2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

So I emailed Amazon today asking them if instead of them mailing me a cheque for my MacBook $100 rebate I could get a gift voucher in that amount. Amazon just replied apologizing telling me that wasn’t possible but gave me a $15 gift voucher for any inconvenience caused by this situation!

They are always super friendly. When I ordered my MacBook they originally told me my package would ship on the 15th of June, they then told me they would ship it earlier on June 9th and as compensation (don’t ask) they upgraded my shipping. They then told me there was a delay and my package would actually ship on the 20th of June and gave me a $30 voucher as compensation. My package finally ended up shipping on the 13th!

They have the best customer service ever.

I was at Sultan Center and I spotted the new packages of Lucky Charms. The new packages have a cool promotion where they now come with codes inside that let you get a free song of your choice from iTunes. Now thats cool..

The cheapest Big Mac is in China, where it costs $1.30, compared with $4.93 in Switzerland which is the most expensive. Kuwait is not on the chart but a Big Mac here costs $2.76. [Link]

12-inch Apple PowerBook
G4 867mhz
640MB Ram
40GB Hard Disk
Combo Drive (CDwriter + DVD Reader)
Builtin Bluetooth and Airport Express (wifi)
Brand new battery

Extras included: Fire engine red foof case, old battery (holds over an hour charge), original cds, regular mouse, external display adapter

Laptop condition is very good except for minor issue with screen, there is a dark shadow on the bottom left corner of the screen. Here is a picture of it.

Asking price: KD250

Update: Its been sold

The past week I have been driving to work using the Gulf Road. On my way I kept spotting this group of American looking people on the side of the road (on the side going towards Salmiya) with their GMC’s parked up on the side walk and a little shade setup. I thought maybe they were shooting a TV commercial but then I noticed that everyday they would move a bit. First time I saw them they were in front of Burj al Hamam restaurant, then I saw them near Fridays and just now on my way back from the beach I saw them near Marina Mall. So, I decided to u-turn and stop and ask them what they were doing.

I park the car and open my window and a guy comes towards me, I ask him if he minds telling me what they are doing since I keep seeing them in a different spot every day. The guy replies back to me with an Australian accent that they are installing fiber optic cables. I thank him and drive off.

So mystery solved, now if you see the SUVs parked on the side of the road you know why they are there.

update: a reader mentioned the following article related to fiber optics in Kuwait. Looks like we might be getting some good stuff. [Link]

There seems to be a large fire at the Shuwaikh port. According to Stallion, a storage warehouse inside the port compound between the ugly blue building and the free trade zone caught fire.

Click here to view the picture above in big

Note: Picture taken by Stallion

You open your fridge, you find a slice of cheese, half a cucumber, some ketchup and what looks like chicken.. what do you do? You enter the ingredients in Snacksby and it will tell you what you can make with those ingredients. Very practical and adventurous.. its like MacGyver but for food. [Link]

update: “like MacGyver but for food” has now become their new tagline.

After watching this I don’t I would ever use a public toilet in Japan. [Video]

Someone emailed me these pictures of a huge Whale Shark that was caught in Kuwait. I don’t know when these pictures were taken but since I haven’t heard about this before it could be very recent. Seems the pictures are old but you still check them out below..

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

Mr. Bo9agr has pictures of a fire that happened in Hawalli. I can’t read the Arabic but the building looks like the one I park in front of when I go to get my computer stuff. Its near Walla’a Complex. [Link]

This has to be the funniest video I have watched this year. [Video]

More videos here [Link]

note: seems this is from 2004, but its the first time i see it

This might be like finding a needle in a haystack but does anyone here own a Nikon Coolpix 3500 and want to sell it?

I just added a link on the top menu called Proxy. This will take you to a page where you can type a url of a blocked site and it will open it for you. For example the blog I don’t like you in that way is blocked for some stupid reason in Kuwait but if you go to the proxy page and type the website address it will open the page for you. Try it out. [Link]

Not a big fan of Arabic music myself but I always like a good laugh. Someone sent me this video of Nawal Zoghbe taking a big fall on stage. Too bad we can’t hear the thud. [Video]

Sometimes I can’t purchase stuff online because they require a US based Visa card or a Paypal account. My usual action then is to ask a friend who lived in the States before and has an American Visa card to purchase the item for me and then I pay him back.

Now there seems to be a way around this.. epassporte.com. Basically you get a “virtual” visa card from them which has a US billing address. You can then fill up your virtual card using your regular visa card here in Kuwait. By virtual they mean digital as in you won’t get a physical credit card you can hold in your hand, you just get the numbers.

Anyone tried this service? I am thinking of trying it out myself. [Link]

update: OK seems they are not very trustworthy.. [Link]