Categories: General | January 27th, 2009 | by breandan | no comments
I think I may be allergic to something in the building where i work. It was built circa 1950, and has some serious issues with it’s HVAC system – some days, it’s over 85 in the office, and others it’s below 65. I also suspect that there’s something… growing… in the ductwork. Thankfully, not Alien style, but still. I get to work at 8:00 AM, and I feel fine. By 10:00 AM, my sinuses are putting some pressure on my head. When I leave for lunch, I feel like I need Sudafed or similar drugs – but by the end of lunch, I feel just fine again.
I’ve never suffered from allergies before. I really hope this isn’t the start.
Categories: General, Photographs | January 21st, 2009 | by breandan | no comments
Yay! I’m back to posting pictures to the photoblog and to flickr. That is all. Carry on.
Categories: Family News, General | January 20th, 2009 | by breandan | no comments
We woke up this morning with a nice little surprise – a full blown snowstorm. It’s been since the Fall of 2001 that I’ve had a day off work for snow related reasons, so it was really nice to take a walk this morning in the freshly snow-covered streets. There was a good 4 or 5 inches of snow on our car in the driveway, but the snowfall was probably more like 3 inches. It was still a welcome sight. I took a number of pictures, and found out that my 24-120 is starting to freeze up – I think the lubrication internally is finally wearing out.
Today is also the inauguration of Barak Omaba as the 44th President of the United States. Got to watch that as I worked from home – it was very nice, sitting on the couch while hacking on MySQL databases and watching snow fall. I wish every day of work could be like this.
Categories: General | January 16th, 2009 | by breandan | no comments
‘Tis a mistake: Time flies not
He only hovers on the wing:
Once born, the moment dies not
‘Tis an immortal thing
James Montgomery, “Time: A Rhapsody” (1850)
Categories: Family News, General | January 13th, 2009 | by breandan | no comments
So, the whirlwind trip is over – I’ve finished off my time in the UAE (again) and am settled back in Raleigh, NC, for the foreseeable future. House is up and running, jet lag isn’t so bad anymore, and the family is happy to have me home again. And it’s good to be back in the US – surrounded by the things I knew growing up and the comforts I grew accustomed to before I decided to go on my little adventure.
My computers are currently in transit from Dubai, and most of the pictures I took over the last three weeks didn’t get up into DropBox, so I’m working with my old boss to copy them off the temporary storage space he kindly allowed me to use until I get US based storage worked out. Hence, there are no new pictures on the photoblog side of this site, and it may be another couple of weeks before I get any semblance of order restored to posting.
At some point, I’m going to write up my frustrations with HSBC, the Sharjah Police Department, expiring passports and international data transfer, but at the moment, I’m focused on trying to be a pleasant human being, and it would be out of character to rant and rave like a lunatic about something that is settled and done with. Also, I’m composing all of this on my iPhone, which isn’t the easiest thing to write on.
