I'm still here

Don't worry, I'm still around, and no, I haven't given up on this thing after only a week and a half of posting pictures. Weeks go by like days around here, and up until about two days ago it was a busy ten days. The biggest event recently was the memorial service for the anniversary of Massoud's assassination, which took place on September 10th. We had two generals come, so I spent the day playing driver and security guard. More than anything else we've done since we've been here, I think a lot of people on the team were nervous about that event. It was by far the most people we've seen in one place - at least several thousand, probably more - and it was the type of emotional event where we suspected everyone might have been a little touchy. Fortunately, everything stayed quiet and peaceful.

Ramadan started Thursday, which wasn't such a big event, but I suspect it will affect the pace of work for the next month. I expect things to slow down, since it seems likely that a construction crew fasting for the entire workday (to include not drinking water) will cause a decline in productivity. To coincide with the start of Ramadan, our network at the office crashed. It seemed like a lot of the local communities shut down waiting for Ramadan to start, and since we couldn't get online at the office, Thursday was kind of an early start to the weekend, which was nice in a way. Things should be mostly back to normal tomorrow.

Not much else is new. The Air Force gave me four brand new sets of uniforms last week, and although that probably doesn't sound so exciting, it's exactly the type of political debacle that serves as fantastic e-mail fodder. Hopefully in a few days I'll have something posted about it. The short version is that a few years ago the Army did something right for a change and produced a functional and comfortable uniform that I've been happy to wear for the past six months, while the Air Force spent four years developing a supposedly comparable new uniform that turns out to be nothing more than a winter-weight version of our old uniform, with five more pockets, only one of which is useful in any meaningful way. It's a semi-pixelated, tiger-striped business suit masquerading as a "combat" uniform. These people never cease to amaze me.

Like I said, I'll post more about it in a day or two, with some pictures included.