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 »
Driving in europe.
OK one of the more enjoyable part of my job is the fact that I get to drive overseas. Part of this is due to the fact that I have had an international diving permit for 7 years now and another part is that I am actually used to driving on the wrong side of the road. (3 years in Japan). Go »problems within problems
I read Daily Beast for mush of my news because I like the tone and because there aren't many conservatives left who don't deal exclusively in hate (Hannity Rush etc) I actually used to consider myself a conservative but I can't reconcile their embrace of ignorance nor their dismissal of a changing word. Anyway Meghan McCain wrote an interesting piece on the old guard's disregard for the internet Go »Last day skateboarding of 2007
OK I admit that a 41 year old man finding a day of enjoyment skateboarding might sound strange but I find it centers me and provides a source of exercise that I can't find else ware. That said I spent the day working on my tuck, downhilling in a nearby neighborhood. I lost count of the number of times I went down the half mile hill my legs are feeling the hike back up (gotta earn those runs) so I'm gonna guess more than 20 times and I know I listened to at least 6 hours of music on my Ipod. Go »more liquid metal
My sculpture Professor decided that the burner we use for melting metal wasn't working out well, since it was designed for a forge and not a furnace he had a furnace burner made.....it used to take hours to melt 20lb of bronze, it took us 40 minutes yesterday. I have never seen the crucible as hot as it was. 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 »
