I have been in Dubai for the past 10 days consulting. It is so tough being away from the family. I miss my kids immensely.
I typically put in long hours in the office, but Fridays are my day off. The first thing I did today was go up the
Burj Khalifa and faced my fear of heights. It wasn't bad, but I did find a deeper appreciation for all those
blue suit workers I used to see working on the
Burj when we lived in Dubai. A lot of them were harnessed on the side of the building in the open air (and only paid roughly $4USD a day, I might add). Truthfully, that is my description of hell.
Little know facts about the Burj:
1. It is the tallest building in the world (free standing and man-made).
2. Burj means building in Arabic.
3. The exact height was kept a secret until it was finally built.
4. It has 162 floors.
5. It has the highest elevator installation and the highest mosque.
6. It has the fastest elevator speed 64km/hour.
7. The top spire can be seen 94 km away.
8. Construction began September 2004, and the grand opening was on January 4th, 2010.
Sheik Zayed Road
9. The concrete that was used was enough to lay a 2,065 km-long pavement; and equivalent to the weight of 100,000 elephants.
10. Total cost to build was $1.5 billion.
11. It is about twice the height of the Empire State Building.
12. The outdoor temperature at the top is 10 degrees cooler than the bottom.
13. The price for office space is around $4000. a square foot.
14. It uses approx 954, 000 litres of water per day.
15. Only hours before the opening ceremony, Sheik Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, was told to rename the 'Burj Dubai' to 'Burj Khalifa' by Sheik Khalifa of oil-rich Abu Dhabi because Khalifa had bailed the Dubai Emirate out of financial distress.
Somehow this makes me want to ride a bike or buy a Smart car.
The month of August was probably the longest month of my life. Since the kids were stuck indoors all day long because of the debilitating heat, I had to find a solution to remedy their boredom and insanity. I can't really take the credit for the solution we had come up with because it was all Axel's idea. I think he knew the urgency for all of us to get a break. He insisted that I booked tickets for a week in Dubai at the Atlantis so the kids could have some waterpark fun and burn off a little steam. 
Atlantis is a child's dream come true. There are bright lights, imaginative displays and water, water, water. It was the perfect thing for my shut-in children. 
A highlight was when Xavier noticed a vehicle completely engulfed in flames. He must have saw it when it just started on fire because we practically saw the entire scene from start to finish. The response was slow and, to be honest, the firefighters did not seem like the swiftest crew around. They were more interested in watching it burn than putting the fire out. 
We spent two days at the waterpark and the kids could not get enough. They especially loved the 'Leap of Faith', which scared the pants off me. I spent most of my time sitting at the bottom of the waterslide waiting for my kids to come down. As a result, I heard 'Wow, that was insane!' in about 15 different languages. Man, I love Dubai. 
We probably could have spent another 4 days there, no problem. I have to say it was pretty nice to sit back and relax and have no agenda at all. Energy was burned, junk food was eaten, and inside jokes were made. All the makings of a fabulous trip! 
