Happy New Year!!!

Hi Buddy,

Well, it's almost New Year.  And it got me wondering about when people started celebrating new year's and why it's in the middle of winter.  And guess what?  The first civilization to celebrate New Year's?  It was here in Iraq, in ancient Babylon over 4000 years ago.  They celebrated the first full moon after the beginning of Spring.

So how did New Year's get to be in winter?  Blame it on the Romans. 

Two thousand years ago, in order to set their calendar right, the Romans declared January 1st the beginning of the new year. 

Here's a picture of the Roman Senate.  Were they declaring it the New Year?  Who knows? 

Since the Romans were the most influential country at the time, it spread through most of Europe and on to America.

Love you more than a fresh start at the New Year,
Dad

Over the River and ...

Hi Christmas Buddy,

I'm glad that you are headed through the woods to Grandmother's house (Babbi's).  

I guess this is your third Christmas tree to find presents under.  Pretty awesome.

I love you and miss you more than Christmas morning.

Marc.

He said he's on his way!

Hi Buddy,

Look who stopped by the Embassy to say hello!  I told him you had been extra good this year!

Love you more than the guy in the red suit,
Dad

Winter Solstice

Hi Man,

Today is also the Winter Solstice.  This year it happens December 21, 2009 at 12:47.  That's when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator.

Today is the shortest daylight day of the year.  After today, the days will get longer and the nights will get shorter.

The ancient Irish built this whole building, so that they would know which day was the Winter Solstice.  Only on the day of the solstice does the sunlight go all the way inside the building.  Your mom and I went there once.  It was VERY cool.


Love you more than the days getting longer,
Dad

Snow Day!!!

Hi Bud!

No school today for you!  Did you stay at Bobbi's house with Kayleigh?  Or are you playing at home?

I'm sad I missed the storm.  This is the biggest storm since the one right after we moved to Washington, D.C.  Ask your mom if she has the picture of the Subaru when that one happened.  I'll look for it too.


Love you more than a winter storm!
Dad

One Third!!!

Hello My Calendar Watcher,
.
Today is December 18.  I got to Iraq on August 18.  That means that I am one third of the way through my tour in Iraq.  I've served four months out of a twelve month tour.
.
I'm that much closer to being back home near you!
.
Love you the whole way,
Dad

Christmas Economics

One definition of economics is that it is the study of choices under scarcity.  (Remember scarcity is what happens when you don't have enough of a good or service to satisfy all the the needs or wants of the consumers at the same time.)  When something is scarce, consumers and producers have to make choices.

At Christmas time, sometimes toys are scarce (like a new DS game), so people have to make choices about them. 





Consumers (shoppers and children and maybe even Santa!) have to decide what they will do.  Will they pay more for the toy?  Will they decide it is a want that they don't have to fufill.  Producers (like the toy company and maybe even Santa!) have to decide what they will do.  Will they raise the price?  Will they make more of the toy?  Will they let their consumers get frustrated because they still want the toy?

When you study the answers to questions like that, you're studying economics (and business too, but that's another story.

Love you with the scarcity of the time that I get to spend with you,
Dad

Some Christmas Decorating

Hello my friend,

I wanted to show you what the decorations looked like up in the apartment.  I especially like the nutcracker you gave me on the bookshelf.

And the picture you drew on my door.

I hope your advent calendar is still treating you well.

Love you more than the fight scene between the Nutcracker and the Rat King,

Dad

Whew! This was hard.

Hi Buddy,

I'm not sure I'm happy with it, but here is finally a countdown timer for the Cruise.  Look how soon it is!  I can't wait.  We are going to party like it's 1999.  Oh, wait, it already was.

Love you like the end of a millenium,

Dad

Christmas Boxes are Here!

Hi my Christmas Elf,
.
Thanks to the super fast United States Postal Service (who would have thought it?), the packages that you and I mailed to me while I was at your house are here!
.
I had fun with you there, even though we waited, and waited (and waited).  You were very patient and polite.  I was proud of you.
.

Anyway, next time you see this guy, tell him "Thanks" from your Dad in Iraq.

Love you more than a Christmas package,

Dad

Back at Work

Hi Buddy,
.
I was glad to see you on Skype last night.  Sorry I kept yawning, but I was really tired.  I got a good night sleep and now I am back at work.  Here's a picture of me:

Love you more than a barrel of monkeys,

Dad

ON MY WAY!!!

Hi Bud,

Just a quick note to let you know that I started travelling last night and I am on my way home to see you.

It's getting really close.  I just can't hardly stand it!!!

LOVE YOU!!!
!!!!
!!!!
Dad.

So close now!

I can hardly wait!

Can you???

Love you like an I don't know what anymore!!!
Dad

Native American Transportation

Hi Buddy,

I had fun talking to you yesterday.  Soon I'll get to see you face to face.

The transportation I'll use to get to you, like cars and airplanes, wasn't around when the English settlers first met the Powhatan Indians.  They traveled in dug out canoes called quintans. 

Do you remember digging out a canoe in Jamestowne and how the soot from the fire got on you?  It was hard work!

Love you like the biggest dug out canoe ever,
Dad

Native Americans near Richmond

Hello Buddy,

Two of the big tribes to live in the Richmond area before the city was started by European settlers were the Monacan and the Manahoac.  The Monocan lived near the falls of the James and the Manahoac lived up on the Rappahanock near Fredericksburg.

This is a Manahoac Indian.

This is a map John Smith made from what the Powhatans told him about the Monacans.

They knew the Powhatan Indians and traded with them.  The Powhatan Indians especially liked the copper necklaces that the Monacan made.

Love you like all of history,
Dad

Native Americans in Virginia

Wingapo Patrick!
.
That's how the Native Americans in Virginia would say hello when the first Europeans arrived here.  They were the Powhatan Indians who were a very powerful tribe of Native Americas in this area. 

 Their chief was named Wahunsunacock, but everyone called him Powhatan after the village he was born in.  At the time the Jamestowne settlers came in 1607, there were about 20,000 Native Americans in Powhatan's Nation. Powhatan controlled more than 32 chiefs who lived in more than 150 town and settlements!

The settlements looked alot like the one in Jamestown that you go to with Bobbie sometimes.

Love you like a brave native chief,
Dad

The Victory Bell

Hi Man,

You know that when Carolina plays Duke in basketball it's pretty important.  When they play them in football, it's important too.  In football, it's because it's a rivalry game.  A rivalry game is one that you like to win because you know the other team so well.  Some big rivalries are Carolina and Duke, Redskins and Cowboys, DC United and New York Red Bulls, and USA and Mexico.

The winner of the Carolina and Duke rivalry gets to keep the Victory Bell.  Since Carolina beat Duke this year in football, they get to keep the Bell.  Here's a picture of it.  Look how happy those Tar Heels are!

Love you way more than a win over Dook,
Dad

I could not love it more!

Dear Patrick,

I love my new picture so much, I couldn't even wait to tomorrow to tell you.  I LOVE IT!

I will print it at work tomorrow and decorate my front door with it.  I am soooooo excited.

I got a cornucopia of love for you,

Dad

Going to see you play!

Hi Bud,

Other than the fact that I'll be there soon, I think the most exciting thing is that I will get to see you play soccer.
.
I think those are the best surprises.  When you think that you aren't going to get to do something fun and then suddenly, you find out that you will after all.
.
Anyway, we will have a great time.  I can hardly wait.
.
Love you like an unexpected surprise,
Dad

Those lakes are great!

.

Hello Bud,
.
The Great Lakes are really great!  They are way up north, and most of them are on our border with Canada.
.
They were formed by the glaciers (big sheets of ice) that covered most of North America during the Ice Age.
.
Here's a map with them.
.

Did you know that if you think of "homes" (H-O-M-E-S), it can help you remember the names of the Great Lakes? Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
.
.
Love you with love greater than the Great Lakes,
Dad.

Happy November!

.
My good friend,
.
Today is the first day of November.  I hope you remember to reset your clock!  In Iraq, they don't move their clocks at all, so there is no Daylight Savings Time.
.
Because it is November, we are now in the month that I will see you again!  I can hardly wait.
.
Love you every second of every hour,
Dad

Happy Halloween!

.
Dear Dr. Seymore Gutz,
.
I hope that your Halloween is very fun and safe.  Your dad will miss taking you trick or treating near your mom's house this year.  We will do it up big next year!
.
Here's a picture of your Dad in his Halloween costume.

Love you more than a bag full of Halloween candy,

Dad

It's Raining ...

.
It's pouring
Your old man is snoring at work.
.
Hi my man,
.
A real live rainy day in Baghdad today.  I even saw lightning and heard thunder on my walk to work.  I didn't really get rained on, but there were still sprinkles when I came to my office.
.
I'm sure it would be no big deal to you since it's been raining in Virginia so much, but it was pretty exciting here.
.
Love you like a lightning bolt,
Dad

Mommy, I mean, mummy!

.
Hello my friend,
.
One of the most memorable things about studying ancient Egypt is learning about mummies.  The Egyptians believed in life after death, at least for the kings and queens, and thought that you would need your body again after you died.
.

So to make sure that your body didn't rot away to nothing, or get eaten by animals or worms (yuck!), they invented mummification.  That's a long word for turning a dead body into a mummy.
.
They would make special cuts in a dead king's body and wrap it in gauze and then dump a special kind of salt all over the wrapped up body so that all the water would come out.  With no water in it, the mummy would last a long time.  Thousands of years, even!

.

I hope you like studying mummies as much as I did.  One of my earliest memories was being sort of scared seeing a mummy for the first time in a museum.  But, it was really cool...

.

Love you for as long as a mummy will stay mummified,

Dad

Is it civilization yet?

.
Dear Patrick,
.
One of the ways that we know that ancient people like the Egyptians were civilized is that they were able to get their workers together to build big (huge, even!) projects.  In Egypt, those projects were the pyramids.
.

The pyramids were tombs for the dead kings (called pharoahs) of Egypt.  They took so long to build, the Egyptians would start building a pyramid as soon as a new king was named.
.
The great pyramids of Giza are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
.

The civilizations in Iraq built big projects too.  Projects like the Ziggurat of Urr showed that they were organized into a society.  The ziggurat was not a tomb, though, it was just to show off!
.
Love you with love as big as a pyramid,
Dad.

Not too much to say.

Hi Buddy,

Don't have too much to say today.  I'm at work and trying to get some stuff done.  Hopefully, later this afternoon, I'll get out of here and do something fun.

.
One week till Halloween!  You must be excited!  Your mom told me that your costume came.  I can't wait to see a picture of you in it.
.
Love you like a Halloween that falls on a Saturday!!!
Dad

Old Rivers; Old Civilizations

Hey Buddy,

I think it's great that you are studying Ancient Egypt.  There are a lot of things that are the same between Ancient Egypt and Ancient Iraq.
.

Both are very old civilizations.  Egyptian civilization began about 5000 years ago and civilization in ancient Iraq began about 7000 years ago.  The area of Iraq was called Mesopotamia.

.

Both Egypt and Iraq began because it was warm and there was plenty of water from big rivers.  In Egypt, it's the Nile River.  The Nile is the longest river in the world.  In Iraq, it's the Tigris River and the Euphrates River.  Mesopotamia means "land between rivers."

.

Without the rivers, no one would have ever lived in Ancient Egypt or in Ancient Iraq.  There never would have been great civilizations like that where people could learn how to live together in big cities.

.

The rivers are part of human beings' ancient history.

.

Love you as long as the Nile,

Dad

Good Game. Good Game.

Hi Big Guy!
.

Your mom told me that you had another good game this weekend.  She said you had a header and impressed everyone.  I thought that was especially cool since sometime you and I practice headers together.  That's what is great about sports sometimes is that you get to try in games what you work on when you practice.  Here's a DC United striker heading it away from the goalie.

.

She also said you had a backheel to keep the ball from going out of bounds.  Here's a video of a backheel from Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, to score a goal.  He was playing for Manchester United then.  That's one of my other favorite teams.

Love you like a sweet soccer move,
Dad

Halloween Decorations

.
Dear Scary Patrick,
.
I liked your picture so much, that I printed it.  My roomate and I hung it on the door and now it is our Halloween decoration.

.
Here's our door.

Here's what it looks like on the door.  Pretty cool, huh?  We're the only ones with Halloween decorations.  So far anyway.

.

Love you so much it's scary,

Dad

Good Talk. Good Talk.

.
Hey Dude,
.
I had a good time talking to you on the phone last night.  I was sad that the Skype video didn't work, but you told me lots of great stuff about your week and your weekend, so in the end I didn't feel so bad.
.
I want to see the pictures that you were talking about soon!  Your school picture, your soccer picture, and a picture of your scary, scary costume.
.
Love you in my heart like a camera holds a memory,
Dad.

Being a Redskins Fan

.Dear Fellow Redskins Fan (that's you Patrick),
.
Your mom told me that you watched part of the game on Sunday, but that you stopped watching after a while.  She said you told her that you were "tired of watching them lose."
.

Boy, I understand how you feel.  I love the Redskins and I've been watching them for a long time, but sometimes I get tired of watching them lose too.  But I like watching them, even when they are bad.

.

It's hard to explain why, but I guess that when you are a fan of a team, it's because you love them.  And when you love someone or something, you stick by them through thick and thin.

.

But sometimes I yell at the TV when they are playing and get upset because they aren't doing well and I feel sad when they lose.  So I guess being a Redskins fan is kind of hard.  But that's what makes it special.  Sound weird?  It probably is.

.

And another part of the fun of being a fan of a team is rooting for them, whether they are good or bad, with people you care about.  So when I root for the Redskins, I feel closer to Babbi and Grandfather, and also to you.  No matter where we might be.

.

But the really good thing is, Buddy, that we are also North Carolina basketball fans.  And they hardly ever lose.  :-)

.

Love you WAY more than my favorite teams,
Dad

No Animals!?!

Hi Monkey,

One thing that is weird about living here at the Embassy is that there are almost no animals to see at all.
.
There are some birds.  There are brown ones that look very much like the little brown birds that we have in Virginia.  They like to sit on the ground in the shade when the sun gets hot.  There are pigeons, which I think might be the same all over the world.  There are big black ones with white wings, that might be like crows, but they don't come close enough to tell.
.

There are LOTS of bats.  They come out at night and swoop around and eat the bugs.  I love to watch them fly.  It is very cool.  The picture is one that someone else took at another place in Iraq but they are bats from Iraq, so I thought you'd like it.
.
There are a couple of stray cats that somehow get on to the compound.
.
There are some working dogs that help us stay safe.
.
And there are a few lizards that you can see sometimes if you are looking very carefully.  They are small and brown, so they are really hard to see.
.


Love you like an animal,
Dad

No School!

My own explorer,
.

Today you have no school in honor of Christopher Columbus who sailed in 1492 searching for India and found the Caribbean Islands.  His trips back and forth across the Atlantic helped people from Europe find out about the "New World."  At the same time, his visits were very hard on the people who had been living here for a long time before he came.
.
Whatever he did right and wrong, he changed the world.
.
I hope you had a good day off!
.
Love you like a new world,
Dad

Big News!

.
Dear son,
.
I have big news!  I made the plane reservations for my trip home in November.  Now we have the actual date to look forward to!
.

It's safer if I don't post the date here, so ask your mom when it is, and you can circle it on a calendar.  I'm so excited to know when the actual day is and to be able to know when the flight will be.

.
I hope the time between now and my first trip home will fly by!
.
Love you like anticipation,
Dad

The whole earth is a great big ...

Magnet!  Did you know that buddy?  It is the biggest magnet in the whole world, because it is a magnet!!!
.
Remember when you studied compasses with your continents and maps?  Well, compasses always point north because they are magnets and they react to the Earth's magnetic field.  Pretty amazing, huh?
.
Ancient Chinese sailors knew that compasses pointed north.  I wonder if they knew why?
.

Remembering that the Earth is a big magnet is a good way to remember what you call the ends of a magnet.  The ends of a magnet are called its poles.  Just like the North Pole and the South Pole on the Earth.

.

I think that's neat.

.
Love you with the force of the Earth's magnetic field,
Dad.

Halfway to seeing you!

.
Hey Buddy,
.
Today there are 46 days until I see you again.  That's exactly one half of the 92 days that it was when I left from Washington D.C.
.
Your mom told me about your soccer game and I couldn't be more proud of you.  I love to get all the great pictures that your mom takes of you playing.  I like the pictures where you kick the ball and even when you pick it up off the ground for a throw-in. 
.
Did you know that when you go hard after the ball when the other team has it, some people call that getting "stuck in?"  Funny, huh?
.
I'm glad you had fun at HalloScream with Auntie Q, and Kayleigh, and Meghan.  Did you see Jack?  Were there scarecrows on stilts?  Did you have a snack while you were there?
.
Love you like all the souls,
Dad

Oceans

Hello my fishy!
.

Do you like the oceans better or the continents?  I think I like the oceans a little better, but if you didn't have continents, where would you stand to look at the ocean???

.

You've been on both sides of the Atlantic and when we flew to and from Latvia, we flew over the Arctic (just a little bit).  I've flown over the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Arctic (just a little bit).  Did you know that even though I've been right up to the edge of the Pacific (in both North America and South America), I've never been swimming in it?  Weird, huh?
.
I hope you are having fun learning about the oceans and continents.  I think maps are fun and I like to travel so this stuff seems really cool to me.
.
Love you with a love deeper than the ocean,
Dad.

Let's talk about the weather.

Hello my friend,
.
I was thinking today, as I got ready for work, that it is starting to cool off here in Iraq.  But do you know what that means here?  It means it is only in the 90s rather than over 100 degrees!
.

I see that back home in Virginia, the temperature is getting down into the 50s.  That's real Fall weather.  In Iraq, we won't get into the 50s until December or January.
.
In other words, buddy, it's hot here.

Goooooooooooooaaaaaalllll!!!

Hi Patrick,
.
Sorry it's been a couple of days since I posted here.  I was having some problems with the website, but I think that is fixed.
.
Your mom, and Bobbi and Grandfather told me about your goal at soccer on Sunday.  I am SO VERY PROUD of you.  I know that you like soccer and I also know that you work hard at practicing both with me and when you have practices with your team.
.
Good play like your goal happens when you practice hard and when you like what you are doing.  I can't wait to see you so you can show me exactly how you scored.  Maybe you will have scored more goals by then too.  Who knows?
.
I do know that if I had been there, I would have sounded like the guy on this soccer broadcast:

Do you think I could yell that long?

Love you louder than the loudest yell,
Dad

You're special, too.

.
Hey man,
.
There aren't alot of kids like you, because you've lived on TWO continents.  When we lived in Latvia, we lived in Europe.
.

When you were born, and now that you live in Mechanicsville, you are in North America.

.

Europe is west of Asia and north of Africa.  Latvia is pretty far north in Europe, but Russia is the easternmost country in Europe.
.
Russia is a special country, because it is on TWO continents.  Part of Russia is in Europe and part of Russia is in Asia.
.
Can you find Latvia on this map?  Can you find Italy?  Some people say it looks like a leg, or a boot.
.
Love you like a map of my heart,
Dad

Iraq is in Asia

.
Hi Buddy,
.

Did you know that now that I live in Iraq, I've lived on three of the seven continents in the world?

.

Iraq is in Asia.  Asia is the biggest continent there is!  You can see from the map that Iraq is in the southwest corner of Asia.  It's close to Africa, another big continent.  The southeast corner of Asia has lots of water and islands.

.

Iraq is in Asia because it is east of the Ural Mountains.  Europe and Asia are part of the same big land mass and are divided by big mountains called the Urals in Russia.  West of the Urals is Europe and east of the Urals is Asia.

.

Here is a map of the Ural Mountains.  They go from north to south, straight up and down this map.

.

Love you like the whole world,

Dad

Saw your pictures!

.
Hi soccer guy!
.
Your mom sent some great pictures of you playing soccer.  I was very proud to see you in that great red uniform!  You looked alot like the big Kickers.
.
I hope you had lots of fun playing.  I know I enjoyed hearing about it.
.
Be good doing your homework, so that Mom doesn't have to bug you about it.
.
Hey, have you ever hugged a slug on a rug?  Have you ever been for a jog in the fog?
.
Love seeing you more than I love pictures of you,
Dad

First game of the season

Hi Buddy,
.

I was so glad your mom called me last night (even though I was asleep) so that I could talk to you about your game.  I'm glad you were well enough to play.  I'm really glad that you had fun.

.

I can't wait to see the pictures that your mom is going to send!

.

You have to tell me more about your team soon.  What is the team's name?  What are your colors?  Who are your friends on the team?  Are there boys and girls?

.

Oh well, so many questions!  I can't wait to be there for Thanksgiving so that you and I can play soccer on the beach like last year.

.

Love you like a beautifully curling free kick,

Dad

One more thing about citizenship

Hey man,
.
Citizenship is especially important to me because the Department of State, where I work, is the only place that can tell a person that they are a citizen of the United States.  We make passports for people and passports are the only thing that can really show what citizenship you have.
.

Because I work for the Department of State, I've given hundreds and hundreds of people their passports so that they can show anyone in the world that they are Americans.

.

When we lived in Latvia, you had a friend named Kristofers Gobins.  I got to tell his parents for the first time that Kristofers was an American citizen and got to give him his first ever U.S. passport.  I love giving babies new passports.  It makes me proud.

.

Love you like I love being an American,

Dad

An American Citizen

Hello my good friend,
.
Did you know that EVERYONE born in the United States is an American citizen?  That means that all the important rights we have under the laws and Constitution of the United States belong to us.  Those laws give American citizens the most freedom of almost anyone in the whole world.
.

Because everyone who is born in the U.S. is a citizen, not everyone thinks about what a great thing it is.  Some people who think about it alot are the people that serve our country, like soldiers and sailors and marines.  Oh and people like me who work for the State Deparment.  Because we live overseas and work with people from other countries who might not have as much freedom, we really love the fact that we are Americans.  Our citizenship is very important to us.

.

Love you like freedom,

Dad