It’s a shorter list this time with more commentary. joy!

22 Firefox Extensions to Turn Gmail into a Powerhouse - Google took my gmail down on Friday afternoon. I’ve rarely felt so helpless! Here’s some pointers to customizing Firefox for gmail. Still love it - but may have to pay to get premium reliability. Any personal recommendations from this list or your own?

The dark side of Dubai - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent - a completely different look at Dubai from my week trip of last month. Scary stuff, though every place has it’s good/bad sides... just like us. Still, I’d return to visit.

Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre - I learned how to play Settlers of Catan back in 1996 in Rochester, NY, while at a Star Wars card tournament (I never learned how to play that card game). My UR friend Jeff Hannes taught me & Seth Leamer that Saturday afternoon - he was supposed to be writing about the tournament and was still obsessed with a board game - crazy! Well, 150+ games later, it’s still the one that got me into the hobby. Each of the family members have their favorite version (mine is Cities & Knights), but we rarely play it at game night as it’s almost considered old school by now. This article talks about how it’s gotten so popular in the US in the past 5 years!!! Guess I’m ahead of my time?

Magazine Preview - The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile - NYTimes.com - I have tremendous respect for the aged and legendary Dr. Dyson, though I disagree with him on a few hypotheses.

3-D: The Future of Movies - TIME - since I built the home theater, the only movies I’ve seen in the theaters are 3D or independent. I’m sure 3D home movies aren’t too far away, but they definitely justify the trip/experience now!

Rheumatology Exhibition and Conference 2009 to open doors in Dubai tomorrow | IIR Middle East - has a short interview with me.

Why is there Anti-Intellectualism? - intriguing question. I so often notice the anti-technology/science themes in movies/books that ride this wave of being afraid of what we don’t understand...

Topless Robot - TR Non-Review Review: Watchmen - I read the whole graphic novel and enjoyed the movie more for it, since it’s truly made for the readers/fans in mind (and out to ensure an R rating). Still, not the best movie, but I appreciate what was done to create it. The novel is outstanding.

His and hers: Study examines the role of gender in the stigma of mental illness - may not be new, but still fascinating.

And to close, some statistics humor: xkcd - A Webcomic - Correlation What’s sad is that I love this one - laughed out loud for certain. Oh how I’ve changed.

It’s been a full weekend! Actually, the main thing that separates this weekend from the others is that I’ve made a bit of time to write a note about it here! Don’t ever let me complain about not keeping myself occupied - always something new even if the actions or the way of experiencing it isn’t.

During lunch on Saturday I bit my tongue by accident surprisingly hard. I was embarrassed by it and didn’t say anything and soon forgot about it (though I wasn’t about to do it again!). Later in the day I noticed how my mouth was hurting and how it was painful to swallow anything. I didn’t investigate, but got ice cream (it was a great spring day) and all was better. Looked in the mirror and found that I had removed a small strip of the side of my tongue! It was swollen and had the teeth marks from where I punctured it. No wonder it hurt! Dinner was ridiculous, so I found ice cream again (root beer float) as well as some sake to burn/heal the wound.

Watched Sunshine in the home theater. Apparently it’s listed as one of the most beautiful movies in the last 10 years (see links) - directed by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle. While I expected a space sci-fi R-movie to have lots of people killed by some alien/computer, I was delightfully surprised with this one - yes, people still got killed. My only complaint was that it should have created more of a sense of what was truly at stake back on Earth, but that would have required a bigger effects budget, I suppose.

Later on Saturday I went to Omaha’s The Maxx, a gay dance club. A decent size one that was packed with techno/house dance floor and an R&B floor. I was surprised that such a place existed as I’d been missing the many places to dance back in SF. And, yes, I still have the moves... though am also still out of shape!

Back on track with the sun exposure, spend most of today pruning outdoor plants, cleaning and being domestic as it’s the first spring weekend that I’ve actually been home - what a treat! Tonight was movie night - showed Immortal Beloved. Nice to experience in the home theater.

TB & QBert continue to lose weight - they’re looking very good and are much more active now. The diet of 6 months really has made a difference! Now it’s a matter of letting all of the extra skin (& fur!) come back.

I’ve been keeping a daily update on Facebook this year - wish I could export them all as they do a good summary of what I’ve been up to. The daily twitter of sorts. I wrapped up an NIH challenge grant this week - it’s competitive, but no clue if that means it’ll get funded. It’s such a crapshoot it seems.

Thanks for reading - and nice to be able to write! Keep smiling!

I finally got around to putting up pictures from my trip to Dubai last month. I gave four original talks in four days with the invitation of my friends and colleagues, Humeira & Cathy, in Dubai. What a trip!

I arrived at 7pm on Monday night and had dinner on the beach just outside Burj Al Arab (the “7-star” hotel that’s the 2nd tallest in the world, on it’s own island, and looks like sails). Gorgeous colors light it up at night. You can still make out the helicopter landing pods near the top, too.

Day 2 Humeira took Claire & I to see the inside of the Burj Al Arab (you need special pass to go there). Truly gorgeous! Then we went to the Atlantis resort, had lunch, talks for the Emirates Arthritis Foundation and I gave talk#1 about the cost-effectiveness of RA drugs to patients, insurance providers, and a few doctors. That evening a small group of us went to a restaurant/resort out in the desert where we ate well and I did some dancing with the belly dancer and went up on stage with Claire for more public embarrassment/entertainment. I also rode a camel... in my jacket and tie!

Day 3 the conference, Arab Health: Rheumatology, got into full swing. I was taken to the local market - so much amazing fresh produce and seafood! Did some shopping at the souks. Still have a bit to learn about haggling. Saw a local art exhibit, attended several talks and went back to Atlantis where I gave talk #2 on safety of biological drugs and had a late dinner/bbq outside overlooking the palm and part of the southwestern city skyline.

I’ve skipped over a few important details. First, Atlantis. This $1.5 billion resort just opened in Sept at the top of The Palm Jumeirah, these large chain of islands in the shape of a palm. See Google Maps/Earth for more details - it’s amazing! I took pictures inside the vehicle with GPS to prove where I was on the palm. Second, there are cranes and construction all throughout Dubai! Over 50% of the world’s cranes are there and I can believe it! Skyscraper after skyscraper filled my views. My hotel, the Dusit Thani, a Thai hotel in the shape of bowing palms (hands), is along a line of skyscrapers that are next to the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 170 stories! It truly dwarfs everything within sight. Below it is the world’s largest mall. And you can see the construction of a metro rail line along the 16 lane highway outside my hotel window. All of the city is within a few miles of the coast - the desert is all too present. The temperature was in the 80s most days until the final weekend when it was near 100 and we had a wind/dust storm. Bus stops are air conditioned. This is the nicer season - the summer is much more unbearable. But since it was dry, seemed more tolerable.

Day 4. By now I’ve had serious jet lag, unable to sleep well and every day was tough to function, but the thrill of so much new kept me going. Another full day at the conference where I gave talk#3 on quality of life, work disability and non-clinical outcomes in RA. That night I went to a special art exhibit (Kids from around the world) and “hobnobbed” with the locals (which were almost all ex-pats). Then I had dinner with many of the rheumatologists from the region at Raffles, a well-known British hotel/casino brand with a pyramid hotel.

Day 5. Friday is the beginning of the weekend, but many docs still showed up for my 9am talk#4 on how to create a rheumatic disease database. It went well over an hour, but that was good as the next speaker didn’t show. That afternoon I went on a desert safari with Humeira, the guest statistician, Kok, & wife from Singapore, . I thought this would entail a simple drive through the desert to see the few animals and sights... I was so wrong. This was a 2.5 hour rollercoaster of a drive through the tremendous dunes! Our driver/caravan was crazy! Yet, so much fun! If I didn’t get car sick, I would want to go again (as it is, I’d like to make such a drive myself). Sliding down giant dunes, going sideways, getting stuck, near collisions with other trucks (all with roll bars) - great fun! The ride ended with dinner and more belly dancing out in the desert (yay!). I held back on dancing this time, though I befriended a newly-wed couple from Pakistan.

Day 6. This was a full day trip to Oman - the tip of the Arabia peninsula at the Straight of Hormuz. It’s a near-uninhabitable collection of giant rocks with a bit of a bay inside that we toured on a dhow. I swam in the water - I was the first one in and the last one out both times we stopped. There was red tide that we avoided, the fish that I avoided, the dolphins we couldn’t get enough of, and the reef sharks we smiled at (and avoided). Considering I have a fear of heights and sharks/water, I was definitely enjoying the thrills! The drive was long - 4 hours there, but the driver was different on the way back and drove our bus like a madman, making it in 3 hours! In time for a home-made meal among friends/family.

Day 7. Cathy & I went shopping at one of the big three malls - the one with the indoor ski slopes. Very impressive place, though it could have just as easily been a fancy mail in another big city. I did pick up a new large luggage bag to replace the current one with broken handle. Picked up some postcards, got a Chinese massage, and then one last dinner in an amazing looking skyscraper (I forget the name, but part of twin towers) with a new local friend. The flight back to DC was 15 hours long (12 hours to get there).

In summary, was wonderful to spend time with great friends, make new ones and future work colleagues, to see such futuristic architecture/engineering marvels, and to learn so much of the native and local cultures (not just the capitalistic side). I’ve said I could live in Singapore, and now I feel that Dubai is livable as well - much yet to be done there, but was great to see a piece of it during the boom (and bust).