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 »

I call him Sushi........

My wife and I have a thing for Amberjack......this is my final sculpture (required anyway) for the semester I shot these before I finished welding the rest of the chain on (5-6 hours today) right now he's covered in salt getting rained on in hope of promoting a patina which I can clear coat. The plan is to add numbers and hang him on the front porch in place of the numbers now there...I'll Go »

My Suitcase

OK my trip around the Mediterranean sea was pleasant enough, Cyprus would be a great place to visit anytime not in the winter. Less than 20% of the city of Limasol was open, which made doing anything including eating an adventure. Lots of ruins, did anyone know that Cyprus is/was the birthplace of Aphrodite, I didn't. Go »

down 40

I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 195....I have run out of holes on my belt and none of my shorts fit... for the most part this is because I ride this bike 5-6 days a week and I'm eating healthy. Go »

Over Programed

True to my nature I only ever seem to be happy when I have too much on my plate...I'm reading 2 books and working on an online Photoshop CS3 class (I really want my Adobe Certified Expert before I retire). However the biggest impact on my life has been my wife and I starting P90X...we Go »

holiday ruined

My Greek Holiday has been ruined...by an Italian holiday instead. I'm going to Sardinia today instead of Crete on Friday...walked Go »

Art........

OK so since the summer my creative obsession has been growing. It started in my drawing 2 class with a professor who would turn out to be the man who has completely changed how I both look at and create art, Ben Anderson is an interesting man The first serious piece of the semester was Morf, a Gargoyle I created using mostly found metal from a local bike shop (I have taken to visiting on a weekly basis to acquire additional materials....Morf was the first time I have had a piece of art that I am woking to create completely dominate my thoughts. Go »