Hee Hee Hee!!!

Do I really need to say any more?

Almost my Last Post!!!!

Hi Everyone!!

Well, the title tells it all - I'm almost outta here!!! Can't say exactly when here on the blog, but it's soon!! Things have been pretty hectic here over the past couple of weeks. My replacement arrived a couple of days ago and I've been handing over my duties to him - things have went pretty smoothly overall.

Been continuing to go to the gym. I did the Terry Fox Run here (5km) last Saturday - lots of fun. I was also named the Concept2 Rower of the Week last week!! Concept2 is a company that makes rowing machines. I have one at home an there are a couple in our gym here. I've been pounding away on the one here and manged to do over 50000m one week. Well, because of that, I was named the rower of the week!! Cool, eh? I get a t-shirt and everything...

Before I forget, "Hi Mike!!". Hope you are feeling better!!

So, when I get home, I have to work 3 x 1/2 days and then I get just over a month off. No real plans for the off time yet, but I imagine they will include kicking back with a beer or two!!

Anyway, got to go. Will post again tomorrow.

Stay chilly.

Saturday 7 November 09

Hi everyone!!

It's been a while since I've written anything, so here goes...

Things are going well. Not much time left - yay!!! For OPSEC reasons, I can't write about flights, but I'll let Kim & Mom know when I'm going to hit Canada. I intend on doing some visiting when I'm back, so be prepared!!

We are a little busy right now because people are finally realizing that the legal issues they have been holding back on getting sorted out for 9 months need to GET DONE SOON!!!! Nothing too crazy, but busy.

I have been working out like a demon. This Kandahar place is the best "fat-camp" I have ever seen. I'm down 33lbs in 3 months!! Feeling good and looking fine... Only problem is that my clothes don't fit anymore!

Did a 1/2 marathon this morning - that's 21km (13 miles) - in 1hour 49 minutes. I used to be a runner, but kinda fell off the wagon in the last few years. Here's the first shot fired in the war to get back in shape.

Things are starting to cool down - it gets down to about 10C at night and hovers around 32C during the day - not too bad. Apparently, the rainy season will start right after I leave - perfect - couldn't have planned it better!!


OK, don't ask why I am wearing a helmet covered in tin foil, while getting ready to hide under my desk - I think it should suffice to say that it's almost time to come home!!!

Take care.

Check out the newest spokesmodel for Starbucks!

The lovely ladies at the Orleans Starbucks (and the stunning Kimberly, of course) sent me some of the new Starbucks instant coffee to try. Here's a shot of me and said java out in front of Headquarters.

Hey, they even gave me a medal....

Hi all,

Here's a couple of shots of me getting my medal last week.

Finally, A New Post!!!

Hi everyone,

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. No real excuse other than being lazy!!! Things are going well - work has been busy, but not too crazy. Only 26 days left!!

I've been keeping up with my workouts and feel pretty good. I broke to 200lbs barrier a couple of days ago - yay!! I don't think I've been this light for 10 years. Did a 1/2 marathon on the rowing machine this morning (that's 21km or 13 miles) and will run one on 7 Nov here at KAF. The guys are bugging me that Kim won't recognize me when I get back!!

Got a bunch of packages in the mail from Kim - lots of coffee and treats. I also got my birthday present - a Star Wars Force Trainer. It's pretty cool - there's a headband that reads your brain waves and, if you concentrate hard enough, transmits a signal to a little apparatus that turns on a fan an "levitates" a ball. Look it up on the internet to see it in action. Very funny!!!

Here's a picture for you:

This is what we call a "Jingle Truck". The local drivers like to decorate their vehicles, so we see a lot of these on the roads. Maybe I'll do Kim's Volvo up like this...

Take it easy.

More Pictures - Bazaar!!

OK - to clear up any worry, the bazaar is actually held here at KAF - I'm not trooping around downtown Kandahar looking at knick-knacks!!

Picture of the Day - Me & Vance

This was taken last weekend. Looking good!!

Picture of the Day - 8 Oct 09

Me at the salad bar!!

Picture of the Day - Market

Saturday 3 October 2009

Hi everyone,

Well, I am over the hump!! 1 Oct was the middle day of my tour over here, so everything is downhill from now on! Things are starting to cool down a bit more - high of 36C today, low of 22C. I am going to be so cold when I get back to Ottawa, it isn't going to be funny...

Vance & I went to the KAF Bazaar today. Every Saturday there is a market (kind of like the old Stittsville Market) where a bunch of locals set up stands and sell stuff. There are a whole whack of carpets and jewellery and pirated DVDs, among other things. I will put up a few photos over the next few days to show you what it's like. Vance bought a carpet for his brother and I scoped out some stuff to bring home (maybe) - I really don't need knick-knacks, but there are a few nice gifty things.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday packages. I got one from Mom & one from Wade and the crew - thanks Kayla, Nolan and Carson for the cool $1 store stuff!! The candies went pretty fast, I have to say.

I'm running the US Army 10 Miler tomorrow - that's 16km for you metric types. It starts at 0530 in the morning and I expect it will take somewhere around 1 1/2 hours to finish. Good thing it's early or else the sun would probably melt me. There are over 600 people running, so there will be lots of company. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape - down 20lbs as of today!!

Overall, things are going pretty well. I am well-established in a routine and I am feeling pretty good. Now that the end is near, it should be a relatively easy ride.

Anyway, got to go.

Photo of the Day - Tuesday 29 September 2009

Here's something different. When I went out on a bit of a tour, I found that some of the troops had adopted pets - the odd cat and dog was fairly normal. In this particular location, though, the guys had a goat! It would come up behind the troops and butt them in the butt to get their attention. Usually, the troops would grab hold of his horns and tug him around a bit, playing with him. At night, when the guys were relaxing a bit, he would sit down next to them, just like a freakin' dog. Very funny and, apparently, a very good guard.

Friday 25 September 2009

Here's a picture of me receiving a commemorative coin from one of my clients earlier this week. I'll put a picture of it up in a few days..

Monday 21 September 2009

Hi everyone,

It is freakin' warm today here at KAF. Numbers wise, it isn't any different than usual, but it feels like the sun is really beating down today. Thankfully, the nights are still relatively cool (21C).

Went for a long run on Sunday morning with Vance - did 12.5km. I was pretty tired when I was done, but happy - that's the longest I have run for a couple of years. Still going to the gym every day - was working out beside one of my clients this morning. He's a really big Newfie who is a rabid hockey fan. There was a Montreal-Boston game on the TVs in the gym and he'd let out the occasional bellow at a stupid play, scaring the heck out of me.

We're working on the plan to come home. We leave here and have 3 days of "decompression" at a place in Europe. It gives us a chance to relax a bit and get our heads back to normal before we hit Canada. Great idea, as far as I'm concerned. I'll let you know where I'm going later.

Apparently I'm changing jobs when I get home. Since there is a lot going on in the area where I was working before I deployed, the powers that be have decided to put someone into my spot in Canada and find a new spot for me once I get back to work. We'll see where they put me!!!

Other than that, not much going on. We are in the middle of a holiday here in Afghanistan called "Eid", which celebrates the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is a farily long period (3-4 weeks, I think) where Muslims aren't allowed to eat or drink while the sun is up. They do some extra prayers during the day as well. Very tough, especially when it is so hot. Eid is kind of like their Christmas, with feasts and gifts and stuff.

Got a couple of letters - thanks Mom!! I'll try to write you back soon.

Picture of the Day - It's Not Maple Leaf Gardens!!

Here's our Ball Hockey rink - it gets a lot of use and we get the odd Hockey Superstar here - Guy Lafleur in a couple of weeks!!

Thursday 17 September 2009

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much lately. We've been working pretty hard and I'm usually pretty tired by the end of the day.

Life is pretty good. Going to the gym everyday for 1 1/2 hours and the weight is just falling off me (down 13 pounds) - don't worry Mom, I'm eating!!! I am actually pounding back a ton of food - it just happens to be all healthy stuff (except for the odd Oreo. I can't help myself!)

I finally got a roommate. Wouldn't you know, it's someone I know well - Vance!! For those of you who don't know (or remember), I went through RMC with Vance and he was the best man at my wedding - we've known each other for almost 20 years. He's here for a few weeks filling in for someone and he needed a place to stay, so he's staying with me. It'll be good to have him around - we are going to have to take a picture to send to our friends in Kingston when they get together for our RMC 15 Year Reunion at the end of the month. We'll title it "Protecting the World While the Rest of you are Drinking".

I now have internet service in my room, which is great. It costs a few bucks, but its worth it. No more having to line up to get onto a computer and getting booted off once your 30 minutes is up.

Kim is doing fine - just spoke with her last night. She's having some work done on the house, so that's keeping her busy. She doing well in her new job, as well, so that's a relief. She's heading down to New York soon to get her new legs tweaked, so I had better keep working out so I can keep up with her when I get back!!!

Picture of the Day - Sunset over KAF

Almost pretty... as long as you don't look at the barbed wire!!!

Tuesday 9 September 2009

Hi all,

Been a busy couple of days here at KAF!!

Saw the CANCON show last week. These are Canadian entertainers who do a show tour to all of the deployed CF members around the world. This one consisted mostly of French performers due to the fact that the majority of the Canadians over here are French. The show was pretty good - lots of dancing girls for the benefit of the troops!!

Did the Canada Army Run 5km on Sunday. I haven't been running much in the last couple of years, so this was truly going to be a test of whether my body was going to be able to handle it. Well, I am happy to announce that I finished the run in fine form. I went in expecting to do 5:30/km and that is exactly was I did, finishing the 5km in 27:30. Very happy with that result. I have signed up to do the US Army 10-Miler on 4 Oct - that's 16km for you metric types. I am going to speed up for this race and expect to finish it in around 1hr 20 min. I think that's achievable with another month to train.

Things have cooled off considerably over here in the past few days. I actually had to pull out an extra blanket last night 'cause I felt a bit chilled. On that, my boss just gave me his cold, so I've been sneezing and sniffing like crazy over the past few days. I've been trying to hit the sack a little earlier over the past few nights to sleep the cold off, and it seems to be going away.

Kim seems to be doing well. She's been busy working on our deck and keeping the cats from doing each other in. I get to talk to her about every other day, so I'm updated on what's happening at home!!

OK, time for a picture. On the theme of cats, here's a shot of one of the wild cats that lives here on the base. This one is pretty well fed and has been named "Chloe" by the staff. You can't tell from this shot, but she has differently shaped back legs than your normal Canadian cat. Apparently, these help her run faster, which comes in handy when chasing down mice and rats.

Picture of the Day - Home of the Whopper

Haven't had anything from here yet, but I'll probably break down and have a Whopper sooner or later...

Picture of the Day - Camel Spider

Spotted near my office. One of the reasons we aren't allowed to wear sandals around here!!!

Saturday 5 September 2009

Hi all,

Another sunny day here at KAF (that's Kandahar Air Field for the uninitiated). Things are starting to cool off a bit - it only gets to 41C during the day...

We've got a CANCON show here tonight. They send musicians and other entertainers on a show tour to visit the troops. No one of any real "fame" coming - mostly French performers due to the fact that the majority of the troops here are from Quebec. I saw one of these shows when I was in Bosnia in 1997 - the highlight was Shania Twin. Yes, "Twin" not "Twain". She actually did look a lot like Shania and sounded like her too.

I'm going to participate in the 2nd Annual Canada Army Run here on Sunday morning. There's a 5km and a 15km race - I'm not up to doing the 15km yet, so 5km it is. We should have pretty good participation - 500 runners or so. You get a nice shirt for entering and all money raised goes to Soldier On, the charity that buys sports gear for injured soldiers. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just took a bunch of new pictures. You should see them posted over the next few days. Now, don't get the idea that things are cushy here - it's still burning hot and smells like butt all the time. There are some creature comforts that make up for the long days (considering I'm doing between 14-16 hours a day, comforts are OK) and the troops who are actually in the field really deserve whatever we can provide. I'm just riding on their coattails a bit.

Just a note - I can't give you a lot of details about what is going on or what I'm doing due to OPSEC - that's OPerational SECurity. Bad guys can gather materials from all over the place and put together a pretty accurate picture of what we are doing, so I have to be careful about what I write. I'm not just being vague for the sake of being vague!!!

So, for my first photo, please enjoy the crown jewel of the Boardwalk - the one and only Tim Horton's!!

Thursday 3 September 2009

Hi all,

Been a busy couple of days. Settling in well - I have my schedule pretty down pat.

Here's a cool idea:

We operate in US$ here, so rather than having to have a whole whack of metal change, we use these little cardboard discs. A lot easier to carry and doesn't cause any problems on the airfield - little metal bits going into an airplane engine is bad I hear...

Here's a shot of my room:

Not too bad!!! There is another set of bunkbeds behind me and to the left. There's a cabinet for clothes and stuff and you can just make out the all-important air conditioner above the head of my bed. We've got showers and a bathroom just down the hall and the gym is right across a small parking lot from me.

Time is just about to run out on my internet time - we get 1/2 hour and then it resets.

Take care!!

My Ride!!!

Hi Everyone,

Here's my bike. I look like an armed Pee-Wee Herman riding it, but it gets me from Point A to Point B.

Mmmmmm... Giant Coffee

This is the MOAC (Mother of All Coffees) - 4 shots of espresso with the remaining 20oz being tasty brewed coffee. Starbucks be damned.....

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Had a good day today. Normal morning routine & then attended a few meetings. Did some work on a few files. Am going to a late meeting at 8:30pm - we'll see how long that takes....

OK, by popular demand, here's a picture:


I was too shy to ask someone to take a picture of me, so you'll have to live with this self-portrait, taken with the little timer on my camera. That's me in my office - I share it with my boss, a LCol, here in the HQ. Between us we have 6 computers and 7 phones - crazy stuff!!! We are working 12+ hours a day, which is fine 'cause there ain't much else to do otherwise!!!

OK, time for something gross. As you can imagine, there are a lot of people on this base - a whole lot. They all sleep, eat - and poop. Now, this being Afghanistan, there isn't a whole lot of infrastructure like sewers and waste treatment stations. The poop has to go somewhere and the place of choice here is a sunny little spot called "The Poo Pond". I haven't had the opportunity to see this wonderous sight yet, but I sure have gotten a whiff of it. It's enough to make your eyes water if the wind is blowing in the right direction...

On that note, I'll finish this post. More to follow tomorrow!!!

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Hi All,

Good day today. Got a run in on the treadmill this morning - watched the Jays get their butts handed to them by the Red Sox. Ate a good breakfast, drank a giant coffee, did a bit of work - my normal routine now. You should have seen the look a Brit gave me when I walked out of the coffee shop with my 24oz caffeine jolt - he couldn't believe that I would drink it all!!

I have settled into my room fairly well now. It is meant for two people, but I'm by myself for now. It's got two sets of bunkbeds, a small closet and a couple of nightstands with lamps (and an air conditioner!!). We have a washroom and a shower room right on our floor (it's a two-storey building) and there is a refrigerator with bottles of water in it all of the time. Comfortable enough for me (better than a tent or a trench!!)

Watched a little bit of TV in the office this morning. Michael Jackson was murdered, eh? Who would've guessed? Kim is on CJOH tonight - I'm going to try and watch it in the morning on the internet. According to Carolyn Waldo (the lady who interviewed Kim), the final product is really good. Yay!!

It's been confirmed that Drama get snipped on Thursday. He stays overnight at the vet and Kim will get him home on Friday. She is under orders to baby him something fierce!!! Poor dude!!!

Anyway, got to run. Take care!!!

Monday 24 August 09

Hi everyone!!

Sorry for the lack of posting - I've had some technology problems, combined with a busy Afghan election period. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more regularly in the future.

I understand that there have been some requests for photos (hi Curtis Sr Citizen!!). I'll do my best to post a few tomorrow. Not allowed to take pictures of some stuff, but I'll try a get a few good shots.

I am adjusting to the heat fairly well. It is topping out at about 45C during the day, and the smart people just stay inside. At night it gets down to 24C - that seems pretty cool after it being so hot during the day. Ottawa is going to be freakin' freezing when I get back!!

My workouts in the morning at going well. It's kind of nice that my 5am gym time coincides with the 8pm starts for the Blue Jays games on TSN. Yes, we have television (a lot of it actually). There are three flat screens on the walls of the gym, along with separate English and French TV rooms in Canada House, our recreation complex. Most people seem to have either brought or bought one of the little DVD players with them, and purchase bootleg DVDs from the market that runs next to the camp on Saturdays. These are true bootlegs - some little dude in a theatre with a video camera. You can see members of the audience getting up to go to the bathroom and everything - funny... I haven't went to the market yet, but will try this Saturday.

I hear that Drama (our new kitten) is going in for the big snip this week. Poor guy!!! I'll be the only guy in the house again after that!! He's been a little crazy lately (according to Kim), so hopefully this will settle him down. Got to speak to Kim today at work - she seems to be doing well. Hi Kim!!

Well, that's it for now. Write more tomorrow!!

First Couple of Days

Hi everyone,

Been a pretty good first couple of days here at KAF. Arrived mid-morning on Thursday - first Hercules ride I have had in 16 years!!! Was met at the terminal by my new boss and the woman I am replacing. They brought me and my kit to my temporary room and let me vegetate for a while. After that, they brought me over to our offices in the Headquarters. Thankfully, all of the rooms and offices are air-conditioned. I have heard that the temperatures go up to 60+C, but I have only seen 44C so far...

Food is pretty good. There are three kitchens here, all serving similar stuff. There is a hot food line, a short order line and a couple of salad/sandwich bars. I haven't had any desserts yet and plan on keeping it that way!!

The shopping area here is called the Boardwalk. It is a big square, surrounded by a wooden walkway, with stores along the outside edges. The centre of the square is filled with gravel and sand and is used as volleyball courts and rugby/football fields. There is also the Canadian hockey rink - no ice, but nets and boards!!! I haven't been in many of the stores yet, but there is one for sportswear, a tailor, a small CANEX and a bunch of little restaurants (Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Tim Hortons and, my favourite, a coffee shop called Green Beans). I am drinking an awesome coffee right now called a MOAC (Mother Of All Coffees). It's four shots of espresso followed by 24oz of yummy brewed coffee. Needless to say, I'm down to one coffee a day, but it's a big one!!!

Good First Full Day

Hi All!

Not a bad first full day away from home. I am still all messed up timezone-wise - woke up at 0230 hrs my time this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Heat is still bad, but drinking lots of water helps. Very quiet here at night - air conditioning is the only sound you can hear.

Went into Dubai today - very cool. Spent time in some nice shopping centres and went to a movie (mostly for the air conditioning!!) Of course, I found the Dubai equivalent of Chapters and spent some time in there - even found a Starbucks!!! Saw what must have been a camel farm of some sort - "Camalicious". Nice easy day with relatively little stress.

Heading over to the sandbox tomorrow. Not looking forward to the Herc ride, but I'll get through it. Got all of my required gear - heavy. Don't see how the troops on the ground hack it.

Anyway, got to go and pack some stuff up. Will write more once I hit the ground.

Curtis Has Landed

Hi guys,

Got here about an hour ago. Took a while to get out of airport and to find sleeping quarters, internet cafe, etc. Very friggin' hot and humid. Will do clearances tomorrow and probably fly out on Thursday morning (my time). Flight was uneventful - very nice airplane. Got bumped up to Business Class, so I was well taken care of. Didn't sleep much on the plane, though.

Got to go - need to drink some water and get some sleep!!!

Curtis