2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Yesterday I took a day off work so I could go to the Pierre Marcolini event at Hilton. It started off with lunch at Teatro followed by a chocolate presentation at the Song Bird cafe at 2PM. The presentation which I thought would be boring turned out to be pretty cool and informative. It was like watching an episode on Discovery Channel on how chocolate is made except the presenter was Pierre Marcolini himself. I guess it was like watching the Teutul family talk about how they made choppers minus all the shouting and banging.

I now understand the difference between good chocolate and bad chocolate. The presentation was a walk through on how Pierre Marcolini chocolate is made. It turns out they are the only ones in Belgium who actually create chocolate starting from the cocoa beans all the way to the chocolate bar. Its a long process but in the end you get the best product. They even passed around chocolate in its various unfinished stages so we could smell and at one point taste.

Once the presentation was over me and Nat went up to Pierre and had a little chat with him. Since he only spoke French, Nat was my translator. I made her ask him if he had a favorite commercial chocolate like Crunch, Mars, Twix etc.. He replied telling her that he didn’t eat commercial chocolate but every now and then he would try new products just out of curiosity. He also told her he does like eating chocolate from small chocolatiers in France and Italy. We then asked him what he thought of Kuwait. He told us he had just been in Japan and now he was in Kuwait and the difference in culture is huge and he loves that. He said he loves experiencing new cultures because he learns new things. For example now that he has visited Kuwait he is considering making chocolate with coffee.

He was a very friendly guy with good sense of humor so the whole thing was really enjoyable. In the end they gave us some chocolates as a thank you for coming gift and we then left the place. It was a cool experience and I am glad I went.

The title says it all. [Link]

Why can’t places in Kuwait have decent websites? Speed Zone is a used car dealership located on the Gulf Road opposite Showbiz. They always have interesting cars parked out in front of it and so when I found out they had a website I was excited. I don’t pass by Speed Zone often so I figured I could keep track of all the cool cars they get via their website.

Turns out I was wrong, their website is a mess and contains practically no information whatsoever. I even checked the Arabic version of the site figuring it might be more complete and still ended up with nothing. It would be cool if they had a live webcam over looking their cars but thats asking to much when they don’t even have a photo gallery.

Also whats with the weird spelling and grammar. They have an animated flash saying “Speed Zone which you can’t catch up”. What does that mean?

Check this out also taken from their site:

prief about Speed Zone
This is Speed zone company on Kuwait which care about speed & luxury vehicles. we will provide the new cars, motorcycle and their spare parts which will give you the optimal performance and speed, so don’t miss our site it would be up to date with the new stuff so catch it up or you will miss it with speed zone.

I really hope they fix things because they do get some really cool cars all the time and their site isn’t doing them any justice. [Link]

I just got the following email from a reader:

AbdulAziz wrote:
I’m a frequent visitor of your how shall I put it colorful site in both topics and presentation. I was shocked to see the topic about the Harley crash … I was the first to witness the accident the guy was right in front of me when he flipped due to bad judgment by the lady merging onto the street …. However, I called the emergency service 777 … just wana share my disappointing experience with them … it took 6 tones for them to answer keep in mind it should not take more then 1….. once they answered I Said guys a bike just flipped come over and make it quick on Khaleej Road opposite Hard Rock café…. They acknowledged and took my name incase it was a prank call …. They called back 8 minutes later and asked me if he needed an AMBULANCE …. Why the hell was I calling u …. After I emphized that he did they hanged up and called 10 mins later …. They asked where he was and said that they are at the place but there was no accident … I said again please check … they called and hanged up for about 15mins just double checking ….. anyways I got pissed and starting raising my voice …. Apparently they were at the HARD COOK restaurant and not Hard Rock.

Just wanted to share this with you … hopefully none of us would need their services.

Took a day off work to enjoy chocolate day. Today is the chocolate event at Hilton and I am going to leave in a few minutes for the 12:00 lunch. 12PM, thats brunch or lunch? Anyway it should be fun, will try to take some pictures.

Oh and I got a call a few minutes ago from U Shop We Ship. My package which shipped on February 9th (another harddrive) from the US arrived to Kuwait today. Thats just crazy. I placed the order for my harddrive from Amazon on the 8th, the package then shipped and arrived to my USWS mailbox on the 9th, then it shipped from my US mailbox on the 9th and now the package is here in Kuwait by the 11th. I don’t think it could get faster then this.

Whats up with my luck? Thursday I suddenly felt like pizza and ordered from Papa John’s only to end up in a fight with them because over an hour and half had passed and my pizza hadn’t arrived yet. I decided I would never order from Papa John’s again.

Tonight I placed an order for pizza from Dominos. I placed an order at 8:33 and they told me I would have it within 30 minutes. 9:03 the pizza was still not delivered. 9:11 I get a call from the driver, he is around a block away from my house, less even like 100 meters away. He was lost and I explained to him how to get to my place. Take a right and get onto the main road, then take a left and another left. Very easy directions…

Thirty minutes later and the guy was still lost. Everytime I told him to take a left he takes a right, go straight he takes a right, U-Turn and he takes a left. The guy was a complete idiot. I just called and canceled my pizza, told them its been over an hour snce I ordered the pizza and over 30 minutes on the phone with the delivery guy and he still can’t follow directions.

I just called Papa John’s and ordered a pizza from them. I can’t be pissed at both Papa Johns AND Dominos… I have to still eat pizza from somewhere…

note: The guy was an Arab and I was talking to him in Arabic so it wasn’t a communication barrier.

Also while writing this post the Dominos manager called me and apologized. Told me what happened was unacceptable and that before anything they want me to be happy. He told me he would call the Dominos branch now and have them resend me the pizza and it would be for free. I told him thanks but I had already ordered from Papa John’s and thanked him for his call. He was like what can I do to make it up to you, I told him by calling me and apologizing you made it up and I would order from them again the next time. He apologized again and I thanked him and hung up. Thats good service.

update: Papa Johns told me the pizza needed 45 minutes, it arrived in 40. They must have sent me their best driver because he didn’t even call to get directions. Glad my pizza curse is over with.

Me and my partner at work plastered over 20 Coca Cola posters on our room’s wall. We wanted to add a bit of color to the room and we figured this was the coolest way. I am a Pepsi guy though.

Go Nuts Donuts sent me a Happy Valentines today made up of a dozen heart shaped donuts. I knew they had star shaped ones before but I guess for Valentines they are making heart ones.

I was with Nat and had just parked my car near Shoo Shawerma? which is located near Sultan Center when I heard the sound of motorbikes. I looked towards the Gulf Road and saw three Harleys zoom by probably going around 80km an hour. I continued walking when I heard the loud sound of the bikes suddenly down shifting and then what sounded like a skidding sound. I told Nat it sounded like a bike skidding and she told me it was probably just their engine sound. I looked towards where the sound came from and noticed a car had put its emergency flashers on. I told Nat it was the bikers and we ran towards the scene.

When we got to the scene cars had already stopped and people had gotten out to help the bikers. There was one rider lying on the grass on the side of the road being looked after. He had a broken nose and was in pain. One of the bikers who was riding with him was next to him talking to him while the third biker was moving the bikes off the road with the help of some people. Around five minutes later an ambulance arrived. Four other bikers (sport not cruisers) who were passing by realized it was a biker who was injured and parked their bikes and got down to see if anyone needed any help.

I spoke to one of the guys on the scene and it turns out a woman came out onto the Gulf Road from one of the side exits behind Sultan Center and she went from the far right lane across all the way to the far left lane. She hadn’t seen the three bikers and all they could do was brake suddenly trying to avoid her. At first I thought only one biker slid but I think a second biker had also slid because there was another bike that was damaged.

I don’t know if the biker is fine and what injuries he has but hopefully he will be ok. Even though it was the womans fault I am glad she at least stopped her car and didn’t drive away. She was crying at the scene and was very apologetic and kept yelling she hadn’t seen them. I had another friend who also slid and crashed when a woman ran a red light and he had to brake to avoid her. That woman never stopped and kept driving off.

A friend of mine in Lebanon just posted pictures and info on my favorite shawerma place called BouBouffe. The shawerma place is located in Lebanon, near ABC in Achrafieh and its been there since the 70s. [Link]

Placed order with Papa Johns at 8:30. Promised would be delivered within 45 minutes. Called back at 9:20 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me within 10 minutes. Called back at 9:35 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me they will check on it and get back to me. Called back at 9:45 telling them pizza hasn’t arrived yet even though I called twice. They transfered me to manager who told me he will call back in 2 minutes. Its been 5 minutes and no call back yet and I need to leave the house.

update: called back at 9:55, spoke to manager again told him he had told me he would call me back in 2 minutes and he hadn’t. He told me he spoke to Salmiya branch manager and he is probably trying to call me now and he is getting a busy tone. I told him no I have call waiting if he was trying to call me I would know. I told him I need to know when my pizza will get here because I need to leave. He was like if you have to leave I can’t do anything about it. So I was like then cancel my order, he was like fine. What the hell, what lame customer service is that.

Then a few minutes later I get a phone call from the Salmiya branch manager telling me my pizza will be late. I told him why didn’t you call me half an hour ago when the call center manager told me you would call me. He was like I had to call the driver. I was like you need 30 minutes to do that? I was like anyway I canceled my order. He was like ok and I closed the phone.

I would never order from them again. Why?
– They should have been apologetic instead of blaming it on traffic
– Its Thursday night and they know there is traffic so why tell me 45 minutes in the first place
– After my first call they should have called the driver and found out how long he needed
– After they told me they would call me back they should have called me back
– At the very least they should have offered me the pizza for free, its been over an hour and a half and the pizza is going to be cold anyway
– The two managers I spoke to were not friendly enough

Whats up with Tori Spelling, she used to be hot on Beverly Hills 90210… [Link]

Nat came in to work today morning to find a new toy awaiting her. Other then her 30inch Apple display, Quad Core Mac and 8GB of RAM, she now has a 21 inch Cintiq 21UX tablet!

I just got an SMS from Choowy Goowy saying that on the occasion of Valentines they have a special jar. If anyone is interested in sending cookies on Valentines the last day to place your order is February 11th. To order call them on 2626559 or 2620011.

A user commented under my post on the G55 AMG yesterday that TopGear had reviewed. So I checked YouTube and I found the video. According to Richard Hammond, the G55 AMG is “The coolest car in the world”.