Here and There Blog

300 was chosen for the first movie night of the year by process of elimination. Choose the movie with the least bad reviews and go from there. 300 has a lot going for it - nearly naked men, good fight scenes, and a warped sci-fi element to it that makes you wonder if it's really Middle Earth Spartans instead of Greek Spartans. And that's about it. This was a war movie without a focus. 300 has the basics of a 2 hour visual. There are beginning credits, a bunch of fighting, and then ending credits. For a movie with so much blood, fighting, and loud noises, I found myself slowly falling asleep. The theater was unusually quiet and it was not because the audience was rapt with attention. Underdog good-looking Spartans have to fight for freedom from the ugly and powerful Persians. That's it. If you go see 300, look for the stylized visual elements of film-making, the costumes, the background, the slow motion blood, the intergration of a graphic novel into live action. It's...

One of the differences between the work week at home and on the road is that TGIF means something at home. Friday night there is usually a Firkin, or a movie, or dinner. Saturday and Sunday if not filled with activities are two days without work. Overseas, it's always work. Even on a day off it's used either as a travel day or an office day. There is not a lot to do in the places where I spend the most time. This is my first true weekend off in something like 8 weeks. Today will be a long one. There has been a lot of new work and unfinished work that poppped up this week. But at the end of the day that's it. Time to relax and have fun! What a great concept!

I have often been told that I fail to observe what's in front of me. It's not that I fail to observe but rather I choose to filter out what I don't need to know at the exact moment. Sometimes, it can be something drastic such as a new paint job on a house or a complete revamp of a garden. Other times, it's offerings from the Easter Bunny that I found a few days late. Case in point - When I returned home, I saw that there was paper on top of the microwave. A quick glance showed that that there was a picture of a coffee maker so that made sense to me given that there were new coffee makers on the counter. This morning I had to microwave something and I noticed that the other papers didn't say coffee. They read Pancake Flipper and Spoon Spatula. Huh. Those are things that don't normally enter my kitchen. I pulled open a couple of drawers and sure enough, Pancake Flipper and Spoon Spatula were there all shiny and new! I also found a new plunger and swiffer neatly st...

Official at last!

Monday always comes so quickly when the weekend is short. I scheduled myself an offsite meeting for today in an attempt to get myself up and moving and readjusted to the time zone. It's a good thing too, otherwise I would probably be napping all day and then it would take weeks to adapt instead of a couple of days. I'm looking forward to staying in the US for a while. The next overseas trip is a ways off and I'll be sticking to travel within the west/mid-west for the next 6 weeks.

OB's trilogy is now complete. Here's the latest installment in the classic mustang restoration line.

As I mentioned, the Easter Bunny stopped at my house and changed the season from Christmas to Easter for me. Easter bunnies bring chocolate eggs and this one did. Bunnies also bring gifts and this one surprised me with not one new coffee maker but two! It looks like there were adventures in coffee going on. Now I understand the remark about the filters. As I wandered about and unpacked I found several other bunny offerings but the best one was in the fridge! Avocados and lots of them! It was like finding the gold mine! I had been craving guacamole for the last week and now there was a whole supply of avocado waiting for me! Thank-you Craig and all the H's for assisting the Easter Bunny! Out back, the weeds have taken over. One stop today has to be for Round-Up. I found the big gopher or squirrel hole and stuffed a large mothball down it and covered it with dirt. There was no revenge from the wildlife this morning but I expect a response soon. I meant to come home, unpack, t...

For Rae...because she knows the trends. I had to spend 7 hours in the Kuwait airport lounge. After the 4th hour, your mind is desparate for something new. I'd pulled up as much e-mail as possible, read my book, eaten several times and then I started to stare at furniture. I saw checks everywhere. B&W checks to be specific. There's only one person that I know that uses this decor so here's proof that she knows what's out there.

Home and tired. Will blog later. It seems the Easter Bunny made an early visit while I was gone. Good surprises greeted me today!

Kuwait airport once again. This turned out to be worse than I thought. Oman Air could not ticket me beyond Kuwait. Unless I get a Visa, I can't get out to claim my luggage. I can't check in at the transit desk until 8:30 pm. So I have to trust that no one is going to steal my suitcase and that I will be able to check in and get my seat without a reconfirmation. The airlines are famous for giving your seat away and since Oman Air couldn't assist, I am in airport limbo. Luckily a business class ticket and airline status can pay off. I have access to the lounge where I can surf the net, eat, and drink plenty of water. It's 4:17 pm as I type so I have over 4 hours before I can even go to the transit lounge and 7 hours before the flight. I brought table topics, so to speak. Rarely are animals mentioned in any Middle East newspaper. Today the Oman paper carried four. "South Africa police seize cars housing vicious rats" That's a must read! 11 cars were impoun...

As you walk off the hotel property onto the beach, there is a sign that warns tourists that this is a public beach and conservative dress is required so as not to offend locals. In this photo, west crosses paths with east on the shore. Below, Omani men out for an evening walk.

Tonight I decided to be brave. Oman allows hotels to serve alcohol and there is an English Pub in my hotel. Since I missed St. Pat's day in Kuwait, I thought I would stop in for a Guinness and see what happened. Walking in, it was still early but other than the two female Filipino bartenders, I was the only woman. The pub had was mostly empty and the patrons were English, Scottish, Italian, and the random Egyptian. Normally I'm not this brave but I really wanted a Guinness. I sat down and ordered my pint. As a woman, I was somewhat invisible so it allowed me to observe what was the norm for this hotel community. I noticed that the bartenders shook hands with all of the male patrons at some point. No one shook my hand even though the male and female bartenders were Filipino. While I was the odd person out, it was not an uncomfortable situation. I was the only person drinking Guinness. Everyone else ordered Stella, Grolsh, Fosters, or Kilkenney. There is a big group here from...

Yesterday was a long one! Up at 5:00 am to get to the airport in Dubai and then the flight to Oman. Even though we had pre-arranged Visas, it still took 45 minutes to get processed. If we had to wait in line the time would have doubled. Work didn't end until midnight and as soon as I got back to my room, the disco below started up. It was still another hour before I could sleep. Today should end early (only 9:30 to 7:00) if all goes well and I should be able to pack and get some sleep before the long transit home on Friday. There really are people here and in the pools. This morning there was already someone out there doing laps. The hotel is sold out but I'm not sure where everyone is hiding. There is an Irish Pub inside this hotel so it would have been perfect for St. Patrick's Day. I've noticed the pub is crowded.

What a switch! From noise and congestion to the sound of the surf right out my room. If only I was here to relax!

Last night in Dubai. What a relief! If you come here for vacation and stay at one of the luxury hotels this might be a fun place. If you are here for work, then it's work and traffic, and the day to day realities of the culture and religion. At least in Dubai you can dress casual and not have to worry about offending anyone. Tomorrow it's back to Oman. I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet of that country after the non-stop relentless pace of Dubai and Kuwait.

Day 12. Officially started work at 9:00 am and ended at 9:30 pm. Unofficially there were a few e-mails when I woke up and a few over the last 45 minutes while I shoved a sandwich down my mouth since there's no time for a real dinner. Today was a tiring day for everyone. Everything has to be discussed, negotiated, and finally steamrolled to make progress. Today, I was the steamroller. It stays with you even after work. I found myself in the business center of the hotel negotiating payment rates for using their printer. My argument was why should I pay full price, when I had brought my own paper? (Special certificate paper) I got them down to half price which was better than the $8.00 they wanted to charge me for three pieces of paper that I had printed. The newspaper and television media are closely following Zimbabwe. The economy is expected to fall any day now and the region is watching to see what happens. The ruler is 83 and it's time for him to go. I'm not sure of t...

Day 11. This is when the road trip gets hard. The days blend together into a routine of work and hotel life. Up at 7:30 am and out the door at 9:00 am. Work until 6:00 pm and back at the hotel at 7:00 pm. One hour to pull up e-mail and back downstairs for a debrief session on the day. 9:00 pm, debrief over and into the coffee shop for dinner. 10:15 pm, back in the room and ready to fall asleep only to wake up in the morning to begin the day all over. Businesses here face a new labor challenge. How do you get oil rich Kuwaiti's, Emirati's, and Saudi's ready to enter the workplace when the oil runs out and there is no more shared wealth? The government has a mandatory regulation now that X% of employees have to be locals. The only problem is, what local (rich) wants to work in fast food, a factory, or a hotel as a front desk clerk? None of them. But businesses have to comply with the law or they face a finacial penalty from the government. The solution? Employ locals and ...

This is as close as it gets for celebrating the Shamrock. A glass of white wine in the coffee shop at the hotel. It's been a long day and one hour later I was fast asleep!

This is the second year that I've spent St. Patrick's Day in the Middle East. Last year I was in Lebanon and all the clubs were promoting it just like anywhere else. This year, I'm in the gulf region and the day is a non-event. There are no pubs and certainly no Irish pubs. Alcohol is available and I'm sure somewhere in this emirate, there is Guinness. We're having dinner in the coffee shop so maybe I'll find something there to raise a toast in honor of St. Pat. I have yet to take a picture of something interesting here so I'll have to put my mind to the task at hand. I'm staying in Dubai but I'm working in Sharjah which is one of the conservative religious emirates. People live there because it is cheap. Sharjah is full of apartments, mosques, and business offices. Dubai is the emirate of mega malls, luxury beach resorts, night clubs and high prices. I paid 50 cents a copy today for some work materials. 48 pages, nearly $25. I paid $4 for a pack ...

Dubai - yet another round of boring hotel life today. It's Friday which is holy day and all offices are closed. Everyone is off to the mosque for the long prayer session and then around 2:00 pm the city goes crazy as everyone is off to shop, eat, and get together. Here's the coffee set-up. It's about the same in every country over here. Some hotels don't even give you this and you're forced to buy bad coffee in the lobby. This is the first time that I've stayed here and no construction has been going on at the hotel. Now that the pool and cabana area is done, it looks decent. There are even people playing in tennis courts but one player has an advantage bacause a major windstorm has moved in and all the palms are now leaning sideways. The wind gusts were shaking the plane yesterday upon landing. I wouldn't enjoy being in an airplane today.

When your country is a desert, you have to do what you can to brighten it up. Kuwait has all these plastic palm trees everywhere. At night, the lights get turned on and it's like having Christmas trees all lit up except they're palms. The flowers always remind me of Teletubbies. I'm not sure what they're for but they don't light at night. Daytime fun only I guess.

On my first trip to the Middle East, I carefully packed a 1 lb. bag of Starbucks coffee to get me through the 3 weeks. What I didn't know was that the hotels do not have in-room coffee makers here. There is a hot water heater and instant coffee packets. I lugged that Starbucks around 5 countries because I refused to throw away good coffee and I was always hoping that the next country would have a coffee brewer. They don't exist. My only joy is when I can stop at a real Starbucks and get coffee. So here I am at 9:00 am Kuwait time, at the airport, sitting happily at the Starbucks and enjoying a Caramel Macciato. Yum! I have to say that the Kuwait Starbucks franchise does an excellent job. Since eating is the national past time here there is always a crowd but it's worth the wait. As I was in the taxi on the way to the airport I was wondering when I would be back in Kuwait. I was thinking that it wouldn't be for a long time but then I remembered I have to come back here t...

This is Jay. He's worked at the HIK for a long time. He has my room service order memorized because it never changes. Vegetarian sandwich no bell peppers. When staying here, I use the executive lounge as my office. There's always coffe and bread and for some reason no one is ever is in here.

This is how every morning starts in Kuwait. E-mail, Nescafe, and the Kuwait Times.

Checkin in at the front desk is usually quick and fast. The staff knows you're going to be there because they already know that you are on the way since the shuttle has picked you up a the airport. Below is the metal detector. Sometimes it's effective, sometimes not. If they know you and you beep, you go through. If they don't know you, then you get to pass again. Up until this trip, the barricades were always up in front to prevent cars from driving in the hotel. So security is pretty lax right now. Contrast this to the Hyatt in Amman, Jordan where the suicide bomber hit 18 months ago, you can't get near the hotel in a car and there is a full x-ray of all items. If a person beeps, they go straight into the wand search and pat down before getting clearance to move into the walkway to the hotel entrance.

6 hours of sleep in one shot at last! After being awake yesterday for 22 hours, I finally made it into my bed and slept until 5:00 am this morning. I could have used the last 2 hours that my alarm was set for but once I'm up, that's it. So now I'm downing the first Nescafe in my room before I retrieve the Kuwait Times and head to breakfast. Today is another long one with a good 12 hours of scheduled activities ahead of me. This is all much more manageable now that I don't have the stress of doing school every morning and evening. As usual, the sun is up and it looks to be another typical day in Kuwait.

Life at the HIK starts off pretty much the same. Coffee in the executive lounge or coffee in the downstairs breakfast room. This morning, I was upstairs. As you can see, there are not a lot of people eating so it's best to stay away from the hot food since it's not. Breakfast here was a piece of cheese and 2 slices of watermelon. (Bad light, hard to see) The Kuwait internet censor was not letting my own home page load today. It must have finally caught the beer. I had to sign on by going to blogger and then entering in my own blog. I don't even have to read the police report to know the accidents today, I saw them all. 3 major pile ups plus one flipped car just on the way to work. We've had so many near hits today that it was even strange by local standards!

No photos yet but I have made it safely to Kuwait. I lucked out and had ten minutes to spare in DC which was enough time to run from one end of the terminal to the other. Even my luggage made it with me. So here we go again!

Sometimes the party never ends even after the party ends! We stayed up and talked almost all night. Of course the lack of sleep and general excitement of the world can make for a really sleepy next day but sometimes that's the way the world works. This is a story for another time but a the night has now turned to day and here I am sitting at the airport, waiting for a delayed flight. How typical. Luckily my Kuwait flight leaves from the same Washington DC terminal where my San Diego flight arrives so this should all work out well. Ann had a comment about how can you drink on a blog? Well, virtual is best. Blogger today announce that the South By Southwest festival will be blogged and specifically, "Drinks are on Blogger (also dancing)." So not only can you drink on a blog but you can dance! Next entry will be from Holiday Inn Kuwait or HIK as those in the know call it.

It's a graduation dinner! Yes, that is my well earned paper hat on on my head. Ann is presenting me with every grad's survival kit while Jean looks on. The tassle can't find it's place. Mom H. looks on amused. I guess I'd be laughing too if the person across from me had a tassle in their face! We all had plenty of fun and way too much food!

OB and Lorie Homer with 7-Up? Ann & Brian are cracking each other up. Jean is on East Coast time and ready for food and sleep!

Some days are so crazy that I'm not even sure how I pull it all together. People ask me all the time how I manage my life and I have no answer. It's simply what is my world. I have an agenda that I work out for each day and somehow it all happens. This morning I was up at 5:30 am and on the phone with someone in Dubai at 5:45 am. Once that call was over it was a quick run through of e-mail, get dressed for the day and out the door at 7:15 for the drive to Anaheim. At 8:45, I pulled up at a co-workers hotel, ran into the lobby to pull up e-mail, and then the two of us headed to Long Beach for a 9:30 meeting. After emerging from that meeting at 12:00, it was off to a business lunch and then back to Anaheim to pick-up another co-worker for afternoon meetings. 2 personal meetings, 2 phone meetings, and a quick office errand or two and the next thing I knew it was 4:30 and we had one last stop for the day. At 5:15 pm, I dropped them off at their hotel and began the drive home. Due...

The Flower Fields have started to bloom. In a few weeks, these hills will be covered in all colors of flowers along with one field that will be an American flag. It's the prettiest 6 weeks in Carlsbad each year but one of the worst for traffic. Tour busses bring people from all over the world to look at these flowers. The fields don't look like much now but the blooms are beautiful once they get going.

Friday at 5:30 pm. The sun is shining right in our eyes and causing problems with the beer light. Oatmeal stout week 2! The Firkin was mellow this month. We decided that our strategy for next time is to show up right as the Firkin is tapped, see the main event up close in the crowd and then have dinner. April 6 for those of you that can make it!

The new airline tickets arrived today for next week's trip. It's back to Kuwait-Dubai-Oman on this cycle and then I'll be done with the mid-east until the end of the year. I was reading the online edition of the Kuwait Times tonight and there was an editorial about "How Kuwait Touched my Heart." This nurse came to Kuwait to work in a clinic and talked about isolation and the internet (I could relate) and how there wasn't much to do there. Then she found seasons and flowers and warm sun could be charming. Turns out Kuwait was the first place she'd ever been outside of her home country of Bulgaria. Tough call. I've never been to Bulgaria but in a toss up, Kuwait's ocean and weather might come out on top.