Category: Personal

Its been a while since I had a major complaint about anything but my latest incident with the Pirelli dealer in Kuwait is just unbelievable. Its probably the worst experience I have ever had with any dealership in Kuwait.

Two month ago Nataly got a flat tire with the Z4 on her way to work. Since the car doesn’t come with a spare tire I had to leave work and meet up with her on the side of the road and then call a tow truck to take the car to Shuwaikh. I spend a lot of time traveling on work related trips and this incident made me realize its better if I fit the car with run-flat tires so that just in case she does get a flat she could at least drive back home instead of having to pull over in the middle of no where and try to find help.

So I get into the tow truck and instruct the driver to take me to Canada Dry street. We park outside the Pirelli dealer there and go inside and meet a salesman called Usman Ali who gave me the prices of their run-flat tires. I then walk across to the other side of the street and get the prices of the Michellin run-flats. Since Pirelli was having an offer their prices turned out to be much cheaper and I decided to fit run-flats from them. They had two tire threads to choose from and I chose the more expensive sportier ones, the P-Zero’s. After fitting the tires and before I left the place I asked the salesman how fast I could drive when I get a flat, he replies telling me the max speed is 80km/h. That was two months ago.

A few days ago after leaving her gym Nat falls into a deep pothole and gets a flat. She calls me up and I tell she can continue to drive home but she shouldn’t exceed the speed 80km/h.

Today I took my Wrangler and headed out to Canada Dry to buy a new tire for her car. I went to the Pirelli dealer and I gave them my tire size and model and the guy tells me those aren’t run-flats. I am like what do you mean? He was like just wait a few moments until the salesman comes back. When the salesman came back I recognized him as the guy who sold me my tires. So I tell him I need a tire for my car and I give him the size and he tells me they have them in stock. I was like yeah but the other guy said they are not run-flats. The salesman (Usman Ali) tells me they have the same power as run-flats. I was like that doesn’t make any sense you think I am an idiot?? I came in 2 months ago asking for run flats and you sold me 4 tires and I paid over KD400 for them and today I find out you lied to me and sold me regular tires not run-flats. He asks me why I waited 2 months to come in and complain and not 2 or 3 days after I had installed them. I was like are you serious?? What you wanted me to drive to Michellin after installing my tires and have them double check to make sure you installed run-flats for me??? My wife had a flat tire 2 days ago and thats how I found out you lied to me.

After around 20 minutes of the guy trying to convince me that I hadn’t asked for run-flats and he hadn’t told me they were run-flats I realized nothing was going to come out of this and I left. Now I am home trying to figure out what to do about this. I feel cheated! This isn’t a small lie. I told Nat she could drive her car with the flat at a speed of 80km/h which is dangerous with regular flat tires. Not only did the guy put Nat at risk but you could also damage the car and rims driving that fast with a flat. The only thing I can think of doing now is sending out emails to Pirelli and hoping someone in management will try and solve this problem for me. Will post an update once something happens.

Update: Just got a call from the Pirelli manager, I will be passing by them tomorrow to solve the problem.

Update2: Problem solved! [Link]

I installed Mac OS X on my MSI Wind today and its running perfectly! The installation went very smooth and everything is working fine including the wifi, webcam, bluetooth, ethernet port and sound. I really didn’t think OS X would run so well on the Wind, I love it! I am actually so happy with the Wind now I am going to be selling my Asus Eee 900. I tried installing OS X on it today also but it was running really slow so I just went ahead and installed the dreadful Windows XP. Its running much better but I prefer OS X over XP any day so thats why I am going to be sell it. I will be losing money on it since the price of it has dropped since I got it but since I got the MSI Wind for free I don’t mind. The thing is I really don’t have the need for two ultra portables in my life and the fact that the Wind is running OS X means I will always choose it over my Asus.

If anyone is interested in installing OS X on the Wind all you need to get it working right is a Dell wifi card. I purchased the Dell 1490 from eBay for $15 with shipping.

Update: My Asus Eee 900 is now listed for sale in the forum [Link]

I took my MSI Wind to Munich with me as my travel laptop and it turned out to be a really practical alternative to lugging my MacBook around. Its much more lighter than my MacBook and its also thinner and smaller so it fit easily into my small carry on travel bag and it also wasn’t a pain to carry around. My biggest problem with the Wind is the fact that it runs Windows XP which I hate.

That problem is going to get solved very soon though. It turns out I can install Apple’s Mac OS X onto it which is what I am going to be doing very soon. I ordered a new Dell wifi card from eBay for $15 with shipping to replace the standard one that comes with the MSI Wind. The Dell wifi card works with OSX while the standard card doesn’t. I am also going to be upgrading the battery to a 6-cell which will make it last twice as long. Finally I am going to be upgrading the RAM from 1GB to 2GB, not because I really need to but because it costs only KD7 to do. I am now just waiting for the wifi card to arrive in the mail and once it does I will do the install and post my feedback on how the MSI Wind runs with OSX.

Back in March I posted about how the blog was mentioned in the Brownbook Urban Guide Kuwait edition and since then I’ve been trying to get my hands on a copy of the book. I couldn’t find it in Kuwait and when I was in Lebanon a month ago I only found a box set that included a whole bunch of guides from around the region but I didn’t want to pony up $60 just so that I could check myself out. Finally a few days ago a friend of mine got me a copy of the Kuwait edition which she found by chance in another bookstore in Lebanon. The guide is pretty cool featuring most of the trendy places in Kuwait and a few other interesting places to visit. I need to buy a few of these guides and give them away to some friends (not cuz I am in it but because it makes Kuwait look cool) but I couldn’t find one copy yet a few!

I am posting from my iPhone since I have a problem with my Internet connection at home. I just renewed my connection with Qualitynet with an upgrade to 2MB and although everything was working fine now its not. I had a problem last year where my line couldn’t handle 2MB but it was supposedly fixed. Earlier today I was downloading perfectly fine at around 255KB/s but now its acting up again. Sucks to be without Internet.

Yesterday I passed by Adidas Originals near my hotel but found it closed since it turned out they were renovating and the reopening would be today (lucky me). I passed by a few hours ago to see if they still had anymore Adidas Diesel jeans and turns out they had just received the new seasons collection. I got a pair and will be going back again for another. I tried finding them online last time but they only sell them at Adidas stores and are a limited run so even finding new pairs on eBay isn’t easy.

Earlier in the month I posted about how Carrefour started carrying the MSI Wind. Well I got a call a few days back from the MSI Wind dealer who wanted to give me an MSI Wind to keep and review for the blog. Of course I said YES and today I went and picked it up. I had three colors to choose from, the black, white and the pink and I decided to go for the black which I hadn’t seen before. Once I got back home and opened the box I was glad I went with black because it looks really great.

I’ve only had a few minutes to play with the Wind and so far I really like the size. When I had the 12inch iBook I hoped Apple would release a 10inch version but instead they ended up releasing the 13inch which although is great is pretty big to carry around. 10inch seems to be the right size for a portable laptop. Originally I had regretted getting the Eee when I found out about the Wind but now I have both which is perfect! I am going to Munich later this week so the MSI Wind came at a perfect time since I will be able to take it with me and try it out as a travel laptop. I am also interested to see how long the battery is going to last since it uses the new Intel Atom chip.

If anyone has any thing they want to know about the Wind or something you want me to compare to the Asus Eee 900 please leave your question in the comments below. A user in the forum was able to install Mac OS X on the Wind so thats something I will probably attempt to do once I get back from Munich.

According to the dealer the MSI Wind is sold at Alghanim, Electrozan, Carrefour, Lulu Hypermarket and Bin Khaldoun street for KD185. Actually it might be a bit cheaper at Bin Khaldoun street.

Update: I soooo hate Windows XP, how do you guys use it!

Update2: If you need to contact the dealer their number is 810810

I will be in Beirut for the next 10 days on business but as usual I will continue to post from there.

Houston we have a problem! When I first started this burger challenge I thought it was going to be a pretty easy task but now that I am approaching the end I’ve realized I am going to have a difficult situation on my hands.. who to crown the winner. Originally at the start of the challenge I anticipated either Fuddruckers or Burger Boutique would win but as it stands both of them are out of the picture and its Burger Hub and Slider Station that are currently rated the highest. So I had my hopes in the Gaucho Grill burger to make my decision easier and it didn’t.

I’ve only been to Gaucho Grill during the evening but for the burger challenge I’ve been trying to have the burgers during the day so that I could have decent pictures to attach to the reviews. Gaucho Grill during the day is a completely different experience, its quieter, emptier and of course much more brighter. There was only another table occupied so finding a place near the window wasn’t a problem.

Once I got the menu I flipped through it till I got to the burger section and decided I would order the Gaucho Burger with Roasted Mushrooms and Cheese (medium well). I ordered a side order of baked potato but no appetizers since I have yet to try any appetizer at Gaucho Grill that I liked. The burger arrived soon after and my first impression was whats up with the bread? The bread didn’t look very appetizing and actually looked a bit burnt so that put me off. But, once I took a bite I realized the bread in fact wasn’t as bad as it looked and the beef patty was actually really good. The burger was very juicy and the thickness of the patty was perfect. The burger came with lettuce, tomatoes etc.. on the side and thats where I kept them because the burger really didn’t need them. The bread although as you can see in the picture was slightly burnt on the edges really didn’t bother me much and it was crunchy or anything of the sort. I do think though that if they had used a better kind of bread this burger could have been the winner.

While thinking of what to score this burger I considered the fact if I’ve been too hard with my ratings. I tried some incredible burgers and so far the highest score has been a 4 out of 5. I was actually starting to believe that I’ve been too hard until I realized there was one burger I had that I would have given a 4.5 but that burger isn’t in Kuwait sadly. While I was in Jordan back in April I had the most amazing burger at the Four Seasons hotel. I think it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I truthfully don’t think I could give a burger a perfect 5 out of 5 but at least I know I could give a 4.5 rating if needed be. The Gaucho Burger although a great burger was let down by the bread and if it wasn’t for that I do think it could have gotten a higher score. The final score is another 4 out of 5. There are only two or three more places I still need to try out so there is still hope that a burger in Kuwait will get higher than a 4.

Gaucho Grill is located at The Palms
The cost of the Gaucho Burger with Roasted Mushrooms
and Cheese is KD6.750

I just started watching the new TV mini-series called House of Saddam and its actually pretty good. The show charts the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein and it focuses on his family and his relationship with his closest advisers. The mini-series is only four episodes long and I’ve already gone through two of them. It actually sucks that there are only four episodes because it is an interesting subject and there is a lot to cover but I guess four episodes are better than one. If you’re interested in watching the show its broadcasted on BBC or you can do what I did and just download the episode off of torrents. [Link]

My advertising agency (JWT) is currently looking to hire a Senior Art Director and a Kuwaiti Copywriter. If you’re interested send me an email and I will get back to you. [Email Me]

Has anyone by any chance seen a store still selling the original iPods? I suddenly have the urge to get one. I found one still shrink wrapped in the box on eBay but I think its going to end up selling for over $300 easily which is more than what I am willing to pay for one. If a store in Kuwait still has one though they might be willing to let it go for cheap. I remember back in the day Eureka was selling the 5GB one for KD220. I wonder if they still have them in stock somewhere gathering dust?

Update: Wow, found an old post on Gizmodo where there was a competition called “Show us your iPod”. I don’t remember this but it seems I submitted a photo of my iPod mini autographed by the iPod inventor Tony Fadell and it actually was a finalist in their giveaway competition. Don’t know how I missed that, its from back in 2006.

Update 2: While I am being all retro here. The picture above is of Nibaq taken back in November 2002. I took the picture so we could submit it to iLounge for their iPods around the world gallery. Back then they didn’t have any submission from Kuwait. [Link]

Lately I’ve been in the mood to watch a lot of old stuff. Currently I’m watching the old tv show called Newhart which I vaguely remember watching when I was a kid. For some reason I find the show very comforting to watch.

There are also a bunch of classics I’ve still haven’t watched which figured I’d get out of the way while I am at it:
Dr. Strangelove
Grease
Paths of Glory
Rain Man
Spartacus
Trading Places

I think whats pushed me to start watching old movies is the lack of decent movies nowadays. Nothing I’m watching is turning out to be anything extraordinary. Where is the Apocalypse Now of today? Thats what we’re missing.

Tonight I swapped out my Wranglers speedometer gear since the original stock one thats installed wasn’t working properly with my 33inch tires. My speedometer was off by around 10-20km/h and it was also effecting the transmission shift points. Installing the new speedo gear was pretty easy but it felt very claustrophobic under the Jeep. Now I need to figure out how to test the accuracy of my speedometer…

Nothing! I didn’t do anything on my to do list. No $200 burger, no midget kick boxing and no Death Museum! This is the first time I actually visit a new country and not get to see anything other than the hotel.