VANCOUVER – Google is planning to give the world a sneak peek at the venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Starting next week, Google will be capturing images in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., for its Street View feature. The service allows users to search for an address and see a 360-degree view of the street and its surroundings. Users will be able to virtually visit the Canada Hockey Place, the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Olympic villages, and other sites. There’s no word on when those images will appear online. Google says it has covered more than 50,000 kilometres of Canadian streets since launching the service in this country last month. (The Canadian Press)

Looking up Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, or Tom Brady on the Net can be hazardous to your computer’s health, according to Internet security technology company McAfee Inc.

Jessica Biel, 27-year-old actress, topped this year’s list of the most dangerous celebrity searches. Searches for Biel downloads, screensavers, video, and photographs have a one-in-five chance of leading to a site containing a virus. McAfee researchers conducted a study in which they gave a list of popular celebrities into various search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Then they counted the number of risky website results compared with the number of safe ones. Dangerous sites contained viruses and once downloaded, they’d overtake the computer, resulting in pop-up screens to identity theft.

Other celebrities that made it on the list include, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Giselle Bunchen, Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian, Reese Witherspoon.

Candylicious is the biggest candy store in the world….10,000 square feet of sugar lovin’ fun.  I got lost in the JellyBelly section with over twenty flavors to choose from…and yes, I spent $22 CAD on jellybeans. My favourite flavor was pomegranate. Also, you can buy the biggest Hershey’s chocolate bar. thank goodness it wasn’t Lindt chocolate, cuz I would’ve gotten it.  Hershey’s chocolate doesn’t woo me.  Here are some photos of the store…tho, we could take photos of inside the store (do you notice the sign?).

I’ve only seen this bathroom signage at The Address (Burj Dubai) in Calabar, a Latino lounge.
Female bathroom sign has a woman wearing an abaya.  While the man is wearing at thawb or thobe, or some call it a dishdasha.

Ok- I never understood the concept of building three hotel/residential complexes giving them one name. The Address is one of the chicest buildings in Dubai…now, you may ask which one?  So, there is The Address 1 (Dubai Mall), Address 2 (Downtown Dubai), or Address 3 (Dubai Marina). I hope I got the order right.  It can get confusing since The Address 1 and 2 is located on the opposite side of the Dubai Mall.  I went with a couple of friends and we ended up at the wrong building.  Here are some photos.   ]]> http://leilapejman.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/3-buildings-one-name/feed/ 0 leilapejman http://leilapejman.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/lets-hit-the-mall-just-watch-your-credit/ http://leilapejman.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/lets-hit-the-mall-just-watch-your-credit/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:09:28 +0000 leilapejman http://leilapejman.wordpress.com/?p=296 ]]>

Cause that seems to be the only thing to do in Dubai.  There is definitely some great shopping to be done here. But that’s it. For those who move here because the pay is better (plus tax-free), will still be in debt due to their newly developed hobby–shopping.   Malls here are pretty ginormous, I mean, you’ll likely need at least three days to cover all bases especially for Dubai Mall & Mall of Emerates.  I’m still figuring out how many malls are in Dubai.  I’ve counted 21!  Holy smokes.  Dubai is not a place for the low-to-middle class as it’s easy to build up debt…lifestyle here is expensive. Going into debt could lead to jail time.

Khaljeet Time (September 2009) explains, “It’s not illegal to be in debt, but if you default on it in any way you face a jail sentence. The slight upside is that once you’re able to repay the debt, the slate is wiped clean and your credit record is left unblemished. It’s not just a question of being blacklisted for credit in the future. Someone could commence proceedings in the country where you go and your assets might then be vulnerable. Debt-related problems won’t necessarily disappear the moment you board an outbound flight. The question of whether your debts will follow you is a complicated one and certainly one that you should look at very carefully, as well as take advice on. There are circumstances in which they could make life very difficult for you.” (read more)

Should North America adopt this approach? In the month of September 2009, nearly 130,000 US families filed for bankruptcy. (ewh, I hope not).

Here’s a list of malls in Dubai (I think Mercato is the prettiest).

Yesterday, I had to drive on a man-made Island, The Palm Jumeirah.  Yup, it’s shaped like a palm tree.  Dubai residents call it speed bump island, cause it seems that there’s a speed bump for every 500 meters.  The lavish, Atlantis Hotel is located a the top of the unbranched stem. Three years ago I never thought this fake island would come to fruition…but, lo and be hold it did. And it was pretty cool to drive along it. But I still don’t get why one would want to live there?  I wouldn’t feel safe, like if it collapse. I wonder what kind of home insurance owners would have to get.  According to Wikipedia.org the total cost reached US $12.3 billion. And it took about 40,000 workers, mostly from South Asia, to construct this island.

My non-Muslim friend gave me a great gift idea for the people I’d be staying with in Dubai…get them booze.  In Dubai, there are no liquor stores.  So, for those who want to enjoy a glass of scotch at home will have to drive two hours outside the emirates.  Tho, to accommodate foreign visitors, alcohol is served at hotels.  So, here I am trying to figure out whether I should buy a couple bottles of vodka at the Duty Free in Frankfurt or Dubai.  I decided to ask questions first at Frankfurt’s duty free… one of my questions was how many bottles can I bring?  The sales rep got the book and read the allotment…and then asked are you a Muslim? Yes, I am.  He replied then you are not allowed to buy alcohol.  I felt he was judging me as if I was a rebel and should’ve known that Muslims are not allowed to have alcohol.  Oops.  But then I entered Dubai’s Duty Free and I was allowed four liters of alcohol.

Twitter drama…is in the mist of BC politics, municipal vs. provincial.  A Vancouver city councilor has apologized to BC Housing Minister Rich Coleman for venting her anger on Twitter. Coun. Andrea Reimer disagreed with Coleman’s policy contained in a bill called the Assistance to Shelter Act he introduced in the legislature this past Thursday.  The bill gives police the power t force the homeless into shelter during extremely cold weather.

Reimer turned to Twitter to express her rage and wrote “Thinking about introducing a motion requiring police to pick up Minister Coleman next time he’s in Vancouver and drop him off at Jenny Craig.” Cruel. Reimer should’ve known better…seriously, it’s not Grade 4.  The tweet quickly went viral and prompted Reimer to apologize. Lesson here is that you should NEVER tweet when you’re angry…it just makes you look stupid.

Yes, the people of British Columbia will have to foot a massive bill when the Olympics are over. But, they are coming, so let’s just enjoy it.  I’m not a sports lover (tho I’m hoping to get tickets to the halfpipe).  But, I’ll definitely be checking out most of the live performances at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.  Earlier this week they announced Indie pop singer-songwriter Feist to join the diverse group of artist.  Other artists announced include: Malajube (Montreal Francophone indie-rockers); Dallas Green’s fold project City and Colour; Hey Rosetta! (from St. John’s, N.L); DJ Kid Koala (Montreal hip-hop DJ).

Previously announced include: Broken Social Scene (Toronto rock collective), K’Naan (Toronto hip hop artist); and Steve Earle (American singer-songwriter).

More than 130 music, theatre, visual arts, dance and digital programming projects have been announced for the Cultural Olympiad.  A series of festival runs from Jan 22nd to March 21st.