Kudos to our airports!

Well, finally back in San Diego after some interesting travel experiences to and from Chicago! If you've seen or read the news from last week, you know of the foiled plot that hit the press the morning I was leaving for Chicago. I'll be honest, I was expecting chaos. However, things ran relatively smoothly and mostly everyone was in good spirits. Lines were long, but people were pleasant and courteous. The airport personnel were excellent and TSA people were very visible. I did get bumped from my original flight out of SD, putting me into Chicago at 11 pm - too late to get any Quonset pizza...such a bummer!!! Kim picked me up at the airport (and that was crazy - major traffic!) and we drove back to her house, but with all the traffic, didn't get into her place until about 1 am, at which point we both were exhausted! The rest of the weekend was great. I spent the weekend up at the cottage with my family, had BBQ ribs for dinner on Saturday night, tried to go to a rodeo (no kidding, but it was closed, but I did get a picture of a bull if anyone cares to see it!) and rode down the river on Sunday with my brother Tom, sister and brother-in-law, Nicky and Nate and my nephew Curran (he's 7) in a raft called The Party Raft which was amazingly stable and lots of fun. The current wasn't as quick as we thought though, so starting late in the afternoon was not our best idea!! Monday I tagged along with my dad at the GRPD and went on a ride-along with one of the forensic techs to print and photograph a handful of cars, apartments and businesses who had fallen victim to some thefts. It was pretty interesting, or at least it was to me! The drive back to Chicago was uneventful (in a great little Ford Focus) and the drive into Chicago this morning had the usual traffic and usual crazy drivers, but other than that, nothing major. I got to the airport this morning extra early, expecting it to be busier than when I left SD. However, once again, I was pleasantly surprised at the way things are being handled. Lines were long but again, people were happy and helpful. Airport security is still high, but they are doing a GREAT job helping people out and keeping them informed. Anyway, I thought that traveling this weekend would have been insane, but it wasn't and that was great!

I have a post from Mike that I'll be putting up in a few minutes. It's far more interesting than this one, and it has pictures! :)

Hope all is well with everyone!

I love you Mike

bon voyage!

Hi everyone - happy Thursday! Mike made it to and from his destinations yesterday without incident, thank goodness! I spoke with him this morning and he seems to be in pretty good spirits (he laughed a lot, which was great to hear), though he is still a bit tired from the trip I think. I think he's working on another post that we'll put up in the next couple of days, as he still doesn't have internet access, it might be a bit. That being said, I'll wait and let Mike fill everyone in on what's been going on in his corner of the world.

I am happy to report that I am officially DONE with my prelim exams, though I won't find out if I passed until the week of the 28th sometime (keep your fingers crossed for me!). With those out of the way, and not having to report back to school until next Wednesday, I'm heading back to Michigan to spend some time with my family. Actually, I'm flying in and out of Chicago and spending a couple nights with my best friend from high school and college, Kim, and her hubby Derek and their little daughter, Mia (oh, and I can't forget Kim's sister Katie who is working the summers in Chicago until she heads back to everyone's favorite college - Notre Dame!!). The rest of the weekend I'll be spending up at my family cottage, on the Muskegon River. It's amazing up there and it's also amazing what my parents have done with the place - especially considering that it was basically a hut when they got it...but a hut w/a great river view! :) Actually, the last time I saw it the entire kitchen and first floor bathroom were gutted and my parents were redoing everything. So, needless to say, it'll be pretty different when I see it this time around! I'll be sure to put up pictures (mostly for you, Mike).

Anyway, the plan was to head to the airport with only an hour to spare (which is pretty typical here in SD), but after the news this morning, I suspect the security lines to be much longer and I'm heading out to the airport shortly...just wanted to post first. I will be able to check email and post if Mike sends me his post, unless it happens to be Saturday afternoon, when I'll be sitting in a tube, floating down the river with a bunch of other crazy people (namely, my brother, sister and brother-in-law!)...hopefully with a beer in my hand!! Sorry, Mike, I'll have two beers, one for me and one for you! :)

Well, I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I love you Mike!

A message from Mike...finally! :)

August 9, 2006

Greetings from Tallil! I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, or much less written anyone, but I’m finally settled in and doing about as well as one can in Iraq. As Colleen has posted before, I’ve been assigned to the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion, which is a National Guard and Reserve unit out of Minnesota. Needless to say the accents have been funny which makes all of them really hard to take seriously! But they’re all good people and all have been really supportive of my mission and have taken care of the lone sailor in the bunch.

We’re located at Camp Adder, Tallil, which is outside An Nasariyah, about halfway between Baghdad and Basra. That means we’re south, and that means it’s fricking hot! 115 is normal, and the past few days it’s been 120+. I’m really looking forward to winter. Anyway, the base is decent – we have one dining facility with pretty decent food (tons of ice cream and cheeseburgers), an Italian pizza place (lots of Italians on base; Australians and Bosnians too), a good size gym, internet cafes, phone centers and a PX. Oh, almost forgot Burger King, which isn’t very good. Pisses me off. My living “can” is pretty nice though. After ten years in the military I finally have a room to myself, and leave it to the Army to provide me with it! The heads (latrines in the Army) and showers are a 10 second walk, and we even have a laundry service with a 24 hour turn around. No maid service though, but I sleep in my Army issue sleeping bag so it doesn’t take much to straighten my room in the morning. So all in all this place isn’t too shabby. I could definitely be stuck in worse places.

Today I’m going outside the “wire” for the first time, out to visit some of our Radio Relay Points to give those guys training on what I do and on some of the systems that I was called over here to help them out with. Should be an interesting trip. Not sure what to expect really. We’re going south, which has been relatively quiet in terms of asshole insurgents, but you can’t really relax because you never know what to fully expect. Well, I don’t know, this is all new to me, but like I said, it will be interesting for sure.

That’s about it for now. With a little luck I’ll have internet connectivity in my room shortly and will then have zero excuses for writing anyone!

I love you Colleen!

The Fridge

Ok, so I don't have news nearly quite as exciting as say, finding out your are expecting a baby girl like some other bloggers (and congrats again!), but I thought I should post something today regardless. I did get a chance to talk to Mike this morning and he's doing well. He finally got in touch with the computer guy who will be hooking up a line so that he can get online more often, but I'm not sure when that's actually taking place....we'll see. His big news? He's sweeping out his office tomorrow because what he calls the "cockroachgrasshopperlocust thingys" are getting a bit out of control. As much as I LOVE bugs, the thought of these little indestructible critters crawling all over the place is a bit disgusting! He's also looking forward to playing the games that come on his i-pod, which he just learned were there...sounds like lots of fun, huh? As far as work goes, things seem to still be going well. He's fully in the swing of things now, which I know he's happy about because it keeps him busy. And, those of you worried that he's not getting enough to eat...last Saturday when they had their weekly working dinner, he ate an entire pizza! So, no worries there!! However, when he finally can get on a computer, we'll/he'll/I'll post more on work and more about life at the FOB.

At home, we got the fridge today. It's funny because it seems a bit out of place - it's pretty big, but really nice. I had to laugh as I was sitting on the kitchen floor trying to figure out how to put it all together...who knew you had to put a fridge together!?! The only drawback is that you can't hang magnets on the front of it...which really cuts into our clutter collection! They do hang on the side, so I had to go through and put only our favorites up and no more little notes and random stuff up there anymore - this ONE place will be clutter free!
I know, it's totally stupid to put pictures of a refrigerator up on this blog, but how else is Mike going to see it? I mean, I can't very well describe a fridge...it's black and silver and looks like...a fridge. So, you'll have to suffer through these silly pictures for now. So, those are our favorite magnets and a few funny cards and postcards. My favorite cards ever are MikWright. They take old, real photographs and put some of the craziest, funniest captions in them. The most "appropriate" one that we have up right now is the one with the smiling sailor standing next to his bunk and the caption inside reads "If you think I'm gonna spend another six months cooped up with a bunch of half-naked, sweat-drenched, foul-mouthed strangers...you're right!" It's an all-occasion card that probably most people who aren't in the Navy wouldn't find funny...but we did and so we hung it up.

Well folks, that's about all the excitement I have for now. I'm still plugging away at my prelim exam, which ends Thursday, thankfully! I spent most of the morning at the UCSD library reading through books that can't be checked out of the library and that probably nobody has bothered to read in years - lucky me! Anyway, I hope everything is going well for everyone out there and I hope you all enjoy a wonderful week!

I love you Mike!

Happy Friday!

I have very little to post tonight but wanted to put up a couple pictures from Mike's disposable camera. There are a whole lot of pictures of tents and palm trees and sand in the bunch, but until he tells me what those things are, I don't want to post those. So for now, here's a couple that we can recognize.

Mike in Saddam's chair in the palace in Baghdad:

If you click on it the picture should get bigger. I don't know if you can tell or not, but his hair is SO short. When I saw this all I could think of is this adorable picture that is on his parents' kitchen counter at home of him, his brother and sister when they are really young - his hair in that picture is long and blonde and curly. It's so cute! Of course, I still think he still looks cute here, but what a difference, huh? Maybe I'll try and get a copy of that picture and put it up too...Mike probably won't like that! :)


This is another picture of Mike inside the palace. It's a bit dark, but I thought I'd put it up anyway. Even though it's dark, it's a pretty cool shot I thought. I am glad that he'll be getting the digital camera soon (hopefully) and so maybe we'll be more pictures that are a bit more clear and zoomed in! Regardless, I'll take what I can get at this point.

Well, I'm off to work on my exams for a couple more hours tonight. It's slow-going at this point but for this portion of the exam I have until next Thursday, so it allows me to work on it several hours every day. Oh, good news from the apartment front - we are getting a BRAND NEW refrigerator! There are many drawbacks to renting, but I really think this is one of the great benefits. Whenever something goes wrong our awesome landlords (Doug and Steve) are right there to help out! It comes on Monday and I can't wait! I joked with Mike in an email earlier because one of the things he always does is leave empty ice cube trays in the freezer and this new one has an automatic ice maker! We'll never have that problem again - how exciting!!

Well, hopefully everyone has/had a great Friday and enjoys the weekend. Oh, by the way, I've put up a "guestbook" off to the side, so if you get a moment and can sign in so we can see everyone who has visited, that would be great!

I love you Mike!

Milestone!

I've been waiting for this 1 month mark for some time now (30 days to be precise) and it's finally come and gone! Although Mike has been gone for more than a month, our blog countdown started when the 365th day began. Why? It was just easier that way I guess. Anyway, we've passed the 30 day marker and Mike is getting settled and keeping busy at his FOB and we are 31 days closer to his coming back home!

I finally got the disposable camera he's had and will take that and will post pictures from it soon. In the meantime, Mike was able to send a couple pictures today that he had on his thumb drive...they are big, so he couldn't send many.

Here's one - isn't it weird to see him in all this gear? And, doesn't he look so handsome? :) I have to admit, when he first sent this I had a hard time looking at it without getting a little choked up. He looks so stoic and even though I've seen him in his Navy uniforms often enough, this somehow seems a little different. Also, it is just WAY different than the t-shirt, shorts and flip-flop Mike we all know so well!

The other picture below is what Mike likes to call his GI Joe "action shot" (that's him in front). These are pictures from his training and not of anything he's currently doing.
The last picture is of the Navy group that he spent the first part of his deployment with in Maryland, South Carolina, Kuwait and then Baghdad. I don't know which FOBs everyone went to, but think a couple of them are currently at the same base as Mike, though not working at the same place.


Have a great evening everyone!

I love you Mike!

How Sweet It Is...

I had a surprise from Mike waiting for me when I returned from my run and it just made the day even better! He sent these beautiful flowers to wish me good luck on my prelims. It was awesome, they are beautiful and it means a lot to me knowing Mike is thinking of me during this experience - espeically when he certainly has his own things to worry about! He is always so supportive and understanding - I am so lucky!! I have been singing that James Taylor song all day today now, you know "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You" and really, I can't help feel that way - it's amazing, Mike you are amazing!!

Sorry for the gushing, flowers can do that to a gal, you know?!? :)

I haven't actually spoken to Mike so I do not have an update. I know he's been keeping busy with meetings and inventory. He did tell me that he was still trying to track down the internet guy to see if he can get hooked up - so maybe within the last couple of days he's been able to do that! Other than that, I'm not sure I have anything new to report. I know it's been cooling down here in San Diego, and hopefully will continue to cool around the rest of the coutnry - and maybe soon it'll begin cooling down in Iraq too.

Wishing everyone well!

I love you Mike!

All-nighter

The subject line of this post is a bit misleading, I did get 3 hours of sleep! Yesterday I began my 24-hour prelim examination and this morning at 6:12 am I finished it! Tomorrow I start the 7-day portion of the exam, which can be much less stressful but is always just as rigourously graded. At one point during the 24-hour exam I realized the bitter irony in the fact that, all through school we've been urged (and I now urge my own students) not to pull all-nighters and save our work for the last minute because very few people are capable of producing their "best" under such circumstances. And so what do our professors then have us do? Try and produce our best work under these same circumstances we've always been warned against! Ah, the beauty of it all!!

I'll post more later on and with an update from Mike (hopefully) but for now, I'm off for a run down the cliffs and beach to make up for my lack of fresh air from the last 24 hours!

Take care everyone!

I love you Mike!

Blogger meltdown

My apologies but as I was adding a post tonight (with Mike's mailing address in it) I had a total blogger meltdown and lost everything that was on our blog. I'm not entirely sure how I did it or what happened, but all that was left on the page was my profile and the title of the blog! That being said, I think I've salvaged some stuff and "rebuilt" to the best of my recollection. What I am not sure is if I was able to recover all of the comments so I'm sorry if you commented and it's no longer there. I did get to add his address in the margin, so it's there to stay.

Take care everyone and have a great day!

I'm back

Wow, sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Things have been a bit crazy lately. I was in St. Louis for four days at a Forensic Science conference hosted by AAFS. Now I can either study and catch criminals or become one! Just kidding Dad (for those who don't know, my dad is lieutenant of the major case squad). Other than the conference, the only other really neat thing I did was go up in the Arch, which I wasn't even aware you could do. You go up in these really tiny little windowless elevators, the size of a large screen TV box (no joke) and with 5 other people. The ride up takes 4 minutes and the ride down takes 3 minutes, and there really isn't much to do once you get up there except look out these really small windows - out to one side is the Mississippi and the other is "downtown" where you can see their courthouse building and a pretty cool view of the Cardinals stadium. When you are looking out the windows you can stand up on this ledge, so you are literally hanging over the outermost edge of the Arch. When I got back in to San Diego I started studying for my upcoming exams again and just got done with my first 24-hour "test run" this morning. I tried to go back to sleep this morning after I was finished, but couldn't so instead I cleaned the house. This is good because now I have no excuses next week when the testing starts back up! One of the reasons we decided to move back into this apartment, besides the parking spaces, is because it has two bathrooms. Now, it's not that either of us takes longer than 10 minutes to get ready each day...they just so happen to always be the same 10 minutes, so having that extra space is really helpful. However, since Mike deployed immediately after we moved, I realized as I was cleaning that precious second bathroom that I haven't even stepped foot in there since we've moved in! I was cleaning a bathroom that I've never even used! How's that for irony, Mike? :)

Speaking of Mike, he seems to be settling in well. He is working on getting internet in his "living area". Right now the unclassified computer isn't at his desk, so it makes it a bit difficult for him to spend extended time online. I'm hoping that eventually he'll be able to send me some stuff to post, or start posting himself. It sounds like the people he's working with on a daily basis are great, which I'm sure makes this whole process a bit easier for him. According to Mike, the Navy gang usually eats dinner together, a social/working dinner of sorts. And although he can't find a carne asada burrito anywhere, they do go out on Saturday evenings for real Italian pizza. He's working with a Master Chief from up north right now, who may or may not be there on a long-term basis. They drive around in a Humvee and, today, Mike drove it around a bit himself. It's diesel, so it's not like he's racing around base or anything, but I suppose it's way better than walking around! He's checking on equipment, doing a lot of inventory and even some training so he's really jumping in with both feet! He did make sure to mention that he noticed a driving range on base that he thinks he might try and check out sometime, which would be another very unique experience, of course! I still haven't gotten his disposable camera in the mail yet, but he did send a little package with some stickers in it to add to my collection. I've now got a camouflage "Don't Tread on Me" sticker and one for the Multi-National Corps but the one I've included here is my favorite! He only sent one of these, so I won't actually be sticking this one anywhere, but I just think it's hilarious! Somebody really should make t-shirts out of this one!

Well folks, I think that's about all for now. I will try and post more regularly but will be testing still for the next two weeks, so it might be a bit more sporadic than I'd like. On the other hand, posting will give me a way to procrastinate...so maybe I'll post more often! :)

Hope all is well with everyone out there!

I love you Mike!

"It's hot. Damn hot."

It's hot in San Diego today. Yes, I do realize that it's not nearly as hot as it is in Iraq and I am certainly not complaining, but it's hot none-the-less. I think we are on record for the hottest July ever! Tomorrow I am flying out to a conference in St. Louis where, evidently, they've also had a hot month and have lost power in much of the city because of recent storms. I'm sure it'll be a fun trip! Regardless, all this fun talk of hot weather had me thinking of one of those all-time great movies...you got it, Good Morning Vietnam. What would the skit look like coming from Iraq do you think?

I heard from Mike today that he'll be heading soon to his assigned FOB, which is Tallil Air Base, and with the 1-34 BTB at Camp Adder. You can check out their web page here. I don't know much else at this point, like about who in particular he'll be working with, his living/working spaces, what the base is like or what his daily routine will be like, but I thought I should post what I do know. Sorry it's not more information - I'll post it as I get it! :)

Love you Mike. Be safe!

Keep trying

Tonight I was watching the news and was struck by a comment made by an Israeli General. The reporter asked some question about meeting/not meeting the level of success they had hoped for and his reply was "We'll keep trying, it's only Thursday". I chuckled at the response at first, because of course he was being asked to give a time frame on something which I suspect is nearly impossible to do and he gave the only reasonable response. But then I started thinking about how much that comment is reflective of our own troops in Iraq. They do always keep trying - no matter what day of the week it happens to be. I might be a bit biased, but I really am proud to know that this is an attitude that our troops have. And I think our support for them - as a country - should take the same attitude...it might be difficult, it might be taxing, it might be scary and lonely and in fact it probably will be all of those things, but we need to all keep trying too!

And, stepping off the soap box...we still haven't heard for sure where Mike will be heading though it's looking like South of Baghdad is the likely place. Also, he's sent that silly disposable camera home so within a few weeks I should have some pictures to post. Also within a few weeks, he should have the digital camera I sent him, so when he's finally in place he can post some pictures too! Won't that be more fun that all this gibberish? :)

I love you Mike!

One of those days...

This is what happens after you leave your house for the first time in days - karma kicks you with everything it missed while you were away! Today I went in to work and noticed a strange odor coming from someplace but couldn't pinpoint it. So, I worked for a bit and then finally noticed a dead mouse on the table just a few inches from me. Just a little gross! Went to a meeting in downtown, came out and had two tickets - one for an expired meter (deserved that one) and one for expired tags (don't deserve this one because they haven't come yet and the DMV won't let me go in for "extras" until after 30 days!!). Oh, but my day doesn't end there! Even after all this I went to Lowe's in my car to pick up a new wine fridge (yes, for Mike!) and after an hour there realized it wouldn't fit in my car. Battled the afternoon traffic and finally returned with the Jeep, got all the way back home and realized I had left my wallet at Lowes! If it weren't so funny I think I'd be pretty upset. I think this means that, no matter how much work I have to do, I MUST leave the house at least once per day!

I did talk to Mike a bit this morning. He sounded pretty tired, but all right all the same. He still hasn't heard which FOB he'll be going to, but did say that they were told today that "things are changing by the hour" so he may not even end up at one of the places he requested. I guess we'll hear soon though. I think I am looking forward to Mike getting someplace more permanent as much as he is. I know he'd like to be able to "unpack" a bit and I can't wait to send him his first package!!

Oh, by the way, Dan, The Desert Periscope blogger posted today that tomorrow is World Jump Day and, even though it is totally silly (nicest word I could think of) I WILL be getting up and jumping at 4:39.13. How can I not? I live in California, where we LIVE to do crazy stuff like this. Plus, I figure I'm usually up around then anyway, so I might as well and maybe it'll offset all the bad karma from today!

If you too would like to participate and help "stop global warming, extend daytime hours and create a more homogenous climate" check it out: http://www.worldjumpday.org/

Happy jumping everyone!

I love you Mike!

Untitled

I promise that this blog will not always be mundane and will actually have daily posts - eventually! The problem is now I have nothing new to report as Mike still doesn't know where he's going yet and I literally haven't done anything exciting in the last two days! Some of you know, I'm prepping for a big test in August, which means that there are days that I do not leave the house and I sit in front of a computer surrounded by books for hours on end. These last two days have been just that. And sadly (or not, really I guess it depends on how you look at it) Mike's days haven't been much more exciting. Evidently today he found the post office, after walking clear around the base only to find out it was actually right behind his tent (who said sailors can't navigate in the desert?). Other exciting news - he's been enjoying Cookies-n-Cream ice cream! Seriously folks, that's all we've got! They did get a brief from one of the top ranking officials (Mike will have to fill in his name because I don't recall) today which he said was pretty neat - more that the guy took time out of his schedule to meet with them than anything else. And, of course, it's been hot there! :) It has actually been pretty hot here too, but I have lost my rights to complain about heat, humidity and pretty much everything else for the next year, so I guess I'll stick with that.

Hopefully we'll know more about where Mike will be heading in the next day or so. And, I promise to leave the house tomorrow so that I at least I might have something to post about as well!

I love you Mike!

A message from Mike!

Greetings from Iraq! This is my first posting to our soon to be named blog. Colleen and I figured this would be a good forum to let everyone know what's going on over here in my little corner of the Middle East. I'm in Baghdad right now, living in a tent with 20 other guys on Camp Victory, going to a week long course right around the corner from Saddam's former palace. I pass by it every day, and am amazed by the shoddy workmanship! I would have thought stealing oil money from your own people would make for better digs. Ah well.

So it's been about six weeks since I left San Diego. I met up with 40 other Navy guys in Norfolk, VA and have been with them ever since. We were in Noroflk for a week of admin and medical processing, then headed to Indian Head, MD for a week of training followed by two weeks of GI Joe training in Fort Jackson, SC. After being indoctrinated into the Army way of life, we all hopped on a flight to Kuwait via Rota, Spain for a 30 hour stop. Last call for alcohol for the next 365 days! We arrived in Kuwait July 3, and the counter started rolling down from there. We had a few days to get used to the heat and sand before heading out to the desert for 4 showerless days of more GI Joe training. The following day after a shower and a doublecheeseburger meal (yes, we had McDonald's in Kuwait!) we flew up north to Baghdad. That was July 12. Thoughts on Iraq to follow...have to eat!

Albino bugs

Well, I just finished cleaning out the garage, which I do not think has been cleaned out for at least 5 years. As many of you know, just before Mike deployed we moved back into the big apartment on Saratoga. After Mike left I moved our stuff out of storage and just put it in the garage. I haven't had time to get in there, organize and clean until now. What many of you may not know is that when I decided to move to San Diego one of the selling points that Mike highlighted (other than him, of course) was that San Diego has no bugs, knowing that I just hate bugs (they are sneaky and you don't hear them coming!). And, until today, I have found this to be true - and have loved the years of bug free living! This garage, however, is filled with bugs!! And what's interesting is, because they have been without sunlight for so long, they are all albino! No kidding!! I found stuff in this garage that has probably been there for years, through several tenants...and everything was bug infested. However, I think I have prevailed over the bugs and have, in my own OCD way, organized our garage so that it can fit "stuff" plus one of our cars.

Now that I've vented about my bug phobia, I will move on to the important information...what's Mike been up to? The other night he mentioned that they heard the "booms" from a firefight someplace nearby which he said was pretty crazy, but didn't sound too worried about it. They did their check in with JCCS1 the other day as well, so they are pretty much ready to go. He started his class today and said that, while interesting, it was basically a refresher of what they did/learned in Indian Head, MD. He thought that tomorrow would be more hands on, which I think they are all ready for. He did get to request which FOB he'd like to go to, and he requested to either go up north or with COSCOM. It sounded like each area had its perks and its drawbacks...and he may not even get one of the places he requested, so we'll just wait and see. Class ends next Friday so he should hear sometime between now and then.

I love you Mike!

An important Thank You!

Before too many posts get in here I wanted to call everyone's attention to three people that I owe a big, important THANKS to. I've posted their blogs on our link list off to the side there. When Mike first deployed, neither of us really knew what to expect which made this whole process even more difficult. One day, while searching aimlessly for information on the internet, I happened upon the blog "My boyfriend, the Sailor, is in Iraq!". Kym's posts and our later email conversations about her early days - and current dealings - with her Mike's (also a Navy Chief) deployment really helped me through the early days when Mike first left SC. From her blog I found Dan's, The Desert Periscope and from Dan's I found another Mike's, The Chronicles of Narmya. I've read through both blogs and have also emailed both Dan and Mike directly about questions and concerns I've had. Let me just say that all three of these people have helped me in ways that they will never know and I am very grateful to them! Even though they are inevitably doing different, but very important jobs in 'the sandbox', Dan and the three Mike's (as they are all now affectionately known to me) are all part of the JCCS1, which also has a link on this blog.

I just wanted to make sure that I give credit where credit is due and thank these people who have helped save my sanity over the last couple of weeks.

"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.

The Journey Begins

Well, this is it, the first "official" entry into Mike's blog, which still doesn't have a name or any other detailed information yet! Mike returned from Kuwait today and is heading off to Baghdad tomorrow morning. The training in the desert went well, though high winds and bad weather caused some delays. Evidently at least one day the winds were about 45 miles an hour. Needless to say, a shower was a priority when they returned to camp in Kuwait - though I'm sure they haven't even begun to get rid of all the sand! No camel or bedouin sitings to speak of though - bummer! As far as I know Mike will be in Baghdad for about a week. As soon as we learn more about where he'll be heading on a more permanent basis - and when - we'll post that as well.

That's about all the information I have for now.

I love you Mike!