LazyDad- thats - I , Me and Myself

2011-07-03T15:52:00.001+04:00

Planning to be back here soon. Starting with today itself.

Lots of things to get done.

Sent money to BOI- 50k
Took out cash- 20k. ( later at home, S reminds that we already had 7 from previous trip)
Visited Etisalat to put elife on hold for 2 months
Visited Alamis

Made a round again in the evening

Haircut
Paid car wash watchman for 2 months
Medicines to carry to India.

2007-03-20T07:30:00.000+04:00

Yesterday was a not so good day- was tense almost throughout the day for no reason- was pushed into the presentation to be done for the Dubai tourism board and other hotel operators- didn't like it and therefore the whole day was ruined.
the presentation went well and there were little to no questions- surprisingly. is the curbside design so good? will have to wait and see.

oh i got myself a Palm treo 680- enjoying its features- good one- in fact very good one for the money.. have to get the transcriber thing sorted out and load the GPS asap.

2007-03-17T10:34:00.000+04:00

Saturdays are working days for us from now on.. memo came in just after the envelopes were handed over..cant complain.. the project is getting to a critical stage and the new airport terminal is to be commissioned end of the year.

Attended a meeting with the medical team of the airport for ORAT (operational readiness and airport transition) group. I am into the Group-One team and so it must be fun getting involved with the ORAT procedures including trial runs and the like. No i am not leaving the job now!

An hour of squash after a gap of 3-weeks is telling. Getting Gops to learn swimming is my top priority now.. but maybe i will wait for the vacation rush to get over.

2007-03-14T14:58:00.000+04:00

Got an envelope from the big boss yesterday...
appreciation letter plus bonus.. good!

2007-03-13T07:20:00.000+04:00

We had an accident at the airport. Minor - no big problems except some minor injuries. Aborted takeoff. But the runway was closed for a good 8 hours and we could feel the difference. Made me realise how accustomed we were to the sounds of takeoff and landing and taxing that one day its not there and we miss it!

Problems associated with operating a hub airport with one runway- apparently 80 EK flights were delayed!! and maybe a number close to that for other airlines. Anyway by afternoon things were normal and hopefully all stranded passenger are back to where they wanted to be.

2007-03-12T08:24:00.000+04:00

Was at the DNRD counter at Bin Sougat Mall to get a visa for a friend. The place was a mess yesterday. More than half an hour at the typing counter and a good 2 hours plus waiting for my turn to get to the counter. But then it was just a matter of a few minutes before I had the visa in my hands. I guess it’s a difficult situation for DNRD- now most of the people avoid going to the main office and it becomes too much to handle the crowd in each of these satellite counters.

Again the interesting thing with the salary certificate- money really talks.

2007-03-11T07:30:00.000+04:00

Got myself a du account. ( du is the new competition for Etisalat in UAE). Packaged very well.
So I have the same number from both the providers- that’s good!

Gops vacation has started and so she spent the day at her uncle’s place keeping company for her aunt and grandma. Went there in the evening and asked her is she liked to stay there for the night as well. Everyone was pushing her to say yes. Her answer was I (me) would have nothing to hug while sleeping unless I get myself a big doll. I said I was okay since I could hug her mother instead. She burst into laughter asking me if I could ever hug that big bambola as a substitute for her- and then immediately realized she had said something about her mother and made us all promise that we would never let the mother know it.
Back home in the bed at night, I was trying to tease her by casually mentioning to her mother about what had happened earlier. Gops got into it straight away and told her all the facts and asked her mother to forgive her for her words. I was impressed and told her it was very good of her to do that. What followed was more interesting- I was narrated a story about George Washington and how he was brave enough to look into his father’s eyes and own up his mistake of cutting his dads favorite apple tree etc. Apparently she read this online.

Ok so letting her spend sometime on the net is good. But I might have a problem cutting it off or controlling it at a latter stage.

Our bosses have decided we must start working on Saturday as well. Good – it was anyway boring sitting at home u know ;-p

Need to buy a phone- palm680 or Glowfiish 700?

2007-03-07T08:05:00.000+04:00

I am out of tune with the world.

Sent a nasty email to one my financial consultant (copied to his company) - have requested his company to send me someone else in his place.
Messed up the premium for one of the policy back in India- the lady was here begging for me to give the cheques to her. I ignored it then and now I am making ISD calls to find out about the cheques that was sent through someone else and still haven’t been credited
I had asked for repairs to the new bedroom set we brought a while back from Marlin. Even after two weeks and a lot of follow up from my end, it is still not done yet. I am at the edge of losing my temper against this guy.
My HP-IPAQ is gone. With a fading display and the service centre asking for a high service charge, I have decided to give it some rest and peace.i had tried talking to their customer service unit and even wrote to their CEO. No luck.

So here I am – trying to calm myself down and avoid talking to people. This phase shall pass too.

Saw this on one of the orkut pages.

Sardars on asked to tell his friends name in English- Beautiful red underwear.

(friends name - Sunder lal Chaddi)

Want a change!

2007-02-07T06:45:00.000+04:00

The excitement is over- the uncertainty remains though. When to quit is probably the only question- not whether to quite or not. Six years in a place is definitely a bit too much- especially for a person of my nature. But then a change means-getting into a new place, proving myself again etc etc.

A change- that's what i need- something new. Maybe an affair?- sounds good- at my age :-)

Anyone reading this thinking along the same lines??

To more serious stuff. I am beginning to write about my experiences with airport designs and find it very absorbing. Should post it on a blog and maybe try and get a couple of them published somewhere. Would be a nice way to keep in touch with this field even if i leave airports in general.

what do i do now?

2007-01-30T07:17:00.000+04:00

Just when I was so exited about returning back to India, comes this news. My horoscope was shown to (not one but) two astrologers and both of then strongly advice that I stay put where-ever i am for the next 20 months.

kya karoon ram?

Happy Anniversary Vini!

2007-01-29T11:35:00.000+04:00

One such person celebrates her wedding anniversary today
Heres wishing her a great day and only the very best for the days ahead!!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

2007-01-22T13:20:00.000+04:00

Hmm... Life goes on and my laziness is winning..

Had a break- 10 days in KL and Singapore. Was the first "holiday" for the family since it was always India and home all these years! And the break was really worth it. Cut off from the office without the usual telephone connection meant I didn’t even think about work for these 10 days.

For a change- was better equipped with the cameras this time... Made sure I always had one on me with batteries to spare. Took photography a bit seriously and really explored the potential of my Olympus. Was quite satisfied with a few. Like these ones of the Dolphins… was lucky with the timing on all three occasions!

Some other memorable moments from the trip..

the cable car trip to Genting Highlands, a couple of night shots of the petronas..

But besides all these, I was thrilled to be in two airports that I studied in detailed so much over the net. It was indeed a nice feeling to be able to get off the aircraft and walk into a terminal that i could so easily identify in terms of its layout and in some cases its details. Especially in KL. Wish the trip also included HongKong.. but then the list would continue..

Back to the reality- back to work..Talking to Namith and therefore seriously thinking about returning back to India for good. Have the support of wifey and gops this time and it makes a big difference. Hope and pray it works out well- and is good for everybody in all ways..

For anyone who just happens to be here..

here's wishing you a very very Happy New Year 2007.

Lets meet up this year honey ;-) - ya- am talking to you!

Apparently this is how they catch the gangsters in India

2007-01-16T07:18:00.000+04:00

A quite weekend

2006-10-29T06:31:00.000+04:00

Another weekend goes by.

And with it we went past our 12th wedding anniversary too. 12 years! cant believe how times flies. Had some friends for lunch and they brought with them the cake. So we did have some kind of a celebration.

Back to the office. Its going to be a tough day. For about a month we were working reduced working hours. And then the series of Eid holidays plus the 2 days weekends before and after it. Today is the first day we are going back to the old routine. And i am tired just thinking about it.

Eid Holidays

2006-10-26T07:13:00.000+04:00

What a shame - in spite of being a govt setup, we were given just two days holidays- Monday and Tuesday that is. A call in the morning from KK and we were soon heading towards UAQ- aqua park. We were a bit taken aback by the big crowd at the entrance, but noticed a small group of people around the exit area. It turned out that families with Kids were being issued ticket there. So i just a few minutes we were in. Was my first experience in an aqua park- i always though you need to be a good swimmer to be able to enjoy them and more importantly handle your kid playing in the water. Wasn't very difficult and the experience also helped me get over my fear of water. Now I have to seriously consider learning swimming and get gopika to learn it too. i have to admit hygiene levels in these park especially during such peak days is really pathetic. So i guess we are lucky if we are out of it without major problems.

Went for the desert safari on Tuesday. Cant believe this was the first time for many of us considering the number of years (10-15) we have been here! The drive was good. But didn't like the way people have to queue for their food. We had planned for the overnight stay and i turned out that we were the only group doing that. After the usual safari crowd left, we got the camp coordinator to arrange for some of the dune quads for us and we has some good time trying them out. A few rounds of dumb-charades and before we realised it was 12 midnight. The generator at the camp that support all the lighting is turned off at 12 and there we were in the middle of the night- looking at the sky and trying to get some sleep in the sleeping bags. I don't think any of us- guys slept well till early morning- by which time the women were up and enjoying the snoring jugalbandi we were getting into.

A quick breakfast and we were dropped back to Dubai. The camp coordinator was a local and was very good. he also seemed to be well aware of things happening in Dubai. my office was working, but i decided to take the day off.

And now back in office. Good that we are told we can leave office early.

2006-10-22T07:58:00.000+04:00

Ok Here I go.

Got totally fedup of Rediff. No improvement in the last so many years.
Hate to call it the typical Indian attitude.
Chal raha haina- phir kya?

I plan to take my blogging a little more seriously. Have added a few more blog to this one
1. My little girls pictures- some of them are drawn with some good concept.
2. A blog for the young architects- more like a scribbling pad for myself.
3. A building takes shape just next to ours and so planned out this photo blog kind of a thing that again can be useful to students.
4. Should possibly think about a blog on airports- my fav topic.

Back to my real world. Weekend went off quickly as usual. A round of squash, a meeting with Nair (Zurich), some cricket on TV took care of most of Friday. Shopping, a get together at KK's house, some more cricket, some fiddling with the ADSL chord (that was quite satisfying) and that was it of satuday too.

I hate it when we are asked to work on days like today when most of the world around have already started with their holidays. It is understandable if we are an office that is in the middle of action, like an operational place or an active construction site- but when work as an administrative office most of the time, it looks quite ridiculous to be in the office- pretending to be working. But it that's what they want- that's what they get. Maybe I will have a different perspective on such things the day I become an employer.

A few more hours and we are into the next couple of days of holidays. Planning to go for an overnite desert safari or whatever that is. Will blog about it after that.