Day 78 / FEB 15

Day 78 / Feb 15

            This morning was the typical waking up process: flop out of bed and stumble to the shower.   I don't think I've even fully explained the shower situation, but I'll try.  The showers are located about 45-60 feet from my CHU in an elevated building about 30 feet long and 9 feet wide.   Once here, I quickly discovered that, although there are six stalls in this shower building, only two are 90% functional.  The floor used to be a linoleum that was peeling up and there was no thought put into actually draining water off the floor.   There are two drains on the floor which, for some reason, sit HIGHER than the rest of the floor, meaning that any water near the drain runs away from it.   Within the past few days, they have improved the shower facility by removing the linoleum and adding a black rubber matting.  The drains are still higher than the rest of the floor.   Out of the six shower stalls available, only two work well enough to comfortably use, but by just looking at them, you might think that four out of the six were good to go.   Two of the bad stalls have nozzles that have no way of attaching to the pole, so if you use those, you just hold the nozzle while you shower – possible, but not all that great.  One of the bad ones has a slot for the nozzle but it is VERY loose and if you turn the pressure on too high, it pushes itself up, spraying the entire shower building with water.  I found this one out the hard way when the shower was full, except for that one stall.   I adjusted the pressure just right so that the nozzle stayed upright – not flopped down and not taking off into the sky.  But, I adjusted it while I was NOT standing in it.   Once I stepped inside, the reduced distance from the shower nozzle to my head was sufficient to send the shower head rocketing upwards, dowsing everyone before I could grab it and bring it under control.   The last screwed up stall has a nozzle and holder, but the holder refuses to stay up – it continually slides down the pipe to rest at about waist height.

            Another shower issue comes with the water temperature.  The water in the heater is very hot, set intentionally so because of the winter months (so says the sign).  The water pressure and temperature in the shower are controlled by one lever that goes up and down (for pressure) and left and right (for temperature).   The total range of the lever left and right is about 95 degrees.  The center point is just about right for water temperature.   Five degrees to either side of center gives you ice water, or boiling shrimp water.  This is ok, as long as you are careful.  Once you have the shower running and you step in, you realize why you have to be careful very quickly.   The shower nozzle sticks out from the wall about 8-10 inches – just enough to get under it.  The lever for the temperature and pressure sticks out about 4-6 inches.   If you are not extremely careful, when you are moving in the shower to get clean you can very easily knock the level with your back to one side or the other.   In return you receive either a super cold jet of water that makes you suck in your breath because its so cold, or a super hot scalding stream of water that makes you throw yourself into the stall wall or completely out of the stall.   That is the shower situation. 

 

            After my morning shower, I slipped in a quick mini-IM with my wife and then poured a cup of coffee before going to the patrol meeting.   I usually drive to the meeting because if I were to walk, it would take longer to walk there and back than it would to actually have the meeting.  And I'm lazy.

 

We are expected to brief our patrol plans at least 48 hours in advance of the patrol.  This includes who is going, where they are going, when they are going (by the hour), etc etc etc.  It wouldn't be a big deal, except that everyone wants to jump on the patrol after you brief it.   Usually the biggest offenders are the people in charge who don't feel any compulsion to follow their own rules.

 

The weather today was fair in the morning and shifted to a rain and then a hail in the late morning.   The hail was approximately marble size.  One the helicopter pad, a helicopter was idling very fast (emitting a deep throbbing tone that resonated in a bad way) for about 45 minutes before the weather cleared enough for it to take off.   Its idle made it sound like it was on the verge of taking off the entire time.  It was not super loud but it was very annoying.

 

One of the people I share an office with has a CD player.  That's great, people listen to music all the time.   The problem is, he likes to play it out loud, without headphones.  Really, its not a problem, but after awhile it gets annoying.   His music isn't exactly what I listen to on a regular basis – it's the rough equivalent of elevator music.  Even though he plays it when he's here, its not a big deal.   I am fully capable of enduring his music while he's here.  But when he leaves, he leaves the music on!  He knows he's going out, he knows he's going to be gone awhile and apparently he thinks we all want to listen to his music while he's gone!   Personally, I think its pretty rude to just leave it blaring and walk away – so I turn it off.

 

My wife sent my a cool email today (or last night) having to do with a maze that tests the steadiness of your hands.   I thought I had a pretty steady mouse hand – after all the hours I spent playing computer games, it should be very strong.  But, try as I might, I could never get to the fourth and final level!   The third always stopped me!  I'll put the link here so others can try if they want – but I warn you, its not for the faint of heart (or those prone to heart attacks!  I never thought a maze on a computer screen could produce such an adrenaline charged reaction.  So, pay attention, don't hit the walls and remember the hint about the sound.  MAZE LINK - http://www.winterrowd.com/maze.swf 

 

Had lunch – Easy Mac and Cheese – avoided the new mud and all that crap!

 

I was also informed today by my Commander that I was to inspect some of the leadership under me tomorrow for dirty weapons.   Apparently he checked their weapons today and discovered that they were dirty as hell!  That's bad leadership.   So, he told them to have them clean.  And he told me to check them tomorrow and if they WEREN'T clean to use my imagination to teach them the importance of a clean weapon.   I can't wait.  On one hand, I want to warn them of the impending doom.  On the other, some people just need to learn things through experience.   We'll see how they do tomorrow.

 

I plan I getting to my CHU around 2200 tonight.   It'll be an early bedtime.  I'm a bit tired.