Cobra helicopter over Baghdad
Originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Today is Mrs. Crab's birthday! Happy birthday, my love! Mrs. Crab is currently stomping around Holland with my sister, who shall heretoforth be known as Mrs. Paris. I had a chance to call Mrs. Crab today as she was walking into am Albert Hein supermarket in The Hague (Den Haag) to buy stroopenwafels, which are a delicious Dutch cookie made of waffels and caramels.

Thanks to all the penicillin my translator/fixer bought me yesterday, I finally felt half-human today. I spent most of today covering the first diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran in nearly three decades (friends: see tomorrow's newspaper!). Not much breaking news, but fascinating story nonetheless for the fact that it even happened.

Came back to the bureau and attended a going-away party for a good friend who works at another paper. He and I keep running into each other at various sh*tholes around the world. Lots of shisha (hookah/nargila), whiskey and cheap Jordanian wine later, and I'm ready for bed.