Sunday, February 28, 2010

Is $6.11 too much to pay for olives?

How much are olives from the deli in the States, now? Is $6.11 too much to pay? For Greek olives stuffed with fetta cheese. A container three-quarters filled the size of a cottage cheese container. Is that a lot? They sure are yummy. But I don't know if they are $6.11 yummy. For olives! And, yes. Of course I took a picture of the price tag and the olives. I am just too technically challenged to post that picture on this laptop. [The small keyboard and my long nails just do not do well together. I feel as though I've done well to do what I've done so far on this little teeny, tiny laptop ten pound relic of a computer. Regular desk top that I can use. That is what I need. Then I will post the pictures. The one of the olives. And, the one that says "Do not put clothing in the toilet." Wednesday or Thursday. In shallah.*]


*In shallah. The term that everyone uses in the Sandbox. It means, loosely, "God willing." "Can I get a cup of coffee, please?" "In shallah." If you search my archives, you will find out how I feel about "in shallah." Do NOT use that with me. I know exactly what it means!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Gatorade

If Gatorade is looking for someone new to advertise for them, I know a tall blonde very, very handsome golfer that is available. He probably doesn't play quite as well as Tiger does, but pretty darn close! He has a low handicap and he drinks plenty of Gatorade on the course. That should seal it for us.

Do I care about the whole TW thing? Honestly, I don't. I do, however, feel very sorry for his wife who I think he has humiliated beyond belief with his boinking anyone who had a pulse. I feel bad for his children who are someday going to understand what happened. Elin chooses to stay with him? Her choice. I know if it were my DH that did something like that I would have already had divorce papers drawn up. Is what Tiger did any different than a culture that allows ONE man to have FOUR - or sometimes SIX - wives? No. Not really. To each his own, though. As for me? Call me selfish. I just cannot see sharing MY DH with anyone else. THAT is NOT going to happen.

Anyway... Just throwing it out there for Gatorade.

There is a sign...

In a ladies room that reads: "Do not put clothing or other items in the toilet." What?! Really?? Has it been a problem in the past? What kind of items were you finding in the toilet? Clothing. Were women actually putting clothing in the toilet? I know - laundry. Someone was using it for laundry.

Yes. Of COURSE I took a picture. I'll post the picture as soon as I am reconnected with the behemoth desk top - Wednesday or Thursday. Unless I can find a child to help me do it on this - the laptop.

Do not put clothing in the toilet. Well, okay, then. I won't. Not now. Not now, anyway, since I've seen the sign and been instructed not to do so.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Just a Dead Maid

Nothing to see, here, folks. Move along. Just another dead maid. One who tried to flee from her sponsor - the family that recruited her - and didn't quite make the two-story jump. Go here to read the one-paragraph article: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article21635.ece?comments=all#comments. Read the comments. Speaks volumes...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Still Not Pretty.

The laptop almost got dropped. DH's laptop is almost ten years old. Working with a prehistoric model, here. It is heavier than it looks. And I went to move it and almost dropped it on the tile floor. Would it have survived such a fall? Dunno. Probably. It is that heavy. The tile wouldn't have survived.

Coffee. Better from a regular coffee maker or a French press? I learned how to use a French press this week. I've seen them. Have a couple of friends who swear that coffee is better with them than in a regular coffee maker. The jury is still out on this one as far as I am concerned. Actually I think I like the coffee from the coffee maker, better. There. Guess the jury isn't still out on that one. Any thoughts?

In local news.

A maid has been sentenced to a year in jail and 200 lashes for mixing urine in the food of the family she worked for. Sure there is the "eewwww" and "gross" factor in that. Disgusting. Notwithsanding the "eewwww" and "gross," I cannot help but think about what went through her mind - the maid's - that she justified doing what she did in response to the treatment she received from the family she was working for. Doubtful the poor little maid just woke up one morning and said, "I know what I'm going to do to get back at these folks. I'll pee in their food." No. She had to have endured quite a bit, I would think, that made her decide to do what she did. Link: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article20781.ece

Saudi women working as maids in Qatar? Umm hmm. Didn't think so. Not a chance of it ever happening. Some Saudi women are upset about the rumor, though, thinking that it is simply a way to humiliate them and spread rumors. Not to worry. I think we all know that Saudi women HIRE maids, they don't WORK as maids. Link: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article21030.ece

Just buy your underwear somewhere else. Bahrain. London. The States. Victoria's Secret delivers internationally. So does J.C. Penney. Skip going to the lingerie stores in the Sandbox. Perhaps when the business dries up and completely fails then authorities can get it together and fix the problem. It has been an issue for as long as we've been here and I would venture to guess it was an issue long before we arrived. Link: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article20118.ece

Yeah. There is more. I just can't stand this laptop! To all of you out there who just luv yours, more power to you. A daily struggle for me right now to type on this thing. To cut and paste and copy? Still can't figure it out. Longing for my behemoth desk top model! Soon. Then things will be back to normal and I can post the new pictures I have. Cannot even attempt THAT with this computer. No way. Not a chance. Unless I can find a teenager or 10-year-old that would be willing to come and help me. Technically challenged? That is an understatement.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

News. Not posted very "prettily."

"Prettily." That is a word, isn't it?



Let's just see how this will work. I can assure you it won't be pretty. But I'm going for it.



One thing in the news this past week: A man has been sentenced to 120 lashes for having more than his fair share of allotted wives. Men are allowed four. He had six. See here: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article18508.ece. [I told you this would not be pretty. Trying to post on a lap top. Arrgh!] Without getting into what position he held working as an employee of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, he still should have known that he was only entitled to FOUR wives even if he only had an elementary school education. Will he now have to eliminate two of his six wives? Three of them are illegal. So that should help him decide which to choose. Ahh, true love. Isn't it grand? Read the comments at the story if for nothing more than amusement. Six wives. How do you even do that? Each woman gets to spend one night a week with you and one of them gets lucky enough for two nights a week? This whole practice of more than one wife is just something I will never be able to understand. Sharing a husband with another woman - or with several women. Nope. I won't be able to get past the "uggh" and "how disgusting" factor of it. To each his own I guess...



Another happening was a Saudi prince who murdered his aide in a London hotel room. Since it didn't happen in the Sandbox it likely won't be swept under the rug as easily as it could or would have been, here. The story is here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7266876/Saudi-Prince-charged-with-murdering-his-aide-at-London-Landmark-hotel.html.



[Yes, I tried to do "links" in the usual manner but they didn't work.]



Seems like there was something else. Ah! The United Airlines plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City a few days ago. Virtually nothing about this in the news or by bloggers. Saw it first on Fox. Figured for sure it would be all over blogs the next day. Didn't see it on any of the blogs I visited, though. Are we going to be given more information? Did authorities figure out who the note came from? Was it from one of the passengers? A disgruntled employee [you'd have to be really, really disgruntled to pull such a stunt!]? Perhaps this wasn't really "news" because it was just slightly over-shadowed by the man who flew his plane into the IRS building in Texas. You have to admire the man if for nothing more than his conviction. The United Airlines "news" is here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586602,00.html.



Yeah, there is lots more going on. But this is painful. Using a laptop for a very unpretty post. I gave it a good try. Will be reconnected with the desktop that I can use, soon.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Computer Issues

Have to use a laptop right now. Big problem for me. I know many absolutely luv their laptops. I can barely type on it. Posting has been slow to non-existent and will be until I am reconnected with my big desk top... I really, really struggle with the laptop... I am seriously technically challenged. Cannot even figure out how to use my new IPod. Will take it to the states with me next month so that one of my little nine-year-old nephews can show me how to download Rush. How sad is that?!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Baby Stuff

Baby shopping. Mall of Dhahran has some great baby stores! Cute, cute stuff. Cannot wait for my little Granddaughter to be born. Grandson? Don't know yet. Shopping in "neutral" until we know for sure. Blue and tan can be neutral. So, can brown.

Is the sweatshirt with the airplanes on it not the cutest little sweatshirt you've ever laid your eyes on? [The Baby's Grandfather is a pilot, after all...] If the baby is a Girl, I can picture a yellow and white dress underneath this sweatshirt with navy shoes. If the baby is a Boy, jeans, with little hiking boots.

Adorable. Adorable! A little baby bathrobe. With a matching towel.


And the tags. "Keep away from fire." Seriously?!? I mean, was that a problem? Someone held their baby too close to a fire and now all baby clothing has to come with a tag that warns people?

Oh my gosh. This is going to be sooo much fun! I can hardly wait for September 9th.

Friday, February 12, 2010

For The Kids

All that meat I cooked a week or so ago? Two days in the kitchen. 70 pounds of beef. 52 pounds of chicken. Exhaust fan on high - for the entire process - because it smells so dayum awful [especially for someone who doesn't eat either beef or poultry!].


Two showers a day are required during operation "meat cooking." Not complaining [well, okay, maybe a little bit I am], because it is for The Kids.

Are they not just two or the most adorable four-legged children you have ever laid your eyes on! Yeah. I'm just a tad biased...

The meat, raw, beef and chicken:

Chicken thawing in the sink:

Seven packages of the beef, at a time, in the pan.

I can only cook four packages of chicken in the small pan.

There is a lot - A LOT - of fat in the beef.

None in the chicken.

Oh, but it is all halal* so that makes it okay.

Cooked. Measured and bagged. Frozen. An entire freezer full. Ready for mixing with food from The Honest Kitchen for the next three months.


*halal - where animals are slaughtered in a most barbaric, but specific way, by first man-handling the animal into a head lock before its little throat is slit [almost enough to make me want to force The Kids to be vegetarian, too]

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Drink, anyone?

Nice clean truck.

In defense of the truck, we do live in a country where it is utterly impossible to keep anything clean. The wind blows? Everything outside in the elements gets covered with dirt. If it rains? Everything turns to mud.

How much?!?

Eight dollars - EIGHT DOLLARS! - for a pillow and a blanket on a plane on American Airlines. Jet Blue and US Airways have been charging seven dollars. Who knew? Probably everyone that flies domestically. Thankfully pillows and blankets come standard on international flights and certainly in business class. Eight dollars. Cheesy. Just seems cheesy. Food was eliminated a while ago - unless you want to dole out $5.00 for peanuts pretzels or a $8.00 for a turkey sandwich. I am okay with that. Personally I never understood why a "meal" was served on relatively short flights to begin with. What, you can't go two or three hours without a meal? And beverages other than soda, coffee or water have always cost money unless you fly first class, domestically. Eight dollars. For a blanket and pillow. Unbelievable. Oh, here's something interesting I heard on the news recently - there is a service that will ship your luggage for you. I guess some people have been shipping their luggage for a while, now. [I cannot imagine how expensive that would be for us - from here to the States.] As if flying isn't already miserable enough - with TSA employees removing "stuff" from bags and not being held accountable, and with tighter security measures, now airlines are charging for pillows. I remember seeing something about an airline eliminating seats and making you fly standing up. Ryanair wanted to do it for flights lasting less than an hour and a half. Probably won't be too long before all flights will be "stand-up," and we'll be nekked, wrapped in Saran wrap and duct-taped in place. Geez. Something to look forward to.

I so want my snark to shine through on this, but just don't have it in me this morning. Just not in the mood, I guess. It goes back to the posts from last week about the 20-year-old woman who broke a glass over the head of a school headmistress which was first reported with having something to do with a mobile phone. Sabria Jawhar wrote about the way female students are treated - how they are treated like children - and she was right. Having a near riot at a girls' school over mobile phones which just happen to be against the rules is just a tad overboard. So what that the principal was attacked by a group of students who had their phone confiscated? Ho hum. Boring.

That poor little 12-year-old girl who was sold by her father to his 80-year-old pedophile cousin for 85,000 riyals is on her own. No one wants to help her. The story is being back-peddled some with an "anonymous" source saying the girl isn't really 12. She's 15. The who ordeal is just one big exaggeration and "the media [has] blown the entire case out of proportion, and that divorced couples [the 12/15 year-old's parents] tend to divert from the facts and claim things agains each other, which is well known in the legal system." Well, okay, then. Good to know.

This is the best this guy could come up with? "An Asian man who is accused of raping an Indian boy has claimed that he carried out the crime because his wife cheated on him back home." [Emphasis, mine.] Say, what?!! Oh, and it is very important to know the nationality of those involved, apparently. [Of course, when no nationality is mentioned with know the person is a democrat Saudi. We are all wise to that game, at this point.] The article itself is very brief - but that first sentence - identifying what nationalities were involved lets us know what is really important.

Ohmygosh. Two men and three women who were together at a restaurant [no nationality identified - care to guess?] were detained "on charges of 'khulwa' - being alone without the company of a legal guardian - on Sunday." They were "removed" from the premises and "led away by Hai'a staff after failing to produce evidence of a legal relationship between them."

Go here* and look at the cartoon. I've blogged about this on several occasions. Someone who just walks right up and cuts you off at the check-out counter at the grocery store! Happens all the time. Truly I had never experienced this before coming to the Sandbox. If it wasn't the "norm," then there wouldn't be an editorial cartoon about it, would there?


*Which just happens to be the page of the "local" news, here, where you can avail yourself to all sorts of other newsy tidbits.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Missing Inam.

I never, ever thought I would catch myself saying this, but I miss Inam. Really. I do. He is on a well deserved vacation and I am happy for him. I know Inam and I have had our "moments," but at this point we've settled into our routine and he knows what I expect and he knows how to do it. Not that I am not appreciative of his brother Hadar filling in for him, but it will be good to have Inam back. Sometime early March. I think. I hope!

The backyard has a big blue hole, again. Not happy about this. Better now, though, than in May or June when we are going to want the blue hole filled with water. The pool light filled up with water and in order to fix it the pool had to be drained. Sometimes I wonder if Rev really knows what he is doing. The light should have been sealed and we should not have to be dealing with this. Typical. Just typical. A dangerous blue hole...

We are freezing! It has been downright cold. I'm waiting for snow. Snow! Global warming and all. Only 50° right now. It was 40-something degrees last night. The heat is on. When we moved to Saudi Arabia I did not expect that we would have cold weather. Cool, maybe. But not cold.

I'll be headed to the States soon. The new scrutiny of passengers leaving from Saudi? Is it a big surprise that there is a group that is screaming about this - there is always a group that is believes they are being wronged by society in some way, shape or form. Muslims don't have a monopoly, there. Choose any ethnic group, or yags, or code pink loons, someone... [Actually, the one demographic that probably has been wronged the most is the only group that does not make a fuss about it. White males.] And even if there is some extra scrutiny, isn't safety worth it? Some social networking nut job is making much ado about not much of anything. According to this, there is "fury on Saudi cyberspace." The Saudi Liberal Network has an open letter on Facebook that says, "We wish to register our profound disappointment with this new policy. These new regulations are an insult to our entire nation and all of its citizens, as they stigmatize all of us as potential terrorists." Hello?!! Without bringing up Tim McVeigh or Richard Reid isn't there something that the terrorists - just over the course of the last year - have had in common? Why yes, I think there is. No matter. Thanks to the FruitAKaboom phukktard ALL of us leaving this country to go to the States will face extra security. As if traveling and airline travel wasn't bad enough, already, prior to Umar Abdulmutallab.

Yeah, there was probably more. I got busy and distracted. Started this first thing this morning. Twelve hours later? A less than half-done post about happenings on this side of the world... Such is life sometimes.

Colts

I know nothing about football. I have never watched an entire football game. [Honestly, I've never sat down to watch a game. Period. But football is something DH watches so I have seen football games on television.]

That said... Colts. I'll be rooting for the Colts and hoping they win the Superbowl.





Hmmph. Well that didn't work out.

Congratulations to the Saints for their win!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Absconding. School Girl Handcuffed.

Absconding and school girl handcuffed. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

Have you seen this man?

Hard to feel sorry for the little chippy who wrote all over a desk - in her words, "two little doodles" - with a magic marker. ["I love my friends Abby and Faith," and "Lex was here 2/1/10" and a smiley face are NOT "two little doodles."] I don't care if it was erasable magic marker or not. What she did was just plain wrong. [Would you do that to the dining room table in your home? Probably not. So why would you do it at school?] She got caught and now she's crying about it. Did it happen over here in the Sandbox? Nope. New York. [It has happened more than once in New York - that a teenage girl was hand-cuffed for writing on a desk. Speaks volumes about the public school system, there.] Really she ought to consider herself lucky. In the States she'll be able to sue and get her fifteen minutes of fame on Good Morning America or Jerry Springer. [Is Jerry Springer still on?] Over here? She'd get a couple months of jail time and lashed. Something to be said about the justice system in Saudi. No coddling. No ACLU. No 1-800-IAM-HURT. It is a good thing. And although I do not always agree with the method of punishment I do agree that the system works on this side of the world, swiftly. [From this blog which was featured in today's Saudi Gazette.]

Saudi Arabia also knows how to deal with illegal aliens. Arrest them and send them home. Just like that. Easy. The States? Nah. Everyone has to have rights. Regardless of whether or not they are legal. Democrats get more voters...


Divorce is on the rise. I blogged about it last week. Why is it such a surprise to everyone over here?

Mr. Mohammad Mahroos. Do not help him and report him immediately. Absconding. Absconding! I don't know why that is so amusing, but it is. [From today's Arab News.]


Matthew has two good posts up. The man has a way with words! Most excellent snark, Matthew. Indeed, most excellent.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Caught in the rain. And hail!

Forecast for today? Sunny. No rain expected. This morning was on the overcast side. It rained. Rain only lasts for a few minutes, here, so no big deal. DH has the day off and the golf course is closed on Saturday so no need to schedule our jaunts with The Kids around his having to go to work or his playing golf. I was busy in the kitchen and wanted to watch Glenn Beck so we decided to go afterward. Glenn is on from 10A to 11A. We left the house about 11:15.

As we were walking DH said, "Look at those clouds, it is going to rain again." Sure it is. We were almost home when it started to rain. Really rain. Enough to get wet but not soaked. Enough so that every ten steps or so The Pretty Princess wanted to "shake it off." We were a block from our house when it started to hail! Hail!! Little teeny tiny pieces of hail about the size of a quarter of a pea. Hail. What the??? Yeah. Global warming and all.

It was over just minutes later and now the sun is out. Still not "work" weather, that's for sure. I think it is about 55° outside. Leggings and sweatshirt weather.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Some Quick Loathing

If you loathe with every fiber of your being the jugearedjackass currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as much as I do and if you only read one thing today, read this. Matthew pretty much covered it. Very well said! The actual feeling that I have about the man AND the current administration is NOT the same as Matthew feels about him. However, Matthew summarizes quite succinctly a few ways in which the jeja could begin an upward swing toward improvement. He won't of course. Narcissist's are just not capable of doing anything but for themselves.

My only comment would be to this: "Perhaps if you did these things, you might finally 'change the tone' in Washington." Have to disagree with you on that one little issue, Matthew. I don't know if there is anyone else who wants to see this man AND his policies fail as much as I do. He had his chance. He has had an entire year of chance. There is only one way to "change the tone" in Washington and that is to eliminate the jeja and his co-horts nancy and harry [along with many others]. One way or another. Just wipe the slate clean. Start over. Keep Michelle Bachmann and John Boehner. Oh, and Tom Coburn and John Barrasso. Maybe even Scott Brown - we will just have to wait and see what he is going to do before I'm ready to opine on him one way or another. Anyone else we should keep? Dayum. Out of all of them it is a pathetically short list.

Responsible when it isn't your fault.

Makes all the sense in the world. A Saudi man has been sentenced to four months in prison and 50 lashes "for failing to try and prevent a friend from taking a fatal drug overdose." He won't be appealing the court's decision and has "confessed to having been with his friend and letting him take the lethal overdose." The short article does not specify what the drug was or how it was administered. Using that kind of logic I am responsible for my Sister's broken clavicle many years ago. She got on a bicycle that was too big for her [it was my Brother's bike] and ended up going down a hill and braking with the front brake instead of the rear brake or something like that. The result was her going over the handle bars and breaking her collar bone. I was the only one at home with her at the time. I should have stopped her. I didn't. It is my fault. I'm sorry that I laughed so hard when it happened didn't prevent you from getting in that bike accident. Dear Brother is also sorry I did not stop you. You screwed up his $500.00 bike big time. Wait. That's my fault, too.

In my never-ending quest to only blog "about how violent Saudis are" [read the comment an anonymous but "proud arabic (sic) woman" left]
I found this: A woman has been sentenced to one-and-a half years in prison and will be given 300 lashes "for filing false complaints against government officials." [I think we can all agree that 300 lashes is pretty dayum "violent."] The complaints, whatever they were, are not detailed, but if it is true and she filed false complaints then she deserves a just punishment.* The woman's husband is demanding "the immediate release of his wife describing her detention as illegal." How is it that the woman is currently detained, in jail, with their baby? Why doesn't the husband have the baby? And why is it that in this particular case the husband has been identified by name? If the woman is not released immediately her husband plans to "file a case against them." Them, being the authorities. The verdict threatens to "strip her of her Saudi nationality" if she ever does whatever she did again. Hmmph. What nationality is the husband and what nationality is the woman, originally? "The woman was also charged with making visits to government offices, over a case against her husband, without the company of a legal male guardian." [Emphasis, mine.] Phfft. Who says women don't have rights, here?!

Ut-oh. Crime of the century. The police are on it, "seeking to locate the whereabouts of a second man" involved with stealing blankets. Yes. Stealing blankets. One man, a foreign national, has been detained. "A police spokesman said that investigations with [him] would continue to 'establish the motives behind the theft of the blankets.'" Perhaps he was cold. Does that help?


*Lest someone think that I believe it is only over in the Sandbox that it would be possible for a woman to file false complaints, that is not so. Off the top of my head I can think of at least one hugely false complaint filed by a woman in the States, Crystal Gail Mangum. Was she ever punished for what she did? A year and a half in prison and 300 lashes would not have punished her severely enough.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Treated Better Than Family

We have no reason to believe that the maid was treated any differently. We know they are all treated just like much loved and adored family members. Not a chance that they are abused in any way, shape or form, and they are paid handsomely and on time, always. Right. That is what the son of the murdered woman wants everyone to believe. His mother was the perfect employer so there was no reason for the maid to stab her with a kitchen knife while she was kneeling and praying. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the maid had to have a good reason for murdering her employer. Just a guess. When you have heard the same story for seven - going on eight - years you become somewhat immune to the "we don't abuse maids" line of crap and you ignore it.

The maid was abused. We will likely never know how badly. Bad enough for her to want to stab the woman she worked for with a knife, though. The woman's son "denied reports the killer was treated badly." Well of course he does. The man claims that his mother "shouted at her [the maid] only when she failed to take care of her grandchildren... One of them once ran toward the street. My mother shouted at her to run after him before a car hit him. It is only in these cases that my mother loses control of her temper..." Umm hmm. Sure, pal.

The man says, "his sister paid the maid's medical expenses when she broke her leg." Mighty generous, don't 'cha think? Do tell, how is it that she had a broken leg? Supposedly "investigations had revealed the maid had not be physically tortured as she claimed." I would be more than just a little bit skeptical of those "investigations." The maid was taken on vacation, with the family, for two months and he says, "If she was treated as badly as she laimed, then she could have escaped or at least called for help." Oh my gosh. Can you even believe?!? Escape, how? Who had her passport? When was the last time she was paid? Where was she supposed to escape to with no passport and no money? Who was she going to call? Did she have reason to fear repercussions? So many questions. No answers.

Proof that many of the maids, here, are abused? Do a search at Arab News or Saudi Gazette. Dozens and dozens of reports will come up. Dozens! I read on someone's blog not to long ago - Sand Gets In My Eyes - from a commenter - who said that "the bad stories flies very quickly to media, the good ones no one hear about them." Have to agree with Ameen that good news doesn't sell papers and thus doesn't get reported or published. But the fact remains that NONE of the maids should be abused!

[If you can stand it, read Ameen's comments to Sand Gets In My Eyes post about the little 12-year-old girl that is married to an 80-year-old pedophile. She says, "i have to educate the reader [in response to another commenter] that this is not the norms of the society." Really? Okay, so maybe it is not the "norms," but it is something that seems to happen fairly frequently, wouldn't you say. Continue reading about how America is so much worse because a rape happens every two minutes and how Austria has psychos because ONE man kept his daughter imprisoned in his basement and repeatedly raped her. I was going to respond, but don't need to. Just not worth the time and effort trying to educate someone who lives in this society that rape regularly happens and that pedophilia is alive and well, here. As is slavery the abuse of maids.]

See? Because this is what happens to abused maids who runaway escape from their sponsors. They get raped. And, I think we all know how that works out. The maid will be punished - given lashes and sent to prison. Then she will be deported. The men who raped her? The Saudi and the Jordanian? Absolutely nothing will happen to them and they will be out roaming the streets searching for their next victim.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Giving Buffoons Everywhere a Bad Name

'S okay, Mr. Simmons. We understand what you meant and know that you did not mean any insult toward Baboons!




Saw it at WT's place first.

A little misleading. But, I told you so.

The headline says, "Riyadh students attack teachers inside class." No where in the short article though is there any mention of a teacher actually being attacked. Threatened that they would be attacked but not attacked. Instead, the students vandalized vehicles owned by the teachers. Nice. No word yet from Sabria Jawhar about how the teachers should just take "the high road" and forgive the students for damaging property. Give it time for a report of a teacher actually being assaulted. Like I said, happens every year. Of course it is not the student's fault for having to cheat to take exams because holding someone personally responsible isn't an option. [Happens in the States, too - lack of personal responsibility. Not saying that that is something confined to this side of the world. Although I don't specifically recall hearing of reports where teachers were beat up because they gave out a bad grade.]

That couple who were almost forced to get a divorce? They won't have to, after all. Some sanity prevails albeit often minimal. They will be reuinted in a couple of days after being separated. The case has lingered through the court system for FOUR years! Why? Because the woman's half-brother thought he knew what was best for her and decided that her husband, who she was happily married to, was tribally incompatible. Rights for women in the Sandbox? What rights?!! And, they think that someday they will be able to drive? That is just never going to happen.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Just Another Day...

My goodness. A report of an iman getting caught with some 50 p0nr0graphic video clips on his mobile phone? The irony. How many lashes is that going to be worth? This particular situation is going to require follow-up. Oh, please. The man is a primary school teacher and imam who was "arrested on charges of indulging in sorcery" when the "movies" were found on his phone. Those pesky mobile phones! He has also been "accused of sheltering and having under his sponsorship an Arab national who engaged in sorcery and practiced it inside [a] mosque." Kudos to Saudi Gazette for having the kahones to publish the man's nationality.

A man has been sentenced to 30 lashe
s for entering a girls' school. He is an Arab national who told the judge "he only wanted to enroll his daughter in the school." I can't muster up the right amount of snark for this. I'll just shake my head and mutter under my breath. The mindset that every single male in this country has some ulterior motive when it comes to the opposite xes is nothing shy of sheer astonishment.

That little 12-year-old girl married to an 80-year-old pedophile? The one who was going to have to testify before a judge before her divorce could be granted? Yeah, that one. "Not so fast, young lady!" You are going to remain married to that man who is SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS YOUR SENIOR whether you like it or not. Why? Reading between the lines, sounds to me like she is - oh, how to put this delicately? - damaged goods, now. The little girl's mother says that the child was raped by the old man. Hmmph. Imagine that. All kidding aside, there is no way you cannot not feel sorry for the little girl. The child's father got 85,000 riyals for selling his daughter to his cousin. Yep. Sold his child - his baby - a little girl - into the xes trade to his cousin for $22,788.20. Arab News reports that the case "has attracted a lot of interest." Gee. 'Ya think?! Hang in there little girl. The man is 80. According to this, the man has already outlived his life expectancy by your age. He can't possibly be around too much longer...

Who would have guessed that over half of a partic
ular demographic of marriages would end in divorce? A rather stunning statistic, if you ask me. Must be something that has to do with the specific wedding hall where more than "50 percent of marriages celebrated... in 2008 have ended in divorce." Some of those "marriages had ended even before their first anniversary." Wow. You mean when marriages are arranged, and the bride and groom have never met, that they don't work out? No. Yep. Tis true. Adnan Al-Khudairi, a family counselor, says "the high rate of divorce could be attributed to a number of factors including 'surprise marriages' in which the couple only see each other on the night of the wedding." Hard to believe. And this - which won't hit the radar of womens' rights groups anywhere because it isn't a part of a political agenda - said by the same man - "Some wives are so high maintenance that their husbands may not be able to make them happy." [Emphasis, mine.] He said what?! Surely it has nothing to do with the fact that there is no way that an 80-year-old man is going to be able to keep a little 12-year-old girl happy. Happy happy happy. [Oh my gosh. Just imagine the lefty reaction if Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity said something like that! We'd be able to power rockets to the moon with the outrage.]

A trip to the Commissary this morning... Had to turn the beo-tch switch back on. No parking. Anywhere. Why? Because it rained. All of the men who typically ride their bikes to work drove cars, today. I jest. The only men who ride bikes, here in the Sandbox, are the houseboys. The adult men drive SUV's and Mercedes. I parked as far as possible away from the Commissary without actually leaving our compound. As I was walking the half-mile to the store I stopped to chat with two Security Guards standing at the edge of the parking lot smoking cigarettes. Caught them both off "guard" by asking why they were allowing so many cars to park in the Commissary parking lot as they stood - directly underneath the sign that says "ONE HOUR PARKING ONLY." "Oh, we cannot do anything. We are taking a break." Yeah, I see that, but someone needs to do something. "You must talk to the Commissary manager." Umm hmm. Sure. Like he can do anything about it. If he could, he would, but he can't. Thanks for your help, fellas. Get back to your smoke break. Oh, by the way. Smoking is bad for your health.

I immediately went to find one of the manager's at the Commissary and told him that the entire parking lot was full and that there were NO parking spaces. NONE! He said he would go over to see his supervisor who just happened to be in a meeting in a neighboring building. The problem will never be resolved. At this point, after seven years, here, I should know better. No sense even complaining about it.

Remember those Cheetos that I bought and paid $9.11 a bag for? Today I bought two bags of chips and paid that much. Sometimes that is just the cost of living on this side of the world and there is nothing you can do about it. Accept it. Pay the price.


For a couple of weeks I've had a craving for chips and cheese dip or hot sauce. Finally! So what that I paid $24.00 for a couple of bags of chips? 44.95 riyals - round it off - 45 riyals per bag! $12.06, each. Outrageous. Just simply outrageous. Tonight we are going to enjoy them with the "proper" accompanying beverage.

That white sticker? Just a list of the ingredients.

A sticker pretty much guaranteed to be reserved for placing smack dab over either the directions for mixing and the list of ingredients required OR the cooking instructions. Sometimes you get really lucky. The sticker covers both.

Chili:

Beef Stew:

The news from the other side of the world certainly isn't worthy of a happy dance [the same happy dance that little 12-year-old girl is doing, being married to an 80-year old pedophile!]. What the jugearedjackass and his co-horts are doing to America. When is enough going to finally be enough? What is it going to take?!! I need to quit watching Glenn Beck. I can't. It is like a car accident. You don't want to look, but you have to. Glenn is right in so so many ways. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the blame cannot be placed squarely on the shoulders of one man [the jeja]. Several administrations are responsible. Progressives. I foresee another "north south" kind of situation is likely going to be necessary to do the clean up. Just seeing what is happening and going on - right in front of our eyes - makes my head want to explode! Passing the buck. "I didn't do it. Congress did." Liar in chief is what he is. Along with a jugearedjackass. Someone explain to me what he was doing bowing to a Florida major! Unfreakingbelievable. Whatever. I am thankful that health care hasn't been shoved all the way up our butts and that plastic surgeons prevailed with regard to a special tax. Give it time. They are not done yet. If they can realize just a little more revenue by squeezing that last molecular particle of blood out of a taxpayer, it is going to happen.

Oh, and just for giggles, someone explain to me why it is that if you hate the jugearedjackass as much as I do - which, I never thought even remotely possible - that I must be racist and hate blacks? My own sister thinks that! My own sister. [She and her husband voted for "him," and we've taken their kids out of our Will. Petty? Maybe. But what the phukk. Let the jeja and his policies take care of them like he promised. Let us know how that works out for you, Sis!] We have a multi-race family!!! No. I don't hate him because he is black. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I don't care what color he is. I care what he is doing to MY country! And he, along with a handful of others, are ruining it!!! But, it has nothing to do with him being a HALF black man. Really. It doesn't.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Can't beo-tch about everything...

...so the morning starts out "on the wrong side of the bed." The day went uphill from there, though. Hadar won't make a mistake with the towels and the rags, again. Hadar will be on time from now on. I'm over that.

Got a call from UPS. My VSC delivery is here. That was quick! I only just placed the order last week. Everything fits and only two dresses need to be returned because I just don't like them. Three new dresses and two new bathing suits to wear. I'll share more on this tomorrow [I need to do some scanning].

Here is the best thing. A few months ago Showtime and Orbit merged. Up until then, if you wanted certain channels you ordered one, and if you wanted other channels you ordered the other. If you wanted both [and we did] then you paid a small fortune for both satellite networks. Just the cost of living over in the Sandbox. Sometime during the night the channels all changed. What used to be on channel 295 is now something completely different. I knew the channels I needed and I knew exactly where to find them. Fox News, Showtime Comedy, Discovery Channel and History Channel. So, this morning, I turned the television on - what the ?!? Getting all ready to continue the conniption fit I started earlier with the towel situation and whoa!!! We have a NEW channel.

Discovery I.D. Crime "stuff" 24/7 - 365. How exciting is that?!! I saw the channel advertised some months back but didn't know that we had it. For all I know, it has been there all along and I just didn't know where to find it. [Not really a surprise considering how technically challenged I am.] Now? The channel is programmed into favorites. It IS the prefect knitting / sewing channel along with Fox News. Does life get any better? No. Sometimes it is just perfect.

The "Beo-tch" switch is on.

And it is stuck!

Sometimes having household help is more trouble than it is worth. Inam and I have gotten into a routine. He does what I tell him. He doesn't talk back. He was fired once and he doesn't want to be fired again. That works out well for us. Inam is on vacation. He'll be back in a couple of months. He arranged for his brother, Hadar, to clean for us while he is on vacation. Hadar is only coming three days a week instead of four, like Inam. That is fine. Three actually works and I will cut Inam back to three - maybe even just two - when he returns. Having someone here four days a week can seem intrusive, at times.

This morning I washed the rags. I do it once a week. The rags get set aside in a bag and then I wash them and Inam - or Hadar - take them out of the dryer when they are done and fold them. Apparently I am going to have to be much more careful with the rags. What possessed Hadar to take one of the cream colored hand-towels and a wash cloth from DH's bathroom and put them in the rag bag is beyond me. Now? They're ruined. I bleached them. They are no longer a nice creamy vanilla color. They are off-white. Several shades lighter than they were. I had no idea they were in the rag bag. I am NOT pleased about it, either. Carelessness on Hadar's part. He seems to be in such a hurry to get done that he isn't really paying attention. [Okay, so neither Hadar or Inam are Mensa candidates. I don't hold that against them.] [You reading this Delirious? Can I get a second award from you? It has been at least a week since your last post, though, so apparently you are not much of a blogger. Oh, and just for the record, I still don't care about Haiti.]

The hand towel and wash cloth are now ruined. Completely different color than the rest of the towels. Big deal. They are only towels. I can get new ones. That isn't the point. The point is that Hadar is being careless. Totally unacceptable.

One morning last week Hadar was almost a half an hour late. It was 7:25 in the morning when he finally showed up. I didn't say anything. Should have. Work, at this household, starts at 7. Not 7:25. If he starts at 7:25 that means he is still here at 11:15. I want these guys in and out by 11. It was almost noon when he finally left. Unacceptable. I realize that I'm on the rampage this morning with the whole towel thing and I so wanted to just let it go, but I couldn't. This morning it was 7:15 when he finally wandered in. "Hadar, I expect you here at 7:00. If you are can't be here at 7:00 do not bother coming." He actually started to say, "But..." and I cut him off. "Seven o'clock. Be here at seven o'clock."

We discussed the towel situation - he was totally clueless. And what time work starts. "Yes, Madam." There. Got that out of the way. Still fuming about the towels, though. Inam never would have let that happen. Tell you what, though. Hadar won't be late for work on Tuesday!

Probably a good thing I am getting ready to leave for a while. When I start getting like this, it is time to step away. I really don't want to be like this, but I feel as though I have a right to. This is my house. These are my things. I pay for help - and I pay quite decently. I get to make the rules. That is just the way it is.

I think when Inam finally returns he and I will have another one of our "little chats." I want certain things done - the bathrooms cleaned, the tile floors washed, the windows cleaned, and the patio furniture taken care of. I can do the rest of it. As it is now, I clean the kitchen - I cannot trust anyone else to do that job, I take care of all the laundry - another job I wouldn't trust anyone with. I make the bed in the morning. And all the rest of the day-to-day "stuff." I am going to cut Inam's hours back and he can come two days a week to just do the big stuff. I'll take care of the rest. Inam probably won't be real happy because I will cut his pay. I am not going to pay him what I am paying him and let him come half the hours. Such is life.

Hadar doesn't know it, right now, but while I am gone next month, he won't be coming to take care of things. DH isn't going to get up early enough to let him in and DH certainly isn't going to supervise closely enough. I'll get our "sitter" to come once a week to help DH. Normally I would pay Inam for that time but I don't feel the same obligation to his brother who is not doing nearly as good of a job...

Oh yeah. The bitch switch is on, today. And it is stuck. I'm thinking today would be a good day for someone to try to cut in front of me at the grocery store. Or park behind me so that I can't get out. Or something.
 
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