Category: Shopping

I just got my Body Groom today from U Shop We Ship. It arrived to my mailbox in the States on the 2nd and it got delivered to me today in Kuwait which is the 6th. Thats 4 days to get from the US to Kuwait but it also included a Sunday which is a day off, so its usually should take 3 days.

I am very satisfied so far. The most impressive part is the fact that I paid for my package using Knet while the package was in the US. This also got me a 2% discount which is not much but better then no discount. My MacBook still hasn’t shipped from Amazon since they still don’t have it in stock but I just changed the shipping address to U Shop We Ship. The reason for that is USWS can clear my laptop from customs AND I can pay them the customs fee online with my Knet card. Thats very convenient and I love it. I am now going to start using USWS as my primary US mailbox and keep Aramex as secondary for my magazines. [Link]

FYI: Package arrived today morning at 10AM to Kuwait according to the tracking info. Delivery guy dropped it at my office around 12:30PM.. 2 and a half hours later. Thats something not possible with Aramex.

I passed by zMacShop yesterday to get a foofpod for Nat. They have a pretty nice selection of foofs in various colors for the regular ipods and the nanos. While there I also noticed they also had Booq and STM brand of laptop sleeves if anyone is interested.

zMacShop finally got their shipment of Foofs. If you don’t know what Foofs are click here. Here are the models they have available and their prices:

foofbag corduroy 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofbag acrylic 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofbag faux fur 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofpod faux fur 3G/4G/5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod corduroy 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod corduroy iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod denim 3G/4G/5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod denim iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod hbone 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod hbone iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod pinwale 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod pinwale iPod Nano KWD 7.000

I have been looking for an alternative to Aramex Shop and Ship for a long time now and haven’t been able to find one. Don’t misunderstand me, there are other options to Aramex which I have even mentioned before, but none provided me with everything I needed. They were either cheap but slow or fast but expensive, or even lacked some of Aramex’s basic features like package tracking. Now though I think I found another better option and its called U Shop We Ship.

I found out about it from a user who commented on one of my older posts and I decided to check it out. The first thing I did was check out how much the shipping would cost for an item that weighed 1KG and I compared it to Aramex and they both turned out to be priced identical. I then started to read more about their service and it turns out not only do they have all the features of Aramex but they also have additional stuff. Here are my favorites:

You have the option to destroy unwanted mail
You know how sometimes you get a stupid envelope which is just a bill for some magazine and you end up paying like KD2.5 for it. Well with U Shop We Ship (USWS) if you find junk mail in your mailbox you can have them destroy it for you.

They offer immediate shipping
You can have them check your mailbox and mail you stuff either once a week, twice a month or once a month AND you also have an option to have an item shipped immediately no matter what your shipping frequency is by paying a certain fee. This could be worth it when ordering a big item like an ipod or laptop and you really want it as quickly as possible. Just to clear what this means is say you have your shipping frequency set to once a week and it turns out they check your mailbox every Monday but your item arrived to your mailbox on Tuesday, instead of waiting till next Monday to have them ship your item you can have them ship it right away on Tuesday.

You can pay for your packages online
This is the coolest feature, something I have been wishing Aramex would do. I hate carrying cash with me, I am a plastic type of guy and so I hate it when Aramex delivers a package and I need to have an unknown amount ready to pay the guy. With USWS you pay for your packages online using either Knet or Visa. This feature sold me instantly.

I just got my account setup with them and I am going to try it by buying the Philips Bodygroom and mailing it to my new mailbox. Oh and you can change the shipping frequency yourself from the prefrences menu once you login and you can also change your login password, two things you also can’t do with Aramex. Their Kuwait office number is 4724673 but you can only sign up from their website. [Link]

Note: You not only get a US mailbox but also a UK and UAE mailbox. They also use Skynet Worldwide Express to ship the packages.

update: BusyNow pointed out to me that in their FAQ they have a discount section which mentions a variety of ways of getting discounts on shipping, something which you would never get with Aramex. [FAQ]

I decided to go ahead and place an order for the MacBook. Heat issues or no heat issues I don’t care.

1 “Apple MacBook MA254LL/A 13.3″ Notebook PC (1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive)- White”
Subtotal of Items: $1,099.99

Shipping & Handling: $11.24
——
Total: $1,111.23
Est.A9π/2% Instant Reward: $-17.45
Gift Certificates: – $411.52
——
Total for this Order: $682.26

You can now preorder the MacBook’s from Amazon:

Apple MacBook 1.83Ghz White
Apple MacBook 2Ghz White
Apple MacBook 2Ghz Black

Today morning I checked the comments on my post from yesterday called The V3x and I read a comment by Omar who said I could find the V3x for KD120 which is basically the same price as the phone on Amazon. So I called Fono up and asked them if they had a version with only an English keypad and they said yes, so awhile ago I went and picked up my phone from Fono. First impressions.. well I realized how ugly and out dated my Sony Ericsson K700 is. The phones OS does seem confusing but I am guessing its because I have been using Ericsson for most of my life. The coolest feature on the phone is the fact that I can charge it using my Nikon’s USB cable. The data/charging port on the V3x is your standard USB input found on most USB devices like external harddrives and digital cameras. Very practical. The screen inside is gorgeous, very sharp and huge! Gonna finish up some urgent work and then fiddle with my phone a bit. I hate new phones since I am always worried about scratching them..

update: just tried video calling with K.thekuwaiti, I feel so futuristic now

update 2: to get it working with isync you need to install a plugin which you can find [here]

I was expecting to be wayyyy more expensive but they really aren’t. Compared to what some celebrities in Hollywood pay for their homes and apartments, these castles look like a steal.. [Link]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my “I need a new phone” post. I decided to go for the Motorola V3x.

Yesterday while I was at the airport with Nat I saw a dark blue Motorolla Razr. I didn’t know what it was, it looked a bit thicker then the regular Motorola’s but it looked way cooler and it cost KD145. I didn’t think of it much until today while I was researching the V3i on Amazon and I found the V3x and recognized it as the phone I saw yesterday.

The V3x is a cool looking phone and I am getting the dark blue version since blue is my favorite color. It has a 2MP camera on the outside and a second camera on the inside for video calling since the phone also supports 3G. The resolution of the internal screen is 320 x 240 which is also pretty nice. I have only had one flip phone before in my life so it should be a nice change to own one now.

I just ordered the phone from Amazon since its around KD30 cheaper and it doesn’t come with the arabic keypad which I think makes the phone look ugly. Once I get it I will post a proper review of it.

TivoGuy passed by zMacShop yesterday because he was interested in the MacBook Pro. He was expecting the prices to be a bit more expensive then the States but it turns out they were selling it for KD890 which is KD160 more expensive! This is for the 15.4″ 2.0Ghz with 1GB RAM and 100GB HD. So I phoned a couple of other Mac stores in Kuwait to see how much they were all charging for the same laptop and this is what I found:

Mac & More
Tel: 5735815
Price: KD 980

Integrated Office Co (IOC)
Tel: 6275734
Price: KD 980

Mac City
Tel: 4911112
Price: KD 970

Kamal Al Sultan Co
Tel: 4815533
Price: KD 965

zMacShop
Tel: 2617575
Price: KD 890

Solize
Tel: 7215945
Price: KD 850

Turns out zMacShop is actually a lot cheaper then the other Mac stores in Kuwait but surprisingly not the cheapest. The cheapest store turned to be Solize and by KD40 which is a nice chunk of change. The price on Amazon is KD730 for your information.

Did you ever want to smell like chocolate chip cookies or bubble gum? Do you like the smell of saw dust and wished you could smell like it? How about lobster, did you ever wish you could smell like lobster?

The reason I am asking is because I just found this site via BoingBoing that sells all these weird scents as perfume. They have a really huge list of weird perfumes including the smell of leather, paperbacks, applepie, paint, popcorn and more stuff. I think I would be interested in the Gin&Tonic perfume.. [Link]

Sultan Center just started a new form of advertising using bluetooth. If your phone’s bluetooth is on while you are shopping in Sultan Center you might get a animated ad sent to you by them. Its an interesting concept but I think its annoying more then its a good thing. The only way not to receive these ads is to turn your bluetooth off which is a hassel if you are gonna do this everytime you go shopping there. If you want to check out an example of an ad they sent my phone click [here]

My office is across the street from Muthana Complex in Kuwait City and I Have been working there for over a year now and I used to visit Muthana daily. Now I pass by there once or twice a week. You would think that after visiting Muthana a couple of hundreds times already that I would know it inside out, well thats what I figured until yesterday I found a store that I didn’t know existed.. the Universal Store.

My usual entrance into Muthana was closed so I had to walk around the building from the outside trying to find an open entrance. While walking around I found a store called Universal Store. From the outside I saw that the store sold movie related items but once I got closer I noticed they sold movie collectibles and props. So I go in and ask the saleslady how long the store has been open and she tells me 1 year! How the hell did I miss this shop? Anyway the shop is small but packed with goodies. You can check out most of their products by checking out their website. I don’t know and don’t think they are an official Universal Store but you never know. [Link]

The iPod Hi-Fi is available at Virgin and they are selling it for KD150. It’s a lot smaller then I imagined it to be, it looks a lot bigger in the pictures.

Simply Stinni found another link for an online maid shopping site. This place has an even larger collection of maids and allows you to search by age, sex, nationality, religion etc.. kinda like those match making sites… [Link]