Archive | June, 2008

Definitely NOT my day!

1. I found out that the car I was aiming to buy has been already sold! It was an Alfa Romeo 147 and it wasn’t an easy job to me to find a good one. Alfa’s are a bit rare to find here…

2. My laptop screen is dead! It goes black few seconds after I log on to Windows, and I have been trying to bring it back to life for the past two hours. Tech forums did not help me at all! Anyway luckily I have the work’s laptop as a substitute…

3. Might have to pay a lot to fix the screen!!

3. I support germany in the euro cup and they have just lost to Spain a few minutes ago!

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Shoot me… please!

Seriously, what the hell is this??

اعتصام المهربين

في سابقة هي الأولى من نوعها، واعتراضاً على عمليات التشدد وقمع مخالفات التهريب، واقفال كافة المعابر الترابية غير الشرعية التي نفذت منذ حوالي العشرين يوماً، وبعد الحزم والتشدد على مواد التهريب المختلفة، نفذ أول من أمس عدد من المهربين وسائقي سيارات الشحن الصغيرة من ابناء منطقة وادي خالد اعتصاماً على مسافة لا تبعد مئة متر عن حاجز القوة المشتركة لضبط الحدود..
المعتصمون اعترضوا على التشدد في اجراءات مكافحة التهريب ، ما أفضى في نهاية المطاف وبعد اتصالات على مستويات عالية ، إلى الايعاز بفتح الطرقات وتسهيل العبور، بانتظار جلاء الموقف على الأرض.

يذكر أن اعتراضات كثيرة تصدر من أهالي بلدات العوينات والجوار ، وشكاوى أدت إلى اقدام الأهالي على وضع حواجز من الباطون عند المنافذ المختلفة منعاً للازعاج الذي يشكله المهربون ليلاً ، ما يفسح في المجال أمام احتمالات مختلفة ، مما يبقي الأمور مفتوحة على كل الاحتمالات

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Internal Security Forces – Again!

Remember the internal security forces stars from an early post on this blog? Last time we left the two studs posing with some sexy Lebanese girl…

Few days ago, one of my readers, Andy, sent me an email along with an attached photo taken in downtown Beirut of his wife and son with an ISF agent, and guess what! One of the two guys that appeared in the old photo appears in Andy’s photo also! Seems like the guys takes lot of pictures.

Lebanese Internal Security Forces

Note that the two photos are taken in the same location, Annahar newspaper is actually right in the opposite direction.

I will try to take a photo of that guy if I ever saw him there in the area, let’s see how many photos of him can I collect!!

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Coca-Cola advertising campaign

If you’re watching the Euro Cup 2008 on Al-Jazeera Sport then you probably have seen the latest Coca-Cola advertisements, the ones featuring the national anthems of some European countries and using them as… advertising jingles!

I liked the idea so much, and I loved the way the egyptians executed it. I don’t think somebody else would have executed the idea the same successful way as I believe egyptians have a unique sense of humor!

Here are some of  advertisement clips for you to enjoy. Sorry if you don’t understand Arabic.

Germany


France


Italy


Spain

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And then?

Remember when I asked you in an early post if you will still afford going to the beach in Lebanon with the constant increase in the price of fuel?

Back then I disregarded the fact that beach resorts might also increase their entrance fees… and guess what! They did it! Few days ago I learned that the places I used to go to last summer (Jiyyeh Marina & Laguava) have increase their charges by 25%. So this summer, just to get in there, you will be charged 25,000 L.L

As for the price of fuel in Lebanon, it is currently at 31,900 L.L per 20 liters and might increase in the few coming minutes!
I won’t go full throttle at any boulevard in Beirut anymore!!!

All in all, the inflation rate is near 40% for the first quarter in 2008, and given that I still have NOT received any increase in my salary, then I am getting poorer and poorer my purchasing power is decreasing each and every day…!

And then?? و بعدين؟؟

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Comptine d’un autre été

I just love to start the day with some classy music. Listen to this WONDERFUL soundtrack called “Comptine dún autre été” by “Yann Tiersen”.

From Wikipedia:

Comptine D’un Autre Été: L’après-midi is a piano piece composed by Yann Tiersen, best known from Amélie but also used in the German movie Good Bye Lenin!, for which Yann Tiersen also composed the soundtrack.The composition is quite a melancholy tune in the key of E minor, played with simple accompaniment patterns. It is understood within the film to contribute a sadness to the film, representing days gone by, in combination with the simple beauty of the piece representing the contrasting emotions felt by the titular character at that point in the film.

Recently used as the departing theme music on the BBC television show The Restaurant.

Thanks to ynoT from Shi Feshil for providing the YouTube video.

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End of the month!

When you see people gathering in front of ATM machines, this is when you know you’re at the end of the month!

Salary

This photo was taken at the end of May in Tripoli while I was on my way to a proud member of the axis of evil, i.e. Syria!

I wonder why the guys withdrawing money from the ATM are not concerned about their privacy…

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Back on track

It’s been more that 10 days now since I last updated my blog, and that’s mainly due to all the projects I am working on completing at both work and university (no I’m not an undergraduate, I’m pursuing an MBA), in addition to taking a break and going for a 3 days beach vacation in Latakia (Syria), there’s some nice resort there called “Côte d’Azur de Cham” (funny name?), not that great but it is nice.

By the way, I found out that taking a break while you’re in the middle of numerous projects is a BAD idea, talk about time management!!

Anyway, here’s a panoramic photo that I took from my room. (Click to enlarge)

Côte d’Azur

Now that I’m back to Beirut (almost a week ago), I’m still struggling with my endless duties… wish me luck for the next few days!

P.S: If you were trying to reach my blog today then you probably have received an error connecting to the database. That was actually caused by an outage at one of my hosting company servers. So sorry for that, but it’s out of my control.

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