So since I promised I’d post about what I did on leave, here are some more shots of what happened.

After we dropped off the girls with her sister Joy (thanks Joy and Erik!), Amy took me to the Martin Guitar Museum and Factory in Nazareth, PA, where they’ve been making their guitars since 1859 (they actually go back to 1833 and before).  You can actually get a tour of the factory floor, which I found absolutely fascinating:

Guitar sides with bracing being glued in

Only $50K for this fine piece of work

(see the whole album of photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007773&l=46e5b&id=1489127713)

Amy and I also checked out an old abandoned dam and paper mill near Fort Drum while I was home.  I found it on the Old Abandoned Buildings of Northern New York website (http://oabonny.freehostia.com/index.htm).  The album of pictures is at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007850&l=24d8d&id=1489127713.

I have been trying for days to get the rest of the pictures uploaded, but the atrocious internet service (that I’m paying $65 a month for) won’t let me upload the pictures that I’ve resized to be significantly smaller.  So enjoy the link to my Facebook page, as I apparently won’t be able to upload anymore pictures to the blog for the foreseeable future.  Amy mentioned that I was able to see the President, and that was pretty cool.  Photos, of course, will have to wait until after the deployment now, which is a real bummer.  Text is usually not a problem, but the internet speeds are slower than dial-up at this point.  I am beyond disgusted with the ’service’ that Soldiers here are getting from this internet provider.  I’m thankful to have it, but for that money getting this level of ’service’, it’d almost be better to have none at all.

On the bright side, things are progressing well here in Iraq and going relatively quickly.  I’ll be able to give updates more often now that I know that photos are now a no-go.

- Derek