Category: Information

Just got a phone call from Sarita. Some of you might know her from the Aramex Shop n Ship service. She left them a while back and now works at a new place called IEC Trading who offer a similar service to Aramex except with some more advantages. I only got a few details off her but will be getting more soon. Here is what I got:

– Setting up a US mailbox costs the same, KD10
– Packages are shipped to Kuwait via FedEx and DHL
– No customs on any of your packages
– Shipping prices are the same
– On heavy packages they can give you a discount

So far everything sounds great and I will definitely be creating an account with them since Aramex have become really slow. My last package spent 7 days in UAE in transit! Once I get more details I will post them here.

Loads of handy tips & tricks my favorite being the following:

Receiving E-Mails without giving your real address
Sometimes you want to use your GMail address on a website, but you fear you will get a lot of SPAM afterwards coming from that website. So instead of creating another address just for those kind of websites, you can very easily alter your address. if your address is [email protected], enter on the website [email protected]. We will still receive every e-mail, but if the website do send you a lot of SPAMs, you can create a filter for every message sent to this address ([email protected]) to go directly in the trash !

[Link]

Some people seem to think that this webpage by Tim Berners-Lee was the first webpage. [Link]

This is very practical and easy to do:

This tool allows you to customize a PDF notepad. I was always unhappy with a regular piece of paper during meetings because I rarely needed to take notes – but I did have to jot down actions and due dates that I had to complete. Often loosing tasks in a sea of random notes, I had to begin using something better. I created an Excel file first, but then found that I wanted to be able to customize it. Here is a tool!

[Link]

Now that Aramex closed their Kuwait City office you need to go pick up your packages from Aardiyah (if you don’t have them delivered to you). Here are the directions to their Aardiyah branch.

When you are coming on the 5th ring road from Salmiya towards Jahra, you will reach Ragii Area (which will be on your right hand), and on your left side you will notice a large Panasonic sign.

Right in front of you there will be a bridge; make a U-turn under the bridge as if you are going back to Salmiya. When you make the U-turn and before you get back on the 5th ring road, you will find an entrance on your right side. Take it and drive 200 meters in and you will find ARAMEX on your left hand. You may turn behind the fire station if you do not wish to pass the sandy area in front of our office.

View Map

Telephone: 4345444

Heh, I just found out the domains example.com, example.net and example.org “are reserved for use in documentation and are not available for registration.”

Christmas is coming up and I have decided to put together a gift guide. I chose items that were good deals, my taste and affordable. If you want to buy something for a friend and not pay too much you have that option, while if you want to buy something for a family member and pay more you also have that option.

All items below are linked to Amazon.com

Books
Dear Valued Customer: You Are A Loser ($10)
Sas Survival Guide ($9)
Sneakers: The Complete Collectors’ Guide ($19)
DPM Disruptive Pattern Material ($126)

Digital Camera
Canon Powershot A520 ($174)

MP3 Player
Apple 2GB iPod Nano ($194)

Laptop
Apple 12″ iBook ($999)

Music
Nirvana – With the Lights Out ($41)
Alice in Chains – Music Bank ($45)

Video Games
Sony PSP ($250)
Gameboy Micro ($90)

DVD
Season 1 & Season 2 of Arrested Development ($42)
Star Wars Trilogy ($45)
Sex and the City – The Complete Series ($194)

Home
iRobot Roomba ($149)

Fun & Cheap
Holga Medium Format Camera with flash ($29)
20Q Challenge ($35)
Tamagotchi Connection ($15)
Real Lights Sound Arena ($40)
Rubik’s Cube ($7)
Magic 8 Ball ($8)

Other
Sennheiser PX 100 Headphones ($45)
Moleskine Small Plain Notebook ($15)
Harman Kardon Soundsticks 2 ($109)

More items might be added later…

I heard today that there is a new law coming out in Kuwait where expats (like me) will only be allowed to live in Kuwait for 6 years. After 6 years I have to leave the country and I can only come back after 2 years. If this is the case I might as well pack my bags and leave now.

I was at Eastpak yesterday night when I found a flyer for the Ramp Rebels Tour. They are in Kuwait for two days and will be performing at Marina Crescent. Today is the first day and the show starts at 2PM all the way till 5. Tomorrow (Friday) they will be performing at the same time and it will be their last day.

The Ramp Rebels Tour is a BMX and skateboarding show. The show features Ben Hennon (BMX), Ben Manuel (BMX), Julian Dykmans (skateboard) and Hugo Liard (Skateboard).

Cool, seems Beirut is the place to be although I don’t understand why with all the recent political crap going on.

CooSt Tropez? Passé. Ibiza? So over. The hottest spots for bars and clubs in Europe right now are not where you’d expect. [More]

Single-letter second-level domains are domain names in which the second-level domain consists of only one letter, such as x.org.

Such domains are rare, as on December 1, 1993, IANA explicitly reserved all single letter and single digit second-level domain names in the TLDs .com, .net, and .org.

However, the few such domains that were already assigned were not recalled, and so circumvented the restrictions that have existed since.

i.net INet Corporation
q.com West Communications
q.net Q Networks
x.com PayPal
x.org The Open Group
z.com Nissan

[Source Wikipedia]

I just found the blog of Faisal Al-Dhalmawi at 1up.com. He has a very interesting write up on Video Gaming in Kuwait. He was even able to take pictures of some of the stores from the outside AND inside! Pretty cool stuff. [Link]

I was checking out Uncrate and i found a bunch of interesting things, here they are:

Monty Python Killer Rabbit Plush
Cow Baby Bottle
EarBuddy
Moleskine Pocket Reporter Notebook
Vintage Graffiti Ties by Tymbal

Whenever you ask anyone if they know of a pet shop they tell you there is one in Jabriya. Well it turns out the Jabriya pet shop is nothing but an urban legend. Tonight I went to Jabriya and drove into every street and every back road trying to find the pet shop. After around an hour I found one called Blue Bird, turned out it had closed ages ago (maybe even years ago) and nothing else. On a positive note I found out the location of Papa John’s Pizza in Jabriya.

TivoGuy was telling me that Aramex was closing down their Kuwait City branch and moving everything to Ardiyah. I quickly sent an email to Rabih who is always kind enough to answer my questions. Turns out its true, Aramex is shutting down the Kuwait City office, this is the email I received from him:

Dear valued customer,

Yes it is true we are moving our operations to Aardiyah since our main location is there and all our operations start from there. An email was sent to all our customers today morning. Another email in Arabic will also be sent by tomorrow.

Trust us that the move is for the best of all our customers: Delivery will be much faster and security and control on non-delivered packages will be much better. Most of all, Management will have more direct control on service level provided to our customers.

We will also open a new location for customer service and opening new accounts in Al-Bustan Mall in Salmiyah before year end inshallah.

Always at your service.

Personally I am going to find it a hassel to drive to Ardiyah everytime a package arrives but I guess I don’t have any other option.