I made it in late last night by some grace of the cosmos. Only appearing in the B-lo area for a few days with a tight schedule and lots to do - but if you'd actually like to see me, give me a shout and I'll see if we can't work something out.

I've got to do phone interviews almost every day with folks back in Doha and a lot of name changing stuff, but there should be some free time here and there.

Ya'll probably hate it, but I'm LOVING the rain right now. Gray skies actually feel so nice once in a while.

More photos from the trip to Atlantis in Dubai.


Dubai skyline


massive viewing tank in the hotel...i mean MASSIVE. it's 3 stories tall and holds some 11 million liters of water.


all the tanks are meant to look like the lost ruins of Atlantis, very cool


and an entourage of rays in flight


the tank is so huge and I was shocked they actually have a young whale shark in it! i learned more about this unusual sighting:



the aquarium, or 'lost chambers', carried the Atlantis theme with all kind of artifacts and machinery


Rory is um...testing the environment suits for leaks?


that's a biiiiiiiig grouper


sunrise over The Palm


Burge Dubai, the tallest building in the world


at the water park we went on this slide ride where you end up gliding through this shark tank


and cute rays greeted you with a smile, it was pretty impressive


for (e:matthew)

I always know that deep down inside my worries have subsided when I start to hum or sing. I am humming and singing today.

It makes me feel so happy and slightly tingly inside. I love being happy!

Rory and I went to Atlantis in Dubai this weekend for what we have now nicknamed our 3rd honeymoon. It was freaking awesome! I always wanted to go to Atlantis since they opened the original in the Bahamas but could never afford to actually GO.

We got to play in the water park all day the first day which was great fun, minus the huge purple bruise on my rear end from one of the rides. At some point on one of the rides we actually managed to fall out of our two person inner tube, which kind of hurt - but the best part was when the next set of folks came rushing down the slide after us. I got whopped in the head by some feet just before their tube hit, which knocked Rory clean off his feet and into the tube as we shot down the remaining portion of the ride. We couldn't stop laughing.

The best part of that day was playing with Piphali!! We participated in a deep water interaction with a dolphin and it ROCKED! She kissed us, danced with us, we gave her hugs, she spun us in circles, and my favorite part - she gave us a ride on her belly! I couldn't believe how soft and warm she was. I just expected something a little tougher and colder, but now I know!

That night we went through The Lost Chambers, which is the coolest aquarium I've ever been in. I loved the imagination they used in creating ruins of an ancient advanced civilization (photos on that tomorrow). It was also the largest tank in the world, which had a WHALE SHARK in it! Granted I think it was a very young one, but huge nonetheless.

The next day we rode the new metro system they just opened up. It's not entirely finished, but some of the major stops are running, such as Mall of the Emirates, which is ridiculously huge. We stopped at Dubai Mall as well because it was right next to Burj Khalifa, which is now the world's tallest building. We wanted to go up to the observation deck but seems they are experiencing technical issues with their elevators and weren't allowing people up. We'll have to do it next time.

Now, meet Piphali!


twirlies!


dancing!


belly ride!


kisses!

I used this program to take my blog and randomly create this image. It's pretty cool looking at some of the words and thinking, "When did I write about bread?", etc.