2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I met Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah the new PM a couple of times a few years back. He is a really nice guy with a huge passion for cars. He is one of the largest Aston Martin collectors in the world and has a garage with some of the coolest cars ever made. He also enjoys collecting vintage cars and I believe he has the largest collection of those in Kuwait. I always thought it would be cool if Jay Leno met up with Sheikh Nasser to talk about cars on the Tonight Show since Jay Leno also loves cars. I guess that will never happen now that he is PM.

Fight fire with fire? [Link]

Yesterday night around 4AM there was an incredible amount of lightning and thunder. I was awake and was shocked by the amount of lightning, it wasn’t stopping just non stop flashes of light followed by the thunder. A few minutes later it started raining hail followed by some really heavy rain. My friend took a short video of it with his phone, you can’t see much in it but its better then nothing. Its in 3GP format so you need quicktime to view it. [3GP 751KB]

I posted before about the website RefundPlease.com which keeps track of your amazon.com purchases and alerts you incase a product becomes cheaper so you can get a refund. Well I just wanted to say that I have used it for a couple of my purchases and the service works as advertised. I usually also get my refunds within an hour from Amazon, very quick. [Link]

Yesterday evening we took Geo to the Marina Crescent park to meet up with Fadibou and his puppy Mikki. Turns out Geo and Mikki really liked each other and they spent most of the evening playing together on the grass and sand. Only problem is that Geo is 13KG while Mikki is 1.5KG. So Geo was like hurting Mikki accidentally while playing. Anyway we walked further up the beach and met with 3 other puppies. the oldest being 3 months old. All 5 dogs spent around an hour running around playing with each other in the sand. They were 4 males and 1 female but Mikki was the star, all the dogs seemed to want to play with him. Geo had a lot of fun and I was hoping all this playing would get him tired enough to put him to sleep early and I was right.. for a while. Geo ended up going to sleep at 10PM in his fenced off area and we went to sleep right after since both me and Nat hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before. Everything was fine until around 12:30AM we woke up to Geo’s whining and barking. He must have woken up in the middle of the night and realized he was all alone downstairs and he just went ballistic. The book we read said this would happen and that we should leave him alone but he was just too loud. I called up my brother next door and asked him if he could hear Geo and he told me he could very clearly. So not to get in trouble with the neighbours we solved the problem by Nat sleeping on the couch in the living room with Geo on the floor next to her. The living room has hardwood floors so in case Geo decided to “go” during the night it wouldn’t be that a big a problem while our bedroom is carpeted and would be a lot more difficult to clean. So now hopefully next week we will be replacing the carpet in the bedroom with hardwood, that way Geo can sleep with us in the bedroom, the only way we will ever get some sleep..

Geo arrived yesterday night at 12:05AM via KLM. When I had spoken to a KLM representative earlier in the day he told me I needed only 30 minutes to clear Geo once he arrives.. what bullshit. After 2 hours of running around to 6 different locations at the airport cargo terminal and after going and coming between these 6 offices a total of 11 times, I was finally able to clear Geo and take him home. Mind you I was the only one there clearing anything and it took me over 2 hours so you could imagine how painfully long the process would be during the day when every trader in Kuwait is at the cargo terminal clearing their products. All the employees were very nice and tried their best to get all our papers completed asap but its just a lot of stuff that needed to be signed and at full speed it just wasn’t possible to take less then 2 hours. Oh a strange thing, we were sitting at the vets office at the terminal and one guy there was like did you check on your dog, is he alive? I was like no I hadn’t seen my dog yet but what the fuck, do dogs arrive here dead? The guy was like yeah, many times the dog arrives to Kuwait and its dead. I am guessing this happens often during the summer when they keep the dogs locked up in their tiny travel cages for over 2 hours in the hot summer heat waiting for their owners to get all their paperwork done.

Anyway we get home and Geo is all active and shit and wants to play. So we play. We figured he probably just was so bored trapped in his cage and he just wants to let off some steam. So we played with him until 4AM and Geo was still jumping around all excited. We decide to lock him up in his area downstairs and go up and sleep. His area consists of half the bottom floor of our apartment separated by a 1 meter high fence. His area is around 4×6 meters and the floor is covered in vinyl in case he goes to the bathroom indoors the mess would be easier to clean up. So we lock him up and go upstairs and Geo starts to whine which we were expecting. Suddenly he stops and I was thinking wow that was easier then I expected and so I decided to sneak downstairs quietly to watch Geo sleep. So I am standing in the stairway trying to sneak a peak at Geo sleeping but I couldn’t find him in his area. Suddenly I see Geo walking out of the first floor bathroom casually.. he had escaped from his area! So I realized there was a weakness in my fence design and Geo was able to squeeze out from the far side of the fence. I solve that issue by blocking his escape route with his travel cage. I go back upstairs and I am about to go to sleep when suddenly Nat is like “Mark, Geo is here”. He had escaped again! So I went back down and realized he had climbed over his travel cage and then over the fence. So I solved that problem also and on my way up the stairs I look back and I see Geo squeezing out from between two fences. Fucking A thats like 3 prison breaks in 15 minutes. Good thing I don’t design prisons for a living. We decided to solve the fence issue the next day and for the night he could sleep with us in our bedroom. That didn’t work out the way we planned it either. Geo spent the whole night whining wanting to play with us. At around 7AM we all fell asleep. 9AM I wake up to realize Nat and Geo were missing, seemed they both had woken up at 8AM and Nat made him breakfast and took him down for a walk. It was a totally sleepless night.

We spent most of today fixing his fence issue and taking naps whenever we could. I wasn’t able to post more details earlier because I was dead tired but I just woke up from a 30 minute nap and I feel a bit more energized. I spoke to Fadibou on the phone and we will be meeting up with him and his dog Mikki at Marina Crescent later tonight.

Overall I am really glad we got Geo. He turned out to be much more cuter then his pictures had shown him to be and he is also a lot bigger then I expected. He is silly and dumb at times (like yesterday he got introduced to the concept of a glass door after ramming into it 2 times) and loves playing with Amazon boxes. He doesn’t bark and he’s extremely playful. I will record a video of him soon and upload it once I get my DSL connection back at home. For now I just have the picture I posted earlier today.

You can watch them for free on Google Videos. [Link]

[source waxy]

I just got a phone call from the Choowy Goowy delivery guy. I am getting 5 jars of cookies delivered to me before 5:30 courtesy of the Choowy Goowy owner. I will try all five flavors and then write a mini review of each and post them here on the blog. Could the readers who ordered some cookies after I posted about them last time leave some comments below on how they found them. Thanks.

Read the Choowy Goowy Review

Update: The cookies are here! They look nice and colorful in their packaging. Can’t touch them though until I go home and take a picture of them.

I past by Fantasy World at Souk Sharq today to see if they were still selling LEGO and it turned out they were. So I told them if they refused to sell me the LEGO Guy which I have been after for months I would tell everyone they were still selling Danish products. They ignored my threat and still refused to sell me LEGO Guy, so I decided I would tell on them. FANTASY WORLD STILL SELL LEGO!!

Remember how last week I was hoping they weren’t going to ban LEGO from the market because its a Danish product? Well yesterday I past by Sultan Center and went upstairs to the LEGO section and guess what? All the shelves where the LEGO used to be are empty now! They banned LEGO!! The dairy section downstairs also had no more Danish products that includes Lurpak, Puck and Three Cows. Whats next? Will they start banning products from countries who supported the Danish like the French and Germans? Would that mean no more BMWs and Mercedes? That would be really silly.

Yesterday me and Nat went to the supermarket and got the following: A box of Kellogg’s Cornflakes, a box of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh meat, chicken breast, Basmeti rice, eggs and KDD Yogurt. You would think this stuff was ours to eat but its actually for our dog who arrives tonight from Belgium. Its official, my dog will be eating healthier food then me! Geo will be on a raw meat diet which means no crappy canned dog food. Do you know what they make dog food out of? Stuff thats not fit for humans, meaning you know how hot dogs are made up of all the left over meat? Well dog food is stuff you can’t even make hot dogs out of! Its like junk food for dogs, they are convenient for dog owners because all you need to do to feed your dog is open up a can and dump it in his bowl. On the other hand raw meat is the best thing you can feed your dog, its what their bodies were meant to eat and digest. Before dogs started living with humans they used to live in the wild and hunt their food and eat it raw and its what any good breeder feeds his dogs.

When I first asked my breeder what he fed his dogs he told me raw meat I was shocked and disgusted. I was always told raw meat was bad for the dog and this guy was telling me thats all he fed the dogs. So I did some online research and it turns out feeding dogs raw meat is very common amongst breeders and has recently started to gain popularity in the US with pet owners. I read an article on Salon.com that talked about the raw food diet and how new places have popped up all over the US where they deliver you raw meat daily for your dog. It turns out vets don’t recommend raw meat because it keeps the dog healthier meaning less vet visits. From what I read raw food also makes your dogs breath smell better and his poop smaller and more solid. And if every now and then you give your dog meat on a bone his teeth will also be better.

So if you have a dog or are thinking about getting a dog then think about feeding him healthier food, think about going in the way of raw meat. There are a ton of articles online about this and my favorite would be the Salon one. There is also a book you can get from the Kuwait Bookshop in Muthana Complex (Kuwait City) called “All About Dogs”. It costs only KD1.300 and is written by a breeder who has been raising dogs forever. Inside the book he talks in detail about the raw meat diet and lists you all the advantages and disadvantages of it. The ISBN of the book is 1899606327 and you can find it on Amazon for $3.43 but if you live in Kuwait its just easier to pass by the bookshop. If you want to read the Salon article you can also do that by clicking [here]

I just checked my email today morning and found an interesting offer by Jazeera Airways. Two return flight tickets to Beirut plus a one night stay at a 4 star hotel for only KD129. Not a bad deal and not a bad idea at all. [Link]

For nearly a year now I was using my Sony AV3000 universal remote to control my living room setup made up of a TV, DVD player, Xbox, AV Receiver and Tivo. Instead of having multiple remotes spread out over my table the idea was to replace them all with one device. This idea failed since although my Sony universal remote was great, it wasn’t as practical as the Tivo or Xbox remote. So I mostly used the Sony remote to control my TV, DVD player and AV Receiver but continued using my original Tivo remote (which many say is the best remote design ever) to control my Tivo and the original Xbox remote to control my Xbox.

A few months back a friend of mine Rami ordered the Harmony 880 remote. He had been a Harmony user long before Logitech acquired them and as soon as the 880 was released he placed an order for one. He kept telling me how great the Harmony remotes were and how the new 880 was just really the best remote he had ever had. Finally I decided to order one and I got it last week. I have to say Rami was right, this is one of the best remotes I have ever had!

The Harmony 880 is a universal remote on steroids. It has a number of impressive features the most important being the colored screen and the fact it uses rechargeable Li-on batteries which you can charge by placing the remote on the dock it came with. To setup the remote you need to create an account on the Harmony website and then transfer the date to your remote using the included USB cable. I don’t know why they did it like that since I would have preferred having a local software on my computer to control my remote from. If you don’t have Internet then the 880 remote would be useless for you since you NEED to have an Internet connection to set it up the first time.

The colored screen on the remote is a really cool feature but the quality is similar to older mobile phone screens like the Sony Ericsson T68i. Setting up the remote online was a breeze and using the Activities button I was easily able to enjoy watching TV right away. The Activities button allows you to tell the remote what you want to do. Do you want to watch a DVD? Click on the “Watch DVD” button and the remote will turn on the DVD player, AV receiver and TV for you, it will then put the TV on the right channel and choose the correct input on the AV receiver. Want to watch Tivo? Click on the “Watch Tivo” button and the remote will turn the TV on, put it on Video 2 and then turn the AV receiver on and change the input to AUX. All this with a click of a button. Although things look simple, for hardcore users you have a whole amount of detailed control underneath this easy to use interface. How long does your TV take to warm up before it would accept commands? 2 seconds? You can teach the remote that. Do you want to change the on screen icons to your own design? You can do that. This remote is just loaded with a ton of features like that, little but important stuff for people who want more control.

The most important deciding factor in a good remote is its ergonomics. How does the remote feel in the hand? How easy is it to use? Is it practical? Well the Harmony 880 remote feels like the Tivo remote with the main important controls located in the middle while other lesser used controls are spread out on top and bottom. The 880 has a motion sensor so when you pick up the remote it automatically lights up the screen and all the buttons.. no more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the pause button. I wouldn’t say the 880 is better ergonomically then the Tivo remote but it really is very close to being as good. I mean, I have stopped using both my Tivo and Xbox remotes in favor of the 880.

I could go on and on in more details about why this remote is THE remote to own but there are tons of other reviews online that do that. I just want to back up all these reviews and say that everything you read about this remote is true. I love it, it looks good, its easy to use and hold, its fully featured and it allows me to do so much. I couldn’t believe it when this remote gave me features my original TV remote didn’t have! The only negative thing about the remote is the fact that you have to use their website to set it up. Maybe under usual circumstances its not a big deal but since I have been having Internet problems at home I am forced to take my remote with my laptop to starbucks or work and set it up from there. Not very practical and this is why this perfect remote will get 4 stars and not 5.

Buy the Harmony 880 from Amazon for $224

Update: If I had to review the remote again I would give is a 2.5 out of 5 because I am having a lot of problems with Harmony’s web based software. Their servers are slow and I am getting a lot of time out errors everytime I need to change an option on the remote.

Internet addict that is. I realized in the past few days that I can’t be stuck in Kuwait without Internet. When I go on vacation its not that big a problem since I psychologically prepare myself that I will be without Internet for a certain amount of days. Being suddenly stuck without Internet at home though has turned me into a wreck. I feel stupid without being up to date on the latest news, gadgets and gossip. I feel disoriented and grumpy without Internet. I am also losing my temper quicker and getting stressed out a lot easier. I hope I get Internet back at home soon or I think I am really going to lose it.