What internet?

9:45pm

Our internet has been out for part of the weekend- biannual tower maintenance. Not that much of interest has been going on. Sean asked if we were still getting rocketed- no, which means we're way overdue for an attack. There have been explosions outside the berm several times and a few in Tikrit and the EOD guys seem to stay busy.

I traveled to another FOB yesterday. It's a former palace that's a few minutes away. It is a grand looking structure on a high bank overlooking the Tigres River. Constructed of concrete with decorative embellishments, it has huge rooms with marble floors. The entryway is wall to wall marble with marble on the walls. The entrance foyer is marble with marble walls, the staircase is marble, there are marble pillars, marble everywhere. The high ceilings have grand chandeliers and various textures. There is an indoor pool. Out back, there are courtyards; some with fruit trees, some with grass pavilions. The main outdoor dining/ entertaining area has multiple sinks for cleaning fish and game and large barbecues for cooking it. The top observation deck gives a sweeping view of the Tigress and part of the fertile crescent. It's truly amazing to see how green the floodplains are- they're covered with fruit trees and crops.

As Mel Brooks said- "It's good to be the king!"

Once again it drives home the point that this country could have moved past the stone ages if it had a leader with some vision.

Speaking of Sean, he and another friend put together a webpage with photos from his wedding. They took a photo of me and carted it around through the wedding rehearsal and then through the wedding and wedding party all the while photographing the picture in the scenes- it's amazing how much effort must have gone into this and that they actually took the time to do so is unbelievably flattering. The captions and the situations that my photo gets into are hilarious. I really, really want a copy of the photos with the captions on a disc if at all possible guys. It's truly something memorable. Thanks!

In local news, my surge protector/ power strip arrived today- I plugged it in to the voltage converter, plugged it in to the outlet, .... and promptly fried it. Chris's memory upgrade for his personal laptop isn't working right either so now they both get to go back. Oh the joys of mail order when you're overseas.

My brother called tonight; it's like the third time I've talked to him since I hit Houston back in May. Hang in there dude.

Well it's bedtime for Bonzo.