Newlywed in Dubai - Year 2

Newlywed in Dubai Book

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:30:00 +0000

I recently compiled most of our Newlywed in Dubai blog entries into a book using the website Blurb.com.

And now you can order a copy today!

Even though it's "print on demand" the books look quite good. Blurb.com calls them "Bookstore-Quality Books" with durable perfect binding, a laminated 4-color, 10 pt. cover and 60-pound text paper on the inside.

So please, check it out.

And yes, we plan on putting together a more comprehensive collection of essays about our time in Dubai soon. But for now, relive the blog - in book format!

Done with Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:10:00 +0000

Well everyone, it's been ... an experience.

And now it's over. Yes, my last real tie to Dubai is back in the States and sleeping in the room next door. Liz got home safely this morning.

So I think we're done here.

If you'd like to join me over at the creatively named joshedwards.com to follow us on our continuing adventures, that'd be cool.

If not, well salāmu `alaykum.

Go with peace.

Olympic Update

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:28:00 +0000

So tomorrow marks the closing ceremony of these Summer Olympics. Well, I know this says I'm posting on "Sunday" but here in the States it's still "Saturday". Although with the time zones, does that mean the closing ceremony is "Monday" for me?

Gah, I'm so bad at all of this time travel.

Anyway, here are two stories about the Olympics that tie to us. First up is the crazily-titled AFP story run in the Khaleej Times:

UAE shaikha kicked in her face in Olympic taekwondo debut

And that's bad ... right?

Sorry, I don't know much about taekwondo.

I do know one thing - the article mislabels Shaikha Maitha as "a member of the Gulf country's ruling royal family".

Technically wouldn't you say that she's "a member of one of the Gulf country's ruling royal families"? Her father is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.

(Sorry to do his whole title, but I won't have many more chances to do that here!)

So she's a Maktoum - but they're hardly the only ruling family. You also got the Nahyans, the Nuaimis, the Sharqis, the Qasimis, the other Qasimis and the Mu`allas.

Anyway, she has some great quotes in the whole "it's an honor to be nominated" vein. The South Korean kicker has some nice quotes, too.

Wow. Taekwondo appears to be very civilized. I mean, especially for a sport that literally translates to: "the way of the fist and foot".

Anyway, in other Olympic-related-to-Josh-and-Liz-news, the tiny island nation of Mauritius earned their first Olympic medal ever.

You might remember Mauritius from our honeymoon.

We got back to Dubai from that trip two years ago yesterday.

Well, two years ago yesterday when I'm writing this, which is Friday.

I mean, I'm writing this on Saturday but ... aw, forget it.

Iron Man in Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:29:00 +0000

How had I not heard about this deleted scene from Iron Man until today? Huh. I must be slipping.

In it Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) throws a party at his house in Dubai.

It's pretty lame, really (is that valet parking attendant wearing a fez?) but it's Dubai on screen, which so far has been rare ...

Mickey Mouse Copyright

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:26:00 +0000

This has nothing whatsoever to do with Dubai, sorry, but but some of you might be interested in today's Los Angeles Times article about the ambiguity of Mickey Mouse's copyright.

Somewhere in Burbank there's a roomful of Disney lawyers having the worst Friday of their lives.

Richest Royals

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Ooh! Forbes is at it again with a new list of The World's Richest Royals!

For those of you who are too lazy to click the link, here's the list (with Dubai's Sheikh Mo rocking the five-spot):

1) King Bhumibol Adulyadej
(Thailand) - $35 billion

2) Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
(UAE - Abu Dhabi) - $23 billion

3) King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz
(The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) - $21 billion

4) Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
(Brunei) - $20 billion

5) Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
(UAE - Dubai) - $18 billion

6) Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein
(Liechtenstein) - $5 billion

7) Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
(Qatar) - $2 billion

8) King Mohammed VI
(Morocco) - $1.5 billion

9) Prince Albert II
(Monaco) - $1.4 billion

10) Sultan Qaboos bin Said
(Oman) - $1.1 billion

For the record, in March it was estimated that Warren Buffett is the richest person in the world with $62 billion. A Mexican telecommunications magnate, Carlos Slim Helú, is number two with $60 billion.

Which means that Bill Gates is only the third richest with $58 billion.

Poor Bill. However, maybe if Windows Vista wasn't such a vistaster he'd be up a little higher ...

Pam Anderson and the Sheikh

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:27:00 +0000

So I generally don't read the gossipy Dubai blogs, but for some reason I just checked over at Secret Dubai Diary.

Their most recent story (from last week) is that former Baywatch actress / Playboy bunny / Rocker Wife Pamela Anderson is now dating a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family.

Sheikha Pamela

That is a perfect relationship. Totally mutually beneficial. Both sides are bringing something to the table, and both sides get to live out some cheesey romance novel storyline.

As my buddy Nate would say, "Everybody plays, everybody wins".

Good for them.

Dubai Metro is done (kinda)

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Today's The National tells us that the Dubai Metro Red Line is finished from Al Rashidiya to Jebel Ali. The Red Line follows Sheikh Zayed Road the whole 52 kilometers (32 miles).

Dubai hits Red Line milestone for metro

The Metro will open in September of 2009 and will have the capacity to carry 27,000 passengers per hour in each direction.

However, whether anyone will actually ride it is anyone's guess.

My guess?

No. Nobody will ride it.

Mangrove trees

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:19:00 +0000

This is a happy article: Mangrove species flourishes in the United Arab Emirates after a century of local extinction.

I don't know a whole lot about mangrove trees, what with their sensitivity to freezing temperatures, but it's nice that there are folks in the UAE doing some nice things for the environment.

UC Provost to UAE

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:11:00 +0000

Huh, look at this: U. of California Provost Heads to United Arab Emirates.

The UC system is freaking huge, with something like 190,000 students in it. It's also fairly prestigious - six of its ten campuses are ranked in the top 50 U.S. universities by U.S. News and World Report.

The thing that I don't get is this description from the article: "United Arab Emirates University, the Persian Gulf nation’s premier research institution" - personally I'd never even heard of UAEU until this article.

In fact, do people even call it UAEU? I'm being a bit presumptuous to even assume that!

And frankly, the wikipedia post leaves a little to be desired, too ...

But the funniest thing is that this Dr. Hume person is a dentist. His doctorate is in dentistry. Not in education, he's "Dr. Hume D.D.S."

He's probably not even "highly qualified" enough to teach at a public school in the States.

"Doctor". Ha!

The only thing more bogus than that would be if you received a honorary doctorate from a private, for-profit university that doesn't even have a doctoral program at any one of its eight campuses in six countries, and you still make people call you "Doctor __ ____".

But nobody would be that foolish.

Would they?

Lefty

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:02:00 +0000

I'd read this somewhere before, and now I see it here again. This article on Dubai's dos and don'ts says while in Dubai not to eat food or accept anything with the left hand. It's rude to the local Emiratis.

Now, as a lefty, most everything I do in life is left-centric. And honestly in my two years in the emirate I never changed any of my eating or drinking habits.

Then again, I never was around many locals - they only make up one-fifth of the population. And the ones I know were in school with me, so we didn't do much eating.

Although during the breaks in class I did hold my Diet Pepsi can with my left hand.

Maybe that's why nobody would talk to me and they all threw things at me and called me names.

Oh wait, no, that wasn't me, I'm confusing my MBA classes with a 1980s John Hughes movie again ...

Gah! (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:40:00 +0000

Hmm.

Uh ...

Chart-topping single smacks of controversy

Yeah, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Gah! (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Hmm.

Uh ...

US publishers cancel book on Prophet Mohammed's wife

Yeah, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Arun Almighty

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:38:00 +0000

Uh oh. Gulf News just told me that Dubai has banned the Bollywood film "God Tussi Great Ho" because it violates Islamic teachings.

Why? Well they tell us:

God Tussi Great Ho is the story of Arun Prajapati (Salman Khan) who loses his balance in life, his job, his girl (Priyanka Chopra) and for all his losses, he blames "god". With all his bickering, "god" decides to meet Arun face to face. He endows Arun with all of his divine powers, challenges Arun to take on the big job and see if he can do it any better.

(The quotation marks, by the way, are all Gulf News).

Um, wasn't this the premise of "Bruce Almighty" like, five years ago?

Man, I think Tom Shadyac gonna sue somebody!

So, for those of you who lived in Dubai in 2003, was "Bruce Almighty" banned, too?

And, more importantly, do you think there'll be a sequel to "God Tussi Great Ho" starring a completely tertiary character who has all of one minute of screen time in the original film? 'Cause that'd be awesome.

USPS

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:37:00 +0000

Just read a frightening statistic about the United States Postal Service on The Boston Globe's website:

Every penny per gallon increase in gas costs the postal service an additional $8 million a year.

So if the average price of gas goes up, say, 98 cents in the last year ... yeah, you do the math.

Gasoline Prices

RTA Taxi Drivers to School

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:06:00 +0000

The Khaleej Times today reports that the Dubai RTA is sending taxi drivers to school ... where they'll learn about the UAE, its culture, history and heritage.

Personally I would have sent them to school to learn where shit is. I can't count the times I've been in a taxi in Dubai and said "I live near Media City, do you know where that is?"

"Okay no problem."

No.

Problem.

The first time the driver totally missed the exit off of Sheikh Zayed Road. The second through two millionth times I had to say, "turn here! Here! The exit with the sign that says 'Dubai Media City' please! Right now! You're going to miss it!!"

I understand that taxi drivers can't know where everything is (especially since without street names and numbers addresses just don't exist in this emirate). All of the construction doesn't help. But for the love of God, at least learn the major developments (Marina, Media City, the Greens, the Gardens).

But at least now when they miss your exit and take you the long way, the drivers can tell you about culture, history and heritage.

Bay interview on Yahoo

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:55:00 +0000

For the Red Sox baseball fans out there, we have a comical interview with new leftfielder Jason Bay over at Yahoo! Sports.

BU's diversity

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:48:00 +0000

Interesting international article about Boston University (my alma matar) at The Boston Globe today - Foreigners diversify face of BU.

444 incoming Freshmen (what would that be, the Class of 2012?!?) are from foreign countries, which makes them 11% of the graduating class.

That's pretty crazy!

Hmm ...

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:05:00 +0000

Okay, here's a saucy story for you. Yep, it's another episode of Dubai's People's Court.

These two Brits face up to six years in a Dubai jail (which isn't at all swanky, so I hear) for doing it on the beach.

Obviously parental advisory is recommended.

Couple accused of having sex on Dubai beach 'were just kissing'

I'm glad I'm not their lawyer, because these two are screwed.

Slow

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:56:00 +0000

Sorry so slow here. Been up on the roof helping finish the de-shingling / metal roof installation. If it were any more interesting than that I'd tell you all about it. But it's kind of not. Looks pretty, though.

Being up on the roof also means that the daily torrential rains have ceased. That's also fun. Granted that's also the reason that the Sea Dogs baseball game was sold out last night. Dang! Just like every other Mainer I really wanted to go and enjoy an evening at the ballpark!

Lastly, I've been looking for jobs. How does "Lead Marketing / Sales Analyst" sound? Too salesy? Maybe. We'll see.

So yeah, more of an update when I have a good story for you ...

Pyramid renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Another rainy day in Maine. Nothing new to report.

Check out this article from yesterday: Egypt's ancient pyramids at Giza get makeover.

That's nice. We just were in Cairo in April, and the pyramids were kind of a mess. Well, the pyramids themselves were fantastic - but the surrounding area was budget. While we were there I don't think we uttered words such as "clean" and "beautiful", at least, not without the modifiers "not" or "isn't at all".

Then again, I rather enjoy Disney parks for their cleanliness and efficiency.

Anyway, here is the whole Photo Gallery of our Cairo trip and here are a couple of stragglers I put up at my Flickr gallery.

Emirati-man!

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:52:00 +0000

Odd article at the Gulf News about a stage show based on the Emirati comic book hero Ajaaj.

Ajaaj's power is that of a sandstorm, which he uses to upholds the values of the UAE. He's kind of like one-half of the Wonder Twins, or like that guy from Wings.

Anyway, the book, as well as the stage show, take place in 2020, which I take to assume is when the author guesses all construction will be done in Dubai.

I wonder if it will be?

Oh, and apparently the show is in 4D.

Now, I'm hardly a mathematician or a physicist, but I always thought that the first three dimensions are up/down, left/right and forward/backward, and that the fourth is generally time?

So these guys are telling us that their stage show will consume all three dimensions of physical space, as well as an hour of your life.

Groundbreaking.

Good morning Gordon!

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Baseball fans alert: Former Boston Globe sportswriter Gordon Edes has made his Yahoo! Sports debut with not one but two columns.

Sure, both are about the Cubs, but still, it's good to read Gordon again.

Kring!!

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:23:00 +0000

Okay, this is too goofy to not mention. It's circular, there's no real point, but it's goofy and amuses me.

The Portland, Maine police chief is oddly named Tim Burton, like the famous movie director.

But now he's leaving to go to Odessa, Texas.

Which is where they had that cheerleader die during homecoming two years ago.

Of course I'm talking about that show "Heroes" and Clair the cheerleader who was prophesized to die. You know, "Save the cheerleader, save the world".

Oddly, she was supposed to die on the step-like amphitheater at fictional Union Wells High School in Odessa - which the film student in me would somehow draw allusions to the Odessa steps from Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film The Battleship Potemkin.

But somehow I don't think that "Heroes" creator Tim Kring is that clever, though.

The Mist

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:01:00 +0000

I had a busy day today helping re-roof my parents' cottage up at the lake, around the corner from where we had the wedding. But it reminded me of something that, while not at all related to Dubai, is related to home.

A few weeks before I left Dubai (which was a month ago!) Liz and I finally saw that Frank Darabont movie "The Mist". It's based on a Stephen King novella, I talked about this a bit before (see The Mist trailer).

See, the funny thing is that the main character in the movie (played by Thomas Jane) lives on Long Lake, which runs between the towns of Bridgton and Naples, Maine. And I grew up in Naples and Liz grew up in Bridgton. The supermarket in which the characters are stuck is in Bridgton, and the pharmacy in the story was owned by Liz's friend's father.

Anyway, the flick wasn't shot in Maine, and other than a fleeting mention of CMP the location is rather unconsequential.

In fact, there's nothing at all like Area 51 in the Oxford Hills north of the lake.

There are, however, lakes ... and mist.

Which brings me back to today. Early this morning I drove up to my parents cottage, which is just north of Naples. To get there, I drive the entire length of Long Lake and then into the hills north of the lake.

Exactly where "The Arrowhead Project" takes place in the movie.

Because we've had some cool weather, but today was sunny, all of the lakes along the route were steaming. Like mist.

It was bizarre and cool and, yes, a little scary. I was waiting for a three foot dragonfly to pop out at me. Maybe a tentacle or two.

And that is part of the fun of living in Stephen King's Maine.