A trip to the field and a two-wheeled adventure...

So, I went out into the field again today.  The Chief Observer, Neil, took me and Bogdan out to see the areas of the survey that we are currently shooting and will be shooting over the next few weeks.  It was a nice afternoon of driving about.  It was hot, of course, but it is always a bit of a joy to get out of the camp for a few hours and see a little bit of the country that I have spent so much time in but have seen so little of.  We were able to drive through two villages today, so I got to take more pictures of the houses and living environments of the so-called Marsh Arabs who reside in this part of Iraq.

The villages that I have seen are handsome enough, certainly they aren't modern, but they are full of garbage...the villages here tend to be located near major water sources and are cut through with canals, but the canals are often simply choked with trash.  There is nothing so sad as watching a woman drawing water out of a canal where she is having to push garbage out of the way to get her bucket into it, and seeing the livestock swimming in the same water really makes a statement about how rare good, clean, and reliable water is in the underdeveloped parts of the world.  It reminded me a bit of Port Au Prince, Haiti, to be honest.

This was a suburban...you can see the armor plating on the door panel...it was hit with armor piercing rounds and then blown up which landed it on its top...all of the bullet proof glass is melted around it...evidence of the violence that has plagued Iraq for so long

Finally...a picture of one of the ruined tanks!! It may be hard to tell, but that IS a tank!

Village canal...this is one of the few that wasn't choked with floating garbage...I love the boats

Date palms just ouside one of the little villages

This was once a very cool building in this little village...fallen into disrepair these days

As with everywhere in these part...oil works are almost always visible, particularly the gas flares

These guys are net-fishing outside of their village

These boys chased the truck for quite a while

A little greenery breaks the desert monotony

On the whole though, the field trip was very good...there were far more people out today than the last time I went out, and the population here away from the camp seems quite friendly.  We were greeted always with waves and smiles...the kids here are adorable.  They always beam at you and wave; innocence has not yet been lost to them, and I hope that with the increasing exposure to people from outside Iraq and continued improvements in the basic infrastructure of the country they will never have to live through the hard times, oppression, and warfare that their parents had to endure.  I may be accused of being paternalistic or of viewing everything through the lens of an American abroad by some of my more liberal friends, but I just want everyone to have the chance to live a safe, healthy, and secure life, whatever that means in their country and culture.

Well, that was my day in the field...it was a rare and enjoyable day for Iraq.  I was very glad to have had another opportunity to get outside of the walls and see some more of the countryside.  One day, when the country has settled back into a relatively safe place, I hope to come back and see far more.  So much of the history of mankind took place here, so it is sad that those treasures of history are unavailable to see and experience.  Perhaps, one day...

Speaking of enjoyable things...did you know that I bought a motorcycle while I was last home?  If you didn't, then now you do!  I LOVE it..it is so much fun to ride, though I am still taking it very easy as I am not a very experienced rider yet, and I didn't buy it to die on it.  I bought it because it gets amazing gas mileage and will help me save a lot of money on gas and mileage on my Jeep while I am in town. Plus, of course, it is FUN to ride.  I bought a 2012 Triumph Bonneville SE...it is beautiful, I think.  I still have a lot of experience to gain, but I am looking forward to riding it much more the next time that I am home.  Before anyone comments on the safety aspects of riding a motorcycle, again let me say, I didn't buy it do die on it, and I assure you all that I will wear a helmet, and jacket, and gloves at all times on the motorways and will stay off of the interstates on it, generally speaking.

So much fun to ride...and so nice to look at!

Well, I suppose that is what I have to share for now.  We are about to be back on standby out here again, so I am not looking forward to more days with nothing to do.  Bye for now...

A Break for July Comes to an End in August

I am back in Iraq for one last hitch (or that is what I am being told now), albeit a long one...six or seven weeks depending on when we get the last shotpoint.  I am a bit bummed about the duration of my final stay, particularly in light of the abbreviated vacation (28 short, sweet days), but at least this will be my last work rotation for a bit.  After this hitch it is ass-time for at least six weeks, then a class in Abu Dhabi for two weeks, and then likely a posting to a vessel somehwere in the world in mid-November (does that mean that I will miss both Christmas and New Year? NOOO!).

I had an amazing time at home, starting with Wine Weekend 2013 at Legend in Blue Ridge, GA.  It was great to see my family and enjoy wines of a calibre that I can't normally afford.  We drank a lot of amazing bottles on this particular trip, played a good deal of poker and billiards, and laughed a lot at each other's expense.  The food was also wonderful this year, with each of the "kids" taking a night of cooking duties and leaving the first night up to a local pizza company.  We ate Morgan's famous Picadillo the second night, Erin and Roger made grilled flank steak on the third night, and I completed the trifecta with Grillades and Grits on night four. It was all so good, and complimented the wines we were drinking admirably.  Also, my sister (bless her) baked a cake from scratch for my birthday which was delicious!  All in all a great family get together in a stunning location...likely to be repeated for 2014!

Me showing off the jeroboam that we polished off...that's a double magnum(3L) for those who have never seen one in real life

Some of the treasure trove of great bottles to be consumed this year

The adults minus my stepmom, Cathy, enjoying amazing wine!

The whole gang for Wine Weekend 2013

Zach is actually playing the guitar, I am merely strumming three chords along

Back in Houston, the fine meals continued unabated...my girlfriend, Christiann, took me out to a wonderful sushi dinner to celebrate my birthday (old) at Kata Robata.  We had a wonderful appetizer of Kobe steak and a special roll, and for dinner had the sashimi for two which was amazing! They also served us the fried heads of the sweet shrimp from our sashimi, which was certainly a first for me...once you get past eating a shrimp shell and the eyeballs it was actually pretty tasty.  They brought me a really cool dessert to close the meal, I am still unsure of what all was in it, but it sure was good!

Ah...sushi for my birthday...very good sashimi and the appetizers were great as well! You can see the shrimp heads which were later served fried

I cooked us pork chops, grits, and collard greens one night...we had sesame encrusted ahi salad...seared scallops with cannelini beans and spinach...a wonderful bib lettuce salad with fried goat cheese, roasted beets, toasted pecans, and two types of figs...Christiann and the kids baked cupcakes from scratch...we made homemade sushi for Christiann's birthday...shrimp ettouffee...and finally crab cakes.  So much good food!!  And those were just the meals prepared at home!  I get so into food when I am out here because the food is not typically very good, so it is nice to think about what I ate and will eat back home.  This hitch the food quality here has deteriorated even further...normally I haven't been actually upset by what was being served, but these days the food is just plain bad.  How do you lock hundreds of guys in a compound in the desert and then serve them bad food...it is one of the few pleasurable things we have to look forward to each day; it seems wrong to fail us on something that should be pretty easy. Sad.

Aside from the food, which was wonderful, I was lucky to continue on from Wine Weekend with some nice bottles of both reds and whites (which I don't normally go in for so much).  We had a couple of vintages of Kuleto Estates (excellent 2003 and 2009), a very good 2009 Conn Creek, a Coup de Foudre Pinot Noir, a Gruner Veltliner, an Alsatian, and a couple of Italians that I would have to check the wine journal to remember, but quite good nonetheless.  We had many more bottles that I am forgetting here...including two with my brother Zach when he came through Houston for work...a Zinfandel, I believe, and a Mourvedre from Spain, I think.

This scallop dish turned out so much better than I envisioned and paired nicely with an Alsatian wine

Excellent salad...wine was good but would have gone better with BBQ

Cupcakes!! Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting...I decorated this one actually

Homemade sushi with a spinach, watermelon, and bleu cheese salad...Happy Birthday, Christiann!

One of the biggest highlights of my time at home was, of course, visiting with the kids each day.  I had them basically every day during the day and early evening which was wonderful! We played a lot, I tried to help Bea and Hardie with their swimming, and we just generally had a really great time.  We went sailing one weekend with their mom and some friends down in Galveston, which was awesome!  Sadly, Bea and myself were both stung by a jellyfish swimming in Galveston Bay, so I am not sure we will get Bea back in the water anytime soon...Hardie seemed to have a blast though in and out of the boat. I got to attend lots of baseball / tee ball practices and games, Beatrice competed in a Triathlon (her third) while I was home, which I was able to attend, and I got to attend Bea's award ceremony for baseball.  These are the things that I miss most in this job where I am gone more than half of every year.  The kids seem to be doing really well though...I am so proud of them!

Bea sitting up in the stern of the boat pre-jellyfish sting

Hardie kicking it in the boat's cockpit...sweet little guy!

This picture is courtesy of Shawn (she always takes better pics than I do), but here is Beatrice proudly showing off her baseball medal and trophy...she was a pretty good little ball player!

What else should I write about today...oh yes, the BUGS! I thought the bugs were bad last time I was out, but I had no idea!  We have an infestation of nasty flying crickets right now...millions of them every night descend upon the camp.  When you walk outside they land on you in droves and crawl inside of your clothes...disgusting! Walking at night is like walking on a moving carpet, almost, they exist in such numbers.  One of the worst things is when the sun returns the yard is covered with their corpses, everywhere piles of dead crickets...and then the sun goes to work cooking them all day - the smell of it doesn't become apparent until the sun starts to set...this swampy, fetid smell that nearly gags you when you walk outside.  I HATE BUGS!!

Well, I guess that is enough for today...need to save some stuff for future posts.  I am not exactly glad to be back, but work is going pretty well so far, and life on the whole seems brighter everyday.  It is a rare time in life where you just find yourself happy, you know?

Until next time...

I will leave you all with one of me taken yesterday outside the QC Shack

Bye, Bye Iraq!

And so I come to the end of another hitch in the great nation of Iraq...can't say that the break is coming too soon.  The winds have continued unabated and the temperature has begun to steadily climb into the 50's (Centigrade).  Bugs have continued to multiply in camp, and I seem to have more and more frequent bedfellows...there is nothing worse than waking up to something crawling on you in your sleep, I can assure you.  The sleeper trailers are neither dust-tight nor bug-tight, it seems.

Ramadan starts in six days and will last for a month...everyone is gearing up out here for the decreased productivity that results from the fasting and high heats.  The guys aren't even allowed to drink water while the sun is up, so working in 50+ heat becomes downright dangerous.  Also, because food may only be consumed at night everyone stays up late eating and celebrating, so fatigue becomes a bit of an issue as well. It promises to be an interesting month out here that I will miss for the most part.  Our entire junior staff and the bulk of our seniors as well are Muslims, so I am sure that when I return for the last week of Ramadan that everyone will be in quite a bad way.  I will say that I am interested to see the Ramadan traditions observed first-hand and have promised the QCs that I will observe the last week of Ramadan with them, so I also will take on a full fast (sunrise to sunset) for that last week of the holy month.

Tomorrow I will be in Dubai, which I really enjoy.  I plan to get a massage and maybe check out a movie.  Oh yes, and eat some decent food for the first time in almost a month.  I need to buy a couple of gifts for the kids, and possibly a pair of pants for me.  Maybe I will take the city tour again, as I enjoyed it very much when I did it a few months ago.  A whole day with nothing to do seems so alien coming from out here...I have been working seven days a week, anywhere from 12 to 18 hours a day for so long that freedom seems foreign and exotic, strange and wonderful.

I made sure to leave myself plenty to do tonight to help pass the time...I had daily production to complete, finished my handover notes, completed my loadchart for June, then packed, and finally showered and got dressed in clothes suitable again for the world at large.  I leave camp at 5:15 am for the airport...I am so excited!  I guess that this trip home is looming so large for me because I have been away from home for so long this hitch...it has been over eight weeks now.  And my last break was so very short...a mere twelve days, I believe.  I have my Wine Weekend coming up on Saturday, and I am going to be in the States for the 4th of July, which promises to be a very good day (I didn't think that I was going to be home for Independence Day originally).  I am excited to see the people that I have been missing so very much...reunions are always joyous events...the old adage that absence makes the heart grow fonder may very well be true.

Well, that's about all from Iraq for now...I have an armored convoy to catch! Until next time...

That's me leaving...bye!

Night photos, oil showers, and meetings...

While nothing particularly exciting has happened out here the last couple of days I figured that I would go ahead and write a blog post anyway...just to have something to do, to be honest.  The "weekend" went well and was quite busy with a couple of big production days and then preparing our weekly deliverables.  Now I am simply preparing for our weekly client meeting tomorrow night, though I still haven't decided what I will include in my presentation to them.  We are still waiting to hear about the conflict areas and whether or not we will shoot in them, so I still have no idea how much longer I will be working in Iraq.  The meetings about all of it with the Sheiks are this week, so I guess we will find out soon.  Okay, enough about work...

I stayed up late last night taking some photos of the night out here (I am not sure why I enjoy trying to take night photos so much, but I just really do).  I was seeking to capture some of the rare bits of beauty that can be found out here...the night in this part of Iraq is often lovely.  It is much cooler with a nice breeze, the darkness, the moon and stars, and the lights from the flares throw up the most amazing light on some nights.  The pictures from last night turned out pretty well, I think...I have a better camera with me this time than the last one, so all of my pictures seem to be better than they were.

The view from my room towards the front of camp

The berm and security lights looking towards the back of camp

Shadows are pretty cool...

I think the guy in the watchtower was a bit weirded out that I was taking his picture at night

Yesterday was Father's Day...thanks to all of you who sent me well-wishes, I really do appreciate it.  I got to talk to the kids yesterday, and Shawn posted a picture for me on Facebook.  I really miss my babies.  Father's Day dredges up some worry for me, I suppose...it makes me look at my decisions again and question if I am really doing right by my kids.  I took this job to be able to provide more for them,  but I have given up being a real part of their lives in exchange.  I don't know...it will all work out for the best I am sure.  I just want what's best for my kids as I love them more than anything else in the world.

We have had a couple of oil showers since I have been back...everyone back home seems pretty interested in the phenomenon, so I figured I would post a couple of pictures showing a bit of the aftermath of them.  These last two were quite a bit lighter than the first one I saw, so it isn't quite as impressive though they still made a mess of camp and the smell lingers for days afterwards.  As I think I said in an earlier post I believe that the wind decreases the efficiency of the flares burning around here, so when the wind blows the smoke from them in our direction oil falls from the sky and covers everything.  Really gross, right?! Trust me that the coverage is more impressive than the pictures can demonstrate.

Oil covers everything

This is the effect of a really light shower...not the worst that I have seen out here

We had a big client meeting with Houston tonight...it went well, but they are long, so it is easy sometimes to find ourselves losing focus and cutting up...I wanted to also post a few pictures from the meeting tonight.  It isn't all work out here, after all.

Losing interest...

Oh man...this is hurting my head

I will close tonight with a couple of other pictures taken over the last couple of days...later.

The QC Chiefs - Bogdan and Abdu

I should be working but instead am watching a movie...

The Romanian and American in our shack

Where I visit the field and find an oasis...

I thought that I knew about heat having grown up in the sweltering, wet heat of the deep South, but I was WRONG! Here in Iraq, as summer gets into full-swing I am truly coming to understsand HEAT.  It was well over 40 degrees centigrade in the shade today, with temperatures closer to 52 C in the sun.  It actually burns your skin...when you walk out in the sun it feels like needles.  And dehydration sets in with almost no warning...one minute you are fine and the next you feel faint (they do a good job out here of keeping water always at arms length and shade in abundance to help you escape the furnace easily enough, but still there are casualties).  Today also the wind is just intense...we are on standby due to it , again.  Probably blowing close to forty knots out there...sand and dust get everywhere.  I am currently developing a nice little dune just inside the door of my sleeper...the fine sand comes in through even the smallest chink in the seal.

So, I went out into the field the last couple of days, and my initial impressions about this part of Iraq continue to be reinforced...it is so desolate, post-apocalyptic even (which given the troubled history of this area over the last forty years or so, I suppose it may actually be).  We travelled the whole of the prospect today and took a close look at some of the conflict areas that we are fixing to go into to shoot.  To be honest, it is hard to understand what the problem is...the desert all looks the same.  It is strange that on one side of the levee it is no problem but on the other it is.  They are now talking about adding back other problem spots too...ugh.  I am pretty ready for life on the other side of Iraq, but it is starting to look like I will never leave this country.

Flooding in the prospect with a derrick in the background

This is the Mosque of a tiny village inside of the prospect

Typical landscape for this part of Iraq

Again, this is typical of the area

On a brighter note, we did get to visit briefly a couple of the little villages up near the Euphrates River today...suddenly it is like being transported back in time.  You can actually see up there why this area was once known as "the Fertile Crescent".  There were palm trees and growing things and wild life in abundance.  The people up there even seem to smile and wave more.  I tried to get a lot of pictures, but I haven't yet really scanned through to see how many turned out okay.  We aren't allowed to stop or get out of the vehicles very often, so you typically have to take your chances from a moving truck on abysmally bad roads.  Not a great platform from which to take wonderful photos, sadly.  I will include a few of the better images so that you all can share in my wonder and excitement at discovering a bit of greenery in this dusty world.

What?! Water and trees!

This was right next to a little village...the canals run from the Euphrates River

Sort of pictureque even...am I still in Iraq?

Wait...razorwire...yes, still in Iraq.

Basically the same picture as above but don't you guys like seeing me?

Kids and water buffalo...there are LOTS of water buffalo around this village

A whole herd of water buffalo and their owner...

So, I am really getting excited to be heading home to vacation...I am a man in need of one!  I have been at work for almost five weeks already, and I still have a couple more to go.  Spirits are quite high, mind you, but I definitely am ready to see my kids and have some real R&R.  There is so much that I want to do in Houston and on vacation, but I have now been informed that I am going to be on short break again...I will be back out at the very beginning of August.  Further, I am informed that I likely will "just stay until the survey is complete", which at this point seems to be anyone's guess...could be four more weeks, six, ten...who knows?  I guess that this is the seismic life...I am not all that upset about it except that I have a training class in mid-September, and I do have a family back home that I want to see and spend time with as well.  With the two-week training class my next break is looking to be short again...accruing all of these "plus" days isn't worthwhile if I never get to spend any of them.

Well, I guess I need to stop bitching about it anyway...I love my job, for all of my complaining.  I am excited to be here in a weird way...the work and life is very challenging but quite interesting as well.  I do sincerely hope that the schedule normalizes a bit so that I can get one more actual vacation in before the end of the year...Napa Valley is looking a bit like the promised land.  I haven't been there in forever, and I wasn't in the financial state to really enjoy it the last time, so I am excited to do it all again as an adult with some means behind me.  Like so many plans hatched in Iraq though it won't happen if I don't make it happen.  As soon as I can find some guaranteed off days in the States, which include enough buffer to really spend some quality time with the kids, I will put it on the books with reservations and financial commitments to ensure that this trip, at least, actually takes place.

That's about all that I have for today...have a great weekend, world!

Fire Alarms and Vacations to Come!

Sometimes karma is a bitch...I made a big laugh out of my students in Abu Dhabi getting woken up by a fire alarm early in the morning during their course, and then today we had a general alarm go off just a few hours after I had fallen asleep.  While not my first general alarm it definitely wrecked my sleep.  I couldn't fall back asleep for hours, so I am now very tired.  I guess that I deserve it...I should have been kinder when the students were relating the weariness that their alarm brought to them.  C'est la vie...perhaps I will learn to feel more compassion and not make a big joke out of people's misfortune.

What else to talk about? We continue to have trouble with the locals and there seems to be no end in sight.  You make a deal with one tribe and then all of the others want a piece too, so it is a game of constantly putting out fires.  It is quite frustrating and sometimes a little scary - there is still a lot of animosity here against Westerners and Western companies, particularly amongst the under-educated locals that we have to deal with out here in the field. I am not sure what the answer or way forward is, but it is something to be aware of at least.  I sat next to a native Basran on the plane who currently lives with his family in Australia, and even he says that he no longer feels welcome here in his home.  He has "over-Westernized" as he put it, but he said that he has high hopes for the future of Iraq.

Last night work was simply brutal...16 and a half hours in the shack.  Problems all around that needed fixing, and then everything seemed to continuously delay the daily production.  I ended up not getting to bed until after 5am, sun rising in the sky, so it was very challenging to fall asleep.  Thank you Qatar Airways for providing me with one of those sleep masks...they look stupid but do help a bit.  As standard, the room cleaners came into the room twenty-eight times this morning in complete disregard for the sign on the door which says "Night Shift - please do not disturb between 5am and 3pm" in both English and Arabic.  Whatever.  The Libyans that are also on night shift believe that they do it on purpose...I don't know about all that, passive-aggressive behavior doesn't seem the style in this part of the world, but what do I know.

This is most of the crew in the QC/IFDP shack as they appeared on the last hitch...great group of guys!

On a positive note, I was able to procure a Diet Pepsi in the canteen this afternoon...a diet soda is like gold out here, so I am sitting here looking at it and trying to decide when the right moment to savor the sweet aspartame goodness might be.  Out here the typical beverages are lots of water (which I love) and bad coffee (instant Iraqi mud), so anything different is so very welcome.  Thankfully this is a short hitch, so I will be back in Houston exactly three weeks from today if my current travel plans hold out; I am trying to convince the Party Chief to let me travel a day earlier, it would make it easier for me when I get home as I will be heading off for a vacation on the 5th.

Have I mentioned my vacation?  Every year for the past couple my family has rented a house somewhere and met up for a weekend of companionship and wine...it is a most wonderful tradition that we have started. This year we have rented a beautiful lodge in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia...it looks amazing! The wine list this year is also shaping up to be a landmark; all sorts of bottles that I haven't gotten to try before! I am very excited. Also, my dad had wine glasses etched with our family corporation's logo, and they just came in today.  I must say that they look amazing!

The house is called Legends...sounds a bit like a strip club but looks like a slice of heaven

Interior Living room...quaint but liveable

Back deck...cigars and brandy anyone?

Le Vaughn Temp Glasses...lovely

And with those pictures I will bid you all adieu!!