Categories
Celebrity

Brush with Greatness

One of the things that AUC does it make it very easy for their faculty to get settled in their new environment. (Well as easy as possible). The AUC website has a For Sale section since there is a significant turnover in faculty every year (I believe it is on the order of 35 new American faculty).
Starting in April, departing faculty will start categorizing all their stuff and list items on the webpage that they don’t want to ship home. Or electrical/electronic devices that were purchased there and are 220v.

Anyway, I keep an eye on this site to see what people have. One gentleman, Tom, posted a list of items. I decided that we needed a few of those items and I started emailing back in forth with him.

In the process of all this, he gave me much worthwhile advice on where to live, where to shop, who to call when there are problems,etc.

Including, since we were buying a dishwasher from him, the advice that it would be easier to just get their apartment when we come over there. He gave me the email address of the gentleman who does the housing assignments so that we might ask about that.
So, being the nosy sort, I went to the AUC faculty page to see what Tom taught etc.

His full name is Tom Markus.

Turns out he is a Theatre instructor. He has also authored a few small books on the theatre and acting. He is has been a Director of various Shakespearean festivals and has had some supporting roles in movies and TV series.

He also had a small recurring part in one my favorite shows when I was younger: Dark Shadows!

Remember that one? It was a rather over-the-top soap opera built around the central character that was a vampire. Great stuff.

So, we will purchasing stuff, and potentially living in the same apartment, as “famous” actor!

Well, I am amused.

That is all.

Categories
Intro

Let the inanity commence!

Why this blog is here:

Kaddee, my beloved partner of 10 years, and I are moving from Seattle to Cairo for 2 years starting sometime in August 2006.

Kaddee was offered a visiting professorship at The American University in Cairo.

This weblog, and hers (coming RSN) are here to track our mundane, every days lives preparing for the move, and living in, Cairo.

Including all THE PREP required for the trip.

For just a little taste of that, stop looking at your computer for a second.

Take a look around you. Assuming you are at home, look at every single thing you see and realize that every last bit of it must fit into one of 3 categoris

  1. Sell
  2. Ship
  3. Store

Everything. That coffee mug. The books on the shelf. Everything on the walls. The cat/dog/ferret. The knick-knacks. (Or as a friend refers to them “shit-knacks”). The smoking monkey you got for Christmas. All of it. Every last bit of it.

I find myself looking at everything as I go about my day: Do I bring this? That has to come with us. Can I get one of those once I get to Cairo? Will it be cheaper or more expensive over there or perhaps not available? I am not paying to ship that
I don’t sleep so well anymore.

Anyway, all that is how I got here and came to start this blog.

Occasionally it might even be interesting or amusing, insh’allah. Whether you are laughing with me or at me, doesn’t really matter.