Thanks to Lisa for reminding me that I forgot to continue updating my blog. However, shortly after that reminder, my Internet went out for a few hours, then I had to go work, SO I forgot again for a minute. "Minute" = a few days. :)
Our Internet has been going out quite frequently at the camp lately. Frustrating for sure. I haven't had the time to troubleshoot it because I usually just fall asleep by 9-10pm.
This post is pretty boring, or will be, I can tell you that right now. It is basically a timeline of my trip from Iraq to the US to give you an idea of what I went thru and how my sleep patterns got kinda messed up. The return trip was worse though.
I forget exactly when I arrived at the terminal the night I left Iraq, but I can tell you the flight didn't depart until 2:30am and we landed in Kuwait around 5:30-6am - did not sleep on the flight. It was too loud and uncomfortable. I checked in at the Kuwait base and waited for about an hour to figure out what I was supposed to do or get done. Finally, I was directed to a tent to drop my stuff off and sleep if desired. The tent had 8 or 9 bunk beds and all the bottom beds were taken, so I grabbed a top bunk (was not given sheets, towels, pillows at this time) and tried to sleep around 9am. I used my backpack as a pillow.
After trying to sleep twice, I got about 3-4 hours of broken sleep in that morning/afternoon. Got a bus ride to Kuwait International Airport around 9pm to catch the 1am flight to Frankfurt, Germany. No problem, easy navigation. The flight took about 5.5 hours and I don't remember getting any sleep on this flight, I slept approximately 1.5 hours on this or the next flight.
After arriving in Germany at 8am, I had 5.5 hours to kill before my 1:30pm flight to Philly. Since I could not go to sleep and didn't have time to leave the airport and come back, I just roamed the shops section of the airport for 5 hours - Sitting, walking, "shopping".
The flight back to the States took about 8-9 hours (Left at 1:30pm Germany time, arrived in Philly at 4:30pm EST). Again, I don't remember which flight I got sleep on, but the total sleep was about 1.5 hours between the Kuwait-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Philly flights.
Upon arriving in Philly, I was picked up by one of my best friends (good man, Jesse) and dropped off at home. I dropped my things off, hung around for a little bit, then went over to my other best friend's house (Andrew) for the night. Finally fell asleep at 11pm - while we were still hanging out and talking, something they've gotten used to me doing. ;)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Six Months Completed
I'm going to start by apologizing for the months I skipped with no blog post. Next, I'm going to apologize because I didn't record any of what happened that might be of interest in the time in Iraq before I went on vacation, so I can only remember a few things. There really wasn't anything that interesting except for the rocket that landed nearby, but I'll get to that later.
In the week prior to leaving the base, I started going to the gym with Peter and/or Anjaz almost every day. It was real nice to actually be doing something active other than climbing T-walls (which can be fun). Working out at the gym consistently means that I might eventually be able to wear the form-fitting Under Armour shirt that I had bought out there. The shirt accentuated the size of my stomach and, unfortunately, I cannot hold my stomach in that long. ;) It's pretty obvious where I gained 15 lbs in that 6 months in Iraq. If you don't believe me, Adnan will vouch for the fact that I shouldn't wear that shirt just yet.
I've been so exhausted lately, it's been hard to recover memories that long ago (1-2 months ago), so I'll end this post here...
Oh, right, you are probably saying, "What about the rocket you mentioned?! What happened?!" The night before I left, I was just chillin' on my laptop in my room with a music channel playing on the TV when I thought I heard some alarm sound going off outside and a voice on the loudspeaker. I started thinking, "That's not the normal 'there will be a controlled detonation...' voice." As soon as I thought that, there was a loud explosion and my trailer shook. Now, this is something that is normal with a controlled detonation, except that this time wasn't a controlled detonation. I can usually tell the difference, but it definitely makes it easier when there's a voice on the loudspeaker urgently saying, "Incoming incoming incoming, take cover, take cover, incoming incoming!" which, upon immediately muting the TV, jumping up and going outside, I found out was what was being said over the loudspeaker. Apparently, the rocket landed in an office and blew a hole in the roof and one wall. Thankfully no one was there when it happened. I would make a guess that it was approximately 200-300 meters from our camp, or ~600-900 feet away. I could smell the smoke from the explosion.
Yes, there has been an increase in attacks from what I noticed in the past month, but I'm not worried. It's still not bad and the attackers still aren't very good at causing destruction.
Anyways, the next post will continue my adventure to this land called "America".
In the week prior to leaving the base, I started going to the gym with Peter and/or Anjaz almost every day. It was real nice to actually be doing something active other than climbing T-walls (which can be fun). Working out at the gym consistently means that I might eventually be able to wear the form-fitting Under Armour shirt that I had bought out there. The shirt accentuated the size of my stomach and, unfortunately, I cannot hold my stomach in that long. ;) It's pretty obvious where I gained 15 lbs in that 6 months in Iraq. If you don't believe me, Adnan will vouch for the fact that I shouldn't wear that shirt just yet.
I've been so exhausted lately, it's been hard to recover memories that long ago (1-2 months ago), so I'll end this post here...
Oh, right, you are probably saying, "What about the rocket you mentioned?! What happened?!" The night before I left, I was just chillin' on my laptop in my room with a music channel playing on the TV when I thought I heard some alarm sound going off outside and a voice on the loudspeaker. I started thinking, "That's not the normal 'there will be a controlled detonation...' voice." As soon as I thought that, there was a loud explosion and my trailer shook. Now, this is something that is normal with a controlled detonation, except that this time wasn't a controlled detonation. I can usually tell the difference, but it definitely makes it easier when there's a voice on the loudspeaker urgently saying, "Incoming incoming incoming, take cover, take cover, incoming incoming!" which, upon immediately muting the TV, jumping up and going outside, I found out was what was being said over the loudspeaker. Apparently, the rocket landed in an office and blew a hole in the roof and one wall. Thankfully no one was there when it happened. I would make a guess that it was approximately 200-300 meters from our camp, or ~600-900 feet away. I could smell the smoke from the explosion.
Yes, there has been an increase in attacks from what I noticed in the past month, but I'm not worried. It's still not bad and the attackers still aren't very good at causing destruction.
Anyways, the next post will continue my adventure to this land called "America".
Friday, September 25, 2009
Remembering The Blog
I didn't forget about you guys, really. I just forgot about the blog. My apologies!
One month, no updates, and I forgot to write down the interesting things that have happened in that time, so bear with me while I journey around my memories for the details.
Actually, in the last couple weeks it's been hard to do anything without being interrupted/distracted by someone here regarding work. I need to hide to get anything significant done.
I'll start with the thing everyone is probably thinking about. "When are you going on vacation???"
There have been a lot of things going on here lately, between increased activity from the outside (mortars, etc), an accident, network-related problems (my job) and the future.
Oh right, vacation. Some of you wanted to know when I'm coming home.
The answer --> I don't know. :)
It'll definitely be some time in October, but I don't know if it will be the first week or middle. But there are a few things I want to do when I get home and can't wait!
1. See family and friends.
2. Play hockey & volleyball.
3. Eat a real Philly cheesesteak.
4. Eat artichoke and beef fondue.
5. Drive my CAR on a SMOOTH road, with the windows down, and not have to worry about all the dust that could get inside.
So what has been going on in the life of Gavin in Iraq?
I'll start with the typical / expected details:
I'm burned out at work. I work too much and the results don't end in a fix much of the time. If I had the time to learn about the backend equipment and software better, I could possibly fix things up a little without relying on others to do it. It's not that the work is hard anymore, I understand a lot of it. It's just that there are a lot of things going wrong that are beyond what I work on and I don't want to mess with it until I know I won't make the bad worse. There are fixes, but they either take too long to do, are temporary, cost too much, or we're not allowed to do it.
A week ago a helicopter crashed in/near one of the housing areas. I did not see the damages done, if any, but I heard that four people were killed. :(
In the next 3-4 days following, in probably unrelated incidents, we saw a large increase in attacks on the base. The "incoming" alerts and anti-mortar guns went off at least 4 times a night and I noticed at least 7 on one night. There were also a few during the day.
On one of the days, there were a number of soldiers wearing body armor.
On the bright side, I met a really talkative (not in a bad way) contractor who happens to have a lot of contacts for other contracting jobs all over the world. He gave me all kinds of info on jobs and said he could guarantee me one job. I have to find out a lot more on the details, but I am liking the sound of the job. It would place me in Africa, working 4 months at a time, approximately 40 hours a week, making good money. I worked 5 months here at an avg of 75-80 hours a week, so 4 months at 40 hours is not bad at all!
Even if the Africa job doesn't pan out, there are a lot of other possibilities. I'm also going to speak with a guy here who had offered me a job and see if he still has something available. I wouldn't mind staying here if the pay was better.
One month, no updates, and I forgot to write down the interesting things that have happened in that time, so bear with me while I journey around my memories for the details.
Actually, in the last couple weeks it's been hard to do anything without being interrupted/distracted by someone here regarding work. I need to hide to get anything significant done.
I'll start with the thing everyone is probably thinking about. "When are you going on vacation???"
There have been a lot of things going on here lately, between increased activity from the outside (mortars, etc), an accident, network-related problems (my job) and the future.
Oh right, vacation. Some of you wanted to know when I'm coming home.
The answer --> I don't know. :)
It'll definitely be some time in October, but I don't know if it will be the first week or middle. But there are a few things I want to do when I get home and can't wait!
1. See family and friends.
2. Play hockey & volleyball.
3. Eat a real Philly cheesesteak.
4. Eat artichoke and beef fondue.
5. Drive my CAR on a SMOOTH road, with the windows down, and not have to worry about all the dust that could get inside.
So what has been going on in the life of Gavin in Iraq?
I'll start with the typical / expected details:
I'm burned out at work. I work too much and the results don't end in a fix much of the time. If I had the time to learn about the backend equipment and software better, I could possibly fix things up a little without relying on others to do it. It's not that the work is hard anymore, I understand a lot of it. It's just that there are a lot of things going wrong that are beyond what I work on and I don't want to mess with it until I know I won't make the bad worse. There are fixes, but they either take too long to do, are temporary, cost too much, or we're not allowed to do it.
A week ago a helicopter crashed in/near one of the housing areas. I did not see the damages done, if any, but I heard that four people were killed. :(
In the next 3-4 days following, in probably unrelated incidents, we saw a large increase in attacks on the base. The "incoming" alerts and anti-mortar guns went off at least 4 times a night and I noticed at least 7 on one night. There were also a few during the day.
On one of the days, there were a number of soldiers wearing body armor.
On the bright side, I met a really talkative (not in a bad way) contractor who happens to have a lot of contacts for other contracting jobs all over the world. He gave me all kinds of info on jobs and said he could guarantee me one job. I have to find out a lot more on the details, but I am liking the sound of the job. It would place me in Africa, working 4 months at a time, approximately 40 hours a week, making good money. I worked 5 months here at an avg of 75-80 hours a week, so 4 months at 40 hours is not bad at all!
Even if the Africa job doesn't pan out, there are a lot of other possibilities. I'm also going to speak with a guy here who had offered me a job and see if he still has something available. I wouldn't mind staying here if the pay was better.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Blog vs Gym
Blog 1, Gym 0.
Yes, I was thinking, "I have time to go to the gym tonight!" as I sat down to check my email real quick before going. Yet there was something about a bed, lying down, and being on the computer that just made me rethink my desire to hit the gym. Or maybe it was just because I felt bad for my readers/fans ;) and felt like updating the blog for once.
The gym can wait. It always has. Kinda like me and a girlfriend.
So, what do you guys want to know about the past month+ that has gone by without an update from the dust bowl?
I made some new friends, female and male. Awesome.
I will be going to the runway to take a tour of the aircraft and get some pics and all, should be good times! (Ok, yes, I know I've been saying this for about a month now, but something always happens - someone said I'm just not meant to go there and have my picture taken around cool stuff)
I will be taking vacation sometime soon, hopefully. Where to is still being decided, but I'm pretty sure that this first vacation will be back home. Next will be Europe.
Other than the 80-100 hour weeks I've been putting in, there are some hopeful things to come. Granted those hopeful things are work related and I need to free up some time in order to do those things...and that would put me back up to the 80-100 hour/week range.
I really don't mind doing most of the work (as long as I'm successful and not wasting time or doing things wrong/sloppy as that's a pet peeve of mine). I enjoy climbing trailers/walls, but my hands get tore up when I do that (and dirty). Soft skin vs rough terrain doesn't bode or end well with my soft skin. Rips my hands up so quick.
I'm trying to go swimming twice a week and would like to incorporate the gym somewhere in there, at least twice a week. The swimming pool has a scale like you would find at the doctor's office - with the slider, not digital. I think it isn't calibrated correctly, because last week I was about 76 kilos (167 lbs) and this week I was 82 kilos (180 lbs). Now I know my stomach has gotten larger since I got here in April (not the rest of me), but I did NOT gain 13 lbs in 1 week. I was eating lighter meals too! I'm going to go ahead and blame liquid retention again. I need to go sweat it out or something.
Now I understand why girls hate scales so much.
Actually, my reason is quite different. I won't go any further with that or I might get in trouble. ;)
Our lead field tech, Habib, is leaving sometime in the next few days to go home and get married. He'll be gone somewhere between 1.5-3 months. Depends how long his marriage lasts. Oh that was meannnnn. Sorry Habib, even though you'll never read this, I just don't think trying to eat arms or break necks is attractive to women. :P
Habib is a good guy as long as you're on his good side. I've been on the other side for a bit now, but I've been trying to get back on his good side. It's kind of hard to explain the whole situation and it has a lot to do with his beliefs, lifestyle, work ethic, determination, and though process.
He thinks I don't do much work because I'm multitasking working the field, service calls, customer service, and backend stuff. He only pays attention to the field work.
It's all good though. I've been learning to deal with some of the craziness he puts me thru.
Work is going ok, minus the tools and equipment that always seems to disappear from our truck and the Egyptians deny taking things (but somehow end up with some of the things I find in their truck). I taught some of them the word "Cleptomaniac".
Speaking of those kids, I'm gonna get some video of them working or saying things. I'll put em up on Facebook or Youtube or something sometime. Maybe even here.
Ok, this post is long. To summarize the rest:
Mongolian night is the best dinner night by far.
I got sick one day and didn't go to the doctor as people said I should have. It was my day off when I was sick, but I took the next day off as well to sleep in and rest/recover.
I am kind of worried what will happen to the customer service side of things when I go on vacation, since many people just email me directly. I shudder to think of what might happen when an American with 10 years of customer service experience turns it over to nationals with barely any CS experience.
Lastly, I miss skating. I miss hockey. Oh, and I miss family and friends!
Yes, I was thinking, "I have time to go to the gym tonight!" as I sat down to check my email real quick before going. Yet there was something about a bed, lying down, and being on the computer that just made me rethink my desire to hit the gym. Or maybe it was just because I felt bad for my readers/fans ;) and felt like updating the blog for once.
The gym can wait. It always has. Kinda like me and a girlfriend.
So, what do you guys want to know about the past month+ that has gone by without an update from the dust bowl?
I made some new friends, female and male. Awesome.
I will be going to the runway to take a tour of the aircraft and get some pics and all, should be good times! (Ok, yes, I know I've been saying this for about a month now, but something always happens - someone said I'm just not meant to go there and have my picture taken around cool stuff)
I will be taking vacation sometime soon, hopefully. Where to is still being decided, but I'm pretty sure that this first vacation will be back home. Next will be Europe.
Other than the 80-100 hour weeks I've been putting in, there are some hopeful things to come. Granted those hopeful things are work related and I need to free up some time in order to do those things...and that would put me back up to the 80-100 hour/week range.
I really don't mind doing most of the work (as long as I'm successful and not wasting time or doing things wrong/sloppy as that's a pet peeve of mine). I enjoy climbing trailers/walls, but my hands get tore up when I do that (and dirty). Soft skin vs rough terrain doesn't bode or end well with my soft skin. Rips my hands up so quick.
I'm trying to go swimming twice a week and would like to incorporate the gym somewhere in there, at least twice a week. The swimming pool has a scale like you would find at the doctor's office - with the slider, not digital. I think it isn't calibrated correctly, because last week I was about 76 kilos (167 lbs) and this week I was 82 kilos (180 lbs). Now I know my stomach has gotten larger since I got here in April (not the rest of me), but I did NOT gain 13 lbs in 1 week. I was eating lighter meals too! I'm going to go ahead and blame liquid retention again. I need to go sweat it out or something.
Now I understand why girls hate scales so much.
Actually, my reason is quite different. I won't go any further with that or I might get in trouble. ;)
Our lead field tech, Habib, is leaving sometime in the next few days to go home and get married. He'll be gone somewhere between 1.5-3 months. Depends how long his marriage lasts. Oh that was meannnnn. Sorry Habib, even though you'll never read this, I just don't think trying to eat arms or break necks is attractive to women. :P
Habib is a good guy as long as you're on his good side. I've been on the other side for a bit now, but I've been trying to get back on his good side. It's kind of hard to explain the whole situation and it has a lot to do with his beliefs, lifestyle, work ethic, determination, and though process.
He thinks I don't do much work because I'm multitasking working the field, service calls, customer service, and backend stuff. He only pays attention to the field work.
It's all good though. I've been learning to deal with some of the craziness he puts me thru.
Work is going ok, minus the tools and equipment that always seems to disappear from our truck and the Egyptians deny taking things (but somehow end up with some of the things I find in their truck). I taught some of them the word "Cleptomaniac".
Speaking of those kids, I'm gonna get some video of them working or saying things. I'll put em up on Facebook or Youtube or something sometime. Maybe even here.
Ok, this post is long. To summarize the rest:
Mongolian night is the best dinner night by far.
I got sick one day and didn't go to the doctor as people said I should have. It was my day off when I was sick, but I took the next day off as well to sleep in and rest/recover.
I am kind of worried what will happen to the customer service side of things when I go on vacation, since many people just email me directly. I shudder to think of what might happen when an American with 10 years of customer service experience turns it over to nationals with barely any CS experience.
Lastly, I miss skating. I miss hockey. Oh, and I miss family and friends!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
I Will Survive
"It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive." -*-Princess Bride quote-*-
I am around, I am alive. I haven't taken a day off (partially my choice so I wouldn't have to deal with as many complaints later on) in over 3 weeks. The last 3-5 days (I don't know how many have gone by like this), I've worked ~16 hours each day.
I'm tired. -_-
I was going to twist the "I Will Survive" song (if that's even the title), but I don't have time...running out now. More to come. Hopefully soon, because that means my brain is untangling and isn't like a spiderweb with broken webbing.
I am around, I am alive. I haven't taken a day off (partially my choice so I wouldn't have to deal with as many complaints later on) in over 3 weeks. The last 3-5 days (I don't know how many have gone by like this), I've worked ~16 hours each day.
I'm tired. -_-
I was going to twist the "I Will Survive" song (if that's even the title), but I don't have time...running out now. More to come. Hopefully soon, because that means my brain is untangling and isn't like a spiderweb with broken webbing.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A Little Excitement (Hopefully) Never Hurts.
FYI, the title means "(Hopefully) Never Hurts", not "A Little Excitement (Hopefully)".
After an exhilarating 3 days of thick dust-fog, it started to clear up only to find a C113 (I think) had crash landed on the runway right near our NOC (office). It wasn't a terrible crash, landing gear probably malfunctioned or something. It did catch fire though.
The next evening, I was dropping a coworker off for dinner and an MP (military police) flew past us with his lights going. Dropped Imran off and the MP had stopped only about 40-50 feet away from us searching the ground with flashlights.
Turns out, as Imran told me later, a mortar had landed in that area and they had closed the DFAC (chow hall) early because of it. It had landed maybe 10-15 minutes prior to us arriving.
I hope no one got hurt. I never heard whether or not there were injuries and don't think there were. Was I scared? Naw. Kinda would like to see a mortar land somewhere. Would be a cool experience, though I'd hate to be a target of any shrapnel.
Two weeks of bad dust storms on the weekend means I've had to miss going swimming on my day off two weeks in a row. The week before that, the Egyptians were working all day, so we didn't go. I'm getting lazy. Sleepy. Zzzzzz.
I'm trying to eat lighter or less often or both until I start doing something active again. This whole no activity and lots of eating thing doesn't bode well.
I have to be careful climbing (as much as I'd like to see how fast I can scale a wall and get on a roof) because of the bursitis in my shoulder. It doesn't bother me, but if I tweak my arm like I did last week, it not only doesn't feel good, but it doesn't sound good either. :)
Wow, I think this post just made me look like I was becoming fat, lazy and falling apart. Thanks brain.
After an exhilarating 3 days of thick dust-fog, it started to clear up only to find a C113 (I think) had crash landed on the runway right near our NOC (office). It wasn't a terrible crash, landing gear probably malfunctioned or something. It did catch fire though.
The next evening, I was dropping a coworker off for dinner and an MP (military police) flew past us with his lights going. Dropped Imran off and the MP had stopped only about 40-50 feet away from us searching the ground with flashlights.
Turns out, as Imran told me later, a mortar had landed in that area and they had closed the DFAC (chow hall) early because of it. It had landed maybe 10-15 minutes prior to us arriving.
I hope no one got hurt. I never heard whether or not there were injuries and don't think there were. Was I scared? Naw. Kinda would like to see a mortar land somewhere. Would be a cool experience, though I'd hate to be a target of any shrapnel.
Two weeks of bad dust storms on the weekend means I've had to miss going swimming on my day off two weeks in a row. The week before that, the Egyptians were working all day, so we didn't go. I'm getting lazy. Sleepy. Zzzzzz.
I'm trying to eat lighter or less often or both until I start doing something active again. This whole no activity and lots of eating thing doesn't bode well.
I have to be careful climbing (as much as I'd like to see how fast I can scale a wall and get on a roof) because of the bursitis in my shoulder. It doesn't bother me, but if I tweak my arm like I did last week, it not only doesn't feel good, but it doesn't sound good either. :)
Wow, I think this post just made me look like I was becoming fat, lazy and falling apart. Thanks brain.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Build a Sand Castle.
I'm sorry, the title is a little misleading. Read on.
On Mon, Tue, Wed and Thu, I was out in the sun working/hiding in the shade every 2-30 minutes. Some might say 2 minutes in the sun, 30 minutes in the shade. I scoff and laugh at that! It was more like 4 minutes in the sun.
Just kidding. The actual time spent in the sun or shade was anywhere between 2-30 minutes at a time. Yes, I was working, not just supervising. I get too bored supervising.
Monday was fine. Myself and three Egyptians set out to dig trenches thru the dorms area.
No, not WWI trenches. These were 6-10 inch deep trenches so that we could lay 1 inch cable conduit in between the dorms in order to provide Internet service to the troops in the dorms.
Digging wasn't a problem. I enjoy digging, somewhat. I always loved shoveling snow as a kid, teenager, college student. I prefer shoveling snow. It's an excuse to work out some muscles.
The problem was getting under the sidewalks. The dirt was packed hard and we could only dig a few inches under it before having to use a sledgehammer to hammer a metal pipe thru the rest of the way. This process took about 45min to an hour for each of 8 sidewalks and was very tiring.
Oh and yes, 105-115 degrees at midday, you better believe I was drinking fluids. I was going thru about 1 bottle of water an hour (32oz or more) plus a Gatorade or energy drink here and there.
On Wednesday, I almost injured a couple of our guys when my tired arms tried swinging the heavy sledgehammer at the pipe to force it thru underneath the sidewalk and it slipped out of my hands (ok, I missed the pipe because I was trying to show the guys to hit it dead on instead of on top). The hammer flew over the sidewalk and landed a couple feet past it. Luckily the two guys behind me were paying attention and dodged it (barely). We had a laugh, as I'm sure the few Airforce guys at a bus stop did too.
The Egyptians are crazy workers. One of the guys who dodged my sledgehammer toss (no, I wasn't pretending to be Koopa either) was swinging the hammer and ended up slicing his finger somehow and was bleeding all over, but insisted that he not stop working. I argued with him a bit and made him come to the bathroom and clean it up, then to Housing to get bandages. It wasn't too bad, but it had been bleeding pretty bad.
Anyways! Today I was pretty dehydrated. After all that liquid, I was still dehydrated. I didn't even have to go to the bathroom any of those days until evening, even with drinking what I think was easily over 200oz of liquid. No wonder I am gaining weight - liquid retention!
I slept till about noon. Fun stuff. Tomorrow is supposed to be over 115 deg. I should be fine though.
Posted picture below, farmers tan - Arm vs Stomach, Round 1:
It must be the lighting in the bathroom or the angle the picture was taken, but to me the tan looks darker in actuality than in this picture. Maybe I had the settings on the camera incorrect. Who knows.
On Mon, Tue, Wed and Thu, I was out in the sun working/hiding in the shade every 2-30 minutes. Some might say 2 minutes in the sun, 30 minutes in the shade. I scoff and laugh at that! It was more like 4 minutes in the sun.
Just kidding. The actual time spent in the sun or shade was anywhere between 2-30 minutes at a time. Yes, I was working, not just supervising. I get too bored supervising.
Monday was fine. Myself and three Egyptians set out to dig trenches thru the dorms area.
No, not WWI trenches. These were 6-10 inch deep trenches so that we could lay 1 inch cable conduit in between the dorms in order to provide Internet service to the troops in the dorms.
Digging wasn't a problem. I enjoy digging, somewhat. I always loved shoveling snow as a kid, teenager, college student. I prefer shoveling snow. It's an excuse to work out some muscles.
The problem was getting under the sidewalks. The dirt was packed hard and we could only dig a few inches under it before having to use a sledgehammer to hammer a metal pipe thru the rest of the way. This process took about 45min to an hour for each of 8 sidewalks and was very tiring.
Oh and yes, 105-115 degrees at midday, you better believe I was drinking fluids. I was going thru about 1 bottle of water an hour (32oz or more) plus a Gatorade or energy drink here and there.
On Wednesday, I almost injured a couple of our guys when my tired arms tried swinging the heavy sledgehammer at the pipe to force it thru underneath the sidewalk and it slipped out of my hands (ok, I missed the pipe because I was trying to show the guys to hit it dead on instead of on top). The hammer flew over the sidewalk and landed a couple feet past it. Luckily the two guys behind me were paying attention and dodged it (barely). We had a laugh, as I'm sure the few Airforce guys at a bus stop did too.
The Egyptians are crazy workers. One of the guys who dodged my sledgehammer toss (no, I wasn't pretending to be Koopa either) was swinging the hammer and ended up slicing his finger somehow and was bleeding all over, but insisted that he not stop working. I argued with him a bit and made him come to the bathroom and clean it up, then to Housing to get bandages. It wasn't too bad, but it had been bleeding pretty bad.
Anyways! Today I was pretty dehydrated. After all that liquid, I was still dehydrated. I didn't even have to go to the bathroom any of those days until evening, even with drinking what I think was easily over 200oz of liquid. No wonder I am gaining weight - liquid retention!
I slept till about noon. Fun stuff. Tomorrow is supposed to be over 115 deg. I should be fine though.
Posted picture below, farmers tan - Arm vs Stomach, Round 1:
It must be the lighting in the bathroom or the angle the picture was taken, but to me the tan looks darker in actuality than in this picture. Maybe I had the settings on the camera incorrect. Who knows.
Spiders~!~~!!
Oh no! SPIDER(s)!
Yes, the spiders have realized Gavin is in the area and have located my room. I don't know if it is because I'm so attractive, because I have food sometimes, because I have video games, or because they sense fear in me. If I had to choose, I'd pick the video games option because then we'd have something in common. Yes, I know food would be in common too, but I don't like the idea of sharing my food with spiders.
The first option was completely sarcastic in case anyone was worried ;P
I'm inclined to go with spiders sensing I fear them, so they come. If you fear them, they will come. That's almost a movie quote.
I have killed 3 spiders in the last 4 days. Various types. All small. Remember though, I am scared of ALL spiders. Daddy-long-legs too, though not really so much. I just don't like touching them or them touching me.
You can ask any of my friends and family who have seen me deal with a spider incident.
They might laugh and say fear doesn't describe it well enough.
I say Gavin doesn't fear much. Fear is like dirt, it's everywhere in small quantities. Except for me, I managed to clean up the fear-dirt in most places and now I have a mountain of dirt in the "fear of spiders" category. Arachnophobia.
I have gotten some bug bites, but I don't know where they came from. Being outside or in my room. Most likely from the mosquito-type bugs. Regardless, I need to get a tan everywhere because they like the squishy, soft pale white torso under my shirt rather than my tanned arms.
Besides the spiders, it's been busy. It'll always be busy for a good while, so I won't mention it anymore ;)
Yes, the spiders have realized Gavin is in the area and have located my room. I don't know if it is because I'm so attractive, because I have food sometimes, because I have video games, or because they sense fear in me. If I had to choose, I'd pick the video games option because then we'd have something in common. Yes, I know food would be in common too, but I don't like the idea of sharing my food with spiders.
The first option was completely sarcastic in case anyone was worried ;P
I'm inclined to go with spiders sensing I fear them, so they come. If you fear them, they will come. That's almost a movie quote.
I have killed 3 spiders in the last 4 days. Various types. All small. Remember though, I am scared of ALL spiders. Daddy-long-legs too, though not really so much. I just don't like touching them or them touching me.
You can ask any of my friends and family who have seen me deal with a spider incident.
They might laugh and say fear doesn't describe it well enough.
I say Gavin doesn't fear much. Fear is like dirt, it's everywhere in small quantities. Except for me, I managed to clean up the fear-dirt in most places and now I have a mountain of dirt in the "fear of spiders" category. Arachnophobia.
I have gotten some bug bites, but I don't know where they came from. Being outside or in my room. Most likely from the mosquito-type bugs. Regardless, I need to get a tan everywhere because they like the squishy, soft pale white torso under my shirt rather than my tanned arms.
Besides the spiders, it's been busy. It'll always be busy for a good while, so I won't mention it anymore ;)
Friday, June 19, 2009
As Promised.
As I promised, pics of Joint Base Balad.
OK, so they're not really that great and they are VERY random. :D
I was driving around to take pics of our towers and snapped a few shots with one hand while driving. Not the easiest thing to keep stable, holding a Digital SLR with one hand.
When the dust settles, I'll try for more (Hopefully on Sunday).
OK, so they're not really that great and they are VERY random. :D
I was driving around to take pics of our towers and snapped a few shots with one hand while driving. Not the easiest thing to keep stable, holding a Digital SLR with one hand.
When the dust settles, I'll try for more (Hopefully on Sunday).
June is almost gone and first post of the month.
Wow, it's June 20th and this is the first post I've done this month. Sorry everyone!
Actually, if some of you read this in the next 5-8 hours, you'll be reading about the future because it's not the 20th there yet.
So, why have I not posted in almost 3 weeks?
Some days, I am crashing as I walk into my trailer.
Some days, I finish working after midnight and need to get to sleep.
Other days, I spend 2-3 hours at night catching up from being in the field the entire day and just go to sleep after that.
In short, I've been working about 70-85 hours a week in June. It's been crazy busy, ups and downs (mostly downs) with the network. Peter left the base to elope 2 weeks ago, which happened to be the same day our lead field tech left to renew his badge. That left me with 5 Egyptian field workers and 5 Indian salespeople.
The day after Peter and Habib left, things started going down. The VoIP network went down Monday, then again on Tuesday, then the Internet network on Wednesday, both networks on Thursday. I was so frustrated and angry at different things.
Why did the network have to start dropping like that once the main guys left?? The Egyptians needed an escort and couldn't do much work because I was in the NOC trying to fix the downtimes. I was going insane.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until Luke (Peter's brother) and their dad showed up and helped out with the network issues, that I realized there was no need for my anger and frustration. There are better ways to view problems such as these and my thoughts led me to write the following:
-----
Quite often, we think that we have things figured out. Especially things about ourselves. For instance, after many years, you kind of get to a point where you've figured out the best way to learn - in regards to yourself. Each person learns in different ways and at different paces. There's always a "best" way to learn. But what you have to realize is that this "best" way to learn is not always the best way.
God, of course, always knows the best way for each of us to learn in each scenario. There are times when YOUR best way to learn just won't work and, the stubborn beings we are, we refuse to try something that isn't the way we like learning. Why? Because we figured out the best way to learn right?
Well, in these situations, do not be surprised if you suddenly go through tough times. As much as I hate going through tough times, if I look at it the right way, I see that I learn a lot in a short amount of time, even though I was frustrated and felt miserably lost or overwhelmed.
We should always keep in mind that bad things aren't always bad. Quite often they'll lead to something of greater good than the hardship we experienced. Sometimes these things happen to make us stronger and even if you think, "This isn't how I learn and grow!!!" Maybe it's how God wants you to learn and grow for that particular situation!
You might then ask, "So God inflicts pain and suffering on us to make us learn?" Don't put any blame on God. If God is behind the hardship, merely allowing such to happen, then it is likely that we wanted to do something our way. God's way is always best and He desires the best for us! Hardships can be punishment, but punishment is an awakening to a wrong done by us. If we've done wrong, we should accept the punishment due to us. We've sinned, we always sin every day. What gives us the right to complain about being punished?
Remember, hardships are not always punishment. Hardships can also be tests of faith. Hardships can be Satan's attempts to inflict pain on us or draw us away from God. We must keep an open mind, a faithful heart, and a willing desire to do God's Will. You can always learn something from hardships, as I have done recently and did not view it the way I should have, but nevertheless, I will try as hard as I can to keep my mind focused and willing to learn from the problems I face.
Hardships are a way of keeping us humble because they cause us to take a step back, realize the problem is beyond us and ask God for help. We get stuck on doing everything our way, the "best" way we know how. God knows best, not us.
-----
I didn't get a chance to proof read or fine-tune this, and I must get to sleep now as I'm passing out while I type this up. It's 2:55am now and I hope I can wake up in the morning for work. :)
Take care everyone.
Actually, if some of you read this in the next 5-8 hours, you'll be reading about the future because it's not the 20th there yet.
So, why have I not posted in almost 3 weeks?
Some days, I am crashing as I walk into my trailer.
Some days, I finish working after midnight and need to get to sleep.
Other days, I spend 2-3 hours at night catching up from being in the field the entire day and just go to sleep after that.
In short, I've been working about 70-85 hours a week in June. It's been crazy busy, ups and downs (mostly downs) with the network. Peter left the base to elope 2 weeks ago, which happened to be the same day our lead field tech left to renew his badge. That left me with 5 Egyptian field workers and 5 Indian salespeople.
The day after Peter and Habib left, things started going down. The VoIP network went down Monday, then again on Tuesday, then the Internet network on Wednesday, both networks on Thursday. I was so frustrated and angry at different things.
Why did the network have to start dropping like that once the main guys left?? The Egyptians needed an escort and couldn't do much work because I was in the NOC trying to fix the downtimes. I was going insane.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until Luke (Peter's brother) and their dad showed up and helped out with the network issues, that I realized there was no need for my anger and frustration. There are better ways to view problems such as these and my thoughts led me to write the following:
-----
Quite often, we think that we have things figured out. Especially things about ourselves. For instance, after many years, you kind of get to a point where you've figured out the best way to learn - in regards to yourself. Each person learns in different ways and at different paces. There's always a "best" way to learn. But what you have to realize is that this "best" way to learn is not always the best way.
God, of course, always knows the best way for each of us to learn in each scenario. There are times when YOUR best way to learn just won't work and, the stubborn beings we are, we refuse to try something that isn't the way we like learning. Why? Because we figured out the best way to learn right?
Well, in these situations, do not be surprised if you suddenly go through tough times. As much as I hate going through tough times, if I look at it the right way, I see that I learn a lot in a short amount of time, even though I was frustrated and felt miserably lost or overwhelmed.
We should always keep in mind that bad things aren't always bad. Quite often they'll lead to something of greater good than the hardship we experienced. Sometimes these things happen to make us stronger and even if you think, "This isn't how I learn and grow!!!" Maybe it's how God wants you to learn and grow for that particular situation!
You might then ask, "So God inflicts pain and suffering on us to make us learn?" Don't put any blame on God. If God is behind the hardship, merely allowing such to happen, then it is likely that we wanted to do something our way. God's way is always best and He desires the best for us! Hardships can be punishment, but punishment is an awakening to a wrong done by us. If we've done wrong, we should accept the punishment due to us. We've sinned, we always sin every day. What gives us the right to complain about being punished?
Remember, hardships are not always punishment. Hardships can also be tests of faith. Hardships can be Satan's attempts to inflict pain on us or draw us away from God. We must keep an open mind, a faithful heart, and a willing desire to do God's Will. You can always learn something from hardships, as I have done recently and did not view it the way I should have, but nevertheless, I will try as hard as I can to keep my mind focused and willing to learn from the problems I face.
Hardships are a way of keeping us humble because they cause us to take a step back, realize the problem is beyond us and ask God for help. We get stuck on doing everything our way, the "best" way we know how. God knows best, not us.
-----
I didn't get a chance to proof read or fine-tune this, and I must get to sleep now as I'm passing out while I type this up. It's 2:55am now and I hope I can wake up in the morning for work. :)
Take care everyone.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Random Thoughts
I wonder... If I came back to America and started working a typical job, would it feel the same?
How would a 40 hour work week feel? It seems like 40 hours should be a part-time job. Those 8 hour shifts would be nice. Oh! and TWO whole days off? I wouldn't know what to do with that much free time!
We are at a busy point and have been for a few weeks and will be busy for another month, at least. Busy means 10-16 hour days, 6 days a week and then working for a few hours on our day off, sometimes that few hours turns into another day of work. If I didn't have to do service calls, talk to people, shake their hands, I wouldn't mind the field work - climbing on T-walls (concrete walls around the trailers), running around doing physical work in the sun. It's good for me since I'm not playing sports at the moment.
We are excited for the time when the network becomes fully functional and the housing area issues are solved. The time when we don't have 10-30 people per day complaining their Internet isn't working. The time when we can sit back and study how we can improve the network, rather than spreading ourselves thin and bending over backwards to fix issues that we know will be resolved when we are done with upgrades.
While a lot of soldiers understand we are in the middle of a warzone and desert, and that speeds and stability will be nothing like in America, not all tolerate the network as it is currently. We are working on getting the Internet out to a new housing area, as well as redesign an existing area to improve service, and change a few things on the back-end and also the hardware that is used to get the signal around the base.
Many, many soldiers don't care what we are trying to do, they have this mentality that it should be working and if it's not, we should be able to snap our fingers and fix it same day. Reminds me of America. Even some people who use the free Internet we provide in one spot complain that it's too slow or not stable. The free network.
Don't get me wrong, there are lots of really cool soldiers out here. Real nice guys and gals.
On another topic, I finally bought a watch so I can keep track of time now! Bought an alarm clock too, but haven't hooked it up yet.
My trimmer battery is pretty much dead and won't really charge, so my goatee has been growing a bit. Bought a trimmer today to resolve that. :)
Maybe I'll upload some pics someday. I'd like to get out and sneak some pics around the base. Just the thought of taking my camera out in the dust and heat all day makes me change my mind. I need to set some time aside to drive around, take pics, then go back to camp and return my camera to safety.
How would a 40 hour work week feel? It seems like 40 hours should be a part-time job. Those 8 hour shifts would be nice. Oh! and TWO whole days off? I wouldn't know what to do with that much free time!
We are at a busy point and have been for a few weeks and will be busy for another month, at least. Busy means 10-16 hour days, 6 days a week and then working for a few hours on our day off, sometimes that few hours turns into another day of work. If I didn't have to do service calls, talk to people, shake their hands, I wouldn't mind the field work - climbing on T-walls (concrete walls around the trailers), running around doing physical work in the sun. It's good for me since I'm not playing sports at the moment.
We are excited for the time when the network becomes fully functional and the housing area issues are solved. The time when we don't have 10-30 people per day complaining their Internet isn't working. The time when we can sit back and study how we can improve the network, rather than spreading ourselves thin and bending over backwards to fix issues that we know will be resolved when we are done with upgrades.
While a lot of soldiers understand we are in the middle of a warzone and desert, and that speeds and stability will be nothing like in America, not all tolerate the network as it is currently. We are working on getting the Internet out to a new housing area, as well as redesign an existing area to improve service, and change a few things on the back-end and also the hardware that is used to get the signal around the base.
Many, many soldiers don't care what we are trying to do, they have this mentality that it should be working and if it's not, we should be able to snap our fingers and fix it same day. Reminds me of America. Even some people who use the free Internet we provide in one spot complain that it's too slow or not stable. The free network.
Don't get me wrong, there are lots of really cool soldiers out here. Real nice guys and gals.
On another topic, I finally bought a watch so I can keep track of time now! Bought an alarm clock too, but haven't hooked it up yet.
My trimmer battery is pretty much dead and won't really charge, so my goatee has been growing a bit. Bought a trimmer today to resolve that. :)
Maybe I'll upload some pics someday. I'd like to get out and sneak some pics around the base. Just the thought of taking my camera out in the dust and heat all day makes me change my mind. I need to set some time aside to drive around, take pics, then go back to camp and return my camera to safety.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wrinkle Fingers
All week I had been looking forward to Sunday (usually do, expecting that it will be a day off), planning on actually waking up early enough to get to church. But before the day rolled around, ended up having to make a service call around church time, unfortunately. Next week I'll make it though.
After lunch though, the Egyptian crew and I went to the outdoor swimming pool. I delayed our leaving slightly so it would be 1430 (2:30pm) when we got there. Not a fan of the midday sun on my chalk white skin and don't trust sunblock to protect me.
It was my first time swimming that I can remember in the last 6-8 years or so. Ever since I get foot cramps while swimming, I've rarely gone. I love swimming though. Still remember how to do it too. ;)
While we were just treading water and talking, I remembered being able to hold my breath for a long time under water when I was younger. I guessed maybe 45 seconds or more back then. I was curious to see what I could do now. Let's just say I am quite out of shape for holding my breath under water. First time, 5-8 seconds would be accurate. I improved, but was pretty disappointed.
I had a blast though. We swam for about 3 hours. Wrinkled my fingers. Dove off the lowest diving board twice (about 2 meters above the water?) and the 2nd tier diving board once (4-5 meters high?) and messed up on my angle and ended going straight in instead of slightly angled and my legs flipped back behind me and tweaked my lower back a little bit. I stopped diving after that to avoid serious injury. Good stuff. Shoulders were sore for a day, too. I think I'm starting to tan...not sure though. And I didn't get sunburned!
In other news, the Firestation crew invited us to a BBQ they were having last night, but we all forgot about it and missed it. They are some nice guys. Bummer that we missed it.
After lunch though, the Egyptian crew and I went to the outdoor swimming pool. I delayed our leaving slightly so it would be 1430 (2:30pm) when we got there. Not a fan of the midday sun on my chalk white skin and don't trust sunblock to protect me.
It was my first time swimming that I can remember in the last 6-8 years or so. Ever since I get foot cramps while swimming, I've rarely gone. I love swimming though. Still remember how to do it too. ;)
While we were just treading water and talking, I remembered being able to hold my breath for a long time under water when I was younger. I guessed maybe 45 seconds or more back then. I was curious to see what I could do now. Let's just say I am quite out of shape for holding my breath under water. First time, 5-8 seconds would be accurate. I improved, but was pretty disappointed.
I had a blast though. We swam for about 3 hours. Wrinkled my fingers. Dove off the lowest diving board twice (about 2 meters above the water?) and the 2nd tier diving board once (4-5 meters high?) and messed up on my angle and ended going straight in instead of slightly angled and my legs flipped back behind me and tweaked my lower back a little bit. I stopped diving after that to avoid serious injury. Good stuff. Shoulders were sore for a day, too. I think I'm starting to tan...not sure though. And I didn't get sunburned!
In other news, the Firestation crew invited us to a BBQ they were having last night, but we all forgot about it and missed it. They are some nice guys. Bummer that we missed it.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Boring Title to a Somewhat Boring Post
I couldn't decide what to title this post, so notch that one off the list of choices.
Thursday (5/7), myself and Youseph drove to one of the housing areas (H6) for some scheduled service calls for some soldiers. Only this time, we were held up at the gate because I still don't have a CAC card and they didn't think an LOA & passport was good enough to allow me into the housing area. In fact, one soldier couldn't believe they let me on base without a CAC.
To keep the story short and somewhat interesting, we waited over 30min till they decided to take us to the badging office for a solution. The officer there explained to them that my LOA & passport was good enough till I get my badge, which they asked me to stay there and wait to see if it was possible to get it then. We waited there 1 hour before I realized it was going to take at least another 1.5 hours and we were already 1 hour late for service call appointments.
By the time we got into the housing area, the tenants had left their rooms. They weren't happy for a good reason.
----
The next day, Friday, was a long day compared to the norm. Worked 12.5 hours. Wasn't too bad though.
----
Saturday, we returned to H6 for a project to redesign the layout for a couple of housing pods. The project took longer than expected and had to play catch up to finish a 16 hour workday. :)
---
Skip to Tuesday. Buffalo wings are so good, but my body can't handle them 3 meals in a row (not counting breakfast, of course!). I didn't feel so well from them and slept till noon, then walked to work at 2:30 - a 15minute walk in the sun. It wasn't bad until the last minute of the walk, when I started sweating a bit. Thank God for the breeze.
On the positive side, Guitar Hero has been fun!! :)
Parts of the job are fun, and it will be more fun when I learn how to take care of the difficult things and understand the network better.
I know it's Friday now, but there isn't much to tell about the last few days except that Mexican food night did a number on a few of us. I wasn't thinking very straight as I walked down the food line. If it looked good, I had them serve some on my plate. For those of you who know how much I ate per meal the last few years, it wouldn't surprise you to see my plate. Granted I didn't finish it all, but I felt quite full even around lunch time the next day. (today)
Alrighty! Boring post finished. Maybe someday I'll have time to write something more interesting. Until then...
Thursday (5/7), myself and Youseph drove to one of the housing areas (H6) for some scheduled service calls for some soldiers. Only this time, we were held up at the gate because I still don't have a CAC card and they didn't think an LOA & passport was good enough to allow me into the housing area. In fact, one soldier couldn't believe they let me on base without a CAC.
To keep the story short and somewhat interesting, we waited over 30min till they decided to take us to the badging office for a solution. The officer there explained to them that my LOA & passport was good enough till I get my badge, which they asked me to stay there and wait to see if it was possible to get it then. We waited there 1 hour before I realized it was going to take at least another 1.5 hours and we were already 1 hour late for service call appointments.
By the time we got into the housing area, the tenants had left their rooms. They weren't happy for a good reason.
----
The next day, Friday, was a long day compared to the norm. Worked 12.5 hours. Wasn't too bad though.
----
Saturday, we returned to H6 for a project to redesign the layout for a couple of housing pods. The project took longer than expected and had to play catch up to finish a 16 hour workday. :)
---
Skip to Tuesday. Buffalo wings are so good, but my body can't handle them 3 meals in a row (not counting breakfast, of course!). I didn't feel so well from them and slept till noon, then walked to work at 2:30 - a 15minute walk in the sun. It wasn't bad until the last minute of the walk, when I started sweating a bit. Thank God for the breeze.
On the positive side, Guitar Hero has been fun!! :)
Parts of the job are fun, and it will be more fun when I learn how to take care of the difficult things and understand the network better.
I know it's Friday now, but there isn't much to tell about the last few days except that Mexican food night did a number on a few of us. I wasn't thinking very straight as I walked down the food line. If it looked good, I had them serve some on my plate. For those of you who know how much I ate per meal the last few years, it wouldn't surprise you to see my plate. Granted I didn't finish it all, but I felt quite full even around lunch time the next day. (today)
Alrighty! Boring post finished. Maybe someday I'll have time to write something more interesting. Until then...
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Dusty Days
Busy. I have been busy.
Between 9-15 hour work days this past week (6 days) and 5 hours today (Sunday), I haven't had much time to get around to taking pictures on the base or updating this blog.
Work is a lot to learn still, but I've been in the field a lot this week with Habib. We've been making service calls to customers and troubleshooting hardware at the sites. This is the main reason why we've been working such long days lately. It takes time to troubleshoot issues and to go from unit to unit or across base.
Many of the soldiers who pay for our Internet service say it's definitely worth the money to be able to talk and see loved ones at home. It's $60/month, which may seem like a lot compared to the USA costs. But there are no fiber optic lines here, and satellite bandwidth costs a LOT. It is worth it for the soldiers, but we still get some who complain that the Internet isn't fast enough for the price and that the signal should go through 1.5 ft thick concrete walls and trailer walls and be perfectly fine. Not gonna happen.
As for other updates, Thursday I setup Guitar Hero and can now play that. I'm happy about that. :)
Saturday night there was a weird and kinda loud noise somewhere on the base. Michelle said it was the sound of the anti-mortar defense system shooting mortars before they landed on base. Yes, someone shot some mortars at us, but the defense system successfully intercepted them.
As for pictures, I haven't been able to take any because it's been sooooooo dusty outside.
1. I don't want to get my camera all dusty.
2. The light is dim and the pictures won't look as good.
3. Been busy, as I said before.
I'm going to upload the Lebanon pictures in a couple hours, but for now, I'm going to watch a movie with Peter and Michelle.
Between 9-15 hour work days this past week (6 days) and 5 hours today (Sunday), I haven't had much time to get around to taking pictures on the base or updating this blog.
Work is a lot to learn still, but I've been in the field a lot this week with Habib. We've been making service calls to customers and troubleshooting hardware at the sites. This is the main reason why we've been working such long days lately. It takes time to troubleshoot issues and to go from unit to unit or across base.
Many of the soldiers who pay for our Internet service say it's definitely worth the money to be able to talk and see loved ones at home. It's $60/month, which may seem like a lot compared to the USA costs. But there are no fiber optic lines here, and satellite bandwidth costs a LOT. It is worth it for the soldiers, but we still get some who complain that the Internet isn't fast enough for the price and that the signal should go through 1.5 ft thick concrete walls and trailer walls and be perfectly fine. Not gonna happen.
As for other updates, Thursday I setup Guitar Hero and can now play that. I'm happy about that. :)
Saturday night there was a weird and kinda loud noise somewhere on the base. Michelle said it was the sound of the anti-mortar defense system shooting mortars before they landed on base. Yes, someone shot some mortars at us, but the defense system successfully intercepted them.
As for pictures, I haven't been able to take any because it's been sooooooo dusty outside.
1. I don't want to get my camera all dusty.
2. The light is dim and the pictures won't look as good.
3. Been busy, as I said before.
I'm going to upload the Lebanon pictures in a couple hours, but for now, I'm going to watch a movie with Peter and Michelle.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday - 4/25
Well, as anyone following my blog has hopefully figured out at this point, I'm not going to be posting every day, but rather every 2-4 days. It all really depends on whether anything interesting has happened or not.
My cold symptoms showed the worst on Thursday, but improved slightly on Friday and today was better. The only thing remaining was the occasional cough and clearing my throat.
Also on Thursday, as I was trying to learn the ropes in the office by watching Peter and how much he knows at this point, I couldn't help but wish that I could gain knowledge the way they did in the Matrix - i.e. transfer the data/information into your brain directly through a needle. (You have to watch that scene in order to understand it) Except, I'll skip the part about having a needle stuck in my neck/skull.
Work is interesting. It's nothing I've really worked with before and is "somewhat" difficult to understand at this point, as I've said. Can't wait until I can be effective and helpful though.
After work, I bought an Xbox 360 and a few controllers. Then went online and ordered Guitar Hero with 2 guitars with the following games for GH: Metallica, World Tour, Aerosmith, and had my mom pick up Guitar Hero III:Legends of Rock at Best Buy. Also ordered Halo 3. I'll probably be getting those in 10 days, my guess.
________
Friday. Dust storm. Nice. The air is dust. Yep, a friendly reminder that I'm in Iraq and the weather is not the same as in Pennsylvania. And I haven't even seen the 130-140 deg summer yet.
You would think it was cloudy out, but no, it's just a lot of dust. I would have taken a picture, but my camera is in Michelle's office and I keep forgetting to grab it. Plus, I don't really want it outside for an extended period of time - like, all day during work - during a dust storm.
Speaking of the camera. Tomorrow is Sunday and I will probably try to get some pictures around the base to give you guys an idea of what it looks like, plus upload any other pics from Lebanon. At least, that's the plan.
________
Saturday was fun. Still dusty in the air, but you can see clouds now.
It was fun because I went out in the field with Habib, the lead field tech (and he does basically any electrical work, hardware support or physical labor, and is quite good at it). He's Egyptian and speaks fairly decent English, but he's a good guy and 2 months older than me, so he's my age at 27.
We went to military housing areas (trailers) to check on complaints that we received in the last couple days. The process of troubleshooting PCs and the network wasn't terribly difficult, though Habib did do the majority of the work, especially outdoors around the access points and antennas. It was fairly tiring being on my feet all day, but it was a change. Maybe I'll learn some Arabic from Habib. (in Egyptian dialect)
Habib also setup my TV and showed me which channels were in English, as well as organized them so they were channels 1,2,3,4 instead of 79, 174,175, 204. (There are almost 400 channels and only about 6 in English) Lately, I've been listening to the Arabian music video channels. Not bad at all really.
At least now I can watch some American TV!
My cold symptoms showed the worst on Thursday, but improved slightly on Friday and today was better. The only thing remaining was the occasional cough and clearing my throat.
Also on Thursday, as I was trying to learn the ropes in the office by watching Peter and how much he knows at this point, I couldn't help but wish that I could gain knowledge the way they did in the Matrix - i.e. transfer the data/information into your brain directly through a needle. (You have to watch that scene in order to understand it) Except, I'll skip the part about having a needle stuck in my neck/skull.
Work is interesting. It's nothing I've really worked with before and is "somewhat" difficult to understand at this point, as I've said. Can't wait until I can be effective and helpful though.
After work, I bought an Xbox 360 and a few controllers. Then went online and ordered Guitar Hero with 2 guitars with the following games for GH: Metallica, World Tour, Aerosmith, and had my mom pick up Guitar Hero III:Legends of Rock at Best Buy. Also ordered Halo 3. I'll probably be getting those in 10 days, my guess.
________
Friday. Dust storm. Nice. The air is dust. Yep, a friendly reminder that I'm in Iraq and the weather is not the same as in Pennsylvania. And I haven't even seen the 130-140 deg summer yet.
You would think it was cloudy out, but no, it's just a lot of dust. I would have taken a picture, but my camera is in Michelle's office and I keep forgetting to grab it. Plus, I don't really want it outside for an extended period of time - like, all day during work - during a dust storm.
Speaking of the camera. Tomorrow is Sunday and I will probably try to get some pictures around the base to give you guys an idea of what it looks like, plus upload any other pics from Lebanon. At least, that's the plan.
________
Saturday was fun. Still dusty in the air, but you can see clouds now.
It was fun because I went out in the field with Habib, the lead field tech (and he does basically any electrical work, hardware support or physical labor, and is quite good at it). He's Egyptian and speaks fairly decent English, but he's a good guy and 2 months older than me, so he's my age at 27.
We went to military housing areas (trailers) to check on complaints that we received in the last couple days. The process of troubleshooting PCs and the network wasn't terribly difficult, though Habib did do the majority of the work, especially outdoors around the access points and antennas. It was fairly tiring being on my feet all day, but it was a change. Maybe I'll learn some Arabic from Habib. (in Egyptian dialect)
Habib also setup my TV and showed me which channels were in English, as well as organized them so they were channels 1,2,3,4 instead of 79, 174,175, 204. (There are almost 400 channels and only about 6 in English) Lately, I've been listening to the Arabian music video channels. Not bad at all really.
At least now I can watch some American TV!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday morning - 4/21
Today will be my 2nd day on the job. Yes, I realized I skipped a few days.
This will have to be quick, because I skipped breakfast this morning so they'll be back soon to pick me up to go to work.
Work looks like it will be a heavy load and a lot of learning. It is totally different than wireless networks back home. You have to know everything basically. RF signals, the dB levels, angles/height/positioning of antennas, interference (from the military classified radios and obstacles), line of sight, power levels, etc. I'll have to understand how the whole network works in order to be effective.
Anyways, Sunday was catch up. Slept till mid/late-afternoon. Hung out with Peter and Michelle a bit.
Monday I started work/training and Peter went thru a lot of material. We'll see how things go today.
The weather is pretty nice out, but will always be dusty. The food is good, lots of variety, different theme most days.
I'll try to get some pictures at some point, as well as upload the ones I (or Tad or Tariq) took in Lebanon.
Time to get going.
This will have to be quick, because I skipped breakfast this morning so they'll be back soon to pick me up to go to work.
Work looks like it will be a heavy load and a lot of learning. It is totally different than wireless networks back home. You have to know everything basically. RF signals, the dB levels, angles/height/positioning of antennas, interference (from the military classified radios and obstacles), line of sight, power levels, etc. I'll have to understand how the whole network works in order to be effective.
Anyways, Sunday was catch up. Slept till mid/late-afternoon. Hung out with Peter and Michelle a bit.
Monday I started work/training and Peter went thru a lot of material. We'll see how things go today.
The weather is pretty nice out, but will always be dusty. The food is good, lots of variety, different theme most days.
I'll try to get some pictures at some point, as well as upload the ones I (or Tad or Tariq) took in Lebanon.
Time to get going.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day 5 - The final journey
Beth drove me down to the airport at about 10 minutes till 6AM, and arrived around 6:20ish. She had wanted to get me there by 6AM though, so we were "late".
The airport looked really busy, but there was only one line to get in and get bags checked. 2 sets of doors and one big turnstile, but only 1 door was actually being used. Well, for the most part. About 15-20 Lebanese and other Arabs decided all at one time to leave the line we were in and just cut infront of everyone by going thru the other door and turnstile. Just like their driving. If they want to get infront of you (driving or in line), they just do it. No respect for the fact that the people already infront of you have been waiting longer.
At the bag check-in area, I asked where Iraqi Airways was and the guy told me, "The other side, over there" pointing about 100 yards away. I wandered down past each desk, not seeing Iraqi Airways anywhere. I asked someone else at the other end and she said she thought it was on the other side (the side I just came from). I walked back halfway and asked someone else, he didn't understand what I was asking and looked at my boarding pass and pointed towards where I started. One last person asked where I was headed and pointed me to the right area. It took about 1.5+ hrs to finally get thru all the checkpoints till I finally got on the plane for Baghdad. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time, but I did.
During the flight, the guy next to me (who spoke decent-broken English, whose main language was Arabic) started talking to me. We conversed on and off for the majority of the flight, and I tried to help him with his laptop as he had a wireless issue.
Since a lot happened today and since I never went to sleep, it feels like today will never end. I can't believe it's only 9:45PM right now. I'll try to shorten the rest of this post.
Arrived in Baghdad, took a while to get thru customs, got picked up by Chris Catranis, and headed off with his driver under almost VIP treatment. Sometimes the security guards didn't bother looking at my passport because of the Iraqi guy with us.
We drove to a few places and then stopped at the helicopter pad where we were to take the chopper to the base. There were 14 people there to get flown to various areas, and with only 2 military choppers, they only took 12. Guess who got left behind? Chris and myself. We had to wait for the next chopper, which they said wouldn't be till the next day. While we were trying to make sure we had a spot on tomorrow's flight, one of the pilots said he'd try to make one more trip around 7-8PM. This meant Chris and I only had to wait 5 hours with basically nothing to do.
We did fall asleep for an hour or two in the chairs there though.
Finally, the choppers came back, picked us up and flew us to the base. Woooo, final destination complete. Met up with Peter and Michelle, got some food, drove to a couple places real quick and headed back to the trailers. End of story for today, I think. Going to fall asleep for a long long time real soon.
The airport looked really busy, but there was only one line to get in and get bags checked. 2 sets of doors and one big turnstile, but only 1 door was actually being used. Well, for the most part. About 15-20 Lebanese and other Arabs decided all at one time to leave the line we were in and just cut infront of everyone by going thru the other door and turnstile. Just like their driving. If they want to get infront of you (driving or in line), they just do it. No respect for the fact that the people already infront of you have been waiting longer.
At the bag check-in area, I asked where Iraqi Airways was and the guy told me, "The other side, over there" pointing about 100 yards away. I wandered down past each desk, not seeing Iraqi Airways anywhere. I asked someone else at the other end and she said she thought it was on the other side (the side I just came from). I walked back halfway and asked someone else, he didn't understand what I was asking and looked at my boarding pass and pointed towards where I started. One last person asked where I was headed and pointed me to the right area. It took about 1.5+ hrs to finally get thru all the checkpoints till I finally got on the plane for Baghdad. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time, but I did.
During the flight, the guy next to me (who spoke decent-broken English, whose main language was Arabic) started talking to me. We conversed on and off for the majority of the flight, and I tried to help him with his laptop as he had a wireless issue.
Since a lot happened today and since I never went to sleep, it feels like today will never end. I can't believe it's only 9:45PM right now. I'll try to shorten the rest of this post.
Arrived in Baghdad, took a while to get thru customs, got picked up by Chris Catranis, and headed off with his driver under almost VIP treatment. Sometimes the security guards didn't bother looking at my passport because of the Iraqi guy with us.
We drove to a few places and then stopped at the helicopter pad where we were to take the chopper to the base. There were 14 people there to get flown to various areas, and with only 2 military choppers, they only took 12. Guess who got left behind? Chris and myself. We had to wait for the next chopper, which they said wouldn't be till the next day. While we were trying to make sure we had a spot on tomorrow's flight, one of the pilots said he'd try to make one more trip around 7-8PM. This meant Chris and I only had to wait 5 hours with basically nothing to do.
We did fall asleep for an hour or two in the chairs there though.
Finally, the choppers came back, picked us up and flew us to the base. Woooo, final destination complete. Met up with Peter and Michelle, got some food, drove to a couple places real quick and headed back to the trailers. End of story for today, I think. Going to fall asleep for a long long time real soon.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Day 4 - Another day in Lebanon
Woke up "early" (9AM) in comparison to other employees the Catranis family had in the past. The kids said others usually awoke, or at least came upstairs to the main part of the house, at 1-2PM.
We went out around 1:00ish to the coffee shop we visited yesterday, where Tad was already hanging out with Jonathan. Kit, Mrs. Catranis (Beth) and I joined them and eventually Tariq showed up as well.
After a while there, we headed to more of a bar type of setting where Jonathan met up with an American (also a teacher of literature), Ken. It was an interesting time talking about literature, movies, script writing, etc., as well as learning what each other does or wants to do.
We stayed at that place for probably a couple hours. (I don't have a very good sense of time, since I never got a new battery for my watch and haven't turned on my cell phone yet to see if I get the right time) We departed from this bar and walked up the street a short distance to another one where there were more of the college age crowd, but it was of course all ages. Lebanese bar hopping!
This post is being typed up quickly because we didn't get home until about 12:30AM and we decided to stay up all night since I had to be ready to leave by 5:30AM for the last leg of my trip to Iraq. I wasn't feeling tired and wanted a shower (I didn't do this anyway), and Tariq spent the night as well, so I figured it might be safer if I didn't go to sleep knowing my track record. After watching a couple movies on dual screen (their monitor and my laptop), Tad and Kit fell asleep while Tariq and I watched about 6 or more random episodes of The Office. :)
Time to go for now, we gotta get to the airport! (This post was rushed, my apologies)
We went out around 1:00ish to the coffee shop we visited yesterday, where Tad was already hanging out with Jonathan. Kit, Mrs. Catranis (Beth) and I joined them and eventually Tariq showed up as well.
After a while there, we headed to more of a bar type of setting where Jonathan met up with an American (also a teacher of literature), Ken. It was an interesting time talking about literature, movies, script writing, etc., as well as learning what each other does or wants to do.
We stayed at that place for probably a couple hours. (I don't have a very good sense of time, since I never got a new battery for my watch and haven't turned on my cell phone yet to see if I get the right time) We departed from this bar and walked up the street a short distance to another one where there were more of the college age crowd, but it was of course all ages. Lebanese bar hopping!
This post is being typed up quickly because we didn't get home until about 12:30AM and we decided to stay up all night since I had to be ready to leave by 5:30AM for the last leg of my trip to Iraq. I wasn't feeling tired and wanted a shower (I didn't do this anyway), and Tariq spent the night as well, so I figured it might be safer if I didn't go to sleep knowing my track record. After watching a couple movies on dual screen (their monitor and my laptop), Tad and Kit fell asleep while Tariq and I watched about 6 or more random episodes of The Office. :)
Time to go for now, we gotta get to the airport! (This post was rushed, my apologies)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Day 3 - A day in Lebanon
With the lack of sleep from the previous couple days (not to mention the fact that I went to sleep around 3AM the night before I had to leave PA and woke up at 8AM), I slept quite soundly for 11 hours. I had no idea what time it was when I woke up, because I had no cell phone on (which don't work anyway) and no clock, but turned my laptop on and saw it was almost 12:30PM.
I got up, got a quick shower and eventually we went out to Hamra (a city) to hang out at a coffee shop. Tad and I walked to one of his friend's apartment to drop off some movie props that they needed for a film he was in that they are working on. It consisted of a some UPS surge protectors, a pick axe, and a BB gun. Yes, we walked down the streets openly with these in plain view. Tad said we had a 95% chance of getting caught by police and it was probably one of the biggest risks he's taken. :)
We chilled at the coffee shop with another friend of Tad's, Jonathan, an Aussie who is teaching school here (some form of literature).
Back at the house, we had lasagna for a late dinner and afterwards met another friend, Tariq, (Lebanese) of Tad and Kit's, and he happened to play World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero. ;)
I got up, got a quick shower and eventually we went out to Hamra (a city) to hang out at a coffee shop. Tad and I walked to one of his friend's apartment to drop off some movie props that they needed for a film he was in that they are working on. It consisted of a some UPS surge protectors, a pick axe, and a BB gun. Yes, we walked down the streets openly with these in plain view. Tad said we had a 95% chance of getting caught by police and it was probably one of the biggest risks he's taken. :)
We chilled at the coffee shop with another friend of Tad's, Jonathan, an Aussie who is teaching school here (some form of literature).
Back at the house, we had lasagna for a late dinner and afterwards met another friend, Tariq, (Lebanese) of Tad and Kit's, and he happened to play World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero. ;)
Day 2 - Flight to Beirut and stay
The airport wasn't terribly busy or complicated. It had the architecture I would expect in France. It was cool. :)
I had someone there help me get my boarding pass for the next flight, and then headed to the luggage checkpoint. The checkpoints were kinda annoying for me. I had to take out both laptops I had on me (one mine, one for Peter when I get to Iraq), put them in separate bins, put the 2 bags I had on the conveyor belt, and another bin for my jacket, shoes, wallet, passport, and cell phone. Not only that, but I have to remove my glasses for it and can't see anything until my stuff comes thru the other side.
I had had no problems at the Philly airport, but while waiting blind on the other side, the bags came out, as well as the laptops, then my shoes - but not in a bin. At first I thought maybe the bin got caught and the shoes fell out. I blame that silly thought on not having glasses on and it makes me stupid as well as blind. Needless to say, I had a feeling they saw something suspicious with my luggage. I wasn't sure at first, but when they pulled me aside and asked if they could search my wallet (I furrowed my eyebrows and said, "sure"), I realized it was the knife I had in there. I could never remember that it was there because I've only had to use it twice. Plus, I didn't get stopped at Philly nor at any point in my trip to Mexico for my brother's wedding.
They did confiscate the knife, called the police, holed me up in a prison cell at the airport (like a dungeon), interrogated me for 3 hrs, and...just kidding. They only confiscated the knife and recorded it, then let me go. They said the knife was of legal length, but because you could flip it open like a switchblade, it made it an illegal length after that - Bummer.
The flight:
We had to walk outside to board the plane and the weather was outstanding. Clear skies, light breeze, I'd say about 65 degrees.
The take-off was the bumpiest I've ever been on, not that I've been on many flights, but it was still the bumpiest. The landing gear seemed to affect the stability of the flight too and made a LOUD noise at one point that sounded like something hit it full speed. It made this sound while retracting the landing gear, as well as later when extending the landing gear. It startled me a little bit, as well as other passengers around me.
About 20 or more minutes into the flight, they announced that a passenger had missed the flight, but his luggage did not. For security reasons, they said, they had to turn around and land back at the airport and drop the luggage off. They decided to refuel while there, as well. This turned out to be a 2.5 hr delay before we took off, once again bumpy.
Many people were bickering and complaining about the delay and the reason that was given. It seemed like most people said it was an excuse for something the crew did not want to tell us. I was thinking, "Hmmm, rough take-off, loud noise on the landing gear, plane turning around. I hope it's not faulty landing gear." I half-expected the plane to crumble on the left side during the landing at one point. ;) Yes, I was on the left side.
The flight was very smooth and the rare turbulence was barely noticeable. I slept on and off during this flight, so I'm not quite sure how much sleep I actually got. I did watch an episode of Heroes that was available, as well as Eagle Eye and part of Quantum of Solace. The landing in Beirut, however, was slightly rough (again), but uneventful. The weather was steady, but light, rain and cool. I was ok with this!
Met up with the Catranis family (Beth and 2 sons, Tad and Kit) and headed back to their place.
I will be staying with them until Saturday, when I fly into Baghdad and then the final leg of the journey.
We dropped my stuff off and then went out to get some dinner.
-- Needless to say, I was quite tired that night. We got back to the house around 10:45PM and I wanted to shower since I hadn't had one since Tuesday morning around 8:30AM. Ewww. I was stinky.
I got to sleep around 12:30-1:00AM.
I had someone there help me get my boarding pass for the next flight, and then headed to the luggage checkpoint. The checkpoints were kinda annoying for me. I had to take out both laptops I had on me (one mine, one for Peter when I get to Iraq), put them in separate bins, put the 2 bags I had on the conveyor belt, and another bin for my jacket, shoes, wallet, passport, and cell phone. Not only that, but I have to remove my glasses for it and can't see anything until my stuff comes thru the other side.
I had had no problems at the Philly airport, but while waiting blind on the other side, the bags came out, as well as the laptops, then my shoes - but not in a bin. At first I thought maybe the bin got caught and the shoes fell out. I blame that silly thought on not having glasses on and it makes me stupid as well as blind. Needless to say, I had a feeling they saw something suspicious with my luggage. I wasn't sure at first, but when they pulled me aside and asked if they could search my wallet (I furrowed my eyebrows and said, "sure"), I realized it was the knife I had in there. I could never remember that it was there because I've only had to use it twice. Plus, I didn't get stopped at Philly nor at any point in my trip to Mexico for my brother's wedding.
They did confiscate the knife, called the police, holed me up in a prison cell at the airport (like a dungeon), interrogated me for 3 hrs, and...just kidding. They only confiscated the knife and recorded it, then let me go. They said the knife was of legal length, but because you could flip it open like a switchblade, it made it an illegal length after that - Bummer.
The flight:
We had to walk outside to board the plane and the weather was outstanding. Clear skies, light breeze, I'd say about 65 degrees.
The take-off was the bumpiest I've ever been on, not that I've been on many flights, but it was still the bumpiest. The landing gear seemed to affect the stability of the flight too and made a LOUD noise at one point that sounded like something hit it full speed. It made this sound while retracting the landing gear, as well as later when extending the landing gear. It startled me a little bit, as well as other passengers around me.
About 20 or more minutes into the flight, they announced that a passenger had missed the flight, but his luggage did not. For security reasons, they said, they had to turn around and land back at the airport and drop the luggage off. They decided to refuel while there, as well. This turned out to be a 2.5 hr delay before we took off, once again bumpy.
Many people were bickering and complaining about the delay and the reason that was given. It seemed like most people said it was an excuse for something the crew did not want to tell us. I was thinking, "Hmmm, rough take-off, loud noise on the landing gear, plane turning around. I hope it's not faulty landing gear." I half-expected the plane to crumble on the left side during the landing at one point. ;) Yes, I was on the left side.
The flight was very smooth and the rare turbulence was barely noticeable. I slept on and off during this flight, so I'm not quite sure how much sleep I actually got. I did watch an episode of Heroes that was available, as well as Eagle Eye and part of Quantum of Solace. The landing in Beirut, however, was slightly rough (again), but uneventful. The weather was steady, but light, rain and cool. I was ok with this!
Met up with the Catranis family (Beth and 2 sons, Tad and Kit) and headed back to their place.
I will be staying with them until Saturday, when I fly into Baghdad and then the final leg of the journey.
We dropped my stuff off and then went out to get some dinner.
-- Needless to say, I was quite tired that night. We got back to the house around 10:45PM and I wanted to shower since I hadn't had one since Tuesday morning around 8:30AM. Ewww. I was stinky.
I got to sleep around 12:30-1:00AM.
Day 1 - Flight to Paris
I arrived at the Philly airport approximately 2.5 hours before my departure time. I had enough time to watch about 1/5 to 1/4 of a movie before we started getting ready to board the plane.
Take-off was smooth, and eventually, I played around with the TV options to see what was available. Movies, music, games. I thought, "Cool, maybe I won't need to use my laptop. Uhhh," as I looked around and noticed that there was no where to plug in the airplane power adapter I had for my laptop, "Guess I won't be using my laptop anyway."
-- My laptop only lasts about 1 hr while watching a movie or playing a full screen video game.
Unfortunately, while everyone else was watching movies, I, a techie person, could not figure out why mine wouldn't start. I selected the film and hit enter, but the screen went black and gave me options for "Volume", "Brightness", and "Language", of which only the volume did anything. After about 30 seconds (a time-out length), the system restarted and returned to the main menu - in French. It also mentioned, "Sorry, but some of the features of this system are temporarily not functional." From what I could tell, I was the only one who couldn't view movies. Everything else worked though.
I figured, "Oh well, this gives me an excuse to go to sleep for the whole flight." But, even though I can sleep pretty much anywhere, I cannot fall asleep in an upright chair with no leg room to slouch or turn to the side - and I did not want to fall asleep on the shoulder of the kid next to me or fall into the aisle. I slept for a max of 1 hr for the 7.5 hr flight.
Now, don't think that this is whiny complaining. It's not. I could have pulled out my laptop and fiddled with that for a short time till the battery died, or even gotten a book out to read. I was not terribly bored or frustrated.
The food was airplane food, so not much to say there.
I arrived in Paris around 8:30AM locale time.
Take-off was smooth, and eventually, I played around with the TV options to see what was available. Movies, music, games. I thought, "Cool, maybe I won't need to use my laptop. Uhhh," as I looked around and noticed that there was no where to plug in the airplane power adapter I had for my laptop, "Guess I won't be using my laptop anyway."
-- My laptop only lasts about 1 hr while watching a movie or playing a full screen video game.
Unfortunately, while everyone else was watching movies, I, a techie person, could not figure out why mine wouldn't start. I selected the film and hit enter, but the screen went black and gave me options for "Volume", "Brightness", and "Language", of which only the volume did anything. After about 30 seconds (a time-out length), the system restarted and returned to the main menu - in French. It also mentioned, "Sorry, but some of the features of this system are temporarily not functional." From what I could tell, I was the only one who couldn't view movies. Everything else worked though.
I figured, "Oh well, this gives me an excuse to go to sleep for the whole flight." But, even though I can sleep pretty much anywhere, I cannot fall asleep in an upright chair with no leg room to slouch or turn to the side - and I did not want to fall asleep on the shoulder of the kid next to me or fall into the aisle. I slept for a max of 1 hr for the 7.5 hr flight.
Now, don't think that this is whiny complaining. It's not. I could have pulled out my laptop and fiddled with that for a short time till the battery died, or even gotten a book out to read. I was not terribly bored or frustrated.
The food was airplane food, so not much to say there.
I arrived in Paris around 8:30AM locale time.
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