Ha! friggin' told'ja...

A couple of tidbits I learned today....one I just stumbled across by accident.

#1 Just because a project has broken ground or nearing completion, does not mean that it will get finished. I am pleased to report that my previous employer, CSI got the proverbial carpet yanked from under them last week. Sales staff, admin and CAD people completely wasted a year of their life on a project. I can only assume you will not read it in the "Gospel According to Mo" (Gulfnews) as it is a 3 degrees of separation thing, but Harvard Medical School, Dubai Campus (HMSDC) has been shelved. That's right, get out, the site is on lockdown, they're shrink-wrapping it and moth balling it. Sucks to be them. This job was 70% complete and 25% paid. Boo-hoo.

I met with the Head C.S. of C.S.I. today and it was a very different meeting to our previous. Usually his line is ringing off the hook and his mobile is vibrating off the desk. Not today. His desk is usually cluttered with contracts, papers, his email "binging" away every 10 seconds, people knocking at the door. Not today. Today was quiet. An hour long meeting was interrupted by one call "do you want coffee or tea?"

I was shocked at the relative calm of the office. And at the exquisite coffee that was brought to me in the oh-so-ironic-chipped-mug. Life was good today.

#2 Don't pay Real Estate commissions anymore. One of the UAE's largest estate companies is now giving it away to buyers. Whoopity-doo. I was just checking their site to see what my palatial estate is renting for this week and saw this:



#3 Stating the obvious. The "Gospelnews" has become remarkable thinner in recent months. No longer is the front page wrapped in some glossy real estate announcement, and gone are the days of 37 property supplements. I am grateful, because it allows me to get to the drivel faster than before. Another surprise I had this week was scanning an issue of "Property Weekly", the property rag left on newsstands, restaurants and the like. It used to be as thick as a phone book. This week it was like a flimsy little brochure. The The National has a report on the dramatic drop in advertising spending found HERE A tidbit mentioned below:

Property adspend plunges

Keach Hagey

* Last Updated: January 25. 2009 8:36PM UAE / GMT

Property advertising, the largest advertising spending category in the country, dropped by more than two thirds during the final quarter of last year, according to data collected by the Pan Arab Research Center (PARC).

The sharp drop in developer spending from US$80 million (Dh293.8m) in October to $25m in December, combined with reduced advertising from the financial sector, helped to pull down total advertising spending growth rates in the last quarter, mirroring a wider trend in the Middle East region.