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I really like the old buildings in Kuwait and its very sad to see them crumble. So when I found out about this exhibition by Architect Deema Abdullah Al-Ghunaim I thought it was really interesting since it involved two things I liked, photography and old buildings:

|Tæ’boõq| طابوق
This exhibition is a starting study to trace architectural conceptions in Kuwait through series of screens photographed around Qebla, Merqab, Dasman, Hawalli and Jeleeb Shyoukh. The buildings studied are standing from 1960s as time sensors of placement, displacement and improvisation.

Time
From January 5th to January 7th 2010
January 5th from 7pm till 9pm
January 6th from 9am till 4pm and from 7pm till 9pm
January 7th from 9am till 4pm only

Place
The Sultan Gallery
Sabhan, southern entrance, Sadeer Co., block 8, street 105, building no 168
Telephone: 24714325/26 ext 110
Here is a map [Link]

You can find out more by visiting Deema’s blog where she also has scans of the invitation [Link]

via ProjektCyan

I woke up today hungry and after checking a few blogs I found Ansam’s post on The Noodle House. The food looked and sounded good so I decided I would pass by them for lunch.

I got there around 2:30 expecting the place to be packed but surprisingly there was just one table occupied. Thats a good thing since I don’t like places that get too packed. I quickly knew what I wanted to order since I was having everything Ansam had recommended, chicken satay for appetizers, fried honey & sesame chicken for the main course and I ordered plain steamed rice on the side. Nat ordered spinach and vegetables dim sum for her lunch.

The chicken satay arrived and the first thing I notice is how huge the quantity is. I grabbed a stick and dunked it in the accompanying peanut dip and took a bite. It wasn’t that great. It was fine enough to eat right then but I wouldn’t order it again. The chicken was over cooked, it was hard and tough while I could barely taste the flavor of the sauce. Then when the fried honey & sesame chicken arrived I noticed it looked different than the one Ansam had. I actually pulled up her blog on my phone to compare with the picture she took. Her chicken had a nice color and looked soft while mine looked overcooked. I took a bite and again the chicken was very dry and tough.

Before I get to the positives there was one more thing that I didn’t like and that was the way the different types of noodles were presented. Those of you who’ve been to a steak house like Gaucho will know how before you order a steak they bring out all the cuts to show you what is what. Well they brought out a little plate with different types of noodles on it. In theory it sounds like a good idea but their execution was horrible. First the plate was white and so were the noodles which made them invisible. A second reason why you barely see them is because they display only a tiny piece from every type of noodle. Not a little pile of noodles, just a single 2cm long piece. They looked taped to the plate with their names stuck on top and then the whole thing covered in a clear plastic wrap. It looked horrible and not appetizing whatsoever.

Now the positives. Nat enjoyed her dim sum but I wasn’t interested in trying it. The service was really good and it was a beautiful day so the view was nice. It’s too bad I didn’t enjoy my food, maybe it was a bad day or maybe I ordered the wrong things. The next time I think I am going to try their Sweet & Sour Chicken and maybe a prawns dim sum.

Prices
Chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce: KD2.500
Spinach and vegetable dumplings: KD1.600
Wok fried honey and sesame chicken: KD3.250

Since I have a long weekend I decided to pass by Extreme Hobby and pick up a small indoor helicopter. I played with it in their store a while back and since then it’s always been on my mind. Unlike the crappy toy helicopters you find at regular toy stores, this is a proper tiny hobby grade helicopter. It comes with a 4-channel 2.4Ghz digital transmitter with four AA batteries for it, the actual micro helicopter and a 1-cell LiPo battery.

The helicopter is very tiny which makes it perfect for flying around in the living room. Helicopters in general are difficult to fly and so this micro helicopter for me is a good way to get into them. As a beginner its a bit mind numbing still trying to fly this thing around. The left stick on the transmitter controls the throttle and the direction the helicopter is facing. The right stick controls the flight direction, front back left and right. You charge the helicopters battery in the actual receiver, there is a slot in the back where you can insert the LiPo battery and it takes around 5 minutes to fully charge it. You can then fly the helicopter for around 8 minutes. Because its a hobby grade helicopter Extreme Hobby carry all the spare parts for it so if you need another battery or if you break something you can get a replacement part.

[YouTube]

As I mentioned above I’m a beginner so I am pretty crap at flying it still. But if you want to see the helicopter in action there are a ton of videos on YouTube. The one above is my favorite since the guy is pretty good. The cost of the helicopter is KD26 and it comes with everything you need to get it up and running. It costs KD29 on Amazon so its cheaper in Kuwait. They only had around 4 more helicopters left so if you’re interested you can pass by them in Dajij. Their phone number is 24348123.

Welcome to the new and improved site. I know it still looks the same and some of you might not even have noticed a difference but that’s because I wasn’t interested in a complete revamp. The blog has become very recognizable with the bright magenta on top and black background, changing it would be like Coca-Cola suddenly going blue. What I did with this redesign is improve on the old design and fix things that needed to be fixed.

Firstly the biggest change is that the site now looks exactly the same on any browser on any OS. Previously it looked slightly different depending on what browser on what OS you were using. The only difference now is for some reason on FireFox on a Mac the titles on the tabs under the header are in bold. But that’s it everything else looks the same. I’ve widened the site but not by a lot so that if you’re viewing the blog from a netbook you don’t need to scroll left or right to see the whole width of the page. It fits perfectly.

Secondly the ads. The most important change is that there is no longer an ad on top of the posts. I’ve decided not to put an ad there and have instead kept all the ads on the far right. This way I’ve created a clear and distinct line between what is an ad and what isn’t. Everything on the left is me, it’s my space and I say what I want. Everything on the right is paid for. I’ve changed the shape of the ads and made them slightly smaller so they look a lot neater now. I’ve also had all the advertisers reduce the physical size of the ads by half so that the site loads even faster now then it previously did.

I’ve also changed the color of the header slightly and made it a 100% magenta which is slightly brighter than the previous header. I then changed all the other magenta on the blog to match, so all the links and buttons etc.. are now slightly brighter. Oh and when you hover over the tabs under the header, the button now turns white instead of black. Looks cleaner this way.

I’ve really done a ton of minor changes here and there. For example the titles of the posts are now 100% black instead of dark gray, the comments under the posts look A LOT neater now and I’ve also removed the number next to peoples comments. There was a bad habit previously in which people replied to each other by post number. For example “I have to agree with post 23, Britney Spears is hot”. Now people will have to refer to each other by name or nickname. Another issue with the comment numbers was that if there was a comment in moderation before post 23 and I approved it after someone responded to post 23 then post 23 would suddenly become post 24 and the person who commented in reply to post 23 would look stupid.

Oh another important change, I’ve removed the tab on top called “Archive” which used to contain all my post categories and have instead listed all my categories on the side. Those of you who’ve been visiting my blog for a few years now will realize that’s how it used to be before my previous redesign. I find it a lot more useful having it in the sidebar and I am hoping it will encourage more people to dig into my blog and engage with my older posts. I’ve posted soo many things over the years and a lot of them are still interesting to this day so its worth making them available. I’ve also shifted the “Site Tools” up because I feel my twitter and facebook group are worth visiting and so need to be highlighted more. I’ve moved the other bloggers list to the bottom of the side bar so that way the more interesting blogs I find the more I will be able to fit. The side bar used to also have a gray background which I removed, makes things a lot more airy and less suffocating.

So in conclusion, the blog loads faster, looks neater and is just an improved version of the previous design.

I should have posted about this last week but I just started catching up on all my emails. Luckily the exhibition is still on so you’ve still got time to catch it.

“Our exhibition is about “عتيج الصوف ولا يديد البريسم؟” rethinking the way we view our Kuwaiti culture from its proverbs to its simplest and quirkiest words illustrated through traditional calligraphy but digitally enhanced to create an art piece.” -Jassim and Anas

The exhibition is being held at thenumber4 in Shuwaikh Industrial area, Mahdi Habib street, opposite the BMW showroom. [Map]

The exhibition started on the 24th but will be there till the 5th of January.

Confashions passed by and took some pictures which you can check [Here]
And here is a link to the exhibit [blog] and [Facebook Group]

Alghanim Electronics dropped off an iRiver Story eBook reader for me to check out. I’ve been wanting an eBook reader since the Kindle first came out but never got one because of the hassle involved with buying eBooks from Amazon (its US only). When the Barnes & Noble Nook got released I quickly pre-ordered one but when I tried to buy an eBook I ran into the same problems as Amazon so I canceled my order. I am not sure yet where I can get books for the iRiver Story, I just did a quick search and found out the Story is compatible with UK’s Waterstones so will try it out and see if I have any luck with them.

I haven’t had much contact with eBook readers, I think I’ve only interacted with one once at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 duty free. So far the iRiver Story looks pretty, it’s very similar to the Kindle just slightly more stylish. Once I spend some more time with the Story I will post more details. I just need to find a book I actually want to read…

Update: Just realized it’s only compatible with Windows which means connecting it directly to my Mac will only charge the device. To get books onto the iRiver with my Mac I need to upload books onto an SD card and then place the SD card into the iRiver.

I downloaded this iPhone application today called iHijab and found it really funny. Its a simple app that will add different types of hijab or even a gutra to a face. So basically what you do is choose the type of hijab or gutra you want and then you take a picture of your friend or yourself and presto, you’ve got yourself a preview of how you would look like in different types of headgear. Turns out I don’t look too bad in a gutra. It’s a free app which you can download by clicking [Here]

Found out about Capital District from iLSuL6ana’s blog and I think I like where they’re going with the brand. Their clothing are unique in that they’re based on Kuwait and it’s past which automatically differentiates them from everything else out there. They have a few designs at the moment which you can order at very reasonable prices. If you’re interested in checking out their designs and placing an order visit their Facebook group [Here]

Note: You can see their designs in the photos section.

The menu cover above is the one Nat designed for the b+f Roadside Diner in Oman a year ago. The picture below is of the new menu cover for Chocolate & Macaroon. From all the restaurants in the world couldn’t they copy the menu cover from one that wasn’t Kuwaiti?

and here is a close up

b+f Roadsider Diner belongs to the same owners as Burger Boutique and Slider Station. It’s located in Muscat, Oman and here is a link to their Facebook page. [Link]

This whole week I was extremely sick from food poisoning. It all started on Friday, I had lunch at one of my favorite places (won’t say which for now) and then that evening I started getting the chills and after that it just got really bad. It was a horrible experience and I can’t recall ever getting that sick from food. I sadly won’t be ever going back there again. It’s not like I have a ton of places I visit on a regular basis so it’s disappointing I now have one less.

The picture above is of one of my favorite places in Lebanon called Canadian Burger. I eat there very frequently, last time I was in Lebanon I actually ate there daily and not once did I ever get food poisoned in the 20 years or so I’ve been going there. It’s a tiny store located in one of the slums where sweaty guys with no gloves work over the food all day and where their special burger costs only 300fils. So how do I get food poisoned at an international franchise that’s open in the best mall in Kuwait?

I have a ton of cameras but recently I noticed I had a gap in my collection. I didn’t have a digital camera that fit between my Nikon DSLR and my Sony point & shoot. It’s not really a problem but since I love cameras it gave me an excuse to buy a new one. After a bit of research I had two options, the Canon S90 and the Canon G11. I passed by the local Canon dealer in Kuwait City to check them out and right then on the spot decided to go for the G11. The S90 is a great camera but it felt flimsy and it was too similar to my Sony W300 as in they’re both pocket cameras. If I got the S90 it would compete against my W300 and I wanted a camera that would compliment it instead. The G11 on the other hand was love at first sight, it felt indestructible and I loved the way it looked.

The dealer was selling the G11 for KD235, so I checked Amazon and noticed they were selling it for KD127. That’s over a hundred dinars difference!! So the same night I placed an order for the G11 from Amazon with one day shipping and the total came to KD133 (I sent it to my DHL mailbox so I didn’t pay the 8% NY tax). I received the camera today and it cost me KD14 in shipping and custom fees bringing the total cost of the camera to KD147. Thats still a HUGE difference compared to the price of the local dealer. I really want to buy stuff locally but some local dealers over price their products.

I’ve been playing with the camera all day and I love it. The camera is very solid, very well built and it sits really great in the hands. I love the old fashioned dials on top which makes setting the ISO or exposure extremely easy. The camera also shoots in RAW format which is one of the features I was looking for when researching cameras. The screen on the back also swivels so if you want to shoot something over your head or from your waist you can. The only downside to the camera is that it doesn’t fit in my pocket but I knew that before I bought it.

If you’re interested in this camera it’s available on Amazon for KD127.
Here is the [Link]

Before I purchased my Drobo backup system I passed by the local dealer 3gghead and checked out their price. They were selling the Drobo for KD165 while on Amazon it was being sold for KD100. So I ended up ordering mine from Amazon figuring I would be saving a good chunk of money.

When my Drobo finally arrived to Kuwait I ended up paying KD39 for shipping and customs which brought my total to KD139. Not much of a saving compared to the local dealer but still a saving.

Then a couple of days back I get an email from the local dealer saying they wanted to give my readers a discount on the Drobo to help bring down the price difference between ordering online and buying locally. So, if anyone is interested in the Drobo you can now have it for KD150. That means for just KD11 more than it would cost you to order it from Amazon, you can get the Drobo locally with a 2 year warranty. So you guys are lucky since I got mine without warranty and had to wait a week to get it.

3gghead is located in the basement of Baitak Tower in Kuwait City. If you haven’t been to Baitak Tower before it’s an interesting small place, there is an X-Cite Electronics store on the ground floor along with Quiznos, Salad Creations and The Nut Tree.

Update: Here is a picture they sent me of the store

I was just checking the blog Tidbit Du Jour and found out about this beautifully designed jewelry store called Octium Jewelry that recently opened up at the 360 Mall. The store is designed by Jaime Hayón a Spanish born designer who judging by his work is one unbelievably talented guy. The best part about all this is that the store was just featured on the popular design blog The Cool Hunter. I can’t wait to pass by the place and check it out in person. [Link]

Someone fucking broke into my Z4 this evening. I went to Avenues for dinner and because it was packed I parked my car across the street from Avenues. I was gone maybe an hour max and when I got back to the car the passenger window had been smashed in. There wasn’t anything in my car except for my house and wrangler keys which I had put behind the hand brake (check picture below). They took my keys and I have no idea what they are planning to do with them. I am going to change my home locks now and will probably need to change my Wrangler locks which is probably going to be expensive. Why would anyone steal my keys? Are they seriously contemplating on robbing me? How would they know where I live? Will they try to steal my Wrangler? Who the fuck steals cars in Kuwait? I’ve never heard about anyone’s car getting stolen…

My theory is someone smashed the windows to see if there was anything they could steal from inside (a phone, glasses, radio etc..). They then saw my keys and took them thinking they were the Z4 keys and maybe they could open the trunk or something. When they realized it had nothing to do with the Z4 I would assume they would throw the keys away. That is why I am going to go back now with a flashlight and look around and see if they threw my keys somewhere. I’m pissed.

Update: Went last night looking for the keys with a flashlight. Searched the whole block around where my car had been broken into but didn’t find anything. Passed by the BMW dealer earlier to have my window fixed. The window will cost only KD50 which is not bad except for the fact they don’t have it in stock. Will take over 2 weeks for them to get the part so I’ve got to search the scrapyard or glass shops in Shuwaikh for a replacement.

This is an interesting event, Genki Sushi who are located at Al Raya want people to try and see how good their sushi is so they’re holding an event at The Exhibition and inviting everyone to come and try their sushi for free. Here are the details:

Genki Sushi Nights @ The Exhibition
Enjoy FREE SUSHI for two nights ONLY!

6PM-10PM
Wednesday and Thursday
December 9-10, 2009

Directions to event: Three shops to the left of Slider Station on ‘The Strip’ – Across from Alseef Palace, Jibla, Kuwait.
Telephone: + (965) 940 662 26

The Genki Sushi restaurant is located in Arraya Mall, Kuwait City. Tel: (+965) 229 979 33

That’s free all you can eat sushi people!

Thanks Hiba