Wandering in the Wilderness
Today began with an early wake up call at 4 am... I'm not sure if I woke up or ever went to sleep. Cairo and Egypt was a whirlwind or should I say a sandstorm? Something you don't think about or at least I never have was how to clean a building after a sandstorm. I noticed that the buildings and the streets and pretty much everything was very dirty and dusty. I guess when you live in the desert, it's kind of hard to keep all the sand out. And when it doesn't rain, it's kind of hard to clean it out. So they do the best they can.
Driving out of Cairo this morning was a breeze however. I didn't expect a city of that size (18 million) to have a real down time, but there were very few people and cars on the street early in the morning.
We rode the bus for most of the day until we got to Israel. The desert of Sinai is over 27,000 square km so it's not hard to see how the Children of Israel could wander for 40 years. It was pretty boring until we got close to the coast when the mountains just shot up and were very sheer and rocky. They are very comparable to the Rocky Mountains but without all the green stuff. There were no trees or plants and very few shrubs. Just a lot of rocks and sand.
We crossed the border without any major problems. Single guys tended to get selected for more security screening. There were also mostly women at the border patrol - even the guards on top of the hill were women. Since all people are required to serve in the Israeli army border checkpoints tend to be a place where women serve due to low risk of fighting.
Once we crossed into Israel we were in the resort town of Elat. We were able to go to the Underwater Observatory where there is an incredible coral reef and thousands of fish and other sea creatures. The observatory has a lot of windows underwater right on the reef so there are some really cool shots.
We have tonight free. Not sure what we're doing but I'm sure I'll be relaxing.
Todays fun fact: Hitting a camel is a lot bigger deal than hitting a car.
The highlight of the day: Nearly losing my lunch on the moving/shaking/jerking IMAX underwater experience
The lowlight of the day: Saying goodbye to Arab Lucas Bair.
Tip of the day: Don't mention the word bomb at an Israeli checkpoint. (not that anyone did - just a good thing to remember...)
Late.
2.5 Million and Counting
The first full day of sightseeing was a wonder to behold-literally. Of the seven wonders of the ancient world, only one is still surviving - The Pyramids of Giza. They are a lot closer to the city then I expected. We had maybe driven 15 minutes from our hotel and I happened to look out the window and bam-there they were. It was very surreal at first. I had seen pictures of these things countless times in books and movies yet there they were larger than life.
The biggest one has over 2.5 million stones and each stone weighs between 1-2 tons. That's a big enchilada. We were also able to climb on the pyramids - something I would have never imagined possible. You can also go inside. We did and for about 300 yards you walk up and down ramps bending almost completely over. If you have any type of claustrophobia this would not be for you. The tunnel finally opened into a large room approximately 50 feet long by 20 feet wide by 30 feet high. Not a big deal until you realize it was carved from a single stone. There was a sarcophagus near the end that I had to lay down in of course. It was a perfect fit. Now I just have to worry about The Rock or some other mummy coming after me for sleeping in his bed...
Today's fun fact You could fill your car with a tank of gas for around $5... Who wants a stuffed camel for a souvenir when you could bring home some cheap gas?
The highlight of the day: Seeing the pyramids in person and riding a camel (careful they spit...)
The lowlight of the day: Paying a dollar for a warm Coke.
Tip of the day: Watch your step, camels don't wear those fancy bags on their behinds like horses do...
What tomorrow brings: A trip under the Suez Canal, across the Sinai and into the resort town of Elat (the Las Vegas of Israel). Shalom!
I'm Leeeeavin' On a Jetplane...
After a day and a half of flying we made it to Cairo. The flights were very good and surprisingly not boring. The longest flight from Washington to Vienna went through the night. I was able to sleep a little but didn't feel the need to sleep more.
The plane had a very cool personal entertainment system. Each passenger has their own LCD screen built into the headrest of the seat in front of them and each seat is also equipped with a remote control/game controller. From the screen's menu you had options to either view interactive info about the flight, choose a movie, play a game, go shopping, or view the on board cameras. The interactive flight info was interesting and depressing all at the same time. The screen would show a map of the world and then draw a red line with a plane-a la Indiana Jones-and trace how far the plane had gone. It would also show you the air speed of the plane, the temperature outside, how many miles we had gone and so on. Neat stuff. The on board camera gave you an option to view from the pilots perspective or what was below the plane. The below option didn't work but the pilot cam was neat when we landed. Out of the haze you could see the runway, and track our landing and taxi all the way to the terminal. During the rest of the flight you could choose from 8 different movies and shows at any time. Their were also games built in like solitaire, chess, and others. You could even call from seat to seat. I tried to call Dad, but he never answered.
I slept like a rock on the 3 hour flight from Vienna to Cairo. I had a window seat and was hoping to see some cool stuff as we flew over the country but there was a really unusual haze that limited the viewing distance to around 400 meters (that's about 1 and half football fields for all you Americans out there).
The drive through Cairo to our hotel was nuts. I don't think I'll get mad at anyone ever again for cutting me off (okay, truth be told - I probably will...) but you have to have nerve to drive in this stuff. The best way to describe it is to call it a big ol game of chicken. Who will flinch first? The 10 ton bus, the motor cycle or the blind guy crossing all 6 lanes (lanes is a figurative word) of traffic. Yes, there was a blind guy trying to cross 6 lanes of traffic.
Our hotel is very nice though there is one computer with internet access for the whole hotel. Luckily I was able to hack in and use my own. If you see my name on Fox News pay no attention...We had a good buffet and I picked up some souvenir Coke bottles for only 36 Egyptian pounds.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Pyramids of Giza so there should be some cool pics up tomorrow night.
2:18
Day one has begun, and I'm still not packed... I just finished posting the initial bits to this little website. You can watch the map and keep track of where we are on a day to day basis. I started in a couple days ahead though. I am getting more excited as the night wears on and I am debating whether or not to go to sleep. We have to leave around 3:30 am - normally my bedtime.
So, I am going to go finish packing and prepare for a day of airports! Our route tomorrow (I mean today...is: Des Moines to Chicago to Washington to Vienna to Cairo.
Mickie bought me a really cool travel pillow, that should help.
A Shtickl of fluoride
Well, its t-minus 3 days before we leave for Israel. The trip should be awesome, and you can follow every step here. You will also get a preview of the new blog format. I am switching to WordPress when I get back - though the design will be different.
Mia went in on Monday for some tests due to recent uti's. It was a fairly stressful day as the sedatives didn't really work and she had a bad reaction coming out of one of them. The good thing though is that she doesn't seem to remember any of it. We don't have any results back yet, but pray that everything would be okay, or that they would find something and know how to treat it.
I just upgraded our home computer with 3 200 gb hard drives. CompUSA had an awesome sale this weekend where they were only 29.99 each. I now have almost a terabyte of storage at home. I am in the process of putting all of our media (dvd's, music, pictures) on one media drive that will be able to serve the entire house on our wireless network. There is some really cool free software called Media Portal that I think will do everything I want. So in the end we should be able to access any movie/cd/picture on any tv or laptop with just a couple clicks.
I was reading in Hebrews 1 and 2 yesterday and was really struck by how awesome Jesus is - God the Father calls him "My God", and "My Lord." And then in the midst of his glory and honor he calls us (humans - His creation) His own brothers - stop and think about the significance of the statement for 30 seconds or so. Incredible.
I've been watching a little of the Olympics but have been disappointed with the selection of things being shown. Maybe it's just my timing of tuning in, but it always seems like there is something that is unbearable to watch - like cross country skiing... Is there anything that makes you want poke your eyes out more than having to watch cross country skiing? Maybe - if you are forced to watch women's hockey. I would like to see some combination of sports - like the biathlon and ski-jumping. You could have the biathletes ski over to the ski jump and try and shoot the jumpers. I would also like to see a combination of NASCAR and luge. How cool would it be to go 3 wide in a turn going 90mph? Bump drafting would take on a whole new meaning.
Time for this post to end. See you in Israel.
Internet Explorer 7 - Eye Candy at Best
The wait is finally over...kinda.
Microsoft has released the beta version of IE 7 which has promised to be more standards complient (something I am just learning to do myself) and have improved features. I downloaded it a couple days ago and I am pretty impressed - though there is not a lot that is new that the other browsers don't have, the text rendered by the browser is stunning. It is so easy on the eyes to read, going back to Firefox feels like someone is stabbing my eyeballs. But functionality over beauty will ultimately rule so unless IE 7 can garner the ammount of 3rd party extensions Firefox has it will continue to loose ground.
Firefox 2.0 is set to be released this summer and if it can match the same clearness of text IE 7 has, Microsoft is doomed to be slain by ghost of its former nemesis.
If you want a treat for the eyes test out the new beta version.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/ie7/default.mspx
The Toil of the Desktop Calendar
Anyone else feel guilty when you get behind a few days on your desktop day by day calendar? Getting a daily desktop calendar for Christmas feels like a commited long term relationship and if you're not in for the long haul you are sure to break your vows. This is how it normally goes...
The weekend came, Monday morning was crazy and before you know it papers are piled high and the poor desktop calendar gets shoved to the back. Only when you emerge from your paper disaster do you see the corner of the little desktop calender peeking from above the fray- and that is when the guilt hits. You've let him down - you promised to spend a little time each morning laughing at his cartoons, or marveling at his little bits of wisdom and trivia only he can provide.
You promise it won't happen again, but deep down you know its just a matter of time before you look down and your calendar says June 2nd and the real date is September 3rd. Sometimes you'll try to get back on track. You'll rip out an entire 3 month section to try and make things right, but you're out of the habit now. Another month passes and the same Far Side cartoon from September 4th is staring back at you - sadly, with crumpled edges. It is then when you give up and say "Next year I'll do better little desktop calendar. I promise I'll change you every day. We'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll dance a jig...until next year little calendar."