To 2LT West's Dad for sending copies of Inferno, we just finished reading it in the Tallil Dead Poet's Society.
To Brigitte Van Tiggelen for sending copies of Aeneid which we are starting next Tuesday as well as for the copies of The Weight of Glory we are reading now in the CS Lewis book group.
To Larry Wise for putting hand grips on the 29er bike so I won't burn my hands on the 130+ degree days and the other bike repairs.
To my Uncle Jack for connecting Viet Nam to the current war and reminding me how much I would have loved to tell my Dad about all of this over a cup of coffee.
To my sister who was upset when I enlisted in 1972 and no happier this time but is very brave.
To Matt Clark who spent the worst hour of this year with me--he drove me to the airport for the return trip to Iraq.
To my roommate for putting up with "livin' in a friggin' library."
To Kristine Chin for editing all three issues of the Dark Horse Post. The current issue will go out tomorrow.
To Amy Albert who wrote me a few days ago asking if she could help by sending us stuff and will be sending some of the future books for the book group.
To Meredith Gould for various reality checks she has given me about life, the universe and posting.
To Robin Abrahams for the Clerihew contest and for sending the her book Mind Over Manners (available on amazon.com!) and to Marc Abrahams for asking (bemused) questions no one else asks.
To Jan Felice and Scott Haverstick for laughing at me as well as with me about this whole Iraq thing.
To Abel Lopez and Brother Timotheus who have been my friends so long they take this whole Iraq thing in stride.
To Lauren, Lisa, Iolanthe and Nigel for being proud of me even though having their Dad gone for a year was not in their plans.
To Annalisa for dealing with everything back home, taking care of Nigel and letting me know when the blog posts go too far.
And now the bad joke. . .
