I am told this is good. I am not a gadget guy. Not at all. If we stopped the technical world at “e-mail” … I would be fine. I am not waiting breathlessly for an iPad. I’ve never had an iPhone. I generally prefer someone else reset my watch when daylight savings rolls (or unrolls) […]

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A Disturbance in the Force in the Dodger Nation. General manager Ned Colletti said some snippy things about outfielder Matt Kemp on Tuesday, as the Dodgers were on their way to being swept in New York and falling to 8-13. Now, 8-13 isn’t very meaningful in the context of “162”, but when you’ve been to […]

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Don’t get me wrong. Not a day goes by in this country when I don’t think, “Thank goodness for air-conditioning.” It is a necessity of life here. Like air, water and falafel. But too much of a good thing (aside,  perhaps from vanilla ice cream)  can be bad. As we found out again tonight in […]

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The United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi in particular, are wealthy. Very. All that oil money … The country, and this emirate, can buy huge developments and the latest technology and foreign experts. It can absorb luxury goods at a high rate. It can create the sense that no problem is so big that it […]

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First, the obscure and dated cultural reference (above). “Young Frankenstein,” circa 1974. Gene Wilder as Doctor Frankenstein (pronounced FRONK-en-steen), Marty Feldman as EYE-gore … and the newly awakened monster. Wilder is despairing of the criminal’s brain he unwittingly has put into his mix-and-match creature, and is beating on its chest shouting, “Rotten! Rotten! Rotten!” And […]

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I don’t have many worries these days when it comes to hair. On my own head, that is. It is what it isn’t, as athletes don’t quite say. Maybe that contributes to my status as one of those guys who may not notice when a woman has done something different, practically life-changing, with her hair. […]

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We did some due diligence about Abu Dhabi and the UAE before we got here. Climate,  religion, customs, legal system, history, etc. Clearly, being here trumps anything you read, but most of what has happened in six months … we had a clue would happen. What I didn’t really get my mind around … was […]

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Ah, the pain. Gas prices rose 11 percent here for the most common grade of gasoline … all the way to $1.86 a gallon. I’ve meant to do a post about gas prices in a country that is, essentially, floating atop vast pools of crude oil … but it got pushed to the back of […]

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Oh, and another great thing about living in Abu Dhabi? Nobody is talking about the NFL draft. If you haven’t picked up on this yet, the rest of the world doesn’t care about the NFL. Actually, I can’t think of anything that the U.S. cares about more … that the rest of the world cares […]

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I am not ashamed to concede: I love “Survivor” and have from Day 1 of Season 1. It is the only reality television show I watch … voluntarily.  And in 20 seasons going back some 10 years,  I doubt I’ve missed more than two or three episodes. Some have suggested the show is tired. Worn. […]

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