No, I didn't get this in my email from someone whose cousing totally knows this general who is in Iraq.  Actually, it's from Time magazine.  I'm just going to paste a few highlights, but you can read the whole thing here.  It is really interesting...just, what is day-to-day stuff over there:

"Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record-setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best...

Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.

Worst E-Mail Message — "The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood type A+ stat." I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get these messages, but I never give blood — there's always about 80 Marines in line, night or day.

Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we'd get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won't give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are — and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp...

Biggest Mystery — How some people can gain weight out here. I'm down to 165 lbs. Who has time to eat?

Second Biggest Mystery — if there's no atheists in foxholes, then why aren't there more people at Mass every Sunday?

Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here.

Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.

Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels."

I was just wondering if anyone else has their Oscar Award speech all lined up too...I was just daydreaming in the shower about what I would say, and I can't imagine I'm the only one out here that does this :)

I also have appearances on Leno and Letterman.  I can't figure out what to wear for the life of me.  It's frustrating.

Today I'm devoting the blog to reporting happy news, and I'm starting with a poor flamingo:

Elderly flamingo needs leg treatment

It's difficult to see the world, or even the small communities in our nation, as a happy or peaceful setting when this is on the front page of the news:

Every single thing on there is some horrendous atrocity.  Where are the good things in the world?  There are millions of good and worthy people out there, but what they do doesn't make it to the news.  A good example of this is during the Hurricane Katrina, when the media had every spare second blasting how many people were dying, were stranded, were starving...and what a horrible job the government and military were doing.  It was so infuriating because hundreds, if not thousands, of people devoted their time to going to La. to help and donate food, shelter, clothing, etc. 

Anyway, I could rant for hours on the horrors and misinformation the media spews.  So frustrating.  This is just an example.