Cycles... Fabrications... and the wait out....

So the new job seems to have the same sleep cycle as the old one... just a difference in workout time... now with the can't run by yourself and night if you are a chick cause you might get rolled up by a Afghan, Keynan, Indian or Chechen.... or some other random nationality that lives with us here on Forward Operating Base Pasab, I am stuck heading to the gym... and then I go to bed and wake up (very reluctantly) about 5 hours later head to work and start the day with the cup of joe... or what I like-  Black Tiger, made with bits of Tiger, so you know its good... really I am not kidding and here is proof...  This is the reason I am addicted to my Keurig and the K-cup.

It is pretty wicked awesome and gets me going in the morning... as I am not much of a morning person to begin with. That is followed by sometimes what seems like a relentless string of endless meetings that sometimes have no structure- and most people seem to be preoccupied with everything else... like trying to guess how long a package will take to get here in the mail... running calculation after calculation in their heads...or writing down the state capitals (while timing oneself)- yep we got one of those here...

So the mail I mentioned earlier is definitely a morale booster- it is amazing how good you feel even when you get packages you send yourself.  I could see people getting addicted to online shopping because of the emotional uplift you get when getting a package here... but when there is no mail for three days coming from Kandahar   it pretty much sucks because right now I am waiting on my armband for my ipod to get here- so that I can get back on the treadmill without causing serious damage to either the equipment in the gym myself or my ipod.  

The gym is a pretty interesting place here- I go there after work every night- usually sometime after midnight- and normally it is not that busy... tonight was a little busier- and it just cracks me up the contract guys who work in the gym are of course in really good shape- one is African- Keynan I think and the other dude is Indian and he is pretty jacked- just kind of funny to see-especially when they walk around in their really tight t-shirts and act really tough with their Spartan Brigade T-shirts on... like really- you work in a gym... sorry for the stream of conscientiousness on the blog... but I am sitting in my bed after my workout- getting ready to sleep and well- get up in 5 hours and do it all over again tomorrow... sort of like groundhog day... should find out my exact leave date by the 22nd of this month- oddly enough they keep pushing that date further and further closer to my leave date... kind of annoying since I have been here since the 22nd of February... which is about 194 days... and I would love to know... and I am sure others would too...

Over the past weeks we have been doing all sorts of stuff- like installing a flagpole on the top of Ghundy Ghar - which is on top of a pretty big hill... I helped install it- mixing concrete with the Solders out there, unfortunately I did not get to see the result first hand but here is a photo of it...  The flagpole was fabricated by our welders in the BSB- they do great work- they built a grill that kicks ass too....

 of course when I visited this place the day before I was all about seeing the potential to run up and down the hill... it would kick your ass everyday... the Afghan Soldiers like to drive by in their Ford Rangers packed with the Afghan National Army (ANA) Guys crammed in the back and honk the horn at our Soldiers as the careen up the mountain- going way too fast... but they had a Captain helping us with putting the flagpole in- he was very proud of his blister... and I was pretty surprised as most of the ANA just stared at me... and I actually found myself staring at one of them who looked like he was in the IRA- I mean this dude looked straight up Irish- Red Hair Green Eyes... makes ya wonder....

Enough stories for now- must get to bed.... Nighty Night...