Well guys, it’s Grand Prix time! And since I’m quite sad that I’m not in Bahrain (to enjoy my favourite dinner and shisha place called Don Vito), the closest thing I have is the fact that I can call Bahrain for a great rate.

Wow! What a segway there! Anyway, I was just told that calling Bahrain on Vodafone for the Grand Prix costs QR 0.69  per minute (so that’s the 12th to the 14th).

So ILQ sponsored the Art Dog Day and the Fur Ball that happened some days ago. It was so great to be a part of a fun event! We’re taught in our faith, that it’s important to treat all of God’s creatures with respect.

Let’s look at the concept of Halal for example (no I’m not encouraging eating your pets! Relax!) The reason why we have Halal food is because it’s a human way of killing livestock. So it’s funny how someone can go and kick a cat, but then ask for a Halal burger. Ah well, I digress!

Interested in seeing a few photos of the event? Click here http://iloveqatar.net/forum/read.php?5,12035

If you were one of the attendees, you could have picked up some ILQ freebies, like one of these Beachballs!

Interested in some fun on the beach? Well Red Bull in partnership with Vodafone and support from the InterContinental and iLoveQatar.net are bringing you a fun event called Double Kick.

Teams will be competing to scores goals on the beach and the fancier the trick, the more points the team gets.

Besides that, there’ll be food, drinks, music, and some fantastic ILQ and Vodafone freebies!!

Stop on by!

More information here http://iloveqatar.net/forum/list.php?27

If you’re a BlackBerry user then you’ll want to quickly head on over to http://www.vodafone.com.qa/go/en/getstarted/blackberry and register!

They’re giving 1000 people the BB service for FREE until the end of May! Don’t say Mr. Q didn’t tell you!

I was pleased when Abode magazine contacted me because they wanted to hear what my views were on blogging and the blogosphere in Qatar. All I had really done was share my view (in English) so that people can read up on what one Qatari thinks.

Has this blog inspired you to become more vocal? Start up your own blog! Sign up to Wordpress or Iktib.com !

Still prefer reading? Then pick up a copy of Abode magazine at a nearby store!

With all the updates going on at ILQ, I thought it was about time we tweaked the blog a bit.

On the right hand side, you’ll now notice a few changes. 1) There’s a tag cloud so you can find the most common tagged terms, there’s my twitter feed, and there’s the Qatar Events twitter feed.

For those who don’t know there are a few great ILQ powered Twitter channels.

QatarEvents – http://www.twitter.com/qatarevents

It’s updated with the latest events and happenings in Qatar.

QatarNews – http://www.twitter.com/qatarnews

Grab important news from a variety of sources related to Qatar.

I’ve been on the hunt for some indoor plants and some pots to match my house for a while now. I finally was lead to a great strip that has a wide selection of plants. Most of them are low maintanence as well!

So here are the places I’ve found:

1) Gardenia – Located on the road which leads up to Applebees, BK, Hardees etc.. and opposite of La Cigale Hotel.
Their plants are quite reasonable in price but their pots are crazily expensive! A large stainless steal was going for 950 QR!

2) The plan shop in Al Asmakh mall. It’s located on the second floor on the right corner of Home Center. They’re quite expensive in my opinion.

3) The Plant strip. Coming from Ramada on Salwa Road, once you hit Decoration roundabout, take a left. You’ll be heading towards Aramex (on the right). Once you hit the round about, turn right. Once you hit the next roundabout, turn right. You’ll find around 6 nurseries with a great deal to choose from. Shop wisely as prices can vary! Delivery of plants is free and remember to always ask for a discount after asking the price of each plant and once they’ve tallied up the total price!
THIS is the place to go for reasonable prices and a variety of choices.

I just thought that I’d share this URL with everyone http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/

Give it a peek. It’s the International Living standards database. They rate the final score based on cost of living, leisure & culture, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, risk &safety and climate.

Long story short: Qatar is ranked 130. A few countries that ranked HIGHER include, Nepal, Namibia, India, China, Ghana, and Vietnam.

Where Qatar’s rank was pulled down was in Climate, Infrastructure, and Freedom.

What do you all think? Should Qatar really be ranked that low. (I personally agree that the three they ranked low on were correct.)

Two tweaks have been implemented onto ILQ recently and I just wanted to share them.

1) The menu bar on the left is now compact! We’ve added a cool accordian menu style that shrinks after 2-3 seconds of being expanded. If it detects that you like clicking around on links that are usually hidden, it’ll stay expanded. What’s better? iPhone friendly!

2) We’ve added a new list on the main page that shows you what the current events, latest news, latest threads, and guides are in Qatar! Now you can go clickity click and you’re there in a …. click..

If you’ve got your own ideas, share them with me! Now get going to http://www.iloveqatar.net