Thursday, April 27, 2006

- Svensk Stor Boss i stad -

Finally, i had my chance to meet face to face with the Presiden & CEO of the world's largest Telecommunication Infrastructure & Systems provider, LM Ericsson. Carl henric Svenberg made his PR visit to Egypt today to meet the Prime Minister and Telecommunications Minister to add some support & confidence to the current project we're working on. It was also a good time for him to meet & greet the growing Ericsson Northern Africa family!
It was nice & cool to meet him, so casual & down to earth guy. One thing i see most CEO's have is the energy that they bring with them. They have so much of excitement & energy to motivate their staff. Carl Henric deserves all the smiles, after Ericssons impressive double digit growth, leading the way in field of telecommunications!

I wonder, how was he when he was 28? What did he do, to be where he is today? We didnt have much time during tea breaks to come into this conversation but i did realise that there are so much growth potential for business and individuals in this part of the world!

Someday, It'll be nice to see how things are for us to swap places, why not? :) !

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

RM100K Lotus ???

Proton has been getting in the news recently for all the wrong reasons! Nevertheless, auto enthusiast like me have taken a step back to give the new Pilot on board, nick-ed Super Syed, or Tuan Syed Zainal a chance to redeem proton from embarassment! He started his job by first acknowledging that Proton has issues, major ones!

It's interesting to note this acknowledgement, which is a contrast from what the arrogant ex-CEO used to lamment about! Tengku Mahaleel knew only how to boast about sub standard quality and never seem to acknowledge the shortcomings of Proton. However, in contrast, the first thing Super Syed acknowledged is Proton's poor quality & image.

Today, after 100 days at the cockpit, Proton announces plans to develop a Lotus, priced at RM 100K in the next 2 yrs. They have also announced to roll out a replacement model for the aging Iswara end of this year, giving both the Iswara & wira a peacefull death!

At this moment, no one knows which Lotus model would be developed here but the options are few. I reckon the Europa is out of the question, Elise or the latest Lotus APX seems like a good option! Lotus APX is in the MPV/SUV class, a project that costed proton 850Million. Ofcourse, the end product is faboulous. You can see many Gen 2 and Savvy DNA on the Lotus APX. BUT ...the concept car comes with a 3.0 supercharged engine and an alluminium wheel arch & chassis, which spells EXPENSIVE! So perhaps(i'm hoping), the idiots finally decided to change the APX concept into a sellable product in Malaysia, by reducing the engine capcity and changing the build material to steel!!

I have been refraining on burning $$$ on my next car with a dream that such a possibility (having a low cost Lotus) come true! My original plan for a Perdana V6 Enhanced 3 is obviously going to be put on hold, unless ofcourse 320 E46 year 2002 drops to 100K!

Bushism

- Idiotism by example, an American way of life -

Bushism of the Day
By Jacob WeisbergPosted
Wednesday, May 26, 2004, at 3:22 PM ET

"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."—Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004

Source

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Terrorist strikes Egypt, Again!

About 7.15 pm GMT +2, the resort town of Dahab has been hit by 3 explosions. This comes as a shock to the Egytian community, as thousands of residents around Cairo, head to the Sinai peninsular to places like Sharm-el-sheikh & Dahab for the long easter break!

At this point in time, it is estimated that atleast 100 dead and many wounded. As soon as it happened, word got around amongst our Ericsson expat community to check status quo on each other! It's a 5 day break here, and most of working community are out of Cairo, except me :( , since i just arrived from Oslo.

Alhamduillah, all colleagues are safe. We've got strict orders to stay at home, avoid town, tourist spots & get the driver to shop for us !!!

Update: death stands at 23, not 100 as previously mentioned!

Update 26th April 1300 Hrs : Another 3 bombs goes off in Sinai, targetting peace keepers & police!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Disoriented - Her story!

A coin has 2 sides! If there was a relationship coin, it will probably have many sides... his, hers, theirs, the other women's, the eligible bachelor next door etc..etc ..etc..!!!!

The problem with Men are simpler to compute, first = to commit or not to Commit, second, why do i treat her so nice and she acts like a total bitch to me! Both explained in a simplified manner below & other interesting blogs here & here!

For a women, the problem are aplenty! Some easily explained, some too complex to talk about! One good thing about blogging is the space & freedom you get to spill anything & everything out in your mind, without being judged for who you are!

Once such addition to the blogging space is Disoriented. Her story goes ....
"For someone who has found herself I seem to be lost, confused and unable to make headway into the future. Life keeps plodding along and there just has to be more, and here through my words I hope to find solace and direction"

A friend of a few years, she pens her anonymous trials & turbulence with men here!!!!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

City of peace - Y -

After a short holiday in Malaysia, it's back to the streets again. Where am I? Take a wild guess:

1) Most expensive city in the world
2) Hosted the peace talks between Palestine & Israel
3) Houses the Nobel peace centre!
4) Became famous recently becoz of it's support to the Danish Muhammad cartoons?

Yes, i know u smart asses would have guessed it by now, it's Oslo, Norway! I'll do less talking and let the pictures speak for itself!

The above & below pictures are from the harbour, right behind the city hall building.

HRC Oslo - They have run out of shot glasses Lily :( but you can mail order!

The above picture and following few are from the sculpture park. Aparently this dude some 100 yrs back loved to do scultures depicting life and then sell them to the city. Since he loved doing it so much and they didnt want the entire OSLO to have funny statues, it was all laid here in this park!

Nice perky breast :p, guaranteed never to sag!

This above picture is there for the obvious reason (READ text!)

Fram museum houses the below ship, ordered to be built by the dude standing below.

Finally, the one below is of the royal palace of Norge.

Thats about my short tour of Oslo, leaving tomorrow to Vienna, then Egypt! Adios!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Commitment bitchfits: A Man's tale!!

Parts of this article is very interesting on the Nice guy shit ppl keep talking about ...i'll need to add one more reading article on jerks, and how good they are in securing gorgeous babes!!!!! This article is an actual day to day occurance!!!! I've heard one too many dear thelma sessions, with the same script! So if you see your man react differently 5 years ago & today, theres always some women to be pissed at or thanked :)!!!

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It’s the old story all over again, Society’s rules, that pressures woman not to sleep around, might be a good one because they are ultimately abandond. In college, A lot of woman will sleep around with... the cool exciting top guy's who are attractive and can get a lot of sex.

Afterwards woman are feeling used enz, enz... Even though the choice was their's, to begin with!

The nice guy's listens to them, helps them by listening (because they're too insecure too be cool) Well, these guys end up with no sex or attraction. They are there only for her emotional needs.
They become frustrated, angry and BAM, the nice guy behavior ends, (usually between 24-28 years).

They turn away from woman or they work hard too become confident and exciting...
They suddenly find out that being mean to woman and teasing creates attraction. And when the women is trying to make them behave like nice guy's, because they want them to commit. Guys start distrusting women even more...

So being:
Confident, exiting, money and status = attraction. Being nice = commitment signal
At around 28-35, you see a lot of women fighting relationship wars with former nice guys to make them commit. Those guys don't trust women anymore. And, they don't want to give up the attraction power they worked so hard for.

Their thoughts: she just likes me because she wants children and I have to help by providing sperm and support. Their thinking about all the sexual encounters the woman had before him, when they were working so hard to become more attractive. THEY HEAR ABOUT HOW WOMAN CHANGE SO MUCH AFTER MARRIAGE AND CHILDEREN. THE DECLINE OF SEX DRIVE AND THE BIG FOCUS ON THE CHILDEREN. And they are reluctant to commit.
"The answer to why guy's don't want to commit" in a nutshell

by Fallen Angel

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Sounds like a story of guys going through "de-wussification" (Copywright reserved by Goks) ! Hell, it's like what most guys go through some point in time!!!!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Cheaters & whistle blowers !

I try again & again to avoid blogging on this subject matter due to it's sensitivity. However, it keeps coming back like a scary nightmare, one after the other, i seem to hear and see more people trapped in this vicious cycle of distrust!. If u're still wondering what i'm talking about, Infidelity is the subject matter. I beleive by now, you would be trying to relate to some incident, either to your own self, or a loved one near you. It's a growing problem, one that affects all society, not only the west but our very own eastern society.

While being based in Cairo, i have the pleasure of tapping SatTV channels from "Hotbird Sat" and my favourite show is the Cheaters, at 11.30 GMT +1 on Reality TV, hosted by Joey Greco. It's shocking to see many cheaters out there, being filmed cheating LIVE & being caught & confronted live on air. This brings the question, "Why is adultery so frightening yet so fascinating? "

In part, because we recognize the appeal of it. We grew up in triangles, competing for our mothers’ attention with our fathers and our siblings, and vice versa. That taught us, deep inside, to be terrified of abandonment and to resent sharing. We never quite give up on the childish fantasy that somehow, someday, we'll find someone all our own who wants only us. This destructive fantasy that keeps us looking for love in all the wrong places.

Adultery and infidelity can seem to be nothing more than a delicious indulgence, like chocolate cake. In actuality this "simple pleasure" is more comparable to cocaine – addictive and potentially lethal. Everyone in the family suffers – particularly the children. Potential after effects include broken, homes, shattered trust, lowered self-esteem, illegitimate pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases, even suicide."


Having personally lived & befriended atleast 1/4 dozen cheaters, some cheating on their fiancee's, some on their girlfriends/boyfriends and finally the most disgusting lot, cheating on their wives! It's really amazing to note that a growing number of couples seem to have lost their defination for love! It's seems harder to break up and move on, then to take the risk of cheating and staying in an already dead relationship!

Then you have the whistle blowers, stuck in a tricky situation of wanting to do the right thing for the victim while not wanting to put their friend Peter in trouble! How many of you out there actually confront Peter's and Jane and received a pat on you back for your acts? More often then not, u'll loose friendship both ends!

What goes around, comes around! Many cheaters, as i have seen, end up loosing it all; their love, life, respect and whatever dignity left with them! This is probably the justice, for the victims!

Update: It's interesting to note that the adrenalin rush one gets with living on the edge with 2 different women at a time, is impossible to explain! It's a kind of superficial achievment to some, living by this thin thread, ofcourse untill all hell breaks loose and someone decides to blow the whistle! Men will be men, we're all sex hungry whores :D!

P.s - the Peter & Jane quoted here does NOT reflect any real life Peter or Jane :)