MyGreek Olympics: More failures.

Trip to Volos:

After IET2, I needed to start installing CATS and the GIS software at the command centers around Greece. Originally I was going to do it all, but Fene screwed that up, but I did the first set. I had to do the installs at the regional Olympic cities of Patras, Thessaloniki, Volos, and Iraklion on Crete. I decided to do Volos over a weekend and I took the inter-city bus and would meet the SAIC guy there.

Volos harbor.

I went to the bus station and was able to get a ticket even though I couldn’t speak much Greek and the guy at the counter didn’t speak English. I waited then got on the bus with the other people, it was a standard bus with just locals. It took about three hours to get to Volos, which is about half way to Thessaloniki. I met the SAIC guy at the station and he drove to the command post at the Fire Station.

It was simple to do the install and get the software to run and I knew all the problems that I could expect, since I had done it so many times already. One of the fire guys was there and I tried to explain what I was installing. It only took about one hour to get everything up and running. After I finished, we drove back to town and I was dropped off at the bus station. It was downtown and close to the water, so I walked over and had a look at the town. Typical Greek sea port, ferries going in and out, lots of small fishing boats and the like. I got something to eat and relaxed for a bit.

It was about a 3 hour ride on the bus so I wasn't too pressed for time. This turned out to be the only install of CATS outside of Athens and the other locations were never installed, because Fene got his fingers into the process. He said that an engineer should do the installs and talked Jesus into assigning the job to Elvis. Elvis wasn't happy about it and basically nothing was installed anywhere since he didn’t have the time to go to all those cities.  

On the bus ride back, I stopped in a town on the cost for a break. I would get the next bus a couple of hours later but I needed to relax a little. Typical Greek town and I found the bar for some food and a drink. The bus station was near and when I saw the Athens bus I hopped on. Back in Athens I went to the Annex for a drink and met the lads. A long trip and little to show for it and I am sure none of the software was ever used and the whole process was a waste. I wanted to do the installs at the other sites, especially Crete, but with Fene interfering, it was never done.

IET3, CPX2 and COMX:

The IET3 went off in late February and like all the others it was a joke. We put together another stupid scenario and then tried to carry it out. Most of the shit heads couldn't understand what we were doing, most just stood around talking about where they were going after. I was at the Ministry of Public Order command center and had to deal with poor communication equipment. I had wanted to be at the Police or Port, but the shits sent me there. I was with Ron and some other guys I didn't know. There were only about 15 people there and the computers didn't work well and the video conference never really worked. The CPX (Command Post Exercise) was rolled into the IET3 (Integration Exercise Test) and the COMX (Command Exercise) was to be held the day after.

Near the police station were the IET was.

I kept getting call that the system wasn't working or there was a communication problem or something. The scenario wasn't being followed and the Greeks wanted to start the evaluation without going through the processes. I think they wanted to see how bad things were and didn't seem to care about the scenario. Tryphon called and kept asking me questions, I got a call from someone at the police station saying no one knew how to use the software, even though they had people we trained there. I wanted to leave, get out of the place and do anything but work on the IET. It was embarrassing.

Stavroula wasn't at my command center and I had no one to talk to. The scenario was to play out for most of the day but with all the problems we only actually worked for about 2 hours. Even though this was a more in-depth demo, I wasn't involved in it at the police center. They were to demo more of SS3 and 4 for the police and SS6 for fire, even though I was the main person responsible for these subsystems and the one person who the Greeks seemed to trust, I wasn't used for the demo. Of course the shits said it was a success. This lead to the follow on demo and of course I was involved with that again.

After IET3:

Again after the IET, I was dragged into two weeks of post IET meetings with the committee. This was the re-hashing of what was supposed to have happened during the exercise and try to resolve all the stuff that didn't work. I got to demo each component of the system and explain how and why it worked. Even though I wasn't the one who did it during the IET, I was the one who had to demo it to the committee during the redo. One thing was the Visual Site Imaging requirement that no one really knew what it was supposed to mean. What I proposed was that if we provided a 3D tool, then modeling and imaging of sites could be preformed. I got the committee to agree to this and got the Vampire to also go along, but Fene again caused problems and eventually the resolution to this was to basically ignore it. I showed what I did for Jimmy, but it didn't matter.

Two weeks of all day meetings and demo's of the software and explanations of what it does, how to use it and all the other stuff. Fene showed up and in a discussion with the committee he said that CATS does not show collateral damage. This lead to a two week fight the get everyone to understand what is meant by the output and trying to find an official definition of what collateral damage means, finally used a NATO definition. Plus I had to show the explosive blast model in 3D and show how it could be used to display potential damage. All this was to have been shown at the police command center during the IET, but it never was since the committee didn't want to have the demo.

I really hated to do the re-do demos, I would have to get the subcontractors to have someone available, maybe have someone we "trained" show up and try to demo the system to prove we trained the people properly, on and on. The other corporate idiots would come in and sit, they knew nothing of the system or why the components did what they did, but they would show up and I would have to argue with the government on why things did what they did. In the end it never really mattered, I would talk to the committee after and they would tell me what they thought, the meetings were a joke as was the whole process.

Low Profile:

Around the corner from my place there was a very small bar called the Low Profile. It was very, very small, just two tables and about ten seats in the whole place. They served Scotch and Whisky mostly, a nice hole in the wall type place. I went there a few times, but even being so close, I didn't make it there much. David had gone there in the beginning because it was so close to Trep's office and it was out of the way. We went once and had a few drinks when we wanted to go somewhere other than the annex or Mie Tie.

Corrine and the acceptance test:

So with IET3 over, we had only three months to deliver the final system. The contract was up on June 1st and the system was to go into acceptance testing. George was working with acceptance testing with Corrine, a SAIC Virginia laky. She was to make up the procedures to complete the test and develop the test itself. George was working with her, but he hated it, I also was working with Chris on training and dealing with the Coast Guard issues that seemed to never end. I really think Tryphon just wanted us to hangout with him.

Corrine was working in a closed world with no grip on the real world. She acted like she was still in DC and working with the Pentagon. This was Greece and things worked differently.  We would say, "Look out the window. That isn't Kansas!" You are in a foreign country and things are done differently, plus the customer is a foreign government no the good old boys in the DoD. The government never was going to accept the system and since it failed the two IETs and CPX already, there was no hope of getting the system to pass on the final test. There was talk of pushing the IET4 to after the Olympics.

No supervision:

I was bouncing around from place to place with little supervision and basically I did what I wanted. I would go out with Rick and David and drink, go to a Bouzouki or hangout at Mia Tie. Maybe a trip to Playland or Anatoly's for a night of fun, but not very often. Since it was still winter and it was cool, there wasn't a lot to do and the islands were quite.

One day I had to be at DAOA for some meeting and after the meeting I was hanging around the office we had. Some of the Greek committee members were there in their office across the hall. One of the guys waved me in to their office and I was talking to them, I liked these guys and they knew I was working for their side. One of the guys asked me to settle a question they had, they were trying to decide on what type of bullet to use to shoot Fene. I laughed at the idea.

One said to use high power bullets and just blow his head off, the others said to use small caliber and shoot him many times for a long drawn-out process. I said something slow like a spear in the gut, they all laughed.

Sushi with Stavroula:

I asked Stavroula if she would meet me for drinks one afternoon, she said she would be in Kolonaki and I could meet her there. So I went down to the square and I met Stavroula, she was all smiles and we walked around the square. There was a restaurant that I had walked past many times before and I though we could eat there, it turned out to be a very expensive and a popular place. Stavroula said they wanted to know if we had a reservation, I didn't think the place was so great or crowed to need a reservation, but no eating there that day.

So we walked out and I said there was a sushi place near by. We crossed the street and went up one of the walking streets, found the place and went in. It was a sushi place that had the little plates on a conveyer belt and you picked off what you wanted. We got a couple of seats and started in, Stavroula never had sushi or knew how to use chop sticks. It was fun to see her try and we both laughed at her antics. She said the sushi was good, but I new it wasn't the best. Anyway, we had a great time and I liked talking to her.

She had to go home for a dinner with her sister so I paid and we left. I walked her to the metro and said goodbye, she said she would like to have sushi again and I said we would go to a better place next time. I could always count on Stavroula to lift my spirits if I was in a bad mood, and at this time I was always pissed off.

Dinner with Dimitris:

I met Dimitris and his wife for dinner in Halandri one evening. I was at the Fire Brigade center and I would just have to walk a few blocks to the place. So at around 5:30 I left and I walked down and around the corner and up the street. I met Dimitris and we walked a short distance to a little place on the Halandri square. His wife soon came and we had ordered Ouzo and some small plates to start.

I didn't have to order anything, Dimitris did it all. He got a big plate of the little fried fish, dips and salad, grilled lamb chops, grilled fish, more Ouzo and on and on. We had a good time eating and talking. Dimitris' wife was working for the Olympic committee in the public transport department. We had a long talk on what was going on and how the project was going. Dimitris didn't think things would be finished, he said the government never gets things done and the sub-contractors don't seem to be doing their jobs, plus SAIC is doing stupid things. I agreed and pointed out a few other issues, but I still was going to try to get things working.