Tuesday

When I was talking to Carrie, back in the Houston office of K-Force she was asking about the rooms in Steineke Hall, so I thought I would post views of my room. It is like a 3 star hotel most any where. Definitely not a 5 star :) It will close in on your after a while, so it is good to get out to the gym, take a long walk or jog, or go into Al Kobar for a shwarma. The pillows, I find, are too bulky and am about to go to Ikea and buy one with less bulk. The water is quite hard - it does not make for good subs when showering and leaves a fine white deposit on dark clothes (like socks that you might wash in your sink). Remember, all water here is processed from sea water throught the desalinization plants up and down the coast. There is no source of fresh water nearby. The room service is generally great. The staff is anxious to help. The room is cleaned everyday. The dining hall is right across the street and the commissary (small grocery store) is just a few steps farther down the road. The gym is about a half mile away. If you are into golf, there is a golf course about as far away as the gym and it encircled by a nice jogging/walking path (approx. 6 km). The compound is quite green with plants and could easily pass for a neighborhood back in Austin or San Antonio (not Houston or East Texas). Outside the compound it is like far West Texas - desert like. We are next to a military airbase, so we get a lot of fighter training flights flying over most all day long and into the evening. Kind of reminds me of the Naval Flight Training Base in Kingsville, Texas.