O.K., so maybe this says something about what generally happens around this house if the phone rings.. Sorry.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
This BLOG site sucks.. The pictures are cut off on the right side because it doesn't support a whole lot of HTML code changes without using a different template, which means I have to redesign the layout which is way too time consuming.
So just click on the pictures, and you will see the whole picture instead of just the left half..... At least until I get around to fixing... Piece of junk.
O.K. So when I was a kid I was pretty good at the Young Sherlock Holmes stories and all. But something must have happened when I was a teenager or something. Maybe I hit my head mountain biking too many times or something. Forethought... What a cool concept.
If you look at this picture, would you have dropped down in there to try and follow the water line another 5km down the beach? If you say "hell no", I'm calling B.S. because I tipped you off already that I was partially retarded for not considering that.
Notice the tire tracks go in, (invisible moment of OH SHIT takes place), and then come right back out again.
Going down was easy. Getting back up was no so easy. 1 hour, a really good winch, three trees, and a cookie for the local guy just to get him to leave us alone later.... Managed to make it out.
These are cool. For some reason I didn't expect to see these again after leaving AZ. SOME people manage to get theirs stuck and throw a rooster-tail on the baby trying to get un-stuck. All the baby kept saying was "Awwwww-Mannnnnn!"... He looked like a powdered donut. Fun stuff.
The weird thing is that every morning when I wake up and go outside, the FJ is clean. Seriously. Not a joke. The locals wash it in the middle of the night. I think they're just waiting for the day the door is unlocked for payment.
This is a big ass lizard. It lives on the golf course. It enjoys pina coladas, long walks on the beach, Luther Vandross, and eating your small children. It doesn't really like 9 irons too much, and I would definatley think twice about reaching in to the water hazard to retrieve my ball. Water hazard has a whole new meaning here apparently.
When you go to a restraunt and say you would like some salt and the waitress says, "Sure, let me scrape some up for you.", be careful. It might not be very "iodized"...
And finally, a very sad before an after shot. I've been trying to learn to speak cow, but I still suck...
Before:
After:
So just click on the pictures, and you will see the whole picture instead of just the left half..... At least until I get around to fixing... Piece of junk.
O.K. So when I was a kid I was pretty good at the Young Sherlock Holmes stories and all. But something must have happened when I was a teenager or something. Maybe I hit my head mountain biking too many times or something. Forethought... What a cool concept.
If you look at this picture, would you have dropped down in there to try and follow the water line another 5km down the beach? If you say "hell no", I'm calling B.S. because I tipped you off already that I was partially retarded for not considering that.
Notice the tire tracks go in, (invisible moment of OH SHIT takes place), and then come right back out again.
Going down was easy. Getting back up was no so easy. 1 hour, a really good winch, three trees, and a cookie for the local guy just to get him to leave us alone later.... Managed to make it out.
These are cool. For some reason I didn't expect to see these again after leaving AZ. SOME people manage to get theirs stuck and throw a rooster-tail on the baby trying to get un-stuck. All the baby kept saying was "Awwwww-Mannnnnn!"... He looked like a powdered donut. Fun stuff.
The weird thing is that every morning when I wake up and go outside, the FJ is clean. Seriously. Not a joke. The locals wash it in the middle of the night. I think they're just waiting for the day the door is unlocked for payment.
This is a big ass lizard. It lives on the golf course. It enjoys pina coladas, long walks on the beach, Luther Vandross, and eating your small children. It doesn't really like 9 irons too much, and I would definatley think twice about reaching in to the water hazard to retrieve my ball. Water hazard has a whole new meaning here apparently.
When you go to a restraunt and say you would like some salt and the waitress says, "Sure, let me scrape some up for you.", be careful. It might not be very "iodized"...
And finally, a very sad before an after shot. I've been trying to learn to speak cow, but I still suck...
Before:
After:
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
All right. Where to start? I need to upload a few photos, so I'll plant them up here and worry about the captioning as it comes around.
Pic of Tyler on the boat between Dakar and the Island of Goree. Dowtown Dakar in the background.
Goree Island was the slave trading island used by the French slave traders to sort, prepare, and group prior to departure to the buying countries. Interesting enough, the Senegalese were not enslaved, but instead were wise enough to arrange the capture and slavery of other tribes from other countries in the region.
It's a beautiful island. Small, charming, and DEEP in history. Almost every American President has (or will) visit it during their time here in the country. The conditions were obviously brutal, yet systematic. I find it interesting that the African natives could have ever forgiven the French for this part of their history. Owning a slave is no worse than the people that captured them, raped them, killed the "weak" ones, split up the families, and sold them to the highest bidder all while living in the same upstairs building living the good life.
Anyway, enough typing. Enjoy the pics. You'll notice the wedge shaped building looks suspiciously like a slave ship from the front...
Pic of Tyler on the boat between Dakar and the Island of Goree. Dowtown Dakar in the background.
Goree Island was the slave trading island used by the French slave traders to sort, prepare, and group prior to departure to the buying countries. Interesting enough, the Senegalese were not enslaved, but instead were wise enough to arrange the capture and slavery of other tribes from other countries in the region.
It's a beautiful island. Small, charming, and DEEP in history. Almost every American President has (or will) visit it during their time here in the country. The conditions were obviously brutal, yet systematic. I find it interesting that the African natives could have ever forgiven the French for this part of their history. Owning a slave is no worse than the people that captured them, raped them, killed the "weak" ones, split up the families, and sold them to the highest bidder all while living in the same upstairs building living the good life.
Anyway, enough typing. Enjoy the pics. You'll notice the wedge shaped building looks suspiciously like a slave ship from the front...
Back from a long blog vacation
Yes, I know it has been more than a month since I updated the blog.. Things have been waaaaaay too busy for me to post anything up, but I will have some things up very soon to share.
All in all, Dakar is a very welcoming place. I guess the culture shock wears off, and you start to settle in to the way of things here. There is no such thing as quality by American standards, but you kind of get used to that too. In fact, you start to feel somewhat guilty for having such high standards for things that really aren't that important.
You want a light on the wall? Hit it with a hammer to make a hole, hang up the light and patch around it with plaster. Who cares if it looks exactly like that was how it was installed? The light works doesn't it?
In the words of the great Mexican handman from Yuma "Es fine!"
I started a garden. Cool stuff. The rats are eating it at night. Bastards.
I planted a sunflower. For some of you who may not know I have this wierd relationship with my sunflowers. It was doing great. Managed to get FERTILIZER through the mail. Unbelievable. You can get fertilizer but not boullion cubes. It was doing great until today I guess. Someone apparently came by and killed it. They had to go out of the way to do it which makes it even more irritating. Bastards.
Ayden speaks three languages already. I'm sure after we move away he will lose his skills but right now it's really impressive. Half the time we just look at him like our translator when he's speaking French. I'm about to start telling people to ust talk to the baby instead of me.
He's pretty bad. Ask him. He'll tell you..... He gets into trouble all day long.... He thinks it's funny.
Tyler fell off the rock wall on the playground and skinned half of his nose off on the flagstone edging. Great kid-friendly design by the way.
It costs $16,000 per school year to enroll your kids there and they act like they are on the poverty line when it comes to playground equipment.
All of this is hear-say. I have no first hand knowledge of any of it. I work 20 hours a day 6 days a week.
My trusty steed (the Cannondale F1000) from back in the day is still a beast when it comes to getting me from A to B around here. I've picked up mad bike-messenger-dodge-the-taxi-and-not-get-killed skills since I have been here, and it's definately waaaaaaay faster to ride to work than to fight the traffic in a car. San Diego has nothing on this place. Cleaning up a head-on collision between two horse carts carrying fruit can block all traffic all day. They don't push it off to the side like we do. They have to handle each item and determine if it is still good to sell before they move it. Hilarious. Unless you're behind them in your car.
I drive sometimes too. When the suits are in play for the day I will drive, but I make sure I beat the rush...
We have a MAD Kite. (as in the bird)... He has swooped down and clawed both of us already. Not funny.. The things are huge, the talons are sharp, and you don't want to know where those talons have been. I'm starting to think one of those damn birds tried to pluck my sunflower for nesting material.. Bastards.
The dog is fat. Just what she needed.... A house with a couch in EVERY room. She' on like a permanant island hopping campaign. If you move from one room to another so does she. From one couch to the next. And she sleeps on all of them. She has a sleeping disorder and it's affecting her ever-expanding waistline. Bitch.
Whoooah! Paint!...... Latex is a no-go! Full on lead-based paint still in use here. You have no idea what paint REALLY smells like until you use some of this shit. Nasty. I guess the WHO doesn't really care about pressuring anyone to increase the health standards in third world countries. As long as none of the hite people get sick. Bastards.
The Toyota is an icon here. People I don't even know wave when I drive by and call me by name. I'm not kidding. It's not really that good when you consider the medium threat rating here, but if I want a parking space they will part the Red Sea for me. And then when I park and tip the guy there to watch it for me while I am away, they throw a party around it and put nostril marks all over the side windows. Bastards.
Anyway, gotta run for now, but it has been good getting re-aquainted with the blog.
I don't spell check this stuff, so don't mind typos of grammatical errors too much please. I ramble these things from my very small brain to mykey.
All in all, Dakar is a very welcoming place. I guess the culture shock wears off, and you start to settle in to the way of things here. There is no such thing as quality by American standards, but you kind of get used to that too. In fact, you start to feel somewhat guilty for having such high standards for things that really aren't that important.
You want a light on the wall? Hit it with a hammer to make a hole, hang up the light and patch around it with plaster. Who cares if it looks exactly like that was how it was installed? The light works doesn't it?
In the words of the great Mexican handman from Yuma "Es fine!"
I started a garden. Cool stuff. The rats are eating it at night. Bastards.
I planted a sunflower. For some of you who may not know I have this wierd relationship with my sunflowers. It was doing great. Managed to get FERTILIZER through the mail. Unbelievable. You can get fertilizer but not boullion cubes. It was doing great until today I guess. Someone apparently came by and killed it. They had to go out of the way to do it which makes it even more irritating. Bastards.
Ayden speaks three languages already. I'm sure after we move away he will lose his skills but right now it's really impressive. Half the time we just look at him like our translator when he's speaking French. I'm about to start telling people to ust talk to the baby instead of me.
He's pretty bad. Ask him. He'll tell you..... He gets into trouble all day long.... He thinks it's funny.
Tyler fell off the rock wall on the playground and skinned half of his nose off on the flagstone edging. Great kid-friendly design by the way.
It costs $16,000 per school year to enroll your kids there and they act like they are on the poverty line when it comes to playground equipment.
All of this is hear-say. I have no first hand knowledge of any of it. I work 20 hours a day 6 days a week.
My trusty steed (the Cannondale F1000) from back in the day is still a beast when it comes to getting me from A to B around here. I've picked up mad bike-messenger-dodge-the-taxi-and-not-get-killed skills since I have been here, and it's definately waaaaaaay faster to ride to work than to fight the traffic in a car. San Diego has nothing on this place. Cleaning up a head-on collision between two horse carts carrying fruit can block all traffic all day. They don't push it off to the side like we do. They have to handle each item and determine if it is still good to sell before they move it. Hilarious. Unless you're behind them in your car.
I drive sometimes too. When the suits are in play for the day I will drive, but I make sure I beat the rush...
We have a MAD Kite. (as in the bird)... He has swooped down and clawed both of us already. Not funny.. The things are huge, the talons are sharp, and you don't want to know where those talons have been. I'm starting to think one of those damn birds tried to pluck my sunflower for nesting material.. Bastards.
The dog is fat. Just what she needed.... A house with a couch in EVERY room. She' on like a permanant island hopping campaign. If you move from one room to another so does she. From one couch to the next. And she sleeps on all of them. She has a sleeping disorder and it's affecting her ever-expanding waistline. Bitch.
Whoooah! Paint!...... Latex is a no-go! Full on lead-based paint still in use here. You have no idea what paint REALLY smells like until you use some of this shit. Nasty. I guess the WHO doesn't really care about pressuring anyone to increase the health standards in third world countries. As long as none of the hite people get sick. Bastards.
The Toyota is an icon here. People I don't even know wave when I drive by and call me by name. I'm not kidding. It's not really that good when you consider the medium threat rating here, but if I want a parking space they will part the Red Sea for me. And then when I park and tip the guy there to watch it for me while I am away, they throw a party around it and put nostril marks all over the side windows. Bastards.
Anyway, gotta run for now, but it has been good getting re-aquainted with the blog.
I don't spell check this stuff, so don't mind typos of grammatical errors too much please. I ramble these things from my very small brain to my
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