Stopover in Dubai

After a couple of weeks off, I'm finally enroute back to Kabul. Had to kick-back for a day in a nice hotel in Dubai, waiting for the Afghan consulate to figure out a way to screw up the new visa rules.*

*The consular staff had become quite adept at screwing up the old visa rules, so the new requirements from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disrupted their archaic (and profitable) system. It'll be a few weeks before they figure out how to squeeze bribes out of the new system. Even the normally remarkably adept Afghan criminal bureacracy has an adjustment period.

Not that I'm complaining about another night in Dubai. There are worse places to spend a night, like.........Somalia? OK, there probably aren't too many worse places to spend an extra day. At least Somalia would be interesting and not nearly as expensive.

Prior to Dubai, I spent some time in Vegas, DC and London, as well as few days with the family in the Midwest. All in all, a very relaxing and beneficial trip, although between the poker tables in Vegas and the W Hotel in DC, I pissed through about two months pay. Hey, that's what money's for, right?

Back to A-stan this afternoon to begin to get dug out from those things which almost-certainly were neglected while I was away and try to put out the fires. Seems I've missed a couple of active weeks as the spring campaign season kicks into high gear.

A long list of posts coming in the next couple of weeks as I get caught up on all the things going on in-country and highlight a few things from the other Afghanistan-focused blogs and sites.