Category: Kuwait

Pottery Barn is going to be opening up in the Avenues in place of where Top Shop and Top Man used to be. I’ve never been to Pottery Barn and according to the sign outside, this will be the first branch outside the States. That’s nice, but what about Home Depot? Costco? In-N-Out? Walmart?

The Kuwait Towers are getting a fresh coat of paint for National and Liberation Day. I wonder how long and how much paint it takes to paint the towers and how much it costs? It would be interesting if we can paint the towers different colors for different occasions. Wait, I take that back since someone might get the idea to paint it gold or peach even!

Dusty Beach from Moayad Hassan on Vimeo.

A very soothing 3 minute film by Moayad shot during a dust storm here in Kuwait. Other than a few scenes where you could see the camera reflection and some scenes with excess camera shake, this video is pretty well made.

Thanks Nasser!

Nat designed the Choowy Goowy valentines box and card this year so make sure you order one. The box which contains a dozen heart shaped cookies and a dozen heart shaped brownies along with the card is for KD12.5 while a jar containing 18 pieces of mixed heart shaped cookies and brownies along with the card is for KD6. To order it call 22626559 or 22620011. If you have a BlackBerry you can add Choowy Goowy with the PIN 2119FB77 or scanning the QR Code below.

Update: I just realized some of you might not know who Choowy Goowy are since I haven’t posted about them in ages. Here is a link to my previous Choowy Goowy posts [Link]

A new and small drive through car wash opened up at the gas station near my house. It’s an Oula gas station at the end of 4th Ring Road towards Salmiya. What’s cool about the car wash is the fact you don’t leave your car while it’s getting washed. It’s more fun that way and the sound of the machines and water around the car makes the whole experience sound like a Nine Inch Nails song. Very cool!

I love power tools and I especially love Bosch power tools. The best place to get Bosch power tools from? Where else but the Bosch power tools dealer in Shuwaikh. I get all my power tools from the Bosch Power Tools dealer in Shuwaikh. It’s a small place connected to the Bosch car service center and also their warehouse. I’ve been going there for a few years now, It’s where I bought my cordless power drill from and my Dremel multitool. The staff are extremely friendly and I always end up leaving with a good deal.

There are a bunch of places around Kuwait that sell Bosch tools but as I mentioned above the reason I prefer getting it straight from the dealer is because you can haggle and in some cases get freebies. I bought an impact drill today and was able to get a nice discount and some free tool bits for example. They’re very easy to find, you exit the Sheraton round-about heading towards City Center, after City Center on your right you should see Kuwait Finance House, take the first right after it and keep going straight until you see the Bosch sign on the left. They’re open from 8AM to 5PM and their number is 24810844.

Back in 2001, I went on an amazing trip to Lebanon with the family that lasted 4 weeks. I remember going from one restaurant to the other, eating and splurging on mouthwatering Lebanese food. We ate lunch at a place in the mountains, then went down to Beirut where we were suggested to eat dessert at another; after that we looked for any café that served good fatty carby coffee. Our blood sugar levels would definitely drop after our marathon eating spree, so we translated that crash into “let’s go back to the apartment and rest; we didn’t get enough sleep.” We got more than 10 hours of sleep per night and we traveled in a mini-bus, so exhaustion was definitely not the problem. Whenever we went on long trips, we ate a lot of soft-serve ice cream in between huge meals; and for some reason there was a lot of soft-serve ice cream in Lebanon. Yes, we needed the energy to survive those agonizing trips that were spent seated in a mini-bus.

We went on for an entire month on that exact routine and it was amazing up until I got a welcome home message from my dad: “My God. You’re fat.” He said that when he first saw me arriving to Kuwait from the airport. I wanted to hug my dad after of a month of not seeing him, but all he could emphasize was my increase in size (particularly the lower area). It was bad and my dad annoyed me about it. I was already big to begin with since all I did before my trip to Lebanon was eat whatever was infront of me and spend 2-3 hours lifting the heaviest weights at the gym. I went from 100kg of fat and a bit of muscle to 130kg of fat and absolutely no muscle in a span of a month.

After my dad started emphasizing how fat I got (my love handles…my God), my family and friends noticed the difference and laughed it off. It literally took me a few seconds to do something about it. I had no knowledge of nutrition or training, so I just winged it and took my chances since I knew I could not get any lower than this (my God…the love handles). I ate 3 meals a day, consisting of Nestle Fitness Cereal and skimmed milk for breakfast, a chicken salad with a lot of ketchup for lunch, pineapple juice after a workout and a tuna salad with also a lot of ketchup for dinner. I did a minimum of 2 hours a day of cardio, abs and weight-lifting (in that order) 7 times a week and increased the time spent at the gym when results started to slow down. Obviously, I was a ketchup addict and used copious amounts of it; the training lasted forever too.

12 weeks and 60kg later, my weight went down to an all-time low of exactly 80kg. I stand 190cm, so 80kg is extremely skrawny for a guy my height. After that, I researched, experimented and practiced and lived happily ever after.

What differentiates me from other nutritionist/dietitians/gurus/doctors/professionals? The story above. I know how it feels to be fat and how to overcome that obstacle. I know how it feels to look at that molten chocolate from Chili’s and not the cute girl devouring it. I know how to psychologically deal with stress that might hinder my fitness goals. I also know when my bodies tells me that the current technique is no longer working. A health practitioner has to know all these things before preaching to clients. You can’t expect to take advice from an overweight professional who can’t seem to keep his life in order.

Middle English diete, from Old French, from Latin diaeta, way of living, diet, from Greek diaita, back-formation from diaitsthai, to live one’s life, middle voice of diaitn, to treat.

 

A dietitian provides you with a modified way of living based on your current lifestyle. Dietitians are supposed to:

1) Teach you how to psychologically deal with your life in order to eat, sleep, and exercise correctly.

2) Provide immediate solutions based on their own experiences and education in order to overcome a client’s obstacles and challenges.

3) Be in control of their lifestyles and know how to deal with stress, which clearly projects their presentable appearance.

4) Understand your body and how it reacts to certain factors, including stress, nutrient and exercise (this requires time).

5) Practice what they preach.

If your current dietitian does not have any of these characteristics then I’d suggest you take the time to look for another. The same rule applies to a trainer. You wouldn’t want to hire a person who doesn’t look the part. Moreover, look for a trainer that was born with bad genetics and excelled into something presentable. The genetically gifted ones have it easy since their bodies are prone to muscle growth and fat-loss no matter what they do.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with the best genetics at all; I had to work hard for what I achieved. I started out with a plan and a journal, and throughout the years I soon realized that I can’t force my body into a fixed routine. I had to use an instinctive approach and listen to my body; my workouts are literally planned once I set foot in the gym.

The point is, this whole process doesn’t take a few days or months; it takes years to understand. Once you think you’ve got it all together, some study comes out that falsifies the entire method, which makes it even more frustrating, confusing and agonizing. Then you try as hard as you can to muster up the patience to dig into more knowledge, causing more perplexity than an episode of Lost. Pat yourself on the back, because this is when you successfully know too much. 

That was a brief introduction of myself and what you can expect in terms of knowledge and credibility.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya
Core Fitness – Kuwait

Picture by tachikoma

Thanks Henrik!

DHL for the third time now have changed the way they calculate your shipment. I spoke to them on the phone and they have now started charging based on volumetric weight which means they’re now MUCH MORE expensive than Aramex Shop & Ship. Even if you deduct taxes unless its something very expensive you’re much better off using Aramex. To give you an idea of how expensive DHL has become, a reader just paid KD31 for a package that weighs just 1.3KG!

Until they go back to calculating based on actual weight I will be using Aramex again. At least with Aramex they don’t change their pricing structure on a monthly basis….

Update: I just realized something. DHL didn’t email, sms or call anyone regarding their price changes. They just randomly came up with a new payment system and expects everyone just to abide by it. Lots of people ordered stuff to their DHL mailbox expecting to pay a certain price only to find out they now have to pay triple that. Is that fair?

This is why I love YouTube, you find completely random useless videos which you end up watching. This one is of a guy in Kuwait trying to break some sort of random record… eating 7 Ferrero Rocher chocolates in under a minute. Location: Gas Station! [YouTube]

PS: I can EASILY eat 7 Rochers in a minute!

Update: Just tried it. It is more difficult then I expected but I managed to eat 6 rochers in 46.97 seconds (just got two packs of 3). I unwrapped them all first since it’s a waste of time to unwrap with the clock ticking. The hardest part is the chewing. I think I could even swallow faster the next time i try this.

In case you want to replicate this test. Start the stop watch then grab the first Rocher. Stop the stop watch once you finish swallowing all the Rochers.

I went back to Tamiya today to try out their crawling trail which is made for RC cars that are meant for rock climbing. The trail was made with a combination of plaster and wood and although challenging in some places I found it a bit tiny and too easy. It’s a great idea but too short a trail so I am hoping they have plans to extend it or make a larger one. For now will stick to Bnaider for crawling.

One of my best friends bought a Tamiya car so we went over to the Tamiya track at the Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh to race our cars on their track. I wouldn’t call what we did racing since it was more like a destruction derby but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

It was my first time using their new outdoor track and it’s amazing. A lot of nice curves, a good long straight and best of all they have 4 charging stations for our batteries. That means if you have two batteries you could race with one while charging the other and keep swapping for unlimited fun. It costs KD1 to use their track but its really worth it. I later noticed they have a small trail for the Tamiya crawlers so I will pass by tomorrow to try that out. It also turns out tomorrow is an off-road day which means they turn the track into an off-road one with jumps and stuff. I will be taking my Tamiya Frog to try that out as well.

My car shell has taken a lot of abuse from me so I decided to pick one up on the way out. I picked up a Ford Escort Cosworth which is actually my 4th favorite car ever (the first is the Lancia Delta Integrale), Going to paint it this week and hopefully race it next Friday.

Registration is now open for entry into the fifth annual dog show. The show will take place in the beautiful gardens of the British Embassy on Friday March 5th from 11AM to 4PM. I’ve been to their first and second annual dog show and it was a lot of fun. I only missed out on the other two because I was out of the country. It’s very well organized and it’s really great having an event like this in Kuwait. I always sign up my dog to the different categories and even though he always ends failing miserably we still have a really good time. Here is a link to pictures I took at their first annual dog show back in 2006 when my dog was still just a puppy then. [Link]

For more information on the dog show and all the proper forms needed visit the PAWS blog [Here]

Please note that even if you are not entering a dog in the show and just want to go to the event to hang out, you still have to pre-register because it’s being held at the British Embassy. You can’t just show up at the gate and walk in, you need to be pre-registered to be let in.

Here is the calendar for Cinemagic’s rooftop movie nights for February. Starting this month they will start charging KD1 for the venue fees including refreshments, popcorn and much more. There are lots of good movies this month, here is the list:

Thursday, February 4th
OUTSOURCED, USA/CANADA 2006
Director: John Jeffcoat
Genre: Comedy | 103 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, February 6th
WHEN MARIAM SPOKE, LEBANON 2001
Director: Asad Fouladkar
Genre: Drama | 98 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 15+

Thursday, February 11th
UNDERGROUND, SERBIA 1995
Director: Emir Kusturica
Genre: Comedy | 170 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 15

Saturday, February 13th
SURPRISE FILM

Thursday, February 18th
HOUSE OF GAMES, USA 1987
Director: David Mamet
Genre: Thriller | 102 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, February 20th
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, USA 2000
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Adventure | Mystery | 102 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 18

Thursday, February 25th
CORPSE BRIDE, USA 2005
Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Animation | Drama | 80 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, February 27th
SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE FINAL DAYS, GERMANY 2005
Director: Mark Rothemund
Genre: Drama | 127 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 15+

Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Here is a link to their facebook group [Link]