A Productive Week!

This week ended on a high note as three things that I had been waiting for finally arrived. The first item was that I picked up *the document* (code word for liquor permit). Western expats tend to use that phrase in public and not offend the majority Muslims. The permit looks a bit like a passport and is valid for one year from the date issued. I paid 180 dirham fee for the two of us which translated into our monthly liquor allowance being a generous 1,500 dirham. You first decide on how much you want to pay for the liquor application fee. That figure is taken into account with your monthly allowance and then calculated based as a percentge of your monthly salary. It sounds a bit confusing but our amount is more than enough. A bottle of rye (whiskey for you Americans) and an average priced bottle of wine is around 80 dirham or about $22.00. We're thinking of having our apartment warming party on October 20 so we'll be able to buy booze for it.

ThenNext piece of good news is that I received a cheque from my work to buy a car. I finally decided on getting a 2007 Volvo V70 stationwagon and I managed to get the price down to 100,000 dirham ($30,000). I went to the dealer this morning and gave the money and signed paperwork for registration. I will get special window tinting called V-Kool. Apparently it uses NASA technology that heavily reduces heat and other harmful rays from entering a car's interior and without using really dark tinting. It will cost about $600 but I think it will be worth it. I should get the car in about a week.

I saved the last bit of news for last. My article that took me almost four years to write was finally published! It appears in a peer-reviewed American Library Association publication called Reference and User Serivces Quarterly. The article's title is A Library of One's Own: A Survey of Public Access in Florida's Academic Libraries. I wished that it had been published before I left Florida but c'est la vie. It was a lot of work to write it but I owe my thanks to many at my last job with helping get it published. Darcy and I need to get ready to go out now so until next time...