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.

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.

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...

saddle sores and more

click on any picture for a full size version, i'm a bad ass photographer

thursday, after work, jules and i went to attaba, a market center of cairo, to look for bikes. jules has wanted bicycles since she got here, and she convinced me it would be a good warm-up on the way to the gym. TheDriver took us around to some shops deftly negotiating prices for us. we bounced between 3-4 shops until we found one that had decent prices for both bikes (in TheDriver's opinion, i thought they were a bit TOO cheap). jules got a red one with chrome fenders and a basket which she wanted so she could bring groceries back from the store. i got a silver one with some sort of suspension system. we took them back to the apartment where i took the plastic bubble wrap off mine, and jules discovered our apartment is big enough to ride our bikes around fairly comfortably. while trying to ride mine, i found that there was a rub somewhere on the back tire, though i didn't figure it to be anything to worry about.


friday, TheDriver picked us up and brought along his sister, TheMary, to take us to the pyramids. it's awful that i've been here just shy of two months and i've just now found the time to go to the pyramids. the few times i've had to go to alex for work, we have to take pyramid street to get to the highway, and to say the view, even from there, is breath-taking is an understatement. i'm in total awe of the engineering, mathematical, and architectural feats that the pyramids embody. anyways, we got there and i found out a few strange things. it's a park you have to pay entrance to, and for non-egyptians, the price is about $10. for egyptians, the price is $0.40, the same amount they charge you to park your vehicle. also, anyone and everyone is a tour guide for the pyramids, and they'll follow you for inappropriate amounts of time trying to convince you to go with them. there are loads of junk gift peddlers. one offered me an "authentic" arab headdress and some pyramids, "as a gift, no money", then he proceeded to ask for money. when i gave them back, he yelled after me, "you act like i'm asking 1,000,000 dollars!".

our first stop was khufu (or cheops). you can actually walk on the pyramid up about 3 or 4 stones high. they've carved steps at a few places into the lower blocks to allow access. khufu is the largest of the pyramids though if you look at them all it might not seem so, since khafre is built at a slightly higher elevation. at 1pm, you can even walk inside of the khufu pyramid, which i thought was amazing. we had to wait to get tickets since it was only around 11AM at the time we were at khufu, so TheDriver found us a tour guide, and we were on our way to see the other 2 pyramids. from what i could tell, you are not allowed to walk out past khufu. in one way or another you either have to get a tour guide who will take you out either by camel, horse, or by a horse-drawn cart. i'm not sure of the reasoning, but it seemed to be a very consistent observation. our guide was moustafa, and he provided three rather gaunt horses for TheDriver, TheMary, and jules, and i, since it was my first time, got to ride his camel. i have to mention now that i have a strange empathy for beasts of burden. i project onto them emotions such as boredom, discomfort, sadness at an unfulfilling life, etc. i hate to see the donkeys pulling carts around here with little 5-year-olds whipping them with branches. ugh. so, after the initial shock of the jarring manner in which a camel gets to it's feet, i realized that i had to make it move. already, i felt bad for it because i'm a big guy, but now the guide tells me "kick ze camel, whip ze camel, hurt ze camel!" i hated to do it, but i need to get it moving, so i gently smacked it's hind-quarters with my makeshift whip. he didn't move, so the guide had me hit him harder and, finally, my camel was motivated (btw, i named my camel TheBooger, because, like TheNephew whom i call "booger", my camel didn't follow directions very well).

we galloped (if that's what a camel does) through the desert to see the khafre pyramid and the smaller, menkaure, the farthest away. khafre, btw, is believed the be the egyptians attempt at the first truly "smooth" pyramid. you can see at the top where they've used limestone to fill in the rough edges to smooth out the pyramid. it is guessed the entire pyramid was once smooth, but when the arabs came to the area, much of the limestone was pilfered to build their mosques, leaving only the top part untouched. after a cursory camel-steering training (and by cursory, i mean, he told me everything to do and say, but the came wouldn't move unless HE did it), moustafa took the whip away from me and handed me the rein. from now on out, it was just rib-kicking for acceleration (and some sort of "tsk" sound), pull his head in the direction i want to go for turning, and "HESSSSssss!" to stop (which rarely worked as well). i learned that camels don't like going down slopes, i'm guessing something to do with their center of gravity, so with an extra 1/8 ton on it's back, it disliked it more. the guide told me to lean back as far as i could whenever we were going down a slope. luckily, my saddle had a bullhorn (or camel horn in this case?) to hold onto so i could lean back. we traversed past khafre, past menkaure to "the photo spot". it's just a flat spot in the desert in the general direction so that, when you look back, you'll see that the pyramids are aligned. there's also a guy there who'll sell you water or pop since it's a bit dusty and hot in the desert. we didn't partake though we did get out obligatory pictures.

after we photographed our memories, moustafa guided us next to the sphinx. he couldn't take us very close to it, bringing us in from it's right side, because it is kinda of in it's own little park. i swear he has TheBooger trained, because all the horses pulled away on the way to the sphinx, while my camel slowed down to a stop along with moustafa. here is where he propositioned me for "secret tips". it really helped the have TheDriver there to negotiate the price of the tour ($20/person), but moustafa took advantage of it being my first time and cornered me for more tips that i wouldn't tell TheDriver about. i kinda brushed him off, and we continued on as close to the sphinx as we could get by 4-legged transportation. we stopped and took pictures and returned the long way around the pyramids again on our way back. around about the same spot, my camel slowed down again while everyone pulled away. the guide again asked for "secret tips". i only wanted to give him $4, but all i had was $20, lucky bastard. i gave it to him, and he asked if i would promise to keep it a secret. i told him 'no'. he asked why, and i told him, "if you are asking me to keep it a secret, then you are doing something you probably shouldn't". he was unhappy about that statement and asked if i wanted the money back. i told him no, but we were finished talking. the rest of the trip was good, everything we saw already over the other shoulder. that is when i took the video you see below. it's bumpy, but camels aren't known for their grace. at one point, moustafa told me to cross a road by going left, but a tour bus was coming at me. poor TheBooger, i didn't know what to do. i was trying to get him to go, stop, and turn away from the bus all at the same time. i now know why he wanted me to turn when he said. it was the easiest way to get back. because my camel would not stop, we had to go a bit further up the road, and now... my camel had to jump! CRAP! it was only maybe a 1 foot drop off a rock to the sand, but as i said already, camels don't like going down, let alone abrupt elevation changes no matter how minor. my camel jumped, and i thought i was a goner. it was a rough 5-seconds. the horses behind me handled it more gracefully, lucky them. this story ends rather dully (?). we turned in the horses, the camel, took this picture, and then went to buy tickets for going inside the khufu pyramid.

TheDriver and TheMary decided not to go inside khufu as they've done it so many times already. we got tickets ($20/non-egyptian) and worked our way up to the tourist entrance. sadly, they confiscate your cameras on the way in, no photography allowed inside. they took my camera, but a certain someone i was with had his or hers in his or her purse. again sadly, this person was afraid to take pictures here though he or she may have done it in the past at the valley of the kings. it's too bad. anyways, i was i no way prepared for what we'd find inside. there's just a rocky walkway for about 20 yards then you come to the descending passage (see descriptions to the right). you follow this for a bit until you reach the ascending passage. it is sloped at about 51° all the way to the center of the pyramid where you find the king's chamber. the passageway is MAYBE 4 feet tall and about 1.5 people wide and about 300 feet long! at that angle, in that heat, it was the longest walk ever! about halfway up it opens up into the grand gallery. the gallery was awesome and a bit of a respite. we could catch our breath here as the passage opened wider and straight up to a narrow cavern, of sorts. we then continued up to the king's chamber, squeezing past people coming down. i'm not normally a claustrophobic person, but in that tight space with all that rock above us... all i could think about was my OSHA training "...limited access and egress... confined space... danger". within minutes you were sweating profusely from head to toe. even people who were in good shape. it was hot, and cramped, and the air was motionless. the pharaoh's tomb wasn't really spectacular, i'm guessing all the spectacular stuff they've moved to the cairo museum, but just being INSIDE this world wonder was breath-taking, which sucked because breath was a precious commodity in that tight little hallway. after taking a breather at the top, we squeezed our way down past the other tourists working their way up, and finally, we were out in the great wide open of the outside. soaking with sweat, exhilarated from the awesome things we'd seen, we hopped in the car to check out the clubhouse at the golf course that was built in the shadow of the pyramids. it was then, upon sitting down, i realized, damn TheBooger... he gave me a saddle sore.

i'm still recovering from my saddle sore, it's a bit painful but getting better. at the time, i complained that between the blister and the exhausting pyramid climb, that the trip wasn't worth it, but that was just goofy-talk. my trip to he pyramids was truly one of the best things i've ever seen besides bewbz. if you'd like, i have more pictures in my flickr set.

in keeping with tradition, here is another installment of "jules head..." at the sphinx.

TheBooger going wherever he wants to and my posse behind me

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.

camping - the test

TheNephew wants to go camping, but i'm not sure how well he'll handle dealing without the amenities, staying the whole night, a bathroom, etc., so we are trying it in the side yard tonight in my new 8-person tent. so far he has his DVD player, plush chair, lantern, and air mattress in there. so, if you need me, i'll be in the tent for the next 12+ hours. txt my phone, and i might be able to slip back up to my room to get back to ya. sounds like fun. since i don't know any ghost stories, we're watching scary movies. yea!

shooting stars

TheNephew was allowed to stay up past his bedtime tonight to see some "shooting stars". the perseid meteor shower was supposed to be peaking from around midnight to morning. for a while it was clouding up, and he'd come in every 10 minutes... "is it time?" "is it still cloudy?" etc. we went out around midnight and got to see quite a few nice streaks across the sky. i saw a few more than he as i know what i'm looking for and he was getting tired. he wanted to make a wish on a shooting star (since his friend wished that his grandpa would get pizza... and he DID, wishes are still indestructible). he got to make his wish; eh, i even made a few myself. it was a nice show, but he had to go to bed, and i could use some sleep myself. did anyone else go out and look at the shooting stars with me?

TheNephew channeling MrT

or chuck lidell i suppose. TheMom put the pictures up first, so check them out there. his mom, TheYoungerSister, did the original cut, i just decided to trim it up and take it down to the scalp. he looks bad ass.

TheNephew never ceases to amaze me

sure, on occasion like this morning, we were wrestling around, and he clocked me in the nads so hard i was seeing stars and couldn't move for 10 minutes, but most of the time he is saying or doing something so amusingly non-sequitur that i can't help but laugh. here are a few vids i've made recently. they may be a bit big, my camera makes HUGE vids, and i don't know how to resize them.


here, TheNephew practices for the shallow-water belly-smacker olympics


the pool sprung a leak, but he still wanted to swim, so he filled the cooler and tried his hand at bendy straw snorkeling. not bad for a first attempt.

he certainly wears me out, and i only have uncle-y duties to do (usually, sometime more). he's cute though... well he wants to play again, gotta go.

oh bring on the random

ok... this may be stream of consciousness but...

i woke up this morning going to algeria (AGAIN). i'm waiting for the paperwork, and i get a call (paraphrase) no, don't go to algeria, we have a guy in canada who can go, you go to canada. um, ok, but i have to wait for paperwork again (who knew we needed paperwork to go to a NAFTA country? i've driven there for better lapdances). i'm waiting for the paperwork, i contact the guy i'm replacing, he tells me to book it, the paperwork will come. i talk to manager, he concurs, i'm booking... i get a call and here is where it turns like '24'. the viewers heart is thumping... the clock is ticking... i'm moving the mouse over the "purchase trip" button, when **RING** (paraphrase) DO NOT TRAVEL!!! we are having some conflict. hold on the travel. this is about 3PM. i go out, i hang with TheNephew, we ride bikes, practice some baseball, have dinner, then i check my phone. missed call, TheManager, (paraphrase) good to go, book the flight, so now i'm going to canada for a bit shy of 3 weeks. what fun.

since i watch the NBA finals, TheMom and i sat outside, she with a bottle of cafe zin, me with a 12 of miller lite, and watched the jazz-spurs game on the deck. we finally had our talk. i didn't wanna talk about the "bad thing" going on in my life since i've been here, but she is a mom and she wanted to. i've avoided it for almost 2 weeks but we had our talk. i missed most of the game (though i'm watching the jazz get USED in the 4th right now, we talked about random things, philosophy, religion, politics, but we got back to my issue. i got some good advice. tough but good advice. i was going to go to my room at halftime to fall asleep to the game, since i have to get up at 6AM to travel 11 hours AND THEN work a 12 hour shift. didn't work. hopefully i'll get to bed before midnight the way this game is going. we had a good talk, we got TheDog drunk (now quit, it was funny). she's a lightweight, 1.5 beers and she falls over trying to scratch and itch [and she's a decent size dog (shetland sheepdog or such), if i was a dog, i'd want to date her]. i missed the falling, TheMom told me about it. she did take a nape before her second drink... and keep in mind, we didn't force her. there was a bowl, which she drank of willingly. moreso, in fact, as she drank. there might be a possible study here.

so, i'm going to canada tomorrow, i MAY have had a revelation about my problem (tough as it may be to deal with), TheMom and i had a good time, TheDog had a good time. i'm going to bed for the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day tomorrow. hope they have redbull in the great white north.

a jessica dream

a couple nights ago i had a dream about jessica simpson. strange enough because i don't think about her more than what i read on my blog reading adventures. and you know what... she's pretty intelligent despite what people might think. we had some in depth conversations about real estate. we were sitting on a ledged cliff over-looking the sea and somehow we could zoom in on places around the world, and they kinda materialized in the air in front of us. we were debating on whether to but a huge, old roofless church in ireland or a villa in spain. i can't recall what we chose, i must've gotten distracted or something. and wouldn't ya know it, TheNephew woke me up before we could celebrate our house purchase. jeez.

well, that's about that, i guess.

i caved

this past weekend, i went to columbus to watch the daytona 500 with the BTBz. i was witness to T playing 'gears of war' and BTVJGJHo playing 'NCAA 2007' plus he showed me some moves on 'gears of war'. 'gears of war' is such an awesome game. due to my travel, i figured it wouldn't be feasible to get an XBOX 360, but today i caved. i was at EBGames getting a PS2 for TheNephew, and i got the buying bug, so i got myself an XBOX 360 bundle, the wireless adapter, and 'gears of war'. i just got my XBOX live gold subscription taken care of and even have a few of the BTBz on my friend's list already.

babe, i'm sorry but you know me and my frivolous spending on gadgets. i got the service coverage, though, that was a good call. you gotta love me.

any suggestions on some XBOX 360 titles i should get? thanks.

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happy birthday

today is TheMom's birthday. she is vacationing in boston, while TheSister is "away" for the weekend. i had TheNephew tonight. did his homework, made him dinner, put him to bed. he says he's afraid of the dark now. apparently one of his babysitters told him the boogieman comes to get kids who don't go to sleep. brilliant plan there einstein. every since we've had a problem. i put on two nightlights and left my door open and my light on and he went to bed after some crying and rationalization. he likes to say he wishes either he or i never existed when he doesn't get his own way. TheMom and TheSister spoil him too much in that sense. i'll make him strong. hah.

anyways, happy birthday TheMom, your present came today, have fun in boston.