Food & Connectivity

Food:
As I have said before, the food here is good. KBR is the company that provides all the hotel services to all the FOB's in Iraq. These services include Dining Facilities (called DFAC), laundry, and a whole host of other services. The chow hall (or DFAC) is almost like eating at a buffet but you don't have to pay. The folks that serve the food always give out WAY too much of a serving size...so you have to be specific when you go down the service line (ie: ONE chicken breast, etc). The DFAC has a main line, Stir fry section, sandwich section, Salad bar, pasta/mexican bar, and of course a phenomenal dessert bar (Cakes, pies, cheesecakes, cookies, sift serve and hard ice cream, shakes, ice cream bars). A person could eat lots of dessert if your are not careful. I try to limit myself to one GOOD desert per week otherwise I might join the 300 club. (300 club: either you'll leave Iraq being able to bench press 300 pounds or you'll weigh 300 pounds.) Oh, yeah, they make us ALL wash our hands before we enter the DFAC. My wife likes that part.

Connectivity:
The connectivity here in Iraq is very good. We have Internet (hence the BLOG) and telephones. We are able to use the Defense Switching Network (DSN) to place morale calls back home. It uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and we place a call to an area nearest our loved ones and then either place the local call or use a calling card to make long distance. This really helps to stay in-touch with all of our loved ones. The other piece of software we have discovered is called SKYPE (www.skype.com). You can use your internet connection to place calls at a very low rate. If you have a Web Cam (which my MacBook does) you can place video teleconference calls for free to anyone else that has a computer with a webcam. I've tried to do this on a weekly basis to see my family....It's much better than the ship's connectivity and it's in the privacy of your own home. If any of you have a webcam and wish to SKYPE with me, drop me an email and I'll give you a call (after we coordinate a good time to call). The time here, as you can see from the clocks on the right, is about a 12 hours difference from the West Coast Pacific Time....so most of my calls take place during the weee hours of the morning. We recently got an Internet connection in our room, but there are three of us sharing the connection, so I recently purchased a Wireless Router so we can all share the connection. I should get it by next week. I cannot complain about the connectivity here in Iraq....It really does make the deployment much easier on me and my family.

The picture above is of one of my recent Geocache finds. The cache was hidden under the wooden cover on the end of the barrel. Very cool cache...and it's an old Iraqi cannon. The picture below is one of the Art pieces that my oldest daughter drew for her art class (it was done with colored pencils). She's definitely got some artistic talent (so does my younger daughter!).


That's about all from Iraq. Check out BOB on the FOB for some FOB humor.