According to Gallup World Poll, Lebanon ranked #73 in the list of world’s happiest countries. I wouldn’t say I am too surprised. The strange thing is the top 5 happiest countries are Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Netherlands which are located right next to each other. I guess there’s something in their water? [Link]

Najib posted last week about a London Taxi driver that was driving recklessly. Well London Taxi responded with the following comment:

Hi Najib,
This is Rabih Dib from London Taxi Company, we would like to thank you for your feedback and taking the pictures. We already found out the driver behind this images and we took all the necessary measurements.

Rabih Dib
Corporate Comnmunications Manager
London Taxi

That’s right folks, the price of gasoline has dropped an astounding 0.3%. Just think about it, for every 6600 liters of gasoline you buy, you get 20 liters for free!

Now I have to sit down and think about how I’m going to spend the extra 100LL… Source

[YouTube]

The other day I posted a video (check above) under the post titled “Racism in Lebanon” showing a couple trying to get their maid into Sporting Club only to be rejected. The PR manager has responded to that post with the following message:

Confusing racism with social discrimination is a CRIME.

Children posing as human right activists yelling wolf are many.

The Sporting Club swimming Center has a standing policy of not allowing in ANY maids, nanny’s, escorts, body guards, personal assitants,business men, politicians, embassadors, familes are welcome ALONE.

Moms who delegate the caring of their children to maids are not welcome.

Color of skin is God given and not for me or anyone to question.

Religion is each person’s refuge.

You and I practice daily discrimantion in our lives. for example, an office boy, a maid a porter a salesperson, etc,.. would not call by your first name, but you in turn would not address him/her as mam/sir, Khawaja, afandi, istez, beik, madam, sit so on….

when the last time anyone went to a wedding and took the maid along and sat her at the table next to him/her.

When is the last time a chauffeur was invited to have dinner or a drink in the company of his employers?

Why is it that the smallest (closet sized room) in the house is the maid’s room?

Show me Just one single person that does not practice social prejudice and I will be the first to enforce communist comaradery, Where we all wear grey (men and women). We are asexual and are all children of the state living with equal rights and performing equal duties.

McCarthy’ism eras of screaming communist at anyone you want to send to the electric chair, is over and done with.
Medieval day witch hunts are bed time stories for first grade children.

Kids playing with issues such racism can only make people aware that they may want to consider being racists instead of refusing racism altogether.

In any event, The Sporting Club is target to harrassment and name calling by indiviuals we have turned away at the door.

INDYact, mentioned 1 name out the 20 they claim to have interviewd ( any guessing why ;) )?

Maybe they should hit on the military run and operated public clubs & beaches or are they too much of cowards to put in question the social discrimination the government practices.

INDYact, should call the ministry of tourism and ask why Indian business people were refused tourist visas to Lebanon this summer.

I would love to answer any questions anyone might have.

Racial and religious discrimination are repulsive to me.

Waleed Abu Nassar
PR Manager
Sporting Club Swimming Center,
Beirut, Lebanon

I spotted those old arcade games when i was playing pool at Jeita Country Club. Those were some pretty cool games back then. Too bad they didn’t have Daytona though, i loved that game!

Restaurants in Lebanon are becoming increasingly expensive and it is honestly becoming ridiculous. Everytime the restaurant has a new menu or revamps his location, we have an extra 10% here and there.

The problem is not just in prices though, but in the quantity you get for that price. But obviously prices and quantities are reversely proportional in Lebanon, as size shrinks while price increases.

We ordered food from Zaatar wou Zeit last week, and i could not help but notice how expensice it has become.

4000 LL for Lahme Beajine man2ouche, oh and it is labeled as “thick” though it is ridiculously thin.

6500 LL for a Jebneh wou Jambon man2ouche, also labeled “thick” bass min wen la wen?

Last but not least, a Pepsi can costs 1500 LL at ZWZ even when delivering it. Shouldn’t soft drinks be cheaper when delivered?

How much more expensive are all those items? Well Zaatar wou Zeit mistakenly still have an old menu uploaded online, and it is 1 or 2 years old only.

As you can see below, Lahme Beajine was priced at 1750 LL compared to 4000 LL now, that’s more than 100% increase. Same for Jebneh wou Jambon that was priced at 3000 LL only.

But still the funniest increase in price is the soft drink! As if ZWZ manufactures Pepsi or maybe Pepsi increased its price and we are not aware of that.

Nonetheless, this increase in prices is everywhere, but is most noticeable when you pay 3$ for a freaking’ man2ouche that costs anywhere else barely 1$.

I noticed the blog isn’t really centered in the middle of the page, not sure if it never was centered from the beginning or if I did something recently that messed it up. Anyway if the site looks weird with strange thick borders or sections all over the place… that’s me fixing things in the background.

Update: ok everything should be fixed and working fine now.

Update2: Looks like things still look a bit strange in Internet Explorer, working on fixing it now.

Update3:It now looks better in IE but the copy is touching the edges of the tables. It shouldn’t be like that and I need to rework the theme to get it working and looking like it does in Chrome, Firefox and Safari. For now it should do. Below is a screen shot of how the blog is supposed to look like.

I don’t think i’ve ever been in a worse shape than the one i am currently in. Work and studies are mostly to blame, as well as my injury from which i never recovered fully. You see two years ago while i was playing football, i had what they call the “Unhappy Triad” injury, which is a “common combination of three different injuries in the knee, and they often all occur together. The ACL tear, meniscus tear, and MCL tear make up this terrible triad, and can definitely ruin your day”. I had to operate to reconstruct the ligament and then undergo physical therapy for a year before being able to play any sport again. I’ve managed to get back to playing basketball and football but the leg hurts every time i am done playing and sometimes while playing, and with the extra weight, i wasn’t really helping my case.

So it’s time i get back in shape, and what better way to force myself than let everyone know am gonna do this. I read somewhere it is motivating to share such news with other people, as it makes one feel more obliged to accomplish whatever goals he/she sets for himself.

Oh well, enough with the talks. I have to lose 20 to 25 pounds to get back to my normal weight and i have to lose them within two months before i get back to the gym and train. I am planning on walking and jogging for at least 1 hour or 2 hours every day and following a diet set by a dietitian friend of mine and inspired by Fahad AlYehya posts on 248am.com. I will skip dinner meals though.
I already have a program for the gym prepared by two good friends of mine and sports professionals who have their own supplement store, Shape up located in Batroun. They only opened few months ago but i trust those guys and they’re good at what they’re doing.

I also asked one of them to join the blog and post about Lebanese Basketball news and give us advice on what supplements to use (If we want any) and how to keep a well balanced and healthy body. I think it is always useful to have someone tell you what to expect at a gym and when to say no to trainers who offer you supplements or steroids or cycles without letting you know of their consequences.

I usually go karting during the summer as most tracks are outdoor and closed in winter times. Karting in Lebanon is not that popular and there are barely few decent tracks, mainly the RKZ (Racing Kart Zouk) and the Race of Champions track in Mansourieh (not sure if its still open though).

The track in Zouk is right next to the Dream Park on your way up to Jeita. It has two different types of karts that you can use, the 6hp cars for beginners and the 9hp cars for experienced drivers. You become experienced after you drive more than 10 times and get a card that allows you to drive the 9hp. I’ve been driving the 9hp for years now and it is a huge difference from the regular cars in handling and in speed.

Price wise, you pay 15,000 LL or 10$ for 15 minutes during week days and 20,000 LL or around 13$ on Saturdays and Sundays.

I don’t know why its taken so long to setup a website which allows you to search and buy used cars online. When my brother wanted a car we had to drive from used car lot to used car lot trying to find a car. Searching online would have been much more convenient. Lebanon Rides is a new website that’s just recently launched but it already contains a good number of cars. Check it out [Link]

Regardless of whether I liked the event or not yesterday, there was one major issue I could not help not notice, the safety regulations set by the organizers. The picture you see above is how close I was to the track and the small plastic barriers were the only thing between the viewers and the cars. You can also see the crowds on the upper right standing on the side of the Dora highway, without anything stopping them from just jumping into the track or throwing things at the cars.

Above you can see how close people are to the track.

As i posted earlier today, i went tonight to the Red Bull Car Park drift held in the Forum de Beyrouth. I was excited to go cause i had VIP tickets and would be well-seated to watch the drifts and take pictures of the car, but instead it was probably the most badly organized events i’ve ever been in years and i left only after 20 minutes.

The event was taking place at 8 pm, so out of precaution i left my house around 7:20 and only reached the forum at 8:20 or so. There were barely any spottable signs as to where Friends & Media can get in or the public can get in, so we rushed to the first entrance and we were denied entrance since there’s no parking inside. Yes! No freaking parking for anyone!

So i started looking for a place to park along with some 10000 other cars. I almost got to Gemmayze trying to find a spot then i managed to convince the Sleep Comfort security guard of letting me park. We walked to the first entrance and were told which way are the VIP seated. We kept walking for a good 15 minutes without finding anywhere that looked like a decent section and the place was so damn crowded we could barely see the cars. We came back and tried another entrance and same thing, no place to even see the cars and people everywhere.

Each security guy gave us different directions so we just stood still, watched whatever could be spotted for 10 minutes and left.

The barriers behind which the crowds were standing were ridiculously fragile and close and any false move from a drifting car could have killed at least 100 people. Cars were also bad and old, only few decent cars.

Tonight was really a big disappointment. I was very excited for this event and instead it was a whole waste of time.

So I’m sitting at home watching TV when I get a phone call from my sister who was at the Virgin store at the Beirut Airport. She asked me if I had a book called Beirut Street Art. I told her no so she said one of my graffiti work was in the book so she bought it and passed it to me. Turns out someone took one of my pictures from my old flickr account and published it in the book along with a ton of other graffiti work.

Anyway the book is actually pretty crap especially for $30. The design and layout is unexciting, the paper used is cheap generic semi-gloss stuff and the whole thing is binded so poorly that it’s already falling apart after just flipping through the book twice. On the other hand the actual graffiti that’s featured is really good. Ignore mine since it’s probably the most basic one in the book but the rest are a lot more visually interesting. Most of you have probably seen them near Forum De Beyrouth and around Hamra. If you haven’t, skip on buying the book and just check out some of the most popular works on the blog Leb Graffiti [Here]

Red Bull Car Park Drift Finals is planned to take place in Beirut at the Forum de Beirut, tonight (July 16 2010) at 8PM. [Link]

This is only the second year that they organize this event. I missed it in 2009 but i got VIP tickets this year and i am definitly going.