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!
Friday, August 21, 2009
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.
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