Home For A Bit

You know you're on the road too much when you repeatedly refer to your hotel as "home", and Ben and I have both been traveling too much lately.

Lucky for us I've been able to swing some earlier flights home a couple times these past few weeks, but we've still barely seen each other since early Feb. Those early flights make for rough trips with late night flights and early morning arrivals, but it's nice to be home sooner.

First, Ben went to California for 2 consecutive weeks. The time difference and long flights are not fun to deal with on either end. We're heading to bed in New England for an early morning wake up by the time California is getting done with work.

Then I went to Colorado for a few days. I got to catch up with some friends from Ohio and meet their new addition to the world while I was there. I learned that babies can projectile vomit during burping...funny for those of us not holding Jake. I also re-learned that running doesn't work at that altitude until you're acclimated. No matter how slow or how short I plan to run, my lungs always feel like I'm sprinting within seconds and I'm cursing my motivation to run at altitude.

Then I went to Florida the next week, where I got to see a couple old friends from Tech. I also squeezed in a couple runs wearing only shorts & a T (no pants, hat, multiple long sleeve layers, gloves). The last day I ran into one of our ROTC instructors in the hotel lobby. Crazy! Unfortunately I was leaving that same day so we didn't really get to really catch up. My meeting got done early so some of us tried to catch an earlier flight since we kept hearing about terrible weather coming our way. We switched flights and moments later our new flight was delayed. Then, delay after delay came our way while our plane waited out a tornado from a nearby airport they were able to land at. Finally the weather passed, our plane made it, and we were re-booked to land in Boston 5 hours later than originally planned (yuck). The good news is the flight we switched from would have gotten in even later.

Finally, I just got home from Ohio Friday night where I got to see some old coworkers & friends from my first office. The trip sucked because it was yet another trip, but it was great to catch up with people again. I saw part of both "Dinoshark" and "Mega Python Vs Gatoroid" (staring Debbie Gibson & Tiffany...seriously, I can't make this up)...both comically terrible movies, as expected with the titles. Running was even better in Ohio with 2 days in shorts & long sleeves and 2 days in shorts & a t-shirt. Beautiful 65 and sunny twice! I also got some real hot wings, some Young's Double Chocolate Stout on tap, and managed to get an entire 6 pack of Shiner Bock safely home for Beau (hopefully he'll share with Ben & me).

We're both home for at least the next 2 weeks now. Yay!

Black Hole

According to Merriam-Websters:

Main Entry: black hole
Function: noun
Date: 1968
1: a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star
2: something resembling a black hole: as a: something that consumes a resource continually (a financial black hole) b: an empty space : void

I'm still stuck in Mosul, or as I like to call it, the black hole. My rescheduled flight, for this morning, was cancelled late last night. No flights support my destination today, so I am working on a flight for Friday (tomorrow).

I am still optimistic I'll be able to get out of here tomorrow, but cross your fingers. If I don't leave Mosul tomorrow, I won't be home Sunday.

Cancelled

After waiting at the passenger terminal for two hours they announced my flight was cancelled. And I was just starting to believe I was actually leaving Mosul. The cancellation doesn't affect my return date because I have built in time for things like this that come up.

Before I left the JDEC folks had a meeting that really was a going away presentation for me. I received a rug embroidered with the time I spent in Mosul. It was a great parting gift. I would post a picture, but my camera cable is packed away. I also received a couple cards with many nice parting words. As cool/important as this job was, I will miss the people the most. I almost feel bad leaving, but then I think of the life (Casie) I have waiting for me at home.

Tomorrow I will try again to leave the black hole that is called Mosul.

It’s in the Hole

My deployment is good as over. Many times I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. I have not had a day off, or slept-in past 0630, since 26 September. The 13-15 hours days, "the walk" to the showers, 21-day chow hall menu, tripping over everything in my path, and falling asleep with generators buzzing in the background are all coming to an end.

Each day is new again. One day may be training, the next packing, the next cleaning, and tomorrow the traveling begins. When I am at work, I pretty much sit around waiting for "the new guy" to ask questions. I play more of an advisor role. I am packed up for the most part. I dropped off my last load of laundry this morning.

Tomorrow I leave Mosul (Iraq) to my next stop in Al Udeid (Qatar). I'll be in Qatar for about two days before I take the 18 hour flight back to the United States of America. So I will probably drop off the radar for a few days. But I will make sure to take plenty of pictures to show you next week.

Dare I say, "See you soon."