My Greek Olympics: The second half starts.

Back:

When I returned, it was still a mess and we had a scheduled IET3 coming up in February. This one had more to show, a really working integrated systems. I got tied up with getting the video system on the busses to work and after a few weeks, we finally had it working, though the reliably would be an issue. Also I was trying to deal with the Coast Guard issues of the nautical charts and the new requirement for 3D visualization.

The charts never were resolved, since the CG wanted certified charts and there are no charts that carry a certification. I did get to spend a lot of time with Tryphon and with Rick there, lots of trips to strip clubs and dinner out. It was a fun time in that regards, but the whole thing about charts was a waste. I also had a good time with the CG people, who all seemed to want to just play and not work.

January was a slow month since it was after the Christmas holiday and a lot of people were still in their village and no one wanted to work in the cold winter. I had meetings with the committee and was dealing with additional costs and having to justify spending a few tens of thousands more, it was stupid since the company was dumping several hundred thousand in other things. I just needed maybe another 25K and I was getting shit for trying to provide a good system. I was told that the IET2 was still not resolved and we would have to go back and revisit that set of requirements as well. I really hated January 2004, it was a lonely time for me.

The Acropolis:

One thing I would do was to walk around Plaka and see the sights, I eventually got tired of this but it was something to do. In the winter there were few tourists and not much of a crowd, and if it was cold and rainy there wouldn't be many people at all. I would walk up to the Acropolis and go in on the free Sundays. I went alone and I would just go up and walk around, mostly I would stand and look out over the city to the west and see the Saronic Gulf and islands. On cold windy days it was soothing in a way, I wasn't in a good mood, but I could see the water at least.

The Parthenon under re-construction

Sometimes I would take the train to the port and go over to the coast side, but from the Acropolis I could see the sea. Of course the tour guides would ask if I wanted a tour, I would just blow them off. I knew already all about the place and I wouldn't pay to hear the same things I knew. Once in a while I would walk up to the hill across from the Acropolis and get a view of the area. In summer the site is just mobbed with people, thousands every day. The temple was being rebuilt and they slowly were taking it apart and fixing it with replacement pieces or with the original blocks.

The British, when they had control, removed all the dirt on top looking for more artifacts, they dumped the dirt over the side. What this did was expose the bare rock and that is how it is today, just rock. So in summer it is hot and there are not trees. In ancient times the top had gardens and trees, water and people could live up there. Now it is just a rocky mass, you have to walk on the uneven surface and it is not that great. There is a crane in the center of the temple and a pile of stones and columns on one side. It has taken them many years to get to the point were they can start to reassemble it.

What is left of some of the statues on the Parthenon.

In winter I could walk around and look all I wanted, not many people, some times there would be only ten or twenty others. The western side looks out to the Gulf and you are high above the city below. To imagine that once there was nothing out there to the gulf, over time the area filled in and now it is a sold mass of apartment buildings out to the sea. The temple will be impressive when they finish, we joked that the Olympic project will end when the temple is finished, of course they will not finish for ten more years at least.

Going to the coast:

Since I had been to the coast with Alex, I knew some places to go and hangout at. I would take the train to the port and walk over to the little harbor, look at the boats or just walk around. I liked the cold cloudy days, it kind of relaxed me seeing the water. I would call Stavroula or Alex and see if they were available for a drink, coffee more than likely. I would suggest we go to the sea, I always like that rather than someplace in land. But the winter seemed like a time to be alone and since I didn't have anyone to be with, I spent the time alone at little coffee shops or restaurants.

On an average summer day.

Athens is a lot like Los Angles, it is in a basin with water on one side and mountains surrounding it. The Athens coast has a lot of places to relax at, on the east side of the mountains there is Marathon and Nea Makri but I didn’t go there much. I also didn’t go north or south much, I would go west to the gulf and just look at the water. I kept thinking that if this was America it would be a wall of high rise apartments and the beaches blocked off by the rich. Here the beaches were empty and the houses were no more than anywhere else.

Making Chili:

Shopping at the central market allowed me to buy enough stuff to make food for the week. I would make a big pot of chili once in a while and keep it in the refrigerator and eat some each day. I would buy a few kilos of meant and have it ground, maybe a mix of pork and beef. Then I would get a kilo of tomatoes and some onions, chilies and maybe beans if I could get the right ones. I found a store that sold canned jalapeños and corn tortillas so I could jack up the spice and make tacos. I would bring everything home and cook up a batch of chili and eat a big bowl, then store the rest for the week. Maybe have some for breakfast or a late night snack. It didn't cost much to make and it would last for several days, I would also make tomatoes sauce and do the same thing, keep it on hand for during the week. But chili was something I couldn't find in a restaurant in Greece so it was special. The one issue was that they didn’t have hot peppers or pinto beans so I would have to make due. But I found ways around these obstacles and was able to have something different from the day to day foods of Greece. I missed Mexican food.

At the Central Market buying meat.

Sardines and Sissy:

On evening I was out on my daily rounds when Sissy called. She said she would be in the center and if I were evadible we could meet. It was getting late and I hadn't eaten all day and I really needed to eat, so I told Sissy I would be back in the center around 8 pm. She said I could meet her in the square and I said fine. I got off the metro and went up and I found Sissy waiting. I asked if she was hungry, since I was, but she said no though I should eat if I needed to. I said we could go to Poliathina and she could get a coffee while I eat.

We get to Poliathina and get a table, I ask if they have sardines and order a plate of them. Sissy didn't seem to like them, but I love them. I get a bowl of lintels soup and then the sardines come all dripping with oil and some bread. They were so good. Sissy had more information on the data issues we were having and I was able to finally figure out what some of the problems were. As I was eating, the waiter came by with a candle, like we were on a date or something. Sissy laughed and so did I. I paid and we left, it was fun and I enjoyed the food.

IET2, again!

During the end of January, I had to take part in the post-IET2 walk through and had to do re-demonstrations and explain the system to the committee. I did get to see CG Stavroula, and her "Jesus" button. Her shirt was not made for her body and the top button was severely strained by her body trying to escape her shirt. We all hoped that one day it would let go and we would all see her flowing out of her top. It actually did happen, but the guy she was with was gay so there was a double loss.  We said the button was the Jesus button because only god knew how long it would last. Stavroula was nice, she looked like a model and it was hard to imagine she was a chemical engineer, but she had a great body.

I was called in to be "available" if needed or to set up software for display, but I would get dragged in and have to be there all day, every day. I would have to explain the software and what it meant and I did this over and over with no success. I would sit off to the side and the Vampire or Jesus would talk and argue, then I was asked to demo something and explain it again. This lasted two weeks and I had to show up every day and do the dog and pony show. Most of the people in the office from the company just sat and said nothing, they didn’t know anything so they couldn’t talk.

The committee knew I knew what the systems did and the contract, but we played the game of ‘I don’t believe you’ over and over. Then someone from the company would say the wrong thing and there would be a big effort to clean up the mess. It was very hard and frustrating, week after week of no progress. We finished the IET2 re-do and it was decided to roll over what wasn't taken care of into IET3, which was supposed to happen in February. Only half of the system was passed and the other portions would have to be shown during the IET3. We had a 95% pass requirement on the contract and we were not even close to getting there.

Digital Sight Imaging:

A requirement that popped up on us was a small one line reference to something called Digital Sight Imaging. No one knew what this meant, not the customer or us. I don't know how it made it into the contract or what it was for. I didn't remember it in the first draft so I was not prepared for this.

In January we where asked about it by the committee and we had to scramble to find an answer. I had a secret meeting with Jimmy and we discussed it, I showed him the 3D viewer in Arcview and explained how it could be used to show 3D analyst of certain types of events. Jimmy agreed that it would satisfy the requirement if we provided the software. Now I had to sell it to the shit heads in the company, it was easier to deal with Jimmy than the assholes. So another 10K spent for software and more headaches dealing with corporate. It was an easy way to satisfy the requirement but I had so much push back. They spend tens of thousands on other equipment and software that didn’t work or wasn’t needed, but a couple of grand for software and it was like herding cats.