Category: Personal

My Wrangler’s battery died today while trying to leave the Avenues. Its not the first time this has happened, the first time was two years ago when I was trying to leave Souk Sharq. That same day I posted about it on my blog on how Jeep’s Road Assist was amazing, that was on June 4, 2006. Thats nearly exactly two years later (off by just two days) except this time Jeep’s Road Assist wasn’t there to save me. The Road Assist number wouldn’t connect me to anyone, I would call and it would ring twice then I would get a beep and the line would die. I tried over and over and it wouldn’t work.

I didn’t even have jumper cables so I just walked back into Avenues and headed to Carrefour and bought some cheap ass cables for like KD1.300 (they sucked, need to get a better pair). When I got back to the car I asked the parking security if they had a plan for a situation like this, I figured they might have a tow truck number or maybe an emergency jump starter kit but turned out they didn’t have anything of that sort. Instead the security guard was kind enough to help me find a car that was willing to help me jump start my Jeep.

After jump starting the car it turned out if I removed my foot from the gas pedal the car would die on me instantly so after restarting the car again I had to drive with two feet, one on the brakes and the other constantly holding down the throttle. Luckily I didn’t have to drive too far, I was planning on taking my Jeep to service it at the dealer tomorrow so I just drove the car to the garage which was just 5 minutes away. Once I parked the Jeep outside and removed my foot of the gas pedal the car died again, perfect timing. I found a cab passing by and just took it back home. Tomorrow will pass by the dealer and have them replaced my battery. I am kinda glad I purchased the extended warranty back then. What I now regret is not actually going ahead and purchasing the Emergency Jumper Starter which I posted about in March!

I was just checking Alexa.com and I realized my site is now ranked the 315th most popular site visited in all of Kuwait. This means from all the sites people in Kuwait visit like Google, Flickr, NBK.com, whatever.. my site ranks 315th behind them which is pretty high up. I hit the top 500 mark back in March and since then have being climbing in popularity and hopefully will continue to climb until I hit the top 100. Anyway you can check my Alexa stats by clicking [Here] and if you want to see what are the top 100 most visited sites by Internet users in Kuwait click [Here]

My Asus Eee 900 arrived today from the States and its amazing. I had seen the previous version of the Eee with the smaller screen but the new 8.9inch screen with the higher resolution is wayyyy better. Like most Eee users have mentioned before, the keyboard is tiny which is going to take time to get used to. Currently I am touch typing this post from my Eee and I am doing fine except every few words I hit a wrong letter or two.

The size of the actual laptop is really tiny as you can tell from the picture above. Its a one lap laptop! I have the 20GB version of the Eee that comes installed with a custom Linux OS and I think its really cool so far. Boot time is like under 30 seconds and FireFox is runs great. I am really loving the Eee.

The Eee cost me KD140 and you can purchase it from Amazon:
Asus Eee 900 with Windows [Link]
Asus Eee 900 with Linux [Link]

I’ve been hearing a lot of positive stuff about Aramex’s Shop & Ship service lately. K.thekuwaiti keeps telling me how he keeps getting everything really quickly and SomeContrast posted the other day that you can now even pay with Knet on delivery. I had a lot of problems with Aramex before which I made very clear on this blog but it seems they’ve improved a lot since then so I’ve decided to try them out again.

So far the experience has been positive. I called Aramex up on the new hotline number and I was instantly able to get a hold of customer service, something that was impossible to do when I last used them since their lines used to be always busy. I will try them out for my next few shipments and post my experience with them here on the blog. Looks promising so far.

I am taking off to Munich tonight, will be back next Sunday. I am taking my Nikon FE camera pictured above. The camera originally belonged to my parents and when they went to Munich in the late 70’s they took the camera with them. Now thirty years later I am going back with the exact same camera, thats quality!

Awhile ago I passed by Boushahri to pick up some Fuji Reala and Velvia film and it turns out they don’t carry them anymore. So I ended up picking up some Fuji Pro 160’s which I’ve never tried before but I guess I was lucky to actually find any Fuji 35mm film. Sucks. So anyway, once I get back will develop the film and post some pictures up, should be interesting.

Yesterday I posted about the HP 2133 and just awhile ago my partner at work brought his friends HP 2133 into the office. First impressions, its a lot bigger and heavier than I expected. The Asus Eee feels tiny and very light compared to the HP. Windows XP was installed on the HP which was running pretty smoothly. I wasn’t able to test out videos but XP booted up at a decent speed and all the applications seem to open instantaneously. The system I had was the 1.6ghz with 1.75GB of RAM, this version I think costs like $800 which isn’t cheap.

The screen is really great and the keyboard felt like a regular laptop keyboard, big keys and all spaced out nicely. But, the size and weight of this thing has really pushed me towards the Asus Eee 900.

Update: I forgot to mention, the trackpad with the trackpad buttons are the worst I have ever used.

Since my MacBook died on me I have been having a dilemma, what laptop should I get? Here are laptops I am currently considering:

MacBook
I love the MacBook’s and even though mine died I do want to get another one. Problem is there are rumors that a new MacBook will be released in the next few months that will be a significant upgrade from the current ones. Knowing that I can’t possibly get a MacBook now. [Amazon Link]

MacBook Pro
I’ve never been a fan of the aluminum Mac’s. I never liked the PowerBook’s and I don’t like the new MacBook Pro’s. But, I am typing this post out on Nat’s MacBook Pro and I have to admit I do love the screen resolution and the fact that the speakers are loud, two things I had problems with on my old MacBook. But, its huge, I find the 13″ MacBook big so imagine what I think of this 15″ MacBook Pro. I’ve also heard a lot of rumors about a completely redesigned MacBook Pro, one that will incorporate the look of the MacBook Air so I will wait and see what happens with that. [Amazon Link]

MacBook Air
Gorgeous but slow and expensive. I wouldn’t mind paying $2000 if it was at least faster than the cheapest MacBook which costs $1099. [Amazon Link]

So basically with my Mac options I am just going to wait for the next updates and then decide what to get. Until the new Mac’s come out I am considering getting one of those new ultra portable laptops. I figured even if I do get a Mac later I would still have use for one of these, I could for example get a 15″ MacBook Pro and have one of these tiny laptops for when I am on the move:

Asus Eee 900
The original Asus Eee was released awhile back but the new ones come with a larger 8.9″ screen which makes the Eee more practical. The reason I haven’t already ordered the Eee which costs $549 is the HP 2133. [Amazon Link]

HP 2133 mini-notebook
This is the laptop that Apple should have released. It looks like the old 12″ PowerBooks except its even tinier. The screen although only 8.9″ has a resolution of 1280 x 768 which is pretty high. The reason I haven’t already ordered this is because I am still reading reviews on it. Most say its pretty slow but all those reviews had Vista installed on the HP. I want to know how well it performs with Linux or Windows XP. Price for this is $589. [Amazon Link]

Update: After doing a lot of research I’ve decided to go with an Asus 900 for now over the HP 2133. Although the HP looks really pretty its a lot slow than the Asus, A LOT slower. So whats going to happen is Asus for now and once the MacBooks or MacBook Pro’s get revised later in the summer will get one of them.

I signed up for the Cinemizer newsletter early in the year and I just got an email from them now telling me that the Cinemizer is now on sale in Germany.

The Cinemizer for those of you who don’t know is a wearable video display. According to Carl Zeiss the creators, watching movies on the Cinemizer is like sitting in front of a 46″ TV from 6 feet away. What interested me the most in the Cinemizer is the fact that it works with my iPod Video which would make it perfect for watching movies and TV shows while on the plane. Also, if I am lucky I could be mistaken for a blind person and get special treatment from the stewardess since the glasses wouldn’t look out of place on Ray Charles.

Since I am going to be in Germany next week I am going to try and see if I could test the device out before I purchase it. For more info on the Cinemizer click [Here]

Looks like my MacBook has died. I don’t know whats wrong with it. One minute I was browsing the web then suddenly it just went dead. I tried to turn it on again and whenever I press the power button the screen flickrs for a second and nothing happens. I’ve tried everything and nothing, it doesn’t boot, doesn’t even turn on, its fucked. I am guessing the logic board got messed up or something, the same thing happened with my last Apple laptop, sucks!

My escape from Lebanon was a long and adventurous one. Looking back at it now it was an interesting experience but while I was in the car on my way to the Syrian border it was a completely different story. I wasn’t afraid or anything but I really didn’t like the idea that at any moment the road will be blocked and I would have to turn back and cancel my whole trip.

The roads from Lebanon to Syria were randomly getting blocked with burning tires, rocks and sand mounds. There were a lot of taxis offering to take people to the border but none could guarantee you would get there because of the way roads were getting blocked randomly. I needed a “sure thing” and this is why one of my relatives hooked me up with this guy who managed to arrange a series of rides from one area to another until I finally got to Damascus.

The main theory behind changing cars after every area is that the drivers would be very familiar with the roads. So for example if I take a car with a guy who lives in the neighborhood, if one road is blocked he would know another way out and if that road is also blocked he would know another way. By the end of my journey I had taken 6 cars including one that was a van that carried fish! As you can see from the photos, we didn’t stay on the main roads or even the inside roads, we spent most of the time on muddy farmland trails.

The Syrian border I went to (Daboosiyeh) was pretty empty but thats because the roads to get to that border were all blocked. I had some friends who had left much earlier in the day and had gotten stuck at another Syrian border for over 6 hours. Nat did a great job in getting me a Jazeera Airlines ticket before they got sold out and then managed to find me a room in a hotel to stay in even though most hotels in Damascus were fully booked. Anyway I am back and its good to be back but I will be leaving again in a couple of days to Munich.

I got back earlier tonight from Beirut (Syria actually). I have pictures to share and an adventure to write about but don’t know if I will have time tonight.

Doesn’t really show much since the heavy fighting started later in the evening. The machine gun fire has gotten louder outside my hotel room. I have the balcony door open so I can hear the outside sounds. So far I heard 2 stray bullets land on the street outside. I have no clue why the idiots are shooting skywards… [YouTube]

Thanks Saeed

I am back at my hotel now and I have the balcony door open. I can hear heavy machine gun fire outside but it isn’t close, its in the next neighborhood. My hotel is located in Achrafieh which is on the edge of the Christian area where everything is pretty much normal. The lobby is filled with tourists who I am guessing are freaked out with whats going on outside. This might sound weird but the machine gun fire outside is pretty soothing. I guess hearing the gun fire in the distance kinda keeps me in the loop with whats going on and the fact thats its not close by is assuring.

Yesterday Vodafone released the following press release:

Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe. Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.

Hopefully Zain will also sign an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in their markets which would include Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. I doubt Wataniya would get the rights to the iPhone since they are not located everywhere.

I watched Iron Man late last night and its way better than both Spiderman and The Hulk. Its as good as the last Batman and even better than Transformers. Robert Downey Jr. was really great, not as good as Christian Bale but then again, nobody is. Can’t wait for the sequel.