Category: Personal

Now that the initial hype of the iPad has died down a bit I’ve been trying to figure out where and how I would use the iPad and I haven’t really come up with an answer. The iPad works with WiFi meaning for me I can only use it at home or at work. I don’t go and hangout at coffee shops so it wouldn’t matter if I can get WiFi elsewhere.

At the office I barely have time to scratch my head and I’m sitting in front of a pretty 15″ MacBook Pro so the iPad wouldn’t serve a purpose there. I also don’t want to carry the iPad along with my Blackberry and iPhone to work everyday.

At home I’ve got access to three computers, my MacBook, my G5 PowerMac and my MSI Wind (also running OS X). Where would I fit the iPad? The minute I get home from work I get on my MacBook and start work on my blog until I’m tired and go to sleep.

The only place I thought the iPad fit nicely was in bed. Its lighter than a laptop, easier to hold and felt cozier in bed. But again what would I use it for? By the time I get to bed I would have already spent around 15 hours of my day online on a computer so what reason would I have to get on my iPad at the end of that?

What about traveling? I continue to blog when I travel and so I would need a laptop with me. An iPad wouldn’t work for me, I need an Ethernet port for hotels that don’t have wifi, I need a USB port to connect my camera to and I need Photoshop to be able to resize, retouch and compress images so I could post them. I can’t trust the iPad for all of that, its like trying to go off-roading in a Corolla. For in-flight entertainment I’ve got my amazing Archos 7 which has a 160GB hard drive and can play practically any video format you throw at it. It also has an amazing battery life that lasts over 10 hours AND I can get an extra battery for extra long trips. So really the iPad doesn’t fit in my travel plans as well. Even if I wanted to travel light I could always take my tiny MSI Wind.

So will I get an iPad? Yeah of course, even though I don’t have a use for one its still an incredible need to have device and I need to have everything thats this cool. I’m sure as the iPad matures and more people develop applications for it I’ll find a use for it in my life.

Last week I ordered a lift kit for my FJ from Toytec Lifts. I’m planning to install a 3″ lift along with larger tires. So yesterday I went to get a set of tires but I couldn’t find any mud-terrain ones in the size I wanted. I checked Hankook, BF Goodrich, Maxxis and Goodyear. BFG actually were the most helpful, they told me they were getting some All-Terrain KO’s soon in the size I wanted but no plans on getting the mud-terrain KM2’s which I want. So now I am stuck with no idea what to do. I contacted Tirerack.com and they quoted me KD110 to ship 5 tires to Kuwait which isn’t too bad considering how heavy they are. But still, thats around KD22 extra per tire which I would rather not pay.

I’m now thinking maybe there is some small off-road shop in Kuwait that might carry BF Goodrich tires, does anyone know of any? Also does anyone by any chance know who the dealer in Bahrain is? I tried googling but didn’t find anything. Maybe I could drive to Bahrain to pick up the tires myself…

I finally got my veneers installed a couple of days ago at Bayan Dental and my teeth look really great. I also just realized that I used to be a bit self conscious before about my teeth without really knowing it. I only found out now because when I smile or laugh I’m now much more comfortable doing so than I used to be which is great since I spend most of my time smiling or laughing (happy happy joy joy).

I honestly couldn’t imagine getting my veneers done any other place in Kuwait and I’m really glad my dentist (Dr Samer Khaddour) was the one who installed them for me. So if you’re looking for a good dental clinic I highly recommend Bayan Dental. Both me and Nat have been going to their Salmiya branch for over 5 years now and we’ve never had anything to complain about. Here is a link to their website [Link]

It took a lot of my time but I finally finished my very own iPhone app. I actually launched it last week on my twitter page but I didn’t officially announce it since I wanted to get some feedback and fix any bugs that I might have missed first. Good thing I did since I spotted a silly bug the first day it got released and quickly released a version 1.1 update a couple of days later. Now the version has gone up to 1.2 and I’ve been able to introduce a few nifty features which I felt helped round off the app and make it launch worthy.

Originally when I went about creating the app I didn’t know what the use would be. Already the blog was very viewable on the iPhone because of a plug-in I had installed that formatted the site to work perfectly on the iPhone so if my app did the same thing it would be useless. I kept thinking about what else I could do and bit by bit I started adding stuff to it that made it more useful. Here are the things you can currently do with my iPhone app:

– Check my latest posts
– Check the latest comments on my blog
– Check the latest posts in the forum
– Check my twitter
– Check my YouTube channel
– Check latest posts on Safat
– Check latest Kuwait news from Arab Times
– Check the weather via the Kuwait Meteorological Center (contains more details than the default iPhone weather app)
and my favorite…
– Get the latest traffic updates via #q8traffic on Twitter

These are just the features I have currently but hopefully will be adding more stuff down the line. If you want to download the iPhone app search for 248AM in the app store or click the following [Link]

I am leaving to Beirut for a few days and will be back early next week. While there I will be carelessly indulging in an unlimited supply of Cadbury Chocolate Milk while having some of the best Nutella and banana crepes. Posting will continue as normal while I am there.

Last week I did two things to my FJ Cruiser, the first thing was getting a tint and the second thing was installing the sound system I had previously posted about. I’ve been wanting to get a tint for ages now but it would have been really useless on the Wrangler since even if I tinted the windows I would still get a lot of heat come in from the roof since it didn’t have any kind of insulation, just bare plastic.

Anyway, all my friends got their tints done at Huper Optik whom I’ve posted about before when they participated in the Eid giveaway so I decided to get my tint there as well. Choosing the type of tint I wanted wasn’t too difficult since I just checked out everyone’s car outside our weekly diwaniya and decided to go with C40 tint all around and C70 tint in the front.

There are different colored tints from practically transparent to extremely dark and each one of them has a different amount of heat and UV rejection. C40 is a dark tint (not too dark) while C70 is a nearly clear tint. You can see some of the different types in the picture below, the one with the arrow is the C40. Here is also a link with info on the C40 [Link] and here is one for the C70 [Link]

What’s great about the C40 tint is that when you’re inside the car it doesn’t feel like it’s tinted which means it doesn’t effect night time driving. But, when you look at it from the outside you can tell its tinted which my black car looks great. I kept the front window with nearly no tint so that the car doesn’t end up too dark inside since I’ve got a completely black interior as well.

If you’re interested in getting your car tint Huper Optik have the best tints in Kuwait. They’re located in Al Rai and their telephone number is 24719999. When I passed by they had an offer where you could get up to a KD130 discount when you tint your car and install front protection (transparent material that protects your car from rocks and getting sand blasted). My next car post will be about the sound system install, I found a very cool place that did everything for me to stay tuned for that.

www.huperoptik-kw.com and www.huperoptik.com

Check out Marzouqs review of Hüper Optik (he’s got better pics and more specific details) [Here]

Back in January I joined Core Fitness and the first thing they did was take my measurements so I can compare them 7 weeks later. Well it’s been 7 weeks and I finished my first course and here are the results:

What do these numbers mean? Basically my weight has gone down from 84.7 to 80 and that includes gaining around 1.7kg of muscle. I’ve lost fat around my waist and hips (I actually had to add two new holes on my belts) and I’ve added muscle to my other areas like chest, shoulders, thighs and arms. My aim wasn’t to lose weight but gain muscle mass and right now I’m actually below my ideal weight. But, this is just the middle area because I’ve lost weight in fat and now will gain weight with muscle which is why most probably when I get measurements again in 7 weeks time I would either be the same weight or hopefully more.

The first week was very intense, I didn’t puke but I very nearly did, like just about to but didn’t. It was a killer and it scared the shit out of me but I kept going back and I now actually enjoy going to the gym. Even though its still exhausting, I no longer feel like I am going to die from a heart attack or puke. The lessons are as advertised, just 20 minutes long and I go 3 times a week. I’ve refused to do any work out or cardio during my off days since what attracted me to Core Fitness was the 20 minutes 3 times a week selling line. 20 minutes 3 times a week was all the time I had to give and wanted to give and I’ve stuck to my guns. My cardio hasn’t improved that much because of that since I was advised to run during my off days.

Every week I have a different trainer that takes me through the 20 minutes of workout. Whats cool about that is every trainer has their own style of training and exercises so once my body feels like it’s getting used to a routine, my trainers change and I’ve suddenly got to survive and get used to a new routine. After every 20 minute session I get a fully body stretch out by the trainer which is nearly as grueling as the 20 minute workout.

One of the cool things I like about Core is the SMS’s I get on the day of my workouts. They serve as a reminder on what time my course is but they also provide health tips as well like the following:

Hi Mark! Workout today at 8:20PM! FYI: Drink 1 glass of cold water 15min before a meal gives your metablism a 25% boost!

Hi Mark! Workout today at 8:00PM! FYI: Pizza? Choose Domino’s. 1 small order, thin slices, add anything, but ditch the ground beef and pepperoni

I was given a nutritional plan when I first started which you can see [Here]. It wasn’t too difficult to stick to since it mostly involved eating what I usually eat. The biggest change was the breakfast and dinner. Breakfast I used to have pancakes from McDonalds while dinner I used to have a lot of carbs (3 turkey & cheese sandwiches or bread with labneh for example). For breakfast I now have sausage & egg mcmuffin while for dinner I either pickup 2 chicken taouk + 2 meat tikka in a plate (no bread) from Kebabji near my house or I grill steak at home. I get my steak (fillet) from a butcher but recently I started getting ostrich steak from Sultan Center which I found out has the superior nutrient content of red meat while having less fat than a chicken breast. Too bad I can’t have it breaded and fried! Oh and another big change is the greens, I now eat a lot more vegetables and salads. I used to barely eat anything green before but now I want to eat them. For example when I go to Le Notre I usually order a fish or meat dish and their sides are usually rice or potato. I now have them swap them for steamed vegetables. It’s really weird but I think I do this because I want to get healthier and I am seeing my self get fitter.

I’m not perfect though and I do cheat but I like cheating. I look forward to cheating because it helps me stick to my diet. For example I passed by Chocolate Bar twice during this 7 weeks and overdosed on chocolate (enough to last me through the 7 weeks!) and once a week I pick up a Cadbury Flake or a Twix from the bakala. Oh and there was the Ferrero Rocher incident. The one thing though I am REALLY craving but can’t and shouldn’t have is the molten chocolate cake from Chili’s. It’s always on my mind but I’ve still managed to resist it!

So that’s basically it. I am going to sign up for another 7 weeks and I want to continue improving. I’m going to have Fahad post about Core Fitness to give you guys a better idea of what it involves since it’s his gym and he will be better able to explain it. I will definitely post my measurements again after 7 weeks and we’ll see how things changed.

As I mentioned last week I am getting my veneers done at Bayan Dental. I also said I would explain what veneers were in a different post so here it is.

A veneer is a very thin material that is placed over the tooth either to visually enhance/fix the teeth or in some cases to protect a damaged tooth. It requires very minimal tooth preparation which means they don’t drill a lot to get them to fit on your teeth. They’re nicknamed the Hollywood smile since veneers are used by actors to get the perfect smile. I asked Bayan Dental to send me some cases they’ve worked on so I can share it with my readers and they sent me a zip file containing around 10 different cases which you can download from [Here]

Anyway I passed by my dentist (Dr Samer Khaddour) today and got my teeth prepped for the veneers. I have temporary dental veneers on right now while my proper ones get made. These temporary veneers do help give an idea of how the finished outcome will look like and so far I’m finding them pretty cool although a bit tall so he is going to shorten my actual veneers for me by just a bit. You also get to choose the color of your veneers (don’t get any ideas no bling bling colors just different shades of white) and I ended up going with a shade that’s slightly lighter than the original. My next session is next week so will post again after that.

Like last time if you have any dental questions ask below and someone from Bayan Dental will reply back. They’re actually very quick to reply and also helpful so take advantage of this.

My Alpine W407 head unit along with a bunch of parts have arrived. I’ve actually got everything except for the rear view camera which I should get next week. Aramex has been pretty good, my GPS took 10 days to clear but all my other parts took just a few days. So far I’ve ordered the following stuff for my FJ:

Alpine iXA-W407 Digital Media Station $554.48
Alpine HCE-C107D Rear View Camera $176.99
Scosche TA2076B 2007 Toyota FJ ISO/Double DIN With Pocket Kit $19.58
Scosche Stereo Wire Harness Toyota FJ Cruiser $12.31
PAC TR7 Multi control interface bypass module $23.26
PAC SWI-JACK $42.90
Total: $829.52

Currently my plan is to install everything myself just like I did with my Wrangler (1, 2 & 3) except this looks like a much more complicated install specifically the amount of wires I will have to solder. But, I don’t trust anyone with this so I’ll just do it myself. Will post more pictures and details hopefully this weekend when I work on the car followed by a review of the W407 since there doesn’t seem to be a decent one available online.

By the way, the prices above are what I paid for the items. I just checked now and every single item is now available cheaper than what I paid which kinda pisses me off. In addition to the above I also picked up a Garmin 255 for $99 which is ridiculously cheap and I also tinted the FJ which I will post about separately. Next on my to do list is the lift kit and bigger tires followed by the blacking out some of the silver parts.

Update: I originally purchased the Scosche adapter for the Toyota FJ Cruiser but it turned out to be really crap and wouldn’t fit the stereo right. I ended up installing the Alpine using the Metra adapter which worked out a lot better. Here is a link to it on Amazon. [Link]

It’s either this or pay a shit load of money and use DHL. I’m being patient and going with Aramex instead. It’s frustrating having something stuck in customs for 10 days but it beats paying an arm and a leg with DHL.

I’ve been visiting Bayan Dental for over 5 years now. I first found out about them from Zaydoun and ever since me and Nat have been getting all our dental work done there at their Salmiya branch. They were actually featured in my Miskan project back in 2005 as Day 303 which is where the picture above is from. Once every few months I pass by my dentist (Dr Samer Khaddour) for scaling because I know that the longer the gap between my visits the more I am going to suffer during my session so I try to keep the gaps small. My dentist and Nat always seem to team up on me since they find my fear amusing but I’m slowly slowly getting over it.

Anyway I recently got approached by Bayan Dental and got offered veneers for free if in return I could post and explain what veneers were on my blog and also about my experience getting them installed. I didn’t have a clue what veneers were but after a quick google followed by a detailed explanation from Bayan I found these two words the best way to explain them… Hollywood smile. Veneers give you the perfect smile and you get them installed in one hour without any pain or anesthesia and they last forever.

I asked them if my dentist could install them for me and since he specializes in restorative and aesthetic dentistry they told me it shouldn’t be a problem. Since then I’ve already had a couple of visits with my dentist getting a mould of my teeth done so I could see how my teeth currently look and how they will look once I am done. They will be sending me a bunch of pictures of difference cases before and after veneers so I could share them here with some proper information about veneers and how they work. For now I thought I would post this to keep everyone in the loop on whats going on. If you have any questions about veneers (and I guess anything dental related) you can post them below since someone from Bayan will be reading the comments and answering any questions you might have.

Since we’re on the subject of dentistry for those of you who have a fear from dentists you could post what concerns you have below and I could try to answer them from my experience like for example how much pain or discomfort a procedure might have or how long certain things take etc.. I haven’t done all the procedures but I think I’ve done most of the general ones. One thing I’ve learned from my experience is that if you have a dental issue now and you don’t take care of it, it will only get worse tomorrow and the fix becomes more complicated.

Update: If you’ve never been to Bayan Dental before, just mention my blog when you go in and you will get a 17% discount on non cosmetic procedures.

I was at the Toyota dealer today and noticed they had an option to install an upgraded navigation and ipod head unit with a rear view camera. It’s installed locally by them (not factory installed) but the salesman didn’t know what brand the head unit was just that it used Magellan maps.

I was planning on getting the Alpine iXA-W407 (video above) since it comes with widgets, has an amazing iPod interface, you can connect a rear view camera and has an iPhone like “flick through menus”. I was just curious if anyone had the Toyota version because I would be interested to hear some feedback. The Alpine W407 costs around $600 without the navigation and rear view camera while the Toyota dealer installed unit is KD550.

Also one more thing, those little kids and grownups that hang around the entrance to the Al-Rai car dealerships asking you if your car is for sale, what’s their story?

Actually one more last thing, while there I noticed a couple of people using the Toyota recall as a bargaining tool.

Update: Found it, the head unit Toyota installs for you is made by FlyAudio and the interface looks horrible. [Link]

So as I mentioned a few posts below I will be swapping my Wrangler for an FJ Cruiser. Before I list my Jeep on Q8car I figured I would see if anyone here was interested in it. Here are the specs:

Jeep Wrangler Sport
2004 Model
85,000KM Mileage
3.75″ Old Man Emu lift (details)
33×12.5″ Tires on Cragar black steelies
Alpine + Boston Sound System installed by me (1, 2 & 3)

Dealer serviced and maintained. Full car history available on this blog (search for Wrangler) and here is the full history of my Wrangler in pictures [Link]

If you’re interested in the Jeep [Contact Me]

Negative Effect lent me his Toyata FJ Cruiser for the night and it only took the ride back home in it to be convinced about getting one. It felt really cozy, comfortable and just well built. Now its just about choosing a color and finding a good deal on a second hand one. I guess I have to prepare a farewell party for my Wrangler.

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today?