My Greek Olympics: Between the IETs and just a lot of work..

David leaving:

David was leaving about the same time mom was leaving and David's Father had come to visit along with his sister. David basically said screw this to the project and bailed since he wasn't going to work for the Vampire. On the last night mom was in town, we met at Poliathina and had a great dinner.

We had a good time and Vasileos came to the table and talked to us. We had a lot of wine and food, plus deserts, and everyone came to say goodbye. I think we must have cleaned out the kitchen, we ordered so much. Of course we got the grilled sardines and sausage, plus lamb chops and grill mullet. Several plates of vegetables and bowls of soup were had as well. This was David's last chance to get all the food that he loved and I ordered all that I liked.

Jay, Vic and now David were leaving and I was going to be there by myself. IET 2 was still coming up, even though it had been pushed back by a few weeks, we still weren't ready. As we were leaving, mom and Vasileos had a big hug and everyone came out to say goodbye. Mom had an early flight and Peter was coming to take her to the airport. As we walked back to my place, the Christmas decorations were already starting to come out.

Watching the Police:

For IET2, we would do a lot with the Police. I had to go to the police station and watch how they worked. Again everything was on paper, yelling or on phone. Not one computer was used and I am sure no one knew how to use one. The only computers were for the dispatch system, but that was a joke. I finally saw what we would be up against; this was going to be tough. Introducing technology in such a short time was risky and we didn't know if we had the time to finish let alone train everyone.

November 17:

In Greece there is a holiday of sorts on the November 17th. It is a commemoration of the beginning of the overthrow of the military junta that ruled Greece in the early 70's. It is a date when the anarchist come out and clash with the police and most people stay home that day and night because of the violence on the street. I went to work of course and I must have been the only one to go. It was very quite and nothing was open. I made some calls and the company people said I should go home and hide, what idiots. I worked the day and I stopped at the annex, which was open and had a drink of ouzo and a quick snack. I went home and watched a DVD on my computer, but by 6:00 pm I could hear the protesters in the street and the chanting. I went to the patio and could see the police moving on the street as they followed the groups of protesters. Since I lived near the university, which is where a lot of the stuff happened in the 70's, I was near most of the action. Of course there was a lot of action at the US embassy, but they always protest there. After a few hours the noise stopped and it was quite again, nothing big to me.

Preparing for IET2 and the CPX1:

I was to demo CATS and talk about DAP and Bomb Management, but just demonstrating the components. The whole process was a joke, SAIC brought a bunch of people in to do the exercise and they didn't know shit. What a waste of time and money. The CPX was also to be done on this exercise, but things were still being built and there was a question if the CPX would be done at all.

I did get to spend more time with Stavroula and the more I saw her the more I liked her. She was fun to be around and we played little games. I would meet her and Alex and go for a coffee or tea somewhere and sit and talk. Alex would make fun of her boyfriend and how he treated her, she would just blow him off. Alex said that "Fred" would leave her and go to Mykonos with his friends. You only go there for sex and drugs Alex said.

Shopping with Stavroula:

It was getting cooler and I didn't have much cold weather cloths, so I decided to go shopping. I asked Stavroula were to shop and she said to go to Ermou Street. I hoped she would go with me and with a little convincing, she said OK. I met her at the metro stop and we walked across the square and onto Ermou. It was busy but not crazy. We went into a building that I walked pass many times, it was a major department store, I didn't know that. We went up to the 4th floor and found the men's department or were they had the men's cloths.
I needed a sweeter and a few shirts, so Stavroula looked around and found me a sweeter and a few shirts. I wasn't sure, but Stavroula said they looked good on me and I was convinced. She had her favorite brands of shirts so she picked two out for me. I was happy to go along with what she picked. I didn't really think about the price of the shirts, how much can they be I thought. We went to pay and I was shocked at the price, I spent over 250 Euros which was about $300. I never spent so much before on clothes like this. I would never buy anything else as expensive while I was there. I found a cheaper place and brought more clothes from home on my trip back