Siccccckkkk

I am getting over an illness that lasted about 3 days. Some guy I had Guard Duty with last week gave it to me, I think. They let me leave work a few hours early yesterday, which was pretty nice. Tuesday was my day off and I couldn't even get out of bed to walk to the DFAC. I only get sick about once a year and, when I do, I am the biggest baby around. But I am feeling much better now!

There is a new batch of Air Force females living in our barracks and they are OUT OF CONTROL. The hallway and bathrooms are nasty, there is NEVER any hot water because they each take 30 minute showers, and one was caught sneaking around in my room the other day. She said she was "looking for a bed"....they are assigned rooms when they first get here and ours was NOT it (they don't mix the Army with the Air Force for a few different reasons).

My roommate is getting promoted to Sergeant next week. She wants me to pin her rank on her in the ceremony (well, I guess it's not really pinning anymore, because we have velcro with the new Army uniforms)...I will post some pictures if I can get my hands on some! I should be getting some accolades myself that day for getting that 2nd place in the Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter Board last month. I will be very interested to see if the unit actually lets me take the 3-day pass that is one of my prizes.

Rainy Days

This is what happens in Iraq when it rains:

The average annual rainfall for this country is only around 4-7 inches. The ground over here is weird though; a lot of the rain just sits on top of it and causes huge puddles everywhere. There is a lake outside the hangar that used to be a parking lot. Below WAS a road made of rocks...you can't really see it anymore, though.

Movie Night!

No PT tonight! My roommate and I are watching Talladeja Nights and pigging out on Pizza Hut! It is still raining pretty hard and I volunteered to get the pizza tonight. Riding a mile, each way, on my bike in the pouring rain - not the smartest thing I have done out here!

I am leaving work right now to head back to the Barracks and put all my wet-weather gear on...

Yuck

It's been raining out all day and the hangar is leaking water everywhere :(

I am also pretty sure there is a dead mouse in my office somewhere. I smell "death" again.

Follow-Up

So, remember what I said yesterday about getting into an argument with that civilian contractor? Well, immediately following the altercation, I went and reported it to his boss. She had me write a sworn statement, which even SOUNDS serious. I guess she is going to report it to HER boss. I don't think anything is going to happen to him; I don't really care. My commander asked me if I wanted him to try to get Joe fired, and I said no. With his attitude and work ethic, he doesn't need anyone else bringing him down, he is doing that all on his own. His boss told me that she directed him to apologize to me yesterday, which never happened. I don't even want an apology. I just want him to do his job, that's it!

Just a little background about this weirdo: I don't know if he does anymore, but he was very interested in me before we came out here. EVERYTIME he got drunk, he would talk non-stop to our mutual friends about how the guy I was dating wasn't right for me and that I was being stupid. He piggybacked on a weekend road trip to Florida with a group of my friends, then proceeded to act like a psycho the whole time, which is a long, strange tale I won't get into. Almost a month after the Florida debacle, he called me, hammered, and apologized for his behavior because he was looking at me like a "girlfriend" instead of a friend. I never gave this guy any inclination that I was interested in him and, on several occasions, went out of my WAY to show him I was not.

So, I pretty much think now that he has been waiting for something like this to happen so he could flip out on me and get out his anger because I "rejected" him back in the day. Oh well, I hope he got it out of his system, because I already have enough to deal with out here.

I Heart Civilian Contractors

The only thing I hate about my job is that I have to depend ALOT on other people to do THEIR jobs. One of the things I do is send back unserviceable parts to the Depot. Each part has a tag attached to it (by the person that took it off the UAV) saying what is wrong with it and all that. If they don't fill out the tag, I have no idea what is wrong with the thing and can't do MY paperwork to get it out of here. In the past week, I have had problems with that on THREE different occasions with the same guy. His name is Joe*. Twice, I have had to search around the hangar to find the part I was trying to send back, and the other time, he took 5 days to fill out the tag. *Side note: it takes literally SECONDS to fill out a green tag* I run a tight ship in my section and, usually, the bad part is sent out the same day it goes bad.

Well, to make a long story short, I confronted him about it this morning and an argument ensued, to include him cursing at me more than once. That makes me so mad; why are you going to get mad at me because YOU didn't do YOUR job and I called you out on it? Especially since he is a civilian. He makes over 3x as much money as I do for being over here and most of the time I have to interrupt him as he is playing a computer game to get stuff done. Not to mention the utter lack of respect and professionalism. Do you really need to scream the F-word to get your point across?

Wheewwwww. Okay, I feel better now :)

*Names have NOT been changed to protect the lazy.

My Space

I was bored with my camera the other day, so I took some snapshots of my work area. Here is one of the ceiling of my office...whadja think I was exaggerating when I complained? The plywood ceiling (yes, I know I am spoiled) doesn't extend the whole office because that *wall* is actually a very large, tall, door. I don't use it anymore, though. It was starting to sway everytime I opened it and it was scaring me. That is a tarp that I installed to try and retain some of the heat my space heater is barely putting out. Oh, speaking of which, I have taken to storing that thing under my desk - it keeps my legs nice and toasty. I really doubt that it is hot enough to light my desk on fire or anything (I hope), but I turn it off when I'm not in there (if I remember). Anyway, if my office goes up in flames, it is just less UAV parts to pack up when we leave...Just kidding, taxpayers :-D I think it is about time for me to take that Christmas stocking off my door.

P.S. I lost the NCOQ competition - came in a close 2nd place. Boo!

Uh Oh

Today is the NCOQ Board! OMG, it's in like 3 hours. I should have studied more!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am freaking out.

In other news, how awesome is my Far Side daily calendar? =P