My Bad Hair Cut Day!

Well it was going to happen sooner or later and as usual it was sooner. I had to get my haircut and with the oppressive heat of late and the killer heat of August soon to arrive, I needed a little more than usual cut off the top. Off I went to the barber shop here on post and the guy who usually cuts my hair had the day off, so I had a new barber. Now I don’t speak the Queens English as my English is still laced with some Wisconsin accent. The barber I believe was either from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka and his English was not the Queens either. So somewhere between “cut the side with a size 2 and the top with the size 3”, he obviously understood something else. After the right side got cut I assumed that he would go to the left side, no not today….. as today was to be my bad haircut day! He decided to do the top and by then it was to late, the damage was done so I just held onto the arm rests and watched as the grey hair disappeared and so did most of my hair disappear and I soon felt like I was at boot camp 28 years ago! I got back to the office and the guys really laid into me on this one and needless to say I have been on the receiving end of some good ribbing! Luckily for me my hair should grow back soon and then I’ll make sure I get the usual barber to do the honors next time around. Looking at the good side at least I don’t have to use that much shampoo anymore and don’t need to gel or use a brush on my hair for the time being!

Things are picking up here at work, another one of the building refurb contracts was awarded yesterday which means soon there will be more construction on site and that is a good sign. They started on the Generator Repair building on Monday. Design reviews continue almost on a daily basis with the Corp of Engineers and they are really cranking these so we can move forward quickly. This week is our push to close the loop with contracting department on life support, security support, additional small builds, last minute buys etc. Once we close this up, we can then focus on all the work that lies ahead, and luckily we have picked up another NCO to assist us with all the work. I am still trying to get an officer assigned to help the PMO group because we can only do so much at a given time.

Finally hitting the road when it comes to running these days. I tend to run outside every other day since my leg doesn’t hurt when I alternate between pavement and the elliptical trainer. Last night I did 5 miles after work and at 2000 hrs it was 111 degrees out and by the time I got back it dropped down to 108. You wouldn’t catch me running in the mid 90’s back home, but obviously you have to change your mindset if you want to get out of the gym and clear your head while running outside. No IPOD’s allowed while running outside so I guess it’s back to the old school way for now. It’s interesting running along the gravel roads, especially when a couple of Strykers drive by kicking up enough dust and sand in the air that your covered in the stuff, but hey it could be worse, I remember we couldn’t run during Desert Shield/Storm from the time we moved out of port in December until late March.

Couple of key milestones, just went over my 6 month mobilization date yesterday and earlier this week hit the 25% completion with boots on the ground here in Iraq. Time flies when you’re busy, but still it doesn’t fly fast enough except when it’s free time, then free time seems to last a millisecond. Bottom line I really can’t complain, things are going relatively smooth, although like every project there are always hiccups and at a certain point you realize that there are factors which you can’t control and you just need make sure that it doesn’t get to you or you’ll go crazy!

Just got back from our weekly movie night out here where we live. They use a laptop connect it to a light box and with a portable screen pop in a DVD and we have our outdoor movies. We chip in with the non-alcoholic beer, popcorn, and other snacks and get a chance to enjoy an evening at the movies. Tonite it was Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and most of us who watched it were the older crowd.

The Colonel