So I received my power supply unit (PSU) at last, it felt like a long time since they said they would send it. It was time to work on the Network Area Storage (NAS) since I just have to replace the power supply to get it working again.\

I just had one simple issue, there were no instructions what so ever about how to dismantle the PSU. So I got out all the small screw drivers I had since I didn’t want to mess up the screws, and I found the perfect screw driver. I kept removing screw after screw, and I would bunch them up in to group on a white piece of paper. If you are organized from the beginning then you will have an easier time putting it together. By the time I figured out what to do, it was a lot easier then expected and it only took 33 screws to get there, if I knew how to do it would have only been 14 screws. I dismantled the whole thing, but at least I know how to put it back together.

After 55 minutes of dismantling, I managed to pull out the old PSU and they were very different, you could tell the replacement was of much higher quality. And it looked like something white melted between the diodes, so that is what the strange burning smell was. I felt like I was bringing it back to life, and it is the best feeling in the world when you are fixing something that is broken. After putting it back together I had to go purchase the hard drives from the computer depot which is Hawally.

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What has been going on for the past couple of days has been nothing short of insane, it has gone from cold to warm back to cold. I look forward to the weekend just so I can go riding but that is shot because of the 25- 37 Km/h winds. It has made it difficult for people to be outside so most of everyone is staying in or going to the malls.

We went to the Avenues for breakfast and the mall was relatively empty. We enjoyed our early afternoon there before each one heading their own way. It has been a crazy time the past week, it went from 16C during the day to 25C and then back down to 15C, I think the winds have been because of the drastic temperature changes, but I’m not the weather man. I just hope it gets better so that I can ride, riding when its windy is not a good thing.

They have released my damn receiver, and I got it at last. I will be uploading the final pictures, thanks to K for helping me wire it up (He pretty much did the wiring). We also figured out a few things about the receiver, its very nice and clean, packed with features. Its also very heavy, 29 KGs, and bigger then I expected, I had to remove my DVD player to put it in and lift up my Center Speaker, adjustments had to be made but after 1.5 hours of installation, configuring, and tinkering it was working perfectly. Now just to rework and upgrade all the insane wiring that is there.

I was forced to pay 45 KD for the customs, and fees, I would have been better off if I flew to Dubai, picked it up and flew back so next time that is whats going to happen.

The customs run around, this has been ridiculous, I have never seen this much stupidity in so many different government institutions in Kuwait.

• Sunday: Receiver arrived in Kuwait
• Monday: Customs require original reciept, which they have, then they ask for the original brochure. 1 pm they close.
• Tuesday: They didn’t get to my items until the afternoon, then they asked for MOC Clearance (Ifraag), by that time MOC is closed.
• Wednesday: Submitted paper work for ifraag, and they said it takes one day and they were asking why the item was so big for a satelite receiver, they don’t understand what a Home Theater Receiver is.
• Thursday: MOC says the paper isn’t signed come back Sunday
• Sunday:MOC Not signed yet
• Monday:MOC signed, Customs guy sees the product then says its ok, but then asks for clearance from Ministry Of Information. So paper work and the product goes to MOI.
• Tuesday: Took the paperwork to them and they said that they can’t release the product since they haven’t seen one like that in Kuwait.
• Wednesday: Argued with Ministry Of Information and got Clearance (Shouting Helps). I have the product with me just need some stamps from MOI and Customs and its mine by the end of the Thursday. (I hope)

They are all a bunch of idiots that need to be slapped around.

I have work phone and my normal phone, and when my normal phone rings I know its always someone just calling up or something funny. When my work phone rings its always a problem so it has become 2nd nature to me to hate my phone.

When I first purchased the phone I thought it was useful and had some good features, but now I just hate it and hope it never rings, its a dreaded feeling when it does ring. The other day when I was recouping from the flu I switched off my phone and not hearing it ring all day on a normal day did feel good even though I knew there would be a lot missed calls, but at that point I didn’t care. So I really hate this phone right now and its due to work, so it doesn’t matter which phone I just don’t want it to ring.

So I’m still feeling a bit under the weather and so I stayed in for the night didn’t feel like moving around. My cousin came over since he wanted to watch some shows, I thought that would be a good idea since that means I would remain stationary and warm in the house. Some kabab sandwiches and tv are always a good combination to just keep on watching more TV. I haven’t seen Smallville in a while so I decided to watch the show, and I was damn happy I did that.

It seems there have been more developments in Smallville I haven’t watched it for a while now and I have to watch it from Season 6. One fact that never changes is that Lois Lane is hot and whoever says otherwise shall be shot, something about her feisty attitude that just makes that character perfect. I do love the storyline of the show, and I can’t get enough, I can’t believe its been going for seven years now and I hope it keeps going. It seems things get interesting in Season 7, so I might be having a season 6 marathon to catch up with my cousin, there is going to be one late night on the weekend to do all that.

I have had the Infrant Ready NAS NV for over a 16 months now, and an Infrant Ready NAS NV+ for 12 months now. My Ready NAS NV shorted out a little while ago, but it was after the one year warranty period, I managed to get to the data since I was able to move the hard drives to the other NAS even though it is slightly different, whats important is that I enter those Hard Drives in the same order that they were in the other NAS. I was able to access all my data after the data was rebuilt which is exactly why I got this product, if hardware failure be it the hard drive or NAS, my data was safe.

The main thing is that this product is extremely robust but there were a few cases of the Power Supply Unit (PSU) burning out towards the end or after the warranty period. I didn’t get around to contacting them, but I have now and I thought to fix it since I need the space. When I contacted Netgear support, since Infrant was bought out by Netgear, I was pleasantly surprised they are fixing my unit free of charge even after the warranty period, they are sending me the Power Supply Unit and told me to send back the broken one after I have installed the new one which is fantastic. They take a credit card to hold just incase if you don’t return the broken unit, but I don’t mind since I’m going to send it right back.

As soon as it is fixed I am installing four 1 TB Hitachi drives to use as a media server and have everything stored on that.

My friend has gotten better, he is stable but he remains in the Intensive Care Unit. They have taken him off the heavy sedation and he is feeling a bit better then before. Some of the guys keep visiting him, but not too many at one time since he is still in the ICU.

He has improved over the past couple of days, but he might have to have surgery again. The first surgery was successful to stop the bleeding but there is some foreign fluid in his head that they must extract. He will remain in the ICU for a couple of more days then transfered to the normal ward. His parents have arrived in the states to see how their son is doing, during that time his uncle and aunt were with him.

It was his roommates that took him to the hospital and contacted his friends about what happened to him. He was robbed of his keys, wallet, and phone and he was found by the complex security guard on the side walk around 6:00 am in the morning, and he was last on the phone around 2:30 am with one of our friends. So he was out there for a few hours before anyone found him. He was lucky to have good roommates and they took him to hospital after trying to figure out what to do and who to contact. By the time he spoke to the police he was already sedated and so they said it is a very slim chance that the attackers would be caught, surprisingly he was attacked in an area which is usually safe to walk in.

Its very rare for me to sleep in late, even if I am tired I wake up early, and then I might take a nap later. I usually like waking up early in the morning and doing lots of random things if I’m not going to ride, at least watch some shows or organize something.

This time I just couldn’t get up or talk to anyone on the phone for the life of me. I was feeling exhausted and my nose was all stuffed up. I got calls starting from 7:55 am all the way until 1:30 pm but I just didn’t have the energy to move. I felt under the weather, and I finished one box of tissues.

I wanted to go riding but I knew that it wouldn’t be the smartest idea I had yet. Riding at anything other then 100% capability isn’t a good thing since I need 110% of my concentration. So I decided to sleep in, I woke up feeling better but I wanted to do a lot of things but I noticed that a lot of the day has gone.

 

A friend of the family passed away yesterday, so I was asked if I could go to Bahrain for the funeral. I dont know the man personally but I have heard about him every once and while from my family, so I went to Bahrain in the afternoon for a few hours to give my condolences with some members of my family, and I returned by sun down.

 I had nothing to do with the planning, but it was very well organized with a lot of people going to give their condolences.