Category: Kuwait

zMacShop got the new iPod Shuffles in stock. They are selling them for KD35 each. I pre-ordered mine from Amazon 2 weeks ago and I am still waiting for it to ship.

update: clicknbuy are also selling the shuffle for KD35. Mac&More were selling the shuffle for KD35 but they ran out of stock. Mac City on the other hand is selling the Shuffle for KD43.

Since I am not a big fan of Mac City because of their extremely high prices I like picking on them a lot. The other day I posted about how Mac&More honor the warranty on Apple products purchased abroad and I decided to see if Mac City also honored the warranty.

Well I just got off the phone with Mac City and it turns out although they are official resellers in Kuwait they do not honor the Apple warranty unless you purchase the Mac from them. The guy I spoke to told me I should call Dubai and see if they would fix my laptop under warranty or I should send it back to Amazon.

I told him no thanks and closed the phone. One more reason not to deal with Mac City.

Both me and Nat had our riding test today and it was a disaster. We both failed!

While Nat waited outside I went in first on the motorbike. After waiting in line behind 5 cars it was my turn to go next.

Now to follow what I am about to say next you need to view the map above.

Once I got to the starting line the cop told me I should drive up in lane 1 then turn and come down lane 3, and then go into lane 2 and go back up and then turn into lane 3 again and come back down. I was like fine. I drove into lane 1 and as I was about to turn into lane 3 the car that was parked behind me in the starting line had driven forward and was now parked in lane 3. So I stopped the bike and put my foot down and waited for the car to leave lane 3. As soon as I put my foot down the cop was like aha! I was like what aha?! He was like you aren’t allowed to put your foot down. I was like but there is a chick parked in lane 3 and I am just waiting for her to leave. He was like fine continue. So I continue and I finish the first test.

The cop then tells me to keep turning in lane 1 and 2. I did that like 3 times and the cop was like ok you passed. He then said something I didn’t understand and pointed me to the other lane. So I stopped the bike and put my foot down and turned around to ask him what he had just said because I couldn’t hear him over the sound of the motorbike engine, plus I had my helmet on and plus he was standing like far away. As soon as I put my leg down the cop pointed at my foot and was like AHA!!! I was like what the fuck?! Whats wrong now? By then he was talking to the other cops who were sitting and having tea, he was like you see you see he put his foot down. I was like dude I stopped on purpose to ask you what you had just said because I couldn’t hear you. He then replied telling me “bara bara” meaning out out. He had failed me.

I drove out of the testing area and saw Nat waiting outside. I told her I had failed and she thought I was kidding. I told her no I really failed. She laughed and got on the bike and went inside. Five minutes later Nat drove back out, got off her bike and started screaming out loud. She was really fucking pissed. Turns out when she first got to the starting line the cop started asking her questions like why do you want to bike and girls shouldn’t bike. He then told her to ride around in circles which she did but then he asked her to do a figure 8 between the 3 squares. She couldn’t believe he had asked her to do that because the space between the squares is extremely tight and can barely fit a bike. While she was turning through the squares she put her foot down on the side of the curb and the cop was like AHA!!! And he failed her instantly. She was super pissed because she felt that they made the test impossible for her to pass because she was a girl.

Basically it turns out you need wasta even for a bike test.

Today me and Nat had our motorbike license test. I will talk about what happened in a separate post but for now I want to focus on the written exam. If you are planning on getting a driving license or riding license you need to pass a written exam. Problem is the written exam is just a mess. Other then the fact that the English half the time makes no sense, Nat spotted a bigger problem.

Nat and I were taking the written exam at the same time in the same room. So, they gave us different tests which contained different questions. I ended up passing the test with 3 wrong answers while Nat passed with just 2 wrong answers. After we left we were comparing our tests when Nat noticed that one of my questions didn’t have a right answer. If you look at the picture above or the larger version located at the end of this post, you will notice that the correct answer to the sign on the left is “Road Narrows”. Problem is the 3 answers I was given to choose from were wrong. No matter what I would have answered I would have gotten it wrong! Its as if they wanted me to fail! Anyway I might scan the whole test later and post it online. For now here is a larger picture of what I am talking about. [Picture]

K.theKuwaiti conducted a survey on Kuwait ISP’s by asking people what provider they were with, how much they were paying and what download speed they were getting. Using the results he plugged them into an Excel sheet and calculated which ISP gives you the best bang for the buck.

So what is the best deal? Turns out its Qualitynet followed closely by Zajil. Fasttelco came in last. For a more detailed analysis check out K’s post. [Link]

I just got back from Mac&More in Marina Mall. Both me and Nat have problems with our MacBooks. She had a random shutdown problem plus issues with her keyboard. Me on the other hand I had the infamous MacBook discoloration plus my trackpad button was extremely messed up. Turns out if you purchased your Mac from Amazon or Apple.com they will honor the warranty. All you need to do is take the invoice with your MacBook and they will fix your problem.

Tonight we left Nats MacBook with them, it should be ready to pick up tomorrow. Also tomorrow if the technician is still there he will replace my MacBook keyboard and palmrest while I wait. I will try to take a before and after picture of my MacBook and post it here.

I finally went to the charity photography exhibition yesterday at Beit Lothan and I was really impressed. The pictures on display were really fascinating. For some reason I was expecting to see photos of Cambodia as if taken by a tourist but practically all the photos on display were works of art. I am glad I went.

My motorbike license test is on Wednesday so today I went to bike practice with Nat so I could train a bit before the exam. It was my first time back on the bike since my crash over a month ago. I wasn’t on the Ducati today, I was back on the Bajaj Pulsar. At first I was afraid I had forgotten how to ride but I managed to get a hold of things quicker then I had anticipated. My wrist is still killing me and it was hurting quite a bit while I was riding but its not that big a deal. I just want to pass my test and get the license and then I can give my wrist all the time it needs to heal. Can’t wait to get back on the Ducati and ride again.

Alghanim Automotive sent me an email today informing me that they will be launching three cars tomorrow. The three new cars are the new Lumina, the new Caprice and the new Epica. All the car models will be on display including the S, SS and Royale versions. I will probably be going so I can check out the new Lumina SS. Here are some pictures they sent me. [1] [2] [3]

On my way to work today as I was passing Souk Sharq on the Gulf Road I saw a few police cars parked on the side and an ambulance. They were parked on the curb near where all the old wooden fishing boats park and it looked like something bad had happened. There was a large crane also parked and I figured something must have gone wrong. So I parked my car and walked towards the crowd. As I was passing the police barrier to get to the other side two cops stopped me and asked me if I was “joumhoor” meaning crowd in Arabic. I used my Miskan technique and just pretended I didn’t speak a word of Arabic, pointed towards my camera and then towards the sea. They were like OK and they let me stay in the restricted area.

Anyway turns out they were salvaging a boat that had sunk. Their were scuba divers in the water and it seems the ambulance was there just in case anything goes wrong. I snapped a few pictures and then left back to work.

Someone uploaded the documentary Speed on Two Wheels online and you can download if you hurry. Its 400MB so its not a small file but its the whole episode without the commercials. [WMV 400MB]

If the link is dead then the person who was hosting the file deleted it. If you want to know more about Speed on Two Wheels or if you want to buy the actual DVD then click [Here]

Was coming back to the office today on the Gulf Road when I spotted these bikers. They were performing stunts right in the middle of traffic. Once we got to the area just before Fuddruckers I decided to record some of their stunts with my camera. You can watch it above on YouTube.

For those of you who couldn’t make the charity photography exhibition at Beit Lothan (like me) you will be glad to know its been extended for one more day. Saturday is now the last day. For information on the exhibition click [Here]

Finally got to try out the KDD Cola Lolly. They are nearly impossible to find because those KDD ice cream sellers on the streets don’t sell them and the bakala’s also don’t stock them. Today though I got a call from Nibaq telling me he had found a bunch at KDD in Shuwaikh. So he came by to Salmiya, popped open his trunk and pulled out a Keep Cold fridge. Inside it was stocked with lollies of various flavors including the hard to find Cola and Passion Fruit flavors. Now it seems the Water Melon Lolly is the only one remaining to be found.

By the way, the Cola Lolly tastes like frozen gummy cola’s. So its good.

When I was in Canada I got introduced to Poutine and ever since its been a favorite dish of mine every time I visit Montreal. Around a year ago I found out New York Fries had opened up in Kuwait so I went to check it out because I knew NYF from Canada and they used to have Poutine. NYF had opened up next to Souk Salmiya and my first experience was a mess. Firstly it turned out they were called New York Friez not Fries meaning they were just copying the name and look of the original franchise. Secondly although they did have poutine on the menu they couldn’t make it right. Poutine is french fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy but I got served french fries with chili and cheese. According to them it was because they had run out of gravy. I was like fine but you should have told instead of trying to pass me chili cheese fries as poutine.

Anyway that was the last time I went to them until today. I was meeting up with Nibaq near Johnny Rockets Salmiya and I noticed New York Friez had opened up right behind them. I was like let me give them another chance. I go in and ask the waitress if they have poutine, she was like yes and she showed it to me on the menu. I tell her great can I have one. Then I was like wait, how do you make your poutine, whats in it? She was like chili and cheese and fries. I was like thats not poutine, poutine is cheese, gravy and fries. She went to the back asked the cook and came back and told me no poutine is chili, cheese and fries. I was like no thanks and walked out.

Things like this piss me off. If you look at the picture I took from their menu you will notice they can’t even spell poutine right. In UAE they have the official New York Fries but sadly they don’t have poutine on the menu. But at least there they don’t try passing chili cheese fries as poutine to their customers.

Here is info on poutine at Wikipedia. [Link]