The man who was named to be a diplomat: Walter Parrs III*

The next day we flew back to Rangoon, where we met up with our friends Walter and Alex Parrs. Walter and Alex were our first foreign service friends. Like us, they lived in New York before joining, so we got together with them before training started.

Then, we flew to post together, and I was able to celebrate the start of my birthday with them last year as we arrived at our hotel in Bangkok after in the wee morning hours of March 3, 2005. Then they were off to Rangoon and we to Vientiane.

Walter and Alex are heading to Muscat, Oman next (look at a map of Saudi Arabia, now look south. That's Oman.) They will cycle back through DC for the same 7 months that we will be there, so that will be nice. They are having a great time in Rangoon, and seeing their apartment full of cool stuff they've bought in Burma made us realize that we haven't done nearly enough shopping here in Vientiane.

*The only possibly better diplomat name I've found so far amongst my FS colleagues is Forrest Atkinson. Ambassador Forrest Atkinson. It just rolls off the tongue.