The Power of Retail

Here’s another picture. This one was taken last month at Festival City. I quite like the place, even though the stores are not all that interesting, mostly repeated from other malls, and not all the stores are open as yet. The restaurants are good here and there are lots of cafes and hang out spots as well. Our old favorite Au Bon Pain will soon be opening there…or might have already opened in our absence.

Enjoy!

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My beloved laptop has been undergoing a major overhaul for the past few weeks. There were several small irritants and problems that I had been facing for the past few months, which were not fixed the last time I had some time off from work. This time, I have lots of time, since I am on complete chutti and am only enjoying myself with a bit of surfing and blogging while I am here. The only thing that remains is a battery, that has been ordered and will be arriving shortly.

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I’ve been taking lots of photographs lately and here is one that I clicked last week, when we were on our way back home, of the construction around the Business Bay area. No matter where you go in Dubai, you can spot the Burj Dubai, making it quite an icon, and it’s not even ready as yet. Just imagine how amazing and eye catching it will be once fully constructed. The funny thing is that even though it’s not complete, it has claimed the tag as the world’s tallest building, but there are several other even taller buildings being planned.

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Updating my blog after a long time as I have been totally caught up in the wedding festivities which culminated with the Reception last night. I can’t believe that it’s all over already, since we’ve been planning and organizing everything for so long. I’ve taken tons and tons of pictures, but am not going to be posting any of them here, since it’s just too personal. Hope to get back to more regular postings here though.

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Been checking my stats and noticed that I’ve been getting a lot of traffic from Sweden lately. I wonder if it was because I’ve been writing a lot about Ikea lately? It certainly looks like the reason, that suddenly Swedish bloggers what to link to me or read my blog. While I like to blog about international retail developments and trends, lately I have been concentrating a bit more on just the local scene and personal inputs, which I hope to change.

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Well, I’ve been having a bit of problem by accidentally deleting some of my posts and am now not able to get them back. Still have to figure out what is going wrong but until then I guess, I have to make sure that I am doublely careful when it comes to managing my edit page, where I have all the controls over my posts.

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College is an essential part of one’s lives but with the cost of a college education rising so drastically in the past few years, a lot of students fore-go it entirely. The actual cost of a college education might be high, but students fail to realize the value they will receive from these four years of education. The concept of going to college should not be something that is optional, each and every student that graduates from high school should have plans to continue their studies further to college.

Cost is of course, the main reason that students bypass college, but if it were easier to get student loans which had easier and more flexible repayment options, then there would be a lot more enrollments. Even at present there are lots of options such as federal stafford loans for college going students, but most are not known to the average student. I wonder if students know how easy it actually is to apply for a stafford loan?

The process is quite straight forward and it is possible to fill in a form online, after which a Stafford loan application will be sent to you, which needs to be filled out and sent back to them and that’s pretty much it. They don’t even require a credit check to process the applications. The only requirements are that recipients must be US citizens who have a high school diploma or a GED certificate and not be defaulting in any other student loan program. Students must also be enrolled at least half time in an accredited degree program.

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Making money is serious business, but never before has it seemed so much fun as it is now. The Internet has not only created a whole new wave of money making opportunities but it has also made it possible for anyone to access this information with ease from anywhere in the world. I came across a site called KCLau’s Money Tips that discusses how to make money online and how to plan wealth. Written by KCLau, a financial planning professional living in Malaysia, the blog offers a wide variety of tips on how to make and how to grow it.

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Looking for a new house or apartment is no easy task, especially if the place is in a different city or a different country. Well, that’s exactly what we’re facing these days. I’m surfing the internet to find the best deals and a good real estate broker who will be able to find us the kind of apartment we are looking for. Since we’re not in the same location, we need someone who understands what we want and shortlists some places with potential when we visit, so we can finalize immediately. Let’s hope for the best…

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