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 »

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 »
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 »
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 »
life death and family
My uncle died last friday...it wasn't unexpected, 3rd bout with cancer, but it hurt none the less. I've been out of the country for about 16 years so the fact that I am stateside means I needed to go. Go »
retirement
I should spend more time working on things like this during my time off. I find I am playing more though. These were shot over memorial day weekend, Muji and I went to the beach Go »