Catching Up

I’m again starting this entry in a cold, leather seat of an airport terminal — this time in Amsterdam.  I’m sure many of you are wondering why I keep disappearing for such lengthy amounts of time, and why I’m often writing from various airports around the world.  Let me explain.

Within a couple of days of returning to work from my two week vacation in the south, I was approached by our overseas coordinator.  He, the now Director of Intelligence Operations, and Kevin, the now Vice President of Intelligence Operations in Theater, were dually impressed with my work overseas, and they invited me to join the CIDNE team permanently.  Though I was most familiar and comfortable with our flagship software, WebTAS, I eagerly accepted.  I knew this meant I would get to follow my dream — traveling around the world.  When at the home base, I’m still performing my typical software engineering duties, but when traveling, I spend my days configuring servers, training doe-eyed soldiers, and briefing Army unit commanders.  I never thought those oral communications classes in college would ever come in handy, but boy, was I wrong.  Just a week after returning from Arkansas, I headed to Fort Polk, LA, for two weeks, followed immediately by a one week stint in Fort Bragg, NC.  I departed for Hohenfels, Germany, on November 4th, and I’m now sitting in Amsterdam awaiting my flight back to the states.  Along with the promotion (if you can really call it that) came a $5000 bonus, and I’m expecting a pretty good pay raise come the new year.  The per diem rates for most places I travel are fantastic, and I usually end up making out with between one and two thousand dollars extra in my paycheck after just a couple of weeks on the road.

The trip to Germany has been quite an interesting one.  Traveling the autobahn at unimaginable speeds, touring Roman cathedrals, and clubbing with the locals.  Fortunately, for this trip I accompanied Andrey, one of the most entertaining employees at ISS.  He plays just as hard as he works.  Even though we sometimes spent 16 hours a day on the base, we somehow squeezed in the time to party at German underground clubs and walk the cities sightseeing.  I pretended I knew the language, picking up words along the way, and I almost always ordered my beer, complete with a please and thank you, in German.  I started and finished every last bit of my Christmas shopping while there, as well — an authentic beer stein for my brother; a rolling pin cookie cutter and German cookie recipe book for Becky; a ceramic guesthaus for my mom to add to her Christmas village collection; gourmet chocolates for my dad; and bottles of wine for everyone.  I even brought back a gift for my beloved pet sitter (who just happens to be German) — Milka, her favorite brand of German chocolates.

Andrey and I certainly have a few stories and memories to look back on and laugh.  About two thirds of the way through the trip and on a particularly long night on base, I left Andrey behind to join a new friend and Ilex engineer, Al, to dinner at an authentic Italian pizzeria in the small town of Parsberg.  The owner and sole employee spoke no English and barely a lick of German.  However, we’d already had dinner there once, and it was quite possibly the most amazing pizza I’ve ever had.  It was equally enjoyable the second time around.  Upon returning to the base to collect my coworker, though, I received news that we’d be briefing a General in about an hour.  Of course, I had ordered a beer with my dinner that evening, and Andrey argued that General Lanza would get drunk off the fumes if he was anywhere near me.  I was determined to deliver this brief.  After first popping a mint to absolutely no avail, I made a command decision that a bag of Skittles and a bottle of Coke would do the trick.  Of course, it really just made me smell like I’d drank something fruity, but it sufficed.  The briefing went unbelievably well, and afterwards during a handshake, the General slipped both Andrey and me Coins of Excellence.  Those of you who have either worked as contractors or served in the military know that coins are not necessarily that exceptional, but receiving a coin from a General is fairly rare.  Needless to say, it made my day, and news has already passed around our office.

Well, I’m finally on the last leg of my trip, sitting next to a quite yummy smelling Caribou Coffee in Minneapolis.  After the near 10 hour flight, made slightly less unbearable by the roomy, business class seat and endless glasses of wine, I’m more than ready to get home.  I do love the travel, but I’m officially worn out.  With the holidays fast approaching, I feel like spending some time at home for a change.  Our company’s Christmas party is on the 1st, and my brother and Becky will be arriving next week.  Andrey and John, my coworker and good friend from Iraq, will also be in town for the celebration, so I’m especially excited.  Not to mention, I bought an absolutely amazing dress for the occasion.  I do have another trip scheduled at the end of the year, but this one’s purely for fun.  I’m flying to Washington DC to celebrate yet another New Years with Rob and Becky.  Times spent with them usually prove to be some of the best times of my life.

What else is new?  I’ve taken up a hobby, which happens to coincide perfectly with most of my travel.  I’ve begun brewing beer at home.  Chuck gave me one of his award winning recipes to start with.  I brewed the batch about a week before I left for Germany, and let it ferment for about five days.  My neighbors were either loving me or hating me, cause you could pretty much get drunk just by walking into my apartment.  After fermenting, I transfered the beer to a second glass carboy to clarify and age, and I got to taste it at that point.  Oh, it’s going to be damn good.  And at 5.5% alcohol content, it’ll pack a pretty good punch for my first brew!  It will be ready to bottle on the 25th, and I believe I’ll start a new brew that day, as well.  This first beer is a porter, one of my favorites, but I think my next attempt will be with a chocolate stout.

Speaking of Chuck, he left Iraq today.  He’s officially on his way back to the United States, probably holed up in a tent in Kuwait right now.  He’s going to call me next Monday, and this will be the longest we’ve gone without contact.  I’m already having withdrawals, but I’m just glad he’s on his way home.  Rocket attacks have been on the rise at Victory lately, and we’ve had several soldiers and civilians injured and killed in recent months.  I still don’t know when I’ll see him again, but as long as I know he’s safe, that doesn’t matter.  On an interesting side note, though, I submitted Chuck’s resume to Kyle last week.  I never expected his resume to be so detailed, complete, and eloquently written, but man, I would hire him on the spot.  Kyle seems equally interested, and he mentioned that he plans on contacting Chuck once he’s back in the states.

In other news, I have some David drama to share, but I don’t really feel like getting into that at the moment.  My mindis degrading after being awake for so many hours.  I’m surprised I’m even still conscious.  Besides, I’m not yet sure what I should be or what I am feeling about the news he shared with me a couple of weeks ago.  I’ll update again soon, and be on the lookout for pictures.  I have a ton to post, both from the Germany trip and from the Halloween party the weekend before.  Oh, and I can’t forget the ones I took during my first attempt at brewing beer…

Cheers,
Felina