Qatar Aggie Muster and Stuff

Aggie Muster



As did tens of thousands of other Aggies I celebrated Aggie Muster this past April 21st. For those not familiar with the tradition muster is the time of year when Aggies get together, tell good bull stories and remember fellow Aggies who died in the past year. They are remembered by having their names called out and a friend or classmate answering here for them. This was the second time Muster was celebrated on the Qatar campus and it turned out to be an enjoyable event. I was asked to call out the names and was happy to accept the honor. The muster speaker was Dr. Curtis Farmer. His family has lived in Texas literally from its declaration of independence from Mexico. He gave everybody in the room a brief history of Texas and how the mentality of the state relates to the ceremony of Muster that we were celebrating.



From what I hear last year the students were cautious about celebrating it because they thought it might be some religious ceremony. I guess even those who haven’t heard the jokes about A&M being a cult gets the impression from time to time. This year was different and the students were happy to participate. One of them played a keyboard while I read the names and the rest that were present lit candles for the 21 names that were called. It was decided that we would call the names of all the current students who had passed away and the names of the soldiers killed in action while in Iraq.



For more information visit:



http://www.aggienetwork.com/muster/tradition.aspx.



Its an amazing website. Whoever worked on it must be a genius. :)



Car Woes



This blog really isn’t intended to be a listing of mishaps that I’ve had while here in Qatar it just seems that way. Well I think the beast has had it and if it hasn’t I don’t care. I’m rolling it off a cliff. Well if there was a cliff around here I would send it off of it. I have resigned to fix it one more time and put it up for sale. I don’t know what triggered this, maybe the rattling / burning engine, who knows. It has oil in it, but I don’t think it is making it to where it needs to go. I’m having my trusty mechanic guy work on it and I will then put it up for sale.



In the mean time I thought I was going to be the owner of an almost new ’04 Lancer with a 1.3 liter engine. That reads as a reliable safe car with a small motor that isn’t going to turn any heads. About 12 hours before the purchase I was called and told it was no longer for sale because the price of new cars has gone up since the value of the dollar has dropped. I never thought the falling dollar would affect me but it looks like it just did. No big deal, I’m just going to have to do some hurry up offense on finding a replacement this weekend.


1984


I have just finished listening to two pretty interesting books. The first one was "1984" written by George Orwell. It has some pretty interesting ideas that rival any conspiracy theory I've come across. The premise of the book is that we are all being watched by Big Brother. There are three classes in the books society, Inner Party (The puppet masters), The Party (The enforcers) and the mindless drones (remaining 85% of Society). The inner party gives the orders, while the party carry's out the orders and the mindless drones just do whatever makes them happy. This usually includes killing themselves with gambling and drugs or other cheap tools that keeps them from reaching self awareness. Everybody listens to Big Brother because if they don't they will be killed. Anybody who appears to go against the party will be killed. So I thought it was going to be the usual story of corrupt power taking advantage of the little man for their monetary benefit. The twist that made you sick was the idea that big brother did this not for some cash payoff but power was the payoff. Big brother had the ability to create a society that would raise the quality of life for all of its citizens but chose to rule them by fear in order to keep control of the power. Their ultimate goal wasn't to create a better society but only to keep the power. Their methods were focused on having submission as the end not just a means to it. The most consistent way submission was coerced from the public was by war propaganda. They had to do X because it was for the good of the nation and it would help them beat whoever they were at war with.



It reminds me of real life scenarios that you see in countries all over the world. How many people just listen to what the news tells them and trust that it is not being controlled. If not the news what about their religious leaders or simple rumors that are spread. It creates an environment of fear where conformity is the best option on an individual basis but the worse option for the society. I haven't seen anything as bad as what was in the book but the book is fiction after all.



I really can't do justice to this book in a couple of paragraphs so if you would like to read more here are a few links



Cliff Notes



Information from Amazon



I'll talk about Dirk Gentry's Holistic Detective Agency next time.



And in other less depressing news



Qatar's Robot Camel Jockeys



Why do nerds confuse Halloween and Christmas? Because OCT31=DEC25.



Blogs from Iraq, just random ones I came across


http://baghdadgirl.blogspot.com/


http://aviraqi.blogspot.com



If you don't pay your phone bill in Doha