Bojacob's Den

Going Up a Step

2006-04-22T11:21:00.000+03:00

I'm beginning to realize that my beautiful looking blog is actually quite ugly. It's thanks to Desperately Wandering's post on the top 10 blog designs really. Well hey, il qerd ib 3ain omma ghazal. In English: the monkey looks like a deer in its mom's eyes ... er ..

Ahem, frankly, I'm just a bit limited with what I can do in Blogger. It's a great blogging site and all, but I'm just having trouble with the whole "I wanna host music and pictures and videos and all that stuff" stuff. Also, Performancing for Firefox seems to have some very cool features aimed at WordPress, such as ... I dunno, cool stuff.

So finally, I've decided to step things up and actually have my own host with some WordPress love! I honestly don't even know why, as I'm barely keeping up with the blogging scene. I suppose it's just to say to my friends "my blog is bigger than your blog! Watch!" (deleted)

Uh, anyway, I spoke with ForzaQ8, and he pointed me to http://www.cyberwurx.com/. I was quite surprised with how cheap webhosting has become. I did a few of my own searches, and some of them just seem far too good to be true. Has it been a long time since I checked webhosting services? For instance, there's Dreamhost.com with some very attractive features, such as 20gb storage, 1tb traffic, and unlimited MySQL, domains, subdomains .. all that jazz, for $8 a month if it's a 2 year contract. The only drawback is that they frikkin charge the whole 2 years in one go, so it's $190.

Should I jump on Dreamhost? I'd love to be able to use the server for stuff other than blogging, and this just seems perfect for my nightly pleasures... (development.)

So...?

Teeth Teeth Teeth

2006-04-21T05:54:00.000+03:00

I could swear that I get a toothache as soon as I hear the word "teeth" or "throos." Toothaches are like freaking hell on earth! They just never end.

I thought I got all my teeth done. What happens after a year or two? Your wisdom tooth has a cavity UNDER the filling! Beautiful! Now I had to undergo surgery to extract the damn thing. Here I am, with a load of stitches in my mouth.

If there really was such a thing as a tooth fairy, I'd have more money than Bill Gates.

The "Just Started Working" Cycle

2006-04-18T17:17:00.000+03:00

Apparently, I'm switching jobs every 3 months now. Somehow, there's always a better offer that comes up before your 90 day probation period is up!

Seeing that I've had two jobs before this one, I'm kinda getting used to this whole cycle.

From my experience, the stages are as follows:

1st week:
You see everyone working furiously, speaking to each other about "MRTG," " CFM," etc.. things you have absolutely no idea about. You feel yourself sorely out of place, twiddling your thumbs and wondering how the hell this could have happened to you. You sift through your drawers and find some documents from the previous employee. Those documents contain complicated graphs and intricate diagrams, reminders, business cards.. things you haven't even seen before.

They give you tours of the place, and an explanation of how things work. You realize that you have no clue what they're talking about. At the end of the day, you just feel so incompetent that you want to resign to save face.

2nd - 4th week:
You begin getting invited to meetings, and you have absolutely no clue what to say in there. You just pray you don't get asked any questions. However, you begin to have a weak understanding of how things are working, and you start to muster up the courage to ask other employees for clarifications. Life might not be all that bad...

5th - 7th week:
You gain more confidence and start having a clearer picture of what your job is supposed to be. You start taking baby steps towards doing your job. It might not be the greatest job ever done, but it's something.
You start solidifying friendships and helping others out. In return, they teach you a few things that prove invaluable in the future.
Overall, you're melding pretty good for a newcomer.

8th - Nth week:
Your confidence is so high that you feel like taking on Conan himself! You start wondering why the hell they did things this way, when it could have been done in another way so easily. You create stuff that eases the process for everyone, and make life easier to all. Suddenly, your managers start getting your opinion for solutions to a problem. Soon enough, you realize that you're just as good as any of those guys around you, or maybe even a lot better.

Unfortunately, the cycle always stops here for me. I'm planning to stay a lot longer this time around though :)

Currently, I'm still in the "1st week" part, and it's natural to feel out of place. I know that in a few weeks time, I'm gonna be kickin butt and taking names!

Fiber Optics Coming Closer

2006-04-14T10:12:00.000+03:00

My bro, who lives in South Surra, Al Salam, has been visited by a bunch of guys claiming to be installing equipment for all that fiber optic fad. They surveyed the house and drilled some holes so later they can install the ONT (Optical Network Terminal.)

With that ONT, lots of magic can happen, mainly Internet! There would be no more crappy copper line limitation of 1mbps in Kuwait, this baby can handle 100mbps.

The problem still lies in the ISPs themselves. If they start issuing speeds higher than current DSL speeds, they'll have to increase their own bandwidth to the outside world, and currently this is VERY costly.

I'm still not certain how this part will be solved. I'm excited about the whole thing, but this part might be quite an annoying showstopper :(

Well, soon, I will have close contacts with a certain ISP in Kuwait. Hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on our Internet future!

By the way, am I the only one that wants high bandwidth and low pings? Some people I talk to don't even care :( They're completely happy with their 128k DSL somehow.

Path of the Unknown

2006-04-07T10:17:00.000+03:00

Goodness, haven't updated here in a while! Friggin work!

Well, the current winds seem to indicate that I might actually be working on the music for that top secret (quit laughing) Ramadan series. I have to go meet the director of the thing to flesh things out, or maybe just see if he agrees or not, or whatever .. man this is impossible with work + training course all day :(

One thing I certainly found out is that you never really know where you'll end up. I'm still digesting this whole music 'composer' thing, since I studied Management Information Systems (IT stuff) for 5 friggin years in a foreign country. I'm pretty confused about how I'm ending up with music composing.

I'm not abandoning IT though, it's still a solid career, and I know I'm good at IT (pun intended). I'll just figure out how to juggle both at the same time somehow... though this friggin training course is eating up the whole day!

On the music subject, I'm gonna have to start investing. I found this East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Platinum Bundle (whew,) which seems to be pretty good. However, the price isn't pretty good. I mean, I could buy a whole PC with that! I'm also too used to Silicon Valley's prices (Hawalli.) However, I'm trying not to resort to piracy.. no sir, nope. This doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I can't find it anywhere online to download .. nope, nope.

Seriously though, if I'm going to be making profit from this, I'll have to do things the right way :)

I'll post some work funnies here soon! I just have to stop relying on weekends for free time!

Boing Boing blocked by Qnet

2006-03-24T12:56:00.000+03:00

I'm not sure if I'm late, but let's just say I'm a liiiiittle upset that http://www.boingboing.net is blocked. It's a freakin news page damnit, and a VERY good one at that!

If it's the sponsors they are worried about, why don't they just friggin block Victoria's Secret while they're at it! Wait, that might give them ideas..

How often are websites unblocked though :( damn it, I'm gonna try though. It's the first website with the trick to disable Windows' "Genuine Advantage" thing for Windows Update.

Japanese Spam

2006-03-21T17:12:00.000+03:00

I e-mailed a few people in my quest to get a cat. What I didn't expect is that there would be no replies at all. In my desperation, I began sifting through the spam mail in my GMail account, and I realized that I'm getting quite a lot of spam in Japanese. I'm not really sure why... I can't remember signing up for any jp porno site. The reason I say porno is because the mail has quite a few "SEX" and "LOVE" words inbetween all the Japanese text. What caught my attention though, was the whole Japanese emoticon thing. Those guys are the friggin emoticon masters! Case in point, here's a pic from an e-mail. Look at the 3rd and last line. I'll be honest, the ':)' emote doesn't really look all that good to me anymore now. The ':*' is even worse .. I gotta learn how to do that stuff! If anyone is curious what the text says, here's a small Google translation:

the disorder peony... the man tries to raise the woman with the both arms, it is possible to move the waist of the woman to while it is thinking, but is strength is needed. The woman being to be raised moves the waist, the leprosy. If it projects to stooping, the connection section completely visible.

I don't know what the 'connection section' is, but I gotta admit it sounds catchy! My my, that's a fine connection section you have there m'lady..

Where's the cat!

2006-03-20T15:55:00.000+03:00

So apparently, getting the cat you want is pretty tough if you're in Kuwait, especially if you're a complete noob regarding pets. I tried e-mailing paws-kuwait.org for some guidance, but I've received no reply thus far. But I ain't givin up! Where there's a will, there's a way! I dunno what to do, but I know there's a way!

I'm going to look into the whole importing of pets thing, but I'm so clueless about this that I might end up with an imported donkey or elephant.

I wish I had some pet loving relatives to ask :(

Can any reader (if any) throw me a tip?

I want a cat!

2006-03-17T10:30:00.000+03:00

I'll be honest, I apparently seem to be attracted to cute fuzzy animals. Today is Friday and I almost marched to the Friday Market to get myself a cat. I don't know why, but I friggin need one! On the other hand, I can barely stay at home lately due to work + training course :( Also the fact that my sister-in-law runs away from little 1 week old duckies, she can't be all that attracted to cats. Well, IF I'm ever going to get a cat, it's going to be a Maine Coon! You know the one that belongs to some old guy in Harry Potter? That's the one. Images are right here. They can be THIS small. Gotta admit they look pretty regal Then grow to be THIS big. Heck, I don't think I could find a Maine Coon in Kuwait, so someone please knock some sense into me and stop me from doing this.

Firefox spreading like wildfire at work

2006-03-12T09:35:00.000+03:00

I've e-mailed this to a bunch of people at work :) I don't see why I shouldn't post it here. -- This is for all you people smart enough to know that Firefox owns IE. There�s an extension called Tab Mix Plus, located here https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1122&application=firefox It�s really an impressive extension that combines a lot of tab extensions into one. It�s highly customizable, allows you to continue sessions and recover them, allows you to open closed tabs, so on so forth. So install it and mess around with it! (However, remove the LastTab, and Tabbrowser Preferences extensions if you have them prior to installing Tab Mix) You�ll have to do some configuring to get it to work just the way you like it. Another extension that�s fun as hell is the Reveal extension over here: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1942&application=firefox Tough to explain that one, so install it and find out. Spread the love!

Hm!

2006-03-10T08:44:00.000+03:00

Well, working on some demo theme music these past three days was pretty tough. I'm not the type that brags really but I admit I'm kinda impressed with myself! Mom was impressed too, but then again, she's impressed that I can dress on my own.

I realized that I suck at the whole "voices only" thing, but when it comes to orchestral stuff, I can hold my own.

I'm waiting for the powers that be to listen to it and decide my fate. I'd love to post it here and get some feedback. Heck it's not like there's a million people tracking this blog, but my bro seems quite terrified about stolen work. He kinda had that happen to him once sadly. I'll figure out a way, because I don't really want to post a tiny sample.. heck it's a short demo already.

Maybe I'll e-mail it to those that want it?

Anyway, If this whole deal doesn't happen, I'm still happy as a programmer. I'm also happier to know that I have music to fall back on too!

Back to square one

2006-03-08T09:40:00.000+03:00

Ahh great, I'm at another crossroads.

I'm finally getting into the whole programming in Visual Studio .NET thing, thanks to the MCSD course. Screw making music, I LOVE programming! I'm thinking up applications that could help with our company's telephone directory, time attendance, all that jazz. I draw my plans and get ready to kick some C++ buttcheeks around! Suddenly, my brother leaves me this message:

"Hey, I talked to the famous Arabian director of the (blank) series. He heard your music work and he really liked it. He said he wanted a demo opening theme for his upcoming series. If he likes it, you're going to be the composer for that series! I told you didn't it!?"

Now... I just don't have the drive to do programming anymore .. arrrgh damnit, thanks a lot bro!

This is really difficult :(

Freakin Fish!

2006-03-03T18:13:00.000+03:00

So mom has this wonderful habit as of late. She keeps buying tropical fish to please her grand-children. She tosses the fish filled plastic bags somewhere then goes to a wedding or something, leaving me to handle all the fish. I'm trying to keep things going smoothly in our fish tank, but I'm really no expert. I just feed them and that's it. Today, she bought even more fish, and finally a problem reared it's ugly head. She bought three fish called Tiger Barb, pictured on the right here. I dunked them in the water tank (without any of the whole gradual fish entry stuff) and tossed in a few flakes. Kids squealed and moms awww'd, so I went back to my room, trying to finish a damn ASP.NET project. After loading up bittorrent with a bunch of anime, I decided to check on the fishies once again. I came, I saw, and I couldn't believe all the fin nipping that was going on! Those damn tiger barbs kept on biting the goldfish's fins! The poor goldfish were swimming away in fear whenever those three came near. I also realized that the tiger barbs were always swimming together. I grabbed a chair and began researching on the Internet (seriously, if there was no Internet, I'd be as dumb as a moose.) I found out that those damn tiger fish were notorious fin nippers, and they always swim in schools. I figured out that their behavior where they always swam together is called "schooling." I kinda thought of dropping my C++ book in the tank. Anyway, I read a comment that said those Tiger Barbs get agressive when they are a very small school. It's recommended that you get 6 or more for them to calm down. I immediately rushed to some crappy fish store near Soog il Jem3a, and found out that seven tiger barbs were 1kd. I took all seven and rushed back home. I wish I could find a real fish store that actually sold some good and authentic fish tank hardware. Anyway, I dunked the seven in with the group of three. They began swimming happily together as a school. Ahhh, mission accomplished :) Er .. wait! What is this?! I see the whole pack cornering a goldfish and nipping at it's tail! Oh my God! Now the tiger fish are chasing after the other fish! All ten tiger barbs are terrorizing the goldfish! GODDAMN! I suck at this :(

Life Gets Busy

2006-03-02T13:48:00.000+03:00

Hello, I apologize for taking quite a hiatus from posting! I'm just veeery very busy right now with work starting from 7:30 to 4:30 then MCSD classes from 5 to 9. So basically, I have no life anymore for 6 months! I'm really glad I'm not married or anything, or things like that would be real difficult. I'm still torn about the whole "I wanna make music!" issue, so that's still hanging over my head. Anyway, I'm in the position where I feel my manager sucks. I believe everyone has to feel that at some point. I'm trying to create a web based phone directory that is dynamic, where you can change values in a database and they will reflect what's on the page. It's supposed to be a web application. What's the manager say? he says "No, just make them as normal HTML pages. Make sure you put colors and make it look pretty! I like pretty!" It's supposed to have about 15-20 categories, so basically that's 15-20 html pages I have to create versus just one I make in a web application. As a joke about his "pretty" comment, I put some javascript in there that makes the cursor bounce around and jiggle. He was quite happy with that, which kinda annoyed me. Problem with me is I'm a little rebellious, so lets hope I get fired so I can have my life back again! I was hoping to post some pics of our lovely desert, but I'm really facing some time management issues! Until the next free timeslot!

Interview with the Spammer

2006-02-18T20:10:00.000+03:00

This is a really interesting article from the Washington Post here concerning hackers and their botnets. It's long, but it's really worth a read. It actually interviews an anonymous hacker running his botnet to install spyware left and right on vulnerable PCs. I was a somewhat amateurish hacker once upon a time, but I could never get into the inner circles. I listen to their conversations, but I just couldn't be as remorseless as they were. This guy is a good example:

"All those people in my botnet, right, if I don't use them, they're just gonna eventually get caught up in someone else's net, so it might as well be mine," 0x80 says. "I mean, most of these people I infect are so stupid they really ain't got no business being on [the Internet] in the first place."

They actually get paid for it. He mentions that he gets as much as $6800 in the mail per month, and all it takes is two minutes every morning. Jeez, I didn't know it was that serious. I was stuck in someone's botnet once, and found out about it soon after. I saw that the worm just connects me to IRC and joins a channel. So I went and did it manually with mIRC, and my god I saw a gazillion users with names like 04udfj, 947nci, u8sr42. They were all infected computers. I saw the botnet master in the channel and cussed him out. In return, all his bots flooded my connection which didn't cease until the DHCP server gave me a new IP. Now that I've read this, I wish I reported it to the police back in the US. Rar, freakin hackers! I just hope they wise up and use their knowledge for something less malicious.

Flu strikes again

2006-02-17T05:08:00.000+03:00

Yep, it's time to reset the Flu Counter :( Thats's four flus in like 8 months. According to the counter, I now catch it every 2.5 months. This time around, my brother took pity and decided to drive me to the hospital. He got this new Dodge Charger car with quite the horsepower. I laid back in the chair, head throbbing from pain, and he wanted to brag about his car's power. I'm like, sure sure lets just go. "Blablabla, my car goes from 0 to 100km in 6 seconds, yada yada yada...." His car was standing still, and suddenly he dug his foot deep into the pedal, accelerating furiously! I felt all the blood rush to the back of my head, and suddenly started to feel real light headed. White spots appeared, and my neck lost all it's strength. I actually started to lose conciousness! I yelled "stop, stop, shit!" He stopped and looked at me. He saw my head swaying like some kind of drunken sailor. "Huh?" He said, looking confused and worried, "the hell is wrong with you? It's not THAT fast man." Regaining some strength, I managed to moan "you and your car both suck, just get me to the friggin hospital ok?" Well, I got to the hospital, not really expecting them to do something about it. They actually did. I got a damn shot in the ass. I've never been injected there since ages and ages ago. I dunno what the hell was that shot, but the doc said it was called Olfin (sp?) I can't seem to find it on the net, but god damn I could barely walk after the shot. Never realized a buttcheek is essential to walking. In the end, I'm still feeling sniffly and stuffy and awake at 3am. Hopefully this will take effect soon, I mean it's been over 9 hours come on! Well, in conclusion, flu sucks.

Ahh nostalgia

2006-02-15T18:44:00.000+03:00

Ninja ninja ninnnnja ba6alon ma7booob... Ah yes, the cartoon I loved back when I was very little :) It's been quite a while too. Such cartoons are so rare to find now. I've always been told that it had a great story, but I was so little back then that I didn't really understand anything. All I liked was the whole silly hungry ninja thing. I mean, I never even realized that the very last episode was just a bonus parody episode! Thanks to the digital age, I managed to find a copy of Ninja in Silicon Valley (Hawalli, Bin Kholdoon street) on DVD! Granted, it looked like a video camera was recording from a wall with the image projected on it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was those old film reels either, since I saw all those hairs and stuff on the projection. Better than nothing at all though! I spent three days watching it, man it brought back memories :) Japanese animation never seems to get old, even though it's been like 22 years since it was produced! Who can imagine it's been that long. After seeing the whole thing again after a period of many many years, I'm just a teeeeeny bit disappointed with the whole surprise ending thing. I guess I'm a little jaded now after all these years huh :( Also wish the damn love story went a bit farther, or maybe it's just the whole Valentine atmoshphere going on around here. Grrr this thing begs for a sequel damn it! It was certainly very funny though! The deformed character faces are hilarious as you can see from the pictures. It's worth a look if you're feeling nostalgic :) In other news .. I feel a flu coming on. Throat is scratchy. Damn it, is it time to reset the counter already?

Fiber Optics in Kuwait

2006-02-07T17:42:00.000+03:00

Yes, yes, we've all heard this a gazillion times :( but it doesn't hurt to mention it! This is an article I found in Al-Qabas newspaper. It says that the first area to get fiber optics will be Janoob Al-Surra. It's time for me to break the piggy bank and buy a house there! The article mentions that the ministry are already digging and placing the ducts and fiber in South Surra, and they will begin placing ONTs (Optical Network Terminal) by March 2006, which is a month away. The expenses will be handled by the ministry, so we won't need to pay anything whatsoever other than our usual 30kd a year for a landline phone. They ask the home owners to cooperate with the contractors to install the ONTs, so guys, please, I beg of you, don't give them trouble or we won't see any fiber for years to come! I wish I could be part of this, as it sounds really exciting! Original article is here

Ahh, what a year already

2006-02-03T20:23:00.000+03:00

This is a much needed holiday that's for certain, even if it's just one day. How am I supposed to get used to this freakin work! Ah well, at least this gives me time to finally post something. I'm going to say that 2006 really started with a bang I suppose. First we lose our Amir and all that goes with that. Next, the elections held in Palestine (forced by the US to show the world how democracy works) is won by Hamas, and the US/Israel is all fussy about that. Apparently, they want the corrupt Fatah party instead. Sure, Hamas is listed as a terrorist group, but could you ever list that they constructed schools and hospitals, provided welfare for the palestinians, and are generally corruption-free compared to Fatah, who are just spending the aid money (billion dollars) on themselves? I'm not sure why the world can't understand how 78% of 1.4 million people voted for Hamas. They're all vengeful terrorists at heart? Do you really believe that? Might it be that they're actually very opressed and dying every single day? It sucks when no media talks about this, or cannot state the fact that the current death ratio is: one Israeli that dies, 3 Palestinians die. Kids, men, women deaths are all alike. Unfortunately, it's all under the rug. Only we hear about it. Then comes the whole Denmark caricature thing. Free speech is one thing, disrespect and poor judgement is a whole different cow. There are things that are just inappropriate to talk about and just come in very poor taste. Jeez, try drawing a 9/11 or Holocaust caricature, lets see how well that'll be taken. This could have been fixed so easily too, but nooo.. Add Iran to the mix and well, it's a hell of a start that's for sure. Not really sure what's going to happen, but I'm getting a little bit nervous as the crosshairs seem to be set on the Middle East once again. To the majority of the Muslims that are doing everything right? "When you do things right, people won't be sure if you did anything at all." -Futurama Funny quote, but quite brutally true.

Chains of Thought

2006-01-24T11:41:00.000+03:00

Since I am currently at work, I am having a difficult time posting stuff here. My brain is zombified, and I can't think of anything right now. Hm .. zombified.. Zombies! You know how those Voodoo guys make zombies? They make some potions which include Fugu, aka the pufferfish. That damn fish has poisons that shut down all your electrical signaling in nerves but you'd still be very much conscious. Funny part? Fugu is served in some Sushi restaurants, which people seem to eat with abandon. It must be cooked correctly to be toxin-free, and only by certified chefs apparently. I have to admit I'm intruiged. I love sushi, but when love kills... sheez... I'll try it when I'm about 70 or so! 45 years to go... Sushi Eating Guide! Read the Fugu part and tell me you're not intruiged!

Humor for the Heart

2006-01-18T12:25:00.000+03:00

Well, I realize it's time to lighten the mood. I read a news story that says hearty laughs are good for your heart. It increases blood flow and all that stuffs, so instead of popping those cholestrol pills, go watch Dumb & Dumber or Debbie does Da... uh wait a sec.. For some humor, I decided to snip out a funny comment I read about elevator hacks. Enjoy :)

Kirby writes: Here's one worth trying, and an interesting story of what happened to me while using it. Some elevators use those "static sensitive" buttons. You don't actually press a button. Just a touch will do. I discovered that if you ran your hand down the whole bank, you could light up the whole bank of buttons with one swipe. But in doing that, it "overloaded" or something, and they ALL went out, including the floor I originally pressed. It did this pretty regular. Hit the wrong button. Light 'em all up and they all go out and you can reselect the floor you want. Now then... First day on the brand new job with an international, "big-six" accounting and audit firm. I get on the elevator (we are on the top floor of this bank of elevators). Just as the doors close, the managing partner of audit steps in. Instead of hitting "1", he hits the wrong floor button. I, thinking "here's my chance to be cool in front of the 'main guy'", do my little trick. The whole bank of buttons lights up... and STAYS UP! He looks at me and says "You idiot! What'd you do THAT for?" He then gets off on the next floor and takes another elevator, while I ride down, one floor at a time. But really, most of the time it did work. I don't know what brand or whether it still does that. I haven't been in that building for a while.

Hah, damn and I thought I had embarassing moments!

Rest in Peace :(

2006-01-15T20:41:00.000+03:00

Today our Sheikh has passed away. It's a sad day for Kuwait :( Alla yer7emek ya bo-imbarak. We were very lucky to have you :( Other country leaders thirst for power and abuse their countries for their own selfish needs, while you helped and supported us with selfless intent. Thank you. Rest in peace. You won't be forgotten :(

Damn Worthless VISA Card!

2006-01-12T10:40:00.000+03:00

You know, the one and only reason I miss the US is because of how things just always WORK without having to jump through hoops. Companies are always targetting the US, making it so easy to get their services. Now I'm in Kuwait, and things just don't always WORK here apparently! Here's my three cases: Case 1: I happily download iTunes and slapped out my shiny new VISA card. I see a song I like, so I try making an iTunes account to buy it. I see a list of countries and .. er .. Kuwait is not there? No big deal, I'll just click the US and still use my Kuwait credit card. Hmmm, the country in the credit card info screen is stuck at 'United States' and I can't change it to Kuwait... son of a b .. Ok I tried to be nice, but it's Bittorrent, eMule, Limewire time! Case 2: I get all miffed about how buying stuff from the US and shipping it to Kuwait sucks, until I heard about Aramex. I sign up happily and get my address in NY, USA. I immediately start browsing some computer websites for some RAM and AMD processors. I find that lovely new AMD 3800 + X2 Dual-core processor and decide to plunk it in the shopping cart. I check out, enter my Aramex address, and then enter my credit car .. er wait, there's no billing address for the card? Huh?! The shipping and billing address need to be the same!? Oh come onnn! Damn it, ok I find another good site ... weee I can enter a different billing address .. er .. oh great, the country in billing address cannot be changed to anything other than the US. There's just no way around this apparently unless I buy from more expensive websites. I look at my VISA card with the Kuwaiti address and feel like eating it.. I packed my bags and went to Silicon Valley (aka Hawalli, bin kholdoon) and found the same processor for like 40kd more. I sighed and took the plunge, cursing all the while. (It's a damn good processor though I can tell you that!) Case 3: It's Eid! I'm broke from feeding those never-ending children with KDs and try telling my bros to stop making children, but they say it's out of their hands.. damn horn-dogs. Anyway, I wanted to call a friend in the US, but I decided to try being economical. I read about Skype and signed up for it. It would be nice to to call the US (and a bunch of other countries) for 7 fils a minute ($0.02). Mobile MTC local calls are more expensive than that! I needed to buy credit first of all, no biggie. I go to the Buy Credit screen and enter my address. I expected to type in my card details but ...."Sorry, we are not accepting payment from your location. You can use your Moneybookers.com account to pay." I'm like .. oookay, fine then, at least there's an alternative. I go to Moneybookers and try making an account. I enter my details and everything, but the catch is that they need to verify my credit card by charging me small amounts and then typing the amounts in the website for verification. They try to charge. I check the KFH account statement and see "FALCON ACCESS DENIED." Um, what the hell? I see the amount but I can't type it in the website because the transaction failed. Damn it! I try again, entering all my details correctly. "FALCON ACCESS DENIED." Son of a freakin.. I try one more time for good measure, but now Moneybookers tells me "Sorry, your account has been locked for 24 hours. This lock cannot be overridden by anyone." @$%^#$%&*#@ *many incoherent cursing ensued* why Why WHY! It was 24 hours of ranting and complaining. However, the next day I figured out a way to pay without having to transfer any money to Moneybookers, so at least there's a happy ending. In conclusion, this sucks. I'm not sure if there's any way to get a VISA card with my Aramex address in the US. I'm going to try some ideas, and I'll post here if I manage to find anything interesting. If anyone managed to get past all this crap, I'm all ears!

Eid Mubarak :)

2006-01-10T07:15:00.000+03:00

Ahh yes, today is the day where working people lose money, and little kids, well not necessarily little kids actually, students sounds more like it! Yes, today is the day students get rich! It was certainly the most favorite day of my life, though now I'm the one giving out the 3ayady. I suppose I'm paying it all back now hehe, with interest. Anyway, enjoy, dosh out some cash, and make them smile today! :) It's only 2 days out of 355 (or something) To those of you studying outside, I know it's tough and making you homesick, but that makes returning home all the sweeter, trust me :)

Automated Homes

2006-01-09T12:24:00.000+03:00

Ok, I think it's about time I quit talking about work! Even though I'm pissed that I'm working when it's supposed to be a holiday (yom arafa) but screw that for now A geek's dream come true: Automated homes! What are those? They are homes that are automated! .. what .. still confused? For instance, light switches, garage switches, AC switches, pool switches, so on so forth .. all go through a PC What are the applications? Ok, here we go!

Control what time the lights should be dimmed or brightened.
Turn on the pool heater just before you're back from work.
Enter the house and an mp3 would start playing something through speakers all around the house, or give you a status report or whatever.
Set it to send a sound to your room at 6am to wake you up, and also telling you the current weather conditions taken from a website, how many e-mails you have, current headlines. You can also set it to wake the kids in their seperate rooms and seperate times.
Good Night button that turns off every light in the house, close garage doors, lock house, close curtains, mute all sounds, so on so forth.
Automate lights turning on and off on different times while you're on vacation, discouraging thieves (we don't have much but still..)
Set a pre-defined house state like romantic, busy, movie, reading only..
Speak commands through the phone to turn stuff on and off
Turn up the heater if the temperature dips below 15

I could go on and on and on honestly, as this stuff is like the peak of geek! I really feel sorry for whoever is gonna end up stuck with me... damn it's intruiging though no? Hopefully I'll be getting into this stuff once I get my own place, if my debt is not high enough! Here's a few links: http://www.smarthome.com/ http://w3.misterhouse.net:81/ (Caution: perl scripting and general geekness)

The Changing of the Job: Canto II

2006-01-07T10:11:00.000+03:00

The day trudges on slowly, fixing PCs as if they're holy. Poor guys... Little did they know though, I'm about to leave the show. This isn't for me, I have an MIS degree! Poor guys... "What's the workplace like?" Filled with class, glass, and sepia light! They don't have torn chairs there the place could cure my falling hair, man! Poor guys... Well, now my new work has started and wow, what an impression was imparted... Sure, I can have my cake, but eat it too? What a mistake.. Poor me ... damnit..

The Changing of the Job

2006-01-04T12:51:00.000+03:00

Ah yes, I said I'd blog about this but it's probably going to be two parts. Since I was so damn happy during my stay fixing PCs in Ahmadi, I logically took another interview and got an offer in another company. The job title is "Jr. Engineer of Information Services" even though I'm not an engineer. Logically, I decided this was my way out to the bright road of fame and fortune. Logically, I thought my search for the perfect job was over, and I will have bunnies dancing around me and fairies singing while I work. Logically, I was wrong... But before all that, let me speak of my emotional departure from my old job, the job I denounced as 'not fully using my skills.' Ahh yes, it was a cold, rainy day that day. I had the letter of resignation in my hand, written by the MS Word template. It even had 'Your Name Here' instead of my actual name. However, that did not deter my path. I walked in to face the managers, resignation letter soggy from the rain and put it on the table. "I'm resigning" I said with a determined voice. "Oh ok, good luck." he said absently. I closed my eyes and said "sir, this is already hard enough, please don't make this hard for both of ... er...?" "Oh don't forget to sign it, here you go." and he gives me a pen. I pick up the pen, a little confused. I thought this would be like some drama episode from ... whatever shows have drama in them. However, I sign the paper and pass it to him, and he goes back to his work. Jeez, can't you at least feel a little bit bad? Either way, I was glad of the fact that it's all over with, and wondered if I was that much of a poopy employee that he doesn't really care about I walk into the department announcing that I'm retiring. As much as I would love to fake what happened to make this post more entertaining, I have to stick to the truth. The response from the department was quite different than from the managers. We hugged and kissed and we traded phone numbers, hoping to stay in touch even if we can't meet at work anymore, though we all know how THAT will turn out. One of them was quite fond of me apparently, he wished me good luck and gave me a very emotional gift. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and opened it. I could only see one cigarette there. He pulled it out with shaking hands and spoke to me: "Bojacob, I have saved this cigarette for emergency situations. If I am convulsing on the floor, scraping the ground for a cigarette, this would be the one that would save my life. No, this one IS my life!" I was a little distracted by a cool gadget I saw on someone's screen, but I turned back and saw him writing something on the cigarette. He ended the word with a dot, closed the pen cap and passed me the cigarette. "I now pass this cigarette to you Bojacob, keep it safe and close. Maybe it will remind you of the days you spent here with us. Don't you forget." I took the cigarette and saw the words "god luck." I didn't think it was a good time to nitpick on spelling, so I let it go. Besides, I was too focused on that damn device someone had on his screen! So I leave for home, wondering what the future will hold now. I sleep fitfully, only to awaken to the maid's voice. She tells me that she found a cigarette in my pocket and threw it away. I replied with a "ok....." Then I remembered that device I saw on the guys' screen and decided to go check it out! Now that I write this though, I feel a sudden pang of guilt. The man that gave me the cigarette really meant it from his heart, and ...uhh... hmm....mmmmm....... NOPE! Guilt gone, false alarm! I may as well write part two tomorrow since this will be too long! Besides, I have to "work!" (read: play solitaire) PS: Neil, if you're reading this, you know I'm just messing around ;)

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T13:41:00.000+03:00

Ahhh yes, the joys of the new year.. I'm.. I'm not really sure what they are, but I know I should feel happy! For this new year, I've made a list of new years resolutions that will pretty much act as a blacklist in the end.

Go to the gym (this has been on the list for about 10 years now.)
Try to save up instead of upgrading every two minutes.
Buy the Dell 30inch LCD monitor! I know this contradicts #2 but hey at least I can guarantee that at least one resolution has been fulfilled in 2006!
Post the story about me switching jobs.
Switch to whichever ISP that first uses Flag Telecom's new FALCON infrastructure!
Reserved
Reserved
Come up with better resolutions next year.

As you can see, my resolutions are lamer than I am so please just ignore this post and wait for the next one :) *** Late edit: If you're wondering what FALCON is, it's supposed to be the new network that connects all the GCC states together and connects us to Asia and Egypt. The network will be more decentralized now since the damn packets won't have to travel halfway around the world to the US and then back to Egypt or something. I'm optimistic about this, but it could all end in tears though. I mean it's already past its deadline, it was supposed to debut in December! grumble..

The [dumb] GPS

2005-12-28T11:00:00.000+03:00

I wish I could have taken pictures of this story, but unfortunately I was too alarmed to do so heh You know how humans are slow but smart, and computers are fast but dumb? In this case, both me and the computer were dumb... So I go and try to finish my paperwork for the social allowance thingie (da3m il 3amala.) I'm done finally and I decide to zoom back to work in Ahmadi. I was in the Thajeej area, and I really didn't want to drive around and find my way out, I didn't have to, I had a GPS! I pull out the thing and tap on the screen. I find a destination by the name of Ahmadi, I click it and it starts calculating the route. I was grinning to myself, I should have bought this thing a long time ago! I call the manager and tell him I'll be back at work in a flash. It was raining hard, and it was quite difficult to see, but thankfully the GPS kept on telling me in advance where I had to turn. So it goes and takes me to the 7th ring road, and I'm like wow, this is cool! Suddenly it tells me to turn to a road that goes into Slaibeya and Chabd. I was ecstatic, I never knew there was such a route! I drive and drive, I see tents erected all over the place, I see trailers driving faster than me in the rain, but all the while I was so excited about this incredible invention. After about 20 minutes of driving, it tells me to take a left into some thin road. I obeyed and drove on, humming all the while. I began realizing the place is kinda starting to degrade by the minute. Suddenly, out of the blue, I hear a "You have reached your destination!" I could almost swear a huge question mark appeared over my head. I looked to the left and saw nothing but desert and rain. I look to the right and see a car, days old, stuck in the mud far in the distance. I look ahead and see a Mustang making figure 8s on the road with tires screeching like hell. I was like, what the f.. where the hell am I! Betrayed, I look at the GPS. I see my position and I realize I'm not even close to Ahmadi! What happened?! What kind of Ahmadi did this damn map have in mind! Hearing the rain pouring hard outside, I felt comforted by the fact that I had my trusty phone right next to me. I picked it up and looked at the screen, smiling ... then suddenly all I saw was my reflection on the screen.... FIGURES@!#$@#%^ I tapped on the GPS, pleadingly, to take me to fahaheel or something! I saw a Burger King icon in the Fahaheel area, I clicked that fast and it set the course for the King. I DOUBLE CHECKED this time to see if it's actually where I think it is! And yes, it was. After 20km driving back, I began seeing familiar sights and I thanked the lord for that. After 30 mins of wet and soggy driving at 160km speeds, I finally reached Burger King. I went in, I thanked a very confused clerk inside, and I went back out to find my own way to Ahmadi. Moral of the story, computers are dumb.. so try your best not to be as dumb as I was, or all hell will break loose!

The GPS

2005-12-24T17:54:00.000+03:00

In my forever quest to eliminate any kind of thinking, I bought a GPS. For those of you who do not know what that means, YOU'RE FIRED! Ahem. Er, yes, now all I do is drive and chew gum, while the GPS voice chants "Take the U turn now, take the U turn now, take the U turn now." Hell, even with a damn GPS I still get lost in Kuwait. I'm really that hopeless. Seriously though, the reason I got the thing is because of certain critical situations that can be deterred by having some kind of nav system. An example: I was driving around with a friend of mine to Fahaheel. We found Al-Kout and we watched our crappy movie. Now it's 12am and we must head home, so we hop in the car and drive back to the capital. Suddenly, a sharp alarm sounds... is it the tires? is it a fire! what is it!?! I look at the screen and see this: Yes, it says that the car has zero kilometers worth of fuel left, and we had 27 kilos to go. Of course, my friend panics and begins wailing about desert ghosts and his wife and kids. Me being the cool headed geek that I am, I began pulling out some devices out of my pockets. After pulling out the mp3 player, fm transmitter, and other geeky paraphernalia, I finally produced a handheld GPS. I had no friggin clue where I was, but I told the thing to point me to the nearest gas station and pronto! The thing obeyed, and it gave me this lovely screen: I apologize for the unfocused image, but thats all my phone can do (which will be changed soon don't you doubt!) Anyway, I never even heard of Al Adan at the time, but there's actually a gas station in there if you can see the icon with the blue border. Also, we realized that McDonalds was on the map. We drove to McDonalds first and pigged out in celebration, then we went to the gas station... only to find it closed since it's late. Fear not I said! I tapped and tapped till smoke came out of the GPS, but eureka! A gas station on the main 40 road! The car chugged and coughed until it began running on air, but fortunately it made it to that other gas station. We refueled, drove home, dropped my friend at his house with his wife and kids and they lived happily ever after... the bastards.. Never sneeze at a GPS. You truly cannot realize its potential until you start getting lists of weddings and funerals to go to, and end up driving in circles trying to find the damn places.

Nine Days Already!?

2005-12-15T08:27:00.000+03:00

Goodness gracious, I remember it was only yesterday I was typing up that last post on a customer's PC I was supposed to fix. I suppose I should give updates about what's currently going on. First of all, I'm alive! I'm also cold, at work on a thursday, and sleepy. It's misty outside and I almost had an accident with a lamp post that ran across the street. I don't know if it's the fog, but yes that's what I saw. Damn it, is this Kuwait or England? I'll post a pic as soon as I'm home. I do have some good news concerning my work though, I graduated from installing Windows XP to plugging in monitor cables! I'm so proud I could burst! Literally burst into a thousand pieces of silicon, or whatever... ok silly sarcasm aside, I'm hopefully getting another job offer soon enough. I'll be working as a .. er .. as .. I dunno but it says something about customizing applications. I suppose I'm going to tinker with config files and XML files and all that stuffs. I guess it's a step forward from taking out jammed printer paper and plugging in mice. I'm hoping to post something good soon enough, but I'm still not very well settled with the whole 8 working hours thing. A little more time is needed, then I'll be able to NOT sleep 14 freakin hours a day. How does everyone deal with work? Honestly after those 8 hours, I feel like doing nothing at all until the next day.

How Memories Evolve: Part Two

2005-12-06T09:03:00.000+03:00

Finally some free time! It's ironic how I only seem to find free time during work hours. If you haven't read the first part, please do before reading this one :) I'm over the flu and finally I can begin the second part. Rar! Here I go! -- Fast forward 15 years later. The year is 2005, I am about 6 meters taller... er back on subject, in 2005 arcades don't really hold a candle to the powerhouses that these consoles and computers have become. One day (in the US) I was looking around the torrent websites to search for some good ol' Anime. I looked around and saw a torrent sized at 11 gigabytes. I checked the name and it was called MAME. I scratched my head curiously, and also made some popcorn for no reason. What could this thing be that could occupy 11 gigs of space! Instead of Googling for information, I saw that my download queues were empty, and I spent too much on this damn connection so I decided to download the damn thing and just see for myself. After a day, the download was complete, but the thing remained on my HD for like a week before realizing that I forgot about it. I unzipped and made it dump thousands of files. It took me a while to convince myself to read the README first. I found out that it was an arcade emulator, and a very good one at that! There were SO many games there from so many years, from Pong to King of Fighters 2004. I found a lot of games that I've seen and played in the arcades! It was strange to just press "1" to add a credit instead of plunking in an arcade token or 100 fils. I played around and showed it to my roommate, and of course he demanded to play an adult-themed game. After his numerous threats and blackmailing efforts, I decided to bend to his wishes. Dear readers, I'm making it clear that he FORCED me to do this! I would never do it if it weren't for his threats. No sir, nope, nope .. nope .. I found such a game (in 4 seconds flat,) and fired it up. It was quite a weird japanese game. It's a side scrolling shooter game where you control airplanes and shoot stuff. We did some 2 player action and he kept on bumping into butts and boobs. Much hilarity ensued and we laughed ourselves silly. After cleaning up all his drool, my roomie went to bed and I was left alone with the computer. It was one of those dark, lonely 1 AM nights where you just don't feel like sleeping, and instead just embark on some quest. Suddenly, a thought came to mind... This thing has a humongous library of games. Following that logic, um .. I wonder if that old game I adored is on this list...? Thoughts flew back to those old days and images flooded my mind and senses. Would I actually find it? Would my mother's words saying I'll play the game actually ring true after all this time? I frantically began sorting and searching the games for that one platformer game. I didn't know what it was called. All I remember was that it had incredible graphics, and incredible vocal soundtrack that gives me chills every time I think of it. I started playing all the games released in 1989 but no cigar, I tried all of the 1988 platformers as well, but I could not find it there either. I tried the games that were in the "Platformer" genre, but the list was far too big and it would take some immense effort to actually try them all out. Eventually, after trying out an innumerable amount of games, I gave up. They all looked horrible too, or 'old,' and I began wondering why. I started to think critically, and reached the conclusion that a 15 year old game is bound to look 'old' just as all those other ones. I flogged myself for coming to that conclusion, and decided that my game was just really special. After graduating and going back to Kuwait and all that stuff, I had so much free time that I started knitting from sheer boredom. After deciding that my fingers had too many holes in them, I gave up and went back to the PC. I dug around and found the MAME emulator on my HD, so I decided to go back to my quest of finding 'that' game. I began checking out all the screenshots on the MAME website. I skipped page after page, some games looking simply abysmal. I skipped another, and another, and another .. um .. wait... go back one page? What was that? It was like a deja vu feeling, but which picture was it? I focused on a certain image. No way, that's not it hahaha silly me, this one looks just as bad as the other ones! Yet, what the hell was this nervous feeling then? I decided to get the name and just check it out. I saw the name was "Psycho Soldier," which didn't really ring any bells, but I fired it up anyway... and saw this... It said "psychooooo sorujaaa!" No .. way .. I remember those characters vaguely. I began playing the game, and slowly pieces began to connect. This is it, this is really it! After 15 years, I am playing this game once again! Although, it looks horribly different from what I recall. Suddenly that voice began singing, I listened with the brain that is 15 years more mature now... and it .. it was crap. The voice was like compressed to all hell and quality was abysmal. The damn musical instruments were also poopy. In truth, the song was EXACTLY like moden JPop music where the song plays and plays and then it's transposed up a whole tone. I managed to find an mp3 on this page here. What the hell were those graphics? What happened to them? Where was this tall, powerful character that could so gracefully shoot lightning and not trip over some damn flower pots... I was in total denial over the whole thing, and with my memory already shattered to pieces, I still kept playing the game. I spent like 30 credits to get to the final boss, and another 20 credits just to KILL the damn final boss who is simply just unfair. Once the game finally ended, I was greeted with my animated character singing that damn song again, and on the side was a message from the developers, riddled with Engrish. I will quote what was said: "You did it! Congratulations! It was the hard and painful fight. However, the enemies caused the darkness to the world were defeated by the brave warriors, and the world got back the light now. Listen carefully! You will hear Athena singing for the victory This fight will be clearly remained in everyone's heart for ever and ever. Goodby, Athena. See you again! We, all of staffs, respect your spirit and skill to have conquered this hard adventure. Thank you!" The game then dropped me back to the title screen, and just as the voice said "psychooooo so....." I almost broke my ESCAPE key to get out of this nightmare. What happened? How did this game just evolve so much in my mind? In my head, the game was an absolute masterpiece that could rival DaVinci's work. That voice I had in my head would cure me from anything. Moral of the story: If you have long lost memories, don't try to find them again. Somehow, a fond memory has this way of silver-lining itself as time passes, keeping it up to date and appealing to the person's desires and needs. This could really apply to anything, and not just games. Well, thank goodness I still have my memories of our old, HUGE and luxurious home we had back when I was 5! Oh, wait .. mom just found some pictures! Lemme see .. aw .. aw DAMNIT!

Slight Delay

2005-12-01T17:38:00.000+03:00

I know I'm supposed to post the second part today, but I've been struck by the dreaded flu once again. I have no clue how one can catch that virus 3 times in a span of 6 months, but I'm going to pull a Don King and say "Only in Kuwait!" Back in the US, it would be like once every 2 years. Here, it's like the viruses made a dowania in your body to visit every now and then. "yam il ishara, awal dakla 3ala eedik il yemeen. dawir il bacteria il 9afra, hathy sayarty."

How Memories Evolve: Part One

2005-11-30T09:16:00.000+03:00

Since I am at work, I believe this is the best time to write a good story! Give it a read, you might enjoy it :) -- Once upon a time in 1989, there was a little kid with a huge appetite for gaming. Since I feel weird talking about myself in 3rd person, I will switch to 1st person. I was a truly a game addict. I had an MSX and an Atari ST (Amiga equivalent) at the time, and I played and played and played till mom went blue in the face from yelling about radiation and blindness and all that. Back in those days however, those home console machines weren't very powerful, so graphics and sound were severely lacking. No, in those days, if you wanted to really play a game, you ask your parents for an advance on the allowance. You fill your pockets filled with 100 fils, you strap up, put your 8 year old gamer face on, and go to the arcades. Here my story begins... In those days, I walk into the arcade with a huge smile on my face. I greet the owner as I walk in, and he smiles back at me, probably only seeing me as a loyal cash bag. I enjoyed watching people hammering away at those games, with incredibly focused looks too! I loved the bleeping and blooping those big cabinets made. Most of all, I just loved playing games, and logically, it is where this 8 year old gamer kid belonged. The games were all pretty darn good looking! One would be torn on where to spend his 100 fils. However, this kid wasn't torn at all... There was this voice, a heavenly voice that rose above all the standard bleeping and blooping. A singing voice that was so alluring, one couldn't help trying to find the source. If they find the source, they are greeted with a platformer game that (to me) had the most wonderful graphics in the world! It was colorful, beautiful, and almost addicting. The gameplay was incredible and the game was just so enjoyable. Yup, this kid wasn't torn at all. I would immediately plunk in my 100 fils and begin playing obsessively, captured by the siren-like music and hypnotic visuals. Unfortunately, my coins would run out quite fast. Like a heroin addict unable to find a shot, I'd stare longingly into the screen. I'd hold the controllers and imagine myself playing, wondering how time has passed so quickly. At the end of the day, I regrettably begin to leave with my head down and pockets empty. The owner would walk by and ask if I had fun. I'd reply with a heartbreaking shake of my head, with tears almost forming in my eyes. As always though, he'll heartlessly say "Better luck next time," and begin taking out all the coins from the machines. In my 8 year old mind, if there was any reason to be a millionaire, it would be to play all the arcade games non-stop. In summer 1990, we left for Spain for the usual vacationing, but the Gulf crisis struck, and you all know what happened there. I was a kid, so it was difficult to understand the gravity of the losses we suffered. I was still very carefree during the invasion, and hadn't really suffered mentally from it. We finally went back to Kuwait during all the oil-well flamb�. Of course, I was VERY glad my Atari ST escaped the invader's hands. To me, that was the best thing to happen yet! After some settling down, I wanted to pay that arcade a visit. I really missed the game very much. I could never find it anywhere else. I strapped on my belt and put a bunch of 100 fils in my pockets. Mom drove me to the arcades so I could sate my addiction, though she pretty much knew what to expect. Me, being the innocent little kid, knew nothing. I walked through the hallways as if I had came only yesterday. Something was very wrong though, shops were either burned or empty. Worry began settling in. I quickened my steps towards the arcade and caught a glimpse of the door. A charry black, broken door, hanging off a single hinge. Panic settled in. I ran to the door, scared of what I will find, or worse yet, not find. After what seemed like ages, I reached the door and peeked inside ... What I saw was a sight that is simply not for little geeky kids to see. It was a sight of pure devastation. The walls were black, and the machines were sprawled all over the floor either badly broken and/or burned to a crisp. Horrified, I struggled to get past the rubble, to get to that familiar corner where that angelic, harmonious voice once sang, where images of pure beauty existed. Finally, I arrived, and I saw nothing. Nothing except the empty space where the cabinet once stood. The devastation I felt was indescribable. I stood there, stunned, not understanding why this would ever happen. Why? I trudged back, completely sullen and down. I didn't care about the soot on my hands and clothes. I actually felt as if the voice was still alive. I could almost hear it reverberating from the walls. That wonderous voice that could heal you from anything. I closed my eyes and listened.. yes, I really could hear it. I opened my eyes, hoping that I'd actually see what I'm hearing. However I found out that it was actually my mother calling me. I slowly walked to her side. She smiled and assured me that I would find another one somewhere, someday. I rubbed my eyes with my sooty hands, and she laughed, wiping my tears and cleaning the soot off of my face. -- Ok I think I've hit the unproductivity quota at work today, plus I'm not sure anyone will read blog posts this long. I will finish this story tomorrow! Stay tuned for Part Two: 15 years later.

The Book Fair and I.

2005-11-27T16:33:00.001+03:00

Ahh yes, the book fair, a fun place for any reader! Unfortunately, I'm a far better reader in English than in Arabic :( Nevertheless, I still went out with a nagging friend of mine who's probably going to read this and annoy me some more. I was enthusiastic at first. I kept peering at the books, flipping them around and showing things to my friend. I was also amazed at the huge amount of attendees, which is a great sign! However, the enthusiasm and amazement lasted for a total of 3 minutes and 42 seconds. I groaned at the lack of English books, and moaned about the overpriced bottle of water. However, I trudged on, and suddenly spotted a book with something English written on it... Now I am going to admit that I have an eye for misspellings. I caught sight of this and noticed the lovely misspelled "Talanted." Apparently the author needed a bit of talent in English. I pulled out the phone and shot a pic. I grinned and wondered how many more I would find of these! It's a hobby, like bird watching, stamp collecting, rare coins. In my case, I catch misspelled words in really critical places (ex. book covers!). Seriously, if the whole book is Arabic, why do you care about having an English title in there? I moved with new resolve! Not far off, I found another gem! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Encyclopedia of the Holly Qur'an! Now if you look up the word 'holly,' you'll see this:

1. Any of numerous trees or shrubs of the genus Ilex, usually having bright red berries and glossy evergreen leaves with spiny margins.
2. Branches of these plants, traditionally used for Christmas decoration.

This is something sacred they're marketing, can't they at least put the effort of having people check the title? Moving along, I began running out of misspelled titles, so I began to settle for typos. I've always did the 'A;l' thing when I typed my last name. However, I think if I look up to the screen and check the thing out, I'll see that there's a typo. In this case, the person typed it, people approved it, they looked at it for one last time before printing the boxes, they sent it for printing, the boxes were printed and delivered, they shrink wrap them and put them up on the shelf, without ever realizing from the start that there's a damn typo on it! The day was coming to a close, and I began getting desperate. There HAD to be SOMETHING misspelled somewhere! I saw a big poster with a lot of English written. I figured there's no way in hell this would be error-free! I read and read and read, and even got on my knees to read the bottom part (incredible dedication.) Eureka! A typo! I knew it, I knew it! You can click on the image to find out what it is. It's harmless, but it's still a typo! In the end, this is all in good fun :) I certainly mean no malice in this craft, and it's just for me and others' enjoyment. Still, get someone to proof-read before making final decisions! PS: After finishing this post, I ran a spell check and realized that I kept writing misspelled as mispelled! I do make spelling mistakes, but at least I try to fix them before publishing heh

Bum to Aspiring Beast

2005-11-25T13:30:00.000+03:00

Apologies for not posting much, but I've been having quite a few computer problems (some tech support I'd make!) Apparently it's a little too early to install Windows x64 since quite a few programs and drivers don't work on it. Examples are Daemon Tools and my lovely known-only-in-kuwait Lightwave TV tuner. Also Cubase has a few damn problems with it as well. In addition to that, there aren't that many programs written to take advantage of 64bit just yet, so it's a tad annoying. I'm hoping the new Vista will change things. I've installed the normal Windows once more and I'm in the process of customizing the bejeezus out of it. Right now, the bejeezus is quite well customized! WindowBlinds and FireFox are quite terrific to say the least. A few tips for you:

Get FireFox like right now...
My current Firefix extensions are as follows:

Forecastfox: Gets the current temperature and forecast on your browser. (Search for Salmiya in the Find thingie)

LastTab: When you close a tab, it moves to the most recent tab instead of just working right to left.
IE Tab: An incredible extension that gives you no more reason to use IE. If the page is not compatible with Firefox, you can tell it to actually run IE in a tab! You can specify which pages should use IE, so 6alabat.com and e.gov.kw are in there for me.
Tabbrowser Prefs: A must. No more extra instances of Firefox since everything will run in tabs.
StumbleUpon: Just a fun extension to kill time :) Select your interests and it'll go to user submitted websites that match your interests.
CustomizeGoogle: Enhances the Google experience even more.
BugMeNot extension: An impossibly useful website called BugMeNot stores a list user submitted usernames and passwords. So for instance, if you're not in the mood to register for www.nytimes.com you can just go to the BugMeNot website and it'll throw a ready made one at you. What this extension does though, is take the username and pass from BugMeNot and fills the user/pass fields for you just by right clicking on the fields and choosing that option. Once you get used to this, it's really difficult to let go.
Gmail Notifier: Your standard Gmail notifier in a browser, instead of cluttering an already overflowing taskbar.

Google Desktop is a beautiful thing. It indexes all the files you have, and once that's complete, you can search for files in milliseconds. Wonderful for finding those elusive programs and files. Plus the sidebar is pretty darn cool too!
WindowBlinds is very cool as well, though it's commercial (The black theme I have in that screenshot is from WindowBlinds.)

This list is getting long, so I'll just cut it short here and maybe continue some other time! As for work, well I'm getting used to it. There's still plenty of years to go to prove that I have nothing to prove! So we'll see how that goes :) **Edit: Fixed the links!

From Beast to Bum Again...

2005-11-21T16:19:00.000+03:00

Ahh yes, dreams. How devastating they can be... Call me a kid, but a few days ago I imagined myself strutting about in my luxurious clothing, smiling at the fans around me, signing autographs and blowing kisses. I had just finished some movie soundtrack that got me an Oscar, and I became one of the more recognized faces of this world... Now let's go to reality: I woke up 6AM, ate some bad eggs, put on some clothes, realized my pants had a hole and said fark it, went to the car, yawned all the way to work, and realized that the damn shirt had coffee spilled on it from the previous day, so I decide to keep my coat on. I walk in, sign my name, join the rank of grunts and begin the manual labor that is my job. I grab a computer, install windows XP on it, configure the domain and crap, and set it on the side for the couriers to pick it up. I grab another PC, install windows XP on it, configure the domain and crap, and set it on the side for the couriers to pick it up. I grab a third PC, install windows XP on it, configure the domain and crap, and set it on the side for the couriers to pick it up... After about 8 hours of doing that, the day comes to an end. I walk back to the car, head down and sweating from the damn coat which I can't take off, yawn all the way back home, walk in the house and crash on the sofa like I've had my blood sucked out of me. On the sofa, I just cannot help but feel that dreams were just that, dreams. Fantasy, something that fulfills a wish or a psychological need. I fall asleep, humbled by my own imagination. I honestly know this is the wrong mentality to have, but I also know that I'm just 1 out of 6,000,000,000. Becoming distinguished isn't really easy when that is put into perspective. However, this is my 2nd day of work. This is probably a normal reaction. After a week, I'll snap out of it and just join the Wheel That Turns. Time is a good doctor, but I just wish I could ask it a few favors ... I'll feel better soon, I just know it :) I just need a little motivation.

From Bum to Beast! .. er .. small beast

2005-11-19T12:13:00.000+03:00

As if things were not complicated enough in the IT (Information Technology, computer geek stuff) vs Music dilemma I've been facing, I get a job offer from Diyar United Company as a Hardware/Software Engineer. This isn't exactly what I want, since I kinda like advanced geeky stuff such as programming and database administration. However, seeing that I've been unemployed for a nice long 6 months, I decided to take the job. They do seem to offer lots of training for their employees, so I might not always be a HW/SW eng. Naturally, the day I got the offer, other places began calling and asking for interviews. Now I'm not only torn about music and IT, I'm torn between IT and IT! damnitall. Anyway, it's a weird phase of life, and I just hope I do make the right decisions. In other news, Google Analytics is not working for me, which is why I decided to go change the oil in my car today... er ..I'm going to stop talking now.

Alive!

2005-11-15T05:16:00.000+03:00

I'm still alive! Sorry for not posting much but I *may* be undergoing some sort of career change. Right now, music creation is taking all my worthless, unemployed time. Freakin time flies when you're working on music. I did promise I'll post an mp3 here, but I'm getting ripped about it by my bro. He's a singer (monshed) and he keeps on yammering about how my piece good enough to be on an actual commercial CD. I'll have to listen to him since he's kinda been in this industry for quite a long time, although I'm very skeptical about it being commercial material. Oh, and my bro also keeps ripping me for lack of self-confidence heh. If I get a chance to post a sample here, believe me I will post it without water in my ear! (ma ib ithny maai.) On a different and geeky subject, Google has opened up Google Analytics for tracking your website usage! I'm very fond of anything Google, so this is probably incredibly good even though I haven't even used it yet. I'm about to inject it into my page though, so beware. Speaking of which ... someone just came from this url: www.google.com.au/search?q=Bruce Almighty deleted scenes bra Seems like if you want popularity, write about something shady...

Losing a Hero

2005-11-11T14:42:00.000+03:00

I know this is going to be different from my other posts, but I honestly have to say this. That explosion in the Jordan hotel killed 57 people and injured 117. Mustaffa Al'Aqqad and his daughter died in that explosion. The man who created "The Message" (Alrisala) and "Lion of the Desert" (Omar Almukhtar) simply died, just like that, because a bunch of guys thought that the hotel had too many Jews and Christians meeting secretly. I'm not sure if they understand the magnitude of this. Mustaffa Al'Aqqad was an Arabian hero to us, and opened the eyes of many Westerners to Islam's history. He struggled to make it into Hollywood as an Arab Muslim, but yet he still made it and brought us two incredible films that are going to be forever remembered as the most important Islamic movies. If it's really Alzarqawi who did this, and I'm not really into convoluted conspiracies, what the hell is he going to say about this? What's that you say? "Oops"? Do you understand that this hurt US MORE you stupid f****!? I could scream and yell obscenities at that group forever and ever. This is absolutely unbelievable and unacceptable. Sadly, what's one guy with a blog going to do :( And besides, I'm sure there are some messed up people who think this is a positive day for us (they're out there, and they're a lot.) I just hate politics. We've lost a hero, alla yer7emek ya Mustafa :( To think I was really looking forward to his Saladdin movie too ..

When nightmares just aren't scary anymore ...

2005-11-08T05:29:00.000+03:00

I feel like I'm missing out on one of life's important things: nightmares. Let me explain: I'm an avid gamer, and most games seem to have that bloody, grisly theme to it lately (aka Doom, F.E.A.R.) For example, you walk to a corner and you start hearing monster noises. Suddenly a monster bursts out of the wall, screaming and leaping for your throat. Another example, you walk around and see a little girl walking in a corridor and into a room. You run to that room and find no one there, except the little girl's laughter. You see what I'm trying to get at. However, my geekness now seems to steal a lot of thunder from those scenes. Here is how my 'nightmare' went last night: I was standing in a bloody laboratory, chatting away with a friend of mine. Slowly, he starts changing into an ugly white worm with some sharp, bloody teeth and begins thrashing around hard, knocking over all the test tubes and lab equipment. What does the geek say? He says, "omg how did they do that effect? I didn't know my video card could handle that! WOW look at the tubes bouncing around the room! The physics of this place is incredible!" More worms crawl into the room and start to corner me. I try looking around the lab for a keyboard. Why a keyboard? So I can press 1 on it to change my weapon to a pistol. I fail to find one, so I thought heck, I'm sure my fists will work! They begin to close in on me and scream those unearthly, alien screams. I start punching them, with no apparent effect. I scream "DAMN IT why are the developers ALWAYS ignoring the hand to hand combat!" One of them finally leaps at me with teeth bared. It catches my hand and begins to wriggle hard, shaking my arm out of it's socket. The rest of the worms all begin jumping at me and devouring me alive. As I am being chewed on, seeing my guts spilled on the floor and my vision going white, I have one, single, final thought .... "Did I save the game? Oh yeah I think I did, awesome!" I suddenly woke up, half wanting to go to the PC to load up my saved game, but then I realized what the hell was going on. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel frightened or anything, but I laid back in bed, incredibly confused, yet annoyed at the fact that I wasn't able to continue that dream. I know I would have owned them! I need to start playing more fluffy games like Barbie or something.

Busier Days

2005-11-06T01:40:00.000+03:00

Apologies for not posting enough, I got kind of hooked on the whole music creation scene. I'm not sure why a geek with an IT degree would be making music, but that's apparently what's happening. I get so immersed in this that hours upon hours pass me by without me noticing. I'll try to post it here once I'm done for some criticism, and then you can tell me if I should do a career change at 25 or not! But then again, a geek will forever be a geek, especially a proud one!

3edkom imbarak :)

2005-11-02T19:24:00.000+03:00

3asakom min 3awada. Been 5 years since I've celebrated Eid in Kuwait! It's time for the geek to finally start caring about his looks. For a day at most... It's also time to just grin about all the kissing-up going on from the kids. A few weeks ago they wouldn't even visit, but now it's like we run a kindergarten in the house. To their credit, I think I did the same back in the day hehe The time for 'ka-chinging' is upon us, and I just hope they spend that money on something geeky! If those kids buy shoes or something with them, I'm gonna kill em... I just asked one what he would buy. His reply? "kakkaaaaw 7alaaaaw, o .. o kakkaaaw" momtaz...

Showtime: Day one

2005-10-31T00:45:00.000+03:00

Ahh, how I miss the days of sitting in my apartment and watching Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on TV. I miss them so much that I'm actually downloading their shows off of BitTorrent sites! It's like a damn drug. However, I recently heard that they are shown on the Paramount channels in that Showtime collection... It was a boring night in the living room at around 11 or so, sitting with mom and watching some impossibly lame show. I was wondering if I should dash out and subscribe, until my brother walked in the house with a card in his hand, holding it up as if it were some kind of trophy. Brother: "Mabrook 3alekom! hal kart hatha ra7 yeshaqel il jazeera il reyatheya 3ashan ashoof il dawry il oroby!" Me: "Mabrook. i7na shako?" Mom: "Weh 3ayal khalas mako TV lena ya3ny?" Brother: "Chinna ba3ad fee ishteraak Showtime lemoddat sboo3 tsaddig?" My eyes lit up. I ran and snagged the card from his hand, ran to the receiver and fumbled with the card, trying to put it in. Brother: "sa7y int?" Mom: "Showtime ib Ramadan?" My brother noticed me putting the card upside down, he sighed and helped me with the thing. Damn it, I didn't know the shiny side was supposed to be up. After all is done... Me: "7e6 Paramount, 7e6 Paramount!" Brother: "Wallaaaaain, la teg3ad tseer yahil 3ala il TV int ba3ad, tara ana ily shary il kart fa ana ily a7added min-" Me: "Yoba 7e6 khale9ny!!" After many minutes of searching for Paramount, I grabbed the remote control and unleashed some of my geek powers to find it. After finally finding it (it was on the friggin list by name,) I changed to that channel, only to see an ad of a woman throwing off her bra in the air... Mom: "Haw!!" Brother: "ig3ad!" I panic and hastily change the channel to Al Jazeera for some more acceptable homocides and suicides. Brother: "Khalla yoba!" Mom: "Hathy Showtime? Yawelik min rabbik bas." Me: "Ga3id adawir Conan O'Brien, ihya bas khal tkhalis il da3aya o sadgony ra7 ya3jebkom" Brother: "Zain 7e6 shay thany, sheno mako ib Showtime ghair Paramount?" My brother sat down, suddenly interested. I reluctantly looked at the channel listings again. I found the Movie Channel, though I was a little dubious about it ... Brother: "ee ee 7e6 7e6" I clicked... to be in the middle of the love scene between Bruce and Grace in 'Bruce Almighty.' Grace runs into Bruce and Bruce lifts her like some kind of wrestler in WWF and bodyslams her on the bed. Mom: "7asbeyalla wa ne3m alwakeel!" Brother dies laughing Flustered, I change the channel to Paramount, to *finally* see Conan O'Brien! I leap in joy at the familiar sight and sit down with a big smile on my face. After a few jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bush, and Michael Jackson, I settled down and enjoyed the show, until... Conan: "Yes! I know that makes me horny too! *laughter*" Mom: "Sheno ya3ny horny?" Brother: "Ana same3 hal kelma, bas wain..." Me: "..." Conan: "Now ladies and gentlemen, we shall ask our famous, our beloved, our own Masturbating Bear! *crowd cheers*" Brother: "Sheno ya3ny mastur-" Me: "chub" Masturbating Bear walks up, thinks for a few seconds, then suddenly starts whapping his diaper. Brother: "Heh, shfee hatha?" Mom: "Shfee?" Me: "Uh, madry 3anna chinna 7a6een shay dakhil il... " Brother: "Shesma getly?" I pretend my phone is ringing and lifted it up to my ear. Me: "Alo? okh nisaaaaait yam3awad yalla yayik!" I pretend to close the phone and put it in my pocket as I stood up. Me: "Yalla bamshy ana, salam, imwa3id wa7ed o nisait." Mom: "Wen raye7 ib hal lail?" Brother: "Mo tgol mag6oo3 il kha6 3indik? ta3al yoba wen raye7!" I flee, wondering how the hell I never saw this coming lol **Edit: It was hard to explain what that bear did, so I scoured the net to find a clip of him in action. I found one on the Jim Carrey website where Jim was playing the bear here. Note that Jim doesn't do the rest of the Bear stuff hehe, had to clarify that. It takes 15 secs for the download to start, but it's there :)

Today's so7oor!

2005-10-29T05:04:00.000+03:00

Today is the day I write a totally pointless post, since I'm trying to save the good posts until I get listed on Safat and KuwaitBlogs. (jaggie scares me!) Behold! my so7oor! It seems like I am taking so many of these damn things that I'm hallucinating every now and then. White pill says: "Fire!" Pink pill says: "Heart!" B/W Capsule says: "wtf?" White and Pink say: "Captaaain Pl-" B/W Capsule says: "DON'T say it!" *I eat all three and pretend I didn't see anything. I'm also realizing my good ol' Nokia 7610 is starting to seem old now since pictures just suck.

Template fixed for IE!

2005-10-28T04:24:00.000+03:00

Finally, the sidebar won't be all the way down for IE users! :) I really have no clue how I fixed it. I just deleted a bunch of code that looked pretty important, and then I had some orange juice, and now it works. IMA GENIUS! Now I think I need to add some substance to this post before I get knocked out by those pills again. Bored? Love looking at space? Check out these pictures here :) They really are quite good! Now lets see if I can make it to the bed ... wish me luck! (grabs a backpack)

Day of the Toothache

2005-10-26T05:08:00.000+03:00

Bruises? I can take those. Cuts? Piece of cake! Broken Bones? Blah, tolerable. Toothache? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!! There is just nothing more painful than a toothache to me. A tiny tooth can bring me down to my knees damnit! There really should be an "OFF" button for those damn toothaches. What? You can tolerate the pain? That's great, cause you still have to go to the dentist and look at those lovely pictures on the wall consisting of malformed faces, decayed teeth, enlarged lips with blood all over. If that doesn't make you feel better, then this next picture will certainly do it. I don't mean to be insensitive or whatever, but honestly, the first thing that came to mind when I saw that baby was ol' Chucky from those horror movies. I'm not sure if this is just me being nervous or what, but damn it was a frightful experience. Of course, I don't even need to mention the banj :( I absolutely dread that. I had to get some surgery done to remove the tooth, so I'm just living on pain killers right now. God, I hope this ends soon, those damn pain killers last only 2 hours it seems, and I'm taking too much grrr...

Geek Speak

2005-10-24T23:11:00.000+03:00

I saw this test thing over at ForzaQ8's blog. I decided to take the test myself to see if binary data really runs through my veins (aka: geek.) That's not bad, I guess. However, as I read through my results, I caught this: " The average score for the gals is 38, while the guy average is 56." Now I've wondered about this for a very long time. Why are there so few geeky females? I do remember there was a fair number of females with me in my MIS classes in the US, but I always seem to randomly get teamed with at least two, and end up doing all the work on my own. (Although they really try very hard) This also seems to apply to gamer females; there just aren't many of them out there. An example would be from today. I find my little nephew hunched on my Playstation2, playing Fight Night (a boxing game.) My little girl cousin of the same age decides to play against him. She sits down, holds the controller upside-down, and presses buttons randomly while looking at me and giggling. Of course, my nephew roars victoriously as he defeats that poor little girl. However, being the chivalrous and honor-bound person that I am (what're you laughing about?) I decide to step in and avenge the little girl. I grab the controller and proceed to lay the smack down on my nephew to show him who's top-dog around here! I grin and stretch my arms casually, waiting for my cousin to thank me for avenging her. I wait .. and wait, and suddenly my nephew bursts into tears, running to his mom crying. I'm like, what the hell? Where's the little girl? I look around and find her already on the phone, talking to some friend of hers, giggling and laughing all the while. I tried telling her that she was avenged, I knocked her enemy out, what more could she ask for? She gave me the most uninspired clap I've ever seen and continued on with her conversation. Downstairs however, I hear my nephew speaking between weeps. "My uncle.... KILLED meeeee," followed by an unholy, ear piercing shriek from his mother, and ... well, ok I'm getting off topic. I have more examples of this too. I mean, could it be just be that they don't flaunt it as much as guys do? Are we wired up differently? Maybe it's just society? Hmm, maybe men think more logically than women, therefore making us better at math? (If that last one were true, I'd have to turn in my male papers or something...) Well, being the curious 'Mid-Rank Computer Geek' with too much time on my hands, I decided to research the subject a bit. I found about five pages blocked by Qualitynet. Apparently, I read that quite a few reports say it's that "environmental factors prevent girls from becoming involved in the sciences, and that there are strong disincentives which discourage them from pursuing career paths in technical fields. This isn't up for argument; studies have repeatedly confirmed this, and it is widely accepted as correct." (quote from here) Reading some more articles, this one talks about why females don't choose geeky careers. Quoting the article: �When we emphasize choice and hold up self-realization as an educational goal, girls will often freely choose poorly paid, female-typed fields of study that are in line with a conventional feminine identity and stereotypes about what girls are good at,� she said, adding that such tendencies appear to be especially pervasive in the most affluent, industrialized societies." This does somewhat make sense. I wouldn't be a Kindergarten teacher even though I'm unemployed right now, and even if it's double the normal salaries. (I know I'll take this back a couple of months from now.) Now I'm not entirely certain if geeky girls and gamer girls are related at all. I'm not even sure they face the same issues. The issue is that most games seem to involve guns, blood, baseball bats in the face, swords in the groin, cars running over people, etc. I don't think that's much of a turn-on for females. There are exceptions of course. I know I played against few girls in some rough online games, and some of them could kick my ass pretty badly. This is a pretty good article about some research on the subject. A nice quote from the end would be "In game genre preference, 93.9 percent of the female base prefers card, puzzle, arcade, or word games." I'm still a bit baffled about this. I wonder if anyone has anything insightful?

IE Troubles

2005-10-23T15:19:00.000+03:00

Uh, apparently the website doesn't look right on Internet Explorer. I'm not really sure why, but I'll look into it soon. I'm still catching up on sleep ... And sleep I shall!

3omra Complete!

2005-10-22T06:51:00.000+03:00

I know you were all eagerly waiting for my arrival. Please do not swamp me with your gifts and love.

I'm back, and I'm exhausted! It was incredibly crowded there, and it's not even the last 10 days. When I try to get somewhere, I'd have to join the sea of people and literally be lifted to where I want to go. It was really, really cramped. However, it's really something you can only experience in Mecca. When you first enter the 7aram, the noise is pretty loud, but as soon as you reach the plate with the Ka3ba in the open air, the voices die down until it's almost eerily quiet. There are no walls or ceilings for the voices to reverberate on, which is why it sounds pretty quiet :) Ok, yes I'm a geek. Being somewhat of a 3omra noob, I wrote a list of things on a piece of paper that I'd do differently on my next 3omra. Being the "oops, I forgot" noob, that piece of paper will probably end up in the middle of the Pacific somehow, so I have decided to write these here in hopes that I might actually read the archives by accident.

Get some comfortable slippers. You're going to do a lot of walking, and I don't mean just the 6awaf and sa3y. I was always lost, and the damn hotel seemed to grow legs and just move someplace else every single day!

If you do have comfortable slippers, someone probably has an eye on them. Me and my brother naively put them in those numbered shoe racks. Once we came back, we found that the whole damn rack was gone. I've lost my prize slippers :( Ok, it was $7 from Wal-Mart, but still, you get emotionally attached to your n3al.

Have you come up with the smartest idea mankind has ever thought of to avoid the crowd and pray in the first row? Rest assured that 5,000 others thought the same thing, and you'll end up fighting another huge crowd (of geniuses?)

Be prepared for some surreal experiences :) Also, be prepared for some not-so-surreal experiences such as someone's i7ram dropping. That one has scarred me for life...

On that topic, never, ever let anyone do your i7ram for you. Some people have this really complicated way of wearing the i7ram. Although it's comfortable, you won't be able to adjust it or even figure out what the hell is going on down there. I've learned this on my previous 3omra, and boy, it was a very powerful, hard-learned lesson. Um, I'll spare everyone the details.

Remember, there are no stupid questions, even if the guy you're asking goes "damn, that's a stupid question." Case in point: My brother asking someone if this Zamzam water (from the pic below) is drinkable

That's all I can come up with right now. All in all, it was a fun and much needed 3omra, although I'm not sure if I'll be going during Ramadan again, that crowd was impossible! You look left, there are people. You look right, there are people. You look down, there's a kid squashed between people. You look up, you see the damn birds bumping into each other. Yes, crowded! I'm still recovering from the lovely Saudi airport. I'm too tired to rant about it, but I'll just mention this ... they close the damn airport doors at iftar, and it stays closed for like 30 minutes. Now it's time to flop on the bed and sleep for like .. a week.

Oops...

Incoming 3omra

2005-10-17T06:33:00.000+03:00

The day draws near, and boy am I glad this flu is gone! I'll be one of those millions of people you see on the right. To be exact, I'll be between these three domes. I don't know why, but it looks cozy there. After the first few days of praying and 3omra'ing, I'm going to grab a camera to fill up this blog with a few images of Mecca, if I'm able. I just hope my i7ram has some pockets! Actually, maybe I'll be able to sneak over to the first row! I'm going to try...ajirha 3atheem. See you in a few days :)

Photography is an Art?

2005-10-16T09:03:00.000+03:00

Grab a camera, look through the viewfinder, press a button, wait for clicking sound, tell the subject to quit smiling already since the picture is taken. That's honestly what I (and others) believed photography was, I mean you can only do so much with one button. However, a few years back I discovered I was quite wrong... In my starting days in the US, I hung around some Kuwaity friends who showed me the ropes around the place. Those friends however, seem to pick up a hobby every other week. One day it's RC cars, following week it's rollerblading, week after that it's collecting pet snakes. It was a little bizarre at first, but after a while it grows on you and you actually be part of it all. One day, one of our groupmates walked in with a black leather bag. He opened it, dug his hand in and pulled out a camera with that freakin huge telescope looking lens (picture is an exaggeration.) We were in awe of it all (one other groaned at having to spend some more for this newest hobby.) But damn, aren't these lens a little ... too much? You could take pictures of other galaxies with that thing! He also pulled out some device that calculates the lighting and stuff. The guys needed no more prodding, they went and bought the cameras, books, and supplies for this new hobby. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join them this time since, being the geek that I am, I spent the salary on a new computer. Making a long story short, they came up with pictures like a pond with a tiny dot that's supposed to be a crocodile, a picture of a spider hanging in the air with a blur in the background that's supposed to be me (was trying to whack the damn thing and got in the picture,) a picture of a friggin coke can. Needless to say, that hobby went to hell in a matter of days. We found out the hard way that it's not for everyone. But those who actually perfect this, you really have no choice but to call them artists. To explain, let me show you this picture I found while I was messing around with Flickr. (Click on pic for the bigger version) This one was shot by someone named Dockmaster. I'll admit I was speechless when I saw this. From the blurry background, to the vivid colors, to those unnaturally blue eyes! Of course, I thought it was a fluke until I saw the rest of the pictures. I could be biased, since I'm usually a sucker for anything cute, but come on, give credit where it's due. Heck, with photography skill like that, I could make even myself look good! In the end, you know it's art when even a shoe looks good.

The Epidemic Spreads...

2005-10-15T08:23:00.000+03:00

After a long night of sneezing, sniffling and general tissue abuse, I believe I'm finally beating the cold. Head feels a little better and the runny nose is down to a trickle nose. Is that the end of the story? Heck no! The flu virus decides to infect my mother, who in turn will infect my father, who might be too stubborn to miss out on any dowania, therefore infecting half the dowania, and then that half carry it to their homes... good lord what have I started! Ah well, I just hope this damn bug dies out soon. I will personally send a gift of flowers and two packs of tissues to whoever invents the cure. For now, it's time to take care of mom as she took care of me.

Let the blogging begin!

2005-10-14T22:41:00.000+03:00

It seems I have completed my intricate blog customizations. I mean, you can't even tell what the old template looked like right!? right..? Ah well, for my first real blog entry, I will begin with my flu. A tiny virus that's a gazillion times smaller than me, yet it has the ability to mess me up quite badly. I'm stumped on how I got the flu twice in two months, I thought you get an immunity after the first one for a while!? At least, that's the way it was during my studies in the US. I miss NyQuil, that stuff really knocks you out when you go to bed. You wake up in some kind of dream land with a shimmering magical door in sight. Of course, when this happens, you probably drank too much NyQuil... I'll recover soon, and I'd love to be part of this blogger community. I'm hoping to keep this thing going and post whatever comes to mind from music to boxing to art to .. to all kinds of stuff man!

Dukie the Taru Taru!

2005-10-14T21:18:00.000+03:00

Dukie the Taru Taru! Originally uploaded by Bojacob.

At this point in time, I am testing out Flickr. Fortunately for everyone, I've decided not to post any faceshots of me. The world is safe... for now. For now, ladies and gentlemen, here's Dukie!

Hello World!

2005-10-14T20:35:00.000+03:00

Apparently I have created this blog like half a year ago, but I didn't post until today. I'm giving blogs a second shot. MSN blogs weren't that good unfortunately, and this time around I'm going to stick myself on www.kuwaitblogs.com! That should inspire me enough. I'm also creating this post because I'm fixing up the template. So far, I don't think anything has changed! I'll be back in a little bit