The Qatteri Cat Kicks Back
While I am moaning and groaning about unpacking boxes, the Qatteri Cat just happy as can be. He hates air conditioning, so he is always looking for a nice warm place, and that place changes from time to time. Right now, he loves my favorite chair, which is fine with me because I’m not using it these days while I am unpacking. Every time we unpack a rug, he rolls around on it in delight, and says “Hey! This rug smells like HOME!”
This room has great light. When I need to do some work my hand, I can sit in this chair – that is when QC is not already occupying the chair – and put my feet up on the other chair. Once I get the boxes unpacked, and everything put away, QC and I will spend a lot of time in this room. 🙂
Just wait until this weekend – AdventureMan is going to put together his scratching post and his cat stand!
Photos of Chaos
. . . this is just the upstairs area. The kitchen is already good, the downstairs living room – haven’t even started. This is what chaos looks like:
” . . . And miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep.”
117°F and Blowing Sand
Lord Have Mercy, I just saw the weather report for Kuwait – at this hour it is 117°F / 48°C and blowing sand. Sounds like a recipe for pure misery. I’m sorry, Kuwait, I hope the dust stops blowing soon!
Enough! vs “Just in Case”
As I unpack boxes . . . and boxes . . . and boxes . . . I find myself thinking “How much is ENOUGH??”
What is it with women and shoes? Just before we moved, I told you about our short trip to France and Germany when I bought some truly yummy shoes but now, as I am putting shoes away, I wonder how many pairs of shoes I really need. I have some – the French shoes – that I actually wear all the time, in fact some of them are old friends now and really need to go to shoe heaven but I keep telling myself “Just one more time!” before I send them on their way. Others, I have bought “just in case” and they are pristine. One actually still has the shoe store tags on them. I have a lot of these, and every time I consider giving them away, I think “but what if I need to wear that particular dress that those shoes go with??” and I hold on for . . . another move.
Moving often motivates me to part with my old friends, and even with some new friends (we’re talking about shoes here) that didn’t quite make the grade. Then again, as I am unpacking, I am wondering “will I really ever wear these again?” And – once again, I hang on to them, just in case I MIGHT need them at some hypothetical time in the future.
I have finally stopped buying dressy evening clothes. I have some really cool ones, so cool that when we go out to a rare dressy event, I usually wear what I love and feel comfortable in. If you have to sparkle, you want to know you look good! I always used to buy ahead – just in case – because the time to be buying a dress is NOT when you need it; when you really, seriously NEED it, you can never find exactly what you want and you settle for something that is not quite right and sometimes at the last minute you ditch it and go back to an oldie-but-goodie that you know works for you. For us, for most Americans, serious dress events seem to becoming fewer. Even charitable events aren’t as dressy as they used to be – partly, I am guessing, because of the economy, but it may be demographics. The baby boomers are getting older – they may not care about dressing up the way they used to.
I think my Mom still has a lot of her evening gowns from the days when she and my Dad went to balls . . . 🙂 but she still loves to go shopping when a family wedding is coming up.
I’ve actually done just fine with the clothes I brought with me. If not a single item of clothing had shown up . . . well, yeh, I’d have been in trouble. I would have needed a few things. I needed an evening purse for the Army birthday ball, even though I had thought to bring the dress.
The other item both AdventureMan and I have a real problem with is books. Even though I get rid of a lot of books, I pass them along, there are still a lot we hang on to, can’t seem to give them up. We haul a lot of books around, and we still have boxes and boxes of books in storage that we haven’t seen for many years. Is there such a thing as “enough” when it comes to books?
I think I am about a third of a way through the boxes. I conceive it as creating “islands of sanity” in the midst of chaos. My kitchen is always the first island of sanity, and there is always a path to our bed and the bed itself which is clear. Today, our bedroom became another island of sanity.
Little Diamond, the guest room is an island of sanity. 🙂
The Women’s majlis (the small living room downstairs) is an island of sanity.
Where is the chaos? We spend a lot of time in our upstairs family room; it is also our office; it is also an area of utter chaos.
Our living room – I haven’t even started on the boxes in the living room. It is a bedlam of insanity. Many of the boxes contain books, and I have to have places to put all the books before I can put them away. It may stay insane for a little while.
The lady who comes to help me clean came today, and I had a list of things for her to do which mostly did not include cleaning because you can’t really clean when things are chaotic. She and I work well together, she works in her areas and I work in mine with a brief chat-chat-chat now and then when our paths cross. As she was leaving, she showed me how she had broken down all the boxes, hauled them to a small room and stored them neatly, and put all the ones full of paper outside in another holding area . . . that wasn’t on the list. She is a gem. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I’m going to have to give her a bonus this month. 🙂 She also takes care of cats when people go away, even taking them to the vet if the cat gets sick. She is worth every penny.
I start every morning around seven. I quit around five, take a shower (I need it!) and clean up. I have about an hour before AdventureMan even thinks about coming home, so I thought I would take a chance to have a chat with you.
So I ask you – what does “enough” look like? When is it prudent to buy “just in case” and when does it become consumerism?
Household Goods Arrive
Sorry, friends, I know I have been off-line, but our household goods arrived, went through customs today and were delivered this afternoon, the first day of the great Doha HUMIDITY. I really felt sorry for the guys having to carry everything in. While the current temperature reads 98°F / 37°C, the humidity is 52% – your sunglasses steam as soon as you leave your house or car. You go through about three changes of clothing a day – your clothes stick to you. You drip sweat, if you are outside for any length of time – or if your doors are open so boxes can come in. It’s pretty awful, and I am thankful that although all my stuff is pretty well baked, it was not steamed.
I got most of the kitchen stuff unpacked, and then AdventureMan and I looked at each other and laughed and said “We quit!” Moving used to be more fun.
I’ve got a couple mountains to move, and I will be back with my normal commentary.
Which Ear Do you Use for the Phone?
This article is from BBC Health News, posted Wednesday, 24 June.
It was mildly interesting to me until I got to the part about phones. Yes, I think I hear and process better with my right ear, but I have always used my left ear for phones. I assumed most people do. So I asked AdventureMan, who is left handed, and he said he picks up his phone and listens with his right ear, but that is also because he needs his left hand for taking notes. Aha! And I use my right hand for taking notes.
So my question is – which ear do YOU use, and are you right handed or left-handed? I think it would make a difference.
Right ear is ‘better for hearing’
The left-side of the brain processes much of what is heard in the right ear
If you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear, say scientists.
Italian researchers found people were better at processing information when requests were made on that side in three separate tests.
They believe this is because the left side of the brain, which is known to be better at processing requests, deals with information from the right ear.
The findings are reported online in the journal Naturwissenschaffen.
We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear
Professor Sophie Scott, of University College London
In the first study, 286 clubbers were observed while they were talking with loud music in the background.
In total, 72% of interactions occurred on the right side of the listener.
In the second study, researchers approached 160 clubbers and mumbled an inaudible, meaningless utterance and waited for the subjects to turn their head and offer either their left or their right ear.
They then asked them for a cigarette.
Overall, 58% offered their right ear for listening and 42% their left.
In the third study, the researchers intentionally addressed 176 clubbers in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette.
The researchers obtained significantly more cigarettes when they spoke to the clubbers’ right ear compared with their left.
Brain
In conclusion, the researchers said: “Talk into the right ear you send your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain.
“These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesised specialisation of right and left hemispheres.”
Professor Sophie Scott, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, agreed.
“Most people process speech and language on the left-hand side of the brain and while it is not cut-and-dry a lot of what goes in our right ear will be dealt with by the left-side of the brain.
“The other side of the brain is more involved in things such as interpreting emotion and that is why we have these kind of findings.
“We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear.”
Kitty and the Camera
These are from youTube and ICanHas Cheezburgers . . . it’s not the cats that are so funny, but the noises of the people holding the cameras!
Today’s News from Doha
It’s a very brave thing to take an honest and open look at the serious problems confronting any society.
Report on domestic workers by year-end
Web posted at: 6/24/2009 2:49:44
Source ::: The Peninsula.
DOHA: The first national survey on domestic workers in Qatar will be completed soon and the findings will be announced by the end of this year, a senior official of the Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking, the organisers of the study, has said.
On Monday, the Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development for collaboration between the two bodies in carrying out the survey. The MoU was signed by Mariam Al Malki, director of the Foundation and Richard Wilkins, managing director of the Institute.
Speaking on the occasion, Al Malki said the survey which is the first of its kind in the region, aimed at identifying the problems of domestic workers in the country and seek solutions. Another major objective of the study was to assess the impact of housemaids and other domestic workers on the Qatari family and the society.
The survey conducted through direct interviews with a randomly selected group of domestics workers and families has received a positive response from the society, added Al Malki.
She attributed the success to an awareness campaign waged with the support of the media prior to the launch of the survey. The survey covered 657 families and a total of 900 domestic workers from five regions across the country, said Al Malki.
The interviews were conducted through questionnaires prepared separately for the two targeted categories. The questionnaires for domestic workers were available in 10 languages including Arabic to cater to the different nationalities.
Wilkins said the study was extremely important since it can help in identifying the problems of domestic workers as well as their impact on the society.
“ Almost every Qatari household has employed domestic workers, especially because most women are now working outside. This is also a sensitive issue, given the impact of these workers on the families,” he said.
Protecting women and children to focus on providing social and psychological support to victims of family violence:
Counselling service launched for victims of behavioural disorders
Web posted at: 6/24/2009 2:47:0
Source ::: The Peninsula
DOHA: The Qatar Foundation for Protection of Women and Children has launched a new service to provide social and psychological support to victims of violence as well as those who suffer from behavioural disorders.
The service named “change your life” is part of the Foundation’s three-year plan to prepare a comprehensive rehabilitation programme for such members of the society. Besides moral and psychological support, the Foundation will provide medical and legal assistance to victims to facilitate their rehabilitation.
Farida Al Obaidli, Director of the Foundation said, recently they had come across a case where a family wanted to abandon their four children.
“This was very surprising. The fact that such incidents still occur underlines the need for social and psychological support and rehabilitation,” said Al Obaidli.
She said the Foundation had been providing legal assistance to victims of violence and abuse. It has 19 lawyers who help people who don’t have the capability to hire the service of a lawyer to present their case in the court.
And one tiny very strange article:
Media Freedom Centre team leaves office
DOHA: Robert Ménard, director- general of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom and his team have left the Centre.
“We no longer have either the freedom or the resources to do our work,” said Menard, in a statement issued yesterday.
The heads of the assistance, research and communications departments have also left the Centre, said the statement.
The Center was set up on the initiative of H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned and Reporters Without Borders in December 2007.
Ménard, who became director-general on April 1, 2008, was the founder of Reporters Without Borders, which he headed for 23 years.
It’s a little cooler out today in Doha. High temperature this afternoon only reached 109°F / 43°C. 🙂
Dr. Kessler and The Power of a Chocolate Chip Cookie
This is an excerpt from an article in The New York Times; Health and you can read the whole article by clicking on the blue type. Dr. Kessler has written a book about how food is engineered to be irresistible. Yes, we all need to develop a little self-discipline. And yes, the decks are stacked against us.
Did you know that almost the entire taste of a potato chip is on it’s surface, designed to give you an immediate impact of taste?
This article talks about Dr. Kessler’s new book, and it’s implications for our food choices:
(photo from Bon Appetit magazine chocolate chip cookie and strawberry gelato sandwiches)
As head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. David A. Kessler served two presidents and battled Congress and Big Tobacco. But the Harvard-educated pediatrician discovered he was helpless against the forces of a chocolate chip cookie.
In an experiment of one, Dr. Kessler tested his willpower by buying two gooey chocolate chip cookies that he didn’t plan to eat. At home, he found himself staring at the cookies, and even distracted by memories of the chocolate chunks and doughy peaks as he left the room. He left the house, and the cookies remained uneaten. Feeling triumphant, he stopped for coffee, saw cookies on the counter and gobbled one down.
“Why does that chocolate chip cookie have such power over me?” Dr. Kessler asked in an interview. “Is it the cookie, the representation of the cookie in my brain? I spent seven years trying to figure out the answer.”
The result of Dr. Kessler’s quest is a fascinating new book, “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” (Rodale).
During his time at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Kessler maintained a high profile, streamlining the agency, pushing for faster approval of drugs and overseeing the creation of the standardized nutrition label on food packaging. But Dr. Kessler is perhaps best known for his efforts to investigate and regulate the tobacco industry, and his accusation that cigarette makers intentionally manipulated nicotine content to make their products more addictive.
In “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler finds some similarities in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.
When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.
Dr. Kessler isn’t convinced that food makers fully understand the neuroscience of the forces they have unleashed, but food companies certainly understand human behavior, taste preferences and desire. In fact, he offers descriptions of how restaurants and food makers manipulate ingredients to reach the aptly named “bliss point.” Foods that contain too little or too much sugar, fat or salt are either bland or overwhelming. But food scientists work hard to reach the precise point at which we derive the greatest pleasure from fat, sugar and salt.
The result is that chain restaurants like Chili’s cook up “hyper-palatable food that requires little chewing and goes down easily,” he notes. And Dr. Kessler reports that the Snickers bar, for instance, is “extraordinarily well engineered.” As we chew it, the sugar dissolves, the fat melts and the caramel traps the peanuts so the entire combination of flavors is blissfully experienced in the mouth at the same time.
Foods rich in sugar and fat are relatively recent arrivals on the food landscape, Dr. Kessler noted. But today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies “design food for irresistibility,” Dr. Kessler noted. “It’s been part of their business plans.”
Gross!
Our son asked how the baby pigeons are doing. They are doing fine. They are huge! Yesterday, I saw the largest one stretch his legs and take a couple steps!
I also know now how pigeons feed their babies. Pigeons are just gross, or at least these wild pigeons who have chosen my villa are gross. (I am sure that Bu Yousefs pedigreed pigeons are much more refined than these wild pigeons. 😉 ) They poop on my front porch. To feed their babies, they eat and then they come back and shake all over and make themselves throw up and the babies go wild and eat right out of their beaks.
I know, I know, it is all part of God’s perfect plan and nothing is gross . . . but it FEELS gross to me!
As we were entering the compound the other night, we saw one of the compound wild cats, young, skinny, and oh-so-proud, head high, carrying a pigeon almost as big as he/she was. You couldn’t help but laugh, even though the pigeon was sadly dead, but that cat was strutting! He/She knew he was going to have a great meal in just a minute, once he got that pigeon to a safe, secret place!
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