So I took some pictures today while I was on my way to work, and then when I went to the gym from work. So Im going to go riding right now for some fun! This weather is too nice to be staying in doors!!

So I have put some thought into this, but I want to help people out who drive quick. Sometimes you know the road is empty and you just want to go quicker, but you dont know where the damn cameras are. So I am going to try to do is get a digital map of quick and plot out every camera that I know of. And everyone of them at every intersection and highway, and side streets. Any info that you people can provide will be helpful. And I will try taking pictures of every camera. This is a big project that will take a little while, but at least it will be useful for people. And I will also mention if these cameras can be rotated back or forth.

The one problem I have is I do now know where to get a good map of Kuwait. Does anyone know where I can get a good digital map of Kuwait. I really dont mind paying for the map since people will get useful information out this! And I will keep people updated on this project! I hate cameras and this is what I am doing to thwart the camera system!

I had a lot of things planned out for this friday! Sooo many things I wanted to do! Let me give you guys an idea of what I wanted to do:

• Get up in the morning and go riding for a couple of hours
• Go to Al Fanar to return some shoes
• Get a hair cut
• Go to the gym
• Maybe a Frapacino if I felt like it!

But I only managed to get a hair cut which I really wanted and I hit the gym because I knew I should! But I didnt do anything else because of the damn weather! What the hell is up with this weather! If its going to be hot it might as well be sunny! I woke up at 8 am on a friday! ON A FRIDAY!! Just so I can get a decent amount of riding in! Then I looked out the window and I was horrified by the sandstorm and windspeed!! And Friday is the only day I manage to get some riding in, between work, family, and friends! I know Im going off, but damn this sucks! lol

I was on Khalid Bin Abdulazziz where Mishref is on my right and Bayan is on my left. Just after getting off Malik Fahad I saw the traffic coming to a complete stop. And I took a few pictures of the accident, I dont know how it could have happened exactly, but it looks like the chevrolet caprice hit a tree and flipped over and hit the parked Suburban. There also two other cars which are damaged but I dont eve know how they got damaged. There were no police on the seen yet, but I took a couple of pics and left. I can only imagine what the hell happened.

So I went riding again on Friday morning after finishing a few things!

It was extremely enjoyable, the roads were mostly empty. Only a few cars at the time so I was able to navigate around them easily. Started it off at the gas station filling up the tank. These bikes require 98 octane to operate, and if you put lower ocatne fuel the bike’s throttle feels very jumpy or choppy as if something is wrong with the engine. Just so everyone gets an idea why they specify high octane fuel.

So I took the sixth ring road all the way down to bide3/salwa, and i basically followed that all the way to Abraj al Kuwait. A few times the road was empty I would try a few different things with the bike, like seeing how it handles specific corners. And how it handles in traffic. I really think this is the perfect bike for these roads, and people’s driving skills. Randomly on the road there would be pot holes, dirt, and other types of debris.

The Road:

One thing when riding always ride relaxed. Be confident, and ride smoothly so you can react to unexpected situations. And in Kuwait assume the worst of people’s driving skills. Another point to riding, and those who ride probably have heard this again and again, keep your head up when your turning. Look where you want to go, if you keep your eye on a tree, sign, or car your probably going to head for it. So look ahead of it to try and plan ahead.

What you have to keep in mind is to always ride carefully on unfamiliar streets. You might have driven a lot on some of these srteets before but being on a bike you notice all the little problems become bigger problems. For little while I was thinking “I dont remember this pot hole being there, and why the hell is the road so bumpy”. Familiar streets become unfamiliar really quickly! But at least I am discovering all these little things during the morning when the streets are mostly empty.

Bike:

Riding this bike is the same as courting a women. She looks good on the outside, but you have to get to know her to get things right. And yes I refer to a motorcycle as a girl! Because if you treat her nice she will treat you even better! Well thats my attitude! Now going back to the riding! This is a BMW K1200R, which is a different bike then what I have been used to riding. People who ride this bike either love it or feel like it isnt for them. I enjoy the bike and its growing on me everytime I ride it.

So after riding for a bit, and getting comfortable with the bike to a certain degree I wanted to try a few things. I have never had a bike which has ABS or electronic adjusted suspension before. Both are options on this bike and you can get the bike without them. The road was empty and it was a straight line to the red light, so I decided to try the brakes out. And I gave it a good squeeze. It felt like it took a good bite so I started to squeeze harder, and then it was really holding but when it slipped a little the abs kicked in and it was the weirdest feeling! But the bike came to a stop. I just have to get used to it! Most bikes dip forward when you give the break a good squeeze, but this bike has a different type of forks because this bike doesnt dip forward!

The People:

Since it was morning and early afternoon riding there wasnt a lot of people on the road. A couple of guys driving, a few girls, and a few families out and about. So overall it was nice to get out in the morning. And I saw quite a few bikes riding in the morning. You notice the people who want to enjoy the ride go out during the morning. The majority of the motorcycles are Harley’s and Japanese bikes. Mostly Harley’s since they have good service a lot of people buy their bikes from them. So most of the people during the morning were nice, and werent being jerks. But the Late Afternoon riding is another story! To be continued…

This has been going through my head after having a talk with a couple of friends discussing the reality of working in Kuwait.

There is always someone taking a little snip out the income to fluff their pockets, and if you knew what would you do?

In government jobs its a given to skim from the top, and bottom! Just look at Kuwait Airways!

So if you knew someone in the company who was skimming a good amount from the company’s income, not enough that it would affect the company but enough to make the person’s life very comfortable. Would you fire the person? Or if your working in the company would you report the person?

Ok so here’s the same scenario with a different twist! You have the same person skimming a little off the top like about 30’000KD a year, but he brings in about 400’000KD a year in business, and you have a person bringing in 100’000KD a year but he isnt skimming anything at all. Who do you want working for you? The decisions isnt so easy!

Just a few things we were discussing! It isnt so easy to make a decision when your in this situation.

I wish my deepest condolenses to the Al-Shaye3 family. A great man in Kuwait history has passed away. He is one of the men that help build Kuwait, Adulatif Al-Shaye3.

Also Starbucks will not open until Sunday March 5th, also any restaurant owned by Al-Shaye3 will be closed until that time.

I was on mark’s blog (248am[The B-Sides]) and read the news that NBK hired a man to take a high paying position! And he is currently in court for stealing money from the bank he used to work for. This is rediculous! What genious thought to hire this guy!

Link to Aritcle: Hiring

Now this is a day to be happy about! I dont know how some people like rain or when its cloudy! This is amazing weather! I wanted to finish work so damn quick so I can go out and cruise around a bit! I had to put one or two reports together and then hand it over, and then I had to check on our servers before bouncing! But then the weather got soooooo nice! I drove down the 2nd ring road (share3 el 7ub) hehehe, then down the gulf road and stopped at marina mall for a bit! I kept the window open with some good music! I enjoy being out in weather like this! I wish I was riding my bike right now, but assuming that the weekend is gonna be like this I thought I could be patient and ride the next day or the day after that!

Out Driving

Stopped at Marina Mall

I just went with a bunch my friends to the Kuwait shooting range. I never really cared for guns, but having nothing to do lead me to try it out. And I really enjoyed it! You can different types of guns, and each gun has a different cost, and they only give you a limited amount of bullets. Your really wont have a problem with the amount of bullets unless you are really trigger happy!

The gun I used was a .40 caliber, and it was good. But its difficult to aim if you’ve never shot before! It keeps jolting up, the recoil is strong in this one! This gun with 20 bullets cost about 7KD and another 20 bullets cost you 7KD.

The gun with 40 .40 caliber bullets.

The gun with two magazines loaded! I thought it was getting hard to push the bullets in!

And this is what you get to shoot!