Another Day Off

I live Saturday to Saturday here. It's my day off and I do just that. I sleep in and the only time I go to the office is to get the keys to the truck so I can go to the Iraqi shops and look around. I get some snide remarks about taking a day off, most people work seven days a week. The way I see it, the world is not going to fall apart if I take a day off. That and I'm sorry, but I'm not paid any extra for it. Is "Doc" a team player? of course. But we are limited to XX amount of overtime hours we can submit and we all work over that XX amount, I know I do. I had to work last Saturday for a few hours, my day of, will I see that as overtime? Nope.

Speaking of overtime I was talking to this Department of Defense civilian (GS) when I was in Kuwait about overtime, I told her how many hours we were limited to. She is "limited" to 60 hours of overtime per pay period, down from 70, down from 80, down from unlimited. Back in the wild west days you could submit for as many hours of overtime you could claim. The wild west days are going away.

We currently have free wifi Internet access, this is going away. We'll have to pay. Some of us get use of a wash and fold laundry service (me), this is going away. There has always been a rumor that we'll have to pay for meals. Yes, it's a whole new Iraq!

Just returned from the Iraqi shops and they are pushing hard to sell whats on their shelves as because of a new contract they have to leave the base soon. It's sad as they provide just one little added diversion for already very bored people and of course we provide them income.

Yesterday marks my third month I've been in country. My next R&R break is a little ways out, first week of November, but hoping it will get here soon. Planning on going to Dubai and staying at a nice hotel and enjoying the beach.

The Army has been packing up and leaving more and more, which means more office space for us and some equipment. We recently acquired the USO building. Complete with a small movie theater and game (XBox etc.) stations, less the game systems and 32" televisions, but the movie theater has everything there.

Well back to my usual day off activities, watch a movie, read and take a nap!

Book Corner - Finished Reading

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by David Relin
Paperback
349 pages
History

I really though this was a feel good story about this guy building schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And then I Googled his book and this was one of the top results:
Questions over Greg Mortenson's stories
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/60minutes/main20054397.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

End of story. Not a good read.

Dinner

I have to apologize for letting the Doc Report fall by the wayside. I guess living in this "Groundhog Day World" doesn't provide much material to blog about. That and I just shouldn't publicly blog 99% of the stuff that goes on here. Nothing that's classified, but it would just disappoint a few folks.

So there's not much to do here. Lets see, you can go to the well equipped gym, throw darts, play pool on the pool table that is outside getting dirty, watch movies, surf the net, work. Yeah, that's about it. Okay, there are some small shops that sell the assorted knock off name brand clothes, carpet and some electronics, but one visit is enough.

So with that we tend to linger longer during dinner. It's not uncommon to see a table with empty dishes on the tray, people engaged in conversation, it's something to do.

Every night there's a new conversation to keep everyone engaged. The subjects cover everything from cars, homes, kids, jobs, and on and on.

I have this routine during the meals. When I am through with my dinner I dump my tray and plastic dishes and flatware, then go and get my dessert and coffee and go back to the table. I don't like having my dessert with dirty dishes in front of me (plastic or otherwise).

Afterwards I usually go play darts with a few guys. I'm not good at it, but it keeps me out of my CHU.

And that's dinner here.

Book Corner - Finished Reading

Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare by Daniel Charles
Hard cover
366 pages
Biography

As I have mentioned before I rarely buy books, I just read what I find in the paperback library at post.

This book caught my eye and decided to give it a shot.

Very interesting book. Fritz Haber pretty much changed the world by inventing the process to create Ammonia Nitrate. Whats the big deal with that? It's used in fertilizer and has helped crops grow bountifully.

But as the name of the book suggests he is also notorious for inventing something else.

No, he didn't die during the Holocaust, but direct relatives of his was killed in the gas chambers by the very gas he helped invent.

The author does a good job interspersing enough history of the time period, equal parts of Fritz Habers life and technical jargon.

It was a quick read for me. I'd say it was interesting, but not necessarily a good read.