My Officemates

The top photo is a view of my office from the hallway. The other two photos are action shots of my friends. I estimate their size at somewhere between four inches and three feet.




On Friday I started moving into my new office, which is being vacated by the guy I am replacing. It is not much to look at, but at least it is all mine ... or so I thought.

It seems I've got some friends that share my office and cause me to scream like an eight year old girl when I turn on the lights and they scatter in my direction. I don't know what kind of lizards they are, and I don't really care.

We've had mortars lobbed over the walls, been "outside the wire" too many times to count, and survived a rash of suicide bombers, I'm not ashamed to admit that it is the lizards that have me the most scared.

Trust me when I tell you that they are more ferocious then they appear in these photos. And quick! Before I can blink an eye those bastards are running towards me full speed. Thank God I have a desk and a chair to jump on. Their ability to walk upside down on the ceiling is a little unsettling as well. They're always watching with their shifty black eyes, planning, scheming.

My mother tried to prevent me from coming to Iraq by repeatedly harking back to an episode when I was nine and a spider crawled up the shower drain and tried to kill me. Her logic being that if I could not withstand a spider attack, how could I deal with a terrorist attack. I explained that Al-Qaeda was incapable of crawling up the drain as far as I am aware. Now I'm thinking maybe she was right. I'm a little worried that these lizards just might have the opportunity and desire to surprise me in my most exposed of moments. It is freaking me out. Had I known about this, I might have stayed in Milwaukee. No lizards there. Just one more reason to love Mil-town.