Dubai Again

It's still hot. It beat 122 yesterday, today is a cool 105.

Today my work laptop crashed. The hard drive isn't saying anything so the mother board doesn't know it's there. I have suspicions on what happened, but I'm not throwing stones at anyone. They gave me a loaner with the Arabic characters on the keys. Great. It has standard too but like looking at a speedometer for the KM's.

One more work day, an off day and the the long trek over Iran, Russia, maybe Norway, Greenland, undefined Arctic, then Canada, and finally Washington. Wow I'm eager to come home.

Some observations.

Taxi's are easy and safe. All of the cream body ones are government regulated and pretty cheap. They have different roof colors for the company ID, but you ignore that.

Traffic is crazy. They have few signals, but a lot, a LOT of those darn roundabouts. Chaos in motion.

My host likes to text and drive. ALL THE TIME. Enough said about that.

Lots of construction. They have a 2020 worlds fair they are working on.

There are about 3-5 english tv channels, all with Arabic subtitles. They rest are a host of other languages.

There are few citizens here compared to all the foreign imported workers. There is no path to being a citizen for those people.

The TV commercials are really concerned with cleaning products. There are a pair of ladies that keep popping up have the best time cleaning toilets.

Speaking of toilets, all of the johns here have a host to wash up your neither regions.

The hotel makes lousy scrambled eggs, but other than the fruit, its about all that is recognizable. \

Coming Home Soon!
Dad

Dubai

It gets hot in Dubai. That wasn't unexpected, but the dust in the air, ALL THE TIME, wasn't something I was prepared for. Yes, the smoke in the PNW gave me some time to get used to gunk in my throat, but here coupled with the heat (111 yesterday), it's downright nasty. I don't know how the tourism people get pictures of the skyline, clear and with blue skies, I haven't seen it. The dust/haze makes it hard to see anything at any distance.

The flight here was long. Sit down to get up was about 16 hours. You board pretty early in Seattle, with 3 security guards enforcing the line so no D group person has a chance to board before a C person. They are pretty serious about it. Before boarding, an Emirates rep prowls the waiting area and makes people use the bag size checker. If it doesn't fit, it's checked. He wasn't popular.

The inflight experience was OK. Year I had a last class seat, Honeywell doesn't waste money on business class for my level. They provide a little bag with ear plugs, a blindfold, and little sock booties. Two meals and a snack are served over the 14+ hours of flight time. They were free and that was a mild surprise for me. The food wasn't a good match for my appetite, but I ate enough.

Immigration and customs was easy. It took a long time for my bags to appear on the luggage machine. I stopped at an ATM for UAE dinars and caught a cab to the hotel. It was a fair ride, and cost about 95 Dinars, or about $30.

Checked into the hotel. The room was fine. You need to put your room key in a slot to turn the power on. No wasting watts in the UAE.

Dad

August Update

Update from Dad.

Looks like it’s been a while since my last blog update.

In June I visited a couple Ham radio clubs on what they call a field day. That’s an international, annual day where Hams around the world go out and setup stations at remote sites, using off the grid power and work on contacting as many other Hams as possible. It’s also an outreach to allow kids and others to get on the air with the help of experienced Amateur radio operators.

In July we took the camper up to Denny Creek campground for Scott to have a few days of vacation. The weather was nice, and a good change from the last time we tried that last year when it was pretty wet.

Also in July I passed my Ham “Amateur Extra” level. That’s the top level of achievement for Amateur radio operators. This gives me privileges on all of the Amateur frequencies, or Bands.

Towards the end of July, I did some community service by helping the parade marshals at the Seattle Seafair tourchlight parade. I have memories of this parade, and other Seafair parades from my Civil Air Patrol days, when I worked with a float as some Asian boy with a bald head costume, a bit later as a sponsor of a Seafair princess, and just a bit later still, when I drove my Dad’s Model T truck with a Dixiland Band and a bunch of Farrell’s waiters during the many Seafair parades.

This time, I was assigned a block of the parade route to be a a contact, and to watch for people in any kind of trouble. By and large it was fine, 95% of the people were great, 4& were inconsiderate and very self important, and 1% were out and out drunks. It was a long night starting with a 50 minute walk fro the Seattle Center to my assigned block, then working from 5:30 to 11:30, then walking down the hill to 3^rd ave to catch a bus back to my car. I was pretty sore the next day. 

On that topic, I finally ordered my High Frequency antenna for my ‘Flagpole’ in the back yard. Some fairly heave work is in store as I work through the rocks that seem to be the main material of our little yard. I need to get a ground rod into the ground, a pipe to hold the antenna, and a slit trench from the corner of the house to the antenna spot. More than a little work. We’ll see how that goes.

I “may” be tapped for a little longer business trip than usual. Seems that a group in Dubai, in the U.A.E needs some help with the kind of systems I install here in the US. It’s not a confirmed thing, but if it comes about, it’s a 14+ hour air trip, from Seattle over the North Pole to the UAE. I’ll let you know when or if I’m on my way to the Persian Gulf.

Have fun with the rest of the summer!

Dad