Category: Personal

IKEA are over today installing my new kitchen. My experience so far with them has been really great. I think it was around 2 months ago when I first approached them about getting a kitchen and they quickly sent someone over to get the sizes. After that it was kind of a long process for the design since me and Nat kept changing things around until we finally settled on something we were both happy with. After that it was all about trying to keep the cost down as much as possible and we were able to chop around 25% of the cost by removing things we didn’t need and when we finally paid we used an NBK credit card and got another 10% off as vouchers which dropped the price down even further. The guys installing the kitchen are telling me they need two days to finish the installation but they’re pretty quick so I think they might end up finishing today.

Update: I guess I spoke too soon. Its not even 3PM and the guys were packing up to leave, they told me they had another kitchen at 3PM they needed to go to. I was like WTF? My kitchen is 80% done and I booked this day over 2 weeks ago how could you leave after half a days work? So I called their manager up and complained, I told him I took a day off work and the employees came in at 10 and they are now leaving at 3. I told him the kitchen is nearly done so I don’t understand why they can’t work a full day on it and get it completed. He told me they only work from 7 to 3:30, I told him if they did come in at 7 we would be done by now plus they told me they have another kitchen they have to go and work on. The manager asked to speak to one of the guys over at my place and when he was done I was told they would stay longer and try to get the kitchen done today.

I purchased an oven from Abyat a few days ago. Yeah it sounds strange buying an oven from Abyat and not a place like Alghanim or Eureka but I was looking for a built in oven for my new kitchen and I found a really great looking Gorenje oven from the Ora-Ito collection and for a really competitive price at Abyat.

So yesterday they call me up to deliver the oven. I tell the driver how to get to my place and within 30 minutes he comes over with the new oven and leaves.

So today Abyat call me up to deliver the oven. I tell the driver how to get to my place and within 30 minutes he comes over with the new oven and leaves.

I didn’t mistype, it was déjà vu. It seems they made a mistake and they delivered my oven twice. I now have two beautiful ovens in my kitchen but not for long. I called them up and told them about the mistake they made. They were surprised but very apologetic and will be coming by tomorrow to pick up the extra oven. I like Abyat, its no Home Depot but its close enough.

I took this picture a few hours ago.

I am going to Cairo on Friday for 8 days on a work related trip. I’ve never been to Egypt but I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about it but also a lot of bad stuff (supposedly I should only drink bottled water?). I have two days free while I am there so can anyone recommend places to visit or places to eat?

Back in 2006 I posted about how I was able to get a hold of three original Apple Think Different banners from the local Apple dealer (Digits) and today I finally put them up.

For those of you who don’t know, the slogan “Think Different” was created for Apple back in 1997 (yes they were around before the iPod). The slogan was used in various commercials and print adverts but the most famous ones were the creative innovators tribute ads. I was able to get a hold of 3 banners, a Pablo Piccaso, Martha Graham and the rare Buzz Aldrin one.

Since I just finished redecorating (I now officially live inside my blog), I managed to find space to put up the banners and they look great. It took me two years but they’re finally up. The picture above is of the Buzz Aldrin banner, its 70cm wide and 160cm in height.

In short, STAY AWAY! I am a huge Wasabi fan but the one in the Avenues sucks big time. I passed by them today for the first time for lunch and out of the three dishes I ordered I had problems with two of them.

First I ordered the salmon and avocado salad for starters, it took what seemed like an eternity to arrive and when it finally did it turned out they had forgotten to add the avocado. After having that mess sorted out turns out the salad dressing is different than the one used in their main city branch or at least tasted different. I also had ordered the exotic roll but it tasted like crap so I didn’t eat it. If all that wasn’t bad enough I had to listen to what had to be the noisiest kitchen door in the world which squeaked like a haunted house every time someone went in our out of the kitchen.

For your Wasabi cravings stick to the main city branch, I know I will.

Picture by iDip

My MacBook finally got delivered today. It got held in customs yesterday but luckily I didn’t have to pay anything just the clearance fee’s which totaled to KD16 and this included the KD5 Aramex charge to clear the packages themselves. So far I am really loving it, it just looks amazing, while taking the picture above no matter what angle I tried to shoot it from the MacBook looked great. Now I will spend the next few days manually transferring files from my old MacBook onto the new and then will put the old one up for sale.

My new favorite chocolate. According to Wikipedia its only available in Australia and New Zealand. Its like the regular Mars bar except it has crispies embedded in the outer layer which makes a world of a difference in my opinion. It’s available at Sultan Center for 450fils.

Now that the price of oil is like the lowest in 16 months does that mean McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Hardees will drop their prices? Will products at Sultan Center cost the same as they did 16 months ago? I think it’s only fair that if they raise the prices because oil prices are up then they should drop the prices when oil prices go down.

I have a feeling Virgin is going to end up closing down at Marina Mall. I don’t think they’ve been doing good for a long time and the only thing they really have left is their electronics and video games section. Today I was at Marina and noticed Alghanim was opening up right in front of Virgin. Alghanim sells both video games and electronics for cheaper so whats really left for Virgin?

I am currently extremely hooked on the tv series Jericho. I’ve been watching one episode after another without a break, the only other show that does this to me is 24. The plot of the series is very unique which is why I think I am addicted to it. I am not going to go into too much details as so not to ruin it for anyone but basically a nuclear bomb goes off in the city of Denver and a small Kansas town nearby try to cope with the aftereffects. Definitely worth watching if you can get a hold of it. [Link]

So the new MacBook’s are out and I want one. Problem is every time I get the first release of a laptop from Apple I get screwed. With my iBook I ended up with the infamous logic board problem, with my MacBook I ended up with the discolored palm rest followed by a logic board problem. So thats twice in a row, which is why I am hesitant. [Link]

I’ve been put in charge of our office’s redesign and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on a company or studio I could call up for this job. If you do please post a name preferably with a website or phone number as a comment below. Thanks!

Note: My dad is an interior designer but hiring my dad for the job would look pretty suspicious to the auditors lol

Wok Master is a tiny Chinese take away and delivery place I found out about just 3 days back. I got an email from the owner of the place last week asking me to try it but I didn’t think it would interesting so I ignored him (yes I know, its not nice). The owner emailed me again and I replied the second time asking if the place had dine in. He replied saying no it didn’t so I replied apologizing telling him the only food I ordered delivery was either Papa Johns or Hardees. So the owner gave up and passed me the home delivery phone number and address in case I ever got interested. Thats when he grabbed my attention. Wok Master turned out to be just two streets away from where I live which made things interesting so I decided to give the place a shot.

Yesterday night I passed by and ordered sweet & sour chicken and plain fried rice. The place was easy to find and it looked very clean but I really wasn’t expecting much from the food. When I got home and opened the package I was caught by surprise. The sweet & sour chicken looked amazing. The sauce was a nice red color and looked pretty thick which is exactly how I like it. I quickly mixed my chicken with the rice and dug in and it was actually really good. I was so impressed I passed by and picked up dinner again tonight. This time I had the Manchurian chicken and plain fried rice while Nat decided to try their shrimp noodles. Well it looks like I am probably going to pass by again for dinner tomorrow evening and try something else since everything I’ve had so far I’ve liked.

I didn’t have any major issues with the place. Their menu is pretty ugly and has over a hundred dishes listed (where is Gordon Ramsey to see this). The packaging was ok, the rice and noodles came in those typical Chinese food packaging while the chicken plates came in the less impressive aluminum foil dishes. One thing i noticed tonight is that they charged me 950fils for the rice although in the menu it says it should be 750. Which brings me to their prices. They’re pretty decent, the sweet & sour chicken and the Manchurian chicken each cost KD1.950 while the shrimp noodles costs KD1.750. Overall I really like the place and I love how out of no where its suddenly became one of my favorite Chinese places in Kuwait. And its right next door! For the final score they’re going to get a 4 out of 5 from me.

To order from Wok Master call them on 5750081
They’re located right behind Kuwaitana restaurant on Baghdad street which is nearly right in front of La Baguette .

I called up Sushi KW around 1PM and placed my order to be delivered at 4:30. I ordered the Spicy Shrimp, Snow, TamTam, Mix Maki, Salmon Sushi and Crab Sushi.

My order arrived on time which was cool since I was starving. The packaging was decent and came with soy sauce, a spicy mayo dip, ginger and chopsticks. I quickly chowed my way through everything but when I was done I wasn’t impressed. From the bunch I ordered I think Snow was the worst while everything else tasted just average. The price is cheap, the whole thing cost me only KD11.250 but I would rather pay a bit more and get something from Wasabi instead.