3D Modeling Experiments I've been doing a lot of work with 3D printers. These are just a couple of initial pictures from the Monoprice that I purchased to get started with it.

Exploring Rome After Benny and I trucked around Morocco for a few weeks (not to mention after having traveled across Spain and then Gibraltar first), we flew from Marrakech to Rome to visit our dear friend Flami Flams. Rome had been on my very top list of cities to see for a long, long time. As an amateur Roman historian, there were just so many things that I was dying to see. Unfortunately Benny wound up getting pretty sick the second or third day we were there. He caught a cold and was more or less relegated to sleeping at Flami's house during the day while I went out and explored Rome. So I missed the chance to see some of these ancient sites with my good buddy, but had a great time nevertheless. Of course then Ben wound up passing that illness along to me and I wound up having a horrible sinus infection as I traveled across Greece and Egypt. But having gotten to spend so much time with him and Flams, I wouldn't have traded it.

Crossing the Straight of Gibraltar I think this was probably one of the more memorable experiences that Ben and I had on this particular trip. We had initially just planned to cross the Straight somewhat haphazardly, but then I realized that you could actually buy tickets that departed precisely at 7pm. With the sunset being about 7:45pm and the trip taking about an hour, I realized that we could actually enjoy a sunset cruise across the Straight. So of course we booked that one and it worked out every bit as wonderfully as we assumed it would. Since neither of us had been to Morocco before and since we were arriving via a fairly industrial method which definitely had more locals than tourists on it, I would say that we had quite the real experience. Most comical to us was that a large line was forming inside of the ship before we actually push away from the shore. We had no idea what this was all about, but once we finally pushed off the mainland, the line opened and we realized that it was customs and immigration. This was undoubtedly the simplest experience with this either of us had ever had. They didn't check anything and just quickly stamped the Morocco stamp at random in each person's passport. There was absolutely no kind of check or questions or any of the typical things one is asked when arriving in a new country.

Dead Sea Dinner with Ben, Felipe, and Wan Shan In the northern part of the Dead Sea on the Jordanian side is the Dead Sea Panorama Museum and Restaurant. It's a little bit of a drive from where all of the resorts sit along the Dead Sea to the restaurant itself, namely as you have to drive back up the mountain pass, but it offers an absolutely amazing view of the Dead Sea, especially around sunset. I took everyone up the mountain to the restaurant where we enjoyed an amazing meal, listened to some live Jordanian music, and enjoyed a few bottles of local Jordanian wine (a shiraz type wine with the brand name of Jordan River). As always, a good time was had by all.

Dead Sea Mudding Ritual The Dead Sea is always a stop on the tours of Jordan that I run and this trip with my dear friends was no exception. They have a special kind of mud that is harvested from the banks of the Dead Sea. This mud is sitting in large vats and the idea is that you slather it all over your body, sit in the sun for ten to twenty minutes while it dries and hardens on the skin, and then you go into the Dead Sea and let it wash off. A pro-tip to those who might be heading out there is to NOT slather it all over your face. The reason being that it takes some effort to wash it off and you do NOT want to get your face wet in the Dead Sea. Even when you dry it off, there will inevitably be little drips that run down into your eyes and mouth. And let me assure you that the Dead Sea is extremely painful when you get it in your eyes and tastes absolutely awful when you get it in your mouth. Though I knew better, the group wanted to do it and so I was happy to go along with it. I think they all learned their lesson the hard way and probably won't be doing that again.

Fes, Morocco One of our planned stops across Morocco was the ancient city of Fes. We arrived in the early evening one day and promptly went about trying to find some food to eat. One thing about the ancient Moroccan cities (called Medinas - which is just the Arabic word for "city") is that they have absolutely no rhyme or reason to how they were constructed. Paths and roadways circle around endlessly and it's extremely easy to get lost, especially with the high-walls all around you. Fes would have been a well-fortified city long ago and relics of the old fortress-like structures are visible throughout the town. Fes was also famously known for its tanneries. As is somewhat common for getting tourists to come in, some young kid ran up to us in the street and asked us if we wanted to see his father's tannery. As we did want to see one, we decided to follow him. It was a wonderful experience. They walked us all over the tannery, showed us the hides and the various dyes used, and otherwise explained the process to us. Another interesting thing about Morocco is that they grow an insane amount of marijuana throughout the country. Most people will ask you to try their homemade hash, often bragging about the hash-pressing machine that they or their family had. The tannery we went to was no exception. The owner proudly offered to share a join of his has with us. They wrap a standard cigarette and then sprinkle dried hash all over it before rolling it. It wasn't very strong, but we enjoyed the process of it all. Especially just being randomly offered it while in a shop. Both Ben and I had something fabricated in his leather shop while we waited. I still wear the belt I had fashioned to this very day.

Night Out in Belfast So Ben and I had come across this Chinese restaurant near our hotel the first night that we stayed in Belfast. It was SO delicious that we insisted upon going back the next day. They prepared us such an amazing meal and were tickled pink that we asked for every single spicy and chili oil combination that they had. Ben and I must have single-handedly eaten half of the chilis that they had in the restaurant for that day. Afterwards we decided we'd go out and check out a few bars. We found one that was supposed to be great, but it was deader than dead. In fact, it was so boring that Ben eventually fell asleep on the booth that we were sitting in. One of the bartenders walked over to us and asked me if something was wrong with him. I said, no, he's just tired and taking a quick nap. They proceeded to get angry and say, "Look, you can't sleep in our bar. That's not what the bar is for". I showed them how we both had drinks and were clearly ordering and everything so there was no reason to want to get angry with us. But they told us he either needed to stay upright or we needed to leave. So we left. Fuck any bar that doesn't see the value in a little shut-eye between rounds! We eventually found a much nicer bar and I wound up meeting a lovely Lebanese girl in there shortly after I had met the singer/songwriter who was performing for the evening. So I definitely made the best of it!

Working on Stained Glass There is a small antique store in the neighborhood and the owner happens to collect various types of stained glass. I don't know much about stained glass, but Jordan said the prices were really good and so she bought a bunch of pieces. I spent a few weeks slowly filling in the gaps with silicone so that they would be properly restored. Unfortunately one of the pieces that I had more or less finished was knocked over by Jordan one afternoon. It shattered quite a bit of it. I did the best I could to repair the damage by purchasing glass filler and carefully filling in the cracks with it. It turned out pretty well under the circumstances.

Picking up Jordan for a Wedding This was a complicated and tiresome undertaking, but I managed to pull it off. Since Jordan works the nightshift, but because she was the maid of honor to one of her oldest friend's weddings, it occurred to me that she was going to have to drive from St. Louis to Kansas City, get ready for the wedding, and do so on no sleep. So I rented a place in Kansas City, woke up at 3am, drove to St. Louis to meet her at the end of her shift, and then drove back to Kansas City with her so that she could sleep on the mattress in the back of her new 4-Runner. Of course this required leaving my truck on an unknown street in St. Louis, but it seemed okay enough. It also meant that I was driving her 4-Runner for the next few days. It was about a 9-hour undertaking with about 700 miles of driving to boot, but it went off without a hitch.

Ashleigh's Birthday with the Kids It happened to be one of Claire's friend's birthdays when I was visiting her in Asheville. So in her rather typical form, Claire made a wonderful dinner for them and invited them over to celebrate with us. Kitty made a rather unique key lime pie (which was evidently vegan as well).