Search: “ace”

My home network is just a total mess. Everything could be working perfectly and then suddenly in a blink of an eye the whole network would crawl to a halt and crash. Just like that for no reason. I just spent the afternoon shifting from a wireless network to a wired one and what a headache that was. The hardest part was trying to find a 22 meter long black ethernet cable. I looked all over Hawalli walking from shop to shop and only found one place that had a black 20 meter long one and it was his last piece. Also picked up two Linksys 8-port switches and everything seems to be working fine for now.

The 20 meter cable cost me KD3 while the Linksys 8-port switches cost me KD6.750 each.

The Kuwait Bookshop has been around for a pretty long time and although its not a Barnes & Noble it does have a pretty decent collection of books and magazines. If I am not mistaken I think it actually has the largest collection of books and magazines in Kuwait. Because its an old bookshop they have a lot of older books that sometimes can be pretty interesting. The bookshop is located in the basement of Muthana Complex and its a very quiet and cozy place with friendly and informed staff. There is a lot of parking which is a plus. Their phone number is 22423876 in case you need to ask about a book.

According to a reader Saied, the whale shark thats been stranded at Marina Crescent for a week now was saved. They were able to place the whale shark onto a marine parachute bed like device and then pull the whale shark out to sea where it was then set free. Around 15 divers took park in this rescue which lasted around 9 hours. Saied will be sending me pictures and once I get them will post them here.

Update: Got the pictures, check them out below. Thanks Saied!

Henry Surtees, 18, the son of motorsport legend John Surtees was killed in a “freak” accident during a Formula Two (F2) race. You can see the accident in the video above, a car crashes into a side barrier and one of the tires flies off and bounces towards the track and hits Henry in the head while he was racing. If he was just a bit faster or just a bit slower the tire would have missed his head and hit the car. Extremely unlucky and very very sad. [YouTube]

I wasn’t planning on getting the new iPhone 3GS anytime soon since the prices in Kuwait are currently astronomical, but I was just checking Safat and noticed a Kuwaiti blogger thats living in Australia is selling the officially unlocked iPhone’s for a pretty decent price:

Unlocked iPhone 3GS 16GB
KD275 (shipping to Kuwait included)

Unlocked iPhone 3GS 32GB
KD325 (shipping to Kuwait included)

I ordered the 16GB version since I don’t really store ANY music or videos on my iPhone and the price between it and the 32GB is pretty big. I actually have the original 8GB iPhone and I have like 6.5GB free so 16GB is more than enough for me. I already sent the money to the blogger and she placed the order for my iPhone and passed me the tracking number. I should get it in around 2 weeks, can’t wait!

If you’re interested in the new iPhone here is the link to her blog. [Link]

Some pictures from the Michael Jackson tribute that was held yesterday on the Marina Mall beach are up on the Facebook group. It seems the cops came and broke up the vigil because they thought it was witchcraft! I didn’t go but looking at the pictures I think it looked like a pretty cool and proper vigil. I read someone got into a fight with the police, if anyone has more information please post it below. Here is a link to the Facebook group with the pictures. [Link]

Note: You need to have a Facebook account to view the pictures.

Just got an email and SMS regarding a Michael Jackson candle-light vigil and tribute that will take place tonight at the Marina Mall beach from 6:30PM till 11PM. Here is a link to the Facebook page. [Link]

A friend sent me this link to a post from a classifieds website which I thought was too funny:

From: [email protected]
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Category: Seeking Bride
Region: Kuwait City (Rabiya Near Farwaniy)
Description: Dear indian girls,

Any indian slim under 25 years of age girl available only on friday from 3:00 to 7:00 evening to be my wife in this time only i am ready to pay 25KD per hour for his services in this time being my wife.

Only serious indian girls please send their pics to my email address along with contact numbers and place of residence. I have my own house here in Rabiya.

regards,
George

[Source]

The Army’s Band of the Coldstream Guards have done their own tribute to the late Michael Jackson, as they played one of his most famous hits Thriller near Buckingham Palace. Around 40 drummers, trumpeters, clarinet and trombone players took part.

It actually sounds really good. [YouTube]

Below is another video of the Buckingham Palace guards also playing thriller. [YouTube]

On the day after Michael Jackson died, at the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the Royal Guard Marching Band gave us a surprise performance.

This is too funny. A husband and wife were traveling from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia after their honeymoon. While at the Malaysian airport the wife went into the bathroom and it seemed she took too long because the husband got tired of waiting and boarded the plane without her.

The woman in question, a teacher, had gone to use the facilities at the airport before boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

Quite how long she stayed in the toilet remains unclear. What is certain is she emerged to discover her husband had vanished without trace. The woman, who had paid for the holiday, began a desperate search of the airport and grew increasingly concerned that something terrible had happened to him.

When he arrived at his destination, he calmly told relatives his new wife was still in Malaysia. His bride was not so calm about his behavior. She has demanded an immediate divorce.

Here is the link to the article. [Link]

I think I’ve found the cheapest HDMI cable in Kuwait at Ace Hardware. The 2 meter cable cost only KD2.100 while the 3 meter version cost KD2.600. The previous cheapest I had found was at Lulu Hypermarket, KD3.950 for a 1.5 meter.

Note: With HDMI cables the cheapest transmits video as good as the most expensive.

AndyQ8 just posted a list of shops that will be opening at the 360 Mall.
Click on continue to see the full list.

Some good news, back in 2006 I posted about how Kuwait had the most corrupt diplomats in New York averaging 246.2 parking tickets per diplomat. Well the new 2009 results are out and Kuwait is no longer first, instead they’re second! The Egyptian diplomats now lead the way with the most unpaid parking tickets while Kuwait is following closely behind owing nearly $1.3 million in unpaid fines. Here is the link to the article. [Link]

On a similar note Marzouq posted about the Kuwaiti embassy thats based in the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. Looks like the best place to be if you want to be a Kuwaiti diplomat. [Link]

Note: Stop emailing me hate mail. I wasn’t the person who wrote the article or call the diplomats corrupt. Since those of you who emailed me are too lazy to click the link here is a quotation from the link that explains how not paying your tickets means you are corrupt:

“In a great paper for the National Bureau for Economic Research, two researchers have found that the number of parking tickets that legally-immune foreign diplomats accumulate in NYC and refuse to pay is a great measure of how corrupt their home countries are.”

Direct all hate mail to the New York Daily News, the National Bureau for Economic Research or your diplomats.

I have two issues with gas stations in Kuwait. First is that there are only five stations (at least it feels that way) and the second is that they lack mini-marts. Maybe sometime in the future these issues will get fixed but for now it seems the priority was to face lift the oil change section.

The picture above is of the new Khidma oil change at the Kortaba station. Looks pretty but I would think if they were going to face lift something it would be the actual gas station and not the small oil change area.

[source]

Ok this might sound like a strange subject since its about a pen but a few weeks back there was a free pen that was attached to a magazine I received. I don’t remember the name of the magazine but I trashed it and kept the pen. Today I needed a pen and grabbed the free pen randomly from my pen collection on the desk and I was completely surprised with the result.

Although the tip looks like a regular ballpoint pen when writing its super smooth and pretty thick. The result looks like it was written with an ink pen with varied color shading in places where your pen passed through faster or slower. The pen is called the Uni-Ball Gel Impact, I have the blue one but will definitely be getting a black one. And this ends my first and last post about a pen… maybe. [Link]