Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

Greetings from sandy Kuwait! Today was another quiet day before I get to work tomorrow. As such, the length of these messages will shorten until the weekends when I can have an adventure or two. It started well enough at the breakfast buffet downstairs. It was one of the nicer one I’ve seen. Being in Kuwait, there was Turkey Bacon and Beef Bacon but no Canadian Bacon. To ensure that the hotel guests don’t accidentally violate Islamic dietary restrictions, no pork is served here. No worries as the beef bacon tasted very much like its pork counterpart. In addition to the traditional Western menu of eggs, breakfast meats, cereals, fruits and pastries there were Arabic items such as cheeses, yogurt, nuts, hummous and other delights. I quickly determined that I wouldn’t do all of it in one day as I plan to use these two months to trim down, not to bulk up. But with a start to the day that is so bountiful your eyes get pulled into and your stomach goes along for the ride. I felt pretty good...

Well, as I’ve said often enough, business travel isn’t that glamorous. And unless you’re the CEO of a Fortune 100 company, business travel can be quite wearisome. Today was a classic example of WCGWWGW – What Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong. Yet it was not without redemption… My internal clock didn’t reset as quickly as my mind wanted it to, and I didn’t get to sleep until 1:00am. (OK, I was watching an English Superleague rugby match on my niece’s TV.) But I was really worried about not waking up in time for my 9:00am flight to Kuwait. So I found an alarm clock in my niece’s room and tested it. Turns out it wasn’t loud enough. But in an act of faith I set the alarm clock for 5:30am, figuring I had to get up, shave (always better when going through Passport Control) and walk to the airport (door to door in 10 minutes!). The alarm never went off. Because I woke up at 3:00am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I ate breakfast (the Khalaf special – a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit), and flip...

As some of you know (and others have found out by now), I'll be in Kuwait until October 1. I'll be returning to the United States on October 2. So enjoy travelling with me!

Hi all, I decided to enter the blogosphere based on the great reception I've been getting to the e-mails I've been sending out. You're welcome to subscribe to the blog, invite friends to it, enjoy it and interact with it! I look forward to hearing from you. Blessings, Khalaf.