LOTS of new pictures uploaded! Like I said earlier, all new pictures will be in the Latest Photos album, before they get shuffled into their appropriate album.
Nothing much to report here. Just keep checking back for my next post... I've got new software for posting to my 'blogs, so it's making me get a little more long-winded.
By the way, for those of you that keep forgetting to bookmark my 'blog, and emailing me asking me what's the address AGAIN... I've made it a little easier for you. :)
The new address is http://Scotti.ws (don't click on it now... you'll just be seeing this page if you do... hehe) I also grabbed http://grattan.us for the family website. That means my bid for total geekdom is nearly complete... Think about it, my email addresses now are: scotti@gvcn.net, scott.grattan@us.army.mil, scott@grattan.us, me@scotti.ws (really ANYTHING @scotti.ws will reach me... yes... even dufus@scotti.ws), scottgrattan@hotmail.com ... you get the idea. I even have the OTHER blog that was hinted at a few weeks ago, with it's own domain name. Nope, sorry... still not going to post the address here... my MOM reads this 'blog... no way I'm going to let her see read the other one.
Anyway, thanks for stopping in! Love to all!
Monday, April 19, 2004
Thursday, April 15, 2004
My Surreal Life ... revisited
When I first got over here, I spent a few posts commenting on the surreal quality of my life in Kuwait. The day-to-day things that happen in your life, compared to what happens in mine; are so diametrically opposed as to seem like they are different worlds.
Though there are also similiarities... those aren't as amusing, so I'll focus on the differences.
But I'll also leave you with this event in my daily life: simply driving to work. My drive to work is between 15-30 minutes from leaving my front door to walking into my little workspace. I leave the apartment and take the elevator down to the basement, where my vehicle is "usually" parked. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, sometimes all our vehicles are in use, but for the most part, the truck is mine.
After I pull out of the underground garage, I have a decision to make. Basically we live in the slums. Our building is kept up relatively well, but the amount of dust, dirt, sand, and trash that is blowing around in the streets must be seen to be believed. Anyway, my decision hinges on whether or not I need to get something to eat on the way out to the port. The streets are designed to keep a flow of traffic around the heavily populated areas, by using one-way streets, turn-arounds, and roundabouts. I know a lot of you living in GJ have seen a recent popularity in roundabouts, but I can assure, it's a global thing. Every country I've visited uses roundabouts, some to points of craziness. However, New Jersey still holds the records with the "Triple Circle of Death", as I liked to call it... some of you can attest to it... it really exists. Do NOT go there if you can avoid it...
So, I navigate the freeways to my site. For security reasons, I'll be vague, but the port we are stationed at is owned and operated by a local Kuwaiti family. As a result, the brass must frequently visit them for social events. This isn't a bad thing, however. I've been to several of the gatherings, and they are very intelligent and friendly people. They welcome all the soldiers into their diwayniah, and have frequently insisted I come back "any time, no need to come with the Col". I have yet to be able to take them up on this, but a lot of them are computer nuts and gamers to boot... so I will have to work that in one of these days.
So since the port is owned by the local commercial companies, but a lot of the traffic is military (both Kuwaiti and US), they must share the defense of the gates. The procedure changes often, for better security, and is sometimes a big inconvenience. However, we have learned that the occasional McDonalds delivery to the gate guards will get you a place WAY in the front of a long convoy... trust me on this.
So access to the site is limited, of course. On any given day, this simple trip to work will result in passing Bradleys, M1A1 Abrahms, M249 towers, HETTs (heavy equipment transport trailers), Humvee's, Chinooks, Blackhawks, countless soldiers with M-16s, LMSR (naval ships), and endless numbers of locals. Not to mention the slew of vehicles that I have no idea what purpose they serve...
More to follow soon! This simple little post took me three days...
Though there are also similiarities... those aren't as amusing, so I'll focus on the differences.
| I'm going to attempt to tell you about something unique to my day with every post from now on. I may not ALWAYS manage it, and I may have to resort to the "easy ones" occasionally, like this: |  |
But I'll also leave you with this event in my daily life: simply driving to work. My drive to work is between 15-30 minutes from leaving my front door to walking into my little workspace. I leave the apartment and take the elevator down to the basement, where my vehicle is "usually" parked. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, sometimes all our vehicles are in use, but for the most part, the truck is mine.
After I pull out of the underground garage, I have a decision to make. Basically we live in the slums. Our building is kept up relatively well, but the amount of dust, dirt, sand, and trash that is blowing around in the streets must be seen to be believed. Anyway, my decision hinges on whether or not I need to get something to eat on the way out to the port. The streets are designed to keep a flow of traffic around the heavily populated areas, by using one-way streets, turn-arounds, and roundabouts. I know a lot of you living in GJ have seen a recent popularity in roundabouts, but I can assure, it's a global thing. Every country I've visited uses roundabouts, some to points of craziness. However, New Jersey still holds the records with the "Triple Circle of Death", as I liked to call it... some of you can attest to it... it really exists. Do NOT go there if you can avoid it...
| Ok, I'm getting off track here. So no matter whether I need to eat or not, both choices will eventually lead to the first of several major north-south roads. Many of the entrances to these freeways have signs warning (in Arabic, of course...) NO LEARNER DRIVERS. They aren't kidding. If you have the least bit of hesitation while navigating in heavy traffic, you will quickly find yourself in trouble... These roads are not for the faint of heart. Of course, they all have these signs too. |
 |
So, I navigate the freeways to my site. For security reasons, I'll be vague, but the port we are stationed at is owned and operated by a local Kuwaiti family. As a result, the brass must frequently visit them for social events. This isn't a bad thing, however. I've been to several of the gatherings, and they are very intelligent and friendly people. They welcome all the soldiers into their diwayniah, and have frequently insisted I come back "any time, no need to come with the Col". I have yet to be able to take them up on this, but a lot of them are computer nuts and gamers to boot... so I will have to work that in one of these days.
So since the port is owned by the local commercial companies, but a lot of the traffic is military (both Kuwaiti and US), they must share the defense of the gates. The procedure changes often, for better security, and is sometimes a big inconvenience. However, we have learned that the occasional McDonalds delivery to the gate guards will get you a place WAY in the front of a long convoy... trust me on this.
So access to the site is limited, of course. On any given day, this simple trip to work will result in passing Bradleys, M1A1 Abrahms, M249 towers, HETTs (heavy equipment transport trailers), Humvee's, Chinooks, Blackhawks, countless soldiers with M-16s, LMSR (naval ships), and endless numbers of locals. Not to mention the slew of vehicles that I have no idea what purpose they serve...
More to follow soon! This simple little post took me three days...
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Pictures will be unavailable ...
... for a little bit. The service I use is doing maintenance, so all the linked pictures and random pictures will not display until they're done. It should take less than 24 hours, so I'm not going to bother to remove or replace them.
Thank you for your patience. We now return you to regularly scheduled programming...
Thank you for your patience. We now return you to regularly scheduled programming...
Monday, April 05, 2004
April Sucks... update.
Guess we did get a picture. It's a big one, but well worth the time...
Weather is GREAT! Wish you were HERE!
Weather is GREAT! Wish you were HERE!
Sunday, April 04, 2004
April Sucks
So far, April has completely sucked... Let me recap my last four days...
April 1st (April Fools Day): Major power outages. On the first day we take over the power generation part of this contract, the generator dies. Now there have been other generator failures in the past, but they weren't fixed, just swapped over to another generator... a backup. Now our backup was failing due to negligence on the part of the people that USED to have the contract. We put our last critical spare in place. Later that day, the BACKUP backup also starts having issues. Our power person slaps a quick fix on the FIRST failing backup, and gets it back online. While the original backup is working, she fixes the other one (or so we thought...). In the meantime, the low voltage fries a major component of our satellite. We put the last replacement for THAT part in place...
April 2nd: In the morning, we slap the BACKUP backup into place, and prep the original failing backup for transport to Kuwait City. While we have it ready to go, the BACKUP backup (hereafter named BU2) begins failing again... instead of rehooking the original (BU1) up, we decide to run a long power cable to another generator running a similiar setup. The logistics involved are too boring to list, but believe me they were impressive. After this was accomplished, we held our breath and powered up. Relieved that nothing had died (like yesterday), we called it a successful mission ...
April 3rd: We had a fire. I'm not kidding. The new power source works great! The problem was during this whole shuffle, we had taken a UPS (uninterruptable power supply... battery backups) off of Bypass mode. Unbeknownst to us, (but knownst to someone else, I'd bet) it was on bypass for a reason. The connection on the other end was too wimpy to handle the draw... thus... FIRE! Now... while this was developing, I had to drive my truck to our sponsor for "registration and insurance" crap. I was told I had an appointment at 8:30am. I arrive there at 8:45am, and nobody knew what I was there for... I know, maybe you're thinking that if I had been there on time, they would have known... safe guess, but you're wrong.
The person I was supposed to meet was not even there. Hadn't even been there yet. When I talked to him on the phone, he didn't even know I was coming. But he was "glad I was there, and they would get the paperwork started". It's 9am ... At about 10:30am I give them the keys and the registration to the truck, and I go downtown with a local Kuwaiti contractor to pick up some stuff for the site. I get back about an hour later... and still nothing has been done. About 20 minutes later the guy walks in, and of course he's too busy to tell me exactly what's the deal. I settle into the leather couch, text message Hugh... and fall asleep for 30 minutes. I wake up and ask if anything had happened during my respite, and nothing had been done...
About 15 minutes after that one of the guys in that office hands me a phone, and it's "the guy" telling me they need more paperwork, and that I'll have to come back. In other words, I've just wasted four hours. So I leave, and notice that at least my truck got washed (which will be a moot point tomorrow... just wait). I'm half-way home (usually only a 30 minute drive) 20 minutes later due to heavy traffic, when their office calls me to tell me "you forgot the registration"... hmm ... I gave them the keys and the registration, they gave me the keys back... I ASSUMED they put it back in the truck, and even thought I should have checked... but no... I'M the dummy here...
So I tell them I've wasted enough time there for one day, and I will pick up the registration when I bring my passport (for them to screw up) in the next couple of days...
I get back to the apartment to pick up Hugh and eat some Thai food... then we get the FIRE call...
So I've lost several hours of my day, but I have a nice clean truck until ...
April 4th: Today it rained mud. Again, I'm not kidding. The day started a bit overcast, but around mid-morning it starts turning ... brownish. The clouds are a dirty brownish color, and you can only see about 500 yards before things start to get "dirty/foggy". A CPT and I were outside talking when we realized there was a very fine dirt/dust falling on everything. It was literally "snowing dirt"... but as the day progressed, it turned over to a rain, and made a huge mess. I didn't get any pictures today... I really need to start taking more pictures!
Anyway, I've got to finish a long overdue email to Shelley. I actually get to sleep in tomorrow, so I'm going to finish this and that email and go to sleep!
Love to all!
PS, dont' forget to the check the photo gallery frequently! I've made some changes, and there are quite a few completely new ones! I'm also getting them organized better, but that's a slow process.
April 1st (April Fools Day): Major power outages. On the first day we take over the power generation part of this contract, the generator dies. Now there have been other generator failures in the past, but they weren't fixed, just swapped over to another generator... a backup. Now our backup was failing due to negligence on the part of the people that USED to have the contract. We put our last critical spare in place. Later that day, the BACKUP backup also starts having issues. Our power person slaps a quick fix on the FIRST failing backup, and gets it back online. While the original backup is working, she fixes the other one (or so we thought...). In the meantime, the low voltage fries a major component of our satellite. We put the last replacement for THAT part in place...
April 2nd: In the morning, we slap the BACKUP backup into place, and prep the original failing backup for transport to Kuwait City. While we have it ready to go, the BACKUP backup (hereafter named BU2) begins failing again... instead of rehooking the original (BU1) up, we decide to run a long power cable to another generator running a similiar setup. The logistics involved are too boring to list, but believe me they were impressive. After this was accomplished, we held our breath and powered up. Relieved that nothing had died (like yesterday), we called it a successful mission ...
April 3rd: We had a fire. I'm not kidding. The new power source works great! The problem was during this whole shuffle, we had taken a UPS (uninterruptable power supply... battery backups) off of Bypass mode. Unbeknownst to us, (but knownst to someone else, I'd bet) it was on bypass for a reason. The connection on the other end was too wimpy to handle the draw... thus... FIRE! Now... while this was developing, I had to drive my truck to our sponsor for "registration and insurance" crap. I was told I had an appointment at 8:30am. I arrive there at 8:45am, and nobody knew what I was there for... I know, maybe you're thinking that if I had been there on time, they would have known... safe guess, but you're wrong.
The person I was supposed to meet was not even there. Hadn't even been there yet. When I talked to him on the phone, he didn't even know I was coming. But he was "glad I was there, and they would get the paperwork started". It's 9am ... At about 10:30am I give them the keys and the registration to the truck, and I go downtown with a local Kuwaiti contractor to pick up some stuff for the site. I get back about an hour later... and still nothing has been done. About 20 minutes later the guy walks in, and of course he's too busy to tell me exactly what's the deal. I settle into the leather couch, text message Hugh... and fall asleep for 30 minutes. I wake up and ask if anything had happened during my respite, and nothing had been done...
About 15 minutes after that one of the guys in that office hands me a phone, and it's "the guy" telling me they need more paperwork, and that I'll have to come back. In other words, I've just wasted four hours. So I leave, and notice that at least my truck got washed (which will be a moot point tomorrow... just wait). I'm half-way home (usually only a 30 minute drive) 20 minutes later due to heavy traffic, when their office calls me to tell me "you forgot the registration"... hmm ... I gave them the keys and the registration, they gave me the keys back... I ASSUMED they put it back in the truck, and even thought I should have checked... but no... I'M the dummy here...
So I tell them I've wasted enough time there for one day, and I will pick up the registration when I bring my passport (for them to screw up) in the next couple of days...
I get back to the apartment to pick up Hugh and eat some Thai food... then we get the FIRE call...
So I've lost several hours of my day, but I have a nice clean truck until ...
April 4th: Today it rained mud. Again, I'm not kidding. The day started a bit overcast, but around mid-morning it starts turning ... brownish. The clouds are a dirty brownish color, and you can only see about 500 yards before things start to get "dirty/foggy". A CPT and I were outside talking when we realized there was a very fine dirt/dust falling on everything. It was literally "snowing dirt"... but as the day progressed, it turned over to a rain, and made a huge mess. I didn't get any pictures today... I really need to start taking more pictures!
Anyway, I've got to finish a long overdue email to Shelley. I actually get to sleep in tomorrow, so I'm going to finish this and that email and go to sleep!
Love to all!
PS, dont' forget to the check the photo gallery frequently! I've made some changes, and there are quite a few completely new ones! I'm also getting them organized better, but that's a slow process.
Friday, April 02, 2004
Getting organized...
At least I'm TRYING to get organized. I'm going to rotate photos out of the album below called "Latest Photos". The box below will show random pictures out of it, like the link on the right... Wish I could figure out why some of them are sideways...
The original album is just getting too big, and has had over 300 visits!
|
The original album is just getting too big, and has had over 300 visits!
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