Happy Birthday to My Niece

Sending out a happy birthday wish to my special little niece back home. Well, maybe not so little anymore. Getting to be all growed up and she's a very smart cookie!

So Happy Birthday Karli! Wishing you a great day and sending you lots of love.

Excerpt From the Weather Network Website

Yesterday, as I was driving home from the mall after work, I had the sunroof open and I said to myself, "Self, winter is here and plus twenty is just a bit too chilly to have the roof open." Guess I shouldn't complain about the weather to any of you back home ...

WINTER STORM WARNING: City of Calgary
Issued at 4:28 AM MST FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER 2008

10 TO 15 CM OF SNOW WITH BLOWING SNOW TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS IS A WARNING THAT DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS...LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.

AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER SOUTHERN BC THIS MORNING WILL MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH MONTANA TONIGHT ... 10 TO 15 CM OF SNOW IS FORECAST ACROSS THE REGIONS ... UP TO 20 CM OVER HIGHER ELEVATIONS... STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS OF 40 TO 60 KM/H ... DAYTIME HIGHS INTO THE MINUS TWENTIES FOR THE WEEKEND ... STRONG WINDS ... POOR VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING SNOW ... WINDS GUSTING TO 80 KM/H MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. AS THE TEMPERATURE PLUMETS AND WINDS PERSIST ON SATURDAY, WIND CHILL VALUES OF -35 TO -40 CAN BE EXPECTED.

Time to get out the balaclavas and the long johns!

Hong Kong for a few days

K, well, remember what I said about updating my blog this weekend??? Gonna have to reneg on that (sorry!) I got a better offer :-)

One of the Engineers that I work with called and is going to Hong Kong for 3 days since we have an extra long weekend here for the second Eid. He was looking for a travel buddy. Since I was sitting around doing basically nothing and kinda bored and there was one seat left on the plane, I decided to go too.

So the blog will have to wait a few more days.

My plane leaves in a few hours so I need to go pack now ... and go stick that needle in my eye :-(

Some Random Photos from the last few months

My Mom visited Dubai in October. When she wasn't busy hemming my pants or cleaning my apartment or shopping for gifts for the kids or scouring the city for a drain plug that fit my kitchen sink, we went to see some of the sights of Dubai.

Mom at the new Atlantis Resort Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah.

Mom and I went "dune bashing" on a Desert Safari. Don't worry, they provide the drivers!

Mom's henna tattoo.

Mom and I having brunch at Mercato Mall.

Mom at Jumeirah Beach in Dubai.

Flat Stanley at Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. Sadly, when you are a paper-and-jiffy-marker man, big waves from the sea are not your friend :-(

Shortly after my Mom went home, my Sweetie arrived for a 3 week visit. For the first week he was here (my birthday week!), we went to Jordan.

This is one of my favorites. Our first glimpse of the Dead Sea. Later, we went for a little dip in the sea ... or rather a "float".

Warning signs along the Dead Sea highway.

Sweetie and I at Mount Nebo in Jordan.

Petra was one of the highlights of Sweetie's visit. There he is ... lower right-hand corner, checking out the rocks.

One day while I was at work, Sweetie went to check out the Dubai Zoo. Yup, them turtles are doing exactly what it looks like ... haha!

My Sweetie is a silly silly shutterbug :-)

Return From my Hiatus

Hiatus

hi-a-tus [hahy-ey-tuhs]

–noun, plural -tus-es, -tus.

1. a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.
2. a missing part; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus in the medieval manuscript.
3. any gap or opening.
4. Grammar, Prosody. the coming together, with or without break or slight pause, and without contraction, of two vowels in successive words or syllables, as in see easily.
5. Anatomy. a natural fissure, cleft, or foramen in a bone or other structure.
6. a Belgian crustcore band
7. A euphemism for unemployment

I know, it has been a VERY long time since I wrote anything meaningful here and I apologize. Rest assured that all is well and I was NOT abducted by aliens.

Unfortunately today is not the day that I will catch up on all the latest BUT next week I have 3 days off work for the second Eid and I PROMISE (cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye) I will catch up on everything that's been happening ... and there's a lot to report.

My Mom visited Dubai.

My Sweetie visited Dubai.

My Sweetie and I went to Jordan for 6 days.

I had a birthday ... hey, 40 is the new 20 ... at least that's what I'm telling myself!

I went to Canada.

I went to court for my Dumb-ass ex-boyfriend's charges.

I saw my family and friends.

I came back to Dubai.

The economy crashed and burned (hoping I am not about to use "hiatus" as per definition #7 above!)

Today's post is partly to test out my new toy. I bought a video camera before our trip to Jordan and have finally figgered out how to get the data off the camera and into some sort of usable format and onto blogger. Here's a trailer ... a short clip from our day at Petra:




Update: Grrrrr! It took two and half hours to upload this 34 second clip and seems there is no sound ... grrrr! There must be an easier way.

The gist of the video is this: we had very limited time at Petra; Sweetie decided a horse ride to the top would save some time. While I was trying to negotiate a less ridiculous price, Sweetie (bless his heart) forked over the cash.

Sweetie was given a lovely Bay mare which followed the guide leading it with calm, relaxed complacency. But I swear those scoundrels decided to get back at me by giving me the crankiest, most discontented creature they had! After groaning, grunting, fussing and complaining all they way up the mountain (and the horse was not very happy either!), the guide dumped us off seemingly in the middle of no-where and high-tailed it back down the mountain with horses in tow (presumably to gouge the next batch of unsuspecting tourists). I noticed that even the guide wasn't riding the horse that he gave to me ... @$$hole!

This clip is the beginning of the ride when I started to see that my horse was not going to be very cooperative. If there was sound, you would hear the panic setting in.

Uh-oh! Freezing fog in Calgary and me without a parka

Yipee! I'm coming home to Canada! Only for 1 week and it is primarily to attend my ex-boyfriend's trial which I’m sure will aggravate me to no end. According to my sources, he has been working (via his lawyer) to accelerate the trial date so that I won’t be able to attend and consequently the charges would be dropped. Obviously he has not changed one bit; still the King of the Manipulators. All the more reason to see this through to the end. Somebody remind me what it was that I saw in that Jack-ass???

Regardless of all that, I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family and doing some errands such as a hair cut with my old sylist??? I convinced my Sweetie to extend his say in Dubai for a couple of extra days and we will travel together from Dubai to Calgary (then he will continue on the rest of the way to his home away from home). We will arrive in Cowtown on Friday November 14th and I will be going back to Dubai November 21.

I see that the current weather conditions in Calgary are minus 4 with freezing fog … yikes!

Back from holiday in Jordan

Sweetie and I are back in UAE after a 6-day vacation in Jordan (and a very brief trek into Palestine which I only realized after! Not to worry, it was all safe.) We had a nice time, took about a million pictures/videos with our new cameras, ate good food, saw the sights, spent lots of dinar but we don't care, we enjoyed ourselves. Pictures and video to follow.

One of my friends from home (Randy) emailed to say he is stopping through Dubai next weekend. Looking forward to catching up with old friends.

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes. I am now officially over the hill :-(

Neglecting To Blog: Guilty :-(

Has it really been a month since I last posted??? Yikes! Things have been busy busy busy so here's a quick recap:


My Mom's Visit:
My Mom arrived on October 9th and she left yesterday evening. She enjoyed her visit although I don't think she relaxed very much ... my apartment is clean, laundry done, dishes washed, bathroom floor has no more icky mould!!!


I was woefully unprepared to show the sites of Dubai so she was graciously accepting of trips to the grocery store and a complimentary Arabic class which I have started attending every Saturday. She explored several malls around Dubai and Abu Dhabi when I (unfortuantely) had to attend some work-related meetings on my week off. For the most part she enjoyed the shopping but expressed a distaste for a place called "Wafi Center", described it as "snooty". We heard from our Desert Safari driver that many of the UAE royal family shop at Wafi, not really my Mom's peeps.


We had my birthday dinner at a place called "Nad Al Shams". It was highly recommended by one of my co-workers so on a whim, we headed the +45km out into the desert for an authentic Arabic experience. It was a unique place as far as hotels in the desert go and for 175 dirhams ($58CDN) per person, there were camel rides, a traditional Arabic show, traditional dancers, a belly dancer who was really quite good, music and decent Arabic food and sweets. Beverages and shisha were extra. The experience was a pleasant surprise ... until we got the bill! The 175 dirhams quoted when we arrived was actually 375 dirhams ($128); a 750 ml bottle of water, 30 dirhams ($9); a martiti (which I suspect was alcohol-free despite the ingredient list on the menu), 45 dirhams ($15). For 175 dirhams I could tolerate the "touristy-ness" of the photographers flogging their photos thoughout our meal and the entertainers' thinly veiled attempt to stage said photos with patrons. But for 375 dirhams ... well, I probably won't go back and I considered the 1000% mark up on the bottled water as their tip. Mom noted several times the similarity of the "traditional" dancing and costumes to Ukrainian traditions ... so the authenticity of the "traditional" Arabic part of the show is questionable.


Most of our other adventures were more pleasant (and less expensive). Some mosques allow non-Muslims to attend at certain times and we took advantage of two of such tours -- the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, which is a must see for the Architecture and Jumeirah Mosque in Dubai, which gives cultural talks about Islam and UAE and was very informative and well presented.


(I will add photos later, they are at home and ... surprise surpirse ... I am still at work).


Arabic classes:
As I said above, I am learning spoken Arabic from the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. The teacher is a young Emirati girl whose English is only slightly better than my Arabic but she gets the lessons across and I am enjoying it a lot. This is only spoken Arabic of the Gulf region and I hope to be at least somewhat conversant with the basics by the end of the 18 week class; the written language is much more difficult so that will come later (if at all.) The Arabic language is definitely not a "romance" language, there are many sounds that do not exist in the English language except when one has to clear something stuck in one's throat.


I was brave enough to try a "shukram" (translation: thank you) on a store clerk in Abu Dhabi, the only phrase that has stuck so far. The response I got was a big smile that had an "I'm laughing at you not with you" kind of look. When I tried the same phrase on my Arabic-speaking colleague, he good-humouredly corrected me; it is "shukrun" ... with an 'n' on the end. Doh!


Work work and more work!!!
Probably the biggest explanation (excuse?) for not blogging is I have been very busy with work. It is going well, learning lots and for the most part, I am enjoying the challenges. My work load is far greater than anything I have had in my career at any one time. At the moment I have 3 projects consisting of 11 buildings on my plate ranging from 7 storeys to 54 storeys. The big boss of our department said to me one day, "that's not a work load, that's a career!"

Since I have not yet reached super-human status, I have expressed concerns about my ability to sustain this work load and my dwindling social life; my boss who recruited me over here has stepped in on my behalf and off-loaded the biggest of the projects however, until there is an official replacement, I am still "pinch hitting" where I can (which is not very much).

There is a huge (as is everything in Dubai) real estate property trade show called "Cityscape" held in the UAE in the spring in Abu Dhabi and in the fall in Dubai. It's a pretty big deal here, anyone who's anyone in the Gulf region (and beyond -- Cohos Evamy had a booth at the Abu Dhabi show) is there. Two of my projects were on display at the Dubai Cityscape 2 weeks ago and I managed to tear myself away from the office to see them which was gratifying.




Bellatora Residences in Dubai Maritime City were launched at Cityscape. That is the biggest chunk of my time right now.





The Shades on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi were launched at the Spring Cityscape event and apparently the first of the 5 towers sold out in 30 minutes!!!

What's coming up in the world of PZ:
My Sweetie arrives in Dubai on Thursday. He'll be here for 3 weeks.

Sweetie and I leave for 6 days in Jordan on Saturday. My first trip out of the UAE with the exception of a day trip to Oman.

I am in the process of booking flights back to Canada for mid-November to attend the trial of my dumb-ass ex-boyfriend. As I posted earlier, he was finally arrested in September for his assault on me and although I have very low expectations for the outcome of this whole thing, the trip home will be nice. To see my Grandma, have a birthday beer with my friends, play a little volleyball and surpise my nephew and nieces with early Christmas presents will be worth the trip.

Mystery Panties

OK, I can't resist elaborating on the "girls panties on the bus" story because 25+ years after the fact, its actually kinda funny.

Back in the day when we all still lived on the farm, we rode the school bus for about an hour in the morning and then an hour home again in the afternoon. Plenty of time for mischief for a bunch of semi-supervised farm kids. My best friend at the time and I sat in the seat second from the back, her little brother sat behind us and across the aisle and one seat forward were my little sister and her friend.

One day when I was in Grade 6 (I think?), my best friend's brother found a plastic bag at the back of the bus and low and behold, it contained a pair of girls panties! Turquoise-blue granny-panties. Being the shit-disturber that he was, he pulled them out, announced proudly what he had discovered and immediately started an interrogtion of all the girls on the bus to figure out who they belonged to. No one knew ... or at least no one was letting on.

For several weeks this continued; the panties were tossed around, there was a lot of teasing as kids are wont to do and all the girls emphatically rebuffed any connection to them! As time when by, it became more and more of a mystery, no one was owning up. As an aside, it is a sad statement as to how often they cleaned those busses when a pair of gaunchies could remain there for several weeks!

One day I happened to mention to my Mom about what had been going on on the school bus, not thinking much of it except that some silly girl was gonna be really red-faced if the truth was ever revealed. The legend had grown beyond our bus and by now, almost all the kids at school had heard. My Mom's response came as a big surprise and if this wasn't THE most humbling moment of my life, it was defintely top 5: horror of all horrors, the mystery panties were MINE! Huh?! I knew that I didn't leave them there and frankly, I didn't even recognize them until later, they were a pair I obviously hadn't worn in a while.

My Mom explained the story. My sister had had a sleep over with her friend a while back and unfortunately, the friend had had an "accident." My Mom generously loaned her a pair of clean underwear (mine!) to wear home; her Mom was to launder them and then return them. However, my sister's friend was too embarassed tell her Mom about the "accident." So rather than face the shame at home, she left the evidence on the bus.

Luckily my best friend was pretty good peeps and she could be trusted with my terrible secret. She understood the gravity of the situation; for a sixth-grader with a bit of a complex, this was the kinda thing that can ruin ya! So we came up with a plan. One day we discreetly got a hold of the panties, covertly smuggled them off the bus and secretly disposed of them once and for all in the girls washroom garbage.

As far as anyone ever knew, the mystery of the wayward panties was never solved, my reputation (such as it was) remained intact and my friend's brother moved on to taunting us girls about something else as only he could do.

All's well that ends well and after all these years, one just has to look back and laugh.

In The News: Hostage-taking at Regina school

What the heck is going on back there in Canada??? Last week an armed home invasion across the back alley from my place ... in May my former colleague murdered his family, his tenant and then himself ... 2 weeks ago my ex-boyfriend was arrested after 5 years on the loose ... now, a hostage situation at a Regina high school! Is it just me or are there a lot of crazy things happening lately???

My (distant) connection to the Regina hostage situation is that one of my high-school classmates, Cherie Robbins (last name Larochelle back in the day) has a son attending that school. She and her son, Nat, are quoted in this article from The Leader Post.

Some bits and pieces from the CBC website:

Hostage-taking at Regina school ends safely, former student arrested Principal and SWAT team members tackle youth armed with air pistol
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 9:15 PM CT

A Regina high school was the scene of a hostage-taking Tuesday.
A 16-year-old male was taken into custody after police converged on Luther College High School in Regina, where a former student held a pastor at gunpoint in front of a terrified assembly of students who had gathered for chapel service.

The incident began around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Trista Gargol, a student at the independent school in Regina's west end, told CBC News.

About 300 students were in the gym for the regular religious service.

Gargol said a youth approached the pastor leading the service and handed him a three-page letter, demanding that it be read or he would shoot him.

School officials confirmed the suspect is a former student who was expelled in 2007.

As the pastor read the letter, teachers were able to escort some of the students to safety. About 60 students could not leave.

Mark Anderson, the school principal, later told reporters he decided to take action after determining the threat could be managed.

"During the course of events, I and one or two other teachers were creeping closer to the suspect," Anderson said. "Eventually at one point I was able to get close enough that I could see that it was not the kind of firearm I thought it was. It was indeed less serious than that, so I took that opportunity to try to take the firearm away from him, or the pellet gun away from him or whatever it was."

"We wrestled over it for a couple minutes or a couple seconds, sorry, and at that point the SWAT team came in and took control of the situation and handled it very well."

By 11 a.m., police reported they had a suspect in custody and were escorting the remaining students to a safe area, including a nearby church.

Jennifer Arends, a spokesperson for the school, told CBC News that all students were safe, and by the early afternoon they were being reunited with parents and sent home.

Another article in The National Post.

No doubt there will be some kids (and parents!) having nightmares for a while to come but the finale was not nearly as disastrous as it could have been. Kudos to the principal and the other adults for their couragous actions and hopefully that young man gets help, he obviously needs it. And best wishes to my friend Cherie and her family.

There is another scary side to this story ... my childhood friends and class-mates now have children of their own who are already in high school!!! It wasn't very long ago that WE were the kids running around the school hallways, terrorizing Mr. Fleck the bus driver and throwing a pair of girls panties around the school bus (true story!)

In The News: Police charge 2 men in Queensland robbery

What has this got to do with Dubai? Well, nothing. But it has a lot to do with my place in Cowtown ... this happened only a half a block away!

Police charge 2 men in Queensland robbery
Last Updated: Thursday, September 18, 2008 | 4:01 PM MT Comments6Recommend3CBC News
Police were called to this southeast house after reports of shots fired. (Karen Wade/CBC)


Two Calgary men have been charged in a home invasion robbery in the southeast that included a man being grazed by a bullet.

Police were called to a home in the 800 block of Queensland Drive S.E. just before noon on Wednesday after reports of shots fired.

About half an hour before that, three men wearing masks had forced their way into the house and assaulted the 26-year-old man living there, said police on Thursday. The group also ransacked the home.

When a family member, aged 41, arrived to check on the victim at the home, he was confronted by one of the offenders. The man fired at gun at the relative, leaving him with a minor gunshot wound to the abdomen.

It was one of three shootings in the Calgary area in 14 hours.

Both victims were treated in hospital and released, said police.

Police tracked both suspects a short time later and arrested them. They continue to search for a third man.

A 23-year-old man is charged with assault with a weapon, robbery with a firearm, unlawful confinement, tampering with a serial number and possession of stolen property over $5,000.

A 21-year-old man is charged with failure to comply with a recognizance, possession of a controlled substance, assault with a weapon, robbery with a firearm and unlawful confinement.

Police said they believe the targeted attack was drug-related.

I hate when shit happens in my neighborhood! People start to remember it and next thing you know, its dubbed a slum and property values drop. In general, Queensland is pretty safe and quiet but we have had a few "incidents" over the years. And the houses on that stretch of Queensland Drive have some rather seedy inhabitants, derelict activities, loud parties, use our trash bins for couches and such. There have been a number of domestic confrontations, a house fire that turned out to be a grow-op and a rapist trying to hide in the bushes directly across the street from my place (until the police dogs sniffed him out, bit him and severed an artery - that'll learn'em!). Nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to the HAWKS police helicopter circling right over your head and your neighbour being swarmed with armed police and media trucks!

CBC website

UPDATED: Five years later ... justice???

I have been following closely the story in Dubai of the South African woman named Kerry Winter who was beaten and abducted by her obsessive ex-boyfriend. It is eerily familiar. She is still missing in spite of massive efforts by her family to locate her.

Update (Sept 20): Unfortunately nothing to update on the search. However the ex-boyfriend has gone through several renditions of confession and then returned to his original story. Bottom line, she's still missing.

Remember my old boyfriend Rick?

Flashback to 2003 ... I dated him for about 16 months and when I tried to break up with him and kick him out of my house ... well, let's just say it didn't go very well. The Police were involved, charges were laid and with the help of some very good friends, I escaped relatively unharmed. He subsequently missed his court date and skipped town to (presumably) go live under a rock somewhere.

Although he has not contacted me since 2004, it has always been in the back of my mind that he could re-surface one day, perhaps show up on my door step. But as time passed by, I was less and less afraid and I was content that those charges may never be resolved.

I got an email from my sister today saying that she had gotten a few calls from an Edmonton number, a woman who sounded LD (Learning Disabled) and was anxious to get a message to me. My sister was suspicious. A 30-second Google search of the phone number confirmed that indeed, it was Rick's mother. This was very alarming to me, no good could come of that.

I called Rick's mom to find out what's going on. I suspected Rick was in trouble of some kind, it was just a question of how serious and what the hell that has to do with me. She is a schizophrenic so communicating with her is never straight forward but in her meandering way, she informed me that Rick was arrested in Edmonton on the warrants from his assault on me, was sent to Calgary and will appear in court on Monday morning. After 5 years I still don't trust him or his mother but the Calgary Police have verified that this is true. That's not to say that he's not up to no good but at least that part of the story checks out.

So after 5 years, maybe there will be closure on this after all. I am not expecting much in the way of consequences and in fact, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the whole thing was dropped. But it doesn't matter now. The best revenge is living well. I am on top of the world, he is in jail. Revenge is sweet!

Update (Sept 20): I was smiling all day long and feeling pretty celebratory when I heard he was sitting in jail for a few days and that this was finally going to be finished. It is all rather amusing.

But then I received messages on Facebook and my worst fear was confirmed: he has continued to hurt women, at least 2 of them. His current ex-girlfriend discovered that he told her a lot of lies lies lies (sound familiar?), he started getting more and more abusive (sound familiar?), she tried to evict him from her property but he wouldn't leave (sound familiar?), she went to the police to get protection from him because she is afraid and discovered he had outstanding warrants. That is how he got arrested ... and then released of his own recognizance (HA! sound familiar?) He missed his last court date and evaded the authorities for 5 years, what makes them think this time will be different??? I found it especially ironic to read this story on the CBC website this morning.

He was in court Monday morning and plead not guilty. There is another hearing on October 1 to determine if the trial can proceed (if the courts could not locate me he would have walked away free and clear ... I called them so no worries there). The trial is scheduled for November 20th. More than likely I will be subpoenaed but even if I am not, I will go and make the best case I can to have him convicted and most importantly, finally put into treatment for the myriad of mental health problems that he suffers so he stops abusing unsuspecting women!

Just a word of caution to those of you who knew him: there is a "no contact" order in place. He is not to contact me directly or indirectly. If he or his mother or any mystery person contacts you asking questions, please don't tell them anything!!! Tell me. He is known to try to coerce, manipulate and intimidate in the most devious and underhanded ways imaginable but if he violates any of the conditions of his release, he gets shipped back to the big house! And then I would be smiling again :-)

The story of Kerry Winter is humbling. Reminds me that if it weren't for my best friend stepping in with some tough love, my situation with Rick might have ended up very differently.

Update: Still hoping for the best for Kerry Winter, but ...

I Survived The Earthquake!!!

This week I was busily working away in my little cubby hole office, not really paying much attention. I have 2 co-workers who sit directly beside my office. Mid-afternoon, out of the blue, one says to the other, "Did you feel that?" The other replies, "Yes!" They turn to me and ask, "Did you feel that?" I says, "Uh ... errr ... no ... feel what?" The building just moved!

According to the US Geological Survey website, an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck southern Iran at 2:30pm (local time) Wednesday afternoon and then at 3:03pm, another occurred of magnitude 4.7. Iran is just a stone's throw across the pond and some of the aftershocks measuring 4.8 were felt in the UAE, mostly in the northern Emirates.

I work on the third floor of Emirates Tower which is on Sheikh Zayed Road. We were not forced to evacuate and in fact there was no indication that anything out of the ordinary was happening other than a crowd of people outside our building and across SZR. I can't say as I experienced the sheer panic that others reported in the news (I didn't even feel it). There were no deaths in Dubai, no noticable damage, barely any coverage in the news and immediately following the conversation with my work-mates, I turned back to my computer and continued on with my day.

OK, so it was a bit of a non-event, but it does make for an interesting blog post!

The Gulf News
Zawya.com

As an aside, Jumeirah Emirates Towers are the pair of triangular, pointy buildings that you see in a lot of the Dubai sky-line pictures. The taller one on the left is the office building, the one on the right is a hotel.


This photo and an interesting comentary about the towers at Galinsky.com

Update from Minka: In a Better Place

I emailed the people who have Minka to see how she is doing. I kinda miss her and wanted to know how she's doing. Dubai is not a very dog-friendly place, at least not for big dogs however I see them around once in a while. There are not many places to take them, most rental accommodation do not allow them and it is extremely hot ... a pet left in a vehicle would not last more than 5 minutes without the air conditioning. To bring her here would not have been a good choice.



I got a vey nice response and some photos from her new home telling me about her summer. Not only is she alive and kicking, she seems to be thriving which is great news! I knew they would be a good home which made leaving her behind much easier. I thought I was a pretty good "doggy-mommy" but these people got me beat. They are spoiling her rotten!

They take her to Canmore dog park frequently (oh how she loves the dog park!), they took her on their road trip to Saskatoon (she loves road trips and car rides), they started her on a RAW food diet with a special menu recommended by a "doggy nutritionist" (oh how she loves her food!) and the icing on the cake ... they bought her an orthopedic dog bed! She is definitely in heaven.


They also say that they have been able to leave her out of her crate while they are away. There were a few "accidents" at first but if they leave the TV on, she is OK. That is great news for her! I tried for so long to find a solution other than keeping her in the crate and it looks they have found a way.

Deciding what to do with her was such a tough thing and I knew that putting her down was just not right. I thank my lucky stars that these people came along and are giving her a few more good years and I know she is giving them all kinds of love and drool and sleepless nights because of the loud snoring :-)

In The News: miscellaneous stories from the last few weeks

I have been working crazy hours lately so haven't had time to blog. I warn you this is a very long entry because I've been saving them up!

Family's fears grow for missing South African
Anthony Richardson
Last Updated: August 31. 2008 8:45PM UAE / August 31. 2008 4:45PM GMT

DUBAI // For the past two weeks Kurt Winter has thought of nothing but finding his missing sister.

Every telephone call or lead has raised his hopes that this could be the one that ends his family’s agony and gives them the news, good or bad, of his sister’s whereabouts.

But until that happens the sense of helplessness is overwhelming.

Kerry Winter has not been seen since Aug 20, when witnesses say they saw her during the evening being savagely beaten with a baseball bat outside her rented villa in Al Barsha and dragged bleeding into her car.

She has not been seen or heard from since.

I've been following this story, it is chilling and hits a little too close to home for me on a few different levels. The reader's digest version:

- May 2008: This woman, Kerry Winter, a South African, breaks off a 5-year relationship with boyfriend, Mark Arnold, a British national. Moves out. Apparently he won't divorce his wife so can't say as I blame her for skidding his sorry @$$.

- June/July/August: the ex-boyfriend follows her around, sits outside her house, breaks into her house, barges into her office, makes meanacing phone calls and SMS's. She moves around a couple times, changes her number, stays with friends. Police do nothing to help her because he has accused her of burglarizing his house. She proves that she was not even in the country when this supposedly happened and police drop the charges and return her passport.

- August 20: she has drinks with a friend. Sees her ex-boyfriend spying. She goes home, he follows. An arguement ensues. He beats her with a baseball bat. Neighbours try to intervene, he beats them too. Neighbours call police. He cleans up her head wounds, bundles her into her SUV, drives her to Arabian Ranches round-about (kind of the middle of no-where) and drops her off. Goes home, has a shower, goes to work. Police arrive too late and find blood all over the inside of her apartment.

- August 20-ish: friends and family receive SMS's from her phone saying she is OK. They get suspicious. They respond in Afrikaans and that's the end of the SMS's.

- August 23-26: Ex-boyfriend flys back to England with his new girlfriend to watch a football (soccer) game and is arrested when he returns to UAE for the beating episode. The police interrogate him, he claims she was coherent and "fine" when he left her ... that's his story and he's sticking to it.

- August 27-ish: Police find her SUV but no sign of her.

- September 3: The body of a woman is found in the desert. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how one looks at it), it is not Kerry. Police confirm that the woman found (with 2 children) is Pakistani or Sri Lankan. A very sad side-story mostly because it would have never have made the news at all if it weren't for this case (I have been watching the for information, there's nothing.)

That's where it ends. Girl is still missing. Family is still searching. Ex-boyfriend is still sitting in jail, smug and defiant.

Dubai is still generally a safe place but it is not utopia. Bad things happen here same as anywhere.

The National
The Gulf News
Facebook
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Beach couple plead not guilty
Ramona Ruiz

Last Updated: August 12. 2008 10:30PM UAE / August 12. 2008 6:30PM GMT
Two Britons pleaded not guilty to charges of having intercourse on a public beach at their first appearance at the Dubai Misdemeanours Court yesterday.

Michelle Palmer and Vincent Acors, who were arrested on Jumeirah beach just after midnight on July 5, were charged with illicit relations, public indecency and being intoxicated in public. They were released on bail.

The charges were read out at about 9am to the accused by the presiding judge, Abdullatif Hamad, according to a source close to the case. “Both pleaded not guilty to having sexual relations and committing an indecent act in public. However, they admitted to consuming alcohol. Ms Palmer produced her liquor licence to the court.”

The hearing was initially set for Aug 21, but the date was moved forward. The pair were represented by a lawyer who said he would submit papers in their defence. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept 2. If convicted, they each face jail sentences of three to six months followed by deportation.

I read previously they could get 6 years in jail so 3 to 6 months is not so bad by comparison. Other reports have said that they were given a warning, they were beligerent towards the police and she threw her shoe at them. She denies all that and is looking for public support to try to sway the verdict. Unfortunately the court of public opinion is not in her favour, most people (expats and locals) feel that regardless of what is permissible in one's home country and regardless of one's personal opinion of the local laws and customs, one must respect the laws of the land. Dubai is pretty liberal but there's a limit.

The "beach couple" are also British nationals (as is boyfriend from the last story) ... what's going on with those Brits??? They were convicted and will be sentanced in the next week or so.

The Gulf News
The National
Fox
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Ramadan Kareem!!! (translation: Happy Ramadan ... I think?)

Ramadan in Dubai
Holy Month of Ramadan Begins

The holy month of Ramadan has begun. During this month, all Muslims commemorate the revelation of the Holy Quran by fasting and abstaining from all food & drinks between dawn and dusk. The fast is broken with the Iftar meal. All over Dubai, festive Ramadan tents are filled with people of all nationalities celebrating together, the breaking of the fast.

Non-Muslims are requested to refrain from eating, drinking or smoking in public places, during the day as a sign of respect. Ramadan ends with Eid Al Fitr, when the whole of Dubai celebrates the feast of the breaking of the fast.

Government of Dubai website

Non-muslims are not really 'requested' to refrain from eating/drinking/smoking in public, it is actually the law. A common question asked these days is, "are you fasting?". Not something I am accustomed to hearing.

The Definition of Ramadan according to Wikipedia is:

Ramadan (Arabic: رمضان, Ramaḍān) is a Muslim religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, believed to be the month in which the Qur'an was revealed to Angel Gabriel, who later revealed it to the Prophet Muhammad. It is the Islamic month of fasting (sawm), in which participating Muslims do not eat or drink anything from dawn until sunset. Fasting is meant to teach the person patience, sacrifice and humility. Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of God, and to offer even more prayer than usual. In Ramadan Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance into the future, ask for help in refrain from everyday evils and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.

Also from RamadanKareem.org:

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim year which follows a lunar calendar. Each month begins with a sighting of the moon's crescent and lasts 29 or 30 days until a sighting of the next month's crescent.

The month of Ramadan commemorates the days when the Angel Gabriel imparted the wisdom of the Koran, Islam's holy book, to the Prophet Mohammed.

Ramadan is a time for self-examination and increased religious devotion. The fast ends when the new moon is again sighted and the month of Shawwal begins. It is followed by the Id Al-Fitr feasting and the exchange of gifts.

The Muslim belief states that whoever observes this fasting faithfully and with pure intentions, will have his or her sins forgiven. Fasting during Ramadan is said to be 30 times more powerful than fasting any other time of the year.

Many non-Muslims also fast in the same way, some to show support for our Muslim friends, some for health reasons, some because they are cheap-skates (less food = less dirhams spent). Most restaurants, coffee shops, food courts are closed during the day which makes it a little inconvenient for us "non-fasters" who don't plan ahead! Sadly, my beloved Starbucks is closed now but my other lunch-time haunt (Corner 3) is open (the window shades are down). Just gotta put my contraband lunch in a brown paperbag and sneak it up to my office. The other non-fasters hang out with me in my secluded little corner for lunch.

On the up-side, the work day is reduced to 6 hours for everyone (which doesn't actually change anything for me, I still seem to be working long hours).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And lastly: the great debate over a revolutionary new concept ... the self-serve gas station! Will it catch on?

Do-it-yourself at Enoc petrol stations
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
Published: August 13, 2008, 00:00

Dubai: It was an unusual sight to have attendants at some Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) petrol stations standing aside and watching motorists taking the nozzle to fill their vehicle's fuel tanks.

Ten Enoc petrol stations yesterday went on the self-service scheme as part of their pilot project. Three were launched in Dubai and seven across the northern emirates. The self-service concept will allow for payments by cash only. As a safety measure, smoking and use of mobile phones while filling up are strictly forbidden.

The Gulf News
The article goes on to give step-by-step instructions:

Park your vehicle in front of the pump,
Switch off the engine.
Go inside the store and pay the amount of purchase.
Mention the pump number to the cashier.
The cashier will then give a receipt for the payment
Customer can go back to the particular pump, take the nozzle out and fill up.
The pump will automatically stop when the authorised amount is dispensed and the customer can then replace the nozzle.

[Insert sarcasm here:] They don't explicitly state this but once you replace the nozzle, you must then get in your vehicle, start the engine and proceed to whereever it was you were going before you entered the petrol station. Some might be confused by this. [End of sarcasm]

The article also lists the locations of stations piloting the "do-it-yourself" thing and quotes from a random sampling of users:

Yes, self-service petrol stations is a good idea. There is no reason why others should stand in the heat the whole day just for the sake of the motorist. We can all stand the climate for a few minutes.

It's a stupid idea, with this type of climate no one will even consider pumping petrol for their car.

I much prefer to be served by an attendant - it is too hot to get out of my car. I also wear 'driving shoes' in my car, so getting out of the car, would mean I'd have to change my shoes again, go and pay, fill up, and then change my shoes to driving shoes again. (can you say "lazy"?!)

Inside the cities it can cause chaos and disruption especially during peak hours. (isn't chaos and disruption a way of life in this city anyways???)

It is a great idea for those petrol stations that are situated in rural areas, where the petrol attendant can't be located because he is having a nap in the back (Haha! Yup, its Dubai.)

I'ts very convenient for male costumer, How about for the female wearing abaya's? (This is a legitimate point.)

Personally I hope it does not become mandatory but what I would like to see are some DIY car washes. (Whoa, let's not get carried away! I pay a guy 30 dirhams a week to wash the Pajero while I'm at work; my vehicle has never been so clean!)

most of the people who dont wish to come out of their vehicle will avoid this situation and move to other stations and at last, attendants will surely lose their jobs which is not good.

This last comment, albeit a bit jumbled, hits the nail on the head me thinks. There is a subtle shift towards weaning Dubai off of the masses of low-wage ex-pat workers doing the meanial jobs or at least keeping them out of sight. I think they would do away with the white-collar high-wage ex-pats as well except that there are not enough qualified Emiratis to fill those positions. They still need us.

UPDATED: In The News: Fire at the Atlantis!!!

One of the big project that NORR has done in the last few years, a pièce de résistance actually, is called the Atlantis Resort which is at the crest of the Palm Jumeirah, one of the big reclaimed-land projects here. The Atlantis is a very high profile project for us and is an uber high-end hotel. I have driven up the trunk of the Palm and the Atlantis is a pretty impressive sight. Construction was completed ahead of schedule (which is note-worthy in and of itself) and the grand opening was scheduled for late September.

But then ...


















Here's the article from Arabian Business:

Atlantis bosses say resort will open on time
by Sean Cronin and Andy Sambidge on Tuesday, 02 September 2008

HOTEL FIRE: Flames and smoke pour from the Atlantis resort.The luxury Atlantis hotel and resort on Palm Jumeirah will open as planned on September 24, despite suffering smoke damage in a dramatic fire on Tuesday.

Officials said that investigations have found only limited damage to the external roof and lobby dome of the hotel, although a source close to the project told Arabian Business that the $25,000 a night Bridge Suite - located above the hotel lobby where the fire started - also suffered extensive smoke damage.

The suite offers a generous reception lounge, dining area with a gold-leaf table seating 16 guests, and library with state-of-the-art media centre.

Both the master bedroom and king bedroom have magnificent balcony views. Both rooms have his and her en suite bathrooms, while the third bedroom has two double queens and an en suite.

The source added that just two days ago all 1,500 rooms at Atlantis were occupied as the staff did a sleepover dress rehearsal, where they stayed the night, and tested the facilities.

When staff arrived at work on Tuesday morning they found flames shooting up the central palm shape from the lobby and it is understood that some very expensive statues in the lobby have been lost.

Investigators were continuing to assess the extent of the damage on Tuesday.

Officials said the blaze at the luxury hotel was contained to the lobby area of the resort after emergency services attended the incident at about 7.30am.

A spokesman said: "We are currently awaiting further information from the local authorities. The fire has since been extinguished. No staff were injured and every one of our employees on site at the time were evacuated immediately.

"The site of the fire appears to be localized in the lobby area of the resort and we are currently unsure of the extent of the damage."

Security officials blocked road access to the hotel, leaving hundreds of people standing at the access road.

The fire comes just weeks before the planned lavish opening of the hotel that has been built by 72-year-old South African property tycoon Sol Kerzner.

The hotel will have a total of sixteen restaurants while its massive aquarium will stock some 65,000 species of marine life.

The project had been finished and fitted-out ahead of schedule. It is not known what caused the fire on the roof of the building

Disclaimer: As usual, I did not take these photos, they came to me via email ... that makes them public domain doesn't it??? I believe they came from the Arabian Business website. There are more spectacular photos on their website.

UPDATE: My colleague who worked on the Atlantis toured it a week before the fire. Here are a couple of his pictures:

The inside of the main lobby which was damaged and the one-of-a-kind million dollar sculpture that is rumoured to have been lost. Ouch!

My colleague and his wife in front of the enormous aquarium.

It sounds as though the grand opening may be delayed afterall, the amount of damage has not been release and the cause of the fire not yet determined. There was more damage to the "bridge suite" (the piece that spans across the top, directly above where the fire was is all one humungous suite!) than was first thought but fortunately the aquarium is intact, at least I haven't read anything to suggest otherwise. Small miracles.

In The News: Flood in the UAE!!!

On Monday morning I had a meeting in Abu Dhabi. So I get out onto Emirates Road (which is a scary road at the best of times, even for Dubai) heading towards AD and traffic is backing up, more so than usual. I started to notice that there is some water on the road ... actually, quite a bit of water ... about 6 inches deep and getting deeper! The puddle on the shoulder was about 18 inches deep! Just when I was thinking how bizarre that was, I looked across to the other side of the road and it was FLOODED! Water up to the top of the 3-foot high concrete barrier and over-flowing onto our side!!! It was a lake! I tried to get pictures but my silly camera fell onto the floor where I couldn’t reach it and I kinda had to keep my hands on the wheel. I grabbed some of these from the internet ...






In the middle of the road where the light posts are, those are the 3-foot high concrete barriers that were acting as a dyke. I didn't see the source of the water when I was driving by but I did some surfing later:

... apparently it was a water tank that collapsed at a construction site near the road according to this website.

... or a burst pipe according to this website. UPDATE: Good old Gulf News has changed their article; no longer says it was a burst pipe.

... and apparently it happened “yesterday” according to this article which was posted on August 25th and would imply that this happened on the 24th (since I was actually there when it happened on the 25th, me thinks someone was fibbing about the “yesterday” part! The quality and reliability of the news here leaves something to be desired.)

Also of note in that last article is that, instead of showing photos of the subject of the article ... the flooding, the traffic, the clean-up efforts ... they elected to show a photo of the Engineer from the traffic department (RTA) whom gave the quotes ... huh?


Luckily no one was hurt in this incident and traffic was still crawling along going towards Abu Dhabi (but the other direction towards Sharjah was closed). The rest of my day-trip was uneventful.

The Taxi Situation and Driving Lessons

I haven't complained about the taxis lately. That's because I haven't really needed them since I got wheels.

This week has been crazy hectic as it sometimes is in the Architectural biz, getting approvals (aka "No Objection Certificates" or NOC's) are an important step in the process and take a lot of effort on the part of we, the consultant.

On Tuesday we had one such submission to our Master Developer, I went to their office with our package of drawings, report, etc. The presentation went very well, I believe we will get our approval. Phew! Now to get to my next meeting.

The Master Developer's office is kind of off the beaten track and I needed a taxi to get back. The receptionist kindly called and then I waited ... and waited ... and ... 30 minutes later she called again ... and I waited ... another 35 minutes. Nothing.

I must have looked rather destitute sitting there in the lobby when a man who was leaving saw me and kindly offered to give me a lift. Oh hallelujah! Turns out he is the VP of Business Development, originally from Houston, Texas, a "sea-man" who has been all over the world. Always interesting to talk to other Westerners here and I sure did appreciate that ride! My disrespect for the taxis here remains intact.

Flashback to April when I was getting my Dubai driver's license, I was thoroughly frustrated, I went to the Traffic Department THREE times (taking taxis there and back) before they finally issued it! I have since come to accept that spontaneous rule changes and hoards of paperwork are a way of life here.

Yesterday, my office-mate from Bolivia was telling me that she is required to take driving lessons before she can get her license. She has to take a taxi to the traffic department where she boards a bus out to the driving academy (in the middle of no-where), drives around the course for an hour and then comes back. Twenty lessons! It is a well known fact that NO ONE passes their driver course the first time no matter how good a driver they are. I hear that anyone from the Indian sub-continent can expect to take the lessons at least 4 times and pay the corresponding fee 4 times ... therein lies the point of driving lessons. The Emirates may be "tax-free" but they find creative ways to generate other revenue streams. And I might add, the drivers here are not any safer for having taken all those lessons!

I was rejoicing in the fact that as a Canadian, I did not have to take any driving lessons, my Alberta license was transferred over directly. However, my office mate says that that has now changed. All new-comers to Dubai regardless of nationality must take driving lessons! Just goes to show you that no matter how crappy things seem to be, they could always be worse.

Thought for the day

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities, always see them for they are always there. "
--Norman Vincent Peale

Not that things are dark here, just seemed like a nice quote :-)

And while I'm at it, Congrats to all the Canadian athletes who won metals today (or achieved a personal best or qualified to move on or even just got to compete!) One does not get to the top of the podium without being a "possibilitarian".

Dubai Documentary on CBC

Seems the CBC will be re-broadcasting the documentary "Dubai: Miracle or Mirage" again this week.

DUBAI: MIRACLE OR MIRAGE?
Thursday November 22, 2007 at 9pm on CBC-TV
repeating Saturday August 16, 2008 at 10 pm ET/PT & Wedneday August 20 at 11 pm PT on CBC Newsworld
DUBAI: MIRACLE OR MIRAGE? is a one-hour documentary that examines one the world’s most fascinating and fastest developing city-states.

Surrounded by war zones, Dubai remains blissfully peaceful. This state which is smaller than the province of Prince Edward Island has become home to superlatives – the biggest building, the largest airport, the tallest hotel, the richest horse race are all situated in Dubai.

Forty years ago it was a sleepy backwater, now it is a magnet for the young and ambitious from around the world. But this meteoric expansion comes at a price. To accommodate the tsunami of foreigners known as expats, Dubai, a Muslim state, turns a blind eye to some of these visitors’ excesses, often to the great displeasure of the locals known as Emirati.

This massive influx of expats which includes hundreds of thousands of indentured labourers from South Asia is crucial if Dubai Inc. is to reach its goal of becoming an economic and tourist powerhouse. It’s also led to an extraordinary phenomenon. Emiratis are now a minority in their own land. We meet some of these Emirati both young and old and some of the expats including a number of Canadians, as they work and play in this unreal world of Dubai.

I browsed the website of the film's producer and saw the trailer but have not seen the film itself (apparently I am the only one on the planet). According to the photos on the website, they interview a Canadian Executive Architect, Hans Krause, at the Burj Dubai. He is a VP at NORR but I have not met him personally.

I'm also curious where in this city that girl goes roller-blading??? Most sidewalks and pathways are paving stones so not a very smooth ride and the sand must wreak havoc on the wheels!

Brunch at More Cafe

One of my favorite colleagues is moving away to Saudi Arabia this week. But before she goes, she invited us all out for a farewell brunch yesterday at a place called "More Cafe". It was a really nice time.


Mirielle (a fellow Scorpio!) and I were teamed up to do a big 5-tower residential project in Abu Dhabi. We had a crazy amount of work to do in a crazy short time and Mirielle was the glue that held it all together. To work with her was a great first experience for me in Dubai and I hope we cross paths again someday.


A few other colleages: Mirielle (again), Marc, Mauro and Diala.


At the end of the table, Sophie (age: 5) and Mauro (age:???) were having Barbie car races through a tough course of salt & pepper shakers, napkin holders and a glass. Barbie, along with her passenger, the yellow hippo, whipped around the race course with reckless abandon but in the end, a winner could not be determined, there was some dispute as the the official time keeper, the rules of the race, safety, etc.


Thanks to Ali R. for the use of his pictures here. He managed to make me look good, that should tell you something about his talent behind the lense :-)

Happy Birthday to My Niece

Hi Jessica! Happy Birthday my special girl!
Hope you have a great day and an awesome party with all your friends and other Aunty.
Lots of love and hugs and kisses,
From Aunty in "Deboo" :-)

Celebrating a Milestone

Busy day ... went to Abu Dhabi and back, department meeting, this, that and the other thing of whatever it is I do all day long. In the midst of the busyness, the Design Architect that I have been working with for the last few months planned a little party. We issued a design package for our big 5-tower project earlier this month and we have a very happy client. She decided a celebration was in order!



The Design Architect is the petite little thing with the curly hair and beaming with pride (standing to my right); she has been described as "the resident fire-cracker" and to work with her, it was hard to keep up! Sadly (for us, good for her), she is moving to Saudi Arabia to be with her husband who is working there now. She was a lot of fun to work with and really helped me cut my teeth on a big project. It just won't be the same around here.



The "team" cuts the cake.



The cake (minus a few pieces). That is a picture of the project on the top! It was a very nice way to recognize the people who worked very hard and to share our project (and our cake!) with others in the office.



A few minutes to hang out and then it was back to the never-ending staff meeting (ugh!)

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Sadly he passed away from Pancreatic cancer today.




To all my friends and family, may you all achieve your childhood dreams and live life as "Tigger".

(If you can't see the clip here, go to YouTube.com and search for "Randy Pausch")

Business Etiquette in a Muslim world

The Project Manager for the next project I am starting asked me to attend a brief impromptu meeting with a supplier of central vacuum systems. No problem. The sales rep was sitting in the conference room when I arrived. I greeted him in the usual way by extending my hand and was promptly and in no uncertain terms told that he would not be shaking the hand of a female, he tries to be a “good Muslim”. OK then. Otherwise he was a very amicable fellow, helpful, jovial, knowledgeable. I just had not encountered the handshake thing with any Muslim men I have dealt with so far and did not expect such a strong reaction (although I should have expected it at some point.) So note to self …

My Mom and My Life as a Senior

My Mom emailed yesterday to say that she has booked her flights for a visit in October. Looking forward to that! I booked vacation time for the week that she is here. As well, I think I am making some head-way in convincing my Sweetie to come, at least for a visit. I think he's coming 'round, not sure ... but I think! (fingers are crossed!)

My job in Dubai has been quite interesting; hard to believe its been almost 4 months.

In the last few weeks:
I have taken training on a new 3D BIM software called Revit and was asked to evaluate it compared to our old 2D AutoCAD.

Today I sat in on a meeting to evaluate another BIM software that is being proposed.

I was consulted on the new/revised company CADD standards.

I have attended several meetings that were conducted in Arabic (with a little bit of English thrown in for my benefit).

I was recommended to job-captain one of the biggest projects in the office right now (which was very scary to me ... its a HUGE one!) and I am managing 2 other projects that are fairly big by my standards but small and medium-sized in Dubai.

On Tuesday I will be doing a presentation/workshop on the 5-tower project we issued last week to defend our design concept.

It is with some trepidation that I call myself an "Architect" and a "Senior" in the department (which refers to my work experience, not my age!) but my years of experience as a Technologist have done me well so far. Being a few rungs up from where I was not long ago is a little bit foreign at times and it seems that others have more confidence in me than I have in myself. One of the reasons I came was to get work experience that I didn't think I would get in Canada and on that, I have not been disappointed!

P.S. anyone else who thinks they might like to visit Dubai, consider yourself invited! :-) although not sure how much vacation time I have left.

Miss Natalia

There is a coffee shop on the lower level of Emirates Tower called 'Corner 3' where I sometimes ... well, quite frequently actually ... get a coffee or breakfast or lunch or a snack or sometimes all of the above (the only other choice is Starbucks; luv my Starbucks but ya can't have vanilla lattes every day and Starbucks food is pretty average at best.)

Since I am in Corner 3 nearly every day and the same staff are usually there, they get to know the regulars. One lady named Elvie (according to her name tag) makes an effort to get to know her customers and address them by name. This is very commendable except that at some point since our "introduction", she has forgotten my name and now thinks my name is "Miss Natalia" haha

Good morning Miss Natalia.
Will that be all for you today, Miss Natalia?
Would you like something to drink with that, Miss Natalia?
Miss Natalia, the special today is turkey with mashed potatoes.

She means well and is a very nice lady. I find it humourous so I usually just go with it. One day last week I corrected her as politely as I could, we had a little laugh over it. But when I came back a couple days later ...

"Good morning, Miss Natalia!"

Air conditioners are the 8th wonder of the world

Of all the poopy things that could happen, my air conditioner stopped working. It has not been completely reliable since I moved in here but by late last week it was just nada. And it gets very warm without it! So I emailed my slumlord ... errr, landlord. Yup, he'll send someone over but its at my expense. Fine. Is Saturday morning OK? Well, earlier is better but I'll take what I can get.

Since work is quite busy these days, I decided to go to the office during the hottest part of the day on Friday and only be home when it cooled down somewhat (everything's relative ... 35 degrees is cool these days).

Saturday I waited anxiously all morning, even cancelled my chiropractor appointment so I would not miss the repairman's call. By noon, I was losing hope. Out came the Yellow Pages. I called 6 or 7 repair shops. Some did not answer. Two did not speak English. One was a fax number (nothing like that screeching in yer ear!). The other two took my number and someone would call me back. One said he would come in the evening but it would cost 100 Dirhams just to show up. Fine. And still I waited ... and sweated ... and waited ... and sweated.

FINALLY at 8:35 pm Saturday evening, my mobile rang and it was the company my landlord had called. Woohoo! And he spoke very clear English which is always a relief.

The repair man and his assistant poked around a bit, lifed some ceiling tiles, ran some water in the tub (not sure why). After about 10 minutes, he informed me that the duct had completely frozen closed on the inside, solid with ice and that was the problem; no air flow. The solution? Turn off the a/c for an hour to melt the ice, turn it back on and see if that worked. So I sweated it out for another hour. Low and behold, a cold draft from the vent ... yay!

After they left I looked at the business card he left, seems he is actually a landscaper ... ? But he solved the problem and all's well that ends well and I didn't have to pay for it afterall. I have proven to myself that if I had to I could survive without air conditioning ... but why?!

As a footnote to my air conditioner saga, tonight (Sunday) my mobile rang and it was the 100 dirham repairman. I informed him that it is now fixed, thank you for calling and have a nice night. Why he was calling me at 11:55 p.m., I'm not too sure? Such is the way things go in Dubai.

Mitsubishi Pajero

Here is a picture of my new toy ... 2006 Misubishi Pajero. I believe the North American version is called a 'Montero'.



I'm lovin' my new wheels. It's pretty loaded up ... leather seats, sunroof, parking sensors that tell you when you are about to hit something (or something is about to hit you). It has "tip-tronic" shifting which means it is an automatic but with one little tip of the shifter, it is like a manual but without the clutch. I haven't used that yet because truth be known, I don't really know how. I paid 80K dirhams which is about $22k Canadian. I think that was an OK deal, I probably could have haggled that down but I loathe haggling.

Update on the options: yesterday while stuck in gridlock, I noticed a mystery button ... so I pushed it. Turns out that at the push of a button, I can retract both my side mirrors! It's the coolest thing :-)

Two days after I got it, I left the office to go home and low and behold, there was a sticky note on the window saying if I ever wanted to sell it, I should call the guy! Ha! I have not yet called. Although I could probably make a small profit from the deal, to sell it would mean paying for another month's rental on the Civic and I would be starting all over with car shopping. I loathe car shopping even more than I loathe haggling!

I had considered buying a vehicle here to export back to Canada whenever I return however on checking the Governemnt of Canada website, turns out that vehicles not specifically manufactured for the North American market are virtually impossible to import. Really high end vehicles may be a different story. Seems any regular person's vehicle newer than 15 years or so does not meet Canadian safety standards. Kinda makes me wonder about driving it here?!

And in the absense of assigned parking, I park wherever I can! Couldn't jump right up on the curb with the Civic :-)