• You're not surprised to see a goat in the passenger seat

• You need a sweater when it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit

• You believe that the definition of a "nanosecond" is: the time interval between the light turning green and the guy behind you blowing his horn

• You understand that 'wadi bashing' isn't a criminal act

• You make left turns from the far right lane

• You send friends a map instead of your address

• You think "Mamsir" is one word

• You think it perfectly normal to have a picnic in the middle of a roundabout at 11pm

• You know exactly how much alcohol allowance you have left for the month

• You never say Saturday instead of Friday or Sunday instead of Saturday anymore

• You accept that there is no point in asking why you are not allowed to do something because there is no good reason why

• You expect queues to be 1 person deep and 40 people wide

• You carry 12 passport size photos around with you, just in case

• You can tell the time by listening to the local mosque

• Phrases like 'potato peeler', 'dish washer', 'coffee maker' and 'fly swatter' are not household items but actually job titles

• Habibi isn't just the ex-president of Indonesia

• You say "Insha'allah" when you actually mean "No f**king chance!"

Last weekend I got to spend some real quality time with Rory. I'm not going to go into detail but, as my little extended family, you should know that the boy is a diamond in the rough. He invited me over for a quiet night in. He cooked me dinner - tofu fajitas. He actually bought me tofu! But it gets better. He served it to me alongside a crisp cool glass of DR. PEPPER!!! Liken finding Dr. Pepper here to finding some rare exotic fruit that shows up every 3rd blue moon in Buffalo that you just adore - and your significant other went out and got it for you. Seriously, I was melting. He is incredible!



Next day we went out to "Party on the Pitch", a fundraiser for the rugby club. I took on his buddy Mark in the sumo ring, and Rory and I danced to the live music. I love being outside, having a drink on a warm night, and listening to live music. ; Especially since I've been lacking it for so many months. Lately it seems ALL I do is hear live music! Ha! Anyway, enjoy the photos. Cheers!


huwaaaaaaaaaaaaa


i challenge you to mortal kombat, *slap slap*


i am the champion!


i put him out of commission


so he took it out on ian


and i drank almost an entire bottle of champagne



P.S. Feliz Cinco de Mayo! AND....Feliz Cumpleanos Jenks!!! Happy 32!

So there's this wonderful event called Dunestock that I was able to attend this past weekend. It's a 12 hour music festival in the middle of the dunes. Fun!

Unfortunately the first half of the day was plagued by a sandstorm. Special. It's like the ONE day there's a big outdoor event, bam.


visibility was shit. it's not easy driving in the middle of nowhere when you can't really see


i don't know if you'll be able to see how hard the wind was blowing the sand...it hurt


one of the scottish bands i think


people playing on the dunes (this is one of the few places in the world where there is 'singing' sand)


people started getting a little loopy by nightfall (byob events produce many drunken monkeys)


the music got better at night too, lots of singing along and really bad stage diving- that guy attempted to back flip...


i was guilty of loopy behavior too. i think we were trying to imitate 'cyclops' from the x-men


cheese

This weekend was full of more Doha firsts. I went to my first beach party at the intercon, I went to my first Dunestock, and I finally camped out in the desert for the first time. Here's a few from the beach party. More photos tomorrow. Right now I'm exhausted and really need to go to bed. Looooong day tomorrow.



it was like a baby rave


my friend wael


painting with the lights



rory....he's so sweet, i wish you could meet him

Damn if I didn't have a fine time last night! I was finally NOT working and I took up the opportunity of going to the human foosball tourney at the rugby club. I met SO many new people and they are incredibly fun, and just the kind of folks I've been searching for to hang out with! The night took an interesting turn as well ;)


It was sponsored by Corona. This was my spot about 1 hour into the event :)


the girls


we did tricks on the jumbo slide (resulting in many injured bodies this morning)


kangaroo boxing


and of course the always entertaining sumo wrestling


with which the boys were occasionally distracted by the large boobs on their suits and felt each other up


the foosball pen


going through my camera this morning i really had no recollection of this moment. how did i end up wearing a kangaroo head and holding a 1 USD bill?

Thank you for the restore backup button Paul! We've been having serious internet issues this week and it's hard to stay on more than 5 minutes at a time! So here's my story:

Today I was thinking about how stateside we gripe and complain about how inconvenient it is to get a car serviced. I reconsidered this as I made my way to the "industrial area". It sounds charming doesn't it? The "industrial area".

I was an industrial area virgin. I was nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect. I only knew the first step; find a human sacrifice.

You need a human sacrifice. This is the person you sucker into following you out to Timbuktu's neighbor, Bum Fuck Nowhere. You commence road combat with a few thousand cars and heavy machinery down narrow lanes of construction for about 45 minutes. You engage a series of defensive maneuvers to avert potholes, maniacs, and assholes to reach your desired desitnation. In my case, Kia.

Here you must be very brave and leave the 'security' of your vehicle. With nothing but your Spidey sense to protect you, you must navigate to the entrance on foot. Once inside you are subjected to a series of interrogations in an attempt to find 'customer service', which is heavily guarded by "sales", "replacement parts", "cashier", and "collisions".

"Customer service" is the devil's cousin. He will charm you and woo you to divert all your attention from the task at hand. He will lull you into endless conversation about the origin of your name and the presidential elections of your home country.

You must stay focused! You must negotiate a trade with "customer service": your keys for a small bit of paper. If you are successful, you embark on the same journey in reverse, if your sacrifice hasn't escaped and left you for dead.

Hours, or perhaps days later you will receive a call asking for you to exchange the bit of paper for your vehicle. This requires new tactics for gaining the trust of your human sacrifice as you need them to reach the drop point. I found food to be an incentive.

Act as quickly and efficiently as possible to make the extraction. Exchange your bit of paper and wait at the side door. When you see your vehicle coming down the line, yank the driver out and hop in while it's still rolling. This will maximize your time and avoid further seduction by "customer service".

Commence evasive maneuvers and retreat. Task completed: oil change. Time taken: 6 hours.

I can sleep well Knowing I get to look forward to this process for the next three years of my life. Yeah buddy!

Finally Mohamed took me out to the dunes. It was fabulous! We didn't get to do anything 'really' crazy because we were with our boss and he's not so into that. We did ride them though and it was soooooo much fun! I need to figure out how to do my videos but meanwhile here are some photos from the day! Enjoy.


first things first, you have to let the air out of the tires, down to 10psi!



this is what i called the 'launching pad', it is essentially the beginning of the dunes where everyone hits the gas and takes the first ride up


at the crest


when people talk about living on the edge, this is one of them


a view of where we just were on the crest


what we didn't do because of the boss, was bank...don't worry, there will be a next time without him and we'll do it!


then something very strange happened. it was as if someone blew a whistle and said, 'follow me', because hundreds of cars starting leaving this one area and heading for another spot


we followed because, what the hell...


the wind really picked up and it created a mysterious misty sand blowing over the surface, we stopped for pics


sunset was gorgeous

I was going to post my new year photos but this is much more important. Mark your calendars folks, today in Doha, it RAINED. It rained ALL DAY LONG!!! I was so excited. I just stood out there looking toward the heavens letting it fall gently on my face. It's the very first day in my 7 months in Doha that I didn't have to wear my sunglasses.


my car is relatively clean now


this is why i had to buy a 4x4. this is an example of a road 'diversion'. they simply close the road where they need to do work and let you off road around it.

Hallelujah! Ramadan is officially OVER! I'm going to eat my lunch by the pool today!!!

The big cheese boss invited everyone in the education division to a sohour this past weekend. Sohour is usually the last meal of the night/day for those fasting during Ramadan. A lot of the hotels make a big deal about the Iftars and Sohours.

Ours was at La Cigale, some new fancy shmancy hotel. It had a lovely entrance and very helpful staff, but I didn't like that I spent my entire meal bouncing up and down everytime someone walked past me. You see, I was seated so carefully on a plexiglass floor bridging two sides of an indoor pool. I guess we were 'lucky' to have this prime locale looking over the entire space. I was just hoping it didn't buckle under the weight and send me plundging into the pool with a big fat table on my head.

3 photos for ya'll. 1. I tried a new fruit. They look like olives but have the texture and flavor of not quite ripe apples. No one was able to explain what they were. 2. the 'floor' i was seated on 3. a rather cool view of that floor via the mirrored ceiling