My new work bag!

Bought this bag this past weekend at Steve Madden. Its spacious, roomy, glossy, beautiful and has a zip-top that I love!
I love it to bits!

Playing-with-the-webcam-at-work

Yes, I do silly things at work. Don't you.
So here are updates:

-I started two different antibiotics for tonsillitis (yuck)
-I hate HATE hate being sick!
-There's these mega HUGE sales at all these stores and I can't go!
-Kuwait had 18 cases of swine flu from US soldiers, now that's sad.
-I had this Omani dessert 'Um Ali' (bread pudding-esque) for the first time at lunch yesterday and I bought some for home too :)
-I am going to dye my hair natural black because now my hair is doing that golden straw thing and I don't dig that look.
-Someone sweet calls me everyday and it keeps me going.

The sinusitis attack-majiggy!

I hateeeeeee it when my sinuses flare up and there's that constant feeling of a strong sneeze coming on, coupled with burning nostrils! Argggh!!! This one nasal spray I am using gives me relief for a an hour at most. This is the one bad thing of Oman. It's so hot everywhere outside that if you are in an air conditioned room and then back outside in the heat one too many times, there are chances of having some kind of allergy/cold situation.

Anyways, so it seems like everyone is getting married or engaged this year. It's great! I just feel sad that I can't go to any of them and get to play make-up and dress-up. I just have to rely on good ol facebook for pictures :).

I just came back from a presentation that was given by a british visiting professor in text mining. It was mighty interesting and enlightening.

So I made Mung bean noodles (also known as cellophane noodles) for the first time last night. They are super easy to make and taste awesome!!! They look like plastic threads that can't be broken or bended or anything but after soaking them in a bath of hot water for 20 minutes, you can chop them into 3/4 inch pieces and then add them to some sauteed veggies and cook again. Delish!

Burn that finger

Lookit! I burnt my thumb while using my new straightener. It's Babyliss's PRO Ceramic Titanium straightener and boy does it get hot! Its for really, really coarse hair. It goes up to 450F but I only use it at 370F.

I am at work now.

Just came back from lunch at the Staff Club.
Twas gewd.
Now I am feeling lazy lol.

P-p-poker face

No, I am lying, I have a very bad poker face. Anyways, I have been waist-deep in work. I like it so far. My peers have expressed positive feedback regarding my work. Its been 18 days and I have already worked on more than 8 case studies. Most of them are incomplete as more information is required in some areas.

I have gotten used to the idea of waking up at 6:45am everyday. For a person who was waking up at close to noon a a few months ago, this is actually very good. It has gotten very, very hot now. It's like someone with a fat pipe is blowing hot air into your face just for kicks. I better go to bed because its 12am already.

I have been eating this really 'you-can-tell-its-bad-for-you' croissant sandwich at work almost everyday. Its got some kind of meat in it and fries too. Its disgusting but I eat. Today was last day to eat that (have to promise myself).

Time to write

So…Why am I one of those people who can’t blog when they have a job. I just can’t. I think I am too exhausted from going and coming back from work. Trust me, you’d know what I was talking about if you got a taste of the Arabian sun. Its like needles that have been freshly dipped into molten lava digging into your skin. And its not like you get heated up externally but after being out in the sun even for a few minutes, the heat seeps deep into your body and it stays there. I have bottles of rose water in our refrigerator along with other goodies as fresh aloe vera juice (courtesy of our neighbour’s aloe vera plant) to be splashed all across my face and neck. I take ice-cubes and roll on them on my head lol. I do know the pains of living in an extremely cold place too. But going back to my Buffalo experience, the whole- cold- freezing- your- brains wasn’t so bad. Let me explain. Once you’re out of the cold into a warm room, you’re good to go. I mean I used to trek from school to home and vice versa everyday and while those few minutes outside was good enough to burst my epidermis to bleed, once I was in a heated area, it would’t take me too long to warm up. Ahem, I do have the enormous layers of fat on and in my body that helps a lot but jokes apart. I just feel that heat is exhausting. Cold can be bad too and the really down side of living in a 6-months-snowed-in-place is the acute case of depression you have to go through. Even the chirpiest of people get sullen once the sky wrapped up in a big grey blanket not willing to move. I went clothes shopping this past Thursday because I needed some stuff more ‘work- friendly’ and also more ‘accustomed-to-the-people-here’ friendly. They are all cute tunic type tops that I got for around 3 and 5 rials ($8-$12). I like them a lot. They are conservative yet trendy; at least I think so. Today I brought my own supply of coffee, tea, milk, honey, spoons, etc. to keep at work. Just knowing that I can make coffee or tea anytime is a relief! I could scoot over to the cafeteria for some but I just don’t think I would like it. I just found out that most coffee beaneries flash roast their beans in 6 minutes as opposed to the conventional 18-22 minutes (courtesy of Costa Coffee case study I am studying at work). Apparently, the flash roasting results in unevenly roasted beans which ultimately result in bitter coffee. Interesting. I don’t think I gave a proper rundown of my job. Okay so, first of all it’s at the most reputed university in Oman. It’s called Sultan Qaboos University. It’s a government-owned institution and only the crème-de-la-crème go here. My job is at the College of Commerce and Economics. I work with an assistant professor and the assistant dean of the graduate management program. They have a research project underway where they are investigating some business stories (successful and unsuccessful) of the Arabian gulf. There are about 5 Research assistants working on it and I have been appointed to be their Research Coordinator. So, for this project, all the various cases that are being worked on by these research assistants are going to be looked at by me for verification and further additions. Later, some of these cases are going to be used as lecture material for an entrepreneurship class. I like the job so far. The place might be for from my house but it’s a nice atmosphere. Everyone is really nice (so far at least) and what else? Its summer vacay/commencement time at universities and colleges in most parts of the world so happy holidays and/or congradulations respectively.
P.S.: My weight status: Man, I gained some back already. Please don’t look at me like that. I just don’t feel like gorging on sprouts and beans when I could potentially be having some juicy kebabs or shawarma. Ah, I really hope some good reason comes up soon for me to get back into shape (anybody getting married, any big party coming up?). If you ever came to my house and walked past the kitchen, you’d see a picture hanging of me from 2003, you’d think it was someone else. I was *ahem* quite foxy then with my clavicles popping out , a slender waist and a minimal posterior. Ahhh those were the days but I must say I had worked my a** off to look like that. Dozen laps around the track, eating salads and cereal, being on the run, etc.. I don’t even have that many digital pictures of me back then. I have some hard copies but then who has the energy to scan them. Just think me thinner and hotter. LOL. Now, I feel like Susan Boyle. Nuff said.

Full-time

Full time work.
Not permanent yet but still, full time.
Nice office
Nice people
Great office.
Nuff said