Lazy Day

Today was great: did almost nothing constructive, got a lot of sleep last night, sent some e-mail and holiday cards to a few people. My dad called it our “lazy day.”

We went to Fuddruckers for breakfast. I know that sounds kind of weird, but they do serve breakfast food in the mornings. I must admit that I was leery about trying a hamburger, because the last Fuddruckers hamburger I had was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia several years ago. Their burgers are huge (from 1/3 pound to a whole pound), so when I tried it several years ago they were unable to cook the meat all the way through. I like my beef completely dead with no pink in the middle. The Fuddruckers in Jeddah served it in dripping blood… ewwww gross!

However the restaurant here cooked it perfectly. I got the 1/2 pound version which was still more than I could eat. They served it with Fudd fries, reminiscent of potato wedges with a nice seasoning. I was very impressed with their food!

I went with my dad to his office to collect the mail (APO mail goes there and he brings it home everyday). Since he wasn’t working today, he wanted to go in and see if a package came from my Aunt. Christmas is tomorrow, and apparently they are expecting a few more gifts to arrive. My dad also ordered some camera accessories (a case, spare battery, etc).

I took his digital camera along to take some pictures from his office balcony. The office is on the 17th floor overlooking the Nile River and pyramids on one side and the Citadel and downtown Cairo on the other. Of course the air quality was horrible, so my pictures of the pyramids didn’t really turn out. I did take a nice picture of downtown Cairo, pictured on the left. This isn’t even the downtown — think of this as the urban sprawl.

We came home and relaxed for a while. I started taking pictures of the cats. I have lots of pictures of them, but none as cute as the one I took here. Max, who is about 8 years old, has an interesting way of sitting so he can wash his stomach. He props himself up in a chair like this and bathes. He’s so strange that he sleeps on his back, too. As you can see, he is on the large side meaning it might actually be easy for him to lay on his back and let his flab flow down to his sides to keep him upright. Anyway, this is Max’s first appearance on the net, what do you think?

I talked to Josh tonight also. We’re probably going to do something for New Year’s Eve, but we’re not quite sure what yet. The popular Cairo destinations are restaurants, namely Hard Rock Cafe, Applebee’s, TGIF, etc. We did Applebee’s a few years ago which was a good time. Last year we went to this Chinese restaurant which was amazing. So the question is do we stick to what we know works, or try something new. Any suggestions? We were thinking Hard Rock, but they will be packed.

Ok, that’s about all of the excitement for tonight. I’m headed to bed so I can get up and enjoy Christmas Eve. Have a good night all!