Well if you didn't know, I have been in Algeria since September 19th. KBR sent me on a new short term assignment to help troubleshoot some problems at one of our projects. It's not IT work but QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) but hey it gets me out of the office for awhile.
So first I'll tell you about the camp. It is a gated camp with double chain link fence and razor wire located right on the Mediterranean Sea in Eastern Algeria. The housing is good and the food is decent. The project is located in what is known as the International Zone which is a protected area where the Refineries and Plants are located. The camp is on the far East edge of the zone. We have about a 10 minute ride everyday by bus. Once inside the Plant, we don't leave again until 5:00 pm lunch is catered every day. This consists of your choice of either the Hot meal, sandwich, salad, vegetarian or Filipino meal. I pretty much stick to salad you can't really go wrong there.
The work is interesting since I haven't done that before, took a little while to get my feet wet but I think things are going quite well. So my first 9 weeks was classified as a Business trip so no project uplifts etc. I left the site by Helicopter on November 18th, had a few hick-ups with Air Algerie. We missed our takeoff window and they took us off the plane and took us back to the Terminal. We sat there for nearly 3 hours waiting for the next opportunity around 4 in the afternoon. They finally brought food off the plane and fed us while we waited and then at 4 loaded up the bus and went back to the plane. We were able to take off and we flew to Paris. I spent the night and caught a plane the next morning to Houston, which landed at 1:30 on the 19th.
So this was supposed to be a short extended trip, since I was going to be home for Kimberly and Cassie to give birth to my new granddaughter and grandson. Kimberly was due on the 7th and Cassie was due on the 17th. Kimberly had contractions on and off for days thinking we were ready to have a baby. They went to the hospital a couple of times only to be sent home. Finally the week of Thanksgiving, the doctor told her that if she didn't have Paiton by that Sunday they would induce on the 5th. Well it didn't happen so Monday the 5th Jason picked her up and headed to the hospital for a scheduled start at 6:30 am. Diane and I followed about 20 minutes later. They finally started her on the drip around 7:30 and it was a waiting game. The day went slowly and Kimberly began having a lot of bad back labor so the doctor started her epidural and things got better for her. The contractions were steady and getting stronger by the hour. Around 11 I think, the doctor checked her and said it was time to break her water. The contractions got stronger and she started making some good progress. Finally around 6'ish they kicked me out of the room. Diane and Jason stayed to help her and I went to the waiting room and sat with David and Ginny Day, Josh and Cassie and Christopher and Karen. Finally about an hour later Paiton was born, 8 lbs and 20 inches long. She is a gorgeous baby.
Well with one down all we had left was for Jack to make his appearance. Mean time I was able to get the office to let me come in and do some work, because I had been off now more than my allotted time and I had run out of PTO. So on the 21st I went into the office and started working on some things. Monday and Tuesday were pretty slow because I was reading through an 80 page summary for an application we are loading at a new project. The information was dry but by the end of Tuesday I had suffered through it and made my comments. Of course during the evening hours, I was able to enjoy rocking and feeding Paiton. She is a joy and I was enjoying her immensely. So on Tuesday Josh and Cassie went for their doctors appointment, and she told them that if Jack hadn't arrived by Thursday they would go ahead and induce her on Friday. So Wednesday I got up and went to work again and started my day. Around 8 Josh called me and asked what I was doing, I told him just work stuff nothing too exciting. I asked what he was doing and he said loading the car. I said oh getting ready for Friday already? He said so is work going to be an issue for you to leave and I said no not at all, I am here just working until Jack gets here. He said well you ought to think about leaving then, and I said ya that won't be an issue, and he said no I mean you probably need to start heading this way. I said huh what do you mean, oh, wow are you telling me Cassie is in labor? He laughed and said ya she started having contractions around midnight. I said oh, wow, ok well not a problem I will pack up and head that way.
SO, I was only about 15 minutes away from his house and 20 minutes from the hospital so i packed up told the girls we are having a baby and left. I tried to call Diane and see what the plan was and Kimberly answered and said she was rushing to get a shower and then they were leaving. I got to the hospital about 20 minutes later and called Josh to see where in the hospital they were at. He said your at the hospital, we haven't even left yet. I said oh wow I beat you to the hospital, he said ya you were supposed to call mom, we probably won't be ready for a couple of hours. So I headed back to the house. When I got there her contractions had slowed down so I say down and watched TV while I waited for Diane and Kimberly. We have been looking for a house close to them since Diane retired from First Baptist Preschool so she can watch Jack while Cassie teaches. We have found some to look at but nothing promising. Josh had driven by two new homes and asked if i wanted to go look at them while we waited. Of course I was concerned that we would be gone and Cassie would go into full labor, but Josh talked to her and they decided we had time. So we went and looked at them and by the time we got back Diane and Kimberly showed up. So around 1:30 Cassie was feeling pretty rough so they called the doctor to see what they needed to do. So they went to her office for an exam and she decided it was tome for them to go to the hospital. So we packed up what was left and headed up to meet them. We got there and waited in the waiting room for things to happen. Slowly but surely things transpired, we decided to go eat dinner since it was moving slow. Diane, Melinda (Cassie's sister) and her mom went down the street to Denny's. We told them whet was going on and they did a great job of getting our food out to us quickly. Josh and Melinda finished up and went back to the hospital while we finished our dinner. We all piled back in the car and headed back. It was about 8'ish now and Cassie was making great progress. Lee (Cassie's step dad), Cindy (Cassie's aunt), Christopher and Karen showed up and we all sat and talked and caught up on things. Finally around 11 Candy went to check on Cassie and by 12:00 midnight November 22nd Jack was born, 6lbs 5 ozs, 16 inches long. He is a beautiful little boy and has the features of both Josh and Cassie.
So with two brand new babies we had a wonderful Christmas and I was able to spend it with the kids and Cassie's parents, sister and aunt Cindy. It was a great time and probably one of the best Christmases we have had in a long time. Well Monday was a holiday for work so Tuesday and Wednesday I went back and did a few things around the office. Thursday I started packing because Friday was my travel day. Today is December 31st and Diane's birthday and I am in Marseilles France. I hope everyone has a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. I am now on my short term assignment which is supposed to be around 4 months. I will try to keep you updated with news as it happens.
So first I'll tell you about the camp. It is a gated camp with double chain link fence and razor wire located right on the Mediterranean Sea in Eastern Algeria. The housing is good and the food is decent. The project is located in what is known as the International Zone which is a protected area where the Refineries and Plants are located. The camp is on the far East edge of the zone. We have about a 10 minute ride everyday by bus. Once inside the Plant, we don't leave again until 5:00 pm lunch is catered every day. This consists of your choice of either the Hot meal, sandwich, salad, vegetarian or Filipino meal. I pretty much stick to salad you can't really go wrong there.
The work is interesting since I haven't done that before, took a little while to get my feet wet but I think things are going quite well. So my first 9 weeks was classified as a Business trip so no project uplifts etc. I left the site by Helicopter on November 18th, had a few hick-ups with Air Algerie. We missed our takeoff window and they took us off the plane and took us back to the Terminal. We sat there for nearly 3 hours waiting for the next opportunity around 4 in the afternoon. They finally brought food off the plane and fed us while we waited and then at 4 loaded up the bus and went back to the plane. We were able to take off and we flew to Paris. I spent the night and caught a plane the next morning to Houston, which landed at 1:30 on the 19th.
So this was supposed to be a short extended trip, since I was going to be home for Kimberly and Cassie to give birth to my new granddaughter and grandson. Kimberly was due on the 7th and Cassie was due on the 17th. Kimberly had contractions on and off for days thinking we were ready to have a baby. They went to the hospital a couple of times only to be sent home. Finally the week of Thanksgiving, the doctor told her that if she didn't have Paiton by that Sunday they would induce on the 5th. Well it didn't happen so Monday the 5th Jason picked her up and headed to the hospital for a scheduled start at 6:30 am. Diane and I followed about 20 minutes later. They finally started her on the drip around 7:30 and it was a waiting game. The day went slowly and Kimberly began having a lot of bad back labor so the doctor started her epidural and things got better for her. The contractions were steady and getting stronger by the hour. Around 11 I think, the doctor checked her and said it was time to break her water. The contractions got stronger and she started making some good progress. Finally around 6'ish they kicked me out of the room. Diane and Jason stayed to help her and I went to the waiting room and sat with David and Ginny Day, Josh and Cassie and Christopher and Karen. Finally about an hour later Paiton was born, 8 lbs and 20 inches long. She is a gorgeous baby.
Well with one down all we had left was for Jack to make his appearance. Mean time I was able to get the office to let me come in and do some work, because I had been off now more than my allotted time and I had run out of PTO. So on the 21st I went into the office and started working on some things. Monday and Tuesday were pretty slow because I was reading through an 80 page summary for an application we are loading at a new project. The information was dry but by the end of Tuesday I had suffered through it and made my comments. Of course during the evening hours, I was able to enjoy rocking and feeding Paiton. She is a joy and I was enjoying her immensely. So on Tuesday Josh and Cassie went for their doctors appointment, and she told them that if Jack hadn't arrived by Thursday they would go ahead and induce her on Friday. So Wednesday I got up and went to work again and started my day. Around 8 Josh called me and asked what I was doing, I told him just work stuff nothing too exciting. I asked what he was doing and he said loading the car. I said oh getting ready for Friday already? He said so is work going to be an issue for you to leave and I said no not at all, I am here just working until Jack gets here. He said well you ought to think about leaving then, and I said ya that won't be an issue, and he said no I mean you probably need to start heading this way. I said huh what do you mean, oh, wow are you telling me Cassie is in labor? He laughed and said ya she started having contractions around midnight. I said oh, wow, ok well not a problem I will pack up and head that way.
SO, I was only about 15 minutes away from his house and 20 minutes from the hospital so i packed up told the girls we are having a baby and left. I tried to call Diane and see what the plan was and Kimberly answered and said she was rushing to get a shower and then they were leaving. I got to the hospital about 20 minutes later and called Josh to see where in the hospital they were at. He said your at the hospital, we haven't even left yet. I said oh wow I beat you to the hospital, he said ya you were supposed to call mom, we probably won't be ready for a couple of hours. So I headed back to the house. When I got there her contractions had slowed down so I say down and watched TV while I waited for Diane and Kimberly. We have been looking for a house close to them since Diane retired from First Baptist Preschool so she can watch Jack while Cassie teaches. We have found some to look at but nothing promising. Josh had driven by two new homes and asked if i wanted to go look at them while we waited. Of course I was concerned that we would be gone and Cassie would go into full labor, but Josh talked to her and they decided we had time. So we went and looked at them and by the time we got back Diane and Kimberly showed up. So around 1:30 Cassie was feeling pretty rough so they called the doctor to see what they needed to do. So they went to her office for an exam and she decided it was tome for them to go to the hospital. So we packed up what was left and headed up to meet them. We got there and waited in the waiting room for things to happen. Slowly but surely things transpired, we decided to go eat dinner since it was moving slow. Diane, Melinda (Cassie's sister) and her mom went down the street to Denny's. We told them whet was going on and they did a great job of getting our food out to us quickly. Josh and Melinda finished up and went back to the hospital while we finished our dinner. We all piled back in the car and headed back. It was about 8'ish now and Cassie was making great progress. Lee (Cassie's step dad), Cindy (Cassie's aunt), Christopher and Karen showed up and we all sat and talked and caught up on things. Finally around 11 Candy went to check on Cassie and by 12:00 midnight November 22nd Jack was born, 6lbs 5 ozs, 16 inches long. He is a beautiful little boy and has the features of both Josh and Cassie.
So with two brand new babies we had a wonderful Christmas and I was able to spend it with the kids and Cassie's parents, sister and aunt Cindy. It was a great time and probably one of the best Christmases we have had in a long time. Well Monday was a holiday for work so Tuesday and Wednesday I went back and did a few things around the office. Thursday I started packing because Friday was my travel day. Today is December 31st and Diane's birthday and I am in Marseilles France. I hope everyone has a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. I am now on my short term assignment which is supposed to be around 4 months. I will try to keep you updated with news as it happens.
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