Sofas are here! or are they?

Qatar - I've been calling IDdesign early this November to ask what happend to the sofas we ordered last September and was told they got stuck in the customs but would be delivered on the 2nd or 3rd week of this month. So i got a call the other week from them telling me that the sofas are already in and they would deliver within the week. And they did! However, when they got to assembling the sofas in the living room, it seems to me that these were not the sofas we ordered. They were of different style and bigger. The thing is, I am not so sure anymore because it has been 3 months since we ordered them. I've been telling my wife this dillema but the thing is I can't show it to her since she has our camera back home. My phone is the cheapest Nokia phone you could find so no chance of taking a shot. So what I thought of was drawing the thing... Well now, she's not also sure if these were the sofas we ordered... By the way, we have to redo the whole living room area to accomodate these sofas as you don't have enough room between the center table and sofas. I'll wait till Mavis comes back so we can decide how to do rearrange everything.

Happy and Smiling

Qatar- I'm sure all of my colleagues were smiling happily when they left the office today... I was!

Small World of Blogging

I was chatting with a friend in Saudi this afternoon, talking about work and other friends when he suddenly asked me to forward him the URL of this blog since he hasn't seen it yet. I type it in the chat window for him to click on. He told me that he met this guy in Saudi and they got to talking. I'm not sure how the topic got where it was but my friend began telling the guy that he knew someone who worked in Khobar then moved to Jeddah and moved back to Khobar then moved to Bahrain. Now, the guy interrupts my friend and the whole situation kind of went like this (I'm not sure how it exactly went but this is my personal interpretation of what happened based on what my friend told me. If you're the guy who my friend was talking to, you can email me the exact details and I'll revise this) My Friend: Oh, I have a friend who was in Khobar then moved to Jeddah for a while, then moved back to Khobar, then moved to Bahrain this year. Guy: And he's in Qatar right now? My Friend: (surprised but nodding) Guy: He has a small kid? My Friend: Yes! Guy: His wife is currently on vacation in the Philippines? My Friend: (now starting to wonder and laugh) Yes! Do you know him? Guy: Yeah, I've read his blog. Small world.

Happy Birthday!

Cakes! Cakes! Cakes!

Xiane loves blowing candles on cakes.

It's moms' turn turn to blow the candles.

Xiane and Mavs

Mav's mom, my mom, Xiane, Mavis, and my sister Tin

Mavis celebrated her 29th birthday in the Philippines last Friday, Nov. 25. Her parents were also there as they were there to fetch them for their trip to Baguio the following day. I asked my dad the previous day if he could order for me a bouquet of flowers (Malaysian Mums - I've always given her Mums) and so he did. Mavis loved them although she wasn't able to take them to Baguio as the bouquet turned out to be a big setting that won't fit in the car. Anyway, they ate out in Lurings' (a bbq & grill restaurant) to celebrate. Happy Birthday baby!

Of Music and Whatever

I was doing some searching on Midi files for my dad-in-law when I came upon certain threads on the net that made me laugh. I can't believe that these were posted on 2001 and still being indexed! Anyway... Poster 1 : is liv styler (the girl in the movie "ARMAGGEDON") has a connection (sic) with the lead singer of aerosmith? Poster 2: si Liv Tyler?, wala, pero c Alicia Silverstone alam ko daughter ng lead vocalist nila (Liv Tyler? None, but I know that Alicia Silverstone is the daughter of their lead vocalist) Poster 3: liv tyler IS the daughter of the vocalist of aerosmith. ConfusedPoster: pls. explain the song MacArthurs Park. I really cannot see any logic why "someone left the cake out in the rain and I'd never have that recipe again"?

Ice Water!

It's gonna be December on Thursday and one thing that I hate about what it implies is that you get very cold water in the mornings and evenings. The past few days, I've been taking cold showers in the morning but the water was bearable. When I was in college and in Baguio (a mountainous region in the Philippnies which typically has about 13-18 degrees temperature in early mornings), I never bought myself a water heater. Water coming from the faucet would be like 8-10 degrees cold. I'd usually wet my hair with "ice water" first, then my arms and then I start jumping like crazy to prepare myself for the whole body splash. Once you get the thing going, you just continue with it till your body adjusts or till it becomes numb, whichever comes first. But I don't want to do the same routine again. So I woke up at 4 AM today and turned on the water heater for my 5:45 bath. It felt good to take the warm shower. I guess that's what I'll be doing for the next few weeks!

PinoytechQatar and Friday

Qatar - A few weeks back, I was invited through google to join an online group of Filipinos who are in Qatar. The group was composed of Filipinos in Information Technology. Last weeek we decided to meet for the first time and set a date on Friday. Anyway, our supposed to be group meeting became a meeting of 2, me and Kutch, as the others became tangled with other pressing matters. We met at Starbucks in City Centre at 4 and just talked about what we do, life in Qatar and stuff. We went around the mall looking at TVs, LCDs, Speakers and computer peripherals. By 6:30, we got hungry and decided to go to the Souk to eat in a Filipino restaurant. I got home at about 9:30 after driving him home in Salata. Although it was just the 2 of us, it was good to at least have met another Filipino who basically shares the same interest in IT. We're hoping that we'd have a good turn out next time. By the way, if you want to join the group, feel free to visit http://groups.google.com/group/pinoytechqatar .

Guns & Roses

When I was in 3rd year of my highschool life, Guns and Roses (GnR) were king in the Philippines. Axel Rose was more popular than Michael Jackson and Slash, his eyes covered with his curly long hair, was next to being a god being the mysterious guitar genuis that he was. Bon Jovi was getting killed ( I actually believed that it's lead singer was already dead when one frontman announced "Bon Jovi is Dead" while doing their gig). You'd walk in the school grounds and see a guy waving a guitar in every corner. I'm not too sure if it was GnR who inspired us to listen to rock songs as they had many contemporaries; Ludicris, Metallica, Poison, etc.. but more often than not, every guitar player knew the chords to "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (G-D-C) as re-popularized by GnR.

They were a hit. On that year, they launched a double album, Use your Illusions I & Use your Illusions II, which people lapped up. They took took the 1st and 2nd slots on Billboard. This has got to be one of the rarest in the industry. My dad even gave me a VHS copy of their tour in Japan which I watched over and over again. Yes, I was a fan and still a fan.

Last Friday, I went to rental shop and saw an original DVD of their Tokyo tour. I immediately asked the owner if he had one for rent. Sadly, he didn't have one and the copy I was holding was for sale. Well, I'm a fan but not too much of a fanatic to buy a QR120 DVD of GnR. He then told me that I can buy a copy for QR30. I gladly jumped on it and bought myself the 2-disc copy. I tried playing them last night but my Xbox wouldn't play them. Then I realized that they were copied on DVD+R discs which my box doesn't read. Too bad. I do hope I can get him to copy them on DVD-R discs....then I would be happy ;)

Xtian's Currents

Currently playing on the Xbox: Half Life 2 Far Cry Instincts Currently Watching on TV: Everwood (2nd Season) Miss Match (Alicia Silverstone TV Series) Currently watching on MTV: Wild Boyz Pimp my Ride Punk'd Viva La Bam Currently listening to: Don't Stop me Now - Queen (Greatest Hits) Forevermore - Side A (Live)

Current Favorite Music Video: My Humps (Black Eyed Peas) Don't Lie (Black Eyed Peas) Wake me up when September Comes (Green Day)

Current projects: www.annduranproductions.com/ann.htm

Macaroons

I don't know if it's just me, since I've been pinning for some months ago, or either they're really good but you must try the Macaroons in Lulu Hypermarket. I bought 1 box of about 25 pieces for 8.50. I've shared them with some officemates and they agree. Mavis and I saw these macaroons months ago in Lulu and I asked her to get some. When we got home, we found out that she took the wrong box. We had to settle to eating our baked breads instead of the macaroon I wanted. This time, when I saw them on the shelves, I didn't hesitate to get a box and try them out. As soon as I got in the car, parked in Lulu, I opened the box and ate one and IT TASTED GOOD! So you better watch out for these yummy coconut macaroons when you go to Lulu to do your groceries. I don't think you can get them any better than this. If you do, then send me your macaroons so I can compare and judge... he he he. I wonder if Lulu is going to send me another box for promoting their macaroons... hmmm.. i don't think so.

Freddie Mercury and Queen

Freddie Mercury. His name might not be a great as John Lennon's but I still consider him one of a few of his generation. He has a certain charisma that people love about him and made Queen an act to watch. They were supposedly the ones who started Glam Rock, somewhat of a show-off band that likes to include the audience in their performance. Anyone who was already 10 years old by the 1990's could probably chant "We Will Rock You", sing a piece of "We are the Champions" or clap their hands to "Radio Ga Ga". Who could forget the baselines of "Another one Bites the Dust", "Bicycle Race" and the David Bowie-Freddie Mercury collaboration, "Under Pressure" (whose baseline was used by Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby"). Their songs and lyrics are not typical; talking about mundane things (Bicycle Race, Radio Ga Ga) but something that people often forget. No one could ever create a song like Bohemian Rhapsody and pull it off like they did. Only Freddie Mercury and Queen. I still listen to them. In fact, I have them on my on-board cd and listen to Queen every morning as I go to work and listen to them again when I come home. It had stayed there for about a month now. My current favorite song would be a less popular one titled "Don't Stop Me Now". It's pretty upbeat even for Queen. Now, I need to burn me a copy of Guns & Roses' first 2 albums...

Am I Funny?

Abu Karbal Bookshop

Qatar - People in Doha usually get their serving of books from Jarir Bookstore which can be found near the Ramada Signal. They have some of the latest published books along with whatever you need in terms of office supplies, crafts, phones, computers and magazines. But this week, Jarir failed me. I was looking for Adobe Photoshop CS2 Classroom in a book for my team to use and called them up to see if they have it on their shelves. Alas, they didn't have it nor can they order it. Abu Karbal Technical Bookshop is not as big as Jarir's showroom. In fact, it probably occupies less than 1/4 of its showroom. However, if you're into technical books or anything related to computing, I guess it has a better and updated selection than what Jarir has. The bookshop itself is located in Marjab street. If you're coming from Al Sadd going to the Ramada Signal, you need to turn right just after Burger King (hhmm.. now I'm not sure if it's Burger King or Hardees - will look into it and update this). You'd see a green sign to your right that says "Marjab" once you enter the street itself. Now, go straight and pass 2 stoplights and slow down a bit. You'd find the shop to your right and if lucky enough, you can park your car just it front of it. Easy Peasy! You can also contact them and ask if they have the book you're looking for before you go there.

Abu Karbal Bookshop P.O. Box 10066Doha, QatarMiddle East Tel : 00974-368881 Fax : 00974-368880

Either you give them the title of the book or go to Amazon and look for the ISBN no. which makes it easier for them and to be sure that it is the book you're looking for. By the way, the Photoshop book costs QR200. Books here are quite expensive indeed.

2005 Vacation!

Qatar - Yes, I got my plane ticket the other day. I got a seat waiting for me on December 22 which would take me home, back to the Philippines, just in time for Christmas. I actually booked since September since Christmas flights are always full... and expensive! I had to pay QR3510 for this baby! When I bought my wife a ticket, it only cost QR3010, i think. But since it's peak season for the airlines, they bumped it to QR500 more. What a cheat. The only thing that explains this is that the airlines are taking advantage of people wanting to travel. I mean, I would understand if they charged more when there are less people flying since they still have to use the same amount of fuel for the plane with less people on it. But if flights are full, then there's no sense in charging more except if you want to take advantage of people like me. I wouldn't whine if my company is paying for my ticket but since I haven't really finished 6 months of work yet, I'm not yet entitled to the ticket but would be paid for the 19 weekdays that I'm allowed to have this year. That results to about 25 days in total including the 3 weekends that I have. Good enough, right? And next year, I'll be allowed 37 weekdays! Whoa! That results to about 51 days of vacation... and paid at that. So I'm excited to go home! I was also able to submit my leave application to my company and had it verbally approved by my supervisor and now waiting approval from my Manager. Just a month and a few days to go...

What's Showing on City Centre?

Qatar - You can follow this link to see what's showing on Doha City Centre Cinemas alongside with their schedules. You can even check what's showing in Bahrain! Or even better, this shows you all the movies and their schedules around the Gulf! You can check what's shoing on Cinema Land (Landmark Mall), Doha Cinema (Between C Ring Road and Najma Road), Grand CityCentre (City Centre), Gulf Cinema (Between C Ring Road and Najma Road), and the Mall Cinema (The Mall). No more late entrances and missing 30 minutes of the film! Be sure to add them to your Favorites and check weekly as they get updated as scheduled. Although it seems that Qatar is late in showing some of the good movies out there. Bahrain is already showing March of the Penguins. I wonder when they'll show Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...mmm... hopefully early December. And I can't wait for the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which I hope to catch in the Philippines while on vacation this January!

Of Viruses, Spywares, Adwares, Malwares and Dialers

5 years ago, computing people were just worried about their PC's getting viruses and the millenium bug. I think I've only seen 3 virus attacks from when I started my foray into computing till the year 2000. Just as long as you get yourself one of those anti-virus software, then you're almost sure that you're protected. But that was 5 years ago and the whole situation is now different. Viruses, dialers, spyware, adware, malware or any other wares that they'll develop, they now occupy your machines, dwelling on your hard drives and hiding within your system files. A virus is a virus but what are dialers, spywares and adwares? These are all malicious programs you might get from installing software or browsing internet pages that you surf to and attach themselves to your system without you knowing. A dialer might try to use your modem and dial a number that would charge you for your call. Spywares hide on your system, collect and get data and information from your machine and send these data invisibly to you. Adwares are much like spyware but the information they get is used to choke you with ads, pop-ups, and banners. I spent 2 days formating, installing, formating and reinstalling my OS on the laptop because I mistakenly turned off my antivirus and my antispyware softwares. I suddenly got these pop-ups appearing and knew by then that I got hit. Yeah, I've been hit before. Getting on the net would make my system slow down to a crawl. I did try to squash the spyware by deleting registry keys, DLLs and exe files, running antispyware and antivirus software. They did detect some infected files, deleted them, but never really got rid of the whole thing. The next step was to just format my drive C:/ . I've learned from experience to always split my physical drive to at least 2 partitions, drive C and D. Always keep your personal files on drive D and if you know how to, move your My Documents too. So I just formatted my drive C, installed my softwares and hoped that everything worked fine. But that was not the case. Apparently, one of the software I always install seems to have a spyware. After about 6-8 reformats, I decided to slowly build back my system, installing only the antivirus and antispyware software and some base drivers, and installing Windows SP2! I think that helped since I got it working without hitches again. And I'm back to blogging!

New Taxis in Bahrain

Bahrain - I got to ride the new white-orange taxis that roam the streets of Bahrain the other day. Before, the old taxis were colored orange-yellow. I got to talking to the driver and was told that all taxi drivers are now Bahrainis instead of the Pakistanis and Indians which drove them previously. I was telling him that their charges are now higher than what was being asked just 4 months ago. I could understand if they charge higher if gas prices are inflating, but in the Middle East, gas price inflation is rare. A bottled drinking water is even costlier than a liter of petrol/gas! He roughly earns 15-18BD (if he's lucky) a day but has to pay 5BD/day for car rent and 1.5BD/day for Taxi license and another 1.5 for gas. I was commenting that it was good that Bahrainis are now being given the more job opportunities but was told that although it was good, it could be better. He was saying that a lot of other nationalities have now been recruited to the Bahrain military and police force and being paid much more than the Bahrainis. He also didn't like being ordered upon and shouted at by these foreigners wearing his country's badge which is understandable. Why is this happening when the government can choose to train and employ Bahrainis instead of foreigners to do the policing and safeguarding their own country? The problem of Taxis in Bahrain is that a lot of people have their own cars and the expat community, which usually uses the Taxi, isn't as big as compared to Doha. That's why in Bahrain, you can hail a taxi in less than a minute. The supply is higher than the demand and taxi drivers spend more time roaming the streets than taking passengers to their destinations.

To Bahrain and Back

Yesterday was a really busy day for me. I was scheduled to have my ADSL connected in the morning so I had to wake up early as the guys who do the installation can come anytime. I called Qtel just to ask them if they knew what time their technicians would be coming but was told to just wait for their call. After a while, I got a SMS message confirming that I do have a scheduled appointment and I should call a number which apparently was the number of the technician. And so I called and told the guy that I had to have it installed as I had to leave the flat at 11:30 as I had a flight to catch. By 9:30 he was there and after 15 minutes of work, was out the door. How can such a simple installation take them a month and a week to schedule? By 11:40, I was on my way to the airport to catch my 1:15 PM flight to Bahrain. The whole flight takes just 28 minutes. You spend more time on the airport, waiting and looking for a seat, than on the plane itself. At exactly 2 PM, I was out of Bahrain customs, paying 100QR for a 2 day visa. Yousef, a friend and colleague from my previous company, fetched me from the airport and had wonderful lunch prepared by his wife at his flat. It's traditional Jordanian food which I forgot the name was; but it's basically round eggplants with rice, meat and spices in them and Zucchinis filled with the same and steamed. Delicious! We went to the office at exactly 3. Everybody was surprised to see me walk in and I too was surprised at how different yet comfy the office looks like. I spent the next 2 hours just talking to friends and getting to know what they've been up to the past months; I was told the of the "Web Director" incident which was really funny, of a friend who bought a QR15,000 computer, and of two guys from the same office bumping into each others car. It's just nice to feel welcome in your previous work place and knowing that you've made good friends with the people there. I wished I could have stayed longer but had to leave at 5 to catch the opening of the bank in Exhibition road to have my certificates encashed and my account closed. I also went to an Exchange office to have the money changed to US Dollars as the exchange rate from Bahraini Dinar (BD) to US Dollars is better than BD to Qatari Rials to US Dollars. By the way, the exchange rate for a Bahraini Dinar to the US dollar is .378. I was supposed to meet with Ricardo in Seef Mall at 5:45 PM but he called me up to say that he was caught in traffic at the Saudi-Bahrain Causeway and would take him another hour or so to get to Bahrain. I then realized that people could call me up on my mobile having a Qatari Sim (Automatic Roaming) but can't send or call using the same. Anyway, having that time to burn, I decided to go to an internet café so I could send Mavis SMS messages through Chikka. After an hour, I got inside a taxi and had the driver take me to Seef Mall. It was about a 10 minute ride which he charged me for 2BD. As I was passing Marks and Spencer, I decided to buy some long-sleeved shirts for the office. Rico and I met at Starbucks but ate in a pizzeria on the ground floor. He was bringing my Webby Awards Nomination plaque which I would love to display in the office…he he he. Miraculously, he was also bringing our DVD of House of the Flying Daggers which we've always asked him to give back to us. He just always forgets. It was nice to see him as it's been 5 months since we've seen each other. I've always invited him to Qatar but he can't seem to find time for it as he just moved to his new apartment in Saudi and trying to get everything settled again. We just talked about life, work, friends, his love life, family and stuff. He dropped me off the airport at 9 PM for my 10:15 flight. I had to pay 48QR for the 12-hour parking space (4 QR per hour!). I'm not too sure that if the airport or the airlines offer parking vouchers. In Bahrain, people can leave their cars for even a month in their parking without paying extra if your return flight is more than a week after your departure. I got home safely at about 11:15PM and was dead tired. My body was aching! At least I got to settle our accounts in the bank plus it was fun to see old friends and glad that I had the chance to visit them. So I got to visit Bahrain and back in less than 12 hours. Pretty busy day indeed.

The Da Vinci Code

I have just finished reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It is a good read and intriguing at most. It writes about the Holy Grail, which it was believed, Christ used on his Last Supper and what secrets it was supposed to reveal. It has quite stirred a controversy and made Dan Brown a rich guy with millions of people buying the book to know what the controversy is about. What I want to emphasize to readers of the book is that it is fiction. What made it controversial is that the Author claims in the Acknowledgement that “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” A lot of the supposed to be “accurate” descriptions have been rebuffed by a lot of historians, scholars and researchers stating that Brown is almost wrong in all his description of history and the facts that he stated in the book. You can visit these websites, here here here, just to get an idea of what Dan Brown presented and what the scholars are saying about his claims. Again, the book is fiction. But Brown’s statement the items he stated are accurate is really misleading. I wouldn’t have any qualms about the book aside from this (and the bland ending). If people buy the book because of the media coverage, I would hope that they also look into the truth behind these claims and do their own research especially if they believe that Brown’s facts are accurate as he state they are. For Brown, I’m sure that he doesn’t really care if people are being misled as long as they buy the book. A movie is even being made about the book which I’m also sure, made Brown’s some millions richer. So why should he care? The least he could do is remove that line that makes the book controversial. But again, that is what keeps people buying his book, right? By the way, Dan Brown is also being sued as some claim that he ripped off the ideas of other books and rehashed them to make The Da Vinci Code.

The Chosen One

I just watched the documentary found on the Star Wars III DVD and I was right! On the Documentaries and Featurettes section, The Chosen One documentary (about 3 minutes before the docu ends), George Lucas has just confirmed that indeed, Anakin was the Chosen One, the one who would bring balance to the Force. He was saying that even though he became Darth Vader, he was still the Chosen One and in the end, killing all the Sith; killing Darth Sidious/Palpatine and killing himself. A lot of Star Wars fans have been debating about Anakin being the Chosen One. Even Yoda says that the prophecy might have been misread meaning to say that Anakin might not have been the Chosen One at all. And at the end of Episode III, it didn’t look that he was. Some fans were saying that Luke Skywalker, his son, was the Chosen One as he managed to make his father realize that he still had good in him. Now, I’m going too have to watch the film commentary and see if he has anything to say about Darth Plagueis The Wise and how he fits into the puzzle. Update soon…

DVD Rental Updates

Here are some interesting DVD titles that City Video has at the moment: Desperate Housewives Season 1 24 Season 4 Star Wars Episode III Kung Fu Hustle Ring 2 Sin City Unleashed Batman Begins Land of the Dead

The Needed

Woke up at about 8:30 AM today to be able to do the needed; go to my travel agency in Lulu Hypermarket to have my ticket changed to the schedule I prefer, go to the Souk to send money to the Philippines and buy food for lunch. I SMSed Mavis in the Philippines before I left as they were supposed to go have a picnic with my family this morning (Philippines is ahead by 5 hours to Qatar) and was interested to know if they pushed through. I took a shower, went to Lulu and had my ticket exchanged. I was also able to drop the raffle tickets for a draw to win a Land Cruiser sponsored by Lulu. I was deciding if I should go to Al Sadd or to the Souk to send money home and decided it’s better to go to the Souk as I can pass by the City Video and see if there are any new DVDs I can rent. The remittance center that we go to was closed so I had to go to go to the other. They charged me 20 QR instead of the 10 which I pay in my usual remittance center. I also bought some Siopao (steamed dumplings) from the Filipino Bakery and drove home. Driving home, I thought of having a Hardees Burger meal. I like their burgers better than McDonalds as they are tastier and bigger. So that was how I spent half of my day. The other half was spent watching the Star Wars III DVD!

Western Union waives its fees to Pakistan

Qatar - Western Union has waived its processing fees for those wanting to send money to Pakistan. The promo is only till the 16th of November so if you have plans to send money, send them now! Western Union states that aside from earning from the processing fee, they also earn from currency exchange that happens when you send money home.

Eid Festivities

From Gulf Times - QATAR Tourism Authority’s Eid al-Fitr Festival kicks off tonight in a blaze of light and colour, spearheaded by two world-class events that will set the tone for five action-packed days of fun and entertainment. The festival will open to the world premier of a new edition of Aqua Fantasia at 7pm, the spectacular multi-media show that uses fireworks, laser lights, water screens, and music.

Start of the Holiday and “Spaghetti ng Kapitbahay”

It is the start of Eid today and the start of my long holiday. It would have been nice if my wife and daughter were here but sadly they’re not. I started my day baking banana bread. I then got about 3 batches of kids ringing my doorbell greeting me Eid Mubarak and expecting me to give them something in return like candies, chocolates and money. I didn’t have cholates nor candies and my banana bread is still in the oven, so I didn’t give them anything. I know, I know…my wife just called me Scrooge for not giving them anything as I told her while we were chatting. After the chat and feeling hungry, I cooked some pasta and made myself some Marinara. I bought Paul Newman’s Marinara sauce yesterday, which is real good. Well, it depends on where you’re coming from. Filipinos like spaghetti. They cook it whenever they want to celebrate especially if it’s a kid who is going to have his birthday. What we usually do is give neighbors home-cooked spaghetti in a platter instead of making a big celebration and having a party. Or if there is a party at all, they still give out the spaghetti platter to other neighbors who weren’t invited to the party (as they didn’t have kids or for whatever reason). This is what Mavis and I call “Spaghetti ng Kapitbahay” or Neighbors’ Spaghetti. Why? Filipinos like sweet food. We even have a McDonald’s burger that caters to the Filipino taste; sweet. Now, the spaghetti being distributed to neighbors apparently has sauce made up of more ketchup than you can imagine. Yup. Ketchup. The taste, I’m sure, the Italians would hate. Mavis and I don’t like it too. We got used to our families making spaghetti the right way, without ketchup (although we usually still add some sugar to the sauce). In my case, I like my spaghetti a bit sour so Mavis and I usually make a compromise when she cooks it; not too sweet and not too sour. If you get to travel to the Philippines or get to be invited in one of their celebrations, you might just get lucky and have your first taste of the Neighbor’s Spaghetti.

Going to Bahrain on the 8th

I just got back from Regency Travel Agency in LuLu Hypermarket to book my flight to Bahrain on the 8th of November. Imagine, the 25 minute flight costs 1020QR because I'm travelling on a weekday. If I go on a weekend (Thurs., Fri. , or Sat.), the ticket will just cost me 680QR! I'm leaving Doha at 1:15 PM as I need to be here in the morning for the Qtel guys to install my ADSL. Then, I was planning to leave Bahrain at 10:15 so that Rico and I can meet. We haven't seen each other since we watched Star Wars in Bahrain last April/May (?). But then I found out just a while ago that the 10:15PM flight was fully booked so I have to settle for the 8PM flight. I'm still not sure if he wants to come as he is coming from Saudi and would have to take a 1 hour trip just to get to Bahrain and see me for 2 hours.

Camel Jockeys of the Future

I'm sure you're wondering what this is. Well, it's supposed to be one of the the new Robot Camel Jockeys which would be used in Qatar of the Camel races. Here's an interesting article from http://www.wired.com/ about these jockeys from the future.

Eid Al-Fitr

The start of Eid Al-Fitr this year is going to be officially on the 3rd of November. Eid Al-Fitr is the Celebration of Breaking the Fast, which marks the end of Ramadan. Everybody was waiting for it to be announced tonight but it never came as the crescent-sighting committee at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs who were tasked to it apparently didn’t see the moon cresent tonight. That’s how it is. They need to see the cresent of the moon for the holidays to start. That is also true for the start of Ramadan. We’re being given 4 days of leave excluding the weekends (Friday –Saturday) so that means holiday start on the 3rd and ends on the 8th. We resume offices on the 9th. Those in government offices are given 10 days! I think they’re going to resume office on the 13th. This is true for Qatar. I’m assuming that offices in Bahrain, Saudi or Dubai resume offices on the 7th as I’ve already asked my bank in Bahrain when they open. I’m hoping I could go there to settle some of our accounts on the 7th since it would still be holiday for us here in Qatar. I might also be able to see Rico, a friend from Saudi, if he decides to go over the bridge to meet me.