1 February

Day number 60 of 180. I am 1/3 the way through my six month tour and one month closer to Christmas. Hey...when you miss a family Christmas you can bet I am eagerly looking forward to the next Holiday Season. Although February 1st marks a small milestone for my time in Iraqi it marks a huge milestone for my son - he is 5 today...well tonight - 11:28 PM, Pacific time, to be exact. I had the opportunity to have a 10 minute video call with him and the three most important women in my life - my wife, my daughter, and my mother who was in town for my son's birthday. I made the call early today about 7:40 AM, CA time, in the hopes of getting through to him before he went off to school. We have "dial-up" speed on our satellite Internet connection - or at least it seems that way sometimes - so it was a gamble as to whether I would be able to get through to him. Luckily I did, and I hope it made his day; because other than a bag of sand or a clump of mud there is not much I can send him from the middle of Iraq. Have a good day...the weekend is fast approaching.