So we are back in As Saliyah for a conference. (And by we I mean the royal, not group, though there is of course a group of us). Our initial flight here got scrubbed, so we thought we might not have to worry for the rest of that day. Technically that was correct, except that the flight we ended up on required us to be picked up at 03:20 the next morning. I made the dumb (in retrospect) choice to just stay up instead of risking the whole alarm not waking me up in time. Flight left around 08:30. Needless to say, by that time I was not in the best shape. And as luck would have it, this time I chose to eat some breakfast before hand and forget to take my Dramamine. About ten minutes after take off and some assorted "Random Measures" (read pitch and yaw side-to-side up-and-down manuevers) I was in the back of the cargo hold losing my breakfast. Thank goodness I remembered to bring my airsickness bags from the Qatari Air flight, otherwise I would have been "that guy". You do not want to be the one who starts the chain reaction on a C-130.
So now, conference over, flights out delayed, a day of down time tomorrow. I don't know if I can handle sleeping in till I wake up. Its kind of like the most awesome thing I can imagine right now. (And the three beers a day is nice too!)
Othewise, nothing else too exciting.
Just livin' the dream.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Funny goings on at the ranch
So tonight was a Kid rock and Lewis Black USO concert. So strange. Everclear, WWE wrestlers, the Ying Yang Twins, and Kid Rock. Its good to know these people are willing to do the work it takes to come out here and "entertain the troops." None of the shows from what I have seen and heard are "good" by stateside standards, but its the thought that counts.
In other news, I tweaked my left knee playing flag football last weekend (and my team lost :( ), but I think it is mostly calmed down by now, so I can get back to the gym... gotta get my hunk on, cause lord knows they feed us enough I have to counter the "chunk" effect.
Much love to all.
In other news, I tweaked my left knee playing flag football last weekend (and my team lost :( ), but I think it is mostly calmed down by now, so I can get back to the gym... gotta get my hunk on, cause lord knows they feed us enough I have to counter the "chunk" effect.
Much love to all.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Blah, Blah, BLOG!
It is now over one month in country. Although its really one month on base, as I haven't been anywhere else. I hope to get a trip to the IZ (the "green zone") to see the sights, but that is all dependent on schedules, etc.
Don't really have anything important to say, no new stories (that I can think of now at 00:00/midnight). Birthday and Thanksgiving went well. The T-day meal was actually pretty good.
I have become acustom to some of the odd things about being out here, like the watching Sunday or Monday night football live the next morning when I go to morning chow. We are 8 hours ahead of DC so the games are often just ending by 8 am here. I watched the Buccaneers play the Saints live over "TV" while at work, but I had to stay up till almost 01:00 to do it.
Been working out with a couple of folks from the office. They are in better overall shape than I am so I am not "throwing" as much weight as they do, but my muscles still let me know about it the next day. Trying to get my mile run/elliptical time down close to 10 minutes, but that hasn't been working for me... I remenber why I hated gym class.
Usually work from 09:00 to about 23:00, try to hit the gym sometime during the day or at night, shower at night, and then bed by midnight or midnight 30, then up again at 08:00 to do it all over again... and again... and again... Its now like a bad version of Groundhog's Day, but no Bill Murray.
The MWR tours that come through here are odd. We had Gunnery R.Lee Ermy ("Full Metal Jacket" drill seargent), Everclear, some country music guy, and tomorrow the WWE will be here. WTF?
Um... yeah.
night
Don't really have anything important to say, no new stories (that I can think of now at 00:00/midnight). Birthday and Thanksgiving went well. The T-day meal was actually pretty good.
I have become acustom to some of the odd things about being out here, like the watching Sunday or Monday night football live the next morning when I go to morning chow. We are 8 hours ahead of DC so the games are often just ending by 8 am here. I watched the Buccaneers play the Saints live over "TV" while at work, but I had to stay up till almost 01:00 to do it.
Been working out with a couple of folks from the office. They are in better overall shape than I am so I am not "throwing" as much weight as they do, but my muscles still let me know about it the next day. Trying to get my mile run/elliptical time down close to 10 minutes, but that hasn't been working for me... I remenber why I hated gym class.
Usually work from 09:00 to about 23:00, try to hit the gym sometime during the day or at night, shower at night, and then bed by midnight or midnight 30, then up again at 08:00 to do it all over again... and again... and again... Its now like a bad version of Groundhog's Day, but no Bill Murray.
The MWR tours that come through here are odd. We had Gunnery R.Lee Ermy ("Full Metal Jacket" drill seargent), Everclear, some country music guy, and tomorrow the WWE will be here. WTF?
Um... yeah.
night
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Veterans day
I went on a Camp tour on Tuesday (Nov. 11th). Or rather a tour of the former Abu Gurhaib Palace complex. We started a Uday's house, went to the Victory over Iran and Victory over America palace(s) and then ended at the Ba'ath party HQ. It was three hours total. The main takeaway that I got from the tour was this... Saddam (and his sons and the Ba'ath party bosses) exemplified human garbage. These were horrible people. I know there are plenty of meglomaniacal, sociopathic despots still ruling countries (quite a few in Africa it seems) and that there were worse rulers back through history. But these guys were pieces of work.
The whole area on Camp Slayer (former AGPC) is surrounded by and run through with lakes and "stream/channels". The palace I work in (the perfume palace) was the Ba'ath party's brothel.
Brothel? you ask yourself? How could that be in a Muslim nation? Well aside from being a cynical realist with minimum regard for spiritual truth, SH was also sly. In Islam, there is no sin on water. Soooo... there are all of these little buildings built on islands in the lakes. They are love shacks. House boats would pick up the ladies from the brothel, then pick up the scumbags from the Ba'ath party house and then deposit them at these little islands and presto chango, no sin.
The lakes are entirely man made. As I stated in a previous entry, the Baghdad population never knew what was on the other side of the outer walls to the complex. SH would divert the water from 9 of the 10 Baghdad water pumps (the cities drinking water) to fill his lakes. Baghdad might go w/out water for weeks, and yet thousands of gallons were just sitting on the otherside of the Complex walls. Several Iraqis have been given the tour that I took since the invasion and none of them knew about the water until they came on the tour. Apparently some had even asked why we brought all the water and made the lakes. They cried when they found out that it had been here the whole time. 
The VOI and VOA palaces were built to commemorate the successes of the Iraqi army over the two main enemies (Iran and US). Like I said, not much for the truth. Most of the ornamentation that I have been impressed with in the few places I have seen (my office's ceiling for example) are fakes. He "created" the marble from composite materials. None of the interiors were really as nice as they seemed. If there was gold it was usually painted on, stuff like that.
If you notice the cranes in this picture, those were left by a French company that was helping SH build the VOA. The US Army offered to pack and ship the cranes to the company after we took control of this area. The company's response was to bill the US for the cost left on their contract to build the palace. So the cranes are now a permanent addition to the VOA palace.
Uday's house, the VOA and the Ba'ath HQ (BHQ) all took JDAM ("smart bomb") hits in the initial stages of the 2003 invasion. Uday's house cause they wanted to get him at home (missed, but got him later), VOA because the US military does not appreciate it when other nations falsely claim (especially when they falsely claim) a victory over the US, and finally the BHQ cause there was reports of a large gathering of upper level party members in that 48 hour window/deadline GWB gave SH to surrender. Sent in a Tomahawk cruise missle to take out the whole snakes nest, thinking it might make things easier. Well they were gathered in one place at BHQ, and they were watching a film, but it was not war planning or stategerizing. They were all watching "Pretty Woman". We know cause after the USA secured the facility, they found the projection room mostly intact and the movie was on the reels. The rest of that wing of the BHQ was destroyed. Recovery could only retrieve 45 bodies. The remaining 150 or so are still buried in the rubble. The room truly felt like a tomb...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Cerebrally Smushed
I feel like a... something that has been working too much. I can't even think of a metaphor. Maybe a wet dish towel? Or a dry sponge? Or something that has been flung against a wall and is sort of stuck/sliding down? But all that in my head. Physically I'm just tired, but my poor brain feels like... whatever I was trying to describe above.
the bloom may have come off the rose.
As of tonight, I have worked almost 30 hours this week. Yes, it is only Monday night, that is correct. And the week starts on Sunday. Hence the tapioca brain. But I get good feedback, so that counts for something I guess.
I find I have an OCD-like work ethic when it comes to the products I make. Most of the requests could be made easily and quickly and the customers probably wouldn't mind "slap dash" products as long as the message gets through. I, however, have to apply these damn cartographic principles I was indoctrinated with. And I make good looking products. But they take time. Which is always in short supply. I asked one of the requestors if there was any push in her suspense (time due) and she said "oh, yes there is push. We have until 0700." this was at 1930. hahahahahahaha.... so I worked until midnight.
We get a site (VBC) tour tommorrow. I will take pictures. And then sit on them for 4 months. oh well.
One quick story. (About my office. Something descriptive to do with what I deal with everyday.) There are two staircases to the palace. And their are elevators, but we don't use them cause sometimes they decide not to work, like when people might be in them. Anyway, stairs. Front and back. Front staircase doesn't really elicit any "WTF?" type reactions cause it is mostly normal enough (except for the bullet holes in the floor in front of the door on the second floor). Its the back staircase that boggles the mind. And if one doesn't watch out, it can smack your head too. There was no construction code back in the SH days. So, some of the steps are not the same dimensions as others, none of the right angles really are, and the kicker (or the brainer) is that the height of the staircase (head clearance) varies by floor. So I start (going up)by ducking somewhat, then can straighten out, then have to duck again, then its fine. Coming down even 5'5" people feel like they are going to hit their heads. So I duck a lot.
Night.
the bloom may have come off the rose.
As of tonight, I have worked almost 30 hours this week. Yes, it is only Monday night, that is correct. And the week starts on Sunday. Hence the tapioca brain. But I get good feedback, so that counts for something I guess.
I find I have an OCD-like work ethic when it comes to the products I make. Most of the requests could be made easily and quickly and the customers probably wouldn't mind "slap dash" products as long as the message gets through. I, however, have to apply these damn cartographic principles I was indoctrinated with. And I make good looking products. But they take time. Which is always in short supply. I asked one of the requestors if there was any push in her suspense (time due) and she said "oh, yes there is push. We have until 0700." this was at 1930. hahahahahahaha.... so I worked until midnight.
We get a site (VBC) tour tommorrow. I will take pictures. And then sit on them for 4 months. oh well.
One quick story. (About my office. Something descriptive to do with what I deal with everyday.) There are two staircases to the palace. And their are elevators, but we don't use them cause sometimes they decide not to work, like when people might be in them. Anyway, stairs. Front and back. Front staircase doesn't really elicit any "WTF?" type reactions cause it is mostly normal enough (except for the bullet holes in the floor in front of the door on the second floor). Its the back staircase that boggles the mind. And if one doesn't watch out, it can smack your head too. There was no construction code back in the SH days. So, some of the steps are not the same dimensions as others, none of the right angles really are, and the kicker (or the brainer) is that the height of the staircase (head clearance) varies by floor. So I start (going up)by ducking somewhat, then can straighten out, then have to duck again, then its fine. Coming down even 5'5" people feel like they are going to hit their heads. So I duck a lot.
Night.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Observations and musings
("Editors"note: this entry was started 11/05/08 and posted 11/07/08)
I have been out of CONUS for a week. Not that a week is some "milestone" or anything when I consider my other international travels. India was more personally challenging the first week, and the Czech Republic was about a week total. But I guess those are different.
The building I work in is called the Perfume Palace (i mentioned that before I know). Its this big marble structure that has a top almost like a orange juice squeezer
(you've seen the pictures). Explanations I have heard claim that the Big S H built the palace for his daughter cause she liked the shape of a perfume bottle (and the palace is a similar shape). Or it is the palace where his mistresses lived.
As I stated in some of the emails or in a previous entry here, there are at least three large palaces nearby. This whole area used to be Saddam's private Zanadu. It was known as the Abu Gurahib Palace Complex (or at least that is the English type name for it). Your average Iraqi did not know that this area existed until after the US invasion. SH would shut off water to Baghdad in order to fill his lakes and still people didn't know. Those people who worked here lived here, and if someone knew about the complex and happened to tell someone who did not live and work here, they were killed and the people they told were killed as well.
An interesting similarity to India is the bats. Every night around sunset they come out to "hunt" insects. It can be kind of unnerving.
There is a balcony on the 3rd floor of the Perfume palace that looks back toward the BIAP (Baghdad International Airport). Sunset from the balcony are spectacular. One of my goals is to get some pictures from that balcony, if possible of a sunset as well.
Several times this week as I walked from the Palace to the DFAC (Dining Facility) for dinner I have heared the call to prayer wafting over from outside the wire. It reminds me of Mike's bachelor party weekend in Brooklyn, sitting on the roof of Adam's building late that Friday night (or reeeal early that Saturday morning).
There was a VBIED (vehicle borne IED) explosion out on one of the access roads to the BIAP yesterday(?). I never heard it, but we found out about it that night. I guess some folks had been out walking and even saw the flash and heard the boom. We all are safe and were never in any danger.
Every now and then you can hear the folks training at the firing ranges. That can be a little jarring at first, until you determine which direction it comes from.
I have been out of CONUS for a week. Not that a week is some "milestone" or anything when I consider my other international travels. India was more personally challenging the first week, and the Czech Republic was about a week total. But I guess those are different.
The building I work in is called the Perfume Palace (i mentioned that before I know). Its this big marble structure that has a top almost like a orange juice squeezer
(you've seen the pictures). Explanations I have heard claim that the Big S H built the palace for his daughter cause she liked the shape of a perfume bottle (and the palace is a similar shape). Or it is the palace where his mistresses lived.As I stated in some of the emails or in a previous entry here, there are at least three large palaces nearby. This whole area used to be Saddam's private Zanadu. It was known as the Abu Gurahib Palace Complex (or at least that is the English type name for it). Your average Iraqi did not know that this area existed until after the US invasion. SH would shut off water to Baghdad in order to fill his lakes and still people didn't know. Those people who worked here lived here, and if someone knew about the complex and happened to tell someone who did not live and work here, they were killed and the people they told were killed as well.
An interesting similarity to India is the bats. Every night around sunset they come out to "hunt" insects. It can be kind of unnerving.
There is a balcony on the 3rd floor of the Perfume palace that looks back toward the BIAP (Baghdad International Airport). Sunset from the balcony are spectacular. One of my goals is to get some pictures from that balcony, if possible of a sunset as well.
Several times this week as I walked from the Palace to the DFAC (Dining Facility) for dinner I have heared the call to prayer wafting over from outside the wire. It reminds me of Mike's bachelor party weekend in Brooklyn, sitting on the roof of Adam's building late that Friday night (or reeeal early that Saturday morning).
There was a VBIED (vehicle borne IED) explosion out on one of the access roads to the BIAP yesterday(?). I never heard it, but we found out about it that night. I guess some folks had been out walking and even saw the flash and heard the boom. We all are safe and were never in any danger.
Every now and then you can hear the folks training at the firing ranges. That can be a little jarring at first, until you determine which direction it comes from.
Today was a really long day. But it was also a good day. My team leader has decided to knickname me "The Don", because I deserve respect. I knocked out 3 projects, attend a "tiger team" high priority issue meeting and resolved a data issue with another project today. I didn't even realize it was Friday until about 18:30. I just thought it was Thursday. By the end of this payperiod (tomorrow) I will have worked 125 hours. That isn't even a full schedule cause some of my time was in DC. Oddly, the 80 hours work week makes me think of the summer in Texas, only that sucked and this doesn't.
I will post the pictures to this blog probably only once I am back, as it would bog the public servers too much.
Hug those you love.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
End of the first Sunday
Hello again,
I am feeling ever so much better since yesterday. I was able to sleep from 20:00 to 06:10. Only really woke up once to go to the head (but it was a brisk walk and that is not fun at 01:20). So far this feels like camp. Or rather a reeaally fucked up version of camp. Reasons why:
I am currently sharing a room with another NGA body (like camp);
The shower and toilet are located away from the room, so one has to walk (like camp);
We line up for chow that at current is not that good (like camp);
People monitor your outside activities and ensure not too much tomfoolery happens (like camp);
I have "counselors" who kind of dictate the daily activites (like camp);
Only, I am working, in a palace (one of three palaces around the airport) built by a heinous dictator and am surrounded by hundreds of armed US servicepeople (not like camp)...
I will not be able to post any pictures here (the blog) while here, but there are some releasable pictures that I can probably transfer and email. Some of the views and things are really, quite striking if not beautiful. I work in the Perfume Palace (don't know where the name comes from) and, well have you ever seen the movie Last Holiday (or last vacation i forget) with Queen Latifah? There's a scene where she asks the hotel clerk if she had ever just looked at the cieling and if it had ever made her want to cry? Yeah, well its kind of like that... and the crazy thing is the 3rd floor ceiling is more amazing. Near the palace built to celebrate the "Victory over Iran" and augmented to celebrate the "Victory over America" (Saddam wasn't big on the truth) there is a structure that was built for children (I guess Saddam's) that I can only reference to the "caverns" on Tom Sawyers Island in Disneyland, but this might be bigger. And then there is an even bigger palace north of the "Victory" and Perfume palaces. I haven't been there, but I can only speculate it is rediculous.
Seem to be getting along with my co-workers, and I think I will pick up the tempo pretty easily. I will probably have bigger challenges getting acclimated to the military culture and lifestyle. Figuring out how to get to the big px up north, where to get mail, best times to drop off the laundry. Oh yeah, they do the laundry. Four months of no having to cook, shop, laundery, buy... I'm gonna be spoiled. Hydration is a really big deal over here, so there are bottles of water avaliable for free everywhere. I mean everywhere. I have not been this hydrated for a long time. And I will probably have a problem when I have to "buy" my first bottle stateside.
The security is really good here, as in I feel utterly safe. In fact I only heard gunfire for the first time tonight, and I was told it was most likely at a test/firing range. If I get a trip to the "International Zone" I might feel edgey again, but not now.
Okay, gotta go to bed. Eyes drooping...
Be well,
Kiss those you care about.
I
I am feeling ever so much better since yesterday. I was able to sleep from 20:00 to 06:10. Only really woke up once to go to the head (but it was a brisk walk and that is not fun at 01:20). So far this feels like camp. Or rather a reeaally fucked up version of camp. Reasons why:
I am currently sharing a room with another NGA body (like camp);
The shower and toilet are located away from the room, so one has to walk (like camp);
We line up for chow that at current is not that good (like camp);
People monitor your outside activities and ensure not too much tomfoolery happens (like camp);
I have "counselors" who kind of dictate the daily activites (like camp);
Only, I am working, in a palace (one of three palaces around the airport) built by a heinous dictator and am surrounded by hundreds of armed US servicepeople (not like camp)...
I will not be able to post any pictures here (the blog) while here, but there are some releasable pictures that I can probably transfer and email. Some of the views and things are really, quite striking if not beautiful. I work in the Perfume Palace (don't know where the name comes from) and, well have you ever seen the movie Last Holiday (or last vacation i forget) with Queen Latifah? There's a scene where she asks the hotel clerk if she had ever just looked at the cieling and if it had ever made her want to cry? Yeah, well its kind of like that... and the crazy thing is the 3rd floor ceiling is more amazing. Near the palace built to celebrate the "Victory over Iran" and augmented to celebrate the "Victory over America" (Saddam wasn't big on the truth) there is a structure that was built for children (I guess Saddam's) that I can only reference to the "caverns" on Tom Sawyers Island in Disneyland, but this might be bigger. And then there is an even bigger palace north of the "Victory" and Perfume palaces. I haven't been there, but I can only speculate it is rediculous.
Seem to be getting along with my co-workers, and I think I will pick up the tempo pretty easily. I will probably have bigger challenges getting acclimated to the military culture and lifestyle. Figuring out how to get to the big px up north, where to get mail, best times to drop off the laundry. Oh yeah, they do the laundry. Four months of no having to cook, shop, laundery, buy... I'm gonna be spoiled. Hydration is a really big deal over here, so there are bottles of water avaliable for free everywhere. I mean everywhere. I have not been this hydrated for a long time. And I will probably have a problem when I have to "buy" my first bottle stateside.
The security is really good here, as in I feel utterly safe. In fact I only heard gunfire for the first time tonight, and I was told it was most likely at a test/firing range. If I get a trip to the "International Zone" I might feel edgey again, but not now.
Okay, gotta go to bed. Eyes drooping...
Be well,
Kiss those you care about.
I
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Perfume
I have arrived at my site and got myself squared away with regard to bunk and worksite. However it will take a while to get squared away with the reality of this place as a whole. As I mentioned in a previous email, the whole vast area around the former Saddam Hussein International airport (now Baghdad International) is this surreal mix of barren "desert" land, rubble, opulent "babylonian" structures in various stages of disrepair/repair, and massive T-wall/Hesco barriers surrounding various camps of various nationalities and Military all over.
I am burned out. been up for roughly 36-38 hours. Bedtime.
cheers,
I
I am burned out. been up for roughly 36-38 hours. Bedtime.
cheers,
I
Friday, October 31, 2008
And so it begins... the wait
Landed in Doha last night after an approximately 12 hour flight from Dulles on Qatar airlines. I got a town car to pick me up from my apartment. The driver chatted the whole way about the election, how the neighborhood (where I live) had changed since he lived there and how kids these days didn't respect the code of the streets like back in the old days. Nice old guy trying to make ends meet for his family.
Arrived at Dulles, checked in, and then waited. I was in the bar nearby and didn't hear the first call for boarding. When I got to the gate they had already passed my section and were about to begin general boarding. No problem but it just made the getting to the seat process just a little longer. Waiting will become a part of life, so like I said really no problem.
So now, here at Camp Al Saliyah (Army) waiting to transport to Al U Adid (Airforce) to catch my mil-air flight (C-130 or C-17) to Baghdad. Gonna chow in half hour (5:30pm, Qatar), re-pack and then wait...
It may be morning again (6 am or later) before we are landed and or transporting to final destinations. So just wait.
I don't know what else to say for now. The weather is warm, there was a smittering smattering of rain (none in the last 10 months, but I show up and there you go), everything is dusty and beige, both intentionally and ala nature.
Let me know if there is anything else of interest I can share. I will try to figure out how to get pictures up when I am allowed to take them (No photograohy on Al Saliyah).
Cheers and Happy Halloween,
Isaiah
Arrived at Dulles, checked in, and then waited. I was in the bar nearby and didn't hear the first call for boarding. When I got to the gate they had already passed my section and were about to begin general boarding. No problem but it just made the getting to the seat process just a little longer. Waiting will become a part of life, so like I said really no problem.
So now, here at Camp Al Saliyah (Army) waiting to transport to Al U Adid (Airforce) to catch my mil-air flight (C-130 or C-17) to Baghdad. Gonna chow in half hour (5:30pm, Qatar), re-pack and then wait...
It may be morning again (6 am or later) before we are landed and or transporting to final destinations. So just wait.
I don't know what else to say for now. The weather is warm, there was a smittering smattering of rain (none in the last 10 months, but I show up and there you go), everything is dusty and beige, both intentionally and ala nature.
Let me know if there is anything else of interest I can share. I will try to figure out how to get pictures up when I am allowed to take them (No photograohy on Al Saliyah).
Cheers and Happy Halloween,
Isaiah
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