The Big Knife Fight
So last night seemed like another typical night. I leave work at around 7:15 PM and head for the DFAC for dinner and then 'home' to the hooch to watch The Daily Show and/or The Colbert Report (if I stay up that late). But the news this morning is about the Big Knife Fight! It seems a few ITT employees (Army contractors) we're sitting around drinking booze (strike 1) and one probably said to the other "your wife is uglier than an Iraqi camel" (or something to that affect) So OUT some the knives! (strike 2) and one guy ends up stabbed 11 times! (strike 3) They're both going home but one or both may still face felony charges when he's 'greeted' at the airport by police. Yes they cuff them right there at the airport. So what does this mean to me? Well... I think we can expect a BIG health and welfare hooch inspection tomorrow morning!
OH, and it just gets bettter! Today on the news I see that Mosul damn is in danger of collapsing. Mosul is north of us by a few hundred miles. If it collapsed, the flood here (at Camp Anaconda where I am) would be about 15 feet deep. From the news article on msn.com:"Mosul Dam is 'unsafe' in any definition," "Condition continually degrading" and "Failure mode is credible." Under a section labeled "Consequences of Failure," it says: "Mass civilian fatalities."t Ayoub said U.S. officials spoke in person about the dam in even more apocalyptic terms. "They went to the Ministry of Water Resources and told them that the dam could collapse any day," he said.
Dman if it ain't the mortars or bugs or snakes it's a damn dam that's trying to kill us now! What's next?

I do get care packages every now and then and sometimes I'm 'forced' to do some blatent advertising (like below.) ANYTHING I get in the mail is GREAT! Last spring someone sent me a large dark chocolate bar (the best) but she failed to realize how hot it can be during the air transport. Well, by the time I got it, it wasn't just melted but the chocolate oils had evaported away and all that was left was a powderdy chocolate mess (that wasn't tasty at all).

Here's a new street sign that just popped up on base. You'd thing that being in a war zone (well, technically hazzardous duty area) that the Army would have better things to do than worry about bikes riding on the sidewalks. But I guess they do not! Why don't they just put my NAME at the top of the damn sign!!

There are some fun things to do here like skeeter ball at the MWR. A friend and I went there the other day and played skeeter ball for about an hour. That 10K hole is hard to get! My best score.... 39k

Here's a pic of me at work. I wear a corporate shirt about every other day. I know who butters my bread!

I finally got a haircut yesterday. I get one about every 2-3 weeks and the haircut is $3 and I tip $3. Typically when you get a haircut in Pakistan or India (which is where all the barbers here are from) you also get a complimentary back rub which can be quite intense. They'll massage your scalp and rub your shoulders 'vigorously' and when done you're sometimes not sure if you got a rub down or felt-up! New guys here may not know about this custom and sometimes it can come as a shocker when the barber start rapping his knuckles (again, dang vigorously) on your head!
Here's a pic of me and my new haircut in the bunker. We've been in the bunker once a day for the last 2 days for mortar attacks. Eh, such is life in a war zone.

Well the weekend was pretty uneventful. The klaxon alarm went off once and we've not heard that in about a month or so. When this alarm goes off it generally means there is INCOMING in your area NOW, so don't walk but RUN to the bunker. So we run to the bunker and 15 minutes later get the ALL CLEAR signal. Unfortunately we almost never get any feedback on what happened. It's definitly anti-climatic but you get used to it. So here are some more general pics.
Me and co-worker Phil.

Greg at the bbq. We've been doing an 'unofficial bbq' for a few months now but last week was the last one as it's getting too dark and the blows the mood.

Some helos headed out on a mission.

There are some BIG pieces of equipment here. The wretch is just cool to watch in action. The tires alone are about 6' tall

Pic of a few co-workers before they head out on a mission to another site.

The Army through the MWR (Moral, Welfare and Recreation) department run by KBR really does try to give soldiers and civilians something to do when you're not working. I suppose the logic is that if you're busy you will keep out of trouble as anyone with too much time and general malaise will generally do. Now in the 'third world' and on certain streets in New York City and LA you will find all sorts of pirated movies (referred to as haji movies, generally.) If a new movie comes out in the states, we'll either have a DVD copy or 'theater' copy by the next weekend. I send alot of the movies back stateside so if there is something you want, just ask and I'll try to get it and send it to you. For $20 I've also picked up the entire series (to date) for Battle Star Galactica (a GREAT series) and got the FULL season of The Sopranos yesterday as well. Also the Army has a web site that ah, has some interesting 'chat rooms' The 'RAINBOW HAPPINESS' chat room is generally #2 or #3 as the most popular. The Army sure has come a long way and is indeed 'progressive', in a general way.

So today is the 9th of October, 2007. The weekend was uneventful other than about a half dozen mortar attacks. We didn't go to bunkers for any of the attacks so that was good. On Saturdays we've been doing an unofficial bbq at about 6 PM. This last weekend at about 6:15 we're standing around the grill when a big boom goes off. You could see everybody anxiously wait for 'CODE RED' to come across the loudspeakers but it never happens so we go back to goofing off at the bbq (as we're offically on the clock till 7 PM.) This was probably the last bbq though. Even in Iraq, summer is over, the shadows are long and it barely makes it past 100 degrees by noon. Anyway, I'm still running at lunch (as it's only 'barely 100' now) and here are a few pics. I need the hat otherwise I'll get sunburned on top. I need the ipod as it's boring to run without music. And I need the sunglasses to well...look cool (lol). I've been working on my abs and they're barely there but with some effort, well...we'll see. Back home in Seattle it's maybe 50, rainy and dark. I-rak ain't so bad right now...

Here are a few more pics of Camp Anaconda taken while driving down the road. The armored vehicle is and ASV (Armored Support Vehicle). It may look big and heavy but it's surprisingly fast. Notice the speed limit. The max is 40 KPH, NOT miles per hour. So 40 KPH is about 23 Miles per hour and is just a little slower than what I do on my bike. This is also one of the few bases with street lights (of which only about half work or are turned on).

At night, there are at least 1-2 bats per streetlight swooping around catching bugs. I don't ever recall seeing so many bats at night in any city in the states but there sure seems to be no shortage of bats here. At the main camp in Baghdad there is a bat house on the base and I've posted a pic here what a bathouse looks like. There is not one here at Anaconda though.And it has cooled considerably here FINALLY. It's still got to a high of 112 at around 2 PM today but it's much cooler the rest of the time. Ah, fall has finally arrived at Balad

So here's a joke that I find funny and I thought I'd share
A crusty old man walks into the local Lutheran Church and says to the secretary, "I would like to join this damn church."The astonished woman replies, "I beg your pardon, sir. I must have misunderstood you. What did you say?""Listen up, damn it. I said I want to join this damn church!""I'm very sorry sir, but that kind of language is not tolerated in this church." The secretary leaves her desk and goes into the pastor's study to inform him of her situation. The pastor agrees that the secretary does not have to listen to that foul language. They both return to her office and the pastor asks the old geezer, "Sir, what seems to be the problem here?""There is no damn problem," the man says. "I just won $200 million bucks in the damn lottery and I want to join this damn Church to get rid of some of this damn money.""I see," said the pastor. "And is this bitch giving you a hard time?"
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Anyway, I found it funny. I'll probably go to hell but what the hell.

There's a 'problem' here in Iraq called 'Huffing'. I didn't know much about it but it involves sucking down 'canned air' (which has no oxygen in it) until the individual passes out or nearly passes out. It's considered such a problem that canned air is now not allowed for personal use. Evidently about one soldier a month dies due to 'huffing'.

I've been told I 'look mean'. I don't think I look mean but perhaps, just perhaps, this pic isn't as inviting as it could be.

In the desert, one must moisturize. So again I thought I'd post a few pics as I get ready for Halloween!