LA Galaxy vs. Chelsea

I watched the friendly last Saturday just to see Beckham’s debut. Too bad it was 16 minutes before the end of the game.

The Game: Kinda boring, LA Galaxy were overly excited and Chelsea played well but typically messing up great chances.

Ridiculous & Typically American: Sports news updates DURING the game, not at halftime. Interviews with celebrities DURING the game, not at halftime. DURING THE GAME. Also, not only is there a sky cam (a camera that is remote controlled and flies across the top of the pitch), but there is a Beckham cam. Umm..

Changes So Far: LA Galaxy have completely changed their image. Everything is new. Not only have they changed their colors from gold and green to yellow and navy, and they have redesigned their logo! That is huge! Many can say that that had nothing to do with Beckham, but I think it definitely did. Also, MLS (Major League Soccer) is now available on ESPN. I observed a 100% increase in TV commercials promoting soccer, MLS and Beckham between 2004-2006 and 2007. This game already set a record. The friendly “generated the largest audience ever for a Major League Soccer match on ESPN or ESPN2.” A whopping 1.4 million viewers tuned in to watch Becks play for 16 minutes.

Change of Heart: I’m still 100% against his move and probably will never get over it. But I take back my comments on him being in semi-retirement. His goals are just different. Instead of working hard to be successful in helping his teams become champions, his main goal is to raise “soccer” popularity in the USA and I respect him for that. I totally believe in him and I really admire that he does too. I really miss him though.

Ramadhan 2007 TV Schedule

I got this in an email today. There were a lot more shows but I chose these few which I think are the more notable ones. If you really want to see the rest then leave a comment and I’ll email it to you. Just fill your email in the form and not in the actual comment, unless you want spam forever.

الفنانة حياة الفهد
تقدم مسلسل (الخراز) من تأليفها وإخراج السوري عارف الطويل وبطولة غانم الصالح ومنى شداد وهند البلوشي وهبة الدري.. حصريا على دبي… كما تقدم حياة الفهد عملا بعنوان (الأبلة نورة) لقناة دبي ولكن موعد عرضه غير مح

الفنانة سعاد عبد الله
تقدم مسلسل (الشاهين) تأليف راشد الجودر وإخراج محمد دحام الشمري، بطولة غازي حسين وخالد أمين وأحلام حسن.. حصريا على دبي… وتقدم سعاد كذلك عملا كوميديا بعنوان (الدار) قد يعرض في وقت لا

الكاتبة فجر السعيد
هناك غموض حتى الآن حول عملها الجديد الذي يقال أنه يحمل اسم (يود هوّد الليل) ستقدمه حصريا عبر محطة (سكوب) الفضائية، بطولة فناني سكوب سنتر.. لكن هذه المعلومات غير مؤكدة حتى الوقت الراهن لأن بعض المصادر أكدت بأن نص المسلسل غير جاهز وأن بعض النجوم اعترضوا على أمور كثيرة وحدثت خلافات “غير واضحة”… كما كان لديها عمل بعنوان (العميد) ولكنه تأجل وربما ألغي بسبب مشاكل غامضة خلف الكواليس.. لذلك هناك احتمال كبير بأن يغيب اسم فجر السعيد عن أعمال هذا العام. ولكن فجر تقدم مجموعة أخرى من المسلسلات لكتاب آخرين عبر مؤسسة سكوب.. ومن ضمنها

مسلسل بيت من ورق (ربما يكون اسمه “خيوط اللعبة”) من تأليف حسام موسى وإخراج غافل فاضل وبطولة إبراهيم الحربي ومشاري البلام وباسمة حمادة

مسلسل “عزف الدموع” للمخرج فراج الفراج، بطولة الهام الفضالة وشيماء علي وعبدالرحمن الخطيب وميساء مغربي

الفنان داود حسين
يقدم المسلسل الكوميدي (درويش) والمسلسل من تأليف الكاتب ضيف الله زيد وإخراج أياد الخزوز، وتشارك فيه مجموعة من الفنانين أمثال طيف، هبة الدري، أحمد السلمان، فرح بسيسو.. حصريا لقناة الراي

هذا ولدنا
تمثيل طارق العلي ويشهد العمل مشاركة نخبة من نجوم الكوميديا.. ويصور في تايلاند.. حصريا على الرا

Meet Putnox!

I have a pet hedgehog! I fell in love with them after I saw this video about two months ago. Since then I’ve been constantly reading up about them and about how to have them as a pet. Then I finally contacted a breeder in Illinois and had one of their latest litters reserved. This is a male high white chocolate pinto (type of color) and his name is Putnox.

Putnox is a word me and my big brother made up years ago. It means something that is small, weird and cute and/or funny looking. Perfect name I think. It is pronounced Put (”Put down that cake.”) -nooks (rhymes with books).

This photo is of him before I got him. I got him last Saturday, July 21st, so he’s been with me for about four days. The breeder said that it will take him about a week or two to get comfortable with his new home and with me.

So far, it’s been pretty normal according to the breeder. Pet hedgehogs will always get nervous and hiss and bring up their quills when you atempt to hold them but they will never bite. They have to be held as soon as they start doing that. After you pick them up, they’re perfectly fine and they’ll start walking up and down your lap and be cool.

One problem is that Putnox keeps pooping everywhere! There’s only two turds in the litter pan but the wheel and the cage is a mess! But my breeder says that when he becomes a full adult he’ll probably choose to poop in a specific corner of the cage and then I can put the litter pan there.

The best thing I love about Putnox is his color and that he’s always sniffing! Love it when the nose keeps on sniff-sniffing.

Click here for more photos of Putnox

There are tons of information online on keeping these hedgehogs as pets so be creative when searching. For general information about African Pygmy Hedgehogs go here.

End of Story

Well, I’m done.

There’s a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It happens every time I think about the last scene of the book. Naturally, I was also expecting this feeling because there won’t be another book. Harry and his crew’s story ends and there’s nothing more that can happen. That’s what J.K. Rowling has been saying from the very begining.

This one was different than the others. The others had the story lightly go along the school year at Hogwarts and then near the end all the action happens and then everyone goes home for the summer until school starts (or the next book comes). This one had action on every single one of it’s 759 pages.

Also as expected, there were sad parts (I actually shed a tear for the first time :|) and good parts. Mostly sad though. I won’t say what feeling is associated with the ending though.

Finally, I would like to say that I’m honored to have been a diehard fan ever since the begining as a young teenager (the perfect age to have started). This must be what teenagers felt like when they were part of the phenomenon that were the Beatles.

I think I’m going to write a letter to Rowling to thank her (corny but I don’t care).

I will never forget this great ride. I’m sorry for those who missed it.

Temporarily Offline.. For Important Reasons

“Within hours you will know what happens to Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest in their final adventure. All the secrets I have been carrying around for so long will be yours, too, and those who guessed correctly will be vindicated, and those who guessed wrongly will not, I hope, be too disappointed! As for me, I feel a heady mixture of excitement, nerves and relief. ‘Deathly Hallows’ remains my favourite of the series, even after several re-reads; I cannot wait to share it with the readers who have stuck with me through six previous books.”

And with these words from Lady Rowling herself, I shall bid you farewell.

I can’t risk any horrible spoilers from any form of media so I will be offline and out of touch until I finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Adios!

I’m Allergic to America

Literally. No joke. I’ve been here for three years and have developed two chronic disorders (one of which is a serious neurological condition) and possibly at least one of my wisdom teeth are starting to come out according to my dental hygene student friend.

I like it here though. Ain’t complaining of anything else but my health (and these damn mutant bugs). I got a year left, hopefully. So don’t bother saying “If you hate it this much then LEAVE!!” Because I AM leaving. No doubt about that. I’m getting my degree and am not going to look back twice. This doesn’t mean I don’t hate it. I have people that I love here and will probably visit a couple of times in the future and attend weddings and stuff.

I just thought it was funny that nothing ever happens to me in Kuwait, thank God. But it’s always over here. I’ve been to the emergency room twice in two years, nothing serious. Things could be a lot worse though. There was a Kuwaiti kid that was kidnapped some time ago. He was released safely.

I’m safe (generally, never 100%) here in this little college town. Where it is almost deserted for the summer, with nothing to do, everyone is back to their hometowns, I’m here, bored outta my mind.

The point is, even diabetics enjoy cake sometimes.

How to Convert RM, RAM to MP3 [Mac]

Us Mac people (me and my brother, at least) have had a really hard time trying to find a program that would simply convert Real Player audio and video files into mp3 or whatever. No succes. I even found programs that claim to convert every kind of format that you haven’t even heard of yet but still say that rm, ram and a couple of other formats are not supported.

Finally, I found a solution. It’s not a specific program. It’s just playing moving around some files that are already on the computer (assuming you already have Real Player and ffmpegX). It’s completely simple, “even a caveman can do it.”

Ta Daaaaa!