"Sand, but no ocean..."

M. has touched down safely in the desert, following a nearly 24-hour journey Saturday. Adding to the exhaustion, he and his cohorts were apparently subjected to watching "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise en route, which is, according to M. "the worst movie ever made." Not convinced to spend your money elsewhere? Here's M.'s final analysis: "I feel dumber for having watched this movie." Fortunately for me and the rest of us who love M., he did survive the movie (and the trip!) with enough of his intellect intact to also send the following dispatch via e-mail this afternoon on his first impressions of his digs in the desert: "The food here is good in the cafeteria and it is pretty well developed. The most amazing thing is that it is about 100 degrees, and it looks like a huge beach, but I don't smell the salt water. I don't know why anybody would want to live here. I see desert all along the horizon- there is so much sand in the air that the sky is tan on the horizon and never fully reaches a bright blue sky. Luckily, we have really nice tents with A/C..." Guess it didn't earn the nickname "the sandbox" for nothing! More soon...