One More Photo From Christmas

I wanted to put this one last photo up before I run out of time. This is most of the 39th medical group Mental health Flight on Christmas Eve at the Dwyer's House. Across the front from left to right, you have: Daniel Williams, Dallas Williams (complete with Home Alone pose), me (Patrick Dwyer), Melissa Thompson, and Cameron Thompson. In the back: Keisha Henry, Emily Thompson, Quinlan Creech, Seanna Creech, Seanna's friend, Casey Creech, Karen Dwyer, Joe Thompson (in gray sweat shirt), Wes Williams, Dasha Williams, Angela Williams, and Alicia Edwards.

So, it looks like we will be able to get more pics onto out Picasa site slowly. But I need help. If anyone knows how to reduce the file size of pics, please let me know. each one of mine is 1-2 MB! I know there is a way to get them smaller. I just don't know how.

Karen and I may be able to find out the sex of the baby on January 29th!

See if you can see the photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrickjamesdwyer I did get a few in of our trip to Mersin last week. Check out the picture of the Turkish toilet (they are just holes in the ground).

PICTURES FROM TURKEY ! ! !

PICTURES! PICTURES! PICTURES! Everyone keeps asking for pictures. Here they are. I finally have put some stuff on a zip drive so I can put a bunch of stuff up. Pay close attention to the end of this post for important info on pictures. The following our in chronological order since our departure from San Diego for Turkey:

To the left. A terrified Slinky hanging in there. I believe this was taken in Los Angeles because I am still using the soft carrier the Air force wouldn't let us use.

When we were finally able to move into Incirlik housing, we still didn't have any of our possessions. Slinky was still a little freaked out about the whole thing. Damn cat kept crawling up inside the bed! We're lucky they didn't charge us as this is part of the "stick furniture" they lend you.

Slinky decided to immerse himself in things that smelled like "our stuff."

Karen with some people from the Med group shopping in Kahramanmaras during our Mt. Nemrut trip. We call it "K-town" and it is famous for its ice cream. Notice how the man on the left is staring. The locals are fascinated by black people and blond hair. We really stood out.

Also, during the Mt. Nemrut trip. We spent the night in Kahta before ascending Nemrut. These kids were playing right under our hotel window. Once they saw I had a camera they wanted to pose. Extremely friendly.

At the top of Mt. Nemrut. this was very early, right after sunrise. The pictures that follow will give you an idea for how high up we are.

We had already been descending for quite a while at this point. Then the road turned to dirt...with no guard rails. Then we came around a corner in our little bus and saw this. It was so scary all we could do was laugh - the guy behind us kept yelling at the driver, "Yavash ! Yavash !" That's Turkish for "slow." Karen was belly-roll laughing You can see the dirt road we we are on down below. The following shot is several more miles down this road after we descended a few thousand feet.

Here we are several thousand feet down. We are actually walking on a trail at this point. That's a tributary to the Euphrates below. See below for explanation of where we are.

I love this picture of Karen at Park Zirve. This was taken during a Ramadon Iftar. Those are Whirling Dervishes behind Karen. I had the Karen set for a slower speed so it couldn't actually keep up with the Dervishes. But the lights and the blur really made the picture.

This is in Adana. That's Karen and my buddy coworker Joe Thompson. We are up on the roof of an apartment Joe is watching for one of our docs that returned to San Francisco to go to school for a year. I think you call the lake Seyhan. This is in the nice area of Adana just down the street from Park Zirve.

Inside the apartment. Does Karen look beautiful or what?

OK, I was hoping to get a bunch of photos into either Picasa (which is part of my Google/g-mail account) or into Photobucket. it was a little more complicated than I thought as the library won't let me install Picasa. So I may get around to it soon. I have figured out that the photos I post on here are viewable at http://picasaweb.google.com/patrickjamesdwyer . But, if I don't post them in a blog there doesn't seem to be a way to add them unless i have the software and the library does not. Stay tuned.

Hockey Is Back !

Wow ! I haven't had that much fun watching a hockey game since I was a kid in the 70s. 71,217 people watching outside. In the snow! With the retro uniforms and hockey's next great one, Sidney Crosby, winning the game in the shootout. It felt like hockey had a vibe it hasn't felt since the 60s expansion from the original six teams to twelve. I hope NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman sticks with the idea of making this an annual event. Sure, it may not snow every year. But for this year, the first year of the NHL's Winter Classic, it was pure magic.

And how about Sidney Crosby? Did you see that assist? Did you see the turning pivot move? Did you see him stick handle three times consecutively in mid-air? Did you see him win the game in the shootout? Crosby is exactly what hockey needs right now.

The NHL has so much opportunity right now to advance its marketing image. If they played their cards right, they could make The Winter Classic "the" New Year's Day event. The fans absolutely loved it. The only thing I would suggest is considering a larger rink strictly for the large venue outdoor games. It may seem a little weird at first, but adding 10-20 feet on all four sides would make for excellent skating and better viewing in a stadium.

I can't wait to get back to America and be close to hockey again. They actually had a rink here in Adana, Turkey , but I guess it didn't last very long. In 2002-2003 I managed to reconnect with the sport I love. I played in pick-up scrimmages on Monday nights and got a job at San Diego Ice Arena where I learned to drive the Zamboni. But, in Lancaster there was no ice rink. And now no ice rink in Turkey either. When karen and I return to America I want to live where the guys have a hockey night on TV and there's a rink with an old timer's league. Perhaps we will have a little hockey player or figure skater in the near future.

So 2008 starts out with a huge BANG for hockey! Did I mention the fans liked the event?

All photos from nhl.com