Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A Public Service Announcement

But probably one you already knew about, though I'm surprised it hasn't ended up in court! This morning, I put in a new set of contacts I picked up yesterday. I had soaked them in the solution the optometrist gave me at checkout, and put one of them in. The experience was the most excruciating thing of my life, and went a bit like they did for her:

Apparently, it's not just me, and it wasn't contact lens solution. It was hydrogen peroxide contact lens cleaner, which basically stings your eye so badly that you can't open it for 30 minutes.

The More You Know: DO NOT PUT CONTACT LENS CLEANER ON YOUR EYE. Sure, it doesn't have a warning on the bottle that says "NEVER, EVER PUT IN EYES" or "DO NOT SOAK YOUR CONTACTS IN THIS" - but it does say "ActiLens" and "for all types of contacts". Reaaaaal helpful guys.

I offer this alternate use for a product I would have otherwise thrown onto a busy highway: Keep this in a high traffic area. If anyone comes by trying to steal contact lens solution, you'll know who they are by the blood red eyes. Lisa also told me she did this (she tried to steal her brothers), and her eyes stayed red for a week, even after going to the hospital.

I hope you've enjoyed this, and I might have saved at least one unsuspecting victim.

For anyone else out there, feel free to read this website created by someone who did exactly what I did. I found it with one eye open while screaming in pain - yay Google!
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/ciba-vision-clear-care.html

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Our Two Towns

It was by pure coincidence that I found myself on You Tube this past week and found two new videos that perfected juxtaposed my two towns! I went to You Tube first based on my pure curiosity about finding a music video that has been filmed in Dubai recently. "Yalla Habibi" (which basically means "let's go, baby" - these two words are likely the two most often used words in the Arabic language) is a song that is taking the airwaves by storm in the UAE. The artist Karl Wolf grew up outside of Dubai and as such the region provides a huge built in fan base. The video is a pretty hilarious look at the excess that is Dubai, but also provides a 'dramatic opening'. The film begins with a look at a traditional Bedouin in the desert hunting with a falcon and ends on a yatch in front of the Burj Dubai - yup that's pretty much Dubai...

The video was filmed in our backyard, so all the images give you a sense of what we see as we drive to work everyday!



Then, while on You Tube I happened to come across this gem, which is a newly created video inspired by our old hometown of Arlington. Although far away, we think of our family and friends there often and this video gave us some very familiar laughs. Enjoy viewing the line up between our two towns!


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Fiesta, Fiesta!

It's getting 'caliente' in Dubai, and that means two things...summer is coming and Lisa's birthday! To help her ring in her 23 year and her one year anniversary in Dubai, we celebrated with a Mexican themed fiesta! Many of you might know about Lisa's slight obsession with Mexican food (mine is only a bit less tempered) and this bash didn't disappoint. There was a huge spread of chips, guacamole, taquitos, quesadillas, burritos, and even a cheese fountain (more graphic evidence of that to come). We were also lucky enough to have one of Lisa's best friends, Pam, visiting from the US!

As with any good themed party there were the props. I won't explain them in detail, I'll just let the pictures do the talking. ¡Feliz cumpleaƱos Lisa!
Some quality time with the birthday girl before the fiesta kicks off!

What a motley crew...Senorita Lisa...Looking good guys! You all look strangely like NFL head coaches.
Matt is really 'working the 'stache' in this one! Basile's bringing the cake!

This is what a cheese fountain looks like in the morning. Oh boy, that should make us go cold turkey on the queso, but....nahhhh.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Are Surfing Skills Genetic?

Turns out no, unless my dad was really, really bad. And considering I keep finding these pictures of him in Southern California with long blond hair, I assume not.
I, on the other hand, am a dark, dark, brown-haired Italian chap. So when you put me on a board in some deep swells (fine, 6-8 feet, but STILL), you better fetch the lifeguard. Please take the photo evidence from the beach over the weekend with a grain of salt - or, in my case, a bucket of saltware.Of course, a big thanks goes out to John, for generous donation of his board. Take a bow, John:

Sidewalk Swimming

Not too many people head down to the hotels by the airport. Sorry, Intercontinental - it's true! Sometimes you just pick the wrong piece of blank desert to build a giant playground. That's precisely why Katie booked a nice, relaxing, out-of-the-way spa day there. The treatment itself was very relaxing, until I was surprised with a searing sandpaper to the back "scrub". Between searing hot oil massages from several large Indian men, being scraped raw with what feels like sharks skin, and this thing during facials they call "extractions", I think I need a break!
For that, we took a dip in the pool, and found ourselves floating off outside the building, hanging 6 stories up in the air on a glass floor. Now, the construction record in this part of the world isn't that great - several of our drains in our apt are accidentily filled with concrete - so we proceeded with caution. But the experience is pretty crazy - take a look:

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Roaring Twenties!

You might remember last year Matt and I attended the Friends of Dubai's English Speaking School Ball to help raise money for the kiddies and this year was no exception. Bearing in mind that that these kids already have state of the art classrooms, and laptops and great sports equipment we aren't sure where these funds will be directed (fillet mignon for lunch maybe?) but hey they are my boss's kids so that is another good reason to attend! Unfortunately for Matt and I when we received the last minute invitation, we weren't given the additional detail we needed on the dress code. Apparently, not only was it black tie, but more importantly it was 1920's attire optional. We entered the lobby to see an array of pin stripped suits, Tommy guns, feather boas, and flapper dresses. We had dressed for the wrong decade! Lucky for us, they had set up the ultimate accessory in the lobby - a sweet ride! Once we were behind the wheel of that baby we forgot all about our wardrobe woes!