More Tour Pics

Pic1: Ooops, I think a bomb hit this place!

Pic2: Scary Stairs

Pic3: Houseboat for sale :)

Pic4: Fun on a AAA gun! Wheeeee!

Pic5: Why is the roof on the floor?

5K, Tourism & Mice!

First pic of of me after the Halloween 5K near a place called 'Z' lake (Because of it's shape)

Next three pictures are from Victory Over America Palace

Last two pictures are from the Ba'ath Party Conference Palace

 

Let see...where to begin?  On Sunday I participated in another 5K run.  This time the run was on Liberty around Z Lake.  I invited some fellow Narmy sailors and they showed up.  Instead of running as fast as I could, I took it easy and ran with a shipmate.  The run was actually fun...we kept each other motivated throughout the run.

 

After the run we had breakfast and then a little re-rack time (NORP: Naval Officer Rest Period).  Then we met up in the afternoon for some lunch and then a guided tour of Victory Over America Palace and the Ba'ath Party Conference Center (See previous post of outside pics).  The tour was very informative and we were able to see much more than we had seen from the outside. 

 

The Victory Over America Palace was close to being completed but in 2003, the Coalition Forces stopped production.  Parts of the palace are beautiful and other parts are not even close to being to finished.  We were able to go up on the roof and look around.....nice view.

 

After the VOA Palace tour, we mad our way over to the Ba'ath Party Conference Center.  This building is WAY messed up!  My goodness, we sure did do some serious damage to that building! Most of the rooms are intact except for the one demolished corner.  We did get to go into that room.  It was a stadium conference room, but instead of seating 250 people, it now only seats 10.

 

The 5K and Tours were a nice change of pace. 

 

Last part: Mouse.  There is a mouse in our office and he's been partaking of PowerBars out of my desk drawers....so I've had to empty my drawers to keep the mouse out......

That's all for now....more pics later!

 

More Al Faw Pics

Top picture is of the Main Ball Room in Al Faw and the other two pictures are of one of the main spiral staircases in the palace.

More Palace Pics

These pics are from inside the Al Faw Palace Main Ballroom.

 

Last week I spent quite a bit of time in the Al Faw palace and took some more pictures of various things.  I'll post more pics in the coming week.  My relief is on-board and I am training him up on the job I am doing.  The job is ever changing and it will take him a little while to get up to speed.  Because my relief is now sitting next to me, I should be home by Thanksgiving.  Things have quieted down in the past few weeks, but the job keeps me busy.  That's all for now...more soon.

Computer Fixed

Winged Man Statue of Abbas Ibn Firnas (Arabic: العباس بن فرناس) near BIAP 

 

My Apple MacBook is back on-line. Woo Hoo! Funny that I couldn't find any resolution on the Apple website.  After a quick Google search, I found this article which fixed my problem.  I think my DVD Super Drive is going bad.  I'll have to get it looked at when I get home, but at least now I have music back my life in my room.  I just figured out that I have less than SIX Flight Suit Friday's left.  Can you believe it?  I won't believe it until I'm on the plane leaving Kuwait!

 

I'm tired...I had a long day and it's time for bed.  Caio!

Cool Planes

Cool sunrise over one of the man-made lakes in Baghdad

 

Hello...I was at the airport tonight dropping off one of my co-workers and I got to see two MV-22 Ospreys roll into the airport.  Boy are they L O U D ! but really cool looking....too bad it wasn't during the day, I could have taken a picture.

 

My laptop is on the fritz...I am in the process of troubleshooting it. Hopefully, I'll get it back running soon. We'll see. Arg!!  Things are moving along.  Thanks to all that sent me Birthday wishes and gifts.  I failed to mention it during my last posts, but I do apprciate it!

 

Later!!

Busy Running Around

T-Shirt from 5K "fun" run on 13 OCT 07 (Happy Birthday Navy!)

 

I've been busy this week.  My boss and several of my co-workers were out on theater travel to give some training so I was running OPS.  Oh, my!  I told my boss that I was steering the ship and we might run aground.  For one week, I was responsible for the care and feeding of one O-6, two O-5's and one O-3 in addition to attending a boat-load of meetings.  I was busier than a one legged man at a butt kicking contest. 

 

My boss finally returned yesterday (YEAH!) and my life instantly became 100% better.  So last night we relaxed by playing some poker and we all had a good time.  During the poker game, one of my fellow NARMY Sailors told me about a 5K run.  Remember when I said I would not run 10 Miles, but I would run a 5K?  Well this morning at 7am, in honor of the Navy's 232nd Birthday, I ran a 5K around the lake near Victory over America Palace.  My finishing time was 25 min 56 sec, which comes out to a 8 minute and 23 second mile pace.  The last time I ran a 5K was in Pennsylvania back in 2004 and I think I ran an 8 min 28 second mile pace.  I've actually improved my time. For my efforts, I was awarded the T-Shirt pictured above.

 

Things continue to move along and I'm doing okay.  Thanks for checking on me.

Signs...and Runners

Here are few of the signs around the base.  The last pic is of a recent 10 Mile run sponsored by the base.  We had a bunch that work with us doing the run so my roommate and I woke up at 6:00 AM to cheer them on, take some pics and then went right back to bed.  I had no desire to torture my body by running 10 Miles....at one time.  I'll run a 5 or 10 K, but not 10 miles. I'm built for comfort not speed.  Our friends appreciated the support.  The weather here is cooling down.  The highs are in the 90's and it's feeling pretty nice.  Next up is the RAIN and MUD. 

 

That's all from Iraq.  Thanks for visiting.

Plane-ly Stated, Tanks some more

On top of the world ma!  That's me standing on-top of a ka-put tank. Here are some reminants of the Iraqi firepower.  I don't know the type of Tank, but the planes are MiG-23's...or what is left of them.

Golf in Baghdad

Yep, they have a driving range in Baghdad.  You show up and they provide balls and clubs.  This range is run by one of the units here, not the base.  I'm told that the driving range was sponsored by some stateside golf courses.  Kinda nice to whack a few balls now and then.  Every so many days they go out and pick up all the balls.  Too bad they don't have one of those high-speed golf ball picker-uppers! Pretty cool, huh?  Who'd thought they'd have a driving range in a war zone.

 

Funny thing happened the other night. A friend and I were driving back from the Airport over here and I heard a bunch of loud noise.  I initially thought it was a low flying helicopter, but to my suprise it was about 6 tanks rolling up the road coming straight for me.  It was dark and I didn't see them until they were very close.....Talk about power projection, whoa!  Doin' ok in Baghdad.  Thanks for peeking in to my world today. More pics soon.