What Is An Expat?

Greetings from God’s Hairdryer!

It was hot today.

(How hot was it?)

Thank you, lovely assistant!

Gather around kids, and let me tell you a true* story. I noticed it was a little warm in the tent today and went out to check the ECU setting. (more…)

Jeez, I’m so far behind. If I had a schedule, I wouldn’t even be ON it. I’m going to do my best to finish the Ireland crap and move on to, and finish the Tashkent MWR trip before I head out again at the end of July. I’m going to Hungary with some friends.

So anyways, a couple of the highlights forthcoming, post-Ireland….posts. Hmmm….

In no particular order, of course:

• Drunk again, but not as much!
• My Encounter with the Secret Police
• Matrix 2 in Russian
• The Park Named for Alisher Navoi
• How I Kicked Amir Timur’s Ass
• A Day At The Bazaar
• Some Flexible Guy Sticks Sharp Objects in Himself A Lot
• Oh, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
• Bad Luck with Digital Cameras, and You
• There’s Nothing Quite Like Finding Money Tucked In Your Shorts

See! I DO work! Bona-fide action shots!

This was a day when Mr. Satellite decided to drop. I’m on top of a container, and decided to forgo any practice with my “falling off of things” skill. Oh, and it decided to rain, too.

Ok, I’m talking to the satellite guys on the Iridium, so stop talking to me on the radio for a bit! (more…)

…and boy, do I need to get out of here. It’s affecting my mind — of course one never can be sure with someone like me. (sigh )

So I’m not sure if I am flying on the planelet to Tashkent or if the new bus service will be active by then. To be honest, the thought of a 7ish hour bus ride does not appeal to me. It also could potentially mess with my fuckoff time in Tashkent, both going up and coming back. I’ll definitely be motivated to get out of here, but if I get bumped on the way back maybe I don’t mind so much. Overpriced Sheraton aside, of course.

Here in a nutshell is my basic plan. I’m flying out of Tashkent the 10th to Dublin via Frankfurt. 3 nights in Dublin, wandering around, and then head down to the Dingle Peninsula. I don’t expect them to have berries, as it is reputed to be beautiful down there. Among other things, they have a friendly dolphin you can swim with. Yaay! Dolphins are cool. Hey! This is a great time for me to go back to something else, not really changing the subject per se, but switching gears a lil’ bit, as I like to do. (more…)

So day before yesterday I’m hiding out in my office. It’s the 4th day in a row that I have actually been busy. I go about 3 months filling up my day working and working (on the internet) and working (visiting) and working (wandering) and it’s like all of a sudden people realize they have computers and problems and an IT guy. Hey! A match made in heaven! Of course, as always it was all silly stuff, but that didn’t stop me having to move back and forth across camp all day long. It is a definite change to go from “I make myself busy doing things” to “I am very busy, how am I going to work in those other things?”

Quick side trip here: I do more before 9 AM than you do ALL DAY! That’s because, you know, your 9 AM is my 9 PM. Ha. Sigh…this is a tough audience.

Anyways, earlier in the day I had been conversing with some folk, and we talked about getting off base, even if there isn’t much to see. Even if there isn’t much to see, there aren’t endless seas of tents and this crappy rock surface to see. That works. So later a party unrelated to that conversation pops his head in the door and mentions going to the airport, do I wanna go? Can I get a Hell Yeah? Oh well, I don’t even know if Steve Austin still wrestles anymore. (more…)