Category: Personal

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Mr. W
Cadbury Gorilla
Halo 3
Schweppes Burst

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I own too many headphones for some reason and yet I always manage to convince myself I need a new pair. I currently own a B&O A8, Shure E2, Sennheiser PX100, AKG K81 DJ and the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro. These cover just about every type of headphone from in ear’s, to over head, from open air to closed back, and from tiny to large and bulky. Whats missing are a pair of noise canceling headphones. I originally fell in love with the noise canceling Beats but due to the fact they weren’t very portable made them unpractical for my main reason of wanting noise canceling headphones and that’s traveling.

So after a bit of research I decided to buy a pair of Sennheiser PXC250’s. I had read about them ages ago and remembered them again with the release of the newer updated PXC300. But after some googling I realized the 300’s were just a slight improvement over the 250 but were also double the price. So without hesitation I bought the 250’s from Amazon for just $73.

I’ve been listening to them for over an hour now and the headphones don’t have much bass. I was expecting that based on previous reviews I had read but since I will be primarily using them to watch TV shows on my Archos 7, its not a big deal for me but might be to you. The noise canceling seems to be working right. The dryer is on and when I turn the noise canceling on I don’t hear it, when off I do. The proper test will be using it on the plane which I should be soon.

The little device thats in the picture above is the battery holder. The Sennheisers work with or without battery but the noise cancellation only works with batteries. Once I get back from a trip will post another review on these.

The Sennheiser PXC 250 is for $72 on Amazon [Link]
The Sennheiser PXC 300 is for $128 on Amazon [Link]

Salmiya will never be the same without you.

Can we have normal looking trees in Kuwait? Please.

I passed by 360 today and this is what I thought:

The Good
– The interior of the mall is probably the nicest in Kuwait. Looks very fancy with a mixture of wood, marble and carpet.
– Finally there is a proper Nike and Puma store
– Geant Hypermarket is huge
– Toys R Us!
– A lot of new brands launching at the 360
– Food court looks pretty

The Bad
– I would say only 20-30% of the shops and restaurants are open, everything else is still closed
– I was expecting a larger Toys R Us
– I compared one item at Geant which turned out to be more expensive than Carrefour. The WD HD TV player costs KD35 at Geant and KD31 at Carrefour. This of course isn’t an accurate assessment but it still gave me the impression that Carrefour is cheaper.

The Ugly
– Parking or should I say the complete lack of any parking. I was there during the day, the mall wasn’t packed and I couldn’t find parking. Its bad enough the parking isn’t shaded but the fact that there wasn’t enough parking during the middle of the week at 1PM is just ridiculous. I had to park illegally like a lot of people and I was lucky I even found an illegal spot. A friend passed by last night and told me he had to wait in a car jam for 20 minutes around a kilometer away from the mall and in the end he left because the line into 360 wasn’t moving.
– There were nice looking fountains outside but when I got closer they stank of sewage and were murky green and dirty.

After posting last night asking if anyone had a PowerMac or Mac Pro for sale I got a reply from someone and managed to pick up a Dual G5 2.3ghz PowerMac today for a really good deal (just slightly more expensive than on eBay). I just formatted the Mac and am getting ready to install all my applications. I love it!

I applied for tickets but didn’t get any:

Thank you for your registration.

Sorry, we regret to inform you that your registration to attend the Public Memorial Service for Michael Jackson was not selected.

Hundreds of thousands registered, but only a few can be in attendance.

My 9 year old Graphic PowerMac has started showing its age. Its been shutting down randomly recently and I think its a hardware issue. So I am thinking of upgrading to a second hand Mac Pro, does anyone have one for sale? I am looking for a second hand since I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a new one (they cost KD700+ on Amazon for example).

Update: Never mind I found one! [Link]

Around two months back I got diagnosed with Acid Reflux. The doctor gave me a months supply of some purple pills called Nexium which really helped me out a lot. But, I didn’t want to live on pills for the rest of my life so I decided to eat healthier and not take any pills. I haven’t had McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King or KFC for 2 months now, the longest ever. I’ve had burgers at Slider Station maybe twice in this period and once at Burger Hub (not a good experience at all). I haven’t really experienced any major acid reflux since except for this one occasion when I over ate at Caesers but that was sooo worth it.

Anyway one thing a ton of people online recommended I try for my acid reflux is organic apple cider vinegar. Supposedly a table spoon or two mixed with water can fix my acid reflux and a ton of other health issues. I didn’t believe it but figured I would try it since a bottle of organic apple vinegar at Sultan cost only KD1.800. Well I’ve been using it for a while now and it actually works. Now supposedly you are supposed to take it every morning and every evening but honestly it tastes like crap. I only have it if I feel a bit uncomfortable and then I fill up a table spoon of vinegar with a bit of water and drink it quickly like a shot. I actually tried drinking a shot of vinegar without water but it was a killer.

Surprisingly this does work for me. One drink right after dinner and I don’t have any kind of discomfort when I go to sleep. I figured I would share this easy remedy since it worked for me. I won’t link to any one article regarding this but if you just do a search in google for the phrase acid reflux organic apple cider vinegar you should find a TON of information.

Update: Actually here is one link with some info. [Link]

Back in April I was checking up on my domains and realized I had one domain missing called t20.org. So I checked up on it and it turned out the domain had expired and I had forgotten to renew it. I was really pissed off but now I am even more pissed off because I just realized the domain could have actually been worth some money today.

There is a new version of cricket that’s become super popular recently called Twenty20. Twenty20 cricket is also know as T20 cricket. SUCKS!

When I travel I wear what I call my travel watches. They are cheap digital watches which no one would want to steal in case I get mugged (don’t ask). For the past 2 years I’ve been using my Casio calculator watch but I recently decided I wanted a watch that could at least tell me the temperature. So after a bit of searching I decided to get the Timex Skiathlom. Its a very rare and strange (i.e. ugly) looking watch from the late 80’s. I used to have one back in 1990 and I figured I would get one. I had forgotten the name of the watch but after a bit of help from a Timex forum I managed to find the watch on eBay in excellent condition. It cost me around KD10 which isn’t too bad. Since there is barely any information on this watch online, I decided to scan the manual and take a clear frontal shot so that if anyone searches for this watch in the future they will find at least some info.

So if you’re interested in the Timex Skiathlom owners manual and a high resolution picture click [Here]

Ok this might sound like a strange subject since its about a pen but a few weeks back there was a free pen that was attached to a magazine I received. I don’t remember the name of the magazine but I trashed it and kept the pen. Today I needed a pen and grabbed the free pen randomly from my pen collection on the desk and I was completely surprised with the result.

Although the tip looks like a regular ballpoint pen when writing its super smooth and pretty thick. The result looks like it was written with an ink pen with varied color shading in places where your pen passed through faster or slower. The pen is called the Uni-Ball Gel Impact, I have the blue one but will definitely be getting a black one. And this ends my first and last post about a pen… maybe. [Link]

I ordered a Jason Markk premium sneaker solution set and it just got held by Aramex as unacceptable material. Turns out they won’t ship liquid material I now have to send it back, sucks!

Yeah its a long name but it helps with the geek factor. I’ve been wanting the Oral B Triumph for some time now but the local dealer never got the one I wanted which comes with the Smart Guide.

What is the Smart Guide? The Smart Guide is the little device that’s pictured above. Your toothbrush connects to it wirelessly and transmits various information about your brushing technique to help you brush properly while also making it more fun. First off it tells you how much time to spend on each quadrant of your teeth before shifting to the next one. It also tells you if you’re applying the right amount of pressure onto your teeth or gums by flashing a warning when it thinks you’re being too rough. Finally and most importantly, when you are done brushing correctly you get a smiley face on the Smart Guide as a reward. The live feedback system while brushing made me want the Triumph since I like information even if its coming from a toothbrush.

The price of the regular Triumph is KD42 in Kuwait after discount but it DOESN’T come with the Smart Guide. On Amazon the Triumph WITH the Smart Guide is for only KD34. I picked up the KD50 special edition version which comes with 2 tooth brushes and 2 Smart Guides, one for me and one for Nat which saved me a bundle. Will post a more in depth review once I get to use it for awhile.

Oral B Triumph 9900 Toothbrush with Smart Guide KD34 [Amazon]
Oral-B Triumph 9950 2 handle pack with 2 Smart Guides KD51 [Amazon]

I was supposed to post this once I got back from Amsterdam but totally forgot about it. This is just a follow up to my Archos 7 review which I posted awhile back. I used the Archos extensively on my way to and from Amsterdam on the plane. Its a 6 hour trip and I spent the whole time watching movies and shows on my Archos. The screen is 7inches which is pretty big so with the help of a headphone splitter Nat was able to comfortably watch whatever I was watching on my Archos.

One feature that drove me towards the Archos 7 was the advertised 10 hour battery life. I figured I would get around 8 which is enough for long flights except I managed to get nearly 11 hours worth on a single charge! After watching videos on my Archos for the whole trip back from Amsterdam, once I got to Kuwait I managed to watch a few more episodes of Battlestar Galactica before the low battery warning came on. Thats simply incredible.

I also want to mention that I didn’t face any kind of issues with the Archos on the trip. My flickering back light issue seemed to have fixed itself and I didn’t encounter any crashes or freezes. So I can now confidently recommend this device to anyone who is looking for the perfect travel companion.

160GB Archos 7 is for $272. [Amazon Link]
320GB Archos 7 is for $412. [Amazon Link]

By the way there is also a smaller version called the Archos 5 which sells for $280. Its the same as the Archos 7 in every way except the screen is a 5inch and the battery lasts around 5 hours. [Amazon Link]