nomadic tendencies turns 5

wow, it's been a while. i'd like to blame being busy as to why i haven't updated. i'd like to blame trips to the hospital. i'd like to blame work. despite all of those being partial causes, the biggest cause was laziness. a brief update on the latest news...

in november, i finished work in egypt and went on holiday in jordan and spain. i have pix i still have to post. TheMom had a heart attack and i had to come home. TheMom got better, and i got worse. in february, i was diagnosed with diabetes. what kind? they can't tell. i've since regulated it with insulin, and i think if i get to exercising regularly i think i might even be able to come off that. i did a few small jobs around the US. i worked in oswego, NY where TheDad did some philandering. i worked near tampa, FL, and visited TheBrothers in Ft. Myers, then TheMom had an episode of flash pulmonary edema where she stopped breathing. i rushed home, she got better, we took her home, then a few days ago during a sleep study, she had another episode. Now we are waiting. That's the latest.

Today is the 5th anniversary of NT. It would've also been the 62nd birthday of TheDad. Today, TheMom is having her pacemaker/defibrillator installed (?). I apologize the TheSwedishChefDave who's been dogging me to blog while calling me out on my Mafia Wars addiction. i apologize to my loyal readers for slacking off, i'm really going to try to do better. i have a few other friends who like to call me out for my excuses (i claim my organizational OCD has gotten the better of me since several things need organized, but then that turns into an infinite loop, and i get caught up). they may be making a breakthrough.

sadly, with TheMom's surgery and the few other things i have to do, this update is about over. until next time, here are a few pics.

the superbus... seen at the OSU spring game

it's NEVER lupus! i saw this lovely piece of graffiti every time i went to the ex-pat bar in alexandria, egypt. so that was... rather often.

THIS is the effect of the 9/11 mandatory road naming. good lord!

this is so damn close to how i think i'm going to end up, it's scary.

TheMom and i found this lady driving through the bank drive-thru in her "hover-round"

happy anniversary to NT! my resolution is to make sure i don't leave you so cold and lonely anymore. love y'ns.

out of commission for a while

i have LOADS of stories and pictures and great times i had on vacation, but that will have to wait. the vacation was cut short because TheMom was in such a hurry for me to come home, she went and had a heart attack. she's currently at TheOhioStateUniversityHospital (possibly the longest NT name ever) where we are camping out to see how things go. i'm sure there will be loads of support since TheMom is so cool, and we appreciate it. updates as they come. until then...

a roundabout story

here you find another "cowbirds in love" comic, though i don't find this one extremely funny. the reason i post it is the story that goes with it from the author. click on the picture to go to the page and read his story the frame.

when i read that story i had a bit of a flashback, and found i was laughing at myself. when TheMom had her first heart attack, us kids were kinda stuck fending for ourselves a bit. granted i was either a sophomore or junior in high school, there were some things we just didn't do... like grocery shopping. i can still picture it vividly, going to the kroger's with TheYoungerSister and TheGirlfriend(AtTheTime). we grabbed the buggy and split up going around the store getting what was on our little piece of the list. my job was to get lunchmeat for the house. i never paid attention to when TheMom bought lunchmeat, but i figured i was smart enough, i could figure it out. i took a number and waited in line, and soon it was my time to order. i told the lady i would like some bologna. she asked "which kind" to which i just pointed to one, and then "how much?"... **crickets** for some reason, i didn't think about how much, and i couldn't recall how much TheMom got at one time, so after a panicked few seconds, i said "5 pounds, please". the lady looked at my a bit strangely, and asked if i was sure. i told her "yes, it's for the week," and she went to it. i was kinda not really paying attention as she cut it, until TheGirlfriend(AtTheTime) rounded the corner, eyes wide, seeing the massive tower of bologna that the lady was stacking up on the counter. it was maybe 12" tall (though, if you can't tell, i wasn't the greatest at scale back then). TheGirlfriend(AtTheTime) ran down the aisle, chuckling the whole way trying to get the lady's attention to tell her that was enough meat. i may have imagined it, but i think TheGirlfriend(AtTheTime) and the lunchmeat lady's eyes met, and together they silently thought... "DUMB BOYS!"

the battle for all boykind

i love this picture TheMom took of TheNephew as he battles the surely hideous yet unseen water monster (power washer) armed only with a trash can lid and a hammer. actually, TheMom asked if TheNephew would like to help out with the deck by hammering down any nails that have come up over the years. when he got bored doing that, he just fought the sprayer.

my boring life

i'm currently working on the final picture post from the visit from TheMom, TheJay, and TheRachel. i might be able to get it posted in about 8 hours or so. btw, TheMom made it home safe, if not sore. i was glad to hear that since she didn't call to let me know (hah, j/k).

until then, this will have to do. jules is working at another site in egypt. this one is closer to our apartment, but with traffic, the commute can be hellacious, so sadly, i don't get to see her every night. the past two nights she's been staying at the marriott downtown to avoid the long drive to and fro, so i've been left to fend for myself. it's amazing how quickly i can fall back into my bachelor pad routine without some external female guidance. the night before last, i boiled some chicken cubes and cooked 'em in frank's red hot buffalo sauce. this is a personal favorite as it is good, and it is quick, and fairly healthy (a bit high on the salt content). i also cooked up some mushrooms with it , and delighted over my dinner while watching some TV. last night, i cooked up corn, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and peppers. that's all for dinner. jules hates it when i eat corn, all sugar and such or whatever, but i didn't eat much. i was bored so i tried to make ketchup. for some reason, i'm in the mood to make homemade ketchup and mustard. i'm inspired by a distant thought of some homemade condiments i had at jamboree in the hills a few years ago. someone brought homemade spicy ketchup and mustard. as for my ketchup, i think i need to look up a general recipe. last night, i blended up some stewed tomatoes with some vinegar, and added onions and hot peppers and a bit of garlic. it wasn't just right, so i added some homemade dill relish that i'd made a few weeks back from dill pickles, garlic, and onions. that didn't push the taste in the direction i'd expected, and by this time, it was a bit liquefied, so i added flour. i know i'm retarded, and there is no flour in ketchup, but i needed a thickener and i'm a culinary explorer. sometimes culinary explorers take wrong turns and perish in dietary crevasses. luckily, i had my cramp-ons tied tightly and my rope held fast. enough of the stupid ice-flow climbing references. i'll have to look up a recipe and try again.

back to the story, jules probably won't be back to the apartment until thursday or thereabouts, so i have plenty of time to experiment some more. in other news, jules is PISSED!!! she DESPISES needles. from a few posts back you'll know thati had to get a 2nd blood test because mine had expired, so i went down with jules. several days after that, she was sent to tunisia with the explicit clarification that her blood test would be valid when she returned. we found out yesterday that was an explicit lie, so she has to go get her 2nd test today. i can't be with her today for a distraction, so i'm wishing her the best. i know she gets so anxious. she is going to call me when it happens if she can, so she has something to take her mind off. it's just so stupid, how 3 of the 6 TAs onsite have had to have their blood tests retaken because no one here knows the exact procedure for doing this visa thing. it's deplorable.

so that's me. oh, i got my XBOX 360 hooked up last night. i had some networking issues at first, but i finally even got on XBOX LIVE, which we (BTBz) thought might be impossible due to no middle east servers being available. that'll give me something to do until jules gets back. then i'll teach her to race NASCAR, frag in halo3, and snipe in GRAW2. i can't wait.

being a host is tough work, part I

having three guests in my apartment is pretty tough business. TheMom arrived on-time wednesday afternoon as did TheJay and TheJaysWife early thursday morning. wednesday night, i took TheMom out with TheMech and TheSiteLead to a restaurant we know that has good steaks. after that, we took her to a local bar that is kind of fun just to watch the people who come in. we went home, i put mom to bed, and then went to the airport at 3:00AM to get TheJay and TheJaysWife (from now on referred to as TheRachel). we got back to the apartment, and i showed them to their room where the put their bags. TheRachel was smart enough to go to bed almost immediately, but TheJay and i stayed up throwing a few back 'til about 5AM, catching up, you know. TheDriver insisted on making breakfast for everyone in the morning, so i invited him to crash on the couch instead of driving all the way home and back. TheJay wanted to wake up "a bit" late because he knew he'd be a grouch all day if he didn't get sleep and had to walk all over cairo. i woke up around 9:30 and TheDriver had already gone to the store to get bread and picked up TheMom's missing bag from the lobby. he made tahina, foul, and two fried eggs. the breakfast was definitely an amazing start to the day. he really hooked us up.

we got a later start than i had planned for, but it all turned out well. i try to prepare for the unexpected as much as possible. in this case, the "unexpectable" would be that TheJay and TheRachel would want to spend most of the day at the museum, this why i wanted to leave early. our itinerary included first taking the cairo metro about 4 blocks from our apartment to the sadat station in downtown, about 4 blocks from the cairo museum. after we were done there, we were going to walk back to sadat station, where we would transfer to another line that took us two stops along to the ataba station. there we would grab a "black & white" = scary, rundown, yet cheap, cabs with non-english-speaking drivers who have no clue where they are going... ever. we would take that to khan el khalili, the famous market/souvenir shopping tourist trap area.

the train to downtown was uneventful, but it shaves about an hour off the trip during rush hour, plus it only costs $0.18/person, as far as you want to go including connections. the museum was interesting. i don't know what i had expected, having not yet been there myself. lots of sarcophagi, lots of gold and jewelry, lots of hieroglyphs. the one thing that did impress me was the "nesting doll" nature of the ancient pharaohs. there were HUGE wooden sarcophagi, maybe 12-14 feet long, that held another slightly smaller one inside that, in turn held another, which finally encased the most elaborately decorated and ornamented "coffin". crazy redundancy.

after the museum, we went to khan el khalili, the famous market place in cairo. there are lots of little walking streets where vendors always willing to "give you good price". it's a tourist trap full of over-priced souvenirs but certainly something to see. typically, you can haggle them down to a fairly decent price, and be done with them. as soon as we got out of the car, a random guy directed us to the tunnel that takes us to the "tourist" side of khan. we said he worked for an art studio. we told him we might think about checking it out on the way out. we stopped at a cafe to rest, hoping to see the prayer time at the big mosque, but we timed it so imperfectly that we missed it. my guests had their first sheesha experience at that cafe as we watched a little kid chase cats around with a stick. as we were leaving, we ran into our art studio guy. we followed him through the back alleys of the "egyptian" side of khan to a small shop where we saw "authentic" mother-of-pearl game boards and trinket boxes being made. when we were done there, he invited us to the art studio just to take a look. we followed him further along smaller and winding alleys until we came to a very non-descript door (small picture). this is the entrance to the art studio. it was looking a bit shady until we stepped inside. the guy in the photo is the artist, ahmed fatih, who does all the work. the guy we met on the street basically finds people and drags them to the studio since it is so far out of the way. ahmed paints his work on leather. we were absolutely amazed at the work he does. the studio is clean, and well laid out. we were offered tea and soft drinks while we looked around. after much perusing, i ended up buying a white rabbit pelt with a cartoony shpinx and pyramid on it for TheNephew, a larger pharoah with black skin on brown leather, and an even larger pharoah with night lighting. i'll get photos of those and post them. they are beautiful. and we haggled him from LE 1000 (~$180) to LE 800 (~$145). TheJay and TheRachel bought one or two, and we ALL felt we got a great deal, and had a great time seeing the unseen side of khan.

after the khan, we went back to the apartment for a short nap. we took the train to downtown cairo where TheDriver and his fiance picked us up and took us to an awesome egyptian restaurant called kebobgy at the sofitel gezira hotel. the restaurant is right on the nile, and the food was amazing. we got several mixed grills which they bring out on a portable oven that sits on your table. after dinner, we took a felucca ride. that link shows a NORMAL felucca, what i thought we were going to do, and i'll have to do sometime in the future. TheDriver is our bargainer, so he arranged for the boat. what we got a was a kind of obnoxiously loud and christmas-light adorned motorboat. they have a generator running at the back of the boat to power the christmas lights and the bumping car stereo system they have setup to blare loud egyptian music. instead of a peaceful and possibly romantic (for TheJay and The Rachel) ride on the nile, we had an impromptu dance party. i'm not sure exactly what dance move i'm trying to pull off in that pic, but i promise, i'll try my best never to do it again. and that was ... wednesday and thursday. more in the next post.

being a host is tough work, part II

i forgot to tell you that on thursday, i was a stupid boy as usual. TheJay was walking around the apartment in his sock-feet, and i noticed that he was sliding on our pseudo-polished hardwood floor. i took this as an open invite to do my best "risky business slide" a la tom cruise but with my pants on. i did it successfully two times, but on the third attempt, i found a not-so-slippery spot on the floor and bit it hard, severely bruising or breaking some ribs on my right side. and now, the rest of the story.

on friday, my normal day off, it was to the pyramids... i shouldn't speak for other people, but seriously, you go to egypt to see the history, the culture, but really, you got to see the pyramids. TheDriver found us a guide named abdullah, who would take about LE 100 ($20) per person. he walked us around to a few tombs and ruins while he organized our modes of transportation in the background. TheJay and TheRachel went down into part of the tomb for the engineer who designed some of the great pyramids. that's a picture of them coming back out at the beginning here. i was going to get a horsedrawn cart for TheMom and i, since i'm a worry wart about her health and such. abdullah told us that the carts can't go off the roads, so we decided that TheJay and TheRachel would get camels and TheMom and i would get horses. abdullah knew i was concerned about my mom (sorry, i don't want any hospital trips on my watch) so he had a youngin', maybe 10-12 years old, walk her horse through the desert. for some strange reason (probably to get more tips from us), he'd arranged for someone to ride with TheRachel. we figured out that the guy was trying drive her camel and stopped that, so he got TheJay's camel up and tried to drive it. jeez! i explained to abdullah that I rode a camel all by my lonesome, and it was no problem, so they didn't need a driver, so now instead, they had someone to walk THEIR camels through the desert.

the going was pretty nice. the day wasn't too hot, our animals were pretty obedient, the trip was good. we meandered our way out past the pyramids, watching other tours way out in the desert and some passing us the other way. TheJay wanted to trade his camel for my horse for a bit because he saw people galloping out through the desert like bandits. i didn't give him my horse, but he kinda got his wish. the guy pulling his and TheRachel's camel along tugged on it a few times through the trip getting them to pick up pace. camel's aren't really built for efficient and aesthetic running, but they held their own and made a bit more than an trot for a bit. it was funny to watch, at least. we rounded the pyramids to the photo op spot where TheJay's camel was really being a dick to me. every picture we took, just as abdullah was about to press the shutter button, TheJay's camel would move it's head to get in my way, as you can see by me craning to get in the pic. we went on to the sphinx and got closer with abdullah than we did my first time with moustafa. he dropped us off at the sphinx where we paid and had to tip, and then the kid wanted tips, and blah... we walked into the sphinx area and took some good pictures. TheMom took a seat just inside the walls on one of the three steps to the photo area (that is, she fell, but gracefully, no damage or injury). we took our pictures and TheJay remarked for not-the-first-time how egyptians just don't understand a queue. even a crude queue that we were trying to firm to get pictures failed miserably with people cutting ahead and such. i believe the first time he mentioned the queue issue was when we took the metro during a busy travel time. if everyone exited on their right and everyone entered on their right, it would be an amazingly efficient transfer of oncoming and outgoing passengers into the car... but seemingly, these people have no concern over overall efficiency when compared to "I WANNA GET ON THAT TRAIN BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE BECAUSE I'M MORE IMPORTANT". sadly, we had to take on the same attitude in a self-perpetuating cycle or we'd've never gotten anywhere, but i digress.

after the sphinx, we went to the oberoi hotel golf club for lunch. it's a very small menu, not like the nice restaurant in the hotel, but it was close and good for getting rid of the stomach grumbles whilst sitting in the shadows of the pyramids. there are some parts of the visit that are a bit of a blur, and this is one of them. i believe we went back to the apartment to relax. TheJay and TheRachel had to pack since they were leaving on a day trip to sharm el sheikh at 6AM the next morning. dinner? i forget. TheMom? TheJay? i received a happy surprise that day when i got a call from jules that she was coming home from the tunisia job to get her work permit worked on, so i'd see her the next afternoon, saturday.

saturday, TheJay and TheRachel caught their flight, jules came in, i went to work, and TheMom stayed home and started one of her favorite parts of vacationing... relaxing. she dilly-dallied around the apartment and TheDriver took her to carrefour to pick up a few things in the afternoon. nothing much more exciting than that. TheJay and TheRachel arrived back to cairo from sharm sunday afternoon, and i believe, that was the day we had a barbecue. all the site TAs came over, jules was there, my guests, and a guy from the end-user all stood around and had a merry ol' time. we cooked steaks and chicken, jules made her egyptian salads, i made sure the drinks were flowing and the sheesha was lit. it was a really good time.

monday, i had TheDriver take my guests to "the citadel". it's a famous castle/fort/mosque in cairo that was once a military stronghold, but now is a tourist attraction, largely due to it's containing mohamed ali's mosque (not that mohamed ali). again, TheMom had to walk up and down hills which was torture on her back, but she lugged through it courageously. she had some hate daggers coming out of her eyes at the pyramids because i was acting like a ruthless personal trainer... come on, pick a point and go for it, THEN rest. you can do it, we're almost there..., etc. she did great though and the exercise didn't hurt. that night when i got home from work, i changed and escorted TheJay and TheRachel to the train station via the metro. they were taking an overnight sleeper car monday night to luxor so they could visit "the valley of the kings" for the day. they would check it out, and then take another overnight train back to cairo arriving early wednesday morning. again, i was at work then they arrived back. they hung out most of the day with TheMom and napped and generally relaxed. they had to pack for good since they had to catch a 3:45AM flight back home through athens. i bid them farewell before heading to bed since i doubted i would wake up to send them off that early with work in the morning (i know, hosting faux pas, i'm not perfect). TheMom had a good time relaxing in a foreign country for the next few days until her 5AM flight on saturday morning. the flight home wasn't the best. her back was hurting by the time she got home about 20 hours later, but seeing TheNephew cheered her up. he was excited to see her too. this is the longest she's been away from him ever. he liked his souvenirs, so that definitely helped the mood whatd'ya get me?! whatd'ya get me?!

and that, my friends, is the end of that story, until someone comments on something i heinously forgot to mention.

quickly 2

for some strange reason, about a year ago, i bought "the muppet show - season 1". i'd heard that there were some pseudo-adult jokes in it, that kids wouldn't normally get, and i was a kid when i watched it back in the day. i've watched the first 5 episodes, and TheMom probably thinks i'm nuts. i was actually excited talking about it the other day in how I PERSONALLY am rediscovering actors that i thought were new to the biz, but have been busy at it since at least 1976, the year "the muppet show" debuted.

por ejemplo, joel grey was in episode 3. i saw this young dancer/singer and said to myself, "he reminds me of the 'sloane clone in alias. that same guy played at sorcerer with a tail in buffy, the vampire slayer on TV." so i went to imdb.com, looked up his name, and holy shite... it's the same guy, he's been acting since the 60's, and i just see him for the first time on action-dramas in the 2000's. i tell TheMom about this, and she says he sang "cabaret", which i wouldn't've known except that he sang it on "the muppet show" episode.

episode 5 of the same season had rita moreno as the guest star. i was surprised at her first skit where she's wearing a skirt with a slit ALL THE WAY to her waist, and as she's dancing, she's manhandling a french puppet, and throwing back drinks like a sailor. i thought she seemed familiar, and after a while, it dawned on me... she's "sister pete" from HBO's oz. man alive. again, i thought she'd just started acting or something since i'd never seen her before. then i found out from her imdb profile she was in west side story in 1961. i haven't seen west side story since music class in elementary school, so of course, i wouldn't recognize her from that. i guess it's not much to be excited about, i just think it is so neat to see them now, and then recognize them from 32 years ago on a kids show.

and on a side note before i go, i noticed another thing funny, speaking of oz. i don't watch any of the law & order franchises, though TheMom loves 'em. sometimes, when we are in the kitchen talking and it is on, i'll look up and recognize someone. i think whenever they need to cast for law & order they go through the old cast list for oz. of the 33 oz characters listed on the main oz page of imdb.com, 23 of them have been on one of the law & orders. i was going to list them here, but that's just a little over the top. there are also two oz characters on Showtime's dexter. i just notice stupid stuff. i'd be smart if i could put my brain to more efficient and useful endeavors.

TheMom is here

i've been meaning to blog, but work has kept me away. i've been having to track down obscure lubrication specs for motors that have little-to-no documentation. i took today and tomorrow off to greet my visitors. sadly, jules isn't here to host my guests with me. she was shuttled off to tunisia several days ago. we tried hard to keep her here to no avail. she should be back within a month or so, hopefully sooner, but things are not looking good at getting her back any sooner than i would hope. she is a bit disappointed. TheMom and her get along well, and TheJay and TheJaysWife like he alot. damn TheGeneral busting up my good time.

anyways, TheMom got in, one bag missing. it'll be here at 3:30AM. i have to pick up TheJay and TheJaysWife at 2:45AM. they are flying in from cleveland via athens, where they spent a day of touring. they'll be trotting around egypt most of this week, only spending about 72 hours of a week here with me and TheMom in cairo. they are flying to sharm el sheik and then taking the train to luxor. TheMom is taking a nap right now. she has a bad back and the long flight didn't do it very well. we are going to dinnner with the guys from work in about an hour. i set up a DVD player and a TV in her room because she is pavlovianly-trained to fall asleep with the TV on. TheDriver is going to crash here tonight because he wants to make breakfast for my guests in the morning. we probably won't get home until around 4:00AM and it's about and hour's drive each way to his house. i told him not to kill himself to get home and back and then make breakfast, so he is going to crash on our couch. in the morning he is going to make "fool", it's a mashed bean dish with onions, tomato and peppers. it is amazing. then, we are taking the metro train to downtown cairo to see the cairo museum and khan el khalili. after that, TheDriver is going to meet us, possibly with his fiancee, to go to a REAL egyptian restaurant, then we are going to take a faluca (boat) ride on the nile at night. it'll be awesome. on friday, we do the pyramids and sphinx. saturday TheJay and TheJaysWife start their wandering, and my mom starts here relaxation. TheDriver will be available for her to go wherever she wants but i think she will want to bask in the sun by the pool downtown. whatever she wants. she brought my replacement XBOX 360 power cord, and i bought a 220-110V transformer (brilliant), so in the next few days, i MIGHT be on XBOX live with the BTBz. we'll see.

that's enough for now. i gotta clean up for dinner. i have some random pictures i need to post. i'll get to them as soon as possible. later

whirlwind holiday

man alive, it seems like i haven't actually had to work in ages. i got back from my R&R on 16-april and worked the 1/2 day on the 17th. the 18th and 19th i was at a resort in hurghada, egypt. i got back and worked the 19th through the 23rd. another 1/2 day on thursday, then that weekend (this past weekend, that is) was something like memorial day AND the coptic christian easter, so we had off, friday through monday. coming back to work today was tough, i'm telling you. i should've planned better to go somewhere. instead, all weekend we just lounged by the pool, played golf yesterday (man, i suck), did even worse at darts. the apartment is a bit of a mess and jules hasn't had a chance to unpack from her R&R in turkey. tonight, we are shopping for some things we are going to need since we have guests coming on the 6th (TheJay and TheJay'sWife), and on the 7th, TheMom. then we clean the house, exercise, jules will unpack, figure something out for dinner, and hopefully get to bed early. you'd think that having a few days off would give one time to rejuvenate, but we just end up partying more thank usual. now, we really need to develop a REAL way to relax and catch up on some sleep. maybe we need the flu. here are some recent pix i've taken to share with you.

the resort we stayed at in hurghada called "desert rose"

"desert rose" pool at night from my balcony

my new bling. YUP! that's a solid silver ring with it's periodic chart of the elements info on it. i'm just too damn cool nerdy.

almost on my way

well, in 12 hours, i'll be waking up to get ready for my trip to the airport. i fly out at 6:30AM egypt time (12:30AM eastern US time), and i get into pittsburgh at 9-ish that night. i'll get home by, oh let's say, 11PM. i'll have to see TheNephew if he's up, because i have to leave the house around 9-10AM to get to columbus to prep for Chump's bachelor party i'm "throwing" on friday. we wanna start early, and use taxis all day. i'm not taking my work computer back to the states since i recently bought a new IBM for shites and giggles. if i can get it working at home, i'll use it. if not, i'll use TheMom's to update, though i don't promise regular updates. i'll be back in egypt the evening of the 16th. if i'm not too tired, i'll say hi, and maybe show off my new haircut, IF i get it. i was REALLY surprised to see the "YES"s take the lead today. until then...

TheMom is booked

i just booked TheMom's flight to egypt. she flies out on 6-may, getting in on the 7th, then she flies back out on 17-may. that way i can show her around over two weekends, so i'll have two days off. i may take a vacation day or so to show her around too. should be fun. TheJay and TheRachel should be here around the same time. might be a full house, but it'll be fun.

EDIT: Chump pointed out to me that my dates we a month off. corrected now. thanks.

TheMom - to visit egypt in the next few months

i surprised TheMom with an invitation to come visit me in egypt. she took me up on it, and we are now trying to arrange a good time to come. today during lunch i was looking at flights on orbitz.com to see what was available. TheMom has kind of a bad back so i wanted to get her business class, but woo-wee it's $$$. i never pay attention when TheGeneral is paying. yikes! i'm looking and looking and then i noticed an airline i didn't recognize.

hah, i almost considered booking TheMom on TWO helicopter connections. i'm wondering what kind of son she'd think i was then. i'll keep looking.

i hate coffee

jules is a coffee-junkie almost, TheMom drinks coffee, i think i'm pretty much the only person in the civilized world my age who doesn't drink coffee. i know there are more out there, but we are small group. TheMech get cappuccinos from the coffee girl. he gets them with milk and sugar, and they look kinda good, like foamy chocolate milk. the only time i drink coffee is when it is iced and full of chocolatey goodness.

well, today i caved. i ordered a cappuccino myself, the same way, and it's not all that bad. normal coffee still sucks, but this isn't too bad, but i'm retarded. i like to make concoctions, and i have some cranberry juice on my desk... it's, um, tangy to say the least. it's not as good anymore, but i'll drink it. that's the price one pays to be a concoctioneer (now, Rich|, THAT is a made up word).

in other news, yesterday i had to go up the road about 3 hours to another site to check their foundation. TAs often get tossed around in countries like this. instead of mobilizing another TA, with international business travel, putting them up in a hotel, and expenses, they borrow nearby TAs to do simple works like this. it was 3 hours up, 4 hours there, and 3 hours back. normally i'm in the car 2 hours a dat roundtrip. i never thought i'd say it, but i'm tired of sitting. i read a lot of my book, but good lord, i'm gonna get bedsores. anyways, on the way up the road, we drove to pyramid street in downtown cairo to get to the main north-south road, cairo-alexandria desert road. i was reading my book and didn't realize we were heading to pyramid street. the driver asked me if i'd seen the pyramids. i told him, only from afar from the hotel balcony, and he pointed out the driver's side window. HOLY SHITE!!! they are RIGHT there. you're in downtown cairo, and it looks like you can throw a rocks and hit them. there's no embellishment when i say cairo seriously sits in the shadows of the pyramids. it's hard to believe that such an engineering marvel, a wonder of the world, is just background fodder to the locals. they see it every day, and eh... i was in awe. i did my best to take pictures while driving, they aren't the best, but it'll have to do until this weekend. i'm planning on going on a tour of the pyramids booked through the hotel. it leaves at 8:45AM which sucks, because since that's our day off, thursday night usually ends in the wee hours of friday, but i'll have to get up. i WAS going to go by myself with a driver, but apparently that gets really complicated. the driver's can't go in with you because then they are tour guides, but they don't have a license for that or something. then there are people inside who will try to scam you out of money... here, sit on a camel for a picture, then they start taking you somewhere you didn't want to go and charge you money for it (i suppose bailing from a moving camel would be dangerous). so, i'm taking the tourist tour. maybe when jules gets here we can do that on our own. too bad she's seen them all before, so i'm not sure how excited she's going to be seeing them again.

sorry to be terse, but i'm going to go finish my tangy UTI-preventing cappuccino now. more later.

today was a waste

seriously. my schedule is messed up anyways trying to get back on a dayshift schedule, and today didn't make it any better. i went to bed around 1AM sunday morning and woke up around 5AM, not tired. bought some books online, ran some errands, goofed around, played some halo3, and went to bed around 1 AM again. before i went to bed, i got some bad news from jules, i wasn't in a good mood so i decided to sleep on it. i woke up today around 11AM still pissed about the bad news.

you see, jules and i had been planning on meeting up in columbus this weekend. we haven't seen each other in 2 months or so because of work. we are getting things back together and miss each other, and it seemed things were going to work out. she was supposed to be coming back from qatar on friday, and she was going to come to columbus to see me before i flew out to egypt on tuesday. the customer she is working for decided they want to keep her there until 17-december. that SO sucks!!! that means by the time she gets to egypt, we won't have seen each other for almost 5 months. it's so not right. i don't know why we work for this company anymore. the company really doesn't fight for us at all. we provide a valuable service to the customer, but our company doesn't compensate us enough and acts like we are machines that don't need time at home, time with family, want to use our vacation how we see fit rather than what fits their schedule. i'm just pissed. we were both looking forward to getting to see each other for a few days, and it's all down the tubes like that. now we have 2-3 more months before we get to see each other. FUKK!!!

anyways, that led to my useless day. like i said, i woke up at 11AM, TheNephew stayed home from school because he was sick, and i stayed in my room playing halo3 most of the day... literally. from 11AM to 8PM, with a few bathroom breaks and maybe a few TV breaks when i was frustrated, i played a video game. i should've cleaned, i should've at least left the house, i should've read or packed. i'm just really down because of this shitty decision by the customer in qatar.

tomorrow i can't do the same. TheMom is going for a consult for an addition to her tattoo, i believe TheOlderSister is going as well, i have to hang xmas lights, and then TheMom, TheOlderSister and i are probably going to bw3 for wing night. i think TheNephew is staying home again tomorrow, so he'll probably lay on the couch watching cartoons while we are working. i really do need to clean my room. since i'm leaving for maybe a year or more in a week, shouldn't leave it in this state while i'm away. plus, there might be things in here i want to take with me.

i'm not tired, it's 1:30AM, and i'm pissed about not seeing jules, but i'm going to try to go to sleep. we'll see how well that works.

sorry i've been slacking

i got home from trinidad on the 10th. on the 13th, i went to T's wedding and had a GREAT time. it was a lovely ceremony, nobody screwed up besides T reciting his vows to the priest instead of erin, but i'll let him off, he was nervous. at the reception, chumpass had to go home, his mom had come home from columbus hospital that day, and she was going to have to go to the local hospital. a few short days later on chmumpass's 30th birthday, she was gone. i can't say it any better than TheMom has in her post. it was a tragedy. chumpass's family has been dealing, as have we, all her friends and extended family. the past week has been filled with pre-wake's, pre-pre-wake's, the funeral, the graveside ceremony, the wake, and post-wake. we've been busy, and yet it still feels like nothing really got done. chumpass knows i'm there for him and his family if they need me, no matter where i am (on my way to windsor, canada tomorrow for three weeks). only a phone call away. i'll try to catch up there. until then, keep chumpass and his family in your thoughts.

hung...

i'm REALLY surprised that TheMom hasn't blogged about the phil spector trial verdict yet. this is like the only thing she's watched on TV for the past who-knows-how-long. she gets in the chats, on the forums, she IMs about it. now that it's over, i'm not sure what she is going to do. she'd be a horrible juror. so biased, in this case. she thought the guy was guilty a few days in. i can see her bullying the 2 standouts. hah. sorry, TheMom, that it didn't turn out the way you'd hoped. good luck finding something else to entertain you. try a book! love ya.

Field life

The problem with field life is the field. Of course. I bought a truck while in bristol, TN that was in shadyside, OH, then flew to san fernando, trinidad. I called TheMom today to find out if she picked it up for me yet... She picked it up almost 2 weeks ago when everything was paid for (tax, title, etc.) WOW!! She was on it. She's going to take pictures so i can share pix of the truck i can't drive ( i hate the new division BUT i had loads of time off). Now i'm back home, i'm guessing i'll be working loads. Maybe i won't be here too long. If i'm lucky... If all works out well, and 'all' seems to be on a highly sensitive teeter-totter. (yea! See-saws).

EDIT: here's the pix of my new-to-me 2004 chevy silverado 2500 HD. man this truck rocks. i like how TheMom got some fancy glistening in the first picture. in the second one you can see my little old red truck cowering.

the traveling

so, i went to visit jules in NY last monday. we had a really good time catching up and talking about things. it was really nice, i'm glad we did it. it's alway good to see her. i spent until thursday there, when i then flew into columbus to join them for the 8 hours drive to clint's house in NC. the drive was rather uneventful, just he BTBz goofing off in a confined space for far too long. things were getting a bit drowsy toward the end but we eventually made it, and proceeded to stay up until about 5AM watching TV. the next day we were off on the 3-hour drive to myrtle beach for T's bachelor party. the place we got was awesome, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, nice-sized kitchen, huge living area, and a great view of the ocean, the lazy river below us, and the hotties in the hot tub.

just to be brief, throughout the weekend there was lazy-rivering [with the bubba kegs (wTBK)], broken or badly-stoved finger in the lazy river, drunken ocean swimming wTBK, flirting with columbus folk who were coincidentally there, being civil to snotty kids who wanted to make fun of us for being drunk in the hot tub, hooter's girls singing, T avoiding seafood so he could "carb up" at a seafood buffet, one of our clan in his tighty whiteys (on our balcony) getting noticed by the columbus folk (on the beach), security being called for talking to girls on another balcony, and i'm sure a bunch more stuff i'm forgetting. it was a good time.

sunday, we went to the NASCAR go-kart track where wasko and i developed a racing rivalry, and he took it out on everyone else on the last track we drove by putting them all in the wall (thus, causing him to be banned from racing that track again). we grabbed some food, and headed back to clint's the see the NASCAR race. the next day, i drove the 8.5 hours back to columbus, TheMom picked me up, and i drove the 1.5 hours back home, so i could do laundry, pack, get a little bit of sleep, and make my way to the airport at 8AM for my job in trinidad. i made it, exhausted as i was, and now i'm here. the first nightshift is tough, but the second usually kills me, which is bad, because i'm hurting as is. i'm sooooo tired.

anyways, i posted just to let you know what's up (i linked to the plant site in the right sidebar), and i wanted to post a few pictures (3 from hooter's and one i stumbled on). you can click on them for bigger views.

chad and T successfully freaking out wasko while he's macking on the phone.
T with his banner and ballon "hooters" at hooters after they sang to him. clint's just a perv
chad and i doing our gay version of the "lady and the tramp" spaghetti scene, but in this case, we used a french fry and we were over T

i'm back, but not for long

i got home from bristol yesterday around 1AM. i had a great time, but was exhausted. TheMom and i decided to go down to a friend's house for lasagna and the steeler's game. long story short, i'd talked to jules and she invited me to schenectady for a few days. her training is over thursday, and i need to be in columbus on thursday to go to myrtle for T's bachelor party, so it works out well. i leave in 4 hours. i was going to drive my new-to-me truck i'd drunkenly decided to buy while in bristol (no matter my condition, it was a good idea... it's a good deal on a good truck), but the paperwork is going to take a week or so, so i'm flying out.

sorry, i can't update immediately. i have some great pix from bristol, but they'll be posted over at the bristol experience. i'll still link to them here. jules' room doesn't have internet, so unless i can find a coffee shop or something, i might not be able to post until myrtle. later.