I added some links....

So I figured out what that weird jingle is that I keep hearing everywhere, like an irritating ring-tone. It plays from the back of every taxi in Cairo every time the brake light goes on. What gives?

On Monday I'm off to Damascus. I'll be in Syria for two weeks, during which I'll be visiting the excavation of Tell Sabi Abyad under the auspices of the Syrian Department of Antiquities and the Department of Higher Education. My official reason is that I'm researching the Late Bronze Age history of the Assyrian and Hittite Empires for a possible book on the subject.

Visiting this site is actually what sparked the whole idea of moving to Cairo, because strangely, the only place in the world you can get a Syrian visa, outside of your home country, is Cairo. So in their own funny way, things are proceeding according to plan.