Blackberry blues

Aside from CNN, and almost ALL local newspapers talking about the interceptor software on etisalat blackberries, its more popular than ever.

For some its a means of flirting. Yes, the days of bluetooth messaging
are dead. Long live Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

For some its for business emailing; Its intended purpose.

And for the rest its something in between. An alternative to the damnable iphone craze... Ugh.

Not that the blackberry is the lesser of two evils.

An intresting social experiment though. 2500 dhs for a smart phone(reccession any1?) , and you get flirts as part of your target market?

I wonder how much the next craze would cost...

I don't think the blackberry makers realized it, but they've struck gold here .

Oh, and I can blog from this thing too!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Ramadan Kareem

Its finally that time of the year where we can all slow down, and
think a little.

Take a few seconds and think about the less fortunate. Put yourself in their place... Better yourself.

--
Sent from my mobile device

The trouble with the UAE

This is the economist article that got the publication banned for this month.

Take a second to read it.

In a nutshell, the article outlines the economic situation in the UAE, and how Dubai particulary has been hit hard due to overzealous? decisions.

I make no bones that mistakes were made, this article is an eye-opener.

In this article they talk about Dubai's assets, and how if need be we can sell Emirates airlines, Dubal, etc etc.

And then there is talk of Abu Dhabi bailing Dubai out.

And then concluding that the Maktoums days are numbered.

,.,.,?

Without a doubt, there has to be transparency. Without a doubt, there are massive mistakes that decision-makers have to answer to. But to suggest the Maktoum's are to be swept aside on the basis of a damaged economy is flawed.

"Wealth is power" right?... This article contends (among other things) that with the decreased wealth of Dubai, there should be a corresponding weakness in power of the ruling family.

"Wealth is power": Expand that:

Power over what?

The great economist Adam Smith was very clear that "power" is not political power, though it may lead to it:

It is rather the purchasing power over forces of labor.

Even if our economy gets stuck, the people are "mollycoddled by benovelent rulers" (their words)... We have sponsorship laws, gauranteed land etc etc by the UAE government.

So despite the economists assertions about Dubai's political floor, the Maktoums are fine.

Ab'ha dreams.

Time alone puts things in perspective.

I get to see my devils, and my guilt at play... Therapy at its finest.

I thought I had troubles with marraige, listen to this guy.

Awww... He says what alot of guys think. Though I disagree with him on some points on marriage, hes ignoring social status and putting it on the backburner.

Social status will exist regardless of what you do. You cannot ignore it, you must work around it.

Other things.

This deserved a post of its own.

Education first, marriage second. Simple enough rule because priorities must be set straight on this one. Im not talking about getting educated for the sake of marriage, which is a damning prospect for society as whole.

While not a statistical measure by any means, I had a friend in AUS take a class that was filled with local girls. My friend is a local as well but doesnt look like one so he witnesses an intresting situation in the class which im relating to you in this blog. The teacher asks the local girls in particular why they were studying, and one girl says in no uncertain terms that she was doing it solely to get married. The teacher, taken aback, asks how many shared this opinion... And with the exception of one girl, they all raised their hands.

Now I just related the gist of an intresting social experiment in a university class, but apply that answer to the "real world", (dont you just love that phrase?)

I ask anyone who reads this blog, ALL 3 of you, to pass this message on as best you can.

Education, work, and any other noble deed should be for their own sakes. Not for that hot guy around the corner, not for dad's mercedes: It should be because you can make a difference.

Marriage UAE style.

"my way or the highway"

That sums up the bulk of what Im seeing in UAE marriages. Ive talked about this countless times, especially when I first started up this blog, but now its getting more relevant.
Some people think I have what it takes to get married.

Or do I?

Marriage here in the UAE is a social affair on a few levels. If you were working, you almost always invite your colleagues, being an eastern culture, and all. But that's the thing.

Im not assimilated per se into UAE society. I like to think that I take the good, and leave out the bad mixing and matching to produce the bearded caveman that I am.

Unfortunately, as I still happily live in the UAE I have to look at the rulebook thrown at me. I have to have a house. Not an apartment, not a rental... A villa.

Then the marriage, that has to be scaled to your percieved status in society, and no family wants their daughter to look cheap. All this to save a local girl from being a spinster.

I might be painting the women with unfairly large brushstrokes, but they chose the paint. In all fairness, its really not up to the girls sometimes, but the widespread complacency with it is appaling.

I would rather build my home with my wife, than have it ready for us the second we are hitched. Id rather have my marraige a close family affair with a few extra tables than a wedding for 2500 strangers.

At the end of it all, I want to build a solid relationship built on us, and not on the empty promises of newly built house thats not a home, the stench of a new car, or the sparkle of a dress worn only once.

Capitalism.

Well, visiting america is quite an eye opener these days. Last time I came here was pre- 911, and I was quite young.

A few things are apparent, and I wish I was more eloquent to put what Im realizing into words. The american economy despite its massive downturn, is very strange. Im here on a mini- mission for dad: looking for investments.

Im not the only one, as the business bestseller shelf in borders is piled with John Grahams classic "the intelligent investor", and "rich dad, poor dad". So some are trying to look at fundamentals ala Warren Buffet.

But strangely, Im not seeing the fundamentals shine through. Its like there is a thick haze... Blurred by advertisments, and bloated promises.

I was suggested to look at GE stocks by a guy I met in the gym, a cpa with a masters in real estate.

And I did, 10 percent dividend return. An amazing return, even if we werent in a downturn economy. Compare that to a fixed rate intrest of 10 years (I think) in the 4s at bank of america
and all goes well in my mini- mission.

Not really, a little checking, and I dont know how GE can sustain those dividends (true my calculations might be off, but still). Too risky.

But if I were to believe him, 10 percent was the be-all, end-all. I would be smooth sailing with GE. an ad.

Real estate fared no better. Haze is there too. Despite falling prices plastered on the news, the two place I visited had strangely high prices for what I was looking.

There are too many middlemen. Too much advertisment.

Not to vsay you cant find, there are some real bargains there. But the more I see, the more skeptical I am.

Inshalla Ill find something, but even if I dont it was worth looking.

and the hohos rock.

The state of education

Here, you will find an intresting article on education in the UAE.

Im a product of our educational system, and have argued more than once for a reform. In particular, A proper reform of our high-schools. My brother is getting carrots compared to what could be offered. Though I will concede its better than what it was in my day.

Case in point: I participated in political rallies at my school... The kind where we are all pulled out of class to burn flags.

Not my idea of a balanced education.

The epic hunt

I, being the genius that most have come to love, have decided the time has come. Yes, I couldnt take it anymore, my days of partying will dry up, and it would be solemn drudgery for the next few weeks, months, maybe years.

I have decided to look for a job.

And a finance degree in times of a financial crises is my ticket in.

Any takers? We shall see!

:-)

The crash and the response.

Ive delibiratly left off posting like a nutter on the matter of that "healthy correction" (Abaars words) that weve been having.

I was intrested in seeing the effects, both good and bad, of a market correction such as this. The older traders say its happened before in the late 70s, but yet alot of them were puring money in.

Then the gong sounded, and speculative buyers fled. Thousands of expats left. A number off the top of my head is 70000 filipinos (GNews). If we account for a population of 1.2M in Dubai, thats about 5% of our population. Thats just Filipinos.

So speculation moved. From freehold property sales, to rentals. No wonder people were running.

Then some fellow from RERA (the real estate authourity) decided that we didnt need rent caps because "2009 is a tough year".

The actions of the speculators on both our stocks and real estate markets not a lesson? Emaar is at 2.05 Dhs today.

LUCKILY, and the sole reason I am posting this is because of hope: Sheikh Mohamed issues a decree in effect saf-gaurding consumers from high rents, and RERA issues a market rent index

Oh, and Obama, the first black president of the United States was inaugrated today.

Change has come?

Gaza, and its entrails

I dont need to say anything about the atrocities there. Do what you can for them.

Its intresting that GulfNews is actively shaming the arabs. Shame that the writers wont own up it with their names.

Oh well. Give the audience what they want?

Islamic Banks

Me being the curious soul that I am have decided to shun conventional banking. To make way for what is "sharia compliant"... There isnt much that is really sharia compliant is my conclusion. Alot of it is semantics, and profit exercises. The asset backed, profit/loss/ risk sharing is there in theory, its there on paper: but an islamic bank is meant to be ISLAMIC: No sukuks for sinful ventures. No SPVs to hedge (which is pretty much unislamic)

Deutsche bank: Im looking at you

But the sad part is that its the local banks here that are following: Look at balance sheets, and look for interest income (transfer of interest)... Just a quick observation, which CAN be validated. but should it be?

Food for thought

The end of an era?

The end of an era? Or the start of a new one?

The growth of Dubai, and the UAE in general needs no elaborating on: In the few years we have been pushing for business, we have rapidly grown into a booming economy.

Ive written before on excessive growth, and unsustainable growth, but never on emigration. Ive always thought about the danger of too many immigrants to the UAE, and the dilution of the culture and values as a consequence.

What if the locals started leaving?

What if the locals crying on the radio about ends not meeting decided to pack up and leave? What If it wasnt feasible to live in my beautiful UAE anymore?

Today was the first time I had the conversation opened on the lunch table, and it was a haunting thought. My parents noted it happened before: back when the UAE didnt have proper infrastructure to support its citizens, a great many locals (with the means) studied abroad, and STAYED abroad... The problem now is not with a lack of infrastructure, its deeper than that...

Time will tell. One things for sure though, Im going to give it my best to fix this problem...

Peg, Peg, Peg

Score for the Anti-dollar bunch:

Suwaidi , Wheres your name? I dont see it in this article? Why isnt the central bank governor be it Sultan AlSuwaidi (or someone else?) in probably the most influential national article of the month?

Given, this is the umpteenth (1, 2 , 3) time its mentioned this year. I want to call him out: YES foreign investment is good. YES, tourism / oil sectors would favor lower dollars, BUT what about the booming trade sector? what about the local businesses? What about the food basket? How is lower-income sector going to eat with prices of cooking oil going up by 13 percent (if I remember correctly) ?

I want to see a board voting on this, with published opinions and positions, because the random mumblings of one man to influence a nations ENTIRE currency peg is odd.

On a lighter note: I find it smart that most of the mumblings are in the arabic newspapers not the english ones, that way the international community doesnt freak out at what he has to say? (dont know if thats just a fluke or not :-p)

A new blog...

Erm,,, Once again there is this looong abscence between my posts. But for good reason.

Im opening a new blog with an intresting twist. Check back here :-)

the update

Havent posted 4 about 2 weeks...

Ill fix that:

2 issues really need to be brought up in this post:

1- The wafi heist... EVERYONE is talking about it. According to Lt. Dahi Khalfan, investigators arrived within three minutes. Bullshit.

Im sorry Dahi, but that was stupid, unprofessional, and an intresting window into your world given that you talk to the media like that. It took more than 20 minutes. But you better thank God they didnt reach in time: Why do you respond to a robbery with automatic machine guns by sending cops holding 9mm pistols? Im dissappointed. (NOTE: Ive heard some of the robbers have already been caught)

But I dont really blame you, what with the tongue- lashing Shkh Mohamed Bin Rashid doled out to the ministers yesterday, my second point...

Praise is needed, where praise is deserved, and Shkh Mohamed surely deserves it. He took the ministers one by one, and started burning them for their weaknesses in their respective departments, and RIGHTLY so. Hes brought up a visit to the courts in Dubai... And pointed out the incompetency he saw. Then he brought up the lack of an updated pool of medical knowledge, and then the education curriclum, and the dire need for it to be changed. He pointed out some of the biggest problems I have been screaming about on this blog, and threw them back at the ministers.

All of this, in front of all the other sheikhs. I wouldve brought popcorn.

Maroon 5 - makes you wonder

A little annoying

Ok, one thing that seriously annoys me.

To be black isnt very good here in the UAE. There I said it. Rascism is rampant.

So its like OMG if you called someone black or '7al in arabic. So ppl resort to calling there local friends asmar: tanned... When they are black!

Screw that, just let us get that messed up thought about ppl of color from our minds, and that way we can call people who are black... black!.

Within Temptation - What have you done

The fair pt. 2

After the experience at the Sharjah career fair, I had hoped to see improvement at the Dubai fair, which was many many times larger than any career fair that had taken place thus far.

It was bitter.

Let me give you a little story:

I went to Procter and Gamble playing the role of obnoxious, rascist local in search of an internship ( I was actually there to test their mettle)

Two ppl at the stand: an eygptian lady, making herself out to be a local, and a half - local girl who was far too sparkly to be at a career fair. (NOTE: This isnt word for word, but rather a summary of the juicy bits)

Me: What makes you better than unilever?

Them: We are #1! (with a smile)

Me: So how many locals do you have working there?

Them: not many... but Sparkle girl is local. But shes an intern.

Me: (To sparkle girl) Yourean intern... Doesnt count, Im wondering about employees.

Me ---> I kept this attitude up, much to eygpt girl's chagrine... I could almost pinpoint the moment she went defensive. Sparkle girl to her credit stayed cool.

Me: So if I were to have an internship with you guys, what will I go through?

Eygpt: Well first we would have to see how you qualify, then we would see.

Me: Well the thing is, I was already accepted for an internship by you people last summer... I passed your exam, along with 15 other guys... You never got back to us.

Eygpt: oh yeah,,, In June.

Me ---> At this point I chose to stay silent than to verbally chop her to pieces, and gave her my resume.

Her: Oh yeah, I remember you

Me ---> Still holding my tongue.

Her: ok then, just send me an email with your phone number, and details...

Me: ( in absolute shock at her stupidity) I just gave you my resume.

Her ---> excuse about having so many resumes that she would forget our pleasant conversation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Much of the career fair was spent in this fashion, but there was a shining moment: At Unilever, the "#2", I was downright rude with the lady there, and she didnt flinch. Her behaviour was quite simply top - notch, with my rascist questions being answered with tactfulness and a smile ( I wont post the conversation, email me for more on that)

Only 3 other things need to be mentioned, the competition between the etisalat and Du stands was apparent. In my opinion, Du won since Etisalat tried throwing its weight around by having some of the khaleej cup players at the stand, while Du had good old-fashioned quality workers at its stand.

General Electric also did well under a grilling by me, despite only having ONE person at the stand (compared to the 8 at ABN - AMRO)

Nakheel had a tiny hole - in - the wall stand, especially considering emaar came out full force. And the design of that stand, and all the other next to it (including Jebel Ali freezone @ Gulfpearl) was terrible do to the flimsy plastic - panel floors with what I believed was broken glass under them... It was downright freaky walking there.

So... Thats my review of the fair... Disappointing overall despite the bright spots.

Stone Sour - 30/30 150

internships,,, my spin

Today I visited the career show in the Republic of Shaja (aka city of Sharjah) looking for a one or two month internship ...

Lame,.,. Every stand had between 5 - 10 girls and 1 - 2 guys... Now the what I want to know is why are there so many people in each stand?

Highly unprofessional.

The guy at Barclays was shocked that my english was better than his, the guy at Finance house didnt know that buying futures is against sharia, and the girl at Dubai Bank was hitting on me and my friend.

Highly unprofessional

Hopefully the one in Dubai is better...

Massive attack - I want you

Are we losing our culture?

After reading a comment by UaeBlondie (see the last post), I decided to elaborate on this topic. Now I have always been of the opinion that Dubai is losing sight due to the influx of expats.

Now dont get me wrong, expats built the country with us, and deserve to be appreciated and respected. But with the expansion of Dxb and the UAE in general, both economically and socially, we are heading to an intresting situation.

I believe the the ideology behind the influx of foreigners is for our economic gain (pretty much the only reason I can see so far). Arguably, this great increase in foreigners is wanted and needed by our country so we could get richer? Proof of this is in the words of Sheikh Mohamed, ruler of Dubai: "If the cart is politics and the horse is the economy then we have to put the horse before the cart and not the other way around."

If our economy, being the will of the people, is leading our polotics, then at face value that seems great right?
NO its not, because the collective will of the people in the nation is changing with the increase in foreigners who have their own requirements and wants.

Our economy will lead our politics,,, But it will no longer represent the original inhabitants of this place. We will be rich, but we wont be together.

It is grim, but prove me it isnt so.

Creed - is this the end