The Year that Was 2006, according to Google

What did we ever do without Google for search engine entertainment and taking our cultural pulse?

I was checking out Google's annual Zeitgeist for the past year and I couldn't help but opine on the results. Google Zeitgeist aggregates user searches over the past year in various categories displaying our collective consciousness and online activity. With roughly 70% of the U.S. now on the Internet and with Google now controlling over 50% of the search engine market I think it is safe to safe that Google Zeitgeist captures the "pulse" of our society.

Read and interpret it as you would like but this is what I learned:

- According to the top search results, social networking is here to stay and we are only going to spend more countless hours on Myspace, Bebo, and Wikipedia.

- A review of Google News searches reveals that we wanted the latest information on Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom over both cancer and Hurricane Katrina. Last year Janet Jackson beat out Hurricane Katrina.

- The item we wanted defined most was "promiscuous" and we really wanted to learn how to "refinance."

- The Duke Lacrosse scandal received three of the top five spots for "US Scandals"

- Suri beat out Shiloh in searches and Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise came in #1 and #2 for wedding searches

- The most coveted ticket this year was for the Cheetah Girls

- The World Cup killed the Olympics this year and Bob Baker's retirement beat out Tiki Barber, Samy Sosa and Bill Gates.

Interesting year, 2007 predictions? Check out the 2005 results here.

Digging Iraq

It is Christmas eve and you would think I had something better to do than post to Digg but I was reading the New Yorker and there was a great article. The article is on Iraq and I would highly recommend it. Really gets to the heart of the issue and has some ties with what I am going to write my thesis on. I am going to write about it more but first I posted it to Digg--social networking site where articles are posted and based on how many people "digg" your story it gets a higher ranking.

Cool to get hits on your stories and people still care about this issue.

Check it out here

My Sister, 1000 Chinese Students and Christmas

As many of you know my rock star sister, Natalie, is in rural China (Hunan Province) teaching English. She has been blogging on her trials and tribulations since September and the stories have been amazing. I just read her latest post and it is a must read as it is so indicative of how great of a job she is doing over there. It blows my mind that this little white girl has such confidence, charisma, and creativity in a foreign communist land. I really hope she took pictures as I can only imagine the scene.

Nat, I really hope you turn all your writings into a book someday!

Check out her blog here and the latest post here.

Best Albums of 2006

I just listened to NPR's All Songs Considered Best Songs of 2006 and I would highly recommend a listen. A lot of the bands are fairly obvious since there have been some standout albums this year, including the Decembrists, Bob Dylan, Beck, etc. but I also downloaded some new albums that are really awesome.

New albums I am listening to:
The Gourds: Heavy Ornamentals
Jenny Lewis: Rabbit Fur Coat
TV On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
M. Ward: Post War

My favorite albums of the year include:
Belle and Sebastian: The Life Pursuit
Flaming Lips: At War With The Mystics
Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Others?

Nerdy Water Bottles

I was reading Wired magazine last night and aside from staying in on a Friday night, reading Wired magazine, I came across an incredible yet nerdy device--the HydraCoach. Basically, the device monitors how much water you are drinking out of this high tech water bottle and makes sure you drink the "recommended" amount. I know what you are thinking, are you kidding me, who needs an electronic water bottle to monitor how much you drink??

I , however, see this as an inredible idea not just because it is a new toy to play with but it does all the work for you. We all know that drinking water is supposed to be good for us and most people do not drink nearly enough. This gadget beeps and hollers whenever you are not drinking enough. How cool is that!? Just keep in next to you during the day in your cage/cubicle and piss off your co-workers with the beeping bottle of water that is keeping you hydrated. Especially in this world of high coffee and booze intake, this is a great thing. It is only $30 as well.

Ok, someone buy me one for Christmas, please!

No Google = Threat to National Security?

While attempting to write my thesis proposal tonight, I got distracted by a very disturbing article. The article was in the Washington Post today and titled "Seeking Iran Intelligence, U.S. Tries Google." It begins:

When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way -- by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as "Iran and nuclear," three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.

This article begs the question: How much does our national security apparatus rely on Google? Personally, at my government client site, we depend on the use of search engines, such as Google, to conduct open source research all the time. When I worked at USAID in the Office of Iraq Reconstruction, we did not turn to the Department of Defense or State Department for statistics on reconstruction costs, the Iraq population, or foreign development projects--we turned to Google. With our information sharing mechanisms within the government in such disarray, I wonder whether it would be a bigger national security risk if one of the U.S. classified computer networks went down or Google? This might seem like a ridiculous claim but it would not surprise me to find that Google would cause a greater risk. I am not going to go into the tiresome debate about how miserably the U.S. Government adopts new technology but it does bring up an interesting issue about whether the government has a responsibility to help protect private information technology, such as Google.

Much government focus is on protecting national security systems but when does a non-classified and open system become such a powerful aggregator that it itself becomes a national security system?

Showing Thanks as the IT Guy

I have been visiting my family up in Rhode Island this whole week and I have been showing my appreciate and gratitude by answering all their IT related questions. You may be say, John helping your grandma setup her email is not that bad. Yes, true, if that were the only challenge. My mom and Charlie have between them, two desktops, one laptop, one blackberry and eight (yes eight) email accounts between the two of them. Getting them all to sync on each computer was the first challenge. Other tasks have included setting up IM accounts, Skype, DVD players, etc. Happy to do it but exhausting. Now to all those things I was supposed to get done: thesis, learn chinese, catchup on Scrubs and the Office.

Also have been helping out a lot with their new business venture, Nankeen. As many of you know my folks have been importing several items from China that they have designed to eventually sell on the Internet. Nankeen, formally Tiverton Trading Company, is now undergoing version 2.0 of the company with a new marketing guy, wed designer, and business model. We are working on marketing strategies, design, and back office software integration. It is really interesting witnessing a startup venture and I am very glad to be involved. There is so much to do and then there is the huge variable of China with limited laws and regulations. Luckily we have a contact out there who has been helping us. I believe we are looking to launch the new site and product line in mid-January so stay tuned. I hope to get out to China at some point and help them, maybe after I graduate next summer.

Hope you all are enjoying your break as well, not looking forward to Monday back at the grind...

A Whole New Mind

I just finished Daniel Pink’s book titled A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. In short, the author states that due to “Asia, Abundance, and Automation” we are moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age and therefore we must refocus our current mental and professional state. He contends that our past expertise in knowledge work, such as computer programming, accounting, and banking, can now easily be done on the cheap in China or India. What we now need to focus on perfecting is the more right brain aspects of the creator and the empathizer. He argues that we need to move from high tech to high concept and high touch. Once we develop this whole new mind, we can have an economy and society that are built on the inventive, empathic, and big-picture capabilities.

I found this book very thought provoking as someone who is questioning the value of an MBA at this point in my career. While I do not think it is time to toss all application in the trash and become an artist, I think he makes some good points on what we need to focus on to be competitive in the future. In the end, however, I believe that market favors the most unique and talented of a class and not one whole class of worker.

Worth the read and you can also get a glimpse based on his article in Wired.

Production by the Masses

Daniel Pink, who I have mentioned previously on this site as I recently finished his book, A Whole New Mind, posted a very interesting post on his site:

"A group of folks at Wharton, Pearson, MIT, and Shared Insights have launched what aims to be the world's first networked business book. The venture, chirpily called We Are Smarter Than Me, will combine wiki technology and thousands of people around the world to create a management guide for a Web 2.0 world."

I think the premise is interesting as it leverages a very "hot" concept right now--the use of technology to create virtual communities and networks to organize or to collaborate on projects. We have seen this through open source software development, wikipedia, and blogging. Intelligence Organizations are even beginning to use this technology to collaborate across organizations as noted in this Washington Post article. I recently had dinner with a New York business consultant and he was discussing the idea of social networking design sites, aka wikipedia meets the fashion world. Interesting, do I trust the masses to develop software, design clothes, and catch terrorists? I am not that old but I have come across a lot of poor writing, horrendous design, and stove-piped bureaucracies!

While I do believe this collaboration is very intriguing and mass participation will lead to some very interesting ideas and concepts, I do not believe it will work in a completely open form. Ultimately, there will have to be trusted community where self-policing is the norm and not the exception. In an open form, there is no guarantee for self-policing. Wikipedia is great because it enables global collaboration and I would argue partial self-policing. I do, however, view each post with skepticism as I do not believe the proper experts in each field are vetting the information. I like these open forums for the initial facts, brainstorming, and concept development phases but ultimately you need a trusted network before reaching a final product. If I want to learn about Islam, I will check out Wikipedia first to get a sense of someone of the issues and then dive deeper into some reputable sources.

The concept of mass participation to build communities, products, and software needs to evolve past a purely open system and this is already happening. After reviewing the book web site referenced above, it appears that they have thought through a number of these issues and have developed an “Advisory Board” that will ultimately make the final decisions on which community input to accept. This is the next iteration of the open source revolution and if leveraged properly will create better products. Larry Sanger, the former co-founder of Wikipedia, is taking this concept live with his new project Citizendium. He is taking all the information from Wikipedia and having it reviewed by "experts” in the various topic areas. He states on his site, "Citizendium will be an experimental new wiki project that combines public participation with gentle expert guidance." It will be interesting to see if people still want to participate in content development if it will ultimately be filtered by others. The story behind Sanger's departure from Wikipedia is even more interesting and is chronicled in this Atlantic Monthly article. It is clear that Sanger believes the Wikiepedia concept must include expert reviewers and this is part of the reason he was ultimately "forced" out of the community.

In the end, success with "open source" production will depend on fostering the trusted community. If I am designing a building, writing a book, or developing software, I would be happy to receive the opinions of others for the purposes of diversity but I will also build a network of designers, authors, and programmers that I trust with the final product. Maybe I have not fully grasped this “open-source” revolution but we need to balance a diverse set of ideas with those that have the experience and expertise to produce. Thoughts?

Update: There was a piece in the NY Times magazine on this issue recently as it relates to the intelligence community.

Thank you for your patience

To the few friends who are suffering through the early stages of this blog, thank you. I have had some issues with feeds and such and I am sure you are viewing random posts and "new items." I am hammering out some of these items and will hopefully post something more insightful over the coming days. Once I get my final trip notes up and decide on the scope of this project, I will broadcast a little more widely, see what happens. Honestly, this might end up just being a forum for me to capture the many thoughts and ideas that pop in my head throughout the day, which will be a huge help in tracking the craziness. Hope you enjoy.

Keep the feedback coming.

Life Upgrade

I am sure a lot of you have found the awesome site LifeHacker, their goal is to focus on "a tech-centric approach to solving common every day problems." For the 100th installment of their "Geek to Live" series they provide an overview of past popular articles, a must for anyone interested in making their life a little more efficient.

Check it out here.

Summer '06 Trip Post #6

Day 6-10: Monday, July 3 – Cambodia and Koh Samui (time to relax)

Today we departed Siem Reap and flew to Koh Samui via Bangkok. The flight was fairly uneventful and we were greeted by our hotel at the airport. Koh Samui is one of the larger islands in southern Thailand and has become fairly developed. This is also the host of one of the largest parties in the world, the Full Moon Party. Unfortunately we were not there during a full moon. The most famous beach and party area was Chaweng but we stayed at a beach a little further north, which was quieter but we could still access the night scene via taxi.

When we arrived at the Santiburi Resort we were informed that our room had been upgraded to a villa next to the beach with a Jacuzzi. It was incredible to say the least (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3). This part of the trip was filled with lots of beach time and relaxing. We did do some island tours and also toured the island we were on. Not much else to post, check out the pictures...

All in all it was an incredible trip and I would like to go back again and explore other areas in the region. Till visiting Nat in Singapore in February...

Summer '06 Trip Post #5

Day 5: Sunday, July 2 - Cambodia

Today for our second full day of touring Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, we met our guide early in the morning and headed out for a day long tour of various sites. We started out with Ta Prohm, which was completely overgrown with trees and roots. It was an amazing site as the 200-300 year old trees were growing out of the temple and displaying the strength of mother nature. (pic 1, pic2, pic 3) This was also the location where they filmed parts of Tomb Raider, the three of us are pictured to the left is where Angelina Joline stood to film the movie.

Our next site was Banteay Srei but it was farther out away from the main Angkor Wat temples. We took a 45 minute car drive through the countryside to get to this site and the poverty outside the city was very striking. There is no electricity and most live in thatched huts with no toilets. Naked children and dogs walk and play along the road, while the parents are cooking, cleaning or sleeping hammocks. Thanks to the recent influx of NGOs and other health organizations, there is now a greater awareness around malaria and most houses, if you can call them that, have mosquito nets. Foreign organizations have also tried to introduce birth control since there are so many children per family and so much poverty. Most parents take the condoms that are distributed and give them to their children to create balloons and play. Cows, the thinnest you can imagine, along with water buffalo also roam through the rice paddies and fields. It is obvious that any wealth generated from the end of the civil war and the opening to tourism has not reached the countryside. Here our tour guide has stopped to buy some mushrooms on the side of the road for his dinner that night.

The temple was very different from the others. It was a lot smaller and was made more of a red clay rock. The detail work on this temple was incredible. (pic 1, pic 2)

After the temple we had lunch once again at a local establishment and tried some of the various Cambodian specialties. This included sweet and sour fish soup, fried chicken (Cambodian style) and curry. We also learned that Cambodians love to drink Muscle Wine mixed with coconut milk. We bought a bottle and the box is hilarious. The ingredients are reindeer antelers and the box says that drinking the wine will make you grow big and strong. This wine is very strong and the Cambodians often drink a whole bottle just for one person. The guide says this is much better than beer because you don’t get a beer belly!

Our final destination of the day was a boat trip through the floating village on the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia. The trip to the lake was also very eye opening. The thatched shacks along the river to the lake were made up of a room about half the size of my bedroom on stilts and that was it. Again there were tons of children running around including toddlers naked wandering on their own. This was probably one of the poorest areas I have seen in my life.

The scene at the “pier” was also quite wild. There were loads of fish coming off the boats and men taking pictures of us, which we would later understand why. We got on a long boat and headed out along the canal to the lake. Alongside the canal were floating houses, women rowing boats called floating markets and small boys casting nets to catch fish. (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3) This community was most amazing as they move their floating houses, restaurants and boats as the lake rises. Each year, they move over 7 kilometers as the water fluctuates. The community surrounding this whole lake covered over 4 provinces in Cambodia and consists of over 1 million people—1 million people floating on the water!! We stopped at one floating fish market, which had a crocodile farm that was both shocking and surreal. Even crazier was when one of the older boys held his brother over the pit in a scene that made Michael Jackson’s balcony episode look completely innocent. (pic 1) As we returned to lakeside we were hounded by little girls who had taken the digital pictures of us before we got on the boat and stuck them onto plates. The pictures were most unflattering and you can see from these pictures of the girls pounding at the window that we did not make any purchases. (pic 1)

Summer '06 Trip Post #3

Day 3: Friday, June 30 - Bangkok and Cambodia

Today Drew and I had one day to do the highlight tour of Bangkok. After breakfast at the hotel we took a private boat ride along the river and through the canals. (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3) It was amazing to see how some of these people lived along these canals. The house were nothing more than some slabs of metal sheeting on a frame. It appeared that most were getting by on very little, which was conveyed through their resourcefulness of saving every plastic bag, can, chair, etc. that may have floated past them in the river.

After the river tour we headed to the Royal Palace, which was fascinating once you got past all the people trying to convince you that the Palace is actually closed (it never is) and that instead we should take their tour. (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3) The Palace was a magnificent site, including the Buddhist shrines. After touring the Palace we headed back to the hotel and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

We arrived late at night in Cambodia and could see very little of the countryside as we headed into town since it was dark and there was little lighting. Mark missed his connection and will not make it till tomorrow morning.

Summer '06 Trip Post #2

Day 2: Thursday, June 29 – Bangkok

As a stepped outside into the thick and humid smoke filled air I felt like I had arrived in the infamous Bangkok. With sweat pouring down my back and forcing myself through the hordes of Thais pushing taxi services, I got in a metered taxi and headed to the “Mandarin” hotel as instructed by Drew. The taxi driver was nice and talkative like all the Thais I would soon come across. He was so nice that he even began to show me his stacks of brochures for “massages” and other gratuitous shows that Bangkok has become so notorious for providing to foreigners, beginning with the soldiers on leave from the Vietnam War.

The taxi took me to the “Mandarin Hotel” as I instructed, only for me to figure out that I was staying instead at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a completely different and much nicer hotel. Once the confusion was cleared I arrived at the proper hotel and met up with Drew. We took to the town and walked to the largest building in Bangkok and had drinks and dinner on the top terrace overlooking the city. A few dirty martinis later and we were off in a tok tok to the infamous Patpong Road. Tok tok are three wheeled motorcycles that race through the streets at break neck speed and you hold on for dear life. The driver was persistent in not taking us to our destination but what seemed like every “massage pallor” and go-go room he could find. After finally convincing him to stop on the main road we exited the tok tok and embarked on the Patpong area. This area has the endearing superlative of being the “most famous red light district in the world” and let me tell you it was like nothing Drew and I had ever seen before. The street was lined with bars filled with scantily clad women dancing on runways with numbers pinned to them, to easily identify a woman of interest. It was unbelievable the number of women and bars along this road, where did all these women come from. Unfortunately, as it has been more publicized as of late, a lot of the women are held to these bars against their own well and are being trafficked for sex slavery and sex tourism.

The other interesting piece to note was when Drew and I sat down for a beer at one of these places to say we “did it,” I befriended a German man next to me who seemed to frequent the establishment. He gave me the low down on the place and what the women were trying to do and also informed me that at least 60% of the women on stage were actually MEN. Yes, that is right, I could not believe it and had not noticed. Of course many people warned me against the “lady men” but I had no idea how well they transformed themselves, full body part operation and all. It was quite shocking. We soon finished our beers and left for a more normal disco, if there is such thing in Bangkok. We eventually found our way back to the hotel and all was well.

Summer '06 Trip Post #1

Day 1: Wednesday, June 28 – Flying to Bangkok

After almost missing my first flight thanks to the long and inefficient lines at Dulles Airport, I found myself sitting next to Gregory Stanton. Mr. Stantion happen to be the man who founded The Cambodia Genocide Project at Yale over 25 years ago with the mission to bring the Khmer Rouge to justice with a war crime tribunal. He visited Cambodia often over the past 25 years and worked with both the UN and US to achieve justice for the Cambodia people who were so brutally killed by the Khmer Rouge. Over 2 million were killed in little over 2 years by the nasty Pol Pot regime, which was largely overlooked by the western countries and often little known today. Mr. Stanton could not have been happier and had the air of someone reaching a life-long goal and a dream come true. The judges and advisors to the tribunal were finally going to meet and the trial is set to being very soon. Many of the Khmer Rouge are dying and there is great urgency to get the tribunal underway. It is a Cambodian run tribunal with UN assistance.

Mr. Stanton was a fascinating man and also the founder of Genocide Watch in Washington DC. It was great to be out again traveling and I was most excited about going to Cambodia and seeing the killing fields for myself. The rest of the trip to Bangkok was largely uneventful. Thai Airways was incredible even in coach and the 17 hours went by very fast.

My Journey as an AID Worker in Iraq

This is a compilation of all my posts while working in Iraq.

Iraq Post #1: Leaving for the Middle East

As most of you know I am heading to Iraq today in order to relieve one of our US AID workers that is taking some vacation time. I will be there for a month working as an Information Officer (the same position I have in DC). I will be staying in the green zone within Baghdad. The green zone is the compound where all the civilian workers live and work and it is pretty safe so please do not worry!

I am leaving out of DC today and flying to Jordan where I will be staying for a day before flying into Baghdad. Many people on my team have come and gone out of Iraq so I have heard lots of tips and advice. I am very excited about this opportunity and will take lots of pictures to post on the Internet.

I will be able to check email on a daily basis and I will be sending updates out to this list.

Thank you all for your support and I will be back in no time!

Iraq Post #2: Live from Jordan

Hello from Jordan!!

I arrived in Amman Jordan at 2:00am today and took a cab to the Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel is amazing and I cannot believe I am staying here. I immediately went to bed because after traveling for so long I had no idea what day it was and I just crashed. I woke up today, well the same day but about 7 hours later, and took a tour of Amman. I went to the old citadel where the ruins of Hercules Temple stood and also a Roman open theater...yes Jordan was once part of the Roman Empire. I also got to see a Palestinian Refugee camp which was quite a site, the living conditions are horrible and these people have been kicked off their land in Israel and forced to live in Jordan. My cab driver was Palestinian and his father moved to Jordan in 1948 and still has papers claiming land in Jerusalem. Over 50% of the population is Palestinian and their right of return is obviously a big part of the Middle East peace talks.

Jordan is a very interesting city and they are very friendly to Americans. I wish I had more time to visit all the different areas because there is so much history here. A couple of interesting observations: there is more honking here than in DC if you can imagine, also there are very few women out on the streets and when you do see one she is usually covered in the traditional head dress. Also there are a lot of Iraqis here who have yet to return to Iraq because they still do not feel it is a safe place to live. Jordanians love to drink tea and coffee and my cab driver said that he drinks between 5-7 Turkish coffees per day, if he has any less he gets a headache...I wonder why!?

Tomorrow morning I get picked up at 7:30am and I am driven to the airport where I catch my flight into Baghdad. I do not know the next time I will be able to email but hopefully tomorrow once I get settled.

Iraq Post #3 First Impressions

Hello All!!
I arrived in Baghdad yesterday and now that I have gotten somewhat more acclimated to living in a war zone I will do a little recap on my first days.

After staying in the lovely four seasons in Jordan, I took a small plane from Amman to Baghdad yesterday and it was quite an experience. The airport in Amman was tiny and there didn't seem to be much concern about security and screening passengers. After I went through "immigration," I preceded onto a small AirServ flight with 10 others. Everyone on board kept talking about the "spiral" landing and the best way one could position for this landing. After about 2 hours of flying we proceeded to make huge spirals around Baghdad and eventually they became very tight spirals where we were vertical and could see blue sky out one window and Baghdad's mighty palaces straight down out the other window. We proceeded to make a drastic dissent while spiraling tightly into Baghdad International Airport and luckily without incident. The fear is that insurgents will fire RPG and surface-to-air missiles at the planes while they land. I saw the DHL plane that took a missile to one of its wing and I am glad I was not involved in that one! We landed in the recently reconstructed Terminal C (yay Bechtel) where I got my Baghdad stamp on my passport and my luggage from baggage claim yup the airport is all ready for commercial flights, if only a commercial airline was willing to fly into Baghdad.

Upon my arrival I was greeted by 3 security officials in full armor and M16s and we loaded into an armored suburban with an Iraqi driver that USAID hired. We were followed by another suburban that was our backup vehicle in case there were any "incidents." We then proceeded to drive down the freeway to the green zone at about 80-90 MPH. Anytime an Iraqi vehicle was in front of us we would flash our headlights and honk until they got out of our way. I am sure they love that! The fear is that we will get caught behind a convoy of insurgents who will try and detonate something in front of us.

Once I arrived at the convention center I met the USAID/Iraq staff and got my flack jacket and helmet. I then proceeded to the Palace where I got my badge. Saddam's palace is huge and very beautiful. Aside from the convention center and the Palace, the city is in pretty bad shape and there are bombed out buildings all over the place. It is a very sad site because there is just so much destruction and can't imagine what it is like in some more rural parts. Aside from the destruction, the other very noticeable thing is the amount of army, weapons and tanks that are all around. This very much feels like an army compound with kids younger than me carrying around very powerful weapons and machinery. Blackhawks are flying constantly overhead and there are many checkpoints.

Later, I found out that I was living in a trailer at the new AID site which is still being built. The trailer has a kitchen and bathroom in the middle and two bedrooms, one on each side. The living accommodations are nice for a developing country and I even had a hot shower this morning. I feel safe in this location though these trailers would offer absolutely no protection from a mortar attack...luckily none have hit any trailers yet. I do not have a car so it is a little hard to get around but I do have a cell phone (a new Iraqi one, a sign of reconstruction progress) and we have a pool of Iraqi drivers that will pick you up and take you anywhere. The food here is very disgusting and you eat with the army with their M16s littered all over the floor. I am afraid I will bump one and they will go off because they are just everywhere!

The office works about 12 hour days and they work everyday, including the weekends. There is not much else to do besides working since we are confined to the green zone and it is either work or stare at your trailer walls. The social life has greatly diminished ever since the hotel that everyone stayed in was bombed. Apparently they are considering bringing back disco night on Thursday nights so I will keep you updated on that one! Apparently the thing to do is to go the gym at night, which is great seeing that I have only had freedom fries and grill cheese for every meal!

Being at work seems like the same as being in DC, we have cubes and I am constantly talking and emailing with DC so it doesn't really seem like I am that far away. Even though we are confined to the green zone, we have a lot of Iraqis working in our office and they are all over the green zone and there are many opportunities for interaction. It seems that based on all the Iraqis I have talked to, they are happy that Saddam is gone and are glad the Americans are there but these are also the same ones that have jobs and we are paying! It is funny because the palace and its surrounding areas are so clean because they try to keep as many Iraqis employed as possible and therefore give them jobs to clean and water plants over and over again.

Iraq Post #4 - Life in the Green Zone

Hello all.
Everything is going well in the Green Zone. It seems that the area is a lot safe ever since the end of Ramadan and Saddam's capture, lets hope it stays that way.

The weather is very mild here, between 50-60 F and that seems like a lot better than all of you on the East Coast!! Had to come here to get away from that...

Life here consists of fried food, working and sleeping. Last night I had my first vegetable...fried cabbage!! Actually tonight I went with some of my colleagues to the Green Zone Cafe, which was quite an experience! Apparently it is run by a local Iraqi and he started out about 2 months ago with a roasting spit and a couple of plastic chairs and tables outside a bombed out building. Now he has a fully enclosed tented seating area with heating lamps and a full kitchen that serves pizza, whole chickens, kebabs and BEER! Yes I had my first beer in Iraq, a Miller Lite. This is an excellent example of the fruits of a free market system where a business savvy Iraqi has the ability to run with a good thing. The prices are high in Iraq but compared to America it is cheap and he takes dollars. He wants AID to give him a loan so he can buy a generator and A/C for the summer months!! This Iraqi is fully embracing American capitalism!

Oh and a word to the wise, when you are in line at the cafeteria to get food, never ask for French Fries, they are FREEDOM Fries and the army gets very offended when you get it wrong, trust me...

Today, I found out we have a dog on our housing site. His name is Ditch because he was found in a ditch. The little pupp is very cute and entertained me while I was waiting for my ride by biting my ankles and shoelaces, I do not think I have ever seen such a dirty dog.

As I mentioned before there are guns everywhere and contractors usually hire security firms to protect them. One firm is notorious for being very poor and they consist of ex-bar bouncers who have been trained with guns and are now walking around Baghdad in plain clothes drinking at the Green Zone Cafe, they have been known to accidentally fire their arms...great!

Life has consisted of a lot of work but it is not that bad because you feel very connected with the work and people are very into what they are doing. On Sunday, I am going to get to venture beyond the green zone and visit one of Baghdad's water treatment plants that Bechtel is rehabilitating. Though it does pose a great risk, I am very excited to get out of the green zone and see some of our work.

That is all for now, not too much going on but I am trying to give little snippets of life here in the Middle East. Thanks again for all the responses!

Iraq Post #5: Saddam's Palace

Hello All!!
I am perfectly fine here in Baghdad, thanks for all the emails and phone calls of concern.

As most of you have heard by now, at 8:00am this morning (Sunday) a car bombed exploded outside of the green zone. The car bomb exploded, with a half-ton of explosives, outside of one the entrances to the green zone. Ironic that the entrance is called "Assassin's Gate." I was inside my trailer when it the explosion occurred and it was quite an experience. This was my first big explosion since I have been in Baghdad and it came as a real shock to me. The sound and feel of the blast ripped through our housing compound and it was a really loud and deep explosion, similar to a large cherry bomb going off in the school yard but times that by A LOT. Of course my first reaction was to go towards the window because it felt like it was right outside but that is the LAST thing you are suppose to do. In this type of event, we are supposed to pull the mattress over ourselves and wait because if it is a mortar there are usually a couple more that will land...since this was my first explosion I assumed it was a mortar or rocket. It is a little hard to pull the mattress off the bed when it is connected to the frame so I put on my flack jacket and helmet and sat on the floor. About two minutes later my roommate got up and got in the shower so I assumed it was probably safe again, I guess most people are used to this by now! I eventually made my way outside and I could see the smoke in the air and smelled the poignant burnt rubber smell. One of the Iraqis told me what had happened and I found out that the explosion was about 1 mile from where I was living...pretty intense wakeup call to say the least, didn't need my morning coffee after that...what a way to get your juices flowing in the morning!

The sad part of the whole thing is the many Iraqis (over 20) who were killed, as this is where they line up every morning to try and get a job from the Coalition government. Additionally, while I have experienced this once since I have been here and it was pretty scary, I can't imagine people in other Middle Eastern states that fear this sort of violence on a daily basis. While there is a lot of progress here in Iraq and I could tell you about schools that have been rehabilitated and the health care clinics we have repaired, the truth of the matter is this country is a mess and I cannot imagine turning over sovereignty in a couple of months. I know the Iraqis keeping protesting for free elections but it is a concept that is just so foreign to them. One colleague here told me that he was speaking to an Iraqi a couple of months ago and the Iraqi was so confused because he didn't know which side to bribe. It was such an innocent claim when bribery and corruption are a way of life in many parts of this region. I do hold out hope that this will work out but if things don't, this could easily slip into a nasty civil war.

Now to the brighter side, I have had a chance to wander around a bit in the green zone and there are many sites to see. We discovered one army mess hall that seems to serve a lot better KBR (Halliburton subsidiary) food than the Al-Rhasheed hotel (the place across from the convention center, my office, where we eat almost every meal). This location was behind the Baath party headquarters, which is an enormous building that was severely bombed during the war. It is amazing how many large buildings Saddam built for himself and his party during his reign. I took pictures! Another large building I visited was the Republican Palace, Saddam's main palace. This time I got to look around and boy is it something! The hallways are lined with chandeliers up top and the ceiling contains very fine detail work. The rotunda, where Bremer's office is off of, is huge and makes you feel very small--a theme that runs throughout Baghdad. There are gold plated thrones and chairs piled together in side rooms where people have impromptu meetings. There is a large chapel where about 100 people sleep in bunk beds and there is a picture of scud missile on the wall, apparently pointing towards Israel. In the back, there are trailers sitting upon what used to be lush gardens and date palm trees. There is also a swimming pool in the back where troops can swim and relax, a very odd site to see in the middle of it all.

After the palace tour, I got to eat at another good spot (I am really getting lucky this week) and that was the Bechtel dining facility. Bechtel has its own camp next to the palace and each trailer has a TV and the trailers are each surrounded by sandbags, unlike ours!! At their dinner they have real plates and silverware and the food was so good and they had fresh salad fixings and they even have a new pastry chef. Bechtel doesn't even let us eat there, even though we gave them the contract, so we had to sneak in...also it was interesting to find out that Bremer's uncle works at Bechtel, Captain Bremer is his name!! Yes folks, it all goes round and around, a mini-DC in Baghdad. I like to refer to this palace area as "inside the beltway," where Bechtel and all the political appointees (CPA) can be very cozy!

Well that is all I can muster up this round, I have been working 12-14 hours everyday and I am exhausted and good thing there is nothing else to do here but sleep!

I also just found out that Iraq has Cubans and Operation Iraqi Freedom t-shirts, so put your orders in now.

Got to see the beginning of the playoffs last night in the rec room on an Arabic version of ESPN and that was very exciting...

P.S. It has come to my attention that this is spread around far and wide, from my grandmother's oldest high school friend to the SMU Pi Phi sorority! So for all you newcomers and distant readers, welcome and thanks for reading!

Iraq Post #6 Fulbright Scholars and Bremer

Today I walked upon a ceremony that is very indicative of the progress being made here in Iraq. I happened to come across the Fulbright Scholarship ceremony in the main arena of the convention center where I work. The ceremony was honoring 25 Iraqis that had been awarded the Fulbright Scholarship after a 20-year absence of the program in Iraq. One of the speakers was a woman who had been awarded a scholarship in 1968 and talked about her experiences in Iraq. Then the keynote speaker was none other than Amb. Paul Bremer himself. He arrived in his heavily guarded black suburban and his security force of about 20 heavily armed men with dogs. Other than congratulating the 45 scholars, rather than the actual 25, he made an impressive speech but looked very tired and haggard. It was very exciting to see him as he is usually not that accessible.

Life has been good here in Baghdad, especially now that I have discovered the huge abundance of copied DVDs for sale. Today I bought 2 for about $10 and this is very exciting since going back to my trailer and watching DVDs is usually the highlight of my day. In addition, they have a nice selection of Rolex, Tag, and Breitling watches that are very tempting to buy. I was very surprised to find that all the little shops in the green zone do not have many cultural items but instead have DVDs, watches, cell phones, gun holsters, and Saddam memorabilia. I guess this is what everyone wants and are the first things to come into a newly opened economy. It seems that Iraqis are eager to get their hands on anything American...I wonder how long it will take for the first McDonalds and Starbucks to come. Apparently the CPA requested a Starbucks in the green zone but they declined because they said they didn’t support the war.

Other than a couple explosions here and there it has been pretty quiet in the green zone and hopefully that doesn’t mean the insurgents are taking more time to plan attacks.

The AID mission here, as they usually do, has been trying to get me to stay longer, until February 15, but I decided on a week extension and then I will definitely be coming home around Feb. 8.

Iraq Post #7: Outside the Green Zone

Today, I got to leave the green zone for the first time but do not worry because I am now back safe and sound. We took some BBC reporters to a huge water treatment project in Baghdad. The drive to the site was very exciting because it was the first time I really got to see how Iraqis are now living. Unlike the green zone, there was tons of traffic, people in the streets, and children playing. The area we drove through was fairly poor and there was garbage everywhere! The highways were packed with very old cars that we either barely running or broken down on the side of the road. Gas is very scarce in the country, and there were numerous Iraqis selling containers of gas along the side of the road. Another interesting sight was the herds of sheep that where all over the street, I am not sure their purpose but I would guess that they are sold and then slaughtered for food. We drove in a fully armored Mercedes, which are the strongest since the armor is put on in the factory instead of retrofitted later. We had two armed security escorts in the car and a suburban followed and would box out Iraqi vehicles whenever they got close. I felt pretty secure because we were not in military vehicles and therefore not a big target.

The water plant was very interesting, as I had never seen one before, let along an Iraqi one! I have many pictures for anyone interested in how water is taken from the Tigris River and turned into potable water. All in all, it was a good trip and I am glad I got out of the green zone and saw the real Baghdad, it is a huge city!

Last Thursday, we had a farewell celebration for our wonderful mission director and it was quite a party! We had a large spread of Iraqi food and got to actually mingle with colleagues outside of the office. There were many speeches but there was one in particular that was very moving. One of our female Iraqi assistants got up in front of the large crowd and spoke on behalf of all the Iraqis working with USAID. She said they were so grateful to have a manager who was so nice to them and respected them, especially the women who rarely had high levels of responsibilities under the Saddam regime. It was a very powerful speech and I was grateful to be part of such an amazing organization. Our director had been in the area for 14 months and was stationed in Kuwait before they even knew if there was going to be a conflict.

Our staff came from all over the country for the party and one group had a very exciting trip. Our staff from Basra (in the South) were on their way up when their vehicle hit an IED (improvised explosive device) filled with nails, luckily they were in one of the powerful Mercedes G-wagons and there were no injuries. I have attached some pictures and you can see the nails imbedded throughout the car and luckily they were in an armored car or else they would not have been so lucky.

I have also attached some pictures from the Saddam parade ground that is near the office. At both entrances there are huge swords that cross overheard, which are held by giant hands. The most sobering part, however, are the helmets at the base of the swords. The helmets that litter the base of the swords are helmets from the Iran-Iraq war and they are all helmets taken from dead Iranian soldiers. Each helmet has at least one bullet hole and many have more. It is hard to describe such a sight and it is one of the many testaments to Saddam's brutality. It is amazing to see this and yet hear ranting back in the U.S. from a certain presidential candidate (luckily it no longer looks like he will win) about how Iraqis are no better off since the fall of Saddam. I think many Iraqis might disagree and are enjoying their freedoms from the wrath of a ruthless dictator.

Once again, thank you for all the emails and I will be leaving Baghdad on Wednesday, stopping over in London for a few days and then returning to DC on Sunday.