There are times when even I get bored. I could unpack my office but no, that's not in the plan for today. With just one easy class at school, I've already done the outlines for the next two week's of homework. So I called University of Phoenix today and added a second class to overlap the current schedule. I always work better under pressure, so I figure, why not knock out Public Relations while I'm doing finance? Then I decided to surf the net. You never know where the path will lead. Today it lead to Pet Numerology. For fun, I charted Aero, the H's family dog. Aero is a 3, and according to "Do it yourself Astrology" (pet section) this is Aero's personality: "Three pets are party animals. They generally love to eat and enjoy meeting new people and going new places. Because they are naturally adorable, your friends may occasionally sneak them biscuits and other snacks that aren't good for them. So watch their diet and their weight carefully. A...
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It was almost a perfect weekend. I spent Saturday doing nothing except some light homework. I unpacked one box. I watched TV. The day was almost great except that the one crown filling I have, decided to partially chip off. It didn't bother me so much yesterday but today I have had the classic toothache. I learned that if you put too much of the numbing gel in your mouth, it's not a good thing. The pain ends but so does the ability to talk. Well I guess the priority come Monday morning is to get a dentist appointment. Today I managed to unpack another 6 boxes. Now the office looks worse since the contents of those boxes are spread all over the floor. This didn't work out so well. I finally saw my ocean view from the big windows. For the first time in weeks, the fog lifted and I really do have a nice view. This had to be the most relaxing weekend in months and months. If only I didn't have to go off to the dentist this week.
A whole day at home and not a single plan! It's just been great! I slept in, only until 7:00 am but after all the 3:00 am it was total luxury! I ate leftover pizza, always a good meal! I even got all my homework done for the week! I poured Round Up all over the lawn that has decided to expand in the last 4 weeks. I even did laundry. All in all, it's been a great day. The above picture was taken when I first moved in. That's the side of the garden that's under control and will probably stay that way. The other side of yard is turning into a jungle. I don't expect to tame it anytime soon.
Home at last! For the first time in years, I don't have a single flight reservation or hotel reservation on file. I'm sure that won't last long but I am looking forward to waking up at a decent hour for a while. These 3:00 am wake-ups to catch a flight have gotten old and I need a week without an airplane. The miles have rolled in nicely this month though. The Finance 1 grade just posted and I squeaked by with an A-. I can't even believe I managed that because I got bored with the final and just turned it in as is. Finance 2 looks a little bit easier so maybe I'm back on track. It wouldn't be right to let another day go by without mentioning Lebanon. My one friend and his family have finally made it to Jordan where they'll stay until the fighting ends. The friend in the north just had power restored to communication services after the mobile, land lines, and television stations were down for almost 4 full days. I think they're about to get targeted again...
It's been an odd day. I've had no word from Lebanon since Saturday. I think one friend and his family have made it to Cyprus and are on a flight to Jordan. Another friend is in northern Lebanon where the mobile and communication towers were bombed on Saturday. That area has not had any bombs since then so I assume that all is well except for the lack of communication. I'm currently at the Dallas airport, waiting for my flight to Monterrey, MX. I took no chances and I got on an earlier flight on stand-by just for the extra connection time. People on my flight had just been rerouted due to their aircraft breaking down a few hours earlier. More deja vu! Then there was the odd feeling that you have when you know someone is about to get fired or quit, and you have to maintain the status quo throughout the day. All work involved was an exercise in futility since you are basically playing a role, on stage, for the benefit of courtesy. That person was no longer employed by the time...
It's been a bad month for flying. I felt a deja vu of Mexico City happening yesterday and today. On Saturday, I went to do the online check-in for my Carlsbad-St. Louis flight only to get the message "problem with your flight, call customer service." No matter what I did, the message came up, so I broke down and made the call. Turns out that the flight was cancelled, no explanation and no phone call. I was rebooked out of San Diego which while I was happy to have the flight (and the first class upgrade) I wasn't happy with the resulting 3:00 am wake-up call. Even worse, the flight crew was late. Why? Their luggage was trapped in the back of the hotel shuttle and no one could break into the van or open the door. To make matters worse, US Airways justified this to us by saying that Delta was delayed as well. Instead of making an announcement, the gate agent just told each of us individually, that Phoenix would handle our reroutes. Her phrase was "as I just said......
Two different situations, both waiting for the bombs to hit: "I cannot describe what's going on now in Lebanon.Thank god the bombs were about 200 meters away from our area.My Sister is getting evacuated to the U.S.A.to join her sons in Las Vegas.I feel like a trapped mouse in a small cage getting frustrated and staying on the T.V. ,switching constantly from channel to another to find out when we will be bombarded and try to stay safe as much as possible. The people who succeeded to leave the country by land thru Syria are suffering big time to find flights or any other way to reach their destinations from Syria and they find themselves thrown in the middle of nowhere. Can you immagine now the ticket to go to syria by car has jumped now from twenty dollars to fiftennn hundred dollars?.No working Airports in Lebanon now . More restrictions are being implemented.( ex: you cannot withdraw money now in U.S.$.,goods started to be missed on the market,The US.citizens evacuation has ...
During my short stay in Oaxaca, I had the opportunity to go to the ruins of Monte Alban. Old, big, intact, hot, humid, bugs. The usual. I did like Oaxaca. It is a run down town but it is a big artist colony and the center of town is historic and charming. Just don't drink the water and be careful what you eat. The local delicacy is small, dried, and spiced grasshoppers. Yes, I ate some and smothered them in guacamole. Small, dried grasshoppers get stuck in your teeth.
E-mail updates from Sunday: "Hello, I don’t know what to say but things are really sad, we know nothing and can’t predict. Don’t worry about me so far I’m in a safe place. Take good care and keep in touch. Ciao" And this about the friend who lives in Batroun: "I talked to Charbel this morning. Charbel and his family are safe and so are all the families of Kuwait Food Company. Charbel said he had a bomb dropped about 200 meters from his house where a radar station is. There's currently no way out of Lebanon so they can't evacuate. He feels relatively safe (he felt a lot safer before they bombed the radar station). Electricity availability is inconsistent. Phone line availability and internet access is inconsistent. People are just staying in their houses."
Another friend reached me via a short e-mail: "Thank you very much for your concern. Until now we are fine but the situation is really bad. We cannot believe what is really happening. In such a short period of time, We feel isolated and subjects of bombs shells at anytime. No Airports and most of the bridges are down. I hope the situation will end soon." This friend lives outside of Beirut in Batroun. His sister owns the restaurant on the beach where you can dine on the rock out in the ocean. The port Batroun was the target of a bombing to take out the harbor to prevent entry and exit. For more neutral news reading, here's a link to the Emirates online newspaper. As a country, the main focus is on buisness rather than politics. You will have to copy and paste this into your browser. http://www.gulfnews.com/home/index.html
What do you say to a friend who has just seen the death of his city? Beirut has no airport, Lebanon has no seaports and all entry points via the road to Syria have been cut off or destroyed. Lebanon is shut down. No one can go to work, to school, or out to the grocery store to buy food for their family. The bombs came without warning and took the entire country off guard. 30% of the citizens are Christian but almost 100% consider themselves Lebanese. The small exception is the people who are responsible for the attacks on Israel but everyone must now pay the price. What can you say to someone who hasn’t slept in 48 hours, is surrounded by crying children, and the sound of chaos in the background? These people have no place to go, even out of the city there is a danger of being bombed as they try to reach family in other parts of the country. Lebanon was just starting to recover 16 months after the assassination of their Prime Minister. To the Lebanese, Rafik Harriri was a symbol of ho...
From today's Daily Star, the online print version of the Lebanon paper. Israel's campaign continues Compiled by Daily Star staff Friday, July 14, 2006 Israel battered roads, mobile phone antennas and fuel tanks in Lebanon on Friday, further devastating its neighbor's economy after Hizbullah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. Israeli warplanes blasted the main Beirut-Damascus highway overnight, tightening an air, sea and land blockade of Lebanon, and bombed targets in a majority Shiite Muslim Beirut suburb, killing four people and wounding 40, security sources said. The latest air strike brought the death toll to 55, almost all civilians, killed in Lebanon since Israel's campaign began. Before the air strike, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets in Beirut suburbs and some southern cities warning residents to stay away from Hizbullah offices, witnesses said, fuelling speculation that the group's charismatic leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, could be targeted. ...
A year ago, I would have never even thought twice about Beirut getting bombed. It's happened for years and was part of the normal civil war routine. This bombing is different though. It's the first time since Israel withdrew from Beirut they've been so destroyed by another country. I have no words today. I have to talk to my friends there and make sure they're okay and watch what happens over the next 12 hours. This is wrong and it can only get worse.
This is going to be one of those bad travel stories. I'm sitting on the floor at DFW looking at the airplane that rejected flight today. I'm on my way to Oaxaca, MX and this is my segment into Mexico City. We boarded late due to "issues" and then sat on the plane. As the aircraft taxied out, our ears were blasted with a non-stop whistling noise. We stopped and moved several times and then the pilot announced that we were going back to the gate mechanics would fix the plane. No such luck. We were told to get off and that another aircraft was ordered for us. So I have no chance of making the Oaxaca flight this evening and I'm backed up on a 7:00 am out of Mexico City. Sadly, the good hotels are all booked up so I'll either take my chances in a dump or spend the night at the airport. I'll know how it all turns our tomorrow. Tonight, I can only hope for the best.
This Dublin geocache was our only failure. We were in a small park with memorials, sculptures, and a mosaic pond. The first clue was Yellow Piggies. We found them under the water in the reflection pool. Below, Ms. Kitty carefully ponders the clues and checks the coordinates. No joy for us here and we decided to move on to the next cache.
Dublin. It's raining. I can't get on wireless no matter where I go. The hotel's internet always has a line and the net cafe has pop-up's blocked so I can't post for school. This is not a tech city and I am a true net addict, therefore, I am bummed. However, the Guiness is great and Dublin is an easy place to get around in. We geocached in 4 different areas and found 3 of the 4 caches. Pictures to follow when I get home.
I've made it to Ireland, had a Guiness, walked the city and now after nearly 48 hours, I'm ready to sleep. I have some pictures but I have to find a wireless spot to post them from. Dublin is not as green as what I pictured in my mind. It's sort of just an ordinary city with a lot of pubs. (Nothing wrong with that!) Tomorrow it may look better after a good night's sleep!
Karl Strauss take two! This is the first time I have ever been able to reverse the Homer ratio and have 2 beers to his 1. Of course, he's still dehydrated and sick from the Mt. Whitney attempt but I'm halfway done with my 2nd beer while he's still struggling with his Oatmeal Stout! I'm now at LAX waiting to board the plane that will take me to the land of Guiness, better known as the Emerald Isle. And we have Sherry's first blog appearance in a long time!
DAy One in the new house was successful. Nothing strange happened and the first batch of stuff is semi-unpacked. I almost had a great sunset view from the second floor but then the fog kicked in and the first sunset was a non-event. We've decided that the downstairs is very Haunted Mansion with the crooked chandelier and fake lighting. I guess I like it. I'll add some cobwebs at Halloween to make it fun. Today the movers bring back the rest of my furniture, the applinces get deliverd, and a beer dinner is scheduled at some point today!
There's nothing like the feeling of having the keys to a new car or a new house. I picked up the house keys today and then spent the next 20 minutes just wandering the rooms in amazement. I can't believe how lucky I was to end up with this place. The feeling is only momentary though because reality sets in soon thereafter. Spend an hour at Sears on a holiday weekend buying a fridge, washer, and dryer and that's a quick shock to any system. The Visa company even called to make sure I wasn't a fruad victim! They're used to the cheap $20 purchase of Hard Rock Cafe pins from far off lands, not domestic big ticket items! All in all, I have had quite the day from the usual postal/banking/grocery activities, to getting house keys, to Wal-Mart, car maintenance, Sears ($$$) to the final collapse at the mattress ($$$$$) store, I am surprised I'm still awake! To top it off, I decided to walk to Orfelia vineyard (in the 95 degree heat) and buy 6 bottles of wine which I then...