What has Fritz been up to?

A whole lot and not much.

Tragically, I have been working A LOT. My job is a very interesting one, so I don't really mind the long hours. What sort of job could possibly keep a lazy man like me at the Pentagon: I work on a program called a the Afghanistan Pakistan Hands Program, we are recruiting, training and deploying a group of long term Afghanistan Pakistan regional experts that get some intensive language and cultural training and deploy to Afghanistan or Pakistan for a year, come back, get some more training, do some more Afghanistan and Pakistan work, more language training, then go back to the same place in Afghanistan or Pakistan. The goal is to have a group of trained, experienced, Afghanistan Pakistan Hands that have a good understanding of the issues, culture and language, and can be relied on to be long-term problem solvers in the area.

Our first group of AFPAK Hands (APHs) deployed two weeks ago, and we have two more waves deploying this month. It has been very hectic, there are 5 of us on the team, and there is plenty of work to do. I work with a Navy CAPT (O-6), an Army Major, an Air Force Technical Sergeant and a civilian employee, a pretty good team and there is a lot of very senior leader support which is good, every now and then we have to invoke the senior leadership's name to get things done. "I am not sure how ADM Mullen will feel about that . . . . " "Hmmm, I don't think that would go well with GEN McChrystal . . . " "Let me check with GEN Petraus' staff about that . . . " are all common quotes. It is good to be part of something like this.

Right now, we are working to formalize and document the program which requires a lot of bureaucratic work, typing, e-mailing, and mind numbing staff work. But, it will all get done one of these days.

Pentagon Coffee Etiquette and Violations:

We work in a small office truly in the "Bowels of the Pentagon", there are the 5 of us and 5 Strategic Effects staff guys in the office. Right now, we are working with one coffee pot, which works pretty good. I set the first pot of coffee up the night before, the trained Air Force officers push the button in the morning, and there is a fresh pot when I come in the office in the morning. We do have a violator though, my boss. He had a bad habit of getting a cup of coffee right before he goes to a meeting each morning, normally, that will take up the last of the pot, leaving only a splash of coffee in the pot. Technically, he does not take the "last of the coffee", but everyone knows you can't just walk away from the pot without starting a fresh pot. When this was pointed out to him by other coffee drinkers (me) he got a little indignant the first time. The second time he was caught doing this he broke down and "will make coffee amends" I am not sure what coffee amends are, but I will let you know.

Lack of Football:

Now that the NFL draft is over, and spring football practices have wrapped up, there are 4 months of football wasteland ahead. I tracked a little bit of the Husker's spring practice, I think this will be a good season for the Big Red, but, we'll see. I hope the offense can come close to matching the Blackshirts. I think Zac Lee will be a much better QB this year, there will be some more tools and hopefully a better offensive line, so we'll see. I think they will clean up in the Big 12 North and may win the Big 12, we'll see.

NFL wise, I think folks will be pleasantly surprised by Tim Tebow. He was fun to watch in college, so he should be fun to watch in the NFL.

Recent Movies:

Saw "The Runaways" a few weeks ago, good sountrack, but long movie. I am a big Joan Jett fan, she is a top scorer on my Ipod, and I was expecting a bit more of her story in the movie, but instead, it was more about Cherie Currie, which was the lead singer, and a much more tragic character. The movie did show that Joan was really the driving force behind the band, but Cherie was the destructive counterpart, they spent a lot time showing Cherie's excesses, way too much time in my opinion. Probably a good movie for DVD.