Mall of America??? Indiana Jones and Jerry West

Friday was a day off for me to get acclimated to the time change and get some rest from my almost 20 hours of travel the day before.

Attached to the Marriott where I am staying is the City Centre mall.  It is larger than the Mall of America in Minneapolis and features over 700 retail stores as well as a 14 screen movie theatre (nothing over PG-13), an ice rink, bowling alley, and a kid's area that is basically a Chuck E. Cheese.

Mall Entrance

Mall Interior

Qatar is a fairly secular country.  Although most of the people here are practicing Muslims and follow the daily calls to prayer and the dietary restrictions, most of the people here are very relaxed about the way they dress and women are more integrated into the rest of society than they are in say, Saudi Arabia.

I also used my free day to visit the Souq Waqif which is an open-air market which has all sorts of merchants and you can buy everything from spices to a fake Rolex or even a live falcon. When I first got here I was reminded of this clip from Indiana Jones

Restaurant area of the Souq

You can find just about every type of Arabic food at the Souq, as well as Shisha.  During busy times, all the outdoor tables in the restaurants are full of locals smoking this stuff.  It is basically tobacco imbued with fruit flavors smoked from a large pipe.  It smells like a mixture of incense and potpourri. When there are a lot of people smoking it, the smell can be overwhelming.  Speaking of smoking, everyone here smokes - everywhere. Indoors, outdoors, sometimes in elevators, while eating, on a boat, in the sky, while eating green eggs and ham, (well maybe not ham) It's pretty tough to handle.

Shisha Pipes (Hookas)

So I did a little shopping - I think the girls will be happy at Christmas, passed on the live animals, and enjoyed the scenery.

Shops in the Souq

Scarves for sale in one shop

Like many places in the world, copyright is more of a suggestion than law around here.  In the clothing shops you will find many brands counterfeited.  Judging by the number of t-shirts and other merchandise here, there seems to be a large fanbase for John Cena, Spongebob and the NBA.

The Logo - i.e. Jerry West on the other hand, seems to have let himself go in his golden years as evidenced by this duffle bag.

Next time:  Camel - does it taste like chicken? Food over here and more

Arrived and Acclimating

Well, it was a long day yesterday, but I arrived safe and sound in Doha - the capital city of Qatar.  My first flight was from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany and took almost exactly nine hours - arriving at almost 4 am Chattanooga time.  After a three-hour layover during which I had to go through security again, i boarded my second plane fir a 6 hour trip to Doha.

By the way, if you ever get a chance to fly Lufthansa Airlines, I really enjoyed my two flights with them.  The cabin crew gave amazing service, TV screens in the headrest with 19 available movies and a bunch of tv and music choices on top of that.  Free (edible) food and drinks (including adult beverages, if that's your preference) and very spacious Airbus jets. U.S. airlines - are you listening?

Here is the route of the second flight.

i' am still adjusting to the time change. I woke up at 6 am local time this morning and am wide awake.  As a result, i am heading to bed now.  I have actually fallen asleep writing this twice.

Tomorrow: Mall of America, Indiana Jones and Jerry West

Last one of these over US soil for a while.

We are supposed to have Internet service on the flight. If so there will be a blog post. If not, you will get one from Frankfurt tomorrow.

Packed and ready to go

Three meetings today at work then headed to Atlanta about 1 pm.

24 hours from now...

I will be checking in at the Atlanta airport for my flight to Qatar via Frankfurt, Germany.

I would like to back up a bit and tell you the story of how this trip came about.  The videoboard production for the Arab Games is being run by a company based in Raleigh and LA named Big Screen Network.  They produce the videoboard show for the Super Bowl and all of the NCAA Championships including the Final Four, etc.

As a result, I have worked with Big Screen Network on many occasions since we hosted the FCS Championship games at Finley Stadium and had the NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second Rounds at McKenzie Arena.

At the FCS Championship game, BSN would send in a producer for the game, but the MocsVision crew did our usual thing.  Two of the five years that BSN came to Chattanooga for the title game, BSN's Executive Vice President Bob Becker served as producer for the game.  I also got a chance each year at the IDEA conference to spend a little time picking Bob's brain about in-game entertainment and videoboard production.

This past summer, at the IDEA conference in Kansas City, Bob asked me if I was interested in working the Arab Games in Qatar.  I told him I was interested, but needed to check with my AD at UTC to make sure the time away was not an issue.

When BSN gave me an official invite to the games, I checked with Rick Hart - our AD - who gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the trip.

The real test was asking my wife Kathy about being gone for more than three weeks right before the holidays.  Her response was classic - "You can do it if you take us on a nice beach vacation this summer."

So essentially, this trip nets me another one this summer.

Meanwhile - preparations for being gone have proceeded.  Due to final exams and out-of-conference road games, I will only miss five basketball games (two men's and three women's) while I am gone, but thankfully MocsVision has a new Production Coordinator who will be filling in nicely while I am out.  Thanks Leah!

Some last minute packing and a quiet night with the family tonight.  Some meetings in the morning here at MocsVision World Headquarters, then to Atlanta for a night of flying.

Countdown to departure...

Many of you have heard by now, but I am about to embark on what should be an amazing adventure.  I will be leaving on Wednesday (Nov. 30) for Qatar to work the 2011 Arab Games.

I will be directing the big screen for the all of soccer matches played at Al Gharafa Stadium, one match at Al Rayan Stadium as well as the Gold Medal match which will be played on Dec. 23rd.  Qatar will be hosting the 2022 World Cup at these and other stadiums

I will be flying home on a red eye later that night and will get back to Nashville at 3 pm on Christmas Eve.  

Sometime between now and Wednesday, I will tell the story of how this all came about, along with my wife Kathy's reaction when we talked about going.  It's all a great story.