The Muscatis

Mommy & Me

2011-02-25T16:41:00.002+04:00

Mark your calendars for Um Faisal's first business venture, the Mommy & Me exhibition coming on Feb 27 and 28th at the Al Noor Hall in Madinat Qaboos.

Mommy & Me is an upscale Mother and Child exhibition, bringing together amazing shopping and expert advice from over a hundred names in the baby and family business all under one roof. From large corporates to small businesses, the goal is to gather an unparalleled group of products and services that will cater to the needs of families in Oman.

Whether you are parents of little ones, parents-to-be or have children in your lives, Mommy & Me will have something for you.

Mommy & Me isn't just shopping. It’s also about sharing information and resources. There's non-profit zone where important support groups and organisations for children and their families will be present to share their knowledge.

Mommy & Me is an event for the entire family. There will be a variety of entertainment and food on offer, making Mommy & Me a fun day out for everyone.

Along with shopping and entertainment, there are seminars on both days of the event. (Advance registration is required for all seminars.) Seminar schedule: here.

For details please check the Mommy & Me website: mommyandmeoman.com

Interact on the Mommy & Me Facebook page and see the special offers by exhibitors.

Also, follow Mommy & Me on Twitter: @MommyandMeOman

The end [?]

2009-10-14T19:15:00.002+04:00

This morning I was in a meeting with a well known businessman. It was a senior level meeting and most of our discussion was pretty much off the record without having to really say it. But at one point in the middle of the meeting the client mentioned that what he was about to say was off the record. "Of course," we replied. But he looked at me and smiled then said "don't put this on your blog."

That's when I had to admit to myself that this blog is over. This is something I've been thinking about lately, especially after last week's Muscat TweetMeet where I was asked a lot about what happened to my blog. I have reached a point in my career and my personal life where I have to stop myself from writing on many topics for this exact reason. Can't write about companies because as a banker every company is either a present, past or potential future client. Can't write about politics, because let's face it we aren't exactly in a free speech heaven. Can't write about... (you get the picture)

I will probably continue writing the occasional post, but I will never be able to post the kind of stuff I used to write back when the blog was at its most active. It's not the end, it's just an official admission to myself that my reality has changed, that's all.

So Oman Mobile disconnected my phone today

2009-04-19T15:30:00.002+04:00

I was woken up at 5.45am this morning by an SMS from Oman Mobile: "Dear Customer, you reached 75% of your credit limit (R.O. 150). For customer service please dial 1234." I ignored the message and tried to get a few more precious moments of sleep before the alarm rings at 6.20 as usual.

At 10.15am, another SMS: "Dear Customer, your outgoing calls have been barred out due to exceeding your credit limit (R.O. 150).... "

How did I go from 75% of quota to exceeding it in four and a half hours without even using the phone in that period?

And why is my credit limit is 150 rials and who set it at that?

My monthly bill is about 30 to 40 rials, sometimes more, often less. When I'm traveling or if anyone from the family is away the bill goes up to much more than 150. My credit has always been good and I've been an Oman Mobile customer for 13 years now. They never once thought of increasing my credit limit on their own, and I've never bothered to ask for one.

How did my bill reach 150 rials when I haven't made any international calls this past month and except for 24 hours in Abu Dhabi for the Coldplay concert, I hadn't even left the country?

I called 1234 and was told that my bill is 38 rials for March (this bill still hasn't reached me in the post) and 116 for this month so far, of which 112 rials is data usage. I asked what was my data usage in megabytes or gigabytes and was told that they are unable to tell from their system, I had to go to the nearest Omantel counter. No problem. I walked to the CBD counter, just a five minute walk from the bank. Three different guys there scratched their heads together and finally came up with the answer "we'll call you back" (that was 4 hours ago, still no call).

So I came back to the bank and looked up the tariff on Oman Mobile's website to try to figure out my usage on my own. It says that for Pay As You Go 3G usage the tariff is:

0-20MB. 0.5 baisa per kb
20-100MB. 0.25 baisa per kb
>100MB. 0.005 baisa per kb

In other words, as I calculated, for the first 20MB you would pay 10.24 rials, then you'd pay 20.48 rials for the next 80MB and after that it would 50 baisas per MB (5 rials per GB).

Based on that my bill would for something like 16GB of data which is absolutely impossible. The only internet data I consume my phone is for Twitter (using Twibble, which is just text), and whenever I'm waiting in a queue somewhere I spend my time catching up with feeds on Google Reader (again mostly text). I don't even use 16GB of bandwidth on my home adsl account which is online 24/7.

I emailed someone high up in Omantel to ask if my calculations are wrong. He replied that I was right, but their system first keeps track of usage based on the most basic 0-20MB Pay As You Go tariff and then "the adjustments of usage beyond the first 20MB will happen at the end of the month."

In other words I have been criminally over charged. My usage was probably around 300MB but since the end of the month is still 11 days away, the system hasn't made the tariff adjustment yet and what I paid today is about triple what I'm supposed to pay. The stupid arbitrary quota made the system disconnect my phone and the people at the counter don't know how the billing system works so they just took the present outstanding as shown on the screen and made me pay that amount. I won't know how much I overpaid till the credit shows in my bill next month.

The way out of this would be to subscribe to one of their monthly data packages, cheapest of which is 19 rials for 1GB, the next is 15GB for 34 rials. No middle ground.

Does this make sense to anyone?

Say No To Plastic Bags

2009-04-13T19:32:00.001+04:00

Not even 100 meters from my house

The Muscatis Blog Fifth Anniversary

2009-03-31T09:49:00.002+04:00

My first post on this blog was March 30th, 2004, the day I finished the course work for the MSc in Business Information Technology Systems (BITS) at the University of Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow. It was going to be a diary as I search for a dissertation topic, find an supervisor and complete my MSc. It didn't work out that way. I didn't post again on the blog except one time on June 19th. Finally on July 29th, 2004 the blog was reborn as a shared blog between the two of us and it took off from there.

It's like March 30th was the malka and the wedding itself didn't take place till July 29th, so which of the two dates should be the anniversary? If you ask Um Faisal, I bet she'll say it's the latter :)

5 years of blogging. Wow.

One Logo To Rule Them All

2009-03-24T22:07:00.002+04:00

No Comment

Omantel vs Ali Al Zuwaidi

2009-03-16T06:15:00.002+04:00

Links:

1) My original post from September on Article 61 of the telecom law which makes owners and moderators of websites responsible for the content published on their sites and how it was being used to prosecute a moderator (Ali Al Zuwaidi from Sablat Oman).

2) MyITLawyer's blog post yesterday on the progress of Al Zuwaidi's trial.

3) The public prosecutor's reminder to the public about Article 61, which incidentally covers all electronic communication, even SMS. (Arabic)

4) An Omani writer finally speaks up on the case in an opinion column in yesterday's Al Shabiba newspaper, and ends with asking "where is the Omani Writer's Association" in the middle of all this? (Arabic).

Twitter

2009-03-10T17:52:00.001+04:00

I lost my blogging momentum. Is it because I have nothing to write, or is it because I'm more active on Twitter?

I added the Twitter widget to the blog so you can read my last 5 tweets. Or you can just follow me on Twitter. It's addictive.

In case you didn't know

2009-02-14T09:14:00.001+04:00

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

This is to become in notice

2009-02-03T23:14:00.003+04:00

"The Musandam Experience"

2009-01-31T00:50:00.003+04:00

Gary Arndt has been traveling the world for the past two years. He has been in over 50 countries so far. Last week he was here in Oman. I have been following his travels in the UAE and Oman on his blog and on Twitter. While in Muscat last week, Gary heard about the Musandam ferry and decided to take it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any information on it. This is what he wrote on his blog:

Having read numerous articles about the ferry to Musandam I figured it would be as easy as taking a bus or a plane. All I needed to do was find out the schedule, get in a taxi and go to the ferry terminal at the right time.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

It seems that everyone I’ve talked to in Oman has heard of the ferry, but no one actually knows anything about it. I’ve spoken to five travel agents near my hotel. None of them offer ferry tickets nor know where to go to get tickets. No one in my hotel knows anything. None of the cab drivers know anything or where to take me to get a ticket. There is no website for the ferry company. All the searches you do bring up articles about the ferry, but no actual information on how to get tickets nor can I find links to a website from the articles. I have been told by one taxi driver you get tickets in Ruwi, but he didn’t know where that was. One Omani told me that they are only for government officials (which I have no idea if that is true).
This huge investment the government made in high speed, world class ferries is pretty much useless as no one knows how to take it, even if they wanted to.

In the end he managed to get to the ferry with the help of blogger, Arun Rajagopal, who tweeted the information to him on Twitter (isn't social media great?).

Gary later posted a damning review of the whole situation on his blog in which he calls the Musandam ferry: "perhaps the worst run business I have ever witnessed in my life". He goes on to detail why as follows:

Why is this a horrible business?

The car ferry has never transported a car. In the excitement to have the world’s fastest ferry, they never built a ferry terminal to support loading cars onto the boat. It only carries passengers right now. I have seen no activity towards building an actual terminal for cars.
The flight to Khasab is 55 minutes versus 5 hours for the ferry. The cost is the same. An airplane can carry as many vehicles as the ferry right now: zero. You have to show up at the ticket office two hours before the ferry leaves to get on a bus to take you to the ferry.
The operating costs of the ferry are enormous. It burns 18,000 liters of fuel each trip. Even though Oman is an oil producer, with subsidized fuel it is almost impossible to break even with a full boat. There were about 10 crew on board the ship that I could tell and there would probably be more if they had to load cars. The snack bar was open and everything was free. There were about 20 passengers on the boat when I took it.
There is no website where you can buy tickets. There are no agents which you can buy tickets from. I’ve seen no marketing material of any sort except for a very nice full color brochure you get after you buy a ticket. There has been no advertising and no one in Muscat seems to know anything about the ferry other than it exists and it is the best in the world.
Musandam, the destination for the ferries, has a total population of 30,000 people and three hotels. They probably couldn’t support a full boat of people if they had one.
The ferries were not designed for long haul routes. They were designed for trips no greater than an hour. The engines are being used far more than they were designed for with 5 hour trips. As a result, mechanical problems and issues with spare parts will start creeping up over the next few months.

He ends his rant with: "The ferry is sort of a microcosm of what you see in much of Oman: pretty cool looking, but sort of dysfunctional once you look behind the scenes." [link]

Ouch!

It's been six months since the ferry was launched, what excuse does the National Ferr Company have for still not having set up a website for its service? You'd think that with their ferries going close to empty most of the time they'd actually do everything they can to let the whole world know about them. This is definitely not the kind of comments the Ministry of National Economy was hoping for when they launched this service, but then again who can they blame but themselves for the continuing bad publicity that this service keeps getting.

You can read all Gary's posts about Oman by clicking here.

Related post: Ferry to Khasab

Brand Oman

2009-01-26T17:33:00.003+04:00

Last night Oman finally launched the country's official branding in a grand event which you can read about on Sangeetha's blog. Discussion immediately followed in the comments on her blog as well as on follow up posts on Blue-Chi, Arun and Kishor's blogs. The branding was done by Landor, who were originally contracted by the government for this exercise back in November 2004. I am not sure what caused the four year delay, if anyone out there knows I would love to know.

Decyphering the logo:

The symbol incorporates the name Oman, calligraphically rendered in Arabic

The extreme right arc symbolises the 'ship' befitting maritime glory of Oman

The center arc denotes the silhouette of the majestic 'mountains' of Oman

The bottom arc depicts the rich 'marine environment' of Oman

The left extreme curly arc represents the smoke of Omani 'frankincense'

My view (as previously posted as a comment on Arun's blog and later amended on Sangeetha's):

Something in the logo just isn’t right. It’s off somehow, but I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly about it that’s off. 1) It is a weirdly non-symmetrical pattern. 2) It leads your eye to its left. Even when told that it is Arabic caligraphy, my eye still went from left to right. It flows that way. 3) It looks more like sanskrit than Arabic to me. 4) If I wasn't told it was Arabic writing, I would have assumed it was just a drawn logo that didn't make sense. In a word, gibberish. 5) Why in the world does a logo need to be explained(I mean come on, who has the time)? 6) Most importantly, the colors are cold. There’s no warmth in them. Uninviting, that's the word that comes to mind. These are colors for a corporate logo, not a country.

I find it strange that Oman's national symbol, the khanjar, has been removed from Oman Air and hasn't been used in the country's own branding. Someone apparently in the know has commented on Sangeetha's blog that the government is conciously distancing away from the khanjar as a national symbol because it is a weapon since we are living in a "sensitive" world. If I was involved in the branding exercise, I wouldn’t have agreed with the thought process which analyzes the khanjar as a weapon. Most countries only dream of having as strong a national symbol as the Omani khanjar. I refuse to believe that they couldn’t think of variations on the theme. They could have tried to redraw the khanjar, or use it as an inspiration for a new logo. Oman Air went for an extremely generic logo which is apparently based on smoke from burning of incense. Smoke, on a plane?!!!! And now brand Oman is Arabic calygraphy?

Another thing, I would have marketed Oman simply as Oman, not Sultanate of Oman.

How do you like them BlackBerries?

2009-01-21T09:19:00.000+04:00

Corporations have been showering Oman's Gulf Cup winning team with hundreds of thousands of rials in cash and cars. So what does Omantel, the country's biggest and most profitable listed company award the team? Free BlackBerry devices with one year free service.

Classic Omantel.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

Where to begin?

2009-01-18T13:24:00.001+04:00

I love Amazon.co.uk's January sales. I always go a bit overboard with DVD orders in the after xmas sales, and this year was no exception. With this present economy, Amazon.co.uk started the January Sale well before xmas. This pic shows the contents of two out of the three packages I received yesterday. Almost all them were bought at 40 to 70% off and with the British Pound down from about $2 to $1.5, Amazon UK is now a better place to buy DVDs than Amazon.com. The cost of postage is negligble after VAT is deducted, as compared to Amazon USA where the shipping cost is too restrictive and Aramex Shop and Ship is now ridiculously expensive. I choose Air Post, the packages were dispatched on January 11th and collected here on the 17th.

Now which one to watch first?

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

Oman wins Gulf Cup. Holiday for all*

2009-01-18T12:20:00.001+04:00

Oman won the gulf cup and the Sultan ordered a national holiday. What a day!

To the young people out there and the expats who have only been in Oman a few years it might seam ridiculous to get a national holiday for winning a football tournament, but you have to go back and look at Oman's football beginnings back in the 70's. We were the team that always ends in last place. Other countries used to go into the Gulf Cup with the "at least we'll beat Oman" attitude. We used to get creamed as much as 8 - 0. Until Gulf Cup 17 in 2004 Oman hadn't even achieved a podium finish. We reached the final in 2004 and proved in 2007 that it wasn't a fluke by doing it again. Oman started Gulf Cup 19 as the favorites. This is no small thing.

We won. It's a new era for Omani football. I hope the government is generous in its rewards for our boys.

* holiday for everyone in Oman except apparently my wife whose workplace isn't part of either the public or private sector.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

Temp this morning

2009-01-17T11:50:00.000+04:00

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

Be Your Own Detective

2009-01-10T17:52:00.002+04:00

So this morning I was up on my house's rooftop while a handyman was finally putting a clothes line. Yep, 11 months after moving into the house we finally have a sturdy line to dry our clothes on. Anyway, I was looking at all the construction around my house. We're practically living in a construction zone. There are more than 15 houses being built within less than 200 meters walking distance from my house. The empty plot right next to my house is a dump. There are three houses being built in the line behind my house and all of them are dumping their crap in this empty plot. By law they will have to remove all the crap when they finish building or the municipality won't give the site completion certificate, but until that time I have to suffer. So today, my "all around the house" guy U (I refuse to call him a "house boy", I hate that phrase, and one day sooner or later he'll pass his driving exam and become a driver), told me that the construction workers in the house exactly diagonally behind us, sit up late at night singing and clapping and he can't sleep well because of him. Then he shocked me by telling me that they drink all night. I asked where they get the alcohol and got a bigger shock when he told me that there's a car that comes to the neighborhood every day and sells booze to all the construction sites.

As soon as the handyman finished his work, I got into my car and went to Bausher police station to complain. The policeman just looked at me and said he needs more information before he can do anything. Like what, I asked. He said I should give him, at the very least, details on the car that sells the alcohol. It's make and model and car number. I said, isn't this your part. I give you the complaint and then you as police investigate? Apparently not. I guess, I'm gonna have to set up my own stakeout and find all the details for them. Once I have the car number, they will trace its owners and do their part.

Whatever.

Oman's official football kit

2009-01-10T17:42:00.002+04:00

All the original Oman football team shirts being sold in the market are by Lotto, and Lotto's agent in Oman, Muscat Sports, says that Lotto is the official sponsor of the Omani team. But in the Gulf Cup this time the team is actually wearing Adidas. However if you go to any Adidas shop they don't have the official kit and they aren't even aware that the team is wearing Adidas.

What gives? Was Adidas' sponsorship a last minute thing?

"Layoff reports baseless"

2009-01-09T16:46:00.001+04:00

From the front page of yesterday's Oman Tribune.

An official source at the Ministry of Manpower on Wednesday denied the validity of recent reports that some companies operating in the Sultanate have laid off their employees as a fallout of the global financial crisis.

The ministry has not received anything in this regard from the companies. A company cannot lay off any worker without informing the ministry in advance and an employee cannot be dismissed before the ministry finds an alternative job for him, the source said.

The source pointed out that the demand for skilled labour in the private sector is increasing. There is a large number of unskilled workforce in the 18-20 age group in the Sultanate. The layoffs may happen in the event of a sudden cessation of projects or bankruptcy of companies; but nothing of the sort has happened so far in the Sultanate.

Talking to Oman Tribune, official sources of some companies have also denied the validity of the reports about layoffs. No company has so far declared its decision or intention to lay off their employees.

The sources also said due to the wise policy initiatives and preventive measures, the economy of the Sultanate remains robust and is immune to the impact of global financial crisis.

Obviously the ministry source is talking about Omanis and the article doesn't mention anywhere whether any expatriates have been laid off.

No To Plastic Bags

2009-01-08T18:07:00.002+04:00

Jan 8th is Oman Environment Day. The Envrionment Society of Oman (ESO) is launching a 6 month anti plastic bag campaign.

I am at Safeer Hypermarket in Athaiba handing out reusable shopping bags, talking to shoppers and filling questionnaires.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Oman Mobile!

Gulf Cup Iwo Jima

2009-01-07T08:57:00.002+04:00

Sent from my BlackBerry®

Gulf Cup Tickets

2009-01-06T17:23:00.003+04:00

We wanted to go to the opening game of the Gulf Cup. The tickets are exclusively sold at Omanoil petrol stations, but the stations aren't linked in any way to a central office so there was no way to know which station still had tickets. Every Omanoil station we went to was sold out. The news was that the tickets sold out. When we saw it on TV there were large sections of the stadium that were empty. What gives? Even Ali Al Habsi was complaining about it in his interview after the match.

Anyhow, tickets to each game are put on sale at 10am the day before, so we were planning to go split up and go to different stations early this morning to guarantee getting tickets for tomorrow's Oman game. But then suddenly this morning I got a phone call that they are canceling all ticket sales and now all the games are going to be free. I just checked on the Gulf Cup 19 website and it's true:

The organizing committee for the 19th Gulf Cup tournament has decided that starting today, all matches will be free. All the fans will be able to attend their team's matches and support them without paying, but they will have to abide by the regulations set for this policy. It will be a first-come first-served strategy as the stadium gates will be opened at 3:30 every day and closed at 5:00. [link]

It's going to be pandemonium. My son has been asking me every day if we're going to go see the game in the stadium. But now that the tickets are first come basis, immediately before the match, my wife is having second thoughts about it and says it's better to watch from home. To get tickets we're going to have to go from 3.30 and stay in the stadium till the game starts at 6pm. That's too long a wait for a three and a half year old kid. If we go late we might not get tickets and we'd end up stuck in the traffic to get home. And worst case, what if there's no tickets available and the crowd gets out of control?

I guess I'm gonna have to try some wasta to get VIP tickets.

Let It Rust : خلوها تصدي

2009-01-05T17:33:00.003+04:00

There's a backlash building up across the GCC against car dealerships. At its center is a campaign with the slogan "Let it Rust" which calls for people to boycott all car dealers until they reduce their prices. The campaign has been spreading through emails and mostly on Arabic online discussion forums such as Mqataa.com, Gulf4Cars and even Sablat Oman. The emails have mostly been pictures of huge yards full of unsold cars mostly in the US, though more recent emails have included pictures from dealers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

I think local auto dealers have more or less brought this on themselves. They use any excuse to increase prices. Any increase in the Euro or the Yen is immediately followed by increases in car prices, but when the situation reverses as it has now especially with the Euro the dealers come up with all sorts of excuses to keep the prices high. When I inquired why BMW hasn't reduced their price even though the Euro was down close to 20%, I was given the excuse that the drop was unexpected and that they have already booked Euros at the higher price for all their purchases till next year. Auto dealers in the gulf treat customers as if they are stupid. As if they have no access to information and prices except what they give them. The campaign has focused on this aspect, especially that auto dealers in the gulf are all monopolies. The emails have been showing the US list prices of some cars and comparing them with their prices here. Even without the crises, car prices were higher here in the gulf. Now with the US and Europe bracing for severe recessions, tens if not hundreds of thousands of cars are lying in inventories unsold. In the US, General Motors is giving a rebate of $8000 on every GMC Yukon sold. Here in Oman the price of the Yukon actually went up last month. The US big three auto manufacturers are on the brink of bankruptcy, and even the mighty Toyota about to announce their first lost in 70 years. The GCC is a tiny market for automobile manufacturers, but already rumors are swirming that even in Oman, Bahwan Toyota has already laid off 300 expatriate workers.

Car import volumes are still unaffected. A source in the shipping industry told me that the port here has inquired with all the local dealers to know if their volumes will be lower in 2009, all confirmed that orders will remain at least at 2008 levels.

I am not sure if a campaign like Let It Rust can have an effect, but auto dealers are definitely feeling the heat.

Barefoot in 2009

2009-01-04T20:38:00.003+04:00

Happy new year, everyone.

Today was the first working day of 2009. All the talk in the office this morning was about what a bad year this might turn out to be. People were joking about ordering 200 baisa sandwiches from the cafeteria instead of the 2 rial sandwiches from Costa Coffee two buildings down. It was all light hearted, but there's no doubt that there's a lot of fear in people. 2009 is definitely not looking to be an easy year. Oman's budget has a 2 billion dollar deficit, and that's an optimistic estimate based on oil priced at $45 a barrel.

Around 9am, ColOman called me to ask if I'd go along with him to an 3aza in Muttrah for the death of his friend's sister who died of cancer a the very young age of 27. I don't personally know the family but the news of her death yesterday had really gotten to me when I heard the news, so I went with him. We gave our condolences and sat in the 3aza for about fifteen minutes before we got up to leave. When we reached the door I couldn't find my na3al (sandals). I suppose someone might have mistakenly worn them and left because there was another pair close by of the same brand, almost the same design, but a smaller size. Then again, I wear size 45 and very few Omanis wear my size. It's not likely for someone to wear them and not notice the size difference. I ended up walking out barefoot. Good thing, I had my car keys with me or else I'd have had to go back to my office barefoot as well to get them. I had ColOman drop me by my car at work and I drove barefoot home to get another pair to wear. What was supposed to be a quick half an hour outside the office ended up being about two hours.

Omani brands

2008-12-26T20:30:00.001+04:00

1. Bad branding

Oman Mobile has one of the ugliest logos ever and I can't wait till they get rid of it in 2009. I've been an Oman Mobile user since GSM first started in Oman back when they were GTO. As superficial as it is, if seriously think that if I was new in Oman now, I'd probably Nawras because of their better branding.

Another Omani company whose branding I don't like is Al Maha. Their logo is not bad, but the branding itself, the look and feel of their petrol stations, is a big turn off. In fact, I don't think I've filled in an Al Maha station in the past ten years. Earlier this decade they've refreshed their brand, but they didn't go far enough.

Q: Can bad branding turn you off a brand?

2. The cover story on this month's issue of BusinessToday is the Best Brands Survey Oman 2008. The survey's participants named the following as the top brands in Oman:

Toyota
BankMuscat
Nokia
Nawras
Sony

However, when asked to name the top Omani brands the top five were:

Amouage
Oman Cables
Chips Oman
Nabil
Al Mudhish

How can BankMuscat and Nawras be named among the top 5 brands in Oman but not the top 5 Omani brands? The magazines explanation is: "It appears that people have a better memory for products they use in their daily lives than for banks or airlines." Who are these people they interviewed and how come Oman Cables is a product they might use on a daily basis?

Q: What do you consider to be the top Omani brands?

They're all feeling it

2008-12-26T18:04:00.004+04:00

In the past month Jumbo Electronics and Lulu both announced promotions with six month interest free finance on electronics. Today I was at Carrefour and in the electronics section all the products had big price stickers with the monthly instalment amount instead of the full price.

Everyone's feeling the heat.

I guess for now they are hanging tough trying to maintain sales by promoting instalment schemes. I wonder how long before they start to drop prices.

Change at Omantel

2008-12-23T19:06:00.005+04:00

There's an interesting interview with Omantel's CEO, Mohammed Al-Wohaibi, on the telecom journal Comm website.

Omantel is in the process of merging back into being a single company after their disastrous decision in 2004 to split the company into two separate companies. After the completion of this process, Oman Mobile will not longer exist, most probably not even as a brand. All the company's products will be sold as Omantel. Thankfully, Oman Mobile and its incredibly ugly logo and colors will disappear from existence. Omantel will rebrand with a new logo, supposedly by the first quarter of 2009.

Current market talk is that the government has differed the partial sale of their stake in the company to a strategic investor. Due to the current fall in the company's stock price, the government feels that the offers they get will be too low. I am not sure how true the talk is of the government expecting 3 rials per share as the sale price.

I don't understand how the company can go through so many changes, especially such as the new logo and branding, when at the same time it is being shopped around. Wouldn't the new owners want a say on the branding?

The interview is worth reading. He is canded on some things and typically political on others. On the subject of all the MVNO licenses that the TRA recently awarded:

I would say that a more prudent strategy would have been to issue two MVNO licences and then see how the market reacts. Maybe in one or two years’ time if the regulator wanted to introduce more competition, then issue a third or fourth licence. But to issue an MVNO licence to anybody who knocks on the door and fulfils minimum requirements? I think that is quite risky. We have to appreciate that throughout the world, failure of MVNOs is very high,”

He also mentions that Omantel has approached the TRA for a WiMAX license. Nawras has received a WiMAX license along with their fixed line license. This gives Nawras an advantage in that they can provide broadband internet without having to build expensive cable infrastructure. In his words: "The regulator has offered WiMAX to the second operator, which does not create a fair ground to compete."

Link: All Change At Omantel

CCC now smoke free

2008-12-22T23:39:00.002+04:00

I have to admit that I am not a frequent visitor to the CCC shopping center in Qurum. It must have been three months since I last been there. I stopped there today in a rush to buy some baby formula from Al Fair and found these banners everywhere declaring that they are now a smoke free shopping center. As they say in "Times of Oman"-ese: Kudos to them, and hopefully other shopping centers and malls will follow.

My son used to really love that small play area in the CCC and we took him there regularly when he was younger. Unfortunately, the play area is surrounded by small coffeeshops and by night time all of them would be full of smokers. It's great that the CCC management/owners voluntarily chose to become smoke free.

I remember 4 years ago I tried to start an email campaign to get people to write to Muscat City Center to ban smoking. At that time I received an email reply from the mall's general manager, Mr. Ibrahim Al Qasmi, telling me that they more than comply with all government regulations and that Muscat Municipality was planning to ban smoking indoors in all of Muscat by September 2006, to which MCC will gladly comply. Well Muscat Municipality never banned smoking, and now we have two City Centers, Seeb and Qurum both of which allow smoking. I emailed Mr. Al Qasmi again tonight to ask him if there's any chance City Center might voluntarily ban smoking. I'll let you know how he replies. If anyone's interested in emailing him his email is: alqasmi@mafgroup.ae (this is not private, it was posted on Oman Forum at that time when we tried to do the email petition thing).

It's All Good

2008-12-22T15:47:00.002+04:00

Mazoon Mobile's logo and slogan [link].

According to Wikipedia, the shaka or "hang loose" hand sign is:

associated with Hawaii and sports such as surfing, kitesurfing, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and skydiving. It consists of extending the thumb and pinky finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted; sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign.
Hawaiian locals use the shaka for various meanings, like "all right", "cool", "smooth", etc. Residents of states other than Hawaii who use the shaka may describe it as meaning "hang loose" and in California, the symbol itself is more commonly called the "hang loose" sign rather than the "Shaka" sign. It is also used to convey what locals in Hawai'i call the "Aloha Spirit," a gesture of friendship and understanding between the various ethnic cultures that reside within Hawai'i. It can also be used to signal a "hello", "goodbye", " 'till next time", "take care", "Alright!"

All good, but what does it have to do with a company named Mazoon, the ancient name of Oman? I'm guessing that maybe locally that hand sign probably looks like a phone and it means "call me"?

That tag

2008-12-21T22:22:00.003+04:00

Seems like every blog I go to these days has the same tag going on, the one about "5 things people don't know about you." I'm not going to repeat that here, not that anyone's tagged me to in the first place. However, for the sake of keeping up the post count on this blog, I guide your attention to the following posts from way back in March 2005:

Muscati's Confessions (AKA 44 things about about me)
Less than 100 things about me (AKA UmFaisal's 45 back when she went by the nick OceanDream)

Remember those days, back when this was actually a blog where both of us used to post? Good times...

Shura Council rejects weekend change

2008-12-21T20:59:00.003+04:00

Amjad replied to my previous post with a link to a topic on Omania.net. Apparently the Council of Minsters had requested the view of the Majlis Ash'Shura on the shifting of the weekend to Friday/Saturday. The Majlis appointed a team to prepare a study. A survey was done. Opinions of experts were taken, and a conclusion was reached. The conclusion is to there is no justification for a change in the weekend for various "religious, political, social and economic" reasons. And that modern technology and international communication methods are widely available and easy to use and are not a justification for a weekend change. Further to that, the Majlis concludes its study with a request for the private sector to adopt a two-day weekend: Friday and Saturday, "for the public good"!

سبلة عُمان: رفض مجلس الشورى مقترح تغيير الإجازة الأسبوعية إلى يومَي الجمعة والسبت المحال من جلالة السلطان المعظم عن طريق مجلس الوزراء، وكان المجلس قد كلف فريقاً لدراسة الموضوع ولهذا الشأن تمت الإستعانة بآراء المواطنين، وأصحاب السعادة أعضاء مجلس الشورى، وعدد من الهيئات والمختصين عن طريق توزيع إستبيانات مخصصة للإطلاع على الآراء المختلفة والإستماع إلى وجهات النظر المختلفة، وبناءً عليه فقد أخلصت اللجنة إلى عدد من النتائج الموضوعية، أجمعت إلى عدم وجود ما يبرر تغيير الإجازة الأسبوعية للجهاز الإداري للدولة إلى يومَي الجمعة والسبت وأعزت رفضها إلى أسباب دينية وسياسية وإجتماعية وإقتصادية متعددة .. كما أن التقنية الحديثة وطريقة الإتصال بالعالم الخارجي التي أصبحت سهلة وميسرة لا تستوجب هي الأخرى جدوى التغيير، ومن جانب آخر فقد حث المجلس عن طريق دراسة اللجنة القطاع الخاص إلى ضرورة وجوب تغيير الإجازة الأسبوعية لمدة يومين: الجمعة، والسبت تماشياً مع إعلان غرفة تجارة وصناعة عُمان لما فيه الصالح العام.

I hope the Council of Ministers ignores the Majlis' conclusions and still recommends the weekend change to His Majesty for his approval.

Update (22/12/09)

I've been following the discussion on omania.net. After 6 pages of discussions in the past two days the overwhelming majority there supports the Majlis' conclusion for the following main reasons:

1. Public sector has the day off on Thursday and can go finish their business at the bank (Omanis love going to the bank) and private sector gets the day off on Saturday and can go finish their business at the government (as if anything in the government can get finished while you wait). Friday is shared by all, and it's a day for prayer and getting together as a family.
2. There's no need for Oman to copy any other country in the world. We have our own weekend, we don't need any other country. If any other country needs us why don't they change their weekend to suit us.
3. Saturday off is "un-islamic". Saturday is the Jews' day off. By switching our weekend to Friday and Saturday we will be copying the jews and the christians.
4. Having the weekend distributed over three days reduces traffic.
5. We are too used to our weekend as it is, why change?

In 6 pages of discussion there are only three posts about the social aspect. It is obvious that most of the people posting there are unmarried, don't have families, or simply don't care about their families. Aren't they aware that in 2008, for the first time, more Omanis are employed in the private sector than in the government. Now more than ever, we have families (like mine) where the father and mother either both work in the private sector or one of the two does. How is it good for families to have days off that don't match their children's? If both parents work in the private sector and get Friday/Saturday off, what are they supposed to do with their kids who are alone at home on Thursday? Fill the fridge with junk and tell the kids to sleep till noon, fix their own lunch and then watch TV till the folks come home in the evening?

How are Thursday/Friday our traditional days off or how is Saturday un-islamic day for a weekend? First of all, Oman didn't even have a two day weekend till twenty years ago. Before that everyone worked Thursday. So tradition has nothing to do with weekends. And as for islam, in the olden days they used to work 7 days a week. In the Quran muslims are told to close shop and stop doing business on Friday for the Friday prayer. But once they are done with the prayer they are encouraged to "disperse in the land and seek the bounty of Allah" (Surat Al Jumu'a). In fact, if Islam is used as a justification then there would be no weekend, no day off in the week, because in the days of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), they did not take a day off.

Saturday

2008-12-19T22:52:00.008+04:00

I've bitched and whined for years demanding a two day weekend for the private sector. When it finally happened for banks six months ago the transition wasn't very smooth. At work, it was an effort to get people to finish the same amount of work in 5 days. We had a tough time getting through to people, and I still know people who go to work on Saturdays because they can't get their work done. And on the home front, it's still a struggle because I have no idea what to do with my Saturdays since I'm the only in the household with the day off.

It's Friday night. I'm sitting in bed typing in the dark because I've spent the past hour and a half trying to get my son to sleep because he has school tomorrow. And although Saturday is now part of my weekend, I'll have to wake up at 6.15am in the morning to wake him up and then once he's ready I'll have to drive him to his school drop-off where we wait for my sister's kids to pick him up to go with them. By then its 7.20am and I have no idea what to do next. Can't rush home and get in bed again. It's too early to go for breakfast and all my friends are either on their way to work or still sleeping. I can't go grocery shopping. I tried it once but apparently Carrefour doesn't open till 9. I went to Lulu once but the shelves were still being restocked from Friday's shopping mayhem.

(My wife having just read this would like me to add that I only started taking Faisal in the morning since she gave birth and before that she was the one doing the morning school run which allowed me to sleep in on Saturdays. I'd like to clarify that I believe that the morning school thing has now become my duty and will remain so even after she gets back to work after maternity leave).

Saturdays have been a whole lot more tolerable since Um Faisal is home on maternity leave. But that will soon come to an end. In fact, they've already asked her if she can cut her maternity leave short and come back to work a month early.

What we need is for the whole country to be on a Friday/Saturday weekend. Wasn't this supposedly how it was supposed to happen, that first the banks will switch and then the government will follow? It was assumed that the announcement would be made in August before the start of the school year. When that didn't happen, people said it will come before the second semester. Well it's almost the end of December and nothing's been announced yet.

Does anyone know if this going to happen?

Of shopping malls and diaper changing rooms

2008-12-17T23:10:00.002+04:00

When we were at Qurum City Center during the eid holiday my wife went to the changing room to change our baby’s diaper while I went to browse magazines at Borders. Two minutes later my wife called me to come quickly. Turns out that men keep opening the door to come into the room thinking it is a bathroom. The changing room is located right in between the ladies and gents toilets. It has a large baby sign on the door so there's no way to confuse it with the men's room, but it does have a toilet in it so I bet a lot of people do come in to use it for that. I had to stand outside guarding the door till she was done.

A couple days earlier at Muscat City Center, the wife went to the changing room and it was locked. She thought it was occupied when all of a sudden the cleaning lady came and unlocked the door for her. She told her that too many people come to use the toilet in the changing room and make a huge mess out of it so the management decided to keep the room locked until its needed.

Why not just have a changing room with a changing table, sink and no toilet?

Bareeq Al Shatti has a changing room which is basically just a toilet. It doesn't even have a diaper changing table. My wife had to go to the ladies toilet and change her on the counter between two sinks. Good thing she carries one of those folding changing mats in the baby's diaper bag.

(Can you tell we went out a lot during that 6 day holiday?!)

Reblog: Blue City bonds downgraded to junk

2008-12-01T22:44:00.002+04:00

Head to Sue Hutton's newsBriefsOman blog for a very interesting discussion about the news about Moody's downgrade of The Blue City's bonds. Read the comments.

Wanna guess who "stakeholder" is?

Unequal treatment

2008-11-15T01:52:00.002+04:00

We had a family emergency last month. My parents traveled to Germany immediately after my daughter's birth. While they were there my mom started to feel increasing pain in her abdomen and finally was taken to the emergency room where it was determined that she had gallstones which would require the removal of the gallbladder. As soon as I heard the news I immediately decided that I would fly to Frankfurt to be there. Luckily, I had taken a one year Schengen visa when I went to France and Germany earlier this year.

My brother wanted to go too, but he was at the mercy of the German embassy. You see, the standard procedure for getting a visa to Germany usually takes about two weeks. With the use of wasta, including official letters from the government here to the embassy requesting them to issue an expedited visa, the procedure was still going to take 5 working days. My brother asked for a meeting with the German ambassador to see if maybe he can get him to expedite the procedure. He took with him copies of medical records and explained to the ambassador why he wanted to travel to Germany. The ambassador replied to him that this isn't really an emergency because my father is there with my mother in Germany. If she was there alone, then it would be considered one. Apparently, my brother could be using my mother's situation as an excuse to get into Germany!

Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Long story short, my brother got the visa four days later and arrived the night before our mother's operation. Everything went well, al-hamd lillah, and she's back in Oman now.

The reason I'm writing this post is that I am pissed off that Oman has a visa on arrival policy for countries that don't have quick visa procedures for Omani citizens. A German can step off a plane at Muscat International Airport and get a visa to stay in Oman for 14 days at the affordable price of 7 Omani Rials. Whereas we Omanis have to subject ourselves to all types of poking and prodding to be "allowed" to visit their country. We have to show bank account statements and get letters from our employers and salary statements. We have to show our hotel bookings. If we are going on business we need letters of invitation from the companies we're going to visit. And even after we receive the visa, when we arrive in their country we have to go through a whole other barrage of questions and answers. "Why are you here? Where are you staying? Have you been here before..."

As an official in the German embassy told me last year when I first went there to get a visa: this is policy, it is not just for Oman. (I heard this sentence from officals in the US, UK and French embassy as well). Policy is policy, fair enough. The German government does not want people to get easy visas. It's their country and it's their choice. They have a problem with people coming to Germany and then seeking asylum or staying on illegally. I haven't heard of any Omanis migrating to Germany, but as the woman in the embassy said, "this is policy", and I swore at that time to never let myself go through their crap again. And when I had to go to Germany again, I applied for a Schengen visa from the French embassy.

But why doesn't our government apply a policy of equal treatment? Countries that don't give quick visas for Omanis should have a similar policy applied to their citizens by the Omani government. If it takes two weeks for an Omani to obtain a German visa, German citizens shouldn't be given visas on arrival here in Oman. Will that stop Germans from visiting Oman? I don't think so. They'll just have to plan their visits and allow for the time it takes to get the Omani visa. After all, we still go to their countries even though we have to go through a hassle to get their visas.

Salary statistics for Omanis in the private sector

2008-11-14T00:49:00.008+04:00

I have a backlog of things I want to blog about. I'll begin with this, which is a quick summary of a news item I found in one of the Arabic dailies (I think it was Oman newspaper) on October 19th.

According to the newspaper, this information is taken from the Ministry of National Economy monthly statistics. I have no reason to doubt them. There is no information on whether the data is based on basic salary only or full pay. It's quite reasonable to assume that in the higher pay levels, the numbers are low because of deliberate misreporting. Also, the data probably doesn't include the pay of self-employed Omanis as well as the owners and partners in businesses. Regardless of that, the figures are incredibly depressing:

In 2007 the number of Omanis employed in the government dropped from 139,000 to 133,000. Meanwhile the number of Omanis in the private sector increased to 131,000 (it increased by a further 10,000 in the first six months of 2008).

The pay distribution for Omanis in the private sector is:

Up to RO. 120 a month: 60,270 employees

RO 120-140: 20,082 employees

RO. 140-160: 17,075 employee

RO. 160-180: 7,615 employees

RO. 180-200: 5,529 employees

RO. 200-300: 14,161 employees

RO. 300-400: 6,549 employees

RO. 400-500: 3,384 employees

RO. 500-600: 2,038 employees

RO. 600-700: 1,247 employees

RO. 700-800: 813 employees

RO. 800-900: 571 employees

RO. 900-1000: 519 employees

RO. 1000-2000: 1394 employees

Salary over RO. 2000 a month: only 470 employees.

To conclude: out of 131,000 Omanis in the private sector, 110,000 of them are on pay of RO. 200 a month or less. That's about 84%.

This is why I oppose Omanisation in its current form. It is a policy that forces Omanis into the lowest paying jobs for the sake of dressing up statistics. It sounds great when the Ministry of Manpower announces that 10,000 Omanis were placed in jobs in the private sector. But the truth is that 8 out of every 10 who are employed are getting paid below 200 rials a month. And that's not much of a living.

And baby makes 4

2008-10-24T18:32:00.003+04:00

We were blessed with a baby girl at 10.05am, October 15th, 2008.

Mother and baby are doing great. We've named her Reem, but still no birth certificate to make it official (Um Faisal is still worried I might change her name).

One big parking lot

2008-09-28T17:17:00.002+04:00

View from my office at 2.15pm today. I never seen traffic so bad before in the CBD. It was like this from around 1.45 till 3. It was like the CBD turned into one big parking lot.

This morning my commute to work, which usually takes 25 to 30 minutes, took a whole hour. It's getting really bad in Muscat and there will be no relief in the coming year. The new expressway wont be ready till the end of 2009 and congestion is going to get worse in the coming month as 3 bridges are going to be constructed in the Qurm area in front of Al Harthy Complex and Sultan Center. Also, next year they are planning to convert the major intersections in the CBD and Wadi Al Kabir into underpasses. Traffic is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Magazines now more expensive than paperback books?

2008-09-06T22:04:00.003+04:00

The price on the sticker is RO. 6.250. That's just under £10 for a magazine which sells for £3.90 in the UK.

Are magazines flown to us on first class seats on British Airways?

Customer Service: Galfar

2008-09-06T14:38:00.002+04:00

Our neighborhood is right on the edge of what will become the Muscat Expressway (previously called the Southern Expressway) which has been under construction by Galfar since 2005 and wont be ready till early 2010. Earlier this summer construction activity increased in our area and there is a constant flow of large tipper trucks carrying gravel and sand rumbling through the area at very high speeds. Due to their weight and speed the road leading into our area, which isn't paved, deteriorated severly and became dustier than it was before. The more trucks that come through on the road, the worse the road got and the more dust and dirt resulted. We can live with the dust. It's temporary till the work ends. But the speed at which the drivers were driving was a risk to the people who live here, and the deteriorating road was damaging our cars. I looked up Galfar's website, and was pleased to find that they had the email addresses of the top management, as well as the office of the vice chairman. I sent an email to the head of the roads and bridges division, head of quality and HSE, and of course CC'd it to office of the vice chairman, Mr P Mohamed Ali.

An excerpt from the email I sent on August 9th:

The drivers rarely wear seat belts. The speed they drive at is extremely dangerous, especially since they are crossing a public road and continuing onto a gravel road. The high speed on the gravel road causes large clouds of dirt and dust throughout the day. Midway through the day, water is sprayed on the road to reduce the dust but that also has the effect of turning the road into a large puddle of mud. The gravel road itself has deteriorated very rapidly because of the weight of these trucks and has now become very rough and bumpy. As residents of the area we have no choice but suffer through the dust and dirt. But now the deteriorating roads are damaging our cars as well.

I am writing to you as a concerned citizen and resident of the area. I appreciate the effort that the government is making to develop Oman, and I am proud that Galfar, a local company, has the responsibility to build the prestigious Muscat Expressway. However, I am concerned for the health and wellbeing of the residents of South Ghoubra, and also your own drivers. I am sure that your company invests a lot into health and safety training for these drivers. You should know that many of them are not following their training. Safe driving does not allow for high speed driving on dirt and gravel roads, especially when driving a huge tipper truck, filled to the brim with sand or gravel. The most basic aspect of safe driving is wearing the seatbelt and many of the drivers don't even do that.

I hope you give serious consideration to the safety practices of your drivers.

There was no response from the company to acknowledge receipt of my email. At first I thought they had simply decided to ignore me, but then on August 16th, I received the following email from the company:

We thank you very much for highlighting the HSE concern to Galfar drivers and the public at large.

Please see the actions initiated to ensure that mistakes done by the drivers are not repeated again.

We would appreciate your continued feedback to further improve our commitment to all stake holders, with particular emphasis to HSE and Environmental aspects.

Enclosed with the email were forwarded copies of the entire chain of forwards and responses from various people within the company, culminating with the following from the Preject HSE Advisor, Mr. Sandeep Nambiar:

Dear Sirs,

The graded road being addressed in this letter refers to the Haul road from backside of Slaughter house (in Bausher) to IC # 07.

This road is being used by other Galfar Heavy & Light Vehicles as well as some Third Party Heavy & Light vehicles.

Reasons for the dust cloud and pot hole formation on these roads were due to:-

Irregular sprinkling of water observed due to off-road status of Water Tanker on that section
Regular plying of Loaded Heavy Vehicles (Galfar & Third Party) in speed on these graded roads
Sprinkling of excess water on the graded road covered with fine dust (generated due to continuous pounding of graded roads under the wheels of Heavy vehicles)
Irregular frequency of grading

Action Taken Status to correct the above deficiency

The entire section of the road would be periodically graded everyday in the evening and fine dust generated on the road throughout the day would be cleared off
Controlled sprinkling of water is be carried out regularly twice a day after grading
Awareness Session on Safe Driving was carried out for all the drivers plying on that road in Bausher (attached attendance sheet)
Traffic sign boards were installed along the road & at road crossing. (attached photographs)
Increased frequency of RSMT (Road Safety Monitoring Team Inspection) on that particular stretch of road is carried out.

In addition continuous monitoring would be carried out to ensure that safe working environment is maintained near our working area.

Not bad, eh?

Article 61

2008-09-02T07:24:00.002+04:00

Six weeks ago, July 19th to be exact, someone with the nickname "boozallen" posted a topic titled Omantel on OmanForum. The post detailed the management restructuring that had occured in Omantel under the recommendations of their consultants, Booz Allen. The writer claimed that the promotions and appointments were not based on merit, but on the internal politics of the organization. If this was the topics only point, it would still be there on OmanForum for you to read. However, the writer went on to attack Omantel's top management in detail with allegations of nepotism, using their positions for personal gain, accumulating properties and wealth, and so on.

Without knowing the details of Oman's laws, I knew that keeping the topic on the forum would probably expose me personally, as OmanForum's administrator, to responsibility for publishing the article since similar to the case of Ali Al Rasdhi a few years ago, people who were attacked on the Sabla complained to the Public Prosecutor and the PA held the site's owner responsible. I took a quick decision and deleted the article in full. By the morning of the 20th of July, the article had been copied on other forums, most importantly Sablat Oman (www.omania2.net).

Last night I read on the Sabla that the public prosecutor's office had called in Ali Al Zuwaidi (known online as Bin Daris), the moderator of the Sabla's politics and economy forum, for investigation charging him with responsibility under Article 61 of the Telecommunication law (قانون الاتصالات) which makes website owners as well as moderators and administrators of forums responsible for the content published by their users. It's not clear if he's being charged or if it is really for this particular topic, although everyone assumes that it is. I would assume that if it is for the Omantel topic, then it would be because of a complaint by the company or it's CEO to the Public Prosecutor alleging slander or defamation. I am not a legal expert, I hope Blue-Chi can tell us more about the law, and whether the Public Prosecutor can begin such an investigation without the person being defamed's own complaint.

Regardless of the technicalities, I have dodged a bullet. I think I was right to delete the topic. If the article was entirely about facts, I would have allowed it. Instead, it was full of direct attacks on individuals accusing them of gross misconduct without giving any facts to support the allegations. If I had kept the topic, would I have been under investigation as well? I'm not sure. I believe that English forums and blogs aren't given importance and don't come under scrutiny like those which are in Arabic. Having said that, I wouldn't want to be the test case.

We need to know more about the law. That's for sure.

The Next Generation

2008-08-23T11:33:00.002+04:00

Really exciting day today. I woke up even earlier than usual even though it's my day off. It's Faisal's first day at Sultan's School.

We were there a little early so Faisal was the first one to arrive in his class, Early Year 1. Slowly the other parents and kids started to arrive. Except for two or three, every single family that arrived were people we know. Almost all of us, Sultan's School alumni, so it was a bit like a reunion.

I don't think I started going to school till I was about 5 years old. There was no nursery or KG in my years. Faisal is only 3 and he's already been going to playschool since he was one and a half. That's half his life. And now with the Sultan's School switching to the IB system, it's going to be Early Year 1, Early Year 2 and then 13 years of school!

Only two kids cried this morning, but the mothers were another story.

Good luck to the next generation. Class of 2023 began its journey today.

الله يحفظهم ويوفقهم ان شاء الله

Car-less

2008-08-22T09:38:00.004+04:00

I sold the Land Cruiser. The car was boring to drive and it was a gas guzzler. But it was solid and I would have probably kept it if it wasn't for the 5000km service interval, which was driving me nuts. I drive about 600 to 800km a week, so this meant that I had to take my car for service every 7 or 8 weeks. That's crazy. Every 8 weeks, I had to go through the inconvenience of taking all my stuff out of the car, arranging for someone to pick me up from the garage, and then arranging for someone to take me back to the garage to pick it up again. It was a huge hassle. I had other issues, which I will write about when I eventually get around to writing the follow-up to my previous post.

In the past two months, I've been getting lots of inquiries out of the blue from people who want to buy the car. People stop me in parking lots to ask me if I want to sell the car. Apparently, the value of good condition used Land Cruisers has gone up since the new shape came out. Lots of people don't like the new shape and the top of the range new one now costs about 25K, so people are willing to pay higher prices for good quality used old ones. After a couple of months of getting lots of unsolicited offers, I finally decided to sell the car while it still had value higher than what I paid for it. I wasn't totally happy with it, so why keep it?

I bought the car for RO. 15K in December with 44,000km on it. Put new tires and V-Kool on it. Had it polished and detailed at ProTech. Drove it 25,000km over 8 month, and sold it for RO. 15.5K. I could have probably sold it for 16K if I looked around for a better deal but I sold it to the first person who offered.

So yeah, I'm car-less now. Driving my wife's old Volvo. So if you see a big guy driving a beat-up Volvo S40, that's me.

Looking to buy a new car. Don't know which direction to go so I'm taking my time. Should I go the "approaching mid-age crises" route and buy a sports car? A sensible executive sedan (BMW 5 series, Audi A6, Infiniti M35)? Or another gas guzzling SUV like maybe the GMC Yukon, which I absolutely love but which I have been hearing nightmares about its dealer? Or maybe, an impractical not really an SUV and not a sports car mash-up like the Infiniti FX? A monster like the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8?

Saud Bahwan Toyota doesn't want to hear from you

2008-08-15T12:29:00.002+04:00

Go to the Toyota Oman website and look for any link to an adress where you can email them or even a number to get in touch with them.

In the About Us section, there's a link to the Saud Bahwan group website, and there you will find a single email address for the entire group. Otherwise, in the Sales Network section, you can get the phone numbers of all their showrooms. That's it.

Conclusion: Saud Bahwan Automotive doesn't want to hear from you.

More on this later.

Customer Service

2008-08-15T11:17:00.001+04:00

My next three or four posts are all going to be about customer service. As an introduction, I am going to partially repost something I had posted on Oman Community Blog last year:

You call a company and the person who picks up the call simply says "hello", doesn't make you think maybe you misdialed the number of got someone's house instead? Why can't they say the name of their company in their greeting?

You go to a shop or a showroom and you can't tell the sales people from the shoppers. While you're browsing someone comes up and stands next to you and hovers. How in the world are you supposed to know that this person is actually a salesperson who's there to help you and not another shopper who's stalking you?

What the hell is wrong with customer service in this country? I mean, how hard is it to put on a name tag?

Ferry to Khasab

2008-07-28T17:19:00.003+04:00

Trying to make plans for the second long weekend which is coming up this week. The announcement on Saturday by mass sms of the start of the new high speed ferry service to Khasab, I thought it would be the perfect fit for a three day weekend. We would take our car on the ferry to Khasab. A six hour high speed cruise along Oman's beautiful coast. Faisal would love it. Arrive in Khasab, check in at the Golden Tulip and cruise around Musandam for a day and a half then maybe go to Dubai for a day or come down the coast by car. I was really proud of myself for coming up with this plan. Well, until I was told that while this new ultra expensive world's fastest ferry is indeed capable of carrying cars, they haven't built a ramp yet at the port to load cars into it.

Aaaaaaaaaaargh.

Defies logic

2008-07-26T22:57:00.002+04:00

Now that we are firmly entrenched in our bourgeois lifestyle, we decided to get an all-around-the-house guy/driver. He's been with us since January and so far he's been all all-around-the-house and we never got around to the "/driver" part. I woke up this morning and decided today would be the day that my guy would begin his quest towards attaining that most elusive of prizes, an Omani driving license. A process that could take him all next year

We went to the 24 hour ROP place in Seeb next to the Expo center. I won't bore you with the details of the boring process. Two interesting bits. I was told to go directly to the eye test room. I went in and asked the guy for a form, he was a nice young guy, probably 20 years old. But he was in way over his head. Poor guy was doing it all, giving and accepting applications, doing eye tests, and filling out the learner's permit booklets for everyone. He looked at me and asked if I can wait but he called me "al walid" which is what people in Oman call old people (literarly translated as father). Me? Ana? Alwalid? I accept that my hair is now more grey than black but come on, I'm 35 years old. All I could do was smile and sit down to wait my turn.

When my turn finally came he handed me the application to fill. I thought I could fill it right there, but in typical bueracratic fashion he insisted I should go and come back. Why? "you need copies of x, y and z". Done, here there. "The sponsor has to come here himself or else someone with a tawkeel". No problem, I'm his sponsor. Then he says "we need a letter from his sponsor stating that he has no objection that this guy gets a driving license". WTF? The guy is here in Oman on a visa that cIearly states his occupation as private household driver. I took the passport from my pocket and showed it to him. Besides, I'm the sponsor, I'm here personally to get him the permit, why do I have to go home and come back with a letter? "If you want an exception maybe you can go see the officer in charge and request him to give you an exception". Is there a logic to this? I had to calm myself down and leave the room. My record with the police is not so good. Situation like this usually end up with me being threatened with jail and having to writing pledges to not get in trouble with them. It's been three and a half years since the last time I wrote one of those pledges and I've been avoiding all contact with the police ever since. I was a good boy today. I wrote the letter and submitted it with the application. Walked out an hour later with the permit. Now I need to find a driving instructor who's up to the task of turning my guy into a hyphenate.

The Great Kebab Factory

2008-07-26T20:40:00.002+04:00

I was going to do a review of The Great Kebab Factory but Kishor beat me to it. In fact it looks like he was there the same time Thursdsy night that we were, sitting just a couple tables away from us. For pictures and an a full review complete with the actual names of the dishes we ate please read his review [link].

The Great Kebab Factory (TGKF) is apparently a known chain in India which was recently brought to the GCC by Bahrain's Jawad Group who already operate Costa Coffee, Papa Jones and Dairy Queen in Oman. The high concept at TGKF is that they have over 180 different kebabs on the menu but serve just 6 giving them a very large variety to shuffle form on a daily basis. They have a fixed price menu with your only choice being Veg or Non-Veg. We went for Non-Veg which was RO. 7.9 per person plus tax. The waiters are all dressed in overalls like a factory, but the interior of the restaurant has absolutely nothing industrial about it. Why have an industrial name and uniforms and not go all the way?

The waiter who served us first came and asked if we want the concept explained to us. He proceeded to tell us that the restaurant is basically an all you can eat buffet which is served at your table. Salad, followed by six different kinds of kebab, then some lentil dishes and finally a biryani. Then you can choose to start all over again or go for desserts. A couple of friends who've been there before had told me that they were so full after the kebabs that they never got to the biryani. Another friend told me that the biryani was the best she's had in Muscat. Since I am more of a biryani than kebab person, I asked them to reverse the course and start us up with biryani. The biryani was so good that we asked for a second helping before we proceed with the kebabs. At that point we were too stuffed to actually eat much of the kebabs. I soldiered on and managed to try 4 of the 6 but my wife and her brother both gave up before the third.

I can't say much for the kebabs, but like I said the biryani was one of the best I've had in Muscat. A bit spicy, but extremely fragrant and full of flavor.

I recommend Kebab Factory, but you need a huge appetite to experience it. We only had soft drinks and three bottles of water but our overall bill came out to be about 32 rials for the three of us. Not expensive for an all you can eat restaurant, I suppose. I wonder if they do those biryanis for take-out.

D'arcy's MQ

2008-07-24T18:47:00.005+04:00

D'arcy's Kitchen opened a second branch in MQ last week. Went there for breakfast today. The set up is really nice with lots of light. Food, as usual, was excellent. My only gripe is that I wish they had used bigger tables. The tables are the exact same design and size as the ones in their Shatti branch. Way too small, especially relative to the size of the portions of the food at D'arcy's.

Three day weekend.. two weeks in a row

2008-07-24T09:21:00.002+04:00

Wow, a three day weekend this week because of 23rd July "Renaissance Day", then back to work for just four days before another three day weekend next week due to a religious holiday, Al Isra' wal Mi'raj. Unprecedented.

Internet upgrade rant

2008-07-22T17:50:00.002+04:00

Samuraisam has written a 10,000 word painstakingly detailed rant about his quest to get Etisalat to upgrade his internet connection. Read it if you dare.

I went through a similar ordeal with Omantel but I won't bore you with the details. The short of it, I applied for a speed upgrade on April 30th and didn't get the upgrade till around June 23rd. They even billed me for a month at the new price while I didn't even have the increased speed. As usual it turned out that the had changed my plan in their billing system without actually implementing the change in the actual line speed. This is very typical of Omantel. Whenever I called their customer service line they gave me the same story of how the system showed that I have a 2Mbps line. It was only after I went to the head of internet customer service in Zakher that he checked the system and confirmed that I don't have the additional speed. I got it two days later. It took another three weeks till the billing system was adjusted to refund the excess amounts charged.

AIDS, anyone?

2008-07-20T19:40:00.000+04:00

So I'm back at work after a blissful holiday. The first time off I have had since the start of my pregnancy.

And I'm back to blogging after an even longer siesta.. Could my husband's threats to remove my name from the blog altogether have had anything to do with it? Perhaps...

I thought long and hard about what my comeback topic would be, and I have a million and one things I would like to discuss, but now that I'm actually typing ,I can't seem to stick to a single, comprehensive topic.

Staring across my desk I see the book I'm currently reading titled The Wisdom of Whores. Sounds sleazy ha? Its not actually. Its a book my husband bought me knowing I'd be hooked from page one. Its a book about by an HIV/AIDS epidemiologist named Elizabeth Pisani and her venture into the world of brothels, sex workers and injecting drug users. Its author tells us of a career in the UN at the very start of the AIDS epidemic. A time when researchers tried to make sense of numbers that represented something the rest of the world was in denial about.

Its a book that gets you thinking.

In the world of HIV/AIDS, Oman is considered low prevelance. We have under 1000 registered cases. The key word here is registered. Thats the number of people who have actually been tested and found to be positive or the number of people who have seeked medical attention. Multiply that number by 3 or 4 and you are more likely to get a clearer idea of the existing scenario.

All stats re HIV/AIDS in Oman are published. We are even one of few countries in the Middle East that have a National AIDS Strategy. Every year, on December 1st, the Ministry of Health celebrates (not sure if that is the correct term here) World Aids Day and distributes thousands of information leaflets on HIV/AIDS in a bid to raise awareness amongst the public.

Yet, your average joe does not speak about it. Taboo? Maybe.....

Food for thoughts: All GCC countries, do not allow HIV/AIDS positive ex-patriates to work in their countries. Medical tests are required prior to hiring and if you are found positive, you are deported. Human rights activists usually have a field day with this, however our governments are adamant and view this point as one of the preventative/control measures available to them.

What do you think?

Grocery hell

2008-07-20T19:00:00.001+04:00

My wife gets Thursdays off, and she spends those mornings chillin with friends and family having nice relaxing breakfasts out. I get Saturday off, when the only other people who have the day off are other bankers, i.e. people I see everyday at work. No D'arcy's Kitchen breakfasts for me on Saturdays- at least not yet. What do I do Saturday morning? Well, our maid seems to think that the banks of Oman collectively lobbied the government for three years to get this additional day-off only so that she can greet me every Saturday morning with a neat long list of items for me to get from the supermarket. Aaaaargh.

I am never going to be one of those people who are really efficient at getting their groceries. No matter what I do, I end up taking way too long in the supermarket and buying more items than what's on my list. I used to be ok with going out for groceries because it was more of an outing. I didn't have responsibilities, grocery shopping was just another form of shopping, i.e. buying stuff that I like. Or earlier on in our marriage, grocery shopping for my wife and I was more like snack shopping because we never ever cooked our own food in our first year of marriage. Now that I'm responsible for my own household, it's become a stressful task: I am buying these things because I have to. I have to go get these things because they have run out of them at home. Can't not have milk. Can't not have water. Can't be out of bread.... And if I leave aside the not-so-necessary things, I'd end up eventually having to go to supermarket and fill a shopping cart with all the things that I kept out of the previous short trips to the supermarket.

So there I was queueing at the check-out at Lulu Saturday morning with a shopping trolley so full that it can barely move straight. I used to get embarrassed when I have so much in my trolley, but it doesn't bother me anymore because all the others in all the queues have even more. Some even have multiple trolleys. I pass my time standing in queue catching up with blogs and RSS feeds on Google Reader on my phone. Best invention ever. (By the way I got the Nokia E71 last week, but I'll tell you all about that in another post).

As it gets to be my turn at the register, I looked at the person behind me and it turns out to be some poor soul with just a handful of items. How come it's always like this? Now I felt compelled to get through the check-out as fast as possible so this person behind me can get through. Like always, I luck out with the one check-out that doesn't have a bagger. No problem, I'll bag my own- less plastic bags wasted. But, it also means that I have to first wait till all the million items in my trolley have been unloaded onto the belt before I can move to the other end of the check out and start bagging.

The total comes up and I decided "maybe it's time I use my Basma points to pay". They just keep accumulating and whenever I want to use them to pay at Lulu the damn machine doesn't work. It keeps saying "Line busy". I don't understand what line is busy when Basma is supposed to be a so-called "smart" card with all the points stored in the chip that's embedded on the card. It's such a scam. I think ever since they came up with this Basma card scam I have only been able to use it to pay for stuff once. You can accumulate points all you want, but actually use those points? Never. This time, to compound my embarrassment, the cashier told me "it says you have no points on your card." No way. I get stubborn and insist that she has to accept the card. I'm not going to accumulate these points forever. She calls the supervisor who goes on to demonstrate to me how I have no points by taking me from one Basma machine to the other on other cashiers' stations, with all of them showing the same thing. What a scam, I have about 100 rials of point accumulated on my card. I reached my stress and public embarrassment quota for the day, so I gave her my debit card, "'7ala9, I'll pay from my account". She comes back and tells me, "it says insufficient balance." I feel like I've been holding up the queue for an hour and all the people are staring at me. I can see the the ATM machine not even 10 meters behind me. I tell the supervisor "Ok, I'm gonna go withdraw cash with this same card which you says there's no money in my account". I say it knowing I could be setting myself up for an even bigger embarrasment. The ATMs at Lulu supposedly have the worst uptime ratio of any other ATMs in Muscat. "Please please don't humiliate me. Please work..." And it works! I came back in less than a minute with cash to pay for the groceries. I walked away pushing my trolley and stopped at the customer service counter and asked the woman there to check for me if there's something wrong with my Basma card. She puts it in the POS machine and it quickly gives the balance of all the points I have accumulated on the card. Welcome to my grocery hell.

And the worst part, I'll probably be back there again next Saturday morning.

New Oman Mobile BlackBerry packages

2008-07-19T19:09:00.002+04:00

Oman Mobile have introduced three new BlackBerry pricing packages.

Now light users can go for a Lite package for just 9.9 rials a month which includes only 3mb of BB data use. It doesn't sound like much but for users who only use their BBs for email and messaging it's a great deal.

Heavy users can go for either the Local Unlimited or International Unlimited packages at RO. 18.5 and RO. 29.5 which have unlimited data (international use is subject to a fair use policy).

I'm not sure whether to move to the Local Unlimited or stick with the Standard which is 19.5 rials with 10mb, but it includes all my mobile data use in the 10mb, so all the browsing which I do with my phone comes under BB use.

Details here.

An attempt

2008-07-19T19:04:00.002+04:00

Now that I have an extra day off every week I should have no excuse not post more frequently, right?

Let's see how this goes.

The Book Excerpt Tag

2008-06-07T14:55:00.002+04:00

Undercover Dragon tagged me with the following:

You've been tagged. The task:
# Pick up the nearest book.
# Open to page 123.
# Locate the fifth sentence.
# Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
# Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Hope you can play! Come on, I bet you're reading something super interesting right now.

The closest book to me was Wallpaper* City Guide: Bangkok, which unfortunately is only 103 pages long. I had to cheat. I usually circulate between to three books at the same time so this excerpt is from The Blade Itself - The First Law: Book One by Joe Abercombie. It's the first fantasy novel to get my attention since high school.

She smiled weakly and offered out her limp, white hand.
He brushed with the most perfunctory of kisses "Charmed," he muttered without relish. "I must apologise for my appearance, I've just been fencing."

I thought of a bunch of others to tag but then I found out that between UD and Amjad, they have all been tagged already.

Before I disappear again

2008-06-06T18:02:00.003+04:00

We're going away on a short vacation. Finally traveling for something other than work or medical treatment for the first time in almost two years. Work has been extremely hectic of late and in addition to my regular responsibilities I am also working on a big project which suddenly, quite unexpectedly, gained momentum when regulatory approvals came in ahead of schedule. The only reason the bosses are letting me go on leave is because they know the project is probably going to take away all my time for the rest of the year. If I don't go now there will probably be no vacation till next year.

Nothing posted on this blog in close to three months. I'm spending less time online. I catch up with stuff by browsing on my phone during short breaks throughout the day, thanks to Google Reader. But when I come home I just don't feel like doing much. I used to write notes on things I want to blog about but then I stopped even trying to keep track. I've surrended to the fact that this will be more of an occasional blog rather than one with regular posts.

Since the last time I posted on this blog, I've:

been elected to the board of a publicly listed company- my first non-NGO board membership. Finally getting paid for my opinions, though technically with 100% personally liability for my choices.
also been reelected on the ESO board, but with scaled down responsibilities.
been on my annual business trip to Salalah (nothing's changed in the city but business is booming.

And, I've just come back from Riyadh. It was my first time in KSA. I was only there for two days and didn't see much of it other than our office there and the hotel. If you're ever in Riyadh, DO NOT stay at the Marriott. Would have loved to have visited the sky walk at the top of the Kingdom Tower or the globe on the Al Faisaliah Tower. Instead the only memories I have of Riyadh is of a migraine that lasted the whole time I was there, and the dry, dusty weather that dried up my eyes.

The two day weekend for banks has come through like I told you it will and now it's time for the government to switch their weekend to Friday/Saturday which might happen in September.

The house is slowly getting furnished. A sofa here, a coffee table there. It's gonna take a while more, but we're getting there. We now have a fully furnished study where Um Faisal can finish up the work she brings home while I browse on the work station next to her, or vice versa.

Last but not least, we kept the biggest news for last: we're expecting! Um Faisal is now 20 weeks pregnant and finally showing.

See ya in a couple weeks.

Blue City Lawsuit - Janahi Speaks Out

2008-03-18T17:15:00.003+04:00

For the first time since Cyclone (the Omani company that actually owns just 30% of Blue City) announced that they are suing AAJ Holdings to takeover their (70% majority) shareholding in the project, Ahmed Abubaker Janahi held a press conference in Bahrain yesterday to give his side of the story:

"An immediate intervention by the Omani government is now crucial, seeing as the minority shareholder is currently in full control of the project and has actively and independently started sales, disbursements and generating revenues - the whereabouts of which still remain unknown to AAJHC," Mr Janahi told a Press conference at the Mšvenpick Hotel yesterday.

"We have been wrongly and completely shut out with all references and our logo unduly removed from the project."

Prior to AAJHC entering into the project as a strategic partner, investment rights to the 32sqkm project were granted to Al Sawadi Investments and Tourism Company by the Omani government on an exclusive 75-year basis.

Mr Janahi said Al Sawadi failed to develop the land for almost five years, which is why AAJHC was brought in.

"It approached AAJHC, which developed the project concept by preparing the necessary business, feasibility and architectural plans with phased development implementation programmes and tapped into its international network of banking relationships to secure the $925 million required to fund phase one of the project," he claimed.

"Since then, AAJHC was the major stakeholder in the project - being the registered owner of 70pc of the shares of Al Sawadi Investments and Tourism Company, which it has acquired through documents legally registered at the Commerce and Industry Ministry in Oman.

"Cyclone was the Omani shareholder owning the remainder of the shares."

Mr Janahi claimed the dispute between AAJHC and its Omani partners began after phase one funding was secured.

"This funding resulted in the escalation of the project's land value from $83m to over $1bn for phase one alone and is further expected to increase to $20bn over the remainder of the life of the project, which in turn dramatically increases the value of the shares," he said.

Mr Janahi also claimed AAJHC would have negotiated with its Omani partners to sell 20pc of its shares, meaning it would become a 50-50 venture.

"Our investment, including the money generated from various sources for the project, will come to more than $100m," he added. [source]

Related post:

Blue City shareholders lawsuit

Two day weekend for banks

2008-03-08T18:47:00.003+04:00

Rumors are circulating that Oman's banks will officially switch to a two day weekend. The rumor goes that the switchover will be announced later this month and will come into effect the next month. I'm not sure what the details are, but the banks have jointly asked for it and this time they have the support of the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce. Last time when banks wrote to the Central Bank of Oman asking for an official two day weekend the CBO refused to take a decision and instead sent the matter for the Council of Ministers' approval. The council asked for the views of the Chamber which at the time replied saying that it's not in the interest of the economy for banks to be closed two days a week. End of Story.

Fortunately, the Chamber of Commerce is now run by a new proactive pro-business board of directors. I hope the rumor turns out to be true. I'm tired of having only Friday off every week for 12 years now. However, even if we do switch to a 5 day week, the weekend will be Friday-Saturday while my wife's job remains on a Thursday-Friday weekend unless the government switches their weekend as well.

Reblog: Come Back Soon: Oman is Full

2008-03-05T16:03:00.002+04:00

From the travel blog Jaunted:

It must be fun to be a country just opening up to tourism, with all the excitement of tacky souvenirs and tourists getting in your way still to come. That's the position the people of the Middle Eastern country of Oman find themselves in at the moment. The tourism ministry had been aiming to increase visitor spending to 3 percent of the GDP by 2015, but it looks like they'll meet that target by the end of this year instead.
But don't hurry to book your Oman vacation just yet. There are just 9,000 hotel rooms in the country, currently enjoying close to 100 percent occupancy rates, so there's not much room at the inn. The plan is to double the number of rooms nationwide in the next seven years.

Parking Tickets

2008-03-01T23:28:00.003+04:00

Ever since Muscat Municipality introduced paid parking in the CBD area I've been buying 3 or 6 months permits to avoid the hassle of having to have coins for the parking meters. However, when I'm not driving my car, I use Oman Mobile's SMS Parking service, which I think is one of the best services ever. Unfortunately it has one major shortfall: if you send the message to pay for parking during a free parking period it will just send you a reply "this is a free parking period." There's no option of sending the SMS before the paid parking period begins.

Ever since I changed cars in December I've been procrastinating in getting a new parking permit because I want to first re-register the car under my old number from the car that I sold. Otherwise, I'd have to get a permit under the present number and then go back again to the municipality when I change the number plate to amend the permit. I've been using SMS Parking every single day for over two months. But in the last week now that I've moved to the new house, I've been leaving home extra early to beat the morning traffic and I arrive at work before 7.30. Paid parking begins at 8am and I forget to send the SMS at 8am to pay for the parking. I got three parking tickets in the last week.

By the way, I've been to the police twice to do the number change and both times they found excuses not to do it. Now it looks that the only way to get it done is to have the car's ownership transferred, registered, and then transferred back to me without it's current number and registered under my old number which is reserved for me in the system (for just two more weeks or I lose it). Sounds to me like an excuse to make me pay registration fees for the car twice (thrice actually). What a hassle.

Omantel 3G

2008-03-01T17:55:00.002+04:00

In case you haven't heard, Omantel finally decided to join the rest of the mobile telecom world by upgrading to 3G. This is not new news, the tender was late last year and was awarded on January 23rd. Nokia bid RO. 77 million ($200 million), Ericsson's bid came in much lower at RO. 52 million ($135 million) and China's Huawei won the tender with an unbelievable bid of RO. 17.7 million ($46 million).

The mind boggles!

More Oman Air

2008-02-29T16:50:00.010+04:00

Doesn't the logo on the plane look like it's all gold?

Oman Air's new logo and colors

2008-02-24T18:33:00.008+04:00

Oman Air unveiled it's new corporate identity today. I can't put my fingers on it, but I just don't like it. I don't understand it. What's this new color, what's it got to do with Oman? And what's with this new logo that's vaguely similar to Gulf Air's falcon. They say that it's a "contemporary rendition of frankincense smoke." With wings? And why in the world would you want smoke painted on an air plane? Nothing symbolizes Oman like the Omani khanjar. Oman Air's old logo was probably the ugliest khanjar ever. All they had to do is update the logo with a funkier khanjar and change the colors to something more contemporary.

The Oman Air website hasn't been updated yet with the new "corporate identity".

Old (ugly) logo:

What do you think of this branding?

Update (25/02/08):

1. Arun Rajagopal was part of the team that worked on some aspects of the rebranding. You can read about it on his blog.

2. The logo was done by TBWA's local team in Oman, TBWA/ZEENAH. The aircraft color scheme was designed by Airbus Industrie. The first plane with the new logo and colors is to arrive today. I think they should have waited till the plane arrived to do the launch instead of doing a launch at the Shangri-La.

3. According to Oman Air's press release:

The new logo — a gold and silver swirl — represents the contemporary rendition of frankincense smoke. Much sought after by the world since ancient days, Omani frankincense is one of the most powerful and evocative expressions of the nation’s vibrant history, culture, heritage and people. Gold represents excellence and achievement and embodies the timeless traditions and the bountiful natural wealth of Oman. Silver represents the enduring and vibrant heritage of Oman, which has been reflected in intricate and exquisite silver artifacts such as the khanjar, jewellery and more.

The turquoise blue: "Symbolic of the infinite blue of the sky and sea, turquoise blue denotes the legendary hospitality and welcoming nature of Oman to travelers since ancient days."

Update 2: From the Filton Airfield Enthusiasts blog, a picture of the first Oman Air plane with the new colors as it left Air Livery after undergoing the repaint. Interestingly, according to the blog the plane arrived there on the 16th of this month, so a repaint takes about a week.

Briefly

2008-02-23T16:55:00.003+04:00

In the two months that this blog was offline:

- I sold my trusted and beloved car of 9 and a half years (the one that I didn't give up on even when it was almost made into a pancake) and bought a used Land Cruiser. I sold it to the first guy who made an offer on it for 2.5K. Six weeks later I found out that the dude had sold it for 3.3K. Oh well, no regrets. I wish the guy driving it all the best.

- Went to Al Nahdha Resort & Spa for eid. Not bad at all, except for the horrible location. I liked the rooms. The food was quite good. I like the idea of having bicycles thrown around all over the place for the guests to use to get around or exercise, but the bikes were in pretty bad shape from the humidity. There were no children's activities available at all. And worst of all, the pool wasn't heated so not only was there nothing for Faisal to do, he couldn't swim either. With a little work this place could turn into a really great weekend retreat kind of place. Maybe they should lower their price a little though.

- I answered some of life's most difficult questions like "plasma or LCD", "curtains or blinds", "gas or electric", and other really perplexing and time consuming questions.

- I gained new knowledge, like for example I now know that all the transport companies that people use to bring furniture from Dubai like Road Runner Transport, are in fact not insured for any damage that they do to the furniture you buy with your hard earned money. Unless the damage was caused by an accident.

- I also learned the hard way that although Serta have the slogan "We make the world's best mattresses" and hang a giant poster in their store which says "Our customers are our most valuable asset", the people who run the company's operations in Oman and the UAE (Dubai Furniture Manufacturing Co) are assholes and don't give a damn about you once you've swiped your credit card and signed on the dotted line.

- I booked some time off from work in January for the purpose of moving into the house, but ended up instead traveling to Paris and Frankfurt. Paris is my favorite city in the world, but it actually sucked being there in the cold of January when all I could think of was home. On the plus side, massive sales everywhere so I picked up just about a year's supply of clothes for Faisal from Galleries Lafayette and lots and lots of brownie points for the Mrs from Gucci (50%) and Louis Vuitton (never on sale).

- I was away on our 5th wedding anniversary :(

- I got examined by a Professor of Neurology in Germany who told me that neurologically I have nothing wrong with me and then advised me "don't take medicine, and stay away from doctors". Fine advice indeed.

- We drove up and down town so many times that I put close to 8000KM on the car in the two months since I bought it. With it's thirsty V8 engine, I sometimes have to fill up the Land Cruiser every third day.

- Despite the above, we still haven't finished furnishing our house. We've still not found a sitting room set which we can satisfy our taste and still fit our budget. We have a dining room without chairs (didn't like the ones BoConcept was displaying with it and thought we'd find something nicer at IDdesign here, but the ones at IDdesign don't match in color). We're also looking for a carpenter to do the two person desk for the office, but that's another story.

- By some freak coincident I found myself on the jury of a major award thing which is going to be announced soon. (I'm not sure I can talk about it just yet).

- We went to the Desert Nights Camp for V day. It's supposed to be a luxury camp in the Wahiba sands. I liked the concept. The tented rooms were really well set up. But the whole experience was a bit lacking- "Wahiba Lite", I guess. The food was a huge let down. Like Al Nahda, I think with a little more work they can turn this project into something much better. They should add more activities and make it into a more authentic experience.

Yeah, it's been quite busy around here lately :)

... and we're back

2008-02-22T12:42:00.003+04:00

Coming to you from our brand new home which we have finally moved into last night after about a year of delays. We're still not done with furnishing the place and it's half empty right now, but we figured it's better to live in the house while we furnish it or otherwise it might be another six months if we wait till it's all furnished. We have beds to sleep in, a nice comfy sitting room, and big ass TVs to chill out in front of. And we have our broadband connection, which isn't that big of a miracle as it sounds because I applied for it back in August when I thought we were going to move into the house after Ramadhan.

Not yet

2008-01-06T23:03:00.000+04:00

This blog isn't dead. Not yet. I've just been too busy to update it.

Plasma or LCD?

2007-11-26T22:32:00.000+04:00

Plasma or LCD?

Panasonic or Samsung? (Sony's too expensive)

What about Philips?

Need to buy two, one for the living room, probably 50", and one for the bedroom.

Currency speculation

2007-11-23T10:55:00.000+04:00

People have been buying UAE Dirhams like crazy. Deposits are being converted from rials and dollars into dirhams. The dollar is being dumped.

The UAE's central bank governor has gone on the record their intention to consider a revaluation of their currency, preferably in a joint move with the other GCC states, but that they will act on their own if the other states don't come into an agreement with them. [link]

Oman's silence on the issue is hitting a nerve with people and they are reflecting it by shifting their deposits into dirhams. This is a clear signal that the lack of transparency is leading to a loss of trust. They're afraid of losing out if our neighbors revalue their currencies and we get left out with a lower valued currency leaving us with a rial that buys us less of everything. Additionally, should the UAE revalue and Oman doesn't, there's an arbitrage opportunity. Even if Oman follows up with a revaluation of its own, the shift to dirhams is still a hedge because at least they (the UAE) are telling us that it might be coming while we (Oman) are totally silent about it.

Earlier this year: Currency revaluation talks

Back from Dubai

2007-11-21T00:12:00.000+04:00

I've just got back from Dubai where I spent the past three days attending the Leaders in Dubai business forum. My original plan was to blog from the forum but unfortunately this was not to happen. I stayed at the Novotel which is attached to the convention center. Unlike most hotels in Dubai which offer free WiFi in their lobbies, the Novotel only offers an Etisalat iZone hotspot but, get this, they don't sell the prepaid cards which you need to access this hotspot. You, the hotel resident, should know to get one with you if you want to use thia hotspot. Where is this mysterious card sold? At any Etisalat shop. I visited 3 Etisalat stores while I was in Dubai and not one of them had a supply of iZone cards because as one store manager told me "they sell very fast". One thing I learned from this experience is that Etisalat stores in Dubai have horrible customer service. (Etisalat's website says you can buy iZone time online, but I couldn't figure how to do it, and one of their store managers told me that it can't be done.)

The business forum was mostly very good. I got to see some impressive speakers such as Prof. Mohammad Yunus, Richard Branson, Malcolm Gladwell, and Kofi Annan. I might post later about my impression of some of them and particularly what they had to say.

Bonafide

2007-11-16T11:59:00.000+04:00

My geekdom is now is certified. Amazon.co.uk had a sale and I managed to get Star Trek: The Next Generation box sets at 55% off. All 7 seasons together came out to about £110. For some reason, they upgraded my shipping to DHL at no extra charge and I had the package with me two days later.

Logic

2007-11-08T19:37:00.000+04:00

Carpenter's logic: If we had delivered on time you wouldn't have liked the work because it would have been a rushed job and the quality wouldn't be the same.

Wife's logic: Going by his own twisted logic, we should delay his payments or else he won't appreciate the value of the money.

No wonder no one reads this blog

2007-11-07T15:02:00.000+04:00

Hmmm....

Patrol d'France air show

2007-11-03T07:11:00.000+04:00

More pics: Flickr set

Shura Elections

2007-10-31T00:40:00.000+04:00

This past Saturday, Oman's 6th Majis A'Shura council was elected for the 2008-2011 term. 631 candidates competed for 84 seats representing 61 wilayas (provinces) in Oman's consultative council (wilayas that have population of over 30,000 get two seats). 388,683 Omani citizens had registered to vote and of that number it is said that 63% showed up to vote, making it the highest voter turn out in Oman's short electoral history. Significantly, it is believed that more women than men participated in the election. However, despite the higher participation, and the fact there were 21 female candidates competing in the election, not one succeeded in winning a seat. In fact, the two female Shura members of the present council both lost their bids for re-election.

I did not vote in this election. It wasn't because of political dissent or anything like that. I hadn't register to vote in the past elections because I wasn't sure that any of the candidates running for my area were worthy of my vote. This time, I was planning to vote but I never got around to going to the Wali's office to register. Was I just plain lazy or was it apathy on my part? A bit of both I guess. More importantly, I think it's because I have no idea what it is that the Majlis A'Shura does. I don't know what the members do. I don't even know if they actually meet on a regular basis or only on the days when they are shown on TV questioning ministers, which I think only happens once per minister per year. I'm quite sure that despite the fact that the elected members aren't allowed by law to have full time jobs, they don't have offices or staff. I blame my lack of knowledge on the Shura Council and its activities entirely on our press. It is their lack of initiative and lack of coverage. We are never informed of what the council does except in generic articles that only tell us that a session took place without informing us what was actually discussed.

I understand that the Shura council has more powers than what is actually been exercises by its members in the past. It can question ministers and advise the government on economic and social issues, but cannot legislate law or get involved in defence or foreign policy. According to an article by Rafiah Al Talei which was forwarded to me by email:

Article 29 of the Omani law regulating the appointed upper house (the
59-member State Council) and elected Shura Council specifies the
powers of each body. The Shura Council's powers include reviewing
legislation drafted by government ministries and passing them on to
the State Council with recommendations, as well as submitting
proposals for social and economic legislation. The Shura Council may
also provide feedback on government initiatives, propose development
projects, and participate in raising citizens' awareness of the
country's development goals and government efforts in that regard.
Members may give opinions on subjects on which the sultan seeks the
council's input, and look into matters related to public services and
infrastructure.

I consider myself to be politically astute, for the most part, but on the day after the election an expatriate who is new to Oman asked me some questions about the representation system and I got totally lost and confused while trying to answer. Like for example, how is a Shura member's role different from that of the government appointed wali? If you as a citizen have a grievance with the government, when do you go to your elected council member and when do you go to the wali? And why would going to the council member be any good when s/he is an individual working on his/her own from their own house without a dedicated office or staff to help in getting the requirements of the constituents done?

According to the same article quoted above:

many Omanis believe that in reality the Shura Council's role has been
limited to looking into public services. And even for this council members
do not receive credit, as government ministers constantly
point out that development in public services and infrastructure is a result of the government's vision and plans rather than initiatives by council members.

Some Shura Council members are frustrated by the lack of appreciation from either the public or the government. Shura Council member Rahila bint Amir bin Sultan al-Riyami stated on several occasions that members do not receive due credit for their work, and asserted that the government actually does accept and consider suggestions and proposals of council members. Media coverage of recent council deliberations, however, revealed little government willingness to accept members' proposals and amendments to upcoming laws.

There's been a lot of discussion, since the start of the election process about encouraging voters not to just vote along tribal and family lines but to vote for the best candidate. For the first time ever the candidates were allowed to advertise and campaign, but I think they were limited in what they can write in their ads because all of them had the same theme: big mug shot, name of candidate and which wilaya he was competing for, and a brief two or three lines with his CV highlights. Nothing more. What was one candidate offering over the others? What would I gain by voting for Mr. X over Mr Y, other than Mr. X has a better education than Mr. Y?

I have to admit that if I had actually voted, I'd have probably towed the line and voted along with my community for our candidate, who actually won in his constituency. It's not just because the guy is a PhD and currently the vice-president of the Central Bank of Oman. But, in the end when it comes down to it, I am part of a minority. My community, the lawatia, is probably the smallest Omani ethnic group. I believe that it is important for my community to have a voice in the council. So yes, I'd have gone along with my "tribe". However, the lawatia at least are organized so they got together and decided they would all give their voice to their best candidate and after discussions and debates chose him. In fact their other candidates pulled out of the race to clear the way for him.

By the way, although the law says that a person who is voted to be a member of the council has to quit his job, I understand that the pay isn't that good. I asked around and heard that it's probably in the 1000 rial range, no higher than 1200 per month. Ok, that's not something to spit at, but still it's what a graduate with a good job would expect to get by the time he's a junior or mid level manager. It's not something you'd quit your job for unless you don't have the potential to get to that level in the first place or else you are independently better off. This could be a significant limiting factor for the quality of candidates.

What's playing

2007-10-20T21:15:00.000+04:00

What I'm listening to these days

Borders

2007-10-18T18:03:00.000+04:00

Borders opened in Muscat City Center earlier this month. It's bigger than their shop in Mall of the Emirates and unlike that one it sells CDs and DVDs as well as books. The first time we were there I didn't have any particular books in mind and just spent an hour browsing its aisles. I can't stop myself from buying books even though I have three big stacks of books I haven't read. I came out with two books, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, a book I've been wanting to read for a while, and Frank Herbert's Dune, one of my favorite books which I've read many times before but the last time was over ten years ago.

I went back to Borders this past Sunday with the following list of books from my Amazon wish list:

The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland
Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Consider Phlebas - Iain M Banks
Mac OS X The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition - David Pogue

They didn't have not even one of them. Not only didn't they have the Mac guide that I wanted, they didn't have any other Mac book in their computer section either. The sci-fi/fantasy section is quite large, but it looks like the books were ordered almost randomly or maybe by someone who doesn't care about the genre. For some authors you can find their more minor books but not the book they are most famous for. They didn't have the book I wanted, Revelation Space, but quite bizarrely they had its sequel. And not a single book by Neal Stephenson except for one book from the Baroque Cycle trilogy.

I'm not surprised because in my experience, even in the UK I could never find all the books I wanted in Borders so I shopped more at Waterstones or ordered my books online.

Conclusion, it's great to finally have a decent bookstore in Muscat but if you're reading taste is not mainstream don't expect to find what you're looking for.

Blog Action Day

2007-10-15T11:34:00.000+04:00

Today is the first ever Blog Action Day where blogs around the world will unite to bring attention to a single issue. This year's issue is the environment.

If you are in Oman, I'd like to bring to your attention that the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) is the country's only environmental NGO. It has been around for only 3 years and has recently shifted from being a 100% volunteer managed society by hiring a full time manager. ESO has ambitious plans and has recently completed the formulation of a comprehensive 5 year strategy which will be announced soon. In order to achieve the goals and targets detailed in this strategy, ESO will require active participation from its members. If you are interested in the environment, please contact the ESO and see how you can help.

The ESO has also planned a very active calender of events for the coming year. We will be having a lecture every Saturday for the next three weeks. Our lectures are open to the public, so please don't hesitate to come.

You can also join the ESO group on Facebook to be in touch with other members and people who care about the environment. All ESO news and events will also be posted there.

Made the switch

2007-10-14T20:17:00.000+04:00

My birthday gift this year from my wife and family: a white 2.16 GHz MacBook with 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. I wanted white to be different from my previous Windows laptops. The switch to Mac has been mostly easier than expected except for transferring my 50+ GB iTunes library which I haven't been able to do yet because my HP laptop keeps crashing whenever I try to back up the library to my external hard drive.

I still haven't gotten around to installing Parallels and trying out Windows on the MacBook.

Welcome Back my friends

2007-10-07T18:27:00.000+04:00

I'm back to wearing glasses. I had Lasik surgery in June 1999, so I guess I the cost of the surgery was worth the money considering the 8 years of life without glasses. (Though, if I factor in all the sunglasses I bought I guess it would turn out I spent as much on sunglasses as I used to spend on frames before.)

Anyhow, I have no regrets. My vision is now only slightly deteriorated by about -0.50 in the left eye which means I can still go on without glasses for a couple more years if I choose to. I've been getting lots of headaches and migraines in the past couple of months so the doctor thought it might be worth it to see if wearing glasses for this minor correction might make a difference. I think it has.

On the other hand, my wife is back to wearing glasses as well and in her case, it's barely just over 5 years since she had the corrective surgery. So for those of you who are thinking of getting Lasik done on your eyes, please don't be fooled by the doctor's promises. It might last a decade, or you might be back to wearing glasses within less than 5 years. Nothing's guaranteed.

Omantel - In Play

2007-10-04T16:43:00.000+04:00

This is cross-posted from Oman Community Blog

Omantel issued a disclosure statement to the market late yesterday evening containing the following information:

The government has agreed to reduce the royalties the company pays from 10% on fixed line and 12% on mobile revenues to a flat 7% effective on 2007 revenues.
Omantel and Oman Mobile will be merged.
The government is planning to sell part of its stake in the company to a "strategic shareholder with vast experience in the field of telecommunications." While the exact percentage hasn't been announced, it could be as high as 70% of the government's share in the company, giving the new strategic shareholder just under 50% of the company.

The royalty reduction is a huge deal for the company. It would result in a significant increase in the company's net profit. The royalty is taken on the company's gross profit. In other words, the company gave 10% and 12% of gross fixed line and mobile revenue respectively to the government. This is taken right off the top before the company deducts its expenses. Of course, this change in royalty will also have a positive effect on Nawras, which had not reached break even yet. The recalculation of Nawras' income for 2007 based on this lower royalty rate will probably result in an earlier break even. (They had announced last month that October might be their first month to achieve break even). Royalty is not the same as tax. Royalty is paid from gross revenues, and tax is paid from net profit.

The decision to sell part of the government's stake to "strategic investor" is a biggie. The big question here is who this mystery investor is. Are we talking someone with global experience? The are rumors of a big European operator being interest, I can't recall if it's O2 or Orange. Plus Omantel had initially entered the bid for Qatar's second mobile license with Belgacom, so it too could be a possible partner. Other possibilities include regional companies like Etisalat, Kuwait's Zain (previously MTC Vodafone), Oger, or even Egypt's Orascom which is already heavily investing in tourism projects in Oman. Question is why anyone would want Omantel and how much would they want to pay for it?

Don't get your hopes up too high. With our luck in Oman, we'll end up selling our second rate telecom company to a second rate operator.

Update: Omantel's stock price jumped 10% (limit up) in Thursday's trading.

Related posts:

Bad Bad Omantel Shares
Omantel IPO

Blue City shareholders lawsuit

2007-10-02T20:12:00.000+04:00

Today I was searching for information on The Blue City project and I mistakenly went to www.bluecityoman.com, which is apparently an alternate website which has only press releases from the project, and read this very interesting "letter to stakeholders." Unfortunately, the letter is in PDF format so I can't copy it here. It is a letter from the CEO of Blue City 1 SAOC, the SPV which is building phase 1 of the project. Apparently, Cyclone LLC, the Omani company that started the project, is 30% shareholder in a company called Ocean Developments SAOC. They are now suing to takeover the shares owned by the Bahraini company AAJ Holdings, which owns the remaining 70%. Ocean owns a company called Al Sawadi Investments and Tourism LLC (ASIT), which in turn is the owner of Blue City 1, which is the borrower and developer, and Blue City Phase 1 Land Company Limited, which owns the Phase 1 site, and Blue City Future Phases Investment Company Limited, which owns the remainder of the Blue City land "included in the security available to investors."

Cyclone is asking for a right to acquire the shares in Ocean currently owned AAJH arising from the circumstances in which the ASIT were originally acquired by AAJH. Shares in ASIT were subsequently exchanged by Cyclone and AAJH for their current holding of shares in Ocean.

If the claim is successful, Cyclone will emerge as the sole shareholder in Ocean. Cyclone is an Omani company wholly owned by Omani shareholders.

AAJH has always been at front and center of the Blue City project. How come the Omani shareholders now want them out? This reminded me of a post in newsBriefsOman about the owner of AAJH, Ahmed Abubaker Janahi, and further of news earlier this year of a lawsuit filed involving one of the financiers of the Blue City project. One of the interesting details in that lawsuit was that AAJH had been declared bankrupt!

What's going on? Of course this is the kind of news that never gets reported in Oman.

Radiohead's new album

2007-10-02T19:49:00.000+04:00

Radiohead, has proven once again why they are one of the most innovative mainstream bands in the world. The band, who have been without a record deal since their contract with EMI ended with their last album Hail to the Thief in 2003, announced that their new album, In Rainbows, will be released on October 10th, and will be available exclusively from their website for the first two months. The download will be DRM-free, and most importantly, there is no set price. "It's up to you," says the website. You can pay whatever you want. Or you can even choose not to pay anything. The album is also available to order in a "discbox" which contains the album with a bonus disc with 8 additional songs, 2 vinyl records, plus artwork and booklets which goes for £40

I pre-ordered my digital copy yesterday. I chose to pay £7.

Job opening at ESO

2007-09-27T15:27:00.000+04:00

Situation Vacant

Omani Trainee

The Environment Society of Oman (ESO) is looking to hire an Omani employee in a full time position. The candidate will be provided with on the job training towards attaining a position of responsibility within the ESO.

Applicants must fulfill the following requirements. S/He must be:

- Omani

- With a genuine interest in environmental and conservation issues

- Fresh/recent university graduate in a relevant field of study (environmental sciences, conservation, eco-tourism, environmental economics, geography, etc.)

- Fluent in Arabic and English (written and spoken)

- Computer literate (Microsoft Office)

- Self starter

- Holder of a valid driving license

Please send your CV and application letter indicating why you want to apply for this position to: info@environment.org.om or fax to 24486876. Deadline for receiving applications is 10 October 2007.

www.environment.org.om

"Acupuncture works"

2007-09-25T20:41:00.000+04:00

You know that pins and needles feeling that you get when you sat on your leg for too long? I had it just about all day, every day, for 3 months. Lab tests, MRI's, nerve conduction studies, they were all coming up without any explanation why my left side kept numbing. After seeing doctors both here and in Thailand's Bumrungrad Hospital, a neurologist here in Oman told me "maybe you should try acupuncture." I was shocked. Here was the country's top neurologist telling me to try an alternative therapy. He told me straight up, when it comes neurology they just don't know why or how, but "acupuncture works".

I never got around to find an acupuncturist. At first I was occupied with my mother's health. And then the numbing started to subside and I got busy with other things. It hasn't gone away, but it's much less of a bother than before.

The reason I brought this up is because there's a news story in the BBC today about a study conducted in a German university on acupuncture that found out that when it comes to back pain, even fake acupuncture works.

More than 1,100 patients took part in the study. They were given either conventional therapy, acupuncture or a sham version.
Although needles were used in the sham therapy, they were not inserted as deeply as in standard acupuncture. Neither were they inserted at points thought key to producing a therapeutic effect, or manipulated and rotated once in position.
After six months 47% of patients in the acupuncture group reported a significant improvement in pain symptoms, compared to 44% in the sham group, and just 27% in the group who received conventional therapy.
Dr James Young, of Chicago's Rush University, said: "We don't understand the mechanisms of these so-called alternative treatments, but that doesn't mean they don't work." [link]

I'm definitely going to look for an acupuncturist here and give it a try.

iPhone insanity

2007-09-25T17:13:00.000+04:00

Apparently, some people here in Muscat are crazy enough to buy unlocked iPhones for a staggering 425 rials. What more, the shop that's selling them is always running out of them and can't get them fast enough. That's $1100 for a $399 phone!

Last night, I was almost tempted to order an iPhone online from apple.com and have it shipped to me through our Aramex Shop and Ship account but then I cooled off of it and decided to wait till after Apple's next software update. And now Apple has announced that following statement:

Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.

In other words, if you have an unlocked iPhone, installing the next software update is going to brick up your iPhone.

15% rent cap announced

2007-09-19T17:02:00.000+04:00

Good news on rent, but only for those whose rents still haven't been increased yet.

The Council of Ministers Decision on Properties Rent Rise

Muscat, Sept 18 (ONA)---The Council of Ministers today decided that properties rent amount should not be increased by more than 15% of the current rent value during the next two years.

The Council of Ministers today issued a statement in this regard, text of which reads as follows:

“The Council of Ministers thoroughly reviewed at its session held on Tuesday 6th of Ramadhan 1428 AH corresponding to 18th September, 2007, the issue of organizing the relationship between the landlords and tenants of residences, shops and industrial sites and registration of their tenancy agreement registration on the light of the considerable increase in the properties rent level in the Sultanate.

As this issue has direct effect on all development, economic and social sectors, and in order to safeguard both the lessants and lessees interests, as an urgent solution to the issue, the Council of Ministers has decided that properties rent amount should not be increased by more than 15%, of its current rent value during the next two years. The municipality concerned will monitor implementation of this ratio as per stipulated regulations.

The government will also conduct a comprehensive study to regularize the relationship between landlord and tenants which fulfill all parties interests and contribute positively in promoting the urbanization renaissance in the Sultanate.

So if a landlord increases rent by 15% this year he can't increase it again next year? The landlord for the office we rent for the ESO increased the rent on us 50% and we just signed the new lease agreement a couple days ago!

35

2007-09-19T16:44:00.000+04:00

Yep, that's my birthday cake from earlier this week.

RamadhanTV.com

2007-09-07T18:25:00.000+04:00

If you're one of those people for whom the tv series are main highlight of Ramadhan, you're gonna love Blue-Chi's new blog, RamadhanTV.com. Blue-Chi and his team are planning to give daily coverage on all the major series that will show during the month. They've already started with posting brief outlines of the shows and which channels they will be shown on.

My wife and I haven't been watching any of the Arabic serials the past two Ramadhans and instead we catch up on our DVDs. But with a site like this one I guess it would be easier to choose a show to watch and find updates if we miss a day.

We were supposed to be smoke free by now

2007-09-07T10:30:00.000+04:00

The following news item is from June 2004:

The health affairs department at Muscat Municipality has drafted a plan to ban smoking in commercial centres, shops and industrial establishments in various wilayats of Muscat governorate.

The plan was prepared in cooperation with the department of fighting non-communicable diseases at the Ministry of Health.

The plan will be implemented in two phases. The first phase, which covers first category restaurants, will continue until August.

The second phase, which covers all closed and public areas, will begin in September and continue until August 2006. � ONA

From the Oman Observer that same day:

The first phase, which began recently and continues till August this year, involves the implementation of a system whereby Grade A and First Class restaurants are required to devote 50 per cent of their areas to non-smokers and to put up boards indicating the same.

The second plan, from September 2004 to August 2006, implements a total ban on smoking in all closed public areas or total separation of smoking and non-smoking areas so that the air cannot mix between the two sections, added Al Kishri.

Closed areas with children's games and restaurants and other food outlets surrounding these and other areas where children gather should implement a total ban on smoking.

What happened?

Flavours comes to CBD

2007-09-06T17:50:00.000+04:00

Flavours, the 24 hour "multi cuisine" restaurant, has opened a second branch in the CBD area. Flavours' new location is right next to Supa Save, on the corner opposing HSBC and the Ruwi post office. This location most recently had a Thai restaurant which went out of business in less than one year and prior to that had a restaurant called The Arabic Oven.

While the CBD is Muscat's financial district, home to the head offices of most of Oman's big banks as well as the Central Bank of Oman, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Oman Chamber of Commerce, and the Muscat Securities Market, it is not exactly a hotspot for restaurants and cafes. In fact most restaurants here go out of business. Even fast food. The last attempt to open a fast food franchise here was Subway which closed down 4 years ago. This is pure shawerma and rolled Arabic bread sandwich territory. And once the bankers and business people go home in the evening the area becomes depressingly quiet and deserted at night.

I haven't eaten at Flavours so I can't pass judgement. Read Amjad's review on the Omani Cuisine blog.

By the way are you aware that Muscat Municipality has recently renamed CBD to Hay Al Souqe?

"Azzamn"

2007-09-05T18:53:00.000+04:00

Azzamn (their spelling, not mine), is a new daily Arabic newspaper that recently launched in Oman with very little fanfare. It quietly slipped onto the news stands without a publicity campaign on August 12th. I read the first issue because they came and gave out free issues in our office that day, but that was that. I haven't heard anyone talk about it since.

Reblog: Oman offers India gas in exchange for coal

2007-08-24T20:06:00.001+04:00

I've posted a news item on Oman Community Blog from an Indian online source that says that Oman has offered India a deal to supply gas in exchange for coal. According to the source:

Indian coal has a high-ash content, one reason why some domestic coal-based power plants mix it with higher quality coal that is imported. However, Oman wants Indian coal for this very reason. Fly ash is a key component in the manufacture of cement and Oman, currently going through an infrastructure and construction boom, needs as much of the building material as it can get.

The details are:

India wants 5 million standard cubic metres of gas a day (mscmd) or 1.25 million tonnes (mt) of gas a year for every 4.5mt of coal it exports in a year. In money terms, that volume of gas translates into $520-650 million (Rs2,132-2,665 crore) at current spot rates of $8-10 per million British thermal units (mBtu), although gas is available at lower rates through long-term contracts.

The hard facts on inflation in Oman

2007-08-17T10:47:00.000+04:00

Annual inflation in Oman accelerated to 5.9% in June, the highest in at least two and a half years, as food costs and rents jumped, official data showed.

The consumer price index rose to 110.3 points compared with 104.2 points in the year-earlier, according to data published on the Ministry of National Economy website. Inflation was 4.3% in May.

The cost of food, beverages and tobacco, which account for around 30% of the index, rose 11.1% in June, compared with 9.1% in the previous month. (Link)

Cost of food went up 11.1% in one month. Add the 9.1% the previous month and that's a 20% increase in just May and June!

Oman Community Blog

2007-08-17T09:27:00.000+04:00

I'd like to draw your attention to the Oman Community Blog, a blog with open membership that currently brings together over 20 bloggers with common interest of writing about Oman. I have 4 or 5 post there in the past couple of weeks.

Dear Mr. Shetty

2007-08-10T13:03:00.000+04:00

In the midst of unrest, it is inevitable that there will always be those who suffer and those who prosper. In the aftermath of Cyclone Gonu, those who were affected are now looking towards restoration, services and household goods companies to help them return life to a state of normality. As a result, such companies are seeing their workload increase, sometimes even beyond their capacities, and their profits are going up.

Karim Baksh Trading and Contracting in Wadi Kabir is one such company. General manager, Divakar Shetty, explains that Karim Baksh, which specialises in interior design and restoration, has seen its earnings increase by RO200,000 since the cyclone hit Muscat. The company's latest project is to restore three or four shops in CCC and seven shops and one bank in the Al Araimi Complex.

Moreover, Shetty adds that Karim Baksh is fully booked for the rest of the year. As a result of this huge demand for his services, he has employed 60 extra staff members, including electricians, carpenters and wood polishers, to help deal with the added workload. "Whereas we used to work a ten-hour day, currently my staff and I are busy 18-19 hours a day." [link]

How very fortunate for you, Mr. Shetty. Unfortunately for me, I contracted your company in October 2006 to do the doors, kitchen, wardrobes, closets, staircase rails, and vanities in my house and you are yet to complete my order. At first you promised me to start delivering at the end of December but then you blamed the rains and flooding that happened that month for the delay. Then I heard that you had taken a job to restore all the damaged store fronts in the CCC and when I confronted you about it you promised to finish the job by February. Feb became March, and it flooded again and you went and took more emergency jobs. Then you promised to have it all done by May. Gonu came in June. And here you are boasting of how much work you have in BusinessToday magazine. What am I to do with you, Mr. Shetty? My house has been ready for months and I can't move into it because it still doesn't have a kitchen, the master bedroom still doesn't have dressing room closets, and worst of all my stairs still don't have rails on them. I've threatened to delay your payment and all you do is laugh and say that keeping the money with me is the same as keeping it in the bank. I threatened to tell everyone I know about your delays and you say that unfortunately your reputation for tardiness and long delays is already known by most of the people who contract you but they still give you jobs because they like the quality of your work. I know that posting this on my blog isn't going to help one bit but I don't know what else to do.

Muscat Wastewater's Phantom Contractor

2007-08-10T12:55:00.001+04:00

Is this Muscat Wastewater Project billboard's declaration of "بداية جديدة" (A New Start) an admission from the Oman Wastewater Services Company of the rumors that the project's contractor, China's Sino Hydro Corporation, has indeed withdrawn from the project and left town leaving the project in limbo?

Extreme Ways are Back Again

2007-08-10T08:22:00.000+04:00

At long last we managed to actually venture out of the house and go to the movies. This summer we've already missed most of the "threequels" including Spiderman 3, Pirates 3 and Shrek 3. Died Hard 4 was good fun. Ocean's 13 was lighter than air, but at least it didn't suck like 12 did. Haven't seen Harry Potter 5 yet but I think it might still be playing in some of the smaller screens so I still have a chance to catch it.

With no nanny to look after Faisal, going to the movies requires plenty of advance planning so the movie better turn out to be worth it. And dammit, Bourne Ultimatum rocks. It's the perfect summer movie. Matt Damon is excellent. Director Paul Greengrass has outdone himself. The editing is still jumpy but not as confusing as it was in The Bourne Supremacy. The Bourne movies are now a perfect trilogy- something very rare in the action genre. The movies have nothing in common with the novels they are named after except for the character Jason Bourne and his amnesia. But it doesn't matter. Robert Ludlum isn't exactly high literature. I read the novels in high school and college. The last one I read must have been at least 15 years ago, so I wouldn't remember much even if the movies were faithful to them.

I think I'm gonna go look for my still unwrapped Bourne Supremacy DVD which I found in the bargain bin in Carrefour last year and give it a spin.

An English lesson from Futoon

2007-08-06T16:43:00.000+04:00

A lesson in simple English from this week's Futoon, the free paper published by Al Watan.

Nice.