Traffic incident with ramifications.
I was travelling, my son was helping in our exhibition, and for the first time we distribute 14 boxes of magazines in the first 2 hours, so he decides to return to pick up more of them, he comes home, says hi/bye to us, we leave to the airport, he leaves to the expo. When I switch my phone on again I receive a string of BBMs from him, that he has been in an accident, not his fault, and a small one, the police drags him to the station, takes his passport, pull the car to the station, and tells him off, anyway after that he hires a pickup, puts the the boxes in it, pays the money and goes to the exhibition. And for the next three days he takes taxis, and tries to find out from here and there what the hell he did wrong so they confiscate the car.
To make the long story short, I accompany him to the court today. I left home at 8, arrived there at 9, waited a bit, the the judge called him and the other driver. The judge charged the lather driver a fine of 1200 dirhams and told my son that he is free to go!!!!! I.e he is innocent, my son's face went blanc, and I was devastated.
What was the problem then? Why did we have to endure thisnincedent? And why did we have to spend all this time? And money of course
Apparently the police dept have different interpretation ofnthe traffic law that says that a visitor to a country can drive with his home driving licence I. A rent a car. Or he can obtain an international licence and drives anyones car. My son was driving my car, and his licence is transfereble to UAE licence without a test, which means he can drive with it, but the policeman didn't stuffy hard enough when he went to the police college, he must have studied enough to pass the exams.
Anyway, I went to recover my car, they told me that I have to pay the 300 drihams toeing money. I did. Then they said I have to picknupnthe car from their wqrehouse and pay another 150 dirhams. I asked where is the warehouse as I am not a good road traveler. He drew a map that even the most experienced driver couldn't reach it, and that too in the most traffic jammed area in the UEA. I had a bomb inside me but I didn't known that it was going to blow up that hard. I shouted at the person and asked to see the manager of the place. He directed me with a shock on his face. I went up, and as usual there were like a hundred people witting to see the manager, I shouted again that I had to see him, and it's urgent, so they directed me in. When he manger saw my face he must have realized that trouble is here, he asked me to sit down and explain, so I went through the steps and ended at the map. I said why did this happen and what are my rights as a citizen? Do I have claims, can I sue the policeman whondid this to my son and I? He said, just bring the paper where the judge said that my son is innocent, and he will sue the policeman! I went back, brought the paper and gave it to him, he called e bigger boss and all the experts on traffic law, they confirmed that we didn't have to go through this. So they took my son Intheir car and went to the wrehouse to pick up a dirty looking car? As it was in the sun, heat and dust for over two weeks.
At the end of all this, my son and I calculated how much this had Cost us in terms of time ( very important) and money. Also the loss of productivity as my son loves that car and was thinking about it all the time, also he could t do his work, and the loss of students, as those magazines would have been distributed and wd could have gotten more students, or as I always put it, more money for the country. We never saved any money in the UAE, nor did we ever send money overseas, in actual fact we receive money from overseas for our work. All that money is circulated and spent in the UAE, not anywhere else.
In conclusion, the cost is over 100,000 dirhams.
Who is responsible? I am not sure
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Monday, 1 November 2010
The Mall
I can hardly remember when was the last time I had gone to a mall in a complete relaxation and shopped, ate, had coffee, had ice cream, had more coffee, prayed, went for a massage etc.
last weekend a group of friends spent the whole of saturday in a shopping mall in Dubai. We left my phone inside my bag on a silent mode. We walked and talked for a while, had lunch, did shopping, went for a very relaxing feet massage, and did stuff tell the evenning. I dont know about you, but something like this is far away from my mind since the last few years. Is it age? is it being busy? is it because my mind is focused on working and only working?
I noticed that since many people are planning their own work and embarking on their own projects and companies, maybe I didnt notice this before, but certainly there is an increase in small businesses being established these days then ever before. I am sure when I was little i didnt see a grocery shop in every corner in my neighborhood, all of us used to walk a distance to the closest grocery shop next to the baker, bought our favourite sweets (jelly beans), had our drink and bought the hot bread with the nakhkhaj or bajela and of course ate half of it before reaching home. even my sister was burnt by this grocer when he was trying to switch the kirosin fire off the huge pot of bioling eggs. (I went with her to the hospital, as my mum and dad were away on a trip, this was when I think I was barely 11) now if you go to the same spot you will see like a hundred grocery shops, and more than one baker. The choice is huge, and the number of entrants into the SME market is wider than ever. Thus, if we are all engaged in SME's, and none of us are having the time to go shopping and relax, who on earth is doing the buying?
can someone reply to me?
last weekend a group of friends spent the whole of saturday in a shopping mall in Dubai. We left my phone inside my bag on a silent mode. We walked and talked for a while, had lunch, did shopping, went for a very relaxing feet massage, and did stuff tell the evenning. I dont know about you, but something like this is far away from my mind since the last few years. Is it age? is it being busy? is it because my mind is focused on working and only working?
I noticed that since many people are planning their own work and embarking on their own projects and companies, maybe I didnt notice this before, but certainly there is an increase in small businesses being established these days then ever before. I am sure when I was little i didnt see a grocery shop in every corner in my neighborhood, all of us used to walk a distance to the closest grocery shop next to the baker, bought our favourite sweets (jelly beans), had our drink and bought the hot bread with the nakhkhaj or bajela and of course ate half of it before reaching home. even my sister was burnt by this grocer when he was trying to switch the kirosin fire off the huge pot of bioling eggs. (I went with her to the hospital, as my mum and dad were away on a trip, this was when I think I was barely 11) now if you go to the same spot you will see like a hundred grocery shops, and more than one baker. The choice is huge, and the number of entrants into the SME market is wider than ever. Thus, if we are all engaged in SME's, and none of us are having the time to go shopping and relax, who on earth is doing the buying?
can someone reply to me?
Seeing a person you know in prison - a story from my fictional brain- but the court details are for real.
Seeing a person you know in prison
I was praying to god to save my kids from any problems that may lead them to be prosecuted or jailed. The bank was not quick enough to give me the bail money so I had to use my sharp tongue to make the manager come out of his tower to facilitate the withdrawal from my account. Drove to court in a haste. Even though the person I was trying to bail is not a relative, the mere fact that I know that person was a sufficient reason to leave my busy schedule and drive all the way to the court. Apparently the landlord of this person's staff apartment which since have been vacated and handed over, had falsified documents to say that the rent was not paid and made a law suit against him. The courts do not take facts, they will entertain any request as there will be a charge for this and it sone way of making money. So if an ant goes there and files a law suit against me, I will be summoned, I cannot ask for the grounds of the law suit, as this is secondary.
Anyway, apparently the landlord had even falsified the address and gave wrong information about this person, the name was given Then to the police, and they caught him and put him in the temporary prison awaiting to take him to the main prison. They didn't even allow him to open the trunk of his car to get his wallet and the rest of his documents.
Anyway, after hunting for a car park and begging few people to provide me with coins in exchange to my five dirhams, I found the jail and saw this very polite, highly educated and intelligent IT person in jail, He is the age of my son and for a fraction of a second I felt total dismay to the system. And again I prayed to God not to put my kids in a similar position.
The process in the courts was so complicated, one would have assumed that he had told them that some one is coming to pay the bail money, regardless of course they were calling me something like every second and saying that if the money doesn't arrive before one pm they will transfer him to the real jail. So once I reached they sent me to a room in another floor, I asked for the person whom I need to talk to, who said that I have to wait for the judge, then I said why can't I pay while waiting for the judge, he agreed; off I went to the bank at the courts basement. The queue was as long as the seine river, with no one behind the counter, I kept on looking at my watch to see if it's one yet? And the cashier is still not there, I asked the six staff members of the bank, they said that they don't know where she is, and if I want to complain I can go to the manager of the bank, the manager pretended that he heard me but he didn't, I went back and the queue had become even longer, it seemed to me that everybody in Dubai has some sort of case against them.
Then someone phoned me saying that he is the lawyer of my colleague, oh so he has a lawyer? I thanked my stars as that would be the only way the process could be simplified. The lawyer took me to another counter that actually accepts cash from the people, but that counter had no sign on it, thus this person would be sitting there twiddling his thumb and the girl at the bank tries to find an excuse just to take a breather. Complete and utter madness. When they mention E-government I laugh now, as what is happening here has nothing to do with E it's a covered up unemployment. The government needs to wake up and corrects this. Luckily I dont have lots of dealings with any goverment department otherwise I think I will start to have diabetes high blood pressure and all the illnesses associated with being upset, stressed and angry.
I hated that day, I am serious in praying to God to save my kids, even though they are Arabs but they never had to face such situations, call them spoilt, call them pampered, call them sheltered I don't really care, I just don't want them to be subjected to unnecessary bad situations. The economic crisis in the country had changed every ones attitude. This land lord for example must be owing lots of money to real estate companies, and the only way to pay back is by cheating the less advantaged. Thus the economic crisis had breaded crocks, and these crocks are not asked for proof when they make a law suit against anyone. So tomorrow it could be me, or you. Just be very careful and cover all your bases, or go to the mattresses as the God father would have said.
In my opinion, the court should ensure the correctness of the case prior to accepting it and wasting everybody's time, if they did that we will have less people working there with more efficient process. But who am I to even utter this word?
I was praying to god to save my kids from any problems that may lead them to be prosecuted or jailed. The bank was not quick enough to give me the bail money so I had to use my sharp tongue to make the manager come out of his tower to facilitate the withdrawal from my account. Drove to court in a haste. Even though the person I was trying to bail is not a relative, the mere fact that I know that person was a sufficient reason to leave my busy schedule and drive all the way to the court. Apparently the landlord of this person's staff apartment which since have been vacated and handed over, had falsified documents to say that the rent was not paid and made a law suit against him. The courts do not take facts, they will entertain any request as there will be a charge for this and it sone way of making money. So if an ant goes there and files a law suit against me, I will be summoned, I cannot ask for the grounds of the law suit, as this is secondary.
Anyway, apparently the landlord had even falsified the address and gave wrong information about this person, the name was given Then to the police, and they caught him and put him in the temporary prison awaiting to take him to the main prison. They didn't even allow him to open the trunk of his car to get his wallet and the rest of his documents.
Anyway, after hunting for a car park and begging few people to provide me with coins in exchange to my five dirhams, I found the jail and saw this very polite, highly educated and intelligent IT person in jail, He is the age of my son and for a fraction of a second I felt total dismay to the system. And again I prayed to God not to put my kids in a similar position.
The process in the courts was so complicated, one would have assumed that he had told them that some one is coming to pay the bail money, regardless of course they were calling me something like every second and saying that if the money doesn't arrive before one pm they will transfer him to the real jail. So once I reached they sent me to a room in another floor, I asked for the person whom I need to talk to, who said that I have to wait for the judge, then I said why can't I pay while waiting for the judge, he agreed; off I went to the bank at the courts basement. The queue was as long as the seine river, with no one behind the counter, I kept on looking at my watch to see if it's one yet? And the cashier is still not there, I asked the six staff members of the bank, they said that they don't know where she is, and if I want to complain I can go to the manager of the bank, the manager pretended that he heard me but he didn't, I went back and the queue had become even longer, it seemed to me that everybody in Dubai has some sort of case against them.
Then someone phoned me saying that he is the lawyer of my colleague, oh so he has a lawyer? I thanked my stars as that would be the only way the process could be simplified. The lawyer took me to another counter that actually accepts cash from the people, but that counter had no sign on it, thus this person would be sitting there twiddling his thumb and the girl at the bank tries to find an excuse just to take a breather. Complete and utter madness. When they mention E-government I laugh now, as what is happening here has nothing to do with E it's a covered up unemployment. The government needs to wake up and corrects this. Luckily I dont have lots of dealings with any goverment department otherwise I think I will start to have diabetes high blood pressure and all the illnesses associated with being upset, stressed and angry.
I hated that day, I am serious in praying to God to save my kids, even though they are Arabs but they never had to face such situations, call them spoilt, call them pampered, call them sheltered I don't really care, I just don't want them to be subjected to unnecessary bad situations. The economic crisis in the country had changed every ones attitude. This land lord for example must be owing lots of money to real estate companies, and the only way to pay back is by cheating the less advantaged. Thus the economic crisis had breaded crocks, and these crocks are not asked for proof when they make a law suit against anyone. So tomorrow it could be me, or you. Just be very careful and cover all your bases, or go to the mattresses as the God father would have said.
In my opinion, the court should ensure the correctness of the case prior to accepting it and wasting everybody's time, if they did that we will have less people working there with more efficient process. But who am I to even utter this word?
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Why would people falsify documents?
I think I mentioned before that I receive over 300 emails a day. About 50% of these emails come from disparate people looking for jobs, Nigerian crocks, real estate companies and other junk mail from china or forwards from friends. The other 50% is real mail from schools and students. So my first task is to separate the mail and delete the unwanted to get on with the rest of the urgent replies. Some emails I have to flag as I need to find out answers but some I can clear very quickly as I already know what to do.
Anyway, I received an email, which I assumed it was junk, so you know what happened to it, then after two days a similar one came, again the delete button was pressed. But when I got it as a forward insisting on a reply, I opened it, checked the attachment and not knowing what the person wants, I replied to say that I had deleted the email as I didn't know what they wanted. In a flash of a second they replied saying that I should confirm that the certificate that was attached in their first emil was issued by us, and that I need to certify it. So I looked again at the attachment with horror this time, to see how on earth I issued a certificate to a person? This doesn't make any sense as first we do not teach any thing, and also we are not certified to issue certificates. So I looked closely and noticed that our address was somehow showing at the bottom of the so called certificate! Weird really, as his is not even the way we write our address, this must have been copied from an advertisement or a flier that we distribute regularly.
I replied to them, saying that we are not allowed to issue certificates nor are we certified to teach degrees. And that they need to talk to the school directly. They asked me to give them the name of the school. Now I am going to change my name to Google! So of course you would guess my reply to her. Then again she emailed me saying if I had ever met this person who had falsified her document? I said no, but just to make sure I ran a search on our database to ensure that I am saying the truth.
The real worry is, the company this person had given her certificate to had actually enquired about it, but do all companies actually ask? I am not sure about this, as I for one assume that people are telling the truth, why would anyone make up a story about graduation, wouldn't it be found later on if he or she cannot perform the job they are applying for? What about people who pay others to attend exams on their behalf, or people who ask others to write their assignments and give them money for it, and those that ask us to write their PHD proposal for them or their personal statements, etc. All of this is apparently a done thing.
Falsifying a document for a typist is ok as no one will be harmed by slow typists, but for doctors, financiers, accountants, engineers and all the other disciplines that by not knowing how to perform the tasks one can actually kill others. Is money that important so we would do anything to get it without any consideration to the truth? What happened to humanity? What happened to being honest no matter what? What is the problem if one had actually gone to a school and had actually graduated, why would one spend all of this money to obtain shady certificates?
Like everything else. Life is becoming very different to the one we know, what do you think we should do to correct it, everyday I find these issues and thank my god for the person who is me, I hate lies, I hate pretence and I hate to receive anything if I am not entitled to it. And I really hope that I had instilled these characteristics in my children, as if I hear that they had cheated in their exams I am not sure which nerve in my brain is going to explode.
Hope none of you is harmed by a non-certificate-holder dentist.
Anyway, I received an email, which I assumed it was junk, so you know what happened to it, then after two days a similar one came, again the delete button was pressed. But when I got it as a forward insisting on a reply, I opened it, checked the attachment and not knowing what the person wants, I replied to say that I had deleted the email as I didn't know what they wanted. In a flash of a second they replied saying that I should confirm that the certificate that was attached in their first emil was issued by us, and that I need to certify it. So I looked again at the attachment with horror this time, to see how on earth I issued a certificate to a person? This doesn't make any sense as first we do not teach any thing, and also we are not certified to issue certificates. So I looked closely and noticed that our address was somehow showing at the bottom of the so called certificate! Weird really, as his is not even the way we write our address, this must have been copied from an advertisement or a flier that we distribute regularly.
I replied to them, saying that we are not allowed to issue certificates nor are we certified to teach degrees. And that they need to talk to the school directly. They asked me to give them the name of the school. Now I am going to change my name to Google! So of course you would guess my reply to her. Then again she emailed me saying if I had ever met this person who had falsified her document? I said no, but just to make sure I ran a search on our database to ensure that I am saying the truth.
The real worry is, the company this person had given her certificate to had actually enquired about it, but do all companies actually ask? I am not sure about this, as I for one assume that people are telling the truth, why would anyone make up a story about graduation, wouldn't it be found later on if he or she cannot perform the job they are applying for? What about people who pay others to attend exams on their behalf, or people who ask others to write their assignments and give them money for it, and those that ask us to write their PHD proposal for them or their personal statements, etc. All of this is apparently a done thing.
Falsifying a document for a typist is ok as no one will be harmed by slow typists, but for doctors, financiers, accountants, engineers and all the other disciplines that by not knowing how to perform the tasks one can actually kill others. Is money that important so we would do anything to get it without any consideration to the truth? What happened to humanity? What happened to being honest no matter what? What is the problem if one had actually gone to a school and had actually graduated, why would one spend all of this money to obtain shady certificates?
Like everything else. Life is becoming very different to the one we know, what do you think we should do to correct it, everyday I find these issues and thank my god for the person who is me, I hate lies, I hate pretence and I hate to receive anything if I am not entitled to it. And I really hope that I had instilled these characteristics in my children, as if I hear that they had cheated in their exams I am not sure which nerve in my brain is going to explode.
Hope none of you is harmed by a non-certificate-holder dentist.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Tamakkan? what do you think it is?
Abu Dhabi is starting to look after its inhabitants and put them on display to encourage everybody to become an entrepreneur. Tamakkan is an Arabic word that means enable, so basically if one starts a business or wants to start a business and wondering what to do, and you live in Abu Dhabi, then you will need to attend these sessions, they have been running for a year now. I attended two of them so far and find the idea really great as it puts individuals who had achieved something under the spotlight and make the others inspired. Also the show invite few lecturers to talk about subjects that is relevant to marketing ones business or product.
Last week's event was nice as the three people that came each added a different flavour to the show:
1. Grant talked about the 30 seconds elevator speech. basically we all have to practise to say What we do as a business in 30 seconds, and present ourselves to individuals, say in elevators, in the shortest and most informative way, and also to always have a business card handy. meaning back to basics, as word of mouth is very important.
So here is my 30 seconds of your life:
"My name is Suad I am an academic consultant I help students to go abroad, here is my business card in case u have someone who wants to study and needs help. What about you?"
Or "My name is Maryam I run an art school, here is my business card, we can turn you into an artist in less than a week. What about you?"
2. Bob Lipset discussed social media (Facebook and others) and how to use to grew your business
20 ideas:
Write your info down or record it as we forget it so carry a note book or an ipad.
Eavesdrop. Listen to what people say any where then find out if you can help them and create what they want
Do something new. Sign up for a class take up a new hobby listen to music, just so you meet people
Write down what annoys you. You are not alone so if you want things that are different then other peopl may also want different
Take two ideas and put them together
Think beyond the obvious
Get physical release those endorphins
Get the blood flowing
Hit the corniche (its a fantastic place in Abu Dhabi by the way)
Learn to salsa
Lazy people have lazy ideas, while Aggressive people have aggressive ideas
Get an outsiders opinion
Need to bring in a fresh perspective
Just listen to your customers suggestions
Change your routine, as New surroundings can thrill you with new experiences
Take a different way to go to work
Try something different
Listen to music or something else
Take a shower, think, Let your mind wonder and get creative during the shower (wet brain storming)
Make a list as this becomes a hard copy of your thoughts and ideas
Be a book worm knowledge is power
Absorb everything about your subject
Unrelated concepts create new ideas
Sleep On it before saying it or doing it, you can actually create new ideas when you wake up
Ask google! you may get help
Doodle (mind mapping) mindless doodling on paper any thing, Key words, ideas, circles, squares etc
Forget every thing you know, If you are stuck then hire professional help
the final speaker is with the owner of Jones the grocer, who talked about how he managed to capture the license to operate the restaurant and how painful was the process of creating the first store, it took resilience, survival and confidence and most importantly imagination. The "do it yourself" attitude helped of course, and then he invited us all to have free coffee and a cake in the restaurant, as we were all hungry, he must have made heaps of cash that night, as we all had our dinner (paid for it ourselves) and then the coffee was free. i tell you guys, this was the most imaginative thing this entrepreneur had done; he knew that most of us drove from Dubai, and missed dinner, a win-win to all of us.
Last week's event was nice as the three people that came each added a different flavour to the show:
1. Grant talked about the 30 seconds elevator speech. basically we all have to practise to say What we do as a business in 30 seconds, and present ourselves to individuals, say in elevators, in the shortest and most informative way, and also to always have a business card handy. meaning back to basics, as word of mouth is very important.
So here is my 30 seconds of your life:
"My name is Suad I am an academic consultant I help students to go abroad, here is my business card in case u have someone who wants to study and needs help. What about you?"
Or "My name is Maryam I run an art school, here is my business card, we can turn you into an artist in less than a week. What about you?"
2. Bob Lipset discussed social media (Facebook and others) and how to use to grew your business
20 ideas:
Write your info down or record it as we forget it so carry a note book or an ipad.
Eavesdrop. Listen to what people say any where then find out if you can help them and create what they want
Do something new. Sign up for a class take up a new hobby listen to music, just so you meet people
Write down what annoys you. You are not alone so if you want things that are different then other peopl may also want different
Take two ideas and put them together
Think beyond the obvious
Get physical release those endorphins
Get the blood flowing
Hit the corniche (its a fantastic place in Abu Dhabi by the way)
Learn to salsa
Lazy people have lazy ideas, while Aggressive people have aggressive ideas
Get an outsiders opinion
Need to bring in a fresh perspective
Just listen to your customers suggestions
Change your routine, as New surroundings can thrill you with new experiences
Take a different way to go to work
Try something different
Listen to music or something else
Take a shower, think, Let your mind wonder and get creative during the shower (wet brain storming)
Make a list as this becomes a hard copy of your thoughts and ideas
Be a book worm knowledge is power
Absorb everything about your subject
Unrelated concepts create new ideas
Sleep On it before saying it or doing it, you can actually create new ideas when you wake up
Ask google! you may get help
Doodle (mind mapping) mindless doodling on paper any thing, Key words, ideas, circles, squares etc
Forget every thing you know, If you are stuck then hire professional help
the final speaker is with the owner of Jones the grocer, who talked about how he managed to capture the license to operate the restaurant and how painful was the process of creating the first store, it took resilience, survival and confidence and most importantly imagination. The "do it yourself" attitude helped of course, and then he invited us all to have free coffee and a cake in the restaurant, as we were all hungry, he must have made heaps of cash that night, as we all had our dinner (paid for it ourselves) and then the coffee was free. i tell you guys, this was the most imaginative thing this entrepreneur had done; he knew that most of us drove from Dubai, and missed dinner, a win-win to all of us.
Friday with the new ipad keyboard
I am just doodling here as I am trying to know how to use this new keyboard that my friend's daughter had bought for herself.
The keyboard looks nice and handy to have, not too heavy, and it costs only 50 pounds.
So basically if you buy an ipad, you need to have the plastic transparent sheet to stick on the screen, you need a pouch for it so you cannot scratch it, you need a little cover to protect it, you need an ear plug, and now the key board. You also need to buy every bit of software that is required to have a decently working ipad, and when you want to download stuff you need a special account to pay for these stuff.
I dont like to think how much money these companies make out of us. So if I really want my ipad to be functional I have to have a bag full of goodies to carry around with me and guess what? the reason for buying the ipad is to be light while travelling. However still its my nicest gift to myself ever, now its liberating as I dont need to use pad and pen during meetings, the team can get on with the work while driving back from my meeting, time of the essence and at the same time I am saving the planet from using paper.
So what can Apple do to reduce our purchases? i guess nothing?
The keyboard looks nice and handy to have, not too heavy, and it costs only 50 pounds.
So basically if you buy an ipad, you need to have the plastic transparent sheet to stick on the screen, you need a pouch for it so you cannot scratch it, you need a little cover to protect it, you need an ear plug, and now the key board. You also need to buy every bit of software that is required to have a decently working ipad, and when you want to download stuff you need a special account to pay for these stuff.
I dont like to think how much money these companies make out of us. So if I really want my ipad to be functional I have to have a bag full of goodies to carry around with me and guess what? the reason for buying the ipad is to be light while travelling. However still its my nicest gift to myself ever, now its liberating as I dont need to use pad and pen during meetings, the team can get on with the work while driving back from my meeting, time of the essence and at the same time I am saving the planet from using paper.
So what can Apple do to reduce our purchases? i guess nothing?
Friday, 24 September 2010
Far easier to spend our money than to make it
I sat my alarm last night to wake up at 7 in order to go to this conference this morning. Woke up startled this morning as it was really hot and I was covered with sweat head to toe. I realized that I had slept without air-conditioning last night. I had two sleepless nights the last two days. Do not know whether it's due to the new slimming tablets I just started to use or because I am too busy to sleep. So I guess when I went to sleep last night I must have been too tired to check that the AC was not on.
Showered and changed quickly, had my breakfast, left the house and noticed that a white flower is floating on the wee fountain so I picked few more and scattered them around the fountain place, they looked really nice but while doing this I spelled my coffee which I grabbed in a haste to go to my car, so went back home and washed my hands, cleaned the hand bag and dabbed my pants with a towel to clean them from the coffee stains. I jumped into my car, called my daughter in New Zealand, and told her that I miss her. She is coming back for her holidays in a month time, still she gave me the list of stuff to do for her, change her standing order, send more money for the new phone, change her tickets, do her room, I noted these down so I dont forget them; I checked my mail, my BBMs and my messages while driving, it was a clear road. Of course I took the wrong turn on the highway so I had to pass Salic! Reached there and parked on the second level. I always try to park where the alphabets make sense. So my car was in the three rows KLM. Easy to remember I think?
I went straight to the conference hall in DUCTAC and attentively listened to the speaker. Yes I remember him from the previous conference. These are the guys that tell you that you can make 10000 dollars a day by working on the internet and have a 90 days vacation a year and own a home in every country of the 300 that you will spend your vacation in every time. The trick is to give them on the spot some money so they could show you how to do that. Who on earth will have that amount of money on a Friday morning and that too at the end of the month? Unless they tell us on the invitation that we need to carry heaps of cash with us. Of course with my my rush earlier on I forgot to take my water with me so this made me spend 4 dirhams for a tiny bottle of water. There you go, the 10000 dollars just got reduced by one before I even made it! As the french will say, oh la la.
Left the conference, went shopping for grocery at Carrefour, first time I go to Carrefour on a Friday morning, it was like they were distributing hot cakes for free. I don't think Dubai had anyone walking in it's streets as it seemed the whole of the population was at the supermarket. Maybe they are all like me, I mean we don't have time to grocer during the week, so I want someone to tell me when is the best time to go grocering during the week where you can hand pack your apples without hitting the hands of the other twenty people gathered around that apple place. Luckily I had written down a list this time so I don't have to hunt buy. Met a friend (of course shopping like me) and at the same time pushing the wheel chair of his stroke stricken father. The father by the way was a banker who built the best banks in Dubai and had chaired a few before he became ill. I don't want to have a strawberry tart placed on my lap if I was on a wheel chair God forbid, so kiddos be careful don't do that to me! Anyway to make a long story short the trip to the supermarket was over, another reduction in the 10000 dollars by 617 dirhams. I went to have my take away coffee (latte skinny) and of course the girl didn't ask me the size so she gave me the small one, left the cafe with my two pettieboures tucked carefully in one of my grocery bags and here we go again I spelled some of the coffee on my hand and the trolly this time, went to find my car.
Where did I park? Oh yes the acronym came to my mind straight away. KLM. Aha, but the car is not there? Was KLM of ground floor or another floor? So I did it again. I should have said 1KLM to my ageing brain! Went back inside, used the left this time, found my car. Great. Now it seems that the whole population is leaving the mall, cars were peeping and horning and jumping lanes in order to leave the mall, why is everyone in a hurry? Oh maybe Ernesto opened their skull and injected them with the 10000 dollar a day idea so now they are all rushing to get on with it, I think that they had all forgotten that they can be killed in a car crash before they see the first dollar.
I checked my missed calls, oh the first one must be a saudi student who is thinking that if he cannot receive his offer letter on my rest day then life will stop. The second missed call was from my friend, so I talked to her on the way home. Reached home and straight away corrected my notes from the conference and emailed them to my kids, rather than talk to them over lunch about it, nice! I think these ipads are fun. Had I written these notes on a piece of paper then they will never see the light again, typing them straight on the notes pages on the iPad makes it easier to edit and email. Yesterday for example I was in a meeting in Abu Dhabi, I took my iPad out, wrote my notes (believe me I wasn't trying to impress) and straight away sent them to the staff member who was going to action them. Neat, I love Apple, they made my life easy, I am now typing this on the iPad while resting a little.
Anyway, I am not trying to give you my daily diary here, Or how to spend your friday mornings, or to convince you to buy an iPad, I am merely trying to tell you that it is far easier to spend money than to make it.. I have to stop this blog now as my elder daughter is giving me a lecture on why I dont have to have lots of paintings and pictures hung in my bedroom.
Showered and changed quickly, had my breakfast, left the house and noticed that a white flower is floating on the wee fountain so I picked few more and scattered them around the fountain place, they looked really nice but while doing this I spelled my coffee which I grabbed in a haste to go to my car, so went back home and washed my hands, cleaned the hand bag and dabbed my pants with a towel to clean them from the coffee stains. I jumped into my car, called my daughter in New Zealand, and told her that I miss her. She is coming back for her holidays in a month time, still she gave me the list of stuff to do for her, change her standing order, send more money for the new phone, change her tickets, do her room, I noted these down so I dont forget them; I checked my mail, my BBMs and my messages while driving, it was a clear road. Of course I took the wrong turn on the highway so I had to pass Salic! Reached there and parked on the second level. I always try to park where the alphabets make sense. So my car was in the three rows KLM. Easy to remember I think?
I went straight to the conference hall in DUCTAC and attentively listened to the speaker. Yes I remember him from the previous conference. These are the guys that tell you that you can make 10000 dollars a day by working on the internet and have a 90 days vacation a year and own a home in every country of the 300 that you will spend your vacation in every time. The trick is to give them on the spot some money so they could show you how to do that. Who on earth will have that amount of money on a Friday morning and that too at the end of the month? Unless they tell us on the invitation that we need to carry heaps of cash with us. Of course with my my rush earlier on I forgot to take my water with me so this made me spend 4 dirhams for a tiny bottle of water. There you go, the 10000 dollars just got reduced by one before I even made it! As the french will say, oh la la.
Left the conference, went shopping for grocery at Carrefour, first time I go to Carrefour on a Friday morning, it was like they were distributing hot cakes for free. I don't think Dubai had anyone walking in it's streets as it seemed the whole of the population was at the supermarket. Maybe they are all like me, I mean we don't have time to grocer during the week, so I want someone to tell me when is the best time to go grocering during the week where you can hand pack your apples without hitting the hands of the other twenty people gathered around that apple place. Luckily I had written down a list this time so I don't have to hunt buy. Met a friend (of course shopping like me) and at the same time pushing the wheel chair of his stroke stricken father. The father by the way was a banker who built the best banks in Dubai and had chaired a few before he became ill. I don't want to have a strawberry tart placed on my lap if I was on a wheel chair God forbid, so kiddos be careful don't do that to me! Anyway to make a long story short the trip to the supermarket was over, another reduction in the 10000 dollars by 617 dirhams. I went to have my take away coffee (latte skinny) and of course the girl didn't ask me the size so she gave me the small one, left the cafe with my two pettieboures tucked carefully in one of my grocery bags and here we go again I spelled some of the coffee on my hand and the trolly this time, went to find my car.
Where did I park? Oh yes the acronym came to my mind straight away. KLM. Aha, but the car is not there? Was KLM of ground floor or another floor? So I did it again. I should have said 1KLM to my ageing brain! Went back inside, used the left this time, found my car. Great. Now it seems that the whole population is leaving the mall, cars were peeping and horning and jumping lanes in order to leave the mall, why is everyone in a hurry? Oh maybe Ernesto opened their skull and injected them with the 10000 dollar a day idea so now they are all rushing to get on with it, I think that they had all forgotten that they can be killed in a car crash before they see the first dollar.
I checked my missed calls, oh the first one must be a saudi student who is thinking that if he cannot receive his offer letter on my rest day then life will stop. The second missed call was from my friend, so I talked to her on the way home. Reached home and straight away corrected my notes from the conference and emailed them to my kids, rather than talk to them over lunch about it, nice! I think these ipads are fun. Had I written these notes on a piece of paper then they will never see the light again, typing them straight on the notes pages on the iPad makes it easier to edit and email. Yesterday for example I was in a meeting in Abu Dhabi, I took my iPad out, wrote my notes (believe me I wasn't trying to impress) and straight away sent them to the staff member who was going to action them. Neat, I love Apple, they made my life easy, I am now typing this on the iPad while resting a little.
Anyway, I am not trying to give you my daily diary here, Or how to spend your friday mornings, or to convince you to buy an iPad, I am merely trying to tell you that it is far easier to spend money than to make it.. I have to stop this blog now as my elder daughter is giving me a lecture on why I dont have to have lots of paintings and pictures hung in my bedroom.
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