الحمّار, originally uploaded by malyousif.

Have a nice Friday… I’m just chillin’ today waiting for 6pm to watch the first of the two decisive matches in the World Cup!

New office: view from my desk, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The paintings on the wall are done by my dad (rest his soul).

This is the view from my desk.

Saeed Mosque, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The local lore says that a Christian man fell in love with Bahrain and this (Al-Hammam) neighbourhood in Manama so much that he financed the building of this mosque for the area’s worshippers!

I guess, over 100 years ago people were much more tolerant than they are today.

The Compere, originally uploaded by malyousif.

Abu Hameed’s been in the business for 18 years, and he only serves those he _wants_ to serve! Very picky. But this guy is an act on his own, knows the tea/coffee/water/juice preference of every single high official in Bahrain from the King to the pauper!

I’ll put up a blog post about him soon, while the memory is still fresh.

Thanks Abu Hameed!

If you can call it that in the first place that is!

Take for example this year’s F1 season opener in Bahrain which garnered much better television viewer figures than the traditional opener held at Australia, that – business-wise – should be enough to move that fixture permanently to the BIC in Bahrain, and it looks like Bernie is considering it.

And why shouldn’t he? The BIC has brought in BD 116 million last year and looks on track to bring in even more this year. All for an initial investment of BD 150 million, according to the GDN anyway, and we all know how reliable that paper can be. I’m skeptical at the figures because they look believable – as far as the revenues are concerned – if they are expressed in US Dollars rather than Bahraini Dinars (a Bahraini Dinar is equal to 2.65 US Dollars); how can an investment of BD 150 million return most of that investment in one year? I’m sure that the drug lords are envious!

There is no other way to find out the actual revenues because they apparently do not produce any annual reports, and if they do, they don’t post them on their website. I can ask I suppose, but this is not an investigative journalism piece, just various thoughts that crossed my mind as I was reading the GDN earlier. Even if the revenue numbers are wrongly represented in BD and they actually are in US$, last year’s revenue still constitutes a revenue-to-initial investment ratio of 29%, which is huge, and that is for a single year! I don’t know what their net margin is though…

If, on the other hand, that these numbers are actually correct, then more power to you BIC and everyone who sails in her; I have no problem their past success and wish them a lot more in the future… it just sounds a bit incredulous to me.

My family and I are deeply indebted to all those who gave us support and solace through the difficult time of our father’s death.

Our deep thanks and appreciation goes to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, the king of the Kingdom of Bahrain;

HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, The Prime Minister;
HH Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince who has graced us with his presence and for the time he spent with us as well as his kind and supportive words;

And all the members of the ruling family, artists, the Shura council, the House of Representatives, friends, coleagues and relatives who have paid their respects by visiting us personally, or contacted us by any other means.

Thank you all so very much for your support. I know that my father would have been proud to have known all of you.

May he rest in peace.

Nasser Al-Yousif, originally uploaded by malyousif.

We shall remember you for ever my father. You were a giant.

Rest in peace now, for you have also suffered enough.

Good bye.

We are accepting condolences at the Ma’atem Al-Ihsa’iyeen in Manama until Sunday evening 18 June, 2006.

In celebration of me going off to Beirut for the first time ever, what better chance is there to put the blame of all the world and everyone’s personal life on a Bahraini living in Lebanon at the moment?

So without further ado, let me introduce the Mahmood’s Den Scapegoat of the Moment….

So have at him people! He’s the reason that the world is so screwed up! But please allow me to be the first first to level blame on him….

MoClipper is the reason that my passion flower tree decided for the first time since it was planted a year ago to put up the most gorgeous bud and it is promising to open – the very first passion flower – in the next couple of days! The plant that I have nursed and poured much love on is about to have its babies and I’m not around! And all because of that bloody Clipper!

I know I’ll have access to the internet so I might pop in from time to time, so if you’re in Beirut and want to hang out, leave me a comment here or fill in the contact form… I’m leaving back to Bahrain on Saturday afternoon.

Stealth bombers drop their loads on Keller and Rosicky.

Press secretary says the Czechs have had ample time to “correct their wayward ways” but didn’t heed the advice.

Allah help us from this fallout!

In high resolution no less!

Have a look at my brief tour of the Islands, and see if you can recognise any of these landmarks. Google Earth is a free program which is easily downloaded and installed, of course as its main use is to display images, it might eat up your bandwidth, so watch out for that.

Other than that, I created a new Flickr group called Bahrain Google Earth (yeah I know, very creative) for you to share your screenshots of interesting places in Bahrain.

Here’s is one that I grabbed and I cannot believe that this is Bahrain… looks like a resort in the Caribbean or Thailand or somewhere like those…

Look what Patty sent over all the way from San Diago! I live in hope that one day, my front porch will look even marginally as beautiful as hers’!.

Sean brought them over as he is on a short business trip to Bahrain, and thankfully he could spare a little while to have a quick coffee, an occasion that I hope that we will both repeat every time he comes back to Bahrain! A new tradition!!

Thanks to both of you. Frances and I hope that you will find a few days to spend in Bahrain again very very soon.

I’ll plant these seeds with love and keep updating you on how they come along.

Bahrain used to be a collection of islands, each surrounded – obviously – by water. That virtually stopped when the King Fahad Causeway opened, and now it is further strengthened by the signing of the agreements to construct another causeway, this time between Bahrain and Qatar.

Apart from this being a huge step for business and travel between the two countries, it will also reduce the time it takes to get to the Emirates, some say (and I have no confirmation of this and would like to know if it is actually true) that this new causeway might shave off more than 5 hours from the trip which usually takes some 12 hours.

Now all we need is another couple causeways, one between Bahrain and Kuwait, and other between Bahrain and the Emirates and we would have had it sussed. Just imagine the marketing for Bahrain if and when that happens: “travel the Gulf without stepping into Saudi!” or “Even women can drive from Bahrain to Kuwait now” and all the other tag lines which could be coined.

Via the effervescent Roba, I got to the Independent’s list of 20 things one MUST know how to do, written by individual field specialists, is an article worth reading and practicing; from how to scramble eggs (which I don’t agree with) to tips on the art of listening by Larry King.

So, Ruba my lovely, this is my way of scrambling eggs:

1. Get 4 eggs
2. Crack them into a deep bowl, add salt and pepper to taste
3. Whisk the hell out of them
4. Get a good pan, smaller is better
5. Throw in a couple of bars of butter, enough to give taste but not enough to give you a heart attack… you know your limit… me? I love butter, so I always put an extra clump in there
6. LOW HEAT, as low as can be, remember we’re trying to make scrambled eggs, not an omlette or a piece of leather!
7. Once the butter has melted, make sure that the oil is actually coating the whole pan
8. Before it gets too hot, pour the whisked eggs into the pan
9. Get a wooden spoon and then SLOWLY stir the eggs mixing it with the butter and KEEP stirring all the time, never stop, don’t go for a smoke, or microwave bread, or anything else. Scrambling the eggs is your sacred duty, so you should have already prepare a plate to receive the eggs when ready, microwaved your pita bread, and got the tea at least brewing in the tea pot before you stand at the cooker
10. Whilst stirring, make sure that no part of the pan collects and solidifies the eggs. That would be a cardinal sin. All the goo in there should be at the same consistency.
11. Once the consistency is achieved, immediately pour onto the plate
12. LEAVE TO SIT for at least 3 minutes; remember that eggs CONTINUE to cook even after you take them off the heat, so always aim to remove the eggs before they reach the consistency you normally like, this will come with experience.
13. I like my scrambled eggs a bit runny, so I never allow them to fully cook before I remove them off the fire, and I personally never put black pepper in the mix as I find that it solidify the eggs a lot sooner… I always add pepper later.
14. Set on a plate, pour your milky tea and tuck in with properly warmed pita bread.

Now THAT is a breakfast I could wake up to every single day of my life… I love scrambled eggs!

Roba my sweet, when we meet – as I am sure we shall – I’ll cook you my special scrambled eggs, but NOT at 3 in the morning!!!

Click here to download a full, time-zone corrected, kick-off calendar directly to your favourite calendar program, iCAL, Outlook, RSS, phone, etc.

Then bookmark this Flickr tag: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/worldcup/ to see all the action from people who are lucky enough to attend the games.

Another tag of course is the Technorati tag: http://technorati.com/tag/worldcup

The official site is at Yahoo is amazing, everything in one place: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/

Hat tip: BlogDay