More Pictures

Going to space these out over couple days.

Pictures

From a road project I went on a couple months ago.  They're pretty, so I'ma put them here.

Been a while...

The upside of the deployment so far is that it's been pretty boring.  The downside is (at least to me) is that it's been pretty damn boring.

Today's excitement?  Massive storm system rolling in as we left dinner.

It's been a while since I've been in the right place to see an Anvil Cloud like that.

Stop reading treble clef for a decade...

I used to play violin up into high school, but was always solidly mediocre at it, so I gave up in the interest of other classes.  12 years later, and I broke down and ordered a cheap mandolin to try and learn to play while I'm here (much to the dismay of my tentmates, I'm sure.)

(Yes, flannel penguin sheets. I can't help how awesome I am.) 

The silly thing actually looks fairly decent, but the g-string (giggle) leaves a little to be desired. It just doesn't seem to resonate quite like the rest.  I'll probably mess with things a little, but I've got a feeling it's just the way the low notes are going to be on this thing.

Anywho, the couple hours I spend plucking around with it (after a good half-hour to tune it... double strings are fun...) were a great exercise in frustration. Not only are the calluses needed to play tiny thin strings long gone (12 years will do that,) but my brain seems to have forgotten which finger goes where on what string to make the note that the little dot on the paper is supposed to be.  I described it to one of my tentmates as feeling like somebody took apart that really complex lego set I put together years ago, and I lost the instructions for.  I know how it's supposed to go, and my brain remembers bits and pieces, but it can't quite put them all in the right order.

I'm hoping that by the time I go home, I'll at least be able to play more than "Drunken Sailor" (seriously... that took like 5 minutes to get down, and it's like cheating... until you go the right tempo anyway.)  Regardless, it's something to pass the time, and at least I didn't drop much cash on the instrument in case something happens to it.

Post Holiday Day

Amazingly had some down time for Christmas, spent it playing D&D and watching Serenity, and the bad guys were kind enough to refrain from lobbing rockets or anything at us, so no bunker time!

Back to the office now though.

(Speaking of Serenity, I got Firefly: A Celebration for MandaFern as a surprise gift. Apparently it's good, she's blaming me for likely not sleeping tonight and being very tired for work tomorrow. If you're a Browncoat, it may be well worth checking out.)

Happy Holidays!

From the 'Stan!!

Don't Worry!

Intrepid reader(s)! I'm still here, just haven't had much time to get much up on here. Give me a couple weeks though, and there'll be more photos and junk.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Afghanistan.

Batting average of .333 with knives today...
(The turkey wasn't bad, but the knives were.)

Check Ride

So I got to leave the office a couple weeks ago and head down to KAF.  Part of it was getting my "check ride" to get fully licensed on the M-ATV.  My TC was our maintenance section commander, who happens to be a CW4.

Those of you that have spent time in the Army know the reputation Warrant Officers have, especially when you get into the CW4-5 territory (the one in question should be making his 5 any minute now...)  Needless to say, this was going to be a memorable "check ride."

The mission, as a whole, was uneventful, but driving a finely tuned 15+ ton piece of Wisconsin engineering through downtown Kandahar City is not something you'll likely forget in your life.  Afghanistan has no driver's licensing system, and the locals are used to having military convoys rolling around, so they treat us like any other traffic (despite the fact that we will win any wreck... the trucks are armored after all.)

I can pretty confidently say that this was possibly the only time in my career that a check ride will involve the TC telling me to "Close the gap and don't let that $%&*# get in! Run him off the road if you have to!"

As for the truck, I did tell my buddy that works for Oshkosh that they need more cup holders in those things. His response was "yeah, I keep telling them not everybody is 5'6" either, but they don't listen."

New Coffee Cup!

The red part changes to match the level of hot coffee in the cup (or when the coffee gets cold, it turns black too... which is about the same anyway...)

It's the little things that count.

Picture Time!

Have a handful to toss up.

There be mountains past the crap!

Yup... hiding behind the t-walls... Oh, and they have the Moon in Afghanistan too.

We have a porch. Which is nice for enjoying morning coffee.

It's like camping for 9 months straight!

Hopefully more pictures eventually...

Woot!

Last mail call brought a French Press and Hario Grinder, today the Emy's showed up.  I'm actually kinda looking forward to the morning a little.

"If you didn't drop it..."

"Don't pick it up" applies to the office refrigerator just as much as is does the battlefield.  Jerks stealing my near-beer...

Mail

We finally got some today.  That means I have a pillow and sheets to sleep on tonight! Hooray!

Speaking of, I know a couple people asked about a mailing address.  I forget who, so shoot me an email if you're one of them.

I have eight bosses Bob. Eight.

In case anyone is wondering, the title of this blog is quickly looking to be rather... unfitting.  The deployment is certainly shaping up to be far less "Blackhawk Down" and much more "Office Space" (which, coincidentally, I'm still waiting to finish downloading off iTunes... if you know me on Facebook, you know my troubles.)

Less complaining next post, I promise.

Still Here

Sorry if I've been light on the postage. Interwebs (well, personal ones) are spotty here, and I've been working pretty much solid 12 on/12 off since we hit ground here doing stuff I can't talk about on here (go figure.)

Hopefully before the end of the tour I'll be able to get out of the office and take some pictures or something.

Airborne Engineer

At least I was yesterday.

Representin'

KAF

In Afghanistan, in case anybody was worrying. Just don't have regular internet access, since we're not at our final location as of yet.

Kyrgyzstan

In case anybody was wondering, while the general landscape of the place still screams "former Soviet Republic," Manas has grown quite a bit since 2005.  Although Green Bean is still in the same place.

Ranger Coffee

Engineer Blend!  Will have to get some sent over when we hit country, it's only proper.