Ok so here we are and I am watching this Hurricane IKE in the Gulf and it is starting to concern me, I am not home to protect my family and I am feeling guilty for this. Therefore, I am intently watching this storm grow. I am trying to balance my emotion, I am starting to enjoy being here and with all of these internationals, I miss the heck out of my Family and want to be home with them in times such as these but it is impossible at this point! What do I do? Fortunately for me I have some of the best friends in the world and know that all I have to do is call and they will do damn near anything I ask of them short of committing a crime, well some would even do that but we wont discuss them right now!
I made dinner for Brad and I tonight and I have been giving him a hard time about not eating. He has been on a changed diet, not really dieting but he has changed his habits and it is paying off for him. He has lost about 20 lbs. Go Brad! Anyway, anybody that has seen me cook or eaten it knows I do not measure anything. So I started off with some ground meat and started browning it then I cut up some green and purple onions, mushrooms and butter added some beer and started that to simmering. After I finished I offered brad a plate of my mix with some sliced tomatoes. He accepted my offering and before I could get back to the kitchen to fix my plate and join him, he ate the whole thing. All could think was he was either starving or this was good. So as I headed to the table he headed for seconds. I was amazed; I have not seen him eat two servings of anything. Then he said to me, feel free to make that whenever you want! Cooking has made me miss my kitchen in my house with all of the pots and pans, and I miss my grill the most!
Anyway, hope you are not hungry now! Goodnight!
Thursday September 11, 2008
Not much going on today other then the dang water supply at gate 31 dried up and I now am going to have to add a convoy to the rotation. No big deal, just an inconvenience for Jean-Pascal, I do not talk about French fry to much but he is a super duper person! He is the Guy that if I could take any of the internationals home to meet all of my friends and family I would take. He is actually French Military Police and a security expert, and he is very serious when we are convoying! Things are calm right now but Jean-Pascal has taught me that no matter how calm or easygoing things are they can go bad in a hurry!
Ok sorry I got side tracked. So I am watching this storm and it looks like it is sited on Galveston and surrounding area. I am concerned about Punk and the Girls. I know Harold is close but it still makes me worry. Is my home going to be OK, are my kids and wife safe? Are my Buddies pulling extra duty and are they safe, Not that I could change any of this if I was there but hey I am concerned. What we are seeing on TV here makes it look really,really bad. So Punk called and said her office is closed tomorrow and I asked her to go north to Chad and Amanda’s, she sounded like she wasn’t sure she wanted to vacate because of the dogs. All I could think was give them some water and food and get the HELL out of there! I chatted with Amanda and she said they were more than welcome so I pray she changes her mind!
GOD BLESS YALL AND KNOW I AM THINKING ABOUT YALL!
Friday September 12, 2008
Today was a long day; we gathered at Main HQ for our convoy to the gates and headed to Mitro. We have two gates on our agenda for today. Water and waste at gate 1 and waste at 31. So we meet the trucks and off we go! Nothing unusual about today except it seems like we are making good time. I find myself thinking about Missy and the girls and hoping she will change her mind and go. Brad and I were talking last night and his family is staying! Therefore, we are done at gate 1 after some confusion in a meeting with the KPS gate commander. I have found that most of the KPS people love to say yes to anything and then you get nothing. I learned in a meeting on Thursday that all request for anything at the gates must now go through the KPS people. I am just an advisor. So basically that means if the KPS people don’t request items for the IPO”S then we are stuck out. Therefore, I am talking with this man through a translator and he is just agreeing with everything I am saying. So I throw a twist in the conversation since he is telling me all the things he has requested, I said I will need copies of your request. DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS! He picks up the phone and starts talking to someone harsh and loud! Then the translator tells me to wait about ten minutes and they will be here. I explained to him if he does not provided me with the information I am not going to be able to push issues on my end! I try to get him to understand we need to work together. No secrets, I cannot help you if I do not know what is going on. We go back to yes, yes, yes, yes. Ok. Therefore, I get 5 request and I look at him and I think, 5 request since April, you are not requesting anything you need. You are worried about crap when we have major issues, Frustrating!
So off to gate 31, Elder tells the truck driver to take the shortest route and we will follow. So Elder, Andre and I are following and we end up on this one lane goat path to nowhere! Where the hell are we? We follow him down the road to nowhere for about an hour with this beautiful white silt dust that is covering everything. We get to a junction and it turns to pavement, but wait now we are on a mountain climb with and climb angle of about DAMN! Oh did I mention we are stuck behind a bus! JOY! So we follow this bus up the mountain and we are all cussing the decision to take this route but hey we are here and it will make for a fun story! Adventure, that’s the name of the game. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So after an hour of the steepest uphill first gear drive we start a descent that is as steep if not steeper. Who needs gears for this. We drove almost 30 minutes in neutral. When we finally get back to a main road we discover that our adventure saved us 3 km. NOTE to self: Don’t do that again. We saved 3km and wasted an hour. Not bad! Derrrr!
Ok so we get to the gate and do our thing, then we are off again. Before we leave the truck driver said “ So we go back the same way we came?” UMmmmmmm NO! ok so we are headed back and all is well.
Back in Pristina I call Punk and get no answer. Ok, tummy’s in knots, so I call the house, and chicken little answered. Oh thank God. They were outside putting up loose articles that could be projectiles. Good thinking! So punk calls me and said she decided to ease my mind and go to Chad’s and stay there while the storm was landing! Thank you! I fell much better.
Saturday September 13, 2008
Today has started slow, had breakfast at the Phoenix and now I am sitting in my office doing a whole lot of nothing. I am checking different web sites for updates on the weather. At 10 am I could not take it anymore so I called Punk, 3AM her time. Hey Baby just checking on you, been watching the news and it looks bad! Honey we are sleeping through it. Oh, ok. Call me later! Love you, Bye! Well that made me feel better!
ok so i spent the day watching hurricane info and calling my parents, missy's parents and Punk.They all said it was nasty but they survived. lots of tree's down. My redneck thinking self, all I could think is man I could be out there with a chain saw and make some money with these tree's. Hey, cant how your mind works. I even called Bitzy and jimmy. They said the rentacenter in Tomball was trashed. Man i am so glad all my friends are safe as far as I know. Anyway. I am sitting in my flat and my thoughts and prayers are with all of yall!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
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