A wet winter. This is how I remember UAE from the 90's. I'm happy with this great beginning to this season, I hope it continues this way......my umbrella's have been in the closets tooo long....
Nachhaltiger Ökotourismus in den VAE
3 days ago
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34 comments:
i Loveee it!! I love the cold, the winter, the rain, the thunder. *sigh* It's beautiful! I wish we'd had this weather more often.
[The only thing i don't like about it is that it makes me come down with a colf/flu :(]
do you want a wise and conservative spending plan for the eid holiday? are you sick and tired of overpriced restaurants and outrageously exorbitant services? have you had enough of your wife's incessant demands for expensive yet meaningless stuff? are you worried about the quality of your life style with the looming shadows of the economical crisis?
worry no more!
with the latest spending tips of al yankovic, your wife can have whatever she likes and you get to keep control over your pocket, all at the same time!
Hey girl,
You know our economy's in the toilet
But I’m still going to treat you right
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
Tater tots, Cold Duck on ice
And we can clip coupons all night
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
Take you out for dinner, anywhere that you please
Like Burger King or Mickey Ds
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can even have the large fries (large fries) yeah, yeah
Baby, you should know I am really quite a sweet guy
When I buy you bathroom tissue I always get the two-ply
Want it, you can get it, my dear
I got my Costco membership card right here, yeah
You like Top Ramen, need Top Ramen
Got a cupboard full of 'em, I’ll keep 'em coming
You want it, I got it, go get it, just heat it
Dump the flavor packet on it and eat it
Pork and beans and Minute Rice
And we can play Cribbage all night
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
I can take you to the laundromat downtown
And watch all the clothes go round and round
And baby we can go wherever you like (if you like)
I said we can go wherever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
Hottest shawty I know, if you had some lipo
You could be second-runner-up Miss Ohio
Seven dollar bills rolled
Up inside my plastic billfold
Buy you a bagel even if it isn’t day old
And you never ever gotta wear your sister’s old clothes
As long as I’m still assistant manager at Kinko’s
Cut your hair with scissors and a soup bowl
You ain’t got to pay me, that’s the way that I roll
My chick can have want she want
At Wal-mart she can pick out anything she want
I know girl you ain’t never had a man like that
Who doesn’t make you buy generic brand like that, Yeah
You like my Hyundai, see my Hyundai
I can take you to see your cousin Phil next Sunday
But that’s kind of far and I’m not made of cash
Do you think you could chip in for gas?
Mac and Cheese would be all right
But let’s send out for pizza tonight
And you can order any toppings you like (if you like)
I said you can even have the last slice (the last slice) yeah, yeah
Ran myself a cable from my neighbor next do'
Now I can get free HBO
And baby you can watch whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can watch whatever you like (if you like) yeah
And you can always ride the city bus
Got a stack of tokens just for us
Yo, my wallet’s fat and full of ones
It’s all about the Washingtons, that’s right
You want White Castle, need White Castle
Long as you got me it won’t be no hassle
You want it, we’ll get it, just don’t be a hater
If I grab a bunch of napkins for later
Thrift store jeans on sale half-price
The underwear at Goodwill is nice
And baby you can have whatever you like (if you like)
I said you can have whatever you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
Baby, I can give you anything you please
Even share my government cheese
And baby you can have as much as you like (if you like)
I said you can have as much as you like (if you like) yeah, yeah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRVi0paZlfI
oh and Staind, sorry for spamming your post dude. i couldn't resist posting this.
and I of course like the photo and the rain :)
Yeah... its such a lovely season!!.
Such a beautiful pic!!. So simple yet it tells a beautiful story.
I was in an office on Thursday and suddenly the place started flooding. Never seen an indoor flood before! It's kind of scary...felt like the roof was going to cave in so I ran out of the now "waterfront" building! (term borrowed from seabee haha)
The power went off and the office had to close down for the day, and it wasn't the only place that lost power that day. Obviously it put business to a standstill for the afternoon...
Can somebody please explain why flooding happens in a modern Dubai? I mean the roads, and indoors...It's worrying...
True i maginate!!! aren't these modern buildings that should be prepared for some rain (this rain we had is nothing in comparison to what people in Europe have)... tells you much about the engineers and thier lack of interest to see these building stand for years...they just want their money when the project is done :(
Am sure it's beautiful. I hear there was a hailstorm, tiny to moderate pebbles - think the last one was in 95? Does anyone recall a hailstorm in 79/80 - HUGE chunks of ice, size of a blackberry or larger, fell from the sky then. Winter in the desert is gorgeous and Fujairah is just amazing!
i* ummm..you "ran" out on those Manolo's....hmmm? :p As for your Q, think best left to Nicks & DJs.
i*maginate, as far as the roads are concerned, I've noticed that they are coping better than last year. well, as long as there are road works, detours and construction all over the place, it's hard to assess the serviceability of the rain storm network of the roads.
as for the flooded office, i am assuming you're talking about a roof leak? there could be many reasons: bad waterproofing of the roof, clogged and unmaintained drains, badly sealed expansion joint. or it might be a porta cabin/ prefab/ steel structure kind of office you're talking about? in that case the leak could come through many joints that form the metal roofing (alum sheets overlapped poorly, bad sealants, bad rivets...etc...)
Rosh!! Was it the one where it was really bad [in terms of road accidents, etc] and people had never seen something quite like it before over here? Anyway, not sure if it was the same one [but I have a feeling it was], I remember my Dad got stuck in traffic in that and it was a terrifying experience with ice hitting everywhere...
Abu Dhabi drains worked perfectly well in the storms here today...
rosh...the last hail storm was 6 years back...and I wasn't there in the 80's hail storm but my parents have told me of the devastation that it created then....
Dubai Jazz....not an issue...and thanks...
The Wizard of D....thanks :D
i*maginate....cost cutting...anyway they always think it doesn't rain in Dubai but many people don't know that it used to rain a lot. More than it has in the past 10 years or so....The drains did work well in the newer areas but the system is still lagging in many Older parts of the city...
Veiled Muslimah ....we're talking of huge balls of ice damaging cars. One of my uncles car was completely destroyed on one side...
It was lovely last night at 2 am! :)
Aaah stained
what a sweet picture.
The weather is just delovely. Waking up in the morning to the sound of falling rain, being caught under a mischievious cloud and feeling the cold drops as they hit your skin.
I love the rain, and if we could have it most of the year what a wonderful place it would be.
Tonight as we sat on the corniche killing my already tortured lungs with even more shisha, at 2 am in the morning, a cloud caught us unaware, and as everyone ran for cover, I sat there in bliss thoroughly enjoying the sensation.
VM: yes, I think that's the one. I recall falling chunks of ice, thunder and damaged windscreens.
DJ - thanks for taking time to explain the technicalities of it...
good point about the 'rain storm network' but construction is not a new phenomena here, so shouldn't (new) infrastructure be built to avoid makeshift rivers on our roundabouts?
Re: office leak, it came through the front part of the building, all along a wall. Location: Cargo Village if you know it? It wasn't a portacabin. Btw to the untrained eye, is it poss to identify a prefab bldg?
And Dj, to your knowledge, are the newer developments immune to leaks?
i*maginate, you're welcome. Actually I was referring to road works and flyovers' construction in particular. Since it is required to re-route roads and make new diversion with every stage of a given road project; the new diversions will change the levels and the slope direction, hence changing the places where puddles are likely to stand. For this, dewatering pumps are kept on standby for huge projects like the metro or the first interchange (apart from the standard dewatering needed for the underground water), but those are hardly efficient in case of gushy rain.
In Cargo Village I'd assume it's an office with steel structure. In this case the leaks are probably taking place through full height windows on the front facades, since it's usually difficult to get the joint between the glass and the aluminum cladding completely sealed (not really difficult, just needs a professional job!). Porta cabins and prefab offices are the like of which you see in construction sites (temporary site offices). And those are very poorly maintained. I've noticed whole system of ecological habitat thriving in the gutters of some porta cabins. :)
As for whether new developments are immune to leaks, it depends. A concrete building is supposed to be immune, especially residential buildings with few or no expansion joints. But that's only in theory, 'cause in practice you've got labor who are paid pittance to do a job that requires skills and good workmanship (waterproofing in this case). A perfunctory check is done of course, but it's useless in detecting potential leaks. And once the building is completed nobody really cares to maintain the storm network. At the end of the day, it's calculated, or believed to be a rare occurrence. Which the continuous rain in the last few days had proved as a wrong assumption.
u people are just crazy. sentimental idiots. i saw a guy sailing his car in a small service road next city center deira a couple days ago.
'sailing' i said.
trusty me, thats a car maintance bill he's not gonna like after it breaks down totally dead.
Alah no more rain please until dubai municipilaity go to wikipedia and learn about the benefits of a drainage system under roads.
DJ - wow - you bring a touch of glamour to the construction industry! I've always been interested in how things work in that field, so thanks again for explaining (so well)
"Dewatering" - interesting. I'm just wondering why flooding occurs on existing roads in modern Dubai...or why they aren't fixed.
I got loads more q's like what an expansion joint is (will look these things up). All I see when residential bldgs are being made are those long coppery things :P I suppose they are not WIRES lol!
OK - another Q.
Ppl in the newer developments complain re: the quality of the interior...cracks in the wall, flooding etc. (been reading this on forums). Does the quality of the interior reflect on the quality of the construction?
1. Im scared, deathly so, of lightning.
2. Thunder scars my little brothers.
3. My car is black. rain is never a black car's friend.
God I cant wait for the 48 degree heat to be back!
i*maginate, my pleasure. I am pleased to talk about construction and clear some of the misconceptions about us rough looking construction folks :)
existing roads get flooded because: 1- there's no network. 2- network is unmaintained (clogged with the debris of 30 autumns). 3- network is inadequate.
This is tolerable for a city like dubai where it doesn't rain often, but in places where the annual rain fall is 1000 mm this could be a disaster. There, an efficient storm network is imperative. Actually, dubai is still better than many places in the gulf; when I was in Riyadh the water used to reach 1 meter deep in the lowermost parts of some tunnels. What did they do? Simply divert the traffic as there isn't much traffic there anyway! And the road network there was laid horizontally over huge spread of land. I've heard that they've recently learned their lessons and started pumping water out of tunnels. Dubai has the advantage in that its tunnels are ALREADY prepped with dewatering equipments (since most of them dip below water table- or underground water level), and as you might have noticed, there are no problems at all with the tunnels here.
Expansion joints are separation spaces in a structure of a building that is more than 35-40 meters long (so villas usually don’t have them). They are there to accommodate the expansion and contraction of a building due to fluctuating temperature. If you might have noticed, there is an expansion joint between each two consecutive spans of the elevated metro line, located right over the center of the pillar. On a roof of a building, such joints are sealed with elastic compound and then covered with thin aluminum strips (we call them 'flashing'). This arrangement is not always foolproof. Faults could be anywhere. However, not all expansion joints are faulty (I live in a small pent house in a building the office I work for has supervised during construction, and the expansion joint is right above the desk where I keep my laptop and it's absolutely high and dry over here!)
I believe the coppery lines you're referring to are conduits; hollow tubes where electrical wires could run through in safe confinement (and for replacement if needed). Have a look here and tell me whether this is what you mean:
http://www.skytronicsinc.com/conduit.htm
I've heard of the blunders committed in some of the new developments. They are mainly because of sloppy work: you can't expect a laborer who’s paid 600 dh a month to give you quality. And unfortunately, most of these faults appear in the finishing touch, that means they're visible for everyone to see. Generally speaking, cracks are not due to fault in the structure itself (well, I hope so at least!). most of the cracks are superficial and limited to plaster. (the thin layer of cement on the wall). Plaster has to be 'cured' constantly after it is applied. And it's done by pouring water over the fresh plaster whenever it gets dry. The process should continue for couple of days. Failing so would lead to cracks, some of them are fast appearing, and the others will take time, even months, to appear. By which time the building is handed over the happy owner. Buildings are ensured for structural stability for at least 10 years, so those cracks aren't necessarily life threatening. There are other things as well. Like in the case of villas on the palm, more than half of the owners have re-done their kitchens, that is purely a matter of taste, or it could be due to poor workmanship. And of course, I am always speaking in general terms as I am not aware of everything that is happening in the market.
Sorry for the long comment and I hope you don't find the redundant knowledge nauseating :)
DJ - construction folks are well fit ;-) Builders' bums lol...
Btw must have been a record the other day, I saw 4 hardhats at the back of a car! What on earth is this trend? I think 'what drives this person to open the back door, and reach for the back of the car to display their hard hats as if it's a work of art?' lol!
Re: comparison of Dubai with Riyadh - Dubai positions itself as world-class...so I just wonder what visitors think when they see a flood around central Dubai...
No, the coppery things are HUGE - when I see a building under construction of course there's the cement, and these huge copper coloured things 'binding' everything together...
'cracks are not due to fault in the structure itself': I guess that makes sense now. I thought cracks appear coz something is not right on the outside lol! Quite worrying hehe.
'Plaster has to be 'cured' constantly after it is applied. And it's done by pouring water over the fresh plaster whenever it gets dry. The process should continue for couple of days.'
I was having this conversation with someone and they said they are not happy with the process being followed in *clears throat* one of our famous bldgs...:) surely if you're saying this is the process, how come one floor is supposedly going up every week?
"Buildings are ensured for structural stability for at least 10 years" - u mean insured? Only 10 years? What happens after 10 years lol?
You should start up an 'industry watch' blog - you explain your field very well, and make it very interesting! I think I will be dreaming about expansion joints tonight :)
DJ - get your point in the 1st para.
Hard hats: same as cuddly toys in the car. What's the point?
Only your 2nd link works. No, what I mean is not that. What I mean is when you see a building going up, you see concrete and horizontal/vertical copper-coloured huge rods going perpendicular to the construction. Up and down. Massive copper-coloured huge wire looking things, 'connecting' things (floors, rooms, the whole thing when you look at it as lego)
As for ppl doing their homework on the bldng (one floor a week) - maybe tech. advances mean a floor a week is indeed possible.
isn't 10 years a shortsell? thought the insurance industry would be cracked up for more than that. Confusing. 50 years guaranteed and 10 years insurance?
To the untrained eye, I think your explanations are magnificent :)
i*maginate, I think I got what you're saying, it was actually the first link!
ok, here it is: photo 1
or as a second best guess: photo2
and btw, those 10 years are the insurance against strcutural defects. allow me to ellaborate:
the defect liability period for the building overall is only 1 year. that means if the plaster peals, or blistering shows up, or a tile takes a flight from the bathroom wall within the first year after handing over, the beloved contractor will have to come and fix it.
the 10 years insurance of the structure (structure means the concrete core) is different: if a defect in the structure shows up during this period, and it is determined that it is a result of the contractor's faliure to meet the precise design criteria during construction (which is most often the case), then the beloved contractor will have to come and fix it, too!
and 10 years is more than enough for construction faults to surface.
however, if it is a mistake in the design that lead to the defect, then it's not the contractor's fault. it's the designer's fault, which is rarely the case because the building then is designed to live for 50 years.....!
well, i kind of understand now why it all sound confusing. :)
DJ - my brain is currently being held together with expansion joints, trying to explain this coppery thing! LOL!! They are literally copper coloured. Don't know how else to explain it. Maybe I'll pop over to the local construction site and ask them. P.S. have you ever watched cranes go up? I love watching them in action haha! A crane operator's job is not as easy as it looks! I sometimes watch them doing their job from my window...their job looks pretty tedious as well!
Ermm ok...btw plaster falling off and tiles cracking sounds like my place right now. My beloved landlord will of course be sorting all these things out - he's an angel.
Why is construction a man's world btw?
DJ
http://uaeinteract.com/docs/Burj_Dubai_to_stand_tallest_for_at_least_a_decade_/33252.htm
"Burj Dubai to stand tallest for at least a decade"
Construction magnates are now in the know :)
i*maginate sorry for the delay.
i am really intrigued by those coppery things! okay, would it be possible for you to take a photo of them? let's hope i can at least identify them from a photo!
i am not really sure why there aren't many females in construction. I mean, it's open for all isn't it? the question might be directed back to females: why would you, lovely, young, bound-for--college girls prefer not to major in construction? by that i am presuming civil engineering. because back in the days we were split 50 50 in the school of architecture where i come from. even though if you could do a survey now, more than 90 % of female graduates dont practice architecture anymore. civil engineering is less appealing, even. as a study material and as a career. I think the main reason is the rough nature of the job. i met construction managers who run their sites like an army battalion. come to think of it: he's got the boots, the sweat shirt, the hard hat and the walkie talkie. Deploying labourers and sending them on hard missions and boosting their morals are all part of the trade. :) besides, construction is almost as stressful and thrilling as the military.
I see - well thanks for the explanation, I have always wondered.
The salaries are good, so why don't women work in this field if they can call the shots in other fields? I really don't understand.
Anyway my aim is to build a thriving construction business, so just watch me. LOL I may start on expansion joints, but my company will expand massively :P Just need brains like you lol!
'Deploying labourers and sending them on hard missions and boosting their morals are all part of the trade.'
OK sorry for the positive discrimination but don't you think women can boost thousands of men's morale if they manage well?
If you don't think so, I will delay plans on my construction company lol!
About the photo - well a fit new guy moved in next door, and he's in construction. I will try and get the terminology for the copper thing from him :)
@ i*maginate ~ I believe you are referring to rebar ("those coppery colored things"), common in construction. A reinforcing bar, made of steel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trebar.jpg
Thanks unJane - I think this is what I mean, only that I cannot be 100pc sure, simply because it's a close-up foto and from a distance, it looks a bit different.
A guess is yes, must be these coppery things I refer to. From a distance, in bldngs I've seen here, these 'rebars' in the wiki pic seem less 'haphazard' in comparison.
Tomo I will try and ask the construction ppl next door, if I have the chance, for the official terminology.
I must say, the construction industry is inspiring :)
Btw why can I see rope in the photo? Is it a temporary thing? I wouldn't think rope is used in the construction of a bldng?!
Re: coppery things, haven't managed to get the proper definition for them yet.
Upon closer inspection, they are not 'copper' but very dark grey.
The 6th floor seems done. On the top corners of the building, these dark grey rods are standing upright..am going to have to find our the correct construction lingo for this, so watch this space if you both are still watching :)
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