How I spent my weekend.

Actually it was an extended weekend, from Thursday to Monday. We received a notification from the central office that there were petty cash records that totaled over $1.3 million that had to be found and scanned to the central office by close of business Monday. All the records date back to 2003 and have been carelessly housed in a 40 foot shipping container. During their stay in the container rodents had made homes, water had dripped in and mold had grown. So, myself and 6 other people worked 14 – 17 hours days for the entire weekend to uncover as any files as possible. We all wore rubber gloves to avoid catching any rat poop virus and sat at your desks or on the floor comparing requisition codes and subcontract numbers. The only highlight of the weekend was a call from Trojan; it’s nice to hear the voice of home. Anyway, back to the grind.

SCORE!!!

I have been picking up the mail everyday lately, until our new labor foreman arrives to take over the duties. As with many of my collateral duties I just use it as an excuse to escape my desk on a daily basis to head down to the Post Office and chat with the soldiers who run the facility. We have another site that has not been collecting their mail and packages the way they should be and needless to say, have amassed quite a few packages over the weeks. During one of my previously mentioned conversations; one of the mail clerks told me that no one had contacted the Post Office about all the excess mail taking up valuable shelf real estate. I informed him that some of their packages had even shown up on my mail shelf. After examining the parcels he turned and educated me on a not very commonly known Postal rule regarding “abandoned mail”. If a package is left in the care of the Post Office without contacting them with a forwarding address or some other similar arrangement to recover the package for more than 30 days the Post Office will simply give the packages away; if it cannot be returned to the original sender. The packing slips on the boxes stated the contents to be food so; the clerk asked if I wanted to take the boxes so they could make extra room in the store room. Thinking Santa had come early this year I was more then happy to help out. When I got back to my office I found a few boxes of cereal, pasta roni, instant latte mix, caramel and chocolate coffee flavoring and a few packages of tuna. But the best surprise of all was in the third box. A brand new 4 gig ipod nano, to include accessories and 2 carrying cases. Also a stack of blank DVD's and a really nice leather bound journal. Not a bad haul for a few days of chatting with some really kick ass people down at the Post Office. I guess this makes up for any postal problems I’ve had in the past.

Barracks Room Remodel

Ok, Here is the new "living Room" down stairs portion to include walk thru closet.

This is my new staircase which I found on a pallet in the materials yard late one night, better than Home Depot I tell ya.

And finally I have an upstairs "bed room" with a bed I built hight enough to store all my moving boxes under. As a result, I have to almost jump to get into bed now.

The materials involved in this renovation were actually reclaimed from the local military landfill and as a result diden't cost me anything. I used 4 bed frames, (7) 4x4 posts, some 2" angle iron and a butt load of 1/4" plywood which I procured from shipping crates. One circular saw, one cordless drill and about 18 hours of total time. Some how I think my good friend Guam would be really proud and a little scared of my project. I'm thinking about moving my computer and desk to the up stairs but it all depends on how motivated I am after working 18 hours today.

The Neighborhood

This the view out of the front gate of the compund. It almost liiks like a small town, in a way it is.

This is how close I am to a Kurdish neighborhood.

Something always seems to be burning here. I think it's the oil field this time.

My New Home

So, after finally escaping the camp from hell, I managed to get out an snap a few photos of my new work site. Here is the compound I live and work in. All the personal rooms on one side and the offices are on the other side.

I finally have a room to myself in a real building with a real door. We call our rooms jail cells because they are 6.5' wide, 15' long and 13' high. My plan is to split the room in half and make a loft to double my floor space. The really nice thing about the room is the 2' thick concrete walls, much better than a tent during mortat attacks.

THIEVING BASTRDS!!!

So, I finally got all moved to my new work location in Kirkuk, photos to follow. I’m starting to get the rundown on my job and responsibilities. As part of my move I log onto my banking website to change my mailing address and check my current balance. I may be investing in a newly constructed hospital in the Philippines and was lining up my liquid funds for a possible funds transfer. I happened to glance at my current balance and thought it seemed lower than it should be, seeing as I have only purchased 2 things in the last 2 months, an airline ticket and one pair of shoes. That’s when I saw the statement below. Click on I to make it large enough to read.

That’s right, some little A-Hole got a hold of my check card number and sent it to a relative in India. First off, I had to figure out where the local currency was the Rupee, then I had to figure out how my card number got there. I mean it’s not like I have ever been to India, although I hear the dysentery is to die for. I started digging deeper into my statement and low and behold, 7 days prior to the first illegal charge I had used my debt card at the AAFES PX/BX in Baghdad, which is chock a block full of Indian and Pakistani workers. Then I remembered a story of how the fuel point supervisor had used her debt card at the Burger King next to the AAFES, also part of the Indian and Pakistani work force and she found close to $300 in fast food charged to here card. After filing my claim with VISA check card fraud and theft department I will get the money back but now I don’t have a check card and still have hotel’s to book for my upcoming vacation to Bangkok. Of course they will not ship a new card to an APO address so I have to find someone in the US to send it to me ASAP so I can get everything finished. As you may have read from the photo above, the grand total for this pain in the ass was $2449.52. Now besides the French, I am forced to not like the Indians any more, Thank you sir, do you want another slushy!!