Something Cool and Refreshing
The first few days of the week have absolutely flown by - which is nice because it brings me that much closer to my wife and friends again - 2 days to go. It's bad only so far as the days have been long and I've found myself much more exhausted then previously on this extended business trip. I gave up tonight and decided to order room service, luckily it wasn't seen as being antisocial since all the other guys staying at the hotel either felt exhausted too, or had other plans... so I picked up the phone and made the call for room service.
They have a diverse menu, but the drink list is limited to a few kinds of soda (aka "coke" to Texans) and even fewer kinds of bottled beer. I asked the room service attendant if he could bring me a glass of Kilkenny - which only comes on draft from one of the restaurants at the hotel... much to my surprise he came through, sneaking a pint of Kilkenny up to my room against hotel policy. For that I was very thankful - turned my frown upside down.
I noticed some other nuances about Doha earlier in the trip and since I don't want to bore you with my busy day of project management activities, I'll share them with you now:
1. Housekeepers here are male - I have not seen a female housekeeper at either the Ramada or Intercon... I did however hear at lunch that the first woman gondolier of all time took her post earlier this year amidst some very angry men who had successfully kept it a male profession for centuries, passing the trade from father to son. Worst part for these gondoliers was that the gal wasn't even from Venice, but from Germany - just shows you that some dreams do come true!
2. Qataris will flash their headlights and honk at other Qataris - confirmed today on the trip home from site... nothing's sacred anymore.
3. MTV Europe has extremely disturbing commercials about safe sex and drug use... not sure I completely understand them, but include relevant themes like space invaders and diving board erections.
4. One final sport that I've become interested thanks to ShowSports1 is Australian Football - an incredible sport that seems to combine the positive aspects of rugby, football, and ultimate Frisbee... just like Cricket it's a sport that you only can appreciate after learning the basic rules from a website like wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football
5. French music is weird. My friend Wes managed to find a few cool rock bands in Paris, but the majority of it has a very strange sound - I know this because it was the only thing on the radio for the hour trip home tonight. It's almost as strange as listening to the calls to prayer that interrupt radio broadcasts 5 times a day - also during the trip home, offering melodic Koran readings - which on 97.5 are translated into English for those who are interested.
6. The sun begins its day here around 4:30, and sets shortly after 6:00, which still doesn't make waking up early for trips to site any easier.
Music Video of the Day: "Here in Your Arms" - HelloGoodbye... a catchy tune about a nerd getting the girl of his dreams - translates very well into a short film about summer camp.
Runner Up: "Smooth Criminal" - Alien Ant Farm (just came on MTV) - have no idea how this band ever made it to "music video" status... cheap imitation glowing sidewalk is a nice touch though.
12 comments:
I'm first! Ha...In reading the comments I guess there has been a contest of who can be the first one to reply.
I'm back!
Tina
Hmm...but where you really first? As you can see, a comment was deleated before your comment. How do we know that was you? Maybe it was me? I guess we will never know.
Little Zona Lover
We are looking forward to having your back here in Houston... especially Zona. The reason why French music sounds so weird is because they can only work 35 hours per week on it... accordingly, it sucks. Which leads me to today's timely truth:
http://www.despair.com/effort.html
Finally, I hope we get more posts today than yesterday... and thanks Tina adding your comments.
Russell
Alien ant farm rocks. I can see brandon bustin this out in his room. Rock on Partner. that is a good song. Well very excited to see you in a couple of days. Hey sorry about not posting, I forgot my password and etc. etc. uh yea.
Yea for brandons return on friday. I am glad to hear that women are making a comeback in Qatar. But I will say it is about time for men to clean something!!!!hehe
Keeping in consitancy with trying what you are trying, I tried room service. DON'T DO THAT AT YOUR HOUSE!!! Apparently it is moderately offensive to wives. All I wanted was the ever so great starcrunch and milk but apparently calling her on the phone is the wrong approach.
Maybe you should instatute day light savings over there...because as we all know, lazy farmers won't get up at 4 unless we tell them it's 5(colbert quote).
Australian football sounds quite interesting. Maybe I'll get espn4, the quatro, so I can watch some. I like those modified games like arena football.
I actually heard alien ant farm today on sirius(which you should get over there so you can hear some good music). It's been a long while since I've heard from them and now twice in a day, can we say come back.
Almost back for a break so finish strong.
oh yeah Brent, so true. the 35hr french work week(that's the max by law by the way most do much less)is definately the reason why their music sucks, very nice observation. Now if we can figure out why everything else french sucks...hahahahahahahaha u s a
u s a(to be read in the normal arrogant american chant, and by arroagant I do mean AWESOME)
Yes, B, The Outsiders is an 8th grade book, but I am full of controversy, so I like to introduce my students to murder, gang fights, death, and forgiveness (the hardest concept for them) early in their lives. They see it all over TV, i might as well give them my spin on things as oppose to seeing it on South Park or MTV.
I'm also working on my Civil Rights unit with a study of the n-word, looking at lynchings, the KKK, curernt African genocide and why we apparently don't learn from historical mistakes of the past (i.e. the Holocaust).
Controversy is the only thing that keeps these kids paying any attention these days, and they LOVE it! You're right, education is improving. Seriously, you should move to NC in a couple years so I can educate the all the little Brandon and Sheri's. I've already got one kid persuaded to move to Africa and help with the AIDS pandemic when he turns 18. You have to love our future!
Excellent observations about the French, puts it all in perspective.
I fully support day light savings time around here - hard to sleep in when light starts peeking in at 4:30!
Kudos to Mr. Gwynn and all the teachers who are challenging our youth to strive for more than the average lives our society doles out. PS I loved the Outsiders.
Only two more days of work; holla-you-YEA.
10 posts...ha ha.
I'll echo the woohoo for the double digs!!!!!!!
Hey I was first twice because I am the one that erased the first comment, because I had messed up.
I have to agree with Sherri, it is about time the men clean up.
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