Thursday, October 29, 2009

You got the best of my love...


The Natalie is back to bloggin' love. It was nice to be gone, and now it's nice to be back. This little computer diet I put myself on for a week, strictly limited to 10 minutes a day for emails only, and then, out of necessity, additional time for research about our upcoming trip to SE Asia, showed me a few things:

First, I can be a somewhat compulsive about the computer. Bet I'm not the only one out there like that! It was good for me to not be checking the inbox all the time. More time to take nice, deep breaths.

Second, I live for comments on the blog. They flat-out make me happy. OK, so I knew that before, but what I didn't know was this: if you don't want comments on your blog, follow my lead: write again for the bazillionth time about running and then announce you won't be online for a week. I can hear the wind whistling through the emptiness of my comment box. So sad.

Third, while I may have only spent 10 minutes a day answering emails and none at all reading blogs or on Facebook (the grand time-sucker of them all), I still spent plenty of time researching our upcoming trip (an activity I deemed "okay"), and didn't get the laundry put away, or all my household "spring cleaning" projects completed. But I thought about them a lot. Does that count?

Lastly, taking a little break really was refreshing and got the creative juices flowing. I recommend it! Suddenly I have ideas percolating for all sorts of blog post topics for you.

Now a question for you: is there anything in particular you'd like to ask, or hear about life in Dubai and the Middle East? I want to have scheduled posts pre-written and ready to go for while we're gone on vacation, so here's your chance, open questions about whatever you'd like to know and, as long as the coffee holds out and I can write about it without looking like a total moron, (I go for "partial moron", "sufficiently talented idiot", that sort of thing) I am on it for you.



Sharing the love.

9 comments:

Abid said...

Waiting for pictures from SE Asia more than anything!

I love how this blog isn't a block of text. There's pictures and paragraphs separating everything.

And while I may not comment on every post, don't fret! Every post does get to the RSS reader and is read. So you have at least one dedicated reader!

Abid said...

And now the daunting task of going thru the archives....!

*Paula* said...

Sorry about not commenting on the last post :o Somehow I missed it? I can't imagine how that happened. Anyhoo, I just love hearing about how different life it over there, especially all the little day-to-day experiences that are probably becoming normal to you now! It's the simple scrapper in me that likes to hear all that stuff. Also looking forward to hearing about your trips!

Anonymous said...

Did you get the boy out of diapers?

Jean said...

We're just back from Boise where we discovered that the Emirate of Dubai donated a Bedouin tent for display at the World Center for Birds of Prey. Since the center didn't have a suitable place to show the tent, the emirate went on to design and fund an entire wing for the research building, complete with falconry displays and artifacts from Dubai. Impressive and very well done. Apparently the UAE has been working hard to bring back falcons and the sport of falconry. So here's the question: Do you ever see falcons being flown for sport when you are out in the desert, running up sand dunes?

Anonymous said...

Though I never comment, I read your blog faithfully. I so enjoy learning how Americans live in other countries. Your blog has inspired me to watch more shows feathuring Dubai and read more information on it. I am especially interested in learning about the cost of things there and about the religious activity. First, is everything that much more expenisive - rent, cars, fast food, dollar store junk:-) or just is there an abundance of wealth and easier access to expensive items - like Manhattan in America? Are there protestant, Catholic, or other churches in Dubai or do non-Muslims have to worship 'underground'? How does "freedom of religion" work in Dubai?
I also wanted to say how much I enjoy the stories of your life there and since camals are my favorite animal, the camal pics are priceless!
Blessings, Jan

Julia said...

I was just happy you weren't in pain from running anymore and could get back to that passion of yours :)

I will be honest, yours and Dottie's blogs are the only ones I've kept up with. That's a compliment you can definately keep close to your heart!

Natalie said...

Thank you everyone for your comments and questions...they really mean a lot to me! You are wonderful!

Friendly Neighborhood Librarian said...

I don't always comment either, and I subscribe via an RSS feed which makes it easy to see when you've posted.
I also love the photos you post.
I'd like to know if there are "public" things like libraries?
And how hard is it to find books in English?