NLCS: October baseball baby!!!!

 

#12in12

My team, The St. Louis Cardinals, defending World Champions, have again defied all the odds and made it to the NLCS. 

No, that's not the newest crime drama on television, sure to be spun off a dozen times, its the National League Championship Series...a best out of seven series featuring the two best teams in Major League Baseball's National League.  The winner of this series, will go on to play the winner of the American League series (the ALCS).  The winning team of that World Series match-up will be crowned "World Champions" and be awarded the "Commissioner's Trophy".  Fame and fortune accompany that title..."World Champions"  My team is of course the improbable winner from last year, The come from behind team who took it all to win their 11th World Championship...This year, coming from way behind and out of a less than spectacular season again....this year, we aim to make it 12.

Is this newsworthy?  Blog-worthy?  Even worth mentioning since the game is really only seriously played in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Japan and of course America...technically I think its still played up in our neighbor to the north...but It's probably ranked somewhere between Canadian cuisine, and maple syrup drinking contests...

Hell yes its blog-worthy!!!!

If you don't watch baseball, or worse have caught a mid-season game or two on television, all of the hoopla can be a little hard to understand.  Normally 2.5-3.5 hours of some of the most mind numbing "sport" is enough to turn anybody off. I've heard it compared to watching paint dry. In fact the only ones who make it through the mid-season are the diehards, the sports writers and the players themselves.  I think even their wives turn the game off after a while, settling for mobile updates, and occasionally congratulating their hubby's on twitter or facebook.  All of it though is worth it.  All of that blistering hot mid-season, summer baseball is practice for this.  For people like me, baseball season starts in September.  I check on our stats, our injuries, see who's been brought up from the minors to stay, and whose had to go back home.  I get a read of how the season went, and what our prospects for October look like.  I do this because this is what it's all about.  Baseball in October is post season baseball.  Baseball in October is what the dreams of little boys who one day woke up to be men are all about.  For the players, especially the newer ones, this journey started some 15-20 years earlier...Saturday morning T-ball games, to their first little league night game.  Seasons upon seasons of practice.  Seasons upon seasons of success, failure and heartbreak.  Time and time again they've had to say "we'll do it better next year".  Now here we are in October and in 4 stadiums across America, the proverbial next year is finally here.  

How you got here is of no consequence.  The fact that you got here says it all.  Fans angry about their teams disappointing performance often blame "bad luck" for their lack of a postseason appearance.  They quote stats, blame umpires; criticize and berate coaches, managers, owners and even their fellow fans.  They do this simply because they're ugly people and they fail to understand that all of baseball, All of baseball, from every single gorgeous spring day with clouds and hotdogs and fireworks, to every sweltering hot summer day, so miserable that you can barely stand it...all of it is practice for playing in October.  How you got here is of no consequence, the fact that you had the skill, fought hard enough, battled enough adversity, fatigue, injury, rain delays, personal problems and had enough dumb luck to get here puts everybody on an even field.  Nobody here is playing for second, nobody here wants to go home and everybody here is at the top of their game.

Make no mistake, somebody will win this series and advance, celebrating and cheering the entire way.  Somebody else will go home on a quiet flight.  Somebody will cry tears of joy, somebody will cry tears of mental anguish so excruciating that it could only come from failing after a 20 year journey.  Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what it's all about.  This is October baseball.  

 If I close my eyes, I can smell the grass, the hotdogs, the sweat, the excitement.  I can hear laughter, and cheers.  I can taste the first sip of cold beer hitting my lips, I can see the pretty girls walking to the stadium.  I can see fathers pointing and sons nodding, I can picture the players signing the autographs, nothing short of 10 foot tall giants of herculean status to their fans both young and old.  I can feel my wife's hand in mine gently saying I love you with a squeeze.  Most of all I can feel the hope, the hope that gets reborn every year, the hope that this is maybe "our year".  For the next three hours, I have no bills, no mortgage and no worries.  

Busch Stadium, St. Louis Missouri.  I've sat here on the edge of my seat many times. 

For the St. Louis Cardinals and their rookie manager, we again hope and pray that this is our year, our 12th year...

For my non-American readers, the movies below may help if you're interested in trying to figure out just why I go so nuts in October...

Movies, there are more, but this will get you started. 

1. The Natural (1984)
2. Field of Dreams (1989)
3. Bull Durham (1988)
4. The Rookie (2002)
5. Major League (1989)

Join us on October 14th as the Defending World Champion, St. Louis Cardinals meet the San Francisco Giants

One more time, and you're gonna call me an attention whore

That's the second time in the year that the blog has been running that I've talked about giving it up due to perceived political pressures...one more time and it's officially "crying wolf". Even worse, people could argue that I'm just trying to draw attention.

I assure you that neither are true, and neither are my intentions.  In fact I think I'm gonna stay again, but this time, I want to take an extra second and explain.

First of all, stopping something pre-emptively is...well preemptive.  And preemptive can be good, but it can also be a knee jerk reaction to paranoia.   I hate knee-jerk reactions!  But its more than that...

When I came here, I knew NOTHING about Saudi Arabia, I thought I knew very little, but knew even less than I thought...which in a roundabout way proves I knew nothing.  After a year, I do know something, even if its just a little bit and some of the folks that read this blog now know something too, even if its just a little bit.  This is a good thing.

Whether everybody is in agreement about that or not, sharing knowledge and experiences between cultures IS a good thing.  Especially where the East and West are concerned.  If for no other reason than the last time we had BIG world fights we were using less dangerous weapons.  The stakes are a little higher these days.  Understanding a little bit about the people you share the world with is a good thing. Remember were trying to pollute the world to death...not destroy it in war.  (you never knew I was such a dirty hippie did you?)


The recent "Innocence of Muslims" trailer on youtube makes a good learning point.  As far as I'm concerned, it was a cheap, poorly made movie designed to offend.  Allowing yourself to be offended and reactionary is the crime, NOT the movie.  HOWEVER, I now know that my completely reasonable friends, co-workers, fellow bloggers and people who have shown me kindness in this strange land...they who happen to be Muslim, have a totally different opinion.  I'm not saying they're right, and I'm not saying they're wrong, but I am now aware that to them...insulting the prophet (PBUH) IS a big deal.  Its a thing that they want classified as a crime, yes, even the non-violent super majority want it classified as a crime.  They now know that I think that's overreach and I now know that its more than off limits, its WAY off limits. 

So maybe, I'll tone it down a bit.  Maybe I'll make sure that I don't do any insulting of religion or politics that I don't understand.

 Soooooooooooo

Maybe I'll warn readers that I'm a heathen westerner and should only be used as an example of what not to do!

Maybe I'll say words like Bullshit less,

and I'll not talk about Rock and Roll like Led Zeppelin, Bob Seger, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, (all available on youtube.com in case you were interested...)

maybe I'll talk less about the beautiful girls down on Bourbon Street (you should visit if you're ever in NOLA) or the lovely women all throughout the South (that's Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina in case you wondered...some people say Texas and Florida, but most of us don't think they count! and wikipedia claims that it applies to Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Virginia and a bunch more...I disagree)  At least as far as women and food go, I say Mississippi down to Louisiana and over to Georgia.  But who cares!  I'm just some asshole blogger with stupid opinions!  (I'll try not to say asshole anymore).


I won't talk about those golden pilsners and hearty wheat's that we make so elegantly back in the US and that my students drink in Bahrain.

I certainly won't discuss the scent of a woman (Thanks Mr. Pacino) or that feeling you get after a first kiss.  I would never even think about mentioning afternoon delights (hmm...nice :) 


The main reason I'm staying though is the original reason, I knew nothing about the KSA when I got here, and I want to keep learning and keep sharing.  If you are seriously against someone sharing your culture, you are a closed minded, idiotic, child who does your people a great disservice.  I want to keep sharing and documenting my experiences here.  Every time a student threatens me, every time someone asks for grades they didn't earn, every time someone is kind, every time someone goes above and beyond my expectations.  Every time these things happen, I want to write about it, and I think I will. 

And if you hate me...just think about all the publicity getting kicked out of the kingdom for blogging will get me?  I might turn a stupid little blog into a book...I might be on Letterman, The Today Show?  Fox News?  You never know...but you do know that turning some stupid little blogger into an actual author might be counterproductive...and considering that my writing is stored on a computer in Florida...it may just be something to think about.  Your Kingdom, your rules.  My life, my freedom, my prerogative to write. 

Yep, think I'll stay. 

Stop Blogging?

I had a good weekend, spent time with new friends and old, and am actually beginning to have something of a social life here in the Kingdom.  I'm sure there are some blogging topics in there somewhere as well, some of the ideas have already been hatched, but aren't quite developed enough to stand on their own just yet.

However, when having dinner with the friend of a friend, someone who has been here for 14 years and oversees a workforce of nearly a thousand, the topic of blogging came up.  This person stopped suddenly and said "you blog?"  I replied that I did, they then told me quiet matter of factly, and without emotion that I should stop immediately, delete whatever I could and deny that I'd ever had anything to do with it.  I was shocked to say the least.  I was told that since the invention of the blog, more good employees have been kicked out of Saudi than you know, and that often the blogger spends a couple of nights in jail, their apartment raided, their bank account frozen and their belongings confiscated and is finally released to a one way ticket home, never to return to the Kingdom.  I found this a little hard to believe.  But they insisted that you should make a choice, work and money or blog.

As an American, I find this disturbing.  I'm a free man, a citizen of a free country, I publish what are clearly opinions or document the source of anything I call fact.  Could I accidentally cross some lines?  Could I accidentally cross lines that can't be uncrossed?  Does blogging and writing about my experiences here in the Kingdom put me at risk for being booted?  I don't know, and I don't know what I'll do about it, maybe tone down some of the political stuff, maybe be extra sweet instead of critical, I just don't know.  I'm curious to see what others think.  So if you stop by and read the blog from time to time, let me know your opinion on this topic.

Geoff

I think Arab News hates me...

I wrote this post a long time ago, before vacation even...decided not to post it, I was going through a tough time at work, and just after I wrote it, they DID in fact publish a couple of my comments under my name "G Jeff".  However, after reading the paper for the last couple weeks, I think I'm going to publish this anyway and amend the title to I think Arab News hates U.S.  get the pun?  Yeah I hoped so. 

I read Arab News daily.  It covers the Kingdom the "Near East" and the World in English, and does a decent job of showing me some things from a more "Eastern" point of view.  I actually cut out many of their articles and post them in a scrapbook that I'm making for my grandchildren to have one day.  I've been told by more than one Saudi citizen that it's a "shit" newspaper.  That its articles are only those approved by the Kingdom and its nothing more than just "what they want you to think".  I disagree.  The articles are often criticizing of the Status Quo and are not always the most positive side of Saudi society. 

Comments to Arab News however are not always so "balanced".  Many "contributors" take a very extreme viewpoint of the world and post comments such as The West will fall!, Islam will rise!, Stupid Persians, Arabs are better than you.  Fillipino women try and steal Saudi husbands!  Kick out all expats!  They steal from hard working Saudi!  I post comments under the name "G jeff", except that you won't see any, because they are never approved...Really?  A commenter blatantly displays the most vile of racist behavior and their comment is posted, but you won't post mine?

Recently, a few articles have popped up demonizing America and or the West for its seemingly anti-Islamic stance.  I understand this, I have blogged about it myself.  I agree it is a conundrum worth discussing especially considering some of the great people who are very much Muslim that I've met here.  The fact that currently in the West, Islam is equated with Terror in many cases, is unfortunate.  However, when you write a piece about America, you should expect, allow and encourage comments from those of us with intimate knowledge.  This doesn't happen.  I've seen a few obvious Western comments, some are defensive of the west, but more seem to be "apologetic".  Maybe this is my problem, maybe I need to be an "American Apologist" to get a comment published.  Maybe I need to say "oh yes, you are right, we are so bad"!  Well, sorry to disappoint, but its not going to happen.  The "West" as people like to say is actually a myriad of countries, with many different demographics and belief's. America herself contains 50 different States with many different political parties, viewpoints, customs, and cultures.  I'm not going to apologize for them or her; it's not my place and not my prerogative to do so. 

So Arab News, keep writing the good articles, they are insightful and beneficial.  But you may want to revise your comment policy (again).  You continue to have extreme view, poorly written, horribly punctuated comments and yet seem to disallow well written comments that offer a viewpoint other than yours.  That policy implies a bias in your thinking or your "agenda" whatever it may be.

New Stuff:  

Speaking of your agenda...I'd like to point out a few things from the last couple of days papers:

1st of all, the day after you published a cartoon showing the brain of Bashar Assad being injected with poison from the hand of an Israeli, you published an article that contained King Abdullah's comments that all religion should be respected and protected under the law.  HINT:  Israelis are Jews, and Judaism is a religion...and you're being offensive to the point of stupidity about it.

2nd:  You commonly publish articles detailing a persons conversion from Christianity to Islam.   Sometimes, these are well written by well educated folks, other times not so much.  Friday you did exactly this and let me sum up...a woman who since the age of 15 didn't go to church, drank, slept around, did drugs, tried to take her life a whopping 15 times without success, painted her face black, became "emo" or "goth" and was fascinated with death, lived with her 2 kids and seven other people, and met men through her Pakistani Muslim boss...this is not a good story.  Calling this woman a Christian is like calling me Muslim just because I live here.  As far as I'm concerned YOU CAN HAVE HER!  She implies that all American and therefore Christian (which is false) men are rapists, abusive, unfaithful, alcoholics, while also implying that all Muslim men are devout, don't drink, pray 5 times a day and treat women and babies with the utmost respect.  Both of these implications are out and out LIES.  Both cultures and both religions have plenty of both types.  More importantly though, why do you feel the need to print such a thing?  Shouldn't this be a religious issue?  A private story of triumph for her and her friends and fellow mosque goers?  What if the New York Times published articles about people who convert from Islam to Christianity?  Oh wait, those people have to go into hiding...The NYT couldn't publish a story like that or those people would risk being murdered...never mind. 

3rd:  You just plain misrepresent things.  Your stories all week about the Kingdom "re-issuing" Visa's to Filipino maids completely twists the truth which is that the Government of the Philippines refused to allow any more of their people to go to Saudi for Domestic work due to the abuse they suffered physically, emotionally, and sexually. However the way you report it, it looks like things were the other way around and that the dirty little Asians were stealing from the poor hard working Saudi sponsors, and now the government has decided to allow them back in...nice try, but no.

I'm tired, you don't need anymore examples, you get the point.  The truth is, that the US along with all her "Western counterparts" have many issues, but even as much as you say our news is spun, we at least get a few more viewpoints.  I'm surprised the "Arab News" newspaper I bought today will lay flat...that thing should be spinning like a top! 

W. W. W.

Wednesday, Wine and Women

Wednesday I had a bit of a cold *cough*, maybe it was the medicine I took *cough*, either way I laid down on the couch and had the following dream...

My buddy Jim called in the early afternoon and asked if I wanted to hang out for a bit, I said yeah and he swung by the apartment.  We headed out, ran by his office to drop some stuff off, and decided to cruise the Khobar Corniche.  The Corniche on a weekend is always a good time, plenty of American's, Canadians, Irish, Brits, Germans, and other "American friendly" nationalities.  We had lunch at the Steak House on "Pepsi Road", did some little shopping at Tamimi (Safeway) and generally just hung out.   We had a party invite for later in the evening and finally realized it was getting late, so we headed over to my place to grab some good AC and change.  

We hit the party about 7 and found ourselves the first people there, although accidental, it worked out well and we helped our host get everything set up.  Around 7:30 guests started arriving, a slow trickle at first, but with a steadily increasing tempo.  By 10pm, guests were coming in groups of 5 every few minutes and we quickly found ourselves surrounded by nearly a hundred expats from various nationalities and walks of life.  Teachers, engineers, security guys, nurses, administrators, executives wives, husbands, sons and daughters.  Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and no religion at all hanging out in close proximity, sharing a soda or glass of wine or beer. Nobody arguing, nobody killed.  Live music playing in the background, sounds of laughter and jovial conversation floating out into the night, perfect weather for a party to boot. 

The best part about the whole dream though was the opportunity not just to socialize, but to socialize with members of the opposite gender.  If you know me at all, you know that I'm fairly fond of the fairer sex.  And that not only are they often easy on the eyes, but apparently as I discovered in my dreams, they have something between their ears called a brain!  Furthermore, when the brain of the woman is engaged, it seems that in some settings the mouth is compelled to open.  Intelligent thoughts then come out!  This is not something I regularly experience in Saudi, in the few instances in which I've needed to address a woman, her eyes are on the ground and maybe her head nods or a whisper escapes from under the layers of solid black cloth.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that when uncovered, they can not only be pretty porcelain objects of desire, but can also speak!  Intelligently no less!  I know...CRAZY right?

Tied with the women for the best part of the night was the wine.  Again if you know me at all, you know that while I can be quiet contrary at times, wine and I rarely disagree.  We get along beautifully, just like old pals who upon finally meeting again, wonder why we've spent so much time apart.  Wine and I had long talks that lasted into the late hours of the night, and she kept me smiling the entire time.

The dream went on, even spinning at times, laughter, conversation, wine, meeting with old friends and meeting new.  all in all it was a pretty good Wednesday, thanks to the wine and the women.

I woke up in my bed this Friday morning, woke up early around 6 to the sunlight pouring in and realized that I was safe in Saudi Arabia, that I had been at work until late Wednesday afternoon, and had taken some cold medicine and gone to bed yesterday.  Add to that the fact that it had been a W.W.W. thing, it must all have been a dream. No wine on my breath, no lipstick on my collar, just a faint smile gracing my lips and the fleeting memories of a beautiful dream.  I rolled over, pulling the covers back over my head, hoping to catch the tails of the dream, but alas, it was gone.  Time to get up, take a shower and enjoy some morning coffee.  Time to day-dream about the life that eventually awaits me back home.  back on a St. Louis fall day, downtown listening to blues at BB's, watching the cardinals play in October, riding my motorcycle along winding country roads of fallen leaves with a slight chill penetrating my jacket and stinging my uncovered face as I accelerate...One of these days I'm going home.  Sometimes, after a dream as fine as that one, I wish it was today. 

Surf's Up!

Couch Surfing (CS) www.couchsurfing.org 

has made it to Saudi Arabia  

I don't know exactly when it happened, but its here.  It may have been months ago or years ago, I just learned about the trend last year myself and was considering it as a means to travel on the cheap when on annual vacations or in new places.  When I registered on the site, I though for sure I'd have to use a VPN and or my home address in the states.  I couldn't believe it when I realized that that I could sign up in Saudi, I further couldn't believe it when  saw there were a lot of people in Saudi offering couches.  Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Khobar, Dhrahan, but I was absolutely blown way when I discovered that there were women on the site.  Not just Western women either, but Asian, Persian and even Arab. 

For those not familiar, "Couch Surfing" or CS is a fairly recent phenomenon that involves creating a profile, getting verified and offering up a couch to travelers.  Users on the site search places they intend to be traveling and look for hosts that match their needs and personalities.  They then send a "couch request" specifying when and for how long they'd like to stay.  If the host feels that there is a good potential that the two will get along, at least for the weekend, he or she responds.

CS is often defined as a project or a movement.  The idea being that some people want to travel not only on the cheap, but actually get to experience the local culture, cuisine and people.  I wholeheartedly agree.  For examples sake if someone from Saudi was visiting the US for a few weeks, they would learn a great deal more about it from me or some of my countrymen than they would if they were hidden away in a hotel.  At a hotel they would eat steaks and chicken and burgers, maybe taste a glass of wine or three.  With me they would eat real BBQ (beef) courtesy of a friend who owns a BBQ place and does competitions, they would eat fried ravioli St. Louis style and have homemade biscuits and gravy with their eggs in the morning (or they would have until the divorce).  At others houses they might be invited to a Friday night football game, catch a live local concert, have a bonfire on the beach.  Tour a local winery or micro brew and have some alcohol actually WORTH drinking.  Nowhere would they be stuck listening to elevator music and flipping channels on the TV remote unless they wanted to.  This is the idea behind couch surfing, finding some kindred spirits in other travelers out there and really experiencing the world around you.  I love it!

There have however been some negative reports about CS, and some of them potentially pertain to Saudi Arabia more so than other places.  There have been reports that some out there use it simply as a dating site, that they screen the requests not for personality, but rather for looks.  Its easy enough I guess, say on your profile that you've traveled Europe and are now open to hosting Europeans traveling the US.  Host a guy once or twice a month, and get some good reviews and eventually the requests from women will come in.  If that's what you were after, you've succeeded.  You now have dates coming directly to you.  Using CS as a dating website is scummy, but as long as all parties are consenting adults, I don't really see the harm in it.  Its a little slimy, maybe even scummy, but these things happen, as long as you know how not to come on like an asshole, I say no harm, no foul.  We are human animals after all.  This is where things get tricky though...what if you're a little overbearing and you've promised someone a couch, you meet them shake hands, get along well.  Then you take them out for the evening, show them around and have some fun.  Once home, you come on a little too strong and they rebuke you.  Now the uncomfortableness sets in...and its almost really too late for the person whose in a strange place to find somewhere else to go.  Now you've crossed the line from a little slimy to out and out asshole and predator. 

In Saudi there is an additional problem, number one its illegal for single men and single women to be in each others company here.  In fact outside of work (and sometimes at work too) it is illegal to be with someone of the opposite gender unless you're married.  Generally, the CPVPV (Religious Police) will leave Westerners alone, but not always.  They've yelled at me before, never anything serious but sitting too close to a family, waiting for stores to open during prayer, looking at them etc...and there has been more than one occasion of people being dragged off to jail for not being able to prove marriage. 

Secondly though, rape is often times unreported in Saudi because the woman will be in trouble also!  The courts will say that if she were at home with her parents, this wouldn't have happened.  In a prehistoric caveman sense--they're right.  But hiding women under tons of wrappings and leaving them at home to sit on the couch, watch TV and get fat until they get married is borderline abuse of human rights.  I know its a different culture and all, but c'mon people! Getting back to the point though, women, expat or GCC citizens who decide to allow a male traveler to couch surf, risk rape or abuse at the hands of their "guest" and have little recourse in the legal system.  Even a woman who fights an attacker off and throws him out of her house cannot dare to call the police, not here in Saudi.  And yet, they're on there.  Brave souls, trusting in the goodness of their fellow humans.

I plan on couch surfing to Jeddah, I need to do some diving and I'm hoping to go in the next month or two before its cold.  At first I thought I was going to get stuck doing the hotel thing, but we'll see if I can't catch a couch or two.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Happy 82nd Birthday!

This post is a continuation of WooHoo Party!   

Saudi Arabia turned 82 today.  You just don't realize how young a country or Kingdom is sometimes.  Considering this was the first year I happened to be in the Kingdom for National Day, I politely disregarded the advice of others and went out anyway. 

Wednesday night some kids were causing a little trouble and breaking bottles, Friday night they were racing motorcycles down the street adjacent to my apartment, Saturday I got called into work because I was told that "this is a Saudi holiday, not an expat holiday" (so much for my four day weekend!), Sunday my buddy Jim called and we made plans to go drive around and check out the events.  We hit the roads which really weren't that bad, and cruised all around Dammam, Khobar and Dhahran.  Quite a few cars were displaying temporary paint of Saudi color and flags of the Kingdom, but other than that, we didn't see much.

We ended up at the mall of Dhahran and had an early dinner at Tony Roma's, not bad, not good, but for a place famous for a dish it can't serve here, it did OK I guess.  probably would have been better in the family seating, instead of the bastard (Oops, I mean single!) seating.   We shopped around a little, made some pretty funny and crude mannequin jokes (whole 'nother story).  We engaged in eye flirtations with the women who made eye contact and wanted to flirt and laughed at the "fashion show and peacock-ing" of the 20 something Arab men who look like they fell out of a Ralph Lauren ad, or a GQ magazine (clothing wise at least).  I picked up a second Saudi flag, This one the perfect size for the souvenir I want to create and also a 82nd Birthday/National Day sash.

My Saudi National Day sash...I don't read Arabic, so it probably says
"I'm an American asshole, somebody please shoot me"...but lets hope not!

 We checked out Ikea and Saco for looking for cheap stuff to try and make our apartments look like someone actually lives there.

Living Room

Dining Room

Yes I know its a mess, Thank you mother. 

Little luck was had in that department, everything was in heavy frames, expensive and really nothing just "had to be had".  We called it a day and headed back to Dammam.  Traffic was a little heavier than normal, and a much more obvious police presence was out, but really it remained pretty uneventful.

So all in all, a pretty good day, nobody tried to kill us, nobody gave us any mean looks, nobody harassed us at all.  No riots, no rock throwing and it looks like people exaggerated the dangers and crowds for the most part.  As I get my shirts and pants pressed for tomorrow, I can safely say that it was a good weekend, although I wish someone would realize that for an American adult male, hanging out at the mall with another guy is considered pretty lame, but since we aren't allowed to talk to women, or go out with them unless we marry them, and while Citizens can go to Bahrain every weekend but expats can't...God help me, it looks like I've officially become a mid 30's mall rat! 

I really hope the Kingdom takes a few steps in the next ten years to make non-Muslims and non-Saudis feel a little more comfortable!