Ten Thousand Dancing Stars

The company gala dinner was held on the 15th Dec at the Godolphin Ballroom of the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel. A strictly black tie event, with a 3-course sit down dinner, some music and of course drinks.

It took about two months of preparation mostly involving chasing people for their confirmation of attendance. Yes, Lee, I feel your teacher-pains! You would not believe that a group of grown-ups would be so difficult to pin down on RSVPs! Sheesh! I just about lost all sense of sanity in the past 6-8 weeks because of this.

So it was a great consolation that the event turned out to be a great success. Attendance was at 80%, which was alright considering a lot of the guys were already away for the holidays. And then some just didn’t want to bother acquiring a black tie. Alright, alright, I know you don’t want to hear me ranting away so here are the photos. There were plenty of point-and-shoot cameras that evening and three DSLRs so our digital archive is bursting with photographs! But for the sake of keeping my sanity and making this post as presentable as possible, I will only show you photos taken by my brother-in-law Larry, who was hired as our official photographer and those I took myself.

Tim shooing the Admin Team to move back a bit.

These are the guys (yours truly included) who help the two teams above process the business they bring in. So as you can see it is a completely symbiotic relationship.It was a Christmas event after all so we had roast turkey with cranberry sauce and sprouts for the main course. The starter (Atlantic prawns with mango salad) and dessert (pudding with brandy sauce) were just too yummy and got gobbled up so quickly that I don’t have photos of them. Too bad there were no spuds with the turkey.

Don’t they look just dashing in their DJ’s?

I tried my best to talk to everyone but there were just so many people and so many things to talk about that I didn’t even get to wave to some people. Yet, others seems to have had time to talk about the business. I’m sure Adam (left) is talking to Phil about his recruitment strategies next year as his girlfriend, Dawn looks on.

Carlos seemed to have found the inner child in him!

And yes, there’s me and Bernie. Ugh! I look awful! Anyone notice the shawl? It’s my Shawl That Jazz! So warm and comfy.

We had some really gorgeous ladies that evening like BFFs Edelyn and Jezzel.And Heba who was shimmering in her pale blue dress and wrap.

But, hands down, the Goddess of the Evening was Nadine in her elegant black and gold Roman/Greek inspired attire. She was just stunning!

And this lot. You’ve seen them here in this blog before. Of course they have plenty more photos than others because they just love the camera. And the camera loves them back.

There was a lot of love in the room, but Darren was spreading something else other than love. Paul, I hope you washed your face!

More beautiful people, this time from our Abu Dhabi team.

The Abu Dhabi team again, loving the camera.

Even the office staff made an effort to come suitably attired. And they had a great night too!

After dinner and coffee, it was time to hit the dance floor. And no one raises the roof like Globaleye does! Yes, this might have been YMCA playing. Some guys couldn’t even spell YMCA!

Everyone at one point or another was on the dance floor just going with the flow. It was great!Even Olly and Karl! It was amazing to see someone as serious as Karl loosening up on the dance floor.

And of course the King of the Dancefloor was there too. He is so going to kill me if he finds this!

Joe sums it all up in this photograph – Number One! He is the company’s performer for 2009 and no doubt will be up there again with the best next year.Oh and there was an embarrassing moment for me when Tim and Andy called me up towards the podium to say thanks for arranging the dinner and the trimmings. They gave me a lovely bouquet of pink lilies and when I wanted Andy to say thanks to other people who helped me as well, Tim pulled me up towards the podium so I had no choice but to stand up there, face my colleagues and speak. They were probably wondering what the heck I was on about.

But I do want to thank Lovella, Sam and Jezzel for their help. I could not have beat all deadlines by myself. Thanks, guys!

Okay then, let’s get ready for 2010.

During Eid break in November, the family decided to drive up to Fujairah and camp out overnight. We have not done this on our own during the entire time we have been living here so this was quite exciting.

One of the main reasons for the trip was of course related to photography. We wanted to catch the sunset, which unfortunately was a bit rushed because of so many things which I will not go into here. We stopped on the side of the road somewhere at the end of Sharjah and kept clicking until that red disc disappeared beyond the horizon.
When the sun was gone, we had a group photo taken. I didn’t realize until later that there were 13 of us on the trip!
Along the way we stopped for supplies (fire wood, extra food, drinks, etc) and headed to the only known camping area. It had changed because when we passed through the place before it was this big, empty, sandy space by the beach. This time however there were tents dotting the place. It was a little difficult to find a place since there were no lights. We drove a bit and decided to park ourselves on this empty area between two large arabic tents.

We pitched up our own sleeping tents, got dinner started and got started with the fun. We had a couple of these tribal torches – made me feel like it was Tribal Council time and someone was going to be voted off the island!
It was great! We had fish and pork ribs, sausages, stew and pretty much a lot of food. It was not so cold but there was a bit of wind so we stayed out, by the fire, talking, eating and having fun.

I can’t remember what time I finally crawled into one of the tents but I got up once during the early hours since the others were determined to stay up and enjoy themselves. I got back to sleep later and woke up when the sun came back. Excuse me for the crappy photo.Breakfast was served a little later. After breakfast we walked along the beach, collecting shells and beach glass. The boys decided they wanted to go for a swim so we let them. I was having fun just beachcombing.I collected enough shells and beach glass to include in the swap package that I was going to send to Kate in Washington for the Sundara Secret Santa Swap. I hope she liked them.

My sister and brother-in-law posing against the mountains of Fujairah.Viel, Eibee, Joseph and Patrick….this is for you!
Mama’s idea, Papa’s work. Love you all.
I have always wondered if these pots were real or just painted to look like they’re made of clay.
After seeing Hatta, the Fujairah mountains don’t look as impressive to me anymore. It is still breathtaking though against the clear blue sky.
There were plenty of camels and goats and donkeys along the road. Farmers living near the area let their livestock graze on the low trees and shrubs. Did you know that in the UAE you could get jailed if you hit a camel? They are very protective of these animals.
Found this cow as she started diving into the trash bin for whatever leftover food she could find.
It was a great trip, could have been better but at least now we know what to do and what to bring next time.

That’s my brother-in-law and his family trying on the socks I knitted for them. I think they all fit.

I wanted to knit everyone something for the holidays but time ran out. This is the first time I managed to complete a set of gifts and on time too.

To recap, here are the socks featured above.Project: Brown Bricks for Kuya Larry
Pattern: Bricker Socks by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Solid, colourway Bark
Needles: 2.5mm
Cast on: 26 Sept 2009
Cast off: 18 Oct 2009
Notes: 5 repeats on the leg, 6 repeats on the foot. supposed to do these toe-up using Cat Bordhi’s Riverbed Architecture but I chickened out in the end!

Project: Shell Leaves for Ate Linell
Pattern: Veil of Leaves – Cedar by Cat Bordhi from New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock, colourway Shell
Needles: 2.5mm
Cast on: 7 Sept 2009
Cast off: 8 Oct 2009
Notes: Knitting this for my sister-in-law. She knows I’ll be knitting a pair of socks for her but has no idea about the yarn or the pattern.

Project: Peachy Ribs for Arryl
Pattern: Basic Ribbed Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Hundertwasser, colourway 2104
Needles: 2.5mm
Cast on: 11 Oct 2009
Cast off: 8 Nov 2009
Notes: Cast on 64 stitches and followed the pattern up to the toe where I used my new fave, star toe.I like how it gives a rounded finish instead of the silly triangular one.

Project: Muddy Ribs for Arvie
Pattern: Basic Ribbed Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL, colourway 30
Needles: 2.5mm
Cast on: 17 Nov 2009
Cast off: 24 Dec 2009
Notes: I picked up far too many stitches on the heel flap of the first sock so it has this baggy heel, but it fits well. These were dried on the dashboard of the car on Christmas Eve and wrapped just before noche buena!

Anyway, him and a few guys at work are going skiing in January at the swanky ski resort of Val D’Isere in France. I thought I’d knit him a hat to keep his ears and head warm. The only thing I asked him was the colour he preferred: blue or green. He said blue which was a relief since I wanted to use Gleam in the Dark for this hat and not dig into the other worsted colourways which I have already earmarked for sweaters.

I cast on with the prescribed number of stitches on the pattern and kept knitting until I have a good 3 inches of the stockinette section. I keep telling myself that it will fit but the more I looked at the hat on the needles, the more I realized that it was way too big. So two days later I ripped the whole thing and started over with 112 sts.

I bound off the night before our Secret Santa reveal day which meant that I did not have time to give the hat a bath. Stef had strict instructions not to wash it himself – I have serious felting issues but more on that later. I think the hat looks alright. Shame I couldn’t take a proper photo since it was a rowdy day at the office and Stefan wouldn’t stay still!

Project: Stef’s Val D’Isere Hat
Pattern: Samaras Hat by Jen Showalter
Yarn: Sundara Worsted Merino
Colourway: Gleam in the Dark, a little less than 1 skein
Needles: 5mm
Cast on: 8 Dec 2009
Cast off: 14 Dec 2009

Have fun at Val D’Isere, Stefan and don’t forget to take a photo of yourself wearing the hat while you’re at the top of that hill!

Oh and of course we have carols on the iPod round-the-clock.
It also means that we have our annual Secret Santa! Our reveal day was held on the morning of the 15th Dec at the office lobby, which now looks so much smaller since our number has more than doubled since last year.

Say hello to everyone!Tim, of course led the reveal and gave out the first of the presents.This has to be one of the most ingenously wrapped presents: a nice cheerful ribbon and bow around a Zurich policy document pack! I didn’t get to see what was the present inside but I hope it wasn’t just a policy document.
One of the best presents this year was this caricature of Thinesh. Pretty cool huh?
AJW blows up his sheep while JW looks on, with envy? Someone give him a plastic blow-up sheep!
Hands down the best Secret Santa present this year: Internet for Dummies given to our IT Administrator. Let’s hope he doesn’t really need it.
Funniest gift this year: Ironman boxers for JM. Last year it was the Superman boxers for PC. Are we following a superhero boxer trend? Whatever will it be next year? My Secret Santa gave me a Borders gift card which I will use this Christmas weekend. not sure what to buy yet, a knitting book, a novel or an accessory?

What did you wish from Santa this year?

Ruth put together this awesome package for lucky me.
The swap has a book theme and then customized around each recipient’s preferences. Ruth has me down to a T! Although I already have a copy of the book she gave me, I still appreciate it. And this time, I might even actually read the book!

There are two seashore scented candles which I don’t think I will light up soon. I like looking at them and smelling them too much to light them up.

And, get this, 4 skeins of yummy yarn! All from her favourite purveyor of yarny goodness, The Knitting Goddess. This is a merino-tencel base sock yarn in a yummy colour that I know would make Hala’s heart palpitate just a bit. I’m thinking shawl for this one. Maybe that new Citron Shawl from Knitty?
This baby right here is 100% Blue Faced Leicester. I love the mix of colours and will probably knit a pair of socks with this skein. I’m thinking another Knitty Winter pattern, Diversion? I think the colour changes would work well with those waves of garter stitch on the pattern.
This next skeins intrigued me the most. Yes, skeins because it has two skeins of complimentary colourways. It’s called Same Difference and this colourway is Neon. I ‘m not usually a fan of light colourways but this is growing on me. Ruth suggested socks with contrasting heels and toes. If there is enough yardage maybe I will do a Calvin & Ripple with these.
Thanks again, Ruth! enjoy your holidays back home and see you in 2010.

Now for something of an update. I am making small progress on my Sundara sweater which was supposed to have been knitted back in November. NaKniSunSweMo project, but there are far too many other projects taking my attention away from this. I am not bored with it, just my hands itching to work on others.

I knit a few rows each time I get and now have about 6.5″ of the body as prescribed on the pattern. Another 6.5″ and I start the bottom edging and then sleeves. Sound simple right? Great thing about top down, raglan sweaters: you can try them on as you go!

I love love love the colour. And, Eibee, sorry no you can’t have this purple sweater because it’s way too big for you. This is Tea Leaves Cardigan by Melissa LaBarre using Sundara Sport Merino in the Poppy colourway which I acquired through a destash.

I love the yarn. I love the pattern, which is simple and easy to follow. I’m debating now whether to do full sleeves or not, I guess we’ll see how much yarn I have left. Also I’ve been reading about the buttonband pick-ups. I’ve never done it before so really unsure how to do the “3 sts for every 4 rows” thing. And I want to do buttonholes all the way down the front, not just two or three at the top. That kind of sweater does not really help me since I am wide at the tummy.

Special shout-out to Rebecca for her generous, awesome help with the knitting math.
If I were to do this again I think I would add one or two more repeat of the garter stitch rows. Or add more stockinette rounds in between them to space them out a bit.
So what are you knitting right now?