End of the Year blog...

What a year it has been! Started the year out selling food to restaurants in rural Illinois, finished it up selling food to restaurants half way around the world in the United Arab Emirates.
I am fighting a horrible cold. I went to the pharmacy at the mall. The pharmacist here can give you whatever prescription you need. So, I told the man I had a chest cold he gave me some liquid potion to drink 3 times a day until the cough goes away. Please know that if I am found dead, it was not suicide...lol.
I am having a little bit of a steak problem with a major customer. So, last night I spoke on the phone with My old boss from Buckhead Beef for a half an hour. As most of you are aware, my departure from Buckhead was ugly and I left some scorched earth with my resignation and subsequent letter I sent to corporate. I will give my old boss credit, he was cordial, and we agreed what was in the past should stay that way...how the world turns, I invited him to come to the Gulf Food show (big show here in February) and I hope he takes me up on the invite....
All my amigo's are on vacation, Bob is due back Jan. 2nd, and Richard is due back Jan. 6th from the states. Kelly is in Sri Lanka celebrating New Years, and Georges, Karim  and Rami have all gone home to Lebanon. Ceren is headed to Turkey...I guess I am the last one standing...
New Years Eve here there is a Big fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, so I am planning on getting spectacular pictures and posting them on Facebook shortly after midnight Dubai time (9 hours difference).
Fred is coming in 3 weeks, I am really looking forward to his stay, you should look forward to my first guest blogger....My parents will be here in mid February, they will be celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary in Dubai. I plan on taking them up in the worlds tallest building to celebrate on valentines day! I have another friend that may come in April...time seems to fly by here....maybe with a steady stream of visitors I will be home before you know it....
Offering a job to another old SYSCO co-worker this week, if it works out that will be 3 former SYSCO marketing Associates I will have hired. That will be 3 new sales reps starting in January. We finished out the month of December right at 5.5 million in sales, the second best month in Transmed history (last month best ever 6.1). I think January will be somewhere in between those two...
Fashion TV is having a big Dubai New Years celebration here...I don't know if that is televised just here or will be on back in the states, maybe interesting to check and see if you get fashion TV on your local cable.
From the interesting how its different here department, you don't have credit scores. If you bounce a check you go to jail. They base all credit on income. So I got a nice credit card with no fees based on my direct deposit to the bank. The funny part, Richard was denied a credit card. It seems that since Richard is 62, he was denied credit. A lawsuit in America, just how they do business here.
Same thing with resumes and interviews....You have a picture on the resume and religion questions and child rearing questions are fair game. As is age...They put a huge emphasis on where you went to college....
Oh well, gotta call Fred and sell  my car...
Here's to a prosperous and healthy 2011!
Happy New Year!
John

Christmas Eve 2010....

Merry Christmas to all! I think spending Christmas here is making me appreciate things back in the states more than ever. The holiday have been good so far, and I have a nice evening planned. Yesterday at work, my department hosted a traditional Christmas meal. Richard baked 4 Butterball "Toms" (close to 100 pounds of turkey), we had Christmas Cakes from Paul Restaurant (They looked awesome-gone before I got a taste) side dishes from two famous Lebanese restaurants...I really liked the  green beans with pearl onions,and the mashed potato's. The turkeys were prepared perfectly and the luncheon (fed around 100 employees) went awesome. It was a very nice gesture that our Muslim Company Manager had this celebration with us. He was gracious and more than once told me to spare no expense to make sure that it was a "5 star" experience for our employees. There were more Muslims and Hindu's than Christians at the luncheon and they were all kind and wished us a Merry Christmas with warm smiles and handshakes... The whole experience was new to many, but the funniest moment for me is when "Rapu" (an Indonesian cleaning lad that reports to Sham) said (in broken English) that he had never seen such "big chickens"...I told him we raised them that way in America...chuckles filled the room...(by the way - it was the first time he had eaten turkey, and he liked it!)

I hosted a Christmas party at my 8 Boulevard apartment last night. It was good having the team together in a relaxed social setting. I did get some nice gifts, a new tie, an Eagles music video, nice bottle of red wine and some chocolate candy. Lal broke out his Cuban cigars (they are legal here) and my patio became a smokey place for fellowship with the balmy weather.

Work is going well, sales are strong (trying for a second record sales month in a row) but we still have too many operational issues. The new pay plan that I have implemented (with Bob's blessing) has made our Account Executives more career minded, and for the most part they are thriving. I am especially proud of Kelly, she is Canadian and is a natural "relationship Manager". I would find it hard to believe that she has ever had an enemy in her life. She is on a roll with her life and it is very rewarding for me to see her career blossom. Another Rep that is doing really well is Joseph. He is Indian and has been somewhat passed over in his career. He is very bright, and now believes what he is being told by management. The work ethics appear to be strong for the whole group. Most of them are very young (Magy youngest at 24, Ceren is 23, Kelly 26) but are very professional in their approach to their jobs.

Richard and I went to church this morning. The service was about the birth of Christ (right down the road in Bethlehem) and I am so happy that I am back in a church. It is surreal that I can worship freely in this land, and feel blessed and revitalised in my beliefs. I had a nice swim at the pool this afternoon, and I am invited to the credit manager's home for Christmas Eve dinner. Tomorrow I am spending the morning at the office (customer service is working along with the warehouse)so an appearance by me in support will be appreciated, besides Sham has to work, what would Christmas be without Shammy?

This blog and those of you that read it and follow my travels are very therapeutic for me. I feel blessed to have so many friends and people that care about me in my life. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes, and Merry Christmas to all of you!
John

Christmas is upon us...

I just got back from a nice swim in our apartment pool. It is 80 degrees and sunny today, gotta love the weather in the winter...I watch Fox news a lot, so I have been keeping up with the states early winter...So far, I do not miss the snow.
Speaking of winter, I finally had to turn on my hot water heater. As you may recall, the water is warm due to the combination of being pulled from the warm waters of the Arabian Sea (there are desalinization plants along the coast)and the heat from the pipes going through the sand of the desert. The water was still luke warm, but took several minutes to reach that status. I probably will turn it off in March, we will see.
Work has been tough this week, some logistic issues trying to bring products in from the states...The quality of condiments is so much better when it is manufactured in the U.S. Heinz has a plant in Egypt, and they should be embarrassed by the quality of the products manufactured there compared to the high quality of good ole American product.
I did hire the young lady (Ceren) from Turkey. She will start in January. I am excited about her drive, she is a fitness freak that was the captain of her college Basketball team (Go Ankara Turkey...Bears?!) and her new teammates will like her. Juan also joins the team in January. He worked for SYSCO Atlanta and was a pilot in the Colombian Air Force. Should be disciplined and ready to go...
I have budgeted to hire three additional reps in the next 6 months, so any of my previous sales people from the states that need a job, I am doing my best to improve the economy of America, and at the same time hit my goal of doubling sales next year.
Bob left for the states Wednesday evening, and Richard leaves next Friday. I am having a "holiday" party for our sales team in my apartment next Thursday. The company manager has asked Richard and I to arrange a Christmas lunch for the office on Thursday afternoon. A very nice gesture considering he is a Muslim and the company is very Middle Eastern. Richard wants to cook 4 Butterball turkeys (big 24 pound Toms) and make stuffing and gravy to give them a feel for our culture.(if I could only have a Christmas spiral sliced honey glazed ham-sigh) I will certainly let you know how it goes...
I still have not been able to register my status (and give them my phone number) at the American embassy. Tuesday I am going to Abu Dhabi and hopefully get in (I have tried twice - who new it would be so difficult).
Try and stay warm in the good ole USA, I will be having warm thoughts about you...
Merry Christmas,
John

A Shamsudine update and my encounter with the Omani army....

If only I could make these things up....Let's start with America's new sweetheart Shamsudine. As you may recall, Shammy is the office boy/General Manager's helper from Bangladesh that works in my office. He has the nicest disposition, he always is very friendly and we have become friends. If I don't come into the office (because I am in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain or working the street with one of our reps) Shams will come find me to ask about my day and to find out where I was. My good friend Dan Scott (became friends in law school) was kind enough to send a birthday present to me in Dubai (finally got here on December 1st, more than a month after Dan mailed it) Shammy was like a kid on Christmas morning with this package from America. There is no mail delivery in the UAE, what few bills or mail you get, comes to your employers post office box (Transmed Overseas, PO box 1604, Dubai, UAE)....So I come back from lunch and there is Shammy waiting with the receptionist in the lobby...He can't wait to see what is in the package....So I took a look at it and said something to the effect that it is a present from a friend of mine (Dan had called on my birthday and told me he wanted to mail me a gift)...Well Shammy with glee in his voice says can we open it??? I said sure and before you could blink he's got scissors tearing into my package...It took me by surprise, but I was enjoying Shammy's joy! In the package was a Major League Baseball Johnny Bench Jersey (an awesome gift-thanks again Danno)...Well as nice a gift it was to me, Shammy was so disappointed...He was like an 8 year old on Christmas morning that opened up the present and found socks in the package, major disappointment...
Well after my fun exchange with him I decided it would be fun to give Shammy a gift from me, soooo I asked Shammy if I could take him to lunch for Christmas...it became a mini adventure in itself. Shammy is a devout Muslim, but told me he would except my "Christmas" invite. So we planned our lunch. We left the office headed to the Dubai Mall (Shammy told me he loves fried fish- so what's better than fish and chips at Social House). Now I knew Shammy rode his bicycle to work everyday, what I didn't know was that he does not ride in cars often. Shammy got car sick on our 15 minute drive, it was comical as he asked me how mad I would be if he threw up in my car...he cranked up the AC and we made it to the mall without leaving any residue in my car...(Thank God for small miracles). Shammy had never seen the free water show at the mall (check out the photos on my facebook) he loved it...We enjoyed our fish and chips...I bought him some roasted nuts and headed back to the office...I experienced the true spirit of Christmas...the giving...what a great time...

One of my strategic moves to get hit our sales goals was to move one of my favorite Account Executives to Al Ain. He is a chef from Lebanon (the country not my High school alma mater)-His name is Elie Nader. Well Bob and I decided we would take the trip to Al Ain to canvass its potential and check out the country of Oman which is bordering the Emirate of Abu Dhabi where the city of Al Ain is. The hour and a half drive to Al Ain goes through the desert. We must have seen over a hundred camels, some wild wandering in the desert next to the highway, others in the Camel farms where camels are sold...(for food, transportation and racing- no I have not eaten Camel yet, nor do I intend to)...Al Ain is a beautiful traditional Arab city of nearly 400,000 residents. (bout the size of Memphis TN). There is a lot of business opportunity there. We went up on the Mountain of Jabel Hafeet, where the hotel Mercure (beautiful property) lies at the top...from the summit you can see for miles, and the mountain itself serves as part of the border with The Islamic Republic of Oman. Well brilliant me, talked Bob into crossing the border with me.
After paying the exit fees for the UAE and then going through the Oman immigration border crossing and paying the appropriate fees there, we head into Oman....We drove straight into the desert and after driving for 45 minutes and seeing nothing except sand dunes and palm trees, we stopped at a petrol station to find out we were not headed to the part of Oman where the tourist visit. Turn around and then head across a different road towards civilization. It is getting late in the afternoon and we pass virtually no one for an hour (We are traveling at speeds approaching 180 Kms per hour) on the remote 4 lane highway. The road became two lanes and as I come around a bend, we run into an Oman Military check point. There were jeeps on both sides of the roads with mounted machine guns manned with military personnel. It reminded me of the old series "Rat Patrol". In the road were about a half dozen soldiers stopping us to check our "credentials". They asked us what we were doing there as they checked our Id's (I don't know why they might think 2 Americans driving through remote Oman in a leased car from the United Arab Emirates saying we are just looking around might be suspicious.) They actually let us pass after a couple of minutes, and I didn't get nervous until Bob snapped a picture of the one of the jeeps as we exited the traffic stop area.
A few minutes down the road we finally arrived in the border town of Buraimi, Oman. It was crowded with cars. Darkness had descended, we asked for directions to Dubai and was told we were over 3 hours away and given directions to where we could cross the border. After waiting to cross in heavy traffic, we were denied entry because we were at an "Arab only" checkpoint. So we drove a half hour to another crossing area. We had to go through immigration, and then through another military checkpoint. The officer there had my passport, and in a deep broken English voice said "where are you from"? I said the United States...He said "Where are you from" again...I said St Louis....then he said in an animated voice, that he had once been to Ohio...lol, he wanted to make conversation...we finally made it across the border and I arrived safe and sound back in lovely Dubai at about 9:30pm...what a long day...
Bob is leaving for the states next Wednesday, and Richard is headed home on December 24th. It will be interesting spending Christmas here in Dubai. Christmas Day is a normal business day here...I plan on working...
Sorry my blog was delayed, I will try and do better....
Thanks for the nice comment Susan, and you and all the rest of American friends will be in my thoughts...
John

Butterball Turkeys and George W. Bush!

Thursday, December 2nd is National Day in the UAE. 39 years ago, seven small countries joined together to form the United Arab Emirates. A couple of other countries almost joined (Oman and Qatar) but in the end they stayed independent. I could drive to Oman in about and hour and a half, and I plan on visiting there soon.They are a very strategic ally of the United States and have a large US Military presence.
So what does Butterball & Pres. Bush have in common? (no Yvonne- Barney Frank may have had sex with one of them) that's right, they are part of the Middle East urban legends.  I have heard from more than one of my new friends that George Bush ordered 911 attacks to cause problems in the Middle East, that he was having breakfast with a very wealthy Jewish business man in Virginia, that flew the President back to Washington on a private jet after the attack. Now, when I said that President Bush was reading children's books to elementary kids in Florida, I might as well told my co-workers a story about the Easter bunny. And yes, it is a "fact" here that there were no Jewish people killed in the 911 attacks. They all knew....
On the same urban legend level, one of my sales reps, did a Butterball turkey presentation in front of me. He told about how only the Butterball brand turkey removed the ligaments from the legs so the turkey will hold its shape while cooking, and how the Butterball turkey is hand basted and injected with butter. Sounds absolutely Divine. Sadly,  both Butterball "facts" are also myths. Butterball has about a 20%  share of the US market. The plant where the turkeys were originally processed is an old butter factory. Thus the name, "Butterball". Fear not, there really is one advantage, genetics. The turkeys have been bred by butterball to have larger than normal breast...not a bad feature at all.
Thursday is a holiday, but alas, I am going into the office in the morning, and I am interviewing two candidates for jobs. I interviewed an interesting Turkish lady today...May offer her a position....
Final sales numbers in for November....just past 6 million, a new record over a million more than the previous record. I'm hanging in....
One last thing, a couple of you have emailed me saying you thought I was "down". Please don't mistake my loneliness for sadness. I miss America and my friends. That being said, I feel very appreciated here, Bob is happy with me, my employees are enthusiastic about me being their leader....and I am setting myself up financially for life (hopefully). Come see me or drop me a note...that would put a smile on my face.
Have a great day,
John

Black Friday....

Thanksgiving in Dubai was reflective for me... I will say that it was a little lonely, and not very traditional (I had to explain what Thanksgiving was to my curious Middle East friends numerous times) Thursday. I will say that when I reflected upon what I had to be thankful, that it is clear that I have so much to be thankful for.
I am sure Christmas will be tougher...Bob is going home in mid December, and Richard is leaving Christmas Eve...My new church is having several special services...There are no Christmas lights or Santa Clauses. I did see that the Hallmark in Dubai Mall had Christmas cards...
I enjoyed a nice fish and chip dinner at the Social House for my Thanksgiving feast. I was excited because the Cowboys/Saints game was gonna be live on tv at 1 am here. Sooo, I got settled in, decent game, but when Roy Williams fumbled the game away at 5 am....well this Cowboy fan didn't get to sleep very fast even though I was exhausted. I was almost late for picking Richard up for church. Bob and Sandy joined us....I think this church is definitely a keeper.
We had a management retreat(picnic in the park) at work this week. I really like our management team...I have in my plan to add five sales people. The search is on. I interviewed a candidate from the Romania this week. I liked her, we'll see if I make an offer....
The weather is absolutely beautiful. Low 80's without a cloud in the sky. I hope to get time to swim tomorrow. Sandy flys back to Atlanta tomorrow night. Bob and I are going to try and go to the Dubai golf classic on Sunday.
Fred is coming in January, my parents in February...so things will get interesting as I do some of the tourist things with them....I especially can't wait to go up in the Burj Khalifa...
Sorry if I bored you to tears this time, I will try and remember the interesting things that I do this week...
Love Ya!
John

Friday is really Sunday, so how bout church..

It was suppose to be a week of holiday with the 3 day "EID" celebration, but I ended up in the office working full day's two of the three "off" days. It can be a little overwhelming at times. Sandy is here visiting Bob, and Richard is trying to settle in and I am trying not to get arrested for strangling the credit manager. Our receivables are out of wack, so the credit manager is doing his job... I could use a line from the Obama administration about inheriting a "mess" , but that would make me a little hypocritical...got to get it under control with better business practices...
I have been spending a lot of time with Richard helping him to settle into life in Dubai and at the job. He is missing being busy at home with his "honeydew" list to knock out. Maybe I will put him to work at my apartment...lol..
He has been joining me at the office as I put in the hours, I am so thankful he is here.  He has been wanting me to go to see the movie "Secretariat" at the theatre. I have absolutely no desire to see the triple crown story. He thinks it would inspire me....I was inspired to just say no...So, to make myself feel less guilty, I agreed to go to the movies on our one off day. We agreed on the movie "Unstoppable". It stars Denzel Washington and is based on a true story about a runaway train...It was the first time I had seen a movie in quite sometime. I would give it two thumbs up, I really enjoyed it. The ticket was 30 dirhams ($7), or you could spend 125 Durhams for special seating, or you could rent a suite to keep your entire Burka clan out of site. The experience was the same as in the states, theatre seating with great sound. The movie had Arabic subtitles, but you don't even notice them.
Richard is a devoted church goer, and the other thing he asked me to do was to join him at church. So this morning I picked him up(he doesn't have his papers completed yet, so he can't drive) and accompanied him to church. The service was held in a nice hotel in "Media City" (15 minutes from my apartment).  The church is Interdenominational and is called "Fellowship of the Emirates." Now, I have not been active in a home church in a while, and I don't know what exactly inspired me, but I can't remember being so moved at a service. It was just a normal contemporary service, with good music and a nice minister (service was about dying, and living life to the fullest) but at one point I actually had a tear run down my cheek. I am not sure if it was my loneliness, the absence of church(God has never left me) in my life, or just the realization that I am a Christian in a very Muslim part of the world...I was almost embarrassingly moved...I hope that I find myself back there next Friday morning. Richard has told me that he wants to continuing to minister to people
even though he is here, and is convinced that God has him here for a reason...I wonder if part of Gods plan for Richard may be me...
Big week ahead, The Abu Dhabi Food show is this week, and I have a million projects that I need to accomplish. I need to hire some more sales reps. I am offering a job to another American (from SYSCO Atlanta) next week. Have a great weekend in America....I am off to have dinner at Social House in Dubai Mall (great fish and chips)...
Keep me in your thoughts - (and prayers :-)
John

Rainy Days and Mondays.....

It rained today in Dubai...Now it didn't pour, it wasn't exactly a heavy rain...ok we had a heavy drizzle. I was on the 9th floor at work, and I stood at the window and watched the rain for the 10 minutes it lasted...still no chance of rain on the forecast....the weathermen here are as talented as the weather forecasters in the US.
Bob and my boss Hani hosted an EID party at his house on the outskirts of Dubai last night. His house is an exclusive neighborhood and the yard was plush...He had a band, and it was catered with traditional Lebanese food. I actually had a very good time. The highlight of the evening was when they wore little Fez caps (yes there is a picture of me on facebook) and we were dancing (yes the Lebanese gals drug me out in front to dance)...it was fun, clapping and kicking up a storm....
I am off tomorrow for this Eid holiday. From what I understand, it is the day the Muslim people offer a sacrifice (goat or another small critter) to Allah. If they can afford it they travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I can truly say they walk the talk....
Still having a great sales month, I got permission to add to our sales force. Now the question is who to hire....we have some SYSCO guys from the states that want to come here...I need to figure it out...
I am worn out, time to go to bed, I stayed up to listen to the Cowboys game on the Internet. (it ended at 4 am)....
So farewell for now and goodnight....
John 

Sleepy Friday....

It's Friday (Muslim church day) in the UAE, and I took a big snooze today. I was up and about early, laid back down for a quick nap around 10 am, I awoke from my short nap at 4 pm...lol, who knows how I will sleep tonight.
I have been working loads of hours, I haven't felt that well, so my body just revolted. It's almost 9 pm here and I feel like I am ready to start the day!
I had dinner at Scoozi at the Dubai Mall. The mall has been packed lately, but I fought the crowd for one of my favorite UAE dinners, Shrimp pizza.
Next weeks 3 day EID celebration, has been moved to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So, I am going to put in a few hours tomorrow, than work a normal Sunday, off for 3 days (ok, I am sure I will go in and work partial days) work on Thursday, then another weekend! I think the Muslims may be onto something during all of these holidays (of course when I am working on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am sure I will remember why I don't like these holidays better).
Dominik is off visiting his girlfriend (the real one) in Vienna, Sandy is here visiting Bob, so I am truly batching it for a few days. Richard is settling in. The next few weeks will be difficult for him as he gets his paperwork in order and looks for a car and an apartment. I haven't had a lot of time to share with him. We went and got our photo's taken for our new official Emirates ID card this week. Had lunch afterwords, he is extremely lonely. I miss my friends and family, I can only imagine what its like to leave a wife and children behind. He seemed to be in a little better spirits later in the week after skyping with his wife Mary. I am going to pick him up in the morning take him to work for a few hours than maybe out for a buddy lunch. He is going to take a huge workload off of my shoulders, and he is such a quality man, that there is nothing but positives for me that he is here.
I have put the sales force (with Bob's blessing) on a commission plan. They are set to get there first checks at the end of this month, and one of them is going to get a check that is 6 or 7 times bigger than his old incentive checks. They have responded to this "American" style compensation well. Our first month on commissions we set a new record month of 4.5 million Durhams. This month we are headed towards 9 million. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we can keep up the torrid growth.
I am sure I'll check in sooner rather than later with all of the approaching days off, time to go watch the Survivor episode that I taped last night.
Bye for now,
John

Sunday odds and ends...

Sorry I am a tad late with an update....It was a busy busy weekend. Our new Purchasing manager arrived from the United States. His name is Richard. I worked with him in the late 90's at SYSCO Atlanta. He was Vice President of merchandising then, I remember him as a happy gentlemen that worked hard, but always had a friendly smile and a word of encouragement. Well, 12 years later, nothing seems to have changed. He is as nice as I remembered, and just a sweet man. His first at the |Gulf Tower was today....His desk faces mine...I am so excited that he is here.
The weather is awesome. High 80's - low 90's everyday and partly cloudy...Still have a zero chance of rain. I am waiting for that first time I see any chance of rain.  I saw where it snowed back in Russel County, Virginia...I am calling my parents in a little bit, and I am sure the first thing I will hear about is the snow and how much is in the driveway...
I was a little melancholy today on my drive back from Abu Dhabi. I can't wait for visitors. Fred is coming in January. My parents in February. maybe a discreet mystery guest somewhere in between...it will be great.
They have been filming Mission Impossible 4 in Dubai the last couple of weeks. There must be an exciting Burj Khalifa scene, because the people dangling from the building and the helicopters buzzing around it have been quite apparent the last 10 days or so. I snapped a few pictures and posted them on facebook. It will be great for all of you to see the movie so you can see where I am at. I wonder how long we will have to wait...next summer or holidays 2011.
Work is mixed, lots of progress in fixing the issues, and shaping the company into Bob's vision (a little bit of John in there)...actually, Bob is very hands off on how I run sales and protein decisions...as much as we bicker (like an old married couple) we are very much in tune with how to run things...It is easy to remember why I love working for Bob. He is very supportive, and he genuinely cares about me...there is no doubt that I have his back...sales are strong...we continue to have record weeks, and most of the sales people appear to be excited.
Well Sunday football just kicked off, yes my Cowboys stink, but it is still my favorite tv of the week (that and true blood)...
I enjoyed a Diwali party on Friday night. It is like Christmas for Indian Hindu's. All the Indian dwellings are adorned with Christmas lights, and candy is handed out liberally. Next week (10 days away) is EID (2)...I will blog about it next week, but in a nutshell a Muslim holiday, that is three days long...it falls perfectly this year on Tuesday, Wed, Thursday, followed by the weekend...5 day weekend, not bad...
One last thing, as most of you are aware, I am a die hard conservative Republican, my Lebanese reps have been excited for me with the big election victories...it has been fun to hear them talk about it....
Love to hear from you....I miss my friends and America.

John

Uh oh, my brush with the Dubai Police.....

Well, you may have thought it would happen, but I didn't...I had a brush with the law and the law won...Don't get panicky, it was minor but somewhat demonstrative. I was driving back to the office on the road that runs next to Dubai mall. There is an intersection in  front of the theatre entrance at the mall. Its 3 lanes across, the far left lane turns into the mall, and has a separate light that is head high on the left, while the two right lanes merge into one shortly after the light to enter the highway.  So I am the second car stopped at the red light in the middle lane. To my left, a gentlemen has rolled down his window and is trying to get me to give him directions in English that I could not grasp (and let's face it-I am not a good choice for direction asking)...So the straight away light (that is head high on the right side) turns green, while the red light on the left stays red. Unfortunately the Kuwaity gentlemen and his burka covered bride in front of me are not familiar with the traffic scheme, they start out on the green, then notice the red light to his left and think he may be running a light so slams his brakes on, I start following him on the green, admittedly (that can't be the way to spell it) distracted by the guy shouting out of his window for direction help (he is in the turn only lane- maybe he wanted mall parking tips..sigh) well to make a long blog short....bango I rear ended the car in front of me. Thankfully nobody was hurt and the impact was at less than 10 miles per hour so the damage was minor (my license plate was bent and the paint on my bumber scratched, the other cars bumper was slightly displaced.) We pulled off to the side of the road, that's when life in the Middle East reared its head....

The Kuwaiti gentlemen was a class act, he got out of his car, and assured me that he and his bride were not harmed. He also apologized and said he got confused by the lights....well the law here is that you need to immediately report any accident. Well the "911" system here is a little different, if you have a fire it is 997, an ambulance is 998, for the Poh poh its 999. So I dial 999 on my blackberry, and the communication is difficult, so my new found Kuwaiti bumper buddy had to get on my phone and speak Arabic to the dispatcher. They told us to go into the mall at the police station there and report our accident. So we had to pull our cars into the station, and enter the station. There were three officers present, we approached the counter then the keystone fun began. The officers would not speak English. My new Kuwaiti friend, asked them on more than one occasion to speak English so that I would understand and the officers refused. He spoke both languages, he would speak English, then respond in Arabic, I was deemed to be at fault (I did the rear ending, so it makes sense). Well, the officer starts writing the accident report in Arabic...
I am talking the symbols not just the language. He then starts writing me a ticket (I would have no idea if the other motorist would not be telling me what is going on). I feel very alone, and am a little nervous, so while the officer is filling out his paperwork, my new friend from Kuwait tells me that he went to grad school in Boston, and that he loves America and Americans. He apologizes in front of the officers for their lack of language courtesy (they all speak English, it is the official business language of the UAE and remember 85% of the population are from outside the country and English is every body's second language), he then was engaged in a heated conversation in Arabic with the police. I don't think they liked that he was disrespecting them with me. So they hand me the ticket (not one word of English on it) and instructed me to "sign it" awww, they can speak the language. I ask for a translation, he repeats sign, I say I can't read it, he puts his arm together like the handcuff symbol...I signed.  I fought the law, but the law won...lol...fine 400 dirhams (100 dollars) lots of drama but end the end more bloginess than anything else...

Sheik Saqr bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, the ruler of the Ras al Khaimah emirate died on Wednesday. there is a little crisis in that Emirate as there is a power struggle between two brothers to take the monarchy over. The more powerful rulers from Abu Dhabi and Dubai quickly recognized the younger brother (who is more friendly to the west) and was the crowned Prince, while the older brother has actually seized the government palace and surrounded it with troops loyal to him. The older brother (Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi) is also closely tied to Iran. The straight of Hormuz runs past the Emirate and at that point Iran is only 60 miles away. The older brother has been very involved in smuggling goods into Iran against the UN blockade. Hopefully it will be resolved in the Prince's favor and does not escalate into something ugly. Probably not on the news radar in America, but can have serious consequences for the West. The UAE is in official mourning, no music (even on the radio)
Time to hit the pool, have to work tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, so I want to seize the day (low 90's absolutely beautiful fall Dubai weather) - and frolic and rest...
Love to hear from you....
John

48 today....Whoo Hooo...sigh

48 is the new 45, lol...it has been a long week away from Dubai...
As most of you are aware, I spent the past week in Paris, a mini adventure within the big adventure.
Started my 6 and a half hour flight to Paris last Friday night...The flight was full, and I had a middle seat in coach, so I was hopeful that I would sit next to some cute petite french girl, so I could sleep or flirt or both (both wonderful things to do while flying) So I am seated next to this grandma in a burka...4'8" and very tiny...I was excited, elbow room and sleep lie ahead (no flirting with the Burkas-or talking with come to think of it)..So right before take off they decided to reunite two Pakistani business men, that's right Iranian Granny out, overweight Pakistani men in(much heavier than me-thanks for asking). So of course he had to take his shoes off, cracked ugly feet that were on my legs...then the snoring and the worse infringement, while he was deeply asleep a monster belch that I was sure was going to cause the airbags to deploy...lOOOOONGG flight...
The hotel was a nice Novatel hotel. (if I ever get back, will insist on staying in one of the traditional hotels downtown) in Bercy. Had a couple of nice dinners with hosts from McCain and Rupericht, and the convention was huge...
I have been around some large SYSCO shows, this was probably 8 to ten times larger than any of those shows...massive. I spent 75% of my time in one of the Halls (the protein one)...We found some products that might work for us...
The whole trip was overshadowed with the strikers. In a nutshell, the French Government is trying to change the retirement age from 60 to 62. The strikers (mostly unions and students) have tried to shutdown the transportation grid. By the middle of last week, all the refineries were cut of, 25% of stations were out of gas creating gas lines that were very long (waits well over an hour) and the train and subway system crippled (bout a third of normal trains.) The commutes were over two hours and we switched from  metro, to train to bus to get around the strikers...the trains were extremely crowded, but we stayed out of the fray, except when I got into a conflict with 6 strikers on the Metro, they were carrying placards that were critical of the wealthy, they didn't seem to like it that I told them that since the city's transportation grid was crippled because of strikers like them that perhaps they should get off the Metro and walk...Bob thought it was funny, Fadi was terrified, and in the end after a good natured spirited discussion (especially with a 35 year old teacher- I convinced him he would be a better teacher at 61 than he was today) they wished us well and were laughing with us as we left the train.
Flight back was interesting as we flew over the Alps and then over Iran back to Dubai (empty seat next to me :-) )
Things at work were not smooth, the conversion to a warehouse Management system did not go smoothly...Lots of fires to put out this week. I got up this morning, spent an hour at the pool, have done the laundry, I am planning on going over to the mall and have fish and Chips at the Social House for my birthday dinner. Nut roaster and gelatos at the Souk...I am alone, but it is good to be back in my apartment for my birthday...
Going to work on Saturday, got to catch up!
Happy Birthday to me,
John

Leavin on a jet plane...

Bob, Fadi, and I are leaving in a few minutes to catch an Air France flight to Paris for a week long convention. I have packed my camera, but I am a little nervous. There is the terror watch for Americans to avoid France and a major transportation strike in France.It will be my first trip to Paris, lets keep our fingers crossed that I return to Dubai safely next Thursday.
This weeks fun in the UAE involved going to the Doctor. The health care industry is different (like so much else here). Bob's shoulder has been bothering him, so he made an appointment at the Dubai Health Care center at the Dubai Mall. (yes the Mall). So Bob told me that his co pay was 50 Dirhams (12 bucks), the facility was ultra modern.Pharmacy on site it was all covered, he recommended it to me.
I need a local doctor, so I made an appointment. After meeting with doctor having tests done picking up my prescription...my copay 2,300 Dirhams. It seems that Bob has better company insurance than me....sigh.
The good news is with my recent promotion I am elig. for the same insurance as Bob, beginning in January...
Got to call a cab...I'll post Paris pics on facebook...
Have a nice weekend!
John

Odds and Ends

I have been working so many hours, not as much fun or interesting stuff to blog about....Bob found my banking issues to be laughable, so maybe you can share in my misery (I know Susan, I should bank with you-in time dear). I get paid once a month (usually the last day of the month), and I have a credit card tied to my checking account. It gets paid in full by automatic draft out of my checking account. Well, that was hitting the 28th of the month, so my largest deduction was hitting my account 2 or 3 days before my only deposit. Well, I asked my British based bank if I could move my due date to the second of the month, so there would be no chance of a shortfall. Well to make a long story short, they moved my date the billing date-not the due date...sigh, English may be the official business language of the UAE, but it is a struggle...so, my bill came earlier than expected, but it matched up with my payday...no big deal...right? wrongo...So the bank called me last Thursday and said my credit card was due, I reminded them of the change in bill due dates we has agreed to, they saw the notes said, ooops no big deal. The money matched up that night, and they changed my next bill date to October 2nd instead of November 2nd...still not a big deal, I only had about 500 durhams in new charges,($130) and had well over 10,000 dirhams in the bank...well, when they changed the bill due date they forgot to turn back on the autopay system. So, in the meantime my bundled package of my cable/phone/Internet reached its credit limit...thats right, they establish a credit limit even though it automatically charges my credit card. So when I got home at 9 pm from work on Thursday, my cable, long distance and Internet were cut off. I called the local number, reminded them that they had my credit card and my bill was not due until Oct 10. Well, they informed me (all those international call centers where they don't speak English well to handle customer service issues/they apparently use the same call centers here)  since I had been cut off I had to either pay my bill online (difficult to do when Internet is cut off) or go to the "Du" store and pay me bill. So Friday morning (Remember Friday is Sunday here) I hauled my butt down to the due store to straighten this out. After waiting in line for hour (similar to America), I finally got to speak face to face to a customer care rep. Well I ripped into this guy about how stupid it was to cut me off when they had my credit card (do you see where this is going yet) and I had paid my bill in time in full every month (ok both of them). Imagine me raising my voice in the I make a lot of money, why would you cut me off because I make a lot of International calls...blah, blah blah! I got my two pounds of flesh!   So, then I handed over my bank credit card, to pay my "Du" bill. Yes, declined...that is right, the customer with great credit and plenty of money, card is declined....sigh...The bank is down the hall in the mall, but it's Friday, banks are closed. So, I truly have plenty of money in the bank, so I get money out of the ATM and slink back to "Du" with my tail between my legs.,.I only wish that ended it...It took all day Friday to get hooked back up with cable and Internet.
So Saturday, I head to the bank, to straighten out my account. When I get there I find out since I did nt pay my credit card bill on Oct 2nd (I did not know I had one due, suppose to be Nov 2nd) they had put my card on hold and I had been turned over to collections...Never mind that my account was automatically set up for 100% payment and linked to my checking account with the same bank. my bill for 500 durhams had not been paid and it did not matter that I had 10,000 durhams in their bank. They showed their bill was mailed to my employer (no local mail delivery here, all your mail goes to your job) on October 1st (I haven't got it yet) and that they just had paid my entire bill on Sept. 28th....
Oh well, after an hour at the branch, they apologized and said everything was fixed...we'll see.  Bob saw a lot more humor in this than I did...

Baseball playoffs are on back in the good ole USA, my Reds are down 2 games to none and I haven't seen the first pitch...I finished 3rd in my fantasy baseball league, no way I can do it from here next year,,,been in the same league since 1991. I guess other than golf, it is just impossible to follow closely over here. Cricket is kicking off over here with little cooler weather. I do want to see it. Al Jazeera TV covers the NBA (I have no idea why), now if I just had a care to see it...

I am picking my new sales rep (Lal) up at his hotel in the morning. He worked for SYSCO Atlanta for over 10 years, his parents live in Sri Lanka, he wanted to get closer to home...I am excited to add an experienced sales rep.  I am giving him the Palms resort and Dubai World/Yaz Island for a territory. Should be quite the adventure for him.

Tomorrow is Abu Dhabi day. The new customer I have been courting opens their doors next Friday (850 room 5 star hotel ) Real opportunity.  So trying to tie up some of the loose ends.

Well maybe I will do something interesting this week, and take some pictures of it....maybe not...
Thanks for hanging in  there with me....
John

Earning my pay...

I have hit a wall in personal time available. I am working now more hours than I have in years (maybe ever). I went to work Saturday for almost 5 hours(Saturday is Sunday here), Sunday, I went to Abu Dhabi and didn't get home until after 7pm. Monday I spent the day in Al Ain (should have taken my camera-more on Al Ain in a minute) I did not get home til after 9pm, Tuesday my last call ended at 7:30 pm then I went straight to a reception for a grand opening of a new client. I got home at 10pm. Today, I sent my last email and Sham made me leave the building at 9pm. Got a Burger King Fish sandwich on the way home. Tomorrow, I start the day off with a sales meeting and have a late afternoon call scheduled with an unhappy customer...what a week....maybe my first 80 hour work week...
After no unusual weather at all I woke up Monday morning to thick fog, There were several accidents- it was at least weather...still upper 90's low 100's everyday...but it feels good outside. Everyday since I have been here the weather forecast calls for 0% chance of rain. I wonder if this winter there will be days that call for 10 or 20% chance and then will I be rooting for rain...silly question, of course I will.
On Monday I traveled to Al Ain. It is about an hour and a half drive east of Dubai, which contrary to logic is inland away from the Arabian Sea. It was a drive straight into the Arabian Desert. Lots of road construction as the road is going from a 4 lane highway to an 8 lane highway. Al Ain is a historic city. It was built around an Oasis and large spring. After an hour drive straight into the desert, all of a sudden everything was green. Grass, trees wide well paved roads Al Ain is a sleepy city. The downtown area was wall to wall buildings, not very tall and very cluttered. It reminded me of a Brad Pitt movie where he was an agent in the Middle East. The entire time I was downtown, I saw no one that would be considered a westerner. The city has a population of 375,000 people, and almost all were middle Eastern or Indian .
One of the accounts my sales rep took me too was the Al Ain zoo. It seems that the city is going through a green phase and is trying to attract tourist at the same time. They have hired a consultant from Denver, who was glad to see an American He has been here since March, and I have a feeling his living experience in the UAE has been totally different than mine. AL Ain would not be a place I would choose to live.  Our last call of the day was at the Hotel Mercure. It is located on top of a mountain (Jebel Hafeet) one of the tallest mountains in the UAE. The Hotel is on top of the mountain, and it has a beautiful view of Al Ain in the valley below. I was within two miles of the Country of Oman. I'll have to find out if Oman is a safe country to visit....
Speaking of safety, I am a little nervous about my upcoming trip to Paris. I fly out next Saturday, (16th) and I am attending an international trade show in the heart of Paris. Our Embassy is warning against traveling there, but I don't think I have a choice...definitely should be in my friends prayers...
I booked my parents tickets to visit me in February for their wedding anniversary (birthday and Christmas too, 3 presents killed with one trip!,,,lol)so the 9th of Feb. through the 19th I will have visitors...Maybe I will start a tradition of guest bloggers while they are here...almost midnight, meeting 8 hours away, need some sleep...
Don't be strangers...and come before my parents do...lol...

John

Been through the desert on a horse with no name...

Hello all!
It is a beautiful Friday in Dubai. The weekend is in full swing.The weather has finally gotten tolerable. This week the highs were mostly in the upper 90's. It is funny that it felt almost cool, I guess you just get used to the heat. Still rarely see a cloud. They claim we will have some rain in December....we'll see.
Work has gotten so busy, I am going in to the office tomorrow to clean off my desk and clear out my emails...working Saturday has never been appealing in my career, but with Sunday being the first day of the work week, it is even less appealing here....
 I am getting ready to go to church in a couple of hours, should be an interesting experience. Georges (one of our sales reps) has invited me to attend the early service (7pm). It is the English speaking one. It will be my first church service in quite awhile. I guess it is a catholic service, but  am not certain. You certainly are reminded at every turn that you are living in a Muslim nation, but with 85% of the population being expats (Foreigners) there are a lot of non- Muslims (loads of Hindu's and Buddhist along with Christians.
Tomorrow after I get home from the office, Bob and I are planning on going to the beach. It is only a few minutes from my apartment, and I will make sure I take my camera to post some pictures on Facebook. Don't expect to see any "Johnny skin" though lol...I did spend the morning at the pool, there were lots of cute gals there, I guess with the weather breaking people are venturing out more.
I am still eating out about 6 nights a week. I have fallen in love with a Lebanese restaurant called "Al Hallab". They have a dish called "Shawrma". It is either beef or chicken (I love the chicken) and its is spiced and cooked like a Gyro is slow roasted. They slice it up, serve it with fries, garnish with Lebanese pickle and tomato's and have fresh baked Arab bread (bottomless)...then on the side there is a garlic paste that is like soft spread margarine...oh my...Bob and I eat there a 6 or 7 time a month...my dinner with tip runs about 35 dirhaims ($9). The other favorite is a restaurant called "Scoozi" It is a cross between Japanese (Sushi and Tempura) and Lebanese. I love the Shrimp pizza's cooked in the wood fired oven. Other than that, most of my other fav's are US Chains...Ruby Tuesdays, Uno's Pizza, Noodles and the like. Almost any kind of American restaurant food is available here (no Chick-fil-a...:-(  too sad).
I am still making the weekly trip to Abu Dhai on Sunday's, with my new sales responsibilities I will be out of the office a lot. The sales reps are enthusiastic about learning...look out UAE, we are going to grow. One week of baseball until the playoffs, I hope I get to watch the Reds (hopefully well into October)...The Cowboys are on a bye week, so may get a full nights sleep on Sunday night...
Gotta run, drop me a note, I would love to hear from you...and when you visit, you too can try Chicken Shawrma!
John

Fall is in the Air...well sorta...

Finally, have had a couple of days where the mercury did not break the century mark...On Friday it was 98 and I felt chilled at the pool...all joking aside, you would be amazed at what you get used too...The forecast highs through the end of September are in the high 90's low 100's and the humidity hovers near 80%, and it feels nice. If you leave your car parked in the sun...watch out! Instant easy bake oven.
I have not been to any of the beaches yet, there are two very popular ones within a 15 minute car drive. The sand is too hot until this time of the year...October is beach time...
One of the things that keeps me in tune with my American self, is American sports...The PGA is televised, the tour is on Thurs - Sunday from 10pm until like 2 am....MLB has a game or two per week, usually midnight starting time or 4 am starting time...so I miss baseball....and my Reds are having their best season in the last two decades. I get the NFL (Fox coverage) starting at 8pm Sunday night, the 1pm Eastern games, and the second game of my "double header" starts at midnight...not so bad...There is no ESPN or ML Network, so much for the feature games...The pregame show just started, hopefully my Cowboys won't start 0-3....
I am feeling a little overwhelmed with work..I have some discipline issues with one of my salesman...I don't need the distraction nor does the sales force. If it was easy, they wouldn't need me.  We have hired a salesman from the states. He was a Marketing Associate for SYSCO in Atlanta for over 10 years.  He is Sri Lanken, his name is Lal and he wanted to move closer to home, I can't wait til he starts on the 10th of October...I spent most of the day in Abu Dhabi, the commute is almost scary...It is about 150 Km...the speed limit is 120 km's...The radar does not issue tickes until 140 km's. So, I set my cruise control atr 138 (nearly 90 mph) and get in the middle lane (8 lane highway) of the Sheik's toll road. Bedouins pop out of no where and make mad dashes across the road. I am sure I will see a fatality during my stay. There were cars that passed me today that had to be nearing or surpassing 200 KM's. I passed by Ferrari world (worlds largest indoor theme park) maybe some of the drivers were doing laps...My customer told me O'bama was in Abu Dhabi today, I guess he is visiting the troops in a secret visit (shhh its a secret),,,we are one month away from election day.
I have been trying to find time to visit the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi. I stopped there last Sunday, but it was closed for the local holiday. I want to register to vote, but more importantly I want to let them know where to find me in case of some kind of crisis...Just up the road in Saudi Arabia, (2 hour drive) justice was served swiftly last week. A guy was convicted of rape, and beheaded by sword in swift justice. There is no DNA controversy and I think death row has 1 bunk bed...quick justice!
Last Wednesday my apartment had a fire drill. Last Thursday there was a fire. LOL...Someone was smoking and left their apartment to go to work, the fire was pretty intense, lots of damage on the 21st floor...the windows were all blown out , so the pool (broken glass fell in it) was closed until late Saturday. I need a visitor,,,one or several of you friends step up!!!!!

Time to get ready for the Cowboy/Texans game...Go Cowboys!!!!

John

Hump Day is over downhill from here!!!

It is almost 7pm in Dubai, and I just decided to call it a day and head home from work, but first a quick update....

I have started working out at night....now the dilemma is before or after dinner. Sasha and Dominik (yes the correct spelling) are encouraging me to get back in shape...truly, I do know it is good for me, but I am sore...

At work my promotion was announced, but  think it has ruffled a few Lebanese feathers that an American has been promoted over the sales force. I will have my challenges to create a good working atmosphere as I lead the team to achieve new goals. Funny thing happened with a new product that was introduced to us...you may recall that the grocery stores have weird flavored potato chips (ketchup is a big seller), well Pringles tried to introduce through us a new flavor - Smokey BBQ Ribs flavor. I am fortunate to get free samples of new products, but I did not get that excited about this flavor profile, well to make a long story short, one of the ingredients is pork, alas, we will not be distributing....who heard of having pork in a potato chip?  Only in the UAE....

The big music update is (believe it or not) the country has Justin Bieber fever...Oh vay, I can not believe these people love his music. There is a big contest going on to win a trip to LA, to see him in concert...I know the kind of fever I would get from having to take an 18 hour flight to see Justin Bieber...sigh...

I watched my beloved Cowboys lose on Sunday night...0-2, at least I got to see it live...Last Sunday nights game I listened to on the radio before work at 4 am...The outcome on TV was not any better...Now my Reds are going to the playoffs, but I have only seen 3 games so far. I hope the playoffs will be televised here.

The weather is gradually getting cooler everyday, I think today it only reached 98 (I will watch Al Jazeera tv to confirm, after the how can we hate America even more segment, I will confirm today's weather), if it did not hit 100, it will be the first day under the century mark since I got here....I am actually getting used to it. Maybe when it is in the 80's this winter, I will need a sweater...lol...Sorry that my blog has been boring, all work is making me dull...I hopefully get out and do something fun....

I am missing my friends....

Cheers!
John

Dominic's Birthday at the pool...

Sorry that I have not taken the time to post a message sooner, it has been a very eventful week.

Work update, I am spending every Sunday in Abu Dhabi, I have a new large customer that wants me to come see him every week until he is open in October, and unfortunately he is not bonding with our sales rep. I worked til after 7 pm every night this week....so much to do. I was promoted to sales manager on Thursday...I don't know where to start...I do still like it there - just need some help!

Today is Dominic's 30th birthday...We have been at the pool for over 4 hours celebrating. Sasha, Bob, and I have been enjoying the sun, water and beverage (remember Dominic is my 32nd fllor neighbor that is German and works at AIG, Bob is my boss from Atlanta, and Sasha is from Lebanon, he is a manager at Transmed(different department) I really like him and he moved in with his fiancee after he heard how much Bob and I like it here. I made a new friend today. Her name is Alison she moved here from England (she's Scottish) two weeks ago. Very attractive and very nice, she is a dance instructor teaching kids dance. She lives on 7th floor. We were having a party in the Jacuzzi (with also Arta - also very lovely gal from Iran)... It was a lot of fun...I think I am burnt...serves me right! It is what I like best here, interesting people from all over the world.

My traffic ticket scandal ended unfortunately with me paying the $150 fine. Can't fight the man...My ticket was in Arabic and I only know the time it was issued not the location or how fast I was alleged to be going in August...lol...None of my work friends were very helpful with reading the ticket...

The government has put new poles in intersections to help people stay in their lanes..the funny part is that they are about 3 foot high, are concrete and painted solid black. They look neat during the day, unfortunately you can't see them at night...I wonder how many cars will hit them in the first couple of days before they change them....it is fun to be here...

One last thing, I did win the big bet at the pool today....Dominic and Sasha said I could not swim the length of the pool (it is full sized) underwater with out taking a breath...I almost drowned...lol, but in the end, I won 100 Dirhams from Dominic and my buddy Bob picked up 20 from Sasha...I was an Olympic hero for a few brief moments...

Need to shower and head out....Best to all of you...

John

Holiday Weekend is coming to an end...

Well, my three day weekend is almost over. I have not done a lot this weekend...Quick workouts in the morning, followed by about an hour of lying out and swimming. I am trying to follow my Reds from here. It is entirely from the internet, unfolrtunately-There is no ESPN on my Allah blessed cable...I do get two NFL football games live this weekend. I get the "Fox sports" feed, so the 1 pm and 4 pm games and the Fox NFL Sunday start on tv at 8 pm here. Yes, I work my first day of the week, get home have dinner, then back to back NFL games...It will end at 2 am, so Monday may be a little taxing. I need for baseball to be over, I wake up most mornings a little after 4 am, and turn on the internet radio broadcast of the reds...I am too old to do this much longer, although I was excited to have the Cards lose and Reds win last night...6 games up!

The logistics of getting products from America for work is getting a little frustrating, if a customer wants an American product it takes me over 60 days to order and get it here. I have always been proud of my sales ability, but this is a little taxing. There are very common foodservice items like film and foil wrap that are not plentiful here. Lot of opportunity, just have to get the salesforce trained, and the products in stock.

There is a definate possability that the authorities are reading this, so occasionally I censor myself, that being said, please don't encourage/support the burning of Islamic bibles. It has gotten the Muslims stirred up and I have already had a couple of people talk with me about it. There is a chance that a volatile situation could arise here. I am enjoying the feeling of safety, and I really don't want to lose it over a zealot that just wants to symbolically lash out. I have business in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, and while there I plan on visiting the US Embassy. Hopefully I can vote, and also let my American Government know where I am in case of crisis. We are not far from Iran 1/2 hour by motor boat and things could heat up rather quickly.

Things happen everyday that I think that I need to rember to share...a good example is that our lifeguard at the pool does not know how to swim. You can't make up some of the zaniness that is everyday life here. From the human interest front, our good friend Sham got a promotion. He now is the Company Presidents personal assistant. He has a couple of cleaning guys reporting to him. I still think he is living a tough life, he has a 40 minute bike ride to and from work everyday, in this heat...wow.  Today's high will only be 101 degrees, the coolest day since I arrived. Forecast is for over 100 all next week, maybe we'll enjoy sub 100 degree highs next week.

Traffic ticket update...I am not out of the woods yet, the leasing company is trying to hold me responsable. Stay tuned, I am not done fighting this one!

Headed to the Mall for lunch (Ramadan is thankfully over) and having Ribeye steaks and baked potato's with Bob for dinner. I watched the 9-11 special on Fox news this morning, still brings tears to my eyes...I hope that it always will, it is a strange place to be on this day, but brings home my country and my loyalties...

God Bless You and God Bless America!

John

Life in Dubai....

I know you are enjoying your Labor day, I am already through two days of the work week, and Thursday is a Holiday. Ramadan finally ends this Thursday, and it's a three day holiday. Unfortunately, two of the three days hit on a weekend this year...well there is always next year...
I have a nice car radio (absolutely no seg-way)and there is one station that does not sound like they are strangling a goat live on the air. It's "virgin Radio" out of the UK. In the afternoon's Ryan Seacrest (American Idol host) has a show. The rest of the DJ's are Brits, and the music is a dance/Top 40 blend. The call in's from the Arabs are funny as they get poked fun of with game show antics...It reminds me of America, and I actually have started to enjoy it. Lot's of M & M, Rianna, and Keesha. Although I do get to hear Bob sing Enie, meaney, miney Moe lover at the top of his lungs...Well it is "Shorty" singing, might as well, have Bob bellowing along.
The roads have tons of traffic radar camera's along the way, and if you get a ticket, you just pay the traffic ticket  fine. Now, I have decided that I am not going to waste money on tickets...Well today, a courior delivered a fine (625 Dirhams -$160USD)...I could not read the Arabic ticket, but I could read the time and date...well, the leasing company had my car for service when the ticket was issued...I have a call in...we'll see if I have to go to the "Ruler's Court" or if my leasing company will voluntarily pay the ticket they got...stay tuned!
I know that if you look at my Facebook pics you will think I am obsessed with the Burj Kahlifa. It is the worlds largest building that stands right next to my apartment. Now, I knew it was the world's tallest, but I did not realize how it dwarfs the other tall buildings in the world. It is over 200 stories high and is almost twice as high as the Empire State building. What a magnificiant structure. If you buy tickets in advance, you can elevator up to the observation deck. It costs a 100 Dirhaims (27 bucks)...I am waiting to do the tour with my first guest. Bob and Sandy went up during her recent visit...I can't wait!
Headed to the Mall of the Emerites for dinner, have a restful Labor Day, and I will catch up with you on my three day weekend!
It's sorta like a holiday today, so you get half a blog...
Love Ya!
John

Labor Day weekend....sorta...

Ok, if I have not told you already, I am offficially Ramadan'd out! This was the last weekend of Ramadan as it is scheduled to end next Thursday. I don't get Monday off, funny they do not celebrate Labor day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, MLK day, or Memorial Day here. They do have about a dozen Muslim holiday's, but most of them fall on weekends this year. They do not enjoy our custom of taking Monday off when the holiday falls on a weekend...oh well, I did get 30 vacation days in my package, so no crying!
Speaking of holidays, next Thursday begins the three day celebration of the end of Ramadan(Holiday,,,ding,ding, ding!) called Eids. Now since we last chatted, I enjoyed an Iftar at the Atlantis. My company is having an Iftar to end the season this Wednesday. Next year, let's enjoy our own Iftar/feasts while on my vacation in the states.
One of the customers that I have been courting called and invited me to bring friends to a dry run of his new restaraunt concept last night. So Bob, Fredarique(his Account Exec), and Dominic (infamous neighbor) went to try it out. It is an African menu. The staff wore traditional African garb, sang and danced to African drums. The servers were reqruited from Africa. Our waiter was from Zimbobway. (remember no spell check..lol)..I really liked it had wonderful Prawn appatizer and amazing BBQ'd Ox tail.
Trying to keep up with my fantasy sports addiction, my baseball team is hanging in fourth place, and I actually got to watch my second game since I got here, Cardinal/Reds game (Reds lost sadly) It started at 4 am this morning. I was just beginning my last stage of my online fantasy football draft. So when I got done with everything at 7:45 this morning, I headed down for a workout. Now the good news to this lack of sleep is that there was another American guy working out. When Bob arrived and he heard Bob and I chatting about golf (rooting for Tiger to miss the cut) and baseball, he was excited. Said it was the first time he had heard someone discussing baseball games in almost a year(he's an Oakland A's fan..is that really baseball?)...What he had to say that was encouraging was that I will get to see American Football here...next weekend we will see, and you will surely hear about my Cowboys.
Going to run to the mall and find some supper, then to bed, short work week starts in about 12 hours....Enjoy your weekend, and feel free to keep me in your thoughts Sunday morning. BTW, the UPS plane that crashed killing both Americans happened about 10 miles from my apartment, very sad.
Catch you back here soon,

John

Ramadan update,,,,and don't worry be happy...

First, I want to apologize if I sounded down in my last posting. I am living large, things are great...a few of you mentioned that my post was "lonely" or depressing...I assure you that was unintentional.
On the other hand, this Ramadan thing....geez. I never really gave much thought to the effect of the restaurant world being closed until 7 pm at night would effect me....I have always said that lunch was one of my five favorite meals of the day....Updating you on the season, as you may recall, from sun up til sun down Muslims can not eat or drink during this 30 day period and I can't let them see me eating or drinking. I get up from my desk a dozen times during the day and go into the back break room to drink a cup of water...the non-Muslims in the office (about half of the employees) have brought back the true meaning of hanging out at the water cooler...
The other thing with food that happens during Ramadan is called the "Iftar". The Iftar is the big meal that the faithful partake in right after sunset. It's an event and an organized mayhem. The Arabic restaurants set up special buffets and seating's and large groups and family's go out virtually every night to enjoy these Iftar dinners. The meaning is to "break fast", and they serve a date (Mideastern fruit) to start the meal, followed by Lentil soup, usually some other traditional appetizer, then the main dishes are Lamb or Hammur fish (reminds me of cod) or another Arab dish. Pastries and yogurts are served for desert. It is a feast...then at about 8:30 the restaurant starts normal seating for us infidels..lol. As you may also recall, the company I work for is Lebanese owned, and most of Senior management is Muslim. Well I was able to experience an Iftar last night. The company Manager(President) hosted senior management for an Iftar dinner at a Lebanese Restaurant right next to the Mall of Dubai's (it was close by at least). So, I got to try a little bit of everything...
I think it will be next years Senior Management Iftar dinner until I attend another one...I did enjoy the good spirits...It is their "Christmas" season...They wish you a Ramadan Kareem (A generous Ramadan) everywhere you turn...
Ramadan will end next Friday or Saturday (Sept 10/11)...it will depend on celestial readings and wont be announced that its over until hours before it ends...Then becomes the Ead al-fitr. This is a three day celebration of the end of Ramadan. They usually give to the poor or a charity as a part of the celebration, it is a fascinating time to be here, but I would not call it enjoyable...
Our restaurant customers have taken a bath during this time, a couple of the steakhouses that we have are doing a third of their normal business....ten more days....
A couple of my Christian coworkers have invited me to their church service this Friday evening, I am looking forward to attending, and I am certain it will inspire me to update "our" blog.
Well, the weekend is almost here, I am bushed...I will try and find something interesting to share soon....
Hope you are having a "Ramadan Kareem"...
John

What I miss....

As my weekend winds down, I am mentally preparing myself for another week here. There are so many things that need to be done at work....I have been so well received, yet I have not returned on the investment that my company has made in me yet...I am feeling pressure, but it is so far from within, I hope to keep it that way.
I posted on my facebook status today that I was suffering from withdrawals from baseball and football (American not soccer)...One of my favorite people from my favorite restaurant posted a message back, that I was missed...nice sentiment Alex...The guys and gals from Hendels,(Awesome restaurant in Florissant, MO) I grew to love. Nate, Alex, Jimmy, Alli, Christine, Kenny, Steve even JoAnne their SYSCO rep....I enjoyed calling on them, and being a part of their success - I miss them and my other customer friends/Knights of Columbus, Wang Gang, Amarillo Tex's, and Jack's Place...those and others made my job fun even on bad days...Believe it or not, I have made friends at each one of those accounts that are following this boring blog...That part of the job here has yet to be realized (there are a couple of customers that I think I will develop that kind of relationship with) but hopefully it will be soon. So I miss that group of friends....
I miss the work friends that I spent so much time with, Todd and Chad especially so.
Most of my lifelong friends like Fred, Janie, Danno, Lee, Amy, Linda and many others I rarely saw, but I miss being able to just pick up the phone and call. I do speak with my mother and Fred (power of attorney and American bill payer) regularly - although being so far away makes it more difficult.
This blog maybe a way for all of you friends from work and school keep up with me, but I think it is very therapeutic for me...I am a long ways away and I won't be returning to the States until Late July/Early August 2011.
I miss good ole American TV. I do get Fox news, and National Geographic (in HD!) I know everything I ever wanted to know about sharks, alligators and Dinosaurs (yes, even when they fought each other-like a bad Scooby Doo episode to make the link). I missed a chance to watch a baseball game last night, the Reds/Cubs were on live at 3:05 in the morning. I woke up at 5:30 and saw the highlights...what a let down.
I missed watching Big Brother this summer, and my favorite show Survivor should be about to start. Even the silly show's like Wipeout and especially the shows on HBO/Showtime like True Blood, Entourage and the like. There are so many Arabic stations here, I get Al Jazeera 1 & 2 and ten channels of Al Jazeera sports (I think its all soccer and be headings...)    ;-) Just seeing if you are paying attention.
Now let's chat about what I don't miss...I don't miss Taxes...You don't realize how much farther your money goes when you don't pay sales tax. If dinner is $19.95 it's $19.95! Tipping here is 10% or less, although I tend to tip more than 10%. So in America, if dinner was $20. you have taxes of usually around 7% and then a tip of 20% on top of that. So it ends up being $27 plus...here it would be $22....money goes further.
I don't miss Federal Income, state and Fica tax. I was averaging about 40% in the States...need I say more.
I don't miss rude servers and salespeople. This is a service driven market where you are greeted with friendliness and extreme courtesy-however that is spelled).
I don't miss $2.75 gas...I spend about $25 a week on it here...I don't miss American Banks, I am drawing interest on my checking- with no fees, even my credit card is no charge and I get generous Airline miles.
Oh well, I don't mind conforming to rules, so the Muslim presence here doesn't bother me, in fact I find it very interesting to learn about their customs and practices.
This weekend has been a little lonely, Sandy is headed back to the States as we speak, so I get to start doing things with Bob again. Dominic had another party Thursday evening...I attended, and yes I am older than dirt, I felt so out of place with 40 plus under 30's and me...I spent all weekend trying to recover...
Busy day at work tomorrow, so I need to hit the hay! Thanks to all of my friends and family both named and otherwise for hanging in there with me. Hopefully we will all see each other within the next year....come visit, my contract runs through December 2013.
God Bless you and God Bless the USA!
Your Friend,
John

The weekend is here!!!!

TAIT!
A very long week at work is now over. I was proud of myself for taking a lot of photo's and posting them on facebook this week. If you don't have facebook and want the latest photos - just let me know and I will email them to you. 
This is going to be a "loose ends" blog. Lots of small things that have come up that are not worthy of a blog topic. Sandy is still here visiting Bob, so it has been a lonely week. I hear she is loving her stay and will return to Atlanta this Saturday night.
I have had a few of you inquire about visiting. I would encourage you to do so. I am so grateful that when Janie & Rodney(friends from college) were stationed in Hawaii and a Alaska that they let me visit them. Alaska was awesome, and I probably would never have visited the state if they would not have been there. When are you ever going to have a better opportunity to visit someplace like the United Arab Emirates...besides, I miss my friends and am a little homesick for America...a round trip ticket can be had for less than a thousand dollars...I promise to help keep your spending down when here. I plan on my parents Birthday/Christmas/anniversary present to fly them over this February...so that won't be the best time to visit.

Speaking of traveling, I plan on returning to the states for a vacation next August. I probably will fly in around August 1st and spend some time with friends as well as time with the folks in good ole Lebanon, VA.

Sometimes (ok lots of times) I have spelling gaffes on here, well my Arab filter on my laptop really messes up spellcheck. When I click on it, every word shows up as mis spelled...sorry...

Dominic, my German neighbor on the 32nd floor is throwing another party tonight. I plan on dropping in, believe it or not, the half drunk girls want to ask lots of questions about America...it amazes me how many people claim that I am the first American they have met. I often wonder about the impression of America/Americans I leave them with.
Living an interacting with the people here I am beginning to have my favorite nationalities...The kindness of the Indian people may be tops on the list. The Sri Lankens, Banglideshians and Filipino's tend to be very friendly also. Amongst the Middle Easterners, Jordanians and Egyptians are very nice. The Lebanese tend to be very proud and somewhat prejudicial, while the Bedouins would in general rather I leave them alone. Now as far as Beautiful women go, the Lebanese women are stunning...although the Russian and Serbian women seem to be very approachable, if you know what I mean...of course the above is an "in general characterisation" and there are many both good and bad that don't fit these stereotypes.
With 85% of the population being a citizen elsewhere, there is always something to strike up a conversation about.
I do plan on visiting the Europe and other middle Eastern countries while I am here. Turkey is an inexpensive ticket and about a four hour plane ride, Egypt is less than 4 as is Lebanon.
I have a business trip scheduled for Paris in early October...have I mentioned how fortunate I am to be here?
I bought more furniture for my apartment and bought curtains. I hired a couple of handymen to put the furniture together and hang my curtains.
I still have a dry cleaning service for my dress shirts and slacks. It costs about a $1.75 per shirt and $2 for slacks. That does include them picking up and dropping off.
Ok, enough of the inane rambling, thank you so much for the emails,,,it is very comforting to know that you are all here with me...
Here's to a late night...lol...Happy Tait to you!
John

The Road to Abu Dhabi

Sorry that I have been a little slack with my updates. I have been worn out since I stayed up all night this past weekend participating in my fantasy League football draft. I am not too optimistic since I have not been able to see any exhibition games and the sports news is basically what I can find online. Oh well, hopefully Dubai cable will allow me to see some games...Same is true with baseball, I have only seen one game since I got here, the Reds are finally having a good year, I think I'll be able to see some playoff games.
Monday, I spent the day in Abu Dhabi. They are building a new theme park on Yaz Island just this side of Abu Dhabi. The park is called Ferrari world and yes believe it or not will be the worlds largest indoor theme park. It is scheduled to open in October. I took a couple of pictures (hard to be tourist and business man) and will post them on facebook in the next 24 hours. Yaz Island is a new resort, they have a new Crown plaza and 3 or 4 other hotels all adjacent to a Marina and this new theme park. There is also a Marina there.
We went on into Abu Dhabi after our appointment and met with the Chef at another 5 star hotel. Bob actually had worked with this chef during the Olympics in Atlanta. It's a small world, and yes we should pick up some major business. On the drive back it occurred to me I have not talked about the "Interstate system" here.
The roads are in a constant growth status. On my 12 minute drive to work there will be at least two different places that road crews are either doing repair work or expansion. There are virtually no pot holes since we have no winter. The roads have different speed limits from 60 khm to 120 khm. (not so fast to pretty darn fast, I should have paid attention to metrics in school- I remember saying "Why waste time on this we will never use it" lol,,,). They enforce the speed limits with radar photo boxes that are in the median that are moved regularly. The fines are from 250 Dirhaims on up, and they don't care how many you get as long as you pay them. Of course you can go to court. It is called the "Rulers Court" - Good luck with that.
Drivers hare are just the opposite of everything else. They are extremely aggressive and very uncourteous. They will merge without a blinker causing you to slam on your brakes. At lights they absolutely lay on the horn at the slightest delay. They will make illegal turns right in front of you and they Love speed. On the other hand the penalty from running a red light is a large fine and 6 month loss of license, so nobody runs them. On Monday, I had my cruise control at 135 khms and I was in the left lane, a SUV came up from behind me and before I could get moved over it passed me on the shoulder....this is a 4 lane highway. Defensive driving is a must. Now the penalty for flipping someone off can actually be deportation, but if you are lucky and it is your first offense 30 days in jail will suffice. On a similar note, if you are involved in a physical altercation, no matter who starts it, deportation is in order. Conform you are in paradise, don't conform get out...pretty clear message.
The most common political discussions going on right now are the Palestine/Israeli situation and Israel/Iran nuclear conflict. Most expats (Non-citizens) are concerned about the possibility of war and what could happen is Israel takes out Iran's Nuclear reactors. Remember, Iran is just across the strait of Hormuz (less than 100 miles at its tightest place), and that is the area Iran has threatened to cut off the worlds supply of oil if they are attacked. Along the coast many ships make daily trips across the straight delivering goods to Iran breaking the embargo. It is big business here. Bob and I are planning on registering with their US Embassy shortly, so that we can be easily found in the event of a regional crisis.
Keep your fingers crossed that everything is resolved peacefully.
Catch up with you soon....
John

TAIT!!!! Thank Alla it's Thursday...

The weekend is here and I am bushed....I hope you saw my face book picture of Sham and I. He's such a good guy, although a sneaky one. You have read earlier about Sham conning me out of pasta...now he's trying to tell me he does not know meat...too funny...
The fasting that I am indirectly participating in is very tough.....limited food options and no fluids...how do they do it for a month, I just don't know.
Well Sandy arrived here yesterday to spend a few days with Bob. They make a great couple. Consequently, I  am free to do whatever I want.I started tonight....
I was invited to Dominic's party. He had about 20 people to his apartment on the 32nd floor. His boss was there, along with a great friend of his from college (Dominic is approaching 30 years old.) Dominic has purchased a special license from the government which allows him to buy alcohol...15 under thirty people, yes another hot Russian, and an even hotter Serbian....Actually a very diverse and friendly group...Germans, French, Swedish, and Lebanese. I spent an hour sharing views with this Serbian gal, she told me not to worry about voting, the US elections were decided in a smoke filled back room...she said " you actually think they count the votes"? I really enjoyed speaking with her....Back to the pool in the morning, it will be the first time back since I roasted myself last weekend, Then Bob wants us to take Sandy to hyper panda for grocery shopping...quite the romantic...
I am slacking in my fantasy baseball league, it is just so hard to keep up with, I am drafting my fantasy football team tomorrow at like 4 in the morning,sigh...
Sorry for the short blog... but I am dog tired....the weekend is here, time for me to hit the hay....

Enjoy your weekend....

Meals on a Monday...

I guess it might be interesting to talk about food in the UAE. This being a Muslim nation all protein must be Halal certified and have expiration dates....If you buy eggs in the UAE every egg has both a pack date and an "expiry" date. Every food product is labeled with the acceptable dates and there is a large fine associated with knowingly selling an expired product.
Halal certification is different, first Muslims do not eat pork. It is a big time sin. Beef, veal, chicken, game meats, virtually everything that breathed before it was harvested is covered by Halal. It assures that the animal was killed humanly, bled out properly, prayed for or blessed and has some kind of Muslim financing. Fish are not included, but all other meats must be so certified.
Now if a store or restaurant gets a special license they can serve pork to non Muslims. Very, very very few take advantage of that. Bob and I have had a pork week...lol. Saturday we went downtown to a grocery store that had a pork room. We bought some sliced ham to make sandwiches with. Well, as you may recall during this holy month (Ramadan) we can not eat or drink or even chew gum in front of a Muslim from sunup til sunset, with the penalty being possible jail time and deportation for multiple offences. Restaurants are closed during the daylight hours. So on Monday we packed Ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and went downstairs and ate them in an empty break room. It seems like we were double breaking the rules by not fasting and having pork for lunch. Tonight we had dinner at an American style restaurant (owned by a gentleman from Texas) We both had baby back pork ribs. We are catching up for lost time.....
Alcohol is not allowed for Muslims either. The UAE does allow non-Muslims to drink at international hotels. There is a zero drinking and driving tolerance. If any trace of alcohol is discovered while you are driving it is 30 days in jail followed by deportation. I don't mind being the designated driver, the risk of losing job and resident visa is just way to big to take a sip of a beer or wine.
You can get American beef (my company sells it) here. It is Angus and well aged. virtually all the produce comes from Iran and Europe. The bread at the market is fresh and very affordable. A three foot long baguette runs about 45 cents. Arab bread is even more affordable (about a nickle a pocket) and is made fresh daily and is very tasty. As I m mentioned the soda's taste like hell, almost everyone drinks bottled water with their meals. The water is mostly pulled from the gulf of Hormuz and is desalinated in a large plant. The water is not drinkable out of the spigot. So lots of water coolers and bottled water (lots of American water-like Aquafina, Dansai) are served.
Well tomorrow is Tuesday (hump day) here and I am very tired...I did get a picture of Sham and I together and I will try and post on here and Face book tomorrow.
Have a wonderful day!
John

Friday in Dubai

It's news here that President Obama is hosting a Ramadan dinner at the white house, funnily (or not) both Kenyans that I have befriended here swear that he was born in their home country, I would imagine that Matt Drudge could have a field day reporting from here...
On the not so political front, it has been a good day in Dubai. I got up this morning and worked out (lightly, have to build up)...then Bob and I enjoyed a light lunch in his apartment (made tuna salad with good ole SYSCO light chunk tuna in water)...
I decided it was time to enjoy the pool today. I met a couple of young ladies (mid 20's) from Hungary. One of them spoke almost perfect English...it is fascinating to me how many people here speak English really well. The other thing that continues to amaze me is how fortunate we Americans are. I see the servant classes working so hard here to achieve the dream of a better life for their family's. Whether it is the Indian and Pakistani workers working all night on the office buildings being built in downtown Dubai (It is estimated that 20% of the worlds skyscraper cranes are here in Dubai.) or the Philippine servers in the restaurants that are so courteous. I continually over tip, I think it may be a little guilt that I feel. I know I am who I am in a large part of that is based on where I was born...how fortunate to be an American...and here you are treated with such respect. so many of the people here express their dreams of going to America. I was speaking with a manager in a different department at work, and she posed a question that took me back a little bit, why would anyone from the United States want to come to the Middle East to work when so many from here would give up so much for the chance to come to the United States. I didn't think I wanted to explain almost 10% unemployment, taxes nearing 45% of income, and high crime rates that plague our cities while here no taxes, unemployment under 1%, and a city with virtually no crime...don't get me wrong, I cherish my citizenship and freedoms, but being a citizen of the greatest country in the world, while working abroad is not so bad...
Bob is mad at me, he says I messed up cable for the entire Emirates. In an earlier blog I shared that FTV on our late night cable had racy nudity...well the next day the channel disappeared...No joke, hopefully it was not from my blog, but don't expect me to share any more censurable tidbits...lol.
At the pool today, I also befriend a young man from Germany named Dominic. He works for AIG and got here at the same time Bob and I did. It was great sharing our tales of life here and dining and shopping places that we enjoy (Bob and I like Hyper-Panda for groceries). He invited us up to his flat for a couple of adult beverages (code for the authorities..lol). I really enjoyed my time with him and hopefully I have made another friend. That is one of my favorite things about being here, with 85% of the population being foreigners from all over the world (really like the Russian girls-may or may not share more-the authorities and mom read this :-) it is really a great place to share. Americans are rare here, so the people are always interested in sharing their story with you.
I am watching the American PGA championship on the pay sports channel. It is nice to see live American sports. I have been here 5 weeks and I Have only seen 1 baseball game (Reds game) and I am curious to see if I'll get to see any of my beloved Cowboys games this fall.
Saturdays plans include working out in the morning, pool time until lunch afternoon trip to the mall and dinner.
Please drop a note (jbruck1022@aol.com) or post a comment to let me know whats up or what you want to know about or that you are amongst those that are hanging in there with me...

Hoping your weekend is great,
John

Ramadan or not, here I come...

Well it's Fat Tuesday in Dubai, Ramadan should start tomorrow. (the Sheik's will figure out if it starts by studying the Celestial bodies tonight...)so you are wondering exactly what is Ramadan...and how does it effect your ole buddy John...
Ramadan is the Holiest time of the year for Muslims. It is a time of sacrifice and getting one's soul in alignment with God. The month long atonement. involves strict adherence to fasting rules. The observing Muslims (have not met one yet that has said they are not observing) can not let anything pass their lips from sunrise to sunset during this month. That includes water, food, gum, mints anything....they are not even allowed to use an eye drop because it enters the system as a fluid....Now I don't know about you, but I think not drinking a drop of fluid when it is nearing 120 degrees in the shade is downright scary. They are also not allowed to be intimate with their spouse during this month...they have special prayer rules so that they are up most of the night in deep prayer. They do eat a predawn breakfast and generally have a large dinner at night.
As a non-Muslim living in a Muslim country there are strict rules for me also. I am not allowed to have anything in my mouth during the day in front of a Muslim. No drinking, gum chewing food or even a toothpick. The penalty if I do can be actual jail time. Our offices are adhering to special hours. there is no music allowed to be played as background noise and you are forbidden from dancing or singing. Almost all of the restaurants are closed during the day except for some of the hotel dining establishments and they must cover their windows with black curtains so that you can not be seen inside. Now they are not expecting me to observe Ramadan just respect it. I can go to the backroom and drink water. I can run home and have lunch in my apartment and that is perfectly fine. If a Muslim has to drink water for health reasons or even take medicine. their fasting time is increased day for day and they can never be forgiven but they can mitigate their sin by doing charitable work for the poor...
My department at work is majority Christian (the company is not) so I think I will be able to cope and mitigate the effect on myself...Our friend Sham shaved his head to help get his mind right for the approaching month...We will see how it goes, I will do my best not to get arrested....

God be with us all,

John

Saturday chores and treats....

Well the weekend is winding down, and I still have a few things to get accomplished to get settled in. As you may recall, in Dubai, Thursday is Friday, Friday is Sunday (Holy day) Sunday is Monday, Tuesday is hump day and Saturday truly is Saturday. So as I write this on Saturday evening, in the back of my mind is that I have to go to work in the morning.
My buddy and boss Bob and I were quite domestic this weekend. I just returned from his apartment on the fifth floor where we dined on fresh green beans, rosemary potato's, and a bone-in prime rib roast. It was delicious. We also had a fresh baguette, the bread here is plentiful and very affordable (fresh baguette cost 90 fills (30 cents). We have a little market in the base of our apartment, but we have discovered that it is more affordable to drive 10 minutes to the "Hyper-Panda" to get our groceries (Mideast Wal-mart superstore). They are having a "Ramadan" sale. Ramadan starts this week, and it is interesting although not the best of times for a Christian to be here...look forward to Ramadan news....
Those of you that know me really well, know that I have an addiction to Diet Pepsi. I drank way too much of it....well not anymore...the Mideast version is not good at all. like a bad diet big K cola....my consumption is way down, and I fear I may have to switch to Coca Cola Light...earth shattering to say the least....
I bought plates, bowls and flatwear today, I still need a couple of tables and lamps and maybe a rug or two. Next weekend I want to be finished with this. I did take my first real pictures and posted them on Face book. I tried to post them here first, sadly technology is on my long list of weaknesses.
Work was not smooth last week, the reason I am here hit me upside my head. Sunday, I am traveling for the first time to the Capital of the UAE - Abu Dabbi (spelling on that challenging list also). It is the second largest city and the capital of the UAE, but is not as developed. It is about an hour and a half drive on the "Shek Toll road".
The heat is borderline unbearable. It is averaging 115 degrees during the day and at night it plummets into the low 90's. The heat peaks in late August, I hope I don't melt....3 months of hell heat hopefully will be offset by 9 months of "resort" temperatures. When you come and visit me (hint hint) it should be between September and May.
I am getting used to cable TV, it is government run and controlled and censored. Although on the movie stations you may see an occasional bit of nudity. They are rerunning "True blood" the HBO series that I really enjoy. they are in the middle of Season 2 here (Season 3 is half over in the states) but I have discovered that my "sexy vampire show" isn't quite as sexy without as much nudity. Just as funny, the International version of FTV "Fashion TV" is not at all censored. Too funny....
Time to go, hopefully I am not boring you to tears....

Best Regards,
John

All work makes John a dull boy....

Seems that there is some interest in what I actually do. Well I am working for a very well established Lebanese company that distributes groceries to retail stores all over the Middle East. There is a fledgling food service side of the company that my very good friend Bob was brought to Dubai to give systems and growth to using the SYSCO model. He had an immediate need for a protein guy, well it was a good fit...So Bob and I took the same plane to Dubai and it has been a new challenge everyday. We have been working 12 plus hour days. I am responsible for all aspects of growing our meat business, including training, purchasing and selling the products,
Well my loyal friends you will be happy to know Sham got me Monday. We are trying a new pasta line and had samples in our department, Sham came over looking all pitiful and said "what is this?" He claimed he had never seen spaghetti noodles before. So I spent the next 5 minutes explaining pasta to him and how to cook it....then he wants to try it, so of course I get him about a pound of it to take home and try...Within 15 minutes the department is laughing at me, because I believed him...well when I questioned him on Tuesday he gleefully rubbed it in...he got me and the free pasta, never trust your office boy!
Oh well, I have to pre clean my apartment so that the three person crew tomorrow will have no obstacles in their initial cleaning. I promise to attempt some picture uploads this weekend. Sales meeting tomorrow, got to prepare tonight...Tomorrow is Thursday!
TAIT!!!!!!

Warmest Wishes,

John