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!