Slowly transitioning into vacation mode

This week is my first 3 day work week and it feels pretty nice!  I can spend a bit more time at the gym and watch some dvds that I bought years ago in Florida.  The heat and construction noise continue to go up but what can one do?  We went out for dinner last night at the Beach Rotana Hotel.  That's where we lived for 6 weeks when we moved here in 2006.  We couldn't believe how much the skyline to the northeast had changed!  The expanse of water across to Reem Island from the hotel had been shortened considerably.  And there were numerous buildings under construction along with a freeway.  I don't think that the hotel beach there has much of a view anymore.  Poor Darcy is frustrated by some big personnel changes at her work - 'nuff said!  It's now 7 weeks and counting until we leave for Edmonton...

Shoppers are paying a premium - ouch!!

Mosques campaign seeks donations 

Sir Bani Yas to host four new lodges - Looks like we may want to visit there again some time...

Young men need more motivation, study finds-a report like this being made public is astonishing!

Dream hospitals unveiled - this is desperately needed

Big spenders at Big Boys Toys

UAE could help clinch climate deal

Lack of confidence hampers Emiratisation

Post office plans home deliveries

Earthquake strikes off coast of UAE

Welcome to May!

The month of May began with a really hot day so summer is just around the corner.  When we get into our car the temperature gauge reads in the high 40s celcius or about 100 farenheit.  My walks on the Corniche may be over until the fall.  Darcy and I start our summer vacation in exactly two months on July 2.  I've been enjoying my three day work weeks to use up excess vacation time. The construction noise around us seems to be getting worse plus Darcy has to deal with it at work. 
Meanwhile we're still investigating making a will.  It's more complicated with living overseas but there is a company in the city who acts as a go between with a major provider.  We're just getting clarification about fees.  What's more complicated is getting life insurance.  We're getting quotes from two different companies but we want to think this through carefully. 
We're going to have to bite the bullet and get our plane tickets for our Edmonton to Vancouver return trip.  The fares are awful and have actually gone up by about 200 CDN for WestJet!  So we'll pay just over 600 CDN for both of us which is the same as what we paid last year.  Luckily the airfare from Abu Dhabi to Edmonton is cheaper this year.
Work in somewhat uneventful for us.  Although I'd like to start making some online screen casting tutorials for some of our databases and library catalog.  Below is an assortment of regional stories.

UAE bars pork imports - the WHO has confirmed that the swine flu is spread by human to human contact and not from eating pork!

Conference centre soars with falcons

National anorexia levels astonishing - ironic considering that the UAE also has terribly high levels of obesity too. 

A rower's tearful tribute to Zayed

Labour day may become a permanent UAE holiday

Rights body reviews abuse video claim

Sheikh unveils his replica ark

Access to universities to be widened

US university to launch DIFC campus


Abu Dhabi room rates highest in world

Expats urged to embrace culture

How well do you know the emirates?

So, could you pass the emirates patriotic test?

WOMAD in Abu Dhabi

We attended the three day WOMAD (Peter Gabriel's World of Music, Arts and Dance) concert on the second day.  It was good but sadly security was being selective in allowing people in.  Beside us just as we entered were a couple of guys from Indai, Pakistan or Bangladesh.  An events guy held up his hand to them while we proceeded.  It had nothing to do with them being bachelors as we saw a few single male Europeans inside.  So the laborers were forced to watch from the fence outside.

The first group was The Dhol Foundation.  Details are here.   The second group we saw was Abdullah Chhadeh & Syriana. Details are here.  The last group that we saw was The Kamkars.  They had ten performers.  We saw all five performances on the third and last day and seeing Robert Plant was great!  Heck of a deal considering that it they were all free.  There were more non Westerners in attendance yesterday which was nice to see. 

I had today off and worked out and then I met Darcy for lunch.  I then walked home (only took 30 minutes but it was bloody hot out.  However, it's nice to work four day work weeks.  Below are some interesting stories....

WOMAD festival opens with a bang

UAE laws translated into English

Sharjah's tour guides put on right path

Emirate to close its bars and nightclubs

Mubadala issues first annual report

Personal odyssey into wilderness

Dubai's dark side - other stories about the UAE produced by ABC news are available

WOMAD is coming

Last week was the Red Bull Air Raee along the Corniche.  This coming weekend it's WOMAD!  The performances are free and they are about a 30 minute walk from our apartment.  Temperatures will get close to 40 Celsius or about 100 Fahrenheit so it will be hot!  The last performance will feature Robert Plant!  It would be nice to see him even though it will likely happen late on Saturday.  Luckily I have Sunday off.  Since I have a lot of vacation time to use I've decided to work four day work weeks until the end of June.  I'll still have over 30 work days to use up in the fall.  What to do....
Democracy wrong choice for UAE

Canada to recruit more Gulf students

Libraries Undergo a Sea Change

Global crisis is behind us says Sheikh Mohammed - that's a bold statement!

Pull the udder one - male goat produces milk

Dazzling start to daredevils' season

The view from inside the camps

Arabtech pledges to improved its labour sites

Arab societies should be more proactive

Abu Dhabi wildlife center opens its door to the public

Giant labour camp to house 32,000

Elongated oyster shell hotel for lulu island - we live very close to the island

Capital district plan celebrates identity

thinking about more vacations

Darcy and I had a wonderful time at the new hotel on Sir Bani Yas Island for her birthday two weeks ago.  It will rank as one of our special places along with Jasper and the Everglades.  The weather could have been better but it was interesting to experience tremendous lightning storms.  It rained a lot but apparently not as much as in the northern emirates.  We still managed to do four outdoor activities: archery; wadi walk; game drive; kayaking.  The hotel opened only six months ago so they are still hiring staff and developing the island's infrastructure.  The conservation efforts are impressive since the island is really just a big area of salt and minerals.  A majority of the plants need watering from miles and miles of connecting hoses.  There are many gazelles and other animals that have been brought from Africa (ostrich, cheeta, peacock, oryx). 

Other news is that the Formula One race to be held here on November 1 has been selling tickets briskly.  They went on sale a week ago.  Construction noise in our neighborhood and Darcy's work is bad.  We hosted a baby shower for a friend on Friday and Darcy did a great job.  There was a lot to eat!  Finally, I'm in an unusual dilemma of having to use up 45 days day of vacation by the end of the year or risk losing all of it.  That's excluding time off that I've booked for our summer vacation and 15 days that I can carry over into 2010.  Guess I've been working too hard and not taking enough time off!  Darcy doesn't have as much time off and I don't want to have to take vacations by myself.  Hmmm.....maybe I can work four day work weeks the rest of the year!

Can Abu Dhabi be a pedestrian city?
 
City retains essence of centuries-old culture
 
Women-only bus service for Dubai
 
Expats gloomy on property value
 
Identity concerns over marriage rate
 
Jewellery sale evokes romance of Umm Kulthum
 
When pavement turns to jungle
 
Abu Dhabi motorists face paid parking 

Our 200th blog post

Welcome to our 200th blog entry!  I don't know if many people have been following our blog since we started it almost five years ago but we've had some exciting times.  Darcy posted our first story way back on June 4, 2004 by announcing our engagement.   I wonder what the next 200 blog posts will be like.  Hopefully this global repression won't be around but the deepening crisis is worrisome.  It's affecting the UAE but we are fortunate to still have our jobs.  Below is the usual assortment of newspaper articles that highlight some of the things that have happened here recently.

Kurri on lookout for fresh talent  One of my all time favorite Oilers players!

The treasure trove of the QE2 I've seen the Queen Mary and it would be neat to see the QE2 if the refurbishment is done correctly.

 Frustrated in Abu Dhabi, renters flock into Dubai - the situation was reversed only three years ago!

Sandstorm engulfs Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - the storm had weakened considerably when it hi Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

How the super-wealthy stay afloat in stormy weather

Red tide threatens sport-diving clubs

Police chief says YouTube spreads hatred, but regulator will not block it

Robots no hindrance to camel racing’s appeal

Death toll confirms the risk of walking

1,000 new hotel rooms for Abu Dhabi

'Second downtown' closer to reality

Capital begins to take shape

Marching forth to a long weekend

It's only been a little over two months since our last long winter break but it has seemed longer than that. The birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed is on Monday but Sunday has been declared a holiday for most people to make it a long weekend. We're going to go back to the public beach on the Corniche. It's been about four months since we were last there! I guess the weather was too cool. I'm also taking this Monday off as I've stockpiled a lot of time or leave as they call it here.

The excitement over the iPhone finally being sold in the UAE with a warranty (but still unlocked) quickly abated. Etisalat's outrageous pricing schemes and bungled customer service will likely result in few being sold. Many people will probably continue to buy unlocked phone and simply use pre-paid cards. Poor Darcy's hopes were dashed as she really wanted an iPhone. Maybe she'll like thethird generation iPod Touch. You can currently download apps to make calls in WiFi zones on the device.

One of the podcasts that I listen to on my iPod Touch is about business. The story about What a difference a year makes is from this podcast. Anyway a new term that I heard is called Repression. It's supposed to mean an economic downturn that's worse than a recession but not as bad as The Great Depression. I think that it's a pretty accurate description of what's happened world wide in the last six months. Maybe the media and politicians should start using this word rather than the innocuous phrase economic downturn. Perhaps my reading of the book The Long Emergency has impacted my take on current world events too.

The last bit of news is that we've booked our flights to Canada for our four week summer vacation. The overseas airfare prices have dropped from last year by a few thousand dirhams. Unfortunately flying domestic in Canada remains unchanged from last year. We've booked three nights to stay at our favorite place in Jasper along with three nights on the Pacific Ocean side of Vancouver Island.

Capital’s parks draw the crowd

Dust off the United Arab Emirates

Etisalat puts conditions on iPhone sales

US clears AMD and Mubadala capital deal

New car speeds to lofty launch

Prophet’s birthday a time for reflection

Relics prove snakes had ancient charms

The difference a year makes This story comes from an NPR affiliate but it's still interesting about the change in Dubai

Emaar may cancel projects the repression deepens here....

Capital’s roadside recycling bins will light up the city

Why Arabic must be brought to book

Shakespeare studied in Arabic

Translating Mozart’s musical moods

It’s colourful, tasty, tempting – and mostly unhealthy - the UAE, like North America, has a mall culture that's packed with fast food joints.

Houbara conservation plan takes flight

Developers back affordable housing - this is long overdue!

Agency blames two sectors for majority of air pollution

City motorists drive towards access fee

Dubai on the rise

Shammal winds have blown away February

Wow!  Where did February go?  I haven't blogged in a while but the monotony of work and seemingly short weekends have continued to speed up the passage of time.  I've spent this weekend recuperating from a bad cold.  I seem to get them two or three times a year due to the awful climate here.  Dust storms, humidity and breathing in cold and moldy smelling air at work play can play havoc on your alergies, sinues and lungs.

Work continues to be busy for the both because our libraries are terribly short staffed.  Budget cuts and recruitment issues are the culprits.  The global recession (it seems to be becoming more like a depression) has affected the UAE's (especially Dubai) construction and real estate sectors.  The media's initial stories of it being a healthy market correction are long gone.   Abu Dhabi seems to be bailing our their neighbors since we have cash in hand.  Dubai has been paying for most of their projects with loans.   

Darcy and I have made some travel plans.  We'll be staying at the Abu Dhabi Resort, Sir Bani Yas Island for three nights to celebrate Darcy's birthday.  They have a year long special (stay 3 nights and pay for 2).  Information about the nature reserve island, with a short video is at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/11/04/10256726.html. 

We also bought  our airline tickets for our summer vacation. We'll be in Canada from July 2 to August 5.  Prices for flying overseas have dropped from last year but domestic flying in Canada is the same inflated fare as last year.

Sandstorms sweep across region - February was a windy month!

Commuting in style on luxury bus - we want to try this but we've yet to find a schedule online

Luxury bus service a hit with commuters on opening day

Island is haven for rare birds

Survey puts unemployment at 4%

Hotels in Abu Dhabi cutting room rates

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down

F1 park stalls for lack of financing - the headlines last fall said that this short downturn was a healthy market correction!

Taxi fares leap 30% in Abu Dhabi

Oil tanker burns after ship collision - this happened near Dubai

Call for greater online cultural dialogue

George Mason confirms closing - this was a surprise in light of more universities opening up campuses here.

Al Ain Aerobatics Show

This weekend had a change of pace as I went with a friend to Al Ain's annual Aerobatic Show.  It was pretty fun and well organized most likely because it was not run by local outfits.  It was really hot out and I got a bit of a sunburned neck despite wearing my sunhat.  I should have brought sunscreen.   Darcy stayed home and baked yummy biscotti.  It's warmed up the last few days which hopefully doesn't mean that winter is ending.  However, that means we could head back to the beach - it's been a couple of month.

We're starting the long process of getting our Canadian passports.  The government doesn't use the term renewing hence the laborious endeavor.  They also need to extend the length of the passport from five to ten years like most other Western nations have! 



Abu Dhabi sets 7% renewable energy target - only 7%?!

Dubai: Chill Out, The Versace Beach Is Refrigerated

UAE leads world in Rolls-Royce sales

Tree planted for every visitor to island

When the desert was green and fertile

Victory is a family tradition

Emiratis’ festival brings the past to life

Enjoying the winter weather

The winter break continues at my work but I've made some progress with getting projects done.  The weather has been beautiful (for me at least).  Day time highs are in the low to mid 20s celcius or about 75 farenheit.  Nights are a bit chilly and I had to wear a windbreaker once.  But it's so nice to be able to open the windows and not! 

I just finished reading a book and have moved onto another one.  I've read more books in the last few months than I have in many years.  I also enjoy reading New York Times articles on my iPod and listening to podcasts on Stitcher Radio.  The jackhammering continues on the empty lot one building down from us.  We're not looking forward to when construction finally gets underway there.  But maybe the global recession will suspend it. 

There’s no business for snow businesses - this is sad but not surprising.  Also indicative of the typical confusion of how things work here.  We frequent the Caribou Coffee shop that is beside the abandoned Snow Dome.  I wonder how long Caribou Coffee will stay in business.  We like it much better than Starbucks since it's quiter and has more comfortable seating plus free wi-fi!

Men Sing of Their Faded Way of Life

Abu Dhabi taxi drivers wonder what to do next - the end of an era for Abu Dhabi

100 new buses arrive in capital - this is long overdue!
 
Architect saves artistic flair for his building designs

Business tourism helps capital to avoid trade downturn

Home sellers offering major discounts - global recession continues to affect the UAE - intitial stories of it being a healthy correction are long gone!

Spectre of foreclosure hits home

Capital plans seven new parks

Visitors say UAE women are ahead of those in US - I respectfully disagree...

Bridge at sunset image wins photo competition - i cross this bridge every day to get to work. it opened in 1968.  There is one other bridge that connects to Abu Dhabi Island.  Just to the right of that photo is the new Zayed Bridge that's been under construction for at least 5 years.

UAE and US sign nuclear deal - hmmm......

enjoying the holidays

Christmas Day got off to a slow start as Darcy's workplace did not allow their staff to go home until 2 pm.  So I spent the day at home waiting for her to come home.  But I had fun tracking Santa Claus's night journey online.  We had a delicious turkey dinner that did not take nearly as long to cook as last year.  Darcy and a friend baked cookies earlier in the week and we've pacing ourselves with eating them.

We got more books and dvds for Christmas which was great. I'm making progress with reading books that I've received as gifts over the last few years.  But we've yet to make much of a dent with our watching tv shows and movies from our huge dvd collection.  We've had a few foggy mornings over the Christmas break too which was a bit unusual for this time of year. 

Today (Dec. 28 is Islamic New Year) is our last day off before heading back to work.  It will be a short three day work week as Thursday is New Year's Day.  After that it will be sparse for holidays until the summer.  It will feel like working in North America!  I guess we have become accustomed to working few days with living here.  But we have carried over a lot of vacation days from last year so we we'd like to take a few short trips in the spring.  Below is an assortment of interesting newspaper articles.



Firms race to restore service

Internet cut a ‘rare’ occurrence

Abu Dhabi airport gets busier

Traffic chaos as major road closed - luckily we live on the other side of the Abu Dhabi!

Wealth fund may be Madoff victim - we live just to the left side of that big blue building in the photo

 ‘Living on a boat makes sense’

The good life at risk - this is disturbing

 UAE Folk Tales/ Narratives/ Legends

No sleigh bells, plenty of cheer

Jebel Ali's secret cavern is lost forever

Plans afoot to make Abu Dhabi souq permanent

Enjoying our long break..

It's been almost a week since our 12 day vacation began.  This year the UAE's National Day and Muslim EID break come almost right after each other.  So many people get an extra long break this year.  The fireworks were okay but they did not come close to rivaling Dubai's.  The media/gov't (they essentially are one and the same here) reported that Abu Dhabi's fireworks would be the biggest ever. 

We've put up our Christmas tree and Darcy baked a wonderful gingerbread cake last night.  We'll try and do some Christmas baking this week.  The weather has FINALLY cooled off enough where we can open our windows for hours.  There have been thunder and lightning storms too - how exciting!  It's nice to see clouds and rain for a change.  The northern emirates even had hail.

Last Monday Darcy and I registered for our national ID cards at a place reserved for ADNOC employees.  My workplace is run by ADNOC so I was lucky enough to use their facility rather than going to the few horribly disorganized EIDA (Emirates ID Authority) offices.  Hopefully we'll get our cards in the mail before the end of December and put that messy chapter behind us.

I've been busily pimping out (using Darcy's words) my iPod Touch.  There must be hundreds or even thousands of applications that you can easily download.  I've only paid for one app while the rest are free.  Some are Facebook, New York Times, Maclean's and Instant Messaging that syncs with Yahoo and Google.  I've also been trying some free games like Chess, Connect Four along with some arcade style ones.  Some really neat games are Nintendo like WII ones like iBowl and iGolf.  The graphics are improving and the technology, in my view, puts traditional hand held games like the PSP to shame. 

Abu Dhabi unveils interactive website for residents and businesses - ummm.....so what's the website's URL?  Current gov't website doesn't have the content that is mentioned in this article.

Shaikh Khalifa's full speech on National Day

Thousands yet to register for ID cards

Roads to receive new attention

Low paid applicants denied driving licences

Telephone is a ringer for royalty - my first observation was that it looked like mold growing on the phone

Global crisis forces Dubailand review - the global recession has hit the UAE!

Tourism growth to slow to 5%

Last pearl of history in danger

Home for the holidays

It's the weekend again (last one for November?!) after another terribly busy week of conference going and putting out fires at work.  We had U.S. Thanksgiving Day dinner with friends followed by playing Wii's Guitar Hero game.  Lots of fun!  Unfortunately my hockey team continues to lose.  Maybe it was from listening to the game online at work for the first time this season. 

Next week will be a short 1-2 day work week.  We have our ID card appt on Dec. 1 but it could take less than 30 minutes or hours.  It depends on the competence of the ID card people.  We gave up with the Post Office mailing back our barcodes since it's been over a month now.  I've not posted any stories this time about the continued ID card snafu.  It's redundant to point out the incredible mess that the media has reported and not reported.  There are some interesting blogs about people's experiences with trying to register.  All you can do is shake your head at the whole affair. 

Then we will relax at home for the UAE's National Day and EID breaks.  We're looking forward to catching up on reading, watching dvds and trying to play our dumbeks.  A lot of street and building holiday decorations were turned on today so it looks quite festive outside.  Hopefully it will dry out a little bit more so that we can leave our apartment windows open for more than just a few hours... 



Beware, snakes on our beaches

Atlantis opening sparks party fever


Abu Dhabi University aims high

Alcohol stores get stricter on licences

"I love the Emirates" campaign promotes identity and culture

Hummer driver gets ten years for murder

Hotels told pollution is excessive


QE2 arrives in Dubai to start new life

Property firms cut 600 jobs


Khalifa identifies UAE's key concerns

no end to UAE ID card registration mess

The weather continues to cool off and dry out so night walking is more enjoyable now.  We have a hunch that either our apartment or the entire building's electrical outlets are defective.  We've had to buy a second portable vacuum cleaner, a third coffee grinder, and a second floor lamp because of electrical problems.  The motors and lamp simply shorted out and now our upright vacuum's motor was found to be defective.  Hopefully ADNOC's housing people can diagnose the problem.  Luckily our computers and stereo systems haven't been affected.  They've been plugged in using power bars although we've had those short out too. 

As usual the national ID card registration fiasco has continued with the media reporting more critical stories of the bureaucratic mess.  We're 99.99% sure that the first time that the new registration deadline for skilled expat workers was reported to the public in Arabic and English was in mid October.  The government says that it was July.  If the authorities follow through with their plans to suspend government services to over 300,000 people that logistically can't register before Dec. 31 then the UAE will be (to put it mildly) in big trouble.  See the first article below. 

So it's now been three weeks since we submitted our forms for phase one of the registration process.  We were assured that this no hassle process was to take less than one week - hence the 40 AED fee.  The good news is that the holidays are fast approaching so some of our time off from work, can be spent looking for a Plan B and Plan C. 

Otherwise life is okay - routine but never boring.  Work is hectic as usual due to juggling multiple projects because of continued staff shortages.  I will attend a two day conference in Sharjah next weekend.  We both hope to catch up more on reading our backlog of books and watching dvds during the long December break.  It's been fun downloading free iPod Touch apps including one for IMing.  We also downloaded Google's new VOIP chat and it surprisingly works for Macs (unlike Yahoo Messenger). 

At current rate, 350,000 will miss deadline

Telling it like it is.....or not

Over 75,000 ID forms distributed by UAE post offices in four weeks

Abu Dhabi to counter downturn with Western tourist

UAE takes stock of major projects

Ballooning US debt threat to Gulf economies

Price fall in prestigious developments

Surf the internet for free while you smell the roses in Abu Dhabi 


Parking free for all to be eliminated

Canadian supplier to import high end halal bison and elk

Dubai car park baffles drivers

the never ending national ID card registration saga....

Another month flew by and we're now into November.  The month got off to a good start with the election of Barack Obama.  I'm cautiously optimistic that he can make headway with issues in the Middle East.  Unfortunately the UAE's major snafu with national ID cards has worsened.  We naively thought that using the Post Office would save us time.  It did not.  Two weeks later and the bureaucrats don't know where are forms are. Hurry up and wait we've been told.  The media has become very critical of the registration process as it affects about half a million skilled expats here.  The Dec. 31 deadline looms....I've posted some stories about it below.  So we decided to cancel plans to travel to Morocco as it's too risky to be gone for half the month of December. 

My work has rearranged its bus routes so despite the pick up time being the same (6:45 am) my stop is now the first.  The good thing is I can get my own seat.  The bad news is that the ride to work takes almost one hour.  We cover about half of the city now with picking up people.  But I sleep most of the way to work.   I prefer working later in the day so I'm able to take the 8:15 am bus three times a week.  It doesn't take as long to get to work which is good.  So between working later and working out twice a week I get home every day at 6:15 pm.

We're going back to our usual spot on the Corniche public beach on Saturday as it's been three weeks since we were last there.  We'd both like to take Christmas Day off and spend the day there.  We can bring our new portable iPod speaker and play Christmas music on the beach!  The weather has cooled off and I've walked a few times outside at night.  Unfortunately it's still too humid to open the windows.


One voice to cut through confusion

Bank access could depend on ID card
 
Identity card chaos makes deadline an impossibility
 
ID card registration strain
 
UAE tops league of wasteful countries
 
Measuring the family footprint
 
Mega-mall opens with high hopes
 
Taxi call centre opens in Abu Dhabi

Ban on old cars to improve air quality significantly

Increasing number converting to Islam

Date changed for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The frustration of being a bidoon

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Yesterday we bought a Bose portable speaker system for my iPod Touch.  The Bose store also gave us a free carrying bag.  The sound is great and it's so neat now to have all our music on our iPod (backed up of course!) and hear it on such a small system! It was not cheap but it's definitely worth the price.

Today we went with friends to visit the annual ADIHEX show.  There was still the heritage area but it seemed to be overshadowed by the massive gun exhibits.  It wasn't like that last year.  It was weird to be holding a Kalashnikov rifle.  Can you buy those at gun shows in the U.S.?  I don't see the connection that gun has with hunting - unless it's people and not animals! One neat area was the pimped out dune buggies.

Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada so we're celebrating it on Sunday at a hotel.  The Abu Dhabi Canadian Business Council is helping organize it.  Below is the usual assortment of stories from our neck of the woods. 


Abu Dhabi to host final GP of 2009

Khoury launches NYU cultural season - I attended this and although I hadn't ready the book I found the lecture quite interesting.  Turnout was about 50...


Thanks but no tanks, Sammy says - this is unbelievable....


Dubai's new dream hotel has a nightmare opening week - serves them right - see above story

Last Arabian leopard may have left the UAE - how sad - makes me think of the BBC produced Planet Earth
series and the fragility of nature and animals. See the story below too

Conservation is an endangered activity 

Cartoon star is face of Dubai - what?!  why not Freej or Ajaaj?

Genetic disorders afflict Arab world - this is still a somewhat taboo topic here.

Masdar to harness electricity from exercise

Dubai's new terminal 3 unveiled - the world's largest airport terminal building - yet another milestone for Dubai!

Palm Deira blueprint unveiled

Cityscape: Nakheel aims for the sky -  buildings over 2 km high?!!!!

Adventurers head for Abu Dhabi

Authority to tackle culture differences

Doctor calls for open play spaces - the last sentence is so true....

Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce urges rent caps due to shortages

Our First Trip to Abu Dhabi's New Beach

Yesterday the weather was finally clement enough for us to venture out to Abu Dhabi's new public beach on the Corniche.  The opening of this beach has not been without controversy.  First it was free and open to all.  Then it was segregated into "bachelor" and "family" sections to prevent harassment.  Finally an entrance fee was instituted...with men being charged double if they were not in a group that contained women (a "family").  I'm sure some of these things can be attributed to the Michelle Palmer sex-on-the-beach-in-Dubai scandal, but authorities have also been quite open about the fact that a major motivation is to keep the labourers off the beach by making it unaffordable for them.  So now they are relegated to walking the corniche and staring over the wall until a guard comes and shoos them off. The UAE always seems to come up with some way of making even the simplest pleasures complicated.

All these reservations aside, the new beach is very nice and we had an excellent day. We packed a picnic lunch and were there from mid-afternoon to early evening. The weather is still quite hot, and the water is quite warm, but there was enough of a breeze to make you comfortable with the temperatures if you stayed in the shade. The Heritage Village is right across the water, so the calls to prayer from the mosque and the music from the Eid celebrations floated across the water off and on the whole time.

The beach is open until 10 at night, and it's beautiful after sunset. The paths are all lit up with ground lights, and the beach umbrellas and shaded benches (permanent structures on the sand) have built-in lights so you have enough light to have a picnic by. I would love to pack up and come for dinner one night. It's less than 10 minutes to drive there for us...and it's also right across the corniche from my work, so we are well situated for frequent visits!

Here are some cell phone pics of our day:

I did some henna for Eid a couple days prior...so I took a picture of it with the beach as background.

Me on the sand:

A shot of both of us.

almost the end of a long 4 day work week

I don't know why this shortened 4 day work week has seemed so long.  Perhaps it's because of our relaxing trip to the Bab Al Shams Hotel last weekend.  It felt like being in an old Arabian fort.  Darcy posted lots of photos on Facebook.  There were hardly any *hardships* desptite it being Ramadan.  We could still drink (non alcoholic) poolside.  The Al Hadheerah restaurant was very nice but the humidity worsened as the night progressed.  Maybe we'll go back next year when the new section of the hotel opens.

Work is crazy as usual - we desperately need a Systems Librarian.  All my other projects seem to be on hold as technical problems occur.  Darcy is also being pulled in many directions so it seems like we just spin our wheels half the time doing a thousand things and not seeming to be making much progress anywhere.  But that must be the case with a lot of people nowadays.  Severly understaffed and overworked. 

But luckily we have next week off for Eid al Fitr to relax.  We've got to back up our Mac laptop onto our two portable hard drives.  We have less than 1GB of space on the Mac.  We've also got a ton of books to read and dvds to watch.  I also have a ton of websites saved in delicious that I want to look at.  Darcy found a great one at http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=1622.  Yes - the stories were terrible but these old comics are fun to read.  I've got many of these issues packed in mylar bags in storage.  The weather is also starting to dry out a bit so maybe we can have a picnic on the Corniche Park too.

Below is the usual collection of stories, with some outrageous ones, from the past week….

Visitor surveys to help tourism plans

Emirates Palace launches a lavish Million Dollar Package - only in the UAE!  See the last article about the nation's newest hotel to open.  Will this bling competition never end?

Sweet sustenance - looks delicious!

Ramadan enters its holiest phase

Welcome to a costly tax-free life

University housing angers new staff

Khalidiya fire prompts airlift rescue

Abu Dhabi fire rescue

Air Wing patrols for rooftop shanties - 60,000 buildings in Abu Dhabi!

Lack of food and nicotine 'leads to accidents' - that's a no brainer.

Are plans for a 1.5 mile tower in Dubai a valid development or a building project too far?

UAE's first satellite 'ready to launch'

Princess Haya calls on people to join green project

Ramadan in Saudi Arabia is a different experience

Motorway to offer quicker path to Dubai - hmmm...140 km/hr speed limit?!

Academic City plans campus facilities - 40 campuses yet only 40,000 students?

Atlantis rises to the occasion - the Leap of Faith water slide has an 85 foot vertical drop with a transparent tunnel that passes through a shark filled aquarium?!  Only in Dubai.....

Trying to relax during Ramadan

Luckily I've been able to work a couple of normal 6 hour work days during Ramadan.  Unfortunately I also caught a cold.  There are a lot of sick people as fasting all day and a lack of sleep for a month can wreak havoc on your body.  Not much exciting news has happened here besides finding out where I can get our vacuum cleaner serviced.  It's always an adventure to find a store here because there are no street addresses. We did not feel the earthquake or its aftershocks.  That's a good thing. 

We have gone out three times for Iftar now.  Twice to a friend's place and last night at the Emirates Palace.  All were very enjoyable and we had way too much to eat!  I just learned that the new iPod Touch has been unveiled.   Darcy says she wants one for Christmas.  We're looking forward to our two night weekend getaway next week at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort.  They have a Ramadan special until the end of September.  We also need to start planning our proposed trip to Morocco in December. 

Below is the usual list of selected stories that we've found on our RSS feeds....

Who speaks for Islam: Part II

The changing face of tradition

Vimto's appeal is undiluted - I love this drink!

Text messaging spikes 84% first day of Ramadan

Malls cater with late hours for Ramadan

University warns of overexpansion

Festival draws region’s talent to capital

Building a city from the sands

Author laments architect’s departure

Survey recognises Abu Dhabi’s environmental credentials

Buildings cleared as tremors hit UAE - fortunately we didn't feel anything but we have noticed a few hairline cracks in our walls....

Increased seismic activity in Iran could affect fault zones in UAE

Selling the Abu Dhabi dream

Emiratisation and the curse of entitlement

Abu Dhabi TV takes tribes series off air

Bidoon offered chance of citizenship
 
Registration plan for stateless

Khalifa urges promotion of moderate Islam
 
Crisis looms in Sharjah
 
Adnec green move fruitful
 
Ringtone menace upsets worshippers in UAE mosques
 
Abu Dhabi residents getting an earful from construction
 

FYI ...

It NEVER Goes above 50 degrees in Abu Dhabi