3 Hottest Tennis players

Here are the 3 hottest players in tennis in my book... 1. Daniella Hantuchova - She's 22 years old and from Slovakia. Currently no. 19 in the WTA (World Tennis Association). Look at that body! Lean, mean, fighting machine. She wears the least outfit in tennis, I think. She was in the top 10, 2 years ago but began falling in rankings. People are taking notice of Sharapova because she's winning, but Hantuchova is far hotter than Sharapova. 2. Maria Sharapova - One of the youngest to be no. 1 in the WTA rankings, this 18 year old hails from Russia. She's 6'2"! Those legs are really long! The only thing that I don't like about her is that she has blotches on her face. 3. Maria Kirilenko - Also from Russia, this 18 year old needs to start winning for her to get those big advertisers. Currently stands at 45 in the WTA ranking. She just won a WTA event two weeks ago, her first. She's quite pretty isn't she.

Xiane!

Random Photos

The Table Here's a photo of our Receiving area table. We bought the table at Home Center. You'll find the Lord of the Rings trilogy books along with the Hobbit, some candles, a brochure about Airmiles, and a frame gold Lotus (a gift from one of my clients in my previous company). The Red Divider Covered the table with a cloth that we bought to make it a divider for our receiving are and dining. Mavis bought some nice frames and printed some photos of family. The drum-like thing on the far left is a lamp, which we haven't used yet. Toys Some of Xiane's favorite toys...(clockwise from the top left) Nemo, her pink umbrella, Boots, Tangy the Bear, her baby piggy, a cabbage patch kid, Grumpy and Dopey, a stuffed dog (named after our dog in the Philippines, Tata), and her noisy singing snail.

Movies that I watched lately

• Constantine - I rented this movie yesterday on DVD. Keanu Reeves. It was like watching Matrix except the whole setting is different, the plot is different.. but the acting...plot is good but not that engaging, almost boring. They should just left it as a comic book.
• Kung Fu Hustle - Watch this! Watch this! Watch this!I watched it in Grand City Centre last Wednesday by myself. I was laughing so hard at some of the scenes.. really funny. Entertaining. So you think you know Kung Fu? You haven't till you watch this.
• Maid in Manhattan - *cough* Typical *cough*. Caught this on one of the satellite channels the other night while waiting for CSI. A typical Jlo movie. Girlie-feel-good-happy-ever-after movie.

Next in line...

The Jacket - Adrien Brody. He goes to an institution after being accused of killing somebody and becomes an experiment in which he sees himself die in the future. I think I'll like this.

Suspect Zero - Ben Kingsley. He uses telephathy to help some detectives identify the ultimate serial killer. Might be boring but the plot is good.

Buses in Qatar

Finally, public transportation will be offered in Doha on October 1^st with the use of Mowasalat buses. The rate for a bus ride within Doha would be 2 QR, regardless of the distance and route. Also, the bus would be divided into 2 areas; an area for women and families and an area for men only. I'm not sure though if they also have separate doors for each much like what they have in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A pass would be dispensed by the driver once you pay him as you enter the front door. You can get out using the middle door to make boarding and exiting organized instead of people bumping each other trying to get in/out of 1 door. Buses would arrive at the designated routes/stops every 20 minutes. Those in the Industrial Area and Wakra have to pay 3 rials.

They have even started offering bus services to schools a month back with their new, Aquamarine colored buses. Parents can ask the school to apply for such service to have the buses collect their children at a designated location and time.

This is good news, right? I guess it is good news for bachelors and those who don't have cars. Imagine all the money you'd be saving by paying just 2 rials instead of getting yourself a taxi each time you want to go someplace else.

For parents and children, they now have new buses to take them to their schools instead of those old ones that the school typically provides (you have to pay them a large sum for getting your kid sit in a rickety bus). The bus is air conditioned plus, each child is assigned 1 seat in which it is compulsory to make use of the seatbelt.

I have some issues with the public buses though. Doha is already congested with traffic and I'm sure the service is going to add to this. How about accidents? Will we see more accidents now that you have these humongous buses trying to get in the same lane with you?

I also read that parents have been wanting the buses to drop their children right in front of their doorsteps instead of having the children walk from the designated pick-up point. Also, how are the schools going to respond to parents wanting to have the service as the schools rake in money by offering their own buses for transport?

update: They now say that they're going to start the service on the 23rd of October

Citroen Xsara Picasso - revisited

A lot of people have been commenting on the car that we bought, a Citroen Xsara Picasso. Picture here...

Like the other night, after the post wedding party I attended, one of my colleagues went up to me as I was about to leave and asked if he could look at the car and how much I bought it for. He was telling me it looked nice and had plenty of space.

From the start, Mavis didn't want a small car. After all the cars I've driven before (2 Toyota Tercels, Hyundai, and a Toyota Echo), she was fed up of having a small car. Plus the fact that having a bigger car means less chances of injury when someone hits you was something that we were concerned about.

I found the classifieds section of the Gulftimes Newspaper online when I was still in Bahrain. When we got to Qatar, we were deciding if we would buy a new car, either a Nissan Pathfinder or a Ford Explorer, or a second –hand car (Pathfinder, Sportage, or the Picasso). We got to see the Picasso when the owner drove by the house to show us the car. We checked it, drove it around the compound and told the guy we were going to think about it. I asked Mavis if she liked the car and she said yes.

I always say that it is a steal as we only bought it for 42500 QR, second hand. It was bought in July 2004 by a Lebanese guy for his wife but they left to go to Jordan less than a year after he bought it and left it to his friend for him to sell it. A brand new 2005 model would cost you about 62500 QR. The oval shape of the car is what makes people turn to look at it I guess. It's like an egg! Or a futuristic car of some kind. It's what they call a Multi-purpose Van (MPV) as it's like a small van and has a lot of space. It had 10,000Km on it and was like brand new when we got it. It has a spacious and modular interior, three rear seats, flat floor forming a walkway and a generous stowage space. The one we have is the 2.0i 16V 100 kW (137 hp) automatic edition. It has automatic windows, child lock, automatic locking system (locks all the doors when your speed goes to 8kmph), auto-sensing wipers (senses the amount of rainfall and adjusts the speed of the wipers), temperature control (automatically adjusts the aircon inside the car to the specific temperature you've set), cruise control, etc. The back seats even have folding trays for those who want to eat or write much like passenger seats on an airplane!

Overall, it was a good buy. We love the space and the comfort. You can actually stretch your feet because of the ample leg room. We've been using it for 3 months and I can't complain. Mavis even asked me to give it to her after 4 years and buy myself another car!

Life in Jeddah and Saudi in general

I have a reader who was asking about life as a woman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  and lifestyle in general, as her husband is being offered a job there. Here was my reponse:

 

Women in Saudi (Jeddah):
Generally, as you've found out, women can not drive and can not work in Saudi. Although you may try applying for a teaching role in expat schools as they are a bit linient. Most of women who work in Saudi are either nurses, doctors, dentists and related to the medical field. So if you're not into the medical field, there's little chance you'll really get work so you have to accept that.you also need to buy and wear an Abaya, the black dress that they wear, everytime you go out. Better to also buy the thing that they put on their head to cover your hair (they're linient about the covering the face) just to be sure so when a Mutawa (religious police) accosts you, you have at least something to show.

Going out by yourself is an option but it might require sometime before you get the guts to do so. First, you have to take a taxi as you can not drive. Unless you really know the driver, I wouldn't suggest it. I myself have been harassed (although that was at 2 in the morning). But I know a couple who were able to find a good taxi driver so they just call him up when the wife needs a ride. And if you do get out by yourself, get used to being stared at. The expat community in Jeddah is not as big as the community in Dhahran/Khobar so local men are "excited" to see expats. It's not that bad though.

Without kids, no outside life, no nightlife, restricted movement (no driving), life would really be a bore for a woman. After visiting all the places that you could visit, you'd find yourself doing mostly nothing. My wife was really complaing when we didn't have a baby yet. But if you have 2 kids, then it's good that you have your day to spend with them, right? I'm sure they're a handful already.

Accomodation is relatively cheap in comparison to Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar. Almost everything is cheap in Saudi I guess.. .from cars, to food, to electronics (cheaper in Dubai though). for 50-60K SR/year, you can live in a pretty decent enclosed villa with swimming pool, gym, tennis courts, etc...Or if you're on a budget, you can get a decent flat/apartment in a building for about 18-30K per month. Don't worry about groceries as it is CHEAP! except for western/imported items. You'd probably be spending about 3-6K SR per month on food and groceries.

School. I'm not too sure about the cost in Saudi as I wasn't yet concerned too much before. In Bahrain, British schools would ask for about 3-4K SR per term (3 terms a year), American schools about 6-10K per year. In Qatar, it's almost the same except much higher for American schools at about 12-15K per term.

So saving is relative on how your lifestyle is going to be....At least this gives you an idea right? But amongst the Middle East countries, if you really want to save a lot of money, Saudi is the place to be.

Landline, Internet, Blogging

Qtel is the exclusive telecommunication provider in Qatar and is owned by the government. Without a Residence Permit (RP), an expat would not be able to apply for a landline in Qatar. Even with the RP itself and applying, it takes about 2-3 weeks before they do get to your house to install the line. Landline subscription costs 100 rials every 3 months. You can then purchase Ebhar (prepaid internet cards) cards so you could access the net. The dial-up connection is supposed to give you about a 56k connection but in actuality, I can only get around 31Kb download

speed, as what my connection states (I'm sure it is less). I hope to apply for ADSL connection but I'm having 2^nd thoughts about it at the moment. The ADSL would cost me QR200/month. If I apply and subscribe for a 1-year account, the ADSL modem and installation fees are waived. The speed is stated at 512kb download, 128kb upload, limitless monthly bandwidth, and 24/7 connectivity. However, the only thing that bothers me about this is that I can't have the subscription stopped even when I'm not in the country for my yearly vacation. Well, I lose QR400 a year for the subscription but I'd rather have the ADSL instead of the very slow dial-up, which would get me paying more than 200/month, as the hourly rate for the dialup is QR4. If I use the net for at least 3 hours a day for 30 days, that would be cost me QR360/month. That also means I have to surf with 31kb speed which then triple the amount of time I need to get things done. So, what I need to do is send an email to QTEL, and propose that they offer at least one month free for every yearly subscription! But let's see how it turns out. Otherwise, I could go to an Internet café, spend 5QR per hour and have ADSL connection….or I could settle with Ebhar.

Email posting test

I''m trying to see if I can post thru sending emails to my blog. Hope this works!

Post Wedding Party

Zaheed, a friend/colleague of mine had a post wedding party yesterday. He went home to India a month ago to have his wedding and came back just the other week. The party was held in Maza Restaurant, an Indian Restaurant in Doha. I had to fetch another friend before going to the party as I didn't know where the actual restaurant is. By 7:45, I picked him up in front of the Home Center on Salwa Road and proceeded to go to Maza. Most of the invitees were colleagues while others were his neighbors and cousins. There were no women guests as this was an all-male party. No strippers though. he he he he. So I got talking with people and watch the place fill up. By 8:45, I was asked by Zaheed to go and line up for food. The buffet consisted of Mutton Biryani, Spicy Buttered Chicken, Nan, Vegetables, Vegetable Samsosa, Vegetable Rolls, Puri and other Indian food. Yummy! Before, I thought that Biryani was middle eastern but found out that it actually is Indian. Biryani is a type of rice dish that they cook with spices and meat. Usually it's chicken or mutton. Nan, on the other hand is a type of flat bread that they usually have with their meals. They told me that they use wheat flour to cook it while Arabs' Khobus (not sure how it is spelled) use corn flour. I think Nan is better as it is softer and tastier. I also found out more about the history of India; how rich India was once, how middle easterners go to India to work, how the British came and "looted" it of its riches (diamonds esp.), how India came to have such a diverse set of culture, language and people. Very interesting. I was so full at when I finished my second serving of food. The chicken was really spicy but was good to have with rice or Nan. I also saw another guy feeding his 2-year old son this spicy dish and was amazed at his tolerance to such spicy food! I doubt Xiane can even take a taste or even a whip of it! We left at about 10:20 so that other guests could be seated as they kept coming. I'm guessing that at least 30 people came. By the time I reached home, I already feel my tummy reeling from the spicy food that I ate plus the amount of food I ate. Too bad, Mavis isn't really much into Indian/Spicy food.

A Flat for 4700

We're currently living in a 2 bedroom flat in the Old Airport Area. We're renting it for 4700QR. It's fairly ok, much bigger than the one we were renting in Bahrain. We were already able to buy most of the furniture through our own funds as our furnishing allowance would only be handed once I get confirmed with work (which I already have the papers signed for by my Manager!). I gave Mavis a budget for the items that we needed for the house so she took care of what items to buy which would fit that budget. We were actually lucky that when we were buying our stuff, shops were having their sale because of the Qatar Summer Festival. We got most of our furniture in Home Center and our applicances in Lulu Hypermarket, Electronics section. The only thing missing is a sofa set, which we ordered from IDdesign and hopefully would be delivered by the 1st week of October. Appliances cost are ok. A bit more expensive than Bahrain or Saudi. Again, nothing can beat Saudi when it comes to cost of products (grocery, food, appliances). I think only Dubai has lower prices when it comes to electronics. One funny incident: We were supposed to pick up a lamp we ordered in Home Center but there were no parking space. So I told Mavis to just pick it up while Xiane and I wait for her in the car. 30 minutes passed as she wasn't yet going out and there there still no parking space. After a while, she did come out, holding 2 big plastic bags full of kitchen items, decors, candles, etc! A man was behind her carrying the lamp in a box. I was just shaking my head as I opened the back of the car to accomodate the items and telling her that I thought we were there to just pick up the lamp.Women. Just leave them alone in a shop and next thing you know, you'll have them carrying half of the items displayed on the shop. Anyway, it was her budget so I really can't complain about it;)

I'm back!

Sorry guys for not being able to update my blog for the longest time. First, we didn't have a phoneline at home so no Internet. Going to an Internet Cafe was not really an option. But now that we already have a phoneline at home, I can update this blog on a more regular basis. I'm back!