I’m so honored! Vodafone and iLoveQatar.net teamed up this year again to put together www.ramadan-kareem.net . (If you don’t know what it’s about click here). We worked really hard to make sure that we took what we did last year and take it to the next level. This is the 4th time we’ve done this now and the 2nd time we’ve teamed up with Vodafone. Special thanks to Jonathan Donovan for putting in so much hard work to make this happen.

Anyway! So the award is for Best Digital Creative Campaign in the Middle East! You can view all the people short listed as finalists for the different awards here http://www.terrapinn.com/2011/the-internet-show-awards-middle-east/awards.stm

*Smile*

Ramadan Kareem Qatar! I hope that people will have a great experience of Ramadan this year.

If you’re interested in reading up a bit, then be sure to check out these threads and posts:

Ramadan in a nutshell

Ramadan isn’t just for Muslims

Luxurious Ramadan

Saying Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Opening Hours Guide 2010

Garangao – A Child’s Dream (The 14th day of Ramadan)

ILQ (partnered with Vodafone, Katara, and QF Radio) will be launching a fantastic new Ramadan site this year. It’ll contain a great events guide, a ramadan 101 guide, prayer times, special apps, and e-cards!

That’s not all! This time we’ve also got a MOBILE version and to make sure you don’t miss QF Radio’s 8pm show, an ‘on air’ button will light up!

I wanted to write this blog post in honor of Grahame Maher, CEO of Vodafone Qatar. I find that the best way to get my emotions out is by blogging it. Sadly he passed away last night by suffering from a corniary and stroke at the same time. Now this guy was healthier than I was. He ran marathons, went on tour de france style bike rides, and he was an amazingly positive person. So why did this happen? In Qatari, we don’t question why. We accept that this was written by God. It’s in his plan and with every action there’s some good reason. Grahame has left a legacy. Every single person in Vodafone feels for him.

Walking around the Vodafone halls you see people hugging, red eyes trying to focus on monitors, and people talking about what he did for them. Individually.

Grahame has been one of those that was a driving force behind what what me and the team at (iloveqatar) ILQ do. I wrote a post about my Grandmother as a reason for why ILQ exists. Well Grahame is another person who picked me up from when I had lost all hope in trying to change Qatar and gave me that extra push.

He spoke to me before he passed away. He said, “I’m so proud of you and Bassam (Al Ibrahim, my partner) and everything you are doing with iLoveQatar. Don’t let anyone stop you.” I wont. It’s a public promise now.

What’s he done? This is the guy that helped sponsor and support ILQ when we needed to support the community. When the Qatar volunteers society needed water, he gave them 8,000 bottles of water; when ILQ needed support with the small groups of people wanting to join different sporting events, he helped fund the entry fees; When we needed a booth to put up at the different fun events he made sure that was sorted; well, he basically managed to send ripples through society and help people. Even if they didn’t really know who did it.

The irony of it all was just yesterday we had a comedy festival. He was so excited to go, and had arranged for Vodafone support in under a week. Perhaps that was his gift to the people. A chance to get people from ALL nationalities under one roof. No boundaries. All laughing together. One final smile from Grahame.

So what can we do to respect him? Remember him as a guy who brought a lot of happiness to the people around him. Remember him as the guy who lead competition in the country. Remember him as the guy who helped connect you to friends and family. Remember him as visionary. or my favourite, remember him as just some guy who cared enough to make a world of difference to all the people of Qatar.

You heard me, there’s no excuse not to do something this Friday (unless you’re not in Qatar like me).

So what’s going on?

1) Red Bull’s Double Kick in partnership with Vodafone – Besides some great music, fun and games, you’ll also be able to grab some fantastic freebies! Be sure to stop by the Vodafone and ILQ booth!

2) Global DJs present DJ Goldfinger in partnership with iLoveQatar.net

3) Gold Circus

4) Got a few moments? Vote for Nouf and help support Qatar! Philadelphia Cheese has a small competition going and it would be great if you could help support Nouf! Visit http://www.spreadphiladelphia.com/story.php?id=98

If you’ve got something going on this Friday, let ILQ know!

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).

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!

And here you go! iLoveQatar.net’s teamed up with Vodafone for another fun event to make Qatar a happier place. What better a team than two companies who just want to make Qatar a better place! In fact, I think it’s quite suitable for me to use this japanese smiley face —>   ^_^

So for today, at the W hotel and Marriott, all guests will be greeted with a rose and a message from our hearts. On the 18th of February you’ll find ILQ and VF on the Corniche and at the Pearl. So come and claim your rose!

I wonder how many people will be able to take some awesome shots since there are so many photographers in Qatar.

iLoveQatar.net – Live Love.

Some people may have notice, but there’s now a little donate box on the left side of ILQ courtesy of Vodafone. (Right underneath ILQ’s Labour force donation button). They’re making it easy to donate to charity and all you need to do is select how much you’ve got to spare!

So if you’re feeling generous, go ahead and donate! Just visit http://www.iloveqatar.net and share a little

Here’s the Vodafone Qatar 3G and MMS settings for the iPhone just in case you need.

To enable MMS with Vodafone, within your carrier settings section just input these settings

APN : web.vodafone.com.qa
Username :
password :

MMSC : http://mmsr.vodafone.com.qa/mmsc
MMS Proxy : 10.101.97.102:8080
MMS max message size : 307200
MMS UA PROF URL :

For the Qtel settings, click here