I Moved My Blog. Click On the banner to go there

I will be Posting there from now on. Thank you.

So 2 day ago i arrive to Manilla. Don't ask about the flight. I mean we all know how airlines are. The only thing that developed over the last 20 years in air travel is security. that means more security , smaller seats smaller everything. Even flight attendants are getting smaller. If i had a choice i would travel by submarine next time.

So we arrive, went to a couple of places that  i hope to blog about later. but for now , i need to get some sleep.

Oh yah , I will be posting my Philippines pictures here:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelunatech/sets/72157606456059790/

Summer vacation started. I cant say I'm so enthusiastic about it. You see its never exciting until it comes after long hard work. I just finished a one month sick-leave, and I cant see I was ever a hard worker. So here I am trying to figure out what to do with it.

Last Saturday I left town. I'm in Madinah now. In case you don't know its a holy city with a holy mosque . I got to tell you I've seen a lot of architecture wonders. But every time I come here I wonder if any one can top this one off. Starting from the vast decorated marble yards , to the inscriptions all over the interior. Unfortunately I have to have a special permit to take pictures from the interior which would normally take time. So I took some sloppy ones with my cellphone.

Anyways , I'll try my best to make a clear picture. However if you just head to Flickr.Com and do a search for the word “ Madinah” you'll have pretty good results.

Hello everyone

I was in hospital 2 weeks ago, stayed for 2 days , I had an operation , my hand pinky tendon was cut & they had to connect it. Don’t worry I'm alright.

No its not another bike accident either. I'm using one hand to write so I'm gonna keep it short.

Story is there's this guy who I barely know and a kept it that way for one main reason. He didn’t seem right. Then later I hear hes on pills or something . He keeps coming and I keep avoiding him. That went for a while. These few last months he was nagging me about me hacking into his computer. Now heres the thing; if I was a hacker I would sure brag about it but I'm not. Never was one and I don’t see it coming in the future. And the guy himself is a total idiot when it comes to computers. He works in a metal workshop (nothing wrong with that , it just doesn’t teaches you computer).

The other day he's so serious telling me I should stop hacking into his computer. I said dude lets talk about it in your office. Now I'm not a violent man by nature. I'm not against it all together , I just don’t participate in the industry of violence so often. The guy being taller and more bulky thinks I'm gonna take it and let him beat me up. I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted. So we brawled a little, throwed punches alittle then the little fuck whips out a little knife. Said "I got this specially for you". thanks but umm little knifes are not my thing…umm sir. (lol)

I was there in a locked office with a psychopath who had a knife. And I had nothing. There was only one thing to do. Baaaaaaaaaanzzzzzaaaaaiii . slish slash , , I was brawling with this guy for while. He was a big guy. I could feel something wrong with my hand. Then I saw that coffee mug on the table. I was holding the knifing-hand with my left and grabbed coffee mug with the other hand and waaaaam on the back side of his head… Hold on he's not unconscious , wtf , it always works in movies. Anyways he was socked up (you could say that coffee cup hit the spot) so I shoved him on the couch and showed him the 43 on the bottom boot .. anyways he was a little exhausted half beaten so was I. so I ask him how the hell are u sure I'm the one who hacked in your computer . he said "guy told me".. WTF . my hand is slushed and " a guy told you" well that certainly beats the IP system and every related security measure .. oh my God , a guy told him.

Anyways , we sort it out , and my only regret is that when I smashed the coffee mug on his head I didn’t say "yah , mutha fucka" that would be really cool.

I'm writing with only one hand now , hope I get better soon , my sex life is a mess. :P

I know this might be strange commming from. I've stopped having pointless arguments with absolute morons along time ago (note that I didn't say debate). You know what I mean. 90% of the girls talking about polotics are trying to prove the are not idiots but they fail. And 90% of the guys who talk polotics are to impress the lady's. They also fail.  I think stoner , are the remaining 10% .

Anyways , Noam Chomsky is an all time favorite of mine. Since my days at college.

Quote

Well, last week I had a problem with the FJ (Toyota FJ , not a rapper name) and I had to take it to the dealer workshop. The thing with Toyota dealer workshops here is that they are all crappy. I mean, getting your car fixed there is like applying for Saudi citizenship (hard, takes time and totally pointless).

Being without a car for a while, I thought it was time to get the bike out. Although I had it covered it was all covered with dust. so I take it for an oil change , and got it polished. it was clean as a whistle. the next day I woke up to to see a dust storm came up over the night. And it was dusty again.

Guys have this thing where they name everything they use often and cherish. it ranges from dicks to cars , ships and planes. I've had this bike for more than a year and couldn't find a name for it. Its hard to name something so powerful yet so beautiful. you cant give it male or female names.

but today is the day. Dusty . beautiful , strong , but Dusty.

PS: Dusty is a 2003 Honda Valkyie , 6-cylinder Flat, 1500 CC. Its the answer to my prayers and every guy dream. And its one of the meanest heaviest smoothest cruiser bikes around around.

I just got a pro account on filckr , you know its pretty cool

The Link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelunatech/sets/

Hello Everyboday,

Yesterday I gave up my-peice-of junk computer and got a new one at work. You see 2 years ago, the organization that I worked for got screwed in an IBM thinkpad desktop deal. Now they have to replace them. That's why they call it thinkpad , you have to THINK , and THINK AGIAN before you buy it.

I'm talking about normal human being thinking , not like some of my american friends put it. When an american wants to express his opinion about something (and they normally do) , it normally goes " I think.... ". And when an american goes "I think" you better hold on tight , cuz something REALLY stupid is gonna come out. Sorry about that guys just kidding, but you often express your opinions on issues you are completly oblivious to. I hate to gererlize, but it generlization and stereotyping is a vhiecle of comedy , SO LIVE WITH IT ! .

Anyways , I traded my office computer for an HP. Which is way much better but still half the machine that I have at home (I had to brag about it). The new HP comes with a Windows Vista. Anyways I didnt even give it a chance to boot up with it. I shoved in my EduBuntu DVD and installed a REAL operating system...

Work hours are over , got to go.

These are some screenshots from my desktop. I Love this 3d desktop thing. Note the reflection.

Today I get this guy telling me that there is going to be an execution at the old town square. So I ditched work and went there. I was telling a non-Saudi guy online today when he asked me about it. I said " you know how these things are , they're usually disappointing "; He protested " No I don’t know how these things are , and how the fuc* is it disappointing" . it's when I decided I should blog about it.

Here's the thing: if you never been to these things and you just hear about public executions, you probably have the medieval version in your head. (I'll be talking about heads a lot in the coming entry), or better yet the Roman one . I know what you're thinking. You probably think the guy is dragged by his feet by two ginormous black dudes. The costumes are really important. They have to be wearing thick metal vests and have really big axes ( the kind of ax that exceeds the size of a normal dude like the guy next to me). The guy is screaming let me go (did I mention the rags he's wearing , and the chained hands) and then they put him in the middle and they read the royal decree. And the horns and bells. When, an angry person from the crowd shouts (I don’t know why is he angry , but let it be) , when he shouts " KILLLLLL HIMMMMM", the crowd roars, and the ax falls making a mark on the dry ground. The head goes flying and the blood gushing everywhere. And the crowd roars again , and the black dude takes the head and holds it up for the crowed by the hair. Then the crowed explodes with a mix of screams and cheers ……. Get real.

Actually , the guy is sedated (drugged) and its totally quite , specially the cutting. The cutting is quite , like cutting a pealed banana from a safe distance with scalp. And mind you the swordsman did a really REALLY sloppy job. But hey!! it worked; the guy is dead, to the best of my knowledge. May God have mercy on his soul ,and forgive his sins no matter what they are. (they say he killed his wife, God bless her soul too)

It's not about getting revenge. It's about setting an example and sending a message to society. Life is nothing to toy with, and if you take someone else's yours is at stake. To tell the truth , I notice after ever one of these things crime rates drop drastically for a couple of months. It really works here. On the other hand , crime thrives in places when they stopped doing it. I'm telling you , if I was an abiding citizen and paying all my taxes , I really wouldn’t like it when my killer runs away with only 20 years. Is that’s what you get for being the good guy? You know I would always say " KILLLLLL HIMMMMM" .

God bless you all and keep you and those dear to you safe from crime and traffic violations.

Yours,

O.K.

Ok, I never believed in this copyright bullshit to begin with. Whatever I can get my hands on, I usually take and gesture a middle finger to the copy right sign. so I have nothing to complain about.

However, when a big organization or publisher , who occasionally preach  copyright; it just makes my day a little more constipated. Hypocrisy , that's what they call it in the old days.

Last Thursday I ran a  thread in a local forum about the temperature drop and attach some photos from that morning . The thing is I get a big newspaper stealing the photo  , cropping out my stamp and failing to mention anything about the source of that picture.

Hers the picture I took:

and here's the picture from the paper:

And this is the newspaper link:

http://www.alwatan.com.sa/news/newsdetail.asp?issueno=2668&id=38225

Now , its not the first time news papers take pictures from me , but other news papers at least refer to me or keep the stamp. Just about a month ago some a news paper did take my horse race photos and they did refer to me.

Some suggest that I  complain to the newspaper or at least file an objection letter. But its not me .  I tell you why. I might be many things (a perverted, self-centered, reckless wild , holy fiend), but I'm never a hypocrite. I just don't like people saying what they don't do and hope others are not looking when they're not doing it.  (take your time deciphering the last sentence. and BTW , please do refer to me when you take it)..

Anyway, I got to go. I'm taking my car to the dealer for the 5000 checkup.

take care

Ok , you always hear people form outside going about " Saudi Women ". Using the plural form says it all about these guys and guy-wannabe's. I don't know its like you are talking about packs of some kind of endangered species. I can't tell you how much crap I had to listen to from clueless sympathizers . Its like when bush said " Iraqi people your not free , we gonna bomb your country until you're free, ye cn bt ya'ass'n that ! " . But heyyyy , you know people , specially Americans , they tend to talk about things they don't know much about , very very very often (sorry  you guys , its true). And they express their opinions on the subject very loudly. and take it upon their shoulders to fight for that cause. and get excited. VERY excited.

Anyways, Just to make the point clear about A Saudi woman , I give thee this video. I stumbled on it while I was looking for something nasty (don't ask). Anywhooooo , its somewhat standard here. Of course , it depends on different background but in all fairness , I would say its pretty much the middle case.

Saudi Women at Work (part2)

Take care

So , I get a phone call from a cousin of mine at 1:30 in the morning. it went like this :

• " hey, you going to the horse race tomorrow morning? " .
• what *#*$%*  Hey yourself , its 1:30 in the morning . and who would put a race in this cold weather ? (it's like 2 C in the morning)
• " you're the only cousin who sleeps this time of holiday, and you don’t know shit about   horse races.
• I know horseshit when I hear it and thi….
• See you tomorrow –click–

The thing is , he was right I didn’t know much about horse races specially here. so I had to learn.

Most people have heard about Arabia horses but don’t know really what they're specialty is. Long distance and endurance races. That means a race like today's race (90 Km). it was a local race in a local long track but the horses were good (or so I've heard). They're price is something around $ 30,000. Some are higher but you can't make sure because the breeders get upset when you ask about the prices and jockeys are as clueless as their horses.

Facts about Endurance Races (long):

- They are held in cold weather (winter or summer nights) because the horses heat up. I mean I sow steam coming from their body's today. Nicccce.

- After every 25 horses are cooled with water (BRRRRRR) . Then checked by a vet (heart beat and stuff).

- There is no real relation between the Jockey and the horse. Except the IQ level.

- This thing I really couldn’t figure out, Why put the horse race near the old ruins. It doesn’t make it authentic; it just limits the space. (you know like the old days).

- After the first round you should go back home mainly because it’s the same thing all over again. BORING.

Anyways, I went back to bed after the first round . I don’t know who won , and frankly my dear I don’t give a damn! .

Hello everybody,

I'm back home. I had to cut this vacation short due to bad weather. I called a friend and he told me he just came from west east coast and its freezing there.

Anyways, I'm gonna talk about what I got to see there in Kuwait. The city is nice and well organized. The seafront is fantastic. It’s a place you can spend a couple of days (when it's not too cold or too warm). Salmyyah is where you want to go. To my knowledge, that's the place meant for tourist. You'll find a lot of attractions there.

Some Pictures from there

I tried to make the best of the time there seeing that I can't be outdoors. I went to visit the Scientific Center. There were 3 main attractions there. First was the Aquarium (that’s the fish zoo in layman's terms). I got to check out the fishes in the tanks and I also checked out the instructors there. I liked both , but the instructions are not to feed both . I got to tell you it’s a nice place.

The other attraction was A gadget thing. Where they try to make education fun. I still think the only way to make education fun is to higher better teachers. And I mean by better, " Kate Hudson " better. Any ways it was fun , we got to try all the gadget things. The third attraction in there was a 3D dinosaur cinema. I seriously never get these 3D things , they don’t really look 3D they just make your eyes hurt. But dig this , while people are trying hard to understand what the fu** is happening , check out their faces , now that’s your money-worth right there.

Went to some shopping malls, caught a movie ...bla bla bla

Thank God we took these GPSs , they made the trip real easy.

PS: I can't tell you what's bad about the place. Someone on my MSN contact list might kill me.

So , I decided to try the FJ on the road. Phoned my buddy Ahmad told him I was going out tomorrow Friday but I'm not sure where I'm going. The best thing about Ahmad is that he's always on board. I packed and Friday came. I had three places in mind. The ruins up in Ola , a place 800 km from where I live. Second was Kuwait (about 600 from where I live) . Third was the coast. Anyways , we settled on Kuwait.

When I got there , I thought I would find a nice weather. Too cold .. seriously its . I spent one day and I'm thinking of leaving to the east coast.

Will blog about it tomorrow.

Hey you guys,

I just finished watching " The Kingdom " the movie. Actually I shuffled though it. I got to tell you; it’s the lowest point of a nation's pride to try to look good by degrading another. To be honest, I don’t know what kingdom they were talking about in that movie. I only know it's not Saudi Arabia that I saw there . The accents , the customs , mostly the houses and compounds.

Where should I start?

The political and social facts were disturbingly stereotypical. I'm not really gonna talk about it. but I have to say whoever wrote that script never went to Saudi Arabia. He might have seen a Saudi he didn't like though. I don't blame him there. I don't get along with people here either.

The compounds used were 50 years from the past. These days people use something called concrete , look it up its in the dictionary. And the security in these compounds is waaaaay up. Trust me , security here has been an issue for a really long time . You can't walk in and start shooting people. Its not America. Let me give you an example on how security works here:

1- From my town to Riyadh , its something like 300 Km , I pass 3 check points at least (sometimes five) where I have to present my ID.

2- Unlike what was mentioned in the movie , the Saudi ID card is really hard to forge (trust me I'm a nerd and I know better) . not gonna talk about the plastic and currency work they did on it. The problem is on the smart chip inside the ID. I think it needs more than AK47 knowledge to crack it .. check it out ( http://www.smartcardstrends.com/det_atc.php?idu=6243 )

Houses, I mean was it too much to ask to ask for to come and shoot in a real Saudi town. I mean they picked a rundown town in God-knows-where country and start shooting there. VERY NICE. Just go to Google image (http://images.google.com/) and google a Saudi city name (Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam , Khobar …etc ) and you'll know what I mean.

All I'm saying is stop chasing the best nation myth. There is no best nation ; we got our flaws and you got yours. The only difference is we are aware of ours. We are different , and you have to live with the fear of the different.

Ignorance is always bliss.

PS: Why does the sympathetic native just has to die in every American-hero movie ?

There is two things in this world that are not fully illustrated by poets nor fully justified by philosophers. These are love and stupidity. Today I'm going to speak about the less painful of the two. As a teacher I'm not really comfortable on the retardation levels we are reaching as a species. The curve is really dropping. But the big wigs in our educational systems found a really effective way to treat this phenomena . MAKE THINGS EASY.. well , I really took these instructions to heart when I was writing this exam . I translated them for all you my monolingual friends . there's nothing wrong with knowing only one language , it doesn’t make you any less of a Homosapien ( sorry I just had to brag about it , haah ) ..

Anyways , the test goes like this:

First Question: pictures of a mouse , a keyboard and monitor .. Write down the names of the following.

2^nd Question: What do we use the following programs for:

Microsoft Word (the word processing application) :

(the emails program) OUTLOOK:

(the graphics editing program) Paint:

NOTE: I did write what's between the bracts on the exam paper.

3^rd Question and the most bizarre of them all:

Choose the correct answer:

1. Gmail.com is :
   1. A free email service and website.
   2. A financial consultant website.
   3. A medical website.
2. Which of the following resembles a correct email form:
1. www.not-this-one.com
2. checkthisone@therightanswer.com
3. <check b> < /b " is the right answer">

3. Which of the following resembles a correct website address :

1. http://www.thisistherightanswer.com
2. therightansweris@choice-a.com
3. www,nonotthisone,com

Yet, you get kids who do not have a clue ( I'm talking about 18-22)

I'm not blaming these kids for being like this . The stiffs up stairs in management are the ones to be blamed for making the educational process such a catastrophe. Every time one of these bastards comes out on the newspapers announcing a new low for educational standards , you know the shit is gonna hit the fan.

I know I'm a crappy teacher , and I know I'm not doing much to fix the problem. I'm just sorry for the kids.

PS: if a grownup didn’t catch the punch-line in this , I think we have a more serious issue to deal with.

Good morning,

I don’t usually read any newsletters on whatsoever (unless it had "naked" in it). Anyways, this newsletter caught my attention. Just take a look.

Despite the obvious sexual orientation of these respectable individuals.

Did you notice something else ?

Is this the message we want to send to the world ? uptight, overdressed poker face people play video games.  Give me a break!

I don’t know about you I think a lot of things are missing here.

The mess for starters. A messy room is a healthy room for gaming. It means you are focused and have potential in your gaming. Nothing can get between a pro-gamer and his screen. And that’s why you have wireless controllers; to make room for the mess in between.

The food is also a vital part of the gaming environment. You know , with all that action in your fingers , you burn out a lot of calories. You could die of starvation if you're not careful. Anything would do , and don’t forget the soft drink.

Expression, you don’t find two people smiling. One has an expression that resembles victory; be it a smile or an advanced lower jaw. The other has angry , depressed look on his face. Its not a family photo , it’s a matter of life and death (gamingly speaking).

Not every one plays Warcraft, so I'm not insisting on pimples and exceedingly large love handles (which by the way are not related to love when speaking about a gamer). However , disheveled hair , loose shirt , spiky chin are all trends of a pro-gamer.

Bottom line , don't make us feel bad about ourselves. Video games is something fun , you need to loosen up for , not get dressed and put makeup (unless your boyfriend has something in mind with the vibrating controller)  

However:   Gamerines (gamer females) are surprisingly cute most of the time. Which makes me wish I was an XBOX360 , I already have the joystick and the vibrating function. take me take me ...

Here are some pictures of typical gamers :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kris10_michelle/538578414/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angela_hayden_art_goddess/1867767868/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloodshotvision/1232978684/