What happened to June?

I don't know why time seems to pass so quickly here. Work is hectic and both of us seem like either circus clowns juggling several ongoing projects or fire fighters trying to put out blazes at work. Then the weekends come and we collapse in a heap on the couch and catch up on our various RSS feeds, blogs and emails. Then there are the usual weekend chores and errands and then it's back to work on Sunday. I also managed to watch some George Carlin clips on You Tube this weekend.
The city feels a little emptier with many Western expats having departed for summer vacation. Darcy and I will have to wait another three weeks and change before we fly off to the cool confines of Western Canada.
The outside humidity continues to rise and the last weekend our apartment windows were crying. The cold a/c inside and the hot, humid weather outside cause the glass outside to form heavy condensation. We could hardly see out so we curled up on the couch and watched movies. No point in venturing out to face the harsh elements.
Below is the usual weekend wrap-up of exciting news from our area: I knew that this was going to happen and I doubt that the entire 2 km stretch of beach will be fully operational either. That's a common occurrence here. Delay hits opening of Corniche beach. But the beach sounds nice and it's about a 20 minute walk for us.
UAE sheikh in belt beating case. This story was not reported in any local newspapers here.
'Jewish settler attack' on film.
UAE's eco footprint highest in the world.
Arabic newspapers lash out at US, UK terror alerts.
US luring more students from UAE.
Afghan men make a name in the UAE as expert bakers. There's an old four story walk up building across the street from us. It has a bakery that looks just like the one in this story. We've always wanted to take a photo but we've been too reluctant to ask.
New buses on streets of Abu Dhabi
First Abu Dhabi F1 grand prix in autumn 2009Naturally this will have some negative spinoffs like hotels jacking their prices for the race.
Road signs to assist new drivers in capital
Where there’s a will...
It's late here now so we're off to bed. I'm getting my first medical check up in over two years Monday morning so hopefully everything will go well.

hazy but not lazy days

Summer is almost upon us and yet it doesn't quite feel like it. The skies have been very hazy for over one week and the humidity has been very low. But that's resulted in a lot of dust and sand in the air. So I've been battling a cold for ten days but I should be able to resume exercising on Sunday. Luckily Darcy's strong immune system has kept her from getting sick like me.
Many faculty at my work have left town for summer vacation so the library will be a bit quieter. Most of our friends have left town too. But I still have a lot of projects to work on including creating a Facebook profile for the library. Two new librarians start work on Sunday so that will ease everyone's workload a bit.
Darcy and I went to the Emirates Palace on Friday to see the Picasso Exhibit. It is the second exhibit that has been sponsored by Arts Abu Dhabi. The venue is terrific, world class exhibits and (for the moment) they're free of charge. I don't think this could be duplicated in many places around the world. We spent about 2.54 hours looking at the interesting art. Some of his workds were obviously pretty far out. The bronze goat statue had a bit too much detail from a certain are for my taste! We bought the official exhibit catalogue to add to our home library.
Below is the weekend update of what's going on in our neck of the woods. As always some stories underline the lack of infrastructure and regulations here. Shamal will be replaced by summer
UAE residents say system needed to locate places in emirates
This is a fun story.Emirati superhero goes globalThe superhero's website is here.
Rats nibble at UAE history
District cooling strains supply
Waste water to provide workers’ comfort at home
Rural and suburban census begins
Chat between drunk men sparked terror warning
The Captain's Cafe that is mentioned in this article is very close to us.The shisha brotherhood
We enjoyed reading this story about how people end up living where they do. Our careers have taken us to far away places!Why 'Where' Is More Important than 'Who' or 'What'
Our weekend routine continues with going to Marina Mall to relax at Caribou Coffee and then grocery shop at Carrefour. Ila aliqa!

a week of surprises

My workplace held its annual end of year dinner party for its employees. They had a multitude of prizes to give away and last year I won an espresso coffee maker. Guess what? They pulled my name again and I won a Sony Ericsson mobile phone/walkman! It's a beautiful phone and it's loaded with bells and whistles but I decided to give it to Darcy. Her phone was getting close to 3.5 years old and I liked my Motorola.
We agreed that if the Apple's iPhone ever goes on sale in the UAE then she can buy one and give me the Sony. Plus I'd like to get Apple's 32 GB iPod Touch. But the price has to come down as it's now more expensive than the new generation 3G iPhone. I'd also like it have bluetooth and a few other options so I'll wait for the next version t oome out.
My Arabic class at work wrapped up and it was fun. The class began with 25 people and finished with about 6. Naturally I didn't practice speaking, writing and reading. I'd like to take classes in the fall, if they're offered. But I know that work will be extremely busy. Speaking of work, I've got the first draft of my library's online video tour. It took a while to do and I'm now working on a video for the women's library.
The weather has been surprisingly less humid compared to past years. I actually went for a walk outside after dinner tonight! My glasses have only fogged up twice this spring. But the humidity peaks in early fall so the weather will eventually deteriorate. Below is the local news roundup... Architecture in Abu Dhabi
UAE ID card coming soon for expats
Abu Dhabi is a city to watch
New luxury Ras Al Khaimah Island planned
Proposed UAE VAT would be unpopular
SUV sales booming in the UAE
Abu Dhabi's Parking Woes
Killer Whales Spotted near Abu Dhabi
And lastly there's this article: Middle East Media Coverage criticized. I'm currently reading Fisk's book titled The Great War For Civilisation.
So that's all for now. We're going to bed now and enjoy the beginning of the weekend...Ila aliqa