It's Back to Doha

We're laying low on this last day of 2010 as we wind down our USA Christmas holidays. A few college bowl games and it'll be off to bed for us. 2011 will no doubt ring in on its own just fine without our help. Our 1~1~11 will involve airport security and airplane food as we head back to Doha. We will miss our visiting with family and friends but look forward to getting back into a routine and normalcy. Ok, maybe normalcy and Doha don't mix, but I love it all the same. Besides, I have a date with Federer and Nadal this week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. I also have tickets for a game at the Asian Cup (football/soccer) and then just around the corner it's the Qatar Masters (golf) and the WTA Qatar Ladies Open (tennis). Qatar plus winter equals surreal weather and lots of entertaining events. We'll do our best to take advantage. See y'all on the flipside, if I make it through my TSA screening, that is. :P

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Christmas Continues

I'm not sure where I left off on my USA visit, but as of two days ago, we have been chillin' at the in-laws in Tennessee waiting for more family to arrive to continue our Christmas celebrations. Chillin' consists of the usual eating and vegging, being that it's entirely too cold for anything else. It did reach a whopping 34F today, a tad warmer than yesterday's high of 30F. I don't know about you, but I think cold weather is for the birds...literally. Later.



P.S. We did enjoy Christmas at the old homestead in Texas with my mom and dad, along with the siblings and nieces and nephews. Proof positive...

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Christmas Memories & Musings

While in Texas, I've been taking a walk down memory lane, you know, dragging out the old photos of the kids from years gone by. Every December it was the dreaded ritual for the perfect Knox kids Christmas photo. Instead of the kids getting more agreeable with maturity under their belts, the whole ordeal got worse from year to year, even with the newfangled age of digital photography. Miraculously though, I'd usually come out with one good picture, well, most of the time, anyway. Here's a sampling of the twenty five or so that I have...

Now that the kids are so spread out, it's hard to gather for a yearly shot, and oh, how disappointed they must be. So, I have to carry on the tradition without them, I suppose. The upside is that I'm much more agreeable and I don't even argue with myself. HoHoHo!


One more picture to share with you before I go that I lifted from a friend's facebook page. It appears that Santa and one of his helpers made it down to Qatar all the way from the North Pole. Picture taker, Jack, says that the kids were lined up for over a kilometer in the desert dunes for a chance to chat with Santa. No snow needed.

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Cat Tales

We've been having a bit of cat fun (at their expense) this week. A friend posted a humorous "How to Wrap a Cat for Christmas" video and I felt a call to duty. We've been know to be a bit competitive in our household, so we started with our cat, Saudi. She's one of those cats with all bark and no bite, so I figured what the heck. Back off PETA, no cats were harmed in the filming of this video...

Starring Kayla, Kristi, and Saudi

Ok, so maybe that was a fail. We have one more cat to try it on, but before we do that some gender counseling my be in order. David discovered this morning that Dustin's cat Molly might need to be renamed, since he's discovered a few parts that Dustin somehow missed. Good thing we came home and prevented that identity crisis! Until next time...

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How Do the Spirits Move You?

I wrote this post last weekend, but held back for fear that my friend would "defriend" me if I published it. My justification on the subject was that she would dance on table tops, poles, or anything in sight with or without the help of spirits, so what would it hurt? You can define spirits however you want. She's just that kind of fun lovin', crazy, party animal (if you will) type of girl. So with permission granted (more like a request for me to post them), here we go...

In case you haven't figured it out, Texans really know how to have a good time. Sometimes you just need to let your hair down and not take life too seriously. Seriously.

And we all know how seriously I take life, so last night was one of those times. I met up with some coworkers from my previous life to catch up on old times and create some new memories. We picked up where we left off without skipping a beat. I truly love and miss these guys.

P.S. Kellie, as always, your entertaining skills are phenomenal.

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Have Suitcase, Will Travel

Just got off the phone with my mother-in-law informing me that she can't keep up with my life if I don't blog. Has it been five days already? In all fairness, I did have a post all ready to go a few days ago that involved tabletop dancing and poles, but the party involved wasn't as gung ho as I was to put it out there for the world. Little does she know how small my blog world is. Soooo sorry you missed that. Other than wild office parties, it's just living out of suitcases these days for me while visiting family in Port Arthur and College Station. Yes, my Qatar friends, that would be the home of the "other" Texas A & M. I'm now back at my Kyle, Texas nest awaiting the arrival of Kristi from France and David from Qatar this Friday night. In the meantime, it's just a little Dustin and Mexican food bonding. Hasta luego.

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Qa~Who? Oh, Quatar!

They did it. Qatar, now known as Katar and Quatar on the Twitter highway, has garnered the coveted position of hosting the World Cup of Football (please don't say soccer) in 2022. I've been reveling with them in their glory from my Texas home on this historic occasion. Trading witticisms with all the #Qatar2022 supporters has been nothing short of entertaining. I fear I may sink into depression when the euphoria wears off. So, what happens when it does? Reality. Qatar has twelve years to bring itself up to the standards it presented to the World Cup team. Sounds like a lot of time, but we're talking state of the art air conditioned stadiums, metro systems, and hotels for starters that have yet to be put into place. That, on top of the already ridiculous amount of construction, will be a living nightmare. Even though I surely won't be here for the World Cup, I will be caught up in the preparation phase. Then there is the outrageous heat from which you can run, but cannot hide. On second thought, you can hide out in some pretty sweet shopping malls. Qatar does not lack in that department. Since I really don't like to dwell on negatives, let's move on to the positives. Hospitality is one of the things that Qataris do best. They have a way of making you feel very welcome and special. Personally, I think given this chance, Qatar will be able to teach the world something about tolerance, graciousness, and kindness, not to mention some mad driving skills. My apologies, couldn't help myself. Since moving here, I've learned so much about "them", you know, "those people". Some of their beliefs are different than ours or maybe some of our beliefs are different than theirs. I'm here to tell you that "those people" eat, breathe, walk, talk, and dream just like we in the West do. We don't have a corner on the market. Let us share it side by side. We have some good friends in them if we can get past ignorant misconceptions. Congratulations Qatar. Take this opportunity to unite us, Muslims and Christians alike. The world is waiting. Build it and they will come.

The crowd's reaction after Fifa announcement at The Pearl

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Expect Amazing

While I'm sitting in Texas, excitement is building in Qatar over the upcoming announcement of the World Cup 2022 host country. Even though the U.S. is in the running, you would never know it. It doesn't seem to be a big deal here in the states, but in Qatar it's all the buzz. Living in a country as small as Qatar, everything becomes personal to me. I watched the live final presentation this morning (streaming from Zurich) and I found Qatar's pitch to be pretty convincing and worthy of their "expect amazing" motto. Twitter was and still is on fire with the prospect of the tiny nation, that no one knows how to pronounce, of winning the bid. Yours truly, included. I don't know why I'm so passionate about the cause, as surely I won't live there in 2022. Maybe it's just my compassion for the underdog that drives me to cheer for my "other" hometown, or maybe it's that I know that Qatar can deliver what it promises. I'll be tuned in tomorrow morning for the announcement. I, for one, do Expect Amazing.

For Qatar's FIFA World Cup Bid Presentation 2022 ~ Click Here

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It's the Most Wonderful...

What's wrong with this picture?

David ~ Doha
Shea ~ North Carolina (tomorrow Afghanistan)
Dustin ~ Austin
Kayla ~ Nacogdoches
Kristi ~ France
Sybil ~ Kyle

It is the most wonderful time of the year!
It is, isn't it?

It's the Most Wonderful Time ~ Andy Williams

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Birthday Wishes

Happy "85th" Birthday, Dad!

Mom, Dad, Shea, Kayla, & Dustin

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Thanksgiving Celebrations

My Texas arrival last Monday night was to 80F degree weather making me feel as though I never left Doha. Two days later the temps dropped to the 30's reminding me of the cliche on our weather, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a minute". That saying held true as it was from AC to heat in just that, a matter of minutes. Welcome home. We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year with an added bonus of boudain balls. I ate my fair share since I don't think we'll see those anytime soon in Doha. While I was having my dinner, my hubby was celebrating a supposedly traditional dinner with some of our new Doha friends. I asked him how it was and his response was, "Well, it would be like eating dinner with Shea (our oldest son~age 27) and his friends". Instead of following up dinner with football, it was drinking games. Lol. One old man and a bunch of 20 somethings. Sounds quite "untraditional" to me or maybe just same same, but different. Hoping you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving, as well.

A Mexican food outing with Dustin, my mom, and Kayla.

(Shea was with us, but missed the pic,
while Miss Kristi is still in Angers France.)

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You Make Me Want to Shout!

...dedicated to whatever that fruity concoction was!

Please accept my apologies for letting Rome get in the way of me organizing some of our company party pics. For your viewing pleasure (wink* wink), I've thrown together a quick slide show that gives a pretty good overview of the festive gathering held at The Doha Golf Club right before the Eid holidays. Sorry, there was no time to download music or add witty "thought" bubbles. It's a shame, because they would have been, oh, so good. Without further ado, here's the "I had to skimp and it's killing me" version.

Shout~ The Isley Brothers

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