2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last year I posted pictures of the old Apple Store in Kuwait City. Their were three banners in the display from Apple’s old ad campaign called Think Different which I really wanted. I tried my best to get them and even offered to buy them but the Apple dealer (AlSane Group) refused. Finally I gave up and forgot about them.

A few days ago I was at Starbucks with the Mac&More store owner, I had met him a few years back when I had purchased his Twentieth Anniversary Mac. We were talking about Macs in the pre-ipod days and I told him about the posters I had wanted from the other Apple Dealer. He told me he would check and see if he had any left in their warehouse and would call me. Well turns out he found 3 banners and the 3 banners he found are exactly the same 3 banners I had wanted from the other dealer!

The posters are dusty but other then that they are in excellent shape. I can’t wait to put them up and once I do will take more pictures.

On a side note, I just noticed if you do a google search for Apple Kuwait the first few links are all related to me. Can’t get any cooler then that…

At 4PM today I met up with Marzouq in front of Galleria 2000. I was talking to him online at around 3:30 and he asked me if I wanted to go riding and I was like fine. I hadn’t really been out on the roads yet, only twice around my block but that was it. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I quickly got dressed and took my bike and rode down to Galleria 2000.

Once I got to Galleria Marzouq was already there waiting for me, he told me to follow him and off we went out onto the Gulf Road. Originally I was hoping my first time out on the Gulf Road would be when it was empty, like a Friday morning or something. At 4PM today the Gulf Road wasn’t empty as I was hoping instead it was kinda packed. We rode on the Gulf Road from Salmiya all the way to Shuwaikh. At first I was a really nervous but once we hit TGIF I had gotten the hang of driving in traffic and was weaving through it with no problems. After we passed Kuwait Towers I started to feel even more comfortable on the road. The road also had less cars by then and we were zooming by really fast.

When we got to the end of the Gulf Road in Shuwaikh, we parked our bikes and started taking pictures when another blogger, iDip happened to be passing by. He parked his car and we had a little bloggers meetup before he took off again. Marzouq and I finished taking pictures and then headed back to Salmiya. The ride back was pretty cool. There was a lot of traffic but I wasn’t nervous anymore. Its not that bad riding in traffic, as long as you don’t get an asshole on your tail blinking and honking wanting you to get out of the way. I think the max speed I hit was 130km/h. I know Marzouq hit like 160 with his bike.

It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back out tomorrow. There shouldn’t be any traffic in the morning so the ride should be even more fun.

I am sure at one time or another you tried purchasing an item using your K-Net or Visa card and the merchant asked from you an extra fee because you are using one of these cards. They would give you the excuse that Visa or K-Net charge them a certain amount for every transaction using these cards and that you need to pay it. Well here is what you the consumer needs to know.

First lets start with K-Net. K-Net is owned by the local banks in Kuwait. They do NOT charge the merchant any transaction fee. So if an item costs KD10 and you pay using your K-Net card, the merchant will get KD10. They will not be charged a single fils by K-Net. This is a fact and you can contact 2431280 if you need any further information on this. If a store tells you that they will have to charge you extra because you are paying with K-Net then you need to report that store to K-Net using the number above.

Now Visa is a different story. Visa DOES charge the merchant 4% for every transaction. This means if you buy an item for KD10, the merchant receives KD9.600. Although the merchant pays 4% for every transaction they do NOT have the right to pass on that 4% to you. According to Visa the merchant should not charge the customer for a Visa transaction and neither are they allowed to set a minimum amount in which you could use your Visa card with. So even if the item you are buying costs 100fils, you can pay with you Visa card. In case a store does try to make you pay the 4% transaction fee, report them to your local bank and they will take care of it. If you would like more information regarding Visa, you will also need to contact your local bank.

Hope this information was helpful.

Yesterday I got an email from a reader of my blog who works at Jazeera Airways. He read some of the comments on the post 5KD to Bahrain and Dubai and noticed many people had questions about the airline. So, he has volunteered to answer any questions you put forward to him about the airlines. I will take all your questions which you can post below in the comments section and I then will forward it to him.

I will start by asking the first question: Does Jazeera Airways have any plans of expanding their flights to Europe and North America?

I was back at TriStar last night with Nat because she need to adjust her training schedule. While there I showed her the Pocket Bike they had on display. At first she thought it was for young kids but I explained to her that teenagers and adults actually ride it and not kids. She thought I was pulling her leg, so when we got back home I showed her some videos from YouTube and everyone riding the bike was either a teen or an adult. I figured maybe other people don’t know what Pocket Bikes are so below are some videos and a link to Wikipedia with info on Pocket Bikes. TriStar are selling the 49cc Pocket Bike which can hit speeds of up to 100km/h for KD190. Price might be negotiable I didn’t ask.

Here is the first video
Here is the second video
Here is the Wikipedia page

A video of Geo (my dog) fetching a tennis ball. [Video]

The guy isn’t wearing his helmet, he has it strapped to the back seat. He is also wearing a tshirt, shorts and sandals. I mean I don’t think you can be more unsafe.

update: Sami posted this link of some bikers on the Gulf road performing stunts without a helmet. [Link]

Just got an SMS from Jazeera Airways, tickets to Dubai or Bahrain are now KD5. [Link]

Hmmmm, looks cool, I “might” try this at home. [Video] #

I just opened up a new section in the forum called “What People are Selling”. If you have something you want to sell you can post it in there. [Link]

Also if there is something you want and you can’t seem to find. You can now post your request in the “What People Want” section. [Link]

The end result is really horrifying! [Video]

I have this bad habit of miscalculating how much food I can eat during Ramadan. I spend the whole day without food and when its finally time to eat I over order. Today for example I had lunch at 6:30PM and I ended up going to Burger Boutique with Nat. We ordered 4 mushroom+swiss sliders, 4 midnight sliders, 4 west coast sliders and 1 street style pommes noisettes. Nat ended up eating two sliders, I had 7 and there were still 3 left. I actually should have stopped eating after 5 sliders but I didn’t and now I feel like I am going to blow up. I really should learn from my mistakes but I never seem to do so.

I was at Marina Mall yesterday meeting up with a friend when I noticed Alghanim Automotive (my sponsors) had the Escalade EXT on display right outside Virgin. The EXT was my favorite version of the old Escalade and I didn’t know the new one was out yet in Kuwait. So I emailed my contact at Alghanim and asked him about the price and this is what I found out. The Escalade EXT costs KD18,500 and if you trade in your car you get 500KD back. Also the regular Escalade (ie: not pickup) which I previously took out for a drive now costs KD19,500 and according to my contact the price is negotiable. Thats around KD1,500 cheaper then when I reviewed it which is pretty cool but still way out of my league.

Funny commercial involving dogs. [Link]

Yesterday was my last riding lesson. After a total of 10 lessons I am now ready to take the riding test so I went today morning to get an appointment. I was expecting the guy to give me an appointment for sometime this week or worst case an appointment for sometime next week. The guy took my learners permit and started stamping it and writing down my riding test date when I saw him write in Arabic 12 October. So I told the guy nicely could you please make it earlier then the 12th, the guy looked at me and said this is the 21st of October not the 12th. I was like shit, ok could you make it earlier then that, he replied no and gave me back my papers.

Now I have to wait 3 weeks before I can get my license. I was really hoping to get it now so I could use the month of Ramadan to practice on the streets. The Gulf Road is deserted at around 6PM which would be perfect for a newbie like me. By the time I get my license now, Ramadan would be over.