Friday, July 24, 2009

The long dark night of the blog

Wow...it's been a long time! The main reason for that is there hasn't been much to report. I'll try to summarize things that have happened since our trip to Turkey:

- I got LASIK surgery and can now see pretty darn good without glasses (still occasionally need reading glasses, but that just goes with getting older I guess). The experience was fine, though filled with the occasional hilarity that goes along with doing things in a different country. Total cost: 400KD (about $1500). About the cost of a new computer...not bad really. The procedure went without a hitch, though it did take about a month for the full healing to take place and my eyes to start learning how to use their muscles to "auto-focus" which I've never had to use before because I had glasses.

- Got a PS3 in preparation for Kerri and Rowan leaving. I figured even I would need a break from WoW now and then, so it's been good to have other options. Much as I am a Sony hater, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the PS3, especially the online store which is sooooo much more responsive than Nintendo's. Even in the US with cable internet, the Nintendo store was like molasses. The PS3 store is zippy and best of all does queued background downloading. Been playing Bioshock, which is something of a sci-fi horror game, and it does its job well! I have to play with the lights on, and even then I can only handle it for short bursts. Started Resistance and it's very enjoyable. In WoW news I finally got all 4 of my characters to 80 and am working on gearing up my hunter to join my rogue in epic awesomeness.

- Kerri and Rowan (as mentioned earlier) are in the US for 2 months. They are visiting friends and family for the first time since they came out here in Jan 2008. It's been almost 1 month since they left and they'll be back in about 1 more. They are doing well, though very busy with everything. They did get to visit Kentucky where my father-in-law is now living and went to the Mammoth Caves which are going to be the highlight of the entire trip for Rowan I'm sure. He regaled me the other night on Skype about it.

- Night shift begins! As of right now, I'm switching to night shift again for 2 months, 1 of which while Kerri and Rowan are gone, which is good. Also, I believe I'll get at least a few weeks of Ramadan while on nights, which is excellent. Much better to be in sync with the rest of the populace.

- Towards the end of next month, I'll be heading to New Delhi to hang out with my aunt Luanne for a week and half or so. She'll be wrapping up a trekking trip in the mountains and I'll have some time to kill, so we're just going to hang around New Delhi and maybe make a trip out to the country side or two, nothing fancy. Getting the visa was interesting though. You have to purchase tickets first, then go to a private company here in Fahaheel (link from the embassy's website) which processes visa applications to India. You photocopy your passport, residency, and itinerary, fill out a form, provide two passport style pictures, and pay around 12KD to start applying. It takes around 10 business days to process total. Then they call you back to submit your passport and pay the rest (another 20KD or so), then another 3 business days and you can come pick up your passport with your new visa to travel to India. What a pain! But hey, now I know.

Well, that's it really. I'm going to head out now, it's around 4:30pm, so everything is just opening up for the evening after the heat of the day. I might head down to IKEA and see about finding some kind of darker curtain backing for keeping things nice and dark during the day.

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