Semper Fi

It's official, I'm now a Marine. Realizing that I was 2 weeks away from having to convince a bunch of cowboys in Oregon that I'm qualified to be a minister for my friend Cory's wedding, I went to the local barbershop in Moshi, Tanzania and asked them to clean up my mop by "taking a little bit off the top." As I realized later, they didn't understand a word of English and saw my arrival as an opportunity to let "the new barber" try out his skills on strange white-man hair. And now I have no hair.

It's okay, though. My plan's always been to get to Mexico in September and shave it all off. A pre-emptive strike on male pattern baldness, if you will. So I guess I might as well get on board the hair nostalgia train now. Plus, Meg thinks it's sexy. "Agassi-esque", she says. I suspect that she's just being a good girlfriend, but I'll take it.

--rahul