My Greek Olympics: After IET1 and the Vampire

Back to Athens:

When we got back, we talked to Vic who was back in SD. He was to sign papers and come on board as a full employee, but he was having trouble with the division. Jay was also under fire, though I didn't know how badly. This was the first real sign that the project was hopelessly doomed to failure, David said later that he thought we had a 50-50 chance of succeeding from the start, now it was less than 20%.

In early August, Sara came to visit and stayed with David. David told her not to bother him and just do what ever she wants. He didn't want to really both with her and he complained that she kept hanging around with him. She came with us to Mie Tie a few times and out to dinner once in a while. I paid more attention to her than David did. She eventually went up to the northern parts of Greece and some islands. Sara liked to meet hippie types and she found a few smokers to hang with. David didn't like to have strangers show up at his place and Sara wore out her welcome fast.

Home trip:

I returned to SD in August for my first visit under the terms of the contract. A week was about all I could have, we had the IET-2 coming in October and I was going to be under the gun to do some things. I went into the office and talked to Dean and Marybeth. I got a few things and sent some emails. I also filled Marybeth in on what was going on. I saw Vic and we had a talk about what was happening. Vic said he was waiting for the documents on the full time hire. I was heading back so soon that it didn't even seem like I was home at all. The trip back was uneventful but long, it wasn't fun to do the traveling and I only got to surf once before I left. Margit was pissed at how things were going and she couldn't understand what I was dealing with, we didn't talk much while I was home.

Loss of Vic:

At the beginning of September, I found out that Vic was off the project and he quit the company, apparently they didn't want him part of it any more, they said he brought nothing to the project. Jay was under a lot of pressure and was being attacked by the company as well.

Since Vic was the 'security officer' for the project and he was gone, the dick heads got a new security officer. This guy was like a bouncer at a club, e thought he was king of all. He was really a dick and I just blew him off at every opportunity. One of the things he wanted at first was a map of where everyone lived. So dick gave me the addresses and I plotted them and then printed a map. After this he wanted everyone to allow him to come to there place and see if it was in a safe location plus to draw a diagram of the layout of their place. I said fuck off and never bothered with him again. But I would have to deal with the shit at every IET, since he thought he was the 'gate keep' and no one could pass without his say so.

Security Officer Bob:

Once Vic was gone, they brought in a new guy to be security officer. The guy was a total shit-head and his claim to fame was a third string football player for a year. One of the first things was he wanted to know where everyone lived and have us draw a diagram of our place, then he would come and see if it was safe for us to live there. What a putts, I wasn't going to do shit for him or give him a thing. He spent his time at the Marousi office and never seemed to go anywhere or do anything, yet he always wanted to be in on a meeting or something.

During IET2 he gave me shit for not putting on a badge immediately and I could care less what he thought. I had many things to do, plus everyone knew me and I had free run of the whole place. It would be like asking the president to show his badge while entering the White House.

Loss of Jay:

About this time Jay is removed from the project. It appeared that she had done some things that really pissed off corporate. It wasn't illegal, but the company really didn't want to do the project. They were happy with the DoD dollars and to do an international project was just to much for them. The company was used to getting their way with the government and now dealing with a group of people who didn't give a shit about them or owe the company anything was to much for them. They came down on Jay hard and in the end she quit the company. This was not the end of Jay in Greece and she would return and be a royal pain in the company's side for the remainder of the project.

Shopping at the little store:

I had a little market a block away from my apartment, on Solonos Street. It had a little deli and the ground floor and produce on the mezzanine and dry goods upstairs. They didn't have a lot, but I could get spaghetti and canned tomatoes, some fresh vegetables and some meat. I could get a chicken or some lamb there, but it was more expensive and didn't have the selection as the central market. The cheese was good though as was the yogurt. I preferred to go to the central market, but they closed by 3 and I could only go on the weekends. They did have some liqueur and I would buy a bottle of something if I needed to. I would look at the deli section first and then get some bread and cheese before going up to the dry good section. The people in the store were not very friendly and I always had a strange look from them, especially at the check out.

Jesus and the Vampire:

SAIC brought in a new guy named Todd (later to be known as "the vampire") and David was being forced out. He wouldn't work for Todd so he quit the project. The company had made behind the scene deals with Altec, mostly to cause problem for David and make him look bad. Jay was fired in September and David said fuck it, the project was lost and it was going to fail. Todd would wear a long black leather trench coat and had black hair, he looked Mexican but wasn’t. I think Ari called him a Vampire first and it stuck.

I think he talked to Vic and Vic was going to work with ETEAM, David I am sure was waiting for Vic to say he was hired and then he would quit and join Vic, so all of October was a struggle to stay focused. George was out also because he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident while in SD and was out for months. Ron was sucking up to the shit heads in corporate and I was left alone with all the assholes.  Steve, Todd's guy we called Jesus, because he looked like Jesus, long stringy hair and all.