Day 135

Today was just another day. However, I'm starting to be referenced as
the "experienced guy" in the office, which is a little scary. I know
the Boss sees me as the bright guy who can get things done well, and
can still play nicely with others for the most part. Strange, now
that I think about it.

But I just put out small fires today. Adjustments here and there, but
no big obstacles. I think my visitor is having a great visit, and
hopefully tomorrow will continue that trend. I bet I'll continue my
trend of not getting coins though. We'll see.

Pumpkin got a nice dinner tonight so she'll sleep well. It's also not
so cold tonight. I'd guess it's only barely freezing at the moment,
which feels downright comfortable! And for those of you who are
keeping track, I think we're around 90 days left. So about 3 months,
maybe 3 massages, whichever your metric. Hopefully I'll be busy
enough to make the time go by quickly.

Not too much else here. Just dusty and bleak. Good night.

Day 134

Today wasn't too eventful.  I feel like people may finally be understanding the boredom we face.

I had my hot chocolate this morning, which is nice.  It's such a lovely way to start the day, really.  I didn't even have too much stuff to fix this morning, which was nice.  I worked on some essays, read some Nature, etc.  I definitely have plenty of time to surf the internets.

I also learned today that the contracted interpreters here are local Afghans, and that by contract, they only work 7 hour days.  What the crap is that about?  I wanted them to come to meetings with my group, and I'd have them back by 5pm.  But no, that is entirely too late, because they finish their days at 3pm.  I honestly can't believe it.  I don't know what their normal day to day life is like, but this seems ludicrous.  I do not admire the Afghan work ethic.

We had PME again tonight, and this time we learned how not to assault people.  Sexual assault is not a joke, but they way they presented it certainly was.  Oh well.  We're supposed to move upstairs in the next couple days, but the people putting desks up there are not going by the original plan.  So I suspect I'll not enjoy where I end up.  The people rearranging the stuff either 1) won't be here after another couple weeks, or 2) don't work 12 hour days in our office.  So that's a tad annoying to me.

On that dissatisfied note, I think I'll go to bed.  Better luck tomorrow, eh?

Day 133

So I didn't get to sleep in so much today.  After I talked to Emili at 7, I got a phone call from a coworker who forgot to get badges from me last night.  So put my sweats on and went to the office.  After that, I came back to my room.  Then a little bit later, I got another call.  The trip planner for the DARPA trip wanted to buy me lunch.  So that was nice, but I ended up going into the office earlier than planned.  So much for a relaxing morning.

The rest of the day was pretty dull.  Rob and I took the new guy around to US AID and the Embassy to show him around.  Nothing very exciting, but I got out of the office.  I have a few last minute changes happening for my current trip, but nothing showstopping so far, which is good.

On my out tonight, I fed Pumpkin, and she seemed delighted.  Easy cat to please!  On the way back, I'm pretty sure I met up with Puma.  It was a little dark, and he's all black, but his eye paw coordination was the same, excellent.  So we played for a while with little treats.  He actually followed me back to my building, and I was petting him when another cat came along.  This one was a bigger male tabby, and he was very noisy.  Howling at me for treats and hissing at Puma.  So I did my best to keep something in the way of their direct eye line of sight.  Puma was doing the low growl like Helo at the vets.  I probably would have taken him seriously if he was bigger.  But Puma needs to work on his social etiquette.  When he wasn't being petting sufficiently, he'd try to nip at me a little.  So we'll have to work on that.

Here's some crap.  I walked into the room tonight, and someone had swapped out my roommates normal bed with a bunk bed.  And they had brought in another closet thing.  So now we have tremendously less room, and we'll probably end up with a 3rd roommate.  So much for drawing down the forces, huh?

Day 132

Today I received a surprise package from Charlene!  Thank you very much!  I know you mailed it well before Christmas, but I think it went to the wrong base here because it didn't say ISAF on it.  But I guess someone over there knew I was here, so that was very convenient!  Thank you so much for knitting the fingerless mittens for me.  Now I can sit at my computer and type, and still have my hands stay warm.  A very cool gift!  And the hot chocolate and cat food won't go to waste, I promise.

Other than that, my day went by pretty uneventfully.  I think the itinerary for my next visit looks pretty damned good, if I do say so myself.  I had to rely on the other RC's a good bit to set up their portions, but I think we're going to meet and exceed expectations.  So that should be good.  I will only have a small portion of face-to-face time, but I'll be able to say I've met the man.

Pumpkin got a good meal today, along with lots of petting.  I'm pretty sure she thinks I belong to her.  When I go inside, she follows me, as if to say "you need to stay out here, young man, to keep petting me."  Who am I to argue?

I am very much looking forward to having some down time tomorrow morning.  Yesterday was pretty rough, because I was up so early.  But tomorrow should be ok for me.  So we'll see.  Probably some Star Trek and Skyrim time.  I'm almost done with my MPH application, so that's good.  Well, good night all.

Day 131

Well, today I sent a group off to the states again.  So that was good.  I think everything went very well, but they didn't give us coins!  I mean, a cash award would be fine too, but we'd settle for a coin.  So I don't know what to think about that.

We have a new LCDR that showed up to work in my office.  He was pretty unexpected, so who knows.  He graduated from USNA in 1997, and he's a reservist now.  We will see how he works out.  I took him around a little bit today to turn in paperwork and whatnot.

I got a letter from my Grandmother today, which was nice to read.  It certainly sounds like life is interesting/exciting at home.  I do enjoy reading the letters.

I also got a package from Emili's folks today.  Thank you for the snacks and letter.  I do have to say, I had quite a laugh when I read the article on Jordan Foley, the current Brigade Commander at USNA.  He was in all the biology and chemistry classes with me so he could go to Med school.  I guess that didn't pan out, because he's going Subs.  Funny how life goes.

I fell asleep in my chair today, and woke up to my LTC boss standing over me.  Not a good way to wake up, mind you.  But I'm getting the job done, so it's ok.  I think I just need some more sleep, and not to wake up at 5 something tomorrow.  So yeah.

So last night, while I was trying to troubleshoot why the network sucks so much in here, I caught my roommate streaming all of his tv and movies off the network.  While it probably represents a small portion of what the infrastructure here can handle, when it's competing with Skype, it basically knocks it offline.  So I scolded him and had him download his episode and play it locally.  I think I'm going to disconnect him from the router and plug him directly to the wall.  I don't want to deal with that, though I will ultimately because the pipes are so small here.  I can't wait to have a normal connection again some day.

Not too much else happened today.  Still trying to nail down a final plan for the next visit, which starts in a couple days.  Fun stuff.  Well, I think sleep is in order.  Good night.

Day 130

Wow, today was complicated. I think that sums it up pretty well.

So I am the only one that I know of that has handled two visits on our
compound at the same time. Too bad they don't give out rewards for
that! But yes, it was complicated, but I managed somehow. I can't
talk about who the visitors are right now, but eventually. At least
these visits are much shorter than the last couple!

I have been pulling my hair out (I know there isn't much left) over an
upcoming visit. After talking to someone on the East Coast with the
party, I think we're almost where we want it. So I'm hoping tomorrow
we'll get to nail it down better. Though somehow I don't think I can
accommodate the request for shopping time. These people are
ludicrous.

I received two packages today!! One was from Laura Durkin, Lauren
Flemming's Aunt (and my adopted Aunt too). Thank you so much for the
kind words in the card, and the goodies inside the box! I hope to
find out soon whether Pumpkin likes catnip bubbles.

I also got a wonderful package from Emili, which included more stuff
for Pumpkin than me! But that's ok, Pumpkin can have the cat food,
but I'm keeping the Cadbury eggs! Ahhh, the best part of Easter
season :)

Well, I'm hoping tomorrow is a smooth day. This is the first visit
where I'd have the opportunity to get a coin, so we'll see. Somehow I
feel I'll be forgotten, but who knows. But for now, Good Night.

Day 129

Man, today started early.  I had to meet people outside at 6am.  After that, I was waiting for plane departure and arrival calls, so I didn't really have much down time today.  But I am sufficiently tired at the moment.

I did get a little work done on visit #3 in the queue.  So at least I have something to show for today.  Tomorrow I'll actually meet my party.

I got a package from Molly today!  Everyone loves bubblewrap, right?  Popping the little bubbles?  Right.  So Molly sent me a bubble calendar.  I get to pop one big bubble for each day on the calendar!  It's a pretty cool idea, so once we move upstairs, I'll hang it on the wall.  I look forward to popping days away.  In the box, there was this strange creature too:



I have no idea what he is, but it was quite a surprise!

Other than that, I dozed off in my chair quite a few times today.  I still managed to avoid caffeine, because I'm not going to crash my chair and die if I fall asleep.  Which is good news.  In fact, I can put my feet up and it's pretty comfortable!

So tomorrow may also be pretty busy for me, but we shall see.  I'm definitely going to get some more sleep tonight!

Day 128

Today was mostly just another day. I have an itinerary pretty much
all solidified, which is good because the visitors arrive tomorrow!

I worked on filling in blanks on Tufts' financial aid package from
last year. I am guessing the questions will be pretty similar this
year, so I can calculate them now. I am attempting to call the
financial aid office to see if they really need to see 5 years worth
of tax returns to determine that I'm not supported by my parents.

We also had a good dinner. I ate with Rob, Pam, and D, and we just
had good conversation. It's been a while, so that was cool.
Sometimes we're together so much, we just end up eating in silence.
But after dinner, D put in the movie Antwon Fischer, and it looked
like a pretty good movie. I'm making a mental note to actually watch
it without distractions some day.

Not too much else to report. I am just crossing days off the
calendar. Hopefully I don't get stuck on Groundhog Day like Bill
Murray did. That might be awkward.

Day 127

Once again, today was pretty dull.  I've had some drama in one itinerary because there was confusion about who's air assets we'd use.  But I think it's mostly figured out now.

Let's see.  I woke up to see that the Ravens had been defeated, which was nice.  At least the locals shouldn't be insufferable when I return.  Not that we love Tom Brady either, but I'm trying to choose the lesser of evils here.

I spent my morning working on revising my application essay responses for the MPH program at Tufts.  I think most of my substance is there, but I needed to expand some answers and showcase others in a different light.  So that took a while, and I'm not finished.  I have until March 1st, if we go by last year's deadline.

I don't even remember what I had for lunch, except that it wasn't spectacular.  The days blur together, especially when they serve the same chicken breast 4 or 5 days in a row.

In the afternoon, I came up with a projection of costs for vet school.  I have the spreadsheet for the last 3 years showing the cost of tuition, health insurance, fees, books, etc.  I tried to use Excel to do some regressions, but couldn't figure it out.  So I went to my trusty HP48GX Emulator on my phone.  Much easier, and I haven't forgotten that system at all!  So I projected how much costs would rise in the next 4 years, just to have some idea.  Even with the Post 9/11 GI Bill, I'll be taking out a loan that could get me more than a Camaro!  Slightly annoying.  Hopefully the school grants help reduce that a fair bit.  We shall see.

We had our Monday evening PME tonight, and it was about SEALS.  I read Dracula/fell asleep.  I didn't find it to be terribly riveting.  But ehh.  That's about it for today.  I will write more tomorrow.

Day 126

Today was a pretty average day.  I can't think of much that happened!  It's like Groundhog Day here every day.

I fixed a few obstacles the trip planners threw my way yesterday.  So that was good.  I don't ever want to do a visit from this group again!

Oh yes, I watched some Star Trek and played some Skyrim this morning.  Oh, and it's been snowing all day long.  So it's very pretty here, but we can't fly any aircraft around here.  So that makes it difficult to move our DVs around.  But ehh.

Well, I think tomorrow is another average day ahead of me.  I should get some rest.

Day 125

Let me start with a picture I forgot to post yesterday.



The cat looked pretty peaceful, with utter disregard for the snow all around.  Sometimes I'd like to take a nap in a warm spot too.

Today was mostly the same old routine.  However, the planner for my next trip are irritating the crap out of me.  I actually kind of snapped at her tonight on the phone.  They keep changing plans, and every time they do this, I have to change the flight times for the fixed wing or helicopters.  So it's getting pretty frustrating.  And just because we can't drive around Kabul now does not translate into anything about next week!

So two more people in the office bought Skyrim today, one on XBox360 and the other for her PC.  I do have to say there is some charm in just popping in a disk, like XBox.  Steam makes it a mostly painful process for those of us with very limited network bandwidth.  Hopefully they enjoy it as much as I do!  There's already been some back-seat gaming going on here, but it wasn't coming from me.

We are gearing up to move the office spaces.  The boss got a bug up her *ss that we should all be on the same floor as her.  So we have been knocking down walls and running ethernet cables to get it ready for us.  I think we'll start moving on Wednesday, but it will be a slow process.  I will be tied up with a visit, so I might wait until after that.  I'm sure it promises to be a nightmare.

Not too much else to report.  I started working on my awards package.  Seems kind of strange to start it now, but they want them submitted at the 90 days remaining mark.  I feel like I don't have much to say yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.  Well, I just got the scrollbar on the side, so this post is too long.  Night.

Day 124

Today wasn't too bad. I can't really think of anything very good, but
also nothing too bad. I did get some good brownies for dessert at
lunch and at dinner. A little crispy on the outside, but soft and
gooey inside. Absolutely perfect.

I did finally receive a critical piece of paperwork tonight, so that
was good. Now I can put in specific flight requests for my DV. I
think they'll appreciate it.

I did walk a Canadian over to the Embassy today. The Cigar Club
apparently meets over there, and he doesn't have any credentials to
get over there. I treated myself to a banana smoothy after there, and
then I walked back.

Well, I think I'm going to head to bed now. Good night.

Day 123

Groundhog Day.  Another day down, with not much to say.  I just sort of worked itineraries, sent emails, surfed the web, and napped in my chair.

I did spy Pumpkin taking a nap on top of a trash can.  It's a dark green color, so it was probably nice and warm, compared to all the sheets of ice on concrete!  She also got a nice meal tonight, which she was happy for.  I think she's pretty well taken care of, and she should do fine through the winter here.

Grandma sent me another letter today, so that was nice to read.  Sounds like she's keeping busy!  I hope I am still moving and dancing when I'm at her age.

Not a whole lot else to report.  I'm starting to look at the FAFSA site, and looking to gather the information for that application.  I'll have to fill out a separate financial aid packet from Tufts as well, but we haven't been mailed that yet.  Also somewhere in there I'll need to sign up for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, and try to get that ball rolling.  So I have things to occupy my time, but it's not necessarily the time yet.

Have a good night everyone!

Day 122

Today wasn't too bad. I feel like I got a fair bit of work done for
future itineraries. I'm still not digging the whole micromanagement
thing, but I know lots of submariners!

Today is Emili's 29th birthday! I was just thinking back, and I
actually met her 10 years ago. So that's kind of hard to believe.
We'll hit the ole 5 years of marriage in May, but I'm not sure our
allowances increase at all.

Other than that, I sat around, ate lunch, sat around some more, ate
dinner, watched Star Trek on the Armed Forces Network tv. Just
another groundhog day.

Day 121

Today was a better day.  I actually started and ended my day with hot chocolate, which was great.

Nothing very important happened this morning.  I think it was the standard deal with emails from the night before, then respond, and then we have to wait for the whole cycle to begin again tomorrow.  It's not the most convenient to deal with people in the states for business.

I think we must not have received a food shipment in a while.  Today they were trying to pass off Ramen noodles as spaghetti.  Unfortunately, it still beat the other choices, so I had ramen noodles and spaghetti sauce for lunch.  Maybe I should get used to this quality food for when I'm a student again!

But I did get a great care package today from Steve Schall and the CS Department at USNA.  Thank you very much.  It had a nice card, a couple magazines, beef jerky, european pastry-chocolate creations, and hot chocolate.  Very awesome, and very much appreciated.  Thank you very much.

Which brings me to another adventure.  The hot chocolate mix calls for being mixed into milk.  I hadn't given this much thought, but milk isn't the most prevalent liquid out here.  So I went to one of the foreign shops on the compound here, and I got something that purported to be milk.  I wasn't really sure, because it was a cardboard container, and it wasn't in the fridge.  But I heated it up, mixed it up, and it tastes really good!  The last time I was in the Middle East and got a dairy product, it was a goat milk milkshake from Baskin Robbins.  So this is a step up from that.



I also saw Pumpkin this evening, and she looked very cold and hungry.  So I gave her a package of food, which she devoured.  As you can see, we have a special feeding area, under a building.  It's out of the bad weather, and people wouldn't immediately see her.  I figure it's about the safest place I can feed her.  She definitely enjoyed her Seafood Mix tonight!

Day 120

As you can see to the left, I started to add a map to my page.  But the network is too crappy for me to finish uploading the changes.  This place truly sucks.

I didn't do much today, with most of my thoughts on my Dad.  I'm crossing my fingers, but I have no good way to get word about how things went.  Send me an email if you read this!

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Day 119

I woke up to more snow this morning!  I talked to Emili, which was nice, and I got to see Helo on top of the fridge!  Crazy cat, who I'm sure missed his father.

I played Skyrim for a while this morning, which was fun.  I will spare you all the details, lest I come across as a super nerd :)  But it's a fun game, with good graphics, and tons of gameplay.



Not too much else happened today.  I saw that Tim Tebow was shut down, which was cool to see.  Not that Tom Brady is my favorite quarterback, but at least he's not Tebow.  I got some work done, but for the most part I'm playing a waiting game.  I won't know whether my flights are truly arranged until about 4 days prior, which I'm not even close to yet.

I did find out that I have a visit in March.  I'll only give one clue:  I worked on his floor a couple summers ago.

But that's about it for today.  I'm over the hump, so to speak.  I'm at about 50.5% of the way done, which means it should be downhill from here.  I have 5 visits on my radar, though more may pop up in the middle.  That takes me through mid-March.  So then it's about time to wrap things up and figure out how to get home again!

Day 118

Another snowy day!  And this time there was more of it!  I think we've gotten about 4-6 inches so far, and it's still snowing, though it has lightened up a bit.  We even had a bit of a snowball fight before dinner.  So that's been entertaining today.

I didn't do much work today, which was fine.  I'm still ok on all my trips.  I submitted some flight requests, but it's so far out there, my request is #001 for that day.  So that's kind of funny.

I did get in an argument with the guy that sits next to me, and he just got back from R&R.  Someone called me and asked about getting Afghan Visas, so they could fly home on a commercial flight.  I didn't know anything about that, so I gave her a number to the Embassy.  Then as soon as I got off the phone with her, he asks "Did you read that attachment I sent out a month ago about Visas?"  Obviously not (he sends lots of crap).  I was pretty upset with him, because I polled the room and asked if anyone could help, and he sat there quietly.  Not very cool.

So that's how I left work.  Anyhow, here's a picture from earlier.

Day 117

Again, today was just more of the same.  Still getting pretty irked at being micromanaged by my next trip's planners, but ehh.  The good news is that I think we'll be supported for the flight aspect, which is pretty critical.

What else.  Thurmond made it back today from his R&R vacation.  So now I have to listen to him again.  He's not a bad guy, but he always has his mouth full of something while talking, and every time he dials someone, he ends up coughing at them, sneezing at them, making horrid noises, etc.

But I think I'm officially at the 50% mark now.  I don't know how close to my official end date I'll go, but I'm sure it will be ballpark.  So halfway is good, but that still means a number of months ahead.  But hopefully they'll pass uneventfully.

Well, not too much to report.  I have another full day at work tomorrow.  Good Night.

Day 116

Today was neither good nor bad, it just was.  Nothing much to report.

Pumpkin got a few treats this morning, and I later saw her eating a pork chop that someone had either given to her, or put in the trash.  But she looked pleased with herself.

I worked on itineraries more, but I get less and less excited about the upcoming visits.  My next trip is being micro-managed, and I don't work well with that style of collaboration.  So it's turning me off a bit.

But I can share a little about my last visit now.  I had GEN(R) Keane out here for 10 days.  It was quite a long trip, as you could probably tell.  And as it turns out, he's listed as a terrorist on Interpol.  So that made it interesting for him to fly home.  But he wasn't arrested, and things seemed to work out fine for him.  Hopefully the trip met all expectations, because I know a lot of people put lots of work into it.  But he wasn't really as bad as the reputation that preceded him indicated.  So that was good news.

Other than that, I guess I'm looking to spending the morning in the room.  Relaxation time, which is always welcome.  Good night.

Day 115

Another day down.  That's about all I can say for it.  I just worked on 3 trips today, and started ironing out the details and whatnot.  It's really the whatnot that gets you.  It sneaks up on you and rears its ugly head at the last minute.  So nailing them down is important.

The first visit to occur is starting to drive me nuts because I'm making plans and getting meetings arranged, and as it turns out, another guy with the party is trying to do the same thing at the same time!  And he's not sharing information!  So the itinerary has shifted around a good bit today, and finally I told them I wasn't doing any more work on their itinerary until they stop messing with stuff.  So we'll see what happens.

Not too much otherwise.  It's pretty quiet in the office, because a few people have left, and another couple are on their vacation still.  So I would imagine it'll start getting noisy again in a few days.

Well, I think I'm going to call home now.  Signing off in Kabul.

Day 114

Today was an interesting day!  I slept in a little bit, which was nice.  I had a leisurely morning, and it included a massage.  Of course, I didn't realize until I was in the middle of it that I had forgotten my wallet.  Luckily the ladies there were understanding, and I ran back to the room really fast afterward.

Last night I came back and the network wasn't working in our room.  So today I talked to the Afghan guy who runs the networks here, and he said they just replaced a switch.  As it turns out, our room was mis-wired previously, and now it was working correctly.  So I had to plug into one of the correct ports.  But all is well, and it was a simple solution that I should have tried earlier.

I played Skyrim a great deal today.  While the details won't mean much to most people, it's quite entertaining.  I am getting sucked in, and it looks like there will be many many hours of gameplay still to come.

I also got a package today from Caroline!  Thank you very much for the card and the book "How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats?"  It's a cute book, and I think Helo, Ella, and Toonces will take away some life lessons from it!

That's really it for today.  I was pretty much a bum, and it was great!  I look forward to a few days of being a bum when I'm home again too!

Day 113

Another day to mark off the calendar. I woke up and was pretty
disappointed in the Steeler game outcome. It looks like they played
pretty poorly in the first half, so yeah. Seasons over now, so I'll
have to figure out which teams to cheer for.

I worked on a visit for Pam today, because she was stuck at Bagram for
most of the day. But she made it back around dinner time, so I handed
the folder and talked her through what I've done so far. I'm sure it
will be fine.

But I'm going to take advantage of a down day, and take the day off!
I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow morning, so that will be nice.
I don't know what I'll do all day, but I think I'll manage. I have
books, games, etc. Lots to do!

The bad thing is that the network isn't working in my room.
Apparently the guy who takes complaints in that department (an Afghan)
only works 8-3. What the heck?! So nothing will get fixed until
tomorrow at the earliest, I'd surmise. You see all these war movies
with soldiers talking on Skype to their families and the quality is
great. But it's all a lie. The network absolutely sucks out here.
The bandwidth is pitiful, and we have way too many people using it.
So I can't wait to get back to civilization.

Well, enough ranting for tonight. I'm going to go to sleep and wake
up refreshed!

Day 112

Today I finally sent my General off to Kuwait.  Hopefully he isn't arrested there.  More to follow once he's all the way home.

It was a pretty calm day, and it was somewhat productive.  I was in the office at about 7am, so I caught most of the Saints-Lions game.  It was a good game for the first half, but then things fell apart for the Lions.  

I worked on a visit a little bit, but lost interest.  I hope to hit it a little harder tomorrow.  I think I am just tired after the 10 day visit.  Oh!  One interesting tidbit of information I got yesterday was that my job is going to be filled by a civilian next.  I'm not sure who makes those decisions, but that's what's happening.  And there are already three applicants!  Crazy people, I say.  Since there are already applicants, it doesn't sound like I'll have to be extended in order to train them.  Heck, why not send them out now?

Anyway, not too much else going on.  Hopefully I'll head into work tomorrow and hear that the Steelers beat Denver, despite injuries and people sitting out the game.  Go Steelers!!

Day 111

Today was a great day!  I'm actually not being sarcastic, either.  I woke up to see an email from the trip planner at home, and the email was to inform me that their trip to Afghanistan had been cancelled!  So that was great news for me.  I then asked my boss if I could take Tuesday off, which I can.  And then I made an appointment for a massage on Tuesday.  So all in all, a pretty awesome way to start the day.

The rest of the day was more mundane.  My General came back from an RC (Regional Command), and he had a couple appointments.  Nothing too taxing, which is probably good for the 70 year old at the end of a long trip.  On our way to his dinner engagement, he said he'd be fine and I don't need to hang around, but then he corrected himself, because he needed me to punch in the little code to get back to his room.  The code was given to him on a piece of paper, so who's wasting resources now?  He's ridiculously high maintenance.

I got a letter from Grandma today, which was great to read.  Thank you so much for writing!  I love reading about your days.  I feel like my days are sometimes hard like yours, but we both have great days every once in a while.  I hope you enjoy Bermuda, because I don't think there's room at my vacation!

Anyhow, I'll finish with some pictures from the last couple days.  I may even try a video, but no promises that I can embed it correctly.

Day 110

Yay, another binary day.  Anyone learn binary since the last binary day?

Today started out more stressful than yesterday even.  Granted, I'm hearing most of this over the phone from an Air Force Major, but the General was getting pissed because they were sitting on the plane while they had to wait to be de-iced.  And he was pissed because they were 3rd in line to take off.  If they couldn't land at their destination and had to come back, he wanted do go a ground convoy to get there.  I actually had huge hulking armored vehicles lined up to take him if needed.  Luckily the pilots didn't embarrass themselves (AF guys), and they made it to their destination.  That was a relief for me, and he was someone else's problem!

I did a ton of work on other visits today.  I met face to face with a trip planner for a visit in a few weeks, and we started going through the details of the itinerary.  Our director, Col Fenton came back from her R&R leave today.  So it was good to see her.  She provides some protection for us when needed, and our deputy director is a rank lower than her and doesn't carry as much weight.  She actually wants me to come to her house when I get back to tell her daughter about colleges and options.  Kind of funny, but it sounds like her daughter won't really listen to anything that comes from "mom".  So we'll see.

I actually ate a couple meals today, which is an improvement over yesterday.  So that's good.  I'm also in the room at a more reasonable hour.  I did get a great email from a buddy today, Ed Beeson.  We were in the same squadron and we did our first deployment together, among other things.  He's doing well out in San Diego and I think we're each doing what we have to be doing for an end goal.

Well, I think I'll get some sleep soon.  Good night.

Day 109

Suckitude.

Day 108

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!  It's a winter wonderland here, except the country still sucks.  I will post a couple pictures once they upload themselves from my phone.

I think my General was a little schedule-challenged today.  He stayed in meetings waaay too long, making him late for the next meetings, etc.  It was quite the domino effect.  And not much fun to make those calls.

But Pumpkin got a nice can of food in a dry location, so I think she was pleased.  She always gets so excited!  It's pretty cute to watch.

I did get letters today from Lauren and Grandma.  So thank you both very much!  I enjoy reading letters still, and I picture you sitting there writing them.  It makes me smile, which is always a good thing!

Brian left today, which was kind of sad.  We had gotten to know each other a bit, and he was a nice guy.  He was tagged as a replacement for someone else at a different compound in Kabul, so we probably won't see him too often anymore.  I hope he makes the shift alright.

And I'm everyone was really on edge for this, but  .... I got the graphics card in my laptop working again, and I have an installation of Skyrim running.  So it'll give me something to poke around at for quite a while!  And there are dragons.  "Beware of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

Day 107

Ahhh, and like a boomerang, my General is back with me again.  But it sounds like his few days in other parts of Afghanistan were good.  If he's happy, I'm happy.

I got a great package from Uncle Marc, Aunt Michele, and Pepper Bruce today!  Thank you so much!  I have new flavors of hot chocolate to try, and lots of tasty treats too.  And the cats have some new treats to try too!  I miss you guys and I can't wait to come home!

I did discover tonight that instead of a male and female pair of black cats, we actually have a pair of males!  One just happens to be slightly larger than the other.  Tonight we played a game of touching paws and batting fingers.  It was cute, but their nails are quite sharp!  I was actually on the receiving end of some teeth too, but it was gentle.  One of them was trying to eat a treat off my hand, but missed.  It was ok, he still got the treat.

We had a dinner together, with some of our people from the PSD, to say farewell to Maj Brad Hickey.  He'll be heading home in a couple days.  I think he's been out here since July, so it's probably been long enough for him.  After 6 months of doing this job, he's a wealth of information, so it'll be a shame to see him go.  But I completely understand his sentiments!

Not much else going on for me.  I apparently exceeded the downloading cap on the internet services here.  However, it appears that by changing the MAC address on my router, all is well again.  Not a very robust system, but incredibly convenient for me.  Good night.

Day 106

I find myself really frustrated with people at the other RC's again.  Tonight one of them wanted me to schedule fixed wing assets to fly my party around in her RC, in case there was bad weather and the helos didn't fly.  Number 1, helos fly in worse weather conditions to start with.  Number 2, she should take care of her own RC stuff.  Number 3, there is only one field we could land a C-130 at in bad weather.  All the others are VFR only!!  Sigh.

Not too much else happened today.  Pumpkin got lots of petting this morning.  She seemed extra affectionate, which was sweet.  It wasn't so horribly cold, so she probably decided it was ok to venture out early.

We had to do the Professional Military Education tonight at Eggers, and I have no idea what it was about.  They decided not to dial us in, because "we're never there."  We're not really sure what they mean by that, because we really are tortured every Monday night with this stuff.  But by the time they connected us, it was more than half over, which was fine with us.  I read some of a chapter on Animal Ethics.  It's interesting stuff, even though it's philosophy!

Well, the days continue to pass here, which is good.  I feel a bit better than yesterday, so no sneezing today.  Hopefully tomorrow is even better.  Good Night.

Day 105

Today turned out to be ok.  I ended up being called back into work at 10:30 last night, which irked me.  And, as it turns out, it was an error on someone else's part.  Also not cool.

But today I got up, talked to Emili, and then I watched Get Him to the Greek, and then some Star Trek: Voyager.  The movie was ok, it certainly had some funny parts.  It definitely wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I smiled.

Work was mostly uneventful.  Things are coming along with my 3rd visit in line, but not the 2nd so much.  Which is probably problematic, as it is much sooner than the 3rd.  But I can only do so much.

I did play some flash game online today, so that was exciting.  I flew a paper airplane 98 feet!  So I really felt I accomplished something today.  I did actually print out a chapter from a book on animal ethics, and I will read that soon.  It was actually written by the Chair of Emili's committee.  So that's pretty neat.

On the way home I got to treat and pet Pumpkin, and then closer to my building the male black cat.  He actually even followed me up the stairs and was crying at the door.  It was pretty sad.  I'm sure they have warm places to sleep at night, but sometimes I'm just not sure.

I seem to be suffering, along with Ella and Brian, from a cold.  So hopefully it will pass quickly.  As if the cold and dust wasn't enough, now I have a running nose and I'm sneezing all the time.  But I'm sure it will be better soon.  Happy New Years to everyone!  Only a few more months until the world is destroyed.