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 »

Life and complexity

After last semester's overdose in writing I have been enjoying not having to write at all this semester. Well that and most of my school time is spent in an Art studio....it is mentally challenging, for the first time in years I'm drawing...it's Go »

High temperature art

Well today was Bronze day......we poured liquid metal.....I made a belt buckle and a pendant for my wife very fun and just a bit scary...I'm 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 »

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 »

thursdays are my life

at least for the next 6 weeks I get to visit the doc every Thursday...today was awesome the PA at my Orthopedist is a genius at casting..the cast/splint I received at the hospital was comfortable for all of two days and then after the swelling dropped it was all angles and uncomfortable...getting Go »

vacation and such

well my father, brother and I set out last thursday for Ithaca NY, my father and I on our motorcycles and my brother in his LandCruiser pulling a trailer/tent. The goal was to get from Rhode Island to Ithaca for a family reunion and back by using only back roads. We succeeded and we plenty of adventures to boot...my Go »