Search: “ace”

I passed by the jewelery exhibit tonight at the Mishref fair ground to check it out since my cousin who recently came in from Thailand had a display there (ZoRaB). On the way in to the exhibit I found a huge shawerma stand outside so I went up to a guy there and ordered myself two shawermas. The guy turns to me and tells me these shawermas are not for sale, they are for management upstairs! I found that strange, actually not really that strange since this is Kuwait but still, a fancy jewelery exhibition and the management upstairs have their own shawerma stand right outside?

So I walked in to the exhibit hall and right at the entrance the Kuwait Customs had a display. Again this felt out of place but I figured I would get closer and check it out. I have to say, its one really strange display. The backdrop of the display had a collage of pictures from their most famous drug busts I think. There were also a couple of pictures of alcohol busts, you know the very cliche 200 bottles of red label on the floor and 3 Bangladeshis posing behind them. Now the cool part was the magic section. They had a display of magical items they had caught, its seriously the silliest stuff. There was a horse shoe, some rings, a few rocks and a lot of handwritten notes. I think those were curses or something. On the far left they also had some pharmaceutical items (they looked like adrenalin shots) and three fake DVDs. I still don’t understand why they had a display set up at a jewelery exhibition, maybe for comical relief.

The jewelery exhibit itself was kind of dull but I am also not really a jewelery person. The exhibition ends today (Monday) so if it is your kind of thing maybe you should check it out, the customs stand itself is worth the trip.

Virgin Megastore is open again and I think this time around they are taking censorship to the extreme. I think thats what I would do if I was them, I would want to show people how ridiculous censorship can be. The CD cover above is of the Buddha-bar CD, they’ve censored the Buddha’s face!

update: I have been told censoring the Buddha is not something new.

Just got back from the Double Decker pub here in Dubai. Me and my friend went there after Mall of the Emirartes to watch the AC Milan vs Manchester United match. The place was super packed, like so packed people were backed up all the way to the hallway entrance. I didn’t get to ski tonight because the slope was pretty packed but hopefully tomorrow while everyone is at work it won’t be so crowded. Other then that I have to say I love the Mall of the Emirates, every-time I go there I discover something new. Today for example I discovered two wings I didn’t know about and thats after spending hours previously making sure I saw every part of it!

My flight tomorrow is 5 in the evening so I am hoping to get a good nights sleep now and then go do a bit of shopping before I head out to the airport.

note: the hotel I am in has wifi but the signal is so weak that I am actually standing inside the cupboard near the rooms door typing this post!

Q80Boy sent me an email telling me that last night at 9:30PM, Virgin in Marina Mall was shutdown because they were caught selling inappropriate movies. Can anyone confirm this? It’s confirmed!

update: I just got back from Marina Mall and Virgin is closed. There are red stickers all around the place and two A4 photocopies of the closing order which you can view [Here] and [Here]

Zaydoun just posted two pictures of a Monster Burger taken at The Burger Hub here in Kuwait. Its cool a place finally decided to create a monster burger, I haven’t been to The Burger Hub yet but now I have a reason to because I NEED TO TRY THIS BURGER! [Link]

note: I called up The Burger Hub and it seems this Monster Burger will launch on the 29th of April which is on their anniversary. The price isn’t final yet but it should cost over KD15.

On my way to Marzouq’s place tonight I ran over a beautiful white fluffy cat. It was horrendous but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was exiting the the Fahaheel expressway going around 80km/hour when suddenly out of no where this white fluffy cat jumped out of the bushes and right in front of my Wrangler. I slammed the brakes but it was useless the cat was too close, I quickly centered the car to pass over the cat but the cat still hit the bottom of my car. I pass over it and look in the rear view mirror, I saw a cloud of smoke from my brakes and then noticed the cat bouncing madly in the middle of the road. I couldn’t stop since there were a lot of cars behind me but I was hoping one of them would run over the cat and put it out of its misery. I felt awful and the thing is for the brief second I did see the cat it didn’t look like a street cat but more like someones pet. Sucks!

So I passed by the BMW dealer today and they tell me that I have a leak in the car which is causing it to overheat. They then give me the list of parts required to fix the leak, here are the items:

SP: KD30
Mount. plate: KD13.850
Exp. Tank: KD18.950
Thermostat: KD14.200
Radiator Cap: KD4.650
Switch: KD4.400
Housing: KD24.600
Fan Clutch: KD45.850
RMFD. Pump: KD21.950
Hose: KD9.050
Hose: KD7.700
Hose: KD7.500

Parts = KD202.700
Labor = KD98.750
Mis. = KD20.000
———————-
Total = KD321.450

Is it me or does that seem like overkill just to fix a leak? I am not a mechanic but why would I have to replace the radiator cap to fix a leak? Why change the thermostat, a switch and fan clutch also?? Wouldn’t the leak be from just one place? So why not just replace that one item why do I have to replace everything else also? I had my car towed out of the dealers garage and its now going to get fixed elsewhere. Once I find out how much its going to cost me to fix it outside I am going to post it here.

Found this while waiting for the tow truck to pick up my car. Its a new pizza place thats opening soon. The logo looks very familiar…

You won’t believe what happened to me today! Yesterday I picked up my BMW from the dealer and as I mentioned before, the car overheated just before I reached my home. Today morning I was supposed to pass by the dealer to give them a piece of my mind when on the way while driving on the Gulf Road my car overheats again! I parked the car in the Green Island parking lot and called a friend who got a tow truck to come pick up my car. We took my car to the BMW dealer and I go up to the guy who had taken care of my car and told him that after I left the dealership yesterday the car over heated and today on my way over it also over heated. He was very cold and didn’t apologize or anything, he took my car keys and told me to wait and then left.

Fifteen minutes later the guy comes back and tells me your car needs to stay here you can leave now. I was like what do you mean I can leave?? What about my car, how long does it need, whats wrong with it? He was like they are checking on that now. I was like ok but I need another car, I have work and things to do. He was like you can talk to the manager so I do.

I explain my situation to the manager, I tell him I brought my car in because of some strange vibrations and after paying a shit load of money I take the car back and suddenly its over heating. I tell him its a fault from their side and they should give me a car to use until they fix their mistake. He tells me its not their mistake and its not their responsibility. He tells me its very normal for a car to over heat and it can happen to any car at any time. I stood there in shock, other then the fact that no one apologized to me but now the guy is telling me that the problem is my fault no theirs! What car built in this century still over heats?!? Maybe if it was 1985 and I was stuck in traffic I could imagine a car over heating but this is a 2001 BMW and its over heating without any traffic!

I end up leaving the place thinking about how much I hate BMW and the dealership. When I was thinking of selling my car I was thinking of maybe getting a BMW Z4 or a Land Rover LR3 but now I am thinking about how I never want to buy a BMW ever again yet alone anything from this dealership.

A few minutes ago I get a phone call from BMW, they tell me they found some leak and it will cost KD320 to fix. I was like excuse me? No thank you, please don’t touch my car I will pick it up tomorrow and go fix it somewhere else.

So I haven’t had anything to eat all day because during my lunch break I had to pick up my BMW from the dealer. Then when I am finally on my way home the car overheats and that pisses me off. I finally get home and I am starving so I place an order from Hardees. Usually it takes them 15 minutes to deliver the food to my place but its been over an hour now and the food isn’t here yet! I had to call them up and cancel my order and now I am trying to figure out what to do. Its clearly not my day!

A friend of mine just made me aware of this event. It seems next week the Kuwait Boat Show will start and its organized by Knotika, that same people that set up the Dubai Boat Show. The event will take place at the Al Kout mall’s marina and it will be running from April 21st to April 25th from 3:30PM till 10 in the evening. Entrance tickets are KD3. I will probably be going Saturday and I will try to take pictures, I am assuming the whole place is going to be lit up well. For more information you can check out the Kuwait Boat Show website which surprisingly is pretty decent. [Link]

Yesterday I posted about the strange trying to be funny messages on the Marina Mall bins, well it turns out they actually copied it.

Thanks Mark deSouza for pointing it out.

Today morning I returned the Lumina to Europcar. I had found a better deal on another car with another rental agency so I no longer wanted the Lumina. The employee at Europcar was extremely friendly and even though I had rented the car for only 1 day she still gave me the same rate as the weekly one which is KD10 a day.

After that I walked over to Al Sayer rental which was very close by. I had passed by yesterday evening to check out a Toyota Echo he had and I was planning on renting it. The car wasn’t in great condition with hub caps missing and some weird stains on the seat. I figured I could haggle the price down a bit but the guy refused. He wanted KD5.750 per day if I wanted the car for a week but if I brought the car earlier he would charge me KD7 a day. I told him Automax was renting a Corolla for KD6 a day and I was sure it was in better condition. He refused to lower the price and I left the place.

Once I got to work I called Automax and asked for a Corolla. Guy told me if I have the car for less then a week its KD7 a day but if its more then a week its KD6. I asked if they could drop the car off to me and they said it wouldn’t be a problem and it would be at no extra charge.

So now I am driving a 2006 black Corolla. Its not in the best condition either and I have no clue where the car papers are because I couldn’t find them in the car but it’s cheap. I just paid them KD30 deposit and thats it, they didn’t take my Visa card number or anything. I actually don’t think I would have trusted them with my credit card details anyway, the whole thing feels fishy to me. This is why I would rather deal with international franchises but of course those cost more.

I really have to say though renting from Europcar was really great and the service very friendly. If anyone needs to rent a car from them you can call Lisa on +965 6540248. She was very helpful and probably the best person I have ever rented a car from.

Around two weeks ago I took my BMW to European Center (markaz oropee) in Shuwaikh to service my car. I figured I would save a whole bundle of money by not taking it to the dealer plus they would fix it quicker. I dropped my car in the morning, the guy told me the car would be fixed by noon, I told him I would be at work so I would pick it up at 6. At 6:30 I pass by and they were still working on the car. All they had to do was replace brake pads, gas filter, air filter and fan belts, I was really pissed but there wasn’t anything I could do. Anyway I ended up leaving from them at 7:30 and turned out the wipers has suddenly stopped working and I just felt they did a lousy quick ass job. Anyway forward to yesterday, I start the car and I hear this crackling popping sound and the engine revs were jumping. I opened the hood and the sound was coming from the engine so I guessed one of the spark plugs was acting up. So I was like fuck it, I am taking the car to the dealer, I had some other minor problems in the car and I figured I would get them fixed once and for all at BMW.

I woke up early today and drove the car to the BMW dealer. I get there and they were extremely friendly and professional. I sit down and start talking to the guy about my car troubles and he took notes down like a psychiatrist. He then went out checked the car himself and we came back and sat down again. He told me for them to “check” on the problems I have listed he estimates it would cost me KD200. Not to fix the problems, just to check the problems. I told him how about you skip the checking part and just go straight to fixing the problems because I know what they are. He is like to fix a problem they need to check it first. I was like fine, we started going down the list of problems I had given him and I marked off 3 superficial problems and that managed to bring down the estimate to KD100. He then told me they needed 4 to 5 days to check the car and then get back to me on how much it will cost to fix the problems.

I then asked about renting a car from them since I do that when I drop the Wrangler off at the Jeep dealer for the full service. Turns out they do rent cars but they were completely out of my league. The cheapest car they had was for KD40 a day while I usually pay KD7 when I rent from the Jeep dealer.

So in conclusion I think I am going to get raped with the price.. but psychologically I will at least feel that these guys know what they are doing and they will fix things right… I hope.

I was at a friends place today and I saw a pearl white Gallardo IMSA parked outside. What I understood is that there are currently only 3 in the whole world and this was the first one in the eastern hemisphere. The IMSA tuned version has 600 horsepower, 100 more than the standard car and 80 more than the top spec Gallardo SE. It also has a unique widebody which allows it to accommodate larger wheels. My request for a test drive has already been rejected sadly…

More information and PR photos here [Link]