Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

This morning I slept in until 6:03am. (Yes, 6:03am - I remember looking at the cell phone.) Tomorrow I have to get up at 5:00am and I haven't heard may alarm clock go off in a couple of days. Oh well, I'm sure an F-18 or a convoy will do the job... I went about my morning routine of having breakfast and checking e-mail. The joy this morning was going to the Enduring Faith Chapel, where the ChapelNext service was held at 10:30am. The singing is a contemporary mix, and the message was this chaplain's last as he rotates back home. He preached a powerful message from 1 Thessalonians 2 about the work of a pastor. As moved as I was by the message, I was more moved by his call for all the chaplains to come to the front and receive a blessing/laying of hands from any who were in attendance that were leaders in their church. What an incredible opportunity to pray for the only "unarmed" soldiers whose battles are fought with other than flesh and blood. After a simple lunch ...

After eight days of non-stop activity, I had my first day with no major obligations. No work, no travel - just a day to rest. I couldn't believe how badly my body and my mind both needed it. I slept in until 5:30am (yes, that is sleeping in around here) and slowly made my way to breakfast. After breakfast I sat down with a book and my schoolwork and made some significant progress. Calls home were highlighted by my connecting my laptop to a satellite-powered WiFi hotspot. For $3/day I won't be using it for much more than teaching my Sunday School class tomorrow. In testing it out Benjamin was thrilled to do a screen grab of me posing in front of the Burger King here. Yep, we also have a Pizza Hut, Popeye's, Dairy Queen and Orange Julius. For lunch in the middle of all that activity I found the legendary "BBQ DFAC". The DFAC at the farthest end of the post is only open from 1100-1900 (11am-7pm), and serves only Bar-B-Que. I had a grilled Italian sausage and a grille...

This morning I woke up and stepped out into the cool pre-dawn air. As I walked to the MWR building, I noticed something I hadn't seen in a few days - the mountains. Here in Bagram the mountains form a circle around the entire area. The brown foothills give way to majestic, snow-covered ridges. Two days of rain and the subsequent mud layer knocked down all the dust and haze and unveiled what, in many other countries, would pass for a great place to be a ski resort. Simply gorgeous. If only... After class I set out for my tent. With all this walking my toes are beginning to rub uncomfortably against each other. I stopped in at the PX (Post eXchange = convenience store for the military folks) and bought some cloth tape. With two toes wrapped, the pain in each step has subsided significantly. Hopefully the little toe at the end will calm down quickly... To my delight, tonight at the DFAC they served ribeye steaks off the grill. I'd been smelling them all afternoon. When I asked my ...

Today was the first day I felt really good. All the travel bugaboos - jetlag, funky stomach, sleep - have thankfully worked their way out of my system. Class ran smoothly for the first time this week. If I could possibly refer to a day out here as "normal" this would be it. After class I headed over to the MWR building next to Camp Dragon. The building has been dubbed, "The Dragon Palace." (cute) I popped in and checked my e-mail, made some calls on Skype before my 30-minute time limit was up. Afterwards, I headed down the road for the last of the 4 miles I promised myself to walk each day before calling it a night. By 8:30pm I was asleep. MWR stands for "Morale, Welfare and Recreation." It is like a community center for soldiers and others who need a place to kick back. There's always a movie showing (Avatar played here this week, but only in 2-D), and popcorn to munch along with. The computers are available for Internet access, and some have a webcam...

Last night I heard the raindrops steadily hitting the tent. I'm thankful that the super-cool tent fabric kept all the moisture off of us. When I woke up this morning, I stepped out into terrain that was transformed overnight from dry and dusty to damp and muddy. As much as this dust has gotten into every ridge of my fingertips I was so happy for the rain. The air was fresher, cleaner and crisper. I was so excited for sunrise because I thought for sure I would be able to clearly see the mountains that surround us on all sides. Sadly, as the sun rose it never penetrated the cloud cover. Worse, the fog and low clouds made it impossible to see the beautiful snow-capped mountains that were but a hazy outline on the dry days. On the plus side, the rain did wash off a lot of the dirt on many of the buildings, and it has done well to keep the dust down throughout the day. Even now, at 3:30pm it is still drizzling outside. The forecast calls for this rain to persist through Friday, with a c...