FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24th. The 166th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

As if I needed a reminder that sometimes life just isn't fair, I got it yesterday.

My cell phone rang as I was driving around Giessen. Ever since missing her first phone call I've tried to always have my home phone forwarded to my cell when I am away from home.

Of course, it was CPT Patti. Two weeks to the day since our last phone call.

She sounded terrific...though she says she was down with a stomach virus for a week - and lost another ten pounds as a result.

Anyway...5 minutes and 13 seconds into the phone call my cell phone froze up. By this I mean, it just stopped working. It wasn't out of juice...it just stopped doing anything. I couldn't get it to make a call, shut off or anything.

It just sat there with the stupid display indicating the call had lasted 5 minutes and 13 seconds.

I finally had to remove the battery and reinstall it - almost as if my silly phone needed "rebooting". Being a bear of very little brain I didn't think of this until an hour later...

Meanwhile, she hasn't had the chance to call back.

Doggonit.