Room, basic room

The intertubes are being happy tonight, and I figured out why some of my pictures wouldn't upload, so yeah for me.

So a couple of people have asked what my room looks like.  Basically it's just a room about 16' X 20'.  It's normally split up between two or three people.  Right now, the 3rd guy is more or less never here, so I hijacked some of his space for the other guy and myself.  My area is about 8X10.  I was lucky enough to buy a couch, TV and a couple other items from a guy shipping out, so at least I don't have to sit on my bed all the time.  And the TV is big enough to XBOX on.  :)

And before anyone asks....  that little thing sticking up from the corner of my laptop screen is the 3G wireless adapter that makes the intertubes come to life.....sometimes.

I also got this as part of the package:

Not the biggest, but it does a good job a keeping stuff cold.  No freezer though.  :(  Those are boxes of bottled water underneath it.  You can't, I repeat CAN NOT drink the tap water in this country.  Which is really sad considering that they de-sal something like 95% of their fresh water and it's some of the cleanest in the world.....at the plant.  But the water system is awful.  And that's in town.  Here on Buehring, ALL of the water is trucked in.  EVERY. SINGLE. DROP.  And yes, we do run out on occasion.  I've been lucky not to have had to rinse off using bottled water yet.

And what do I currently have in my fridge?

(best thing in there is the little bottle in the door with the green label and red cap  :)  Thanks Baby!!)
Actually, the Hot Pockets have already gone bye-bye....

I know it seems like a really small space, but since I work 12 hours a day (with an hour drive each way), other than my days off, I'm really just sleeping here.  And I try to go do other stuff on my days off.  They have a movie theater, a couple of rec halls and plenty of places to go sit and read, so the room isn't that bad.  They just installed a new AC unit, and it works nicely as a heater too.  Now if I can just get the other roommate to keep the temp somewhat cooler than the surface of the sun......

More later...

I can fix it..... I'm mechanical

To kill the slack time over here, a few of us got R/C cars.  The other guys bought new ones, but my son was kind enough to let me borrow his for a while.  It's a couple of years old, and while it still ran pretty good, time has taken its toll on it.
When it got here it needed the steering servo rebuilt (the little motor/gearbox that turns the front wheels) and the original battery was a bit lacking.  Once I got it up and running again, its performance wasn't nearly what the other guy's cars are.  So....  I made some basic (e.g. inexpensive) upgrades.

First up, shocks cleaned and rebuilt using heavier oil and and some higher rate springs. 

Next I mounted up some new tires.  The fronts are in good shape, but the rear wheels were broken around the lip and the tires were getting a little worn out.  And, because there happens to be a LOT of sand over here, I invested in some paddles.

So here's what it looks like with the upgraded stuff, and stock tires.

And with the paddles....

I also (since it takes about 10 days to get parts shipped over here) picked up some spare gear sets, a-arms and misc hardware.  I haven't had a chance to run it with the new stuff yet, but it should do much better.

More later.

Happy New Year!

Went into KC for the day.  Got a few parts for my R/C cars, ate some very nice Lebanese food, and saw a movie.  There's an IMAX theater in the 360 Mall, so we saw the new Tron movie.  Actually, I'd already seen it, having ... um.... found it on the 'net already, but IMAX is MUCH better than my laptop.... and it was in 3D.  Of course, it had Arabic subtitles, and we had to sit in the bachelor section up front, but it was good.  The movie was 4KD (~14US) to get in, but popcorn, skittles and a soda was only about 1.250KD.  However, if you ask them for salt for the popcorn.... they go all 'deer in the headlights' on you.


On the way back to base, we stopped by one of the roadside vendors and picked up some fun.....  :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-B90NMzsA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6dJ3HB4jpg

(sorry about the links.... I can't get the blogger software to upload video directly from here....)

The video doesn't do the sound justice.....  it's amazing how LOUD things can be when there isn't anything around to bounce the sound off of.  hehe...  of course, they are slightly bigger than your normal bottle rockets.  These were the smallest ones, and they were about 1.5 inches in diameter and about 9 inches long.

So that's was my New Year's eve fun.  :)

Later...

Well crap....

Well the piece of software (POS) I was using to post to the blog, which was much faster given my limited bandwidth issues, has decided that all of the post from 13 NOV 2010 until now, weren't only not worth posting, but has sent them to someplace that I can't find.  Sooo.....  I will have to go back and re-enter everything as I get time, bandwidth, and find stuff.  :(  sorry.

BUT.....  since it's going to be a new year and all....  it seems like a good time to try and start over with the blog thing.  I'll be doing it thru the blogger interface, so posts might be kind of bland if the internet is crap.  Which has been a LOT lately.

So...  here we go....

Bugs

Well now that it's getting darker a little sooner, I can wonder around the job site and see what comes out at night.

I'd been seeing these goofy tracks in the sand, but couldn't figure out what was making them.  Well, this guy does.  He's about 1 1/2" and gets around pretty fast.
:)

Road hazards

Here's a view that you probably won't see back in the US of A.

:)

Updates....

Sorry I haven't been doing updates as often as I should (could).  I just get tired of looking at a computer screen.

Anyways, I had a little fun today.  A co-worker and I drove down to LSA so he could visit an old friend.  And while we were there, I made a new one.....

His name is Clyde, and he was very friendly.

:)