Coffee, Conversations n Sheesha...

Yesterday, my whole group of friends decided to go out for dinner in the evening. This is a rare occasion because most of the times these guys are occupied with other engagements. We headed to this place called "Harbor Cafe" in the free zone. I have been to the place before and its mostly populated by guys. The decor is quite good and they mostly show football matches on the multiple LCD screens fitted around the place. Believe me, you will have a good view of the screen irrespective of which direction you are sitting in, hats off to that.

Well, this was the first time we ordered their special sheesha, which apparently comes with ice on the tray below where you put the coal. I order the "FakhFakheena" flavor which tasted like the Lemon Mint at ruby's. Although aberrant, the sheesha tasted good and had this cool feeling to it. May be the cool part was just a psychological feeling seeing the ice on the sheesha. In any case it was worth it. Also, compared to other places, it was priced at KD 1.250 which i thought was pretty reasonable. I wasn't feeling too well, therefore, i ordered a coffee, also because i did not want to worsen my current predicament by having something cold.

For Main course, we treated ourselves to some wholesome sandwiches and saj which turned out to be pretty tasty too. Again this was also reasonably priced between KD 1.000 to KD 1.500. For the best part, i got to spend a nice cozy evening with my buddies. Catching up on old times, discussing current and upcoming events, having a go at each other and so much more. We chilled there for about 3 hours and then headed home for a good nap to wakeup in time for work next morning, Oh how i wished i did not have to go to work. Darn!!!

For those unaware of the location, Harbour Cafe is located just ahead of Movenpick Hotel, to the left. You cannot miss it.


By the way, the image i used for this post is something i designed my self using MS Paint. I googled for separate images, created a collage and then added my personal touch for the custom look n feel that would go with the post.

An evening with friends

I was planning to get a haircut since a long time now but never really got time off to complete the task. Yesterday, i finally had the time so i headed to the "Mallu Heaven"... Jleeb Al-Shoyoukh, AbBaSiYa as we know it. I have lived there for about 17 years (Not by Choice) and just hate the place. However, two of my closest friends live there and i thought that i may as well give them a buzz. So i called them and although they had their exams going on, they still volunteered to spend time with me, boy was i glad. I called one of them before i entered the salon and spend about an hour with him after which he was headed to collect his newly wedded wife from the airport.

I called my other friend but, apparently, he was busy studying and needed some more time so i decided to head to the salon and get done with the haircut. I entered the salon at about 9:00 pm and waited there till about 11:00 pm for my haircut. In the boring wait to get to the barber's chair, i buzzed a few other friends and spoke to them for a bit but still could not kill enough time. I then called my friend again to check if he was done with his studies and was ready to get out of his house. Just then the barber told me it was my turn and i happily seated myself and told him how i wanted the haircut done. Believe me, after a 2 hour wait, i was done with my haircut in 5 mins. Pretty frustrating, i know. And since you are already wondering why the title of my post has nothing to do with all the crap i have written till this point, am just getting to that.

I called my friend and picked him up near his place. We then headed to good old McDonald's to grab some food and chitchat for a bit. It was really nice catching up with him after a long time. We discussed old times and new, there were serious talks and jokes were a few. We then planned a nice saturday lunch at this small thai restaurant called "Pattaya" which is located next to La Baguette's in Salmiya. I have heard good deeds about the food and can't wait to get my hands on some yummy "Pat Thai" and "Garlic Rice". I shall write my review of the place that evening. Well thats it for now, going to call a few friends and head out to the beach for a nice walk now, its one of the activities i generally indulge in on the weekends.

Stay tuned for more...

Dinner at the Marriot's

Yesterday, a friend and me were deciding on a place for dinner and we ended up finalizing on the JW Marriott. I had heard good things about the "Terrace Grill" and therefore decided to visit the place. I thought the restaurant was on the terrace as the name suggested, but, to my surprise it was beside the lobby on the ground floor as you enter the hotel. Well, we went in there anyways since we were starving and wanted to get our hands on some good food. The menu was small and did not hold much variety to order from. They had a minimal steak selection and most of the "a la carte" was seafood. Very disappointed, we decided to leave the place and try another restaurant, after settling the bill for the water off course.

My friend said that the "La Brassiere" restaurant in the same lobby had a buffet offering and the food was quite nice so we decided to head there for our next adventure. We entered and found a nice place to sit following which we took our plates and feasted on some nice variety of salads and hummus. When we headed for the main course, all we could see in the vessels was Salmon n Fish n Shrimps... grrrrrrrrrrrrr.... I felt like the hotel had a seafood theme for that night, fish fish everywhere, not a piece of chicken to eat. Since we did not have much of a choice and having eaten the salad we had to have the main course so we did and believe it or not, we were filled to the brim. Honestly, although disappointed, this is the first time that i have been full eating crappy food.

After that disappointing dinner, we decided to head for some coffee at the "Courtyard Marriott". I know you're expecting another disaster but this time, it was nice. The cafeteria was cozy and we treated ourselves to some of the finest coffee and cakes they had on the menu. We sat there for a bit and discussed on how disappointing the dinner was and that we were never going to go to the "JW" ever again for any kind of food. Well, i returned home after dropping my friend at their apartment and then took to bed as i had a really tiring day yesterday.

Performance Appraisal

Yesterday, i had my performance appraisal process. Its no doubt a pretty hair raising activity where your immediate superior highlights all your short commings and informs you on the areas you need to improvise. For me however, it was quite an event. For the first time in the past 2 and a half years i felt that a proper appraisal had been conducted keeping in mind my skillset and achievements on the job front and not based on personal grudges. I surely owe it to my line manager who played a major part in conducting a just appraisal and am really thankful that he rightly brought out both positive and negative traits in my personality and professional attitude of work.

All said and done, its another year of recession for my company and the morons are finding every excuse to hold back the last penny they have for their personal endeavors. Lets hope that for once, they do provide appropriate monetary benefits to one and all in the department.

My Colleague...

Today is another boring day at work and to accompay me in this misery is my colleague Mr Kharane (Name Concealed). The pic above is indicative of the frustration he goes through everyday at the office...:)

My new blog is finally online..:)

I finally got some time to create a new blog on BlogSpot. Although very busy with other work, i am able to take time out and indulge in activities other than security.

Stay tuned for more...