The first day of Ramadan was a nice start since work wasn’t too much and I had a few errands to run before going to futoor. I went to futoor to my brothers house, and I wasn’t that hungry when I went but I was thirsty after a long day.

The best thing about the whole day is seeing my nephew and my niece! My nephew can now say my name has morhped from Agoog to Ma-soooook which is funny. I really missed those little two even though it was only two weeks and a bit.

After futoor I went with some Family members to do the rounds and one thing is for sure going from Dewaneya to Dewaneya is a great tradition. You get to see a lot of people, and its interesting how they schedule all these visits, one thing I really liked was seeing all these old Dewaneyas which kept the old Kuwaiti architecture in great condition.

We started around 7:30pm and we finished around 10:30pm, and that is only the first set of the day. Then over the next week there are other rounds to be made, and it starts right after Isha prayer. I can imagine how tiresome this can get, but this is the first time for me so it is interesting making these rounds.

 

When I got on the plane at San Francisco Airport I had a long night hanging out with all my friends and only getting three hours worth of sleep. My flight was an early afternoon flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt which is 11 hours long, then a 3.5 hour lay over at Fraport, then a 5 hour flight from Frankfurt to Kuwait.

From the moment I got the airport I felt tired, but I was also hungry. A friend of mine called in late to work and took me to the airport and we were listening to Howard Stern the whole drive up. I’m not one for goodbyes and so I just head out tell people I will see them later, especially since I’m really close with a lot of the guys there. I’m just happy I took a lot of pictures, and enjoyed my time with them, I’m very happy for all of them when I see them doing good.

I always think about everything that just took place as soon as I get on the plane, and I knew that I was going get some sleep on the plane. As soon as I got on I ate lunch while watching some anime, and it was about two hours in when I fell asleep, and I only woke up 40 minutes before the plane landed, so I managed to sleep about 8 hours which felt great. The one thing I don’t like about Lufthansa is the layover at Fraport since there isn’t a good place to eat and nothing much to do since their magazine place “Relay” doesn’t have too much of a choice. I watched some anime while at the lounge which killed sometime until my flight to Kuwait, then I headed over to the gate since it was 40 minutes before boarding.

As soon as I got comfortable I switched on my laptop, plugged in the power connector, and kept watching as much anime as possible. I felt a little tired so I took a nap and when I woke up the plane was 30 minutes from landing. And my sleep has almost been adjusted in Kuwait but its still a little off, I feel a little tired around the afternoon since I went right into work the next day without recouping for the long flight!

Towards the end of my trip I was getting all the requests for things that people wanted. I was more then happy to get what people wanted but I got a sudden flood of Apple Products and I didn’t even know some of them.

Some people asked me for the iPod Touch, and some asked me for the iPod Nano. I told them whats the touch, and I told the other person you can get the Nano in Kuwait whats so special about the one in the states. And in both replies I felt like I insulted them by not keeping up with the latest products released by Appl, and when I looked at it I was surprised how many new products Apple came up with and the Apple iPod Touch does look really really cool. The Nano has been redesigned and looks great.

I was riding and driving in Palo Alto a lot since it was close to one of my friend’s work. I decided to pass by that Apple Store, its turns out the iPod Touch won’t come out until October from what the sales person told me but the new Nano was there and it looks great.

After I was done this is the list of Gifts/Items I picked up:

• 1 MacBook 2.16 Ghz
• 3 iPod Nanos (Red, Black, and White)

I tried getting the iPhone but the Sales person told me I have to have an AT&T contract but it turns out the sales person was wrong or he misunderstood my question so I didn’t pick any up. One thing is for sure the new iPhones are really the new “IT” thing for everyone.

Apple has done a great job making buying an Apple a unique experience, all the details were taken care of where we were standing from a hand held device. There was no register and we didn’t have to go to a counter. He brought the items out and slid my card, and then brought me the receipt and thats it. I was out the door, one day I shall buy an Apple for myself, I just don’t know when.

I managed to check my work email for most of my trip but for the last week I decided to just not check and enjoy the time off. And when I came into work, I knew I would be paying for it. I noticed 1 of 213 emails to be downloaded, and it was a long morning. I went through most of the emails and I only replied about 10 % to 15% of them. So much work could pile up just in a week of not checking the email.

First thing I did was check the ones that were organized into specific folders and I was happy at least 50 of those 213 were spam so that was easy to get rid of. Then I had a little bit to catch up with work, the rest of the day was insane just running around and making sure I get back on top of all the projects I was previously working on. At that point I knew this is going to be a rough couple of weeks.

My friend told me there is never a good time to take off work, but somehow even though I planned this for a few months ahead it did turn out to be the worst possible time to take-off but I had plans and I had to go off!

We went to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend, and we were 11 guys and one of my friends organized the whole trip from A to Z. He wanted to surprise me and one of my friends who is getting married at the end of the year. One of the things that he organized was the JT Concert and even though we were all a bunch of guys we were looking forward to it since we knew he was going to be damn good.

First off there are two things you hear in that concert, one is the music and second is the high pitch scream of every women in the vicinity of that hall! I think I lost some of my hearing from the screams coming from behind me. My friend did a great job with the tickets we were about 25 meters from the stage on an elevated area so it was pretty good and we got a good view.

My hat goes off to the guy, he is even better live then when you hear his music on the CD. You can’t help but get up and dance with the beats vibrating through the whole Mandalay Concert Hall. We were lucky we were staying at the hotel, the whole thing was packed. If you ever get a chance to see this guy live then go for it, I know I would go see him again thats for sure.

Check out this youtube link of the Manadalay Show but the audio quality isn’t the greatest but it gives you an idea.

Link: YouTube

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.