“One of us” has decided another year in the aging apartment here in the Hadbat Al Zafranah neighborhood … is “a non-starter.” Thus, we are in house-hunting mode. Half-hearted house-hunting mode, in the case of the other of us, but actually looking around. How is it going?

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If you want to criticize the Angels for, apparently, failing to make the playoffs when they seem to have the talent to do so … well, feel free. And a good place to start is in left field, where Vernon Wells — far too often — can be found. If I were in Mike Scioscia’s […]

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I must be getting seriously old if the authorities call for something to be banned as “a danger to society” … and I have never heard of the existence of this “danger to society”. This is not some designer drug. Or something cooked up in a still. It’s a fairly old music system known as […]

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I’m pleased to see that my hometown continues to be goofy. The 5th Annual Long Beach Zombie Walk is coming! That certainly registers as goofy.

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The level of journalism in this part of the world can be spotty verging on wretched verging on pathetic. Especially among the bottom feeders of the English-language media. Some are known to thieve stories from rivals without attribution. I could name names, but they know who they are. And so do we, at The National. […]

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We here in the UAE are big on … biggest. Tallest. Highest. Longest. Superlatives of any sort, especially if we can get the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize it as a world record. Witness the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, the world’s tallest tower. And, the latest “est” planned?

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Cab drivers are many things, here in Abu Dhabi. But they are rarely jolly. They also are rarely tubby. I flagged down a taxi driver tonight who was both. I know it’s a cliche, but perhaps those concepts are connected.

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I went to the U.S. Embassy here in Abu Dhabi today, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would security be a bit more obvious? Would the contingent of Marines be visible? Would everyone be a little edgier? The UAE is near the eastern edge of the Middle East, much of which has exploded in […]

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As a kid, like most American boys of my generation, I spent a lot of time with bat and ball. We played most of the playground games. Over-the-line. Work-up. Pickle. But also just throwing and catching. And I always knew what sort of ball we were using. We preferred a hard rubber ball that was […]

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I was pretty rough on fantasy football the other day, and strident about how I was not going to care and not going to be involved. And then Week 1 happened. We may have to take another look at the video. This may not be so bad. Especially if I continue to win.

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