Every time I hear the Radio One commercial advertising Earth Hour I keep thinking to myself they can’t be serious. Earth Hour is basically an event where everyone around the world turns out the lights for 1 hour for a better world or something lame like that. Believe in it or not, Earth Hour might make sense in countries where they have 24hours of uninterrupted electricity but in Lebanon? Come on… it’s like Earth Hour every day or more like 12 Earth Hours every day.

My brother made me this little podium for my birthday with BlogBaladi as #1 ahead of Facebook and YouTube. I thought it was cute so I am sharing it.

And I could not have asked for more!

I love watches but I always had a problem wearing them as it bothers me, but I decided to get myself used to them. If all works fine, I want a Patek Philippe for my next birthday :P !

First of all, I wanna wish all Christians a holy lent, hoping this month will be blessed for them.

I always tend to fast on things I like in this month, and find it as a good occasion to test my will to do a thing I set myself to do. This year, It will not be chocolate or bread or a specific food but I plan on cutting down having dinner outside for the next 40 days as I am practically addicted to it.

That will be a good occasion to explore what other things one can do in Lebanon except going to a restaurant or drinking in a pub specially after working hours, and most importantly an incentive for me to go more frequently to the gym!

Feel free to share whatever you are stopping this month, that is if you have any.

Not only one has problems finding trustworthy mechanics in this country, but you cannot even rely on an electrician to fix your radio.

I am having problems with my car radio, whereas the sound is just going off for no reason and randomly. After asking around, I went to a place in Dekwaneh that is assumingly good. I told him what my problem was and he told me he needs 3 hours to figure out what’s wrong, as it could be from the Amplifier, the radio, the CD box or the cabling.

He then took out his Mercedes scanner, which is surprisingly found at most mechanics even though it should cost a fortune, and started checking out the defects. Some 20 minutes ( 3a 2asses 3 hours) later, he unplugs the cd box and takes it out and tells me to drive around for a bit and let him know if the problem persists. Ten minutes later, I come back and tell him the problem is still there.

Next thing he does is take out the radio as well and put a used one he had and asks me to try it and get back to him on Monday.

The radio he put worked fine and I came back on Monday to see what happened with my radio. He tells me the radio processor is messed up (processor is screwed) and can’t be fixed; therefore I have to change it. I ask him how much does a new one cost and he answers back 130$.

Afterwards, I asked him to put everything back in place and told him I will get back to him as I wasn’t convinced about this whole processor thing. Funny thing is that as he was putting the cd box back, all the cds were not in place, turns out he was playing my cds on his stereo!

That was 3 weeks ago, since then my radio started working normally with few cuts from time to time and the cd box which was working fine is disfunctional now!

There is another guy which I was told about in Beirut which I will give a try next.

Is it so damn hard for Lebanese to do their jobs properly without cheating or stealing? All I want is a professional who doesn’t charge me some 800$ for a new radio like the Mercedes garage does in Lebanon or messes up my radio and cd box like this guy did.

I was walking towards Gemmayze the other day when it started raining, so I took a cab and had an interesting talk with the cab driver:

Me: Wasselne 3al SNA 3mol ma3rouf.

Cab Driver: Tekram 3aynak.

Me: Tfaddal (and i handed him 4x500LL coins) cause i had only 100$ bill.

Cab Driver: Haydol mich massare! ma 3andak frata?

Me: Le mannoun massare? chou behoun?

Cab Driver: bidee3o ma3na haydol ne7na el chaufferriye, ma mnekhidoun.

(We were almost there)

Me: Chou badna na3mil? hayda el mawjoud.

And I went down and left.

This talk made me remember one of Lebanon’s famous proverbs that goes “Che7ad wou mcharatt!”. They keep complaining about the situation and the rise in oil prices and they don’t want coins!

I am finally done with my MBA and i can’t express how relieved i am!
It might not be very hard if you take it slowly but with a full time job and lots of activites, it can become a real hassle.

A single tire contains about the equivalent of two U.S. gallons (7.5 liters) of oil.

Burning tires releases many toxins and pollutants, some of which can settle in your lungs.
Certain metals in tires can serve as catalysts for dioxin formation. Dioxins can cause serious health problems, such as infertility, learning disabilities, endometriosis, sexual reproductive disorders, birth defects, damage to the immune system and cancer.

Any new government should first issue a law that jails people who burn tyres for no reason. No but seriously and away from all politics, Green associations and NGOs should urge the government and all Lebanese parties to stop this destructive habit.

PS: Watch Minute 1:15 when Al Jazeera’s bus was assaulted and 1:52 till 1:58, tough guy can’t remove a poster!

So what are your plans for this new year’s eve?

I usually love spending new year’s in houses or chalets with a group of friends and avoid parties and events. This year though, given that no plans worked out for an in-house party, i will be watching Comedy Night at Hotel Le Royal.

It’s taken the world by storm and got lots of governments trembling and a lot of politicians hiding away, but honestly i think it is a very bad idea or at least a very badly executed plan.

Why a very bad idea?
1- Because anyone could come up with some transcript or document or theory and submit it and cause a shitstorm based on nonsense.

2- Whatever comes out of a minister’s mouth does not mean is going to happen nor necessarily reflects any truth. Some talks might have been side talks or talks when getting drunk with some friends.

If i am having dinner with a prominent politician and he’s joking on how Israel could have did this or that to infiltrate Lebanon and i leak it to Wikileaks, it doesn’t really mean he is an Israeli collaborator helping the Jewish state defeat Hezbollah even though it will be portrayed that way.

I am not trying to discuss politics here, nor want to drag this post into a political one as we don’t do that here, but what i am trying to point out is how this Assange guy is not invading privacy only, but allowing fraud people who come up with the crappiest of reports based on James Bond Theories to be taken seriously and threaten a country’s safety.

I really hope he stays in prison and for a long time.

First, i want to wish all our readers the Love, Peace, and Happiness that the true meaning of Christmas brings and hope they enjoyed the past 12 days of crazy giveaways on our blog, which are not done yet by the way. I am a big fan of my mum’s cooking (who isn’t?), so i thought i share with you and my brother who’s abroad what we had yesterday for dinner.

Starters included an assortment of cheeses and “charcuterie”, along with Salmon rolls with small lemon slices, Avocados filled with Shrimps and cocktail sauce and a noodle-based salad.

Then came the hot dishes, starting with an asparagus quiche, meat rolls with melted cheese, and coq au vin, which is a French braise of chicken cooked with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic.

Last but not least, and this is the only dish my mum didn’t prepare, the famous Kitchen Market turkey i told you about a week ago.

Hope you all have a blessed Christmas day!

My new year’s resolutions are to become H & H; Healthy and Happy!
Very simple:
Healthy:
1. Cut down on drinking
2. Cut down on chocolate
3. Eat more food that grow on plants and trees
4. Exercise & Exercise
5. Sleep more at night and less in the morning.

Happy:
6. Once I’ll be Healthy I’ll be Happy
7. Make people around me Happy
8. Go more often to Kuwait to see my precious one
9. I’ll allow my mother to kiss me once a week (Not sure how would this make me happy but definitely will make her happy which means less nagging, which means eventually I’ll be happy)
10. Join a cigar club!

What about yours?

But for some reason I’m still hesitant…
Should I get the IPad or the new Samsung Galaxy tab?

I already have an IPhone and I’m not sure what an IPad could offer more what an IPhone is already offering. I checked it out this weekend at Khoury home as it has the exclusivity in selling the Galaxy Tab and got even more confused.

Pricewise, the IPad price is at $800 whereas the Galaxy is priced around $850, both 16 GB. However, you may use a sim card in the Galaxy Tab and can easily make phone calls or install GPS without needing a WIFI connection. You can also take pictures, film videos, do video chatting, Skype. You can insert a USB, view and edit documents.

Come think of it, I’m not even sure why the hell I’m still hesitant; I guess that this is going to be my Christmas gift from… MOI!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I must say i was wrong to underestimate the impact of those new radars installed by the ISF on the Lebanese drivers. They are so far way more efficient than random checkpoints and are resulting in a safer and more controlled driving, to a certain extent of course.

I still believe radars should not be kept as secret so that people get used to them and that some speed limits should be reconsidered, but driving on the highway is becoming more and more pleasant and few accidents are happening as a result.

The Trapster should not be banned as there is nothing wrong in taking extra precaution when knowing that a radar is nearby. After all, those radars were set to slow down Lebanese drivers, and not just fine them for the sake of it.

So in all, i must applaud Minister Ziad Baroud for this initiative and hope that he will follow it thoroughly and steadily, because it’s proving to be highly efficient and that’s not something you get that easily in Lebanon.

Yesterday around 6 pm, i was driving on the Jal el Dib highway then went left under the bridge to withdraw money from a nearby ATM. I was on the phone when a police officer jumps in front of me from no where and asks me to pull over. I swear i could have hit him if i wasn’t going slow.

Here’s how the discussion went:

Police Officer: You know you cannot talk on the phone while driving, it is against the law.

Me: I know but i just picked up the phone and am parking over there (pointing at the nearby Bank Audi ATM in Jal el Dib).

Police Officer: It doesn’t matter, you broke the law and i have to penalize you. Please give me your papers.

Me: Here you go.

Police Officer: So you are Najib.

Me (telling myself Dah): Yes

Police Officer: So as i was telling you, i have to write you a ticket for talking on the phone while driving.

Me: Ma badda hal2ad, i was just gonna park over there. I’ve received already two tickets that i didn’t deserve. Just let me go.

Police Officer: I am not sure i can. It is the law, but i can make you a favor. I will write you down the ticket and you can pay it without handing me your driving license.

(So basically, he wants a bribe)

Me: No it is ok, just go ahead and do it the legal way, i don’t mind. Do it as it should be done.

Police Officer: Hmm you know what, you seem in a hurry, i will let you go this time.

So i just left without getting a ticket but imagine how many people are actually bribing him and the money he makes in one day, even though i sense the police officer in question was not even allowed to issue tickets, if he was a real police officer at all!