5-25-07
Has it been THAT long?

WOW, I guess I didn't realize it's been so long since my last post, but my family's gotten onto me and some friends have to so HI! Here I am! All's well here, I've just been going full bore the last week or so with planning for about (6) new bases here and all the stuff that goes with them.

Let's see....what's happened that's worth reporting? We were supposed to attend an Afghan wedding tonight for one of our workers. Unfortunately, our team lead told our security guys that no one wanted to go and he didn't ask the (3) of us that did! I'm pretty peaved about that, actually, because I think my us not going, we insulted him, especially since he made the effort to ensure that everyone of us -- including all the guards -- had invitations.

What else...I'm coming home 01 July...that's good news, I guess. My replacement is already in country and is getting immersed and caught up so I'm actually glad about that because that means there won't be any lag when I do leave. The transition will be seamless.

I wish I had some new pictures to post up, but alas, there's nothing new to show right now. I have been getting some good workouts both at the gym and on my bike -- spinning, not really riding. Oh, thanks to the $10 downloads from Carmichael Training Systems, I have a podcast of their Steady State spin workout so I can now do a spin class here at the villa. It's actually a neat workout and I'm pretty impressed with the ability to be able to download these things. I guess it's their way of getting ya hooked on smoking so they can reel ya in for the hard drugs! Trust me, I don't see CTS in my future because their personalized programs are just too costly.

Oh, I'm chasing down some more work here in Afghanistan. It seems that some of what my company, MACTEC Engineering, does for core business is not being done here so I'm looking into how we can resolve that! We'll see what actually shakes out of it, but with my new help in country, I can donate some of my workload to her and spend a bit of time marketing this other stuff.

I'm sorry that this entry is a bit melancholy....I guess I'm just ready to get on now. I'm getting info on the Pensacola project which excites me to know that I have work to do when I get home. I'm excited about the time I'm going to spend in the UK and I have an opportunity to race if I can find a team -- registration's been closed for a bit now. There are 450 teams signed up with a total of over 2500 racers! WOW!!! I know mountain bikers pretty well and I'm sure someone of that 2500 will back out and there'll be at least 50 teams looking for riders in the coming weeks. I'm praying so anyway ;) I spent today just reading and watching Shrek. I did an hour on the bike outside and got a bit of sun -- I'm so incredibly scary white it ain't even funny!

Well, so that's that I guess. I kinda really miss home this trip, more than the first trip I think. I miss my friends, driving, going to dinner, my church and choir...I think I miss it all more now since I'm actually leaving it all again when I do get home and I know that. I know God has a lot in store for me and I'm okay with not knowing it all. I just wish I could be home, that's all. Okay, now that you're all totally sorry you asked for an update, I'll let ya go! Sorry to drag ya down tonight. Tomorrow's a busy day starting at 0700 and meetings all day about (5) different things so I need to go to bed.

G'nite!