My Grandpa Lincoln died the other day from what I think was a heart attack. It's been difficult getting ahold of anyone who knows anything (like my mother). Everyone went to California for the funeral... and I'm very far away in Iraq. I hope, above all, my grandmother makes it alright though this.

Work has been insanely busy. I didn't know I had it in me to work straight through for 13 hours without taking any real breaks. I've taken over phase one editing of the daily product we disseminate every evening, and it can keep me very occupied. Not only do I write my own assessments, but I gather everyone else's, quality check it, and send it on. We have our senior analyst do a sanity check on the actual assessments, of course. (Good thing, since I'm so new here and hardly know my area enough to make insightful assessments.)

I received an email yesterday saying they had given me a trailer, only.... they had given me the title "Major" and had me down as a man. I don't know who thought a person with the first name "Amber" would be male, but there it was. They had me rooming with a male major. I quickly called and found they had realized their mistake, but were still going to give me a trailer. I moved all of my stuff out of my tent and made my way to the trailer. (I was allowed to borrow the car, which helped immensely.) Finally, I met another female 1Lt. Believe it or not, she talks more than I do. I was so relieved to learn she was very open, friendly, and helpful. We talked until it was very late, which made me think of sleep-overs from when I was younger. We occupy 1/3 of a trailer, and each have a twin-size bed, a night stand, and a locker (just like the ones in the hallways of High Schools across America). Not much to store clothing in, but I'll eventually buy a set of drawers. I also will need to get a bike, because work is about a mile away now, at least. Anyways, my living conditions have improved -- with one exception: we're very close to the perimeter of the base now, and right next to the Helo MediVac landing pad. With obvious reason, our trailer shook often throughout the night and morning because of the nearby helicopters and mortar rounds that were hitting no too far away. I didn't care -- I was just too happy to finally have a bed.

They cancelled our days off, until further notice, because we have so much to do. I was upset when I found out, but got used to it. Every day is the same here. At least I'm busy! Sundays are the only days that have a slight break because I get to go to church, and that takes one hour out of my routine. A great hour. I was thinking yesterday how normally I don't want to waste a morning going to church, but here -- I wish we had church every morning.

Wish I had something insightful or meaningful to say, but I don't. My brain leaks out at work, and by this time of day, 5pm, I can barely put thought together. I still have 3 hours of work, too.