Friday, September 30, 2005

Put more money or else we will freeze your account!!!

To avoid a crash in the Kuwaiti Stock Market "God forbid" I decided to save some money in the bank and get minimal heartbreaking interest. The opportunity cost was so high and it was hard for me to take that decision, yet I knew it was the right thing to do.

I figured I will open a new account in a bank that is not my main one, in order to forget about the money and not be tempted to invest it in equities.

A year and a half passed by and I was quite impressed with my ability to forget about my money for so long. However, when I checked my account online to see how much interest I managed to collect, I was shocked that my actual gains were so much lower than I had calculated / anticipated. I went to the bank the next day and they told me that your account was frozen and that's why you did not get the interest you had in mind!!

Why the hell did the bank freeze my account? I am giving them a chance to utilize my funds for lending and trading, yet they were so greedy and did not want to pay me interest after 6 months, the time it took to declare my account frozen !!

Why do Kuwaiti banks do that? Why not take a fee and keep my money slowly growing?! Is freezing an account a threat to enforce regular deposits into an account?!?!? Is this the only way to be competitive!!! Cant they enhance their services and offer more products to entice people to save?!?

Friday, September 16, 2005

Good Arab Comedy... Please !

I love Saturday night live, the Simpsons and Futurama and I sometimes wish we had similar shows running all year long in the Arab world.

We need some good comedy for a change, something that you can simply relax watching. I wish we he had our comedians collaborate in creating a funny Arab cartoon like the Simpsons for example. Block 13 was a good start, but it was too Kuwaiti oriented.

I have met quite a few people in Kuwait who are genuinely funny. They will say the funniest jokes / stories and make the most hilarious comments on anything.

Arabs from all nations have their share of comedians, but most of them have not been in a position to use their comedy professionally. We need to laugh and loosen up a bit, cause that will most probably ease our melancholic lives.

I feel Arab blogs should aim for creating networks of people with common abilities and capabilities and brainstorm to create something unique such as an Arab comedy blog. Such platform may be used to connect the funny Arabs to collaborate in creating a new hit and open new doors for so many others from promoters to financiers.

Blogs in our part of the world should aim for the next step and become a platform for new ideas and a workbench for innovation.

Just a suggestion.....

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

He played against an Israeli Player - Who cares!!?!?!

I don't get it!! Why is Kuwait banning a young talented player from tennis because he played against an Israeli opponent!!! Who cares!!?!?!?!!

I was furious to hear about this whole incident and I could not believe how stupid this country has become.

Palestinians are negotiating / working / playing sports with the Israelis, yet for some outdated law, Kuwaiti players are not allowed to do so!!!!!
Is it because the tennis association is so worried about the Islamic parliament members making a big deal about this whole incident and potentially removing them from their seats!!!

Why should a young talented player be punished for the shallow minds of some people in his society!???!!

Should I be banned from working in Kuwait because during my college years I worked on a project with an Israeli!!!

I really think we should do something about this. We cannot just let this kid be a scapegoat for a society controlled by stupid, short minded individuals, by a law that does not consider today's realities, and by the shear selfishness of the Kuwaiti Tennis Association, who are simply worried about their positions!!!!!