New Year’s at the Burj Khalifa

I think next year I’m going to have to go up to see this:

It gets interesting at the four minute mark and the last few minutes are pretty amazing.

I'm so excited...

... but it's not about these pictures.

Tonight the world's tallest building is being dedicated in Dubai. The event is a huge media circus and Mike said his friends videoing the event had to walk miles with their equipment because parking is so bad.

I'm not in Dubai and didn't see this. The reason I'm excited is that the one Emirati friend I had before I came here IS in Dubai and took these pics. I first met Yousef as a freshman at Coe in 2004 as he pledged Sigma Nu. I was disappointed in 2005 when he said he was transferring to Houston. Although we've kept in touch by e-mail/FaceBook we haven't seen each other since.

I very much hope to see him during his visit here. If I do I know what I will say:

Yousef! I have three things to say to you:
1. It is great to see you.
2. You are NOTHING like any Emirati I have met in the year and a half I've been here.
3. I'll repeat, it is great to see you.

As I told him on FB I have at least a thousand questions, but I won't take it personally if he doesn't have time. I know what it's like to be back home for a limited time. (The August trip still bothers me.)

If it's no problem, we'd like to stop paying our bills for six months, OK?

I took this picture of the world's tallest building last January. It's back in the news today as the government backed companies building this building, the man-made islands and many other projects asked creditors to accept a six month freeze on payments.

With $80 billion at stake Dubai has already borrowed $10 billion with a promise of another $10 billion from oil rich Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates. World markets were sent down.

I don't think it is a coincidence this announcement came at the start of a four day Muslim holiday and Thanksgiving in the US. This will give markets some time to digest how big (or hopefully not-so-big) news this is.

In the internal Emirati politics, it's clear Abu Dhabi isn't quite as willing to bail out Dubai as was previously believed.

Lightning hits the Burj Dubai

It turns out the worlds tallest structure is a giant lightning rod.

Burj Dubai

This is Burj Dubai, the tallest man-made structure ever built.  It was started in 2004 and is supposed to be completed later this year.  Its final height has not been disclosed but it's already at 2684 feet.

I took this picture the day I was leaving the Emirates to return to America.

Update:  The name was changed to Burj Khalifa in honor of the country's ruler.  It's appropriate since he bailed out Dubai during the financial crisis.