I haven’t been able to go to the Dewaneyah for a little while now, and since the timing changed from Saturday to Wednesday I’m still having a hard time adjusting. Previously the Dewaneyah used to be every Saturday for the past 10 years, and so when it shift it has been a bit weird going on a different day. The day shift has had a different effect on different things that I do.
When I went I looked pretty worn out from my full day and night, I literally spent 1 hour at home, I ate I light lunch and sat for 30 minutes then headed out. The weather was amazing so I found everyone sitting outside, and it was very nice but I asked for dinner since I was hungry. As usual there is a good selection of food, the funny part is that I have been gone long enough that people have lost weight. Both my cousins lost a substantial amount of weight as well as my friend, I need to get on that bandwagon!
My hat goes off to the GulfRun organizers for making this happen, I was really surprised how many cars there really were, you can’t tell how many there are when its at night. I came directly from work to the parking lot on the Gulf Road but it turns out I am one of the few that came directly from work, everyone went home and changed, then came. Many cars met up on the way there and you could hear them coming. I met up with one of the support vehicles and a Monster of a Porsche, and we were searching for the parking lot.
We were the first bunch of cars to arrive and then more and more cars started showing up. They all looked great during day time and the parking lot was blocked off by some of the support vehicles. When you come in, you register the details and sign the track disclaimer agreement, then you get your tags and vehicle tags. I thought there will be a few onlookers but it turned out to be a lot more then that. The parking lot was packed full of people, and some people came to me and told me they found this place from my blog and they remembered the number 24.
You could tell a lot of the cars kept passing the parking lot because you could hear them screaming by, and a few times the guys were told off by the police officers that were at the event. The organizers managed to organize with the police to be there and escort the vehicles to the location, at first there were about two police cars, and when we were about to move out it was six police cars, but that turned out not to be enough.
There was a lot of press at the event this time, Al Watan TV and Al Rai TV showed up with their crew and announcers, it also seems that the TV crew from Al Watan will be traveling with us to Bahrain. Then there were the news papers, Lialina (who annoy me), and other reporters. I was busy taking pictures of the event for the organizers and myself, and then some more stickers were being applied to all the vehicles. By 4:30pm all the vehicles had arrived and it turned out to be a larger group then I thought, a number is different when you see them in front of you. I think I took about 150 pictures by myself, not including the other cameras I was taking pictures with. We were all talking to each other about how it was going to go since we weren’t sure of the route, but we found that out when we were leaving.
Then when we were leaving the police spoke to us to stay together and in an organized manner. I have to say that I thought that would be difficult because I know how a lot of the drivers are, especially myself, but it turned out great and we were extremely organized together which is great. The only issue was that six police cars and four support (96 Landcruiser, 08 Chevrolet Silverado, G55 Mercedes Wagon, and VW Toureg) cars weren’t enough to keep people off our backs and block the roads. There were a lot of people who couldn’t deal with this long line of cars following each other on the route. We took the Gulf Road to the Sheraton road, then the Sheraton Round About to the First Ring Road, then the Gulf Road to the Second Ring Road, then made a left at the end to head towards Doha. The guys were trying to be as safe a humanely possible because their were some curious people and a lot of idiots on the roads. The drive itself wasn’t bad and the weather was fantastic but everyone was concentrating on the road and trying to keep the pack tight but leaving some room just in case if we needed to maneuver, and I was part of the end of the pack so we were moving around a lot to make sure we can get out of the way.
When we were getting close to the end of the route the roads were clearer and we were enjoying ourselves towards the end. Then we had to load all the vehicles on the Agility Transport, and these guys were professionals, their transports are top of the line for these types of vehicles, I was impressed. The whole event was well done and their were a lot of people the contributed to the success of this day, but this is just the beginning then there is the day of the event and everything else to follow.
(A lot of pictures below)
I got a call to come to Al Falah Car Wash to get my car ready for Gulf Run, it seems that I forgot that it was this night because of work and other things.
As soon as I arrived at Al Falah Car Wash I saw them applying the stickers to other vehicles. They told me to take my car in for a wash and there were about 4 vehicles before me. They took my car right in, and I asked them to clean under the hood by airing it out and wiping it down a bit. Then they started washing my car and it felt nice seeing my car getting washed. Then I was checking out the other cars with the sponsors being applied to each vehicle. There were a lot of stickers to be applied and I liked that. I thought we could chose the stickers but they were all standard on all the cars, I wanted more stickers!
It seems Al Falah Car Wash was chosen as the sponsor to clean and apply the stickers for all the cars and they were cleaning some very nice cars. There were a lot of friends there, and I just found out one of my friends bought a 1098S, I told him that is the best decision he made yet. It was a great event, and this is just the first one with about 7 to 8 cars in total the next day will be 15 cars which is going to be insane. I didn’t pay for car wash since it was paid for by the GulfRun organizers even I asked them to apply the extra shine for my rims and tires. Then they were inspecting the cars and they told me I need new tires before going to the track since I was basically running on slicks. So I need to get new tires tomorrow after work which I hope they have in stock.
I think the stickers calm out very nice on my car and the one thing that I am happy about I got the one thing I requested which is getting the number 24! It seems people have been split into groups for the track, I don’t care which group I’m with just that I get number 24. There was something in the air and everyone was in good spirits, we were all talking about modifications and what is in the market, it was great. Its just building up for the days in Bahrain, I think that going on this GulfRun event is something that every person should do!
Things have been insane for me for the past two weeks, work has just been getting more intense every day. I don’t think I have pushed this much to get information and to get work done. I have had to make a business plan for my department while working with the other departments, and its all about give and take while making sure the numbers can be reached. I think I’m jumping the gun on a few things and I am making a few mistakes, I’m getting hints but I am left to make my own mistakes. I’m not a 100% sure of what I am doing but one thing is for sure, I am 100% behind what I am planning of doing and if I make a mistake I won’t repeat it. One thing is for sure I am learning a lot so I really do like that I know more then I did the day before, and whenever its a learning experience thats a great thing, but there just isn’t enough time in the day. I have been spending hours upon hours at work forgetting to eat anything, there was one day which I felt dizzy towards 3 pm and I realized that I just felt that I didn’t have any energy and the last thing I ate was a sandwich at 6pm the day before so I got a Starbucks frapaccino which really gave me some energy to keep going. I have deadlines to submit paperwork while checking on a lot of other work and making sure things go smoothly while helping a few new hires get on their feet. Its just been hectic from one thing to another, really trying to keep things together.
After work almost everyday there has been a milcha to go to, so I just go home around 6:00pm or 6:30pm shower and change then head back out. I go the milchas early for parking and if its a good friend I stay for the whole time. Recently it has been a lot of people that I know so I stay the whole time and I don’t leave until 9:30pm or 10:00pm the only funny thing about this type of days is that I don’t get a chance to eat until the milcha itself. So the first hour we would talk to all the people we know then we would all migrate to the Shawarma stands, and there have been some really good shawarmas! So from these events I have come to the conclusion that Lenotre has the best beef Shawarma and the Sheraton has the best Chicken Shawarma! I can’t wait to relax this weekend, I just want to play Halo 3.
Since finding out about the 1st meeting for The Gulf Run will be at the Al Fallah Car Wash I wanted to check it out. Since I was in the area of Sharq, it is on Al Soor street and very visible from the street with a Castrol sign. I drove in and there were a few empty spots and they were drying a lot of cars, so they told me to go forward. I told them just to wash the tires body, but not lift it up. They were very proficient, and they have a very nice customer seating area with lots of magazines.
It took the guys about 10 – 12 minutes to finish washing my car and then another 7 minutes to dry my car, and for only a couple of KD I had a really clean car and great service. They were washing a few supercars there as well when I was there, they were drying a white F430 and it was looking really nice. The whole place operates very nicely and they have a detailing area which was closed for two vehicles in side of them, I wasn’t sure what was in them but I will be stopping there more often because of the convenience of location and good service.
THE PLANE FLEW… at least 7 meters
This was probably one of the funnest things we have ever done.
First Off: Thanks to nibaq for being our pilot, he took a bit of a beating at the bottom. The wind was bad, it was really strong and pushing people to the left because its so strong.
We were at the event form 9 am, and since we were there we had a lot of beverages and helium, somebody had a tank and we were thoroughly using it. A lot of people made fun of our plane, but they loved our team, our heart was in the event and we were ready for the whole mess. All the other teams couldn’t believe that it was our plane, and all the people participating were great people and enjoying themselves.
It is very nice to see events like this in Kuwait which provides a different type of entertainment.
A lot of the judges had some criticisms but we also criticized them for judging based on looks, but the safety judge said our plane was the safest and most comfortable. Also the head of the Red Bull Kuwait and the marketing team said we were the funnest team they have ever seen so that goes for something.
We were on the ramp and about to go, we pushed nibaq off and it flew for a bit and we all jumped. It was one very high ramp, and water was cold but extremely refreshing it was fantastic. After that we felt like we were beat up and the day ended for us.
More blogs will be posting pictures, and videos.. I’m exhausted and I’m hungry, but I have one hell of smile from this crazy event.
I think this is probably one of the funniest things we have done with as little effort as possible.
I just saw some of the planes there, and some people brought in German Engineers to make some of them, and some spent thousands on their planes. I don’t know what they were thinking, but it wasn’t what we were thinking.
People may think the Imperial 27 plane is ugly or might not fly, but we will have a blast jumping off the 11 meter high ramp. I saw how high that ramp is, and it is a freaky looking from the top. I thought to hell with it, I’m jumping off after the pilot even if the water is really really cold.
We had fun through out this whole mess, and one thing is for sure if this thing flys it will have to defy gravity.
I don’t even know how to describe this sort of situation. After a long day of milchas and running around with other tasks during the day I went to Dahiat Abdulla Al Salem Pizza Express the other day with two my friends since we wanted something quick to eat before heading home. When we sat outside there was a table of guys about 8 in total, and another table about 5 girls sitting together in the other corner. Everyone just seemed normal, and I think I knew two of the guys at the other table but I completely forgot their names. We were all sitting outside since the weather was pretty nice, everyone was pretty much minding there own business.
We placed our orders, and then we got our drinks 5 minutes later. Then something caught a few people’s eyes since a lot of people were turning their heads. I turned to look what was so in that direction, then I see a girl wearing body tight clothing from top to bottom in and low cut jeans, and extremely blond hair even beyond platinum. She was Kuwaiti from what we could tell but nobody had a clue. She had a decent body but wearing that sort of thing in Kuwait just attracts the wrong type of attention. Nobody said anything so we kept talking as we were, then she left and came back 10 minutes later with someone (family, friend, or other) who was also wearing body tight clothing and jeans, also huge blond hair. The main difference is that this girl/woman could easily be four times the other girl’s weight. You could see the look of shock on people’s faces, and again they all went back to what they were doing until she said something. Something looked off about her, and it showed later.
She was standing at the door of Pizza Express and her thinner friend walked inside, while she was standing at the door she shouted to her friend that this place isn’t happening and the food doesn’t fit her style. She said it out loud and in a very weird tone close to the table of 8 guys and our table, when she said it we laughed a bit. It was then that her friend pulled her into the Pizza Express and she started shouting nobody had a clue what was going on. She came outside and threw a glass at the table full of guys and it shatter close to one of them. He was lucky it didn’t hit him, everyone was in shock and she started cussing the guys out and then she turned to our table and started cussing us out as well. Then she started cussing out the table of girls as well, this woman went ballistic and her friend was holding her from one arm, if she wanted should could have easily flung her friend. At the other table the guys didn’t do anything and then the manager came out and tried to calm her down but still nothing was stopping her. Then an older women who could easily be her mother looked her in shock as she was walking into Pizza Express, then the girl turns around to the women and calls her a whore and daughter of a whore in more words then one, she was completely shocked.
At this point three police officers walked up to the two girls, but they didn’t do anything to them except calm them down a bit. They talked to them for over 25 minutes before they disappeared somewhere. Some people laughed at the whole thing, it was just nuts. I know I laughed, I couldn’t believe what I just saw and the guys were laughing too. The older woman asked the guys why they didn’t do anything, she saw everything this girl did, the guys said what can they do, they are girls, and they would never lower themselves to that level. What they did was right, and I thought that was the best possible reaction. The thing is when a women is that dirty, and she is prone to violence in Kuwait she is 10 times worse then any man who would even come close to that level. At least with a man you could take some action, what would you do with a woman like that.
*Note: This is the first time in four months I have gone out to eat dinner in Kuwait, no wonder I don’t go out for dinner in Kuwait.
This was a pressure built up over the summer and over Ramadan, the next couple of weeks are filled with milchas (engagements) and I have a card for almost everyday for the next three weeks. It was an insane day, it felt like work because I just managed to get home and get a quick bite to eat before having to head out an hour later. When you have a milcha know there is going to be traffic where ever your heading because a lot of people are going to be invited there too. I met up with my family and headed to each one with them, except for the last one. You spend the first 10 – 20 minutes either waiting because of the amount of people or saying hello to people you haven’t seen in a while.
Its funny in Kuwait you have friends that you know well but because of work and other things taking up your time you don’t see them as often as you used to, so you start seeing them at all these milchas, one after the other. And no matter how organized the people are there is always going to be a huge amount of traffic. It was like running a marathon, and it was fun seeing people you haven’t seen in a while and just catching up. I’m just happy men just have to wear dishdashas it simplifies things for the guys having to run around.. These are things that I love about Kuwait, even though you are exhausted at the end of the day, its well worth it.
* I took these photos in a hazardous situation since Zain/MTC security came up to me and told me I can’t take pictures of the building from a public road. I wasn’t aware that Zain/MTC is a state secret and you can’t take pictures of the building.
I have been building this up since I’m getting more annoyed with MTC after each and every conversation I have on my cell phone. The company has grown to a multi-national company, they have expanded to many countries across the globe and they are competing with the largest communication carriers. The one thing I don’t understand is why is the cell phone service in Kuwait so bad, and getting worse.
They have increased costs over the past two years for text messages, and they bill you for everything possible. The number of dropped calls with MTC has increased exponentially over the past few years, and the quality of service has been deteriorating. When my phone “supposedly” has full signal it disconnects in the middle of a phone call or it says network busy and my phone call can not go through. Previously that never happened, but now it is happening constantly that my call doesn’t go through. I don’t blame the technical people working at MTC/Zain, I blame the management for not improving the quality of service. They are able to provide more services but they aren’t able to maintain the quality of service. Look at the e-Go, its an inovative product that they rushed to market and so the quality of service is really bad. High speed internet is not meant to be at a snails pace, if you see Verizon or Sprint products the speeds are nothing short of phenominal and it does feel like high speed internet. Even Wataniya’s product is doing better then Zain’s, and Wataniya does have its short comings as well.
Zain is so busy expanding that they have forgotten the local market, and I can understand about globalizing the company under one brand but they should concentrate on the customer. I don’t know what they were thinking or who recommended the logo to them, the name is fine, I think its simple and easy to remember. The colors are something else, who ever put the colors together must have been on LSD at the time and he must’ve been happy with the results. Its annoying and it feels wrong mixing green, purple, and black together to make the logo. I do think they could have done a worse job but this is pretty close to the worst job for the logo. Due to changing all the details from MTC to Zain they have been running around for the past two months making sure its a complete switch over.
I wonder when they will improve their services and we don’t get billed a huge amount of bad quality service. At this rate it doesn’t look like there will be improvements anytime soon.