Yesterday, I went to the jam3iya with my wife, we had to get some stuff for home. I saw something weird going on with a certain customer, I told my wife, she didn’t believe me….so we decided to follow that customer around to see if I was imagining things…….I wasn’t.

This is what i saw, I saw a young woman (mid-20’s I’d guess), on the chubby side, and she was walking around talking on her cell phone…..so far so good. There was another person with her, a very short, very skinny, mu7ajjaba housemaid. She was walking right behind her, the girl was on the phone, and as soon as they got to whatever item she needed, she would point at the item and the maid would pick it up and put in the basket that she was carrying!! Yes, u read that right, a BASKET, meaning nothing she bought was too big or too heavy!!

How lazy do u have to be to bring along someone to pick up a small can of something and to put in a basket and to carry it around with them for you?!?!? Im surprised she even bothered pointing at the items! Didnt she worry about pulling her finger muscles?!

So…..how much lazier can we get?? I expect to see her come next time with one person carrying her, and the other pointing for her, and a third picking up the things, and a fourth carrying her cell phone for her! Our country’s demise will come some day because of our laziness!

Have you ever thought about time traveling?! I mean really thought about it!? Albert Einstein did. It was his theory of relativity that initiated time travel ideas in many others. Basically, if a person would travel faster than the speed of light, then there is a possibility of going back in time.

Time travel is neither proved nor disproved…..yet! It is just a mysterious theory that lingers around unsolved. Back to the Future is one movie that revolves around that idea. The crazy Doc and young Marty are the first to discover and use the “Time Machine” and use it in an attempt to alter their present by going to the past.

Let’s just say that we actually have a time machine, and would send someone 2000 years back. Let’s just say that we would send a young aspiring magician to-be in the time capsule, what would our world be now?!

He would Arrive in the capsule in front of thousands of nomads and appear from nowhere. Would they attack it?! Would they run away?! Would they stare in disbelief?! Or would they go down on their knees for a messenger from a god?! They would probably do something of everything.

The young magician, aspiring to someday be a master of illusion and “magic”, steps down from the new monster, and speaks words that are meaningless.

He could start his routine with a simple rabbit in a hat trick, a simple trick that we see every day and only think about it for two or three seconds, and gets a live rabbit from his hat. Would they yell, “He is a god who brings us food from nowhere!!?!”

Then he moves his hand quickly in air and two or three pigeons would fly from his hand, would it be, “He created life in front of our eyes?!”

He continues his routine and puts a small rock in his hand, and with a swift move of hand it vanishes! Would it be, “He made it disappear into thin air!! He is a powerful being!!?”

Next, he puts his hand behind someone’s ear and a small gold coin appears. Would it be, “He can bring wealth to us from thin air!!?”

Later that day, when it is night time, he would simply bring out a flash light and turn it on. It could be said, “He holds the sun in his hand, therefore he is the creator of all things!!!”

He might even bring a gun with him on his trip, and kill a camel from 100 meters away, the people would say, “He can take life just by pointing at a living thing!”

With his very small routine, every man, woman, and child would be mesmerized and captivated by this being’s super-natural abilities, and news of this being spreads throughout the region. He decides to go on tour, with his well-equipped supply of batteries and magic tools. From village to village, place to place, he is treated as The Master. Many followers and believers in his super natural abilities, which is proven in front of everyone, start surfacing.

With a small first aid kit and a small box of Aspirin pills, he could also have the “gift” of healing people. His base of followers slowly grows with time, and he is their god.

He decides to come back to the present. Upon arriving, the world is a difference place!! He is the creator in which everybody believes in but nobody saw. His followers make up a significant section of the human population, a new religion with new beliefs is a dominating power throughout history.

He helped create a huge part of history, yet he is nothing more than a young magician with small gigs in crummy clubs and theaters who is only known to a handful of friends and family. Just a thought…..

This will be a very different type of post.

While looking around the different blogs, a couple mentioned the 2004 blog awards, I checked out the place, and found this one blog with around 66% of the votes, which up til now are around 4500 votes.

The blog is called IRAQ THE MODEL, and I checked it out. Reading the posts on that blog really make you appreciate the good life we live. It is about the daily life in Iraq, mostly around the Baghdad area. It gives a slightly positive outlook to things there, which makes you want to cling to that lonely ray of hope and just pray for it to strengthen.

Read the post titled “Securing the death road”, the style of writing is beautiful, its so simple yet engaging and powerful! Its great to get some insider unbiased thoughts from within Iraq without the push and shove of Arab or Western propaganda.

I can only wish and pray for the people of Iraq towards a better future.

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder who observed how his goats suddenly became extra active and stayed awake at night after eating a certain wild red berry. The goat herder reported his discovery to a local monk, who, in turn, experimented on this mysterious bean and realized its effects. Whether or not this story is trye, it is not known, but one thing is definite, we should ALL join together and say “Thank you Ethiopian goat herder!”

Coffee is consumed daily by millions all around the world, and is one of the biggest industries which keeps growing year by year, thanks to the many coffeehouses popping up in every corner of the world at an amazing pace.

I would consider myself to be a major contributor to the coffee business. Obviously, one man cannot support an industry, but if the world was full of me, coffee makers would become multi-billionaires. Ethiopia, Brazil, Columbia, Indonesia, and other coffee growing countries would control world economies. Instead of OPEC, we would have an Organization of Coffee Exporting Countries (OCEC) cartel. Unfortunately, the world is probably better off with having only one of me around.

Coffee is an integral part of my daily life. As soon as I manage to pull myself out of bed and into my car, my mind plays dirty tricks on me, trying to convince me that I have enough time to pass by the nearest Starbucks before work, even when I’m late. Usually my mind is wrong and I dont have time, so I end up going to work without the early morning round. As soon as I get to work, I am greeted with the tiny albeit powerful cup of Turkish coffee. I have heard of the dangers of starting the day with strong coffee, but to be honest, I dont care. Would you rather have a disgruntled, grumpy, healthy employee or a slightly unhealthy happy employee? I would go with the latter.

Since we are on the subject of health and coffee, I would like to help bring an end to the bad rep coffee has gotten in recent years, and instead, will mention a few of its health benefits:

• There is some convincing evidence for a protective effect of coffee againts the development of colon or bladder cancers.
• Caffiene has been known to help asthmatics and many have found regular consumption of coffee to assist in moderating attacks.
• A cup of coffee can help in performance of tasks requiring sustained attention. It further helps enhance a person’s ability to perform these taks during low alertness situations such as after lunch, at night or when a person has a cold.
• Drinking coffee has been associated with a lower risk of gallstone disease in men.

Obviously, moderation is required in coffee consumption. Anything in excess is bad for you.

The smell of coffee in the morning is one of life’s small pleasures. A certain sense of peace arrives with the first whiff of its aroma. It is as if the coffee speaks, telling me that everything will be ok, thanks to the Ethiopian goat herder, this cup will help me start my day.

Hello again everyone. I am back (unfortunately) from Dubai trip. This is a breakdown of the trip…

• First of all, my wife was in Dubai 2 days before me for a conference there, which meant that by the time my birthday came, I would be spending it here…..alone!
• So I decided to leave 29th Nov, took Wednesday and Thursday off work.
• Left Kuwait on the 30th to surprise my wife there
• Arrived, surprised her, which turned out well, and it was nice seeing her again.
• We went to Madinat Jumeirah that night for dinner and all, ended up at Trader Vic’s sitting outside near the water, the weather was gorgeous and the place was more gorgeous! This what Madinat Jumeirah looks like. It is officially my favourite place in Dubai.

  

• Next day (my birthday), went on a sight trip to The Palm Jumeirah (there are three palms btw), which is incredible…..seeing these things happening just makes you realize that some things in some countries actually move forward as planned! Its amazing! After that we went to the sales office for a presentation on all the Palm projects plus The World islands, which looks even more amazing!
• After that, went to sho-cho’s with some friends from college for sushi. Again, it was excellent, it was a huge group, around 15 people.

• We went next door to Boudoir, parties as much as possible, realized that Im totally over the clubbing thing, and that I am getting old. I mean it was really fun being around all my friends and so on, but the whole thing was kinda uncomfortable, its like I didnt fit in anymore. This shall be dwelled upon later in more detail.
• All in all, it was a great night though! Much better than spending my birthday watching TV alone.
• We were having so much fun that the next day we extended our stay for one more night. All hotels were FULLY BOOKED in Dubai, not one single room available, the only option was a suite in a hotel somewhere in the middle of Deira, ALL of Sheikh Zayed road and Jumeirah hotels were fully occupied and overbooked.
• Got up late thursday, went to Madinat Jumeirah again. We were there by 3:30pm, we left the place at around 2am! This is how great the place is! For a list of everything there, check this out. We had lunch at Noodle House, outdoors, then coffee at a different place, then dessert a different place, then smoked some sheesha at a dif place, all this was done outdoors on the waterfront. We walked around, did some minishopping, and then at around 10 we went to a Jazz bar called Jambase.
• This is when I realized that I did grow old! I absolutely loved the place! Very classy, excellent crowd, great band, great music, great food and beverages! Im in love with this place, I cant say enough about how great my time there was. Plus maybe the fact that being there with my wife alone made it better than the big crowd the day before.

• Got up early Friday, intending to go buy gifts for some people here in Kuwait. We got to Wafi Center at around 10 am, the whole place was closed (we totally forgot it was Friday), then we went to City Center, which was partially open. And we were in such a rush to meet some friends for lunch that we didnt have time to shop at all.
• Went for lunch at a place called Casa Mia, excellent Italian food, which you cant find in Kuwait at all! Had oysters for starters, spaghetti with lobster for main, deliishhhhhhhhh!!
• Got to the airport an hour before the flight, barely had time to have coffee, came back to Kuwait, got slightly depressed.

Overall, it was EXCELLENT! I needed it alot more than I thought I did, my wife said I looked happier than Ive been the past few months. No stress from work, my phone wasnt working which turned out for the best, and spent the whole weekend with my wonderful wife. What else can a guy ask for on his birthday?