My area

Here is a map of where I am living. I've tried to annotate it with information about what I've found out and discovered so far:


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Weekend

Today (Sunday) is the first day of my weekend. We worked one 12 hour shift yesterday, kind of, cuz in reality we will be learning the ropes for quite some time, so there were long stretches of boredom. Having something to do will greatly ease the long shifts. The worst is the morning, cuz after we get there, we jaunt over to get some breakfast around 5 or 5:15, head back, then it's about 7 hours later before we head over for lunch. The afternoon may go by a bit faster as it's only 4-5 hours. It looks like we do not generally eat dinner there, which I think is good, as that means we get home a bit earlier. We were home last night by 5:30pm, which isn't bad considering.

My room mate and I were headed out for dinner when he got a call from his friend here to go have dinner at a place he knew. He has brought his family over so I was eager to meet him and hear more about the process. They are great people, he has been here 6 months, his wife and kids 3 months, so it's pretty fresh in their minds. They have 2 kids, 8 and 6 (six year old boy!), and they live about a mile up the coast from where we are now. The wife said she had pretty much acclimated now, though at first she was not at all sure she wanted to stay, I guess it was pretty tought to get used to. That and they endured the middle of the summer here and temperatures of up to 120 F. Everyone keeps telling us how we are lucky to be arriving right after the really hot season. 100 F every day is cool in comparison.

I asked about their setup, and they have a 3 bedroom place with maid's quarters for about 450KD ($1597.5). It's right by the coast, there are 3 swimming pools nearby they have access to, and lots of other families live there. If we could find 2 bedrom place for 300-350 KD that would be about what we were paying in Portland. I asked about transportation, and he has bought a car for travel to and from work, while his wife says she gets by with taxis if she wants to go places. She says its not too expensive, maybe 1/2 KD, to ride down to the area I'm at right now (Al Manshar and Al Kout malls). I'm sure riding to downtown Kuwait City would be more, but she says they just wait for weekends for that sort of thing.

I asked about the ride in alone in the car, and he said he has usually left earlier to avoid that (ugh) or if you can arrange with someone else to pick them up, then you can do the HOV lane. One thing for sure is that once you opt out of company housing and cars, you cannot take advantage of them, so there is no point in finding a place within walking distance of Al Manshar.

Another cool thing about this family is that they are homeschoolers! She also said that she has made other homeschooling friends here, one lady is homeschooling her six kids! So there should be plenty of support and help for that sort of thing. Its refreshing as the first thing anyone says to me when I say I'm bringing over my kid is "Oh yes, the schools here are first rate, though expensive." I just nod and smile.

There are tons of families all over, in the evening, the kids come out of the woodwork, running down the halls of our apartment. She said they have lots and lots of families where they live too.

Anyway, it was a very encouraging talk, and good to see that there is going to be lots of help and support for Kerri while I'm off at work most of the time.

One piece of advice they had was to not wait for the civil ID process before getting started on the process of getting Kerri and Rowan over here. They did that, and it took much longer for them to get over here I guess. I have also been told to call the US Embassy here for information on what to do next. Apparently, marriage and birth certificates in the states will need to be certified by county, state and federal authorities, and that can take a while for sure. I'll be calling the Embassy as soon as I finish this.

I finally cooked my own food for the first time since being here! Admittedly it was just fried rice and egg, but still... I'm going to try to eat at home for all meals but dinner over the weekend. Then during the week I'll try to eat dinner at home. Eating out (at the right places) is pretty cheap here, but still, better to get into good habits now. Of course, I need to buy more groceries now that I have a working stove (they fixed it yesterday) like meat and vegetables, but hopefully they won't be too spendy.

Oh, I got the Eagle Cash setup on base yesterday. It's pretty cool! Basically, it links up to your bank account in the states, then you use their kiosks to transfer money from or to your bank account and your Eagle Cash card, up to $350 a day. Then you can use that card to buy stuff anywhere on base (and some things are definitely cheaper at the PX), or you can go to the finance office and buy KD with no transaction fees! The only annoyance is the $350 daily limit, but I figure once I get an idea of the regular expenses (i.e. rent, utilities, etc...) I can get on a schedule of moving the money over every other day as needed. Unfortunately, it'll be at least another pay cycle before I find out what a normal paycheck will look like, as this one will have CRC time still on it. The next paycheck after that will allow me to construct a budget.

Today I'm going to hole up in the apartment until the afternoon when things start to get cool again. I've got plenty to do from here, and a movie I need to watch so I can return it to the MWR (Morale, wellfare and recreation) center.

Oh, about internet...we still aren't sure if we can get it set up without civil IDs, but it's pretty expensive no matter how you cut it. My room mate and I will be able to split it, but once I move out, ugh... Funny, you'd think they'd have better internet options here...but oh well. I did find an internet cafe nearby that claims to have high speed and machines with skype, cameras and headphones, so I hope to able to phone home soon.

First day at work

Nothing much to report today, just got shown around and introduced to a bazillion people whose names I will not remember. Tomorrow begins our first "real" day of work. My shift will be 5am to 5pm, but we leave here at 3:50am. Because I am just getting to know the environment, I'll be working with another department for the first two weeks, and my weekend will be Sunday, Monday, which means I'll get a weekend right after work tomorrow! And apparently there is a holiday that happens in November that means we have to take another day off really soon. All in all a pretty soft landing.

Tonight I ate my first shawarma! Well, 3 shawarmas really. They are pretty small, 250 fils (1/4 a KD), with some meat and maybe a vegetable or two. Pretty good, but nothing to compare with the donner kebabs in London. Still, pretty yummy. I also found this restaurant nearby that serves shawarma and whole chickens. I'll have to go back there for chicken sometime. Typically, all 3 meals will be had on base, so that should keep me restrained to just weekends for yummy stuff.

My room mate and I did some grocery shopping this evening at the Sultan Center, but pretty limited still as our electric stove was not wired in properly, so we can't cook anything. I finally found a semi-cheap (for here) rice cooker (5.1 KD), and bought some rice, so at least I can steam things on the top while cooking rice.

Oh, I also got a SIM card for my phone, so at last I can communicate here. It wasn't as cheap as I found it in the local stores, but on base at least I could buy it without having my civil ID yet. Pretty much everything here seems to require a civil ID. I called about getting better internet and they also said I needed one. Ugh. That'll be between 1-3 months.

In other news, I found out about a really great way to withdraw money here without incurring fees (of any kind I think...). It's called Eagle Cash, and it's available on the base. Basically, you fill out a form giving them access to deposit and withdraw money from your account in the states, and then you can use ATMs on base to withdraw KD or dollars with no charges. I'm still not sure what happens to the usually exchange rate fee, but maybe that gets bypassed too, which would be the best.

Well, it's 8pm, so I'd better hit the sack if I want some sleep tonight. Guess this is going to be my schedule from now on...

Al Manshar and Al Kout

Today I did some laundry and cleaning before setting off on some exploration. One thing I forgot to mention is that the apartment is largely furnished, complete with many new items fresh from IKEA (far, far away from us apparently). Many of them are exactly what we had back in portland, so it's kinda funny to be using the same dishes.

The washing machine took me a while to figure out, as I inadvertantly set it on the "forever" cycle. I had to wait around for it to finish before I could finally leave. My roommate never woke up so I left without him.

First on my list was a haircut. I immediately headed across the street to the little shops that sell all sorts of stuff, cell phones, computer equipment, jewelry, shoes, handbags, etc.... Most of these places expect bargaining. I found a small haircut place staffed by several filipinos and got great haircut there. Then I found a glasses shop to repair my sunglasses that broke the other day. Then I wandered, pricing cell phones and sim cards. I ended up buying just the phone for 11KD (a very basic nokia) as you need an ID to buy the SIM card and I can do that on base.

I wandered the bazaar, just checking stuff out. Eventually I found a filipino restaurant called Mario's and had lunch there....very good. Headed back to the apartment to dump some stuff, then went back out again, this time wandered the mall (Al Manshar) and went down to the gulf area (Al Kout). Took pictures and stuff.

Then I went home...that's about it! Bought some electronics for hooking up the laptop and things, but that's all. Tomorrow is my first day at work, I can't wait!

Fahaheel

Oh...my...word.

We are finally home in Fahaheel. I am totally blown away by how nice this is.

Today begain at 0630 with the ITT team picking us all up and taking us to the Middle East Office for briefings. It was the first time I actually felt like I worked for a company instead of the military. HR, finance stuff, etc... We got a talk from the head honcho that oversees all of our contract. He's a great guy with great vision and everyone speaks very highly of him. I was impressed.

After the all day briefings, me and the other 2 guys staying in Kuwait were taken to another set of offices, actually a villa (large house with several floors and rooms) which serves as offices to some, and also as an in-between house for people moving in and out of the area. We waited there for our supervisors to arrive and take us to our living quarters.

They arrived, and me and the other guy (Stan) who are going to be room mates left with our direct supervisor for Fahaheel. He took us to our room, which is up several floors in an apartment tower right next to a lovely mall. There is another mall across the street. There is all sorts of stuff all around us, small shops, big electronics stores, a grocery store, a bazaar area, the gulf is walking distance. He took us to the end of the mall next to us and took us to a middle eastern cuisine restaurant which was very good, and also looked out over the gulf. We talked about lots of stuff, some work. Tomorrow is an off day for me and Stan, and on Friday we get to go into work for the first time. We'll be picked up a bit later than usual and taken onto the base.

Both Stan and I are totally overwhelmed with how nice everything is. Our apartment is humongous! 2 rooms with what look like king sized beds, 2 shower/bathrooms, 1 straight bathroom. 1 extra room we are just going to use for storage. Living room all fitted out with furniture, a tv, stereo, and dvd player. And best of all, our Internet is already hooked up and ready to go. Just needed to plug my router in and fiddle a bit, and here I am. It's pretty slow, but hey, it does the trick.

Oh there is also a kitchen, equipped with new stove, washer/dryer and refrigerator. And a dining room complete with full dining table and chairs. The ceilings look 12 feet tall. It's incredible. I've uploaded some pictures, but they do not do it justice.

I asked about how much to rent a place like this and he said about 400 to 450 KD (3.5 dollars to the KD). So pretty spendy stuff. Before Kerri gets here, I'll need to find a place for us, but I do like this area a lot. There are lots of expats who live here apparently, and it's fairly recently developed around here. Apparently the farther north you go, the more affluent and the nicer things get, and Fahaheel is pretty far south, but it's very nice here IMO. If the prices go up farther north, then this is probably where we'll stay. That combined with the fact that it's pretty close to work will cinch the deal. I'm told you can find places for as low as 200-250 KD, more in line with the space Kerri and I are used to (i.e. 1 or 2 bedroom apartments). I guess we get about $900 apartment/car allowance if we move out of company provided quarters, which will be very welcome at the prices around here. Still not sure how the car thing is going to work out, but we'll see.

It's all pretty heady stuff quite amazing. I feel bad for the folks heading onwards to Iraq and Afghanistan, they are not going to have such niceties and many will continue to live in the conditions we have been subjected to of late. All will be confined to their bases, none can travel in country. True, they are being paid more, but for me, the reason I wanted to do this was to live in a foreign country, not on a base. It's really looking like that may be possible.

One thing about work is the hours, which I already new would be 12 hours, 5 to 5. My suspicions were confirmed today when I heard my supervisor mention that he'd been up since 3:30am, as you then have to drive to the base and get in by around 5am... And I leave at 5pm that puts me back by around 6pm. So on a day shift we're looking at abour 6pm - 8pm to see Kerri and Rowan before hitting the sack to get 7 hours of sleep. It won't be so hard on me, it's them I'm more concerned about, getting through the rest of the day... But it would be better than them being stuck in the US, that's for sure. At least we'll have the weekends.

And vacations...looks like I basically get around 4 weeks of vacation a year, not counting holidays (which can be moved around and taken in conjunction with weekends so as to not eat into vacation). That would be way more vacation than I've had in prior jobs, with so many interesting places to go. A full week is plenty of time to fly over somewhere, spend some quality time, and fly back, so we will definitely be doing that a lot. And I know Kerri has some places she would like to visit even if I can't make it.

Everyone here at ITT is talking confidently about having this contract here for a long time, and even if it does run out or get handed off, they are a great company that really tries to keep their contractors and redeploy them elsewhere where needed. If they continue to prove to be as great a company as they appeared to be today, then I don't know that we'll ever leave them. Where else can you work for a company that takes good care of you, allows you to work overseas, and constantly has opportunities to move around? So far this is really looking a very good move for us. I am really thankful to God for where he has lead us and hope to keep my eyes open for the real reason He let me come here. It is easy to get distracted by all the cool stuff, but I know that ultimately I am accountable to God for what He has given me, to invest in things that are eternal, not temporary. I am sure there is a reason we are here and I'm looking forward to discovering what that is.

Well I need to throw my things into a drawer and fall asleep pretty soon as it's getting late. I also need to get these pictures uploaded, not sure how long that'll take. I'll take more pictures tomorrow during the daylight. Here are the pictures I have from tonight:

Arifjan at last

No, I am not actually leaving Ali Al Salem yet, but today one of the ITT guys took the 3 of us who will be staying here to Arifjan to get some of our many paperwork processes underway. When all is said and done, I believe I'll have 3 different cards for various kinds of access. There will be no pictures from Arifjan, as it is prohibited everywhere quite prominently. It's much nicer than Ali Al Salem, paved roads and such. Much more permanent feeling, though nothing is truly built up. It's pretty spread out so having a vehicle is pretty much essential to getting around even on base.

We saw the place where we will be living from a distance. It's a tower/hotel like structure in Fahaheel, about 30 minutes (seemed less actually) from Arifjan. I'll be rooming with another guy here who I've luckily already made friends with. He plans on moving out eventually and taking the housing stipend, as will I once Kerri and Rowan are over here. We hear the place where we will be staying is very nice, with a view of the Persian (or Arabian, depending on who you talk to) Gulf. I'll take pictures once I'm there.

I did speak with a lady today about first steps towards getting Kerri and Rowan here. Number one is to get my civil ID, which will take up to 3 months. Once I have that, I can sponsor them over. Another option is that they can come over as US citizens and get 3 month visitor visas, which they then have to fly out of country and back in to renew. Depending on how antsy Kerri gets, we'll consider that option again later.

There will be a shared vehicle for those of us living in ITT's housing, so we can get through the lines into Arifjan faster (HOV's have priority). I hear there is also a vehicle stipend for those opting out of that perk. That would go far towards getting a vehicle for us if I can then take the bus in.

Things are slowly coming into focus and I'm better able to get a feeling for things. ITT's people have it really good here in Kuwait, that's for sure.

I still haven't had any interesting food since getting here, but I can see there will be lots of options eventually. There are 2 malls right where I will be living, so there should be lots of food options around.

The driving here is pretty nuts, but mainly in the speeding area. The guy driving us around was doing 100 mph several times, along with everyone else in the 3 lane highway. The speed limit is much lower, but everyone just watches out for the speed trap cameras and slows down when they see them. I think this totally explains the spectacular crashes now. Speed + disregard of rules = spectacular crashes. We saw a couple of examples of this.

It is interesting to note that we drove from the far north of Kuwait, almost to the southern border with Saudi and back again, plus spent a full day in Arifjan. Left about 7am, got back about 7am. It's not a big country at all.

Well, I need to get back to my room and pack my stuff. Tomorrow morning our bags will be transported to where they need to go while we endure the day of briefings. But tomorrow night, I go home!

Internet and cell phones are our first priority, but it may be a couple of days before we get it all sorted out. I may not have access for a while.

Mortification

I made it to 2100 last night without falling asleep, though I did nod off at several moments. Got my passport and what looks like official 2 month visa. That should be enough time to do the necessary stuff to get the longer term visa.

Immediately hit my bunk and was out like a light. I set 2 alarms for 0600 to be up and ready for the 0830 meeting for me and the other 2 guys staying in Kuwait. Next thing I know, I'm being woken up by one of the other guys saying "Hey...it's 8:30, the guy is waiting for us...." I re-checked my alarms, both were still configured to go off at 0600, and the time is correct on both. Wow...I rarely sleep through alarms, and most of you know that missing an appointment, especially a first impression type appointment, is anathema to me. So I threw some clothes on, barely remembered to put shoes on as slippers are only kosher when taking a shower. Stumbled over to the big tent to get some documents photocopied. Of course my ITT supervisor was there... I'm not one of these people who can avoid taking a shower some mornings, I look every inch the disheveled barely alive shmuck til I've had that shower. Oh well, what can you do except apologize profusely and explain about the *two* alarm clocks that filed to wake you up.

Next meeting is at 1245 so I grabbed some breakfast (subway this morning, DFAC is closed) and headed down the MWR tent for some internet time.

It's looking like we'll be here through Wednesday at least, and unfortunately subjected to the all day long briefings/powerpoint presentations that will occur that day. They are hoping to get us to Arifjan by the end of the day Wednesday and have us working by Thursday, but they are not for sure about it.

I'm just trying to take it one day at a time. At least we have some meetings and stuff to do today. Yesterday was not fun, but I'm feeling better for my nearly 12 hours of sleep (not feeling nauseous anymore) and hoping the rest of the time here will go pretty quick.

The temperature is probably the same as yesterday (100 F) but feels much hotter for some reason. Perhaps the wind isn't blowing as hard, or my use of long pants may be contributing, but I have already had to mop my brow today, which was odd as yesterday I don't remember being sweaty even in the middle of the hottest part of the day.

Oh by the way, I've been listening a lot lately to the new Radiohead album In Rainbows which has been getting press because they released it on the internet completely bypassing the record companies, plus they are letting the consumers set the price they want to buy it for. I paid $10 last week and grabbed the mp3s and have been listening to it during the trip and actually right now. I really like it! I have never been a huge Radiohead fan, but I remember Creep when it was popular and liked that a lot. I must now go back and listen to their earlier stuff to see if its worth buying.

Ok, enough for now, getting the evil eye to move on (30 minute limit).

Sleep deprivation

Everywhere you go here there is buzzing, rumbling, roaring. Generators and air conditioners are everywhere. Add to that the buzz of 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 or so. And the heat/cold transitions. I feel like I'm on a different planet.

Around 0400 I started walking around, just soaking stuff up. Still dark for several hours of course, but the air was pleasantly cool, but not sure what exactly. At 0530 had breakfast (again). Kept walking around, my goal being to determine what the picture taking policy was so as not to violate it. I was told the command center would know, but no one was there.

I've been rotating in a big circle from our (air-conditioned) tent to the restaurant area, to the MWR tents (internet, games, etc...) to the PX back up to the command center. I found a thermometer on the wall of the command center so I've been taking readings since 0730.

0730, 75 F, 60% humidity
0930, 90 F, 40% humidity
1030, 100+ F, 10% humidity

Haven't been back in a while. I'm beginning to think my SPF 35 sunscreen might not be up to the challenge. Must buy a hat (not here though...all army related merchandise, I want to be able to wear it off base too).

I've been feeling nauseous occasionally, especially when in this internet kiosk area. The smells plus vibrations, plus general sleeplessness appearing to render me ready to throw up. There aren't many places you can go without people.

The chapel is quiet, but soon (1430) there will be a "gospel" style service which will be loud. I may go just for something to do. I was going to go to the general "protestant" service at 1000, but was feeling sick so went back to my tent to cool down. I've got a top bunk and the a/c is directly on me. Good at night, but during the day the thing is on full blast. Very, very cold. These temp fluctuations are not helping.

In daylight, this place is even more desolate. The sun is so bright, I am squinting behind my sunglasses. When I transition into a tent, it gets so dark I can't see anything without changing glasses.

I finally found someone at command center to tell me about the photography policy. He said he thought it would be fine, just be discrete and don't photograph obvious stuff like flight lines, troop movements, layouts etc... I took a few photos, but nothing compromising. There isn't much to take pictures of...

BTW, I see no reason now not to say that I'm at Ali Al Salem, in the far north of Kuwait. This is well known as the place people come into the theater for processing and deployment. It's pretty much just tents for transients, facilities to stave off boredom and some parking lots and air strips.

The latrines are a mixed bag. On the one hand, they are far better than true portapotties. On the other, they are capable of producing such a mixed stench of cleaning solution and human waste that excacerbates my current propensity towards hurling chunks. Perhaps I have a touch of the flu. Or maybe the pox (which is a lovely little pustule now) is getting to me.

I am not responsible for the tone of this post as I am somewhat delirious, so please disregard if it seems complaining. The experience is novel enough to be interesting, but this waiting and staying up and trying to while away the sunday is not fun. All I want to do is go way and find peace and quiet, but then I'll fall asleep, which I cannot do.

I tried the "Desert something or other" an "oriental" restaurant run by AAFES. I checked the menu and saw Chicken Adobo, a filipino dish, so I had to try it. Possibly the worst adobo I've ever had. Beyond salty, and the meat was like rubber. I'll be sticking w/ the DFAC from now on for sure while on base. Can't wait to locate my first local shawarma, but I can't leave base without an escort.

I have to stay up til 2100 as that's when my passport will be returned to me from its current hiatus with the Kuwaiti government. Only 6 and a half hours to go...

In Kuwait at last!

It is 0145 in the morning here in Kuwait and I'm planning on staying up through tomorrow night if possible. Tomorrow (er...today) is Sunday and they don't have anything for us to do.

Turns out after arriving in Kuwait and being bussed to a camp, CRC isn't exactly over yet. We *all* get to go through several days of processing here now. After a gruelling half hour or so daisy-chaining all the bags off of the truck, our ITT point of contact (POC) gathered us together and had us fill out more paperwork and he gave us our schedule. Then we had to find our bags, get assigned a tent (yes, tent) and take our bags to our tent. We've all had a pretty good workout tonight.

So it was time for food. They have McDonald's, Pizza Hut, an espresso store, all sorts of stuff here. But you have to pay for it. The chow hall (DFAC) is free however with our orders, so I made for there as there was a special midnight opening. Really good food actually, better than at Ft. Benning.

So Kuwait. Haven't seen any of it in the daylight yet, and all I've seen so far has been this camp/base. The "sand" that is everywhere is more of a really fine dust. It poofs up everywhere, and movement kicks it into the air. It permeates everthing. I am going to be taking a shower after this post for sure. Really hoping my job has me in airconditioning most of the time.

Temperature here is a cool 70-80. Apparently we just missed the really nasty weather by two weeks, things are now getting down to 100 during the day (was getting up to 110-120). Whee!

BTW, I will not be at this base, but at a different on (Arifjan) eventually. But probably not til Wednesday at the soonest. In the meantime, internet is spotty as I have to sign in for 30 min increments like at CRC.

Nothing is paved here, all gravel and dusty sand, so getting around is kind of a chore. I will definitely be buying more appropriate footwear as soon as I find a place to do so. It will have to be good and waterproof too as I can only imagine what happens to this stuff when it rains.

Well, that's it for now...more info as I get it.

Sooooooooooo glad to be here finally!

On my way

I am typing this on my DS from an airport in canada. We will be
stopping in europe, then on to kuwait. woohoo!

My Last Day

Since Jesse will be away from computers for a few days, I thought I'd give an update on what's happening on the home front. Today was my last day at work. It was a nice day with many people stopping by to wish us well. Rowan kept telling everyone that we were "never coming back here ever again". No one really knew what to say to that. I will now be able to give my full attention to getting rid of the remaining things still in the apartment and getting totally out of it. I have until Oct. 31 to be out, so I will have plenty of time.

Rowan and I will be going to Newberg to stay with family until after Christmas when we will join Jesse in Kuwait. We are very excited about the next phase of this plan getting under way. We are both ready to have some other people in our household again. I really feel like we made the right decision to wait until Jesse gets established before joining him. This will be a great time with family.

Long day of waiting

I woke up at 0430 to rain.  Lots of it.  It rained until just a little while ago, maybe 0930.  There may be more on the way.  Apparently there is quite a storm system over the SE US.  Hope it doesn't delay our flight.

 

I have a moment to kill between formations.  This day is mostly just waiting around.  I'm all checked out of CRC and we are just waiting on laying out all the baggage so it can be loaded.  Lunch is in about an hour, so that's good.

 

Later (3ish) we load up on buses to go who knows where.

 

Nothing else going on really...

Freedom Flight Ho

The 1100 ITT formation was a bit of a surprise.  Apparently, we require sleeping bags, which were not given to us at CIF as they were supposed to.  When we come into Kuwait, everyone will be sent to a particular base (let's leave details out in case they might get me into trouble) where we will be processed.  For those of us staying in Kuwait, that means at least 24 hours.  The others will be 4-5 days before they get sent out to their final destinations.  This means spending the night, apparently in tents, with cots.  Thus the sleeping bags.  Anyway, we were told to meet back up at 1200 something and we got on a bus to go back to CIF and get sleeping bags.  This took about 2 1/2 hours for maybe 20 people.  Military efficiency at its finest.

 

Back at CRC we checked and final formation at 1800 had not changed, so I headed to my room to repack and do some laundry in preparation for tomorrow.  I got out some of my issued gear and assembled some of it, the easy stuff.  The gas mask will have to wait til I have time to read the 1 inch thick manual I'm afraid.  About 5 I headed over for some chow, and there was told by some other ITT folk that they heard formation had been changed to 1730.  I didn't know, but finished quickly and headed back...sure enough!  Ya gotta be constantly checking that board cuz they can change it at any time.

 

Luckily I was there to get briefed on what happens tomorrow with baggage and such.  The gist of it is, we are signing out tomorrow, bringing our baggage out for transport and getting on some buses!  Woot!  Good thing I didn't get much sleep this morning, otherwise I might have trouble getting to sleep in anticipation.

 

Oh, I heard some people are wondering what a "formation" is.  It's just military jargon for a meeting or gathering of people at one place and time.  They have their own language for everything.  I.e. it's not called the "flight" it's called a "freedom flight".  Why?  I don't know...

 

I think that's about it.  I may not have time to hit the kiosks tomorrow, so you may not hear from me for several days until I re-establish internet access.

Almost done

I'm almost completely done with CRC. Thursday is make-up day for people who still have things to do. Luckily that isn't me. Yesterday we were up on the hill doing training in stuff like first aid (not CPR, we're talking battlefield first aid, i.e. stop bleeding, bandaging head and chest wounds, etc...) and other stuff we aren't really supposed to talk about. Formation was at 0630 and final formation was at 1800. Luckily I managed to get to the chow hall after final form. We had MREs again for lunch and I'm getting the hang of it. Beef with vegetables...mmmmm. It was a loooong day, but surprisingly I didn't get bored til near the end.

This morning at 2am I turned over and felt something on my face. I brushed it off with a hand and then realized I shouldn't need to brush something off my face as I do not have long hair. I leapt out of bed and inspected my sheets for critters. Some of the spiders here are pretty poisonous and we've been warned about them. I never found anything, but due to the adrenaline and increased paranoia, sleep was impossible. So I showered and went to the day room where I whiled away the hours til chow hall opened at 0500. Caught the tail end of Young Frankenstein and American Guerilla in the Philippines. Fun fun.

Formation was at 0900 for the PPD (TB test) check, which was the last thing on my list of possible things that could hold me back (aside from last minute decisions of course). So I should be good to go.

We have an ITT specific formation at 1100 which I don't know anything about yet. Just trying to kill some time between now and then.

I hear rumours about how things are going to go down next, but the gist of it is that tomorrow we'll need to bring our bags out to be weighed and inspected. Then they'll be loaded up and taken to the airport (on base) while we are transported separately. When we get their they'll be re-weighed and inspected. Then we get to wait til the undetermined time at which our flight takes off. I've heard times have ranged from 9pm to 4am. They keep it random and unknown for security reasons.

That's it...so the rest of today I'll probably be working on pictures while re-charging my shuffle and then re-packing.

Hooah!

The good news:  My checksheet is complete and I have a spot on the flight!  It won't be leaving til Thursday or Friday.

 

The bad news:  Well, not exactly bad, just the stuff that has to happen to get to that point.  So yesterday was the day they issued our gear.  About $3500 worth of gear stuffed in a  duffle bag weighing about 70lbs.  Whee...I shouldn't need to use any of it, so I'm hoping to just leave it in the duffle bag and never open it.  Body armour, helmet, gass mask, etc...  Best part is that if for some reason they didn't give me something they said they did (or I lose something) I get to pay for it when I go to turn it back in.  I have *no* idea if it all got in there or not, but a nice guy next to me who was former air force assured me everything got in.  He also showed me some basics like how to close the dang thing, and how to assemble the straps.  It is *heavy*.

 

Today was Medshed.  At 0630 we were shipped off to the medical place where we waited in lines for hours, to wait in more lines for hours.  Blood was drawn, records checked, dental confirmed, then it was immunizations time.  Turns out I needed 5 plus the TB test.  Among those were anthrax and smallpox.  Ug.  After I got all my tests, I was waiting for my paperwork to be given back and I started to feel lightheaded and woozy.  I sat down.  Started sweating.  A guy asked me if I was feeling ok...I said I wasn't sure.  The nurse started fanning me and a doctor was called over who called for a wheelchair and I was wheeled off to a stretcher to lie down while they monitored my BP and oxygen levels.  I was fine...just needed some time to recover.  The doctor said there is some nerve that runs up and down the whole body and sometimes shots will trigger that nerve and cause that kind of reaction.  Otherwise I feel fine now, just a sore right shoulder (anthrax I believe).  The smallpox one is a pain cuz it's contagious and we have to keep bandages on it, can't wash it or touch it (apparently it will start to itch).  I was lucky as I had brought what remains of my immunization records and that took a few off the list.  I heard they don't do more than 5 at a time though.  One surprise on my physical was that apparently I've had hepatitis B in the past.  Didn't know that.  It's inactive now though.  I can't remember what it was, but I know as a little kid I had something fairly serious that landed me in the hospital for a while.  Maybe that was it.

 

Now there are a few hours til next final formation at 1830.  I got back to CRC from this morning at 1430 so missed lunch, but we were given some MREs to munch on.  Good thing as the one I had yesterday I goofed up and tossed in favor of a sausage from the miniPX.  Today gave me another opportunity to practice.  There is this plastic bag with chemical heaters inside that you put the sealed package of whatever (today it was Beefsteak with Mushrooms) into, then add some water and stuff it back into a cardboard box for 10 minutes.  It gets very hot, and when done, you have a pretty good meal for something vacuum sealed.  There was also a strawberry shake powder that you just add water to and shake...it was pretty good too.

 

Tomorrow is all day powerpoint slides, 11 hours worth.  More MREs for lunch!

 

But everything else is A-OK...just gotta get to bed early for that 0600 formation time...hooah!  (yes, we all say hooah in response to the sergeant)

Still here...

Sorry, haven't had a moment to get near a computer all day.

Yes I'm still here! At least for now. The ITT rep came today at 12:45 and took 9 poor people away. The rest of us did the fitting and went up the hill for the rest of the day in the big tent where we were told congrats we were all definitely going, only to have someone else say more would have to go. Welcome to the confusion. We went through some paperwork, briefings, etc. All was well til the very end when some lady came up and made me very confused about something to do w/ our training. I think it will be fine, but still...there's always one more thing to worry about. Anyway, my group (5) meets tomorrow at 0630 for equipment issue. Tomorrow is the medical. Based on what was said today, it looks like I won't need the smallpox vaccine (thank God! it sounds horrible) but I will probably need the anthrax vaccine which goes on for a long time w/ tons of boosters.

I'm glad I'm in an early group for tommorrow...that way I won't be hanging around all morning.

So far so good

This morning was much better than last sunday.  We met at 0700 and were then separated into groups and told to show back up at 0825.  Then we were lined up and sent down for the body armor fitting like last time...so much better than waiting 4 hours.

 

Next formation is 1245...last time this is when I was sent back to town...

Fort Benning Again

Already things are different. We had the same ITT gathering at 1100 and were told to grab lunch and then do the computer based training, which I'd already done. So I went over there to get my initials transferred over to Charlie company and went back to my room to wait the day out.

At one point one of my room mates mentioned that he'd heard the video training was going to happen at 1630. I had been told tomorrow sometime. Just in case I went down and arrived in time to see the formation board said formation was at 1620 and hear someone yell for all the contractors to form up, 4 deep. We were marched up the hill to the big tent again, where me and another ITT guy asked if we were supposed to be there. We were told no, go back and wait for the next formation(!). We got back, confused, had dinner.

Then we found out that there was a formation for everyone else at 1545. We tried to spread the word, but not sure if we got everyone by the time it happened. The board now said 1545, but when I left earlier it said 1620...I was so confused. Anyway, it appeared to be the correct place to be, and in a repeat of last time, we formed up, 4 deep and marched back up the hill. (I'm not being figurative about the "march" bit).

We were then subjected to an hour and 45 minute video on how to deal with hostage situations. Fun.

Then we marched back at 1730 and were released. Next formation is 0700 tomorrow.

At one point I heard one soldier say that there were soooo many contractors this time...he bet half of us were not going. Not very encouraging.

My right foot's tendon is on fire tonight...after yesterday's monster walk, todays have just excacerbated it.

Tomorrow by 1200 I will hopefully know for sure if I'm staying for the full week. Whee...

Last day in Columbus

Stayed in my room this morning repacking my exploded bags. I did a much better job this time I believe. Having been to CRC, I am better prepared this time around for what really matters:

1. The flashlight is very helpful for late night visits to the bathroom and early morning ablutions.
2. Slippers ftw.
3. Bringing along my own bedding means I don't have to use the plastic pillow and other bedding provided (though the blanket is nice).
4. You can repack prior to actually leaving, so it's best to pack for summer camp for CRC, then repack for long distance flying afterwards.
5. You can only bring luggage if it meets certain criteria, primarily a civilian style duffle bag. One hard side (with optional handle and wheels) is allowed. But hard cases are definitely not allowed. I included a picture of the rules board for luggage in the slideshow for Fort Benning in an earlier post.
6. The money they tell you to bring in cash is potentially to be used to resolve issues that come up during processing. Don't spend it on other stuff.
7. You can buy most incidentals for pretty cheap at the mini-px which accepts credit/debit.
8. Bring lots to keep you occupied during extened periods of waiting, sometimes in a specific location, sometimes in line, sometimes just waiting around. I've got my DS (sudoku and zelda), books, and picture work on the laptop.
9. Do not lose your temper at the mind-boggling inefficiency of it all. You are in their hands and getting mad will only make things worse for yourself.
10. Do bring or keep handy plenty of water and some snacks in case they don't give you time to go to lunch. Also have a folder to keep the voluminous paper you have to deal with, and a pen.

About 11 I headed down to eat at the Sumo to Go, a japanese-ish place that served sushi (made that day! no thanks) and rice bowls. I had a chicken rice bowl. It was ok, huge portions, not great on flavor.

Then I wandered down to the Space Center (sponsored by a certain unmentionable soda drink manufacturer, and no I will not give them more free advertising by using the prefix here), the main attraction of which is apparently an omnimax style theater dome. Which was out of service naturally, so I wandered about the lobby and looked at the space stuff. Sort of a mini-OMSI, as in 1/36th the size. In the gift shop I found one of those little toy soldier's with a parachute, .99 cents, so I snagged one for Rowan and mailed it later in the day.

After that I wandered back to the nearby Marriott to enjoy the cool air and comfy couches while I read more of The Science of God.

Finally I decided to go on a quest to find some Sweetwater IPA and I headed over on foot to Phenix, Alabama, which is just over the river. At the Piggly Wiggly, I was disappointed to find no Sweetwater brews in stock. A person said they thought there might be some at the *other* Piggly Wiggly just up the road a bit. I asked if it was walkable and he said probably not, it was quite a jaunt.

Ha! I am a walker...I fear no jaunt. So I started out...turns out it was quite a jaunt up hill, for a long ways. After I despaired of finding civilization again, I finally did stumble across the other Piggly Wiggly's, which sadly did not have the IPA in stock. So I turned around and went back. Based on google maps it looks like about 4 miles one way. I felt like I got a pretty good workout.

Which of course justified going back to Mario's for dinner! The roast lamb was *fabulous*, it seemed to melt in the mouth. I had to get the baba ghanouj again, and mmmmmmmboy. I bid Sylvia a heartfelt goodbye and headed home having almost finished my book.

I'm pretty much all packed and ready to go tomorrow, except for the computer of course, which shouldn't take long. I decided to pack the Wii in with my main luggage this time instead of keep it in my backpack. That should hopefully make it lighter for casual carrying. The Wii uses flash-based memory, so it's less critical that it not be jarred. It's funny, I barely played the Wii at all this week, I had so much other fun stuff to do.

Oh speaking of which, if I was into that sort of thing, as I was leaving Uptown I saw they have erected a stage in the middle section of the street and are having a concert featuring local bands tonight. What a great place!

More of the same

Fourth day in Columbus, and not much interesting to report. Stayed in my room this morning til 11 then went into town for lunch. Nothing interesting really. I did stop back by the Cannon Brewpub to try a proper pint of their IPA, which was sadly not good at all. When the hoppiness is the trailing flavor accompanied by bitter and sour notes, it's a bad IPA. The hops should hit first thing, even when smelling it, like flowers, then trail off to the finish which should be anything other than sour and bitter. Ah well...

Back at the hotel by 1pm to sign my timecard. Turns out we get paid *next* Thursday, not tomorrow as I thought. Oh well, we'll make it. Also found out that we are definitely in for next week's CRC, and our names are at the top of the contractor list, so it's virtually guaranteed we will be going next week. We are to be picked up from the hotel on Saturday at 9:30am, so that leaves one more day and night to while away.

I headed back into town around 4pm, had a couple of pre-dinner beers (Shiner Bock = not so good, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale = ok) while I read my book, then headed over to Marios for dinner again. This time it was a baked ziti, which I should have known I wouldn't like as it is a tomato sauce base, but I got talked into it. Not bad for a ziti I'm sure, but not my thing. Tomorrow night Sylvia promises there will be lamb, so I guess that decides dinner!

One thing I've forgotten to mention is Sweetwater Brewing Company. They are out of Atlanta and the beer I tried to buy on Sunday was an IPA of theirs. Well at this greek place they had 2 of their brews: Blue and 420. Blue is a light ale with blueberry flavours. Too sweet for my taste, but very distinctive. The 420 is an extra pale ale that uses northwest hops, and it is actually very pleasant, the hops are subtle but you can taste them. I did enjoy it quite a bit and is the best beer I've had here so far. Makes me want to go buy that IPA to see how good it is...

That's pretty much it and I don't expect tomorrow to be much different.

Columbus Again

I hung out in my room this morning getting some more work done on the pictures and doing some laundry. I wanted to stall a bit so that when I went into town I'd grab lunch and start riding.

Which is pretty much what happened. Lunch was at a sandwich shop, a fried green tomato BLT. Pretty good, but overpriced.

Got ma Felt 75 and rode to Fort Benning. Checked out the National Infantry Musueum there, which was interesting. Rode back and arrived just at 5pm in time for dinner. 25 miles all told.

Dinner tonight was Mario's, the mediterranean place I had spotted on Monday. The cook is a greek lady by the name of Sylvia. I ordered some baba ghanouj with some trepidation as previous experience with "mediterranean" restaurants in strange places usually indicated a lot of canned food was involved. My interest was piqued when she said it wasn't ready yet and she'd have to prepare it if I wanted to wait. I did. She also convinced me to try moussaka a kind of cheesy eggplant casserole, something I'd never had before. When the ghanouj arrived I knew I'd made the right decision. It looked freshly made, which I confirmed later to be true, and had chunks of eggplant in it and an excellent flavour. I asked how she made it and she said you take 1 long eggplant (usually known as "asian" eggplant) and poke holes around it (presumably with a fork). Then rotate it over a flame until it's done (before it completely melts, probably when the skin is crisped, but the insides aren't completely liquified). Then peel/extract the insides, place in a food processor with garlic, lemon and tahini. Blend and serve with extra virgin olive oil drizzled over the top. Yummmy... The moussaka was excellent too, layered eggplant, potatoes and ground meat with cheese on top. She mentioned using some cinnamon in the meat. All around excellent and I may just have to go back there. There aren't many places open for dinner, so I won't feel guilty if I go back one more time this week.

The ride was fun, though quite painful. My knee continues to hurt quite a bit, and my butt was extremely sore from the previous two days. I think I've ridden my last on that wonderful bike, I need some time to heal up before CRC.

Otherwise it was a fairly uneventful day. Tomorrow afternoon the ITT rep is supposed to swing by between 1pm and 3pm so we can sign our time cards. Hopefully we'll have some good news about next week's CRC.

So this is what a real bicycle feels like

If you couldn't tell already, food is very important to me. And beer. But if I had to choose, I'd take food over beer. Especially when you are stranded with not much else to do, food is something to look forward to and invest serious time and energy into enjoying.

So I begin this post with a recap of the meals since yesterday. Last night, Victor and I (another person stranded from the Bravo company CRC) walked down to Uptown and had pizza. It was actually very good! The crust was excellent, and the seafood toppings on my half were very good. I am very picky about pizza and most merits my disdain, but this stuff elicited praise for a pizza that I rarely give. It's the only pizza place in Uptown, so if you are ever here you shouldn't have trouble finding it (oh I remember, Picasso's Pizza).

Breakfast was the free stuff down in the lobby. Nothing to write home about (but here I go) except for the beef steak, which wasn't good, it was just the first time I'd had any. Note: this is very different from the Filipino "bip-stek" which is something else entirely (though it does involve beef). I won't be bothering with breakfast at all in the future, I'm doing well enough on 2 meals a day.

Lunch was at the Rankin, a former hotel that's now an "arts" block. The ballroom is now a catering/lunch place, which seems to be characteristic of most of the places to eat around Uptown. Only open for lunch, and most do catering on the side. Funny the things you notice as odd when you aren't from around there. Anyway, the food was quite good, an open face english muffin and turkey sandwich, topped with tomatoes and smothered with cheese sauce. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though would have liked the cheese sauce to be more cheesy...it kind of hinted at cheese, like someone mixed in some cheese powder along with the usual white sauce powder normally poured over biscuits. Still it was good enough and I would recommend the place to anyone. There is fun memorabilia hung all about ("Beware of pickpockets and loose women" read one) and oddly enough an interesting sword collection. The proprieter (Henry? Harry?) and I chatted at some length about the area, things to do, going to Kuwait, and the comparative economic status of Saudi and Kuwait. Good guy.

For dinner I asked the bike shop lady what she thought of the "pig place" at the north end of Broadway (Country BBQ - see slideshow for billboard) and she was enthusiastic about it so I thought I'd give the local cuisine a shot. I had the texas brisket (though it was all you can eat chicken BBQ night...so I may have missed out...) on the recommendation of the waitress. Sides were some sort of meaty soup (good) and collards (waaaay too salty). The brisket itself was lackluster, bacon-like strips of pork or beef (which one goes in a brisket?), leanish meat, slightly warmed up. I have a vision of a big metal container of this stuff pre-cooked earlier in the evening tossed onto the grill for a few seconds before being put on my plate. There was a dipping sauce that was very good, a bit sweet for me, but when in Rome...turned out to be just what the meat needed to liven it up a bit.

The other things I noticed about the place where the people. First, my waitress was very nice and congenial, a far cry from most of the restaurant workers I've seen since being here (except for the asian ladies at Golden China). I don't know what it is, but the overall impression of the service workers here is that they are being put upon to have to serve you in any way and don't have any problem letting you know about it. It's not universal, but general enough to leave a bad taste in the mouth so to speak. So I notice now when the service is good, not just on time or correct, but delivered with a genuinely pleasant and cheerful demeanor.

Otherwise, the impression the Country BBQ left me with was of the general obesity of the clientelle. Now I'm not skinny (as most of you know) so my bar is a little lower than, say, the BMI, but as I was facing the door from my table, I saw that every person walking in there, from the kids to the older folk, was fat. Seriously fat. Not ponderously, but just...chunky. I'm sure part of it was the location, and there are places I could go in Portland and receive the same impression. But for some reason, that was what I noticed. The only people who were of "normal" body mass uniformly were the waiters, waitresses and kitchen staff, all of whom were the usual young workforce one expects to see in a place like that, either in high school or college. We read and hear all the time about how fat america is, but it was kind of sobering to see it first hand. Can't help but wonder how many of those people will die because of it.

Ok, on to other things...lessee...oh yeah, the rest of the day!

I headed down to Uptown around 10am again and this time went directly to Judy's used bookstore (no Judy was to be seen) and spent a good hour and a half there perusing for more reading as my current selection is rapidly dwindling. I started the Shangri-la Diet last night and have one chapter left to read. Not wanting to be stuck with nothing to read during the coming "wait-a-thon" that is CRC, I was able to locate two potentially interesting reads that I confirmed later are excellent finds. I'll list my current reading selection further down. While there I used the bathroom. I only mention this to explain the photograph in the slideshow below of the toilet and poster. I think that's all that needs to be said about that.

After the bookstore, I headed down towards the river to locate the Chattahoochee (it's fun to spell it different every time dontcha think?) River Outfitters who rumor had it rented bikes. I did not want to ride the same saddle style seat as yesterday and was hoping they'd have different options. I found it all right, but they (as most things) didn't open til 12 noon, so I walked down to the river and sat down to read the first couple of chapters of both books to see if they were going to be any good (they are). It was so stinking hot (90 degrees and what felt like 100% humidity) that I took my shirt off (no picture included, sorry) and was relatively comfortable sitting in the shade for a while. That's where I took the pictures of the river and riverwalk that are included in the slideshow.

After this I headed back up to the outfitters only to find that they were not open yet. I peered inside, and all I could see were segways and ads to do a "segway tour" which sounded kind of cool, except for the $55 and "tour" parts. No bikes. I waited some more. No one. So I headed up to the Rankin place and had lunch and talked to Harry/Henry who didn't know why they weren't open. Then I went over to the bike store I'd rented from yesterday, because some kind of bike is better than no bike. I spoke to a different guy and mentioned the seat issue and he said they might have a real road bike in the back if I was interested...I was and he brought out a Felt 75 (never seen one before) which was more expensive to rent, $25 a day. "Ouch" I thought, but then..."Ouch" thought my butt, so I said ok. He put different pedals on then gave it to me. It took me a while to figure some things out like...oh...shifting, but once I did I fell in love. So this is what a real bicycle feels like! Not that I want to disparage my beloved Bianchi Bergamo, but oh wow... Smooth as butter shifting, precise steering control, the seat was very comfortable though practical, and best of all was the posture my back was forced into was perfect for long distances. Usually my back starts to hurt after more than 30 minutes on my Bergamo, but I never had a problem with my back hurting at all today. Also, the curved handle bar grips allow multiple hand holds which reduce the hand discomfort/pain that comes with a the T bars I'm used to. The shifting mechanism was not one I'd ever seen before but I quite liked it. It's hidden under the brakes, which follow the front curve of the handle bars. They are levers that are pressed inward, while to shift the other direction you push the entire break mechanism! That's what took me a while to figure out. The other thing about the bike that was new to me was the height. It was exactly right for me, so that I could stand flat-footed on the ground and the top bar was comfortably beneath me without actually touching (which I read somewhere is how its supposed to be). My Bergamo must be a little to large for me as this is not the case with that one.

Anyway, the whole thing was a joy to ride and I rode close to 20 miles today with only a little soreness on my seat (mostly left over from yesterday), and my right knee which has started hurting quite badly (not the knee itself, but what feels like a small cluster of muscles just to the right of the knee...it only hurts when I make the downward pumping motion, I don't feel it when walking, but I do when climbing stairs). This prevented me from riding fast, but did not prevent me from going nice and slow. Also, it decided to rain a few times which has never felt so glorious to me before. Riding along in 90 degree humidity and getting pelted with rain is a wonderful thing! I had heard there was a chance of thunderstorms so later when I saw the real thunderclouds moving in I parked myself in a fishing supply store down by Rotary Park and watched an episode of Mythbusters while it thundered and poured like mad outside. Much more like the tropical rains of the Philippines than anything in Oregon.

When the rain had cleared up, I rode back to Uptown, checked the bike in and headed to the Country BBQ, then home. On the way home I kept seeing these great old houses that are scattered all over here, so I snapped a few pictures which are in the slideshow. Two of these houses sandwich my hotel, which is kind of funny. They have so many cool old buildings, but also really nasty new ones (not too many cool new ones). But on the whole they are doing a great job of preserving the downtown (uptown...whatever) area and the historic residential district. If I had to live here, I'd try to live in this area, as the rest of what I've seen is unmitigated sprawl (though admittedly I haven't seen a lot).

I'm really enjoying my time here, it's turning out to be a very pleasant vacation.

Oh, here's a list of what I'm reading right now:

The Science of God: Mentioned this before. It's very good so far, though part of me wonders exactly where he's going with all this. Not sure I get it yet.

The Shangri-la Diet: I read about this a month or so ago and was starting into it when life got crazy so I didn't give it a real chance. I ordered the book to be sure I fully understood it and I almost finished it last night. If you are interested in more, get the book or read here for more info. It may be crazy, but hey, if it works...that and the fact that it's extremely cheap and easy to try (no you do not have to order away for anything) make it at least intriguing to me.

In the Ocean of Night: This appears to be some hard sci-fi written by a real physicist that starts a series that should keep me occupied for some time.

Star of the Unborn: Written by Franz Werfel, this is a post-humously published science fiction novel translated from German. It's pretty chewy material, but so far it's interesting.

The Case Against Adolescence: Actually, I just finished this prior to leaving home. I had intended it to be my airplane book...oops. I got interested in this book from an article that was re-printed from The Scientific American Mind called "The Myth of the Teen Brain." Seeing as I will someday have a teenager on my hands I thought it might be a good idea to start delving deeper into this thing called "adolescence" that I've always subconsciously felt was probably manufactured. I highly recommend reading this book if have or will have any teenagers in your life. I don't necessarily agree with all of Epstein's prescriptive advice, but I do find the data he presents very illuminating. From a more Christian perspective, I found this article to be helpful too.

Ok, I think that's enough for tonight. Here are the pictures:

Uptown

My belief that there is always something to do if you look hard enough has been renewed! Today I went the opposite direction from yesterday and I ran into Uptown, the old historic section of Columbus. Here I found shops, restaurants, a microbrew, and a bicycle shop that rents bikes. I ate lunch at the microbrew and had a sampler of their beer. Not bad for being so far from Beervana, and I intend to go back for a full pint of the IPA.

Then I rented a bike and proceeded to ride for an hour in one direction of the Riverwalk that runs along the Chatahoochee (sp?) river. Its a very nice walk way they have here and I did a little over 6 miles before turning around and coming back. The bike was not the best for longer distance riding, but it did the job. My butt will determine if I do it again, but I'm pretty sure that at $10 a day I'll be back for more.

I had to be back by 2:00 so that I could walk back to the hotel to catch the shuttle to Wal-Mart and find the cable I needed to transfer all the pictures over. I have done this now, so if you want to go back to older posts I have them all available as embedded slideshows. There is one post from September that you'd have to back another page to see.

Now that I've taken care of this business I'll be heading out to find some dinner. It's nice to have some choices again!

Oh, one thing I keep forgetting to mention is the bird song I keep hearing! Everywhere you go you hear birds singing, not like in Portland where if you are lucky you hear the squawk of a blue jay, but the real thing...like in the movies. ;-)

Anyway, it's really nice.

First Foray

EDIT: I finally got a USB cable! Here are some pictures from the first foray:





I am back from my first foray into the wilds of Columbus, and I have learned the following things:

1) You can't buy beer in grocery stores on Sunday in Georgia (but you can in Alabama which is apparently just across "the river").
2) There is an exceptional amount of broken glass everywhere, presumably from beer bottles which perhaps explains the silly Sunday rule.
3) Never leave without sunglasses.

I ate at a nearby Chinese restaurant manned by actual Chinese people! They were somewhat taken aback when I asked for something not on the menu (chicken w/ green beans in black bean sauce) and had to ask me afterwards where I was from as apparently the locals are pretty satisfied with the 10 different types of pork and chicken wings. They were really nice people and it was fun talking with them. I learned that the cantonese phrase for "thank you" is different from what I guess is the mandarin way of saying it that I'm used to. Pity my memory is so bad that I've already forgotten it. It began with a "d"...

Well I've thoroughly unpacked, set up my Wii using the rooms television (after disconnecting the cable to discourage casual TV watching). Started playing Metroid Prime which I bought before leaving to have something to play in Kuwait. Actually I want to finish the previous games in the series which are for Gamecube, but I need to buy some AA batteries for the controllers.

It is interesting in that there seem to be a large number of arabic speakers who choose to congregate right outside my room. This is an "open air" hotel, where the halls are all exposed to the elements, which I can only assume must be on the whole less damp then what I'm used to being from Portland. It's kind of funny and maybe if I try reeeeeaaaal hard I can imagine I'm in Kuwait. ;-)

Tomorrow at 2:30pm the hotel is arranging a couple of trips to Walmart (!) and I think I will go along, if for nothing else to find that darn USB cable and other items on my growing shopping list.

Columbus here I come!

As I have said in the past, I am a pessimist, which is pretty much a defense mechanism against the inevitability of everything going wrong.

At the 12:45 formation, after waiting around for a while, our ITT rep called us over out of the crowd. The sound wasn't so good, so I didn't catch all of the names he read at first, but I did catch the last part: "There is not enough room on this deployment and you will not be going this week. You will be put up at a hotel for a week and will re-enter CRC with next weeks batch." He was asked to re-read the names and sure enough, right at the top of the list: Cadd.

So...bummer. But...I get put up at a hotel in Columbus for a week, which is considerably better than being cooped up at the CRC barracks for the same period. And much as others have been complaining that there is nothing in Columbus, I prefer to hold out hope that where ever there are people, there are things to do, find, explore, etc...

Not to mention real internet access at last! Now I can talk via skype (I'll leave it logged on whenever I'm in the room) if anyone wants to hop on for a chat.

Hopefully I can find that USB cable somewhere around town and upload some pictures of the experience so far.

Our ITT reps tell us that they are going to do their darndest to get us 7 people at the front of the line for next week so that this doesn't happen again(!).

The good news is I am getting payed at my base rate, which isn't much but hey, getting paid for waiting around isn't bad. Good thing we are finished with our apartment rent.

Worse than what?

What's worse than having to wait for hours at a time on a compound where there's not much to do?  Having to wait for hours at a time while confined to a single location.

 

I was up at 0500 to be ready for the 0700 "formation" for civilians.  This entailed a ton of us milling about under a pavillion while periodically names and numbers were shouted out for people to line up and go off somewhere.  This proceeded for 3 hours.  Finally, someone called for all of the ITT folks to line up all at once and we filed down to an office where we were checked for appropriate size for body armour.  That was it.  Next formation:  1245.

 

Things I learned:

 

1)  Bleachers suck

2)  Standing sucks

3)  Squatting sucks

4)  Finding a chair rocks

 

Gonna while the time away now til the mess hall opens for lunch, in fact I may just get in line now...at least I'll be in the shade.

 

-JC

Heading to bed

Well I'm heading to bed.  I went to bed far too early last night (7pm) and had the devil of a time getting to sleep.  Didn't help that my room mate (only one, I'm spared 3 atm) came in pretty late.  Then after he fell asleep I heard the most awful noise...almost like someone was running their fingers down a comb, only way louder.  It was totally random.  Finally I had to find out what it was, turns out it was coming from my room mate.  So I lay back down for a while til I was sure it wasn't going away.  Finally I had to wake him up...turns out it was his teeth grinding!  He popped in a mouth guard and I never heard it again.

 

Anyway I've spent the time occupying my self by going through scanned pictures and cutting them up.  Unfortunately Picasa won't do it elegantly, but I was able to use one of these internet kiosks to download a better picture editor (IrfanView) to my thumb drive and transfer it over.  There is zero internet access here except through these kiosks that we have to sign in and out to use.  I got about 50 of the scans cut up!  Only 300 to go!   At least I'll have something to do...

 

Well, it's up at 6am tomorrow and I may get up a little earlier so I can get some breakfast.  Apparently there is little regard for mealtimes, and I was warned by someone else to be sure and pack some food w/ me.  So I picked up a bar and two packets of nuts to get me through the day.  Still, better start with a big breakfast.

 

In a way I'm glad it's so bizarre, it keeps me somewhat interested in the whole process in the midst of the boredom.  Tomorrow should prove to be more interesting.

More paperwork!

Silly me...what should I have expected but more paperwork! We met up at 11:00 and walked over to a big tent. We are only one of several groups being deployed out all over the world. Our ITT reps passed out a folder with lots of papers, about half of which we were then walked through filling out. We were in an airconditioned (thank goodness, it's not too hot, but pretty humid here) classroom in a subdivided section of the big tent.

Got my orders which allows me to eat for free at the mess hall thank goodness. Then with just about 30 minutes left we hit the mess hall for lunch. After which we headed over to another building for "computer assisted training" which basically consisted of a bunch of powerpoints that we had to click through and then initial a tracking sheet. That's it for today! Other than the other half of the paper work in our yellow folders which we are encouraged to get started on...but I want to have something to do later so I may take a break.

Things will get more interesting tomorrow as we are to meet at 0700 for the real kickoff. The end of the week is a bit fuzzy, but we were told that we won't know until at least 48 hours before we leave that we are going. In between are more medical checks, equipment being issued (I get a kevlar vest, gas mask, and uh...other stuff!), and goodness knows what. I'll try to keep things apprised. I have yet to be told I'm not allowed to talk about this stuff, but I'll try to be discrete and not talk about anything that might get me into trouble.

There really isn't much to do around here, so I'll be falling back on my book and games and stuff. Maybe I'll break out the laptop and start working on fixing up the bazillions of photos we scanned in just before leaving.

That's it for today!

Fort Benning

EDIT: I finally got a USB cable! Here are the photos from Ft. Benning:
EDIT AGAIN: I overheard a soldier today telling people talking pictures was prohibited. In case that could cause a problem I've removed the slide show, sorry!

Well I made it, at least to Fort Benning. The flight was uneventful, I found my luggage and the ground transport company with no problem. We drove about 1 1/2 hours to Columbus and then another 20 minutes to Fort Benning.

I am now checked into an official barracks (everything you've ever dreamed) after the usual delays and uncertainties. At this time, my name does not appear on the "master list" and I do not yet have "orders". However I am checked in and have been issued linen (which I don't plan on using as I brought my own). We meet at 11:00 (or is it 9:00? depends who you ask, better be at both to be safe) to receive more information (and hopefully orders).

Being the pessimist that I am, I'm still have expecting to be sent home, and there are rumours that if your name isn't on the master list, that's exactly what happens. But no one knows anything really.

On the ride over here I met a young woman who is heading off with ITT for the first time too. However, she's been in the military previously and has extensive experience in Kuwait and Iraq. She'll be heading to Iraq. She told me some interesting things about what it's like to work there, at least for her, and her experiences with friends who worked for ITT. She seemed to like the situation enough to be heading back herself so...

Had to pay for dinner (and most likely breakfast) as I don't have orders yet. Not expensive, just under $4, but I am now out of cash (small change) and hope to not have to spend anymore.

Of course, I forgot my slippers (flipflops) which the communal shower pretty much requires. Luckily there is a small store here that stocks such necessities (and bandaids). Oh, speaking of which, I managed to grate my thumb on the cheesgrater last night. Stuff like that always seems to happen right when the use of an opposable digit would be most helpful. It seems to be healing up nicely though.

Despite initially being denied access to blogspot, I appear to have found a way around the military's internet filters, at least enough to write this post. I must figure out how to post using email, just in case. There is no wireless nearby, only at the Subway's on the main base. Yeah, CRC is not on the "main" base, but far, far away...only way to the main base is to be taken in one of the vans. Luckily, there is a rec building with Internet kiosks which is what I am using now.

I'm trying to think of this as something of a "retreat" as it appears there will be lots of time. Trying not to read my book too much...I started it on the plane: The Science of God by Alistair McGrath. It's quite good, a summary of his mammoth 3 volume work which I may or may not get around to someday. I realized the other day that I really need to nail down my own thoughts on science/theology prior to getting too deep into Rowan's scientific education. I used to be a hardcore creationist, but in recent years have considered it to be less essential then I once thought. It is, however, a huge issue in education and I want to know what I believe for sure prior to getting into those discussions with Rowan. It's a few years off, but hey, these things take time to think through.

Other airplane amusements: playing the new Legend of Zelda for the DS (fabulous game), listening to music/reading, and the surprise: listening to the entire soundtrack to Spamalot for the first time on Delta's inflight video/media entertainment thingie. First rate, all of it, I highly recommend it for a 4 hour trip, hardly noticed the time.

The food here is pretty bland, but passable. Can't say I'd find much better off base. I had chicken, rice, peas, a salad and hotsauce smothering everything to give it some flavor. Good thing it isn't fabulous, or I might be tempted to overeat.

Well, it's 6:48 here (3:48 in Portland) and I can't think of much else to write. I'll walk around and take some pictures which I'll upload later once I solve my cable crisis.

Laterz

Heading out tomorrow

We'll be getting up at 3am tomorrow to make it to the airport in plenty of time. Finally!

Unfortunately, I managed to lose the USB cable I need to transfer pictures from my camera to my machine, so until I get that (presumably in Kuwait) there won't be any pictures, sorry!