Borrowed Time? Still Spoiled Rotten.

So I found Bill W last night for the first time in a while. He came by the name of Nabeel, who was kind enough to rescue me from the Euro-Villiage Compound, where I am staying, to wisk me into another compound on the coast about 15 minutes away. The meeting was a big book meeting with a handful of nationalities and wealth of sober time. Always great to catch a meeting and yes the same message that I have found in San Fran, Charleston, Rock Springs, Gran Junction, Las Vegas, New Orleans and else where my travels in the past couple of years.

After the meeting was over I hadn't eaten dinner yet and it was 9pm. Nabeel and I were goign to give another gentlman a ride back to his compound before he dropped me off. Now it there was any question on my mind as to whether I was living on borrowed time, I got out of that car an hour and half later sure of it. On that note, I must say that driving round here is absolutely horrific, I thought numerous times though out my trip that it might be the end. There is hardly any regard for lanes on any road, including the highways. Some cars go 60km and others pass at 180km, the speed limit which only seems to be enforced on expats is 110k on the highways. It not uncommon at all, for a car in the right lane of a 6 lane divided Blvd to cross all lanes to hang a swift left with paying no attention to other carsin traffic, happens all the time. "Coming through" kind of attitude; again inshallah.

On the work tip, we are barrelling through the the second workshop, which is focused around inventory management, reducing E&O, slow moving and increasing turns. HR workshop next week and then headed home on Wednesday night arriving in Denver Thursday at 3pm after a Frankfurt, Germany flight that leaves at 1pm; 2 hour flight with an actual flying time of 10 hours or so. Looing forward to a little break from the middle east, but I definately did not think I would like it over here this much. Seriously, I could live over here. Maybe not Saudi, but the Middle East, no problem.

All that said, I still maintain that I am spoiled rotten and living the good life. Truly blessed.

Thanks for reading.

Dubai trip - just amazing

Dubai is one of seven Emirates (states) that make up the UAE. It has only ~10% of the oil in the UAE, relative to Abu Dhabi’s 90%; hence the late Sheik Sayed saw a need to diversify it in the 70’s and it has grown leaps and bounds since, especially in recent years. “New Dubai” is what most of hear about in the news in conjunction with the Burj Al Dubai which will be the tallest building in the world when complete and will dwarf most other skyscrapers. They currently have 17%+ of the world’s heavy construction cranes in Dubai working on the massive and uber well thought out development plans. 80% of Dubai is ex-patriot and venture capitalism is everywhere. The class system is unfortunately present with the Asia and Asia Pac ex pat primarily working the service and construction sector and the Europeans and Americans in the planning, consulting and capital ventures. The Arab nationals just visit for fun and print money when they need some. In order for a non-national company to do business in an Arab gulf country it must have a local sponsor (a national individual). This person may or may not have a position within the company and in most cases just skims a percentage of revenue off the top, number I heard were around 20% being standard. Must be nice ehh. Dubai is clean and the people were great that we met. (note the Palm Resort on the horizon in the water of heli photo)

On Wednesday we took an earlier than planned flight over from Bahrain, got to the hotel and all took free upgrades to executive sweets. I was on the 28th floors 3rd from the top with a balcony facing east. We went to Jumeirah beach resort the first night for some sushi while sitting outside next to the crashing waves of the Arab Gulf. After a late dinner on the best Yellow Tail I have ever had we went to Boudoir, a hip hop club till 2 and got some bees out of our butts. Had 2 very late nights while there. Woke up the next morning to 95 and sunny, seems to be the unbreakable trend around here, and headed off to the Gold Souk, a market where you can buy at market price with no mark up for workmanship. Local gold mostly except for the white gold as it is imported. I got a lesson in pearls as one jeweler, but no purchases, just yet. Buy 1pm it was at least 100 flipping degrees and we took an Abra (water taxi) across the creek over to the Textile Souk for a gander. Bought an Emirates t-shirt and then something caught my eye. A currency exchange in the souk had old Saddam Iraqi currency that is no longer in use. Had to get one, cost, less than 2 bucks for a 25 dinar note. After strolling through the souks we headed back to the Central Business District on Sheik Sayed Blvd and stopped off some hotels to snoop, get some quotes and just people watch some. Went to the Fairmont, Crown Plaza. Back to the hotel for a quick shower, now about 5pm and then over to smoke “Sheesha”. It is a flavored tobacco that is smoked out of traditional 3 foot tall hookah. Very smooth and good buzz. There are no drugs in the Middle East, really at all, just not tolerated. Not even in the clubs, very encouraging to see. After the sharing some shish with my colleagues we met up with a Dubai native Hanan who went to school with one of the guys. She is Jordanian and been in Dubai about a year. We hit up Long’s Bar which was in our Hotel the Towers Rotana, home to the longest bar in Dubai (for now) and then she took us over to the Madinat Jumeirah near the Burj Al Arab.

Most of you have seen the Burj Al Arab in the news or possibly when Tiger Woods hit the golf ball off the helipad in a commercial. I can’t explain how amazing the Madinat was designed and maintained. It makes any other hotel I have ever stayed in look like a 2 star motel. Every hotel (except the Burj Al Arab) is open to the public and most are donned with very nice restaurants, cafes, shopping, bars and clubs. Most places that serve food, serve past midnight. So back to the Madinat, did a jazz club for bit then a techno club for bit, walked around a lot and took some pics.

Before heading home we took a drive to the marina district which is the center of “New Dubai” it is totally under construction and just amazing, would love to come back and visit after it is complete. Got back to the hotel about 3:45 am, again late night.

I think I am rushing a bit as I need to head to bed, early morning tomorrow and the beginning of our work week here, no Memorial Day for us. More to come.


http://www.madinatjumeirah.com/
http://www.rotana.com/
http://www.burj-al-arab.com/
Burj Al Dubai: http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/701.php

Le Simpsons, hu-hu

Good News, they have The Simpsons over here. And like any good fan I would watch even if, let’s say it were in French and I didn’t understand a single word. But, it was the one that ends with Sponge Bob Square Pants, God and the Kentucky Colonel.

Anyway, we had our first workshop kick off today and it went well. Identifying the problems and getting buy in from the participants and re-define location specific processes. When we were in the Rockies doing the HR workshop, some of us went out for a bite after the first evening and came to the conclusion that if we heard the word “process” at all the next day we were going to “Scream Real Loud” as if it were Pee Wee Herman’s word of the day. Instead we decide to do just a subtle “boom-shack-lacka-boom” with a rowdy fist movement. Maybe you had to be there… short of it is that the word process is used approximately every 1.039 seconds and I find it humorous. I mean, we are the Business Process Optimization Team, but I have to find some humor in the whole deal.

And well, today was the dustiest, sandiest day yet. A yellow haze of the approaching sand on the horizon everywhere you turn. It didn’t engulf us or anything, just a breezy, hot, I mean roasty, day.

I called a couple of numbers given to me to try and track down a regularly scheduled meeting, if you know what I mean, unfortunately with no avail (no answer or call back yet and a Bill Wilson who?). And I have emailed New York GSO to get meeting info for Bahrain and Dubai seeing as we plan to be there over the next couple of weekends. No worries. You can’t help but make time for some spirituality when you are in a place where they pray 5 times a day over megaphones broadcasting the message of faith over the landscape. When Muslims pray it is quite a thing to hear as the mosques within earshot will have their megaphones turned up loud as can be and be singing/saying/praying the same exact prayer, yet a couple of seconds out of sync. I would like to try and get a sound byte for the blog, I’ll see what I can do.

I got a 2 dollar haircut from a guy with Elvis hair on the compound to day for 20 Riyal (SR), roughly 7 bucks. He gave it a good go on the first round, but I told him I wanted it shorter. This ticked him off as if he hadn’t done a good job with what mop of head he was given to work with. A 5 Riyal tip later I had the shortest damn haircut I have ever had.

I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for reading my blog-thing-whatchamacallit. Hi Mom, Dad, Aunt Betty and Barbara, Alfonso, Danny, Grandmommy, Sis, Joe, Webber, Lazlo, Belsie, Lorgan, Marci, Juedes, Pam, The F1J1 guys East Coast and West Coast, Selene, Lisa, Brad, Dawn and any else I may have left off the list. I miss you all and think about ya’ll a lot. Just wishing you were here to take it all in with me, cause its really pretty cool (figuratively of course). Just let me know if you want to come visit, I have a couch you know (wink).

Joe

Overnight Trip to Bahrain

Yesterday I came over to Bahrain with someone else from the team to check it out. Bahrain is a short 30 minute drive on the King Fahad Causeway through the Arabian Gulf and a tourist spot every weekend for Saudis but you see just as many expatriots from Europe, Australia, India, Pakistan, Phillipines and NZ as you see Native Gulf Arabs. It is seems to be a preferred place of residence over Saudi for expats in the region. They are under going some impressive skyscraper construction projects in Bahrain. Follow the link to the upcoming Bahrain World Trade Center: http://muharraqi-studios.com/BAHRAIN-WORLD-TRADE-CENTER/b-after.jpg What is not show in the picture at this website are the 3 Gigantic Wind Turbines that are mounted betweeen the 3 towers, one on top of the other. It makes for a very impressive building and hints that Bahrain is not jsut about oil energy. However it was the first arabian country to find oil and was a British colony in it recent history and has done a great job with diversifying its economy to not be so oil depedendant seeing as the oil production has subsided to 65k bbl/day.

Today it capitalizes on retail, banking and beach going tourist commerce.We went for dinner at Trader Vics on the Ritz-Carolton property last night then hit up a club. Late night, didn't get home till after 2am.
The photos are a Bahraini Sunset over the Arab Gulf and the view out of my window this morning (Mom - Crown Plaza in the foreground).

Couple of other perks that draw people and me to Bahrain: the food, no "lock down" mentality on security as things are very safe over here, greater freedom for women so you actually see most of them just as you would a man on the street.So far the Saudi experience has proved to be very controlled and scheduled as risk is managed for obvious reasons.

Even though Saudi is a 45 minute causeway drive from Bahrain, they are 2 very different places.

Friday is a Wednesday

Wednesday over here is Friday for the work week. We have some plans to check out Bahrain over the weekend. Euro Villiage is fairly mellow and we are discouraged from veturing out in Saudi too much. Meals are had there in their restaurant. There is a pool, stabels, tennis courts. There are armored vehicles guarding both the compound an the HAL facilty. It is amazing how many expat countries are represented here. At work and on the compound you run into Pakistanis, Phillipinos, Egyptians, Saudis, Indians, really quite a motley crew. Not much to report yet at the schedule is fairly rigid, to the office via bus with other HAL employees staying at the compound at 6:15 and must leave the office as it closes at 4:30ish for the day.

This is a photo of the manicured office in the desert. Note the flower laiden path to the armed guard shack on our perimeter.

I'll write again soon.

Joe

Past Bahgdad...

8:10am 5/15/06 - I have got to talk to my travel agent. 18 hours in the dead center of a plane with 2 aisles really doesn’t do much for me. I highly recommend doing the online confirmation/pick a seat 24 hours before the flight thing if your airline allows it for these long flights.

The flight over the Atlantic was only 7 hours and we straddled the coast all the way to Newfoundland then curved just below Greenland and then over the north Atlantic to London. I tried to sleep but it was really late afternoon MST. I called Phil Heyneker in London. He is doing well and planning on returning stateside before Drew’s bachelor party so he is planning on coming out for it. London was rushed as you have to go through security again even if you are just connecting. A 3 hour layover turned into a “better keep it moving” trek through a maze of “piers” and corridors. If it weren’t for the DoD employee from the Pentagon that sat next to me on the transatlantic flight I probably would have gotten lost (they also gave me a quick lesson in dialing internationally). He and some other Pentagon employees were headed to Doha, Qatar for a conference, so we were all headed to the same terminal. I think the weirdest thing about that transatlantic red eye is that you leave and it is light on the east coast and by the time you cross the US/Canada border doing a “great circle route”, the sun has set… then about 4 hours later before you get over the British Isles, the sun is up. Makes for quick night.

We are flying past Baghdad right now, 41k feet. We have another hour+ before we land in Bahrain at 6:30. I have been trying to figure out what the time difference is between MST and Bahrain and I think it is 9 hours. Gulf Air is the airline down to Bahrain. I saw a on board chef running around on the plane and the female gate agents wore these hats that look like a fez with a square yard or so of cloth neatly hung off the back of the hat over the back of their heads, neck and upper back. The cloth changed colors in the light from red to blue. Either that or I am seeing things from lack of sleep.

That’s it for now, I will post this when I get to an internet connection.
A bit scrambled but doing really well.

Got the Visa!

My visa was complete and ready to pick up at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Houston at 4pm Friday. Just in time for overnighting it to Denver and a Sunday Departure. I was a bit worried about Saturday delivery, but by 10am it was here. So I am just doing some last minute laundry and getting ready to grab a bite with Ben before I try to sleep. Really excited for this trip, sleeping should be tuff.