Heatwave...

I've been in Melbourne for a week-- just long enough to fully experience the heatwave that's gripped Southeastern Australia.

While it does get this hot in Doha, the difference is that Doha is not an 'outdoors' culture. You certainly don't walk anywhere, and you go indoors for the summer. Everything is air conditioned, and carparks are either covered or underground. Here, though, walking is a popular form of transportation. Even if you did take public transportation, there have been a large number of train cancellations and reports of people getting sick on the overpacked trams, which aren't air conditioned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7860776.stm
http://www.theage.com.au/national/state-melts-down-in-heatwave-20090130-7u10.html
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/2009/01/30/1232818733640.html

Sydney Olympic Park

On Saturday I ventured out to Olympic Park, to have a tour of the 2000 Olympic grounds. The tour is fairly well-organised, where you can either take a guided tour or a self-guided tour with audio. I opted for the self-guided tour, which was smart as I spent almost 3 hours seeing the things I wanted to see. Olympic Park is impressive in that the surrounding areas are marshlands which preserve local ecosystems. Just near the stadium, in a pond, I saw that grasses were being started in paper milk cartons, then transferred to the pond to take root and grow. The park’s presence doesn’t disturb the surrounding area hardly at all.

A few points I remember from the tour:
-The two hotels at Olympic Park, the Novetel and the Ibis, are eco-friendly as well. There are roof gardens, where the chef grows vegetables and herbs. The windows are made from recycled glass, and the air conditioning system is programmed to shut off the instant the windows in a room are opened.
-Solar power fuels the lighting outside the stadiums. Each lighting tower commemorates a past Olympic game city (in the case of London and Los Angeles, the two years are written together), and the 1972 Munich Games tower has plaques in English and Hebrew with the names of the Israelis who were killed.
-Olympic Park was constructed from the beginning to not only to meet the requirements of the Olympic Games, but the Paraolympic Games as well.
-ANZ Stadium has seating which can be changed electronically to suit the requirements for cricket, rugby, or Aussie Rules Football.
-The 8 women sculpture commemorates 8 Australian women (7 Olympians and 1 Paraolympian) who have contributed to Olympic success.
-Australia has participated in every Summer Olympics.

Sydney

I have had the privilege of spending the last 8 days in Sydney. It’s my first (of what I hope is many) times to Australia, and so far the experience has been good. I am in Australia courtesy of the education leave clause in my contract, which gives me one education leave per fiscal year to attend a conference, course, or series of workshops relevant to my profession.

I arrived in Sydney on Friday morning, after a very long flight from Doha (15 hours of flying total; all in all it took me 22 hours to get to Sydney). While it’s good to arrive in the evening when you are going somewhere, if you have to arrive in the morning or during the day sunshine helps you adjust more quickly to the time changes. It’s an 8-hour time difference between Doha and Sydney.

So I decided to go on a walkabout, to find coffee and to have a look around the city. I headed up George Street toward the Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Sydney Opera House is something I’ve always wanted to see. My conclusions, though, are while it’s quite impressive from a distance, up close it’s not so shiny and white. It’s still a magnificent piece of architecture, though.

There are some more photos on my Flickr! account

Dubai Terminal 3 Emirates Business Lounge

I was greeted with a pleasant surprise upon arriving at Dubai International Airport this morning. Expecting the cramped quarters of the old lounge, where a head count of more than 250 meant you were almost sitting on top of one another, I was treated to a New and Greatly Improved lounge.

http://www.dubaiairport.com/DIA/English/TopMenu/News+and+Press/Arab+News/Emirates+Terminal+3+at+Dubai+International+A+new+era+in+Dubais+aviation+history.htm

http://www.emirates.com/english/plan_book/dubai_international_airport/emirates_terminal_3/lounges/business_class.aspx

This lounge still isn't as nice as the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge in Doha, but it serves as a nice alternative for destinations that can't be reached via Qatar Airways (like Australia...). There is heaps more seating space, more choice for type of seating (chair, sofa, lounger, etc.), and more power outlets for those who carry laptops. Best yet, they've added WiFi access.

Even with the quoted 1200 seats from the Dubai Airport website, though, I still had trouble finding a place to sit at 6 in the morning. My original plan was to fly to Dubai the evening before and stay in the airport hotel, but then I was unable to get on the late evening flight and instead ended up leaving Doha at 3.45 am. There were some tables, but I wanted to sit in a 'squishy' chair.

Another thing that could be added, as the lounge is spread out over such a distance, is a cloakroom where you could check your bags instead of having to pack them all over.

While they've set up a main dining area, and smaller counters serving condensed versions of the same food, there is only one bar set up in the entire lounge. This was really surprising, because all the food counters are staffed, and had the non-alcoholic fare readily available for serving.

For breakfast, I enjoyed a nice snack of beef pastrami, freshly-baked kaiser rolls, edam cheese, and horseradish sauce. There was a good assortment of Western breakfast, Arabic, and Indian hot foods available.

In short, though, the lounge is a great improvement over the "intimate" setting of the old lounge, and the chairs aren't decorated with that red and white checkered fabric which seemed more fitting for a Croatian sports bar (Croatia's flag is red and white checkerboard) than for an Emirates lounge.

Information Online 2009

http://www.information-online.com.au

I am a member of the Australia Library and Information Association (ALIA), as Australia is where I am interested in living and working someday. They sponsor a biennial conference called Information Online. Information Online is being billed by ALIA as "the No 1. event for the online information industry in the Asia-Pacific region", and focuses on topics which are relevant not only to traditional 'brick and mortar' libraries, but to electronic-based libraries as well. Workshops include topics in electronic information literacy, bringing electronic resources to user context, search platform utilization and customization, collaborative physical/virtual space, e-learning professional development, knowledge management, Web 2.0 technologies, and much more. The conference is 3 jam-packed days of learning and social networking. I'm also going to a pre-conference workshop on professional development for committee/board appointment, and a post-conference workshop on learning how to "train the trainer". It should definitely be a good experience, but hard work. As my director said, "People think that you're having fun when you go to meetings, but they're actually hard work. It's not like your regular workday at all." Which is exactly right-- the conference day may only be 8 hours, but you're constantly busy. And there are often social functions before and after the conference day, in which you are meeting people, or meeting vendors, and talking shop and/or socializing. Thus, the "workday" can end up being 12 hours. Add in, in my case, a 15-hour flight to Australia and an 8-hour time difference, and it ends up being a pretty strenuous week.

Happy New Year

明けましておめでとうございます！
Just wishing all of my readers a happy and prosperous 2009, albeit a little late.

I have much to tell you, and will do so as I get caught up. I've just returned from a 3-week dive holiday in Indonesia (Bali and North Sulawesi), and I found out just this last Sunday that I am being sent to Sydney on business next Wednesday. So I will take a week's holiday after the conference, and am trying to figure out what I want to do with that week. Yes, I certainly could go diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Then again, it may be nice to see some of the land above water. Also, I did just return from a dive holiday, so it's not like I haven't been diving recently.

New Underwater Camera Setup

The new toys I have been waiting for have finally arrived! The highlight in the box, though, is my new underwater camera setup. I purchased a Nikon Coolpix L18 and Ikelite housing package from ScubaToys.

The Nikon Coolpix L18 is an 8MP Digital Point-and-Shoot that also comes at the right price-- USD$130 from Amazon

Plus, for underwater housings, Ikelite is a top drawer brand that has made a name for itself in the underwater photography business.

I look forward to trying out my housing and camera on Friday at OCR.

Travel Accessories Part I

Travel a lot? (Yep!) Find that the little earphones the airlines give you really hurt after a few hours? (any little earphones, for that matter...) Why not use your own, then? (yeah, but the airplane seat adaptor is stereo, and probably made different in order to deter theft. Speaking of theft, how about the costs that US-based airlines are imposing now on their customers? Definitely glad I'm a loyal Qatar Airways fan.)

I've made some downright silly purchases, but my Airplane Stereo Headphone Adaptor was a smart 3 quid purchase. For roughly USD$5 / QAR 21, I made my Cattle Class movie experience a hundred times better. I had heard of these adaptors, but could never seem to find one. Finally, yesterday in the Heathrow Airport, I struck gold. If you don't have one of these, you should get one before your next trip.

The Return of the Dreaded Winter Wear

I am taking my winter wear from the cupboards, and airing it out, even though it is only October.

No, winter hasn't struck Doha yet. I have until January or so to dread the inevitable. I am preparing my luggage for my upcoming long weekend in London.

My concept of winter is perfectly transposed with my friend's. As a year-long resident in Doha, and a staunch anti-winter type, winter constitutes temperatures which fall below, say, 16C. Winter, then, was an infinitely long 3-week span which fell in January last year. During this time, I wore wool jumpers and wool-blend socks to work, as well as a light jacket. I never thought it would end. My friend, as a born-and-bred Dane, undoubtedly considers 16C temperatures to be the 3-week-long heat wave which hits the Scandinavian countryside each July.

To put this in a different perspective...
I checked the weather this morning at 10.30am (7.30 am in London). Doha had temperatures of 31C, and only because there is a light cloud cover today. London, on the other hand, was 5C.

Yesterday I splashed for trash, and came home with a red face from too much sun. In London, I will come home with a red face from freezing outside...

If you want to find me in London, look for the short lady who resembles the Michelin man, and has to go through doors sideways.

Splash for Trash

Yesterday I went to OCR (imagine that... me going diving on a weekend...) to participate in Splash for Trash. There were scores of people on the beach, and the event was remarkably well-organised. My dive buddy, Brodie, and I picked up a huge bag of trash in a 40-minute dive. Brodie found the most interesting item-- a dive torch that had been underwater for a good long time but still worked.

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Volunteers clean up beach

By Ramesh Mathew

Some of the participants with Minister HE Abdullah bin Mubarak Aaboud al-Midhadi. PICTURES: Jayaram

SCORES of volunteers turned out to remove trash from the Sealine beach in a major clean-up drive yesterday.
Organised by the Ministry of Environment, Qatar Divers and Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Association (Qatar), the event, called ‘Splash for Trash’, had the attendance of several nationalities.
Minister of Environment HE Abdullah bin Mubarak bin Aaboud al-Midhadi and senior officials at the Ministry of Environment were present at the venue. He lauded the participation of many nationalities.
Many divers, mobilised by the local group of Qatar Divers, took to the sea to remove trash.
Steve Tewdenar, who was among the 50-odd participants from the College of North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q), said that though a first-time participant in such a campaign in Qatar, he had involved in similar initiatives elsewhere before. Tewdenar, a Canadian national, said that his colleagues’ participation in the clean-up drive on their holiday was to highlight the importance of keeping nature, particularly the beaches, clean.
“Through our participation, we would like to send an important message to people around us on the necessity of preserving a clean environment, at least at the places where we live,” he said.
CNA-Q was among the sponsors of the event.
The Qatar District manager of Carrefour, Christain De Nale, was among those actively involved in the clean-up. De Nale said he and his staff considered it as the duty of everyone to do his bit to keep the environment clean.
The Frenchman said he had mobilised a team of different nationalities working with him for the day’s activities. “We engage in beach cleaning activities at least once in three months. Our next campaign will be at the beginning of 2009 and the event is going to be a big surprise for people of Qatar.”
De Nale recalled the “nature-friendly” activity near the Landmark area, which the Carrefour staff had carried out with the support of the Ministry of Environment. “We planted at least 300 trees in the locality and they will provide shelter to people during the summer.”
The Carrefour manager said that while keeping the environment clean, he wanted to convey a message of awareness to Qatar residents. “It is the importance of reusable eco-friendly bags.”
Speaking to Gulf Times, the director of media relations at the Ministry of Environment Khaled Saleh, said the ministry had planned a series of activities to highlight the importance of removing trash from the beaches and sea. There would be involvement of more nationalities and more non-government organisations in coming months, said Saleh.
Qatar Divers’ spokesman Abdul Latif al-Naemi said that many people considered beaches as dumping places for trash. “They do not realise the harm being done to beaches, especially during high tides when they push the whole trash to the sea in its full fury,” he said.
“Through the campaign, we would like to highlight the harm being done through our casual and indifferent attitude,” said al-Naemi.
He said that along with 40 Qatar Divers, almost the same number of men and women divers belonging to different nationalities too were involved in cleaning operations yesterday.
The sponsors of the Splash for Trash were the College of North Atlantic Qatar, Pearl Divers and Carrefour. The Ministry of Environment, Qatar Drivers (www.scubalatif.com) and Alpha Phi Omega were the organisers.
Its participants included Bemco & Almabani and Filipino Community Organisations Alliance (Filcoa) and Guardian Philippines Incorporated.
The ‘advocates’ of the campaign were Protect Aware and Ocean Conservancy.