Ok...I'm back.

Good evening all! I must apologize up front for being less than timely on my Blog updates. I had to go back to Ottawa for several days and was back and forth to our NHQ for meetings and the time has flown by. Prior to going home, I was extremely busy and there did just not seem to be enough hours in the day to keep up with all the things I wanted to accomplish. Looking ahead to the next couple of weeks I know I will really be "up to my armpits in alligators". I will do my best to make regular updates....

I have included a couple of pictures of what occurred while I was back home. As you can see, we managed to skate on the canal and just in time as it closed a couple days later.

The top picture is of the "Kabul Cup" and our Canadian Embassy Team that won it. When I heard the Kabul Cup tournament was going to occur while I was at home, I was really depressed. This is a hockey tournament between all of the various countries in Kabul. It is played inside in a gym and we (Canada) have never won the tournament before. I play hockey every Friday and I was so dissapointed that I was not there to support the team. I subsequently found out however that this was a "stacked" team and you will not see too many guys in the picture over 35, let alone 50! The good news is that our team won and the picture includes our Ambassador (holding the Cup) the Minister of National Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff (top Canadian Soldier). They all happened to be here for a visit right after the cup was won, so it is a great picture....(if I was in Afghanistan during the tournament, I'm sure I could have made the team).

When I got back to Kabul and entered my room, I was greeted by a blast of hot air. I couldn't figure out what was going on and I discovered that my room heater/air conditioner mounted on the wall was set at 33 degress! Turns out they did maintenance on it the day I left, and forgot to reset it....so, it was blowing hot air for 2 weeks until I returned. I got the heat shut off, then could not get the air conditioning to work to cool off the room. I called the "handyman" and he said he would come by.

Keep in mind I had just completed two days of flights and had not slep for more than 3 hours in 2 nights. They came by, fixed the air, I thanked them and decided to have a shower before I climbed into bed. As I stood in the shower...I discovered I had no hot water. I called the "handyman" and he came by.

He worked on the tank and said I would have to wait for the water to heat up before I could have a shower. So I went to bed and slept for a couple of hours looking forward to my hot shower. I woke up, climbed into the shower....you guessed it, no hot water. I called the "handyman" and he came by.

He replaced a part and said I would have to wait a couple a couple of hours for the hot water. I had a cold shower and went to work. I went to bed that night looking forward to my hot shower. In the morning I discovered not only did I not have hot water, I had no power as the tank blew the breaker. I called the "handyman" and he came by.

He told me that they would have to replace the tank and I would have hot water and power that afternoon. I had a cold shower in the dark and went to work. After work I came back to my room and found a brand new tank and my bathroom floor flooded as the tank was leaking. I called the "handyman" and he came by.

He told me that they would fix it and to go for supper. I went for supper and when I returned to my room, the floor was dry, I had hot water and I discovered that they had smashed my bathroom light fixture and I had no lighting in the bathroom. I called the "handyman" and he came by.

He replaced my light fixture and headed off. I went to bed and in the morning I had a hot shower with the lights on...it was heaven.

I just received a "Client Satisfaction Survey" from our property section. In an effort to continue providing excellent service, I was asked how I felt about their service....all I wrote was "the handyman came by".