Good Luck

It's nice to be appreciated and get recognition from admirers.

Nachos

In a restaurant called El Cholo in Los Angeles that is supposed to be famous – the claim to fame comes from serving stars such as Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Michele Phillips, Nolan Ryan, Marlon Brando, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, George Hamilton, Tom Hanks, etc. - they have information on the birth of the nacho. Namely, it is stated that one Carmen Rocha from San Antonio, who joined El Cholo in 1959, started making something called a nacho and that the restaurant brought said appetizer to fame

Based on my own exhaustive research, taken from the Texas Journal published May / June 2007, I can report the true story. In the early 1940s, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya worked at the Victory Club in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras across border from Eagle Pass, Texas. He was the only employee on duty when some women came in for a snack. In the blink of an eye, he tore corn tortillas into triangles, fried them, topped them with cheese, and placed a slice of jalapeno on top.

The women called it Nacho’s Especiales. It was soon shortened to Nacho and the new snack was born. Of course there was nothing wrong with Carmen taking it to Los Angeles in 1959 but it should be known that El Cholo didn’t have much to do with the regional delicacy that has swept the country.

Anyway, the food was pretty good there. And the weather was nice. And David graduated from college!

Buddha's Birthday

It was Buddha's Birthday here in Brisbane (and elsewhere) and we had a celebration. There are a lot of Chinese people here and there was a festival on the South Bank just down from the apartment. Here is a picture shot from our balcony of the fireworks.

Winter is supposed to be coming but it is still a good 30 degrees C during the day (86 F). Tomorrow is labor day here in Queensland (vs. the first of May everywhere). Anyway, I have the day off. The thing to do on long weekends around here is to get outside (I played golf) and go barbeque. The city has put barbeque in lots of nice places, including along the river, so everybody barbeques. Hope you are getting outside too...

View from the Terrace

Brisbane is such a beautiful city and there really is a lot to write about. I just don't seem to have the time - what a poor excuse. Anyway, we have managed to find a place to live and this is the view off of our balcony. Amazing isn't it? The only downside is that there is a fair amount of road noise from that bridge if you are outside. But with the door closed - hardly anything. And with this view, who is complaining? Not me.

The bridge is Captain Cook bridge and the land mass across the river is called the CBD - Central Business District. The river snakes throughout the city and divides it into smaller communities. The lighted cliffs at the far right are on Kangaroo Point. Just across the river from us, the green area is the Botanical Gardens. I work in one of the high rises on the right side of the CBD. It is visible in the picture but not prominent. The lighted bridge in the background on the right is the Story Bridge. The large bridge on the left in the background is Victoria Bridge and the small pedestrian bridge in the foreground on the left is the Friendship Bridge. That is how I walk to work. It is a nice place to live...

Brisbane

Brisbane is a really pretty city especially along the river (this view is from the park). There are lots of parks and open spaces and there is a mix of high density apartments and housing. It feels more like a big town than a city in many ways. But it has good public transport including river ferrys, trains, and busses. I'd like to maybe live along the river and take the ferry to work...

Pelicans - Manly Australia

A wonderful bird is the pelican

His beak can hold more than his belly can

He can store in his beak

Enough food for a week

And I don't know how the hell he can

Or something close to that...

Ogden Nash

Australia

It's been a while since I've written but here are my first impressions of Australia. There is a lot to write about and with time maybe I'll get to write it. This is a wonderful place - nice people, great climate, beautiful countyside, and good food and drink too.

But the two things that are most striking to me are the wildlife and the scenery. I don't have any good pictures of the birds but they are really amazing. There are cookaburras, parrots, cockatoos, magpies, and I don't know what all. You see kangaroos on the golf course and giant lizards on the sidewalk. Scrub turkeys are everywhere as are ducks and cranes. I've seen pelicans and reef fish. Everybody loves the outdoors here....

North Stradbroke Island

North Stradbroke Island is a short ferry ride across Moreton Bay from Brisbane. It is beautiful, relatively undeveloped, and unspoiled. It is an amazing place and yet so close to a large city. At certain times of the year you can see whales off this penninsula.

One Last Photo from Qatar

Here is one last photograph from Qatar. These are the people who started in Japan and followed through to construction. The flag has the signatures of everyone who was present in the front end of engineering. The red figure being held above the flag is Daruma-san. You may remember that we had a ceremony when the contract was awarded and one of Daruma-san's eyes was painted in with a wish for a successful project. I didn't get to paint his other eye in on completion, but I am sure that with this group it will be done. Best of Luck!

Last Blog from Qatar

This is not my last day in Qatar but I think it will probably be my last blog. Next week I'll be in Houston and the following week in Australia. I wrote my first letter from Japan and blogged it three years ago. It is amazing that the time has gone so fast. In the last five years I have worked in the United States, Venezuela, Japan, Europe, Qatar, Nigeria, and now Australia. That is all the habitable continents.



The group picture at left was taken at the Diplomatic Club here in Doha last month. I have been working almost daily with some of the people in the picture for over three years now so I will miss them. Maybe we can work together on the next project but in any event they are friends for life. If you can, spend some time with your friends :-)

Carpets don't have to be Expensive

I am doing pretty well writing about carpets so I'll keep it up. This one is supposed to be an Iranian Shiraz Tribal and is 6.6 x 9.7 feet. It was pretty cheap - less than $400. I like the colors and it has all sorts of motifs in it. Can you see the elephants? There are some 4 legged critters. The birds are easy.

You can really tell this one was hand made. Look at the left hand side and see the curvature? There are lots and lots of little mistakes in it too. The knot count is low and it is pretty rough but I like it...

A Detail from the Tree of Life

This is a detail of the birds just to the left of the trunk in the lower part of the carpet.

The Tree of Life

This photograph does not do the carpet justice. It is a Persian silk by the master Mir Mehdi. It is from the town of Qum in central Iran. The knot count is 12 per cm or 1.44 million per square meter and the carpet has about 2.5 million knots. It is fine enough that the man who runs the largest carpet store in Doha has a picture of it in his catalog.

The motif is the Tree of Life. It originated in Kashmir I am told and is geometric and symetric when from that region. This one is incredibly ornate, asymetric, and has lots of birds.

I would never let you walk on this carpet. It will be hung from the wall.

Addicted to Carpets

According to Victor, oriental carpets are addictive and the way to avoid the habit is to avoid the addicts. I think there is something to that and should have been more careful who I was hanging out with. I always thought the carpets were nice but I never really considered buying one. But then you hang out with the addicts for a while, and listen to them going on and on, and then you start to casually examine the carpets, and first thing you know you are having to buy a new one every week yourself. And it is an expensive habit. It is also counter to my philosophy of not collecting "stuff". Nevertheless, now I am a carpet collector and I even traded one.



There are all kinds from many different places. Some are wool, some are silk, the cheap ones are synthetic. Some are made in factories and some are made on the floors of tents. Some are made with child labor and some are made by a mother and her daughter. Some are made for sale and some were made for use by the weaver. They can be modern or traditional, religious or just pretty. They are made in Turkey, China, and lots of places in between. The antiques can be very expensive. Its kind of like quilts but men can participate.


I think I like the "tribals" best. Tribals are made at home and not by professional weavers. This tribal is a very fine wool Turkmen from Northern Afghanistan (Andkhoi). Turkmens are famous for their red color made from a natural dye taken from the roots of the madder plant. The pattern is Iranian. The carpet was weaved by a well know family of weavers named Sulaimani. Higher grade Turkmen carpets such as this with a high knot count are called Biljik. The pile is kind of directional and it appears lighter form one side than the other. You can see a little of that from the angle of this photo. The bottom of the carpet appears darker but lightens as you move down the stairs from where the photo was taken. A large carpet like this takes well over a year to make by hand.


My boss unashamedly says he has $30,000 worth. I will quit going on about carpets now because I don't want to influence young impressionable readers. However, if you need to know some good carpet stores in Doha, just ask and I can set you up...

Say Goodbye to Doha

I have found out that soon I will be saying goodbye to Doha and hello to Brisbane, Australia. Sometime in early March I'll leave this project to dodge kangaroos instead of camels. I am really sorry not to see the end of this one but I have always wanted to see Australia. So here is the chance. We will get a nice place and will be expecting all you visitors so make your plans. You never know how long these things will last!

Partying Doha Style

In Doha, there are different sides of the house for men and women. The men have there own room, which used to be out on a porch.

Then there is the women's side.

Tennis

I am back in Doha now - it is cold! Supposedly, this is the coldest weather that has been experienced here in 20 years or since the 60's depending on who you are talking to. Since I grew up in the 60's and am not much more than 20 years old that doesn't really sound inconsistent.

Anyway, I got the heaters out and set them up yesterday. One of them doesn't work and the other two are barely sufficient for one room. I guess it doesn't get cold here very often. Of course it depends on what you call cold. It is getting down to about 10 deg C or (50 deg F). That is pretty cold if you are still and not dressed for it.

The photograph was taken at the Qatar ExxonMobil Tennis Tournament last night during the semi-finals. The highest ranked player was the world number 3. One of the nice things about Qatar is that there are a fair number of events like this and typically they are free (like this one) or very moderate in cost. It usually isn't crowded.

My New Year's Resolution is to "have more fun". So one of the things I did while home was to buy a new set of golf clubs - got them cheap too. Yesterday I went to the golf range and hit balls. I think the new clubs are going to be OK and I should be able to maintain my dominance over David in golf. Have a great New Year!

Christmas Decorations (needs a little work)

Across the street from Diane, Santa has fallen on hard times...

V=8154

Christmas Decorations (maybe a little over the top)

Down the street from Teresa, this is the winner of the "Best Santa" award in Kingwood...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas! Here is something fun. The picture at left is of a mechanical panda toy that Stuart gave David for Christmas. Click on the picture and you will see a little movie. Have a Happy New Year!

Safety at Work

I had decided some time ago not to write about work, but to concentrate on interesting things outside of it. But this week, I haven't done much except work. So here is a picture of me at the site about to give a safety speech to the workers. I am the guy in the orange Nomex pumpkin outfit. The guys in yellow are the contractor management and the guys in blue are workers or charge hands who supervise workers. Workers wear yellow hats and supervisors wear white hats. Safety officers wear green hats. Everything is color coded.

Anyway, this safety talk was about the need to stop work if you see something unsafe. A lot of workers are fearful to do this - it is not in their culture to question the boss. And it is not in the nature of some bosses to be questioned. Anyway, I gave this talk about 10 times to around 5,000 people. Each time it was translated into at least one and sometimes two other languages. It is quite a challenge to communicate here sometimes. There are 6 or so major languages spoken. We made up 21,000 cards to hand out and had 100 full size banners posted around the site.

Oh yes - I finally made it to the Asian Games last night. I went to see the squash tournament championship. Both the mens and the womens champion were Malaysians. My friend Victor showed me a good Indian restaurant too. So that was a successful evening. BE SAFE AND STOP WORK IF YOU SEE AN UNSAFE CONDITION...

Milburn Wagon Company

Yesterday they opened the Asian Games here in Doha. Amazingly, it rained (more accurately poured) on the first day. Fortunately it cleared in the evening and the opening celebration seemed to go well. I watched it on TV for a while but got tired and fell asleep before it finished.

The theme seemed to be technology oriented and while I wasn’t paying close attention appeared to be about a Qatari pearl diver who got blown off course and discovered Asia. He had a magic astrolabe and completed part of his journey with the help of a golden falcon who carried him when the seas got too rough. Don’t ask me what this has to do with sports. Then he came back, got married, had a son, and glimpsed the future including the oil and gas wealth that is in Qatar today.

It was all done in a theatric style that kind of reminded me of a circus because there were acrobats and dancers representing various countries. It was very high tech with lasers and multi-sensory projections and sounds and such. One thing that I found interesting about it was the quick history they gave of technology development. They hit it kind of high level (gross understatement) but it got me to thinking, especially about energy.

If you look at energy use today, it is very difficult to understand how solar, wind, etc. are going to make much of a difference. It takes too many wind mills. Nobody really likes nuclear although I think it will be back some day. Conservation could make a big difference. Anyway, I got to thinking about cars – especially hybrid cars. I did an internet search and that is when I made an interesting discovery. Hybrid cars have been around a long time.

And this was a surprise - at one time, the largest wagon making company in the world was the Milburn Wagon Company of Toldedo, Ohio. With the demise of the horse drawn wagon, they made an attempt to go into automobiles. And their platform of choice was electric, including at least some vehicles that had a small gasoline engine to charge the batteries. Electric cars were essentially no longer being manufactured by the early ‘20s and the plant was sold to GM to make Buicks. You can read more at http://www.milburn.us/history.htm. Maybe my next car will be a hybrid, although to be honest I had been thinking more like getting a Corvette.

Doha at Night

This is Doha from the Intercontinental Hotel at night. I like this picture. You can see how unfinished the buildings are. The cranes are visible and the modernity is very apparent. Doha bay is like a mirror and the beach looks very strange with this lighting.

Happy Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving my group had our "holiday" party at the Hotel Intercontinental beach here in Doha. I remember my first Thanksgiving away from home - I was 19, in the Navy, and stationed on the USS Fearless in Charleston, South Carolina. I rode my bicycle into town and ordered a turkey sandwich in a diner.

This time we had Lebanese food, but someone thought to ask them to put some turkey slices on a platter. I passed on the turkey. There was a jazz band and afterwards we sat on carpets and cushions while folks relaxed with a shisha pipe. I passed on the shisha too. According to my friend Nasser, seated to my right, shisha is a Turkish word meaning glass. That is because the water bowl is made from glass. The yankees here call it the "hubbly bubbly" and I think that some places it may be known as the "hookah" although that is normally associated with drugs I think. In the Middle East, shisha tobacco has dried fruit in it and has a nice aroma. I have been told variously that it is milder than regular tobacco and also that it is stronger. Anyway, if interested, I'll take you to a "shisha bar" if you come visit me.

Today it rained! In fact, we have had a couple of "rains" lately. Not a whole lot really, but it cools things off and is nice. The weather is in the 70s right now - very pleasant. Enjoy the holiday bustle. I'll have a cup of tea and watch the shisha smokers until I can get home.

Umm Bab Beach

Sometimes it is better to quote from those who have come before you. In this case, quoting from the Marhaba Guide, "on cresting a small hill, you will see the coast stretched out below and the distinctive group of trees. Most people turn left at the trees and stop a little further on. The sand is very deep so 2wd vehicles should proceed with caution." So we turned left at the trees - my 4wd didn't have problems. This beach is also known as "Palm Tree Beach". In some ways though, it reminded me of the infamous "Chicken Bone Beach" that stu monkey sometimes talks about. You pass a lot of oil field production on the way and unfortunately there is some litter. There were probably a dozen other people there. Despite lots of coastline and beaches, there are very few developed resort areas in Qatar.

Gecko!

When I first got back to Doha I was swamped with work. Then this last 4-5 days I have been sick. Those are my excuses for not writing. And good excuses they are.

But tonight I spotted this gecko in my car park - finally I feel better and something really worthy to write about as well! It is only the second wild native creature other than an insect, bird, or fish that I have seen. The other was a larger lizard about a foot long or so.

He is a tiny little fellow only about an inch long and was almost transparent on the wall until I turned the glare of the flash of my camera upon him. Poor little guy. I hope the cats don't catch him. There are cats all over the place here.

V = 8000

Feast at Eid

Yesterday was Eid and there was celebration of the breaking of the fast at the camp. Actually the chefs, and I purposely call them chefs rather than cooks, can prepare some pretty good meals. There were some nice touches like the decorated fruit in the next photo.

They decorated the tennis court, put up a little tent and lights, and set up tables and chairs. It was a feast.

Peace...

Back at the Camp

While I was home I had several comments, mostly from females, about my animal skin bedspread at the camp (see How is the Camp). NONE of them were complimentary. While I don't really agree, I am sensitive to the plight of synthetic animals being treated in an unethical manner by acrylic fur traders. Accordingly, I spoke to the interior decorator at the camp and he replaced it with this understated floral print. As you can imagine, I am quite pleased.

By the way, there are some pictures posted behind Yebisu of my birthday if you are interested.

V = 7934