aqaba, jordan (nov 13th, 2009)

so my time was done in egypt. on the advice of some of my teacher friends working in egypt, i'd decided to fly to jordan on my indirect trip home. i'd heard that it would be a sin to miss seeing petra when i was that close. i'd also heard something about aqaba, so i booked a flight there to jump off from. i really didn't know what i was going to do there. i was pretty burnt out from being in egypt so long, so i just wanted to relax. not even do vacationy things, i just wanted to catch up on sleep, have a few drinks, and wander aimlessly. that's pretty much what i did.

the taxi driver from the airport assured me he knew where my hotel, the golden tulip, was. i had a very general idea where it was from the airport because i'd checked on google earth just before my flight. now, my sense of direction is just south of shitty, but i still knew that we were heading the wrong direction as soon as we left the airport. i'd gotten him turned around with my broken arabic, and soon had him pulling over to ask directions from a police officer. after rounding the block several times because he kept missing the turn off, i was finally at my hotel. i checked in and went to my room to drop off my bags where i found this. yup, those are my bath towels folded on my bed in the shape of a heart and some swans.

i seriously didn't do too much here. as i said, i just wanted to relax. i wandered around town a lot. i made friends with the filipina bar maid at the hotel. she had a boys name like TheMax or something. that saturday night, she invited me to go out with her and her friends to a filipina bar. it was halfway up one of the taller buildings in aqaba. we went in through a shady back door, through some partially dismantled room with lots of insulation and not a lot of lighting. i was starting to get concerned, but soon enough the broken down rooms opened onto a rooftop bar with other filipinos. there was one or two other ex-pats playing pool or throwing darts. we ate pretzel sticks, and i drank beer while they chatted away in their own language, occasionally flirting or making fun of me. i couldn't tell, but then again, i never can. i dawdled doing nothing of much import for 3 days, reveling in the fact that i had no responsibilities, schedules, or timelines to follow, though in fact i did. not on those days, but i DID need to see petra while i was there and i was told i needed to see wadi rum as well. i was off to petra on the 17th, and i did an overnight in the wadi rum desert with a bedouin tour guide and a lovely british couple... kinda, but those are for upcoming and more frequent posts. until then, some pix from aqaba.

a tanker in the gulf of aqaba as seen from my hotel

one of the many mosques in aqaba

arabic burger king sign... and i can actually read it. there was a popeye's right next door too

i wasn't able to determine exactly what these domes are for

this is TheGateway. it's the westernized part of aqaba with a McDonald's, an irish bar, chinese restaurant, discos, shops, etc. i spent some time here.

this is possibly the first (oldest) purpose built christian church in the world, estimated to be built in 300 AD.

this weather station was pretty cool. i'd like to see more of these in bigger cities. i think it would motivate the people to take part in keeping the environment (and the government's part in it) cleaner. today was a good day, just a bit dusty.
sadly, social networking, work, life, etc., has dragged me away from this original form of getting the word out for me. i'm going to try harder. i should have posts about petra and wadi rum coming up soon. thanks for sticking with me. as per usual, you can click on the pics for bigger versions, and click here for the entire set.

U.S. religious knowledge survey

recently, the pew forum on religion and public life released the results of their recent U.S. religious knowledge survey. sadly, 86% of THE PEOPLE SURVEYED (not americans as they would suggest... it IS an extrapolation afterall), believe in "god" or a higher power. the problem is, most of these people who believe in god/higher power don't really know the tenets or history of what they believe in. it seems they know that church means dressing up the family on sunday, going to church, feeding the kids cookies so they are quiet during the service, listening to the sermon (a.k.a bible cliff's notes), eating some stale bread and wine, and then going home to watch the game. it's tradition, it's a habit (and a bad one at that, in my opinion). many of these people base their personal beliefs and political stances on a book they haven't read. they cherrypick the parts of their book that support their prejudices (homosexuality is bad) but ignore the ones that just aren't fun [no premarital sex, no pork, no eating lobsters, no rare meat, shaving, or cutting of the hair (still, i think that link is a bit strange too. i think since jesus was basically raised a jew as far as we know, he was a jew who stirred a following and started an offshoot that was probably still based in part on judaism. similar to how islam is based on judaism, acknowledges jesus, and is just a 3rd iteration / prophet from the original judaism)].

as usual, i digress. i find it entertainingly ironic that of the people polled (and again, this is but 1/1000 of a percent of the population) that atheists/agnostics topped the poll with the best scores followed by jews, mormons, and the best catholic score coming in 5th. if you are here, more than likely you know i am an atheist. i was raised lutheran until the age of 14 or so when i went to TheMom and said i didn't believe in god. it didn't make sense. math and science explained a lot more than church did for me, and even though there's a lot that science couldn't explain, that set grew smaller every day, something that doesn't happen with religion. TheMom was heartbroken, thinking she raised me wrong, but i assured it had absolutely nothing to do with that. it had to do with my free will and the thinking/analytical mind i was born with. as i got older, she came out as an agnostic. i hope this wasn't from my doing as i'm not much for proselytizing... as long as no one gets hurt, i think everyone has the right to believe what they want. i believe she was agnostic far earlier in her life, but that just wasn't accepted so she fell in line with what she was supposed to do culturally. i don't blame her for this. it is certainly a safer environment now to walk away from religion, at least in the western world.

i've lived in the hindu culture which i am quite fond of in their acceptance of other religions. sadly, those other religions were massive missionary expeditions which i thoroughly despise. i personally witnessed the bringing of clothes, money, food, and classrooms to the young. the parents were hindu and the children converted to mormonism via the missionary church that was set up. i asked the parents how they felt about their children leaving the religion they themselves were brought up in, and they said as long as their children were happy, the parents were happy. i half believed this. hinduism does seem to be a happy, peaceful religion trying to better oneself. on the other hand, they wanted their children to be happy and children are simple creatures. a new pair of shoes, a crisp clean white shirt and new tie all their own, a snack after the service that the parents couldn't afford. the children would be happier, but could it be said their happiness was bought? still, the hindus i met weren't angry about it, they were just trying to give their children a better purchase on a properous life by selling out their religious beliefs.

as for christianity, i've been reading the bible off and on for years as an education tool, a piece of literature. while i was in egypt, i read the qu'ran during ramadan as is typical of most muslims. i read this, too, as an educational tool. many of the muslims i worked with were excited that i was converting. when i explained that i was reading it to educate myself on the culture and the people, i ran in to quite a few who asked me stop reading it because that was not the purpose of the book. that's not to say they are any worse than some christians i've told about reading the bible keeping in mind a high degree of "suspension of disbelief". there are always going to be moderates and fundamentalists in every religion. i fear the fundamentalists in all of them. the same bible-thumping christians who tout their 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms are usually the ones who claim this is a christian nation, forgetting that the 1st amendment, aside from protecting freedom of speech, also explicitly prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion. we are NOT a christian nation, we are a nation of many, believers and non-believers, and a diverse spectrum in between.

i believe over the course of civilized man, religion on the whole has done more harm than good, but on a personal level, i'm sure it's helped it fair share. for fun, why don't you go here and take the abridged test. i was hoping for a score of 100%, but i missed one. :-(

it's good to have time to be back.

NYC trafficking

wow, it's been a while. i've loads of excuses. work has been long hours, more than likely you've heard about TheMom passing, i'm lazy, etc. any of those fit, but now i've slid into a slower paced assignment, and i should have a bit more time to update you diligent readers who keep visiting.

so we'll start with a rant. i'm currently located in the seemingly atrophied town of schenectady. i arrived late coming in from a conference in atlanta, so i lucked out into getting a pretty pimp lincoln navigator because it was the only one left with the GPS i requested. i don't think i've ever ridden in a more tech car. trying to remember it all, it has:

• automatic water sensing wipers
• moon/sun roof
• automatic open/close rear hatch
• sirius satellite radio
• automatic raising and lowering stepboards
• memorized seat and steering wheel location
• front and rear proximity sensors
• rear-view camera integrated into the rear-view mirror
• automatic layflat rear seats
• full middle row climate controls
• heated/ACd front seats
• microsoft sync (bluetooth mobile phone connection through the audio system)
• multi-colored footlevel and cupholder lighting (yeah, what?!)
• and of course, the GPS i requested

damn gina. anyways, NY drivers just piss me off, i don't get it. why? i figured, OK, NYC, you always have traffic and you're on your last nerve anyways at all times, but i'm in a sleepy little town. there's no need to be like that. por ejemplo, well, just look at the picture first.



i was being mr. polite ohio driver, waiting patiently in the suicide lane for the 2nd light to go green so i could move forward and carry on my way turning left. as i'm sitting there, i see a car in my massive rear-view mirror come up on my right, and immediately, i knew they were going to be a cock. it didn't take them 3 seconds to confirm that suspicion as he buzzed across the front of me, thus blocking traffic. why? WHY?! i don't get this mindset. you aren't going to get to where you were going any faster now that you are 10 feet ahead of me, AND you are now blocking traffic. i wish non-maiming-but-very-expensive car crashes on these people to teach them a lesson. being a polite driver in NY just doesn't pay.

ANOTHER thing i dislike about this place, maybe not necessarily NY, is the EZ-Pass system. It's a brilliant idea in theory, but the highways aren't built for it. the EZP system was an afterthought on an antiquated tollroad system. the problem is, now if you have EZP, you don't have to stop for get a ticket or to pay your toll... you slow down to anywhere between 10-20 mph, the sensor picks up ur debit, and you take off, but the runways to the various highway offshoots immediately behind the tollgate aren't long enough for several lanes of traffic to merge and cross when 1 or 2 lanes didn't have to slow down in the first place. i'd call it organized chaos, but that would be too kind. it's vehicular warfare with a side of NASCAR pit road strategy. i recall a smart man once saying, "there are no atheists just downstream of a NY tollgate", and i can see why.

another downside to the EZP system is the lemming mentality of it. there are lanes that are specifically for EZP, but EZP can still be used at any cash lane, no matter. i've seen several occasions where apparently the EZP lane has mesmerized the owners into thinking they should stay in a 1/2 mile long line while the cash toll payers (and a few like me who know i can use EZP in the cash lanes) breeze on by, leaving those EZP zombies in my dust. it's a nearly complete reversal of the whole point of the EZP system.

and, abruptly,that is my return to NT. more to come, still lots of pictures from vacations i took last year. thanks for sticking around, and i'll be back soon. i'll SEE if i can get a PTVR up, but i don't want to pull a blogging muscle. friday will be a surprise.

this guy is a cock

i'm sorry for the lack of updates. what with vacation, TheMom going into and out of the hospital, and the holidays, i've gotten quite busy (and a bit lazy). i will be posting to PTVR this week as well. i was going to add this guy (and still might), but i wanted you to see it first.

this guy claims to be pretty much the strongest man in the world bless by allah. i say claims because he's "afraid" of doing any displays because people might get hurt. he can't work because his fellow workers might feel inadequate. this guy knows some people who've pulled some strings to show him off as some sort of miracle of islam, when, it's quite more likely he's a fat slob on the egyptian version of jerry springer. i'm guessing egyptians have never seen fake coins. until he can prove his strength, i say he's a dickhead further weakening the true meaning of islam for his own publicity.

in jordan

well, i've been in jordan for 4 days now. i decided to come to aqaba without doing much research, and that's my bad. it's good for divers, and i was contemplating getting certified, but that went away after i came to my senses. aqaba is pretty small, and i've walked most of it. i have booked a tour to go to wadi rum tomorrow afternoon. i'm taking a four hours 4WD tour, then they are dropping me off at a bedouin camp in the desert overnight. the next morning, i'm getting picked up again, and we are going directly to petra where i'll walk around solo seeing what i want to see and when i want to see it. when i've got my fill, the driver will bring me back to aqaba. i think this will be the longest i've been off-the-grid in a decade. no internet, no blogs, NO LAPTOP! i'm taking a phone, but only in case of emergency. what is wrong with me?! anyways, thursday will be a day of relaxing, repacking, and organizing everything to increase the chances of me making my tight connection in germany on my way to spain. there, i'll visit TheSwedishChefDave for a few days, then possibly on to barcelona over thanksgiving to see another buddy i worked with in italy, then ON IN to B-Town. i'll keep you updated.

R&R alpha - (day 10) - staying in manhattan

wow, it's been a long time, but i REALLY gotta try to get this done before the anniversary. for a recap, check out the previous posts (they were funny, it'll be worth it). the beginning, pfand, drucken, PROST!, fünf, checkpoint charlie, and yalla bina. there, now that you're all caught up, off we go again. keep in mind, all pix are clickable for more detail.


so, it's now 9-October, and we arrive in prague at the main train station around 8:30AM. TheWayne and i had tried to look up some hostels in berlin before we left but met with very little success. we disembarked the train, basically wandering for an exit when a middle-aged, slim lady came up to us handing us two business cards with her name (TheMila) and the name of the hostel she was representing, "manhattan" (on charvatova street, in the middle). she said it was very nearby, TheWayne and i exchanged glances of hesitant agreement, while i thought "hmmm, isn't this how that movie 'hostel' started... we're fucked!". TheMila told us is was very nearby, she gave us a brief overview of the city layout, where to go, etc. i assumed she was a retired hooker because, i mean, come on, prague has a decent redlight district, she was attractive for her age, and she knew hostels. before we knew it, we were being buzzed into "manhattan" and taken to the main office where we met TheMikhail. TheMila made some casual conversation with TheMikhail and left without asking for a tip. i was completely taken aback at this. nowhere in my 8 years of international traveling have i received a service without even a hint of lingering in expectation of a tip. she was cool. TheMikhail was a bit of a hippie with long graying hair and a black punk T-shirt that had "fuck" on it in some form. his english was good, we got a room for 3 days, but didn't have enough cash right off, so we gave a deposit and our passports telling him we'd be back with the cash later and made our way to the room. we were both pretty spent so we crashed for a few hours, then were up to steal some internet (that's a boy, TheWayne), hang some wet clothes, and find a laundromat.

we got our laundry done, got spiffy for the fine czech ladies, and went out for dinner. we found a place called TheTrilobite. we had a hot waitress named ThePetra, and there were lots of hot chicks there. i completely forget what the food was like, but i highly recommend it. we tried to get into a place called TheLucerne but all the tables were reserved despite there being MAYBE 10 people in the place! we wandered about because thatis what TheWayne is good at. we accidentally stumbled into the redlight district where guys are outside handing out cards to "their" club... "no committment, just take a look, best girls in town", etc. two guys were REALLY vying hard for us, one guy was trying to hand us a card, while another guy from across the street came up, all chummy, "don't mess with these two, i talked to them earlier, they're coming back to me" despite us never having been there. it was comical. we continued on until we found a bar called Rocky O'Reilly's. there we tied on drinkbag. 2x2 jameson's, stellas, patron tequilas, jägerbombs, and that's where i kept keeping track. i was on a mission. i also vaguely recall hot waitresses, irish girls, possibly on a hen-night, at the table next to us, and then we stumbled home around 1AM.

day 10... we got up around 10 and started out touring of the old town. my feet had blisters upon blisters from the dresden walk. TheWayne went out and found some sort of cream to try to help. i slathered, wrapped my foot with gauze, and prayed for the best. we grabbed lunch at Pivnice Beograd (pussy food? REALLY?!) and had beers. as is usual when i'm on vacation, i rarely have a plan besides taking in the local libations (i should co-host "3 sheets"). if TheWayne asked what we should do next, my ideas ranged from sitting down and having a Pivnice and think about it to sitting down and having Pilsner Urquell and think about it. from there we made our way to the national museum, but after seeing the price for entry, we decided that pictures from the outside were more than enough. the trains in prague are on the honor system as they were in germany. Our next stop was to be the Charles Bridge, so we hopped on the train at the museum and were immediately followed by a shady looking guy in a black jacket who asked to see our tickets. FUCK!!! we stepped off the train, TheWayne asked to see official ID, i tried the "i thought i gave you the tickets" routine, which failed miserably. After hearing about the fine of 700 Czech Crowns (~$40) EACH, TheWayne explained that we'd just go get a ticket now, but that was out of the question, we were nailed, so we forked over the money, and got a receipt which covered us to our next stop. TheWayne was fuming the whole time. i wasn't happy about shelling out the money, but we HAD been lucky up until that time. i was able to see the humor in the situation. the Charles Bridge is pretty cool, lots of caricaturists, painters, local-made crafts. there are some awesome sculptures on the bridge itself (some photos at the end). we made our way to the prague castle (again, more pictures at the end), despite it being a major uphill battle (for big ol' me and my broken feet), but we made it. the view from the castle was pretty impressive as well, looking down on all the red tile roofed houses and off into the misty (possibly smoggy) distance. after the castle, we stopped for a beer, and i decided to have a slivovice.

<ASIDE>the first time i ever had a shot of slivovice was at TheJRod'sWife's grandparents house. i believe it was easter, and i wasn't going home for the holiday, so she was kind enough to invite me to her family's house. her grandfather is a cool dude, really nice to this complete stranger, and funny. after dinner, he brought out some homemade slivovice. being the nice guy he was, he offered me some, though i hadn't noticed the family kind of gathering around. i took the shot and, GOOGLY MOOGLY, i thought i'd burned a hole in my esophagus. it was... an experience to say the least. everyone got a good laugh out of it... 'twas a good time.</ASIDE>

anyways, i figured i was in a country that served proper slivovice, so i'd try it, and again, i wasn't disappointed. TheWayne got a chuckle out of it as well since my face turned several difference shades of red. once my eyes straightened out, we agreed it was time to head back to the hostel to clean up for the evening.

i showered then TheWayne spent like 3 hours shaving his head. around midnight, he was cleaned and smoothed, and i was in agony, my foot was fucked, so i told him to go on without me. i crashed, he went out. i forget when he made it back, but he said it was lame (i know he meant because i wasn't there, hah). next time, you'll find me passed out on the bathroom floor... and, for once, it wasn't my fault!

cool cross embedded in the brick sidewalk at the national museum

TheWayne throwin' his game outside the municipal building

the (sadly) non-functioning astronomic clock in the "old town"

how i saw TheWayne throughout most of the trip.

a close-up of the hanging man sculpture from paragraph 2.

me trying to counteract TheWayne's hostility toward our train fines.

INNNNNNNDOCTRINATION!

One Indian, One Normal - Watch more Funny Videos

i don't think these girls are smart enough to be acting. i fear they are this ignorant and, thus, dangerous. this is like brain-washing fundamentalism and general lack of education. is india in africa? why aren't your eyes slanted?

you wanna do WHAT to WHOM?!

i rarely find something this strange and/or funny and have my camera at the same time. this was one of those few days (though if i didn't have it, i could've walked to my room to get it). this is a sign in the outdoor mall downstairs from my hotel. there is a "defile" outlet store in the the mall, which i thought was strange in itself. there's also a "subway" jeans store, so called, because they rented the space that was formerly a "subway" sandwich store, and the previous owners didn't take the "subway" sign with them.

anyways, when i walked by this sign, i took a delayed double-take, then went back, verified i was reading and seeing what i was reading and seeing, then i took the picture. there are other "defile" adverts in the mall with little girls on them, but none of them have the girls' clothes coming off of them.

i gotta get out of this country!!!

quickly... some cool stuff

i'm crazy sunburnt from my afternoon sailing trip yesterday. good stories to be told, but that'll be in a day or two. until then, i ran across these and thought they were pretty cool.

i SOOOO want this zombie shirt. fantastic marketing!

and this link talks about a renewable energy concept that would totally rock to see implemented. it's based on bikes being used to charge batteries which then charge electric buses. people ride bikes in europe all the time, we should start doing that in the US.

another bad haircut

maybe this is why i didn't cut my hair for 15 years. bad barbers. here is me with my latest haircut and my "stern" look. i've never had to deal with it until now, but a lot of the guys i work with have to go out and find a barber on the road that can do a decent job. you can't just pop down to zeke's and have him give you the same haircut he's given you since you were 10. probably the hardest part is that, here, they don't speak english. so i asked my driver how do you say "half" because i wanted my hair half as short as it was, he told me "nos". easy enough. i go in, say hi, ask "nos?" while pulling my hair to it's length, and he nods "yes". another bad thing is that, barbers here only know one hairstyle. i'd say 99% of egyptians have curly hair like me, but almost all of them comb it straight back. they don't embrace the curl. so the barber starts by combing my hair straight back though i came in with a truly wind-swept curly-do. he parts it to the right and cuts some, he parts it to the left and cuts some, he give me a back-to-front comb over and cuts some, and i'm realizing my hair is getting a bit shorter than i wanted. i told him to stop before it got too short, so he finished up, then combed my hair STRAIGHT back, and told me he was finished. i can't figure out why when i came in with with wild curly hair that he sent me out looking like a greaser from the 60's.

i seriously think this is one of the worst haircuts i've gotten from a sober person. i mean, when i was like in 6th grade or something, TheDad decided to try to cut my hair drunk, and needless to say, it didn't turn out well. it was dubbed "the MIRL cut". it was similar to this one but more exaggerated, in that, one side was several inches longer than the other. i was also lucky enough to be left with several bald spots from inebriated slips of the clippers.

luckily i have curly hair so no one can really tell, but this is a SHITTY cut job!!! and this is my disgustipated face ("tool" reference)

in other news, i'm up to 2 kings in the bible, and there is some crazy/funny shite going on in there. i think my next post will be the fourth installment of "biblical observations". i also did my third hash yesterday but wasn't named (poor me) the normal RA was away for a few days in ethiopia, so here's to hoping for next week.

scotland R&R - edinburgh (mostly in pictures)

april 10th, i landed in edinburgh airport for a much needed 12-day vacation. i was extremely lucky in that i had several friends who were able to meet me there as well. TheEJ was able to come over for a few days, TheJay made it for the weekend, probably the smartest female i know, friend-from college, and former roommate, TheJulie came over the visit her husband, TheBill, while he's working at the university there. it was definitely a motley crew, but it turned out to be an absolute blast as expected.

i got to edinburgh late morning, and TheEJ made it there towards the late afternoon. by the time she'd arrived i'd walked a good part of the area around the hotel near the bruntsfield fields, down through the old town near the castle, and on to princes street in the new town. she'd already been to edinburgh when she was abroad in college, so she wasn't as in awe as i was about the tall and pretty cool spires and cathedrals (that's not to say she wasn't awed, just maybe a bit less so than my first experience with them). while in scotland, i, of course, had to try haggis. for some reason, i had a picture in my head that haggis was this slimy grayish organ filled with animal leftovers that every one the world except for scots thought was nasty. it turns out, haggis is fan-FUKKING-tastic. really, i need to find a hookup in america when i get back. it's not at all what i thought it was. it turns out that it's served more like hamburger. it's ground up and served loose like that or made into meatballs, in stirling, TheJulie, TheBill and i even had haggis lasagna. i find haggis to taste like ground beef with a very black-peppery seasoning to it. i think everyone should try it once, though SOME have told me they find it to have an unpleasant aftertaste, i didn't find this to be the case.

in short, edinburgh was a nice town. the weather was good, a bit brisk. i found a few pubs that were quite nice. my usual was suggesting that we ruminate at a pub while we figured out where to go next. for some reason, i don't seem to have any pictures of edinburgh castle. i'm wondering if i didn't have my camera that day. i'm sure TheJay, TheJulie, TheBill or TheEJ have some i could steal at a later date. TheEJ and i went to a cool place called camera obscura. it was kinda like smaller version of COSI with a big camera obscura on top (those camera obscuras are different links). one night, TheEJ and i ran into an old irish friend of hers and his brother after a celtic (soccer) loss. that was an experience. her friend's brother introduced himself to me on the order of maybr 15 times (no exaggeration, and funnily enough, it turned out to be such a joke that i can't recall his name now). he was plastered having been drinking all day to drown his sorrows over the loss. TheEJ goaded him into wearing his celtic scarf on the outside of his jacket and not to be a fair-weather fan. then his friends came in and ragged on him for still showing his colors. i think i ended up drinking ciders and then jack daniels? it was all very confusing. TheEJ found a pizza place that was open on the way home so we popped in there for some greasy nosh. we got two pizzas but only ate the equivalent of one. i took the remaining frankenstein pizza back to the hotel where it resided on the TV the entire week for whenever i needed a snack. TheEJ was a bit put off that i'd eat week-old, unrefrigerated pizza. it's cute how she worries. hah.

during the trip, we walked a lot, saw some sites, walked some closes (narrow alleyways), toured some catacombs that were not as authentic as we'd hoped, and had a generally good time. here are some highlights from edinburgh, and i'll be one with stirling here soon (and finishing oktoberfest, i'm such a slacker). but you can see, my posting has increased in frequency, so i think i'm back on the horse, and should be caught up soon. here are ALL the edinburgh pix.

the foggy view from calton hill

TheJay and TheJulie taking in the national monument (also known as "edinburgh's disgrace"). modeled after the parthenon in rome, the monument was never completed due to either lack of funding or interest.

a photo of TheJulie taking a photo of the national monument

the scott monument named after sir walter scott, also has been informally described as the "gothic rocket ship".

the scott monument, also called "auld reekie" (old smokie) due to the it's color. the shale rock that it is made of leaks a sort of oil that the air pollution clings to making it look perpetually dirty.

sir walter scott of the scott monument fame.

TheEJ at old calton cemetary

a typical scottish close (narrow walking alleyway)

storage space TheEJ and i saw during the catacombs tour

spooky fog creeping across TheMeadows (which is strangely a public park with a free golf course superimposed on it)

directions for a chewable toothbrush

said chewable toothbrush (to clean my teeth after fried haggis meatballs). mmmmm....

the north side of edinburgh castle from castle street

the national church of scotland, the kirk

the stained glass of st. giles cathedral

haggis, neeps (mashed carrots), and tatties (mashed potatoes) at the tolbooth pub. i like haggis and then "neeps and tatties" sounds like "nips and titties". it's like the best meal EVER!

i can't seem to find any pix of rosslyn chapel. does anyone who was there with me have pix from there and edinburgh castle? i could've sworn i took loads, but they seem to be gone. you can send them or drop.io them, or however you wish to get them to me, i'd appreciate it. more later.

my EGYPT accident

today on the way home, we were involved in an accident. it's the worst so far that i've been in, but that's still a far cry from the carnage you can see on the egyptian highways. we all had our seat belts on, and TheDriver did the very best he could to avoid an accident that wasn't his fault. i'm proud of him, we're still alive with no injuries.

we were on a feeder road onto the alex-cairo agricultural road which we take all the way to alex. as you can see from the pix at the bottom, we were heading WNW on the feeder; whereas, this truck made it's own road from the highway offramp that loops east. he tried to get across our feeder to the gas station before we got to him. it didn't happen. TheDriver got as far to the right of our lane as possible to avoid him and started on the brakes. sadly, since this is in the desert, sand collects at the edge of the road, so though he was turning right (towards the gas station lot), his tires were nevertheless sliding forward. since he was on the brakes, our momentum threw the front end down so we basically slid under the side of the truck. we stopped in the lot ready to talk to TheTruckDriver until he bolted. well, TheDriver would have none of that. he threw it back into driver and bolted after him, even as the bumper and other hood underparts were grinding away at the tire. we caught him after 1/4 mile and forced him to the shoulder. THEN TheDriver, ThePartsGuy, and TheTeaBoy all bolt out of the car dragging TheTruckDriver out of his truck!! TheTeaBoy had procured a ball-peen hammer from somewhere and was threatening TheTruckDriver with it (i think this is actually common in egyptian accidents, i've seen bats and pipes pulled out on at least two other occasions). they yelled for a bit, we made some calls, some other drivers came out to bring the cops, and i was sent home while TheDriver had to go to the police station to file the report. i offered to go to ensure that he wasn't in trouble, because it was 0% his fault, but the cop (through a driver translating) told me he knows the problem, and i wouldn't be needed.

so, here's the damage...

the damage we received from the right (TheDriver's side)

the damage we received from the left (my side)

the damage WE inflicted... a bent bolt for securing the load and a bent sheet-metal mudflap.

that's a truck full of LNG (liquified natural gas ~ propane) tanks we ran into

how our accident happened... click the pic to read it a bit better

btw, there is a new poll up. whatcha think of my style?!

when is terrorism not, AND when it's your time, it's your time?

two articles i've come across lately that have piqued my interest enough to get me to read them. the first, here, has to do with how americans label terrorism. it is a sad and blatantly racist judgment made by the american people. in short, when is terrorism not? when it's done by a white christian, that's when, or at least, that can be strongly inferred when comparing the two recent cases in this article. please give it a read and let me know what you think.

and here is just a a strange coincidence straight out of "final destination". it's sad that after having missed a huge catastrophe, she probably felt like she got a new lease on life, only to find out each day has it's own dangers.

i'm no longer cultural ambassador to egypt

like i ever really was, but still, i think i cemented that several nights ago. TheMech came back to site to help with a small outage we had to do before we could make any more progress on the second unit. since TheSiteManager wasn't sure when i was coming back from R&R, he booked TheMech to come back and assist. i arrived early than TheSiteManager had expected, and thus, while TheMech was booked and ready for his flight, i'd completed the outage. not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, TheMech came to site anyways to see how things were going.

friday night, we did our normal KFC run. i tried to seriously order the entire menu since i'm so bad with decisions (they wouldn't let me), i arm wrestled the manager for $20 (and lost... i've handily lost to him before, so i'm not sure why i wanted a rematch). TheMech, being a former boxer, tried to win the $20 back by daring the manager to pop him in the jaw. so we left. the manager gave me my $20 back and i gave it to the taxi driver (for what is normally a $3-$4 fare).

saturday night, we went to the portuguese club to watch manchester united play tottingham. the taxi dropped us off on the corner, and as we were walking to the bar, i noted a beautiful-eyed muslim girl walking our way (dressed in the niqab like in the picture), and i said TheMech (apparently too loud), "dude, look... a ninja!". by the time i realized she was talking to me, i turned around and she was storming up to me, and all i heard was "...assholes, go back to wherever you came from!". i wasn't trying to be patently offensive, i actually thought i was being witty, but it wasn't taken that way. i apologized as she stormed off, though i don't think she heard me. i mean, if i was in a society of ninjas and i saw one looking rather niqab-y, i think i would've done the similar thing by pointing out the niqab-wearer; only if the ninja took offense, he's just deftly launch his arsenal of shurikens at me, pinning me to the wall, nun chuck the shit out of me, then throw a smoke bomb and disappear. i'd rather taken the verbal tongue-lashing. but i mean, seriously, look at that picture... that IS very ninja-esque. do a google image search for 'niqab', and that's the second one down. she looked almost exactly like that.

sunday, TheMech and i met for breakfast and over a brief conversation decided that we weren't really needed onsite, so we played hookie. we changed out of our work clothes into more golf-appropriate attire, er... at least as best we could. i wore an lube oil stained polo shirt (it was a work accident), brown AE cargo shorts, and white adidas tennis shoes. TheMech wasn't so fortunate, having only packed an overnight bag and not expecting to go golfing. he wore his pink ralph lauren chaps button down (he pulls it off well), tan swimming trunks he'd bought the day before, black socks, and brown leather loafers. we were on guard for the fashion police all day. we got the sporting club and through arduous pseudo-translation and broken egyptian that was finally confirmed by a passing female guest, we determined that security was telling us that the tournament finished yesterday. HAH!!! he thought we looked like we were in a golf tourney. after we cleared that up, we learned that all we had to do was pay an entrance fee. we paid, got our clubs, and we lucky enough to get our favorite regular caddies, TheHassan and TheMohamed. my driving game was on fire. TheHassan gave me some tips on straightening my leading arm which helped, but my irons were so-so, and my putting was way too strong. TheMech had some pretty bad drives but some really awesome recoveries despite being in the bunker most of the day. it was a fun outing if not a sub-100 shot outing. afterward, we had TheDriver take us to the pompey's pillar. after that, we went to the catacombs of kom es-shogafa. this was a really cool visit, as you can go down through the first three levels and almost get lost in the maze of off-shooting galleries. the bottom-most level is roped off since it actually lies below the water table. actually, some of the lower tombs on the third level even had water in them. after the catacombs, TheMech and i went to the pool to catch some rays. we both ended up getting a bit red.

TheMech and i tried to arrange a final dinner with TheSiteLead and TheSiteManager, but that fell through. TheSiteLead has since moved to cairo because 1) he'll be leaving site soon, and 2) there is more to do down there... maybe i should move too. TheSiteManager was onsite very late trying to get the electrical to fix some of their problems that could have significantly hurt the schedule. we then called TheYoungMechTA to see if he wanted to go, we tried a new restaurant he suggested which was OK, but nothing to write home about (i guess kinda though, i am). the atmosphere was nice, but the food was only 50/50. he then drove us all around to find a drink but the bars/discos don't really open until 11:30PM or so, and it was only 10:30PM so we had him take us back to the hotel. we popped into the bar for a going away drink. TheCoolBartender made us some gin and tonics, then halfway through the second one, he poured three nasty-ass concoctions. a shot of smirnoff black with a splash of grenadine and a splash of hot sauce. he said it was very popular among the russian ladies where he used to work in hurghada, and that it would make us appreciate our G&Ts all the more. boy was he right. that was a FOUL drink. we drunk dialed my mom twice, once so she could talk to TheMech, and then after that call, TheCoolBartender asked who that was, and when i told him he said he'd've like to have talked to her, so we called back. TheMech thanked him for being such an entertaining bartender and tipped him. TheCoolBartender insisted that for him to take the tip, we had to have a drink with him... so we did a tequila shot. maybe he's not such TheCoolBartender anymore.

so that is the end of my weekend, and that is why i'm no longer cultural attache in egypt.

R&R alpha - berlin/dresden (day 8/9) - yalla bina

it's now the 8th of october. we've fairly unpickled ourselves from oktoberfest. TheTav had to shoot off home (he had facebook dates to keep), and for some security reason that i'm sure he made up, he couldn't go to prague (our next stop), with us because he hadn't told him mommy, i mean, his company first (if you're reading this TheTav, i'm just fukking with ya). man, there were a lot of parentheses used there. anyways, TheWayne and i did a secondary tour around berlin on our way to the main train station to get tickets for prague. we stopped at kaiser wilhelm church which was strangely found hidden amongst modern buildings in the downtown area. it was one of the most gaudy looking churches i've ever seen in my life and for some reason, i can't find photos of it. i KNOW i took some, maybe they were so horrid, they deleted themselves. lots of gold and brass and blood-red velvet; silver horns and angels floating around the must-and-dust filled air. we got our tickets, and moved on to the reichstag which is the building that houses the german parliament known as the bundestag, not to be confused with the german football (soccer) league, bundesliga. this was a convenient location as it was just about a half mile from the hauptbahnhof station (which i just found out is the largest crossing station in europe, fancy!). we wanted to see the dome which is open to the public, but it turns out that it was closed due to maintenance, so we just hung out on in front of the building watching all the italian high-school kids flirt with each other and bound around on their big german field-trip.

we moved on to check point charlie again just in case we missed anything. it was pretty much the same as it has been since they tore down the wall in '89. we found the last kremlin flag hanging on the exterior of a building which we found pretty impressive until we read that it was a REPLICA of the last kremlin flag. now how the hell does that work? anyways, after seeing that not much had changed since the day before, we moved on to oranienbergerstraße (oranienberger street). berlin has oranienstraße and oranienbergerstraße. i think the night before we were looking for one and found the other. after much walking because TheWayne loves to walk (damn triathlete and fitness), we stopped at a mexican cantina and had a few beers with dinner. after that, we hopped over the bar next door which had shisha, a common egyptian pastime that TheWayne had never tried. after the shisha, TheWayne and i caught the train back to the hotel where we picked up our bags and headed out to catch the DB train at the hauptbahnhof station on our way to prague. while waiting for the train we bought a few beers and some sushi for the ride. we also tried to buy some cards to have something to do on the trip, but they were all in german and in plastic. we bought what we thought was a poker deck, but it turned out to be a pinochle deck. that was no use to us, so we without entertainment besides ourselves on our way to prague. here i've posted a picture of a peculiar bike. it seems germany has "call-a-bike"s. from what i can tell, you can call the number, give them a credit card number and the number on the bike, and they remotely unlock the bike for you to use. i'm guessing once you lock it up again (at another DB bike station which are located around the city), they charge you for the time and deduct a deposit on the bike. nifty!

oh yeah, we had like a 6-hour layover in dresden, germany, i believe from like 11:30PM to 5:30AM. that's why this post is called "yalla bina" which is arabic for "let's go!". i taught this to TheWayne early on in the trip, and he took to it well. if we were heading out to go somewhere, one of the other of us was more than likely to say it. this late evening/early morning would end up me hating having taught him this word. not in that he overly used it, but that's all i could think of as my aching feet followed TheWayne around dresden in the death of night. we locked our bags in one of the train lockers and set off around 11:30PM. i kinda figured we'd just sleep that 6 hours, but TheWayne had other plans. he wanted to walk around and see dresden by night. we walked (oh yes, this word WILL be used quite frequently in this section) around for a while until we stumbled upon a bar we found open called capetown's (sorry the link is all german). it was in a little square with a few other bars around, but there seemed to be more people here. we stepped in, and the waitstaff all wore white shirts and ties and had these cool portable scanners that at the time i thought were really neat, but i can't think what they were used for now (this is where TheWayne comes in in the comments). i had my first diesel (half lager, half cider, and a bit of black currant cordial). maybe TheWayne and The Tav built it up a bit too much as i wasn't as impressed with it as i'd hoped to be, but it WAS alcohol and it WAS in front of me. i think they were closing not too long after we'd arrived so we didn't stay there long. we walked some more, and then walked a little more and then came upon another bar still open called ayer's rock (this link brought to you in english). here we sat outside, drank, and waxed philosophical. we got into deep conversations about love, betrayal, suicide, and more. the bathroom was inside which by this time we were visiting frequently (yet separately) due to libation overload. just outside the bathroom, there was one of those tourist boxes with dozens of advertising slips for this boat ride or that bike tour or the other museum. at that time in the night, drunk, tired, sore feet, i thought it would be HILARIOUS to collect all of them and give them to TheWayne on the train, so i stacked them all up and put them in my back pocket. around 3AM, that bar closed and we were off to... you guessed it, walk some more. now NOTHING was open. nothing around but just streetlights and two americans wandering aimlessly around a formerly fire-bombed city. we were walking down to towards the river when we saw these strange blue cubes seeming to float on the hillside. we walked up to them to find they were only blue-lit lucite planted on the hill. we couldn't find an actual use or memorial plaque explaining their meaning. we then walked across the elbe river where TheWayne had a fleeting thought of jumping into it for shites and giggles. we walked along the river and were JUST about to board a luxury boat that was docked when a taxi came along the river road and dropped off it's fare just there. what are the odds?! by this time, i'm hobbling and exhausted, and the time is coming up so we decide to walk back to the train station. we got there about 45 minutes before our train arrived, so we each grabbed a bench in the station and took a nap. i dozed off and on watching the cinnabon lady open her stand as the station got progressively busier. 45 minutes later and we were on the train to prague, only about 2 hours away by train. we tried to catch a bit of sleep. i had a hard time getting comfortable as something was pinching me in the back. i pulled out the stack of adverts i'd taken from ayer's rock, showed them to TheWayne and explained my devious plan. it wasn't so funny at this time in the morning...

btw, new poll on the left.

me waiting at the hauptbahnhof station for our trip to prague via dresden.

TheWayne doing his best myspace pose, and me with my wasabi peas.