Thank you all!!!

This is a special thank you to all of the following people for helping make my return home a wonderful surprise! Coming home to see many of you waiting for my arrival was so awesome. But, receiving tickets to the biggest game of the year (and quite possibly my lifetime) made me realize how wonderful you all are. Thank you so much, I look forward to seeing and talking to all of you very soon!

Bill Irish, Walter Bailey, Larry Nanna, Ron Hughes, Rob Meigs, Bob Schinker, Bill Blashill, Jeff Wallace, Bob Costanzo, John Hoover, Trevor Ross, Ramon Vignali, Jerry Reynolds, Kim Behn, Mike Kouremetis, Rob Armstrong, Tod Bickley, Beth Divine, Julie Lucas, Jeff Kerr, Tom Johnson, John Long, Lenny Holtzman, Patrick Priest, Heath Carfrey, Grandma & Grandpa, Jody, my Mom and last but not least, Jenny!

Go Bucks!!!

10 Days and a Wake Up!

Hey everyone! Well, that's it, that's all my time is down to here! Now, I have good news and I have bad news... The bad news first - For those of you that like reading my Blog, this will be my last post while in Iraq. The good news is that this will be my last post while in Iraq. So, take that as you will, but for me, I'm extatic!

Boy, those Buckeyes are really looking stellar. This has got to be one of the best teams I have ever seen play. Compared to the 2002, they are far more dominant on offense this year and very comparable on defense. We should walk right into the National Championship game! Bring on anyone, we will prevail! Go Bucks!!!

Well, I wanted to make sure I thanked EVERYONE for their continued support during this entire deployment. I don't think I would have made it if it weren't for everyone emailing, sending letters, packages, and everyone's thoughts and prayers. Thank you all, you really did make this deployment bearable. I miss you all and I'll see you again soon!!!

Ok, ok, as for this picture... it was taken on sergeant Knox's last deployment. He was stationed in Kuwait the entire time, where camels are more prominent. I figured I'd post this online for him to help his chances with the ladies when we get home. As you can see, he's not too picky. ha!

Have a great day! See you all soon!
- Jason

Just over a Month Left

Hey everyone! Well things are starting to wind down here. We've packed up almost everything, mailed anything we don't want to travel with back home and turned in a bunch of gear that we aren't taking with us. I've still got my tv to watch football and my internet for a couple more weeks!

Boy, those Buckeyes are something aren't they!?! What a season so far! They've shown every game on TV except the Cincinnati game, but I read the play by play on the internet. I'll tell you, watching a game is a lot easier and more fun than reading one!
I'm not sure who all saw the video of us on during the pre-game of the Texas game, but there were also photos submitted to the Ohio State Buckeyes website as well. Here's a link to the story... Click Here It's another "Where's Wallace" photo!

And for any of you that like a good laugh, a friend of mine sent me this video on YouTube.com - it's hilarious! Ohio Video-Franklin County

I wanted to let everyone know to not send anymore packages or letters. We know it must be getting pretty close when we can tell you that.

I hope everyone is doing great! I'll see you all soon!

Texas Who?

What a game!!! There was so much excitement and guys going crazy during the game, I felt like I was in Ohio except for the fact there wasn't any beer... And I've heard from quite a few people that they saw me on TV! If you didn't, here's a picture of the group, right before they filmed it. (where's wallace?)

I'm waiting on a call from my agent, on a movie deal now... Maybe 'Saving Sergeant Wallace' or 'Jarhead II'?

Anyway, just wanted to say GO BUCKS!!!

Saw em' Off

Well that day is almost here, the day we seek redemption from what happened last year in the Shoe. No need to rehash it all, but this picture says it all. I believe that there will be a live feed from WSYX here in Iraq with us about an hour before the game, so there is a chance that some of us might make our television debut while giving a 'shout out' to the folks back home.

Thanks to college football and the NFL, the remainder of our time here will be much less stressful. Other than the weekly fantasy football taunting and smack talking amongst us, there's not much going on.
So, I'll keep this short and sweet! Go Bucks!!! O-H-I-O!

I did come across a pretty good write up from the game last year if you're interested in a short OSU article. Click Here!

A Garfield Funny

Leave the funniest comment!

Hey everyone! Well, we've been gone from home for almost a year now, and it was about this same time last year that we were all partying it up and getting ready to say goodbye. Now, there's just about 10 days until kickoff and we're under 70 days remaining in country, so what could be better than that? Ok, ok, so we could already be home, but we're not, so we've got our Buckeye attire ready and anxiously await the opener and the day that days remaining nears zero!
Nothing really new goes on over here, the temperature should be starting to drop, and might even get below 100 by the time we leave.
Today I got to meet with the leader of the guys coming in to replace us. He is just visiting to gather information about projects, the office setup, network lines, computers, personal satellites, etc... all of the stuff that no one did for us! They should have a pretty easy transition taking over our function. They'll be here a couple of weeks after they get here for transition and then we're outta here!
Physical therapy is coming along pretty well, I'm still not back to 100%, but working on it 6 nights a week. I met with a Physical Therapist earlier this week and he was kind of shocked at how quickly I've regained range of motion and strength. He said there's no need for me to come back to see him unless I have any problems.
Well, since there's not much new here right now, I do have one idea that's going to require all of you to be 'creative'... You see the thermometer picture below, let's see who can come up with the best or funniest caption for it. For example, try answering this - "How hot is it? It's soooo hot..." Leave a comment with your creeeeeative response!
See you all soon!!!

Back from Germany

Hey guys and gals! Well, I got back to the wonderful land of Iraq last week. As you can see from the thermometer, it's a bit warm right now. Germany was a great time and a great opportunity to have my shoulder fixed up. The other picture was me in the Blackhawk flying over Iraq back to my base. I'm still doing Physical Therapy and I don't notice much improvement day to day, so I hope over the long run it starts to be more apparent.

I met quite a few interesting people in Germany. A couple of WWII vets, a retired couple that are now historians studying the war and searching for artifacts and stuff in the woods. It's really interesting to hear about the events that went on right where you stood. So, I've taken an interest in reading about the war, biographies and I have a white paper that this historian wrote. It's really shocking to see the terrain that was used for a war like that. Nothing like what we have here. Now, the enemy isn't wearing a uniform, nor can we see them. It's very different and neat to read about, especially the Battle of the Bulge on the German / Luxembourg border. Today, you don't even need to show ID to cross this border! I told a few people that I learned more in a day traveling about WWII than I did in all of my prior education! Maybe because I listened? Nah!

Work was pretty slow while I was gone but has picked up since I've been back. I guess that's a positive thing since we're on the downhill stretch now, with only 3 months left to go. They've started planning for us to exit the country and our replacements are already at the Mob site training to come over here. So, that's exciting for us.

I'm still scheduled to be home, relaxing on the couch by early November. With plenty of time before kickoff on the 18th! (Ohio State vs. Michigan - for those of you that don't follow the Buckeyes) If anyone knows someone that has or will have tickets for this, I would be indebted to you to allow me to buy them! Seriously, I'll take as many as I can get so that I can share them with other guys coming home with me. With just a month until the first kickoff, we're all getting ramped up to watch the games!

Well, take care everyone and I'll see you soon! - jason

Jason and Cher

Hey everyone! Well, I'm still in Germany recovering from my shoulder surgery, I should be good to go in about 10 days, and will be sent back down range.

I am recovering nicely, I go to the hospital everyday for Physical Therapy. I never realized how heavy 4 pounds can be! I warm up with a hand-bike, probably just what you are thinking and then move on to a mixture of strength and range-of-motion exercises and then get iced down for about 15 minutes. I try my hardest, because I really want it to be like it was pre-injury. But, this isn't all I do...

Germany is a really nice place and I have gotten the opportunity to site see and visit some really cool places. The week I got here was the week of Germany's World Cup game with France. The town was about as out of control as an Ohio State home game, but you don't understand what the people are chanting or yelling - you just know they are probably all intoxicated. I made it down to Kaiserslaughern (K-Town) where some previous games have been played, to take part in some of the excitement at a big pavillion with a huge bigscreen and lots of sponsor stands. It was really a good time.

Yesterday, I was sitting there watching a movie and someone said, "Cher is here!" So, we all jumped up and walked into the hallway and sure enough, there was Cher. She came here to visit with everyone and surprisingly stayed quite a while for pictures and autographs. It was really cool, probably because there wasn't a mob of people trying get to her, but just a group of about 50 of us. She is so nice, I couldn't believe it, really down to earth and wanted to be here, not for publicity.

Well, that's been the most excitement I've had in quite a while. I hope everything is going well back home and over in Baghdad with the rest of you! I'll be back soon. Take care.

Back to the Heat

Hey Everyone! Well, I finally made it back to the land of the hot and miserable after having a wonderful couple of weeks back home. Unfortunately, I was not able to see everyone and I apologize for that, but I will be back home for good in under 5 months.

I arrived in Columbus after about 60 hours of traveling and was greeted by a clan of family at the airport, many of which I didn’t expect to see, what a great surprise. Once I got home, I saw my truck washed and polished sitting in my driveway, courtesy of my sister’s new fiancé, Heath – (Thanks Heath, and Congratulations to you and Jenny!)

Once home, after eating at Chipotle, (yummy!) I noticed I had acquired a 2’ swimming pool to take the place of my shattered glass top patio table. Evidently, I didn’t want a table anymore – but, hey what a great thing to have when you are drinking yourself into an oblivion, tossing corn-hole, listening to music and visiting with friends. Then the unavoidable happened – someone mentioned the words “Chicken Fight” and it suddenly became a photoshoot…

I had an awesome time in Virginia Beach with my mom, Jody, sis and Heath. I’ve been to a lot of beaches and I’d have to rate it towards the top of my list. If it weren’t for all of the work pedaling the girls around, I’d take them back again! Yeah, that bike looks like a fun time, but let me be the first to say, it’s hard work, not a “leisurely” bike ride!


As for the big move, Jody did get moved to Ohio from Florida although it didn’t really go as planned. We had hired movers to pick up her stuff in Orlando on the 26th, a day before I left Iraq and it was supposed to be there within 5 to 7 days. 20 Days later, on the morning that I was leaving for the airport to go back to Iraq, the movers show up at 5:00am with her stuff. Made for an interesting morning!

The trip back to Iraq went a lot smoother than the trip home. I made it back in just less than 48 hours, everything is still the same. I felt like everything was the same back home except for a few new shops, restaurants and streets. I want to thank everyone that visited with me and for all of the generosity and nice gestures. You all are great!

I will be leaving Iraq again within the next couple of weeks to finally have my shoulder fixed up. I’ll be having surgery in Landstuhl, Germany. I hope to have internet access and will try to keep you up to date with what’s going on.

Here's a good picture of my two girls...

Take Care!

Sand Storm Pictures

(Click on the photo to enlarge)
Here are some pictures of the worst sandstorm I've seen since I got here. It moved in, in about 4 minutes. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but the after effects include a haze in the air for hours, and a general dirty, gritty, dusty feeling everywhere. A thick layer of dust settled on everything in the office and our trailers. Unfortunately, Luke left his window open to "air out" his trailer... so much for the fresh air!

Countin Down!!!

Hey! Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been forever since I posted anything new out here. Well, that's because my life has been extremely busy with the absence of my boss. He was home with his family and vacationing in Vegas for a few days. Now that he is back, my workload is back down to a normal level. I guess I didn't mess up anything too bad while he was gone, although of course, he pointed out a few things I missed.

Time has been going by pretty quickly, until now. I have about a month until I get to head home for a couple weeks. I can hardly wait. Jody will be moving to Ohio over Memorial Day, and when I finally make it home, we will be living together. We are both hoping that everything goes back to normal and that we can finally have a relationship together, together! Ever since we met, it's been her fly here, me fly there, etc. My mom is getting really antsy and my sister is trying to fix everything that she's messed up in my house, so that I won't find out how many parties she's had! But, we're planning on taking a vacation together to get away, to a beach, with water...

Extreme monotony is setting in... Routines need to change or many people are going to start flipping out! We're having a lot of conflicts in the office, personalities that normally only handle a day or two a month of each other are now basically living everyday together and tensions are rising. For some of us, it is humorous to see how people deal with anger differently. Some just scream and slam, others hold it all in and just shake, and then you have the psycho ones that plot to get even...

The weather has gotten pretty warm and I've been able to make it to the pool for some sun and red-ness! I found that it's difficult to get a tan here very easily. Think about this - you want to slow cook a turkey in the oven all day, but you stick the little guy in and turn the oven on broil at 475 degrees... Not quite the intended outcome, same here with the sun. (Luke, I'm sure that analogy was a little better than others I've come up with!)

I did get to visit with Toby (SPC Simpson, to those of you in the Army) a couple weeks ago. He flew in here for a vacation away from where the other 11 guys live. It was great hanging out and catching up on things going on in his life and visa versa. I'd have to say that splitting our section up and sending it to two different sides of Iraq wasn't the best choice. It's like leaving your family; once you left your family. I truly believe that this place would be a lot more positive and upbeat if that wouldn't have happened.

Well, I'm about out of news... Oh, one more thing... An old friend of mine, from the elementary school days emailed me and told me he had a dream about me. Dreamt we were playing poker together, nothing unusual there. But, he said that he and I were the last two at the table and we were both All-In, and he flipped his full house over, ready to take the money; I flipped over 4-ducks... and won. The unusual thing was that they were 4 little yellow ducklings on the cards. So, we need help with this one - does 4-ducks beat a full-house? Oh, I guess there was confetti and supermodels and an announcer... I don't remember going to Vegas!

I miss you all! Take Care and I'll see you soon!

Over Half Way!!!

Well, we just passed the half way point of the entire deployment. I'm supposed to go on leave for 2 weeks in less than 2 months! I could really use a break from this place. Seems like as soon as our days start to slow down, yeah, you guessed it - they pick right back up! We've put in a few 14+ hour days here lately. Right now, I'm taking over for my boss while he goes on leave, it's a lot of extra work, but a good change from the monotony.

THE POST-IT:
I never knew that you could yell at someone thru a post-it note until I un-intentionally did just that. I left a post-it note on a set of floor plans saying please review and let me know if you would like to change something. We ARE AWARE of the page numbering mistakes and ARE fixing them. Well, I guess I "raised my voice" to the wrong person. Anyway - I explained that I wasn't and was told not to use capital letters with me ever again. so now i type like this.

THE PAD LOCK:
Oh, something else funny has happened. As you all know, when it rains here it gets pretty muddy. Well, when you're in an uparmored humvee, you just 'hit' the puddles :) When you do that, the headlights and windshield sometimes get muddy... We were told at 10am to ensure that headlights and windshields are clean before we drive them. Within the hour, all 3 of our vehicles were clean. Later that night, the last guy to leave went to the vehicle and noticed that there was a second pad lock on it. He checked around with everyone still there and no one knew anything, so he cut the lock and drove home. About 45 minutes later we were leaving for dinner and it was locked again! We all piled into one vehicle and ate dinner and talked about why or who would do that. We figured it was a prank (because we like to pull those on each other), we then thought maybe it was the big boss that told us to wash the windows... but nah, he's too busy to track down a vehicle that quickly plus our windows were clean! So, we cut the lock right after dinner. I then walked into my room and noticed that I had missed a few calls on my cell phone... all of them were my boss. I didn't have any minutes left, so I walked over to his room - he asked me if someone cut the lock. Uhhh... yeah, I uttered... well, don't cut the new lock because the big boss put that on... Uhhh... too late, as this sinking feeling came over me...

Now, the questioning began - Why? Who? Why? etc.. The best answer I could come up with was "because it was locked and we didn't have a key" (sounded good to me!) Well, it wasn't good. We were supposed to KNOW (i'm not yelling) that the big boss did it, and report to him to get it off. Well, we didn't need it off anymore, but we all had to report to him anyway and explain WHY and WHO? So, after that was done - we think he'll leave a post-it note next time, probably in all CAPS.

THE POOL:
Sunday, we (me and another guy) got to go to the pool. It was very relaxing and sunny and not too crowded. The pool is kinda like an island with a walk way too it. It's in the middle of a lake. A lake that was poisoned by Saddam - some guy actually fell into the lake and had to have 8 shots to keep him from getting sick! We were throwing a football and of course it almost went into the lake. Good thing it didn't - or I would've been buying a new football. But a couple of other guys weren't so fortunate - right into the lake! Luckily (I think) the wind blew it close enough to fish out... then they keep throwing it. (did anyone remember that the water is poisonous? Geez!)

Fun with Photoshop:
Well, after my last post, and the picture I shared with all of you, one of my guys had to show me up. Click here to see what I'm talking about - PLEASE leave a comment, or a job offer for this guy! He's got quite an imagination! Oh, and it's not my spandex! (Caution - this may offend some of you)

Well, that's about it - nothing really "new" so I figured I'd entertain you or bore you!
Take care!
Jason

Fun with Photoshop

Hey guys and gals, It's about that time again - time to update the BLOG! Well, the time here is really going fast as I look back and see that we left on September 12th, and it's almost April now! About 10 more days till we reach that magical half way point! After that, it 'should' be all downhill, and planning to leave here should start in a few months.

Days have actually started being shorter, and the dictatorship work environment is more relaxed and people aren't stressing out as much. We started playing sand volleyball on Saturday afternoons, that's a good time. The sand is a lot more like dirt and rocks with traces of sand, but hell, what should we expect from a desert-like environment? The sand here isn't like sand back home, when it get's wet and drys, it compacts with the dirt. So, if everyone sends a box of sand to us, that would be great! Jody - next time you go to the beach and you're building sand castles, fill up your little red bucket and send it to me, ok? :)

This morning I went to the pool on the neighboring base with a couple of guys to start on that 'desert-tan'. We were only there for 2 hours, and the sun didn't feel that strong, so I said, agh heck with the lotion. Bad idea. Good thing it was only for a couple hours or I'd be crispy! The pool was pretty nice, only 4 chairs and they were junk and it was dead there. So, we were the only 3 people there and had the pool all to ourselves to act like kids and splash around and throw a football around.

I've been taking a class on Adobe Photoshop from a book I bought. I've always wanted to learn how to use it to enhance and modify pictures. So, the picture you see is my first one. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Well, I'll close for now! Miss you all!
Jason

March Madness...

Hey Everyone! Well, to keep the trend going, I'm writing a new post the week that March Madness begins... another sporting event! The picture to the left, or above, where-ever it ended up, is a nice one that I came across on a computer over here. I wish I could take credit for it, but I haven't gotten to fly around in a chopper yet! This overlooks the famous crossed-swords and the enormous Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Things here are going pretty well. The project workload is finally leveling off after a few late nighters and some hard work! We've reached the point now that we are developing processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the units that will be replacing us. This should help them out quite a bit with the transfer of authority once that time arrives. Wish we could have had something like this coming in!

We actually had our first design make it through completion of construction. It wasn't a huge project and iroically none of our engineers worked on the design, but none the less - it was our first "start to finish" project. Now that most of the inherited construction projects are almost complete, our drafters and designers get to start seeing the products of their hard work.

I want to thank everyone that have sent cards and packages. They are greatly appreciated! The guys really enjoy the military tips of the day postcards that the South Venice Christian church sends as well! It's a good feeling to know that people care and support all of us over here. Here's a quick story relating to one of the tips of the day I received: About a month ago, one of my soldiers was approached by the Platoon Sergeant and was asked "Do you have anything to do?". He told us later, that his brain was telling him, 'say anything but no, say anything but no' but after about 3 full seconds of delay, he responded with "no"... (needless to say he was pissed at himself for saying that). So, the other day, one of the "tip of the day" postcards stated: "Never tell the platoon sergeant that you don't have anything to do." I gave it to him to hang on to so he'll never make that mistake again!

Now for my sports predictions - The Final Four - Iowa / Kansas / UConn / Ohio State (of course I have them in the final four!) And as much as I'd love to say they will win it all, I don't think they will get by UConn, nor will anyone else... UConn will win it all. I'm really hoping the Big Ten dominates the tourney and ends up with Indiana and Illinois in the final four, but, I doubt that happens! Either way - Go Bucks!!!

Jody - Hang in there and don't get frustrated, things will work out, I promise! I'm sorry I've put you in this situation, but it's almost half over! :)
Mom - I appreciate all of the help you're giving me with issues back home, I really appreciate it!

I miss all of you! Take care, and have one for me! Boy I miss those Red Bull and Vodkas!

It's Nascar time!

Hey everyone! Well, the Nascar Daytona 500 kicks off in a little bit, I only point that out because my last Blog update was on a big sporting event day. I predicted the Steelers to win and they did, so I'll give you my prediction on the race too. (but you'll have to read the whole post to find it!) Jody is in Daytona and going to the race. I heard from her about 4:30am saying that she was up and getting ready for the race... guess they are beating the traffic!

Today is my 2nd day off since I've been here, although we're not supposed to refer to it as a day off, but an 'on call day'. Because, if there is work that needs to be done, I'll have to go into the office. One of my guys said that on his 'on call' day he'll put a straw in his mouth and sleep under the bridge, in the canal, and breath thru the straw - good luck finding him!

Work isn't slowing down much although we are closing out a bunch of inherited projects that the unit before us had pretty screwed up. So, as long as the new ones that we design are correct, the work will continue to flow smoothly and there wont be many emergency fixes or re-designs that have extremely short deadlines which contribute to really long days in the office.

Our leadership seems to be doing a pretty good job keeping things organized, and ensuring that other sections do their jobs correctly and things get accounted for properly. The flow of work hasn't really ever been 'documented' for us to see, which would help out a lot, but as long as it keeps working, we remain pretty satisfied.

I've been keeping up with the Basketball Buckeyes - and right now, thanks to Minnesota beating the #1 ranked Big Ten team, Iowa - the Buckeyes are in a 4 way tie, in the loss column, for winning the Big Ten. Go Bucks!

Here's a link to a pretty cool little spreadsheet that shows our time here and the progress we've made: http://www.jwallace.netfirms.com/COUNTDOWN.xls

RESPONSE TO COMMENTS from the Blog:
To Jim Lanman - In response to associative hatching vs. non-associative hatching:
In version 2002, the best way to keep associate hatching is to pick 'objects' not points. Meaning, draw P-Lines around the areas you want to hatch, and then choose the p-line as the object you want to hatch instead of picking a point in the area to hatch. If you then move the p-line, the hatching moves with it. I also learned that in version 2005, you can TRIM hatching - pretty cool.

To Jim McKean - In response to your question regarding Ohio University alumni or those with ties to OU: The only person that I've been able to find, who is with us, is Captain Andrew Stone. If you email me directly, I will send you his email address.

To anyone that has questions or concerns and would like response quickly, simply email me from the link on the Blog under My Complete Profile.

Well, now that I've written a novel here and put some of you to sleep while you are at work and obviously not doing any... My pick for the Daytona 500 is: Jeff Gordon (again this year?)

That's it! I'll post again soon!
Everyone take care!
- Jason

Happy SuperBowl Sunday

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post an update because some of the comments are pointing out the fact that I'm a slacker! (Thanks Jody!)

Well, not much changes here, now that we're in country and have a standard routine. But, I did get a pretty awesome picture of a sunset over the lake. This place is actually very nice - at least where Saddam had palaces and mosques and stuff. Lots of marble and fancy construction. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been destroyed or at least damaged from the first gulf war and this one.

I'm doing pretty well. Still working long days and wishing I was back at Nationwide where flex time is something that's encouraged! I'm still making it to the gym at least 5 days a week, not doing much heavy lifting since my shoulder is still messed up. Running a lot and attempting to find that 6-pack that's burried in there somewhere.. :)

This place has quite a bit of rain, at least this time of year. The combination of dirt and sand, and lack of paved roads, makes things a muddy mess! Been wearing rubber overboots to walk everywhere. You look pretty goofy with rubber boots, shorts and a tee-shirt! Looking forward to the not-so-rainy season.

A lot of the guys are staying up all night to watch the Superbowl... it comes on about 2:30am. I think I'll just watch it when it replays tomorrow. Plus we all know who's going to win it - Big Ben and the Steelers!

Well, I'll try to post again soon!
Thanks to everyone for all the support!

A very special thanks to Connie from the Grove City Rotary Club! They were nice enough to buy us a very nice printer and ink for us to be able to do our job more efficently! That was very appreciated!!!