Life on the Spot: Doha, Qatar

An Open-Heart Bypass

4 Feb 2010

My dad is going to undergo a heart bypass operation tomorrow. This is the reason why I had to go home to the Philippines.

Last September, after feeling that his his sight isn’t synced with his motor movements, they had him see a doctor and eventually found out that he had a stroke. Miraculously, although he had a brain aneurysm and had a blot clot in his brain, all that was affected hand-eye coordination. A month after taking medicines, the clot itself was gone and he was back to normal.

However, by December, he had bouts of chest pains and dizziness which prompted a visit to the doctor. Several tests later, he was recommended to get an angiogram to see what really was causing the problem. To cut the story short, we had to schedule a double bypass surgery.

Tomorrow would be that day. We have been staying in the hospital since yesterday. Hopefully, everything would turn out well and with prayers and support from family and friends, we’d pass this test in flying colors. It is scary and one can not deny the risks of having such an invasive surgery. But God will be good and I leave it in His hands…

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Tags: CABAG, heart bypass

My Flight to the Philippines with Qatar Airways

In: Family & Friends| Personal| Qatar| Reviews| Transportation

3 Feb 2010

For those who have been following me on Twitter and Facebook, you would have known that I was scheduled to fly back to the Philippines for a short emergency leave. I found out that Qatar Airways made several changes to the Philippine Flight schedules and dependent on the day your are leaving Qatar. For my flight yesterday (Tuesday), I got the 3 PM flight out of Doha.

Booking was made on the Qatar Airways website and check-in was done online. This was great as one doesn’t have to queue at the check-in counters but can already check-in the bags at the Fast Check-in counters. The difference? Since you’re already checked-in online, the crew doesn’t have to check you in, which may take a considerable time. And if you are the third or last in the queue, it would take you ages before you get your turn. With the online check-in, you can print your Boarding pass or even send it to your phone! If you can’t print it, just tell the crew and they’ll print it for you. Saves you a lot of hassles, trust me. Also, you can pick your seats when you book or check-in online.Qatar Airways have changed the planes to the newer 77W Boeing planes. For a detailed view of the 77W Seat Map, you can scoot to SeatGuru or click this link to to a direct link of the Seat Map.The seat configuration for business is 2-2-2 while for economy, it’s 3-3-3. Perfect if a family of 3 travels together.

I was pleasantly surprised that the airport was empty and not the usual almost-full capacity. It took me less than 10 minutes to go through Check-in and immigration. A first! At the Immigration counter, though my company sent me the Exit Visa and had it printed, there was no actual need to show it as the Permit should show up on their system.

We boarded early but in-flight entertainment got started only after take-off. The good thing about these new planes is you get your own Entertainment system and can pick any movie or TV show for you to keep you sane while waiting for touch down. Food was generally ok and loved the chocolate mousse for dessert. I wasn’t able to sleep so a couple of Friends episodes, Bruce Willis in Surrogates, Big Bang Theory with Kelly Cuoco and a love story in The Time Traveler’s Wife, we got an announcement that we are an hour early of the expected arrival! The flight that takes a usual 9:15 hours became an 8 hour flight! By 4:15 A.M., I was already waiting for my luggage to come out of the carousel.

The flight was uneventful and wasn’t plagued with air pockets so that was good. It’s currently …wait, I’m not sure if it’s 1120 PM or 4:20AM. Honestly. I’m not sure if I already changed the time on the laptop and I don’t have a watch. Anyway, I don’t feel sleepy yet as my body rhythm is messed up. Hopefully, I’ll get adjusted tomorrow. I’ll also update you guys on why I’m back in the Philippines. Till then…

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Tags: 77w, qatar airways, seatguru

Apple launches Apple iPad

In: Technology

27 Jan 2010

After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple’s finally unveiled the iPad. It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little. There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and optional 3G, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation, support for up to 1024×768 VGA out and 480p composite out through new dock adapter cables, and a camera attachment kit that lets you import photos from your camera over USB or directly through an SD reader. The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen — but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today. The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM “micro-SIM,” so you can use it abroad, but there aren’t any international deals in place right now — Steve says they’ll be back “this summer” with news on that front.

It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

from Engadget

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Tags: apple itouch, apple tablet, ipad

Of Neck pains and Al Ahli Hospital

In: Personal

27 Jan 2010

I’ve been having chronic neck and shoulder pains for the past 8 months or so. I’ve gone to different doctors, Orthos and Physiologist to get a diagnosis and treatment. Usually the doctors would tell me to get Physio treatments to alleviate the pain. Since I really haven’t had any success with the treatments nor was I given a proper diagnosis, I decided to try and see the Neurologist at Al Ahli hospital.

Bringing a referral from my company’s medical department and my Axa Insurance card, I went to the plush Al Ahli Hospital yesterday afternoon. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to wait too long for my turn. 10 minutes at most. The Neuro, Frank, asked my of my troubles but was easily convinced that whatever I had was not related to problems with veins. Still, he made a physical checkup and recommended I see their Ortho. Although he could have charged me for seeing him (since I had Axa, the charge was already approved), he asked the head of Ortho if they could just remove the charge as I’m seeing their department anyway. This surprised me as he could have left it at that and get paid for whatever he just did.

I did get my schedule and got an Xray to boot. Apparently, i have Cervical Facet Syndrome.

Cervical facet syndrome is a cause of pain in the spinal region and more noticeably in the neck. When suffering from cervical facet syndrome, the facet joints become inflamed and may bring with it soreness and or stiffness. Cervical facet joint pain can be felt in the areas of the base of the skull, upper back and shoulders, mid-back or neck.

The doctor was able to explain to me well what was causing the problem, how to remedy it and steps and options I have in treating it. After seeing 4 other doctors, it was the first time that I got to know what was the problem! This syndrome is usual in Qatar, the doctor says. And if pain medications and therapy can remove the pain, I might undergo Thoracic Facet Injection where under a fluoroscopy or x-ray, an injection is made into the joint to numb the area and gives temporary relief to the affected area. This is not a permanent solution as it may bring about months to a year or 2 of relief.

Anyway, I’ll try out the medications and the therapy and see where it goes from there.

Filipino in Qatar Deported due to mistaken Identity

In: News| Qatar

21 Jan 2010

I’m not sure if you’ve heard about the Filipino who was working in Qatar that got jailed and deported back to the Philippines after he was mistakenly thought to be the one who shot the son of a Politician over a traffic altercation. Jason Aguilar was a welder here in Qatar but suddenly found himself out of work, in jail and in the hands of the police. Apparently, he had the same name as the real culprit, Jason Aguilar Ivler. In the end, the police in the Philippines admitted that he was the wrong guy and set him free. Just this week, Police in the Philippines caught Jason Ivler. So all is well that ends well?

I don’t think so. If I was in Jason’s (the innocent) shoes, I’d be really pissed! Why can’t the police in the Philippines check and get their records straight before accusing somebody who just happens to have the same name and birthday as the real killer. If they were so sure that this guy in Qatar was the killer and have asked the Qatar Government for his repatriation, couldn’t they have spent more time doing a proper research. Jason Ivler is the son of a British and a Filipina. By comparing photos of both, I’m sure there would be a big difference. It was like googling a name on the internet and whoever had the same name as the killer was presumed the killer! Can he sue the Police for this? I don’t know.

Poor guy, he lost his job, suffered the ordeal of being deported, lost face and although offered to come back to Qatar, he wouldn’t dare to as I’m sure he was traumatized by the events.