Since my wife and I (both BIG Baseball fans) moved to the Middle East, we have missed the taken-for-granted ability to drive to a stadium or turn on the TV and watch the world’s best sport. Living here is like living in the off-season all year ’round. The two daily English language newspapers are run by Brits, so once [...]
A three day holiday was declared in the UAE so people could celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Mary Ann and I decided it was our three day 4th of July holiday, albeit a few days early. Never look a gift holiday in the mouth I always say. Three days obviously is not a long enough time to [...]
As I start packing for yet another intercontinental flight, I came to the happy realization that I am now quite good at this. I know not to take more than one pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans, and save the weight and space for a few extra pair of BVDs. In the last year I have been in five [...]
Dubai is a city of extremes. Just about everywhere you go you can find the biggest, the fastest, the tallest. My mother came to visit my wife and I last week, and we decided to be tourists in our own town. Technically we live in Sharjah, which is next door to Dubai. While being a rather sleepy town (Emirate actually) [...]
This is not a travel blog. But, there is no where else to express this philosophical idea that has been running around in my brain like hamster in one of those wheels. Do not suggest FaceBook. I have tried to post items of FaceBook that do not have anything to do with a mangy puppie, or what I had for [...]
Day two in Alexandria was another “you’re on your own” day. This was Christmas day and we would rather have been on our own anyway. The 4 star we were in had an excellent buffet breakfast. Except that they served No Es Café instead of coffee. We decided to walk the cornice and see where it led us. We found [...]
I’ll start this post at the Pyramids. In the words of Alexander the Great, Marc Anthony, Napoleon, General Montgomery and Jerry Garcia, “oh maaan”. Mary Ann, who has been here before, warned me that I would be overwhelmed and might cry. I was so overwhelmed I had to get into an ambulance, but more on that later. Let us start [...]
I have not written on this bloggie thingie for way too long. Mainly because we have not traveled for like a whole month! Life on campus is better than I imagined it could be. Mary Ann is enjoying her job and the people she works with. She gets tired by Thursday (virtual Friday, the Moslem week is Sunday through Thursday) [...]
I know I have not posted for a while now. I have taken some crap for that, thanks sister. OK, so we are back in Sharjah. Mary Ann is working and loving it. Now that we live on campus in our spacious apartment (condo?) she has a 71/2 minute walk to her office. Some people who live in the [...]
Everyone should see Nepal. My bonafides for saying that are simple. I have done my share of traveling (not enough yet mind you) and a lot of that has been in back water bizarre places. I have been all over the Altiplanos of Peru and Bolivia. I have been on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. I’ve been [...]