So I took this stupid IQ test yesterday and missed these three questions. I thought I'd post for the helluva it.

I was going through some old pics and found the pics that took while on my last break during a stop in Amsterdam. As a contractor, one gets a break/R&R either every 4 months or every 6 months. It just depends on the contract/company. I've heard that some Security contractors may even get a break every other month. So it just depends. Anyway, Europe is a great place but the price of the Euro makes for an expensive trip. I only spent a few days in Amsterdam.

This the main museum in Amsterdam. Most of it was being renovated at the time but otherwise it was very nice.


The red light district doesn't really come alive until 11 PM or so and then it is filled with tourists. Even most of the bars won't open until 10 PM. It's an 'uh' interesting place.



My hotel was a VERY small room that had a view of the brick wall of anohter building. And THIS I recall being told to be lucky to get it for just 80 euros. The canals are everywhere and while picturesque, sure do smell. Bikes too are everywhere and the weather was very similar to Seattle.


People complain about high gas prices in the states but it sure seems in Europe the really do something about them. If you want to see the future of cars in America, I think you can look to Europe.

Another picture of a canal less the odor.

The Heinekin brewery puts on a good tour.

A typical street in Amsterdam. Very crowded, many bikes everywhere.

For Memorial Day we dealt with sand storms here. There were really two storms and both were at night and were really just your basic wind storm along with tons of sand and small gravel thrown in to just remind you were you are. The winds were about 30-40 knots and maybe a gust or two higher and just powerful enough to shake my hooch and knock over ever porta-john and probably half the satellite dishes out there. Anything more powerful and there would have been a lot more car windows blown out from flying debris.

But anyway, that was yesterday and today it's another fine Navy-day in I-Rak (as you can see below).

I also work everyday and that can be exhausting. It's not hard work as I'm generally behind a desk but 12 hours a day, just sitting is tiring. Forturnately the Army has 'RipIt' an energy/caffeine drink in the DFAC. And occasionally they also have caffeine gum. One stick has 100 mg caffeine which according to most sites that I googled is equivalent to one cup of coffee.

About three months ago a friend said he mailed my personal stuff from my previous camp. Well, about 4 days ago the boxes finally arrived. Checking the mailed date on the boxes, I can see that they were mailed only about three days before that. The personal stuff I have isn't really worth much but it would be hard to replace. One of the boxes had about a half dozen shirts that I bought that really liked. While we don't have an offical uniform here, we are somewhat expected to wear a shirt with a collar. So here is one of the shirts.

One thing you need while in the desert is water. Originally, water was shipped from Kuwait or even further where it can be expensive to purchase. Bottled water is now produced at a nearby based and shipped throughout the country. Pallets of water are everywhere and you just need to grab one if you want one. The locals will drink water right from the river but after talking to the water guy once it's not a good idea since the river water tests pretty high in e.coli.
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Nancy leaves Saturday.
Nancy is a coworker who is leaving Saturday so today the command recognized her accomplishments and gave her a certificate and coin. They said a couple of nice things and she said a couple of nice things but the fact is, she isn't leaving by choice. She's being replaced by someone who has done the job better and is more capable. She's being replaced by someone who will likely be less argumentative and easier to get along with. In short, she's fired and a new person is hired. But for appearance sake, she gets a coin and congratulations. Frankly, I'm glad she'll be gone. I'm tired of dealing with her drama.

Below is a pic of a sprung structure. These are huge structures that can be completely closed off from the weather. They're put up by a sub contractor here and the whole thing will arrive in one large plane load. The plane lands and out comes dozens of pallets of materials. The sprung is built from just one plane load of pallets. It's impressive.



Here's a pic of me and the bike I bought when I got here. For $75 I bought the bike, helmet, two chains and locks, a spare tire and a light. New the bike is only $119 at the PX. I don't know why but nice bikes here are very inexpensive. The pic looks a bit dark but it was hot yesterday. It was 109 here at Balad and cooled the low of 80 probably around 5 AM. So at 8PM when I done for the day, it's still 90 or so and dark.

I live in a 'hooch' here at Camp Anaconda. A hooch is a containerized housing unit (CHU). They're modular and generally it's one person per hooch. At Tallil they weren't stacked but they are stacked here at Anaconda as you can see. The hooches are generally made in Italy and then shipped around the world for instant housing. The units come come with the walls laid flat and you pretty much stand the walls up and attach the roof and that's it. Unfortunately the quality is not the best and they do leak. My hooch leaked terribly when it rain (directly on the bed) so I ended up moving the furniture around. Fortunately it doesn't rain much here.

Here's another pic of the rows of hooches. It doesn't show very well but there are about a dozen cat5 cablel crossing the top of the hooches here. Alot of people pay for internet service via a private satellite and then run their own little ISP. So internet service in your hooch, where you can get the 'good stuff' runs about $100/month. What's the 'good stuff' why YouTube and MySpace of course!



While the hooches house only one person right now, I would imagine in (insert your guess here) years, when the US pulls out of Iraq and turns everything over to the Iraqi that each hooch will house an Iraqi family of a dozen AND they'll STILL share a damn toilet. But he stan on the damn thing, they don't sit on it.


Here' s a pic of me after running at noon. I wouldn't say I run far and I wouldn't say that I run fast but I do get my lilly white arse out there and run at lunchtime.

Life here can pretty normal. In the mornings I get up and have a cup of coffee. Pretty boring....



It's damn dusty here at times. The two pics below were taken around 10:30 in the morning and you were not altered at all. When it gets really dusty, the street lights and other lights come on and the scene is an eery orange. Yes, you breath that crap in a well and most over here have a hell of a time initially adjusting but after you hack up green smurfs for a week, you're kinda over it.



The dust blew over and by 2 PM there were blue skies.

At times I use terminology in my blog that is now familiar to me but may not be to the viewers so here's a handy-dandy graphical explanation. Some of these may even be familiar to ex-mil out there.

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I recently drove a Hummer. Here's a pic. The HUMVE took the place of the jeep and it's much bigger and frankly drives like tank. You'd think there's a lot of room inside but if you're much taller than 6', I don't think you'd even fit in the front seat!

I thought I'd also throw in this other pic of me in my hooch. My 'hooch/home' is about 8' x 12' and I share a shower/toilet. For such a small place it sure get's dirty/dusty.

I've been pretty remiss in not blogging for some time. Needless to say, I had my reasons but I should be punctional going forward.

Anyway, I'm now at lovely Camp Anaconda (affectionately called mortaritaville) which is about 50 NNE of Baghdad. It's 'cooler' here in the summer and there are trees and grass (as if 110 is really that much cooler than 120). But otherwise, it's just another Army base in Iraq. Spring is almost over here and summer is around the corner. This means rodents are on the move and that means snakes follow! Here's a pic of a viper caught on base. Needless to say, I never walk in the grass, ever!