How do I get myself into these situations?
So it’s been a while since I wrote something.
This has mostly been for the fact that life has been the same as usual without too many distractions. Actually that’s something I have found to be the most interesting. My schedule has gotten to the breaking point where actually don’t have any free time except for one day a week when I’m to dazed to enjoy it. Everything just wants one or two nights a week but when you add it all up you don’t have any time to yourself. Oh well, my Arabic classes will be done soon. At least until when the next session starts.
Neurology … oh, I though you said Neurotic
For those who do not know I have a mild case of ADD (attention deficit disorder). This causes me to lose focus and can affect my ability to get things done. I decided to start getting treatment for it a while ago and have been taking a drug called Concerta. It wasn’t anything revolutionary but it did take the edge off of my ADD just enough for me to get my work done. About a month ago I ran out of my wonder drug and for some reason I keep forgetting to call the doctor to make an appointment for a prescription refill. That’s the irony in the condition, you don’t get a prescription refill because you forget, you forget because you don’t get your prescription refilled. It’s a vicious cycle. I called the local hospital a couple of times to work on this and when I could get through they would ask me to call back later. I was like Noooo, it took me two weeks to remember to make this call. So this is when I decided to drive to Hamad (the local hospital) and make and appointment myself.
On my way there I knew it would be a series of misunderstandings before I got anything that I needed. And is if they knew what I was thinking the first person pointed me to the psychiatric department but they had no idea where it was. Just in the general direction of another place I was unfamiliar with. So I decided I would go find it and after a couple of calls I made it to the “Medical Center” or better known as the floor above the Jaguar show room. It had a nice big sign on the outside declaring this was the place for sexual dysfunction and psychiatry needs. Man I hope nobody sees me going in here. I look around and after asking for the medical center and I was pointed towards the stairs. At this point I realized that I was spending my lunch on a wild goose chase that presently had my climbing a dark stairwell to Doha’s center for the sexually dysfunctional. That’s when I asked myself “How do I get into these situations?” I went into the clinic and talked to what looked to be the receptionist and she told me that their psychiatrist only comes once a month and asked if I wanted to make an appointment. After reviewing in my mind the steps I took to get here I thought it might be possible that I made a mistake somewhere along the way. I told her no, and called the Hamad Psychiatry department again. After being asked to call back on a different number I got more concrete directions which included turning off the paved road, drive around the vacant old hospital and you’ll see our building. Hot Dog, I can’t wait.
So I trudged along with these very useful directions and found myself in Doha’s psychiatric ward. I was seated in the waiting room with several guys who were mentally disturbed and I kept wondering to myself “how, how do I do it?” I managed to make it from my somewhat nice office to an old shack looking to score some Concerta. Talent that’s how. While I was sitting there this guy sat next to me where is traditional garb and just stared at me. Once or twice he said “I love you” but that was it. Yeah, didn’t know how to answer that one. With in about an hour a nurse took me to a waiting room to see what I needed. They were very confused I didn’t have a referral and wanted to know why I just walked in. After I told them my objective they said I needed to go back to Hamad and go to the Neurology department. Excellent. So I wasted three hours but I got to see another side of Doha.
I went by there this morning and wasn’t able to make an appointment because their computers were down. I was however was able to call them and make one later in the day. It won’t be until May so I wonder if I should have just gone to the sexual dysfunction place instead.
I got my iPod Woo Hoo
A big thanks to all those who contributed to the iPod fund this past Christmas. I finally got mine a few weeks ago. After the initial frustration that any new tech object gives me, I am now enjoying it. At first I learned that they are only formatted for Macs unless you plug it into a PC via a fire wire port that to my knowledge most PCs do not have. I scrounged up an adapter and was good to go. I then had a bum USB cable that caused a lot of frustration. Once I got a new one I was somewhat happy. I then learned I had to convert all my WMA files to MP3s or MAC compatible ones. No big deal, I opted for the MP3s because despite them being bigger in size (meaning I can put fewer on my iPod) I refuse to use any MAC proprietary formats. I sold out to Bill Gates and the Microsoft beast years ago, I’m not going back now. The issue here is iTunes (the software used to interact with the iPod) only offered to convert them to their format.
Well after looking around the web I found what I needed. I went from a product I had to buy, to a work around to that product and finally to one that I could get for free. In the end 3 hours of effort saved me $20. Not quite sure if it was worth it, but I wasn’t doing anything else that afternoon anyways.
So now I have my brand spanking new iPod I decided that I needed to download some books from Audible.com. I apparently forgot how to read when I was commuting from Conroe to College Station last year so now I listen to all of my books. Well here we go again with the whole proprietary format thing. I found out after downloading my first book that it comes in one big file. So if I pause in the middle of “War and Peace” I’m going to have to use the nifty click wheel and my memory to get back my original spot. Well I’m not a big fan of getting carpel tunnel syndrome in my thumb (can you do that) so I went through the same routine as I did for the last piece of software and found that the free one did the job again. I found a toy that let me put it in my favorite MP3 format and splice it up for your easier listening pleasure. For those who are interested go to goldwave.com I love those guys.
And in other News
One of the wealthiest nations in the world (Qatar) had decided to focus it’s inept police force from poorly directing traffic to preventing it’s most impoverished class of citizens (expats from India and East Asia) from making a phone call home.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2005&file=Local_News2005041833743.xml
I think it’s “interesting” how they refer to them as low paid expats in the same breath that they condemn them for using these cheaper services.
One last note
I found out about maps.google.com just recently and this is cool. It might be that I live 8,000 miles away from TX but being able to see my old high school track gives my a warm fuzzy.
My old neighborhood
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.684973,-98.653686&spn=0.021672,0.015385&t=k&hl=en
My parents house (On the corner, in the center)
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.684865,-98.656583&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
My old high school
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.565496,-98.581095&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
Texas A&M
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=77844&ll=30.608940,-96.347394&spn=0.043344,0.030770&t=k&hl=en
The quad
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=77844&ll=30.613403,-96.336751&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
This has mostly been for the fact that life has been the same as usual without too many distractions. Actually that’s something I have found to be the most interesting. My schedule has gotten to the breaking point where actually don’t have any free time except for one day a week when I’m to dazed to enjoy it. Everything just wants one or two nights a week but when you add it all up you don’t have any time to yourself. Oh well, my Arabic classes will be done soon. At least until when the next session starts.Neurology … oh, I though you said Neurotic
For those who do not know I have a mild case of ADD (attention deficit disorder). This causes me to lose focus and can affect my ability to get things done. I decided to start getting treatment for it a while ago and have been taking a drug called Concerta. It wasn’t anything revolutionary but it did take the edge off of my ADD just enough for me to get my work done. About a month ago I ran out of my wonder drug and for some reason I keep forgetting to call the doctor to make an appointment for a prescription refill. That’s the irony in the condition, you don’t get a prescription refill because you forget, you forget because you don’t get your prescription refilled. It’s a vicious cycle. I called the local hospital a couple of times to work on this and when I could get through they would ask me to call back later. I was like Noooo, it took me two weeks to remember to make this call. So this is when I decided to drive to Hamad (the local hospital) and make and appointment myself.
On my way there I knew it would be a series of misunderstandings before I got anything that I needed. And is if they knew what I was thinking the first person pointed me to the psychiatric department but they had no idea where it was. Just in the general direction of another place I was unfamiliar with. So I decided I would go find it and after a couple of calls I made it to the “Medical Center” or better known as the floor above the Jaguar show room. It had a nice big sign on the outside declaring this was the place for sexual dysfunction and psychiatry needs. Man I hope nobody sees me going in here. I look around and after asking for the medical center and I was pointed towards the stairs. At this point I realized that I was spending my lunch on a wild goose chase that presently had my climbing a dark stairwell to Doha’s center for the sexually dysfunctional. That’s when I asked myself “How do I get into these situations?” I went into the clinic and talked to what looked to be the receptionist and she told me that their psychiatrist only comes once a month and asked if I wanted to make an appointment. After reviewing in my mind the steps I took to get here I thought it might be possible that I made a mistake somewhere along the way. I told her no, and called the Hamad Psychiatry department again. After being asked to call back on a different number I got more concrete directions which included turning off the paved road, drive around the vacant old hospital and you’ll see our building. Hot Dog, I can’t wait.
So I trudged along with these very useful directions and found myself in Doha’s psychiatric ward. I was seated in the waiting room with several guys who were mentally disturbed and I kept wondering to myself “how, how do I do it?” I managed to make it from my somewhat nice office to an old shack looking to score some Concerta. Talent that’s how. While I was sitting there this guy sat next to me where is traditional garb and just stared at me. Once or twice he said “I love you” but that was it. Yeah, didn’t know how to answer that one. With in about an hour a nurse took me to a waiting room to see what I needed. They were very confused I didn’t have a referral and wanted to know why I just walked in. After I told them my objective they said I needed to go back to Hamad and go to the Neurology department. Excellent. So I wasted three hours but I got to see another side of Doha.
I went by there this morning and wasn’t able to make an appointment because their computers were down. I was however was able to call them and make one later in the day. It won’t be until May so I wonder if I should have just gone to the sexual dysfunction place instead.
I got my iPod Woo Hoo
A big thanks to all those who contributed to the iPod fund this past Christmas. I finally got mine a few weeks ago. After the initial frustration that any new tech object gives me, I am now enjoying it. At first I learned that they are only formatted for Macs unless you plug it into a PC via a fire wire port that to my knowledge most PCs do not have. I scrounged up an adapter and was good to go. I then had a bum USB cable that caused a lot of frustration. Once I got a new one I was somewhat happy. I then learned I had to convert all my WMA files to MP3s or MAC compatible ones. No big deal, I opted for the MP3s because despite them being bigger in size (meaning I can put fewer on my iPod) I refuse to use any MAC proprietary formats. I sold out to Bill Gates and the Microsoft beast years ago, I’m not going back now. The issue here is iTunes (the software used to interact with the iPod) only offered to convert them to their format.
Well after looking around the web I found what I needed. I went from a product I had to buy, to a work around to that product and finally to one that I could get for free. In the end 3 hours of effort saved me $20. Not quite sure if it was worth it, but I wasn’t doing anything else that afternoon anyways.
So now I have my brand spanking new iPod I decided that I needed to download some books from Audible.com. I apparently forgot how to read when I was commuting from Conroe to College Station last year so now I listen to all of my books. Well here we go again with the whole proprietary format thing. I found out after downloading my first book that it comes in one big file. So if I pause in the middle of “War and Peace” I’m going to have to use the nifty click wheel and my memory to get back my original spot. Well I’m not a big fan of getting carpel tunnel syndrome in my thumb (can you do that) so I went through the same routine as I did for the last piece of software and found that the free one did the job again. I found a toy that let me put it in my favorite MP3 format and splice it up for your easier listening pleasure. For those who are interested go to goldwave.com I love those guys.
And in other News
One of the wealthiest nations in the world (Qatar) had decided to focus it’s inept police force from poorly directing traffic to preventing it’s most impoverished class of citizens (expats from India and East Asia) from making a phone call home.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2005&file=Local_News2005041833743.xml
I think it’s “interesting” how they refer to them as low paid expats in the same breath that they condemn them for using these cheaper services.
One last note
I found out about maps.google.com just recently and this is cool. It might be that I live 8,000 miles away from TX but being able to see my old high school track gives my a warm fuzzy.
My old neighborhood
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.684973,-98.653686&spn=0.021672,0.015385&t=k&hl=en
My parents house (On the corner, in the center)
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.684865,-98.656583&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
My old high school
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=78255&ll=29.565496,-98.581095&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
Texas A&M
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=77844&ll=30.608940,-96.347394&spn=0.043344,0.030770&t=k&hl=en
The quad
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=77844&ll=30.613403,-96.336751&spn=0.010836,0.007693&t=k&hl=en
posted by Russell at
1:24 PM
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