It may seem strange that I call this post “Last Night” even though it’s two nights before I leave, and probably four nights before I reach Baghdad. But it’s my last night in my house, my last night to get my things together. I am fully outfitted, I think, except I need to grab a bar of soap. That’s it. Other than that I’ve checked off every piece of equipment on my list. Some pieces I’ve checked off twice.

Redundancy seems to make sense when your going to be half a world away. Baghdad has an eight hour time difference, so maybe my posting will be a little close to when people expect it. I’ll be putting photos, videos, all sorts of material up. Hopefully it piques some interest.

I have two cameras, two microphones and two audio recorders. I’ve got extra socks, a sleeping bag, two puffy jackets (my friend Bryan who served during the war warned me it’s cold there this time of year) and a hat. I’ve got ballistic goggles and ballistic sunglasses, and a spoon and a fork.

I hope I’m ready. I’m as ready as I’m going to get. I’ve got to get a picture of myself tomorrow for NHPR, so they’ll have something to post to the mini-website. And then I’ve got to go to work for the day. It’ll likely be a long day, since it’s basically the day before the most intense vacation of my life.

I’ll keep things flowing to LPJ, as well as NHPR. If I haven’t posted here in 24 hours, look for it at NHPR. I’ll be shooting video, posting photos, making journal entries and uploading audio. It’s going to be multimedia, for certain, as it should be.

The news director at NHPR was looking at photos of FOB Kalsu, and he said it didn’t look like there’s a lot to do there. I said that means I’ll have plenty of time to work. His response: “With all that time on your hands, it better be good.”

I couldn’t agree more.