Category: Desert
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Navigating a Doha Nightmare: The Trial of Getting Home
My journey home from Doha was a trial, quite literally. It turns out the paperwork that was supposed to have been done back in January, regarding the settlement I had to agree to or be stuck in Doha for two years fighting fraudulent charges on my credit card from 2006, was not completed. I opted…
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Exit stage left
Well I’ve started my exit procedure for the Arab games… So far I’m a little freaked, not that I’m leaving, but that they’ve taken all forms of identification that I can use to be recognized as a US citizen… I have no ID card and no passport in hand; since rule #1 when traveling internationally…
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Brain Dump
What to say, I’ve been at a loss for words recently and I’m not quite sure why… I’ve been busy as hell, but I just don’t have much to say I guess since its really just the same things I’ve been doing since I got back to the sandbox. It seems I have a routine,…
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Uluru / Ayres Rock
Ayres Rock (Uluru) is absolutely stunning, as well as the Olgas, which are a lesser-known formation about 20 km from Ayres Rock. The colors are unlike anything I’ve seen before. It really is as red as the photos I’ve seen before coming here, and the detail in the rock is even more impressive in person.…
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Uluru…
After spending just a few minutes in the presence of Uluru, your first thought is, “Why the hell didn’t I buy the fly net for my head?” I’ve never met a fly as tenacious as the bush fly in Australia. The damn thing will crawl up your nose if you let it, and even if…
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Clutter
Is what’s in my mind right now… I’m going to be able to pay off all my credit card debt and pay for the various monthly bills while I’m traveling for the next three months. Not only that but I’m going to be able to travel for the next three months to Thailand (again) and…
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The Games…
Before I got this random email from a guy working for the Doha Asian Games, I had never heard of the Asian Games or Doha for that matter. I’m not sure I could have even found the place without Google Earth. I used to be afraid of change, I hated it. I couldn’t stand changing…
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The numbers speak for themselves
“When you have enough time on your hands to write something like this you can’t be working too hard, can you? We did everything we were supposed to do, and then we did everything everyone else wouldn’t or couldn’t do. We decided all the planning that took place really did help us in the long…
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Effort in Understanding
As you drive around Doha you see a window decal that says "thank goodness", usually on a Toyota land cruiser that has just cut you off while flashing their lights, honking and making rude hand gestures at you. It’s very similar to driving back in the states and someone with a "WWJD" bumper sticker cutting…
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Lessons in how not to manage people
A new and somewhat surprising policy has been handed down from above… It has come to my attention that there are a significant number of absences in the venue meetings. Effective immediately, any absence from the meeting will result in a deduction of a day’s pay by HR, and a warning memo will be sent…