Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sorry I'm not there to help you celebrate (we already did that remember).

It is a big one though.  You are 70 today.

Your birthday is beginning to scare me.

You are only 17 years ahead of me and when I was younger I thought that was pretty cool.

Now, it is a sign of how much older we are both getting.


I do look back and realize what an inspiration you have been.

We almost lost you 10 years ago, which makes this birthday even more significant.

Married young, did the best to raise your four kids (which all four have turned out pretty well, I think), lived through lots of adversity and in the end you have prevailed.

Nothing keeps you down and somehow you continue to put one foot in front of the other.

For that I am proud of you.

Love you.

Jerry

End of Summer Doha Style

Today it is September 7th and bachelor life and the summer is officially over.

The Summer began on July 3rd when Cathy left for home from Berlin to begin her Summer away from Doha.

It is a boys club in the Middle East as many wives leave town and escape the high temperatures and humidity found in the region (average temps are 35-50 C, or 95 - 122 F for my non metric friends) with humidity near 100% at night.

I'm sure she enjoyed being home during that time, not just to escape the heat (it was pushing 100F at home when she arrived), but to enjoy life as she likes it.  Fresh brewed Folgers in the morning, proper morning shows on TV, Orioles baseball, seeing our boys and their girls, lunch with parents, dinners with close friends.

Our visit to Berlin was chronicled in a previous post.

The month of July was long with adjusting to being a bachelor, then...

Josh and I hung out in Turkey for a few days in early August (this deserves its own post).

Got to see him present to his summer school and spend time touring Marmaris and Istanbul.

Presenting

Shopping 

Drank the only beer in town
(makes ordering easy)

Rode the Ferry across the Bosphorus (several times)

For work reasons I went to Denver in early August.  The Annual Business Development meeting.  It was good to see the work group and re-connect with folks I hadn't seen in close to a year.  It also made me realize how efficient we are in MENA (read - fewer people with broader responsibilities vs. a lot of people with less responsibility in North America).

The trip to the US was extended to include a visit to the home front.

It was a busy seven days.

We had a party for my mother who turns 70 this year (on the 9th of September if you are wondering).

 We made it out to the ballgame

 And after a busy weekend, we relaxed by doing some work around the old homestead and then I returned to Doha in time for Eid Al-Fitr.  I certainly needed the long weekend to recuperate from the jet lag.

I did get to photograph some fireworks shot off to celebrate the holiday.

And with the end of the fireworks the party was over and it is time to get back to work.  Clients are returning from their holiday and the fun has started again.

Tonight my sweetheart returns to Doha.  I hope she is as happy to be back as I am to see her....

Probably not....

Berlin

Cathy and I went to Berlin in early July.  It was the consolation prize for a busted business trip.  I was going to meet with Siemens and she was tagging along.  As these things tend to go - the trip got canceled.  This time we had airline tickets and hotel reservations already in hand.  She was on her way home for the summer anyway, so we decided what the heck, let's go anyway.

Not knowing what we would find, all I wanted to do was see the Brandenburg Gate and Check Point Charlie.

So....

We we went to the Gate

and Checkpoint Charlie

Having completed my list we settled in and...

Drank some local beer.

Walked around town and saw the ....

Berlin DOM (Cathedral)

Almost looks like a postcard. 

Bundestag

Bierbike
work for your drink, unfortunately we didn't get a ride

but it looked like a lot of fun
maybe the boss will let us do some team building...

Yes, I made her ride the local transit system.

U Bahn

Didn't ride it, but caught a glimpse of the ICE train
 Germany's High Speed Train

Took a ride to the top of theTV Tower - 
the view from the top was phenomenal

Yes, of course - the taxis are Mercedes

A few cool fountains were found

Such a unique cross walk signal, it had a personality and website all its own - ampelmann.de.

Street performers were out in force

The historic Berlin Wall Remnants were everywhere - hard to believe this things history happened in my lifetime - and what it meant to a generation of people.  As an aside, only the "old" Berliners remember what life was like with the wall.  Berliners under 30 have no recollection of life when the wall existed.

There is a brick line around the city showing where the wall once stood

Artists were commissioned to decorate some of the remaining wall

Some pieces have current day messages
"The Next Wall to Fall Wall Street"

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
 there are many monuments in the city to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany

We had a blast at Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum

Gave Marilyn a kiss

Hung out with friends like George Clooney

Leonardo

Chilled with Will

Yes... The Beatles

We both got a few licks in

Spidy too

In the end we ate lots of the forbidden meat - pork

drank (more than) a meter of beer...

had a pretzel appetizer

some Weiner Schnitzel

accompanied by a Pork Knuckle and sauerkraut

...this pig did not die in vain

We had a great time.

All in all it was a short and fun visit to the capitol of Germany.  

For us, the City was much more than the Wall and Check Point Charlie.