Meeep Meep

This year I vowed that under no circumstances was I going togo to an Iftar buffet as they are, generally and on the whole, crap. Only people who haven't eaten ALL day would want to touch most of the make 'em cheap stack 'em high stodge that is shoveled out on the buffets......which is probably why Iftar comes right after fasting.

Add to this, when we went out for Mr Bailey's birthday a few weeks ago the Dodd's broke the news to Richard and I that as a birthday present they had entered us in the Dubai 10k!! With friends like that who needs enemies. As so it is that the co-pilot and I are having to embark upon the (very) long road to fitness.

On Wednesday last week Ashley at work decided that we should all embark upon a run as a kind of group team building torture event bt combing these two - avoiding Iftar and running - and enter the Dubai Road Runner 5k Iftar race. This basically involved a runaround Musrif park starting at 6pm and running until Iftar - and therefore no water until the end!!

Ashley then press ganged Mr Page, Gregor, myself, Chris and Matt and Natasha into joining her for this act of stupidity, along with each of our respoective partners.

And so it was that at 5.30pm we congregated in the car park as Musrif, limbered, stretched and generally tried to make it look like Mr Page wasn't the only one who knew what he was doing. We struck off at 6pm and by 6:05 I was crossing the finish line wishing I hadn't agreed to this stupidity.

By 1km I had been passed by the lead pack of girls and by 2km I was passed by Natasha to a hoot of "Camon Mate, are you going to let yourself be beaten by a Sheila" and she might have even said "Struth".......but equally I might be resorting to crude stereotypes and paraphrasing but she said words to that effect as she glided past effortlessly and I cursed her to trip and fall (in a no injuring or damaging way of course).

But 35 minutes later it was all over and I was stumbling over the finish line and completing my first ever running race....and I even beat three other blokes!!

Full results can be found her, and I can be found pretty close to the end of the list

http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/iftarchallenge/iftarresults.html

Readers in High Places

Well, it would appear that this blog has readers in high places..........as low and behold the Du machine ground into action today and I was called this afternoon to say that if I could be home within an hour then an engineer would be there to connect my internet and TV.

So, with all due haste (but equal measure of due attention to road safety of course) I high tailed home from work to find the fella sat in the drive way with a box of tricks under his arm. Five minutes later he had plugged in the cables, turned it on and we are now up and running!!

Hurray for readers in high places!!

For those interested, the 'checks' the Engineer had to make on the lines which were the reason Du couldn't connect us remotely were made up of plugging in the network cable in to the wall, other end into my laptop and asking me to connect to a web page........ground breaking.

THE SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

SORRY - DUE TO THE INSANITY OF THE DU COMPANY SYSTEMS THIS BLOG WILL BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED FOR UPTO 28 DAY

WATCH THIS SPACE.......BUT DON'T EXPECT ANYTHIGN EXCITTING TO HAPPEN

Du - Well...actually we don't....but we do....just not straight away

The co-pilot and I have recently moved out of our borrowed palacial mansion and into an new "little house of our own" (albiet rented - we are not daft enough to buy in Dubai at the moment). we completed the move last weekend and the new landlord is a sound fella (a rarity in these times) and he kept the DEWA and Du servces connected while we moved in.

Now I have been following with amused interst the Grumpy Goats on going saga with Itisalot and his efforts, in vain to date, to persuade them that as a ISP they have just two functions (1) to provide internet and (2) collect payment for said service. And in summary it would appear itisalot are only able to master the second part of that equation.

In our old appartment (prison Cell Block Wakka) we had completely failed to enjoy any of Itisalots services as they did not have cables in our area yet. So, with the move to the Arbian Ranches we were looking forward to never having to deal with itisalot again as we would be switching (through no choice of ours) to the otehr monopoly - Du (oh the joys of the free market competition in the Sand Pit). This will be brilliant we thought; fast internet, cable TV and not a hint of Itisalot's incompetence.

Yesterday therefore co-pilot met up with the The Landlord and went down to Du to arraneg for his account to be cancelled and ours to be set up and thereby effect a "seemless and painless transition of power"......or so we thought!!

The Co-pilot and The Landlord explain the situation and requested the disconnetion and setting up of our account.

"No problem" replied the (suprisingly) helpful assistant.....[click click clicked click]....."there you go Mr Landlord your account has been cancelled and your internet will be disconnected within 24 hours"

all don't remotely, efficiently, and without undue hinderance or hassle.

And then she turns to the co-pilot [click click clickty click) "and there you go madam you have been scheduled for reconnection"
Co-pilot "scheduled? Do it will follow on as soon as the Landlord is disconnected"
Assistant: "Pardon me"
Co-pilot: "you said scheduled, does that mean it will be straight after"
Assitant: "Oh no, your request has to go to an engineer.....who will schedule an appointment.....to come to your premises to make the connection"
Co-pilot: "erm..why can't it be done remotely like the disconnection?"
Assistant: "becasue it is the companies system of course"
Co-pilot "why?"
Assistant: "well, because they need to check the lines and make the connect"
Co-pilot: "but why, we know it works, you havejus tdisconnect The Landlord from the same line"
Assitant: "yes I know, but its the company system, what can I do"
Co-pilot [realising she is fighting a loosing battle]: "Groan.....so how long will that take?"
Assistant: "Oh I'll schedule you for the next available slot......which is......[click click clickedy click] 29 September"
Co-pilot: "WHAT!! That's over four weeks away!!"
Assitant: "Well yes, it is a long time away, but the Engineers are all busy"
Co-pilot: "What with, checking lines unnecessarily?"

24 hours to disconnect.......672 hours to connect!! Don't you just love high technology!! My brother can work on a server in Frankfurt while sat in London, and get can turn it off and on again at will. But the dears at Du need a man to come a month later to check it manually.

So it is that the YBOD family will be off air for the next 28 days while we await an Engineer coming out to check a line we all already know works fine.........I love living in the sandpit.

NOT.

Internet Carrier

I have for some time been slightly in love with all things Apple Mac.......some have even suggested I may be a Mac fanboy. I don't deny it ;0) While in the UK for the wedding I decided to treat myself and upgrade my iPhone 2g to the sexy new 3gs.

As with all such things related to using the iPhone under anything other than the original contract I have of course had to jailbreak the phone and remove the carrier restrictions. Buy this was easy enough thanks to the iclarify website.

With the new phone up and running I immediatly set about filling up its memory with useless apps that would serve no purpose beyond the amusement brought about by there initial installation. One fantastic example of this is the 'fake carrier' app which allows you to change the name of the phone provider in the top right corner.

I have long since adopted the Grumpy Goats name for the local provider in the UAE (but won't mention their name for fear of getting my blog blocked on the grounds that.....well.....they don't like it) so it was with great amusement that I set my iphone to show the same:

Trust you approve Grumpy Goat.

Normal Service Shall Now Be Resumed

Following a long break in postings on this blog regular reader(s) can lok forward to a resumption of normal service as my latest side project is now completed and I can return to more important matters like diving, driving and general inane observations of stuff around me.

So what was this side project I hear you ask.......well, I only went and got myself married didn't I!!

The lovely Imogen Mason (now Beckett) agreed earlier this year to marry me and made me proper proud. I nthe lead up to the wedding I have therefore been dedicating my efforts to our wedding blog, which can be found at www.marriedandnotevenpregnant.blogspot.com.

While previously htis has only been circulated around those invitted to the wedding, with the big day over and done with I thought I'd share it with my wider reader.

Enjoy.

As Aerodynamic as a....

While back in the UK visiting mum I saw what has to go on the list of bunny hugging gone mad. At the end of the road is a Defender which, even for the non-tecnical minded, is easily regarded as vehicle that would appear pretty far down the list of cars you'd choose if fuel efficiency was your priority.

Well, this neighbor has his long wheel base defender and has fitted a huge roof rack for maximum stuff carrying (good man).

However, if you look carefully, he has also fitted one of the aerodynamically designed Halfords storage boxes. Why did he choose to add on of these?

Well apparently to help with fuel efficiency!! On a Landdrover!!

He maintains every little helps!! On a truck as about as aerodynamic as a filing cabinet!! It takes all sorts.