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Showing posts from June, 2007
The trials of home office work continue. Time Warner is running great today but the work servers keep going down including both types of remote access. I'm now working off the Blackberry and my trusty ole AOL account that I've had for years. This morning was so intense with communications going back and forth for several countries that at 12:54 pm I am wiped out! At least it's almost 4:00 pm on the east coast and the overseas offices are mostly closed so maybe I can relax later on!
Not sure what's going on with Time Warner's Internet service today but the signal keeps getting these weak periods. As a result, I have had to connect to some neighbor's wireless signal to log onto my work server but I had no trouble connecting to Blogger and every other web site via my normal connection. So thank-you to JayDee who ever you are for the free loan of wireless! This week has turned into one big long work blur. Between getting up early and working late I don't even know what day it is anymore. I actually had to look at the atomic clock to make sure of the day. There's always the back of up of every single e-mail says Thursday, June 28 and so I have hundreds of reminders if needed. I so need some time off work!
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The new desk and office bookcase are perfect for what I need. Neither required tools or complex assembly both fit my office set-up. I can see that I have to manage the dreaded cables much better. I could ignore the junk factor until I snapped the photo. So here it is - the Pier One "No Tool Desk" for only $249. Quite the bargain in office furniture these days. This view looks much better. I didn't realize that Star Trek Barbie and Ken made the cut until I went to edit. On the upper left wall is my Omani replica of the Sultan's knife. It was a gift and I was surprised that no one checked it during airport security. It is framed and all but not one second glance (or first) was given.
You can't give someone the right to vote one year and take away their right to work the next year. The women in Kuwait are speaking up and the government is doing a backtrack. According to the Kuwait Times, "Kuwait women gathered at the Women Cultural Social Society's headquarters Sunday evening demonstrating their opposition to the law and calling on the government not to endorse the "defective law". Three members of parliament have apologized for voting for the law and are now working to rescind the law and have it declared unconstitutional before it ever becomes reality.
My new desk arrived and I set it up in the office over the weekend. This is my first day of using it and I have managed to cover it with papers, pens, notes, and all the clutter essentials of life. It is nice being able to lean on something. So much for perfect posture! I'd take a picture but I don't want to show the world the total mess that I can make in a matter of minutes. I finally figures out the "cup holders" are really for computer cables. Too late now! I've adapted to cables everywhere!
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Homer is off hiking, Mrs. OB is in Michigan so it was up to OB and I to do the Oggi's routine. Yes, this is OB holding a beer but we all know that it's really mine and this is just for fun!

1408

1408 is a nice respite from sequels, if the term nice could be applied to a horror movie. The movie is based on a Stephen King short story (which I've never read) and luckily has a running time of 94 minutes so the movie doesn't fully run out of steam. I mostly liked 1408. The movie was suspenseful and suggustive rather than slasher blood and guts. If you've ever stayed in a haunted hotel room or any creepy hotel room, you can relate to the main character as his own mind plays tricks on him. As the movie takes the turn into full blown horror, it went a bit over the top and rambled at the end but mostly, I liked the movie. John Cusack fans will be happy as he delivers a great performance as the writer of hotel ghost stories. His character is believable and likeable. Samuel L. Jackson is the creepy and intense hotel manager who knows the history of haunted room 1408 and has to mop up after all the deaths that have happened in that room. Between these two actors and a good g
Friday at last! I have no plans tonight and it's kind of nice but I feel restless. At least there's a good 3 hours of Sci-Fi on tonight and the dreaded end of 10 years of Stargate. Once that goes, there's a void to be filled in the Sci-Fi world.
After copying and pasting my blog post about the Sheraton into the Sheraton's online complaint site, I realized I spelled traumatized incorrectly. So now, Sheraton will get a complaint and probably think that some illiterate made the mistake and that I deserve what I get. Oh well, I'm too tired to worry about it.
So yesterday I go to check into my hotel and the front desk clerk keeps typing away and staring at the screen. Then she asks for my id, then my credit card. More typing. I finally ask if she wants the confirmation number and she says she has it. Much confusion happens on her side and she states that she's not sure what's going on because I'm already checked in. Well me and my bags were most certainly not checked in so we collectively waited. Eventually I get a key and go to the room and open the door to see.... Shoes and luggage and hear...voices. The room is occupied. I have walked in and no one noticed but there were there. I made the most hasty backwards retreat that could be done and fled to the elevators. First, who checks someone into an occupied room and second, who doesn't use their deadbolt just in case? The front desk clerk apologizes and then asks, what is your name again? Are you sure you're not sharing a room? I am not amused and it shows. The ma
Stepford neighborhoods are real. I think I live in a variation of one. First off I wake up Saturday morning to find 2 piles of dog poop on the front yard. I hate cleaning this up since I don't own a dog. I decided to leave it there in protest. Let the neighbor's kids walk in it if that's what it takes. Then Ms. Kitty and I had adventures. First up was a trip to the e-waste center. As we prepared to leave, the local teen girls were preparing a water balloon assualt of innocent walkers on the street below. The staging area was the abandoned plastic playhouse. We also noticed that there had been end of school celebratory egging going on about the neighborhood. Not exactly Stepford but odd. The e-waste trip was done without hardly any speaking to the workers. We drove up to the site where a cheerful and pleasant person directed us around the corner. From there, people waved us in and almost everything was communicated via sign language. In a matter of minutes we were down
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It's rare but I do take care of the yard from time to time. Luckily these flowers seem to grow without any encouragement from me.

Beer!

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Shes crushing the beer! It's the baby 3 ounce sample of Padre Porter that we drank and then I remembered that we should blog the little beer!
Yesterday I continued my "make my house into a house" project. I bought a small office bookcase to get the next generation of manuals and files off the floor and I even bought a desk. Of course my desk wasn't in stock and it will take a month to come in but I feel happy with the impending completion of my office. This weekend I'm kicking back and hanging out with friends. If all goes well, I might even get in a movie!
Here it is Thursday and I am looking at another week's worth of stacks of office/work paper piled up around me. I am a person who has to work surrounded by a semi-circle of files, papers, schedules, and cardboard. Really, I put things away and file them but the next day, I find myself working on the same projects. What needs to be invented is a light-weight, rolling U shaped bookcase where I can stack my papers and swivel my office chair around to fetch them as needed. Yesterday I looked at one of my many boxes of cables and cords. I have yet to find an Internet or television cable that I could throw away. It seems that there is always a need for one at some point. I might need shock therapy to be able to even consider letting go of a cable. It's the oddest obsession. I can only blame my parents for that random genetic trait. After almost a year of living here, I picked up the phone and called to get a Yard Waste recycle sticker for a trash can. I decided it was time to stop
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Disneyland reopened the Submarine ride after after a 9 year closure. Some friends and I decided that since the park was open until midnight and Disney had a guarantee that anyone who was in line by midnight would get on, no matter how long it took. So we arrived at 9:00 pm and got in line. I've had worse waits. The ill-fated Rocket Rods were a 3.5 hour wait and the ride kept breaking. California Adventure had 4 hour waits when it opened but I passed on that. So, our 2 hour wait seemed fairly normal for any Disney major attraction. We had fireworks to entertain us and the long, winding queue of people watching for sideshow value. Once we got on the ride, it was pretty impressive. It's still the same old subs but with fresh paint. If you are not able to walk steep stairs you won't get on the ride. It's squishy inside. There is an underwater viewing area for people who can't go on the ride. What is different this time around is that there are projection screens in th
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This cyclone disaster barely registered a blip on the US news. Oman is the country where all the buildings are painted white and the sultan is committed to preserving the natural terrain and animal life. Oman has no oil and is not a wealthy country so this clean-up will take a long time. I'm sure the water level was much higher. These photos were taken when it was safe for people to go outside. This area where the man is kayaking is close to the offices that I teach classes in when I'm in Oman. This road will be closed for a long time.
While the U.S. at large is focused on the jail time of one woman, there was a large step backwards in Kuwait today that could have unexpected ripples throughout the region. From today's Kuwait Times: "The Parliament unanimously approved a law that bans women from working at night from 8.00 pm to 7.00 am except in medical professions and some other jobs to be specified by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor." My question is, do the lawmakers even realize how many women work late at the mall, hotels, and restaurants there? There are not enough men to keep the economy going if a late night ban is in place. Does this law only apply to Muslims or to all women? Will the women's shoe and clothing stores at the mall have to close at 8:00 pm because men are not allowed to work there? Women only received the right to vote two years ago. I expect them to speak up loudly about this new law. In the meantime, no one notices, no one cares. I hope the women of Kuwait speak
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Sunday was a Disney Day. There was a big press/publicity party going on for the reopening of the Submarine ride so the park was only crowded in one section. So many people were on the lookout for famous people that we were able to get on Star Tours with only a 5 minute wait and Buzz Lightyear with a 20 minute wait. There were Nemo balloons everywhere and reports from people who were lucky enough to get on the ride said it was awesome and way better than the old submarine ride. I wasn't in that group so I'll have to return another day. Disney has also added a pirate them and show to Tom Sawyer Island. We didn't go over there but it looked fun. We had some bad ride luck though. After getting almost to the loading point for Haunted Mansion, the ride broke down and everyone had to leave. We got on Pirates and got stuck right before the downhill and had to listen to the warning about Davy Jone's Locker over and over. One of our group was in a wheelchair so we passed the lin
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Saturday night, Ms. Kitty, Mondo, and I went to Kemosabe for dinner. This place is famous for the food presentation. Above, Ms. Kitty has the rack of lamb which is buried in foo-foo fun. Mine is crispy duck drizzled in blueberry sauce. There was so much food that most of this went home with me and I have it waiting for lunch! The best part is the dessert! Mondo's displaying the white chocolate cheesecake tower with berries! We did manage to demolish this plate!
Shuttle Atlantis is launched at last! I hope it's a safe and successful mission for the astronauts.
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And there isn't much else to report about Oslo. I was there on one of the best summer weekends of the year. The tourists hadn't invaded yet, the rain stopped and the sun came out, and there was a free music fest going on in the street. Before I forget, here's a shot of the Fortress Wall. Not the same as a City Wall but that was all they had. Below, the airport terminal. Good-bye Oslo!
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More from Oslo. Above the Kon-Tiki statue at the Maritime Museum. Not sure what it represents but the cats are cute. Below, if you look in the middle of the picture you can see the Oslo ski jump that's a popular sport in the winter and right in town. Below - nice and tidy Oslo streets on the nice side of the city.
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Vigeland Park is named after one of Norway's sculpters. The 212 sculptures in the park were all made by Vigeland between 1906 and 1942. I'm not sure what Vigeland's deal was but the sculptures all mass nudes of humanity in all states and very popular with tourists! There are figures everywhere, on the bridge, in the fountains, along the walkways and so on. The park is fairly large and has jogging, biking, and dog-walking trails. It was a good place to get out in the sun and spend, oh, 30 minutes until the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus came back by. I guess if I had a picnic lunch I could have stayed longer but I felt complete with the stop.
Now this may come as a surprise and disappointment to some of you but there are times when I travel and don't drink beer or wine. Such was the case with Oslo. I simply had a packed agenda and had to keep my head clear for all running around to trains, buses, airports, hotels, and so on. I did however take note of the fact that the primary beer sold in Oslo is Guinness, followed closely by Kilkenny Amber. A distant third was Carlsberg from Denmark. The drunks preferred the cheap champagne that is so popular in Russia. There were quite a few Irish pubs about town. I did not notice a "product of Norway" beer. There you have it. Not one beer photo or even a story to share. I thought I’d get this out of the way before the questions about beer start rolling in.
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I really lucked out with Oslo. The only rain was the night that I arrived and the next day was partly sunny and even warm at times. This meant that I could stick with my ban of churches and museums and focus on the outdoors. The Oslo harbor is more commercial port than scenic but people make do with their sailboats and tourist ships. On the maritime museum side of the harbor, there are remnants of old Viking ships, historic sea craft, and everyone's favorite - the mine. From here, all looks peaceful in Oslo. On the other side of the harbor a major music festival and summer celebration were going on in full force and it was a lively and happening place to be.
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Norway must have an identity crisis of sorts. There are two different worlds that exist there, the green and peaceful looking countryside and the reality of Oslo. Like any country it has it's good and bad but the contrasts side by side really struck me. Compared to other like cities along the Baltic, Oslo doesn't win any beauty contests. I stayed downtown, walking distance to the train station, city hall, and the main restaurant/shopping row. These were the views from my hotel window. The midnight sun is already with us and this is around 10:00 pm at night. To me, this represents Oslo far more than how the rich people live which was just a short bus ride away. Below, a wealthy district on the other side of the harbor. When you first arrive at the airport, the ride into town has this view and it is beautiful. You think, wow! this is going to be a great place. I'm sure it's perfect for skiing in the winter and cruising along the fjords in the summer but Oslo itself
Finally! A kiosk that will let me access blooger without it being blocked as a porn site or as a spam site! I made it to Oslo and the trip was not as bad as I thought it would be. Norway is green and full of trees. Oslo as a city is rather boring but I think I have made the most of it, using the hop on hop off bus! Norway sort of reminds me of Russia with the high rate of drug use and alcohol among the 12 year old and up set. I didn`t see any 8 year old drunks but the young teens were all passed out on the streets with their bottles. The herion junkies kept waking me up with their fights and initial happiness at being high. I finally fell asleep around 430 am as all the druggies were passing out or staggering home and the street became quiet. My hotel room was right on a main street so I heard a lot! I have pictures that I can post when I gget home. Oslo looks peaceful and quiet but it is not.