All I Want is a Good Night's Sleep

One of the big issues for people just arriving in Baghdad is that your body clock is ALL messed up.  My body clock fell out of the plane somewhere over Newfoundland and it seems to have resurfaced in Bangkok.  So my awake/sleep cycle is seriously out of whack with official Embassy time.  As I mentioned in a previous post, afternoons are the worst: I go brain dead about 3 pm and stay that way for four or five hours before starting to pick up.  Then I get perkier as it gets closer to the time the clock on the wall says to go to bed.  And when I do get to sleep, it's only for three hours at a stretch.  They say it takes two weeks to get adjusted.  I'm sayin', any time now ....

Yesterday I went jogging early in the morning.  (Hey, I couldn't sleep, what else was there to do?).  It was pretty nice: perfect temperature of around 80, very dry, clear skies.  There were one or two other joggers out there.  The compound's security force has a lot of guys and I exchanged "good mornings" with all of them as I plop-plop-plopped past.  Somewhere overhead there were several fighter jets circling around.  You can hear 'em but never see 'em.  Two or three flights of helicopters whopped past along the river, heading into and out of the International Zone (aka "Green Zone").  I find those sights and sounds very comforting.

Speaking of helicopters, if you're a helo pilot who wants to fly, this is the place for you.  My office is near the landing zone and these guys go all day long.  Every ten minutes several Blackhawks or Hueys or something come zooming in or out.  They fly all day, every day.  I was talking with a guy involved with their operations and he said that the typical helo pilot working at the Embassy has over 15,000 flight hours under his belt before he even applies for the job.  I'll keep that in mind next time I go flying with them.  They know their stuff.

One of the neat things about technology is that Janis and I have been able to videochat almost every day.  I've got internet in my room, and there's just enough bandwidth to have the chat.  Quite the change from my previous deployments.  Letters, cards, and care packages are great, talking on the telephone is wonderful, but videochat is the best.  It's the next best thing to being there.

Okay, 'nuf for now.  I'm gonna go read a cheap sci-fi book and see if I can make myself go back to sleep.  Toodles!