his dainty hiney from touching the seat, clogging up the toilets in the trailers (which have weak plumbing systems as is) and not allowing it to flush because the toilet can’t take the load of paper he has used to nest.

So there; the term should be fairly well explained to you now. I had seen the practice before, but hadn’t realized that it had a name. I got the evil eye from several, but had to reassure them that it wasn’t me. I’m just not the nesting kind. I’ve been here too long to even think about being so sterile and dainty about taking a dump! And I have plenty of “blue water” stories to back me up on that one. So there!

I guess if you put it into perspective, it would be better to have a nester on the loose than to have the hoverer on the loose. We have plenty of them around here too. A hoverer lifts both seats up and stands on the porta pottie and squats over the hole. Not unusual in the Middle East since most of the restrooms I’ve been in over here in Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar will have at least one stall with no porcelain toilet and just a hole in the floor with two raised things to stand on for each foot.

The nasty thing about hoverers is that they don’t always have the control or aim that they think they do. Then it requires a very skilled sanitation expert (porta potty cleaner) with a skilled high pressure sprayer to remove the work of that culprit!

I’ll keep you up to date as news of our loose nester breaks…but we could end up laying an egg on this story. Sorry, couldn’t help myself on that one.

Not A Happy Camper

2007-01-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

04 January 2007

On our tent door and on each bunk was a Dear Occupant letter today basically saying GET OUT!!!

Love,
Major Malfunction
OIC of KBR Housing

Betcha thought you could never get booted out of a tent! I was never much for camping to start with, but tent #2, at least for the time I’ve been here, was made into something of a “tent sweet tent.” My home away from home. The saying around here is always, “What are they going to do, send me to Iraq and make me live in a tent?” Well, I guess we only got it partially correct. Send me to Iraq, take my good tent away and find out how to screw with you by making your accommodations even less comfortable…as if that was going to be possible.

ITT Management (in all their officialness) responds to our request for their assistance in making this situation less uncomfortable by sending out an email essentially stating “you signed the contract for three “hots” and a cot, stop bitching!” Gotta love responsive, sensitive, people-focused management. This is why they went to the freekin flippin Flip Flippin Management training! (No, really. The guy’s name really *IS* Flip Flippin! Google it, I wouldn’t kid you)

Eventually, management managed to arrange with KBR to have two dedicated tents to ITT employees. Now how could we think that the sun would never shine again! Getting moved from 8 men tents with wall lockers, beds with mattresses and some privacy to a big open 30 man tent with rows of cots and ill-fitting foam mattresses sitting on top, no wall lockers and two feet between each cot. Boy, I am feeling warm and tingly already. I’m sure they will sleep good in their heated trailers with big mattresses and AFN on cable TV tonight.

I guess it isn’t that different from what goes on at your job back in the States, is it? The only difference is that you don’t have rows of porta-potties in your front yard. Nothing as decorative as your pink flamingos and gnomes.

New Year’s Resolutions

2007-01-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

01 January 2007

The arm is doing better, so maybe it isn't as bad as I first thought. Certain extensions of the arm hurt when turned or extended, but overall, not too bad. Still hurts and is swollen and tender in the center opposite the elbow, but I have pretty good movement so I’ll stop belly-aching, okay? Counting my blessings has got to be one of my new resolutions. Still think that it’s a miracle that I didn't break any bones the way I landed. Poor guardian angels I landed on must have taken a real beating though!

The group had their normal Sunday gathering at Ba Ba’s to ring in the New Year. I didn't stay but an hour after work and was in bed well before midnight. I have just been worn out lately. Then, just as I was dropping off to sleep at around 2350, I got woke up by the "Big Voice" early warning system. "Incoming, Incoming, Incoming! Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!"

Helluva way to start the New Year, wouldn’t you say? Turned out to be a false alarm, but it takes another few minutes to fall back to sleep after it bellows two sets of, "Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!" and then a couple of minutes later, "All Clear, All Clear, All Clear". Bet you don't hear that in your neighborhood at New Years!

Speaking of resolutions, I have a joke for the diet resolution group. I know you've read this before, as have I, but it just seems appropriate to start the new year off with a diet thing.....

I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Science Diet for my dog Cayenne - and
was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a
dog........Duh!

I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no, I was starting The
Science Diet diet again. Although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the
hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an
intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in
both arms.

Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with the
bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an
easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or
purse with Science Diet nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel
hungry. The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going
to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her. Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital?

I said no.....I'd been sitting in the street licking my privates when a car hit me.

I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out the door.

Merry Christmas from the TMC!

2007-01-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

26 December 2006

Things here were alright until about 6pm last night. I ended up face first in the asphalt tripped up by a cable stretched between two barriers on the way to the chow hall for Christmas Dinner. I cross this cable every day, but last night they'd tied a red plastic band which hung just below the cable and I caught my shin on the cable and went face first down. My left hand broke part of the fall, but couldn't get my hand out of my jacket pocket and my right shoulder ended up taking the hit along with tearing my right bicep.

That’s right I celebrated Christmas night in the medical clinic. Alright, it doesn’t suck as much as it could have cuz I didn’t break any bones. Good thing I’m a milk fanatic, I’m pretty sure that I should have broken SOMETHING the way I fell and the impact my shoulder and arm took. How’s the saying go? If it wasn’t for crap luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all!

Got taken to the clinic, still in shock from the fall and the doc looked at me, but there isn't much they can do for a muscle tear. Let it heal and see how it goes. Doc says that normally you lose 10-15% strength in a tear like this, but to wait and see. I have to tell you though, Captain McKeon is tops in my book. He ended up being the Doc on call for Christmas and is also the doc that saw me two weeks ago for my back. No white coat syndrome since I already felt comfortable around him!

In the mean time, he prescribed 800 mg of Motrin every 8 hours and a handful of Vitamin V....nope, not Viagra (although that might be fun)! Vicodin. After the back pain that I have been having here, this pain wasn't bad. Only hurts when I turn my arm in certain directions. He did say that it should heal up or at least feel better in 7 to 10 days. So I slept pretty good last night. The bruises have just started to surface as I type this, so I know that they are going to be colorful.

I'm feeling okay overall, just some pain when I try to tie shoes, zip a zipper and put on socks. Basically, anything that stretches the arm out. This morning the first question out of everyone’s mouth is “How do you feel?” Well, the only response I can come up with is, “Well I’m actually feeling pretty good for the fall I took. Really, it only hurts when I pee! (I know, TMI)…meaning it only hurts when I have to pull my zipper down because I have to straighten out my arm. It got a laugh out of them.

Christmas Eve at Ba Ba’s

2006-12-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

24 December 2006

Merry Christmas from Ba Ba’s Café in the heart of Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq! I’ve been looking forward to tonight ever since Jason and I ran into Katie and LJ at the Green Bean a few days ago. Katie and LJ threw it out there on the table that we should have a small Christmas thingy with a “White elephant” present draw. That afternoon they sent out the email and that was that.

Being from a very German family, we ALWAYS celebrated on the Eve as opposed to the Day so this was kind of the Christmas celebration that I’ve missed the past couple of years since I’ve been in Iraq. And what better way to celebrate than with friends at Ba Ba’s? These people really are your family when you’re away from home. We are all in the same boat and miss home the same way.

As expected, we had a good mix of people. Iraqi translators, Aussies, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, civilians of all types, and security folks from everywhere including our buddy Moses from Africa. I don’t remember if he’s from Uganda or Nigeria. We have all kinds of Ugandans here in security between Victory and BIAP but he works for a private security firm. He’s not one of the Army Ugandan guys.

As Katie expected, the gift idea was great. We had about 25 different gifts…gag and otherwise. How the game goes, the first person picks a gift and unwraps it. The next person picks a gift and can keep it or take the first persons, and so on and so on. Gifts chosen first may not remain with their first or second or third owners.

Now some gifts weren’t quite as popular as others. Take Jason’s Triscuit boxed trifecta. That original and handy Triscuit box containing condoms, baby oil and a couple of chocolates just weren’t as in demand as say the movie My Super Ex-girlfriend. Although the slinky ever-so-silky-mini-panties with the ten dollar bill clipped to them were very popular for some reason.

Jeremy ended up by the end of the night having to try them on…but he dared not step outside the door wearing them…although he did pose for pics inside his trailer! Yes, it was cold out, and yes I think shrinkage would have been an issue he may not have ever lived down…or the hypothermia he might have developed if he’d of stepped out the door! Doesn’t it just make you so jealous when you see someone else have the figure for something like that and you know you never will…try something like that on OR have the figure to dare to do so! I didn’t think so…me neither. Very scary thought though, wasn’t it?

Then again, Repo was really getting off on the can of Cheez Whiz he got. He just said, screw the crackers, Cheez Whiz directly into the mouth was a better option and short cut. He missed his mouth enough times that I’m sure the mice under the steps are fat and happy tomorrow morning. Well, time for bed and visions of sugar-plums dancing in my dreams…yech! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Ba Ba’s Café

2006-12-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

16 December 2006

On any given Wednesday or Sunday night, you will find the “in” crowd in only one place here on base. And it isn’t the Green Bean Coffee shop…that is sooooo last year! Ba Ba’s Café used to be a rather limited group of ITT people along with the Turkish friends of Ba Ba. Eventually that family extended out to military friends and any other associated contractor friends that were acquainted with said individuals of Ba Ba’s “family.”

For those of us that don’t speak Turkish, Ba Ba is “Godfather” in Turkish. Jim was blessed with the name a way-long time ago in his Air Force days in Turkey and the name just kind of made its way here. Jim is an old Jersey boy who has made appearances in movies through neighborhood associations he had. Jim whom from here on out I will call Ba Ba is also very resourceful and inclusive and is the mastermind and master craftsman behind the café that bears his name. Ba Ba created this little oasis out of scavenged materials here and there and built the tables, benches and all and even upholstered the seats!

As you enter into the area of Ba Ba’s Café, I guess the first thing you notice is the strings of various colored lights strung around the booths and along the concrete barrier wall across from the booths that create the atmosphere of the café. Next you notice the booths covered in 1960’s turquoise nauga hide. The three tables have umbrellas through the tables and provide nothing more than an even warmer atmosphere to the café. Used to be they provided cover from the sun, but with the light weight blue tarps mounted above the four door area from the trailer roof to the tops of the 12 foot concrete barriers, they are more decorative now than anything else.

Bad day at work? Ba Ba’s is the place to go…definitely a no-hassle zone! As I was getting ready to say, the next thing you notice is the smoke from the grill. Raymond has always got something cooking on the grill. Depends if the PX had burgers AND dogs this week, but you might chip in and bring over steaks if you run across some at the PX. Want a soft drink? Down the way some on the left is a couple of coolers with pop and ice. And if you’re too prissy to drink from the can, don’t worry, they’ve got some cups too on the narrow shelf across from the coolers. Donations of food, snacks or drink are always welcome.

If you’re lucky, Casey or Jack might be entertaining at the end by the coolers with Casey’s little electric guitar. Or you might get dragged into a card game going on at one of the booths. Either way, Raymond will catch up with you at that end once your steak is done, no worries. I told you, this is a no worry zone.

Pictures of old gatherings and past acquaintances have been printed off and adorn the walls around the booths and around the doors of the trailers as if to welcome all who come for refuge from the crazy world since the café opened. In this type of job and location, people come and go so fast it is a nice reminder to see all the old faces still posted on the walls by the booths. Pictures of happy times with good friends and good food. The place was vandalized some time back by some Air Force kids, but that was straightened away eventually. When I sent my friend Rachel a pic this week, she specifically mentioned the duct tape on the back of the bench. That was one of the repaired benches that had been slashed.

We’ve been having a big change of people here, so we are saying good-bye to old friends and hello to new ones joining us at the café. Even though the weather has gotten colder as of late, the warmth of friends seems to override the cold Baghdad winter breezes and rain. I’m not saying this is enough to make one want to stay in Iraq, but it definitely is something that lets you share your misery and enjoy the company and camaraderie of people you can call friends. What also doesn’t suck is that it can make your time here a pleasant memory long after you have gone back to the world.

Catching Up

2006-12-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

15 December 2006

Been just plain lazy lately and haven’t been keeping up on my blog. Actually, I threw my back out and haven’t been in much of a mood to write or anything for that matter. That combined with working 84 hour (7 X 12 hour) weeks kind of zaps any inspiration out of me for writing. Welcome to indentured servitude! The problem is if you don’t work the O/T, then you aren’t a “Team Player.” And we all know when we get to the Pearly Gates that we will be judged on how well we played with others.

The past couple of weeks have been interesting at best. Last week we experienced one part of what sounded like a multi faceted rocket attack from Liberty, Victory, Slayer and BIAP. On Victory, one rocket hit in the dining facility parking lot destroying two cars at lunch. Made for a rocking-good lunch. Just the day before, two new ITT people came in. They were eating lunch when the rocket hit and promptly made arrangements to leave the following day. Some people have no sense of humor or adventure. I think they had signed up for the Gulf Cruise version of the war.

Then again last night, I was walking up the stairs from the building where I work to the street at about 5:30 at night. It was already dark out so I got a good view of the glow from the car bomb that went off on the highway and the tracers from the ensuing firefight. Not a good thing to be hanging around outside when that stuff is flying around so I high-tailed it over to the chow hall to catch dinner. One of the sergeants today showed me a shell he found near the building. That stuff is like litter here.

Last week we also had a visit from the WWF. They set a stage up with the Al Faw Palace in the background and were doing promo’s for the program that would be shown back home on Christmas Eve.

Bill O’Reilly from Fox News also paid us a visit today too. Too bad no one gave us any warning. He did bring some books with him, but it would have been nice to had a chance to order my own. Personally, I don’t care for some of his strong opinions, but it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t like to hear him speak or meet him. Don’t really care for Rush Limbaugh either, but I still will listen to him when I’m at home…in small doses. When he gets to be too much, I tune into the WBBM Business Report and that seems to neutralize his rabid opinions.

I’ve been reading this recently published book about one of my favorite subjects…Rum. The book really gives a pretty comprehensive history of that wonderful elixir that I miss soooo dearly plus some interesting points you would never have expected. Something to keep in mind at your next pool party that gets out of control….

From Wayne Curtis’ “and a Bottle of Rum” (Crown Publishers 2006) “Rum was always on hand for emergencies. Published instructions for reviving victims of drowning in Massachusetts called for blowing tobacco smoke up the victim’s rectum (machines were specially build specifically for this purpose) while bathing the victim’s breast with hot rum.”

Well if that doesn’t give us a clear idea where that term came from about “you wouldn’t be blowing smoke up my behind, now would you?” How do I say pleasant dreams after that one?

No News is Good News

2006-12-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

02 December 2006

Things are just humming along here and nothing particularly noteworthy has been happening…unlike all the haps around the world. First off, I must mention that we must be doing something right in Afghanistan. They have just recorded their largest harvest of opium in history. How about that free enterprise and democracy? We’re doing a bang up job insuring the Afghans are self sufficient with all their new world markets they have for their cash crop.

Then you have St. Nick outlawed in Vienna because he “frightens children.” And let’s not forget “Santa’s Butt” (lager) being outlawed Stateside in Maine because the label is inappropriate. Santa’s already having a rough season and it’s only the second of December!

At least you know what to get all the teenage girls on your shopping list this Christmas. This years hottest items have to be extra short miniskirts, as so delicately modeled by none other than Britney, Lindsey and Paris. Rest assured you won’t have to worry about the tacky underpants…Britney, Lindsey and Paris have been going commando… I’m guessing to show their support for the troops overseas.

At least you’d think they’d wear an appropriate desert-cammi colored butt-floss (G-string) or possibly something in army green. I must say that their efforts aren’t going unappreciated by the troops here…But the guys over here sure would like the opportunity to catch that act in person live in Iraq or Afghanistan. The girls really need to take their commando act on tour.

I called home on Thursday night (central time) and the flurries just started about 11pm about 60 miles west of Chicago. By Friday afternoon, my hometown of Sycamore had about 13 inches of snow with a nice base of ice. Sounds like the Christmas shopping season will be in full swing now that everyone will be in the “spirit of the season.” Wonder how long it took to clear up that 60 mile traffic jam on I-80 in LaSalle County! I read that they were running food and drink out to people stuck in the traffic with snow machines.

Finally, I have been reading an interesting series on msnbc.com by journalist Miguel Llanos. He has learned all about the frustration of trying to get to McMurdo, Antarctica via Christchurch, NZ and now he has become labeled a whiner by the OAE’s (Old Antarctic Explorers) at MacTown. Someone posted a question on his site as to whether he needed a “whaaaa-mbulance”! I’m guessing that his next assignment will be Iraq. He’s already broken in and used to the delays and red tape involved in getting to these wonderful remote locations. In his defense, he is writing some great pieces about the Antarctic Program and is working at keeping the focus on the people and the support for the science community and their mission there.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T20:49:00.001-08:00

23 November 2006

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I want to present a song which always reminded me of Thanksgiving from the musical Godspell…yes, another opportunity for you to climb into the wayback machine back to 1973!

All Good Gifts

We plow the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land
But it is fed and watered
By God’s almighty hand.

He sends the snow in winter
The warmth to swell the grain
The breezes and the sunshine
And soft refreshing rain…

All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above,
So thank the Lord,
Oh thank the Lord
For all his love…

We thank thee then, O Father
For all things bright and good…
The seedtime and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food,

No gifts have we to offer
For all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest,
Our humble thankful hearts!

All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above…
So thank the Lord,
Oh thank the Lord
For all His love…

I really want to thank you Lord!

- Godspell 1973

Thanksgiving Friday

2006-11-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

24 November 2006

Hope all had a great Thanksgiving. The chow halls here did a great lunch for the holiday. Don’t know if you saw it, but Fox News was broadcasting from one chow hall here on Victory.

I went down to catch the turkey dinner only to find the line to get in wrapped around the parking lot all the way to the gym. At that point, I realized what hype this all really is. I’m not standing in line for 30 minutes to not find a place to sit down and be elbow to elbow with everyone else. It’s different if you’re elbow to elbow with your family around the big table at home, but I’m not up for being elbow to elbow with 500 strangers in the chow hall.

Having been through this before, I figured that they will have all the leftovers at dinner tonight and I could skip the lines now in favor of a more comfortable meal at 1730 when all the people who stuffed themselves earlier wouldn’t want to eat till 2000 or so.

So I took myself over to the Pizza Hut trailer and got me a smoked turkey sandwich. They have sandwiches at our Pizza Huts here that are great. It is a 12 inch skinny italian type roll that is baked just to make it crispy and they melt the cheese and warm the meat right into it when it runs through the oven. Top that with some mayo, lettuce tomato and sliced black olives and it’s a sandwich. It filled the void, I enjoyed it and I didn’t even have to wait in line for 30 minutes or look for an open seat in the middle of 500 strangers.

That evening, as predicted, they did still have the leftover cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, turkey roll, stuffing, and all the rest of the good stuff. And yep, even got some pumpkin pie with the whipped cream.

After Dad moved to AZ, the three of us kids and Mom used to get together for Thanksgiving, but never on Thursday. With me working in telecom, I usually had to work on Thursday. Mom worked at the nursing home, so she usually worked on the holiday too. So for us, Thanksgiving was usually on the Friday or Saturday…whenever we could schedule it. Didn’t make us any less thankful for what we had. Maybe more thankful that we could all still be together and have one another’s company.

Now with Mom and Dad both passed on, Mark and me out of country, we don’t often have too many chances to get the all of us together for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I think now that our Thanksgiving celebrations are recognized whenever we can get the group of us together in one place anymore. Thanksgiving Day has become more a place marker for the start of the Christmas shopping season…the unofficial starting line for the bigger snowfalls in Chicago. I must be getting old. I’m more reminiscent now and kind of pining for the simpler and more traditional times.

Sleepwalking Through LIfe

2006-11-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

17 November 2006

Events over the last week have certainly changed things some. The last Sunday, the first ITT person to be KIA here in theater happened at a site north of here compliments of a rocket attack. It came as quite a surprise to people here, but oddly enough, the corporate reaction to this death in the ITT “family” was treated about as coldly as the proverbial burial at sea your goldfish got when you were growing up! For as much of an outpouring of feeling as management made about Barb’s passing, we were certainly under whelmed with their near denial to one of our own here in Iraq “purchasing the farm” so to speak.

It only convinces me more that we contractors are only considered as disposable as paper towel to this company. Their words have always said, “Oh, no…we respect you as people and dedicated professionals,” but their actions have spoken far louder what is in their hearts. As soon as Barb passed, management tripped all over themselves to send her family their heartfelt condolences complete with forwarding email to express our feelings to her and her family prior to her passing. Don’t get me wrong, I really cared about Barb. Even though I don’t know Mr. X from Adam, that shouldn’t count him out as far as giving his family our full support and such.

This Wednesday night as I was walking home from work, I heard that familiar “whoosh” overhead. About a mile away, the rocket impacted. Count to ten and see if there are more. “Whoosh, boom.” Another minute, one more. This time I saw sparks fly and smoke start to rise in the moonlit distance. Two minutes later, one more, but it ended up sounding like a cigarette butt extinguished in a cup of water as it must have landed in one of the lakes or deep gullies here. Extent of damage was one Humvee lost. That must have been the sparks I saw off in the distance.

Did I really miss this in the four months back home? Not on your life. I’m not scared or afraid, I just miss the solitude and peace of mind of home. Maybe I’m bored with life. Am I sleepwalking through life again? I remember telling Jeannie after we just received our MBA that I needed to find something that challenged me at the “cellular” level...(And I wasn’t speaking about telephones!) Down to my very inner core.

Six years of college while working full time was that kind of challenge, but then it was over after two degrees. I’m looking for that next inner challenge to conquer. You know, like I felt during my 20 months in Antarctica. Like the one that I found during the 2.5 years I was here in Iraq for the first two contracts. Seems like the excitement or challenge of this environment has lost its shine. I think that inside I’m already searching for that next challenge.

Until then, I sleepwalk through time…oblivious to the rockets or mortars flying overhead. Oblivious to boneheaded management decisions that keep coming, which used to play in my head like raunchy sappy music hits from the 1970’s. Oblivious to my not moving up on the KBR tent list for a trailer sometime in the next six months. Oblivious to the Groundhog Day existence that defines this place. This is so yesterday’s challenge…been there, done that! Where too next?

Barb

2006-11-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

15 Nov 2006

My last images of Barb in my mind were those in the Kuwait Hilton just as Mary, Mike and I had left the restaurant and we ran into her, Ken and Jim. It was such a pleasant surprise to see her…but not such a pleasant surprise to run into the rest of the unscrupulous crowd she was hanging with at the time.

Being the point blank person she was, Barb directly asked me why I had decided to leave at the end of contract. I really didn’t want to answer in front of Jim and Ken, but I gave her the honest answer that she asked for and deserved. You see, Barb and I had developed an honest relationship when I trained under her wonderful tutelage in Qatar back in April/May of 2004. After our roughly 20 days together, I found her to be brutally honest, passionate about her work and constructively open to whatever needed to be discussed. You can’t fix it if you don’t know what the problem is.

After I walked away from Barb that day in May of 2006, I only got around the corner before my emotions caught up with me. Mary and Michael came back over to console me in the long hallway of shops and asked what Jim (they thought that the project manager had chewed me a new one) said to me! I was laughing my ass off inside, but replied to them that it wasn’t anything HE said, it was my sadness deep down that I wouldn’t ever have the opportunity to work with or for Barb again. When I left the contract in May, my resolve was that I’d never come back…ever! At this point and time, I was sure that I was losing a friend for good. I was just sad.

Now if you’ll kindly climb back into the way-back machine with me, I’ll take you back to April of 2004. The country manager at the time decided that we needed to initiate ISO9000 and QC to the Iraq theater. I was asked by Phil our site lead if I was interested. I was told to vacate my tent and take everything with me to Qatar. They supposedly had no idea how long I’d be there. When I arrived, the two guys that picked me up commented that I’d packed a little heavy for a 9 day temporary duty!

Should have known right from the start that this was a boondoggle, right? So I meet Barb the ISO9000 and QC goddess and she advises me that Joe came to her and was all ready to get ISO9000 and QC programs going in Iraq. My first impressions were that this did not at all sound like the country manager Joe that I know. So I told Barb my impressions and said that it sounds like lip service. Send someone there, get back to Iraq and then pencil whip the stuff the front office wants to see till the entire Middle East runs out of lead in their pencils!

Barb said that she hoped that wasn’t the situation, but she’d take my opinion into consideration. However, we still had plenty of work to do to get me into shape to start pulling this program together. The next two weeks, I was exposed to all different types of meetings and inspections and pre-inspections. More than you could ever believe.

Barb’s candor, dedication and people skills rendered everyone she met, defenseless. She was by no means derogatory, insensitive or cruel. She knew her job and she needed to make sure that people took her seriously. She gave respect to the people that worked with her and the people that she was inspecting and in return, she was provided the utmost respect.

It wasn’t all work. Barb and I had time to get to know one another in our trips around the city of Doha, Qatar and during the day. She was about my Mom’s age and I was probably about her kids’ age. We both were very well traveled and loved living overseas. Even after her husband passed away of a heart attack while they were living in Turkey, she and the kids stayed overseas. She adored Turkey and had a house there. I’m sure that is where she would retire one day if she was one that would ever retire!

Long story, less long. I got back to Iraq, performed my first inspection and wrote up my first report only to get blown out of the water by Joe, the country manager. “Don’t you EVER send up a report to the ISO QC manager without letting me review it first!” Correct me if I’m wrong, but the inspection is supposed to go to the ISO manager so that she can identify what actions are required to correct the deficiencies.

I called Barb and as nice as I could, told her “I told you so!” She only laughed and said that she would take it from here. She loved challenges and knew that fighting with Joe was going to be an interesting one. Because of the challenges of getting into Iraq and the lack of safety at the time in 2004 and 2005, many of the QC issues had the timeline pushed out some.

As luck would have it, that opportunity came this summer. Barb was flying all over Iraq this summer to inspect and institute ISO9000 and QC at all the sites. I understand that the flak vest and helmets fit her something like Bugs Bunny in uniform when he tried to volunteer for service in the Army. But being the trooper that she was, she enthusiastically boarded one helo after another to get to all the sites. It’s just who she was and her “go get ‘em” attitude.

Around the end of September beginning of October, I was on my way back to Iraq…even after I said that I’d never go back! My first thought when I knew we were headed to Arifjan in Kuwait was that I’d finally have the chance to see Barb again. Seems like every time I’ve passed through Kuwait, I’ve missed her. Sure enough, I missed her again. She was on vacation back to the States to see her kids.

What I hadn’t found out until the beginning of November was that Barb was sick. While she was Stateside, she fell ill and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the final stages. The cancer had metastasized and she had scarce few days left.

Barb passed away on Tuesday of last week. Little did I know back in May that indeed, that would be the last time I’d hug and enjoy discussion with a woman that I was proud to know and count as a mentor to me not only in the lessons of ISO and QC, but in life.

We have lost a beautiful woman who loved life and knew how to live it to the fullest. I can only hope that she has taught me that I need to treat every day as it may be my last and to not be afraid to be brutally honest. Better to have someone dislike you for your honesty than to have them hate you for your deceit and lies.

May God bless and comfort her family in this, their time of loss.

The Mating Habits of Zebras in Tanzania

2006-11-23T20:44:00.000-08:00

10 November 2006

Job’s going well. Working some overtime too and the weather has been so-so. Some rain falls into our lives every so often, but now it’s just getting cooler out. We had to have KBR come over and switch on the heat. I was so cold the one night that I finally broke down and bought a mink blanket to go over the thin blanket and sheet that I have on the bed now.

I’ve about finished my Christmas shopping too. I’ve done some shopping here at the PX and Bazarre, but all the nephews and nieces probably have one of everything from there already! Nothing is original anymore for them. I’ve also done a bunch of shopping on Amazon. What Christmas is complete without a few new books? Deb and I insist on buying books for the kids. I think it comes from having parents that never believed in having any kids books around the house. They both read books, but we never had any books appropriate for our interests, age, etc.

One of my favorite books I bought for my niece last year was “A Thousand Places to See Before You Die.” In it, I collected a bunch of old post cards and pictures I have received back that I had sent to my Grandmothers and Mom when I was in the Air Force or just traveling around the country. Mom always loved seeing post cards from whatever city or country I was in. So I collected those old cards and filed them in the appropriate chapter for that city and country. Then I got post cards and pictures from my sister Deb and brother-in-law Mark’s travels and placed those in the appropriate country and city pages. The book about doubled in size, but I felt that this kind of allowed our niece a taste of our travels around the world in a unique way.

Growing up, my older sister (two years younger than me, but older than my younger sister) and I used to constantly look through a shoebox full of old 1940’s postcard that our Great Grandparents had in the basement. Really cool post cards from Naples, FL and South Florida, Wyoming and all over Colorado just to name a few of the places. Maybe Mom’s and my love of postcards originates from those old post cards…which I still have tucked away in a shoebox in the closet at home.

Not to change the subject, but we had the work meeting from hell tonight. Now I’m not saying that group meetings aren’t or can’t be constructive, but when they get hijacked and so far off track, it accomplishes nothing. One moment our lead is discussing establishing pst files on the server for us to dump our work files and info into and the next thing you know is that we took that wrong turn at Albuquerque like Bugs Bunny and we might as well be talking about the mating habit of zebras in Tanzania.

It just made me appreciate my MBA days all that much more. Our MBA group (aka TMC squared aka Tuesday Night Martini Club squared…because you never have only one martini!) had a designated moderator. Every Tuesday night a different team member was chosen to send out the itinerary for our meeting and was responsible for keeping the extraneous conversation to a minimum thus keeping us on track so that we could finish our homework, test preparation and projects sooner…thus getting us to Rock Bottom sooner to wash away our misery with the refreshment of choice as full time workers and part time students in the EMBA program.

My point being that next time, Robby will need someone to moderate and keep things on track. I nearly fell asleep on my feet with some of the tangents the conversation took. Nice suggestions and points, but it really could be accomplished in a more concise fashion. Speaking of which, seeing the zebras in Tanzania IS on the list of places to go and things to see!

Riding Sgt B's...um, you figure it out!

2006-10-31T11:26:00.000-08:00

31 October 2006

Warning...don't read any further if you're easily offended! Now you can't say that I didn't warn you.

Sgt B was today extolling upon us the virtues of keeping a clean ass. He actually bragged about how clean he keeps his ass. He said that he is sure he has the cleanest ass in the whole unit! He says that he doesn’t want to be embarrassed if he should offer someone a ride in his ass and it was all filthy! Of course, per Army regulations, he insists that you wear a helmet if you’re going to ride his ass…you never know when he might get a wild hair and back up into a tree while you are riding his ass. His ass was inventoried today and he was saying that the Lt had to crawl way up inside it to see the identification tag for accountability. Since his unit is leaving soon, they are about ready to hand his ass off to the new incoming unit.

You can clean up your dirty thoughts now…we were talking about his Mule. It’s a vehicle a little bigger than a golf cart that carries two people with a high flat bed in back. The Army guys affectionately call them their “asses” instead of the brand name of Mule!

Pay Up or Shut Up

2006-10-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

28 October 2006

Haven’t really had much to write about lately. We are starting into rainy season so sometimes it’s muddy and sometimes it isn’t till it rains again. Remind me not to book my next trip to Iraq during the wet season!

Now that I’ve been here a bit over three weeks, you’d imagine as I did that I should be maybe a third of the way down the list for a trailer at the KBR housing office. So I stopped in today to find out that I’m still at 140. Which means that 1) KBR isn’t doing room audits to see who have left, 2) Those leaving are passing keys to their replacements so that they don’t have to go through the list and stay in the tents, and 3) Unless you’re flashing a few Benji Franklins, you aren’t going to move up the list very fast!

Yes, I’m shocked too…not! Well, what the heck do you expect from a company that was run by Cheney? Graft permeates everything in this environment. I’m sure if they could find a way, they’d sell condo lots in the Gardens of Babylon, Ur and more Biblical historical sites than you can shake a stick at. KBR must have found Saddam’s Guide to Raping a Country in 10 Easy Steps upon their arrival. Well someone has to do it, don’t they? While the locals are busy killing each other for control, KBR could just palatize everything of worth and send it off under the excuse of preserving it from the inevitable civil war.

A River Runs Through It

2006-10-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

25 October 2006

Whooo-hooo! Finally a day off. We’ve been tasked to work six day weeks (forced overtime at base rate since mortars don’t kill people when they’re working overtime, thus danger pay shouldn’t be allowed for forced overtime) due to boneheaded management decisions to send people off for training…instead of taking mission considerations first.

Well, that certainly was a run-on sentence, but I’m thinking that it got my point across. Still, it is nice to be allowed to take a day off...compliments of his Lordship. I slept in a couple of hours till my back screamed for relief from this bent-framed bed with springs popping out of the mattress. Wouldn’t you know it that as soon as I get showered and dressed, the thunderstorm started. Why bother getting showered when you’re just going to get covered head to toe in mud?

I just pulled out the computer and decided to hide from the rain and mud for awhile and check email, read some blogs and see what’s in the news. For a good hour, the rain was coming down till next thing I notice that the floor around my bed is a river. How come everyone else knows you’re living on a flood plain except you during the thunderstorm? Well, I picked up my throw rug and hung it on the wall locker to dry out and picked up the power supply off the floor. Nothing else that I have is on the floor where the water is and things should dry out quickly. Ahhh, the joys of tent life!

Once the rain stopped, I walked down to the coffee shop for some caffeine to get me going. Went to the chow hall and ran into a couple of friends who gave me a lift to the Big PX on Liberty (formerly North Victory). Don’t get too alarmed, I didn’t shop till I dropped. We’re too early in the game to be doing any power-shopping yet! Give me a few months to build up my boredom for that.

The day has been overcast and not too much else is going on around here. The past few nights we have heard some occasional mortars, but nothing near. Ramadan should be over soon and hopefully with it some of the violence going on out there. Time will tell.

What Ever Happened to So-and-so?

2006-10-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

14 October 2006

My return has certainly elicited more craned necks and raised eyebrows than I anticipated. I must have really left with a bang if noone expected to see me here again…or at least so soon after leaving.

The nice thing has been seeing so many familiar faces again. Sad thing has been seeing that so many of people I knew over my last contracts here, have actually left…either for home or for greener pastures here in Iraq. I had asked yesterday specifically about an old friend, So-and-so. Allen gave me an abbreviated answer that I thought may have been embellished for shock value and left it at that.

Tonight, Stevie stopped over to see if the rumors were true that I’d returned. We got to talking and I had to confirm if what Allen had told me about So-and-so were true. Steve was closer to So-and-so than I was, and as it turned out, they have continued to keep in close contact. Unfortunately, the bad news I’d heard was true. When So-and-so got home to Florida at the end of May, he wasn’t met by the loving wife and anxious kids with open arms, but by a cold smiling, no-necked, shark-toothed lawyer bearing divorce paperwork.

Thanks to a full power of attorney, between the time of his happy visit home for the Christmas holiday and May, the old bee-otch sold the house, cleaned out the bank account from the last 18 months in Iraq and left So-and-so up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Honestly, it kind of gets my undies in a bundle because So-and-so is genuinely a nice person. You can’t spend this much time with a person under the pressures of work and war and not get a good feel for someone. And the clincher is to have seen how happy he was when he came back from the holidays and how good he always spoke of his wife during all the time he has been here. It just isn’t right that this should have happened that way and to him. Although we hear these stories from the military guys all the time; you never expect it to happen within your ranks.

Pablo's Jinx

2006-10-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

13 October 2006

Yesterday started off pretty good. Ran into boatloads of people I knew which upon seeing me could only smile and shake their heads. Never say never.

By the end of the day, I had already hit all my old haunts here and had plenty of coffee along with a half-dozen trips to the PX to see if they’d gotten anything new in. My first roomy Scott and I used to joke that you’d have to make at least one trip to the PX each day to see what new item they’d gotten in. No requirements to buy anything, but you certainly had to look around to see if they acquired anything new.

Around 8pm, the wind started to kick up and we had a small dust storm along with some drops. Nothing too terrible, but I’m most certainly going to have to consider emailing my sister to send my knee-high rubber boots sooner than I expected. You know my affection for the mud here!

This morning brought my first day back to the working world since I left in May. I should be excited, but I’m pretty sedate. Maybe it’s the new blood pressure meds kicking in. The job has morphed and changed some…pretty much for the better too. So now I’ve got a bit of new learning to do. The learning curve shouldn’t be too bad though, more of mental adjustment than anything else. Very doable.

A very smooth first day I might add, until Pablo had to utter the words dreaded by all whether superstitious or not on a Friday the 13th: “Wow, this has really been a quite day, hasn’t it?”

Within a half hour of his words we had descend upon us a huge wind and dust storm with rain! The wind was so strong that it tipped over like bowling pins all but one of the six porta potties in our area. Eve would be happy to know that her fave porta pottie (old blue) was like that pesky old ten pin that remained standing after the big blow went through. Now you know to question our sanity when you start to develop pet names for that “special” porta, right? (although, old blue supposedly has a comfy seat that doesn’t pinch…course, that’s only a personally unconfirmed rumor) As if that isn’t bad enough, the sat comm guys were allegedly chasing around one of their dishes that got loose on the roof in the wind. All this and we lost electric.

See what you caused Pablo? I suppose the only way it could have been worse is if a herd of black cats had been released in front of us while walking home tonight. My sinuses have been giving me hell with all this fine dust. With the walls of the tents not all tied down, the air flows very freely through our tent. So as you can guess, with all the wind and dust in the air, I came home to an inch of dust on my trunk, my wall locker and my pillow! Gotta love the desert and army tents. I’m about ready to crawl under the sheets tonight and just relax…dusty pillow, bedding and all.

Back At Victory

2006-10-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

11 October 2006

We arrived tonight at around 7 pm on a C130 from Kuwait to Camp Victory. It was very routine and all too familiar to me. For two of my coworkers that are just starting, everything is new and interesting. Unfortunately Starmarie had the experience of losing one of her bags enroute. The military group we traveled with had probably just grabbed it since our bags now needed to conform to military specs and all of our suitcases had to be ditched in Fort Bliss for the issued duffels. We were picked up by the assistant site supervisor, so we followed the military group over to Camp Liberty where they would see if her duffel bag was on that truck. Camp Liberty was on the way back anyway, so it was worth the shot. No luck, but the Sergeant let us know that they had another truck and he would call once they had a chance to check if it got put on that truck. See, even the military has baggage issues.

Dan stopped at the PX for us since we would need to pick up a few odds and ends that aren’t provided once we get to our assigned tents, like linens, pillows, hangers and that type of stuff. What we couldn’t find at the Liberty PX, we made one more attempt to see if it might be available at the little Victory PX. Grabbed a quick bite at Subway and then checked into our trailers.

Although I was tired from all the running around and the funky sleep schedule/jet lag, I had to try to pay a visit to at least one friend that I knew was still here and used to be just around the corner from me when I lived in Dodge North. It was already 10:30, but I had a feeling that Jocelyn was awake. It was really good to see her again and I think I needed a hug and she was just the person to provide that.

She and I talked for about 20 minutes catching up on who was still here and who had left. By that point, we were both ready to call it a night. Although I’m off tomorrow, I’ll stop by the shop and get reacquainted with the area, the people and everything. I can’t really say at this point that I’m “glad” to be back, but running into old friends and coworkers sure does make it feel like home again. Hope I still feel that way in a few months!

Off To Kuwait

2006-10-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

08 Oct 2006

All I had to accomplish today was getting my meds squared away on Friday. The military requires 180 day supply prior to departure. I had already been at Walgreen’s last night and they were unable to come up with the 180 day supply even after contacting four other Walgreen’s in El Paso. They could order it, but with the short lead time required there was no way it would arrive before my departure. But it was Don to the rescue on that front. Good thing he has such good connections here.

Checked out of the hotel and returned the car around 2pm and our formation was at 1430. The week had really gone by fast. Our planned departure wasn’t until like 2am on Sat morning, but things got moved up and we actually departed early Friday evening. Before you know it we were on our way to Kuwait via Bangor, Maine and Germany.

It’s now Sunday morning and we’ve lost a day in transit. Touched down in Kuwait at 0400, but it’s not over yet. They still have a couple of formations to put us through and forms to fill out before we were released to our company reps. I’m exhausted and will write more later.

Death By Powerpoint!

2006-10-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

05 Oct 2006

Today is known affectionately as “Death by Powerpoint.” Lots of required briefings all presented in convenient little power point presentations.

The JAG lawyer that presented this time was great. Very knowledgeable, very professional and very polished. In my years as a student, I’ve sat through a bunch of different speakers over the years. He was a great speaker and kept the audience involved. The last one in 2004 was so painful that, given the choice, you would have rather had your fingernails removed than listen to him.

These presentations today were the last ones prior to deployment. Today if you have everything together, you are considered qualified and can drink…responsibly…if you want. We were released around noon.

That said, a couple of us wanted to find a laundrymat. Didn’t want to drag dirty clothes with us to Kuwait. We got directions to a laundry nearby only to find it closed when we got there. Drove further up the street and stopped at a dry cleaners to see if another was nearby. We were in luck and it was only a few blocks up and over.

Now you know where there is a laundrymat, there is always a liquor store or a dive bar. Sure enough, as soon as we got the clothes in the washer, we set out to have our first celebratory beverage.

So we’re walking up to this bar in an ancient strip of stores. We walked round the Harley in front of the tattoo shop and up to the steel door. The door has no window and has graffiti that has been partially wiped off, but not completely removed. I’m thinking, what the heck kind of place are we going into? We walk into the door and the place is completely dark. Yep, it’s a dive bar. Couldn’t think of a more appropriate place to celebrate our week of and completion of CRC!

The bartender was a stick of a woman about my age with a friendly Texas drawl. We ordered our drinks and decided to go out to the “Beer Garden” as the sign pointed to the back. We got out there and it was no more a beer garden than the man in the moon. The back yard of our dive bar had a big improvised picnic table was in the center with a trailer in the back, overgrown lawn on the sides and horseshoe stakes off to the side. Small, but a nice yard to enjoy the outside while drinking. Acceptable for what we wanted and the perfect way to spend the wash and spin cycle.

Eric and I ran over to throw our stuff into the dryer and got back to the bar in time for the third round. What a great way to relax and spend the time while the laundry was tumble drying. Tomorrow we have formation in the afternoon. We’ll check out of the hotel and get ready to leave either tomorrow night or Saturday morning sometime.

Day of Reckoning

2006-10-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

04 Oct 2006

Got to sleep in today, but had to find breakfast on our own. Medical make-up is today for all of us that had to have our physicals. Yes, I’m still worried. Also receiving our Common Access Cards (CAC). If it is anything like it was before, this should be an all day thing. Last time they had two people processing about 150 and the system was painfully slow.

I got my blood work back, but won’t know till I get to station 7 whether or not I’m physically qualified. Headed over to the medical building and spoke with the PA. She said that my numbers were up, but because I am already on meds and seeing the doc today for stronger meds, I was alright. I’m on my way later today to get the necessary supply for the stay overseas. So that definitely set my mind at ease. Okay, I’m nearly good as gone.

Headed over to bldg 500 to stand in line for a CAC. The process is completely different now. They must have had 8 people processing and it only took about 2 hours to get it done this time.

Headed over to the doc today to get my meds. She increased my dosage and has put me on cholesterol meds as a preventative because of family history. Nothing I wasn’t expecting. I was in range, but I had already discussed with my doc at home about going on cholesterol meds to start bringing things down before it got bad.

Dental and IED Training

2006-10-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

03 Oct 2006

Another early day…but we got to sleep in till 0430 with a roll call at 0530. Much of the process has certainly been streamlined since I came through here in 2004. Admittedly, it wasn’t the medical portion, but nearly everything else has been improved. Today was dental screening, but nearly all of us were in order on our dental stuff. So today’s primary concerns were the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) Training and First Aid testing after the training yesterday.

I have to say that the IED class was much improved and very interesting. Of course, they’ve had time to learn and collect info about how many different IED’s over the past few years, so all the info was very current and very captivating. With so many people having been maimed and killed due to IED’s much emphasis has been placed on training everyone. If you didn’t drop it…don’t pick it up!!!! How many $100 bills or bling-bling do you see laid out in the street? That souvenir you thought might look good on the shelf at home may cost you your arm or your life.

First aid testing was held today. No sweat. We got a lot of good training yesterday along with instruction on things like that Israeli stretchy bandage with the plastic holders and the new tourniquets with the Velcro straps and fixed plastic turning pieces for tightening without risking slippage of the stick used to set the tourniquet. As much as you wouldn’t like to admit it, war does bring many innovations to other fields other than weaponry and tactics.

Medical Screening

2006-10-12T04:45:00.001-07:00

02 Oct 2006

Early, early day today. Up at 0330 so that we can make the 0445 muster. You can not be late to these things or you will be pushed back to the next week. There is not time or patience for the Primadonna here.

Started off with roll call and then load the buses for breakfast. Keep in mind that since a group of us still haven’t had our blood work, after breakfast, we can have no more food until after the physical. From there First Aid training and then the forever-long lines at medical screening. To make matters worse, most of us from ITT were told that our physicals would be taken care of once we got to El Paso. Before, they sent me the paperwork and I was able to go to my own doctor. The military was less-than pleased with ITT at this time. Ever feel like you were born into the wrong family? That was how we were feeling about at this point.

So we were instructed to go through as many of the medical stations as we could and we would have to return on Wednesday to requalify at the medical station once we had our blood work and physicals. That also meant tonight that after we got done, Don or Larry would be taking us to the Clinic to accomplish this.

Personally, I’m worried. I know that my blood pressure is still higher than I or my doc likes it and with CRC becoming so tough on standards, this could be a show-stopper for me.

After being pushed back in line by about 100 soldiers who were given priority over us civilians and about a 3.5 hour wait in medical, I finally got through the initial medical process at 1800. So much for fast, efficient and the supposed-priority we were to be given that day at the medical screening. I was already crabby since I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast at 0530 and it’s now six in the evening.

We got over to the clinic at about 1900 and I got to see a PA at about 2030. Yes, my bp was high and higher than they or I wanted it, but I’d have to wait till Wednesday to know whether it was still in the acceptable range. Doesn’t help that I have terrible white-coat syndrome and it’s a strange doc poking around. Add to that the stressful environment and knowing that if I don’t pass, I’d have to go home and wait till the bp was brought within range before I could return. No pressure, though.

We got out of the clinic at about 2115 (9:15) and headed over to the small taco place nearby for a very nice home-made type authentic Mexican dinner. Come to find out, I’m not the only one with bp issues and one guy that was getting a prostate exam had an accidental release of biowaste that the doc and nurses aren’t soon to forget! Doh! Who said medical exams can’t be fun! You just don’t want to be too relaxed during them.

CRC Sunday

2006-10-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

01 Oct 2006

Don had us filling out forms last night so we had a jump on all the forms that would be filled out over the upcoming week. Three of us decided it was time to move to a hotel, so I rented a car and called to Microtel to inquire about available rooms. With that confirmed, we were comfortably at the Microtel outside of Robt E Lee gate and only a 5 to 10 minute drive from our formations at 503.

Sunday night also brought the Welcome Brief of the commander and kicked off the CRC frenzy. Tomorrow is going to start the whole hectic week of briefs, medical, dental, and a myriad of headaches.

A State of Bliss?

2006-10-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

30 Sep 2006

You would think that it gets easier to leave after having done it so many times, but that’s not the case. I’ve had four months to get used to life at home. If anything, it makes me question what little sanity I thought I had left.

The usual airport thing. Nearly missed the connection though Dallas, but thanks to the new rail system at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, it all came together well. They’ve really changed that airport for the better making O’Hare look like my first impressions of Newark back in 1988! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Newark was an armpit back then…vintage 1940, looking and feeling every last year of it too. O'Hare is tired and needs a little modernizing.

Five of us met the ITT rep at the El Paso airport. He took us to Fort Bliss and got us checked into the CRC building. Civilians now are in 504 which I was hoping was in better shape than 503 2.5 years ago when I went through this process for the first time.

Why I expected things to change is beyond me. Building 504 was every bit as much of a toilet as 503 was back in January of 2004. Same barracks atmosphere, but now I was going through the process in the Fall and it is still hot here. No A/C meant that the windows are all open with a few heavy duty fans blowing around the stagnant 95 degree air like a convection oven circulates air to more evenly distribute the heat in the oven.

We got our linen issue. Good thing I brought my own pillow with, the one issued smelled like someone puked in it even after it was washed! Before going to the PX for locks for the lockers, I needed to make the dreaded bathroom break. Nothing again changed there. One urnal kept flushing on its own out of three stalls, one had no water, one was filled to the brim and out of order and the last had no toilet paper! The wiser decision was to wait to take care of business until a cleaner venue was found.

But I had decided I would really give it a chance before making the decision to move to a hotel. Back in Jan of 2004, four of us only needed to take one look at the barracks to decide to move to the Bliss Inn.

Night came and most of us settled in, but the stifling heat and no A/C or airflow made it difficult to sleep. Not to mention that just as I’d drop off to sleep, someone would slam a locker or switch on a light. I think the decision was nearly made that tomorrow would find me in a hotel.

Baq to Iraq

2006-09-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

5 Sep 2006

I'm sure that it's not coming as too much of a shock to anyone who knows me that I am soon to be back on my way to Iraq. I accepted a position back at Camp Victory, have signed the contract and am now trying to get my paperwork all in order to get KI/Five Rivers to schedule me for CRC back at Fort Bliss. At least I know the drill and how it all works this time around. Now I just have to get the dentist to sign off and my doc to get me in order for my high BP meds so I can get them ordered again through Cigna. That is always a joy.

Looking forward to seeing all the old friends again...not looking forward to living in a tent again with sand fleas and mice. But it isn't like I haven't been through it before.

More when I know more.

Afghanistan in My Future?

2006-07-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

19 July 2006

Been home for seven weeks going on eight and still contemplating life in general. My back has been acting up since I replanted most of the garden in the front, but that is finally easing up some. I've been scoping around for jobs, but nothing has really popped up until now.

I got a call this afternoon from a company that will remain unnamed at this time for a possible position in Afghanistan. Well, how do ya like that?!

Waiting to hear back probably tomorrow. Will I go or will I remain home? Still haven't really decided. I had been thinking about Afghanistan before I left Baghdad, so I'm not too shocked that opportunities have presented themselves.

I'll write more later when I know more.

CRC - Day 2 and We're Done

2006-06-10T03:39:00.001-07:00

31 May 2006

I was up at 0300 this morning so that I could shower and eat some breakfast before the bus was to pick us up at 0400. I didn’t want to end up passing out if they’re going to draw blood, so I had to have something in my stomach. Too bad the bus driver didn’t show. We stood out there until 0500 and finally called Don to find out where the bus was. He called them and called us back only to say that they thought we were to be picked up at 0530.

SRC went about as planned. We got bussed over to the medical building for initial briefings and such. We got a short and sweet briefing from the Chaplin too. He summed things up that while we’ve been gone, the people back home have been making decisions for themselves and have had to carry on with their lives. Our jumping back into their lives will be a new growing process for all. He also pointed out that the military as well as the contractors deployed overseas have learned to adjust to these deployments and separations, but their families don’t always make the adjustment or change quite as easily was we do.

I will admit, it is an adjustment when you get back. His estimate was that it takes anywhere from six to eight weeks for the “honeymoon” period to wear off and for all parties to start getting back to a new normal routine. For some the process is longer than others, but there are always reactions to the arrival and reintroduction of those coming back home. We’re told to take things slowly and be patient with each other and work on accepting the changes. Change happens and now we have to work with accepting the changes instead of expecting life to be turned back to the way it was before we left.

After the briefing, we were led through the process of filling out the paperwork and going to various stations prior to getting shots, blood drawn, interviews with the shrink people and those kind of things. I honestly am having some questions about whether those who opted out of this part of the process were aware of what they have bypassed. Sorry, but I’m not about to let the Army off the hook if by some remote chance, I’ve been exposed to something. You just never know what may have bitten you or what after-effects may arise at some future date. But, they have made their bed and will have to live with it. The rest of us went through the four hours of BS and by about noon, we had completed the process which had started at 0600. Now it was time to celebrate.

A group of four of us ended up taking a cab back to the hotel since we couldn’t find the bus that was supposed to take us back. Split between four, it wasn’t but about $3.50 a piece with tip. Once back at the hotel, I ended up tagging along with a group of ITTer’s that were heading over to a steak place a few miles away. What started out as a group of three of them ended up a group of six after our stop to pick up another two from the Best Western. With so many of us outprocessing, they ended up splitting us into three hotels.

Nothing like some good cold beer, peanuts (where you can throw the shells on the floor) and some great food. Good thing I only had the 13oz. Ribeye. Between all the appetizers of fried mushrooms and potato skins, I wouldn’t have been able to finish anything bigger. Our waitress was really great too. With El Paso being such a military town, the people here really have welcomed everyone back from Iraq with open hearts and arms. One of the guys in our group had been up to the Tony Lama boot place yesterday and was given a 50% discount with his orders. Now that’s appreciation right there.

With all the jet lag and such, I’m kind of glad that I’m not rushing around to try and find some earlier flight. At least I have tonight to chill out some, go to bed at a decent hour, wake up (hopefully refreshed) and finish packing things up after a quick breakfast. It will be nice to be back home again in my own bed and my own house.

CRC - Day 1

2006-06-10T03:39:00.000-07:00

30 May 2006

CRC – Day 1

John and I decided to go over to Red Lobster last night for dinner. We both had Margarita’s on the rocks. I got the top shelf but John just got the original. It was like one was my limit. I’ve become such a light-weight drinker. I guess that’s a good thing. I certainly had a good buzz going on when we left the place.

Got back to the room and had date with Mr. Bubble. I miss taking baths when I’m away from home. With only showers at Victory, it is always a pleasure to be able to take a bath and soak the scum off the body. So between the good buzz I had going from the Margarita and the relaxing hot bath, I had a nice mellow evening.

After such a nice sleep the night before, jetlag danced all over me again last night. I fell asleep at 11, but woke up at about 3:30 and was staring at the ceiling. So I switched on the TV and flipped through channels for 90 minutes before deciding on a shower and breakfast at the IHOP. We were getting picked up today at 0700 to turn in issued gear.

It actually went smoother than I thought it would. They took our stuff back in at building 503A, so it was just a matter of them getting themselves organized after the long holiday weekend and we were all done by lunch time.

Tomorrow morning we have a 0400 rendezvous time for medical. We were given the option to opt-out of the medical end of this if we wanted, but with all the history of Gulf War Syndrome and such, maybe it’s better to let them do the TB test and take the blood for storage. We will also be given the opportunity to receive any shots to bring us current if we want. I will probably go ahead and get he next Hep in the series as long as they have it and I’m already there. Otherwise you have to go down to the county health department at home to get it. We have been told that they will hold the blood taken before we deployed along with this blood for ten years as a precaution.

Out of boredom today, I had to find an internet connection. I remembered that Starbuck’s usually have a “hotspot”, so I gave it a look-see today. Woo-hoo! Signed up on T-Mobile’s Hot Spot and checked my mail and read a few blogs over a good cup of coffee. I have felt so disconnected with the world without my internet access. This gave me the chance to send off some email and let everyone know that I’m still around and doing alright.

So Long, Kuwait

2006-05-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

27 May 2006

I’m writing this on the flight to keep myself occupied. I’m dead tired, but can’t really get comfortable enough to sleep any. I tried to nap before we had to meet at 2330, but it just didn’t work. We hijacked a Gator when the soldier driving was dropping duffels and baggage off at a tent nearby. Then the six of us walked over to the customs area and asked them where we could store our stuff. At least I didn’t have to drag all that stuff across the compound again.

Took a shower and then we walked up to the meeting place at 2300. Good thing we showed up early; they were starting at 2315, not 2300. Not the first time we’ve been given wrong times, huh? So we got separated and briefed about what we could and could not carry back on the flight. Believe it or not, you cannot bring any pornography with you back to the States. First off, this is rather hysterical because it is illegal as liquor in this Muslim country. So them telling us that we can’t take it back with us only means that it was mailed to people in theater.

They also let us know that pills (prescription or not) that are not in their original bottles (you know, like put into the daily cases like I do with my vitamins and bp stuff) will be tossed. Oh, yes, they will have you empty out all your suitcases and duffel bags. For crying out loud, most of the civilian’s duffels hadn’t been emptied out since it was issued to them. We just don’t have a whole lot of need for all the crap they load us down when they send us upstream.

The whole customs ordeal for the couple of hundred of us took about two hours, so by then it was about 0230 on Sunday. Once we were through customs, we were held in a holding area which we couldn’t leave. That was shorter than expected since our flight departure time was moved up to 0730. Soon we were in formation again and led to six waiting busses to take us off to KWI.

We had a stop enroute to use some nasty porta potties out in the middle of nowhere…probably to remind us how much we would miss them in the real world. Waited there for about an hour and reboarded the busses and got taken to the flight line. We boarded an Omni Air International DC10 that looks like it was pulled out of the Smithsonian or at least from that airplane mothball field in Tuscon, AZ just for us. We are talking about one vintage aircraft. Actually it is a pretty cushy flight with real Corinthian leather seats even in coach.

The one saving grace is that we aren’t crammed in like sardines. We probably have a seat between all of us, so we can stretch out some. We have two stops enroute; one at Bonn/Cologne Airport in Germany and then one at MacGuire AFB in New Jersey. We are dropping about half the soldiers on the flight there, I guess on R&R.

Our stop in Cologne wasn’t anything to celebrate. All they do is take you off the plane so that they can service it and fuel it. So we got put on busses and were bussed over to the terminal. “Ahhhh!” I hear your thinking, “time for some great German Koelsch bier while we wait, right?” Not quite so fast. We are on a military flight…no liquor. So we get led to a holding area in the terminal that is all restricted and blocked off from everything except a bathroom and some vendors selling $4 pop!

We were only there for a two hour break and then back on the plane again. I don’t think I’ve slept in about 30 hours at this point, but I have managed a couple of cat naps here and there. My back is killing me from all this sitting, but soon it will be over. We should be arriving at MacGuire in about three more hours, so I’ll write more about the trip in a bit.

Still Bored in Kuwait

2006-05-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

26 May 2006

As expected, ITT Mental Midgets changed the meeting time on Friday morning to 0830 instead of 0900 as it had been posted and emailed everywhere. I guess they needed more time to convince us that they really aren’t the elephant man. The meeting was as anticlimactical as expected. Lots of words, distribution of our itineraries and if you wanted to, you could provide name, address, email and phone if you want to contacted in the near future about ITT opportunities. Bada-bing, bada-boom, meet at the big-top-tent at 2330 tomorrow (Saturday) night and we’ll be checking in for the Freedom Flight. Thirty-six hours to occupy my time with…what shall I do?

Existing here at Ali Al Salem is a lot like a baby’s life; eat, sleep, poop. Only difference is we can shop, drink Green Beans coffee, use the internet café and use the phone. But everything costs money. You end up bored with everything you start. You don’t really have a permanent location to call yours except a tent with 10 bunk beds. You always have that worry lurking in the back of your mind that your stuff might get ripped off. It just isn’t a comfortable existence when you’re at the LSA.

But, I got through the day. I ended up buying season one of Tour of Duty. That kept me out of trouble for the afternoon. Took care of some email stuff at the internet café at $5 per hour and bought a few odds and ends at the PX.

We meet tonight at the big-top-tent for our departure briefing, customs searches and then board busses to go 1.5 hours over to the military side of KWI to board the chartered military plane. The first Freedom Flight I came over here on in Feb of 2004 was a Continental 777. We were packed to the gills. Don’t know how full this flight will be yet.

Hanging Out in Kuwait

2006-05-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

26 May 2006

Well, here it is Friday already. Started out my outbound trek on an Embassy flight from BIAP to Ali Al Salem on Tuesday. We had a small delay after a mortar landed on the runway and repairs had to be made, but the plane had been delayed anyway and hadn’t landed yet, so that really didn’t slow down our departure. I must say that for my “last” C130 flight out of Baghdad, it was fortunately an uneventful flight. The weather was clear and hot, no sandstorms in sight and everything went as planned.

We arrived in Kuwait and KBR was there to meet and greet us and take me away to the Hilton on the waterfront. As long as they have openings, we can stay there. They put you up in the villas which have a living space, a kitchen, four baths, four bedrooms and you room with another person. Only hitch there is you never know when you’ll be woken up as your roomy may have a 2am flight out and is packing or moving out just as you’ve dropped off to sleep…or the opposite, where you don’t have a roomy when you fall asleep, but wake up to someone coming in. Still, the situation is far superior to the 18 men tents with bunk beds at Ali Al Salem.

I met up with Mike and Mary at the Hilton and we pal’d around together for the next few days. On Tuesday, we did dinner at the Blue Elephant, a great Thai place there at the Hilton. And yes, I did get my cup of Starbuck’s as there is also a Starbuck’s on the property along with a pizza place if you really must have a pizza in Kuwait.

Wednesday was our big day to hit the town. We got ourselves a taxi to take us to the souks and the rest is history. Yep, between the two shop-a-holics (Mary and me) we did some damage there! Mary found this interesting Turkish antique marriage helmet inlayed with some semiprecious stones, glass stones and some dangly type things hanging down from the top of the helmet. She also was taken by some interesting costume jewelry very typical of the Middle East. She is going to have this jewelry set which included a necklace, two dangly earrings and a thingy that is attached to the hair and drops down the woman’s forehead, mounted somehow in a shadow box once she gets home.

I found a picture from Ishfahan (Iran) like my chess/backgammon board about 2X1.5 in size with the drawing/hand painting and the inlayed frame. It will look perfect above my bed. Then when I’d gone into the next vendor, he had the matching 1.5 X .75 pictures that will look great flanking the bigger picture. Naturally, all this stuff will have to be shipped, so I had eyed a small 3X2.5 hand-woven wool carpet in brown, butterscotch and dark blue which I used to wrap up the bigger picture when I shipped it back home.

Comparing it in price to the similar sized ones I had bought in Qatar about two years ago, I’d say that these were probably a better deal. They actually were cheaper than the ones I’d bought back then, so I did get a good deal. I am thinking about putting that carpet up on the wall in my room too, so it won’t end up rolled up on a shelf in the basement in storage.

If you’ve never been to the souks, you really go there for the atmosphere and the deals. Although it kind of grossed Mary out, the meat market is kind of interesting there. Lots of hanging veal carcasses. And don’t forget the (don’t ask me why they do it) sheep’s heads complete with eyeballs minus the skin. I guess that it just gets skinned off when they skin the rest of the carcass so they just include the head in the meat display for ornamentation. The only other thing I might hazard a guess is to think that they have it sitting there is to see how fresh the kill is. Don’t the eyeballs get cloudy after the animal has been killed? Who knows, but I will admit that they do look a bit evil with their skinless face-meat and muscles all showing and their eyeballs all popped out, teeth with this massive overbite haunting you with that permanent evil grin staring at you from the meat counter.

Mary was also looking around the gold vendors to see if she could find some humongous gold hoop earrings. She half-heartedly looked for some gold bracelets for her Mom’s friend, but nothing seemed to catch her fancy. I did see one thing that interested me in the gold markets, but it was a set of gold mint coins. Not just any gold coins, mind you…these were official gold replicas of the Kuwaiti currency put out by the official mint of Kuwait. For the low, low price of 300KD (the Kuwait Dinar is at about $3.65 to 1KD which equals roughly around $950) I could own one 22K gold mint set. Think I’ll pass this time around. Besides, the price of gold is outrageous right now. Give it some time to come back down to earth.

We met our taxi driver at the prearranged time and place and asked him to take us over to the Marina Mall. I’ve been to the Shark Mall, but never to Marina, so it was a good field trip. Mary had to pick up her makeup from M.A.C. and picked up some clothes from Zara, also a UK based trendy shop that we don’t have in the States. I had the chance to pop into Next another UK based shop that I found I liked after my trips to London. Before you know it, it was time to leave.

Ended up having Wednesday night dinner at the restaurant at the Hilton. The food that we’ve had for breakfast was always good and I’d heard that the dinners were good too. While we waited for the restaurant to open, Mike got himself a haircut. Being the uncultured bum that I am, I didn’t realize until the barber started working on Mike, that his haircut included the full works. The barber gave him the full 30,000 mile work over! Next thing ya know, Mohamed is doing the facial wax, pulling the wax off (rrrrrip!), facial moisturizer, trimming the ear hairs, nose hairs (inside and on top), and don’t forget the old threading of the eyebrows. (I’m sure the guy would have “trimmed the yehti”(or is it yeti? Look *THAT* one up in your urban dictionary at urbandictionary.com) if you’d of asked him to!) along with the ever popular hand massager along the forehead, face and neck.

Now if you’ve never witnessed this threading thing, it is really quite entertaining in and of itself! Threading involves him wrapping one end of what looks like dental floss around one finger and putting the other end in his mouth. Then he gets up into your eyebrows and thins those bad-boys out. At first I was worried that old Mikey was going to end up with eyebrows like Joan Crawford, but lo and behold, he came out of it looking like a million bucks.

So after Mike steps out of the chair, Mary is egging me to get in the chair. Her real reason is that she really got off on watching that whole threading thing and wanted to witness it again! Although I just had a haircut right before leaving Iraq, it was a bit rough around the edges and could stand for a bit of a trimming out in some areas; so what the heck? I sat down in the chair and let Mohamed take it away. And I gotta say that the only thing that might have been nicer would have been a soaking in the bathtub…except for the waxing part, of course! The light waxing that he did, however, must be for the pores more than to remove hair because it was like my pores were opened right up.

I don’t know what scents they used in those products, but I’m thinking that with rose water being so popular, it must be rose water based. I could smell whatever it was on me even after a shower that night to get all the loose hairs out of my head after the hair trimming.

So after our hair experiences, we all headed to the restaurant for dinner. We sat out on the deck overlooking the Gulf and enjoyed the warm breezes off the water and the sound of the surf. The food was great too. As a final send-off from Iraq, I couldn’t have asked for any better day than this one. We just relaxed and enjoyed the whole day. Good people, good shopping, good food and good weather.

We finally ran into Roland that night too. He has been around, but quite the socialite with the ladies here. He has a Philipina girlfriend that works here in Kuwait, so he has been kept occupied. He popped in during dinner to say hi and have an iced tea with us. He agreed that since he had a car, he wouldn’t mind taking us up to the base at Arifjan so that we could mail off to the States, all the new possessions we acquired during the day.

Wednesday night, I was just relaxing in the room. My roommate had left the night before, and it was already 930pm, so I wasn’t sure if I would be seeing a roomy that night. Lo and behold, Jim pops in. As he was dragging his stuff in, he was just describing the scene we all know about rhino bus rides from the Embassy to BIAP, cancelled C130 flights and spending all night at BIAP with nothing but a hard chair to curl up in. He said he had gone 24 hours without sleep and was exhausted.

Although he was exhausted, he was still wound up and probably could have handled a good two fingers of single malt to help him relax after his harrowing experience. We ended up having a great chat for an hour or so before we both headed to sleep. I woke up Thursday morning and was careful not to wake him. Roland had a car and volunteered to take Mary, Mike and me up to Arifjan to mail out all the goodies we’d acquired at the souks the day before. We also wanted to check on the rendezvous time for the Friday morning meeting at Ali Al Salem, so we checked the boards at building 1465 for that.

I saw Jim again after lunch, but didn’t realize it was him till after I got back to the room later in the day and saw him crashed out again on the bed. By then I didn’t want to disturb him, so I didn’t even say goodbye. I should have left a message with my contacts and all, but you don’t always think about those things when you’re heading out the door. So Jim S from Milwaukee working for the DoF at IZ, if you get the message, drop a line or give a call sometime. I wouldn’t mind exchanging more of our experiences over in Iraq.

After lunch, we also checked in with the travel people at KBR here in the Hilton to find out that they don’t have a bus going to Ali Al Salem as we first heard. We would have to take the bus to the airport and then catch another military bus to Ali Al Salem. With the bus schedules the way they were, that now meant that we’d leave the Hilton either at 3pm or at 7:30 pm depending on how late you wanted to fool around.

I took the 3pm and ended up at the tent at Ali Al Salem by around 10pm. Mary and Mike took the later busses and ended up at the LSA at about 1am. Mary decided that she needed another shopping fix before leaving. Actually, she went back up to the souks to buy more of those jewelry sets. I think that she is going to try her hand at making some shadow boxes and giving them away as gifts in the future.