So I finally found a way to get into my frantzworkshop email. With just one exception, I had not accessed the account since mid January of this year. So things were looking rather crazy in the ol’ In Box. Yeah..... I had over 5,000 unread emails. Of which all but 20 were strait up spam.
I have eight email accounts at the moment, six of which are for work purposes. To get to these accounts, I have to work from four separate computers and their respective networks. When your connection speed is ‘negative 23k’ on all four networks, then that is a lot of email to deal with. But it could be worse. Email does get out here after all....even the spam.
As I write this, it is 118 degrees outside....in the shade. I think that five pounds of water weight evaporated from my body while I walked 100 meters from the chow-hall to my office this morning. I am certain that it would have been 10 pounds but the humidity seems to keep bodily evaporation in check at least a little. Thank goodness for dear ol humidity...or...something or another.
Occasionally, while we are out and about, we get run over by these spontaneous wind and thunder storms. The wind and thunder is almost never accompanied by precipitation. Cows, camels and people, all unwilling to seek shelter, usually find themselves drifting into the middle of the road and into traffic.
Once, it took me 20 minutes to get all of the dust off of my personal gear, following a particularly dusty trip. Having the right sunglasses or goggles on these trips is absolutely crucial. Most of us also have something over our face to keep the dust away. Most folks use scarves or snuves, but I use a thneed . After all, ‘everyone needs a thneed’.
Two months down!
On the up side: things seem to be going by quickly and we are getting lots of things accomplished.
On the down side: it is getting very hot around these parts. I have been told that we will see 130 degrees Fahrenheit before long and maybe even 140!
In the background of the photograph is the back up spillway of the Soviet built Duranta Dam. The dam is an excellent bit of engineering that is still working well despite the best efforts of Afghan chaos. The fellows that maintain its three hydro electric generators told me that they have never taken the equipment down for scheduled maintenance. Evidently, they only conduct maintenance when the equipment is hard-broke (i.e: completely stops running). That this thing is still going is nothing shy of miraculous. My hat is off to Russian engineers everywhere!