Sunday Morning in Baghdad

I tried running outside this morning - it was a mixed success. It was in the high 90s by 9am with a slight breeze. I actually thought I felt a cool wind for about 5 seconds of my 30 minutes running. I finally had to move inside for my last mile. The main impetus for all of this was to try and get a little sun - sounds counter intuitive but it's so hot that we don't spend much time outside. I was feeling a little vitamin D deprived so I figured I would combine the two tasks (I am always about multitasking). The run consists of a mile and a half loop inside the NEC wall. No real views although we are adjacent to the Tigris. I can walk anywhere I need to go in the NEC in 5-10 minutes so I was a little surprised to squeak more than a mile out of the compound. I got to see all the interesting parts I hadn't explored previously - the water treatment plant, the generator farm, the motor pool. I did get a chance to study the Ambassador's residence a little better - looks nice enough (the whole complex is brand new).

As we approach Ramadan, the music coming from the tower seems a lot louder. They are getting ready to party (actually the Muslims fast all day during Ramadan). We'll see if they can get through the month long celebration without AQI setting off Shia-Sunni conflict. They sure are trying but to date the clerics and political leaders have kept a lid on it.

I had an interesting breakfast at the DFAC the other day: http://www.wmtw.com/news/20407034/detail.html I was surprised about how short all the gentlemen were in real life. None of them sat with us low lifes - a little disappointing but whatever.

Watched the new Star Trek movie last night (my $2 DVD). You definitely get what you pay for - it was obviously filmed with a digital camcorder with surprisingly good results. The sound was decent but the whole picture was not captured - leading to some strange editing. The other disturbing feature was a cryptic message in Russian that kept appearing. Translated it probably said "I am now looking at your hard drive, installing a trojan horse and downloading all of your personal information; enjoy your $2 movie, you schmuck. "

Have great Sunday! Saturday/Sunday are coming to a close and I'm off for my Monday...