It will be a normal busy Friday at the malls today, no "Black Friday" in Dubai, in fact very little chatter about Thanksgiving day at work. We Americans did a lot of explaining about the tradition and what it meant to Americans, and the most common response I got from my Arab colleagues was "I have seen Thanksgiving on TV"...it looks nice...I was fortunate enough to celebrate a big dinner with Kelly, Hayley, Loren and her hubby, Juan and his wife and daughter, and our hosts Nick and Mimi. The food was very good, and I am stuffed. Now after everyone is gone, I am sitting here with Nick and Mimi waiting for the Cowboys game to start just after 1 am here. I do miss America, but it was a nice get together.
Bob's boss sent an email out late this afternoon offering a free turkey to all of our American employees, a little late since we had bought our big Butterball 18 lbs Tom Turkey on Monday...It is the thought that counts. Bob and Sandy celebrated Thanksgiving for the second straight year with Feda's family (Bob's equal in Retail) and Sandy heads back to Atlanta this weekend. Bob heads back to the states in Mid December.
It was a tough week at work, it felt like I was flying solo a few days this week. We had a new American concept start to do business with us this week, and I was fortunate enough to host Kelly and Bruce from the US on a couple of plant tours trying to find the right products for them. Reem is the sales rep (Jordanian American) that handles the account. Well I was my normal self, chatting away with Bruce and Kelly all day long. trying to entertain with my stories and mini education about the UAE to our two visitors. They had a franchise supplied body guard (Egyptian) that was driving them in his car and monitoring our conversations. Unfortunately, Reem did not fare as well for me. It turned out that Bruce's real name is Stu, and I had called him by the wrong name all day long. Reem told me after they had parted ways with us....sigh. She didn't know how to let me know while I was doing it. Sadly, I used some choice cuss words to let Reem know of my displeasure with her lack of business saviness to let her manager make a boob of himself. Fortunately, when I later apologized to Bruce/Stu, he was kind enough to share a laugh with me at my expense over my poor memory and name recall.
Now the interesting part of the day occurred when there Egyptian "host" through a fit about parking and the tardiness of our third tour, by abruptly ending the day, and removing our new found American friends.
We were victims of a scam that cost the country over 100,000 Dirhams this week. A company ordered all this product, then abruptly closed their doors and shuttered there warehouse. I felt really bad about being victimized by these thieves. I now know for sure that we are not immune to crime here.
Rodz started her new job as a supervisor at a beauty salon. the 10 am to 9 pm hours six days a week has Rodz worn out, but she is actually starting to enjoy it. I wish she would have been able to join us for our Thanksgiving feast.
My apartment is still not ready to be moved into, now they are saying Monday or Tuesday next week....I certainly hope they geterdone!
Well the Cowboys are about to receive the opening kick-off and I need to start concentrating....lol.
Hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Paul McCartney, he plays the guitar, right?
Thanksgiving is approaching, and it is a nice time to reflect on what I have to be thankful for. My immediate family are all alive and relatively healthy. Other than thinning hair and expanding waistline I am hanging in there also.(Is thinning hair life threatening?) I am dealing with loads of stress in my job, but that has been the norm for me for awhile. I have a good job and am living safely in the Middle East. I have a beautiful girl friend that has an infectious smile and personality. My employer trusts me to make good decisions and allows me great latitude to get my goals accomplished. My boss has been a friend of mine for over 15 years, and one of the friends that SYSCO brought me (Nick) has joined me here in the UAE on this Great Adventure. One of our other Account Executives has become a very trusted friend (Kelly), that has joined some of you "blog followers" (who would have thought that I would ever write anything that dozens - ok approx 55 people a week would actually read) as I hope a friend that I will enjoy for a lifetime. I moan and groan a lot, but the bottom line is that I have so much to be thankful for.
One of the booming areas of the UAE is Yas Island. Juan services that area for us, and business there is exploding. It is where Ferrari World (largest Indoor theme park in the Galaxy) calls home, and there are a number of hotels that have sprung up next to the beautiful Marina and F1 race track. Its a 15 minute drive to Abu Dhabi from there, and a little more than an hour from Dubai when traveling on the Sheikh Z super fast hiway. Well part of what they are doing on Yas Island to attract tourist is have concerts with world famous groups and artists. Britney Spears appeared there last week as did famous Beetle, Paul McCartney. Now my previous mentioned bff Kelly scored free tickets and front row VIP access to the concert. Nick and I were excited for her. What an opportunity that probably all of us would love to enjoy. Probably one of the top 5 greatest singer icons of all time. Well, 27 year old, blond Kelly really appreciated it also. As she shared with Nick and I about this concert she was going to, where this guy that plays the guitar will be preforming. LOL....Nick immediately correctly identified the moment as "Blog able"....
By the way, Kelly loved the concert and now understands that this guy - Paul - can sing also.
Work update, sells are going ok this month as we are on pace to top 11 million. We still have an outside shot of reaching our company goal of 96.1 million. Do you remember Juvy from one of my previous blogs? (a very nice Filapena that Rodz introduced me to) Well I finally helped her land a new job. I hired her to join our Customer Service Team. I am as excited as she is about her joining us around January 2nd. Rodz's job search hasn't gone as well. She has been offered a job that would allow her to stay in the country, but I don't really like anything about it. For a very meager wage, she would have to work 10am to 9 pm 6 days a week. She has basically this weekend to find something better. I pray that she does. She and I have grown closer during this stressful time, and it really pains me to watch her struggle with these decisions.
I stayed last night at the Crown Plaza in Festival City, and will be staying the next two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Internet City before I enjoy the hospitality of Nick and Mimi until I move into my new apartment. That's right it is finally completed and ready to move into. All we are waiting for is the Certificate of Occupancy from the Dubai Government. I am psyched. I should be moving in by next Wednesday, with any luck on Thanksgiving Day I will be in my new place.
So please keep all of us Americans that are over here, helping to keep the unemployment figures down in the states, while you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. Please try and remember all of the things that we should be thankful for, one of them that I am is I have friends that one to keep up with me, while I enjoy my Great Adventure.
Happy Thanksgiving!
One of the booming areas of the UAE is Yas Island. Juan services that area for us, and business there is exploding. It is where Ferrari World (largest Indoor theme park in the Galaxy) calls home, and there are a number of hotels that have sprung up next to the beautiful Marina and F1 race track. Its a 15 minute drive to Abu Dhabi from there, and a little more than an hour from Dubai when traveling on the Sheikh Z super fast hiway. Well part of what they are doing on Yas Island to attract tourist is have concerts with world famous groups and artists. Britney Spears appeared there last week as did famous Beetle, Paul McCartney. Now my previous mentioned bff Kelly scored free tickets and front row VIP access to the concert. Nick and I were excited for her. What an opportunity that probably all of us would love to enjoy. Probably one of the top 5 greatest singer icons of all time. Well, 27 year old, blond Kelly really appreciated it also. As she shared with Nick and I about this concert she was going to, where this guy that plays the guitar will be preforming. LOL....Nick immediately correctly identified the moment as "Blog able"....
By the way, Kelly loved the concert and now understands that this guy - Paul - can sing also.
Work update, sells are going ok this month as we are on pace to top 11 million. We still have an outside shot of reaching our company goal of 96.1 million. Do you remember Juvy from one of my previous blogs? (a very nice Filapena that Rodz introduced me to) Well I finally helped her land a new job. I hired her to join our Customer Service Team. I am as excited as she is about her joining us around January 2nd. Rodz's job search hasn't gone as well. She has been offered a job that would allow her to stay in the country, but I don't really like anything about it. For a very meager wage, she would have to work 10am to 9 pm 6 days a week. She has basically this weekend to find something better. I pray that she does. She and I have grown closer during this stressful time, and it really pains me to watch her struggle with these decisions.
I stayed last night at the Crown Plaza in Festival City, and will be staying the next two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Internet City before I enjoy the hospitality of Nick and Mimi until I move into my new apartment. That's right it is finally completed and ready to move into. All we are waiting for is the Certificate of Occupancy from the Dubai Government. I am psyched. I should be moving in by next Wednesday, with any luck on Thanksgiving Day I will be in my new place.
So please keep all of us Americans that are over here, helping to keep the unemployment figures down in the states, while you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. Please try and remember all of the things that we should be thankful for, one of them that I am is I have friends that one to keep up with me, while I enjoy my Great Adventure.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Fool me Once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, 3rd Time, I am a Gullable Idiot
It has rained this week, and the weather is absolutely beautiful. On Monday morning, I woke up to the sound of rain hitting my Holiday Inn windows. Rain has come early to Dubai. the "rainy season" usually is mid-December until Late February. This weeks rain was the first rain since last February, and although it was only scattered showers it was the most it had rained in the 17 months that I have been here. It probably rained less that a half an inch, but since there are no storm sewers there was puddling in the roads. The remarkable thing was the beauty of the city after the rain. The cars were covered in sand from the rain cleansed sky, and the beauty of the clear Dubai skyline is so different than the normal "sand haze" that is always prevalent here in the UAE. The daily high is now in the mid 80's and the humidity is low, frankly for the next 30 days I am living in a weather paradise.
Monday we were off, and I spent the afternoon with Rodz ferrying her to job interviews. She was like a happy youngster (ok - she's 26) giggling about the rain. I guess in her home country rain is a routine part of the day, and she (as do I) love to see it here. Last winter it rained during the day 3 different days, and only one of those rains lasted more than 5 minutes. Life in the dessert...
Speaking of Rodz's job search, she had a very promising interview on Thursday, and she has been scheduled for a second interview on Sunday. I think a lot of stress will be released when she finally lands a decent job. Her old employer has made it very difficult by delaying canceling her current work visa, demanding payment from her to get it released. We did have a very enjoyable evening at the "Global Village" on Wednesday evening. Global Village is a seasonal shopping mart that is open from November through March, It has different buildings with country themed shopping. Rodz of course made a bee-line for the "Phillapene pavilion". We snacked on fresh grilled corn on the Cob and watched a local Emirate woman make a traditional Arabic bread. She would take the bread batter, spread it out on a searing hot pan - Then she cracked a raw egg on it and spread it out over this flour tortilla like bread. After melting a small amount of cheese on it, she folded it into a tri-angle, and for 10 dirhams ($2.73) we enjoyed a hot Arabic treat. It was a very nice evening together.
On the housing front, it has been a drain on my meager savings to stay in hotels the last two months. I now have a tentative move in date to my new oasis home....Nov 22nd. With sending money back to Fred to settle my American debts, I wish that the people who owe me money back in the US would pay. When I moved from Atlanta to Florida I sold some furniture to Kathy Gonzalez. She ran human resources for Buckhead Beef in Atlanta. She wanted some of my furniture and I sold her lots of my household stuff (bedroom suites, theatre seating, big screen television at bargain pricing. Well, sadly, she made it a bigger bargain by not paying. Well, you would think I would learn, alas, I did not. When I landed this job and moved to Dubai, I sold almost all of my furniture to Devin, a young salesman I worked with at Kuna. He eventually paid $370 of what I would estimate the $2,000 he owed me. The third person bought a big screen tv and stand that I owed $1,100 on for the promise of $600 (funnily, less than I was offered by Devin...Hmmm) I sold it to her because I liked her, and it was a way for her to get a much better tv than she could afford. Well, she paid $350 of the $600 and only owes $250 to me. When I was in St.Louis this summer I went to see her. She apologized, asked for deposit tickets to square her debts, and promised to pay what she owes.- Yes, she reads this blog, so this is a posting to pay up, or join the ranks of other people who took advantage of my trusting. Sadly, these people's actions change my gentle trusting spirit in friends that owe you....3rd time, yes, I am the idiot.
So, back to my homelessness, if we are lucky, when you sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner, hopefully I will be settling in my new apartment. I am not sure what Turkey day will bring us this year, Bob and Sandy will be the guest of Feda (Bob's counterpart in Retail) again this year, and I am certain that Nick, Mimi, Hayley(American for New York) and I will have dinner together.
My mother and brother have booked their travel for January. They will be here from the 19th through the 28th. Fred is still planning on visiting in March.
We have had a big start in sales for November, on pace for over 12 million. It is amazing that the strong numbers sales team produces with our growth challenges. The whole team has returned from vacations (except for Vinny whose attending a family wedding in India) and the push to hit our year end target is on. Bob thinks we will make it (96,100,000) with a couple of hundred thousand to spare, I think we will fall short by less than a million. Let's hope that bob is right....In 2010 the company sold 48 million, doubling is outstanding, I will do everything i can to make it happen, but it rests on our 12 sales people.
I want to go back and catch a few z's before I face the day. I hope yours is a fruitful one...
Monday we were off, and I spent the afternoon with Rodz ferrying her to job interviews. She was like a happy youngster (ok - she's 26) giggling about the rain. I guess in her home country rain is a routine part of the day, and she (as do I) love to see it here. Last winter it rained during the day 3 different days, and only one of those rains lasted more than 5 minutes. Life in the dessert...
Speaking of Rodz's job search, she had a very promising interview on Thursday, and she has been scheduled for a second interview on Sunday. I think a lot of stress will be released when she finally lands a decent job. Her old employer has made it very difficult by delaying canceling her current work visa, demanding payment from her to get it released. We did have a very enjoyable evening at the "Global Village" on Wednesday evening. Global Village is a seasonal shopping mart that is open from November through March, It has different buildings with country themed shopping. Rodz of course made a bee-line for the "Phillapene pavilion". We snacked on fresh grilled corn on the Cob and watched a local Emirate woman make a traditional Arabic bread. She would take the bread batter, spread it out on a searing hot pan - Then she cracked a raw egg on it and spread it out over this flour tortilla like bread. After melting a small amount of cheese on it, she folded it into a tri-angle, and for 10 dirhams ($2.73) we enjoyed a hot Arabic treat. It was a very nice evening together.
On the housing front, it has been a drain on my meager savings to stay in hotels the last two months. I now have a tentative move in date to my new oasis home....Nov 22nd. With sending money back to Fred to settle my American debts, I wish that the people who owe me money back in the US would pay. When I moved from Atlanta to Florida I sold some furniture to Kathy Gonzalez. She ran human resources for Buckhead Beef in Atlanta. She wanted some of my furniture and I sold her lots of my household stuff (bedroom suites, theatre seating, big screen television at bargain pricing. Well, sadly, she made it a bigger bargain by not paying. Well, you would think I would learn, alas, I did not. When I landed this job and moved to Dubai, I sold almost all of my furniture to Devin, a young salesman I worked with at Kuna. He eventually paid $370 of what I would estimate the $2,000 he owed me. The third person bought a big screen tv and stand that I owed $1,100 on for the promise of $600 (funnily, less than I was offered by Devin...Hmmm) I sold it to her because I liked her, and it was a way for her to get a much better tv than she could afford. Well, she paid $350 of the $600 and only owes $250 to me. When I was in St.Louis this summer I went to see her. She apologized, asked for deposit tickets to square her debts, and promised to pay what she owes.- Yes, she reads this blog, so this is a posting to pay up, or join the ranks of other people who took advantage of my trusting. Sadly, these people's actions change my gentle trusting spirit in friends that owe you....3rd time, yes, I am the idiot.
So, back to my homelessness, if we are lucky, when you sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner, hopefully I will be settling in my new apartment. I am not sure what Turkey day will bring us this year, Bob and Sandy will be the guest of Feda (Bob's counterpart in Retail) again this year, and I am certain that Nick, Mimi, Hayley(American for New York) and I will have dinner together.
My mother and brother have booked their travel for January. They will be here from the 19th through the 28th. Fred is still planning on visiting in March.
We have had a big start in sales for November, on pace for over 12 million. It is amazing that the strong numbers sales team produces with our growth challenges. The whole team has returned from vacations (except for Vinny whose attending a family wedding in India) and the push to hit our year end target is on. Bob thinks we will make it (96,100,000) with a couple of hundred thousand to spare, I think we will fall short by less than a million. Let's hope that bob is right....In 2010 the company sold 48 million, doubling is outstanding, I will do everything i can to make it happen, but it rests on our 12 sales people.
I want to go back and catch a few z's before I face the day. I hope yours is a fruitful one...
Friday, November 4, 2011
Shopping with Rodz....
Eid Mubarak! The celebration has started as the three day holiday begins tomorrow. This is the celebration that occurs 70 days after the Eid that occurs at the end of Ramadan. It is marked by gift giving and sacrifices. I have studied up on sacrifices, the way it works here is that you go to the lamb market, and pay for a special sacrificial sheep, and then the company, ritually kills the animal, part of the animal is given to the poor. There is a little stir about the high price of the sheep this year. They cost about 900 Dirhams ($250), up about $25 since last year...inflation gets everyone...
The Eid holiday has given us a couple of things, we are closed on Monday, so I get to enjoy a true day off, and Sunday is going to be a 7 hour work day....Making it a restful weekend. Business is absolutely booming. We ended up having a bust out month in October with over 9.7 million is sales at 117.7% growth over last October. That has been followed with business of around 3 million this first week of November, yes another record. We are struggling to get orders processed and keyed correctly, and shipped. The "IT System" is still not keeping up with our needs, maybe we will get it solved before we have a critical meltdown. The account Executives are very frustrated by lack of support in getting their job done efficiently. Time is ticking to solve some of these issues, while our growth is not giving us a chance to catch up. For the first time, I actually feel like we have a chance of making the goal of 96.1 million in sales this year, I just got to keep leading, without pushing...and the talented group of Ex Pats that we have recruited will get it done!
I went to church this morning, and was very pleased to get to see Sandy has returned safely. I finally got to give her that face to face apology that I owed her, and in the sanctity of church- she was kind enough to forgive me, now if I can just go awhile before I have to apologize again for my social Faux Pas (yes Mimi, I had no idea how to spell that one).
Rodz has come down with the dreaded "sand lung". It's that respiratory infection that all of us seem to catch regularly, but especially in the fall and the spring. I think her depression over her job search has made her susceptible, she seemed like she had turned the corner last night in getting better. Last weekend, I needed a new belt to replace my worn out brown one. So before we went to Fuddruckers, Rodz took me shopping. We went to KM trading first where the prices were very low (to me) but so was the selection. The belts were about $10 there, we didn't like them, but Rodz said they were expensive...hmmm, so I asked where should we go to find better deals...Rodz said "Green House", Ok, this may be boring, but we headed to Deira and went to greenhouse. It was absolutely packed with shoppers, heavily dominated by Indians and Fillapeno's. (did I actually spell it right?).... Well. I bought 6 pair of dress socks, a nice brown belt, and a pair of swim trunks (for the hotel). Total bill....45 Dirhams ($12.25) and of course, no sales tax...lol maybe She and I will return to bargain shop again. Still no job for Rodz, but has a couple of interviews scheduled for next week, so keep your fingers crossed...
A new feature for this "tired" blog...what's in the newspaper? Since I get a free paper at my door each morning at the Holiday Inn (at least two more weeks...sigh) I am enjoying reading the "Gulf News". The writing is sometimes lacking, but the angles of the stories are fascinating. This week there was a statistical analysis of people injured and killed in auto wrecks. It was linking nationalities to the accident rates. So the reporting goes like this, so far in the first 9 months of this year, Indians (no surprise in this corner) had the most injuries and casualties at 365. 23 of those died, and 328 were men. Locals, or as they are known "Emiraties" had the second most with 264, then came Pakistani's with 242. Somehow I think I could make this into a contest for Nick, Bob and I to wager on....lol.
Well, heading to the mall to meet Nick and Mimi for lunch (new pizza place), then an evening out with my gal. Several of our Reps are out of the office on vacation. Kelly is in England, Magy and Ceren are in Turkey, and Muzzy is headed to India. Reem is licking her wounds form her adventure in Israel. She was visiting her Palestinian Grandmother in Israel. Well, the Israeli's confiscated her papers, and Jordan would not allow her to return to her homeland with out the proper paper work. She now has a new appreciation for being an American Citizen. The Embassy came to her rescue, and a week later she was out of the country and has now returned to work.
I have started riding the bike in my Holiday Inn gym. So I am rather stiff, hopefully I can keep motivated to keep working out....got to live long enough to enjoy the prosperity I am hoping to enjoy before I leave....God willing, I will blog about another week of my life here in The Middle East!
The Eid holiday has given us a couple of things, we are closed on Monday, so I get to enjoy a true day off, and Sunday is going to be a 7 hour work day....Making it a restful weekend. Business is absolutely booming. We ended up having a bust out month in October with over 9.7 million is sales at 117.7% growth over last October. That has been followed with business of around 3 million this first week of November, yes another record. We are struggling to get orders processed and keyed correctly, and shipped. The "IT System" is still not keeping up with our needs, maybe we will get it solved before we have a critical meltdown. The account Executives are very frustrated by lack of support in getting their job done efficiently. Time is ticking to solve some of these issues, while our growth is not giving us a chance to catch up. For the first time, I actually feel like we have a chance of making the goal of 96.1 million in sales this year, I just got to keep leading, without pushing...and the talented group of Ex Pats that we have recruited will get it done!
I went to church this morning, and was very pleased to get to see Sandy has returned safely. I finally got to give her that face to face apology that I owed her, and in the sanctity of church- she was kind enough to forgive me, now if I can just go awhile before I have to apologize again for my social Faux Pas (yes Mimi, I had no idea how to spell that one).
Rodz has come down with the dreaded "sand lung". It's that respiratory infection that all of us seem to catch regularly, but especially in the fall and the spring. I think her depression over her job search has made her susceptible, she seemed like she had turned the corner last night in getting better. Last weekend, I needed a new belt to replace my worn out brown one. So before we went to Fuddruckers, Rodz took me shopping. We went to KM trading first where the prices were very low (to me) but so was the selection. The belts were about $10 there, we didn't like them, but Rodz said they were expensive...hmmm, so I asked where should we go to find better deals...Rodz said "Green House", Ok, this may be boring, but we headed to Deira and went to greenhouse. It was absolutely packed with shoppers, heavily dominated by Indians and Fillapeno's. (did I actually spell it right?).... Well. I bought 6 pair of dress socks, a nice brown belt, and a pair of swim trunks (for the hotel). Total bill....45 Dirhams ($12.25) and of course, no sales tax...lol maybe She and I will return to bargain shop again. Still no job for Rodz, but has a couple of interviews scheduled for next week, so keep your fingers crossed...
A new feature for this "tired" blog...what's in the newspaper? Since I get a free paper at my door each morning at the Holiday Inn (at least two more weeks...sigh) I am enjoying reading the "Gulf News". The writing is sometimes lacking, but the angles of the stories are fascinating. This week there was a statistical analysis of people injured and killed in auto wrecks. It was linking nationalities to the accident rates. So the reporting goes like this, so far in the first 9 months of this year, Indians (no surprise in this corner) had the most injuries and casualties at 365. 23 of those died, and 328 were men. Locals, or as they are known "Emiraties" had the second most with 264, then came Pakistani's with 242. Somehow I think I could make this into a contest for Nick, Bob and I to wager on....lol.
Well, heading to the mall to meet Nick and Mimi for lunch (new pizza place), then an evening out with my gal. Several of our Reps are out of the office on vacation. Kelly is in England, Magy and Ceren are in Turkey, and Muzzy is headed to India. Reem is licking her wounds form her adventure in Israel. She was visiting her Palestinian Grandmother in Israel. Well, the Israeli's confiscated her papers, and Jordan would not allow her to return to her homeland with out the proper paper work. She now has a new appreciation for being an American Citizen. The Embassy came to her rescue, and a week later she was out of the country and has now returned to work.
I have started riding the bike in my Holiday Inn gym. So I am rather stiff, hopefully I can keep motivated to keep working out....got to live long enough to enjoy the prosperity I am hoping to enjoy before I leave....God willing, I will blog about another week of my life here in The Middle East!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Johnny the "Prophet"...
As I write this weeks blog, it is the 11th inning of game 6 of the World Series, poor Nick (Huge Cards fan) has been BBM'ing me all morning, but his Cards are hanging in there....Now we are both skipping church (service starts at 9 am) - The World Series is sort of a legit excuse....
Speaking of church, planning on taking Rodz (and possibly her best gal pal Juvy) to the Catholic Service tonight. Most Filipino's (ok Mimi if It gets any more serious between Rodz and I - I will learn how to spell her nationality...lol) are Catholic, and almost all are in the service industry, so with Friday being "church day" here, she has not attended church here - since I have been around at least, I hope she finds some comfort, no job yet, and her spirits are low. By UAE law she has 30 days from when her employment visa is cancelled to find a new job or leave the country. The clock is ticking....
Well Home Run Cards, I guess I have something to watch on tv at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Nick has to be whooping it up down the road....
Speaking of Nick having fun, his next door neighbor has been celebrating "Diwali" this week. Diwali is an Indian celebration of great happiness. You can tell what homes the Indians live in by all of the "Christmas" lights adorning their dwellings. Nick's next door neighbor has taken it a step further by creating a candle display in the hallway, leaving them burning all night outside Nick's door, Nick has been posting pictures on Facebook wondering about fire marshall laws...lol...There was a lot of well wishing for our Indian friends at work, but unfortunately, unlike most of the other international activates and celebrations, I have been exposed to here, I don't know much about Diwali. I promise, if I am here a year from now, I will have better incite!
Speaking of being here in a year, I wonder if it will be in the Holiday Inn...Checking last weeks ramblings, my new apartments construction update said last week, that sometime between the 1st and the 15th I would be moving into my new home....well, not so fast, The latest update from Tuesday of this week is 3 to 4 weeks, for sure no earlier than the 14th and hopefully before December 1st....sigh...I am tiring of the hotel life....
Well being observant and worrying about what could happen, has always been a trait of mine, also revisiting last weeks blog, I wrote about how nobody pays attention to school buses here and how when a bus is stopped with its "stop sign" out, cars, trucks and even buses race around it while nervous parents try and dodge the traffic to get their children safely on or off the bus. This morning, I was reading my hotel provided free copy of the "Gulf News" (isn't Holiday Inn bound by some kind of moral American governance to provide me with a good ole USA Today?) there is a story about a six year old getting hit by a pick up truck while getting off the bus to go home. The story relates how the driver used to let the child off on his side of the street, but lately he has been making the kid walk across traffic, so that he (the bus driver) doesn't have to double back to let this child off. The testimony from witnesses is that the driver told this 6 year old to run across the street, and that the youngster was hit by the pickup truck (broken bones, but the lad will live). Even funnier, no mention of citation for the driver of the pickup truck, and the gov't owned bus company says the driver did no wrong...crazy driving here....
Work has been interesting this week, we are finishing the month off without Reem. She is our Palestinian Christian gal from Jordan, that carries an American passport...(confused? she also worked for 10 years in the states and speaks excellent English). Poor Reem is stuck in Israel, somehow she went to visit her Palestinian Grandma, and now she isn't being allowed to leave. Hopefully she will be back with us by next week and I can share her story. We have had another huge month, our record established last month, was 8.4 million in sales, well we are over 9 million with a couple of days to go...Our growth this year verses last will be well over 100%. Final numbers next week, also coming is a big holiday here in the Gulf world, it's "Eid Al Adha" and it should start for 3 days beginning Nov. 6th (the Gov't. will be shut down the entire week - hence the lengthening of my wait for approval to move into my new apartment). More on the holiday next week.
Have a happy Halloween (no-not celebrated here -some westerners have small parties) and I will be back in November with record number sales reporting and hopefully a Rodz got a job update...Keep us all in your prayers...
Speaking of church, planning on taking Rodz (and possibly her best gal pal Juvy) to the Catholic Service tonight. Most Filipino's (ok Mimi if It gets any more serious between Rodz and I - I will learn how to spell her nationality...lol) are Catholic, and almost all are in the service industry, so with Friday being "church day" here, she has not attended church here - since I have been around at least, I hope she finds some comfort, no job yet, and her spirits are low. By UAE law she has 30 days from when her employment visa is cancelled to find a new job or leave the country. The clock is ticking....
Well Home Run Cards, I guess I have something to watch on tv at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Nick has to be whooping it up down the road....
Speaking of Nick having fun, his next door neighbor has been celebrating "Diwali" this week. Diwali is an Indian celebration of great happiness. You can tell what homes the Indians live in by all of the "Christmas" lights adorning their dwellings. Nick's next door neighbor has taken it a step further by creating a candle display in the hallway, leaving them burning all night outside Nick's door, Nick has been posting pictures on Facebook wondering about fire marshall laws...lol...There was a lot of well wishing for our Indian friends at work, but unfortunately, unlike most of the other international activates and celebrations, I have been exposed to here, I don't know much about Diwali. I promise, if I am here a year from now, I will have better incite!
Speaking of being here in a year, I wonder if it will be in the Holiday Inn...Checking last weeks ramblings, my new apartments construction update said last week, that sometime between the 1st and the 15th I would be moving into my new home....well, not so fast, The latest update from Tuesday of this week is 3 to 4 weeks, for sure no earlier than the 14th and hopefully before December 1st....sigh...I am tiring of the hotel life....
Well being observant and worrying about what could happen, has always been a trait of mine, also revisiting last weeks blog, I wrote about how nobody pays attention to school buses here and how when a bus is stopped with its "stop sign" out, cars, trucks and even buses race around it while nervous parents try and dodge the traffic to get their children safely on or off the bus. This morning, I was reading my hotel provided free copy of the "Gulf News" (isn't Holiday Inn bound by some kind of moral American governance to provide me with a good ole USA Today?) there is a story about a six year old getting hit by a pick up truck while getting off the bus to go home. The story relates how the driver used to let the child off on his side of the street, but lately he has been making the kid walk across traffic, so that he (the bus driver) doesn't have to double back to let this child off. The testimony from witnesses is that the driver told this 6 year old to run across the street, and that the youngster was hit by the pickup truck (broken bones, but the lad will live). Even funnier, no mention of citation for the driver of the pickup truck, and the gov't owned bus company says the driver did no wrong...crazy driving here....
Work has been interesting this week, we are finishing the month off without Reem. She is our Palestinian Christian gal from Jordan, that carries an American passport...(confused? she also worked for 10 years in the states and speaks excellent English). Poor Reem is stuck in Israel, somehow she went to visit her Palestinian Grandma, and now she isn't being allowed to leave. Hopefully she will be back with us by next week and I can share her story. We have had another huge month, our record established last month, was 8.4 million in sales, well we are over 9 million with a couple of days to go...Our growth this year verses last will be well over 100%. Final numbers next week, also coming is a big holiday here in the Gulf world, it's "Eid Al Adha" and it should start for 3 days beginning Nov. 6th (the Gov't. will be shut down the entire week - hence the lengthening of my wait for approval to move into my new apartment). More on the holiday next week.
Have a happy Halloween (no-not celebrated here -some westerners have small parties) and I will be back in November with record number sales reporting and hopefully a Rodz got a job update...Keep us all in your prayers...
Friday, October 21, 2011
Driving in the UAE....
First off, something I need to get off my chest....A couple of blogs ago, I hinted at my dislike for Pakistani's. Well, as usual, once you state something like that...well, while at the convention in Germany, one of our suppliers had a very, talkative, likable young lady working their booth. She expressed an interest in coming to Dubai and working for our fine company, she is multi-lingual (Nick, that means she speaks several different languages) - and her English was better than half of my current employees. Of course, she is Pakastani, she is now my facebook friend and I will certainly interview her when she completes her masters in business next summer.
Speaking of work, we are going to smash our old record of 8.4 million in sales this month, probably by close to a million. In spite of all of our IT and warehousing issues (maybe by bashing IT, it will suddenly get much better...lol) the team keeps selling. We will top 100% growth over the same period last year for the third straight month.
I haven't ranted about driving here in a while, but that's about to change. I was notified last week that I have a 1,000 AED ($270)fine for "breaking the line at an intersection". No proof or even description where this heinous crime took place. All I know from my fine, is it was September 28th in Dubai. As you may recall from earlier postings, there are machines taking pictures at intersections and automated photo radar everywhere. It has to be a major source of income for the treasuries of the UAE. I was reminded about how crazy the driving is here, by watching cars and even other school buses passing a bus loading students into another school bus yesterday. there was a parent holding their pre-teen child's hands trying to get across the street while cars and buses passed in the middle lane. Cars force their way into your lane on the daily commute, and you see babies routinely riding in the laps of their parents as they drive aggressively through traffic. This past week there was a 36 car pileup during rush hour, and traffic related ones are about the only deaths you read about in the local papers. Don't worry about me being a victim of crime here, worry about me surviving the commute to work.
I have settled into my Holiday Inn, the cable is fine (finally season 4 of True Blood has started and am enjoying Survivor) and the room is clean. I have a great view of the Burj Al Arab out of my 6th floor window. The latest update from my new apartment is that the new window for me to move in is between November 1st and 14th. Let's hope it's closer to the 1st.
Rodz restaurant finally closed this week. She is still searching for a new job.(She desperately wants out of restaurant service industry) Kelly rewrote her resume, and I typed it up (must be some strong feelings huh) and forwarded to a few of my friends. Hopefully, she will quickly find something acceptable.
Well, it is a busy day ahead, Need to get ready for the early service at church, I am picking up Nick and Mimi (Nick is in baseball Cardinal heaven right now), then giving Rodz a ride to her interview at Emirates Airlines - followed by a dinner party with a few of my work pals. Then back to work on Saturday...there is definitely no rest for the wicked..lol.
Keep us in your prayers, I will do the same for you.
Speaking of work, we are going to smash our old record of 8.4 million in sales this month, probably by close to a million. In spite of all of our IT and warehousing issues (maybe by bashing IT, it will suddenly get much better...lol) the team keeps selling. We will top 100% growth over the same period last year for the third straight month.
I haven't ranted about driving here in a while, but that's about to change. I was notified last week that I have a 1,000 AED ($270)fine for "breaking the line at an intersection". No proof or even description where this heinous crime took place. All I know from my fine, is it was September 28th in Dubai. As you may recall from earlier postings, there are machines taking pictures at intersections and automated photo radar everywhere. It has to be a major source of income for the treasuries of the UAE. I was reminded about how crazy the driving is here, by watching cars and even other school buses passing a bus loading students into another school bus yesterday. there was a parent holding their pre-teen child's hands trying to get across the street while cars and buses passed in the middle lane. Cars force their way into your lane on the daily commute, and you see babies routinely riding in the laps of their parents as they drive aggressively through traffic. This past week there was a 36 car pileup during rush hour, and traffic related ones are about the only deaths you read about in the local papers. Don't worry about me being a victim of crime here, worry about me surviving the commute to work.
I have settled into my Holiday Inn, the cable is fine (finally season 4 of True Blood has started and am enjoying Survivor) and the room is clean. I have a great view of the Burj Al Arab out of my 6th floor window. The latest update from my new apartment is that the new window for me to move in is between November 1st and 14th. Let's hope it's closer to the 1st.
Rodz restaurant finally closed this week. She is still searching for a new job.(She desperately wants out of restaurant service industry) Kelly rewrote her resume, and I typed it up (must be some strong feelings huh) and forwarded to a few of my friends. Hopefully, she will quickly find something acceptable.
Well, it is a busy day ahead, Need to get ready for the early service at church, I am picking up Nick and Mimi (Nick is in baseball Cardinal heaven right now), then giving Rodz a ride to her interview at Emirates Airlines - followed by a dinner party with a few of my work pals. Then back to work on Saturday...there is definitely no rest for the wicked..lol.
Keep us in your prayers, I will do the same for you.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Rest Easy, I am at the Holiday Inn....
Aww, the weekend came just in the nick of time. Last week was so long, then I flew to Germany for four days of conventioneering (Is that a word?), flew the red eye back, landed just before 6 am - went straight from the plane to the office...finally got checked into the Holiday Inn Al Barsha (great view of the Burj Al Arab from my clean and well maintained 6th floor hotel room). The cable here is decent (no ESPN, but everything else appears good)...there is a nice big workout room 1 floor up, and a very nice roof top pool - with daytime highs now in the tolerable mid 90's I plan on scaring the other guests by taking of my shirt and enjoying a little sun.
Things at work are still going well, we are headed towards our first ever 9 million in sales month. Considering just a year ago the biggest month in food service Transmed had ever accomplished, was just over 4 million - Bob, the sales team and I have a lot to be proud of. Former stateside employer (they will remain unnamed due to potential legal action) continue to pop up in my life, I think they will not be happy until I draw my last paycheck from any company. I have learned a lot in my 48 years on this earth, the biggest of those lessons is that mega companies don't lose against individuals....Oh well, Bob knows the whole story, so I am still out of arms reach for the big guys stateside.
The guys from McCormick are in town for a couple of days, they made some end user calls yesterday, and did a nice sales training for the team. They are taking Bob and I for dinner tonight to Social House at Dubai Mall. Kim Kardashian is at the mall this afternoon at the grand opening of the newest American concept "Millions of Milkshakes". Maybe we will bump into her and invite her to dinner....You all will have to let me know stateside if her "E" show will have a Dubai episode....
Tomorrow is Rodz last day at Napolatono. It is closing and she has informed the corporation that she does not want to transfer to a new store. Her job search has come up empty so far....I am not sure how long she will look before she packs it in and moves back to the Phillapenes (I know Mimi - I still can't spell Philapenes-trying a different spelling just in case one of them is right). I am very sad about the whole situation....don't know what to do....
Speaking of loved ones leaving, Sandy has returned back to the US after her extended vacation and convalescence recovering from her broken leg. I know staying here almost 3 months, only getting out when Bob took her shackles off had to be tough. Sadly, I was rude to her at Nick's Birthday bash (long story-but I assure you unintentional) - I meant to apologize in person...sadly, I did not see her before she returned...So Sandy, sorry I am an insensitive boob, I meant no malice...I will apologize in person if I am lucky enough to see you on your next visit. You know occasionally, I ask for your prayers for those of us over here, and Sandy is one person I know for sure honors that request....that is special indeed...
I am wondering what trouble I may be in over my airport parking bill while away in Germany...Everybody either takes a taxi, or bums a ride to the airport from friends or coworkers when they travel out of town...well, I had no where to leave my car (no hotel, no apartment) so I decided to just park my car in the long term parking at the airport and bill the company....The charge was a whopping $70 a day...so now I will have to worry about my $280 parking charge on my expense report...:-(
Haven't mentioned every body's favorite bloggie in a while - Nick. I don't know if he is settling in or if I have been too busy to notice his shenanigans. He did run afoul of the system this week...He misplaced a customers check. Now in the states, if you lose a customers check, you pretty much just go back to the customer say I am sorry and get a new one...here - not so fast American hombre'..... Nick has got to take our internal security man to the police, make an official report, take it to the bank, get a stop payment, go back to the customer and request a replacement check. Our credit manager, (Elie Saber) is having a field day telling Nick that the Dubai police will lock him up when he visits...they love an Americano in jail...lol - I certainly will let you know if we need to start baking pies with files in them to send them to the Dubai jail...or if I need to start a legal defense fund, to get the big guys to finally leave me alone so I can have a career somewhere on the four corners of this earth.
Have a nice weekend....
Things at work are still going well, we are headed towards our first ever 9 million in sales month. Considering just a year ago the biggest month in food service Transmed had ever accomplished, was just over 4 million - Bob, the sales team and I have a lot to be proud of. Former stateside employer (they will remain unnamed due to potential legal action) continue to pop up in my life, I think they will not be happy until I draw my last paycheck from any company. I have learned a lot in my 48 years on this earth, the biggest of those lessons is that mega companies don't lose against individuals....Oh well, Bob knows the whole story, so I am still out of arms reach for the big guys stateside.
The guys from McCormick are in town for a couple of days, they made some end user calls yesterday, and did a nice sales training for the team. They are taking Bob and I for dinner tonight to Social House at Dubai Mall. Kim Kardashian is at the mall this afternoon at the grand opening of the newest American concept "Millions of Milkshakes". Maybe we will bump into her and invite her to dinner....You all will have to let me know stateside if her "E" show will have a Dubai episode....
Tomorrow is Rodz last day at Napolatono. It is closing and she has informed the corporation that she does not want to transfer to a new store. Her job search has come up empty so far....I am not sure how long she will look before she packs it in and moves back to the Phillapenes (I know Mimi - I still can't spell Philapenes-trying a different spelling just in case one of them is right). I am very sad about the whole situation....don't know what to do....
Speaking of loved ones leaving, Sandy has returned back to the US after her extended vacation and convalescence recovering from her broken leg. I know staying here almost 3 months, only getting out when Bob took her shackles off had to be tough. Sadly, I was rude to her at Nick's Birthday bash (long story-but I assure you unintentional) - I meant to apologize in person...sadly, I did not see her before she returned...So Sandy, sorry I am an insensitive boob, I meant no malice...I will apologize in person if I am lucky enough to see you on your next visit. You know occasionally, I ask for your prayers for those of us over here, and Sandy is one person I know for sure honors that request....that is special indeed...
I am wondering what trouble I may be in over my airport parking bill while away in Germany...Everybody either takes a taxi, or bums a ride to the airport from friends or coworkers when they travel out of town...well, I had no where to leave my car (no hotel, no apartment) so I decided to just park my car in the long term parking at the airport and bill the company....The charge was a whopping $70 a day...so now I will have to worry about my $280 parking charge on my expense report...:-(
Haven't mentioned every body's favorite bloggie in a while - Nick. I don't know if he is settling in or if I have been too busy to notice his shenanigans. He did run afoul of the system this week...He misplaced a customers check. Now in the states, if you lose a customers check, you pretty much just go back to the customer say I am sorry and get a new one...here - not so fast American hombre'..... Nick has got to take our internal security man to the police, make an official report, take it to the bank, get a stop payment, go back to the customer and request a replacement check. Our credit manager, (Elie Saber) is having a field day telling Nick that the Dubai police will lock him up when he visits...they love an Americano in jail...lol - I certainly will let you know if we need to start baking pies with files in them to send them to the Dubai jail...or if I need to start a legal defense fund, to get the big guys to finally leave me alone so I can have a career somewhere on the four corners of this earth.
Have a nice weekend....
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