Day 103 - 7 December 2012

Let me first start out by saying thank you to those who fought for us 71 years ago today. Many lost their lives in the deliberate attack, which forever changed history and thrust us into World War II. We owe them MORE than anyone could ever imagine!

The day started off a bit slow...I didn't get out of bed until around 0900-0930. So, that said, I didn't make it up to talk to Meagan this morning. We exchanged a few text messages and I told her I would call her later in my day.

Today was a much, much better day. I discussed some things with the guys and realized, there's nothing I can do about what happened, just keep my head up and press on. So, that's exactly what I'll do!

Not much going on at work. Everything has somewhat stabilized. I did notice tonight that they are considering the massive dip in our stuff on the fact that I was here by myself. Ha! I was working my butt off for 12-14 hours a day, trying to get information back. I sent a message to my boss explaining everything and, well, just venting in general. This is definitely something I am going to capture in my report when I return home. Just plain absurd that they think it is because we had a bunch of guys leave.

I did call Meagan and chat for about 35 minutes on the phone. It was SO good to hear her voice. It's always been a comfort when I get to talk to her. Apparently, she made a very nice donation at the post office today! ;) Wow...I can't believe it costs that much to ship stuff. No wonder the postal service is going out of business! And, to think they are raising it another cent...

Ok...not really much else going on. I'm going to call it a night to hopefully get up in the morning. Night all and God bless!

Day 102 - 6 December 2012

So...today ended rather interestingly, to say the least. But, before we get to what a great day I had, let's start with the rest of the week...

It's hard to believe that the first week of December has come and gone. Where in the world did the time go? It seems like November was just beginning yesterday, yet we're almost 1/4 of the way through the last month of the year. As long as it keeps going this fast, I don't mind...the quicker, the better!

Not really much has happened over the past few days. We've been managing to keep things up and running; just a few minor issues we've dealt with. We certainly haven't had any of the issues like we had over Thanksgiving. It just amazes me how one day everything is fine and the next can be complete chaos. Speaking of chaos, that leads me into my wonderful day today...

So, last night we had issues with a couple of sites. We pretty much knew one was a bigger issue, but we felt we had it remedied. The other site lost power...simple fix: turn the stuff back on. The guy on the other end said all of his stuff appeared normal and we called it a night; again, thinking both sites were good. Wrong...

I came in today to discover both sites still having issues. No problem, I tell myself. We'll just get to work on them to figure out what the issue is. The main problem we have is that the guy I needed to talk to about this is on the other side of the world. So, we couldn't do anything until after dinner...and we did start our troubleshooting back up after dinner. Then, came the email...

I received an email from someone else, asking what the status of these sites was, if we knew when they would be back up, and to do certain things. Well...I consider myself pretty competent and become agitated that someone on the other side of the world would try telling me what I need to do, so I replied back. I was professional, stated what was going on, what we were doing, and that we had everything under control...then the machine blew a gasket!

Apparently, I am not at liberty to discuss things like this on my own; even though it was something that simple... So, I was summoned outside of the office to talk to my enlisted manager. He explained to me the position that leadership has in the whole scheme of things and that I have been told before not to do this. Well, that's where there was a disconnect. You see...one of my predecessors sent an email off about a site that was having issues. It was a totally candid email and I'm sure he thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, it came back down and leadership wasn't too happy with us...even though...YES, even though I had stated the issue in my nightly updates for, oh, about 10 days prior to that. From that conversation, I took to the understanding that, in the event we get/send emails to the other organizations, keep them (leadership) in the loop. Hence, last night, I included leadership in my reply...and got reamed for it. Fair enough. I will shut up, color, and only handle things here in theater. Anything else, I will gladly ship over to leadership...even something as simple...SIMPLE...as an email saying, "Thanks, but we got it!" 

This piddly crap is really wearing on me. I was pumped about this job before I came...now, not so much. I'm just biding my time, trying to keep my other ass cheek in check, and watching the days tick off until I'm homeward bound. I'm tired of trying to go above and beyond to keep people off our backs, let us do our job, and provide the best information I can. After all, I can only provide quality feedback to my leadership if I am receiving quality input from the guys at the sites...and, most times, that doesn't happen! So...I will just press on...do only what is expected of me, nothing more...collect a paycheck...and get home. I'm a hard charger. I want success...but, not at my own expense. Ok, rant off...

I've been dealing with a head cold the past several days; since Sunday, I think. Anyhow, I've been taking medicine at night to help me sleep and try to kick it. I think it's working, although it has meant getting up later in the mornings. I've set my alarm about an hour to hour and a half later the past couple of days. So, I'm hoping I can get back to normal soon. I think my body is just telling me I'm running too hard...and the stress doesn't help either. But, I am getting better, so that's good!

Ok...that's all I have for now. What a day... Night all and God bless!

Day 97 - 1 December 2012

So, today is a big day! Today marks my midway point and the downhill slide to home begins! I woke up this morning, wide awake, cheerful, and ready to tackle the next few months! It's probably the best feeling I've had in a while!

The last few days, not really much going on. I'm still just running this show like a boss! :)

Day 93 - 27 November 2012

Well, I am about four days away from half way! I still can't believe it has already been three months, but as long as it keeps going this fast, I won't complain. The quicker the better!

It's been a little slow at work lately. Just working some comm issues, but otherwise have everything running. I assisted with moving a system on Sunday. Looks like we got it moved just in time, as we're expecting to see some weather...possibly snow...tomorrow!

I've been listening to Maroon 5 a lot lately. I've listened to their albums I have off and on, but here it's been quite a bit...and they're growing on me. They will be in Jacksonville April 1st, so I asked Meagan if she likes them; she does too! So, we got tickets to the show and I get to take my girl out for a night of music and fun! It should be awesome!

Ok...that's about all I have for the past couple of days. Not too exciting, I know, but it is a couple of days closer to home! I need to get some sleep so I can get up in the morning. Night all and God bless!

Day 91 - 25 November 2012

Ok, so the daily updates are still a little hard for me to get posted. We've been working some pretty crazy hours working on everything. The weather will change soon enough, so we're trying to stay ahead of the game! But, I can update you on how the past week has gone.

Thanksgiving came and went...one heck of a long day! We were all ready to enjoy some slow days, as we have nearly everything up and running. Then, the night before/morning of Thanksgiving, someone decided to work on some stuff somewhere. I would go into details, but I can't give away a lot of information. Just know that it was a major pain in our rear ends! So, instead of enjoying a nice slow morning, I got pulled into the office around 1000 to begin trying to figure out what happened.

Thanksgiving Lunch

We called all over the place and no one claimed to know what happened. We lost everything at one point, but managed to get most back up. So, more calls to investigate and still no idea what happened. We went to lunch around 1230 and it took us an hour to get through the line. However, we had REAL turkey and all of the fixings, so that was good!

Thanksgiving Dinner

After lunch, it was back to the phones to try figuring out what happened. We were still unable to get any information about our outage and pressed on, call after call. We worked on it until it was time for dinner. We decided, since we had to wait for an hour to get lunch, we would forego the special dinner and get pizza. It was pretty good pizza, but I'm only going to pay $11 for a personal pan once. And they call it a "medium" pizza. Ha!

So, after we finished our pizza, more head scratching and phone calls ensued to try figuring out what happened. Anyhow, this went on and on all night. Finally, around 0030 or 0100 in the morning, we figured out what had happened. Some changes had been made, but we're not sure who made them or where. So, we submitted some information, verified a couple of sites were working, and celebrated the day's accomplishments! We figured we were good to go...

I didn't get up on Friday until late. I think I finally rolled out of bed around 1230 or 1245 and had just enough time to get to the dining facility for lunch before they closed. After lunch, I headed up to the office to see if we had any updates. Apparently, some of the places were still having minor issues, but there wasn't really much we could do about them. So, we just began to wait for updates from the guys who are responsible for them. Things finally went from crazy to more calm and collected!

Well, the weather is turning colder. The mountains are getting covered with more and more snow, which is creeping lower and lower. I think it's only a matter of days before we have our first snow here. We'll see, but it can't be that far off! The past few mornings have been very, very chilly! I've been wearing my long-sleeve undershirt and fleece jacket in the mornings. Today, I actually broke out my beanie cap; something I don't enjoy wearing. I don't know why, but I've just never been a big fan of sock caps. However, when these ears get cold, they get COLD! So, I have to suck it up if I want to stay warm!

That's pretty much the last week in a nutshell. Things are still going well on this end and I'm just ticking off the days until I get to go home...almost half way there! So, I'll sign off for the night. Night all and God bless!

Day 85 - 19 November 2012

It's hard to believe it has been two weeks since my last post. There hasn't been a whole lot of extra stuff going on, just the normal day-to-day operations. I've had a few ups and downs though...

So, I was by myself for a while...explains why my blog fell off the shelf for a bit. I had a large amount of issues to deal with and was trying as hard as I could. However, for reasons beyond my control, things weren't getting fixed; and, it was all placed on my shoulders. My new team arrived, I spun them up, and we got stuff knocked out. Then, another event happened that was blamed on me. I didn't see why and my morale hit an all-time low. I'm a very hard charger. Tell me what you want done and I'll make it happen as quick as I possibly can! So, giving it may all actually got me kicked to the curb...for NO reason. I'll tell you what...it was a pretty dismal night. I felt like total crap; but, that's over! Thank heavens!

We've been working hard over here to get everything up and running and on the verge of being the FIRST team to get EVERYTHING up and running at the same time...with NO issues! That's something I can certainly be proud of. I've got a good team and a can-do attitude. We're rocking it!

Ok...I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I'll get back on the daily normal. I just really need to get to bed. My stomach doesn't like me right now and I don't know how much sleep I'll actually get. That said, night all...God bless!

Day 71 - 5 November 2012

Ah...up and at 'em after an extra hour of sleep! :) I headed over to talk to Meagan and was happy to find out that Jimmie Johnson won the race at Texas, extending his lead in the points. It is reminiscent of my trip to Iraq in 2006, when Jimmie won his first championship. I may just have to sacrifice some sleep here soon to watch the Chase unfold!

Meagan and I talked about a family we know that are going through a rough time right now. I am so thankful that I am not a bad person and we are happy. I know I cannot do the things I do without her support...

Work today...same. I wish I could get a few of these issues resolved, NOW; but, we'll keep working on them... The new DO got under my skin a little today. I felt almost as if he was looking at these ongoing issues as me not doing my job. In fact, I believe I have been going above and beyond, because I can't seem to get some of the guys out there to make phone calls and troubleshoot...so, I took the reins and started doing it myself. However, we did discuss it after dinner and I know why he's pushing to get this stuff taken care of. I'll do whatever I need to in order to assist, but the guys in the field need to step up their game as well! I just don't see how it makes sense to send a guy out to a location, simply to enter a number in a computer, because an Army guy doesn't want to help. To that, I agree with my superintendent: if the Army won't assist us...pull the damn sensor! Done.

Work is done for today and I'm off to bed! More fun tomorrow! Night all...God bless!