So long, and thanks for all the fish

I've really enjoyed writing this blog, but it's time to say good-bye. Thanks for coming 'round.

Out the window

A few days ago, we went down to Tyre to see some archeological sites that we missed out on last time. While I'm working on the write-up, I thought I would entertain you all with pictures of road-side attractions.

When we first saw this piece of installation art/monument, Mary Ann didn't realize it was supposed to be a boot on top of the troop transport. Therefore, until someone can come up with a better interpretation, you are hereby notified that it is in fact, a boot. For those of you unfamiliar with the history of South Lebanon, this is with reference to the retreat of Isreal.



The ratio of political posters to commercial advertisements is getting out of balance here. Bonus points if you can spot the fake plant.

Enfe

We’ve been living in Lebanon for a while now, so we’ve seen most of the big name sites. Fortunately, there are plenty of little nooks and crannies to enjoy. The accessibility of these sites has improved dramatically with the arrival of a swanky new set of bilingual guidebooks. These are so much better than the little fold out pamphlets that were parading around before. For those of you who might be curious, the whole set can be downloaded here, or you can look at the one for Enfe here.

It was fairly easy to get there, although we needed to do a certain amount of adaptation. For example, the name of the city on the brochure is Enfe, and the name on the map is also Enfe, but the phonetic spelling preferred by the people who made the road signs is Anfeh. Just something to keep in mind for the hordes of pilgrims who will try to retrace our steps in an effort to pay homage to our greatness.

The map of the city provided in the brochure does correspond well with the actual location, although the lack of street names on the map was annoying. Nonetheless, we were able to find our way and park fairly easily. Once we got out of the car, the girls were in the mood to run off some energy, so we took some time to check the place out.





For some reason, this structure features prominently in all the brochures and guidebooks I’ve seen, so I decided to follow the crowd and take a picture of it myself.



I particularly like archeological sites with a high frolick and scamper factor, but with few chances for children to kill themselves. Enfe did quite well in this criteria, with funerary caves, basins for ancient olive oil presses and salt evaporators cut right into the rock.



About that time, a herd of very friendly goats came over to visit. This one in particular decided to live up to the stereotype by eating a plastic bag.





We decided to offer them some more healthful food.





After much exploring and frolicking, we eventually moved on to the second site in the area, the Abbey of Balamand.

Joys of summer

Technically speaking, it isn't really very warm out, but Stella and I are highly motivated to enjoy some of the swimming options available around Lebanon these days. Last week, we made use of a sunny day to head down to the Corniche and try out the water.

At the last minute, Stella decided that the waves were a bit too loud, and decided to stick with some rather shallow tide pools that were free of any cantankerous waves.



I splashed around with her for a while before wandering off to go check the breakers for sharks. You can never be too careful about sharks.



Anyway while I was gone, my wife had some loustabout hoodlums yell unpleasentries at her from the walkway. Grrrr

Not to be deterred, we moved down the coast a bit. There was a small herd of crabs hanging out in a small cavelet, so I scooped one up to show to the girls. While Stella is a lot more mobile, the crab would have to be highly arthritic to stick around long enough for Danielle to get a good look. Drawing on my deep respect for life, I gently let the crab go so it could eat enough scum and filth to get big enough to be turned into someone else’s dinner later on.

How to rob a bank

Looks like these crooks had it all figured out. They picked a bank right next to an Army barracks and robbed it in broad daylight, with a fake grenade. Stragenly, the security cameras happen to be turned off for maintenance. Oh, and the staff didn't trigger the alarm until after they were gone.

Hmmmm

Fully story here.

Luna Park

I had thought that taking some time off from work would leave me more free time to blog. I had even decided that I should probably limit myself to one post a day so I didn’t saturate things. Silly me. We’ve been having all sorts of fun, but for some reason, there is an inversely proportional relationship between having a great time and blogging about it….

That being said, I’d like to give my endorsement to Luna Park. The four of us wandered down there in the middle of the afternoon this week, and the place was absolutely deserted. We were quite literally the only guests there. We thought they might chase us off, but this was not the case. They were quite happy to have us around, and started up any ride we wanted to go on. The fee usually amounts to about 60 cents per adult. It was the easiest, most convenient amusement park I have ever been to.

Stella had a great time on the Ferris wheel, which also provided a great view of the coast.



The hydraulic airplanes were also nice but defitintely needed adult accompaniment. The little darling would have been sent flying by the centrifugal force.



Oddly enough, some friends of ours from the German playground showed up at about this point. They were the only other people in the park.



One of the rides left a little something to be desired. I’m normally pretty enthusiastic about a good tilt-a-whirl, but this one seemed a little dodgy.



Is that an exhibitionist she-hulk in some kind of reverie?

Yes, I know it’s potentially lethal

The volume on our television has been growing progressively less responsive lately. Yesterday, the whole set shut down. It was making an admirable effort, but it was failing the critical image on the screen test. Being the cyberguy that I am, I could not just leave the thing alone, or call for a so-called “repair man”.

Televisions contain enough juice to provide a one-way ticket to the cemetery, but I was undeterred. Being a graduate of what passes for Boy Scouts in North Carolina, I’ve seen folks eat poison, chop limbs and burn down medium-sized sections of a National Park (true story). I take this as evidence that the natural consequences of risk-taking behavior happen to other people.



I cracked it open and low and behold, was able to find a spot on the main circuit board that had corroded. This section was responsible for the volume subsystem, so I was feeling pretty confident in my ace deductive reasoning. I had hoped that the problem was caused by the corrosion creating a short circuit. If this was the case, there was a chance it could be fixed by simply cleaning it. Unfortunately, no dice.

My sister-in-law gave me a swanky portable microscope for Christmas, so I whipped that out for a closer look. Some of the wiring had been completely eaten through and simply wasn’t there anymore. Electricity had been flowing through a mixture of oxidant and a steadily decreasing amount of wire. Poor little TV, it tried so hard.

Anyway, it’s dead and I’m alive so that’s the end of the story.

A certain subtext...

I doubt the people who made this sign are aware of the potential alternate meanings here. Anyway, Andy, this one's for you:

Not too smart

Hey baby, I drive a Brabus. A Smart Brabus. Wanna go for a ride?

Debate skills 101

Discussing things with a three year old requires certain artistry. At that age, they are starting think more logically, but it’s still a work in progress. This charming exchange I had with Stella this afternoon illustrates the principle:

Me: Stella, you are not allowed to ride your bike in the house. You have to ride it on the balcony.

Stella: No! I want to ride it!

Me: You can ride it, but only on the balcony.

Stella: I like eggs

Me: *Stunned*

Mary Ann: You should blog that.

Signage

After all the interest generated by the last sign a posted, I thought I would post another one. Anyone want to guess what the "Live Fast Food" might entail?



I'm reminded powerfully of a scene from the child-traumatizing movie Dark Crystal, where these charmers dine on a bowl of live mice-like things. Not the most appetizing memory.



No, I did not wait around for the establishment to open up and find out from the proprietor what their sign meant.

What do they sell there?

Based on what they are dispalying in the windows, I think this is supposed to be a toystore. Based on the sign, I have no idea whatsoever.


Sorry for the glare from the flash, but I had to take this picture on short notice while in the car.

Solving the problem the Lebanese way...

Having previously blogged about the serious lack of real pepper in my life, I would like to give you all a little update. From time to time, things inexplicably vanish from the Lebanese market. This could be medications, computer equipment, car parts, you name it. Typically, this problem is solved by that most effective of Lebanese tools, the wasta network.

For all those of you outside the country, “wasta” is a delightful little word full of so many layers of meaning. We don’t really have a single English word that encompases all the many definitions of wasta, but a good general translations would be “connections”. In these sorts of cases, it involves finding some friend of a friend who is flying into Lebanon from a better supplied location and persuading them to play mule for you.

In my case, I didn’t actually have to formally activate my wasta network. The problem was solved by the timely arrival of my mother, who saw it in the goodness of her heart to arrive in Lebanon with a pocket full of this:



Pepper packets from Turkey.

Yipee!

My new windows background

I took this picture while we were all on a walk to the park. I decided I liked it enough to be my new windows background for a while...