Exhaustion

Last Thursday I slept the day away and I've continued to be tired almost a week later.  A good part of it is that I ran out of synthroid.  After posting this I'll walk over to the pharmacy.  I like living in a country where I don't have to get a prescription to get synthroid.

Another factor is that I really bit off more than I could chew this semester, with supervising internships in four cities a couple of hours drive away from each other, and doing the training sessions.  Normally I thrive on having a lot of work but lately work has seemed like, well, work.

Tax cut deal

I woke up early to get ready for another day of training and was surprised to read the details of the tax cut compromise.  Ezra Klein summed it up well:

So is this a good deal?  It's a lot better than I would've told you the White House was going to get if you asked me a week ago.

Obama's capitulation since this election had many of us fearing he'd completely cave.  He didn't.  The worse thing the government could do right now is contract spending like state and local governments are to balance their budgets.  The private sector is adding jobs and the last thing this economy on life support needs is the federal government taking them away.

Somewhat related:  I always knew Krugman was a god, but if there are any doubts read his column from February, 2009.  He very correctly assessed how bad the economy was and how the stimulus would not help enough.  He also correctly nailed the politics being played by the Republicans.

Are you serious?

Students average 60-70% on my tests/quizzes.  I build in "easy" points by having them do a personality test.  It's worth 10% of their total grade and getting the points is this easy:

• Show up on the day we do the personality test.
• Write two paragraphs.  The first paragraph should discuss the results and whether you agree with them.  The second paragraph should highlight what careers interest you that match your personality type.  I don't grade your writing skills but it must be written by you.  If it is copied and pasted you will get a zero.

Today several students showed me their work, ahem, what they claim is their work.  What's hilarious is even when I called them out, "You didn't write this" they don't back down.

"Yes, sir, I did!"

Oh, really?

"Whether you’re a young adult trying to find your place in the world, or a not-so- young adult trying to find out if you’re moving along the right, it’s important to understand yourself and the personality traits which will impact your likeliness to succeed or fail at various careers." 

A student e-mailed this to me and asked me to review "his work" before he turned it in.  I replied, "It's a good thing you didn't hand this in, because it would get a zero."

I'm not close to going postal but the "I'm going to cheat and lie to your face about it" mentality is getting to me.

Laundry jackpot

Finding money in the laundry is one of the few - perhaps only - good thing about doing laundry.  Tonight I found a Dh 500 bill ($135).  SCORE!

What makes it strange is that I was not aware I missing a Dh 500 bill and it came out of the load of whites.  Why was the bill lurking with my underwear and socks?

Falcons

Falcons are the national bird.  While I don't know any Americans who have bald eagles as pets, many Emiratis have falcons.  Notice the caps covering their eyes.  They are remarkably docile with their eyes covered.  The don't mind being petted.  In this picture, taken from a student-friend on FB, the feet are tied down.  When I've seen them they were not tied as there was no reason with the eyes covered.

Understanding John McCain

A close friend is a John McCain supporter.  From his life in Arizona he assured me that McCain is no homophobe since he personally knew people on McCain's staff who were out.

The following post is from Andrew Sullivan, who also liked McCain.  He is very perplexed that this guy is now leading the charge against repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Here is Andrew's post. 

*I edited this post.  Initially I identified my friend and Andrew Sullivan as gay... which is true, but the hypocrisy of McCain changing his stance has no connection with being gay or straight.  That McCain is feeling bitter is very well explained here. (Scroll down to the Pop-Psychology part.)

Kansas City = Middle East (in the summer)

Qatar beat the US to host the World Cup soccer championship in 2022.

This part of the world loves soccer, even if their national teams aren't so good.  I would be very happy for a middle eastern country winning the right to host the games if the games could be played in January.

Playing the games in June where daily highs are 110-120 with lows 90+ in a place with high humidity?  Yeah, that's just insane.  Qatar plans to build the world's largest air conditioned stadium - able to hold 86,000.  I haven't read what they plan to do at the other 11 stadiums where matches will be played.

The politically correct police are already out and accusing anyone of questioning the wisdom of choosing Qatar of anti-Arabism or being anti-Islam.  I couldn't work where I am working if I held either view, yet I think picking Qatar is crazy unless they change the dates of the games.

My favorite quote as to why Qatar is no worse pick than the US:

"As for Qatar's heat... Kansas City is no picnic in the summer either."

I have been in the middle east and in Kansas City in the summer.  To equate the two is beyond moronic.  I wish the guy who wrote this blog would come over here and take this job.

Update:  Nate Silver (of the 538 blog I have linked to the right) finds the Qatar pick equally dubious.

Unemployment report = cabbage patch dolls

Only 50,000 new private sector jobs, when we need 250,000 per month to get out of this mess.  Unemployment jumping to 9.8%...

There are ways to spin today's report:

• More discouraged workers are trying to get back in the labor force... and that's why the unemployment % went up.
• The number of hours worked per week held constant.
• The pay per hour had a slight uptick.
• The number of new hires from previous months were revised up.

However, just like cabbage patch dolls, it doesn't take long before you have to simply accept the fact these numbers are ugly.

The "recovery" that has been sputtering along for well over a year continues to sputter.

The Arab Saif action figure

A student took this while I was teaching and posted it on FB.  I've been told "Saif" is Steve in Arabic so this is the Saif action figure.

******

Many here greet each other with a nose rub.  Since I was in the full garb they thought they'd do it for me.  It's something I've seen hundreds of times over the past two years but I didn't realize that in addition to the rubbing noses they make a "schmooch" kissing sound.  One guy was literally a centimeter from my lips.  

Wow.  For a country that is really homophobic it seemed pretty gay.

Which country am I in?

Today is National Day which celebrates the 39th anniversary of the country.  I planned to be in the capitol tonight to watch fireworks.  Last year it took 2 1/2 hours just to get out of downtown after they were over.  I'm not sure they were even doing fireworks this year so I decided to stay home and sleep.  It's been an exhausting two weeks and sleeping the day away was just what I needed.

Early this evening I walked to the nearby mini-mall where they had games for kids.  They played Kool & the Gang's "Celebrate Good Times" for musical chairs.  (That song came out when I was in elementary and I vividly remember it as THE song for the roller rinks...)  After the musical chairs they did the chicken dance.

I appreciate that American culture has so permeated the world that for this country's National Day they are playing Kool & the Gang and the chicken dance... but, really?  Aren't there better parts of American culture that could be adopted?

National Geographic's photos of the year

Very much worth a look.

The best paid week of my life

The week starts on Sunday here.  I did training on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  My Wednesday classes were canceled because the students are traveling home for National Day on Thursday.

In other words my work week was only three days... the same three days I did training.

Combine the training and my normal pay and I made $2500 this week.  And it was all in 3 days!  While I'm sitting here feeling good about myself my friend Rahul is probably thinking, "Umm, are you really bragging about making that much?  I've made that much responding to a text over lunch..."

True.  (If anything, it's probably an understatement for Rahul.)  But for a pedestrian teacher like me, we don't get these moments often (or ever).  $2500 for a three day work week?  Let's join hands and sing "kum-by-yah"!

*****
So what's the buzz-kill?  If you know me, there has to be something that made this week suck.  Today... the last day of my phenomenally well-paid week... I had a call asking why I hadn't done such-and-such in my visits with interns.  I had good reasons but rather than listen this was a call to say, "I don't care, get it done."  I didn't even have the chance to say, "And you don't think I'm trying?" before I heard the click on the other end.

After working for the ultimate micro-manager I appreciate working for a hands-off boss.  And I'm pretty sure I'm not in any serious trouble, but, wow, I did my best and have an e-mail trail and travel guide to prove I did my best but my boss doesn't care.  I failed to get something done that was out of my control and I got yelled at.

Yeah, not so fun.  If history proves anything, the next time I see him he'll be all warm and smiles.  "It's all taken care of?  Good."

*I* will be the one carrying a grudge.

OK, let me go back to my happy place... best paid week of life... and it was only 3 days!  Yippee!

True Blue Iowan

I was shocked at how much this picture affected me when I put it on the blog.  From a photographic point of view it is not as good as the other farm posts.

But as the kid who grew up at this place it took my breath away.  First, there's the few remaining rows or popcorn to be seen in the left.  To my generation of Kranz the legacy of Dad's popcorn is something we all carry with pride.

To the left of the grain bin is what we call the "cob house" because in my father's time this the place where corn cobs were kept to heat the house in winter.  Knowing I grew up in a house with central heating while Dad grew up in a place with cob house and a fireplace?  Wow, oh, wow.

In the center and right are two building we used as hog houses.  Before the era of mega-pork-farming it was common for farmers like us to have a couple hundred of hogs.  The pigs certainly didn't have a great life but when I see the pics of today's corporate hog farming I get sick... and wish I didn't love the taste of bacon as much as I do.

My day in the kandura

Despite my fears yesterday, it went pretty well.  The toughest part? Under the kandura is a t-shirt and something close to a flat bed sheet tied around the waist.  It's supposed to go around twice and the ends are tied off.  My tailor didn't give me the "fat American" size so mine only went around 1 3/4.  

The sheet - called a wizar - is supposed to be worn like a kilt, with nothing underneath.  I chose to be prudent and keep my underwear on.  As it dropped while walking across campus I was glad I was able to preserve a bit of dignity.  Had it dropped during class (and I wasn't wearing underwear) I'm not sure I could have faced that class again!

I tried stapling the sheet.  It didn't work.  What finally worked?  I stapled the sheet to my underwear.  Basically, the elasticity of my underwear kept it from falling again.  

Here I am with one of my classes.  A few things to note:  1.  I am the only one wearing the black bands on my head, called the egal.  As a professor it is more appropriate for me to wear this... also, learning how to tie up the gutra (headscarf) like my students was more than I could handle.  2.  Standing next to me is the one Japanese student at my university.  Every one else in the picture (as far as I know) are Arab Muslims.  Most of the students not wearing a kandura are non-Emirati.  Notice the guy wearing the jacket?  The temperature at the time of this pic was 85 degrees and I was sweating.

 A student in my first class wrote on the board, "One photo with me 10 Dh - Dr. Steve."

If I had done this I would have made a lot of money.  For each class I did a group photo and after that pretty much every student wanted a picture with me.  I had more pictures taken of me today than any day I can think of.

Abdulkarim was a student in my class last year.  He took me to his tailor and, in typical Emirati style, wouldn't let me buy any of it.  I'm pretty sure he spent about 250 Dh (about $70).  Now I have to think of a way to repay him that he can't simply give it back to me.    Probably bringing something back from the US that is uniquely US would be cool, but really, most cool things in the US are sold here.  Hmm.

He told the tailor that my wizar was not designed for me.  (He was too polite to say, "too small for the fat American.") but the tailor insisted it was the right size.

******
Thoughts:  I am glad I did it.   Yes, I freaked out last night, but it was worth it.  Will I have the balls to wear it in the US?  Very, very doubtful.

Pot committed

For a couple of hours I've been searching for the right metaphor to use in this story...

In poker you are "pot committed" when you are down to a few chips and you've already put most of what you had left in the pot.  The odds usually aren't good, but you pray for a miracle.

Long ago I committed to buying a traditional Emirati kandora (robe) and gutra (head scarf) and wearing them for National Day.

I've told my classes and tonight I finally assembled all the parts I am supposed to wear tomorrow.   I can't back down... in poker, I'm "all in..."

And?

I look stupid.  Not just a little stupid.  Really stupid.  Like, wearing a dress during homecoming week in high school is nothing compared to this.

My first mistake was going with the traditional white.  Against darker skin, white looks good.  With me, I look like a pale ghost about to eat your children.

No, my first mistake was having the idea to do this.  It simply went downhill from there.

My back is against the wall.  No turning back now.  There's little chance everything will be coming up roses, because when I wear the kandora I'm like a fish out of water.

The hall is rented and it's time for the world to see that I can't dance.

Update:
If I had the choice

1. Wear the kandora tomorrow or,
2. Picture me walking around Wal-mart wearing a grungy wife-beater two sizes too small with really tight frayed denim shorts.*

I'm not sure which I would pick.

* I hope that's a visual you can't get out of your head.

What does this chart make you think?

The chart shows after-tax profit as a percentage of national income.  (Put another way, how much are companies making compared to the rest of the US economy.)

Take a look.  A serious look.  Tell me what you think about... even if what you think is, "I don't know what to think..."  Give it your best shot.  I want to read comments to this post!

I'll post my thoughts in a few days.

Thanksgiving dedication

While I was home this summer I purchased two more sets of Coke silverware on ebay.  I now have 20 place settings here in the Emirates.  That's a bit crazy since Thanksgiving is the one and only time I will ever have more than 4-5 people over for dinner.

Last year for Thanksgiving I bought an electric carving knife.  I can't remember how much I paid.  The only time I have reason to use the bad boy is Thanksgiving so it is a pretty ridiculous buy for a once-a-year use... but, wow, once you've carved a turkey with one you'll never go back to a regular knife.  It makes carving a turkey so much fun I wish I liked the taste of turkey more.

For profit graduation rate: 22%

For-profit colleges across the country have to be happy this story came out at the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday:  Only 22% of the students graduate.

Another statistic is equally as damning:  A student graduating from a state school has an average of just under $8000 in debt while a student graduating from for-profits graduate with $31,000in debt... almost 4x as much.

I have no problem with for-profit colleges.  The major player in Iowa is my former employer, Kaplan.  I know we had a much higher graduation rate.  I also know there are many mitigating factors that cause the debt level to be much higher for the for-profits.  Still, there's no positive way to spin this story.  Senator Harkin has called for increased scrutiny of for-profit colleges.  That's a good idea.

Long week

It's hard to believe we've been back from Nepal for a week.  Getting ready for the training sessions AND hosting Thanksgiving made the past seven days seem more like a month.

On Friday 15 friends came for Thanksgiving.  We held it on Friday because Thursday is the end of the week and many of us had to work.  I missed taking any pictures, but it is safe to say it was a success.  Cleanup was insane:  I've done four loads in the dishwasher and I'm still not done!

This week I have three more days of training sessions, but they are all repeats so there's no new prep.

*****
A Muslim named Mohammed tries to bomb a Christmas gathering in Portland?  So not helpful.

The "self-help" training session

Much of what I'm covering in the training sessions this week would called "self-help."

I am the right person to be doing this because nobody read more self-help books than I did in high school.

I am NOT the right person to be doing this because I think 90% of it bullshit.