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