Location: Baghdad, Iraq - I've been working here since January 2004. Democracy rules! I sure do miss my cat, family and friends, Tex-Mex food and Texans games, though.

Returned to Iraq mid-January 2005 after a monthlong visit home in the good ol' USA. I need to have my head examined for coming back, but hey, I made the decision. ;-)

January 2006 - Back in Baghdad AGAIN. Nobody believes me anymore when I say "I'm only doing one more year." Can't blame 'em.

2007 - Still in Baghdad, getting more and more involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and loving it.

2008 - Yep...STILL in Baghdad, watching the situation improve greatly. God bless our troops and the coalition forces. This is going to work!

2009 and I am still hanging in Baghdad, watching it become alive and thriving again.

February 2006. Tigris River in background.

"Life is God's gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to God. Make it a fantastic one."

On Saddam's Reviewing Stand, December 2006

Witnessed a firefight downtown, May 2007.

Martyrs' Monument, Baghdad. Taken from a Black Hawk Helicopter September 2007

Sadr City off in the Background, August 2007

Central Baghdad on a rare, peaceful morning

Waiting for my beer delivery on the banks of the Tigris, 2006.

November 2008 - What? WHAT? I can't hear you...

Doing my CNN Reporter Imitation (in the spot where most of their stand-ups are done), July 2006

"There are IEDs on every street! Car bombs are everywhere! Mortars and rockets are just raining from the sky! There's a HUGE civil war going on! Baghdad is in FLAMES!"

Picked the Kuwait FR locale because Iraq is STILL not an option on here, even though it is now a free and sovereign nation and more and more FReepers are coming over...

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Occupation: Capitalist pig. Defense contractor - Procurement and Logistics

Interests: Conservative politics, lib-bashing, music, musical theater, my adorable cats, reading voraciously, travel, sports (Go Astros! Go Texans! 8-8 in 2007 - playoffs in 2008?)

Living La Vida Loca 2004...(not all cats can say they have their names tagged on an old Iraqi missile launcher...)

Finbar the Feline

Camels of Mass Destruction Ping List: pax_et_bonum; Eaker; The Mom; humblegunner; Xenalyte; Bacon Man; Hap; grey_whiskers

FREERIDERS Ping List:
JimWforBush; martin_fierro; jersey republican biker chick; najida; Tijeras_Slim; rockinright; hoodlum91;LanPB01;valerief;Momaw Nadon; steve-b; xenalyte; WatchDoggs; meowmeow; slingsandarrows; Huntress; Dumpster Diver

FReepers to avoid/ignore due to rudeness, deliberately taking my remarks out of context due to their own feelings of inadequacy, blatant liberalism or just being socially unacceptable (This is just for me to keep track since there have been so many):

bon mots, olderwiser, from occupied ga, Mordacious; Tamar1973, hgro, Buffalo Head, Calpernia, bill1952, cowboyway, Jason C, Antoninus, Earthdweller, Razz Barry, t_skuz, Calvinist Dark Lord, Publius6961, Doughty One