Well, if you’ve got all this paid time off, why not head to the Red Sea Cost near the Jordanian border and go for a wander along what’s left of the Hejaz Railway? You can get a camel, don some robes & a keffiyeh, and call yourself Paul of Arabia. 
Thank you Nava for your always-kind words.
… lessee… this is the Pit… am I supposed to blush or not?
blush
When I was in High School, I once memorized Kubla Khan because I thought it might be useful later in life.
So far it hasn’t, but one of these days…
Pisses me off no end. There’s one is Muscat, Oman too, but I can’t find one for the life of me in Orlando. WTF?
There are Hardees’ all over the ME too.
I’ll give it an 8. Pretty good rant.
Does that make you feel any better?
Commendable.
I’m glad you’re having a better day today.
When I was in Bahrain, they all complained about the Saudi drivers. I personally suspect it’s the “inshallah” philosophy: if God doesn’t want you to have an accident, you won’t have an accident, however badly you drive. And if God wants you to have an accident, you’ll have one, however carefully you drive. So, don’t worry about it.
And being isolated in a foreign country/alien culture does have i’s up days and its down days.
Just head to the Xanadu outlet, on the Alph river, just before the Sunless Sea exit. Tell 'em Kubby sent you for a gift certificate for a free smoothie from Dairy Queen on any purchase of a pleasure dome girdling larger than twice five miles.
[sub]Offer void where prohibited by decree of the Khagan.[/sub]
It can go either way.
::hijack:: It’s a paraphrase of a Simpson’s quote. The whole exchange is as follows:
His flashing eyes…his floating hair…
(They left out the parrots, and does fuddruckers have honeydew?)
I also memorized it in high school, just to be drunk on the words.
Maybe not your choice of days, but a good task.
Thanks for getting me to recall it!
(And hope it’s picking up for you again!)
There’s a Fuddruckers at Festival Bay Mall on International Drive, past the Turnpike and Sand Lake Road. There’s a set of outlet malls up there (can’t remember which ones). Festival Bay Mall is on the other side of I-drive. There’s a movie theater there, Bass Pro, and a Ron Jon.
I can see a Fuddrucker’s in Saudi Arabia. I believe opening one in India, however, would be a serious faux pas…
It is Wednesday afternoon, since I use a Thurday/Friday weekend, it is sort of like Friday to you who live on Earth. I had a serving of super-hot Cheetos* and TWO glasses of wine. I am mellow.
*I do not like spicy food. But I wanted to try them. I ate one, gee, that was hot. Let me try another, it was hot too. Then another. Now they are all gone.
An early bedtime is called for. A chance to relax and let the turn unattended. Good night all.
…an aside
Hey Paul…after 11 years in Saudi, we moved to Qatar, their ‘weekend’ is Fri/Sat. I can’t get used to it. I still think it ‘should be’ Thurs/Fri! Will I ever adjust?? Oh yeah real wine here 
What’s a Fuddrucker?
Burguer Chain, apparently. I know I’d heard the name before; never been to one, tho.
Is there a particular reason for this? It seems like it would be a good thing, as people are forever asking others to report their posts for them.
How can you mention your parrot so many times and not include photos? We need these to form a proper mental image of the bird sitting in the classroom swearing at students.