Maldives

At the end of October for Eid ul-Fitr (Muslim Religious holiday marking the end of Ramadan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Fitr) Mariah and I went to the Maldives for a little get away. It was an easy 4 hour direct flight from Doha which made the trip that much easier. Evidently TomKat had there Honeymoon somewhere in the Maldives so that should put the place in perspective.

We spent five nights at a five star island resort. The island, which is one of the larger ones, took about 30 minuites to walk around the shoreline. The snorkeling was amazing, it looked like a National Geographic special. We saw more types of Parrott, Angel, and various tropical reef fish than we could possibly count. Also saw three types of eel including a wolf eel. Next time we go we need to invest in an underwater camera. I definately wish that we had our diving license and gear in a place like this (currently working on this problem).

Our pictures realy didn't do the place justice so check out this link of the resort we stayed at: http://www.kurumba.com/overview.html

Prague

We went to Prague for a week in August. Mariah's mom and brother were both in town so we spent some quality family time in the Old Town Bars. Prague is definately a must see, for all the guys out there the "local scenery" can not be matched.




I had the unfortunate joy of working through most of the trip due to a big contract negotiation. I managed to spend more money on my hotel phone bill then I did for the 10 day room charge. This gave Mariah and family plenty of time to tour the city and enjoy some bonding time.



The sweetest thing we saw while there was a Bone Church outside of the city. The story goes that during the Crusades some guy brought dirt from the holy land back with him. He placed this dirt in the local cemetary, which naturally caused every Tom, Dick, and Harry to want to be burried there. After time the bones started to pile up, which naturally led a creative church owner to create artwork with the excess bones. The artwork is meant to represent the assention of man to heaven. Plain old creepy.

Steve at Work

So I thought that I would post a couple of photos of my job site. So my client is getting ready to build a $300 million +/- 30% facility here. Looks like the perfect setting to me, what do you think? Note the current camel herd onsite, these things are mean. They actually came up and tried to scare of my SUV.

Here is a photo of my supervision skills. Yes, that is a survey crew changing my tire for me. They were not impressed with the idea of an Americano trying to change a tire. Evidently that is not acceptable.

"Business Trip"

So Mariah had a last minute "business trip" last week to Barcelona. She received a call on Friday telling her to be at a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. I went ahead and took two days off an flew out to meet here on Wednesday afternoon. I took this photo of her "working" hard. I am sure that Sangria is an accpetable afternoon drink. We spent three days walking around the city, seeing the sights.

A very different kind of place, very artsy. Great food (mainly pork products), good wine, nice people. It was definitely a nice change in scenery (good looking women in abundance).

Alaska Trip

We took Mariah's parents with us up to Alaska for a two week adventure. We met with Steve's parents and did an extreme tour of the State. Caught up with family, friends, had great weather, and saw lots of bears.

When we started the trip Mariah's dad Peter was scared to death of bears, by the end he was chasing them around with a camera. Good stuff.

We went halibut fishing near out of Ninilchick (near Homer) and had a good run at it.

The best part was seeing rich greenery and wildlife - a far cry from the scenery in Doha!

New Toy

Today Mariah let me buy her a new toy. I am sure that she is going to love it. It is a 25 footer with twin Yamaha 140's on the back. Nothing too fancy, but more than enough to get us out to local islands and fishing holes. We also managed to snag one of the few boat slips in the city, it seems that due to construction there is a serious shortage of slips.

The guy that we bought it from is having some work done to it while we are back in the States, a detailed polishing, some new paint, new leather, and a new shade for the front. I can't wait to get back so we can start playing in the Gulf.

Bidet

So it is customary for bathrooms to have a bidet installed next to a traditional toilet. While Mariah and I have not developed a desire to utilize this feature of our new home, the animals have become quite accustomed to this.

New Ride

Well we managed to purchase one new vehicle. This is Steve's new 2005 Nissan Pathfinder. We managed to get this new from the dealer with only 60 kilometers on it. We saved a lot of money versus a 2006 model, plus we recieved a full warantry.

Driving here is a spectacle in itself. The locals are not concerned with money so they are recless, and there are so many people from Asia driving here that have never driven before. Just to add a little fun in the mix the streets are filled with round-abouts and at least half of the roadway system in the city is currently under construction. Fun Fun Fun.

Villa

Not much new for us, we are still settling in. Currently we are enjoying the weather, the pool, and the new friends. Hanging out at the pool with a couple (figurative) of Coronas seems to be the standard weekend event. Here is a pic of our Villa. The villa is nice, big space downstairs, four bedrooms up.

Connors in Doha

Connors in Doha

We set up this blog to help the transmittal of our updates. This way we won't bog down anyones email with photos or junk.

All is well here. The weather has been good, and we have even seen a couple of rain showers and one serious thunder storm. And we thought we were moving to the desert.