It was just one of those days, got to work around 8 am and didn’t get home until 10:30 pm. Was at work for about 12 hours then headed to one of parliamentary candidate talks later in the evening with a few members of the family. Sometimes you don’t have enough time to finish the work at hand, and the most annoying thing is when you email somebody and they say they didn’t receive it or just ignore when you have work to do or you need some details from them.
After work took off to the nadwah didn’t have enough time to change, didn’t think it was going to be too long but I was exhausted and I knew there was going to be a grid lock. I parked my car far enough away to enjoy the walk to the school auditorium, lots of people were out tonight and the place was packed. Nice to see a very large female turn out and they had half the hall. After a very interesting speech, everyone was saying good bye, all I could think of at that point was food. Not eating all day makes my brain non-functional.
The political unrest, war, bloody social strife, and greatest recession in the globe followed by the plague… Really? Are you serious? Can things get any worse? Once people lose their money they usually say at least “ive got my health” now they will die by the ‘pig’ flu, what an awful way to die! I dont know about you but i think that this is as low as it gets….. Fuck this generation, its screwed! We began our life during boom in the 80’s, entered school as the economy peaked, looked for jobs when the bubble burst, lost all our money, and now in fear of a deadly virus. Give me something at least a democracy, wait…… it dissolved three times since i could vote… AND none of the people i voted for won…. to sum up im poor, fearing death, what else do i have to look forward to?
‘Saviour & Inspiration, S’
A friend of mine wrote this, I just liked it and decided to post it. Its a really simple summary of what he is thinking about at this point in time. I liked it since it was just raw – Marzouq
For some reason the past two weeks have been formal and informal engagements, and making it right after work is always cutting it short. I’m going from meeting to meeting and barely having enough time to get a bite to eat. The last two weeks I have been getting home around 7 or 8 pm and all I can think about is food, and passing out. Luckily I have been leaving late so I have managed to avoid traffic, I don’t even realize what time it is except when I get home and think there is so little time to watch some TV or just bum around. I haven’t even gotten around to cleaning up my room or rewiring things the way I wanted yet, but I will in due time. I’m hoping things settle down soon.
Link: Flickr
While I was driving two weeks ago in the Landcruiser a sudden whining sound started, when ever I stepped on the gas. I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know what exactly and luckily I was close to home.
The odometer was at 154’000 Kms and I recently did the 150K service a couple of weeks back so I’m surprised something went wrong. I thought it would be a minor issue and would be resolved quickly. Dropped off the car at Al Rai Toyota Service on Wednesday, they said Thursday is a half day and I have the car back on Saturday. I thought that would work out fine for me. I got a call early Thursday morning with a list of items and a quote of 450 KD, I was about to start shouting on the phone because he basically wanted to replace the gear box and other items in the car. I told him that you recently did a 150 K service and supposedly checked all these items, I argued with the guy on the phone for about 15 minutes and told him that I will be passing by in the afternoon before they close. Got in by noon and the guy had a different tone, and the Egyptian manager was trying to explain. I told him I will pay for wear and tear such as replacing the clutch, but items that should have been checked at the 150 K service is something they will replace but I won’t be paying for it. After making me wait for about 30 minutes, I had the original parts list and told them they are going to replace all that they listed, and they came back to me with a 340 KD quote which is a huge difference.
They started working on the car on Thursday, but I didn’t get it back until Monday because even when I picked it up on Saturday it seems nobody bothered to do a road test drive because the huge whining sound was still there and turns out it had nothing to do with the gear box. Once they fixed that the car has been driving like it was when I first picked it up 10 years ago, the gear box felt solid and the change smoother, not so loose as it was before. Al Sayer service is probably the best in Kuwait, but sometimes you do have to get into an argument.
Parts Replaced:
- Front Axle Assembly
- Clutch Assembly
- Bearing Kit
- Boot and Cover Assembly Kit
- Bushings
- Front Shocks Seals
- Radial Kit for Shocks
This has turned into a very annoying chase! I’m the type of person that doesn’t like changing his tooth paste, once you like one and it does the job you stick to it. I have been using this Crest Mint Fresh for the past couple of years, the only reason I changed to this because the one I was using from the US isn’t available here and I got used to this one. I remember buying at least half a dozen and keeping them in storage, I noticed this was the last one I had. For the past two weeks I checked two Sultan Centers, a couple of pharmacies, Boots, and Carrefour but none of them had it. I originally bought it from Boots, but I noticed that Boots seems to have a lot of product changes, one day they carry the product and you like it, then the next they no longer carry it. Now I have to look for something which is minty fresh and not too heavy, I don’t like most versions of Crest and Colgate because they taste like something pasty or clay.
After taking a look at my music selection and music options, I thought about changing my audio hardware setup. I usually have music playing in the background in my room. Thankfully you can listen to Satellite radio on the net for a small subscription but its really worth it. I haven’t really used by normal stereo for at least a year or so at this point, after thinking about I’m going to dismantle it and make use of that space. Now that I have the Logic Valve 80 I thought it would be the perfect setup, but there is a little hitch. Its a little bigger then I expected, turned up in a very big box. I thought it would be the size of the Bose Sound Dock, but turns out its much bigger and heavier, and I liked the quality of the build and the weight, I just have to figure out the placement. It is an iPod Dock with a built-in amplifier and hybrid vacuum valve which gives the music a richer sound based on all the reviews.
Now there are a few steps to be tackled before installing the item. I have to figure out a design for the dock, Sonos, and the speakers and get rid of the sound system or just the sound system speakers. Interestingly enough the Valve 80 has two Auxiliary inputs which I could use for the Sonos and the sound system, that would help get rid of the speakers which are taking up a large amount of space. At this point I will go into a complete reorganization of the equipment and items, to rewire everything as neatly as possible, and make more space for the new set of books that I have.
I kept the stock Logic Valve 80 speakers in the box because I’m planning on using the Sonos speakers. I place my Anime Mecha Models on top of the speakers, and the Valve 80 Speakers aren’t flat. I just need some banana plug to sort it out the wiring between the Speakers and the Valve 80. The best part is that all the RCA cables needed to connect to the Valve 80 Auxiliary inputs are included in the box which is a nice touch, also two different types of power cables (2 & 3 Pin Plugs), so they provided all the necessary and optional cables for you.
Then I have to get rid of a few unnecessary things on the shelf. I have about 10 PS3 games sitting on the shelf that I have played and enjoyed, maybe a few I didn’t even open yet. My PS2 burnt out over two and half years ago now, and it isn’t worth fixing, for some reason I still keep those games. As I need the space these days, I’m not sure what to do with the games, I don’t want to throw them away, and I’m not sure if its about the sentimental value but maybe it is. I remember the days when I used to play video games nonstop for hours on end but that isn’t the case anymore. I’m lucky if I get to even finish a game which is rare, or even get a few hours a week if thats even possible. So I need to take care of that to make full use of the shelves, and do a lot of network rewiring behind the shelves.
After a couple of long days at work, having to leave just to go to a milcha in Kuwait then go to a function drains you. This has been the case with me for the past couple of days, and probably until the beginning of next week. All I kept thinking about all day long was food, everytime I was working on costing sheet or operations sheet all I could think about in the morning were sliders or maybe some pasta. Waking up at 6:30 am and not eating a meal until 9:30 pm is not good, so when I smelt the food I wanted to dive right in.
I have found it to be the funniest thing, and it has happened to us a few times as well. There have been a few times when we have gone out to lunch or dinner, one person gets a BBM (Blackberry Message), then another person gets one, then the next. We spend the next 10 minutes bbming the person we are talking to in complete silence, and even sometimes we might be bbming in a group and even the people sitting together at the dining table are involved in the BBM group chat. This is damn addicting and you can notice others who are addicted to it. The one time Zains’ blackberry service went down, I was really really annoyed that I had to use sms to communicate with people, it felt so archaic and slow in comparison with BBM which gives you answer right away, and it so damn satisfying. I even get annoyed with those that don’t answer right away or are too slow to type. I think that BBM is an excellent feature, but sometimes you just have to put it down and enjoy what ever you are doing.
Went to Dubai a couple of weeks back and took the opportunity to check on my car at TAM Auto Engineering. As usual they had a lot of sports and race cars parked outside, not including what was inside their garage. I was shocked to see they had the KTM X-Bow sitting right in their entrance, my first impulse was to jump into the car and drive right off, if only the keys were in the ignition. As usual I found the team of people working side the garage, and the owner Moataz is under the hood of one of the cars from early in the morning. You have to love a garage where the owner of the place is working on the cars with his team under him.
There are so many different types of cars they are working on, and the funniest part is that they are fixing the work of other garages in Dubai. They are known to be brutally honest with the customer, and that is a very rare quality. I found out about them a couple of months back, and after looking into their work and a few people’s cars they worked on I couldn’t wait to get the Beemer there. So the plan is install and tune the Motons for my car, then I made a few other requests from them to tweak the car a bit while its being track tested, also asked for a Dyno since I have never dynoed my car after all these modifications.
Craftmenship such as this is rare in the middle east, hopefully they continue this level of service. They were even fixing an MTM Audi R8 which was smoking like crazy, and a one month old Hennessy Dodge Viper which had burnt out wiring. Then there was the monster of a Z06 which was turned fully into a race track car, also a beautifully restored 1967 Chevy Chevelle. Just so many cars, and the garage was pristinely clean and that reflects greatly on the team and company.
Link: TAMAutoEng
I haven’t been to the Solidare in a very long time, I think I haven’t really walked around here before. Afer eating lunch I walked around with my friends checking it out a bit, they kept pointing at each place that is known to be crowded with people from the Gulf during the summer (Khaleejis). I remember why I don’t go to Lebanon much because the Gulf crowd that goes there, but I can’t blame them for going its a beautiful city with everything for everyone.
You notice so many families and kids running around which is very nice, with this beautiful sunny weather I think everyone was out. I think this is one of the great landmarks that have been left by Rafik Hariri, he really took Lebanon to another level. The most amazing thing in Lebanon is the welcoming atmostphere and atittude, this is with the people working in the service industry, and even the immigrations officer was decent with us.
The architecture really amazed me, I kept looking at the cut of the stone, it is new but amazingly built, it does feel like no expense was spared when building the Solidare. So many places to sit and enjoy the weather, open spaces for kids, and so many different types of shopping available.
