Time to go home

My year is up... its time to go home. I flew from Balad back to Baghdad on Wednesday and I am spending today on Camp Victory waiting for my flight out of the country.

Its been a very long and rewarding year. I'm happy with my decision to come here -- I've learned a lot professionaly, I've had my eyes opened to many things in life, and the financial reward cannot be overlooked either. I'm finally out of debt and I'm hoping to stay that way for many, many years.

The photo above was taken during my blackhawk flight back from Balad on Wednesday.

Signing off,
-- Joe

Time at the Zoo coming to an end

I'm all packed. My flight out of Baghdad is scheduled (although I cant say when). By the end of this week I will be settled into Balad in my new office to live out the remaining two weeks of my tour here. Its the end of an era for me. But since it means that I'm that much closer to coming home, its a welcome end.

The photo above is the IT staff in front of our building over the weekend.

Down to 45 days

We are scheduled for our move to Balad sometime this month ... the day keeps fluctuating but it seems like it is going to be a reality. Our desks are gone, most of our vehicles have been taken to be shipped, and our IT team has wired the new facility up for internet. We're just awaiting final word from the military that our facility is ready for us to move into.

It will definitely not be a good time leaving. Some people have been working on this contract here for five years, and the compound we are in now has been home to this support contract since the war began in 2003. For me, though, it will be uprooting my home here and moving it for the last month of my time. Its strange looking back to say that I've lived in Iraq for almost a year... in some ways I feel like I have been here for an eternity, and in others I feel like I just left home. One thing's for sure, though, and thats that I'm looking forward to going home and leaving this country as a distant memory. It's treated me well financially, and I've made some friends here, but I can't really think of much more that I'd be able to say I got out of this country other than some gray hairs, heartache, and a new definition of miserable living to take with me.

The photo above is a photo of our logistics bay that I took with a 24mm tilt-shift lens, which, when shifted and focused properly, gives the appearance at looking at a miniature version of the photos subject.

Moving this summer

We got word over the weekend that our company's operations here will be moving to Joint Base Balad, which is north of Baghdad. The US military is looking to start turning significant tracts of land back to the Iraqis, and our compound is high on the list because we are right next to Iraqi neighborhoods already.

Fortunately for me it seems like this will be occurring in the June/July timeframe, which is right around when I will be coming back from vacation. Because of this, I will only have a manageable 45-60 days at the new site... I will be able to cope with any inconvenient situations because of this (read: having a roomate). We'll see.

In the meantime, I now have a newfound sense of urgency to get out and photograph all the palaces here again. I just got my new tripod in last week... a carbon-fiber setup with a gimbal-type head. Im hoping to get some beautiful shots of the palaces to share with everyone.

Chugging along

3 weeks back from PTO and Im getting back in my groove. How do I know I'm back in my groove, you ask? I wake up every morning not knowing and not really caring what day of the week it is. Once I hit that phase the time starts flying and it seems like every other day I wake up is a Friday. Its pretty nice actually.

Life here has gotten very repetitive since I last posted and its been getting very hard to come up with things to blog about. Im working on it though... I just dont think that a post will come every day anymore.

Back from vacation with a new role

I got back from vacation earlier this week - to watch my only sibling get married... yay Christine :c) - and I've been full throttle trying to get caught up on the goings-on here, getting over my jet lag, and adjusted to my new role. I was asked to spearhead the planning and development effort for the next major version of our application, and Ive spent the last several days feeling my way out around here to determine how much time I'm actually going to be able to spend doing this while continuing to support and maintain the existing system thats already in place.

Ive decided to refocus my time here on education, both professional and personal. While I won't be taking any formal training, I've ordered several books on photography and travel that I fully intend to hit hard and learn as much as possible and put into real-life situations here, even with my limited opportunities. Additionally, I've dusted off some programming reference books that I'm hoping to learn cover-to-cover and absorb as much as possible about the languages I'm using here. Software development, for now at least, is my bread and butter and I don't want to fall behind on things because I'm getting distracted with other things. Hopefully I can maintain my focus and keep on it.

The photo above is a photo I took of the Lincoln Memorial while I was home, and is one of my new favorite photos I've taken. More Iraq photos to come soon :c)

Surf's Up!

After I'm done here in Iraq, I plan to travel the world. For how long, I have no idea. Maybe just a few weeks. Maybe a few months. I have an itch, and I don't know how long it'll take to get to the point where I'm not waking up every day wishing I was waking up in a small town in Europe, a beachside resort in Asia, or on a wildlife preserve in Africa. But I do know I need to get out and travel, and I can't stop thinking about it.

While doing some research into traveling cheap, I came across a pretty awesome concept -- communities of travelers that are willing to take in others for a night or two on a couch or spare bedroom. There are several websites out there that support this, but the best I've found is CouchSufing.com. I've already created an account there, and looking forward to seeing what the community has to offer.

The photo above is of yours truly, and was taken by one of the Local National Program Managers (they manage all the Iraqi citizens hired as linguists for GLS) while I was teaching her about depth-of-field and aperture in photography by the pond on our compound.

Guess who's back...

Theres a few ways to interpret that question... the first is that I'm back. I've finally caught up enough on work here to refocus on my photography and blog, so for those of you that havent completely abandoned reading this you should expect to see me back to my regular tempo.

Someone else who's back -- the Pittsburgh Steelers. They won their sixth Super Bowl around 6am this morning, right around sunrise. It was a marathon night, but worth the time spent. And of course I'm happy for the Steelers fans out there, especially Amanda and her family. I figure that my vacation home later this month stands to be a lot more pleasant with the Steelers winning.

Lastly, our rodent friends have made it back as well. The last week or so we've seen a few of them wandering around our building, at it turns out that its most likely the result of some poor decision-making by someone here. Apparently they didnt like the cats that had been making a home here, so they had the cats removed. Of course now that the cats are gone our rodent population is going to explode. Lovely.

The photo above is one I took of Eric (foreground) and Steve during a game of pre-Superbowl pingpong.

The impact of change

Watching President Obama's inauguration earlier this week had a huge impact on me. Not only because of what he has promised his administration will bring - transparent government, strong foreign diplomacy, a focus on science and technology, and economic changes that are sorely needed - but also because as he spoke of Iraq I realized that a change in policy here means a change in my job here as well. As military units begin to leave the country, so will the site managers that support our linguists in the field and even the linguists themselves. I hope that the need for my services last as long as my desire to be here, but if I leave early for that reason it can't be all that bad right?

President Obama's portrait above, taken by White House photographer Pete Souza, was taken using the same camera that I just ordered for myself -- the Canon 5d Mark II. If its good enough for him, its good enough for me too.

Cats and dogs

It poured here yesterday. All night. It was probably the hardest I've seen it rain in quite some time -- probably harder than it rained in Barbados on my cruise. That's definitely saying alot when you're in the desert. From what I've heard its been quite dry out here and the Iraqis have been desperate for rain for their crops, so I'll take a day of poor weather to help folks out... even if it means I had to deal with poor satellite reception as a result for the Giants-Eagles game last night.

Back in action

Yesterday was my first day back at work here after a 16-day holiday and its surprisingly good to be back. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed being home and seeing everyone and I absolutely had a great time on my cruise and wish it could've lasted another week, but it wasn't easy being away from work when there is a lot to be done and money to be made. Plus, to be honest, life is a lot less stressful here than having to deal with real-world stresses like relationships, commuting, and figuring out what to do tonight. It's all kinda neatly wrapped up for me.

Anyway -- I'm back for a month and a half before I depart again for home for my sisters wedding... good times!

Working hard until the end

I just submitted my timesheet for this last 2-week pay period. I don't think its neccessary to say that 250 hours is more hours than I've ever and probably will ever work again for someone else in my life. And thats with some "down" days... days that I "only" worked 12 hours so I could recover. About half of these days I was in my office until at least sunset, and there were a few that I never went to sleep but for a quick nap during the day when I could sqeeze some time in. The timing worked out pretty well with my vacation coming up, and I don't know how I'd be able to recover from all this without it.

I'll be home for Christmas...

So the cat is out of the bag -- I had to confess that I had been planning to come home and surprise everyone for Christmas. Well... surprise! I won't be in town long -- only a few days -- but hope to see everyone while I'm back.

Things have been super busy here... we have our backs against the wall and I've been working for sometimes up to 36 hours straight with minimal amounts of sleep while we try to get everything squared away here. My last pay period I billed for 231 hours... way more than I've ever approached at any other job. Needless to say my photography time has declined dramatically.

Its in the stars (planets)

Tonight the moon, Jupiter, and Venus were all in very close proximity with each other. Because of the open space we have here, I've been able to watch Jupiter and Venus get closer and closer every evening, and now they have come to group very nicely with the Moon. For those of you in the states, you can see the same thing around sunset tonight-- just look west.

Thanksgiving in Baghdad

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone... I'm writing this on my first of three Thanksgiving dinners. Yep, thats right... three. We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for lunch today and will have it again tomorrow for lunch, each sandwiched around a Thanksgiving dinner. It makes for a few sleepy, belly-aching days to be sure.

The DFAC here was very well decorated, with streamers and banners hanging around, a huge center table set up with a cornucopia and large fruit and vegetable spread, several carving stations, the staff all wearing pilgrim hats, and the senior-ranking enlisted and officers performing their traditional role of doing the serving of food to military members.

The food included everything I would have asked for at a Thanksgiving dinner back home: white meat turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. I even had a slice of my favorite holiday dessert -- pumpkin pie. I really couldn't have asked for much more, and I get to do it again two more times.

This isn't my first Thanksgiving away from family and friends... I spent Thanksgiving of 2001 at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS while I was in technical training for the Air Force and we weren't permitted to travel home. There are quite a few differences between the two... I remember the food there being significantly better, I was off for the entire day while I'm likely working through the night here again, and I was at least in the same time zone as everyone I knew. The one similarity will be football. We have a bigscreen TV in our new dayroom adjacent to my office, so I will probably end up running my ethernet cable into the room and sitting on a chair to watch the game and work at the same time. Man, I love Thanksgiving...

Application goes live tomorrow

The application we've been working on since June goes live tomorrow. As with most software applications that are pushed to release faster than they should be, we've got a laundry list of issues that still need to be fixed. The last week has been spent trying to resolve issues that have come up, and unfortunately they've been popping up faster than they can be resolved. Ultimately we're going to put out a broken product tomorrow and going to spend several more weeks of long nights trying to get things fixed and regain our ability to see the customer without wanting to run away.

In other news its Sunday, which means a trip out to the airport to get a haircut and some football tonight. I'll probably be focused more on work than on the Giants - Cardinals, but hopefully I get some downtime to watch a quarter or two.

Another ping pong player joins the ranks

Steve got here on Sunday and we quickly learned that he's got some ping pong skills. He's fit in quite well with the other ping pong players, and it'll be nice to have an extra player. It's also nice to have another developer here... prior to Steve's arrival I was the only one here and had to rely on instant messaging to communicate with anyone about issues I've been having with the system. Already we've had several lengthy conversations about coding and I've felt a lot better about things.

The photo above is one of the minarets at the largest mosque in Irbil, which was donated by a wealthy local man for the citizens of Irbil to use.

Back and rested

I made it back here to Baghdad yesterday afternoon. After an extremely long day I had a chance to sleep in this morning and fully took advantage of the opportunity. I feel well-rested and ready to make this last push to get our application wrapped up and out the door this week.

The photo above is a medieval castle on the outskirts of Irbil that we had the opportunity to visit.

Almost back to Baghdad

My whirlwind tour of Iraq is almost complete and I am waiting on travel back to Baghdad and should be there by dinnertime tomorrow. I've been to 13 air bases, COBs, FOBs, or Camps, flown on Blackhawks, Chinooks, Pave Lows, and C-130s, and been in a convoy through the most dangerous city in the country. I've even had a chance to stay in a house, visit a restaurant, and walk around one of the quietest and safest cities in the country as well. I've met face-to-face with over 50 customers to give them personalized training and elicited over 25 suggestions for features to our application. At least 90% of the folks that I have met with would say that they're happy with our system, which is a pretty good success rate for such a wide range of user roles and technical capabilities.

All in all I'd like to think that my trip was a success both professionally and personally, and I'm glad that I made it through the trip safe and in good spirits. Now it's back home to Baghdad and my warm bed and office space and to welcome our new developer - and personal friend - Steve Levithan into the country this weekend and get him started on the same process I went through myself at the end of August.

The photo above is in front of the statue of a Kurdish philosopher and historian at the entrance of the Citadel in the center of Irbil.

Touring Irbil

Being in Irbil is like an out-of-body experience for anyone thats spent time in the rest of Iraq. The people here are friendly and the security situation allows us to not have to wear body armor or helmets when traveling through the city. In fact, my day yesterday was pretty much like any day I would have spent in any other city in the world. The guys here asked if I wanted to see downtown Irbil on our lunch break, and I naturally had my boots on and camera in hand before the question was even finished.

The first place we visited was the Citadel, which is a settlement in the center of the city. This settlement is one of the oldest continuously occupied in the world, with estimates of around 8,000 years. As I later found out, the buildings themselves are not actually that old - each group of people built on top of previous settlements, which is why the settlement is on top of a 100-foot hill. I found an interesting story online that his some great information about the citadel on MSN.

After the Citadel we went to a very large mosque downtown. I had hoped to have had the chance to walk around but the gate we were at was closed and Havel, the Kurdish employee taking us around, didnt know about the open gate on the back side. I at least got some photos from the outside though.

After the mosque we drove to the outskirts of the city to a medieval castle that was built by a princess of the British Empire. Its small by most standards, but beautiful nonetheless. The area around the castle is ringed by small hills leading up to mountins a 5-10 miles further away - a beautiful vista for sure.

The photo above is a view of the Citadel in the center of Irbil.

Made it to Irbil

I took a convoy from Mosul to Irbil last night and got in late. I stayed up even later to watch the Giants take a win over the Eagles and I'm seriously regretting it -- I'm pretty exhausted today. The house I'm in is very nice... its in a quiet part of Irbil, which is in Kurdish territory. The Kurds do a good job of policing and have kept all the infighting outside of their territory. Its safe enough, in fact, that we dont need body armor to walk around the city.

The photo above is part of the neighborhood that I'm in.

One more stop

I've got one last stop on my scenic tour of Iraq - I'm going to Irbil, which is in the Kurdish territory of the northern part of the country, for a few days. From what I hear the city is quiet and not opposed to U.S. presence there, so it sounds like my kind of town. Hopefully I'll get some good photos and have some good stories to tell, aside from being able to get my work done of course.

The photo above I took in Kirkuk while I was waiting for my room to get opened sometime in the middle of the night. The nighttime sky out here is pretty incredible, and I couldnt resist the chance to get out the fisheye lens and get a shot of the sky.

My first daytime flight!

I flew back to Mosul this morning on a Blackhawk and experienced my first daytime flight here in the country. It wasnt the huge city shots that I'd hoped to get in Baghdad, but I'm equally satisfied with the landscapes that I was able to see and photograph. The only negative was that our door was closed on the Blackhawk, so theres quite a bit of reflection and distortion from the glass, but I'll live.

Now in Kirkuk

I made it into Kirkuk last night on my first ride on a CH-47 Chinook, which completes my checklist of military transport helicopters here in theater - Blackhawk, Chinook, and Pave Low. I'm hoping to get on an V-22 Osprey and C-17 Globemaster sometime before I leave to complete the full circuit of aircraft. I'll hopefully be leaving again in a few hours on to my next location on my Iraq Tour.

The photo above is a CH-47 Chinook, similar to the one I took from FOB Speicher (Tikrit) to Kirkuk.

Now in FOB Speicher

After a fun night of traveling and getting on the wrong helicopter I'm currently at FOB (Forward Operating Base) Speicher, a large and mostly empty base between Baghdad and Mosul. I've got about 10 people to train here before I board another helicopter tonight for my next destination.

After my two-hour Blackhawk flight through the desert last night, I came to a realization that I thought would not be possible. I was... bored... on my flight. Yep. Bored. Sitting on a helicopter and not seeing any cities below you gets old pretty quick. If I wasnt sitting in an awkward position with the barrel of a .50 caliber machine gun sitting in my lap I might have actually taken a nap. I really need to get some daytime flights in one of these days.

The photo above was taken at FOB Marez in Mosul -- the city of Mosul is in the distance on the hill and the vehicle in the foreground is an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) Vehicle, which was designed and rushed to production to provide additional protection to troops traveling through cities from IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices).

In Mosul

I got here to Mosul yesterday afternoon to conduct more training. I'm not going to get into my itinerary until after I've completed it, but I've got several more cities and bases on my trip before I get back. One day in and already the difficulties of traveling in the country have forced me to replan my trip because of some issues with scheduling movement. At least its not raining up here... Ive heard it becomes quite the mud pit when it does.

The photo above is another that I took at sunset earlier in the week.

Iraq has beautiful moments too

Last night I had a chance to spend 20 minutes outside while waiting to find out my flight time for today. I happened to be outside during sunset and also happened to have my camera on me, and I started snapping away. I'll be honest -- I'm a sucker for a nice sunset. Iraq has some of the nicest-looking sunsets I've seen in my life. I'm sure that has to do with a combination of the flat, open terrain of Baghdad along with all the dust suspended in the air that helps scatter the light. Either way, most evenings I'm wishing I had my camera on me around dusk, and last night I was fortunate enough to.

Giants looking good

I stayed up way later than I should have last night. The Giants played the Cowboys and the game didn't start until midnight here in Baghdad. I could've just went to sleep and watched the highlights in the morning, but I've come to realize that watching the Giants play every week is the closest thing to life back home as I'll get. I think that a lot of the guys here feel the same way, because I definitely see a lot of tired-looking folks walking around camp today. The Giants, by the way, beat the Cowboys and went to a 7-1 record and are looking good to have another spot in the playoffs this year.

The photo above is a UH-1 Huey flying over at Al Asad Marine Base from last week.

Regrouping in Baghdad

After several hours on standby at the airfield in Balad, I finally managed to catch a Blackhawk out and back here to my home base in Baghdad. It was a long 8 days away for sure... it rained most of the time I was away and Balad is extremely muddy, which contrasts sharply to Al Asad in the west, which is devoid of vegetation and is mostly covered in rocks.

After a few days to regroup with Brenden here I will be heading back out on the road for another week or so to do some more training. A few things about the traveling I've been doing in Iraq: I dont mind the traveling as much as I or others thought I would - its nice to have a change of scenery every few days and to meet new people; Its incredibly rewarding for me to be able to sit face-to-face with the people that will be using my system when it goes live in a few weeks and get their feedback about what we did right and what we missed... I've missed having that opportunity at some of my recent jobs, and lastly, it is way harder to travel in Iraq than I thought possible, despite what people have said. All of the legs of my travel were delayed by at least an hour, and because mission times and flight plans are classified I usually sit in the passenger terminal at the airfield not knowing when I'd be leaving or even how long my trip is. I know now that for future travel I need to bring several books in my bag to help me pass the time.

In Balad

Last night I caught a C-130 up to Balad Air Base, which is north of Baghdad. I have some training here today before I catch a flight to my next destination. So far the training is going well -- folks are receptive to our product and they have a lot of positive feedback and recommendations for future work, which keeps the paychecks coming in. Hooray for cash, right?

The photo above is a V-22 Osprey I caught landing at Al Asad earlier in the week.

Still in Al Asad

I'll be here in Al Asad for a few more days while I'm conducting more training before I move onto another base to take care of more training there. Fun times -- its nice to get face time with the folks that will be using my system on a day-to-day basis and get their suggestions and feedback.

The weather here cleared up since our little flood yesterday morning and has been pretty nice. Its a bit chilly, but a welcome change from the heat and the skies are clear here for the first time since I got here, which has given me a few decent photography opportunities.

The photo above was taken at sunset with a CH-53 Pave Low below the sun and the top of a satellite dish in the foreground.

Flooded!

Yesterday it started raining here at Al-Asad Marine Base... the first rain we had seen in quite some time. Last night it started pouring, which I knew could not be good in the desert. When I woke up this morning to a thunderstorm, I was not surprised to see a flash flood running through the base, effectively separating me from work and, more importantly, the chow hall and any other source of food. For right now I'm stuck and probably going to take a nap since our power is also out and my laptop battery is about dead.

The photo above is a truck trying to cross the river on what had been the road to get out of here.