shaking knees...

It's been well over 20 years since I've felt an earth quake.  Living at The Pearl, Qatar ... I'm a little concerned, and have been for months as earth quakes continue to rattle off all over the world.  They seem to be progressively getting closer and closer and i'm just not convinced that the build quality here is as good as uh, let's say ... Japan  

I'm happy that Jack and Lucy are back in the UK ... i'm pissed that i'm here and had to go through that.  Sorry, 10 stories up with another 15 stories above me ... no door way would ever save me from that.  

So ... i think it's time to move. 

Followed by the Governator.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email that the governator of california, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was now following me, @sdolgy, on twitter. weird man.

I'll be back.

a day out in the dust!

Today Jack is going to the babysitters. Lucy and I are heading down to the Four Seasons here in Doha, for a day together. Sadly, we wont be spending much time outside due to the sandstorm.

What is a sandstorm?

It occurs when heavy, constant winds move the dust around and off the ground. Wikipedia has a great article, with a fantastic picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_storm

Here's a great aerial view of a sandstorm:

http://www.photoglobe.info/earth_from_space/spc_sandstorm_qatar.html

February 11, 2010?

Well, it's been a long time. Time has flown by. I cannot believe for one moment that the last blog post i put was February 11, 2010. So much has happened since then.

Been to Toronto with Jack and Lucy. Was great to see the family and to introduce Jack to everyone. I was well impressed by Papa Mike and Uncle Jake. Definitely an instant bond there between the Dolgy boys.

Sadly time wasn't on our side. We weren't able to get back in time to Toronto, and my last remaining Grandfather had passed away two weeks before our arrival.

Doha is hot. 49C isn't unheard of and summer really has only just officially kicked off with June 21, 2010 passing us. The country will slowly evaporate as people flee the hot for western climates. Lucy and Jack will head back in July and I'll head out to meet them at the end of July for a few weeks.

As always, work is a constant highlight. Diversity is fun. What am I working on these days? I'm asked this quite a bit. I just don't know. Everything? I know that's a poor answer...but it may very well be the best answer.

Technically, my position is still "Enterprise Integration Architect". To date, I think the only integration architecture I've done is integrating myself into other Enterprise's to help influence technical strategy ...

Suppose that's the quick 4 month round-up. Check out Jack's blog:

Jack Dolgy

We seem to put more updates there. Guess that's what happens when you transform into a parent. Still an odd feeling. Parent. Sasha. Parent. Weird.

My favourite bits about being a dad (seeing that my first father's day was Sunday gone):

- the smile he first wakes up and looks at me in the morning. genuine
- the smile when he spots me walking in after work. genuine
- the lip of doom .. appears right before a scream / cry session. priceless
- the laugh ... how do we lose that laugh? all kids have it
- the jibber jabber googoo gagaga speak
- how he looks like bugs bunny with two top teeth and two bottom teeth

-sd

an evening of mistakes

playing with a windows server i tried to do a few clever things. next thing i know it, locked out. can't do anything. after getting a SAC (serial console) i was faced with a challenge i've not had in a while. learning to do something new, quick!

netsh
wmic
net

who knew microsoft had such cool commands via command prompt. in the end, i couldn't fix my problem so had to re-image ... oh well. atleast it's a new skill.

hand is still in cast...few more weeks to go. frustrating typing with one hand and using a mouse with the left hand. bizarre.

right wrist has never been right, right?

So. Here is my right wrist. Nice, eh? Little history. Years ago I had two surgeries on my wrist within a month. Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex (TFCC) .. i had Arthroscopic surgery and then i had an open repair to correct some damage.

14 years later, a slip here, a fall there, and i'm back to incredible amounts of pain, unable to hold Jack, and massive discomfort. being right handed also sucks.

x-rays show no fractures or broken bones. MRI results show a lot of fluid around the carpals...so, i'm now in a cast for a few weeks to keep it immobile in hopes swelling subsides and fluid goes away.

if you never stopped to realize how important your wrist and hand are ... and how they work together, it's pretty cool. unless it goes wrong.

almost time to head back...

Well, 9 days is almost done. Jack has survived the bitter cold and damp of the UK with flying colours. Cool little adaptable guy. He managed through his first wedding and his first stay in a hotel ...

We head back Thursday and sadly Lucy has informed me that I can not say 'Hi' to our son on the airplane or near the airport. I'm sure you can figure out why.