Yesterday we (finally) had a block of training that was both fun and potentially useful: Army Combatives. I learned several different methods for choking people and breaking their arms. The army benefits are obvious, but there are also a lot of civilian applications for it. For example, it will come in handy the next time William tries to ditch the Movie Ministry, when someone calls in a computer problem without having tried to reboot first, or when the Newsomes start talking politics.

Thought I’d put in a little plug for Skype. I’ve been using it to make video calls home to Kathy and the kids; it works great as long as you have a decent internet connection. Making calls between computers with other Skype users is free, but you can also pay a fee (about $3 a month) for unlimited calls from your computer to regular telephones. I did that because the cell service here is not very good, and the cell phone won’t have service at all once I get overseas.