There and Back Again

Hello All,

Today has arrived, the sun is shining (not really), and i am all packed (not quite). Tonight at 7:10 pm i leave for Egypt… woot! I am getting excited, but am rather apprehensive about my flights and will feel better when i make it to Cairo without any delays or re-routings to ports of authority becuase of suspicious behaviour. Wish me incident free travels!

Weather will be a doosy (sp?). A quick look at the weather in cairo shows weather at or near the 100s! It will hopefully be a more dry heat so i think i can handle it wearing long pants…

Anyways, that is my news for today. I will be back at some point (hopefully the night of Sept 7th) with good stories about spiting camels and dusty monks, etc etc. Maybe you will even get a story or two from me before then, but I doubt that St Catherine’s Monastery has internet access. So updates will probably only be at the end of the trip, when i have a few days in Cairo to look at all the egypty things before heading back.

Bye all!

I just had to post this.  Check out www.dontdownloadthissong.com for a new song from Wierd Al, its good so far and a worthy work break if you need one tomorrow!

being out of a working tv, i have been looking more for interesting tv specials to ‘obtain’ which I can then watch on my laptop. This afternoon i came across a national geographic special called fight science and decided to check it out. Apart from the standard information repeat that tv specials like this usually have, it actually was rather interesting and quite informative. So for all of you who scoff when watching movies like hero, house of flying daggers, or any other martial arts based film, maybe i should let you watch this sometime. It is interesting how the martial arts terms that can almost seem mystical, such as ‘finding your center’ and the ‘mind of a warior’, and harnessing the energy of the earth’, really make sense in terms of center of gravity, creative and reflexive thinking, and wave form of energy.

Gosh this week is cranking itself out. I have a project I at work that I am returning to after what seems like a long hiatus, but it is one that i really enjoy so that has been good for this week. It has solved to post vacation slump, now i only hope that my slump doesn’t return after my two week vacation coming up next week! Kristine is already over there, having made it to Istanbul this morning with her friend Carissa who is one of her travel companions.

Oh, and since i never mentioned it, you can find vacation photos from the beach last week (two weeks by now) on my website at photos.dahmage.com so enjoy!

I feel like I just a had a birthday or something.  Last week it seemed like everyday i was waiting for something new to come (which made work quite distracting needless to say).  First i got my new digital camera.  Its a nikon coolpix p3, which has some coolness features, one of which is wifi connectivity (you can say goodbye to dragging the usb cable around with it!).  I decided that going to egypt next week would be a good excuse for finally getting my technological act together and buy myself a digital camera.  I have been toolin around with it a little bit so far, but you can hope to see some pictures from Egypt in 3 weeks or so (sooner if i find internet access while over there… not going to be a priority though) thanks to the new purchase.

The second thing is a new cell phone. my old one was starting to die in more ways than one (just an expression, no facts to back that up) and i was more than ready to get one with some more tech savy features (read bluetooth connectivity) and finally did, with the Sony Ericsson z525a.  I have been very happy with it so far, feels good to use, bluetooth sync with my laptop’s contacts list and calendar is a synch.  I still plan to get a headset for it, but that will require more thought.  I feel like 98% of the bluetooth headsets on the market make you look like some borg knock-off, or at best some sort of uber-wanna-be geek. which i am not. i am a savy geek.  I am sure everyone has seen them, those people walking around at airports or other public places, with a large insectoid looking device hanging out of their ear canal, with a bright blue strobe light effect going on the whole time.

Ok, one more tech related thing. My stupid new TV decided to go bonkers on me! it is a fairly new (4 months old) sony trinitron wega tv. i got it because i mistakenly had brand confidence in sony. well, if i every figure out this warranty crap (looks like the closest certified repair shop is in York, almost half an hour away) i might get it fixed. otherwise who knows. I was watching tv and playing xbox on it late last Friday, and then Saturday afternoon i turn it on, walk back in the room and the colors are all crazy.  Something broke in the color-alignment filter/grid.  I don’t know the technical aspects, but none of the colors line up on the screen anymore, making it look like there are three distinct images, each with a diff color tint.  I feel like this is the last straw with me and sony. other than that i have a sony ericsson cell phone, every other brand of sony stuff i have used or had has been one major disappointment.

more later perhaps.

I am in the slump between trips.  I had a nice relaxing time down at the beach with my family.  We spent the week at Chincoteague island (VA) as is our custom.  I think this is probably close to the 10th time we have been there, so it is very familiar and therefore relaxing.  I will have some pics posted in my gallery shortly.  The slump is because i can’t seem to get my mind back focused on the things going on at work. as long as i am in meetings, or talking to people, things are fine.  But as soon as i need to sit down and work on something i feel like drifting off into outer space.

I have less than two weeks now before i leave for egypt! i am getting very excited for this trip.  But right now that is not a priority.  sleep is