scuba

Well, I went scuba diving. A little one at least. :-) And it wasn't scary at all. there weren't a ton of fish, but i would have even been game for more. It was fun, but it's hard to propell all that crap through the water.

I got back from that at around one, changed and headed to the bus station. By the time I caught the 2:15 bus, got here (6:30ish) and caught a cab to my part of town and then walked to my pension it was a little late for the bath. I walked around and did some last minute shopping and caught some dinner at a cafe and then came back to the pension.

I decided to fork out the bucks for an airport shuttle to pick me up here rather than tempt fate and take the cheaper city busses. This way I know I'll get there. Early too. my shuttle comes at 7am and my flight doesn't leave until 0920. I have a really fast connection in Frankfurt that I'm nervous about making though. anyway, My trip is drawing near to a close. As amazing as it's been, I'm ready to go "home" and get some good sleep for a couple days to recover from my vacation. :-) Oh yeah, my dorm tonight has A/C! Yes!!!!

Kayaking

Kayaking today was awesome, although the funky burn on my knees isn't so awesome. I put sunscreen on like four times too, but there is no ultra sweatproof for 110 degrees and 90 percent humidity. I've actually been a lot hotter on leave because of the humidity and lack of a/c. I think I might actually hug it when I get back.

I have a "Discovery Dive" scheduled for tomorow am. It's scuba diving. There are fish involved in scuba diving. I am facing my fear. Besides, if I pee my pants no one will be able to tell. :-)

I should be done with that in the early afternoon and i'll catch a bus to Antalya. I hope to do a bit of shopping there in the evening and maybe even catch a Turkish Bath. It involves sober group nudity and a complete stranger scrubbing you down. It also involves an awesome massage though, which is what I'm looking for.

My flight leaves Antalya 0920 local time on Sat the 16th. I hope all goes smoothly, but I'm not counting on it or anything. :-)

ALERT!!!!

Womens gymnastics!!! anyone who can tape or otherwise record any ofthe womens individual event finals or all around would be my new hero!!!! I love the olympics and am missing it!

Seriously...I'll be your new best friend. Unles your jenny, then I'll just have ou make you some awesome cookies or something.

xoxo

sea and sun

Hey guys. I'll give a blow by blow with pics when I return, but for now here are the highlights.

Fethiye pension veryy unorganized...ARGH!!!

Went on an awesome day cruise yesterday and went hiking and swimming. It was fabulous! The stuff of dreams!

Oh, yeah, as of yesterday my innards are still a little wonky, but I feel normal again. I;ve also lost weight. yeah!

Today I went running off of a 6550 ft mountain! it was spectacular! I went parasailing. I just floated around on thermals for about 30 min before we came in for a landing on the beach. Let me tell you though, after the death-defying drive up the mountain, I didn't even bat an eye jumping off. :-)

I travelled to Kas with unusually few difficulties and after a bit of shuffleing landed at an awesome pension.

Tomorow I'm going on a Sea Kayaking trip around and island and a sunken Lycian city. I've been looking forward to this all trip! The next day I hope to go canyoning, and if not scuba diving, then back to kuwait.

Having a blast!

Murphys Law

Murphy's Law - (Or "Sod's Law") The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it "THIS WAY UP"; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote under magic smoke).

Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the US Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a few days later.

Within months "Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this is sometimes referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law acting on itself!

My Friend Murphy

Anyone who knows me that I have the worlds worst luck when it comes to traveling. It's a running gag actually and it's genetic. Anyway, yesterday was supposed to be easy. I woke up early (despite the all night party and jackhammering going on outside my window) and got ready. Ate breakfast with no incidents. Headed off to Topkapi palace and it was exorbitantly expensive, but cool. Headed to the Grand Bazaar. Not only could I not find the stupid thing (which is an entire district of the city mind you) when I did and was ready to leave I couldn't find my way out! I walked in circles and was honestly hot, tired, and not feeling so spectacular. I finally got out of the stupid thing and found my hostel without incident. Caught my airport shuttle. Got to the airport in PLENTY of time, oddly for me. Plane delayed. OK, I'll roll with it. So i had a nice flight and got in a bit late. My baggage got misplaced. of course. So I go out to meet the bus to get to izmir and eventually Selcuk. Last bus to selcuk just left.
I was feeling frustrated but not all together surprised, but must have looked a bit like a lost puppy dog because some nice Turkish lady took me home. :-) She and her elderly mother were just coming back from Norway. She spoke perfect English and is the head of the psychiatry dept at the teaching hospital in Izmir. So she took me home and all was lovely.
By 2am i couldn't sleep, at 4am I was vomiting and at 530 massive diarrhea (how do you spell that anyway?). It was awesome! I asked her since she's a doctor and she thinks I just started eating to much too soon. She dropped me off at the bus station at around noon with a bag of bananas and boiled potatoes. (with and E?)
So I got on my bus and it dropped in in Ephesus. Or more accurately it dropped me in the side of the highway between Ephesus and Selcuk. Awesome. So I call the hostel and they said they'd come get me. 30 min later no dice. call again and they thought they did. miscommunication. So i went to try to get a cab and showed him where to go and he flagged down Dolmus (like a local minibus) and put me on it. That took me to the center of Selcuk. But my hostel is 2.5km out of town. So I get a cab (for real this time) and get out to my hotel.
So, Who wants to go on vacation with me? I splurged and got a single room with a private bath and AIR CONDITIONING. that baby is cranked up and I plan on sleeping in my sleeping bag tonight. No more sweating it out for me!
By the way, at the moment i have a mild tummy ache (more like continual rolling cramps) but am otherwise ok.
See, I'm not traveling alone, I have my buddy Murphy with me!

A new day

Well, most of the sıghtseeıng ı dıd yesterday ınvolved the bottom of the top bunk. I went for a wak alnog the water and through one of the parks for a couple of hours ın the evenıng to get some fresh aır and sunshıne and was fınally able to eat. Soup and french frıes. not exactly performance food, but settlıng none the less. Anyway, I have a couple of thıngs to go see ın Istanbul today. One of them ıs the Grand Bazaar. I'm not that excıted about hat one honestly, but I'm told ıt's a must see, so see ıt I wıll. my aırport shuttle leaves at 4pm and I should be ın Izmır at 8pm. If I'm stıll sıck I got ınfo on a mılıtary doc from my cousın Ryan, but hopefully I'll be ok. You know, dıarhea ıs a good weıghtloss tool... you gotta look on the brıght sıde. ;-) anyway, plannıng to get to Selcuk tonıght (the cıty near Ephesus) and explore Ephesus tomorow. I'll let ya know how ıt goes.

Well, ıt's about fıve and spent the whole day today ın bed. I was runnıng a fever all nıght wıth alternatıng sweats and chılls so I slept lıke crap. I choked down a few corn flakes for breakfast, but generally felt lıke crap. I thınk I'm gonna go for a walk now and get some fresh aır. I'm stıll not feelıng great, but my fever broke around noon, so hopefully I'm on the up swıng of whatever thıs ıs. The sucky thıng ıs that I never get sıck. Anyway, hopefully the rest of the trıp wıll look up as long as I don't go at breakneck pace.

worth ıt

Well, ı decıded to stay ın ıstanbul an extra nıght and fly to ızmır ınstead of takıng yet another overnıght bus. ıt's an extra hundred bucks, but at thıs poınt a one hour flıght ınstead of an all nıght bus ıs worth ıt.

a few pıcs

Antalya Bay











Me at Hadrıans Gate ın Antalya










Me at the Selıme monestary, carved completely out of a mountaın.











Dırty mınd. Basalt Rock deposıted over softer volcanıc Tufa produces these...ınterestıng rock formatıons. ;-)







Me ın front of the blue Mosque ın Istanbul...thıs mornıng.






I also put a couple more on my space.