My Own Personal Psychic....

One year ago, I was sleeping in Nick and Mimi's guest room while my apartment was being finished. What a year it has been. November 30th was Bob's last day at Transmed, and I was just a weekend away from making a new friend, as Steve replaced Bob. I moved into my nice little "flat" here at Sandoval Gardens just after Christmas, and in the spring, I decided that maybe I was giving my all to a company that was just giving me a job to finish...I guess I finished first.
Speaking of my new place of employment, many changes are happening there also. I am spending a little time each week at our new food service warehouse construction site. I have become fairly close with the engineer that works full time planning and building Barakat facilities.

The above photo of Mahesh was taken yesterday afternoon inside of the plant. Mahesh says that next week all of the concrete will be done pouring, and then rapid progress to building will happen. He still swears to me that the building will be complete by the 1st of March, and our opening should happen around the 1st of April. Some of our co-workers have noted Mahesh's and my closeness, and I have affectionately anointed him as my "side-kick". His office is three doors down from mine, and we almost always spend 5 minuted in the morning every day catching up and sharing our plans for the coming day. Mahesh has just started working on our new Corporate facility that will break ground this spring and be completed by the fall of 2014.My sidekick and I were discussing his ambitious building schedule this week, and he asked me why I thought he was good at predictions. I was of course puzzled by his question, so he shared that I wouldn't call him my "psychic" unless I had confidence in his abilities to predict the future. I had been calling Mahesh my "side-kick" for 4 months, and now I find out that Mahesh thought I had anointed him as Kreskin...sigh, My English is tough to understand. The good news is Mahesh likes being my "side-kick" as much or more than being my "psychic."
In other good news, Juan Lopez was promoted yesterday at Transmed to Area Sales Manager of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. I was fortunate enough to hire and bring Juan over from SYSCO Atlanta in the spring of 2011. He has done an awesome job, and I couldn't be happier for him or his family. I try and see Juan as often as I can, he is just a great guy. In other extremely happy news from the past week,  I got my hair cut! In the UAE, some things are made accessible for Westerners that aren't as easy or are forbidden from the locals (usually is related to things available for Non-Muslims and Muslims). The best example of this is pork. I can go to my Spinney's grocery store and enter the "pork room" in the back, and buy my fresh American bacon, or Kenyon pork ribs. I can also go to  a few select 5 star hotels, that feature pork on their menu. It is all in a  nice gesture that the Muslim government is quite tolerant of other religions for the benefit of tourist and Western businessman like myself. Alcohal is another one of these things. If your employer allows you, they can sponsor you to allow you to buy an "alcohol license". There are a few regulated and heavily taxed stores that if you hold a license you are allowed to buy a six pack of beer at. Just like the pork room, Muslims are forbidden from entering these establishments. The same is true if you want a libation during dinner. To serve alcohol in a restaurant, it has to be attached to a hotel with a special license. During Ramadan, when almost all dining establishments are closed during daylight hours, you can find eateries in hotels that once again with a special license cater to Westerners. This got me to thinking, in my Holiday Inn Al Barsha there is a beauty salon just off the lobby. It is a "Vidal Salon" and is filled with Philipina's cutting and styling ladies hair. I had dinner with Steve on Tuesday at the infamous Thai restaurant "Royal Buddah" (my favorite server E E waited on us) just off the lobby in the Holiday Inn Al Barsha. Next door the Vidal Salon caught my eye. I inquired and yes, the can cut men's hair. They steered me into a little room in the back (too funny) past the ladies getting their hair done, and Mylene became my newest stylest.

It's not all good news, clipping my sparsely covered head, cost me about $50 with a tip, but I feel like its money well spent. I am happy that I have a new friend (Mylene) that can pretend to care about me and my life as she snips away dangerously close to my ears (do they really get bigger as I grow older?) and now it's one less thing for me to dread here in Dubai.
The bad news of the week, is that there was a big disagreement over whether that the people that report to me can have the National Holiday (UAE Independence Day) off from work, well I pushed it, and in the end I lost...It wasn't pretty, and I probably need to mend some fences...So I will see you next week, from here...Have a great weekend!

Too Much of a Good Thing, It's Possible...

Some things here are hard to figure. I need to get my hair cut (yes, it may be extremely thin - funny how it's "fine" when you're young and have plenty of it, and becomes "thin" when you get older) and I hate going to the barber in Dubai. My entire adult life, I have had my hair cut by "stylest", some of these women becoming friendly, pretending (OK, some may have really cared) to be interested in my life - making conversation while they cut my hair, hoping to garner a decent tip. Here in the UAE, men have their hair cut by men, and Ladies get their styling from women. Most of the male "hair professionals" are Egyptian or Lebanese and I do not enjoy their methods. They are very touchy-feely massaging your neck and attempting to make clever conversation in broken English. Frankly, there is nothing wrong with them, it is just not what I prefer. This conservative approach to business interactions between the sexes is even more extreme in some of the other Emirates like Sharja and Abu Dhabi. Earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, the authorities shut down several women's lingerie stores because they had male salespeople. So you think you have it figured out...well not so fast. One of the guilty pleasures that I enjoy here in Dubai is a membership to a nice spa. I go regularly to get a nice stress relieving massage. Yes, it is a traditional massage where I am undressed and a staff of Thai ladies work out those stress laden kinks in my back. Now you understand, a woman can't cut my hair here, but she can massage my unclad body. I think I understand...

It was a very busy week at work. We had a fruit and vegetable show at the World Trade Center. It wasn't very well attended, but I did get a chance to know some of the sales people in our produce divisions of our company. The 3 day show ended Wednesday, with almost all of our produce display being scavenged by the attendees. Well, as I sat and waited for the tear down of our booth, I noticed there were some beautiful Blueberries that were left in our display. Now I don't know a lot about produce, but I do know that Blueberries are chocked full of Anti-Oxidants, and I have been very slowly recovering from my respiratory infection. Yes, it would be a good thing for me to eat these blueberries... Well, two pints later, I was feelin a little blue. By the time I got home, I was feeling queasy, and after multiple trips to the bathroom and a beginning of purging of the contents of my stomach that didn't finish until late Thursday Evening. Yes, two pints of Blueberries that have sat out at a trade show for 3 days, maybe a little too much of a good thing. I hurled til my ribs hurt, when will I learn.

Another new salesman starts for us on Saturday. Sufi is a young Muslim Indian that came to me from a recommendation from my good friend Muzzy. We are creating two channels, restaurant and Hotels. Sufi is joning Kumail and Rima in the restaurant channel. Our plan for sales in our Food service Company (Barakat International) in 2013 is 100 percent growth. We should finish 2012 at about 75 million, so 150 million is the magic number for next year. Our new warehouse and Butchery is scheduled to be open by this coming spring, so exciting growth must necessarily follow.

As I write this, Thanksgiving is winding down. Juan and his family invited me to come to Abu Dhabi and enjoy Turkey and Fixings. From the above picture Juan sent me, it looks like they did it up right. Hayley and I had already planned on having Thanksgiving Dinner together, so I turned down the generous offer, then the Blueberry surprise took over my body and I had to cancel on Hayley. Thanksgiving is such a special family holiday, filled with tradition. Other than a few well wishers, it was just another working day here in Dubai. It is 3 in the morning here, and it is halftime in the Cowboys/Redskins game...Thankfully, Friday is our off day so I can sleep in in the morning, sadly the Cowboys appear to be taking Thursday off making me wish I had gone to bed.
The weather is really nice now. It has been in the low 80's all week, and for the next three months we may actually get a little rain. I guess at home, snow is now a possibility...I remember snow...lol, Hope you have had a nice Thanksgiving, and enjoy your holiday weekend.

Chamber of Commerce Weather...

It's getting to be a little messy in the Middle East. No, I don't mean the weather, it couldn't be nicer. The temperature touches 90 most days, with clear skies and no rain. The mess in the region is man made. The sun has definitely stopped shinning during the "Arab Spring".   The civil war in Syria is exploding into an area war that is effecting Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. It seems that the US is paralysed and wounded from the events in Libya. People here are talking about the "scandals" surrounding our government now, but mostly just asking questions about what is happening. From here, the sex scandal involving Petraeus, Allen, Kelly and Broadwell seem like a far fetched spy thriller, and we still don't know if and how the sordid affairs affected us in Benghazi. A fuse has been lit over here, hopefully it will be snuffed out before the whole region blows up.

My cold that started at the end of October has just about fizzled out. I still am horse from the cumulative effect of coughing for 3 straight weeks, but hopefully my voice will come back this weekend. I feel like I have lost 3 weeks of my life as I drag around exhausted from lack of sleep and my ability to communicate greatly effected as I have become the "horse whisperer". Nothing like hearing a sales pitch from a raspy, fast talking American...sigh. Oh well, it has begun to finally get better. I am having a sales meeting in the morning for our "food service" team, and I am sure it will be brief because I just don't feel like talking (I know, you long to witness the day that I don't feel like talking...lol).
Yesterday was New Years Day for the Muslim world. Most people had the day off here in the UAE, but unfortunately we were open for business. It is a challenge for me to fix this "working" mentality to fix this aversion for employees to have a paid day off. It definitely effects moral, and clearly the worker bees are counting on me to fix it. The next holiday over here is "National" day on December 2nd (UAE Independence Day). Let's see how successful I am on getting the employees a day off.

From the UAE crime blog this week, the authorities caught an Asian smuggling heroin into the country at the Dubai airport. The "mule" will almost certainly get the death penalty. He had almost a kilogram of heroin in his stomach (over 2 lbs) and was paid $300 to try and bring it here. Such a small amount to lose your life over. I know drug Lords don't care, but what a sad thing they have done to this man and his family. The chances of him being alive by spring are slim. The strange news from the "death Row" of the UAE involves a couple of Russians. They killed an Indian salesmen back in 2001 and have lingered on in Death Row ever since. They have been pardoned by the victims family from India. The way this works, is that there was a "Blood bounty" placed on the heads of the two Russians by the Courts (total amount of $40,000) and when that amount was finally paid to the victims family, they submit a written request to the court requesting a pardon. The official pardon mentions the blood money having been collected, the two Russians are pardoned and will be deported and freed to their families in their motherland. The value of life (or death) obviously varies, and your passport nationality or your bank account can effect the wheels of justice. It is a very safe place to live, but you definitely want to stay on the right side of the law.
I have been really enjoying watching American Football this year. Somehow, I am still in first in the "big pool" that I participate in back in the States. I have never finished in the top 10, so to be in first with 8 weeks to go is very exciting. We will see how this finishes up, but I am enjoying the ride. Speaking of nice satisfaction, today the 8,000 hit will happen on this blog. I know that there are about 65 of you that are regular followers, and although it must be very unrewarding to read this blog on most Fridays, I want to thank all of you for hanging in there with me. When it gets lonely or I get homesick, it is nice to know that there are so many of you that continue to stick it out with me. Next week, when you and your loved ones gather around the Thanksgiving table, know that I will be here (hopefully watching the Cowboys win...lol) thinking of you, and I appreciate the blessings that I have gotten from being here the last two and a half years. Please keep me in your thoughts as we count our blessings....God willing, I will see you back here on "Black Friday"...

Four More Years!

My self diagnosis and saving of a trip to the Doctor, apparently has failed. Here I am 14 days later and still hacking and coughing characters from Mario Brothers from my throat and lungs(that would be Luigi- OK gross joke, but somewhat clever for an old blogger). My antibiotics are out, and I am somewhat better, I think I will be like America and stay the same sick course...lol. Speaking of the election...I got so much teasing from my Arab and Indian coworkers and friends...Where to start, I don't think I can...I guess I will just share my response to the multitudes, I told them congrats your guy got elected, and now they were stuck with me for four more years...In all honesty, I got a lot of good natured ribbing, I guess I am one of the better known Americans in the UAE - I am very proud to be an American, and I do think our Republic will survive four more years of Barack.

Our new warehouse is making good progress in getting built. I took a visitor out to it this week, and I was struck by how big it felt inside now that the concrete has been poured. There are a few products that I want to bring in from America, but I am trying to time it so that our warehouse is open. Our engineer responsible for building our new facilities (my buddy Mahesh) is estimating completion shortly after the first of the year. I am hoping we can begin shipping from the facility in March.

This week, I attended a US Dairy Association conference on American Dairy products that are available for export from America to the Middle East. I learned (shockingly) that America exports more dairy products around the world than any other nation. There were 6 US Based companies presenting, only three of them employed Americans to peddle their products. The others, employed Europeans. I guess we could whittle down our unemployment if these American companies used more Americans. I guess though that the US Dairy councils French Manager might not agree with me...sigh.
I have been racking my smaller than average brain trying to come up with a better way to get money back to the states. It costs me $50 to wire money (and an additional $75 in currency exchange fees) back to my bank in the US, and that seems high. I found out that I can use an ATM card in America to withdraw money, and the fee will be about $9. Sounds good, but I can only withdraw $250 a day....why is life a big Rubik's cube to me...
Johnnies social life calendar this past week was highlighted by Kelly taking me out for a late birthday dinner. The gift included an invite to a movie of my choice (she's already seen the Bond flick...) so it will be a great birthday present. Hayley and I had lunch at cheesecake factory yesterday. She says Muzzy is making fun of her wearing glasses, those kids of mine....
Sufi will be joining my food service sales staff this week. I am on a mission to explode sales next year. In August, My first month running sales, our sales shrunk 6% from August 2011 in food service. In September - we grew by 6.1%. It is so similar to what Bob and I inherited at Transmed in 2010. We ended up with 86% growth in 2011, I expect to repeat that at Barakat. I will keep you apprised.
I guess you may have heard that Iran tried to shoot down one of our drones in the Persian Gulf last week. It happened the first of November, a week before the American elections...Hopefully things won't escalate.
Time to hop in the shower and head out for my Friday errands and lunch. My friends in America are never far from my thoughts and hopefully I am not far from yours. See you next Friday...

Great Adventure Blog, Election Edition!

I have been sick for a week now (the dreaded sand Lung) and I am finally coming out of it. Today mark's the 843rd day since I arrived in Dubai, and I think this is the fourth or fifth time I have gotten this bronchial infection thing. The first four times, I was sick and hacking for a week, then I headed to the Doctor, where he promptly prescribed Antibiotics and cough medicine. Well, you can teach an old (over 50 sigh) dog new tricks. I saved my companies insurance company a few bucks by going directly to the pharmacy and buying antibiotics. I have been taking them for five days now, and my infection is finally clearing up. It is weird how you can buy almost any kind of "prescription" drug with out a doctors prescription. You just go to your mall's pharmacy, share with your pharmacist what your ailments are, and they give you the drugs your ill body crave. If you want your insurance to cover it, you have to have a doctors prescription. More than once, I have run out of Nexium, and I spend $30 for a two week supply, while I wait for my doctors appointment. I am not sure this is a great system, it's just different. Now, I can get all the drugs I need to cure my acid reflux, control my high blood pressure (don't have just saying), or cure my walking pneumonia, but please don't ask for NyQuil...It has alcohol in it and is against the law to consume...the Government has my best interest at heart, I won't get trichinosis (disease that used to be common pre 1960's from eating undercooked pork) or become an alcoholic while I live in the UAE, but I can assure you, I will get sand lung again as the season turns and the sand blows in the wind...

Speaking of big Government regulating my life, I have made an attempt to vote in America's upcoming election (Nick, Mimi, Karen Watson and all my other liberal friends please skip to the next paragraph). Next Tuesday (Nov. 6th) is election day in the USA. As many of you know, I was a political Science major in college, and actually at one time in my life was a paid employee working for a Republican Lt. Governor Candidate, so I have always enjoyed bantering with those who had different political views than myself. One of the things that I really enjoy about living in the Middle East is learning about others views, and trying to understand what and why people believe what they believe. It is also fascinating to me to hear people's views of the USA here. Some people over here have amazing insite about American politics and then there are some that have a little less informed views (I am not basing this on whether they agree with my political point of view, but general understanding of American Governmental policies and history). Well, back to the election...

 I have voted in every Presidential Election since I turned 18 in 1980 and voted for Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter (feels like a similar choice to me in this election-hoping for similar results). My legal residence (and where I am registered to vote) is in Blount County in Maryville, Tennessee. I was lamenting to Fred that voting was such a hassle from over here, and that Tennessee wasn't a "swing state" and I guess I would miss voting in my first Presidential election. Well Tennessee has early voting, so when Fred cast his ballot in mid October he asked the election officials what I would need to do to get a ballot. Well, what Fred discovered was that I could email a request for an absentee ballot to the Registrar's office in Blount County. I emailed the request, and I got a prompt reply. I then had to fill out some forms, and have a witness verify that  indeed fill this request out (those keeping score at home, my good friend and Engineer Indian Ex-Pat Mahesh witnessed my signature (not sure who would come over here and question Mahesh if my ballot was challenged...lol) and scanned the "request for a ballot" and emailed it back. The next day, I had several files emailed to me including my election ballot. I had to fill out all the forms and then mail it back to America. No emailing allowed....hmmm, another problem. It was now October 20th, and it typically takes 3 weeks for a letter to reach the US. By Tennessee law, my ballot has to be received by Election Day. Was I stymied again? Not so fast, as you recall I was flying to Paris for an International show on October 22nd, so I filled out my ballot and followed all of my "mailing instructions" and carried it with me to Paris, France. I then started searching for a trustworthy American to send my ballot back to the states. I met a gentleman named Dan Whisenhunt from California that is the President of an Almond exporting company looking to sell American nuts to the UAE. We met, exchanged pleasantries and I quickly detected that Dan was probably voting the same way I was (lol, he made a comment about wasting his vote in California). He happily volunteered to carry my ballot back and mail it from California. I got an email from my new friend Dan saying he mailed it from his Modesto office this past Monday (Oct. 26th). There is a web site that I can check and see if my ballot has been received. I just checked, so far it has not...but in the  end, I am very happy I got to participate, and thanks To Mahesh, Fred and especially Dan I have cast my ballot. I now have my fingers crossed that it arrives in time to get counted. For the record, President Obama is popular here, and almost everyone that talks about the election here feels like he will be easily reelected.
It was really tough watching Hurricane Sandy coverage from here (I know much worse riding it out over there). I haven't heard from Dan Scott (Lives in Pennsylvania near New Jersey). My parents received snow in South West Virginia, but seemed to get through it just fine. Hayley's family in New York City lost power (still didn't have it as of yesterday) but are so far ok. I spent a lot of time reading facebook entries from friends that live along the coast, and it appears everyone that I know made it through ok (Hopefully Dan and his family is just fine). Speaking of Hayley, she and I had a nice dinner at PFChangs on Wednesday evening. I think Egg Drop soup (along with the Thai Massage I had on Tuesday evening) helped heal my sick body...lol. I got to check out her new look (with glasses) and I think they actually looked "Spec-tacular!"

She is really enjoying her new position at Transmed (working for Georges in National Accounts) and is doing great with her career. I am quite proud of her (I know - not her dad, but I did hire her!)
Speaking of spectacular friends, Kelly is taking me out tomorrow night for a late birthday dinner. She was in Chicago for two weeks of indoctrination and training at Ace and returned at the same time I left for Paris. I haven't seen her in almost a month and it will be great to catch up and end this turning 50 thing.
Time to go and fix my grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup lunch. My self healing continues, as I am almost qualified enough to dispense prescriptions....Have a great weekend, see you here next Friday!