And just like that; its already May. Just 11 months to go (hopefully just 11…). So what have I been up to? Here are some of the safe-to-publish highlights:
The first few days since writing I was in hold-on-and-don’t-get-sick-like-every-body-else mode. Yes, it turns out that the milky cucumber drink was a bad idea after all. So much for my macho post…lol. I didn’t get nailed like a bunch of other folks on my team, but it was a near thing. I keep a stash of Imodium on me at all times when I am outside of the wire. Thank God for giving us Imodium! I was three hours from the Forward Operating Base when I first felt a challenge from my digestive machinery. Nothing bad happened, but I sure felt like punk for a while…ultimately ending up on Cipro for a few days.
I was able to make it to some very interesting places in the last couple of weeks and even spent a few nights forward of my forward location. The first night I was away was a cloudless night and the moon was almost fully waned. It was possible to see the stars behind the stars, from horizon to horizon, and in perfect quiet. Observing the sky in this way is something that I had not experienced since I was very small. It made me feel as though I had been in cities for too long. It made me feel like I belonged in the quiet.
I am designing again. Not just the sissy half doodles that I have been lazily pushing around the sketch book for the last several years, but real honest Architecture. The project I am working on has a ridiculous amount of constraints, but I feel that I have my arms around the effort. The last few days of the design work have been great! I even got that super jittery feeling that happens when you feel that you have landed a strong idea. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.
The coolest thing that has happened is that I figured out how to get yahoo messenger working from this tragically slow internet connection: I have been able to see Rheagan, Lucas and Aurora from the far side of the world. And they have been able to see me. Lucas and I make copy cat faces at each other. Rhora shows off by drooling on the web camera, and Rheagan just laughs (this is the best feeling in the world). I may survive this trip after all.
Posted by paul at May 3, 2007 06:20 PM