In 2 days I’ve received 2 emails from friends who have added me as a friend on the social networking website Facebook. This is 2 more Facebook emails than I’ve received in my previous 10,000 days.

The emails go as such:

I’ve added you as a friend on Facebook…

Hi Joe,

I’ve requested to add you as a friend on Facebook. You can use Facebook to see the profiles of the people around you, share photos, and connect with friends. Now everyone can join Facebook, even if you couldn’t before.

If you have used Facebook, what are your thoughts on it?

——————-

Events of the past 3 or so months:

– Toroslar Belediyesi, one of the 3 local suburban Mersin councils painted a 4,500 square metre flag on the side of a hill overlooking Mersin. As this editorial concludes, the flag was a piece of self-promotion. Unfortunately, all levels of government waste far too much money promoting themselves at the expense of decent services.

– Plans for a ski resort at Karbogazi in the Gulek region of Tarsus, Mersin Province were made.

– Hungarian DJ Niki Belucci performed at Hot Nightclub, Mersin. Not Safe For Work (NSFW) photos can be seen here and here.

– Southern Turkey’s “drought” of 2 months broke.

– Today’s Zaman, a new English language daily newspaper began publication in Turkey.

– Hrank Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, was shot dead in Istanbul. This incident shook the whole country. Here is an editorial surrounding the incident I largely agree with.

– An American basketballer, Nikki Blue, shared her experiences living in and playing for Mersin

– I went to the Adana races with Peter. This was my first ever day at a Turkish race meeting. I didn’t win any bets.

– Vodafone has quickly taken over Telsim’s name after purchasing the mobile phone service provider.

– After seemingly years under construction, the multi-storey Marina Vista Shopping Centre opened in Mersin. Located next to Burger King and adjacent to the yacht harbour, Marina Vista is in a very good position. The centre was opened prematurely with most of the spaces then still vacant. That is slowly changing. The top floor has a 4-screen cinema and below that is a food hall including a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s has not had a Mersin presence for 3 or 4 years. When I first came here there were two restaurants, including one I went to for my second ever Turkish date (she chose the venue).

– The Mediterranean Challenge Cup international tenpin bowling tournament was held at Mersin Rollhouse.

– Peter, Sebi, Tugba, Mehmet and I attended Foster’s Party at the Armada Club.

– Pearl Jam announce their 2007 European tour. Unlike last year, this time I won’t be attending.

– The cost for an adult to take an intra-city Mersin bus ride rose from 1 YTL to 1.25 YTL.

——————-

This evening I went to check my videos on YouTube, only to find the website censored! I, and most folks in Turkey are now barred from accessing the website because of a court order.

Clicked on the image below for a larger, uncropped screenshot of YouTube’s censored main page.

The Reuters story is here.
——————-

I returned to Mersin, Turkey, a week or so ago. At some stage soon I’ll get around to posting photos of both the wedding and Pakistan in general.

——————-

I’m curently in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, about to fly to Dubai and then Karachi. In the airport there are many mature men and women dressed in white towling looking ready for the hamam. Instead, they are flying to Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage.

This week has been hectic.

Tuesday night Peter and I had a good time at the Efes Pilsen Blues Festival at the Armada in Mersin. I missed the last act as left early to catch an overnight bus to Ankara. On Wednesday, feeling not too good from the previous night, I obtained an invitation letter from the Australian Embassy and then applied and obtained my Pakistani visa. In between I visited Armagan and Yekta at IES’s Ankara office and also met with Selin, who gave me a laptop part she had brought from Australia 9 months earlier.

At Ankara’s ASTI bus station I arrived too late to catch the 5 pm buses to Mersin. Instead, I caught a bus to Adana. At Adana’s otogar I chatted with a couple of friendly police offices for over an hour whilst waiting for a bus to Mersin. I eventually arrived home around 4 am Thursday morning. Thursday was my last day at work for 2006.

5:30 this morning I woke up finalised my luggage and caught the local amca’s ancient, rickety machine, technically known as a taxi, to the AtlasJet service bus.

I’m due to arrive in Dubai at 1:15 am tomorrow and depart for Karachi at 8:00 am. Hani, see you very soon!

——————-

——————-

Since approximately 8:30 am yesterday morning, my laptop has not seen its partner – the "helpler" unsecured wireless. Alas, this 5-month relationship seems over…

PS: This is my first article sent by Blogger’s post-via-email service.

—————–

Canon’s Istanbul service centre unexpectedly repaired my Canon A710 IS camera (damaged 2 weeks ago) under warranty for no charge, even though I had bought it in the USA and they did not see a purchase receipt. I didn’t know it was fixed until I received a parcel sent by courier. Yippeeee! 🙂

The retractable lens cover piece was stuck and not broken as I had thought. If the camera required significant repairs I wonder if it would be fixed under warranty…

——————-