Since the Olympics is starting soon, I am adding some more of my Greek Olympics Experience

Working at the Police station:

For IET2 and CPX1, a lot of the action would take place at the police station. The building was in the center of Athens on Alexandros Street and it was one of the tallest buildings in Athens, about 12 floors. We were renovating the two lower floors and building the command centers and new call facilities. One issue was how to fit everyone into the area, but once we started and worked out the layout it would be no problem. The Greeks use a lot of man-power in their opperational work.

I started to work there after most of the major construction had taken place. The server room was on a mid-floor, the levels were of-set and there were 'half' floor, and most of the electronics equipment would be on that floor. Below was the traffic control center with the massive video wall and above that floor was the new 911 call center, bomb management center, and office space. The second video wall would go in one of the command rooms and it was a hard fit. The screen was two meters by five meters and the ceiling was two low to put the screens up high enough. It was hard but we worked it out so the video wall fit.

When we planned the facility, we were given information on how many people had to be able to be accommodated. Once there and we saw how they operated, it was clear that they had two or three times the number of people needed to do the job. Like in most developing countries, giving a job was more political than out of necessity.

The police building is behind Mt. Lykabettos

The people who worked would mostly sit around and drink coffee and smoke, while talking. About 5 or 6 people actually did any work, the rest just hung out. So when we saw this we new that there would be plenty of room for everyone planned. But the Grreks wanted more people to work in the rooms and it meant we needed more desks and space, plus power and all the other things. The system we were providing didn't requier all those people so it was just over kill on staff. I didn't go down to the traffic area much, this was an area that was not part of my work and I spent more time on the server floor and upstairs in the command areas.

We had the desks brought in and the computers set up. Every desk had a computer, but the monitors were the old CRT type not flat panel. This meant that a lot of desk top was taken up by the monitor, the Greeks complained but that was what was asked for in the contract and it couldn't be changed. A phone and the computer took most of the space which left little area to write. The call takers had a larger desk, but since they didn't seem to ever use the computer, that could have been taken away. They do everything with paper and pencil, and lots of yelling.

In the months before the IET, I would spend most of my days there in meetings or trying to install software or training people who were supposed to be trained. In addition I had to go to the other command posts when I could find the time. I spent so much time traveling from place to place. It just wasn't efficient to work that way, but no one else could do my work 

We had been training people by this time and for the IET we would have these people in the command center and walk through an exercise scenario. The problem was no one was taking the training seriously and most of the people in the police didn't know how to use a computer. It was a huge jump in technology for these people and no one was there to enforce the change. The police tech people didn't want the new system, they saw it as an attack on their jobs and they thought they would be replaced.

Most of our time was trying to convince these people to buy off on the new system. With out them we would never get any acceptance, the police would make sure that the system would never "work" for them and they would dump it as soon as possible. The rice bowel issue always crops up and this was no different. At one point I didn't care what they did, I just wanted to forget it all, David was right, the project was going to fail and this was the first true sign that I was on a sinking ship.

Eating at the police station:

I would be at the Police building in Ambelokipi, just off avenue Sophia and Alexandros. The place was a tall building and the command center was on the second level. One thing about the place was they had a cafeteria across from the command center on that floor. So we would eat lunch there, it was convenient and really cheep. The food was not that great, but you got a lot of it and it was 70 cents. They served chicken, pasta, lamb or fish, with salad and a side, plus you could get wine. A cheep lunch that sometimes was not very good.

Not everyone would eat there, most of the corporate shit heads would go to the Pizza Hut next door. There was a great bakery that made a kind of pizza just around the corner that was so much better than the crap at pizza hut. I couldn't believe they wouldn't eat there, but of course it wasn't American so they were afraid. I was always shocked that these American people would come to a different country and all they wanted was American food. They couldn't or wouldn't even try something new. I really was ashamed to have to be associated with some of these idiots.

Sissy and data:

One day I was talking to Sissy on the phone, I needed info on a requirement and I hoped she would help me understand what the Greeks thought it meant. We had some heated talks about what this data meant and come to an understanding with the committee. We couldn't get an answer from the committee as to what the requirement was so I was hoping Sissy would tell me what it meant. She said she had some time and I could meet her and we could have a coffee and talk. She came by the MOC and she said we could walk to a place that may interest me. It was in the University area.

We walked down to Syntagma and them up to Academious Street. The place was in an old building and we had to work our way in, up stairs and around and about. The building had a little coffee shop and if you never had been there you wouldn't have known it was there. A nice little place and we had a table over looking a courtyard. We talked and Sissy filled me in on all I needed to know. It turned out that the requirement referred to a data set for vegetation that could burn. I was able to get a data set from one of the Universities and it was satisfactory for the committee and the fire brigade. This time talking of coffee settled a big problem that was taking weeks to resolve. All it took was talking as friends and most of the issues could be fixed. The company was always fighting and threatening which just made thins worse.

Brazil:

While I was working at the Police station, I was told by Silvia and Roula about a bar that had Brazilian music, so one night we were going to go and hang out. I met Silvia and Roula at the Metropol and we drove to the place. It was just around the corner from the Police department. We went in and there were some people already there. We found a table in the back and ordered some drinks. There were a few girls dancing and singing and having a good time. Roula said they would show me how to dance and Roula went off to get one of the girls.

She came back with a girl who was stunning. She was short to me, but very nice looking, I was impressed. She took me out to the dance floor and in perfect English said to watch her. I was looking straight down her top since I had no choice in that was all that I could see of her, she very well endowed. She started to dance and all I could see was her chest, I had to step back to see her feet. They were going all over the place and I couldn't tell what she was doing. She said to move my hips, move my feet and move my arms all in different directions and at different speeds.

I couldn't do it and I couldn't get the motion or the speed. She said to hold her hips and feel how she moved, and then she turned around and leaned up against me and danced. She was so hot and I just enjoyed the pleasure of having her dance with me. There was no way I was going to dance like that, but it was fun.

We stayed and I watched the girls dance and Roula and Silvia had a good time. We were drinking Mojitos and they went down to easy. We stayed till about 2 am and then Silvia had to leave, so we piled in the car for the ride back to the center. I wanted to go back again, but I only went back one other time.