This is a pretty random post but its a slow news day so whatever. I’ve slowly started replacing all my bulbs at home with LED ones as the old incandescent light bulbs burn out. I’ve been hesitant so far mostly because the popular Philips LED bulbs found in supermarkets are too cold colorwise and so would make my place look like crap.
But, I decided to try the IKEA LED bulbs and surprisingly their color matches my old incandescent bulbs pretty closely. In the picture above I’ve got the three different bulbs in use to show you the differences. In reality though the color difference between the IKEA and regular incandescent is barely noticeable. Can you figure out which are the incandescent, IKEA or Philips bulbs in the photo? Once you’re done guessing you can find out if you were right by clicking [Here]
Not only do the IKEA bulbs have an accurate warm color, but they’re also around half the price of the Philips LED bulbs. So if you’re interested in LED bulbs, IKEA is the way to go.
This question is for the guys, where do you go get your nails done? The two places I frequent the most are Spaloon and Ten Spa and I’m really not happy with either of them. Spaloon have the most uncomfortable seating I’ve ever experienced anywhere in my life so I hate getting my nails done there, and Ten Spa isn’t what it used to be, it feels like they’re about to close down any day now.
So where do you go? I can’t think of better places, maybe I should just open my own nail salon…
This is a short 23 minute documentary on Kuwait that dates back to 1974. While watching it I felt there was something different about it, the soundtrack along with the framing of some of the shots made this documentary feel a bit artsy. Then near the end of the film at the 18:30 mark, it started to get a bit trippy, like a mixture of Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey. So once the film was over I waited for the credits to roll to see who it was directed by and turns out it was directed by a guy called John Feeney who was nominated for an Academy Award.. twice! So totally worth watching, if you don’t have the time then just forward to 18:30 of the film. [YouTube]
The first time I heard about this project was back in 2011 but it looks like it got approved and is going to be constructed since it’s currently in a tendering stage.
The Kuwait Olympic Village development comprises a Stadium, Team Games Hall, Individual Games Hall, Racquet Games Hall, Swimming Complex, Training Field & Track, International Zone, Athletes Residential Block, Mosque, Olympic Flame Tower, Concourse and Existing Substation.
The popular CATS Broadway show is coming to Kuwait next month to hold shows from February 9th to February 12th at the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre. Tickets just went on sale and start at a reasonable KD40 KD20 and go up to KD120. So if you’re interested in going, get your tickets now before they sell out from [Here]
Update: Tickets actually start from KD20 (matinee show)
re:food is a local humanitarian non-profit initiative, with the basic concept to salvage near-expiry and excess food from the local food and beverage industry, and then redistribute it around Kuwait to people who need it for free. Usually, these food items are either categorized as waste so they go directly to incinerators and landfills, or to secondary markets where they sell near-expiry goods.
When they first started, beneficiaries were originally found by scouting different areas, talking to people and giving them goods to build off trust. Then once word of mouth got around to what they were doing, individuals started heading to the re:food website to register to get food. The re:food beneficiaries are a diverse group of people that include Arabs, Bedouns, and Asians.
If you’d like to find out more about re:food or you’d like to volunteer, then visit their [Website]
When I posted my MacBook Pro review a couple of weeks back I mentioned that the Touch Bar was still new and people were still trying to figure out what it could be useful for. Well I think people are starting to figure it out. One thing I found out since I published that post was that the app BetterTouchTool supported the Touch Bar. I already had BetterTouchTool installed and had been using it for years because it allowed me to customize my trackpad gestures. Now it also allows you to customize the Touch Bar which is useful because some apps like Chrome don’t support the Touch Bar yet.
So using BetterTouchTool I started creating useful buttons for the Touch Bar I could use when in Chrome. Then the developer added the ability to display the date and battery life time remaining information in the Touch Bar. When he did that I realized it would be super useful if I could display my Spotify track names in the Touch Bar while I was browsing in Chrome. So I contacted the developer and requested that feature and sure enough, a few days later, BetterTouchTool got the ability to display what track was playing in the Touch Bar. The picture on top is of my current Chrome Touch Bar setup, I have a button to take me in and out of full screen mode, a button to view my download list, a button for incognito mode, a track play/forward button, track/artist name display area plus my battery remaining time which Apple doesn’t allow you to view anymore by default.
People are still creating interesting stuff for the Touch Bar, one guy for example created a translator, whenever you highlight a word or phrase in the browser, it would automatically translate that text and display it to you in your Touch Bar using a predefined language of your choice. There are also a ton of fun/silly/useless things you could do to the Touch Bar like displaying an infinite loop of Nyan Cat or turn your Touch Bar into Kitt from Knight Rider. You could even install an app that would turn the Touch Bar into a piano or play a game of Pong using the Touch Bar to control the rudder. You can check them all out in the video above.
So yeah, looks like the Touch Bar is getting more and more interesting. If you have the new MacBook Pro Touch Bar, make sure you install BetterTouchTool so you could customize things the way you want.
Bonchon Chicken is a popular Korean fried chicken and wings restaurant and it’s opening in Kuwait soon. They’ve got locations mostly in Asia but they do have branches in New York and Bahrain as well.
I’ve never eaten there but a friend has and told me their fried chicken is really good so now I’m curious to try it out. They’re opening at the new Dhai Complex in Bida’a which I thought was a sort of a high end food complex so that location choice seems a bit odd. I don’t know when they’re opening exactly so if you do, let me know in the comments below.
Update: According to a reader they might be opening end of February.
The Argan Square project is located in Salmiya right across from AUK and is nearly complete and will be opening soon. Below is a list of brands that will be located there:
12 Chutneys (Indian Restaurant) American Copy Center (Print Shop) Ananas (Juices and Smoothies by Ubon guys) Arabica (Coffee Shop) Backyard (Restaurant) Bean to Bar (Chocolates) Big Smoke Burger (Burgers) Bowl’d (Acai bowls) Caribou (Coffee Shop) Coffee Masters ME (Coffe Shop) Diet Center (Pick Up & Go) ICAF (Coffee Shop) MANA (Mediterranean Restaurant by Ubon guys) Muscle Maker Grill (Restaurant) Rockhouse Slider (Burgers) Scoop-a-cone (Ice Cream) Ubon (Thai Restaurant) WH Smith (Bookshop)
Since I live in Salmiya, from the list above I have to say I’m looking forward mostly to Ubon, Arabica and 12 Chutneys opening up in the area.
A couple of weekends back I went camping in the desert and nearly got completely lost on the way there. I usually go camping with a friend of mine in this secluded area around an hour plus drive into the desert from Al Salmi. This time around my friend headed into the desert first since I had some errands I needed to get done during the day and then headed into the desert in the afternoon. The whole journey takes around two hours from Salmiya so by the time I got close to camp it was dark and I couldn’t see anything except the road in front of me. I had Google Maps coordinates of our camp site on my phone and was following it without issues until I hit what I think must have been Kuwait’s Bermuda Triangle.
As I got close to our camping spot my phone just started messing up. I’d be driving towards my blue dot on Google Maps and then 15 minutes later the map suddenly rotates and so now the blue dot is behind me. So I’d turn the car around and head the other way, 20 minutes later the map rotates again and now the blue dot is on my right instead of straight ahead. It did this a couple of more times before I realized I was driving around in circles wasting precious fuel in the empty desert and completely lost. I was about to give up and just camp in this random spot in the middle of nowhere until the sun comes up when I remembered I had a little Garmin eTrex 20 in the trunk with my camping gear.
I had bought the Garmin for exactly this situation, to use if I ever get lost when hiking or camping. So I dug it out of my gear, turned it on, entered the coordinates of my campsite and right away the Garmin pointed me to the right direction. I was so off course I had to drive another 30 minutes to get to camp. Moral of the story? If you’re ever heading into the desert don’t rely on your phone for navigation. Instead, invest in a dedicated GPS device since it could save your ass one day.
When I was a kid I remember visiting the Buffalo Bill’s show that (I believe) was held at the Mishref Fairgrounds. I posted about it a few years back asking if anyone remembered it and not many people did. None of my friends remember it either but, the internet is amazing sometimes and a few days ago one of the Buffalo Bill’s performers who came to Kuwait in 86 sent me a few pictures of when they were in Kuwait. He was 24 at that time and he’s still got more pictures which he’s going to send but for now here are three.
Their setup was pretty legit so I imagine they were here for some time and not just for a few shows. Kinda like when a circus would come into town. You’ll also notice a number of brands in the background including Hungry Bunny, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Alghanim Philips (now Xcite) and KNPC.
According to a source, Al Yasra are in talks to try and bring Pret a Manger to Kuwait. Pret is already available in the UAE and so it would make sense to expand around the region. I always used to wonder where one would open a Pret in Kuwait since it works well in an area with some foot traffic that isn’t a mall. Now With all the coffee shops in the city creating a bit of foot traffic, that might actually be a great location for a Pret especially since its surrounded by office buildings as well.
None of the shipping companies are consistent so every few months I like to check and see which one of them is currently performing better.
I’ve been using MyBox exclusively for the past few months and they’ve been so slow that I might end up moving back to Shop & Ship if they’re doing better. Some examples of my recent shipments:
MacBook Pro (21 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 14th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 4th
Sneakers (11 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 28th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 8th
Laptop Case (13 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on January 13th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 26th
So what US mail forwarding company are you guys currently using and whats the average time it taking to get your items delivered to Kuwait from the US?
