I Am I Said

Any regular reader of my blog is probably wondering if the it has been undergoing some kind of identity crisis over the past two months.  When started, the blog was written under the author name Traveler from 2009 to January 2017, then under the name Sheldon Charles from then until now.  Now it is under my name, but perhaps an explanation is in order.

When I started writing this missive, I was also starting to relearn how to ride a motorcycle.  As a result of that event and my 50th birthday, I decided it was time to start writing down things I was thinking and events that were happening to me – so I started the blog and used the single name Traveler, my riding nickname. 

For several years, I wrote about my love of riding and the various adventures I was having.  Then my job took me to Kuwait.  So, the focus of the blog shifted, from riding to the day to day experiences I was having living and traveling through the Middle East.  I also started a more disciplined approach to writing by making an entry every week versus my prior when I feel like it schedule. The author name remained the same because for operations security reasons tying it to my real identity might jeopardize my safety.   It was during this time I wrote and published my first novella (Three Paperclips & A Grey Scarf ); also released under the name Traveler. 

Life went on and I returned to the United States with many stories still flying around my brain.  When the time came to transition from my service to America to something I wanted to do, I spoke to several people about my future as a writer.  One piece of advice I got was:  Unless I was already famous and using a single name as a nom de plume (i.e. Cher, Sting, etc.) or unless I was planning on writing low end erotic fiction – I needed to use a two-name pen name.  Since Lemony Snickett was already taken, Sheldon B. Charles was born.

At the time, I thought it made sense to use that name for everything I was writing, including this blog, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that was not really what I trying to do by using a pen name.   I thought about an author who I deeply admired and who also used a nom de plume – Samuel Langhorne Clemons.  When he wrote books, he did so under the moniker Mark Twain but when he wrote opinion pieces or for the newspaper he wrote under his own name.  Ben Franklin was another who used a pen name for some writing (in fact he used several); but when he was expressing his own thoughts he wrote under the name Benjamin Franklin.  While I would never compare myself to either man as an author, I do know how to follow a good example when I see one.

Starting today I am changing the author name and link to this blog (wordsbycharles.com) to my own; as my blog is about me – my thoughts, remembrances, experiences, random ramblings, and images.   However, Sheldon Charles is my story teller/raconteur alter ego and he creates characters, writes dialog and creates a fictional world of adventure.  Since the two of us do get along well, you may see the occasional cross post or link from one to the other.

Enjoy!

Charles



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Be True to Your School

It is probably my nomadic upbringing and adult life that causes me to embrace wherever I happen to be living as my surrogate home.  So, even though I am in an atmosphere and culture that is the polar opposite of anywhere I have ever been before -  I gravitate towards news and accomplishments of Kuwait and feel a contact high in doing so.  The last few weeks have been really good for Kuwait, BTW.

Right now a delegation from Kuwait is meeting with the Olympic Committee to reinstate Kuwait as a full participant in the Olympics and hopefully they will be successful before this summer's London games.  No matter how that turns out,  Kuwait will have its first female Olympic swimmer: Faye Sultan.  Other competitors are:

Shooters:

• Fuhaid Al-Daihani in Double Trap (men)
• Abdulla Al-Rashidi in Skeet (men)
• Talal Al-Rashidi in Trap (men)
• Maryam Erzouqi in 10 meter Air Rifle (women) 

I am not surprised a the number of competitor here,  there seems to be gun shops and clubs all over the place.

Runners:

• Mohammad Al-Azmi in 800 Meters (men)
• AbdulAziz Al-Mandeel in 110 Meter Hurdles (men)
• Salsabeel Al-Sayyar in 100 meters (women) Table Tennis:
• Ibrahim Al-Hassan (men)
• Ali Al-Zankawi in Hammer Throw (men)

With only one athlete competing ,  who has he been practicing with?

Swimmers:

• Yousef Al-Askari 100 meter freestyle/backstroke (men)
• Fay Al-Hussain in 100 meter freestyle (women) 

With Kuwait's pearl diving heritage,  I am surprised there are not more swimmers.

If the delegation cannot get Kuwait reinstated, the Kuwaiti athletes will be competing under the Olympic flag.  I will be watching for men and women listed and wishing them well.

Hollywood Part 1:  The movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter was premiered to the American sailors on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and to soldiers at a few of the bases in Kuwait before it hit US theaters - the movie's stars even showed up to sign autographs.  I will admit that I saw the movie myself (in Abu Dhabi) and thought the premise was silly but the story wasn't too awful.  I suspend reality when I enter a theater but this took it way too far, I mean everyone knows it was Grover Cleveland who was the Vampire Hunter President.

CNN covered Kuwait in their Daily Snapshot feature:

"Kuwaiti sailors fix the old Kuwaiti flag on a dhowa during preparations in Kuwait City on July 11, 2012, for the upcoming annual Pearl Diving Festival, meant to honor the nation's former trade mainstay."

I missed the festival, but I see dhows tied up along the coast on my way to and from work every day. 

Regardless of what P.T. Barnum said, not all publicity is good thing... It was reported that Kuwait is the second fattest country in the world, behind the United States.  Average weight is  approximately 170 pounds, which is 34 lbs heavier than the global average, according to a research report published by BMC Public Health.  I notice that the report also said ""Increasing biomass will have important implications for global resource requirements, including food demand, and the overall ecological footprint of our species." 

Giving this a little thought,  I wonder if the increased biomass would be enough to upset the spin balance of the planet.  If that is the case then Kuwait will not be enough to offset the entire United States to keep things spinning correctly.  Perhaps we need more McDonald's and Burger King's throughout the region to keep this humming just right.

FoxNews had a feature about the hottest places in the world, because of the recent heat wave in the US.  Kuwait City was at the top of the list of cities mentioned.  Most of the locales mentioned as the hottest in the world where unoccupied sections of desert and wastelands.  I heard on TV that society seems to be falling apart in some US cities due to 3 or 4 days of over 100° temps.  Sorry, I have no pity - I can't say for sure but I think we have not been under 100° for at least 6 weeks and most days are over 120°.  Rain? Not a chance.

Hollywood Part 2:  (I saw this on 2:48AM )  I am going to see The Amazing Spiderman later today and I will be looking for the building's appearance.  On the right is the Al Hamra Tower which sits in downtown Kuwait City, the building on the left is the Oscorp Tower in the Spiderman movie.  Nothing like seeing bits and pieces of the familiar cast for parts in the movies. 

I wonder if the popcorn will come with camel milk butter? 

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Imagination, Innovation, and Invention... Oh My! (and a Wee Bit of Architecture Too)

I have always been a fan of innovation and invention. I seek out things that entertain both my eyes and my mind, trying to look for the unusual and the new spin on an old problem. Over here, you have more than a few opportunities to observe the unusual and innovative. Here are a few examples I've come across in the past week or so.

Last weekend I went to the United Arab Emirates and while there I saw several things that I consider to be very unique. The architecture of the country is fascinating and is known worldwide. These are just a few of the examples of unique buildings that I saw.  I think the bridge between the two taller buildings was to help facilitate getting from one to the other without having to go all the way to the ground floor, walking across the street, and then riding the elevator back up to the desired floor.

While in one of the malls, I saw this shoe display. It was eye catching but it was also functional if you actually wanted to pick up and take a look at one of the pairs of shoes.  

I came upon this and at first thought it was a regular ATM, but it is something very different. It sells gold --  real gold -- -- in ingot or medal format.  You can also buy krugerrands,  on the day I was there they were selling for $1600 US.  I walked past the machine several times while going to and from area stores in the mall and at one point they were reloading it. I wonder how many dollar's worth of gold it takes to fill up that machine?

The shape of doughnuts has been fairly constant since they were invented. Oh sure we change what we put on top of them or the stiff we squeeze into them but pretty much they are round with a hole in the middle. Starbucks in the mall seemed to be trying to do one better by making the donuts square shaped. I tried one, and it pretty much tasted like the round doughnut but it was messier to eat. Consider this, the round doughnut tapers off on the sides which keep it from rubbing against your face while you take a bite out of it. The square doughnut on the other hand, rubs up against your cheeks as you take a bite because it does not tape. Messy. I think I'll stick with the round ones.

Somewhere in the US there are probably theaters that have taken this step into luxury, but I've never seen one. Here, if you pay a few extra dollars you can watch the movie and a nice leather recliner with a side table. I did not have an opportunity to watch a movie in one of the VIP rooms but from what I understand there you also have waiter service to bring your snacks.  It can make a simple evening at the movies something really special. 

 Saw this in the airport. I have mentioned camel's milk before  --No I have not tried it yet, I don't want to contribute to the shortage of milk for baby camels-- but this is the first item I have seen that claims to be made with camel's milk.  I understand that this is supposed to be some very delicious chocolate and at $7 a bar it had better be.  I wonder if there is camel’s milk cheese.

On my way out of the UAE, I noticed the control tower at the airport. Again, rather than just having a straight, rectangular building they have chosen to put some style into the design by adding a bend.

Whereas I have been fascinated by many things I've seen off these recently, the genesis for this entry was actually something that occurred on base in my office.  The air conditioning in my office has been up and down for the past two weeks. Mostly down.  This leads to the office being about 94° or so during the day and usually never less than about 85° or so. The AC seems to work fine in the mornings when it's cooler but apparently there's a problem with the unit that causes it to go out when the temperature outside was over 110° or so. After several days of troubleshooting, the repairman decided he needed a part which has to come from the United States and due to its size will not get here for about a month.  Going through several chains of command and complaining to everyone above me who might have any pull at all, we were finally issued a portable air conditioner.

I've never seen a free standing AC in the United States but first encountered them when I was in Germany. The units have an exhaust hose that must be run out the nearest window.  Since we are working in what basically is a warehouse there are no windows from which we can hang an exhaust tube, but because the ceiling is dropped if we could get the hose to run up through the ceiling we could patch into one of the exhaust pipes there. The unit stands about 4’ tall and the tube we were provided was about 3’ long leaving us with a 5’ delta between the unit and where we need the hose to go. We put the unit up on a table which closed the gap about 3’ but we still had two more feet to go. I suggested to my folks  that they use a piece of cardboard to fabricate a section of tube that could go the last few feet, then I left for a meeting.

I am often complementary of my crew for being able to think way outside the box when necessary; in this case they thought box.  Using a pair of water boxes to create a piece of duct work which they then attached, using drywall toggle bolts, to a piece of ceiling tile. At the bottom of the box using a large amount of duct tape they merged the existing tube into the new cardboard box ductwork. Voilà it worked.   It is also one of the stranger things I've ever seen but by the end of the day someone had attached a sticky note to it which stated Trademark 2012, Patent Pending.  The office now remains about 78° or so but it is much more comfortable in will hopefully stay that way until the parts for the main air conditioning system arrive.

So much for the mother invention for this week….

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