Monday, May 31, 2010

Flickr Banned in Dubai?



Apparently Flickr is banned in Dubai!


Friday, May 28, 2010

Last Lagos Dinner

Tonight we we treated to a sumptuous Japanese dinner by our project manager, Samir Ounnas. We went to the Fusion restaurant at the Lagoon. Here’s the group photo of what’s remaining of the 20+ we had in early September last year. Counter clock wise from the bottom left is the project manager himself, Samir Ounnas, Miguel Sasso, Jason Payne, Alek Lokowizh, Hazem Fayed, Paul Charlton, Tim Whelan, myself, wife and Andrew Dryra.

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Samir contemplates a lot in the office. Even now he’s probably thinking deeply about his tea.

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Trying to make sense of the menu. Miguel helped make some good choices.

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Faces of very hungry people. Jason rarely smiles.

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Mr. Whelan has a cool iPod Touch. Never leaves home without it.

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Some serious discussion going on. All three are accomplished engineers in their field. Two of them are chartered engineers, while one’s an umbilical expert. No mean feat.

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Finally, a smile from Mr. Payne. He’s probably the one guy with the whole Egina project embedded in his head. I can hardly keep track of the flowline data but somehow, he has most of the numbers and data stored in his head. Remarkable.

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Nice array of bottle lines up against the wall.

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Time to pay the bill. The fastest money counter in the whole of Lagos – brilliant personality.

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Lastly, a picture of the lagoon where the restaurant is located.

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The team started demobilising early this month. Tomorrow two go home, I leave on Saturday, 5 remain behind for another 2 weeks. Our 10-month TOTAL Egina Deepwater journey comes to an end.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

5 OBSERVATIONS

1. Once, all villagers decided to pray for rain, on the day of prayer all the  People gathered but only one boy came with an  umbrella...
THAT'S  FAITH


2. When  you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch  her...
THAT'S TRUST


3.Every  night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive the next  Morning but still we set the alarms in our watch to wake  up...

THAT'S  HOPE
 

4. We plan  big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future or  having any certainty of uncertainties. ..
THAT'S  CONFIDENCE


5. We see the world  suffering. We know there is every possibility of same or similar things  happening to us. But still we get married??.. .
THAT'S OVER  CONFIDENCE!!


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Who We Are...


We are all souls in costumes.

Some people take their costume too seriously.



Thursday, May 20, 2010

Need to Cool Down?



How's this for cooling? Check out the story behind the picture

Only in Malaysia...



 

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Chinese Philosophy

Some Chinese philosophy on life...


When without money, keep pigs;
When have money, keep dogs.


When without money, eat wild vegetables at home ;
When have money, eat same wild vegetables in fine restaurant.

When without money, ride bicycle;
When have money, ride exercise machine.

When without money, wish to get married;
When have money, wish to get divorced.

When without money, wife becomes secretary;
When have money, secretary becomes wife.

When without money, act like rich man;
When with money, act like poor man.

Man, O Man, never tells the truth:

Says sharemarket is bad but keeps speculating;
Says money is evil but keeps accumulating.

Says women are trouble-makers but keeps desiring them;
Says high positions are lonely but keeps wanting them.

Says smoking & drinking is bad but keeps partaking;
Says heaven is good but refused to go.

In the past, woman gives man their virginity;
Now, woman gives man their newborn baby

In the rural area, chicken calls man awake;
In the cities, man calls for chickens.

In the past, famous actresses will not sell their bodies;
Now, actresses will sell their bodies to become famous





What is life about?


1
At age one, YOU are the top priority

10
At age ten, academic excellence is the top priority

20
At twenty, getting laid is the top priority

30
At thirty, a good career is top priority

40
At forty, keeping your body in shape is top priority

50
At fifty, beating others at mahjong is top priority

60
At sixty, keeping IT up is top priority

70
At seventy, remembering something is top priority

80
At eighty, moving around is top priority

90
At ninety, knowing directions is top priority

100
At 100, having your portrait on the wall is top priority!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.

As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,

So ... Love the people who treat you right.

Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

Note: This is becoming more and more prevalent in these times. These days people snap at the smallest provocation. It will get worst. It will get so bad that someone will just detonate some nukes and humanity ends in an instant. The earth then waits another million years or so for another species to dominate the world.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Stupid Things People Say on Facebook



Ever wanted to know what stupid things people say on the Facebook profiles....then check out Openbook.


Inspirational Quotes



 

Another Night without Water at Somerset Court Hotel, Osborne.












Another night without water at Somerset Court Hotel, Osborne Foreshore Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria.

Staying in this hotel is becoming a joke. You have a General Manager who scoffs at your complaints, some of the staff who lie to you (don't get me wrong, you do have some staff who go out of their way to make your stay a memorable one) and aging plumbing which fails all the time. Add a horrible Internet connection to the list. Also, despite having a multitude of TV stations over cable (Dstv), there's only 9 channels available (if their working). I dont know why the hotel cant buy more decoders and have more channels, like what they have at Bungalows.

The general rule at Somerset is that the hotel is run for the staff by the staff, guests are secondary. And all this for N32,000 (USD213) per night.

We have been patient for long enough. It's been 2 hours since we lost water. The front desk said, "Don't worry sir, water will be back in 5 minutes." Typical Nigerian response for everything. I guess the expats are right, we're never staying at Somerset Court Hotel, Osborne any more. Enough is enough. 


I dont know if the Somerset Hotel at Temple road is any better - with only 2 TV channels but with faster Internet since there's not many tenants.


The only things that works properly is the swimming pool. Thank God for that.


We stopped eating in the hotel because the food is so salty. After 2 weeks staying in Somerset, I ended up at the Reddington Hotel with a blood pressure of 180/140!


To their credit, they did implement some worthwhile ideas, like having the tea, coffee and juice out for everyone to take during breakfast. And their breakfast delivery time has much improved - we dont have to wait 20 minutes for our breakfast, even after informing them of our choice the night before.

But overall, Dover could have done better than put us, for 10 months, at Somerset Court Hotel. Good riddance to Somerset in 2 weeks time. 

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Samuel Langhorne Clemens



Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Did you know that Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as "Mark Twain." You probably know him, but you may not know that he was also the dear friend of rogue genius Nikola Tesla.

Physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla predicted a device that would let a businessman in New York wirelessly communicate with his office in London or elsewhere. He made that prediction 101 years ago.


Friday, May 14, 2010

No Food at Pat's Bar.



Being hungry (starving actually), 5 of us headed off to Pat's Bar for lunch. They were closed the day before for some tax issues. Those of us who ordered the burgers got our burger after 45 minutes. The other two colleagues who ordered something more exotic ended up with nothing as their dishes only arrived after we called for the bill. Then magically their dishes appeared.

I dont know how they could keep their cool. But they did. Their now back in the office waiting for their take-away food to come (eventually).

Another example of poor service in Nigeria.


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Watch the Thomas Cup (Badminton) Live On the NET



Catch the Thomas Cup badminton live on the internet at
http://www.desichannels.co.cc/view-channel.html?ch=pembawa4&type=jst&nm=Thomas%20Cup:%20Malaysia%20vs%20Denmark


Beware of Drugs in Water Bottle



Beware of drugs being smuggled in bottled water.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Top 5 Hotels That Will Scare The Living Daylights Of You!


Check out the 5 most scariest hotels in the US.