WHAT A YEAR!!!

As my holiday time in the United States came to a close, I started to think back on 2010.  What an amazing year, full of incredible blessings beyond what anyone ever expected.  That's always how it works out though isn't it?  I have made some incredible friends, done some incredible things, and seen some incredible sites.

So I thought it would be nice to reflect back on quite a year, and take all of you along for the ride.  Some of these events you may remember, others may be new.  I'm sure I will leave out some favorite moments (ducks, Cairo, etc.) but I will try and make up for it with some new winners.

This was Houston 1 week before I left the United States for good....yep, that's snow.  It was miserable.  Little did I know, I would be whining for some of that cold weather in 4-5 months!



Marty never complained once about the move.  As long as he controlled the TV remote, he was alright.

I was so excited to get into my new digs, but when Schlumberger announced they were buying Smith International (Wilson's parent company), my Saudi residency went into a holding pattern.  Without that residency visa I couldn't move any personal items into the country; I lived out of a suitcase from January-April until my stuff finally arrived in May (visa taken care of!)  Here's what an apartment with no books, radio or pictures looks like.

No personal items...no problem.  Keep on plowing ahead.  In mid-April Wilson sponsored a booth at the SABIC Technical conference in Jubail.  Peter O'Neill (UK) and Tommy Broussard (Dubai), fellow Wilson brethren, hosted with me.  For those of you who think the photo is a little blurry, well it is partly, but that's also Tommy cooling off with a brochure.  It was 98 degrees, WITH AIR CONDITIONING, in the trade show tent...a great business event for Wilson, but a miserable personal experience.

So the driving isn't great here in Saudi Arabia.  Ok, it's ranked as the second most dangerous driving environment in the world!  One of the advantages of driving in Saudi Arabia is that you tune your driving senses to an amazingly high level...dodging motionless objects, like this $110,000 Mercedes that is parked half in the street, right after a sharp turn, helps refine those senses.

Driving dangers aren't just limited to the oncoming traffic.  There is also an option to place your children in your lap...this 3 year old, whose head you can barely see, is learning the basics of driving from her father while sitting in a brutal line at the causeway to Bahrain.  Awesome!

While we're on the subject of safety, this office building did an entire refurbishment during the summer.  These laborers plowed along like it was nothing...of course not having to wear safety equipment or haul anything to the street helps...just drive the dump truck up onto the sidewalk.  That way, all those folks walking to lunch can avoid falling cement as a sort of lunch-time sport.

On a much lighter note, my wobbly coat rack was healed in fine fashion.  Altaf came in one day, made a quick assessment, headed back to his office and grabbed a sticky note pad, and placed it under the short arm.  But wait, that is not the beauty of the solution.  See, the first attempt proved that our wedge was too large.  Solution?  Just pull some of the sticky notes off and make the wedge shorter.  Hence, Altaf still had sticky notes and my coat rack is fixed.  Totally awesome!

What would a year in review be without a water polo shot.  This was the blind-side-blessing from God.  I met a great group of guys that play competitive water polo.  They travelled to the FINA World Championships and won 8th in the 50+ category, and I got to join them and play open tournaments in Dubai and Qatar.  What an amazing blessing.  I made lifelong friends, got into shape, and had a release away from work.  This picture was shot at the Heine-Classic in October.  Chris Heine was leaving Aramco to join a company in Houston.  Abdi pulled together a little tournament and we had a huge turn-out.  On Christmas Day, the annual Christmas Classic took place, in which the children take on their parents.  26 people showed-up, so 4 teams were assembled.  The senior guys won of course...slime balls.

Pranks are a way of life in the Capital Projects Department, so when Jack Mason sent this photo to me, I was expecting classic hysteria.  This picture was taken in Frankfurt during the World Tube Fair...well actually, it was taken a week after the Tube Fair.  A little volcano in Iceland decided to interrupt the European continent and blow, sending smoke everywhere.  Air traffic was stopped for over a week, and even after it picked-up, it was intermittent.  The Wilson Team got tired of each other quickly, especially when one of your travel mates is constantly taking pictures and laughing at you.  From L to R, this is Cal Leavitt (Manager Capital Projects), Jim Owsley (VP Materials), and Phillip Nicolas (Director of Process Piping Sales for V&M).  Jack coined this as a record album photo for a 70s adult contempo band...works for me.

I travelled all over the Middle East in 2010.  My first trip to Abu Dhabi left me in amazement.  Check out the famous leaning building.

Or how about a giant circle building?  I'm surprised I didn't drive into the freeway divide while gazing at this building.



Tommy Broussard has let me stay at his house 3 times.  With the price of hotels in Dubai, this is a great cost saver, and a whole lot more enjoyable.  On one particularly long stay in Dubai, Tommy drove me out to the Red Dunes.  He took this picture of me as the sun set.  The sand is so soft and fine.  People go 4x4 trucking and dune buggying in these big dunes.  That's on the bucket list, but for this night, just seeing the sun set amidst the quiet of the desert was enough to be overly thankful to the Big Guy above.

Of course before Tommy and I reached those dunes we had to race some camels down the highway.  These guys are huge!  They weren't overly concerned with the two gawkers in the Land Rover.

Oman was the first country in the Middle East that I travelled to.  That was back in 2008.  It is still my favorite Middle East country because my good friend Unni Kizhake lives there.  Here is Unni accepting his 5 year service award from yours truly.  Unni is a great guy, who spent 5 years of his life in KSA!  He's been a real supporter and great friend.

So I catapulted into 2011 with a bag full of excitement.  2010 was fantastic.  I had great friends and great experiences.  I landed back in Bahrain on January 12th and taxied on over to Khobar.  On the way I had the driver stop at Wazzan's so I could grab a shwarma.  It melted in my mouth.

The week started slowly.  Everyone in the office was happy to see me back.  I really missed the guys, and realized it as they smiled when they saw me sitting at my desk.  On January 18th a huge rain storm hit Khobar.  We got an overwhelming amount of water.  1".  Yep, chaos ensued.  See, there are no storm drains here, so all the water just sits.  2011 entered with a bang, and I'm sure there is tons more fun to come.



That's what the lack of storm drains will do to you.  This is the service road I am on.  Notice that the freeway is even worse.

Notice that the high water doesn't stop people from trying to pass other cars.  My faithful Camry braved all the water and drove away to talk about it.

Have a great year everyone!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? PART 2

Ok, now we're rocking again...two posts in as many weeks.  I think we're back on pace, at least for this month.

So I left off with my adventure to Kenya.  It would be tough to top that trip.  Manya and her family were great hosts, the animals welcomed me into their kingdom (ok, not really, but it sounds good), and I checked-off Sub-Saharan Africa as a place I have visited.  Yep, this would be tough to top...and I wouldn't succeed.  Sorry, the road ahead provided some fun, but nothing comparable.

On December 2nd and 3rd, the old faithful Ras Tanura Water Polo Team made a trip to Qatar for an open tournament.  Day 1 would consist of matches in their world class facilities.  Qatar has made huge investments in their children - future generations.  They have built world class sports facilities all over the country and brought some of the top universities in to Doha.  Qatar may now be the wealthiest country in the world on a GDP per person basis.  Huge offshore gas fields provide a seemingly endless stream of money for the country.  Instead of fancy buildings and hotels, they have invested in sports and education.  A great combination.

Qatar juts off the Arabian peninsula in a defiant way.  You can see it below on the ride side.

Yours truly lives about 10 miles south of the city Dammam, also on the right side of the Arabian Peninsula.  Qatar is a 4 hour drive from my home, as well as the Ras Tanura guys.  Abdi organized carpools and on December 2nd I drove off with Abdi and two other teammates towards Qatar.  That wasn't before a 5am wake-up call.

"Abdi, why are meeting so early at your house?"
"Well it's good to get down there early and relax a little bit.  We'll have breakfast and then head out by 7am.  That way we can be ready to go when we play."
"But Abdi, we don't play until 5pm.  We're going to arrive in Doha at noon.  That's a lot of R&R time."
"It's just better to leave early."

So that was that.  We were off to Qatar.  About an hour into our drive, Abdi decided to call the rest of the guys to see where they were at; they had all left at 8am (imagine that).

"Anthony, where are you guys at?  What do you mean you don't know where Jim and Austin are?  Well...No...I'll call Jim."  Abdi was not happy.  Apparently Anthony, our goalie and MVP, was still in bed.

"Hi Cora, is Jim there.  He left already?  He's going to pick-up Austin and Anthony...great.  Thanks."  Abdi was feeling a little bit better now.  He paused for about 5 minutes before calling Anthony to confirm everyone was meeting up now.

"Anthony, Jim has made it to your house?  No?  Cora said he left 10 minutes ago...but he should be there.  Maybe he's picking-up Austin first.  I'll call Austin."  More skittish again.

"Austin, hi, it's Abdi.  Is Jim on his way?  You haven't heard from him?  I sent out an email and everyone agreed to their rides and now nobody has heard from Jim.  Can you call him?  Ok, thanks...call me back."  Abdi was back in panic mode now.

"Hi Austin.  You can't get a hold of Jim?  I'll try him."  Ring, ring, ring.  No pick-up.  Now there is visual worry.

"Cora, it's Abdi.  Have you heard from Jim.  No?  How long ago did he leave?  25 minutes!  You live 3 minutes from Anthony and Austin and they haven't heard from Jim.  Let me try them again."

Abdi turns to me, "These guys are crazy.  Why can't they organize a simple pick-up.  Anthony sounds like he stayed up all night, Austin is waiting for Jim in the street, and Jim won't pick-up his phone."  Just then the phone rings.

"Anthony, where are you at?!  What do you mean?  Kostas is flying down...no you can't use his ticket...wait, Kostas isn't going?  That won't work Anthony.  Jim should be picking you up.  I'll try Jim again."  Ring, ring, ring.  Jim doesn't pick-up. 

Abdi's phone then rings.  "Anthony, what is going on...you can't trade for Kostas' ticket...that won't work...What...you jerks.  You've been driving along for 15 minutes together.  Oh, you just thought you'd give me a panic attack.  Very funny."  Abdi hangs up.  "They were all ready; they thought it would be funny to play a joke on me and act like they weren't coming."

So that was the laugh of the day as we careened towards Qatar.  The drive was very peaceful.  The customs process took a little time, but no troubles.  We drove into Doha at around 12pm, right in time to pick-up Kostas at the airport.  We had a little wait, but really no problems as we headed to the hotel.

By 1:30pm we were lounging by the pool.  That day we were scheduled to play the Qatari National Team, The Ex-Qatari National Team, and the 17-U Junior National Team.

At 4pm we climbed into hotel vans and headed towards the facilities.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of these, but I can tell you that they were world class - the nicest pool I have ever played in.  Qatar had hosted the Asian Games earlier in the year, and these facilities were nothing short of Olympic.  Full stadium seating, separate diving tank, bulkhead, the works.

We played 3 games, winning our first 2, but eventually losing to the Qatari National Team 7-4.  They were much more fit and well coached.  It turns out the Qatari coach was the goalie for 3 Holland Olympic Teams  in the past 20 years.  He stands at a cool 6'7" and still has all of his muscle.  He was tough on his guys, but they were appreciative of him.  It was a quite a cool site to see. 

The next day we were scheduled to play a beach water polo tournament, with real rules, not the crap we played in Dubai.  But before we could sleep on that fear, we had to get from the pool back to the hotel.  See, while we were playing that first day, Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup - the first Arab country awarded the tournament.  The entire country of Qatar was between us and our hotel.  It took 1-1/2 hours to crawl back to our hotel, but to see the traffic jams with the Qatar flags waving and the people ecstatic was something else.  I will remember the pure excitement for my entire life.

On Friday morning we crawled out of bed and made our way to the beach.  The field was set-up and ready to go.  In real beach water polo, you play 3 on 3, so the field is only 20 yards long and 15 yards wide. 

Sounds easy right?  Not at all.  Instead of lining-up after a goal, the goalie just puts the ball in play.  The goalie can actually shoot at the opposing goal right after being scored on!  The referee sits on a kayak and calls the game. 

Because there is no line-up, and only 2 other people on the team, the game is constant.  You are either shooting or defending someone who is shooting.  On top of that, the water was freezing.  I thought we were in the Middle East.  It was numbing, so that only a lot of swimming got you warm.

I played in the first game and the second game.  We won the first against the 17-U group, but got smacked in the noggin when we played the Senior Team, losing 11-5.  The game is non-stop!  A great workout, but totally new to me.  I have to say though, I'm looking forward to future tournaments.

You can see the referee and the action pretty clearly in this photo

At the end of the morning the spirits were really high.  We took a photo with the entire group.  Most of the Qatari guys were still overwhelmed with joy from the night before and the announcement of the 2022 World Cup award.



I had lost some of that glorious sun in this picture.  I look like Casper the Ghost.  The Qatar coach is looming over me in the background.  Check out the Qatar 2022 shirt that Austin is holding-up though.

So we headed back to Saudi that afternoon and got home safely at around 8pm.  I stopped and grabbed a shwarma along the way.  Mmmmm good.  It was 2 weeks before I headed back to the US for the holidays...

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? PART 1

So it's been a long time since my last post.  I am sorry for the wait.  My sister, who runs a dynamic blog (www.fancyfootballs.blogspot.com), along with some other minor responsibilities, such as a photo company and 5 children, reminded me during Christmas that having a blog is a major "responsibility.  People want to see continuous posts.  You can't stop."  Ok, so I've been completely absent.  Well hopefully some of my travels make-up for the delay.

The Middle East has a week-off right before Thanksgiving occurs in the US.  At the same time, I befriended a fellow classmate at Thunderbird who lives in Kenya with her family.  I emailed Manya and asked if she was up for a visitor in Kenya.  Hey, I'm low maintenance and ready to adventure.  She was all game, so I bought my ticket for a 6 hour plane flight from Qatar to Nairobi.

A number of people in Saudi asked me if I was going on a safari.  I wasn't sure about that, as I only had four days in Kenya.  Well when I arrived Manya had arranged 2 major "Animal-Viewing" adventures.  My first full day I drove to a wildlife park that was about 3 hours north of Nairobi.  A robust Nissan Sentra was to  be our safety wagon.  If you've seen wildlife programs on TV, most safari parks haul people around in Land Rovers and large buses.  Not this trip!  The Nissan Sentra rolled-up to the park and I got my first glimpse of how "wild" Kenya's parks can be.  Small monkeys roam around the entrance gate.  A restaurant provides an opportunity for food.  Now these monkeys don't sit by the table waiting for a hand out.  They just jump up and take your food.  If your car window is down, your car will be burglarized of all edible items.  Check them out.

After we bought our tickets and avoided the criminal monkeys, we cruised on into the park.  Our Sentra would prove to be one of the smaller items in the park.  We bumped and bruised along the road seeing amazing wildlife.

These water buffalo were huge.  They had the right of way when confronted with the Sentra's might.  There was always a male water buffalo checking everything out.  If you expand this picture you can see the big guy staring us down. 

Zebras were everywhere.  They are very skittish.  A slight noise from the car and they would jump.

There were all sorts of these Emu-Gazelle type animals.  They cruised in packs and were on constant look out for predators.  Like the zebra, any noise and they were on instant alert.

Manya told me that many people travel to the safari parks and never see a Rhino.  Well I was blessed to be 100 yards from one.  This guys was gigantic.  He just sat there and ate.  He didn't look at us once and I'm sure wouldn't have been frightened if he had noticed us.  Look at those horns, and those birds weren't a bother at all.

Giraffes weren't too concerned about the gnat-like Sentra.  It is hard to explain how large these animals are when close-up.  They just hung-out and ate from trees that no other animal could get close to.

Baboons have serious attitude.  Whereas the little gate-monkeys want to swipe your food, baboons will come up and challenge you for your food.  They are much larger than I was comfortable with.  Manya told me that many tourists get out to take pictures and smile away at the baboons.  Well apparently that is a sign of challenge to a baboon, so oftentimes these smart little mammals will rear-up for a fight..."Ok, everyone back in the van!"

Leopards, Hyenas and Lions are all residents at the park we visited.  Unfortunately they are all nocturnal, and leopards, in addition, like to hang-out high-up in trees.  It was a real long shot that we would see any of these three animals.  We were launching into the home stretch of the park drive (hour number 5) when we got word from a passing visitor van that a lion had been spotted with her cubs close by.  We squeeked up to a grassy area and sure enough, this lioness had been woken-up.  This was as good a shot that I could snap, and I think it's a winner. 

Day 1 was overwhelming, but I was in for more.  Manya had big plans for Day 2.  We were heading to an elephant nursery and a giraffe camp.  The elephant nursery was amazing.  The nursery has discovered a formula for baby milk for elephants.  As parents are poached the babies are left to fend for themselves.  In the past, baby elephants couldn't survive in a nursery because the milk available didn't provide the nourishment they needed.  Well the formula has been discovered so these baby elephants have a much better chance of survival.  Each elephant has a trainer that acts as a parent.  They feed them, sleep near them, and generally help raise them until they can be returned to the wild.  The nursery is open for visitors 1 hour a day.  These little elephants came trooping down the trail and socialized with us for an hour.  I eventually sponsored a little guy named Chemi Chemi and my nieces/nephews are closely tracking his development.  Here are some pictures.

Manya and I with the elephants in the background.

Here's one of the baby elephants cruising around.

After the elephant nursery we headed to the giraffe camp.  One picture will best represent the park.

So we got to feed the giraffes, which was a blast.  Yours truly wasn't into the kissing-the-giraffe-challenge.  Manya, you are very brave!

On Day 3 I had an awesome lunch with some of Manya's old co-workers.  They were wonderful people and immediately welcomed me into their community.  The trip was overwhelming.  I can't thank Manya and her family enough for giving me a room to sleep in, a driver to and from the airport, and for organizing so many awesome events.  I haven't listed the entire slew of activities because it would take too long.  I encourage everyone to visit Kenya if you are ever traveling in the Eastern hemisphere.  The people are great and the experience is amazing.

So that put me into December, and my next blog will cover the second adventure I had leading up to the holiday season...

I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!

PART II

So when I left off my last blog I had waved down Martin and Julie in the parking lot of the Bahrain F1 race track.  The parking lot is sandy (of course), and as I waved to them both I started hacking away uncontrollably.  Julie Pearson had warned me that the sand/dust is very fine and that last year a number of runners complained that they could hardly breathe after their run.  Count me as one of those!  I was yacking like a sick dog, hardly able to stand on my now throbbing legs. 

When I recovered from my first heavyweight hack-bout I realized that Martin and Julie hadn't heard me because my voice was barely audible with all the sand in my throat.  I chased them down, albeit very slowly on my recovering legs.

"Hey, there you are Matt.  How was the run?"

"Glad it's ov...HUUUYYAACKKKKK...HUGGGH.....HUUUUUUUGGGGK....HUYAK...er.  Boy that sand is really HUUYYAACKKK."

"Oh Matt, I knew the sand would be bad..." Julie looks nervous about her leg.

"Well it's 10:50, so let's head back to the house and then drive out this afternoon for our legs ok?"

I was all game for that.  We climbed into their car and started to head back to Seef, where the Pearson's live.  On the way out Martin commented, "How did Ali look when you handed over the baton?"

"He actually looked....HUYYAACCKKK...a little nervous.  Like this was something he wished he hadn't signed-up for a few m...HUGGHHAACK..onths ago."

"We need to cheer him on don't we?" (rhetorical question from Martin).  We all agreed and Martin started to slow down as we drove along the main entrance road to the F1 track, where Ali would be running.  "You know I saw the guy who is taking on Leg 3, after Ali.  He was wearing jeans and a head scarf.  We might not win but nobody will forget the Shoaibi Group..."  Martin ends this with his trademark giggle.  I thought this was pretty funny as well, especially with all the serious marathon teams entered; we were here to have fun and it was already a great morning.

We slowed down about a minute later as we spied the "28" tag on a loan walker.  Yep, poor Ali was having a walk for the moment.  Martin slowed down and we stretched out the windows to root on Ali.  "Come on Ali...come on Ali, keep going!  HUYYAACKKK...Ali....Keep it HUYYACK up!"  At this point the traffic stalled us and Ali trotted on by.  We were stuck in a magnificent jam, so by the time we got to the light we had all decided that we would root on the next runner....jean pants guy.

"There he is!" Julie points to a well-paced jogger with our "28" beaming out to the world.  We pull up alongside and proceed to yell again..."Keep it up...you're almost HUYYAACCKKK there!"

"That's a woman."  Martin retorts.  "That's Ali's wife!  That's why the head scarf and jeans."  Ok, now we all felt a little better about our team, and she was running well.  Our spirits, which were already up, were lifted even more.  Onto Seef, and the great Pearson preparation.

I got out of the car at the Martin-Mansion and could hardly move.  My legs had knotted up and I felt like a complete sissy.  I was spending more energy coughing now then I had expended during the race, but my body felt as stiff as a board.  I Frankensteined into the house and sat on the couch.  Martin and Julie disappeared to their room to dress for their runs.

At this point in the story, it is important to bring in a fourth character: Martin Birch.  Martin Birch is staying with the Pearsons while he helps get a new Joint Venture off the ground in Saudi Arabia.  "Birchy" as they call him had been gone the entire night and was still not back when we arrived back from my run! 

Martin comes strolling into the living room with his red shirt on, tucked into his running shorts.  He doesn't look ready for the run, and for the first time in my life, Martin looks a bit nervous.  Julie also looks hesitant, but she's more careful by nature.  Martin exudes confidence, so to see him hesitate a bit was impressive.

"Ole Birchy must have had a live night...I spoke to him at 7am and he said he'd be here by noon.  Five minutes to go...Matt you may need to jump in and run a second leg....Hahaha."

"I can do it if needed..." as I massage my legs and shutter inside.  I am still coughing a bit and my back is rigid.  Why did I just volunteer for another...

The door opens and in walks Martin Birch.  He's a hulk of a man; athletic and very awake.

"Sorry there mates, a little late to the door but be ready in a few...Hi there, Martin."  "Matt...and boy am I glad that you are here!"

Birchy is ready in 2 minutes and we're off to the track.  Our plan is for me to drop of Martin Birch first, then drive ahead to the next station where Martin Pearson would be taking the baton from Martin Birch.  Martin Birch would join us as Martin Pearson ran his segment.  We would drive ahead and drop off Julie Pearson, who would then take the baton from her husband Martin.  Finally we would park at the end.  Julie would hand the baton to Mark Jenkins who would finish the race for us.

Martin Birch jumps out of the car and waits anxiously for his chance at glory.  This guys is every bit of 6' 3" and 240.  He's a world class skier and a great athlete, but admitted that the previous night involved brandy and beer.  Unfortunately Martin had crossed paths with an old friend from grammar school and the two of them proceeded to light up the town.  They even met some ladies at one dance club who were running the next day! (We actually saw them moving very, very slowly on one of the later legs).

Martin grabs the baton from Shoaibi Runner #12 and jots off in a walk-run.  We honk and scream as we pass by.  Up ahead, we park and wait for Birchy to come in.  Martin Pearson gives it a few weak stretches and then heads to the hand-off area.  "Come on Birchy!"  we hear Martin yell.  The baton is handed-off and then we get a glimpse of this gigantic sweating man, heaving and coughing like he has the ebola virus.

"I caHUYYAAKn't breeeaaatthhhee....HUCKKKAAAHUYYACKKK!!!!"  This man is sweating like he's just finished the iron man.  His whole shirt is drenched.  We help him into the car...."HAACCKKKKKHHUYYAACKK!!!!"  Whoa, serious wheezing and coughing.  We drive off and honk at Martin, who's moving at about .3ft per minute.  "Take it out slow..." is ringing in my head. 

We arrive at Julie's post and Birchy is still wheezing away, but by this point we're running low on water.  "It's just so hot...and I swear HUYYAACCKKKKK!!!! that is much farther than 3km.  What's that 1.7 miles?  I came around that last turn and the finish line looked like it was 10 miles away....I just couldn't run the whole thing....I HUYAACKKK HUCK HUCCKKK HUYACKKK! am just glad that's over."

Julie jumps out and sees Martin approaching.  I grab a water and Birchy and I head over to meet Martin as he hands the baton to Julie.  Martin doesn't look good either.  "HUYYACKK, Mate that is a long way!  I came to that second light and thought, 'That's not too bad.'  Then I see this guy waving me on.  It's one more light HUYACK ahead.  It's so far.  That felt a lot farther than 3km."  A royal band of runners we are!

We pull up to the F1 track and greet Mark Jenkins, who'll be taking the baton from Julie.  The three of us are hardly moving now.  My entire back is fixed in position and my calfs are aching sharply.  Martin and Martin are in a complete coughing daze.

Mark is ready to go, fresh off a flight from Moscow that arrived that morning.  There is a long straight away leading to this hand-off.  Martin Pearson sneaks away and down the straight away while we all talk.  When I next look down the street I realize that Martin is running the last length with his wife, cheering her on all the way.  It was a really tender moment.  Mark takes the baton from Julie and heads into the last leg of the race.  We stammer over to the finish line and cheer him on as he finishes.  We didn't know what place we were in, but there were definitely less people at the finish line than there were at the starting line that morning.  We were all smile though, because it was finally over.

The next morning I received a call from Martin.  "Morning Matt, you alright?"  "I'm pretty sore to be honest, how are you..."  "Yeah, didn't feel good getting out of the bed this morning.  I can't walk-up stairs today!  Hey Nigel has your medal for running ok."  Medal?  Yep, I was joining the Willmer family with my own running medal, although I didn't win.  Still, I'm proud of my HUYYACCCKKKK!

Complete with Red Racing t-shirt

I am pretty sure that's not gold

I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!

PART I

Wilson has partnered in Saudi Arabia with a company named the Shoaibi Group.  The Shoaibis are a very well known family in Saudi Arabia and they have been excellent hosts for me.  Among many other things, they have sponsored my work visa, which is extremely valuable in KSA, paid my house rent on behalf of Wilson, and provided me with an office to work in.

So when the annual petition for running in the Bahrain Relay Marathon came whirling around the office, I was game.  The event is strictly for charity.  The course is broken-up into 16 segments that range in distance from 2.6km up to 3.2km.  The race starts at the F1 Race Track in Bahrain and makes its way out into the desert and then back to the starting line for the finish.  There are a few basic rules:

1. The active runner must always be carrying his/her team's baton.
2. No runner can run consecutive legs of the race.
3. Good sportsmanship at all times.

The race is an awesome event.  This year almost 160 teams signed-up to run.  Hotels, banks, private companies, schools, school staffs, etc.  There is no limit requirement other than you do your best and follow the rules above.

I was quickly accepted onto the team because I am so fast...or at least they thought I was fast.  Initial courtship took place in the mid-summer, so everyone was snapped to alert when Annalise Widdowson sent out the first critical email about the race.  Suddenly things were getting more serious.  Here's her email:

Dear all


Please see attached notes regarding next week’s race.



I have been asked to point out the following:



1 Matthew, please ensure you arrive at the BIC by 9.15 to collect the baton and to sign in.


2 Failure to run with the baton leads to disqualification. So don’t drop it!


3 Please ensure you arrive early at the start of your leg – please allow 10 mins before the start (estimated start times below). As suggested in my previous email, please drive to the end of your leg, then walk to the start to warm up. Please phone me on 38320439 to let me know you are have arrived, otherwise I will need to send a runner to cover your leg.


4 Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the route (see attached)


5 Ambulances are available should you need them!!


6 The race finishes at 3pm. At this time, the roads will open up again, and the marshals will pack up.

 Going by last year’s times, the estimated start times are as follows. (Please arrive at your start 10 minutes before.)

 Leg Name Estimated start time


1 MATTHEW ETTER 10am


2 ALI JAFFAR 10.15am


3 ASMAA JAMIL 10.30am


4 RONI (MAE’S BROTHER) 10.50am


5 MAE CHAMI 11.10am


6 JENNIFER LEVESCONTE 11.30am


7 JASON LEVESCONTE 11.50am


8 JOHANN DUTOIT 12.15pm


9 NIGEL WIDDOWSON 12.35pm


10 ANDREW BEAN 12.55pm


11 MICHAEL PRIESTER 1.15pm


12 AHMED AL-NOAIMI 1.35pm


13 MARTIN BIRCH 1.55pm


14 MARTIN PEARSON 2.15pm


15 JULIE PEARSON 2.35pm


16 MARK JENKINS 2.55pm


Nigel has the race tshirts and your race number. He is in Saudi and Bahrain today so if you see him, please grab your tshirt from him.


Our race number is 28 (so if you have any supporters, tell them to look out for this number!!) You must wear the race number on the front and back. Please bring safety pins with you!



Mae will be emailing shortly regarding distribution of Shoaibi tshirts and meeting up after the race.






Thanks


Annelise

This was a serious wake-up call!  I was leading off the race!  Suddenly my knee-touch stretches didn't seem like enough preparation for this event.  3 kilometers...mmm.  I quickly dropped that into my measurement-changer and up popped 1.86 miles.  That's a bit of a hike for someone who hasn't ran in 2 years; I may be in good swim shape, but my knees, back, and legs are not in running shape at all.  "But it's just 15 minutes right?  No problem.  I'm in good shape," I tell myself unconvincingly.
 
This past Friday was race day.  I stayed with Martin and Julie Pearson in Bahrain the night before because that would make Friday morning travels easy.  Nigel Widdowson drove me down to the starting line on Friday.  I walked to his house from Martin's (about 200 yards).  As I was leaving, Martin says, "We'll see you in an hour mate...good luck."  That's what I'm talking about.  In one hour it would be over. 
 
Nigel and I were a little late to the track, so after parking we "jogged" to the registration booth, which was about 1/2 mile away.  "huffff...pufffff"  Nigel is like a gazelle running through the crowd to the registration desk....I'm trying to break holes in the Earth.  Every step feels like a gigantic clomp! on the ground.  My lungs feel good, but the other stuff is saying, "Whoa, don't be doin that Willis."
 
We sign-in and I get our baton - a plastic piece of pipe with our Team Number 28 taped on the end.  Nigel then pats me on the back and says, "Well I'm going to head to my station and get ready.  Have fun...don't take it out too fast."  What was that?  I assume it was all he could think to say, but no matter, it wasn't exactly the stroke of encouragement I needed.  Now I had 20 minutes to "stretch" and look fast amongst all of these runners.  To me it looked like most teams had either put their best people up front or the contest had no weak runners!  Here's the scene from above.
 

 
D-Moment approaches with a blaring, "Racers you have 5 minutes before the start.  If you are not leading off the race for your team, please clear the starting area."  I nonchalantly wedge into the starting area amongst 160 other little people; I feel like godzilla around all of these fleet-footed folks.  Then suddenly, "You're off!"  What in the world is going on, no "30 seconds!" warning?  We went from 5 minutes to go and the cheetahs never looked back.  Take a look at the not-so-fleet-footed camera man who was caught off guard and the fleet-footed runners who almost trampled over him.
 
 

 
...Small steps, baby steps, SPLAT! a woman tumbles down on my right side, baton bouncing everywhere as a little man hurdles her like we're in a steeplechase...bigger steps, 75 yards in..."Heyyyyyy!!!!!"  This guy is running backwards next to me while waving to people in the stands.  He quickly squares back around and keeps going.  Large man huffing and puffing away on my left, Ipod in action of course..."Hrrumph...Hrrumph" goes the 98 year old man limping by on my right.  I dart out to the edge of the track and pass a few unsuspecting people.  Yep, I'm cruising now.  Long strides, "don't take it out too fast..." blaring away in my head.
 
I arrive at the end of the first long track-way and we do a 180 degree turn and start running back down an alley in the exact opposite direction.  I'm feeling good so far, but it's gotta be the adrenaline.  I look-up and to my left is a fence line running parallel to my direction.  Ethiopians go zooming by at a pace I couldn't acheive in a dead sprint!  I look down my path.  "I've got 500 yards to go before I come back around and these guys just whisked by me!"  Now I'm feeling a bit slower.  I get to the end of this second corridor, smile for an action shot, and then head down in the opposite direction, except this time the end is even farther away.  "Keep pushing buddy..." "hu hu hu hu..."  There goes a 15 year old kid by me.  No prob, slow and steady wins the race.  To the end of the corridor I trudge and onto the F1 track, which suddenly compares to the Pacific Ocean in size.  A third 180 and I'm darting towards the start line again; this is my fourth time up and down this direction, each time down a different corridor.  Legs start feeling weak now, I'm wheezing that dust in from the desert...out of the stadium and down the entry way for spectators...wait down, crap that means I'm going back up now, and slower than grass growing.  A Dad cheers on his son as he passes me in slow motion.  Top of the grade and around a gradual turn and there is the handoff.  By this time the last 100 yards feels like a race in mud.  Here's a picture of a hand-off point for reference.
 

 
I hand off the baton to Ali and he gives me a nervous smile.  "Go Alieee"  My voice is raspy from my 15 minute dance with death...I start hacking and coughing away.  "Walk it off Matt." I think to myself.  After a few minutes I'm fine and head to the parking lot where Julie and Martin were picking me up.  I quickly found them and we drove back for a little rest before heading back out for their segments....
 
TO BE CONTINUED

ROAD TRIP TO DUBAI

So the Ras Tanura Water Polo team logged its first official road trip for 2010.  Normally the team plays in the 50+ category at most master's tournaments, which leaves-out a number of us on the team from playing.  So when the Dubai Water Polo Club organized an open tournament and invited us to play, we were game on!

The tournament took place on Friday, September 24th at the Dubai Marina.  That's right, we were officially playing in the Persian Gulf.  I was very fortunate because I was already in Dubai when the tournament took place - I was there for work at our Jebel Ali facility.  But my week of work allowed for no time to scope out the facilities.  All I had were some pictures taken from a previous tournament, which I posted on my last blog.  Friday morning would be my first view of the field.

On Friday morning, Tommy Broussard was nice enough to drive me down to the marina from his apartment, where I had been staying that week.  We barged into 3 different "marinas", each time being told with a yes-nod that this wasn't the place (the yes-nod accompanies all answers).  On our fourth try we were successful!  Tommy drove me down to the water's edge, right to the field I'd seen in the pictures, although this time there was a huge boat at the far end of the marina.  It turns out that this boat was there by chance only, and that was a good thing!  It was close to 100 degrees outside and we were probably playing 5 games.  This boat provided shade and a decent view of the games.  Here's a shot of an ongoing game from the boat.

Our team was placed in bracket #2.  We started our first game at 11:00am in order to accomodate a number of our players who took the early morning 1 hour flight from Bahrain to Dubai.  By the time our first game rolled around we were all present and accounted for.

We breezed through our bracket, playing one close game against Dubai "B", which we eventually won 5-3.  While the scenery was pretty awesome, it was apparent when playing that anything could happen.  Here's a few situations to consider:

1. The cages weren't really tied down tightly.  Those of you that have been to a game in a pool know that floating cages have to be on a tight line or they tend to flip forward.  This happened a number of times with the goal falling down onto the goalie. 
2. The water was actually pretty mild.  I had swam in the Gulf that summer and it must have been 134 degrees then.  But that was the middle of summer and this was September.  What didn't change however was that this was saltwater.  When you're experienced (and lazy) like me, swimming with your head down is a very good energy-saver, versus chugging around with your head out of the water.  If you know what's happening, you can take 80% of your strokes in the more efficient head-down mode.  Salt water makes that miserable because your eyes get ruined in 45 seconds.  So it was head-up all day.
3. You'll notice the pier to the left side of the field.  That is where the referees called the game and where the scorer's desk was located.  It's also a small barrier between us and 1,556 boats and jet skiis that are zipping around the harbor.  More than 6 times some yahoo would go whooshing by on his 1,000 horsepower Sea Doo and create humongous waves.  There were a couple of plays where you actually lost a view of the game you were playing in because the waves were so high!  Some skip shots went 12 feet over the goal because they hit a wave and bounced straight up...
4. It was hot.  The Dubai sponsors had water in ice chests set-up all over the place, but those little water cups ran out quickly and there was no escape form the heat.  To cope, I resorted to my inner bedouin instincts:

Notice the stylish towel that is serving as my protector from the sun.

Still, the venue was one of a kind and we were smiling ear to ear after our morning matches.

Our walk through bracket play set-up a match with the Dubai "A" squad.  This was a good team, with players from all over the world.  We stunk it up like small children and lost 4-0.  I think in the end we got off 2 good shots.  They punched us in the mouth and never looked back, taking an early 2-0 lead before we even felt warmed-up.  Adding insult to injury, the referee was from their club!  I think we still would have lost, but some of the calls were downright awful, and he made them while wearing sandals and a red bikini!  Now let me be clear when I describe this to everyone: THIS GUY WASN'T CHISELED FROM STONE.  Just imagine, you're wrestling for position, gagging on salt water, you hear a whistle blow, and when you turn to see the call, not only do you realize he's calling a turnover, but you're catapulted into shock by the visual:

Regardless of the calls, we lost the game and were relegated to the 3rd-4th place match against Abu Dhabi.  Abu Dhabi had barely lost to Egypt in their semifinal match, so we knew we had our hands full.  In typically tardy fashion, we recovered from our sloppy semifinal match and beat-up on Abu Dhabi 6-1.  So 3rd place at the end of the day.  We finished very tired, parched from salt water, and ready to head home.  Here's some picutres from after the game.

Back Row: John Denker, Me, Vidal Noya, Abdi Majdpour, Haider Haj, Anthony Sawaya, Raul Murillo, Costas Tsingas

Front Row: Dean Bell, Austin Brill, Dennis Bell

CAL Brothers:  Anthony and I with Dubai in the background

Here's Dean and I with the awesome curved building in the background

I arrived at the airport that evening for a 10:30pm flight back to Bahrain.  At this point I was wasted and ready to get home.  I approach the Gulf Air check-in desk and they don't have my return ticket!  Apparently they only had a one way ticket from Bahrain to Dubai - the return ticket was never booked.  I'll close on this conversation:

Ticket Lady: "You can purchase a ticket for the next flight.  It leaves at 11:20pm to Bahrain..."

Me: "...Ok, no problem..."

Ticket Lady: "...but that flight is actually delayed an hour and is now scheduled to leave at 12:30am."

Me: "Well, I'll take it.  I have to get home for a meeting in Bahrain tomorrow."

Ticket Lady: "We'll get you there eventually (smile on face)."

At 1:25am we finally lifted off the ground in Dubai.  At 1:20am I landed in Bahrain (1 hour behind thankfully).  At 2:10am I fell into bed.  At 3:00am I fell asleep....

And that's a trip to Dubai for you.  Anybody want to visit?

VACATION FOR THE LAST TIME!

Well it's been a while since my last post, and that's because I've been on vacation!  Yep, I headed back to the United States for some Rest and Relaxation with la familia.

The first part of my vacation was in Houston.  I wanted to see friends and catch-up on work at the corporate office.  I also wanted to check on my motorcycles, which have been sitting with Greg Hale at MC Creations.  I drove-up to MC Creations on Saturday, anxious to see my 1952 Panhead.  The frame had been painted after I left for Saudi Arabia and I had not seen it yet.  The paint didn't disappoint.  I have been working on this bike since 1996, when I first bought the wishbone frame for $300 from a guy in Oakland.  The motor I found in 2001 when Greg turned me onto a customer who had a '52 Pan motor for sale, along with the transmission and belt drive.  Over the last 9 years I have slowly put parts together and let Greg's frame guy work the frame straight and create the nicks and nacks that would make the bike different.  Here are some pictures taken through the years.

Here's a couple of years ago...

And a little farther along...

And in real good shape...but you notice that rusty frame?

Now look at that pretty frame!



So you can see the awesome black paint on this frame now.  I have decided to keep the blue tank in the pictures above and just have it repainted the same color with a glossy finish; the fender will be the same blue.  The guys at MC insist that I need something on the tank to finish off the bike.  They are thinking the #1 like Evil Knievel's old Harley cycles - you know, the ones he broke all his bones on.  I am not sure about that.  I need some help from my friends in blog world.  What do you think?

The second part of my vacation was in Park City, Utah.  My parents rent a home up in the mountains every summer.  They have been doing this for about 3 years now. The first year it was a 4-week adventure...last year it was 6 weeks.  This year they rented it for a whole 2 months.  My Mom enjoys tennis and the relaxing environment, both for walks and cruising through Park City's open markets.  My Dad hits the Provo River to fly fish.  When I visit I indulge in all of the above...except tennis of course.  My charge towards Olympic glory in water polo requires that I not run at all.  I have a great time fishing with my Dad.  I even catch a fish occasionally.

After a relaxing week in Utah I headed to Phoenix to start my MBA program at Thunderbird.  Pursuing my MBA was a big decision for me.  I am 37 years young and the average age at the program is 31.  That's not exactly youth, but still a decent few years below me.  I've traveled and worked all around the world and it made me nervous as to whether an MBA program would provide me with much.  Thunderbird is the top ranked international management program in the world, but getting an MBA is an expensive proposition.  As is always the case, God bumped me along and some key friends encouraged me at the perfect time.  So off to school I went.  Hot off a nice vacation, I was hoping my week in Phoenix would be standard management stuff: teamwork assignments, lectures, get-to-know you crap, etc.  WRONG!  Everyday all 53 suckers in the program would rise at 7am and not hit the room until after 10pm.  We were busy beyond belief, and the program content was awesome.  My fellow students were equally impressive and I can only humbly thank God again for being God.  Now it's 19 months of pure work.

After Phoenix I headed to Los Angeles to finish the vacation in style.  I was heading to the Willmer's house!  There are now seven Willmers, five of whom are rocking and rolling all the time.  From the moment I surprised them at the door, we had our foot pressing the pedal all the way to the floor.  I love my nieces and nephews.  We went and watched Brian's APU team win a big game in San Diego.  We practiced gymnastics in the backyard, which was the most painful and humiliating event of the visit - I can't seem to stretch much at all these days.  We had a trampoline extravaganza, where I proved my worth with some awesome feet-to-stomach-to-feet-to-butt-to-feet bouncing.  The crowd went wild.  In case you're curious, my new blog wallpaper was taken from one of my awesome bounces.  We also ate awesome food and sang Miley Cyrus like it was opera!  Thank you Willmers for always making visits so totally awesome.  Marty and Marta will be with me next time.

So I am back in Saudi Arabia.  Eid has ended and I have 10 days to prepare for the Dubai water polo tournament.  I haven't been able to swim on this vacation so the tournament could be rough.  Here is where we'll be playing.

Yep, we're battling some waves in this "pool."  Updates to come friends.  In the meantime, I need paint ideas!!!!


Matt