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 »

sure ain't kansas

well I've had my MAC for almost a month now and I'm pretty much converted I received my Education edition of Photoshop last week and it didn't take me a day to realized that CS3 is drastically different that CS2...Time to start learning again (not that that is a bad thing)...Thankfully it comes with video workshop I'm about half way through it, funny thing It's kindled an enjoyment to learn again...I Go »

I guess healing requires sleep

I am exhausted...10 hours of sleep each night broken only twice for meds and yet I feel the need to sleep all day....I can barely stay awake for 2-3 hours before I fall asleep in my chair. Go »

Music as a muse

since I restarted school music has become a more dominant part of my daily activities. I have used up/worn out a number of pairs of headphones finally inventing in a set of Grado's and a CMoy amp so I can tune out the world while I am in the studio. my taste in music has changed significantly in the last 2 years......while 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 »

Emotionally moving artistically engaging

I just finished watching Rising rebuilding Ground Zero. I started watching it for the construction (I have this thing about architecture) but its the Artistry and emotion thats so engaging. Definitely something to set the DVR to record next Sunday Go »

starwars up close

OK I have what is called closed angles in my eye's which although I have no symptoms is considered a precursor to glaucoma...I've known this for a couple of years and since my maternal grandfather had glaucoma and my father has the same problem with his eyes I've really just been putting off having corrective surgery since I returned from Japan 2 years ago. What this means is that the eye's drains which are behind the iris are not as open as they should be which can lead to increased fluid pressure in the eye and posible damage to the optic nerve, or so they tell me. Go »