Listening to all of you talk of bunkering down for the winter in your warm fleece and plastic lined windows helps cool things down for me. It's still in the 90's and sunny which is playing tricks on my mind. I can hardly believe it's the END of November! If anyone is getting anything from me for Christmas I guess I'd better mail it now! Maybe it will show up on time.

Thank you (e:leetee) for sending me good ol' Buffalo snow - in a bag! I love it! I'll post a photo once I've whipped up a batch. I wonder if it will transform well enough to hold a sloppy snowball. I'd love to just peg the big cheese with one of those. Who would excpect a snowball in the desert? *evil grin*

My feet are doing better. My left foot especially. It's feeling almost normal. The right foot is much slower on the rehab. I'm trying to stay off of them as much as possible to maximize the healing power of my own body. I have a follow up visit tomorrow to see what our next plan is.

Just outside the city of Iraklion on the island of Crete lies the ruins of the palace of King Minos. If I recall correctly I think the foundation alone is a massive 4 acres. Then pile on about 4 stories, plus 2 or 3 basement levels...you've got yourself the setting for the legend of the Minotaur and his maze.

It was pretty rad to check off another Tomb Raider temple on my quest around the world. These are just a few shots. All of the photos are on my travel photo site. Enjoy!

I held a program tonight to introduce Thanksgiving to my residents. It was a HUGE success. We even watched Christmas Vacation when our bellies were full. Only sad part is, no pumpkin pie.

I've learned my lesson. The country sells out of pumpkin puree (the 12 cans that they have) about a month before Thanksgiving. I usually make from scratch entirely, but of course, no pumpkins. The cherry and apple went over well enough. The turkey was flattened in no time! Happy Thanksgiving peeps. Miss you all.


my super delish vinegar crust


only injury of the day, i have reaaaaaally sharp knives


Stove Top was sold out too so I had to make stuffing from scratch


the turkey guarding dessert


I even had to make whip cream from scratch for the pies


carving up the turkey breast


mmmmmm

If you recall, I recently posted the tale of my poor tootsie. So, I have a demon claw growing on the bottom of my right foot. I got a needle stuck up in there to help heal my tendon and reduce the pain.

Today I went for my follow up visit. Blood work negative for abnormalities. This is good. X-ray on left foot, positive for demon claw, though slightly smaller than right foot. Increased amount of pain in left foot due to placing extra weight on it over the last week while hobbling due to right foot injection.

Lucky me got to take ANOTHER needle to the foot. But this time, as an experiment, he tried a different medicine. That fucker hurt twice as much as the first injection! I almost fell over when I took my first step to get out of his office.

They tried to give me crutches but I honestly don't see much point. I mean I'm on bed rest for 3 days (yah, let's see how I pull off the Thanksgiving program in my building tomorrow night when I have to cook 50% of the meal for 30 people).

Crutches. Oh the horror of rib rash. That raw tenderness on your rib cage that gets abused with every step you take. No thanks. I still have to put pressure on my right foot which still hurts anyway. Might as well go full monty and at least save the ribs :)

Let's hope this works and we don't have to go ahead with surgery.

Ciao.

Update: I've come up with a good descriptor of the pain in my left foot for the last 4 hours. You know that sensation just before you peak during a charlie horse? Yah, that's just what it feels like non-stop.

A meteor, part of the regular show on Earth each November. I didn't really think about it until I saw 3 more in the course of 30 minutes sitting on my patio. Space is just so fascinating.

The good:

A proposal I wrote with two of my co-workers was accepted for the 2008 NASPA (National Association of Student Personell Administrators) conference. That's crazy. It's so competitive to get something accepted to be a presenter, we never really thought it would fly. I think the appeal is that the work we are doing over here is literally the first of it's kind in the whole world. I wonder how many people will show up for it. Presenting is not my favorite thing to do. Maybe I can do all the power point leg work and let my co-workers do the talking.

The bad:

This week was International Education Week. I was on the planning committe undertaking this task of collaboration with all 5 branch campuses and QF to have a finale event tonight. After all the work, I didn't get to go as I'm confined to my sofa with my leg propped on a pillow.

The ugly:

The reason my leg is propped on a pillow is because I have a severe foot disfunction going on. My right foot started hurting about a month ago. Just here and there, usually in the morning. I knew I had occassional bouts of pf because I have overflexible arches. However this pain got to the point I started limping. So I had it checked out today. Got examined, got blood work, got an x-ray and BAM.

There was my foot lit up on that little white box and a bizarre bone growth jutting out. It was creepy. It looks like some demonic bird claw parasite clinging to the underside of my heel. I wish I had a photo of it. Anyway, my podiatrist says I have a severe case of pf and the largest spur he's ever seen. Oh joy! To fix the problem requires surgery, however due to the size of it he is afraid the scar I'd be left with may cause just as much pain as I'm in now. Hmmm. Dilema. So in the mean time he prescribed some anti-inflamitory and then....I got an injection.

For the love of gummy bears I never thought I'd have to take a needle in the bottom of my foot! I've had needles and tubes stuck in every part of my body, and I mean every part, except the bottom of my foot. I have a strong constitution but this hurt like a mother fucker. Plus now my foot is swollen on the heel, so it kind of hurts twice as much as when I went in there. I'm supposed to lay low for 3 days and stay off my feet as much as possible.

Patmos is a quiet island. The large majority of tourists here are old folks coming to visit a religous landmark. It has lovely beaches on the far side, away from the port. It's very tranquil and peaceful. Apparently the British royals, among others in the world, own some houses on this island for this very reason.


approaching patmos


climbing the mountain


view from the 'almost' top


grotto of st. john - not john the baptist, the other one


entrance to the grotto - after climbing 200 or so steep stairs there is a cave, which is said to be the final resting place of st. john, where he wrote the book of revelations (no photos allowed and an angry greek monk present to beat you with a stick if you try)


i rewarded myself with a little gelato


which i enjoyed at a little outdoor cafe with this beautiful pomegranate tree overhead

The kids loved the reverse trick-or-treat program. They wanted to have a Halloween party but couldn't get their shit together. So, they had it last night and called it November Nightmare. They had a costume contest to win an iPod. This guy won:


as Borat


Since everyone thought I was Alice from Wonderland when I dressed up as Dorothy, I changed up my costume a bit and went as Alice.


they all thought I was Dorothy

our pirate ship


the circle of islands are made from a blown out volcano


climbing it was tough because it was a fine layer of volcanic ash
(and it turned my socks yellow)


i claimed the top...'croftapalooza'


it was like being on a martian planet


plato wrote about 'atlantis' in terms of it once being the island of santorini. here you can see his description of the black, red and white cliffs that once held atlantis before it was buried in the sea during the volcanic eruption


we climbed back down the volcano and sailed our pirate ship to a cove where we jumped off the boat! argg.


we swam through the brilliant emerald water, as cold as it was, to find a sulfur hot stream,a little volcanic action hot tub :)


the water was blood red, which was a little creepy, but at least it didn't really smell like egg farts


we enjoyed a lovely sunset on the boat


once we got up the mountain of the mainland, we ate gyros and saddled the donkeys of doom...which we took back down the mountain, while attempting to take photos, while attempting to not fall off as they slip on the cobblestones full of donkey shit

This island is SO worth checking out!

Arabic is not an easy language to learn. Lots of new sounds, which means new pronounciations, and of course an entirely different alphabet. It's a bit overwhelming at times when you're trying to cram in all that information.

At this point I know about half the alphabet and we're starting to learn how the letters are strung together (it's like learning to write cursive before you learn to print).

I noticed a can of Pepsi tonight and took a closer look. Things started to make sense. I could see how the letters were put together to write out 'Bebsi". It's actually called Bebsi because "P" doesn't exist in Arabic. It was a reafirming moment for me. We need those small moments in life when you realize you ARE learning and that you ARE quite capable. It looks like this.



On the funny side of things, did you know there are complaints choirs all over the world?