Roll Laptop

Whenever I see this video, I say: "This is too much!" Then I start wondering, what would have been the expression of people 100 years ago if they were shown videos of things we actually have today?

Is Lubbock, TX losing its identity?

I study in one of the most conservative cities not only in Texas, but the entire United States. The city has always been known for its conservatism and that's what I like about it, because it gives it a unique identity. However, with some recent changes, I'm really afraid that the city is beginning to lose that unique identity.

When I first arrived here for studies, the taxi driver who took me from the airport to the hotel told us that this city is a dry city. That means that the sales of alcoholic beverages are prohibited within the city limits. I never knew that there were places in the US that prohibited the sales of alcohol. But then again, when I lived in the city and started to get to know its people, I realized that conservatives are absolutely against the public sales of alcoholic beverages in their areas, for obvious reasons.

When I came back to the US last summer, I was asked the usual questions by the immigration officer if I had brought any food items, tobacco or alcohol with me to the country. Then, the officer realized that I study in Lubbock, TX and said: "Oh, they don't drink in Lubbock, do they?" I told him yes sir, it's a dry city. But unfortunately, this city is not dry any more.

Although the sales of any alcoholic beverages was absolutely prohibited within the city limits, people drove 30 or 40 minutes to get their drinks from the gray market just outside the city limits. There were dealers who sold alcohol just outside Lubbock city limits, and that's where people got their drinks from. But for so long, businesses like walmart tried to fund a campaign for lifting the ban and allow themselves to sell alcohol within the city limits of Lubbock. Lubbock citizens and voters are who decide whether to allow the sales of alcohol in their city or not. In order to bring the issue to the ballot, you need to collect around 50,000 signatures. Walmart and other businesses funded the campaign, and brought 50,000 signatures to bring this issue in the ballot and let the citizens of Lubbock to vote for keeping the ban or lifting it. With the rising number of students and young people in the city, the majority of the voters voted for lifting the ban. And businesses like walmart concurred and were given the green light to sell alcohol in their stores.

Many of the people I know voted against lifting the ban. They didn't want alcohol to be easily accessible. But, the majority ruled and stores like walmart and even gas stations started selling beer and wine.

To me, this is sad, because I feel that the city is beginning to lose its unique identity that I have known it for. The only thing I could say to my friends about this city that it's a dry and very conservative city. Now that it's not dry anymore, what am I going to tell my friends about it?

Since the city has gone wet a couple of months ago, I started to see more drunk people in the streets. In the past, alcohol was not easily accessible. It was available, but you had to drive long distances to get it. But now, it's available anywhere, even in gas stations. It's disturbing and sad, but in the end of the day, the majority rules and it ruled to allow the sales of alcohol in Lubbock after more than 70 years of banning it.

[Photo credits: dwholler]

RAM upgrade

A couple of days ago I had my laptop's RAM upgraded and it's been working like a charm since then. I have a Toshiba Satellite A200-13O that I bought two years ago. It's been working fine with me for those two years but the only problem is that it had only 1GB RAM. So, this summer I thought of adding 2GB of RAM to the laptop and now I have 3GB of RAM in total. As soon as I upgraded the RAM, I could notice the huge difference between having 1GB and 3GB of RAM. I don't know how have I been living all this time with only 1GB, but now my laptop is upgraded and it's good for another couple of years!

Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Kareem ...
Originally uploaded by Omar_MK

Ramadan Kareem everyone. I hope that you and your families have a blessed Ramadan! Luckily for me, this year I will be able to spend a couple of days of Ramadan with my family here in Oman, as I'm still in Oman and got a couple more days before I go back to the US insha'allah.

Leaving Sudan

My vacation in Sudan is over and now I am at Khartoum International Airport waiting for my flight back to Oman. I haven't visited Sudan since 2006 and this year I only stayed for 2 weeks because I just wanted to come see my family members that I have not seen during these 3 years, especially my grandmothers. Unfortunately, unfortunately, I haven't blogged during these 2 weeks as much as I wanted. I wanted to update the blog on a daily basis, but clearly I failed to do so. That's sad because there are tons of things that I could have blogged about during my stay in Sudan, but I got terribly busy with the family. Visits, celebrations, funerals, and the likes... I'm glad though that I came this year to visit my family members. Pre-2006 I used to come to Sudan every year, but since 2006 I never had a chance to come to Sudan and I'm not sure how often will I be able to come to Sudan in the coming years.

Anyhow, one of my goals was to share a couple of pictures of Sudan during my visits, but I also failed to do that. In fact, I didn't take much pictures even though there are magnificent views along the Nile River. I shot the above picture while I was walking in my neighborhood, and just thought of sharing it with you to show you just another typical street in Sudan Khartoum. The best view I liked in Sudan was the view on the western side of the Nile where the towers and large buildings are. There are many towers along the Nile and the view looks amazing at night. I passed by that place a couple of times but never got a chance to take a picture, unfortunately.

Anyways, I need to go now to catch my flight. I will be staying in Oman for another 3 weeks until I go back to the US.

US policy shift on Sudan becomes more vivid

July 30, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — The US presidential special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration criticized the decade long sanctions imposed by his country on Khartoum saying it is undermining the diplomatic efforts being carried out to resolve multiple conflicts in the East African country.

Gration, testifying at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said that “the consequences of the sanctions that result from that, and other sanctions, are preventing us from doing the development we absolutely need to do,".

“At some point we’re going to have to unwind some of these sanctions so that we can do the very things we need to do,” he said.

He said that the sanctions are “hurting the very development” needed for South Sudan such as bans on heavy equipment for road-building and computer equipment useful for educational purposes.

Full story

I am one of the people whom are very concerned about the sanctions imposed by the US on Sudan since 1993 and Sudan being in the US list of countries that support terrorism. I don't know if Sudan does indeed support terrorism or not, but I only know that the average Sudanese citizens do suffer from the sanctions & Sudan being on that list. There are so many restrictions on me as a student in the US for the simple fact that I hold a passport of a country in the US list of countries that support terrorism. Many US-based companies cannot employ Sudanese citizens because of the embargo. US-based companies are prohibited from operating in Sudan and that affects the development of the country. These sanctions and embargo do not only affect the relations between the governments of the two countries, but in many ways they do affect the lives of the average citizens. So, I sincerely hope that Sudan will be removed from the US list of countries that support terrorism and also hope that the embargo will be lifted as soon as possible because it IS affecting the average Sudanese citizens.

Rain in Khartoum

I live in the most expensive area in Sudan (one sq meter = 800 USD as
of today) and this is what happens when we get the slightest amount of
rain in my area.

Sent from my iPhone.

Gone mobile!

Alright folks. Now that I'm done with setting the internet up on my iPhone here in Sudan, I can announce that we're gone mobile and I will be able to do some moblogging on the move.

I had problems with my mobile service providers for activating the internet on my newly purchased sim card. For some reason, when my uncle bought me this sim card the day I arrived in Sudan, the sim card was not registered yet, and so I couldn't activate the internet on my phone via SMS or phone. I tried activating it through SMS but it didn't go through, so I called them and they said that I had to go to them to register the sim card and then have the internet activated. Today I just got a chance to go visit them and register the sim card and after that I had the internet activated. Things are working perfect now and I can send pictures to the blog whenever I want to. So, stay tuned and expect some moblogging soon!

Driving in Sudan

On my third day in Sudan, my father and I went to renew our car's registration so we can drive it during our stay. The registration renewal wasn't a big hassle, just a couple of hours and we were good to go. We also got to install the new decent-looking license plates on our cars, so things are cool. But what's not cool at all is driving in Sudan. So I decided that I need to talk a bit about driving in Sudan.

I know a lot of people who complain about driving in Oman. All I have to say to these people, try driving in Sudan. Motorists here are so random that you can't imagine it. Everyone has the right of way. Well, let me rephrase that. Not everyone, but the bravest has the right of way. If you are brave, you have the right of way. Nobody sticks to speed limits, if there are any. Nobody pays any attention to traffic lights. In Oman, if the traffic light is red, you might see a car or two crossing the red light. But here, if one car crosses the red light, all cars do. I tend to stick to traffic rules here but it doesn't seem to be working. If I stop at a red light, cars behind me keep honking and it's really frustrating. You see more than 6 cars driving side by side on a two-lanes road. If you're in a one-lane intersection, at least one car on your right and another on your left try to enter the intersection with you. So when only one car is supposed to enter the intersection at a time, at least three cars are doing so. The roads themselves are terrible. They are not wide enough and you see at least 6 cars side by side on a road that's supposed to take only two cars.

I try to avoid driving here, because people are really so random and literally nobody sticks to traffic rules. Whenever there is a chance for me to ride with someone or let someone else
drive, I immediately take that chance. I could use public transportation but I don't want to, because it's a huge hassle.

Sudan's new license plates

Finally, Sudan got some decent-looking license plates. Yes, that's decent for Sudan, as the old license plates were fugly. These new license plates have been introduced in the beginning of 2009. Not all cars have the new license plates yet, but by the end of this year when everybody would have renewed their car registration (supposedly), all cars will have the new license plates. When you buy a new car or you go renew you car's registration, they install on you car the new decent-looking license plate. You can have a look at Sudan's old license plates [here]. Since the 50's the license plates of Sudan didn't have English translation, even though at some point the official language of Sudan was English. Now all plates have English translations.

P.S.: This is the post for day 2 from my Sudan 2009 visit. Please excuse the dirt in the car, it's been very rainy the past days in Khartoum.

P.P.S.: The two digits in the middle have been censored in order to protect the privacy of the car's owner. Couldn't have done it in a more professional way because I don't have Photoshop in this computer.