'Road toll' will become a reality in Dubai on 1st July 2007. Should & Will we follow suite?

Dubai will go live on the 1st of July 2007 with 'SALIK', its road toll system; with the current traffic congstion problem and the increasing number of new cars on the roads of K.O.Bahrain, will it be long before Bahrain follows suit.

Quote from the official site

"HOW IT WORKS


Salik is a free flow tolling system without toll booths, barriers, or gates, allowing traffic to move freely through the tolling point at highway speeds.
There will be two tolling points: Al Garhoud Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road near Mall of the Emirates.

Each time you pass through a Salik tolling point, the toll of AED4 will be deducted from your prepaid toll account using the latest in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.Your vehicle will be identified to the system through communication with the small, thin Salik sticker tag affixed to your windshield."

The Dubai RTA authorities are adamant that the scheme will go ahead as planned even though there has been speculation that it may be delayed because of the public reaction & uproar.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/06/24/10134636.html

What about Bahrain?

DO WE NEED SOMETHING LIKE THIS?

Will implementing such a system benefit us in the long run?

Will the tolls collected in such a scheme be reinvested to improve the road systems, were it to be implementing here?

Would we agree to pay the toll? I don't remember agreeing to the 1% it that still did not stop the government from implementing it!

Huh..., only time will tell.

Personally, i believe there should be a tolling system but only on healivy congested roads & bridges in K.O.Bahrain. It should be a smart system that records data like;

a) the number of times a car drives on the the road in a day,
b) Whether the car is registered under an individual residing in the area, or registered under a company located there,

...... and any other important information that ensures only the people abusing or misusing the roads to be charged.

Fees are not to be charged for normal use.

The fee should not exceed BD0.200 fils.

And the income obtained should only be used as a slush fund to further improve the road systems.

It should not be a personal Piggy Bank for the government at our expense.

What's you view in this matter?

A simple Hand Shake is just not the same anymore.

A hand shake is not what is used to be, it doesn’t have the same stature as it did before. Now a day, its fist thumping, chest bumping and secret hand shakes. I’m sure this happened didn’t happen overnight, over the last couple of centuries society has changed, people have loosened up and chilled and so has the way we greet each other.

But the classic hand shake still exists, people still use it when greeting a friend, a relative, a sports buddy or a business associate and especially a Senior Manager/ employee at work.


Yet, it too has changed.

Here’s what I mean;

I greet my friends in all means and manners possible, some I can’t even mention, yet when the time comes for a dose of the good old hand shake, I’m up for it.

I personally have a firm hand shake, and would like one in return, it just some how feels right; so when I’m greeting someone, I hold out my hand waiting anxiously to greet the other person’s, with my thumb expecting to make contact with their’s before the grip tightens, and shake if necessary (this being and the upwards and downwards motion). AT THIS MOMENT I SUGGEST THAT YOU REFRANE FROM ALLOWING YOUR MIND TO WANDER, THE SUBJECT MATTER IS NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE, PERVERTS!

Anyways, I’m almost never met with as firm hand shake, people either grab the four fingers or just grasps at the tips of my fingers and shake, or just hold that position; or our wrists may completely interlock but they have a soft and unwelcoming grip.

Why is that?

I can’t enforce change onto others but if you every do meet me out side, don’t forget, interlock, firm grip, and shake if necessary.

PLEASE REFRANE FROM YOUR FILTHY THOUGHTS, I only have clean intentions here.

I promise.

1% here, 1% there, it's now LAW. What Now?

By now it has become common knowledge that the government unilaterally has decided to pool 1% of monthly income from the private sector, basically from our hard earned salaries, to be used as a slush fund for the unemployed.

The drone MPs, in effect, have put their A.O.K. on it as well and businesses have officially been instructed to started to leach funds out of salaries, before employee pay cheques are handed over.

Oh yah, i forgot to mention that our GOSI contribution, which most bahrainis will not see a cent of during their life time, has been increased from 5% to 6%. The 1% extra will be deducted back valued from May.

So in effect, i will get 8% less this month to the usual 5% GOSI contribution deducted each month; the additional 3% being, 1% for the unemployment slush fund, the other 2% being the increase in the GOSI contribution for MAY & JUNE, and 7% from next month onwards.

If salaries in Bahrain were adjusted for the inflation rate and the yearly increment, if any, was significant, this would not have a big impact on our day to day lives. Unfortunately here in la la land it WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT.

MPs and Ministers are eXcluded, WHY?

They get the big bucks, then why in the world would one not expect them to cough up their contribution? They too must pay their dues to Society, Don't you think?

The fact is all the MPs would have immediately voted against the scheme had they been included as well.

All employees of the 'Ministry of Interior' are excluded as well; namely the Armed forces, Public Police & Riot Police; WHY?

FACTs
If you want to look at it from a religious point of view, it is haram, this is not ZAKAT.

If you look at it from a legal point of view, IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL, we are being forced to pay, I NEVER AGREED TO IT.

Questions: Why don't they make it a voluntary contribution?
Answer: Simply because no one would voluntarily contribute.

FACT
So what is left out of our meagrely salary?

Peanuts!

What guarantees is there that the slush fund will not be used for alternative means, similar to what was and is happening in some ministries?

Mark my words, AT SOME POINT IN TIME, the Government will implement TAXATION, and we will have to pay it, no question's asked.

Now excuse me as i have to trim down my monthly spending & recalculate my saving, what ever is left to save.

PEANUTS, huh!

Is the 'DREAM' really over?

Last month, the government banned local Satellite shops from selling reprogrammed receivers that were used to illegally view subscription channels.

This whole market started off with the launch of counterfeit subscription cards, that were cheaper than the original ones, the Satellite companies fought back with smarter and better encoding & encryption systems which would change the codes numerous times each minute and could only be read by the original cards. Inventive programmers and engineers were able to find alternative means of working around the efforts of the Satellite channels, either directly through reprogramming receivers or by installing pre-programmed chips onto the units.

Now, there are numerous types & models of receivers that can be programmed to either accept 'serial codes' manually input or connection directly to the internet for updates, all of them give free access to channels showing programs which we would not see otherwise, without having subscribed to the actual distributors or local agents, and paying a hefty monthly/yearly fee.

The most infamous of these has been the 'Dream Box' (DB), a receiver that connects to the internet, and automatically accesses a dedicated IP address located somewhere on the net, the address of which has been programmed into the receiver unit itself. The receiver automatically synchs and updates codes by retrieving them directly from distributing IP addresses, thereby preventing disruption of the illegal service, to the satisfaction of the customers.

This was of course done for an initial purchase and installation fee, followed by a yearly subscription fee that was much less than one would have to pay through legal channels.

Today's article in the GDN titled 'Clampdown on 'Dream Boxes'' may be a formal confirmation or a reinforcement of the government's seriousness in this matter, directed to the Satellite shops, who have in turn adhered to the ban and discontinued stock piling the DBs receivers for sale to consumers, this is definitely a blow to their bottom lines.

YET, there is always a black market, and greed is the driving force behind any illegal scheme, so the sale and installation of such receivers will continue; only now the purchase price will become higher but still cheaper than getting the service through legal channels.

If the government is serious, they will come down hard on the perpetrators, this will surely force many Satellite shops to close, as most of their income is a direct result of the sale of such illegal services, though they may not be officially announcing it.

To an extent i say the satellite channel distributors deserve this theft because of the high subscription prices that they charge, due to the distribution rights that they purchase for the various desired channels and the monopoly that they then have on the market.

On the other hand, illegal is illegal is illegal, so i think the best rout should be for the Satellite channel distributors to lower their subscription fees to such an extent that it would not be cost effective to install the illegal receivers.

What next?

We're expecting too much from the government! Let's ease up our demands.

I should have posted this blog three weeks back, but it was MISPLACED somewhere on my Lap top, wrong file name; anyways better late than never.

I’ve heard comments made by the Ministry and their representatives, comments made by MPs, and conversations between people; I’ve read newspaper articles, visited local blog site discussions; all relating to the subject matter of the high unemployment in Bahrain, the steps (or lack thereof) being taken by the government, the ungrateful attitude of Bahrainis being presented with positions, lack of qualifications, unwillingness to start from the bottom up; but the last straw has been the comment that Bahrainis are expecting too much from the government!

I beg to differ;

It’s a ripple effect, consider the events that occur when a pebble is thrown into a POND; the rings that follow suite are large and can be seen by the naked eye, but there are more rings to follow, and gradually they may not be visible but are there and much slower that the first ones, thus their effects are not quickly noticed but rather are felt over a period of time.

SO;

It is absolutely the Government’s responsibility to find a lasting solution to this ugly problem, the reason being that the Government has played a large hand in the formula that has led to this situation; mainly because of the questionable economic & social policies in the past, and partly because of its employment policy which has supposedly changed now, but I wouldn’t be able to confirm it since there are no statistics being released (again lack of transparency), also I still see Indian, Pakistani & Baluchi policemen and also lets not forget the foreigners that are in our Armed forces and the Riot police.

What now?

The Government & the EDB has taken up a lot of new initiative to ensure there is sustainable economic growth in the country. That is not enough, there should be changes made in the education system as well as in some other areas that will assist in advancing the skills and knowledge of Bahrainis as well as provide them with opportunities.

A five / ten year plan is needed and the following much be achieved;

Here are the areas that I believe the government can improve in which will reap immediate benefits in the first year at least.

Education;
The schools are over crowded; some teachers are not qualified to teach the subjects they have been appointed for. The level of English being taught is not at par with standards required by businesses, additionally, the opportunity to learn other languages is minimal.

More qualified teachers should be recruited to ensure the ‘student / teacher’ ratio is at an internationally acceptable ratio and that each and every child’s needs are catered for.
Language;
English is an international language and must be the second if not the first language being taught to children in Bahrain public schools, and they must achieve a high level of fluency and competence.

I find it hilarious that many of the English teachers are themselves products of the public education system, who have graduate and return back as teachers and continue to contribute to the down ward spiral that has led to a sub par level of English.

If I wanted to learn to make bread, you’d find me at the door steps of a baker, not a mechanic’s; this is exactly what’s happening in schools.

If anyone disagrees with me than please explain why there so many parents enrolling their children to study English in the evenings at the British council.

Curriculum;
The text books that are being taught are old, and by that I mean that the curriculum is out dated and not relevant to the requirements of the job market, it’s just not practical. There have been many advances in most of the subjects but that knowledge has yet to be transferred over to our children. Fundamental subjects such as Computers, mathematics, accounting, chemistry and physics must be taught to all students. They must be given the opportunity to enhance their knowledge.

By the time the young adults graduate from high school, they should have achieved a level of competence that is comparable to other developed countries. We should learn from small countries like Singapore.

Discipline;
There ratio of children to teachers in Public schools is high which is a major disadvantage

Many of the children in public schools are badly behaved because the teachers can’t control them; the ratio between children to teachers is higher than acceptable level. This prevents the teachers from adequately catering for all the needs of the children and thereby adding to the mediocrity.

The teachers need to be able to control the students this is currently not possible.

Educating Parent;
Parents must be made to understand that they too have a role to play in their child’s lives. Education starts at home, and continues in the schools. Parents must rear their children with a work ethic and good morals. We do not need felons, thugs or rapists, nor does society need dead wood leaching on its resources.

There has to be an initiative by the government, maybe with the assistance from some of the mosques and maatams, parents can be educated on their duties at home. Big brother must lead, and others will follow.


Discontinue selling JOB opportunities to foreign countries;
A while back our government pledged 2000 nurse positions to the government of Philippines, positions for which our unemployed boys and girls could have been selected and re-educated for, a few years back, had the government been employing the right people who are forward thinkers and .

Favouritism (I refrain from using the ‘S’ word)
The government continues to import foreign workers for positions within the armed forces, police force and riot police. Just visit one of the police stations and you will know exactly what I mean.
This must stop. To go forward, this form of favouritism must stop. Give the Bahrainis the opportunity to prove themselves.

On the job training;
The Private sector recruits university students during their summer holidays for the three month duration, so why not take advantage of such a scheme to reeducate and train the unemployed into learning new skills. This could be in parallel with the salary that will be paid to them, it will relieve the burden on the company by them not having to pay a lot for the trainees, thereby encouraging them to do their part in ensuring that the unemployed get the necessary assistance and push to gain a tool, and be more prepared for the current job market.

Foot note:
I read recently on the Blog father’s site that there have been some educational reform initiatives that will be implemented in the near future, here’s to hoping.

Have you ever blanked out in an EXAM?

Well, have you?





I did yesterday during an exam.

I confess, I did not take advantage of the weekend to catch up but studied only during the morning of the exam; but I knew everything, so what went wrong?

I had a good nights sleep the previous day, so I wasn’t stressed out. I had three Red Bulls energy drinks to keep the blood pumping and the adrenalin at a high level.

So why did I blank the moment I saw the first question, which was the easiest question of the lot.

I had no problem remembering the answers to the other tougher questions, but whenever I glanced at question numero uno, the invisible brick wall came back and smacked be rights in the face.

I hope I get off my lazy @$$ and study for the other exams BEFORE HAND.

But......., I very much doubt that will happen.

CX movie review - Fantastic 4, rise of the Silver Surfer

Last weekend I went to the Cinema and watched the new F4 movie.






Big mistake, it was not worth the entrance fee, I should have waited until it came out of DVD.




The movie starts off well, the opening scene is cool; it’s in outer space, the scene slowly glides past planets until it comes up to what seems to be a world breaking up, slowly, with bursts of gigantic explosions protruding out of its surface; the planet then goes dark and dies.



The Plot
The Silver Surfer, a herald of Galactus – The world Devourer, swoops into earth on an excavation expedition with the intent to preparing the world for consumption by his master; and where ever the Silver Surfer goes, the world destroyer is not too far behind, off in the distant bringing with it death and destruction.
Our heroes are defeated on their first meeting with the Silver Surfer; with some valuable information provided to them by their arch nemeses DOOM they succeed in capturing him on the second attempt, and the prisoner is turned over to the army.
Realizing the DOOM has just used everyone to get what he really wanted, the Silver surf board which was the source of the Silver Surfer’s power; the team help the surfer to escape and retrieve his board before he then goes out and does a kamikaze and destroys Galactus, his master along with himself, thereby saving the world.


What I really thought of it:
I was crying at the end, not because it got to me emotionally but because it got to me in the worst way possible, it had made a hole in my pocket to the tune of BD6, and I didn’t even have a good time.

The acting was weak; everyone was just full of themselves. The movie plot was very weak, a battle between good and evil; a misguided convert that saves the day in the end; a wedding that has been postpone several times; a super heroes loosing his cool and powers when he need it the most; and finally, the writers should have known, Galactus is too big an adversary to be used in a movie this short.

I liked the special effects though, and some of the laughs but it was not enough to justify going to see it in the cinema.

It was Ok, not great.

The CX Rating

I give it a 6 out 0f 12.

And I recommend that you watch it on DVD if you get the urge to watch it.

I finally found the culprit chirping outside the office window.

Birds of a feather, aah, I just don’t have it in me.

Just enjoy the photos of the birdy that’s been driving me nuts.





I still wish I had a gun to pop the wise ass.

It looked right at me and did not flinch.

What is it with me and animals?

Negative Animal magnetism………?

Would you make a fool of yourself on American Idol?

What was that?

Hollow words echoed out by Simon Cowell, time and time again after the awful performance of the many hopeful participants in the American Idol auditions; but no one takes his advise to heart, they still come and audition thinking they are better than the rest, maybe good enough to become the next American Idol.

I’m amazed! No, astounded by how people are so full of them selves and believe they are better than they actually are.

American Idol is a very popular program in the US, and it’s cool to be participating in one of the auditions; to perform in front of Randy, Paula and Simon and then come out with a golden ticket in hand, then get interviewed by Ryan.

But that’s not the case for the hundreds of thousands of misguided souls who believe they are the next best thing to hit the American music industry, but turning out to just make fools of them selves, willingly.

ME, I know my limitations, my singing sucks, I’ve got no rhythm in me and my voice is rough and bumpy. When I was younger, I tried to learn a couple of songs to test my self, you know, sing along with popular songs to evaluate yourself, I bet you’ve done it a million times, thank god no one was there to witness the fiasco.

I gave up that attempt at stardom the same day, a very, very long time ago.

So, here’s what I think:

Just What the F$%k are those people thinking when they stand before the American public and make @$$e$ of themselves.

WOW!

They are either the bravest people in the world, or the dumbest, I suspect it’s the latter.

Its summer, birds are chirping outside & i wish i had a GUN!

A couple of weeks back, a colleague and I were busy hard at work, we were lost in this thorny task that had to be completed before proceeding with other duties; our concentration was broken by the chirping of a bird outside the office window.

You’d think that a bird chirping would get the attention of everyone.

It didn’t, not a flinch; deaf bastards the lot of them, the others just continued to work on. I, on the other hand could not, my concentration was now broken and it was going to be a climb up a steep hill just to get back into the groove.

You’d thing that the chirps of a bird, behind iron and concrete walls, a CAGE to be exact, would make me mellow and all ‘ga ga’ inside, it did the opposite.

I got pissed off and began to search desperately for the sucker.

I felt like punching a hole right through the reinforced glass, grab the agitating critter making all that racket, taking an A4 pencil and jamming it right up its behind, I’d make sure it went so far up the bird’s @$$ that it would choke on it and wouldn’t be able to squeak.

Does that make me a psycho?

Is there something abnormal about me?

Don’t get me wrong, I love a variety of birds; I even have an African Grey name ‘JAX’ at home, and I love him (or maybe it’s a her??), but the point is I’m not a nature hater, it’s just that this is not the place for it and we have gotten so used to all racket of urban life that nature has a hard time penetrating the thick exoskeleton that we have formed to protect us from our surroundings.

Oh yah, I hate pigeons, all they are good for are crapping all over you. Yes, sadly it has happened to me and on numerous occasions to my car.

Think about it, a work environment kills off what remain of any flicker of compassion remaining in you.

I really wasn't surprised when my colleague said the bird was a nuisance.

We need more nature in our lives.

I wonder;

I could pretend to….

Oooh what the hell, it’s no use, i’m afraid that instead of the nature lover coming out, the ‘Cave man’ in me surfaces and I get into even more trouble.


No! Not worth it.


I’ll probably consider it if I win a huge jack pot, a lottery of sorts and then don’t need to work no more.

Till them, can I borrow you pea shooter?

Something that you desperately need, and you CAR can do without!

I have the Cure!

Laughter is a medicine that can heal a lot of ailments in us; it helps rectify the chemical imbalance, the build up of impurities (this one I made up); it has been scientifically proven that laughter is good for us.

So why do we not laugh in volumes when we know it’s good?

I love comedy and watch movies as much as I possibly can, but nowadays the quality leaves a lot to be desired, there are many dry comedies out there, some just not funny but rather cheap imitations of overused ploys; there are not many Rowan Atkinsons’ out there…

Now, feast your eyes on this; http://www.cartalk.com/

Click & Clack the tappet brothers; the hosts of a very funny RADIO program about cars and car repairs, where people call in and explain their problems expecting a instructive assistance on how to fix the ailment with their car, unbeknown to them, the hosts of the program though very knowledgeable about cars, since they own garages and are mechanics, may at times propose the wildest cocktail of remedies imaginable.

If you are lucky you can catch them on the ‘Armed Forces Radio’ on 107.9 fm but, since I absolutely love the program and must get a dose of it every week, I download the PODCAST from the ITUNES site, which is free, and listen to it on my IPOD, just search for ‘NPR: Car Talk’.

Alternatively, you can visit their site and listen to the streaming media.

If you every see me in my car, laughing my @$$ off, then rest assured that I am listening to their program, just don’t drive your car close to me to confirm it, I may bump into you as I loose control.

I hope you listen to their show and come back and tell me what you think of them, if you are not a fan already.

The coolest cat in Bahrain, Mewooooo!

On Friday evening, my son and I went to the local khabbaz (baker) to get some bread for our dinner, on our way back we noticed a man looking at the bonnet of a car, curiosity got the best of me and my kin.

We made our way towards the car, and when we reached it, we were shocked to see a cat lying still on the car bonnet.

It lay flat on its left side, its hind and fore legs stretched out, its head tilted to the right, and the bottom of its neck twisted upwards exposing the white furry chin, some of its teeth were peering out of its mouth and its eyes were shut tight; the moment I saw it I was sure it had been hit by a car and the culprit had placed the poor thing here, our of even more harms way.

Just then I saw its chest gently moving up and down, the poor thing was still breathing; I took a closer look at it and “GOD DAMN IT”, the $0n of a B!t@h was just sleeping.

I tapped it on its hind paws twice, nothing, absolutely nothing, no sudden shriek or a frightened reactive pounce.

The Lazy ass bum!
SO I TOOK THIS PICTURE.

I then clapped my hands which made a loud echoing sound, this got its attention but it wasn’t the reaction I was expecting; it peered one eye wide open, the other a quarter of the way, took a good look at us and then shut them again without even a meow;

It actually did not care that we were standing right over its head, as if we were noting to it.

THE COOLest CAT in Bahrain, all it needed now was some shades!

SO, I TOOK ANOTHER PICTURE.

It must have probably been thinking “What does this A-hole want?”, and then went back to sleep.

All I can say is “RESPECT”.

End of the My Seminar, NOT BADDDDDD, i learnt two lessons for the price of one.

THE SECOND DAY OF OUR SEMINAR STARTED OFF ON A BAD NOTE. (Monday, 4th June 2007)

I was driving to the venue already 10 minutes late; the music was at full blast from my IPOD and I was in the groove, ready for anything.

I didn’t expect the power to be off!

Thank you very much Ministry of E & W for embarrassing us in front of the Foreign guests and making us look like a third world country, Bravo.

It wasn’t until 9:15 am that the power was restored and we were back in the auditorium, before then we were fanning our selves with leaflets just to keep cool.

The first thing we were informed was that our group photo had been published in the GDN and Tribune, Cooooool; I have a copy now for my scrap book.

Anyways, the Seminar commenced, and yes, the moron’s continued to ask stupid questions, and yes, they also came up with the dumb ass comments, and of course i was freezing my @$$ off.

By the end of the second day, I had cozied up to three fellow attendees, one from Libya and the other two from Morocco. They were very friendly guys, well mannered and worth getting to know.

Later that day I took the three of them to see the BIC as they were dying to see it.

They were ecstatic.

DAY THREE WAS ANOTHER COLD DAY. (Tuesday, 5th June 2007)

Again I was late, 15 minutes to be precise, and by the time I reached the venue, the seminar had started.

I took my seat under the F’ing cooler and participated where possible.

The Omani delegates were worried about the events that were occurring in the country.

The day was over by 2:30 pm, and we were invited to an informal dinner at 8pm at the ‘Parsian Restaurant’ in Adliya, free food, ‘Yippy’!

I got to know some more people at the dinner, some of them were very nice, but I finally found the talkative one that blurted out shit that I just did not care to hear; it was one of the 9 Bahraini attendees; just my luck he had to be sitting next to me in the restaurant when the fenses were down and my guard was at its weakest.

My luck never fails me, it’s just too bad that it not good luck.

The day ended on a high note as I got to know the American hosts of the event better, they were very nice people. It’s not their fault that their President is an idiot, a moron, an absolute nincompoop.

A Saudi attendee closed off the day with a funny incident that had happened to one of his relatives who at the time of the incident was a delegate in the US.

It went something like this; his relative who had just attended a party at a junction in the US, had decided to take the under ground metro back to where he stayed. When he got onto the train, a passenger got on behind him. This frightened his relative as he had heard some awful stories about the under ground at night. So he took a seat and kept eyeing the guy from time to time just to make sure he was keeping his distance, the guy looked like an East Asian.

When the train stopped at his station, he put his hands in his pocket to make sure his belonging were safe, and realized that his wallet was missing. He turned and look at the guy, who in turn immediately jumped out of the train and started walking fast. Even thought the delegate was afraid he ran after the guy because all he had was in the wallet.

The chase went on for a hundred feet at least before the guy dropped the wallet and disappeared as the Saudi delegate stopped to pick it up.

When he reached his resident, and as he was changing, he noticed that he had two wallets in his pockets.

It seems like the other guy was innocent but had thought the delegate was out to mug his so he discarded his own wallet to stop him from persuading further.

The delegate was later able to contact the guy using the ID in his wallet; he profusely apologized for the confusion.

NOW THAT A FUNNY STORY, hope it’s true.


The last day (Wednesday, 6th June 2007)

I was late yet again, and by the first break I was sitting with the Omani attendees discussing the freak weather that was about to hit the shores of their home country. They had been informed that their flights home had been cancelled and the next available flight would be on Friday.

Our prayers went out to all their family and friends as well as all the Omani citizens.

So the day came and went; we had some VIP guests give us a closing ceremony speech and hand us our 'certificated of attendance' before we were sent off home.

I learnt a lot about the subject matter of the Seminar, but I also learnt that there are some very nice people out there; you just have to take a change, be sociable and take the opportunity to get to know them.

Let your guard down sometimes, it’s worth it.

My first blog CAME TRUE!

On the 3rd of April 2007, I posted my first blog titled ‘NATION OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS’ where I criticize the Roads and Traffic directorate for setting up traffic lights in every nook and cranny, especially in the middle of high ways.

One of the areas I was emphasized on was the Traffic lights at the Al Khareeta ‘The Map traffic lights’, the junction that divides Manama and Tubli.

Well, what do you know; the government has announced a scheduled plan to remove the Traffic lights and build a fly-over instead.

The article that confirms it was in Thursday’s GDN;
BD10m project revamp on way

WAS I right or was I right?

Now, who wants me to read their future to them?

If you do, then send me an e-mail with your vitals, the date and time of your birth, and a little description of yourself; I will then forward you a mailing address where you can send me a cheque for $1000. When the cheque clears, I will send you the results.

Juts keep in mind, NO REFUNDS.

It doesn’t matter if you agree with the results or not, I’ve got the gift, NOT YOU!

I KNOW BEST!

My Experiance with Seminars 'SUCK big-time'!

I'm attending a four day seminar, day one got over today (3rd June 2007).

It's hard to be attentive during a seminar when the room you're in is freezing cold; or when you are seated next to the entrance to the auditorium and the door does not shut properly, forming a sort of wind tunnel in the gap and thus producing a whistling noise similar to a tornado ( a very windy day in our terms), and the noise keeps ringing in your ear, and each time you get up and shut the door properly, a fellow attendee gets up to go out and leaving the door ajar behind them; or if you haven’t had a good nights sleep the previous day.

Other things that prevent me from grasping the subject matter are;
- When someone's mobile goes off, and rather than picking up the phone to silence the ring, the idiot allows it to continue ringing ant tries to look at who may be calling instead......Aaahhhhh
- People asking stupid questions or asking a question when the instructor has just given the answered to it
- Sitting directly under the air conditioner vent with no other seats vacant.
- The point that most pisses me OFF, is if the Seminar is here in Bahrain, SO no Business trip, no sight seeing for free, $hit that really sucks. I keep thinking of what could have been...and my great losssss...a lost opportunity to accumulate 'free mileage'!


I'm no coffee drinker, but when it gets so unbearably cold, i must pop out every 45 minutes and get a cup, and since I’m not a regular drinker, i am not very familiar on how much sugar or milk (coffee mate) to mix, so i gambled; my first attempt came out too sweat and my second bitter but i had a donut to sweeten my taste buds, so I win in the end.

Also, in my effort to continue to get my supply of coffee I inadvertently forgot to shut the door behind me, each time, so I too contributed to the hissing of the door.

The disadvantage of having this many drinks is that, yes, you have to frequently get up and go to the toilet to relieve yourself, also when your bladders are full, the cold some how gets back into your body?? Any which way you look at it I’m screwed!

A topic that almost always revives me from any state of limbo or boredom, and get my juices running is talking about People's dirty laundry or dragging their reputations in the dirt. Don't blame me, it's just human nature!

Usually, in Seminars i keep to myself with the occasional ‘hello’ and the nod of the head towards anyone who dares make eye contact with me; but on most occasions I just keep away from the weirdoes, who with my $hitty luck are the ones that talk a hell of a lot but never about anything that I am interested in, I never get the good ones or the good looking ones, or the ones that give away gifts.

BUT,

At the end of the day, i do get a benefit out of attending the Seminar's that get forced upon me (delegated to), just once I’d like to be given the freedom and choice to attending one I like which is in a country I haven’t visited yet.

Here's to wishing that in future.....

To the Ministry of P&W, I'm Sorry! I repent!

This is in response to the comments made by a representative of the Ministry of Power & Water on how we, citizens of the Kingdom of Bahrain are consuming more power than was anticipated or is allocated to us and thus we being the main cause of the power black-outs.

SO, I humbly apologies on behalf of all the misguided Bahraini souls who thing it’s their god given right to live.

I for one am taking complete responsibility for my contributions in disrupting the Country’s power supply; I now understand how precious this resource actually is and why I should not be in the class of people that should benefit from it.

I now repent my misguided actions and am a born again Bahraini citizen (X). I’ve changed my old ways, taking into account your wise words of encouragement on how not to take away the resources that were meant for others.

To that effect, I have now stopped turning on all the air conditioners in the house; even if it is blistering hot outside & in, and the rooms feel like the insides of saunas; I now know that I do not have that privilege. So what I have decided to do is herd all of my family members into one room, and only turn on the air conditioner in that room and no where else, for half an hour between intervals of three hours each. That would mean that we only have the air conditioner on for a total of around 3 to 3 & half hours a day, the rest of the time we will sweat our a$$e$ off.

Also, I have decided that it’s not only the power supply that my existence is leaching off of but also water.

Therefore, I have decided the following;

a) We will flush the toilet only once a day; every one in the family has been instructed to perform their bidding, irrespective of whether the bowl is empty or not, and the accumulated pile of excrements will be flush down simultaneously in one giant pull of handle all at once. IS 3 AM A GOOD TIME TO DO SO? We want the time to be authorized so that our waste does not disturb other peoples waste as it passes through the sewer system. AGAIN SORRY FOR THE UNTENDED INTERFERENCE.

b) Also, we have applied a quota system and limited the amount of water that each one of my family member is allowed to use when showering, a liter of water will suffice. Additionally, we will be pulling straws out of a hat and the unlucky person who pulls the shortest will forgo their right to shower on that day; this saves an additional one liter a day.

I am also considering skipping a couple of days of showering if the need arrises; I’ll just ignore my misguided colleagues when they comment about my hygiene; hell, to them I might stink after not showering for a couple of days, but to me it will be the sweet smell of satisfaction of knowing that I and one of the few citizens that have their priorities straight.

So what say you?

Will this suffice to ensure that the power does not get disrupted again?

Next I will be responding to the comments that ‘the unemployed are expecting too much from the Government’.

(Sarcastically)

I AGREE!