Ok Mom, here is me at work....this was taken @ 0630 am.......and it's already 98 degrees and climbing.....to coin a phrase: "It's Hotter than Hoopy!". This was taken today 24 Aug 09.

Here I am with the Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Ray Mabus was a gracious Southern Gentleman that I enjoyed speaking with. It is not too often in my business that you get the opportunity to converse with policy makers and high end political appointees, thus it was an honor to spend a few minutes with SECNAV.

Here is Shaun and I at the dinner for the SECNAV. Thought it was a great picture of us.

Here is the waterfall. there are diver scluptures all along the fall. It is roughly 50 yards in width and runs at least 5 stories up. They really don't do anything small in Dubai. The last time I was in the city of Dubai, 1993......needless to say, it has changed A LOT!

Later that evening we went to the world's largest mall: Dubai Mall, which houses the world's largest indoor aquarium, an ice rink, and a five story waterfall. This was an Arabian horse sculpture at the mall.

After being at the base all day we went back to our hotel. This is the pool area....the pool was a kidney shaped olympic size pool with a waterfall that stretched the entire length. Great way to cool off. They delivered beer in frozen acrylic tumblers that were floating in an ice bucket. I have to say...one of the best and coldest beer I have ever had....second only to the beer from the tap of Coors brewery in Golden Colorado.

Went to Dubai UAE last week. There is a Canadian Base with some of our Sailors working there. I took this picture with an old UAE jet on base. We call Palm Springs and Palm Desert the "desert" but this is really the "desert" as you can see from my surroundings. It was 126 degrees where I stood, when this picture was taken.