my friends are so cool

Tiffany Treni and Vincent Schifano are the newest and hottest couple to hit myspace. Tiffany's buttery, melodic voice is reminiscent of Etta James and her on-stage presence is nothing short of magic. She is one of the lucky 6 to have spent a full year rocking the white porch swing at 55 North Franklin in the lovely town of Delaware, Ohio. Best friends since college, we've pushed her to audition for American Idol or simply park herself in the center of Times Square and start singing. Yes, she's that good. For the last few years, she and Vincent have put their heads together and cooked up some great acoustic tunes - they remind me a bit of The Magic Numbers and their song "Pieces of You" you could even say sounds a bit like Radiohead. My personal favorite is "55 North Franklin" since it's about the year we spent together, giving a little shout out to each lovely lady that lived in the house. I'm really excited that they've instituted a myspace account since it will at least give them an opportunity to post new work and network throughout the music community. Have a listen and tell your friends.

the latest

Winter in Dubai

It's been a while since I last posted an album. Due to the overwhelmingly fast pace of work and play over the last month, I've been reluctant to post about some of the cool things that have happened since the beginning of the year. I'll give it a go: Pitched and won a proposal with the Sheikh of Sharjah, which subsequently led me to Arabic coffee for a couple hours in Emirates Towers with Neil Bush (George W's brother). No worries, my veins still run blue with democratic blood, but I would be lying if I told you I didn't enjoy meeting him (note: this is presumably because no mention was made of politics or corrupt business enterprises in the Middle East); attended the Dubai Desert Classic and bumped elbows with pro-golfers including Tiger and Sergio Garcia, as well as Prince Khaled of Saudi Arabia; sipped on 18 yr single malt scotch from the top of the Burj Al Arab hotel – the place is pretty tacky inside, but worth visiting at least once; jumped 10,000 ft from a plane in Umm al Quwain; spent a couple afternoons quad biking in the Arabian desert near the Hatta mountains; befriended an amazing group of Lebanese friends from Beirut; discovered a great place or two to go running along the beach; found the most amazing shawarma stand in the world; bought a plane ticket to Pakistan for the end of this month (I was invited to attend Faisal's sister's engagement); joined an ultimate frisbee team on Tuesday nights; started planning a business trip to Egypt in March; discovered a great spot to watch live rugby outside with a pint of Stella; discovered a faster way to get to the beach; got through and on air with my favorite morning talk radio show; visited Abu Dhabi; finally started to feel like I can call this place home.

one hell of a vanity plate

In the UAE, there are many things that define a person's place in society. Materialism is an addiction in that sense and it stretches from the clothes on your back to the plate on the back of your car. Driving a Toyota Yaris, for example, gets me no respect on the road and I often find myself pedal to the metal, fighting for the right of way that I clearly deserve. People cut me off, arbitrarily honk for no good reason, and force me into the right lane because they believe my humble vehicle merits no place on the left, which I sincerely disagree with but accept nonetheless.

You can only imagine how good life can get behind a Lamborghini or Range Rover. That's not the half of it though. Your license plate number gets you even further, but there's a price to pay. Sheikh Mo drives license plate #1 because he is the most highly respected figure in Dubai. When you see anyone with a license plate relatively close to his (ex: 2, 25, 100, 200), you move over. These guys own the road and they aren't messing around when it comes to the number on the back of their car.These plates come at a hefty price though. Two days ago, Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri bought the license plate No. 1 in Abu Dhabi for $14 million. Check out the whole story here. Just a disclaimer, this man and I are the exact same age. I can't begin to think about what I would rather spend $14 million on...

foggy arab town

The weather here today reminds me of those first warm days after the damp chill that used to frost the OWU campus. Those were always my favorite since every woman on campus knowingly shaved her legs the night before in preparation for a summery ensemble. Every man stocked up on red cups and natty light in preparation for outdoor Beirut tournaments and perhaps a round or two of Frolf. Students never took those moments for granted since they knew the heat would roll in eventually, melting away the rest of the semester before summer break. Here no one seems to think twice about the day. People never talk about the weather or really look up at the sky in awe like we do back home. I will say that the gray and white skies of Rochester are not something to be missed after living in the desert, but they do make for excellent nap days.

This morning I woke up to a thick cloud at my doorstep that stretched all the way to Garhoud. I don’t know how there weren’t any accidents on the way in to work. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to squint through a thick blanket of mist however, and I felt like learning how and why we get fog in the Arabian desert so that mornings like these are not so creepy.

Here’s what I could find. And if you know anything about fog, please, humor me.

Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky. The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a meter deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fogs occur at night, and usually do not last long after sunrise. Radiation fog is common in autumn, and early winter. Examples of this phenomenon include the Tule fog. For clarity, Radiation fog is not radioactive. http://www.nwas.org/ej/pdf/2007-FTT1.pdf

Here’s another story I found about fog in the desert, but it’s more applicable to the Omani coast than the northern Arabian peninsula.

aporos

Every once in a while it's nice to look to friends for inspiration. I occasionally check up on my friend Sean for savory brain leakage. His tongue in cheek posts keep me smiling every time I stop by, and he's far more interesting to look to for news and occasional music updates than my usual dailies. Check him out here.

little dragon

Great new group I found on KCRW.

Here's another tune that's a little more mellow, but still really well done.

While I'm on the topic of awesome music, I just discovered that Sho Chos has 80s night on Sundays! I went after work with a couple friends and we found ourselves chanting tunes like Living on a Prayer and Africa alongside a bunch of Lebanese and English ex-pats. Quite the scene. The place is a bit cramped but overlooks the water. With the weather warming up at night, it makes for a fun spot to shake and groove when the sun goes down.

cold front

the coldest night of the year was presumably yesterday evening. here's what february has shaped up to look like. and yes, those are all beautiful, golden, cloudless suns below.

it's not all shisha and palm trees...

This is the reason I am scared to death of even drinking cough syrup before getting behind the wheel here!

"UK Tourist Arrested in Dubai Airport for Melatonin, Imprisoned Without Charges"

disconnected

"Parts of the Gulf Arab region were plunged into a virtual internet blackout on Wednesday when two undersea cables were cut near Alexandria, on Egypt’s north coast."

The whole "dog at my homework" tactic seemed to come into play last week after 2 major cables were cut in the Mediterranean Sea that led to internet loss across the Middle East, particularly throughout Dubai. At first I assumed it was our ghetto office router that always seems to run slowly, but it soon came to my attention that my clients and friends were having trouble getting things through via the www. Apparently there are now THREE cables down and people are starting to develop all sorts of conspiracy theories considering that Israel and Iraq seem to be doing fine but Iran is completely without internet access:

"The only 2 countries that were unaffected were Israel and Iraq, the only two close Anglo-American allies in the region, both remaining completely unaffected by the cable cuts, leading to theories for the causes of the cuts, which have so far been given as having been caused by ships dragging their anchors across the cables. The fact that two rare incidents have happened in the same week, and both with cables owned by the same company, on either sides of Israel and the importance of the Internet to telecommunications and business, lends suspicion to the events"

If "network warfare" becomes an actual medium of attack between sovereign states, political theory is going to take a whole new shape! We'll need to get George Lucas to start developing some foreign policy tactics.

awesome.

Click here for the UAE national anthem.

The video actually does a really great job of depicting the country's heritage and natural beauty. What's even cooler is that I live no more than a 2 hour drive from just about everything showcased.

terrorism has no religion

I was taken aback by a political ad that came on yesterday and had to share it. This commercial is frequently shown across Arabic channels. I can't blame people for being concerned with my decision to move across the globe, but I was definitely frustrated with the general misconceptions about the region. Dubai, of all places, is the most politically sterile place I've ever been. There is definitely national and cultural pride, but as far as having a political divide goes, there is none. If anything, there is unity amongst the masses to sustain a peaceful and accepting culture in order to maintain the ideals set forth by Islam.

My biggest frustration is with the American media and its reluctance to convey an accurate portrait of Middle Eastern culture and values. Considering how far we've come as a country with embracing culture, race, and even homosexuality, I find it frustrating that the media has propagated the idea that Arabs=terror. I have only had positive encounters with everyone since I got here - the rich, poor, Egyptian, Syrian, Kuwaiti, Iraqi, Omani, Lebanese, etc. Islam is a religion that shares peaceful and altruistic values with other widely accepted religions like Christianity and Buddhism. My Muslim friends here are more morally disciplined than anyone I know in the United States, as they refrain from abusing alcohol, drugs, or harvesting negative thoughts and feelings about others. I have already learned so much from them.
The misconceptions about this culture and region are real and unavoidable, which is why there are now commercials (on this side of the globe) and web sites designed by local non-profits whose mission is to help people understand and stick to their Muslim values and join together against terror. It's such a shame that Americans never get to see this side of things.

'Terrorism has no religion' is the web site that aired the political ad I included above. It's purpose is heroic and something to be admired. Hopefully it starts getting some attention in the Western world.

Their Campaign:

All religions, human codes and ethics, and even our most primitive intuition regard terrorism to be villainous. True Islam also rejects and condemns terrorism.

‘Terrorism has no religion’ is our on-going communication campaign against extremist ideology that breeds terrorism, and we use Quranic Verses in their true Islamic meaning; free of the distortion committed by the misguided malicious terrorists.

Click here to learn more.

and then there were four

Last night was a bit emotional for a few reasons. Apart from learning that the Giants and Pats will be facing off in the Super Bowl, we took a late night drive by the airport to bid farewell to Will. The last few months have been quite emotional, between surviving the holidays on our own to simple cultural indigestion. The office, in particular, is a tough place and it’s not for everyone. Sparing everyone the painful details of the local/privately owned sector and its made-up bureaucratic nonsense, and it is nonsense, I’ll simply say that Will was inspired to embark on an “epic” journey to Mongolia where he will be riding across the country on his own for an indefinite period of time on a horse.

I know, I thought he was kidding too the first time I heard the news. But he reassured me that he was serious and was already studying Cyrillic, which is the primary alphabet used throughout Russia and thereabouts. Mongolian horses are apparently much smaller, resembling ponies versus large horses, so he will probably be traveling on his own horse and bringing a pack horse with him as well. The staple alcoholic beverage over there is fermented horses milk, or kumis, and the temperature this time of year ranges between -35F and -2F. Maybe he'll cross paths with this guy, who's apparently been golfing across Mongolia on his own as well. I think Will's going to hold off before starting his trip because of the weather, but hopefully he continues to post on his blog with great pictures and tall tales of his encounters with snow creatures, mongoloids, killer vodka, and communists.

censored

Today I tried viewing a friend's flickr page and saw this:This happens to me all the time for attempting to view seemingly harmless pages. I’m not sure how the government prompts such sensors to appear, but it’s pretty frequent. Or perhaps my taste in web surfing is completely against the UAE code of conduct. Either way, since I live and work in parts of Dubai where local laws apply, so go the censorship laws. Apparently working and living in free zones allows you to surf unblocked sites, as the laws are slightly different and not as strict in order for non-traditional businesses to operate (MTV, CNN, Duty Free in the airport free zone). Next time you log onto skype.com think of me since we can’t even access that here!

999

999 is apparently the UAE equivalent to 911 in the US. Motorists made more than 12,000 calls to Dubai police yesterday. To say the least, I was really confused at how a little rain over the last 3 days could shut down an entire city - a financial hub of the Middle East, for that matter. I realized driving home from work, a trip that should take me 30 minutes but lasted 1 1/2 hours last night, that there are no gutters or drains in the UAE. It simply never rains here, so any water that accumulates creates large ponds on the road. This morning, Al Khawaneej road, which is 4 lanes across, was reduced to 1 lane with flood waters. Schools were closed, people were told to go home early, and cars were being pushed by men waist deep in storm water on the road. We complain about there not being enough salt trucks and plows on the road back home. Here, they employ men to drive huge tankers around with suction hoses attached that suck up storm pools off the road. Unfortunately, there were not enough of them to really dry things up in time for rush hour. The good news: the forecast will be looking a little brighter for the weekend with dry weather in the high 60s, just in time for the Dubai Marathon, which I will most definitely be attending this Friday. Things should get exciting since Sheikh Mo has promised the winner of the marathon a $1 million award. The same prize will go to the winner of the 10k. Setting a world record for either event will merit an additional $1 million. I may need to invest in some good running shoes for next year...

28 days later

Well, no, zombies did not take over Dubai today, but it looked like the intro to one of my favorite movies after seeing shots of the city today share an eerie resemblance to the barren streets of London in Danny Boyle's little slice of horror. Here are some more pictures of one of the most traffic-stricken cities in the world. I was stuck on Sheikh Zayed road for over an hour getting home from Abu Dhabi last week - amazing what a little American politics can do to a place.

This is the way I take to get home from the beach (Business Bay Crossing)

Sheikh Zayed Road. One of the most traffic-congested streets in Dubai
Another shot of Sheikh Zayed Road
My downtown route. I'm usually delayed 30 minutes here when visiting clients.
A view of the road coming home from the Burj Al Arab.

at least he's good for something

Above: Pres Bush giving some love to Sheikh Mo at the Royal Stables

George W may be arriving a bit late to the Middle East, but at least he timed his trip around my Monday. This week in particular has been busier than any week in the history of weeks. The rainy weather does not help the crazed locals keep things safe on the roads either. I had to teach Abu Baker how to use the defrost on his windshield yesterday evening and explain that there are multiple settings on his windshield wipers since he never uses either. He was so impressed at how much I knew about cars - little did he know that knowing how to defrost your windshield is a necessarily evil where I come from.

Getting to my point, yesterday I had to do work with one of our clients at the Intersec trade show at the Dubai World Trade Center. All in all, it was a lot of fun, a little exhausting, and quite a pain in the butt trying to get media to show up since traffic was backed up about 3 hours from where we were located. Weather played a factor, but apparently heightened security was the biggest concern with Bush coming into town. Would you believe that the havoc wreaked upon the city yesterday with his arrival led the UAE government to call for a public holiday today! We were all advised at 5 pm on Sunday to stay home on Monday. All roads are closed into downtown Dubai and everyone in the public and private sectors have the day off, which means I get to do work at home in my scrubs and sweatshirt. The weather has been pretty dreary as well, with flood waters and downpours but I think it will accommodate a good nap while I'm home today.
Follow these links for some local news on Bush's visit:
Gulfnews
Reuters
ameinfo

What will they think of next

Seriously. You've got to be kidding me. Click here if you want to understand how much money some people in this crazy world have.

A day in this life

Just about everyone in Dubai drives a Toyota or a Range Rover. It never rains, but the days it does are frighteningly exciting. We wash our cars here to remove sand, not salt or slush. A hand car wash costs $8 for 6 men to thoroughly scrub down your car with professional hoses and suds, complete with interior vacuuming, glossed tires, an Armoraled dashboard, and Windex to every last inch of smudged glass. Gas stations sell strawberry milk, chocolate milk, plain milk, yogurt milk, camel milk, fresh fruit, Indian food, fresh squeezed orange juice, and Funyuns; architecturally, they are more advanced than the futuristic BP convenience stores back home. The standard work week in Dubai is Saturday through Thursday. Friday is the Lord's day. Many websites are blocked here because they go against local values, take Flickr for example. American sodas like Dr. Pepper and Coke Zero go for about a dollar, but you can buy a 1 liter bottle of mango juice for $.50. A full tank of gas here will set you back about $10. There are not enough parking spots to accommodate the number of cars in this city. It’s not uncommon for migrant construction workers to throw themselves in front of oncoming traffic because they are worth more to their families dead than alive. Most of the service industry here is Filipino and Indian. They don’t sell sticks of gum here, just chicklet-sized squares that come in deceiving wrappers that appear to hold sticks of gum. I can’t find dark chocolate anywhere. Yesterday I had Caribou Coffee after work. Starbucks is down the street. So is Panera. Mixed nuts are tastier and crunchier here. Half full moons actually appear half full and not half sideways. Highway signs never explain whether you’re driving east or west, north or south; they simply list city names, which means you've got to know where you're going . There are no 18 wheelers in Dubai. Camels have the right of way (they seriously do). There is only one cell phone provider and that’s it. They don’t recycle here. Just about everyone speaks English. Most phones do not have voice mail or call waiting. Britney Spears makes headlines on the English morning radio. No one here has ever heard of Twizzlers. The warmest article of clothing in my wardrobe here is a suit jacket. The food court at the mall has a selection of Burger King, Indian food, 3 Lebanese places, Sushi and KFC. There are policemen, but they don’t patrol the highways for speeders – they have automated radar poles for that. Last month over 1 million speeding tickets were issued in Dubai. “Sunday drivers” don’t exist here. The radio stations are broadcasted in English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, and Tagalog. People picnic in the desert with their families. I wake up to the harmonious morning call to prayer from the local mosque, which is chanted 5 times a day. My new favorite soft drink is ginger beer. Indians and Pakistanis have an affinity for scotch, which they start drinking at home during their teens. We don’t drink tap water, just bottled. A complete manicure and pedicure cost only $20. Tampons are somewhat taboo here, which means 2 or 3 boxes tucked somewhere amongst the wall holding 10 brands of maxi pads to chose from. We don’t have Walmarts or Targets but we have Hypermarkets, which is like Walmart on steroids. A night at the only 7 star hotel in the world will set you back about $2000 and to simply enter the premises you need a reservation at one of their bars or restaurants that will cost at least $75 per person. You can charter yachts here to party on with your friends for about $2000. An abra ride across the Dubai creek costs $.27. The sunset never ceases to amaze me and it’s free to watch from just about anywhere. It’s illegal to drive around with a closed container of alcohol unless you have a special license. Sidewalks are hard to come by, so are Americans, hoppy beer, warm clothes, dogs, and video rentals. Bus stops are air conditioned. We are a 3 hour flight from 3.1 billion people. The high today during the dead of winter was 68 degrees.

2 months deep

I just realized that with the Eid holiday I took a break from posting as well. So much has happened in the last 3 weeks it's hard to know where to begin! I think the best way to illustrate my adventures will probably be through a picasa album of sorts, but I'll recap on what Christmas and New Years in Dubai shaped up to be.
The 5 days off we got was welcomed with thorough relaxation and some last minute planning that led to a road trip to Oman. I had been wanting to visit Muscat, which proved to be quite the impromptu journey. The drive over was a spectacle between the camel sightings, goats trotting alongside border control, and jagged Hajar mountains. There was no plan in place but to follow signs to Muscat, which we were able to successfully accomplish with some off-roading here and there to check out the east coast with its hidden sea shell beaches and humble mosques that echoed the occasional call to prayer along Oman's barren shores. Muscat was nothing like I expected - the loud, noisy capital city I had anticipated ended up being quite the contrary- very traditional, lots of fishermen, not too many tourists, very little pollution. We went a bit crazy with our cameras since there was so much to capture, but it was well worth the effort after seeing how our pictures turned out.



Coming home was a little odd since it really didn't feel like Christmas. I stopped by the store and picked up a couple stockings to decorate as well as gold and metallic green pipe cleaners and some other festive kitsch. My sister managed to send Bing Crosby via email as well as a little Nat King Cole and Eydie Gorme's 'Navidad means Christmas' <- probably my favorite Christmas album of all time. All in all, the effort I put into the holiday was enough to keep me satisfied. Mom sent over a fruit cake, twizzlers, Godiva, and some garland to keep the house in high spirits. Hotels in Dubai are decked out with perfectly decorated trees, bows, lights, you name it. I was really impressed at how well these Arabs know how to prepare for the holiday season! On Christmas Day we ventured over to a place called Bahri Bar which overlooks the Madinat Jumeirah's creek and the Burj Al Arab. We sipped on Mojitos and watched Santa Claus ride around in an abra while he whipped at plastic reindeer that hung off the front of the boat. The afternoon was accompanied by a Philippine band that belted out the staple holiday tunes, and perhaps some not so staple ones including "Hands Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff".

12/31 was wild as well since the locals really love ringing in the new year. Hotels and restaurants on average were charging at least 400 dirhams (a little over 100 bucks) to get in. I found a pretty good deal at a Cuban night club called Malecon that was located at the Dubai Marine Resort. Aside from the open bar, the crowd, service, and music were amazing, not to mention the colorful fireworks display that exploded at midnight. People were packed up and down Jumeirah beach road trying to get home but we played our cards right and sprinted to a friend's house close by instead. I think around 3:30 am I ran close to a mile in a strapless dress, barefoot down Jumeirah beach road without stopping. Must have been something in those mojitos...

The rest of the week can't really be put into words but it involved a bit of shisha, sunset spotting from all over the Arabian peninsula, skydiving over the desert, snorkeling off the northern coast of Oman, riding alongside dolphins, and a few abra rides and good conversation with Subcontinental ex-pats who gave us tips on cheap, authentic Pakistani food and help on getting around the UAE (when in doubt, go straight). I may need to post pictures in segments since there are quite a bit to show, but for now here's a start.

'tis the season

Today marks the beginning of Eid ul-Adha, which means we have 3 days off this week (5 including the weekend)! Since Christmas is not considered a public holiday here, we'll take whatever time we can get. It's been a little tough getting into the holiday season with the warm weather and lack of loud Christmas decorations everywhere, but we've managed. A few of us came well-equipped with Christmas music, and Sarah's mom managed to send a pin-up Christmas tree and festive decorations for the house. I think I'll be heading to Spinney's, our favorite grocery store, for some more festive trinkets this afternoon.

We recently found ourselves hankering for some hot chocolate and snow, but such a combination in the desert seemed a little far-fetched. In Dubai, however, the possibilities are endless, and we soon found ourselves coasting around the chilly ice rink of the Grand Hyatt. The set-up is pretty cool since you've got a 3 story galleria within the hotel where guests can go shopping and walk around. Each level looks down into a modest rink, complete with skate rentals and disco dance music, just like they used to play at the roller-skating rink back in the day. I was a complete disgrace compared to the skills that Will and Christine brought with them from years of hockey and figure skating between the two of them. My roller-blading skills from before didn't quite translate to the ice as well as I wished they would. Nevertheless, we had a blast and I definitely felt a bit more in the Christmas spirit when we were done.

The time off this week will likely lead to a road trip to Oman and possibly Yemen. There are apparently a few hurdles we have to figure out before entering Yemen with visa requirements, but Muscat is no more than 4 hours away and I've only heard wonderful things about it. This past weekend we went exploring up the coast and stumbled upon a marshy beach near Umm al Quwain. We caught some fresh camel footprints in the sand and the timing ended up being perfect since the sun was setting just before we left. The pictures of the horizon were breathtaking

For the holiday next week we're expecting visits from old friends, home-cooked food, and a big meal at Devon and Andrew's place, complete with a Christmas tree and crackling fire. Actually, the crackling fire is a dvd that plays crackling sounds and Christmas music, but we'll take what we can get.