Of our two friends that died in Iraq, both died in roadside ambush/IED attacks. Totally stupid and pointless in my opinion and very frustrating. However, I know their families took comfort in the "he died serving his country/protecting freedom" thing, although there's really no way I can totally believe that.

I guess I ended up looking at it like this: (I've thought about this a lot, probably to protect myself) Everyone in our military was a volunteer who chose to serve their country. That in itself is an honorable decision. The nature of one's death doesn't change the quality of how they chose to live.

However, when I hear someone say "We have to stick this out to honor those who have died" or some other bullshit like that, I just walk away before I say something I might regret.

I'm very sorry about Michael's death and I hope his family can find some peace.

Oh, Cashmere, what an awful week. I'm so sorry.

"We have to stick this out to honor those who have died"

Those arguments have been used before. They put a lot of names on a wall in D.C.

Timelies.

Cash, sorry for the suck. I wish I had some nice thing to say that would make it all better.

Susan, I don't know if you get the Little Details community, but someone there linked to a werewolf myth website, [link] The page howls at you when you first open it, but then there's no more sound.

Hi Deena! I thought of you, becase I was allowed to watch HouseHunters on HGTV again last night. Hee! How goes the home improvement? How are the babies?

The babies are good. The improvements are.... going. I love my new curtains. They're actually silky shower curtains with a bed canopy/scarf as sheers. It looks really cool.

You're going to take pictures, right?

They're actually silky shower curtains with a bed canopy/scarf as sheers. It looks really cool.

That's very clever! I want pictures, too.

DC to New Zealand (Auckland, and possibly Christchurch), to Sydney, Australia, to Vietnam, to Cairo, to Frankfurt (just overnight), and home.

OMG jealous! Dayum. That sounds like such a fantastic trip. How long will you be gone, all told? Are you going to see John H in Sydney? Actually, if you want advice on Vietnam, John is a really good person to ask (and, by proxy, Thuy). Also, they are fun and lovely people and will show you a good time. And I hope you'll get to meet up with Fay in Cairo, too! I'm telling you, travel-by-Buffistas is the way to go.

I'm starting to freak out about all the things I need to do between now and then--get two visas (Egypt and Vietnam), buy a backpack, buy things to put in the backpack, make a doctor's appointment and get some vaccinations and an ambien scrip...bunch of other stuff...

Can you get either of the visas at the border? I mean, it's better to get them ahead of time if you can, but sometimes it takes a long time to get visas. Although... since you live in DC, all the embassies are right there in town, so you won't have to send your passport off through the mail, so you'll probably be able to get them quickly. For clothing, Rio is right, you can get by with just a couple of outfits, since you'll be in a different place every few days. Things you'll want to make sure you have: prescriptions for any medications you're on, a camera and extra battery (and extra film or an extra memory stick), a journal, addresses for anyone you'll want to send postcards to (*ahem*), backup glasses or contact lenses. A small bottle of hand sanitizer would not be a bad idea. Do you think you'll need a water filter for Egypt or Vietnam?

My strategy for long plane flights is basically to sleep through them

Yeah, I'm not good at that at ALL, even if I've been up all night packing (no good at sleeping sitting up). Thus the hope that an ambien scrip will help.

Also, I find it helps to get drunk before boarding. (Okay, not stinking drunk, but pleasantly boozy. Then again, it depends on your reaction to alcohol; mine seems to be: one drink = fun!, two drinks = zzzzzzzzzzzzz.)

Aimee, do you know that circus animal cookies have pink camels right now? For Spring? I ate one and thought "This is such an Empress thing."