Who will be my Wilson?

Now that the guy from our sister company has left, possibly for good, I am pretty much here solo. At first I was dreading it, part of coming here was to enjoy some good old male bonding....roughing it in the desert, blah blah blah, but now I am actually enjoying the serenity, yes serenity here in the war zone. It's nice to not have to worry about anyone else. It's nice to be able to concentrate on the monster task that I have been given here without restriction of what the guy at the next desk thinks of my approach. Soon enough I will be staffing this location as I begin to win work, and at that time I will have been able to set this place up the way I want, with my rules....oh the power, I am already sketching out my rules of my dictatorship.....I just hope they all can fit in my inflated head.

Things here have quieted down since last week's attacks. And with Ramadan starting up here soon it will hopefully stay that way. From what I hear though, once the month long fasting is over, they try and make up for lost time.


I drove past the section of fence line where the ground attack took place last week, it's less than 1 mile from a job site that I have going on right now. But in the place of what I can only imagine the scene of carnage was, I was greeted by a herd of camels and sheep. My batteries of course were near dead, so I missed getting a picture of the Afghan who was pushing the herd, I didn't see him until he was pretty much right in front of me, scared the crap out of me to be completely honest. Even though I was still in my truck, the feeling of exposure ran all through me. He must have been used to it, he immediately started waving with a big smile and tapping his heart with his other hand. I waved back and smiled as well, a truly amazing exchange if you ask me. I have interacted with many of the locals here on base, both on my job site and in the day to day places where they are here working, but this was my first time in such an uncontrolled situation. I probably could have changed out the batteries and gotten a picture, but as I've said before, I'm just not all that sure how I feel about that. It seems far to personal to me, almost like it makes them out to be circus freaks or something. I mean think about it, he is simply trying to survive in an environment that does not breed longevity. He is simply herding his animals along side the base for the saving grace of protection. The closer he stays to the base, the better his chances of not being bothered by the Taliban.
The immediate differences of the two sides of the fence could not be more black and white. He continued on is trek across the desert, I went back to my office and talked to Jolie on skype. Not to get too political here, as those of you who know me know that politics is not my strongest talking point, but it to me really drove home what it is that I HOPE we are here for. Is it working, I have no idea, I only see what happens on the inside, where locals are working in a relatively safe place, making more than enough money to support their families. But working here also puts them in danger when they get home. I had a local HVAC company owner not show up last week for 3 days, no one heard from him, he finally showed up and explained that he had received a "death letter" overnight under his door warning him about not working for the Americans any longer or his family would not be spared. Yet there he stood before us, back on the job, just trying to make a solid living. Makes my lack of a good cup of coffee seem so unimportant.

So enough of the heavy stuff...back to the question at hand....Who will be my Wilson? For those slower folks out there, Wilson is the volleyball  that Tom Hanks befriends in Cast Away when he is deserted on an island all alone. Alright, so i am obviously not on an island, but the sand gives it that tropical vibe. At the forefront of my inanimate objects up for nomination are the  two coffee makers, the old one that makes a mixer of coffee and sand, and the new luxury $12 replacement I bought over the weekend. Both have felt the weight of my frustration as I beg and plead and demand that they make the coffee taste better...please. Although when all you have for an option is powdered creamer, you really need to lower expectations. My other new found friend is the truly lovely and inspirational dolphin shower curtain. She really is lovely, the way she reminds me of the ocean back home. Eventually I am hoping to get the answer to the question I ask her every time I step inside the shower "who the hell brought you here?". I'm pretty sure last night I faintly heard a voice reply "drop it already!", but she might have meant the soap....ohhhhhh...thanks...i'm here all night...don't forget to tip your waitress.

FYI- by popular demand I have added a link to subscribe to this blog (on the right under the clock), I hope it works, should email you when I have added more riveting ramblings. And by the way...who are all you people? This started as a way to give my family and friends an easy way to keep up with me, and I realize I have a very large family, but I only have about 6 friends ( 9 if you count the coffee makers and shower curtain), so how is it that this blog has had nearly 600 unique visitors since I put that counter up only 10 days ago. I just hope I don't crumble under the pressure to perform...