Some people are only funny when they try to be serious.
These people take themselves and what they are saying seriously, but as you stand there in front of them trying to listen and understand to what theyre saying you will crack up.
April 8, 2011
January 30, 2011
Horrendous March - Part 1
In my last incident in March 2010. I have learned alot about life.
I have found that people will discover and learn about who truly cars and loves them only when they go through a very tough experience.
The car accident I was in filtered out the good people from the bad. The real friends and the "pretenders".
Thanks to Allah in this incident I had several friends from different religious backgrounds do whatever is possible to make things easier for me and my family.
A very close colleague, coworker, neighbour and Freind prayed along with his friends alot for my recovery when i was still in the ICU in the hospital.
He also had a very warm not concerning my incident and horrandous experience.
I will give you tha chance to read it to find out how close friends and neighbours react when they really care about someone.
Here is this my friend's note:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of Traffic and Get Well Soon’s...
Yes, this goes to Sach - the guy with “the worst cold a man has ever endured in the history of mankind” over there, in Japan. Sach, get well soon.
More than that, this goes to my good friend and former neighbour who now lies unconscious in a hospital bed in Medina, in an induced coma. He was travelling to Medina last Friday with three of his friends when a tyre blew in his vehicle, sending it rolling across the centre barrier to the oncoming traffic. Apparently, the tumbling vehicle rolled over five times and sent my friend D flying out of the window in the process, landing him on the asphalt hitting his head on the pavement.
Apparently, his skull is fractured, and there are some serious concerns that the doctors are not so sure of, yet. His parents have flown in from Lebanon and I cannot even go see him since the road to Medina is only open to Muslims.
I pray, and hope, that he recovers. Soon.
***
Saudi Arabia boasts of some of the worst drivers in the world. Looking at statistics in Saudi Arabia:
* more than 6,400 deaths every year from car accidents, which means, every 82 minutes one person dies of a road accident
* over 50,000 deaths, 300,000 injuries and losses of over 100 billion Saudi Riyal (= 26.6 billion US$) from car accidents in the past 10 years. Compare that to only 200 casualties from terrorist activities..!
* 4.3 million car accidents causing 86,000 deaths and 611,000 injuries in the past 19 years.
More over,
* 85% of accidents are caused by drivers violating to traffic rules
* 7% of injuries end with complete or partial disability
* and majority of hospital beds (up to 80% in some hospitals) are occupied by road accident victims, not people suffering from various medical conditions and illnesses.
Saudi traffic rules are supposed to be strict, but at the same time, they are somewhat weird. For example, the passenger in the front seat could be penalised for mistakes of the driver – for not advising him to abide by the law. Wearing the seat belt is a must, but only for the front seat occupants. And if a woman is seated at the front, the Police will never issue a ticket for her for not wearing the seat belt: women sometimes do not exist in the eyes of the ‘system.’
Using mobile phones while driving is ‘supposed to be’ prohibited, but no one cares. Not even the cops.
There are no female drivers in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive.
The eldest son of the family could get the driving licence at 16 under special permission in order to support the family if he has lost his father.
You can pretty much park anywhere during prayer time, just like the pavement opposite Odel.
I have found that people will discover and learn about who truly cars and loves them only when they go through a very tough experience.
The car accident I was in filtered out the good people from the bad. The real friends and the "pretenders".
Thanks to Allah in this incident I had several friends from different religious backgrounds do whatever is possible to make things easier for me and my family.
A very close colleague, coworker, neighbour and Freind prayed along with his friends alot for my recovery when i was still in the ICU in the hospital.
He also had a very warm not concerning my incident and horrandous experience.
I will give you tha chance to read it to find out how close friends and neighbours react when they really care about someone.
Here is this my friend's note:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of Traffic and Get Well Soon’s...
Yes, this goes to Sach - the guy with “the worst cold a man has ever endured in the history of mankind” over there, in Japan. Sach, get well soon.
More than that, this goes to my good friend and former neighbour who now lies unconscious in a hospital bed in Medina, in an induced coma. He was travelling to Medina last Friday with three of his friends when a tyre blew in his vehicle, sending it rolling across the centre barrier to the oncoming traffic. Apparently, the tumbling vehicle rolled over five times and sent my friend D flying out of the window in the process, landing him on the asphalt hitting his head on the pavement.
Apparently, his skull is fractured, and there are some serious concerns that the doctors are not so sure of, yet. His parents have flown in from Lebanon and I cannot even go see him since the road to Medina is only open to Muslims.
I pray, and hope, that he recovers. Soon.
***
Saudi Arabia boasts of some of the worst drivers in the world. Looking at statistics in Saudi Arabia:
* more than 6,400 deaths every year from car accidents, which means, every 82 minutes one person dies of a road accident
* over 50,000 deaths, 300,000 injuries and losses of over 100 billion Saudi Riyal (= 26.6 billion US$) from car accidents in the past 10 years. Compare that to only 200 casualties from terrorist activities..!
* 4.3 million car accidents causing 86,000 deaths and 611,000 injuries in the past 19 years.
More over,
* 85% of accidents are caused by drivers violating to traffic rules
* 7% of injuries end with complete or partial disability
* and majority of hospital beds (up to 80% in some hospitals) are occupied by road accident victims, not people suffering from various medical conditions and illnesses.
Saudi traffic rules are supposed to be strict, but at the same time, they are somewhat weird. For example, the passenger in the front seat could be penalised for mistakes of the driver – for not advising him to abide by the law. Wearing the seat belt is a must, but only for the front seat occupants. And if a woman is seated at the front, the Police will never issue a ticket for her for not wearing the seat belt: women sometimes do not exist in the eyes of the ‘system.’
Using mobile phones while driving is ‘supposed to be’ prohibited, but no one cares. Not even the cops.
There are no female drivers in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive.
The eldest son of the family could get the driving licence at 16 under special permission in order to support the family if he has lost his father.
You can pretty much park anywhere during prayer time, just like the pavement opposite Odel.
October 25, 2009
My trip to Beirut
Some chartered airline company is offering round trip tickets to Beirut at shockingly low prices.
I have spent 2 years going back and forth through an expensive privately owned airline company from Beirut. The competition is growing fiercely today, we have 4 airline companies going to Beirut.
Anyway, it happens so that i will be in Beirut on my "birth-day". The reason i put "birth-day" in quotation marks is because I'm not very fond of "birthdays" and what they stand for.
When i was a child i have always hated the birthday concept. The only thing i was interested in as a kid back then was the gift ( definitely not clothes).
The other day i was talking to a happily married couple who took an hour to explain the big surprise the wife prepared for her husband on his 28th birthday.
They spent around 500 bucks for a "romantic" dinner. What for?
I think people spend too much time and money for dull and stupid events.
I have had people call me to give me instructions on what to do, where to go, what to bring, how to act..... so that the SURPRISE will not be ruined.
Funny thing happened to me, i was with a Beirut-based entrepreneur the other day who came for a short visit to Jeddah. i took him out to this new mall to check out some of the shops.
After spinning around the mall we took a small coffee break at Costa when i get a call from a guy who wants to surprise his wife ( she is the entrepreneur's niece).
He gives me the following instructions:
- Walk away from her uncle and go north
- Move a little to the left
- Act like we met me by coincidence
- Then walk us ( him and his wife) towards her uncle
This sounds like a GPS-navigation system giving me directions towards a location im looking for.
All this for what? Surprised to see her uncle?! this is awkward, there are more than 20 million Lebanese residing outside Lebanon. I don't think finding your uncle in a nearby country is surprising.
Back to birthdays, people gather around and go to a restaurant ( please take some time to calculate the expenses: gas, gifts, decorations, bookings,food..) to waste their precious time and money to celebrate someone's birthday ( sometimes its a coworker they detest).
Why would this be a celebration when you are maturing as the years go to find yourself that there are still some goals and plans you haven't been able to achieve.
I have spent 2 years going back and forth through an expensive privately owned airline company from Beirut. The competition is growing fiercely today, we have 4 airline companies going to Beirut.
Anyway, it happens so that i will be in Beirut on my "birth-day". The reason i put "birth-day" in quotation marks is because I'm not very fond of "birthdays" and what they stand for.
When i was a child i have always hated the birthday concept. The only thing i was interested in as a kid back then was the gift ( definitely not clothes).
The other day i was talking to a happily married couple who took an hour to explain the big surprise the wife prepared for her husband on his 28th birthday.
They spent around 500 bucks for a "romantic" dinner. What for?
I think people spend too much time and money for dull and stupid events.
I have had people call me to give me instructions on what to do, where to go, what to bring, how to act..... so that the SURPRISE will not be ruined.
Funny thing happened to me, i was with a Beirut-based entrepreneur the other day who came for a short visit to Jeddah. i took him out to this new mall to check out some of the shops.
After spinning around the mall we took a small coffee break at Costa when i get a call from a guy who wants to surprise his wife ( she is the entrepreneur's niece).
He gives me the following instructions:
- Walk away from her uncle and go north
- Move a little to the left
- Act like we met me by coincidence
- Then walk us ( him and his wife) towards her uncle
This sounds like a GPS-navigation system giving me directions towards a location im looking for.
All this for what? Surprised to see her uncle?! this is awkward, there are more than 20 million Lebanese residing outside Lebanon. I don't think finding your uncle in a nearby country is surprising.
Back to birthdays, people gather around and go to a restaurant ( please take some time to calculate the expenses: gas, gifts, decorations, bookings,food..) to waste their precious time and money to celebrate someone's birthday ( sometimes its a coworker they detest).
Why would this be a celebration when you are maturing as the years go to find yourself that there are still some goals and plans you haven't been able to achieve.
October 19, 2009
Two Opposing Messages
Yesterday was a very strenuous day, enjoyed my time with my uncle but I was suffering from sleeplessness.
That's why I came in late to work.
I dont know why everyone has been so negative this week.
Rumors going back and forth about the big changes going to take place in the company accompanied by new strict rules and policies that will be in action soon. Very funny?? Salaries nowadays barely cover an executive's expenses.
The truth is that most of the employees in the company already have an offer in hand.
Lunch was great, I haven't had a nice healthy meal for while; I was a little annoyed with the guys boasting proudly about their sinful night life in beirut.
Anyways, back to my main topic which revolves around the financial crisis; The economic uncertainty and false analysis coming from financial experts everyday is starting to reshape my belief in the effectiveness of this so called science of financial markets. Im starting to believe that i have wasted my time in college learning about risk assessment and analysis from people who never predicted this crash.
None of the events taking place has been predicted.
The price of gold is still above 1,000 dollars, the U.S stock market is fluctuating randomly. You know what, I think that investing in stock markets is very similar to gambling( a saying i have always opposed since it was my field of study).
I mean in 2003 when Saddam Hussain was captured, financial news channels flashed the following headline: U.S TREASURIES RISE, half an hour later the same channel posts: U.S TREASURIES FALL;HUSSAIN CAPTURE BOOSTS ALLURE OF RISKY ASSETS. (I mean can you at least make up your mind)
There you go two opposing messages for the same SADDAM.
That's why I came in late to work.
I dont know why everyone has been so negative this week.
Rumors going back and forth about the big changes going to take place in the company accompanied by new strict rules and policies that will be in action soon. Very funny?? Salaries nowadays barely cover an executive's expenses.
The truth is that most of the employees in the company already have an offer in hand.
Lunch was great, I haven't had a nice healthy meal for while; I was a little annoyed with the guys boasting proudly about their sinful night life in beirut.
Anyways, back to my main topic which revolves around the financial crisis; The economic uncertainty and false analysis coming from financial experts everyday is starting to reshape my belief in the effectiveness of this so called science of financial markets. Im starting to believe that i have wasted my time in college learning about risk assessment and analysis from people who never predicted this crash.
None of the events taking place has been predicted.
The price of gold is still above 1,000 dollars, the U.S stock market is fluctuating randomly. You know what, I think that investing in stock markets is very similar to gambling( a saying i have always opposed since it was my field of study).
I mean in 2003 when Saddam Hussain was captured, financial news channels flashed the following headline: U.S TREASURIES RISE, half an hour later the same channel posts: U.S TREASURIES FALL;HUSSAIN CAPTURE BOOSTS ALLURE OF RISKY ASSETS. (I mean can you at least make up your mind)
There you go two opposing messages for the same SADDAM.
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