Hello, Doha

As of this moment, I've been here a little over 72 hours and have managed about 12 hours of exploration outside my hotel.  Initial impressions are very favorable.  These two skyline shots are from the vantage of my hotel.  The first is the "old" city center, the second the "new" city center.  Driving around today (the Muslim holy day) was easy, not much traffic; we'll see what Sunday (first day of the work week) brings.

Living in Limbo

While my company's policy on travel to Bahrain has been relaxed from "mission-critical only" to "normal," we're still not sure that's the place to settle, so deployment to Bahrain continues on indefinite hold.  We're hopeful that the government and the opposition will come to a settlement soon that returns stability to the little kingdom and its economy.  In the meantime, we're advancing "Plan B" which is to check out Qatar as a home base.  I'm scheduled to leave 14 March for Doha (the capital city) for a client meeting and to spend a few days doing due diligence on housing options, general living conditions, and the cost of doing business.  My colleague Alan is preceding me by a week.  If our findings are positive, I'll likely stay there while he returns to fetch his family.  Karen will come with them early- to mid-April.  If either living options or budget impacts are not acceptable, I'll come home and we'll continue to wait and see about Bahrain.