Walts Afghanistan Blog

Transitioning

2008-06-06T20:59:00.001+03:00

Well it has been a strange few weeks. A lot going at work and whatnot.

Nothing bad but I am changing jobs. I am going to be the Country Training Manager for a large US contracting agency.

I shouldn’t be here, in Afghanistan, at all. My Visa for Tajikistan has been very slow in the making despite my numerous attempts at bribery. I must be the only guy in whole country that can’t hardly bribe anyone

Anyway, I should have my Visa on Sunday and then I will spend about a week in Dushambe Tajikistan before returning to work here in Kabul.

My new house is very cool. Way better than what I have now, and what I have now is pretty good.

Anyway, all is well.

Cheers,
Walt

Sorry For Not Posting

2008-05-13T16:05:00.001+03:00

Sorry guys. I think I have writers block or something. Every time I go to blog I think of something else to do. I am not dead or anything, just not my usual self. I really think I need to force myself to take a vacation. The place will be fine without me for a few days.

Anyway. Not much new news. Same old same old. We had a worker get killed the other day. 4 guys were trying to manipulate a 3000 pound door. Door won.

OSHA would have a field day here.

Anyway.

I will try to resume normal blogging.

Cheers,
Walt

Just my thoughts ओं थे parade and Pagman

2008-04-27T15:02:00.007+03:00

A few days ago I was awakened by the sounds of artillery fire. At first I thought it was incoming and took cover while taking a shower. While I was taking a shower it became apparent to me that the rounds were not incoming after all. It turn out that they were firing dummies in preparation for the parade today celebrating independence from the Russians.

The place where the parade was held is about a stones throw across the river from where I live. I have been watching the preparations and was eager to see the parade. Well as I took my position on my roof to watch and after the parade started, rounds were fired from a PKM and a few AK47s. A mortar also landed and wounded some people. Some stray rounds impacted my building so I got off the roof and went inside.

The sad part is that today is an absolutely beautiful day. The weather is perfect, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the dust is practically gone from the winds 2 days ago. Right now they are saying that they will go ahead and try to have the parade again. I hope they do. For about 2 hours after the attack, helicopters were swarming the area trying to find the insurgents, and a lot of tanks were moving around the city. I am not sure how this happened because the gunfire was coming from this abandoned building overlooking the mosque. Why didn’t they search that building? You know those movies where the Secret Service checks all the buildings and whatnot, well they didn’t do it. Even in Baghdad, when high ranking people stayed in the Rasheed, they would send in security to scope all the exits, check the elevator shafts and whatnot. Even a day 1 moron should have known to check that building.

Oh well. We expats call this place Halfassedastan for a reason. It seems like these guys just don’t want to do anything. For example the other day I told this guy to go talk to this other guy. So he put it on his list. Well then he walked over to this other guys office, the other guy wasn’t there so my guy just crossed it off his list. He never went back, never called the guy, never sent him an email. I told him to go over there, and he did. Done. It never occurred to him that the intent was for him to make contact with this other guy, rather than simply walking over to an empty office. And the guy isn’t stupid, just lazy and uncaring. So that delayed something by a day.

I have learned that if I want to get any little thing done, I either have to do it myself, or practically hold their hands and watch them do it. It is so frustrating.

Anyway, today is a holiday so I am not going to get too bent out of shape. Friday I went to Paghman to have lunch with the CEO at his house. I really did not want to go, but I ended up having a decent time. I mean really, you work with these people all day, all week, and you finally get a day off and they want you to come hang out with them. It isn’t that I dislike my coworkers or anything, I just need a break from them is all.

Well the drive out was pretty nice. A bit unsettling but nice. You see one of the main reasons I am able to move as freely as I can is because I always travel with a very low profile. It is bad enough that I have these infernal tinted windows, but the General decided to have a 3 car convoy. 3 car convoy equals 1 thing. Target. So there we are driving around in unarmored cars near Kandahari refugee camps in this big profile convoy. Not fun.

Well we got there and had a nice lunch. Rather than the usual chicken and rice we had some Arabic dishes. Nasty Arabic dishes. I have learned that anytime someone offers me a “delicacy”, I better run. I have never had a “delicacy” that I have liked to eat. Some of the types of “delicacies” I have been offered include cow brain, eyeballs, tongues, animal feet and balls, various organs, and whatnot. No thanks. I don’t care if it is an insult to not eat that garbage, I aint eating it so get over it. “Here you are Sir, some goat gonads”. You eat em, freak.

Well anyway we decided to take a stroll after lunch. We climbed up some giant mountain. The views were incredible. You could see all the way back to Kabul due to the low levels of dust. Later in the day the winds picked up and the visibility was reduced. By the time we made it back to Kabul the dust was darkening the early evening sun very quickly.

Anyway, I just got done smoking a shisha with a coworker. We are scheming a way to bring western cigarettes to Kabul without paying the tax. We are going to pay off some dude and then open a shop near the city center. We will also sell some alcohol, but have not sorted the delivery details. I am also getting into the antique business. They have some very rare stuff here. I plan on selling it all on E-Bay, soon.

I got 2 new batons today. I asked for a swagger stick, but they brought me a wood and metal baton. Not quite what I wanted but I guess it will do. I had wanted the swagger stick to just smack people, and unfortunately you can’t really do that with a baton. Well I guess you could but it would leave a more lasting impression. I requested that they build a bunker on the roof and stick an RPG gunner up there with a PKM belt fed automatic 7.62 MM machine gun. I would prefer a .50Cal but I can’t find one. Right now that is.

Well I love it here. I think I may stay for a long time. Now I will try to post some pictures.

Cheers,
Walt

This is the Intercontinental Hotel.

Another meat shop. It looks like the meat is right on this dude. Very sanitary though.

This is some lake where all the Kabul residents go on holidays. A lot of people die here due to being really drunk or on opium. They say there is no bottom to this lake. Hmmmm...

This is some building. Looks cool. No idea what it is.

This photo was taken from a bridge. Looks cool to me. You can drink this water as no cities or anything are between the melting snow and this water. I guess Global Warming is real after all.

View from our villa:

Me, up on some mountain:

More me:

Me and the dudes I was with:

The villa seen from my telephoto lens:

Here I am up on some wall:

These are the other expats:

OK, look at the car we are behind. Keep in mind we are going fast.

I just love this photo. I think this one will be copied so I added my website to it. My favorite part is the caution sign used while transporting babies in the trunk.

This is a Kandahari refugee perched on a rock:

What do Toilets and Drifting Have in Common?

2008-04-25T18:43:00.000+03:00

I hope I can pull this one off. It wont be easy but let me give it a shot.

I have been saying for years now that one of the biggest challenges facing this civilization is the deal with toilets. Namely, using them. I have discussed at length my observations about how the Muslim world views the simple act of taking a dump.

I can tell you that some of the most disgusting places in this area to visit are the bathrooms. For some strange reason these guys, for the most part, seem to want to use Eastern style toilets, AKA holes in the ground. Now I will freely admit that some bathrooms in the States are very disgusting, but for the sake of this argument, I would like to confine my comments to the types of bathrooms which are generally sanitary and clean, not the truck stop type with no bowl lids and un-flushed crap in the water.

OK, so assume we are talking about a very reasonably well kept bathroom, one that is washed several times per day by a good janitor and is fitting to sit your ass on it. Imagine any toilet you wouldn’t mind sitting on without a minor wipe of the seat. Ok. A decent crapper.

So that is what we have here where I work. A clean, normal, decent crapper. But actually not so much. You see, they will not use the crapper like a normal person uses the crapper. They feel compelled to try to straddle the crapper rather than sit on it. What do I mean by that? Imagine walking towards the crapper, but rather than turning around and sitting on it, you walk right toward the crapper and put your feet on the lid. Yes, you STAND on the toilet. Imagine yourself facing a toilet, if you are a guy, you would be standing there about to piss in it. But instead of turning around and sitting down, you step forward, and place your right foot on the right side of the lid and your left foot on the left side. Got that?

Now to maintain balance you have to hug the toilet reservoir. So there you are, facing the wall, standing backward on the toilet bowl, hugging the reservoir, ready to take a dump. You complete the dump and now Phase II begins.

A full body wash down.

It seems like 1000 gallons of water is used, and deposited on the floor after every Number 2 movement. The Niagara Falls pales in comparison to the amount of water consumed by these guys to “wash up” after taking a simple deuce. You can literally track the person who last used the toilet by following the wet footstep marks left on the carpet. Seriously.

What does any of that have to do with Drifting?

Not that much actually, which is why I acknowledged it would be hard to tie together.

OK, I will have to get back to drifting another time. I wrote this earlier this week and lost my train of thought.

Today was OK. We drove to Pagman, high in the hills. I will write about this tomorrow as I really don’t feel like writing it now. We drove for about 2 hours each way to get there and it is 1925 and I haven’t done anything. I have some cool pictures to post. I may change my mind and post it tonight, but I doubt it.

Cheers,
Walt

Normalcy

2008-04-19T19:03:00.003+03:00

Have I mentioned I love it here? Well I do.

This weekend was great. Yesterday I managed to meet some local kids and fly a kite and play some soccer. (It is actually becoming difficult to refer to soccer as soccer rather than football btw) I have some cool pictures. I also got to make fun of some girls who were scared of a really nice stray dog. The dog is a big playful animal, just like any fun loving dog in the US, but they really got freaked by this dog. I laughed at them and they joked that I should go touch it. So I whistled and the dog came over and I started petting it. They all ran away. Note to guys in Afghanistan, a good way to “not” pick up chicks is to have a cute dog. I probably could have hooked up if I stabbed the dog or decapitated it. HAHA just kidding, I think.
We have a black cat that shows up at mealtimes. I swear the thing is not 8 months old and pregnant. The blackest cat I have ever seen with really cool eyes. Well the cat is snarky. She knows which of us will feed her and which are mean. So she will sneak into the house behind you and if you are nice she will purr at your heels, if you are mean, she will stand in front of you and make you shoo her out and then run back in. She is such a lush. Anyway, one thing about cats is that they act the same pretty much no matter where you are. You know how they like to dig their claws into your skin when you pet them, well they do the same thing here.

This cat reminds me of the monkeys I saw in Malaysia. VERY snarky!!! If you let your guard down for 1 second they would rob you blind. They got my buddies bottle of water. He sat it down for like 1 second and they snagged it. This cat will do the same thing. Very quick little sucker, just like those monkeys. Only the monkeys would work in teams, 1 monkey would distract you and the other would steal your crap. We saw the monkeys set this one couple up big time. They posed for pictures, acted all nice, and the instant the tourists put down the camera, a really fast monkey came out of nowhere and stole the camera. I kind of felt bad for them because they had let the monkeys make fools out of them. Oh well. The only thing they got from me was about 1000 bananas I kept buying to feed them. I am a sucker for monkeys and elephants. You put a monkey or a baby elephant in front of me, you are gonna be assured that I will buy something from you. That being said, don’t take an elephant ride in Thailand. Very scary. Go see the shows, but do not put your life into the hands of an 80 pound Thai boy trying to control a grown male elephant while sitting on its head with a crow bar. Not fun. Like riding a motorcycle without handlebars.

I seem to be focused on animals tonight. Not sure why. But today I captured a giant fly. In Iraq the flies are puny but move with lightning speed. Here they are giant, almost like flying spiders. When they land and start patrolling the area, it seems like they are medium sized spiders with little wings. They have these really long hairy legs and move like a spider or centipede. The good news is they are easy to kill, the bad news is they leave a big mess. That is why I trap them rather than swat them. You can spray air freshener on them and they will head for a window. I cut a slit in the window so that I could force them out. So far it has worked. I have managed to send 3 flies out the slit in the window and not have to scrape them off my desk.

Anyway, that is probably one of the most boring posts I have ever made, but oh well. This aint a porn site and that wasn’t a money shot. I try to save my good posts for when I really feel like it. Tonight was more of a ramble. So disregard it if you don't like. Today is Monday for me, so please bear with me.

Well I have made up mind. I am going to actively seek employment elsewhere. I do love it here, but there is “0” job security and being in procurement is a bad place when you are dealing with locals. One of my favorite lines in procurement when replying to a boss is to tell them “I can tell you the same lie they told me”. The sad thing is that it is very true. My performance is based on the success of others. For example, if I order a weigh bridge from Pakistan, and the guy tells me it will be ready on the 1ST, well that is what I tell my boss. If he is lying I am to blame. If he then completes the bridge on the 15th and tells me it will ship on the 20th, well that is really all I can go with. After all he is the manufacturer and that is what he tells me. So if he tells me it will ship on the 20th and the freight forwarder tells me it will arrive on the 1st. Well that is the info I must relay. If they decide to screw around or not return my phone calls and the time drags on, I am the one holding the bag. Because they told me one thing, but reality is another thing. I figured out a way around this though, I add 1.5 months to whatever they tell me. So if they say I will 100% sure have it one 1 May 08, I report that it will be ready at the end of July. Kind of like with pizza deliveries. If they tell you 30 minutes and take an hour, you are pissed, but if they say an hour and take 45 minutes, you are happy. That is what I do. I also overestimate costs by a least 75% on my first quotations, then I lower them to make them sound like a deal.
Oh well, we all know that.

Time for bed.

Cheers,
Walt

Me and my driver:

Kids in the back alley playing football:

My friends with a kite:

A pic with me and some kids:

Another:

A crowd:

A question of Patience

2008-04-16T17:47:00.003+03:00

Today I finally got a few new things I was waiting on. Some very high thread count crisp summer sheets and some very fresh spring flowers. Both were very high on my priorities list. I also finished watching the latest episode of Top Chef, but that just pissed me off. I am an aspiring chef and it pains me to see how good some people are and how crappy I am by comparison. I wish I had attended culinary school instead of flight school when I was younger. Although I am passionate about both, I think I am more passionate about fine dining. I do not eat much food. Anyone who knows me has surely at one point kidded with me about never finishing my plate. I am finicky about what I eat, and sadly most restaurants produce food not worth eating. Any chain restaurant sucks; TGIF, Applebee’s, Chili’s, Texas Road House etc… They all suck. The only really good food is at places like Del Friscos and Ruth’s Chris, and even those can suck from time to time. What I appreciate about truly fine dining are the small portions and the multiple courses. I want a few bites of something that makes me want to return time and time again to try something new and different. I think the only food I could never get enough of is this soup from the street vendors in Bangkok. They make a clear soup that makes up for in flavor what it lacks in color. The ambiance of a stinking Bangkok street, with the vendors and the tourists, and the occasional passing baby elephant cannot be duplicated in the world. Well the top chefs manage to create in a single bite, memories of places you have only imagined. I only wish I were that good.

What the hell does that have to do with patience? That is just rambling, yes, I know. Yesterday I was expecting the arrival of 12 trucks containing the framing structure for a pre-manufactured steel building. Demurrages of 80$ a day per 12 containers began over a month ago. The trucks were delayed on the Pakistani border for over a week. There was a lot riding on the timely delivery of that steel and the rapid unloading of the containers. Well yesterday the steel finally arrived at the project site. I remember getting that news at around 0830 in the morning. I ticked it off of my list to do for the day. At around 0930 I decided to go visit the site. I had envisioned myself taking pictures of cranes busily unloading containers and steel being stacked and workers scuttling around to get this stuff unloaded. The problem with that vision is that I am an American. I think American thoughts and sometimes I wrongly project the same American work ethic to non-Americans. So when I arrived at the job site at about 1000, I was horrified to see about 30 Pakistanis sitting along the side of the road, trucks and cranes idle. (The truck drivers were Pakistani, delivering the containers of steel from Karachi). So I went on in and spoke with the Project Manager who informed me that the drivers needed some more money. Well it is not my company’s job to pay for the truckers. We subcontracted that job to another company who subcontracted the job to a company who further subcontracted that task to these guys. Well these sub-sub-sub-contractors were wanting to be paid an additional 100$ per truck for an additional 2 miles they had to drive from the Kabul Customs to the job site. My first reaction was to reach for my wallet to be honest. You need 1200 bucks to complete the job, fine, take it. But then I thought of all the headaches involved in replenishing those 1200 bucks. So I decided to negotiate, long story short it ended in me telling them all to piss off and I got in my car and left.

Well these guys didn’t seem too bothered. They got back in their trucks and sat there for another 5 hours until some other guy I don’t know showed up and made them drive the trucks. As an aside, I tried ordering the Afghan Army to force them at gunpoint to drive the trucks, but unfortunately for me, I wasn’t their boss and they wouldn’t do it. I even asked to borrow an AK so that I could force them at gunpoint to drive the trucks, but they wouldn’t give me an AK. Bastards. I was even going to piss all over their trucks, but unfortunately for me, I didn’t have to pee. Well anyway they eventually came to some agreement and the trucks have since been unloaded.

This afternoon I watched a guy stand in the same position for over an hour. I am not sure what he was doing. He wasn’t spying on us or I would have noticed. He wasn’t waiting on a bus or a Taxi because many passed. He apparently just didn’t have any damn other thing to do, so he just stood there. For about 2 hours. And during that time he did not move more than 1 foot and he did not uncross his arms (that I saw). I regularly see people sit in the same chair for hours on end. I also see people squat for what seems like a lifetime, and hardly move. I can’t figure it out.

I guess my whole point is that basically we Americans have no patience. Just today I was frustrated at how slow the microwave was heating up my food. I even said something out loud to the effect of “POS microwave, we need a faster one”. These guys are lucky to have electricity and I am bitching about 1 vs 2 minutes in the microwave. I guess the good thing is that this is not the first time I have noticed this. I can guess my subordinates are appreciative of the fact that I don’t act as impatiently as I feel. I have to make a concerted effort to not be impatient. I think that is the difference, for me I have to consciously work at it, but it comes naturally to them.

So as I sit here thinking about this post and whatnot, and I am enjoying the nice fragrance from my fresh bouquet of flowers, it really gives me time to appreciate what I have and what others do not. And while I contemplate how nice it would have been to go back to my room tonight and lay on my fresh crisp summer sheets, the fact that although I handed the guy the new box of sheets and told him to put them on the bed, that all he did was place the box of sheets on my pillow just doesn’t really bother me that much. I was hoping to be able to sleep on my fresh crisp sheets, but I can’t, and I don’t really care.

Cheers,
Walt

My Flowers: Paid 10 bucks for these.

Meetings and Meat

2008-04-10T13:49:00.003+03:00

Well,

Sorry for the delay in posting. It seems that every time I decide to write a post, something else pops into my head. I think it may also have something to do with the fact that I have a lot going on and just don’t make the time to update it.

Right now my internet is down and I can’t do anything else so why not update the blog?

Tonight we have a plan to go to a new club. I cannot recall the name of it “L’something”, not Le Bistro, which is a French restaurant, but a proper club. We haven’t been there yet.

Today, and for the past few days it has been rather rainy. It sucks because the weather is warm and I would like to get back outside and play some cricket or soccer. We have a plan to go play at some club but every time we think we can go, it rains. Not that you can’t play in the rain, but it sucks.

Well this morning I went to the KIA ISAF Base to pick up a big-wig from some company I can’t name. It was funny because you could tell he was not used to riding around. It reminded me of the first time I ever had to ride around in Kabul. Not really scared but nervous, he was trying to act tough but anytime a car or a person walked up next to us he would kind of lean away from the window. Like he was afraid we were gonna get blown up. I sometimes feel that way, but I am just like screw it. If you do bite it by way of a car bomb, you aren’t gonna know about it or feel it. Those car bombs shred unarmored vehicles like they are nothing. And I never wear body armor because it is pointless. They aren’t going to shoot me, they are going to kidnap me, and if they blow me up, well that body armor won’t do a lick of good.

Well, I did also get another job offer. I told them I was going to have to think about it. It is a huge raise and it is with a big American company. I would have to go back to the States though to go thru CRC again. What a joke. I already went thru CRC and I already have all the stuff they issue you at CRC and a big thing to note is that I am ALREADY HERE!!! They want me to go back to the States, go to CRC and come right back HERE! What a waste on time and money. SO they will fly me back to the States, put me up in Georgia, then fly me back to where I already am with equipment I already have. The good news is that I can just leave my stuff here and get a letter saying that I don’t need to get it again. I have no desire to lug that crap halfway across the world and back.

Anyway, I still don’t know if I will take the job. I really like it where I am and I am fixing to take another vacation. Right now I am thinking of hitting China. I have a good buddy that lives there, and I haven’t seen him since we met in Istanbul a few years ago. We went to watch Fenerbahce (sp), the Istanbul soccer team, play. They won. Let me tell you though, it was so intense in that place. I am not sure what would have happened if they lost.

Anyhow. The only reason I am holding off on China is because I really want to spend enough time there to hike along the Great Wall. It has been a dream of mine for some time to walk the entire length of the wall. Sort of like hitting the Appalachian Trail only without the pit stops at Motel 6 and 7-11. I am thinking of hiring a crew and filming it. So I am hesitant to go to China when what I really want to do is hike the wall.

It is too late to go to Antarctica this year. Noooo not because it is melting, because it is too cold now. Maybe some Global Warming will hit it and I can visit year round though. I don’t usually talk politics on here but those Man Made Global Warming people are really starting to get on my nerves.

Another location I am seriously considering is India. The only problem with India is that it is so close. I have over 150K miles on Delta so I have a free round-trip first class ticket to anywhere that I was planning on using. I would hate to waste it on such a short flight. Actually I could just pay and fly to India and save my miles for later so never mind. SO maybe I will go to India. I have always wanted to see the Taj Mahal and I Love Indian food. I hear they have the best beef brisket HAHAHAHA!

Speaking of politics. I only get 3 news channels. CNNi, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. We normally watched CNNi because it was the least left leaning of the 3. Well recently we have begun to watch Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera had the most fair and balanced series on Iraq I have ever seen on any channel, including Fox News. It presented the facts, from both sides, and it presented both the negative and the positive from both sides, in an absolutely impartial manner. Equal time was given to all. We also saw a special on Al Jazeera about Israel which was remarkable open and honest. Not what we come to expect from Al Jazeera. So the short story is that freaking Al Jazeera has replaced CNNi and BBC World as the fairest of the 3 networks that we get to watch. And so you know CNNi is the same as CNN only with more commercials, useless programming and recycled news programs.

I finally obtained a cookbook written in Dari/Farsi WITH pictures to give to our cook. Previously I have had to show him how to make stuff which is very time consuming and difficult to do. Well now we have a cookbook and a menu. Now all I do is point out what we want and he makes it. Granted the quality of the meat is still on par with say scraping all the meat off a dirt floor and tossing it in a bag. The way they do meat here is like this. You have your little shack along the side of the road. Your little shack has a dirt floor and no walls really, sometimes walls but usually not a street front wall. You come in to work and you bring a scrawny cow with you. You tie your scrawny cow up to a pole or something right outside your store. Your store happens to be on a dirty street with lots of traffic and 10 feet from where the cars are. You get yourself all ready and decide to open up the store and then you go outside and slit the cow’s neck open. After it bleeds to death you butcher it and hang all the meat on hooks from the roof of your store. The main thing you do is make sure to put the cow head right out by the road so that people know you have fresh meat hanging. Then you just sit there and wait for customers to come. Never mind the flies on the meat or the rain washing muddy water onto it or the dust and dirt blowing onto it. You just hang it there and when someone comes by, you just chop off a chunk for them and away they go. Same goes for lamb, chicken fish, pretty much any meat. What they do with the fish is they nail them side by side to a piece of wood and when you want one they pry it off for you. So it isn’t really quite as sanitary as say, anywhere else I have been.

Well now the cook has the cookbook so at least we have something other than chicken and rice on a daily basis.

Well anyway, that is about it. I only think I have 1 picture I can post so let me see if I can find that.

Cheers,
Walt

In case you wanted see what is in my desk drawer:

अनोठेर_Friday

2008-04-04T16:59:00.003+03:00

The title of this post is "Another Friday". For some reason it keeps putting it in Hindi and I don't know how to stop it. I tried using an _ , but that didn't work.

Today was a very enjoyable day despite the constant rain.

Earlier, I went to Camp Phoenix to try to find some Copenhagen. They didn’t have any. So, thoroughly soaked, I headed back to the office. On the way back, the traffic was light. We encountered a large US mil convoy with 2 Rhino busses and 4 Hummers. We stayed well away from them. We also encountered some police checkpoints. As usual, we were stopped for having tinted windows. I asked them why they don’t just rip the tint off or get a permit. Apparently, the permits are hard to get and the tint is a part of the glass, not a film.

Well we talked our way out it and I showed them my DoD card. No worries. And then a bit later we encountered a Turkish patrol. Again, I did not have my camera, but I wish I did. From now on I am going to carry my camera.

Anyway, recently, I have heard people refer to Afghanistan as a “Romantic War”. It has also been brought up on various websites I frequent. Well today I actually felt it. It is strange to be in one of the most dangerous places on Earth, yet still have the ability to drink a beer and share a laugh with some great dudes. This afternoon, we had a few brews and joked and played with some kids, just like a normal weekend back at home. It is eerily similar actually.

Well as we were driving back from the store, we tuned in to a station that was playing music you might hear on a canal in Italy. It was very nice. So there I was, sitting in the back seat, listening to the music and watching the rain drenched commotion of the streets while riding around the streets of Kabul. It was surreal and at the same time, very comforting.

It is hard to describe the feeling. When you are in Baghdad, you are on edge. Constantly feeling the pressure that at any moment some car might drive up next to you and explode. Same thing goes in Afghanistan, but not so much. The people look at you, but not with hatred. And you don’t feel the need to keep your eyes open all the time. I have a Nancy Ajram DVD which I play on the headrest TV player. I watch that a lot more than I watch outside.

The simple fact is that Kabul is very different from Baghdad and more similar to any major US city. There are beggars and there are the rich. There are nice shops and there are crappy shops. The streets are dirtier and the people all look different, but they are all doing the exact same things people do in the States. They just do it differently. The fact that there are donkey carts on major thoroughfares is 1 example.

Anyway, I am rambling.

So after that we went to Camp Eggers to visit the weekly Bazaar. It was pretty busy this week. I bought 5 new DVD releases for 9 bucks. Hopefully they all play. The problem with pirated movies and whatnot is that you never know the quality until you play it. It was the same way in Iraq. Sometimes you have a good image, sometimes there is some guy eating popcorn and you can’t even hear the sound. My favorite versions are the ones when people have to hide the camera.

So that is my news.

Cheers,
Walt

TGIT

2008-04-03T15:47:00.006+03:00

Well, it is the start of a new weekend here. TGIT and all.

Yesterday I had a really great time playing Cricket with the guys. If you guys don’t like Cricket I strongly suggest that you try it. It is very fun. Much more fun than baseball. We play with a tennis ball rather the cork ball because we don’t have all the pads and whatnot. There is 1 guy who is an extremely fast bowler. He has hard to hit. Anyway, I know it looks stupid on TV but when you play it, it is fun.

The last time I did this did not go over so great. Well I just got back from performing a Class VI re-supply. So now I have a nice warm Tuborg to enjoy. While I was on my bay to the bottle shop, I got a little good information. The last time I was there, I noticed a very cute dog who was limping badly. Well this time, the same dog was still in the area and it was walking just fine. Maybe that is my omen for the week?

Yesterday, I was out looking for concertina wire and a cookbook. I also went to a light dealership to try to find some 1000Watt Metal Halide flood lights. I have to buy 450 of them. We are building a perimeter lighting system for a military base. These things cost like 300-500 each. I didn’t find them. Anyway, we were way on the other side of Kabul and I saw a scaled down replica of the Eiffel Tower. I swear, I had no clue it was there. We were in the middle of these huge blue buildings that are used for weddings and I was staring at them when all of sudden the Eifel Tower showed up! I did not have my camera but I will go back there and take some pictures.
Well, I haven’t got any new photos to post so I will dig up some old ones.
Oh yeah,

I am planning a vacation. Don’t know where to go this time. Any help?

Cheers,
Walt

Naaah That would be a cop out. Here are some pictures of my office:

My desk:

View from my window:

सन्डे Post

2008-03-30T17:08:00.005+03:00

For some reason, my titles appear in Indian I think. Not sure why. Oh well.

I have been having a great past few days. The work has been challenging but we are turning the corner. We have a few new projects including the construction of a new road. The weather is fantastic! Not too hot, not too cold. It rained a few days back, nothing major.

Well I have decided to stay put. I had some very tempting offers but I really like it here and have no real reason to leave. I may be sorry about the pay difference,
but money isn’t everything.

I am trying to find a cookbook for Western style food that is written in both English and Persian/Dari. Our cook does not speak or read English and it is very difficult to put a menu together and then teach him how to cook Western food. I sorted him out so that he can watch the cooks at the Whataburger. They have a Western menu that includes steaks, pastas, burgers, all that stuff. Well he goes and watches them and then he copies it at night for us. He has gotten much better. We were getting chicken and rice every single day, now we get burgers, fries, baked potatoes. I downloaded and had translated the menu for sloppy Joes; hopefully I will have sloppy Joe for lunch tomorrow.

Anyway,

Here are some pics.

Cheers,
Walt

Some hot chicks:

Some guys on the prowl. Hope they don't explode.

Somebody in an Armored Vehicle. Any moron can spot an armored car.

Buying some vests. Upper left hand corner.

About to meet Allah with Little Fat Man or whatever.

Fitna

2008-03-28T17:01:00.000+03:00

Well I just finished watching the movie Fitna.

This is a very difficult subject for me having spent so much time in the Muslim world. I have met some truly remarkable Muslims and fortunately I have not met any of the sorts shown in this film. That being said, I do recognize that they exist. And I am acutely aware that I am in a position where I could be much more personally affected by the rages of radical Islamists.

I am just going to stop there.

Cheers,
Walt

Some फोटोस Photos

2008-03-21T16:55:00.004+03:00

Well it was a great long weekend. Not looking forward to starting a new week but oh well. Got my laundry done, still have to get it ironed.

Not much really to say. Today I visited an old Army buddy on Phoenix. Tried to get him to come visit at my place but his balls are 3 times too small. Understandably. Sort of.

Here are some older pics.

Cheers,
Walt

Houses on the hill:

More houses on the hill:

ROundabout monument:

Coming up on some animals:

Waiting on them to cross the street:

Some gas station:

Cool view of the hill houses: No roads, they just walk up there

The markets:

More of the markets:

And more:

थे The Omen

2008-03-20T17:25:00.002+03:00

There has been a lot that has happened the past few days.

I have gotten several job offers for jobs I don’t even remember applying. It seems that when you don’t really care to find a new position, they are all over, but when you really need or want a different contract, forget about it. So I don’t know what I will do. I really like it where I am and am not too keen on getting back in the mud.

Well the other day we got a new car with tinted windows. Tinted windows are illegal in Afghanistan without a proper license. PSDs and military can get away with it, but otherwise it is generally reserved for politicians. Well we were going to head out for some looking around for stuff. I always use the excuse of needing to go look at stuff to get out of the office. When I noticed the windows were tinted I made a joke and said we were going to end up in the jail in Pol E Sharki. They said we would be fine. Famous last words right? As we were entering a traffic circle, out of nowhere comes this traffic police pointing his AK at us. I have to admit it caught me off guard and startled me. Well he pulls us over and asks to see the permit for our AK, which we have, and the permit for the tint, which we don’t have. So there we are sitting on the side of the road and all these people are walking round us. Not a huge deal but after about 20 minutes, it starts to suck.

Well of course I tried to bribe the cop. Didn’t work. Then I asked why we don’t just leave the car and get a cab. They kept saying 5 more minutes. Well I finally got in touch with the Afghan Army Commander that works for us and he showed up. They were threatening to take the car and all this stuff. I said to take the bloody car. Well they worked it out and we got out of there.

That should have been an omen. I guess I am not so good at omens.

Yesterday I managed a resupply of Jim Beam is how the story starts and it just gets worse. I also managed to get us some more beer. The “us” in this case are my fellow American co-workers. W, T, J and F for short. After performing my Class VI re-supply I proceeded to issue the replenishments to my fellow coworkers. Then I left them for a few hours.

At around 2000 we decided it was time to start heading out for dinner. We decided to try a restaurant that we had previously not been to, a Mexican food restaurant called La Cantina. The reviews stated that the food was not that great but there were some hot chicks working at the bar and that large numbers of expat females frequented the place. A good enough reason alone to go there. Well as we were all gathering and proceeding to head out, T, decided it would great if we brought one of our local staff with us, F. After much protesting by F, T managed to talk him into coming with us.

Remember the omen? Well because there were now 5 of us, and because the big Toyota was out of the question, we decided to take a van. You know, like a minivan. Well we all piled in and it soon became apparent by the volume of speech by W and T, that maybe they had already started to imbibe. Heavily.

The restaurant is located down a few side streets 3 blocks from the main drag in a dark alley. We arrived, got out and told the driver to leave, that we would call him when we needed to be picked up. Me, T, and J entered the small security booth to be scanned and proceeded into the courtyard. (Only 3 can fit at a time). W and F, our local, then proceeded to enter. When they observed that F was a local, they refused to let him in. You see, in many restaurants that serve alcohol, locals are not allowed to enter. So we tried to bribe them but they were not having any of it. Not just a few bucks either, we had 100$ for the guy. He probably only makes 150$ in a month and yet he refused to accept our gift. F decided he would just leave and get a Taxi, after some protesting on our part we reluctantly agreed to let him leave. Well then we decided that it would be wrong to do that and decided to take him to another restaurant that we know allows locals. The problem was that by the time we made our decision, F had disappeared into the alley way in search of a cab.

Not to be deterred by the fact that the guy was gone, T decided to take his country ass out into the alley and start bellowing out for him to come back. Well he was about 2 blocks away before I could convince him that what he was doing was not a good thing to be doing at night, unarmed and on a back alley way in downtown Kabul. Finally he stopped hollering and we came back to the restaurant. We called F on the phone and told him to come back, that were going to take him somewhere else. And we called our van to come back and get us.

Here is where the omen really comes into play. The van showed up and into we all piled. Ready to head on over to Red Hots and do some drinking. The show was back on the road and we had a plan!

Literally about 3 seconds later, as the van began to rumble down the dirty road, the entire front right tire assembly… fell off! This is when the mistakes really started to begin getting made. The 2 heavily intoxicated guys were hell bent on getting F to the restaurant. They decided to get a cab. Now in all of this, I was sort of playing it quiet. Partly because I was not happy to be standing in a dark alley in Kabul without a gun, and partly because the rest of them were making so much noise that I could lurk back in the shadows, next to a door, leading to an open courtyard and a nice strong wall, so that when the bullets started raining down on them, I could bolt.

The decision was made to relocate to the main drag because our replacement driver did not know where we were. This consisted of walking about a mile and a half down these dark alley ways to get back to the main drag. Fortunately nothing happened despite T’s best attempts at waking up the entire city. It was now about 2130. Our curfew is 2200. Well finally our replacement vehicle finally arrived. A Toyota Hilux. You know the Hilux, it is the white pickup truck you always see insurgents fighting out of in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yeah, that one. Well, the drunks, W and T, decided they would ride in the bed of the truck. Keep in mind they both have gray hair, big fancy white shirts on and the exact opposite complexion as saaaay, an Afghani. Well I wasn’t going to fight with them to sit in the bed, I just jumped in the cab and let their dumb asses sit in the back.

That might not have actually been a good idea either. You see, Kabul, like many cities in the Middle East, comes alive after dark. (Not where we were initially, but downtown, on the main drag). And there are many sights and smells and lights and commotion. And somewhere between the restaurant and the main drag, W and T must have concluded that we had walked to Tijuana. There they were yelling and waving and saying hi to everyone. Shouting “wooooo!!!” to any large group of people. Fortunately most of those groups wooo’d back. I was waiting for the AK rounds to begin impacting my flesh and bones.

Well they didn’t. We made it safely to Red Hots which was about 5 clicks away, got loaded and had a great time, and then at around 2300 or so, we called our driver and he came and got us. This time they brought 2 cars, which I thought was a good omen.

Cheers,
Walt

Maybe leaving Afghanistan

2008-03-17T19:31:00.002+03:00

Well I have been offered a rather tempting job in Iraq. I am about 99% sure that I will take it. I am still waiting to hear all the details about this new job but I will be starting out as a PSD Team Leader. It is a step back in terms of seniority, but the pay is much better and the opportunity for advancement is almost limitless. I also have great friends who work in this company. I haven’t carried a gun in a while, nor have I had to suit up, so I am looking forward to the opportunity. Plus, I really miss Iraq. Those who have not experienced Iraq may never know the unique attraction a place like Iraq holds. Yes it is a shithole, yes it is dangerous and yes many great Americans have died there. I do not mean to take away from the suffering felt by those affected by the violence in that country. What I am talking about is the acute awareness and enjoyment of life one feels when they have spent a considerable amount of time in Iraq. I am rambling. I will just stop there and post some pictures. Ok, just a bit more, Kabul is fantastic, don’t get me wrong. Just today I met up with a dude I served with in Kentucky. I am going to sort him out Thursday. Ok rambling, I will pull it all together later. Basically I miss Iraq.

Cheers,
Walt

Some new construction:

More:

Not sure what this is:

What an exhausting few weeks

2008-03-15T17:31:00.004+03:00

So sorry for not uploading any new blog entries. I have been so busy with work.

Also, my AlienWare has been trying to die for about a month now, and it finally did. That thing is deader than a doornail. Good, that was one rabid dog that needed to die. Please, if you are reading this, Never buy an AlienWare computer! If you are even thinking about it, stab yourself, cause that is what you will want to do to yourself once you get the thing. Those things look great on paper and the specs are off the charts, but trust me. When something goes wrong, and it will, mine lasted about 8 hours before it started getting really crazy messages, when it goes wrong, that is the moment you will regret buying an Alienware for the rest of your soon to be miserable life. If you speak Spanish, you might be OK, but I still wouldn’t risk it. So tomorrow I will start the process of getting a replacement. I was thinking of a Dell XPS, but Dell owns AlienWare and I do not want to even risk it. I think I am going to buy something locally or fly to Dubai and buy one.

If all goes well I should be in Tajikistan next week for the New Years celebrations. I really hope I can get my Visa sorted. I am good to go on the Afghan side. I got a multiple entry Visa, good for 6 months, for about 400$. A little high, but they are hard to get. The problem was that I came in on Government Orders using my CAC, I never got an entry Visa. So when I quit that job and came to this one, I had to get a work permit. But it looked like I just smuggled myself into the country cause I had no entry stamp or entry permit. It is a good thing I work for a company owned by a prominent Afghan official or I might not have had the connections to get this done.

Well, I really do have limited time here, I am still at work using my work computer. 2 weeks ago my SimpleDrive 80 GB external drive failed. Live One killed that one. Well I waited and waited on getting a replacement, but about 3 days ago I said, you know, this POS AlienWare is going to die, and if I don’t back up my photos, I am going to lose them. Well thank God I wasn’t as lazy as I normally am. I went out and bought a 500GB Western Digital external and backed up all my stuff. (Only paid 200 bucks for it). So thankfully, I did not lose anything, it is all on my HDD. I would have been so pissed if I lost my pictures. I have lost some before. It is terrible. Now I don’t even erase memory sticks for my camera, I fill them with photos and keep them, and burn my stuff to disk all the time.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Cheers,
Walt

The cool hillside homes:

The shop I was going to:

I had to buy a Cell phone holder:

My favorite market area:

My awesome driver!

Me:

Safety 101:

Fish Market 1:

Fish Market 2:

Inside the Safi Landmark Hotel:

Catching up

2008-02-27T16:17:00.004+03:00

Well it has been a pretty busy week. I have done a lot of fun stuff. For example yesterday, I went to Kabul International Airport to try to find a way to get a military helicopter ride to Kandahar. It turns out that I can but I have to go thru Bagram to get there. Not a big fan of Bagram if you will remember. Anyway, if I get stuck in Bagram waiting on a lift, I am pretty well and truly screwed. So I may just risk it and drive. I drive everywhere anyway. I have a “disguise” that I wear to try to blend in. I can’t wear my orange Ray Bans when I am walking around because I already attract enough attention.

I had to attend a small ceremony to do some handover paperwork to one of the Afghani ministries. It was pretty cool, met some cool people including some 3 star Afghani general.

I met the Taliban guys across the street. I have to say that living directly across from some Taliban is a little worrisome, but I am getting used to seeing the turbans and blanket things wrapped around them. So far I haven’t seen Osama. I have asked some of my co-workers who live in the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Waziristan, in particular to pay particularly close attention when they visit home.

Anyway, my internet is in and out right now, I will post this and try to get some pictures up there.

Cheers,
Walt

Just driving around:

More driving:

This reminded me of Thailand:

Never would have let this happen in Baggers:

A horrible shot of me at the ceremony:

Politics and Afghanis

2008-02-21T22:46:00.000+03:00

Well it has been a while since I put up a post. A lot has happened since Friday. Nothing bad. Yesterday I went to the Safi Landmark Hotel to do some shopping. I am trying to buy a Nokia E90 Communicator, but the ones they had at Safi are maroon and I want a black one like the Pinoy Gov have.

After Safi, I went with a buddy to a new restaurant. I met a Frenchie named Dan who owns the only French restaurant in town called Le Bistro. It was very nice. I was not expecting such a small portion of food, but then I remembered that it was a French restaurant. Had a plate of assorted meats, some very good fresh baked bread and I had some pasta for the main dish. My buddy had a tuna sandwich.

As far as restaurants go, I would say that it was at least as good as any chain restaurant in the US in terms of service and value, but when you are in the middle of bloody Afghanistan and have had little other than chicken and rice, I guess it just tastes that much better.

Today I was explaining to my Afghani co-workers about the policies and stuff in the US. They were laughing so hard about us having to have a fishing license to fish. When I explained that we have cops out there who will check your live well and ticket you if you have the wrong fish they nearly died laughing. He said “I would tell that cop to get lost, this is my fish and I am going to eat it” and then he said “I would give him 5 dollars and tell him to piss off”. Then I had to explain that you can get in trouble for buying someone off.

They were laughing so bloody hard that they were crying. I explained to them about having to use the turn signal in the car, and that you will get a ticket if you swerve all over the road like we do here. They thought I was joking. They said, “How do you miss the potholes? Anyway, then one of them asked if we had gays in the US. I told him yes of course we have gays, so many gays. They did not believe me that they have those gay pride parades, I had to show them a Google Image of this gay parade. They were so shocked. They could not believe we allowed it.

I told them about abortion on demand, late term abortions and divorces. They had no idea about this stuff. But let me tell you, they know more about American politics than even most Americans. They know all the names and faces.

Anyway, it was very funny. They could not believe that we tolerate this stuff. They also now know how bad it would be for them if the Democrats get power. They are now solid McCain supporters. I let them know that when Osama Bin Laden does his daily prayers, he is praying to Allah that Hillary or Barack get elected. They laughed about that, and agreed.

Cheers,
Walt

Friday Off फ्रिदय ऑफ़

2008-02-15T12:59:00.001+03:00

I love having a job that lets me have off most of Thursday and all of Friday. Yesterday was pretty good. We had to sit thru a power point show. Anyone that has endured seemingly endless slideshow presentations, usually the last 30 minutes of the last day of the week, knows why they call them “Death by PowerPoint”. Well try listening to one in Urdu. You want to talk about painful?

Anyway, I survived it and went into the weekend. Last night we took a buddy to a place where he could, enjoy himself. We all drank some Coronas and ended up at the Brit bar. Can’t ever remember the name but they call it the dungeon cause it is like in the basement. Cool bar.

And today I went to Camp Phoenix to see what they had at the PX. Nothing much better than at Camp Eggers. They had a local Bazaar but didn’t sell many movies or CDs. I am fixing to head over to Eggers and see what they have. I managed to get some decent rum today. I got 2 bottles of Pampero rum from Venezuela. Good stuff.

They did upgrade our Vsat so now the internet is twice as fast. I am still trudging along, but it feels like it is blazing. It isn’t but it is so much better.

Later. Oh yes, there is someone that needs to come join the team here in Afghanistan. He knows who he is. I promise you will love it here.

Cheers,
Walt

मलयेशिया Picture

2008-02-14T21:00:00.001+03:00

Danish Cartoons

2008-02-13T16:45:00.000+03:00

These guys are gluttons for punishment. They went ahead and reprinted the damn cartoons. So they are closing roads in Kabul and I can’t make it to the restaurant. Not only that, but there will be tons of cops on the roads so it will be harder to get booze. Oh well.

Other than that, not terribly much is new. I think I am going to Dubai next week for a meeting with the big boss. I also have to meet with several of our suppliers. Today I made a contact to provide 450 1000Watt Metal-Halide outdoor lights. Yes, boring, but these things put out like 80,000 lumens. So they will have a total of 27 light trees with 15 of these suckers on each one. That works out to a little over 1M lumens per tree or about 30M total lumens. I am not an engineer or anything, but I think they will be able to see it from Mars! My SureFire puts out 120 Lumens and is one of the brightest flashlights you can buy. Freaking 36 MILLION Lumens. They may just end up melting the ice caps when they plug these in.

So I hope to see these in Dubai. I am also going to inspect the construction of a 1250m3 aluminum water storage tank and I have to look at the quality of 150 eastern toilets, 200 ceramic sinks as well as 204 soap holders. Normally my job is a little more interesting, I promise. But, if I have to count shower basins for a free trip to the Meridien in Dubai, well I will count them all the day long.

Anyway, I hope all my friends and family are well. Miss you. See you in about 10 months.

Cheers,
Walt

Afghanistan and Politics

2008-02-10T17:59:00.000+03:00

These guys know more about US politics than I could have imagined. They, for the most part, are not that sure about primaries, but neither are most Americans I suspect.

I was shocked that 9 out of 10 people I asked were unaware of the 50M bounty on Osama’s head. Maybe we need to resend that email.

Anyway, not that much to report today. Just another Sunday on the job.

Cheers,
Walt

Forgot to add some pictures!!!

Here I am with a baby beer in Aruba that cost me 8$$$

Inside a C17:

AF1 when it was at Bagram

Friday Off

2008-02-08T18:18:00.000+03:00

Today I got my shipment of suits from the US. I did not think I would need them but I actually do. Well they are all wrinkled so I have to iron them tomorrow.

Right now I am just smoking some Coca-Cola flavored narghilla and trying to get a post up.

Anyway, today we went to the local bazaar. I didn't buy anything, just looked around.

I got to meet part of a coworkers family today. What a bunch of cute kids.

Anyway,

Cheers,
Walt

Bagram Photos

2008-02-07T13:31:00.001+03:00

I wish I took all these pictures but I didn't. I got most of these from other people. I have a half day each Thursday so I just finished my lunch and I am smoking a shisha in my room. This afternoon I chose to smoke the mint flavor. It is very refreshing. I added some lemon juice to the water to give it more of a citric taste.

After I finish this post, and my shisha of course, I am going to go sit and watch the rest of season 6 of Smallville. I am in love with the chick that plays Lana, Kristen Kreuk. What an absolute hottie she is.

Cheers,
Walt

Here are some shots of the mountains and some planes flying around, oh and some bird too:

Chilling

2008-02-06T19:41:00.000+03:00

Did I mention that I love Kabul? This is a really cool city. You can get anything you need and the people are great. I had some dumbass in Bagram tell me that the streets were 6 feet lower because they removed all the trash. What a moron. I have to tell you that the streets are street level, always have been. There are a lot of shops.

I have not been to a new restaurant since last time. Tonight we are going to RedHots. Anyway.

I have too slow of a connection to post all my stuff. Here are some shots from RedHots.

Cheers,
Walt

Some more photos in Afghanistan

2008-02-02T17:57:00.000+03:00

Well I tried to post my video again. It doesn’t look like it worked. Sorry.

So I was walking back from chow just now and the guard was sitting down resting his head on the barrel of the AK. I had to correct that. What a freak.

Anyway, today was cool. I didn’t get much done, but it was OK. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get into the US Embassy. A DoD CAC plus US Passport will not get you in. I already knew it but tried anyway. Oh well, I am working on getting a new embassy badge. I also went to the ISAF HQ. They have beer in the restaurants there. Was not expecting that. I think the military that work there can drink. Good. Why is the US practically the only country on the planet that does not allow the military to drink, gamble and screw while in a war zone? What fun is left?

I am going to post some pictures now. Hopefully they will work.

Cheers,
Walt

My HQ:

My view from my window:

My living room:

Some kid: After looking at this picture again, I realized I could have shot him for having an IIED. An iPOD IED.

Some doors:

My drive from Bagram to Kabul

2008-02-02T16:27:00.000+03:00

Here is a very brief, but very large file I have from my drive to Kabul. Did I mention that I love Kabul? Cheers, Walt

Driving to the job site

2008-02-01T20:00:00.001+03:00

Today was a very bad day. It sucks because today is a half day and tomorrow is a day off. I was planning to perform a Class VI resupply but now I do not feel like going out.

My coworker’s grandmother passed away at 1300 today. It sucks because he is a great guy and they were very close. She went into a coma this morning and he was at the hospital all day.

Well this job I have is with a construction company. I am not an engineer or architect or anything so a lot of the stuff they ask me to get I have no idea of what it is. Today however, I needed to check on some tables. That I can do. So I drove to the site where we have all our tables stored. What I had to do was check to make sure they would hold 6 trays for food. It turns out that they wont, they will only hold 4 trays.

While I was at the site I bumped into some Army and managed to get a few 12 gauge rounds. Now I just need to get the guns to along with them. The guys had been way too close to the car bomb that went off this morning about 5 blocks from me. No one in their convoy got hurt thankfully. It was pretty loud. It has been a long time since I heard a big explosion. I can’t say that I miss it.

Well it was on the way back when I realized that at any moment someone could blow themselves up or shoot my happy ass and I had just risked my life to drive to a storage container to make sure that 6 stupid trays fit on a table. Then again, I actually kind of like that shit.

Well I learned some new curse words in Dari today. Say "Koonee" to an Afghan and see what happens LOL!

Well I posted 9 pictures and lost connection. I am going to try to post some more without commentary and see what happens.

Cheers,
Walt

Driving to Door Shop

2008-01-31T05:22:00.000+03:00

Things have been very busy at work. I have been trying to find a single point of contact in Australia or UK for sinks and toilets. Sounds easy but it really isn’t. There are so many logistical problems.

Anyway, the other day I had to go look at some metal doors. The drive was cool. Did I mention that I really like it here? Well yesterday I went out to buy some more charcoal for my hookah. It was great to walk the streets and check out the stores. Hopefully I wont get shot, but in the meantime it is fun. We use low profile convoys and blend in pretty well with the locals. I have to buy some more clothes though as my bright orange North Face jacket is not exactly what people wear around here.

Today is a half day for me so I plan to do some good shopping. I need to buy a 10 inch portable DVD player. My laptop will only play Region 1 DVDs that were purchased in the US. It is a big pain.

Anyway, my net is slow but I will try to get a few pics on.

Cheers,
Walt

Would compulsory service in Afghanistan be a bad thing?

2008-01-28T18:46:00.000+03:00

Would compulsory service in Afghanistan be a bad thing? I don’t think so. I have met some very cool people so far. I feel sorry for the guys that are stuck on military bases who have no interaction with the locals.

Stand by, am smoking some Mint hookah.

OK, back. Actually that reminds me, I am fixing to get a new AK. I wanted to get a shotgun to keep by my bed but AKs are way cheaper and the ammo that is available for shotties is substandard. If anyone can figure out how to mail me some decent US 12 gauge ammo, let me know.

I know the picture sucks but it is just tobacco, nothing else.

Driving around Kabul in an un-armored car

2008-01-27T15:48:00.000+03:00

Today was awesome. After the daily meeting, at 0730, me and another guy decided to look at some sites. So we grabbed a driver and went out. I have a ton of pictures, hopefully they will load.

Driving in Kabul is like driving in Jordan. Somehow they manage to fit 4 lanes of traffic onto a 2 lane road. Not so bad in Jordan but when you are worried about IEDs and whatnot, it can be a bit unnerving.

Anyway, so we drove all over and saw the sights. Did I mention I absolutely LOVE Kabul? You should visit. And no I am not being sarcastic.

Cheers,
Walt

Check out the hot chick in blue:

Fruit shop:

Meat shop:

Chicken shop:

Here I am up on a roof:

Here is what I had to climb to get there:

Here is my driver:

Here is some typical traffic: (Not a good place to be boxed in, I know, but what the heck?)

Kabul, Afghanistan. The beginning of a beautiful relationship.

2008-01-26T16:41:00.000+03:00

You know that feeling you get when you know that you made a good decision? When you are faced with tough choices and many different possibilities and you narrow it down and make the call? Well I made a tough decision and it turned out to be one of the best I have made in a while. I quit a pretty good job in Bagram for a generally unknown commodity in Kabul. I made a pretty dangerous choice to leave the airfield by basically sneaking out and hopping into a car with 2 Afghanis previously unknown to me, 1 of whom was armed, and making the drive thru the mountains South to Kabul.

When I got to Kabul it reminded me so much of Baghdad. The streets are crowded, there are shops literally everywhere and cars and bikes and every other conveyance known to man lining the streets. The biggest difference was that I was in an unarmored car, with 2 strangers and no guns. It was not fun.

But, I made it. We got to the villa compound where I live now and I got settled in. Basically it is a 3 villa complex located near the US and Saudi embassies. It is in a high profile area and we have 3 different villas. I live in 1 of them with another expat, and the other 2 expats live in another. The 3rd villa is the HQ. I will post some pictures showing how nice all of this is.

There are 4 Americans working for this company now with 2 more on the way. The staff consists of about 100 Afghanis. We have 2, for the lack of a better description, cabin boys, who take care of everything from getting me a hookah to filling the fridge and washing the bathroom. For those of you who have not had the privilege, yes privilege, of living in a third world country, you may not understand all the benefits. I can ask my driver to take me anywhere I want, he will notify my guard and they will pull the car around. Then they will drive you anywhere you want to go and help you get whatever it is you need to get. For example, and these 2 things may be related, I finished the last of a bottle of Jim Beam as well as a very nice cherry hookah. Well I decided to leave the hookah outside. Bad move cause I didn’t dump the water and so the vase froze and burst. Well today we went to the Italian shop to resupply on the Beam and then we stopped at a local store and got me another hookah.

On that note, anyone reading this that happens to be in Afghanistan be warned. Those local bazaars that they have set up near military bases each week are a total rip off. Probably the only reasonably priced items are the DVDs and even those you can get cheaper on the economy. I know the military don’t have the option of grabbing a car and tooling around looking for deals, but seriously, whatever they are asking, offer them 25% of that, if they won’t take it, keep walking away until they do. That or slip a local some dough, ask them to buy the stuff, and escort them onto the base personally the next time they come.

Well I knew I made the right decision the moment I walked into the villa. The guys were having lunch and the centerpiece of the table was a half empty bottle of Bacardi 151. Those who know me well enough know how happy I was to see that. So we ate spicy Afghani burgers with rice and some pea soup and uhhh sipped on the Bacardi. Later that evening they broke out the good stuff, Heineken.

I also learned exactly what they wanted me for. You see when I applied, there were no posted jobs, and I just mailed a resume blind. When they sent me an email saying they were interested, they had already contacted my references (Special thanks go out to that guy. He knows who he is and knows that if I could ever return the favor I would go out of my way to do so. Nuff said.) When I looked at their website all I saw were jobs for electricians, architects, engineers, drafters, and a bunch of other crap I have no idea how to do. Well they hired me as a Project Manager. I told them I had no experience with that and they hired me anyway, which is why I was so suspicious when they made me the offer they made me. Well it turns out that they want me for “Procurement”. Those who know me best are probably grinning right now. If there is anything on this Earth that I can do well and under any circumstances, it is procuring shit. Also, they laughed and said I better not get too comfortable because I would have to travel to, get this, DUBAI and Istanbul “All the time”. “Oh heavens no! Anything but that!”. LMFAO. I love that shit.

Anyway, I hooked up a wireless repeater today so now I have pretty decent internet. Please do check back often as I plan to start at least a weekly review of local restaurants and shops. I haven’t decided if I will put street maps or not cause I may want the good stuff kept secret. Also in the works is a live Kabul web cam. I just have to look into the security aspect of that. I am thinking of climbing the building across the street next to where the Taliban, yes actual Taliban members of congress, live and putting it remotely looking down a main street. Right now it is just in the planning phases. If anyone knows of a good, remote operated, day/night, cheap web cam that can transmit up to 100 meters, email me. I also need instructions on how to integrate said web cam into blogger.com.

Well, let me sign on and post this stuff, hopefully I will have enough bandwidth to actually upload what I had hoped would be the centerpiece of my blog, some photos. Oh yeah, I will not try to go back and post photos. That is impossible and pointless at this point. What I will do is when I start rambling like this again is try to add them at that time.

I am definitely in my element right now. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Check out some photos below>>>

Cheers,
Walt

This is where I used to live in Bagram:

This is where I live now: Much better.

Hopefully this video will load. It is huge for me, 41M, maybe you will have a quicker download than I had upload:( This is from my trip from Bagram to Kabul:

Nope, better luck next time. Later.

Leaving Bagram

2008-01-12T16:29:00.000+03:00

Well I made the decision to not stay in Bagram after all. It turns out that the job was not nearly what I was expecting and a company that I had previously applied to offered me a very good opportunity.

Oh yeah, I am trying to type this on one of those keyboards that is split in the middle and it is really hard to type on it so forgive me if I spell things wrong.

Anyway, I got a job as PM, Project Manager with an Afghani-American company in Kabul. SO I am going to be heading there very soon. I am excited because it is not on a military compound, rather it is a villa complex in downtown Kabul. The good news is that it is where the excitement is and where there is more uhhh stuff to do.

Also, I am hoping to drop by Dubai on my way out of AStan to see an old buddy from Iraq. He owned the liquor store in the Green Zone, not that I would ever visit one of those. Anyway he is in Dubai now and I will get to see him again for the first time in a few years. He wants me to go back to Iraqw with him and open a restaurant. I am considering it. Once all that crap dies down, Baghdad would be a cool place to live.

AStan would be cool if you are into skiing or snowboarding. Bagram is surronded by awesome mountains that would make any diehard skiier uhh like it a lot. I could see starting a company here to cater to extreme ski ers. I could get a small chopper and lift people up to the top. I doubt they put many landmines on the slopes, but that is what a waiver is for right.

Anyway, I have to run. Pictures will be posted in about 2 weeks when I get settled in Kabul and have access to unrestricted high speed internet.

Cheers,
Walt

Land mines

2007-12-28T09:45:00.000+03:00

Last night on the way home from work I encountered a detour. I went the wrong way and ended up right next to some A10s. So I turned around a followed my way back. It turns ut that the detour was outside the wire. So I went on the detour which is in a mine field. It was pretty wierd to be driving in a mine field. The field was cleared supposedly, but they always find mines after heavy rains so it was unnerving a bit.

Well that is about all the excitement for the last few days. I got my footlocker finally so now I have my Itunes library, my wide angle lenses and my knife. I couldn't carry it with me so I had to mail it. You would think that if you are going to a combat zone they would at least let you check a knife. Speaking of that, how do those chefs travel around with all those knives and I can't bring 1 little knife? BS.

Anyway,

Cheers,
Walt

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T15:42:00.000+03:00

Christmas Eve

Well today was a pretty shitty Christmas Eve. We had what is called a “Safety Stand-Down Day”. A better term would be “Listen to a Bunch of Stupid Crap and call it a half-day Day”.

So we got done with that and then we got to eat. It was pretty good. The Indians prepared some curries and some really spicy okra. We had lamb and turkey and beef. I don’t eat that much normally but I really pigged out.

I got to leave work early today and I do not have to be back until 2pm tomorrow. I might as well work, cause this place is so boring that there isn’t anything else to do.

I am trying to find a job in Dubai. I have had enough of this place. I would not have come here if I knew how shitty it really was.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Christmas tomorrow. I will be thinking about you guys and I miss you. I will try to make a few calls too.

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
Walt

Stalkers get old

2007-12-23T16:49:00.001+03:00

Sorry guys, I had to turn on the comment moderation due to some really stupid posts by a particular person.

Normally it isn't a big deal, I can just delete them, but I cannot log onto my blog at work and I have to carry my computer to a hot spot, just to delete stupid comments.

First time, haha, 20th time, get a life.

Sorry for the change.

Cheers,
Walt

Finally getting down to business

2007-12-23T16:37:00.001+03:00

I think my body has finally recovered from the shift from chilling on the couch drinking beer to working 12.5 hour days. I have to say I very much enjoyed doing absolutely nothing for 4 months, but it is much better to be working. I actually have a decent job to do here and although it is not where I will ultimately end up, I am trying to make the best of it.

I still cannot take my eyes off the runway. I am so close to the runway that you really can feel each plane taking off. I don’t think, as a pilot, one could ever NOT look as they takeoff. Today 2 A10Cs took off right over my head as I was driving around the North end of the runway. I stopped and got out hoping to get some wake turbulence. I didn’t feel any.

This place is pretty boring but tonight we finally got a mortar barrage. Most of the rounds were outgoing but it is still fun to listen to them launch. Hopefully they pounded some Taliban.

Well, it absolutely does not feel like Christmas here. The 82nd had some dudes from the band playing holiday music at the DFAC today, but it just isn’t really the same. I guess I miss being around the family after all. Oh well, they usually put on a decent feast for the holidays and I will buy myself some good presents and have them mailed to me. I might start with getting rid of this POS Alienware.

Well the mortars or whatever have stopped now. Was a pretty good exchange I think. Hopefully they missed all of the good guys and we got some of the bastards.

Well anyway, I need to run. (to bed)

Cheers,
Walt

Getting settled in, sort of.

2007-12-20T19:50:00.000+03:00

Today was very wet, rainy, and cold. It even started snowing a bit. It is the first time I have seen snow in about 5 years. Hopefully it will be another 5 before I see it again, but there is little chance in that.

Work is getting sorted out now. I am starting to get the hang of things. They sort of threw me into a hornets’ nest with this housing thing. I am trying to work with the military to move 288 civilians into 18 tents. It is worse than trying to herd cats.

I still do not have a place to live other than the dungeon. I actually managed to get the corner suite, complete with privacy blanket and 2 wall lockers. It wouldn’t be so bad if 2 of the guys in my room didn't sound like dying dinosaurs when they snore. I wonder if a pickaxe to the head would shut them up?

My internet is still too slow to try to upload pictures. I have some great shots of the snow capped peaks in the distance. It is still really cool to watch the jets takeoff with full afterburner and their contrast with the gray skies and mountains.

I have about 80 people that work for me. 20 Indians and 60 Afghanis. I thought I would need to learn Pashtu or Dari, but in reality Hindi would serve me better in this position. I am working with one of my guys named Bala to learn some phrases. Most of them use English more than Hindi or whatever dialect. I am surprised at how many of the Indians that work here are from Goa. I didn’t think there were that many people from there, but I have about 9 guys from there.

I love the Indians, but they are hard to joke with. They take everything so seriously! But they are definitely fun to be around. The Afghanis bring in some really tasty breakfast food which is basically a pita stuffed with potato chips and potatoes and some other stuff. It costs me 25 Afghanis, which is about 50 cents. Even the Afghani is doing well against the dollar.

When I went to Thailand the last time, I got 42 Baht to the dollar, now it is trading at like 30. What a joke. Someone needs to fix this crap. We need to implement coal to fuel technology and forget about all the rest of these freaks.

Anyway, it is late here. I will run.

Cheers,
Walt

In Afghanistan

2007-12-17T19:03:00.001+03:00

I was starting to think it would never happen but it has. I am finally at Bagram Air Base near Kabul, Afghanistan. Now that I am here I am wishing I were elsewhere. Within 1 hour of arriving at the base I attended a military procession carrying the bodies of 2 fallen soldiers. It was a stark reminder that it aint all fun and games and that this is the real deal.

Well I do not have a lot of time to post tonight. I tried to publish my last post but the internet is too slow for me to upload my pictures. I will try to get them on ASAP.

I have my hooch. Actually it isn’t a hooch. It is more of an abandoned silo with a giant hole in the roof. It is nicknamed the dungeon and when I upload the pictures you will see why.

This place sucks so bad!!! You can certainly see that all the money went to Iraq and not to Afghanistan. This place is the stone ages. Also, I am smack in the middle of the largest mine field in Afghanistan. We drive 3 feet from marked minefields on the way to chow. Apparently when it rains, mines always surface inside the camp. Just freaking great.

The altitude is about 6000 feet. Similar to Denver. It hasn’t been that hard to acclimate. If anything it will make my trek to base camp easier. We are surrounded on all sides by gigantic snow capped mountains. It is truly a beautiful sight to watch the sun rise behind one set of mountains while simultaneously casting a morning glow on the other side behind you.

The whole place is surreal. They are constantly launching planes into the sky and you can watch as the jets take off with full afterburner. You can feel the ground shake. Today I watched 3 different jets take off after a UAV took off. It was cool!

I “got” to fly in on a C17. Talk about a massive aircraft! But leave it to the military to cram 100 men into a 1 man seat. They had us packed in like sardines with literally football fields to spare.

Anyway, it is late, I am sick and I am going to bed. More to follow when I can!

Cheers,
Walt

Bored at Al Salem Air Base

2007-12-17T18:34:00.000+03:00

Ok, I started this blog stating that I would post as many pictures as possible so today I intend to try to catch up on some of the most recent shots.

First however an update on my status here and when I fly out. I have a meeting in 1 hour to do what is called “Roll Call” for the flight tonight. I have to be there, but I know I am not going to be on that flight. As it looks, I might end up being here for quite a while. Maybe more than a week. It would not be an understatement to say that I wish I was back at the hotel.

It is also easy for me to say this. It is times like this that make me really not miss being in the Army. There is no way I could go back after having done contract work. But it makes me all the more appreciative of the selfless service that the guys on Active Duty over here perform. My hat is off to these guys that have to spend a year on this base.

Ok the first picture I will show you is from CRC at Benning. This is me in front of one of those WWII looking signs with cities and distances marked on them. I think some of the distances are wrong, but it looks cool anyway.

This is the chow hall. The reason there are no military present is because they had to go early and go to the firing range. Normally it is packed with 400 or so people. (Not all at once)

A giant row of crappers. Self explanatory.

This is my POW style bunk at Benning. Luckily nobody on the top bunk.

This is what it looks like when you try to line up 200 civilians into 4 columns and march 400 meters. See also: Herding cats.

This is me with some Kurdish translators heading into Iraq to work with the military. Good dudes.

Here we have landed in Kuwait City. It is about 0230 and we are tired. We have 6 hours or so to kill before our ride picks us up.

Genius engineering. This is Kuwait’s newest soccer stadium. It has seating for 60,000 people and parking for 5,000.

This is actually a sad picture. The house in the background has about 20 rooms. They pack 20-25 Pinoys into each room head to foot, side by side, on the floor and then bus them all around Kuwait to work like slaves all day. They make slightly more than they would make doing the same things in the Philippines.

Cool looking housing across from my buddy’s apartment.

This is from the Iranian kabob shop that I stopped at. I have to say that it is somewhat unnerving to be in an Iranian shop in Kuwait surrounded by Arabs, but really unnecessarily so. You can see that most of them could care less about me.

This a view at sunset of the Arabian Gulf taken from my balcony at the hotel.

At the airbase in Kuwait

2007-12-12T17:38:00.000+03:00

Well I am actually finally in the tents here at the airbase. Not too bad. 16 man tents, 8 bunk beds. I got the best one, way in the back, on the bottom. I unscrewed the light so if someone turns it on tonight the one over my head won’t come on.

They didn’t have any linens or anything so I had to go buy some. Cheap stuff that I can leave behind is all I got. Oh yeah, my watch broke. A great Seiko that I loved! Now I have to buy a new band for it. So I went to the PX and got a G-Shock. It actually isn’t that bad. Plus it has Indiglo which my Seiko didn’t have.

We literally have nothing to do here. You show up and have to turn your Passport in so they can get a Kuwaiti exit stamp in it. That process takes 24 hours. So you have a minimum of 1 day to kill doing nothing. After you get your passport back you have to go get manifested on the next flight to Bagram. For security reasons, and they have no clue when it will actually be, they can’t tell you when the flight will be. I can see their point about security. All they need is some knucklehead like me blogging the flight schedules of the US Air Force. I wouldn’t have put the times up if I had them because I know better, but some dumb ass might. So after you get manifested you just have to keep checking back in every few hours until you get the word to go to the staging area. The problem is that you might have to check back in every few hours for 5 days. All the while there is nothing to do.

So in anticipation of having weeks of nothing to do I bought some movies. Well they are Region 1 and my comp is set to Region 1, but I bought them at the PX here at the base. And even though they say Region 1 NTSC, they still don’t work on any of my players. I only have 2 changes left before I get locked out and stuck with whatever region I am in. So I am going to try to find some software that can convert Region 6 to Region 1. I am not sure they even make that, but I can try.

It is pretty nice to be back overseas. I was bored to tears in South Carolina. I feel like I am back at home. Just need a few explosions and whatnot and all will seem normal. This base is cool because you can watch the jets and stuff take off. They seem to sending out a lot of planes and there is the constant drone of engines from the tarmac.

I thought the base had wireless but it doesn’t. Well it does, but not where I can grab it. I get just enough signal to see that it is there, but it is too weak to use. I would have been happy as hell if I could have just sat on the net all the time. Instead I am going to the 24 hour internet café to upload my stuff and check email. I think it has been about 2 weeks now that I haven’t been able to check my Blackberry, and the twitching and convulsing is starting to subside. You never really know how dependant you are on the net till it is gone. I never intended to quit it cold turkey.

Well enough of this novel. As you can tell I have lots of time on my hands so I am just rambling. Here is some more rambling. People who snore. I hate them. Just like smokers can’t smoke in certain places, snorers shouldn’t be able to snore wherever the hell they want to. There should be a dedicated snoring area. Seriously. Snoring is more annoying than people that smack their lips while they gnaw on their food, mouths agape. Are you a human or a cow? It is just disgusting and rude.

Alright, that’s enough, I am really just rambling now. Just sitting here listening to people snore, trying not to freak out and smother them…

Cheers,
Walt:)

Checking out

2007-12-12T03:23:00.000+03:00

Up to now the process of getting into Afghanistan has been pretty inconvenient followed by very relaxing but it is about to be painful.

The group of us from my company has been chilling in this nice Kuwaiti hotel awaiting some room at the Air Base. Fortunately it was full for a few days so we got to hang at this hotel. Well they “finally” got some room in the tents so we have to move back to the Air Base.

If you haven’t been on one of these non-permanent bases they are difficult to explain. I have pictures but I can’t post them right now. It is basically rows and rows of tents, each of which hold about 12 or so people on bunk beds. There are no TVs or wall lockers. So anytime you leave the tent, to eat, shower, etc… you have to worry about your gear getting swiped. The tents also do not have bathrooms. You have to walk a very long way in the dirt to get to the shower/toilet trailers. I will explain all that later. Suffice it to say, it sucks.

So I will be there for at least 24 hours but it could easily be up to 5 days or more. I am not sure, but I think, they have wireless internet for a fee. I am going to be very happy if they do. If not I will just be buying movies and lying on my bunk watching them. Hopefully they have electrical outlets in the tents otherwise I won’t even be doing that.

I could transfer the movies to my iPod, but I still have not figured out how to work PodMaxx yet. It looks like if I synch with my computer I am going to wipe out everything that is already on my iPod. I really hate iTunes.

Well it is now 0330 here and I have to finish packing my bags and trying to sort out some breakfast. We have to catch a bus at 0500. After that, who knows when I will reach civilization again.

Cheers,
Walt

Roaming Kuwait

2007-12-10T18:48:00.000+03:00

Today was pretty cool I guess. I woke up late and then had a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant. Sat on the sunny side which looked great but had the sun beating down on me.

I was finally able to get in touch with my buddy who lives here. Unfortunately he is flying out of Kuwait tomorrow so we just got to hang out today. He sent his driver to pick me up and then we went to his job. He works for a large company here.

After a few hours and a decent lunch of chicken kabobs, we went to his apartment. He pays only 1000/month but the place is massive. He also has a new Suburban and it only costs him 4$ to fill up his tank. Yes “4”$$$ to fill the entire tank!

Anyway, I rode with him to the airport this evening and then his driver brought me back. His driver is Iranian so we stopped at an Iranian place for beef kabobs on the way home. It was pretty funny because all his friends thought I looked like a Serb. Don’t ask me how they made that leap, but 2 guys asked me if I was from Serbia.

I have a ton of cool pictures, but I do not have my cable to hook to the computer. I will try to get them on here sometime.

Anyway, I am fixing to grab a light, late dinner and then go smoke some more shisha.

Cheers,
Walt

Finally made it to Kuwait!

2007-12-09T21:58:00.001+03:00

What a grueling trip that was, not so much because of the flight but the sheer number of hours spent traveling. We got to the Atlanta airport at noon on Friday and departed for Kuwait. We stopped in Newark for a while then we stayed in Geneva for a while, then we flew to Doha, then we flew to Kuwait, then we finally got into Kuwait at 0220 Sunday morning. We had to wait 6 hours for the shuttle to Ali al Saleem airbase then when we got there an hour later we had to get our passports stamped. That took 8 more hours and then we had to drive back to Kuwait airport and catch the hotel shuttle to the hotel. SO I am finally here and settled at around 6 PM Sunday. So the better part of 3 days to get from Atlanta to the hotel. I am pooped. And to make matters that much worse, Kuwait doesn’t even have any alcohol so I can’t even have a small nightcap.

You actually can get booze but will get into a big bind if you get caught with it. I did have dinner and then walked around the streets to settle down a bit. I found a really cool Shisha bar called After 8. So I am now fixing to charge my iPod and start a movie and get to sleep.

The weather here is great, nice and cool which is a big change from you normally experience. 140 is not that uncommon in the summer. So anyway more to follow.

Cheers,
Walt

Heading to Afghanistan now

2007-12-07T01:03:00.000+03:00

Heading over to Afghanistan

I did not have internet at all while I was at Fort Benning so I could not update anything.

The bottom line is that I am done with that and have left Fort Benning and I am now in Atlanta. I fly out tomorrow to Kuwait and will be there for a few days, maybe more, before heading to AStan.

I have to keep this brief because I have tons of emails to catch up on. Everything is good. I will start the regular posts when I get to Bagram.

Cheers,
Walt

Days of Glory

CRC Day 1.

It is days like this that make me wonder why the hell I do what I do. Seriously, it is exactly this sort of day that makes one question why in the heck anyone would want to go thru this. I have tons of pictures to post but guess what? My Alienware is screwing up and I can’t upload them because the media card reader isn’t working, but that is a much longer story than any of you want to hear. Suffice it to say that I am having headaches right now. Anyway, I haven’t slept 8 hours in the last 3 days because of my wisdom teeth and I am starting to go nuts. If I don’t pack a fattie soon I will explode. Addictions are a bitch.

Well I am trying to figure out how to mobile blog using my Blackberry and Blogspot but not having much luck. It would be easier if I could get online on my computer.

Well today was hell. I was reintroduced to the inefficiencies the Army has to offer. For example, take 300 people, tell them to line up and then tell them to divide up and then tell them they divided up wrong. Uh, OK. Sorry. Then wait till everyone divides up correctly and then combine everyone into one. I know that doesn’t make any sense right now but if you need me to, I can clarify.

Anyway. The whole day was a complete waste. I know a guy that has some connections with CRC and I will relay the futility of Day 1 to him. Not in a bitchy manner like this, but in a realistic manner with an offer of a solution.

I can see that I am making no sense to anyone that hasn’t been here so I am going to stop. The bottom line is, I have no internet, a 4 man room with 2 double bunks and a snoring roommate, communal showers, 2 less teeth, no sleep, and really am just a bitchy mess. I know I sound like a whiner but the fact is, I love this shit. You couldn’t buy this if you wanted to. Have met some cool ass people and am really looking forward to getting on that plane Sunday. “J” will recall CRC at Bliss, this is worse, but it is more collegiate and rugged. Way to go “consolidation”! Tax payer dollars beware!!!

Cheers,
Walt

Finishing up in the States

2007-11-28T06:08:00.000+03:00

Fixing to head to Georgia for CRC (CONUS Replacement Center).

Have to say I am not looking forward to this. My flight to Georgia is on Friday and guess what I get to do Thursday? That’s right, I get to have 2 wisdom teeth yanked and then the next day I get to fly to GA. I have to say I would rather eat one of my own toes. Anyway, the Doc says he is going to drug me so heavily that I won’t remember a thing. Jury is still out. Supposedly they are going to give me some “Happy Juice” whatever the heck that is and some other cocktail that contains Demerol and 2 other drugs. So I guess the best case scenario is that I wake up with 2 less teeth and 4 more addictions. Yeah!

So I am not looking forward to it. I finish the final segment of moving out of my condo tomorrow. My Mom is going to help me. Man it sucks not having a truck anymore. Anyway a buddy of mine is going to live here while I am away and he is going to get rid of the popcorn ceilings and put hardwoods on every other square inch of the house. I was never a fan of wood flooring, but now I actually like it, so I will do every square inch in wood. Carpet sucks; you just have more stuff to vacuum.

Anyway, it is getting closer to the day for me to leave and the biggest issue is packing. It is 1 thing to pack for a weeks trip to the beach, but an entirely different matter when you are packing for Afghanistan for at least 6 months. Yeah I know, waaa waaa. But it is still hard.

Well wish me luck Thursday; hopefully the dentist doesn’t end my life early for me.

Cheers,
Walt

Hardwood flooring

2007-11-20T06:45:00.000+03:00

Today was pretty boring. All I really did was lay down some new hardwood floors in my condo. I am in a hurry and on a budget.

Cheers,
Walt

Rat dogs

2007-11-19T06:03:00.000+03:00

Had a pretty boring weekend. Watched football all day Saturday and then watched UFC 78. What a snore that was. They let anyone into the UFC it seems. Speaking of UFC, I would argue that it has all but killed boxing. Who even watches boxing anymore? What a lame sport. I wish some of these so called boxers would get into the octagon with some real fighters.

Not much to speak of really this time. Getting my place ready to sell and trying to get packed before I have to head out. Here is a picture of my niece and my sister’s boyfriend’s 2 little girls with their rat dogs. Cute girls, ugly rat dogs. My niece is the one on the right with her white recently neutered rat dog.

Anyway, more to follow.

Cheers,
Walt

More guns

2007-11-17T01:43:00.000+03:00

So my buddy saw my new gun and wanted one of his own. We went out and he bought a Glock 19. Sweet gun, but my Walther is way better. Way better.

Anyway, we are painting my kitchen and dining room tonight. Yay, fun. Hopefully tomorrow we will start working on the hardwoods.

Anyway, not too much was going on today. Just packing my stuff in preparation for Afghanistan. I have to plan ahead and mail stuff to my future address because I don’t want to have to lug that crap all the way across the planet. It is such a nightmare to travel long distances.

Anyway, a while back I told you guys about a statue I bought in Malaysia. Well I am finally able to post her picture. Here it is.

Cheers,
Walt

New gun

2007-11-16T00:21:00.000+03:00

Well today I went out and exercised my 2nd Amendment right and purchased a new gun. I might try to bring it with me to Afghanistan, but I doubt I will be able to. So I may let my sister have it while I am gone. She has a 9 year old, so she needs a gun. You know how bad those 9 year olds can get.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get it. I went into my Sportsman’s Warehouse, which has a monster selection BTW. All the girl did was take my ID, go off somewhere for about 5 minutes, then she came back and I had to fill out a pretty simple form. When we had that done, she called it in to the FBI, which sort of pisses me off but that is another story. The funny thing was that this little girl had to carry the gun all over the store with me and couldn’t give it to me until we were outside the store. The way she carried it around reminded me of someone carrying a human organ or something. Like it is going to explode?

Anyway, I got a Walther P99. This is the same sidearm that I carried in Iraq so it makes me feel warm and fuzzy to have one in my hands again. I never owned a handgun before so I am surprised at how happy it makes me to have one. Shotguns and rifles are one thing, but this is different. Picture me locked and loaded going thru my condo and clearing it room by room. I did it and it was fun. I know that if something happens, like someone breaking into my condo, I can just blast them. I wish someone would break in.

I wasn’t going to buy one before I left but I fear that at the rate we are shredding the Constitution I may not have the ability to get one in a few years when I get back. I would urge you all to go out and buy at least 1 gun, or 2. I would recommend the Walther P99 highly to use as a concealed carry weapon. It is smooth to fire, holds 15 rounds and comes with 2 magazines.

If you are looking for a great home defense weapon, I would suggest the Desert Eagle 50 caliber. This is one massive handgun and can take someone’s head off with one shot. Very cool, just make sure there aren’t any good guys behind your target. This can also be equipped with a weapon light and a scope if you really want a monster. If I get another gun, the .50 will be it. You can pick one up for about 1200 dollars. The Walther was about 600.

Here are the rounds I purchased. Federal Premium HydraShoks.

Anyway, that is about it for today, it was great to catch up with a lot of you guys last night on PWZ and will try to get back on tonight.

Cheers,
Walt

Heading back to the Middle East

2007-11-09T06:57:00.000+03:00

Sorry for not keeping this updated.

I will soon be heading to Afghanistan for a new position. More to follow.

Cheers,
Walt

Another post from the Atlantic Ocean

2006-11-02T20:11:00.000+03:00

Another Post at Sea
DAY 34
2019 Hours – Tue 31 October 2006

At Sea Day 11

I was going to apologize for not writing anything for a few days but then I decided against it. Things have been very busy the last few days and I really just haven’t had time. Yesterday we finished the trans-Atlantic portion of the crossing when we arrived in St. Marteen on the Dutch side. It was really cool. It was also really funny because some people were kissing the ground when we got off. I could see if we were in a damn lifeboat and managed to make it across after a few months and had to eat our own legs to survive, but I would hardly call six days on a floating hotel that is over 1/8th of a mile long a hard time. I mean get real, what was so hard about the crossing that you had to kiss the ground? Maybe they ordered the wrong room service or had spoiled beer. Whatever. I see no need in kissing the ground.

Did I mention that there was a rumor going around that we hit a whale? Well there was. At least 3 people told me we hit a whale. Like that would even do anything. Anyway. BRB. We are fixing to leave the port and I need to snap some pictures. I also need to see if the pilot boat comes back and puts a pilot onboard. There is a rumor that there is a pilot strike going and that there is only 1 pilot. Well, another ship left ten minutes ago and there is no way the pilot could be back by now. Hang on I will check.

Cheers,
Walt

DAY 35
1722 Hours – Wed 1 November 2006

At Sea Day 12

Today we went to Puerto Rico. It was really cool. I was expecting it to be a little different but it was very much like any city in the US except the roads are narrower.

Incomplete post.

DAY 36
1205 Hours – Thu 2 November 2006

At Sea Day 13

I hope to finish this one soon. I should be back on US soil Saturday. Yay.

Cheers,
Walt

Another post at sea

2006-10-28T21:49:00.000+03:00

DAY 31
1517 Hours – Sat 28 October 2006

At Sea Day 7

OK. So far I am enjoying the cruise. More than anything I like the fact that I will soon be able to say that I have made a trans-Atlantic crossing by sea. It actually is pretty fun. They have a lot of activities and even though most of the people are older, they are still fun to hang around with and talk to. They are all very interested in my time in Iraq and asked me to put together a slide show of my photos from Iraq. I will. There should be about 20 people and they will all get to see some of my favorite shots.

Anyway, I am slightly up on the gambling side of the house. I was hoping to win 3800 to pay for some more art but I am starting to think it might not be possible. I did pretty well in the blackjack tourney but not well enough. Oh well, we have many days left.

So in 2 more days we will arrive at our second stop in the port of St. Marteen. I was going to book a tour but decided against it. I think I will just chill and maybe hit a few shops and then the beach.

Also, I thought it would be weird to be at sea 6 days without land but it is actually pretty cool. I sleep with my balcony door open and the cool breeze and sound of the wake makes anyone sleep like a baby.

Cheers,
Walt

At Sea

2006-10-26T02:40:00.000+03:00

DAY 24
1904 Hours – Sat 21 Oct

At Sea Day 0

So I am now aboard the Legend of the Seas en-route back to the US of A. I am happy to be heading back to the States. It has been quite a long time since I have been home and I am excited to be returning. My cruise ends in Tampa or Miami or somewhere in Florida I think. Who cares? I will rent a car and drive home.

Anyway, it may be quite some time before I can make a new blog entry. It turns out that internet costs 25$ per hour onboard the ship. Consequently, I will not be downloading any porn, nor will I be surfing the net or blogging. I will try to make some posts when I get on dry land in Spain in a few days.

Cheers,
Walt

DAY 28
1640 Hours – Wed 25 October 2006

At Sea Day 4

The past few days have been remarkable. We are traveling in seas that are approaching 30 feet and the winds have exceeded 70 MPH. We are in the same seas as a major race where many of the racers have had to quit. At least 1 smaller cruise ship has been at port for 4 days awaiting calmer waters. I am on the 7th floor and waves have hit my balcony. That is a splash of at least 50 feet. Members of the crew are so ill that the staff has had to work extra to cover their sea sick coworkers. I think they are about out of bark bags. Anyway, all that being said, I am having a great time of it. I think it is really cool. I love the fact that most of the people are confined to their rooms because they are too ill to venture out. That just leaves more room for me.

There are not many kids which is nice. Both pools are closed because all the water keeps sloshing out of them. Tomorrow should be warmer, calmer and better. Hopefully they will open the pools and I can lay out a bit. I have lost 80% of my time after spending the last month in the UK and the rain.

Well here is my advice so far for anyone wanting to take a cruise. Don’t do it alone. Don’t do it on a trans-Atlantic. Don’t do it in the autumn. Don’t do it on a puny 75K ton ship. Don’t think that it is free once you get onboard. And don’t get a room at either the front or back of the ship. Get a balcony room but not a suite.

You get free food and free water, but about everything else is at a fee. There are a shitload of old people on these things. Pretty much everyone is nice, but old. If you like playing bridge or listening to elevator music, you will be in heaven. I have never seen suck a concentration of bald heads, canes and wheelchairs in my life. This could almost be a floating retirement home. Some of the people lay out on lounges at the indoor pool fully clothed with towels draped over their bodies! What is the point of that I wonder? Stay in bed for crying out loud. Anyway, to each his own I guess.

So also bring some dough to buy art at the auction. I hadn’t thought of it before but they have a huge selection of nice art. I got a cool piece by a dude named Rut. It wasn’t cheap, but oh well, it is nice.

We are now on the second day of 6 days without making a stop. We just passed the Azores. It was cool. Anyway, I also met a nice blonde chick. She is the only other single person within 35 years of my age and I like her so far. We hit St Marteen in about 4 more days and then a few days later, USA!!! I am going to take a tree-top tour in St Mart.

So far I have won 400$ at roulette but I think I have spent 800$ on booze. I also got to see the DaVinci Code. It was ok I guess. Tonight I may try my luck at bingo of all things. I am #2 at the onboard trivia contests. They have some cool comedians and singers and whatnot. All in all I would have to say that while it is a touch boring, it is worth it so far. I cannot say yet if I would recommend it to a friend or not.

Anyway, it is so hard to blog on here but I will try to get something up soon. Also, I will not be posting pictures until I get back as they are too hard to upload and take way too much time.

Oh yeah, the food isn’t bad, but the dining room reminds me so much of the room in Poseidon that it is funny. So many people are scared but I think it is great. Bring it on!

Cheers,
Walt

Update to the last. Someone, probably 1 of the many old people, onboard the ship has taken ill and needs to get to the hospital. So now it is 2230 and we have turned around to head back to the Azores to drop someone off at the hospital. My question is this… If the person is so ill, why not send a helicopter to pick them up?!? Why turn a 75000 ton ship around and sail back 4 hours to an island when you could just dispatch a MEDEVAC helicopter? Anyway, so we are headed back to the Azores and should arrive at like 0200. It doesn’t really matter to me, I paid for 14 nights and if this delays us, they can’t very well charge me for extra nights can they? Anyway, I hope it is a huge delay and I am able to get off on in San Miguel. So anyway, I will now try to post these entries. I hope it works.

Cheers,
Walt

MonkeyWorld

2006-10-20T20:43:00.000+03:00

DAY 23
1800 Hours – Fri 20 Oct

OK. So everything worked out in Ireland. I got my passport and I actually made it to the plane on time. That is because I took a taxi. After today, no more busses, ever. Busses are for freaks or locals or both. You have to be a glutton for punishment to want to attempt to transport yourself by bus. It is way too confusing and it is basically hopeless. If I am on the Amazing Race and they say that I can only travel by bus, I will quit because it is just impossible and basically not fun. The busses are clean and all and nobody messes with you, it is just boring and a waste of time. Pay 5 times as much and call a cab so you can just be done with it. After all, you are probably on vacation so time is limited. Why waste 1 hour on a bus when you can pay a few dollars more and be there in 20 minutes? You just made yourself an extra 40 minutes of vacation.

Today my concierge told me to go to the bus stop 100 meters away and ask the driver for a ticket to “City Center”. I am in Southampton so I would assume that City Center means the center of fucking Southampton! Nope, the bus driver said OK and then dropped me off 45 minutes later in the “City Center” of Winchester which is 2 train stations north of where I need to be and I was going south to Wool to see Monkeyworld. So I had to pay more for my train ticket and it took way too long. Apparently I needed to be on the east side of the road rather than the west. Had I been on the east, I would have gone to Southampton city center. Thanks for the heads up Mr. Concierge! Anyway, what a friggin joke.

So I still have not made my mind up entirely about trains. I am actually starting to get it. You have to have a map first of all, that helps a lot. And you have to ask people. Ask anyone. So far, I have pestered more than 1.3M civilians to ask them what I am supposed to do. All of them have been helpful. I expected these guys to be all snotty and not want to help, but EVERY person I have met in the UK and Ireland has been extremely nice and willing to help. A problem on the trains is that not all of them announce the next stop. So if you are not sure where you are going or where you need to change, you will be screwed. I just find some guy or gal going to the end of the line and ask them because they know all the stops. Also, if you sit in First class you have an attendant that knows the stuff pretty well. Sometimes I will get off the train and ask the dude that control the platform to make sure then I will hop back on.

Anyway, the trains are not toooo bad, but I am still reserving judgment for later. My train today was about 4 hours round trip and cost me about 40 bucks for first class. The key is buying early and traveling during off-peak times. If you book a week out for a strange hour trip, it isn’t that bad.

So anyway, I went to Monkeyworld finally! I was so happy to go there. I have been wanting to visit the place for so long. I have to say that I was a tad disappointed. After watching Monkey Business for so long I guess I had an unrealistic expectation of the center. I am not upset with it, I just thought I would be able to see more monkeys. They had tons of them, but they were hard to see. Also many of them were holed up in their shelters and sleeping. They should keep them awake during visiting hours or something. They can sleep when the park is closed, but they need to frolic and play when it is open

Anyway, after that I had to kill 45 minutes before the train back to Southampton. SO I hit a pub. Bad mistake. The dudes in this pub were freaks about darts. They were also very upset to hear a “yank” commenting on the match. I just keep to myself and try to speak as little as possible so as not to draw unwanted attention. It seems that almost anytime they figure out that you are an American they want to talk politics and they want you to defend any action that any American has ever made or mill make. Anyway, these dudes were all about watching and playing darts. It was like a dart museum in there more than a pub. Anyway, I chugged my pint and went to the train station.

Now I am back at the Hilton. I am not impressed with this Hilton BTW. You know I love Paris Hilton so I will say this; this Hilton is more like a Christina Ricci Hilton. Not bad, but not that great either. Not recommended. Stay at the Novotel. It is closer to city center and it, well that is enough.

Cheers,
Walt

Chilling in Dublin

2006-10-19T02:57:00.000+03:00

DAY 22
0032 Hours – Thu 19 Oct

Today was a very slow day. It was cold and rainy so I just stayed in and didn’t do much of anything. I did help the gardener load some tree limbs he had cut into a waiting van. As tonight is my last night in Ireland, I am planning a very nice meal to celebrate. Tomorrow at 1140 I fly to Gatwick and then I have to take a train to Southampton.

So I went out and now I am drunk so I will leave it at that.

Cheers,
Walt

Dublin Zoo

2006-10-17T21:10:00.000+03:00

DAY 20
1907 Hours – Tue 17 Oct

Today I visited the zoo. The zoo was very small but nice. They had the animals arranged in such a manner that you could get very decent shots and because it was raining most of the animals were inside so you could see them very easily. The way they laid out the zoo was pretty cool as well. They used the pond to contain many of the animals and you could get really close. I got to pet a bunny, a pig, a donkey, a rabbit and a peacock. I think you should be able to pet all the animals and feed them as well. That would be cool.

Anyway, I have been out of Iraq for nearly 3 weeks now. It really doesn’t feel like I was even ever there. I was a bit scared to leave, but now that I am gone I couldn’t be happier. Iraq sucks.

Cheers,
Walt

Howth Castle

2006-10-16T20:53:00.000+03:00

DAY 19
1849 Hours – Mon 16 Oct

Today was a great day. I finally got my passport fixed and it only took 6 days to get it. It is amazing how fast they can get those things when you are abroad. So now I am good to go with making my reservations for my flight to Gatwick. From there I will take a doggone train south to Southampton where I will link up with my cruise. There is no Sheraton hotel there but there is a Hilton so at least I wont have to stay in a bed and breakfast or anything like that. It is also only about 15 minutes away from MonkeyWorld so I will finally get to see the place in person. I have been wanting to go there for so long. Anyway, so I have like 3 more days in Ireland to go kiss the Blarney stone if I want to. Tomorrow I think I will head to the zoo.

Today I went to some town called Howth to see some castle called the Howth Castle. Talk about boring. You can’t even go in the place, all you can do is snap a few pictures and wander off. So I had to take some train called the DART to get there and then when I got there they did not have a sign to show you where the castle was. So I decided that I would exit the train station and head to where the best place for a castle would be. I saw some high ground with the sea on 2 sides and I figured that would be the best place for a castle. Wrong. I went the wrong direction for like 2 miles. So I walked back towards the train station and spotted a church tower. Lots of castles have churches nearby so I went that way. I was right. The thing is though, this “castle” is in a horrible spot. No moat, no cliffs, not on the high ground, not defensible in any way. Whoever picked that spot to build a castle must have been a moron. The doggone lighthouse is situated more strategically than this castle. Anyway, here are some shots.

Cheers,
Walt

Uncovering Dublin

2006-10-15T19:43:00.000+03:00

DAY 18
1516 Hours – Sun 15 Oct

Many apologies for the delay. Things have been so fast paced that I have not had time to blog.

Here is the deal. I have been way too busy to blog. There is a ton of stuff to do and see in Ireland. I took some pictures and stuff though. I also bought a ton of crap. I am not sure which is worse; mailing it back or carrying it back. Oh well, it is good stuff so I don’t mind.

So I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. That is a really cool looking church but you know it seemed more like a military memorial than anything else. They have banners as well as tombs to quite a few fallen comrades.

After that I went to Christ Church Cathedral. Another really old, really cool looking building.

The highlight of the day was supposed to be the Dublin Castle. It was not very impressive. I kept walking around looking for a castle but all it really was, was a huge mansion. I don’t want to see a mansion, I want to see a castle with a moat and dungeons and stuff. So this was more like a museum than a castle. Anyway, it was still very nice to look at and to wander thru. I wish they would have opened more rooms to visitors however.

I also went to the Guinness Museum. That is a cool place to visit for sure. They give you a free pint of the freshest stuff in the world. The brewery is just a few feet from where they brew the stuff.

In addition to just walking around and seeing a bunch of really cool buildings I also went to the Malahide Castle. That was a lot more of a traditional castle than the Dublin Castle.

Cheers,
Walt

More from Dublin

2006-10-10T19:55:00.000+03:00

DAY 13
1726 Hours – Tue 10 Oct

Today was devoted to obtaining a new passport. I have to get a blue one in order to get on the boat. So I spent all day filling out the form and getting photos. Fortunately for me, the process should only take about 7 days which is more than adequate to allow me to make my cruise.

Yesterday I went to dinner in town with my friend and her 2 friends. They were all cool. We had some dinner at an Italian place and it was very nice. Before that we went shopping. It was so nice to shop for groceries. I could have spent hours in there. You do not know what it is like to not cook for 3 years or shop. The selection, as poor as it was, was overwhelming. I bought 3 different types of olives and I can’t wait to eat them. I also made some water with mint leaves and slices of lemons and limes. It is so simple, yet when you have been eating KBR food for so long…

It turns out that chewing tobacco is illegal in Ireland. Smoking isn’t, snuff isn’t, prostitution isn’t, and gambling isn’t, but chewing tobacco is. What a joke. So I bought some snuff and gave it a snort. Bad mistake that was. I felt like I had inhaled wasabi. What a mistake. Why anyone would snort snuff is beyond me. Well I won’t be doing that again.

Anyway, tomorrow I will begin the tourist stuff. I hope to see Dublin castle and the Guinness museum of course. Here are a few pics from yesterday and today.

Cheers,
Walt

Dublin, Ireland WoooHooo!!

2006-10-08T17:07:00.000+03:00

DAY 11
1434 Hours – Sun 8 Oct

Ok, Saturday I just chilled around the hotel. They have wireless internet in the whole building including right out front. So I met a girl and we sat around watching people and drinking some brew. I had to get to the airport and had to take yet another bus. I have almost sworn off busses, but not to beat a dead horse here, but taxis, along with everything else are just way too expensive. I know I sound cheap as hell, but I can’t emphasize this enough. I just can’t in good conscience spend 40$ for a 3 mile cab ride. I just can’t. And here is the worst part; Edinburgh is just as expensive as London. I was hoping it would be a bit cheaper, but nope. So anyway, I paid the 3 pounds and took a bus to the airport. I caught a flight on a small airline called RyanAir. RyanAir is the same as EasyJet and can best be compared to JetBlue or SouthWest in the States.

The difference with RyanAir is that they offer seats at various prices. Also it is all open seating. The way they work the prices are complex. They offer a certain number of seats at .02$, yes, 2 cents, and some at 9$, 30$, 50$ etc on up to around 400$ all for the same seat on the same flight. So depending on when you buy your ticket it may cost you 1$ or 100$. I ended up getting my seat for 19$. So this leads me to my next point.

You always hear Europeans moaning about how Americans never travel. That is just a ridiculous statement. Us stateside folks travel across the US all the time. We visit family and friends and attractions from one side of the country to other. After all you can fit Europe into the States like what, 5 times? Anyway, for Joe Schmuck in Dallas to fly to France he would have to allocate a minimum of 7 days including travel time. Not only that but he would have to allocate a ton of money for airfare. A discount rate might get him to CDG from DFW for about 800 – 1000$. Maybe a tad less but not much. If you fly a major you are looking at twice that. Well Joe Schmuck in London can hop a 30 minute flight on Friday afternoon, spend the weekend in Paris and be back late Sunday evening and only pa 30$ for a plane ticket. No missed work, nothing, just a quick weekend in France.

That also brings up the fact that Europeans get 3 times more paid leave than we do in the States. We might be lucky to get an average of about 2 weeks vacation a year. They get a minimum of 25 days but most companies give more than that. So they in Europe are free to travel all they want, cheaply and conveniently while for us it is very costly and huge pain in the ass basically. Besides who would want to go to France anyway?

So I flew RyanAir. Nice new 737-800s. Very cool Blue and Yellow bright interior. Short flight from EDI to DUB. Landed and found the first bus to town. I didn’t care which bus route it went on, I just needed to cover some distance to get closer to the city center without paying for a cab. So I took the Express. After I got off the bus I looked around a very vibrant street and decided that it was late and I would take a cab. SO I found one and asked him to take me to the Westin. He didn’t know where it was. I was like, are you serious? How can you not know where the most prominent hotels are? So then I asked another cabbie and he didn’t know either. I was scared that I had booked a Westin in another city but I didn’t, I just managed to find the 2 dumbest cab drivers in Ireland. So I finally ended up at the Westin and they didn’t have a porter. Granted it was late, but when you are paying 350$ a night for a stinking 5-Star hotel, you expect a porter right? Anyway, the jury is still out on this hotel, right now I am halfway impressed. I am fixing to check if they have a pool. If not, they are getting at least 1 thumb down. We shall see. Oh well, I am checking out of here tomorrow anyway to stay with my friend.

Also, Ireland may be more expensive than the UK. I had a single pint of Guinness at a small pub. It was 4.8 Euros or 6.04$!!! For a damn pint of beer. What a joke.

Some buildings downtown:

Here is a cool bar. I am always interested to se which flags people choose to fly when they do stuff like this. Notice all the American flags. I think it is because of the Ryder Cup.

Cheers,
Walt

Loaded up the bus and went to the zoo

2006-10-06T20:50:00.000+03:00

DAY 9
1835 Hours – Fri 6 Oct

I have to make this a short post. I did not bring my battery charger because it adds about 6 pounds to my load. So I am bit low on juice.

Today I slept very late and then set off for the zoo. I had to catch a bus which is never easy, but it only costs 1 pound versus a 30 pound taxi ride. Maybe I am a bit cheap but I aint paying 60 dollars for a ride to the zoo. So anyway I finally get there and the admission is 20 dollars. A bit steep but not if the zoo is worth it. This one was almost worth it. My biggest problem was that they tried to make the animals so “at home” that you could not see them. What is the point of having exhibits if you can’t see the animals? Anyway it was still pretty cool. They have a really good lion exhibit.

Anyway, here are some zoo pictures.

Cheers,
Walt

Last days in Scotland

2006-10-05T19:09:00.000+03:00

DAY 8
1633 Hours – Thu 5 Oct

Today I had to go check into a hotel. And just so COL L knows that I am not cheap, I decided to upgrade to a junior suite with castle view at the Sheraton Edinburgh Resort and Spa. It is beautiful. So I have decided to not go out all day and spend some time chilling at the pool. Tomorrow I think I will hit Lock Ness and after that I will visit the Royal yacht and the Concorde. I also have to go on the underground haunted tour as well.

So today was pretty uneventful. It is good to be out of my buddies house because now I can bring chicks home. There are a lot of really hot girls in Scotland, way hotter than England and they are cooler. I will leave it at that. Anyway.

So these guys sure know how to “line up” here. I swear, they are anal about it. They actually line up at the bus stops. You know when you go into a McDonalds how you pick what you think is the shortest line and go stand there? Well here form a single line and wait for the next register to open. They are very polite about not cutting in front of you and are so orderly that it is a bit disconcerting.

They are also way into eating healthy. Well some are. I doubt that haggis is particularly healthy as well as blood sausages. Anyway they have all these organic food stores and shows about it and all. And they are all earthy people. I met a chick who hates GWB for no other reason than he refused to sign the Kyoto agreement. Oh well, some people cant be helped.

Anyway now I am sitting at a restaurant called the Office. It is really cool because it has free internet and the net at my hotel is 50 dollars for 24 hours. Screw that. I can drag my POS Alienware here and sip some brew and get free internet.

Well that is about all. I didn’t take pictures today so let me see if I can find any cool ones to post. Stand by.

Here are some cool old Iraq pictures.

This is me with some dough…

This is what happens when you let a 1SG or SGM make signs.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Iraq.

Cheers,
Walt

The Exploration Continues

2006-10-04T20:56:00.000+03:00

DAY 7
1819 Hours – Wed 4 Oct

Today was a little less high stress than yesterday. I started out at about 1130 and headed to the National Gallery of Scotland to see some art exhibit. This one was actually cool. They had some Monets, and Rembrandts, and some other famous dudes. You could also look at marble statues and terra-cotta statues. I started trying to see if I could identify whether or not something was oil on canvas or panel. It is pretty hard at first but I soon became an expert.

Anyway after that I went to a small café. It was nice and my 3 slices of bread, 4 slices of meat and 1 pint of Heineken only cost me 31 dollars. What a bargain.

After that I walked down to the Dynamic Earth exhibit near the Parliament House. I have to say that it was pretty cool, but it was a bunch of green environmental wackiness. They really are convinced that they are doomed and it is their entire fault. I will give them some credit because never once have I heard anyone blame the US for their environmental troubles. They think that the 20 million tons of garbage they produce is part of it. Rhode Island produces more than that I bet. Anyway, they really believe in global warming, more so than little kids believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. What a joke. Anyway, they sure believe it and they are doing everything possible to prevent it. Good on em. Waste your time all you like.

Here it is from the outside...

So I am sitting in a pub now. Have I been gone too long? A ton of the pubs and restaurants have free internet in them. Is that common in the States? Anyway, it is common here. You can have a pint and surf the net at the same time. Pretty cool if you ask me. Just make sure you don’t have an Alienware to lug around.

SO anyway here are a few pics.

Here is a shot from the gardens...

And another...

Here is a shot of the Balmoral Hotel from the south side of the Waverly depot.

That is all.

Cheers,
Walt

Exploring the city

2006-10-03T22:35:00.000+03:00

DAY 6
1850 Hours – Tue 3 Oct

Today was 100% tourist day. I got out relatively early and headed to the Waverly train station. It was there that I picked up one of those double-decker bus tours. The price was 18 dollars. The ticket is good for 24 hours so I don’t suppose that is too bad. But I went to a few exhibits and museums today and pretty much everything costs a lot.

So the first places I visited were the Caledonian Hotel, St. John’s Church, and St. Cuthbert’s Church. All of those were free and were very stunning. This place never ceases to amaze me with its stunning architecture. After I walked around those buildings and the cemetery between the 2 churches I grabbed some lunch. Bangers and mash. In English that means sausages on top of mashed potatoes with in this case red onion gravy. It was nice.

Here is Cuthbert.

Then I hopped back on the tour bus (they come by every 20 minutes here) and headed towards the Edinburgh castle. I didn’t stop there because I visited that place yesterday. My next stop became the Museum of Edinburgh and the People’s Story. Both museums were very interesting. The coolest thing I learned was that different craftsmen had labor unions and were issued small badges. For example, only a certain number of people could be beggars, and those “privileged” few had to have an official badge and he would have to keep it on him. Basically it was a small pressed piece of metal with embroidery on it that designated who the bearer was. So far, all the places have been open at no charge. I then marched further down Royal Mile to see the Scottish Parliament building.

The Parliament building is very cool. It is much more modern than many other buildings. I felt like I was back in baggers because I had to be put thru security checks to get into the building. I have to say, security was light. Also, the standoff capability of the building is negligible. I wouldn’t call it a soft target, but definitely not very hard for a dedicated insane person.

Here is inside the parliament building.

So then I went and saw the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the home of the queen when she is in Scotland. Now this is a cool place. I couldn’t take photos whilst inside, but I still got to see some cool stuff. More to follow. So I got suckered into seeing the Queen’s galleries before going into the Castle. Look, I like art and all, but I do not care for small pencil drawings. Actually I can’t really stand those. They are boring and a 4 year old can do them. SO anyway, I pay 6 GBP and all it is like 50 drawings by some guy named Canaletto. I can tell he isn’t bad, but I wasn’t impressed. So I left and went to the palace.

This is going into the palace

You have to visit this place. It helps to see it after you have seen quite a large number of other palaces. For example, the palaces in Iraq are more similar to Graceland whereas this palace is more similar to Versailles. It is stunning. The portraits of all the old kings and queens, the detail in the masonry, the ornate tapestries and the rich furniture combined with the historic atmosphere is quite impressive. You begin to see why the Brits tolerate the monarchy. It is actually pretty cool.

The old abbey

Anyway, so then I went off for another walk to Burns’ Monument. Cool, but nothing remarkable so I pressed on to the Old Royal High School high on a hill overlooking the city. I didn’t go in, just looked at it. Cool. Then I got to see Nelson’s Monument. This was my favorite. I have an affinity for Lord Nelson and it was good to see his burial place in London and now his monument overlooking Leith in Edinburgh.

School.

Monument.

Well, that was my day. Tomorrow will be a little less busy but I hope to see some more and get in some shopping as well.

Cheers,
Walt

Edinburgh

2006-10-02T23:52:00.000+03:00

DAYS 1 - 5
2130 Hours – Mon 2 Oct

What a fantastic past few days I have had. So much stuff and no way to remember it all. Well I made it to Edinburgh with no more real dramas. I met up with my buddy and am currently staying at his house. I was here a while back for his wedding but only briefly. This time I am getting a good chance to really explore the town. Yesterday I went to Rosslyn chapel. It was really cool. At first I was not impressed. You know that feeling when you first see something like the Alamo? You have waited so long to see it and when you finally do, it is just not so impressive. The chapel was like that because it is undergoing restoration and has scaffolding all over it. The good news is that once you get in, all that apprehension vanishes. It is so beautiful in there and there are so many intricate details it is easy to see why there are so many people that draw so many conclusions.

Well I will post my pictures later. Edinburgh is the coolest city on Earth. It is so beautiful. You really have to come here.

All that being said, the UK is the most expensive place on Earth. Everything costs exactly what you would expect to pay, but everything is in Great Britain Pounds. For example, a beer is 6 (POUNDS). My Gap jeans cost me 55 (POUNDS), a hotel room is 180 (POUNDS). Essentially everything here cost twice what you would pay for the same thing anywhere else. I don’t know how people make it. They don’t earn twice as much. Look, a small (puny) 2 bedroom apartment costs 300,000$. Some people make payments for 30 years just to cover the interest. It is just crazy here.

Here is an example of a "flat".

2 The Still House, 11/1 Easter Dalry Wynd, Edinburgh, EH11 2TB
Offers Over £210,000

A two bedroom apartment finished to an exacting standard and occupying the first floor of an A-Listed building, formerly the Caledonian Brewery. Furthermore, the property benefits form two parking spaces. The property comprises: Vestibule, Entrance Hall, Living Room with Open Plan Kitchen, Master bedroom with Ensuite Shower Room, Further Double Bedroom, Guest Bathroom and Balcony.

This ugly crap costs nearly half a million and all you get is the ground floor and no yard. That is the actual image. Who would want that? Frankenstien? What a joke.

Well I am going to go to a pub and drink a pint or so of Guinness Extra Cold.

This is the cellar of the Rosslyn chapel. Pretty cool.

Here is 1 of many small details in the chapel.

This is a statue outside the back of the church.

This is a self shot at the side of the chapel.

Another self shot.

Cool shot across Edinburgh.

Gay, but well kept, French car

Edinburgh Castle

Well, that is it for now. I hope to go to Loch Ness in the next few days as well as the Harry Potter castle and a few other places. More to follow and then I will be in Ireland.

Cheers,
Walt

Scotland Bound

2006-09-29T04:21:00.000+04:00

DAY 0
1230 Hours – Wed 27 Sep

Well, I am officially out of Iraq now. I am sitting aboard a choo choo from Oxford to Edinburgh. A series of unfortunate events has led me to be in the first class cabin. See, I had resolved to go on the cheap, but these events have made that impossible right now.

Chapter 1: It was a holy nightmare to line up everything I needed to do before I left. I was running around like crazy trying to find some body armor and a helmet for the flight. I don’t have my own and when I leave I normally fly civilian which doesn’t require any or I borrow and bring it back with me. Well I had to find someone that could give me some old used stuff that they didn’t need back. I finally did but it was a pain.

Chapter 2: I arrived at the LZ for the air-bridge at 0920. The bird finally showed up at about 1045 and got us to BIAP about 3 minutes later. Good thing because the C-130 was getting ready to leave without us. We made it though. Then the plane landed about 15 minutes later, it turns out that we had to stop at another base. So we sit there a while and the we take off and about 45 minutes later we land at yet another base and wait some more. Then we land at another airport. It turns out to be the right airport for me. So a few minutes after we deplane that one, we are all whisked on yet another C130 and sent to Qatar. We sit another 7 hours there on metal chairs with no AC and then we fly to the UK. I finally landed at 0900BST which was exactly about 26 hours since I started traveling.

Chapter 3: We end up waiting and waiting for a ride from Brize-Norton to Oxford (nearest place to catch a train). Well I get to the station at 1119 and now I have to figure out how exactly to get to Scotland. So I sorted it out and made it to the platform at 1133, the train arrived at 1134 and departed at 1135. Whew! (Another reason I would win Amazing Race hands down). Hopefully this makes sense because I haven’t slept in a long time. Well I get on the train, which cost me 79 pounds BTW, and it is standing room only. But I say hey no problem, it’s only six hours and I have agreed to go on the cheap so I will just suck it up. After about 3 rotations of the wheels I decide to upgrade. So now I have my lappy plugged in, a beer in my hand, no screaming kids and my only concern is that this really old lady up ahead of me is going to hack a lung out. I will let you know if the 50 pound upgrade was worth it in a minute, I have to walk back there and get another beer. I think that all the seats are gone and you don’t get a discount for standing.

So here is what I am thinking. They should add open air seating on the roof of the trains. They would have to modify a few bridges and whatnot but that isn’t hard. Anyway, they should rope off a perimeter on the roof of each cab and offer standing room only open air prices at a 50% discount, 75% if it is raining. It would totally work. Screw a few poles in for them to hang onto and presto! Plus the trains aren’t that fast so they would definitely survive. Get the cheapest cheapskates on the roof and out of my hair. The best part is you don’t even have to make them; they are naturally cheap so they will gravitate there anyway.

Ok so I was talking to a pom buddy of mine yesterday and he became the 3rd pom to say that Brits have lost a lot of their patriotism. I wouldn’t have thought so but 3 different ones have told me the same thing. What do you think? Next pom question. Are they aloof, hard to approach, conceited even? I used to think so. What do you think?

Oh 1 tragedy already. I forgot to stock up on Copenhagen before I left. Guess what? They don’t sell it in England. What a joke. So I will have my sis priority FedEx me some.

Oh I just found out that I could have waited an hour to catch the next train and would have made it in at the same time as me anyway. *Mental note for Amazing Race. I could have used that time to divert other teams to worse trains* **Better yet, I could get them to follow me onto trains going the opposite direction and then jump off at the last second and watch them sail away in the wrong direction**

END PART 1

DAY 0
1319 Hours – Wed 27 Sep

Ok, that was just way too freaky. We pulled into a train stop and sat there for like 15 minutes. When we started to leave they were going backwards, back the way we came. So I was freaking out. Was I supposed to change trains or what? Turns out that this train makes 3 direction changes on the trip and you don’t have to swap trains. Who ever heard of that? So I had to change my seat so I am looking forward again and the lady with the deadly virus changed too, apparently she like riding racing backwards. What a freak.

Oh yeah, from now on, I am flying. Screw this crap. They are lucky I can speak their language or I wouldn’t even bother with all this nonsense. Maybe one day I will understand their language. Maybe they will start speaking English for a change. HAHAHA!

END OF PART 2

Cheers,
Walt

Final Iraq Post

2006-09-24T21:20:00.000+04:00

Adios Iraq.

This will probably be the last post I make from Iraq. I may come back on another contract but as it stands now, I am done.

I can honestly say that Iraq has had the most profound impact on my life that I can remember. Losing loved ones is profound, making major career changes is profound, many things are profound. Iraq is leaps and bounds more profound. I can honestly say that I am leaving this place a changed man.

The other day I wrote about my most surreal moment in Iraq. Today I had a new one. I was laying out at the pool around midday and the “Giant Voice” went off. It was a warning that I had never heard once in over 900 days. It was a warning that today, there was a threat of indirect fire attack on the embassy. So there I am laying at the pool, sun blazing on my face, and they decide to inform me that today, contrary to every other day since I got to Iraq, that a mortar or rocket might impact the embassy. I have heard many hundreds of explosions maybe nearer to 1000, and they choose the second to last day to broadcast this? What a joke. So I flipped and got some sun on my back. Not everybody flipped, some stayed sunny side up, and others went to get cold water. The hilarious thing is that the guys playing water-basketball didn’t even stop to listen to the announcement.

The reason I make mention of days is because I had wanted to stay long enough to throw a “1001 nights” in Baghdad party. Someone else threw a 1000 night party. As it is, I will have to settle for 992 nights and there will be no party. I will simply pack my bags and go. I will depart and someone will replace me and they will get to experience a little bit of what I have experienced for the last nearly 3 years.

I will miss the people I know, the excitement of the work and the general environment. I will miss the random things that happen. But I will not miss Iraq. I am happy to go. I have done my time and then some. It is now time to move on and see what else is out there.

I was hoping that I would have something more exciting to talk about when I left but I fear this is about all I can say at this point. Not being one for much drama I am just going to go. I have done as much as I can do here and I am looking forward to a much needed 5 week vacation and then a reunion with my family in SC. I am looking forward to my repatriation.

I can say that Iraq has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world as well as travel it, it’s given me lessons in trust and comprehension, compassion and composure, and it has given me a new perspective on the Middle East (to say the least). I am changed, hopefully for the better, and I will look back fondly on the time I spent here. Am I sad to go? Yes. Am I eager to leave? Definitely.

Tomorrow, when I write my out of office auto-reply, I will not be sad, I will be happily looking forward to my vacation and to my future back in the States or wherever destiny pulls me.

So, goodbye to my friends, my hooch and a country I love. Goodbye Baghdad, and finally, goodbye Iraq. It has been an experience.

Cheers,
Walt

Questions

2006-09-20T22:23:00.000+04:00

OK. I did not make this up. Some Marine in Iraq did, but I like his concept so I decided to steal it and give you my answers to the questions he posed to himself. I would give him credit by way of a link or something, but I don’t anything. I got the email by way of one of my many friends that send me everything in the world. He gave his answers and I just erasing them and giving you mine.

Worst Case of Déjà Vu – I had a major case of ground hog day and could have sworn that I had already lived this day before. I went to work in the morning seriously believing that I didn’t need to because I had already done it.

Most Surreal Moment – Running for cover during a multiple mortar strike and yelling at a girlfriend not to drop the 2 6-packs of beer.

Most Profound Man in Iraq – I can’t really answer that. He would be one of the many Iraqi friends I have made over the years that risk their lives to earn a living working with the coalition.

Worst City – I would say Fallujah but when I was there it wasn’t so bad. I have to go with Taji because that is the only place I have been really shot at. Baghdad would be a cliché answer.

Bravest Guy – I can’t name him, but an Iraqi that stood up to Moqtada Al Sadr and helped coalition forces in Najaf.

Second Bravest Guy – All the civilian truck drivers.

Best Piece of U.S. Gear – Hmmm, the Marine said he liked the body armor but I am going with the UH-60 Blackhawk. Man I love to fly rather than drive.

Best Piece of Bad Guy Gear – EFP. They devised the Explosive Formed Projectiles (read shape charged IEDs) that have inflicted serious damage on coalition forces.

Worst E-Mail Message – I got an email from a buddy telling me that the compound he was staying in has come under direct assault.

Biggest Surprise – Bumping into several soldiers that I had trained or had been the platoon leader of in a past life.

Greatest Vindication – Not letting some particularly unruly Iraqi assholes park in my parking lot. Also, I got to deny entry to the Green Zone to an American journalist that was giving the guards a world of shit.

Biggest Mystery – I can’t really think of one, sorry.

Second Biggest Mystery I can’t think of another, sorry.
Favorite Iraqi TV Show – I can’t remember the name but it is a huge hit. It is like the Arab version of MTV. They show videos of super hot Arabic chicks singing.

Coolest Insurgent Act – Some Iraqis get awarded US contracts then vanish with the start-up money. No way to find them and they made out like fat cats.

Most Memorable Scene – Ahh, so many. I have to go with the time I was sitting on the tarmac at the LZ under a camo net and 5 minutes after a rocket landed I saw glimpses of an Apache landing while popping flares.

Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate - NA

Most Surprising Thing I Don't Miss – TV. I miss some shows, but by and large I am not too upset to not have many channels.

Worst Smell - Porta-johns in 120 degree heat - and that's 120 degrees outside of the porta-john. That is what the Marine wrote and I have to agree.

Highest Temperature – Around 140 in Baghdad, 150 in Dubai and 154 in Kuwait.

Biggest Hassle – Badges. You have to have a badge to do anything. Getting them is a pain in the ass. Hauling them around is a pain in the ass. Oh yeah, and getting to BIAP.

Biggest Outrage – The negative press about progress in Iraq.

Best Intel Work – Digging around in the abandoned zoo looking for tunnels into the Green Zone. I didn’t find any.

Saddest Moment – No answer.

Biggest Ass-Chewing – When I was at CPA a dickhead LTC showed up. The boss wasn’t around so I called another COL and asked him if he wanted a LTC (In Hillah). My intent was to get him shipped out to Hillah before the boss knew he had another man. Just as the convoy was about to depart with him, the boss found out and made him stay. I got my ass chewed by the COL for offering a LTC that wasn’t available, I got my ass chewed by the LTC for trying to get rid of him 5 minutes after he got here and it got chewed by my boss for the above mentioned reasons. He ended up being my assistant. Yes I said that correctly.

Best Chuck Norris Moment – A buddy of mine was being shaken down by the translator of an Army officer. A buddy covered me and I ran up and took his photo and told him he would be sorry if he ever came back. (Long story short)

Worst Sound – Explosions of any sort.

Second Worst Sound – Rockets going overhead.
Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. – Hookhas.

Proudest Moment – Working the tally floor in the 05 elections guarding the ballots. The workers were able to vote and it was so joyful to watch them sing and dance when they all got the purple finger.

Happiest Moment – When a beloved family was allowed to move to the US. I will see him and his family soon.

Most Common Thought – How hot it is and whether or not I am ever going to get out of here.

So that is it. Here is a personal favorite picture. I took this at a dinner I attended.

Cheers,
Walt

Leaving and other thoughts

2006-09-19T22:06:00.000+04:00

So I got to watch the season premiere of the Amazing Race. I have to say that the first episode did not impress me. I was also slightly amazed to learn that this is the 10th or 11th season. The last season I saw in its entirety was season 7. Not much has changed except that they appear to have selected the teams based not so much on ability but more so on classification. What I mean is this; they have (had) a muslim team, a single black mom team, a gay team, an Indian team, a South Carolina hot chick team, a beauty pageant team etc. So what this means is that it looks like they are pulling a “Survivor” to gain ratings. When I finally apply to win the Amazing Race I hope I do not have to come up with a silly gimmick. The good news is that my racing partner would be a dude that has also served in Iraq. Maybe we could play the Iraq War Veteran card to get on the show. Time will tell. I still think we will both have to hide our true passports and lie about our language skills because otherwise we are way too well traveled and would be leaps and bounds better than the next best team. You guys all want to see me win the Amazing Race, I know it. Trust me, if they put me on there, I just made 1M dollars. No doubts. Maybe some show executive will read this and think I am challenging them and put me on just to se if I will sink or swim. I hope so. Also, I (we) have to make a less than 3 minute video tape to present to the show. If any of you are in that line of work (making videos), let me know. I am happy to pay to have a great quality, edited, and original VHS tape to present to the show.

Anyway, they installed a new Giant Voice system near my hooch. I still can’t hear it clearly in my hooch even though I am less than 100 meters away. At least I can hear that something is being said and can make it to the door before they repeat the message. The first message I heard tonight was something about “securing valuables and moving to the nearest exit”. That one was a new one on me. Well it turns out that they are testing the system. So I keep hearing all these weird announcements and it is quite unnerving. They have an email system called “All Hands Alerts” that they send to anyone on the network. They send messages about power outages, water outages, religious services, pretty much everything. Maybe they could have sent one saying they would be testing the system. Would that have been so hard? Anyway, now when I hear it I don’t know if I should care or go back to watching TV. I think I will choose the latter.

I am leaving in about 8 days! I can hardly believe it. I don’t know what to think. I know that I am flying to London and then I will fly via a cheap ticket on Ryan Air to Holland. I will stay about a week in Holland and then I am flying to Ireland. I am staying at a friend’s house there and I may get to attend the Marine Ball while I am there. I guess I will have to pack a suit after all. After that I think I will go to London for a night or 2 and then I am going to head south to Monkey World. What a great place. I didn’t get to go there last time but now I have the time. Then on 21 Oct I catch my cruise from Southampton to Florida.

I am thankful that I didn’t mail all of my belongings back yet. I was almost going to mail my drivers license but that would have sucked because I intend on hiring a car and driving it from FL to SC. Good thing I kept it in my other wallet. You see, one doesn’t need a wallet here. Everyone wears these things around their neck that carries everything from passport to money to ID cards. Needless to say, a state issued drivers permit is of no use in Iraq. So I carry this thing around my neck and it has my DOD card, my Embassy ID, my Iraqi weapons permit ETC ETC ETC. Well I was going to mail it all back but then I found it in my wallet. I was also happy to find 500GBP in the wallet as well. Apparently I forgot to cash that out before I left England the last time. So now I have about 1000$ to spend when I get there. Free money. Not only that but once I sell my personal weapon, my Walther P99, I should fetch an additional 1000$. That should cover me for a few days at least. 2 grand of free money as I see it.

Tomorrow I part with my beloved ice cream maker. My mom sent it to me but I will not be mailing it home. More costly I think than the purchase price to mail it home. I will spray paint 110V on it and give it, along with some rock salt and condensed milk to a buddy of mine.

My buddy got back from Jordan the other day. I gave him 30 bucks to buy me some Dead Sea products. He got me some soap and salts and mud. He robbed me by taking the by 2 get one free for himself but he will be forgiven. After all he had to pack mule all that crap so he deserves something.

I was going to go to Nepal myself but I decided to make a family event of it. I think a nice family reunion trekking to Base Camp would be cool. So far my family isn’t too keen. I think it is a great idea. What other family do you know that can say they climbed Everest? Not all the way mind you, but climbing to base camp is no small accomplishment. I hope they will agree to come but if not, off I go. I have enough frequent flyer miles for about 3 round-trip tickets anywhere in the world first class. I might as well use them. I also have enough points at Sheraton for about 15 free nights. I doubt Sheraton has a big presence in Nepal, but who knows and who cares? It is cheap anyway.

So that is about it. I just watched Water boy and am about to pick up Angels and Devils. So far it is pretty decent. I like it better than DaVinci code so far.

Anyway,

Cheers,
Walt

Nepal?

2006-09-17T21:47:00.000+04:00

I am starting to think I should go to Nepal rather than England. After all, I have been to England and Scotland for that matter. But I have not been to Base Camp in Nepal. I have some Gurkha friends and could stay in Katmandu. Maybe I will change my plans. At the same time though, I haven’t been to Ireland and I want to go there as well. Bottom line is that I have no idea what I am going to do in about 10 days.

No matter though, because anything will be better than this place. Maybe I will stick with my original plans. After all, it is a lot easier to get from Ireland to Southampton than friggin Nepal to Southampton. But the draw of a 23000 foot trek is strong. I need some good time off and maybe the Himalayas are the right medicine. I would go to India and approach from the opposite direction but I am not a big fan of India. I would totally go there, but I would rather be in the Maldives than say, Delhi, and that is such a long flight.

Anyway, I am rambling. What do you guys think? UK or Nepal? Maybe Tibet, but that is nothing but Tuk-Tuks and crowds. I would rather go to Angkor-Wat in Cambodia than Tibet, depending on the spot. How did I shift from UK to Asia, I don’t know. The UK bores me I think. Yes there is cool stuff to see, but at the same time it is boring and snobby. Oh well, I need to experience it so I will probably go there. That way I can say I spent 3 weeks touring all of Great Britain and get a better feel of the place. If anyone starts talking politics I can always break out the dreaded “I am Canadian” card. That shuts most people up and prevents you from having to engage in political conversations.

Cheers,
Walt

Pringles

2006-09-16T20:57:00.000+04:00

What a wonderfully uneventful day. Some days are uneventful but today was remarkably uneventful and it was great. I finalized my cruise reservation, which was easy and now I am set to determine my 3 weeks before the cruise.

As it appears, I will spend a few days in London, then a few in Scotland and Ireland then I will fly to Holland and then France. All of that is subject to change as has much of my vacation thus far.

Anyway, I finished reading the Blowback novel by Brad Thor and am now reading a book by Barbara Michaels called Black Rainbow. It is starting to remind me of Atlas Shrugged in that I am 185 pages in and am still waiting for it to get interesting. So far it is pretty much a quasi-sappy romance that needs some killing or something. Oh well, I am half the way done so I will finish it.

So Survivor was cool. The black team had to vote someone off because they lost. They are idiots. They had 3 chicks and 2 dudes and voted a dude off. Duh! Now you have only 1 dude to help to pass the physically hard challenges. They had an inept chick they could have voted off and still kept the stronger dude. Bad mistake. I am guessing that choice will cost the black team the win.

The Asian team won the first challenge and the Hispanic team came in second. The whites finished third but should have finished fourth as badly as they played. Anyway, the Chinese look strong as do the Hispanics, but the whites look poor and blacks look worse. At this point, my money is on the Hispanics. They don’t seem to have the stupid “we are doing this for our people” attitude that the blacks have and they also don’t have the “we need to show the world that Asians are strong” attitude that the Asians have and they don’t have the “we are white so of course we will win” attitude that the whites have. Time will, however, tell.

I thought of another reason why I will be happy to be back in the States. Pringles. I get Pringles here, but I yearn for a can that has not traveled 8 thousand miles and has a few unbroken chips in it. Don’t get me wrong, I dig my ranch flavored Pringles, but I would like them more if 90% weren’t broken.

Anyway, tomorrow I am opening my 27 year old Scotch. A few of us are going to hit the pool and have some Cuban cigars and drink it as a farewell to me. I should be in Scotland soon so I will buy a 50 – 100 year old bottle to open upon my return to the States.

I am down to about 9 or 10 days now and the reality that I am leaving my home of almost 3 years is starting to sink in. It really is bittersweet. Oh well, I can’t stay here forever and at least I am going to a cool place.

Cheers,
Walt

Reality TV

2006-09-15T20:00:00.000+04:00

I didn’t hear a single explosion today which is good. I don’t watch the news so maybe something happened but it is my quasi day off so I didn’t really check. All I know is that I didn’t hear anything.

I mailed some more stuff back. My hooch is pretty empty now. I gave away a lot of stuff that just isn’t worth mailing back. I finished another book by Brad Thor called Blowback. It was good. It is a little unrealistic but fun to read and I look forward to the next one.

The MWR café has a moderate assortment of books so hopefully I can find the next book and read it. At any rate, I will soon be out of here and will access to real bookstores and will be able to read whatever I want, not what was left behind by others.

I am anxiously awaiting the first episode of the newest Survivor. I think it already aired in the States but I haven’t seen it. Supposedly they break the teams down by race. What an awesome promotional campaign. I bet some people are up in arms over this and I find that the most entertaining. I think it is a great idea. Outwit, outlast, outplay. I can’t wait to see the finish.

They are also about to start a new Amazing Race. I am too late to enter, but I will apply for the next season. And if I apply, I will be selected, and if I am selected, I will win, of that there is no doubt. I can’t wait to walk away with that 1M dollars. The guy that I will race with is perhaps more capable than me of winning which just doubles our chance to win. I actually feel sorry for anyone that has to race against us. I just hope they do away with the equalizers. I think they should just let us go and whoever makes it to the finish line first wins.

So I am just killing some time. Survivor comes on in a few minutes. I hope there is a Reality TV Network when I get back. I would totally subscribe. I love that stuff. Anyway.

Cheers,
Walt

Illegal Invasion

2006-09-14T17:44:00.000+04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been rather hectic what with me trying to get of here and all.

Well I have to say this yet again. DO NOT BUY AN ALIENWARE computer. You will be so sorry and you will regret it. I sent my computer back for the 3rd time for repair because it would not turn on. They promised me that they would replace all the major components and that it would undergo a rigorous test to make sure it worked before they sent it back to me. I called them about 3 days ago and had them change the mailing address to my parents house because they said it would be another 20 days before it would be fixed. Well I would be gone from here and I didn’t want them to mail it here. They said “no problem”. Well. Today I got the computer HERE in Iraq. That means that at the time they told me it would take 20 days to fix, it was already in the mail and they didn’t even know it. So then I get it and take it to my hooch. Guess what? It wouldn’t turn on. They didn’t do a goddam thing to it. So now I have to spend another freaking 75$ to mail the thing back for the 4th time. I have only had this computer in my possession for 20 days out of the last 10 months because it is constantly going back for repair. My computer has almost as many frequent flyer miles as the Pope for god sake. You should not buy one. I promise you that.

Anyway, everyone was going around screaming that Iran forced Syria to force Hezbollah to attack Israel to divert attention from their nuclear program right? Wrong. The Mexicans forced Iran to force Syria to force Hezbollah to attack Israel to divert attention from the illegal immigration issue. They must have promised Iran all the free tacos they could handle or threatened to start sending out maps with ways to illegally cross into Iran. Seriously. What has happened with this? Why don’t we have a wall or some other physical barrier? Why can’t we redeploy our troops from Korea and Germany and stick them on the Border? I will tell you why, it is because of PC bullshit. The politicians are too scared to offend anyone and are never going to do anything about the problem.

I have heard more news about some friggin bolts that astronauts dropped than the illegal immigration issue. Who hasn’t dropped a doggone bolt before? I had to listen to at least an hour of newspeople on Fox drone on and on about Anna Nicole Smiths dead son. Not only did I not know she had a son, but I don’t care. Tell me Fox News, what is being done about the border? That is what I want to know.

Anyway, a buddy of mine is in Jordan now. He is visiting the Dead Sea. He will have such a great time. I have said this before, but you guys need to go there. It is the coolest thing. You know those garage crawlers that mechanics use to get under cars? Well skydivers use them to practice moves for when they jump. You can do the same thing in the Dead Sea. You can have your feet and arms sticking up out of the water and spin around on your belly without sinking. It is so cool. You can also pick up huge rocks and toss them around underwater like on strong man competitions. Don’t get it in your eyes though.

Lots of explosions this morning and a few yesterday. They were pretty much all outside the Green Zone I think but I didn’t cross reference the grids. They didn’t get me so I am happy. It seems like Operation whatever in Baghdad is not going quite as well as I thought. I guess it is better than it was because at least I am not having anything land at my feet.

Other than that, not much new. I am still waiting to sort out my cruise. I am so happy about it. It is not going to cost me that much because the money my company would have spent on airfare will be spent on the cruise. My out of pocket is about what it would have cost me to upgrade to first class. I figure it is better spent on a 14 day cruise. The downside is that I am going to have to fly back to England the same way as before. Uggggg! Oh well. Can’t really complain about a free ride. OK, yes I can, but not too much.

Cheers,
Walt

Musings

2006-09-09T22:15:00.000+04:00

More explosions have occurred in the past few days. Some of them have been very loud and pretty close. It will be good to get a break from here.

I had to make a change in my plans to return. I had planned on sailing aboard the Queen Mary 2 at the end of this month, but they are almost fully booked. The only room left is Q2 which is a deluxe 4 bedroom apartment room and the price is 19,000$. I don't think so. So what I have decided to do is wait a bit and catch a cruise in late October. I will depart Iraq at the end of the month and stay with a few friends. I should be able to stay a week in Ireland, 4 days in Holland, 4 days in the South of France, and then a week or so in London.

I won't have to pay for hotels so it should be just a chill time to see the sights and catch up with some old friends. Then I will take a Royal Caribbean 14 night cruise back. I think it stops in Spain and then some places near Costa Rica. It should be fun. It winds up in Florida rather than New York so I will rent a convertible (if it isn't too cold) and drive to South Carolina. I am looking forward to it.

So I am reading a new book . It is called Messenger by Edward Lee. I am not sure why I picked it up but I am sorry that I did. The guy is a freak. If you are into really psychotic sexual type horror novels, or if you are just a freak, then you would like this one. The guy needs help. Some of the stuff he writes about make me seriously worry about him going out and killing people. He needs psychiatric help badly. So does anyone that likes this book.

Anyway. My dad just bought a 20 foot Triton with a 200hp engine. It is a cool boat. He is a freak about fishing. Some of it rubbed off but not that much. I get him a gift certificate to Bass Pro every year for Christmas and his birthday. Everyone else tries to run around and figure out what he wants, not me, I just get him a big gift certificate and I know that is what he really wants. I can't wait to get back and hit a Bass Pro. Anyway.

So I am going to traipse around Europe for a bit and then head back. I like that plan. I can chill and then chill some more on the cruise and then chill some more at home. No bombs, no arabs, no screeching prayer calls. Just me, a pool and some cool climate. I can definitely deal with that.

Cheers,
Walt

My First Fan Mail

2006-09-05T20:22:00.000+04:00

This is great. I just saw this posted by an “anonymous” person. It's funny that he used the word “coward” in this statement, but must remain “anonymous”.

Anyway, here is the comment. I am so happy because this is my first genuinely hateful post so I will take time to address the points “he” tries to make. He says:

smacking others people children? harassing and abusing women in the malls? insulting and making fun of other people's national costume and calling them radical fanatic because u racist hate their religion? what an impudent stranger a$$!ppl like u r not welcome and u such cunts must be ban from entering our countries. and yes u dumb rednick did not liberate ANYTHING it was the cowards money sucker curropted politicians who let the terrorist warmania us and british troops to participate and kill iraqi civilians and kids and destoryed the envairument with their ugly subhuman concentrated uranium weapons. i know ur going to call me (trrorist)or (radical)what ever because this is not the comment u would like to hear u hater r so pathetic. :) hating ppl just coz they r not poor or have some money is no good .

I never smacked anyones children. I was about to smack a child and she would have deserved it but I didn't.

I have never harassed or abused a woman anywhere. Why would you say that?

I do not make fun of the ninja suit because I am a racist, I make fun of it because Muslim men are so pathetic and insecure that they feel the only way to keep their women from leaving their sorry asses is by concealing them. If you were half a man and had an ounce of respect for your women, you would not make them wear 30 pounds of all black woolen clothing in 140 degree heat. But you are not a man, you are a coward, and you are afraid that if anyone sees your woman they will rape her. Just as you would rape women and go whoring all the while denouncing it. You are a man that would be 47 years old, live at home with mommy and daddy, have no job or a shitty one, be fat, bald, stinky, and ugly, yet be unwilling to marry a divorced woman because you think she is below you. You need to get over your lack of self esteem and allow women to wear whatever the hell they want to. You are a pathetic, insecure, jealous, freak.

“I dumb rednick” did not liberate anything you say? I presume you are referring to a comment I made that the US liberated Kuwait. In that case I have to state that you obviously have no clue what the hell you are talking about. Surely you will agree that Kuwait was liberated by someone from the invasion by Saddam? Guess what, it wasn't the French. It also wasn't the Lithuanians. It was the United States of America. (with some help). If you cannot admit that the USA kicked your Iraqi ass out of Kuwait, you need help. As much as I dislike the ungrateful Kuwaitis, I do applaud the ones that fed rat poison the Iraqi soldiers that occupied their country, stole their resources, sank their ships and destroyed their infrastructure.

We don't use “concentrated uranium weapons”. We use depleted uranium munitions. Some such munitions include the 25MM round and the 120MM Sabot. Subhuman is a bit melodramatic don't you think? Which is worse? A 25MM depleted uranium round aimed directly center mass of a terrorist with an RPG or a suicide bomber that blows himself up in a children's school? Destroy the environment? What about Saddam setting the oilfields to fire? I think that might be a worse disaster than a few depleted uranium rounds.

u r not welcome and u such cunts must be ban from entering our countries

Fair enough. And all Muslims should therefore be banned from entering mine right? Or should they be banned from leaving yours? Either way is fine with me. You stop being a bunch of religious lunatics and we will stop having to come over and kick your ass.

I don't think you are in Iraq but if you are feel free to send me your phone number and I can arrange to call you and discuss the matter. Better yet, send me a grid coordinate if you know how to read a map you ignorant fool.

Side note. I really enjoyed making that post. I hope that you guys will like it. I know I did. Anyway.

My friend here gave me a movie to watch. It is called “Ichi the Killer”. I asked him to bet me 50 dollars that it wouldn't suck. He wouldn't. He also wouldn't agree to eat 10 lemons if it sucked. He finally agreed to eat 5 mangoes if it sucked. Well I am about 1 hour into it and I have to say that he is about to be a mango eater. This is one of the stupidest movies I have ever uhh watched (suffered thru is more accurate). It is stupid. It is one of those Japanese movies with English speech. Those Japanese can sure come up with some stupid ass movies and this is one of them. 1.5 billion thumbs down from me on behalf of Japan.

Cheers,
Walt

Jordanian BS

2006-09-04T20:36:00.000+04:00

What the heck is going on in Jordan? I really hate to see that place affected by this Muslim BS. There are so many awesome sights to see in Jordan including this amphitheater where some Westerners were shot. What a joke. The radical Muslim assholes need to learn a lesson. I am reading a book called Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor. It is a really cool book so far. Basically the gist of it is that the US president was taken hostage, some SF guys tried to get him back, they were ambushed in a trap, another rescue was planned and now this 1 dude is trying to avenge the deaths of the guys that were ambushed. In a nutshell. Anyway, there is a sub-plot. There is an Israeli group which had decided to implement terror tactics to take revenge on the Muslim extremists. This group launches TOW missiles at mosques and kills a bunch of “innocent” Muslims.

Now, I know this sounds crazy, but let's just say that we killed 10,000 Muslims for every US citizen killed by Muslims. After a while I think they would stop killing US citizens. ( Or they would all disappear, either way we win.)

Anyway, Iraq would be a great place to visit if it weren't so dangerous. I was at a small hotel in Baghdad that had a tourist map left from the 80s that showed all the good places to visit. There really are a lot of great sights to see here. It is my great desire to return here with my family or friends and show them what it is like and show them the ancient cities I have seen. That will be in like 400 years, but I hope it happens.

Ok, and what about Lebanon? So there are some Frogs and some UN there to “Observe the cease-fire”. What the hell does that mean? To me it sounds a lot like Srebrenica and another fiasco waiting to happen. What about a UN force that goes in to I don't know DISARM Hezbollah? Wouldn't that help a little? I can see it now... “Ohh la la, a Hezbollah man has a rocket, and he is walking behind that wall”... “Boom”... “Oh monsier, I did not zee anything.”

Anyway. I had some cool dinner tonight. It was veal and green beans with some celery with Ranch dressing and for the first time they had braised kelp. I haven't had that in decades. I had seconds of it. One thing I can't complain about is the food. It is really good here. If I was on MREs there is no way I could have survived this long. They also have a new fruit bar and I had some grapes and a few slices of very decent mango and a couple pieces of kiwi fruit.

Well anyway, that is all for now. Oh, I might not go to Holland. I think I will fly back to the UK and take a 6 day trans-Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 back to Jersey and then rent a car and drive south. I am 50/50 right now. We shall see.

Cheers,
Walt

No title

2006-09-04T00:15:00.000+04:00

I had heard a song that kept repeating the words “pussycat”, but I didn't know the singer. Well I just saw the video and apparently it is Brittany Murphy. What a song. I also saw the Paris video. I LOVE Paris but that song is awful, I had to mute it and just watch her. I wish the Pussycat song was showing Paris. Anyway, that Brittany song is awesome. I am totally going to buy that CD.

Someone said earlier that I had been watching too much Final Destination. They may be right. This morning 3 huge explosions went off and woke me up. I totally can't help thinking that it would be just my luck to stay here nearly 3 years and get whacked in the last month.

Also, I heard some dudes at dinner (steak and lobster BTW) talking about how long they had been here. 1 dude said “How long you been here now?”, the other dude said “Bro, about 40 days man, and I got another 50 to go.” I nearly spit my food out. I got nearly as many months as you got days, stop bitching you fag. They were exchanging war stories that were to say the least, sub-standard.

Anyway I have to run. You guys have fun. Back in the States soon.

Cheers,
Walt

Black Continent

2006-09-02T22:45:00.000+04:00

Keeping a blog is hard work. I find that on some nights I have to invent things just to have a post. Tonight I was considering doing a drive by but not shooting, but I got an email from a dude that has a chick that is really cool and he noted that I am consistent in my blogging and I do not want to let him down.

So I will just relay the events of my day. I hit the pool. I swam some laps and worked on my tan. I am happy that I will have a decent tan when I get back to the States. I have to say that the States seem as unfamiliar to me as Mongolia at the present.

I have chatted with many people on, for example Drudge, and they seem as alien to me as Iraqis. I am struck by the ineptitude of some people to comprehend certain basic facts. I do not know what to expect when I return. I hope that the people I meet are not crazies like I met on Drudge. I hope that the Drudge crazies are just trying to get attention but I fear they actually believe the crap they espouse.

Somebody told me or I heard that if you are not a liberal when you are 20 that you don't have a heart and that if you are not a Republican when you are 30 that you don't have a brain. DR is case in point of that assessment.

Anyway. I have asked my beautiful South African friend to accompany me back to the States on a trans-Atlantic cruise from France. I hope she will accept my offer. She is an awesome girl and I would love to introduce her to my family. My sis already met her in Scotland and agrees with me. Maybe I could make her a real “African-American”

Anyway, that is about it.

Cheers,
Walt

My bad mood post

2006-09-01T17:58:00.000+04:00

Deleted paragraph about my deal here.

I can hardly manage to think about anything other than that, work, and getting out of here.

But, I did manage. What is the deal with people that wear headphones that are so loud you can hear them 20 feet away with other music playing? I was swimming laps and I could hear this dudes iPod almost 20 feet away. He is going to go deaf. Why not just buy a freaking radio and play it. You are not doing anyone any favors by sticking those 15 inch woofers in your ear. We can still hear it.

You know what else annoys me? People that use hands free ear things to talk on cell phones. They talk so damn loud and they are just standing there shouting into thin air. Get a life.

A buddy of mine and I were talking at the pool today about Iran and the Middle East. My greatest wish is that we just nuke Iran and others and be done with the place, but he presented me with an option B and I like it. He proposed that if he were president he would make it a mission of the countries scientists to develop an alternative fuel source. No expense would be spared. It would be similar in scope to landing a man on the moon. We are both convinced that this could happen. We have the smartest dudes on the planet and we could for damn sure come up with an engine that runs on something other than doggone oil. I actually believe we have, but that a vast conspiracy exists to shield us from this knowledge. We can land a satellite on a doggone meteor or asteroid or whatever it was but we can't make a flammable liquid other than gasoline? I think not.

Anyway, he says to get another form of fuel and be done with this place. I agree 100%. That or nuke it. This was supposedly a “War for Oil”, I say good, take the damn oil. Run a pipeline to the US East coast and take every drop from Iraq. Well I guess we could let the coalition partners have some as well, at a discount. These people are doomed the instant the oil runs out anyway right? I doubt that date palms are going to sustain the Iraqi economy.

I just read my post. It appears that I am in a sour mood tonight. Oh well.

I caught the tail end of some movie where they were having a fight in France and the Statue of Liberty was fixing to be shipped to the US. Jackie Chan was in it. That struck me as pretty cool. I would have loved to live in those days. Before TV, before liberal PC bullshit, before all this touchy feely crap. What happened to times when if someone was a danger they were just killed? “Oh, you are a threat to my throne?, wham, beheaded” I like that. Now we have to crawl to the America hating UN to beg them to impose BS sanctions on someone. We should just assassinate that mofo or nuke them. I got your UN dangling.

Maybe I am in a worse mood than I thought. Maybe I shouldn't post this. My buddy today would not post this. I am not my buddy so here it is. I actually think it's funny and I love the fact that many of you might be outraged and hate me for it.

So.

Oh I almost forgot, Poseidon sucked.

Cheers,
Walt

Gimme Out of Here!!!

2006-08-31T22:26:00.000+04:00

Whew, it has been a busy few days. Sorry for not getting any posts up but I was unable due to computer problems and I really didn't have time. Tonight is Thursday AKA Friday night back in the States so I left work a bit early and did some laps and then cracked open an Amstel. I am looking forward to getting back to the US and having 1) a Bud Light and 2) a Keystone Light. I have been drinking Corona, Heineken, Castle, Carlsburg, and Amstel and Fosters for far too long. Give me a nice Bud Light and a warm summer day and I will be happy.

So I am close to making a deal with some dudes. It will make me a shitload of money. I hope it works and should find out what my chances are in about 10 days. I will keep you posted.

So I am going to stop in Amsterdam on the way back. I have it set up. Now I have to book my tickets back. Hopefully I can take an AirFrog 747 first class and get a nice upper deck full bed seat. My other option is a cruise. I may opt to fly to England and hop a trans-Atlantic back to Florida and then rent a convertible and drive to SC. I don't know yet but I am liking that idea. My only hesitation is the cruise thing. If they don't have a singles cruise or a nudist cruise or a hedonist cruise, I ain't taking it. The last thing I want to be is stuck on a floating Motel 6 with a bunch of old farts and kids running around screaming. I can just pop in some earplugs, toss back a Bloody Mary, throw on the complimentary socks and recline and sleep my way all the way home in style on a 747. Maybe I will see if I can get on an A380. Are those flying yet?

Anyway, it has been eerily quit these past few days. Still lots of jets but no booms. Maybe whatever they are doing in Baghdad is working cause I haven't heard an explosion in almost 4 days. Good. I am soooo not going to miss those explosions.

I am also more excited about going back. It was a very hard decision to make but now I am comfortable with it. I have a great fishing trip planned with a buddy in Texas and my dad and possibly a business associate. We are going to go to Mexico (legally) and fish El Salto and Huite. They all but guarantee you a 10 pound largemouth. My biggest so far is 8.1 pounds so I would love to snag a hog.

I have also been in touch with a few buddies and I have no shortage of places to visit in the States and friends to catch up with. I have nieces and nephews that couldn't walk when I left that are now running and playing. I think it has finally hit me that I have been gone far too long. I need to get a normal job and have a normal life. This stuff is great but life don't last forever and I better start a family before I get too old and gray (or dead).I could move to Vegas and find me a “cougar”. :)

So anyway, I was sitting at the chow hall tonight and was reminded of the bar scene from Star Wars. This place is great. You see everyone from everywhere and all sorts of different clothes and uniforms and guns and everything. I will miss the diversity. I am the worst writer but I will try to relay to you a story from Ocean Cliffs. Hopefully I haven't already told this one. Bear with me because it is difficult to explain to someone that hasn't been here.

We used to have Gurkhas guarding the exits. They were replaced with Peruvians (for the most part). The Nepalese and the Peruvians look very similar to each other to the Iraqis. I watched an Iraqi and a Peruvian have a conversation and it went sort of like this:

The Iraqi was making fun of the Peruvian by calling him Buddha and rubbing his belly. The Peruvian was trying to explain that he was Christian by making the sign of the Cross. So the Iraqi decided to rub his “Buddha” belly while he danced around and sang like a native American indian. You know “Hiya yiya hiyayaya etc”.

To this the Peruvian replied:

“You Muslim, you go church 5 times, you Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar,” The he made a shooting gesture and said “Allah Akbar, see baby, bang, see another baby, bang” and pretended to shoot babies with his imaginary gun.

I swear it was the funniest thing I ever saw. Hopefully you guys can get that, I really suck at telling stories.

Anyway, I will miss stuff like that. But I will not miss the danger and I will not miss the heat. I am getting back to SC right when it starts to get cold and I am looking forward to putting on a leather jacket for the first time in years. I have never been one to like the cold, but after this I may change my mind. When I was stationed at Fort Drum NY I swore that I would request the hottest place I could think of for my next assignment and chose and was awarded Fort Hood TX. That thawed my bones. I think I need the reverse now. Some good cold will do me good. Just a little cold though. Heat is miserable, but cold is painful.

Anyway, enough of all that. I bought a movie called Poseidon and I am going to watch it. Hopefully it doesn't suck.

Cheers,
Walt

Thoughts on moving

2006-08-28T20:58:00.000+04:00

Today I mailed back some more stuff. I am not really happy about leaving Iraq. I haven't lived in the States for quite a while and I am scared that it is going to be too hard to deal with. Some little things don't bother me anymore, like bad driving. Guess what? The whole rest of the world can't drive. I don't want to deal with “Road Rage”. I don't want to deal with people whining because they only got 2 pickles with their Burger instead of 3.

That being said, I have mailed stuff back from all over the world. I have souvenirs and statues and all sorts of stuff from quite a lot of different places that I have almost forgotten. I am looking forward to playing with my junk. I also have a Scintillator that I have yet to see. I am looking forward to seeing movies and hearing the new music. I will get to drive my truck, have my bed, and be able to cook and see my friends and family. AND, there are a lot more girls in the States. I am working on my tan now so I can have a good winter tan when I get back. So I am looking forward to it a bit after all.

I am just not sure what to expect. It is hard to meet people with similar experiences, I don't know if I will be able to relate. Perhaps I should go ahead and get a mail-order bride that doesn't speak much English? Nahhh, too much headache.

I think I will visit Holland on my way back. I have a good buddy there and a chick I met in Romania lives there.

It is just a strange feeling to be leaving. You really get used to this austere environment.

Anyway, we had some huge explosions this morning. Not the creepy kind that sounds muffled which cause you to think it may have been a launch and not the really close ones that scare the shit out of you, it was the medium kind. The kind that you hear in movies where someone is in a basement and you can hear the distant bombing. The kind that gets louder after each explosion so you get the impression they are walking them in you. Anyway, it had been a few days so I guess we were due.

Oh well, here's to hoping everything works out! Maybe I will be more excited when the time actually gets a bit closer.

Cheers,
Walt

Heading Back to the States

2006-08-27T21:50:00.000+04:00

Well today was a pretty rough day. I have been kicking around the idea of leaving Iraq off and on for a while now. Today I made the formal request to resign and will be headed back to the States on around the 28th of September. So 1 more month. That will bring me to 32 months total. I have asked to come back after 6 months. I just need about 6 months to clear my head and get back to normal for a bit. It seems silly saying that but I can tell that nearly 3 years in this place has changed me a bit. Some of you will be able to observe my changes from a year ago even.

Anyway, so to make it official I called my Mom and told her I was coming home. I knew that if I told her I was coming back that I couldn't change my mind. And to make it even more official, I began to pack. I am mailing stuff back tomorrow that will hopefully be waiting for me when I get there. It is not like I really need it though. Everything is provided here. All you need is clothes and soap.

I am going to take a short vacation before I go back and hit the Netherlands. I have some buddies there. After that I will visit family for about 2 weeks and then I am moving to Myrtle Beach and getting a flat. And I will chill out and see what happens.

I am looking forward to my bed. I have a huge Cali King size and I can't wait to unpack my kitchen stuff and start cooking again. I am selling my truck and buying a Smart For2. Or an Audi R8, I haven't yet decided. I want to buy a Smart just to give the finger to all the fat cat Arabs and even our own do-nothing government.

Anyway, that is the latest. I guess I will have to change my blog name soon.

Cheers,
Walt

"S" Can't Drive

2006-08-26T18:34:00.000+04:00

I just heard that some Fox news journalists are kidnapped in Israel. I heard it on BBC World. Wow! I am so totally out of touch. The other day I got a phone call from Samuel L. Jackson. It turns out that there is a movie called Snakes, and these snakes are apparently on a plane. What is the deal with that? I heard that Fergie released her own album apart from the Black Eyed Peas. Lord only knows what else I have missed. Maybe it is time to depart.

On that note, my contract was extended for 2 more 6 month contracts. I have asked to take the first 6 months off and come back for the second. Hopefully that works out. I need some time to really unwind and prepare myself for another few contracts. I counted the months I have been here. In 1 week I will have been here for 31 months. I have taken leave for periods of at most 3 to 4 weeks, but other than that, I have been here the entire time.

Anyway, life goes on (without me). So today I finally figured out that my roommate is the worst driver on Earth. He thinks he isn't which only makes it worse. I have seen blind Iraqis drive better than him and that is saying something. Iraqis are the worst drivers on the planet.

The other day I said that it was very hot when you walk behind a condenser unit of an AC. Well today I walked past them and they felt cool. That is how hot it is today. So damn hot. Around 120. But the outside heat changes your body. I used to keep the AC at 71 or 73. Now, 71 will freeze me to death. I keep it at about 85 else I freeze. I don't know what is going to happen when I experience something as cold as 50 or 40. I might die from shock.

Cheers,
Walt

Burgers and Arabs

2006-08-25T19:16:00.000+04:00

So here I am watching Night Rider on ArabSat. It is so cheesy. I can't belive I used to watch this AND like it. I also watched Airwolf (FNG hat and all) and I watched some show about some car that was like invisible but I don't think it was on long. Most of the shows I watched as a kid were recorded and sent to me in Belgium so I missed a lot of them. Growing up in Belgium was great because I got 20 dollars a week allowance and I immediately converted it to francs because it effectively doubled my money. I made sure to buy everything locally and not at SHAPE. I would buy so many firecrackers that it isn't funny. I still have a fascination with them. Every New Years I treat my nieces and nephews to a huge fireworks show. I am particularly fond of the relatively new “Mortars”. You get a 3 foot tube and drop these modules in the hole, light the 4 foot wick and BANG! They rule. I also use a lot of fountains and I love bottle rockets, but mainly I like to shoot those into the pond. Anyway, this year I have decided to hire someone to put on the firework show. They will help me plan the displays but I am lighting the fuses. I hope to have the biggest show in my town.

Anyway, ArabSat. I mentioned earlier about how pathetic it is that these Great Satan spewing Arabs watch nothing but American shows. They hate us so much but that doesn't stop them from watching all our movies. I say we shouldn't let them air our stuff till they behave. Also, go to pretty much any Middle East country and you will see a ton of KFCs, Starbucks, and other Western restaurants. They are packed. I was in England and the busiest restaurant I went to was a KFC and it was PACKED with Indians. “We hate Americans, but we love Chick-Fil-A!” “Quick Ackbar, burn that American flag!” “OK, now pass me a burger and turn the TV to America Plus”. What a joke.

Today is Friday so I got to lay out at the pool. I am getting pretty dark. 1 good thing about 120 heat is that you can get sun a lot more quickly than in the States. 2 good hours gets you the same as 4 in Florida. I will be back in SC in December and I will be the only dude with a tan. I guess nobody will see it because it will be freezing compared to Iraq but oh well. My white ass nearly glows in the dark so that will at least be visible.

I asked my school to put me on an indefinite period of inactivity. I just can't be bothered with school right now and it just too much work. Screw it. What do I need a Masters degree for anyway? Too much work for too little gain I say.

Anyway, sorry for not having pictures. I am afraid to insert my memory sticks into my computer for fear they will be erased. I have to wait till I get a working computer and then I will try again. I am going to watch Mission Impossible 3 tonight at the palace movie theater. I have already seen it but what the hell else am I going to do?

Cheers,
Walt

Thursday Night SITREP

2006-08-25T00:32:00.000+04:00

I have to keep this one brief.

Today was nice. It was hotter than hell, but nice. A great friend of mine is leaving Iraq in a few days and we had a going away piss up for him. He didn't get that pissed but the rest of us did. Oh well. Anyway, all is well I reckon. My roomie is taking his normal 3 hour dump so I am waiting to pee but I will be OK.

I hung out with some more poms, South Africans, and Zims tonight. They are all so funny. I think that most poms are just like us (me) ((not you liberal freaks reading this)). They are taxed so heavily that it physically hurts. You know in Australia it is the same. In Sydney houses cost so much that they have trans-generational loans. When you die, sonny boy takes over the payments. What a joke. Anyway, in pom land, everything costs the same as it would in NYC, only in GBP instead of USD. You see 9 on the menu after “Nachos” and think fine, well that is really like 18$$$$ FOR NACHOS!!!

So you want free health care for all, get used to paying 18$ for nachos and 10$ beers and 8$ gas. Get real. I say, if you are sick pay for it. Oh but what about the poor blah blah blah.... I don't care.

Anyhow, I am going to bed soon so I will end it there. I will get enough hate mail from that, no need to stir the flames more.

Cheers,
Walt

Broken Bones

2006-08-23T17:59:00.000+04:00

Today was cool I guess. I got stuck at KBR after lunch. Something didn't explode nearby so they wouldn't let us walk back to our cars. They are so retarded. If there is a T-Wall between me and some UXO that is all I need. So they wouldn't let us walk around a corner to the exit because there was UXO like 100 meters away. What a joke. So we had to stand out in the sun and wait for them to clear the UXO. I wish there was a waiver or something I could sign so that I could walk to my car. If by some miracle the mortar on the other side of T-Walls 100 meters away explodes, I will gladly accept personal responsibility for my personal safety. Nothing is going to happen. This crap happens all time. Something lands therefore we have to close everything. Twice I have been prevented from getting back to my hooch because of UXO nearby. I have a million sandbags between me and the UXO, I am going to be fine. Just let me back in to sleep.

Last night something exploded and the giant voice went off. My coworker and I were BSing and then we tried to hear what the voice was saying. We don't know but think it was something about “We are coming under indirect attack”. Whatever. The worst part is not the explosions, it is the stupid wailing of that damn siren. The only sound on Earth I can think of worse than that sound is that God awful wailing when they sound Islamic call to prayer. That damn call to prayer is so disgusting it makes me want to vomit. A bunch of alley cats howling sounds like Mozart compared to this abominable screeching.

I met an Iraqi named Ramsey today. He had one arm longer than the other so I asked him what his problem was. It turns out that he was in a party that opposed Saddam and Saddam had him tortured. They broke both his wrists and his arm was broken in 3 places. When it healed, apparently it healed incorrectly so it is shorter. They also broke his ankles and legs and tortured him with electric shocks to the groin, hands and ears. He told me he would gladly die to be able to kill Saddam. I hope he gets his chance.

Anyway, my little sis just called. She is a very successful hair stylist and wants me to front her some dough to open a salon. I think I will do it. So nothing else much going on. I will be eating at the British Embassy tonight and then going to the bar. Like I said earlier, they tend to have better food just because they cook for 500 and we cook for 5000. I saw the new US embassy today. It is massive. I can't wait to see it completed. They don't have trailers thankfully. Everyone will have their own room. Hopefully by Jan 08 everyone will be moved in there.

Anyway, I have to run.

Cheers,
Walt

Death from Above

2006-08-22T19:08:00.000+04:00

There have been a lot more jets patrolling the skies over Baghdad lately. For the last few days or more I have heard almost constantly, the sound of jets flying overhead. It is comforting to hear it. I know that if someone launches a rocket that they will get an immediate reply.

When I was in Qatar I got to watch 3 B1 bombers take off for late night missions. Those are some cool planes. When I get back I am going to buy a print of a B1 flying low over a lake with water kicking up. It is a cool painting but I can't remember the artist. It will come to me. Anyway, as I watched those dudes take off I couldn't help but wonder if they were going to Iraq or Lebanon. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we helped Israel bomb some Hezbollahs. I actually hope we did. No matter the target though, someone had a bad night and probably woke up dead.

They are showing some 92 year old guy skydiving. I miss skydiving. If you haven't done it, do it. It is totally worth it. Also, if you get the chance to rappel out of a helicopter, do it as well.

So now I am watching George Clooney spout on about Sudan. A friend of mine told me the other day that he “Wouldn't go to a comedy show to see Alan Greenspan, why would he go to a political speech to hear Jeanine Garofolo?” Same is true with these movie stars. They are simply that, actors. I could give a rats ass what these uneducated freaks have to say about politics. When I strike it rich, you know what I am going to do? Shut my yap and enjoy my money. These clowns should do the same.

Anyway, here is a nice link. I love the prospect of striking it rich on Iraqi oil. I would love to broker a deal with a refinery to buy some Iraqi oil and I just want 1$ per barrel.

Anyway, that is about it.

Cheers,
Walt

No more Girlfriends, finally.

2006-08-21T19:51:00.000+04:00

It has been a few days since my last entry. This is because I have been having overwhelming computer problems. I have to use a program called Ubuntu by Linux to even get on here to check my email. I think I am going to buy a Dell XPS 2010 as a replacement. I thought about getting a Mac but that would probably be stupid. Ok, it would be stupid.

Anyway, I am now without any girlfriends. I dumped all of them. Too much headache. I got no time to be taking 1M phone calls and getting 1M Instant Messages the nano-second I log on to Messenger. Forget them. Bunch of stalkers. I need to find a new one, maybe the 1 in South Africa.

So it has been remarkable peaceful with regards to rockets here the last few days. Nary a 1 actually. I am not complaining. I got some encouraging news that my contract will probably be extended as well. In about 3 weeks the temperature will start to go down and it won't be quite so unpleasant. It really is difficult to deal with the heat. The other day, nearly 1/3 rd of all the A/Cs in my facility went down. Oh well, that is what happens when the ambient temperature is hotter than 40000 degrees.

My buddy from Kuwait is back in town. He brought me some good handmade apple shisha tobacco. Hopefully we can smoke some before he goes. I also brought some 15 year old Glenlivet and some 27 year old Tomintoul back from Scotland. I think I will break open a bottle with him. I like both these bottles better than the 18 year old Glenfiddich, but I won't pass on a glass of that.

I was watching this crap about Jon Benet Ramsey and how the supposed killer “flew back in the lap of luxury”. What a joke. The reporters are so shocked that he got to fly back in Business Class. Don't they have anything else to worry about? I am sure there is a good reason why they used biz, maybe it was to keep him away from the prying eyes of the 250 other people on board? Maybe they could bring him on last and the only people that would know are the ones in 1st and biz? HMMM.

I think he flew on Thai Airways. That is a great airline. The flight attendants all wear these cute silk traditional dresses and they give you an orchid with your meal. They are so nice. I love Thailand.

If any of you know about photography, I am thinking of getting a new Sony Alpha 10MP digital camera. Supposedly it has some serious anti-shake stuff in it which is what I need. I have a puny DSC P-200 but my paws are too big for it and when I mash the photo button I always shake the camera and blur my shot. I need a big fat camera that I can hold on to that isn't going to blur with just a slight movement. Anyway.

I gave my boat away to a janitor at my dads school but now they can't find the title so he can't use it. Apparently he has it all cleaned up and ready to go, but can't legally take it anywhere. I have to get with Texas DOT I guess. Hopefully I can do it online. What a pain.

Sorry for not putting any pics, but I can't risk the data that is on my flash sticks. I have to wait till I get a reliable puter. Oh yeah, here is my favorite news chick. Kristie Lu Stout from CNN. I love her style and she has the cutest voice ever. Her or Rebbecca Gomez on Fox.

Cheers,
Walt

More random thoughts

2006-08-19T22:12:00.000+04:00

Today was an interesting day. Work was about the same. We had the new guys pop round for some introductions but other than that not much new. It is so funny to see new guys. No matter the job, new guys always have no clue and grand ideas. I have been here long enough to know that most of that crap aint gonna happen. Anyway, they are good blokes and I like all of them so far. They have a lot of power and hopefully it will not get to their heads.

My sister found me a job in the States selling time shares. Interesting. But I am becoming more confident that this contract will be extended so I will stay right here. Hopefully a few of my deals will work out.

So anyway, I was at the pool tonight. People had made floats from empty water bottles and raced them in the pool. It was stupid but fun to watch. A Pom that I was with made the comment that “Yanks are fine by themselves but when you put them together, you had better watch out”. I told him he was just another racist anti-American Pom and that he should pipe down. He didn't and we all had a good laugh.

We really do have a bad rep in the world. I think it is because everyone else is jealous and I am right. How about this for hypocrisy? The most popular channel on Arab Satellites is freaking America Plus! Death to the Great Satan (after Friends and Stepford Wives Club that is)! What a joke. Go to any Arab city and you will find a million PACKED Starbucks. Get a life. What a joke. “WE HATE AMERICA!!! WE HATE AMERICA!!! MAKE IT A DOUBLE DECAF LATTE!!!” What a joke.

This is why I love nukular(TM) weapons. You want some Western culture do ya, well here is 50 megatons worth.

Cheers,
Walt

Poolside Ponderings

2006-08-18T17:48:00.000+04:00

Well, today was nice I guess. It is Friday so I got to sleep in. I really needed that because of all the sleep I lost whilst traveling. I managed to also get about an hour to tan my white ass by the pool. I can get very dark but I lose my tan quickly. So what do you girls think of tan lines on guys? There really isn't a way to prevent them unless you use a Euro-Trash Man Thong which I would never wear. I like tan lines on girls a lot.

So I am not going to post any pictures till I get a reliable computer. I want a top of the line laptop, money is no concern. I am considering a Macintosh actually. I want a huge monitor , tons of Ram and a huge hard drive. I also want the damn thing to work.

Well, not to much new to report. It is really hot here now. I have my AC on full blast yet the coolest I can get my hooch is about 80F. I like to keep it at 70 but the outside temperature just wont permit that. This sucks, for some reason my backspace key doesn't work while using this program called openoffice.org. Oh well, better than nothing.

Cheers,
Walt

Back in Baggers

2006-08-17T23:55:00.000+04:00

I really don't feel like blogging right now. I have had the most exhausting days I have ever had for the last week. Whoever thinks international travel is glamorous or anything like it is fooling themselves or has never tried it. It is a huge pain. Anyway. I suffered 3 major computer crashes in the last day. My POS Alienware dies when I tried to restart it, total data loss. I wasn't that worried because I backed it up to my IBM lappy, well that one was dead when I arrived in my office as well. Total data loss. Both of my 80GB backup drives melted as did my 60 gig. So the net result is hat I have lost 2 laptops, 3 backup devices, and years worth of photos, documents, emails, videos, and music. I am in a slightly bad mood right now.

The only reason I can get on here is because I am running Ubutu live from the CD. My POS Alienware is in the mail back to doggone Alienware for the 3rd time and this IBM is toast. I am afraid to insert my memory sticks because the last thing I stuck in here, my 60 GB FireLite external drive, got whacked. So I will wait and use another computer and make a backup CD and then try it. So for the time being, I am not going to post any pics. I do have CD backups of most pics so it is not a total loss.

Anyway, I am back in Baggers. Same Same. I really enjoyed the break however expensive it was.

I had a whole long blog about the whole rest of the trip but it was lost when my computer shit the bed and I don't feel like re-typing the thing.

The flight to Baghdad was awesome though! We only had 30 people on board so there was plenty of space. 8 people puked. I have been on countless flights and have only seen 2 people puke (once was when I was flying the plane and my buddy yacked). Anyway, 8 people lost it. 1 guy got so sick that he missed his connection on the air bridge to the IZ. He looked like someone beat him with a bat and then kicked his ass. I couldn't help chuckling. How can people be so terrified of flying? If you are so scared, why do it?

Anyway, back in my hooch now. I am so jet lagged it isn't even funny. I had a great time at the wedding but I do not think it was worth all the travel.

Cheers,
Walt

Freaking England - Finally

2006-08-15T00:22:00.000+04:00

Foreword- This is a compilation of all my trip so far. I just wanted to get something up so that people wouldn't be bored. I will add updates as required.

This has been one heck of a day. It has been long and tiring and really hopeless. The only good news is that my final flights have not yet been cancelled.

So I show up at the LZ for the first leg of my journey. I have to link up with a British PUMA to take me to the airport. They said everything was fine but then the flight kept getting delayed. I finally made it out at around 1700. So then it turns out that I was not re-manifested on the flight I missed yesterday so now I am on 100% “Space-Available” status and for only the second time since arriving in Iraq, my status as an American is actually a hindrance. The first time, the Iraqis wouldn’t allow me to run around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (which I have done 1000 times) because it is “Historic”. Meanwhile a crowd of Iraqis are playing soccer right behind it. Anyway, on topic. Because I am a non-UK national and I am not in the military and I am not injured and I am not an actual embassy staff, well basically I have the lowest priority of any person in the building.

Puma landing

View from above of part of the IZ

Best way to view RTE Irish

As far as the helo ride, let me tell you, American pilots are good, very good, and they can do what these guys did, but they generally don’t. The Americans fly darn low and fast, but these guys flew so close to the ground I kept thinking they were mowing the grass. And they bank all the time; we were never in straight and level flight (for the entire 5 minute flight that is). They absolutely smoked it all the way to BIAP. It was the best helicopter ride ever, other than the ones you get to rappel out of that is.

Over 180 Knots at 10 feet AGL

Well, fortunately I knew the dude and he sorted me out right away. 30 minutes later we were onboard the RAF C-130 bound for Basrah. Well the takeoff went well. We started climbing out and since I am a pilot I can tell everything going on by the sound and even without windows I have a pretty good idea which way we are turning. So I heard the wheels go up and then the plane started to descend. I wanted to go tell the pilot he was going the wrong direction if he wanted to gain altitude. Well then 2 seconds later the gear went back down and about 1 minute later we all of a sudden slammed into the runway. (C130s slam, they do not land). I am thinking that this is just freaking great, something broke and the flight is going to be cancelled. I am doomed and I haven’t yet left Baghdad. It turns out that a warning light came on and they just had to open and shut the rear door and then we took off again. There were no real issues.

C-130 J model (bigger and nicer)

6000 Celcius on a C-130

So we landed in Basrah. There is NOTHING here. This place is as barren as well a desert. They have nothing and a whole lot of it. So I go in to try to get on the flight to Brize Norton. Well, I would have been in the right place if I landed YESTERDAY, but apparently on this day, the charter flight originates from Al Udaid in Qatar. SO I am now sitting here at 2310 (the flight was supposed to leave an hour ago waiting on another C-130 to take me to Qatar where HOPEFULLY I will be able to get a flight. If all goes well I will arrive tomorrow morning in England at 1100 and I have a 1300 train to catch to Scotland. I am really starting to second guess my apparently bad decision to attend this wedding. But I did confirm my return tickets and I pushed it back a day so I can at least have 1 meal in London.

Well I was going to write more but I made the apparently bad decision to bring my POS Alienware computer. In the 15 minutes that I have had this thing turned on it has drained 80% of the battery and my lap is being cooked by the punishing heat that this thing is dumping on it. So much for watching this DVD I bought. I wouldn’t even make it thru the first 30 minutes. At least I would have some cooked meat to eat off my legs if I get hungry on this flight to Al Udaid.

Ok, about 1 AM, not sure. It is dark and I can’t read my watch. No Indiglow. I am in Qatar and a very unfortunate thing happened for everyone else which is very fortunate for me. The C-130 crew lost the manifest for the connecting flight. I was not on the manifest. So they lost it and had to manually input everyone. They just inputted anyone that was standing there. Then we moved into the huge waiting area to await the charter flight to the UK. Well it was delayed. There were hundreds of people there and I just couldn’t see how we would all fit without a 747 and I was under the impression that were getting an L 10-11 TriStar which in my opinion, couldn’t hold this many freaking people.

Well we waited and they finally called us to start boarding the busses to go to the plane. After a brief trip we round a corner and a big beautiful 747 loomed ahead with a boarding ramp to its door. I was so happy that I would be riding in style for a change. 747s are the coolest planes yet but I reserve judgment till I see an A380 in person. So we approach the 747 and then drive right past it and go to a DC-10. Not too bad, but really old and it has seats like Air Asia. Fortunately the plane can hold like 350 people and there were only 160 of us so I had my own row.

But there is a twist, we had to stop again in some city named Teeslop or Teespot in England before going to Brize Norton. Oh well, we are on the ground here for about an hour and then we go on. This DC-10 is cool, but they didn’t serve any booze. I could have used a nice nightcap before the rather long flight. It is now 11AM Baghdad time so I have been traveling for more than 19 hours and London still seems a world away. We are trapped on the plane while they refuel and unload some bags.

Most of the guys are British military (99.9%) on this plane. We are sitting at a civilian airport. In the States if a unit were returning from Iraq, people would pack the airports to greet them. I still remember getting off the plane at some airport in Maine and half the damn city was there with flags clapping and cheering. Some dude bought me my Taco Bell while I wasn’t looking and I had so many free beers I nearly missed my plane. It isn’t the same here. People will probably just look oddly at them and wonder why they are in the airport.

Oh yeah, they had VIP seating on this plane but the joke is on them. The seats are exactly the same and the same service (water or soda, Sir?) But the joke is that every seat up there is full whereas we each have our own rows now. They offloaded like 70 people at T-slop or whatever airport it is and now we are in the air headed towards London. I am excited now that end is in sight. I am also dreading the return flight but oh well. This is not an opportunity that comes along every day. So I will be landing at Brize Norton in about 20 minutes and then I have to take a bus to Heathrow. Once I get there who knows? Maybe I will take a cab to my hotel. Also, I am looking forward to the train ride. I have never ridden a train so this will be my first time. The last time I was going to ride a train was from Prague to Zagreb on a Eurail Pass but it was far too complicated so we just bought plane tickets. Time is valuable and I don’t want to waste it trying to decipher some foreign language at a train station. If you are used to it I bet it is easy but obviously I am not used to it.

Well anyway we are starting to descend so I have to put this POS away. Thankfully there is a plug near me and my adapter was just long enough to reach it.

This is going to be a huge post by the time it is all over but I hope you guys like it. I basically just keep continuing from where I left off. Today is the day after the wedding. Sunday I think, the 13th.

Anyway, I managed to link up with my sister in London. I made it just in time to pay the bill and leave. So what happened is that we landed at Brize and I had to wait to catch a bus to Oxford. That wasn’t too bad. Well I didn’t have any pounds so I was a bit worried but they dropped us right at the train station and fortunately the ATM there worked. So I got 200 pounds and bought a ticket to London-Paddington station downtown. It cost me nearly 40 dollars for a doggone 1 way ticket 45 miles away. What a joke. And it took 1 ½ hours. I always hear Europeans raving about how great their public transportation is, but so far I am not impressed. It is slow, crowded and expensive. I came to realize that so is everything else in the UK. (Expensive that is).

Well I arrive at Paddington and roll out to the street to catch a cab to the Sheraton. It was about a 10 minute cab ride and cost me nearly 15 bucks. Well, I got there and had just enough time to link up with the sis and grab a quick lunch and then we checked out and headed to the train station to get a ride to Scotland. We were going to go in First Class but it was 300 pounds, nearly 600 bucks for a 1 way trip. We opted for the 200$ economy round trip ticket that allows us to upgrade to First on the return for only about 40 dollars. So we take the cheap 4 ½ hour 200$ train to Scotland. It was cool. We stopped entirely too frequently but the scenery was amazing. My second train ride and I couldn’t be happier. That being said I am not a big fans of trains. Every time another train passes you it sounds like a mini-explosion. It shakes the whole damn train and it wakes you up.

We had checked our bags in before the trip to Edinburgh. When we get there we notice there is 1 more stop and we have no clue if we should get off the train. I said to her that we aren’t going anywhere without our bags. So we are desperately running around trying to make sure we are near a door so we can hop back on if we need to. Well we finally found our bags and the train left us standing there with no idea where to go. I had forgot to print out the number for the dude that we were supposed to meet when we got there. So I tried to pay a dude 5 pounds to let me use his wireless to check my hotmail, but it was broken so I couldn’t. Then we dragged our asses over to some store and begged some chick to let us use her internet at work but Hotmail was blocked on her computer. SO here we are with 1000LBS worth of luggage and nowhere to go. So I say we need to go to an internet café. So we grab a cab and go to one. I check my mail and got the number but we couldn’t figure out how to call it. It turns out he gave me the wrong number. So it was like 10PM so I decided screw this, we are going to the friggin Sheraton. I am not hauling this crap all over doggone Scotland looking for this dude. We booked in and got some good internet with a reliable phone and more importantly, room service. I did finally manage to link up my buddy later that night and we had some wine at his house, it was nice.

The next day was the wedding. We had to be at St. Giles Cathedral at 1330. Well it is the Edinburgh Festival now and it was soooo busy. We barely made it in time but it was an awesome wedding in such an old cathedral. I will just leave it at that, it was really really cool. I will post some pictures.

After the wedding we had to go to some hotel for the Wedding Breakfast and that was an adventure. There was a pro-Hezbollah rally right out the door. Hundred and hundreds were marching in protest of the Israeli actions to defend Israel. I was in my US military uniform and didn’t want to incite an international incident so we took an alternate route. I will post the pics about the protestors. I never thought in a million years I would see this in freaking Scotland!

So we had an awesome dinner (breakfast) and then we did some traditional Scottish dancing. It was very cool even if you can’t dance (like me). All you have to do really is hop around and enjoy all the hot chicks. I met a girl from South Africa that I am completely enamored of. I hope to stay in touch with her and I have plans for Africa in the future. She is a great girl and I really hope to see more of her. The problem is that she is the sister of the guy whose wedding I was attending so I had to be chill you know? Both her brothers are friends of mine and they are very uh protective of her. (And rightfully so)

So the evening ended with a remarkable final dance by the couple. At the end of the song they kissed each other and to make what was already a pseudo-magical night more so, at the moment they kissed, fireworks exploded in the background above the Edinburgh Castle. It was really spectacular. Today we went to the castle and walked around a bit. It was awesome. If you haven’t been, mark Edinburgh down as a “must see before you die” place. It was untouched in the World War and it has so much history. It is an ancient modern city if that makes any sense. It is vibrant, busy and modern but the structures are so old. It is so cool.

Now I am on the train headed back to London. (In First class this time and I can say that it is worth it to upgrade for 20 GBP but not 200 GBP) We are going to catch a tube to Heathrow and then we are on to the Sheraton at Heathrow. Yes, I only stay at Sheratons. I am a preferred member and get major upgrades and I have tons of points that I use for spas and free stuff. I am very happy with the SPG program. Anyway, we have about 1 hour left so I am going to play some 3D Pinball and listen to some Nelly Furtado. Also, it hasn’t rained on us, hopefully this doesn’t jinx us. Oh yeah, the train has power plugs for computers so I was able to catch up with my blog. And now I am listening to Shakira “Timor”, she is so nice to listen to.

London Still Calling

2006-08-09T19:58:00.000+04:00

Well I am stuck in Baghdad at least 1 more night. My helicopter ride from the IZ to BIAP was delayed and then cancelled. I am so upset. This means that I will only have 1 short day in London to explore. What I will probably do is extend a day or 2 on my way out of England. My sister won’t be able to stay but at least I can have some quality time looking the place over myself.

The way it works here is that you need to be at Camp Victory to travel. Victory is where the BIAP is and they have a civilian and military side. I am flying out of the military side to Basrah on a RAF C-130 and then linking up with my flight direct from Basrah to England. The trick is getting yourself to Victory. You have to go down RTE Irish which is not so fun. Well you could drive thru the city but that would be stupid. So there are a few ways to get there. You can drive yourself (stupid), you can take a cab (stupid unless you are armed, biggest threat would be getting shot by military or contractors), take a PSD convoy (good), take the armored Rhino bus (good, but a huge pain in the ass), or fly via helo (best).

So I got confirmed back on the flight tomorrow and should be good to go. I can’t afford another day delay. The wedding is on the 12th and now the earliest I can get to London is the 11th and I still have to make it to Scotland for the wedding.

Here is a picture of the LZ.

And here is my dragging my sweaty butt back after sitting on it for 6 hours in the blazing sun. Not a happy camper.

Update to my original post.

I forgot to mention that while I was sitting on a metal panel waiting for my flight, I heard an all too familiar sound. It was a rocket flying over me. It was loud so it had a low trajectory. It almost tricked me into thinking it was a jet, but it wasn’t loud enough for that. Anyway, it zoomed right over and exploded west of the LZ in Baghdad. It wasn’t a very loud explosion so it was prolly a 107. Anyway. I just sat there thinking about how appropriate this is. Here I am sitting on the LZ and I will get whacked on my way out. There was also a helo that went down today but I don’t know the details. So then when I found out my flight was delayed I moved to a shadier spot to wait. It was then that I looked up thru the cammo netting to see an Apache popping flares as it crossed the Tigris. I am so looking forward to a few nights OUT of Iraq where I don’t have to worry about death at any second. Not that I am all that worried, if they get me they get me, fine, but it will just be nice to NOT have to worry about it at all. The sad thing is, I will type all this crap, and then my train to Scotland will derail and I will die in a fiery train crash. Oh well. I think I have a better chance of getting killed in Detroit than I do here. I don’t have stats, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Cheers,
Walt

London Calling

2006-08-08T18:13:00.000+04:00

I don’t really know what to write about today. Tomorrow I set off for England and that is pretty much consuming all my thoughts. I am flying via the Royal Air Force and my initial journey begins at LZ Washington where I hop a helo ride to the BIAP. Then I Fly via C-130 to Basrah and link up with a Lockheed Tri-Star (L10-11) for the flight to Brize Norton. Once at Brize, we take a bus to Heathrow and then I am taking a tube to downtown and linking up with my sis. Like I said yesterday I am sooooo damn excited. It will be a great change of pace from Iraq. We were going to hire a car and drive to Scotland but on the advice of some locals have decided to take a train. So my sis is going to buy tickets tomorrow and then I will meet her the day after. She gets in a day earlier because my flight today was cancelled and I have to go tomorrow. Oh well. She will have fun with or without me for a day.

So I am so not looking forward to this flight. I don’t get in till 0400. I hope they have flight attendants. I will bring my POS Alienware with me and hopefully the battery will last for at least 1 movie before I crash. Oh, and I have to wear body armor and Kevlar. I don’t even have a Kevlar. I don’t need it. If someone shoots from the ground, to my plane, and hits me, I deserved to die. I don’t think the threat is that bad. To my knowledge, only 1 civilian has been shot and killed in an aircraft since the start of the war. I will take my chances. At least on US Mil you get the option to wear armor. Oh well, so I have to lug around 2000 pounds of useless armor across England. C’est la vie.

I have to write off Monkey World unfortunately. I just don’t have the time. I am taking unpaid leave and can’t afford to waste a few days for a few monkeys. But we will see. I really want to go there.

Anyway, I won’t be able to post tomorrow probably but I will try to post something while I am in the UK. Maybe they have WIFI on the Tri-Star? I doubt it. The Park Lane does however it is 60 GBP/day so screw that. Who would pay 100 $$$ a day for internet? The Queen? Not me!

Ok, let me find some pictures.

I miss my truck, so here are some pictures of it. Yes, I know how beautiful it is, please do not tell me, trust me I already know. God, I miss that truck.

5.9 liter V8. Nice

A shot of the back of the truck. Yes I know it the most beautiful truck in the world. Stop telling me.

Here is my niece on the trampoline I got her for X-Mas. She is so damn cool! Disregard, won't load. Ok, maybe it works now.

Cool, it worked. She is the coolest and smartest kid I have ever met.

Cheers,
Walt

Chilling on a Monday

2006-08-07T19:01:00.000+04:00

I am getting ready to go to London. I am sooo excited. I haven’t seen my family since Jan 05 and I haven’t seen my oldest sister since our trip to Prague and Zagreb in the middle of last year. She is only a year younger than me and we always have a great time. She is fun to party with and she has all the good gossip from the US. It is not too easy to call her from here but we used to call each other and watch Paradise Island together, telephonically. That was when I was in Kentucky and she was in South Carolina.

Now, we can’t do that obviously. I also don’t get to watch my beloved reality TV shows. There isn’t a menu channel on the TVs here so you can’t ever plan to watch anything. You just start clicking thru the channels till you find something. Also, programs start at random times so you almost never get to the beginning of a show. I swear I have seen the last 2/3 of so many movies. Anyway, my absolute favorite reality show is The Amazing Race. I would win that so easily with a buddy of mine in Dubai. He has traveled more than I have and speaks pretty good Arabic and Spanish. I speak French and some Arabic so with our language skills we could totally win. We are also both experts in airports and most importantly know how to pick a cab. That whole game is won or lost in cabs. I won’t tell what my secret is to picking them just in case I get on there. Anyway, we have already figured out that we would have to lie to get on there. If they knew our skills they would never let us on the show. We both have nearly full passports that we would conveniently lose so we could get fresh empty ones. Ah well. Hopefully I will get on there and win that 1M bucks.

I feel like I set a precedent by talking about politics in nearly every post but tonight I just don’t feel like it. I am pissed actually. I watch the news and see all this Middle East coverage. I care about Iraq, and Lebanon and Israel and all that, but I care more about immigration and our southern borders. We really have to square that away. Put it to a popular vote and be done with it.

Oops, well I guess I hit some political stuff. Oh well.

Aside from that though, not much news to tell. We didn’t get rocketed again today which is always nice, but it was damn hot. I don’t know the exact temperature it was, but whew. HOT. You know what it feels like when the air blasts you after you open the stove? It feels like that, only all the time, and on your whole body. When you walk behind an AC discharge vent, it feels even hotter. I don’t think this is the hottest place on Earth by a long shot, but it is definitely the hottest place I have ever been. Somebody should do something about this!

Oh, the bathrooms in the hooches don’t have AC. You sweat so bad using the toilet it isn’t funny. What I do now is leave the bathroom door open and my trailer door open so that the room AC flows towards the toilet. I don’t care if someone sees me. It works a bit but you still sweat your ass off. I will not miss this place at all when I am gone. I will miss some of the people and the excitement, but not the Iraqis and not Iraq.

So tonight is a pretty chill night. No parties, no BBQs. Just chilling at the hooch planning my trip. I am trying to make time to go to Monkey World while I am in the UK. I was going to make a donation tonight but I would rather go there and make it in person. You guys have to watch Animal Planet and catch a show called Monkey Business. Best monkey show on TV. They are totally committed to rescuing primates that are sold illegally after being captured in the wild. I totally respect that. If any of you have pet monkeys, call Monkey World and turn that sucker over to them. It is the right thing to do.

Well that’s it I guess.

Here are some pictures from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. These monkeys are wild but they get really close to you and will steal anything you leave laying around. They run up and down these steps like it is nothing. Also, some monk rode an elephant to the top to visit the religious site. Freak.

Cheers,
Walt

Dull Day

2006-08-06T20:07:00.000+04:00

Not all days in Iraq are eventful. Some are outright boring and today was one of them. I left work to go to the Embassy but while I was out, a dog sat on a car so they call out EOD. This meant that I wasn’t likely to get back to work for several hours so I just went back to the embassy and chilled out.

I met a few of the new guys. The old unit departed recently and the new guys are now on the ground. They all seem very competent and I am looking forward to working with them. The bad thing is that they make me feel old. You see I was a founding member of their current unit. When CPA went away in June 04, this unit was formed. I have now watched that unit leave, the one after it, the one after that, and now in comes the new guys.

Yesterday I had cheese sticks for the first time in a very long time with mozzarella sauce. It was great! Today at lunch I had jalapeno bites and was happy as hell because it is the first time in over 2 years I have had them. Obviously being Sunday, it was Steak and Lobster night. I skipped the lobster and had a large portion of medium cooked prime rib with horseradish. It was awesome. The food here is better than at the DFACs in the United States. There is one particular buffet style restaurant that I always see at Malls. Is it Piccadilly Café? Anyway, the food here is even better than that. Absolutely no complaints from me.

I am gearing up for my trip to the UK. I booked in the Park Lane in downtown London. My sis arrives the day prior so I am a bit jealous. She will get to see some cool stuff with some friends before I even arrive. Oh well, I told her not to go to Buckingham Palace without me which is my #1 most desired place to see, and I doubt she even knows #2. I desperately want to see the final resting place of Vice Admiral of the White The Right Honorable Horatio, Viscount Nelson, Knight of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath. Bath with 1 “A”. She will never think to go there without me.

Those brits sure love titles don’t they? I think it is cool but silly. Like I would totally accept a title, but I would never be a subject to someone that had one. Ok so your dad was important and now you are a Duke or whatever. Get out of my face. I don’t know why they still tolerate a monarchy, but they sure do love it. Good on em. I am just glad we kicked their asses and made our own country. And they are still pissed you know? They will try to provoke you by calling you a colonial and saying they have bathrooms older than the US. So much jealousy, it is hilarious. They have a GDP of like 2$ and ours is like 13 Trillion. Who is laughing now POM? Hell you would be speaking German if not for us. Side bar, my bad. I really do like Brits, they are easy to wind up. Not as easy as Northern Irish but easy nonetheless.

So anyway, I get to go troddle around in England for a while. I will have to break out my best Southern accent just to annoy them:)

Well, it has been relatively quiet here the last few days with regards to rockets. Nothing to report. Heard a few distant explosions but that is to be expected. I am keeping my ears open to rumblings of a civil war in Baghdad. A few Iraqis have told me it is coming. It would explain a few things. For example, you used to be able to grab AK47s, new, for less than 175$ and now they cost over 400$. Ammo is more expensive today than it was 4 months ago. I think the Iraqis are stockpiling in the event of a civil war. I could be wrong maybe they are just greedier.

Anyway, here is a picture of my scooter. I got tired of renting one so I bought one. It cost me a whopping 1000$ for the brand new top of the line scooter. I forgot which brand it is. I think it is Yamaha. Anyway, I had it tricked out and put blue lights under the back wheels and blue chrome all over it instead of chrome. It rules. I am adding a big woofer and stereo when I get back. This girl is keeping it safe in Koh Samui which is the absolute best place to go in Thailand. I should be back in December or early January provided leave works out favorably.

Here is a cool shot from Kiev. They have so many beautiful buildings there. Here is 1.

Cheers,
Walt

Iraqi Business

2006-08-05T18:12:00.000+04:00

Doing business with Iraqis is a lot like wrestling with pigs. The way things work here are that you have to exchange so many formalities and then talk about each other’s families for so long that a 5 minute meeting can last 3 hours. Usually the only meaningful discussion occurs in the last 5 to 15 minutes. It can be frustrating to say the least. I really do think they try to find the most difficult way to do something and then choose that option.

For example. Today I was walking to chow at the KBR compound and I saw some street cleaners. They had these big leaf blowers (which is rare, usually they just push dirt around with brooms) and were proceeding to blow dirt off the street and sidewalk. Ok, great, it is just going to be right back on there in like 2 seconds, but for those 2 seconds it really looked uh, less dirty. So anyway, they decided to do things the hard way by blowing the dirt INTO the wind. All they had to do was start on the other end of the street and work that way to have the wind at their backs, but nope, they tried to blow dirt headfirst into the wind. Duh.

Oh well, I don’t care, it isn’t my job. So anyhow last night we had a decent time at the BBQ. I ran into my date from the summer ball and we had a few laughs. The military unit I work with is changing out and it was a dudes going away party. It is nice to have friends with private villas because the military guys can get out from under the flagpole for a minute. I had’nt attended a party at this villa before and I have to say they cooked some pretty impressive food. If you go to Camp Victory near the BIAP you can usually get some good Angus beef. IT isn’t cheap, but when rent is 20,000 USD/Month, a few hundred isn’t going to kill you ya know? SO here is the bar picture.

After the dinner me and a buddy smoked a decent cigar. Like all Cuban cigars in Iraq (hell everything) this one was a tad bit dry. Fortunately the guy who brought it is a cigar nut so he had done a pretty good job at re-humidifying it. No complaints I guess. Here is the cigar.

Well only a few more days until I get out of here. It looks like I will be attending the wedding after all. I haven’t been to Scotland and am looking forward to it. I am flying my sis over from the States because it is like a dream for her to see the UK and we are staying in the actual Edinburgh castle. It will be a nice break from Iraq. Hell, Afghanistan would be a nice break from Iraq.

Cheers,
Walt

Contractors

2006-08-04T20:05:00.000+04:00

This is mainly written for members of the US military. I read on a blog today that a SFC in the Army really hated contractors. He was angry because he saw a difference in how life is for some soldiers and contractors. I don’t mean to sound argumentative or anything, but I would like to point out that many of the contractors in Iraq are Gulf War 1 vets, OIF/OEF vets, Vietnam and Korea vets, former Spec ops and Rangers among others. I did my year here in the Army so I feel I have earned my right to enjoy some of the benefits. I couldn’t even have this job had it not been for the skills I learned in the Army. I feel for any of you that having a sucky time, I really do, but don’t hate me because it isn’t as bad for me. It is after all, what we both knew was coming when we signed up. I will also point out that even in the Army, we look at the Air Force and Navy with disdain for the disproportionate living conditions that we think they have, but we don’t hate them. Does anyone hate the Generals and senior Enlisted guys serving in Kuwait and Qatar and at CENTCOM because they have a pretty nice bed and AC? Of course not. The reason I bring this up is because it affects working relationships. It is not good to have us “hating” each other. I know this is a broad generalization, but I have experienced a little resentment myself from military officers who think I make too much money. (You can never make too much ya know?) Many contractors are currently in the Guard and Reserves and are using the gap between tours in Iraq and the contacts they made here to secure decent jobs. Surely there is no harm in that?

Anyway, I don’t want to argue about it, but I urge anyone in the military to appreciate what I am saying.

Anyway, so last night was Lock and Load time at the Embassy bar. (Sorry to all you military guys that can’t drink BTW, General Order Number 1 is the worst) Try this link… I had another date with Lunatic Chick who will now be known as “A” because she might not be a lunatic. It was a fine evening, we ended up going to Salsa Night at the pool.

Anyway, tonight is a BBQ at some villa here in the IZ. I have to be there in like 5 seconds so I have to keep this short. I have to remember to take a picture of our new car, what a joke. It is so bright yellow that the Taxi cabs are flagging US down.

Anyway, gotta run.

Ok I have a minute so let me post a few pics. Here are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

I am probably the only person in history that loves rappelling from helicopters, jumping from airplanes and certainly the only guy that is a Commercial Pilot that is DEATHLY afraid of heights. It took me 15 minutes to work up the courage to walk to the middle of the platform halfway up the Petronas Towers.

Here is a shot down from the crossover platform.

Cheers,
Walt

Thursday Night Post

2006-08-03T18:35:00.000+04:00

This should be a short one. I am in a bad mood today because I have finally come to the realization that I am probably not going to be able to complete my Masters courses on time. I will probably end up dropping out anyway, I hate that I put up with so much school BS to see it go away because of events here. I just can’t do it right now. Oh well. So I have to pay back my GI bill, I will get over it. Or maybe, instead of wasting my time typing all this stuff, I will get off my ass and type some papers. I have like 15 due tomorrow and in my current semester I am 4 papers behind. Maybe I should just end it there and type some papers. Nah, I hate school. I don’t need it anyway. I make decent dough without a Masters, why do I bother with it? My job isn’t forcing me to go.

So anyway, me and “G” had to give up our car today. We had a nice cool black Suburban but it was decided that we didn’t need such a large vehicle so we had to turn it in for a smaller one. So now we have some POS Nissan. I think it is called a Saloon. I have never seen one before. Speaking of Saloons, everywhere in the Middle East, a Salon is called a Saloon. It really pisses me off especially in Kuwait. You have no brew to begin with and then they have Saloons all over. Oh well, a Nissan beats the bus. I need to get me a job where I have a PSD team that drives me around and stuff. That would be nice.

Speaking of nice, it would be nice if “J” stayed in the Army. He will probably read this and make another joke about me “ass kissing” but so be it. He may also have reasons for getting out that are compelling. He is the guy that took my thermometer picture. Very good officers are rare in the Army. Good officers are common and bad officers are less rare. In 10 years of service I never met an officer better than J. I hope J stays in and gets promoted form Colonel to Chief of Staff of the Army.

Special note to J:

You would be next CSA if you stayed in. The Army could use you and it would be great to see you succeed in that role. I will stop there because I know you are going to accuse me of ass kissing. I am not; I am telling it like it is.

Ok, so anyway, I wrote yesterday that I didn’t want to have to re-type a bunch of crap. Here are some photos of my “desk”. I swear my back is going to be permanently ruined from sitting on the corner of my bed typing this crap. Here are the pictures. I have an “Air Desk”. I think it would be a good desk but my POS computer is too heavy for it. I specifically ordered a bigger base, but even that doesn’t help. This POS Alienware weighs 22 doggone pounds. For real, 22 LBS, do any of you have a laptop that weighs even close to that? Oh, and don’t buy one from Alienware. The thing not only weighs 22 pounds (literally) it is hotter than the surface of the sun, the battery life is about 13 nano-seconds, the customer support speaks 2 words of Spanglish, and the components are too high end and don’t work together. Get a Dell, hell, get an IBM. Just don’t get an Alienware, you will regret it, I promise. Here are the pics I couldn't post yesterday.

So anyway, I have another date with lunatic chick tonight. We are going to meet some co-workers at the embassy Lock and Load bar. It is only open on Thursdays. It’s also pretty boring, but there aren’t a lot of options in this 4km jail house.

Speaking of girls, I have been emailing a girl for about 2 weeks. She works for an EU embassy and wants to rent a room. She has a very weird name that I won’t post. Speaking of that, I have to be careful about what I post. I see some Google hits from such random things. Anyway. So I agreed to call her and arrange a time to take her to see one of the villas so she could decide if she wanted to rent it. I was doing a favor for a girl that works at the Australian embassy; she had asked me to help her friend. Well anyway, the Australian chick is very nice, she was actually the first chick I asked to go with me to the summer ball at the UK embassy, but she turned me down. Some other chick had already invited her. I don’t think she is a lesbo, but I was still disappointed. Anyway, she asked me to sort her EU embassy friend out. So I did. Today I talked to her on the phone and she sounded very hot, which usually means, not hot. Well I was wrong. She is totally hot. About 6 feet tall, blonde, very slim, nice uh body, and beautiful face with a casual elegance that totally gets me every time. A 9.9 in any country. So I take her over to see the rooms and hopefully she will accept my invite to Lock and Load. I would have to blow off lunatic chick but oh well. I hope lunatic chick isn’t reading this.

Anyway, not much going on today. Work was fine other than getting a POS YELLOW Nissan. Who even paints a car yellow? How gay. I feel like I am driving a damn Taxi. Oh well, better than walking. Oh yeah, I try to update my site at 1700 or 1800 GMT+3 time. If you are on the East coast look for updates at around 0900 or 1000 hours. I usually update once a day.

Forget the pics. Internet problems. I will edit them in later.

Cheers,
Walt