Stuff I broke this week

Can you identify these objects?

• popcorn popper(s)
• sole(s)
• Simona's iPAQ charger(s)

How did I break them?

• shaking the stove while making popcorn?
• walking all over our huge baches?
• uhm, it's old and the rubber was rotten...

Which of the objects isn't really "broken"?

My next post will be about the unbreakable appliances we have in this residence.

life as a blog

I have a friend who lives to tell stories on himself.  Far says that he views all his experiences as a narrator and for this reason he doesn't really suffer during his mishaps.   He goes through the experience enjoying in advance the great story he's going to tell to his next audience.  Well, I wonder if blogging is a bit like that. 
These gray overcast days in bumpy old buses virtually brighten up as I picture them enhanced by the light of my computer screen.
Something else I think about is this: is it a bad thing that I enjoy messing around with my computer more than using it as a tool to enhance my productivity?  Let me tell you what I did today.  I don't have my laptop with me on this trip; I decided my smart phone would be all I needed.  But I'm not sure, for one thing it is so tiny that I'm getting tennis elbows east and west.  So I made a thumbdrive with portableapps.  And the truth is that I enjoyed the process of making the drive a lot more than I enjoy using it.  The first day or two it makes me more productive because it's new and interesting.  Maybe that's why software developers are always changing things?  Maybe that's why we like to move the furniture?  comments please?

Crusader Castle

We also were in Sidon, the ancient town is gone, and the oldest thing there was this castle.  I had fun with the lighting in there.

Tyre

We also saw Tyre.
These posts are after the fact, but I couldn't upload the pictures when I was over there.

The Cedars

I posted my Lebanon pictures on flicker, let's see if I can make a link to them for you to veiw them here...

A night in the village

This is a groggy morning after a wild late night in the village.  We got to bed early enough after a big day with several visits and a couple of phone calls which had me juggling my raw egg emotions and trying to eat an apple at the same time kind of thing.  
But we had a good day and finally it was over and a person was free to drown everything in a good night's sleep.  And so the lights go off but sleep doesn't always come easily, even in the most comportable of beds, finally in the middle of the night Anita says , "I'm putting in my earplugs", and cheerfully has 10 more things to tell me; I was twisting and kicking around in a borrowed winter mummy type down bag, so missed a lot of the important details of those 10 things until she started to scream.  I was struggling with the zipper mechanism of this high-tech out of season down bag and thought the commotion would soon cease, but when I noticed in the outer reaches of my peripheral vision in the dark that she was jumping around on her bed I began to pay attention.  (skipping a few details here) ahem...anyway then the lights were on and she's attacking a huge beetle on the floor.  As she furiously beat it to a pulp she says shrilly, "you know the name of this place is Novie BUG??"

Many travels

I've come a long ways Virginia Slims, and still on the road. Anita and I are on the bus on the way to a gsp mtg. I have my earphones on with music turned up full blast nearly to overwhelm the sounds of murder coming from the movie on the front of the bus.
On the way down here I had 3 consecutive nights on the train, the last night was on the top bunk in the open carriage. It was unusually uncomfortable because my mattress kept wanting to slide off the bunk, which made me feel like I'd be sliding off right along with it. I'd use my two feet to grab the corner that was dangling in the face of the passengers sitting on the bottom bunk, but that would nearly precipitate debilitating foot cramps. So you may ask why I didn't just sit up and yank it with my to hands at the end of my own two arms, well there isn't enough space up there to do that. I can just imagine folding myself into the shape of a paperclip and THEN getting debilitating foot cramps.
I managed to extricate myself from the top bunk in the morning and then spend the rest of the trip sitting at the feet of the grandma who remained reclining on the bottom bunk. After a phone conversation with Anita I became part of the general conversation...'are you a teacher or a translator? I saw you reading that Agatha Christy book last night...I always think there's got to be something strange about a person who likes to read about how to murder people...' oh wow, well at least I just read about it I've never committed any murders, I guess I should just have read my bible on the train last night then I could torment you about the need to repent for your soul's salvation...I thought all those things before I put in my earphones to drown out the thoughts of murder from the screen inside my head.