A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

I spent the day in class with my weekend COMM 0004. I'm extremely happy that tomorrow is Remembrance Day in Canada and it's a holiday. In fact, Monday is a vacation day too. So, I will have off two days in a row which seems like a treat. Don't let me make it sound like I have a hard life. I recently had three months off and will also not be working for three weeks during half of December and part of January.

I started to say that we went over the topic of cause and effect today. When discussing the topic I generally have the class think of bad habits they might have and the effects that lie down the road because of them. I was a little surprised when I asked how many of the 19 students smoked.

None of my current class smokes! I can't help but compare this to when I began at BCIT. Ten years ago it was not unusual for half my classes to run out to have a cigarette during breaks. Of course, I used to join them too.

Cigarette smoking is certainly no longer cool. In fact, people who seem to congregate near doorways nowadays to puff are losers. I equate smoking as something primarily done by unemployed bums or other people of questionable character.


In the Middle East cheap, tax-free cigarettes provided
no incentive to quit smoking. I do not have a photo of me
actually holding one though.

Labels: Bahrain, opinions

Today, I was a bit late in considering what I could put here. I wondered what information would make a suitable entry.

I have found that sometimes each blog post is a world onto its own. At other times, a number of consecutive, daily entries may be on a similar topic. On rare occasions, there's a reverse continuity in what I write.



The only reason I chose the picture above is that yesterday's entry was a YouTube clip from 1991. It was recorded when I worked in Bahrain, and so today I rifled through my online pictures so I could put a still photo here.

I am standing in shorts with 16 fewer years of excess weight. I'm standing in front of what is referred to as the Tree of Life. Isn't it amazing that one can find just about anything on Wikipedia, even if only a stub?

Labels: Bahrain, blogging, flora and fauna

In order to check out my new Intel Quad processor, I needed to find a CPU intensive task. Since I'm not a game player at all, I spent a little time working with video files. I burnt the video tape of our central European trip to DVD.

While in the folder on my external drive, I discovered a clip from an old analog tape from 1991. I was working in Bahrain at the time. I was a civilian contractor for General Dynamics and taught English to members of the Bahrain Defense Force. This was recorded during the first Gulf War. I now call it The Gulf War: Classic.

Labels: Bahrain, YouTube

There can be a blush of excitement after scanning an old photo. One realizes that the actual paper artifact has been granted an entirely new digital life. It cannot fade further. Multiple copies can exist. It can even be easily passed around via email or a web page. I most recently added a blog entry along these lines a month ago.

Similarly, after languishing on 8mm video tape in a drawer for sixteen years, I helped this video capture from Thailand make its escape. That country was a common vacation destination for colleagues in the Gulf. In fact, we went up to visit another teacher, Mr. Don Richardson. This particular clip was made in old Chaing Mai. We were on break when living in Bahrain. Later that summer, I finished my work there and took up teaching duties in Dubai.

This grainy, 2 1/2-minute clip does not accurately show the environment. It does, however, show personal events that until recently were difficult to access and impossible to share.

Labels: Bahrain, Don, Thailand, world, YouTube

Fifteen years can seem like a lifetime. I recently found the following information on an archive CD. This was research when I was working for the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai, UAE. In March of 1992, I was interested in getting a computer bulletin board system running at our college. There was no Internet available there at the time. Eventually I set up and operated a 8-modem, Major BBS/WorldGroup system. I fear that most people reading this blog entry may not even be aware of early days of computer communication.

I wish to publish the information today as a tribute to former Gulf-country sysops (system operators) who struggled with old-skool modems, uncooperative telcos, and the temperamental BBS software of the day.

---

G.C.C. Bulletin Boards (March 1992)

Area/ Name/ Number/ Speed/ (Special Hours)

Bahrain

Al-Bahrain/ Al-Madani BBS/ (973) 250454 *6/ 3-12-24-96
Al-Bahrain/ Flyers Wildcat! BBS/ (973) 336 721 / 3-12-24-96
Al-Bahrain/ Stray Cats BBS / (973) 277997 / 3-12-24-96


Saudi Arabia

Abqaiq/ Abqaiq B.B.S./ (03) 572 2197 *3/ 12-24
Abqaiq/ Abqaiq B.B.S./ (03) 572 3884 / 3-12-24
Abqaiq/ Air Ecosse/ (03) 572 1653 / 3-12-24
Qatif/ Ali Mutab B.B.S./ (03) 856 2720 / 3-12
Riyadh / B.E.S.T. B.B.S. / (01) 478 6703 / 3-12-24
Alkhobar / Bulldog B.B.S./ (03) 894 8974 / 3-12-24
Dhahran / D.P.C.S. Bytenet/ (03) 873 7852 / 3/12
Dhahran/ Darkstar B.B.S./ (03) 873 7851 / 3-12
Dhahran / Darkstar II / (03) 873 7853 / 3-12
Dhahran / Desert Boots B.B.S/ (03) 873 9241 / 3-12-24/ (17-00 to 07-00)
Jeddah/ Elyas R.B.B.S./ (02) 683 3120 *2/ 3-12
Al Khobar / Express B.B.S./ (03) 898 3980 / 3-12-24
Hofuf / Hofuf Air/ (03) 586 4382 3-12-24
Al Khobar/ Jeraisy B.B.S. / (03) 894 7394 *4/ 3-12-24
Dammam / PC-Soft (PC-NET)/ (03) 834 4413 / 3-12-24
Riyadh/ Riyadh PC Board / (01) 464 4079 *1/ 3-12-24
Jeddah / Taurus B.B.S./ (02) 667 2353 / 3-12-24
Dhahran / Viking B.B.S./ (03) 878 3887 / 3/12/24/ (21-00 to 08-00)
Yanbu / Wildcat #1 B.B.S./ (04) 396 0285 / 3-12/ (13-00 to 20-00 Sat-Thu)
Yanbu / Wildcat #2 B.B.S./ (04) 396 0285 / 3-12/ (22-00 to 11-00 Fri-Wed)


United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi/ Sphinx Wildcat! / (971) 2 5005202/ 3-12-24
Dubai / The First Wildcat BBS/ (971) 4 5005401/ 3-12-24
Dubai/ The Lonestar Wildcat/ (971) 4 5005403/ 3-12-24

---

Labels: Bahrain, BBS, Dubai, Saudi Arabia

My computer desk has a pull-out shelf for the keyboard; therefore, the scanner sits next to my knees as I type. For months on end, nothing is placed on its glass plate. Then suddenly, like yesterday, I went to the photo suitcase and pulled out a few old photos to scan. If I can keep up this habit more religiously, then eventually I'll make a dent in the decades of pictures in the closet.

Naturally, in my mind, I can remember living in the various places of my past. However, when I see an image actually taken at the time, I get a more complete recollection.

I feel very happy watching the likeness on old paper take on a brand new life. Better yet, I love the idea that I'm freeing it by uploading to Flickr. Whereas, the image was just sitting in a box in my closet one day, the next it becomes available worldwide!

Fly baby, fly. Go. Show up on a screen far, far away . . .


This was the view from the outside corridor of our apartment
in Juffair, Bahrain in the early 1990's. There was a large area
of date trees to the right of the photo. If you looked over the
dwellings of poor Iranians, you could see the beach. Click the
photo to see a larger version on Flickr.

Labels: Bahrain, Flickr

I got an unexpected email yesterday. It was from a former student.

---

Dear Dennis,

How are you doing and how are things with you so far? I hope everything is running smoothly and as the way you like....

If you don't remember me ... Just try to remember in BDF (Bahrain 1989). You were my teacher and we went as a group to your flat.

You have a nice day.

Yasser Mohd Alrayes

---

I had to mail him back right away as he was from my initial group of Bahraini students. I did, indeed, remember and gave him the Flickr link to the following picture. In it, we both must look lots younger than today. I am anxious to hear more about his life at the present time.

Labels: Bahrain

I got an email from a former colleague this week. It was good to hear from him. I met Don when he first came to work in Bahrain in 1990. He still teaches there. I value his friendship but he does suffer from a few delusions. One point is how he feels he is managing to beat the ravages of time. Maybe the honest and accurate view in the mirror is being clouded by failing vision. Another point involves the calculation of the same subject ... time. Although he is sixty he still maintains he's middle aged. For gads sake, how many of us are still on this earth at the age of one hundred and twenty?

This segues into another look at the topic of time. This afternoon my class will have a midterm exam. This is the fourth one I've given in 2006. In my nearly nine years of teaching at BCIT, I've never taught as many intensive classes back-to-back. During previous years, I've generally taught a few classes in the BCIT International program too. Those courses have fewer hours per week spread out over a much longer period of time. I'd say there are advantages and disadvantages to each schedule.

Labels: Bahrain, Don

It seems as though I can find time on the weekend to scan a half dozen or so, old photos. This way, over the course of a few years, I'll get a representative selection in An Old Box in the Attic on Flickr. Here's one that I put online yesterday.



It was taken on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. I worked there from 1989 to 1991 for the Bahrain Defense Force. This shows an old boat, but if you look in the distance behind it, you will see the a bit of bridge between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The 25-kilometer, King Fahd Causeway was built for the four-lane highway. It was opened in November of 1986

Labels: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, I wrote about my ailing briefcase. Its working-life ends today. The other hinge is now broken. I shall have to find some sort of replacement this weekend.

It saddens me to have to give up something that has been so useful. Yesterday, a few students did point out that they aren't as old as it is. So, I'm starting the process of checking through those oft-ignored, inside pockets. Considering the junk I've been carrying around with me for decades, it's a wonder I don't have the medial deltoids of a steroids-addicted weight lifter.



I pulled out this Bahraini identity card yesterday. It's been there more than fifteen years. This means it travelled to back and forth to work during my entire time in the UAE and the ten years I've been in Canada.

Labels: Bahrain, briefcase, driving

I really love my briefcase. It is hard Fiberglas and says Echolac near the handle. Now, unfortunately it is starting to fall apart. There's a hinge that's broken. It's tired and worn and I've had it for what seems like half of forever.

In fact, I cannot remember exactly when I may have purchased it. I think I had it in Bahrain, and I never bought anything of value with inflated dinars. It's possible I got it during the year I worked in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Or perhaps I got it for my very first job in Kuwait! The briefcase definitely was with me in the 1980's.

My briefcase is useful because it is roomy. It's my desk away from home. At any particular time there may be several dozen markers. a stapler, and ten pounds of paper in it. There are also bits of my past. It has a number of pockets and places inside that I've never cleaned even though I once had a major coffee-Thermos leak. Today, I set the trusty accessory down before going into work. Then, near the door, I saw something on the floor. It picked it up. Honestly, this is a copy of the receipt from 1991 which had fallen out:

Labels: Bahrain, briefcase, Dubai, Saudi Arabia

Most of us end up owning lots of things. For many acquisition is the goal while for others keeping can actually become a burden.

I am amazed how long some things last. For example, I think I have the suit my father was married in. I don't dry clean it because I doubt it would fit me. Still, the material is perfectly usable all these decades later.

Around the apartment there are small items from various corners of the earth. Some are practical such as the dishes from Bahrain which are still used on a daily basis. Souvenirs, on the other hand, don't have a practical purpose. It's nice to know, however, that things collected decades ago still surround me.



The photo above is a handcrafted Sri Lankan decorative container. It was purchased in the late 1980's and has been a part of my environment since. Today, it sits on the coffee table full of other souvenirs and junk.

Labels: Bahrain, opinions, souvenirs

A few weeks ago I had to type a message in MS Word. It seemed strange to write something that would actually make it to paper. You see, Mr. Nicholas Williams is a scholarly older gentleman who has managed to avoid getting an email address. Not many have been able to hold out for the last decade, but Nick has. I licked a stamp and sent the envelope to Washington, DC.

I taught at TINS for a year before the 80's became the 90's. Nick worked there and during time off he even taught me 'sharding'. That meant going searching for pieces of pottery. The desert of the area would turn up bits left behind from trade routes of the past. I still have a dish containing bits of these ancient vessels.

Then, I left Dammam in Saudi Arabia to teach in Bahrain. Seventeen years ago today, I laboured to write this message to Nick. I surely was once quite wordy. Now, I spend my days pestering students to write concise sentences in well-designed paragraphs. The following is neither concise nor well-designed. More importantly, I have no idea about what most of it means.

---

Building 505
Road 2625, Block 326
Gudeibiya, BAHRAIN
February 3, 1989

Dear Nick,

More than two-thirds of the letters that I've sent off so far have been "clones". Word processors are real time savers. I generally create data in the F.L.O.P. format. This is computerese term, of my own coining, which stands for the Form-Letter Operating Principle. However, this tried-and-true method still does require the fastidious vigilance of proofreading. For example, I recently licked an envelope destined for a certain Mr. Jon Wicklund that ended with an insincere, "Lots of Love." To allay your consternation, you'll be pleased to learn that this particular narrative is being hand crafted.

Let me be one of the first to welcome you back to TINS. I am sure Naughty M probably has already offered abundant welcomes, perhaps accompanied by a half-baked demonstration of earnestness. Even her sidekick and bakemate, Jimeela, may have returned. But I'm sure if you've patronized the TINS bus to the refuse-refuge of Khobar, you've heard copious collections of complimentary colloquy. Yet, even after all of this, I'd really like to add my two, or three, cents worth.

You most probably did not receive my last letter before your departure to the States. At least this is the impression I got when talking to our mutual, spiritual consultant. I tried to convince the good father that my failure to phone him at the RSNF prior to vacation, was just an instance of neglect. Obviously it wasn't my intention to obscure my whereabouts, was it? It mattered not. He finagled his way to the General Dynamics office and left word (his own not THE) for me to contact him. Regardless, if I can count on you to pray, be it not for his departure to Bahrain. The island isn't really big enough for the both of us! (As you can see, this letter is not for casual dispersal.)

School is really peachy keen. I mean, we finally got started last week, and my boys are joys. I pre-tested the lot of forty, ability grouped the bunch, and skimmed off the best ten for my class. They are gentlemanly, inventive, dedicated, hardworking, and most importantly, always awake. And with the mishmash of curriculum and the seven-odd books we're studying, the teacher is required to actually teach. It's not a today-is-Wednesday-third-period-so-we-are-on-page-sixty-seven teaching environment. Please share this with Mr. Kline; I think we both have developed an affinity for those hyphenated, say-it-all-at-once type adjectives. On the home front, I don't see how things could be much better. Something about "matches made in heaven" comes to mind. But of course, we all know that God is the inspiration for modern technology and surely uses a gigantic disposable, butane lighter. Still, each morning seems most sunny after the warmth of the previous night.

I am running out of time and low on endurance. So, I think I'll end this one. Stay tuned for my next letter which might include my perceptions of the Bahraini culture. If you wish a glimpse at some of the basic concepts before its arrival, just ask Roy, the resident cultural specialist, for some details. I'm interested in some TINS gossip, so please add my name to those thousands of correspondi (Latin?) that you churn out each week. Believe me, a letter from you, to castrate an old cliche, would be welcomed with opened eyes.

Regards,

---

Labels: Bahrain, file archives, Saudi Arabia

How much of your time at the keyboard now takes place on the Internet? The change has been a while in coming but I'd say it's here. Nowadays, I spend much more time typing in www.blogger.com, www.gmail.com and my.bcit.ca than in Microsoft Word on my local drive. If my Internet connection were to fail, I'd consider my computer broken.

Whatever did I used to do on pre-Net computers? How did I spend so much time on a PC in the decade from 1985 to 1995? Oh yeah. It was possible do do things with local software only.

Here, I scanned a picture of Jay playing Moonbugs on an old XT-compatible in Bahrain in 1990. Click it to see it on Flickr.

Labels: Bahrain, games, software

As has been the case recently, I fish for something to scan for Sundays' entries. I assure you this is only because I'm too tired to say much of import after a 7-hour teaching day.

One thing I've discovered about myself is that I save far too much junk. I save things I'll never need. For example, I located my expenditures from August of 1989. I am not sure that this is a positive. It totally flies in the face of my view I'm so come as one may. Rather, it makes me seem a little, you know, .... retentive.

Before blogging, I never really managed to keep a journal. Yet, I used to keep a spreadsheet of monthly expenses well before I bought my first copy of 'MS Money'. If you click on the thumbnail, you'll load a .pdf file of expenses during August 1989. I was in Bahrain at the time. The columns of figures are Bahraini Dinars, US Dollars, and Sri Lankan Rupees, respectively. I spent less than $350 a month? No wonder why I am rich today.

I wonder if the categories and my percentages have changed after 16 years. Well, surely there's one difference: I quit smoking five or six years ago.

Labels: Bahrain, blogging, file archives, money

Did you ever look at an old, group photograph and wonder what was going on in the minds of those whose image was being captured? Although the picture above looks like it was taken at the turn of the last century, it is really about sixteen years old. I'm the fourth from the right in the front row. This picture was taken at the Bahrain Defense Force in 1989. I was working for General Dynamics to help start a technical institute for the Bahraini Air Force.

I'll make it easy for you to find other times I've included information about Bahrain. If the name is followed by an *, a new browser window will open.

INTERNAL SITE LINKS

• Picture in BDFTI Classroom
• More Recent Photo of Colleague There
• An Apartment in Bahrain
• Another Apartment in Bahrain
• Dennis Hurd's eResume - Work Page
• Dennis Hurd's eResume - Travel Page
• PHOTO: Dennis & Jayantha, Bahrain *
• PHOTO: Bahraini Guys Juffair Apartment, Bahrain *
• PHOTO: Donkey in Hidd, Bahrain *
• PDF File of My Personal Software Game Listing *
  

Labels: Bahrain

A Saturday eJournal entry ends up at the top of a page in the weekly archives. So, this is a good place to put another photo with previous students.



These guys were in the Bahrain Defense Force. I taught as part of a package deal for kickback training funds when Bahrain bought F16 fighters from General Dynamics. The photo was in a classroom at the Muharraq Air Force Base. It was taken in 1990.

Labels: Bahrain, file archives, students

There are certain days when nothing inspires me. On these occasions I have to search around for something to blog about. After all, the promise to enter something each and every day must be fulfilled! This means, however, that I have to occasionally scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel.



Oh, that is NOT a comment on this photo. In a subdirectory somewhere on my 'D:' drive, I found Don. I worked in the island country of Bahrain from January 1989 to July 1991. Don Richardson joined the staff when I was there. He's still there and one of the very select few; he is an ex-colleague with whom I still keep in touch! Thank goodness for MS Messenger and my contact name of DennisSylvesterHurd@hotmail.com.

He recently bought this Audi. Has it been a year, already? It surely looks like a fun ride. I wouldn't mind trying it out by racing up the Coquihalla Highway. I guess that's a silly wish considering the car's on the opposite side of the earth.

Labels: Bahrain, Don

Yesterday, I received a surprise message from an ex-colleague. In 1991, we worked together on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Jeffrey is now in Texas.

It was a Google search for Hamala Beach that pointed him this way. In a previous entry, I had mentioned the place because Jay and I lived there. Originally, it was a camp for the construction company which built the Saudi-Bahrain Causeway. As mentioned earlier in this blog, this was one of three places rented during my 2.5 years of work for General Dynamics and the Bahrain Defense Force.

The prior entry, written yesterday, was waxing philosophically about the power of blogging. On that very day, an acquaintance who'd not been in contact for thirteen years was able to send me an email message. What more can I possibly add?

Labels: Bahrain, Google

Honestly, the world is so much smaller than the first time I went overseas. Communication is so much easier and cheaper. There used to be a feeling of being elsewhere when it took several weeks for a letter to travel home. That meant it was an entire month for a round-trip message.

Now, people can live permanently in a virtual-halfway zone between two locations. I'm not exactly sure what this means for countries who accept immigrants. It used to be certain that a new comer was giving up the old life and was forced to embrace a new one. Now the dynamics are different. There are certainly advantages to these developments too. Jay's sister had a birthday last week. Rather than a mere phone message, Jay 'right-clicked,' ordered up a birthday cake, and had it delivered right to her house on the other side of the globe.

Sri Lanka Food - at Kapruka

If you can type in your credit card number nowadays, you can give almost anything to anyone anywhere. Relatives and families from away can provide so much more than just a cake!

Luxury Ballooning in Sri Lanka

Okay, that's what I want for my birthday!




I Love Those Who Agree: Now Don Responds
And the result is, not only are we in touch at the click of a mouse button, but the world is becoming so similar. One can be away from home by several thousand miles and and a few continents, and still go to a cinema complex, watch "Mystic River", eat at KFC or Mickey D's, smoke Marlboro lights (or not), stop in at the local cold store and pick up a box of Oreo cookies and low fat milk to have on my Post Raisin Bran in the morning. Come in at mid-night, turn on a 29 inch TV and watch Will & Grace or Jay Leno, take a shower with Dial soap, and go to sleep on Martha Stewart K-Mart sheets. Am I in Vermont, Thailand, Bahrain or Sri Lanka?

A far cry from my Peace Corps days in a small village in Senegal.

Labels: Bahrain, Don, food, technology

Let's fast-forward six years from yesterday's photo when I'd just arrived in Bahrain. In the interim, I had spent a year and a half at grad school, two years teaching in Taif, Saudi Arabia, six months in the US, and a year working for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Soon after landing on the island, we rented an apartment in the building in Adliya, Bahrain.


In Bahrain, I had to pay rent on my own. We stayed approximately six
months at this address before moving to an enclosed housing compound
farther away from the capital of Manama. All in all, we stayed in three
different places when working for the Bahrain Defence Force. I taught
Bahraini Air Force cadets from January 1989 to August 1991.

Labels: Bahrain

Just completed a few changes at:

The Virtual Sunapee Reunion

Spent a bit of the morning helping set up a blog with a former colleague in Bahrain, DON RICHARDSON. Thankfully talking for two hours was free due to MS Messenger.

Labels: Bahrain, Don