My Cat Audience

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 

They like to watch me drink coffee.

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Posted at 03:50:03 GMT-0700

Category: CatsMediaPlaces

A Friendly Arrival in Iraq

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 

I got through immigration in record time, no complications at all. Only a few questions about the power supply in my luggage at customs.

I thought I would get a cup of coffee from the stand an acquaintance operates at the airport, but I arrived as they were having breakfast. As this is Iraq, that meant I had to join them for a jovial breakfast of eggs, fresh tomato, cucumber, potatoes, and meat pastries while they told me funny stories about each other in a mixture of Arabic, English, and Spanish. They would not let me pay anything, a really pleasant and friendly welcome into the country.

But I couldn’t stay long, I had to take a taxi out to meet my friends at the arrivals lot, where the in car is a B6 Land Cruiser.

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Posted at 20:23:39 GMT-0700

Category: photoPlacesTravel

The Southern Iraqi Desert

Monday, February 4, 2013 

The desert just north of Basra is beautifully empty.

The Southern Iraqi Desert
(repost as only the old version of postie does the right thing with resizing images and creating proper thumbnails)
Click to enlarge.
Posted at 11:41:52 GMT-0700

Category: PlacesTravelWeather

Visiting the Burj Khalifa

Saturday, February 2, 2013 

Dubai is an interesting contrast to Iraq. The first time I went through DXB from BSR it was more than a little culture shock. Getting out of the airport only amplifies the experience.

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Jared and I had dinner at the Mall of Dubai and before eating had a little walk around the fountains – the largest dancing fountains in the world at the foot of the tallest man-made structure in the world.

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Dubai is an good place to spot cars. Obviously the gold accented rolls is more pose-worthy than the $450k GTO. Then again they were probably posing with the license plate number which I think was 1, and therefore cost as much as 20 Ferrari GTOs.

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The fire fountains:
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Posted at 17:58:15 GMT-0700

Category: MapphotoPlacesTravelvideo