So for the first set of things I was planning to do was change my brakes and all my tires. The fronts are almost completely gone, the backs are mashed up, and so I went to Michelin and got the rear tires. I would have to wait another week until HH Tuning gets the front tires for me and I will have Michelin mount of them for me.

When I went to Michelin I asked them if they have someone who is skilled in installing brake pads for sports brakes, 8 pads in total. At first they said no but then they told me they do have someone and they introduced me to him. When I asked him if he can install the brake pads on this car, he said “Germans didn’t invented the brake pads, pads are pads”. I was surprised from his answer and confidence so I let him go ahead with it, he really knew all that he was doing and I was very very happy. If anyone needs an aligment then go to Michelin and his name is Mohammed, he is damn good and he is the one who installed the brakes, a really tall guy.

All my pads were completely gone, I mean only 2 -5% left and thats about it! I was told to pump the brakes every time they installed the front and rear set for the sake of the ABS system.

Michelin Pilot Sport 2 cost 118 KD per tire so 236 KD in total, labor was only 10 KD for all the pads which is great in comparison. I was very happy with the results, I felt the grip and the brakes felt much better. Now for the front tire then alignment, but before that I will be taking it to the dealership to have all the fluids changed.

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There were a lot of things going on in the track, and a lot of people were getting some insane numbers. Also I learned a lot after driving around the track and trying to improve my skills, the whole point is to also learn the limitations of your car.

Best Car on the Track:

• Noble M400
• Porsche 997 Turbo

Worst Car on the Track:

• Mercedes SL55 AMG

The fastest I reached on the straight away was 271 kph but then I couldn’t make the turn so I had to slow down and enter the safety run-off but we were laughing when it came to a stop. My friend was saying, “Turn .. Turn… Turn.. TTURRRRNNNNN”. I told him “We are going straight and will make it past the WALL!!!!” With music blasting and driving we were just laughing, and kept going after that I figured out the fast I could reach to make the first 100 degree turn is 245 kph. I was surprised from the capabilities of my vehicle, and I was very happy even though I was running some very crappy tires, next time I know what I need.

Technical Issues:

• Break Downs:
  • Porsche Turbo – Coolant Issue
  • Audi RS4 – Clutch Cylinder Issue
  • Noble M400 – Gear Box or Clutch Issue

After the Track there a few thing that needs to be done to bring my car back to health since what I did was total abuse of Bavarian engineering, all I have to say is that Germans know how to build them.

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We started off by filling up the cars with all our bags, then we loaded up the essential items such as the water cooler, spare parts and a few other items for GulfRun and other people. We went to fill up gas before heading to the first border check, and we only start the movies on the Saudi/Bahrain road.

We had to change the movies since I didn’t find all the ones I wanted, but I did find some nice old school movies.

• Bad Boys
• Bad Boys II
• MIB
• Old School
• The Last Boy Scout

When we went through the Saudi Customs it was ok but the guy was a jerk and he didn’t feel like doing anything. He was giving us a hard time but we were all smiles, but I wanted to punch him right on the nose. I was happy we went through and everyone else was pretty good.

Then we started Bad Boys after getting some candy and drinks from the gas station after the border check point, I also filled up the gas. We were enjoying the beginning of this road trip and there was a lot to go. 80% of the road to Bahrain was ok, but the bumpy parts were real bumpy.

I have to say that Bad Boys is one of the best action of this quarter century, it really is a classic that every person has to see. Great action, wit, comedy, and explosion, what more could you ask from a good action movie. It was during Martin Lawerance’s peak and the introduction of the Fresh Prince who made a great combination. We also watched the music videos when the movie was done and we were all singing to it and dancing in the car, good times.

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This has been one hell of a weekend, I think I have driven a total of 1200 km in the past three days! It was insane, enlightening, entertaining, and anything else I can think of!

I haven’t enjoyed being behind the wheel this much in a long time, and I have to say that the GulfRun guys did a fantastic job organizing everything and the Bahrain International Circuit were great to us as the GulfRun drivers, they would pretty much let us do as we please as long as we respected their major rules. The road trips were hilarious and fun, the border was a fiasco at times, and the funny part was the border guys kept seeing GulfRun people coming through so they were curious what was going on.

There was a lot that was learned during this trip, a lot of us became good friends because of everything we went through. We learned the limitations of our driving and enjoyed every moment on and off the track. I have to also say that Bahranis are very nice people, they were more then helpful in a lot of situations, and even when asking questions they go out of their way to help you.

One hell of weekend, I didn’t even have a chance to sit and I got very little sleep.

I think I reached the maximum capacity for myself, I was running around a lot yesterday. I went and picked up some family from the airport and then went to work. Then I came back and spent the rest of the day with my nephew, I was supposed to go visit the family at our grand parents house but I was dozing off while sitting in the living room. Instead of a 30-60 minute nap it turned into a 4 hour nap in my dishdasha,I woke and surfed for about an hour before passing out again to get ready for our trip to Bahrain. We got a lot to prepare for, so its going to be a lot of fun.

What a hectic day, I think that this week and the one before was packed full of things that I managed to do. I know that I am in need of sleep but today I have reached my maximum capacity.

The GulfRun event was extremely fun, but driving 4 hours and I was the only transport available for a lot of friends at the end of the night. It was hilarious, everyone was pretty much beat and we all had things we needed to do. When we finished with Doha our first stop was Aadailiya, then Nuzha, then Bnaid Al Gar, then Da’eya, and then I had to meet with family before going home. In total for today I managed to drive about 4 hours and it took a toll on me, the best part was I managed to get something to eat at the end of the day then showered and went to sleep.

There are few things planned for the next couple of days, like the Road Trip to Bahrain, how many people are going to crash in my room. This feels like a college trip and we are all just making things up as we go along, its just going to be a lot of fun.

There was just one day that I managed to get some sleep which is Saturday, I wanted to go riding but from the exhaustion I needed the sleep. This time my urge to ride didn’t overcome the need to sleep.

The funny part is that I woke up for every phone call that came on my cell phone, three of my friends called, and twice work called so I slept right away when I closed the phone. I remembered the phone calls when I got up, but I slept right through them and woke up in the afternoon to go have lunch with the family.

Heavy:
The funny part though is my ability to ignore all sounds and sleep through a construction site. I once slept in a samrah (a male music event in Kuwait) right under the speaker because I was tired.

Light:
Then there is the other side where I have the ability to jump up and get out of bed right away even if I slept for a few hours. When I go to sleep with something important in mind and I have to get up then I sleep with something in mind so I get up right away even if I’m a zombie.

I got a call to come to Al Falah Car Wash to get my car ready for Gulf Run, it seems that I forgot that it was this night because of work and other things.

As soon as I arrived at Al Falah Car Wash I saw them applying the stickers to other vehicles. They told me to take my car in for a wash and there were about 4 vehicles before me. They took my car right in, and I asked them to clean under the hood by airing it out and wiping it down a bit. Then they started washing my car and it felt nice seeing my car getting washed. Then I was checking out the other cars with the sponsors being applied to each vehicle. There were a lot of stickers to be applied and I liked that. I thought we could chose the stickers but they were all standard on all the cars, I wanted more stickers!

It seems Al Falah Car Wash was chosen as the sponsor to clean and apply the stickers for all the cars and they were cleaning some very nice cars. There were a lot of friends there, and I just found out one of my friends bought a 1098S, I told him that is the best decision he made yet. It was a great event, and this is just the first one with about 7 to 8 cars in total the next day will be 15 cars which is going to be insane. I didn’t pay for car wash since it was paid for by the GulfRun organizers even I asked them to apply the extra shine for my rims and tires. Then they were inspecting the cars and they told me I need new tires before going to the track since I was basically running on slicks. So I need to get new tires tomorrow after work which I hope they have in stock.

I think the stickers calm out very nice on my car and the one thing that I am happy about I got the one thing I requested which is getting the number 24! It seems people have been split into groups for the track, I don’t care which group I’m with just that I get number 24. There was something in the air and everyone was in good spirits, we were all talking about modifications and what is in the market, it was great. Its just building up for the days in Bahrain, I think that going on this GulfRun event is something that every person should do!

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I knew today was going to be a hectic day but I didn’t expect it to turn out this way! One hell of a day, but I know I did enjoy the whole day even with a ton of work on my plate.

• 6:30 – 7:30 am – Final Touches to the Business Plan for 2008 (Still doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing)

• 7:30 – 8:00 am – Drive to work, somebody had a stupid accident as usual

• 8:00 – 9:00 am – Running through the morning tasks, and fixing problems

• 9:00 – 10:00 am – Internal Meeting

• 10:30 – 12:30 pm – Customer Meeting (It was interesting to say the least)

• 1:00 – 3:00 pm – Work Lunch

• 3:00 – 5:00 pm – More paper work and other project tasks

• 5:00 – 6:00 pm- Picked up friend and went to Toyota to Check out the new Landcruiser

• 6:00 – 6:15 pm – Got home for my usual get together waiting for all the guys to show up

• 6:15 – 7:50 pm – Watched as many Initial D episodes as we could

• 8:00-8:30 pm – Halo 3 Multiplayer

• 8:30 – 9:00 pm – Dinner

• 9:00 – 9:45 pm – Started Movie with friends but had to leave

• 9:45 – 10:15 pm – Went to friends’ House to escort him to his Wedding

• 10:40 – 11:00 pm – We were an 7 car motorcade with flashes on and honking all the way to the house of the bride! We really did go nuts on the way there

• 11:00 – 11:15 pm – Walk in with the groom into the wedding, keep your eyes straight and don’t look at any female in any direction. Congratulate the groom and the bride, then do a 180 and keep your pupils concentrated on the door and hoping to God that you don’t fall on your face or anything of that sort!

• 11:15 – 11:25 pm – We laughed outside the house, a few of us had a close call as we were walking out.

• 11:30 – 2:42 am – Halo 3 with 7 friends (2 with me and the rest online), and one English guy join us who became our friend because we loved playing with the guy.

• 3:00 – 4:00 am – Some Anime before crashing

• 8:45 am – Go Riding ( I hope I wake up)

Things have been insane for me for the past two weeks, work has just been getting more intense every day. I don’t think I have pushed this much to get information and to get work done. I have had to make a business plan for my department while working with the other departments, and its all about give and take while making sure the numbers can be reached. I think I’m jumping the gun on a few things and I am making a few mistakes, I’m getting hints but I am left to make my own mistakes. I’m not a 100% sure of what I am doing but one thing is for sure, I am 100% behind what I am planning of doing and if I make a mistake I won’t repeat it. One thing is for sure I am learning a lot so I really do like that I know more then I did the day before, and whenever its a learning experience thats a great thing, but there just isn’t enough time in the day. I have been spending hours upon hours at work forgetting to eat anything, there was one day which I felt dizzy towards 3 pm and I realized that I just felt that I didn’t have any energy and the last thing I ate was a sandwich at 6pm the day before so I got a Starbucks frapaccino which really gave me some energy to keep going. I have deadlines to submit paperwork while checking on a lot of other work and making sure things go smoothly while helping a few new hires get on their feet. Its just been hectic from one thing to another, really trying to keep things together.

After work almost everyday there has been a milcha to go to, so I just go home around 6:00pm or 6:30pm shower and change then head back out. I go the milchas early for parking and if its a good friend I stay for the whole time. Recently it has been a lot of people that I know so I stay the whole time and I don’t leave until 9:30pm or 10:00pm the only funny thing about this type of days is that I don’t get a chance to eat until the milcha itself. So the first hour we would talk to all the people we know then we would all migrate to the Shawarma stands, and there have been some really good shawarmas! So from these events I have come to the conclusion that Lenotre has the best beef Shawarma and the Sheraton has the best Chicken Shawarma! I can’t wait to relax this weekend, I just want to play Halo 3.