Where is my money "They" keep promising me?!

When is my 400 million US Dollars going to show up in my account?

I'm tired of working everyday.

I mean "They" said all I had to do was give out my account information and my magically inherited / won / found money was going to be transferred into my account.

Maybe I need to pay a "handling fee"?

I guess I'll just have to work until it shows up.

Just think what you could do with that kind of money.  Even if you were taxed at 50% you would still end up with 200 million.

If you invest it conservatively at 4% that's 8 million a year, less tax say 35%, it leaves you with 5.2 million.

Which is roughly 430 thousand dollars a month.

I can live on that.  Easily.

I'm waiting...

I'm a Bit Slow...

I just realized that there are Stats on Blogger.

It tells you how many times your blog has been looked at and from what part of the world the looker is from.

I seem to have a lot of hits from Canada.

116 to be exact.  Since May 2010. 

Who likes me in Canada?  Or is it friends here in the UAE that are accessing the internet through Canada? 

You know to circumvent the censoring over here.

I don't know anyone in Canada, and since my internet is circumventing via the US I know it's not me.

It's kinda exciting - seeing that people are looking at my blog.

There are even pageviews from Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

And I haven't been in any of those countries since May.  I haven't been to Denmark since Thanksgiving about 5 years ago.

It's very exciting. 

Hand Soap, Knick Knacks, and Other Household Items

I was just dinking around in the bathroom and I was thinking...

I can't wait to move back to America because I can get really nice smelling hand soap for my bathroom at Paula Fridkin Designs.

I can buy my pots and pans from Williams and Sonoma.

I can get nice sheet sets from TJ Maxx as well as inexpensive work clothes.

And it will be easy peasy.  It won't be a production, getting there, parking etc...

I mean it is easier to get around Dubai than it was getting around London.

But it's so much easier to get to places in Houston.

And I want to buy a house so I can take care of something that is mine.

Decorate something that is mine.

Have a yard with a BBQ.

Have grass instead of a sand pit.

It'll be another 6 months before we move.

But I can't wait.

It's a quite, quite house today.

I came home from work today (yes I went in because I had a client meeting).

And the house was empty.

No barking to announce my arrival.

No wiggling mass of goo happy at my arrival home.

Nothing.

I'm sitting in "our" chair.

Alone.

I know she'd been gone a lot in the past week but I was visiting her and calling to check up on her.  So she was still driving the actions in my life.

Now nothing.

There's no one to call, nothing to do to try and make her life easier.

Nothing.

The Story of Gabi (Feb 2000 - August 11, 2010) - My Favorite Memories

One day in August of 2000, about a month after I lost my previous dog (Eddie) to a hit and run driver, my neighbor stopped by my house.  She had just finished her walk with her dog and was returning my sweater she had borrowed.

And right behind her was this cute little brown puppy.  I thought she was dog sitting and I started cooing over the cute little puppy and when I went down to pet her my neighbor shouted,

"NOOOO! DON'T TOUCH HER!"

I jumped back and said "Why?!".

"Because she's not with me! She followed us from the park where someone dumped her off.  I can't take care of her, do you want her?"

I said, "No, it's only been a month since Eddie died - I'm just now getting his stuff together to take to the shelter".

She left, but the dog didn't follow her, she stayed and laid down outside my door, which I shut because I was not ready for another dog.

That lasted about 10 whole minutes.  I couldn't stand it, she was so cute and pathetic looking.  So I opened the door and called her in, fed her watered her and told my sister that she was taking her into the vet the next day because I had to work.

That is how Gabi came into my life, became my companion, my baby, my center.

========================================

What a happy, gentle dog.

She hated eating alone.  I would pour her food out in the morning, but she wouldn't eat it until I got home at night.  Even then she would take a mouthful of tiny bite food (she didn't like the big nuggets) drop them at my feet wherever I happened to be in the house, then daintily eat a few nuggets at a time.  It took her forever to finish her bowl of food.

========================================

Gabi loved the park, she would get so excited for our daily walks that she would spin in circles.

On the bed.

On top of me.

At 5:30 AM.  

Every. Single. Morning.

And Lord did she loved the water.  The park where we walked (the one she was found in) had a Bayou where she'd swim and chase the fish.  She would run down sloped concrete sides barking at the fish, then take a running jump into the water trying to catch them.  The first few times she did that it scared the crap out of me.  She got some serious air when she jumped into the water.

Sometimes I'd have to go down to the water and grab her halter and haul her out because she didn't want to leave.

Amazing considering the fact that I had to push her into the water the first few times she got in.  Not a very good doggy mama thing to do!  Oops!

=============================================

Fish.

Gabi loved fish.

Not eating them, that wasn't her thing - although she did like caviar.

She did like chasing them, but that wasn't her favorite thing about fish either.

What she liked to do with fish, what she LOVED to do fish, didn't happen until after they died.

Yep that's right, she loved a dead fish.

Guess what she did with the dead fish.

She rolled in them.  AARRGGHH!

I can't tell you how many times I was late to work because I had to give her a bath in order to get the rotted fish off her before we went into the house.

She had to be one of the cleanest, nicest smelling dogs in neighborhood because I had to wash the rot off her at least once a week.

==================================================

My little love muffin had one of the best personalities.  She even won over my husband, who unbeknownst to me at the time, didn't particularly care for dogs.  He'd been bitten as a child.  He said he didn't tell me because he knew who would win in a him or Gabi scenario.

Smart man.

But she won him over.  He said she was so sweet and had such an expressive face and cool personality that he totally fell in love with her.

He even stopped trying to keep her out of the bed.  We would tell her to get down and make her lay on her own bed next to ours.  But she would just wait until we fell asleep then hop up.

Finally one night he said, "Just bring her up with us she'll end up in the bed anyway".  I just grinned.

==================================================

One of Gabi's favorite indoor activities was having her belly scratched.  I think that's really what won my husband over.  He couldn't resist the cuteness she exuded when she would jump up on the couch, sit up like a gopher then lean back until she was either propped up on the arm of chair or against us.

That way we could have easy access to her belly.

So we could scratch it.

Without stopping.

=====================================================

I loved that little dog.  I had her for 10 years and it seems like I only had her for a minute, but it feels like I had her forever.

She moved to London with us then to Dubai.

And she'll be coming back to America with us too, but in our hearts, not in our hands.

I had to have her put down today.  She was in too much pain and I couldn't put her through it anymore.

She looked at me, she knew.  I knew.  And it was peaceful.

But man am I sad.

Scratch my belly PLEASE!

The news today...

There were some interesting articles in the paper this morning.

If you are caught eating or drinking in public you will be arrested.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/eating-drinking-and-smoking-in-daylight-are-punishable-offences-1.666651

But if you are working out in the 110F heat, and you feel like you absolutely must, you can break your fast without being arrested.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/employment/workers-can-break-their-fast-if-necessary-say-islamic-authorities-1.665531

Isn't that nice.  If you think you're going to pass out from dehydration while working on an oil rig you will be allowed to have a drink.  But you have to make it up later.

This makes no sense to me.  Working on an oil rig is dangerous.  Why would you even attempt to make someone fast on one of these?  Or why would you allow a person who insists on fasting to work on one?

Here is a comment from the article which cautions those who break their fast - apparently Satan is waiting for you to break your fast so he can "get" you. 

"It is a fine declaration for whoever is not able to fasting under sun, but on the other hand if Islamic affair is not giving strict conditions, people will go away from their responsibilities. How it will happen? Satan will take advantage of people's inability, he will insist the person who break the fast before dusk such as say, "dont worry Allah know your inability, or keep fasting next year". Like those ideas will be given and pushed him to go away from Islam until his death. So, every one think before you break fasting during Ramadan. Ramadan comes once in a year, it is a gift from Almighty Allah."

Hmmmm....I'm all for practicing your religion - but not if it's going to endanger the lives of the people around you.  I do not like being on the road with a bunch of people who have not eaten or drank anything since 4:30 in the morning.  Dehydration causes dizziness, fainting, and lack of concentration. Just what one needs when one is driving a car, or a truck, or a semi with a full load.

Endanger your own life if you want, don't endanger mine.

Here's another good one...

Apparently if you are 14 and you had sex with a 25 year old you will be jailed for having "consensual sex".  That's a six month sentence followed by deportation.

Of a 14 year old.  GIRL.

Who was targeted by a MAN more than 10 years older than she is.  He only got a year in jail.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/14-year-old-girl-jailed-for-consensual-sex-1.666640

The comments section on this article were closed off.  I guess they don't want anyone to point out how ridiculous it is to jail a 14 year old for having sex with an adult. 

Here's another article that just made me shake my head.

At a wedding in Saudi the mother of the groom slapped him because the helped his bride on with her shoe.  Well I don't blame her!  What WAS he thinking?!

I'm not sure if it was at same wedding or a different one, but the guests at a reception walked out after seeing a slide show of the bride and groom growing up then kissing at the end of the show.

The guests said there were "shocked, charging that the clip was not acceptable and that it was inspired by movies screened on private television channels".

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-groom-slapped-by-mother-on-wedding-night-1.664328

The world is an interesting place.

Socialized Medicine: Here's another WTF for you.

A man won the lottery in the UK.

Guess what he wants to spend his winnings on?

Knee replacement surgery.

Why?  Because he tore his cruciate ligament 15 years ago and had to go on disability.

Why was he on disability?

Because NHS will not put you on the wait list for knee replacement until you are 55.

So instead of paying maybe 20k for knee replacement they wanted to pay him disability until he had his surgery.

He tore the ligament when he was 35.

Does that make sense to you?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-10893111

BTW Google lottery winner and knee replacement and see what you get.

http://www.google.com/webhp?tab=yw#hl=en&source=hp&q=lottery+winner%2C+knee+replacement&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=9cebbf5a0cce78cd

There are a lot of people in the UK who use their lottery winnings to get knee replacement.

WTF?!