photo: passing by

Considering just how modern the city of Dubai is, it is sometimes hard to find anything old about it, till one heads to the area by the Creek. I love to explore this area since it has so much character in it, and it feels so much more real than the new modern skyscraper filled Dubai.

noisy neighbors

Our landlord has been making changes in the apartment above ours for the past few weeks, making our lives quite miserable. The workmen show up at their enthusiastic best after lunch, especially on the weekends, when we just want to laze and maybe take a nap. I went up to investigate what all was going on the other day and saw that besides installing some very nice granite tile, a wall or two were broken to make new doorways and change the configuration of the rooms. I was quite impressed with the what the end result is likely to be, now hopefully we will get nice neighbors too.

one can never have too much of office supplies!

What is it about buying office supplies that is so much fun! I love to go buy things to organize my files, mark them to make them easier to find and a whole lot more. It's with a childlike glee that I head to buy office supplies for myself, even though they might be the boring computer printer and staples variety. I've always loved organizing stuff, so maybe that's why I love buying these things, but then a lot of other people who aren't into organizing are addicted to shopping for stationary too. I'm making my list right now of all the things I need and the things that I want to buy :-)

photo: taking in the view

On every vacation, I try to find a nice spot to sit and read, to contemplate life, to think, to ponder and to be thankful for the opportunity to be able to see such places. Often I find myself in such a mood on my morning walks, when I am by myself, but this photo below was when I sat at the golf club in Naldehra in Himachal, around mid morning, drinking apple juice, and taking in the scenery.

more on comparison shopping

In my last post, I wrote about how shoppers are increasingly using comparison shopping online before making their purchasing decisions. This is also especially true for life insurance leads and finding the right coverage. There are a several comparison sites that make it all easy for you to decide by showing you options side-by-side so that you can compare aspects directly. Comparison shopping for all kinds of insurance has been a popular way to select it, especially car insurance which is the kind that most people get first of all, before they even consider life insurance.

comparison shopping

What do you like most about the internet? Is is the connectivity that you like, so that you can keep in touch, or is it the information that you like, so you can read the newspapers from 10 different countries, or is it the power of finding stuff when shopping, such as comparing prices before you head out the door? I find that a lot of people really do use the internet for comparison shopping, so instead of actually going from store to store physically they find the best deals online and then go to the store to pick it up. This phenomenon really picks up during the Christmas shopping season and the Black Friday sales in the US. If you're searching for something like the best weight loss products then starting online is a good place, since if you go to a store, you might only see part of a selection, so for shoppers, the internet has become a great source of deals as well as information.

photo: through the doors

As you all know, I love to take shots of windows and doorways and of looking through them. I took this one at the souk at Madinat Jumeirah which is an interesting combination of old and new, a sanitized and cleaned up version of what the local souks are like, I suppose. It's a convenient place to go to if one wants to eat out and do some shopping for little trinkets too.

and more on my cleaning spree...

Lately, I've been on a cleaning spree. First it was the cupboards and drawers and now it's been all the electrical equipment. Living in the desert means that the air conditioner filters need to be cleaned very often, as often as every 15 days, which is a real pain, since our ceilings are super high and I need to find a extra tall ladder to reach the AC. My cleaning guy is a wimp, and will do anything to avoid climbing ladders or chairs to clean anything, so that means that I have to do it myself. That's fine by me since I'm adventures and a lightweight so climbing up rickety ladders is still doable.

time to clean up

Well, summer's almost over and so it's time to sort out my cupboards and home, kind of a reverse spring cleaning of sorts. The last time I did it, I found so much unused stuff, new clothes, new Dansko shoes that I'd bought for my hubby for work and he'd never worn. I find I really need to sort things out every so often, else they just get pushed to the back of the cupboard and one never even realizes they are there. I wonder what all goodies I will find this year!