Category: Kuwait

First time I saw this on a car I was like damn that guy must have been doing some major offroading. Second time I saw it on a car I was like wait, it can’t be mud, must be paint primer. After seeing it a bunch of times on various cars I realized this was actually a paint job. It seems some people find this cool.. I don’t understand why.

Here is another picture.

So the other day I get a call from a driver with some goodies for me. Someone had contacted me the day before asking me if I would like to try some brownies, muffins and cookies and I had happily accepted and now the driver was here with my stuff. I couldn’t wait, brownies, muffins and cookies, three of my favorite munchies for me to try out.

When I first opened the bag though I was disappointed, the muffins were Blue Berry muffins and I only eat chocolate muffins and the cookies were like chocolate with walnuts or something and I only eat chocolate chip. So 2 out of the 3 items I couldn’t eat which sucked. BUT, the brownies were regular chocolate brownies and I had no problem with those.

I had a blue plate in front of me with a dozen warm brownies on them and they looked really delicious. So I had one, then another followed by another. They were pretty good, they were soft and rich without being to sweet or heavy. Nat also tried them and really liked them to. I didn’t know how much they cost or what the place that made them was called since I didn’t get a menu neither did I get any kind of material with information on the place. So I sent an email to the guy who had contacted me and I asked him for some info and this is what I found out.

The service turned out is called The Daily Fresh. They launched less then 2 months ago and are still in the testing stage where they are still finalizing their menu with the different flavors and prices. Next month (September) they will have everything finalized including the menus and prices but for now you can order a dozen brownies for only KD3. Thats only 250fils per brownies which is a really good deal for what you are getting.

Currently the only other place I know of that delivers brownies is LoFat. Problem is LoFat’s brownies cost 500 fils each and are about half the size of the brownies from The Daily Fresh. They also taste just as good so there is no advantage except the low fat part but info on that is a bit abstract at the moment.

If you are interested in ordering some brownies all you need to do is call The Daily Fresh on 7702422.

I have an Exabyte VXA-1 tape drive which I want to give away for free. It takes 33GB tapes and they are very very reliable. You could shove the tapes into a freezer or dump them into boiling coffee and you would still be able to retreive the information from them. The version of the tape drive I have is external and connects using Firewire. The price of this tape drive brand new is $1,099.

I am giving the drive away for free because I am having problems with it. I don’t know if its a software problem or hardware problem. I passed it to TivoGuy and he was able to get it working but when I tried using it on my Mac it would sometimes backup the data and sometimes it would give me an error. It could be from the backup tapes, it could be a software problem or it could be a hardware problem. I am not sure and I don’t care. If you want the tape drive just leave a comment below. You will get it without any tapes and without the firewire cable. If more then one person wants the drive then I will give it to the geekiest one.

For more info on the drive click [Here]

I got a phonecall from the USWS owner yesterday asking my opinion on something. At the moment when you sign up with USWS they ask you if you want your mailbox checked once a week, twice a month or once a month. He wanted to know if we (USWS users) would rather have it this way..

Instead of a set frequency, WE get to decide when we want our stuff shipped. Say you order a bunch of stuff from Amazon, they ship it to your USWS mailbox as 3 boxes. 2 boxes arrive today and the third is still on its way. Once the third package arrives (say the next day), you go to your USWS account, select the 3 packages and click on ship now. Your packages then get shipped the same day. Currently if you tell them to ship a package right now you pay $20, they will be removing that charge.

Another example, say a magazine arrived to your mailbox today but you are planning to order stuff from Amazon next week. You can decide to keep the magazine in your mailbox until your Amazon packages arrive and then you can have them shipped all together and that way you save on shipping.

Another example is say you have 5 packages in your mailbox, you can decide to ship 3 now and leave the other 2 there to be shipped later whenever you want.

Am I being clear here? Basically they will get rid of the shipping frequencies and the 20$ ship now fee. They will let you decide when YOU want your packages shipped and then ship it when you tell them to. I personally find this a lot cooler since its faster and more affordable for us. Instead of having them ship 1 magazine and have me pay KD2.5 for it, I would rather attach the magazine to another heavier package and save on shipping. I also love the idea of having my packages shipped the same day they arrive if I want and at no extra cost.

If you are a USWS account holder please leave your feedback below. Let them know if you prefer this method or prefer the older one.

Yesterday I was invited for another test drive by Alghanim Automotive. I was hoping they would give me some small crappy car so I could give it a bad review and show everyone that if the car sucked I would say it sucked. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Yesterday I took the new Cadillac BLS for a drive and it was far from being crappy.

I picked up a gorgeous silver top of the line BLS from the dealer and drove down to the Gulf Road. The BLS is the smallest car Cadillac makes and the one I drove came with a V6 2.8L Turbo engine pumping out 250HP so it was fast. As soon as I hit the Gulf Road I got a call from a friend who had spotted me. He asked me if I was turning into Jermey Clarkson and he then asked what car I was driving since it looked really cool. Now this came from someone who drives an M3 so you can imagine how good the car must look. Pictures actually don’t do justice to the hard edged geometrically cut car so you need to see it in person to really appreciate its beauty.

I closed the phone with my friend and blasted down the Gulf Road. The Cadillac BLS I was driving came with a 6-speed automatic and paddle shift. I am used to the F1 style paddle shift where you use your fingers to change gear but the Cadillac BLS is the one where you use your thumbs instead. It felt awkward at first but I quickly got the hang of it. The interior seems to follow the styling cues of the new Cadillac Escalade which is a really good thing since it means its very un-American. Everything felt very plush and sophisticated and I just love that in a car.

After a long drive I parked the car and took some shots of the exterior and interior. When I was done I drove back to the dealership and handed them the keys. Cadillac really have come a long way when it comes to aesthetics. There is no other car in the market that looks like a Cadillac, its got a style all on its own. The only downside I could think of with the BLS is the engine sound. I would have preferred a louder grunt from a 250HP engine but I guess many people would rather have a quiet engine than a loud one.

The price of the fully loaded Cadillac BLS is KD11,995 which makes its more affordable than a similarly specced BMW or Mercedes. Its a pretty cool car for a sedan.

From Sultan Center to the car, its already melted.
From the bakala to my office, its already melted.

Having chocolate this summer just won’t happen.

You guys remember Shark of Kuwait? I think the last post about him got the highest amount of comments so far on this blog. Well he redesigned his website recently and added more stuff. I personally prefer his old site but never the less check it out. [Link]

KTM magazine is looking for outspoken individuals of diverse backgrounds and differing opinions to write articles for the Kuwaiti community. You may be based in kuwait or outside of kuwait. Being already established here in Kuwait we intend to expand regionally through-out the Middle East. Among all the Arab world Kuwaiti media has been rated top in freedom of expression. We at KTM would like to see how far the envelope can be pressed as far as opinionated writing. Writers fee starts from $100. If this interests you please contact [email protected]

Why is it nearly impossible for an expat to get the Kuwaiti citizenship? I am saying nearly impossible because I know of some Lebanese who were given the Kuwaiti nationality which means its not totally impossible.

I wasn’t born in Kuwait (my brother and sister were) but I did grow up here and my parents have been in Kuwait since the early 70s. So why is it I can’t become a Kuwaiti citizen? If I was living anywhere else for this long I would have already been a citizen of that country by now. Here on the other hand I still need a visa and a sponsor so I could just stay in Kuwait.

If today was July 24, 1990 and a week from now Iraq was going to invade I would stand ground and try to fight off the Iraqis alongside the Kuwaitis. I like Kuwait, I like NBK, I like KDD, I like oil, I like Entertainment City and I like Mama Aneesa, so why can’t I become a Kuwaiti? [Link]

update: There is now a further discussion taking place in the [Forum]

They are now available at Sultan Centerm both the regular Fusion and the Fusion Power. Don’t know how much they cost since I couldn’t find the price.

Alghanim Automotive sent me these pictures of a pimped out Trailblazer. They have an accessorizing arm called Kromozone that specializes in pimpin’ cars and this is their latest creation. I think they should have displayed this car outside Virgin Marina Mall instead of the car they previously had on display which didn’t looked pimped at all. You can check more pictures of the Trailblazer below including some of the inside which is just as pimped.

Trailblazer-0001
Trailblazer-0002
Trailblazer-0003
Trailblazer-0004
Trailblazer-0005
Trailblazer-0006

You can contact Kromozone on 6947719

Update: Here are some better pictures:
Side shot
Inside shot
Front shot

So after work today I went and met with KTM magazine who are located near my office. I wasn’t nervous or anything just really curious to what was in store for me. I met with 2 guys and we sat down and spoke a bit about their magazine. We also spoke about the digital versus print thing and I told them how I don’t find magazine interesting anymore. After that debate we spoke about me and how I would contribute to their magazine. They recently re-branded and with the re-branding they are also restructuring and they are getting new writers and they want me to write for them.

We spoke about what kind of writing I would do and we brainstormed some subjects I could write about and the result turned out to be very interesting. I can’t say what kind of writing I will do or what the subject is but I can say its like nothing I have written before and I am really excited in doing it. I took a risky direction but its more fun this way (for me and you) and its something completely new to me so don’t expect any food reviews or anything predictable like that.

Finally we spoke about the financial end of the deal which is always an awkward and uncomfortable subject for me. We spoke about what Bazaar had previously offered me and then they asked me how much I wanted and I told them. They agreed and my first article is now due August 15th.

Thats it basically, it should be fun.

Kleio posted the following comment under the Kuwaitis Stuck in Damascus post:

I was one of those people who was lied to by the Kuwaiti Embassy. They told us all to go up to the Safir hotel in Bhamdoun and that we would be able to catch buses out from there, so we did (two of us) on Friday morning. Once we got there, it was pure chaos. The embassy was totally unorganized and only had about three employees there at the hotel. Why tell all the Kuwaitis to go there if you don’t know how to deal with that many people? The embassy staff (consul and ambassador included) were unhelpful and rude. We couldn’t get on a bus that day because they were giving priority to people with children and elderly. We were told to wait for a phone call telling us when we were assigned to a bus. We naively believed that that would really happen. We missed like 8 buses out merely because we were following the “rules” that turned out to be complete bull. Then, the embassy didn’t offer to pay for the hotel room we had to reserve for the night (even though they had told me when I called that morning that we would “certainly” get a bus out that day).

Next morning, we were told that every single person who was put on a bus to Syria would be guaranteed a seat on a flight out that day. They also told us there would be embassy officials accompanying us to the border, more officials at the border, and then officials from the Kuwaiti embassy in Syria would be there to greet us at the airport. All B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. Nobody accompanied us – our Lebanese bus driver and one guy on our bus who volunteered to take charge took care of things at the border. Then once we got to the airport, there was no trace of the embassy. It was each man for himself. Went up to the Kuwait Airways office and it was chaos with an enormous waiting list. Guaranteed a seat, my a@@! Luckily, like Nat, we had our tickets booked for Sunday night on Jazeera from Beirut anyway (same flight as Nat, turns out), and so we were confirmed on the replacement flight leaving from Damascus on Sunday. However, we arrived at the airport on Saturday, thinking we had a Kuwait Airways guarnateed ticket out. Of course, all hotels in Damascus were fully booked, and the embassy did nothing to help us find accomodation (I never saw anyone from the embassy in the two days I was in Syria). We had to find our own shelter.

I’m not saying the embassy has to pamper us and do everything for us – quite the contrary, we were perfectly capable of making our own arrangements. All I’m saying is, don’t bloody lie to us and hundreds of others! I would rather they had told us up front: “Look, we’ll try to get you out but there are thousands of you and only a few buses at a time, so we don’t know how long before we can get you across the border. And all we’re doing is getting you to Damascus – from that point on, you have to make your own arrangements. We have extra Kuwait Airways flights arranged, but it’s up to you to get yourself on one of them.” Was that so hard? Why make empty promises and “guarantees” to people who YOU told to come to YOU for help?!

Kleio also has pictures and a video from her evacuation.

I got a call earlier from KTM Magazine, I was pretty shocked at first since they called me up at my office. Its really freaky, I mean I know I don’t try to be anonymous but I also don’t make it that easy for people to find out who I am. Anyway turns out the guy found out where I worked because he recognized my office from a picture I once posted. He called the office, asked for me and I answered the phone.

So I spoke to him for a few minutes and he wants to meet me to discuss having me write for them. Their office is like right next door so I am going to pass by them tomorrow. I know KTM when it was called Kuwait This Month and it was a pretty crappy magazine back then but since they rebranded to just KTM I haven’t picked up an issue yet. I might pass by a magazine stand tonight and pick one up just to see if it has gotten any better. Oh a funny thing is, the guy was like I know Bazaar approached you before and you rejected their offer but we appreciate our writers and we will make you a better one. I was like that sounds cool. Will see what happens tomorrow.

I really like the Kuwait Airport but the lack of seating keeps pissing me off. The food court although containing a nice bunch of fast food places has enough seating for a handful of people. I have mentioned this before and I have to mention it again, why the lack of seating!? People are forced to sit in the food court because there is no where else. These people usually just order a coke and sit and wait while the people that are hungry (like me) and want to eat can’t eat because there is no place to sit.

Well, I am going to share with you a secret. If you are at the airport and need to sit down and kill some time the only place you will find seating is in the arcade downstairs. Their are three seats there that are always empty. They are also pretty comfortable and if you get really bored you can always play Daytona.