Day 92

I won't lie...today was a relaxing today, for the most part. With the boss away, the Air Force guy and I split the day. I'm a morning guy and he had a 5pm teleconference so I headed in at 7am then headed back and swapped out the truck and then he headed in around lunch. That worked quite well. Before that, though, I was pleased to wake up to a nighttime NASCAR race in Kentucky...just in time for the final 50 or so laps. Espresso, Clif Bar, then off I went to the office. After that morning was wrapped up, I headed on back to trade out the truck and headed out for a haircut. Yep..another couple weeks gone! The last two times, I got it cut on my side of the base where I work. That shop is manned by either Afghan or Indian workers. They can't understand a lick of English, don't appear to really care about their work, and finish in under 5 minutes. So, I headed back to the first place I went when I got here. Remember that high and tight cut that Dorothy did NOT like? If you recall, it was cut by a lady from Kyrgyzstan, one of the 6 Turkic states north of Afghanistan...part of the former Soviet Union. So, Russian is their language. Well, this whole barber shop is from there and they do understand more English, appear to actually care and take their time, and smile! Wow, what a concept! So today, when I said to use "thinning shears" on the top (my hair grows fast and thick), she understood. No doubt about it...I am not going anywhere else from now on. I am super happy with the cut. While over there, I grabbed some lunch then took the 15min walk back to my room.

Before Dorothy went to bed last night, we quickly text each other and I told her I'd try to call. Well, that would be around 4pm my time so I got some stuff done in my room after lunch then headed out on another perimeter run, only to take an intermission break back at my office where I could call her. 4 1/2 miles there and 4 1/2 miles back. The only thing about today? 98F, sub-10% humidity, 5000 feet up. You don't even sweat in these conditions. The moisture gets sucked out so fast and it's tough to keep going. I was carrying Gatorade today and couldn't keep up. So, the respite halfway through my run to talk to Dorothy was perfect...in air conditioning. We probably talked nearly an hour and it was awesome. It had been too long since we last talked. We even planned our 2012 summer vacation! I found a cruise that leaves about 6 hours from our home, sails to Bermuda then comes back. It's still a week long but 2 full days of Bermuda is in the middle...pink sand beaches, great food, and did I say, beach?! Dorothy was born to be on the beach so this will be perfect. Of course, we like to cruise, too, so the rest of the time will be spent cruising...and eating!

After a tough run back, it was dinner time (absolutely HORRIBLE!!!!) followed by a scoop of praline ice cream. The food...oh my...just so bad. It was even worse because I really needed a good meal post-run. Oh well...at least I had some light popcorn a bit ago. So that's pretty much a wrap, everyone. Back home, it's family reunion time on Dorothy's side of the family...always a good time. Sorry to be missing it!

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 91

June '91: graduated high school. August '91: joined the Navy and went to boot-camp. Christmas Eve '91: Dorothy and I were sitting on Santa's Lap and I slid off and down to one knee and proposed to her. Thankfully, she said yes or there wouldn't be a Tin Man or Scarecrow nearly 19 years later! So Day 91...just conjured up some memories as I thought about it and thought I'd share.

As the boss is away right now, it was another quiet but busy day today. The first half of Saturdays are always jam-packed as I do my weekly update to all of my "customers" who have massive orders in the system. I receive transportation updates overnight and I add those in to a tracking system I manage then push that out country-wide. Everyone who is waiting on material counts on this each Saturday and I have yet to let them down. The afternoon really slowed down and involved a trip to Green Beans Coffee again with my Air Force office-mate. It was in the mid-90s today so the iced espresso chai latte hit the spot. Only a few bucks left on my coffee card! I've been nursing that thing for quite awhile now along with a free $2.00 credit every couple of days from anonymous donors. Today, I got another one of those.  She lives in Buffalo, NY, is married, is an ER nurse, and a runner! Dorothy is also an ER nurse. I enjoy conversing in pen-pal fashion with a good deal of the donors who give me coffee. Not all write back, but I always thank every one personally. Pretty cool.

Around 5pm tonight, I had but one duty. An Air Force officer that is the same rank as me is heading HOME tonight...actually, she's probably airborne by now. She finished 6 months here and is heading home. All of her teammates have already left so she was left alone here. I was asked to help her with her several hundred pounds of gear and truck her to the terminal since we pretty much adopted her and her team. She's not part of the agency I'm here with but they shared office space with us. I was very happy to help...to take someone to the terminal where they will lift off from this country for good is cool to be a part of. And oh my...there were a LOT of people leaving tonight. An entire task force here on the base just turned over and they are leaving in waves. There were hundreds of seabags stacked up everywhere, their weapons zip-tied for the flight out of the country and grins everywhere. Ahhh...so much to look forward to. Every time I drive to that terminal, I think about that very day.

Once I got back, I laced up my running shoes (which I can't wait to trash...they are disgusting...so filled with the dust and filth from this place and the cushion is totally SHOT) and hit the road for another 8 mile perimeter run. It was a pretty good run filled with songs from the Passion 2011 event. Great running tunes. Once back, I ate some food from my many care packages and popped some popcorn. I also found out tonight that the Pandora Internet Music app that I just updated yesterday on my iPhone lifted the international restriction that was there before. Before, it "knew" I wasn't stateside and wouldn't stream music. Well, since I have set up my own WiFi hotspot in my room, I thought I'd try it again and BAM! It works! So awesome! I'd rather listen to music than watch repeats of the same movies on the Armed Forces Network. 

So the photos...I had mentioned I went out and took some. I'm including a few of my favorites here tonight. I have a SmugMug account but if I linked it, this blog wouldn't be anonymous anymore so you'll have to settle for only these. Also, the Air Force guy in my office does Cross Fit a few times a week. Those work outs are very intense and involve rapid and forceful movements. I asked if he'd mind if I photographed him and the Army guy he works out with so I can practice shooting in bright daylight with fast motion and see if I get the kind of photos I'm "shooting" for...hehehehehe. Plus, if I get good ones, they both will have great shots to share with family back home! So I'll be trying that in a few days when they work out again.  So to the photos from a few nights ago...

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 90

A nice round number, eh? I'll like 100 even more. It'll be here soon as will the halfway point. I did learn today that the halfway point is really more of an estimate. I have a feeling that my actual departure date from this not-to-be-missed-one-bit country isn't set in stone...it's approximate but will NOT go past a certain point. It's far enough out now not to concern myself with it and it'll solidify as I get closer to it and the Navy cuts me official orders to "re-deploy" as they call it. But enough talk about leaving...I think about it all day, every day but that's too far into the future to say much more.

My boss headed out today. Nice trip for him as his wife is conveniently deployed as well...in the same location of this conference....hmmmm....he couldn't stop smiling as he walked into the terminal this morning. Lucky, LUCKY guy! Shared room, a week away...dang. Anyway, with the boss away, the phone rang 1/10 as much and it was very quiet. My normal 9:30am Friday meeting today followed by some Green Beans Coffee. Today, I had one of their small Mocha Frappes. Very, VERY good..especially if you like chocolate. Perfect for the 94F outside. Also at the coffee shop were coffee mugs. These are VERY rare. I've been watching for them for the past two months. I grabbed one for 5 bucks (dirt cheap for a heavy, quality mug).

Didn't you meet my zebra and beaver yet? Yes, they are on my desk at all times and keep me company. Both arrived in care packages so putting them away, out of site just isn't an option. Inside the fine coffee mug? Mint tea, courtesy of Dorothy's brother and sister-in-law via care package. Great stuff.

After the normal grind, dinner time approached and since it's Friday night, it's Surf-n-Turf night. I had myself another lobster tail and crab cake. Very good but two weeks ago was the best when they loaded me up with two tails..and they were the best I have had so far. Tonight was OK but better than any other meal. Afterwards, the Air Force guy I was with wanted a Green Beans Coffee so we swung by there..none for me. Guess what, though...those coffee mugs were already sold out. I knew it!!! "Winning!" For breakfast today, I had the last of my cereal. I have REALLY appreciated the Kashi cereal that I received from home. I am going to revert back to Clif Bars for breakfast now as I really don't want to go to the dining facility in the morning. I treasure my private time to brew my espresso and check in with all my friends and family online when I wake up each day. No biggee...I've got plenty of those bars to work through. It takes a dedicated effort to work through all of these care packages!!! :-)

After dinner, we headed back to the office for a bit. E-mails were continuing to pour in as the States were working through everything I had sent them...already the weekend again for them now! Dang!!! Back in my room, another 30 minutes were spent on lock-down as the enemy launched another rocket attack at us. I'll have no idea about the damage/injury/etc. until tomorrow. I heard it was over on my side of the base where I work but I really have no idea. I'll read the whole intel brief tomorrow. Well, that's about it from here tonight.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 89

Besides talking to Tin Man and Scarecrow, there's not much else to tell you about today. We didn't have much to talk about but just the small talk was good enough for me. That and 13 hours in the office pretty much wraps up the day.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 88

I gotta tell ya...this long, long weekend for the States has been drawn out long enough! The people I need to keep the ship moving were for the most part, gone since last Thursday...and with the time difference, didn't come back to work until this late afternoon as yesterday was a federal holiday. While I'm sure they sent plenty of work my way so far today, I wasn't about to sit around all night and wait for it. 5:30pm came around and I decided I just needed to get out of there. It was a decent day up until then and I stayed busy but I was ready to leave.

I got back to my room and immediately dropped off my clean laundry in my room and headed out to where the flag flies that you see on this blog background. I had been out there once before (which is where this background came from) but with my new camera, I wanted to head back out. By time the night ended, I had taken photos of that flag (recently replaced and no longer tattered), barbed wire, mountains, weeds, blowing grass, kiwis, oranges, bullets, and eyes! Yep...quite the mix. Unfortunately, with the super slow internet in my room, those pics remain on the memory card for now. We'll see how they look tomorrow on my work computer.

So there you go. I've got nothing else for you today. No phone calls and not much of any communication with the outside world at all so it's a wrap for today. You all deserve a short post every now and then, right?! You know what? Day 100 is really not that far away. The halfway point isn't too much further, either. :-)

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 87

It was probably around 6pm on the east coast of the United States and 3am-ish here this morning and there we went again. Over the speakers throughout the base was announced yet another rocket attack. Turns out, this one was so lazily launched, it didn't even get close to the wall. Not knowing if more were to come, all personnel sought cover and a full accounting was conducted. That's standard practice whenever these things happen here. We all have our contact person who collects the thumbs up from everyone then calls it in. Then go figure...my piece of garbage Afghan phone wouldn't dial or text. Eventually, the guy got a hold of me..he lives just one door down from me. You may wonder why I didn't just walk down there. That's a big no-no. They announce "shelter in place" which means stay right where you are. If you're out and about, there are concrete bunkers everywhere so you just run to one of them and stay put until the all-clear is given. About 20-25min into it, the all-clear was given and I headed back to bed. That's certainly an alarm clock I won't miss when I go HOME. So that's how my Tuesday started! And yours? :-)

It was yet another slow one..federal holiday back home but business as usual here. There were a few shining lights today. One was another care package from Dorothy's brother's family out west. GREAT art...I mean REALLY good. It's bright, it's patriotic, it's colorful, and it's full of love from my niece. I LOVE it! Of course, I had to share it with you.

Also today came my new Nikon camera so as soon as I could get that battery charged, I was playing around. LOVIN' it so far! I was a total goof...trying to find any little thing at my desk to take a photo of. It's going to be a lot of fun...that's for sure. For the rest of the night, I had a difficult-to-call-a-dinner dinner then relaxing in my room and enjoying some popcorn. They were playing "A Capitol Fourth" and the Boston Pops Fourth of July Celebration on Armed Forces Network tonight so that was great to watch. I always watch both of these back home so I guess better late than never, eh?!

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 86

I just love how on holidays, I set the alarm 1 1/2 to 2 hours EARLIER when I could sleep in. Such is the life of a runner. Always worth it, though. Today, the sister event to the Peachtree 10K kicked off at 6am but as before, I live on the other side of the base so up early enough to have a bite to eat and to run to the other side. Once I got there, it was crawling with runners and reps from Harley Davidson and FedEx, the two main corporate sponsors of the race. I picked up my number and listened to the pre-race announcements and guidance that around noon today, we should head to the flightline for some special guests on base and a mass re-enlistment by "someone."

At 6am, we were off! Luckily, the wind was practically non-existent...very rare for this base. No blowing crud in my eyes or anything. We headed out and in true "me" fashion, stopped to take a few pics here and there. I wanted to capture how different it is here to show folks back home. I gotta say...I'm really looking forward to running races again minus the barbed wire and T-Walls (shown left to right in this photo). Gotta love the t-walls, though...those rockets the Taliban fire at our base won't go through those. Some have even bounced off of them. So back to the race...I certainly didn't run it like a race. I was all about enjoying the running 'company', snapping a few pics, and making it last. I did about 9min miles and finished around 53 minutes. I quickly made it over to the t-shirts and picked mine up. After that, I signed the race banner which ended getting strung up on the deck (see below). I dedicated the race to all of my trail running friends back in "Kansas" and wrote that on the banner. Great way to kick off the 4th! (still weird that back home, it was still Sunday night!)

I made my way back to the office just a few blocks away and answered a few e-mails, had an iced lemonade (thanks, Sir Charles!), and uploaded my photos. Once that was done, I loaded up box of care package things and headed on back to my room, picking up about 4 soldiers on the way. Anytime I have an empty vehicle, I try to pick soldiers up. This group hailed from Fort Carson, Colorado. Not much was said in the short trip except for a hearty "Happy 4th" and "Be safe!" as I dropped them off. Back at the room, I cleaned up and headed back to the office. Once lunchtime rolled around, I headed to the flightline to find out who the mystery guests were.

Today marks the 235th anniversary of our nation and going with that theme, 235 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen were going to re-enlist or reaffirm their oath. (cake at right was at front of room and was HUGE!!!) To lead them in this was THE boss here in Afghanistan...General David Petraeus! HIs time is very limited as commander as he is about to retire and take over the CIA Director job. Along with him, three senators showed up, Senator John McCain (a retired 23 year Navy veteran/pilot/Vietnam POW), Senator Joe Lieberman, and Senator Lindsey Graham. It was pretty clear from the get-go that Senator McCain was the lead senator. He had a seat on the stage with the General and the others were in the front row on the floor. The ceremony had the national anthem, a salute to every state (even 50 flags were along the side of the room), the re-enlistment, and songs played for every service. The 1st Calvary orchestra provided all the music. Also, both General Petraeus and  Senator McCain spoke to the troops. Below is Senator McCain while he was talking to the troops. All in all, it was a great afternoon. Only one regret...I wish I would've shoved myself towards the senator and shook his hand and had a photo op. Oh well, I did sit in a F-15E Strike Eagle a few days ago. :-)

Senator John McCain and General David Petraeus

I swung by the Exchange afterwards where they've been building that deck. The word was that there would be plenty of festivities going on. It was a dud...nothing....nada. I asked someone who would know, and nothing along the lines of a musical act was coming in tonight. I headed on back to the office and uploaded some more photos and ended up not leaving the office until after 7pm. It was very good time spent as I talked to Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow, both of my brothers and their wives.. It was great. I figured my late return to my room was no big deal if I could have some good calls with my brothers.

Back in my room, I continued my addiction to Adorama TV. Adorama is a photography retailer in New York City. Basically, Adorama TV has many, many 3 to 11min videos that go over how to do different things with DSLR cameras like the one that should be here any day. I watched the ones about shooting lightning, fireworks, about viewing angle and my favorite, "street photography." Street photography is almost more relational and social than the technical side of photography. It's about taking those closeups of complete strangers you meet on the street. I think I'd love to gain some confidence and do this. I really can't wait to start putting into practice all I'm learning through these videos. I take notes during each one so I can put into practice the suggestions when the time comes. The more I learn about photography and the different styles, the more excited I get about diving head first into this.

I was thinking...I can't wait to get home and reveal everything anonymous. The day I can introduce you to Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow will be cool day. Looking forward to it! For now, Day 87 beckons and my eyelids can barely stay upright. Time for bed!

Goodnight, everyone!