Ankur and Genny’s Meandering Tour

Ok, so I went to the local corner grocery store to grab a Rani float.  It's basically a drink combo of juice with chunks of fruit.  Pretty decent.

Anyhow, I stopped by to pick up my dry cleaning from the shop next door. 

Next to this shop was a barbershop, so I figured I'd get a haircut.

This guy starting going Edward Scissorhands on my mop. He didn't use his fingers to make sure the lengths were even, he just started cutting.  When he was done, there was some sort of head massage. The haricut was supreme and well done.  For a guy with simple hair needs, I couldn't complain.

But I was thinking I should refer people to him, because there is a guy at work who needs a better barber.  Unfortunately, I have no idea where I live.  I don't know my address.  I just know how to get there.  It took me two weeks to find a street sign that had the name of my road (Al Ezz in case you're wondering).  Not that anyone knows where this street was.  I asked a guy if he knew were Ezz was a few days ago, and he had no idea. 

We were standing on Ezz street and he lives across the street.

Anyhow, I did find a mapping site, but it only knows about my nearest roundabout (Al Soudan - again in case you have a dire need to find out where I live).  Google Maps and Windows Live! are useless here.

Back to the haricut.  I'm sitting here daydreaming and realize that he's shaving around my ears to clean up any loose hairs.  I didn't react fast enough to stop it.  Bamn - whitewalled!

I find myself in the middle often.  I have Israeli friends as I visited Israel and obviously from the states.  But now I also have Palestinian friends as the Arab world is obviously populated by many displaced people.  Palestinians face a bit of a unique challenge in that many of them feel like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal".  They are a people without a country. 

And so I find myself being one of the few people in this part of the world who has heard and understands both sides of the issue(s).  I have decided to remain staunchly and undeniably without opinion on the matter. 

Whether you are of the belief that the Jews had no land and were given their holy land -or- if you are of the opinion that the Palestinans owned this land and were kicked out without permission, you are entitled to your opinions.

I think that the majority of people that I speak with are of a peaceful nature (as I type this a US fighter jet screams overhead - must be training runs).  The rare person I have met that wants violence are usually disillusioned and/or uneducated.  I did meet one well-educated man who said that violence was acceptable, and nothing on the peace/political front has worked, so maybe Hamas has a solution that might.  However, he has never been to Palestine or Israel and is speaking in second-hand.  His parents do not share the same beliefs as they have lived and breathed the difficulties of that life.  They want to just be left alone and live in peace.  Curiously, he is an American citizen.

In Israel, the military walks the streets fully armed, but the world is extremely serene.  The residents of Tel Aviv are scared to go to New York City because of the murders and horrors there, but walking out alone after midnight is not a scary act. 

In Qatar, if a woman is walking alone in a dark alley with both hands holding groceries, a man will walk up to her and help her carry the groceries home.  (Although no one walks, so I figure this is more of an example concept than an actual occurrence).

So what have we learned?  Most of the gulf is peaceful and doesn't want to be involved in bloodshed or political mumbo-jumbo.  Most countries stay away from the Hamas/Israel confrontation.  It really isn't the PLO any more, it is definitely now a struggle with the Hamas group.  Most countries don't want to pick sides.  But, by not choosing to support either is basically supporting Israel.  By not giving money or supplies to Palestinians you are in effect siding with Israel in saying that you don't think giving money to a violent organization is a good thing - even if it means starving people. 

Today, Qatar donated $50 million to the PLO.  This made huge headlines and people are worried about being tangled into the mess. 

What do I think?  There isn't an easy answer - but I don't like to see people suffer over the struggles of a government.  Worse is a government using its starving people as martyrs.

It must be that time of the year when the Israelis, South Africans, and Belgiums have the brightest smiles on jeweler's row.

In a period of 1 week, I've learned that three of my friends have been engaged.

Congrats to Han, Chris, and Sonya and to their upcoming weddings. 

Tom has two links that are fantastic. YouTube is publishing vidoes of remixes.

If "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Shining" were re-done as their complete opposites:

http://lianza.org/blog/?p=395

OK - I admit it.  I love watching sports.  Most people here have no interest in baseball. But for those that can't understand how people can watch a 3 hour game with 25 minutes of action, I offer you the fans of cricket.  They can watch a multiple-day game with less action.  Less action because you can make contact with a ball and not run.  And you can bat forever (I think).

But I'm watching Orbit ESPN (rebranded so they can show sports from all networks) and they have the Cubs/Cardinals game.  It is the bottom of the 8th inning and the Cubs are down 4-3 with a runner on first and second. 

I like the new seats and ivy on the stadium.  It's nice.  I'm definitely going to miss going to Cubs games with Genny, Richie, and Rob.

Edit: GRAND SLAM by Barrett! [I may have yelled in the lounge.]

In the newspaper today there is a story about how du has received 15,000 job applications in a little over a month.  For a company of currently about 500-700 employees, this is impressive. 

A little history of du:

Once upon a time there was a Telecom monopoly in United Arab Emirates called Etisalat.  Etisalat provided land-line services, mobile, ADSL, etc.

It was then decided that a duopoly was needed to provide choice and competition.

Sultan Osman (former head of Egypt's MobiNil) was brought in to begin this task (I think in February some time).  There is a $1.1 Billion funding of du - so they should have plenty of cash to get things off the ground.  Currently they are in an IPO period - the largest ever in UAE history. 

A purchase of Tecom gave du some infrastructure and a $190 Million contract with Nokia will provide the entire core and much of the radio network for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and WCDMA 3G.

They aren't planning on competing with Etisalat on price, but instead bring services to the consumer and positioning themselves at a slightly different market. 

Whatever the case though, having this many job applicants is a good sign for the company.

This company is an odd cat in that they are in ".com Start-up" mode, but with hugely significant backing and growth.  I've never seen a company that is realizing such enormous growth potential so quickly.  Usually a startup starts small and works crazy hours.  As the company grows, it matures and people have longer-term vision and can carefully plan the business.  du definitely has a combination of both.

Nokia is involved heavily (as mentioned above) - however, at the current time, I can't say what Microsoft's role in the company is.

Fil did a demo at Mix06 where he created Xaml documents. I'm always amazed at how developers can code under pressure and on stage.

Microsoft has a "Channel 9" which is a web-sydicated push of information. Fil's webcast was recorded and kept there. He has links from fortes.com.

It really is an amazing task and he didn't have any blunders or pauses. Kinda cool to see someone you know doing great things.

Although, being a non-developer, I kinda liked his vector-based drawings of Cambodia and Thailand the most. 

Regardless, this is a interesting tech video to watch for the computer-savvy of the world. 

Genny published the pictures of our trip to London.

° Tea at Fortnum and Mason. It was all fancy ladies with their tea and crumpets, but the tea was still amazing.° Shopping at Portobello Road.  This road went on forever with many, many different trinkets, clothing, and artifacts. Part of the walk included the famous colored houses.  I'm sure they have a name, but I don't know what it is.
° Dinner at an Italian restaurant with a pepper shaker bigger than my head.
° Walking through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, we came to this cafe on the lake and took some pictures after eating.  There was also a tribute to Prince Charles (I think) with a massive statue collection.
° We actually walked through the park to visit a tea shop on the other side of it.  It was a Asian tea spot with excellent varieties of tea.  I think it was called Kandy Tea Room.
° However, possibly the entire dining highlight of the trip was the place Genny and I (as well as a few others in the store) called "Heaven on Earth".  Everything was to die for.  Amazing pastries, sweets and in general things that are horrible for you.  It is right across the street (on Holland Street) from the Kandy.  If you ever are in Kensington, make sure to stop by Ottolenghi for some desert.  I guarantee you will leave happy.

Btw - if you ever are asking for directions, it's better to try and say it with a fake British accent than an American one.  We asked 10-15 people where Holland street was.  No one seemed to know.  Then we went into a store with a map and the guy asked how we spelled it.  With an "A" or an "E"?  Click!  Not Allen, but Holland with a long o.