Category: Personal

It’s been nearly a month since I got my Tamiya FJ and just a few moments ago I finished building it. It took some time because I had to paint the body and ended up messing up the job, I then had to wait for the motor and electronic speed controller to arrive from the States and finally tonight I just had to source one more small part locally and get some wires soldered onto the motor. I’m now done with it, I tidied up all the wiring and my FJ is finally ready for a crawling session. I missed out on one last Friday because my car wasn’t ready but this Friday I am going and will take some pictures once I do.

Update: Here is a picture I took this morning

I started barbecuing during Ramadan but since the weather has improved a lot more people will start barbecuing now. Actually by visiting Sultan Center you can tell its BBQ season since the Sharq branch for example is now highlighting BBQ equipment when you first come in. So here are some tips by me if you want to start barbecuing:

The Grill
One of the best grill brands you can get in Kuwait is Weber. Sultan Center, Ace Hardware and Sears carry Weber brand grills. From the three Sears is the cheapest while Sultan is the most expensive. Problem with Sears though is they don’t have a large variety of grills nor accessories. Ace Hardware on the other hand is just slightly more expensive than Sears but have the largest variety of grills in Kuwait with a ton of accessories. I picked up the 18 1/2 inch Weber grill pictured above for KD34 from Ace. It was KD36 at Sultan and KD33 at Sears. There are cheaper Weber grills and a lot more expensive and bigger ones but if you don’t want to spend you can find some no brand grills for under KD5.

The Coals
Two best places to buy coals are Sultan and Ace Hardware. Again I found Ace Hardware cheaper and they alsonhad a larger variety of coals some of which you can see in the picture above.

Fuel gels, starter cubes or lighter fluid?
Personally I hate waiting for the coals to get ready so I use a combination of starter cubes and fuel gel to light up my coals. Gel is better than lighter fluid since it doesn’t leave any smell or flavor behind. Both Sultan and Ace sell fuel gels, both cost KD2.200 but the one at Ace is a better brand plus if you’re picking up your grill and coal from there you might as well pick up the gel. For cubes Sultan has them while Ace doesn’t. Another tip, have a blow dryer handy since it helps speed up the process considerably. I got a cheap one for KD4 from Carrefour and combined with the fuel gel and cubes I could have a grill ready in 10 minutes.

Accessories
Both Ace and Sultan have a large variety of accessories. If you want a chimney starter to help speed up the coal burning process then you need to get it from Sultan Center where they have two models to choose from. For gloves, BBQ tools, cleaning brushes etc.. I’ve mixed and matched from both Ace and Sultan, it’s really personal preference and both have cheap and expensive options to choose from.

Burgers and more
I’ve been making some great burgers with fresh Sultan Center meat patties. Just go up to the meat fridge and tell the employee you want burgers. They will ask you what kind and what weight, I usually go for the 95% lean and a 200 grams patty for me while a 100 grams one for Nat. I don’t make them add any spices although you can ask them to, I prefer adding my own spices at home. For chicken taouk I get it marinated and ready on skewers from Dean & Deluca. 1KG is for KD2.500 compared to Sultan’s KD3.900. It’s really good and the only thing I do to it is swap the green peppers for fresh mushrooms before I grill them. Finally for kebabs I get them from the butcher which is located between La Baguette and Dodo on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. He makes two kinds, one with onions the other with garlic, I prefer the onions version. 1KG is for around KD2.500 and he prepares it for you while you wait. I can’t recommend any other items to BBQ since I haven’t tried anything else. Actually I did try to BBQ a steak but didn’t like the result because I think I chose the wrong type of meat. If you can recommend me something that would be great, just leave it as a comment below.

And that concludes my BBQ post. The prices I mentioned above are 99% accurate, my memory isn’t that great and I round up numbers so if they don’t turn out to be exactly the same don’t shoot me. If you have any tips, suggestions or questions just leave them below.

Early in the year I decided I was going to start buying all my iPhone apps instead of illegally downloading them. Problem I faced was the fact that I couldn’t download some of my favorite apps because they were only for the US based users. The apps I couldn’t download were the Amazon and eBay ones and both of which don’t cost a thing, they’re free. But, since my credit card is Kuwaiti based I have to purchase all my applications from the Kuwaiti iTunes store which didn’t have those two apps. Recently CNN released an iPhone application and again it was only available to US based customers so I looked for a way to download these apps and I found one.

To download applications from the US based iTunes store all you need to do is get a US based iTunes gift voucher. I found a website online where you could buy a $15 cards for $18 and have the code emailed to you. The website uses PayPal so its safe and unlike some other websites this one sells legit cards so you know your account won’t get shut down by Apple later. Here is the [Link]

Once you get a US iTunes card just go to the US iTunes store and click on Redeem Code. Then create a new account and under the credit card option choose “none”. And that’s it, you can now download US only iPhone apps. As a bonus you can also download songs and movies as well.

Update: If you just want to download some free US only applications like the ebay and amazon apps, a reader just posted that you don’t even need to buy a voucher for that. Just go to the US app store and click on a free app, then create a new account like above with a US mailing address and for credit card choose none.

Just a recap for those of you who don’t know my “Healthier Lifestyle” series of posts. I used to have junk food every single day but then I found out I had acid reflux as a result. I then decided to permanently stop having fried or junk food and since then I’ve dropped around 5KG in weight and most importantly, I feel and am healthier. I don’t miss fried or junk food and have actually found great alternatives instead and this is why I decided to create these healthier lifestyle series of posts so I could share these alternatives with everyone.

In this post I will be talking about Napket which is located on the first floor of Avenues Phase II. They’ve got a pasta and salad station plus a ready made sandwiches section. I haven’t tried their salads or pastas just their sandwiches and my favorite is called “The NY Thing”. The sandwich contains bacon, chicken, turkey, eggs, tomato and lettuce. Since it’s ready made its perfect to have during my lunch break because it doesn’t take time to prepare. The bread used for the sandwich is really delicious. I don’t know what it is exactly but it’s got a slightly sweet flavor to it.

The sandwich isn’t cheap though, at KD3.750 its on the expensive side but the service is great and the location and restaurant atmosphere is amazing so it kinda makes up for it. The sandwich is also filling so you don’t need a side order with it. I highly recommend it.

Other options:
Nando’s
Macaroni Grill
Salad Creations

Every time the garbage in the empty lot behind my building catches fire I take a picture and document it on my blog. This is now the fourth time its caught on fire.

First time
Second time
Third time

It took me around 16 hours to build which is the longest its ever taken me to build a radio controlled car but it was a lot of fun and I’m finally done. I had actually completed the build last night but today I passed by the Tamiya dealer to pick up a better quality damper system which is the blue and silver object in the pictures. I still need to change the motor, add an electronic speed controller and most importantly paint the actual FJ Cruiser body to put on it but I wanted to share these pictures I took of the car frame to show you how beautiful the details in the model are. Check out the pictures below.

Here is a link to the FJ Cruiser page on the Tamiya website. [Link]

I had a choice between going to Dubai and getting a Tamiya CR01 crawler, wasn’t that difficult a choice. Going to spend Eid at home putting it together and hopefully spend the winter down south crawling with the other FJ Cruisers pictured below. So what are you doing this Eid?

Today’s giveaway is for the ladies and its courtesy of the fashion boutique Pink Moon. I’ve mentioned them a few times on my blog before and some of you might have noticed their trendy shop on the Gulf Road opposite Seef Palace near Slider Station. They also have an online store which is very popular and doesn’t only serve Kuwait but they also deliver world wide.

They are giving away one item from their best-selling ‘Free City’ collection which actually has a long waiting list. The winner will get to choose any one item from the ‘Free City’ collection which includes t-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants worn by tons of celebrities. Their newest collection arrives tomorrow and the winner will get to choose whatever 1 item they want for free.

All you need to do to win is to leave a comment below and later on in the evening I will use random.org to select a winner. To check out Pink Moon’s current ‘Free City’ collection online click [Here]

Today’s giveaway is for women only but don’t worry there’s still a lot more left. Last night I finalized all the giveaways and their are some really great stuff coming up. So enjoy!

Rules: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since the winner will be contacted by email. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Update: The post was closed for commenting at around 9PM. The winner is…

[YouTube]

Comment #122, you’ve got mail!
Everyone else check back tomorrow for another giveaway.

Back in July my car failed the yearly mechanical test because of my large tires. Today I finally swapped them out for 4 much smaller tires that don’t even match and my Jeep passed the test. They were really dangerous to drive with so I quickly put back my large tires again.

As I mentioned yesterday I am going to try and have something to give away everyday until Eid. Today’s giveaway is courtesy of Choowy Goowy. Choowy Goowy are one of my favorite desert dessert places in Kuwait. They’ve got amazing cookies, make amazing brownies and also have delicious cheesecakes.

Today we’re giving away a package to one winner consisting of 2 jars of cookies of whatever flavor you want, a box of chocolate brownies and a full cheesecake with the crust and topping of your choice. All you need to do to win this package is to leave a comment below and later on in the evening I will use random.org to select a winner. For more information about Choowy Goowy visit their website [Here]

If you’re a business owner and want to be part of this giveaways [Contact Me]

Note: You need to put your proper email in the email fiel while commenting since winner will be contacted by email. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Update: I just realized there are only 6 days till Eid left which isn’t much so the giveaways will last through Eid and not just till Eid.

Update2: Due to the high response in such a short period of time and the fact I need to leave the house, I closed the post for commenting at 7PM. The winner is…

[YouTube]

Comment #38, you’ve got mail!
Everyone else check back tomorrow for another giveaway.

I left Marina Crescent after meeting up with a friend and was on my way home when I decided to pass by Brands for Less. I hadn’t been there in ages and since Nat was at the gym I could kill a bit of time there checking out what they had. I got lucky!

While browsing through all their electronics section I noticed something, the MUJI CD player! Its a beautifully designed CD player designed by the famous Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa back in 1999. It has built in speakers and just two buttons on the top, very minimalistic. I had originally seen it at a MUJI store in Munich and although I found it beautiful, at nearly $200 it was too expensive for me to justify the purchase. So here out of the blue I was at Brands for Less standing in front of an item that no one around me had a clue what it was. I looked at the price and it was just KD7.850!

So I picked up the box and headed to the cashier. Before I paid the employee asked me if I wanted to try it out to make sure it works. He plugged it in and we put a CD but nothing happened. After a few minutes we declared it dead until I remembered that the CD player design was influenced by a kitchen fan and to turn on a kitchen fan you tug on the cable underneath which I did and the player came to life. I then decided to see if I could get the price reduced to KD5 because the package was ripped but I only managed to get the price dropped down to KD6. Basically, I bought a $180 MUJI CD player for just $20! I am going to drill it into my kitchen wall and use it to listen to Radiohead while I bake.

For those of you who were interested in the “Ethernet over Power” adapters I had posted about previously. They had some more in stock and they’re still selling a box that comes with 3 adapters for KD13.700.

The fake iPod Shuffle looking device in the picture above is the Fiio E5 Headphone Amplifier. For the past few years I have been using earphones (the kind you stick deep inside your ear) for traveling. They’re great because they isolate a lot of the airplane noise and if there is any kid screaming next to me I hear nothing. Now the disadvantage is after using these earphones for over an hour they start getting uncomfortable. They also aren’t practical to put on and take off every time you need to communicate with someone.

That’s why I ended up getting the Sennheiser PXC 250 sound isolating headphones back in July and since then I’ve used them a few times while traveling. They are very comfortable and cancel out the engine sound pretty well but I didn’t find them loud enough. In fact, my last trip I ended up using my older earphones instead. So, I decided to get a headphone amplifier to help increase the volume for when I find my headphones too low. I didn’t want to pay a lot and was looking for something portable. My two options ended up being either a homemade cMoy amp I could purchase from eBay or the Fiio E5 which was recommended by some users on Head Fi. I went with the Fiio.

Qualitynet are having problems again! I can’t even talk to support because their lines are so loaded. The automated answering system won’t even put me on hold because there are no waiting slots available, they’re all taken by other customers waiting. Sucks!

Update: Qualitynet were just over. According to the support guy my DSL modem was very old and was causing me the problems. They’ve swapped my black wireless Speedtouch modem with a white wireless Netgear. Hopefully I won’t have anymore problems after this!

I haven’t been to Signor Sassi in London but I just came back from the one here in Kuwait and I was pretty impressed. They haven’t opened yet, they’re still testing but everything is pretty much ready and they will be soft opening on Sunday with the official opening in early October. I met the Signor Sassi owner since he’s in Kuwait making sure everything is perfect for the opening and he was very nice and friendly. The location that’s opening on Sunday is the Gulf Road one which is located in the same place as Fish Market and Fusion. The 360 Mall location won’t be opening for another 2 months at least. In case you haven’t heard of them before, Signor Sassi is a popular Italian restaurant located in Knightsbridge. It’s run by the same people behind the award winning San Carlo.

There is one thing I find very frustrating with Aramex Shop & Ship and that’s their formula for which package ships out first and which package stays behind until their next flight. It doesn’t look they have a formula but more like it’s completely random. I could have 5 packages in my mailbox and they would ship one, the third package that arrived, something random like that. So I sent them the following email today:

Dear Aramex,
I have 4 packages that arrived in my mailbox in the following order

1) Private Mail 08/29/2009
2) Amazon 4255 Anson Blvd 08/31/2009
3) HONGKONG SERVICES PO 09/01/2009
4) Mail & Magazines 09/02/2009

They all weigh less than 0.5lb which qualifies them for the daily flight from New York to Kuwait.

This is the order that the packages were shipped:

1) Private Mail 09/02/2009 (early morning Kuwait time)
4) Mail & Magazines 09/02/2009 (evening Kuwait time)
2) Amazon 4255 Anson Blvd 09/02/2009 (late evening Kuwait time)
3) HONGKONG SERVICES PO 09/02/2009 (late evening Kuwait time)

All four packages were shipped on the same day but on three different flights!
Package (1) got shipped in your regular slow shipping
Package (4) the least important because its a magazine got shipped with overnight shipping and I am expecting it this morning
Packages (2) and (3) got shipped regular slow shipping

What I would like know is what is your formula for deciding which shipment goes out and when? Why weren’t ALL my packages placed on the same flight as my magazines since they all weigh less than 0.50lb which I was told was the requirement to be on that flight and they would have ALL arrive today? Why wasn’t package #2 shipped before my magazines since it arrived before?

This complete random and unorganized (at least to us consumers it looks like that) is very frustrating. For example shipment #3 has an item which I could have used while traveling later tonight so its very frustrating for me to see a magazine arrive before something I really wanted to get here first.

thanks
mark

Now while looking through my previous Aramex posts I found one dating back to January 2008 when Aramex said it was going to introduce online payments. What happened to that?