Enjoy the “little things” (Rule 32 from Zombieland

Saturday night was “Yankee’s’” (Can’t use names) birthday. He told us that he wanted have a BBQ and then watch Pen and Teller’s Bullshit on a projector. With all of us having different responsibilities after work most of us keep to ourselves and don’t have large BBQ parties everyday. A lot of people were not going to go because….. lets say the guys is real lonely and can bug the hell out of you. I realized that on most days this guy was struggling to keep it together. I made the effort to tell everyone that I was going and they should stop by, they would want the same on their birthday.

On Saturday we had about ¾ of the company come by and say hi, mainly because it was next to the bathroom/shower. Regardless Yankee had a good time. We carried over a picnic table, and fired up the grill. Yankee and “Fixitall” bought a case of N/A beer, some sodas, burger, and dogs. My first experience with the N/A beer was when I got a warm one, and then had no desire to ever try it again.

The beer was Ice cold. Between the music outside, (IPod and little speakers), the smell of a BBQ grill, and good conversations all convinced me to try another N/A beer. It was a becks and it was icy. After I had three I realized that the buzz was not what I was missing. It was the social aspect of good friends and conversations. Had a blast.

To finish off the night we set up a projector on one of the walls. It really looked great after we ask the neighbors to turn out their porch light. For some reason Pen and Teller’s Bullshit did not play, but “Theroommate” had Ron whites: you can’t fix stupid. We laughed and enjoyed the beautiful night as if we were sitting in one of our own backyards. It is Important to enjoy the little things.

I hope everyone at home is living life to the fullest

God Bless

~Peyton

New Phone

The other day the Internet went out for about 5 hours, my lines of communication were cut. Not being able to call people I previously told that I would call causes panic. The next day I went to the store and got an Iraqi phone. Now in that situation I can call people and tell them everything is fine, the Internet just went down.

The phone was $40 (has a built in flash light) and the SIM card was $20. I was told it cost 15 cents a min to call the state, and it already comes preloaded with some 3000 “Phone card min” on it. I have no idea what that really means but it does work. The cool thing is that it is a simple, cheap unlocked phone that I will be able to keep. This way if I am in Germany for a week I can just buy a SIM card there and use the phone.

Quick Notes

I got invited

to breakfast by my interpreters

one day. Hell Yeah! It is like this bread that has this sauce on it. Delicious (See Pictures)

The other day our security staff put up shade tents to keep the trucks (and more importantly, my lunch) cool. It is kind of interesting to watch someone work while having a rifle attached to him.

Pimp Shoes

Pimp Shoes

I just had to take a picture of these shoes. They are the hottest thing here, HAHA.

~Peyton

Work stuff

Everyday that I was in the states working I saw safety this and safety that. I never really saw anyone get hurt and thought all of those safety things were overkill. Over here it is a different story. One guy was out for 4 days for some kind of work injury, and he was the highest ranking one.

The first day we were working on the hydraulics one of our guys got hydraulic fluid in his eye; he is ok, but still. Since then I have been bringing my clear shooting glasses or them to wear. They all try so hard and it is sad that the working conditions are so unsafe, and we work on their military base. I wonder what their real workshops are like.

We give out a coin (army thing) to the best student every week. I was on stage with the two colonels and the lieutenant colonel giving out the coins when they called my student in front of everyone. He is no where to be found, Kind of look like a jackass because I pick the guy off todays attendance sheet, which marked that he was here. Sadly his mother had just died and he had left right before the ceremony. But I was able to get pictures of the coins.

Everything is cool, the colonels just kind of walk around with a stupid look on their face any way. “Oh hydraulics….. interesting….. fork lifts” All I am thinking is oh, leave me alone now because you have no idea what you are looking at and you are most likely going to hurt yourself.

Everyone be good,

Peyton

The computer guy

The computer guy

Most of the guys here are older and really don’t have much computer experience. I have kind of become the “Hey can you look at this” guy when it comes to computers. It is a great way to make friends and I have been able to help out a lot of people.

And I get a lot of “You have a mac, do those things work” “They are like different right???”

Three weeks gone by.....

Reallocation

Most of the people here just throw out the stuff they have bought form the PX or had shipped here. They could try selling it but it is really hard to get money for a desk, chair, fan, tv, etc. The general attitude is to you take what you can find, you should take a crappie desk because you don’t have anything else right now. Then when you find something better you take that and give your crappy desk to someone else. And the circle of Iraq continues.

The goal is to get the best stuff; it is kind of a game. We had a guy leave that liked us and he just gave us all of his crap. A power inverter, extension cord, more cleaning products then I have at home, and a bunch of little stuff you would not think you will need.

Yesterday I got a desk/trunk thing. It is not the greatest, but it was free and when I find something better I will replace it. Today I found a free little table and made that into my desk. (See Pictures).

Also the roommate and I moved our lockers into the center of the room, making a berlin wall of privacy. (See Picture)