Ajman Sunset

"Almost Summertime Sunset in Ajman"

I grabbed this picture quickly as the sun was going down. This was really one of the best sunsets I have seen since I arrived last August. The sun was clear as it set, which is unusual for the heat of an 'almost summertime' day. Usually the sun sets behind a haze of dust in the sky. The sunsets in the UAE are different than sunsets I have seen elsewhere in the world, mainly due to the heat and the dust in the atmosphere most of the year. But they are "errily unique"- having their own natural beauty.

Sheik Zayed Road

Picture od Sheik Zayed Road from the 21st floor of a building in Dubai. Doesn't quite resemble Manhatten or Vegas, does it?

But get a look at the Metro being built. It's due to start operation 9/9/09.

BTW- that's dust on the outside of the building window, not the camera or your eyes getting fuzzy.....

Aspen in Richmond

Meet Aspen - Trey and Danna's newest addition to their Labrador collection in Richmond. Isn't she cute? Now they have a black lab, a chocolate lab, and a yellow lab. I hope labs don't come in too many more colors, or they will definitely have a problem.

Junior Mints

I have 42 Junior Mints left. How many can I eat per day if I am not going to home until sometime in July?....I dont know how I will last.

Why don't they sell Junior Mints around the world???

I know I have not been posting. I have no excuse except that work has kept me very busy this year. Though I have finally bought a new cell phone, a Nokia e75. I took this picture with my new phone and bluetooothed it. It was so easy. Now I have no excuse left to not post things I see on a daily basis in Sharjah for you to see what life is like in the UAE..

The only thing is with so much work and the terrible traffic in Sharjah I dont go out much.....hummm so I guess I could take pictures of my apartment to share...dontthinkso....

More Travel Adventures....

Pacific Far Riders rides again...This time the move is to the UAE.


For those of you who don't know U.A.E.is short for the United Arab Emirates, just like US is short for the United States. The UAE is made up of separate Emirates. I am working and residing in Sharjah now.....So far it has been an exciting adventure. I was sad to leave New York and the friends I made there, but you never know what plans are in store for you from 1 minute to the next, do you?

Since arriving just a short month ago I have learned a lot already. There is a saying here en'shallah, which means god-willing, so... en'shallah I will be sharing more of my travels than I did last year. My bad! I got too busy to post, but now I really want to share this part of the world with you. The UAE is a very exciting and interesting place to live and work.

I have been settling in and have not had my camera handy on too many taxi rides. Yes, I still take a taxi- I have not wanted to drive in what I call- some of the world's worst traffic. Maybe we should do a vote and see what some of you think are the worlds worst traffic places? That would be interesting to hear about. Recently we went to Dubai (the neighboring Emirate) for a conference and we spent 3 hours in a taxi that morning getting there and 1 1/2 hours getting back home to Sharjah. In my limited travels I have to say this rivals Bangkok or Bali 's traffic nightmares. And one thing I don't like is wasting time sitting in traffic jams, so it will be interesting.


This is an area called the Qasba in Sharjah. We walk to the Qasba at night when it cools down. It has very nice restaurants, stores, a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Caribou Coffee... to name a few you might know. It's just a few blocks from our apartment building.

More travel adventures to come.....

1st Snow

For those of you, especially my friends in the South Pacific, who might not know what snow looks like, or may have forgotten... this is what it looked like today.


And a funny thing I had forgot, that when it snows it is actually warmer than other days...so... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

New Adventure for the Pacific Far Rider

Oct 1 the now "lone" Pacific Far Rider left the beautiful island, Saipan, to begin a new journey. This time the journey took a move backwards to the mainland, and all the way across the continent to the east coast in New York. Very close to the Atlantic Ocean. This was quite a move, and done very quickly to begin a new position at a college on the Hudson River in NY. To move from a South Pacific Island in Fall to a northern climate will take some getting used to. I have been very c-o-l-d.

I took this picture of the Hudson on the day I arrived.You can see it was a beautiful fall day. This is the view you see as you walk out of the dorm, where I am staying until January and hopefully move into an apartment.

Within 2 weeks of moving to NY and starting a new job, I drove to Quebec to attend a conference, well actually, John drove. Quebec is a beautiful city, and as George says, "It reminds him of a civilized New Orleans." I would love to go back to Quebec in the summer time- when I could actually enjoy the beauty and the people, who are as friendly as the people in New Orleans, but is has to be much warmer!

Then for Thanksgiving we took another "rode trip" this time to Virginian to spend a "family Thanksgiving"- something we haven't done in quite few years and riding in a car for 8 hours is something you can't do on a island 14x5. - It was a very l-o-n-g drive for someone who has not had that many cars flying at you in all directions! I still don't know a word for East Coast Traffic...?

So this starts a new segment in the Pacific Far Rider's journey and hopefully to more travels, now to different parts of the world.

Duke at One

An update on Duke. He's a real bundle of joy now at one. Duke keeps everyone constantly on their toes and has everyone wrapped around his little paw. He's now perfected the art of counter-surfing. His bark is very loud and quite deep, he's no longer a pup at 1.



It seems everyone had a grand time at Duke's 1 Year Birthday Party, especially Duke. He really enjoyed his special day with his favorite friends and partied with a home-baked cake and treats.