Just another day....

Well it has been a few weeks so I will try and give you an update, probably boring to most, but just the same.

Well it has been a very interesting few weeks things have heated up at the site since we last spoke. We have installed a lot of steel and believe it or not (one of the boring parts) we actually got a piece of pie in a rack and the General contractor cracked a coconut. What you say a coconut? Yes that is correct it seems to be an Indian (India) tradition that once a milestone is reached, they crack a coconut to celebrate. I was not present for this festive tradition but from what I can understand is that they crack it open somehow against one of the beams, the concrete wherever. Also the Client Sabic has a contest ongoing for all the companies working on site, see just how safe they can be. There is a long list of things that you are graded on every month. This includes, tying off with a safety harness when you are more that 6 feet above ground, housekeeping which is keeping your areas clean of clutter and all your materials in neat order, no accidents or near misses, well you get the idea. Anyway KBR has won the coveted Green Flag award three times and we were issued the ever coveted Gold Flag this week. A celebration of raising the flag was performed, again which I didn't get to attend, but was said to be an awesome site. The safety manager was ecstatic and was proud of his safety team and all KBR'ers.

Ok so enough of that boring stuff. My job has been quite stressful for the last few weeks. A Saudi contractor is building a 2-story building down at the Superintendent area at the end of our plot we are building. It is very involved and the contractor made excuses for nearly three months when he was supposed to be on site. Finally they started the job and he is running a 24 hour shift and expects to have it finished around the 27th of November. Well all along I have been waiting for someone to tell me what the I.T. plan looked like and I never got it. Now they are saying I.T. is going to hold them up so guess what, yep you probably guessed I have been running crazy trying to get designs, configurations, material, etc. In the past three days I have been to the building 6 times taking measurements, laying out the plan on the floor and surfing the Internet looking for part numbers etc. Meanwhile my support group out of Dubai has been anything but helpful and has basically said you are on your own, good luck. Hmmm support group what does that mean again, S U P P O R T? Needless to say it has been fast and furious. I have been working long hours, trying to get at least 7 hours sleep a night and in between trying to eat healthy. The later is a joke because there isn't much that’s healthy here so I have just been doing portion control.

So only 9 days left and I will be on that lovely LONG flight back to the US to attend Kimberly's wedding. I think I have some part in it but I am not real sure what it is (grin). Not looking forward to the long wait in the airport in Dammam and the long line to get your passport stamped. Last trip, I might have mentioned this sorry if I did, I waited an hour and a half with 10 people in front of me. Wow if you’re Saudi then you just wave at your bud stamping the passports and he moves you to the front of the line. Hmmm maybe if I could make friends with one of them that would work for me too.......Naaaa. So while you lovely people will be sleeping on the 17th I will be flying to Amsterdam, then to Houston. At least I should be in at a decent hour and knock on wood no IKE's looming in the Gulf! It really is an imposition to fly from here because you basically have to get to the airport about three hours before your flight, sit in a very large room and wait for them to open your flight to check in, then the passport line, then another long wait in the terminal and finally you get to board the plane at 12:00AM if your plane is on time. Too much fun let me tell you because in Saudi there is NOTHING to do but sit and look out the window. Most of the time there is no one going out the same time so you don't even have anyone to talk to.

Ok well I think I have bored you enough this time around, I will try and give you some more juicy details when I get a breather from the 2-story. Oh did I mention that I have three other projects waiting for me to basically do the same thing when I get back? No probably not, but I do. Two Fiber cable pulls, termination and testing, a new building we are taking over so we will have to test all over a 100 "unmarked" cables to see where they go, and on, and on. Plus the fact that we still have a very slow satellite network at the warehouse which we commissioned over three weeks ago and it is still unstable. And of course I have the Fab Shop in Dammam that we still have to get up and working before I leave so cram all that into 9 days and what do you get?

Ok that’s it I won't go on anymore, promise! Hope every one is doing good and staying healthy, we'll see you in a couple of weeks.