I just had the urge to shoot guns, I called up some of my friends and picked them up. They dropped off their car at Al Falah Car Wash so while it was getting washed and cleaned we would get some shooting done and come back when the car was nice and clean. The NRC is open every day from 5-9pm except Friday, but I’m not sure if they are open earlier on Saturday.

We came in, gave our IDs and took the visitors badge, anyone 15 and above can come to the shooting range. Surprisingly this is a rule made by the Shooting Range, I’m not aware of any laws that specify who can shoot at a shooting range. We headed down luckily there weren’t that many people, we decided to shoot the hand guns first then the sniper rifles. I went for the 44 caliber Glock and so did my friend, and one guy took the 9mm gun. For about 8 KD you get 10 bullets, and you pay in increments of 8 KD for 10 more bullets. After that we went for the .308 caliber rilfe which is damn big and has a nice kick to it.

While there we saw one of our friends from 4thringroad who is a regular at the NRC. And he showed us some of his personal collection that he keeps at the shooting range, and all of these machines have permits and are licensed. It was a Genuine Israel made Desert Eagle, which is basically the most accurate and powerful handgun out there, and it said Made in Israel which is banned in the GCC, when I asked him how in the hell he had one, he just smiled. That wasn’t the surprising one either, later on at the rifle range it was another machine.

When we got our Glocks, I was loading the bullets giddily, I don’t know why I have had the urge to shoot a gun since the last time I did in the Emirates. As soon as I had the Glock in my hand and shot the first bullet I had a surge of excitment and fired off, getting between the 9 and 10s in the target and it was damn good. The barrel of the gun was hot, I reloaded the bullets and went at it again, it was lots of fun. Then we went to the rifle range which is across the hall, they got us our rifle, then our friend was shooting as well. When we started shooting he showed us a Special Forces Spec M16 which he also keeps at the shooting range and gave us the chance to shoot with it. After I finish all my .308 caliber bullets in the rifle I picked up the M16, I felt like I was in a Rambo movie. You aren’t allowed to use in the fully automatic mode and I didn’t know how to do that either, surprisingly it had very little recoil and was stable. What an adventure for the first time in my life I got to shoot an M16 and enjoy all the other machines, my aim is pretty good too, the instructors said I have a steady finger, my thanks goes back to Halo.

NRC is located after the Equestrian Club just off the Six Ring Road.
Phone: 2475 9999

This the view from our balcony looking down, I just couldn’t get enough of it. The weather was perfect while sitting out in the balcony you feel a cool wind hitting you. They really knew what they were doing when they created this whole project, this is real smart development on their end, they created something to look at internally while its only man made. The whole huge fountain area is man made with the Bellagio type dancing fountain, which is the biggest in the world. The view is perfect when looking down, you see The Palace Old Town to the Left, Dubai Mall to your right, and Burj Khalifa right in front of you. The best part is walking around there and so many restaurants to choose from. We were there for 48 hours, I flew in later on the Wataniya Airways 7:00 am flight and left the next day at 11 pm back to Kuwait. The best part is that you never really have to leave the area, so many things to do and so many places to choose from to eat in. Plus we managed to see a lot of movies which was the best part of the trip, a movie marathon in 48 hours.

I have had the Google Nexus One for about 4 months now and really abused the hell out of this phone. Overall I am really enjoying the phone and its capabilities, Google has done a good job with the phone and OS overall but there is a lot of room for improvement. After using this phone for this period I wanted to point out the parts that need to be worked on objectively, its still one of the best phones to surf the net on, and I love how much you can really customize this phone but there are areas where I think they should work on it to develop a better experience for the user with Android and Google Phones.

OS Versions and Confusion

There are so many versions of the OS that some phones can’t support, from Android 1.5 to 1.6, and 2.0 to 2.1, and now 2.2 on the way, and I don’t even know their names. All these different version have their faults and limitations, and a lot of them don’t have compatibility between the other operating systems. And you can’t just auto-upgrade some of the phones as they have physical limitations to them that we don’t even know about. Even if you can upgrade them they don’t work on them quickly enough. There has to be a smoother process for people to enjoy the features of the new OS on phones they have already purchased, instead of feeling left out which is the case right now. A lot of the phones are very good phones such as HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and even the Nexus One but people don’t want to be left out of the new features of an upgraded OS.

Application Confusion

Google pushed so hard to have applications by the thousands available to people from day one. One very large flaw has come back to bite them in them in the ass, they let the applications get posted with almost very little review or check. Many of the applications crash constantly and don’t provide the service they promised. There is no genuine process to find the right application, there might be one out there but its like trying to find a grain of sand in the desert, its become huge and not clear. There are some popular ones and you can see reviews online but there is no mechanism for people to find the right application without some trial and error. Apple is stringent about their application publication procedure and Google went the complete opposite way of not even bothering, its easier to bring products to market and quicker but it turns the consumers and users into the test bed making it very annoying. They should have an external application so you can go through and take a look, a better ranking process, and thorough testing process. And one of the biggest problems at this point is application compatibility between different Operating Systems and Phones, might work on one and not the other and you would never know unless someone already complained about it in the comments. This is their biggest problem, people are only talking about the numbers, but I would want a lot less application if I can get better quality applications.

Nexus One 3G Issues

There is a genuine issue with the 3G connectivity of the Nexus One, its spotty and at times it just disappears and I can’t figure out why. When its connected its pretty damn fast, but Google took the route of dropping the issue which is very bad for them, leaving people regretting they go this phone. I’m doing fine without it but 3G connectivity for extra features on the phone is key. Google integration of all its services is great but whats the point if you can’t use it on the go. Other versions of Android phone seem to be functioning fine, but as the first phone directly from Google buying another phone isn’t a solution.

Multi-Touch or What

The legal battle for Multi-Touch has gotten out of hand and people are getting annoyed about it. Some phones have it and some phones don’t, some will get the upgrade and some won’t, some phones can’t even support it. The list is confusing OSes and different models and which can support it is insane.

Support

Google faltered in the beginning, for network support contact your operator, for hardware support contact HTC, for OS support contact Google but you really can’t. There was almost not support structure for the device or other machines in place. From what I have read online and my experience with HTC they are very good phones and very good support for their products, but somethings only Google can answer. If you want to deal with retail products and consumers then you have to have the support structure to deal with people, its not the same as just providing services, now they are providing products directly to people and they really do need to support it and work on it. Some people are saying too little too late, but I still think improving on services is critical for product success and people might say the Nexus One was a flop for Google but overall I think it taught them a lesson.

Overall

I do believe in the Android OS, for everyone who has Blackberry and iPhone they are excellent phones as well but Google is making up ground fast. Gone are the days of Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola, now the new three giants have risen above them. Google, RIM, and Apple are really taking over and providing services to customers and more areas of revenue, nobody has push telecommunication providers like these three have, knocking them around as they like. Google is pushing hard to flood the market and get more market share, even going to the point as bribing providers but they are loving and they have a good product. Now to see what will happen next with the new iPhone, and so many other machines coming to market.

I have reached that balancing point with my diet, I’m eating comfortably enough these days. The simple rule that I have forgotten last week but sticking too this week is eating extremely light for dinner. As of recently I have become a huge fan of Subway sandwiches, but they aren’t as light as they are made out to be and I don’t like brown bread so sticking to fruits and vegetables for dinner is key. Finding what makes you happy so you don’t crave everything was very important. For me it was mostly about portions and cutting back on the unnecessary items helped with me.

At this point I have realized I need to work out to drop more weight, since I really haven’t moved at all yet. I have managed to reach 96.8 kilograms which is about 2.2 Kilograms less then a few weeks back. Also I got a scale to help check myself daily now, something precise and very simple. Now my goal is cut down to at least 94 and go from there, some cardio workout and a little weights will help me get there. A while back my optimum weight is at 80 Kilograms but I’m not expecting to reach that point anytime soon, so I’m setting my goals on weekly points which is honestly working, step by step. I want to drop fat and increase muscle weight since I want to get up on the damn wakeboard this summer unlike last summer so its a goal to work towards.

What I’m Craving

• Baskin Robins Ice Cream
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Muchboos Laham
• Strawberry Cheese Cake
• Candies Chocolate Cake Tube Ice Cream

The last few weeks have been a hell of a lot of work, I haven’t even had a chance to catch up the emails or the usual daily tasks. Its meeting after meeting, running around for all the different tasks, meetings in different countries, last minute confirmations. What kills about last minute confirmations is that your not sure about flights or other schedules, so you have to make quick decisions. Going to Bahrain on a last minute meeting which I have been trying to get for two weeks was hectic since I just got in the car drove to Bahrain early morning and came back for a little work at the office then home, as soon as I sat on the couch I passed out only to transfer to my bed and continue my sleep. I don’t like things piling up, I want more time during the day, even late nights at work isn’t helping to catch up. What really annoys me is seeing my RSS feeds pile up, I enjoy taking my time reading them, but reaching 1000+ is a task to bring down, and I haven’t been able to watch any shows or anime because of this. I want things to calm down a bit, I also want to pause time for 48 hours so I can catch up on normal time.

The first stage of losing weight was breaking the 99 KG goal, and now I can say I have broken that point. I have managed to drop about 7 KG over the course of 5 weeks, since I started this the first week of march. I’m not starving myself but I really cut back on the quantities that I’m eating, and I do eat healthy in between. The best part about all this is my bike gear is fitting me again, still got some ways to go but it was an improvement over breathing in and holding to close the jacket, its still a bit tight but a lot better then before.

I’m not counting calories or working out yet, just sticking to water and healthier food then usual. Eating smaller portions then usual helps a lot, you can walk away from the table feeling light, that you are able to get some work done. I eat my muchboos and other items but in smaller portions so I can enjoy the taste without having to eat to the point of passing out. I have mostly cut out fast food without realizing it, and sticking to water only is easy as long as I’m in the movies. I have gone to a few restaurants that I prefer their food when eating light because its tasty and you feel satisfied.

Ninos:

• Rocca Salad
• Mushroom Soup

Subway:

• Turkey Sandwich

Maki:

• Maki Marina Salad
• Issa Maki

Over the last week I have gotten ridiculous urges to eat things, and items I don’t usually care about. I have been wanting cake, a lot of cake, triple chocolate layer cake from Candies in Shuweikh. Or the cake tube with the ice cream inside of it, I would overdose on that cake, eat at least 1/4 of that tube and pass out on the couch while watching some tv.

These strange urges have been popping up often, when we went to the cinema the smell of popcorn got me hungry for popcorn. But luckily I know that the popcorn at KNCC tastes bad so I just avoided that, then there was the YanYan, the breadsticks with the chocolate dip, that looked really good but I resisted. Then there was the Krispy Kream just outside of the cinema in 360 which smelt so good, I could eat a dozen glazed doughnuts like they were chips. At Meat Co I had a mixed salad and 300g Rib Eye steak, it was perfect, except I wanted to eat more riblets and a little bit more food but I managed to stick to what I ordered which was just enough. All these cravings have been popping up but I have managed to resist the best of them. Surprisingly with this change in portions and diet, the best mushroom soup and salad I have had yet is in Ninos Avenues.

After a couple of weeks since cutting off soda and cutting back on food I have almost reached the firs stage, then I go into another phase. I dropped a little bit more then 4 KGs, and I’m almost below the 100 KG mark at this point. Its been a few weeks of holding myself back, there have been times where I wanted to deviate from the diet and stuff myself silly but I have managed to hold on strong. I have had several weak moments craving food and wanting to eat more, there is a big difference between not being hungry and being full. I’m still eating all the types of food I want during lunch but the quantities are 1/4th of what they used to be and at night I try to eat light, some salads or fruits depending on what I feel like. Eating light during lunch gives me the capability to get up and do other things after lunch instead of going into hibernation mode, but I do get hungry quicker. Whenever I feel hungry I drink a small bottle of water so that I don’t think about food, I know I love food but you know its bad when you have dreams about it. There are days which I eat more then others but overall this hasn’t been too bad.

After one week with customs at last I managed to get my package all in one box, safe and sound. You can tell it was opened but nothing was tampered with, everything seemed to be sealed and in good condition. The only thing I really worried about was the hard drives since they were out of their boxes and probably moving around a little. I was very happy to have my package, and first thing I did was to test out the hard drives just in case if anything was wrong.

Package:

• Asus P6X58D Premium Mother Board
• OCZ 6 GB Ram 2000Mhz
• Intel i7 950
• SanDisk Compact Flash 32 GB
• 4 x Hitachi 2 TB Hard Drives
• Planet Hulk
• Dante’s Inferno
• Halo Legends
• Justice League – Crisis on Two Earths
• Macross – Super Dimension Fortress

As a lady was driving in front of me the other day, she drove on to the emergency lane to get in front of traffic, at that very moment a nice round rock went flying at my windshield. It hit the bottom right corner exactly which produced a nice juicy crack across my windshield. I want to scream from my car and throw something at her, but by then she was already a long way down the emergency lane.

The crack was right in the middle of my line of site, it even refracted light at a strange angle. I knew I would have to change it, so I went to insurance, they said to change it at Al Mailam, which costs 30-40 KD. I refused and argued with them to have them accept the cost of changing at Toyota for 270 KD.

One of the few parts which is expensive at Toyota is the windshield, even the bumper is 45 KD. The reason for that is the quality of the glass and how it protects the occupants from flying objects and how it reacts.

People would personally just pay for the 40 KD windshield thinking its the same, but its not. I have tried them before and quality isn’t even half as good. Its not he same thickness, doesn’t fit 100%, rust can enter the area around the windshield since its not the same fit even with silicon meant to hold it in place and when its hit by an object, it definitely doesn’t protect in the same manner. The risk factor is your safety versus cost, and in my mind thats a no brainer.