Ooh this is exciting! got tagged by intlxpatr. Its my first time to get tagged. I went through all the other blogs and read all their answers and their posts’ titles just to make this post lol

Ok lets start this thing, now lets see..

Seven things I plan to do:

1- Go on a crash diet sometime this decade.
2- Learn how to use photshop.
3- Take classes in photography.
4- Get a job.
5- Then quite my job and start my own business.
6- make this blog the best thing ever made by a human being.
7- plan more plans.

Seven things I can do:

1- Install Ram.
2- Hold back.
3- Cook.
4- lie professionally.
5- forgive.
6- eat 2 dinners.
7- guess a restaurant bill.

Seven things I can’t do:

1- go back to windows.
2- kill a cockroach.
3- forget.
4- eat 3 dinners.
5- act normal when i’m embarrassed.
6- speak francaise! (the shame!)
7- pick a new hobby.

Seven things I say the most:

1- malat 3albamya.
2- ok.
3- madry.
4- yemkin.
5- mita il’3ada!
6- yalla.
7- kha3akhi3.

I’ve been wanting to buy a lens for awhile now, I asked around a lot and been given lots of great advices (thanks btw), But as always, I spend a lot of time in hesitation. Around a week ago I finally settled and knew what I really need. I needed to buy 2 lenses and a good camera bag to contain everything! I went to amazon and placed an order for a canon 28-135mm with IS & another canon but this time a macro 100mm. The first one will replace my current lens and its probably going to be the one I use the most. The macro on the other hand is a stone winner! it turns every dull little picture into an achievement in photography! yeah i’m sad to admit this but the camera does most of the magic.

I’m loving both lenses at the moment and been taking some good picture in the chalet (a good post with our infamous wrangler is coming up soon ).

I need to buy 2 more essential things, I need a great cleaning kit and another battery. maybe a bigger CF card too.

Here are some pictures I took while playing around with the Macro lens.

Posted By Yousef

We updated the side bar to:

• Include links to some of our daily stops.
• Remove the pointless links to our recent posts.
• Gave a new look to our categories. (not sure this one will last, we may go back to the cloud effect. if you don’t know what the heck i’m talking about, raise your hands and one leg)

  Hope you like it! coz God knows how hard it was to play around with the sidebar! lol This tiny change made me realize how hard it would be if we ever needed to move our blog or if (God forbid) we decided to change our theme!

I’m looking forward to seeing her in concert. Its going to be a short trip though, I’m going on the 5th and returning on the 6th!

Thanks for getting the tickets, loco.

Posted By Yousef’s Mom

Mom came to me again with another piece of paper. She surprises me with her knowledge of what’s going on in Kuwait and politics. aren’t Moms supposed to be with limited knowledge? lol or atleast know less about politics than their children! i hate it when I know less than Mom! me feeling not goods my deyar feryends.

Mom’s post:

“There is an old Kuwaiti Saying “ily filjidir i6al3a ilmillas.” the literal translation will sound ridiculous but here it is, “if there is food in a pot, a big spoon should take care of it” which means no matter how big complicated the issue is, it’ll come out eventually. Every issue boiling up in a certain society should see the light of the day. But someone should speak up, someone should recognize whats important. It seems that nobody is brave enough to speak up, and that our pot finally started to burn and the food in the pot is no longer savable nor safe for human consumption!

A lot of the problems Kuwait is facing nowadays has not been dealt with properly, and were left to stack up, to crowd our mind and hearts without any recognition, let alone solutions. We have plenty of slogans in our country “ilhoon abrak maykoon” and “turn the other cheek,” all slogans indicate incompetence. they encourage us to keep receiving slaps after slaps! until its no longer clear why we’re being stepped on and why we no longer matter.

To make this post light (and to keep my son out of trouble) I’ll give a light example. The Government finally thought of removing the illegal buildings, diwaniyas and other violations. Then, and all of a sudden, we hear that there are ministers and some members of both parliaments among the violators! and not only that, but they also were among those who insisted on not passing the bill against the violators until other “socially Big” (and rightfully so) people remove their violations first!

Now, what intrigued me in this whole issue and the question i can’t answer is, Why do these parliament and government ministers think they’re not among the socially big people? aren’t they voted by the people? aren’t they big enough? why do they still have issues when it comes to who’s big and who is not? is it a Nouveau riche syndrome? or are they really small but appear bloated because of the high chairs they’re occupying?

Lots of issues crowding my mind. violations, racism, segregation, nonexistent national security, people faking patriotism… etc. And they’re ALL yet to be seriously recognized and studied by the Government and the parliament to avoid all the crisis coming our way.

The pot is burning people! iljidir 7akkak wi7tarag! the pot is in a desperate need of immediate sterilization to keep the people from deadly poisonings!”

The picture’s source.

Posted By Yousef

I was looking around for hotel rooms in Dubai in the range of $300 a night. and it seemed as though I’ve asked for something out of the ordinary! Even when I called the travel agency the guy almost didn’t take me seriously. I checked expedia for hotels’ rates and got shocked! Rooms are going for $500 and $850 a night?! regular rooms not suites! This means If I stayed for the 5 days, I would’ve spent 2 Macbooks worth of money!

I lived in this country for so long and asked for rates so many times for friends and relatives, but never really thought about the prices. Prices are very real when I’m the one on the spending end! lol

Anyway, finally the travel agency found me this nice new hotel. Copthorne Hotel, Located near Deira City Center, over looking Dubai’s Creek. the hotel is part of Millennium Hotels group.

This is My room (Booked a junior suite coz all the rooms were gone)

This is the sitting area (not allowed to sit in the bedroom.. gotta follow the rules)

The pool area

Overall, and up to now, For 80Kd per night, I think it was an excellent choice and (Father’s) money well spent. The staff are friendly and attentive. Spacious rooms. Big Plasma screens and free high-speed internet.

I give them 4/5. I would’ve given them a better rating if it wasn’t for the Hotel’s ugly exterior and lobby.

Posted By Yousef

I want to buy some accessories for my camera. first i want to buy a nice bag that’ll contain everything i have and will have in the future. then i want to buy a good lens with better zoom and with image stabilizer, this one is going to be a bit expensive for my taste, but oh well. then i want to buy some CHEAPER lens just becoz they’re cheap (u know i’ve got to fill the bag i’m gonna buy).. and last but not least, i want to buy a bigger CF card.. i’m not sure why i want to buy a bigger one now.. but it just doesn’t feel right to have a 1GB CF card… does it?

I’m currently having problems keeping up with my study plan. The finals are here! 3 down and 3 more to go.. Fun is not an option for me until the end of the next week. Inshallah I’m going to be done with the exams by the 5th of january.

My friend INM is coming over on the 6th to help me out with some stuff, and we’re going to head back to Kuwait Via land transportation for a change we’re going to drive back to Kuwait! this should be interesting! 2 guys with not so many things in common, locked in a car for 12 hours… I can’t wait!

I finally bought it!!!

Its not what I originally wanted.. not the D40x (which apparently a little less featured than its competitor’s the Canon EOS 400D, A.K.A. Rebel xti).

I went to Jacky’s the electronic store in Emirates mall yesterday. its the official agent for Nikon’s cameras. I went there and annoyed the hell out of the sales person, I asked about everything, the warranty, the features, the free gifts and spent 20 minutes just bargaining with him and trying my best to lower the price. he won ofcourse…

Earlier I talked to Mishary and his brother about which camera should I go with, coz seriously I was torn and couldn’t make up my mind. Mishary was very straight forward “the canon has more features? go with it!”, INM on the other hand was like “you’ve spent months just researching the Nikon and trying it in stores, so you should go with it.. you obviously want it more”.

later when I bought it Mishary said “congratulations”, while INM said “WHY!!! I wanted you to buy the Nikon so I could buy the Canon!!”. . . . thanks a lot INM for the precious advice… NOT!

ultimately my thanks goes to Ahmad for his educated advice (even though he admitted his bias toward Canon himself) but I think I made the right choice

Here are the unpacking process

I played with it for hours. my first thoughts were “what have i gotten myself into!” but after the first hour I got used to it.. I still think there is a very LONG way for me and so many things to learn about my first DSLR! but I’m happy that I can finally begin the real learning process.

We never stood a chance! they were not available online, the tickets that is, and the next day they were sold out! high demand? or lots of people with influence are attending? not quiet sure yet.

But thanks to MSB, we now have learned that they’re extending the shows for 2 more days. hopefully we’ll get to buy our tickets this time!

For more details CLICK ME

They’re a stand up comediens group, they’re famous for making jokes about the whole Arab-American drama thats been going on since 9-11. they’re all from the middle east (egypt, Palestine and Iran).

Me and a few friends of mine from college are planning to attend their dubai show. Here are some of their up coming shows in the middle east.

Here is a clip of the Iranian guy, he’s part of the group ofcourse and in it he explains and stresses the difference between arabs and iranians!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIPJeLN16NI&rel=1]

Can’t wait!

Axis Of Evil

I want this camera. my birthday is coming up soon.. take some notes.

LINK

The new Mac OS ‘Leopard’ will be officially released within less than an hour. some pre-orders have been already shipped and some even got it and installed it. everybody is praising it at the moment.

we’ve been hearing and reading about it for a long time now, we can’t wait to get our copy and install it. some of the best features that I personally can’t wait to experience and enjoy are:

-Time Machine.
-Spaces.
-Quick Look.
-Stacks.
-and ofcourse the overall feeling of having the most advanced OS in our hands!