Kleenex Anyone?
I made the most of my last Saturday in Doha, focusing once again on the pool, but also venturing out to do some more car shopping - this time visiting the Volkswagen, Kia, and Mazda dealerships that were the last 3 on my scavenger hunt. I continue to be surprised by the lack of powerful engine options here. When gas is less than a dollar a gallon it seems that V6s would be the minimum, but unless you're going for a high end SUV or Luxury car, you've got to dig around to find anything bigger than a 2.0Liter 4 banger with 150HP. Obviously there's more to acceleration than HP, so we'll have to do some serious test driving when I get back home to get our short list - but the Mazda 6, Kia Sorento, and VW Jetta all passed the initial screen today. Be sure to post any comments on the 3 brands mentioned today, curious to hear positive or negative experiences.
I was getting hungry after visiting VW, and much to my surprise there was a familiar burger joint located just across the street. So in typical Doha fashion, I walked/ran across 6 lanes of traffic (one direction that was standing still), to avoid having to waste 20 minutes driving around to find another parking spot. I managed to grab the last available table at Johnny Rockets - a truly American experience! Can you say vanilla malt, straw spin, and ketchup smiley face? The burger tasted a bit different than the ones on University BLVD, and the staff didn't sing and dance like they do on Market St, but everything else was spot on - even down to the oldies music soundtrack. Quite a tasty respite out of the heat - which was scorching today near 42 Celsius! Our bay breeze took the day off, transforming the poolside environment from Mediterranean Beach Resort to Kitchen of a Qatari Kebab Shop... luckily without the campfire smell (if you didn't laugh - you should be reading these blogs in chronilogical order).
On the drive back to the hotel I passed what I can only describe as a horrific accident scene... probably from last night. There was a Toyota SUV that had been RUN OVER by a large dump truck... leaving only the front seats and steering wheel recognizable. I considered driving back around to take a picture because it was surely the most intense wreckage I'd ever seen in person, but thought better of revisiting the site - one trip by was plenty for me. Looking at the car's condition it's hard to imagine how any passengers could have survived. I'm sure no one in the SUV saw it coming, a sobering reminder to always enjoy the moments you have with those you love.
Qatar Cultural Update: When Sheri and I settle on a car for Doha, we will certainly need to invest in a Kleenex box cover for our dash - because anyone who is anyone has this stylish accent piece in plain view for all to see. The first few times I saw the tissue box I thought maybe the occupants had bad allergies or they ate in their car a lot (restaurants here often use Kleenex as napkins), but in taking a careful count the majority of folks have Kleenex boxes on the dash. Why play around with a discrete package of Kleenex tucked away in an armrest that you'll never get to for an unexpected sneeze. I found a website with patterns and ideas (see pic of an example above) - and I'm going to ask Sheri to make us a personalized Phillips cover, she's very crafty... go big or go home. Speaking of which, only 5 more days before I actually do GO HOME!
Movie Quote: "I'll be Back" - careful with this one... it was taken from a more obscure late 80's movie that I saw last night occurring some 3 years after the most famous use (same actor - to avoid any confusion). A wonderful movie that I would recommend to anyone stuck in a foreign country with little else to watch/do. Makes me reconsider how we perform executions in the US.
5 comments:
Call me when you get back in the states. Seriously, you better call.
Oh and the movie has to be Running Man, based on the Novel by Richard Bachman, Stephen King's pen name he used for several books to see if his popularity has anything to do with his actual writing or just his name. Considering that he re-released the book under his real name to increase sales, he got the humbling answer to that question. Not a bad read, but then again I was in high school and what did I know back then.
Mazda does have some pretty good designs out right now, however I have read some bad things about their a/c. I've read that they don't blow very cold when it's really hot and they have some problems with the paint oxadizing(I think a lot of that has to do with the owners never waxing it though). V dubs are pretty cool but haven't researched them too much and I haven't even looked at the kia line.
It was probably a good call to skip the wreck again. Although they are "neat" to look at, I've found most people aren't that into seeing where or how somebody died, and if it's anything like the u.s. the reason the wreck was still there was because of the investigation about the fatality. just assumptions though.
Now about the deletion of this comment. Maybe that's why people aren't posting anymore. it looks like we've got a bit of a soup nazi on our hands(and yes this blog is now flagged by the fbi for the nazi comment). Always having to monitor if we are good enough for your other "cool" friends to read. well, fine, be that way. Be full of conditional love. Just remeber this isn't the only blog I have to read...ok so it's either this or mr. gwynn (stefani's) homework assignments. Don't make me read jr. high lit.
One last thing, we are now the same rank in halo. enjoy it while it lasts
tmad - appreciate the comments... apparently everyone but you and toby checked out for the weekend - I'll balem it on mother's day, which is a decent excuse to not read my drabble for one day!
also, when the comment is deleted by the "author" that means the person who posted it deleted it, my original guess was that Toby deleted his original message to leave a much cooler one - but that's all speculation.
I'm almost home so you better get a head start on your ranking - soon I'll be back in Doha with my xbox up and running and then we'll see who ranks up faster! Probably you, but that wouldn't make for very good trash talk on my part! :o)
Yeah, I deleted my original comment. It had a typo I couldn't stand, and thought that the trash can would remove all trace evidence of such a blunder. Who knew it would leave behind the fact it was deleted. That's just silly. Anyway, I'll proof read at least twice in the future, however, that still will guarantee nothing.
tmad, thanks for checking out the blog and keeping up with my daily homework assignments. None of my students do, so at least I feel that my extra work with html isn't a complete loss. As for the Junior High lit (I actually teach 5th), we're working through The Outsiders by SE Hinton, and if you haven't partaken, I highly recommend it.
Post a Comment