Interesting times in the Middle East

With uprisings taking place throughout the Middle East, and history being made, it is an interesting time to be here (for those of us that are safe). Qatar is not really affected, but there are demonstrations in every direction around Qatar). The nearest trouble to us is in Bahrain, just to the north of us, and also in Yemen, to the south. Here on the camp, had a few drinks and games of Pool at the bar with a few Phoeninx members last Thursday evening, followed by a long lay in on the Friday. I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks, as there are problems with the Steam system. So a team has been put together to simulate the Steam control on the OTS system, and correct the problems on the plant. This is very high profile, so the pressure is on! I have another two weeks here before having a two week break, so I am looking forward to that. Several people are leaving over the next few weeks, including another three of the Ozzies, and a few Indians. Serkan is on leave at the moment (another reason I am so busy), then comes back on March 5th, for his final rotation. Martin Brown has recently joined us, after 8 years at Honeywell in New Zealand. I will be going to lunch soon, followed by puting my feet up and resting, after another good session in the gym.

Rotation 5, End of Week 3

Another week gone by very quickly. Been very busy this week with some VB and Windows Scripting, for a Fast Trend application. Wednesday evening we (the C10 team, site management and some important Shell guys) went to the Al-Mourjan Lebanese restauraunt in Doha, to celabrate completing all Phase 1 and 2 integrations. The food was very good, and there was more than enough of it! So thanks to Wissam for arranging the meal. I over did my session on the exercise bike this morning, knocking up 82km, and my bad left knee did not thank me for that! Just come back from a brunch at the Phoenix bar. Had a bit of a fry up and a nice cup of tea to wash it down. Now resting my legs for the afternoon.

Barbeque At the Phoenix Bar

This Tuesday the Phoenix Club decided to have a barbeque (and a few beers) outside of the Phoenix Bar. Photo on the left shows Gerard supervising the barbeque, keeping it safe from intruders. At the barbeque, are Kevin Fegan, Dave Robson, Bill (non-Honeywell), Michael O'hare, Mike Langan, Daren Brown, Julian Cox, Norman Belton Gerard Brennan and myself. There has been a few rain showers here in January, and the rain did try to ruin our barbeque, but we persisted, and won out in the end. Already the end of my second week, five weeks to go, as this rotation I am doing seven weeks. This week I have been looking closely at OPC links, setting them up on my laptops and VMware systems. It has been quite interesting, not to mention challenging, but I have learned a lot about OPC interfacing, so it was worth going through the process. Just made my weekly trip to the gym for a two hour session on the bike. This afternoon I will put my feet up and watch "Knocked Up" on DVD.