ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

I returned back to Germany *last* week and should be completely over my confusion but it seems that it is not so. Yesterday I never was sure what day it was (my partners here at the house managed to point me in the right direction at the right time) and I spent time knitting.

Today, I kept thinking it was Friday especially after I woke to an email from George saying he was on a plane. For whatever reason, I was sure that it was Friday he was to return home. Since he would be home this morning that meant it obviously must mean it was Friday.

This is in the face of my Thursday morning knitting group, The Mole having a doctors appointment and The Eldest a dental appointment. All of which were clearly marked on calenders as occurring on Thurs.

Go figure.

Meanwhile – I have made significant progress on both knitting and reading. Promise photos for tomorrow….

I made the mistake of announcing to offspring that I would like an updated picture of the four of them. Should it matter that it would make me happy and that the most current photo probably dates from around 2007? Like from before the UK assignment!

Anyway – today was the last possible day since I am on a plan tomorrow and Ms Soprano on one (with dog) the day after. As the sun is headed down the overcast sky they congregate on the terrace.

I took a dozen shots. I don’t have one that has everyone with their eyes open, much less smiling. Maus always looks good in photos. The Mole was willing to leave off the hat. I think the Eldest likes the back of her head showing more than the front. Ms S just claims that she is not photogenic and should be excused.

So, that is why you are seeing this note, but no photo….. it is going to take photo-shopping several to come up with a composite unless they do one for me.

My poor husband is all worried about me. For some strange reason he thinks that I am suffering since I retired.

Me? Suffering? Plane flights, cruise ships, visiting friends, test knitting patterns, cleaning up the house.

Exactly where do you think boredom fits in?

I haven’t seen any boredom. In fact, I have been busy enough that I have not even been bothering HMEDDAC about their alleged job. Being on someone else’s payroll (rather than my retirement salary or in addition to) means that someone/thing other than my family and my preferences might have claim on my time.

That I would find boring.

Meanwhile – I have several things completed, two in progress that I can’t post till the patterns are released – here is YAN (Yet another Nessie).

Nessie all curled up

When Mary asked me if I wanted to go with her to make sloe gin I didn’t have a clue what was involved or exactly how far *up the hill* really was. For that matter – I had heard of sloe gin once or twice before – and thought it was spelled “slow” which might give you an indication of exactly how clueless I am. I had no idea that blackthorn berries were the source.

This is leaving aside the whole issue of gin. I can’t begin to understand why anyone would ever have thought about fermenting juniper berries, much less drinking the resultant mess. What is even scarier is that the ratio of drinkers seems to be heavily weighted to the female gender.

Back to the sloe. Mary’s friend Caroline went sloe picking. Apparently these berries turn ripe late in the fall and have to be promptly harvested in order to beat out both the birds and neighbors who would equally have designs on the harvest.

Looking at them – they strongly resemble blue berries. If they are eatable in this raw state I haven’t a clue. Washed,

bowl of Blackthorne berries

weighed

and ready to go – the alchemy starts.

First you pick them with pins.

to let out the juice

Then toss them into a sterilised bottle.

into the bottle

Next comes the proper amount of sugar

followed by filling the bottle with gin.

If you want sloe brandy – substitute brandy for gin.

cork the bottles, put on a home generated fancy label and you are ready to tuck them away till finished.

I obviously left long before the gin was ready to drink.

aka – what is it about pillows anyway?

(I will just skip the leisurely drive to the ferry, and the wait for the ferry)

plump and inviting

To me, pillows are something upon which you either lay your head to sleep or prop behind your back so that you can sit more comfortably in the evening when reading in bed.

To the rest of the world, apparently pillows are a statement of decorative skill. A mark of a decorated home, rather than one that just sort of grew like Topsy over the years. Since my experience is limited, I never quite know what to do with them.

Now, that I think back on it having spent more than one night in other people’s houses in the last six months – Beth had extra decorative pillows on the twin beds in her guess room. Carmen has them on her couch. Mary has them on the extra bed. Chere, on the other hand, has what used to be know as a Hollywood bed (it folds up into the wall). Not possible to decorate with pillows. In all pillow positive cases, the beds looked lovely. Having said that – I obviously was not blessed with the fancy pillow gene. In fact, if the decorative pillow gene is related to the “able to apply make-up, wear clothes so that you appear impeccably turned out and appear to enjoy one’s self at cocktail parties” , well that whole combination missed me completely.

Come to think of it – we have perhaps two such pillows in the living room. One features a Schnauzer and was made by George’s mom. The other was a gift to me from various family members and features a hedgehog.

Now if we were talking afghans – I am the queen of handwoven afghans.

It is not all that early in the morning -not for someone who got the wakies at 0030 and finally caved at the magic 0200 in the morning. The good and the bad is that there is almost no one on the Internet at that time of the morning. There is decaf and there are some totally insane televisions shows watched by the front desk clerk about contests where individuals and teams humilate themselves and perform various disgusting tasks in order to win money.

I am very grateful that I don’t get US TV, this is pretty pathetic.

any way, just in case I can’t get back on the computer later today (and probably not tomorrow at all – I thought I would provide you with a list of this week’s entertainment.

May 1 New Orleans, LA
Mon May 2 At Sea
Tue May 3 Costa Maya, Mexico
Wed May 4 Roatan, Honduras
Thu May 5 Belize City, Belize
Fri May 6 Cozumel, Mexico
Sat May 7 At Sea
Sun May 8 New Orleans, LA
-Holly
(later today of Cabin 5610 on the Norwegian Spirit)

like for construction (destruction?) or perhaps a scavenger hunt?

Anyway – managed a couple more items on my list today. Most things are in this perpetual state of “almost completed” where every time I think I have it figured out, something else pops up.

Example – moving my credentials from Lakenheath to Landstuhl. Filled out yet another form today, got a friend (thanks Denise) to scan it and emailed it off it off to Lakenheath. But they want orders as well, and I don’t have orders.

Paperwork – HMEDDAC will sign off a couple of things if I need. But they don’t do hard copy – and I am not on their system so digitally signing anything is not going to happen….

TA-50 Turn-in. 0800-0830 Walk in on Mon, Tues, Thurs. Except that today was Ostermontag and the place was closed. Probably ok since I have still to locate a bolt cutter since there is this combination lock that I haven’t been able to get off my last duffel bag since I lost a small notebook in Kandahar last Nov (combination in the notebook). Otherwise, I have everything else but for the mittens with liners which disappeared under the piles of stuff in the storage room (or longer ago than that since they might date from Ft Drum).

Just a bit everyday. I will be off the payroll at midnight on Saturday. The question is whether or not I will have orders (and so a new ID card……

Not the car ride to LRMC – that went well with listening to an audio book (I am just past the Boston Tea Party in US history) and not the various people with whom I talked to today.

MRIs are really, really noisy.

When I had my audio gram done back in Jan my hearing was quite a bit worse in one ear compared to the other. Still that way when I had it rechecked for the VA so it was off to the MRI scanner per the audiologist.

The scanner runs from 0700-2300. MRIs – since they take anywhere from 30-60+ minutes are not emergency procedures, but there is a lot of demand. Getting an evening appointment is a lot easier actually than getting one during the day. That meant when I called yesterday afternoon, they offered me this evening at 2000.

Hey, I can do that! Run my errands – deal with credentials and other fun challenges and have plenty of time to knit. The weather was lovely today. I mention that because I should not have been surprised when I just stopped by early to check and and the woman behind the desk handed me a clip board and said they could take me now unless I really wanted to wait another four hours?

Do I look stupid?

Not more than five minutes later I am trying to take a nap complete with ear plugs while trying to ignore banging, thumping, crashing followed by hoots and moans at various frequencies. Accompanied by tingling skin and the occasional creepy feeling I decided that I could easily imagine the “cuts” as the machine magnets did their thing.

The tech was pleased – everything was clear – no repeats needed since I didn’t move. I was pleased since I got on the road hours before I had planned. The only down side was that I didn’t get in my three planned hours of hanging out at the USO and knitting. There are worse things.

With any luck, good fortune and a bit of a sideways slip I might be most of the way handing in everything needed for a European out.

It is not just the form that needs to be filled out: endorsed by a certain level of command. There was a letter to the official German authorities (downtown Heidelberg, not the local office in Rohrbach) which had to be stamped off. Copies of family passports, an ORB, all sorts of orders, a police check. Then there is the need for my passport (right, forgot that the first time). A rental agreement – don’t have one of those since we don’t rent. Proof that I have some kind of income (indigent are not welcome here).

(note – trips to Rohrbach, Heidelberg, PHV, the shopping Center and Nachrichten Kaserne in order to scavenger the signatures).

And what else? Sure as I hit the road on my way to making copies of copies so that I maintain some idea of what is in my medical records) there will be another requirement.

Oh, well – none of this is as exciting as hitting George’s hot button hard enough that he took the time to write me an essay on the German power grid. Still leaves me with two thoughts –
1) it still takes almost 110 minutes to travel the 110 Km between Heidelberg and Landstuhl and
2) Germans are still in love with their cars and the ability to go fast on the autobahn…..

Landstuhl is not exactly a major stop on the Bundesbahn network. The local trains stop on the milk from from Kaiserslautern to Homburg. The S-Bahns seem to mostly stop. There are regular Regional trains traveling between Kaiserslautern and Saarbrueken which stop – usually. The ICEs and ECs, well this is not a major town and they just travel on by.

Freight trains blast through. Normally composed of engines and up to 20 cars, you will see both mixed trains and the occasional “pure” train moving past at high speed. The loudspeaker on the platform normally gives you a couple of minutes warning about “through trains.”

Today, right before 1500 and just after I had gone out to Platform 2/3 in an effort to find a working ticket machine, the overhead crackled to life with the warning that there was a train coming past Platform 1. Moving at a good clip, the engine was pulling 20 automotive transport wagons. All double deckers, each car had 10-12 total expensive cars all shiny with new paint and chrome. Pristine appearing, those high end vehicles were headed into Germany.

Several minutes later another announcement, only this time about a train headed in the other direction. The 18 cars following the engine were travelling toward Saarbrueken and France. Loaded with new Smarts, Kas and Fiats, the cars were bumper to bumper, maximising the number crammed onto the transport wagons.

I wonder what this says about the two countries relative economies?

The end result of my ruminations how to keep myself busy for some of these next five weeks till I am officially retired is that I have volunteered to work for 30th MEDBDE for the next couple of weeks. There isn’t a problem with me heading out for appointments when I have them. Just imagine – me in ClinOps on an exercise at Thompkins Barracks. It makes me feel like nothing has changed in the world of exercise plans in 14 years.

This is going to be so much fun! (No, not running things; I will play senior statesperson – guide, mentor and maybe even knit. After all, I have less than 40 days remaining in uniform. I should worry about what other’s think?)

Of course, I was all cheerful when I went out the door this morning. “the road construction is all finished” I was told. Don’t have to drive through the back neighborhoods of Schwetzigen to get there. In a hurry on Friday – I hadn’t paid attention.

This was not a little road construction – this was a complete rebuild of B535. The corner where I expected to turn was gone. All I could see was this endless stretch of road in front of me. GPS doesn’t help – the fun people have taken the military Kasernes off the map. So, if you know where they are you can identify them by the blank spots. If you have grid coordinates – you can also do fine. Failing that – a Street address would work, but who every pays attention to the streets along the way (rather than the destination.

First it is 0800, then 0830 and I am still driving around lost. Finally giving up, I head back to the house just about screaming. Of course, there is no map book in the car…. Google fails me. Yahoo fails me. Finally, on one of the Stadtplan sites I find both the new road system and a note for the Kaserne. Heading back out the door, I managed to get there and have a productive morning and afternoon.

Doing Constraints, Assumptions, and other portions of the MDMP (Military Decision Making Process) are fun, especially since I am playing because I want to, rather than must.

Now I just have to track down manning/capability of a UK Field Hospital.

After six months of sleeping inside a dark wooden coffin, the sunlight through the window early in the morning is a welcome relief. No longer a mole stumbling around blind in the dark at any hour of the day or night till I can find either the on switch of a lamp or the touch pad of the computer, I can tell at a glance whether it is day or night.

In a BHut – occasionally there was a tiny slit of bright light at the top of the door (over the dividers) which was visible standing on a chair from inside my room that reminded me it was day. Otherwise a couple of 40W bulbs literally “made it (and my) day.”

Here in Heidelberg, I have sunshine starting fairly early in the morning (or at least through this morning since tomorrow we too, go to daylight savings time). Being just past the Spring Equinox, the days are definitely longer.

What triggered chain of thought actually happened yesterday. Stopping to talk to a couple of people at 30th MEDBDE, I wound up back in the G-3 cage. It light. As in real sunlight coming in through the barred door on the hall. As in air actually circulating….. So this morning and afternoon as I worked on the computer, organising files, doing backups, and trying to bring order to long standing chaos I just enjoyed looking at the dining room door – which is mostly glass. Standing next to a large picture window. Which in turn is next to the two huge windows in the living room.

I like daylight, which may explain both why I am up early and why I never, ever roll the roladens (German window coverings) down in spite of the fact that we now have a beastly building on the other side of what used to be a line of bushes and fence along the property line. After six months – I am entitled to have my windows open to the sun and air.

Didn’t mention that right up front did I? If you don’t have windows, you can’t open them. Which means no fresh air along with no light. Home is so much better. Even leaving aside being able to walk around without either a weapon or a flash light!

the call sign for the C-17 Stratevac fight today from Bagram to Ramstein. Stopping at the terminal this morning to on Space-A flights to Germany, I was expecitng to be told to come back at 0200 or so tomorrow morning. Most of the fights out leave early in the morning which puts them in to LRMC just after 0900.

About once a week (Thurs night or friday morning) there is a C-17 lift. The rest of the time it is KC-135s. The C-17 can haul a lot of patients, the fuelers no where near as many. Most of the time Thursday becomes when they schedule the ambulatory patients.

The AE flights can also take the occasional Space-A passenger. Not regulary scheduled or movement of units, ammo or equipment that might jepordize their status, but certainly those on Emergency leave or people looking to hitch-hike a ride home.

There were a good dozen names on the standby list this morning. The nice TSgt at the counter told me to come back about “three thirty.”
In the morning?
No, this afternoon. The flight just landed and they are reconfiguring – it will go back out later this afternoon.

I am standing there almost frozen. He just told me this is the C-17, it is the most likely flight to take excess people. For whatever reason, the schedule was changed. This flight is 1030 in the morning. I have 13 certificates to produce. Files to burn from the computer. A duffel back to pack and a room to clean.

Oh yes, and lunch might be nice.

In the next couple of hours I manage to get everything done at the office by noon – all the files from the computer, email accounts closed down, certificates sent and find two office mates to help me at 1400.

Between 1200 and 1400 I operate somewhere between whirling dervise and speed demon with the brain totally on auto-pilot, managing to cram an incredible amount of stuff in my remaining duffle bag, pack all the rest in my rucksack, log about 15 books through Bookcrossing and straighten the room.

My timing was terrific – I had just remembered to pick up my last load of laundry (which meant restuffing the duffel) when my buddies showed up. Turns out my caution was a good thing – show time was 1445, not 1530. That extra time gave us a chance to stop at housing and sign my room over to one of the incoming personnel.

Six of us made the hitchhiker list, throwing our gear into the back of a pickup truck before getting a ride out to the C-17. Loading us first, we were barely settled before the first evac bus shows up with all the ambulatory patients and the first three litter patients. Second bus following rather closely behind, as soon as the last patient was loaded it seemed like we were taxing out.

With the time zone changes it is hard for me to get a good grasp on the length of the flight. Taking off after 1700, finally getting our gear at 2230 (Terminal closes at 2300) plus the 3 1/2 hour time zone change – all I can tell you is that I am a bit tired.

Of course, since flights are so chancy, I exercised my usual option which is call for a ride after arriving in country. You know you are loved when, on a dark, cold, rainy night without prior notice your husband is willing to get in a car and drive over an hour each way just to pick you up.

-Holly
Heidelberg, Germany

Some of us plod away at keyboards, others go to the MWR movie night, and of course, there is cleaning, organizing, OERs and laundry also for evening entertainment.

Unless you are a vet and dance in the room singing about being a Neon, Frito bandito, along with AYE, yi ya yi’s and crossed safety reflective belts on your chest.

Sitting here completely stunned – I am treated to a repeat performance. You have to understand – this guy just got here in January and it didn’t take us long to infect him with complete insanity. I am honestly awed at his abiity to maintain in the face of the complete stress, strum and drang of the office as we head into this next week’s turn over activities.

I think it is time I head back to the room with my three cans of Shock Triple Latte without which I probably won’t be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Aye chi wah wah!

I was going to write you a long and detailed discussion about PDHA (post deployment health assesments). Why we are doing the process and how complicated/non complicated it is.

But then the sirens are going off and we have no power. So am not sure how much longer the battery is going to last.

It is the usual, IDF impact (and I am sheltering at the office).

Such fun – not.

The topic is pretty obvious, isn’t it? One of those mandatory holidays that Hallmark (for entirely business sensible reasons) has spread around the world. When you stop and think about it, many national holidays are about religion, death, war and remembrance.  This one no longer really relates to any of the above.

Wikipedia, of course, has a detailed article on the history, development and current customs of the holiday around the world. Most of the European traditions are covered here – a combination of holidays related to local saints and imported from the US customs.  Although with its origins in Christian Religious Tradition – except for a few locations, all of that has been overcome by commercialism.

What should not be surprising is that 85% of cards are purchased by women, or that men often grab candy and flowers on the particular day. In Germany – you can always by large Lebkuchen Hearts decorated with icing.

Ok – all of that speaks to your location (and can serve as a reminder if you have not yet figured out what to do for your love/partner/spouse). I think most of us are beyond the “commercial box of Valentine’s Cards” for everyone in the classroom of elementary school.

My location?  What about here? There was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day 5 K yesterday morning which was cancelled because of slush on the road (even the fanatics agreed that it was not safe to be running in ice water at 0530 in the morning. I should have gotten up, just to get the t-shirt, never mind that my feet would have been soaked just getting out to the main road).

There was nothing marking anything at the DFAC this morning, but a couple of people dropping off kids style cards on everyone’s desk. Another celebration option enjoyed by many is wading through 32 pages of Valentine’s greetings and personal messages in the Stars and Stripes (Feb 13 Mid East Edition) looking for people you know or hopefully at least entertaining ads.

Otherwise it is a Monday – with paperwork, deadlines and more of the same that has been happening for the last five months…  and a batch of us headed to the UAE DFAC this evening for Mideastern food. A husband on a plane to the US West Coast, three kids in school and one on the job fills out  Isn’t normalcy grand?

reflects the sunlight so brightly this morning that automatic settings on my camera can’t take a picture with depth. The snow amounts are still less than 50% of what should be expected at this time of year. But the towering peaks are gleaming white and majestic all around us; the highest peaks disappearing into the clouds.

There is ice covering the larger puddles like broken panes of window glass, sharp edges looking for unwary fingers to slice. Mud crunches underfoot while the splash hazard from passing vehicles has been greatly reduced this morning.

The air is sharp and clear, free from burning odors, motor exhausts or the smell of jet fuel. It is winter, at least for today while I have reports, paperwork, sorting, cleaning and shredding to do with less than any enthusiasm at all….

Yes, the title is deliberate. In Europe, which obviously extends to here in Afghanistan, the Superbowl (Professional American Football Championship Game) happens on Monday. Time Zones, my friends, time zones.

The European based military tradition is that Monday morning till noon is time off so that people can recover from being up most of the night watching the game.

In Afghanistan, the game doesn’t even come on till 0300 in the morning and you have to belive that there are a minimal number of screens devoted to ongoing operations and a maximum number devoted to watching the game.

The feed here comes from Armed Forces TV Network, Europe complete with infomercials replacing all those fun, high priced TV commercials that that cost millions; are made just for this particular occasion.

A long time ago, when George and I lived in St Paul and the Eldest was just a baby, we would host a Superbowl Party. The game was secondary to getting together with friends, eating spaghetti with garlic bread and salad, drinking a few beers and generally kicking back. Still – a good time was had by all. Moving to Europe in 1981 sort of put the kibosh on hosting a party, since middle of the night is not really my thing.

Now, wandering in early on Monday means that I can drink my morning coffee while concluding that there is nothing wrong with the Upper Midwest. If I can’t cheer for the Vikings – might as well enjoy the Packers.

When I see the word barriers – it can mean many things from obstacles in the way of accomplishing tasks to laws preventing equitable access to just plain large and heavy physical objects blocking ones path.

What I noticed today when walking toward work is that expansion of the airfield is putting up more barriers. Literally, there are Alaska Barriers going up along several of the back paths which I walk. In terms of protecting the BHuts, it makes sense to have protection between the flight line and extremely flammable living space. There are sandbags being placed in other areas which don’t affect line of sight or increase ugliness quite as much.

The end result is that my hiking paths are disrupted. Some of the other barriers – time, people and places I have decided to view as challenges. That way, I am free to figure out a way around and not be stopped by a few things that both on the surface and underneath are obviously totally and completely stupid.

As several people reminded me yesterday, I am expecting a lot when I demand logic and sense out of the military. It is not set up for my convenience but rather to manage the most with a consistent set of rules and regulations. And yes, I can turn in gear in Kuwait; the question is whether I can get permission to save the government money by not making the trip to the states and back. For that, I need my retirement orders. 85 days and counting. It would be really nice…..

In the middle of the night I had what just might have been a brilliant thought. Why do I need to back to Ft Benning on my way to Europe? We have others who are skipping that small detour.

I asked this morning. Guess what? It is all dependant on whether or not I can get a CIF in Germany to accept all my deployment gear. It actually decreases the cost to the army (mil flight to Germany vs mil flight to the US followed by commercial flight back). It would make me happy. It would cut down my return time.

So, right now I will just think about counting down my remaining time with the worst case numbers (here to Kuwait to Ft Benning to UK to home) which means 56 days at the outside. Let us call it 60 for round numbers.

In 60 days, I could be sitting in my living room with my feet up, sipping a nice cup of tea and contemplating the rest of my life since we all know that there is life after retirement.

OTOH – we all know the Army is going to make my return as difficult as possible. Stay tuned for updates!

MEDEVAC= medical evacuation.

The US has three systems in theater, sometimes more depending on how you count.

Most of the time, if you are Army, MEDEVAC means helicopter = Dust-off. The Huey of Viet Nam fame has given way to the Blackhawk UH-60. Two pilots in the front, crew chief and a flight medic in the back. Rapid transport from point of injury (POI) to the next echelon of care or between echelons of care.  Because the altitude, the carousels are removed (saves weight) and litters are on the floor. The idea is to get the wounded to a surgeon as rapidly as possible.

If you are a Marine – you call PEDRO (which has been known to use opportunity aircraft but otherwise mostly operates on rotary wing).

If you are Air Force – well, you usually live on a larger  base (fixed wing aircraft need some kind of runway) and your mind turns to air movement within the theater – usually from Role 2 to Role 3 by C-130 (on board is either an Air Evac Team or a CCAT Team – Critical Care Air Transport Team).

If you are British – there is the MERT (transports on a Chinook) which brings critical care to point of injury, then back to the Role 3.  If you are German, a similar system exists.

And, if you are Special Forces, you are special – Fever is the name of the game.

What is common to all of these systems is the use of air frames. Which air frame varies by area, country and distance to be traveled.

What is not common is the level of provider on that air craft. Gone (about time in my opinion) is the system of depending on a junior medic to do “scoop and run.” Except, of course the US Army which is persisting in outmoded doctrine. Our Allies are all putting highly qualified emergency personnel on the aircraft so that a lot of resuscitation can be accomplished during the flight.

We are getting there – SF has paramedics. Army has started using en route critical care nurses for helicopter transports between “fixed” facilities – especially where the distance facility does not have a runway capable of handling a C-130. By doing so, we are starting to bring the standard of care up to level across the theater.  Especially when you consider that the patient getting moved might just be 22 and just parted with both of his legs, part of his arm and now has both IVs and Blood running and is unconscious on a respirator for stabilization and pain control during the flight.

Me? If I am going to be injured – this is the one spot in the world where I don’t worry about whether or not someone is going to get me out of there, back to the best trauma surgeons that exist and move by the most expeditious method possible.

This discussion has been on my mind for a few days. I didn’t post sooner because I decided the discussion really needed some comparision pictures (Seoul and Beijing). Then, after realizing that I did not have them with me (my Seoul pix are from 2005 and the Beijing from 2007), I figured that all of you could easily look on the web. There is some on-line information – Seoul with a great photo here. It was not hard to find a whole raft of pix relating to Beijing – it was obvious that something had to be done prior to the Olympics. 

All of this is distant. What upsets a number of US service members, civilians and Allies is having to live in Kabul. Kabul, because it is a large city, has cars, trucks, wood/dung/tire/trash providing fuel for heating fires. This winter has not been pleasant.  We are starting to see an number of articles in various papers, like here (but regular masks might filter out particles, not going to do anything for gases).

These - 

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2011/01/06/afghanistan-kabul-air-pollution-prompts-advice-on-use-of-masks.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99127084

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/12/01/kabul-a-breath-of-fresh-air-cannot-be-purchased-for-any-price-in-most-days-of-the-year.html

pretty much speak for themselves.

From a military point of view – it can be a challenge.  It is not feasible to move the camps.  Much of the rest of the country is simply not this bad. (Leaving aside the Poo Pond). And it is considered radical to propose that people stop smoking, drink fluids and (gasp) forgo outside PT.

a day makes!

We didn’t see rain or snow yesterday, but when the sun came out in the evening – our ring of mountains emerged crowned with white.

As in current, electricity – not lifting or military might. It is amazing how power dependant we have become. A good friend, Pat who has been working emergency response issues as a librarian, and I discussed this a couple of years ago. There is this basic assumption in most plans that since we have power, we will have power. Therefore, hard copy anything is no longer needed. Reference materials? Burn CDs or DvDs. Paper is outmoded.

Right.

Sure.

Not.

Arriving at work this morning, the building was dark. No lights, no air, and …….. no computers. Well, computers as long as the batteries lasted with the UPS on the routers being good for two hours. Did I mention that I work in an “open storage” area? That translates to no outside windows. Makes it quite dark inside around the clock.

Admittedly, the power grid needed to be upgraded and this was scheduled maintenance. Since all but a few of us take Friday mornings off – it should not have been an issue. There was an email about it (see lack of power and batteries above) that went out this morning well after I had arrived at work.

Even more critical than limited computer power till the batteries wore out was the beverage situation. Microwaves and coffee pots don’t run without electricity. By the time this little fact had sunk in, I had five minutes to hustle back to the Aviation DFAC and beg entrance to fill my thermos mugs.

Just as I had decided that it made no sense to hang out, the power came back up. Our signal crew then announced that they were going to be doing router maintenance and that everything should be back up by 1230 or 1300.

Ok, I know when I am beat. One of the Civil Affairs crew met me at the USO and showed me the magic secret of getting on the WiFi. It is not just knowing the manual settings, it is limited ports. The USO is shut between 0900-1100 for cleaning. Few are hardy or brave enough to sit outside (even in the sun) in sub-zero weather to use their laptops. Managing to get both the iPad and Mac online (finally) I got at least some critical updates. Slow going, but I could see progress over the 90 minutes we sat there.

There are definite risks to being a society, a military that is so power dependant. Without computers, we have limited ability to talk to the field, to have situational awareness. Many of the junior crew freak out at the idea of being without Facebook for a couple of days. Think of New York City without power for 3 days. Or Washington DC last winter.

It is still worth having flashlights and candles, games and cards. iPads and Kindles are good – until their battery runs out and there is nowhere to plug them in. As much as I want to save trees and recycle, I don’t think I will ever go completely without paperbacks.

(There were 8 of us for services tonight. Never mind all the interruptions from those who can’t tell the difference between the chapel annex and the Chapel… Do we look like a Protestant Christmas service?)

I had every intention of writing a long and entertaining note about being up in the middle of the night, getting out of Bagram to Kandahar and the fun there of.

But here I am at Kandahar at the MWR and the world’s slowest network. If I had energy, I would walk down to the USO and use their computers. Instead, I will just say that I am safe and sound, with yet another 03xx show time in the morning when we are headed to T-K.

Billing tonight is in the VIP section of the womens RSOI tent (20 people room at the side of a fest tent size operation).

and not 4 weeks. Blog posts that start with a number don’t seem to accept comments. Since much of what I write can wind up duplicated in the email distro list and here – there you go!  

What have I accomplished? I am unpacked, spend a lot of hours at work doing a job that probably needs to be done, gotten to know the people with whom I work, and  have a couple of the computer systems under control and will work on the other two in the next couple of days. Such is my life, hours in front of the keyboard.  

Oh yes, and books. Have read a couple dozen paperbacks, registered them at www.bookcrossing.com and dropped them off at MWR so that someone else can enjoy them.  Audiobooks - I have enough to last the duration at the rate of 3 a week (well, not really but close).  

I am knitting in the evening, making good progress on the second scarf that I started back at Ft Benning. I have yarn for socks, including a SOM from Blue Moon, so socks will be next on the list

Bicycles

At 0530 this morning, I met a couple of other people from the office. We were going to ride the perimeter road. An easy 8 miles they told me. After the first mile, I hung a left and headed toward the office. I have no leg muscles, or at leasts ones that don’t adapt easily to a new form of exercise. I like my own pace, not that of other people’s. It was obviously one of those times where that 15-20 year age difference made a significant difference.

 Phones

 Still working on the phones. DSN is not area codes as I found out by comparing the DISA site with a numerical listing of area codes. Roaming charges would be unbelieveable anyway so am not going there.

 Nap time!

I had a lovely, quiet day and thank you all for the birthday greetings. I enjoy getting to the office well before anyone else arrives. And if the attendence so far is any indication, I might well be the only one here today!

Computers

The “blog won’t let me leave comments” issue.  From what I can tell, there are two issues:

I am GMT:+4:30. A few reading this are GMT:+1 or GMT:0. The problem comes when you are GMT:-5-8 or so. WordPress does not allow comments to be posted at a date/time prior to when the post was written. Never mind that it is a technical issue of time zones and reality and has absolutely nothing to do what I would want.

The second issue is post naming. Apparently using a number to name the post is fine in the permalinks-but messes up the calls. I have changed the name on yesterday’s post and it is now possible to leave comments.

The archive function is also not functioning; getting to old posts is not an option without paging back. I ask your indulgence. Getting things fixed from here is going to be difficult a best. I am loathe to have any access to HOSTDE from here and risk hackers.

Services

Current routine attendance at Friday night services here seems to be about a dozen, give or take. Civilains, Army and Air Force made up the crew this past Friday. There is a cupboard full of goodies, different shuls and synagogues have been more than generous with their care packages. If I need any munchies, I know where to go.

Ok, I admit it. I had not a clue as to who Tim Burton was. Call me ignorant, but I rarely pay any attention to movies, much less who directs them. Probably because I watch so few movies.

Now, I saw the new version (well, new to me) of Alice in Wonderland on the flight to Singapore and adored it. Come to find out – Tim Burton! AMCI (Australian Center for the Moving Image) was hosting a Tim Burton exhibit.

Materials ranged from original drawings, story lines, mock ups and costumes from all of his various productions. Besides the Batmobile, both Maus and I appreciated the three costumes from Alice (Colleen Atwood was the costume designer).

We spent most of the day at Con doing what we normally do – working registration, stuffing tote bags and attending the occasional Kaffee Klatsch (in this case Seanan McGuire).

Canberra

I “met” Jenny a significant number of years ago. I can remember trading emails back in the days of the original Knitlist; discussing the challenges of study, profession and craft combined with the raising of small critters. She was in Ft Collins while I was in Heidelberg.

We first physically met in 2006 while she was house sitting in France for one of her colleagues, youngest child in tow. I took Ms Maus and the Mole on the drive along the French/German border and into the countryside of the Alscaes. We spent a lovely weekend taking walks with dogs and looking around the village in which they were living.

Fast forward to today – Jenny and her family have long since returned to home in Australia and relocated from Perth to Canberra a number of years ago. She bailed us out of the airport and we spent a lovely few days with her and her family. James took us to Tidbinbilla, to the War Memorial, The Australian National Musuem (fantastic exhibition of one of the Canning Stock Road) and up to the top of the Telstra Tower. On Wednesday, Jenny took off work to drive us to Bowral, stopping to see both the Big Merino and the Alpaca Centre on our way to the required yarn shop. We stopped at Lake George on the way home.

The last night, we (Maus and I) spent with my cousin Margo. A second cousin (I believe) she landed in Australia almost 20 years ago after a number of years in the UK. I had met her parents in St Louis back in about 1972 and her younger sister in DC prior to 1993. We trucked around, seeing the National Gallery and the National Portrait Musuem.

The pictures come from various points along the way – they will be labelled when I have longer access to the Internet than the 30 minutes that come free on a daily basis.

I had that other list. Started at about 23 items, killed off half and added almost all that number back.

Made a new list before the drive yesterday, but lost it. So, made another list today on my iPad. It got up to 19 items, but I have managed to finish a few. A couple more will be taken care of in the morning. It still leaves me with a couple of the biggies – like someone has to own up to cutting orders so that I can make reservations to get to Ft Benning.

I have iPad, I have iPod, I have books.

What I really should do is unpack stuff, but I will probably knit!

Or something like that.

I am cranking steadily down my to-do list. And, when sanity hits, I am even taking a few moments for reading and knitting.

What I have to really do in the next 24 hours is figure out why it seems that everything has expanded all over the house like an explosion of books and cds. And how, of course, I am going to manage to pack it all in the car since it really looks like I might have the Mole as a passenger going back to Germany.

His ship is still out there – not the first of the Tall Ships by any means, but certainly not the last.