This blog is to help my wife and I, itinerant expatriates, stay in touch with family and close friends. We're living in the Pearl of the Orient.
In Rome, April 2006
Vanessa on Ko Samet, Thailand, June 2011
In Kabul, Mar. 2011
In Kabul, Mar. 2011
In Dubai, Oct. 2009
"Only those who risk going too far find out how far they can go---Fringe
"There are few problems that cannot be solved with the proper application of high explosives." — U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Motto
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm"---Winston Churchill
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance" --Thomas Jefferson
"Unless I sample life’s dangers I shall never know its mysteries…”---John LeCarre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." — Thomas Jefferson
“The game is rigged. But you cannot lose if you don't play.” –The Wire
“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.” ---Yoda
"It seems to me that when you judge a man's worth, his ability to survive should be no small part of it." JV Jones SoS2
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the October 26th, 2006
Little Chris is a good boy. He’s a good sucker. He can suck Vanessa dry and then suck a whole bottle. He’s got a man-sized appetite, as you can see. He likes to vomit. I have 3 patches of milk-vomit on my blue “Sandy Cohen” bathrobe. Little Chris is also a good pooper, so I hear. I wouldn’t know personally because I’ve never changed him, however, Van says his poop is much more voluminous than a normal baby. He’s half American so he’s a man-sized pooper. Right now Little Chris is still on a womb-time sleeping schedule, ie, he sleeps during the day. I have started sleeping in the spare bedroom for the short-term. I have to teach at 8AM.
On Saturday it’s back to the slave pits (the university) for 2 months and 4 days of honest toil until the Hajj Holiday.
I’m making a megga-order for Amazon. Lots of things can’t be shipped abroad from the States, including clothes for some odd reason. Also shipping is quite expensive. However during the Hajj, Van and LC and I have 3 mules to bring us our Amazon packages. So I’ve spent several hours working on our shopping needs. Van refuses to pick out clothes because she still has maternal weight. Me, I’m getting a new Ralph wardrobe to replace the one that no longer fits. Belts, shorts, pants, shirts… I’ve gotten too fat for most of my wardrobe. Pisses me off. I’ve got a big drawer of clothes that no longer fit. It’s called the “Bong Pile” ie clothes to give to Van’s brother Bong. He’d better appreciate them, they’re almost all Ralph or Banana Republic.
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the October 23rd, 2006
It rained for about 5 minutes which is rather noteworthy in the Arabian desert. Indeed this is only the second time I’ve seen rain here.
Little Chris is 3 days old. He’s a good boy. He tends to suck Van dry. Also he has kept me awake for 2 nights in a row now, and I can see my days of getting a good sleep are finished. This is a pity because sleeping is one of my favorite things. He had his first visitors yesterday, Raj and Nelson, who brought him his first present, a nice little cushion with a mosquito net.
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the October 14th, 2006
OK the Cheetahhhhhhh is now firmly on the ebook bandwagon. It solves a huge problem in my life. There are only about 100 or so titles in ENglish available at Jarir bookstore in Jeddah, and of this pitiful selection, not only have I read most of them, but they’re outrageously expensive.
Now first of all, disregard what I said about ABC and mininova, as my computer has been attacked many times since I reinstalled ABC.
Anyway you don’t need mininova, because there are a gazillion ebooks available free at Project Gutenburg. I got everything by my favorite author, Jane Austen. I also got Tolstoy’s The Cossacks.
When you get Microsoft Reader, you can link to a very good ebook retailer which sells almost any ebook you could want.
Anyway if anybody would like to get the Cheetahhhhhhh the Sony Portable Reader ($350) for his birthday, he’d be immensely pleased.
Anyway…
Van’s pains seem to come every half hour or so, so we haven’t gone to the hospital yet.
