2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I passed by 360 today and this is what I thought:

The Good
– The interior of the mall is probably the nicest in Kuwait. Looks very fancy with a mixture of wood, marble and carpet.
– Finally there is a proper Nike and Puma store
– Geant Hypermarket is huge
– Toys R Us!
– A lot of new brands launching at the 360
– Food court looks pretty

The Bad
– I would say only 20-30% of the shops and restaurants are open, everything else is still closed
– I was expecting a larger Toys R Us
– I compared one item at Geant which turned out to be more expensive than Carrefour. The WD HD TV player costs KD35 at Geant and KD31 at Carrefour. This of course isn’t an accurate assessment but it still gave me the impression that Carrefour is cheaper.

The Ugly
– Parking or should I say the complete lack of any parking. I was there during the day, the mall wasn’t packed and I couldn’t find parking. Its bad enough the parking isn’t shaded but the fact that there wasn’t enough parking during the middle of the week at 1PM is just ridiculous. I had to park illegally like a lot of people and I was lucky I even found an illegal spot. A friend passed by last night and told me he had to wait in a car jam for 20 minutes around a kilometer away from the mall and in the end he left because the line into 360 wasn’t moving.
– There were nice looking fountains outside but when I got closer they stank of sewage and were murky green and dirty.

[YouTube]

Kuwait won 3 gold medals, 3 silver and 5 bronze at the recent Asian Youth Games that were held in Singapore. I checked out YouTube and managed to find two interviews with two Kuwaiti participants, one of them is Hessah Al Zayed (above) who won a bronze in shooting while the other is a table tennis player (below). Overall Kuwait came 9th out of 39 countries that participated in these games. Thats pretty cool.

[YouTube]

A friend sent me this link to a post from a classifieds website which I thought was too funny:

From: [email protected]
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Category: Seeking Bride
Region: Kuwait City (Rabiya Near Farwaniy)
Description: Dear indian girls,

Any indian slim under 25 years of age girl available only on friday from 3:00 to 7:00 evening to be my wife in this time only i am ready to pay 25KD per hour for his services in this time being my wife.

Only serious indian girls please send their pics to my email address along with contact numbers and place of residence. I have my own house here in Rabiya.

regards,
George

[Source]

According to a report by nef (the new economics foundation), a UK-based independent think tank and research group, Kuwait ranked 128th on the Happy Planet Index out of 143 countries researched. The happiest country in the world is Costa Rica (surprisingly not Netherlands) while Saudi Arabia ranked 13th (?????) and Lebanon ranked 110.

Here is the link to the full list. [Image]
Here is a link to the full report. [PDF]

I found this logo at one of the Oula gas stations and I am assuming its their new logo. I couldn’t find any information on it online and their website doesn’t seem to be updated.

After posting last night asking if anyone had a PowerMac or Mac Pro for sale I got a reply from someone and managed to pick up a Dual G5 2.3ghz PowerMac today for a really good deal (just slightly more expensive than on eBay). I just formatted the Mac and am getting ready to install all my applications. I love it!

I applied for tickets but didn’t get any:

Thank you for your registration.

Sorry, we regret to inform you that your registration to attend the Public Memorial Service for Michael Jackson was not selected.

Hundreds of thousands registered, but only a few can be in attendance.

My 9 year old Graphic PowerMac has started showing its age. Its been shutting down randomly recently and I think its a hardware issue. So I am thinking of upgrading to a second hand Mac Pro, does anyone have one for sale? I am looking for a second hand since I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a new one (they cost KD700+ on Amazon for example).

Update: Never mind I found one! [Link]

The Army’s Band of the Coldstream Guards have done their own tribute to the late Michael Jackson, as they played one of his most famous hits Thriller near Buckingham Palace. Around 40 drummers, trumpeters, clarinet and trombone players took part.

It actually sounds really good. [YouTube]

Below is another video of the Buckingham Palace guards also playing thriller. [YouTube]

On the day after Michael Jackson died, at the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the Royal Guard Marching Band gave us a surprise performance.

Around two months back I got diagnosed with Acid Reflux. The doctor gave me a months supply of some purple pills called Nexium which really helped me out a lot. But, I didn’t want to live on pills for the rest of my life so I decided to eat healthier and not take any pills. I haven’t had McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King or KFC for 2 months now, the longest ever. I’ve had burgers at Slider Station maybe twice in this period and once at Burger Hub (not a good experience at all). I haven’t really experienced any major acid reflux since except for this one occasion when I over ate at Caesers but that was sooo worth it.

Anyway one thing a ton of people online recommended I try for my acid reflux is organic apple cider vinegar. Supposedly a table spoon or two mixed with water can fix my acid reflux and a ton of other health issues. I didn’t believe it but figured I would try it since a bottle of organic apple vinegar at Sultan cost only KD1.800. Well I’ve been using it for a while now and it actually works. Now supposedly you are supposed to take it every morning and every evening but honestly it tastes like crap. I only have it if I feel a bit uncomfortable and then I fill up a table spoon of vinegar with a bit of water and drink it quickly like a shot. I actually tried drinking a shot of vinegar without water but it was a killer.

Surprisingly this does work for me. One drink right after dinner and I don’t have any kind of discomfort when I go to sleep. I figured I would share this easy remedy since it worked for me. I won’t link to any one article regarding this but if you just do a search in google for the phrase acid reflux organic apple cider vinegar you should find a TON of information.

Update: Actually here is one link with some info. [Link]

This is too funny. A husband and wife were traveling from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia after their honeymoon. While at the Malaysian airport the wife went into the bathroom and it seemed she took too long because the husband got tired of waiting and boarded the plane without her.

The woman in question, a teacher, had gone to use the facilities at the airport before boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

Quite how long she stayed in the toilet remains unclear. What is certain is she emerged to discover her husband had vanished without trace. The woman, who had paid for the holiday, began a desperate search of the airport and grew increasingly concerned that something terrible had happened to him.

When he arrived at his destination, he calmly told relatives his new wife was still in Malaysia. His bride was not so calm about his behavior. She has demanded an immediate divorce.

Here is the link to the article. [Link]

I think I’ve found the cheapest HDMI cable in Kuwait at Ace Hardware. The 2 meter cable cost only KD2.100 while the 3 meter version cost KD2.600. The previous cheapest I had found was at Lulu Hypermarket, KD3.950 for a 1.5 meter.

Note: With HDMI cables the cheapest transmits video as good as the most expensive.

The IMAX theater at 360 Mall will be opening on July 5th and it will be playing Transformers 2. I tried to purchase tickets from the KNCC website but it seems you can’t at the moment. [Link]

via 360Dewan

The Scientific Center of Kuwait now has a Penguin display! [YouTube]

A fire started around 4:30PM in one of the buildings in Dajeej that contains furniture shops. Due to the size of the fire the firefighters weren’t able to tame it. He shot a video which you can see above and also pictures which you can see below. [YouTube]

Update: Here is another good video [YouTube]