This weekend

So, I found something cool to do this weekend.  I got a group of co-workers together and we are all going on a sea kayak tour through a bunch of the islands in Abu Dhabi to see the wildlife and scenery.  Should be a very cool trip.  It's a 3 hour paddle, with a half hour break in between to stop and swin at one of the remote islands.

In other news, hell week at work has finally ended and our schedules are back to normal.  Also, after countless calls, arguments, and complaints, the company who provides the only source of Internet out here finally decided to get off of their proverbial asses.  They told me this morning, "Someone will call you within the next couple of days to schedule an installation".  What I didn't know was that meant, "Someone will call you today when they drive to your house and ask why you aren't there."  My bad...

Anyway, they showed up and I was really excited.  Finally I can browse the web without having to hike across the street to my neighbor's house.  So, after about half an hour, they installed the fiber router, ran the cable, and plugged it in.  Then they said to me, "Someone will call you in the next few days to come out and turn it on" 

Huh?!?!?!?  You mean all you guys do is install the router and someone else has to turn the darn line on?  Wow...Efficiency at it's best. 

Anyway, that's about it.  I'm counting down the days till I get back and finally get Jill moved out here and done with this transient living.  Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Fireworks FAIL

So, all week out here it's been nothing but a huge celebration of Eid and National Day.  National Day is similar to our Fourth of July in which everyone celebrates the now 38 years that the UAE has been a nation.  That's pretty cool in my mind and I was all about getting into the spirit.  People decorate their cars with stickers and pictures of Sheikh Zayed, lights are put up all over the city, flags are flying on every building, etc.  It's a neat experience to say the least.

To end the celebration yesterday, Abu Dhabi announced that they were going to put on the World's Largest Display of fireworks.  The fireworks were supposed to begin at 8:30 PM and last for 45 minutes.  They were to be launched from five different locations along the Corniche road, and were supposed to go more than 6000 feet in the air (that's more than a mile high). 

I was really excited to go see them and be a part of the National Day celebration, so I decided to meet a few co-workers at their apartment building, go up to the roof top (17 floors high), and watch the fireworks display in all of its glory.  Well, 8:30 rolls around and no fireworks.  8:45...9:00...9:15...Finally, at 9:30 (an hour late), we hear a boom, but can't figure out where it's coming from.  As everyone crowds to the edge of the roof to look and finally see this awesome display, I noticed we were all squinting trying to actually figure out where it was coming from.

Finally someone picked up on a flash of light and we all focused our attention to the only building in all of the city that was blocking our view.  Directly behind the building was where the fireworks were being launched from.  At first we were optimistic.  Since they were going to be shot more than a mile high we would have no problems seeing them once they got above this building.  Well, that didn't quite happen, and all we saw was an occasional flash behind the building.  As time went on, we were expecting other locations around the Corniche to be firing off more firewroks, but no such luck on that either.

Long story short, this was not the World's largest fireworks display but rather the World's largest FAIL.  What a waste of time!

Here's a link to the awesome video I was able to take to show the sheer awesomeness of these fireworks.

Awesome Fireworks! (careful it may take a while to download)