Jet lagged

Cambridge, England

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

Love love dial up

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I'd like to upload some pictures to the blog, and tell you a few tall tales from ATX and SF. But I'm gonna wait til I get off of this dial up in Louisiana. Yep, we don't have broadband yet in this state.

Just kidding, but we're still rocking on AOL dial up here at 1937 Ormandy Drive.

War Eagle!

Austin, Texas


Wow, three Auburn Tigers in the top ten of the NFL draft! I'm sitting here at 2800 Lafayette watching the draft and am pumped. I'll update my travels in SF and Austin later...

If you're going to San Francisco...

San Francisco, California

What a great city! I visited here in 2002 on a glorious road trip from San Diego to Seattle, but now I'm back to do some research for my dissertation. I'm out here interviewing experts in the video game industry. Had a big breakthrough today! For those more interested in my research, see this article.

Yesterday I had dinner on Haight St. with Frank Thomson and Isabel Oregon from the LBJ School, and this evening Isabel gave me a tour of the Berkeley campus. I really liked the campus -- might have to go to school here one day! ;)

Getting to bed early tonight -- I think that I'm still jetlagged. Ha. Tomorrow I have meetings with some Stanford professors and also a few video game developers.

Btw, it's cold here at night!

Pictures from Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

I had a great visit in Atlanta this weekend for Megin and Dean's wedding. The wedding was very nice and we had a blast at the reception. Saw lots of old Auburn buddies plus Sarah came down from DC. I'll put some pictures up asap.

In the meantime, here are some of the pics from my trip to Egypt. I put an explanation in the description of each picture.

Okay here

There was a bomb that went off today in Cairo and several tourists were killed. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm fine. Heading to US in a few moments.

Tomb Raider

Luxor, Egypt

Well, first let me say that the Pharoah has finished with his revenge. For now. Let's hope it stays that way.

I should briefly mention the hike up Mt. Sinai from a few days ago. We hired a taxi from our hotel (for 500 egyptian pounds or about 87 bucks) and he left around 10:30 pm. Three hours later we arrived at the base of the mountain and began the ascent. It was pretty touristy...lots of big groups and people riding camels to the top. But it was neat because tours have to be led by local beduoin guides. Interesting culture there, that honestly I know very little about. But I'll have some pictures of them.

The hike was fairly easy, although we all totally underestimated how cold it would be. By the time we got to the top at 4:30 a.m. it was sooooo cold and a bitter wind came in from the west. We hired a blanket and mattress to use at the summit, and then we huddled with the masses to wait for the sun to rise. I was really hungry and luckily sweet talked a few Aussie girls into giving me a few biscuits. They had lugged 5 kilos of food to the top for a picnic and I think were happy to share.

Sunrise was nice -- and worth the cold hike in my opinion -- and I'll put up some pics soon.

On the way out of town, we stopped at St. Catherine's monastry at the base of the mountain. The monastry is old...dating back from 1500 years ago.

We hopped on a plane early yesterday morning and arrived in Luxor seemingly a few minutes later. Luxor is a pretty small town, and the economy seems to be completely dependent on tourism. So many people hawking this and that -- from cheap souvenirs to carriage rides to restaurants. Yesterday we visited a mummy museum and took a faluca to "banana island" up the Nile River.

Today was definitely a highlight, as we visited the Valley of the Kings and saw several of the tombs that the old pharoahs were buried in over 3000 years ago. It was amazing to see how ornate the artwork/design is, and also awesome that the tombs have lasted so long. I felt like Indiana Jones -- or at least was reminded of the film. Very interesting, but unfortunately couldn't take any pictures due to restrictions.

This will probably be the last post for a few days, as I take a night train tonight to Cairo, then fly out tomorrow evening for London. Then I catch a flight to Atlanta for Megin and Dean's wedding, and then on to BR on Sunday.

Pharoah's revenge?

Luxor, Egypt

Well, we've seemed to get everything but gangrene here in Egypt.

Heather started the trip with a deep cat wound in Turkey. Her hand got puffy and we're thinking we might have to pull an Old Yeller on her.

After our all night trip up Mt. Sinai (see tomorrow's blog for description), I've been feeling pretty lousy. Now the "Pharoah's Revenge" has me. Let's just say that Ryan Stilwell can now call me "poopy pants" too.

Then today on a quaint boat trip along the Nile River in Luxor, Heather (unbeknownst to her) drank tea out of a glass cleaned in the Nile. Evidently the Nile water can kill a person!

Then today (again...oh no) we had dinner at Mish Mish. We were the only people in the place. Hello! Leave immediately (any well-seasoned traveller would say). We sat it out though, and halfway through my burger Josh points out that it's raw. Awesome. Oh, and Heather's chicken wasn't too charred either.

We'll let you know how that turns out tomorrow.

A New Friend

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

We met a local Egyptian, Ahamad, that has been showing us around the city. He is the nicest guy. We had dinner the other night then went out for tea and sheesha (Turkish tobacco pipe, which I don't really fancy). Today we went to Old Town and we had a HUGE lunch then some coffee. He's leaving today, so then we spent some time just chilling on the patio at the hotel. Bottomline, this is one of the nicest, most genuine people that I have ever met. It has been a blessing to meet him during our trip because he has helped so much.

Gotta run...going to hire a taxi tonight to hike Mt. Sinai!!!

$3 can get you a lot...

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Three bucks.

Used to buy a value meal at McDonalds. Or maybe go the movie matinee. Could probably get a pint at a cheap pub in Cambridge. Scrounge up a generic bag of chips and salsa in Austin. Pick up a gallon of Milo's sweet tea from Krogers in Auburn. Maybe even grab a few pounds of boiled crawfish from the Country Corner.

In Cairo, I got a hotel room.

Yep, for $3 each, Heather, Josh, and I got a room in a downtown high-rise hotel in Cairo. Not a bad view of the (unbelievably polluted) city.

I'm currently (or was when I wrote in my journal) sitting on the beach of the Red Sea in Na'ama Bay. Unbelievable view...clear blue water and skies for as far as I can see. Well, besides the Russian, German, and Italian tourists (interesting point: everyone is surprised to meet Americans here. So surprised that when they ask "Where you from?" and I respond "US" then "United States," they repeat the question because they don't understand. "America," they understand. They just don't see many Americans here. Funny enough, everyone thinks that we're English -- can't recognize our accent because they rarely hear Americans!)

We've done some serious touring of this country. Giza was a few days ago. We hired a private taxi driver for the day (for about $35) and saw the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and an ancient monument to one of the pharoahs. Words won't do that justice, so I'll put those pictures online asap.

Yesterday (two days ago now) we got up early to catch a bus to Sharm El Sheikh. We're staying in a quiet little hotel off the beach -- the Pigeon House. (Another interesting note: they say "Pigeon House" like pigeons are a good thing. In fact, Josh had pigeon for dinner last night!) Sharm is a posh resort town and we seem to be the only backpackers strolling the boardwalk along the beach front of the Mariotts, Hiltons, Ritz, etc. Last night we had an excellent Egyptian meal on the beach while listening to live music. I'm not a big fan of Arab music, but is was nice during this setting. The dinner made me think that we were in some fancy resort town in the US -- like San Destin or Hilton Head. But we're on the Sinai Peninsula baby!

This morning (yesterday now) we hit the Old Market, where I got a haircut! I didn't realize how long it was until the young guy combed the knots out and my hair went down past my ears. Wow. He trimmed it up then gave me a nice shave with a straight razor and then threaded my face (?), focusing on those furry eyebrows of mine. He even trimmed the brows later. Nice. All in all, a great experience and for oh so cheap. I ended up tipping him as much as the haircut cost!

Today we snorkelled off the coast in Ras Mohammed National Park. It was lovely -- beautiful fish and coral. I saw some amazing tropical fishies, but never found little Nemo. It was bitterly cold because of the wind, so that kind of put a damper on the trip. But all in all it was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we are going to chill at the beach and then tomorrow night we are going to start hiking Mt. Sinai at about midnight so we can watch the sun rise from the summit. Then we'll visit St. Catherine's monastry at the base of the mountain. Tuesday we fly to Luxor. Will update as soon as possible!