Note Quite Right.

The Saudi Masterbaker Co.  Nope, that just doesn't sound right.

It's a Dry Heat.

I ran track and cross-country through high school and have many fond memories of long afternoon runs along the American Rive bike trail.  We trained through early June and there were definitely days where we ran six to seven miles in the mid-afternoon heat that hovered around 95 degrees.

With that in mind I figured I could run in the desert too.  After all, a dust storm yesterday brought the daily high down to only 109, that's much better than 119.  So, with heavy dust still lingering in the air I made my way outside for a short run today.  Not really my best idea.

Thirty minutes later and I made it back home in one piece.  I want to say that the dryness was actually harder than the heat, but then when I got inside my house I sprawled out on the carpet for about 20 minutes and was unable to get up without feeling very dizzy.

I guess this means it's back to the pool for me.

The Forecast.

You'll no doubt notice that the daily low is 91 degrees. Yeah, and it's only mid-June. Just wait until we actually get into the hot part of the year.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia current conditions: Sunny, extremely hot.

Fri
Mostly Sunny
116°F | 91°F

Sat
Clear
116°F | 91°F

Sun
Clear
116°F | 91°F

Mon
Clear
114°F | 91°F

Cup Fever.

Mall competitors in a local cell-phone sponsored videogame World Cup tournament. The Grand Prize: the winner gets beaten up by the cool kids who hang out at the food court.

For Two.

The Italian Embassy is advertising a bright red tandem bicycle for sale. It’s 115 degrees outside today and the bicycle built-for-two is going for $650. For some reason, I find it hard to imagine anyone is going to be particularly interested in bidding on this item. Although, the idea of two people happily pedaling around the dusty, sweltering streets of Riyadh is quite amusing.

Everyone Has It.

Everyone has World Cup fever. Count me among the many.

In the Dark.

When Omar said all he wanted to do in Bahrain was watch movies at the mall, I assumed he was using a bit of hyperbole; this was not the case. We left Riyadh after work and entered the Kingdom of Bahrain a little before midnight. After checking into the furnished apartment, we met up with a friend of Omar’s from Riyadh at a sheesha house nearby. We sat for about an hour and talked about money, the World Cup and cars. A typical evening hanging out.

The next morning, we were up by 9am and on our way to the movie theater at the mall by 10am. We bought tickets for Kickass! and Shrek: Ever After 3D as soon as we got in. Four hours later we took a half hour break for coffee and a waffle, and then it was back into the dark for Prince of Persia. After 90 minutes of a historically inaccurate movie based on a video game about Persians where American actors inexplicably had British accents, I was surprised to find that I had an appetite. We walked about 50 yards to a seafood restaurant, thus combining exercise (walking) and the (concept at least) of the outdoors.

For the evening’s finale, Paul and Omar bought tickets for Iron Man 2. Tameem and I had already seen this movie and we made the mistake of buying tickets for a romantic comedy/action movie starting Ashton Kutcher as a government assassin. We should have simply watched Iron Man 2 again. Better, we should have left the mall.

By midnight, over more coffee, we talked Omar out of trying to catch the midnight screening of whatever else was playing and headed back to the apartment. We made sure to get enough sleep before heading back to the mall the next morning and catching an early showing of Robin Hood before hitting the road back to Riyadh.

For those of your playing along at home, that makes 5 movies in 2 days; none of them were any good.

No Clue.

The t-shirt on the guy in front of me in line said, Disco Jockey Beat Box Remix, in giant flaming letters. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pretty awesome.

Radiation.

So here’s a new one. It’s so hot here, that when I turn on the shower I have to wait a few minutes for the water to cool off. Yeah, because the water that’s been sitting in the pipes in the 110+ degree direct sun all day long is scalding hot.

The Last.

Okay, I promise this is the last picture of the cat laying about in his tube box. I assure you there will be no more, at least until this fall.