04 MAY 1999 - Bruxells
The morning begins early again, and I sleep instead of getting breakfast. One of the first orders of the day at NATO becomes finding a good cup of coffee. The traveling press corps will arrive tonight around 10:00PM. We have about 14 hours to finalize all the connections, test all the circuits, and make sure we're ready for anything.

The day is a blur to me, writing this a week later. I can't rightly remember what I specifically did other than testing our satellite link to the States. The rest was probably spent testing lines and putting out the remaining small fires. Oh, one other thing we did was get together some leftover bits and pieces of gear to send overnight to Bonn to support the last minute pool there. We put together about five cases, and when I tendered them to the driver I caught myself counting them in my head - in French. Very strange experience indeed.
Brussels Town Hall in the Grand'Place
So to summarize, got up, went to NATO, drank coffee, did work I can't remember, and then the press arrived. It seemed to come upon us like a late summer storm without warning. It felt like one minute we were making cables, the next we are surrounded by the press. Nobody from the press corps needs anything from us tonight, so we hang out with the pool team traveling with the press and plan out the coming day.

The press has arrived about 18 hours ahead of the president so they can get some sleep. The president will arrive in Brussels at around 6:00am, which means we need to be back at NATO around 4:00am. It's about 12:30, and unfortunately none of has much energy to enjoy the dinner buffet that NATO has laid out for us. Not many people did - about twenty people made their way to the cafeteria, and what a site to behold. A spread close to forty feet long, with just about anything a guy could want, and not want. One each table opened bottles of red and white wine, both good. The white wine is a NATO specialty, originating from the same region of Spain as Secretary General Javier Solana.

The White House Press Corps arrives at the Brussels Workspace
The finished racks and all the cables to make it work
Engineer in Charge Gene Zimmerman with the complete set up in Brussels
So we wander out of NATO to get a short nap at our hotel. On our way out, we stumbled upon the herd of creatures that roam the NATO compound after dark. Many speculations have been made about their purpose, and most think they are part of a top secret NATO security plan. To most working there, they are simply called the NATO Bunnies. Just walking from the workspace and the main gate we saw at least six of them. I'm told that there is also a fox behind the kitchen that makes a living based on the bunnies. Urban wilderness isn't just an American thing.
Ben and the racks: on the big monitor - feeding tape of Air Force One arrival back to the states