SITTING IN DUBAI.......READING MY........ DIGITAL BOOK!!??

Well, my new, favorite gadget is the Sony Reader, digital book. I have always been an avid reader, especially in the last 10 years, especially since my time in Iraq started. My first year in Baghdad I read 130 novels, typically reading an average of 3 to 5 at one time. Buying books can be very expensive and cumbersome, especially here in Baghdad. I typically read my books and pass them on to soldiers or the MWR (recreation center), or if I wish to keep the book I will ship it home. Anyway, this little gadget will save me the room, money and need to ship books back and forth to work. It weighs a whopping 9 ouncesand is about 6.9" x 4.8" x 0.3" so it takes up very little room which works well for me.

Right off the bat I downloaded a few Star Wars Novels I have wanted to read, The Dark Tide Novels. I also purchased the Charlaine Harris "Dead" Series, the basis for "True Blood" on HBO. My first chance to use my new reader was on the plane to Heathrow, it was very comfortable in my hand and had two features I enjoyed very much. First, no fumbling with page turning, a convenient little button does that for you, both forward and backward. Second, no bending the corner page to mark your progress, you can continue reading no matter where you stop, it automatically picks up where you left off.

I am interested to see how it reads in different levels and types of light, of course Wikipedia has a pag eon it so here a short blurb and the link....

The Sony Reader is an e-book reader. It uses an electronic paper display developed by E-Ink Corporation that has 166 dpi resolution, four levels of grayscale, is viewable in direct sunlight, requires no power to maintain a static image, and is usable in portrait or landscape orientation. The reader uses an iTunes store-like interface to purchase books from Sony Connect eBook store. It also can display Adobe PDFs, Pub format, personal documents, blogs, RSS newsfeeds, JPEGs, and Sony's proprietary BBeB("BroadBand eBook") format. The Reader can play unencrypted MP3 and AAC audio files

I have the PRS-505 version, here are the specs and a few pictures:

WALL-E showing off the new PRS-505 Reader by Sony

PRS-505 specifications

• Size: 175 x 122 x 8 mm (6.9" x 4.8" x 0.3")



• Weight: 250 g (9 oz)



• Display:
  
  
  
  
  
  • size: 15.5 cm (6 in) diagonal (approx 1/4 area of letter-sized page)
  
  
  
  • resolution: 170 dpi, 8-level gray scale
  
  
  
  • portrait: 90.6 x 122.4 mm (3.57" x 4.82"), 600 x 800 pixels effective 88.2 x 115.4 mm (3.47 x 4.54 in), 584 x 754 pixels
  
  
  
  • minimum font size: 6 pt legible, 7 pt recommended



• Memory: 256 MB standard (200 MB Accessible), Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 8 GB, SD Card up to 2 GB (some non-SDHC 4GB cards may work), or up to 32 GB with SDHC cards and version 1.1 firmware

Lithium Ion Battery, up to 7500 "page turns" per charge

• PC interface: USB Port 2.0



• Available case colors:
  
  
  
  
  • PRS505/LC: Dark Blue
  
  
  
  • PRS505/SC: Silver
  
  
  
  • PRS505SC/JP: Custom Skin (James Patterson Special Edition)
  
  
  
  • PRS505/RC: Sangria Red (introduced in August 2008)

Definetly a worthwhile addition to your gadget collection!

I will add a few pictures as soon as I can! For now check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Reader

FACE DOWN IN CABO KISSING THE GROUND!

The new adventures of old Tim, the short hair was a bad move, LOL!

More Cabo, bad idea!!!!

Naadu was on the local news for a wedding dress stampede sale at Filenes basement.

An artistic moment? I don't think I took this picture.

I had a Heineken bottle stuck in my hand all night.

Miri showing off some of her "Zack & Miri make a porno" moves!

Yeah, smart me thought it would be fun to buy an extra little something for the party. I have always wanted to try Cabo Wabo, the Tequila made by former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar. So while I was shopping for the party I got a bottle ........ big mistake, at least for my head! I am still paying for it!

Kevin, displaying the goods.

If you look close, thats the infamous shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, to my right!!

The trouble begins!!

Miri, Christy & company.

Ann brought my hair thank god.

The Benfield crew and Kate.

The face of wasted!!

At this point I am just fucked-up, LOL!!!

More to come!

HOUSTON..... WE HAVE A PROBLEM...... UH...... WE ARE IN VIRGINIA!!!

Something I have wanted to do for a long time here at home is visit the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Dulles,Virginia: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Basically, this is a freakin HUGE hanger with a shit-load of aircraft of all kind including the actual Space Shuttle Enterprise and THE Enola Gay! Not to be confused with the gay enola, the only direct to San Francisco airline ever in existence! LOL! So here is a bunch of pictures and I will refrain from any further jokes due to their bad taste!

This is a fantastic tourist attraction in the DC area, a must see. There is an actual observation tower to watch all of Dulles Internationals flight traffic.

It is absolutly mind-blowing how many craft are displayed in this building!

LOOK JIM....NANA....AVI......MOM & DAD.....

One staple of my trips home is a trip North to see Nana, Mom, Dad, Avi and possibly any other relatives that can make it. This trip was just the above mentioned which is always nice, Nana is doing great at her new home, she really did a complete 180 turnaround since she shacked up at her new place. Lots of friends, a salon to get her hair done and a great staff that seems to be keeping her very happy. Then the riff-raff came into town to visit! LOL!

Nana and the Terror.....Avi!

Avi, myself and Charlie!

Avi sporting a t-shirt Jocelyn designed!

Nana and I...... her favorite!

MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES TO MY ONE OR TWO FOLLOWERS!!!

Well, I have to apologize to those of you who do follow my blog, I have been a bad blogger, bad! I would spank myself but the thought of that is slightly disturbing and........erotic?? Just kidding... No I'm not...... yes I am!!

So I am back home on my first R&R of year 2, I pushed it back so I was almost at the 5 month mark and DAMN! I needed this break. The trip was long but even the travel was a welcome change. I left Baghdad early and arrived in Dubai around noon so I had about 12 hrs til my flight home. The company has us staying at a new hotel, which was more like apartments so we had 4 people to each apartment. The digs were very, very nice. Somewhat strange as the pictures show.....

Here is a 1/2 bath. Well I think it was, there was a shower fixture here next to the toilet but no way to isolate the water from the rest of the room, lol!

SWEET kitchen but.........

Hope you don't need the freezer!!

Overall a nice place to sleep for 10 hours!

The rest of the trip was long but uneventful, I flew through Heathrow and had a 6 hour layover. One of these days I will stay in London and hit Stonehenge where my alien buddies will pick me up and get me the fuck outta dodge!!

A FEW THOUGHTS TO CLOSE 2008 AND LOOK AHEAD TO 2009....

Well, it is 23:14 in Baghdad, thats 11:14 pm to all you non-military people out there. I got this last minute urge to say a few things before the New Year rings in. I have been absent from the blog lately due to a lack of "positive" events to write about. I apologize for this to any loyal followers of the blog...........yeah, you......over there in the corner! I see you! LOL!

Seriously, lately things have been stressed around these parts and for a lack of better verbage...people have been "bitchy". It appears with the new administration getting ready to step in and make waves of change throughout the world, many people over in this part of the globe are fearing change, because change will bring about a loss of jobs in this region. Since the economic downfall in the US began, this place has been a haven of sorts, staying largly unaffected by the financial woes back in the states. The security has been stripped from our jobs with all the talk of change and withdrawl. There is one saving grace on the horizon for those choosing to work in the Middle East......and ...its...................Afghanistan!!! So go West young man! Or East, North?? Hell, i'm American...I have no fucking clue where Afghanistan is compared to Baghdad. I just get on the planes thy tell me to. Long and short of it is most of these jobs will be moving there. BTW Afghanistan is East of Iraq, thank god for google!

So, 2008, what did it mean to me?

Overall I would have to say 2008 was a bad year for me. This year saw a drastic change in my way of life. my pilgrammage to the Middle East was my choice so I will not complain, however, it is a mind-numbing expererience that will change a person. For better or for worse is yet to be seen, I have not been around the people I love enough yet to display any changes. I do feel different, during my short trips home I felt very out of place, almost uncomfortable. It was an odd feeling, mostly because things are so regimented here and while I was home I was not on the "schedule" I follow here. There is very little to occupy your time other than work. Mostly when I get free time I sleep, thats never a problem.

2008 is definitly not a year I would want to forget, I made a lot of friends here in Baghdad and I will always remember that. Overall, it will be remembered in a positive way, but at the same time, I would love to be home.

Looking forward. 2009.

Much of the same seems to be in my future, definitly finish this contract. There is a possibility I will change companies this year while I am here. That could also lead to a position in Afghanistan or Kuwait. The money is better so I really don't care where I am sent, as cocky as it sounds, I've been shot at with rockets and wether it is here or there I have a feeling the experience is the same. So life has taken on a long-term outlook, don't expect any major changes in the next year. If there are you can always visit "Sandland" to find out about them.

I'm now on Facebook, it has really impressed me with how easy it is to catch-up with people you may have lost touch with. I have re-connected with many friends and family. On a sad note I searched for a good friend of mine from whenI first moved to DC, Daria Markowski. She passed away 2+ years ago, after she left the DC area and moved back north, she was from NY state. I was, and still am, astonished and saddened. She was a major factor in my life for a few years, we had so much fun it should have been illegal....matter of fact...well, anyway. I'll never forgive myself for losing touch and in essence, losing her. She was a gem, full of life and vitality. In retrospect i have not REALLY had fun in life since, it has all been pretty humdrum since her. She was that full of life.

So now it is 23:59, or for you non-military people out there reading, its midnight. 2009. Happy New Year to you all. Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

My resolution for 2009..............try to be more optimistic.

TITANIC WATERWORLD II: THE GREAT FLOOD OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES!

Kevin Costner was in rehab for this sequel and Leonardo DiCaprio got a restraining order filed against us when we finally decided to make this "Big-budget Boat movie combo-sequel" in Iraq. Lucky for us Saddam kept a small fleet here on the Victory Base Camp and he is dead so we can do what we want with them. Unless someone with a machine gun tells us not to.....then we can't. Nobody stopped us so here are a few production stills from our new feature film.....enjoy!

This is our soundstage in Baghdad, structural engineers tell us we have 2 to 4 weeks to use it before it collapses into the canal.

OK, I want this to be the big finale, the money shot location!!! Oops, it's not that kind of movie.

Yeah, if those piles on top of the boats look familiar to some of you it is because it is pigeon shit...I think they imported the birds from Manhattan, because the native birds here don't crap enough all over stuff.