My Life - Sabah Hussain

Last weekend, the three of us went to Ayubia and Nathiagali (scenic hill stations in Pakistan) with a good friend of mine from Islamabad, along with his wife and son. We had a great time and his son is about the same age as Rohail so the company was well matched.

While driving from Islamabad towards Ayubia, we could feel the weather get very cool as we climbed up the mountains. The drive was very scenic and we saw a lot of monkeys along the way.

After checking in at a nice hotel in Ayubia, we headed straight for the chair-lifts. It was an interesting experience, especially getting on and off the chair lifts. Not as refined as you would expect. We also went to a trekking path called Pipeline but had to give up mid-way due to rain and hail.

The next day was a brief stop-over for breakfast at Nathiagali where the view is breath-taking. We also touched Murree for some ice-cream on our way back to Islamabad. The trip was hectic (especially for the guy who was driving!) but a lot of fun.

You can see some of the pics here.

Currently I’m in Lahore for about a month on an official trip and Maliha and Rohail have accompanied me. Last week we got the go-ahead for a team outdoors trip. We decided to visit the Khewra Salt Mine which is located between Islamabad and Lahore. It is a very scenic trip on the Motorway and the whole gang stuffed into a van and we had a great day.

It took us about 3 hours to get there from Lahore. The weather was simply amazing with a lot of rain and by the time we got there, we had a quick lunch and headed towards the mine. They had a rickety train that took us to the depths of the mine and from there onwards we had a guide who explained the various things and showed us the various salt related exhibits they have put up there for the tourists. It was very interesting to see the different types of salts and their colour and light properties. Rohail had a great time as well which you could tell from his excited shrieks.

Fun Facts: The daily production is 1200-1500 metric tonnes and the mine is on multiple levels and ventilation is done through dedicated ventilation tunnels (there is no formal ventilation or AC inside).

This is a unique thing and I would advise people to check it out if they can.

You can see all the photos here.

The other day I saw these ostrich eggs for sale at Carrefour, going for K.D.1.640 each. I wonder if you can get these done sunny side up style.

It seems that voting season is on. Hasbro is coming out with the global edition of one of the most popular board games in the world - Monopoly. Jerusalem, Israel was one of the earlier proposed cities to be in the game but a conflict has started. Hasbro has decided to take a neutral stance on this and let the people decide which cities should be included.

My vote: Dubai (unfortunately, Kuwait didn’t make the list)

Vote here

I had been thinking about a cell phone replacement for a while now and had just about made up my mind for the Nokia N95 8 GB when all of a sudden, everybody has started popping up with very interesting and noteworthy models. Now I’m totally confused and have no clue on what to get. They’re all pretty cool but due to the slew of features out there, I’m not sure which has the best combination.

Listen up cell phone manufacturers (especially Nokia and Sony Ericsson)! I’m going to list down my 20 points/expectations below (in no particular order) and you go to your labs and come back with my dream machine. The deadline is yesterday.

1. 2.8″ - 3.0″ screen offering excellent display in the sun and all that - Nokia has set a good example here (must)
2. Wi-fi connectivity (must)
3. Blue-tooth connectivity (must)
4. 5 MP camera with image stabilizer and xenon flash (must)
5. 16 GB built-in memory (8 GB will also be entertained)
6. Memory card slot (nice to have)
7. Optical zoom (optional, but shouldn’t ruin the form)
8. An efficient web browser and sufficient memory to cater to browsing activities (must)
9. 3D graphics (must)
10. GPS - this should work with maps as well as should geo-tag photos (must)
11. Slide form is preferred. Don’t bother with flip-tops
12. Touchscreen (not needed)
13. Support for various video and audio formats (must)
14. Intelligent searching for contacts - i-mate style (must)
15. Regardless of what OS it runs, laggy performance is not acceptable and neither is crashing (must)
16. FM transmitter (nice to have)
17. Standard audio jack - I’m not going to fiddle around with adapters (must)
18. Context sensitive interface (nice to have)
19. Standard organizer applications - multiple and flexible alarm settings and an intuitive calculator (must)
20. Physical dimensions should not be huge (e.g. Nokia Communicators, no thank you)

Introducing the Wind DUO 2200. This mobile has two screens, two keypads and accomodates two SIMs. It doesn’t look half bad and also sports a 2 MP cam on both sides. Its an innovative idea and might be the right device for people who end up carrying two handsets.

No word on the price. You have to fill a form to get further details.

[Official site]

I ordered the Logitech VX Nano laser mouse from Amazon a few weeks ago and got it delivered to recently from U Shop We Ship (these guys are doing pretty speedy deliveries). I had been searching for a good cordless mouse for a while now because my corded optical mouse was beginning to bother me and the cable just kept getting in the way.

After a lot of research I decided to get this one. It has a cool dual scrolling feature (it can be put in free spin mode for scrolling through long documents or the ratchet mode that is good for precision stuff). The scroll wheel also rocks to the left and right giving you two more buttons. Add to that two more buttons (other than left/right click) and a search button behind the wheel and you’ve got a good load of fully configurable buttons with this nifty device.

The overall ergonomics and performance of the mouse are great and I’ve got nothing to complain about. The mouse also comes with a handy pouch to store it in as well as a USB extension if you want to connect it to your desktop PC. It uses two AAA batteries which promise to give you about 6 months usage which isn’t bad at all.I’m saving the best feature for last and that is the USB receiver. It is so small that you can just plug it in your USB port and forget all about it. I’ve been using it with my laptop for two weeks now and haven’t had to unplug it once.

I just received this from a relative working in the oil sector here in Kuwait. Pretty cool (pun intended)!

Pictures taken at Wafra, Kuwait 7am to 9.30am on January 16, 2008.

“It’s been eight years now. Eight long years. Sure, initially I was glad when China toppled the Bush regime and executed the “retarded tyrant” as I love to call him. It wasn’t that bad at the start, but as time wore on and I realized they weren’t leaving, it started to gnaw at me.“

A very interesting alternative future view with regards to the current fight for freedom being waged by the US. Read the complete article here.

Turns out that the food we eat has a serious impact on us based on our blood type. You would think this sort of information would be better publicised.

Basically, each blood type has a recommended diet with details on what’s allowed and what should be avoided. The chart really spelt bad news for me (blood type A), since it says that I should mainly be a vegetarian! Anyway, I suppose it could be good for the person who can follow it.

Blood Type Diet

O High protein

A Vegetarian

B Balanced omnivore

AB Mixed diet in moderation

Click here for the complete details.

Update: It turns out that the Blood Type Diet has no scientific basis (Relief! Going vegetarian wasn’t going to work for me anyway).