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Cat heaven

April 24, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUST34914420071204

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/090406/tokyos-cat-cafes

This summer we are stopping in the British Isles on the way to and from the States, but next summer (2010) I think I will have to travel the other way around the globe to Tokyo to hit all the cat cafes. My kind of restaurant.

It would be nice if this concept could catch on here. The reason we haven’t taken in a cat or two is that we don’t know what to do with them when we travel. If we could just pop into the cat cafe (Daddybird wants it to be the cat and shisha bar), that would be great. I’d do it everyday.

Posted in animals, cats | 1 Comment »

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Jumeirah Beach Residence Sights

April 24, 2009

jbrtouristsThis probably seems like an innocuous picture to you. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, if you live in a Muslim country and are aware of local customs and standards, you would know that there is too much skin showing in this picture. These tourists are apparently unaware of where they are vacationing. Yes, Dubai is very liberal, especially in areas predominately populated by tourists, but I still find scenes like this odd.

jbrfountainThe wind was gusting so hard that it was blowing most of the water out of this fountain.

jbrhotelThis “old” hotel is being torn down. No wrecking ball, just a large jackhammer slowly nibbling away at it. Keep in mind that this country was formed in 1971, so old is not necessarily old here. This hotel was probably the best at one time, but it is sitting on prime beach property and is behind the times, so down it comes. Everything is made of cement here, so this is a tangle of rebar and cement chunks. I don’t know if they don’t know about explosive demolition or if there is some reason not to do it that way.

Posted in clothing, fountains, Jumeirah | Leave a Comment »

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Daddybird on the Radio

April 23, 2009

http://jamescast.podomatic.com/entry/2009-04-22T19_42_54-07_00

Here is a podcast of Daddybird on the radio last night. He’s only in the second hour, so you may have to fast forward to the middle part.

Kristina, Daddybird, Sanjive on Nightline, Dubai Eye radio

Kristina, Daddybird, Sanjive on Nightline, Dubai Eye radio

How did he come to be on the radio, you ask? Just another unexpected event in our Dubai lives. A few weeks ago, at the “tweet up” with the shisha, Melanie mentioned “barcamp” and suggested we do one here in Dubai. Kedar took it to heart and started the process of planning one. Daddybird volunteered to help. Masarat, the producer of this radio show, is also a Twitterer and read about this event which inspired her to suggest the planners be interviewed on the radio. This is how he ended up on the radio being interviewed with Kedar, Kristina, and Sanjive, the other bar camp planners.

What is a tweet up? A casual meeting of people who know each other through Twitter and communicate arrangements for the meet up via Twitter.

What is Twitter? It usually sounds dumb when described, so just go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=kangayayaroo and read what I’ve been tweeting to get an idea. It’s just short communications which sometimes turn into conversations.

What is barcamp? Basically, it is an impromptu “unconference” where people just show up and talk about what they are interested in a fairly unstructured setting.

Sanjive (left) and Kedar (right)

Sanjive (left) and Kedar (right)

Posted in Tweet up | 2 Comments »

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Crafty birds, part two

April 23, 2009
bird nest between two palm fronds

bird nest between two palm fronds

Here is another bird’s nest. I discovered it because the mother bird was sitting in the entrance and singing as I was walking by. She and her mate have woven two palm branches together with their nest as the center of the sandwich.

momma bird

momma bird

She flew out and right behind her came daddy bird (not THE Daddybird, the daddy bird)

daddy bird

daddy bird

According to my bird book and my best guess, these are house sparrows. Kind of a boring name for someone so crafty.

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Crafty and amazing birds

April 15, 2009

So, I was sitting outside in the courtyard during lunch the other day. The wind was kicking up because the weather had been a little rainy and rain means wind, thunder and lightning here, as a rule. I was watching the palm fronds waving in the wind and noticed that there was a bird nest attached to one of the fronds. Birdnest1 If you can’t see it in this picture, try the next one.Birdnest2And here’s what it looks like from the back side. I am at a loss to figure out how it is attached. Bird must be a better engineer than I am. It is firmly attached, however, and has weathered the weather.  Birdnest3

Posted in birds | 1 Comment »

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Miss Kitty

April 14, 2009

MissKittyHere is Miss Kittty alseep in the flower bed. This is what she looks like with hair. We’ll have to wait until August to get a picture of her summer hairless look. I discovered one night that Miss Kitty has it really made. She waits by the door in the evening when everyone is going home, then sneaks into the administration building while the door is open. She then wonders into the Director’s office and lets the Director’s assistant know that she is ready to be fed now. Then, they go out together, catfood bag in hand, and she gets fed outside. Quite a racket she’s got going. So, I don’t worry too much about her welfare. It’s nice to work on a cat friendly campus.

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Watch out!

April 12, 2009

I’m a big girl now! I drove myself to work today (and yesterday). I needed to work on Saturday for a special event and Daddybird needed to stay home due to the fact that our ID cards were being delivered. So, circumstances forced me to brave the traffic. Actually, my biggest fear has been that I won’t be able to get out of our parking space. It is very tight and our parking space neighbor drives a large SUV, so we have to park very close to the cement pillar on the other side if we want to get the driver side door open. After getting out of the parking space is the equally difficult challenge of pulling out into traffic and negotiating the first few blocks which you understand if you have watched the videos I’ve posted previously.

Now, however, I have to figure out the way to Daddybird’s office to pick him up. This I was not prepared for. Could be interesting.

Posted in Dubai traffic | 2 Comments »

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It’s official

April 11, 2009

We are now up and running here on WordPress and will no longer be adding to the Blogspot version of our blog. You’ll need to change any bookmarks you use to keep track of us. You could always click on the “Entries RSS” link in the right hand column and subscribe so that you will be notified everytime something new is posted.

I’ve gone through and cleaned up the category tags, so that every post has at least one tag and you can use the drop down category menu or the category cloud to click on topics to see all the posts about that topic. There is also a free form search box to help you find something you’re dying to go back and read again and again.

So far, I’m liking WordPress alot. Test out the comments function and let us know what you think of our new platform.

Posted in Us | 2 Comments »

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Spinoff

April 10, 2009

I started a new blog at http://missineedabook.wordpress.com to test out WordPress as a possible new home for this one.

Take a look, comment, hopefully laugh a little.

Posted in books | Leave a Comment »

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Medical Care

April 10, 2009

We went to see a doctor last evening in hope of getting some of Daddybird’s prescriptions renewed. The particular drugs are not easily available here. The doctor actually got on the phone and called three or four pharmacies to ask if they had what Daddybird needs in stock. None of them did. It was fun to hear the doctor complain to them in Globish — “What to do for the patient? What kind of country is this?” So, we have the prescription orders and just have to find a pharmacy that can supply them. We will probably have to drive to the predominantly “Westerner” side of town to find these in stock. Maybe one of the big resort hotels will have a pharmacy with a supply. What fun.

Posted in medical care | Leave a Comment »

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