Sunsets and Invertebrate Genocide

The rain ended early this morning and has been replaced by the most amazing wind storm...it must be blowing thirty or forty miles an hour out there!  The rain at least has the ground very wet, so it isn't blowing dust up into the air...also, the temperature has plummeted again.  Thank the stars for a return to the cold weather...because of the power of the wind the mosquitoes have been driven off.  All in all a better day today than the last few.  Also, I had been having some issues with my room being cleaned since switching to a night shift for work...it had been five days since the last time they had cleaned in there, and today it was done!  Everything looks up when you return to the cell at 4 or 5 am and find it clean...going in after being out for 14 - 18 hours to find it dirty and the bed unmade just really makes you feel bad about life.

I just found out that one of the other guys out here has an external hard drive full of movies, so we are getting ready to exchange some, as I have watched almost all of the ones I have on my external drive already...entertainment out here is key.  Most field operations, whether land or marine, have a large library of movies and video game consoles, but this crew doesn't have these things, so it is important to network and share.  Of course, I  have my iPad as well, so I have a load of books to work through and the latest issues of the four magazines that I read every month on there, so it isn't like I am bored in my free time.  Movies though are something that I simply love, so I am really happy to be expanding my collection.  Hopefully I can find a movie or two that I haven't seen before.

The sunset out here was marvelous today...and it looks to be a clear, cold night.  I know I said it at the beginning of the post, but I am ecstatic that it is cold again.  No more mosquitoes, no more warm afternoons, cold, just as it should be in January.

I just like the sunbeams coming from behind the clouds

It was pretty...seriously

Not a great picture

...continued 30 January 2013...

We have a client meeting tonight to discuss our progress to date on the project out here and the in-field deliverables that we are producing...I actually enjoy these meetings sometimes, as it is an opportunity to verify expectation and also an opportunity to show how much we have accomplished in a limited amount of time and with severely limited resources.

One more day in January 2013, the month has gone by pretty quickly, next month will pass even more quickly as I will be home for half the month, and I think time passes more slowly out here.  No matter how I try to fill the day it still rolls by like molasses, like molasses in January.  The mosquitoes came back out this afternoon, and they were just horrible, so the local guys sprayed some sort of toxin in the air to kill them...I am pretty sure that I lost a year or two of life as well, as this stuff just smelled like it was killing you.

This stuff that he is spraying is classified as a chemical weapon in most countries...

Killing mosquitoes, and most other life, in camp

Well, I have a very busy night ahead, so I will need to wrap it up here...our meeting has led to quite a bit of work to be done in the next few days.  I promise tomorrow to write a longer and more interesting post.

Beard check..Grizzly Adams?!

Until then...

Losing It and Wishing I was Somewhere Else...

More rain today...slogging around through the mud is definitely starting to affect morale a little.  Everyone is a bit temperamental, on edge, and generally unhappy.  The smokers are maybe the worst; there are no covered areas where they are allowed to smoke, so it is a real endeavor to smoke a cigarette...their nicotine levels are dropping dangerously low for their attitudes, I am afraid!

I have no idea what to write about today...I made myself a deal while I was lying in bed this morning trying to get to sleep (it is hard to fall asleep when everyone else is starting to get up).  If I can drop down by 25 pounds (from where I was at New Years) by the time I am off hitch the next time (end of April, I believe) I am going to take a trip somewhere. I am not yet sure where to go, but I was initially thinking about the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Arches.  It has been a long time since I have been out to those parks, and I would love to explore them a little more, as I have never spent any real time in any of them.  I haven't been backpacking in a while, so I think it would be kind of nice to have a backpacking trip to congratulate myself on solid progress on one of my big goals for the year.  I think this goal is challenging and yet certainly achievable...I have dropped 5 kg (11 pounds) since I came out onto crew, so I am actually well on my way already. 14 pounds should be pretty easy in 13 weeks, I think, particularly in light of the fact that I have lost 11 in just over three.  I am hoping that I can just destroy this intermediate goal, because I will be within sight of my New Year's goal once I make it past this point.

Another trip possibility would be to head to Istanbul and then Romania for a couple of weeks instead of the National Parks out west.  Bogdan lives in Romania and has offered to show me around the country a bit, sadly, the only time we will ever share time off is after my next rotation here.  He said that he would show me much of the country including Walachia and Transylvania, and I can handle a few days of Bucharest on my own. I have always been an enormous fan of Romania, and I have always wanted to go there.  Unsurprisingly, this want originally came from my extreme interest in vampires and vampire lore, and Romania is, of course, the home of the fiction Count Dracula...it is also the home of the real Vlad Dracula, also known as the Impaler.  Really, everything that I have seen about the place makes me want to visit...Bucharest is often talked about as the wilder, darker Prague.  I have always been drawn to Eastern Europe as it seems exotic and strange and just a little dark, a little risky.  I am thinking that I have an opportunity as long as I am assigned to a field crew to see some places that I might not get to otherwise visit, so I hope that I can figure out a way to at least take a couple of short trips while I am out here.  Romania is definitely on the top of my list.  Istanbul is another place that I have always longed to go...it is the gateway to Asia...the crossroads where Europe runs into the Middle East.  I am intrigued by its history and would love to see the sights...just seeing the Hagia Sofia in real life would make it worth the trip, I believe.

Sweet castle...Bogdan says that they are everywhere! 

Another place that I want to visit while I am working "offshore" would be Thailand.  Everyone that I know who has been there has simply loved it and most describe it as the most beautiful place they have ever been. High praise for sure...I want to see for myself.  And then, of course, there is Nepal...I have always dreamed of Everest (a climb will be in my future, I hope), but a trek to the basecamp will satisfy until I have the experience and $70,000 to afford the climbing permit.  India calls to my soul, as does Malaysia, New Zealand, and the whole continent of South America.  And then there is Antarctica...a life goal to stand afloat its iceshleves for sure.

As you can probably tell, I am currently under the influence of the travel bug.  I think part of it comes from being cooped up inside of these walls for so long, and I still have more than two weeks to go. UGH! A change of scenery is so very in order.  I will definitely try to get a field day this week so that I can get outside of the walls even if only for a little while.

That is all I have for now...it is getting late and I still have a lot of work to do...until next time, good day!

Sunday and the Making of a Dissident

It is raining here in Iraq and has been for much of the day.  I typically like the rain, but here it is a bit of a drag for a lot of reasons.  For one thing, there is the restroom situation...we live and work in places that don't have a toilet, so when you need to go, you need to walk through the rain for it.  Also, there is the mud...the whole camp is dirt, so during the rain large swaths become puddles and the rest turns into mud that gets everywhere, so not only do you need to leave your room to take a leak, but then you end of tracking mud in when you return.  They don't believe in mats here, which is strange considering the heavy focus on HSE...you would think you wouldn't want people to slip.  The forecast calls for rain for the next four or five days it appears...sort of sucks, but I guess it beats hordes of mosquitoes in the room at night.

In work-related news we are acquiring our data in excellent fashion and work has settled into a pleasant rhythm.  Me and Radwan seem to be working well together, and that is good, as it is tight quarters out here and personality issues can become a problem very fast.

So, I have gotten myself to the point where I have completed all of the outstanding items that I was covering in the blog here, so I am afraid that now it may get a bit journal-like.  I want to apologize up front for what I might write, as I am just going to write about the things that I am thinking or feeling or whatever.

Lately I have been giving a lot of thought of the idea of consumerism and materialism...I think that I hinted at this issue a little when I was talking about what it would take to be a better father this upcoming year.  I wish that I could write clearly about what it is that I have been thinking about and feeling in regards to my own issues with consumerism and materialism, but I guess that I am having some trouble getting my head around it.  I should start by saying that I hate the notion of both...I don't like the fact that I know that I am manipulated into purchasing things by the advertising, popular media, and peer pressure.  I hate even more that I care about the things that I own in terms of brand or whatever...I want to purchase purely based on the inherent quality of an item, not because it is what everyone thinks is cool to own.  I don't like the notion that we in the West are to a degree judged by our possessions, our spending potential, and the brands that we associate ourselves with.  I mean everything in America is branded, right down to education...tell someone you have a Harvard education and heads turn, but what IS a Harvard education?  Is the information that is basically unchanging better when it is learned at Harvard? Do they have access to more information in the Ivy League?  Of course not...you can have a talented educator at any university and what a student takes away from a course is a function of the student, not the school.  But the brand matters...and I hate that about our society.  I really want to live above these sorts of things, but I honestly don't know how to get out of it...every time I feel like I can escape everyone pushes me to buy back in, and it is hard not to.  We all want to be respected and valued by our families, friends, and peers.  When you start to question fundamentals of our society (please don't kid yourself and believe that consumerism and the materialism that comes with it are not foundational to our culture) people get very defensive...fast! They act like you are judging them or denigrating them and the life they lead by questioning the way that we are expected to live.

I don't have any problem with people living however they want to live, even if I don't personally agree with it.  Earn your little hearts out if you want to, and spend that money on whatever frivolous crap that you want, but don't believe it validates your life or makes you a good person.  I genuinely want less and less to do with it all the older I get...I just don't want it for myself or for my kids.  I want to collect experiences rather than possessions. I want to live free, not be tied down by the things that I own.  I am hesitant to buy a house for just this reason...I understand the economic benefits of home ownership, but I don't know that I want to be beholden to a mortgage for the next 30 years.  As a renter you can move easily if your situation changes, you don't have to worry about maintenance on a property, or property taxes, or devaluation if you happen to make a poor decision on where you purchase your home. I don't know...I guess this is one of the things that I am still working out right now.  Honestly, I don't know why I started questioning this stuff over the last year, except perhaps that I have heard so many people complaining about how they "don't make enough money" for whatever (insert lifestyle)...I don't believe it.  The medium FAMILY income in America is just over $45,000.  A family of four with earnings of $80,000 are in the top 12% or something like that...obviously there are many people out there living whatever life you might want to live, it just takes some choices to make it happen.  I am on the verge of completely changing my own life, I think...I want more satisfaction, real satisfaction, from my life.  My possessions haven't done the trick, so maybe I will be able to find contentment with less.  It is something to consider at least.

That is me working in the afternoon...

That's it for now...I have work to do, and it being Sunday, none of you were reading anyway. 

Night flares and Final Resolutions

The moonlight, flares, and razor wire...it is almost pretty

Today I slept until 11:30 am...it was like magic! Well, I didn't go to bed until 5 am, so it sounds better perhaps than it was, but I feel really refreshed and alert again.  I have switched to an afternoon shift  out here, so starting tomorrow I will come on shift at 4 pm and work basically until 4 am (or whenever the work is finished).  We are hoping that splitting the shifts so that we work with overlap will help us to work fewer hours individually and get more done in an efficient way.  Well, that is the plan at least; we will have to see how is goes.  I came in a bit early today, at 12:30 because I couldn't sleep anymore and couldn't bring myself to going to the gym this morning...I now feel a little guilty about it, so I will need to really hit it tomorrow to make up for the fail today.  I have some big news though...turns out that NO ONE showers at 11:30 in the morning here so I got a HOT shower!! I can't tell you how amazing it felt...I will tell you what folks, it is the little things in life, seriously.

Processing and rockin' out...

So, today I thought that I might finish out my New Year's Resolutions since the last two aren't very exciting and nobody reads on the weekend anyway.  I suppose that we need to recap, as it has been a while, so:

1) Fat gross, fit sexy
2) Best Dad EVER!
3) Out with Debt
4) Vacay!!
5) Books make us smart - 1 a month of VALUE

Okay, that brings us to the last two, and I will cover them one at a time.  Number six...I solemnly resolve to write in my journal at least once per week and on my blog at least once per week throughout this upcoming year.  So, this resolution has the intent of forcing me to write, whether in journal, blog, or whatever.  When I was younger, I had high aspirations of being a writer, and I was often told that I was pretty good at it.  In those days I wrote religiously in a journal...three pages at least everyday.  Sometimes all three pages were just stream of consciousness rambling, but sometimes I would get pages of truly good stuff which would be able to be developed into something much more.  I miss that...I miss the composition book that I seemed to have with me always...I miss those first few moments before anything went down on the page, the struggle to undertake something so monumental as overcoming mental and creative inertia.  It was exercise for the brain and for the soul.  I always felt refreshed and alive after the writing, the way that many people experience an exerciser's high.  In any case, I want to feel that way again.  I want to feel like I am leaving a testament to who I am, why I do what I do, and how I felt about it.  A journal is a place where we can be honest about ourselves and intentions, and a record of we have been.  I just like the idea.  As far as the blog goes...I made that part of the resolution because I am TERRIBLE at keeping in touch with people who mean a lot to me.  I mean, terrible isn't even strong enough to describe how bad I am at it...a blog is a way for me to pass along what I am doing, where I am, and how I am feeling without having to try and do it individually.  It helps me to stay connected.  Man, I wish I were a better friend, son, brother, father, and partner...I am just one of those people who is so comfortable being alone (though I am remarkably extroverted which makes it weird) that I just forget to stay in touch.  This year I will keep the blog, but I may take it further to make a point of speaking or writing to the people that I most care about regularly, so that they will know just how important they are to me.  And that should just about cover my sixth resolution...

Now for number seven, the last of my resolutions for the year...I solemnly resolve to take the GRE this year so that I may begin considering a return to graduate studies.  I don't know for sure if I will be able to go to grad school next year or not, but I want to have all of my ducks in a row anyway.  I just really miss the academic world...I miss have the opportunity to learn new things all the time in a sort of set environment.  I know that I want to take courses on Metamorphic Petrology, Structure, Tectonics, and Stratigraphy, and just because it is the field that I work in perhaps even a course or two in seismic processing and GIS.  I believe that having the MS will make me a more valuable employee (especially on paper), and potentially open up some additional opportunities for me.  For now though, I am very happy with where I am in life and my career.  Regardless, I plan to really focus on doing the groundwork to do even better on the GRE than I did last time.

Well, there you have it, seven resolutions to help guide me in the New Year. I love this time of year, as it is the time when all of our best intentions are still intact...we still have time to make our dreams of a better life, a better me, come true.  So much optimism in January, and if we don't act on it, it turns to panic in July, and despair in December.  I have felt that way so many times before that this year I am owning my resolutions.  I have already started on all of them and will not stop.

It has been a bit wet here the last couple of days, so the mosquito population has exploded inside of the camp...I can't tell you how vile the mosquitoes are here.  The only swarms that I can compare them to are the black flies in Maine, maybe the mosquitoes up in the interior of Alaska.  The weather has been going back and forth between cold and warm, so everyone out here is starting to get sick.  It is turning into a bit of an epidemic...about a quarter of the senior staff are fighting off illness right now. I hope that I don't get sick...I have way too much work to do.

The night tonight is beautiful...if you can face the hordes of mosquitoes.  I managed to get some pretty decent pictures of the full moon and the camp at night that I will share.  Bogdan, the QC Chief (we talk all the time because QC and DP share a trailer), is an avid film photographer and has been giving me quite a few pointers for my own photography.  I always have wanted to get more into photography, but it is a daunting hobby to try and get into.  I have two 35 mm film cameras at home that I plan to start using again when I get home.  Plus, as I learn more and more about my digital camera that I bought last year I am discovering that it is a good deal more impressive than I realized.  I really like taking pictures and hope to get better at it.

How's that for a shot of the full moon!

Looking through the Senior Sleepers towards our inner berm

Same picture as above but with a slower shutter - the orbs are mosquitoes - the orange in the sky is one of the flares a couple of kilometers away

This one was more about the clouds and the light from the flare versus the night sky

That is about all that I have today, so good night!

Alaska Part 2 and Moon Effects in Iraq

Sitka from the harbor - Seafood Producers Cooperative is the nearest building on the left

Well, with some help out here again I think that I can get myself back into this blog.  I don't know why I like to write every day, as I don't always have a lot to say (sorry to the readers for this), and sadly it isn't always particularly interesting or exciting out here in the field.  Iraq could be almost anywhere, except for the safe havens, walls, guards, and guns...oh and the packs of wild dogs.  So, to fill you in...I haven't had a hot shower in 18 days, I haven't shaved in almost 30 days, and I haven't gotten more than five hours of sleep in a night in nearly 20 days.  I am not bitching, just laying out the stats for everybody.  Interestingly, I feel pretty good about all of it.  I feel energetic and well-rested today, don't really miss the hot water at this point, and hell, I hate shaving...so life is perhaps great!  In all seriousness though, I AM missing home a bit, friends and family, a bed that I can roll in, and a view of something other than refineries, and desert, and watch towers.  I just miss the freedom of being able to do things, go other places, and change the scenery.  No big deal though...Sunday is the halfway point, so everything turns downhill from there.

I have so many things outstanding on the old blog, that I don't know where to start...I am still working through my New Year's Resolutions, I am about halfway through the story of my first trip to Alaska, and I need to give another installment of useless Iraq facts.  For today, I guess I will finish my Alaska story, as very few people (other than me) actually look at the blog on the weekends.  Not that I believe anyone is holding their breath in suspense or anything.  So let us jump on in:

So, there we are, near penniless, camping under a bridge outside of Sitka, Alaska in a rainforest...we were still new to the North, so I don't believe we really understood that we were going to be heading to a rainforest...I also don't believe that we took into consideration that we had chosen to camp along a salmon stream, which the great brown bears of Alaska frequent to gorge on the succulent fish as they head upstream to spawn in the lakes of their own birth.  We didn't know these things, so we didn't worry about them, which is good because we lived under the bridge for a bit of time.

On our second day on the island we got on our bikes to ride into town looking for employment...we spent the morning applying for jobs on the wharves and harbors and at the two fish processing facilities on the water.  Riding back from the town that afternoon we were passing a beach at low tide and noticed a woman walking with two little girls, and WHOA...it was our neighbor from New Orleans and her daughters!  We had no idea that they were coming to Sitka for the summer and they had no idea we would be here...what an amazing coincidence!  We ran out onto the beach and laughed and guffawed and stared at each other.  That night we went to the house they were renting and ate clams in white wine that we had dug that afternoon from the mud flats.  Simply exquisite!  We came all the way to Alaska to meet back up with our friends that we didn't know we would ever see again...how's that for fate? At that moment in life, I particularly needed a woman to bounce things off of, particularly one as wise as Laura.  She was an old soul, and I needed her calming (though she was anything but calm...she was an absolute firecracker!) influence...at a time when I was questioning everything in my life and dealing with a lot of loss and confusion, Laura was there to inspire, support, and encourage...I owe so much to her.  She probably doesn't know how much she helped to shape the man that I am now.

With this fortuitous reunion, we had instant roots, immediate ties to the community (wherever Laura goes people take her in)...Laura was bartending at a high-end steakhouse, so her Tlinglit co-workers would bring us the mis-fires from the kitchen, so we were able to eat...these men were so gregarious and amazing to be around when they were happy and having fun...they were so kind to us.  The first night they brought us dinner it was raining and very cold...we didn't have a fire, and they wanted to hang out with us under the bridge to drink beer that they brought with them.  So, they gave us a machete and told us to go chop down some small trees for firewood...I remember saying to Jack (sadly the only one whose name I remember because in Tlinglit it was Kahook) that we would never be able to get the green, wet wood to burn.  They looked at each other and pulled themselves up tall and said,"we are going to share with you the native way to make a fire."  We were off to gather the wood in a flash...I mean, here we were a week into our Alaskan adventure hanging out with Tlinglits and learning their woodcraft...we couldn't believe our fine fortune!  So we come back with our arms full of wet wood and vines and green branches, and they very meticulously created this really shoddy looking tepee of wood, but even though it looked as though these men had never started a fire before we were very excited to drink from the native font of wisdom.  Well, they go out into the woods and up to the road where their truck was parked and come back with "special" fire sticks that looked a whole lot like common twigs to me...then they said with gravity that now they would show us how it is done...they bent down next to the woodpile...we leaned in close...and they proceeded to produce a can of motor oil each from inside of their jackets and began pouring it over the wood!!  A road flare sprang to life and WHOOSH...fire...smoking, stinking fire.  Well, we were more than a little disappointed and felt like gullible greenhorns, but they fed us and got us rip-roaring drunk, so we forgave them.

This is a picture of Cross Mountain which is just outside of Sitka

Kahook (Jack) had scars...half his face was a scar, his chest was covered with scars...he drank too much and was a mean drunk - very quick to anger and then it didn't matter if you were friend or foe.  He had gained his scars as a guide for hikers and hunters in the backcountry of Baranof Island.  A few years before we met him he had been leading a hike with a small group of customer when they had encountered a brown bear of enormous size...his clients turned and ran against his warning and the bear charged.  Jack held his ground and unloaded a .44 magnum into the bear..it ran right into him biting and scratching and shredding his face and chest before finally dying on top of him.  He managed to drag himself out from under the 1200 pound monster and made his way back to town to get stitched up...he was haunted by the bear.  This was a man that I knew up in Alaska.  Later on in the summer, once we had an apartment, a friend who was staying with us, Clint, made the mistake of swinging the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun (we kept it to carry in hikes, for bears) past Jack...he very nearly threw Clint from our balcony before we could calm him...Jack didn't take an insult, real or perceived, very well, but he was the most loyal of friends, and for whatever reason, he really took a shine to our little group from down south.

In any case, within a week or so of our arrival John and I found work at the Seafood Producers Cooperative...I was on the so-called "slime-line" and John was working in the blast freezer.  A week later the Coop started up their graveyard shift and John and I both were moved to the 6 pm to 6 am shift.  It was nice working the nights because the facility would usually provide us with a shift meal - usually a fish that was unable to be sold for whatever blemish or imperfection, but still a prime Pacific salmon.  Other nights we would have halibut cheeks stewed in miso in the microwave...simply some of the most delicious meals prepared ever, and also by microwave. Unreal.  Another benefit of the night crew was that we got to do more varied tasks at night...we graded salmon, worked the fish winches, loaded tender boats with ice totes (very dangerous work), and made boxes and bongs in the "box loft" of the plant.  We would also play baseball up there and take turns trying to smash each other's heads into the 30 foot high ceilings with the forklift.  We had so many interesting characters on the night shift it is hard to believe they weren't characters from a John Steinbeck novel...Lisa, the crew leader, a lesbian who could roll a cigarette one handed in 30 knot winds and would then smoke it while chewing tobacco at the same time.  Then there was Sarah, a school teacher, who moved to Alaska with her boyfriend, an ex-Army Ranger named Bear...she was a looker and all the men on crew loved her because she was so sweet.  There was a large contingent of gutter punks from the Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula...they had traveled everywhere from Nepal to Bangkok to Europe and they were camping up near the summit of Ship's Mountain behind town...most mornings after work we would drive up to their camp (some of the crew had trucks) and drink whiskey and have fun.  There was Clint, a stoner from southern California, and there was the local kid who liked to throw shotgun shells in the campfire.  And then there was the shift head...he was just below Lisa, but I can't remember his name...the first time we went up the mountain after work he saw John taking a pull from the whiskey bottle and John's pinkie finger had lifted a bit...he yanked the bottle from John's hand and yelled in his face, "it's whiskey, not tea princess...don't SIP it!"  He proceeded to chug the rest of the bottle and hurl it from the summit of the mountain...these are real people...and they were friends.

This is where I worked in Sitka - Seafood Producers Cooperative

Here is the Coop from a  different perspective while the work was often messy, and I smelled like fish for four months I loved working there

When we could steal a day off work, John and I would head up into the mountains...we hiked a few of the classic hikes of Sitka, including the Harbor Mountain / Gavin Trail traverse, which is an overnight (with a great alpine hut to sleep in at the halfway point) traverse of the mountains behind town.  We were going to walk the many miles to the trailhead, but in standard Alaskan fashion a local gave us a lift in his pickup even though it was completely out of his way.  Up in Alaska hitchhiking is still relatively common and a bit safer than in the lower 48, I believe.  This hike was amazing because of all of the stairs that we had to climb, plus it takes you through many muskegs, which are bogs, basically...these bogs are beautiful and a good chance to spot wildlife.  We got to enjoy the huge celebration that Sitka makes of the Summer Solstice...as they have a very long day there...almost eighteen hours!  We hung out with friend on a boat in the harbor, drag, grilled, and enjoyed the company.

This is Harbor Mountain from town

Harbor Mountain Trail...one of the prettiest hikes I have ever taken

Crossing a muskeg...this is not the trail that we hiked across which was only a single board wide...

Ah, I should also say that after seeing Laura on the beach and sharing our amazing dinner, we ended up renting an apartment with her and her girls for the rest of the summer...it was great hanging out with her and the girls. Basically the apartment was like a flop house, as we had very minimal furniture and we took in strays from time to time...Clint from work came to live with us for a bit, we would have random people stay for a day or two, as Laura has friends from all over and they would come to visit.  So, while there were certainly many more small adventures which occurred that summer, we basically headed back south following the end of the salmon season.  John returned to school, Gordon went to work at a fine-dining restaurant in New Orleans, and I went back to New Orleans to try and figure out what was next for me...

So, that was it, my first summer in Alaska...one of the happiest times of my life. I guess the reason I wanted to tell the story is because being in Iraq has some similar elements (interesting people, a hint of danger, etc), but also I have lately been missing the guy that I was when I was younger.  I was so excited about the possibilities of life, about learning new things, and about living on the raw edge of experience...I was reckless and irresponsible, but I understood truly back then how short life was and I was squeezing every drop of joy and experience from it that I could.

Well, last night was a beautiful night here in Iraq and the moon had this amazing halo around it...being full and all.  I actually was able to take a few photos that actually do justice to what I was seeing, so I wanted to share them with you.  If you like them I have put more of them up on Facebook.

While you can't see the halo as well this was shot sans flash,  I think the safe haven walls look pretty  in the moonlight

Pretty neat halo around the moon, right?!

One more with a little less halo and a little more wall...

Well, I guess that about does it for the day, except that we haven't done a beard check in a while, so I am including a picture from today. Have a great weekend!

Beard check...BURLY!

When the World Was Young...Alaska Part 1

Just because you haven't seen my ugly mug in a few days...

It has been a few days since I last posted a blog entry...as I think I wrote, I was the only one here at the office, and I was just inundated with work.  I have had 18 hour days for the last five days and I am wrecked.  Prior to being buried I had started a blog post and will try to finish it today.  So, let us hearken back to Monday:

It is a chilly, foggy day here in Iraq...one of those days that simply breeds melancholy.  You can almost feel the malaise in the air as each member of the crew retreats inwards to fight their own demons.  I, for one, awoke this morning particularly invigorated for a phone call home to Erin...just the thing to snap the creeping loneliness that this sort of rotational work seems to gestate.  It was wonderful to hear her voice; to be reminded that we do have lives back home to return to...that there is a place where the sands and pipelines end and people live normal, everyday sort of lives.  I am happy as a result, and feel as though I have a suit of armor on to protect from the fog, the chill, and the loneliness.  I was in the office early, though I was on late last night, as there was unfinished production from yesterday that needed to be done today, and a set of daily deliverables to produce for our client representative before my meeting with him at 9:30 am.

Foggy...gross.

I don't quite know why the fog was so captivating to me, but there you have it.

The weather here seems to be changing, as the afternoon has arrived the temperature is now in the 60s...comfortable enough for short sleeves; this is the first day where short sleeves have been possible.  I am not sure how I feel about the warm up; on the one hand it is nice to get to wear short sleeves, but on the other it means that the hot is upon us, and I am not looking forward to a summer spent in one of the hottest places on the planet.  I like the cold, as a general rule...I would rather it be a bit too cold than too hot.  One can always put on more or warmer clothing, but you can only take so much off (particularly in the Arab world where people tend to cover nearly all exposed flesh year-round).

So, yesterday I said that I would share a traveling tale from when I was young...I don't know if anyone cares, but it might be fun to tell nonetheless.  For the sake of not boring everyone to death, I think I will split the tale into two pieces.  So, without further adieu...In 1997, I had returned to college for a semester and had taken a job cooking at a place called the Boot Bar and Grill just off Tulane University's campus.  I worked there with a couple of very good friends, John (one of my best friends and roommate) and Gordon.  In any case, we wanted the summer to be something special and started to consider the options.  Our next door neighbors were a young family of four...the parents were both in the service industry, bartenders and waiters and baristas, depending on the season of the year.  They were exceptional people and remarkably interesting, as they would spend the winter and spring in New Orleans and the summer and fall in Alaska.  A little known fact is that it isn't only fisherman who migrate to Alaska in the summer for huge money on the high seas...the service industry must employ many additional people to cater to the fishermen and the hordes of tourists who come into the state in the summer (in the fishing towns and villages of the Southeast of the state these tourists come in on the Cruise ships with hundreds descending upon the town daily).  So, each year they would pick a new place in Alaska and head north for the season.

John and I were absolutely in awe of these two amazing people with their precocious little girls who seemed so much older and more mature than their years, and they acted as vectors in the transference of one of the most tragic bugs that can be caught by a young man...the Alaska bug.  It is incurable and it ruins lives...once a man tastes the clear northern air and experiences the true freedom and primal intensity of the place nowhere else measures up...much like the sea that wild land will sing its siren song to him for the rest of his life.  In any case, John and I were doomed, and we sought to convince Gordon that an adventure to Alaska was just what we needed...it took only a little more that the word Alaska and Gordon acquiesced.  We three threw ourselves into the endeavor with all the vigor of youth, studying all that we could of the state, buying the gear that we thought we might need (hiking boots, sleeping bags, tents, etc) and each of us invested in a bike to bring with us, knowing that we wouldn't be driving up there, as we had settled on the plan to choose a fishing town in the Southeast as our base...John and I would fish or work in the fishing industry, and Gordon planned to get a job as a cook or chef, as he had aspirations towards that occupation in life.  After extensive research, long discussions with the neighbors, and many late night strategy sessions after closing the Boot kitchen down at three or four am we settled that OUR Alaska adventure would take place in Sitka, Alaksa.  Sitka was the Russian capitol of Alaska, back when they owned that part of the world and was founded as New Archangel.

I would like to leave the story for a moment here and say some things about Sitka, Alaska.  Sitka is located on Baranof Island, named for the first Russian governor of Alaska, Alexander Baranof.  The old gubernatorial mansion is located on a hill overlooking the town and is a museum now.  The name "Sitka" means "People on the Outside of Baranof Island" in Tlinglit, which is the tongue of the people of the same name who were indigenous to this part of Alaska.  The Tlingits are an offshoot of the Athabaskan tribes to the North and closely related to the Haida people of further south.  The town holds one of the oldest Russian Orthodox Cathedrals in the US, St Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, and was the seat of the Bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, and Alaska.  During the early part of the nineteenth century the city was known as "the Paris of the Pacific" and was arguably the most important port on the West Coast.  When America bought Alaska for 7.2 million dollars in 1868 (that's two cents an acre), Sitka was the site of the ceremony wherein the Russian flag was forever lowered and the American flag raised over the territory for the first time.  It is the fourth largest city in Alaska with a population of just over 8,000 people (God, I love Alaska), and is the LARGEST city-borough in the US with a land area of 2870 sq miles, though the borough also contains quite a bit of water yielding a total size of 4,811 sq miles.  The town proper is located on the west side of the island, facing the Pacific Ocean, but protected from it by numerous small islands and the majestic Mt Edgecombe presiding over all of it.  Lastly, there are approximately 14 miles of paved roads in the largest city in America...chew on that fact.

Sitka from the harbor...pretty, yes?!

This is Mt Edgecombe viewed from just outside the town proper...from our first camp this is what I would see in the morning.

Back to the story, so we had the plan to take the train from New Orleans, LA up to Chicago, IL and from there to turn due west on another train to Seattle, WA.  This train ride proved to be one of the highlights of our summer, as we met the absolute salt of the earth on the train hanging out in the smoking car.  We spent countless hours with these fellow travelers, smoking cigarettes, telling stories, and building shared memories.  Every large town stop we would elect a couple of people to run out into the town for whiskey and beer and cigarettes.  The party never stopped in the smoking car...we may have only slept an hour or two at a time for the three days on the train, curled up on the luggage racks outside of this smoking car (really the lower level of a passenger car with a seperate ventilation system).  On the train we made the acquaintance of two young kids also heading up to Alaska for the summer...we would end up spending quite a bit of time with them later on the ferry.  We would stay overnight in Seattle, hit REI headquarters for some last minute gear purchases and then catch one last short train ride for Bellingham, WA, the "Gateway to Alaska".  The Alaska State Marine Highway ferry docks in this picturesque little town about 60 miles north of Seattle.  From there it was a three day boat ride along the Inland Passage to reach Sitka.

So, four days after leaving our home in New Orleans we were boarding the MV Columbia, the state ferry that was going to take us to our Alaskan destiny...the ride was almost surreal.  We bought what are called Solarium tickets which are non-berthed tickets. Basically, there are two back decks of the ship, each of which is half covered...under the cover are lounge chairs that lay down and heat lamps.  If you don't score one of the chairs or a bit of floor between them to unroll your sleeping bag you are pitching a tent on the back of the boat...the whole back deck turns into a tent city.  It was amazing...and much like a shanty town anywhere a certain barter economy comes to life...people selling hemp jewelry, pipes, or Grateful Dead bootlegs willing to trade for tins of sardines and saltine crackers, or cups of whiskey, or packs of smokes.  It is hard to imagine a time when I have felt so completely out of sorts but happy at the same time.  Also, if you are ever on the MV Columbia I would say that you should definitely head to the cantina for some clam chowder...very solid clam chowder on that boat.

SOLARIUM...seriously, best beds on the boat, but not for the faint of heart...

Tent city in the back of MV Columbia

In any case, after three days on the vessel with brief ports of call in Prince Edward, BC, Petersburg, AK, and Ketchikan, AK, we arrived at the ferry landing in Sitka approximately 5 miles out of town...by this point, I should tell you that we were travelling on a very tight budget, so I was down to my last ten dollars or so, and the other guys were pretty broke as well.  Seriously, I had been eating sardines, smoked oysters and crackers for two days already...and we had not planned for a place to stay in Sitka, our plan being to camp until we found work and earned a check or two to afford more permanent summer housing.  So we did what any newcomers with no money would do...we squatted under a bridge a couple of miles from the town, right next to a lovely little stream.  All around us the Tongass National Forest, the largest swath of temperate rainforest in the world hummed, and buzzed, and dripped, and decayed...our own little "Ewok Forest" as we took to calling it.  The trees were more massive than anything I had ever seen of natural origin...ten feet in diameter and over a hundred feet tall.  There were three of us, as I said, but we only had a single two man tent between us, so each evening we would draw lots to see who was sleeping outside in their sleeping bag on the rocks beside the stream...to be honest, I was always happy to sleep outside...some of the best nights of rest I had ever had.

This may not be the very stream that we camped next to, but upstream from our  under-bridge camp looked just like this...

Our first night under the bridge was a magical night...beautiful, cold, and free.  We were free at last and on the type of adventure that every man should have at least once to test his mettle...out there exposed without "enough" money...forced to make it or not...forced to exist on skill, will, and wits...we were living at last!!

Our own private Ewok Forest...

I will continue the story tomorrow, but it is getting really late and this is already a VERY long post...thanks for sticking around.  Before I go, a note about the above pictures...most of these pictures of Sitka and its environs are from online and are not my pictures...sadly most of my pictures from this experience are now found only in my memory - Hurricane Katrina stripped me of the physical reminders back in 2005.  Until next time...

Backpacking Boots and Safety Briefings...What a Fine Day

It is a bit late in the day already, and I am only just starting my daily post, so this one may be a little on the short side.  It has been a busy day, as aside from now being the only member of my department on crew, the client representative has been in for much of the day going through our weekly deliverables, and we have two VIPs from my own company here on camp today, so I have needed to give substantial time to both of them to discuss our progress and where we need to be going from here.  Otherwise, the day has been pretty nice out here...relatively quiet, beautiful clear day outside with just a light breeze, and a warm sun shining.

So, tonight many of us on crew are attending a security briefing and training being taught by our security contractor and attended by the VIPs who will there to answer questions about the company's policies and preparedness as it relates to the extreme security concerns found in many locations in this part of the world.  I suspect that the Algerian incident is prompting the discussion and forcing all of the western companies doing business in this part of the world, particularly remote field operations, to take a very hard look at security and exposure to risk.  I am, of course, well aware of the risk that I have taken on by accepting this posting, but I am hoping to hear a bit more about how our contractor and my company are managing risks on a large scale and what the business outlook is like over here in response to those increasing risks.  Regardless, my initial feelings concerning the hazards of this place remain the same; I do not feel in danger here.  UPDATE: The intelligence briefing for the region was clear...threat level is medium (as it has been).  We will be having a training and kidnapping demo (with active role-play) sometime in the middle of the next week to ensure we are prepared in case we do somehow become victims of an attack.

On a random note, I have been wearing my heavy backpacking boots almost exclusively for the last couple of months to force them to break-in after almost a year of ownership.  I had worn them a little directly after I purchased them in a sort of half-hearted attempt to break them in, but they are very hardcore so don't cooperate when asked nicely.  In any case, this is my second pair of these particular boots, the first I forced into submission nearly a decade ago now, but I had bought them just a half-size smaller than I really should have, so I could never use them to their full potential because on steep terrain my toes would bump the front coming downhill...I finally found another pair for sale in the right size, so I snatched them up.  I remembered the pain my dogs were in during that initial break-in back in 2005, and I guess it made me put off the torture with this pair.  I am mentioning it now, because, though I lost the early battles in blistering, oozing fashion, I have reached the point in the break-in period where the boots have finally molded to my feet and no longer actively hurt anymore when I walk.  My feet are finally used to them and my legs finally have re-accepted the weight of these boots (a little over six pounds per pair).  I LOVE them...they are exactly what a backpacking boot should be...hard as nails and ready for anything.  They are stable, stiff, and built to last forever (the Norwegian welt allows for resoling of the Vibram Montagna sole).  Modern-style backpacking boots are for sissies, I think...they just feel too light, too comfortable (like a running shoe), and too soft in the sole.  I am normally all about dynamic change...I am a forward thinking guy, give me the newest, lightest backpack...the sleekest, sexiest new bottle, the lightest tent on the market, but when it comes to my boots I am a conservative old bastard.  I like the waffle-stompers of yesteryear; they let you know that you are more than strolling...you are hiking, you are living purposefully (though with the really good ones you eventually want to wear them doing everything).  The design of these classic boots is near perfect with few seams, thick full-grain exterior leather, and soft as butter interior calfskin.  It is like a good down jacket...it is hard to improve upon what was already just right for the job (of course now some companies are selling Dri-Down which apparently is treated natural down which can still insulate when wet, WOW, so sometimes even a classic can be improved upon a little).  Or like my MSR XKG stove...I don't know that a stove gets better than that one...let the featherweight legions hiking in Chacos and diapers to save weight carry the tiny butane burners...I will take my heavy, clunky stove that can't be killed or fail in the woods anytime...it can burn any liquid fuel so it can be used all over the world.  As you can tell, I get a little stodgy when it comes to modern outdoors gear, seriously. Lighter isn't always better.  I don't know what got me onto this little diatribe, but  I guess you now know two more things about me...I am a fan (with some strong opinions) of backpacking, and I love my heavy anti-modern boots.

I think I am in gear-love!

I honestly don't know really what else to write about tonight...another member of the team (QC) that shares the processing trailer with mine leaves tomorrow...these crew changes are getting me down.  The Libyans on the QC and DP crew are all very enjoyable to speak with, and I have very much enjoyed getting to know them so I will miss them as they leave the crew to head home.  Of course, they are Land employees and still in training (technically I am a Marine employee), so they are on a 6 week on and 2 week off schedule, as opposed to the 5 week on and 5 week off schedule that I am on, so I will see Mohammed (the young man leaving tomorrow) again before I leave the crew this time.  It is quite hard to watch people leave (even when you understand that they have been here six weeks already) when you have to stay; it can get a bit lonely here.  There are not many native English speakers on crew, so mealtime is often the only chance that I get to really talk with people.  I guess that I sort of screwed myself today when I thought it was a good idea to look at the old pictures of the kids that I have on my external hard drive...big mistake!  Now I am just more lonely and missing home something fierce.  I did get to speak to the kids briefly yesterday and while it was exceptionally hard to hear them it was nice just to know they were at the other end of the line.

I have my meeting in just a little while, but am right now really thinking about vacation ideas for the kids for this year...if I can't be with them now, at least I can plan a fun trip for them later.  Erin and I had talked about the possibility of doing a Disney Cruise late this year or early next year with them, which I think would be really lovely for them...I haven't been on a tropical cruise before, actually I guess the closest to a cruise that I have come is a three and a half day trip on the Alaska State Marine Highway a million years ago.  If you want to talk about an epic adventure...that was one or part of one, at least!  In fact, perhaps tomorrow I will tell an old traveling tale from the past...it has been a while since I have thought about the rambling days of my youth.  Another friend thought that a trip to Maine over the summer to spend some time in Acadia National Park would be a very nice vacation for the kids...I definitely agree!  I love Maine ever since spending time there in the summers for a couple of years in my late teens...I have so many happy memories there with my friends Whiton, Janathan, and Archana.  I may hold that one for a little later in the kids' lives though, as I believe that Maine is for the contemplative...it doesn't astonish like Yosemite or Yellowstone or the Tetons or the Grand Canyon...it is man fitting in to Nature that makes New England so beautiful to me, if that makes any sense.  I am also considering perhaps just a fun little vacation to the beach down in South Padre Island or something similar (this one would be in addition to whatever large vacation we take this year.  I know that they both love the beach...

This is the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse in Acadia National Park

Sunset over a meadow and pines with Mt Cadillac in the distance - Acadia NP

Well, I am tired, and I am thinking that I might actually attempt to get off work before midnight tonight, so I think I will end this post here...I promise a longer and more exciting one tomorrow.  Interestingly, the writing has completely released my loneliness.  This blog was a great idea, I think...it lets you know what is going on here, but it helps me to feel connected to all of you out there.

Until next time...

A Geography Lesson by the Book

So, I worked 18+ hours again yesterday, but don't be concerned as I am in far better spirits today...I don't know why I was so cranky yesterday, but it was very out of character.  I am usually the guy with unflagging enthusiasm, always looking for the silver lining, and cheering up the wavering spirits of others.  Yesterday just got me down for whatever reason.  Things are a bit stressful over here at the moment for a number of reasons...the situation in Algeria has many here on camp worried which is not so great for morale, and increasing security protocols are in place to ensure the same sort of thing won't happen here.  Also, I will be the only person in my department for about four days due to a scheduling issue, so I am gearing up and seeking to get ahead of the curve so that I won't end up too far behind it when all is said and done.  Thus, the crazy long hours and hefty burden of stress for me over the last few days.

Well then, here I am in Southern Iraq, and I have been here for eleven days so far, and I still know so little about the place, the country, the region, the city of Basra, and the people.  To remedy this inexcusable lack of knowledge I stayed up even later last night researching Iraq and Basra, and I would like to share some of my findings with you.  I hope that this doesn't come across as a history or geography lesson, as I think the information is quite interesting.  I won't share it all today, in fact, today I think I will focus on the region of Iraq that I am currently in, the Basra region (Basra is a city, but also the Iraqi version of a state [Governorate]).  I am going to post some pictures that I found online today, so please don't think that I have seen these places, but I wanted to share them nonetheless.

I know it is small, but this is apparently what Basra looks like at night -  certainly seems pleasant enough!

This is a closer view during the day...

First lets cover the most basic facts...Basra is the second largest as well as second most populous city in Iraq, just behind Bagdad, and has a 2012 population of just over 2 million.  The city functions as Iraq's primary port, though it doesn't have access to deep water, so goods must be barged up to it.  It is consistently one of the hottest cities on the planet with summer temperatures often recorded in excess of 45 degree centigrade (113 degrees fahrenheit).  Basra is set to be the new home of the much-beloved Iraqi National Football Club, and their new facility was finished here last year.  I can attest that the Iraqis love this football team passionately, as I spoke about in my first post, they all stopped working in the airport to watch the team defeat Kuwait in the first round, I believe, of the Gulf Cup, and a few nights ago we honestly thought something bad was happening as suddenly there was an amazing amount of screaming and noise from the junior side of the camp (made up almost entirely of Iraqis) and heading into the Senior camp.  When we headed out to investigate we found the entire Junior camp population marching around waving arms and swinging their scarves and dropping to the ground to praise Allah...turns out the Iraq National Team had just beaten Bahrain in the semi-final of the Gulf Cup in a game that went to penalty shots (Iraq won 4-2).  Last night the entire camp was sullen after Iraq lost the final in extra time to the UAE...but you could hear the cheering throughout the game from the Junior camp.

Basra was founded in 636 AD and has been known by many names and nicknames in its long history, including al Khariba, al Faiha, "the Mother of Iraq", "the Reservoir of Arabs", "the Prosperous City", and "the Venice of the East". In Persian Basra means "where many paths meet".  The city has been under the rule of various groups throughout the centuries including the Persians, Arabs, Mongols, the Ottoman Empire, the British, and then finally the sovereign nation of modern Iraq.  It was part of the area known as Sumer, the home of Sinbad the Sailor of legend and myth, and his seven voyages departed from here.  It has been proposed that the city is the real world geographical location for the Garden of Eden.

The city proper is bounded on East and West by major commercial waterways, which connect to each other through numerous small canals cutting through the city (these canals were once widely used to transport goods and people throughout the city, but in recent years are no longer suitable for this use due to pollution and low water levels).  It is this relatively extensive canal system which earned the city its comparison to Venice. Here is a quote that I found about the old city from a travel website, "Ashar is the heart of the city and the old commercial center; its covered bazaar and mosque mark the end of the creek that links it and the river to Old Basra. Upstream is Margil, the garden suburb fanning out from the forest of cranes at the wharves of the Old Basra port and the railway station; and a little further you cross to the island that faces the Shatt El-Arab Hotel, where Basra's airport was sited until the 1960's when it was moved to Shuaiba. Here are flowers and palms and that blessed water that is the glory of all Iraq, but particularly of the south." Sounds nicer than we hear about from the media, right? I am not allowed to head into the city while I am posted in Iraq, but once my tour is over here, my visa will allow me to check out some of these sites, and I would very much like to see it. Back home, this entire country is portrayed very poorly, and I have seen firsthand many of the problems and issues the country is facing...the fact that it takes over four months just to secure a visa points to some serious problems, but I don't think we are getting a very fair or clear view of what the day to day existence is over here at all.

This type of architecture is called Shanasheel and is made from timber and adobe.

This is called the Anah Minaret, it is near Basra...it is like the Iraqi Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Well, I guess that will end the geography lesson for the day. What should I write about now, I wonder? Ah yes, we will continue through my New Year's Resolution list...to continue the recap tradition: 1) Not a whale, but a man, 2) DAD not BAD, 3) Debt crisis averted, 4) Vacations are key and Big Bend NP is where it's at. Alright, that brings us up to Resolution #5: I solemnly resolve to read at least one book of value per month this year. I love this one for a couple of reasons, reason number one is that I LOVE to read, seriously it is one of my most favorite pastimes. Reason number two is that I already read four to six books per month, so I seemingly threw myself a softball on this one, at least on the surface, but not by intent, as there is more to this resolution than meets the eye. The real key word here is VALUE...that means much of the stuff that I normally would read is out...I am not being pretentious here, there is plenty of quality and value to Maurice Herzog, and John Krakauer and John Irving, etc, but I am specifically wanting to read some of the classics of literature that I somehow missed along the way. I have read many of the "classics", but I have missed plenty of "Top Reads" as well. So, to that end, I have compiled a list of twelve books that I have not yet read (or read but completely don't remember), but feel like I should, so they will be read this year at the leisurely clip of one per month (to allow myself to continue reading other things that I enjoy). My book list is as follows:

1) Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse (This is a cheat, as I read this book many years ago and loved it)

2) The Epic of Gilgamesh - Anonymous (Takes place in Ancient Sumeria - where Iraq is now)

3) The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

4) Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (I am sure I read this before, but I feel I should do it again)

5) Nostromo - Joseph Conrad

6) The Call of the Wild - Jack London (I have read White Fang, but don't know that I ever read Call of the Wild)

7) The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

8) The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemmingway

9) To the Lighthouse - Virginia Wolfe

10) Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner (I love Faulkner, but missed this one)

11) A Passage to India - E.M. Forster

12) The Three Musketeers - Alexander Dumas

Obviously this list doesn't even begin to truly complete the classics for me, but if it goes well this year perhaps next year I will shoot to read two "classics" a month.  Regardless, I am excited to be reading things that I haven't had the opportunity to read before, as I have always believed that being well-read is one of the surest signs of being well-educated. And that, my friends, is my fifth resolution of 2013...two more to share with you still.

Beard Check...yep, still growing (Observation Day 6)

So I guess that is about all that I have to share for the day.  It is a big day here, as we have weekly deliverables to prepare as well as a daily production and deliverables run this evening (which I have just started).  I hope that you all have an excellent weekend out there in the great beyond!