Category: Personal

Just got back from the dentist, I had to get some scaling done. The dentist tells me I need to pass by every 3 months but I keep telling him its such an awful experience that I need at least a year to forget about it before I could come back. He is a cool dentist and has a sense of humor which is why I keep going back to him. For anyone who’s interested I go to the Bayan Dental Center in Salmiya opposite Sultan Center. I forgot which blogger recommended I visit them, maybe it was Zaydoun. They are really great.

Its been a long time since I last posted about Geo (our dog). Geo is doing ok, he is a year and a half old but still thinks he is a 4 month old puppy who wants to play the whole time none stop. On Friday afternoons we are taking him to this desert like area so he could run around and stretch his legs. If I had a garden I would have definitely gotten another puppy, a mini Geo that way he would have someone to play with the whole time. He is so dopey.

Currently I am craving a Land Rover Defender. I found a website of this guy who bought a 1991 white defender and then fixed it up nicely. I want to do the same thing, I found a Defender on Q8car.com selling for like KD2,500. I am sure the price is negotiable and I am also sure I can find even cheaper Defenders elsewhere if I look. What I feel like doing is buying one and then just spending time on it. My biggest obstacle of course is Nat, she really really hates the Defender. Here is a link to the website where a guy refurbished his Defender. [Link]

update: just found out from a friend that his friend just bought the white Defender last week for KD1,750!

As some of you already know, I am currently driving a Toyota Corolla rental car until my cars repairs get completed. I am extremely shocked and surprised by the Corolla. I was in no way expecting it to be like this. The car is in a league of its own, its right on top of my list as the worst car I have ever driven!

First of all to be honest I didn’t know they still made cars this slow. The acceleration from 0 to 100 in the Corolla takes like 30 minutes, its unbearably slow. It also feels like an electric car because the engine it so tiny and weak it makes practically no sound. Lets not even talk about the max speed of the car which I am assuming I would require a 500km long traffic free drag strip to be able to hit.

Another big problem with the car is that no other car respects it. In the past three days I have been cut off more times then the past 6 years combined! People just don’t care if I am occupying a lane or not its as if the Corolla is just invisible, and it is! If you are planning on tailing someone this is the car to be in, it has no personality at all and such a generic look that no way will you be spotted!

Fuel consumption is good, KD1 fills up half the tank and that has lasted me like 3 days now but who cares about fuel consumption when you have an oil refinery in your back yard. The cars ergonomics are also terrible, I am 186cm tall and yet have to stretch really far out all the way just so I can increase or decrease the volume on the radio. I don’t think I can even reach the right side of the radio without unbuckling my seatbelt and moving into the passenger seat!

Yes its a Toyota and I am sure a lot of you are going to defend the Corolla by saying its a very reliable car and its cheap but thats no excuse, there are a lot of other cars similarly priced with more power and better looks (Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Mazda3). Renting the car is cheap at KD6 a day so thats why I am stuck with it but I would never ever buy this car or recommend it to anyone. No offense to anyone who owns this car already, I am guessing you bought it because of reliability and high resale value, two factors that don’t interest me.

Just found out how much my car will cost to repair…

Labor: KD496.300
Parts: KD1004.450
Misc: KD30
————-
Total: KD1530.750

note: this is to repair some things in my BMW not Wrangler. Also on a positive note, the service is extremely friendly.

Today morning I returned the Lumina to Europcar. I had found a better deal on another car with another rental agency so I no longer wanted the Lumina. The employee at Europcar was extremely friendly and even though I had rented the car for only 1 day she still gave me the same rate as the weekly one which is KD10 a day.

After that I walked over to Al Sayer rental which was very close by. I had passed by yesterday evening to check out a Toyota Echo he had and I was planning on renting it. The car wasn’t in great condition with hub caps missing and some weird stains on the seat. I figured I could haggle the price down a bit but the guy refused. He wanted KD5.750 per day if I wanted the car for a week but if I brought the car earlier he would charge me KD7 a day. I told him Automax was renting a Corolla for KD6 a day and I was sure it was in better condition. He refused to lower the price and I left the place.

Once I got to work I called Automax and asked for a Corolla. Guy told me if I have the car for less then a week its KD7 a day but if its more then a week its KD6. I asked if they could drop the car off to me and they said it wouldn’t be a problem and it would be at no extra charge.

So now I am driving a 2006 black Corolla. Its not in the best condition either and I have no clue where the car papers are because I couldn’t find them in the car but it’s cheap. I just paid them KD30 deposit and thats it, they didn’t take my Visa card number or anything. I actually don’t think I would have trusted them with my credit card details anyway, the whole thing feels fishy to me. This is why I would rather deal with international franchises but of course those cost more.

I really have to say though renting from Europcar was really great and the service very friendly. If anyone needs to rent a car from them you can call Lisa on +965 6540248. She was very helpful and probably the best person I have ever rented a car from.

Can anyone recommend a car rental agency. I am looking to pay max KD8 a day.

Update: So I called some rental agencies and here are the results:

Avis: No one picked up
Budget: They had a 2007 Lancer for KD8, but they couldn’t have it ready for me before 1PM and the guy I spoke to didn’t know if car smelled of cigarettes or not.
Hertz: For KD8 they only had a Hyundai
AutoMax: They had a 2006 Camry for KD8 but they were located in Salmiya.
Europcar: Very friendly and professional. Only had medium sized car available. Location close to my office.
Sixt: Called them up, they had problems with their automated teller, everytime I pressed 3 for Sixt it would take me back to main menu.

In the end I went for Europcar mostly because I needed a car before 1PM and they were walking distance. I was in contact with the Sheraton branch and the employee there was very friendly. She gave me a 2007 Lumina for KD10 and promised to arrange me a cheaper car from a different branch. I picked up the car at 12:30 and it was in excellent condition with just 1300km on the dial.

Around two weeks ago I took my BMW to European Center (markaz oropee) in Shuwaikh to service my car. I figured I would save a whole bundle of money by not taking it to the dealer plus they would fix it quicker. I dropped my car in the morning, the guy told me the car would be fixed by noon, I told him I would be at work so I would pick it up at 6. At 6:30 I pass by and they were still working on the car. All they had to do was replace brake pads, gas filter, air filter and fan belts, I was really pissed but there wasn’t anything I could do. Anyway I ended up leaving from them at 7:30 and turned out the wipers has suddenly stopped working and I just felt they did a lousy quick ass job. Anyway forward to yesterday, I start the car and I hear this crackling popping sound and the engine revs were jumping. I opened the hood and the sound was coming from the engine so I guessed one of the spark plugs was acting up. So I was like fuck it, I am taking the car to the dealer, I had some other minor problems in the car and I figured I would get them fixed once and for all at BMW.

I woke up early today and drove the car to the BMW dealer. I get there and they were extremely friendly and professional. I sit down and start talking to the guy about my car troubles and he took notes down like a psychiatrist. He then went out checked the car himself and we came back and sat down again. He told me for them to “check” on the problems I have listed he estimates it would cost me KD200. Not to fix the problems, just to check the problems. I told him how about you skip the checking part and just go straight to fixing the problems because I know what they are. He is like to fix a problem they need to check it first. I was like fine, we started going down the list of problems I had given him and I marked off 3 superficial problems and that managed to bring down the estimate to KD100. He then told me they needed 4 to 5 days to check the car and then get back to me on how much it will cost to fix the problems.

I then asked about renting a car from them since I do that when I drop the Wrangler off at the Jeep dealer for the full service. Turns out they do rent cars but they were completely out of my league. The cheapest car they had was for KD40 a day while I usually pay KD7 when I rent from the Jeep dealer.

So in conclusion I think I am going to get raped with the price.. but psychologically I will at least feel that these guys know what they are doing and they will fix things right… I hope.

Shortbus
A pretty strange movie dealing with different people and their problems. I don’t understand how this movie is not x-rated.
I Liked it.

The Pursuit of Happyness
This movie had so much negativity. The whole movie is just one sad story. I think its my favorite Will Smith movie, but damn this movie is sad.
I Liked it.

You, Me and Dupree
Boring, annoying and so very 90s style comedy. Wasn’t expecting it to win an oscar but I was at least expecting it not to put me to sleep.
I didn’t like it.

300
I didn’t think there were enough fighting scenes and I also wish the fighting scenes were longer. The movie was visually stunning and there are a lot of memorable moments and quotes.
I liked it.

The Last King of Scotland
I wasn’t expecting to like this movie but it took me by surprise. The story is engaging and it never got boring. Forest Whitaker is such an amazing actor.
I liked it.

The Queen
I found this movie really slow, uneventful, unentertaining and a waste of time.
I didn’t like it.

I don’t think newspapers should participate in April Fools. It’s just lame. Newspapers are supposed to be a source of truth not hoaxes. If you don’t know what I am talking about check the main page of the Kuwait Times. They have an article saying that alcohol is now legal in Kuwait. Its very easy for newspapers to pass a hoax as truth because people trust newspapers. They are taking advantage of this trust, I didn’t fall for it but how many people out there today will? [Link]

Picture taken from ads2blog

Today I went riding with Marzouq in the morning as I have been doing practically every Friday. Today though it was a completely different ride then our usual. Today we took the Fahaheel Expressway and rode down to Mina Abdullah. Once we got to there we took the inside rode and rode down all the way to Julia’a, then to Bnaider and finally to Al Zoor gas station.

The road we took was amazing. It was a narrow newly paved two lane road and it had a lot of twists and turns. It was also really long which was great since the weather was perfect and the road really fun. I got some good practice taking turns while trying to lean the bike really low thanks to Marzouq coaching skills. Now, after todays experience I trust my bike a lot more then I did before.

Before we left the south and got back onto the Fahaheel express way, I told Marzouq I had a problem when we were riding on it earlier in the day. Whenever I hit speeds exceeding 120km my jacket (which I now believe is a size too big for me) fluttered from the wind like crazy and it was painful. He told me I should just move as far back on the seat as I can and then lean over low so that my chest is touching the gas tank. That would bring me down really low behind my front faring which would protect me from the wind. I tried it and it worked! I was able to reach much much higher speeds without any side effects from the wind.

Anyway hopefully we will be riding their again since its such a beautiful place. And whats up with all these challets with cool names. I found one called “South Beach” and I figured it was some funky private beach but it turned out to be just a name of a challet.

So I woke up today morning and realized it had been raining outside. I had two options to get to work, either take my Wrangler which currently has no roof on, or take a cab. After yesterdays experience with cabs I decided I would take the Wrangler. I put on a cap and a weather proof jacket and headed to work and although it rained kind of heavy part of the way it really wasn’t bad. As long as I was moving I didn’t get wet and it was definitely more enjoyable then taking cabs.

The weather is getting pretty hot. I went out riding with Marzouq today and I took the picture above when we stopped for ice cream. Later we stopped at Starbucks in Marina for some icy frappuccinos.

I was chatting with a friend the other day who is a Harley rider when I noticed something interesting. When Harley riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them a lot heavier since all the chrome and accessories add weight to the bike. When sports bike riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them lighter since most of the parts weigh less then the stock ones. We are like complete opposites.

Kabab Al Hajat are know in Kuwait for their Kababs but recently they started making shawerma and I was curious to know how well it faired up.

Anyone who has ever been to Kabab Al Hajat and tried ordering food will know that there usually its extremely crowded and wait is long. Thankfully the shawerma station there has its own cashier and so is never full. When I passed by they only had chicken shawerma but the guy told me they were going to add meat also soon. I ordered two chicken and a coke, each shawerma costs 250fils and the coke 100fils.

Firstly it is important to point out I had my shawerma at lunch time. Very very few places serve shawerma during the day for some reason, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 places max that serve shawerma for lunch so Kabab Al Hajat don’t have much competition while the sun is still out.

How did the shawerma taste? Well the garlic wasn’t strong which I usually mark as a bad thing. This time though I actually appreciated it because I was having shawerma during my lunch break and I didn’t want to get back to the office stinking of garlic. The overall flavor of the shawerma though was average, nothing in it stuck out as being amazing and there was no flavor that tasted weird or out of place. They use small Arabic bread not the hot dog one (samoon).

For the final score I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Since they serve shawerma for lunch I think thats a great thing and I would pass by again for sure. At night though I would rather drive a bit further and get a shawerma from Badar Al Badoor.

Today on our lunch break me and my friend decided to pass by Marina Waves and try wall climbing and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

After some short instructions we decided to climb the beginners wall first. It looks easy when you see someone climbing but its really not. After some minor struggling we both raced to the top but then we didn’t know how to come back down. We both looked down and it was the scariest sight, we were like hanging from the top and the bottom looked really far. In the end we decided we would climb back down the wall and not try and see if the safety rope worked. Around half way down I decided to let go though and the safety rope did end up bringing me down. Turns out to come down you just rappel down with the rope.

We spent 40 minutes trying to climb different difficulties, I managed to climb two thirds up the medium side while my friend managed to hit the top. Thats as far as we got ranking wise. Other then that the whole thing was a struggle for both of us since we both aren’t very fit, me less fit then him of course. After 40 minutes I couldn’t even make it half way up the easy side yet alone attempt to climb the difficult one.

The whole thing was a lot of fun and I am definitely going back again. It costs KD4 for an hour of climbing, gear included. They open from 12PM to 12AM except for weekends its 10AM to 12PM. I now appreciate the extreme climber a lot more.