5% done (not that I'm counting)

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've gotten a chance to update my blog, and so I'm taking a few minutes to let you know how the first week has gone. I'me pretty much settled into a routine now. I get up aroun 4 to skype with Patti, it's pretty much the only time there's enough bandwidth on the wireless to do that. Then I head to work for a couple hours before hitting the gym. Then it's back to work until about 7 in the evening, home to bed and all over again the next day.
I try to stay busy, but it's staff work, and that means doing nothing until I get information from other people. Basically I make up things to do until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when my work really starts. Nice to know the Army needed me so badly I had to come here for 6 months to build PowerPoint slides!
Here's a few more pictures of the Al Faw palace. It's nice, I live in a trailer with 5 other people and I work in a corner office on the top floor of the palace. Weird...


Here's me and my friend Russ. We met at Vandenberg and he's deployed over here from Ft. Meade. What a small world that we met up in Baghdad, his office is just around the corner from mine even!

Here is the main rotunda of the palace, it really is impressive, even if the "crystal" chandelier is made of plastic. I think if you put a few rows of slot machines in here it would make a great casino!

This is one of the many columns throughout the palace. Sadaam was nice enough to put his initials on top of every one to make sure nobody forgot who built the place.

This is a picture of my office. Yes, I work in a hallway that is affectionately called "the submarine." One of the Navy Lieutenants that works in the office gave it that name and it stuck.

Here's the view from my "office." I get a pool-side view! Of course, the pool is closed (I wonder why?)