Author: Mark

Today morning I returned the Lumina to Europcar. I had found a better deal on another car with another rental agency so I no longer wanted the Lumina. The employee at Europcar was extremely friendly and even though I had rented the car for only 1 day she still gave me the same rate as the weekly one which is KD10 a day.

After that I walked over to Al Sayer rental which was very close by. I had passed by yesterday evening to check out a Toyota Echo he had and I was planning on renting it. The car wasn’t in great condition with hub caps missing and some weird stains on the seat. I figured I could haggle the price down a bit but the guy refused. He wanted KD5.750 per day if I wanted the car for a week but if I brought the car earlier he would charge me KD7 a day. I told him Automax was renting a Corolla for KD6 a day and I was sure it was in better condition. He refused to lower the price and I left the place.

Once I got to work I called Automax and asked for a Corolla. Guy told me if I have the car for less then a week its KD7 a day but if its more then a week its KD6. I asked if they could drop the car off to me and they said it wouldn’t be a problem and it would be at no extra charge.

So now I am driving a 2006 black Corolla. Its not in the best condition either and I have no clue where the car papers are because I couldn’t find them in the car but it’s cheap. I just paid them KD30 deposit and thats it, they didn’t take my Visa card number or anything. I actually don’t think I would have trusted them with my credit card details anyway, the whole thing feels fishy to me. This is why I would rather deal with international franchises but of course those cost more.

I really have to say though renting from Europcar was really great and the service very friendly. If anyone needs to rent a car from them you can call Lisa on +965 6540248. She was very helpful and probably the best person I have ever rented a car from.

This is one really cool foosball table but for KD8,000 I would rather buy a car. If I had to choose sides though it would definitely be the evil one! [Link]

via

note: when the flash side loads click on #20

A short home made movie of Will Ferrel having an argument with his landlord. The strange thing is his landlord is a drunk, raging 2 year-old. Very strange but pretty funny. [Video]

The girl, Pearl is Adam McKay’s daughter.

Can anyone recommend a car rental agency. I am looking to pay max KD8 a day.

Update: So I called some rental agencies and here are the results:

Avis: No one picked up
Budget: They had a 2007 Lancer for KD8, but they couldn’t have it ready for me before 1PM and the guy I spoke to didn’t know if car smelled of cigarettes or not.
Hertz: For KD8 they only had a Hyundai
AutoMax: They had a 2006 Camry for KD8 but they were located in Salmiya.
Europcar: Very friendly and professional. Only had medium sized car available. Location close to my office.
Sixt: Called them up, they had problems with their automated teller, everytime I pressed 3 for Sixt it would take me back to main menu.

In the end I went for Europcar mostly because I needed a car before 1PM and they were walking distance. I was in contact with the Sheraton branch and the employee there was very friendly. She gave me a 2007 Lumina for KD10 and promised to arrange me a cheaper car from a different branch. I picked up the car at 12:30 and it was in excellent condition with just 1300km on the dial.

Around two weeks ago I took my BMW to European Center (markaz oropee) in Shuwaikh to service my car. I figured I would save a whole bundle of money by not taking it to the dealer plus they would fix it quicker. I dropped my car in the morning, the guy told me the car would be fixed by noon, I told him I would be at work so I would pick it up at 6. At 6:30 I pass by and they were still working on the car. All they had to do was replace brake pads, gas filter, air filter and fan belts, I was really pissed but there wasn’t anything I could do. Anyway I ended up leaving from them at 7:30 and turned out the wipers has suddenly stopped working and I just felt they did a lousy quick ass job. Anyway forward to yesterday, I start the car and I hear this crackling popping sound and the engine revs were jumping. I opened the hood and the sound was coming from the engine so I guessed one of the spark plugs was acting up. So I was like fuck it, I am taking the car to the dealer, I had some other minor problems in the car and I figured I would get them fixed once and for all at BMW.

I woke up early today and drove the car to the BMW dealer. I get there and they were extremely friendly and professional. I sit down and start talking to the guy about my car troubles and he took notes down like a psychiatrist. He then went out checked the car himself and we came back and sat down again. He told me for them to “check” on the problems I have listed he estimates it would cost me KD200. Not to fix the problems, just to check the problems. I told him how about you skip the checking part and just go straight to fixing the problems because I know what they are. He is like to fix a problem they need to check it first. I was like fine, we started going down the list of problems I had given him and I marked off 3 superficial problems and that managed to bring down the estimate to KD100. He then told me they needed 4 to 5 days to check the car and then get back to me on how much it will cost to fix the problems.

I then asked about renting a car from them since I do that when I drop the Wrangler off at the Jeep dealer for the full service. Turns out they do rent cars but they were completely out of my league. The cheapest car they had was for KD40 a day while I usually pay KD7 when I rent from the Jeep dealer.

So in conclusion I think I am going to get raped with the price.. but psychologically I will at least feel that these guys know what they are doing and they will fix things right… I hope.

Taken from Al-Waseet, read the part in red:

I was at a friends place today and I saw a pearl white Gallardo IMSA parked outside. What I understood is that there are currently only 3 in the whole world and this was the first one in the eastern hemisphere. The IMSA tuned version has 600 horsepower, 100 more than the standard car and 80 more than the top spec Gallardo SE. It also has a unique widebody which allows it to accommodate larger wheels. My request for a test drive has already been rejected sadly…

More information and PR photos here [Link]

Forzaq8 has a really funny video he shot of “the most popular speed bump in Kuwait”. Check it out below with visual commentary.

[YouTube]

Looks like the Prada phone is no available in Kuwait, anyone know how much it costs and where its sold? [Link]

Picture by Nibaq

update: Turns out a friend of mine purchased a Prada phone while he was in England for 420 pounds. Other then no Arabic support the biggest issue he has with the phone is that if you save a mobile number with a country code like +965, the phone won’t recognize that person when he calls. The battery life also is terrible lasting at most a day and the wow factor disappears after a week. Another reader commented to this post saying that Villa Moda is currently selling the phone for KD300.

Here are some pictures taken by my friend: [1] [2] [3] [4]

What a storm! It lasted maybe around 15 minutes but it rained so hard and it was so windy that the whole street under my office building got flooded in a matter of minutes. I never saw it rain that hard before, I loved it!

update: When I got back home it started raining hail like crazy. From the time it took me to park the car in my buildings underground parking and to get up to my apartment the street in front of my house got flooded. I recorded a video of the hail storm with my phones camera but for some reason it didn’t get saved.

update 2: Here is a picture showing the size of the hail taken by Caudillo

update 3: And here is one more picture taken by nibaq

I just found out about Justin.tv and it seems cool so far. Justin is a guy who wears a camera in his hat 24 hours a day 7 days a week and broadcasts everything he sees onto his website as a live video stream. So far he has been live for over 23 days, its like a real life Truman Show. [Link]

I never thought much about Porsche Cayman’s until I saw this 700hp RUF version. Sadly this monster is out my league priced at around $300,000. [Link]

Listening to Rez

IN PRISON: You spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell.
AT WORK: You spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.

IN PRISON: You get three meals a day.
AT WORK: You get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON: You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK: You get more work for good behavior.

IN PRISON: The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK: You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON: You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK: You could get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON: You get your own toilet.
AT WORK: You have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.

IN PRISON: They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK: You aren’t even supposed to speak to your family.

IN PRISON: All expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK: you get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON: You spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK: You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON: You must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK: They are called managers.

Taken from Single Grain

This is the strangest, weirdest and funniest thing I have ever seen. I still don’t believe it. There are goats in trees, this is not a hoax!

The tree the goats are in is an evergreen argan tree. It is found mostly only in Morocco. The tree reaches heights of 25-30 feet, and has a knobby, twisted trunk that allows for goat climbers. The goats climb the tree because they like to eat the fruit of the tree, which is similar to an olive.

Check out the pictures on Flickr [Link]
Here is information on them [Link]

Picture above taken from here