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OK, so that was a bit of a break.

A good friend noted that it would be nice for me to update my blog at least in part so my sisters can update my folks (who aren't really using up a lot of bandwidth these days. Or ever.) on what's goin on in my life and assure them that I am not dead in a ditch with my organs harvested. *

Items:

1 - Am no longer in Afghanistan. I finished up there a little over a month ago, went home for a bit to see the fam, hung out in DC for a bit, and am now firmly ensconced in the lovely mediterranean climes of Tirana, Albania.

2 - I hope to do some touring about since I am now nicely nestled between Turkey, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Croatia, etc. so I bought myself a car. Not a new car but the newest car that I've ever owned. Corolla, black, sedan, very much a "I'm being followed by a suspicious-looking man in a late model dark sedan" sort of thing.

3 - I bought a house! DC. Mid-level of a townhouse. NW but just barely. I close in about 2 weeks and had to do a power of attorney to my friend C as I won't be there for the closing. Like most things in life, I just kinda bumbled into it. A friend was selling his place so we got to save the 6% that a realtor would have taken. ** Fortunately I hadn't spent ALL of my danger pay from the A-stan on booze and loose women.

* The boogeyman of trafficking in human organs that is rumored to be going on in Albania is, evidently, a red herring. Thus far there has been no facts put forth to support these rumors that originated, shall we say, outside of the borders of Albania.

** You know, lawyers get a bad rap but realtors are the real blood-sucking parasites in our society today. They're the pushers that try to get you to buy houses that you can't afford and then take SIX PERCENT for doing damn near nuttin. It's a gd racket.