"It's too hot to walk"

Another day in Baghdad for Mike, another day in San Diego for me! When we spoke earlier today Mike said that the high was about 117 and the low was 84. I had to laugh...the HIGH here at the beach today is forecasted to be 83! Crazy. Evidently it "cooled down" enough last night so as to be comfortable, which I'm sure was nice. Mike's living quarters right now are a tent and a cot with a mattress. I don't know exactly how many guys are in each tent, but it sounded like a lot. The tents have two air conditioners, one at each end, which helps to keep it cool which I am sure is nice for sleeping. The week of training or classes Mike is taking begin on Saturday, but they may not have enough room for all the people, so some might have to hang around Baghdad for an extra week (and then start their week of classes). Not sure if Mike will be waiting or not, should maybe find that out soon. He has tomorrow off again, with the exception of some possible admin. stuff. I told him he could walk around and just relax, and get the lay of the land, so to speak and he told me that it's too hot to walk! They have little trams or shuttles for them to get around base, which is huge evidently. Today they visited the Palace and Mike has taken some pictures he'll send along soon. He made an interesting observation about the Palace...that it was neat, beautiful, etc. but all a marble facade. I thought that was an interesting correlation to the old regime there - everything may have looked good on the outside, but underneath...not so much! Anyway, he saw and sat in Saddam's big chair and I'm pretty sure he got a picture of that. Oh, and I did buy a digital camera for him that I'll be sending as soon as we have an address - that way he'll be able to upload pictures a lot more quickly.

That's about all for now. We're still not exactly sure how this blogging is going to work out. I may be posting information Mike sends me, or he may post himself - or, it might switch back and forth and we'll all post - who knows?!? Regardless, we both hope this will help everyone keep in touch. One of us will be posting on a daily basis (and if your lucky, maybe both of us!), so check back often to see what's going on.