Christmas As Usual Around Here

Christmas day has come and gone here at Al Asad, and I have to say that I'm glad to be working on towards January already. Time is dragging right now so we're trying to keep busy with things that distract.

For the Holidays, Mike and I decorated a little tree we received in the mail (pictured below). It is a humble tree, but festive enough for us.

The day was nice, the air crisp and clear. On Christmas day, I was able to go for a nice 5 mile run, catch some sleep, watch "It's a Wonderful Life" TWICE, attend a "Christmas Pageant" at the Chapel,and then I ate at Burger King for dinner!

Work didn't stop at a few of my job sites. A K-Span being built by Iraqis...their first structure of this type for us. Their actually doing better than expected.

We had a great sunset, nice and crisp. This is my front door on the far right. Exciting, huh??

Recurring JO Appointment -15:00 Everyday

A few of us Junior Officers (JO's) have a recurring "meeting," an appointment every day where the "Wadi Dawgs" play Iraqi Hacky Sack. It's been a lot of fun each of us honing our trademark moves. It's usually about 4 to 6 of us in the little courtyard area in our building. Pictured from left to right, Me in mid-strike, Mike in the back, then Dave in the rear, and Toy's back. Dave has an awesome "jester" - from the old Nintendo game called "California Games." Toy has the ability to kick it several time before passing it on...in fact, he usually makes a point of hogging it a while before passing it on. I guess we should call his move "puff puff give."

My skills are non-existent. My signature move is called "super retard strength." I usually will just kick it really hard in any direction and hurt someone.

In this picture, Brad is on the far left (you see his arm). His move is "the crane" - mostly because he's tall and slender. He moves almost in slow motion, but with a lot of skill, popping it up and down several times before passing it on - and he never drops the hacky.

I look forward to the 15:00 "meetings," even though we're not really getting any better at Hacky Sack - it is probably these times where the memories and friendships of this deployment will really be made.

Checking In ~ & the Last Moustache Chronicle

It has been a while since I last blogged. The Internet has been a nightmare here lately. It takes many attempts and several hours to eventually upload a couple photos. For $70/month, my roommate and I share the Internet connection...so the time is limited. I was able to upload some shots of the happenings of late. First, my moustache had to go. I was grouped in with grody staches like Greg here (who still flaunts his). Greg is proud of his manilicious face fur. I give it an 8 on the nasty scale.

Or Woody's here. We call him Lieutenant Dangle-stache. The name is from the show "Reno 911" where there's a gross cop with the same name. Both are as gross! His is a 9 on the nasty scale.

So here's the last shot of my old stache. Probably won't grow one again until the next dare. It's not my style to have one. I am shown here inside one of my projects, a new $4.5M Regional Detention Facility. It will be finished next month but likely will not house any detainees because of the new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq where the US won't hold Iraqi prisoners for longer than 24 hours. This new prison is really nice, with monolithic concrete walls, and loud "clangy" sounding doors. The facility is very imposing and substantial. There are no water boarding tables or torture cells here, I promise!

So I'll close with a photo of my job security. Check out the wiring system on this building behind me. There is going to be PLENTY of work here for Engineers as long as this "expeditionary wiring" exists. It is amazing that more people haven't died, but there are regular fires, black outs, shocks, and the occasional electrocution. BTW, those spools on the ground have energy running through them too...this is no way to do business!

This 'Stache Has Got To GO!!!

Why am I still growing this thing on my lip? ! ? Some say they like the full caterpillar look.I prefer the "bandito" like Jim had in this episode of "The Office." I am limited by uniform regulations on the size, fluff, and overhang of my facial hairs. So working with what I CAN do, I am going to have a little fun with this ugly thing.

The next phase of my disturbing little experiment is to see how long it takes for me to receive a direct order to shave!!! I will try every nasty variation until I am compelled to clean it off! My first attempt is the "almost pencil thin."

I went in for a haircut and was inspired by the poster in the barber shop. This stunning young man is literally a poster child for "the military cut." I am every bit the poster child now - minus the "finger wave" hair stylings.

OK, so on a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being "gag me," how bad is this style? Remember I'm going for nasty...but everyone seems to really like it! I don't get these people here!!!! I can't even take my self seriously with this thing on my face, I don't know how others can deal with me and not be distracted.