world traveler
by Tony Peters on October 7, 2006
Well I'm finally home after 2 1/2 weeks of wandering the earth...Diego Garcia is the definition of tropical paradise...granted the only things to do are exercise or drink and I'm not a drinker...long walks on the flour soft white beaches in the morning and evening. I found a turtle nest one evening, watched a bunch of sunsets and sunrises, snorkled almost daily in the lagoon and hiked some great jungle trails. An hour or two of work a day just to say that we accomplished something...it truely made up for the week spent in Bahrain which is about the furthest thing from paradise that one can get. I did my best impression of either a mad dog or and Englishman as I walked to a local mall under the noonday sun...I think it was 100degrees (or more) of as they say "dry heat" sorta like hell...I lost 7lbs in 2 hours...not one of my smartest actions that's for sure. I now understand why the locals don't do anything in the middle of the day...night time was a much better time to explore the markets (called souqs)...I bought a bunch of saffron for my whole family (xmas shopping early) and a couple of rugs...Rug shopping is very fun...I had a budget and a particular country of origin (Pakistan) of the rugs I wanted. Pakistani rugs are simpler, bigger patterned, and of lower quality than say Persian/Iranian rugs but of better quality than say Indian...I would love to buy an Iranian rug but they are waaaaaay beyond my budget (like 5-10 times what i want to spend) and in truth too fine a rug for my household (cats and dogs) but handling them while shopping sure is nice. I think I looked at 70-80 rugs narrowing it down to about 6-7 before walking on the rugs to figure out which one I wanted...then came the bargining...a good half hour of bargining from about $400 down to to what I actualtly paid which was $220...it was definatly worth it though and the carpet looks great in our bedroom. I also added to my collecting of prayer rugs. Sadly my trip home all 27 hours of it was not fun at all, topped off by KLM/Northwest losing our luggage (all 11 pieces) someplace between Bahrain and Detroit...Made going through Customs easy though. Oh yes and once I got home I realized that I left my cell phone in the room in Diego Garcia...thankfully they found it but it'll be two weeks before I have it again. Never thought I would be jonesing for my cellphone
vagabond-punk
The musings of Tony Peters, a perpetual child, no matter where I am I will find a way to climb something or go skateboarding Read more »
books and rolling
It always seems that 2-3 books that I have been patiently are all released by the publishers at the same time...such was the case for me with Wrath of a Mad God and the latest Dresden files book Small Favor...unsure which one I wanted to read more I switched from day to day reading one and then the other. Go »Beyond annoying...
well I'm officially retired now, sorta looking for a job but content to work in and around the house for a bit. My one task that I need to accomplish is to complete my VA claim and boy is that annoying....I have my medical record all 5 inches of it and I have to prove each issue that I am claiming and when I first had it treated....this Go »Irene.....what a b!tch
the storm was past people were starting to move around and then I hear what sounds like a gunshot coming from the south east corner of our house......we walk out side and a tree half a block away crashed into the power lines ripping my transmission line off the house along with a a bunch of siding. Joy. Go »awaiting surgery
I went into work yesterday...getting through the security turnstile that has replace the front doors of my building was more effort than I was expecting. The Elevator was not restful and when I finally did get to my office someone stole my heater (my office is so cold in the spring/summer/fall that an electric heater is required or icicles form from your breath (this isn't a joke). Go »post pain pump
spending nearly a day on a Morphine pump was great but, it did little to prepare me for being out of the hospital or for that matter give me any idea just how much pain I was going to be in. Before I left the hospital my wife (who is a Nurse, the Pain Management Nurse at the hospital and I worked out this plan for the meds I was gonna need over this 1st week of my recovery...well that slowly disintegrated yesterday afternoon and by midnight I was in tears while my GSP sat with me licking my face...2 Go »
