Thursday, January 11, 2007

Up, Up and Away!!

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but I'm hoping that will soon change... I promise I'll try to get back to old times, back when I was posting at least on a weekly basis...

Anyway, I'm here to update all of you on ME, that is what this blog is all about, isn't it?! ;)

Okay, so I'm off to Bahrain on Friday for three nights, and then to Dubai for 4 more nights before I come back to Jeddah...

The Bahrain trip is gonna be fun as I'm gonna basically meet up with sooo many of my friends from the college days! Some of them I haven't seen in 3+ years!! I'm also gonna be attending an event arranged by my college, Bentley at one of the hotels there... Bentley has sort of like a mini-educational facility in Bahrain where students can take credits between Bahrain and Boston and end up graduating with a business degree from Bentley (I think)... Because of that, the college decided to do the event in Bahrain...

As for my Dubai trip, well it was primarily planned out so that I could attend a wedding there, but I did lengthen it to 5 days so that I can also see some of my good friends who I'm excited to meet up with! I've never been to Dubai, so I'm sure this is gonna be one hell of an experience...

Posted by -OT- @ 4:18 AM, with 14 Comments so far!

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Saturday, December 30, 2006

Happy Holidays

I just wanna take this opportunity to wish everyone a belated merry Christmas, a lovely and blessed Adha Eid and a great New Year's eve tomorrow night :)
People (or should I say fans) please enjoy the holidays and make sure you get the most out of this well deserved break...

Posted by -OT- @ 4:35 PM, with 7 Comments so far!

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Friday, December 15, 2006

New Look

Yesterday I went into the bathroom to shave and take a shower and as I was done trimming my beard, I looked at the trimmer, looked at my hair in the mirror, looked and the trimmer again and *BUZZ* took off a big chunk of my hair!!

Yup Yup, after almost a year of growing my hair all the way down to my shoulders, I finally took it off! It's now buzzed short and to be honest, I'm glad I took this spontaneous decision cuz looking after long hair was such a hassle! Of course the first step I took after I did this yesterday was throw the gel and wax tubes away, I've got no need for them anymore :)

Posted by -OT- @ 1:31 PM, with 21 Comments so far!

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Friday, December 01, 2006

OT vs. the Airport A-Holes!!

I had a seminar in Riyadh on Tuesday, November 28th and I was planning on flying to Riyadh the day before... I got the office to book me a flight on November 27th, at 17.30 pm and everything was great! Or so I thought... First off, I absolutely couldn't find any hotel rooms available in Riyadh! I tried everything, ranging from the 5 star 'Four Seasons' & 'Rosewood Faisaliya" to the 3 star "Al-Mutlaq' & 'Salaheddin'... I called something like 20 hotels and at the end I was begging them to find me a room, any room!!! Finally, at 10.30 am on the day of my flight, I found a room in Al-Mutlaq, but I really didn't want to stay at a 3 star hotel, so I kept makign calls! At around 11.30, I'm on the phone with 'Rosewood Al-Khuzama' and the guy tells me that there's a room available on the Businessmen floor... I jumped at hearing that and told him "Book Book Book"... I got the confirmation number and it was all going according to plan, until........... Until the same guy from 'Al-Khuzama' calls me a couple of hours later and tells me that he booked me by mistake and that the room wasn't available but showed that it was due to a system malfunction!
Me: "So what does this mean?!"
Him: "I'm sorry sir, we cannot give you the room"
Me: "But I made travel arrangements, paid for my ticket and set up a meeting tomorrow all based on the fact that I found a room in Riyadh"
Him: "We have full occupancy at the hotel, I cannot offer you any room"
Me: "But it's the hotel's fault, do something! Find a solution"
Him: "Hold on sir" he clicks on the computer and comes back "Very good news sir, I can offer you the suite at 'Rosewood Faisaliya' for SR 1900 a night"
Me: "and how exactly do you call this good news?! My company is paying for the room, and there's no way they'd be willing to pay that much"
Him: "That's the only thing I can do for you sir"
Me: "It's your fault, and seeing how ur an international brand name hotel, you should give me the suite at Faisaliya while charging me the rate (SR 650) for the room at Al-Khuzama"
Him: "But sir, there's a difference in price and in the hotel class! One is 5 star, while the other is 4 star"
Me: "That would be in a normal situation. This is a case where the hotel made a mistake, and unless you do something about it, your hotel will look bad!"
Him: "I am sorry sir, I cannot do that
Me: *Starting to get pissed* "Is there a manager I can talk to??"
Him: "He's on break, and I don't know when he will come back" It was soooo obvious that he was trying to get rid of me before I made an issue out of it! But I wasn't gonna give in, my whole trip relied on this!!
Me: *Getting more and more pissed* "What about a supervisor who can make decisions?! Connect me to someone who can do something for me!!!!"
Him: "One moment sir"
Supervisor: "Mr. Al-Tamimi, our reservations officer explained the situation to me, what would you like us to do?!"
Me: "I would like you to guarantee me a room at one of your hotels or at any other similar or better hotel in Riyadh! Seeing how your hotel made a mistake, it is your complete responsibility to ensure that my confirmed reservation is guaranteed..."
Supervisor: Of course sir... Let me call u back in 10 minutes!
Me: "Thank you..."

*Ring Ring.... Ring Ring*

Me: "Hello?"
Supervisor: "Mr. Al-Tamimi, I have arranged to have the businessmen floor room booked under your name as per the confirmation!"
Me: "I appreciate your help, and I understand that the mistake was made due to a system error, but nonetheless, the hotel should take full responsibility and ensure that guests are guaranteed their rooms."
Supervisor: "You're right sir... You're room is guaranteed for you... Would you like a car to pick you up from the airport?"
Me: "Yes please... I arrive at 19.00... Thank you"

I leave work at 15.00 and go home, pack quickly and shower... I'm at the airport at 16.40, 50 minutes before my flight... I go to the check-in counter and the guy tells me there aren't anymore seats on the flight!
Me: "But I'm confirmed!!!"
Him: "You're late! The flight leaves in 50 minutes!!"
Me: "I don't have any bags to check in, so no, I'm not really late"
Him: "Well the flight was overbooked and all seats are taken! You can try the waiting list counter downstairs!"
Me: *REALLY PISSED* "When's the next flight!?"
Him: "19.30, so 2 and a half hours from now"

I walk down to the waiting list counter ready to kill someone, and once there, I see at least 25 ppl queued up in the least civil of ways trying to fight their way to the window! Apparently there was only 1 person behind the window catering to flights departing to all cities! There were people waiting on Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Jizan!!! I tried to keep my cool and stood in line... Waited, waited waited till I got there at 18.00... The guy rights #9 on my ticket and tell me to come back at 18.45 to see if I can get on the 19.30 flight!

At 18.45, the guy says that there aren't any open seats for the 19.30 flight, but that there's an extra flight at 20.45 and he can give us boarding passes to it on the spot, so am like okay, yalla give me one! I finally found my way to Riyadh!!! Of course I called the hotel and told them I would be late, so that the Limo won't arrive and not find me!

I land in Riyadh at 22.30, so overall, it took me close to 6 hours from the time I got to the airport at Jeddah to the time I left the airport in Riyadh!! I could've almost gone to London with this much time!!!

Everything went well in Riyadh and the next night came and I was taken to the airport at 21.30 for my 23.30 flight (Yes, I learned my lesson and decided to be there early)... I tried to do the automated self check-in but the machine rejects my booking number! Why!?!!! I walk up to the check-in counter and explain the situation to the guy... He taps a little on his PC and tells me my booking's cancelled!! NO NO NO!!!!! It can't be!! I was soooo close to breaking down and crying in the airport! I was tired, I was sleepy and I just wanted to go home!! Same scenario, different city: I walk up to the waiting list counter and there was ONE guy doing everything! This time I didn't care if I acted civil or not, I started pushing my way in and got to him, handed him the ticket and told him the story!!! He tells me the flight is full but there's a different flight leaving at 22.45 (45 minutes earlier) and he can put me on it! WOOOHOOO perfect!!! He gives me the boarding pass and I'm on my way... The funny thing is that I flew to Riyadh as Omar Al-Tamimi (See boarding pass above) and came back as A. AlQahtani (See below) hehe...

Apparently everyone who got in through the waiting list was given a boarding pass with the name A. AlQahtani... Talk about security!!
Who blew up the plane?! Oh, it was A. AlQahtani!!
Who raped the air hostess? Easy, it was A. AlQahtani!! Get the picture? :P

The flight ended up taking off at 23.30, so exactly the same time my initial flight was supposed to take off, and I arrived at 01.00... To add to all this crap, our driver left for holiday the day before and the new driver came to the airport to pick me up! This driver had worked for us a few years back when our driver left for holiday, but I didn't remember how he looked like... He told my mom that he remembers how I look like, so he came to pick me up based on that... His cell phone wasn't working so I had to rely on memory and looks! I come out and no one comes up to me! I walk back and forth, call my mom complain, walk more, call my mom and complain again! I walk out of the terminal and then in again! 20 minutes later, I recognize him walking into the terminal! I'm like "Where've you been?!" He says he was waiting outside! ARGHHHH!!!

Anyway, this is my story with the freakin airport!! I really hope no one has to go through what I went through!! I miss the days where flying from Boston domestically was as easy as taking a cab from point A to point B!!!

Posted by -OT- @ 3:26 AM, with 22 Comments so far!

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Tic Toc Tic Toc

I made an order through Amazon a couple of days ago, and I'm excited about getting my things.. The shipment should go out in another 2-3 days.. By Wednesday, hopefully it'll be in my ARAMEX P.O. Box in NY... It should take a further 5 days to get to Saudi, so yeah, hopefully in 2 weeks time max, I'll have my things :)

Here's what I ordered:

iSkin Evo3.. This skin is made of rubber but still has a glossy plastic front that covers most of the iPod's front... Oh and the jog dial is covered for protection ;)

Ummm I couldn't pick just one color, so I ordered the 3 colors!! Talk about indecisiveness! Bleh

Next up are the accessories for my MacBook...

Isn't it great?! I love the color!! This is gonna be my baby's bodyguard!!

A Tucano Sleeve for the days when I feel like going light...

And finally:

Basically, a hard plastic case that covers the Macbook without making it bulkier... The red one is only for reference.. I ordered it in clear :) Oh, and they only have images for the Macbook Pro!!

Posted by -OT- @ 11:23 AM, with 21 Comments so far!

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Are we really following God's way?

I was utterly disgusted by this article... It will certainly raise a few eyebrows here and there!!

I'm no Shaikh, and by no means am I trying to imply that my opinion is correct, but looking at this through unbiased, highly sensible eyes, I cannot see how this could be religiously correct!

I understand that women and men should not mix if not married, and I understand that they were both at fault to be sitting in his car alone... Nonetheless, to tell me that after the lady was forced into a gang-bang rape and after her male friend was raped by 3 of those guys, the judge actually has it in him to order each of the two to receive 90 lashes! Dear God, does he not have the slightest sympathy in his heart?? If he's arguing the case that any 2 opposite genders sitting together in a car should be whipped, then I hereby declare that I must be whipped from now all the way to 2008!!!

Actually, in reality, what's bothering me isn't the fact that the 2 victims are gonna be punished, rather, that the 7 'animals' are getting lenient punishments! Why? Because there is no evidence that the rape actually occured... Of course the judge follows Islam word by word in such cases, as in the lack of 2 witnesses would force the case to be dropped! What ever happened to DNA testing? Or physical examinations? Or Seman comparison? or... or... or... Science and technology have gone a long way towards proving such cases! Ya jama3a, Allah said il Islam deen Yusr, but everywhere I look, I find people trying to make it harder and harder! Instead of il yusr, they're turning it into 3usr! Are we so empty handed and clear headed to the extent where we need a shaikh to put in hours and hours to explain how it would not be religiously correct to prove the Hilal using telescopic or more advanced technologies?! Isn't il 7adeeth "9oomoo liru2yatih wa af6iroo li ru2yatih" being followed when they SEE the Crest using telescopes!? Using technology isn't necessarily tashabboh bil kuffar! The problem with our Shuyookh is that they associate advancement with Westernization! How wrong is that!!!

Oh and how about Fatma, the poor woman who was forced into a divorce because her cousins felt that her husband wasn't from her same class, be it financial or social! Regardless, the woman had been happily married for 3 years and was pregnant with her 2nd child! Both the lady and her husband were obviously satisfied with the outcome of their marriage! Who the F**K are you to barge into her life and just ruin it like that!!! il deen yusr ya nas! Stop complicating trivial matters and focus on the things that are keeping us 50 years behind the more advanced countries!!!

I'm sorry if my post had a lot of randomness and scattered thoughts, but I was just trying to speak my mind as the thoughts were flowing...

Posted by -OT- @ 12:31 PM, with 14 Comments so far!

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