Bored at work Volume II

Well here i am again. No one flying, and nothing to do but ponder the mysteries of the universe. OK...you caught me. I am not pondering the mysteries of the universe. What i am pondering is the deranged psyche that takes a plant and shreds its leaves then pours boiling water on it in an effort to create something fit for human consumption...(Tea, and or coffee). It certainlly makes you wonder how many failures there were prior to success, and what the result of said failures were. Yeah I know...I have way to much free time.

The weather here has been getting slowly cooler over the last few weeks. Today we are having our first snow. It's just a snow/rain mix, but it is a sign of things to come. I would imagine on the next clear day we have "Big Duke" will be snow capped. It really is quite beautiful here in the winter, and I get to look at the mountains from the control tower on clear days. Here is a link with some very nice photos http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2177726. There is a link below the photo that let's you view his entire portfolio. There are several more Kosovo photos about 1/3 of the way down the page. The vehicle one (you'll know when you see it) is one of my favorites. You see them all over the place here. There are some built on tractor frames, so they have the appearance of some mad tinkerer's design for a motorcycle. We have affectionately dubbed them "Kosovo Harleys".

The people here are honest, generous, and hard working. They are recovering from years of government abuses that most civilized societies can not even begin to fathom. Their newly formed independence has given both young and old a new sense of pride and ownership. The younger generation has a new sense of hope and a positive outlook for things to come. You see an amazing mix of old and new world technologies working side by side. It makes you wonder if all newly formed democracies go through this period of exhuberant optimism.
I guess that's enough for today...talk to you later.

It's been a while

I haven't really posted anything since my birthday, and i figured i had better get to it.

So...new in November, It was my oldest daughter's birthday on the 7th...happy birthday Britt. I miss you.(XOXOXO) I have been moving all my worldly possessions for the past two days. The Army in it's infinite wisdom decided they needed my room for U.N. personnel. So i was "asked" to relocate. The room is much smaller, and i am still in the process of finding a place for all my things, and throwing away some stuff that i didn't need any way. I'll have to go to the BX soon and pick up some things I'll need for the new room. I got off work yesterday morning at 8 am and started the whole process. About 30 minutes in i realized that my new digs was lacking a phone line, internet line, and AFN (armed forces network) TV hookup. Not to mention that it's almost one third smaller than my other room (just thought i would mention that again). So with concerns in hand i went to see the HR rep (let's call her satan's bride...SB for short). She acted like she was doing me a huge favor by actually doing her job. At one point i got very frustrated, and those of you who know me are well aware of the kind of language my anger/frustration can bring on. Well she made an attempt to give me some sort of school-boy dressing down for swearing in her office, but i was having none of that, and let her know in no uncertain terms what a shoddy operation i thought this all was. I did apologize later for the swearing bit, but not the anger, and she acted as if i wasn't even there. Well screw you lady...HR stands for HUMAN RESOURCES...and if you can't be human and oh...i don't know...show a little empathy perhaps you should find another job description that suits you. She didn't have to move everything she owned from her comfort zone to a smaller ( i may have mentioned this before) room involuntarily.
Clearly my plight was unimportant to her.

Enough of that...i could rant for a couple days on that subject. Right now i am sitting here waiting for the movers to show up with my remaining lockers. Every thing i have to wear is piled up 3 feet high on my bed...inconvenient for sleeping i assure you. When this is all over, I'm going to order a pizza using some one else's phone, and drown my sorrows in cheese and dough.

More to come later...thanks for listening.

OMG i'm 40

Another birthday came and went and this was a big one. So now that i'm 40 i made a mental list of all the things that i need to do. The problem is...i still feel too young to even consider most of them. I have slowed down a bit in the past few years, but i chalk that up to common sense as much as any thing else. I still like video games, and cartoons and i feel no real pressure to grow up. Age is just a number, and while my birth certificate may show that i am middle aged i have decided that i will not be trading my playstation in for an AARP Magazine subscription any time soon. I think i will leave this post as is and get on with my day. I hear the siren song of "World of Warcraft" calling me, and feel the need to indulge myself in reality substitution for a while.

Hangovers suck

Dinner and a couple beers turned into a 9 hour drunk-fest that left me feeling more than a bit delicate all day Saturday. Now i rememeber why i don't do that to myself any more. I spent the better part of the day sleeping, only to get up long enough to eat, and go back to bed. I was going to go out next Saturday to celebrate turning 40, but i think i will just stay in and order a pizza. I firmly believe that i fulfilled my alcohol consumption qouta for the entire year in one sitting. I used to enjoy doing this to myself, and cannot figure out why.

OK...so it wasn't as bad as i thought

We...(as in all the controller who weren't actually working) went to the ceremony, and it wasn't contrived or drawn out like i figured. We got in got our plaques and went zipping on about our business. The plaque itself is pretty nice...another addition to my "I love me" wall i guess.

I plan on going out for dinner tonight seeing as how i haven't left my room for over a month. I could use a nice juicy steak and a cold beer.

And i thought the B.S. was over when i retired

OK...so i get to work on the late shift and i'm informed that i am required to attend an awards ceremony in the morning. It's on my off time, no less. I'ts like your boss calling a meeting at 6PM on a friday. I thought i would be through with all this silliness when i added th "Mr." title in front of my name in place of my military rank. I guess not. I will update the lameness factor for all after the shindig is over.

Bored at work

So i'm sitting here waiting for the fog to lift so the flying for the day can start. The only problem with that is, we are situated in a valley that sort of bottles the fog up until the sun or a steady breeze can dispose of it. Once the fog burns off though it promises to be a nice day and i'm sure every one here will welcome that with open arms. We have had nothing but rainy and overcast days for nearly two weeks now and it's high time for some sunshine.

Welcome to my blog

This will be the home of my self assigned therapy. If you are reading this, chances are you are really bored, or have some type of masochistic streak. Please feel free to comment, but please keep it clean.