Heavy Heart: Police Dog Auction
In today’s Kuwait Times is an ad from the Ministry of Interior offering “28 Trained Police Dogs” for Auction on June 3rd.
Everyone knows there are clandestine dog fights here, where animals are goaded to fight until deeply injured and killed. This is not a dog-friendly culture. Dogs starve here all the time, are hit, beaten, abandoned, stoned, maimed, tortured by children and adults.
The thought of who might buy these dogs and the purposes they might be put to makes my heart heavy. Worse. It makes my stomach heave.
Working dogs do what they are trained to do. The work hard. They served Kuwait! They deserve a good retirement.
My New Buddy
Just days before Sporty Diamond’s wedding, Big Diamond introduced me to a new friend – a Lumix, a Panasonic camera with a Leica lens.
It hardly felt like a real camera. I have lugged around Nikons most of my life, Nikons and their lenses and a variety of super films to capture that special moment. The Lumix felt like a toy.
“Just try it,” she laughed confidently.
Within minutes, she was in on her phone and computer, ordering the same model for Sporty Diamond and myself. That was five years ago.
In January, as I was doing one of the sunrise series, something whirred and clicked and jammed, never to work again. I didn’t worry too much, I had a smaller model of the same camera I bought to use in my purse. I knew I would need another one, but I had time.
When she visited, Little Diamond mentioned that exactly the same thing had happened with Big Diamond’s camera, and we figure maybe it is some kind of planned obsolescence.
Or an excuse to buy the newest model!
While back in the USA, I picked up the newest telephoto model of the Lumix. Without any additional lenses, this little camera goes from 18mm – 574mm. The zoom is so powerful that I can’t always hold the camera steady enough without a tripod, but it also has all the latest shake-reduction technologies. Actually, it has technologies I haven’t begun to master. I thought I would know it all, having had the same camera, but so much has been added in the last couple years, I still have a severe learning curve in front of me.
My sister has the same exact camera, so we can help each other out when we figure out some new capability.
I am not one of your more serious photographers. I don’t bracket my shots; I don’t do a lot of planning before I shoot. Most of my shots are shots of convenience – I even have the camera out on the seat while I am driving, in case I see something at a stoplight. Certainly in case I have a road problem, or in case some idiot drives next to me in the emergency land. I need a camera mostly for family moments, for our African adventures, for my daily Kuwait experiences and for those odd moments that capture my attention.
I am more of a documentary photographer. I grab whatever shot I can get, and delete delete delete all the excess photos. I do love getting to know the camera, and finding out what it can do. What I love the most about this camera is the great big huge zoom, the tiny, light body, and the bright, clear photos it takes under the worst conditions.
I have another buddy, a good friend who has really been there for me while I am jet lagging. The first morning – she knows I am up early – she called me and said she was on her way to the store, did I want to come? I was already getting dressed to go to the store, so I said yes. The truth is, when you are ten time zones out of whack, you are probably better off not driving a whole lot.
Yesterday, once again, she helped me run a couple of significant errands, things I really needed to do and she sacrificed a morning with her husband to help me out. That is a friend, indeed. Not only is she a lot of fun to be running errands with, but when I grabbed my camera and said “that’s a shot I’ve wanted and never been able to take because I am always driving!” she slowed down and let me have the time to take the shot. She didn’t even mind. Now THAT is a friend, indeed!
Nowhere else have I seen bulldozers up in buildings. I can’t imagine the building being destroyed was constructed with specifications supporting the weight of a bulldozer in mind. I can’t imagine what the bulldozer operator must have in terms of life insurance – or, well, too bad, I can imagine he considers himself lucky to have a job that allows him to send some money back home. At least this bulldozer is only three stories above ground – the last one I saw was eight stories above ground. And the driver didn’t even have a construction helmet on.
It is blazing-white-hot in Kuwait right now, but thanks be to God, there is no dust today, and the humidity is relatively low.
Sunrise, First of June, 2008
While we don’t have that seriously dark brown band of, hmmm. . . . something . . . on the horizon, there is a band of thick haze. The sun gets above the horizon, lights the clouds above, but it is fully minutes before it can get through the low lying haze for a visible sunrise.
This is what I think is ACTUAL sunrise:
Here, minutes later, we can see the sun over the thick haze on the horizon:
At 5 in the morning, it is a mere 84°F / 29°C out on my balcony, very comfortable, just a tiny soft breeze, me and all the laborers the only ones up and about so early. Well, maybe Ansam, who gets an early start on her day. 😉
Sunrise: Wait Five Minutes
Continuing to jet lag, wide awake for the first call to prayer. Suddenly, there are more calls to prayer in my neighborhood. I don’t see any additional mosques, but maybe they are upping the volume on the calls to prayer. It isn’t loud, it is only that I used to only hear one, and now I can hear several. Maybe an atmospheric thing. Maybe I am not often awake at that time of the morning!
This is what the real sunrise looked like, barely able to break through the clouds:
But an hour later, as I am finishing up my e-mails, everything changes (don’t you just love clouds? They change everything!):
Just when I think it is all together, ready for a post, it changes again:
When I saw this photo, I though I had photographed through a dirty spot on the window, but no, it is the shadow of clouds from sky down across the water.
Wait five minutes and a totally new photo appears. What a great day!
It’s 90°F/ 32°C at 0600, heading for a high today of 109°F / 43°C. 😦
Customer Service, Travel and Travelocity
Recently, to my great surprise, over a year later, I received an apology and some customer appreciation miles because I wouldn’t stop complaining over what I thought was gross lack of customer service on the part of an airline. It made me so mad that nobody would answer my complaints that I just kept complaining. Finally, someone listened. That was all I really wanted, for someone to say “we screwed up and we’re sorry.”
Travelocity did a recent survey of travel satisfaction and is working on new ways to guarantee you don’t show up at the airport for a flight that has been delayed or cancelled, that your hotel room or rental car really IS waiting for you when you show up, etc.
From The New York Times: you can read the entire article by clicking here.
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Published: June 1, 2008
FRUSTRATION with the fluctuation in the cost of airline tickets. Disappointment with airline reward programs. Annoyance with airport security searches and long checkpoint lines. Dropped hotel bookings.
These traveler complaints among others dominated the discussion of a focus group last month at the New York office of Travelocity, the online travel agency. Customers were invited to a bright conference room to vent, gripe and complain. As they spoke, Travelocity’s chief executive, Michelle Peluso, fastidiously took notes, regardless of whether the problem was the fault of the company or simply a consequence of the chaotic state of air travel today.
When an issue arose that the company, which is based in Southlake, Tex., could have mitigated — like the flight departure alert that came early, leading the designer to believe his flight left without him, or the bank manager who booked a room in the adults-only section of his resort only to end up, as he put it, in “the kindergarten area” — Ms. Peluso deftly defused any possible tension with a quick apology, an acknowledgment of the inconvenience caused (“That shouldn’t have happened in the first place”) and a promise to do better.
Partly to garner loyalty with their customers, but also to make sure the struggling airlines don’t drag them down with their mess, various players have been working on ways to pick up the slack in customer service.
The New York meeting, which brought eight of Travelocity’s frequent customers together over wine and cheese, was part of a larger effort by the company to get input from travelers on what the overall industry needs to do to improve the travel experience. Throughout the first week in May, Ms. Peluso and other Travelocity executives also visited call centers to listen in on calls and address customer needs.
When something goes wrong in your travel experiences, write a letter (or an e-mail) and tell them what went wrong and how it should have gone. Expect to be treated with respect. You paid for a service – you should get what you paid for. Be a squeaky wheel.
Sunrise May 30, 2008
As we approach the Summer solstice you have to be up early to catch the sunrise. I am up so early, with my jet lag, that I am waiting for the sun to rise!
It is a beautiful day. That hideous humidity that plagued Kuwait along with the dust when I arrived is gone. The night air is sweet, there is a breeze off the sea this morning – it would be a perfect morning to be out fishing.
There is a thin band of clouds just above the horizon, but nothing like those thick bands of pollution that give us headaches – and worse. The temperature today is only expected to reach 104°F / 40°C.
I hope you enjoy your Friday, my friends, and have a sweet day of rest and relaxation.
Saved by a Scream
This woman had a close call. I am re-assured that the family was taking her to Saudi Arabia to kill her; it implies that the climate in Kuwait does not support honor killings. Another tidbit from the Arab Times:
Screams help officers thwart bid to kill girl for soiling family name
KUWAIT CITY : The Saudi immigration officers manning the Al-Riqei border post are said to have reportedly foiled an attempt by an unidentified GCC family to kill their daughter to save their honor, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
According to a security source the parents with the daughter and another sibling traveled to Salmi post and to prevent the ‘victim’ from screaming for help the family’s relative who allegedly works at the post hurried through the process of stamping the passports to help the family cross into Saudi Arabia as the family waited in their car.
When the girl reached the Saudi border post she screamed for help and told the immigration officers that her father planned to kill her.
The family was temporarily detained at the post until the Saudi authorities contacted the authorities in Kuwait. After the family was returned to Kuwait under guard, the relative who helped them at the Salmi post was arrested and detained for interrogation.
The daily said it is a case of ‘honor killing’. The girl was reportedly involved in an affair with an unidentified youth inside an apartment in Salmiya and she became pregnant.
Meanwhile, the Al-Anba daily added, when the girl was in police custody the brother grabbed his younger sister and threatened to shoot her in front of the building of the Criminal Investigations Department.
He was demanding the release of his other sister who was caught having fun with the youth inside an apartment after a missing person report was filed against her.
A police sniper shot the man in the arm and rescued the younger sibling.
I can’t imagine her life will be easy, if she is pregnant, unmarried, and has a family who wants her dead. I can’t imagine that Kuwait has social services that can help her negotiate a path. Life will be difficult, but it sure beats what was about to happen to her in Saudi Arabia.
Woman Receives Allowance
Sometimes, it’s a little article that has a huge impact. This little article, about a recent court decision in Kuwait, has potential for such an impact;
This is from today’s Arab Times:
Court orders allowance for woman
KUWAIT CITY : The Constitutional Court Wednesday received a petition filed by a Kuwaiti woman, requesting the court to declare the second paragraph of Item No. 2 and fifth paragraph of Item No. 3 of Cabinet decision No. 142 /1992 unconstitutional.
The court then declared the two paragraphs unconstitutional.
In her lawsuit submitted by her lawyer, Attorney Khaled Al-Hamdan, the woman said she was appointed as a lawyer at the Fatwa and Legislation Department in December 2000 and was promoted to ‘Lawyer A’ in December 2006.
The woman was surprised when she learnt her male colleagues were receiving housing allowance of KD 200 for the bachelors and KD 300 for those who are married. She then filed a case as she has not received any housing allowance since she joined the department.
The session was presided over by Judge Rashid Al-Hammad.
By Moamen Al-Masri
Special to the Arab Times
Pretty cool, huh? Wooo Hoooo on Judge Rashid Al-Hammad! Woooo Hooooo on Lawyer “A”, who fought for her rights – and WON. Wooo Hoooo, Kuwait!
Beating Jet Lag: Don’t Eat
Just in time – well, actually, not just in time or I wouldn’t have eaten – a new study reported on BBC Health News finds that if you want to re-set your body clock, fast. If you fast for 16 hours – like no eating en route from the USA to Kuwait – it helps you adjust faster and minimizes the effects of jet lag.
They seem to find something new every year, and then another study comes along and fails to confirm the findings. I do my best, but it usually takes me a week to get back to sleeping during normal hours.
Sunrise 29 May 2008
Holy Smokes – where did May go? 2008 is slipping through my fingers; I have so many plans and ideas and I don’t know how much will l really get done?
AdventureMan kept me busy and talking until I collapsed around nine last night, and did not sleep all that well. I finally gave up around 4:30 ayem and ended up getting some very Turneresque pre-dawn shots. Had to go out on the balcony to take them because my windows are all smogged with the humidity and smeared with the dust and rain from yesterday.
Going out to take a photo on the balcony requires feeding the Qatteri Cat back in his room, then running to the kitchen and shutting the door, then opening the balcony door. We know QC knows there is fresh air out that door, but we don’t want him to discover the balcony and all the dangers it represents to a logic-challenged cat.
Well, it’s not really dramatic enough for Turner but it has those dramatic elements of opalescent sky, translucent waters and hazy horizon that reminded me of Turner:
Moments later, we had sunrise:
And even some surf this morning:
We have a break in the weather today – only 109° instead of the 111’s and 112’s predicted for later on:
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