Can't Breathe This (gulf) Air

You gotta love Gulf Air. They're one of the few airlines that actually make me laugh (cry?) from offering a service so bad, it's a suprise they're still actually in business. Luckily for me, I haven't dealt with them for years, but yesterday I somehow made the mistake of booking a weekend flight to Dubai with them; bad idea.

Now, with all our technological advances, online booking, e-tickets and so on, it should be very, very straightforward to book a flight. I mean, for the past three years i've completely disregarded travel agencies and actually visiting any sort of travel office, and booked almost every single flight and hotel for all of my trips online. Not so with Gulf Air. First, the website wouldn't accept my online booking, since the departing and returning flights were less than 72 hours apart. UUUUUUHHHHH, hellloooooo, i'm going for the weekend? Ever heard of 1, 2 or even 3 day trips? Never mind.

So, the online booking had to turn into a phone call; not really a very bad one actually, as the reservation didn't take much longer than a few minutes. For some reason, their agent couldn't charge my credit card though, and asked me to pass by one of their branches instead to pay.

Bloody hell.

So the agent tells me I have a time limit till 11:00am the next morning (which was today), so I get the booking number, thank him, and hang up. Today, I gave Gulf Air a call to figure out what time their closest branch opens, which turns out to be Seef Mall branch, at 10:00am. Great. I'll just take a quick 15 mins off work, cross the road to Seef, finish paying, and run back to the office.

So there I am facing their branch at 9:55am; a few minutes early, just so I can be the first to get my payment done and get back. This should be quick:

9:55AM

Yup, it's closed. But hey, that's normal.. They open at 10, and i'm here 5 minutes early.

10:00AM

Ok, great it's 10! They should open their doors any minute now.

10:05AM

Eeeem... Anyyy minute now...

10:10AM

10 is technically the opening time for all stores in Seef, and yes, they were all open except Gulf Air. I called their hotline just to confirm, hey, I might have got the opening time wrong? But no, they confirmed, it was supposed to be open at 10:00am.

10:15AM

Getting a little silly now... I decided to go buy a donut with my credit card just to make sure it was working, and guess what, it worked fine. I wonder what the hell was wrong with GulfAir's system that wouldn't pass my payment.

10:20AM

Yup, still closed... And people are piling up...

10:25AM

Still closed...

10:27AM

AH! Can't believe it! A Gulf Air employee ACTUALLY bothered to come to work today! Yippeeee!!

So I guess it's not only the GulfAir flights that never leave on time; it's their branches that never open on time too. Anyhow; after waiting for almost half an hour, it turns out they cancelled my booking at midnight! DUH! But the phone agent said 11:00am? Well, that didn't matter. They had to make a new booking, and seems the guy I had the misfortune of being served with was either mentally retarted, or had no idea how the GulfAir computer system worked, because it took almost another half an hour and a lot of help from his supervisor to actually complete my booking.

And after all that, they charged me an extra fee for actually using the physical branch, instead of the phone or online service. I explained that it wasn't my problem, but hey, remember this is GulfAir, and they really don't give a damn about you. So instead of complaining and wasting my time, I decided to just pay the damn fee and get on with it. And this was just the booking. God knows what headaches will appear when checking in.

Seriously, next time i'm taking Emirates.

That's one hell of an entrance

We have three large plasma TV's in the office. Don't let your mind wander; we actually use them for work, to keep updated with the latest news and happenings around the world, as part of keeping up with currency prices, interest rates, and so on.

Anyhow, here I am watching Saudi Arabia's King Abdulla visiting the Queen of England and other members of the British royal family, amongst an unbelievably lavish welcome. It brings up a few thoughts; stronger relations between England and Saudi, representing the Western and Arab world. After all, the last visit by a Saudi Monarch to the UK was almost 20 years ago.

Somehow, I feel happy to see King Abdulla meeting the Queen of England. I want to see more of this sort of warm, generous welcome to the ruler of a muslim country, and one of the most pronounced Arab states, at that.

A few things made this whole visit sort of unreal, funny, and a little sad, actually. If you thought the late King Fahad was the kind of person who knew how to live an extravagant life, get this: it took 6 planes to transport King Abdulla and his party from Saudi to the UK. The amount of belongings brought along was so large, that actually unloading the King's luggage (including his entourage) took a little over 3 hours. They also required 84 limousines to drive into London. Mind you, the party was composed of almost 400 aides; 400!

Now that, my friends, is making an entrance.

Women talk too much & Men don't listen enough

Men don't listen.

To women, that is. I don't understand why, it's not like we do it on purpose; it's just something about the way we're made or so. I'm sure most of you appreciate the fact that, although part of the same general species (ie, human), men and women are different. All that talk of equality and being the same and so on is nonsense.

Think of it this way; all men (or almost all of them) love sports, love to play with electronics, gadgets and gizmos, get emotional about their cars and nothing else, usually have a tough exterior, and so on. All women, on the other hand (or almost all of them), are more in touch with their emotions, love clothes and colors and make up, go nuts over shopping, always talk about their feelings, etc.

Sure, the world is not all black and white so not every single man and woman fall under those stereotypes, but hey, you have to admit, many are pretty close. And some who don't fit the descriptions at all just might need a sex change.

Anyhoo...

Here's one thing about women. They talk too much.

Yep, whether you like to admit it or not, you women talk too much. Some women reading this right now are going to throw a fit, get angry about what I wrote, and then go meet some of their friends to talk about it. Yes. Talk, talk, talk... Yadda, yadda, yadda.. It's not your fault though; it's been scientifically proven that as women, your heart beat is linked to the amount you talk. If you stop talking for a long enough time period, you just die; so talking ends up being a survival instinct, I guess. And women love to talk about their feelings, how their day went, about their feelings, how they feel guilty for (over)eating a WHOLE plate of salad, and again, yes, about their feelings.

Now us men, we have better things to do. We need to be able to focus on the game showing on TV right now. We need to be able to make sure our brand new HD-DVD player and full surround system is hooked up the right way to our Plasma. We need to make sure the oil in the car is topped up. We need to test out the drill again just to make sure it's still working. You know, 'manly' things. And unfortunately, us men don't have the capacity in our minds to do more than one thing at a time (unless we're driving, during which we can do almost 10 things at once; ie, eat, talk on the phone, change the CD in the deck, shift from 3rd to 4th gear while overtaking two trailers all at the same time).

Unfortunately for Woman, she actually get married to Man. And when they both get home, Woman feels the urge to talk (because her heart-beat is slowing down and she needs to get it up and running again). So there goes Woman, talking about her day, how it went, the multitude of emotions she managed to go through, what she thinks of her co-worker's new dress etc, etc, etc..

Yadda.

Yadda.

Yadda..

So Man, obviously needing to attend to the fact that the quality of his surround system doesn't sound quite right, decides to, yup, 'it's time to play around with the wires'. You see, Man is a big child. He wants to play around with things. He doesn't want to sit and listen to complex issues about feelings, intricate detail about how someone's day could go, what they ate, what bag they wore with what shoes, etc.

So what does Man do? He stops listening. He blanks out completely. He looks like he's listening to Woman, but infact, his mind is somewhere completely different. He say 'yes' and 'okay' and 'then?' everytime Woman pauses for a few seconds, just to give her the impression that he's paying complete attention, but in reality, his one track mind is completely occupied with which cable is supposed to connect the front left speaker to the corresponding output port on the DVD player.

Mind you, he doesn't do it on purpose. No matter how hard Man tries, he just can't hear Woman. He sees her talking, he sees her lips moving, and he can pretty much be sure that something is coming out of her mouth. But in his head he could be hearing anything from the Gypsy Kings greatest hits CD to the sound effects from the latest Transformers movie. The odd three or four words would make it into his mind, however, so just incase she asks, "Did you even hear what I said?!", he would reply by composing a sentence sprinkled with those words and prove that he way, infact, listening.

It happened again, today. My wife called me when I was coming home from work, and the conversation (well, the part I heard anyway) went something like this:

"Hi honey, can you ..... by the supermarket ... get .... ...... ......, some tomatoes....., .... ,..... ,...... ..... , ok dear? Thanks. Bye"

Now, being the simple minded man that I am, I figured that I had actually heard the full conversation. Mind you, if you are not aware of the superpower us men have (ie, drowning out female conversation) then it can be at your disadvantage. Harness this power, however, and it will bring you much joy and tranquility in your life.

Anyway, back to the story. So now i'm at the supermarket, buying what she wanted; I pick up the tomates and... Hmm.. I can be pretty sure she mentioned FIVE items. Why do I only seem to remember one? Umm..

Ok, time to call her again. Uhh, honey, what did you say you wanted?

"Get ..... fat-free white cheese,..... ..... ..... tomatoes, and ..... ...., with the .... .... next to the .... counter, ok? bye..."

So I go to the cheese section, but realize there's like 3 million different varieties of fat-free cheese. Dammit, another phone call. What was that cheese you wanted hon? And what else?

"Yeah, .... was the Kraft fat-free cheese, and by the way, ..... ..... ....., .... you find a pack of ...., and a family pack diet coke"

I swear to god, I must have called her 6 times today while I was in the supermarket.. To pick up 5 things!

We don't do it on purpose, women. We swear we don't.

The Perfect Job

I woke up today to the noisy, annoying buzzing of my lovely alarm. Honestly, I really couldn't be bothered to wake myself up and go to work; I was too tired, and I needed another 3 hours of sleep at least if I wanted to wake up happy and bouncy. But this was my case; wake up now or risk going to the office late, again. Uh. I forced myself up, washed up, changed, and took off on my way to the office.

The traffic gives you another reason to want to kill yourself. Everybody's temper seems up, and no one actually wants to give you the courtesy of acknowledging that the road belongs to the public in general. No, everyone seems to think that they somehow own the road, which seems to be a contagious attitude, because sooner or later I find myself cutting off people and swerving here and there like the road is mine, all mine.

Anyway, reach the office; the mood isn't great here either. After all, the weekend is over, and we're all back to work; everyone seems gloomy, no one wants to talk to anyone else, and here's me waiting for my morning cup of tea to give me a little bit of a reason to continue my stay in the office today. I know i'm going to be here working hard, stressing myself out, staying till late, and leaving the office after the sun goes down.

So i'm thinking, this isn't the life for me, no. I don't want to be stuck wasting my life away and getting my soul drained in this kind of job; not getting enough sleep, frying my nerves in the morning traffic, and squandering my life in a cold office detatched from the rest of the world.

Of course, work is important. We need to work to feel useful, and to make a bit of money at the end of the day, right? So i've decided to put down a set of rules for the kind of job I want to work at:

---

Timing:
Has to be from 11am, to give me enough time to sleep in and miss the morning traffic rush. I should stop working at around 1:30pm, to again, miss the afternoon rush and have enough time to use the rest of my life doing more useful things.

Weekends:
Should be three days instead of two. This is because 2 weekends as a ratio to 5 workdays isn't fair. 3-4 is closer than 2-5.

Salary:
Has to be three times what i'm getting now, because I really want to save up for that beach house in Santa Monica.

Work responsibilities:
Should not be too stressful. Job description should include reading the headlines in the newspaper, browsing the internet a little, updating my blog, and maybe a good 20 or 30 minutes of hard work.

Business Trips:
The occassional business trip to major conferences in places like Bali, Jamaica, and so on is not a big drawback.

Leave:
Annual holiday leave of around 90 days. Please note that this does not include weekends or public holidays.

Perks of the job:
Paying for my new luxury penthouse, company car (value of which should exceed $80,000 at least), my own Blackberry phone (just because it makes you look more important), and the obvious company credit card for my general expenses. Other perks also appreciated.

---

I guess with something like that, I wouldn't have a problem going to work every day! Great, time to start handing out my CV!

A new hope for life

Sometime last year:

As ammaro was walking down a busy street in Manhattan, New York, marvelling at the exceptional high-rise buildings that defined this city, he glanced something with the corner of his eye. Completely detatched from the glory at the height of these structures, inhabited by rich bankers, lawyers and millionaires, was a homeless man lying down in an alley, wrapped in rags to keep warm. Through his heavy, overgrown beard, weary eyes and dirty clothes, he was shivering; it wasn't from the cold, though. He was hungry, and didn't have a single cent to afford anything to eat.

A well-dressed young man, a successful stock-broker, probably, strolled by quickly. A clean-shaved white male, probably in his late-twenties, dressed in an expensive italian suit, carrying an elegant leather suitcase and talking on his cellphone, concluding another million-dollar deal. The homeless man reached out to him, extending his empty cup, hoping for some spare change. "Why don't you get a job you bum?" said the stock-broker angrily as he passed, not even stopping to acknowledge the homeless man's existence.

Sad, but somewhat true, thought ammaro. There is always the possibility of doing something to make money; getting the odd job helping out pick up things, delivering newspapers, and so on. Is the chance readily available though? I assume that in a city such as New York, money exists around every street corner, and the chances and opportunities are there. Numerous breaks abound to make a little bit of money, and some people who have started off with nothing have even managed to turn themselves into millionaires; although some may not be the most attractive opportunities (ie, scrub clean a dirty apartment, help clear out someone's garbage), the chance to turn nothing into something does exist.

So is the opportunity readily available? Yes, it is. However, they would need the initiative, the will, and the creativity to consider such an idea, and unfortunately, not everyone has that. Thus ammaro shrugged the idea off as one that cannot possibly be within every poor man's reach, and gave the homeless man a few dollars as he went on his way.

But lets look at things from another angle. What if they had the will to do something? What if they had the initiative? What if they had the ideas? What if they had all that, but had no opportunity? Think away from New York. Think to poorer, third-world countries, where getting your hands on a few dollars is comparatively an impossible task. So many hopes and dreams, so much initiatve, so many ideas, but no chance to turn them into reality. And with the value of world currencies and exchange rates, all it would take is a few dollars to bring their dreams to life.

So again, ammaro contemplated; what if there was an easy way to help these people? Not necessarily give them a little bit of money for food and water, clothes and shelter, to be given over and over again. No. What if there was a way to give them a little bit of money to help themselves? Give them chance for a new life, instead of having to rely on donations time after time?

After all, a donation can feed you for a day. Tommorow you need another donation, and the day after, and the day after that. But a donation a little bigger, if used in the right way, can help you help yourself. As the saying goes; "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime".

Modern Day:

So as ammaro went through life, he discovered something amazing. He discovered an easy way to help those in need. And it didn't even need to be a donation. It was a loan. A loan to people who wanted to start small businesses in developing countries. The underprivileged who had hopes, dreams, and had the initiative, but had no chance.

http://www.kiva.org/
He discovered the opportunity to loan money to those who needed it. You could loan anything from $25 and up, hardly an amount affecting most of our daily lifestyles, but for some, that is all the money they need to turn their lives around. Some people need $25. Some people need $100. Some people need $500. You can view the people, view their ideas and the businesses they want to start, and lend them the money (or part of the money) they need to get their small businesses underway. You can also get in touch with them, and follow up on how they do in their businesses. And one other thing; this is not a donation. This is a loan, and they will pay you back over a set period. The beautiful thing here is that once you are paid back, you can use the money to finance someone else.

It's amazing. Amazing what you can do and how you can help people with such a small idea, such a small donation. All it takes is the initiative. I want to thank the creators of Kiva for helping make this world a better place.

Join it and help someone. ammaro has.