Day 104

Another very long day!  These 5:30am mornings are killing me!  But I successfully sent my party to the airport, and they made it to another RC.  So now they're someone else's problem for a few days.  Unfortunately, this group is like a boomerang, and they will keep coming back to me for a while.

Pumpkin got some treats today.  She was actually really happy to see me.  When I came out of our door, she immediately jumped to her feet and started following me.  I will miss her when I go.

I took a picture this morning of the mountains around us.  I don't have a very clear view of them, and you can't see them past 10am anyway because of the smog, dust, and crap in the air.  But here's a picture.



Also this morning, I saw the male black cat over by the DVQ.  He wanted to pose for a picture, so who was I to turn that down.



Tonight a handful of us went over to the Embassy to see their giant bonfire.  It was quite impressive!  Once it got going the flames were about 30 feet in the air, and it was too hot for me to stand near.  Lots of pictures were taken, and we'll have to see who had the best.  I unfortunately forgot my phone, because it was charging in my room.  Go figure.  But after the last few days, I think I'm ready for a normal night.

Happy New Years to All!

Day 103

Well, I'm almost done with the second real day of my visit. Today was
actually much smoother than yesterday, so that was good. We didn't
cancel anything or rearrange anything, which I count as points on my
scoreboard.

I can't really say I did much except work today. I did find the
little black cat over at the DVQs, so he got a few treats. He's a
little skitish, and doesn't want to be petted quite yet. So we'll
see. He's very vocal though, which is funny to me. Oh well.

I read a few comics from The Oatmeal book that Emili got me, and I
think everyone will enjoy the comic "How to Ride a Pony." I can't get
to the web site from work here, but if you google "The Oatmeal How to
Ride a Pony", the comic pops up.

Well, I think I'm going to rest for a while now. Talk more tomorrow.

Day 102

Today was a very long day.  And it wasn't a good sign when I was told at 6:30am, "we're going to have to change this itinerary all around."  Not a great start.  But I think in the end, it was a pretty successful day.

I got to have my hot chocolate, which is definitely the best way to start the day.  And then I pretty much scrambled for the next few hours, trying to move, fix, patch up appointments.  So it wasn't all that much fun, but I guess it wasn't too bad.

I have another trip arriving the day after this current trip ends.  Grrr.  I don't know why my boss seemed to think that was a good idea, but I guess my massage and day off will have to wait a bit.  Unfortunately, the planning for that second trip is still in its infancy, which isn't ideal.  I will hopefully have many answers waiting for me in my inbox in the morning.

I got a package today!  From Beth and EJ!  So that you very much for the Animal Anatomy coloring book (recommended book for school, I believe), book of "baby cats in zoos" book (adorable), Big Cat playing cards, and all the candies and hot chocolate.  It was wonderful, and I can't wait to read about the cats!



Not too much else to report.  I did leave some fried chicken on the ground for Pumpkin.  I know it's not the most healthy thing for her, but it saves her from rummaging through the trashcan herself.  I'm just saving her time, really.  I don't think most of the cats here are too particular.  Well, I think I'll head to bed soon.  More to report tomorrow!

Day 101

It's not every day that I can write on a Palindrome Day. Not only
that, but it's binary. However, I'm not sure what 5 has to do with
anything....

Today has been the last minute stressful changes before the visit
actually begins. This is also why I'm at work instead of in my room
relaxing. I don't think the relaxation will come for about another 15
days, unfortunately. My monthly massage will have to be delayed by a
bit. I'm sure I won't forget to do it though.

I did have a nice lunch with Aaron Kakiel today. We went to Fort
Jackson together, and he's an 03 grad of USNA. We talked about our
jobs, going home, which Generals are not cool, etc. Pretty standard
fare, I would imagine. But we did it over a pizza, so that was
wonderful.

Now, I had these pictures yesterday, but now I can attach them. Poor
Pumpkin was rooting around in the trash, even though she gets some
good meals every once in a while! But she's a cute one. Except for
when she's trying to eat my fingers. But we all have our bad days.

I think that's about it for today. Tomorrow will be an early day with
a demanding General. Wish me luck. Or work on witty phrases for my
tombstone.

Day 100

Well today turned out to be a long and semi-stressful day. If the
RC's would do their jobs, it would all work wonderfully. But alas.

I saw Pumpkin again early this morning, and she got some petting. No
food, but she still soaked up the petting. Nothing much happened in
the early part of the day. Come afternoon, however, my phone wouldn't
stop ringing. "We can't do this, and we can't do that." My response?
"I don't care what you do with him, but because I am arranging the
flights, you still have to fill up the days with something." It's
nice to have some power, I suppose.

But I managed to snag myself more work today (note sarcasm). Because
I answered the phone a few days ago, I will now be the Action Officer
for an upcoming visit. It really doesn't pay to answer the phone
around here.

We did get a box of presents from LT Heather Lane today. She's the
girl I replaced when I came out here. She gave me a San Diego
Chargers knit hat, and some Christmas paratrooper toys. Santa and
Rudolf have parachutes, and I'll have to throw them off a roof
sometime soon. It was a nice gesture, and I can't imagine the costs
of buying and shipping gifts over here!

Well, that's about it for today, I have a couple pictures of Pumpkin
on a trashcan, but the internet is not cooperating too well. But I
will write more tomorrow. Good night.

Day 99

Today was pretty boring, all things considered.  I really didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning, but eventually did.  I had a hot chocolate at work, which was nice.  Then a pretty slow flow of phone calls took place about my visit.  At one of the RC's, both the Chief and the Deputy decided to go on vacation at the same time, and they left an O-3 in charge.  Now, some O-3's would do fine, but not this one.  She is floundering, and not winning any points with me.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Brits are a delight to work with.  Well, maybe that's taking it a bit far, but they're a delight to listen to on the phone.  They have such funny words, and they're very polite.  I close my eyes and imagine one of them saying, "My hovercraft is full of eels."

I ordered a game today, so that'll arrive in a couple weeks.  It's called Skyrim, and is the successor to Oblivion.  I haven't really played a game of this type, but I thought I'd give it a try.  It's supposed to be pretty open ended, so I can pursue at my leisure.  Plus, there are dragons, which just sounds cool.

I became good friends with XKCD's random button today.  I came across this comic on war, and I thought it was funny.  Not that it is applicable or anything, but I find it humorous.

Day 98

Merry Christmas everyone!

This morning I got up and skyped with Emili and then with my parents and Lauren.  It was still Christmas Eve for them, but Christmas morning for me.  I quietly opened some gifts, where were great!  Here's a picture of my presents this morning.

 

After that, I settled into my Star Trek mode, and watched a few episodes of that.  It's mind numbing, but it often has me acutely feeling my loneliness.  But I don't have much of a choice.

I went into work around 11:30 today, checked my emails, and then we went to lunch mostly as a group.  It was hard to find a table that we could all sit at!  There was quite a spread today, with chicken, pork, turkey, supposedly goose (though I didn't see it), and lots of good desserts.  I ate entirely too much!  In fact, after we came back to the office, I was forced to fall asleep face first on my desk.  No choice, really.

At 2pm, a group of us went to the roof of a building to take part in the Corn-Hole Tournament.  Of course, I'd never played this game, nor knew the rules.  But somehow my partner and I won our first game.  We lost in the second round, but it was entertaining.  They people hosting definitely played this a great deal.  They had the home field advantage, but it was still fun.

 

You can see the Army boards, but the other side had Navy boards.  So friendly rivalries exist here as well!

Then I called my Mom at 6am her time, thinking she had surely been awake for the last hour.  But alas, Lauren does not get up nearly as early as I do!  So I had a nice chat, but nothing had really started yet.  So I'll try to call again later.

This afternoon in the office, both TV's were occupied with people shooting each other on XBoxes.  I'm sure they had a good time, but it was hard to concentrate.  Luckily, I was reading a book of short stories, and not doing anything super critical.

Dinner was a bit of a disappointment.  The dining facility had been advertising the menu for Christmas lunch and dinner for about 3 weeks.  Lunch was about as expected.  However, when we arrived for dinner, they were serving pizza, spring rolls, and chicken tenders.  Not exactly as advertised!  We hypothesize that they ran out of food, and pulled out something easy to serve quickly.  Still not the standard Christmas dinner meal though.  But that's ok.  We'll live.

That's about it for today.  It's been pretty long and not quite the same.  I hope everyone is having or just had a wonderful Christmas, and I look forward to the visiting when I get home!

Day 97

Christmas Eve.  Not quite the same as what I'm used to, unfortunately.  It was a pretty normal day of work, albeit slow.

I was a little tired today because last night I discovered the music video folder on the shared drive.  I spent much longer than I should have just taking a stroll down memory lane.  I found lots of videos from the 80's and 90's that brought back memories.  It was pretty cool.

I wore my new long underwear today, which is amazing.  I really like it, and I think it will do wonders for me this winter and many future winters too!  Not a whole lot of work happened today, but that's ok.  I read a few stories in the David Sedaris book, so that was nice.  Oh!  I also went outside when I heard Panda today.  I knelt down, and he curled up in my lap and purred.  He's a very sweet cat.

Anyhow, I surfed lots of internet(plural?) today, and read reviews of various games.  I'm actually thinking about bringing my laptop to work so I can do other productive things in my spare time.  I need to continue to tweak my application for the MPH program at Tufts as well.  They only ask three questions, so I'd like to nail my responses.

The XBox360 and the 60" TV in the office is getting a pretty thorough workout, since there are many other people that also don't have much to do these days.  Oh well.

Well, I'm going to wake up at 7:00-ish (normal time), and I'll be on skype and gchat, if anyone wants to say hello before you go to bed.  Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

Day 96

Christmas Eve Eve.  So what happened today?  I got to stay in bed this morning, which was lovely.  I watched a little Star Trek Voyager, and then let the laptop download some updates.  I think it's doing pretty well, considering the dust.

Then I went to work.  As I was walking in, a group was leaving for lunch, so I joined them.  Nothing exciting, but I'm sure I ate food.  I usually do when I go to the dining facility.  If the food were more memorable, the days wouldn't blur together as much, which I do like.

Not much happened with my trip, and it looks like the transportation is actually arranged.  So that's good and bad.  Good that I don't get yelled at for screwing anything up, but bad because it means they're actually going to show up.  Oh well.

I got a package from Emili today!  And guess what I am wearing?  My brand new long underwear!  It's better stuff than what they issued, and this will basically allow me to wear my normal uniforms and not have to get the cold weather gear issued.  So I'm very excited about that!  It's very comfortable too, which is nice.

I recently remembered a series I watched some of a long time ago, called Earth: Final Conflict.  So on a whim, I checked the shared drive.  Sure enough, the whole series is there, so I'm downloading it now.  I don't remember how much I saw growing up, but I remember thinking it was interesting.  It sounds like the show V might actually be similar, but I'll have to watch.

I think that's it for now.  Good night!

Day 95

I woke up to another freezing day!  It was pretty cold in the morning and evening, but warmed up to about 45 during the day.

My morning was fairly uneventful.  I don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening.  After lunch, I helped TSgt Zuromski mail some plates.  Let me explain.  Mr. David Bradley was a DV for another guy in the office, the same time Gen Zinni was here with me.  Mr. Bradley owns the Atlantic Media Group.  So he's basically made of money.  He went to the little Afghan shops on the compound and ordered a set of lapis lazuli blue dinner plates.  I believe the cost was roughly $1500.00.  Needless to say, he put some money down, and left the remaining money with us to pick up the plates when they were ready.  So I helped carry the well packaged plates to the post office.  I hope they make it in one piece!

We did the Christmas party tonight, and I am just not a crowd type of person.  I stood out of the way so I could eat in peace, and I watched as people participated in the gift exchange.  I'm sure it was nice enough, but it's not home.  But that's ok.

I tried to take Pumpkin's picture again today, but she just doesn't want to hold still!

 

And here's a picture of my three favorite cats on the Terrible Towel at work.

Day 94

Wow, this morning was frigid.  My phone said it was 16 F.  Pretty chilly!  The hot chocolate tasted really good once I got to work.

Things were pretty quiet at work this morning and this afternoon.  After lunch, I went into a food coma at my desk, and sort of dozed for a while.  I looked around, and other people had their heads down on their desks too.  So it wasn't just me.

I was surprised to get 2 packages today too!  Paul Farrell sent me a care package, which was awesome.  Thanks man.  It had fun stuff like Christmas lights, barbecue sauce (more on that soon), and lots of good stuff.  I really appreciate it man.

I also got a package from Emili's folks.  I really loved getting pictures of the cats.  They're actually sitting above my desk on the Terrible Towel.  And I have a hot chocolate in the Steeler cup here with me!  Very cool.  Thank you for all the snacks and victuals.  And thank you very much for the Amazon gift card.  I think it will be put to goo use!  I will miss being with everyone this Christmas, but I'll be home soon.

So when I went to dinner tonight, I took the brand new bottle of barbecue sauce that Paul sent.  However, I was a little worried as I opened it and I heard a hiss, like when you open a soda.  And then in fact, the sauce just started overflowing like a volcano!  I think the seal must have been broken in transit, because it was in the fermentation process.  But the powder barbecue looks great, and I can't imagine anything going wrong with that.

  

Not too much else going on.  Pumpkin got a nice big meal of Chicken flavored cat food tonight.  It's getting pretty cold, so hopefully that will help her out.  She was quite happy to get it, and I've found a very good place to feed her that's out of the way.  Well, I think that's it for tonight!  Good Night.

Day 93

Today was definitely the coldest day so far.  It got up to about 32 degrees during the day, and it's supposed to be about 16 degrees tonight.  And no, those numbers are not Celsius.  My hot chocolate definitely tastes good in the mornings!

Today I got a few things in the mail, which was really cool.

1)  A 2nd grade student in Canada sent out a journal to someone she knew.  Then that person sent it to the next, and so on.  Each person marks where they are in the world on the map, writes in the girl's journal, and then passes it on.  I think it's a pretty neat idea, and I wish my teachers had thought to do something like that when I was young.  I received it from Lindsay Moore, and she received it from her cousin, I believe.  I'll pass it on, and hope that it keeps going until May when the project is over.

2)  I got a Christmas gift from Dee!  It's wrapped, and I was good so it's under my bed now.  I am looking forward to opening it on Sunday!

3)  I got a package from Steve Schall and the Computer Science Department.  This was box 2 of 2, so that was awesome.  You guys know how to pack a care package!  So many good treats, I can't even list them all.  But thank you Steve, Adina, Ray, and Dave.  It felt like Christmas for me today, which was awesome.

So today I ended up entertaining Mr. David Feherty, a generally colorful character of golf.  He did well on the tour years ago, but now he commentates and is the voice on the Tiger Woods golfing game on the consoles.  And let me tell you, he is colorful.  "I think we do it wrong with DV's....it should be VD!"  Oh, and he apparently left a pair of underwear in the burn bag in his room (a bag for the secure disposal of classified documents) because he had an accident where he thought he was going to fart.  A hilarious man.  Anyhow, here are a couple pictures:

   

Day 92

Today started out calm and quiet.  I got to make myself a nice hot chocolate, and I sat down and read the normal web sites.  I didn't even get any email overnight!

I did get to come in and watch the Ravens lose to San Diego, which was really fun to watch!  If the Steelers beat the San Francisco tonight, I believe that puts them on top of AFC North as well as #1 in the AFC at all, because we beat New England earlier in the season.  So everyone think positive thoughts for Ben's ankle!

I was basically waiting for the last couple days on people on the East Coast to get their act together.  Apparently, they don't come in to work on Saturdays and Sundays.  Go figure.  So I waited.

I think lunch was pretty good today.  We had a chicken dish, where we had something akin to a fajita mix, and they gave us pita bread.  So I just piled some stuff in the pita and ate it like a taco.  Not too bad, really.  And I didn't even get any bone today.

Just to give everyone an idea of what the atmosphere is like here, it's gray!  And it's not fog or haze.  It is, in face, smoke and dust.  The locals apparently burn stuff in order to stay warm.  While I don't begrudge them their warmth, use a freaking blanket!  The smoke and dust is so thick that the helicopters can't fly past about 7:30pm out here.  The visibility drops to almost nothing, which complicated all of our planning.  What a lovely place.  And don't get me started about all the bad things I'm sure we're inhaling all day long.

I was lucky to receive a package today from the McCormicks!  Thank you very much!  It had fun stuff like puzzles, beef jerky, cat treats, hand warmers, and some other fun stuff.  Thank you for thinking of me!

Everyone has been very supportive of me, and I truly appreciate it.  While this isn't and doesn't feel like home, I know I'll be welcomed back gladly.  I think that's it for today, and I'll have more tomorrow.  Good Night.

Day 91

Today was another sleep in day, so I spent it watching lots of Star Trek.  Believe it or not, I'm still occasionally finding episodes that are new to me.  So that's fun.

I wasn't moving very quickly, so I grabbed a to-go box at lunch, and took it back to my desk to eat.  Unfortunately, the box itself smelled of really bad body odor.  I'm not exactly sure how that happens, but as it turns out it wasn't the people in front of me in line, as I had suspected.  My food tasted less palatable and I got rid of the Styrofoam box as quickly as I could.

I was happy to get a letter from Grandma today (who thinks she's coming on vacation with Emili and me!), and I got cards from Lauren, Grandma Ruth, and Aunt Sheila and Uncle Kevin.  Thank you all very much!

I also got 3 boxed PACKED with boxes of Girl Scout cookies!!  Troop #2684 gathered many boxes of cookies, and with the help of Ms. Shari Biery, shipped them off to a poor soul in Kabul (smile).  Thank you also to Cheryl and those in the USNA CS Department.  I truly appreciate the gesture.  If anyone wants anything from this part of the world, please speak up!  I think generally scarves, blankets, scorpions, and tarantulas seem to be the indigenous products.

A few days ago, I received a package from Emili, but I was bound under a NDA.  But today I can share what I received:



Extremely cute and I think they'll go perfectly on a Christmas tree!

Day 90

I started the day off nicely with a nice warm drink.  I had a hot chocolate, but I also put in a broken up mini candy cane, and some extra marshmallows.  So it was quite healthy!

I think a couple things came together today, but nothing very big.  Another pretty dull day.

I did go out at one point and Pumpkin was there.  So I petted her and gave her a couple treats.  Then she followed me over to the bathroom, waited for me, and started to follow me back.  However, another person sort of blocked her path, unintentionally.  So she sat down and was looking at him, and he was just looking at her.  I was about 20 yards away, but I made a noise to get her attention.  She looked over, and then I made my noise again, and she came running over to me!  I think she really does recognize me, which is really neat.  She was outside again when I left work tonight, so she got some good petting.

I also had dinner with the Honorable Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy.  So that was neat.  We ended up having lots of people there, maybe 30.  So it was crowded, and he didn't really talk to me at all.  But that's ok. He seems like a decent guy, and I'm sure he makes the best decisions he can.  He also gave each of us a coin on his way out.





But that's about it for today.  90 whole days gone.  At least I get to sleep in again tomorrow.  Good Night!

Day 89

Today was another pretty dull day.  I did get to enjoy my morning off though.  I downloaded the high-def version of Avatar and watched it, so that was fun.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for Science Fiction.

I dropped off my laundry, had a quiet lunch to myself, and then went to work.  It was pretty quiet for a while because half the office was apparently up all night waiting for a group to arrive.  So it's never fun when they run late.  Again, I couldn't get much done today because it was Friday, and neither the Embassy nor Afghans lift a finger on Fridays.

But this afternoon I received a package from home, in which I found a container of cookies and some Christmas gifts.  So the cookies are in the office and I brought the gifts back to the room with me.  I'm going to be good and wait for Christmas too!

Most of the day we had a tv tuned to Animal Planet, so that was cool.  I don't think it's really the Animal Planet channel, but was perhaps broadcast on AFN?  In any case, it was a pleasant distraction since I didn't get much email traffic today.

But hey, I didn't get locked out of the room in a towel today, so it was better than yesterday.  I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit for me.  Still not quite there myself.  Good night.

Day 88

Today didn't start off so hot.  I got up earlier than I had wanted, but then I got to talk to Emili, which was good.   However, while I was in the shower, my roommate decided to leave and he locked the room door.  So I came back from the shower in just my towel and couldn't get back in the room.  Grrrrr.  I had to wander around for a bit to find someone with a cell phone, and then call the appropriate person.  Eventually someone came over to let me in, but I was not too happy with that start to my day.

I did some work this morning, which was productive.  I'm trying to mentally brace myself for how much this next trip is going to suck.  No one even really wants to meet with this guy, which should tell you something!  And I'm pretty much expecting to get yelled at.  So I have that going for me.

I walked over to Eggers today with a couple people so we could each take care of different errands.  I got a fleece blanket from the shop, so that's nice.  It's funny because it's ACU camouflage patterned.

But later on in the afternoon I received a package from Grandma!  She sent me some fun stuff, including some animal puppets so I can practice my bedside manner (smile).  Here's a picture just post opening:



Other than that, I had to replace my KVM switch today, so that was something to take up 10 minutes.  My day wasn't so busy, but it's an extremely busy time for some other people in the office.  I'll share details next week maybe.  Well, I think it's time for bed.  Until tomorrow!

Day 87

Today was a pretty normal day until the end. I had a hot chocolate
for breakfast, along with a Zone bar. The peanutbutter flavor is
pretty good!

I nailed a few things down this morning, as well as giving Pumpkin the
last of the first package of cat treats. Don't worry!! I still have
2 packages of treats here!

Everything was pretty normal until the boss came in and told us we'd
be heading over to Eggers at 8:30pm. Not cool at all. Of course, it
became even later than that because she was moving slow! So we left
for Eggers around 9pm. Once we got there, she addressed the whole JVB
and basically said "Have a good Holiday, I won't be here because I'll
be in DC with my family on vacation." Did we really need to walk over
there to hear that? Asinine.

So I'm a bit ticked off at the moment. Hopefully a night's sleep will
make me feel better.

Day 86

Today I tried a new outfit.  Not to say I changed my uniform, but I changed my layers.  I wore some warmer long underwear as well as my colder weather boots.  The boots are amazing!  I don't have them broken in completely, but they are definitely warmer and more comfortable than the normal boots.

So here is a picture of my personal thank you note from General(Ret) Stanley McChrystal:

This is a picture from my last visit.  The gentleman standing in the center is General(Ret) Anthony Zinni, a former Commander of USCENTCOM.  He's a grandfather of the Marine Corps, and was very nice.  Hopefully his trip here was fruitful.

This is me playing around with the software built into Fedora 16.  I think Macs have a PhotoBooth application, and this would be the equivalent for linux.  Not too shabby.

I did get a wonderful care package from Emili today too!  I got some hot chocolate, some Natures, and other assorted goodies.  Thank you very much!!

I don't have much else to say today.  Just another to mark off the calendar!

Day 85

While I don't want to say I'm bored (because someone might make me clean a bathroom), I don't have much to do right now.  I don't mind it exactly, but I worry that I might reach the end of the internet.

The highlight of my day was Panda.  We all heard a very loud meowing so I went to investigate.  And sure enough, I found Panda standing outside our door, howling at us.  So I petted him, and then I squatted down against a wall.  He sniffed me a little, but then he hopped right up in my lap.  He walked around a little, but then settled down and laid in my lap!  So I petted him for a bit.  Eventually, he started grabbing at my pocket with the treats, so I gave him a couple pieces.  He's a very sweet cat, and he would make an immediate pet for someone.

Tonight, in lieu of PME, we played Scrabble.  I put my hat over the video camera to make sure no one could see us, and we just played a good game.  I was off to an awesome start, but still lost.  I think it's the first time I used all 7 of my letters on a word, and I made an 8 letter word in total!  TREASURE.  Not too shabby.  We didn't play exactly by the rules that Emili and I play by, so I'm a bit skeptical.  I need to investigate this further.

Not much else happened today.  Many people are excited because they are going home for their 2 weeks of vacation.  I'm happy for them, but not terribly envious.  It means they have to be out here much longer than I do.  Today is about 150 days left for me, so less than 5 months.  I'm slowly getting there.

Day 84

Wow, was today a lazy day.  I spent most of the morning in bed watching Star Trek.  I have started really burying myself in the sleeping bag, which is awesome.  It actually zips up over my shoulders and even has a hood.  So I can be extra cocoon-like.

Eventually, I came into work.  Then I was immediately asked if I would walk to Eggers.  Apparently, he had a meeting he had to go to (turned out to be a meeting to plan the Christmas Party), and we have to walk with buddies.  I stopped by my room on the way to grab my Kindle, and I read Dracula for a couple hours.  So it wasn't too bad for me either.

When I came back to the office, I met a couple people from the RC-SW JVB.  One guy was leaving soon, and the other was a British Flight Lieutenant that I'd only spoken to on the phone.  So it was nice to put faces with names and voices.  I'm not exactly sure what they were doing up here, but eh.

I got a haircut today too.  Nothing drastic and short like last time, but it'll hold for a couple weeks.  It's funny, but I wonder what all the ladies are saying as they cut our hair.  They seem to be Uzbek, and they speak Russian.  So I say "hello", "thank you", "you're welcome" in Russian, and they understand.  But they also talk to each other as they cut hair, and there's lots of giggling.  Just curious.

That's about it for tonight.  Not much happened, and it was good.

Day 83

Well, I finally sent my party back to the states today.  My DV was General(ret) Zinni, former Commander of USCENTCOM.  That is a seriously high position, and he was out here at the request of the current Commander USCENTCOM.  So that'll be interesting.

I actually ended up cancelling most of his appointments for him today, at his request.  I suspect feelings were hurt but he'd basically seen enough.  I don't envy them the report they have to write!

Not too much else happened.  They mostly stuck to the schedule, which is always good.  I find myself getting irritated that my life is on hold for this job.  A hard and thankless job, for which I get very little out of.  I won't get promoted any faster, I don't get a better job, nothing.  I told people tonight that this is how I imagine purgatory to be.  Except of course it doesn't exist anymore, since the Pope can declare things not to exist, and giant rodents to be fish.  But I digress.

At the end of the day, it's another day closer to the end.  Good Night.

Day 82

So instead of getting to sleep in and enjoy my morning, I got a phone call from a member of my trip.  He was in a different region, but was making schedule changes for tomorrow.  Unfortunately, both USAID and the Embassy don't work on Fridays.  So I had to be the jerk who called people on their day off.  I ended up moving appointments around 3 times with them today, so I can't imagine we're anyone's favorite child at the moment.  But I did find this in the hallway.



I ended up eating at Cianno's again for lunch with my coworker's group.  Very nice people, and this was an extremely unique opportunity for them.  Hopefully they enjoyed their visit.

I think I mostly fretted about things for a while, but eventually told one of my coworkers that I'd go to Eggers with him.  He wanted to look for a different holster, and I wanted a dustpan and broom for the room.  So this is what I got.



I was sweeping up the Taliban, one by one.  Ha ha.

The Army Navy football game is tomorrow, and we've been putting these posters up everywhere that say "Unbeaten" for the last 9 years and so on.  Well, tonight I got a picture of my Army boss in front of the poster.  Of course, he didn't know it was there, and it went in the shredder immediately after he found it.  But it was hilarious!



That's about it for today.  I saw Pumpkin tonight so she got some pettin and lovin.

Day 81

Well, today felt even colder than yesterday. In fact, my phone said
it was 28 degrees outside when I left the room here. Pretty chilly.
My gloves and long underwear kept me mostly warm enough.

First I went and checked that the helos were running on time. Then I
made sure the dining room was set for their fancy schmacy breakfast.
Then I went over to the DVQs to walk them to breakfast. No biggie.
After dropping them off I went back to my office and made a nice hot
cup of hot chocolate. It was lovely to be warm again!

I went back to the dining room to wait for them, and while I was
standing outside, a big fuzzy cat came over and decided I was a good
friend of his. He was weaving in and out of my legs, vocalizing the
whole time! I did pet him, and when I was rubbing his lower back, he
was making the kneading gestures to the ground. So I think it must
have felt good. Eventually a man walked by, noticed the cats and then
walked on. He came back about 10 minutes later and had a ziplock with
tuna in it! He gave the fuzzy cat a good chunk of fish, which
disappeared quite quickly. He was a very nice cat, and seemed like he
was doing fine.

We went to Eggers again tonight for more farewells. We arrived around
6:10pm and we didn't leave until about 8:30pm! Seriously way too
long. I hope I don't have such an elaborate goodbye. I'll be fine
with a quiet departure.

Well, Fedora is installed and living harmoniously with Windows 7.
It's doing pretty well so far, and I have no complaints.

Day 80

Today was cold! In fact, when I went to the office, I saw a cold
Pumpkin sitting outside. I felt bad, and I was in a hurry, so I told
her she'd get a reward if she was still there after I took care of my
DVs. And sure enough, she was still there! So she actually got a can
of cat food this morning. Hopefully it kept her warm and out of
trouble today!

Today went remarkably smooth with regard for my itinerary, with one
exception. Traffic was really bad coming back from a meeting, so they
ended up getting on their helicopter 40 minutes late. I felt a bit
bad for the helo crew, because it's really boring waiting for people.
I have first hand knowledge of this! But they eventually took off and
went to their meeting. When it was time to come back, it was dark,
and helos kept landing! I think we ended up with 6 helos in the
soccer field! I've never seen it that crowded, so it was kind of
crazy to see. But after that, everything went according to plan too.

Brian O'Neil is the newest guy in our office, and we went to get a
pizza tonight. I just wanted a change, and to get out of the office
for a bit. It worked out well, because the pizza shop is much quieter
than the dining facility too. So that was nice. Maybe I'll try to do
something like that once a month. We'll see how busy I get in the
future. Not much else to report I guess. I am going to sleep now!

Day 79

Well, today was another sad day. My schedule was only marginally
affected, but a suicide bomber went into a mosque during their
celebration (today was Ashura, a Shiite holiday), and blew himself up,
killing 54-ish people. Simultaneously, another bomber killed 4 people
in Mazar-i-Sharif, up north. Very sad day.

While my group had too much down time, there wasn't much I could do
about it. They ended up scheduling a couple meetings on their own, so
that was fine with me. They went off and did their own thing and met
up with me later. I'll take them to breakfast tomorrow morning to
start off the day.

I got a letter from Grandma today, and also a package from Emili! So
that was wonderful. Emili sent me the name-tapes for my new uniforms,
which was great. Unfortunately, I got back to the room and I tried on
the tops to the new uniforms and they don't fit. Everything is a
large, whereas I am not. I already wanted to go to Bagram to get the
cold weather gear, but now I'll take back this box of uniforms and try
to get sets that actually fit. I just don't know when that will
happen. Maybe next week sometime.

Tomorrow will be bittersweet exciting for me, because I have my first
pair of Blackhawks coming to land and pick up my party. It's strange
to find myself on this side of the aircraft, and I would kill to be on
that side instead of where I am. I am not a people person, but I can
certainly fly sideways and backwards. Sigh. Well, I think it's off
to bed now. Until tomorrow.

Day 78

Today was a bad day.

1) It started off good, with a hot chocolate in the office. That's
always nice.

2) But then things took a turn for the worse. All of my planned
meetings with Afghans were cancelled. So apparently they are claiming
tomorrow as a religious holiday, but wikipedia says that holiday is
today. So I think some shennanigans are going on here. I think that
because the Bonn II Conference was today that they decided tomorrow
will be the holiday. Extremely frustrating.

3) I was in a car accident today. No one was injured, but one of our
cars hit a Carolla in a traffic circle. We didn't stop, but he gave
chase and rammed us with his car. So he was pretty mad, I would
expect. We eventually stopped, and a very large crowd gathered. Not
fun. I stayed in the car with the driver, but everyone else got out
with their guns. Not good.

In a snapshot, that was my day. I don't remember the meals because
they weren't that memorable, and I just want this visit to be done.
Hopefully things will go well tomorrow. Good night.

Day 77

Well, I definitely enjoyed my lazy morning.  I got up and talked to Emili on Skype, which was great.  Then I watched Species, a movie that came out a long, long time ago, and I never got around to seeing it.  I thought it was interesting, but not necessarily for the plot.

The afternoon wasn't too taxing, except I found out certain Afghan leaders wouldn't be available for my trip.  So that was not such good news.  I asked for some substitutes, and we'll see how that pans out.  I think they just got more free time on their hands.

Around 6:30pm, I helped unload a van full of luggage and put it in the appropriate rooms.  Apparently, Rose's group was running short on time, so they dropped the people off directly in front of the dining facility, but that left us to unload all the luggage.  These people didn't travel light!  Ridiculous amounts of stuff.  I certainly hope I don't have that much stuff to take home!

Then I helped Thurmond with his trip.  His visitors were catching a helo to fly to an event.  But they were running late, etc.  Par for the course.  So we had a millionaire (maybe billionaire) running in his multi-thousand dollar suit, to go find a toilet before he got on the helo.  Almost comical.  Hopefully he's a good sport.

That's about it for today.  Nothing really good, nothing really bad.  Another day to cross off the calendar.

Day 76

Another day down.  Phew.

So I went to work, made myself a hot chocolate, and did some minimal work.  There wasn't much for me to do, because I'm waiting on the Afghan government offices to get back to me.  Ehh.

After lunch, a couple of us from the office walked to one of the Afghan shops on our compound.  It actually had the best stuff I'd seen to date.  Clothing, back packs, shoes, etc.  I even found lots of Arc'teryx gear, or so I thought.  There was a jacket that looked sort of like an outer shell, with a fleece that zipped inside.  I tried it on, and it felt ok.  It would definitely keep me warm.  The shop owner wanted $85, and I offered $50.  He came down to $80, so I moved on.  Only upon doing my research later did I discover that it couldn't have been an Arc'teryx jacket.  Some of the features just weren't right.  So I'm sure it was just embroidered properly.  So that was interesting.  Even though it's a knock-off, it's probably worth $40 or $50.  So we'll see how the negotiating goes in the future.

But eventually I found myself back in my room because I needed to change into PT gear for volleyball.  However, a local Afghan cleaning guy asked me if I'd help him (this is what I assumed his gesturing and Afghan-speak meant).  Apparently, the middle bathroom stall was locked, but no one was in it.  Because the walls go all the way to the floor, going over the top was the only options.  So I scaled the stop of the toilet stalls, dropped down into the center stall, and turned the lock.  And again.  The lock just spun around and around.  So I was stuck in there for a second.  Another Afghan asked me for a knife, and he jimmied the door open.  So I don't think I'll be using that stall anytime soon.

Volleyball wasn't nearly as fun as it had been the last couple times.  Basically everyone sucked but me.  And if your teammate doesn't read you well, and does his own thing, it just isn't fun.  So I don't know who won how many games or anything, but I guess it was exercise.  In fact, my shoulder hurts pretty bad right now, so I took a motrin.  My serve is powerful!  It even made people yelp when it hits them!  Ha ha.

I had one Afghan engagement firm up today, and it unfortunately conflicted with another meeting.  So I had to scramble to find a new idea, but I solved the problem quite masterfully, if I do say so myself.  Well, I hope everyone at home is enjoying these posts!  I am excited because I can sleep in a bit tomorrow and relax for the morning.  Good Night!

Day 75

So today wasn't too bad.  I had a brief panic when the plane sat on the runway for half an hour, but they eventually took off.  So that was good.  Off to another RC!

When I checked my email this morning, I had a vacation reservation and plane tickets!  So I think my vacation with Emili will be fantastic!  We're both really looking forward to it, and it will be a heavenly break from this.

I did come across this picture today, which is AWESOME!


Tattoo


My evening finished very nicely.  I went outside, and I was calling for Pumpkin, but another big cat came over and was very vocal.  I was petting him when a Steeler fan walked by and asked what Panda was doing over here.  So I guess he's well known too.  He is black with big white patches.  I gave him a couple treats, and I was sort of squatting down.  He crawled up onto me, laid down across my legs and arm and started purring!!  He was so adorable.  He even looked up at me and meowed a few times, and I could see that he has very nice teeth.  He would also rival Helo in terms of size, so this is a BIG cat.  But he seemed quite healthy, and I imagine he's a favorite around here.

I think that's it for tonight.  Tomorrow we have the volleyball court reserved, so maybe we'll get to play.  I think it'll depend on who comes out.

Day 74

Quite a long day today.  I started work at 6am, and finished at 9:30pm.  Cold and dark at both of those times!

I have a visit going on, and I'm doing my best to be on top of things.  I so far have anticipated 95% of their requests, which has them pretty happy.  It's an interesting group, and I'll talk more about it later.  But I ran them hard today, so they're probably all passed out about now.  They have an even longer day tomorrow, so that'll be interesting.  Hopefully they can handle it!

I had a really cute interaction with Pumpkin today.  She followed me from our secure area, through a turn stile, and out towards the road.  I sat down on a bench to wait for people, and she came over and was weaving in and out between my legs.  Very cute.  She also jumped up onto the bench and sat next to me for a while!  I think she knows who her buddy is :)  She spent about 20 minutes with me, which was pretty cool.  I know people get upset about leaving their buddies, and I'll be sad to leave her too.  I'll have to pass the treats on to someone else who loves her too!

I think that's it for tonight.  Very long day, and tomorrow starts early too.  Good Night!