Safe Trip, Kayla!

Well, Kayla's visit came to an end last night...but not without her cherished camel ride. That, I must say was the "most fun" adventure since we've been here. Her last day started off on shaky ground. Trying to plan our day, I went to call us a taxi for early afternoon pickup. One problem...you have to "touch two for English" and we don't have tone on our phone. Remember rotary dial? David had taken the cell phone (mo-bile, over here) with him to work.
Kayla called him & he was not actually at work, but taking care of more leg work to finalize his residence permit so that he can leave the country for upcoming activities in the states (Jana's wedding & our annual summer getaway to Tennessee). So, we headed for the pool to strategize. We got back to the villa as David was pulling in. His business took a little too long...the point of no return for going back to work....awwww! Taxi driver problem solved. We put it in high gear & headed out for the day. We went to As AlMakh Mall (spelling?). This is a small mall, comparatively speaking, with a lot of pack in its punch. We had lots of fun gathering souvenirs for the girls' friends at home. David was a real trooper as usual pointing us here & there while looking for possibilities. We headed over to a little cafe called "Mint". I use the term little very loosely in this town. I don't think there is anything little in it. Almost all restaurants are two story, including Burger King, McDonald's & Starbucks! Anyway, the decor in Mint was awesome. Very mod & "Kristi-like". The food was great, as well. Okay, now for the main event, the camels. We headed towards, what is referred to here as the Inland Sea & desert area and stopped at the Sealine Beach Resort. The rest is history. While Kristi had balked the day before when discussing the length of the camel ride...she was quite happy that we chose (for her)the 10 minute as opposed to the 1 hour version. As her comments revealed on yesterday's post, she did not have the most agreeable or friendly camel. The laughing/terrified look on her face was revealed by many Kodak moments. Kayla seemed to be quite in her element during her ride. It was a great time for all, spectators & participants alike. All good things must come to an end as we took Kayla to the airport last night for a 1:30 a.m. departure. Doha to London to Houston to Austin. She should be in London shortly. I await her instant message. It was a great trip sweetie!! Thanks for the memories.

Oh, our oh so boring lives...

updated picture link below!!

30 Rials each to get thru the gate at the Sealine Beach Resort
25 Rials to let us drive our car in
20 Rials per girl to ride a camel
29 Rials for 2 waters & 1 Diet 7-Up

Total: QR 214 ($58.79)

Pics....Priceless

Click for more pics!

Much ado about nothing

Today is going to be my "Seinfeld" blog. You know, the show about "nothing". Okay, over your head if you weren't a Seinfeld addict. Anyway, I have "nothing" to write about & will just try to build from there. Speaking of nothing, that's absolutely what we did yesterday. I laid out at the pool for a while in the morning while the girls were still asleep & then they laid out when they got up. I think we just needed a recuperation day from all the blowin' & goin' we have been doing. It was actually nice. We had an army of food in the refrigerator from a "faux paux" that I made the night before when ordering food for delivery. I had a menu from a restaurant called Hala Istanbul. I rang them up & ordered on the fly. "Yes, I'll take a kilo of your mixed grill & oh, give me ten of your chicken shawarmas." If you could have only seen my face as they dropped our food at our doorstep. The delivery guy had a big platter & two bags to with it. A shawarma is a type of tortilla wrapped around meats & veggies. I had never seen one but were told they were good. I was thinking they would be "taquito" sized. Have your ever had a 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell. Yes, they were huge & we had 10 of them. Not only that, but 2.2 lbs of grilled chicken & beef loaded with grilled onions, grilled tomatoes, french fries, salad & other fixings (not necessarily recognizable), a huge bag of flat breads & other pizza like bread crust, and a couple of dipping sauces. Needless to say, we also had it for breakfast, lunch, & supper yesterday and still have leftovers in the fridge. I think the plans for today are pool, mall, & coffee. Don't look so surprised!! Tomorrow, just maybe....camel rides. We have to corral David when he gets home from work for this one. I did give him fair warning last night. I don't want Kayla going back to Texas without a camel pic. As for myself, I think I'll stay on the photography end of that one. Speaking of photography, check out the pic that Dustin sent me this morning. It's from one of his journeys home to San Marcos. Before I forget, the pic in yesterday's blog is a foot basin. We have one in each of our full baths. Muslims are called to prayer five times daily. They have a foot washing ritual that they must go through before prayer. You will find these in all the malls and public buildings in the area...your home included. When I was looking for housing while still in the states, I was amazed that everyone had bidets in their bathrooms. Well, the joke was on me. Okay, I'm rambling. I guess I can talk about nothing...tootles!

Pictures of Riviera Gardens

I've been asked to post pics of our house. All requests, questions, & concerns are most welcome, as I will be running out of "material" soon! As we speak, I'm downloading pics to a link that you can click on to see more pics of our villa. It definitely needs a lot of accents & pictures on the walls to bring it together, but we do have a few years to work on that. Hopefully, it won't take us that long. A problem that I do foresee is the fact that they don't have sheet rock on the walls here. Can you say "cement"? The management assures me that hanging pictures is allowed & they will send someone down to "drill" holes for me. They just don't understand how I operate. "David, move that over to the right, no, back to the left, up a little bit, no, let's try this wall." Oh my gosh, I cannot work under the pressure of having a stranger hang something for me. I am my mother's child, I have to play something over & over in my mind before I can make a final decision. And drilling into cement IS final. Note that you won't see a pic of Kristi's bedroom...it was not photograph worthy. She & Kayla have managed to totally trash it this passed week. Her bedroom is huge with an entire wall of closets...probably at least 15 feet worth! Way more than the master. Also, management is supposedly going to carpet upstairs. You can tell that they've pulled it up in Kristi's & the guest bedroom as there is old tile in those rooms. Kristi has also asked for permission from management to have her room painted "pink". Assistant mgr. doesn't see where that will be a problem as long as we pay for the paint. Hmmm...she doesn't quite understand Kristi's view of pink! I forgot to take a picture of the maid's quarters.....no, that is not my room! As most of you know, domestic* is not my name or game. We are going to use this room to house a full size, yes full size dryer compliments of Chevron Phillips Chemical. One other thing...there is a picture hidden in this blog. Can you tell me what it is? Okay, on with the pics....just click on the links (pics are in two parts), or if you can't... copy & paste them.

http://s210.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w210.photobucket.com/albums/bb16/sknox40/riviera%20gardens/riviera/5003775d.pbw&os=1&t=1182765266

http://s210.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w210.photobucket.com/albums/bb16/sknox40/riviera/64026cbe.pbw&os=1&t=1182764756

* Domestic: household servant, somebody employed to do housework in somebody else's home or other duties in a large household

You might be in Qatar if....

Special edition blog from my work desk. It's absolutely astonishing how much one can learn from being in Qatar for one week. You might need to be educated on a few laws of the land here.

1. You're not first in line at a red light, see if you can be the first to honk your horn when the light changes to green.

2. You do not remove the protective plastic covers on your seats or headrest when purchasing your vehicle. Three years from now, someone might suspect that your car is no longer brand new if you do.

3. "Excuse me" is not in your vocabulary.

4. You are at the mall, and you are a Qatari national, under no circumstances remove your Eric Estrada sun glasses.

5. If you order tea, and do not say "iced", you will get a cup of hot water with a tea bag.

6. There are two water temperatures: hot & hotter

7. If you don't specify your drink at McDonald's, it will be a Coke...they will not ask.

8. You are at a restaurant and order a Coke...there will be lemon slices in it.

9. You are at a restaurant and do not receive your check without asking. Under no circumstance will your check be brought to you until instructed. Visiting is expected to commence upon clearing of your dishes.

10. (Back to the car horns)...Honk at "will", because you "can"...so by all means, give it all you've got!

A Day & A Dollar Well Spent

Kayla whined all morning starting at 7:00am that she wanted to go out for breakfast. David took us to Ric's Kountry Kitchen, a very American diner. Do you recognize the flag above Kayla & Kristi's heads? We then did a little sight seeing along the corniche. Stopped & checked out the fish market...poo-whee! It was quite interesting, but we didn't go prepared to buy. Next time we'll have an ice chest or something to transport it in. We drove to the beach just to check it out. It was really pretty. It is a seashell goldmine. In a matter of minutes we had collected what would take us a week to find in Destin (under intense search conditions). Very few people were out due to the heat, but we did see someone in a two piece swimsuit. We weren't sure if "American" swimwear would be allowed, but I guess it's no problem. After the beach & a short rest at home, we met David's boss for lunch at Nando's at City Centre Mall. The food is great. That's Kayla with her chicken kebab...working intensely to remove the chicken from it. Robert(David's boss) was a plethora of information. He's been here for six years & knows the ins & outs. We asked him about the milk, since Kristi has had two bad experiences with it. After she immediately spit it out, I wasn't about to taste it. I did smell it...ugh! Robert was amazed. In fact he was talking about how far past the expiration date he could drink his milk. I told him we were buying the milk with "Laban" on the label. He fell apart laughing. Yes, Kristi had been drinking buttermilk. Okay, three will be a charm. On our way out of the mall, we drug David through the home store that we had gone to the other day. We got Kayla a comforter, shams & decorative pillows. We also made our first home purchase...a small dinette set for the kitchen. Our kitchen has a huge open space in the middle, with three walls of cabinets. I'm hoping this will bring it together a little. Well, after purchasing the table for QR795, we were informed that we were eligible to pick out QR79 in free merchandise. OMG, decisions, decisions. Kristi & I were running around figuring out what to get. The little guy was following us around waiting on us hand & foot. As soon as we would pick out something, he would grab it from us so that we would not have to carry it. Kristi picked out a cute frame & a framed wall hanging. We had QR10 left, but didn't want to drive this guy crazy by running him around the store anymore, so we paid for our purchases. On our way out, we saw some cute baskets w/flip lids...buy one, get one free. Hmmm, okay I can't resist. The only problem was that the 2nd basket (the free one) didn't cost as much, so now I have QR20 to make up. When they say buy one get one free, you're not leaving this store without everything coming to you! I quickly found some mug like glasses & threw them on the counter. Grand total...QR49 (see what $13.46 buys?). We're out of there. Remember the QR10 we left behind from the first purchase. We found an extra frame in our bags when we got home. The salesperson took it upon himself to run & find us something & throw it in. We hadn't even noticed. The girls really enjoyed their day, as well as myself. David's back to work tomorrow & we'll have to call a taxi. No rest for the weary!

Villagio Mall

Can you handle, yet, one more mall! We drove out to Villagio Mall today. Now this is a cool mall. There is a canal running through the mall with gondolas. You heard me. These people really know how to market. Check out the ceilings in this place. You feel like you are vacationing while sitting in the mall. It was unbelievable. We got there about 11:00 this morning, not realizing that today (Friday) is their holy day. None of the stores were open, but there were people strolling all over the mall just window shopping. We just joined in & walked around until lunch time. We had Italian at Pizza Express. That's the girls posing with our waiter & one of the chefs. And of course, you guessed it, we topped off our lunch with dessert & coffee at another cafe in the mall. The pic of David is him loading his espresso (double shot, no less) with milk. Uh, is that politically correct? We gave him a hard time, of course. Another case of male testosterone gone awry. We absolutely adore you dear. We wouldn't have you any other way! (And we wouldn't be having our Qatari Adventures, either!) That's it, a pretty low key day. Laid out at the pool for a while & just relaxed this evening. Peace out.

P.S. For those of you who might not know, you can click on the pics to enlarge them. :)

Kayla's here!

I was going to give y'all a break today on the blog, but I'm feeling under pressure due to a few comments & emails. I love doing this, but I don't want to start boring y'all with what you might soon find to be mundane day to day living. Kristi & I made a repeat mall run to City Centre. We found Kristi some really cool frames at Qatar Optics. I had her prescription from Texas State Optical & they were happy to oblige us. They weren't Walmart prices, but they were affordable. We also found an awesome homestore that had great prices and everything under the sun from dishes to towels (not for your head! inside joke), to living & bedroom furniture. Definitely a do over. The mall also had a huge grocery store with reasonable prices, although Kristi is scarred for life (her words) after seeing the sides of lamb hanging in the glassed in showcase. We got our grocery shopping done while we waited for David to pick us up. Kristi & I did take notes this time while the taxi was taking us to the mall, so that maybe one day we will be brave enough to face the crazy drivers here. We had to make a mad dash home to drop off groceries, so that we could go get Kayla at the airport. Quick stop at Hardee's for our fast food fix & off to the airport. The pic is Kayla & her "meet & greet" agent that greeted her upon arrival at the plane. She held up a sign that said "Kayla Knox". Isn't she special.Kayla didn't fare as well as Kristi & myself on the jet lag situation. She got up around 5:00 this evening. A funny thing happened on our way to McDonald's tonight. Yes, yet another American fast food place. We can't pass them up! We're traveling down the road & David notes that there has been an accident up the road. Apparently, the man up ahead in the right lane noted it to. Well he's not going to get caught up in this mess. He puts his little truck in reverse & proceeds to backup down the access road while a car is coming up the access road. The car is laying on his horn, but little truck plays chicken & doesn't slow down. Yes, you guessed it. Kayla noted that there is just a little bit too much male testosterone going on in this town. Enough said.

Just another day in the life...

Well, things are getting back to normal (normal for USA) around here. Kristi's still sleeping & it's 10:40a.m. I did get up at 5:30 this morning, made coffee & put on a load of clothes. By a load I mean, three of David's shirts, one of mine & one lady's undergarment. That equates to one stuffed load in our washer/dryer combo. Note: yes, that is my oven next to the washer. You wash your clothes & then flip a switch & dry them. Sounds great if it would hold any amount of clothes & actually dry them in less than two hours. Oh well, you can't have it all. Anyway, after those two very taxing chores (coffee & wash), I promptly went back to bed & woke up at 9:15am. So much for rise & shine. Well, on to yesterday's treks. David took a vacation day & we drove out to the American School of Doha (that's it in the pic***). We finalized Kristi's registration and visited with the principal. This is a new school that will open just in time for the new school year. We didn't go in it (the new one, that is), but it looks like it is going to be absolutely awesome. From the road, we could see a huge chandelier hanging in the main entrance. They have a thing about chandeliers here...they're even hanging in our bedrooms. Anyway, school starts on Sept. 4th, with orientation on Aug. 30th. Wow, glad we went by there. We had just reserved our flights to return from the states on the 30th. Fortunately, we had not gone by the airline office to pay yet. Later in the evening, we went to the "souqs". These are market areas with oodles of local vendors pushing their wares. All the vendors are ridiculously nice, begging you to come in if you even look in their direction. They are hard to refuse and eager to please. Supposedly, they expect you to bargain. They inflate their prices waiting for you to make an offer. Being the shade that we are, however, works against us in bargaining power. The first one we went in insisted on giving us each a bottle of water, even though we told him we would share. I did see that he had a pair of kitchen scissors hanging up & this was an item I actually did need. They were marked 35 qr. I looked him in the eye ready to beat him down. "I'll give you 20qr" (my book says to start at half the price). I was already chickening out & he knew it. He says, "30 qr". I say, "25qr". Oh well, 30qr it was. I gave the man the money & found out quickly that I'm not a "souq bargainer". By the way, the price for the scissors was $8.25 which was reasonable. Let's just call it a win, win situation. And remember, we did get cold bottled water out of the deal! It was a Godsend while walking the souqs for a couple of hours. My only other buys were a nonstick skillet & some arabic candy that Kristi wanted. *****Breaking News*****Kayla just contacted me via instant message. She is in London & all is well.Let me finish my, oh so long story about nothing. We topped off the evening with a fast food stop at...well, I'm going to let you guess where. Hint: Check out the sign where Kristi is striking her usual, "take a picture of me, pose". Signing out...Syb

***Ok, so that's not the American School of Doha...silly David....this is a sporting complex. Too funny!!

Outing 2 Part 2

I was trying to have mercy for those with short attention spans in my earlier blog. It was getting really long, so I had to cut it off. We actually had another outing after we had our Turkish meal. We went down to Doha's pride & joy, The Corniche (corn-eesh). It is a grassy, tree covered strip that follows the gulf shore for about four miles, with a very wide brick walk along side it. It is a beautiful sight with people strolling, jogging,speed walking or just lazing around on the grass. They have boats that will take you out to ride along it at an easy pace for about $16 per group or family. We decided we'd wait for Kayla (in the sky right now on her way here!) to do this. We walked about three miles or so & stopped at a juice bar at the end. I'm a slow learner. When you ask for tea anywhere on this side of the Atlantic, it's hot. After walking three miles in 95 degree weather, hot tea is the last thing on your mind...even if it is mint tea. True story: Kristi spotted a public restroom on the Corniche & went in to do her thing. David & I sat on the seawall watching the passers-by. After what I thought was a little more time than Kristi needed, I got a little nervous. JoJo's (David's mom) voice kept going thru my head, "Now, don't you ever let Kristi out of your sight!" "Oh, no ma'am", I answered, "You don't need to worry about that" I kept staring at the door in the near distance, looking for her in the dark. Finally, there she came, looking a little amazed and embarrassed at the same time. She had gone into the restroom where there was a girl, in full national dress, standing around. Kristi asked if she was in line, she indicated not & motioned Kristi ahead. The girl's younger sister walked out of the stall & Kristi entered, closing the door behind her. There it was, drum roll..........a hole in the ground and a water hose. She was petrified, think fast. She quietly stood there, waiting for everyone to exit the bathroom. She left the stall and thankfully found a handicap stall beside it. One more crisis averted.

Outing Two

Yesterday, it was up and at'em once, again. Kristi & I were up at 6:30am. Grabbed some coffee & toast (I know, no protein...the "zone" is on hold right now!) and we were off to the fitness center. We had a good workout, but not overdoing if for our first day. Straight from there to lay out at the pool. Not for sun so much, just to soak up the tropical feel over here. We accomplished all that well before 10:00am & decided we had a lot of day left. We called a taxi service to see if by chance there was availability. Pickup at Riviera Gardens (that's us) at 2:30. That was easy. Our taxi was waiting out front at promptly 2:30 & took us off to Landmark Mall. Remember, the Mall circuit that I told you we were doing? As his meter was ticking off I was wondering how much this was going to cost us. That will be 5 riyals, please. Are you kidding me??!! That equates to $1.37!! I felt like the big tipper & gave him 10 riyals. Okay, I think we've found our new mode of transportation. Who needs a car, especially under these crazy driving conditions...that would be a full blog in itself. So Kristi & I ventured though Landmark Mall, fully clothed this time. We mostly browsed & then of course decided we needed dessert. We went to a little cafe called Opera. The customs are interesting here, they always pull up a chair for your purse. The day before when that happened, we thought the waiter misunderstood & thought someone was joining us. After indulging in dessert, we headed over to the MegaMart in the mall & got us a shopping cart. We were taken aback at some of the prices. Packaged deli turkey was over $6.00 for 10oz. Most other foods were priced accordingly. Kristi & I decided eating out was not such a bad thing. We could hang with that! So, we left the store with a loaf of bread (nothing to put on it), hair conditioner, kleenex & a six pack of diet coke. Actually, the cokes were $1.50...not much difference from home. I was enlightened when we got home that this market caters to Americans, therefore their prices are much higher. That is somewhat of a relief. David picked us up & we went into, I guess what you would call the older, original part of Doha.
He took us to a local restaurant called "Turkey Central". That would be referring to the country, not the fowl. Anyway, it was quite an experience trying to order. Even though David had been there before, it wasn't as easy to order as he had remembered. After going through a few "you knows" with the waiter, we were sent another waiter to see if he could figure out what the heck David wanted to order. I finally told the waiter to just fix us up. David did remember what appetizer he wanted to order. I don't know if appetizer comes from the word appetizing. You decide when you look at that pic! Anyway, Kristi was a great sport & tried everything...me, I wasn't so great. Bring on the entree. It was delicious. We had grilled & barbequed chicken, as well as chicken kafta. It was sort of like a chicken sausage. Very tasty. Our first, somewhat local food passed the test. I can do this.

Day One

The sun came beaming thru my window at 4:50am. I fought it off & went back to sleep. Kristi came in my room at 11:00am wondering if I was ever going to get up. She had been up since 5:00am...unpacked all her things, arranged her room, made her bed & was ready for the day. Qatar may be good for her. David left us his cell phone for the day, since our home phone is not yet hooked up. We called a taxi service to get us out sightseeing, but none available. We then called a private driver, Mike, to see if he could pick us up. He tells us to call him back in 30 minutes. First disaster, Kristi accidentally locked David's cell phone & didn't know the right password to turn it back on. She made a couple of guesses & then we were totally blocked out due to too many "pin attempts". We walked to the compound office to use their phone to call David. After much frantic searching, he came up with a # for us to call & we eventually got it working again. Confirmed with Mike that we were to be picked up at 2:00pm. Perfect. Kristi asked me her usual question, "Mom...can't I wear spaghetti straps?" "No, we must respect the culture", I say. She looked so cute in her t-shirt & jean skirt. MINI jean skirt!!, I notice on our way to City Centre Mall! We walk into the 5 story mall & all eyes look to her. Straight to a clothing store to purchase jeans. After a few stores of not finding any, a lovely local retailer frantically searched to relieve Kristi of her shame. 188 Riyals later ($51.64!!) we were on our way, jeans on, skirt in the bag. That won't happen again! Anyway, it was a fun day of shopping after we got over that stress. We had dessert and coffee at a little French Cafe in the mall. It was wonderful. Today we have a cab picking us up at 2:00 to go to Landmark Mall. Yeah, we're doing the mall circuit first. David will meet us there when he gets off work to pick us up like he did yesterday. Later.

Close call!

We have arrived...and I must say it wasn't a small feat. Our plane left Houston one hour late (waiting on someone's luggage!). That didn't leave much room for our 59 minute layover in Cleveland. You do the math. Fortunately, the pilot put the pedal to the metal and we got to Cleveland with 16 minutes to spare. Actually, whenever you're flying internationally, I don't think that amount of minutes is considered spare. But never fear, my now SUPERHERO nephew, who happens to work out of the Cleveland airport was tracking our flight. He made a few contacts with those who have the "powers that be" and greeted us at the gate as we were running off the plane. He whisked us off to our departure gate where the attendants were awaiting our arrival. The most amazing thing about this whole thing is that...fast forward ...our luggage made it here. As far as the flights went, they went fantastically. I don't remember when I've eaten so much food. Hey, it was paid for, we couldn't refuse it...it's not often we get to fly 1st class (compliment's of CPC). Another God send was seeing our names on a cardboard sign being held up as we exited the plane. She ushered us to a v.i.p. lounge & took care of our visas for us. She then escorted us right to luggage pickup where David was waiting for us. Gotta get some sleep. Tomorrow, I'll try to fill you in on our first "faux paux" that happened on our adventures today.

P.S. The pic is of the aforementioned SUPERHERO...he's the bald one!

Stay tuned!

New post coming soon. Hang in there!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Update! We leave Friday, June 15th. We will arrive Saturday night, just in time for Father's Day!

The passports are coming. The passports are coming!!!

"We have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you. " This is a copy & pasted quote from the U.S. Passport application website...can you believe it?? They said that we should receive them by June 14th. Okay, now I'm really nervous. This means we're really going. We bumped our flights all the way to the 20th because of scheduling difficulties, but I'm pretty sure with a little finagling we can get that changed. Wow, has this been a long & drawn out process...13 wks & 1 day to be exact (and that's if we actually receive them when they say we will). Okay, let's cross our fingers. I'll keep you posted.

Just a blip on the radar

Okay, so maybe we're not on our way to discover the land of Qatar. What can I say. So here's the latest non news that there is. I finally got thru to the passport hotline last night after 10:00pm. I was so excited to hear that my hold time was only 5 minutes (they usually disconnect you & do not allow you to hold). A lovely lady answers the phone after around 6 minutes...only to deliver the blow. She shows that Kristi & I have applied, but does not see that the process has begun. Oh my gosh! Needless to say, I fell apart on the dear lady and she had to hear my sad story, as I'm sure she has already heard many others. But she listened & empathized. She sent an urgent message to the Houston Regional office to get our passports out ASAP by Fedex. I think somehow she was trying to humor me, because by the end of the conversation she wasn't even sure if they looked at their email. She did offer to make me an appointment in New Orleans to go thru the process (as the Houston office is completely inundated). I was too upset at the time to process the info given to me and hung up the phone. I immediately fell apart, then pulled myself together & called David 8000 miles away to see if he could solve my problem. He did just that. He listened & I got over it. Just another blip on the radar that somehow, someday will be so unimportant.

Nope :(

And that's all I have to say about that...

Not Yet!

For all of you who keep asking the age old question....Passports?? NO, WE STILL HAVE NO PASSPORTS!!! But we do have plane tickets leaving out Sunday afternoon. Just two more mail days before Sunday. I like to keep a positive attitude, but somehow I see myself sitting back at my desk come monday morning at JGA. Now, that in itself would not be a bad thing, because I love (loved...awww) my job. I said goodbye today to a great group of people that I love dearly & enjoyed working with for the last six, almost seven years. I would be amiss not to send a heartfelt thank you for the most awesome crawfish boil. So, I raise a toast to the JGA gang. It was a wonderful ride. Cheers.