Kuwait House Blues

Once upon a time, I bought a house in Kuwait. There where no roads to this house and it was built in the middle of the desert. There where other houses around also built in the middle of the desert.

The house was sitting on a pile of sandy road.

The nice people of the Kuwait government decided to build a road in front of my new house and I was ever so grateful.  A road is much better for the car and for not getting sand in my sandals.

Unfortunately the freshly made road, was much lower than than the level of my house by almost two meters so I could not get into my house. So instead of complaining, I built a nice staircase going all the way down to the road.

All was well, I could get into my house, I had my nice government built road and it was a happy house.
Four years later, something shocking happened.

I come home and find a big yellow sticker stuck to my house, saying that I am taking land from the government and I should only extend my stair case by one and a half meters. If I don't, the government is going to come over with a bulldozer and scrape away my staircase.

That made me sad, my house was almost two meters above street level, and If I was only to use one and half meter extension for the stairs, no one could possible climb those stairs. It was a dilemma.

This story is not over yet, I heard that I am not the only one with that problem and that the nice people in the government are going to reconsider and let us keep our staircases so we can get into our houses.

Let us hope for the best, otherwise I don't know what can be done.

Age is Just a Number

A lovely video, just watch



People In Order: 1. Age from James Price on Vimeo.

Do Not Use an ATM Today

I needed some money to buy stuff for the house. My wallet was empty but I had plenty at the bank. Naturally, I headed to the ATM (automatic teller machine), slid my card in and I got a "Hardware Failure" message with my card spat out rudely. I left that misbehaving ATM and went to the next to it. Same result. I walked a few steps and went to another ATM from a different bank, this time the ATM asked for my PIN number. I touched the tiny keypad and nothing happened. I banged at the keypad and the hidden stars appeared. I withdrew money and all was well.

What I guess happened is that all these sensitive electrical contacts and magnetic readers are clogged up from all the dust in the air that we are experiencing in Kuwait.

Moral of the Story: Don't use an ATM today, it is clogged up and might not do what you want.

A Day at the Office

It was a long meeting. We where all siting in the spacious meeting room listening to the presenter powerpointing away. The presenter was reciting the benefits and features of his solution, spouting long and complex technical terms in a deep monotonous voice. He was extremely intelligent and knew his business, the only problem was his very strong Indian accent. The meeting room was warm and I was sitting in a comfortable chair, resting my head on my hand, elbow on the table, I started to doze off. Suddenly I heard "friggin common" among the stream of technobabble. My ears perked like a Doberman Pinscher. "Excuse me", I interrupted. "Could you repeat what you said?" He said it again, "friggin common". I listened hard. I was not dreaming, he really said "friggin common"! "Please elaborate", I asked politely. He must have thought I was stupid, but humored me. He repeated again and explained slowly, "frequent command". I ordered turkish coffeee no sugar, the next time the coffee boy came and made the round for drinks.

Man Marries Bitch

P. Selvakumar married the sari-draped former stray named Selvi, chosen by family members and then bathed and clothed for the ceremony Sunday at a Hindu temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.

Selvakumar, 33, told the paper he had been suffering since he stoned two dogs to death and hung their bodies from a tree 15 years ago.

More details here at yahoo news.

I am sure he is the only man in the world to honestly say that his wife is a bitch.

Horoscope

I am a Libra, although I don't believe in Astrology. I have a hard time believing general statements that can apply to anything and anyone. What is my horoscope today? According to msn astrology:

An unexpected phone call, perhaps from an old friend, could come your way today, dear Libra. This person is apt to have good news for you, though he or she may be in a rather melancholy mood. A long conversation could result, the outcome of which is going to change your life, albeit in a subtle way. Nonetheless, this is apt to be a day full of pleasant surprises. Enjoy it!

Let me check my mobile, I got a call from Oracle, but it was not an old friend, it was more like an Oracle sales man sniffing around for confidential insider information. I politely told him to email me instead of cold calling me. Other than that no surprise phone calls.

I need my Horoscope to be specific and detailed, something like:

Don Veto, yes Don, I am talking to you! Don't go to work today, go straight to the stock market, you will find a free parking place next to the falafel restaurant. Buy all you can of NBK stock, wait until it hits that price then sell all. You will make enough to last a month then do that again when you run out of money.

Now that would be something I could read and act on every day.