Lunch at the Hoffbrau

Misc Pictures

These were taken by Irfan while in the US.

Kyle at my Favorite Cigar Shop...Up in Smoke

At The Deli..Kim is hiding in the back ground
Kyle and Dave at his shop

Texas Motor Speedway

This isn't the version of the video I wanted to post but the final one wont upload from my slow Internet here in Kabul. This was shot over 2 days. The race was scheduled to run on Sunday but rain and cold temps stopped it. So we came back on Monday to see the race. I had such fun doing this with Kim and Kyle

We were able to finely get our equipment out of customs after 5 months of BS paperwork. So off to the races and we will be working 6 day work weeks for a while to try to get caught up. Ill start posting pictures of the new equipment being installed as I get them. We made good progress yesterday in getting the UPS's installed and all the Wheatnet IP gear racked up. Today Irfan and I are going in to finish configuring laptops for our first Youth training session.

Ill update more later....JB

Back in Kabul

After a good trip to the NAB I'm back at work in Kabul. It took a few days to get adjusted to the time and I'm still not sure I am totally. Still waiting on our gear to clear customs here. It has been there for about 5 months. I went there myself today to figure it out and what a mess. All of our creates are sitting out in a field and were there all winter. God knows what condition it is in now but have to hope for the best.

It was great to spend a few days at home and get to go to the TMS NASCAR race with Kim and Kyle. Got rained out the first day so got to come back on Monday to see it. Shot a lot of video there and will try to edit it together tonight and post it here.

If I'm not to lazy tonight Ill get that video together and post it tonight....Later....JB

Body Armore

Zach and Dave getting kitted out

RoIP in the Works

Guys configuring IQOYA Links

Internews Afghanistan IT Team

Just wanted to post a picture of the IT team here in Kabul. They are a great group of guys. Oh yea Erica from Arcata is there too....she rocks too

NAB Bound

Irfan, after a few blocks were removed got a visa with his correct name on it. He will be meeting Dave and I in Dubai tomorrow night to come to the US for the NAB. I'm ready with the exception of packing and all that stuff, But will be in the US on the morning of the 7th.

Spending most of my day finding upgrades to our stations here in Afghanistan. Found a few good ones to work on.

Lunch was not worth eating today so I skipped it. Had a great crab pasta at the house last night. Nothing like good fake crab....lol. Must of been goo I don't think there was but a spoonful left.

Later...JB

We have power and RoIP

When I got home we had city power for the first time in a week. We also got the RoIP link working great from the office to the house.

Now the funny part. The guys that fixed the electricity want us to pay them a bribe for doing it. Just another backwards thing that goes on here. They say they need to collect from all the houses in the block $10 for fixing the power. I can see if they came out the first day it was off and worked all night to fix it how I might be inclined to offer them a little something. But after a week.....the balls they have amaze me.

Later....JB

3 More days and a long flight

Getting ready to get on a plane in a few days to head to the US for a trip to the NAB. We still don't have power at the house as of this morning but they know where the break is now. Get this.....its about 25 feet from the front of our house feeding the meter box for the 6 or 7 houses on our block. Now the trick will be can they get it fixed in a timely manner.

Started a new training session for local technicians today. Looks like a pretty green group but that is a good thing sometimes. They wont have as many bad habits.

Later....JB

New Look

I got bored today watching it rain and listening the the endless hum of the generator I decided it was time for a new look on the ol' blog. Was fun to do, Had Kim on Skype for her to test as I did it from Kabul....gotta love Skype. If you don't have it you should get it.

Here is a link to get it.
http://www.skype.com

Just a few more days

HOME IN 5

This is getting real old now

I think Ive lost count but do think it has been 6 or 7 days without any power at our house. They say there is a burned wire between the power distribution center and the house. They haven't been able to locate it yet. Funny thing is it is only about 600 feet between the 2 points. Then the next excuse is the equipment to locate the break cant be found and then they didn't have any wire to fix the problem. I'm sure they are just looking for a bribe to get it fixed. We run our generator during the normal hours we are at the house and shut it down at night.

We had a rain storm today so I'm sure that will slow them down and give then another excuse. As for the equipment to locate the breaks I know they just got news ones but are not sure how to use them, There are huge spools of wire all over town just sitting there waiting to be installed and stockpiles of other electrical supplies. But as with most things here they wont do it until they get paid extra for it. Gotta love it here.....Later JB