I was attacked by a wild dog today.

Well, actually a puppy. Mason, as he was named by the Navy personnel, lies in wait for me whenever I exit my office. Luckily, this morning I had sausages with which to distract him long enough to make my escape, but only after suffering some playful bites from his razor-sharp puppy teeth. Things are getting pretty dangerous around here...

Recently I learned that over a hundred new positions for MPRI were approved. I'm getting nine of them, eight of which will be mentors for Combat Service Support Kandaks (Kandak = Battalion) in Gardez, Kandahar, Herat, and Kabul. The ninth position is for someone to develop an automated logistics management system.

I read where Obama said "Let the market work... and then just tax the heck out of people at the end and just redistribute it." Comforting, isn't it, to know that a Presidential candidate thinks he should "tax the heck" out of us. Better yet, then he's going to "redistribute it." Redistribute to whom exactly, I wonder? Hmm... I guess you know how I'm voting.

Out.

Today is Friday, our day off (Muslim weekend). I went to Camp Phoenix, worked out, played racquetball with Al Viera, another MPRI contractor who is a mentor to the Afghan National Army Air Corps. Then went to the PX, bought some Icy Hot for Shirin's mom and a Mocha Frappe for me.

Called LT Bruce Reilly, USN, the Depot 1 OIC (Officer in Charge), who lives at Camp Phoenix. He previously told me about some new Cougar MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles he had been issued to replace the armored HMMWVs his crew uses to convoy to work.

LT Reilly gave me & Al a tour of the vehicles. They are awesome. Imagine a huge armored truck with a machine gun turrent, infrared cameras for night driving, joystick-operated searchlights, and room for seven including the gunner. I need one.

On a side note, I recently learned the Dari word for friend, rafik. Dari is very close to Farsi, and Dari/Farsi are very similar to the Arabic languages and share many words. Anyway, one day I was thinking about the Dari word for infidel, kafir, and it dawned on me: kafir sounds like rafik backwards. Hmm...

Here's the announcement I wrote for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary:

Ernest and Pat Lanicek will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a private party for family & friends. Ernest and Pat met on a double-date (not with each other) at the defunct Keller’s Drive-in on Harry Hines Blvd, while Ernest was home on leave from the US Navy and Pat was in bobby socks and a ponytail. It was love at first sight. After a whirlwind romance, Ernest married the former Patricia Marie Harris at Saint Monica’s Catholic Church in Dallas, TX on August 16, 1958. They are the parents of Rick, husband of Julie, and Dan, husband of Kim. They have two grandchildren, Brendan and Sarah.