My Day Off - Part 2

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Did I say Today was a Day Off?

It's now almost midnight and today turned out to be a bit more work than I anticipated. I went to the Center to setup for Saturday and do a training session for the Consultants. That lasted from noon to 4 pm. But some technical glitches meant calls to Minneapolis, St. Louis, and work for me until 11 pm. 😞 But the good news is that it’s all fixed and all is right with the world.

Tomorrow I’m going with Esbjorn to the beach. I think that must be on the Persian Gulf (aka Arabian Gulf) since I’m pretty sure they don’t have a whole lot of lakes around here! Oasis anyone?

I talked to Lu-Anne today, who is a Canadian working at Aramco. She does a lot of desert (not dessert) camping and described what that is like. She said that in soft sand you lower your tire pressure from 35 psi to 10 psi. They have to carry many gallons of gas with them and of course lots to drink (non-alcoholic, or not). They try to stay out of the way of the Bedouins. I asked her what happens if they really get stuck. They carry a satellite phone and if push came to shove, Aramco would send a helicopter to find them.

I’m attaching a few more photos I took today before I go to sleep. It’s still sandstorm weather. Did I mention I’m now wearing a surgical mask outside? You can see a photo of me with it on.

Cheers.

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Photos

Mid-Day Sun
This is not the moon, but the sun. It shows the haze pretty well.

Out my Window At Steineke
This is the view from my window. You can see the haze (and the palm tree!)

Window Photo #2
This is looking out my window the other way.

Surgical Mask
I'm wearing a mask today because of the sand in the air.

Comments

[Heather]

"Dessert" Camping
This has to go on my list of Top 10 typos, Ted - no doubt caused by your current obsession with food ;-) I think we should keep using it ....I LOVE the idea of dessert camping, especially if I can pitch my tent in chocolate!

[Sarah]

Dessert Camping?!
Is that like hiking into the wilderness with nothing to survive on but your instinct, First Aid kit, and a cooler full of cookies, cakes, brownies, and sundaes?

[TedTravel]

Camping
My idea of camping is to take a fully stocked RV and park it in front of a Holiday Inn. I'd only do camping because I like s'mores.

[TedTravel]

Dessert vs. Desert
Oh, I get it. You PDI'ers with your fancy advanced degrees. I'll stick with my response to Sarah about S'mores. That way it can be dessert or desert.

[Tiner]

What's a Bedouin?
Hope you're having fun on the beach! Maybe the whole desert (not dessert) is a beach! After all, life is a beach, so they say. . . What a wonderful trip it sounds like you're having! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Vicarious, virtual, voyeurish -- probably the only way I'll ever experience S.A. Oh yeah -- and Happy Valentines Day! Probably not a major holiday over there?

[TedTravel]

V-Day
Actually V-day is another no-no here because it's considered a Christian holiday. Saints and all, ya know. But they did have a small V-Day section in the Commissary. But Jess sent me a link to Fox news that says: “Saudi Religious Police Crack Down on Valentine's Day Contraband.” Here’s a link: www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491765,00.html

[TedTravel]

"What is a Bedouin?" you ask
The Bedouin, (from the Arabic badaw+ ((/HJ), pl. badk), are predominantly Muslim, desert-dwelling Arab nomadic pastoralist, or previously nomadic group, found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert. Non-Arab groups as well, notably the Beja of the African coast of the Red Sea, are sometimes called Bedouin.