Beyond Samarkand

I was an online student for 2 1/2 years at the University of Colorado, Denver. The first year was so frustrating that I nearly left off trying to do an online masters at all. After encouragement from my wife, I resumed the program and had some of the best learning experiences I've known. Despite being very literate in computers and their use the biggest difference between those two terms was understanding how to communicate online. This was a skill I took for granted coming from an IT background. I knew e-mail, I knew team meetings, I knew setting goals and priorities, I'd done it all before, etc, etc. The biggest shifts for me came in embracing the limitations of how I related to the teams and being much more careful in how I communicate in writing. Relating to teams for me was very difficult. Most of my peers in the first term were all in the same timezone and would only do team meetings in the evening their time. This was unworkable for me, coinciding precisely when I...

January 2012 and wow. I'm starting a new masters program and finishing my first year in Abu Dhabi in about three months. As they say, time flies. I'm posting here because I need to for a class assignment. Hopefully this will get my fingers used to writing again and I can start new posts on this sadly neglected blog. In answer to a request, a photo for the blog as well! Shisha the cat, enjoying the window and the rain in Guimaraes, Portugal about a year and a half ago.

Shangri La waterfront The waterfront at the Shangri La hotel, with the Sheikh Zayed mosque at center.Was there the other day to pick up a picture I had framed. Beautiful area. Dragon Boat festival is there next weekend.

I suppose it's time to start writing about Abu Dhabi. Well, to start writing something at any rate. It's Thursday morning here, the last day of the work week. I'm on break between classes having a coffee and chicken sandwiches for "tea'. The fog that surrounded the campus this morning as I came in is gone. The temperature is good. We're planning to do some driving tomorrow. Should be a good day for it. Need to make some playlists for the drive tonight. Where to begin with Abu Dhabi? I can't, really. We're living in a great condominium provided by the company. Well, picked out by us but paid for directly by the company, which makes a lot of things easier. Three bedrooms, with a nice rooftop balcony that I want to start using as the home gym as the weather gets to something tolerable. The house is in order, and last weekend I replaced the mirrors on the bike. I need to get out on the road and comfortable with how people drive here. After that, I should...

Dave Dale & Nadaji "Om Namah Shivaya" (mp3) from "Mantra Rocks" (White Swan Records) Buy at Napster Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album

Letícia Scarpa "Toma Lá Dá Cá" (mp3) from "Lê" (Tratore) Buy at iTunes Music Store More On This Album

Marianne Dissard "La Peau Du Lait" (mp3) from "The Rough Guide To Paris Lounge" (Rough Guides/World Music Network) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Playing around with IODA Promonet music resources and how their code generation works. Nice little song. Nothing grand.

Ash arrived yesterday morning. I was able to get the visa just the day before that. The visa process is a story that will need some writing and explaining. I'll also write up a guide for other expats out there. Knowing the process and what to expect will make things much less stressful, for them at least. In other good news got a short e-mail from my brother, Chip, on facebook. Looks like he is taking first steps to join the internet age. Hopefully we'll be in better contact from now on, though if he's like the rest of my family I doubt the whole internet thing will really catch on with him. Sigh.

One of the many nice things about Abu Dhabi is we have real internet. The system I am on is fiberoptic, though the speeds don't match up to the speeds I had in Japan three years ago, they are good. And after Saudi Arabia they are fantastic. So, internet gaming is a valid hobby from here, as is playing Assassins Creed: Brotherhood on the Xbox. With the summer heat already turning on, indoor hobbies will be a must for the next couple of months. Of course, it's fall I'm really looking forward to with the release of the new Star Wars MMO, "The Old Republic".

Yesterday was the lasts hang-up in getting Ash's visa, the form returned to me for incomplete information that the person I submitted it through told me was fine not to include. The form went from him, two days ago, to another person in the company. That person, rather than call me as he could have easily done, you know, to help out a fellow company employee and all, sent the form back. This would have cost me two days in application procedure and have made me need to book another plane ticket. Instead, I found out there is express service available that gets the visa back in two days, it does cost 100 dirhams, about $30. I paid the fee, and concealed my annoyance they didn't tell me that in the first place. If all goes well Ash will be out here in Abu Dhabi next Wednesday morning. The house has some basic furniture and, of course, it has two cats. So life will be back to normal finally. Our household stuff should arrive by the end of the month, and then we'll have everyt...

Posting here for the first time in just over a year. The past year has been busy, with some ups and downs. A very long, very frustrating time in Portugal. The situation in Portugal wasn't helpful for keeping my interest in writing and podcasting and such. I'm now nearly two months into living in Abu Dhabi. Things are looking positive, and as Ash and I get our life settled in here I hope to start having things to write about and share with people once again.

I can't help but feel a bit of trepidation. After three years in Saudi Arabia, and months of anticipation,  I am finally about to be laid-off. The official company meeting is in two hours. Tomorrow, those who will stay with the new company need to meet with them. I'll likely go to that meeting, more out of curiosity than any thing else. I have final details to arrange quickly, shipping the motorcycle, making sure Shisha' papers are absolutely in order. Of course, now that the transition is drawing near, I feel a little fear. Big changes. A new chance to reorganize my life and live closer to my ideals. And end to the familiar and new adventures. I'm glad for it, but still reluctant. The familiar is, well, familiar.

As my courses are wrapping up I finally have time to turn to other matters. Or at least, I have no excuse for not turning my attention to other matters. I could have gone back and edited one of my projects, but I'm just not fired up enough to do it. Instead I exercised, light weights and some rowing, and spent an hour working on Arabic. Chotu is awaiting departure from Jeddah to Porto. "Bokhara, insh'Allah." The delay is blamed on Saudia. I'm concerned about his routing, but I suppose once he is on a plane more than one hand off will have to happen. There is not much I can do but wait another day. The vet blames it on Saudia for not getting back with confirmation. Waiting seems to be what I do here. I'm still waiting for news of my actual lay-off. It has taken so long that I have started making other plans. At this point, I expect to have to resign before they get their act together. Really, really annoying. Especially after spending four months of expecting i...

My portfolio was approved, so that's one thing out of the way. I have submitted the last major project for my "creative designs" course. That is the "This is Islam" video drafted before. The final version is this: Chotu is now scheduled to fly out on the 2nd of May. Insh'Allah there will be no incident. I'll keep Shisha here in Saudi until I have a final date for leaving. Hopefully final word on that soon. I have a draft paper to submit tonight, and a final version due at the end of the week. Once that is submitted, the only thing left is "clean up" work on the two courses. It looks like a B in one and A in the other. Frustrated about the B, but not enough to go back and resubmit the projects and such. It was too much the first time around. But, once this paper is done, maybe there will be some space to at least resubmit one. I just want to be done at this point. Did not hear back from InfoPrints (IBM). I'm not surprised, I had a requiremen...

The final months, weeks, days in a country all become a rush. I've put out a departure date from Saudi of June 7th. I don't know if that is it, but sometime in June, maybe the first week of July, I expect to leave. My current teaching semester ends June 6th. I'm trying to get everything in order by then as well. In the next week I turn in the third major project for my Creative Designs course. Final paper for the research project the week after that. The draft of "This is Islam" can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU0tIocwF2Y The cats are getting sorted. The first one ships out to Portugal next week. I'm waiting to getting a better idea about the possible job in Colorado before I ship the other. The interview is tonight. I suppose I'll have some idea after that, but if it goes well I would expect there to be more steps before they know if they want to hire me or not. We'll see. I'm taking the week off from work to relax a little as I f...

For one of my current classes I have to make presentations. These presentations are supposed to be learning objects - they help the viewer learn something. For my last project I've decided to do something on Islam. The theme is "This is Islam". The intended audience would be high school or freshman college students. The people using the presentation would be teachers who present it to help drive discussion. The audio track for the presentation will be Adhan followed by Al Fatiha. The video portion needs to be slides and text. Using images of Muslims and quotes from the Koran and Hadith I want to make a presentation that would enable Western audiences with little exposure to Islam, or negative exposure from Western press, see Islam in a new light. This is where I need help - I'm hitting the Koran and Hadith for appropriate quotes. Still, my knowledge is weak in this area. I'm open and grateful to suggestions or pointers. Images - if you have images you are willing ...

I was able to find people at University of Coimbra today using facebook. From one of the people I wrote there, I know have the e-mail for a professor in the EdPsy program at UC. Now I need to write the letter! I've been distracted today by the topic of my graduation portfolio. I have just enough time to put something together, having waited too long to start assembling the pieces. A past instructor, Dave Young, was able to find some work that I had done but had lost my copies during the too numerous computer migrations I had in '08 and '09. Thank you Dave! One more day until the weekend here, and then I hope to get bulk of the work on the portfolio done. Mostly it involves looking at what I've done and assigning it to categories. Of course, there is no news on the impending lay-off with Raytheon. Inshallah there will be something definitive soon. Two months now and it just wears on the back of my mind. A level of weariness to everything I do. On a side note - I talked, ...

I've been combing the web to find stuff on University of Coimbra in English. There isn't a lot out there. I'm going to start gathering stuff here. Notes Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra (Portugal) The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences is integrated in the University of Coimbra, one of the oldest Universities in the world. The Faculty offer graduate and pos-graduate courses in Educational Sciences, Work Service and Psychology. Same of the pos-graduate courses in Educational Sciences and Psychology have as main purpose to prepare teachers and other professionals to research and to lead with social and pedagogic problematic, like violence in society, and more specifically in schools, families and other places. Web site: http://www.fpce.uc.pt / Source: http://www.cybertraining-project.org/page.php?lang=En&page=2 University of Coimbra main web page http://www.uc.pt/en Web page that gives brief on EdPsy p...

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Video on TED.com Really interesting talk, and giving me ideas for what I might be able to pursue in a PhD program.

Ash got back in Saudi two days ago, at 2am - which is typical of flights into Saudi. I picked her up at the airport and we crashed at the house in Jeddah. One of the nice perks I have is a place in Jeddah when I need it. It's a nice perk, and I should use it more often. And I would, but I don't have much use for being in Jeddah. Once we woke up we spent the day running around down there. I tried to get some things done for Raytheon, but the critical one was still waiting for a higher up to approve it, so that part was a waste. We went to the Danube for luxury food items, made pasta sauces and such, then went to dinner at an Indian restaurant. Feeling stuff, we took a slow drive back to Taif while listening to a podcast about Tolkien. Yesterday, which I had taken off, we spent loafing around the house. Sometime in the afternoon I figured I should turn my phone back on. It had run out of juice the day before. I get the usual "welcome back" text messages, and another fro...