Category: Kuwait

Office Depot has finally opened at the Avenues and I am kind of disappointed. I expected the place to be much bigger and have more stuff but at the moment they have a little of everything which I guess is ok for a shopping mall branch. They really need to have a much bigger place if they want to compete with the likes of Mogahwi. On the bright side at least we have a new franchise in Kuwait.

Update: I got the following response from the Office Depot marketing team:

In the future, we will have stand alone stores that will be much bigger in size having a bigger range as well as smaller stores that will have a limited selection focusing on stationery and small office supplies. Our focus is on offering the customers all they need in one shop at competitive prices, good customer service & an excellent shopping experience. We started with the Avenues store mainly for individual consumers however we will service business clients for that store as well. Our future plan is to open business targeted stores as well & in 2010, we will also launch our catalogue that will have the full range of products from all categories.

For more information, you can email us at [email protected] or check www.alshaya.com
If you want to receive a sms or email whenever we do offers, you can fill your info here https://www.alshaya.com/OfficeDepot/

I’m back in Kuwait finally. Just an update about the Jeep garage they never ended up emailing a cost estimate since they ended up repairing the a/c at no cost. This is the email I got the day before yesterday:

Dear sir,
At the ouset, I would like to wish you a very good day. I would like to inform you that we have completed the service of your vehicle & also we repaired the a/c of your vehicle. We cleaned your a/c system & we road tested your vehicle & it is working fine. Also I washed the vehicle & kept for ready for delivery. The total repair charges coming to 58.00 KD/-.

Also assuring you our best of services always.

Thing is the problem with my a/c was that it was making a very loud sound and it would let in the smell and air from outside even if I had it to circulate internally. Not too sure what a cleaning would do but I guess will see tomorrow if that fixed the problem.

Update: Picked up the Jeep, its perfect! They did end up fixing my AC and it now finally sounds normal. They also did a pretty good job of cleaning it, the interior is spotless. Not bad, wasn’t expecting this.

Ra’ed Qutena the photojournalist took pictures showing the aftermath of the wedding fire and uploaded them onto flickr. Looks like nothing was left standing. [Link]

Thanks Nibaq

This is a huge tragedy and a very sad event. [YouTube]
The video above is in Arabic but there is an English version from BBC [Here]

[YouTube]

Thats pretty messed up. Back in 2005 I shot pictures of the cops shoot out with some terrorists in Salmiya and you can see those [Here]

Thanks Kent

I have a problem with my Jeeps AC in that it sounds like a jet engine when at full blast. So, I took the car to the dealership to get it checked since I will be in Lebanon for the next few days. While there the service guy suggested I do a full checkup since my cars millage is 75,000km. He then suggested since I am going to be out of the country he could email me a detailed cost estimate and I could reply back to him telling him what to fix and what to leave.

For a minute the guy must have thought I didn’t know what the Internet was because I kept asking him questions like:
“You have internet?”
“On this computer here?”
“So you will email me yourself and I can reply to you?”
“Do you check your email?”

I am not a fan of the Jeep’s dealership and I’ve made that clear before but the ability to receive a detailed cost estimate on my BlackBerry while I am in Beirut just made up for all their previous fuck ups. I’m impressed.

I wouldn’t wear a Tokyoflash watch but I do find them interesting. Sites like Gizmodo keep posting about their different models and every model is like geekier than the next. For those of you who haven’t heard of Tokyoflash they’re basically watches that tell time in unconventional ways using LEDs and mostly without numbers or clock hands.

They’re very weird and I find some of their models nearly impossible to tell the time. But, for those of you who’re interested there is a shop that just opened in Muthana Complex selling Tokyoflash watches and they’re located on the ground floor close to Pizza Hut. [Link]

Desert Kings 2 Jokers are back with a new video which now includes water activities. Personally I prefer the faster paced original video. [YouTube]

If I want to learn how to fly is there a place in Kuwait where one can take lessons? A flight school?

I got an email from the owner of a new boutique called Twist telling me about these BlackBerry covers they have which I found interesting. The covers are hand made using a technique called decopatch. This makes every cover unique with no two a like. I am not sure if they make them in Kuwait themselves or they’re made outside but I like the idea. She didn’t mention how much they cost but hopefully its something reasonable. If you’re interested they have a Facebook page with pictures of some of their covers and contact information [Link]

I’ve been eating healthy for nearly 3 months now and so far I’ve lost 5KG dropping my weight down from 89KG to 84KG. As my height is 186cm that puts my BMI at 24.3 which is where it should be. Keep in mind I wasn’t planning on losing weight with my diet, I just had to stop eating some types of food due to my acid reflux problem and the weight loss was just a bonus. I am still eating whatever I want I just have stayed away from two things, fried food and fast food. It was difficult in the beginning because I used to have fast food for lunch every day but once I found a replacement things became much easier. I no longer feel like eating junk food, I actually can’t stand it now.

I’ve already posted about two places which I’ve started eating at, Salad Creations and Macaroni Grill. Another place I’ve started going to is Nando’s. I passed by the first time after they started advertising on my blog and since then I’ve started popping in once a week for lunch. I haven’t tried many dishes there because I’m hooked on their Chicken Burger. They have 4 types of marinated chicken, I tried mild the first time but it wasn’t too spicy for me so I took it hot the second time and now thats how I always have it. The chicken is grilled which fits in my diet and the dish comes with a side order of your choice. I tried the corn kernels (pictured above) but I didn’t like it, my favorite side order is their coleslaw which is really good. The dish is KD2.250 which fits nicely in my daily lunch budget. Sometimes I have the Perri-Perri Hommous which is hommous with their spicy sauce, also very good. I think thats for KD1.500. Anyway they’re located at the Avenues in the back near Macroni Grill and Chili’s.

There is another place I have lunch at often and want to post about but I am worried if I do the place will start getting more packed and they might increase their prices so I am still thinking about it.

Now that I finally have an iPhone with a 3G connection I can finally do what a lot of other people are doing and that is listen to satellite radio and other international stations in the car. All you need is a 3G capable iPhone, an iPhone radio app and a way of connecting the iPhone to the car stereo.

My setup is an iPhone 3GS with the WunderRadio app and an Alpine iDA-X001 head unit with which my iPhone connects to using the dock connector. If you aren’t as lucky you could use an FM Transmitter or RCA inputs. With WunderRadio you can connect to XM and SIRIUS stations in addition to thousands of other stations from around the world. For example I can listen to Lebanese radio stations like Radio one or Mix FM if I want to. Its not perfect since sometimes the connection disrupts for a few seconds every now and then but thats mostly only with the XM and SIRIUS stations, haven’t had trouble with the rest.

The Kuwait Bookshop has been around for a pretty long time and although its not a Barnes & Noble it does have a pretty decent collection of books and magazines. If I am not mistaken I think it actually has the largest collection of books and magazines in Kuwait. Because its an old bookshop they have a lot of older books that sometimes can be pretty interesting. The bookshop is located in the basement of Muthana Complex and its a very quiet and cozy place with friendly and informed staff. There is a lot of parking which is a plus. Their phone number is 22423876 in case you need to ask about a book.

According to a reader Saied, the whale shark thats been stranded at Marina Crescent for a week now was saved. They were able to place the whale shark onto a marine parachute bed like device and then pull the whale shark out to sea where it was then set free. Around 15 divers took park in this rescue which lasted around 9 hours. Saied will be sending me pictures and once I get them will post them here.

Update: Got the pictures, check them out below. Thanks Saied!

My iPhone 3GS arrived today from Australia and I’ve been playing with it for over an hour now. I am upgrading from the original (2G) iPhone since I never saw a reason to upgrade to the 3G. The 3GS on the other hand had a decent amount of improvements that was worth upgrading to. Here are my impressions so far:

– It is literally twice as fast compared to my previous iPhone. My favorite game Fast Food boots up much much quicker than before

– Love the new smudge proof screen

– I got internet tethering working which means I can use my iPhone like an eGO

– Can’t get MMS to work (never mind just work, APN, username and pass should be pps)

– Voice command surprisingly easy and fun to use. I just talk to my iphone as if its my secretary and it understands commands like cancel or what band is this? when music is playing

– I don’t like the plastic back of the new iphones, I prefer the older aluminum

– 3G is faster than edge, finally I can browse at decent speeds. The BBC low graphics site now loads instantly and every link I click loads in under a second

So basically the new iPhone 3GS is a great step up from the original one. The OS speed difference, the 3G, GPS and the tethering were all worthy enough reasons for me to upgrade.