After 7 months of mild and downright beautiful weather, its heating up again.  Its really not bad yet...  temps are approaching about 100 degrees (F) by mid day.   We probably have another 20 degrees before we get to the max temps for the year.  Our mail is starting to come in melted again!

Life in Baghdad continues... the new Prime Minister designate (Nuri al Maliki) has shown signs of being a strong, pragmatic, and determined leader, but he's got a lot of work to do.  He still needs to finish the formation of the government before he can really start taking action, but it does seem like he is trying to push the process with a greater urgency than we've seen previously.