My buddy J has been in Southeast Asia, doing whatever it is that he does on behalf of our Uncle Sam. I recently got the following email from him:

I shall be making my way back across the globe this week and land, once again, in PDX. Thanks to God and the US Army I have whole new batch of tales of squalor and depradation to tell. I can tell you now that you want nothing to do with these islands. The weather here is hotter, and wetter, than monkey piss. I nearly got heat stroke the other day waiting for 3 hours in the morning for our brothers in the Marine Corps to show up with their magical airplane so that we could jump. They never did. I have eaten something. I think it was dog. To tell the truth I don’t want to know. It had very thin ribs and very tough meat. I have seen spiders that, while not technically related to tarantulas, could pass for them. I have been amused by omnipresent geckos. They amuse so much more when they run up your leg at the fly infested restaurant where you are taking your repast. While you are wearing shorts. Funny funny gecko.