Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays

Wow, I couldn't figure out why today was so sucky before I realized....it's Monday.

It actually wasn't going too bad earlier in the day. I wrote some new batch files that will make my ever exapnding job much easier. I was able to get a lot of work done today too. But then, things started to go downhill. The brand new phones we just got in and that I've been working on the last couple of days to get up and running...are now no longer allowed on the network. Even though the phones we currently use on the network are the SAME EXACT MODELS they are no longer allowing those particular units to be added to the network. Now, when I had called I was asking about the classified network. So, just to make sure I call back to make sure its the same for the unclassified network. The help desk rep on the phone is talking with the "Networks NCOIC" I can hear him in the background saying "No, No, No, NO, NO! WE ALREADY SAID NO, PUT THAT GUY ON SPEAKER PHONE....PUT THAT GUY ON SPEAKER PHONE." The tech thankfully didn't and asked if I had any other questions. Disgusted and defeated I replied no and hung up.
20 minutes later, its now time for dinner...and I get a phone call. It's from one of the software guys that work with us. Some SGT at one of the units is having problems with her IP address. Oh, and it's been going on since before lunch. So not only did she NOT call the hardware guy (me) but she decides to wait until the end of the day. Grumpily I go over there and fix the problem. By the time I finish and get to the chow hall, the line is HUGE. I sigh, and go to the back of the line.
Finally I get up to the place where I can get my tray or a takeout box. I grab the takeout box and excuse myself out of the line because what I plan to eat is up in the "fast line" Some snot-nosed little soldier (who looks like he has to wait 3 days before having to shave between shaves) snidely says "hey, there's a line here you know." I turn to him and inform him that I'm not getting food from the normal chow line, I'm moving up to the "fast line" so I can get my spaghetti and be on my way. He shrugs and says "whatever you tell yourself man, its still a line." Meanwhile, other people are moving past me and have done so for the 2 months I've been here. It still annoys me a bit an hour later. what's funny is as I was leaving his officer friend who was standing next to him had somehow magically caught up to me and was getting his drink when I was. Either he stepped out of line or a crap ton of people flew by me when I wasn't looking. Punk. I hate to take an elitist stance but....at least I'm here by my own volition...and getting paid very well. He's not.
I've been putting off coming up with the thesis for the 15-20 page paper I have to write this semester...but I have to submit a draft abstract in 2 days so I"m busy downloading PDF white papers on the topic. Joy.
It's been getting cooler here, and I may actually need to start wearing my sweats to the shower in the morning. The days are still pretty warm, but there is a definate chill in the air that started about the middle of September.
The internet is still pretty crappy here. The guy that I'm going through for internet service promises me it'll be better soon...but I keep hearing that over and over. He said that there are some new wireless antennas we'll be using and they are supposed to be in any day. Until then, it's crap internet for me when everyone gets home from work and is sufing/skyping.

"The word sir?" "The word? Is no. I'm therefore going anyway."

So there is a place here called "One stop" where you can put in a work order for things to be built. We have a new office conex that was delivered a couple of weeks ago so I drew up plans for desks to be put in the new office. I handed in the plans and they told me the approval would come back in a few days.

Flash forward to today, and I stop in to find the work order was denied. The excuse was that the labor is too busy. So, I knew of a few places where there was scrap wood and began my scavenging. I had told my boss some times the way I scavenge for things here I feel like a Jawa.

I stopped in the shop where they actually build the items when it comes through from one stop. One of the workers was nice enough to cut down a bunch of 4x4 scrap to the exact size I needed. Next, I went to a site where some Seabees are building an office and scavenged some 2x4's and some plywood. I went to another place where they had a bunch of woodscrews. I went back to the carpenter shop and asked if it were possible to have 2 2x4s (I didn't want to be greedy) but the woman there was like "Oh, well since we couldn't build this for you what do you need?" I was able to get 4 2x4's and 3/4" ply for the desktops. They even cut the plywood to the exact size I needed.

I phoned a friend and they were able to loan me a cordless drill and circular saw so I set to work.

I'll have to take some pix but the desks/workbench came out pretty decent. Tomorrow I'm going to build a hutch part that will have a shelf. I also had a lot of fun building it.

A Vacation! (well....sorta...)

I know it's been quite a while so I figured I'd take my spare time I have today to update the blog. It's exactly 1 month since I left home and boy oh boy did it go by quick.

I was really busy when I got here, but things have slowed down a little which I'm thankful for. I ended up finishing my finance class with an "A" so I'm excited about that. However, looking over the material for my next two classes, I can see I've been spoiled in the last couple of classes I had. One of my classes wants a 15-20 page paper (yuck) and the other wants an 8 page paper (not bad!). We'll see how difficult it is to keep up on the work since both classes expect posts and replies to other student's posts.

The other day I was forced to play pizza delivery guy. I had to take some hard drives out to a FOB (forward operating base) by helo. So I got up at 4 am, caught the flight a couple of hours later, flew for a bit and landed, met up with a tech at the helo pad to hand him the drives, then get back on the helo and fly back. It wasn't too bad, but I was pretty tired for the rest of the day.

My supervisor's boss (the guy who was supposed to be my boss in Bagram) came down last night so I've been showing him around today and we brought a server online. Right now I'm back at my "home" chilling out on the internet. Why you may ask? Good question! Apparently some time last night the generator that runs the tent where we work went down. It's been down all day and it's still down right now. Soooo no power = no computers & AC so yeah, nothing to do there. I went to one of the units I support to check my email but my boss and the govt PM basically went to their homes and my supervisors boss wanted to be let off at his temporary home so.....here I am at my home :)

It's a welcome little break after working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day every day to be able to be 1) awake enough to compose something more than 2 lines 2) enjoying said time on the computer because generally by the time I get home from work...I don't want to login to my computer at home. It's an odd feeling...people I know have told me that it happens to them but I always logged on to check email etc when I got home in the states. Here....not so much.

Enjoy the sunrise pic at the helo ramp :)

Time to make the donuts

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, been really busy with work and my final exam, which is now done and over with.

Also, I finally have a fairly stable internet connection so things are looking up a bit. I don't know how much I'll be writing (certainly not day to day as before) especially since it's the same thing now, day in and day out.

I do a lot of walking these days, as vehicles...well, reliable ones....are pretty scarce here. I've definately lost some weight by the extra walking and watching what I eat. The meals here are better than navy chow on ships, I'll say that. I've had to get creative occasionally...like tonight I had to make my own tomato sauce for my spagetti. (ketchup, some italian dressing, a little bit of water....voila!) I can hear my mom saying "ewww gross" but hey, you do what you can around here. There are 5 different DFACs (or dining facilities) here and they kinda-sorta cater to the different nationalities. There is: american, german, asian, english, and french. They usually have a meal or something that harkons back to home at each meal. I generally eat at the asian or american as they are the closest to where I live and where I work. I have tried food in all the rest and....it's ok. Nothing really stands out.

There is a KFC, TGIF and an italian resteraunt here, but I've only been to the italian resteraunt. When you can get food for free, one tends to be not as picky. Perhaps I'll hit up TGIF one day just to see how it is but we'll see.

Oh, and today was "Bazaar day" so I got to visit the local's bazaar. They had carpets, pirated DVDs, pireated software, marble statues, wood carved items, etc. There wasn't really anything that caught my eye there.

Thats all for now.

ho-hum

I should have probably waited to write something when I'm not tired and annoyed at my net connection. I typed up something before but when I went to post the net crapped out and I lost all of it :(

I've been busy at work, and the net has been crappy so I havent really had the urge to post. It's sad that we pay the equivalent of 90 bucks a month for a crappy net connection because there is no other choice. I may not renew, I havent decided.

It's a bit strange here in kandahar, in that sometimes my macguyver skills are really put to the test. When I arrived and my boss and coworker came to pick me up, they were in a white toyota 2000 suv that had to be hotwired to start. I'm serious, they just non-chalantly reached down, twisted a couple of wires together and touched another wire to it to start the vehicle. I managed to scrounge some desk legs and a piece of plywood and when the person who lives below me goes to an outer base, I'll rearrange my living space and put the desk together, which will be really nice.

Not much else to say now that I'm here, really. Yes, there is a "poo pond" the way the septic system works and yes it smells but it reminds me more of the swampy areas in brick on certain days.

Here's to hoping this actually posts.

Home sweet home?

Well, they cancelled the evening flight so they only had the morning flight to KAF. Even though I was pretty far down on the list, I actually made the flight. So a C-130 flew me over and I'm now in Kandahar.

It's dusty.

No, really dusty.

The site lead here is really cool and helped me get a lot done today. For example, I'm writing this blog post from my rack. I have wireless access. It's not super, and its slow in the evening, but it works.

Right now I have a top rack, but next week I'll be moving to the rack below me and I'll be able to go nuts with customizing my new home. I can't wait.

Somone in my class was nice enough to not only type up the questions for the final, but he scanned in the pages from the book. I thanked him for his quick service!

Anyway thats all for now.

Rain?

So last night when I was leaving work it was raining...and thunder and lightning. I had heard that it rains out here, but first time I saw it. Cooled everything down, was nice.

Checked the flight schedule for today and there is a possibility I'll be flying today, we'll see how it goes.

The food here...isn't spectacular, but it isn't as bad as the food I remember from the Navy so that's a plus.

I talked to the guy who's going to be my supervisor down in KAF. He's super excited that I'm coming down there and is chomping at the bit. Yay. He also said that right now due to the short staff everyone is super busy. Yayx2. Not that I don't mind being busy, it helps the day go by quick...but I just got my final exam and have a few days to work on it. I'm sure I'll get the time I need, but we'll see.

Today's going to be a busy day since I'm flying Space A. I'll have to go to the terminal for each "roll call" to see if I'm a lucky winner and get chosen for a flight.

Type at you guys later.

p.s. Just had to come back and add this little tidbit. My final exam isn't due until aug 20. Cool. I had told the professor that my book went missing and she said I wouldn't need it. HOWEVER the final exam is based on 3 questions in the book.....WTF.

Thanks, professor.

I posted on the forum and asked if someone would be nice enough to scan the page/type up the questions for me. We'll see how that goes.

Meh.