Search: “ace”

I spotted the above garbage bin outside Salhiya Complex earlier today. What grabbed my attention was the fact they’re the the exact same kind of garbage bins as the ones currently used all over Salmiya, except they didn’t look as bad. That’s because instead of the bins being painted bright yellow causing them not to blend with their environment, the Salhiya bins are tastefully painted and placed so they fit in with their surroundings.

Spotted this place on the Gulf Road opposite KFC near Safir Hotel. The reason I think Fuddruckers is opening up there because the color scheme is similar to the new Fuddruckers that’s opening soon in Lebanon (check picture below). If it is the new Fuddruckers it looks pretty big.

Note: The building to the right of what I think is the new Fudds is going to be a new Lebanese Restaurant. Below is a picture of how it currently looks like.

Yes another frozen yogurt place is opening up. I spotted the above hoarding in Phase II of Avenues. It’s a good location since other than two Pinkberry’s, Napket and IKEA they really don’t have much competition there.

I can’t believe I forgot to post about this ahead of time but the Worldwide Finals of Imagine Cup 2011 were held yesterday in New York and a team from Kuwait where there competing in the software category. They came up with this idea which they wanted to present to the Ministry of Interior in hopes of having it implemented so we could get a lot of day to day problems solved. I previously posted about them and their idea [Here] if you want to read more on it.

I was just checking the results page and it doesn’t seem they won. Even though I think they must have gained a lot of experience competing at an international level and I’m sure they’re going to be coming back with even more motivation. I really hope the Ministry of Information will still help them bring their idea to life, since it’s an idea that will help make Kuwait a better place. Here is a page from the Imagine Cup 2011 yearbook which has details about the Kuwait team, their project and their intentions. [Yearbook Page]

Picture by @ahamshay

[YouTube]

Brake Banzeen just posted a video showing a bunch of cars from the Gulf being ticketed in London. I spotted three cars with Kuwaiti plates but it’s not clear in the video why they were being stopped by the cops. At first glance it makes it seem that all the drivers in the video are guilty which is misleading.

According to the Small World news service, residents in the area having been complaining that some drivers are turning the streets into private race tracks. They also reported other problems with some cars not being insured properly as well as license plates that weren’t legible. In the video above the cops are probably just checking for these things and not necessarily fining the drivers (except for the Qatari Dodge Challenger).

You can read the Small World article by clicking [Here]

I had a meeting earlier today with a person that wants to remain anonymous. The person I met is connected to one of the local ISP’s and wanted to meet me so he can set some things straight regarding the internet caps.

First just a brief intro on how ISP’s get their internet. They have two ways generally, one is via satellite and the other by cable. Satellite is too costly and has limited bandwidth so most ISP’s go with cable. Now all communication coming in or out of Kuwait needs to go through the Ministry of Communications. They act like border immigration and this rule applies to both internet providers as well as telecommunication companies. The MOC charges the ISP’s for the various kind of lines that passes through them. You can check the documents at the end of post for details on this. Since 2007 the Ministry hasn’t decreased their prices and they also haven’t been investing in their infrastructure.

Now ISP’s have cables from their main headquarters to the MOC, and then from there they head to different countries. An example of a route might be ISP-HQ to MOC to Dubai to UK. Now the problem from what I understood is that because the Ministry of Communication hasn’t upgraded their infrastructure the ISP’s can’t get more lines and bandwidth into Kuwait. At the same time the amount of internet users in Kuwait is increasing. So if back in 2007 there were lets say a thousand people using 1 cable, the same cable today is providing to 1500. This is just an example and the numbers I mentioned are not accurate but just to help you visualize the problem.

So high demand and limited supply and add to that the price war that was taking place between the ISP’s and they all got to the point where they had a lot more subscribers than they and the MOC could supply bandwidth. The situation became critical and so for the first time ever, the ISP’s united and decided to increase and unify their prices during the last expo since the demand was was more than the supply. The ISP’s were hoping the increase in prices might also spark an outcry from the consumers which would in return put pressure on the MOC but that didn’t happen.

Since nothing changed after the expo and the ISP’s were still lacking bandwidth, they didn’t have a choice other than to set limits. The ISP’s came together for a second time and decided to place download caps on all their users and here we are today. The good news is that the caps resulted in an outcry that triggered the MOC to take action. I’ve also been told that both parties are currently in talks and it looks like everything is going to get fixed soon.

I’ve attached a few documents below related to everything I spoke about above. If anyone has any questions you can post them below and I’ll try to either to get you an answer. Here are the [Files]

If there is anyone from the MOC reading this, please contact me so I could get your side of the story.

Sidekick Academy, the local mixed martial arts training center just participated at the 2011 US Open Martial Arts Championships in Orlando, Florida. They ended up leaving with a total of 17 trophies and medals. This is how they ended up ranking:

MMA competition:
Nasser Alqattan 1st Heavy Weight Division
Abdullatif Alothman 1st Middle Weight Division
Abdulrahman Aljasser 2nd Heavy Weight Division
Mahmooh Geragh 3rd Light Weight Division

Continuous Sparring:
Abdullah Alameeri 3rd Over 170lb Division

Point Sparring:
Shaikha Alshuaib 1st Intermediate Belts Light Weight Division
Abdullah Almarta 3rd Begginer Light Weight Division
Abdulrahman Aljasser 3rd Intermediate Belts Over 170lb
Hamad Alnabhan 3rd Advanced Belts Under 169lb

Forms:
Abdulmohsen Albabtain 4th Master Black Belts Tradional Division
Hamad Alnabhan 5th Advanced Belts Division
Abdullah Almarta 2nd Begginer Belts Division

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:
Nasser Alqattan 2nd No-Gi Middle Weight Division
Nasser Alqattan 3rd Gi Blue Belt Middle Weight Division
Abdulrahman Aljasser 3rd No-Gi Heavy Weight Division
Abdulrahman Ajasser 1st Gi Blue Belt Heavy Weight Division
Abdullah Almarta 3rd Gi White Belt Light Weight Division

I think that’s an incredible accomplishment, for more information you can visit the Sidekick Academy facebook page [Here]

I’ve criticized the Avenues no smoking policy before since although they made a big event out of it the ban was never properly enforced among other things. But truth be told, there really isn’t much Avenues can do about it. This weekend I noticed they removed the majority of their garbage bins from around the mall which I am guessing is a move to try and stop people from smoking. It’s not working and I think it’s a dumb move since I had to walk halfway across the mall with my trash looking for a place to throw it… but hey, at least they’re trying and I respect them for that.

Why don’t we have an official law banning smoking in public places? At least if there was an official ban then Avenues could have a couple of policemen walking around the mall ticketing people who break the law. Is there an organization or politician fighting for a smoking ban? How can we help?

Not sure how accurate this information is but I heard that Kim Kardashian will be coming to Kuwait this October to launch her new perfume. My source wouldn’t tell me which cosmetic place would be launching it but my guess is that it’s going to be Sephora. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I’m a Street Fighter fan but don’t think I’m good enough to play in this tournament and I don’t think anyone wants to watch a 30-something gamer getting his ass kicked by a tween. Here are the details if you’re interested:

Date: July 15th at 6pm
Location: Freeze Club Arcade, 360 Mall (4th floor)
Entry Cost: KD5

Prizes:
1st place 150kd
2nd place 100kd
3rd place 50kd

Best of 3, Double Elimination. Finals best of 7.

If you’re interested in taking part you need to go to the Freeze Club receptionist and ask to enter.

Lita’s, the small Mexican restaurant I posted about last week now has a website with their full menu (but with no prices) posted online. I haven’t passed by the place yet since I just got back from Lebanon, but based on the feedback tons of people have been leaving behind in the previous post I can’t wait to pass by and try it. Here is the [Link]

So I’m in Lebanon right now and I’ve kinda left my diet back in Kuwait. Yesterday for example I passed by a place in Tabarja (an area near Casino Du Liban) and had some amazing dessert at a place called Al-Antabli. If you’re a calorie counter this is NOT the place for you. Seriously. You have to come in with the understanding that everything you will eat is fattening like crazy. Personally I started off with Halawet El Jeben and followed it with a Ousmalieh. I downed everything with a large jug of jaleb and ended with a delicious scoop of Ashta ice-cream. Amazing stuff. Everything is pictured below in the order listed above.

There is a new Mexican restaurant that’s opening up tomorrow (Friday) in Mahboula called Lita’s. It’s a small place that’s owned by Khaled Mulla who is half Kuwaiti and half Mexican. From what I understood he wants the local community to experience real authentic Mexican food which currently is lacking in Kuwait. They’ll be making their own flour tortillas on the spot and the Chef is a family member that is coming in from Mexico to run the place himself who’s been in the business for over 30 years. This along with the announcement of a Mexican Embassy opening up soon should be great news for the small (200+) Mexican community in Kuwait.

I’m currently in Lebanon for a few days so I won’t be able to pass by and try it but if you’re interested the place is in Mahboula, Block 1 off of street 210. Here is the [Map]

Thanks Edgar

Back in January I posted about how they dug up the middle sidewalk in the old Salmiya. They decreased the walking space and created new dirt space around the already planted trees to add more greenery. I was against the idea since first of all they shrunk the sidewalk and second of all I knew it wasn’t going to work. The new Salmiya near Sultan Center and Al Fanar has never had a green middle sidewalk and somehow my old Salmiya was going to? A lot of you were against me and said I was being pessimistic, well the picture above is how it looks like 6 months later… very green indeed. It’s always going to be just sand exactly like how it’s always been sand in the newer Salmiya so I hope everyone now understands why I preferred to have a full proper sidewalk instead of “greenery”.

Check out the picture above. Do you know what that is? I think it was back in the late 80s or very early 90s someone decided to build a public bathroom right in the middle of Salmiya. I think it was functional for a month and then got destroyed by vandals and became so dirty that no one was using it and it just got abandoned. That was like 20 years ago, today it’s nothing. It’s not a bathroom, there are no doors, no toilets, no sinks or anything. Just a place to store red cones or whatever garbage is lying around. Recently as you can see in the picture they dug up the area around it to replace the floor tiles with newer ones but they left this abandoned ugly block of cement right in the middle. Couldn’t they have just demolished it?

Another strange thing happened recently, someone realized how much garbage was filling up the streets of Salmiya and so came up with a brilliant solution. They decided to put bright yellow garbage bins all over Salmiya and at around 10 meters apart. Check the video above I shot today. I drove maybe 200 meters and I counted around 66 bright yellow garbage bins! And that only includes the middle sidewalk and some of the sidewalk on the left but completely ignoring the right sidewalk since it was in the video. It’s the most horrifying scene since all you can see on the street now are the garbage bins. Do we really need that many bins in the middle sidewalk? [YouTube]

I’ll say it again, I love Salmiya and I want to be put in charge of it or at the very least Salem Mubarek Street. I’ll seriously make it the most beautiful place in Kuwait. I’ve been requesting this since back in 2006, so what do I need to do to make this happen? I’ve watched enough episodes of Parks and Recreation to know what it takes. Salmiya is my Pawnee.

Me Blogging just posted about this new place that’s opening up in Kuwait City called Pick. From what I understood the place will have sandwiches in a similar style to Pret A Manger in London. They’re located in Kuwait City near the stock market so if you’re close to it then it should be easy to pop in for a quick bite. Right now they’re open from 4pm to 11pm until the end of the month and then they start opening for breakfast. Hopefully by breakfast they also mean lunch. [Link]