Lynnś Weblog

Friday night. We had another big meal compliments of Rana. Chicken and rice soup, fattoush, a rice dish with pine nuts, and home made baba ghanouj – simply divine. This is the first time since having left the states where I feel like I am gaining weight. We took more pics but …do you really want to see nothing but pics of food and people eating like they have been starved for days on end? I will save the media storage space for pics of being out and about. Big plans to go out tomorrow afternoon as a household group — whoever can get up at the designated time of departure has signed on. Going to walk the Corniche, see Pigeon Rock, loiter around Hamra, hunt and gather for next weekś meals and take pics. I am now in possession of Kenś camera.

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This is just an attempt at playing around with posting stuff and getting youtube videos on.

I saw this episode of Def Poetry Jam a few years back on HBO and this guy — Mark Gonzales, blew me away with this spoken word piece ¨As With Most Men,¨ it has always stuck in my head, and you gotta admit nice t-shirt too. So here goes…I promise I wont go nutty with posting all sorts of yourtube stuff.

Enjoy… 😀

Or the alternative title ¨The Gimp is Slowly Becoming My Bitch¨. The Gimp being free photo software – not me being politically incorrect. Its 7am and I have been up all night along with Ken, both of us jacked into to our laptops. This is Ken by the way. He is from NYC and has been traveling for a couple months. Egypt, Syria and of course Beirut. He is the apartment kick boxer, photographer, short story writer and intern journalist at the Daily Star. You can find the link to the Star on the left (Lebanon News). Search his name to find some of his Daily Star articles ¨Ken Changpertitum¨. He is responsible for most of the pics posted now…That is until I nick his camera hahaha

Here are some group shots, I am pretty sure all are surrounding Ranaś dinners. Our little ex-pat family get togethers.

We move the couches closer to the little table and gather round. I know its the little details that will keep you all coming back for more! L to R Ramon, Alex, his girlfriend on holiday in Beirut for two weeks Savannah, Jibril, and me. Yes its blurry but the only one we have of Savannah and kinda fun, blurry or not. Or maybe its just my eyesight going due to lack of sleep. This could very well be a sharp, fine detailed pic… This (below) is our lovely newlywed (to Steven) Rana who is looking to get an internship for nursing at one of the local hospitals and also a genius in the kitchen with local fare. We no longer eat pasta or rice with canned vegetables, aka: prison style slop, Rana is cooking healthy stuff and chopping up salads like Fattoush (my all time favorite) or Tabbouleh (better then any I have had anywhere).

This last one (a Ken B&W art shot) we may use for her portfolio when we try to sell our idea of getting Rana a cooking show on FoodTV. Here are a few more group shots, of course dinner gatherings… Alex: he who speaks the Queenś English, also quite fluent in Arabic, studying comparative religions and conflict resolution, currently going to the AUB, enjoying an after dinner smoke. Our future Diplomat in Training, a future Friend in High Places…

L to R Jibril, Steven, Saleh, and Alex.

A Weekend gathering. Below is L to R Rana, Steven, Jibril, and Ray

enjoying after dinner conversation.

This above shot was a Ken shot from Ken and Rayś Excellent Adventures in Syria this past weekend. Ray is the honorary 7th roommate. OK…2 more for now. These are Steven shots…I couldnt pass them up. Enjoy…

Nice Steven shot of the sun setting near Pigeon Rock. Hopefully we are taking a field trip there this Saturday and I am planning on absconding with one or both of the digi cams and going nutty. Below is a shot of the famous scar of Beirut, The Holiday Inn, next to The Phoenician Hotel…

OK…Just a quick word on Linux operating systems…Fun to work with, free, a damn near infinite source of free software like The Gimp which I was playing on all night with the photos. I cant say enough good stuff about Mandriva, and Sidux which I lost when the laptop crashed. Yes, I did mope and curse ALL the operating systems, pouting is over and I am in love again with all that is Tux. Break the chains of Microsoft and check out any of the Linux distros. Lots of flavors to indulge in. Viva Tux the Linux Penguin!!!

Check out the links to the left for more info…There is free support galore online, and in Linux magazines at any store that sells PC mags. They usually come with cdś/dvdś with the latest live distros. Thats how I got Mandriva — a magazine and my highly talented, actor/journalist/writer/english teacher/acting teacher, infinitely patient, long suffering, computer hacker, all around genius/husband, Jibril.

K…its 8am and I really should crash for a few hours, wake up and do some online work, and TGIF… Cheers!