I haven't had anything really overly interesting to say... but just wanted to post so that the frequent visitors don't give up on me! I'm going to be sending a whole new bunch of pictures this week, so watch for that...
Hey, did you notice the "mood indicator" on the left? If you click on it, it takes you to the site that explains what it means. For the longest time it said the Internet was feeling "tired", and I was going to remove it since it never changed... Anyway, on Thansgiving, people were feeling "Thankful"... then "sick" ... then back to "týred"... hehe but right now it says "happy" ... and that makes me ... well ... happy! Hope you are too!
Love to all!
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Pictures from home!
Well, instead of pictures from overseas, here's a few pics from HOME!
Time for bed, it's almost 1am here!
Time for bed, it's almost 1am here!
Turkeys CAN fly!!!
... and apparently, they can wave flags too. Hey, give me a break, it made me laugh, ok? :P 
More pictures added, and descriptions. Mostly I'm just getting all the old ones uploaded before I start uploading some of the current ones. Be patient people, I've gotten farther with this in the past few days than I have in the past few months!
Anyone know what this quote is from?
"I swear, as God is my witness... I thought turkeys could fly."
First person to post the answer gets a star for the day... seriously.
One more day until TURKEY! And please ... no more "Turkey day in Turkey" jokes... they're just getting old!
My cell phone # is posted at the left, for those of you who were asking. Turkey is 9 hours ahead of MST, so we'll just have to work out something. I have been using Dialpad to call the states lately. It is an "Internet Phone" service, and only costs $.04/min to talk to the USA. I have no idea what it costs to call Turkey from the States, but if you just use your regular long distance, it can get very expensive (trust me...).
Ok, more later! Love to all!
More pictures added, and descriptions. Mostly I'm just getting all the old ones uploaded before I start uploading some of the current ones. Be patient people, I've gotten farther with this in the past few days than I have in the past few months!
Anyone know what this quote is from?
"I swear, as God is my witness... I thought turkeys could fly."
First person to post the answer gets a star for the day... seriously.
One more day until TURKEY! And please ... no more "Turkey day in Turkey" jokes... they're just getting old!
My cell phone # is posted at the left, for those of you who were asking. Turkey is 9 hours ahead of MST, so we'll just have to work out something. I have been using Dialpad to call the states lately. It is an "Internet Phone" service, and only costs $.04/min to talk to the USA. I have no idea what it costs to call Turkey from the States, but if you just use your regular long distance, it can get very expensive (trust me...).
Ok, more later! Love to all!
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Got a few days off...
... since it's the last week of Ramadan, the facility we're working at is going to be closed for the next few days, so we're going to be working out of the apartment. It kind of slows us down, but it's a nice break. Hopefully I'll also have some time to upload more pictures, and get the website updated a bit.
Everyone has been asking where they can send Christmas gifts for me. I really appreciate it, but I think it would be best if you sent anything for me to Colorado. There's going to be such a flood of packages heading this way, I just don't trust the military APO system... not to mention the fact that I'm not sure where I'm going to be for the next month or so... I'll be home in February, and I suspect a lot of you will also be there about time too... =)
Ok, gonna make some changes here so I'll post later tonight or tomorrow!
Love to all!
Everyone has been asking where they can send Christmas gifts for me. I really appreciate it, but I think it would be best if you sent anything for me to Colorado. There's going to be such a flood of packages heading this way, I just don't trust the military APO system... not to mention the fact that I'm not sure where I'm going to be for the next month or so... I'll be home in February, and I suspect a lot of you will also be there about time too... =)
Ok, gonna make some changes here so I'll post later tonight or tomorrow!
Love to all!
Sunday, November 23, 2003
... and even more ...
... got a few more pictures uploaded, but still only about a quarter of the total pictures I've got. I also found a bunch of "humor" images I had sitting on a hard drive... Only uploaded a few pictures of my own. I slowed down on taking pictures when I wasn't getting them posted. Now I'll be taking a LOT more...
Anyway, I will post direct links to specific albums on the left side, but you can see the total picture gallery by going to HERE.
Shelley got settled into the new house, and sounds like everything is good there. I'll post some pictures as soon as she gets them to me! Thanks to everyone that helped!
Anyway, I will post direct links to specific albums on the left side, but you can see the total picture gallery by going to HERE.
Shelley got settled into the new house, and sounds like everything is good there. I'll post some pictures as soon as she gets them to me! Thanks to everyone that helped!
Saturday, November 22, 2003
MORE PICTURES!
Ok, after spending entirely too much time trying to come up with a more efficient method for creating photo albums, I opted for the lazy way... pay for a service! It's pretty cheap, especially considering all the features...
Anyway...
CLICK HERE to see the beginnings of my "Turkey Album"!
Love to ALL!
Anyway...
CLICK HERE to see the beginnings of my "Turkey Album"!
Love to ALL!
Friday, November 21, 2003
PICTURES!
... but not of overseas... yet. I found these in my growing folder of "pictures to post", and was playing around with a photo album setup. I hate this setup, but it will have to do for now. It took entirely too long to do these 5 pictures...
Anyway, hope they make up for the pictures from yesterday!
2nd trip to NYC
Anyway, hope they make up for the pictures from yesterday!
2nd trip to NYC
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Thanks for everyone's concern....
I've gotten several emails and IMs from people asking if we're in any danger, due to the bombings in Istanbul, but we're all ok here. Tension's are a little bit higher than they have been in the past couple of weeks, but there have been no real reasons to be concerned for my safety. We are taking every precaution, and being a bit more paranoid than usual ...
I need feedback about the photo I posted yesterday. Was it too big, a pain to change windows, etc?
Today's picture is of a guy in the street that simply would NOT leave us alone. He was trying to sell us kitchen knives, or a keyboard (I forget which one...), and kept yelling at me in Turkish. My mistake was looking him in the eye and saying "no thanks...", and then he would not go away. Finally I just took his picture:
Street Salesman
I need feedback about the photo I posted yesterday. Was it too big, a pain to change windows, etc?
Today's picture is of a guy in the street that simply would NOT leave us alone. He was trying to sell us kitchen knives, or a keyboard (I forget which one...), and kept yelling at me in Turkish. My mistake was looking him in the eye and saying "no thanks...", and then he would not go away. Finally I just took his picture:
Street Salesman
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
ok...
... I'll make you all a deal. I've been putting off posting pictures because I wanted to make them like the albums on the left. I'll just start posting one or two pictures with my posts, and work on the albums later. =)
I don't know what your part of the deal will be... I'll have to think of something!
Love to all!
Here's today's pic:
DSC00481.JPG
No idea what it is... since I didn't look before I uploaded =)
I don't know what your part of the deal will be... I'll have to think of something!
Love to all!
Here's today's pic:
DSC00481.JPG
No idea what it is... since I didn't look before I uploaded =)
Friday, November 14, 2003
Geraldo Rivera said WHAT???
I can't believe I'm going to admit this to you all... but Geraldo Rivera actually said something I completely agree with. My disdain for this guy has been well documented, but he nailed this PERFECTLY! Good job GR!
Subject: The truth about Iraq...
By columnist Barbara Stanley:
THE BUILDINGS THAT AREN'T BURNING IN IRAQ
"They have a saying in the news business," Geraldo Rivera related this
week. "Reporters don't report buildings that don't burn." And with that
introduction, he told a TV audience about the story that is being
systematically denied to our entire nation: the success story of
post-Saddam Iraq. Are we losing some soldiers each week? Yes. Is there
some frustration in the public about electricity and water service? Yes.
Are some Saddam Hussein loyalists scurrying throughout the land, making
trouble? Yes. Has this opened a window for some terrorist mischief? Yes.
But that's all we hear. No wonder the country is in a mixed mood about
Iraq.
If you hear about the buildings that are not burning, though, it is a
different story indeed.
Rivera is no shill for George W. Bush. But Bush, Condi Rice and Colin
Powell together could not have been as effective as Geraldo was Thursday
night on the Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes program.
"When I got to Baghdad, I barely recognized it," he began, comparing
his just-completed trip to two others he made during and just after the
battle to topple Saddam. "You have over 30,000 Iraqi cops and militiamen
already on the job. This is four months after major fighting stopped.
"Can you imagine that kind of gearing up in this country? Law and
order is better; archaeological sites are being preserved; factories,
schools are being guarded."
But what about the secondhand griping that the media have been so
efficiently relating about power, water and other infrastructure?
"To say that Iraq is being rebuilt is not true," answered Rivera. "Iraq
is being built. There was no infrastructure before; we are doing it. I
just think the good news is being underestimated and underreported."
At this juncture, one must evaluate how to feel about the voices
telling us only about the bad news in Iraq, whether from the mouths of
news anchors or Democratic presidential hopefuls.
At best, they are underinformed. At worst, their one-sided assessments
of post-Saddam Iraq are intentional falsehoods for obvious reasons.
If I hear one more person mock that "Mission Accomplished" banner
beneath which President Bush thanked a shipload of sailors and Marines a
few months back, I'm going to spit. That was a reference to the ouster of
Saddam's regime, and that mission was indeed accomplished, apparently to
the great chagrin of the American left.
No one said what followed would be easy or cheap, and that's why the
dripping-water torture of the cost and casualty stories is so infuriating.
Remember we pay our soldiers whether they are in Iraq or in Ft Bragg,
North Carolina.
We should all mourn the loss of every fallen soldier. But context cries
out to be heard. Our present news media is not performing this task.
As some dare to wonder if this might become a Vietnam-like quagmire,
I'll remind whoever needs it that most of our 58,000 Vietnam war toll died
between 1966 and 1972, during which we lost an average of about
8,000 per year. That's about 22 per day, every day, for thousands of
days on end.
Let us hear no more Vietnam comparisons. They do not equate.
What I hope to hear is more truth, even if we have to wrench it from
the mouths of the media and political hacks predisposed to bash the
remarkable job we are doing every day in what was not so long ago a
totalitarian wasteland.
Local elections are under way across Iraq, Rivera reported. "Where
Kurds and Arabs have been battling for decades, things have been settling
down. Administrator Paul Bremer is doing a great job."
So does Geraldo think his media colleagues are intentionally painting
with one side of the brush?
"I'm not into conspiracy theories...there's just more bang for your
buck when you report the GI who got killed rather than the 99 who didn't
get killed, who make friends, who helped schedule elections, who helped
shops get open for business, who helped traffic flow again.
"The vast majority of Iraqis are very happy to have us there... I would
like to see a bit more balance." This needs to be reported to the American
Public who are presently being duped. I expect the dominant media culture
to nitpick Bush, and Democrats to blast him with reckless abandon. But
when that leads to the willful exclusion of facts that would shine
truthful light on the great work of the American armed forces, that level
of malice plumbs new depths. Some call it - TREASON
I also found something else the other day that I found funny. I use 'BLOGGER' for my 'blog host, and they have occasional news for us. Here was the one from the other day:
The Onion: Mom Finds Out About Blog. Here at Blogger, we have no official stance on what to do when your mom discovers your blog. Maybe we should think about that.
Update: We now have an official stance on this matter.
– Biz [11/12/2003 03:52:17 PM] #
Subject: The truth about Iraq...
By columnist Barbara Stanley:
THE BUILDINGS THAT AREN'T BURNING IN IRAQ
"They have a saying in the news business," Geraldo Rivera related this
week. "Reporters don't report buildings that don't burn." And with that
introduction, he told a TV audience about the story that is being
systematically denied to our entire nation: the success story of
post-Saddam Iraq. Are we losing some soldiers each week? Yes. Is there
some frustration in the public about electricity and water service? Yes.
Are some Saddam Hussein loyalists scurrying throughout the land, making
trouble? Yes. Has this opened a window for some terrorist mischief? Yes.
But that's all we hear. No wonder the country is in a mixed mood about
Iraq.
If you hear about the buildings that are not burning, though, it is a
different story indeed.
Rivera is no shill for George W. Bush. But Bush, Condi Rice and Colin
Powell together could not have been as effective as Geraldo was Thursday
night on the Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes program.
"When I got to Baghdad, I barely recognized it," he began, comparing
his just-completed trip to two others he made during and just after the
battle to topple Saddam. "You have over 30,000 Iraqi cops and militiamen
already on the job. This is four months after major fighting stopped.
"Can you imagine that kind of gearing up in this country? Law and
order is better; archaeological sites are being preserved; factories,
schools are being guarded."
But what about the secondhand griping that the media have been so
efficiently relating about power, water and other infrastructure?
"To say that Iraq is being rebuilt is not true," answered Rivera. "Iraq
is being built. There was no infrastructure before; we are doing it. I
just think the good news is being underestimated and underreported."
At this juncture, one must evaluate how to feel about the voices
telling us only about the bad news in Iraq, whether from the mouths of
news anchors or Democratic presidential hopefuls.
At best, they are underinformed. At worst, their one-sided assessments
of post-Saddam Iraq are intentional falsehoods for obvious reasons.
If I hear one more person mock that "Mission Accomplished" banner
beneath which President Bush thanked a shipload of sailors and Marines a
few months back, I'm going to spit. That was a reference to the ouster of
Saddam's regime, and that mission was indeed accomplished, apparently to
the great chagrin of the American left.
No one said what followed would be easy or cheap, and that's why the
dripping-water torture of the cost and casualty stories is so infuriating.
Remember we pay our soldiers whether they are in Iraq or in Ft Bragg,
North Carolina.
We should all mourn the loss of every fallen soldier. But context cries
out to be heard. Our present news media is not performing this task.
As some dare to wonder if this might become a Vietnam-like quagmire,
I'll remind whoever needs it that most of our 58,000 Vietnam war toll died
between 1966 and 1972, during which we lost an average of about
8,000 per year. That's about 22 per day, every day, for thousands of
days on end.
Let us hear no more Vietnam comparisons. They do not equate.
What I hope to hear is more truth, even if we have to wrench it from
the mouths of the media and political hacks predisposed to bash the
remarkable job we are doing every day in what was not so long ago a
totalitarian wasteland.
Local elections are under way across Iraq, Rivera reported. "Where
Kurds and Arabs have been battling for decades, things have been settling
down. Administrator Paul Bremer is doing a great job."
So does Geraldo think his media colleagues are intentionally painting
with one side of the brush?
"I'm not into conspiracy theories...there's just more bang for your
buck when you report the GI who got killed rather than the 99 who didn't
get killed, who make friends, who helped schedule elections, who helped
shops get open for business, who helped traffic flow again.
"The vast majority of Iraqis are very happy to have us there... I would
like to see a bit more balance." This needs to be reported to the American
Public who are presently being duped. I expect the dominant media culture
to nitpick Bush, and Democrats to blast him with reckless abandon. But
when that leads to the willful exclusion of facts that would shine
truthful light on the great work of the American armed forces, that level
of malice plumbs new depths. Some call it - TREASON
I also found something else the other day that I found funny. I use 'BLOGGER' for my 'blog host, and they have occasional news for us. Here was the one from the other day:
The Onion: Mom Finds Out About Blog. Here at Blogger, we have no official stance on what to do when your mom discovers your blog. Maybe we should think about that.
Update: We now have an official stance on this matter.
– Biz [11/12/2003 03:52:17 PM] #
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
... a week later ...
Still no pictures posted, but I´ve got some great ones! The problem is our cable internet has not been hooked up yet. I´m gonna buy a satellite dish to haul around so that will never be a problem again.
btw, when you see a "ý" instead of an "i", it´s because I´m usýng a Turkish keyboard, and the layout ýs a být dýfferent, so just bear wýth me, ok??
Looks like my post a couple weeks ago was premature (about not seeýng fall weather). The temperatures are dropping, and we woke up to a little snow yesterday! I´m not complaining, but everyone else is whining! =)
I have to run, but HOPEFULLY our net will be up tonight!
Love to all!
btw, when you see a "ý" instead of an "i", it´s because I´m usýng a Turkish keyboard, and the layout ýs a být dýfferent, so just bear wýth me, ok??
Looks like my post a couple weeks ago was premature (about not seeýng fall weather). The temperatures are dropping, and we woke up to a little snow yesterday! I´m not complaining, but everyone else is whining! =)
I have to run, but HOPEFULLY our net will be up tonight!
Love to all!
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
FINALLY!... I'm in Ankara, Turkey!
Several months past when I was SUPPOSED to be here, and after several HOURS flying, I made it to Turkey! Our flight took us through one stopover in Cairo (slept through that mostly), then a transfer in Frankfurt to Munich, then on to Ankara. Those of you good at your geography will notice that we flew in a big circle to get back to Ankara, but we flew Business Class, so we didn't complain (much). It still doesn't make much sense to me, but in order to have an open return date, we had to fly this route...
Cooler temperatures, actual FOLIAGE, hilly countryside, and an amazingly overpriced mall is about all I've experienced of this place so far. We're staying in the Sheraton for the time being, but are looking at an apartment at the end of the week.
That's all I've got time for right now. I'll post more tonight, and include some pictures... I need to stop promising that...
Love to all!
Cooler temperatures, actual FOLIAGE, hilly countryside, and an amazingly overpriced mall is about all I've experienced of this place so far. We're staying in the Sheraton for the time being, but are looking at an apartment at the end of the week.
That's all I've got time for right now. I'll post more tonight, and include some pictures... I need to stop promising that...
Love to all!
Saturday, November 01, 2003
... clearing the bats out of my belfry...
Ok, got the bats cleared out, now I need to find some turkeys to fly around in a few weeks...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)