Highlights
Continued TDY assignment to Riyadh Saudi Arabia with OMP/MOI until May. Weekly lunches with Prince Nayif. Joint Government project of Saudi Arabia/Ministry of Interior/Office of Program Management and United States agencies including DOD, FBI, DEA, FAA, Treasury and other agencies providing training and mentoring for the country's infrastructure support.
For more photos and narrative see: Doris and Bill Traveladventures.blogspot Riyadh
Weekly 10 mile Wadi
Walks on Friday morning with Project Director Ken Bowra, (Ret. 2-Star General
and Citadel Grad) and team.
Shopping in the local souk for jewelry, rugs and souvenirs.
Shopping in the local souk for jewelry, rugs and souvenirs.
Splurging at Four Seasons and The Globe, Al Faisaliah Tower.
Super Bowl at the
club. Weekly Steak night. Tennis on the
roof.
Sweetheart Ball and
monthly dances.
Church “Meetings”
outside the compound.
Purchase booze and
return bottles to the Tea Rom.
Trips to the Camel
Souk, “Edge of the World”, Pinnacles, Riding an ATV in the Desert.
August Meehan family reunion in County Sligo, Ireland with travels to Cork, Killarney, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Galway, Belfast and Dublin.
For more photos and narrative see: Doris and Bill Travel Adventures blog - Ireland Family Reunion;
Doris and Bill Travel adventures blog - Travel in Ireland; Doris and Bill Travel Adventures blog - Belfast; Doris and Bill Travel Adventures blog - Dublin
October Visit to Athens and northern Greece village of Variko with friends Costas Ambatzidis and his wife Marie. Side trips to Kastoria, Edessa, Bitola in Macedonia and Meteora.
November 26 we visited Beaufort and went kayaking on hunting island.
For more photos and narrative see: Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog - Athens and Northern Greece
For more photos and narrative see: Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog - Holy Land (Bethlehem and Jerusalem); Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog - Nazareth and Sea of Galilee; Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog - Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa; Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog - Patmos and Rhodes;
In November we toured the Hunley Submarine with the Low Country Explorers at the old naval base at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. It is a high-tech lab specifically designed to conserve the vessel and unlock the mysteries of her disappearance.
On February 17th, 1864, the H. L. Hunley became the first successful combat submarine in world history with the sinking of the USS Housatonic. After completing her mission, she mysteriously vanished and remained lost at sea for over a century. For decades, adventurers searched for the legendary submarine. Over a century later, the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), led by New York Times-bestselling author Clive Cussler, finally found the Hunley in 1995. After over a century lost at sea, the eight-man crew received a proper burial alongside others who lost their lives on the Hunley during earlier test missions.
- Aug. 5: Wade Michael Page, age 40, opens fire in a Sikh
temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding three others. Police
shoot and kill Page, an Army veteran who had ties to the white supremacist
movement.
- Oct. 29: Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Atlantic City,
N.J., and is re-classified as a post-tropical cyclone. New Jersey, New
York, and Connecticut are hardest hit by Sandy. Eight million people lose
power as a result of the storm. Sandy has caused at least 132 deaths and
an estimated 82 billion in damages, making it the second costliest
hurricane in the United States, behind Katrina.
- Nov. 6: President Obama is re-elected, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Obama prevails in both the electoral college, by taking several crucial
battle states, including Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia,
and Wisconsin and the popular vote.
- Nov. 9: Former four-star general David
Petraeus resigns as
CIA director after the FBI uncovers evidence that he had an extramarital
affair. Paula
Broadwell is the
woman with whom Petraeus had the affair. Broadwell is the author of
"All In: The Education of General David Petraeus", a biography
published in 2012.
- Jan. 4: The European
Union imposes an oil embargo on
Iran in an attempt to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment and end its
nuclear weapons efforts.
- March 4: Vladimir
Putin wins the presidential
election in Russia, claiming 64% of the vote. It will be his third full
term as president of Russia.
- March 10: A U.S. soldier goes on a door-to-door rampage
in Afghanistan, brutally killing 17 civilians, including nine
children. March 23: The U.S. military announces that Army Staff Sgt.
Robert Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the
attacks.
- March 21: Syrian president Bashar
al-Assad agrees to a cease-fire.
The UN-brokered plan calls on the Syrian government to stop killing
civilians, engage in talks with the opposition, withdraw forces from the
streets, and begin a transition to a democratic, political system.
- April 1: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, who in October 2010 was
released after spending nearly 20 years under house arrest, wins a seat in
parliament.
- May 1: On the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, President
Barack Obama makes
a surprise visit to Afghanistan. During his visit, Obama signs an
agreement with Afghan president Hamid
Karzai that says the U.S. will
provide Afghanistan development assistance for 10 years after troops
withdraw in 2013.
- May 6: Francois
Hollande defeats Nicolas
Sarkozy to become president
of France. With the victory, Hollande becomes the first
Socialist president since Francois
Mitterrand left
office in 1995.
- June 11: Hosni
Mubarak, former president of Egypt, is sentenced to life in prison for being an
accomplice in the killing of unarmed protestors during the January 2011 demonstrations.
- June 17: The Center-right New Democracy party prevails in
parliamentary elections in Greece. June 20: New
Democracy quickly forms a coalition with Pasok and the Democratic Left,
and Antonis Samaras, the leader of New Democracy, is sworn in as prime
minister.
- June 24: Egyptian election officials declare Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, the winner of presidential election. Nov. 22: Morsi announces a brazen power grab when he declares authority over the courts, thereby removing any check on his actions by the courts.
·
July
7: For the first time
since Col. Muammar
Qaddafi was ousted,
Libyans vote in a national election. The National Forces Alliance, a secular
party led by Mahmoud Jibril, a Western-educated political scientist, prevailed
over Islamist parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, in the election to
form a national congress.
- July 27: The 2012 Summer
Olympics open in London. More than
10,000 athletes from 205 countries participate in the Games.July 31: Michael
Phelps wins his 19th Olympic
medal, becoming the winningest Olympic athlete of all time. He surpassed
the record held by Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina.
- Aug. 22: After 19 years of negotiations, Russia joins the newest member of the World Trade
Organization.
- Sep. 11: Armed gunmen storm the American consulate in
Benghazi, Libya, and shoot and kill U.S. ambassador to Libya
Christopher Stevens and three other embassy officials.
- Oct. 7 Hugo Chávez is elected to a third term as president of Venezuela.
- Oct. 9 In Pakistan, Taliban members shoot 14-year-old Malala
Yousafzai in the head and neck. The
shooting occurs while Yousafzai is on her way home on a school bus filled
with children. She was targeted for her outspokenness against the Taliban
and her determination to get an education.
- Nov. 29: The UN General Assembly upgrades the status of
the Palestinian
Authority from current observer to
non-member state.
- Dec. 12: North Korea successfully launches a rocket into orbit. The launch indicates that the country is inching closer toward developing the expertise to build an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Super Bowl
Super Bowl XLVI (46) The Giants defeated the Patriots the score of 21–17. The game was
played on February 5, 2012 for the first time in Indianapolis. In addition to
winning their fourth Super Bowl in team history, the Giants set a new record
for the lowest regular season record (9–7, win percentage of 56.3%) by a Super
Bowl champion. Eli Manning who completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards,
one touchdown, and no interceptions, was named Super Bowl MVP the second time
in his career.
Recap
of 2012 Grand Slam Tennis Tournament Winners
·
Australian Open Men's
Singles. Winner – Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal
Ladies Singles. Winner – Victoria Azarenka Maria Sharapova
·
French Open Men's
Singles. Winner– Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic
Ladies Singles. Winner– Maria Sharapova defeated Sara Errani
·
Wimbledon Men's
Singles. Winner – Roger Federer
defeated Andy Murray
·
US Open Men's Singles.
Winner – Andy Murray defeated Novak
Djokovic
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