November 19 (Day 40)

Hello everyone! Hope all who may read this are having a great day. It is Saturday morning here in good 'ol Afghanistan. I am doing my volunteer time at the USO. It is a little slow. Don't know if it is because of the weekend, or the little bit of rain we are getting at the moment. We had a courtesy pre-inspection of the military side of the APO this week. Not too good as it turns out. Our predecessors were not doing all the right things, so we got thrown under the bus. My platoon sergeant was involved with the inspect so knows what needs to be corrected. We will have an "official" one in the next couple of weeks. There is no way all the deficiencies will be corrected, but if we make improvements, I will be satisfied. We will just have to continue to adjust what we do as time goes on. I guess the motto of leaving something better than you find it is our goal. My rollers finally got here! They are packed in crates sitting in the yard behind the APO. I am going to try to locate a prybar this morning to open the crates. I would like to salvage the wood. I am able to see inside a couple of the crates since there are no ends, and they look great. I believe they will be very beneficial to our operations. Would like to get them into operation today. Have to head to the motorpool today to check on a sensitive item inside on of my vehicles. Have to get a memo to my commander today stating I have checked all my items this month (it's due tomorrow).  At the same time, I will talk with the mechanics about my 4K forklift, which needs serious maintenance. The last time I spoke with the mechs, their 2 forklift guys were off at other locations. Hopefully, they are back here. Went for a run on the "track" yesterday, and boy did it NOT feel good. I really don't like running, but since I have to... Anyway, I did fairly well (2 miles/15:00 min.) considering I have not ran consistently for a while. Was feeling a bit of pain afterwards! I received a couple of packages this week. Evidently, I have a long-lost relative named "Mommy" who sent me some goodies, including an HDMI cable. Now I can connect my computer to my TV, which allows me to play movies on the DVD drive and watch it on the larger screen. She also sent me some sweets, which are always welcome, as well as a small Christmas tree stand.  My sister also sent me some goodies - a small (2') Christmas tree with all the accouterments - lights, ornaments, stringed beaded garland and a star for the top. She even put "decoration time" on the outside of the package! Also received a set of sheets. Now I can put one set in the wash and use the other. In addition, I ordered some military items through official channels (we are able to order items every other month with a monetary limit). Got winter PT jacket and pants, tan t-shirts, ballistic sunglasses, and a few smaller items. It has been like Christmas come early! Plan on taking pics of my office area today, and get those posted soon. I wouldn't get too excited though, it is not much to look at. Ha! Had an issue with weather causing mail delay again this week. The powers that be think I need to have a back-up in case that happens. I try to remind them that if the normally scheduled flight cannot go in due to weather, no air asset will (unless perhaps we had a hurricane hunter C-130!).  If weather is not the culprit, then it is another matter, and I have alternatives. Well, my time here is almost up, so until next time...