Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day. Normally I am the world’s worst son and do not do anything for these types of holidays, so I will make up for it by telling you all about the great and wonderful things going on on this side of the globe. I know it’s been a couple weeks since my last post, but it has been a little busy the past week or so and not really the “bad” kind of busy; just busy. I know that Pakistan has been in the news a lot of late. I would like to take this opportunity right up front to say that things are not as bad as Fox News and CNN may be projecting it. That’s not to say there aren’t issues here or that the security situation is such that I am going for jogs around town (not that I would be even if it was safe). There are a lot of problems particularly in the FATA and NWFP and Islamabad is rather close to the NWFP. However, the raging Hottentots are not about to spill over the Margala Hills and wipe the city off the face of the earth. Actually the Pakistan Army has started a new offensive in that area and hopefully they will actually stick it out. The good news is I actually have some things to talk about this time.

To start with I have been doing a bit more flying of late. Most of it has been just currency flights making sure we keep our qualifications up but those can be interesting as well. For example last Sunday I was flying with the Air Force Programs guy down at Lahore doing instrument approaches. We did our requisite two takeoff and landings (we have to do two takeoffs and landings every month; not every thirty days but every calender month - for the other pilots, yeah I know) and were headed back to Islamabad when we got a call on the satellite phone in the C-12 (yes we have a sat-phone primarily so if we are flying the Ambassador or Admiral and they need to talk to someone they can). This call though was for us. It was one of the other pilots back in Islamabad telling us there was a nasty thunderstorm/squall line sitting right on top of the airport. There were heavy rain, lightning and 50 mph winds. After looking at our fuel situation and the weather radar for a bit we exercised the “better part of valor” and rolled back to Lahore to gas up and let the storm blow over. After being on deck for about two hours we headed back and landed with no problems, but for a bit we thought we might be spending the night in Lahore.
For those of you that have or do fly for a living you know that getting stuck for weather is pretty much a part of the job description. I can’t think of a single pilot that hasn’t spent at least one night in a place he wasn’t planning to because the weather or aircraft didn’t cooperate. Sometimes these unexpected overnighters can actually be kind of fun, but I wasn’t really looking forward a potential night in Lahore. Fortunately it all worked out.

In addition to my flight to Lahore I got one to Bagram, Afghanistan this week as well. Bagram is close to Kabul which I have been to before and the flight is only about an hour or so. The cool part of visiting these places is that they have exchanges and US food spots. Kabul is NATO I think so it is a bi different, but Bagram is very much like being on a US base though it’s pretty small. There is however a Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Orange Julius among others. It was just nice to get American fast food again. Like I said it’s nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be stationed there. There wasn’t much to take pictures of at the base but I did take some new ones of the aircraft and while in the air. The following are presented for your viewing pleasure.

The Mighty C-12.

Looking out my window.

The Roof Of The World.

Your intrepid pilot.

If the guys in back really knew about who was flying they probably wouldn't be asleep.

I mentioned last time about the Jingle Trucks, but I was not happy with the pictures I had to properly illustrate what I was talking about. I therefore present the following examples of the art that is the Jingle Truck.

Sorry for the picture through the dirty window.

This is going down one of the major highways with two guys hanging on the back.

Another nice jingle taxi, but please notice there are four people on the motorcycle in front: the dad, a kid in front of him, the mom and her holding the baby (the record so far is five).

I know most of you have not been to Islamabad (though I think one or two of you may have) but one of the first things you notice when you come into the city from the airport is a giant memorial to Muhammad Ali Jinnah who, as I think I have mentioned, is considered the Father of Pakistan. I’ve been trying to get a good picture since I’ve been here and I finally have achieved that goal. As you can see it is a portrait of Jinnah with the motto of Pakistan “Unity, Faith Discipline” in English going one way and Urdu the other. I know it is probably very disrespectful but every time I see it I just think “It’s the Big Jinnah Head”. It is lit up at night so the next time I go down that road at night I will try to get a picture of that too.

The Big Jinnah Head: The Urdu side.

The Big Jinnah Head: The English side.

You may recall in one of my previous posts I mentioned a couple of Embassy events that got canceled. The American Club finally decided that the situation had cleared enough and went ahead and had their “Spring Fling”. Having already purchased our tickets before the delay and still not having anything better to do on a Saturday night the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in the office and I decided to grace the event with our presence. The evening was supposed to start with a social hour at 6 followed by dinner at 7 and general frivolity after that. So not wishing to miss any of the party we rolled in a bit after 6 only to find we and three others were the only ones there. I had heard that these things didn’t really get started until kind of late, but it was surprising that there was practically no one there for the first hour and a half of the event. Finally around 7:30 to 8 o’clock people started to filter in. I didn’t take many pictures but here is what I do have.

I can clean up kind of nice sometimes.

The two best looking guys in the place. Granted at the time we were pretty much the only two guys in the room, but that's beside the point.

It was somewhat under attended, I think due to the postponement, but I did have a nice conversation with the South Korean and Japanese Defense Attachés who I think were trying to pump me for information (which is the job of an attaché). I think I was sufficiently vague and non-committal and managed to get out of the conversation with my security clearance intact. I also, met a couple diplomats from the other Embassies. In particular I met a couple from the Canadian Embassy. They have invited me and the LTCOL over to the Canadian Club, which I wrote about before, for happy hour. Unfortunately it didn’t work out this week but hopefully it will next week. Everything I hear is the Canadian Club is much more social than the American Club and any opportunity to break up the routine is nice. I will let you know how it goes.

Finally before I say so long I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful birthday greetings this past week. It is really nice when you aren’t home with your family and friends to know that they are still thinking of you. I’m only sorry I will not be able to get back for Mom’s retirement and my niece Kaleigh’s graduation. Please understand I would be there if I could.

Well that is about all for now. Please feel free to send an e-mail or comment on this post and let me know what you think. Have fun in the Western Hemisphere and as always, if you can’t be good, be good at it.

Running For My Life

Hey everybody; welcome back. Before we get going too far I should mention that know one has been trying to kill me in the last two weeks (at least not specifically me). The title refers to run that the Heath Unit at the embassy set up today. They called it "The Run For Life". For me it felt more like I was going to die than felling alive. The event had a 3K, 5K, and 10K. I went for the 5K. I figured I couldn't do the 3K and have any respect for myself later but I knew better than to try the 10K. As Dirty Harry said, "A man has to know his limitations" and I know mine. As an aside congratulations to my niece Lauren who ran a 10K in about 52 minutes; well done. I'm not going to say what my time was but if you related to 10K (and assumed I kept the same pace which there is no way that would happen) Lauren would have made me look bad. Perhaps I should try training for the next one. But at least I did it and I can say I go the t-shirt.

Besides the run there has not been too much going on in lovely Pakistan. There were actually a couple embassy parties, one at the American Club and one at the Brit Club, but they have been postponed. I think they just don't want me to go see the Brit Club. Some of the folks here don't want to go to these events, but I figure it's not I have anything better to do on a Saturday night. Hopefully the events will get rescheduled and I will report on them in the future.

Without other social events I have been working on my JPME and I watched a few movies. I went to one of the local markets a few weeks ago and bought Wanted, Underworld 3 and Watchmen. Of course since Watchmen is still in theaters you can probably guess these are not sanctioned copies. The fact that I bought them each for 70 rupees (about $0.90) would probably be another good clue to how authentic they are. I stuck Underworld 3 in and it didn't play at all. Watchmen was better in that it played. I got all the way through the opening credits and the first scene the character Rorschach walks into a room where there has obviously been a crime and then everyone starts speaking German. Wanted worked and the actors spoke English, but all the writing in opening prelude and on all the computer screens in the movie were in Cyrillic. I guess they got that one from Russia or something. One thing you have to keep in mind when you watch bootleg videos is you get what you pay for.

Changing gears, we all know that a lot of terrorist organizations use narcotics trafficking to help fund their operations. A lot of work has been done in Afghanistan to stop the farming of poppies for opium. A good measure of the work that goes on in my office with the Pakistan Navy is centered on counternarcotics and interdicting smuggling. The reason I mention this is that I find it very amusing that marijuana grows wild all over the city including in the diplomatic enclave. There is actually a flower bed on the embassy grounds that has a pot and poppy plant growing within a foot of each other. And when I say it grows wild I mean along side the roads like a weed one might say. And we aren't talking little scrub like plants. There are some at the 7-8 foot size. Just in case you don't believe me take a look at this.

Me and the Captain wading through the pot. This is going in our next counternarcotics powerpoint brief.

A close up of a smaller plant just in case you don't believe me.

The people at the embassy who are supposed to know say that it is all really low grade and you would have to smoke an entire field's worth to get anything, but it makes you wonder if they are just saying that. All I know is if the city ever catches on fire the population could be feeling really relaxed.

I have commented pretty much since I came here that the people here drive like maniacs. I'm sure that you may be sick of hearing, so I decided to show you. The clip below was taken during my morning commute.

One thing you see as you drive around here are what are called "jingle trucks". The folks paint their delivery trucks and taxi trucks very elaborately. I have been told that the paint job is to get your attention, like advertising, and the images and text on the trucks are good luck charms. Considering what you just saw I think you can understand while they think they need luck on their side when driving.

The back of a Jingle Truck.

I know I have been kind of all over the place with this post, but like I mentioned there really hasn't been too much going on. Politics here would only make me mad if I talked about them so I'll stick what fun things I can come up with and this is pretty much it for now. So until next time, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail or post a comment here. And most of all be good. If you can't be good, be good at it.

Ain't No Party Like A Pakistan Party

Well it's that time again. Time to recount the great and wonderful events of the last week and a half for all you beautiful viewers at home. The most important thing I think is to tell you all the mustache has gone the way of the dodo (come to think of it I think it ended up looking more like a marmot or something but that is beside the point). That's right the caterpillar turned into a lovely butterfly and flew away. To be honest (because normally I'm lying to you all - just kidding) I had planned on wearing it through the month of March, but I was just sick of it. Oh, and the other guys that were growing mustaches gave up last week so I won by default. Unfortunately we didn't have any money on the line; just pride (which can be pretty cheap). I doubt it looked anywhere near as nice as Commander McBragg's here, but towards the end I kept thinking of him telling of his adventures on the hunt in India or something and I always got a chuckle.

The other big event was Saturday the 21st there were a couple parties on the diplomatic enclave. Our own American Club had an '80s party and the Canadian Club had a St. Patrick's Day Party. I went to both (trying to make up for the ones I have missed) and I have to say the American Club does not know how to party. At least not if this one was indicative of all their events. There were only about 30 people or so with '80s music blaring and a few folks who were trying a bit too hard to relive their 20s. It's too bad that photography is not permitted on the compound because words just can't describe the event. Think back to Sixteen Candles or The Breakfast Club and you will have an idea of the costumes that came out and worst of all the dancing (if you can call it that) that was attempted. Now don't get me wrong, I do not dislike the '80s. Probably half my iPod has '80s music. In fact I have a great time at an '80s party back in Pensacola with the gaggle their. It's just that some people were trying too hard or more likely weren't having to try at all.

"Anyone for tennis?" A blast from the past. '80s party 2004 with Dan "The Man"

Now in contrast the St. Patrick's Day Party at the Canadian Club was great. They had a live band that was playing great Irish music (real stuff and all the funny songs about Irishmen getting drunk). People were dancing and they actually looked like they knew what they were doing. The only drawback was the bar did not have Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, which I am sure most of you know is my adult beverage of choice. They did, however, have XXXX beer which is not Irish (it's Australian) but it does come from a country where they talk funny and drink a lot so I figured it was close enough.

The last celebration was a little mutiny we through for our Admiral's Birthday. The funniest part was a skit where one of the guys acting as the Admiral and myself (as one of the Captains here) go to visit a member of the Pakistan Military. The funniest part is the other Navy Programs guy is originally from Pakistan and can still turn on the accent. When he came in and sat down to start the skit half the audience including the Ambassador and some of the guys in the office were wondering who this guy was. The whole thing had the group rolling. I just wish I had it on video. Not just because Raja and Al were hamming it up so much, but because it was also pretty close to right and I think you all would get a kick out of what it is like to talk with these guys about military needs and long term planning and so on. Here is a picture of the players. The others in the picture are the real Admiral and the Captain I was playing.

The camera had a double flash for red-eye reduction so the guy on the end thought the picture was taken and closed his eyes.

On a completely different note, some of you long time viewers may recall my trip to Bahrain back in January and the ordeal that has been trying to get the pictures I took there developed. With the help of my friend Katie L. I finally got the pictures and here they are.

The view out my window at the hotel.

The Center for Islamic Studies.

The Al Fateh Mosque.

Modern art (a fish I think).

Modern architecture. The towers in the distance have their own power generating windmills.

I'm sure that some of you are watching the news over here and cringing at some of the stories. I keep think of the old bumper sticker that reads "Where are we going and why am I in this hand basket". That could be the State of the Union address for Pakistan right now. I only hope that the Pakistan Government finally wakes up and sees the groups that are doing these things as the true threat instead of insisting on focusing on India and other conspiracy theories. But until then please be assured that I am being as careful and vigilant as I possibly can be. I am also keeping my head down and my butt covered. I have every intention of coming back in the same or better shape than when I came here. So until next, if you can't be good, be good at it.

Lockdown

Greetings and salutations. As some of you may have noticed on the nightly news the political situation here in Pakistan has been rather volatile over the last couple weeks. Well if you want to get nit picky it has been rather volatile ever since its inception in 1946 with many an up and down cycle. But the last couple weeks have been the most charged since President Zudari took office about a year ago. As far as I can tell the problem is that there are only a few families that tend to run things here and because of that they have been competing against each other since the country was founded (oh and they all seem to be crooks – a lot like Oklahoma).

The latest problem starts with the last ruler President Musharif (who was the Army Chief of Staff and took over in a coupe of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [remember this name]). In an attempt to maintain his power President Musharif fired the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court which lead to a great deal of popular up roar which eventually lead to Musharif stepping down. So who to take over? The Pakistanis actually had an election where candidate Benizer Bhutto (a former Prime Minister who had been fired due to allegations of corruption) was killed in a terrorist explosion. Who do you elect after the #1 candidate has been assassinated? That’s right her husband (who had served time in jail for corruption and has been nicknamed “Mr. 10%” for his embezzling).

One of Zudari’s campaign promises was that he would reinstate the Chief Justice who got fired, but after being in office for a year he still hadn’t done so, it is believed, because that Justice might re-open the corruption charges against him. The next stellar move is while the head of the military and the Prime Minister are out of the country, the Supreme Court (with a pro Zudari Chief Justice) excludes Nawaz Sharif (here is that name again) and his brother (who was the Chief Minister for the province of Punjab) from holding political office because of their past corruption charges. The Sharif brothers then threw their political weight behind the Lawyer’s Movement, who had been screaming for the reinstatement of the Chief Justice. The Lawyer’s Movement have been coordinating this Long March that was supposed to start in Lahore and Qweta and end up in Islamabad (where your friendly local arms dealer – me) lives. In an attempt to keep the Long March for gathering steam Zudari placed a lot of people under house arrest preemptively and basically shut down the city Sunday afternoon (this kind of tactic always works right?).

The major concern was that if the protest did get into the city and/or violence erupted (which was a very good possibility) the Army might have to step in to restore order and once that happened, they would probably just kick out Zudari for being stupid in letting it all get to that point. And what do we call it when the military kicks out the president? That’s right, a coupe, which we as a government tend to frown on.

The good news is Zudari flinched first in this game of political chicken and said he would restore the Chief Justice so Sharif basically turned off the Long March and the whole thing fizzled out. The other good news is since the whole country was about to implode, the embassy was shut down and we all got the last couple days off. Granted we were in lockdown mode and restricted to our houses, but I got to sleep in late on Sunday and did a lot of reading for the Joint Professional Military Education class I am taking.

The bad news is that because of this stupid power playing I had to miss the St. Patrick’s Day party that was going on at the British High Commission (they don’t have an embassy, they have a high commission because Pakistan used to be a colony or something like that). So far since I have been here I have missed two parties at the High Commission and two parties at the Marine House (where the Marine Security Guard lives). Granted I missed some of it because I was in the States which is infinitely better, but still. I am hoping nothing else goes wonky and I can make it to the Canadian Embassy for their St. Patrick’s Day celebration next weekend.

There was another celebration since the last time we talked. Most of you probably may not have known it but last Thursday was the Profit Mohammed’s birthday. We didn’t set up a tree or anything like that but the city was strung up with lights. Here are a couple of the pictures. Since it was at night and I was shooting form a distance they might be a bit blurry, but I had to stop by the side of the street to take the pictures and due to the force protection issues here I did not want to take too long to get the shots. I think you can get the point.

The Prime Minister's Secretariate.

The Supreme Court building.

Looking down Constitution Ave.

The only other thing to report is that I have grown what some might call a mustache (others might call it a caterpillar or some other derogatory name). I started it on the 1st of March and I think it has grown in nicely. I’m not saying it looks good, only that it is rather full. The reason behind this, like most facial hair growing experiments, is that there really isn’t much else to do so some of us decided to have a contest. These are the kinds of things we in the military do on deployment to pass the time. Don’t worry friends, I doubt that the ‘stache is going to make it beyond March. We will have to see what kind of reception it gets at the Canadian Club.

A shot of me, my mustache and the C-12.

A close up shot. Don't fear the 'stache.

Well like I said before all the shenanigans have fizzled out so it is back to work for me tomorrow. Thank you all for your e-mails and other comments (except the one making fun of my mustache). I hope your days have and continue to be calmer than the Pakistani political scene. Until next time, be good. And if you can’t be good, be good at it.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Hello all and welcome back. It’s been an interesting couple weeks since my last post. When we last left our intrepid traveler he was awaiting the plane that was going to whisk him away to the land of milk and honey that is Oxnard, Ca. The flight over wasn’t too exciting. Unfortunately since I had just flown Qatar Airlines the week before all the movies were the same so I spent most of the flight reading and trying to sleep.

I commented last time about how great the service on the flights was and how great the seats were since they fold completely flat, and while they were all that I still arrived in Washington DC completely jet lagged. Add to that the 5 hour layover in DC, and I was an absolute mess on the flight to LAX. I remember sitting down in my seat, some dude squawking on the PA, some acceleration and a sudden thump as we touched down in LA, but that is about it. It took me about 45 minutes to get my luggage and rental car. After the hour drive from LAX to Naval Base Ventura County at Port Hueneme it was about 3:30 in the morning on Sunday before I got to bed. All told that was about 26 hours of total travel. You should really try it sometime. Good times. Lots of fun.

Sunday around noon I met the program manager and the Pakistan Navy delegation in the hotel lobby, and for what you might ask; to conduct a driving tour of LA. That’s right; they wanted to drive around LA on the Sunday of the Academy Awards. So we got to spend all day driving down the Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Boulevard. Actually it was quite pretty; a good day for a drive. The bad part was I was hoping to get together with a friend, Martha J. and do some dinner. That was kind of how the whole week went. I had to play baby sitter for the Pakistan delegation and never had a night to visit friends in the area. It was rather annoying and disappointing.

That’s not to say the whole week was a mess though. I did get to go to Universal Studios during the trip. The Program Manager put in a “culture day” where we took the delegation to see something that is American and let them sample our culture. Personally, I think it’s just an excuse for her to go site seeing, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth (as an aside, isn’t this expression from the Trojan Horse story, and wouldn’t the Trojans have been better off if they had taken a look inside? I’m just saying).

Universal was a lot of fun though I would have preferred some actual roller coasters. Pretty much all the rides are motion simulators which are fun, but you just can’t properly simulate pulling 3 G’s in a loop and 80 mph worth of wind in your hair. It just isn’t the same. I like the real thing when it comes to amusement parks. Presented now for your enjoyment are a few pictures from the day.

Me at Universal Studios.

He he he... Monkey butt.
That is a big guitar.

The Jurassic Jungle.

Donkey from Shrek. He's funny, but he can be an ass sometimes.

Say hello to my little friend.

Dude, can't you see I'm working over here.

After the Program Review was over on Friday I rolled down to San Diego for a couple days. It was nice to see all the old gang. I hope you all had fun; and for those of you I didn’t get to see, hopefully we can get together next time. Here is a picture from Friday Night.

The San Diego knuckleheads.

The biggest problem with coming down to San Diego was that my flight on Sunday back to Pakistan was out of LAX. This wasn’t really a big deal because it didn’t leave until 10:40 in the morning. The plan was to get up around 6, get on the road about 6:30 and drive back to LA which should take about two hours. With turning in my rental car I figured I would get to the airport about 8:45 which should give me plenty of time to get through the lines at the airport and make my flight with plenty of time. The problem with plans though is, as the book says, they “often go awry.” It is with this in mind then that I will tell you the tale of my trip back to Pakistan.

It started a little after 6. I had just woken up and was trying to get motivated to get in the shower when my cell phone started ringing. It was the nice folks at United who were calling to tell me that my 10:40 flight had been cancelled but they were able to book me on the 9:40 flight if I could get to the airport in time. I figured I could do it, but I had lost pretty much all of my buffer in the process. So I decided to forgo the shower, threw everything I had in my bags and took off for LA. As I was approaching Camp Pendleton traffic can to a stop and I was think oh no because the road to LA can turn into a parking lot sometimes with folks going back after the weekend. Fortunately for me (though not for someone else) there was just an auto accident and I was soon past it. I think I set a land speed record getting back to LA from that point on and thanks to GPS I made it to the rental car agency without getting lost. From there it was off to the airport. As the shuttle bus took us around the airport to the different terminals there were a couple that had security line completely out the door, so I was sweating all the way up to pulling in front of my terminal. Luckily the line was not that bad and I managed to get my boarding pass and make it through security in time. The flight from LA was fine with the exception that I think the lady sitting next to me had a cold and passed it on to me.

After a 5 hour layover in Washington DC where I got to use the Virgin Atlantic Airlines lounge (the first one I had been to in the States; pretty nice) we finally board the plane. Some of you may recall what the weather was like in Washington DC on Sunday March 2nd. For those of you who do not, let me tell you is was snowing like no bodies business. We ended up having to wait one and a half hours for the crews to come with the deice gear and another half hour for them to deice the aircraft. Add to that the slowest taxi evolution I have ever seen and you get our takeoff happening about two and a half hours late. I tried to sleep through most of the flight, but the cold I was catching made that difficult. We finally land in Doha, Qatar about 20 minutes before we are supposed to board my next flight to Islamabad. The whole ride on the bus to the terminal, I was again sweating (and not because of the fever). I ended up walking into the terminal, going through security, going straight to the ticket counter and getting right on the next flight. I barely had a chance to go to the bathroom. The good news is that I did at least make my flight. The funny thing is after chasing the clock all day and barely making it to my flights, the flight to Islamabad actually arrived 30 minutes early. This would have been good except I had to wait for my ride to get there. The one time I didn’t really want to be early was the one time I was.

Ultimately I did finally make even though I arrived with a cold. I am feeling a bit better though. Hopefully I will be better in a couple more days. Aside from that I am just trying to get settled back in to the job. I had over 2oo e-mails waiting for me when I got back and I am only now getting myself dug out from underneath them.

Well that should be enough for this installment. I do not have any trips for a bit so things should calm down some and hopefully settle into a groove. Until next time, remember if you can’t be good, be good at it.

What Time Is It?

Welcome once again to the latest installment of my continuing adventures. Like my last post I am once again waiting for a ride that will take me to Benazir Bhutto International Airport for a flight; this time to Oxnard, Ca. Taken in conjunction with just getting back on Monday from my 10 day trip to Jacksonville, Fl and staying up too late that last couple nights playing Lexulous and Mob Wars on Facebook (I knew joining that thing was going to be a bad idea) my body basically does not know where it is. I'm sure by time I land in LAX at 1 AM local time my brain will be completely short circuited. The good news is that after this trip I will have earned about 40,000 frequent flier miles (one silver lining). But I am getting ahead of myself. I still haven't told you about the last trip.

I left at 4 AM (which is when I leave tonight, or this morning or whatever). Apparently all the flights out of here heading to the States leave dark and early in the morning (somewhere between 2:30 and 4 AM) just like all the flights form the States to here leave around 10 PM. I have to say going to the States seems to suck less than the flight coming to Pakistan, and not just because of the destination. We go over this some in aviation physiology, but I can't recall the exact rational. Basically though the fact that we get to the States during the day seems to make adjusting easier than getting to Pakistan in the early morning. I think sleeping on the plane going east sets you up better and no matter what you are going to be tired when you land so landing in the evening places you closer to the local time to sleep as well.

Here is a tip for those of you that might be flying internationally in the near future. If you have the ability and/or option to get upgraded to business class, DO IT!!!! As far as I can tell there really isn't a first class, so business class is up front where all the good times are. If there is a first class I have to see it just to find out how it could get better. First when you check in you get to go to a different line which is always faster. Then you go to the lounge where they have comfy chairs and drinks (sometimes of the adult variety depending on the country) and snacks and computer access and so on and so on. The seats are huge. The flight attendant gives you a menu so you can place your meal order (yes they actually serve meals - plural) before you take off and they start serving you almost right after flight. On the Boeing 777 the seats can lay completely flat so if you sleep on your side or your stomach like I do you can actually fall asleep. If you don't feel like sleeping they have fully interactive foldout screens (not those dinky ones in the back or the headrest in front of you) with like 100 movies to choose from. After you land they take you to the terminal in a separate bus (the planes almost always park away from the terminal and you get bussed in) and again get to go to a wonderful lounge while one of the airline people clear you passport and get your next boarding pass. I tell you it is the only way to fly. Granted this was all on Qatar Airways, but I flew Emerits to Bahrain in January and it was pretty nice as well. The only bad part is when you have to make that last leg (or first if you are coming this way) on the American carrier. The American version of business is not the same and you are back with the unwashed masses for that flight. For those of you wondering, no the government does not pay for me to fly in business. It pays for the standard economy class and I pay the difference, which is not necessarily cheap, but I figure it's not like I can really spend it on anything else here and it is so worth it.

The one thing that kind of bugged me during this trip was that at Doha, Qatar before you can go to the lovely lounge I had to go through security again. This in and of itself is not that big a deal. What irked me was I had crammed everything into a carry on bag so I wouldn't have to deal with checking anything and getting it lost. When I sent my bag through the x-ray machine I had all my toiletries in it. I had all the miniature sizes and in they were in the clear zip top bag, but I also had a small set of fingernail clippers and two Mach 3 razors. For some reason the security guards felt that this was a safety concern and told me I would either have to check the bag or get rid of the items. I tossed them rather than check the bag. For next hour I tried to figure out how in the world I could possibly take over the airplane with a set of fingernail clippers and 2 Mach 3 razors and I have to say I couldn't come up with anything plausible (and I have a rather active imagination in this area - don't ask).

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind security. I think it is a great thing and absolutely necessary. What I have a problem with is the appearance of security; security for the sake of having security. It's like some of the checkpoints here. The police or guards just wave you through without even looking at you. I've seen them stop a car and be talking to the driver like they are concerned about them and another car just pulls around and drives through (like impatient people can't possibly be terrorists). Lets just say I try to keep my own guard up even after I pass a check point.

Back to the trip, I had a one night layover in DC so I got to hang out with my buddies ET, Nicole S. and Becca M. Here are a pictures to properly embarrass Nicole.

Nicole doesn't like taking pictures.

The meeting in Jacksonville was largely uninteresting. Two days of work crammed into four. I won't bore you with the details. The good part though was getting to see all the guys and gals from the gaggle in Pensacola who are now stationed there. It was great to see you all and I hope you had fun. I know I did.

The P'Cola Gaggle does like taking pictures.

I mentioned my trip to Bahrain earlier and I have not forgotten that I still owe you pictures from that trip. My plan was to bring the disposable camera I got in Bahrain and get the film developed while I was there in Jacksonville and scan them to my computer when I got back. Unfortunately that plan was gooned up by Walmart. I went in on Tuesday to drop the film off at the counter that proudly displays "One Hour Processing". When I told the lady behind the counter that I wanted to get the pictures developed the first thing she tells me is they don't do one hour photos anymore. This should have been a HUGE flag, but I was there and I had a few days to spare and she told me they would be ready on Friday. I didn't leave until Saturday, I thought to myself (more on this later) so it's no big deal. I'll just come back a get them. Friday afternoon comes and I roll in to get the pictures and the nice guy behind the counter says they don't have them and if I turned them in on Tuesday they won't be ready until Monday. Needless to say (but I will anyway) I was a tad bit miffed. I was having a very hard time expressing my displeasure while remaining civil to the guy.

I understand that the guy I was talking to now was not the lady who apparently lied to me and it wasn't his fault she didn't know what she was talking about. I really don't like yelling at the wrong folks but this kind of this really bugs me. Maybe I'm getting old and cantankerous, but it doesn't seem that hard to me. Tell me what you can do and what you can't. Give me the information and I will make the decision that works best for me and everything will be good. Granted I could have taken the camera to CVS or Ritz or anywhere else, but based on the information I was given by someone who should have known it should have worked (huff, huff, huff ... ok clam down). Anyway the net result is I had to leave Jacksonville without the pictures and my good friend Katie L. will have to mail them out to me. Hopefully they will get to me in the next couple weeks, depending on the mail.

You may recall I said I was thinking I was to fly out on Saturday. Well that is indeed what I thought and with that thought in mind I went to the airport Saturday afternoon, turned in my rental car and walked up to the check in counter. Unfortunately that is about as far as I got. I put in my confirmation number and the screen comes back at me that it can't find my reservation. I re-enter the confirmation number thinking maybe I fat figured something. Same result. I'm starting to get a bit concerned, looking at my paperwork when I notice the date in the upper corner of the screen behind the itinerary I am holding. It says Saturday 14 February 2009. The date on my itinerary said Sunday 15 February 2009. That's right I was there on the wrong date. Fortunately I was there early rather than late, missing my flight, but it was a bit embarrassing. The worse (and funniest) part was the next day I went to have lunch with a Katie and Jen T. when my friends Scott and Gena P., who I had just dinner with the night before and had said goodbye to and who thought I had already left, pulled up next to me at a traffic light. The puzzled look on Gena's face was classic even if it was at my expense.

Overall it was a fun trip. I hope this trip will be just as good. I am particularly looking forward to coming down to San Diego on Friday and Saturday. For you SD crowd, let the games begin. And for everyone remember to be good. If you can't be good, be good at it.

On The Road Again

Howdy do all. I'm so glad you could join me again for another adventure. As I write this I am actually getting ready to start a new leg. This one will take me all the way back to the States. I am waiting for the driver to pick me up to take me to the airport where I will enjoy about 18 to 20 hours in the air as I fly to Jacksonville, Fl through Doha, Qatar, then an overnight layover in DC then down to Jacksonville, Fl for a Program Management Review for the P-3 Orion aircraft the Pakistan Navy is getting from us. I'm just happy I get to come back to the States after only being here for a month, even if it is for work, only one week and I have to come back. It's better than many people here. Also, it will be nice to see all my friends who are living in JAX again.

In addition to the trip this week I am going to Oxnard, Ca or another PMR the last week in February, this time for the Harpoon Missiles they are buying from us. The cool thing on this trip is I will get to slide down to San Diego for Friday and Saturday nights and see some friends in the SoCal area. The bad thing about these trips is it takes about three to four days to get your circadian rhythm adjusted for a trip of this length. So just about the time I get used to being back in the States it will be time to come back to Pakistan. Then when I get used to being here again I roll to the States again and then it's back here. I figure by the end of the month my body is going to think it on Mars or something.

Yes I've actually been here a month. It has actually gone by very quickly. We have a couple things to mark the days since they all seem to run together. Monday is blue shirt day. Thursday is "Man Love Thursday" were everyone wears a pink shirt. Today, Saturday, is "Aloha Saturday" where, as you can probably guess, we wear Hawaiian shirts. The days seem to drag by but the next thing you know it's time to break out the Hawaiian shirt again. The other cool thing about the weekend is while we still have to come to work, we at least get to wear jeans. We have a couple other things to mark the time as well. Sundays we try to go to the auditorium they have here at the embassy and we play a movie; things like that. With all the traveling it will probably make this month go just as fast as January.

I still have not gone and done any sight seeing here in Islamabad, but I did get to do a couple flights in our C-12 the last couple weeks. So far I have been to Karachi and Kabul, Afghanistan. Unfortunately I have not left the airport, but it does get me out of the office for the day. Actually it seems kind of far to go for lunch, but it gets boring eating at the same place all the time. Now while I have not been able to stop and doing any sight seeing, I have done some drive by stuff. Presented here are some pictures for your amusement. Please for give me if some of the pictures are a bit blurry.

The Supreme Court Building.

The Prime Minister Secretariat (I think).

Flying over the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

From the ramp at Kabul. Not a whole bunch to see.

This statue was at the airport at Kabul.

Well it's time to finish packing and get ready to go to the airport. I am really looking forward to seeing several of you soon. For the rest of you please know you are in my thoughts. Until next time, remember if you can't be good, be good at it.