Rick Beeman

Short blog tonight…Yeah…I say that and watch this one be one of the longest.    I really never intend for the length of these I just sit down and go til im finished.    I’ve been known to fall asleep during the late night blogging…I come up with some pretty strange sentence structure.   OK…I certainly need to listen to more Joel Osteen.    You’d think after attending his church for two years, I’d get his drift.    Don’t focus on the negative…focus on the positive.    So I’ve been bellyachin’ bout my issues (Texan drawl…intended).    I do have a lot of wonderful things to be thankful for, so I’ll focus on those.    I know God will sort out the rest.   It’s weird, I talked to my kids tonight.    And while I was talking to Max, I heard a drill in the background.    New hubby #2 was taking Max’s door off the hinges.    I asked why, and he said because he doesn’t need privacy.    I asked if he could go outside for a private conversation (I don’t want people overhearing.    A dad should be a...

Well Im glad to say that I found a church.    Went to Saar fellowship again and It felt like a home church the second time around.    The message was all about being a stream in desert.    That’s what Im called here for I believe.    The Pastor is Australian, and he’s an intellectual teaching pastor, which I respond better to.    He gave an interesting statistic.    Christians in Bahrain comprise of .01 % of the population.    That’s roughly 1 in 10,000.    That was even further confirmation that Im in the right place. Here’s more confirmation, I somehow felt God was calling me to start a Bible Study, Men’s group, maybe it would even grow into a church, I don’t know.    But so far, I have six men and one woman ready to start it up, and I haven’t really even tried.    They were brought to me.   Another thing that God had laid upon my heart was to start a film industry in Bahrain.    How…I don’t know…the details are up to God.    He’s just prompting me, and im trying to listen.    I was ...

A cool day overall.    It was a really weird week.    We worked the first day of the week, had three days off for Eid, then worked the last day of the week.    I don’t really need a weekend, but I’ll take one.    With my title and position, I’m always working anyways.    Even when im out socializing, its all networking opportunities.   It turns out December is going to be a very good month financially for KSDI even though it has all the holidays.    The bread and butter of the company for years has been its wedding video service.    (Im going to change that in time).    But one of the things about most Arab weddings is that they are all females.    Usually the only male in the bunch is the groom.    So that means we can’t use our normal crew, instead we have to use an all female crew.    When we have two weddings on the same day that are both all female, it sometimes proves to be a challenge to find enough competent freelance women to cover both events.    Such is the case next Friday ...

A cool day overall.    It was a really weird week.    We worked the first day of the week, had three days off for Eid, then worked the last day of the week.    I don’t really need a weekend, but I’ll take one.    With my title and position, I’m always working anyways.    Even when im out socializing, its all networking opportunities.   It turns out December is going to be a very good month financially for KSDI even though it has all the holidays.    The bread and butter of the company for years has been its wedding video service.    (Im going to change that in time).    But one of the things about most Arab weddings is that they are all females.    Usually the only male in the bunch is the groom.    So that means we can’t use our normal crew, instead we have to use an all female crew.    When we have two weddings on the same day that are both all female, it sometimes proves to be a challenge to find enough competent freelance women to cover both events.    Such is the case next Friday ...

It’s weird…I think im under such a state of spiritual attack lately.    The enemy will try to get at your vulnerable points and if it doesn’t work, he’ll try different things until he strikes a nerve.    I’ve been able to withstand the attacks, but they are getting wearisome, so your prayers are still coveted.    Lately, he has been targeting my loneliness.    I so want to be in love…desperately so.    That is a weak point…and the Enemy is ratcheting up the despair.    When I don’t have work to distract me, im much more vulnerable.    Im aware of this, so I have to prepare.    I think when Guy the Canadian, comes out in a couple of weeks that will sure help.    I know God’s plan…he has one…I just have to be patient.   I went into the office today (holiday) to meet Mo.    We are finishing up his video project.    Its always nice to work with him, he’s got so much energy.    He asked me about the Romanian.    I said…she just wants to be friends.    He replied…ah that’s no good man…you ne...

What an interesting day. I had set up to go out with the Romanian around 3. I so enjoy her company, she really is my best friend on the island. The fact that she is beautiful, smart and sexy…sure makes the whole platonic thing challenging…more on that below. I went to my new favorite breakfast place a Mexican joint called Senior Pacos. I get this great Mexican breakfast for $5. ,Im almost done with my book “Case for Christ.” Which takes an intellectual look at proving the existence, power, and resurrection of Christ. I want to finish it quickly to give to some of my more intellectual friends here. Nadiya and Tanya are part of the Palm association, which I did the fundraising video for. They had a lot of ladies donate some of the their costume jewelry, so Tanya suggested I take a look at it to see if I might want to buy any of it for Christmas for Lindsey. I went over to Tanya’s house, and we talked. I really enjoy Tanya, perhaps its because we are both middle children…and have...

It was the first day of Eid-Alhda today, which means we get three days off.    It’s the Arab version of Christmas vacation.    Normally days off are quite welcome, but as I mentioned yesterday, when I don’t have activity, I just feel like im more alone.    As you faithful readers will have noticed, I sometimes vent and complain about my divorce in this space.    I also bemoan the fact of my singleness.    I was able to log on to Lakewood’s (my home church’s) website and watch a service online.    It was nice, because normally there is a delay when you watch video with the unstable broadband here.    But this time, there was no hiccup with the hour long broadcast.    It was refreshing because normally only the 30 minute version is broadcast, but online it was the full 60 which meant it had the praise and worship segments as well.    I needed that because the best thing about Lakewood is their emphasis on the praise and worship.   The message from Joel Osteen then really convicted me.   ...

Eid Mubarak…  So its Eid, and I have three days off.    I was trying to get a wire transfer in back to the states before the holiday tomorrow.    We are ordering about $15,000 worth of equipment.    Its cheaper to order it from New York.    So I wanted to get the order in, so while the office was closed…it would still be in the process of being shipped..so I would feel a little productive.    Our local bank branch was open…so I got excited…but the main branch was closed.    The main branch won’t open til Thursday, but then our affiliate branch will be closed then…Confusing…yeah…I think so.    Bottom line, I rushed and rushed to get the order but now..with everything stopping on the Island…it won’t get done til next Sunday.   We had a sheikha (member of the Royal Family) order a wedding today.    That was kind of exciting.    Weddings and digital photography has been the bread and butter of KSDI, but I see that changing.    I think our future will be in web development, corporate video ...

I keep telling myself that Saturday is my day of rest (it’s your Sunday/last day of the week or first depending on your preference.)    Not much activity happens on a Saturday because people go to the Mosque or Church on Fridays.    So I stay up late usually Friday night to sleep in on Saturday, the later I stay up, the longer I sleep in, so I don’t have to face the day being completely alone.    I don’t like being alone, but for this season in my life, perhaps I’m called to it.    Usually I have work to distract me from my solitude during the week, so I easily work 12 hours a day, but when its fun, its not really work.    I don’t like being in the apartment by myself, that’s probably why I spend so much time online.   I did sleep in and prepared my day to be alone.    I had an agenda of things I wanted to accomplish.    I was supposed to meet The Romanian later in the day for dinner before she worked her flight to Paris.    As I was heading down the stairs, I got a text from her, want...

I see white people OK…I swear im not racist, even though I talk about races all the time.    Truth is my best friends in the world, one is an Iraqi, the other Taiwanese, the other Mexican, the last a black guy and I work with Indians and Arabs.    I really ought to find an Eskimo friend…then I would have the circle complete.    Im fortunate that I grew up in such a multi-cultural environment .    I guess the main difference between the Middle East and America, is that racism is accepted as part of the culture here whereas in American there is the goal to eradicate it.    Perhaps its because everyone in America considers themselves…an American…African American, Chinese American, Mexican American…    Whereas here…you are Sri Lankan, Indian, and you are only here to work…eventually you will go back home.    Rarely do expats make a full time residence here whereas in America they do.   So the church…was a little traditional, small town type of church.    About a hundred people.      It was...

I see white people OK…I swear im not racist, even though I talk about races all the time.    Truth is my best friends in the world, one is an Iraqi, the other Taiwanese, the other Mexican, the last a black guy and I work with Indians and Arabs.    I really ought to find an Eskimo friend…then I would have the circle complete.    Im fortunate that I grew up in such a multi-cultural environment .    I guess the main difference between the Middle East and America, is that racism is accepted as part of the culture here whereas in American there is the goal to eradicate it.    Perhaps its because everyone in America considers themselves…an American…African American, Chinese American, Mexican American…    Whereas here…you are Sri Lankan, Indian, and you are only here to work…eventually you will go back home.    Rarely do expats make a full time residence here whereas in America they do.   So the church…was a little traditional, small town type of church.    About a hundred people.      It was...

What a busy busy day we had today. We had two great client meetings yesterday, so I had to scramble to get the ancillary materials ready for our proposals. I finished off the Demo reel DVD’s too. So if you want to take a look at it, please go to: http://homepage.mac.com/rickbeeman/iMovieTheater51.html Im actually really proud of it. Its weird being over here. I feel like a really big fish in a tiny little pond. It’s a good feeling. What is different about this place, is technologically, its about five years behind the U.S. Broadband internet is just now only beginning to permeate the market. Thus most businesses have yet to harness the marketing power behind the web to promote their business. In other words, most websites here suck, if they even have sites at all. What does that mean? Potentially tons of business. I want to get the company very financially healthy, so I can start investing in documentaries and feature films. Right now, we are at about 15 employees. I ca...

I went to the American Embassy today to add pages to my passport.    Because I’m in a foreign country, I’m a little bit anal about planning my trips out so I won’t be lost or stranded somewhere.    I did my due diligence with this as well.    I looked up the address.    My cell phone has GPS in it, so all I need to do is program the address in and it directs me there.    The problem is…no one knows any addresses.    They find everything via landmarks.    And when you don’t know where the heck any landmarks are, it creates a little bit of a dilemma.    But the American Embassy…was very American and had their address clearly printed along with the business hours.    So I get to the embassy around 8:30 and am promptly told passport offices don’t open til 10.    I complained…but the website said 8…Yes that is when its doors open but not apparently when they conduct business???    OK so I walked away and came back at 11.    It was something walking inside of the Embassy.    I was officially...

OK…I might have overdone it a bit last night.    We had our first deadline.    I have to lead by example, so Manu (the young animator wiz) stayed til we got the project to an acceptable form, then called it a night at 2a.    It was the first almost all nighter I’ve had in awhile.    It was Manu’s first professional all-nighter…after many in college.    He was so excited about being his first all nighter.    His enthusiasm was infectious.    We both very much enjoy our work so neither one of us felt like we were working at all.   I had a meeting this morning with Walter, the Brazilian professional basketball coach.    We might be doing some consulting work in the future.    Then for lunch…at the mall I ran into these three extremely tall black guys.    They were distinctly American, and you just don’t see Saudi’s this tall…so I could tell they were imported.    It turns out there is a professional basketball league here…Who knew?      I got a call from Tanya at lunch saying the DVD’s th...

Almost legal…and oh yeah…forgot about the Freddies… Met with a Brit named Arran early this morning.    Arran is the editor of FACT magazine, one of the hippest rags on the Island.    (Wow…did I just sound hip by saying that?)    FACT is also owned by Omar, Khalifa’s son, who was the GM at KSDI right before I arrived.    Since we are sister companies, we are trying to figure out ways to promote each other.    The goal is as KSDI grows…so grows FACT magazine.    There are certain synergistic efforts for both of us working together.    I hope it will be a long and prosperous partnership.   As I was trying to pump up my Bio for FACT, I remembered one of the programs I wrote and directed this past year won a Freddy Award (Oscar for Medical Videos).    TIME IS BRAIN was on stroke awareness and prevention.    I think I forgot to mention it because my name was somewhat stricken from the project.    This is a classic Hollywood tale, only it happened in No. Ca.    It comes down the adage…success...

Sleep, sleep and sleep… Not much that was eventful happened today. I got two days in yesterday and just relaxed today. Saturdays are turning out to be the non-activity day for me. And that is ok. I cherished the opportunity at first. I work a lot during the week so I don’t get a lot of sleep. So I try to make up for it with one day. Rolled out of bed at about noon. Headed to an Irish pub for breakfast. Had this amazing traditional English Breakfast. What makes it English, is they have this strange sort of English Bacon, which is a cross between Ham, Canadian Bacon, and regular bacon. Not sure where on the pig they get this from, but it is delicious. It reminded me of when I used to live in Saudi. I lived next to this British compound. All the brits hung out there, because you could get bootleg alcohol and pork there. Every Friday, I would go for the English buffet. It was the highlight of my week until the Saudi authorities found out about the place. It was closed up s...

Lookie here…a white guy in church… OK, im certainly not acting my age, and im not sure if that is a bad thing or not.    On the weekend the social scene on Bahrain is clubbing.    I made an observation last night amidst all the smoke and drunken people on the dance floor.    I don’t like clubbing.    There are a multitude of reasons, not the least of which, im a sucky dancer which I said again and again.    But, there really aren’t a lot of alternatives other than going to coffee or out to eat for social activities.    The whole sub-culture of the island resonates within these clubs and there are many.    I don’t drink, and I don’t dance, but its better than being at home watching TV.    It gets me out in the social environment.    Im actually starting to recognize friends when I drop by these places…so hey my network is actually growing.   So I was out at a club (it’s the weekend so im being responsible somewhat) til 2:30 last night, and I got up at 6:00a for church.    If you remembe...