The first day of Ramadan is always an interesting start, I was thirsty by noon and just kept wanting water. I really don’t have any issues with not eating, getting parched is what gets to you. After futoor I felt like passing out but we had to go to some Dewaneyas as part of tradition.
I thought it wouldn’t take longer then an hour and a half, but I was long it took about three hours of driving around from Dewaneya to Dewaneya and taking no longer then 10 mins at each. It was quite hectic and lots of people going around, its nice seeing all these people but I was exhausted and wanted to pass out. By the time we were done I was sleepy and starving, I didn’t know whether to sleep or eat. I met up with some of my friends and we order Zait o Zaatar, I fell asleep before the food arrived. Everyone has their theory about what you should eat so you won’t be hungry or thirsty the next day, but at that point I would eat anything in front of me. It was a good day and hopefully it won’t take too long to finish all the rounds.
Link: Flickr
In mailbox: 23/8/08
In Kuwait: 24/8/08
This really doesn’t make any sense, I have never seen something delivered this quick, let alone somebody to get from the US to Kuwait that fast. I saw the item arrive in my mailbox by the 23rd of August and I have it delivered by the 24th is nothing short of a miracle, I don’t know if this was a mistake or a few changes taking place but I hope it continues that way.
Some people tend to sit on their computer before sleeping or using it as soon as they wake up, I do both. I think I’m addicted to my machines, its a funny routine I go through before regular browsing. Every person has a routine, I tend to have mine, I check torrents being downloaded to the server, then checking my downloads and whats left to be downloaded. As soon as I’m done checking my emails, posts, and regular surfing, I start to organize my downloads. I extract multiple files, and start moving the extracted files to the server and during this period the resources of the PC are pretty much fully used. I leave the PC for about 1.5 hours to finish up all that I’m moving. Its very satisfying to get everything organized, feels like your day is productive and I like to make sure my connection is fully utilized.
The past couple of days has been hot and humid, you don’t really want to go outside. But after spending the whole day indoors I felt like doing something a little different so I decided to go in for a jump in the pool. As soon as I jumped in I felt a lot better, the cool water just wraps around you and a few laps and you feel refreshed. The only thing missing for me was to listen to a little music, but I doubt my neighbors would be too happy about some outdoor music, I was trying to think of one way or another to listen to music but I thought I would leave that to another day.
It was ridiculously hot to the point you can’t walk around the pool without burning your feet, so I only left when I had to.
I went to the gym for the first time in months and I was out of my breath within the first 5 minutes. I speant about 45 minutes in the gym, took shower and headed home. I was driving ridiculously slow since I didn’t feel like I had the energy to steer the car at high speed.
Got to my desk and moved some files around between between my PCs and my WHS Server which currently is the depot for all my media. I have been averaging 25 to 30 GB worth of downloads for the past two weeks, taking full advantage of my bandwidth. Sometimes it takes 25 minutes or 3 hours moving files around depending on the size that I’m moving around.
After sometime I went out to my friends place and we started watching a pretty good show which has been dropped like many other good shows. Around the second episode I passed out after having some sushi and woke up an hour and half later to go home. It was a semi-productive and relaxing day.
I was in France just recently for a few days to take care of few things. Not really wanting to spend more time then necessary there. I have to say it is quite beautiful and this time it wasn’t Paris. But not unusual to my luck in France something embarrassing tends happen to me in this country, and this time it was my fault. I’m sitting at the table with a some family and they are ordering coffee and other items, I decided to order some coffee for once in my life even though I’m not really a fan. There is one kind of coffee that I tend to like in Kuwait, and its called French Coffee, so I ask for French Coffee. Both my family and the waitress gave me the strangest look, I felt very strange and that 10 seconds felt like 10 minutes so I asked again and she said there is no such thing. I quickly order something else and my family tell me why did I order something that I never had before, I tried explaining myself but it did no good the damage was done. It turns out that French Coffee is a mixture that has been made up in Kuwait or the Gulf and thats about it. Just my luck the one time I order a coffee I remotely like it turns out its not available anywhere but in Kuwait and in all the places to ask for it I decided to ask in France.
I have to admit after trying out so many mp3 players the iPod Touch is the best mp3 player I have used by far. The sound quality is very good, but I wish the volume could be a little louder. The best part about it is all the applications that you can now use with the 2.0 upgrade. I have some productivity tools, information applications, and some games. I think what makes it great is what it can do other then being an mp3 player.
I have tried a lot of mp3 players and I have to say that Apple got it really right with this one. And one more thing I have to admit to is how well iTunes works, it does take over the computer which is very annoying but overall it helped me clean up my library. It is mostly on the network and a few different places but I have made leaps and bounds worth of progress with it, that I have tried months with other programs. A software called Tune Up does help as well to clean up ID3 tags, I think I am at the 60% which is great, I just have to clean up the tracks a little bit more and complete a few albums then download all the Album art for my Music. iTuens does hang every once in a while, and if you leave the computer on for a while it acts up for some reason, it eats up some resources. The most annoying part about iPod/iTunes is that I can’t sync the information to another computer without having to format the iPod, I know there are ways around this but it is just annoying. It is a very good program but Apple really has a lock on everything so you have to find ways around, or else I can’t really fault it too much.
It has been about two to three weeks since I last updated this place! Didn’t mean to just stop and disappear but since I took off I haven’t even been around for a little while. I went to California a few weeks back to San Francisco to be exact for my friend’s wedding and other events involving him. I planned it out as much as possible and as soon as I landed the craziness began. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and there was so much to do I got very little sleep and a lot of organization. Got to see a lot of good friends and enjoyed time with them, and so many good steak places.
I cameback about a week earlier due to the passing away of a family member and it has been a shock to the family. There isn’t much that can be said other then a person has to be steadfast for the family. There are other things right now on my plate, and just trying to handle things the right way. Its hard when you want to help and you feel that you can’t really do anything but be there.
There just isn’t enough time in the day to do all that you want to do. I always have that feeling that I want to watch anime, go out, play videos or something that doesn’t involve my brain. I know of a few people who have quit jobs or taken long vacations just to bum at home for the longest time playing video games and watching movies, not just young guys but married men.
I keep looking at my XBox 360 in a strange way, thinking that there is so much to enjoy from it, but if I even switch it on, I won’t play for 30 to 40 minutes and get up, I will probably be there for at least 2 – 3 hours until I finish all the stages that I want. I haven’t had a chance to play for a while now, at least 3 months since work has gotten more hectic.
Then there is the PSP, I think the PSP is an excellent product and they have a lot of games. I remember getting the extended battery for it, and even now the last time I switched it on was at least 1 year and 6 months ago.
I think the perfect time off would be two to three months, bumming doing nothing but catching up with all forms of entertainment. Probably do some traveling to go to a few tracks here and there to ride my bikes.
10 to 12 hour work days were taking a toll on me the past week, and I have been stressed out as hell. Sometimes you just feel like things are going to explode, I get back home with enough time to eat one meal and pass out before the next day. There were times I would go home to eat around 9:30 pm, eat lunch at 10:00 pm and be in bed by 10:40 pm, I was too tired to watch, type, or do anything at that point. Its good to have a relaxing weekend to re-engergize even when you have to come into work.