You can call me on Sunday

This is my last post from afar and as the trip has begun to conclude, so have the blog posts.   This is not because the trip has been less busy, but because it has been more so.

In the past week we have done some amazing things and I will write about this from the comfort of my own apartment in Richmond, as I begin to think about the trip in retrospect and with a cleared and relaxed mind.

I will sort through my 1000+ photos and pick some of the best and most memorable ones that should provide a great summation of the people, places and things we have had the privilege of encountering during this awesome (yeah, I said awesome) journey.

Additionally, we will be posting the documentary in whole upon its completion as well as any other videos we compile from the discs, and discs of footage we have logged.

Thanks for keeping up with us and for all of your support.  THIS TRIP HAS BEEN AMAZING!

My second main man

Wedding bells

There weren’t any. In fact, it would hardly seem like a wedding at all — by American standards. But, Lisa and I went to a wedding the other evening in Qatar. Weddings here — apparently — are divided by gender; the men attend one wedding and the women, another.

It was a cultural experience that I am glad to have had. I will let the pictures tell the rest of my story (and Lisa will tell hers). They are mixed in with some other photos from today

More photos after the jump…

 

Posts will resume… Tomorrow

We had a meeting tonight at the pub in the Sheraton Hotel – which has an amazing design and pints – and decided that we both have been very bad at posting on the blog.

This is not at all because we have nothing to post about; in fact we have too much to post about and can’t decide what to make the most important.  There have been plenty of cool things to see and do and we have photos of many of them (just not much time to post them).

SO, tomorrow we will be going on one of our most exciting excursions and there will certainly be photos galore.  The schedule (when pronounced like #1 it is my favorite) should allow for plenty of time to make several posts tomorrow by midnight here, which will be 4pm East Coast time.

Stay tuned and thanks for your patience.

Elevator’s Revenge

This is not the right format for this video, but it needed to “leak” early.

This is just a one minute clip:

Pictures in the post below:

Work, Experience, Amstel

This post is going to be all over the place and probably quite long. There will not be any pictures right now, but again I will get some up by 4pm tomorrow, so for any of you sitting at work early in the day you will have something to look forward to in the last hour (that is if you are on the East Coast).

I was falling asleep in the “limo.” Our Monday was a 15-hour workday – followed by the 4 hours of sleep and right into a 12-hour day Tuesday (which was to finish with a VIP dinner – at the 4 seasons which is amazing — we were to cover, but decided it was not important to our work here – another story altogether). Earlier in the day, we were doing perhaps our 14th interview in two days and while the subject quite interesting and knowledgeable, as I was asking questions and listening to the responses (in his extremely comfortable office) I felt my eyes getting heavy. How embarrassing would it have been as an interviewer to fall asleep as the subject is giving his response? (Please comment)

Lisa is not lying about her Highness Sheikha Mozha, I feel that it is not a stretch to say that she is as one would imagine Cleopatra to be. She is beautiful, she stands tall, she engages with a royal nod of acceptance, and walks as if she may just be floating quickly along. She may or may not have “actually” said hello, but certainly as we waited for the meeting to be over, she exited the room alone and “floated” by us definitely acknowledging our presence. It was truly an honor for us to be able to film her and to be welcomed in her place of business (the red tea was excellent – as it is everywhere you go here).

Funny story after the jump…

4 hours later

Well, I posted the pictures 4 hours ago, went to “bed” and am back up to do it all over again.  Surprisingly, I am just a little groggy (and sore), but jumped out of bed.  Thanks to all of you who are leaving comments: BigFig, Grant, Michael Bell, Ann, Dan’s Ram…

300 times this site was visited yesterday and by midnight (your time) I think the page will have had over a thousand visitors.  Thanks for stopping by and keeping up with us on this venture.  We look forward to more experiences here and relaying them to you, wherever you may be.  Keep it up and so will we.

We are now off to prepare for a rare and extraordinary opportunity to meet and shoot video of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned (who is the Consort of His Highness the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani — and effectively the queen of Qatar).

Should be interesting…

Not the only post for today

This isn’t the only post for today, there are two others from earilier.

These photo’s were take by Lisa and me and some are of work by the students from VCUQ (the really good ones)… enjoy, make comments, come back soon

Out of respect for the culture and as a special request I have altered this photo. We ate dinner (standing up) with these two who are both quite attractive.

More photos after the jump…

Picture pages…

“Pradeep, are you familiar with the word @sshole?” … He wasn’t. So I explained.

And now for the picture post as promised. Alex, these are not the kind of pictures you usually spent your time browsing for on the internet.

 

Click below to see the rest…

We made it indeed

The plane ride was amazing and the service was top notch.  From the time we boarded to the time we landed we had everything we could possibly need:

• A designer toiletry kit — complete with cologne, toothbrush, comb and lip balm
• A Qatar Airways change of clothes (socks, long sleeve polo-to keep)
• Food, food and more food (coffee, champagne, wine, soda, water)
• And a sleeping mask (which I am currently wearing)

I will post a bunch of pictures tomorrow from Richmond to the first day in Qatar.

Check back soon and often (and you may see Lisa spice up her posts with a paragraph break… and maybe a bulleted list or two).