Wednesday , 23 Jun 2010

I was soo tired after my shift last night, I actually left at 0930 this morning, went straight to bed, got up at about 5pm, showered and made it to dinner.. tonight was Taco night... Mexican food.. mmmmm..
not quite the same as the chips and salsa at the local restaurants but it will do.. :)

I am looking forward to moving to days next week... this schedule would be hard to keep for an entire year. I probably lose my mind.. just from the lack of being able to do anything else during the day, and loneliness.

I am sitting outside the USO - listening to some music and chatting with Donovan on IM. So close, yet like prison break to get too.. lol
I hear the Afghani music all day.. their call to prayer... atleast every couple hours you can hear it over their loud speakers throughout Kabul. Its kinda weird..

I posted pics last week of the "bathroom" facility we have.. I had put in a work order to get the leaks fixed, toilets fized etc.. I will say.. they move fast, fortunately and I had two Army Sgts come and talk to me personally to let me know what they were doing to fix it. We did get the 3rd shower curtain fixed... they fixed 1 of 3 toilets.. had to secure the other two ... females putting things down there they shouldn't - How stupid can you get.. anyhow, the did finally fix the leak too.. but now, the hot water is off.. lol so I haven't even used it since its been mostly fixed. But.. atleast they fix it and they let you know.. BUT I will tell you.. these facilities would not pass a ZONE Inspection.. and definitely need some ZIDLs..
Its funny..

Talked to my parents last night, called the kids, and talked to my Grandma. :) I am sure she was happy to hear from me.. she worries too much! I did get some stuff sent off yesterday.. tomorrow I have to stay up late so that I can get my laptop internet fixed... that will be nice - to be able to sit in my room and chat.. vice being over here. :)

Its only 8pm here and I still have atleast an hour before my shift.. I can now concentrate solely on the RFI files I have (deceased records). We keep records on all the SM that die in country. There is a long list of information we need before we can close the "case" so to speak and when I got here we had about 90 RFI files..in the last week since I have been working the files, I have closed move than 18 cases. Its a great sense of accomplishment since some of the cases were from Jun/Aug/Sep 2009. I have also redone their filing system and changed a few ways of how they do business, to streamline the process in which we use to report the casualties we get. Seems like there has been a lot of changes in the last week, but - I have let it be their idea.. just kinda pushed it in the right direction and encouraged them to do what they wanted to. (IE - Our MSgt complained that we were wasting too much paper just to print/scan and then shred.. so.. we got adobe PDF and I explained he wouldn't have to print much anymore.. just save the files from the computer to a PDF file to the same place we would have scanned them.. then.. they ran with it.. :) now.. we print FAR FAR less than what we used to.. and digitize all our files without having to scan everything. Its a great streamlined process.

Anyhow, I do enjoy what I do. the job itself.. the data processing, administrative side of it.. Definitely don't enjoy hearing about all the casualties.. there isn't a night where we don't read something that comes thru that doesn't make you a little sad.. but then you push on. We don't concentrate on the bad, per se.. we do our job, process the information so that the Next of Kin can be notified. Its definitely not a "pleasant" thing to have to see.. but we are doing our part..

Anyhow, I had to move inside the USO.. starting to rain outside.. more like sprinkle.. but.. don't want the laptop to short out on me!!! lol

Think I will sign off for now.. do a little online shopping.... since there is no where here to really spend some money.. LMAO
BTW for any of you sending care packages.. keep in mind it takes about 3 weeks to get here. :)
Okay.. thats enough for now.. more tomorrow.