Ramadan Kareem
It has started and this time its going to be a little hot during Ramadan, unlike the previous years. Last summer wasn’t too bad but this just feels a little early. I’m the type of person that really enjoys Ramadan since I get to see a lot of my family more often and I get to enjoy their company. For the first day its going to be going to a lot of Dewaniyas after Futoor so that will take up sometime from the day I’m just hoping to be able to meet up with my friends since its the beginning of the weekend. And there is going to be a lot of traffic on the streets around 5:30pm over the next couple of days.
A lot of people follow the Arabic TV shows during Ramadan, I just follow them with family since I have my own set that I follow from the states and there are some new shows to follow. Its funny how everyone is sending the times of the new shows on all the different Arabic channels, but the Ramanda is when the quality shows are shown so it will be interesting.
And my works hours have changed from 9:30am to 3:30pm, but its funny how work always goes past that and for the first day I have a 8:30am meeting, and so I wonder when the day will end.
Weight Reduction
Posted in Personel on 12 Sep 2007 at 1:00 pm
It has been on my mind this past summer, but I have put it aside for one reason or another but at this point I won’t! It has been a very good vacation but I also noticed that I need to go back to the gym. Some of my friends I haven’t seen for months a few I haven’t seen for about a year. One thing is in common with everyone, they have all lost weight and they are feeling good which is great!
I knew that I put on some weight but I didn’t realize how much until I tried putting my old bike gear on to go riding. One thing that was fun was playing American Football every couple of days and riding, it got my blood flowing and for the first few days I losing my breath quickly but later on I got back on pace. I just need to regulate what I eat and when, even if work gets in the way I need to eat a lot less and move more its as simple as that.
The funny part is I ruined their workout schedule and I was the chef while I was there. I managed to cook every other day while I was in the states, except when we were traveling. It was a mix of food between Chinese, Italian, BBQ, and a few random dishes! I was always mixing it up and making people eat, by the time I left almost everyone put on weight!
I have reached the highest I have ever been at this point and I need to drop it, I’m at 231 lbs/105 Kgs and I want to drop down to 177lbs/80Kgs. That would be perfect for me and I want to get my endurance back up. With Ramadan and other events coming up I have to figure this out, I know that I’m going to do it for sure.
Playing Catch Up!
Posted in Personel on 12 Sep 2007 at 10:15 am
As I have been away from the internet for the period I was away a lot has piled up, and I mean a lot. I tried doing everything for work but it was really difficult since it was an 11 hour difference. And I was only in front of the PC to look up directions for a place we want to go to or movie times. I missed a lot of posts from the blogs, and I didn’t even have time to put up posts from my time but I will over the next coming weeks. Its just going to take some time for me to get organized and put things up. One thing I got used to was the 6 mb connection my friend had which is really cheap, only 120 KD per year.
So over the next couple of weeks I have family, blogs, Ramadan, work, and a lot of other things to work on. Its going to be interesting seeing how I get into the groove of things again. I need a big white board, and I need to start drawing!
UnExpected Disappearance!
This has been one hell of a trip! I didn’t have a chance to sit down or stop to breath! Always running around and doing something which is great. My vacation started around the end of August and I just came back after two and half weeks. And these weeks went by very quickly! I managed to do a lot during my time there but most of it was going out with friends, sports, riding, and a few other activities.
Time Spent:
- Los Angeles 11%
- Las Vegas 27%
- San Francisco/ Bay Area 62%
When I was in the Bay Area I would stay with a friend since I’m there 90% of the time and during the day I would go riding and meet up people for lunch which was fun. I was also doing a lot of paper work for some things that I am working on in the states. I was riding and driving like a demon in the states which had its results.
For the short amount of time that I spent there I got 3 speeding tickets (96 mph, 90 mph, 80+ mph). Two of the cops were nice about it because all they saw was a blur and I was going a lot faster then 96 mph, and one cop was rediculous but like any place with rules you have to know the loop holes to get out of the points from these tickets. I tried going to the movies but I didn’t have enough time. One thing to mention, I managed to go to the Justin Timberlake show in Las Vegas, and as a man I have to admit that his show was nothing short of amazing, that guy can put on a show.
The weather was so nice I was always trying to do things and staying outside, the best part was driving with the top down in the amazing sunny California weather. The amazing feeling of a cold breeze while racing across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to head to our diner for a bite to eat.
In LA
I have just arrived in LA after a nice long flight! I really do enjoy long flights since I get to eat, sleep, eat, and sleep without any issues. I also have a large amount of anime on my hard drive to watch so that is something which will kill some time. But my battery died after the first 2.5 hours, but then I went to sleep.
As soon as I arrive, I’m going to the hotel and then straight to family for the day. Going to check on my nephew who had a recent accident and I rought a gift with me which will hopefully entertain him for time he can’t go out with his family and do things. I remember getting gifts when you have a broken foot or arm is always something to make your day better.
I was a bit worried when going to immigrations since my passport only had four months left, but they didn’t say anthing at the counter in Kuwait. And the German Immigaraion didnt say anything since I had to go out of the International Terminal to get to the nice First Class Lounge.
There was a huge cue for the US immigrations so I had to wait about 40 minutes before getting to the counter, and they asked me the usual questions. I give them very blunt answers which usually satisfies them. Then I got stopped at customs and they pulled me aside for about an hour going through my things and asking a lot of questions, which I answered to the fullest, and I told them I was hungry since it was a long flight. As soon as I walked out of the airport it was a cool breeze and sunny weather. Today was going to be a good day.
iPhone Spreading
Posted in Electronics on 24 Aug 2007 at 1:10 pm
It seems other mobile phone operators are picking up the iPhone and they have agreed to Apple’s requirement of sharing 10% of calls and data transfer revenue from the customers with the iPhone. The deals are being made with T-Mobile Germany, Orange, and O2 in Europe. Whats interesting is that this phone has so much appeal to them that they would share the revenue for it to get access. There has yet to be a mobile phone provider who would be able to do something like that.
People are just waiting to unlock the iPhone if possible, but there hasn’t been a successful story yet which can be mass produced.
Link: Engadget
Treasure Hunt Kuwait
Posted in Kuwait on 23 Aug 2007 at 12:10 pm
I got some enquiries regarding the Treasure Hunt event in Kuwait so I have found out a little more information.
Contact: 9359953
Just tell them you want the Treasure Hunt People. It is two girls who handle everything.
They need a two week lead time, and the groups have to be a minimum of 8, but we did it with 6 people. Basically the more the merrier.
These events are very customized to each event and requirements. They need to know a lot of information about the people who are participating since they completely customize the clues depending on the people. Such as where they graduated from, what they like doing, where they work, and that type of information. Then they customize the event based on your requirement.
What I find great is how much effort they put into making it fun for everyone. You can also specify the area you want it to be in. From my understanding one time they did a group of 6, and each group had 5 membesr so it was a total of 30 people with lots of places to be covered. Its one hell of an adventure and worth checking out.
Regarding price I think its between 30-40 per person, I’m not totally sure since I didn’t organize the first event. I will be calling them in a couple of weeks to organize an event for all our friends and making into a rediculous run around Kuwait.
Taking Off
Wednesday was a hectic day, I had to finish a lot of work and I was handing over some projects to some people I work with. I was running around all day, plus I had to go to the bank, and I got a quick shave and cut. Checking on some maintenance for the house as well. Then I was with family for a little while. I didn’t even start packing at that point but I knew I had a lot to do. I was bouncing from one end to the other just finishing up last minute details.
I was heading home to finish up packing, and since it was Wednesday and most of my friends didn’t have anything to do I asked them to take me to the airport once we finished up our usual night. I was running back and forth between the basement and my room since I was hanging out with them and still packing. I left them for a bit and went to my brothers house to say goodbye to him and his family. As soon as I saw my nephew he shouted Agoog Agoog! I was happy to see him, its been a week but it feels like ages! And I saw my niece, she was adorable but she was tired! I was only there for five minutes but my nephew kept saying baara baara becase I was going out. And he was saying bye bye Agoog bye! I thought that this was the first long vacation I have taken in over a year, and my nephew got me all choked up. The little bugger got to me, and I really will miss him! Then I went back home to find the guys still chilling watching the movie while I went upstairs to finish packing.
Four of the guys were going to take me to the airport and the rest were too tired. It was going to be a funny ride to the airport! We got the bags down, and we took off. We were all squeezed up in a Dodge Durango. It was funny as we were going along and music was blaring, when we go to the airport it was totally packed. There were a lot of flights coming in and going out so we had to find parking. We parked really far away and walked, checked in the bags and stood outside the security check for a little while. After that I went in to the Pearl Lounge to relax for a bit before getting on the plane. As soon as I boarded the plane I passed out, there were a few people I knew on the plane but I only chatted with them at the gate. As soon as the plane was taking off I flatten the seat and go to sleep.
Review: TMNT
I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a while I have heard some mixed opinions about this movie. I knew I had to see it since I was a huge fan of TMNT since I was a kid and it brought back memories. As the story starts the Turtles aren’t a team anymore, and Leonardo is in South America for training. As they are split there is something taking place in the city, and Shredder is no longer there. Leonardo then returns to the city after being convinced by April and ending more then year away from his brothers. They did a real good job introducing the characters as the people that they are, and the animation is superb for this type of movie. As things progress the story unfolds and all the pieces start falling into place. The Foot are still there but they are not the threat, whats interesting is that it seems that there is going to be sequel to this movie and it felt more like an introduction then a full movie, but still very enjoyable. Any person who liked TMNT from back in the day will enjoy this movie, its aimed at old geeks and young kids.
Link: IMDB
Rating:
Windows Vista Look on XP
Posted in Computer on 22 Aug 2007 at 10:08 am
Microsoft have put a lot aesthetic touches to Windows to make Vista look a lot better then XP and to be smoother. That is really the case, but it is a bit graphics intensive but you do get used to it and like it. Some people aren’t ready to change to the Vista operating system yet, they still want to keep what they are used to in XP. Now you can have the both of both worlds from the links below. They can give you the look and feel of Vista, almost a full feeling of it, but then it would still be XP.
Link: Vista Wallpaper Pack – LifeHacker
Link: Vista Taskbar Window Previews – LifeHacker
Link: Vista Star Menu for XP – LifeHacker
Link: Vista Cursors for XP – LifeHacker