Dubai on a Wednesday / Two Ricards deep

Hump day in the United Arab Emirates is Tuesday. I work Sunday through Thursday. So your brain thinks it is hump day but actually the next day is the last day of the week. It is an illusion, but so many people, like me cling to it. Hey man “happy Monday” over here its “happy Sunday.”

Work has been crazy. I have more work on my desk than I can manage. Really, nothing new, recruiting comes in waves. What is crazy is that I found the crest over here in Dubai and I am about to belly flop and get eaten by the white wash and spin-cycled into a coral reef. Well maybe not that bad but it sounded cool when I wrote it. Hopefully Uncle Rich, Ryan, Paul, or Katie Blue will smile with that analogy.

I picked up my dry cleaning last week and it stunk. I was getting ready for work and I put on my shirt and smelled BO. I took the shirt off and was confused; I just got out of the shower. Well, I got about 8 shirts back that smelled like my armpit. They cleaned them for free for me. Not a big deal, but that had never happened before. I hope it does not happen again. Anyway, I am just looking to keep the word count up. This paragraph sucks; it is just words to make my blog look full of content.

I listen to Death Magnetic every day. It is in my Tida’s CD player and I rock hard to and from work. As I start to really get to know the details of the music I am getting closer to really calling it one of Metallica’s best albums ever. It is text book Metallica. And all the things that make their albums theirs are as clear as ever in this latest release. I am not naïve; I know M is not everyone’s “bag baby.” But if it is your bag, it is the bomb. If you don’t own any Metallica, then just skip this paragraph, but if you have an ear for the modern texture of hard rock, you will come to realize the genus behind the effort of this piece of work. Nicholas is going to finally be baptized in December of this year (pardon the metaphor mom) as he and I will witness this music come out of human hands live. I will drive him to the event. He has no idea what awaits him. Neither does his mother.

I continue to lose weight without really trying. I love it actually. Two days ago a girl at work stopped me and said “you’ve lost weight.” I said yes and she asked how I did it. The answer was easy; I don’t snack at all anymore. At all. Fast food has left my life. No beer (not alcohol) and I cook my own diner. Breakfast is yogurt with blueberries, a piece of cheese and maybe a hardboiled egg. I don’t drink soda. I eat French fires twice a month.

I am learning another lesson of life in regards to the world as I spend time with my new favorite person. I have really learned again how little money you need to live. I have learned how little companies pay to hold on to their employees. I have learned how wonderful the human spirit is and how completely unrelated to location on earth is the beautiful reality that wonderful people are born every day in every country in the world. Places I have never been, yet want to visit, seem to be filled with family orientated, God fearing people. These simple things keep us honest and in tune with clarity and happiness. It has been empowering. I am from an uber-rich mega society in the US and I have learned once again and from another new perspective that I have been blessed with family loving family. That sounds silly, but read it again. There is almost nothing I will give up to hold onto my family. I know this right now more than ever. Without these roots, I would be one of these a$$holes I meet at the bars over here who need a shoe slap across their jaw. If paying over $25 US dollars for a double vodka is not a problem, then a clean ashtray out of arms reach should not be an irritating cause for alarm, but rather totally trivial.

This is a true statement: I have extended offers in this town from $13K US a year to $200K US a year. This is Babylon. And I don’t know how I fit in yet. But one thing is for sure, as much as those numbers seem crazy to you, they are all a raise. My heart and souls are being fed what it needs right now, and if that were not the case, I would not be able to keep this up. I sleep at night. I don’t screw people. I know exactly what I am offering people when I do. I find good people good jobs. The day that this not the case is the day I come home.
BrotherBill