Brian's Trip to Bahrain

Last week Brian had the privilege of traveling to Bahrain to plan a Weapons and Tactics Conference. His organization (aka the office he works in) was responsible for setting everything up and running the 4 day conference that brought everyone from the area together to discuss today's issues as well as what can be done better in the future. Brian was in charge of a huge chunk of it and I am VERY proud of him, as it sounds like it went off without a hitch. Well, except the fire alarms went off the first day of the conference, but that was out of his control (or was it? ha ha)! So, for those of you who may be geographically challenged like myself, or just need a refresher, here's a map of Bahrain. It's in close proximity to Qatar. You can see how close by looking at the inlet on the map.

Besides working very hard, Brian was able to see some amazing sights and have a much needed break from the hum-drum of 12-14 hour days behind a desk. So, in Brian's words via email, here are some photos and descriptions of his trip. I am putting his text in orange. It is, after all, his favorite color.

This is a picture of the keycard in a slot on the wall. If you don't put your key in the slot, your lights won't turn on. I walked in and flipped all of the switches and nothing. I thought my power was out. I noticed a small slot on the wall with a little orange light and tried to push on it and tried to slide it, with negative results. Finally after about 5 min walking around the room with my flashlight and about to call the front desk to let them know my power was out, I decided to slide my card into the slot to see what happened and WHAM all of the lights came on as well as the A/C. It is their way to save electricity and ensure you don't leave the lights on when you leave……interesting! Everyone in our group said they did the same thing, but eventually figured it out. I'm sure the front desk has a chuckle when people call down because they can't get the lights to work.

This is a pic of the bathroom. It had a bedaeu (not sure how to spell but washer) that I did not use……..not even sure I would know how?

This is the room. It was a maritime theme. The bed had down pillows and a down blanket under a regular comforter. Very comfortable!

These are sky scrapers. All of their buildings have some sort of weird shape. Very few of them are square.

This is the group out to eat at Hardrock Café

This is Elvis, he's alive. This was a cover band that played for the Navy base. He dressed up as many different characters including Johnny Cash.

This was our last dinner in Bahrain. The one I was telling you about with all of the meat…..

And a view of Bahrain:

St. Louis Area

Brian will be aired this Wednesday, November 28th on Channel 5 during the 10 PM news. Set your Tivo's or tune in, if you're interested! He is supposed to be on air with a seperate message in this area, so when I get the details on that I'll let you know!

Gobble, Gobble!

Nolan, the doggies and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We shared it with Cheyna, Andrew & Abby at their house. We made way too much food (is there any other way?) and pigged out and enjoyed a nice quiet day. The kids filled up on lots of pre-turkey goodies so we had to bribe them with ice cream to eat anything healthy, but we have no doubt they went to bed with full bellies. After dinner Andrew and Cheyna's neighbors came over and we had some drinks and dessert. We stayed up late chatting and laughing and it was wonderful...only to be made perfect if Brian were there.

The head chef:

A very thankful hug(and Tootsie toosh)!

The Vrabec's set a spot for Brian at the table and we put a picture of him there to remind us of him, and how thankful we are for him...and how much we miss him. It was a very special touch that got me teary eyed.Okay, this is just hilarious. The appetizer/snack table was low enough that the kids could reach it. So they were LOVING it. But they thought they were being so sneaky and that we didn't realize what they were doing. And apparently, only the first bite is the best.Here's a close up of the once bitten snacks and the culprit's cute pudgy hand:

Think he's "sharing" with Haley here? No, he's saying, "No Haley, go away!" In Haley's doggie fantasies there is a snack table just her size. Cheyna & I:

Nolan and I:

Andrew & Abby being silly:

Our hosts: