Category: Kuwait

I just called Solize to ask if they sell any Lacie monitors, wow what a conversation. The guy on the other end was Egyptian and I honestly couldn’t understand anything he was telling me. I asked him if he had Lacie he said no so I asked what was the best screens he had and he told me Anvil. Hadn’t heard of the brand before so I asked if he had 21″ model, he told me no only 20, 23 and 30. Then it hit me, he didn’t say Anvil he said Apple! I told him I didn’t want to pay KD300+ for a LCD monitor since I would rather get an exceptional CRT for half that. He then told me I could get an Anbon something something LCD something something for only KD160. I realized the conversation was going no where since nothing he said made sense so I said thank you and I shut the phone.

I am very busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy.

Sultan got a new shipment of A&W Root Beer. I Was at Sultan Center Souk Sharq today and I noticed they had a lot of A&W Root Beer (not diet) cases and I just got a phonecall now from Sultan Centers “Just Ask” department asking me how many cases I wanted and that they would be put aside for me since I requested the product from them. Pretty cool.

Just checked out this months issue of Wallpaper* magazine and turns out Kuwait is in it. Here is the summary of Septembers issue featuring Kuwait:

Navigating six of the world’s most exciting cities, moving and sheikh-ing in hip Kuwait, snooping around Rupert Murdoch’s Mayfair pad, living like royalty in a Bavarian castle, gazing at Tel Aviv’s latest design stars, dressing up Dubai-style, cutting a dash in sharp tailoring, admiring the new talent from the ICFF and much more

The magazine features Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah (Villa Moda), Sheikha Hussah Al-Sabah (Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah), Emad al-Samhan (Grass Exhibition), Rola Dashti (Women’s rights movement) and Maha al-Ghunaim (Global Investment House). I like how Wallpaper called Kuwait “hip”, puts things in a different perspective.

Oh No… [Link]

Today I got an email from Sony, I was accepted to be a beta tester for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo for the PSP. According to Sony:

Congratulations on being selected to participate in this exclusive public beta test. As a beta tester, you should receive the following item(s) via UPS in approximately 29 days:

– UMD Beta Disc
– Beta Manual

This is going to kick ass, SOCOM is going to be the first PSP game that can be played online and I will get to beta test it!

Saw the N90 today, its A LOT bigger then I imagined and extremely over priced. The shop I was in was selling it for KD350. I played with it for like 2 minutes and I personally think it looks cool when closed but cheap when opened. The keypads design is the biggest culprit, I think thats what hurts its looks the most.

Ipod mini Lanyard prices:

Amazon.com’s Price: KD5.250 ($17.98)
Solize Store in Muthana Price: KD4.500
Mac & More in Galleria 2000 Price: KD12.750

Aramex are having problems with shipping out stuff in New York, below is an email from Aramex:

We have received a message from JFK that we are facing some problems with Customs Department as they are currently refusing to let HIGH VALUE shipments out due to some reasons which we are trying to work on with them, therefore we are keeping all shipments of high value In transit until the problem with customs is already solved and then we will update shipments on the system. I apologize for the delay although it’s not from our side but I will keep you posted with the progress of the case. Thank you again for your patience and best regards

So yesterday I finally decided I was gonna get a Mohawk. I went to my Pakistani barber and shared with him my idea expecting him to crack up and call in his buddies to share the laughter with. That didn’t happen, I guess my barber is a real pro because he had no reaction, to him a haircut is a haircut I guess no matter how extreme. So before he started cutting my hair I double checked to make sure he knew what a Mohawk was, I used a lot of hand gestures and a lot of pointing to my hair so there wouldn’t be any miscommunication.

My barber started trimming my hair but he started from the sides and then the back. I was thinking in my head wouldn’t it be better if he started from the front. Five minutes later my Mohawk was done, what a catastrophe. I was right he should have started trimming from the front because now my Mohawk started in the center in the back but by the time it reached the front of my head it had shifted off to the right. My Mohawk was not centered!!

Anyway I looked at it carefully, I knew that my Mohawk was fucked but I wanted to see if it was working or not. Sadly even if he had centered my Mohawk correctly I don’t think it would have worked out since my hair was to short. I think I need my hair to be at least 4cm in length for my Mohawk to work. So now I am thinking of growing my hair till December and when I travel to New York or Montreal I will get my Mohawk done there. At least I had the balls to try it.

Update: Incase it wasn’t clear, I told the barber to remove the mohawk since he had messed it up…

Since I started working 4 years ago I noticed something that was common wherever I went. When an employee leaves a company, whatever was left behind by that employee suddenly becomes up for grabs. I have witnessed many people leave and I have become an expert at grabbing stuff thats left behind. For example, an employee left our agency for good 30 minutes ago and the first thing I did was takeover his Mac speakers. The speakers are Logitech and are pretty cool, it has a remote control, 2 satellite speakers and 1 sub woofer. I feel guilty for taking them but if I didn’t someone else would. Once you takeover the big stuff you then have other little stuff like staplers, paper clips, highlight pens, keyboard and mice, notebooks, markers, magazines and tons more stuff now all available freely to be taken by anyone in the office. Its heartless and brutal but its fun. Employees become locusts taking everything leaving nothing behind. Now even while I am writing this someone is swapping his chair with the one of the ex employee and people are searching through the drawers…

Yesterday I got my Nintendo DS which I had ordered from Amazon.com. I had ordered the bundle which included the Spiderman 2 game, Metroid Prime demo game and the Pro Gamers Kit. The Pro Gamers Kit is basically an Aluminum Case, Games Case, Earphones, Car adapter Screen Lenses and Neck Strap all in 1 package. The aluminum case looks like those bags in the movies where the drug dealers carry their cocaine in. First thing I did once I picked up my stuff was pass by Rihab Complex to exchange the Spiderman game for Super Mario. I hate Spiderman 2 but it came for free with the bundle and I figured I could exchange it for a game I would enjoy more. I found a store in Rihab that was willing to exchange spiderman for mario if I paid him KD3 which was a fair deal and I went ahead with the trade.

When I got home I took out the DS from the package and started playing with it. First thing I noticed was that its huge. Compared to my PSP the DS feels larger and heavier, Nat felt this the most since her hands are smaller then mine. I played Mario for a while and then played the mini games that came with the game and it wasn’t bad. I actually prefer the mario mini games to the actual game, they were more fun and faster. I really like the touch screen, I hate the stylus and thumb strap though, I prefer using my thumbs to click and rub the screen. I later played the Metroid Prime demo and that also made use of the touch screen, using my thumbs to click on screen buttons is very practical and easy. The reason I purchased the DS was so I could play the game Nintendogs which I ordered with the DS but which I still haven’t received so I am kinda disappointed about that.

The graphics of the DS compared to the PSP suck of course. This is why if I am going to buy games for the DS they won’t be realistic looking games. I would get 2D games or 3D games with a cartoony look, like Mario and Nintendogs. When it comes to realistically rendered games the PSP will always win. In October Castlevania is going to be released on the DS and it will be in 2D which is exactly the way I like it, so that will be the next game I will probably get. Nat is enjoying Mario a lot at the moment so I think she will be hogging the DS until I get Nintendogs at the end of this week.

So in conclusion, my first impressions of the DS is that its big, bulky, heavy and the graphics suck. BUT, it does have 2 things going for it, the touch screen and some cool games (like Nintendogs & Castlevania). I personally believe a system is worth purchasing if there is 1 great game you want on it, having 2 games I want is a bonus.

Click here to see the Nintnedo DS with the Pro Gamers Kit.

I went to Aramex yesterday to pick up my Nintendo DS and Apple Keyboard I had ordered from Amazon. When I saw the two packages I received I thought for sure there was a mistake. The boxes were absolutely huge! All I had ordered was a tiny Nintendo DS and a keyboard and they arrive in 2 over sized boxes. Good thing I was in the wrangler cuz they wouldn’t have fit in the Beemers trunk.

Is anybody elses Qualitynet connection acting up tonight or is it just me?

Update: Strange problem. My brother who lives next door and uses my network is the cause of the problem. He has a friend sleeping over who has a laptop with a wifi connection. My brother connects to the local network with ethernet using his laptop. He was trying to share the local network connection with his friend using wifi. Everytime my brother shares the connection off his Mac it brings down the whole network. Weird. I tried it the other day and it worked fine, connection comes into his mac via cable and he shares it out via wifi, don’t know what could be wrong.

Has anyone noticed these signs on the sea side? They are huge, bulky, ugly and unpractical. They are hard to read, its only in Arabic, and the most important information which is the logos of the restaurants are too tiny to be noticed. I am also sure its impossible to read the sign at night. Who is responsible for approving this crap? I am guessing its the same people who authorized the construction of a tall building to block the Scientific Center.